I’ve written a blog for the Independent on the latest anti-democractic move from the global elite. This time, the Honduran government have decided that new cities cannot possibly be built without the suspension of democracy. You can read it here:

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/16/honduran-charter-cities-trample-on-democracy/

I wrote a bog entry for the Independent on drug use this week which seems to have caused quite a stir!

You can read it here:

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/11/24/let%e2%80%99s-have-an-honest-discussion-about-drug-use/

I was lucky enough to interview Roger Howard, CEO, UK Drugs Policy Commission last week. You can read the interview write up here: http://www.thefreesociety.org/Articles/Features/morality-and-the-law-an-interview-with-the-uk-drug-policy-commission

We will be discussing drugs and morality at the Battle of Ideas festival in two weekends time, I look forward to continuing the debate…

The London riots were not inspired by social media. Nor are the rioters the young black men of the 1980s responding to institutional racism. Few rioters beyond Tottenham would justify their actions in the name of Mark Duggan, the man shot by the police some days ago. Instead the London rioters of 2011 are bored, individualised young men, taking advantage of a climate in which adults are too scared to challenge them. A rather less inspiring proposition, but one that fits with the ‘jilted generation’ ethos and widespread erosion of adult authority.

The rest of this post can be read here:

http://www.thefreesociety.org/Articles/Comment/the-xbox-riots

This article was written for the Free Society in November 2008, you can see the rest of this post here:

http://www.thefreesociety.org/Columnists/Suzy-Dean/alcohol-feminism-and-freedom

Since when have women not been able to make up their minds whether to accept a drink or not? Proposed government policy aimed at reducing the amount of alcohol that women in particular drink suggests that it should be illegal for bars to give women free drinks

This article was written in May 2011 for Free Society.

More backward even than the opinion of Michael Sanguinette – the Toronto police officer said that women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised – is surely the founding of Slut Walk.

You can find the rest of this post here: http://www.thefreesociety.org/Articles/Comment/slut-walk-sucks

I was invited along to speak to a group of young people about booze bans. You can watch it here:

http://www.worldbytes.org/don%E2%80%99t-shout-at-the-telly-booze-bans-2/

This artcle was written in Feb 2011 for Open Democracy

A decision by the European Court of Human Rights on giving prisoners the vote in the UK is causing controversy. Following a case taken to the ECHR in 2004 by a prisoner, John Hirst, the government is being advised to enfranchise prisoners in time for the May elections or face substantial compensation payouts. Hirst had won his case by arguing that not being allowed to vote while in prison was a breach of his human rights.

The rest of this article can be found here: http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/suzy-dean/in-agreeing-to-enfranchise-uk-prisoners-we-forget-that-voting-is-more-than-righ

This article was first published with the Independent and then re-printed in Counterpunch, in October 2010

“Awareness raising” has become a common objective for health campaigns concerned about the dangers of alcohol. The gruesome Drinkaware television adverts and the NHS-sponsored posters are a case in point. They deface the back of every pub toilet door with a clear anti-drinking message. According to them, drinking alcohol leads to unprotected sex, violence and vomit (for the teenagers) and heart disease, liver failure and missed workdays (for the grown-ups).

There is a problem with this.

You can read the rest of this article here: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2010/10/01/4819/

 

This article was first published with the Free Society in June 2010

The growing regulation of every day activity has lead to the imprisonment of many individuals for petty crimes. Illiberal policy making is not without its consequences; there has been a growth in the UK’s prison population. Between 1995 and 2009, the prison population in England and Wales grew by 32,500 or 66 per cent.

Last week, Lord Woolfe, ex-chief justice, took issue with overcrowding in prisons. Woolfe argued in The Times that, “in such a severe economic crisis it is folly to have policies that make the prison population substantially higher than is necessary.” What was striking about this assault was that overcrowding informed Woolfe’s decision to challenge illiberal policies, rather than anything to do with the importance of safeguarding individual and social freedoms.

The rest of this article can be found here: http://www.thefreesociety.org/Columnists/Suzy-Dean/lets-end-this-legislation-by-trial-and-error