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Category: Arts and social sciences

Westminster and the River Thames

Spring statement: defence spending boosted as further disability benefit cuts announced

Not even six months on from Labour’s first budget, and the world is a much-changed place. Geopolitical tensions and uncertainties, already high last year, have risen further, and with them the cost of the UK’s debt, while economic growth has stalled. As such, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confronted an array of unpalatable choices – notably […]

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tower block, social housing

Why the social pain of welfare reform overshadows any economic gain

The UK government is calling it the “biggest shakeup to the welfare system in a generation” – prompted by what the Prime Minister described as the “devastating” cost of sickness and disability benefits.  Alan Shipman, Senior Lecturer in Economics, writing in The Conversation, says planned reforms to cut those costs are designed to save £5 […]

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Pot of coins. Photo: Josh Appel, Unsplash

Five things you need to know about: releasing trapped pension surpluses

In a bid to fuel-inject the economy and provide opportunity for growth, the UK Government is intending to announce plans to make it easier to tap into the surplus funds lying in corporate pension schemes. Following an earlier heads-up about this intention, we can expect the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reveal more in the coming […]

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Five vampire books to read if you enjoyed the film Nosferatu

Five vampire books to read if you enjoyed the film Nosferatu

Oscar-nominated film Nosferatu has rekindled the love of all things spooky in this new version of the 1922 classic that manages to mix elements of Frankenstein and The Exorcist (1973), deftly demonstrating that vampire films can go in new directions. So too can these five contemporary vampire novels, which play with conventions as well as […]

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person studying. image: Unseen Studio, Unsplash.

Reducing reoffending rates: Open University awarded UK government contract to provide education in secure environments across England and Wales

OU has been awarded a contract to continue delivering transformative HE education Education is a key aspect of rehabilitation to help end cycle of reoffending Evidence highlights the correlation between education and reducing reoffending The Open University (OU) will continue to deliver life-changing education to those serving in prisons, after successfully securing a new contract […]

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red theatre chairs

Athol Fugard: the great South African playwright who captured what it means to be human

I was shocked to learn that the famous South African writer Athol Fugard had passed away. I had known his age to be 92 but somehow I never expected him to die. He was always a survivor, says Dennis Walder, Emeritus Professor of Literature at The Open University. When I think about Fugard, the first […]

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Criminologist’s joy that funding will highlight a dark part of Lancashire’s history

Criminologist’s joy that funding will highlight a dark part of Lancashire’s history

An Open University criminologist Dr David Scott could never have imagined that a walk in the park with his new rescued dog five years ago would lead to unearthing a massacre in Lancashire that the world forgot. Now, he’s just secured £170,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to commemorate the bicentennial of a bloody […]

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BBC’s Forensics: The Real CSI shows the specialised work of police and forensic teams investigating a violent crime

BBC’s Forensics: The Real CSI shows the specialised work of police and forensic teams investigating a violent crime

The Open University has once again teamed up with the BBC for another episode of Forensics: The Real CSI that shows the work of police forensic teams investigating a woman’s death. The episode, titled ‘Murder in a Brothel’, airs at 9pm on Sunday, 2 March, on BBC Two and iPlayer, and will be available on […]

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Russia’s militarisation of young Ukrainians risks long-term peace: academic comment

Russia’s militarisation of young Ukrainians risks long-term peace: academic comment

While decisionmakers in Europe and the US wrestle with a roadmap to lasting peace in Ukraine an Open University academic says they need to understand the future threat posed by Russian militarisation of young people in occupied territories. As we approach the third anniversary of the war, Dr Precious Chatterje-Doody says Russia is attempting to […]

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Five books to read if you love Nordic/Scandinavian noir

Five books to read if you love Nordic/Scandinavian noir

You know the drill: In a cold and dark place, perhaps at the frontier of human civilisation, a murder has taken place. With fading light and a small community of suspects, our hero must find the killer before the community is driven apart by suspicion in these so-called Nordic-noir films. Samuel Sargeant, Lecturer in Creative […]

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