Levelling Up, Or At Least Trying To

By Zara A

The UK Government has set out more than 100 projects that will each get a share of £2.1 billion of ‘Levelling Up’ funding. These include a £50 million grant each for the Eden project in Morecambe, train services in Cornwall and a new AI campus in Blackpool as well as developments of town centres such as £19 million for Sunak’s own constituency of Richmond.

Sunak claims these various projects would create more jobs and opportunities and encourage ‘levelling up’- an idea which originally came about during Boris Johnson’s 2019 election campaign which had the aim of reducing regional inequality by improving services such as education and transport.

However, the Labour Party has said that it was merely a “partial refund” on what Conservatives “have stripped out of our communities”. Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Lisa Nandy also said that “communities across the country are still paying a Tory premium for the last 13 years” and goes on to criticise the Tory Party for their arrogance, expecting people to be grateful, saying that “it’s time to end this Hunger games-style contest where communities are pitted against one another minister pick winners and losers”- these investments have clearly not impressed the Labour

Afghanistan: UN’s Top Women Meet Taliban over Female Aid Worker Ban

By Vanya D

Since the takeover of the Taliban, women in Afghanistan have been barred from universities, secondary schools, and many workplaces. Last week, the Taliban also introduced a ban on female aid workers from all humanitarian organisations, leading to an international outcry. This ban comes at a time when temperatures in mountainous areas are plunging as low as -17°C, electricity is erratic, at best, and the economy is in shambles. Growing numbers of Afghans rely on international aid for food, healthcare, and shelter. Ramiz Alakbaraov, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator, emphasised this, stating that “People are freezing, and time is running out. We need to build shelters now but, in this conservative society, if we don’t have female aid workers to speak to women in the families, we can’t do this work.” In the midst of this crisis, the UN Secretary General responded by sending his deputy, Amina Mohammed (the most senior woman delegate in the UN), to Kabul. She led a team of women, tasked with speaking to senior Taliban leaders about reversing these restrictions. The UN has often been criticised for sending male-only delegations to Kabul which reinforce conservative Taliban views of the world. Hopefully, this delegation is successful in convincing the Taliban to reverse their ban and allow international female aid workers to support Afghanistan through this tough time.