Vincent Nichols - bugger off back to Italy and take the rest of your squalid church with you

So, now we have Catholic Gauleiter Nichols threatening to withdraw co-operation from joint projects.

As someone who thinks that scvhools, adoption agencies, and frankly, british society, would be far better without the vile and disgusting influence of the Catholic Church, this can only be welcomed.

What an institution. Criticising consenting gay couples when half its priests are shagging schoolkids, have a history of abuse of everyone from single mothers to schoolboys, trying to prevent people from deciding when they wish to die, preventing women from controlling their own fertility - and we actually think this is a suitable organisation to be allowed to run anything?

The sooner the Catholic church in Britain breathes its last, the better for all of us

Rowan Williams - foot in mouth once again - and other thoughts

So now Williams gives an interview with the catholic herald which, naturally, he claims is misquotes. That may be the case. But why is this happening once again? Could it be that Williams (other than being a spineless, disloyal, pathetic , hypocritical irrelevance?) simply has neither media nor political skills, and is utterly incapable of doing anything other than providing vague, opaque soundbites that are clearly meant to mean exactly the opposite to how they read to everyone else?

As time moves on, I become ever more detached from organised religion of any description. I still go along to Quaker meeting, sometimes, but even there the spectre of those who cannot resist telling others what they should do, how they should think, what they should believe.

I have come to the conclusion that churches simply attract bossy people and that religion appears to be largely about policing of others.

Yes, this blog does still exist....

And my excuse is that I have a new job.
Which I am enjoying. I don't talk about work on this blog as a matter of principle but it is going well.

So...what to say

Gormley's Iron Men. I live in the Crosby area, and there is currently a local controversy with regard to the future of a public art installation currently on the beach - Another Place.
http://www.visitliverpool.com/site/product-p76741 for more details.

The short-sighted philistines who run Sefton Council - in particular the Tory group and PPC for Sefton Central Debi Jones (who is actually OK other than her politics) and some renegade LibDems of the 'we're working class, you know' variety, have voted not to give planning permission for its permanent place on the beach. It is a ludicrous decision. There is huge potential here - Crosby beach and marina is sorely needing renovation and needs a focus point. With the upcoming Capital of Culture in Liverpool, it is imperative that these statues remain here. Please write to Graham Haywood, chief executive of Sefton Council, graham.haywood@sefton.gov.uk and say so. They have a stay of execution until March as there is an appeal.

Political musings....

The LibDems conference this week, some of which I have watched. A sense of a lack of excitement and vision, or at least one which does not suggest that there is anything very different about the LD's from any other party.

Something does need to break this obsession with trying to gain as many voters as possible hence the lack of choice. Clare Short is right - we need electoral reform and I think only a hung parliament could offer that. Assuming people bother to vote next time....I think you would be very hard pushed to know what party most politicians belong to . They use the same soundbites, have the same essential message. There's nothing to inspire.

South Africa

Rather belated, but we spent 10 days in South Africa (Cape Town) and its about time I blogged about it.

Its a fascinating place. Cape Town itself has often been described as thinking of itself as a European city and certainly on one level it is less overtly African than other major African cities - the population is historically more diverse, for a start.

What immediately struck me was that in essense, apartheid still exists, in a practical sense if not in actuality as a political system. For example, restaurants appeared to be frequented only by white people. And recognising the still vast economic differences is at least one explanation. The sheer size of some of the townships, and the fact that much of them, particularly the largest, still consist of 'informal' housing - essentially shacks constructed from corrugated iron, board, and so on - emphasises this difference. Just a mile or two up the road are mansions costing millions. I know there are these diferences in London, but they seem all the more extreme, all the more stark.

What any government can do is limited, I suppose - or at least, it may take time, a long time, and when we visited a township with our excellent guide Duncan, local people did seem to have a sense of optimism. There is certainly a genuine sense of community on the townships, and I couldn't help but think that the design of the new 'pathway' housing will not facilitate this and appears to be more on the lines of the low level blocks of flats being torn down all over Britain.

Racism is still all too apparent, as is the assumption that because we are white, we would agree with them. Two particular occassions - at a crocodile farm where the owner launched into a racist rant, even using the word 'kaffir' (did you know that the only problem with apartheid was giving it a name - it would have been fine if they had just done it!), and in a supermarket of all places. Thats not going to disappear overnight either.

