In the news

Television soap operas could help millions of people to engage with politics, says Professor Stephen Coleman in the Institute of Communications Studies [see February Reporter 523], who spoke to The Guardian, The Times, The Sun, BBC News, the Yorkshire Post and the Yorkshire Evening Post. He said relaxing the broadcasting rules would encourage producers to let characters have political debates: “There’s something not quite right when pubs such as the Rovers Return ... are the only ones in the country where Tony Blair is never mentioned.”

After analysing the most boring books we fail to complete, English lecturer Dr Kevin Killeen told the Independent he was surprised that Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre had topped the poll, beating Salman Rushdie’s The Satantic Verses and Tolstoy’s War and Peace. In the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Times Online and the Glasgow Daily Record he added that readers sometimes bought titles they might otherwise ignore because of marketing, media exposure or prizes.

The Yorkshire Post’s Business magazine spoke to Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Arthur about his life, his work and his approach to learning. It said his recent appointment to the board of Yorkshire Forward reflects his desire to make the University more business-friendly, and that more business leaders should use the expertise on offer at the University.

Professor Sasha Roseneil, Dr Paul Chatterton and Dr Stuart Hodkinson appeared in the BBC4 programme Are we having fun yet? How Britain has changed in 10 years, a three-part series discussing the transformation of personal and family life in the decade since Labour came to power. It asked whether we are any happier for being more educated, richer and having more choice in partnerships than ever before.

Professor Alistair Hay appeared on the BBC Two programme The Conspiracy Files for an episode that questioned the official suicide of government scientist and weapons inspector Dr David Kelly in July 2003, who was under intense pressure because of the controversy surrounding Iraq’s nuclear threat.

The Yorkshire Evening Post reported that £14m government funding will be invested in the Leeds University Dental Institute (see February Reporter 523) to help solve the nationwide shortage of dentists. Institute director Dr Margaret Kellett said: “The new centres will ensure all our students continue to gain the same level of clinical practice as numbers expand.”

Women from deprived backgrounds have a lower breast cancer survival rate and are treated differently to more affluent women, suggests a study led by Professor David Forman for Cancer Research UK. He told the BBC Online, The Sun and the Yorkshire Post: “Part of the problem may be based on the fact that women from a more deprived background are diagnosed when the disease is more advanced.”

Thousands of motorists were caught up in the scandal of a contaminated batch of fuel that led to engine trouble. Fuels and lubrication expert Professor Malcolm Fox told The Guardian and the Daily Mail: “Repair garages are going to have a field day … You only need a few parts [of silicon] per million to cause a problem to the oxygen filters - say a coke-can full in a 35,000-litre fuel tanker.”

Professor of behavioural ecology Jens Krause spoke to prestigious German news magazine Der Spiegel about his research into crowd behaviour and leadership by doing experiments on fish and a group of 200 students.

Flat screen televisions are simply not up to the job, research at Leeds has confirmed. Ronnier Luo, professor of colour and imaging science, told The Guardian the problem is caused by manufacturers who rush out cheaper models of poor quality. “The problem is that the makers don’t put their name on them, and as a result the quality has suffered. The future developments of ISO standards should improve things.”

Dr David Milne from the Institute for Transport Studies was interviewed for ITV1’s Tonight with Trevor McDonald. Dr Milne has worked out a special model on road pricing in north-east England ahead of the new government plan that people should be charged for not only how far they drive, but also when and where they drive.

Girls as young as four are being psychologically damaged by the sexualisation of young women in toys, fashion, and the media, according to a report by the American Psychological Association. Professor of medical psychology Andrew Hill told the BBC Online and the Glasgow Herald it was hard to disagree with the report. “The key thing here is responsibility. Advertisers and other media need to be aware that the products they produce … have an impact and it’s not always a good impact.”

The story about Anglo-Saxon ruler King Alfred burning his cakes is likely to be mere propaganda passed down through the generations, reported The Times, the Guardian Unlimited, Radio 3 and the Yorkshire Post. Professor Rory McTurk said his research shows that a Viking called Ragnar Hairybreeks might equally have been responsible for this ninth-century catering disaster.