Opinion
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...
Gerald Kaufman In His Own Hard Hitting Quotes
Honouring Sir Gerald Kaufman MP who has died aged 86, many tributes today mention the pugnacity as well as intellectual might, influence, length of career, kindness and concern for those most marginalised by society of the outspoken former frontbencher. The controversial Labour was unafraid to tell truth to power even if that occasionally meant embarrassing powerful officials who came before the committees he served in, figures in his own party, or sometimes fellow members of Britain's Jewish community with whom he...
Demands for MPs to pass bill protecting women against sexual and domestic violence
By Jacqui Hunt, Europe Office Director at Equality Now On average two women a week in England and Wales die at the hand of their current or former male partner, and around 85,000 women are raped every year, according to Home Office and Office of National Statistics data. This Friday, the UK government has the opportunity to lead the way on protecting women and girls’ against violence - both in the UK and on the global stage – by voting to...
Who would win in a second referendum?
Trust UKIP to get us out of the EU, Labour wants to keep you in, a poster reads on the streets of Stoke on Trent in preparation for today's crucial by-election. Despite UKIP been entangled in a Paul Nuttall fiasco and Labour imposing a three-line whip on their MPs to vote in favour of the Brexit bill it's clear the issue at the heart of the Brexit capital remains Europe and Britain's exit thereof. If buyers regret seems prevalent in...
We British are generous when it comes to giving to charity; something that we should rightly celebrate
By William Makower, Founder Trustee of The National Funding Scheme We British are generous when it comes to giving to charity; something that we should rightly celebrate. In fact a recent report ranks the UK as 1st in Europe and 7th in the world. Supporting this effort are a number of public bodies and organisations that promote effective giving. The Office of Civil Society is the Government department tasked with encouraging giving and volunteering whilst Charities Aid Foundation (founded by the...