Category Archives: Viewpoint

Ed Miliband is concerned about immigrant workers; he should also worry about large, wealthy families and dwindling resources

Rick of Flip Chart Fairy Tales has written a very thoughtful piece about Ed Miliband’s recent speech on ‘ordinary’ people’s concerns around so-called immigrant workers.  Miliband and Rick are both absolutely right that this needs to be discussed; and also correct that … Continue reading

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H.M.Government e-petition on FGM rejected

A number of us recently co-identifed as sharing very serious concerns about the continuing nightmarishly high levels of female genital mutilation (FGM or ‘cutting’) in the UK.  We therefore set about lobbying as citizens to ensure everything possible is done to bring … Continue reading

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Campaigning will shift the climate, to end FGM in Britain

FGM (female genital mutilation or ‘cutting’) is embarrassing for us in the mainstream of British life even to consider; but it’s excruciating and debilitating for its young victims. This is one topic where grown-up people must not permit their queasiness to over-rule … Continue reading

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Age-related sexism: women candidates for council, mayor and commissioner elections?

Age-related sexism is a real obstacle to progress in getting more women to the political frontline, and it’s well time that political parties began to realise that and act upon it. The repeated failure in the UK and beyond to achieve more women … Continue reading

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FGM is a universal horror, including in Britain

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a truly dreadful topic, and we all wish there was no reason, ever, to consider it.  But there is. Whilst we in the UK see endless (and correct) concern for upholding the human rights of alleged dangerous extremists such as … Continue reading

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Regional pay: how to increase the North-South divide and weaken the ConDem coalition?

As anticipated following Chancellor George Osborne’s budget, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has now declared that ‘regional’ pay for health workers is on the agenda. Needless to say, those in the South-East will earn more under this arrangement than colleagues further North.  … Continue reading

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Government ‘incompetent’? Not when it comes to DE-governance…

Increasingly, we read that the present UK government is ‘incompetent’.   But I’d suggest the Government is ‘only’ incompetent in things it reckons are fundamentally unimportant for the longer-term. David Cameron may make the occasional attempt to appear cuddly but George … Continue reading

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Personal politics; when moralising replaces civic responsibility

The big issues in UK politics are how the Government is destroying public services, in favour of provision for which it is absolutely not responsible.  De-governance as quickly as possible is the route our Conservative-dominated political leadership has chosen. The increasing interference … Continue reading

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David ‘Two Brains’ Willetts blames women for two-brains families

Well done to the Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts, for speaking out on climate change; he emphasises today (The Times, 25 February 2012) that ‘something real is happening’ when the ice cap starts to melt. But did the man … Continue reading

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Britain’s railways are the worst in Europe for fares, efficiency and comfort.

Britain’s railways have been judged worst for fares, efficiency and comfort in a study of rail services in Europe.    It is estimated that the social, economic and environmental benefits of achieving a modal shift from road to rail – in terms of reduced … Continue reading

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Smacking is NEVER the answer; violence begets only violence

David Lammy MP is reported to believe that working class people should be allowed to smack their children within ‘reasonable’ limits.   Whether he also believes that (in the public perception?) banning the physical chastisement of children helped fuel the 2011 Summer … Continue reading

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CSA charges: the ConDems punish women and children, and shield men (again)

The ConDem administration doesn’t just disregard women; it evidently wants to put them firmly back under the control, however odious, of men. How else can we explain the intention as an element of the Welfare Reform Bill that single parents … Continue reading

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Disabling the already disabled: the sham(e) that is the ConDems (& a Petition)

If you haven’t experienced serious illness or longer-term disability you really do need to make the effort, right now, to imagine what that might feel like close up.  That’s what I hope to help you do, in this post. Having such … Continue reading

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The Economist: On one page, Havel and the Dalai Lama; on the next, Gingrich, Paul and Romney

The final Economist magazine of 2011 provokes complex responses for many, I’d think.  Pages 27-29 offer a painstaking obituary of the former Czech President, Vaclav Havel (1936-2011).  The following pages, 30-31, provide an analysis of the US presidential prospects of Republican … Continue reading

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Women under threat world-wide (still); demand action now.

The personal is, really is, political.  So when will modern political leaders (almost all male) wake up and begin, properly,  and resolutely, to protect the basic human rights of people (mostly women) who remain in fear of their lives and physical … Continue reading

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