Talking points a range of topics tackled by academics this week

Despite promises of ‘ultrafast’ broadband services in the latest Budget announcement, Dr Bianca Reisdorf from the Department of Media and Communications and Anne-Marie Oostveen from the University of Oxford reflect on how we have yet to see the results of previous promises of minimum broadband speeds:

• Read "A promised 'right' to fast internet rings hollow for millions stuck with 20th-century speeds" on the Conversation

Professor Mark Jobling and Dr Daniel Zadik from the Department of Genetics examine the impact of the results of the People of the British Isles (PoBI) project and what it tells us about where we come from:

• Read "Who do you think you are? World's finest-scale genetic map of the British Isles reveals all" on the Conversation

The eye is the only part of the brain that can be seen directly and, as Professor Irene Gottlob from our Department of Cardiovascular Sciences explains, is a useful means of investigating nervous and neurological diseases:

• Read "The eye is our window to the brain – and there's a lot we can tell from it" on the Conversation

Should we be concerned about the scale of businesses? Professor Martin Parker from the School of Management discusses whether we should be thinking smaller:

• Read "Ignorance in HSBC top brass shows if banks are too big to fail, they're too big to manage" on the Conversation

Dr Katherine Foxhall from the School of History discusses criticisms of the BBC drama ‘Banished’ as relying on stereotypes:

• Read “Why there are calls to boycott a BBC drama about the first convicts to colonise Australia” on the Conversation

In the wake of supposed political corruption scandals, Dr Jon Moran from the Department of Politics and International Relations argues that the UK needs to enforce its legislation better:

• Read "Do as we say, not as we do: UK preaches clean politics despite cash-for-influence scandals" on the Conversation

You can discover other thought-provoking pieces by Leicester academics on The Conversation.

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