Domestic violence policy a ‘war on men’ says Tory
A TORY councillor has vowed not to campaign for his party until it reverses a policy designed to combat domestic violence.
Portsmouth City Councillor James Williams (pictured) announced he will not work for the Tories outside his own Nelson ward unless it withdraws the new ‘Go’ orders.
The orders give senior police officers on-the-spot rights to remove men suspected of committing acts of domestic abuse from their homes for 48 hours. Courts can then extend that to two weeks.
The policy was designed by the last Labour government, but is now being piloted in three areas of the UK by Home Secretary Theresa May. There is no equivalent policy aimed at women. Cllr Williams says the orders challenge freedom and are part of a feminist war on men.
‘As an elected Conservative councillor, I am ashamed Theresa May has chosen to adopt totalitarian methods in the ongoing war against men by the feminist movement,’ he said.
via Cath Elliott
Update: It’s worth pointing out that the policy in domestic violence control orders, which the Cllr is complaining about, doesn’t just apply to men. It applies to whoever is the victim of domestic violence.
How Germany is reaping the rewards of bailing out its workers than banks
When the biggest global recession in decades kicked in, Germany was able to weather the storm and recover much quicker and better than Britain, the US, or any other major Western economy.
Between 2000 and 2007, unemployment in Britain was never any higher than 5.5% (see this) while, in the same period, the German figures were regularly double that rate – between 8 and 10 per cent (see this).
But over the last two years UK unemployment has overtaken Germany’s at a hair-raising pace. While our jobless rate is now tickling 8%, in Germany it decreased to 7.3% at the start of 2010 and then further lowered to 6.7% in October – again, its best figures since reunification.
continue reading… »
Lawyer telling Assange not to return to Sweden
In an interview with Sir David Frost on Al-Jazeera yesterday, Julian Assange said his lawyers had advised him that staying in the UK was much safer.
He said he wanted to avoid going to Sweden because it was more “dangerous” than the UK for his personal safety.
Sir David Frost: “Do you fear that you will end up in an American jail?”
Julian Assange: “That’s a problem. My lawyers certainly feel that I will end up in an American jail – directly through extradition from here or extradition from Sweden.”
Frost: “Which would be more dangerous to you?… Are you equally vulnerable from either?”
Assange: “The advice from my lawyers is that Sweden is much more dangerous… because there is political… the way these extradition treaties are done, there is usually an exemption for political reasons. You don’t have to extradite someone if it’s a political issue. Espionage is the classical political offence.”
Many say that Assange is more at risk in the UK than Sweden because of their individual treaties with the US.
But the view in the Assange camp seems to be that Sweden is under much more political pressure than the UK (where politicians have said surprisingly very little about WikiLeaks).
Assange also defended WikiLeaks against accusations that it was harming people.
We have a 4 year publishing history. During that time we have published millions of documents.
…
There is not a single incident of anyone being physically harmed by what we’ve done. There’s not even a single incident of a government alleging that we have – not even the Pentagon alleged that.In fact the Pentagon admits it cannnot find a single incident of anyone being harmed.
Full interview below
In related news, the UN representative for freedom of opinion and expression told Australian media yesterday that he didn’t think that the US government would be able to make a case against Julian Assange.
But he warned it would set a very bad example for free speech if it did take action against him.
Interviewer: “The US Government seems pretty determined to find some way of charging Julian Assange. Who do you think is going to win this battle?”
UN representative: “I will hope certainly that the principle of freedom of expression is the one that prevails because I believe that even if the US feels embarrassed it will be a bad example if anyone is harassed or charged or prosecuted for that.”
Exclusive: US clashed with Pope over GMOs & population growth
contribution by Eamonn Dwyer
A secret diplomatic cable from Miguel Díaz, the US Ambassador to the Vatican, has revealed the US sees population growth as a major cause of climate change.
The dispatch, released by the whistleblower website Wikileaks, criticises the Vatican for arguing “unsustainable lifestyles in developed countries–and not population growth worldwide–is to blame for global warming.”
Diaz goes on to lament that ‘the Vatican will continue to oppose aggressive population control measures to fight hunger or global warming.’
The cable does not elaborate on what these ‘aggressive’ measures would be.
In a wide-ranging cable on the Pope’s views on the environment, Diaz offers a withering summary of the Vatican’s solution to climate change.
