Category: Politics

How to build better prisons

Yvonne Jewkes, University of Brighton

The “new for old” prison reform programme would close old city-centre jails in British cities, such as the iconic HMPs Pentonville, Wandsworth and Strangeways. Speculation about what will replace these notorious Victorian “houses of correction” has been rife.

These and more recent prisons also slated for closure, such as HMP Holloway, occupy valuable city centre sites. Some will be bulldozed or redeveloped as housing – or even, as with the former HMP Oxford, as a boutique hotel with rooms designed around the former cells, exercise yards and punishment blocks. Continue reading “How to build better prisons” →

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Explainer: why the Supreme Court ruled against joint enterprise

Peter Squires, University of Brighton

Hundreds of convictions may need to be re-examined after a landmark Supreme Court judgement found that a man found guilty of murder under the controversial “joint enterprise” principle should have his murder conviction quashed.

The man, Ameen Jogee, was convicted after the jury in his original trial believed him guilty of encouraging the killer, Mohammed Hirsi, who actually struck the fatal blow – even though Jogee was outside the building when the murder occurred. Continue reading “Explainer: why the Supreme Court ruled against joint enterprise” →

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Fairness and the City: A better politics. Annual Lecture for the University of Brighton’s Festival of Social Science

Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor at the University of Oxford will be delivering the University of Brighton Annual Social Science Forum Lecture.
Thursday 19th May 2016
5.30-7.00pm

Of the richest 25 countries in the world the UK has become one of the most unequal and is on course to win the ‘global race’ to become the most economically unequal of all by 2030. In all of Western Europe, apart from in post-crisis Ireland, no other country taxes and spends as little on its society as the UK does. Once all taxes are considered it is clear that the most well off 1% of society pay tax at a lower rate than the poorest tenth, whilst simultaneously complaining about how much they contribute and how little they think they get back. Danny Dorling is a leading thinker on the geography of inequality and a member of the London Fairness Commission. His recent lecture addressed these glaring disparities; considering how we arrived at this situation and what we could do about changing it.

www.dannydorling.org
@dannydorling

Huxley Lecture Theatre, Room 300, Huxley Building, University of Brighton, Lewes Road, Brighton.  BN2 4AT

For more information contact Julie Green: J.Green2@brighton.ac.uk

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A political movement is rising from the mud in Calais

Raphael Schlembach, University of Brighton

Since the official refugee reception centre in the French town of Calais closed in 2002, undocumented migrants hoping to cross the Channel to Britain have found shelter in a number of squatted migrant camps, locally known as “the jungles”.

Consisting largely of tents and self-built shacks, the two largest in Calais and Dunkirk now have some 8,000 residents between them. Many are refugees fleeing conflict in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan and surviving in extremely poor living conditions. Continue reading “A political movement is rising from the mud in Calais” →

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Four key economic trends shaping society

Philip Haynes, University of Brighton

The year is off to a turbulent start; both in the UK, and around the world. January saw oil prices plummeting, while Chinese growth slowed, spooking investors (but surprising none). But amid the turmoil and confusion of global stock markets, there are a few economic trends which look set to hold sway throughout 2016.

Here’s a wrap up of some of the key developments which will shape our society in the months to come. Continue reading “Four key economic trends shaping society” →

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Obama’s bold move against guns proves the politics of firearms really is changing

Peter Squires, University of Brighton

It’s common in the US to refer to a second-term president in his final year as a “lame duck”, his time limited, his momentum gone, and his political capital ebbing away to whoever’s next in line for the White House. But, not for the first time, Barack Obama has surprised and confounded his critics.

Deeply frustrated by the failure of his package of “sensible gun controls” to secure enough votes in the Senate back in April 2013, he has now announced a series of executive control measures as a way of delivering on key gun control commitments, re-energising the debate and doing so in a way that may favour the Democratic cause in a presidential election year. Continue reading “Obama’s bold move against guns proves the politics of firearms really is changing” →

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