Good Society
Improving access to mental health services – it’s time to act now
Whilst I disagree fundamentally with many of the government’s reforms to the NHS, a distraction and expense the health service does not need, there is one commitment I do support and one for which ministers must firmly be held to account.
Why it’s right to extend hate crime legislation to members of subcultures
Hate crime is when someone is targeted because the assailant hates ‘what’ that person is or what the assailant perceives them to be. In some quarters, there has been an expression of dismay that Manchester Police will now record criminal acts against subcultures as hate crimes, where there is evidence of this.
How fair are changes to the benefits system?
To get an idea of just how fair the changes to the tax and welfare system are, Left Foot Forward have compiled a quick overview of some the changes and given them each a fairness score out of 10.
The political establishment’s poor use of evidence on immigration
Since the Eastleigh by-election immigration has consistently been in the news, with all three parties making significant policy interventions. Each party seems to be trying to outdo each other with rhetoric on how they’re going to crack down on migrants abusing public services, how immigration is out of control and how they don't believe the official estimates and forecasts.
Why has Boris stopped talking about social cleansing?
The Mayor of London famously stood up to the government in October 2010, warning of “Kosovo-style ethnic cleansing” and promising that this would never happen on his watch. So why has he suddenly gone silent on the issue?
Council tax changes will ‘push more people into poverty’
The coalition's changes to council tax benefits will "invariably push more people into poverty or deeper into poverty", according to a report out today by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.