Positive thinking

   Vincenzo Bove, University of Warwick UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia increased by 175% in the first nine months of 2017 according to an investigation by the Campaign Against Arms Trade. Similarly, France and the US are major exporters of arms to the oil-rich Gulf state – in 2017 alone, they were worth around US$2.6 billion. Selling weapons is a lucrative business. As well as the money to be made, the arms trade is also a barometer of the quality of relationships between states and it creates an interdependence that gives current and future recipient governments incentives to cooperate with arms suppliers. Oil dependency is another reason. Sometimes this idea is disregarded as a conspiracy theory , but colleagues Claudio Deiana, Roberto Nisticò and I recently researched the extent to which oil-dependent countries transfer arms to oil-rich countries. It turns out it’s a lot. The international transfer of weapons is one of the most dynamic and lucrative sectors

   Clare Cunningham, York St John University More than 20% of all primary school and 16% of secondary school children in the UK speak languages other than English. And there are now more than 360 languages spoken in British classrooms. But more often than not, in mainstream schools in the UK, the “home languages” of children can be sidelined at best, and prohibited at worst. English is the language of the classroom – this is despite the fact that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is clear that children from linguistic minorities should not be “denied the right” to use their own languages. In my recent research , I found there was often a lot of fear associated with the use of “home” languages among the typically white, monolingual demographic of the teaching profession. In my study , which looks at educator’s attitudes towards multilingualism, one teacher I spoke with explained how she likes children to respond to the register in whatever language the

Panoraia (Nora) Andriopoulou, Manchester Metropolitan University It’s well known that mental health is a significant issue for young people. Recent research suggests that at least 10% children and young people between the ages of five and 16 in the UK experience a problem such as anxiety and depression. If left untreated these problems can spiral and lead to issues such as drug abuse, suicide attempts and criminality in adolescence and adulthood. But what if primary school children were offered counselling as a matter of course? Early intervention would not only reduce mental health problems down the line but also reduce the cost to the public purse. It is estimated that by adolescence 30 to 40% of young people have at least one mental health disorder. In adulthood, one in four people face mental health difficulties. The psycho-social and financial consequences of untreated mental health problems are profound. What it costs Approximately 70m days are lost from

Jonathan Seaton, Loughborough University The cost Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s nuptials on May 19 2018 has been estimated at £32m by one wedding planning company. The cost to the public, however, will be far less than his brother William’s marriage to Catherine in 2011, largely because this brought with it a bank holiday . Still, £32m is a lot to spend on a party. It can be justified, however, if the benefits outweigh the costs. For this to happen with the latest royal wedding – or any mega event that’s being staged – the most important thing is that the money involved has a long-term positive impact. Then there’s the social dimension to any party. Building better relationships with your family, friends, colleagues or neighbours is an important part of any event. So this shouldn’t be discounted. One of the big arguments for events is “what goes around comes around”. This sums up what economists call the “multiplier effect”. Take a simple example. The same company

   Paul Smalley, Edge Hill University Religion has always been a feature of schooling in England. The Education Act of 1944 made the study of Religion the only compulsory subject in school and it was to be accompanied by a “daily act of worship” for all pupils. Back then religion was largely synonymous with Christianity. But a recent survey from the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education shows there appears to be a growing problem with parents taking their children out of school RE lessons. The findings show that parents are withdrawing children from lessons on Islam, or visits to the Mosque, calling into question their preparation for life in modern Britain. Recently published research suggests that “withdrawal” has been requested in almost three quarters of schools. More than 10% of those withdrawing are open about the fact that they are doing so for racist or Islamophobic reasons. In 2017, the RE Council set up an independent commission to revie

   Barnali Choudhury, UCL and Martin Petrin, UCL The UK is introducing new legislation t hat will require companies to publish the ratio of what they pay their CEO compared to the average worker’s salary. The move follows a number of corporate governance reforms introduced by the government over the last year and a half as part of an effort to build a fairer economy . But if the government was truly committed to building a fairer economy, it would not rely primarily on companies to do its work for it. When Theresa May first became prime minister, she vowed to reform the UK’s economy to ensure that it would work for everyone . Reforming the way that companies operate is a key part of this vision. According to May, corporate governance mechanisms are the tools by which these responsibilities should be imposed. May is not alone in her views on the usefulness of corporate governance mechanisms to promote public responsibilities. Countries around the world, from India

Marek Bekerman, University of Salford Every year as May 3 approaches, newspaper headlines remind us of World Press Freedom Day with accompanying stories justifying the newsworthiness of the occasion. They are often extracted from reports published annually by Reporters Without Borders , which compiles and updates the World Press Freedom Index – a comprehensive list of leaders and laggards in media freedoms. Many media outlets make sure they do not miss this opportunity to remind the public about the importance of freedom of expression and the role of the press in a healthy democracy. To avoid simply producing unpalatable lists based on technical criteria, editors either pick the worst offenders, such as Uzbekistan, or focus on spectacular falls of previous leaders. Al Jazeera/YouTube. Britain as the bad guy This year, the UK has become an offender for the Independent newspaper, which alerted its readers to the approachi

   Colin Moran, University of Stirling ; Naomi Brooks, University of Stirling , and Ross Chesham, University of Stirling If you haven’t heard of the Daily Mile yet, your time has come. Now taking place in 3,600 primary schools each day in 35 countries around the world, it takes children outside during normal lesson time to run or walk laps of the playground for 15 minutes. The ones who run cover around a mile each day. The initiative has an endearing back story . It was developed six years ago by St Ninians Primary School in Stirling in central Scotland after children and teachers felt the pupils needed to be fitter. Other schools quickly realised the value, and it started to spread. It is now happening in around half of Scottish primaries and a quarter of those in England; while schools have also got on board everywhere from the US to the United Arab Emirates to Nepal to Australia. With all this enthusiasm, it was t

   Christopher Boyce, University of Stirling After nine years of interest rates below 1%, it seems imminent that the Bank of England will announce a rise before long. As pay growth picks up and inflation hits its 2% target, a rate rise would – it is argued – ward off potential risks of inflation in the medium term. But another factor to bear in mind is that a rate rise could also have serious repercussions for people’s mental health. A large portion of the UK population have high, possibly unsustainable, levels of debt and a higher interest rate is likely to increase the burden of repaying some of that debt. It will therefore likely increase their levels of mental distress. In recent research that colleagues and I published in the Journal of Affective Disorders , we explored how Bank of England interest rate changes from 1995 to 2008 influenced people’s mental health. What we found is that for each 1% increase in interest rates, there was a 2.6% increase in the

Simon Mabon, Lancaster University Thanks to Donald Trump, the hard-won deal that set up a process to end Iran’s nuclear weapons programme is on its deathbed. After weeks of entreaties and visits from his counterparts in the other states that signed the accord, Trump has announced that the US will be withdrawing from it and reimposing the sanctions the deal lifted. That makes it hard to see how the deal will survive. Given Trump has spent years referring to this as “the worst deal ever”, perhaps his decision to back out is less than surprising – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t shocking. To be sure, there are real problems with the deal. Struck in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 powers – the US, the UK, Russia, China, France, and Germany – it fails to address longer-term concerns about the nuclear programme (the Iranian government is renowned for playing a long game) and does not limit the country’s ballistic missile capability. Perhaps the biggest criticism, though, concern