Opinion

  By Marcus Hendriks  Today, in an 11.15am special statement, Theresa May announced that she will be calling a snap General Election on 8th June. Following expected the parliamentary approval of a two thirds majority, the United Kingdom is destined to have its first snap election since Margaret Thatcher’s victory over Labour in 1979. As with any significant political event, there will be (indeed already is) a plethora of analysis, commentary and speculation. Why did Theresa May choose to call...

This weekend I sat aghast as Turkey voted to take a step back from democracy and grant President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sweeping new powers that give him wide control over the judiciary, broad powers to make law by decree, abolish the office of the Prime Minister and, effectively, make him a dictator. Today, as Theresa May announces a typically opportunist snap election which will move Britain to the right, impose a hard Brexit on the country and force more cuts I'm...

A TFL public consultation that includes proposals to "compulsory purchase" a retail trade park in New Cross Gate in south east London has mobilised a community into to action, lead by the political party Lewisham People Before Profit. Marie Duggard, a local resident and activist in PB4P, says that the consultation fails to address the huge numbers of crucial local jobs the wider community would lose and its devastating consequence on the entire community, highlighting the 239 jobs alone at...

By Danni Manzi, Head of Policy and Campaigns - Breast Cancer Care At the beginning of April, NHS England approved a new funding system for medicines that changes the way drugs, including those for breast cancer, are made available. The pros and cons have been widely debated, both before and after the decision was made, yet the real crux of the matter – the decision to have a £20 million threshold - has still not been explained by NICE or the NHS....

If you want to make a bit of money out of a hard Brexit invest in fluorescent jackets and clipboards. That's the advice of Guy Platten, the chief executive of the UK Chamber of Shipping, who today confirmed that anything less than a friction-less customs deal with the EU could lead to substantial queues at Holyhead and Dover as border officials with mountains of paperwork create substantial traffic jams. It's a scenario the chamber is clearly not prepared for. The negotiations between Britain and...

One of the primary arguments on the gender pay gap from the alt right is that women deserve to be paid less because they have children. It's part of what independent social research agency NatCen the "incomplete revolution". Despite female participation in the labour market increasing markedly over the past 30 years and both couple families tending to work, substantial support remains for women having the primary caring role when children are young and it is still women who undertake a disproportionate amount...

By James Jirm Galgallo CAFOD’s Humanitarian Capacity Development Officer, based in Isiolo, Kenya I was born, brought up and married in northern Kenya, an area now stricken by the drought that has spread across the Horn of Africa. I grew up among pastoralists, who count their wealth in cattle, sheep, camels and goats, and move wherever their herds can find food. When you are entirely dependent on your livestock for survival, you have to be tough. To pastoralists, it is not...

I wish I had half the passion about anything as Eric Monkman has about University Challenge. The way he intensely screws up his face and delivers passionate answers to the questions, it's no wonder the Canadian has developed a cult following since his first appearance in September. In an interview with the Telegraph ahead of tonight's showdown, Monkman said: “I’m just someone who really enjoys quizzing". I love that. I love that someone can get that much joy out of...

Whatever your stance on cannabis may be you can't fault the ingenuity of our nation's illicit growers. This year alone factories have been uncovered in a mock Tudor home, an iconic chapel, an empty shopping unit just yards from a police station and even in a mansion a stone's throw away from the Queen herself. Plenty of cases to show, if we needed evidence, that the industry is alive and well in Britain. Across the pond the legalised industry is reporting its financial...