London Marathon, 23rd April 2017

After what I'm sure Her Majesty would rightly describe as an 'annus horribilis' the work of Amnesty International is more important than ever before. 

Widely publicised refugee crises in the Middle East, which we in the West must take partial responsibility for, have dominated 2016, yet the work of Amnesty International extends to parts of the world just as unstable but less talked about: South Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan...

We also have a host of new world leaders, and few of them seem as committed as A.I to upholding, protecting and promoting basic human rights. President Duterte of the Philippines is behind atrocious miscarriages of justice in his country, the future looks bleak for the USA under President Trump, and bleak here in the UK once the safeguards of the EU have been dismantled and no doubt not replaced by the current Conservative government. 

A.I also works to put pressure on governments who continue to use the death penalty as punishment. The last few years have seen the most executions since the 1980s.

For all these reasons and more I am running the 2017 London Marathon, which for someone so chronically unfit is proving quite a task. I have already run several 10k races as part of my training, and will be giving up alcohol from January 1st to further aid my efforts.

If you are able to please give generously to this fantastic and important charity, keeping important issues in the international eye. 

In the New Year I will be organising a concert in London to raise money towards my total, so people likely to be able to attend do feel free to hold off in your donations until a date for that has been set. 

Many thanks in advance for your support.

Joel x

NB. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.