Analysis

P&O Ferries: How some companies can afford to break the law.

— Employment law is all at sea. Rich companies can simply choose to buy themselves out of the legal system.

War in Ukraine

How Russia is using intellectual property as a war tactic.

— The Russian government has essentially legalised intellectual piracy as a response to sanctions.

Analysis

The sacking of 800 P&O staff shows just how precarious UK jobs can be.

— Zero hour contracts remove job security and impact workers’ health, finances and prospects.

War in Ukraine

Ukraine: The UK is failing to meet its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention.

— Instead of providing safe and legal routes to protection to people in grave danger, Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced a minor loosening of visa rules.

Analysis

Uptake of children’s COVID vaccines is low in the UK – and their slow, confused approval is to blame.

— Under a quarter of 12- to 15-year-olds are double vaccinated in the UK, while vaccines for younger children are still yet to be rolled out.

War in Ukraine

Russian opposition to the invasion of Ukraine is giving Putin cause for alarm.

— The Russian president has already shown he will come down hard on domestic opposition to the war in Ukraine. We will see a doubling down of repression, including to prevent any cascade of dissent that might shake the very foundations of Putin’s regime.

War in Ukraine

As Putin puts nuclear forces on high alert, here are 5 genuine nuclear dangers for us all.

— Experts around the world have been warning nuclear weapons are increasingly being seen as ‘usable’ by the political and military leaders who wield them.

War in Ukraine

Ukraine’s military is outgunned but can still inflict a great deal of pain on Russian forces.

— The last thing Putin wants is a protracted war, with bloody urban combat and echoes of Chechnya – which is what Ukrainian forces are likely to give him. Ukraine can call on a highly motivated citizenry to fight a prolonged insurgency against occupying forces.

War in Ukraine

Sanctions can still make a difference – but only if done right.

— Economic warfare only works if it really hurts. If Putin’s inner circle and the Russian elite begin to see that their financial and political futures are better secured without conflict, they might seek to abandon it or try to negotiate their own defections.

Analysis

Time for the UK to say goodbye to drive-throughs for the sake of our environment, our health, and our culture.

— Drive-throughs not only increase air pollution and emissions, but also contribute to a car-centred culture that we need to avoid.

Environment

Our meat obsession is destroying the planet – The solution is to change how we see animals.

— Learning from Indigenous cultures to treat animals as more than just food sources could help us combat the climate crisis.

COVID-19 & Schools

Lockdown schooling: Research from across the world shows reasons to be hopeful.

— Despite the major challenges lockdown-induced remote learning has presented, teachers, pupils and parents alike have reaped certain benefits. Can school learn from these changes?

COVID-19

Where (and how) you are most likely to catch COVID.

— We have quantified how the different influences on transmission change your risk of getting COVID-19. The actual risk will depend on specific parameters.

Analysis

Capitol assault: The real reason Trump and the crowd almost killed US democracy.

— The moment that could have brought US democracy to its knees on January 6, 2021 was a genuine co-production between Trump and his supporters.

COVID-19

Life after COVID: Most people don’t want a return to normal – they want a fairer, more sustainable future.

— We overestimate how much we think others want the world to return to its pre-pandemic ways, which makes us pessimistic about the potential to make things better.

COVID-19

COVID: How the disease moves through the air.

— Masks definitely catch some of the virus-laden aerosols and droplets – and that will reduce transmission between people and the number of cases of COVID-19.