"We live at a time of soaring global inequalities and a concerted challenge to the very notion that human beings can live as equals. Equality, in short, is in crisis. Yet surprisingly little work has been done to understand this complex ideal. Far from being a modern aspiration, as is commonly thought, equality has a long history stretching back to the ancient world. Across the ages, we have also been profoundly ambivalent toward-and even skeptical...

"The British monarchy has been through turbulent times of late. Rocked by scandal and strife, and without it seems a clear plan for the future following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, we have been left wondering: what happens next? Nothing seems certain. Will the monarchy survive with its continuing echoes of an Imperial past? Will young people - disenchanted with the political status quo - find the ritual and practice of the monarchy quite so mesmerising...

How statues, heritage and the built environment have become the battleground for the culture wars. The past is weaponized in culture wars and cynically edited by those who wish to impose their ideology upon the physical spaces around us. Holocaust deniers use details of the ruins of the gas chambers Auschwitz to promote their lies: 'No Holes; No Holocaust'. Yet long-standing concepts such as 'authenticity' in heritage are undermined and trivialized...

"Marriage expert Brad Wilcox provides the evidence for why marriage is the most fundamental and worthwhile social institution"-- "What's the recipe for happiness? If you listen to liberal elites or red pill influencers, you'd say it's making money, living for yourself, and staying single without kids--and you'd be wrong. Nothing predicts happiness better than a good marriage. According to new research by the University of Virginia sociologist Brad...

"Housing prices are at record highs, and millions of Americans are housing insecure in one form or another. Our housing markets are failing to provide the foundation for all Americans to have a dignified life they can afford in a good place with access to opportunity. Housing is a classic example of a "wicked problem" in planning and public policy: one involving a complex system with many interrelated parts, which does not yield to simple prescriptive...

"Our lives are filled with repetitive tasks meant to boost productivity -- what we come to know as habits. Over time, these habits (for example, brushing your teeth or putting on your right sock first) are done on autopilot. But when a layer of mindfulness accompanies a habit -- when we focus on the precise way an act is performed -- a ritual has been created. Now, an everyday act goes from black-and-white to technicolor. And as author Michael Norton...

"Moving is no fun. Neither is getting rid of stuff. And both jobs get harder as we get older. So, when those over a certain age - say, in the last third of life - are looking to downsize and move all at the same time, many will conclude, "I'll just stay put, thank you very much." It's not just the acquired possessions holding them back, but also the intangibles. Their memories, their family history, their identities are all in jeopardy, they think....