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For a man who has lived in Britain all of his life, Robbie has had very little exposure to football. His isolated town seven miles south of Glasgow is smack in the heart of rugby union territory and he has little interest in the fierce rivalry between the green and white hoops of the East End or the Blues of the West. So it wasn’t until he landed a job in London and a houseshare with two football fanatics that...

“Darling it’s me Tim Farron, your husband!” “Police- there’s a person in my bed who thinks he’s Nick Clegg.” Jibe from the ever-hilarious Newsrevue cannon aside, amidst the maelstrom that has been the summer of 2016 in British politics, the Lib Dems have been conspicuous by their absence. The fall-out and uncertainty from Brexit appears to have passed the party like ships in the night and at eight per cent in the most recent polls, 18 months on from being...

Economic theory tells us that markets can ensure an efficient allocation of resources. When it comes to labour, these theories suggest that pay should be set just high enough to attract sufficient people with the necessary skills and experience to do the job. Any higher and there would be an excess supply of suitably qualified labour and this over-supply would drive down the price (pay) to a level that brings the demand and supply into equilibrium. Financial market prices follow...

Should two men sharing a hug, no matter the sexuality, really be considered a homosexual act? Of course the obvious answer is absolutely not. The term ‘Casual homophobia’ has been created as a response to a string of gentle nods of discrimination. Most recently displayed when the Daily Mail published an article with the headline: ‘Steady on chaps!’ after British divers Jack Laugher and Chris Mears shared a triumphant hug. Eyebrows were raised and noses were put out of joint....

By Elena Orde, Editor of The Vegan Recent undercover reports have revealed a disturbing but unsurprising disregard for animal welfare laws in UK abattoirs. In just the past two years, over 4,000 ‘major’ breaches have been made, each potentially affecting hundreds of animals. Common breaches include animals not being stunned properly or at all before slaughter, freighted animals being left for too long in overcrowded lorries, often in very hot or very cold conditions, and deliberate abuse by slaughterhouse workers. Many people...

By Deborah Hodge Richard Branson is a hot topic this week. The huge row that flared up about whether Jeremy Corbyn did indeed have to sit down on a Virgin train due to a lack of seats has brought into sharp focus the Branson empire. One thing is for certain, Richard Branson did not take the accusations lying down and showed at all costs he will protect his reputation. My own “love affair” with Branson started back in October 2014....

By Deborah Hodge There has been a surge in poverty porn programmes of late. One of the most controversial was “the great British Benefits Handout” giving households £24K in cash to come off benefits and plotting their progress. A close second is the Channel 5 programme about people’s lives on benefits which I appeared on in the episode aired on Thursday 11th August. The tabloid media reaction to the people involved is always one of disgust and this was certainly true...

The Corbynistas have tried to paint Owen Smith as a villain. He worked for Pfizer (that well-known evil corporation), he wants to privatise the NHS (the evidence for this is startling in its flimsiness) and he's tearing the Labour Party apart (unlike the Trots who've culled the shadow cabinet). The fact is Owen Smith is not a villain. But he's not the hero the Labour Party needs or deserves right now. That's why a Smith victory would be just as...

By Elena Orde, Editor of The Vegan Recently, a story in which a malnourished Italian child was removed from his parents made headlines. The press attributed the boy’s ill health to his veganism (ignoring the fact that he had a congenital heart defect), and questioned whether vegan diets for children were abusive. Since then, the story has escalated. Italian politician Elvira Savino has proposed a new law by which parents raising vegan children could face imprisonment. The language around the...