I've just heard the news that Liberal Democrat Alasdair Christie is the new Councillor for Inverness West, gaining the seat from the SNP who were about 125 ahead in 2007 in the ward. However you look at it, it's a huge swing to the Liberal Democrats from the SNP - certainly over 20%. Perhaps the reason the swing is so big is that the SNP have let local people down by failing to provide the funding for the much needed Inverness by-pass.
The result in full:
Alasdair Christie (Lib Dem) 1503 - 60%
Brian o'hEadhra (SNP) 556 - 22%
Andrew Mackintosh (Lab) 210 - 8%
Sheila MacLaughlin (Christian Party) 115 - 5%
Donald Gunn Macdonald (Con) 111 - 4%
George Macdonald (Solidarity) 27 - 1%
It's a miserable result for the Tories, languishing in 5th place with just 4% of the vote. They also failed to win another by-election in West Aberdeenshire, with victory going again to the Lib Dems, whose new Councillor is Rosemary Bruce. Preliminary figures there are:
1st Preferences
Conservative 1144
Rosemary Bruce, Liberal Democrat 969
Independent 842
SNP 617
BNP 44
Independent 19
After much transferring of votes, Rosemary was elected on the 5th count with 1566 votes ahead of the Tories' 1468. The Tories threw the kitchen sink at the by-election and will be very disappointed with the result. Labour couldn't even find a candidate.
As for the SNP, some have set great store by a poll showing SNP gains published in today's Herald. Well, real votes in real ballot boxes, a good 5 times more than the poll sample, don't tell such a good story for the SNP.
Who's soaring now? It sure isn't them.
This all bodes well for George Lyon's campaign to become the Liberal Democrats' next MEP in June. Rosemary has been a friend of mine for years and I know she'll be a terrific councillor, as will Alasdair in Inverness. Congratulations to both and their fabulous campaign teams. Oh, and this guy might have helped too.
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Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Himmelgarten's Cafe's spot on analysis of terror operation
Amidst all the budget talk, you might miss the fact that no evidence has been found that the 12 students arrested in Lancashire the other week were up to terrorist plotting. You'd think they'd be released and allowed to go back to their lives instead of turned over to the Borders Agency and potentially thrown out of the country.
Costigan Quist has written an excellent analysis of this and if you do nothing else today, read it.
Mind you, this is the same Home Office who have separated breastfeeding mothers from their babies, locked families up in horrendous conditions in Dungavel and Yarl's Wood and suggested that gay men would be fine in countries where they could be put to death as long as they were discreet. We shouldn't really be surprised. Ashamed, but not surprised.....
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Costigan Quist has written an excellent analysis of this and if you do nothing else today, read it.
Mind you, this is the same Home Office who have separated breastfeeding mothers from their babies, locked families up in horrendous conditions in Dungavel and Yarl's Wood and suggested that gay men would be fine in countries where they could be put to death as long as they were discreet. We shouldn't really be surprised. Ashamed, but not surprised.....
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
A Leaky Chanter offends the SNP
Finally, the press get round to debating whether A Leaky Chanter is part of a wicked Labour plot to smear the SNP.
I say finally, because I first mentioned them in association with this over a week ago, even before Iain Dale.
A Leaky Chanter is occasionally juvenile, usually amusing and, let's face it, is more Heat magazine than the Economist. Not surprisingly, some nationalists have been a bit sniffy about it, but then, they would be, woudn't they?
It takes all sorts to make a blogosphere and, sure, if I was marooned on a desert island and told I could only link to a few blogs, I wouldn't pick it in a million years, but it doesn't do any harm. I may yet be proved wrong, but I hope I'm not - I am fairly certain there is nothing sinister in its intent.
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I say finally, because I first mentioned them in association with this over a week ago, even before Iain Dale.
A Leaky Chanter is occasionally juvenile, usually amusing and, let's face it, is more Heat magazine than the Economist. Not surprisingly, some nationalists have been a bit sniffy about it, but then, they would be, woudn't they?
It takes all sorts to make a blogosphere and, sure, if I was marooned on a desert island and told I could only link to a few blogs, I wouldn't pick it in a million years, but it doesn't do any harm. I may yet be proved wrong, but I hope I'm not - I am fairly certain there is nothing sinister in its intent.
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UK fails in child wellbeing AGAIN
The shocking news that the UK has finished close to the bottom of a European study on child wellbeing shows that our children are being systematically failed.
There is simply no excuse for this to be the case in what is still one of the world's wealthiest countries.
Of course it's not all about money, but we can't exactly hold our heads up high and say that anything like all our children are living in decent housing - and I don't mean luxurious, just warm, dry and functional. Nor can we say that they all get a decent education when so many still leave school without basic literacy skills.
What's more worrying than anything, though, is that many children are growing up unhappy, which, even if you look at it selfishly, is going to have an impact on the next generation's ability to fulfil its potential. You can reasonably quickly and easily sort out housing and money and education, but rebuilding and restoring a shattered psyche takes a lot longer.
What are the countries at the top of the league doing that we are not? Well, let's look at them. The Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland, all of Scandinavia, Ireland - can we identify some common factors about how they bring up their children? Well, in Scandinavia, breastfeeding is by far the norm, even at six months of age. That has to have an impact not only on psychological wellbeing, but also on long term health. Compare and contrast to some of our poorest areas in the UK, where breastfeeding rates struggle even to make double figures. This article shows how a grassroots campaign started 30 years ago ultimately changed the culture from formula friendly to breastfeeding friendly. There are lessons to be learned from that.
I think there is enough evidence of the health benefits to mother and baby, including a new study today to seriously set about bringing about that cultural change.
I also think there are elements of our culture which hinder the crucial bonding process between mother and child. We seem hooked on regime orientated parenting methods which involve separation, isolation and unnecessary stress for both mother and baby. Some of the most stressed mothers I've spoken to are those who are trying to shoehorn themselves and their babies into one of these programmes that has every minute of every day planned out, from when exactly to express milk or have a shower to when the baby should sleep. This article explains eloquently why this approach can cause long term problems. There is a very weird attitude to children in this country, too. If you don't have children with you, you get to eat in nice restaurants, if you do, you are pointed towards garish pubs with play areas.
It might be a random coincidence that in this study of mental health across Europe, the UK ends up at the top, with the highest prevalence of conditions like Depression, but I don't think so. Funnily enough, the Netherlands, which is at the top of the wellbeing study has the lowest rate of mental health problems.
Of all the things that our Government has to hang its head in shame about - the Iraq War, failure to regulate the banks contributing to economic meltdown, the way it's let down the children of this country systematically has to be the worst. It's not that it wasn't warned - this is not the first time a study has come to these conclusions. I expected more from the Labour Party.
It will take a complicated combination of economic and social measures to change things - who has the political will to take this on and bring about that change? I think that the Lib Dems have good answers on things like housing and tax and childcare, but nobody seems to want to take on the artificial baby milk industry which is still allowed to provide so much information to new mothers, in contrast to the Scandinavian countries.
All of this provides much food for thought for Jo Swinson MP's Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing.
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There is simply no excuse for this to be the case in what is still one of the world's wealthiest countries.
Of course it's not all about money, but we can't exactly hold our heads up high and say that anything like all our children are living in decent housing - and I don't mean luxurious, just warm, dry and functional. Nor can we say that they all get a decent education when so many still leave school without basic literacy skills.
What's more worrying than anything, though, is that many children are growing up unhappy, which, even if you look at it selfishly, is going to have an impact on the next generation's ability to fulfil its potential. You can reasonably quickly and easily sort out housing and money and education, but rebuilding and restoring a shattered psyche takes a lot longer.
What are the countries at the top of the league doing that we are not? Well, let's look at them. The Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland, all of Scandinavia, Ireland - can we identify some common factors about how they bring up their children? Well, in Scandinavia, breastfeeding is by far the norm, even at six months of age. That has to have an impact not only on psychological wellbeing, but also on long term health. Compare and contrast to some of our poorest areas in the UK, where breastfeeding rates struggle even to make double figures. This article shows how a grassroots campaign started 30 years ago ultimately changed the culture from formula friendly to breastfeeding friendly. There are lessons to be learned from that.
I think there is enough evidence of the health benefits to mother and baby, including a new study today to seriously set about bringing about that cultural change.
I also think there are elements of our culture which hinder the crucial bonding process between mother and child. We seem hooked on regime orientated parenting methods which involve separation, isolation and unnecessary stress for both mother and baby. Some of the most stressed mothers I've spoken to are those who are trying to shoehorn themselves and their babies into one of these programmes that has every minute of every day planned out, from when exactly to express milk or have a shower to when the baby should sleep. This article explains eloquently why this approach can cause long term problems. There is a very weird attitude to children in this country, too. If you don't have children with you, you get to eat in nice restaurants, if you do, you are pointed towards garish pubs with play areas.
It might be a random coincidence that in this study of mental health across Europe, the UK ends up at the top, with the highest prevalence of conditions like Depression, but I don't think so. Funnily enough, the Netherlands, which is at the top of the wellbeing study has the lowest rate of mental health problems.
Of all the things that our Government has to hang its head in shame about - the Iraq War, failure to regulate the banks contributing to economic meltdown, the way it's let down the children of this country systematically has to be the worst. It's not that it wasn't warned - this is not the first time a study has come to these conclusions. I expected more from the Labour Party.
It will take a complicated combination of economic and social measures to change things - who has the political will to take this on and bring about that change? I think that the Lib Dems have good answers on things like housing and tax and childcare, but nobody seems to want to take on the artificial baby milk industry which is still allowed to provide so much information to new mothers, in contrast to the Scandinavian countries.
All of this provides much food for thought for Jo Swinson MP's Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing.
LibDig This!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Lib Dems could save you £705 with simple tax measure
What would you do with an extra £705 per year? If Liberal Democrat tax proposals announced today are implemented, you might well get the chance to find out.
Basically, you would only pay tax on earnings over £10,000. This would be a much needed and significant boost to the budgets of many low and middle income households. It would also go some way to redressing the terrible situation which, under successive Conservative, and more scandalously, Labour governments has meant that the poor pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the rich.
It's a good idea, easily explained and understood. Labour has tried and failed to make lives easier for some people on low incomes, but has hung others out to dry. If you have no children, or are not quite disabled enough to get disability benefits, but ill enough to restrict your ability to work, then you get precious little help from this Government. The beauty of this measure is its simplicity and accessibility to everyone. It's also worth pointing out that there are proportionally more women than men on very low incomes and many of them will be taken out of tax altogether.
It's not the whole solution, but it's a big step in the right direction.
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Basically, you would only pay tax on earnings over £10,000. This would be a much needed and significant boost to the budgets of many low and middle income households. It would also go some way to redressing the terrible situation which, under successive Conservative, and more scandalously, Labour governments has meant that the poor pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the rich.
It's a good idea, easily explained and understood. Labour has tried and failed to make lives easier for some people on low incomes, but has hung others out to dry. If you have no children, or are not quite disabled enough to get disability benefits, but ill enough to restrict your ability to work, then you get precious little help from this Government. The beauty of this measure is its simplicity and accessibility to everyone. It's also worth pointing out that there are proportionally more women than men on very low incomes and many of them will be taken out of tax altogether.
It's not the whole solution, but it's a big step in the right direction.
LibDig This!
Luck and Skill bring Red Bull China GP Victory
Well, I assume that Sebastian Vettel, the driver who has stepped into David Coulthard's shoes at Red Bull, saw a penny and picked it up on Saturday before he landed pole position from just one flying lap at the end of the third qualifying session. He'd stayed in the running with a similarly late flying lap in Q2. Apparently there was some problem with the car, which meant that Red Bull did not want to push their luck.
It's not easy to go out there and deliver under pressure like that, and it takes huge skill to drive in the rain at pushing 200 mph. I don't like driving in the wet myself and I have a roof, windscreen wipers and rarely go above 70 in the dry. I don't want to take away from Red Bull's brilliant first GP win and first 1-2 for Vettel and Webber, but luck did play its part.
Vettel, Webber and team boss Christian Horner presumably also had black cats walk in front of them on Sunday before the race. They knew that the Brawns breathing down their necks on the grid would be faster and were carrying significantly more fuel. Alonso's presence at 2 on the grid was more down to him running on the whiff of an oily rag and wasn't as much as a threat as it looked. However, they also knew that the Brawn car's wet weather testing had been limited to a couple of laps in Malaysia but rain would be ideal for both the Red Bull car and particularly Vettel.
We will never know whether they actually did a rain dance in the Red Bull trailer, but the heavens did open, leading to a start behind the safety car. Luck smiled on Red Bull again when a second safety car stint coincided with the the time that the Brawns might have been able to get away as they were lighter on fuel. Having said that, luck smiled even more beatifcally on Robert Kubica and Jarno Trulli who had a rather spectacular coming together which left both of them pretty much unharmed.
What gets me about these guys is that they could have decided not to drive aggressively and competitively due to the conditions which had visibility down to virtually zero and several parts of the track turned into Aquaplane Central. However, despite everything they entertained us with some thrilling passing manoevres. Hamilton passed Raikonnen at one point only to have to do it all again when he span off at one of the slippery corners. Similarly, Webber passed Button with great style - and Sebastian Buemi, the Torro Rosso rookie seemed to be out to impress with a skilful and mature display of driving.
My heart was in my mouth when Adrian Suthil hit a polystyrene bollard thing at 150mph, littering bits of his car over quite a large area of gravel trap. There were a few breath holding, anxious seconds until we saw him not only move, but get out of the car and run off. It just shows how good these cars are these days.
One of the highlights of yesterday was Martin Brundle in "when I were a lad" mode. He was grumbling about the safety car start, making out that in his day it would never have happened and they'd just have to get on with it. Later on, he had a go about the wide run off areas at the new circuits which weren't there when he was driving. All very funny.
The BBC coverage is still absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately the DC/Eddie Jordan bitching had a week's hiatus, but Mike Gascoigne, ex engineer for McLaren and Force India stepped in. He seemed uncomfortable on Saturday, but much more assured and willing to take part in the banter on Sunday. It was interesting to have his take on strategy, although his advice that teams should pull their drivers in early during the first safety car stint didn't work so well for Alonso who ended up at the back of the pack not able to see anything.
My moment of the weekend, though, belongs to Jake Humphrey. His advice to DC and Gascoigne that they should get out of the way as the pit lane opened for the grid formation on Sunday "because the cars could come out without warning." DC's wry retort was that they would probably hear noise of the engine. You couldn't script something that good.
Now I'm looking forward to Bahrain next weekend. Who would have thought that the season would be so dominated in the first 3 races by two much smaller teams while Ferrari, McLaren and Renault limped along huffily on the sidelines?
