Joan Smith

Known for her human rights activism and writing on subjects such as atheism and feminism, Joan Smith is a columnist, critic and novelist. An Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society and a regular contributor to BBC radio, she has written five detective novels, two of which have been filmed by the BBC. Her latest novel, What Will Survive, was published in June 2007.

Joan Smith: Let's call sex-trafficking by its real name – slavery

There is no shortage of convicted sex-traffickers in English prisons. Two defendants werejailed for three years and two-and-a-half years respectively last week after running brothels in Surbiton for several years; Michael Dalton and Nikki Chen forced young women to have sex with around 12 men each day to pay off "debts" they ran up when they were trafficked to the UK on false passports.

Recently by Joan Smith

Joan Smith: Ed Miliband may soon be in No 10. Believe it

Sunday, 25 July 2010

The instability of the governing coalition could fast-track Labour's new leader to Downing Street

Joan Smith: Heels show the humanity burkas lack

Sunday, 18 July 2010

When a Romanian minister brought flood victims a gift of stilettos, she was giving them more than shoes

Joan Smith: In the face of narcissism, the police should stick to policing

Sunday, 11 July 2010

Since I was neither in Northumberland last week nor planning to visit the area, I'm not sure why I needed minute-by-minute updates on the hunt for Raoul Moat. In the week between his first shootings and the moment he killed himself in the early hours of yesterday morning, Moat gave every appearance of revelling in the huge manhunt he'd sparked off. For several days, ever-more dramatic pictures emerged from Rothbury, the village in Northumberland where the former nightclub bouncer was last seen, as armed police in helmets patrolled the streets and helicopters circled above the surrounding district.

Joan Smith: Armchair politics - as good as a seat in the House

Sunday, 4 July 2010

It couldn't have happened to a nicer Liberal Democrat. The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, last week launched an experiment in democracy, aimed at creating a "more open and less intrusive" society. He inveighed against laws that "interfere in everyday life" and asked you (I use the word loosely) to help him by posting ideas on a "Your Freedom" website. He invited "you" not just to identify laws that need changing or abolishing, but to get involved in making actual government policy. "You" certainly made the most of it.

What about compensation for Bhopal?

Sunday, 20 June 2010

Joan Smith: Demands for a $20bn fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill sit uncomfortably with US attitudes to the Union Carbide disaster in India

Joan Smith: Why stop at students? Let's make children pay for school

Sunday, 13 June 2010

It's an absolute scandal. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people are turning up at buildings provided by the state for free lessons in all sorts of subjects. They don't pay a penny, even though many of them are 12 or 13 years old and perfectly capable of taking out loans.