Real voices

Jonatan Leer and Stinne Gunder Strøm Krogager, authors of 'Food Porn', discuss how restaurants have long used sexualised imagery, staff roles, and nostalgic or ironic aesthetics to intertwine desire with dining, subtly reinforcing gendered power dynamics as part of the overall experience.…Read more

Tara Lai Quinlan, author of 'Police Diversity', discusses how ICE’s aggressive raids in Minneapolis reflect a harmful “warrior” policing culture that damages community trust.…Read more

Natalie Rutter and Sarah Waite, editors of 'Women, Relationships & Criminal Justice', argue that nearly two decades after the Corston Report, progress on reforming the criminalisation of women remains slow, and real change requires shifting the justice system from risk-based punishment to relationship-centred care and structural reform.…Read more

Pushkala Prasad, author of 'Capitalism’s Dark Complexion', argues that capitalism has always been deeply racialised, exploiting Black and Brown bodies, from chattel slavery to modern e-waste labour, while disproportionately enriching White populations.…Read more

Brenda Herbert, author of 'The Everyday Lives of Children Who Have Experienced Domestic Abuse', argues that repealing the presumption of parental contact is a vital step toward protecting children from domestic abuse by challenging patriarchal systems that silence children’s voices and prioritise abusive fathers’ rights over children’s safety.…Read more

Samantha Parsley, author of 'Minor Keys', argues that gender-based digital violence forces women and gender-expansive electronic music artists to undertake exhausting, unpaid “ameliorative work” that harms their wellbeing, visibility and career progression, and calls for collective responsibility and allyship to address it.…Read more

Anna Skeels and Patricia Hynes, authors of 'Human Trafficking of Children and Young People', suggest that the UK’s hostile treatment of trafficked and migrant children undermines their rights and recovery, demanding recognition of exploitation as a form of child abuse.…Read more

The article argues that improving pensions is essential if reforms to adult social care work are to genuinely address inequality, retention and job quality.…Read more

Akwugo Emejulu, Marlies Kustatscher and Callum McGregor editors of 'Ambivalent Activism', argue that while the far right is legitimised to mobilise anger and fear, left activism is constrained by compulsory “hope,” weakening its ability to harness powerful emotions like anger, grief and discomfort for social change.…Read more

International Migrants Day underscores that migrants are essential to the UK’s economy and public services, yet are scapegoated for hardships actually caused by financialisation, corporate exploitation and elite-driven populism.…Read more