What is the Common Travel Area? Why the Ireland-UK border arrangement isn’t a ‘loophole’ for migrants
A horrific knife attack in Belfast has exacerbated tensions which have spilled over into widespread disorder. Much of the violence has targeted migrants and ethnic minorities. Hadi Alodid, 30, a Sudanese refugee who entered the UK in 2023 via Ireland, has been charged with attempted murder. Politicians of all stripes have used the attack to […]
AI doesn’t just help us think, it thinks instead of us: what this means for the process of learning
Deep in Book VII of Plato’s Republic, Socrates describes prisoners chained inside a cave, mistaking shadows cast on a wall by firelight for reality itself. They name the shadows, debate them and develop expertise about them. The prisoners are completely, sincerely wrong, and they have no idea. The cave isn’t a place of stupidity, it’s […]
The Gulf Stream suddenly moved north during an ancient cold snap – and it’s a warning for our future
The Gulf Stream shifts warm water across the Atlantic to Europe. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, CC BY-SA Around 13,000 years ago, as the world was emerging from the grip of the last ice age, much of the North Atlantic region plunged back into near-glacial conditions. Sea ice expanded across the North Atlantic, […]
Creative employers are struggling to fill vacancies due to a lack of skills – here’s how we can fix that
Skills matter enormously when it comes to retaining the UK’s global competitiveness in the creative industries. Forecasts suggest that demand for additional jobs in the sector is set to grow in the coming years. But does the UK’s creative workforce possess the required skills to meet this demand? In May 2026, I co-authored a report […]
Why Britain’s regeneration policies keep missing the point – expert panel
After the mainstream parties suffered big losses in Britain’s local elections in May, they might be wondering how they can win back voters in left-behind parts of the country. Labour’s Pride in Place scheme – £5.8 billion to be shared between some of the UK’s most deprived communities – doesn’t seem to have won the […]
The ticket price fiasco for the men’s Fifa World Cup has been a spectacular own goal
In sport, fairness matters. But when it comes to buying tickets to watch the world’s biggest ever sporting event, money matters too. Attending the men’s Fifa World Cup 2026 will be much more expensive than any previous World Cup. And that’s not what fans were promised. In fact, when the US, Canada and Mexico set […]
The fraudsters’ playbook: our study of Enron traders shows how easily the language of trust can be abused
From election debates to job interviews, language shapes our perceptions of how trustworthy other people are. This power can be used to build healthy relationships, but it can also be used to manipulate and deceive. To better understand this darker side of building trust, my colleagues and I turned to the corporate world – a […]
How Maison Schiaparelli pioneered a new form of fashion currency
In a luxury market often blamed for flattening creativity, Maison Schiaparelli has long stood out for its defiant unconventionality. Where Coco Chanel’s creations exalted the functional elegance of the modern woman, Elsa Schiaparelli was interpreting her dreams, transforming her dresses into intellectual statements. The story of how Elsa Schiaparelli did this is celebrated in Schiaparelli: […]
The hidden history of Wales and the Jewish world
Jewish history in Wales stretches back centuries, yet its significance remains little known outside specialist circles. My new book uncovers how Jews, Judaism, Israel and Palestine have played a far greater role in Welsh history and imagination than many realise. In fact, they have helped shape ideas of nationhood, identity and belonging over centuries. In […]
Ukraine war now longer than the first world war – but the similarities are unsettling
A Ukrainian soldier near the frontline in Kharkiv Oblast in 2022. podyom / Shutterstock The war in Ukraine has now exceeded the first world war in duration. And while the comparison between these two conflicts is imperfect, it is becoming difficult to ignore. Some of the similarities are obvious. At the tactical level, the conflict […]