More religionist hypocrisy

With the current 'controversy' about the blessing after the civil partnership in London (of which there have been many, many before), it appears that once again, there is a little bit of dishonesty creeping into the proceedings.

It appears that these cowardly, spineless Bishops who supposedly support change but hide behind the lies of the collective voice might just have different views in private than in public

And that some of them may just have been involved in such blessings before.

And by all accounts, this includes the King of the Spineless Slugs itself, Rowan Williams.

If this is true, doesn't this make hin utterly beyond contempt. we already know he is pious, out of touch, a useless communicator, a worse administrator, and betrays and abandons his friends.

Now it seems that he is a hypocrite and a liar as well.

I can't think of anyone I despise more. How I would love the opportunity to tell him so, but he likes to hide behind the safety of never facing those who have worked him out a long while back.

Anyway, the latest little spat should show only too well why the Church as an institution is no place for gay people, and why the so-called 'ministries' which try to encourage gay people to suppress their sexuality for the cause of a failed and erroneous superstition are getting precisely nowhere.

Grow up, Shami

I've made it clear enough that I am not in favour of 42 days.

However, if Shami Chakrabati is really so naive as to believe that Davis isn't both an opportunist and a right-winger who just happens to have got it right on this issue, then she is naive and perhaps a closet Tory?

And as for suing Andy Burnham - don't be so utterly pathetic. Perhaps a little less eulogising of Davis might help, eh, Shami?? Or are we after a Tory seat?

Bush, Iraq and Afghanistan

How depressing to see our PM schmoozing up to Bush like a good little puppy-dog yesterday.

But quite how the current level of support for both Iraq and Afghanistan can realistically be sustained is something I think has not been faced.

Still, both situations were the outcome of past policy mistakes.

We should withdraw from Iraq and reduce involvement in Afghanistan.

Church and industrial tribunals

Once again, the Church has lost an industrial tribunal, and once again it is trying to brush away the findings. This one was so cut and dried that an immediate decision was made in the appellant's favour.

The findings included the following gems about the Bishop of Liverpool:
1. He doesn't like the city
2. He is more interested in national fame and his public image that what happens here. It is a standing joke here that if you want the Bishop to attend all you have to fo is let him knw that the BBC will be there - he is to microphones what dogs are to .....
3. He is known to be economical with the truth
4. He cares more about his personal 'credibility' than anything else and will sacrifice anyone else to maintain it
5. He desperately wanted to be Archbishop of York

All of those things emerged during the tribunal; there is no reason to believe they are not the case given the outcome. Of course, some will disagree.

My own impression is that the Bishop really ought to consider his position. He is not popular and not respected in Liverpool.

My own experience is that he, in my view, doctored a report which I was involved in producing and ensured that it made little impact. I used to meet him and liaise with him regarding gay issues when I was involved with the church. When I started to draw away, I know that he was aware of why - yet I heard nothing at all from him. This is his problem. As the appellant in this case noted: "There was no grace or mercy: no humanity". Wouldn't a pastorally concerned church leader have wanted to talk to me and find out why i felt so disillusioned?

The Bishop should accept that he is unpopular , not up to doing the job, and resign. On the other hand, maybe he shouldn't - because the Bishop, and the result of this, and the tribunal lost by the bishop of Hereford, epitomises what I have realised the Church is really all about. Which is why I left.

GO SUPERLAMBANANAS!

For those of you not accustomed, these are SUPERLAMBANANAS of which we have 119 appearing in the city to celebrate the Capital of Culture 2008, for the next 10 weeks. They will be auctioned off for charity at the end of the run.

Gay blessings, the CofE and the inevitable split

So, we have a public same sex blessing of a civil partnership in a church. The first, according to some news reports. Who are they trying to kid? Just goes to show that the level of sheer hypocrisy and lies within the Church knows no bounds.

Naturally, our dear homophobic friends at Anglican Extreme and StandFirminBigotry are having a frothing-at-the-mouth day. I do find it amusing how they play good cop/bad cop - so you have the angry, straightforward gay-haters, such as a character called 'Rooney' who hails from this fair city - probably attends one of the nuttier fringe churches. But then you have people like 'vicar' - every bit as prejudiced, but he does it 'nicely', no doubt as a way to get unsuspecting gays to enter his temple of bigotry. Fortunately we have more sense - warm words don't wash.

