The Scottish electoral system has delivered its most disproportional result yet
The Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh. Fotokon/Shutterstock In the event, the SNP did not win the overall majority First Minister John Swinney sought in the 2026 Scottish election. However, between them the SNP and the Greens won 73 seats, 57% of all MSPs. It is the largest ever contingent of pro-independence MSPs at Holyrood. Yet […]
AI godbots: religious leaders warn of ‘alarming consequences’ when machines speak in the name of God
Shutterstock/3Dmaniac I (Adam) am chatting with the “Apostle Stephen”, an online chatbot created by the Redeemed Christian Church of God, a church founded in Nigeria in the 1950s with a growing global following. He is, to be honest, a bit pushy for an apostle. In my conversation with Apostle Stephen, I open by asking for […]
Sonny Rollins the last great of the jazz era dies
I once met the late jazz musician Walter Theodore “Sonny” Rollins (1930 to 2026). It was in the mid 90s on Manhattan’s 48th street at Rod Baltimore’s New York Woodwind and Brass Center. The shop had the best repair department so there were always some serious players around. Consequently, as I was sitting on a […]
Peter Murrell embezzled SNP donations – why do so many voters stay loyal to the party?
When historians of Scottish politics come to consider May 2026, two dates will stand out. On May 7, the SNP won almost half of the seats in the Scottish parliamentary election. If its minority administration makes it through the term, the party will have effectively been the government at Holyrood for 24 years. And then […]
My unsung hero of science: William Adams, the Bombay bureaucrat whose vision of a solar future was dashed by colonial conservatism
William Adams was entranced by energy. As a young man, his interest was nursed by working as a clerk in a London patent office in the 1860s. This gave him an early look at some of the first British designs for exploiting solar energy using mirrors, water or both. Adams would later recount his excitement […]
Ibuprofen for joint pain: what you really need to know
george martin studio/ Shutterstock Millions of people in the UK suffer from joint pain and arthritis. But with long wait times for scans, specialist appointments, physiotherapy and joint replacement surgery, many people turn to over-the-counter medicines, such as ibuprofen, to manage their joint pain, stay active and continue working. Ibuprofen is one of the most […]
Dealing with the heat
In Greece many houses are painted white, research shows this helps homes remain cooler. Kalpokaite Photography/Shutterstock This roundup of The Conversation’s environment coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter, Imagine. I’m thinking of painting my roof white. It’s not about making it look prettier, it’s because my bedroom is right underneath […]
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 […]