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It's not easy to go out there and deliver under pressure like that, and it takes huge skill to drive in the rain at pushing 200 mph. I don't like driving in the wet myself and I have a roof, windscreen wipers and rarely go above 70 in the dry. I don't want to take away from Red Bull's brilliant first GP win and first 1-2 for Vettel and Webber, but luck did play its part.
Vettel, Webber and team boss Christian Horner presumably also had black cats walk in front of them on Sunday before the race. They knew that the Brawns breathing down their necks on the grid would be faster and were carrying significantly more fuel. Alonso's presence at 2 on the grid was more down to him running on the whiff of an oily rag and wasn't as much as a threat as it looked. However, they also knew that the Brawn car's wet weather testing had been limited to a couple of laps in Malaysia but rain would be ideal for both the Red Bull car and particularly Vettel.
We will never know whether they actually did a rain dance in the Red Bull trailer, but the heavens did open, leading to a start behind the safety car. Luck smiled on Red Bull again when a second safety car stint coincided with the the time that the Brawns might have been able to get away as they were lighter on fuel. Having said that, luck smiled even more beatifcally on Robert Kubica and Jarno Trulli who had a rather spectacular coming together which left both of them pretty much unharmed.
What gets me about these guys is that they could have decided not to drive aggressively and competitively due to the conditions which had visibility down to virtually zero and several parts of the track turned into Aquaplane Central. However, despite everything they entertained us with some thrilling passing manoevres. Hamilton passed Raikonnen at one point only to have to do it all again when he span off at one of the slippery corners. Similarly, Webber passed Button with great style - and Sebastian Buemi, the Torro Rosso rookie seemed to be out to impress with a skilful and mature display of driving.
My heart was in my mouth when Adrian Suthil hit a polystyrene bollard thing at 150mph, littering bits of his car over quite a large area of gravel trap. There were a few breath holding, anxious seconds until we saw him not only move, but get out of the car and run off. It just shows how good these cars are these days.
One of the highlights of yesterday was Martin Brundle in "when I were a lad" mode. He was grumbling about the safety car start, making out that in his day it would never have happened and they'd just have to get on with it. Later on, he had a go about the wide run off areas at the new circuits which weren't there when he was driving. All very funny.
The BBC coverage is still absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately the DC/Eddie Jordan bitching had a week's hiatus, but Mike Gascoigne, ex engineer for McLaren and Force India stepped in. He seemed uncomfortable on Saturday, but much more assured and willing to take part in the banter on Sunday. It was interesting to have his take on strategy, although his advice that teams should pull their drivers in early during the first safety car stint didn't work so well for Alonso who ended up at the back of the pack not able to see anything.
My moment of the weekend, though, belongs to Jake Humphrey. His advice to DC and Gascoigne that they should get out of the way as the pit lane opened for the grid formation on Sunday "because the cars could come out without warning." DC's wry retort was that they would probably hear noise of the engine. You couldn't script something that good.
Now I'm looking forward to Bahrain next weekend. Who would have thought that the season would be so dominated in the first 3 races by two much smaller teams while Ferrari, McLaren and Renault limped along huffily on the sidelines?
LibDig This!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Obama does half a job on torture
I've been sickened by reading the extent to which the US sanctioned torture during the Bush administration.
Here are some of the things they did:
Imagine being kept, standing up, without sleep for 7.5 days.
I am petrified of wasps and can completely relate to the terror felt by somebody who was kept in a confined space into which an insect was released, and those who put the beastie in there told them it would sting them.
Being slapped, or slammed into a wall.
Waterboarding - not some jolly sport you do on holiday, but a hideous and terrifying form of abuse. I'm not over keen on water at the best of times so even reading about this makes me feel sick. It's important to recognise that this actually happened in the name of the United States. Basically victimes were strapped to a board, with their head tilted back. They then had water poured over them which would basically go down their nose and make them think they were drowning. How awful is that going to be?
I struggle to see what the use of these techniques actually achieves other than reinforcing in the minds of those who hear about it that the US is a bad country with no respect for human rights. It's just so inhumane and wrong and can never, ever be justified.
Even if you take the human rights side out of the equation, how can you rely on information extracted under torture being accurate. If it were me, I'd probably get to the point where I'd tell my abusers what they wanted to hear just to get them make the hell stop.
One of Obama's first acts in office was to stop all this nonsense and make it crystal clear that the practices were unacceptable. Now he's published the memos relating to the practices used. Big tick on both counts.
However, he's said that no action will be taken against those who carried out the abuse, and hasn't taken any yet against those who told the Bush Administration what it wanted to hear, that the use of these torture techniques was legal. This runs the risk of undermining, at least, the good work that Obama has done. Is it good enough to say "this ain't happening on my watch but I can't do anything about the other guy's?"
My instinct is that some sort of action should be taken against everybody involved, that should be proportionate to their role and influence in the process. If I were a CIA operative doing the interrogation and was ordered to do this kind of stuff and told that the Government had been advised that it was legal, I may well have felt powerless to do anything about it. I suspect I would have refused, though, just because I wouldn't have been able to do that to another human being. That would no doubt have had ramifications for my career, or my liberty, but I would have had a clear conscience. Having said that, the chances of me ever either seeking or being given that sort of job are less than zero.
The real villains of the piece are, of course, those who advised and implemented the rules, who did have the ability to pull back from the brink. In my opinion, they should have the book thrown at them. Obama has not ruled that out, which is hopeful.
One footnote to this is that the memos were released in response to a request from the American Civil Liberties Union. Our Government could learn from that, rather than spend a fortune on barristers trying to keep documents relating to the use of torture secret.
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Here are some of the things they did:
Imagine being kept, standing up, without sleep for 7.5 days.
I am petrified of wasps and can completely relate to the terror felt by somebody who was kept in a confined space into which an insect was released, and those who put the beastie in there told them it would sting them.
Being slapped, or slammed into a wall.
Waterboarding - not some jolly sport you do on holiday, but a hideous and terrifying form of abuse. I'm not over keen on water at the best of times so even reading about this makes me feel sick. It's important to recognise that this actually happened in the name of the United States. Basically victimes were strapped to a board, with their head tilted back. They then had water poured over them which would basically go down their nose and make them think they were drowning. How awful is that going to be?
I struggle to see what the use of these techniques actually achieves other than reinforcing in the minds of those who hear about it that the US is a bad country with no respect for human rights. It's just so inhumane and wrong and can never, ever be justified.
Even if you take the human rights side out of the equation, how can you rely on information extracted under torture being accurate. If it were me, I'd probably get to the point where I'd tell my abusers what they wanted to hear just to get them make the hell stop.
One of Obama's first acts in office was to stop all this nonsense and make it crystal clear that the practices were unacceptable. Now he's published the memos relating to the practices used. Big tick on both counts.
However, he's said that no action will be taken against those who carried out the abuse, and hasn't taken any yet against those who told the Bush Administration what it wanted to hear, that the use of these torture techniques was legal. This runs the risk of undermining, at least, the good work that Obama has done. Is it good enough to say "this ain't happening on my watch but I can't do anything about the other guy's?"
My instinct is that some sort of action should be taken against everybody involved, that should be proportionate to their role and influence in the process. If I were a CIA operative doing the interrogation and was ordered to do this kind of stuff and told that the Government had been advised that it was legal, I may well have felt powerless to do anything about it. I suspect I would have refused, though, just because I wouldn't have been able to do that to another human being. That would no doubt have had ramifications for my career, or my liberty, but I would have had a clear conscience. Having said that, the chances of me ever either seeking or being given that sort of job are less than zero.
The real villains of the piece are, of course, those who advised and implemented the rules, who did have the ability to pull back from the brink. In my opinion, they should have the book thrown at them. Obama has not ruled that out, which is hopeful.
One footnote to this is that the memos were released in response to a request from the American Civil Liberties Union. Our Government could learn from that, rather than spend a fortune on barristers trying to keep documents relating to the use of torture secret.
LibDig This!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Piers Morgan's Boris Moment
Hat tip to Stephen for pointing out this story highlighting the success of local (to us) woman, Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent. And in case you were wondering, no, she wasn't the stripper I've been complaining about.
Stephen was at my house when the show was on and I think it's fair to say that this woman is a miracle worker. Shutting one of us up is an achievement, stunning two of the biggest gobs in the Scottish Lib Dems if not the Scottish blogosphere into awed silence is probably unprecedented. She didn't look like she was going to have one of the most amazing voices ever seen on one of these shows as she sung "I dream a dream" from Les Miserables.
So from the talented, we go to the ignorant. The same story tells how Piers Morgan took exception to the footage of Susan's home town of Blackburn, describing it as a dump and apparently ordered filming to take place in Bathgate instead. The cheek of the man! West Lothian is one of the best areas to live in the UK as far as I am concerned. It's accessible for Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth and Stirling, has great facilities and lovely surrounding countryside. I think it might be a good idea for him to get his backside up here and have a look round the place for himself before he starts decrying it. It may not be a chocolate box pretty corner of the posh south eastern countryside like the village he comes from but Blackburn and the surrounding area is a good place to live.
Not only that, the area is fairly rich with hidden talent with Kerry McGregor from Pumpherston making it to the X Factor final 12 in 2005, Leon Jackson just down the road in Whitburn winning the X Factor in 2007 and now Susan, who probably tops both of them. Just as an aside, in an addition to the point Stephen made about when the X Factor filmed for Leon, during the final the crowd was gathered in Edinburgh, with Liberal Democrat Lord Provost of Edinburgh talking live to host Dermot O'Leary. Much as I love George, they should definitely have filmed that in West Lothian.
Simon Cowell should send Piers up here, the same way Boris Johnson was made to go to apologise to Liverpool, to make amends for the slur he has cast on us.
And now that my rant is over, sit back and listen to the marvels Susan has to offer have a look here. 2.1 million hits and counting.
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Stephen was at my house when the show was on and I think it's fair to say that this woman is a miracle worker. Shutting one of us up is an achievement, stunning two of the biggest gobs in the Scottish Lib Dems if not the Scottish blogosphere into awed silence is probably unprecedented. She didn't look like she was going to have one of the most amazing voices ever seen on one of these shows as she sung "I dream a dream" from Les Miserables.
So from the talented, we go to the ignorant. The same story tells how Piers Morgan took exception to the footage of Susan's home town of Blackburn, describing it as a dump and apparently ordered filming to take place in Bathgate instead. The cheek of the man! West Lothian is one of the best areas to live in the UK as far as I am concerned. It's accessible for Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth and Stirling, has great facilities and lovely surrounding countryside. I think it might be a good idea for him to get his backside up here and have a look round the place for himself before he starts decrying it. It may not be a chocolate box pretty corner of the posh south eastern countryside like the village he comes from but Blackburn and the surrounding area is a good place to live.
Not only that, the area is fairly rich with hidden talent with Kerry McGregor from Pumpherston making it to the X Factor final 12 in 2005, Leon Jackson just down the road in Whitburn winning the X Factor in 2007 and now Susan, who probably tops both of them. Just as an aside, in an addition to the point Stephen made about when the X Factor filmed for Leon, during the final the crowd was gathered in Edinburgh, with Liberal Democrat Lord Provost of Edinburgh talking live to host Dermot O'Leary. Much as I love George, they should definitely have filmed that in West Lothian.
Simon Cowell should send Piers up here, the same way Boris Johnson was made to go to apologise to Liverpool, to make amends for the slur he has cast on us.
And now that my rant is over, sit back and listen to the marvels Susan has to offer have a look here. 2.1 million hits and counting.
LibDig This!
Lapdancing - does it cause harm?
Costigan Quist has taken issue with a report I referred to in this posting the other day.
My main issue was with reality show Britain's Got Talent including an act at the very end which was to all intents and purposes a striptease - and one which got through the audition stage, too. Children are not normally permitted to view such material. Lapdancing clubs are open to adults only, yet this show brought what I feel is an inappropriate environment for children into our living room. For those who say that it was all good harmless fun and it was after the watershed, well, frankly, I would never have expected a programme which started at 7:45 pm, which is clearly aimed at families to contain such material. It was obvious that children would be watching and given that we were given no warning of what was about to take place, I could hardly get my daughter out of the room before it was shown.
Costigan's issue is with the Lilith Report's evidence about increase in reports of rapes and sexual assaults near lapdancing clubs. I take on board what he's saying that you can't prove cause and effect - but nor can you say that it is insignificant. I don't think you can dispute that these clubs do not help to reinforce the idea that women are equal members of society.
I found this study of lapdancing clubs in Glasgow and London interesting. It has no hesitation in concluding that lapdancing is a part of the sex industry and recommending that there should be much greater regulation of the industry with greater power to local authorities to restrict them.
Of concern was the way in which dancers reported harassment and pressure by both clients and management, and are the fall guys when the authorities discover breaches of conditions, which has also been documented here and powerfully here and here. What is particularly interesting about the last report is that it mentions a study of men in East London who paid for sex and who basically didn't even recognise the women who provided these services as human beings.
As well as all this, the office trip out to the lapdancing club with a client is seen as the norm. I actually know straight, male friends of mine who have felt pressure to participate in this type of outing and if it's bad for them, how on earth must it feel for their female colleagues? Have a read of this account of one woman's experience. I wonder what happened to the colleague who paid for this humiliating experience for her "as a joke."
I think there's enough evidence out there to make the case for proper regulation of lapdancing clubs and a recognition that they are part of the sex industry. I don't think it's healthy or appropriate for them to be seen as mainstream entertainment, either and I hope that the producers of Britain's Got Talent take note.
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My main issue was with reality show Britain's Got Talent including an act at the very end which was to all intents and purposes a striptease - and one which got through the audition stage, too. Children are not normally permitted to view such material. Lapdancing clubs are open to adults only, yet this show brought what I feel is an inappropriate environment for children into our living room. For those who say that it was all good harmless fun and it was after the watershed, well, frankly, I would never have expected a programme which started at 7:45 pm, which is clearly aimed at families to contain such material. It was obvious that children would be watching and given that we were given no warning of what was about to take place, I could hardly get my daughter out of the room before it was shown.
Costigan's issue is with the Lilith Report's evidence about increase in reports of rapes and sexual assaults near lapdancing clubs. I take on board what he's saying that you can't prove cause and effect - but nor can you say that it is insignificant. I don't think you can dispute that these clubs do not help to reinforce the idea that women are equal members of society.
I found this study of lapdancing clubs in Glasgow and London interesting. It has no hesitation in concluding that lapdancing is a part of the sex industry and recommending that there should be much greater regulation of the industry with greater power to local authorities to restrict them.
