Patrice Lawrence is the new children’s laureate – why she is the perfect pick in this moment of division
The children’s laureate is responsible for promoting reading and children’s literature, as well as celebrating creativity and storytelling. For the newly appointed children’s laureate, Patrice Lawrence, belonging will sit at the centre of her work. “I believe that we, as humans, are changed by stories. They connect us to different worlds, and they connect us […]
How can you be tired yet wired? Blame your stone-age brain
Kinga Howard/Unsplash, CC BY The clock reads 2:13am. You are exhausted. Your eyes ache, your body feels heavy and the alarm is already beginning to loom over the night, yet your brain refuses to let go. Instead, thoughts arrive in waves. Did you send that email? What if you forgot something important? Perhaps now is […]
Evil Dead Burn could breathe new life into a fragmented horror saga
The horror series Evil Dead, first brought to the screen in 1981 by director Sam Raimi, is in its healthiest state for decades. The 2023 film Evil Dead Rise was a financial success, and 2026 will prove to be a huge year for the franchise, with the release of new film Evil Dead Burn. The […]
The Great Wherever: an intriguing ghost story about the history of African American land in the US South
Time dilates for young children, Shannon Sanders writes in The Great Wherever, and also for ghosts. Ghosts can reclaim time in which to grieve, gossip and watch their earthly relatives in horror, pity and love. Sometimes the dead can bridge silences in family lineage too. If this sounds fanciful, let me convince you otherwise. Ghosts […]
‘Let the people judge me’: how Marine Le Pen and Nigel Farage learned a potent populist tactic from Donald Trump
The European populist right has been at the top of the political agenda in recent days. On July 7, everyone in France was waiting expectantly for a Paris appeal court to decide on whether Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Rassemblement National (RN), would be allowed to run in the 2027 presidential election after […]
Iran ceasefire was always going to break – here’s why
Less than a month after a ceasefire was signed between the US and Iran, conflict has returned to the Middle East. The peace agreement Donald Trump signed at the palace of Versailles in France on June 18 – which he hailed as Iran’s “unconditional surrender” – is now, in the US president’s own words, “over”. […]
Iran’s ‘hardliners’: who they are, what they believe and why they matter
The US and Iran have returned to the brink of conflict after an exchange of strikes on July 7, just three weeks after the two sides had signed a framework deal to end their hostilities. In comments made ahead of the Nato summit in Turkey, Donald Trump declared the ceasefire “over” and added that further […]
Shahrnush Parsipur: Iran has lost one of its bravest and boldest literary voices
The death of the Iranian novelist and feminist writer at the age of 80 marks the loss of one of the most courageous and original voices in modern Persian literature. For more than five decades, Parsipur wrote women into spaces from which they had often been excluded: history, politics, spirituality and even storytelling. Imprisoned under […]
Iran’s environmental catastrophe has also wrecked its economy
For several decades, Iran has devoted substantial financial, institutional and political resources to military expansion. It has invested heavily in supporting its regional partners, as well as in pursuing geopolitical influence across the Middle East. Previously, the Islamic Republic has shown few signs of swivelling its resources toward fixing its ever expanding environmental problems. And […]
Beekeeping as a hobby – why it’s a great choice for young men struggling with mental health or loneliness
Anatoliy Cherkas/Shutterstock At first glance, beekeeping might seem an unusual hobby to introduce to young men – a group often discussed in policy and research as being “at risk”, of poor mental health and disengaged from society. Yet perhaps it is precisely because of these societal expectations that beekeeping has such power as an activity. […]