The city itself is remarkably beautiful, no doubt about that. We did the expected Table Mountain visit, and the views really are amazing. We also went to Robben island which was interesting but perhaps somewhat disorganised. The Robben Island Museum are building a new craft to take people to the island but have cancelled their existing contract before the new boat is available and replaced them, temporarily, with the old apartheid era boats which used to take the prisoners over to the island. Of historical provenance, yes, but not a comfoprtable ride to put it mildly, and they are still trying to run the old schedules on boats which are far slower. Daft.

Other things we did - travelled down to Constantia and halfway to Cape Point, where we saw penguins oin Boulders beach, and over to Hermanus for some whale watching - yes, they were more than in abundance. We went on a day safari which included rhinos, zebras, wildebeestes and so on...

Its certainly a foodie city. Great food everywhere we tried, and the exchange rate makes it a very cheap holiday once you have got there.

And the hotel must get a mention. The Cape Heritage Hotel in the city centre is a gem.

Great post about Williams the Spineless

Thanks to Dora in Texas for this - I hope she doesn'tmind my reproducing it

I have my own term for him. The Archmushworm of Canterbury. Spineless is putting it mildly. You have to be capable of actual definitive views before the concept of a spine even applies. The Archbishop of Canterbury reminds me of the overgrown flea larvae that infested my room one hot summer when my cat was ill. If you squashed them, they turned out to be completely made of flea excrement. They had no actual substance.

I'm not very good at this....

So, what have we been up to since the last missive?

A week in France.Now, that was very enjoyable. We travelled down to Normandy, the heart of the Pays d'Auge, and rented a cottage for a week, spending the days travelling round the region, eating very good lunches and chilling out. The evenings we spent at the cottage again chilling out. Very pleasant.
Normandy still keeps largely to traditional French hours - two hours for lunch - even the supermarket shut for 2 hours in the local town. The food was good, of course, particularly the cheese. And we did plenty of stocking up on wine, local cider and poire, and so on.

Dropped in to see some friends on the way back - who now run THE LANGTONS GUEST HOUSE in Eastbourne. If you're looking for somewhere to stay on the south coast, it is recommended (Anne's breakfasts are excellent!) http://www.thelangtons.net/ is the website

I'm still on the search for more work for the forthcoming academic year - really, all I want is a 0.5 permanent post somewhere within travelling distance. You wouldn'tthink it would be THAT difficult, would you?

Its one way to make a living....

Exam marking. Lots of it, hence not many blog entries.

Dorothy took her first wander out of the house today - Mum came down and we had a barbecue so we thought we would try her out in the back garden, which seemed to go well enough.

Some thoughts on items in the news.
Blair and Buying honours. Its always gone on. The Tories certainly don't want the police digging about in their records either. There are two answers. First, much lower caps on total spending along with, if needs be, more regulation of the press in terms of their bias. Second, state funding of political parties. democracy needs to be paid for, not bought by a few rich men.

As for the Middle east. Israel's disproportionate response backed up by Bush has made me wonder whether there really is any possibility of peace, and further convinces me that running foreign policy on the basis of either religious destiny or collective guilt is not a good idea. if the Jews wanted a homeland, it shoud not have been at the expense of the inhabitants of that country, and not in the middle of hostile territory.
A two state solution is still the ideal. But can israel live alongside anyone without getting its own way on absolutely everything? Doesn't appear to be the case.

Oh, and films. Forgot to mention films

I've seen three in the past couple of days

1. Confetti. Charming low-budget mockumentary about three weddings. If you like Best in Show or A Mighty Wind, this is a UK equivalent and most entertaining. The gay (but of course!) wedding planners are great, and topically they decide to get hitched at the end of the film

2. Friends with Money. One of those US independednts where nothing ever happens, but the characters are engrossing and convincing

3. Wah-Wah. Stunning Swaziland scenery and a charming throwback to a coming-of-age in the dying days of colonial control

I'd recommend them all

11th Commandment. Thou shalt not neglect one's blog

Only when you are drowning in marking it isn't always something one looks forward to...still....

Dorothy is proving to be a sweetie albeit a very mischievous one - she seems to like eating fish most of all and a draw or cupboard cannot be open without her entering it. Think it will be time for her to start to explore the great outdoors before too long.

Some opinions, I think.

First, PPI Forums and their future. I have sat on our local Forum for the past 18 months or so. Its OK, a bit toothless, but does manage to ask some questions. I went to a meeting in Manchester which ... well, here's the report I have produced. Speaks for itself. Along with effective privatisation of the NHS it doesn't bode well.

