Seventeen years after losing her council job due to needing endometriosis surgery, Michelle Dewar’s campaign for paid menstrual leave gained 50,000 signatures in a week, reports ELIZABETH SHORT

TOWERING over Harlow town centre and surrounded by 100 CCTV cameras is Terminus House, a 14-storey office block full to the brim with human beings, most of whom have been pushed out of other places and into the self-contained 13 square metre rooms.
The owner block, Caridon Property, claims it delivers a “good service” to tenants sleeping in these dwellings that are far smaller than the average British front room and cost anywhere from between £625 and £800 per month.
It is no surprise that the town – which was built by pioneers after the second world war to provide a better standard of life to inner-city Londoners – is increasingly being considered a dumping ground for London councils to alleviate their own problems.

Durham Miners’ Association general secretary ALAN MARDGHUM speaks to Ben Chacko ahead of Gala Day 2025
