Society
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This pigeon cost the same as 5 Rolls Royces
Do we value the wrong things? A single pigeon has just been sold at auction for £1.5m. The buyers valued it as much as five new Rolls Royce cars. Were they mad? Or very intelligent indeed?
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Prince Charles blistering attack on The Crown
Has Netflix gone too far? The new series of The Crown, depicting the Prince of Wales’s troubled first marriage, has been widely criticised, and he himself is said to be furious about it.
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‘Truth decay’ ripping us apart warns Obama
Is truth REALLY decaying? Barack Obama argues that without a universal idea of truth, society cannot function. Others argue that truth is simply getting more complex – and more interesting!
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Collins declares word of the year: ‘Lockdown’
Can a single word sum up a year? Collins Dictionary has declared that “lockdown” is the most significant word of 2020 – beating ”TikToker”, “Megxit“, “mukbang” and “BLM” to top the rankings.
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Playing for laughs: how humour made us human
Is laughter a matter of survival? A new theory suggests that a good sense of humour might be a sign of intelligence, making us more desirable mates and giving us an evolutionary advantage.
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‘Historically she is more important than Joe’
Will Kamala Harris become president? She is set to be the first female vice-president and first black person in the post. And at 56, she is number two to a man who is 78 in just eleven days.
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The unknown soldier remembered 100 years on
Should we embrace the unknown? Memorials to unnamed soldiers affect us on a deep psychological level, but there are also philosophical reasons to accept the unknown and welcome uncertainty.
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US election deadlock reveals media malaise
Is the US media fit for purpose? The world was told the US election would end in a resounding victory for the Democrats. By missing the true picture, the media has revealed its deficiencies.
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Stop press: the world is a wonderful place!
Should there be correspondents for good news? Traditionally most events that make the headlines are bad – wars, disasters, deaths – while much that is praiseworthy goes unreported.
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No clear result: an American nightmare begins
Is this how democracy dies? President Trump falsely declared victory and promised to go to court as Joe Biden seemed to be narrowly winning the election. Many fear violence on the streets.
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America votes: what a Biden victory means
Will Joe Biden make the world a better place? Supporters hope that if he wins, he will restore US global leadership, but others fear he has no plans to solve the world’s most pressing issues.
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The stubborn roots of modern anti-Semitism
Will the world ever be free of it? A new report into anti-Semitism in the British Labour Party has led to the suspension of its former leader – but some see a much more intractable problem.
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Paving the way for the world’s master race
Is the human race splitting into two species? An evolutionary scientist predicts that we may one day have a ruling elite which is genetically different from the rest of humanity.
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'Crazy talk’: critics decry Christmas lockdown
Could there be a Christmas rebellion? As Britain faces a cruel winter, some say they will ignore coronavirus restrictions over the festive season, threatening government authority.
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Crack troops retake captured tanker by storm
Are special operations the future of war? Some argue that small and deadly forces are uniquely equipped to fight modern threats, but others think they can often simply make wars worse.