Climate change is hurling the planet towards oblivion, yet investors continue to finance “dirty” industries. Politicians introduce only relatively minor measures to address the crisis. Industrialists push ahead with environmental destruction in the name of profit – in spite of the fact their own children and grandchildren will be among those to bear the most severe consequences.
Have you ever organised or joined a demonstration over something you felt strongly about? If the new Policing Bill being rushed through Parliament this week comes into law, in the future you could find yourself facing a jail term of 10 years if you do.Why? The reasons are set out by Chris Daw QC in […]
It has not come as a surprise but with the recent revelations about the monarchy, the republicans are having a field day. #Abolish the Monarchy soon began to trend on twitter. Republic, the main lobby group for UK republicans tweeted with glee: “The monarchy has just been hit by its worst crisis since the abdication […]
When I was 16, I witnessed a sexual assault. At school, of all places. This was in the 1980s, early on. I knew this was wrong but I had no idea how to deal with it. There were several of us around, mostly male. Most of us were probably as uncomfortable as I was. A slightly older boy grabbed a young woman who was passing by, touched her, pushed her. Laughing. Said she was asking for it.
We will have no recourse when the police silence us. No-one will have to resign or explain.
11 days ago, Sarah Everard disappeared in Clapham at about 9.30 pm. She was walking home from a friend’s house.
The company owner now is Stellantis, a merger of Fiat-Chrysler and Peugeot. The plant could be left empty. They could go for an electric car but the future looks as grim as it has for some time. Just in time supply chains won’t necessarily work with Brexit and Covid-19.
“War! Huh! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!” Many of us will relate to this sentiment, but when we look at the history of war, we see that there are many complexities of human life reflected in these ultimate situations. And when we look closely it gets ever harder to say what’s absolutely right […]
Like many of my fellow Britons, I love a good pub quiz. I think back fondly to the pre-pandemic era when I was able to see my friends weekly for a chance to name obscure capital cities or try and eke out a song title from listening to music over a crackly speaker system. My […]
In this week’s furore over NHS pay, Nadine Dorries is front and centre again. Whenever the government needs someone to loudly defend the indefensible (in that tricky two day gap between announcement and U-turn), they invariably send Nadine over the top.
Building healthcare resilience against future pandemics Yesterday, shadow health secretary and Labour MP for Leicester South, Jonathan Ashworth gave the keynote address at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) webinar on building healthcare resilience. Central Bylines was on hand to take notes and put together this summary. Unprecedented not unpredictedThe Covid-19 pandemic may be […]
Dysfunctional families have long been the bane of sections of the British media and society – hated for their anti-social ‘f*** you’ behaviour, their casual attitudes towards marriage, their dependency on state handouts and the sometimes very disreputable characters they associate themselves with.
To celebrate this international women’s day, we wanted to identify an eminent woman from the Midlands. Given the current Covid-19 pandemic, we could pick none better than Dr Janet Lane-Claypon, a pioneer of epidemiology. She was born in Boston, Lincolnshire in 1877 and studied at the London School of Medicine for Women. She was the […]
Mansfield today is waking up to the stunning news that their headline-hunting MP, Ben Bradley, has been appointed to the Women and Equalities Committee in the House of Commons.
When I arrived in the UK in November 2019, I was delighted that finally after 18 months of a hard and dangerous journey, I arrived to my dream land looking for human rights, freedom, justice and freedom of speech.
A fearsome battle is brewing over the future of Britain. On one side the UK Government, the majority of the press, and the entire British establishment, tacitly backed by the royals. On the other side, Nicola Sturgeon and her fellow Scotttish warriors. Their cause is just, their passion strong, and I wish them well. If […]
In Derby, a property that houses asylum seekers and run by Serco – yes, that Serco – is in such appalling condition that the city council is arranging an urgent inspection. According to the Guardian, photos show missing ceilings, an unusable shower full of rubble and with cracked or missing tiles, rusted pipes and walls […]
Every decade a census is taken in England and Wales. This snapshot of all people and households gives information to help plan resource allocation, and will help future historians understand us. This year, there is a lot of chatter on social media asking the question ‘Do you feel European?’ with speculation whether we should, or […]
Humans all come from the same stock, the same place, the same gene pool. We so-called modern humans (Homo Sapiens[1]) all have common ancestors, all the way back in the mists of time, coming from the Great Rift Valley of Africa. All except a few – in their own opinion, that is. They believe they […]
coothie row syne rangle’d rout sock-eyed thick’it aye – on tae victory see the crush’it gimmer red feel the star puls’d trummel’d head yon lone ranger gallopin’ ahead ball tucked firmly under – quick stride one! two! round waist arms threw torso sprawlin’, squirmin’, rollin’ bodies pilling o’wer – thump the turf wi’ puckle’d hard […]
For most of the world 2020 was not the most positive of years, and 2021 has been pretty tough so far for so many. However, it did start on a note of promise with the first-ever Covid-19 vaccine being given to a non-trial patient in the UK right at the end of the old year. […]
James I is in many ways a monarch you would not want to emulate, an absolutist tyrant who believed in witchcraft and the divine right of Kings. However, when he came to the throne he understood the need for renewal and radical change, the need for symbols of the new kingdom he wanted to build. […]