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Category: Arts and social sciences

Where’s the harm in educating distracted drivers?

Where’s the harm in educating distracted drivers?

Dr Gemma Briggs, an expert in distracted driving, writes about education campaigns which aim to make drivers aware of road safety issues: This week is Road Safety Week, organised by the charity, Brake. The week is aimed at raising awareness and educating all road users about aspects of road safety.  Across the UK, people will […]

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Bibliotherapy: how reading and writing have been healing trauma since World War I

Bibliotherapy: how reading and writing have been healing trauma since World War I

Bibliotherapy – the idea that reading can have a beneficial effect on mental health – has undergone a resurgence. There is mounting clinical evidence that reading can, for example, help people overcome loneliness and social exclusion. One scheme in Coventry allows health professionals to prescribe books to their patients from a list drawn up by […]

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Catalonia: a year on, political prisoners go unnoticed by the rest of the world

Catalonia: a year on, political prisoners go unnoticed by the rest of the world

After an unofficial referendum in October 2017, the pro-independence political parties in the Catalan parliament unilaterally declared independence from Spain. In response, the Spanish government invoked Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution which effectively suspended the region’s autonomy. More than a year on from these events, ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont remains in exile in […]

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Grenfell Tower film wins national award

Grenfell Tower film wins national award

A film about the Grenfell Tower tragedy, created by Dr David Scott, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, has won an award at the British Documentary Film Festival.  Winning in the ‘Life Changing Award’ category, the film – called ‘Grenfell Tower and Social Murder‘ includes powerful testimonies from survivors and families of the bereaved. Dr Scott said: […]

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Gwyneth Paltrow

Goop: a classicist’s take on the ‘power’ of ancient remedies

Lifestyle company Goop – founded and run by actor and businessperson Gwyneth Paltrow – was fined US$145,000 (£112,000) for making unscientific claims about products on its website: specifically, that its jade and rose quartz eggs, intended to be inserted vaginally, could help to balance hormones and regulate menstrual cycles. In a recent interview with the […]

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Money and financial graph. Image credit: Thinkstock

Budget Commentary: Jam tomorrow for the poor

Jonquil Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Economics and Personal Finance, shares her views on the autumn budget. “The big ticket item from yesterday’s Budget – apart from extra spending on the NHS – is bringing forward by a year increases to the personal allowance (the first slice of income that most people can have tax-free) to £12,500 and […]

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game of thrones

Game of Thrones: imagined world combines romantic and grotesque visions of Middle Ages

Take the dragons and the zombies away from the television adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire novels and you are left with the seemingly authentic portrayal of a pseudo-medieval world. Indeed, Martin was inspired by historical events such as the Wars of the Roses, the Crusades and the Hundred […]

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New research explores how migration fosters growth in Africa

New research explores how migration fosters growth in Africa

In recent years there’s been significant growth in African economies driven by trade in commodities, which has prompted more migrants to move to, and within, African countries.  Now, new research from The Open University will investigate what impact this migration has had both on growth in Africa and in the migrants’ countries of origin, and […]

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Grenfell Tower research film shortlisted for National award

Grenfell Tower research film shortlisted for National award

A film created by Dr David Scott, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, about the Grenfell Tower tragedy, has been shortlisted for the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s prestigious 2018 Research in Film Awards. The film, called ‘Grenfell Tower and Social Murder’ is shortlisted for Best Research Film of the Year. Dr David Scott said: ‘The tragic […]

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Depressed man sitting on bridge in a smart shirt

Stock market crashes linked to higher rates of suicide – new research

Writing in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, New York Times columnist Will Rodgers commented that the level of panic was such that it induced a spate of suicide among traders. Although stories of increased rates of suicide in the aftermath of a financial meltdown are deeply ingrained in the folklore of finance, […]

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