Articles in Viewpoint
Viewpoint – Alternative: Education that Says what it Means, the Original Free Schools
Taught by volunteers and inclusive to all, squat schools provide an alternative to Cameron’s Big Society free schools, without cost to the taxpayer.
Talia Rose, 28, who has been an English Foreign Language (EFL) teacher for the last nine years, volunteered as a facilitator in free schools in squats. She passionately …
Viewpoint – Planet: Europe’s Dirtiest Capital?
London smog.
In 1952 an estimated 4,000 people died as a result of severe air pollution in London. Today the same number are estimated to die early each year because of poor air quality in the Capital.
Dr Benjamin Barratt, of the Environmental Research Group at King’s College London, measures air quality …
Viewpoint – Alternative: Occupy, where are they now?
It’s a year since Occupy London left the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral, but many of the group are still campaigning for change.
George Barda was one of the most recognisable faces of Occupy London. With his long dark hair and wiry beard he often appeared as a spokesperson for the …
Viewpoint – Planet: Will British Aviation get a Second Wind?
In 2010 plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport was dropped by the new coalition government. Now, in response to other European countries’ growing aviation capacity, the issue has resurfaced.
The Howard Davies aviation commission will spend 2013 determining the future need for expansions and deliver their report to the …
Viewpoint – Alternative: Squatting Faces its Death Blow
Co-authored with Christian Jensen.
A new campaign will try and make squatting completely illegal. In September 2012, squatting in a residential location, the act of living in a building without paying rent, was made illegal. But now the government is considering extending this to all squatting.
Mike Weatherly, Conservative MP, is one …
Viewpoint – Health: Furious Crusade Against Bad Science
Ben Goldacre, medical doctor and Guardian journalist is the father of Bad Science a collection of books, hundreds of articles and videos with one goal: challenging myths, rumours and shady businesses in the medical world.
Goldacre’s work is rife with aggression and challenges against other “experts”, with his book Bad Science …
Viewpoint – Sex: The Struggle for Sexual Sobriety
Most people have some idea of what an addiction is, but sex doesn’t seem to be one that first comes to mind.
When Steve McQueen’s Shame, a film about a sex addict living in New York, hit the cinema earlier this year, it provoked a lot of controversy. It seems that …
Viewpoint – Censorship: Against a Brick Wall, The Internet in China
A study by Harvard University released this month reveals that China’s Internet Censor’s new focus is on topics that might incite protest in the country.
Citing examples that two of the most censored topics concerned protests in China’s Inner Mongolia region and in Zengcheng. The study showed that in both cases …
Viewpoint – Censorship: When Silence is the Price for Truth…Journalism in DRC
Reporters Without Borders stated that a journalist from Radio Liberté and two journalists from Kisangani News were released from prison in the last few weeks.Their crimes were that they asked too many questions about the government… But at least they are still alive.
According to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) between …
Viewpoint – Censorship: The Long Walk to Freedom into a Cul-de-sac? The South African ‘secrecy bill’
An information bill that is being debated in the next few months in South Africa could put democracy to the most extreme test.
Nelson Mandela came out of prison in the 90s at the end of apartheid, which was a state led separation and oppression of non-whites, and assumed power in …
Viewpoint – Europe: Overreaction to a right-wing Threat? A Q&A with Dan Hodges of Searchlight
Since the recession of 2008 there seems to be more than just financial issues at stake. The disillusionment with traditional politics has resulted in hung parliaments in Britain and in some countries in Europe.
The knock on effect of this lack of support has seen voters trying to find solutions. Some …
Viewpoint – Europe: Christiania, Last Bastion of Free Thought
Forty years after a group of hippie squatters stormed and took over an ex-army base in Copenhagen for a permanent home, they now face the biggest challenge in their extraordinary history. The city’s new right wing government has asked the 1,000 members of the Christiania commune – the largest and …
Viewpoint – Europe: Debate Over the True Nature of the ‘True Finns’
Finland’s growing nationalist party, the True Finns, have been put in the spotlight by their bid to block the European Union’s €78bn bailout of Portugal. While they were unsuccessful in stopping their country from backing the rescue package, they did succeed in grabbing the headlines all around Europe, many of …
Viewpoint – Europe: A Year From the French Presidential Elections… Who’s in the Race? Interview with John Lichfield from The Independent
Nicolas Sarkozy, the least popular president of recent history, will struggle hard to win a second term at the Elysee Palace. Meanwhile, the opposition party – the ‘Parti Socialiste’ (PS) – is yet undergoing another leadership crisis, with the arrest of one of their leading figures, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who had …
Viewpoint – Independence: ‘I was a protest virgin’, Jack said – 2011 London Student Fees Protest
Jack wears a poppy on his jacket and Doc Martens on his feet. “It’s the first time I have worn them” he says, proudly showing-off his brand new boots on the way to the demo. Until September 2010, Jack was living in Loughborough and never had the opportunity to raise …
Viewpoint – Independence: Voices Raised to No Effect – 2011 London Student Fees Protest
I met Mikaela, 20, an International Relations student, on my way back from marching the streets of London towards parliament in protest of the tripled caps on student fees Nick Clegg had promised not to touch, but back tracked on with nothing more than a vague apology. She was sitting, chatting …
Viewpoint – Independence: Distortion of a Struggle – 2011 London Student Fees Protest
Streets full of noise and faces full of smiles – that was the picture that was apparent in London at the student protests on the 10th November. Even the sun was out to illuminate the way.
The feel was like every other march that makes this revolutionary city such a special …
Viewpoint – Independence: Don’t Let the Budget Cuts Bite – 2011 London Student Fees Protest
18-year-old, Tamara London was one of nearly 50,000 people who attended the boisterous march past the Houses of Parliament.
A gap year student from Barnet in north London she expressed her concern at the government’s planned raise of tuition fees: “They should be encouraging people to go into education, instead they are putting …
