On 5 September 2023, the RSA Union, made up of unionised members of staff at the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), London, England, announced they would be going on strike—the first at the charity since it was founded almost 270 years ago. As a Fellow of the RSA, I support the strike. Here, I set out the grounds for that support.
10-minute read
A British newspaper article on the search for justice of one Irishman ill-treated by the British Army during the recent conflict represents, in part, a type of humanizing journalism often absent in reporting on the conflict and its legacy, but it also contains all-too-common flaws.
15-minute read
Why a statement about a UN Working Group (one of the UN’s Special Procedures) by the UK’s Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch before the Women and Equalities Committee of House of Commons on 1 March is misleading, why it matters, and what should be done.
6-minute read
I set out several reasons why the failure by my MP, Flick Drummond (Conservative Party), to provide a substantive reply to my letter of 21 December 2022 asking that she raise concerns in Parliament and with relevant colleagues about the decision of the Taliban on 20 December 2022 to ban girls and women from universities in Afghanistan is troubling.
4-minute read
On 30 January 2023, BBC News published a piece on late-life work which failed to acknowledge or address apparent discrimination against its lead source, despite statements which suggest that he was unlawfully treated because of his age in the recruitment stage for employment. In this essay, I set out and discuss several reasons why this failure is a problem, including with reference to social class, political ideology, and the BBC.
14-minute read
A blog welcoming and discussing the importance of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation project addressing stigma and poverty, which invites participation from those with lived or learned experience of the issue to join a team that will take a deep look at the stigma of poverty; the barriers it creates, how it shapes policy design and decisions, and how this is then reflected in stigmatising services and the influence of media narratives.
8-minute read.
A brief look at some recent research on deep poverty and ethnicity in the UK produced by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and referring to similar studies on poverty to underscore the importance of monitoring and analysing such issues with reference to ethnicity.
2-and-a-half-minute read
Troubling new information about a series of failings by Hampshire Constabulary over a report of an alleged offence and the force’s confusing public messages about (and almost-impossible-to-find, misleadingly titled, policy on) investigation of certain road traffic offences.
5-minute read
Concerns about the salary and headline duration of two six-month fellow posts at the UK charity JUSTICE, with reference to (a) the composition of its staff and board, and (b) socio-economic and racial inequality, particularly in relation to such posts as stepping stones into the legal profession.
5-minute read
Options for making a complaint against the police following apparent loss of a report of an offence and non-response to subsequent emails, explaining why pursuing a complaint is important, not simply for personal reasons but also in the public interest.
5-minute read