1/. For too long, homelessness has been explained as the failure of the individual to cope with the stresses & strains of life
We see it for what it is: a failure of the state to guarantee equality of opportunity, equal access to essential services to all amnesty.org.uk/resources/amne…
2/. "England’s housing and homelessness system is effectively a gruelling obstacle course
Many fail to get past the first barrier because they are not considered eligible for homelessness support
3/. Three in 10 fear homelessness within five years due to housing costs, according to an @AmnestyUK survey.
Unless housing is rightfully recognised as a basic legal human right, there is no way to hold the Government to account for its woeful failings. standard.co.uk/news/uk/englan…
4/. In 2018, the first #TakeOneLeaveOne rails were set up in London offering warm clothes to homeless people & rough sleepers each winter
Almost 5 years on, the idea has spread across the UK & beyond& we now offer clothes to anyone in need, all year round bigissue.com/news/social-ju…
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Too often govt ministers & MP are allowed to get away with the absurd claim that - on #COVID19 & #Brexit - the govt/#BorisJohnson “got all the big calls right”
'We knew it was a dangerous place but Dom really believed it’s possible to safeguard the nature & the livelihood of the Indigenous people. We urge Brazilian authorities to do all they can to help”
It was 2011 & I was scraping by as a freelance journalist
As preparations were underway for William & Kate's Royal Wedding, I got a call from @AJEnglish's interview producer
Would I be free on 29 April?
2/. "Absolutely! But why me?"
The producer explained how she'd spotted an article I'd done for @NewStatesman where I argued that the fawning media coverage & the "Cinderella story" framing was rife with negative gender stereotyping & ugly class prejudice. newstatesman.com/politics/2010/…
3/. I'd been drafted in to help decode some of the more curious aspects of our royal family to @AJEnglish's l audience
But surely, with the wedding coinciding with the Arab Spring & being on a Friday – the peak day for protests - I wouldn't be on for long theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
“Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” said Javier Cazares, whose daughter was killed in the 40-minute #RobbElementary school massacre in #Uvalde
This footage shows armed police pinning one man to the ground
The @nytimes reports that the gunman who killed 19 children & 2 teachers at #RobbElementary was rptdly inside the school for “ROUGHLY AN HOUR” hour before police shot him
Children from Goede Hoop primary school in Boksburg, South Africa play a bit of Vivaldi on the marimba (via @AlisonKriel)
In nearby Soweto, the @BuskaidSA String Academy teaches children classical music
Here is their orchestra playing a piece by Joseph Bologne (1745-1799), a black composer & violinist from Guadeloupe who conducted the leading symphony orchestra in Paris.
Diepkloof, Soweto isn't the most likely of places to find a classical music school, but at the end of a dusty road in the grounds of a church in the shadow of a huge slag heap, the haunting strains Dvořák hang above the corrugated iron roof-tops
2/. More than three years after #ZakKostopoulos was kicked to death in broad daylight in the middle of Athens, today’s decision will have widespread implications which go far beyond the #LGBTIQ community.
3/, "Justice in Greece isn't blind. But they must think that we are" (Zak Kostopoulos)
“There's a picture of Zak with open arms & a sign in front of his chest that read 'free hugs'. That’s who Zak was. He had a big heart, a big embrace that fit everyone & everything” (Zak's mum)