Of concern was the way in which dancers reported harassment and pressure by both clients and management, and are the fall guys when the authorities discover breaches of conditions, which has also been documented here and powerfully here and here. What is particularly interesting about the last report is that it mentions a study of men in East London who paid for sex and who basically didn't even recognise the women who provided these services as human beings.
As well as all this, the office trip out to the lapdancing club with a client is seen as the norm. I actually know straight, male friends of mine who have felt pressure to participate in this type of outing and if it's bad for them, how on earth must it feel for their female colleagues? Have a read of this account of one woman's experience. I wonder what happened to the colleague who paid for this humiliating experience for her "as a joke."
I think there's enough evidence out there to make the case for proper regulation of lapdancing clubs and a recognition that they are part of the sex industry. I don't think it's healthy or appropriate for them to be seen as mainstream entertainment, either and I hope that the producers of Britain's Got Talent take note.
LibDig This!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Commemoration for Hillsborough and Helicopter crash victims
It would be wrong to let today go by without a mention of two very poignant and sad events which are taking place as I write this:
the memorial service for the victims of the North Sea helicopter crash two weeks ago in Aberdeen
and the 20th anniversary service for the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster. We will all have heard members of their families recount their experiences and memories over the last few days. I listened to one mother on This Morning yesterday tell how she had lost both her daughters on that day.
My thoughts are with the families of all the people who lost their lives in either of these terrible events.
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the memorial service for the victims of the North Sea helicopter crash two weeks ago in Aberdeen
and the 20th anniversary service for the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster. We will all have heard members of their families recount their experiences and memories over the last few days. I listened to one mother on This Morning yesterday tell how she had lost both her daughters on that day.
My thoughts are with the families of all the people who lost their lives in either of these terrible events.
LibDig This!
Brawn, Toyota and Williams vindicated as FIA throw out diffuser appeal
To be honest, I never really expected this to go any other way, but I'm glad to see that the FIA has now ruled that the diffusers used on the Brawn, Toyota and Williams F1 cars are in fact legal. This will no doubt have the complainers, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Renault crying into their beer as they ponder how to make their cars competitive for the Chinese Grand Prix at the weekend.
The sad thing is that, given the huge amount of evidence given to the FIA by highly paid barristers, we will have no more comedy scenes like we saw on the grid in Malaysia where the Toyota mechanics all stood behind their car to stop Martin Brundle copping a glance at their diffuser.
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The sad thing is that, given the huge amount of evidence given to the FIA by highly paid barristers, we will have no more comedy scenes like we saw on the grid in Malaysia where the Toyota mechanics all stood behind their car to stop Martin Brundle copping a glance at their diffuser.
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Home Births "as safe as hospital"
In 1947, my 46 year old grandmother gave birth to my mother at home, safely and without any fuss, as was the norm at that time. These days, the very thought of such an elderly mother giving birth anywhere other than in hospital under strict medical supervision and direction would make most obstetricians produce a litter of kittens.
More than 60 years later, most women in the UK give birth in hospital, many after medical intervention that simply may not have occurred had nature been allowed to take its course at home.
Now a large study has shown that it is as safe to give birth at home as it is in hospital.
Don't worry, I'm not going to go into the gory details, but let's just say that for me, arrival on the maternity ward at first made life more and not less difficult. After several hours of being very relaxed at home, walking around, sending e-mails and comforting the dog, who seemed to realise that something life changing was afoot, I found myself in hospital feeling that I was being put on a conveyor belt, and that my labour was to progress according to the obstetrician's timetable, and not my body's or my baby's. This, after the painstaking completion of a birth plan with my community midwife which outlined how I wanted things to progress as naturally as possible.
The first thing that happened to me was that I was strapped up to a monitor so that the baby's heart could be traced for 15 minutes. That simply had the effect of bringing everything to a complete halt and is still a part of procedure in many hospitals that could be dispensed with. One of the things that helps nature do its work is a relaxed mother - it's much more difficult to get efficient contractions if she is tense and horizontal. The stopping in itself was deemed a bad thing by the medics, who talked about ways in which they could move things on with barely disguised glee with scant reference to an increasingly panicked me.
I decided I was having none of this, however, and found myself somewhere to hide (generally upright) until the people who were talking about intervention with such enthusiasm had gone off shift.
Thankfully, the change of personnel brought a doctor who was unconcerned by some strange rhythms in the baby's heartbeat - said she'd heard it many times before and all was fine, and a midwife who had actually read my birth plan and basically sat with me and talked me through the bad bits in a way that was to me much more effective than any painkiller. Funnily enough, with this sort of attention, I was able to relax and get on with it. If I hadn't had either of those wonderful people, I suspect that the cascade of intervention would have been unstoppable, putting both me and my baby at unnecessary risk.
The important thing about birth is that women need to have much more of a choice than they have hitherto been given. I have friends who have given up on the idea of a home birth simply because of the negativity of the health professionals treating them. Nobody has ever said to me that a midwife has tried to talk them out of planning a highly medicalised birth.
Of course, giving women the sort of birth they want, whether at home or in hospital, means having enough midwives. It's impossible for a midwife dealing with several women in labour at once to give them all the excellent sort of one to one encouragement that I had.
For the first time, we now have evidence gathered from over half a million births, which shows that statistically women are as safe having their babies at home as in hospital. This should inform the future thinking of ministers and those who actually plan the services.
LibDig This!
More than 60 years later, most women in the UK give birth in hospital, many after medical intervention that simply may not have occurred had nature been allowed to take its course at home.
Now a large study has shown that it is as safe to give birth at home as it is in hospital.
Don't worry, I'm not going to go into the gory details, but let's just say that for me, arrival on the maternity ward at first made life more and not less difficult. After several hours of being very relaxed at home, walking around, sending e-mails and comforting the dog, who seemed to realise that something life changing was afoot, I found myself in hospital feeling that I was being put on a conveyor belt, and that my labour was to progress according to the obstetrician's timetable, and not my body's or my baby's. This, after the painstaking completion of a birth plan with my community midwife which outlined how I wanted things to progress as naturally as possible.
The first thing that happened to me was that I was strapped up to a monitor so that the baby's heart could be traced for 15 minutes. That simply had the effect of bringing everything to a complete halt and is still a part of procedure in many hospitals that could be dispensed with. One of the things that helps nature do its work is a relaxed mother - it's much more difficult to get efficient contractions if she is tense and horizontal. The stopping in itself was deemed a bad thing by the medics, who talked about ways in which they could move things on with barely disguised glee with scant reference to an increasingly panicked me.
I decided I was having none of this, however, and found myself somewhere to hide (generally upright) until the people who were talking about intervention with such enthusiasm had gone off shift.
Thankfully, the change of personnel brought a doctor who was unconcerned by some strange rhythms in the baby's heartbeat - said she'd heard it many times before and all was fine, and a midwife who had actually read my birth plan and basically sat with me and talked me through the bad bits in a way that was to me much more effective than any painkiller. Funnily enough, with this sort of attention, I was able to relax and get on with it. If I hadn't had either of those wonderful people, I suspect that the cascade of intervention would have been unstoppable, putting both me and my baby at unnecessary risk.
The important thing about birth is that women need to have much more of a choice than they have hitherto been given. I have friends who have given up on the idea of a home birth simply because of the negativity of the health professionals treating them. Nobody has ever said to me that a midwife has tried to talk them out of planning a highly medicalised birth.
Of course, giving women the sort of birth they want, whether at home or in hospital, means having enough midwives. It's impossible for a midwife dealing with several women in labour at once to give them all the excellent sort of one to one encouragement that I had.
For the first time, we now have evidence gathered from over half a million births, which shows that statistically women are as safe having their babies at home as in hospital. This should inform the future thinking of ministers and those who actually plan the services.
LibDig This!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Draper and McBride the exception rather than the rule
I've now been involved in active politics for over quarter of a century. I've worked with and observed many politicians from all parties whether they be local councillors, backbench parliamentarians or ministers. I've also met activists from all parties who actually get these people elected and try to keep them out of trouble once they're there. And do you know what? I've found that most of the above are decent human beings who want to make people's lives better. There are huge disagreements of philosophy and policy, but most people in my experience are in this game for the right reasons.
Of course I've come across people who don't live up to that ideal in my time, but they are very much in the minority.
That's why it's so depressing to read about the antics of Derek Draper and Damian McBride and their pathetic plan to pollute the blogosphere with innuendo and smear. Their e-mails are full of childish glee at the jape they are planning to pull off. They come across at best as silly boys, at worst as cruel and calculating.
I can't think of one single good thing that the advent of Derek Draper onto the political blogging scene has brought about to be honest. I have no problem having Iain Dale or Guido on my blogroll, because most of the time they write about stuff that either makes you laugh or is worth debating but I wouldn't waste the space for Draper or Labourlist. Guido and Dale engage with fellow bloggers and treat them with respect, most of the time, anyway.
I was way too kind to Draper earlier this year, but the way he behaves, it's like he thinks that people in other parties are actually beneath him. It's almost as though he thinks there's something defective about people who don't agree with his line or his perception of a situaton.
That has always been one of the most annoying things about certain people in the Labour Party, way back to my first experience of them in my student days. Discussion and debate about different ways of doing things was simply not either welcomed or in some cases tolerated. Members of other parties were looked on with a mixture of disdain and pity. If you didn't sign up to the Labour Wimmin's ideas of what feminism was about then you were an apologist for male domination.
Let's not let the Tories entirely off the hook, though. According to Paddy Ashdown's new autobiograpy, serialised in yesterday's Sunday Times, similar dark forces were at work in the Conservative Government prior to the 1992 election.
There are certainly similarities there - a dying Government, running out of steam and ideas, fighting for its political life, facing economic turmoil.
I actually don't think for a minute that Gordon Brown either knew about or was actively involved in this operation. Guido goes on about this Sunday lunch Derek Draper attended at Chequers with McBride. Gordon Brown has made his mistakes both as Chancellor and Prime Minister, but I have enough faith in him as a person that he would have put a stop to this nonsense had he been aware of the extent to which it involved pulling apart people's personal lives.
I don't doubt that there has been some action in Labour circles to try to use blogs to get their point of view out there. Scottish cyberspace has been enlivened, for the better, by entertaining blogs such as A Leaky Chanter whose wicked wit does exactly what it says on the tin - "takes the wind oot of the pipes" of the SNP Government. I don't know if the Chanter has anything official to do with Labour, but it does a good job of deflating the Nats in a humorous way. It may be that if Brown was aware of a Red Rag project, that he thought it was a similar idea.
I hope that now that McBride has gone, and Draper's credibility is basically non existent, that we don't go on and on about this forever. There are many more important thigns which should be dominating the mind of the Government - like making sure people have jobs and homes.
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Of course I've come across people who don't live up to that ideal in my time, but they are very much in the minority.
That's why it's so depressing to read about the antics of Derek Draper and Damian McBride and their pathetic plan to pollute the blogosphere with innuendo and smear. Their e-mails are full of childish glee at the jape they are planning to pull off. They come across at best as silly boys, at worst as cruel and calculating.
I can't think of one single good thing that the advent of Derek Draper onto the political blogging scene has brought about to be honest. I have no problem having Iain Dale or Guido on my blogroll, because most of the time they write about stuff that either makes you laugh or is worth debating but I wouldn't waste the space for Draper or Labourlist. Guido and Dale engage with fellow bloggers and treat them with respect, most of the time, anyway.
I was way too kind to Draper earlier this year, but the way he behaves, it's like he thinks that people in other parties are actually beneath him. It's almost as though he thinks there's something defective about people who don't agree with his line or his perception of a situaton.
That has always been one of the most annoying things about certain people in the Labour Party, way back to my first experience of them in my student days. Discussion and debate about different ways of doing things was simply not either welcomed or in some cases tolerated. Members of other parties were looked on with a mixture of disdain and pity. If you didn't sign up to the Labour Wimmin's ideas of what feminism was about then you were an apologist for male domination.
Let's not let the Tories entirely off the hook, though. According to Paddy Ashdown's new autobiograpy, serialised in yesterday's Sunday Times, similar dark forces were at work in the Conservative Government prior to the 1992 election.
There are certainly similarities there - a dying Government, running out of steam and ideas, fighting for its political life, facing economic turmoil.
I actually don't think for a minute that Gordon Brown either knew about or was actively involved in this operation. Guido goes on about this Sunday lunch Derek Draper attended at Chequers with McBride. Gordon Brown has made his mistakes both as Chancellor and Prime Minister, but I have enough faith in him as a person that he would have put a stop to this nonsense had he been aware of the extent to which it involved pulling apart people's personal lives.
I don't doubt that there has been some action in Labour circles to try to use blogs to get their point of view out there. Scottish cyberspace has been enlivened, for the better, by entertaining blogs such as A Leaky Chanter whose wicked wit does exactly what it says on the tin - "takes the wind oot of the pipes" of the SNP Government. I don't know if the Chanter has anything official to do with Labour, but it does a good job of deflating the Nats in a humorous way. It may be that if Brown was aware of a Red Rag project, that he thought it was a similar idea.
I hope that now that McBride has gone, and Draper's credibility is basically non existent, that we don't go on and on about this forever. There are many more important thigns which should be dominating the mind of the Government - like making sure people have jobs and homes.
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Sunday, April 12, 2009
Eat Chocolate for a Happy, Healthy Baby
I thought Easter Day would be a good day to share with you an article written by my friend Barbara Higham in which she puts the case that eating chocolate during pregnancy may be good for both mother and baby.
On the same site, she has written quite a range of articles covering subjects as diverse as green funerals, Victorian floriography (the language of flowers) iron deficiency in the nursing baby and Easter art for kids and I'd definitely recommend you take some time on the bank holiday to have a look at her work.
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On the same site, she has written quite a range of articles covering subjects as diverse as green funerals, Victorian floriography (the language of flowers) iron deficiency in the nursing baby and Easter art for kids and I'd definitely recommend you take some time on the bank holiday to have a look at her work.
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An Eggstra Easter treat from Jo Swinson MP
Happy Easter to all of you! I'm sure your world is less full of rabbits, chocolate eggs and fluffy chicks than mine is at the moment, but however you are spending your Easter Day, I hope you enjoy it.
I thought you might like to see, courtesy of Lib Dem Voice, the results of Jo Swinson's survey on Easter Egg packaging. Jo has long been campaigning against excess packaging and it appears that she has had some success in persuading manufacturers to celebrate this festival in a more sustainable way.
I hope she'll be able to use her powers of persuasion on Nestle to encourage them to comply with the International Code on the Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes. You can find out information on how they fall short on the excellent Baby Milk Action website.
Jo herself wouldn't, sadly, have been able to consume most of the eggs herself as she has a very severe nut allergy. I wonder if her lucky staff helped her polish them off or, as LDV suggested, Mark Pack got in on the act!
