After months of hard work on the part of the web design, editorial, and visual content team (not forgetting our brilliant contributors), LACUNA- A Writing Wrongs Project is live! Head over to http://www.lacuna.org.uk and let us know what you think of the magazine! We hope you love it as much as we do. Our first edition, “On Protest” features original writing and creative content from Jon Snow, Andrew Williams, Rebecca Omonira, Shashank Joshi, Lesley McIntyre and more.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award honours: “an ordinary woman who fought with a mother’s love for what she believed was right and simply refused to give up”
Anne Williams at the Hillsborough Memorial Service at Anfield
Anne Williams, whose fifteen year old son Kevin was killed in the Hillsborough Disaster of 1989, has been honoured by the BBC at the Sports Personality of the Year Awards. Anne, who campaigned tirelessly on behalf of her son alongside the families of the 95 others who died at Hillsborough, passed away three days after the 24th memorial service at Anfield in April this year. She was awarded the Helen Rollason award for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity. The Liverpool Echo reports:
Having lost her beloved 15-old-son Kevin in 1989, Anne was at the forefront of those challenging the original inquest verdicts for many years, refusing to give up on the fight for justice despite seeing three memorials to the Attorney General and a petition to the European Court of Human Rights all rejected.
Her tireless campaigning, along with new evidence she uncovered, helped lead to the formation of the Hillsborough Independent Panel and, though she received her terminal diagnosis just six weeks after their historic report of September 2012, she was in attendance at the High Court last December to see the accidental death verdicts quashed and new inquests, set to begin next March, ordered.
LACUNA’s first issue: “On Protest” to be published in February 2014, features an interview with the Chief Civil Servant to the Hillsborough Independent Panel Report. The publication of this report finally vindicated the victims of the Hillsborough disaster and brought to light previously unseen documents which implicated South Yorkshire Police, amongst others, in the disaster and subsequent cover-up. To read more about this story, and find out what it takes to bring about effective change through protest subscribe to our mailing list , like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Miranda, Prisoner Votes & Judicial Review Myths – The Human Rights Roundup
Another excellent Human Rights Round up from the team at 1 Crown Office Row.
Welcome back to the UK Human Rights Roundup, your regular unexpected sunny spell of human rights news and views. The full list of links can be found here. You can find previous roundups here. Post by Sarina Kidd, edited and links compiled by Adam Wagner.
This week, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill took evidence , and there were notable comments from the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the body which monitors compliance with the European Court of Human Rights. Meanwhile, Baroness Hale weighed in on the proposed judicial review changes and, continuing along the judicial review vein, David Miranda (pictured) began his claim on Wednesday.
View original post 1,365 more words
Lacuna goes back to the classroom with video journalist John Domokos
Lacuna’s Head of Visual Content, Abby Kendrick, had an opportunity to learn from the best when she attended a masterclass with renowned Guardian video journalist John Domokos. Kendrick stated: ‘for me, the biggest lesson of the weekend was that the form should always follow the story, and also that stories of injustice are everywhere- all you have to do is be willing to speak to people to uncover them”.
A great example of this is Domokos’ work on Job Centre sanctions, which can be viewed here. Domokos told Kendrick that the feature came about by chance: Domokos had been sent to research a story which fell through when instead of going home, he decided to interview some people he met outside the Jobcentre. Upon hearing of the way in which the sudden and often seemingly arbitrary withdrawal of benefits had affected the lives of the people he was speaking to, Domokos knew he had a story. This however, proved to be the tip of the iceberg as Domokos uncovered the pressure placed on Jobcentre staff to stop client’s benefits. Kendrick will be putting these skills into practice in the first edition of LACUNA, which launches in February 2014. To make sure you don’t miss it, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our mailing list.
Does profit = prosperity?
Russell Brand argues that in spite of what David Cameron might say, profit is a dirty word. Issue two of Lacuna, which will be published in March 2014, explores alternative perspectives on prosperity and austerity. Subscribe to our mailing list r to make sure you don’t miss out!
What can Egypt teach us about the power of protest?
Shashank Joshi, Research Fellow at the award winning Royal United Services Institute, believes there are lessons we can all learn from Egypt about the dangers of leaderless protest. His piece, which will be published in the first edition of LACUNA, offers a nuanced analysis of the factors that impact the ability of protest to effect positive political change . Shashank, who is currently based in London, has previously written for the New York Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Financial Times, Times of India, Hindu, Foreign Policy and Caravan, amongst others. For more of his work, click here.
To read original content from authors like Shashank follow us on twitter and subscribe to our mailing list.
Writing Injustice 