In the news
The expert opinions of many Leeds academics featured heavily during election coverage. Principal Teaching Fellow in Broadcast Journalism Judith Stamper was interviewed by Five Live and Radio Leeds on the controversy of Gordon Brown’s encounter with pensioner Gillian Duffy. Dr Alison Johnson (School of English) worked with Channel 4’s Dispatches to analyse the language used by the three leaders in the debates. Professor Stephen Coleman (Institute of Communications Studies) is leading a comprehensive study of the debates with a team including his colleague Professor Jay Blumler. Stephen was also interviewed for Radio Five Live, Channel 4 News and its Dispatches programme, the Voice of America, International Herald Tribune, Yorkshire Post and Radio 4’s The World Tonight. Dr Ed Gouge (School of Politics and International Studies [POLIS]) was interviewed by Danish TV about the Morley and Outwood constituency and why this was a key target for the Conservatives. Dr Bobby Sayyid (School of Sociology and Social Policy) was interviewed by the BBC1 Politics Show on Muslim voting intentions, while Dr Victoria Honeyman (POLIS) talked to the same programme about local authorities delaying their vote counting until the morning after polling stations closed. She was also on Radio 4’s The World Tonight. Hugo Radice (POLIS) spoke to the Yorkshire Post about the political realities behind Alastair Darling’s pre-election budget. Dr Nick Robinson. (POLIS) was interviewed live by Canada’s CTV news about the aftermath of the UK general election, in particular the likelihood of the formation of a stable and coherent coalition government. He also discussed why the British find coalitions so culturally problematic given that minority government/coalitions have been common in recent Canadian history.
The New Scientist, Daily Telegraph, Yorkshire Post and Metro carried news of research by a Leeds team headed by Professor Andrew Shepherd (School of Earth and Environment) showing that melting icebergs make only a small difference to sea levels.
Dr John Chester (Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine) made national news in the Guardian and the Yorkshire Evening Post with the publication of his paper on retargeted gene therapies in Nature Gene Therapy. Laboratory tests at the University showed that proteins can be added to a virus, which then recognises and targets unique markers on the surface of tumours, Dr Chester’s research was endorsed by Cancer Research UK as having “real benefits for patients”.
The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano prompted media appearances by Leeds academics, including Professor Stephen Mobbs of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science who was interviewed about the volcano ash cloud on BBC’s Radio 4, Five Live and Bang Goes the Theory. Articles by Professor Mobbs also appeared in the Guardian, Mail, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times. Professor Marjorie Wilson and Anja Schmidt (School of Earth and Environment) were interviewed on BBC Radio Leeds about the eruption. Aviation lecturer Stephen Wright (School of Engineering) featured in the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post giving his views about safety issues posed by concentrations of ash in the atmosphere. Dr Alaric Hall (School of English) was interviewed on BBC Radio York about the pronunciation of Eyjafjallajökull and historical connections between English and Icelandic.
A study led by Professor Tim Benton (Biomedical Health Research Centre) into organic farms was reported by the media, including the Times, Daily Mail, the Yorkshire Post and the Discovery Channel News.
Professor Duncan McCargo (POLIS) gave his views on recent rioting in Bangkok. “There seem to be no neutral figures left who are able to play honest broker in this increasingly dangerous stand-off,” he told the Independent. As a recognised expert in south-east Asian politics, he was also interviewed by BBC World TV, Voice of America, BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight and the Guardian, amongst others.
Matthew Page (Institute for Transport Studies) contributed a comment piece to The Big Issue in the North magazine. He opposed the development of high speed rail on the grounds of expense, equity and carbon emissions. Amongst those taking a contrary view was the then transport secretary Lord Adonis.
A team of vascular biologists led by Dr Karen Porter (Leeds Institute of Genetics, Health and Theraputics) has discovered that a naturally occurring substance known as C-peptide protects blood vessels from the harmful effects of insulin. This discovery, which could protect diabetes patients from heart damage linked to long-term treatment with insulin, was featured in the Yorkshire Post.
Dr Aidan Foster-Carter was quoted in the Daily Telegraph, following military intelligence reports that a North Korean suicide squad had destroyed a South Korean warship. Though the incident has heightened tensions between the countries, he said retaliation was unlikely, due to the danger it could “descend into a horrible war”.
Research by Professor Constanze Bonifer (Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine) and Dr Stepham Mathas from Berlin has discovered that so-called ‘junk’ DNA promotes cancer cell growth in patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Their findings were featured in the Yorkshire Post.
Further details of press coverage can be found at http://mediacuttings.leeds.ac.uk/index.aspx
