Francis Coppola

In the latest of his excellent reports for the BBC on the refugee crisis in Europe, Feargal Keene focuses on the plight of children. A baby, only a month old, makes the hazardous crossing from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos. Little children, freezing cold and wet through, climb the muddy path up from the beach. Volunteers from many nations provide food, blankets and medical care for these tiny lives.But Lesbos is only the start of their journey, And in Europe, it is winter. Across the...

Do not go gentle into that good night,  Old age should burn and rave at close of day;  Rage, rage against the dying of the light. I have reluctantly decided to withdraw from engagement with the WASPI campaigners and their supporters, and to end my public discussion of their cause. Near-constant public commentary, much of it ill-tempered, on this subject is upsetting my followers and damaging my reputation. More importantly, the stress caused by sustained and deliberate...

This is my response to the Slog's takedown of my Forbes post on the UK state pension system. I am addressing it directly to Anthony Ward, the author of the Slog blog. For obvious reasons, I have not provided a link to Anthony's post. I can't begin to tell you how upset and horrified I was by the post you wrote today. It was factually incorrect (I shall explain the factual errors below). But more importantly, it was an unfair and brutal attack on me, for no reason that I can see other than you...

I wasn't going to write another post about the WASPI campaign, but things have become so unpleasant and confused that I have no choice. This post is my final and definitive statement on where I stand on the women's state pension debate.My view of the women's state pension age problemI described the women's state pension age problem in some detail in a previous post, so I shall only outline it here, along with my view on each part of this complex problem.Recent changes to women's state...

I do not like the direction in which our society is travelling.From a joint statement by several Christian churches, published in the Methodist Times in October: In March this year, the Churches published a report showing that nearly 100,000 children had been affected by sanctions in 2014 alone and that people with mental health problems were being sanctioned at a rate of more than 100 per day.  Seriously? 100,000 children are affected by sanctions imposed on their parents? Let us...

Guest post by Tom Streithorst The Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) is back in the news.  The Finns are considering implementing it, as are the Swiss, replacing all means tested benefits with a simple grant to every citizen, giving everyone enough money to survive. Unlike most current benefits programmes, it is not contingent on being worthy or deserving or even poor.  Everybody gets it, you, me, Rupert Murdoch, the homeless man sleeping under a bridge. Last seriously proposed by Richard...

The world turns on its dark side......it is winter A Child of Our Time, Michael Tippett "Man has measured the heavens with a telescope, driven the gods from their thrones," proclaims the contralto at the start of Michael Tippett's wartime oratorio A Child Of Our Time. Like our counterparts before the dark time of which Tippett writes, we too believe that science leaves no place for religion. But religion endures, and when the world turns, it comes back in its most violent form, tearing...

Basic Income: How do we get there? Brian Eno, David Graeber and Frances Coppola Brian Eno, David Graeber, Frances Coppola will be leading a discussion facilitated by Becca Kirkpatrick from Unison. Venue to be announced. Brian Eno is a musician, composer, record producer, singer, and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music. He recently spoke about basic income during his John Peel Lecture on Radio 6. David Graeber is an American anthropologist and anarchist...

Basic Income: How do we get there? Brian Eno, David Graeber and Frances Coppola Brian Eno, David Graeber, Frances Coppola will be leading a discussion facilitated by Becca Kirkpatrick from Unison. Venue to be announced. Brian Eno is a musician, composer, record producer, singer, and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music. He recently spoke about basic income during his John Peel Lecture on Radio 6. David Graeber is an American anthropologist and anarchist...

The WASPIs are angry again. About the New State Pension, this time. Apparently it is unfair to women, especially those born in the 1950s.Paul Lewis, in the BBC's Money Box email (h/t Annie Shaw), lists six problems: 1. Women born 6 April 1951 to 5 April 1953 all reach state pension age before the new state pension begins. So they won’t get the new state pension while men of the same age – who will be 65 when it begins – will. That is sex discrimination and they want the choice to have new or...