As for the blessing, I wish the happy couple all the best, and high time that clergy and parishes with courage started to speak out. I recall being offered blessings when we had our civil partnership, but didn't take up the offer - I wasn't really into being blessed by a homophobic institution and was outside the church to all intents and purposes by then in any case. But it is good to see the bigots being challenged and the homophobic nonsense that is 'traditional' Christianity being shown up for what it is.

Gay relationships are here to stay. the Church will have to get used to it - and I think this is one more welcome step towards the split which needs to happen, and soon.

more thoughts on civil liberties...

There does seem to be an issue which I think the by-election has to be used for. The problem with people like Akehurst is that they can turn around and bleat about popular opinion being on their side - and indeed, poll evidence suggests so, although it does depend what question is asked. I think libertarian-minded people on both left and right are already convinced.

I have my doubts as to whether the authoritarian wing of the Tory party actually believe what Davis says at all - they just wanted to have a pop at Labour, and that is their job as an opposition

What is clear is that there is still a large wedge of the population who are swallowing the autoritarian 'safety' lone on this one and that we need to explain exactly why it is nonsense - from both left and right wing libertarian perspectives.

Shami Chakravarti is doing a sterling job . She manages to relain above ideological fray whilst expressing clearly and succinctly what the problem is.

This is certainly making me think again about some issues which have bothered me less in the past. For example, I have been relaxed about ID cards, as I see them working in Europe witout problem. But can we trust a government which such authoritarian instincts not to misuse them?

Bizarre indeed...

We have the obnoxious Kelvin McKenzie, former Sun editor, offering himself as an anti-civil liberties candidate to challenge Davis. And this receiving support from some of the more fringe right-wing New Labour enthusiasts.

A progressive party just doesn't support locking people up without charge.

42 days, David Davis, and the death of the Labour party

The 42 days incarceration without trial got through with the backing of the DUP, for which some sort of dodgy deal was undoubtedly done. For me, this represents the death of the Labour party as a progressive force.

It is strange to see David Davis be the standard bearer of civil liberties. I have never thought of him as being the obvious trailblazer, but at least this will keep the issue in the news and will ensure that the arguments against this illiberal and undemocratic legislation do not go away.

It is simply unacceptable to lock people up without charge, and if the Government feel that there is any mileage in trying to win those over who will provide the necessary intelligence, they are going about it in the wrong way.

I do not think that a supposed obsession with safety excuses blatant ignoring of civil liberties.

Sent to me by the Terrence Higgins Trust

Urgent Action - Don't Deport Amdani Juma


Amdani Juma, a torture survivor, pro-democracy activist and Terrence Higgins Trust volunteer, was taken into detention by the Home Office seven days ago. Faced with imminent deportation to Burundi, a country where his activism has resulted in his appearing on wanted posters, Amdani needs your support to keep him in the UK.

Since his arrival in the UK, Amdani has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of people with HIV in Nottingham. As well as providing face to face support and mentoring to THT service users, he also started the first African women's support group in the city. His considerable abilities and rapport with the local community have made his health promotion work with Africans in Nottingham invaluable. In the words of his MP, Alan Simpson, "He is an outstanding asset. Removing him from the UK would leave Nottingham (and beyond) much the poorer. There is no one, particularly within the HIV field who could replace the work he does."

We are asking all our supporters to contact the Home Secretary to ask her to recognise Amdani as a political refugee and intervene to prevent his deportation. Please take a moment to send a quick message voicing your support to public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk. There is a sample letter below. Please quote his Home Office case reference number, A1179608, in your email.

You can also sign the associated petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/amdani/petition.html. Please also pass this message to your friends to help gather momentum for the campaign. We only have a matter of days to show our support and reverse the decision.



Sample letter:


Dear Mrs Smith,


I am writing on behalf of Amdani Juma, currently in detention and due to be deported, to ask that you intervene on his behalf. His Home Office case reference number is A1179608.

Mr. Juma is an asset to the UK and to health and social care in the city of Nottingham. As a volunteer case worker for Terrence Higgins Trust, he has given freely of his time, skills and energy to help people living with HIV. Amdani's hard work has led to the setting up of Nottingham's first support group for women living with HIV, and his considerable abilities and rapport with the local community have made his health promotion work with Africans in Nottingham invaluable. Mr. Juma is a key link for healthcare to a community acknowledged to be hard to reach but in great need of help.

We believe that Mr. Juma should be allowed to remain in the UK. He has more than proved his commitment to being a part of Nottingham's community, and that community would keenly feel his loss should he be deported. We ask that you intervene to allow him to stay and continue his important work.


Yours sincerely,


(Your name)

Anonymous comments

I don't publish them, so don't waste your time bothering.

