What counts as queer art? New book expands the boundaries of identity and expression
Queer Art, by curators Mollie E. Barnes and Gemma Rolls-Bentley, isn’t afraid to ask questions: what queerness is, what queer art can be, and why queer art matters. The book’s introduction states that “queer art is not a genre but a gesture; a refusal to be pinned down by fixed identity categories”. Queerness in art […]
Somali piracy is back – fuelled by political turmoil, aid cuts and the Iran war
On the evening of April 26, the Egyptian merchant vessel Sward was hijacked by armed men a few miles off the Somali coast. It was steered towards an anchorage near the port of Garacad in Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in north-eastern Somalia. Over the following days, further armed men joined the Sward as well as […]
Why your wearable health tracker can make you feel anxious
An unexpected smartwatch reading may make you think something is wrong and cause worry. Krakenimages.com/ Shutterstock Millions of people use a wearable health and fitness tracker. These devices can be useful for monitoring activity levels, sleep quality and heart rate. But for some, wearables can have unintended consequences on wellbeing. This is something I encountered […]
A dangerous dam-building race is threatening South Asia’s shared rivers
Bangladesh’s many rivers. Best-Backgrounds / Shutterstock Bangladesh has just approved one of the largest river engineering projects its history: the Padma Barrage, a vast river-control project intended to restore water in the country’s drought-prone southwest. It comes at a dangerous moment for South Asia’s rivers. China is building the world’s largest hydropower dam upstream on […]
Marilyn Monroe at 100: Hollywood made her a myth – she spent her life resisting it
“I can be smart when it matters, but most men don’t like it,” says Lorelei Lee in the 1953 comedy musical, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. This famous quip from Howard Hawks’ film sums up for us the fate of the star who uttered it. Marilyn Monroe confronted the pitilessness of the 1950s Hollywood studio system during […]
Why Donald Trump’s latest plan for peace is a non-starter
Sooner or later in every armed conflict, someone will trot out the well-worn aphorism that “Truth is the first casualty of war.” And certainly, in the Iran war truth beat a hasty retreat as soon as the US and Israel launched their attacks on Iran and Lebanon on February 28. But what was meant to […]
How and where global 2 billion barrels of strategic oil reserves are stockpiled
The U.S. stores its strategic oil reserves in subterranean salt caverns along the Gulf Coast, like this one in West Hackberry, Louisiana, photographed on June 1, 1980. Robert Nickelsberg/Hulton Archive via Getty Images Drive on Interstate 10 along the Gulf Coast of the United States, through Louisiana and into Texas, and you’ll see signs of […]
Trump’s call to expand Abraham accords is destined to fail
As negotiations to end the Iran war continued on May 25, Donald Trump made a series of phone calls in which he pressed key leaders from the Middle East to join the Abraham accords. Announced in 2020, these accords established diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states, beginning with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) […]
Greater Israel: the origins of the settler movement now threatening to annexe the West Bank
A big increase in violence on the West Bank has prompted the EU to issue sanctions on several individuals and groups that allegedly organise and finance illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory. Under the 1993 Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the West Bank and Gaza were designated as Palestinian […]
Magistrates courts are already under huge amounts of pressure – cutting jury trials will make things worse
chrisdorney/Shutterstock Proposals to cut the use of jury trials for most offences would be one of the most significant legal reforms in UK history. The government’s plans have prompted much debate in legal circles and beyond – mainly around whether they go against the UK’s democratic principles. The government’s hope is that reducing jury trials […]