Opinion
The Women’s March was a huge success. What comes next?
By Niki Kandirikirira, Director of Programmes at Equality Now The Women’s March on London this Saturday saw around 100,000 people come onto the capital’s streets to demand that the rights of women and minorities be protected and promoted. In what turned into an historic day, the London march was just one of over 600 peaceful demonstrations held in more than 60 countries. Images from around the world showed a remarkable number of participants, with between 3.7 and 5 million people...
Google sets impossible task: Detecting Fake news
Today Google has announced a new initiative to rid the internet of fake news. Fifty thousand pounds of seed capital has been offered to the group that can find claims online and determine whether or not they are true. But for such a pitiful amount of start-up cash you’d be better throwing the money down the drain. The problem is that it’s near impossible to fit fake news into an algorithmic solution. It is often more a manipulation of facts...
There are 100 million working horses, donkeys & mules in the world, we want to help them all
By Jamie Whear There are 100 million working horses, donkeys and mules in the world. They are the tractors, taxis and engines that power developing economies, working in the construction industry, carrying food and water, and transporting goods to market. It’s estimated that each animal can support a family of six, so around 600 million people’s lives are supported by a working equine - 8% of the world’s population. Without healthy working horses, donkeys and mules, they wouldn’t be able...
We need to talk about Nazi Germany
In the week Theresa May defiantly delivered her "hard right" stance on the Brexit negotiations and America gets set to inaugurate one of the most "hard right" figures in modern political history the message of 2017 has become quite clear; If 2016 delivered the body blows, the next few years are going to be a series of repeated knock out punches. With them has come a series of worrying undertones about the state of the current social and political climate...
Newspapers tackling their falling readership by throwing scare-mongering immigrant stories on front page
By Selena Drake “A hospital is chasing a £350,000 bill racked up by a Nigerian mother who flew to Britain to give birth to twins.” This was the headline on the front page of the Daily Mail three days ago. A pattern is emerging that seems to be accompanying the rapid rise in immigration. The prioritisation of news stories of this nature is a typical example of scare-mongering. It is not uncommon for right-wing newspapers to try to increase readership...
Will Trump-May echo the Reagan-Thatcher relationship?
It is the time of the year where we reflect on the past and consider what we will do differently in the future – how we will make this year better than the last. Britain entered 2017 with a colossal hangover, entangled in divorce proceedings with the EU, and with a clear incentive to put its existing relationships in order. As Trump takes the podium on 20 January 2017, one of the United Kingdom’s first concerns will be how quickly...
Do prisons create a deterrent to crime?
The case of Anders Breivik against the Norwegian government has ruffled a lot of feathers this week. The man who massacred 77 people in 2011 may not only have a case about "inhuman and degrading" treatment under the European Convention of Human Rights, but could also force the government to pay his legal costs of 331,000 kroner (£32,000). That, on top of his cushy cell that houses a flatscreen TV, PlayStation, internet, his own gym and a study, will surely leave a bitter taste in the...
An Ode to Humphrey Smith
Sam Smith pubs are a bit like Marmite – you either can’t live with them or can’t live without them. And so, it would seem, is the owner. I use ‘owner’ loosely because Humphrey Smith is a man who wields incredible power and influence across his inherited Sam Smiths empire. Along with his brother, Oliver, he controls over 300 pubs, a brewery (or perhaps two), owns most of Tadcaster and the surrounding agricultural land and swathes of commercial land in...
Fat Cat Wednesday highlights everything that is wrong with this country
It was once said that the causes which destroyed the ancient republics were numerous, but in the case of Rome, one principal reason was the vast inequality of fortunes. The extent of inequality in Britain has been laid bare today in Fat Cat Wednesday - the day in which top bosses out-earn what the typical worker will earn all year. Executives will pass the average salary of £28,200 by midday, the High Pay Centre revealed, with figures confirming how pay differs “dramatically”...