Quick update to point out that this story has been picked up by this site and Jo is described as a Government leader. If only - she'd do a better job than the current incumbents, that's for sure:-)
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I thought you might like to see, courtesy of Lib Dem Voice, the results of Jo Swinson's survey on Easter Egg packaging. Jo has long been campaigning against excess packaging and it appears that she has had some success in persuading manufacturers to celebrate this festival in a more sustainable way.
I hope she'll be able to use her powers of persuasion on Nestle to encourage them to comply with the International Code on the Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes. You can find out information on how they fall short on the excellent Baby Milk Action website.
Jo herself wouldn't, sadly, have been able to consume most of the eggs herself as she has a very severe nut allergy. I wonder if her lucky staff helped her polish them off or, as LDV suggested, Mark Pack got in on the act!
Quick update to point out that this story has been picked up by this site and Jo is described as a Government leader. If only - she'd do a better job than the current incumbents, that's for sure:-)
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Tennant excels in cracking Doctor Who Easter special
There's always a bit of anxiety for me in the build up to a new Doctor Who episode - usually loosely based on the thought that they couldn't possibly top the previous one.
In the fourth season, I don't think there was a single bad episode, although, personally, the Doctor's Daughter was not my favourite. The series ended on a huge high with Stolen Earth and Journey's End, which saw the return of Davros, loads of daleks and all the companions from the new series. The Christmas Special was excellent, too, with just the right amount of sentimentality for the season.
As usual, I needn't have worried. Last night's episode had it all - UNIT, a mad Welsh scientist brilliantly portrayed by Lee Evans, insects who communicate by telepathy, a real prospect that the earth would be reduced to mere sand by wormhole creating swarm of metal stingrays, a flying bus (as Stephen said to me last night, this definitely tops a Ford Anglia) and promises of darkness to come.
Michelle Ryan was given a very two dimensional character to play and she did ok in the role. Lady Christina de Souza will go down in history as the unluckiest woman in the history of Doctor Who, though. At any other time in his life, the Doctor would have welcomed her aboard the TARDIS, but it's too soon after losing Donna and Rose and he sent her on her way. She did get to snog him though, so it's not all bad.
David Tennant showed exactly why he is so bloody good as the Doctor and why we're all going to miss him so much. We have less than two hours screen time of him as the Doctor left. He saved the world, making it all look so easy, making us all laugh along the way, but showed his real talent at the end when the Doctor received a very creepy prediction of the future. You could just see his face and eyes darken. Tennant deals so well with the complexities of the Doctor's character and is equally good at showing light and darkness.
And what of that prediction of the future - that "your song is coming to an end". The Ood said that to him last year and then River Song came along. Could there be some tie in with her at some point? Not sure how they'd work it in, though as she didn't recognise the Tennant incarnation of the Doctor, but she is clearly a significant part of his life and there is promise in that particular story arc for the future.
So now we have to wait until the Autumn for the next part of the Tennant Farewell.
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In the fourth season, I don't think there was a single bad episode, although, personally, the Doctor's Daughter was not my favourite. The series ended on a huge high with Stolen Earth and Journey's End, which saw the return of Davros, loads of daleks and all the companions from the new series. The Christmas Special was excellent, too, with just the right amount of sentimentality for the season.
As usual, I needn't have worried. Last night's episode had it all - UNIT, a mad Welsh scientist brilliantly portrayed by Lee Evans, insects who communicate by telepathy, a real prospect that the earth would be reduced to mere sand by wormhole creating swarm of metal stingrays, a flying bus (as Stephen said to me last night, this definitely tops a Ford Anglia) and promises of darkness to come.
Michelle Ryan was given a very two dimensional character to play and she did ok in the role. Lady Christina de Souza will go down in history as the unluckiest woman in the history of Doctor Who, though. At any other time in his life, the Doctor would have welcomed her aboard the TARDIS, but it's too soon after losing Donna and Rose and he sent her on her way. She did get to snog him though, so it's not all bad.
David Tennant showed exactly why he is so bloody good as the Doctor and why we're all going to miss him so much. We have less than two hours screen time of him as the Doctor left. He saved the world, making it all look so easy, making us all laugh along the way, but showed his real talent at the end when the Doctor received a very creepy prediction of the future. You could just see his face and eyes darken. Tennant deals so well with the complexities of the Doctor's character and is equally good at showing light and darkness.
And what of that prediction of the future - that "your song is coming to an end". The Ood said that to him last year and then River Song came along. Could there be some tie in with her at some point? Not sure how they'd work it in, though as she didn't recognise the Tennant incarnation of the Doctor, but she is clearly a significant part of his life and there is promise in that particular story arc for the future.
So now we have to wait until the Autumn for the next part of the Tennant Farewell.
LibDig This!
Britain's Got Talent Shame - When did stripping become mainstream family entertainment?
I know that I can usually be trusted to watch every reality show known to man, but I've never quite got Britain's Got Talent. My daughter loves it, though, especially the acts that, predictably, involve cute animals.
What I wasn't prepared for in last night's opening show of the new series was the final act they showed. Effectively, the woman gyrating on the stage in red stockings, suspenders and basque with strategically placed Union Jacks round her bum and bosom was a stripper. For all that people use the term "burlesque" to make this sort of activity sound exotic, in the end of the say, it still represents a massive disrespect to women.
I want my daughter to grow up with an idea that there are no barriers to what she can achieve based on her gender. It makes it all the more difficult if her future male partners or employers are being raised on the idea that women are merely there to be men's sexual playthings.
I am halfway through watching a series channel 4 did last week on the effects of pornography on secondary school students' perception of sex. It's very, very scary stuff although it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to work out the effects of the almost universal access to porn on the internet.
Predictably, girls felt pressure to have come up to the image and behaviour of female porn stars. Given that the entire porn industry pretty much is targetted at straight men, then a whole generation of boys is being taught that women are there to perform a subjugated rather than an equal role in a sexual relationship.
Not only that, but the boys who are watching porn will presumably go to work one day. How are they going to respect their female colleagues as equals if they have been brought up to see them as subservient architects of their sexual gratification?
When I was a student, and first got interested in these issues, porn was limited to some dodgy under the counter videos and top shelf magazines and to get anything really explicit you had to go to a sex shop. Now, for most of our kids, it's a few clicks away.
The inclusion of these acts in a family entertainment show brings the seedy world of the lapdancing club into our living rooms. I leave you with some thoughts on why that is not a good idea. If you haven't got time to look at those links, then the edited version is that reports of rape in the vicinity of lapdancing clubs are up by a third and of indecent assault are up by over 50%.
LibDig This!
What I wasn't prepared for in last night's opening show of the new series was the final act they showed. Effectively, the woman gyrating on the stage in red stockings, suspenders and basque with strategically placed Union Jacks round her bum and bosom was a stripper. For all that people use the term "burlesque" to make this sort of activity sound exotic, in the end of the say, it still represents a massive disrespect to women.
I want my daughter to grow up with an idea that there are no barriers to what she can achieve based on her gender. It makes it all the more difficult if her future male partners or employers are being raised on the idea that women are merely there to be men's sexual playthings.
I am halfway through watching a series channel 4 did last week on the effects of pornography on secondary school students' perception of sex. It's very, very scary stuff although it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to work out the effects of the almost universal access to porn on the internet.
Predictably, girls felt pressure to have come up to the image and behaviour of female porn stars. Given that the entire porn industry pretty much is targetted at straight men, then a whole generation of boys is being taught that women are there to perform a subjugated rather than an equal role in a sexual relationship.
Not only that, but the boys who are watching porn will presumably go to work one day. How are they going to respect their female colleagues as equals if they have been brought up to see them as subservient architects of their sexual gratification?
When I was a student, and first got interested in these issues, porn was limited to some dodgy under the counter videos and top shelf magazines and to get anything really explicit you had to go to a sex shop. Now, for most of our kids, it's a few clicks away.
The inclusion of these acts in a family entertainment show brings the seedy world of the lapdancing club into our living rooms. I leave you with some thoughts on why that is not a good idea. If you haven't got time to look at those links, then the edited version is that reports of rape in the vicinity of lapdancing clubs are up by a third and of indecent assault are up by over 50%.
LibDig This!
Lib Dems call for withdrawal of European Baby Bottle Poster
I'm glad to see that the Lib Dems have called for the withdrawal of the EU election poster featuring a baby bottle to represent the family that I blogged about on Friday. The press release from Andrew Duff, leader of the Lib Dems in the EU said:
"In documentation designed to promote the European elections in June this year the European Union has produced postcards which undermine World Health Organisation, UK health guidance and the European Blueprint for Action, all of which promote breastfeeding by associating a baby bottle as an appropriate image of a family.
Andrew Duff MEP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the European Union said: 'This image is not suitable to portray a family, other images could have been used, even a picture of a family. All agencies agree that breatfeeding is the best start for babies, yet this postcard undermines the work of all these organisations.'
Numerous Liberal Democrat campaigners including Sal Brinton, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Watford are supporting Andrew Duff's stance, 'So many organisations have worked so hard to increase breastfeeding rates, it is ridiculous that to promote one election, the European Union have decided to portray the choice between family and work in this way. This advert should be withdrawn.'
Arwen Folkes, Managing Director of Real Baby Milk says: 'The use of this image is thoughtless and careless. Especially when you consider the sterling work that so many professionals and volunteers are currently undertaking. We are all working hard to change negative social perceptions of breastfeeding and to properly inform and support mothers to give human milk to their babies and thereby improve the health of future generations. The use of this image by a body such as the European Union sadly perpetuates the cultural assumption that bottle feeding is the normal way to feed babies. I sincerely hope that it can be withdrawn in time.'"
Those of you on Facebook can show your support for this stance by joining the group Europe - Baby Bottles do not represent the Family
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"In documentation designed to promote the European elections in June this year the European Union has produced postcards which undermine World Health Organisation, UK health guidance and the European Blueprint for Action, all of which promote breastfeeding by associating a baby bottle as an appropriate image of a family.
Andrew Duff MEP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the European Union said: 'This image is not suitable to portray a family, other images could have been used, even a picture of a family. All agencies agree that breatfeeding is the best start for babies, yet this postcard undermines the work of all these organisations.'
Numerous Liberal Democrat campaigners including Sal Brinton, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Watford are supporting Andrew Duff's stance, 'So many organisations have worked so hard to increase breastfeeding rates, it is ridiculous that to promote one election, the European Union have decided to portray the choice between family and work in this way. This advert should be withdrawn.'
Arwen Folkes, Managing Director of Real Baby Milk says: 'The use of this image is thoughtless and careless. Especially when you consider the sterling work that so many professionals and volunteers are currently undertaking. We are all working hard to change negative social perceptions of breastfeeding and to properly inform and support mothers to give human milk to their babies and thereby improve the health of future generations. The use of this image by a body such as the European Union sadly perpetuates the cultural assumption that bottle feeding is the normal way to feed babies. I sincerely hope that it can be withdrawn in time.'"
Those of you on Facebook can show your support for this stance by joining the group Europe - Baby Bottles do not represent the Family
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Saturday, April 11, 2009
David, Catherine, Barrowman, Sunshine, Family and Doctor Who
You'd probably have to take Glandular Fever out of the equation for this to be the perfect day, but it has enough elements for me to be feeling cheerier than for a long time. I'm not even feeling that ill today - which is a huge improvement. Bob and Anna are both at home and we are having a completely chilled out time in the sunshine.
I'd definitely buy a drink for both Jonathan Ross (for taking holiday) and the person at the BBC who decided to get David Tennant and Catherine Tate to sit in for him on Radio 2. They are doing a grand job, even though they have managed to completely slag off Twitter - saying it's sad, but at least they had the good grace to admit they were wrong. They are certainly making the long wait ahead of the new Doctor Who special tonight bearable.
In a way, I don't want the hours to pass too quickly. David Tennant only has 3 stories left and then the best portrayal of the Doctor ever will be over. I don't say that lightly, either. The Doctor has been played, very well, by some fantastic actors, but Tennant has the edge for the way he just seems to pull off, perfectly, everything I like about the Doctor. The way he combines mystery, pathos, humour and compassion in such a plausible way is brilliant. He is the perfect Doctor for his time in the same way that Tom Baker just seemed right as I was growing up in the 70s.
When Baker left, the powers that be chose a much younger, albeit well-established actor in Peter Davison to replace him. He was fine but was rather eclipsed by his predecessor. We will have to see how Matt Smith takes up the challenge next year.
I've had a bit of an Amazon flirtation this morning and bought Party Animals, the drama about Westminster researchers from a couple of years ago, which Matt Smith starred in, along with Bob and Rose, another brilliant Russell T Davies drama.
David Tennant has just announced that John Barrowman will be on the show soon - I think I need smelling salts as I can barely contain my excitement. I may have to go and lie down in a darkened room........
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Celtic Tiger licking its wounds
The Irish economy is suffering even more than most at the moment. It's forecast to contract by a staggering 8% this year. I'm not convinced that the Irish Government's harsh approach to public spending is the right path, particularly when all their neighbours are taking the opposite approach. Time will tell, but it would make sense for the Irish as well as us to be investing in green jobs and infrastructure and try to get their economy on a more sustainable footing for the future.
Two stories relating to Ireland catch my eye at the moment. Apparently we have been overpaying the Irish by a good £135 million in 2007. The Irish Exchequer will be getting 200 million euros less than it expects for 2008, which given the precarious state of their finances, is not helpful. This isn't great news for us either, and we need to look at why our tax and NI system is so over complicated and rubbish that it makes so many mistakes. We all know how so many families are being pursued to repay overpayments of tax credits which were paid to them in error through no fault of their own - and now it seems that over a hundred million pounds has been overpaid to another Government. All this at a department Gordon Brown controlled with his clunking fist for 10 years.
The Irish Government might have been able to bear this shortfall a bit better had it collected the same taxes from foreign artists in Ireland that other countries take off Irish acts on tour on their patch. Apparently if they had implemented these taxes, the Irish Government would have been 200 million Euros richer.
I don't know whether they chose not to - and they had the chance to introduce the legislation to do so as part of the emergency budget this week - to encourage foreign acts to play in Ireland when they would otherwise not have done so, but at first glance it does seem to have lost them money.
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Two stories relating to Ireland catch my eye at the moment. Apparently we have been overpaying the Irish by a good £135 million in 2007. The Irish Exchequer will be getting 200 million euros less than it expects for 2008, which given the precarious state of their finances, is not helpful. This isn't great news for us either, and we need to look at why our tax and NI system is so over complicated and rubbish that it makes so many mistakes. We all know how so many families are being pursued to repay overpayments of tax credits which were paid to them in error through no fault of their own - and now it seems that over a hundred million pounds has been overpaid to another Government. All this at a department Gordon Brown controlled with his clunking fist for 10 years.
