Recent articles

Diary: 'the long game'

01 Aug 2024

Comment by Cath

'We don’t really know how to publicise things round here'

My new passion is wandering around with my partner, getting to know plants. We are overwhelmed with the scent of privet and meadowsweet, delighted by the delicacy of hop clover and Yorkshire fog, surprised by vetch’s black seed pods, enthused by the possibility of acanthus (bear’s breeches) healing our house-mate’s dislocated shoulder.

Oh, the wonder of the Flora Incognita app.

We’re trying to develop a worldview of being in a peer-relationship with other beings, unlearning our anthropocentric, individualistic, mechanistic mindset.

What else

01 Aug 2024

Comment by Rebecca Elson-Watkins

A new era under Mr Magnolia

A week is a long time in politics. Ha! I promise I don’t need to be investigated by the Gambling Commission, PN readers! Couldn’t make it up.

For those wondering what I’m wittering on about, my last column two months ago urged readers to get out there during the election and make a difference, whenever it was called. Then, the election was called as we went to press.

Now, it’s the first Monday morning of a new government.

Poynted remarks

01 Aug 2024

Comment by Claire Poyner

Same meat, different gravy?

I’m afraid I missed out on this year’s ‘Portillo moment’. (In May 1997, Conservative MP Michael Portillo tried to hide his shock at losing his seat to Labour’s Stephen Twigg, and almost succeeded.) I would have loved to have seen the look on Jacob Rees-Mogg’s face but perhaps he decided to take a nap instead, as he famously did in the houses of parliament, and was snapped lounging on the seats, inspiring dozens of memes.

Manifesto Against Hate

01 Aug 2024

Feature by PN staff

‘[W]e strongly urge politicians to... stop trying to “play off” communities against each other.’

On 19 June, Tell MAMA (‘Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks’) launched a Manifesto Against Hate ahead of the UK general elections on 4 July. They urged political candidates to address the increase in hate crimes across the country and to promote social cohesion.

Founded in 2012 with government support, Tell MAMA is a national service supporting victims of anti-Muslim hate through casework, counselling, advocacy, legal and signposting support.

How to tackle Islamophobia

01 Aug 2024

Feature by Amina Easat-Daas

A four-step toolkit for challenging Islamophobic thought and actions in Europe

A growing body of research points to the proliferation of Islamophobia across Europe in recent years. In the UK, record numbers of Islamophobic hate crimes were recorded in 2017, and across the continent there have been similar findings on the growth of explicit Islamophobia.

In a new, pan-European research project, my colleagues and I set about to devise a toolkit that can be used to counter Islamophobia. It summarises a range of the best methods and tools we saw being used to challenge Islamophobic thought and actions in Europe.

Obituary: Georgina Smith: 1 December 1929 – 13 April 2024

01 Aug 2024

Comment by Jane Tallents

Artist and Greenham campaigner who was clever, fun and full of integrity

In the mid-1990s, we were excited to hear that Georgina Smith, a Greenham woman, had bought Peaton Glen Wood, a magical 14ha (34-acre) woodland right next to the Coulport Trident warhead store, from the MoD. Through the first Women’s Camp we held there and the many Trident Ploughshares disarmament camps held there, I came to know Georgina. She was clever, fun and full of integrity, never acting as if she owned the place or blowing her own trumpet about the many courageous and important acts she had done as a woman for peace.

Taking your smartphone to a protest?

01 Aug 2024

Feature by Netpol

Some advice from Netpol's mini-site 'Resist Surveillance'

The best way to make sure your smartphone is secure at a protest is to leave it at home. But many people find it difficult to leave their phone at home – so what can you do to make your phone more secure when going on a protest?

To prevent the phone being seized during arrest and data on it being found: