By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image The F1 Grand Prix at Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, April 20, 2025. © 2025 Qian Jun/Paddocker via AP Photo The International Automobile Federation (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, or FIA), the international body governing motor sports, including Formula1, held its annual General Assemblies last week in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. At the General Assemblies, the federation presented Uzbekistan as the “star of the east,” seemingly without a single reference to Uzbekistan’s deeply problematic human rights record. In recent years,…
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By Justin Colson, Senior Lecturer in Urban and Digital History, School of Advanced Study, University of London
Werner Scheltjens, Professor of Digital History, University of Bamberg
We often imagine medieval life as dull, dirty and short, with little in the way of material comfort or decoration. However, medieval Londoners were importing toys, treats and trinkets by the boatload centuries…
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By Richard Whitman, Member of the Conflict Analysis Research Centre, University of Kent; Royal United Services Institute
Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham
To placate pro-Moscow governments in Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia, the EU had to include an ‘opt-out’ clause for its support for Ukraine.
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By Naomi Joseph, Arts + Culture Editor, The Conversation
December 16 marked 250 years since the writer’s birth – but at The Conversation, we have been celebrating all year.
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By Nicholas Ray, Doctoral Programmes Manager, Nottingham Trent University
When a ship sinks, it is often in tragic circumstances. Beneath the waves, however, a different story unfolds: shipwrecks become the foundations of new life.
Rusting hulls, broken masts and even piles of wartime munitions can, through time, be transformed into rich ecosystems. Scientists call this “shipwreck ecology”, and it offers a fascinating lens through which to view both the adaptability of marine life and the unexpected ways human shape the seascape.
This is illustrated vividly by a
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By Jolanta Burke, Associate Professor, Centre for Positive Health Sciences, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
You don’t need to make dramatic life changes to improve wellbeing. A simple mindset change can help maintain long-term wellbeing.
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By Tamsin McLaren, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Bath
In 1875, Arthur Liberty established a fabric company at the forefront of the aesthetic movement, and within 20 years was a byword for the very best in avant-garde textile design.
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By Lucy Whitehead, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, Royal Holloway, University of London
A Christmas Carol is usually read as a Victorian morality tale about capitalism and compassion. Yet an autographed script written by Charles Dickens during the American Civil War raises the possibility he may also have understood the story as speaking to the cause of ending slavery in the US.
First published in the UK on December 19 1843, the novella is famous for its advocacy of a reformed relationship between the Victorian capitalist Scrooge and the workers whose labour he profits from, epitomised by his downtrodden clerk, Bob Cratchit. The story has inspired countless…
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By Katy Highet, Lecturer in English Language & TESOL, University of the West of Scotland
Just as the protests outside asylum hotels of summer 2025 faded from headlines, some anti-immigration groups turned their attention to another target: English classes.
On November 24, a protest was organised outside a primary school in Glasgow, in opposition to an Esol (English for speakers of other languages) class being delivered for parents of children at the school. Holding placards reading “protect our kids”, protesters claimed that these classes presented a danger to children at…
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By Panagiota Tragantzopoulou, Visiting Lecturer, University of Westminster
As daylight shortens and routines slow down, many people experience a dip in mood and motivation. The run-up to Christmas is marketed as joyful, but for a large number of households it brings family strain and a surprising amount of loneliness. Against this backdrop, it’s no wonder the idea of welcoming a dog into the home feels appealing.
One of the most consistent findings in human–animal studies is that dogs often act as emotional stabilisers. In
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