On 4 October, British prime minister Rishi Sunak made a series of policy announcements at the Conservative party conference in Manchester.
One of these was a year-on-year smoking ban. Sunak said: 'I propose that in future we raise the smoking age by one year every year. That means a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette and that they and their generation can grow up smoke free.'
Currently, the legal age to buy tobacco or cigarettes is 18, throughout the UK.…
The prosecution did not show up for the hearing today (Wednesday 20 September) in Kyiv to pursue the filing of charges against [Ukrainian pacifist] Yurii Sheliazhenko, who is being charged by the Ukrainian government with the crime of justifying Russian aggression. The evidence is this statement which explicitly condemns Russian aggression.
Here is a…
Benjamin Lay is having a renaissance – thanks largely to American professor and writer Marcus Rediker. His biography The fearless Benjamin Lay was first published in 2017 and more recently he has collaborated with David Lester to produce a graphic novel, Prophet against slavery.
Now he has collaborated with playwright Naomi Wallace on the…
TJ, Kai and Zara, are school friends who have been inseparable since childhood. Their relationship changes as they struggle with parental expectations at the same time as their own desires.
The two boys are involved in a fight, caught on cctv. Zara is physically hurt when trying to break it up.
The headmistress, instead of supporting them, divides them and disbands their friendship group. In chance meetings - in the street, in the playground - we hear from the characters two at…
It’s been 20 years since the lies and obfuscation that led to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. I’m about to turn 37 and it hit me: those events 20 years ago were how I began my political journey, though I didn't know it at the time. As a progressive activist, one doesn't easily lead with: 'As a teenager, I joined the Marines'... but I did.
At the intersection of my life as a high school kid living just outside NYC during 9/11 and the…
The Ukraine War has had a horrifying impact on the people of Ukraine, and has been a disaster for people around the world hit by rising food and energy costs.
There are some important facts about possibilities for ending the Ukraine War that are often swept under the carpet, that are important for us to remember to help find a way out of this tragedy.
The first and most significant fact is that Ukraine and Russia came right to the edge of agreeing a peace deal back in March…
This is a moment of huge potential
On one hand, there are many reasons to feel the future is bleak: recent failure of COP27, vicious attacks on migrants, unravelling living standards, widening inequality, crashing biodiversiy, and extreme weather events brought about by worsening climate conditions to name a few. On the other hand, there is a unique opportunity to unite across divides for effective action, and there is an amazing potential for change.
Along with the peace…
Below is a list of the UK public opinion polls used to draw up the chart on p17 of PN 2661, reproduced below. This chart showed that, consulting 24 polls during the period 1954 – 2015, only three showed public support for unilateral nuclear disarmament dipping – briefly – below 20 percent (1963: 15 percent / 1964: 16 percent / 2014: 18 percent). The other 21 polls showed much stronger support for British unilateral nuclear…
The news that US billionaire Elon Musk is buying Twitter has sparked a wide range of concerns. One worry has been the emphasis Musk has placed on boosting free speech on the platform. Below are reactions from three different campaigning groups, giving their different perspectives on the issues.
The EFF (based in San Francisco in the US) says it ‘champions user privacy, free expression, and…
The talk can be watched here.
This is an awful subject to try and talk about. What I’d like to try and do, is try and look back and see how we’ve got to here, why it has happened, what has happened and where we are two weeks into this war, and what might happen next and what might be the best sort of outcome we could look for.
I won’t go into any detail in any one area because…
[Milan Rai will be giving a Zoom talk about the contents of this article at 7pm GMT on Thursday 17 March 2022. Please click here for more details.]
On top of the fear and horror caused by the current Russian onslaught in Ukraine, many have been shocked and frightened by Russian president Vladimir Putin’s recent words and actions in relation to his nuclear weapons…
When: 7pm (GMT), Wednesday 9 March
Where: Zoom
Register here: https://tinyurl.com/paulrogers2022
Paul Rogers gives an overview of the crisis and how we got here, in the context of the legacy of the Cold War's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; the impact of human activity on the global ecosystem; the growth of hypercapitalism and resulting poverty and insecurity; the competition for energy resources and strategic…
Earlier this month, Yurii Sheliazhenko, executive secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, told Democracy Now!: ‘Both great powers of the West and the East share equal responsibility to avoid escalation of war in Ukraine and beyond Ukraine.’
This is more of what he said: ‘The escalation towards major war in Ukraine is unnecessary. Our government became part of it when we…
Ukrainian Pacifist Movement (24 February)
Ukrainian Pacifist Movement condemns all military actions on the sides of Russia and Ukraine in the context of current conflict. We call the leadership of both states and military forces to step back and sit at the negotiation table. Peace in Ukraine and around the world can be achieved only in a nonviolent way.
War is a crime against humanity. Therefore, we are determined not to support any kind of war and to strive…
Tuesday 1 March: Claire Poyner & Network for Peace
Your chance to find out more about PN admin worker Claire Poyner and the UK-wide Network for Peace (which she co-ordinates), following on from our interview with Claire last issue. Claire will be interviewed by PN editor Milan Rai, and then there will be Q&A. 6pm – 7pm. On Zoom. Register here:…
