Kenyans returned to the polls this week to vote in a re-run of the botched August national elections. But the country’s opposition leader, Raila Odinga, boycotted the re-run and announced that his party will transform itself into a “resistance movement” – a way to signify its lack of confidence in political institutions. The danger, argues Dominic Burbidge, is that this will have the effect of undermining the opposition by splitting it in two.

Catalonia, meanwhile, is heading into unknown territory. Amid the twists and turns of the political crisis, Emmy Eklundh argues that Spain’s constitution is no longer fit for purpose – it is rigid and out of touch with people’s lives. Click here to read more of The Conversation’s ongoing coverage of the Catalonia crisis.

Stephen Hawking is arguably the world’s most famous scientist. So perhaps it is no surprise that demand to read his PhD thesis crashed the University of Cambridge’s website when it was made available online this week. But how many people know exactly what his contribution to science has been? James Geach explains what Hawking’s PhD actually says – and how it proved the Big Bang wasn’t just a wild theory.