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Thanks to the work of Black Lives Matter activists around the world, more attention than ever is being paid to police violence that disproportionately affects black and brown people. The high-profile case of footballer Dalian Atkinson’s death came to a rare conclusion this week, as PC Benjamin Monk was sentenced to eight years for Atkinson’s manslaughter. Monk is the first police officer to be found guilty of murder or manslaughter in a case like this one in over 30 years. While his conviction is a step in the right direction, Yvette Russell explains why it may not be setting a new precedent for prosecuting police.
As new variants of coronavirus spread rapidly, areas with successful vaccination programmes are in a much better spot than those with low vaccine rates. So why did South Africa, which has vaccinated less than 5% of its population, sell its 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine? The director of the South African Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit explains where the government failed, and
its dire effect on the population.
While facts and research are important to us here at The Conversation, the same cannot be said for all online “news” sources. During the pandemic, the spread of fake news has become so prevalent that authorities dubbed it an “infodemic”. A new study looks at whether these sensational stories – like one claiming that drinking coffee protects you from COVID – cause people to change their behaviour.
One thing that’s not fake – our understanding of mental health is changing every day. Many people struggle with feelings of “emptiness”, though it has not been discussed often in mental health research. Researchers believe that defining this feeling will help improve care for many people, whether or not they are affected by mental illness.
Meanwhile, Bogdan Costea and Peter Watt reveal how today’s toxic workplace culture can be traced back to a forgotten Soviet coal miner in our latest Insights long read.
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Avery Anapol
Commissioning Editor
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Dalian Atkinson was most known for his football career with Aston Villa.
Tony Marshall / PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Yvette Russell, University of Bristol
The conviction of police officer Benjamin Monk for the manslaughter of Dalian Atkinson is a very rare case.
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The government needs to vaccinate as many South Africans as possible.
Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Shabir A. Madhi, University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa didn't engage early enough with pharmaceutical companies in bilateral discussions to ensure it could get vaccines early.
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Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock
Ciara Greene, University College Dublin
Despite fake news commonly being cited as a danger to society, very little research has been conducted on its ability to alter what people think.
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Many of us may have described feeling ‘empty’ before.
fizkes/ Shutterstock
Shona Joyce Herron, UCL; Fabio Sani, University of Dundee
Newly published research provides the first ever definition of what it means to feel 'empty' — a common struggle rarely recognised by health professionals.
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Politics + Society
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Chloe Peacock, University of Manchester
Activists are taking a creative approach to complex debates despite intransigence from Westminster.
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Kyle Cunliffe, University of Salford
The recent Pentagon report has more questions than answers when it comes to UFOs. Here's why that's not surprising.
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Bruno Cautrès, Sciences Po
Sky-high abstention rates reveal the weakness of Emmanuel Macron’s political project.
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Sydney Calkin, Queen Mary University of London
The success of a referendum to relax Gibraltar's strict abortion ban will mean safer access for many people.
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Vasileios Karagiannopoulos, University of Portsmouth
The hacktivist collective 'Anonymous' has become just that – but the hacktivism they espoused may be set to return.
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Environment + Energy
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Heather Alberro, Nottingham Trent University; Luigi Daniele, Nottingham Trent University
Environmental destruction remains an unofficial crime, but activists and scholars want it recognised.
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Stuart Connop, University of East London; Caroline Nash, University of East London
Generic urban landscape design is damaging for people and nature: an ecomimicry approach instead encourages nature to flourish even in cities.
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Yasemin Kor, Cambridge Judge Business School; Christian Reynolds, City, University of London
Converting food waste to animal feed – or reducing it altogether by supermarkets working with farmers – could save millions of tonnes of food from being discarded. It could also help raise animal welfare standards.
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Simon Cook, University of Dundee
Dams built in an earlier age are suddenly vulnerable as the climate shifts.
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Marco Springmann, University of Oxford
We need a free trade agreement for vegetables – and not much else.
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Health + Medicine
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Marcos García García, University of York; Guillermo García-Contreras Ruiz, Universidad de Granada
The presence of pig bones in a refuse dump from Islamic Iberia can tell you a lot about who was doing the eating back then.
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Arts + Culture
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Xavier L'Hoiry, University of Sheffield
It's not just the drama that gets people to tune in every night
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Business + Economy
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Bogdan Costea, Lancaster University; Peter Watt, Lancaster University
A record-breaking Soviet miner from 1935 embodied a system of values that is central to contemporary work cultures today.
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Featured events
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University House, Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2UP, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Portsmouth
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University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Essex
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Sustainable Places Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Cardiff [Caerdydd GB-CRD], CF10 3BA, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — Cardiff University
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University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Essex
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