If you want to know what happens next in the UK, you’d be better off flipping a coin than listening to most political pundits, argues Adam Bienkov
in his editorial from the December print edition of Byline Times Peter Jukes says the tumultuous events of the last year may have been shocking, but not a complete surprise
From Partygate to Trussomics, the death of the Monarch, and the humiliation of Vladimir Putin, OttoEnglish’s review of the year takes us on a roller coaster of major fails and meteoric falls
Exeter University announces new, five-year funding arrangement with Shell, as students urge campuses to divest from fossil fuel interests, reports Max Colbert
Josiah Mortimer reports on a night shift worker at an Essex logistics hub who has to walk hours in freezing temperatures
With Putin’s invasion of Ukraine failing, Will Neal looks at the Kremlin’s ‘frozen’ conflict with another neighbour. Will Russia try to score a victory there?
There’s a reason Dickens’ Christmas Carol is a perennial festive favourite, says A V Deggar – the Malthusian ideas of Scrooge are still with us
A council has refused a family homelessness support as they are satisfied the mother has accommodation in a country riven by conflict and violence, Sian Norris reports
Stephen Unwin explores how the famed author’s views about disability were typical of a growing intellectual endorsement of the dangerous ideology of eugenics in the early 20th century
Complaining to the fake standards body is worse than a waste of time; it plays into the hands of a cynical and immoral industry, writes Brian Cathcart
Sian Norris reports on how a Texan judge has fired warning shots on restricting access to contraception, a well-rehearsed tactic in the attack on reproductive rights
Shreya Bansal explores how patriarchy in Indian households impacts the experience of growing up as daughters in the country
John Mitchinson explores the enduring relevance of the “little Christmas book” the author penned in 1843
The French President is facing allegations of corruption over his relationship with US consultancy firm McKinsey, which in turn is increasingly embedded in the British state
Despite only having 6 British subscribers, the founder of Forensic News faces legal action in the English courts for his coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 election
As the former Prime Minister makes £750k from just three speeches since being ousted from Number 10, his voters feel abandoned
Penny Pepper reflects on what the festive season means for her, as politicians and the media continue to marginalise the creation of new cultural narratives around disability
Brian Latham reports on why human rights violations in Rwanda mean the Government’s deportation plans put vulnerable people at risk
Fundamentalist Christians with links to religious right actors in the US are seeking to prevent change on LGBTIQ+ rights in the Baptist Church, Sian Norris reports
Emma DeSouza reports on the implications for remain-voting Northern Ireland and the Union of Ireland’s positive relationship with the EU, amid ongoing complications over the Protocol
Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar consider what the progressive Left can do to counter dangerous hard-right thinking on the great social issues of our era
From the weekly Bienkov Briefing on Byline Supplement. The vast majority of those polled – 84% – back nurses’ strike action for a bigger pay rise and trust striking rail workers over the Government
Dan Clayton looks at a rising tide of martial, dehumanising and manipulative metaphors over asylum seekers and migrants in the UK
Mark Temnycky says that though Russia gambled to finance far-right politicians in Western elections this year, the attempt to stifle support for Ukraine has failed badly
Manasa Narayanan speaks to people who are homeless, surviving on Westminster’s streets in the shadow of Parliament
Bankers have contributed a-third of the party’s income over recent months, amid plans to remove the cap on their bonuses, reports Sam Bright
Sian Norris analyses how the modern Republican Party has been infiltrated by far-right rhetoric and conspiracy, not least in its determination to wage a ‘war’
Angelo Calianno reports from northeastern Syria, where the former freedom fighters against Islamist terrorism have been abandoned and forgotten
Iain Overton meets the unwell residents of Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican town trapped between the guns of the north and the drugs of the south
Influential agribusiness monopolists and food producers appear to be cynically using the war in Ukraine and the aftermath of the pandemic to exert political influence, writes Thomas Perrett
To diminish essential workers’ right to withdraw their labour would be a dangerous precedent and remove an important check on government excess, writes Gareth Roberts
Stuart Spray reports on the reaction by politicians, environmental groups and climate activists to the Government’s go-ahead for the country’s first coal mine in 30 years
The number of adults participating in government-funded further education and skills training has dropped dramatically, according to a report by a parliamentary committee
Sian Norris reports on how plans to reduce migration and the asylum backlog ignore the realities of people fleeing war, persecution and violence – and the lack of safe routes open to people seeking asylum
Now the Conservative Party’s reputation for economic competence has cratered, Matthew Gwyther sees businesses getting increasingly politicised
With a post Pandemic rise in home-based male homicides, Iain Overton argues that confronting domestic abuse against women goes hand in hand with addressing male-on-male violence at home
As temperatures drop, turkeys are added to shopping lists, and letters to Santa are written, how are people coping during a winter of inflation and financial hardship? Sian Norris reports
Sam Bright reports on the Conservative Party’s enduring alliance with the libertarian lobbying groups that ‘crashed the economy’
As Putin’s brutal invasion heads towards the end of its tenth month, former Marine Julian McBride argues the US and its allies need to face the new realities of conventional war
The Labour leader is not being honest about the impact of Britain’s decision to leave the EU, writes Adam Bienkov