The Future of PPI Forums – consultation held at City of Manchester Stadium, 4/7/06

This was one of a series of consultation meetings held both to inform PPI Forum members of the proposed changes to Forums given the future demise of CPPIH, and to gauge our views.

Conveniently, the Government had delayed the announcement of the changes to a time after most of the meetings had taken place, but given that the changes had been leaked to the press, there is reason to believe that the outlined changes are accurate

These are:
* Given the Government’s decision to abandon ‘arms-length’ bodies, CPPIH, despite its recent establishment, is no longer within boundaries of Government policy
* PPI Forums are likely to be abolished in June 2007 along with CPPIH. However, PALS and ICAS are to continue.
* PPI Forums are likely to be replaced with local ‘health involvement networks’ which will have input from local organisations as well as individuals, hence diluting the ‘patient’ element of PPI Forums. Membership details appear scanty and imprecise and questions such as whether membership would be static or fluid dependent upon the issues being discussed, or the relative rights and influence of individuals as opposed to organisations appear to be topics for further discussion. There appears to be a recognition that the skills and expertise of current forum members should not be lost but no precise plans as to how these are likely to be maintained
* No satisfactory distinguishing was made between the role of these new networks and the existing strategic role of the Health Overview and Scrutiny committees of local authorities
* Similarly, there appears to be no clear description of their powers and no indication that they will have statutory force
* It appears likely that Local Authorities may be given the funding responsibility but that arrangements will be made with the VCS who will support and service the networks. It appears likely that Networks will be coterminous with local authorities and will have far more explicit ties with them – again raising the question of the differentiation between these networks, and the overview and scrutiny function. There is also no clear intention for the future of PPI within the specialist functions eg mental health

The likely ‘spin’ placed on these proposals will emphasise the centrality of patient and public involvement to Government strategies, perhaps as part of their ‘localism’ theme which stresses the importance of local people and organisations championing local issues. A briefing paper is likely to be in the pipeline which will pull together some of the achievements made so far. Both the benefits of wider membership and greater allocated resources are expected to be part of the ‘spin’

There is awareness of the possibility of a ‘gap’ between the end of PPI Forums and the establishment of the new Networks but no firm proposals as to how this will be dealt with.

CPPIH are planning an event in October where Forum members will be able to meet and discuss the issues with their MP’s.

Perspective of Forum members present

There was a considerable amount of agreement expressed by the Forum members present at the meeting. Some of the key points are outlined below

* It is vital that PPI functions remain independent, particularly from the influence of local authorities, political parties and large, well-funded organisations.
* There was little enthusiasm for the presence of organisations within the new networks as it was felt strongly that they could all too easily be effectively colonised by professional paid staff representing large single-issue, sectional voluntary organisations, marginalizing individual and patient representation. It was felt that if there had to be organisational representation, this should consist entirely of unpaid volunteers and that representation should not be able to be done in paid work time, by paid professionals. The priority of community not sectional interest was emphasised, and it was suggested that group membership needed to be regularly rotated to avoid this danger.
* The current range of powers needed to be retained and strengthened – the proposals indicate that key powers such as that of inspection will no longer exist. This was strongly opposed.
* Concern was expressed over the lack of provision for specialist trusts, whose concerns and priorities are likely to be lost in a more generalist local network
* There needs to be an assurance of continuity between the planned closure of Forums and establishment of networks, without a ‘gap’ between the two.
* There was a recognition that networks would need to retain a high level of support, training, and so on, and that this could be assisted by a more formal, independent, national voice of PPI networks where sharing of good practice could take place.
* Finally, there was an awareness that reinvention of the wheel was NOT required and that it was important not to lose the skills and knowledge of members, although it was also recognised that many may not wish to remain involved given the nature of the proposals.

I am concerned that the proposals as they stand appear to be poorly thought out and conceived, and far from widening involvement, are likely to deliberately marginalize the involvement of the grass-roots patient voice, to the benefit of organisations. Should paid voluntary sector staff be allowed to sit on the new Networks, I would forecast that they will become largely professional-dominated and are likely to merge with the Overview and Scrutiny function of the local authority, given that they will hold the purse-strings and are unlikely to want to duplicate existing strategic scrutiny. In the process, the strength of forums – their ability to raise concerns about ground-level experiences of the NHS, will be lost

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

We seem to be in the curious situation where the Conservative party is sounding slightly more left wing than the Government. They are less enthusiastic about nuclear power. Cameron's speech about young people made sense - certainly more than anything stated by that jackbooted thug Reid. Ex CP of course, and doesn't it show. Authoritarianism at its worse, and when attached to the right-wing ideas of New Labour, guess what you get - right-wing populist Daily Excess style Toryism, only with a Glasgow accent.
Last Friday we went to hear Jane Kennedy speak about the NHS. She resigned from her post recently. Well, not exactly. Truth is Blair wanted to shift her to the defence ministry and she didn't fancy it - but I didn'tfind what she had to say of much inspiration. She appears to be opposed to some of the privatisation within the primary care sector but thats only a small part of whats going on - David asked a question about dentistry which she made no attempt to answer.

