Editorial: The government’s effort to drive down the number on student visas coming to study in this country is misguided and self-defeating — it will do untold damage to our universities and communities
© PA Wire
A historic campaign that focused on the theme of affordability can offer wider lessons to a re-energised opposition
Since the re-election of Donald Trump last November, a demoralised Democratic party has struggled to reverse a palpable sense of downward momentum. At a grassroots level, amid plunging poll ratings, there has been a yearning for renewal and a more punchy, combative approach in opposition. Against that bleak backdrop, the remarkable election of Zohran Mamdani to the New York City mayoralty is a moment for progressives to savour.
Mr Mamdani entered the mayoral race last October as a socialist outsider with almost zero name recognition. He won it with more than 50% of the vote after the highest turnout in more than half a century, and despite the best efforts of billionaires to bankroll his chief rival, the former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, to victory. That achievement makes him the youngest mayor of the US’s largest city for more than 100 years and the first Muslim to occupy the role.
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© Photograph: Derek French/UPI/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Derek French/UPI/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Derek French/UPI/Shutterstock
In an age of increasingly capable machines, it makes sense for schools to value creativity and life skills as part of a well-rounded education
Societies evolve and schools are under pressure to adapt, but some features of education policy are perennial. For example, modernisation will always be denounced as a dilution of standards. Inevitably, Conservatives have leapt on recommendations by an independent review, commissioned by the government, as proof that Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is “dumbing down” the curriculum.
The basis of these charges is that the review, led by Becky Francis, professor of education at University College London, proposes reducing the burden of GCSE exams and scrapping the English baccalaureate – a cluster of subjects that, when taken together, constitute a metric of success recognised in school league tables. Conservatives are also unhappy about the notion that primary schoolchildren should learn about the climate crisis and be encouraged to value diversity.
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© Photograph: Barry Diomede/Alamy
© Photograph: Barry Diomede/Alamy
© Photograph: Barry Diomede/Alamy
© Damon Winter/The New York Times
Editorial: Rachel Reeves has asked each of us to ‘do our bit’ as she prepares to break her party’s manifesto pledge and raise income tax – but it is now clear that she has made the bad situation she inherited worse
© PA
Editorial: The train attack has shown yet again how revealing a suspect’s ethnic identity rarely quells the anger of those who want to weaponise a tragedy
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Editorial: US secretary of state Marco Rubio has set the tone for international action to alleviate the suffering and all responsible nations should follow
© AP
Targeting the negativity of the far right, the big winner of last week’s poll was able to cut through with voters
One of the tightest elections in Dutch history produced an outcome so close that first steps in negotiating a new coalition government have yet to begin. But at a time when the forward march of the far right across Europe is dominating headlines, sapping the confidence of mainstream parties, one uplifting takeaway was immediately clear: a less divisive kind of politics can still cut through with the public, if it is prosecuted with conviction and panache.
The big and unexpected winner of last week’s poll was 38-year-old Rob Jetten, the charismatic leader of the centrist liberal party D66, which almost tripled its vote and is set to top the polls by a whisker. Basing his campaign on the Obama-style slogan “Yes we can”, Mr Jetten presented himself as an optimistic unifier to an electorate exhausted by the polarising politics of Geert Wilders, whose anti-immigrant Freedom party (PVV) dominated the outgoing coalition. He now has a very good chance of being the country’s youngest-ever prime minister.
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© Photograph: Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP/Getty Images
From a Van Gogh self-portrait to Gauguin’s dreamscapes, new studies show that seeing original art can calm stress and boost health
In an era characterised by burnout and doomscrolling, a therapeutic alternative is hanging on a gallery wall. When volunteers at London’s Courtauld Gallery stood before Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear, Manet’s Bar at the Folies-Bergère, and Gauguin’s Te Rerioa, their stress and inflammation levels dropped compared with those of volunteers viewing reproductions. Science suggests that original art is a medicine that one can view rather than swallow.
That art can lift spirits is well known. But that it calms the body is novel. A study by King’s College London asked participants to look at masterworks by 19th-century post-impressionists – Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet and Gauguin – while strapped to sensors. Half the group saw the originals in the gallery, half viewed copies in a lab. The results were clear: going to art galleries is good for you – relieving stress and cutting heart disease risk, as well as boosting the immune system.
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© Photograph: Ian West/PA
© Photograph: Ian West/PA
© Photograph: Ian West/PA
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