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Nearly two weeks on from the Spring Budget announcement, we’re looking back on the policy changes, responses, and how they will affect you. Support for energy bills “The Chancellor has announced that the energy price guarantee will remain unchanged at £2,500 until June 2023. In the meantime, the household winter discount of £400 on energy … Continue reading “Reflections on the 2023 Spring Budget: expert opinions”

By Dr Huw MacartneyDepartment of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham Edited version of an article originally published on iai We’re asking the wrong kind of questions surrounding the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Five main issues have emerged thus far: business models; stability; moral hazard; regulation; and tightening. But without considering the … Continue reading “Why SVB’s bankruptcy isn’t surprising”

By Dr Annum RafiqueCity Region Economic and Development Institute, University of Birmingham The energy price cap sets a maximum price that energy suppliers can charge consumers for each kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy they use. The price cap is for those customers who do not shop around for tariffs and are using default energy tariffs … Continue reading “The Energy Price Cap and Price Guarantee: What does it mean for your energy bill?”

By Dr Adam MatthewsSchool of Education OpenAI’s ChatGPT uses machine learning to capture swathes of internet texts to create content which is capable of human-like responses to questions and follow-up dialogue. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in this form is generative; it can create content such as audio, code, images, text and videos – many of the … Continue reading “ChatGPT in education: how much work should we outsource to AI?”

By Professor Fiona Carmichael, Professor Scott Taylor and Dr Marco Ercolani, Birmingham Business School Workplace gender inequality is a global phenomenon. The Gender Pay Gap (GPG), measuring the difference between men’s and women’s mean or median [1] wages, is the most evident and direct manifestation of gender inequality. The persistence of such a basic problem … Continue reading “Closing The Gender Pay Gap: Are we nearly there now in 2023?”

By Dr Nicholas Barker and Dr George Kyris, Department of Political Science and International Studies It’s a year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and almost nine years since the illegal annexation of Crimea and the start of the war in the Donbas. As analysts and policy-makers try to understand and respond to the war, … Continue reading “Russia’s War on Ukraine: What can we learn from Europe’s other conflicts?”

By Jemma Saunders, Department of Film and Creative Writing The West Midlands has long been overlooked in film and television, but last year was a significant year for Birmingham on screen. The final series of Peaky Blinders was broadcast from February to April, while summer saw the city host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Although a … Continue reading “Peaky Blinders and the fashionable flat cap: looking sharp?”

By Dr Sophie King-Hill, Senior Fellow, Health Services Management Centre and David Russell, Community Safety & Justice Manager Andrew Tate is not far from the news at the moment. Although the online influencer claims to support males in negotiating society and bettering themselves, his ideologies are underpinned by dangerous and extreme misogyny. On face value … Continue reading “The toxic influence of Andrew Tate: How society has failed a generation of young men and boys”

By Professor Tom Harrison, School of Education It is a commonly heard lament that democratic discourse is in decline. This concern is not just expressed in the UK but also in many countries around the world. Evidence of this growing political division and animosity includes diminished trust in democratic institutions, decreased participation in the political … Continue reading “Factivism: The Vital Link Between News Literacy and Youth Civic Engagement”

By Krisna Puji Rahmayanti, Doctoral Researcher, International Development Department, University of Birmingham  On November 21, 2022, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck Cianjur Regency, a city in West Java Province, Indonesia. Following the earthquake in Cianjur, several aftershocks occurred, including those in Garut and Cianjur Regencies, and Sukabumi Regency. Image Source Indonesia’s vulnerability to this disaster … Continue reading “What can we learn from the Cianjur Earthquake in Indonesia?”