Opinion
We are sick of excuses for high drug prices charged to NHS
Treatments for cancer, arthritis and multiple sclerosis (MS) are among drugs costing the cash-strapped NHS over a billion pounds a year - despite public funding playing a substantial role in the medicines’ development. Our new joint report with Global Justice Now, Pills and Profits: How drug companies make a killing out of public research shines a light on the level of UK public money used to develop new drugs - with two out of five of the NHS’s most expensive...
I was a slave for 13 years in Cambridge and in London- help me save girls from my fate
Around the world around 46 million people are trapped in some form of slavery - the equivalent to the entire population of Spain. Sexual exploitation counts for 54% of all human trafficking victims. As Rebecca Mott’s astonishingly candid story reveals, slavery is actually very close to home. And we can all make a difference to end it. "For me slavery means when you are doing something against your will - where somebody is controlling you, exploiting you for their gain. You...
FTS100 companies need to do more to protect women and girls from sex trafficking
The plight of human trafficking victims is being highlighted on Wednesday, October 18th, for Anti-Slavery Day. The UK government estimates that at least 13,000 people across Britain are trapped in modern slavery although police say the figure is likely to be much higher. Kevin Hyland, Britain's anti-slavery tsar, agrees in his annual report that the estimate is too low, and the true number is in the tens of thousands. In 2015, Britain passed the Modern Slavery Act, ushering in the...
The human cost of modern working practices needs a local response, not just a national one
New research by The Renewal Trust and Nottingham Trent University has helped to reveal the human cost of modern working practices like zero hours contracts, with the poorest communities often bearing the brunt of the impact. Now, the Renewal Trust is calling for an urgent local response to the issue, as CEO Cherry Underwood explains: “There’s been a lot of talk in the media about modern working practices, following the publication of the Taylor Report. Nationally, the falling levels of...
LOL-lywood – If you thought James Corden’s jokes were bad….
James Corden landed himself in hot water this weekend after he made jokes about disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein at the AmfAR Gala in Los Angeles. The Late Late Show host was met with as many groans as laughs after he tried to satirise the scandal that has engulfed Hollywood over the past few weeks. Reports that Weinstein sexually harassed, assaulted and raped more than a dozen women were leaked by the New Yorker at the start of the month,...
Women will remain prey to sexual harassment as long as their careers are stunted and bodies are regulated
By Sheana Ochoa My husband came to me after the Harvey Weinstein story broke, talking about how men would have to “think twice” now. He said, “As a man I have to confess I’m completely ashamed of Harvey Weinstein and his sick, compulsive behaviour.” There’s been so much press coverage, he said, “This will be a watershed moment for change.” “Watershed,” I laughed. I called him naïve and it hurt his feelings. I’m sorry about that, but I know that...
David Lammy MP backs call to break ‘us and them’ divide between youth and police
The Rt Hon David Lammy MP, head of the recently released Inquiry into Racial Disproportionality and the Criminal Justice System, was among leading speakers at the ‘Ubuntu* Police and Youth Engagement Symposium,’ hosted by the Tutu Foundation UK at the House of Lords on Tuesday 10th October. The event reviewed the interim findings of an external evaluation of the ‘Ubuntu* Police Youth Roundtable Project,’ an initiative aiming to diffuse tensions in high crime areas by encouraging positive dialogue between the...
An old man telling women they can drive is sexism, not freedom
Last month King Salman of Saudi Arabia lifted the de facto ban on female drivers by decreeing that local authorities will not be able to reject female applications for driving licences – they have 30 days to provide licences after an application has been made. This ought to be seen as a great triumph for women’s rights, and yet on sombre reflection it is merely an unelected old man telling women that they can now drive, which is in itself a...
Theresa May has been “consumed by the shadow of Brexit”
Prime Minister Theresa May has been consumed by the shadow of Brexit, according to the Deputy Mayor for Wandsworth Talking exclusively to The London Economic Conservative Councillor Ian Lewer reflected on a "deflated" party conference in which the "wild forces" of the Brexit referendum were to be seen in the flesh. Nothing personified that more than the almost "Shakespearean tragedy" of Mrs May’s fall from grace, he says, which has seen her shift from one of the most popular post-war premiers to a...