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What does 2021 have in store for the world economy? Optimists had been hoping for a big upswing after the worst year for GDP since the second world war, but then came more lockdowns and new coronavirus variants that scientists are still racing to understand.
Steve Schifferes expects to see winners and losers around the world. Asia – especially China – will reap the benefits of getting COVID under control early. Scenes of revellers celebrating the western new year in Wuhan could symbolise China’s year ahead: business booming as international demand for many of their products endures and life at home goes on unrestricted.
Schifferes predicts harder times for the west, and even worse for developing countries struggling to source vaccines and sell their commodities. He also expects widening inequality everywhere as stimulus packages dry up.
Elsewhere, a psychologist offers a view on why Boris Johnson delays making lockdown decisions, and we look at why the great nature broadcaster David Attenborough is irreplaceable.
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Steven Vass
Business + Economy Editor
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Xi Jinping, the Chinese president. China’s economy is now showing strong growth.
Shutterstock
Steve Schifferes, City, University of London
China is due to surge ahead, but there is bad news for other developing countries.
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PA/Stefan Rousseau
Nicola Power, Lancaster University
The prime minister stands accused of dither and delay for the third time after announcing another England-wide lockdown.
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Andy Rain / EPA
Jean-Baptiste Gouyon, UCL
Wildlife television as we know it was constructed around Attenborough. Take him away and the whole thing needs to be reinvented.
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Health + Medicine
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Christian van Nieuwerburgh, University of East London
Locking down again? You need a wellbeing plan.
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Sarah L Caddy, University of Cambridge
Sterilising immunity means that the immune system is able to completely prevent a virus from replicating in your body. Not all vaccines provide this.
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Tania Wiseman, University of Brighton
Even if you don't have a garden, there are still ways you can benefit and connect with the nature on your doorstep.
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Politics + Society
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Peter Greste, The University of Queensland
In her ruling, the judge rejected claims that Assange's case was an assault on press freedom, which must concern anyone who believes in the oversight role that journalists play in a democracy.
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Ken Hughes, University of Virginia
After release of tape recordings in which Nixon ordered the Watergate coverup, he resigned under pressure by congressional Republicans. Today's GOP had a different response to the Trump tape.
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Gwilym David Blunt, City, University of London
The outgoing president has threatened US democracy. There must be consequences.
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Science + Technology
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Ronald Jan Corbee, Utrecht University; Sara Burt, Utrecht University
Your local ducks (and other wild birds) will thank you.
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Sarah Hainsworth, Aston University; Michael Fitzpatrick, Coventry University
Technology can give superhero abilities to people in real life.
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Arts + Culture
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Maria Clotilde Camboni, University of Oxford
The history of Italian literature cannot be understood without the vernacular poets. But their works were largely unknown until Lorenzo 'the Magnificent' sent a gift to the Prince of Naples.
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