Decolonising Ireland’s education system remains vital despite the country’s wealth and privilege

| Insights & Views

BearFotos / Shutterstock Ireland urgently needs to decolonise its higher education system. British rule spanned several centuries in Ireland and policies during this time sought to replace Irish culture with British norms,...

How our bodies react when we use social media – and when we stop

| Insights & Views

shutterstock rawpixel.com/Shutterstock The typical adult in the UK spends nearly two hours on social media per day. And for younger users, this can easily be up to five hours. The likes of Instagram or TikTok seem to draw...

Police in Northern Ireland unlawfully spied on journalists – this is not how covert policing is meant to work

| Insights & Views

At the end of last year, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (an independent judiciary body) made a shocking landmark judgement. The tribunal found that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Metropolitan...

UK arts sector is getting a £270 million funding boost – but there are winners and losers

| Insights & Views

In any civilised community the arts … serious or comic, light or demanding, must occupy a central place. Their enjoyment should not be regarded as something remote from everyday life. This was a central statement in...

Netflix’s Toxic Town offers a stark warning on environmental rollbacks

| Insights & Views

Netflixs new drama Toxic Town tells the true story of a group of women from Corby in Northamptonshire, UK, who gave birth to children with limb differences in the 1980s and 90s. The children were born with shortened arms...

Banning first cousin marriage would be eugenic and ineffective – expert view

| Insights & Views

AliAshraf/Shutterstock A bill that proposes to ban first-cousin marriage in the UK will receive its second reading in the House of Commons on March 7. The bill, proposed by Conservative former minister Richard Holden,...

Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer – so why is breast screening attendance still a problem?

| Insights & Views

Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women globally. But, in part thanks to screening programmes, over 75% of those diagnosed with breast cancer in England now survive for ten years...