Category: The Conversation – UK

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Matthew Barnfield, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London

Whatever the Labour government is doing, it doesn’t seem to be working, yet. Economic growth – its number one priority – hasn’t taken off. The party is trailing far behind Reform in the polls. It risks presiding over an outright decrease in living standards.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer responds to criticism by reminding us that, from the outset, he has been clear that short-term pain is needed in order to secure long-term gain. He recently repeated this message in his speech to the Labour party conference, proclaiming: “Our path, the path of renewal, it’s long, it’s difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy.”

The trouble with this politics of patience is that, funnily enough, many voters care a lot about how things go in the short term. And recent polling data suggests a failure to make improvements in the near term could drive Labour supporters to other parties at the next election – especially those voters who focus more on the short term.

Some admittedly important immediate improvements have been delivered since Labour came to power in 2024. These include public sector pay rises and overall wage growth. But without more meaningful change, including on measures that could make a big difference on living standards, rather than “short-term pain, long-term gain”, what some people might think they are really getting is “all pain, no gain”.

Tackling child poverty is a case in point: a promised strategy from the government did not appear in its first year in office, despite the urgency of the problem.

Polling data I recently collected with my colleagues Philip Cowley and Karl Pike, as part of our ongoing research into short- and long-term policymaking, reveals that the patience this government expects from the British public might be incurring a major electoral cost. Those of its 2024 voters who focus more on the short term in their political thinking are more likely to intend to vote for a different party at the next election.

We tested whether people were short-termists or long-termists by explicitly asking whether they focused on the short or long term when they voted. We also tested this more implicitly by asking a series of other less direct questions about what psychologists call “future orientation”.

We found slightly over a third of Labour voters were more short-termist than long-termist. And the more focused on the short term our participants said they were, the more likely they were to indicate they would vote for a different party in the next election, not vote at all or are not sure how they will vote – that is, do anything other than vote for Labour again next time around.

This ranged from those with the most short-term views having around a 75% chance of saying they would abandon Labour, to those who saw themselves as the most long-termist having a 43% chance.

Self-declared short and long-term thinkers:

Similar results were in evidence for the implicit measures. According to our model, of the most short-termist, Labour are losing around 83%. Of the most long-termist, they are losing just 35%. In each case, the differences are so great that we can be sure the overall effect is not purely down to chance.

All these probabilities (and margins of error) come from statistical models where we account for people’s age, gender, ethnicity and left-right political views, ruling those other factors out as explanations of what we find.

Implicitly measured short and long-term thinkers

We also asked respondents whether they think the UK is heading in the right or wrong direction. In line with polling in recent years, a huge 70% of our sample says the country is (still) heading in the wrong direction. Only 15% said it is heading in the right direction.

But we found that those voters who focus more on the short term are much more likely than long-termist people to think the country is heading in the wrong direction. A shortage of short-term wins makes it hard to see how the country can be on the right track.

What’s more, of Labour’s 2024 voters, those who think the UK is heading in the wrong direction have about a 74% chance of switching to another party in 2029. But only around 28% of 2024 Labour voters who think the country is heading in the right direction intend to vote for a different party.

The government is right that meaningful change, or “fixing the foundations” of the country, does not happen overnight. But equally if change takes as long as Keir Starmer says, a year into his government it should soon be getting underway.

For the politics of patience to be persuasive, especially to the short-termist voters the party is losing at an alarming rate, a positive trajectory must become clear soon. Otherwise, Labour might not remain in power long enough to secure the gains it is promising in return for patience.

The government should not give up on its long-term missions, but seeing out its “decade of national renewal” by winning the next election will require more obvious short-term change, too.

Matthew Barnfield receives funding from the British Academy.

– ref. Keir Starmer needs to give voters short-term gain to persuade them he can deliver long-term renewal – https://theconversation.com/keir-starmer-needs-to-give-voters-short-term-gain-to-persuade-them-he-can-deliver-long-term-renewal-267404

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Aislinn Clarke, Lecturer in Film Studies, Queen’s University Belfast

When I think of my first encounter with horror, I don’t think of a vampire, a witch, or even a possessed girl’s head spinning round (I saw The Exorcist at the age of seven). I think of a Sun God, I think of teeth and claws slicked with blood, I think of the Black Rabbit of Death. And he wasn’t even the bad guy.

I’m not talking about some campy folk horror from the 1960s. I’m talking about the 1978 animated version of Richard Adams’ Watership Down.

I was perhaps four when I saw it. The opening sequence remains a core memory: the myth of the Prince with a Thousand Enemies, the Original Rabbit, rendered in gorgeous animation that evoked Aboriginal art via the films of New Zealand artist Len Lye. Then the great crimson wave of blood flowing across the fields. Death, cold and indiscriminate, was coming to the gentle slopes of Watership Down.

That was the moment I first felt awe and terror at the fragility of life. And the utter indifference of death. The kind of awe and terror we assume children’s minds can neither comprehend nor bear.

And that was just the beginning.

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This article is part of a series of expert recommendations of spooky stories – on screen and in print – for brave young souls. From the surprisingly dark depths of Watership Down to Tim Burton’s delightfully eerie kid-friendly films, there’s a whole haunted world out there just waiting for kids to explore. Dare to dive in here.

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It’s easy to assume that because Watership Down is a cartoon about woodland animals, it must be gentle. It isn’t. And that’s why it’s so powerful. My parents had already let my older siblings and I watch the campy spectacle of Hammer Horror at Halloween, but they couldn’t have guessed the deeper impact of Adams’s rabbits – they let me watch alone from the safe distance of the shag rug one sunny afternoon in 1984.

Nothing terrible had yet happened to me. I hadn’t known grief or loss. Watership Down cracked that open. For the first time, I understood, viscerally, that all the earth’s creatures – including myself – are mortal, and that death was coming for us all.

