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There’s a been more than a whiff of sleaze about in UK politics this week, to which I shall confine my remarks to noting that one of my favourite aphorisms on this particular topic is that the fish rots from the head. But the clumsy handling of the Paterson affair, coupled with revelations about the way some MPs earn a little extra walking-around money has put the government’s skates dangerously adjacent to what some might consider the edge.
But let’s not name names. Let’s instead consider how the UK measures up in terms of corruption globally. And, in fact, the country does pretty well according to the most reliable indices, not far behind the laudable probity of New Zealand and much of Scandinavia, and miles above poor benighted Somalia and Sudan, where even the crooks complain of not being able to get a decent break. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to worry about.
If you’re reading this (as I wrote it) in the comfort and warmth of home, spare a thought for Richard Ratcliffe, who has spent the past 20 days on hunger strike outside the Foreign Office in protest at the government’s seeming unwillingness to secure the return of his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, from house arrest in Iran. Our experts paid Ratcliffe a visit this week to examine what effect a prolonged period without food was having on his physical and mental health.
And if you thought (like I did) that Neptune was the coldest planet in the Solar System, being the farthest from the Sun, think again. In answer to a question from young Sejal (7) from Bangalore, our expert in astrophysics explained that, due to events billions of years ago, Uranus holds the record for the coldest temperature ever measured in the Solar System: a very chilly -224℃.
This week we also imagined a world with hyper-realistic chatbots giving you shopping tips with a human touch, discovered that a plant-based diet could be good for your wallet, and followed, with bated breath, the drama being played out on the border between Belarus and Poland.
Our colleagues around the world, meanwhile, looked at why babies are going hungry in food-rich Canada, and how Māori knowledge could inform New Zealand’s (and the rest of the world’s) environmental strategy. Our friends in Africa, meanwhile, marked the passing of FW de Klerk, South Africa’s last apartheid president.
If you get the chance, do put aside some time to listen to The Conversation Weekly. This week’s podcast marks the end of UN climate summit COP26 by looking at how climate anxiety is affecting young people around the world.
We’ll be bringing you reactions to the latest announcements from the final hours of the summit as they’re made over the weekend. If you’ve appreciated our expert coverage of perhaps the most important conference ever held, then please do consider making a donation to The Conversation.
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