Trustee News

Readers respond to the charity’s publication of a guide to inclusive language I applauded Oxfam’s new language guide, sharing it with my networks online and with colleagues working on power shifting and decolonising aid in our sector, who agreed it is excellent and should be used by all. I was not shocked when I read the opinion piece by the chief executive of Oxfam GB, Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah (Oxfam’s job is to end poverty – we refuse to be distracted by the toxic culture wars, 21 March), as there will always be people who get their knickers in a twist over their so-called pride in being white/British/cisgender/heterosexual/relatively wealthy/able bodied etc. Continue reading…

Exclusive: End headline-grabbing policymaking on social justice, equality and poverty eradication, say charities Senior figures across civic Scotland have called on Humza Yousaf to bridge the delivery gap between progressive rhetoric and the reality of policy implementation that they say characterised the Sturgeon era. Speaking exclusively to the Guardian on and off the record, third sector leaders called for the new first minister to move away from headline-grabbing initiatives towards a systemic approach to policymaking on social justice, equality and poverty eradication. Continue reading…

Charities should be open to fair criticism, but the reaction to our inclusive language guide was offensive and divisive Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah is the chief executive of Oxfam GB Last week, we updated Oxfam’s inclusive language guide, an internal document intended to help our staff speak about our work. The guide explores the role of language in tackling poverty and the words we choose to use when talking about, for example, gender, migration, race and disability. Like many other progressive organisations taking this approach, we faced an onslaught of criticism. Perhaps not surprisingly, we were quickly accused of “wokery” of the worst kind, of wasting money, banning words and being ashamed of Britain’s heritage. The Daily Mail splashed “Beyond Parody” across its front page (its anti-wokery almost beyond parody in itself); Piers Morgan weighed in with a sarcastic tweet that “very poor people” really wanted “to be addressed by the right preferred pronoun”; and, before we knew it, our own tweet had been viewed more than 5m times. Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah is the chief executive of Oxfam GB, and a former secretary general of Civicus, a global alliance of civil society organisations Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading…

Hosts of BBC fundraiser include AJ Odudu and Paddy McGuinness but Lenny Henry is absent for first time The BBC’s annual Comic Relief fundraiser, which this year featured sketches based on the popular show The Traitors and the Eurovision song contest, has raised more than £34m. The show, hosted at Media City in Salford, included AJ Odudu, Joel Dommett and Paddy McGuinness as presenters. Continue reading…

Campaigners call for fully funded system saying free 30 hours of support would take years to filter through Budget 2023 live: reaction Key points at a glance Campaigners, parents and the early-years sector in England have welcomed a major extension of state support for childcare costs, but warned that the plans would take years to come into effect and fail without sufficient funding. In a move that was met with delight by parents but given a cautious welcome by campaigners, the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, confirmed a £4bn expansion of free childcare for all preschool children from 2025, and announced “an ambition” for all state primaries to provide childcare before and after lessons from 2026. Continue reading…