But don’t let that put you off sharing it with your four-year-old.

The value of horror is that it gives us a safe space to process fear. It takes the anxieties we can’t name and turns them into something we can face. I watched horror films with my family every weekend – Poltergeist, Day of the Dead, The Evil Dead.

Afterwards I slept like the actual dead. Soundly. Peacefully. I didn’t have nightmares, even if I did dream of rabbits. I didn’t need nightmares. For, what is a horror film, after all, if not a nightmare you share with people you love – a nightmare that can be switched off and tucked back into its case?

And, yes, I am saying that Watership Down is a horror film. Like Lovecraft’s cosmic horror, like The Thing or Alien, the terror of Watership Down arises from mortal insignificance. We too are small, powerless, unmoored, no different to the rabbits fleeing the down.

The film’s horror depends on empathy, the recognition that every creature wants what we want: to live, to love, to survive. Children understand that we are not special.

However, it is perhaps the most primal and defining characteristic of humanity that, not only do we fear death, but we know it is coming. Such darkness is part of being human and we can’t insulate children from the fullness of being human.

If we try, the chances are that the darkness will come out anyway in their nightmares, understood as a terrible thing that their own mind created in the dead of night. To share a film like Watership Down with them is to say: “I trust you with this. You are ready for awe, wonder, and yes, for fear too. And it is because we fear that we hope.”

Richard Adams opened his novel with a gruesome quote from the ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus and added: “If that makes the child put it back on the shelf, then to Hell with the child.”

His provocation was not contempt but a refusal to patronise. Children, he argued, deserve stories that take them seriously. Indeed, to live without curiosity, without discomfort, without provocation, is the stuff of nightmares. That is hell.

Both the book and the film trust their audience to confront mortality honestly. That trust makes for stronger children – and stronger adults. Adams rejected allegorical readings of his story, insisting that this gut wrenching heroes’ journey, with its keen sense of justice, really was about rabbits.

Children understand that not everything has to be about us. Only adults insist on being the default main character. Children know that in this beautiful, terrible world, everything – even us – just wants to live.

Perhaps all of this is more than one would expect from a cartoon film about woodland animals. Maybe we could all use a sunny afternoon on the rug, watching Watership Down, and remembering what it is like to be small and afraid and full of hope.

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Watership Down has a PG rating, which means some material may not be suitable for young children, so parental guidance is advised.

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

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Aislinn Clarke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Scary stories for kids: Watership Down made me aware of my mortality at age four – https://theconversation.com/scary-stories-for-kids-watership-down-made-me-aware-of-my-mortality-at-age-four-267052

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Manuel Corpas, Lecturer in Genomics, University of Westminster

Global mortality continues to fall. Life expectancy has improved to unprecedented levels and deaths in young children have plummeted. Yet for adolescents and young adults, especially those aged 15 to 24, little progress has been made according to data from the latest Global Burden of Disease study. In parts of North America and eastern Europe, mortality in those aged 15-24 has actually risen in the past decade.

This latest study also showed the main causes of death among young people aren’t disease or poor health. The main causes were shown to be injury, violence, suicide, road traffic accidents and substance abuse.

This shows us that health systems worldwide are still ill-equipped to prevent or intervene effectively in social and structural causes of youth mortality.

The Global Burden of Disease study is one of the largest studies on the picture of health, disease and mortality worldwide. The study analysed more than 310,000 data sources collected between 1950 and 2023 from 204 countries. Using death registries, censuses and household surveys, the research team estimated age-specific mortality trends across the lifespan.

The overall picture is one of uneven progress.

For children, especially in low and middle-income countries, vaccines, improved sanitation and better nutrition have saved millions of lives. In east Asia, for instance, mortality in under-fives fell by 68% between 2011 and 2023.

For older adults, the global mortality rate declined by 67% between 1950 and 2023, thanks to better screening, medication and chronic disease management.

Deaths from cardiovascular disease (the leading cause of death globally) have also improved substantially. But cardiovascular disease and other non-communicable diseases (such as cancer and diabetes) still account for nearly two-thirds of all deaths ariund the world.

For young people aged 15-24, the risk profile was different. For them, the main causes of death were primarily preventable ones.

In North America, deaths among people aged 20 to 39 rose by as much as 50% in the past decade – largely due to suicide, drug overdose and alcohol-related harms. The picture was also similar in some parts of Latin America.

But in other parts of the world, such as sub-Saharan Africa, infectious diseases (such as as tuberculosis) and unintentional injuries were the main drivers of youth mortality.

The study also highlighted stark inequalities in mortality risk for youth from marginalised, low-income or Indigenous groups. For instance, the study found that mortality in young women aged 15-29 living in sub-Saharan Africa was 61% higher than previously estimated, mostly due to maternal mortality, road injuries and meningitis.

However, these groups remain systematically underrepresented in global health datasets. The study found that more than 80% of countries lacked nationally representative data across key health domains, including mental health and child health. This meant most of the data was drawn from high-income regions.

Latin Americans, for example, make up over 8% of the global population but represent less than 1% of some global reference datasets. Such a systemic lack of representation from these groups renders their health needs invisible – including the health needs of those affecting the young.

Emerging trends

Today’s young people face unprecedented economic insecurity, social volatility, violence and pressures from social media – all of which can have an extraordinary toll on both mental health and wellbeing.

Mental health challenges underlie many of the leading causes of adolescent death reported in the study. It’s clear from this and other studies that youth mental health urgently needs to be addressed.

For instance, research from Spain which looked at over 2 million adolescent hospitalisations between 2000 and 2021, found admissions for mental health conditions more than doubled – surging especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

For teenage boys, substance use, ADHD and psychosis were the most common causes of hospitalisation. For girls, eating disorders, anxiety and depression were more prevalent.

