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2013 (9)
Dec 9 2013 2:00PM
You have no unread messages: Why Amnesty is taking action over surveillance concerns

Orwell was right. Big Brother is watching you. Every word you type online and every site you visit is being observed, and currently your only way to put a stop to that is to log off. In June the US whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed...

Nov 6 2013 3:06PM
The gunpowder plot, fireworks and the Lobbying Bill

Earlier this week I found myself emailing all Peers to urge them to vote for a pause of Part 2 Lobbying Bill, which was being debated in the Lords on 5 November. A couple things struck me as I did this. Firstly, I’m usually reluctant...

Sep 6 2013 11:17AM
Will the Lobbying Bill gag legitimate debate by charities?

The past week has seen a flurry of attention on what is being referred to as the ‘Lobbying Bill’. Media reports and a lively Commons debate have highlighted the concerns that charities and NGOs have with this legislation. The...

Aug 5 2013 4:28PM
Asylum, refugees and immigration: avoiding a race to the bottom

Immigration is once more high on the political agenda as the Home Office seek to ‘get tough’ with ‘illegal immigrants’. Vans urging illegal immigrants to “go home or face arrest” and spot checks at railway stations across the country...

Jul 16 2013 2:12PM
Edward Snowden and Russia's Cold War on human rights

I’ve recently become addicted to ‘The Americans’, a TV series set during the Cold War period in the 1980s. It follows the adventures of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, two Russian KGB officers posing as an American married couple, their...

Jun 26 2013 11:29AM
Sri Lanka – sun, sea, torture and impunity

A heavily worked phrase used by the tourist industry is to describe a particular destination as a “country of contrast”. Sri Lanka is surely such a country - at one level a popular tourist destination, which according to the...

Jun 19 2013 3:06PM
Profits and loss - human rights and the artisan

My eight year old son recently asked me “what’s an artisan baker?” (we were in Dulwich!) and I explained that an artisan is a skilled physical worker - that artisan bakers’ bread will be made by hand and baked in the shop, whereas the...

Jun 13 2013 3:11PM
It’s rotten here in jail

Of William Shakespeare, it is often said that his works are as relevant today as when he originally penned them. I suspect this will be the same for the legendary punk poet John Cooper Clarke , the Bard of Salford, after all some of...

May 24 2013 12:10PM
From building sites to women's rights

Over the years I’ve become all too familiar with the issue of violence against women and girls, both at the global and domestic level. This week at Amnesty we’ve called on the UK Government to do more to support women in Afghanistan...