The Irish Government might have been able to bear this shortfall a bit better had it collected the same taxes from foreign artists in Ireland that other countries take off Irish acts on tour on their patch. Apparently if they had implemented these taxes, the Irish Government would have been 200 million Euros richer.
I don't know whether they chose not to - and they had the chance to introduce the legislation to do so as part of the emergency budget this week - to encourage foreign acts to play in Ireland when they would otherwise not have done so, but at first glance it does seem to have lost them money.
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Friday, April 10, 2009
EU undermines breastfeeding on Election Poster
I am disappointed to see that the EU is using a baby bottle to illustrate the campaign in the forthcoming elections.
The presentation of this image is a clear violation of The International Code of Breastmilk Substitutes, a Code introduced to protect infant health. The Code provides minimum standards to be implemented in their entirety in all countries to protect breastfeeding and ensure breastmilk substitutes are used safely if they are needed.
According to the World Health Organisation 1.5 million infants die every year because they are not breastfed. While the risks of bottle feeding are greatest in areas of the world with hot climates, lacking refrigeration and adequate fuel to prepare the product safely, breastfeeding reduces the risk of illness in all countries. Even in the UK, a bottle-fed baby is up to ten times more likely to be admitted to hospital with gastro-intestinal illness than a breastfed one.
Using a bottle to represent family life undermines breastfeeding and supports the flagrant disregard for the Code displayed by the formula milk industry.
It is ironic that the EU is claiming to campaign on 'green' issues when bottle feeding is creating an environmental disaster!
I think that the EU should recognise their mistake and withdraw this poster immediately. It is depressing to think that they have totally failed to appreciate its inappropriateness.
I have e-mailed six of the seven Scottish MEPs to raise my concern. If you would like to, you can find them here.
I am not impressed with David Martin who does not provide an e-mail address and in fact the only Scottish contact is a PO Box address in Edinburgh.
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The presentation of this image is a clear violation of The International Code of Breastmilk Substitutes, a Code introduced to protect infant health. The Code provides minimum standards to be implemented in their entirety in all countries to protect breastfeeding and ensure breastmilk substitutes are used safely if they are needed.
According to the World Health Organisation 1.5 million infants die every year because they are not breastfed. While the risks of bottle feeding are greatest in areas of the world with hot climates, lacking refrigeration and adequate fuel to prepare the product safely, breastfeeding reduces the risk of illness in all countries. Even in the UK, a bottle-fed baby is up to ten times more likely to be admitted to hospital with gastro-intestinal illness than a breastfed one.
Using a bottle to represent family life undermines breastfeeding and supports the flagrant disregard for the Code displayed by the formula milk industry.
It is ironic that the EU is claiming to campaign on 'green' issues when bottle feeding is creating an environmental disaster!
I think that the EU should recognise their mistake and withdraw this poster immediately. It is depressing to think that they have totally failed to appreciate its inappropriateness.
I have e-mailed six of the seven Scottish MEPs to raise my concern. If you would like to, you can find them here.
I am not impressed with David Martin who does not provide an e-mail address and in fact the only Scottish contact is a PO Box address in Edinburgh.
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Thursday, April 09, 2009
Kettles heat things up
When I use a kettle, it's to heat water to boiling point.
The Police technique of kettling as a method of crowd control must surely come under scrutiny now. I was quite shocked to read Tom Brake, Lib Dem MP for Carshalton's, account of being kept in a Police "kettle" for five hours without access to food or water. It is important that notice is taken of his views as an independent parliamentary observer.
It scares me that innocent people could be caught up in something like this and it strikes me as inevitable that if this technique continues to be used disproportionately and excessively, then at some point, somebody is going to be trampled, severely injured or worse.
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The Police technique of kettling as a method of crowd control must surely come under scrutiny now. I was quite shocked to read Tom Brake, Lib Dem MP for Carshalton's, account of being kept in a Police "kettle" for five hours without access to food or water. It is important that notice is taken of his views as an independent parliamentary observer.
It scares me that innocent people could be caught up in something like this and it strikes me as inevitable that if this technique continues to be used disproportionately and excessively, then at some point, somebody is going to be trampled, severely injured or worse.
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The trauma of trying to get a GP appointment
I'm not feeling great this morning and need to make an appointment to see my GP. Unfortunately, it's not just a simple question of ringing up and being allocated a time. All appointments are now allocated on the day so you have to be on the phone at 8 am if you want to have a cat in hell's chance of getting to see the GP you want.
The first challenge is actually getting through. If you make the mistake of ringing at one second to eight, you get the out of hours message. If you ring at eight exactly, chances are that you'll get a recorded message saying "Welcome to xyz (and the recorded Stepford Woman pronounces it incorrectly too) Medical Practice. Unfortunately the surgery is experiencing high call volumes. Please call back at a less busy time."
Unfortunately, if you call back at a less busy time, chances are you simply will not get an appointment that day.
So, you keep trying to get through and eventually, you will make it to the next automated level of hell, where they imply that you are still a pain in the arse for trying to call at a busy time, but, nevertheless, they've put you in the queue. If you are really desperately needing to be seen, then the chances of you holding on for 10-15 minutes, getting to the "you are next to be answered" and then inexplicably being cut off seem to rise.
So you try again and go through the whole rigmarole. It may by now be 8.30 am. Once you've got your way to the front of the queue again, having been trying for half an hour, you then get a message saying "if this is a life threatening emergency, please press 5 on your keypad now." If it had been that bad, chances are you wouldn't have made it to hear that message.
On several occasions, after going through all of this, I've been told that there isn't an appointment for me that day and there is simply no alternative but to go through it all again the next day.
To add insult to injury, it's cost me a fortune in the process, as the surgery has an 0844 number so is not covered by most landline deals for included calls. I can live with that, even though one time last year when my husband was very ill, it cost £15 in a month trying to procure the appointments he needed as well as over £30 in prescriptions. We have a landline, though. Many people, particularly the poorest, can't afford it and are charged a fortune to call on their mobiles.
There has to be a more efficient system of ensuring the best use of GP time and making sure that access to the GP is easy and free for the patient. This is something I'm going to raise with my MSP because it's an important principle. It worries me that I might be getting an appointment at the expense of someone who needs it just as much as I do and simply can't afford to stay on the line.
Two things need to happen:
1 GPs need to be banned from using 0844 numbers
2 A more balanced and flexible appointments system needs to be in place.
Ironically, it only took 13 minutes to get through today and I had the choice of the GPs I wanted to see, so I'm off up there at 11.30.
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The first challenge is actually getting through. If you make the mistake of ringing at one second to eight, you get the out of hours message. If you ring at eight exactly, chances are that you'll get a recorded message saying "Welcome to xyz (and the recorded Stepford Woman pronounces it incorrectly too) Medical Practice. Unfortunately the surgery is experiencing high call volumes. Please call back at a less busy time."
Unfortunately, if you call back at a less busy time, chances are you simply will not get an appointment that day.
So, you keep trying to get through and eventually, you will make it to the next automated level of hell, where they imply that you are still a pain in the arse for trying to call at a busy time, but, nevertheless, they've put you in the queue. If you are really desperately needing to be seen, then the chances of you holding on for 10-15 minutes, getting to the "you are next to be answered" and then inexplicably being cut off seem to rise.
So you try again and go through the whole rigmarole. It may by now be 8.30 am. Once you've got your way to the front of the queue again, having been trying for half an hour, you then get a message saying "if this is a life threatening emergency, please press 5 on your keypad now." If it had been that bad, chances are you wouldn't have made it to hear that message.
On several occasions, after going through all of this, I've been told that there isn't an appointment for me that day and there is simply no alternative but to go through it all again the next day.
To add insult to injury, it's cost me a fortune in the process, as the surgery has an 0844 number so is not covered by most landline deals for included calls. I can live with that, even though one time last year when my husband was very ill, it cost £15 in a month trying to procure the appointments he needed as well as over £30 in prescriptions. We have a landline, though. Many people, particularly the poorest, can't afford it and are charged a fortune to call on their mobiles.
There has to be a more efficient system of ensuring the best use of GP time and making sure that access to the GP is easy and free for the patient. This is something I'm going to raise with my MSP because it's an important principle. It worries me that I might be getting an appointment at the expense of someone who needs it just as much as I do and simply can't afford to stay on the line.
Two things need to happen:
1 GPs need to be banned from using 0844 numbers
2 A more balanced and flexible appointments system needs to be in place.
Ironically, it only took 13 minutes to get through today and I had the choice of the GPs I wanted to see, so I'm off up there at 11.30.
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Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Ian Tomlinson - Video shows Police Officer's attack as he walked away
My heart goes out to the family of Ian Tomlinson. To lose someone so suddenly is awful. To do so in the way they have done is so much harder.
Mr Tomlinson was walking home from work last Thursday in the area where G20 protests were taking place. Video footage has now emerged and has been reported in the press.
It shows him a few moments before he collapsed and died of a heart attack. He was walking away from Police with his hands in his pockets when an officer came up and walloped him on the leg with his truncheon. The officer then appeared to lunge forward, which sent Mr Tomlinson flying.
If that wasn't shocking enough, you then see the whole group of officers just stand about while protesters had to rush to Mr Tomlinson's aid. Once he was back on his feet, he walked off and it was further down the street that he collapsed.
We need to have confidence in the agents of the state who are supposed to protect us. This footage raises serious questions about the conduct of the Police last week. There needs to be an enquiry into this and appropriate action taken to ensure that needless tragedies like this do not happen.
I personally don't think there's any excuse for what happened, but it's worth pointing out that it doesn't seem that the situation round about was particularly fraught. I can't see any reason for what looks to me to be an assault on an innocent man which had awful consequences.
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Mr Tomlinson was walking home from work last Thursday in the area where G20 protests were taking place. Video footage has now emerged and has been reported in the press.
It shows him a few moments before he collapsed and died of a heart attack. He was walking away from Police with his hands in his pockets when an officer came up and walloped him on the leg with his truncheon. The officer then appeared to lunge forward, which sent Mr Tomlinson flying.
If that wasn't shocking enough, you then see the whole group of officers just stand about while protesters had to rush to Mr Tomlinson's aid. Once he was back on his feet, he walked off and it was further down the street that he collapsed.
We need to have confidence in the agents of the state who are supposed to protect us. This footage raises serious questions about the conduct of the Police last week. There needs to be an enquiry into this and appropriate action taken to ensure that needless tragedies like this do not happen.
I personally don't think there's any excuse for what happened, but it's worth pointing out that it doesn't seem that the situation round about was particularly fraught. I can't see any reason for what looks to me to be an assault on an innocent man which had awful consequences.
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Tuesday, April 07, 2009
What is your favourite chocolate?
Firstly, I presume that the title of this has attracted the attention of Dr Pack, so hello Mark. There are even some semi-colons in here to keep you happy, although you will probably have issues with how they have been used.
There's so much angst going on at the moment, and I'm still poorly sick and miserable, so I thought that I might try to cheer myself up with the one subject that will guarantee to bring a smile to most faces. Jennie, I know it won't for you, so feel free to add any kind of food that makes you happy.
With Easter coming up, it's probably appropriate to have a bit of a gratuitous chocolate indulgence. It's the only vice I'm allowed at the moment as alcohol is off limits cos of the Glandular Fever.
Anyway, less whinging about my health and down to business. My top ten favourite chocolatey treats are:
1 Green and Black Maya Gold - the bitterness of the dark chocolate with orange, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla through it is just wonderful. My friend Pippa made me a cake with Maya Gold ganache on it for my 40th birthday, which was every bit as heavenly as it sounds;
2 Lindt 70% dark chocolate - an intense, bitter chocolate sensation;
3 Cadbury's Dairy Milk - it has a unique creamy, sweet flavour. Can only be eaten in small doses, but is just right for a mid afternoon pick me up;
4 Divine Mint Dark Chcolate isn't quite the same but is an ethical substitute for After Eights which as a committed Nestle boycotter I can't have;
5 Cadbury's Creme Egg - in case you're wondering, I bite the top off, eat the inside and then enjoy the chocolate;
6 Minstrels - the lovely creamy Galaxy chocolate with a smartie like coating helps me stay off the Smarties and no trip to the cinema would be complete without some. I don't like to crunch them - just let them melt in my mouth;
7 Starbucks Signature hot chocolate. I don't have this very often, but a couple of times a year, Anna and I will nip to Starbucks as part of a shopping trip and enjoy this rich treat with cream on the top;
[Just as an aside, how did I, who hates shopping in almost all its forms (except buying books and DVDs) manage to produce a child who will walk through the soft furnishings department of Marks and Spencer's admiring bedding sets and cushions?]
8 Fry's Chocolate Cream - again dark chocolate (can you detect a theme here?) with a sweet fondanty centre. I used to love it as a child. You used to be able to get one which had 5 centres, but they seem to have stopped doing it - unless you can prove me wrong;
9 Fry's Turkish delight - I loved this one from school - the lovely gelatinous rosewatery Turkish delight covered in milk chocolate. Very good;
10 Cadbury's Wispa - knocks evil Aero into a cocked hat. Nuff said.
So, have a good Easter, everybody, and I hope the Easter Bunny is very generous to you........ Feel free to add your own favourites in the comments below.
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Malcolm Bruce should be on Lib Dem Voice poll of Greatest Orators
Lib Dem Voice is running a poll on who is the greatest living Lib Dem orator. They've given their suggestions but I think they've missed out my particular favourite. I think you would have to go a long way to beat Malcolm Bruce who can be guaranteed to both inspire and make you think. He can do the tub thumping, barnstorming political gags but he also excels at the reflective, compelling advancement of an argument. One of my favourite speeches of his was given at the Scottish Conference in 2008 when he spoke passionately and authoratively almost exclusively about his vision for the future governance of Scotland.
Three years earlier in the run up to our best election performance in a long time, he delivered this.
I think that there are few better at captivating and inspiring their audiences. His speeches are rich with his wide ranging knowledge of history and huge international experience. I've heard him speak many times, whether it's been at Conference or at a much smaller dinner and he's always come up with the goods. I remember a pre election training event a few years ago where he spoke very movingly of the dark forces at work in Europe and how it was so important that liberals were there to stand up for human rights and freedom. He spoke without notes and it's a speech that will never be published, but years on I can still remember it. That's a huge compliment from me given that I usually forget what someone's said within minutes.
If you agree with me, make a comment to the original thread suggesting Malcolm be added to the poll.
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Monday, April 06, 2009
Miriam urges Government to use valuable cord blood
Nick Clegg's wife, Miriam Gonzalez Durantes, has told how it was impossible for her to donate her newborn son's valuable cord blood, which could be used to treat people with such conditions as Leukaemia or for stem cell research to find longer term cures for serious conditions.
