Ed Miliband’s plan to reform Labour relationship with the union movement has its origins much deeper than the recent Falkirk debacle. Of course, Unite in Falkirk West and 40 other constituency Labour parties…
Grangemouth refinery: keeping the home fire burning.
Andrew MillJigan/PA
Don Fullerton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The runaway train of 73 oil tankers that derailed and exploded in the small town of Lac-Megantic in Quebec, Canada last week left 15 dead, around 50 missing, and shows how dangerous transporting oil can…
The lights are on and no one gut hurt.
Roozbeh Rokni
For almost sixty years Hurricane Hazel has stood as the most extreme storm on recorded in City of Toronto but this week, on July 8th, a new record was set. A series of storms hit the city late in the afternoon…
Mind the gap: Japanese school girls were covered but not the boys.
Flickr/thecrypt
Heidi Larson, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Recent rubella outbreaks in Japan and Poland are the clearest evidence possible that herd immunity matters. There are many reasons why people don’t get vaccinated for totally preventable diseases such…
‘One hand’: Once again it is the military which is calling the shots in Egypt.
Zeinab Mohamed via Creative Commons
In the past four weeks, a major political earthquake seems to have hit the Middle East, where three key regional constituencies: Iran, Qatar and Egypt, experienced more or less unexpected changes of leadership…
A new subject is to be introduced in England to kick start our technological future. Instead of teaching ICT, the national curriculum published this week calls on schools to teach computing. This new way…
Kevin Rudd tried to turn climate change into a security issue, so why didn’t it work?
AAP Image/Danish Foreign Ministry
Kevin Rudd once called climate change “the greatest moral, economic and social challenge of our time”. Despite the fiery rhetoric, support for climate change action declined during his tenure. So, how…
It’s the end of the runway for Nicole.
jaimelondonboy
High-end fashion label Nicole Farhi has called in the administrators. Restructuring specialists Zolfo Cooper are looking for a buyer, while property consultants are wondering what to do with the firm’s…
To whom does one complain about the PCC?
Yui Mok/PA
Free speech does not imply the freedom to mislead. We want our media to be free, but also honest and reliable. Balancing those sometimes competing demands is a subtle and difficult task. In many countries…
In his new National Curriculum for schools in England, announced this week, Education Secretary Michael Gove pledged to modernise design and technology education. This is thought to include introducing…
Hartmut Michel discussing the future of energy production and storage.
63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings
Hartmut Michel won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1988 “for the determination of the structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre”, which helped reveal details of one of nature’s most useful processes…
In the UK, a third of all the energy used goes towards heating buildings and providing hot water, most of this, a quarter of the total, in homes. The thermal efficiency of UK homes has increased by one…
The Home Office recently published a sensible and thorough look at the local impact of migration. Did you read about it? You certainly won’t have in the Mail or the Telegraph, who apparently read an entirely…
Glasses, check. Passport, check. Cheque for £200?
Flickr/Justin Vidamo
Another argument has broken out between the government and doctors over a proposal to charge immigrants to use the NHS. The government claims a levy will make the NHS more fair and sustainable and stop…
Hacker to mastercrook by way of HMP Pentonville.
DFectuoso
Following an agreement in the European Parliament on the 4th July, EU countries are to strengthen their domestic laws against the more serious forms of cyber-crime. We can now expect to see prison sentences…
Most police forces don’t understand how to use their powers of stop and search. The majority of times they use it, they get it wrong - and black people are seven times as likely to be stopped and searched…
Two years ago South Sudanese were partying as the country split from Sudan.
Tim Freccia / Enough Project
The second anniversary of South Sudan’s independence is overshadowed by the release of the annual State Failure Index by the Fund for Peace, which ranks the country as the world’s fourth most failed state…
Forest fires will become more severe with climate change, inevitably taking a greater toll of lives.
European Press Agency
The tragic events in Yarnell, Arizona, where 19 firefighters died battling a forest fire, brought to the forefront the dangers of forest fires. The changes in climate that have been observed during the…
Analysis of Twitter timing can catch robots red-handed.
Flickr: Arthur40A
A recent study of Twitter communication patterns has revealed that human activity on Twitter is easily distinguishable from other types of users. By analysing the timing of tweets, we were able to discover…
Ordinary rendition: Abu Qatada has been returned to Jordan to face trial.
Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Abu Qatada was deported to Jordan from the UK in the early hours of Sunday morning to face terrorism charges. For the British home secretary, Theresa May, it was a triumph in the face of a judiciary which…
With inadequate resources, it’s as difficult to deliver choice as babies.
Flickr: David Swift Photography
For decades there has been a struggle between those arguing for women’s wishes to come first when it comes to childbirth and those who believe that a healthy baby is the only important consideration…
Taking on water is the last thing a sinking vessel needs.
amirjina
Bailing out banks is so 2008. It seems 2013 is the year of the bank “bail in”. It started with the Co-operative Bank in the UK, when the bank’s management decided to “bail in” some of its bond holders…
Back to the old school with Michael Gove.
paul clarke
Education Secretary Michael Gove announced yesterday that the National Curriculum for schools in England is to be overhauled, with a new subject structure and lists of content. Gove’s curriculum includes…
Social workers are quick to be blamed when things go wrong.
PA/John Stillwell
Social workers have one of the most difficult jobs to do. Imagine juggling several cases involving children at risk in their own home at the same time - and making decisions that could affect those children…
Still waiting to load the hamster dance…
Scorpians and Centaurs
The National Audit Office has warned that the government is two years behind schedule in its plan to bring broadband to 44 rural areas by 2015. It now looks like only nine of these areas will be linked…