Ill-judged welfare cuts have puts thousands at risk
It’s been another bonus year for bailiffs as relentless rent rises and welfare cuts continue to bite at the heels of hard-pressed families fighting to stay in their home.
It’s been another bonus year for bailiffs as relentless rent rises and welfare cuts continue to bite at the heels of hard-pressed families fighting to stay in their home.
Performers and other creative people with autism should be taken “out of the ghetto” and on to major stages around the country, the only autistic solo performer currently producing his own work in the UK has said.
Developments are rapidly taking place, some behind the scenes, which will have a significant impact on the Syrian conflict and the broader war against Isis.
Turkey is on the brink of civil war and economic collapse, and the country’s future is being held hostage to the overweening ambition of its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Sex workers all over the world face a constant risk of abuse. This is not news. Nor is it news that they are an extremely marginalised group of people, frequently forced to live outside the law.
The call for a smoking ban in pub gardens will come as a disappointment to those of us who, since the 2007 legislation, have dedicated serious time and endeavour to locating suitable backdrops to our disgusting habit.
I’m at the Edinburgh Fringe performing two solo shows a day – an act of financial and artistic masochism that could leave me homeless come September. However, I do have one thing on my side. After years of writing about my niche obsessions – dandyism, Essex lions, my own fragile ego – I’ve somehow wound up topical. My one-man play What I Learned From Johnny Bevan focuses, among other things, on the Labour party, and on the politics of hope.
In America too, the silly season reigns. But forget the boorish antics of one Donald Trump, and the wretched end of Cecil the lion. Lurking behind the headlines is a deadly serious issue. In September, Congress will confront the historic deal curbing Iran’s nuclear programme, and during these dog days, its members – above all those belonging to the Democratic party – must decide how they will vote. On the outcome, it is scarcely an exaggeration to say, the future of the Middle East may hinge.
The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. So states Clause IV, even after Blair’s rewrite. We may debate what “socialist” should mean in 2020. But there can be no dispute about the importance of democracy.
I’m a Canadian national currently living and working in Mogadishu, Somalia. Though an eyebrow-raising choice of residence, I decided to move to Mogadishu last year to settle accounts with matters of the heart. When a gruesome Civil War toppled the then Somali government in 1991, my grandmother and I moved to Toronto, Canada, to reunite with my father, leaving my mother behind. Then, in August 2014, I went to Somalia to properly meet my mother for the first time.
When a teenage girl shoved her forearm into a condom, took a photo and told women on Twitter not to believe men who say they are “too big” to use protection, her post was retweeted over 25,000 times.
As a headteacher of one of the top schools in the country, I’m often approached to comment on A Level results day. Despite the enviable results of the girls at North London Collegiate School, I have to say that I believe British children are over-tested.
Why would Jeremy Corbyn be unable to lead Labour to a general election victory? One of the biggest problems that Corbyn’s opponents face is their inability to give a persuasive answer to this question.
Hyperactive economic policymaking is always disconcerting. The sight of politicians and officials desperately yanking levers doesn’t send a reassuring message to investors. And when it is politicians and officials in the world’s second-largest economy doing the yanking, the psychological effect is even more alarming.
It always seemed curious. Holidaymakers are used to obeying each and every command, from the moment they enter an airport to when they pass through customs at the other end. Belts are removed, bags ransacked without a peep of objection. But why, when one wants to pick up a copy of The Independent and a packet of gum, does the WH Smith cashier need to see a boarding pass? What can the terrorists have done now?
As an adult film website, Pornhub is no stranger to controversy. But its bosses likely never predicted that an Italian governmental agency tasked with protecting parmesan would consider suing them over claims of “vulgar” use of cheese.
"Some people get into comedy because they love comedy," announces Aisling Bea. "Then there are people who have a message and have realised that if they can be funny, maybe people will listen to it. And then there are people like me, who are just addicted to making people laugh. My friend calls it a 'tart for a laugh'. You'll do anything – you'd jump off a bridge if you thought you'd get a laugh."