Author: Miles Donavan

Labour’s child poverty strategy offers some welcome measures, but it won’t address the factors keeping families trapped in poverty Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward. The UK government has published its long-awaited strategy on reducing child poverty. After 14 years of Conservative obsession with austerity, it is a welcome development but child poverty can’t be eradicated without dealing with parental poverty, which in return requires equitable distribution of income and wealth and universal…

Dulwich College said that that the school racism claims were “profoundly disturbing” Nigel Farage’s old school, Dulwich College, has responded to the claims that he racially abused pupils when he was studying at the private school.  In a letter to former Dulwich pupil, Jean-Pierre Lihou, the school said “We recognise the seriousness of the behaviours described in the media, and we understand why you and others who were at the College during that period have felt compelled to speak out.” “Allegations of racist and antisemitic conduct are profoundly distressing”, it said. Lihou has alleged that the Reform leader sang antisemitic…

The free-market think tank has taken money from oil companies and Rupert Murdoch’s outlets while campaigning against climate action Fossil fuel firms and Rupert Murdoch’s media companies paid anti-climate science think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) over £640,000 between 1957 and 2005. A new investigation by DeSmog has found that the IEA, which has campaigned for more fossil fuel extraction and against government climate action, received more than £150,000 from BP, £124,000 from Esso (owned by ExxonMobil), and £106,000 from Shell.  DeSmog has also revealed that the right-wing think tank received £164,667 in donations from News International –…

Housing First works for the people who needs most support Patrick Hurley is the Labour MP for Southport Homelessness in the UK is a symptom of the long-term problems of the country – a Tory government that made a complete mess of running the country over 14 long, difficult and progressively worse years; and a Labour government that hasn’t yet managed over its 18 months in office to sufficiently get to grips with the overwhelming catastrophic failure of every branch of the state that it inherited in July 2024. This week’s publication of the government’s National Plan to End Homelessness…

Here are the companies on the campaign group’s ‘naughty’ and ‘nice’ list… Stop Funding Hate has released its ‘naughty’ and ‘nice’ lists, shaming companies still advertising in “toxic media outlets” and praising those that have pulled their ads. The campaign group named the National Lottery, Tesco, Boots, Sky and Amazon as brands that are advertising with one or more UK media outlets that are spreading anti-migrant views and climate denial. The media outlets named included the Telegraph, the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Express and GB News.  Sky received a special mention for advertising itself in the Sun and on…

“All you really are is a poisonous, odious man hiding behind the badge of Reform looking to divide our communities” The Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar tore into former life peer Malcolm Offord on Question Time last night. Offord defected to Reform last week and gave up his peerage so he can campaign for a seat in Holyrood, saying that he aims to become First Minister of Scotland by 2031. Question Time presenter Fiona Bruce asked Offord if Nigel Farage was “right” to claim that the fact that nearly one in three Glasgow schoolchildren speak English as a second language…

“Quite funny. Reform claim they want to destroy the Tory Party, at the same time as welcoming a conveyor belt of former Tory MPs.” Reform UK is being brutally mocked after yet another former Tory MP decided to jump ship to join Nigel Farage’s outfit. Ben Bradley, who was the Conservative MP for Mansfield from 2017 to 2024, is the latest to join Reform, with Lee Anderson calling it Reform’s ‘signing of the season. Bradley who was the former leader of Nottinghamshire county council, said on Wednesday evening that trust in both Labour and the Conservatives was “gone and not…

If “Ben Bradley is Reform’s “signing of the season”, I’d hate to see who is playing in your reserves…” Lee Anderson has been mocked for calling former Tory Ben Bradley’s defection to Reform the party’s ‘signing of the season’. Bradley, who was ousted from his Mansfield seat at the 2024 general election, has joined Reform as their head of local government action at Doge.  In a post on X, Anderson, the Reform MP for Ashfield, reacted to Bradley’s defection calling it the “signing of the season”. He added: “This is a major coup for us as he has left an…

Musk, the world’s richest man, has also faced criticism for promoting far-right politics across Europe and his unwavering support for Donald Trump. Tesla sales continue to plummet in the UK, causing yet another headache for Elon Musk, as the backlash against him for his association with Trump and the far-right grows. According to the latest data from research group New AutoMotive, just 3,784 new Teslas were sold in November 2025, a 19% drop compared to last November, when 4,680 of the vehicles were sold. Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed a 17.2% year-on-year decline to…

“Reform always talk about free speech but clearly at Lancashire County Council there is no free speech.” Reform-run Lancashire County Council has been accused of ‘stifling free speech’ after it blocked the opposition leader from asking questions about potential care home and day centre closures. According to the BBC, the Health and Adult Services Scrutiny Committee voted against Independent Opposition Leader Azhar Ali OBE getting the opportunity to ask questions on the future of five care homes and five day centres. The Reform-run council launched an eight-week consultation on its plans to close five council-owned older people’s residential care homes and…