Well, the book has made it to Amazon's hallowed listings, though they don't seem to have any in stock at present
Friday, November 30, 2007
Freedom of speech, teddybears and fascists
It was refreshing to see Caroline Flint's straightforward and honest performance on tonights Question Time. More politicians like her, please.
Freedom of speech is back on the agenda. We had the infamous debate at the Oxford Hooray Henry's Glee Club. I think it had precisely nothing to do with free speech and everything to do with publicity seeking tossers. Neither Irving nor Griffin are prevented from expressing their vile views within the law. But to invite them to do so - no.
As for Sudan. It goes without saying that I sympathise with Ms. Gibbons, and disagree with the Sudanese government. This is largely about political points being made by a government in a strop with the West, and Ms. Gibbons has been caught up in the mess. I do think, though, that it makes sense to be cautious whilst she remains in custody. I am also surprised that she seemed so naive as to what Sudan was actually like - surely someone from the school must have explained? I do think that one needs to be aware of the risks of working in countries with these sort of regimes.
When she is released, all aid should be automatically stopped until they are prepared to change. I would do the same for nearly all foreign aid, unless the country is prepared to sign up to secular democratic values. If they won't, then we will keep our money, and they can go stuff themselves. The third world lobby will whine as per usual, but if there's one issue I lean to the right on, then that's it. Why support a bunch of pre-modern homophobic religionists of either Christian or Muslim variety? The most civilised and progressive countries are both liberal and secular, and religion is kept in its proper place - for private piety, not public governance. The answer, though, is not to march in with troops in the hope that somehow one will be viewed as some sort of saviour - particularly when your own government has so many shortcomings.
Freedom of speech is back on the agenda. We had the infamous debate at the Oxford Hooray Henry's Glee Club. I think it had precisely nothing to do with free speech and everything to do with publicity seeking tossers. Neither Irving nor Griffin are prevented from expressing their vile views within the law. But to invite them to do so - no.
As for Sudan. It goes without saying that I sympathise with Ms. Gibbons, and disagree with the Sudanese government. This is largely about political points being made by a government in a strop with the West, and Ms. Gibbons has been caught up in the mess. I do think, though, that it makes sense to be cautious whilst she remains in custody. I am also surprised that she seemed so naive as to what Sudan was actually like - surely someone from the school must have explained? I do think that one needs to be aware of the risks of working in countries with these sort of regimes.
When she is released, all aid should be automatically stopped until they are prepared to change. I would do the same for nearly all foreign aid, unless the country is prepared to sign up to secular democratic values. If they won't, then we will keep our money, and they can go stuff themselves. The third world lobby will whine as per usual, but if there's one issue I lean to the right on, then that's it. Why support a bunch of pre-modern homophobic religionists of either Christian or Muslim variety? The most civilised and progressive countries are both liberal and secular, and religion is kept in its proper place - for private piety, not public governance. The answer, though, is not to march in with troops in the hope that somehow one will be viewed as some sort of saviour - particularly when your own government has so many shortcomings.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Politics....
So, who else listens to music when doing the shopping? Yes, that slightly crazed, animated person with the mp3player making his way round Formby Waitrose is me (yes, Waitrose, yes, I know I am a champagne socialist...)
Which brings me on to the fact that the last two times I have been shopping, the two albums on my Mp3player were both anti-Tory political pop albums. The Housemartins' biting satires set to pretty little popsongs - can you listen to 'Five get Over-Excited' without thinking of Cameron's arrogant, oleageanous face just waiting for someone to thump it. Sorry, but he makes me want to vomit. Wankers like him are the very reason every public school in the country should be firebombed (No, not literally..there I go, back on the MI5 security risk list).
But on Friday, pride of place went to the Style Council's excellent 'Our Favourite Shop'. A superb expose of everything wrong with Thatcherism and the Conservative party. But, listening to it again, my thoughts were....some of this could equally apply to this lot.
