By Sam Power, Lecturer in Politics, University of Bristol
When the latest figures on donations to political parties were released, it was revealed that businessman Christopher Harborne had donated £9 million to Reform. Harborne, who lives in Thailand, made his fortune on aviation and cryptocurrency. Reform leader Nigel Farage insists he wants nothing in return for the money and that the two speak once a month or every six weeks.
Harborne’s is the biggest one-off donation by a living individual in British history. But he’s far from alone in giving massive amounts to parties. Financier Stuart Wheeler gave £5…
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By Christopher Adam, Professor of Development Economics, University of Oxford
İrem Güçeri, Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy, University of Oxford
Headlines about tax in the UK being at an all-time high abounded after the autumn budget. The current overall tax take, at 35% of GDP, is indeed a historic high for the country. And the measures announced in the budget will take it to 38% by the end of the parliament.
Yet, contrary to what some might have you believe, it is only high by British standards.
If the UK wants a decent welfare system in the coming years, it’s time to start doing things differently. But this can’t just mean…
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By Nicholas Dickinson, Lecturer in Politics, University of Exeter
Parties of the British left have been notorious for the arguments about what names mean. No wonder this new endeavour chose a name that effectively says nothing.
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By David Higgins, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
The decision undoes a highly effective 34-year prevention strategy that has nearly eliminated early childhood hepatitis B infections in the U.S.
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By Parth Shinde, Researcher, Birla Institute of Technology and Science
When your doctor thinks you might have an infection or an allergy, a simple blood test should give answers within hours. But for much of the world, that test can take days – or never happen at all. The problem is not usually the test itself, but an overlooked step between taking your blood and performing the diagnosis.
In most hospitals in high-income countries, separating plasma from blood is so routine that most people never think about it. A nurse takes your blood, sends it to the lab, and a machine called…
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By Sara Read, Lecturer in English, Loughborough University
When frost sparkles in the morning and our breath is visible as we venture outside, thoughts turn to winter warming treats like mulled wine – a drink full of ingredients that have become synonymous with Christmas.
Mulled wine is made by adding spices such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mace and nutmeg to sweetened red wine, which is then warmed gently. Across Europe and Scandinavia, it can be purchased in many pubs, bars and festive markets – while supermarket shelves groan with bottles of readymade mulled…
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By Martin Fullekrug, Reader, Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University of Bath
Blair McGinness, Postdoctoral research assistant, meteorology, University of Reading
Karen Aplin, Professor of Space Science and Technology
Sometimes you get a small electric shock from touching your car door handle on a dry summer’s day.
The source of these shocks is a spark discharge, occurring between your body and the body of the car. These sparks happen from accumulation of static electric charge – often arising from two different materials rubbing together. This process – named triboelectric charging – was discovered in ancient Greece, where it was observed that some materials are attracted by amber when rubbed.
Triboelectricity…
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By Tom Harper, Lecturer in International Relations, University of East London
Donald Trump’s campaign against Venezuela escalated recently with the US president announcing that the country’s airspace should be considered “closed”. This is a move that has preceded US military interventions in the past, perhaps most notably in Iraq in 2003.
It remains to be seen whether Trump’s declaration will be followed by military action or is just a means of raising the pressure on the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, in an attempt to force him from office. But regardless of what happens next, what has been notable is the reaction…
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By James Heydon, Associate Professor, Environmental Criminology, University of Nottingham
Wood-burning stoves are booming in the UK, a cosy response to high energy prices and cost of living pressures. But this comes with a hidden cost.
So-called domestic burning is now a leading source of one of the most harmful forms of air pollution, and the UK government’s new environment improvement plan acknowledges the scale of this problem. Yet the tools the UK relies on to control stove emissions were built for a different era – and…
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By Trang Dang, Visiting Lecturer in English Literature, Nottingham Trent University
For centuries, nature has been the backdrop to human drama: a stage humanity dominates, exploits, or saves. But what if the planet isn’t just a setting, but a character in its own right – sometimes collaborator, sometimes adversary, sometimes utterly indifferent?
This is the kind of question explored in New Weird fiction, a genre where ecosystems mutate, landscapes rebel and the line between human and nonhuman dissolves. It’s a form…
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