Opinion

So the endless jokes about driving to Barnard Castle for an eye test distract from the government’s multiple failures on sourcing protective equipment for key workers, which in turn overshadows the double-counting of coronavirus tests, which in turn hides the complete failure of the testing regime, which in turn obscures the awful and disgraceful reality that the UK is second only to the US in its total number of Covid-19 deaths. … [Read more...] about Boris Johnson should be protecting the nation. Instead he’s protecting one man

But that's not the rewarding part. The part that makes it worthwhile is pulling into a parking lot full of kids and instead of running away from me, they swarm me. The rewarding part is driving down the street, looking out my window at some kids, and having them wave at me. The real result is seeing a youth who was on the edge of crime now far from it because he or she made a friend with one of my officers through positive tickets. The payoff is that kids don't feel I am hunting them anymore; they see me as a friend. … [Read more...] about Positive tickets: a new way to police

Tourists from Britain and around the world count on our justice system to be fair and transparent. Now, we Thais must count on the international community to demand the return of Thai democracy and to restore the rule of law. That must include reforming the Thai justice system and systematically rooting out the injustices it has been used to perpetuate. … [Read more...] about Democracy and the rule of law must be restored to Thailand

Mid-term handovers from prime minister to prime minister are an odd business. David Cameron drives into the inner courtyard of Buckingham Palace as prime minister, and within the hour Theresa May drives out as his successor. Yet although the face and the name are new, the problems that hemmed in Mr Cameron for his six years in office will hem in Mrs May just as tightly. No money, not much of a majority and one massive headache: Europe. … [Read more...] about The Guardian view on Theresa May: new PM, same old problems

My own life straddles the line between autism’s high- and low-functioning polarities. I was originally diagnosed with “upper-end autism”, am fluent in four languages and have been able to live and work abroad despite significant social difficulties. My younger sibling, by contrast, who was also diagnosed with autism, will never be able to lead any semblance of a conventional life and will require full-time care until the day he dies. My parents naturally worry about his fate when they are no longer around. Despite sharing the same label, it’s apparent that we have very different conditions. It’s part of the reason I am reluctant to use the term autism to describe my own comparably mild disability – for fear it will devalue experiences like my younger brother’s. … [Read more...] about What is autism? How the term became too broad to have meaning any more