Opinion

With knife crime on the rise, Dr Tim Bateman, Reader in Youth Justice at the University of Bedfordshire, comments on why a more nuanced approach that focuses on improving young people’s environments is needed: Tragic events such as the fatal stabbing of two teenagers in London last weekend rightly create public concern and their devastating impact cannot be underestimated, but it’s important to be clear about the scale and root causes of the problem. While there has been a rise...

I am not going to assume that you have already seen the confrontation two weeks ago between Senator Dianne Feinstein and a group of schoolchildren over the (no pun intended, at least not by me) green paper proposals collectively titled the Green New Deal. As we live in a time of scandal by the hour it is quite easy to miss one or a dozen a week, so if you are not familiar with that clash you can find the...

News today that councils are having to sell off libraries, playgrounds and public buildings to pay for austerity-induced cuts and redundancies should come as no surprise to those well versed in the self-defeating nature of such policies. As early as 2016 the International Monetary Fund were sounding the alarm about the ineffectiveness of the neoliberal doctrine that has dominated economics for the past three decades. In an article seized on by the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, the IMF economists said...

Last week new figures were released confirming what many of us had suspected for some time. While the incomes of the richest households grew by 4.7 per cent those in the poorest strata of society saw their incomes fall by 1.6 per cent on average, proving beyond doubt that the rich are indeed getting richer while the poor become poorer. But what few people realise is that inequality benefits few people in the grand scheme of things, and there is...

"But the Queen has no such veto; She must sign her own death-warrant if the two Houses unanimously send it up to her." So Walter Bagehot wrote in 1867. It's doubtful whether today's MPs believe parliamentary supremacy encompasses regicide. But why not try it out? After all, a majority of MPs clearly think they have the right to vote for national suicide. And who could blame them? The past three years have seen the development of a politics of self-harm....

It’s been a difficult few weeks for the Brexit adventure. The meaningful vote has turned into a merry-go-round of re-runs which leaves us wondering exactly which definition of meaningful is being applied. Amidst cries from the ERG that the People’s Vote lobby simply wants to have vote after vote until they get the decision they want, Theresa May wilfully misinterprets the word ‘No’ in favour of doing exactly the same thing. In spite of denials about running down the Brexit...

“sometimes accusations of racism are used by people against people they don’t like and that weakens the fight against genuine racism”

Home Office neglect and incompetence has now resulted in the head of MI6, Alex Younger, warning that returning jihadis present a real threat to national security.

Nigel Farage used his LBC slot to berate Jeremy Corbyn last night after the Labour leader announced a framework for backing a second referendum. A furious caller told the former UKIP leader that Corbyn had "betrayed" the north and that the Labour party had “no chance” in gaining seats in its traditional heartlands now the party had, in essence, simply delivered on proposals agreed in the last Labour Party conference. Farage responded saying "if people give up totally on the...