Tottenham High Road, Photo by Alan Stanton By Hannes Read, Policy and Data Analyst at City-REDI The Labour party are firmly on the election hunt. Quickly off the back of the announcement of Labour’s “five missions” for a future election manifesto, have come pledges to renationalise rail, launch a publicly-owned Great British Energy company and a five-point plan to “breathe life” into Britain’s high streets. But policies to revitalise high streets are nothing new. A cornerstone of the 2019 Conservative election bid was the “levelling up” slogan, with high streets being a part of that mission ar ..read more

Hawick High Street Image from Wikimedia Commons By Professor Sarah Montano and Dr Inci Toral, Department of Marketing, Birmingham Business School Labour has recently announced a series of proposals to revive the high street. Once again, the call is that we have moments left to save the dying high street. Whilst the proposals range from business rates, property taxation and tackling shoplifting we argue that finances are only one part of the solution, for our high streets to flourish rather than flounder, they must be a welcoming place that customers want to visit. Those of us who are of a cert ..read more

  By Professor Etlyn Kenny, Professor Joanne Duberley, Dr Chris Darko, Dr Ashok Patnaik (University of Birmingham) and Professor Dulini Fernando (Aston University) What do the experiences of minority ethnic doctors tell us about workplace inclusion in the diverse field of medicine? A team of researchers from the University of Birmingham and Aston University is investigating the experiences of minority ethnic doctors to bolster support for minority professionals. Minority ethnic people make up 16% of the UK’s population – ranging from 3% in Northern Ireland to 18% in England (House of Com ..read more

crommelincklars, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Professor Caroline MoraesProfessor of Marketing and Consumer Research Birmingham Business School, Department of Marketing Co-Director, Centre for Responsible Business Billie Eilish is the latest artist to announce that she is taking action on sustainability issues by producing her upcoming album with materials that are environmentally friendly. Her plan is to use recycled or eco-vinyl for vinyl copies, plant-based inks for printing and packaging made entirely from recycled and reusable materials. This is a significant environmental action, a ..read more

Image Credit: Derek Bennett By Professor John BrysonProfessor of Enterprise and Economic Geography, The Department of Strategy and International Business, Birmingham Business School Birmingham City Council (BCC) has found itself in a financial mess. Partly this comes from operational decisions that were made in the past and often by officers rather than elected councillors. One outcome of these decisions has been payouts that BCC needs to make that come to more than £1bn to settle an equal pay claim brought by underpaid workers.   There are many ways of interpreting this legal case a ..read more

By Dr Julie WhitemanDepartment of Marketing, University of Birmingham On 8th March we heard much about ‘inspiring inclusion’ as part of International Women’s Day celebrations. Inspiring inclusion will mean many things to many people, recognising the scope of exclusion that permeates all aspects of our society. By focusing on inclusion, it is hoped we will shine a light on the spectrum of exclusion and intersectional discrimination women face, raising awareness and inspiring ongoing and lasting change. In this vein, I would like to highlight sexist ageism in popular culture. We know that youth ..read more

By Professor Harry FergusonProfessor of Social Work, Department of Social Work and Social Care, University of Birmingham Every day in this country social workers perform countless acts that make a real difference to the lives of thousands of people. What they do involves kindness, compassion, courage, resilience, cleverness, wisdom and high levels of knowledge and skill. Social workers routinely meet the very difficult challenge of having to balance empathy and compassion with exercising power and authority to protect the hurt and the vulnerable. While in some situations the harm is so great ..read more

By Dr Sophie King-Hill, Associate Professor in the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham and Tom McNeil, Assistant Police & Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands Understanding the perceptions and positionality of the young man and boy in today’s society is an important aspect in violence reduction, tackling misogyny and positively addressing male mental health. Masculinity is evolving and previous assumptions of the man as the strong, emotionless provider are becoming rapidly redundant. Over the past 50 years women’s roles have changed and they have, quite rightly ..read more

Dr Inci Toral Manson, Associate Professor, Department of Marketing – Birmingham Business School and Dr Jean-Paul de Cros Peronard, Associate Professor – Aarhus University As the UK gears up for its upcoming general election, Home Secretary James Cleverly’s warning about the potential misuse of “deepfake” technology requires a broader conversation about the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in general. The adoption of AI by the public and the advancements in the capabilities of AI are bewildering, offering both transformative opportunities and unprecedented challenges. We use sensemaking to ..read more

By Professor Finola KerriganProfessor in Marketing, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham The 2024 Academy Awards’ Ceremony will take place on Sunday. It comes just after 2024’s International Women’s Day and during Women’s History Month. Much has been made of Ryan Gosling’s best supporting actor nomination for his role as Ken in Barbie with Margot Robbie overlooked for a best actress nomination for portraying Barbie herself. As gender politics was at the heart of the film, with Barbieland flipping around the usual male dominated social norms and seeing women in power, this was ..read more