Virtual reality has arrived, and it’s going to change everything

 

By Matthew Hynds

2016 has been described as the “year of VR”, thanks to the profusion of virtual reality headsets that released by the big electronics manufacturers, including Sony, Samsung, Facebook, Google, and HTC.

Status symbols and why they need redefining

 

By Lucette Davies

In today’s world of capitalism many people are desperately craving objects simply as symbols of their status in life.  The idea that someone is respected because they own a flashy car, luxury home or high spec computer is seriously questionable and damaging to our whole society.  Rampant consumerism is draining the planet of all its natural resources but it is also confusing our own values and leading us into placing high worth on individuals who are undeserving of our respect.  We need to redefine what it is that we see as a symbol of status.

Labour must now find its voice, and punish the government’s unforced errors

 

By Matthew Hynds

So, the proposed cuts to the Personal Independence Payments, as laid out in the chancellor’s budget just a few days ago, have been dropped. This tyre-smoking u-turn is even more dramatic than last year’s, when Osborne ditched his planned cuts to tax credits. On that occasion, he was able to use a £27 billion windfall to the treasury as the means of paying for it, and to afford him some dignity in retreat. This was the result of higher-than-expected tax revenues, and lower interest rates on government debt.

Disabled people, like myself, despair at the UK welfare system

 

By Lucette Davies

Good/bad, right/wrong, in/out, black/white – Once again yesterday we saw the Tories all position themselves firmly in one camp or the other.  All except George Osborne who sparked a Twitter hashtag #where’sgeorge as the country puzzled over where exactly he was.  It seems to me that this black and white thinking is characteristic of the Tory party and one of the underlying reasons  why their policies are so often dismal failures.  Let me explain…

The new tax on soft drinks is very welcome, and it needs to go further

 

By Matthew Hynds

The government’s reasoning here has more to do with PR than public health: it does not want the media and the opposition spinning this as a tax on the poor. And the trouble is – if the net is widened to include every consumable supermarket product that contains high levels of sugar, it would rather start to look like a tax on the poor, because added sugar is ubiquitous in the food and drink industry.

In the Republican race to the White House, only John Kasich has spoken any sense on climate change

 

By Matthew Hynds

During the latest debate between the Republican presidential hopefuls, which took place in Miami last Thursday, the subject of climate change made an oh-so-brief appearance.

When tear gas is fired at children we have to accept our world is failing

 

By Lucette Davies

This world is no stranger to horror and devastation.  After World War I we said it had been the ‘war to end all wars’.  After World War II many people said ‘never again’. We started the beginnings of the EU by forging economic and political co-operation across Europe to try to prevent another war. We formed the United Nations from a commitment to prevent any repeat of such a humanitarian disaster.  But how quickly we have forgotten!  We now sit by watching the huge exodus of people from Africa and the Middle-East that so often proves fatal with a staggering lack of empathy.  But now that police are firing tear gas and water cannons at already traumatised children surely it is time we all stopped and changed our direction?

Boris Johnson may be the next Tory leader, but hopefully not the next prime minister

By Matthew Hynds

Since Johnson announced his affiliation to the “Out” campaign, the bookies have installed him as the favourite to succeed Cameron – replacing Osborne as the front-runner. (It is worth remembering that Cameron has ruled out standing for re-election in 2020.)

Let battle commence!

“Please clap!” Republican nominee Jeb Bush may have hit the rocks

By Matthew Hynds

Oh wow. Just when you think the on-screen antics of the Republican nominees can get no more cringeworthy… Jeb Bush pleads with his audience to clap for him.

Seriously.