Considering that he recently sought to place himself in the tradition of J.S. Mill, it would be interesting to know what Clegg thinks of Osbourne’s latest budget, and in particular the large hike in tobacco tax. Mill, after all, was forthright in his opposition to sin taxes. It was not the place, he argued, of [...]
The charity Liberty, a staunch defender of human rights, seems to have lost its way. Started in the 1930s to safeguard free protest and the human rights of political activists in Britain, the organisation appears to have lost touch with the activists it is meant to be supporting. A month ago, the Trade Union Congress [...]
This is a guest post by Laura Sandwell. Responses to the government’s recent consultation paper on Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid are now available, and the potential impact of the proposed reforms is becoming clear. The consultation paper sets out “fundamental reform” of the legal aid scheme, and justifies widespread cuts on the [...]
With broadband dominated by a few giant firms, it is easy for the likes of Ed Vaizey to leap-frog parliament and to regulate what we see. A few weeks back, the communications minister Ed Vaizey began leaning on broadband companies to block porn to all households other than those that proactively “opt in”. In doing [...]
For all the Government’s many faults, one thing a lot of us could comfort ourselves with as the Coalition really got going was that at least they’d be better than Labour had been on civil liberties. They might be dead set on hacking chunks out of the State safety net for the poorest and most [...]
The saga of Charlie Gilmour continues. The day after the biggest protest and mobilisation of police violence since the Poll Tax (and very possibly exceeding it), a photo of a long haired, black clothed young man clinging to one of the flags on the cenotaph was published by the Torygraph in one of their demonic [...]
There is disquiet amongst the staff at Carstairs Hospital – a secure mental facility – over plans to ban inpatients from smoking anywhere, even outdoors. Carstairs State Hospital houses a wide group of patients. As the tabloids like to remind us, it houses murderers and rapists. Yet also incarcerated within it’s gates are people who [...]
Early this morning 80 students from Cambridge University shut down the administrative heart of the elite University. Julian Huppert, Lib Dem MP for Cambridge, has responded: “But I cannot condone any action by students which results in them taking over property or breaking the law. I would appeal to these students to leave the university [...]
This week’s overturning of Proposition 8 in California is obviously welcome news. Amending California’s state constitution to state that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California” is nakedly discriminatory and Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision to strike it down should be applauded. There is, though, something else that’s important [...]
Up in Scotland there has been some disquiet over the plans the Grampian NHS trust to enforce particularly over-the-top smoking ban. The board has been considering plans to ban nurses from smoking while on breaks or indeed at any time while in uniform. Even carrying tobacco about their person could, under the plans, have them [...]
