The tech start-up targeting sexual assault survivors
Content warning: This episode discusses sexual assault, rape and trauma.When our investigative reporter Sian Norris heard worrying claims about a Silicon Valley-style start-up targeting rape survivors at universities in Bristol, she knew she needed to uncover what exactly was going on.Over the next six months, Sian interviewed more than a dozen people on and off the record, sent multiple FOI requests and reviewed countless social media posts. Working with a Lucy H Watson, a student at Bristol university, Sian uncovered the concerns raised by students, universities and the police about Enough's approach, that sexual violence experts have issues with its methodologies, and that one of the organisation’s co-founders has links to a former beauty queen who described sexual assault as a “multi-billion-dollar industry”.Read Sian and Lucy’s investigation: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/enough-bristol-diy-rape-kits-bristol-university-start-up-katie-white-tom-allchurch/Lucy has set up a Student-led Instagram account raising awareness about Enough and their self-swab kits:https://www.instagram.com/enoughofenoughbristol/—https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/Credits:Presented by James BattershillEdited and produced by James Battershill, Ayodeji Rotinwa & Carla AbreuTheme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela00:00 CONTENT WARNING00:12 Introduction02:17 What is Enough?03:56 Investigating Enough05:07 The US connection06:55 Have rape self-swab kits ever been used in a criminal prosecution?08:42 Experiences of Enough 'in the wild'11:12 A lack of sensitivity12:47 How unique is Enough's solution?16:16 Visibility for victims19:23 Is there evidence of Enough's 'assault prevention' claims?20:52 Using the vulnerable as test users22:38 Is there any harm in using the kits as a backup?24:41 What data is collected and how is it protected?27:46 How is the company organised?28:38 Concerns over how Enough was pitching itself to Universities29:48 How revolutionary is Enough really?32:16 The shocking belligerence of Enough33:20 What does solidarity mean to Lucy? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Who is funding Nigel Farage’s Reform party - and why?
This is the first episode of our new mini-series exploring the financial interests of political parties in England and Wales. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has banked almost £5m from wealthy donors since 2023, including those with links to fossil fuels, the financial services industry and tax havens. It has also received significant financial investment from the general public in the form of party memberships. There seems to be a tension between the party’s desire to be seen as a grassroots, ‘by the people, for the people’ movement and its efforts to court the very billionaires its supporters believe they are rallying against. openDemocracy’s investigations reporter, Ethan Shone, examines this contradiction, discusses what Reform’s future might look like and asks whether the UK media is right to dedicate so much time to the party. Read Ethan’s investigation: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/reform-uk-funders-nigel-farage-5-million-donations-fossil-fuels-tax-havens/—https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics.Support the show by visiting https://opendemocracy.net/donatehttps://insolidaritypodcast.substack.com/Credits:Presented by James BattershillEdited and produced by James Battershill, Ayodeji Rotinwa & Carla AbreuTheme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela00:00 Introduction02:44 How was this data sourced?04:25 What's the cut-off for reporting?05:20 How does Reform's income compare to Labour and The Conservatives?08:47 Off-shore benefactors for political parties11:22 The people of note who back Reform13:22 Backers shifting from Conservatives to Reform14:34 George Cottrell - an unofficial aide?17:49 The phantom punishments19:22 What's Reform's future looking like?23:48 Should we even be talking about Reform? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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A momentous day for reproductive rights
On 17 June 2025 UK Parliament voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales, reversing a Victorian-era law. The amendment will prevent women from being prosecuted for ending a pregnancy after 24 weeks or without approval from two doctors.We spoke to our senior investigative reporter Sian Norris, author of Bodies Under Siege: How the Far-Right Attack on Reproductive Rights Went Global. Get Bodies Under Siege by Sian Norris: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8711/9781839764738Read Sian’s full piece on this vote: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/mps-vote-decriminalise-abortion-important-increasing-prosecutions-global-backlash-us/—https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics.Support the show by visiting openDemocracy.net/donate.Credits:Presented by James BattershillEdited and produced by James Battershill, Ayodeji Rotinwa & Carla AbreuTheme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela00:00 Introduction00:55 A huge achievement for women's reproductive rights01:55 'Isn't abortion already legal in the UK?'07:19 The 24 week question09:44 Telemedicine13:24 What does this mean on a global level?14:51 What happens next?17:22 On to the next fight! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Locked up: protesters in prison
Earlier this year, openDemocracy explored how successive governments had cracked down on protest rights. Now, with Just Stop Oil activists facing lengthy sentences for "conspiring" to commit protest offences, the impact of these laws is being felt more than ever. We sat down with human rights lawyer Katy Watts to discuss the sentencing, and how she and the NGO Liberty won a legal challenge against the government's new protest laws. https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/—https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics.Support the show by visiting openDemocracy.net/donate.Credits:Presented by Sian NorrisEdited and produced by James Battershill, Ayodeji Rotinwa & Carla AbreuTheme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela00:00 Introduction01:16 Long sentences for protestors03:21 Protestors new-found reluctance05:41 Broadening definitions of what is criminal08:30 A framework for authoritarians09:50 What inspired the clamp down on protest?12:10 Holding the government to account in court16:04 Labour defending Conservative policies18:28 What happens to those arrested unlawfully?19:35 Neutering protests21:12 These protest laws target everyone24:56 Concerns about Labour's approach to protest27:37 What does solidarity mean to you? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Generation Crisis: Why generational labels miss the mark
Boomers ruined everything, Millennials are work-shy and Gen Z can’t comprehend anything that isn’t a TikTok dance. Generational language defines the way we think about broad cohorts of society, but is this way of viewing the world dividing us further at a time when solidarity has never been more important?Tom Nicholas, a writer, filmmaker and YouTuber, joins us to discuss his latest film Boomers: The Rise of Gerontocracy, generational language and whether Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z are really that different to each other or are just one generation shaped by the financial crisis.—Watch Boomers: The Rise of Gerontocracy - https://go.nebula.tv/boomersSubscribe to Tom Nicholas on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@Tom_NicholasGet the openDemocracy newsletter - https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics.Support the show by visiting openDemocracy.net/donate.Credits:Presented by Aman SethiEdited and produced by James Battershill, Ayodeji Rotinwa & Carla AbreuTheme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela00:00 Introduction03:00 Is generational discourse useful?08:20 Shrinking generations11:07 The long shadow of the financial crisis13:47 How is generational language shaping politics?15:47 What makes boomers different from other generations?18:01 Is it time to redefine generations?20:56 The Covid generation22:55 Intergenerational solidarity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In Solidarity is an openDemocracy podcast about people, power and politics, co-hosted by our editors based in London, Abuja and Montevideo and featuring guests from the around the world.Get our independent journalism delivered direct to your inbox, join the openDemocracy Newsletter today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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