Now, I don't think that the two parties are exactly the same. But there comes a time in every government's life where it simply runs out of steam. In this case, it coincides with Brown's ascension. I think that's something of a coincidence. In many ways we have simply returned to the tiredness of late-Blair. What appears to be the case is that the Government has little direction and is still beholden to the mistakes of the Blair years. Listening to the Style Council album brought back memories of how much I detested the Thatcher regime, and I certainly don't feel the same about the current government. But I do feel a sense of...boredom? Lack of any real enthusiasm or feeling that they know where they are going and why? And positively no enthusiasm for what they have to offer....not that the alternatives offer anything more. Clegg has the same effect on me as Cameron. I just don't like public-school wankers trying to be trendy. Piss off to the Tory party where you belong, Nicky-boy.
So, how about a few radical ideas.
1. tell the old gits whining on about defence that they should, firstly, keep their mouths shut, and secondly, that we quite agree that the current money doesn't cover current commitments. There's a simple answer to that. Pull out of Iraq, with one months notice, and halve the commitment to Afghanistan. There we go. Easy, wasn't it? Plenty of money, to be reduced each year and spent on something worthwhile, not propping up the military-industrial complex
2. stop sucking up to religious bigots of all colours, disestablish the church, and remove religion from public life. Keep it where it belongs. In private life, personal faith to follow, not interfering in the State's workings.
3. abandon PFI and nationalise all current hospital buildings without a penny of compensation to those who wanted to make money out of 'investing' in the NHS
4. get rid of the plastic coppers and spend money on proper police. And get rid of the ridiculous amounts of paperwork. That may require getting the Germans in to show us how to run IT schemes successfully
5. start taking reparative community sentencing seriously. Imprison people who are a danger to others only, and deal with the others in a constructive way, not in universities of crime
There's five for starters....
2.
Which brings me on to the fact that the last two times I have been shopping, the two albums on my Mp3player were both anti-Tory political pop albums. The Housemartins' biting satires set to pretty little popsongs - can you listen to 'Five get Over-Excited' without thinking of Cameron's arrogant, oleageanous face just waiting for someone to thump it. Sorry, but he makes me want to vomit. Wankers like him are the very reason every public school in the country should be firebombed (No, not literally..there I go, back on the MI5 security risk list).
But on Friday, pride of place went to the Style Council's excellent 'Our Favourite Shop'. A superb expose of everything wrong with Thatcherism and the Conservative party. But, listening to it again, my thoughts were....some of this could equally apply to this lot.
Now, I don't think that the two parties are exactly the same. But there comes a time in every government's life where it simply runs out of steam. In this case, it coincides with Brown's ascension. I think that's something of a coincidence. In many ways we have simply returned to the tiredness of late-Blair. What appears to be the case is that the Government has little direction and is still beholden to the mistakes of the Blair years. Listening to the Style Council album brought back memories of how much I detested the Thatcher regime, and I certainly don't feel the same about the current government. But I do feel a sense of...boredom? Lack of any real enthusiasm or feeling that they know where they are going and why? And positively no enthusiasm for what they have to offer....not that the alternatives offer anything more. Clegg has the same effect on me as Cameron. I just don't like public-school wankers trying to be trendy. Piss off to the Tory party where you belong, Nicky-boy.
So, how about a few radical ideas.
1. tell the old gits whining on about defence that they should, firstly, keep their mouths shut, and secondly, that we quite agree that the current money doesn't cover current commitments. There's a simple answer to that. Pull out of Iraq, with one months notice, and halve the commitment to Afghanistan. There we go. Easy, wasn't it? Plenty of money, to be reduced each year and spent on something worthwhile, not propping up the military-industrial complex
2. stop sucking up to religious bigots of all colours, disestablish the church, and remove religion from public life. Keep it where it belongs. In private life, personal faith to follow, not interfering in the State's workings.
3. abandon PFI and nationalise all current hospital buildings without a penny of compensation to those who wanted to make money out of 'investing' in the NHS
4. get rid of the plastic coppers and spend money on proper police. And get rid of the ridiculous amounts of paperwork. That may require getting the Germans in to show us how to run IT schemes successfully
5. start taking reparative community sentencing seriously. Imprison people who are a danger to others only, and deal with the others in a constructive way, not in universities of crime
There's five for starters....
