How The Cure went back to their gothic roots for their new number one album

By Neil Cocks, Associate Professor in the Department of English Literature, University of Reading

At Shrewsbury train station, there is a poster advertising The Cure’s new album, Songs of a Lost World. The confident, monochrome minimalism of the art is at odds with the rambling Victorian brickwork, yet there is a kind of sympathy there also.

At ten on a November morning, the station isn’t the most joyful of locations and so is a suitable home for a record praised for its wintery desolation. The poster helps here.

The cover art features a sculpture called Bagatelle…

Read complete article

~	Casting a spotlight on the Black convicts of African descent who helped shape Australia

~	When picking schools, don’t get stuck on single-sex vs. co-ed. Instead ask – are all students supported and included?

~	‘Burnt out, tired, frustrated’: how hospital pressures harm doctors’ mental health

~	Women are still being paid almost $30,000 a year less than men and the gap widens with age

~	Modern cars are surveillance devices on wheels with major privacy risks – new report

~	Trump’s agenda will face hurdles in Congress, despite the Republican ‘trifecta’ of winning the House, Senate and White House

~	COP29: Only by returning carbon to the ground is net zero truly possible

~	Hong Kong: 45 activists sentenced under controversial National Security Law

~	Russia: Shameful veto of Security Council resolution on Sudan leaves millions of civilians at continued risk

~	AI and criminal justice: How AI can support — not undermine — justice