A related study found admissions for adolescent anorexia nervosa rose by almost 90% after 2020 – with cases overwhelmingly concentrated in girls aged 13-17.

Health survey data from 2023 also showed that half of US young adults aged 18-24 reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression. Additionally, a separate US survey also found that more than one-third of 18-24-year-olds reported they’d recently thought about self-harm or suicide.

Other factors which may also have contributed to high youth mortality rates may include a historical lack of preparedness by health systems in focusing on adolescent health issues, as well as a lack of interventions aimed at reducing the actual leading causes of youth death (such as road safety, violence prevention and meaningful mental health care).

The response to youth mortality cannot be medical alone as the leading causes of death in this age group require interventions that sit outside healthcare and require coordination across sectors.

Data systems must also change. Youth from low-income countries, Indigenous people and marginalised groups are underrepresented in research. This means we don’t fully understand the needs of these groups and the problems they face – making it difficult to plan and implement effective interventions.

Youth health must be re-framed as an equity issue, as well. The current model treats young people as responsible for their own poor outcomes, when research shows that, overwhelmingly, these issues can be caused by conditions that young people do not control: poverty, exposure to violence, unsafe road environments, inadequate mental health services and lack of economic opportunity.

These deaths are preventable. We cannot celebrate global health gains when youth mortality is stagnant – and even worsening in many parts of the world. Preventing adolescent and young adult deaths is the next frontier for a fairer, healthier future.

Manuel Corpas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Rise in youth mortality fuelled by mental illness, drugs, violence and other preventable causes – https://theconversation.com/rise-in-youth-mortality-fuelled-by-mental-illness-drugs-violence-and-other-preventable-causes-267459

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Mark Griffiths, Reader in Political Geography, Newcastle University

Minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium, tantalum, tin and tungsten, which are all abundant in central Africa, are essential to the comforts of everyday life. Our phones, laptops and electric vehicles would not function without them.

These minerals are also tied intimately with conflict. For decades, military and paramilitary violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and on its borders – particularly with Rwanda – has been shaped and financed by control over some of these sought-after commodities.

Many of these minerals, including those that have supposedly been sourced responsibly, are linked to violence at the other end of the supply chain too. As we found in our recently published research, minerals sourced in central Africa play a crucial role in the waging of modern wars.

Extensive campaigning and lobbying over the past two decades has focused on the idea of “conflict-free minerals” as a way to address links between extraction and armed conflict in mining regions.

This has resulted in a suite of legislation in the EU and US obliging tech manufacturers that use minerals from the DRC and surrounding countries to submit so-called “conflict minerals reports” to national authorities.

In the US, for example, tech firms file what is known as a “specialized disclosure form” to the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing all sources of four key minerals commonly associated with conflict in Africa: tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold.

The form requires a declaration that trade is compliant with the due diligence guidelines set by the OECD on responsible supply chains in the DRC and neighbouring states. This guidance has, in turn, given rise to an industry of regulators that seeks to ensure minerals connected to conflict do not enter supply chains.

Tech companies worldwide – big and small – now comply with conflict minerals policies. The fact that these firms can be held under a critical spotlight, and that attention is falling on how bloody wars are connected to consumer products, is a positive development. But there are many flaws to this system of accountability.

One issue is the difficulty in proving that mineral supply is truly conflict free. Many of the “conflict-free” minerals sold through Rwanda, for instance, are very likely to have at least some connection to war.

In the early 2000s, when Rwandan forces were involved in armed conflict in the DRC, the UN estimated that the Rwandan army controlled between 60% and 70% of all the coltan (tantalum ore) produced there. It is widely accepted that Rwandan influence has persisted in the DRC since.

Another issue is that, under conflict-free mineral legislation, “conflict” is associated with minerals only at source. There is no oversight on how minerals are connected to conflict at the other end of supply chains in modern weapons of war.

Conflict minerals

Weapons are no longer fashioned only with lead, iron and brass. They now depend on a range of advanced technologies: lithium batteries, cobalt cathodes, tantalum resistors, nickel capacitors, tin semiconductors, tungsten electrodes and so forth.

In fact, everything advanced militaries do nowadays – whether it involves a fighter jet, drone, guided bomb, smart bullet, night vision or remote sensing – utilises these components.

As we outline in our study, conflict-free minerals are essential to the waging of modern wars. We traced the movement of ores from the DRC into Rwanda, from where they are then sold to some of the world’s largest weapons makers as “conflict-free” minerals.

A coterie of defence contractors source minerals via this route. These minerals, as our previous research shows, are used as “volumetrically minor yet functionally essential” ingredients of the products these firms sell to militaries worldwide.

To draw focus on two “conflict-free” minerals traded through Rwanda, tin and tantalum are vital to the function of a wide range of military wares. According to the US defence department, tin is present in “nearly all military hardware”.

It is crucial in compound forms to defrost screens at high altitudes and to deflect radio waves to enhance stealth. Tin is also used to power the Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kits that improve the accuracy of bombs.

Tantalum-based semiconductors comprise the basic circuitry of drones. And among other things, tantalum is the active adsorbent material in the infrared camera tubes that make night vision possible. High-tech wars cannot be fought without these minerals, which are traded under conflict-free mineral legislation.

Researchers have long suspected that minerals can never be conflict free at source. But our findings now turn attention to the other end of the supply chain. If it is to have any purchase at all, the idea of “conflict-free” minerals must be entirely refigured.

Virtually all commentary by journalists, lawyers and scholars focuses narrowly on consumer technologies, with the injustices faced by mining communities in central Africa contrasted with phones and electric vehicles. The source of minerals is the sole focus of ethical scrutiny.

This is an important aspect of minerals supply chains. But there is a growing prominence of other tech companies, in the form of modern weapons manufacturers, whose customers are not the global masses but the militaries of the world’s most belligerent states.

