Most Britons are aware, if only from last year’s celebrations, that Bills of Rights, like the industrial revolution, started here. Magna Carta is not the only one; we had another Bill of Rights, called just that, in 1689. That pair, along with their offshoots like Habeas Corpus and jury trial, have encapsulated a heritage of freedom which has spread from this country to many parts of the globe. Continue reading “Argue with an Academic: Anthony Speaight QC on a British Bill of Rights”
When you tell people about the British tax system they don’t think it’s fair. Of course that’s true with respect to multi-nationals like Google, using legal loopholes to pay tiny taxes on their profits. But it’s also true when it comes to the balance of tax between rich, middling and poor families. Continue reading “Argue with an Academic: Andrew Harrop on the Abolition of Inheritance Tax”
The year of 2015 marked the 20th anniversary of the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). TRIPS came into being and faced controversies since its early years. The impact of TRIPS on access to medicines and innovation has triggered international activism and resistance, especially from developing countries. Essentially, medicines that were once excluded from patent protection in many countries are now subject to patenting as required by TRIPS. Continue reading “Argue with an Academic: Yuan Qiong Hu on Access to Medication”
Asset-based welfare (ABW) was one of the most innovative social policy agendas of the last Labour government. US academic Michel Sherraden first coined the term ABW to refer to the idea that the individual ownership of assets is important for individual welfare. Continue reading “Argue with an Academic: Dr Rajiv Prabhakar on Asset-based Welfare”
In recent years, severe mental disorders have proved remarkably resistant to attempts to find effective medicines. The therapeutic revolution of the 1950s offered treatments for both psychosis and depression and it was expected that these pioneering drugs would be followed by a succession of innovative products. Although there have been a number of improvements, no step change in medicinal science has transformed the management of mental illness in the last half century. Continue reading “Argue with an Academic: Professor Edgar Jones on the Stigma Around Mental Health”
