by Alexander Nicoll | 31 Jul 2025 | Culture, Journalism, Media Literacy
With AI taking over much of what we do, will people still value works created purely from one person’s brain? Is creativity worth anything anymore? Edgar Allen Poe considers using AI to write a poem. (Illustration by News Decoder) I have written the piece that...
by Alexander Nicoll | 21 May 2025 | Decoder Replay, Economy, Europe, Great Britain, Politics
The Labour government wants to renew trade with Europe. The Tories had failed to do that after Brexit. We take a look back at that last attempt. Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, and European...
by Alexander Nicoll | 25 Sep 2024 | Decoder Replay, Journalism, Media Literacy
How we perceive events like the war in Ukraine depends on our news sources. While never perfect, news media perform invaluable services. A note tacked onto a refrigerator reminds someone to pick up needed items including news. (Illustration by News Decoder)...
by Alexander Nicoll | 5 Aug 2024 | Great Britain, Politics, Wh-Y Vote
With its sixth prime minister in eight years, will the British finally be able to stop faffing around and get on with it? Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office at 10 Downing Street, poses for the cameras, 13 March 2024. Larry has chased mice there through...
by Alexander Nicoll | 18 Apr 2023 | Economy, Educators' Catalog, Europe, Great Britain, Nationalism
Brexit gave the British people independence from Europe. But can the value of national sovereignty be quantified and is it worth more than economic stability? A line of trucks wait at Dover to cross the British Channel into Europe post-Brexit in December 2020. AP...
ND correspondent Alexander Nicoll dives into the post-Brexit world in this article, assessing the balancing act between national sovereignty and strong economic growth. He gets into the past, present and future Britain faces as it navigates its independence from the European Union.
Exercise: In an exercise to teach students synthesis skills, have students create a political cartoon illustrating the central tension in this article — the balance between national sovereignty and economic growth in Britain post-Brexit. How students choose to portray this tension is up to them, but they should consider including: a meaningful caption, public figures, symbols, dialogue, etc. It may be worthwhile to show the class examples of successful political cartoons to inspire ideas.