Our mental health services are a mess; can Labour change it?
contribution by Alan White
One day, when I was a teen, I started to cut myself, making thin little slits on my ankles and arms with a penknife. I stopped sleeping. I started to hear strange noises and voices in my head at night.
Then I started to fall out with everyone at school; I found myself dipping into a weird sense of ecstasy: watching myself saying and doing vicious, nasty things to my peers, incapable of stopping myself. I told my parents I wanted to kill myself.
There was no reason for this to happen: I had been happy enough at school.
continue reading… »
Financial regulator won’t reveal how many groups they’re working with
contribution by Melanie Newman
The financial services regulator has so many groups and committees for liaising with industry that it says it would take more than 18 hours to draw up a list of them.
The Financial Service Authority has just refused the Bureau’s request for a list of these groups because it would take too long to compile. 18 hours is the maximum number of hours a response to a Freedom of Information request must take.
Why you should learn about organising, not just campaigning
contribution by Becky Wright
The local elections are over, France and Greece have seen people vote for an alternative and as pundits scramble to analyse and say what it all means, I want to take a step back and consider the role that organising and campaigning plays in building for change.
In these times, that is the greatest challenge we face. Whether it is for elections, for a plastic bag free area or for better, more equitable pay and conditions, we need to reorientate our view of success of campaigns to incorporate organising more fully.
In the trade union movement we debate about what it means for us to organise. I want to briefly explain how I view campaigning and talk about my approach to organising.
continue reading… »
Three reasons we should oppose attempts to block porn
contribution by Dan Jones
The Daily Mail is, as ever, outraged. The current target of its ire, and a concerted campaign of political pressure, is online pornography.
The house that Dacre built has convinced the government to float the idea of a massive online firewall.
One would have to opt out of the blocking software in order to access anything the government deemed too explicit, ostensibly to protect children from the horrors of the internet.
continue reading… »
We won’t see anyone else like Ken Livingstone again
contribution by Rachel Coldbreath
I love London.
I don’t mean it’s a great place to live. It can be. It can also be hell. It’s a hard place to live. It’s expensive. It isn’t easy to make close friends here, if you’re starting from scratch. You don’t get much space, and within that tiny space it is possible to be infinitely lonely. People come here, and hate, it and go. People come here, and love it, and stay. Those are Londoners.
I grew up here when “London Mayor” meant some old Lord, well connected in the City, who wore a big chain and a tricorn hat, who was wheeled out once a year in a fairytale gold carriage to be waved at by grateful orphans.
continue reading… »
A Tabloid Troll and the Conservative MP Patrick Mercer
contribution by Richard Bartholomew
In January 2009, two articles in British tabloids revealed that “Muslim fanatics” were planning to harm public figures in the UK as a response to Israeli actions in Gaza. The People revealed that the singer Madonna was a target because of her “Jewish links”, while the Sun issued a front page story (since deleted from its website) claiming that Alan Sugar was a “terror target” because he is Jewish.
Both stories relied heavily on postings taken from on-line discussion forums, and were deeply problematic.
The evidence of a plot against Sugar was discovered by Tim Ireland of Bloggerheads to have been planted by Glen Jenvey, who was the person who claimed to have discovered it.
continue reading… »
The most dangerous place in the world to try and report the truth
contribution by Elizabeth Mistry
Mexican journalist Regina Martinez was slightly built. She used to stand at the back at press conferences and rarely asked questions. That is not why she is dead.
“Regina would always write about one-third more of the real truth than I dared to do in any story we covered. And I write more than most reporters,” a journalist from Xalapa, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Maybe that is why she was killed, beaten and strangled in her bathroom on Saturday by an as yet unknown hand.
continue reading… »
What the last British resident in Guantánamo Bay couldn’t tell me
contribution by Clive Stafford Smith
Last week, I travelled 3,500 miles to meet with the last British resident in Guantánamo Bay, Shaker Aamer. Under the Orwellian rules that govern legal visits with a prisoner there, everything he said to me is classified.
I have to submit my notes – in this case, almost 200 pages – to the US censors and they decide what I can, and cannot, tell his family, his British lawyers, and the world.
So I can tell you nothing that Shaker said. I can, though, tell you what I said to him.
continue reading… »
Israel at the age of 64, and moving forward
contribution by Alex Bjarnason
Last week, Israel celebrated its 64th Independence Day, commemorating the establishment of a Jewish homeland in 1948 in accordance with the United Nations partition plan, that proposed two states for two people in British Mandate Palestine.
In many respects, Israel has been a stunning success: it is a thriving democracy, has an independent judiciary that regularly rules against the government, and enjoys a free press representing the spectrum of society.
continue reading… »
£2 per person? How the scheme to reduce airport queuing times failed
contribution by Maeve McClenaghan
With airport queues at Heathrow hitting two hours, research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveals technology introduced to help speed up passport control is so under-used that it has cost nearly £2 per arrival.
The IRIS recognition immigration system, which scans the unique patterns of travellers’ irises at passport control to confirm their identities, was introduced nearly six years ago in an attempt to cut down on airport arrival delays.
continue reading… »
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or RSS feed. You can also get them by email and through our Facebook group.
» We’re turning The Spirit Level into a film: help us in that goal
» I love the counter-productive attitude of right-wing commentators
» Watch out for the TPA’s report arguing for more cuts tomorrow
» The resurgence of bigoted conservatism in Ireland
» What’s the point of being ‘British’?
» The tragedy behind the Sam Hallam case
» Will JP Morgan be able to walk away from billion dollar losses?
» Labour is now even more reliant on left-wing voters
» We need the minimum wage for under-21s to be raised
» Has Liam Byrne discovered his conscience over disability benefits?
» Why the jobs crisis is far worse than headline figures
|
1 Comment 23 Comments 101 Comments 17 Comments 31 Comments 24 Comments 18 Comments 18 Comments 62 Comments 14 Comments |
|
LATEST COMMENTS » Grayling posted on How the Taxpayers Alliance want to raise your taxes » Planeshift posted on How the Taxpayers Alliance want to raise your taxes » Chaise Guevara posted on Public DOES want gay marriage, Lords reform » Grayling posted on How the Taxpayers Alliance want to raise your taxes » Rory Meakin posted on How the Taxpayers Alliance want to raise your taxes » vimothy posted on Public DOES want gay marriage, Lords reform » Ricardo posted on How the Taxpayers Alliance want to raise your taxes » Robin Levett posted on Did UKIP ignore concerns about BNP? » Tim Worstallt posted on We're turning The Spirit Level into a film: help us in that goal » Rupe posted on How the Taxpayers Alliance want to raise your taxes » BenM posted on Economic credibility: Tories & Labour (chart) » Tim Fenton posted on How the Taxpayers Alliance want to raise your taxes » Mr Eugenides posted on How the Taxpayers Alliance want to raise your taxes » Lee Griffin posted on How the Taxpayers Alliance want to raise your taxes » Jon posted on How the Taxpayers Alliance want to raise your taxes |