I share her frustration that we see this needless waste of something nature has given us for free. All the UK's Governments should be looking at this - expanding cord blood banks can't be that expensive and would surely be ultimately a net gain for the NHS.
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I share her frustration that we see this needless waste of something nature has given us for free. All the UK's Governments should be looking at this - expanding cord blood banks can't be that expensive and would surely be ultimately a net gain for the NHS.
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The many reasons the Government might suspect me of being a terrorist..
I might not be a vegetarian, but that doesn't put me in the clear as far as the Government is concerned. There are plenty things I do that could attract their attention. Helen Duffett has highlighted them all in a brilliant article for Lib Dem Voice.
Back to my dodgy activities:
I have a mobile phone. And, worse, my husband has one for work and a personal one. I reckon, too, if we look hard enough, we'll find an old pay as you go model gathering dust in the back of a drawer, too.
We have a camera - terrorists like to take pictures of things, you know. I personally don't take photos of sewer covers but that's just weird, not a sign of malevolence of purpose:-)
We have a laptop, a desktop and are considering purchasing another laptop. Could our accumulation of technology be used for purposes more sinister than storing music, blogging, Twitter, e-mailing and Club Penguin?
We have a car and I travel occasionally. The Government suggests that someone may be a terrorist if they "travel but is vague about where they are going." I'm worried now. Is it sufficient to say I'm going to see family up north? What about saying I'm going to work? Or "to the shops?"? Should I always tell my friends and family the exact address I'm going to? Maybe we should always make sure the Police know where we're going, and why, just to be on the safe side? That could be an idea for another protest along the lines of the CC all your e-mails to Jacqui Smith day - tell her what you are doing on a particular day, right down to the last detail:-)
To see just how ridiculous the Government's thinking is, the July 7th bombers could legitimately have said to their loved ones that they were off to London for the day when they went off to do their recce several weeks earlier.
What worries me is that the Government is just encouraging people to report things that could mean anything or nothing - it's almost like the horoscopes you see in the daily press, they are so general that all of them could apply to virtually anybody who reads them - and then the Police waste time and energy going on many, many wild goose chases. This obviously distracts them from catching the many actual criminals who are getting away with making people's lives a misery on a daily basis. And, of course, there are certain communities where suspicion will be disproportionately applied. We'll have an unoffical crime of "walking down the street looking like a Muslim." This is wrong, divisive and totally counter productive.
Of course, extra suspicion could, and in fact, if you read the excellent Home Office Watch, has ended up quite seriously. Just imagine the Police catching me taking photos of Edinburgh Castle which, unknown to me, contain footage of a staff entrance. They then work that I went on the Gaza demo. I could end up being banged up, away from my family, for up to 6 weeks, without even being told why just cos they have added 2 and 2 together and made 723.
Don't think it couldn't happen - if a teenager can be held for hours for handing in a mobile phone that he found, or a musician and his family subject to a terrorist raid (woops, better hide Bob's DJ equipment), where will it all end?
The Government's erosion of our civil liberties doesn't actually catch any terrorists and just makes us look stupid. When will they learn?
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Back to my dodgy activities:
I have a mobile phone. And, worse, my husband has one for work and a personal one. I reckon, too, if we look hard enough, we'll find an old pay as you go model gathering dust in the back of a drawer, too.
We have a camera - terrorists like to take pictures of things, you know. I personally don't take photos of sewer covers but that's just weird, not a sign of malevolence of purpose:-)
We have a laptop, a desktop and are considering purchasing another laptop. Could our accumulation of technology be used for purposes more sinister than storing music, blogging, Twitter, e-mailing and Club Penguin?
We have a car and I travel occasionally. The Government suggests that someone may be a terrorist if they "travel but is vague about where they are going." I'm worried now. Is it sufficient to say I'm going to see family up north? What about saying I'm going to work? Or "to the shops?"? Should I always tell my friends and family the exact address I'm going to? Maybe we should always make sure the Police know where we're going, and why, just to be on the safe side? That could be an idea for another protest along the lines of the CC all your e-mails to Jacqui Smith day - tell her what you are doing on a particular day, right down to the last detail:-)
To see just how ridiculous the Government's thinking is, the July 7th bombers could legitimately have said to their loved ones that they were off to London for the day when they went off to do their recce several weeks earlier.
What worries me is that the Government is just encouraging people to report things that could mean anything or nothing - it's almost like the horoscopes you see in the daily press, they are so general that all of them could apply to virtually anybody who reads them - and then the Police waste time and energy going on many, many wild goose chases. This obviously distracts them from catching the many actual criminals who are getting away with making people's lives a misery on a daily basis. And, of course, there are certain communities where suspicion will be disproportionately applied. We'll have an unoffical crime of "walking down the street looking like a Muslim." This is wrong, divisive and totally counter productive.
Of course, extra suspicion could, and in fact, if you read the excellent Home Office Watch, has ended up quite seriously. Just imagine the Police catching me taking photos of Edinburgh Castle which, unknown to me, contain footage of a staff entrance. They then work that I went on the Gaza demo. I could end up being banged up, away from my family, for up to 6 weeks, without even being told why just cos they have added 2 and 2 together and made 723.
Don't think it couldn't happen - if a teenager can be held for hours for handing in a mobile phone that he found, or a musician and his family subject to a terrorist raid (woops, better hide Bob's DJ equipment), where will it all end?
The Government's erosion of our civil liberties doesn't actually catch any terrorists and just makes us look stupid. When will they learn?
LibDig This!
Jenson proves Brawn success not just flash in the pan.
There's always an extra pang of guilt about the Malaysian Grand Prix. The nice shiny modern circuit being "on the edge of the rainforest" does make you worry about all the acres of ecosystem that might have been done away with to create a rich man's playground for his masterpieces of engineering.
That aside, the weekend was truly fabulous and full of drama. I'm loving the qualifying sessions which are going down to the wire this year and keeping us on the edge of our seats until the very last moment. Was it going be Toyota, Red Bull or Brawn which would emerge victorious? It was good to see Brawn show that their initial success in Australia wasn't a flash in the pan by Jenson nabbing poll and Rubens finishing 4th fastest (although he had to take a 5 place drop for having a new gearbox).
Somebody had clearly left the Ferrari crystal ball at home - they stuffed up badly twice during the weekend, most seriously when they didn't send Felipe Massa out to ensure his place in the top 15 at the end of Q1.
That endearing needle between DC and Eddie Jordan continues. There doesn't seem to be any nastiness about it but they are not afraid to speak their minds and contradict each other. I did laugh out loud when DC said at one point "I don't know whether that was rain or whether Eddie spat on me." They argued about Lewis Hamilton, the Vettel/Kubica incident in Australia which saw Vettel losing 10 places on the grid and much more. It's interesting to see the differences in perspective between a former driver and a former team principal, with DC describing how painful team orders can be at times.
Another DC gem came when he asked new Ferrari boss Stefano di Menicale if Kimi was as lazy as he had been when he had been his team-mate at McLaren, never turning up for de-briefs and the like.
The race itself was gripping, despite its premature end due to rain. So many good moments to mention - a brilliant start by Alonso in particular who powered up the field. Button lost ground and ended up in 4th - he spent too long trying to get round the outside of Mark Webber and lost more places as a result.
Mark Webber made some formidable and daring passing moves, most noticeably on Alonso during the race and is one of my stars of the show.
The race was plagued from the outset with the threat of rain with estimates of the deluge ranging from the start to 20 minutes into the race. It actually took nearer an hour for the rain to get completely going with many changes of tyres. Ferrari, bizarrely, put Raikkonen on full wets when the track was still bone dry. However, virtually everybody else got it wrong, coming in for intermediates and then skating around the track before coming in again for full wets on the next lap.
It doesn't rain in Malaysia, it RAINS and it didn't take long for the race to be red flagged just over an hour in as the track turned into a lake. We then were treated to 50 minutes of watching them lined up on the grid, waiting to see if they could get going again. At that point the top 3 were Button, Glock and Heidfeld. However, when they finally announced at the last minute that the race would not continue, that the order was in fact Button, Heidfeld, Glock as they had to go back to the last complete lap. Only half points were awarded, but it's still a satisfying result for Brawn.
Comedy moment of the weekend has to go to the Toyota mechanics, who showed all the pointless paranoia of a British Home Secretary looking for a potential terrorist, who stood round the rear end of their car as it sat on the grid to prevent others seeing their diffuser. It was very funny as they all clustered round to keep the prying eyes of Martin Brundle, doing his best Donal McIntyre impression, from seeing anything he shouldn't.
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That aside, the weekend was truly fabulous and full of drama. I'm loving the qualifying sessions which are going down to the wire this year and keeping us on the edge of our seats until the very last moment. Was it going be Toyota, Red Bull or Brawn which would emerge victorious? It was good to see Brawn show that their initial success in Australia wasn't a flash in the pan by Jenson nabbing poll and Rubens finishing 4th fastest (although he had to take a 5 place drop for having a new gearbox).
Somebody had clearly left the Ferrari crystal ball at home - they stuffed up badly twice during the weekend, most seriously when they didn't send Felipe Massa out to ensure his place in the top 15 at the end of Q1.
That endearing needle between DC and Eddie Jordan continues. There doesn't seem to be any nastiness about it but they are not afraid to speak their minds and contradict each other. I did laugh out loud when DC said at one point "I don't know whether that was rain or whether Eddie spat on me." They argued about Lewis Hamilton, the Vettel/Kubica incident in Australia which saw Vettel losing 10 places on the grid and much more. It's interesting to see the differences in perspective between a former driver and a former team principal, with DC describing how painful team orders can be at times.
Another DC gem came when he asked new Ferrari boss Stefano di Menicale if Kimi was as lazy as he had been when he had been his team-mate at McLaren, never turning up for de-briefs and the like.
The race itself was gripping, despite its premature end due to rain. So many good moments to mention - a brilliant start by Alonso in particular who powered up the field. Button lost ground and ended up in 4th - he spent too long trying to get round the outside of Mark Webber and lost more places as a result.
Mark Webber made some formidable and daring passing moves, most noticeably on Alonso during the race and is one of my stars of the show.
The race was plagued from the outset with the threat of rain with estimates of the deluge ranging from the start to 20 minutes into the race. It actually took nearer an hour for the rain to get completely going with many changes of tyres. Ferrari, bizarrely, put Raikkonen on full wets when the track was still bone dry. However, virtually everybody else got it wrong, coming in for intermediates and then skating around the track before coming in again for full wets on the next lap.
It doesn't rain in Malaysia, it RAINS and it didn't take long for the race to be red flagged just over an hour in as the track turned into a lake. We then were treated to 50 minutes of watching them lined up on the grid, waiting to see if they could get going again. At that point the top 3 were Button, Glock and Heidfeld. However, when they finally announced at the last minute that the race would not continue, that the order was in fact Button, Heidfeld, Glock as they had to go back to the last complete lap. Only half points were awarded, but it's still a satisfying result for Brawn.
Comedy moment of the weekend has to go to the Toyota mechanics, who showed all the pointless paranoia of a British Home Secretary looking for a potential terrorist, who stood round the rear end of their car as it sat on the grid to prevent others seeing their diffuser. It was very funny as they all clustered round to keep the prying eyes of Martin Brundle, doing his best Donal McIntyre impression, from seeing anything he shouldn't.
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Saturday, April 04, 2009
Save us from Stupid Sportsmen
What is it about being horrendously overpaid that can bring out the worst in people?
We've already seen bankers bring the global economy to its knees and now we have F1's Lewis Hamilton and Scottish footballers Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor hitting the headlines for being complete and utter prats.
You would think Hamilton would have been satisfied with fourth place after a dismal start in a, frankly, rubbish car. Instead, he and McLaren senior manager Dave Ryan feed a complete cock and bull story to the Stewards to try to wrest 3rd place from Toyota's Jarno Trulli. Trouble is conversations recorded on Team Radio gave the lie to what they were saying and Lewis was summarily disqualified.
Now, I am as soft as they come and will usually find some way to try to see the other point of view. I can understand that when Lewis got out of the car on Sunday he'd be knackered and shaken after a gruelling race. I also know that he has been with McLaren since he was a wee boy and his natural instinct would be to follow the team's lead. However on this occasion I don't think he has any excuse - what he did was dishonest and unethical as well as terminally stupid. I hope the FIA throws the book at both him and McLaren.
Further down the food chain, we have the matter of Messrs Ferguson and McGregor's wee post match piss-up which seemed to last until the start of the morning training session last Sunday. Not surprisingly, the boss went mad and benched them for Wednesday's match. The two lads thought it would be funny to sit there making not so subtle gestures from the touchline. I have to say that I initially thought that the punishment of a lifetime ban from playing for Scotland was a bit harsh (see, told you I was soft), but their attitude and apologies were so insincere and to my mind self seeking that they deserve everything they get.
Maybe, if they behave themselves in future, apologise in a way that means that they understand how disrespectfully and appallingly they treated the honour of representing their country, then the SFA might rethink, but they deserve everything they get at the moment.
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We've already seen bankers bring the global economy to its knees and now we have F1's Lewis Hamilton and Scottish footballers Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor hitting the headlines for being complete and utter prats.
You would think Hamilton would have been satisfied with fourth place after a dismal start in a, frankly, rubbish car. Instead, he and McLaren senior manager Dave Ryan feed a complete cock and bull story to the Stewards to try to wrest 3rd place from Toyota's Jarno Trulli. Trouble is conversations recorded on Team Radio gave the lie to what they were saying and Lewis was summarily disqualified.
Now, I am as soft as they come and will usually find some way to try to see the other point of view. I can understand that when Lewis got out of the car on Sunday he'd be knackered and shaken after a gruelling race. I also know that he has been with McLaren since he was a wee boy and his natural instinct would be to follow the team's lead. However on this occasion I don't think he has any excuse - what he did was dishonest and unethical as well as terminally stupid. I hope the FIA throws the book at both him and McLaren.
Further down the food chain, we have the matter of Messrs Ferguson and McGregor's wee post match piss-up which seemed to last until the start of the morning training session last Sunday. Not surprisingly, the boss went mad and benched them for Wednesday's match. The two lads thought it would be funny to sit there making not so subtle gestures from the touchline. I have to say that I initially thought that the punishment of a lifetime ban from playing for Scotland was a bit harsh (see, told you I was soft), but their attitude and apologies were so insincere and to my mind self seeking that they deserve everything they get.
Maybe, if they behave themselves in future, apologise in a way that means that they understand how disrespectfully and appallingly they treated the honour of representing their country, then the SFA might rethink, but they deserve everything they get at the moment.
