In the news
For World Mental Health Day, this article draws attention to the global discrimination people experience because of their weight and the negative impact fatphobia has on a person's mental health. By addressing the stigma surrounding weight and body size, the authors argue for a weight-neutral perspective and highlight the need for radical social and policy change.…Read more
Recent government policies have plunged the UK’s economy into crisis. Paul Stevens, our Publisher for Business, Management and Economics, has curated this reading list that focuses on the dangers of concentrating on economic growth while ignoring the need for wider social change. …Read more
Imogen Richards highlights how pandemic health policies and political rhetoric which blamed disenfranchised people for the spread of COVID-19 encouraged far-right conspiratorial narratives about the origins of the disease.…Read more
Gerbrand Tholen questions the belief that investment in education will give all graduates privileged opportunities to become high-wage earners. There is no evidence to support these claims which stem from an inflated belief in the role of higher education in the economy. …Read more
In their paper for Policy & Politics, Elizabeth Blakelock and John Turnpenny highlight how public participation in energy market regulation has failed due to inequalities of influence between different policy actors who pose a significant challenge to legitimacy.…Read more
Despite the so-called ‘landmark legislation’ of the Modern Slavery Act, there are significant shortfalls affecting the most vulnerable victims of human trafficking. Alexandra Williams-Woods examines how the Modern Slavery Act has failed to safeguard victims.…Read more
In response to a recent story on a white nationalist group, Karen Lee Ashcraft, author of 'Wronged and Dangerous', considers how articles on far-right extremism often ignore other contributing factors, such as gender.…Read more
As the UK prime ministerial race continues, Conservative leadership contenders Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are both pushing for homeownership policies. James Gregory tells us why homeownership, much to everyone’s surprise, might not bring the expected wellbeing rewards.…Read more
Only a year after Clare McGlynn and Kelly Johnson published their book 'Cyberflashing: Recognising Harms, Reforming Laws', upskirting and cyberflashing became specific criminal offences in Northern Ireland, following evidence given by McGlynn to the Stormont Assembly Justice Committee. Rebecca Megson-Smith charts the influence of the Bristol University Press publication on making cyberflashing a criminal act.…Read more
The pandemic has significantly altered the experiences of families of prisoners and how they maintain contact with their loved ones in prison. Maria Adams looks at new questions thrown up by the replacement of prison visits by video calls.…Read more