Parveen Akhtar, Aston University
Following his uncontested run at the top job, Rishi Sunak acquires the less-than-coveted title of second successive un-elected British prime minister to take office in 2022. However, coming from Punjabi heritage, he also takes on the more esteemed title of the nation’s first British Asian leader.
Victoria Honeyman, University of Leeds
When Rishi Sunak lost to Liz Truss in the first Conservative Party leadership race of 2022, few were surprised. Many of the people given the chance to choose between the two candidates blamed Sunak for Boris Johnson’s downfall. They also preferred Truss’s “optimistic” economic policies to Sunak’s sombre assessment of the fiscal outlook. Where she promised generous tax arrangements, he argued that economic circumstances would be hard and taxes could not be cut in the short term. Indeed, he warned, they might even have to rise.
LONDON – Online sex worker Martha blames Britain’s cost-of-living crisis for her dwindling earnings – partly due to increased competition as soaring household bills push more women to sell sex. Continue reading
Bradley J. Irish, Arizona State University
Halloween is a time to embrace all that is disgusting, from bloody slasher films to haunted houses full of fake guts and gore.
But the attraction to stuff that grosses us out goes beyond this annual holiday.
The UN predicts that between now and 2050, at least half of the world’s population growth will originate from Africa, which currently has the fastest-growing population. The use of cryptocurrencies is increasing worldwide, and Is Quietly Thriving in Sub-Saharan Africa. Continue reading
Matthew Flinders, University of Sheffield
As Liz Truss stepped away from the lectern outside No.10 Downing Street after resigning as leader of her party, it probably occurred to her that her time as prime minister will have been only as long as the leadership campaign that got her there.
Many elevators do not have a floor numbered 13 because of common superstitions about the number.
Luis Alvarez/DigitalVision via Getty Images
Barry Markovsky, University of South Carolina Continue reading
Ticket sales for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ are approaching 3 million as the countdown continues to the first edition of the tournament in the Middle East and Arab world, which will get underway at Al Bayt Stadium on 20 November. Continue reading
When the iconic Concorde landed for the last time at Heathrow Airport in October 2003, the supersonic air travel age had seemingly come to an end. Continue reading
By Rand Hammoud, Surveillance Campaigner, Access Now
Surveillance technology is weaponry – it targets, tracks, invades, and decimates – and its unbridled use is a far-reaching, destructive violation of human rights. It is an assault rifle in the sustained global offensive on civic space, and we need a global moratorium on its export, sale, transfer, servicing, and use. Continue reading