Universal Credit: from benefits panacea to government blunder

Feb 17, 2017 00:39 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

Only a fraction of the households in the UK originally intended to be receiving a new one-stop benefit payment in 2017 are currently doing so. As of January 12 2017, 960,000 claims have been made for Universal Credit and...

Briferendum Aftermath Series

Inside the British Asian Brexit vote – and why it contains a few surprises

Feb 17, 2017 00:37 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

Months on from the EU referendum, our understanding of the Leave vote is still patchy in certain areas. Weve learnt that older people and the less affluent were more likely to choose Brexit, but we know less about how the...

US under Trump Series

What a philosopher and the Thirty Years War tell us about Donald Trump

Feb 17, 2017 00:31 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

Michel Foucault, who died more than 30 years ago, has something to tell us about Donald Trump. The French philosopher once delivered a famous lecture which sought to explain why the people of Europe had done away with the...

Why social grants matter in South Africa: they support 33% of the nation

Feb 17, 2017 00:28 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

The South African governments failure to fix a corrupted R10 billion social grant payment contract has caused a crisis that threatens to disturb monthly payments to millions of vulnerable households. The Conversation...

Why global education rankings don't reveal the whole picture

Feb 17, 2017 00:26 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

Country rankings in international education tests such as PISA and TIMSS are often used to compare and contrast education systems across a range of countries. But it isnt always an even playing field. This is because...

LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

Feb 16, 2017 08:21 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

It may seem like a doomed attempt to mix business and pleasure. But a growing number of young professionals in Silicon Valley insist that taking small doses of psychedelic drugs simply makes them perform better at work ...

Briferendum Aftermath Series

The civil service faces a great British Brexit challenge

Feb 16, 2017 07:14 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

The UK Civil Service seems to be in poor shape. It has been eroded since the Fulton Report half a century ago, which criticised the skills and the professionalism of civil servants. Civil service numbers have also been...