I voted Labour, for an MP who I don't like much, at the last election. I did so ONLY because I feared Howard. I don't fear Cameron in the same way. Next time the Boundary Commission has shifted us into a safe Labour seat - if the current MP is the candidate then I won't be voting Labour under any circumstances in any case, but at present they are giving me no positive reasons to do so.
Lets see - we are still in Iraq, still slavering at Bush's every word, still supporting renewal of Trident and nuclear power, still allowing private companies to run schools and hospitals, the list goes on.
If Tory policies are what we are going to get, maybe the Tories are the best people to implement them?

A new member of the family. Welcome Dorothy!

We have a new baby.

She is a seven-month old tortoiseshell who we have named Dorothy, because she is going to have a lot of friends.

I had forgotten just how energetic a young cat can be. Particularly in her mad half hours where she tears around the house like a whirling dervish...

So dip me with chocolate, and throw me to the lesbians

Yes, we had our Jerry Springer Moment lastSaturday, and very wonderfulit was too.

Clashed with the first Ing-ger-lund game so not a full house, but awfully brilliant noneltheless

Oh, and there were three or four protestors outside , one of whom delightfully informed me, when I expressed my disinterest in his rant, that I would do so when I ended up in hell. Now, stupid morons who believe there really is a hell simply aren't worth taking seriously, but it was rather pleasant telling him exactly where he and his god could go fuck themselves. Oh, and they were distributing Chick tracts as well. Pathetic, deluded wankers.

Advance news for freedom lovers...JSTO is coming!

Yes, here in Liverpool we are delighted to have Jerry Springer- the Opera at the Empire in the near future.

Go and see it if you have the chance.

Reasons are:

1. Its excellent - very amusing and well put together

2. It is important that those of us who do not believe that right wing religionism should have any right to censor our choice of entertainment support this production

3. It will upset right wing evangelical nutters and hopefully offer some opportunity for counter-heckling [There's one born (again) every minute!]

Films, more RC bilge, and Trumpet

Excellent films seen this week - 20 Centimetres, and Time to Leave. Spanish and French respectively, and good examples of the creativity of independent European production as opposed to Hollywood predictability.

Vatican plc have kicked off about the Da Vinci Code. I have no interest in seeing this film which sounds about as much fun as watching paint dry, but isn't it just so predictable that Gauleiter Ratfinger starts getting on his high horse again - he is in Poland this weekend, whose neo-fascist far-right government should suit a former member of the Hitler Youth.

Went over to Manchester yesterday - we sampled a new (ish) Indian restaurant, very good, very authentic (EastzEast) and went to see a stage production of jackie Kay's wonderful book Trumpet, inspired by the life of Billy Tipton, the jazz musician who was female but lived life as a man, unbeknown to all until his death. In hindsight its interesting ; was it simply because of the sexism of the jazz world? Or was it because of inability to live as a lesbian, or the lack of understanding of transsexualism at the time? No-one will ever know.

HARD...ROCK...HALLELUJAH!!

Well, what a contest...here's my verdict

Switzerland - still love this though it didn't do very well. Well sung, charming anthemic ballad, very typical easy-listening harmony stuff, but then I like that!

Moldova - The stage presentation was a bit messy but its not a bad song, catchy and quite appealing.

Israel - What happened? At last a soul ballad in the contest, and Eddie just didn't cut the mustard - the backing singersd did their best to add some gospelly 'whooping up' but this needed a clear and strong lead vocal - for some reason he sounded strained and missed some of the high notes.

Latvia - This was never goping to win, too specialist, but it was a fine example of accapella singing with a jazz feel. Remains a favourite of mine

Norway - Very ethereal, all in white, perfectly sung and performed. Thought it would do better but perhaps the success of Bosnia meant it lost out as the two songs were quite similar in 'feel' and presentation

Spain - This got nowhere. There is so much good Spanish pop music around, particularly the ballads, and they put this in? Just drifts along getting nowhere and the sub-Bananarama unison singing didn't impress

Malta - Fabrizio was obviously having an off day. Painfully out of tune and it all sounded very 'end of the party karaoke' all told. I don't hate it by any means but wasn't surprised that it came last.

