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Category: Arts and social sciences

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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Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Vote of no confidence: what does it mean for Boris Johnson?

Professor of Politics & International Studies at The Open University Simon Usherwood outlines the vote of no confidence in the House of Commons on Monday June 6 2022 and what it could mean for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. How will Tory MPs vote? The process of a no confidence vote in the Conservative party might […]

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Haiti

Haiti has suffered hugely over centuries but its revolution was stunningly innovative

Anna Plassart, The Open University Since the New York Times published its recent series of bombshell articles about the crippling reparations that France imposed on Haiti after it won independence in 1804, much has been written about how this 150 million franc “indemnity” had virtually doomed the fledgling country before it had a chance to […]

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Rishi Sunak’s £15 billion cost-of-living package and windfall tax: four experts respond

Rishi Sunak’s £15 billion cost-of-living package and windfall tax: four experts respond

Jonquil Lowe, The Open University; Adi Imsirovic, University of Surrey; Alan Shipman, The Open University, and Keith Baker, Glasgow Caledonian University Rishi Sunak, the UK chancellor of the exchequer, has unveiled a £15 billion package of measures to help households with the cost of living, after energy watchdog Ofgem announced it would probably be increasing […]

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk could roll back social media moderation – just as we’re learning how it can stop misinformation

Harith Alani, The Open University; Grégoire Burel, The Open University, and Tracie Farrell, The Open University The US$44 billion (£36 billion) purchase of Twitter by “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk has many people worried. The concern is the site will start moderating content less and spreading misinformation more, especially after his announcement that he would […]

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BAFTA nominations for two BBC/OU programmes

BAFTA nominations for two BBC/OU programmes

Two BBC and Open University co-productions have earned BAFTA nominations in the current affairs and factual series categories. And on Sunday, 8 May, academics from the Faculties of Business and Law and Arts and Social Sciences, who acted as consultants for the programmes, find out if they’ve won. The BBC billing for Trump takes on […]

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Woman's hand holding a piece of cloth with signatures written on it

New series of ‘Secrets of the Museum’ starts tonight on BBC Two

A new series of Secrets of the Museum, co-produced by the BBC and The Open University airs tonight (7 April) on BBC Two at 8pm. In series three of the popular programme, viewers are treated to behind-the-scenes footage of London’s Victoria & Albert (V&A) museum’s vast collection. We meet the experts that work tirelessly to […]

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