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Nobel Laureate VS Naipaul, who has died at the age of 85, wore his strong opinions about the postcolonial world on his sleeve. These divided readers and critics. Dilip Menon argues that the Trinidadian-born writer saw both the coloniser and colonised as wrapped in sentimental nostalgia for what might have been.
As Pakistan’s new government takes power, some are wondering if the country’s domineering elites will ever be seriously challenged. But they’re missing a crucial phenomenon: the country’s poor rural voters are using their grassroots power to get what they want. Shandana Khan Mohmand explains.
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VS Naipaul after receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001.
EPA
Dilip Menon, University of the Witwatersrand
Nobel prize winning author Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was as hard on himself as on others.
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Power to the people.
Benny Lin via Flickr
Shandana Khan Mohmand, Institute of Development Studies
In a country where less-than-democratic elites wield substantial power, bottom-up politics is still alive and well.
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Science + Technology
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Candice Louw, University of Johannesburg
Steel roller coasters remain hugely popular. But virtual reality is becoming an increasingly important addition to the industry.
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Alberto Micheletti, University of St Andrews
Men have come to dominate military combat but new evidence suggests this might be more an accident than an inevitability of evolution.
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Energy + Environment
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Florian Sévellec, University of Southampton
The warm period will occur even on top of regular climate change.
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Stephen Harris, University of Oxford
Fields of sunflowers are now a common sight all over the world – but this has only been the case relatively recently.
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Business + Economy
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Seán McLoughlin, University of Leeds
A look at Hajj-going among British Muslims shows how modern transport and marketisation have led to huge changes.
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