Expert Comment

Ahead of ‘quitters day’ which this year lands on 10 January – and is the day most people give up on their New Year resolutions – Alice Coffey at The University of Warwick is on hand to offer encouragement to keep going with Veganuary by highlighting the health benefits of following a wholefood plant based diet.

Mateusz Stalinski, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics says, "Meta’s decision to reduce the amount of content moderation across their platforms does not come as a surprise. With X increasingly branding itself as leader in promoting largely unrestrained freedom of expression on social media, Meta has faced competitive pressure to take action."

Dr David Lees, School of Modern Languages & Cultures, gives his view on the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen who has died aged 96. The founder of the Front National party in 1972, Le Pen re-established the extreme-right as a political force in France. 

"While the employment rate remains steady at 74.9%, several indicators signal growing strains. Redundancies have risen by 67.8% year-on-year—increasing to 99,000 from 59,000, the proportion of long-term unemployment has grown significantly, and the unemployment rate has climbed to 4.3%. These developments reflect a fundamental structural adjustment in labour market conditions rather than a temporary fluctuation."

"The evening of Friday 13th December sees the maximum of one of the best meteor showers of the year - the Geminids. In fact the maximum rate of meteors will be in the early hours of Saturday 14th December and could reach 150 bright meteors an hour."