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The ongoing battle over the Strait of Hormuz has had immediate and noticeable economic consequences. A barrel of oil costs more than it used to and airlines are cancelling flights. But economist Erhan Kilincarslan expects a more subtle effect to hit households soon. ‘Skimpflation’ involves companies lowering the quality of the goods and services they provide as a way of dealing with rising costs and it’s heading for a microwave near you. It could mean cheaper cheese on your
take-away pizza, or less beef in your lasagne ready meal.
Elections are being held today in Wales, Scotland and England, where parliaments, council seats and mayoralties are up for grabs. Here’s a handy guide to what to look out for, as well as a focus on Scotland’s political landscape.
And to celebrate Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday on Friday, we asked four experts (and superfans) to explain his legacy and influence.
Yesterday, we launched The Conversation Climate Poetry Award, which invites academics in the UK to write a poem inspired by climate change research. We also launched our latest donations campaign. If you enjoy reading what experts have to say about the world, please consider supporting us. Thank you.
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Luke Salkeld
Commissioning Editor, Business
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Food magic/Shutterstock
Erhan Kilincarslan, University of Huddersfield
Cost pressures can drive down quality.
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Andy Rain/EPA
Hannah Bunting, University of Exeter
Around 25,000 candidates are campaigning this year, with new election styles in Scotland and Wales
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Sir David Attenborough welcoming a harvest mouse to its new home, in the BBC documentary Wild London.
BBC/Passion Planet/Joe Loncraine
Chloe Brimicombe, University of Oxford; Ben Garrod, University of East Anglia; Jean-Baptiste Gouyon, UCL; Saffron O'Neill, University of Exeter
Attenborough has influenced everything from conservation and documentary production to the communication of the biggest story of all – climate change.
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World
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Tom Harper, University of East London
Due to its position of influence over Iran, China will be a leading factor in whether the war ends or spills back into open conflict.
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Andrew Gawthorpe, Leiden University
Even the Republicans in Congress were beginning to pressure the Trump administration over whether the conflict was constitutional.
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Politics + Society
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Fraser McMillan, University of Edinburgh
Scots are calling it the ‘scunner factor’ – widespread distaste for the major parties.
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Rhys Dafydd Jones, Aberystwyth University
The Welsh government offers support to refugees and asylum seekers in devolved areas such as health, education and housing.
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Joel Busher, Coventry University; Tufyal Choudhury
Evidence on the relationship between protest activity and targeted violence outside of the protest arena is limited.
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Arts + Culture
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Amy Wilcockson, Queen Mary University of London
The youngest, quietest sister was over-edited and underestimated – Anne Brontë deserves better.
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Kathryn McDonald, Bournemouth University
This first fully AI podcast produces a coherent-sounding narrative. But coherence is not the same as sense making, and pattern recognition is not interpretation.
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Barry Langford, Royal Holloway, University of London
In its rapid pacing, brief runtime and propulsive, hard-boiled action, Normal positions itself as a latter-day B-movie and mostly delivers.
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Education
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Emily Roberts-Tyler, Bangor University
A number of challenges remain with embedding additional learning needs reforms across Wales.
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Jon Rainford, The Open University; Alex Blower, Arts University Bournemouth
Being a boy who expresses themselves can be a risky enterprise.
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Environment
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Thomas Timberlake, University of Bristol; Jane Memmott, University of Bristol
Pollinators support our nutritional health and are critical for crops of fruit, vegetables and beans.
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Chris Rapley, UCL
Climate science is the anti-myth. Researchers have long noted that the human brain struggles with psychologically distant threats.
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Helen A. L. Currie, University of Portsmouth; Irene Gregory-Eaves, McGill University; Steven J Cooke, Carleton University
Urban waterways sit at the heart of the global nature crisis.
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Health
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Adam Taylor, Lancaster University
Pertussis often lacks the classic ‘whoop’ in adults, making it easy to confuse with flu, COVID or RSV.
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Justin Stebbing, Anglia Ruskin University
From Nobel laureate Linus Pauling’s dismissed vitamin C crusade to modern trials, a once-ridiculed idea in cancer research is getting a cautious second look.
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Science + Technology
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Giulia De Togni, University of Edinburgh
Japan has long been the global leader in the development and deployment of care robots.
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Anna Turns, The Conversation; Anna Walker, The Conversation
The Conversation invites academics across the UK to write a poem inspired by climate change research.
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2 March - 30 September 2026
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