No such thing as a free lunch? Tell the poor, unpaid intern who cooked it
Companies know those seeking work experience will do almost anything for free as they try to gain a foothold in the job marketWhen I set up New Deal of the Mind to help young unemployed people into...
View ArticleIs all work experience good experience?
Graduate Cait Reilly is taking legal action against the government after being ordered to do unpaid work experience at Poundland or lose her benefitsThis story struck a chord with me because I once...
View ArticleTen years on what happened to the woman who revealed dirty tricks on Iraq war...
In the runup to the critical vote on war in Iraq, Katharine Gun exposed a US plot to spy on the UN. As a film of her story is planned, she tells of her anger and frustration – but not her regretsTen...
View ArticleHow will welfare-to-work get results if the system treats people like...
Ministers need to listen to Chelsea, a young person making a difference to the lives of others on a payment-by-results scheme, but morally torn by the dehumanising processChelsea came to work for the...
View ArticleThe Work Programme didn't work for us | Martin Bright
My charity's experience of the government's flagship payment-by-results jobs scheme has been a flop – we have had to duck and dive to find people employment outside of itFor my charity, the Work...
View ArticleFinding the next Jackson Pollock: how we can create jobs through the arts |...
Britain's successful creative industries are crucial in the drive to get young people into work, but no arts organisation should use unpaid interns, says Martin BrightI first had the idea of setting up...
View ArticleOnly real jobs will get young people off benefits | Martin Bright
Getting people back to work is a serious business that requires trained public servants just like teachers, the police and doctorsI was recently asked to address a conference about the future of...
View ArticleDon't underestimate work as a beacon of hope for young people | Martin Bright
Warnings that youth unemployment represents a 'public health timebomb' recognises the terrible power it has to sap physical and mental wellbeingCould it really be that things are looking up for young...
View ArticleHigh time for banks to give something back | Martin Bright
My charity is to lose its free banking at a time when banks should support those helping young people affected by economic downturnLast November, my charity received a letter from the bank advising us...
View ArticleUnemployed? Don't go to your local jobcentre | Martin Bright
Jobcentres have failed young people abysmally. This redundant service should be replaced by effective local job brokeragesThose of us whose job it is to help young people find work have known for some...
View ArticlePoliticians should stop bullying young jobless people into trying to find...
Young people need help and support to find work, not benefit cuts and constant scapegoating as an idle underclassSometimes you have to wonder whether anyone in the political class knows a young person....
View ArticleManifestos fail to fix young jobseekers’ woes so we need steps that work|...
For many young people, finding a job is traumatic. While politicians are hailing apprenticeships as a solution, the fix we need may be more radicalApril has just started work at the Creative Society,...
View ArticleApprenticeships should give young people skills for today’s world | Martin...
It is one of the buzzwords of modern political rhetoric, but we need to redefine the concept for the digital age to ensure they provide real training and jobsPoliticians love talking about...
View ArticleWhy the Work Programme didn’t get Sarah a job | Martin Bright
The government’s flagship welfare-to-work programme institutionalises bullying, interrupted only by undirected job searchesSarah left college in 2011, aged 19, with minimal qualifications and has...
View ArticleKids Company: a charity so toxic everyone who supported it is tainted |...
From its leader, Camila Batmanghelidjh, to the trustees, to the politicians who held the organisation up as a model, no one comes well out of its collapseI watched the Public Administration Committee...
View ArticleWhy I’ve had to set up a jobcentre: the old model is broken | Martin Bright
Our job studio will be a place of optimism and hope for young people trying to break into the creative sectorI have decided to help set up a jobcentre. This may seem an odd decision, but youth...
View ArticleRuth Wilson, the schoolgirl who caught a cab to oblivion
In 1995 a teenager travelled to a local beauty spot and disappeared. A new documentary finds many unanswered and troubling questions remainTwo years ago I was contacted out of the blue by a retired...
View ArticleThe British spy who tried to stop the Iraq war – podcast
In the weeks leading up to the war in Iraq, Katharine Gun exposed a US plot to spy on the UN in leaks published in the Observer. She joins former Observer journalist Martin Bright to tell their story...
View ArticlePoliticians could help young people into creative jobs. Here’s how | Martin...
If we can link up jobcentres with the creative industries – and boost diversity, then why can’t politicians?Beyond the eye-watering spending pledges, it has been difficult to identify a single...
View ArticleIndex on Censorship, inspired by Soviet dissidents, marks 50 years of...
The brave protests of 1968 spawned an organisation that is still giving voice to Putin’s critics todayIn August 1968, as Soviet tanks rolled into Prague, a small group of students and writers in Moscow...
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