Election special: deadlock in Israel, regime change in Serbia, US midterms
Tens of thousands of Israeli expats flew home to vote in Tuesday’s election – most of them, according to media reports, hoping for a result which would end Benjamin Netanyahu’s prime ministership. It looks as if they will be disappointed. We’ll know more when all votes are counted and seats allocated. But an apparent deadlock […]
The Black designers redefining British fashion by drawing on their own heritage, culture and history
British fashion has always been shaped by creative exchange: forged inside melting pots, authored by radical style communities – and often fuelled by class and migration. Over the past decade, we’ve witnessed the distinct emergence of a new genre centred on the Black British experience. It has seen its designers drawing on their unique histories, […]
What if we paid for electricity through taxes, not bills?
SuxxesPhoto / shutterstock The UK government has announced that standing charges will be removed from gas bills and that it intends to also remove them from electricity bills. Standing charges are a fixed fee paid by every household, regardless of how much they use. Under the proposed change, the costs they cover would instead be […]
How porn became so extreme – and how it’s shaping the sex lives of young people
Stenko Vlad/Shutterstock A few years ago, the singer Billie Eilish opened up on the Howard Stern Show about how she began watching porn around age 11. “I’m so angry that porn is so loved, and I’m so angry at myself for thinking that it was ok,” she said. Eilish became addicted to porn, and it […]
When things go bump in the night: how our brains trick us into hearing things that aren’t there
Sometimes our brain plays tricks on us. MAYA LAB/ Shutterstock It’s three in the morning. You’ve woken from a dead sleep because you’ve heard a thud in the darkness or a floorboard creaking downstairs. Or perhaps you’ve woken because you have the unmistakable sensation you’re not alone. During daylight, these phenomena might be dismissed as […]
Is sexual objectification hard-wired? Our study used electrical brain stimulation to find out
When people view sexualised images of women, they tend to remember them less well than sexualised images of men; a quirk of memory that psychologists link to objectification. But in our new study, my colleagues and I found an unlikely “fix” – applying a mild electrical current to the forehead. Objectification means seeing someone as […]
Deadlock ahead for Israel as election fails to deliver an alternative to Netanyahu coalition
The Israeli political system presently revolves around three blocs jockeying for position after the election failed to provide a decisive outcome. Based on the latest figures – which are likely to change as absentee ballots and army votes are counted – the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, currently leads a coalition based around his own party, […]
Why Donald Trump’s foreign policy could cost Republicans in the midterm elections
When voters enter polling booths across the United States next week to cast their ballots in the midterm elections, very few will be thinking explicitly about foreign policy. In a recent survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, many people across the political spectrum named inflation and the cost of living as the issue […]
70 years ago the Suez crisis exposed British relative decline. Today, the Iran conflict could be doing the same for the US
Like the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal is a vital waterway for global trade. Viktor Hladchenko/Shutterstock Months after the US and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran, the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. The UK chose not to get directly involved in the conflict. Nonetheless, it has been exposed to the crisis […]
Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto turned architecture into horror’s greatest weapon
What does a haunted castle look like? Perhaps you imagine a ramshackle or imposing structure with towers, pinnacles and undefined spaces hidden in the shadows; some of its “prickly” gothic details picked out by moonlight. Threateningly ill-defined buildings, enough for our imagination to fill in the gaps, seem to be the ideal catalyst to spark […]