by Ramzy Baroud
Latest editorial
Where Britain’s wasps have gone and why they need your help
This much-maligned insect’s numbers are dramatically down this summer. SEIRIAN SUMNER explains what’s happened to them, and why ecologists are calling for assistance from the public
US-based labour and social movements authors and organisers Robert Ovetz and James Tracy interview DANIEL GROSS about his new book, Unions of Our Own: Eight Building Blocks to Change Work and the World
Innovation in biotechnology is changing how we conceive of meat, say ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT of SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
JOHN CALLOW introduces the work of Geoffrey Trease, who placed ordinary people at the centre of his historical fiction for children, creating adventurous stories to inspire the possibilities of social change
Is the Scottish government in favour of drilling or not? Evasiveness and incoherence are the order of the day, argues KENNY MacASKILL
The Isle of Wight’s Victorian holiday boom drew visitors from across Europe, including the founders of scientific socialism, writes KEITH FLETT
I GET twitchy about taking holidays at the end of August, because it’s the only time of year when people (and the media) in Britain seem to want to talk about wasps and I have spent my career trying to change people’s minds about these fascinating insects.
Typically, the British wasp hysteria season peaks around August bank holiday, when we’re squeezing the last alfresco dining out of summer. Inevitably, along comes a yellowjacket wasp or two. The media follow with headlines themed on wasps on the attack. My colleagues and I step in with a defence of wasps, about their important role in ecosystems as pest controllers and pollinators and how their life history helps explain their behaviour.
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