Tag: Peter Stoddart

Mass COVID-19 testing scheduled for parts of Britain

In England, following on from the countrywide lockdown, people living in Tier 3 will have access to mass testing- even if they currently show no symptoms of the Virus. This amounts to over 23 million people across England and represents one of the largest mass testing programmes in Europe. Unlike other countries, such as Slovakia, which tested two-thirds of the entire population in two days, England’s scheme is voluntary.

Scottish Parliament unanimously passes Period Poverty Bill

This evening, 24 November 2020, the Scottish Parliament unanimously voted to become the first country in the world to pass legislation making period products freely available to all. The Bill, which was proposed by Monica Lennon, Scottish Labour spokesperson for Health and Sport, is the result of years of campaigning from anti-poverty campaigners.

250,000 workers set for pay rise as Real Living Wage rate set to rise next year

Today, the Living Wage Foundation announced the new Real Living Wage rates for the upcoming financial year. Across the UK, the wage rate is set to rise from £9.30 to £9.50, while in London, where living costs are substantially higher, the rate is set to rise 10p, from £10.75 to £10.85. Meanwhile, the Government have […]

Applications to join the YCL surge following Corbyn’s suspension from Labour

Today, Labour announced that former leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has been suspended from the party. Despite resigning as leader nearly a year ago, Corbyn was finally hounded out of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) today following the release of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report into Antisemitism within the Labour Party.

Covid-19 outbreaks across university campuses

Over the weekend, it was announced that students in Scotland and in Manchester were to be placed under further restrictions following significant outbreaks of Covid-19. In Manchester, 127 students have tested positive for the virus, while around 1,700 university students have been told to self-isolate.

Scottish Labour in latest sabotage crisis

This week, Scottish Labour was plunged into yet another crisis as Scottish shadow cabinet members James Kelly and Jenny Marra resigned and called on leader, Richard Leonard, to resign. Seen as the last key figure of the Corbyn movement still in office, many so-called moderates in the Party are keen for him to go. Leonard […]

Job losses reach new high

Figures released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), have shown the number of people in work decreased by 220,000 between April and June. The largest quarterly drop since the height of the financial crisis in 2009. As with the crisis then, young workers are expected to be hit hardest. Morgan Horn, industrial officer […]

The Gendered Impact of COVID-19

The ongoing Covid-19 crisis taking place across the world is producing some of the most significant upheavals the world has seen since the Second World War. UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was first admitted to hospital with the Virus on the 5thof April. His battle with the illness prompted a wave of sympathy, with commentators sending niceties, positing that this highlighted that the Coronavirus can and does affect us all. “We are all in this together”, as Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, argued, and while it is clear that the Coronavirus is affecting us all, it is important to highlight that it is not affecting us all equally. There are obvious class differences in how people are able to cope amid the government lockdown. However, there are also key gender differences, and as usual women are bearing the brunt of both the economic repercussions of the lockdown, and are put at greater risk of infection.