We don't need to build more prisons - we need to send fewer people there
The government talks a good game on prisons - but at the moment, the old failed policies hold sway Some years ago the Howard League set up an independent expert review of what should happen to the...
View ArticleAutumn Statement 2015: George Osborne abandons his target
How will George Osborne close the deficit after his U-Turns? Answer: he won't, of course. “Good governments U-Turn, and U-Turn frequently.” That’s Andrew Adonis’ maxim, and George Osborne borrowed...
View Article“You’re a big corporate man” The Apprentice 2015 blog: series 11, episode 8
The candidates upset some children.WARNING: This blog is for people watching The Apprentice. Contains spoilers!Read up on episode 7 here.“I don’t have children and I don’t like them,” warns Selina. An...
View ArticleThe future of policing is still at risk even after George Osborne's U-Turn
The police have avoided the worst, but crime is changing and they cannot stand still. We will have to wait for the unofficial briefings and the ministerial memoirs to understand what role the tragic...
View ArticleFrom probiotics to poetry: how Rachel Kelly keeps depression at bay
Kelly describes herself as a people-pleaser and yet 12 years ago she fled her own Christmas party, crushed by a deep depression. Now she's written 52 Small Steps to Happiness. Rachel Kelly describes...
View ArticleConnected - to save time, money and lives
Businesses and the public sector in the UK are increasingly exploring new ways they can work with the help of connected technology – and the benefits this will bring. We live in a world that’s...
View ArticleThe Returning Officer: Suffragettes IV
Barbara Bodichon Ayrton-Gould was the Labour MP for Hendon North (1945-50). She had stood for Northwich in 1924, 1929 and 1931 and the Norwood by-election in 1935. Her second name was taken from the...
View ArticleWhy have men become so lonely – and how does it affect their health?
New findings show the consequences of having a lonely heart. Go out and get some friends. No, seriously. Hop on the Tube and act faux-interested in the crap-looking book your fellow commuter is...
View ArticleDavid Cameron seeks a "clear majority" for air strikes in Syria as Jeremy...
The Labour leader warns military action will increase the threat to the UK. The PM argues it will reduce it. There is a Commons majority for air strikes against Isis in Syria - but Jeremy Corbyn will...
View ArticleResponding to George Osborne's tax credit U-turn should have been Labour's...
He changed the forecast, we changed the weather. But still it rains. The Labour Party should have rested on its laurels in the Autumn Statement. While Gideon name checked his Tory colleagues for their...
View ArticleScream Queens: a melting pot of visual references to teen movies and horror...
The TV show’s parodic tone is mirrored in its knowing references to classics of the genres. The American series Scream Queens is a strange beast: part college drama, part horror, part black comedy, it...
View ArticleWhy don’t we talk about the pain of friendship break ups?
Breaking up with a friend is hard to do – society should give more weight to the process. Countless songs have been written about heartbreak; we recall the disintegration of our romantic entanglements...
View ArticleThe hidden crisis in the National Health Service
Hospitals are no longer safe places for their staff, warns Simon Danczuk. It feels as though not a week can pass without the media warning of a fresh “crisis in the NHS”. But while funding shortages...
View ArticleCommons confidential: Away in Pret a Manger
Corbyn's lunch, a Keith "Vazz" hunch and the New Left Book club.Comrade Corbyn, despite the pressures of leadership, remains the Anne of Green Gables of British politics, maintaining an almost...
View Article"Is it ever worth getting back with an ex?": Love surgery on Radio 1
The Surgery with Gemma and Dr Radha took its young listeners beyond the posturing of love. Is it ever worth getting back with an ex? This was one of several vexed questions mulled over by the...
View ArticleUK to reconsider blood donation ban for men who have sex with men
Under current rules, men who have had sex with another man in the past twelve months cannot donate blood. During Women and Equalities questions this morning, Jane Ellison MP slipped in a bombshell:...
View ArticleMatches made in heaven: Carol and Bridge of Spies
Todd Haynes'Carol is as tantalising as hearing a tender ballad on a tinpot transistor. Plus: Bridge of Spies.“No Excessive Noise” reads the prominent sign in a prison yard in Steven Spielberg’s Bridge...
View ArticleIn an age where history is neatly divided, two new books take a longer view
The Evolution of Everything by Matt Ridley and Human Race by Ian Mortimer have, to put it gently, an abundance of ambition. Historians often take evasive action when confronted by well-meaning members...
View ArticleReflecting on Paris, violent anthems – and living normal lives amid the...
If you believe some reports, normal life will soon be impossible in Paris, London and other European cities. Spare a thought for Nigerians, Iraqis, Lebanese, Syrians, Yemenis, Pakistanis, Afghans and...
View Article“Rhodes must fall,” chants the crowd. But bringing down an imperialist’s...
“Rhodes is a metaphor for the fact that the university is not a fully inclusive space,” says Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh. You’ve got to look quite hard to spot it: a statue four feet high, rather attractive and...
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