Politics

By Christine Gatt The second week of October was Mental Health Week, a small frenzy of activity I watched with interest. I have been following the debates around NHS funding and waiting lists for mental health treatment. I’m fascinated by the continued discrimination and misunderstanding of the illnesses which fall under this umbrella. It’s not that mental health illnesses are easy to understand, far from it. More that they are so often neglected, or ignored. The term mental health implies...

By Richard Roberts The trouble with Ed Miliband isn’t that he’s too intellectual and can’t communicate with ordinary people. It isn’t that he’s too socialist and in the pocket of the trades unions. It isn’t even that he looks like Wallace; nor that by allowing himself to be snapped eating a bacon butty, he unwittingly created the most embarrassing on-camera-moment for a Labour leader since Neil Kinnock fell over while walking on a beach with his wife. And no, it...

By Elsa Buchanan You may not know, but under a law called the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (PRSRA) 2011, the local authority for the City of Westminster in London has the power to confiscate items that could be used for “sleeping” or “staying” in the square. More, the use of amplification, banners and even tarpaulins, is also illegal. And the very law that the authorities are using to regulate peaceful protestations and the police’s role in this touristic area...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor This really wasn’t a great advertisement for democracy; it was a dog fight out there today, but when it came to answering questions they had nothing to sink their teeth into. The vicious pit bulls suddenly morphed into the Andrex puppy. During the opening exchanges the PM and Ed angrily went toe-to-toe on the health service, both steadfastly refusing to answer any questions on the NHS. Would Ed back a comparison between English and Welsh...

By J T Coombes www.globalmagnacarta.com @GMagnaCarta In this new millennium 21st century Society is saddled with systems way past their sell by date. A 15th century democratic system, complete with glass ceiling. An 11th century monetary system that increasingly holds the world to ransom. A 2000 year old surveillance system being replaced by modern technology. Voting with what we now have will never solve the problems we now face. In this series of 6 posts I will offer a view on why I think we might be sleepwalking into...

By Alex Iszatt The political confrontation that is occurring over the presidency of the Brazilian people is small fry for the Latin American country as its economy sinks into recession. President Dilma Rousseff and challenger Aecio Neves have faced off in their first debate since the opening round ballot – ahead of the October 26 elections. The two contradictory sides aired their grievances publicly. Neves, a centre-right, business-friendly candidate, attacked Rousseff's economic record and concentrated on divulging corruption within office. Rousseff counter-attacked...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Since the last PMQs the economy has leapt back into life, Miliband totally forgot the economy, and two MPs defected to UKIP. Regardless of that hiccup/convulsion (delete as appropriate) you felt the PM would survive today’s onslaught. Unfortunately for the PM it appears that one of his prominent members doesn’t mind paying disabled gardeners £2 an hour. Miliband had ambushed the PM, and challenged Cameron that Lord Freud had said this to a party member....

Richard Masefield, author of a new book set at the time of the Third Crusade to free Jerusalem from Islamic occupation, questions the Prime Minister’s use of crusading rhetoric in his recent comments about the Middle East. Isil poses a direct and deadly threat to Britain, David Cameron tells us. But although he seems at first to rule out military intervention – "I agree that we should avoid sending armies to fight or occupy" – he goes on to say that...

By Gregory Taylor Reports of the Ebola outbreak have been rife of late. Some 8,399 probable or suspected cases have been confirmed by The World Heath Organisation (WHO) causing a media frenzy around the outbreak, a frenzy that perhaps clouded Friday's Mental Health Day that shines the spotlight on a suspected 450 million people worldwide who have mental health problems. The Office for National Statistics Psychiatric Morbidity report found that one in four British adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem in any one...