Social Issues

Thousands of people from across the UK are expected to gather in central London on Saturday in protest against the government’s austerity measures. They will also be calling for the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron over recent revelations of offshore investment funds linked to his family. This will not be the first call for Cameron to step down following the Panama Papers leak;  there was a protest in London last week where demonstrators chanted “Resign! Resign!” outside 10 Downing Street.

It is estimated that around one million people across the UK are breaking the law by using cannabis for medicinal reasons. Many of those people are suffering chronic and painful conditions and the currently available medicines don’t always work for them, whereas cannabis does. They are also faced with a terrible dilemma -should they continue to suffer or risk of breaking the law? Campaigners and British MP’s are stepping up the call for the legalisation of medical marijuana.

The use of food banks in the UK has risen to record highs with more than a million three-day emergency food supplies provided by the Trussell Trust charity last year. As the Trust reveals a continued rise, a separate report estimates more than half of the emergency food aid supplied in Britain comes from independent organisations not included in the charity’s figures Government figures have also indicated a shocking rise in deaths linked to malnutrition.

A black inmate on death row in Georgia was executed on Tuesday despite one of the jurors at his trial admitting racial bias. The Independent reports: Kenneth Fults was given a lethal injection of pentobarbital on Tuesday at a state prison in Jackson, Georgia. The 47-year-old pleaded guilty to shooting 19-year-old Cathy Bounds during a burglary in 1996 and was sentenced to death by a jury in 1997. In 2005, eight years after Fults’ sentencing, one of the jurors signed a sworn statement saying: “I don’t know if he ever killed anybody, but that n***** got just what should have happened.

An assisted suicide bill has been put before Canada’s Parliament and if passed will allow doctors to help terminally ill patients end their own lives. However, the new bill will exclude foreigners from coming to the country to die. However, According to BBC News: People with mental illness and psychiatric disorders are excluded too. Last year, the Canadian Supreme Court struck down a law banning doctors from helping someone die. This bill, which is backed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, must now be studied by committee and then voted on by both House and Senate.