Companies like Elbit Systems – which did not respond to The Conversation’s request for comment – present themselves as complying with ethical standards.

In its 2020 conflict minerals report, Elbit declared a corporate stance against “human rights abuses and atrocities”. It also expressed a commitment “to sourcing materials from companies that share our values with respect to human rights, ethics and environmental responsibility”.

Yet, as our research shows, some companies are sourcing minerals from one war zone and then making profit from another. It should be recalled that Elbit, for example, supplies “hundreds of products” to Israel’s defence ministry.

There needs to be more scrutiny on the use of minerals “downstream” to stem the flow of the raw materials that propel wars in Gaza and beyond.

The research mentioned in this article was published as part of ‘War and Geos: the Environmental Legacies of Militarism’ (UKRI Horizon Europe grant number EP/X042642/1 (awarded as a European Research Council Starting Grant)).

Mohamed El-Shewy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How ‘conflict-free’ minerals are used in the waging of modern wars – https://theconversation.com/how-conflict-free-minerals-are-used-in-the-waging-of-modern-wars-266503

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Andrew White, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries, King’s College London

The Irish government has announced that a pilot scheme providing artists and creatives with a weekly stipend of €325 (£283) will be made permanent. The scheme, which was first introduced in 2022, was launched in an attempt to mitigate the growing financial instability many in the creative industries face.

The basic income for the arts (BIA) initial pilot ran from 2022 to 2025 and helped 2,000 artists. The results of an independent study found that it had a noticeable positive impact on the lives of those who received it.

There have been many basic income schemes around the world in the 21st century, but virtually all of them have been discontinued upon the ending of their pilot phase. So as all societies face the possible threats to jobs and livelihoods by AI, many policymakers and researchers will be watching the progress of the Irish government’s permanent basic income scheme.

One scheme that survived past the pilot stage is the Alaska permanent fund, which has paid an annual dividend to every Alaskan resident since 1982. But unlike the Irish scheme, the payments fluctuate annually and usually don’t reach the level of income which is needed to support a person’s basic needs – known as a subsistence payment.

So many basic income schemes have failed because right across the political spectrum, people are usually uneasy about how they might undermine the value of working for a living. The perceived cost of basic income schemes is also a barrier to their extension. Support for a basic income in Finland, which ran a pilot in 2017 to 2018, significantly dropped when respondents were informed of the increases in taxation needed to fund it.

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Read more:
How Greek musicians weathered an economic crisis could help UK performers handle COVID fall-out

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This article is part of our State of the Arts series. These articles tackle the challenges of the arts and heritage industry – and celebrate the wins, too.

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The reason why Ireland has bucked this trend is that it has secured strong support from the general public rather than solely those who are most likely to benefit from it. BIA’s genesis during the COVID-19 lockdowns, whereby the importance of arts and culture was amplified and furlough programmes supported people who could not work, was crucial in solidifying public support.

The report also found that it was successful in helping its recipients. One of the biggest benefits was on the recipients’ mental health, with many stating they were less stressed about their finances and noticed a marked improvement in their general wellbeing. These findings replicate what other basic income schemes have found.

The study also found they were more productive as a result, spending up to four more hours a week on their artistic work, which in turn increased their output levels and financial sustainability.

Crucially, the report found that for every €1 of public money invested in the pilot, society received €1.39 in return.

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Read more:
Computer science culture often means anybody’s data is fair game to feed the AI algorithm – but artists are fighting back

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The demonstrable benefits found by the report boosted political support for the BIA scheme and every party competing in the 2024 Irish election were committed to its extension. However, it hasn’t been without its critics.

Of the 8,200 applicants in 2022 to the ballot for the BIA, only 2,000 were chosen. Despite the government’s pledge to try to expand the number of recipients to 2,200, the basic income will still only benefit a minority of applicants to the scheme.

This has caused some disquiet in the arts and culture sector, with those whose applications were successful reluctant to reveal their good fortune for fear of upsetting the more than 6,000 applicants who were not. Others object at the privileging of artists over other workers in as much need.

The decision to make BIA permanent will put pressure on policymakers to extend it to other sectors. However, a 2019 estimation of a basic income for every Irish resident over the age of 18 was costed at €41 billion (£36 billion) per year, making it politically unfeasible for now.

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Read more:
UK’s creative industries bring in more revenue than cars, oil and gas – so why is arts education facing cuts?

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The current scheme costs a mere €25 million. This low cost does though provide some scope for the BIA’s expansion, which might occur in the event of an existential threat to jobs and livelihoods.

As AI makes work across industries more precarious and the threat of other global disasters loom, economists, politicians and researchers like me will be eagerly watching.

Andrew White does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Ireland’s basic income scheme for artists points at how governments could help sectors in crisis – https://theconversation.com/irelands-basic-income-scheme-for-artists-points-at-how-governments-could-help-sectors-in-crisis-267181

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Naomi Joseph, Arts + Culture Editor, The Conversation

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has long served as a parable – a warning against the hubris of playing God, the dangers of motherless creation, reckless parenthood and unchecked scientific ambition. It’s a story that continues to resonate, revealing how little human ego and error have changed over time.

In the latest adaptation from horror maestro Guillermo del Toro, the tale of a mad scientist and his unnatural creation is reimagined with his signature touch. Like Shelley’s original, the film challenges us to ask: Who is the real monster?

Del Toro layers this timeless question with visual and thematic echoes from his own canon. Fans will spot traces of Crimson Peak in the gothic set design, Cronos in the intricate costuming, and The Shape of Water in its emotional core.

This version of Frankenstein is a visual feast – lavishly constructed and meticulously researched. As our reviewer Sharon Ruston points out, it incorporates real elements from early surgical education, including the gruesome 17th-century anatomy guides known as the Evelyn Tables. It also weaves in the history of Arctic exploration; those familiar with the doomed voyages of the Terror and Erebus will recognise their spectral influence.

