China after Mao: The ‘Rise’ of a Superpower

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Dutch Historian Frank Dikötter’s latest book on China's so-called 'economic miracle' reveals a tale of distortion and contradictory realities as he examines how the superpower has transformed since the 1970s.

Deaf Mosaic: with photographer Stephen Iliffe

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Stephen Iliffe’s intimate portraits from the UK’s deaf community range from female vicar to fairground traveller, Quran translator to fashion model.

Show me the money: Will promises around loss and damage finally be upheld at COP27?

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Tense geopolitical relations heightened by the war in Ukraine and a global cost-of-living crisis mark the start of COP27. Emiliya Mychasuk; climate editor for the Financial Times, leads a discussion on hopes and fears for the conference.

The Olympian who stopped running from her truth

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Olympic-winning athlete and national treasure, Colonel Dame Kelly Holmes joined us at The Conduit for a fireside chat. During this conversation we heard about her career in the army, winning the double gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and how she has found freedom to be her true self since.

Bedrooms of London

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In a city where extreme poverty and wealth exist side-by-side, Bedrooms of London looked to make visible the often shocking and unseen realities of home life for the 700,000 children living below the poverty line within our capital. Challenging the prejudices and stereotypes associated with child poverty, Bedrooms of London highlights this situation for some of London’s most vulnerable children.

Tobacco is heavily taxed yet fossil fuels are subsidised. Why?

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With the start of COP27 just around the corner, Human Rights Watch’ Environment and Human Rights Director Richard Pearshouse was joined by special guests Steve Andrews, Chief Executive of Earthwatch; Matthew Owen, Director of Cool Earth; and Charles Perry, sustainable business specialist, to discuss the dynamic challenges posed by climate change and initiatives for sustainable change.

Life and Death on Africa’s Greatest Lake

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Lake Victoria is the world’s second-largest freshwater lake. Twenty-five million people depend on it for their survival. Once a site of almost miraculous biodiversity, in recent decades it has played host to one of history’s greatest mass extinctions. Overfishing, pollution, deforestation and global warming have decimated fish stocks and rendered large swathes of the lake unfit for life. In his new book The Saviour Fish: Life and Death on Africa’s Greatest Lake, Mark Weston explores how biodiversity loss and climate change are affecting some of the most marginalised communities on the planet. Living for two years on remote Ukerewe Island in the Tanzanian half of the lake, he gets to know the fishermen and families who are hardest hit by the crisis and finds out how they are responding. In this excerpt, he tells the story of a decision made long ago by East Africa’s British colonisers, which is still having major repercussions for those living around the lake today.

To Be a Woman: Perspectives from 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair

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Celebrating its tenth anniversary in London, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair returns to Somerset House this weekend. With 50 international exhibitors across 21 countries, there’s a wealth of great art to see. Our reporter, Sheila Mutua, has picked out five stand-out artists whose work explores notions of womanhood.

How we choose to remember matters: A Story of Bones (film review)

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October is Black History Month in the UK, a month dedicated to remembrance, acknowledgement, reflection, celebration, agency, and education. The Conduit collaborated with Doc Society to screen Annina van Neel’s powerful and haunting journey of discovery of one of the most significant traces of the transatlantic slave trade, and her fight to reclaim the neglected history of Saint Helena. ’A Story of Bones’ is an exposé of historical injustice, a lesson on the gravity of remembering, and a chronicle of the power and potential for community action to ignite change.

Q&A with Margaux Lunt, Founder of OTK

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Margaux Lunt is a previous Conduit team member, turned sustainable fashion entrepreneur! We checked in with her to hear more about her latest endeavours, her inspiration and what we can expect from her debut collection...