Rebecca Geach recommends: Julia Donaldson This might seem an odd pick of author for a blog whose audience is most likely to be over the age of 10 but nonetheless I would like to celebrate her phenomenal achievements. Julia Donaldson is a giant in the world of children’s fiction and has been firmly at the heart of it since she released her first book, the iconic a Squash and a Squeeze in 1993. Having 184 published works she must have one of the most colourful imaginations on t

Being the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Monmouth, County Councillor and Cabinet member as well as CEO of an award-winning...

Social movements throughout history have taught us that it is not enough to simply align ourselves with progessive calls for change - we must actively champion them. In the same way today, it is not enough to be non-sexist, we must be actively anti-sexist . But how can we share this message most effectively with young people? With International Women’s Day (IWD) just behind us, it is vital that school leaders seize the opportunity to open up the conversation around gender equ

The last weekend of September 2021 brought my very first experience of attending the Labour Party Conference in Brighton. Heading...

I got the phone call all service spouses dread on 9 May 2010 after my husband trod on an explosive device in Helmand Province,...

Are our streets women friendly? This was the question posed at the start of The Design Gap, a webinar hosted by Labour Walks and Cycles...

Go to any public space in Britain and, inevitably, there will be some sort of civic statue to commemorate a person or an event. The last couple of years have thrown into question the value of many of these statues and what they represent. These statues are often little more than monuments to the elites who controlled the spaces.. Following some powerful scenes last summer during the Black Lives Matter protests there has been a lot of interest and discourse about fixing the

Last month a nurse who cared for Boris Johnson in intensive care resigned, hitting out at the government's 1% pay rise offer and what she...

“The National Curriculum should contain a balanced account of the history of the British Empire and colonialism, and should also include...

In January, I attended the Fabian Society’s virtual conference. As a teacher, I was keen to attend the sessions with Kate Green, current shadow education secretary, and Wes Streeting, shadow schools minister, to hear in their own words the direction of travel for the Labour party on education. On the current crisis Both Streeting and Green discussed the inequalities that the pandemic has laid bare, from the digital divide, to the free school meals fiasco and the growing attai

The academy system was introduced to our schools under New Labour. Removing schools from the control of local authorities, it was initially meant for failing schools, as a last resort where all other strategies for improvement had failed. When Labour left office in 2010, there were only 200 academy schools in England, about 1% of all state schools. Under the Conservatives, the policy has accelerated and 80% of secondary schools and over 25% of primary schools are now academie

More needs to be done to support mothers in politics, write Anya Sizer and Kelly Grehan. Across all levels of representative politics, there is a failure to support women with children and a persistent attitude that mothers are not welcome in the political world. As part of Labour’s Connected online conference, the Fabian Women’s Network held an event on mothers in politics. As MP and new mum Stella Creasy said at our event: “Parliament works on the default, which is a white

Black women are five time more likely to die during childbirth than their white counterparts. The findings from the Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) report in 2018 by The National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit highlighted this stack inequality. This article will highlight the structural inequalities faced by Black women before childbirth and their maternal experience within the health care system. It will pro

There’s been plenty of 4 letter words uttered within earshot of my children recently. That’s what over 100 days of frenzy, frustration and fatigue can do to a home-schooling parent who is learning how to teach online. Narrating powerpoints, marking digital textbooks and endless zooming, all whilst trying to teach entertain my own pre-school children results in letting off a little steam every now and then. So, for the sake of good manners, I’ve had to ban certain 4 letter wor

Covid-19 precautions, however necessary, have created a ticking time-bomb of undiagnosed cancers and delayed treatment. Before the pandemic, across the UK, we were already failing to hit targets for the number of people starting cancer treatment within two months. In some areas we had not hit targets for several years. Now, in lockdown, there are reports of patients having treatment delayed for up to three months and possibly longer. depending on how management of the pandemi

Wealthier – and whiter – neighbourhoods in towns and cities all over the world have better access to public transport. This is likely a consequence of many of the decision makers being the people who live in these areas. They think of solutions to problems faced by residents who are their immediate neighbours and forget those living in less wealthy and less white neighbourhoods. Despite this better access to public transport, wealthier people are also more likely to own a car

Much has been written about the obvious and immediate health impact of contracting the Covid-19 virus. Much less has been written about the hidden health impacts on women’s health – some of which were entirely unexpected. First, health services have said there has been a big decrease in women coming forward for health conditions such as heart disease, stroke and other issues as the message has been so strong around ‘stay at home’ and people are so worried about going to ho

The Covid-19 pandemic has been deeply unsettling and universally upsetting. Every community and social group has been affected and disrupted. However, the release of ONS figures on Coronavirus deaths at the start of May tell a terrifying story about health inequalities in the UK. What the ONS figures clearly show is that people facing the greatest deprivation are experiencing a higher risk of exposure to Covid-19 and existing poor health puts them at risk of more severe o

The lockdown's impact on fertility treatment is an especially painful and misunderstood experience, writes Anya Sizer.

We need to work to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on new mums – both now and in the long term, says Kelly Grehan.