CBBC TV channel to shut down – wise innovation or killing kids’ inspiration?
In May last year, the BBC announced it planned to stop airing CBBC and BBC Four as traditional broadcast channels, due to cost-cutting measures and a seemingly admirable drive to “constantly innovate”.
Corporate pride
Happy pride month Punching Up readers! As the rainbows come out and the corporate world becomes an ally (for 30 days) we decided to explore how AI would react as different people. AI POLITICIAN Dear friends, As your political representative, I want to take a moment to...
OPINION: ‘Freedom of speech director’ isn’t a real job
ALERT!!! Lecturers are being oppressed!!! Their freedom of speech is under attack!!! Don’t worry though, the Tories will save them.
Locking up groceries won’t make people pay for them
Attaching security tags to every basic food item will not make people shrug their shoulders and pay up. It will make them not eat. Punching Up asks whether this is more important than supermarkets losing money. They're locking up milk, cheese and meat. The vegans, I...
Targeted train strikes: Does Wembley walkout help or harm the cause?
This Saturday is one of the jewels in the English sporting calendar’s crown as Manchester takes over London, with united and city meeting in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
Trans activist upstages “intentionally dishonest” Kathleen Stock at Oxford Union
Trans activist, Riz Possnett, glued themselves to the floor wearing a “no more dead trans kids” t-shirt in front of Kathleen Stock.
public order act: Green party Baroness fights Tories over undemocratic sneaky moves
Hope of preventing the Tories’ oppressive Public order bill seems to be out of reach for most, including Keir Starmer’s Labour, but rare rumblings of rebellion from the House of Lords hope to deal the belligerent bill a ‘fatal’ blow.
Covid inequality: Black people were three times more likely to be fined
In England and Wales, black people were found to have received Covid-related fines at a rate three times higher than average. According to a study commissioned for Britain's police chiefs, fines were three times more likely to be issued to black individuals and seven...
Right to offend
The concept of right and wrong has been up for debate since humanity could start questioning the world around them. And it is a concept that still needs to be solved. So how do we regulate intangible concepts and enforce consequences and penalties on ideas that no two...
Rail staff are striking again – why won’t the government meet their demands?
This weekend rail staff will walk out yet again, and the Government are not even close to meeting the workers’ demands.
A guide to surviving the Tory apocalypse
By Vincent Lumley Marshall Are you worried about the constant struggle to survive in the modern-day UK? Does the fear of a cold house with no lights keep you up at night? Well, help is on the way from your government! In a time of global uncertainty that undoubtedly...
Punching right: If it’s aimed at you, satire should hurt your feelings
By Shakthi Thyagarajan Satire is an incredible tool to scrutinise our state affairs, but the experts warn any aspiring satirists out there not to take the easy way out by attacking just the person and not the politics - you’ve got to make your punches count. We have...
Is this the most elected man ever?
Whilst the UK’s on-recess politicians bask in the bank holiday sunshine, there is plenty of note going on elsewhere- namely Turkey’s election result that sees divisive President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan re-elected for another five years in office.
Do the British public REALLY want honest politicians?
Lying is a feature not a bug when it comes to the UK electorate and politicians. Liam Fitzpatrick explores why.
BBC Protest ban
In the last decade many a protests has happened along British streets and yet, in this time the BBC has made it harder for their employees to join in solidarity and even more recently the Public Order Act has tried further to push back the front marchers. According...
“It’s my duty as a doctor”: rugby prem final interrupted by Just Stop Oil protestor
Just Stop Oil protestors took all of five minutes out of the match to a chorus of boos from the Twickenham stands. How evil of them.
Trans women banned from cycling in female category
Trans women have been banned from competitively cycling alongside cis women, and Emily Bridges has hit back on Instagram
The AI White Paper explained
“Existential” threats to humanity posed by AI have been acknowledged by Sunak’s government as a white paper from March is claimed to already be out of date. But what is this update to regulations all about?
Alastair Campbell wants politics taught to primary school kids
Alastair believes that politics lessons could help students learn “how to communicate, how to argue, and how to fight their corner”
Tory MP says pronouns should be removed from schools to “protect children”
Tory MP Nick Fletcher told Times Radio that using alternative pronouns to those assigned at birth is “asking people to lie”. Twat.
Teachers weighing up autumn strike in face of government disregard
Teachers in the National Education Union are receiving their re-ballot papers this month, deciding whether to continue striking into the autumn in the face of anti-worker sentiment from all angles.
What is a political dog whistle?
You will have heard dog whistles like “adult human female” and “stop the boats” in the news but what do they actually mean?
A fake burning Pentagon shows AI’s potential to render truth a flaming wreck
The sophistication of AI generated content may give us Joe Biden playing Call of Duty, the Pope in a puffer coat and other such priceless content, but its potential for believable fakery could be an open goal for propagandists.
We can report on what you can’t do
With the New Public Order Act coming into place, is this another nail in coffin for press freedom in the UK?
Inflation dropped from 10.1% to 8.7% in April. Yippee.
Don’t be fooled by the word ‘dropped’; inflation is still here, prices are just rising by 1.4% less than they were in March.
Boris Johnson breaking Covid-19 lockdown rules…the bad stench wafts again.
Yet again, we’re hearing reports that Boris Johnson broke Covid-19 lockdown rules yet again. How long will this keep dragging on for?
Blind accessibility option ignored by sunak tweet
A tweet from Rishi Sunak’s official Twitter account has been criticised for abusing the platform’s alt-text function to promote political messages rather than aiding blind people.
Cost of living: Disabled people still fighting for survival
Being disabled in Britain means living life on the edge with spiralling energy prices, cuts in support, and this suffering becoming normalised. Looking back at last winter, we have to ask: how much further can we sink?
Protest Ban: The Public Order Act explained
The Public Order Act became law in early May, after a several months long attempt by the House of Lords to block the legislation failed. The Act is intended to hand new powers to police (because if anyone needs more help, its them!) to deal with the ‘guerrilla tactics’ employed by some of the more disruptive protest groups, such as Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion.
Vahid Beheshti: Iranian cleric issues death fatwa against activist, following 72-day hunger strike
Iranian journalist Vahid Beheshti went on hunger strike for 72 days, urging the UK Government to name Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. Now, the regime wants him dead.
REVIEW: The Second Sex
Simone de Beauvoir's "The Second Sex" is a pioneering piece of feminist literature that delves into the historical oppression of women. Despite its publication in 1949, the book's themes and ideas remain relevant to contemporary feminism. It continues to inform...
The importance of Pride Month
LGBT History Month is an annual month-long observance in February of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, now extended to celebrate many other sexualities and gender identities, and the history of the gay rights.
How the visual satire is the purest art of protest
From blood-bathed Boris to a mentally-scarring Maggie Thatcher, we talk to the political artists who are saying how they see it on the canvas.
No ID? No Vote
The Tories’ voter ID requirements are voter suppression. Their power play might not have worked this time – but that doesn’t mean we can let our guard down now.
The Public Order Act: the protest ban that threatens democracy
The government has attempted to ‘clamp down’ on public protest with the controversial Public Order Act becoming law earlier this month. What is it, why do so many oppose it, and how hathe government defended itself?