Silvia Swinden

On Monday’s Today Programme (Radio 4) David Bennett, a market trader, said that after his housing benefit had been cut, he lives on £53 per week. The next interviewee was Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who was defending…

Metaphors don’t come more satirical than this. The weather refuses to let Spring arrive, with the coldest Easter in living memory. The Chancellor chose April 1st, aka April’s Fool day, to effect the most draconian cuts to benefits and services…

Letter from The Global Zero Team: “Four years ago in Prague, President Obama announced his commitment to seek a world without nuclear weapons. Now, in his second term, he’s uniquely positioned to pursue a bold plan that could wipe these…

We are used to describing conflicts we cannot understand, or where we see that the protagonists are apparently unable to see the benefits of peace and cooperation, as “crazy”. But this term is brought about by a sense of hopelessness,…

Nobody can deny the fantastic work Daniel Day Lewis (Oscar for Best Actor) does in Lincoln. Released so close to Django Unchained they both make a strong case for “anything goes” in the fight against slavery. Argo comes closer in…

We have seen nuclear accidents that kill and contaminate enough times to be sure that there is no such a thing as “safe” nuclear energy. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima… The theoretical risk of a meteorite hitting a nuclear facility…

“The Indian woman sold to a sheikh: The harrowing story of one Indian woman who was tricked into slavery in Saudi Arabia” (See) “Somali woman is jailed for a year after claiming she was raped: Human rights groups attack ‘terrible…

The victim of a gang rape in a bus in India has died after several operations, a heart attack, brain damage and organ failure. Another rape victim, also in India, committed suicide, blaming not only her attackers but also the…

Meir Margalit is a Jerusalem City Councilman representing the Meretz party. He is also a founder and coordinator of ICAHD: Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (of Palestinian Homes) In an interview he explains that there will be national elections in…

Free Speech is a right unless you are a whistleblower like Julian Assange revealing uncomfortable truths. The rising power of the Media, “The Fourth Estate”, has seen a class of politicians increasingly trying to get on the good side of the…