I strongly recommend seeing this in cinemas. The immersive sound design and Alexandre Desplat’s haunting score pull you deep into this eerie, beautiful world. And if you’re in London, don’t miss the exhibition at Selfridges, where you can get up close to the props and costumes and appreciate the craftsmanship behind the film. It pairs perfectly with a visit to the Hunterian Museum, where the real Evelyn Tables are on display.

Frankenstein is in cinemas now, and will be available to watch on Netflix from November 7.

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Read more:
Guillermo de Toro’s Frankenstein: beguiling adaptation stays true to heart of Mary Shelley’s story

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Bold women

Virginia Woolf has a new book out. No, she hasn’t sent it from beyond the grave. And no, it’s not the product of an AI trained on her oeuvre. The Life of Violet is a newly unearthed early work by Woolf, available to read for the very first time.

This early foray into the genre of mock biography – which she would later explore more fully in Flush and Orlando – is composed of three short, fairytale-like stories chronicling the life of her close friend, Violet Dickinson.

Within these vivid, fantastical sketches, we see the early sparks of themes that would later define Woolf’s work: sharp satire of societal ills, the suffocating constraints of social norms, the joys and limits of womanhood, the quiet power of female friendship, and the deep yearning for freedom and choice.

Short, surreal and bitingly witty, these stories are a treat for new readers and a treasure for long-time Woolf fans who thought they had read it all.

Life of Violet: Three Early Stories is available at most bookshops

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Read more:
The Life of Violet: three unearthed early stories where Virginia Woolf’s genius first sparks to life

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If you’re looking for something binge-worthy this weekend, don’t miss Riot Women, Sally Wainwright’s bold and brilliant new drama.

The series follows five menopausal women who rediscover themselves – and find their voices – through punk at a time when life is pulling them in every direction: children, ageing parents, difficult men and demanding jobs with lousy bosses.

Tonally rich and emotionally layered, Riot Women balances laugh-out-loud moments with poignant, deeply felt drama. It’s a nuanced portrait of midlife – of caregiving, exhaustion, resilience and the fierce beauty of friendship. “These are not neat storylines,” reviewer Beth Johnson writes, “they are ongoing negotiations with life.”

The show’s strength lies in Wainwright’s deft storytelling, and an exceptional cast including Joanna Scanlan, Tamsin Greig and Rosalie Craig.

Riot Women is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now

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Read more:
With Riot Women, Sally Wainwright is turning menopause into punk rebellion

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More than just art

I first encountered the work of Lee Miller last year at the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne. I was instantly captivated. Here was a woman far ahead of her time: model, fashion photographer, surrealist artist and one of the few female war correspondents accredited by the US Army during the second world war.

Her photographs are fearless, witty and wide-ranging – from surreal shots of Egypt’s landscapes to scenes of wartime London. As fine art expert Lynn Hilditch notes, the documentation of people in the liberated Holocaust camps and refugees in the aftermath stand out as both harrowing and deeply human.

Now, Miller’s work takes centre stage in the first major UK retrospective at Tate Britain. Featuring more than 250 vintage and modern prints, film and original publications (many never before shown), the exhibition is a long-overdue celebration of her legacy.

Lee Miller is at Tate Britain in London till 15 February 2026.

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Read more:
Lee Miller retrospective confirms her as one of the most important photographers of the 20th century

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If you’re after an autumn city break, Amsterdam makes for a perfect long weekend – and right now, the Van Gogh Museum is offering something truly special.

On show is a remarkable exhibition bringing together 14 portraits of the family of Joseph Roulin – the postman who became one of Van Gogh’s closest friends during his time in Arles, in the south of France. Van Gogh painted Roulin’s wife Augustine and their three children with affection and intensity, transforming ordinary subjects into something universal.

As Frances Fowle writes, Van Gogh wasn’t just painting individuals – he was capturing archetypes. In these enigmatic portraits, we see not just a family but timeless figures: a comforting mother, a boy desperate to be a man, an innocent baby.

Van Gogh and the Roulins – Together Again At Last is at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam until January 11 2026.

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Read more:
Van Gogh and the Roulins: a family reunion of the artist’s greatest portraits

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In other exciting news, The Conversation UK’s arts team is launching a podcast to mark 250 years since Jane Austen’s birth. This series will take you on a  journey through the author’s life and times with the help of the UK’s top Austen experts.

Over six episodes, one per book, we visit a scandal-filled bun shop in Bath, go for a windswept walk along the sea shore at Lyme Regis, and attend a glittering Regency ball in York to find out more about the woman behind the novels. This is Austen as you’ve never known her before. The first episode is out in November, but you can listen to the trailer here now.

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

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– ref. Monsters, menopause and bold women – what to see, read and visit this week – https://theconversation.com/monsters-menopause-and-bold-women-what-to-see-read-and-visit-this-week-267693

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Natasha Slutskaya, Chair Professor, Work and Organization Studies, University of Sussex

In the early days of the pandemic, “solidarity” became a buzzword. As COVID-19 appeared to directly threaten us all, the UK celebrated its key workers who were keeping the country running.

This idea ran through discussions on TV and on social media. The Clap for Our Carers movement had people gathering outside on their doorsteps, applauding, ringing bells, chanting and banging on pots and pans to signal their support.

As a result, the collective reliance on various workforces, such as carers, street cleaners, refuse collectors and supermarket workers, to name a few, became increasingly transparent. Public demonstrations of solidarity with these workers gave the initial impression that the status we attach to such work might be revalued: instead of the low status to which these jobs were assigned before, COVID-19 underlined how essential they are.

However, our research on refuse workers shows that this has not translated into a permanent reevaluation of the benefit key workers bring. On the contrary, instead of a collective shift towards real social solidarity, the pandemic has exacerbated socioeconomic divisions.

