Medicalising Poverty Is Not the Answer
Government plans to have doctors prescribe things like heating and fresh food to patients only treat the symptoms of a bigger social ill: poverty.
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Ko Leik Pya works as a teacher and writer in the UK and Myanmar. He writes here under a pseudonym.
Government plans to have doctors prescribe things like heating and fresh food to patients only treat the symptoms of a bigger social ill: poverty.
With strong union backing, the legendary playwright Arnold Wesker fought to bring the arts into workplaces, canteens, and peoples’ daily lives out of a conviction that the labour movement must fight for both cultural and economic change.
Palestinian prisoners can be left in grim conditions in Israel’s prisons for years, without charge or trial – just one part of the repression they endure daily.
After the First World War, women’s football swelled in popularity and rallied behind the rising workers’ movement – until the establishment decided it was too radical, and took the legs from under it.
Laurent Mauvignier’s home invasion novel offers a compelling but flawed allegory for France’s far right problem.
During Covid, fossil fuel companies saw tanking oil prices as a sign to finally invest in renewables. Now they’re making bumper profits, they’re rolling back those initiatives – because for them, cash always comes before the planet.
Since 2009, the efforts of ministers and managers have seen real pay for university staff drop 25%, and insecurity, debt, and mental ill-health become rife. If we want the sector to change, we have to back the workers fighting back.
Rather than listening to the concerns of workers and students, more and more universities are responding by surveilling and trying to stop activism in their ranks.
Dublin writer Brendan Behan was born 100 years ago today. From his earliest days, his radical politics combined with a literary flair to make him one of the great working-class storytellers.
A new book shows how LGBT rights in Ireland were won not through EU rulings or state benevolence, but through generations of dedicated activism.
Two cops posing as activists have been unmasked in Spain, one after having sexual relationships with at least eight women – a frightening reminder of how far police go to spy on dissent.
Years of attacks on terms and conditions have pushed nurses to the brink. Now they’re striking not only for fair pay, but to protect the NHS for future generations.
The government’s authoritarian anti-protest laws aren’t only targeting peaceful political demonstrations – they’re being used to target journalists reporting on them, too.
A series of walking tours in Manchester show how neoliberal urban space systematically excludes anyone without money – and some unexpected ways to fight back against it.
For years, Britain’s political system has crumbled under the pressure of its failing democracy. But Gordon Brown’s proposals to shake up Westminster institutions could point a way forward.
Even a drop in house prices won’t make it possible for most young people to get on the property ladder. The only real answer to the housing crisis is a massive programme of social housebuilding – and getting tenants organised.
Underpaid, overworked, and struggling to hold up a health service in collapse: junior doctors tell Tribune about the constant crises they face on the wards – and why the only answer is to vote for strike action.
Today, 300,000 teachers are on strike. They’re fighting not only against low pay, but to end the crisis in education.
A teacher, a civil servant, and a university worker tell Tribune why they’re taking part in the biggest day of strike action in over a decade.
A teacher explains the toll the cost of living crisis is having on our children’s education – and why the only answer is to strike for something better.