When powerful women are remembered as witches, we should challenge the historical motive
The Penance of Eleanor was painted in 1900 and shows Eleanor Cobham being paraded through the streets of London barefoot. Edwin Austen Abbey, CC BY Reclaiming the label “witch” has become an act of feminist solidarity. But are we recovering the women themselves, or a posthumous identity built from accusation rather than fact? Historical novelist […]
How buying weapons can harm a country’s economy
M2M_PL/Shutterstock Some wars are predictable. There are conflicts past and present which have been more or less expected because of economic and social conditions, a country’s history or that of its neighbours. In today’s geopolitical landscape, one warning sign that really stands out is the buying and selling of weapons. There is good evidence that […]
Is it wrong to kill wild animals that attack humans? Sometimes conservation demands it
Human-killing tigers are more likely to be culled in the wild than in zoos. Liz Miller / shutterstock When an Amur tiger recently killed a man at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in northern England, the park announced that the tiger would not be killed. Days later, a 71-year-old fisherman was killed by an alligator in Florida […]
Subsidence claims: after drought, ground can shrink, swell or even collapse when it rains – causing damage to homes
Yada’s Room/Shutterstock A crack appears beside a window after weeks of scorching weather. As much as you might hope the ground beneath your house will recover with the first rain, the effects of a dry summer can continue long after temperatures fall. The UK is recovering from the hottest summer on record. The drought, however, […]
The ‘activity trap’: fear of losing benefits is stopping some disabled people from exercising
Some disabled people avoid exercise because they fear that being physically active could put their disability benefits at risk, new research suggests. Marcos Castillo/Shutterstock For some people with disabilities, going swimming or attending an exercise class comes with a worry that many others would never consider: could being seen to be physically active lead to […]
New long-clawed British dinosaur is the first of its kind in Europe
The fossilised skull of a new species of mysterious meat-eating dinosaur from the Isle of Wight has been rediscovered in the collections of the Natural History Museum after over 100 years in storage. Over its nearly 150-year history, this London museum has become home to over 30 million specimens, making it fairly easy to forget […]
Experienced teachers are quitting or reducing their hours – they’re struggling to cope
Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock Teacher shortages are affecting school systems in countries across the world. Governments have responded with initiatives to attract graduates into teaching. While much attention has focused on increasing supply, far less attention has been paid to why experienced teachers decide to leave, despite the high costs of turnover in recruitment, training and lost continuity. […]
How Denmark became the sperm donation capital of the world
“They invaded us once by boat, and now they’re doing it with sperm!” Playful headlines like this are rapidly making Danish donor sperm as renowned as Danish bacon, Lego and designer furniture. You may not (yet) be aware that Denmark is considered “the sperm capital of the world”. Apart from the US, it is the […]
The driveway divide: why parking for electric vehicles is such a big barrier
Southworks/Shutterstock Most people who have an electric car have access to a driveway or private parking. In England, 90% EV owners can park easily and charge theirs from home. But roughly 40% of UK households don’t have off-street parking, so the question is how they would charge an EV and would easy access to home-charging […]
‘Terror of kings’: why the 1066 appearance of Halley’s comet terrified the medieval world
Depiction of a comet from 1552, from The Book of Miracles, created in Augsburg, Germany, around 1550. WikiCommons A sequence on the Bayeux tapestry shows King Harold alongside a crowd gazing at the sky, beneath the embroidered caption Isti mirant stella (“those people marvel at the star”). Above Harold sits Halley’s comet, with ghost-like invasion […]