The recent controversy surrounding the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College provides an excellent backdrop to understanding Oxford’s structural and institutionalised backwardness in the area of social science teaching and research.

The recent arrest comes only six months after the activist was released released from prison on fabricated charges of committing arson. On 16 May 2014 he was convicted to seven years' imprisonment – a sentence that was later reduced on appeal to two years.

The real crisis is not the influx of refugees to Europe per se but a toxic combination of destabilising foreign policy agendas, economic austerity and the rise of right-wing nationalism, which is likely to push the world further into social and political chaos in the months ahead.

In the run-up to the election of a new secretary general this year, it is essential that governments think carefully about what they want out of the United Nations. The organization is a Remington typewriter in a smartphone world. If it is going to advance the causes of peace, human rights, development and the climate, it needs a leader genuinely committed to reform.

As a wealthy white westerner with power and aess to resources, Brennan philanthropic mission to help Malawian prisoner-musicians feels too close to the archetype of the great white savior who is also selling the story of ‘poor Africa’.