2.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Equalities and Human Rights Commission
Interesting to see the rather overblown reaction to the appointment of Joel Edwards of the Evangelical Alliance to the Equality Commission. I have a feeling that some conservative religionists think that his purpose will be to oppose LGB equality.
Lets make it clear. I don't have a lot of time for Edwards, and even less for his organisation. However, the Commission exists to put into practice the law which exists - it has no role in changing the law. Thus, Edwards will have to work within the confines of all the legal boundaries - which includes all the legislation they were so unenthusiastic about. And I am sure that the other Commissioners will be there to remind him of that fact!
His presence there reflects the fact that faith/religion is a category which is also included within the legislation - he is there to advise on that strand of the legislation and to provide that representation, not as a mouthpiece for the anti-gay lobby. His statement and the corresponding Government statement make that clear enough - but I don't think the spinners of the right-wing religioso have been listening!
Lets make it clear. I don't have a lot of time for Edwards, and even less for his organisation. However, the Commission exists to put into practice the law which exists - it has no role in changing the law. Thus, Edwards will have to work within the confines of all the legal boundaries - which includes all the legislation they were so unenthusiastic about. And I am sure that the other Commissioners will be there to remind him of that fact!
His presence there reflects the fact that faith/religion is a category which is also included within the legislation - he is there to advise on that strand of the legislation and to provide that representation, not as a mouthpiece for the anti-gay lobby. His statement and the corresponding Government statement make that clear enough - but I don't think the spinners of the right-wing religioso have been listening!
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Spin pt. 2
I shall never cease to be amused by the attempts of the religious right-wing to spin things to their liking. The couple who created such a fuss about the gay equality and anti-discrimination clause in the adoption and fostering agreement mentioned below have now climbed down and agreed to sign the document. The document has not been altered or changed. So, its reasonable to assume that they realised that they had no choice but to sign.
However, the 'morality' merchants have taken the false claims of their original spin ( that fosterer's would be expected to 'promote' homosexuality - which of course they will not, and were never expected to - that was purely in their over-fertile and sex-fuelled imaginations!) and claimed that the council, not the couple, have climbed down, even though their policy remains absolutely intact and the document has been agreed to without amendment.
I suppose we should sympathise. After all, we know they are prone to believing delusions by their very existence, but the poor dears have so little to celebrate these days!
However, the 'morality' merchants have taken the false claims of their original spin ( that fosterer's would be expected to 'promote' homosexuality - which of course they will not, and were never expected to - that was purely in their over-fertile and sex-fuelled imaginations!) and claimed that the council, not the couple, have climbed down, even though their policy remains absolutely intact and the document has been agreed to without amendment.
I suppose we should sympathise. After all, we know they are prone to believing delusions by their very existence, but the poor dears have so little to celebrate these days!
Food Festivals and Reality TV!
Forgot to mention this - we went to a Food festival last week, at Tatton Park, and bumped into Martin and Emma, stars of the reality-TV programme 'The Restaurant'. They were very entertaining on the programme and many were rooting for them to win. They were very friendly and Martin is an Evertonian! I'm quite convinced the programme was a fix from the start. A restaurant had already been procured and the location fitted the eventual winners ( and what can one say about them - strange isn't the word...)
As for Everton, I don't often blog about my beloved club, but yesterday was just amazing - 1-0 until 10 minutes before the end, though we missed loads of chances and totally dominated throughout - then an equaliser which dampened everyone's spirits. We have a habit of last minute goals, and the 4 minutes of extra time spurred on some cheering - but no-one expected the TWO goals from Lee Carsley and James Vaughan. Amazing!
As for Everton, I don't often blog about my beloved club, but yesterday was just amazing - 1-0 until 10 minutes before the end, though we missed loads of chances and totally dominated throughout - then an equaliser which dampened everyone's spirits. We have a habit of last minute goals, and the 4 minutes of extra time spurred on some cheering - but no-one expected the TWO goals from Lee Carsley and James Vaughan. Amazing!