Unexpected visibility

Between the UK’s first and the second lockdowns in 2020 and again, in the period after the end of the second lockdown in 2021, we interviewed 41 council workers involved in waste management across four sites in London and south-east England. Two were sites where we had previously conducted ethnographic research among street cleaners and refuse collectors.

We wanted to investigate if, and how, the pandemic affected the way that key workers involved in waste management are recognised. We asked our interviewees to reflect on and compare their experiences of working before, during and after the lockdown. We wondered whether they had noticed any changes in their interactions with the public and how they thought these developments might affect them in the future.

We found that the pandemic gave these workers moments of unexpected visibility and recognition. Not only did this show, to their minds, increased public respect, it also gave them hope that social bonds between workers and the public might be strengthened in the long term. They saw the possibility of a novel, yet seemingly mutual acknowledgement and respect. As Keith, one of our interviewees, put it:

During the pandemic we’re part of it, yes … it’s kind of like the police, the fire brigade, the ambulance, the hospitals, it’s part of the services of a community, working to keep the community functioning, and what we do is part of that.

And yet, this experience of coming together was eroded by the unequal consequences of the pandemic for different social groups. Our participants spoke of the differences they saw in people’s ability to distance themselves from the unpleasant or potentially dangerous aspects of the pandemic.

Whereas these workers still had to go to work everyday, other people did not. Our interviewees also noted the stark gap separating those key workers who performed the riskiest jobs (nurses, carers) and those whose jobs involved little risk and could be undertaken from home.

Another interviewee, Kevin, who works as a dustcart driver said:

COVID’s still going on now, because we’re not out of it yet. But, still, they’ve just carried on as their normal day, stayed at home working, while the likes of me go out there all day. And if I don’t work, I don’t get paid.

This chimed with what Nigel, a litter picker, reported:

They’re at home, comfortable. We get nothing. No nothing. Not even ‘Oh, we’ll give you a couple of days, like a couple of days extra as your holiday so you can recover and that’, nothing.

The pandemic also made broader social divisions more tangible. Our interviewees spoke about those with privilege seeming to lack interest in knowing about the deteriorating living conditions of workers like themselves. This was despite the fact that the activities these workers were doing, like waste collection and street cleaning, were vital for societal functioning. Another litter picker, Bernie, put it plainly:

You see people, you see some people going and spending like £12, £16 a day just on food going and buying lunch, and I sit there and I think: ‘How the hell do you do it?’ Nine times out of ten I have to make lunch just buying basics, you know, like a cheap loaf of bread, cheap bit of meat – luxury is a bit of sauce. They don’t want to think about people like me.

This illustrates the oxymoron of being “visibly invisible”. During the pandemic, keyworkers’ effort became more apparent. At the same time, they sensed little desire from the wider public to consider and challenge the cultural and socioeconomic factors that were negatively affecting their lives.

Our findings chime with research on how nurses, too, experienced the pandemic, with comparable levels of scepticism with regards to positive, long-term transformations. The question is whether, as German sociologist Andreas Reckwitz has argued, we are witnessing an increasing polarisation between different groups and social classes. Our research suggests that the sense that the world can be improved and society become more progressive feels ever more remote.

This has worrying implications for societal solidarity. As inequality grows, the mutual obligations citizens might have towards one another are increasingly being eroded.

All names have been changed to preserve interviewee anonymity.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Our research shows COVID-19 made people appreciate street cleaners more – but it also made their lives harder – https://theconversation.com/our-research-shows-covid-19-made-people-appreciate-street-cleaners-more-but-it-also-made-their-lives-harder-210298

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Manuel Corpas, Lecturer in Genomics, University of Westminster

Global mortality continues to fall. Life expectancy has improved to unprecedented levels and deaths in young children have plummeted. Yet for adolescents and young adults, especially those aged 15 to 24, little progress has been made according to data from the latest Global Burden of Disease study. In parts of North America and eastern Europe, mortality in those aged 15-24 has actually risen in the past decade.

This latest study also showed the main causes of death among young people aren’t disease or poor health. The main causes were shown to be injury, violence, suicide, road traffic accidents and substance abuse.

This shows us that health systems worldwide are still ill-equipped to prevent or intervene effectively in social and structural causes of youth mortality.

The Global Burden of Disease study is one of the largest studies on the picture of health, disease and mortality worldwide. The study analysed more than 310,000 data sources collected between 1950 and 2023 from 204 countries. Using death registries, censuses and household surveys, the research team estimated age-specific mortality trends across the lifespan.

The overall picture is one of uneven progress.

For children, especially in low and middle-income countries, vaccines, improved sanitation and better nutrition have saved millions of lives. In east Asia, for instance, mortality in under-fives fell by 68% between 2011 and 2023.

For older adults, the global mortality rate declined by 67% between 1950 and 2023, thanks to better screening, medication and chronic disease management.

Deaths from cardiovascular disease (the leading cause of death globally) have also improved substantially. But cardiovascular disease and other non-communicable diseases (such as cancer and diabetes) still account for nearly two-thirds of all deaths ariund the world.

For young people aged 15-24, the risk profile was different. For them, the main causes of death were primarily preventable ones.

In North America, deaths among people aged 20 to 39 rose by as much as 50% in the past decade – largely due to suicide, drug overdose and alcohol-related harms. The picture was also similar in some parts of Latin America.

But in other parts of the world, such as sub-Saharan Africa, infectious diseases (such as as tuberculosis) and unintentional injuries were the main drivers of youth mortality.

The study also highlighted stark inequalities in mortality risk for youth from marginalised, low-income or Indigenous groups. For instance, the study found that mortality in young women aged 15-29 living in sub-Saharan Africa was 61% higher than previously estimated, mostly due to maternal mortality, road injuries and meningitis.

