Why We Have A Welfare State
David Cameron thinks that the only way to save our public services is by harnessing the opposing forces of volunteerism and capitalism. I'd like to think that history proves him…
How I became Disabled
By Clare Cochrane “I was like the drinker who didn’t want to admit it. That’s the first step in the AA meeting. I never wanted to admit publicly I’m disabled.”…
Some Utopian Thinking on Health (Part II)
In the first post I talked about the need for a more idealistic health policy than one which relies so heavily upon the pharmaceutical industry, leading to the question of…
250,000 people on benefits to lose access to free education.
If you want to be educated don't be poor, don't be from an ethnic minority, don't be disabled and don't be a woman. That's essentially the message from new research…
Some Utopian Thinking on Health (Part I)
The NHS is generally a pretty unifying issue. Such is the affection in which it is held, that the Tories realize that great stealth is needed in their assault upon…
Strathclyde University Occupied
This afternoon student at Strathclyde University in Glasgow occupied the geography and sociology department of their university in opposition to threats of cuts and course closures. The students issued the…
The Slow Squeeze on Science Funding
Following a campaign lead by high-profile scientists last year, the government agreed to protect funding for scientific research from the worst of the cuts inflicted by the Comprehensive Spending Review.…
The Dependency Paradox
Personal responsibility is a recurring theme in Conservative rhetoric, although they tend to use the more down-to-earth expression of “doing the right thing”. David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith in…
A Year of BS: 3 Reasons why The Big Society is a Big Fraud
For some time in opposition David Cameron had been quietly supportive of a group of people doing things most people didn’t rate, but that made a huge difference to the…
Let’s hit the Hut
by Dominic Hinde The recent flurry of news surrounding the unique Carbeth cabins north of Glasgow and the inability of their owners and tenants to access them has again highlighted…