I got my first writing job in college penning blog posts for a website about death — or rather, “embracing the end-of-life experience.” As a writer for an ambitious startup with the goal of eliminating the death taboo, I had the privilege of talking with countless people about losing loved ones, having near-death experiences, and caring for others on the verge of passing away. Before my first interview with someone who’d lost a parent, I was nervous that I’d become infected with their overwhelming grief or, worse, say the wrong thing and cause them to suffer more. That time and dozens thereafter, I found those who’d been bombarded by death…

Antony Ashley Cooper, “proto-Zionist Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury”. Wikicommons. Wellcome images. Some rights reserved.What has happened to British politics? In the final week before elections in Scotland, Wales, London and elsewhere, and less than two months from a critical referendum on Europe, the issues relevant to those voting decisions are almost nowhere in sight. Instead, the outrage stirred by a sequence of comments by Ken Livingstone has dominated the media, and, extrapolating from this and from a number of other widely reported incidents, there has been an outpouring of commentary on the supposed ‘antisemitism crisis’ in the Labour party. It has been quite clearly shown that recent allegations that antisemitism…

With the culture of sexual harassment at Uber coming to light this spring and the subsequent resignation in late June of the company’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, sexism in Silicon Valley has once more been pushed into the spotlight. It’s well-documented that discrimination against women in tech isn’t only a problem at Uber, and it’s not just a matter of receiving suggestive emails or being excluded from networking opportunities. Women in Silicon Valley, like their peers in plenty of other industries, often end up being paid less than their male counterparts. You need employee data such as gender, salary, education, and years of experience to prove that a pay gap exists at a company. A decision by…

Mourners near the Olympia shopping centre in Munich, after a shooting on June 23. Credit: Jens Meyer; AP/PA. All rights reserved After each atrocity, social media hosts the well-rehearsed rituals of mourning. News of the identification of the perpetrators is frequently followed by condemnation of the double-standard of media coverage – in relation to geography (sometimes misguided), and to language, particularly regarding the word ‘terrorist’. (It’s worth reading the BBC’s guidance about why it prefers not to use the term altogether). In recent months, it has become clear that there is frustration about the application of mental health diagnoses, especially in relation to white male violence, as well as confusion…

I’​d be lying if I wrote that I haven’t wondered — almost daily — ​if this whole social media thing is worth it. Most mornings, I’​m greeted by Twitter and Facebook and then my palm slapping my forehead.  While I’m unable to break this ritual, one of the world’​s top-ranked golfers, Rory McIlroy, just admitted he has. He’s logged off social media, and he doesn’​t have plans to get back on. “I don’t need to read it,” McIlroy told reporters ahead of this week’s Irish Open. “It’s stuff that shouldn’t get to you and sometimes it does.” The final straw for the 28-year-old was the online beef he had with former…

2016 has seen the advent of an era of fear and hate. It has seen a resurgence of populism and white supremacism. Yesterday with Brexit, today the election of a misogynist, racist and homophobic Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States, and the fear tomorrow, of a victory of the far right in France. 2016 is definitely not the best year for democracy. At least for democracy as it is now ideally conceived: power to all people, so they will never see their rights denied again by a privileged few. Reading Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s 1988 comic V for Vendetta – or watching James McTeigue’s adaptation…

The 12-year-old owner of the lemonade company Me and the Bees just got some big investors. Like, literally big. Bench-press-twice-your-body-weight big. At a Boys and Girls Club event in Houston, former NFL player Arian Foster and current Detroit Lions defensive back Glover Quin announced they had raised $810,000 to invest in Mikaila Ulmer’​s quickly growing lemonade company, according to The Houston Chronicle. The two football players were able to get other NFL stars to chip in to help Ulmer grow the business, including the Seahawks’​ Bobby Wagner, the Texans’​ Duane Brown, and Lions cornerback Darius Slay. “She’s super smart,” Quin said. “She’s very special. Obviously, she has a bright future. Hopefully, I can…

Kashmiri man and child watch as Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard at an temporary checkpoint during curfew in Indian controlled Kashmir, Oct.10, 2016. Dar Yasin/Press Association. All rights reserved.Quite rightly, most efforts to stop war focus on its causes. If the problems can be resolved and war prevented, so much the better. Of course stopping a war doesn’t ensure the end of injustice or oppression and on occasion a ‘just’ war may be the only way to end a tyranny. But in all too many wars the death and damage soon far outweigh the original hurt. The process of lethal warfare generates new reasons for conflict. War is not a…

When I traveled to Paris last year, it took me only a few minutes after landing at Charles de Gaulle Airport to realize the city had a deep appreciation of design because even its airport bathrooms are stylish. Parisians are not timid about designing public spaces with flair. The latest space to get an amazing treatment is a basketball court tucked between two apartment buildings on the north side of the city. Designer Stephane Ashpool, founder of the fashion brand Pigalle, collaborated with the design firm Ill-Studio and Nike to create the colorful court. Ashpool has previously professed his love of 1990s basketball and how it has influenced his design. He reimagined…

Abd Raouf/AP/Press Association. All rights reserved.On 19 April 2016, 18-year old Sudanese student Abubakr Hassan Mohamed Taha was shot dead on his university campus, because he wished to nominate himself for the student union and marched with his colleagues to submit a list of nominees for election. The peaceful march was attacked by National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) agents, who fired live ammunition at random, killing Abubakr and injuring 27 other students according to Amnesty International. Abubakr’s death sparked nationwide student protests against the excessive use of force by the police and NISS and the shrinking space for civic and political freedoms in the universities. Seven Sudanese public universities…