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  • 8 Apr 2013
    After Thatcher: the 'Don't Hate, Donate' initiative

    "Don't Hate, Donate: Be the society Thatcher said didn't exist". That is the message of a website (http://donthatedonate.com/) established in the wake of news of the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher today (8 April 2013), following a major stroke and long-term illness.

  • 8 Apr 2013
    Syrian refugees: heartrending stories of loss, grief, pain and need

    Last month, thousands of people in the UK stopped for a moment, lit candles, and thought of the children from Syria who have lost their homes. Many prayed, asking God to bring comfort and peace to the more than a million people who have left Syria and to the many thousands who are still in the country.

  • 8 Apr 2013
    Government minister Esther McVey’s untrue claims about Disability Living Allowance

    Disability Living Allowance is an “outdated benefit” for which “around 50 per cent of decisions are made on the basis of the claim form alone - without any additional corroborating medical evidence,” stated UK minister for disabled people Esther McVey on the BBC and elsewhere this morning (8 April 2013).

  • 6 Apr 2013
    Lavish handouts, rich bankers and Mick Philpott

    Hundreds of millionaire bankers will enjoy an extra £54,000 on average each year from 6 April 2013, thanks to a cut in the top UK tax rate (assuming they pay taxes here and opposition calculations are correct). A massive state bailout previously saved many banks, after their sector triggered an economic crisis in which numerous taxpayers suffered. By coincidence, Mick Philpott – whose crimes are being exploited by the Chancellor and Prime Minister to undermine the principle of social security – also apparently received £54,000 a year from public funds.

  • 6 Apr 2013
    Ministers ignore facts amidst attacks on poor and disabled people

    The government’s war of words against disabled and badly-off people continues unchecked. The latest slurs by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Prime Minister and the Minister for Disabled People suggest that UK politics has become a largely fact-free zone.

  • 5 Apr 2013
    Class: It's about power and wealth, not tastes in music

    This week, I completed a survey on the BBC website to discover which class I belong to. In reality, I don't have much doubt about which class I belong to, so I was really discovering more about the people who designed the survey than I was about myself.

  • 4 Apr 2013
    When National Insurance becomes a 'Jobs Tax'

    Today I got an email from George Osborne. It wasn’t personal. I signed up for them on the basis that I like to keep my eye on what he’s doing; or more accurately, what he claims he’s doing.

  • 3 Apr 2013
    In praise of the Joint Public Issues Team on truth and lies about poverty

    When I received an embargoed press release a few weeks ago from the Joint Public Issues Team (The Methodist Church, Baptist Church, United Reformed Church) and the Church of Scotland about their new “Truth and Lies about Poverty” campaign, my heart leaped.

  • 1 Apr 2013
    Duncan Smith and the moral vacuum at the heart of our politics

    On Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Iain Duncan Smith was asked if he could live on £53 a week. His response perfectly illustrated the moral vacuum which is at the heart of our politics.

  • 30 Mar 2013
    Further bedroom tax protests on Easter Saturday

    Another 50 or more protests against the government's bedroom tax, which penalises poor people and families, will take place across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on Easter Saturday, 30th March 2013. The majority of them are listed below. Further links at: http://www.greenbenchesuk.com/