Opinion
Prostate cancer won’t affect me right? I’m fit and healthy. Of Course Not, says Wayne Sleep
1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer. Shocked? Me too. But even with those statistics, it won’t affect me right? I’m fit and healthy, I dance for a living! Of course not. In 2015 these were my thoughts. And then I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I was going for regular blood tests and had a medical before a new job with a theatre company, which I thought would be completely normal. However, suddenly everything wasn’t completely normal. The blood test that measures prostate specific antigen (PSA) showed that my PSA levels were very high – an indication that...
The social care crisis is a dementia crisis
By Martina Kane, Senior Policy Officer at Alzheimer’s Society We all know that a sticking plaster doesn’t heal a wound. This is why the announcement today of a Green Paper, to sort out long-term funding of social care, could be a much needed ray of hope in what has been a dark time. If we’re optimistic, it is a sign of much needed leadership, though long overdue, from national Government on this issue. But they must follow through and deliver change...
It’s not all bad – five reasons to be cheerful this International Women’s Day
By Tara Carey, Equality Now Be Bold for Change. That is today’s International Women’s Day theme, and around the world we’re seeing it in action as increasing numbers of people are calling on governments to bring an end to discrimination against women and girls once and for all. Human rights organisations and individuals are harnessing “women power” and inspiring change through everyday activism. Here are just five examples of how people pressure has helped bring positive change in the last...
IWD: how women can get ahead at work
By Shari Hofer, VP marketing, Rosetta Stone As high-profile female leaders continue to infiltrate the boardroom and even lead our country, there’s a welcome shift in the way women are being perceived. Indeed, International Women’s Day (IWD) certainly highlights progress in changing attitudes towards strong females, however a level of inequality still exists. In 2016, 33 percent of global businesses had no women senior management, with women occupying just 22 percent of senior roles in G7 countries. There are also...
Stealing to eat: London’s hungry criminalised for taking waste food from supermarket bins
A Freedom of Information request has revealed there has been a massive rise in the number of London’s hungry who have been criminalised and jailed for stealing in order to eat, with the majority of cases pertain to the hungry and homeless taking waste food from supermarket bins. Where will this end? It is only a matter of time before the homeless are jailed and criminalised for their failure to find a home and for causing an offence by sleeping on...
War Widow who lost husband in Afghanistan set up a charity to help bereaved Forces children
“We’re there for the children” …. Nikki Scott talks about how losing her husband in Afghanistan motivated her to set up a charity to help bereaved Armed Forces children smile again Founding Scotty’s Little Soldiers is unquestionably my greatest life achievement. When I lost Lee, my husband and Brooke and Kai’s Dad, in Afghanistan in 2009, our world was turned upside down. I’ll never forget the day I found out - seeing two cars drive up to the house with...
EU to reform – without UK in it
One of the key messages that never came through in the run-up to the referendum is that Britain can not expect to influence the political makeup of the EU if it decides to leave the bloc. For me, the vote to leave was always a war on two fronts. The remainers battled on economic grounds, which we can only enjoy within the EU, and the leavers battled on political grounds, which we can also only influence if we're in the...
Secret Teacher – The big money rarely reaches the useful areas
Money is a funny thing in education. Much like the emergency services, the big money rarely reaches the most useful areas. The government has now had the wizard idea of making raising standards even harder by slashing school budgets; since the largest chunk of any school’s budget is staffing, this means it’ll be the staffers who feel the pinch – by which, of course, we don’t mean senior management, as they look after themselves very nicely, thank-you. Some support staff...
Copeland is May’s Basildon Man
In the early days of Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as Prime Minister a sociological phenomenon dubbed the "Basildon man" came into existence to describe the archetypal Thatcher supporter that had previously been expected to vote Labour. The Basildon Man was at the heart of her political machine, denoting aspirational voters who eschewed notions of working class solidarity in favour of personal self-promotion. Last week history repeated itself in Copeland - where voters looked less towards togetherness and more towards hope. If the...