Stand-up to help students with new charity
As tuition fees continue to make the news, the comedian Josie Long has taken her comedy – and her actions – into the political arena, setting up a charity to support students
Society
Every parent’s worst nightmare: how ketamine killed our daughter
Bright, popular, rebellious and creative, 21-year-old Louise Cattell had everything to live for. Then she made a fatal mistake. She took the party drug ketamine and was found dead in the bath by her flatmate. There are 125,000 other ketamine users in the UK. Louise’s parents want to make sure it nev
London 2012 Olympics: Crackdown on brothels ‘puts sex workers at risk’
Police clean-up of London’s Olympic boroughs is pushing vice crime and human trafficking underground, say critics
Budget night in Hackney
There was a ritual element to last night’s budget-setting in one of London’s stroppiest boroughs. The real politics of cuts have yet to start
Blame consumer capitalism, not multiculturalism
David Cameron’s analysis is flawed; its individualism and globalisation that are undermining a strong national identity
Hipsters are agents of social change
The ranks of the skinny-jeaned get endlessly knocked – but I’m grateful for their part in making the lives of gay people easier
NHS changes: David Cameron’s dodgy prescription
Cameron’s NHS ‘reforms’ will work not in the interests of staff and patients, as he claims, but very much against them
The East End’s Olympic hopes are being dashed
The local population were promised jobs and a starring role. Now it seems many may barely feel touched by the games
Charity’s struggle to meet demand for essentials of cookers, carpets and coats
Every week, Family Action volunteers scrutinise increasingly urgent and bleak applications for emergency welfare grants
Strippers and vicar unite to fight cleanup campaign
Women’s groups in move to close down strip clubs, while vicar fears ban would leave workers in danger
How to turn 60,000 students into unqualified drop-outs
The axing of the education maintenance allowance to help poor teenagers stay at school feels like targeted government malice
Out of an urban backwater, the 2012 Olympic dream takes shape
The debate about the cost and ‘legacy’ of construction will outlast the 2012 Olympic Games, but no one can deny the new venues are a bold addition to London’s landscape
Why I like the subsidised neighbours
I don’t resent my council-house neighbours who are helped by the taxpayer. I’m happy to pay to live in a mixed community
Lessons on gay history cut homophobic bullying in north London school
• Abuse and harassment ‘more or less eliminated’ • Classes to be shared with teachers around country
Mesothelioma: Hospice wins landmark victory in asbestos cancer case
Court decision to make engineering firm pay £10,000 towards care of victim to open door for more claims from hospices
The new public space: how Britons have reclaimed the streets
From guerilla gardening to outdoor ping-pong, we are becoming more creative with the gaps developers leave behind