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Saturday, March 28, 2009
So Much to Love about new F1 Season
Ok, it's not the best way of spending hundreds of millions of pounds polluting the environment, but I have always loved Formula 1, always been a Ferrari girl and have had a crush on Martin Brundle forever.
Don't expect to hear much about downforce and grip when I write about F1, by the way - I only talk about such mundane mechanical things when I have to. However, fellow fans Stephen, Malc and Yousuf might wish to get technical when they write about it - and Duncan has even devoted an entire blog to our favourite sport.
Good to see that there is support from across the political blogosphere for the sport - and Yousuf and I are even unashamedly on the same side for a change, both having a bit of a thing for Ferrari. I've backed them since the days of Berger and Alesi - the coolness of Berger and the passion of Alesi were compelling to watch. I cried the day Schuey announced his retirement. I cried again when Massa was pipped at the post at the end of last season.
There's only been a qualifying session so far and already I'm enthralled. It was exciting despite Stephen blabbing the result all over Facebook, which led to me getting told off by my long suffering husband (this was my fault how, exactly?) first thing this morning. Still it all comes down to a scrap in the last 2 minutes.
Anyway, my quick list of things which have me all excited from today:
Brawn GP - not only is this a thoroughly gorgeous looking car, but, boy, can it go. It looks like a cool Summer cocktail and it was proudly wearing its new Virgin logo. Brawn and Branson have performed a miracle - Go Brawn!
Brundle - at his brilliant best. I can't remember what he was talking about but he compared it to being as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. Love him!
Bitching - Let's hope this needle between DC and Eddie Jordan continues. They had three mini scraps - one over the Maclaren when DC said he couldn't see anything wrong with the way the car was handling and Eddie jumped in with how Norbert Haug had called it all sorts of names, once when DC said something nice about former team Red Bull and once at the end when DC got to say I told you so to Eddie. This has potential!
BBC - no adverts. Bliss.
Looking forward to the race tomorrow. Sky + is all set and I won't be coming anywhere near cyberspace till I've watched it.
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Don't expect to hear much about downforce and grip when I write about F1, by the way - I only talk about such mundane mechanical things when I have to. However, fellow fans Stephen, Malc and Yousuf might wish to get technical when they write about it - and Duncan has even devoted an entire blog to our favourite sport.
Good to see that there is support from across the political blogosphere for the sport - and Yousuf and I are even unashamedly on the same side for a change, both having a bit of a thing for Ferrari. I've backed them since the days of Berger and Alesi - the coolness of Berger and the passion of Alesi were compelling to watch. I cried the day Schuey announced his retirement. I cried again when Massa was pipped at the post at the end of last season.
There's only been a qualifying session so far and already I'm enthralled. It was exciting despite Stephen blabbing the result all over Facebook, which led to me getting told off by my long suffering husband (this was my fault how, exactly?) first thing this morning. Still it all comes down to a scrap in the last 2 minutes.
Anyway, my quick list of things which have me all excited from today:
Brawn GP - not only is this a thoroughly gorgeous looking car, but, boy, can it go. It looks like a cool Summer cocktail and it was proudly wearing its new Virgin logo. Brawn and Branson have performed a miracle - Go Brawn!
Brundle - at his brilliant best. I can't remember what he was talking about but he compared it to being as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. Love him!
Bitching - Let's hope this needle between DC and Eddie Jordan continues. They had three mini scraps - one over the Maclaren when DC said he couldn't see anything wrong with the way the car was handling and Eddie jumped in with how Norbert Haug had called it all sorts of names, once when DC said something nice about former team Red Bull and once at the end when DC got to say I told you so to Eddie. This has potential!
BBC - no adverts. Bliss.
Looking forward to the race tomorrow. Sky + is all set and I won't be coming anywhere near cyberspace till I've watched it.
LibDig This!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Russell Brand is a nice guy after all
Russell Brand today has shown his sensitive side in this very genuine, touching and heartfelt tribute to Jade Goody which he put on his blog this morning. I never knew that his mother had Cancer several times during his childhood - and survived them - and Russell's sympathy for Jade's boys is very clear. These gentle and empathetic qualities are not what you would normally expect from the often outrageous comedian and it's good to see this aspect of him.
It's been obvious that people in "showbiz" who actually met Jade, Stephen Fry being another example, were impressed with her. He posted the following on Twitter the day she died:
"Poor, dear Jade. She was a fellow guest on @wossy a year or so back & I warmed to her immensely. All impulsive spirit & smiles. What a life
8:44 AM Mar 22nd from Tweetie
Jade lived life under a magnifiyong glass. Magnifying glasses magnify (obviously) but they distort and they burn.
8:46 AM Mar 22nd from Tweetie
I suppse she was a kind of Princess D from the wrong side of the tracks....
8:47 AM Mar 22nd from Tweetie"
Unfortunately for his trouble he then spent some time responding to some bile from people who disagreed with him. I wonder why people just can't be sympathetic in these circumstances.
These comments from Brand and Fry are worth so much more than the acres of cliched yuck that is coming out of most of the tabloids and celebrity magazines at the moment.
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It's been obvious that people in "showbiz" who actually met Jade, Stephen Fry being another example, were impressed with her. He posted the following on Twitter the day she died:
"Poor, dear Jade. She was a fellow guest on @wossy a year or so back & I warmed to her immensely. All impulsive spirit & smiles. What a life
8:44 AM Mar 22nd from Tweetie
Jade lived life under a magnifiyong glass. Magnifying glasses magnify (obviously) but they distort and they burn.
8:46 AM Mar 22nd from Tweetie
I suppse she was a kind of Princess D from the wrong side of the tracks....
8:47 AM Mar 22nd from Tweetie"
Unfortunately for his trouble he then spent some time responding to some bile from people who disagreed with him. I wonder why people just can't be sympathetic in these circumstances.
These comments from Brand and Fry are worth so much more than the acres of cliched yuck that is coming out of most of the tabloids and celebrity magazines at the moment.
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A couple of things that made me furious this week.
I may be blogging light at the mo, but there are a couple of things I could not let pass.
Firstly, the news yesterday that one in six therapists would attempt to curb homosexual feelings in their patients. Who are these people and why are they allowed to practice? To imply that being attracted to people of the same sex is some sort of defect that can or should be cured is unethical and immoral. End of story.
Secondly, I was horrified to learn via Labour blogger Yousuf of another example of media hypocrisy. It seems that there has been no room in the press to report the conviction of a man who threatened to blow up Glasgow Central Mosque, attended by many of my friends, and behead one Muslim a week, and who is due for sentencing today. I googled this and the most recent thing I could find was this article from February from the Scottish Islamic Foundation website.
Any attempt by anyone to cause harm on the basis of racial or religious hatred is appalling. Compare and contrast the acres of newsprint devoted to any Muslim suspected of taking part in or planning atrocities to the silence on this outrage. I'm grateful to Yousuf for making me aware of this story. Double standards are unfortunately alive and well.....
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Firstly, the news yesterday that one in six therapists would attempt to curb homosexual feelings in their patients. Who are these people and why are they allowed to practice? To imply that being attracted to people of the same sex is some sort of defect that can or should be cured is unethical and immoral. End of story.
Secondly, I was horrified to learn via Labour blogger Yousuf of another example of media hypocrisy. It seems that there has been no room in the press to report the conviction of a man who threatened to blow up Glasgow Central Mosque, attended by many of my friends, and behead one Muslim a week, and who is due for sentencing today. I googled this and the most recent thing I could find was this article from February from the Scottish Islamic Foundation website.
Any attempt by anyone to cause harm on the basis of racial or religious hatred is appalling. Compare and contrast the acres of newsprint devoted to any Muslim suspected of taking part in or planning atrocities to the silence on this outrage. I'm grateful to Yousuf for making me aware of this story. Double standards are unfortunately alive and well.....
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The New Political TV Show Dream Team?
I'm feeling ill and can't go to bed cos the children don't go to school on Friday afternoons in these parts so I've been catching up on some blog reading over the last wee while. I haven't watched last night's Question Time yet, but a brief glance at the overnight Tweets from my insomniac friends indicated that Eric Pickles, MP for Brentwood and Ongar, made a bit of an arse of himself as he attempted to justify having a second home in London when his constituency is just a few miles north of London.
The more he spoke, the bigger the hole he dug for himself. A helpful Lib Dem blogger, Mark Reckons, has kindly posted a verbatim report which you can judge for yourself.
With Pickles' skill at judging the mood of his audience and Christina McKelvie's mastery of her brief demonstrated on a Newsnight Scotland interview last year, lampooned on YouTube by Natwatch, it dawned on me that it might be fun to get these two together on a tv show, Abbott and Portillo style.
The Scottish Futures Trust, for those of you south of the border, was another failed flagship policy of the SNP Government up here, to replace PPP, which nobody, not even their own people obviously, can understand. It's about as defensible as Pickles' second home...
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The more he spoke, the bigger the hole he dug for himself. A helpful Lib Dem blogger, Mark Reckons, has kindly posted a verbatim report which you can judge for yourself.
With Pickles' skill at judging the mood of his audience and Christina McKelvie's mastery of her brief demonstrated on a Newsnight Scotland interview last year, lampooned on YouTube by Natwatch, it dawned on me that it might be fun to get these two together on a tv show, Abbott and Portillo style.
The Scottish Futures Trust, for those of you south of the border, was another failed flagship policy of the SNP Government up here, to replace PPP, which nobody, not even their own people obviously, can understand. It's about as defensible as Pickles' second home...
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Monday, March 23, 2009
Jo Swinson champions Wellbeing
Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire has long argued that we should look not just at how much money our economy produces but how well and how satisfied with their lives our citizens are. She has just been elected Chair of the new All Party Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing Economics. Good luck to her in this new and important role - another area in which we desperately need to get our priorities right.
There's an interesting article in today's Guardian on the subject.
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There's an interesting article in today's Guardian on the subject.
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Stabbings and Vegetarians - Labour's weird sense of what's important.
Following on from yesterday's post about how the Government is keeping track of people who order vegetarian meals on flights as this apparently indicates potential terrorist tendencies, the lovely Dr Pack has made this short film outlining all the dodgy things he does in his life which could arouse the Government's suspicions. I can think of one more - what ideal cover it would be for a potential terrorist to work for a liberal and democratic party so perhaps all Lib Dem staff should be tagged as potentially dangerous. Or maybe all Lib Dem members - and then we are getting into scary territory. It's frightening how quickly paranoia and suspicion could turn sinister.
It also caught my eye today that just shy of 50,000 people have been treated for stab wounds in hospitals in England and Wales alone since Labour came to power in 1997. That's a sum almost equivalent to the population of the town where I live, of actual people who have suffered actual injury. These figures were obtained by Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Paul Holmes.
You barely go through a week without hearing of another family being affected by the tragedy of knife crime. You would think that the Government would have taken more decisive action, putting more Police on the beat in communities, that type of thing, to try to deal with this and reduce the fear that young people have.
Instead, they seem hell bent on wasting money and resources on making up ridiculous databases putting people under suspicion for farcical reasons. It's high time they shook themselves up and got themselves a better sense of persepective.
Priorities, people.
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It also caught my eye today that just shy of 50,000 people have been treated for stab wounds in hospitals in England and Wales alone since Labour came to power in 1997. That's a sum almost equivalent to the population of the town where I live, of actual people who have suffered actual injury. These figures were obtained by Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Paul Holmes.
You barely go through a week without hearing of another family being affected by the tragedy of knife crime. You would think that the Government would have taken more decisive action, putting more Police on the beat in communities, that type of thing, to try to deal with this and reduce the fear that young people have.
Instead, they seem hell bent on wasting money and resources on making up ridiculous databases putting people under suspicion for farcical reasons. It's high time they shook themselves up and got themselves a better sense of persepective.
Priorities, people.
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Sunday, March 22, 2009
Vegetarians as Terror Suspects - has the world gone completely mad?
My husband is one of the most peace loving, reasonable, moderate, kind and generally good people you could ever wish to meet.
Yet the Government might well have him under suspicion for terrorist activities.
Why?
For some reason they have decided that ordering vegetarian food on an aeroplane indicates malevolence of purpose.
Other suspcious indicators include travelling with a foreign born husband or wife - the Queen better watch out then, given that her husband was born in Greece - or making a last minute booking for a flight. Better watch out on the impulsive romantic gestures front, then.
You have to seriously wonder at the mindset of the people who make these things up.
Let's hope they don't send people round to search my food cupboards -they are full of lentils and chick peas. No doubt we'll be under a Control Order in no time....
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Yet the Government might well have him under suspicion for terrorist activities.
Why?
For some reason they have decided that ordering vegetarian food on an aeroplane indicates malevolence of purpose.
Other suspcious indicators include travelling with a foreign born husband or wife - the Queen better watch out then, given that her husband was born in Greece - or making a last minute booking for a flight. Better watch out on the impulsive romantic gestures front, then.
You have to seriously wonder at the mindset of the people who make these things up.
Let's hope they don't send people round to search my food cupboards -they are full of lentils and chick peas. No doubt we'll be under a Control Order in no time....
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A Trip Down Memory Lane for my 500th post
It's taken 2.5 years, but I've managed to chock up half a millennium's worth of posts.
In the style of many US TV series, I thought I'd make this a bit of a flashback episode and remind you of some of my personal favourite postings. So, as they say on Strictly, in no particular order:
The One with Amy and Friends - I want to keep the flag flying for Amy and Friends so if you've missed my previous postings, please, if you can help them, do so.
The One with Granny - It seems appropriate on Mother's Day to remember my lovely Granny - a real, traditional highland granny who I miss so much. She was the subject of one of the very first postings way back in September 2006.
The One that was nominated for a Campaign for Gender Balance award - I found out about the nomination for this posting during the Clegg/Huhne leadership campaign about six months after the event.
The One what made the Golden Dozen
The One where I turned 40 - lovely memories of a happy day.
The Ones where Obama Won - having gone to bed enough times in my life thinking the Free World was safe and waking up to a scary Bush-related future, I refused to believe it until it was official. Stupidly, I decided to live blog the affair despite having to work the next day. Not as stupid as the Bad By-Election Boys in the Glenrothes HQ who stayed up all night and slept on the floor - and drank beer as well, but stupid enough.
The One where we went marching - an account of the Edinburgh protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza in January this year.
The One with Anna's Snow Poem
The One where we won Dunfermline - AGAIN - the blog wasn't born for Willie Rennie's spectacular by-election victory in February 2006 but this is an account of what it's like being in the whirlwind that is an election campaign. This was written mid campaign - but Jim Tolson was duly elected after a long, long night of frustration with the hideous e-counting system on 3rd May.
