Durham University is a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research based in historic Durham City in the UK.
We are a collegiate university committed to inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham and in the world.
We conduct research that improves lives globally and we are ranked as a world top 100 university with an international reputation in research and education (QS World University Rankings 2024).
We are a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive UK universities and we are consistently ranked as a top 10 university in national league tables (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, Guardian University Guide and The Complete University Guide).
President Obama faced a difficult task in his speech on reform of the NSA’s surveillance activities. As an accomplished orator, crafting a well-received speech was obviously within his capabilities, but…
Keeping your head up was tough in Roman times.
Public domain
During a 1988 excavation on London Wall 39 human skulls were discovered. But they remained shrouded in mystery. Now though, forensic analysis of the skulls by bio-archaeoloist Rebecca Redfern, shows that…
In the UK today, there are sizeable inequalities in health – and sometimes that gap isn’t just about north versus south. In Stockton Tees in the north-east of England, for example, there’s a 15-year gap…
Time to dust off the welcome mat - we’re expecting a lot of visitors.
BBC
David Cameron has received a strong rebuke from the Bulgarian president, Rosen Plevneliev, who revealed in an interview yesterday that he had confronted the British prime minister at an EU summit over…
‘Yes we scan!’ NSA monitoring will be a Christmas headache for Barack Obama.
Mike Herbst
Even before opening his stocking on Christmas morning, Barack Obama has his holiday reading cut out for him. His Review Group on Intelligence and Surveillance Technologies has handed him a 300-page report…
Double-duckface-synchronised-selfie. Very fresh, very now.
Chris Gansen
We truly live in a digital age. The “selfie”, has been announced by the Oxford English Dictionary as this year’s most popular word and, by me, as this year’s most unremarkable word. This new-found trend…
Robin Thicke performs his controversial hit Blurred Lines.
Ian West PA Wire Press Association Images
A campaign has been launched to denounce sexism and racism in music videos. Rewind & Reframe is the brainchild of End Violence Aganist Women, Imkaan and Object, and comes against a backdrop of growing…
Let me be clear. Because you’ll not be able to Google this later.
Department for Culture Media and Sport
The 1996 election campaign that brought Bill Clinton to the White House fundamentally changed the way campaigns are run in more ways than one. Clinton’s success owed much to the genius of James Carville…
We all know the story: Once upon a time there was a young girl who took a walk through the woods to visit her grandmother, carrying a basket of goodies. When she arrived she found her granny ill in bed…
High-profile leaders take a lot of flak.
Martin Rickett/PA
Ever thought about how it felt to read about “your” performance in the papers? For high-level leaders such as football managers, but increasingly also CEOs of high-profile businesses this is part of their…
David Cameron’s highly symbolic speech at last week’s 9th World Islamic Economic Forum confirmed the government’s commitment to develop London as an important hub for Islamic finance. London Mayor Boris…
Next month the advocate general of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), Yves Bot, will publish an opinion on the extent to which the Data Retention Directive, one of the most controversial security measures…
Al-Madinah school in Derby: making news for all the wrong reasons.
Rui Vieira/PA Wire
Each new administration tends to try to improve compulsory education by introducing a new and purportedly better type of school. The current government has at least three, and is pushing vocational schools…
Is it him? Or her? We don’t really know.
Garry Knight
A new report into so-called “health tourism” makes for a shocking read. Not because the costs of migrants deemed to have travelled to Britain primarily to enjoy free NHS services on British taxpayers has…
They’re tempting and easy but payday loans are certainly not cheap.
Scurzuzu
Pressure is mounting on high cost credit companies to face tighter controls when they hand out short-term loans. Debt advice agencies, consumer organisations, anti-poverty campaigners and a cross-party…
The number of inmates in Victorian prisons is on the rise as part of the government’s tough on crime stance. But at what cost?
shutterstock
Locking up people is easy. It is the first refuge of intellectually bankrupt politicians clamouring for votes by “getting tough” on crime. A good general will read history before going to war, so a good…
NHS clouds gather over the north.
David Wilson Clarke
The north-south divide is a powerful trope within popular English culture and it’s also evident within the country’s health. A recent report by Public Health England showed that between 2009 and 2011…
Social networks are complex and can be difficult to navigate.
Virginia Guard Public Affairs
The way information spreads through society has changed significantly over the past decade with the advent of online social networking. But it seems we humans continue to apply the same approach that we…
Is it always wrong to use racial epithets, regardless of the context? It’s an old debate, recently revived and applied to football fans. The Football Association (FA), anti-racism campaigners and Jewish…
HMP Birmingham: assaults reportedly rose 46%
David Jones/PA
As expected, the justice secretary, Chris Grayling, has announced the closure of four prisons: Northallerton, Dorchester, Reading and Blundeston. He has also confirmed that the “Titan” prison in Wrexham…