If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
This year is a very political year for many countries. France has just voted in their new leader, Greece will do shortly and the USA elections beckon.
This year's celebration of higher education in the UK has an Olympic theme. So it was natural for UCAS to team up with our nearest uni to mark the event and raise money for charity.
It is exactly one hundred days until the opening ceremony of the London Olympic games when, under Danny Boyle's direction, thousands of British volunteers will show the world that the UK can match anything China did four years ago.
One of the most unanticipated lessons I learnt from my 10 years as British Prime Minister, was not about the power of government but its limitations. There are, of course, things that only government can do and reforms only government can enable.
This is absolutely the right moment for government to do all it can to promote philanthropy; and certainly nothing to harm it.
Ever since Cameron won the party leadership over David Davis in 2005, he has tried vigorously to press home the point that in the eyes of so many people across the United Kingdom The Tory Party was the symbol of Mass Unemployment, Disregard for the vulnerable and strained relationships with ethnic minorities.
The UK faces challenges of such enormity that we urgently need to reconnect with, and put all our trust in, the political class.
Privileged access of grand donors to political parties to leading members of the government, and subsequent, frequent malpractice, is a constant topic...
Until Labour face up to the unpleasant truths of their role in the country's present economic crisis, their rhetoric is going to fail to convince. Playing the political game with aggressive putdowns which play to the gallery will only get them so far.
President Obama claimed that America and its allies can now leave Iraq with its head held high. But this is far from the case. How can you leave a country where you created violence and poverty with your head held high?
The women who have inspired me most recently are the Catholic Sisters who are dealing with sexual trafficking. They work together, across continents, in networks, and most often at the grassroots, where it is demanding and sometimes dangerous.
In his 1994 Labour conference speech, Tony Blair gambled his young leadership on a bid to abandon the party's constitutional commitment to state ownership. The gamble met with resounding approval. As one MP put it, as he made his case you could "hear the sound of pennies dropping."
As well as recognising the achievements of women, let's use International Women's Day to encourage more men across the world to join the fight for true equality. After all, the result if we succeed is not just a better world for women but a better world for everyone.
Nelson Mandela furnished us with a quote that summed up our purpose to perfection: 'Sport has the power to change the world, the power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way little else can... sport can create hope where there was only despair... it is an instrument for peace'. If the great man had said it then it must be true - our firmly held view had a ringing endorsement.
Deciding who is and isn't an extremist is important when setting counter-radicalisation policy, because on the whole the government ought not work with extremists.
It's over 100 years since the women's rights movement was born, but some predict it will be another 100 years before women executives in the UK finally achieve equal pay.