Germany - Now, this was something of a surprise. One of the best singers in the contest and a jaunty country song - maybe its back to the failure of strongly American styles to do well in the contest?

Denmark - A song about the twist with a breakdancer, one of my least favourite songs of the night. Couldn't wait for it to end.

Russia - Loved this. Pretty boy-band-handsome singer with a gorgeous incisive voice, just loved the way he sang 'broken glass' - and an energetic performance. One of the best of the night

FYROM - Dull and she didn't sound particularly in tune

Romania - What a voice! My favourite of the uptempo entries and it deserved to do as well as it did - good song, excellent singing, just good dance pop music

Bosnia - A beautiful piece of music, drifts along, instrumentation which sends a shiver up the spine. Again, deserved to do so well - would have loved to see them win but think their time will yet come

Lithuania - I just didn't find this funny and whilst they were clearly proficient, a novelty entry doesn't really work unless you find it funny.

UK - Coming straight after another novelty entry didn't really work, and a lot of people have said that the whole thing did come over as rather dodgy/pervy. Maybe it fell between two stools - not really serious rap (so no votes from France) , not novelty enough? Given how few female ballads, we should have sent Kym Marsh!

Greece - This was certainly the power ballad of the night - well opver the top, but it worked. She is a fine singer, no doubt about that.

Finland - What can I say? I'm very pleased for the Finns - to win after 44 years - and I think it won;t do the contest any harm. But I will never be a rock fan and this just isn't my kind of music.

Ukraine - This sounded like last years winner speeded up. Good singer, but didn't do a thing for me.

France - Beautiful song, but she was so painfully nervous every note sounded thin and strangulated, not a bit like the mellow, creamy voice on the CD. A shame - this was never going to win, but I couldn't help but think how Natasha St.Pierre or Lara Fabian could have made this something really special

Croatia - Gypsy-ethnic stuff, thought it was dire

Ireland - Pure professionalism from start to finish. Its a memorable little song but its no You Raise Me Up - still, Ireland are straight through to the final next year - wonder if Ronan will have a go?

Sweden - If there was one thing that cheered me up this year, it was that this derivative, safe, over-sung, boring schlager didn't win. 19 places too high in my book....

Turkey - This was so cool. I'm not usually a great fan of this sort of stuff but how Ukraine could have qualified whilst this didn't....a really good performance , unusual song, the most contemporary thing in the contest along with russia. Oh, and the dancers. Phew!

Armenia - He seemed to have gained in confidence and although I don't rate the song, it was a very impressive performance - and good to see a new country get through on their first try.

Eurovision semi....

So, the semi is over, and at least some of my favourites got through this year

My verdict

Armenia - thought this was a fairly typical ethno-pop song, sung not very well, and a surprise qualifier

Bulgaria - this was never going to qualify, just too moody and left-field for Eurovision. Think Bulgaria may have to try something a bit more mainstream in future - but I still loved it!

Slovenia - pretty boy, good performance but very ordinary, dated disco song

Andorra - poorly presented, could have been sung better too, but by no means the catastrophe promised in the blogs of the rehearsals. With the right singer this could have qualified

Belarus - dire in every way. Chris and Holger, go and open that language school and teach them how to sing...sad thing is there were two excellent songs in the belarussian final, but the Mafia chose this one

Albania - This was a charming performance of quite a sweet song, but not one of the most obvious ethnic songs and just got lost in the rush

Belgium - this was tacky in the extreme, a poor song poorly song, which richly deserved not to qualify. The choreography was particularly awful

Ireland - Oh, croon for me Brian! Great to see Ireland back in the Final with a memorable song, and I think a good chance of doing well. Delightful

Cyprus - The travesty of the night was the failure of this very accomplished performance to qualify. It seems that the American-influenced divas never do so well, thinking of Glennis last year, Still, my three other favourites made it

Monaco - Memories of Sophie Carle singing Harry belafonte. It didn't work

FYROM - This didn't do much for me, but it was well performed. But I still can't remember it. At all.

Poland - This didn't work. Too messy, too many languages, the rap didn't sound right. I don't dislike it but I wasn't surprised that it didn't qualify

Russia - very decorative - wouldn't mind a Russian plumber who looked like him. Great song. And I love his incisive voice - the way he sings 'glass' - this is classy stuff.

