The Open University

The real reason clowns scare us

28 October 2016

This Halloween may be the scariest in a long time. Facing the usual huge crowds of zombies, witches and vampires, deep down, many of us most fear running into one of the “killer clowns” that have been spotted in creepy places across the world. I barely noticed it at first, even though I actually study […]

Today’s immigration laws have teeth, and their bite is toxic for people seeking asylum

26 October 2016

As a dock city, Liverpool has served as a gateway to the sugar trade, slavery and global transport for hundreds of years. It has long been a city of immigrants from Ireland, India and Pakistan to Somalia, Ethiopia and Jamaica. It boasts the oldest Chinese community in Europe, and the largest Chinese arch outside of […]

OU academic dispels the myths about autism

12 October 2016

What is autism? What causes it? Will there be and, indeed, should there be a cure for autism? Senior Lecturer in Psychology at The Open University (OU), Dr Ilona Roth, debunks the myths about the condition and explains how the latest research is changing our perception of autism… What is autism and what is the […]

The White House, WAshington DC. Image credit: Thinkstock

OU academic speaks at White House on bisexuality issues

29 September 2016

Senior lecturer in psychology at The Open University Dr Meg-John Barker was among a prestigious panel at the White House, for an official White House Briefing discussing the challenges for and the support given to the bisexuality community. The briefing, held on Monday 26th, was the latest initiative in the White House’s many efforts to […]

History offers Britain an important lesson on shutting down immigration

29 September 2016

The rate of hate crimes reported in the UK has rocketed since the country voted to leave the European Union in June, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council. In 2013 we published research on the parallels between British discontent about migration in the 2010s and in the late 1960s – a moment perhaps best […]

Can quotas make gender equality happen in politics? Lessons from business

28 September 2016

The number of women MPs in the British parliament is the highest it’s ever been. There are 191 women among the 650 MPs, up a third from the 2010 election. This has to be good news, especially for the many critics of national politics who complain that too many politicians are white male graduates of […]

Apple and Ireland are betting on ‘Nation Inc’ and a world of shareholder citizens

6 September 2016

When the European Union decided to fine Apple €13.5 billion for tax evasion in Ireland last week, it didn’t take long for the Irish government to join with Apple to announce it would appeal the ruling. The alignment between the tech giant and a nation state shows how governments can be held to ransom by […]

How the Bank of England rate cut will hit your personal finances

4 August 2016

The Bank of England has cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to a historic low of 0.25%. The move was expected and comes in response to worsening economic data following the UK referendum vote to leave the European Union. The cut is part of a package of measures that also includes a big boost […]

After Bernie Sanders: how progressives can actually change America

1 August 2016

Even her rival Bernie Sanders has publicly endorsed her. But as the convention got underway, plenty of Sanders’s progressive supporters were far from happy with the outcome. Clinton and her allies have shifted leftwards on a number of issues, among them student debt and the minimum wage. Yet one recent poll showed that nearly half […]

Earthquake reveals the problems with Ecuador’s famous ‘good life’ policy

21 July 2016

Disasters have a way of revealing the gap between what a government says it wants to do and what it actually does. As Oxfam’s Duncan Green put it, disasters can bring to light some of the tensions, contradictions and strengths of a country’s political and development agenda. So it went after Ecuador’s recent earthquake, which […]

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Category: Arts and social sciences