James McSweeney

Halloween and the horror of ableism

All Hallows’ Eve is almost upon us and busy-bodies everywhere are sharpening their knives ahead of the inevitable annual costume scandal. For ordinary party-goers, there is reason to be fearful. Pick the wrong outfit and the consequences – getting fired, kicked out of university, ending up on the front page of a national newspaper –

Don’t celebrate the departure of Extinction Rebellion

After a long period of disruption, the Metropolitan Police’s decision to crack down on Extinction Rebellion and clear them from the streets was greeted with cheers across the capital last week. The actions of the police are certainly understandable. This month, the Met had to request urgent reinforcements from dozens of forces across the country,

Are we heading for a climate apocalypse? Not again

I was five years old when the world first ended. That was in 2000, the year that a United Nations official predicted 11 years before that entire nations would be wiped out by rising sea levels. Since then, I have survived the Arctic melting on at least six separate occasions (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016