However, these groups remain systematically underrepresented in global health datasets. The study found that more than 80% of countries lacked nationally representative data across key health domains, including mental health and child health. This meant most of the data was drawn from high-income regions.

Latin Americans, for example, make up over 8% of the global population but represent less than 1% of some global reference datasets. Such a systemic lack of representation from these groups renders their health needs invisible – including the health needs of those affecting the young.

Emerging trends

Today’s young people face unprecedented economic insecurity, social volatility, violence and pressures from social media – all of which can have an extraordinary toll on both mental health and wellbeing.

Mental health challenges underlie many of the leading causes of adolescent death reported in the study. It’s clear from this and other studies that youth mental health urgently needs to be addressed.

For instance, research from Spain which looked at over 2 million adolescent hospitalisations between 2000 and 2021, found admissions for mental health conditions more than doubled – surging especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

For teenage boys, substance use, ADHD and psychosis were the most common causes of hospitalisation. For girls, eating disorders, anxiety and depression were more prevalent.

A related study found admissions for adolescent anorexia nervosa rose by almost 90% after 2020 – with cases overwhelmingly concentrated in girls aged 13-17.

Health survey data from 2023 also showed that half of US young adults aged 18-24 reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression. Additionally, a separate US survey also found that more than one-third of 18-24-year-olds reported they’d recently thought about self-harm or suicide.

Other factors which may also have contributed to high youth mortality rates may include a historical lack of preparedness by health systems in focusing on adolescent health issues, as well as a lack of interventions aimed at reducing the actual leading causes of youth death (such as road safety, violence prevention and meaningful mental health care).

The response to youth mortality cannot be medical alone as the leading causes of death in this age group require interventions that sit outside healthcare and require coordination across sectors.

Data systems must also change. Youth from low-income countries, Indigenous people and marginalised groups are underrepresented in research. This means we don’t fully understand the needs of these groups and the problems they face – making it difficult to plan and implement effective interventions.

Youth health must be re-framed as an equity issue, as well. The current model treats young people as responsible for their own poor outcomes, when research shows that, overwhelmingly, these issues can be caused by conditions that young people do not control: poverty, exposure to violence, unsafe road environments, inadequate mental health services and lack of economic opportunity.

These deaths are preventable. We cannot celebrate global health gains when youth mortality is stagnant – and even worsening in many parts of the world. Preventing adolescent and young adult deaths is the next frontier for a fairer, healthier future.

Manuel Corpas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Surge in global youth mortality fuelled by mental illness, drugs, violence and other preventable causes – https://theconversation.com/surge-in-global-youth-mortality-fuelled-by-mental-illness-drugs-violence-and-other-preventable-causes-267459

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rebecca A. Drummond, Professor, Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham

The “gut microbiome” has become a popular health term in recent years. It’s easy to see why, with an abundance of research showing how important the trillions of microbes living in our gut are for health.

But what many people might not realise is that the microbiome doesn’t only contain bacteria. It also contains other types of microbes – including fungi. The fungal component of the microbiome is called the “mycobiome”.

Although the mycobiome has been less well studied than its bacterial counterpart, recent research shows it’s sensitive to diet and may affect our health, too.

The best studied mycobiome is the one in our intestines. It’s composed of many fungal species. The most common fungal species found there, particularly in the Western world, belong to the Candida family.

Candida are a type of yeast. For most of us, the Candida population in our mycobiome is kept in check by our immune system and our gut bacteria. But changes to either of these can cause populations of Candida to expand in the mycobiome. This can be a problem, because Candida may cause life-threatening infections in people with damaged immune systems.

For example, research found that hospital patients who are given antibiotics are more likely to develop Candida infections.

This is partly explained by the effect of antibiotics, which kill off certain species of gut bacteria that compete with Candida for space and resources within the intestine. Antibiotics have also been found to directly alter our immune cells and how they fight fungal infections.

Another study, which analysed the mycobiome of cancer patients, found that those who developed serious Candida infections had an overgrowth of the fungus in their mycobiome just before the infection started. Combined with the damaging effects of chemotherapy on the immune system, this made it harder for patients to fight off the infection.

Disruption in the mycobiome’s Candida balance has also been linked to several other diseases. For instance, Candida levels are high in patients who are critically ill. This suggests that too much Candida in our guts is a sign of poor health.

Changes in the fungal mycobiome have also been linked to several gut diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease. Research on Crohn’s disease has also shown that patients have an overgrowth of Candida. These fungi also produce toxins that irritate the gut lining, which could potentially explain some of the symptoms Crohn’s patients experience.

High levels of Candida in the gut can activate immune cells as well, making them more inflammatory. This has been seen in patients with severe COVID-19.

Mycobiomes in the body

The mycobiome isn’t only found in our gut.

We also have a skin mycobiome. In fact, the skin between our toes contains a more diverse number of fungal species than any other skin mycobiome.

The skin mycobiome is mostly dominated by a fungus called Malassezia. This yeast has adapted to grow on the skin’s surface.

Malassezia can activate the immune cells that reside between the skin’s layers. This may lead to inflammation linked to skin disorders, such as psoriasis and eczema.

Candida auris is also a cause for concern. This fungus is resistant to many antifungal drugs, which is why it can be a problem if it grows on the skin’s surface. In a hospital or emergency room, this could be dangerous – particularly to patients who have immune system problems.

Women also have a mycobiome within the vagina. Its balance with the bacterial communities living there can be a big determinant for vaginal health.

One of the most common fungal infections globally is vaginal candidiasis (thrush). It can cause symptoms such as intense itching, pain and swelling. Many adult women will experience at least one thrush infection in their lifetime.

The source of thrush is another fungus from the Candida family: Candida albicans. This is a common member of the vaginal mycobiome.

The vagina’s microbiome is normally dominated by the bacteria Lactobacillus which help keep Candida populations in check. But if the balance between bacteria and fungi gets disrupted (for example, by antibiotics), the fungus can overgrow or produce inflammatory molecules within the vagina. This inflammatory response is responsible for common thrush symptoms such as redness and itching.