If you have the honesty to say who you are and provide a link, fair play. But if you want to post the equivalent of a poison-pen letter on the web - well, you know what most people think of those who do that sort of thing!

And the amusing thing is that so far, all the anonymous comments have come from self-proclaimed Christians!

UPDATE

Since I posted this, I have received an anonynous comment, which asks me to reconsider. No, I won't be doing so. I am quite happy to print comments in opposition to my own (unlike some!), But they should be identified - I am simply not going to give space here for people to abuse the facility. With free speech comes responsibility, and whilst I am not asking for names or locations, I think that snide anonymous posts do no one any good.

Latest in terms of politics....

The government appear to stagger on from one day to the next. Yet I think much of what is going on has very little to do with them either positively or negatively - and is there anything in the ory programme that offers anything greatly different let alone a solution? With regard to fuel taxation, they have been all but silent - yet any reduction would certainly make a mockery of all that 'vote blue, go green' stuff we kept hearing so much of last year.

And on that topic, I find it impossible to feel an ounce of sympathy for the hauliers. Selfishness could be their middle name. More should be transported by rail in any case, but the arrogance of this band of petty-minded bullies knows no bounds. Any attempts at blockades - arrest them and confiscate their lorries, selling them at a cut price rate to Eastern European competitors if necessary. That should annoy them! They should have no special deal - although the time for road pricing really is well overdue.

The latest appears to be a report saying that recidivism with regard to youth crime is still as high as ever. Given that the strategy appears to be to use institutional punishment as the basis for dealing with the issues - universities of crime producing fitter criminals who learn lots of tricks whilst inside - who is in the least surprised? About time the Government abandoned populism and looked towards countries whose policies actually work - and prison isn't the centrepiece.

What I find hard to understand are those who think that we are still in 1996: who fail to realise that the new voters opting for labour in 97 never voted for them again. 2001 and 2005 were characterised by abstention, and many of those who didn't bother to vote were Tories who have now returned to the fold after a flutter with Labour in 97. Yet there are still those who think that all the government have to do is make lots more right wing noises and the voters will return.

I have my doubts as to whether the next election is retrievable - but as someone who did genuinely welcome New Labour in the late 90's, it appears obvious to me that new times need a different approach.
The biggest two groups of voters who Labour are pissing off at the moment are the core voters who feel utterly abandoned by a party which doesn't appear to be Labour any more. The second are middle-class professionals who are ideologically committed to the left-of-centre but are exasperated by a combination of target-driven lunacy in the public sector, and the government's insistence in progressing issues such as the 42 day limit for interviewing suspects. Those issues win no added votes - but lose many to the LD's and the Greens.
The Labour party should be ensuring that its policies are aimed at those two groups as a priority, not spending its time chasing after voters in the south-east who are certainly not coming back in time for the next election.

Eurovision - one week later....

Been neglecting the blog again - wish there were more resposes to what I write. I know people do read it, but few ever respond....

Anyway, Eurovision was last Saturday. I won't write a full song by song review, but some of my thoughts.

First, that the winner was deserved. It was a good song, well sung, and clearly Russia were going to win at some time. Why not this year?
However, the victory has brought forth the most unacceptable selection of anti-Eastern European bile I have seen for a while on some of the ESC fan websites. Hardly appropriate.

Second, the UK did badly, as usual. I thought it was a good song this year - but it wasn't particularly memorable and in a field of 25 and a televote it needs to be.

Third, none of the novelty entries did particularly well, and that can only be a good thing....

My faves: Russia, Portugal, Israel (excellent performance) and Poland. Norway, Bosnia and Georgia also very good.
Worst: didn't like Ukraine , Greece or Sweden, but performance wise, Germany was simply embarrassing. What is it about girl groups and the ESC? Why are they so inevitably unable to sing in harmony? Indeed, sing in unison!

Eurovision - two days to go

Its been quite a Eurovision week - with two semis, and a performance of Eurobeat to see in Manchester!

Most of my faves made it through to the final - Belgium didn't, which was always touch and go, nor Moldova, which was no surprise. The Swiss singer was very nervous tonight, and the only real surprise for me was Hungary not making it

Portugal were fantastic tonight and is my current fave, and I also rate Russia. Other good ones are Poland, Bosnia, Georgia, Norway, Israel, Romania, Serbia and the UK!

HF&E Bill

I was pleased to see that all the clauses in the Human fertilisation & Embryology Bill were passed, and that no change was made to the abortion regulations.

