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Category: Arts and social sciences

UK interest rate rise: what the Bank of England’s historic hike means for your money

UK interest rate rise: what the Bank of England’s historic hike means for your money

Jonquil Lowe is a Senior Lecturer in Economics and Personal Finance at The Open University. Here she writes for The Conversation and predicts how households will feel the effect of rate rises as the Bank of England tries to slow inflation.  The Bank of England has raised its base rate by 0.5 percentage points, the […]

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A guard in front of 10 Downing Street in London

Tory leadership race: Sunak and Truss

The Conservative Party leadership election is gathering momentum, with Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss making it through to the final round of voting amongst party members. The pair have faced one another in TV debates and have traded arguments and polices to win over their voters, ahead of the final announcement in early September. Here […]

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The OU to grow its curriculum through acquisition of the Open College of the Arts (OCA)

The OU to grow its curriculum through acquisition of the Open College of the Arts (OCA)

Following positive discussions with the University for the Creative Arts (UCA), the Open University (OU) is pleased to announce an agreement has been reached that will see the OU acquire the Open College of the Arts (OCA). The OU was set up in 1969 to bring life-changing learning that enriches society to millions who otherwise […]

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Map of Nairobi

Moving the Maasai: Tanzania is repeating Kenya’s colonial past

Lotte Hughes, Honorary Associate at The Open University writes for The Conversation about the Massai community being forcibly moved from their homes in Nairobi. Images of distressed members of the Maasai community being forcibly moved from their homes, beaten and harassed by police and the army in northern Tanzania in June set social media alight […]

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money counting

Being in a couple can negatively affect women’s savings – here’s how to make nest eggs more equal

Jerome Monne, ESSCA École de Management; Ariane Agunsoye, Goldsmiths, University of London; Dimitris Sotiropoulos, The Open University, and Janette Rutterford, The Open University Growing job insecurity, financial market volatility and rising prices have created an extremely uncertain environment for UK savers. The country’s welfare provisions are among the lowest of all OECD countries and the […]

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A guard in front of 10 Downing Street in London

Conservative leadership election: why tax cuts are an economic gamble

Alan Shipman, Senior Lecturer in Economics at The Open University, writes for The Conversation about tax as a leverage in the Tory leadership race. Always keen to be identified as the party of low taxation, the Conservatives won the 2019 general election on a promise not to raise income tax, VAT or national insurance. So […]

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Boris Johnson

Conservative leadership election: who might battle it out?

As the voting gets underway in the Conservative Party leadership election, we asked three of our regular politics commentators to share their thoughts and predictions on how this race might run and which two candidates could ultimately battle for victory in September and succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister: Dr Richard Heffernan, Reader in Government […]

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Inflation, recession fears and tax cuts: any new UK chancellor faces an unenviable in-tray

Inflation, recession fears and tax cuts: any new UK chancellor faces an unenviable in-tray

Alan Shipman, Senior Lecturer in Economic at The Open University and Phil Tomlinson, Professor of Industrial Strategy at Bath University, talk about the range of ministerial resignations in Boris Johnson’s government and the unenviable job of the new chancellor. The flood of ministerial resignations from UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s government in recent days started […]

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Young boy with glasses playing online chess board game on computer

Board games: how playing them online can bring grandparents and grandchildren closer together

Professor Rose Capdevila, Associate Dean (Research, Scholarship and Enterprise) and Dr Lisa Lazard, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, both from The Open University, write for The Conversation about how online board games can bring grandparents closer to their grandchildren. We’re all familiar with the blissful image of grandma or grandpa playing snakes and ladders with their grandchild […]

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couple looking in estate agents

The last two recessions hit young people hardest, here’s how you can protect yourself for the next one

By Jonquil Lowe,  Senior Lecturer in Economics and Personal Finance, The Open University After the pandemic and now a cost of living crisis, it seems unthinkable that the economic situation could get worse. But experts are pretty certain that the UK economy will flatline in 2023, and some are even murmuring that a recession could […]

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