Probiotics may help to restore the balance between fungi and bacteria to prevent vaginal yeast infections – although this has had limited success so far. Some new treatments that target inflammation-causing fungal molecules have shown promise in animal models and in small numbers of women.

There’s good evidence to suggest we might also have a mycobiome in the lungs and in breastmilk.

Controversially, some have even suggested that we may have small numbers of fungal cells in the brain – and these fungal cells may be linked with neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinsons and Alzheimer’s.

Autopsy studies have found evidence of fungi in the brains of people who died from brain disorders – but this doesn’t prove the fungi caused their illness or that it was there during their life.

Experimental studies in mice have also shown that small numbers of fungal cells can survive in the brain for long periods of time – and the presence of these fungal cells was linked with reduced memory function.

Experiments in flies have also shown fungi may travel to the brain and affect function. This is the best evidence we currently have showing small numbers of fungi may get into the brain and survive long-term.

Whether this occurs in people, and if this would be considered a true mycobiome, remains to be proven.

There’s still much we don’t know about the mycobiome. But with continued research in this area we may soon better understand the mycobiome’s importance in our health and how we can nurture and care for it.

Rebecca A. Drummond receives funding from the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the Lister Institute for Preventative Medicine.

– ref. The fungi living in the body play an important role in health – here’s what you should know about the ‘mycobiome’ – https://theconversation.com/the-fungi-living-in-the-body-play-an-important-role-in-health-heres-what-you-should-know-about-the-mycobiome-264545

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Mike Jones, Course Director MA (Music Industries), University of Liverpool

The Mercury prize almost always produces surprises – among them, Gomez not The Verve in 1998, and English Teacher not Charlie XCX in 2024 – but perhaps the biggest surprise is that the prize has survived for so many years. That it has been won this year by Sam Fender in his native Newcastle speaks very much of the time that has passed in those 34 years.

Conceived as a kind of credible alternative to the Brit Awards – a prize for those beyond the razzamatazz of mainstream pop music – the (then) Mercury Music prize was introduced in 1992.

This was the year of a general election which, while won by the Conservative party, did not see the re-election of Margaret Thatcher. But Thatcher’s work had been done: the introduction of neoliberal policies which ravaged many UK industries and the regions in which they were located.

Fender can be understood as a voice of that ravaged Britain. He was born two years after John Major’s election victory, and grew up in a disintegrating family in a disintegrating former industrial region. He survived the chaos and has written about that collective suffering with great skill and passion over three albums.

It is telling, too, that the (renamed) Mercury Prize lost its corporate sponsorship along the way. Being publicly allied with music is no longer the marketing “must have” it once was. This year’s award event was paid for jointly by Newcastle City Council and the regional authority.

As Britain attempts to cope with the evaporation of major industries and the suffering that permanent loss of employment infrastructure induces, many UK regions now foreground the creative abilities of their residents as a reason to invest in their particular area. Demand for music, and for the creativity it carries and expresses, has become a key feature of social and economic as well as cultural life.

This begs the question: what is it that creative people actually contribute? The 2025 Mercury prize shortlist gives us some clues, especially if we look at three of the nominees who missed out on the prize: Pulp, Wolf Alice and Martin Carthy. Both Pulp and Wolf Alice are previous winners (1996 and 2018 respectively), but Carthy has won very few awards over the 84 years of his life.

“Notable” musicians tend to be of their time. This is partly because their choice of instruments and combinations of keys, notes and tempos resonate with the moments they and their audiences are living through. But there is more to being a musician than this.

Real, affecting performance draws on and mobilises symbolic information far beyond musical soundmaking – even though that demands skill and ability. Fender, for example, is unequivocally a Geordie, even as he fits the mould of a kind of Bruce Springsteen for his times.

Both Pulp and Wolf Alice are challenging to discuss. Where Jarvis Cocker is concerned, the word “uncompromising” comes to mind, but what does that mean? Here is someone who is unique – yet what his vision of the world is, is never quite apparent. Cocker is “about something”, and he is about it so strongly that people stand back and admire him for it.

Wolf Alice are something different: a successful rock band in a time when rock bands have gone into decline. It is almost the band’s own self-awareness that, somehow, “they shouldn’t be” that gives them their energy – mining rock’s extensive back catalogue to support essentially introspective lyrics about (mainly singer Ellie Rowsell) self-adjusting to the demands of an evermore turbulent world.

In this, there are shades of Cocker. And with Fender singing about negotiating this turbulence too (only with a more explicit set of references to a world beyond his interior), so the core strengths of contemporary music begin to emerge.

Popular musicians go on providing a soundtrack for our lives because they express themselves through the idioms of the moment. If we take Fender’s previous album, Seventeen Going Under, as a point of reference, every aspect of the recording and its video speaks to his growing up in the northeast of England and his continuing loyalty to the place.

His moving acceptance speech and rapport with the audience were evidence of this. His performance of People Watching was almost pure Bruce Springsteen – mainstream rock inflected and defined by a hometown sensibility.

Which brings us to Martin Carthy. It is impossible to capture Carthy’s significance in words, because his voice cannot be heard on the page – and it is so powerfully distinctive that it needs to be heard.

Carthy was the soul of English folk music in the 1960s and ’70s. His brand of folk music speaks to a resilience through suffering – the suffering of pre-industrial society articulated through song. Now, Fender is speaking to the suffering of post-industrial society. They both should have won.

Mike Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Sam Fender wins Mercury prize: ‘Geordie Springsteen’ is voice of a UK ravaged by industrial decline – https://theconversation.com/sam-fender-wins-mercury-prize-geordie-springsteen-is-voice-of-a-uk-ravaged-by-industrial-decline-267767