The horrific case of two brothers aged ten and 11 who violently assaulted two other boys has re-opened the issue of children and violence. The media coverage has sparked panic, with a sharp rise in calls and referrals to already stretched social workers.
US president Barack Obama addressed a joint meeting of Congress last week about the need to reform the US health system, which was one of his central electoral promises. This followed months of sniping from the right.
Climate change is threatening the future of the planet. Millions of people around the globe are already feeling the effects of environmental damage and are asking what we can do to stop it.
There is another "common sense" belief that has been at the heart of much discussion on the environment for many years – that there are simply too many people on the planet.
If we want to produce to meet people’s needs, we need planned production to replace the anarchy of the market.
Most socialists dream of taking part in a revolution. The revolutionary Leon Trotsky was involved in two, playing a leading role in the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917.
In the early 1990s a common sight in the Moscow metro was young men in military uniform begging for money. They had no legs. These were some of the victims of Russia’s disastrous occupation of Afghanistan.
Savages, evil, hell boys, sadists – these are just some of the phrases that have been used to describe the two young brothers from Edlington, Doncaster, who were convicted last week of a horrific attack on two other children.
I can remember July 1978 very clearly. I was ten years old, and I got my first kicking in a subway. It was a shock – he hit me pretty hard. And I didn’t know why.
New population statistics caused quite a stir in the press recently.
The countdown to the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen has started. The December meeting will bring together environment ministers and world leaders to reach a new agreement to succeed the 1997 Kyoto climate change treaty.
