The Open University

The remarkable story of Auschwitz survivor and OU graduate Evelyn Lipmann

8 August 2018

The lives of hundreds of thousands of people have been transformed by their study at The Open University, but few can have valued it more than Evelyn Lipmann. Evelyn, now 94, enrolled for a Humanities degree in the early 1970s to help put behind her the horror of the Nazi concentration camps. Decades later, she […]

Three days is still too long to hold pregnant women in immigration detention

25 July 2018

It’s been two years since a coalition of lobbying groups in the UK successfully challenged Home Office policy on the immigration detention of pregnant women. Under the new policy, enforced in mid-July 2016, pregnant women can now only be detained for a maximum of 72 hours (three days), or up to one week with the […]

In depth: What is a smart city?

23 July 2018

The Open University is at the forefront of examining how ‘smart cities’ work. But what is a smart city? Do you know if you live in one? And how might they change how we live and work in the future? Dr Oliver Zanetti and Professor Sophie Watson – who appear on Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed […]

Sounding Coastal Change Norfolk Coast Blakeney

An ear to the coast for World Listening Day

17 July 2018

Conservationist groups from around the UK joined together with broadcasters on Wednesday, 18th July 2018, to present the sound of the coast in a special event to mark World Listening Day. The Sounding Coastal Change research team did a 24-hour broadcast from Blakeney in North Norfolk, which included prerecorded documentary and music, live discussion and microphones […]

A hard Brexit is looking increasingly likely – according to behavioural economics

25 June 2018

Gloomy forecasts for the post-Brexit economy, and a psychological tendency to gamble rather than accept certain losses, may boost public support for a giant leap away from the EU – despite the fact that most experts are advising a cautious small step. Parliamentary rebels have tempered their demands for a vote on the final Brexit […]

Spain’s prime minister loses no-confidence vote: what next?

4 June 2018

Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, has been forced to resign by his national parliament, which voted by 180 seats to 169 in favour of a motion of no-confidence in his leadership. The vote indicates that the Spanish electorate’s patience with corruption is at an end – and puts the country on an uncertain path […]

Abandoned by the British, Afghan interpreters explain how they wait for years seeking safety

30 May 2018

When the British began to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan in 2012, the Afghan civilians they employed as interpreters, cooks and security guards, became even more exposed to threats, losing the limited protection that military bases granted them. In recognition of their work and its risks, the UK government put two schemes in place. The […]

Britons reluctant to appear part of a British expat community in France – Brexit could change that

22 May 2018

In the wake of the UK’s Brexit vote, many migrants to Britain have been made to feel like unwelcome outsiders. At the end of a visit to the country in early May, the UN special rapporteur on racism, Tendayi Achiume, said there had been a growth in “explicit racial, ethnic and religious intolerance” since Brexit. […]

Afghan interpreters: Belonging on the battlefield, exclusion from the nation?

16 May 2018

Sara de Jong, co-lead of the ‘Justice, Borders, Rights’ research stream and Research Fellow of the Research Area Citizenship and Governance at the Open University, writes here about the plight of Afghan interpreters. She currently conducts research on the claims for protection, rights and settlement by Afghans and Iraqis who have worked for western military forces and development organisations, as […]

Five problematic sex messages perpetuated by advice manuals

8 May 2018

I can’t recommend reading over 60 sex advice manuals. I spent several months doing this and it results in a particular combination of sadness, anger and frustration that I’d rather never repeat. The reason for my painful few months was my new book, Mediated Intimacy: Sex Advice in Media Culture with Rosalind Gill and Laura […]

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Category: Arts and social sciences