The One where Bob put up with me for 20 years. I am a lucky girl.
The One with Kate Garraway where she makes a tv documentary about women who breastfeed other's babies.
I love blogging and will continue to inflict my random opinions about life, the universe and Politics. Thanks to all my fellow travellers in the blogsophere who despite being of all political persuasions are generally a friendly bunch. Here's to the next 500!
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In the style of many US TV series, I thought I'd make this a bit of a flashback episode and remind you of some of my personal favourite postings. So, as they say on Strictly, in no particular order:
The One with Amy and Friends - I want to keep the flag flying for Amy and Friends so if you've missed my previous postings, please, if you can help them, do so.
The One with Granny - It seems appropriate on Mother's Day to remember my lovely Granny - a real, traditional highland granny who I miss so much. She was the subject of one of the very first postings way back in September 2006.
The One that was nominated for a Campaign for Gender Balance award - I found out about the nomination for this posting during the Clegg/Huhne leadership campaign about six months after the event.
The One what made the Golden Dozen
The One where I turned 40 - lovely memories of a happy day.
The Ones where Obama Won - having gone to bed enough times in my life thinking the Free World was safe and waking up to a scary Bush-related future, I refused to believe it until it was official. Stupidly, I decided to live blog the affair despite having to work the next day. Not as stupid as the Bad By-Election Boys in the Glenrothes HQ who stayed up all night and slept on the floor - and drank beer as well, but stupid enough.
The One where we went marching - an account of the Edinburgh protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza in January this year.
The One with Anna's Snow Poem
The One where we won Dunfermline - AGAIN - the blog wasn't born for Willie Rennie's spectacular by-election victory in February 2006 but this is an account of what it's like being in the whirlwind that is an election campaign. This was written mid campaign - but Jim Tolson was duly elected after a long, long night of frustration with the hideous e-counting system on 3rd May.
The One where Bob put up with me for 20 years. I am a lucky girl.
The One with Kate Garraway where she makes a tv documentary about women who breastfeed other's babies.
I love blogging and will continue to inflict my random opinions about life, the universe and Politics. Thanks to all my fellow travellers in the blogsophere who despite being of all political persuasions are generally a friendly bunch. Here's to the next 500!
LibDig This!
Of Motherhood and Mother's Day
So the furtive looks between my daughter and her father and conspiratorial stage whispering of the last few days are at an end. At just before 10 this morning, Anna jumped on the bed bearing gifts and a huge pile of cards, many of which she had made herself. She has put so much effort into them - the drawing of the snow leopard family, complete with the little cub stretching out to catch a snowflake, the rainbows, the little chicks, the hearts and kisses, all things she knew would make me smile. Good to see, too, that all these years of having a pencil drawing of Will Young on my fridge have paid off (even though I'm in the huff with him at the mo for saying horrid things about Louis Walsh) as she gave me his new CD. Another gift was the current issue of Doctor Who magazine. You can't say that she doesn't know me well.
My most treasured present is a little pot with a dragonfly on the top and I love you Mummy in her handwriting round the outside. That I will keep forever - and maybe I will put her baby teeth, which the Tooth Fairy has miraculously always returned to me, in it.
But it's not about presents, is it? To me Mother's Day isn't some commercialised piece of nonsense, it's about celebrating how lucky I am to have such a close relationship with my lovely daughter. It was about the twinkle in her eye and the smiles and cuddles and the thought she'd put into everything. I appreciate her every day, but motherhood is worth it's own special day of tribute.
There are those for whom Mother's Day will always be a trial - I'm thinking today about the 3 children in Anna's school whose Mummy died just before Christmas. Also poor Jade Goody - her death in the early hours of today may have even more poignancy because it took place on Mother's Day, but her little boys won't care about that. They will just be devastated that she has gone. Here's hoping that the press act responsibly in the coming days and weeks and leave them alone to grieve.
Mothers who have lost a child through illness or accident will also feel today incredibly acutely. I can't imagine anything worse than anything bad happening to Anna and those women who have lived through that reality deserve all the love and support that we can give them. I can't imagine it's something you would ever get over. I know of two mothers who will be facing that ordeal for the first time today.
Then there are those whose relationships with their own mothers are unhappy - something I know a bit about. I was very lucky in that I bonded with my daughter from the start. From the very second I found out I was pregnant, my instinct was to protect and love her. The first manifestation of that was giving up smoking immediately. When she was born, every single cell in my body had overwhelming love, elation and urge to protect her welded into its DNA. This came automatically. I can't claim any credit at all for it, but I think it laid the foundation for the relationship we have today.
That was not the case in my relationship with my own mother, where I was never aware of the slightest bond between us - in fact I sensed a thinly veiled antipathy from a very early age. I suspect that undiagnosed, unrecognised and untreated Post Natal Depression may have been a factor which had a permanent effect on our relationship. It wasn't her fault, it was just the way it happened. We now have no contact at all, at her instigation. I certainly feel that my life is less stressful for that - it's very exhausting and debilitating being a very obvious disappointment. It's still sad, though, I know that I am far from being the only person in this situation and these occasions can be difficult, with all sorts of feelings of loss and guilt in the mix.
So, as Will blares out of the stereo, and I look forward to an evening cuddled up on the settee watching the Donal on Ice final, I am grateful that history is not repeating itself and hope that Anna and I manage to stay as close as we are now.
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My most treasured present is a little pot with a dragonfly on the top and I love you Mummy in her handwriting round the outside. That I will keep forever - and maybe I will put her baby teeth, which the Tooth Fairy has miraculously always returned to me, in it.
But it's not about presents, is it? To me Mother's Day isn't some commercialised piece of nonsense, it's about celebrating how lucky I am to have such a close relationship with my lovely daughter. It was about the twinkle in her eye and the smiles and cuddles and the thought she'd put into everything. I appreciate her every day, but motherhood is worth it's own special day of tribute.
There are those for whom Mother's Day will always be a trial - I'm thinking today about the 3 children in Anna's school whose Mummy died just before Christmas. Also poor Jade Goody - her death in the early hours of today may have even more poignancy because it took place on Mother's Day, but her little boys won't care about that. They will just be devastated that she has gone. Here's hoping that the press act responsibly in the coming days and weeks and leave them alone to grieve.
Mothers who have lost a child through illness or accident will also feel today incredibly acutely. I can't imagine anything worse than anything bad happening to Anna and those women who have lived through that reality deserve all the love and support that we can give them. I can't imagine it's something you would ever get over. I know of two mothers who will be facing that ordeal for the first time today.
Then there are those whose relationships with their own mothers are unhappy - something I know a bit about. I was very lucky in that I bonded with my daughter from the start. From the very second I found out I was pregnant, my instinct was to protect and love her. The first manifestation of that was giving up smoking immediately. When she was born, every single cell in my body had overwhelming love, elation and urge to protect her welded into its DNA. This came automatically. I can't claim any credit at all for it, but I think it laid the foundation for the relationship we have today.
That was not the case in my relationship with my own mother, where I was never aware of the slightest bond between us - in fact I sensed a thinly veiled antipathy from a very early age. I suspect that undiagnosed, unrecognised and untreated Post Natal Depression may have been a factor which had a permanent effect on our relationship. It wasn't her fault, it was just the way it happened. We now have no contact at all, at her instigation. I certainly feel that my life is less stressful for that - it's very exhausting and debilitating being a very obvious disappointment. It's still sad, though, I know that I am far from being the only person in this situation and these occasions can be difficult, with all sorts of feelings of loss and guilt in the mix.
So, as Will blares out of the stereo, and I look forward to an evening cuddled up on the settee watching the Donal on Ice final, I am grateful that history is not repeating itself and hope that Anna and I manage to stay as close as we are now.
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Thursday, March 19, 2009
Cringing with Pride
I was feeling much better today, and managed to last until lunchtime before collapsing in a heap and needing to go to bed. I was in a very deep sleep that was disturbed by Anna jumping on me and puncturing my unconsciousness with the words "If you don't wake up soon I'll get a wet sponge" when she came in from school.
She then excitedly told me how she had won an award at school for being a "Successful Learner" (it's Scottish Curriculum for Excellence jargon, don't worry about it) for her story writing this week.
It turns out that she was asked to write about "An Embarrassing Moment". Anna is a very private person, unlike me who'll blether about anything. She hates writing about her feelings, especially to people she doesn't really know. So, what did my pragmatic little girl do when confronted with this topic? She decided to tell the world about one of the most embarrassing moments of MY life. I bet that's caused some chuckling in the classroom.
I would tell you what it was, if it didn't involve someone else...........honest!
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She then excitedly told me how she had won an award at school for being a "Successful Learner" (it's Scottish Curriculum for Excellence jargon, don't worry about it) for her story writing this week.
It turns out that she was asked to write about "An Embarrassing Moment". Anna is a very private person, unlike me who'll blether about anything. She hates writing about her feelings, especially to people she doesn't really know. So, what did my pragmatic little girl do when confronted with this topic? She decided to tell the world about one of the most embarrassing moments of MY life. I bet that's caused some chuckling in the classroom.
I would tell you what it was, if it didn't involve someone else...........honest!
LibDig This!
Help Amy and Friends find others with Cockayne Syndrome
A couple of months ago, I randomly found an article about X Factor Judge Louis Walsh getting involved with a children's charity and blogged this thinking that a bit of publicity in the blogosphere for the cause wouldn't be a bad thing.
The Charity concerned, Amy and Friends, was set up by Jayne, mother of 17 year old Amy, who suffers from Cockayne Syndrome. It's a very rare condition which causes premature aging and shortens life expectancy. To give an idea of how rare it is, they are only aware of 18 children and young people in England who currently have this condition. I spoke to Jayne yesterday and she was telling me of some of the progress that has been made in getting the NHS in England to refer newly diagnosed sufferers and their family to the charity.
Jayne has done a huge amount of work in the last 3 years since Amy was diagnosed to find other sufferers and also to bring together the medics who are working to find ways to treat CS across the world. At the moment, there is no treatment available for sufferers in the UK. Jayne has had to take Amy to Boston on several occasions. This is not only extremely expensive but also incredibly stressful for everyone concerned.
Jayne isn't aware of anyone in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland with the condition which is where you, dear reader, come in. Let's see if this interwebby thing can help to raise awareness of the condition and help people access both the most up to date treatment and the help and support of Jayne, Amy and their amazing bunch of friends. Please take time to read Amy's story and pass the charity's details on to anyone you know that they could help.
Jayne is amazing - her tenacity, vision and commitment have enabled her not only to care for Amy but to support others in the last few years, even organising an annual retreat where good fun for the children is combined with detailed information from the international specialists for their parents.
LibDig This!
The Charity concerned, Amy and Friends, was set up by Jayne, mother of 17 year old Amy, who suffers from Cockayne Syndrome. It's a very rare condition which causes premature aging and shortens life expectancy. To give an idea of how rare it is, they are only aware of 18 children and young people in England who currently have this condition. I spoke to Jayne yesterday and she was telling me of some of the progress that has been made in getting the NHS in England to refer newly diagnosed sufferers and their family to the charity.
Jayne has done a huge amount of work in the last 3 years since Amy was diagnosed to find other sufferers and also to bring together the medics who are working to find ways to treat CS across the world. At the moment, there is no treatment available for sufferers in the UK. Jayne has had to take Amy to Boston on several occasions. This is not only extremely expensive but also incredibly stressful for everyone concerned.
Jayne isn't aware of anyone in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland with the condition which is where you, dear reader, come in. Let's see if this interwebby thing can help to raise awareness of the condition and help people access both the most up to date treatment and the help and support of Jayne, Amy and their amazing bunch of friends. Please take time to read Amy's story and pass the charity's details on to anyone you know that they could help.
Jayne is amazing - her tenacity, vision and commitment have enabled her not only to care for Amy but to support others in the last few years, even organising an annual retreat where good fun for the children is combined with detailed information from the international specialists for their parents.
LibDig This!
Is this how you want your taxes to be spent?
These are difficult financial times, for sure. If you were James Purnell, and your hands were on the purse strings of the Department of Work and Pensions, which of the following would you think is the most deserving use of public resources?
a) Sorting out the diabolical mess that is the CSA
b) Making sure that JobCentrePlus and the Benefit Delivery Centres can cope with the new applications for benefit that are flooding in now that here are 2 million unemployed - and in my experience they can't, nor do the staff seem to have much understanding of recent rule changes
c) Providing more help for people to access and apply for jobs, and training
d) Restoring the link between pensions and earnings
e) This
Ok, so in Government spending terms, this is the equivalent of the likes of us going to the toilet in Waverley Station, but my Granny always used to say that if you looked after the pennies, the pounds would take care of themselves. I'm sure that this waste of money is only one of many examples of scarce resources that could be better spent.
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a) Sorting out the diabolical mess that is the CSA
b) Making sure that JobCentrePlus and the Benefit Delivery Centres can cope with the new applications for benefit that are flooding in now that here are 2 million unemployed - and in my experience they can't, nor do the staff seem to have much understanding of recent rule changes
c) Providing more help for people to access and apply for jobs, and training
d) Restoring the link between pensions and earnings
e) This
Ok, so in Government spending terms, this is the equivalent of the likes of us going to the toilet in Waverley Station, but my Granny always used to say that if you looked after the pennies, the pounds would take care of themselves. I'm sure that this waste of money is only one of many examples of scarce resources that could be better spent.
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The Wicked Witch of West Fife
Jennie's done it again and found me something else to play with during my enforced rest.
Create your own FACEinHOLE
The musical Wicked is my favourite thing of the moment and I'm listening to Idina Menzel belting out Defying Gravity as I type this.
And no doubt the image will give my friends something to laugh about - one in particular has been referring to me openly as the Wicked Witch of West Fife for years. Note to self, get some better quality friends:-)
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Create your own FACEinHOLE
The musical Wicked is my favourite thing of the moment and I'm listening to Idina Menzel belting out Defying Gravity as I type this.
And no doubt the image will give my friends something to laugh about - one in particular has been referring to me openly as the Wicked Witch of West Fife for years. Note to self, get some better quality friends:-)
LibDig This!
Monday, March 16, 2009
An interesting lesson in human biology
You just have to hand it to Jennie for enlivening the internet - and don't just think it's the twitterverse, she's got Facebook and the Blogosphere working on this too - with a perfect quest for a boring Monday afternoon. I'm not feeling particularly well today and it cheered me up.
Anyway, Scotland being what it is in terms of scientific and medical research and advancement, I thought I'd widen the net to see if anyone has some, er, hard info that they would like to share.
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Anyway, Scotland being what it is in terms of scientific and medical research and advancement, I thought I'd widen the net to see if anyone has some, er, hard info that they would like to share.
LibDig This!
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