Human rights
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In which I am accosted by an old major on the virtues of Trump
My maternal grandmother had a sharp and witty tongue, I am told. I don’t remember her – she died when I was 18 months old – but I could have done with her sharp tongue on a particular occasion last week. I often work in coffee shops. I’m more productive in a setting other than…
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The joke that is the new Conservative cabinet
Prime Minister David Cameron announced his new cabinet this week, the first all-Tory cabinet in nearly twenty years. The first meeting – which TV cameras had been allowed to record – kicked off with Etonian-style table banging and cheers of approval from ministers. So let’s take a look at some of Cameron’s most colourful cabinet…
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Wary of the new government? Maybe there’s another way
It’s been a painful few days for those of us who never thought the outcome of the general election would be as bad as this. From a personal, self-indulgent level, it’s felt like a grieving process: I’m oscillating between denial and acceptance and a thinly-veiled hope that maybe, just maybe, we won’t have to wait…
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A Welsh Labour MPs office: “rude, sarcastic and impatient”
A disabled woman who suffers with several complex health conditions has spoken of the “unsympathetic, patronising attitude” she experienced from her local Labour MPs office in Wales when she telephoned to ask for advice and help in getting back to work. The 25-year-old, who doesn’t want to be named said: “From the beginning, the woman…
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Why I love the NHS (and why we mustn’t let it go)
No one believed the 2011 NHS Reform Bill would pass. With growing opposition and hugely influential medical groups, we thought, we hoped, it wouldn’t go ahead. And who are “we” exactly? A militant minority group? No. We are the majority. We are teachers, parents, bus drivers, cleaners, nurses, doctors, surgeons, academics, specialists. Some of us…
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State-endorsed fascism in Britain – this time they are after the disabled
In some ways, I feel I’ve become a bit too sensitive of late when it comes to “disablist” gags, but maybe I’m just hyper vigilant these days. The smear campaign the DWP and the media are carrying out on disabled people has made me and thousands of other disabled people distinctly uneasy. Why is it…
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If you do just one thing today, make sure it’s signing the petition
I’m keeping this short, because my message needs to be heard. We have just under three days left to pressurise the government into pausing the Welfare Reform Bill. Three days, 72 hours, 4,320 minutes. It’s not long, but I believe it’s possible. After all, we’ve already done the impossible, haven’t we? We, the disabled community…