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Congratulations!
To the Bishop of Hereford, Anthony Priddis, who has been awarded the prize of 'Bigot of the Year' at this years Stonewall Awards. This was the idiot who managed to lose a keynote discrimination case after discriminating against an openly gay youth worker, but still wouldn't accept responsibility for doing so.
Good to see the Church taking its proper place in society!
Good to see the Church taking its proper place in society!
Friday, November 02, 2007
The London policing incident and the judgment on the Met
The judgment on the de Menezes case has been issued and has decided that the Met broke health and safety laws.
I do wonder, though, just how any normal regulations can be made to operate successfully in this sort of situation. Mistakes were made, and I think that they will be made again. Can the normal precautions be enacted when the level of fear and heightened concern was as it was then? Did the victim run away because he knew that his illegal status might be the reason for the chase? And why do we still not have police radio systems which can work underground? The Tube was the threatened target.
I think Ken Livingstone's comments make a lot of sense.
I do wonder, though, just how any normal regulations can be made to operate successfully in this sort of situation. Mistakes were made, and I think that they will be made again. Can the normal precautions be enacted when the level of fear and heightened concern was as it was then? Did the victim run away because he knew that his illegal status might be the reason for the chase? And why do we still not have police radio systems which can work underground? The Tube was the threatened target.
I think Ken Livingstone's comments make a lot of sense.
"I think this is disastrous ... if an armed police officer believes they are in pursuit of a terrorist who might be a suicide bomber, and they start making calculations based on this - 'how's this going to be seen, am I going to be hauled off to court?'
At the end of the day, mistakes are always going to happen in wars or situations like this. The best you can do is to try to make the potential risk the minimum possible.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Sefton Equality Week conference
Having limited paid work is giving me time to do a bit more in the way of community-based activity at the moment which is fun - today I was a one of the keynote speakers at a conference to mark Equality and Diversity Week in Sefton - giving a presentation on the history of the gay and lesbian movement, and facilitating two workshops on making one's organisation more LGB friendly.
It made me think of just how far we have come in such a short time. I recall a few years ago, few people feeling confident enough to attend such an event, and workshops such as mine struggling for participants. Not the case today!
We still have to continue to work for change. As I said today:
It made me think of just how far we have come in such a short time. I recall a few years ago, few people feeling confident enough to attend such an event, and workshops such as mine struggling for participants. Not the case today!
We still have to continue to work for change. As I said today:
It is not the end of working for change, but the beginning....
The real challenge is to ensure that the legal and policy changes are put into practice, and that we ensure that our commitment to equality is enacted via our own organisation
The advantage we have is that those who still wish to pursue an agenda of prejudice, often justified by religion, are ever more shrill and represented by those who repel and who are clearly not comfortable with their own stance.Another sensible legal decision
I have been generally encouraged that the barrage of cases brought by right-wing evangelical Christians aiming to undermine gay equality legislation have all to date been quashed.
The latest is a Sheffield magistrate who thought that he should be able to ignore the law of the land and pick and choose which cases he heard.
Of course, this is not possible, for any reason. He wished to absent himself from child care hearings involving same sex couples as he does not agree with the law of the land.
I have friends on the bench. They often have to make judgments according to laws they do not agree with. But they do so, and they apply the law as it stands fairly and objectively - because that is what they are required to do.
If that isn't something that a person feels they can do - then don't be a magistrate. but no-one in that important position can be 'let off' cases of any description simply because they don't agree with the law.
The latest is a Sheffield magistrate who thought that he should be able to ignore the law of the land and pick and choose which cases he heard.
Of course, this is not possible, for any reason. He wished to absent himself from child care hearings involving same sex couples as he does not agree with the law of the land.
I have friends on the bench. They often have to make judgments according to laws they do not agree with. But they do so, and they apply the law as it stands fairly and objectively - because that is what they are required to do.
If that isn't something that a person feels they can do - then don't be a magistrate. but no-one in that important position can be 'let off' cases of any description simply because they don't agree with the law.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
