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How our mobile phones and plastic toys help to prop up dictatorships
Leif Wenar's Blood Oil skillfully reveals the link between the consumer goods we purchase and the violence with which their raw materials are obtained.“Telling the person in the seat next to you that...
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How the European Union helped me
During a difficult time at home, the right to work abroad made the difference. "Guten morgen, Herr Lucas..." Every morning in the summer of 1980 this was my greeting when I arrived at work. A student...
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Northern Powerhouse, northern politics?
The Northern Powerhouse has been a Conservative initiative – but Professor Keith Burnett, CBE FRS, vice-chancellor of the University of Sheffield, sees it more broadly.It is easy to see the Northern...
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As I sat in my small South London room, I surveyed the world's maddest crowds
This week, I have decided to trust to algorithms rather than observation. I offer you Google's top “lucky seven” maddened crowds. It’s difficult, simply sitting alone in a small room in south London,...
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In the Irish Republic, time is up for the old politics
The old divisions are losing their power, argues Barry Johnston. In December 1921, 5 years on from the 1916 Rising that saw the Irish once more take up arms against the British, a small delegation...
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Women with autism: do they really suffer less than men?
Are autistic women the ultimate masters of disguise? New research suggests women could face yet another gender-related disadvantage. Full-time teaching is tough nowadays. Endless admin, prescriptive...
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The “Clean for the Queen” campaign is Tory Britain at its worst
Behind the usual monarchist deference is an insidious attempt to redefine poverty as a moral choice, rather than a result of the government’s austerity. Forelocks at the ready, peasants. It’s time to...
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How one man changed how British politicians felt about Europe - forever
In one year, Jacques Delors turned the traditional dividing lines of pro-Europeanism and Euroscepticism on its head. Margaret Thatcher’s former adviser Lord Powell caused a furore when he asserted...
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What is the solution to gender inequality in the workplace?
Books by Iris Bohnet and Dawn Fostertake divergent views on the problem of how women are valued at work. What’s the point of feminism? With Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton battling it out for the...
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Nicola Sturgeon shouldn't dismiss a European 'Project Fear'
The First Minister set out her positive case for the EU this morning, but her advice on campaigning strategy is wrong Nicola Sturgeon was in London today to make the positive case for remaining in the...
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Labour MPs despair at Jeremy Corbyn after first PLP appearance this year
A shadow minister said: "If I gave a report like that ... members would be justified in deselecting me". For the first time this year, Jeremy Corbyn attended tonight’s Parliamentary Labour Party...
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How I'll work to change Labour
Labour's newest NEC member writes on how the party must change. My experience as a candidate in the recent youth elections and the problems highlighted at youth conference have made it clear to me...
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The wine shop is closed, so I loiter outside the door, whimpering like a dog...
OK, there are other places to buy wine but they are not the same. The local branch of Majestic has closed. Not for good. If that had been the case, this column would have appeared with a black border...
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Caving In
Gibraltarian fossils can tell us a lot about Neanderthal man. Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum explains.Could you tell me a little about your own professional background and how you came to...
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How the Green Party has got its groove back
After disappointment last year, the Green Party is bouncing back. Labour and the Tories are sinking under the pressure of decentralized politics. But for the Greens it could be the key to electoral...
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The Man in Room Six: the story of a young man who died in a UK immigration...
The death of Amir Siman-Tov in Colnbrook immigration removal centre raises questions about the purpose of British detention policy. Who is being detained and why? In the early hours of Wednesday 17...
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Is Simon McBurney’s The Encounter the future of theatre?
Come on a head trip into the depths of the Amazon rainforest.“Some of us here are friends”, a voice whispers into your ear, so close you think you can feel the hairs inside curl. The voice is...
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Could chimpanzees have religion?
What we discovered was a repeated activity with no clear link to gaining food or status – it could be a ritual. I trampled clumsily through the dense undergrowth, attempting in vain to go a full five...
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Capturing the reality of life in the Syrian war zone
Two new books encourage us to look past the grand narratives and listen to voices on the ground. At a hospital in the Syrian city of Homs in March 2012, the foreign correspondent Janine di Giovanni...
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In Hail, Caesar!, the Coen brothers go for brain laughs over belly laughs
A return to making movies about movies yields a breakthrough for the brothers as storytellers. The last time Joel and Ethan Coen made a “movie-movie” – that is, a film about filmmaking – the result...
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