“The Pope’s proposal to curb environmental degradation is for people everywhere to reject excessive materialism and consumerism.”
Diaz notes that the Vatican is finding it increasingly difficult to avoid the population growth question.
“Until recently, Vatican officials often noted that the countries that released most of the greenhouse gases were not the world’s most populous. As China and India industrialize and release more greenhouse gases, however, the Vatican may find it more difficult to blame climate change on lifestyles only.”
The cable appears to be at odds with official US Government policy, which seeks to combat climate change through green energy, technology and carbon trading schemes. The reference to ‘aggressive population control measures’ is potentially embarrassing for the Obama administration, as 51% of Americans identify themselves as ‘pro-life‘.
The cable also reveals the US has been lobbying the Vatican to promote Genetically Modified Crops (GMOs).
While it believes the Vatican is ‘quietly supportive’ of GMOs, it attacks local church leaders for speaking out against them for ‘ideological reasons or ignorance’.
Revealing concerns about ‘global food security’, Diaz says the US ‘will continue to lobby the Vatican to speak up in favor of GMOs, in the hope that a louder voice in Rome will encourage individual Church leaders elsewhere to reconsider their critical views.’
Do accusations of conspiracy against Julian Assange stand up?
Acres of trees have been sacrificed to discuss the case regarding Julian Assange and the allegations made by two women.
It has attracted accusations of being politically motivated and being littered with administration errors that point to a conspiracy against the WikiLeaks founder.
Do the accusations stand up? Since the media isn’t doing their job, we’ve decided to take a stab.
continue reading… »
Government approval falls to lowest yet (-19%)
Government approval has followed a distinctly downward trajectory of late, and last night it fell to its lowest yet, at -19%.
The daily YouGov tracker found approval at 33% and disapproval of the government at 52%. The latest revelations around Vince Cable aren’t likely to help either.
The latest poll ratings were: Con 40%, Labour 42%, Libdem 9%.
Yesterday’s borrowing figures show why the cuts are wrong
In light of yesterday’s public borrowing figures, it might be time to start worrying about Emergency Budget II.
I’ve argued that a policy based on cutting the deficit through cutting spending won’t work – to quote John Maynard Keynes – “you can’t balance the budget through measures which reduce the national income”. Now it seems to be coming true.
continue reading… »
More Libdems say Tory policies are a mess
The Telegraph has more revelations today of what LibDem ministers really think of the Coalition.
Ed Davey warns that the government’s changes to housing benefit would “put people below the breadline”, something which he calls “deeply unacceptable”.
continue reading… »
Cable also “declared war” on Murdoch
Robert Peston has the scoop today that there were more remarks by Vince Cable that the Telegraph had not reported.
He says the remarks were passed to him after the Telegraph did not disclose them.
In the sting, Cable also said:
I am picking my fights, some of which you may have seen, some of which you may haven’t seen.
And I don’t know if you have been following what has been happening with the Murdoch press, where I have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we are going to win.
He then added:
Cable: Well I did not politicise it, because it is a legal question But he [Mr Murdoch] is trying to take over BSkyB – you probably know that.”
Telegraph reporter: “I know vaguely.”
Cable: “With considerably enhanced…”
Telegraph reporter: “I always thought that he had BSkyB with Sky anyway?”
Cable: “No, he has minority shares and he wants a majority – and a majority control would give them a massive stake. I have blocked it using the powers that I have got and they are legal powers that I have got. I can’t politicise it but from the people that know what is happening this is a big, big thing. His whole empire is now under attack… So there are things like that we do in government, that we can’t do… all we can do in opposition is protest.
Bloody hell. Now Cameron really is stuck between a rock and a hard place: either annoying Murdoch or annoying Libdems.
Utterly brilliant.
Topple the government? Sorry Vince, that’s the SWP’s job
Vince Cable was branded a ‘Marxist’ after taking a tokenistic pop at the City in his last Lib Dem conference speech, and it seems this entirely unwarranted praise has gone to his head. Now he thinks he can bring the government down.
No Winter Palaces will require storming in this instance, though. It will be enough for the business secretary to stomp out of the cabinet in a hissy fit and bingo, the coalition will collapse, he told undercover Torygraph reporters, who taped the comments. He might soon find that, as the saying goes, no-one is indispensible.
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» Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote
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» Violence in the office
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