£184bn art tribute portrait to Britain's unpaid carers
Specsavers Home Visits and Carers UK have launched the UK’s ‘ The Most Valuable Portrait ’, serving as a powerful tribute to the vital contributions of carers who so often remain hidden. As Mark Johnson reports, the portrait by critically acclaimed artist Colin Davidson, has been assigned a symbolic value of £184 billion by Roseberys, a leading London fin…
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Confronting PTSD with Combat Stress
It’s incredible to think, that 2025 marks 106 years since Combat Stress, the UK’s leading charity for veterans’ mental health was founded, back on the 12th May, 1919. Their original name was the Ex-Servicemen’s Welfare Society and they opened their first “recuperative home” in 1920 on Putney Hill in South West London, for soldiers suffering Shell-Shock fr…
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Going beyond the lines with Manchester’s stained glass
Victoria Baths is a Grade II listed building, in the Chorlton-on-Medlock area of Manchester, England. The baths opened to the public in 1906. Victoria Baths is widely recognised as Britain’s finest historic municipal swimming pool - from the iconic green tiles to its beautiful stained glass.
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Women in Revolt explores the culture of liberation
Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990 is a landmark exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, and features over 90 women artists and collectives whose ideas helped fuel the women’s liberation movement during a period of significant social, economic and political change.
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Meet Bob Le Sueur. An ordinary man and his extraordinary life in occupied Jersey
In 2022, tributes poured in for Bob Le Sueur , a hero during the Nazi occupation of Jersey in World War Two. The historian, who died aged 102, was best known for saving many escaped Russian slave labourers during the occupation. His friend Chris Stone said he was an "incredibly generous person" who spent his life helping others. Mr Stone, of BB…
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New Iraq inquiry to examine Britain’s responses to Daesh war crimes
The UK’s Joint Committee on Human Rights has announced a new Iraq inquiry into accountability for Daesh crimes, following up on work done in the previous Parliament. Daesh, also known as Islamic State, ISIS or ISIL, grew to prominence in the early 2010s, taking advantage of instability in Syria and Iraq to control large parts of their territory. Daesh co…
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ISIS member charged in German court
A high-ranking Islamic State (IS) member has been charged in Germany with war crimes and crimes against humanity, including aiding in the genocide of the Yazidi community, prosecutors announced Wednesday. As the Media Line reports, the suspect, identified as Ossama A., is a Syrian national accused of significant involvement in IS operations in Syria. Pros…
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Internet laws need regular updates, says UK science secretary
TECHNOLOGY Secretary Peter Kyle has called for regular updates to online safety laws amid increased fears of children being exposed to harmful content on Facebook and Instagram. As Berny Torre reported in the Morning Star, following Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that his social media platforms would do away with its content moderation…
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Genocide in Europe: It couldn’t happen again. Or, could it?
Is there an answer to Elon Musk and his question : “Could what happened to the Yazidi people one day happen to Europe?” Let’s remember it was St. Maximilian Kolbe, who died in Auschwitz but had stated: ’ The most deadly poison of our time is indifference .’ To get an insight, when answering such a question like the one asked by Musk, people should look at …
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Campaign tackling hygiene poverty helps thousands of pupils return to school after Christmas
A CAMPAIGN tackling childhood hygiene poverty has helped thousands of pupils returning to school after Christmas, the Morning Star reports. The Multibank, founded by former prime minister Gordon Brown, has worked with Fans For Foodbanks and The Hygiene Bank to collect tens of thousands of hygiene products at sport events over the festive season. The campa…
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Yazidi woman reunites with family a decade after ISIS abduction
A Yazidi woman kidnapped by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 reunited with her family in Shingal’s Kocho village on Sunday after being rescued from Syria’s northwestern Idlib province last month. S.K, the 30-year-old Yazidi woman was rescued from Idlib with the assistance of the Office of Rescuing Abducted Yazidis, an organization affiliated with the Kurdi…
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Twenty councillors quit Labour over winter fuel cuts
PM Keir Starmer has been dealt a dramatic new year blow after 20 councillors from a single local authority quit Labour in protest over his policies, as Andrew Murray reports. The members of Broxtowe Council in Nottinghamshire said the government had “abandoned traditional Labour values,” citing in particular the cutting of winter fuel payments for pensione…
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Elderly at greater risk of death during cold snap
THE elderly are at risk of dying in a cold snap due to last till January 8, the UK Health Security Agency warned yesterday. It issued cold weather health alerts for all of England ahead of a week of low temperatures, the Morning Star reports. The amber alerts say a rise in deaths, particularly of those aged 65 and over or with health conditions, is likely…
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Loneliness fuels surge in UK foodbank use alongside poverty
LONELINESS is fuelling the surge in the millions of people resorting to foodbanks alongside poverty, research by a think-tank revealed yesterday. Polling by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) found that foodbank users are significantly lonelier than the general public, with one in five lacking any family or friends for support. As Ceren Sagir reports in t…
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How do we safeguard children in times of national crisis?
HIGH levels of inequality on the eve of the coronavirus pandemic meant that pupils in struggling families were hit hardest, children’s rights organisations have told Britain's Covid-19 inquiry. As the Morning Star newspaper reported, the comments by five charities were made during a preliminary hearing into the pandemic’s impact on children and young p…
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“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” ― Stephen King
Both The Guardian and BBC have reported over 180 UK public libraries have closed because of funding cuts, stating that deprived areas 'were four times more likely' to lose out. Such statements reinforce the necessity of campaigns such as ' Books Forever ' by organizations like Wood Street Mission . In 2023, Wood Street distributed over 20…
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The lives and minds of Britain’s young people matter
According to Keir Starmer, Labour have inherited a “societal black hole”, which has been highlighted by The Guardian and poses the serious question of what is to be done? The National Police Chiefs’ Council have said 145 juveniles – aged 10 to 17 – had been arrested in relation to the UK riots - of those, 58 had been charged with criminal offences. Thirty…
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Ali Al Hamadi becomes first Iraqi to play in Premier League
Ipswich Town forward Ali Al Hamadi made history on Saturday as he became the first Iraqi to play in the Premier League. Al Hamadi entered the action on 74 minutes at Portman Road as his side lost 2-0 to a Mohamed Salah-inspired Liverpool. As Andy Lewis explains, newly promoted Ipswich competed well in the opening 45 minutes but the visiting Reds, who were…
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Deeds not words needed to end child poverty in Manchester
Caritas Salford is calling for "immediate and urgent action" to support local children experiencing poverty as latest figures show 333,000 children in Greater Manchester and Lancashire living in poverty - an increase of 31,197 compared with the previous year. The figures, taken from research by Loughborough University on behalf of the End Child P…
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Where is Britain going? Reflections of Manchester in the past
Once upon a time, in a land before social media and online influencers there used to be the Manchester Youth Service, which operated within many disadvantaged communities across the city, as Hussein Al-alak explains. Youth workers supported young people who were vulnerable to neglect, they engaged youth via community centre's and through street based ac…
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