Both Conservative and Labour administrations have now refused to release research showing PIP payments are vital for disabled people’s survival, exposing the ideological nature of planned welfare ‘reforms,’ writes Dr DYLAN MURPHY
Putting Women First
ALI MORRIS explains how a team of experts are providing support to local authorities assisting women in exiting prostitution
Western media dismisses the National People’s Congress while ignoring its extensive consultation processes, massive public participation mechanisms, and a tiered structure involving millions of deputies, explains JENNY CLEGG
Despite caring for vulnerable children and often covering classes, support staff remain undervalued, with some earning less than supermarket workers — but GMB’s campaigning offers new hope, argues DONNA SPICER
NICK WRIGHT examines how Farage’s party has attracted five distinct voter tribes with incompatible views on economics, immigration and state intervention — presenting both a challenge and opportunity for left organising
Man-made canals like Panama and Suez face unprecedented challenges from extreme weather patterns and geopolitical tensions that reveal the fragility of our global trade networks, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
As climate change makes vast mineral deposits accessible, the island’s 56,000 residents face unprecedented pressure from Trump’s territorial ambitions while struggling to maintain their traditional way of life, writes JOHN GREEN
Student Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest and threatened deportation are terrifying — but the moribund Democrats are still failing to mount any meaningful resistance against the slide toward autocracy, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
THE rise of the “sex work is real work” discourse has erased the inherent violence and harm that women involved in prostitution experience on a daily basis.
Seeing Mikey Madison at the Oscars recently on accepting her award for Best Actress in Anora take a moment to “recognise and honour the sex work community” couldn’t be further away from the reality we see and hear about.
The TUC conference this week debated whether to support decriminalisation of prostitution. Women desperate to get the right support to leave the industry, desperate to see a future are being sidelined by the pro-sex work lobby. There are limited options for women who want to exit prostitution (research indicates nine out of 10 women want to do so) and if by some miracle there is a specialist support service in their area, it usually doesn’t include exiting support.
More from this author
The decision to employ a man to roll out important sex-specific legislation for women and girls is downright arrogant and dangerous, writes ALI MORRIS
When a Tory MP is caught watching pornography on his phone in the House of Commons, can it really be regarded as a ‘moment of madness’? Or does it illustrate male entitlement, disregard and disrespect for women, asks ALI MORRIS
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As TUC Women’s Conference prepares to debate the decriminalisation of prostitution, EMMA, who exited the sex industry more than nine years ago, reflects on how her harrowing experience changed her initial view that ‘sex work is work’
Women need access to meaningful and properly paid work, not coercion into the abusive and dangerous sex industry, write LUBA FEIN and HELEN O’CONNOR
Is the United Nations finally recognising that the sex trade is a form of exploitation and a breach of human rights? LUBA FEIN welcomes a new report which suggests that might be the case