I find it bizarre that anyone would want to prevent research which may be able to take us further in combating appalling diseases, and to try and prevent parents from helping their existing children. The Tories proved that homophobia still runs all too deep in their party. There are some honourable exceptions, but on the whole, they are still the same old Tories.

As for abortion, again, the right decision was made, and the usual gore-fest tactics of Vatican plc and the anti-abortion movement failed to work. I really feel that the Church must understand that it has no right to force through its will and stop others from making their choices - for inevitably, that is what Christianity does and is - simply a method of controlling the lives of others. How I didn't see through this before I don't know - perhaps I heard what I wanted to hear.

Malcolm Bailey RIP

Had some sad news at the weekend - an old friend of mine from university days, Malcolm Bailey, died from a second brain tumour. He had battled against and defeated the first, but the arrival of the second seemed to be just too much.

We hadn't seen that much of each other in recent years with the geographical distance between us - always something one regrets afterwards. There's never much one can say under these circumstances. I hope that his widow Debbie and their children are coping.

Life certainly isn't very fair.

Abortion

With largely religionist MP's attempting to force vulnerable women to be banned from having very necessary terminations, this article from Zoe Williams in the Guardian is well worth reading. Remember that the aim of the anti-abortion movement is to ban all abortion - nearly all of them are conservative religionists and have an (im) moral attachment to banning abortion. The nonsense about reduction of weeks is a smokescreen as they then go on to talk about their definition of life, which includes a clump of cells in a petrie dish.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/07/gender.health

Cannabis

The Government have, unsurprisingly, jumped on the ludicrous 'classification' bandwagon in order to reclassify cannabis.

They appear quite unable to see that this entire approach has dome absolutely nothing to reduce the use of drugs. Will anyone currently using cannabis stop doing so because of reclassification - of course not.

I don't use cannabis or any other illegal drugs. However, what always appears to be absent from any government discourse on the topic is that people use them because they like them and because they regard them as fun.

We already have a dour, boring PM who comes over like some sort of semi-retired church minister. Now we have yet another piece of repressive legislation.

Expecting imagination from any government on this topic is far too optimistic - but until they realise that people who use drugs do not care about the scare stories and the 'danger' message will not work, we won't make any progress and the same old tired arguments will continue.

Celine Dion

... saw her in Manchester last night. Fantastic - what a show!

Local elections

I'm not currently a member of any political party, though I suppose associate myself still with Labour. But Thursday's results were not only predictable, but deserved. Not only has the government run out of steam, but they are doing some things which are just plain wrong.

It seems to me that the Tories will have to start actually talking in greater detail as to what they actually intend to do, though. The detail is threadbare at best at present.

As for Labour: well, these will naturally be ignored, but as they claim to be listening....

• Get rid of Brown, preferably via his humble resignation. Could anyone have disappointed more? I think he needs to face up to the fact that he is damaged goods. There is something....odd about him. On the Nicky Campbell show the other day, he was asked what he thinks about first thing in the morning. he launched into a complicated response about house prices. That's weird. Its not what people think about first thing in the morning.
• Reverse the 10p tax rate decision. Forget about the so-called measures to compensate. It needs to go.
• Accept the fact that 1997 was a fluke and 2001 was won because the Tories were a shower and utterly inept. This means that some seats won in those years were flukes and should not be aimed for again.
• Linked to this, what is needed is to motivate the basic Labour vote. Those voters who lent their votes to Labour only did so because the Tories were so awful. Now they are credible they have gone home. They will remain there at least for the next election. Forget about them. Instead, think about measures to re-invigorate two core voting blocs - the core labour vote feeling the pinch, and the middle class intellectual vote.
• For the former - do something about housing. That, above all, is the cause of distress in many areas, and causes most of the angst with regard to immigration. That means COUNCIL housing, and these should be public sector not open for the RTB. Secondly, reorganise the tax system - tax credits are a disaster. Instead, simplify by removing the low paid from tax altogether. And lets have a higher tax rate , please, for the best off.
• For the latter, get out of Iraq, and start distancing from the US expansionist nightmare. neo-con nonsense needs to go, forever. It has no place in a left-of-centre party. Secondly, abandon some of the authoritarian measures which are unnecessary. Third, stop trying to compete with the Tories to win White Van Man. This group is far more loyal to Labour, and they all vote religiously - and its those very policies that alienate this group, but fail to win over any converts.
• Finally, any party which has become so right wing that people like 'Business' Secretary John Hutton can be a member has problems. I have heard countless interviews and not once has he said anything which wouldn't be more appropriately said by a Tory.