Turkey - This sounded excellent and really deserved its success.Not the sort of music i would listen to all that often, but sounds so contemporary and cool - I like it

Ukraine - Again, a good performance, but not to my taste

Finland - An unsurprising qualifier as the only rock entry and i think it will do respectably enough. I'm not convinced it comes over as quite the extravaganza on the TV though

Netherlands - Worst song of the night, competently performed, but I didn't like it

Lithuania - I don't really get it. But they were very competent and i suppose one novelty song had to get through

Portugal - They tried! All very retro, but again this was never likely to qualify. Some of the other stuff the girls have done was far better. Fado next year - about time Portugal tried something ethnic

Sweden - Dull as ditchwater, oversung 90's pop which simply wouldn't exist outside Eurovision

Estonia - Abba soundalike, well performed but nothing special

Bosnia & Herzegovina - well, ios it Sarajevo 2007? Don't rule it out. This is professional, relaxed and with drifting, ethereal instrumentation - I think its a strong contender if its at last, time for a ballad winner

Iceland - The joke's on them. Tasteless drivel - now if they had decided to put a proper song in this year and selected Regina Osk, they would be in the Final. Never were boos more deserved.

So, three from the semi I really like got through, and one I like, and there are plenty of good songs in the Final.

R I P Barnaby

Our old cat died today. We noticed that he didn't seem too well on Saturday, and on Sunday and Monday he seemed to go further downhill, not eating or drinking. As he was an old cat, we realised that the inevitable was coming and as we didn't want to see him starve to death thought we had better go to the vet - fearing the inevitable.

We both stroked and petted him for half an hour or so, then put him in his box. I felt sad, and had hoped that he could die at home naturally if at all possible. Just before we left the house, he died peacefully.

We have now buried him in the garden, and we have planted a cherry tree to remember him by

Sweet dreams Barnaby

More Christian homophobia

So, turns out that the mealy-mouthed fascist at the top of the British branch of Vatican plc sacked a press adviser once he found out he was gay.

Whilst one must ask why anyone with any sense at all, gay or otherwise, would want any sort of link with the Catholic church, thia again shows the deep and unremmiting homophobia of these people, and gives yet another reason why Ruth Kelly should neither be equalkity minister, or in my view, a Labour MP.

Equality and Catholicism don't go together. Simple as that. Its an inherently bigoted ideology. It needs to be opposed.

The right to die and the misguided naivety of traditional Christianity

As expected, the Joffe Bill was defeated in the Lords. But the time will come where the clamour for legal, rather than undercover, dignity in death will come.

However, we first have to remove and undermine the influence of the harmful dogmas of Christianity. Over the past three months I have realised that I am no longer anu sort of conventional Christian, and that society would be infinitely better without the pernicious influence of the mainstream Church and its warped 'morality'. Humanism has infinitely more to offer, a religious humanism which is able to draw from that which is good in Christianity, whilst discarding the nonsense and the will to control which is the inevitable outcome of believing in a creator, directive, intervening God who we are somehow 'responsible' to and who wishes us to 'worship' as a person. God is a human creation. We can create a God of inclusivity and worth, or we can worship the Church Christian god of control and superstitious mumbo-jumbo

Its nonsense, dangerous, damaging nonsense too.

People should have the choice to determine their own death. There is no benefit in lauding life at all costs - if we remove people's freedom to choose one way or another, we demen humanity.

I shall be joining http://www.dignityindying.org.uk/

Ruth Kelly ; 'equality'minister - who's having a laugh?

I have commented before on Ruth kelly, the Tory/Opus Dei inflitrator into the Labour party, who, thankfully, with the smallest of swings will be out of parliament next time, free to continue to breed profligately as her religion suggests. I hope she has time to fit in the flagellation.

What she is not suited for is the role of equalities minister.

RUTH KELLY IS A HOMOPHOBE.

She has voted against or abstained in every single gay rights vote in parliament. This is logical because it follows her exreme Catholic conservatism. However, it means she is not suited to this role.

She is also a liar, as she claimed that some of the issues she voted against were conscience votes - which they were not.

In any case, she will simply make it appear that the Government is not committed to equality - on the whole, they are. She ended up in this job because of the disastrous hash she made of her education brief.

Basically, she shouldn't be a Labour MP anyway. What the hell is a right wing supporter of a neo-Nazi secret society within a right wing religion doing as a Labour cabinet minister? Kelly must go and if she doesn't, then yet more Labour votes will be lost.