Lars Cornelissen, Manchester Metropolitan University; Independent Social Research Foundation
Prime Minister Keir Starmer thinks that racism is returning to British society. He has accused Nigel Farage’s Reform UK of sowing “toxic division” with its “racist rhetoric”.
A new Special Report by Sustainability Magazine titled ‘Technology & Energy: Decarbonising the Built Environment’, focuses on how global property and real estate leaders are deploying innovative technologies to reduce carbon emissions, since buildings are responsible for a significant percentage of global energy use and carbon emissions. Key companies like Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, and Johnson Controls are featured for their efforts in leveraging smart systems, electrification, and clean energy to achieve net-zero commitments. The report highlight that smart building technologies are instrumental in reducing energy consumption and underscore the growing market value of green building practices. Continue reading
Nov. 21, 2025 /Mpelembe Media/ — Africa, particularly the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions, features prominently in the report’s analysis of global instability and conflict, often ranking among the world’s least peaceful and most conflict-affected areas.
The overall trend shows a continuous decline in peacefulness for both regions, marked by severe conflicts, rising geopolitical competition, and acute economic stressors. Continue reading
Nov. 18, 2025 /Mpelembe Media/ — The report offers an extensive analysis of the current state of global peace, highlighting a deterioration in peacefulness for the sixth consecutive year, driven primarily by increases in Ongoing Conflict and Militarisation. It details rising geopolitical fragmentation, an increase in the number of internationalised conflicts, and a major jump in global military spending to a record $2.7 trillion in 2024. The report also examines the economic impact of violence, noting it reached $19.97 trillion and that developing countries are heavily burdened by debt, often spending more on servicing it than on public services, leading to increased domestic conflict risk in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Finally, the analysis identifies nine key factors that escalate conflict intensity and uses case studies—such as the Tigray War and the Kashmir conflict—to illustrate the risks of future large-scale violence. Continue reading
Nov. 17, 2025 /Mpelembe Media/ — There is an unprecedented global surge of Gen Z-led protests across multiple countries. Youth participation in political change is not new, the recent wave of these movements are interconnected and enabled by technology. The key commonalities among these countries experiencing these protests: they generally possess relatively high political rights but suffer from deficits in prosperity metrics such as income, health, or education, coupled with significantly high youth populations. The article concludes by discussing the mixed outcomes of these protests, which have led to full regime change in countries like Nepal and Madagascar. Is it possibie to predict where future youth uprisings might occur based on these shared characteristics? Continue reading
The new issue of the White House History Quarterly magazine, titled “The White House That Wasn’t,” this seventy-ninth issue, explores alternative histories and unrealised plans related to the White House, beginning with the much larger design proposed by city planner Pierre Charles L’Enfant in 1791. The release outlines several articles, which discuss topics ranging from an artist’s vision of L’Enfant’s original plan and the President’s temporary house in Germantown, Pennsylvania, during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic, to objects like a Steinway piano that was declined and presidential myths that were proven false. The publication is produced by the White House Historical Association, a non-profit organisation founded in 1961 by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy to preserve and educate the public on the history of the Executive Mansion. Continue reading
Hydrachem, a UK-based water and surface disinfection specialist warns that the surge in contaminated water incidents poses a grave threat to the food and farming sectors. Hydrachem reports a 29% increase in pollution incidents in England and Wales in 2024, with severe cases rising by 60%, jeopardising crop quality, livestock welfare, and the entire food supply chain. Continue reading
Kevin Collins, The Open University
A woman was recently fined £150 by a council for pouring coffee down a drain before getting on a bus. The fine has now been rescinded by Richmond council in London, but the incident has prompted many discussions about whether coffee discarded like this could cause environmental damage.
Oct. 24, 2025 /Mpelembe Media/ — Chansa Mpundu, who serves as the Member of Parliament for Nkana, He disclosed that he and other MPs established a movement called “Ichabaiche” (The Movement for Good Governance), which aims to encourage young people to participate in governance. Continue reading
Global greenhouse gas emissions data for July 2025 report shows that total global emissions reached 5.21 billion tonnes CO₂e, marking a slight increase of 0.43% compared to July 2024. The release provides a comprehensive breakdown of these emissions by major countries (with China, the US, and India showing increases), sectors (with fossil fuel operations seeing the largest increase), and the top emitting urban areas. Continue reading