Trump uses assassination attempt to justify his assault on first amendment rights to free speech
The Trump administration has called on TV network ABC to “take a stand” after a joke from its late night comedy host Jimmy Kimmel offended the US president and first lady. Two days before the White House Correpondents’ dinner on April 25, Kimmel broadcast what he said was a “roast” of the Trump administration. Roasts […]
What is a just war? Inside the war of words between the Trump administration and the Catholic church
Pope Leo’s words on Palm Sunday were pointed. “Jesus does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war”, he said during an address at the Vatican. A few days later in early April, when Timothy Broglio, the archbishop for US military services, was asked on CBS’s Face the Nation if the Iran war […]
Which bird has the best song? These experts think they know
To mark International Dawn Chorus day we’ve asked wildlife experts to make their case for why their favourite songbird deserves your vote. Cast your vote in the poll at the end of the article and let us know why in the comments. We hope their words will inspire you to step outside and soak up […]
Dolls beat screens for building children’s social skills, study finds
Vach cameraman/Shutterstock What’s the point of play? Is it simply a way to keep children occupied, or something more? For some, it’s about learning literacy and numeracy. For others, it’s how friendships form and relationships deepen. But it can be all of these at once, and more. Most parents recognise that play matters. But there’s […]
What alternatives do Gulf states have to the Strait of Hormuz?
The Gulf states have built a variety of emergency pipelines over the years to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Md. Raihan Uddin Rafi / Shutterstock Two months into the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz is still mostly shut. Vessel traffic is running at a fraction of pre-war levels, with the patchwork of ceasefires, […]
Eleven types of cancer are on the rise in England’s under 50s – these factors might explain the trend
The overall number of cancers in people aged roughly 25 to 49 has risen by around a quarter since the early 1990s. Halfpoint/ Shutterstock Rising cancer rates in younger adults are real, worrying and still partly unexplained. A new analysis adds important detail for England, suggesting that 11 cancers are becoming more common in people […]
We found a lost copy of the earliest surviving English poem in a medieval manuscript in Rome
Elisabetta Magnanti and Mark Faulkner with a copy of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Courtesy of the authors, CC BY-ND Some medieval texts have barely survived. Beowulf, the Old English masterwork, exists today because of a single manuscript – one that narrowly escaped combustion in 1731. For such texts, the single manuscript is […]
A new exhibition explores empire, love and loss through paintings of flowers from 1900
The term “handpicked” suggests a bouquet that has been chosen carefully, each flower selected for its colour, form or meaning and relation to the others. The curators of this new exhibition at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge have certainly achieved a complex yet complementary arrangement. This small but rich exhibition was picked and approved with the […]
How immigration is playing a role in the Scottish election, even though policy is set in Westminster
No single issue has dominated the agenda ahead of the Scottish parliament election in May. But immigration, despite being a matter not devolved to Holyrood, has been part of campaigns. This is because some parties use it to feed wider anxieties about housing, jobs, public services and identity. Glasgow has been a particular flashpoint because […]
How does the UK press report net zero? We studied 500 articles to find out
O.Bellini / shutterstock A glance at recent front pages of many British newspapers leaves no doubt about the stridency of their views on net zero. On January 13, for instance, the Express said the government must “Tell truth on ‘fantasy’ cost of net zero”, while the Mail’s headline on the same day used the same […]