Climate Repair

Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire. […] I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is. Greta Thunberg At long last, the public are waking up to the threat

The Rule of Law

Emblazoned across this morning’s Daily Telegraph are these words: “Johnson: I’ll defy law over Brexit extension”. The Prime Minister is actually threatening to disobey the law, in his undying pursuit of Brexit. This is obviously terrifying and could very quickly set a number of unprecedented moves in motion, which could even result in a prison

Proroguing Parliament is a Threat to Democracy

Unless you have spent today under a rock, you will know that the Queen has approved Boris Johnson’s reckless decision to prorogue Parliament for five weeks, as a backdoor mechanism to prevent MPs from legislating to block a no-deal Brexit. I believe this is profoundly anti-democratic and even somewhat authoritarian. Our constitution is unwritten, and

The Danger of No-Deal

Boris Johnson has promised to take the UK out of the EU on October the 31st, come what may, with or without a deal. Whilst the government claims it is intent on securing a new withdrawal agreement before then, in reality this is not going to be possible. The EU has made absolutely clear that

The Importance of Pride in 2019

Every year, the global queer community comes together in June to celebrate pride. Pride is defined as: “confidence and self-respect as expressed by members of a group, typically one that has been socially marginalized, on the basis of their shared identity, culture, and experience“. Pride is also about protest, and celebrating on behalf of those

Protecting Foreign Aid Budgets

Today, former Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey has launched her campaign to become the next leader of the Conservative Party, and the next prime minister. Whilst launching the new ‘Blue Collar Conservatism’ group, she made her first policy pledge – to cut the UK’s foreign aid budget by £7bn. In her announcement, she argued

Brexit: Whatever Next?

The swiftly unravelling process of attempting to leave the European Union is plunging Britain into a political and constitutional crisis. In the last few days, MPs have decisively rejected Theresa May’s proposed withdrawal agreement for the second time. Whilst the majority against the agreement this time was less than it was the first time, the

Justice for Grenfell

It was just before 1am on June 14th 2017 when the emergency services were informed of a fire in a North London tower block. What came next shocked the world. Grenfell Tower was a high-rise block of social housing in the North of the London Borough of Kensington. It was home to around 600 people,

Human Rights: Our Greatest Asset

This week, it’s been reported that Theresa May is considering repealing the Human Rights Act 1998 after Brexit. I consider this to be one of the greatest threats to our country of the last decade. First, some background to the act. This piece of legislation enshrines the European Convention on Human Right 1953 in UK

Changing Direction.

I am ashamed at the state of this country. We were supposed to be heading into a more prosperous future, sunlit uplands and all that. This is not what I see. It’s worth noting that I am a privileged person in a wealthy area – I imagine this situation is much worse than I believe.