All Courses

In this course, Professor Rodney Jones (University of Reading) explores how we can analyse texts on a linguistic level, i.e. by looking at the language itself. In the first module, we think about what we mean by the word 'text', including the...

In this lecture, Dr Simon Usherwood (University of Surrey) thinks about the European Union and its relationship with the United Kingdom, focusing in particular on Brexit. We begin in the first module by thinking about how the EU came into ...

In this course, Professor Andrew Gibson (Royal Holloway, London) explores Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. We begin by thinking about Beckett’s life, tracing his development as a man and a writer up to the outbreak of the Second World War...

In this course, Dr James Ross (University of Winchester) explores the reign of Henry VI of England (1422-61). We begin by thinking about Henry's birth, his upbringing, and the legacy he inherited from his illustrious father, Henry V. After that,...

In this course, Professor Miles P. Grier (Queens College, CUNY) explores the issue of race in Shakespeare through the lens of the 'racial plot' – the idea that race is not so much an aspect of one's identity as a process that serves a particular...

In this course, Professor John Callaghan (University of Salford) explores the history of the Labour Party from 1945 to the present day. In the first module, we think about the Labour government under Clement Attlee between 1945-51. In the second,...

In this course, Professor Femi Oyebode (University of Birmingham) explores anxiety and anxiety-related disorders. In the first lecture, we think about the general nature of emotions and how we experience them. In the second lecture, we think about...

In this course, Professor Helen Sauntson (York St John University) explores language, gender and sexuality. In the first module, we provide an introduction to the field, including an overview of recent research. In the second module, we think...

In this course, Professor Wyn Grant (University of Warwick) explores the importance of pressure groups and lobbying in the UK political system. In the first module, we think about the history of pressure groups and how they have changed over time,...

In this course, Ms Kate Kirkpatrick (University of Oxford) explores Jean-Paul Sartre’s ‘Being and Nothingness’, a text regarded by many as one of the greatest works of 20th-century philosophy. Having introduced Sartre himself and the historical...

In this course, Professor Anthony Price (Birkbeck College, London) explores Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. In the first module, we explore the central concept of eudaimonia, or happiness, in Aristotle's ethics, before turning in the second module...

In this course, Professor Paul Cartledge (University of Cambridge) explores compares and contrasts the democracy of Classical Athens with that of the United Kingdom in the 21st century. The course begins by considering the origins of democracy in...

In this course, Professor Adrian Smith (University of Southampton) thinks about British history in the first half of the twentieth century through six key elections—1906, 1923, 1931, 1945, 1950 and 1951. As we look at each election, we explore the...

In this course, Dr Jude Stevenson (University of Glasgow) explores concepts of mental health. In the first lecture, we look at what abnormality means. In the second lecture, we approach the practice of diagnostic labelling, discussing both the...