Prostitution: a crime of purchasing

"Peers have been debating the policing and crime bill. Their deliberations mean that the government will take a historic step: instead of controlling prostitution by punishing women, it will penalise the purchasers – the men." This is an unpredictable development. (And one...

Universities are not there to spoon-feed

"The assumption that lies behind the contact hours issue is a deeply mistaken one. It is that universities are a simple extension of school, and that as at school, students should be given as much attention as possible. University is emphatically not about spoon-feeding and...

Sex education will help gay children

"As a gay child, and in common with many gay children, I was terrified for most of my school life. My earliest sexual encounters – which all occurred before the age of consent (21 at that time) – were unsafe and I constantly felt that I could somehow be "in trouble" for...

Kate Moss' motto gives comfort to 'pro-anorexic' community

"When the supermodel Kate Moss, in a rare online interview this week, told readers that one of her mottos was "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels", the fallout was instant, vitriolic and damning." How horribly ill-conceived was this remark by Kate Moss? (Let's face it,...

Somali woman stoned for adultery

"A 20-year-old woman divorcee accused of committing adultery in Somalia has been stoned to death by Islamists in front of a crowd of about 200 people." Is this a sign of the patriarchy hard at work? Or is it evidence of the age-old practice of ritually humiliating 'wayward...

The new people of walmart...why bother working

You have probably all seen peopleofwalmart.com, if you haven't it is a very funny site in which people submit photos of 'questionable' looking people they see at Walmart. People then view these photos, laugh, a lot, and make comment. Harsh - maybe, funny - definitely! There...

New warning on 'perfect vaginas'

"Women are undergoing surgery to create the perfect vagina amid a "shocking" lack of information on the potential risks of the procedure, a report says. Research published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology also questions the very notion of aesthetically...

Early life stress 'changes' genes

"A study in mice has hinted at the impact that early life trauma and stress can have on genes, and how they can result in behavioural problems. Stressed mice produced hormones that "changed" their genes, affecting their behaviour throughout their lives. " This has to be a...

Claims of sex abuse by women grow

"A huge rise in the number of children calling to report sexual abuse by women has been revealed by ChildLine. Over the past five years, the charity says the number of such calls has risen five times faster than youngsters reporting abuse by a man. Of 16,094 children who...

Warning of extra heart dangers from mixing cocaine and alcohol

"Drug addiction clinics say they are becoming increasingly concerned by the health risks associated with the chemical – the only known example of the body forming a third drug following the ingestion of two others. For not only is cocaethylene toxic in the liver, it is also...

Tough love 'is good for children'

"Children brought up according to "tough love" principles are more successful in life, according to a study. The think tank Demos says a balance of warmth and discipline improved social skills more than an laissez-faire, authoritarian or disengaged upbringing. " We were...

Violent offenders receiving only police cautions

"If you commit a crime and get caught it is reasonable to think that you will go to court, be prosecuted and pay the price for your actions. Not necessarily. In fact, in England and Wales half of all criminal cases brought to justice these days are punished out of court by...

A Way of Life

As the Office of the Ombudsman acknowledged rampant corruption in the country, it received flak for its performance. Church leaders, meanwhile, criticized the government for its dismal record on human rights and transparency. Some lawmakers tossed back the blame to the...