As a resident of London, I am subjected to regular teasing about the weather from other editors around our international network. Just so they know, it’s been a dry few weeks here. And, I will not go into the annual precipitation rates, but the statistics show that London has fewer days of rain than many other European cities. The UK as a whole though, ensures the stereotype holds firm. So, I was particularly tickled by this piece by Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the University of Reading in England. Now, thanks to an army of volunteers working on historic documents, a more complete version of the country’s climate past can be painted. Crucially, the
details emerging may also help scientists understand how the country’s climate future will evolve as it experiences more extreme conditions.
Remember that you can stay across our regularly updated Ukraine invasion coverage here. But if you are in the market for longer reads to understand the history of the region, we have some expert recommendations today.
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St Andrew’s Church, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Bossi/Flickr
Mark Edele, The University of Melbourne; Judith Armstrong, The University of Melbourne; Julie Fedor, The University of Melbourne; Marko Pavlyshyn, Monash University; Stephen Fortescue, UNSW Sydney
Straight from our experts, here are five books to help you understand what’s happening right now in Ukraine and Russia, from a must-read history of Ukraine to a literary classic with insights into the Russian soul.
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Julia Sudnitskaya/Shutterstock
Ed Hawkins, University of Reading
New data has revealed rainfall records from as far back as 1677.
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Shutterstock
Rochelle Matacz, Edith Cowan University; Lynn Priddis, The University of Western Australia
Terrible or terrific? There is a lot going when you’re two.
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Peter Harris, Colorado State University
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has died at age 84. But many of the foreign policy concepts she helped bring to the post-Cold War world remain.
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Jonathan Ang'ani Omuchesi, Catholic University of Eastern Africa
The admission of DRC will extend the East African Community bloc’s reach to the Atlantic Ocean.
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Moses B. Khanyile, Stellenbosch University
The sanctions are likely to last beyond the current conflict. This may end up bringing about a solution to Africa’s desire to produce its own military hardware for its own use.
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Daryl Adair, University of Technology Sydney
The global angst against Putin has been so profound that sport has been compelled to come out behind its customary veil of ‘neutrality’ in political matters.
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Gemma Ware, The Conversation; Clea Chakraverty, The Conversation France; Daniel Merino, The Conversation
Plus, the long history of humanity’s love of bees. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
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Gilles Ivaldi, Sciences Po
L’anxiété liée à la guerre en Ukraine pousserait de nombreux électeurs à se rallier à Emmanuel Macron. Mais cela sera-t-il suffisant pour remporter l’élection ?
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