PCC: general press homophobia is allowed
Unbelievable. A ruling by the PCC on another case involving Richard Littlejohn essentially says they can’t do anything about general homophobia in the press.
On 23rd November Richard Littlejohn wrote:
When I went to Sunday school, a million years ago, we were taught to love our neighbour. I don’t recall ever being told that we should take an ‘eye for an eye’ literally. Or that the punishment for homosexuality was death.
Aged six, we didn’t even know what homosexuality was, even though we’d been warned to steer clear of that chap who was always hanging round the swimming pool.
This is typical of Littlejohn of course. Three people chose to complain to the Press Complaints Commission over the article.
Their response (via Tabloid Watch)
The complainants were concerned that the article implied that homosexual individuals were paedophiles.
The Commission acknowledged the complainants’ concerns that the columnist had equated homosexuality with paedophilia. However, while the terms of Clause 12 (Discrimination) prevent newspapers from making prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual’s sexual orientation, it does not cover generalised remarks about groups or categories of people.
Given that the complainants were concerned that the article discriminated against homosexual individuals in general, the Commission could not establish a breach of Clause 12 (Discrimination) of the Editors’ Code of Practice on these grounds.
You can be as homophobic / bigoted about people as you want in our national press. The industry self-regulator won’t even tell you off.
Andy B: MPs should have just one vote
In an interview published today with the Guardian’s Andrew Sparrow, Labour shadow minister Andy Burnham says Labour MPs should have only one vote in the leadership election.
He calls for a full “one member, one vote” electoral system for future leadership contests.
He is the first MP to call for MPs to lose their special privilege since the election of Ed Miliband.
If all ‘one member one vote’ was in operation before the Labour leadership election, Ed Miliband would have still won the leadership battle.
Burnham said he would like to see a system similar to the one used by the Conservative party, with MPs in charge of selecting a shortlist of candidates, but the leader being chosen in a “one member, one vote” election involving the entire party.
Burnham told Andrew Sparrow he wanted the electoral college abolished system abolished. Ed Miliband has tasked Peter Hain to conduct a review of how Labour elects leaders.
I know how let down Libdems must feel
contribution by Cllr Bob Piper
Ed Miliband’s appeal for those Liberal Democrats dismayed by the coalition with the Conservatives may attract some waverers, but I doubt it will lead to the complete demise of the Lib Dems that some people are predicting.
Personally I have a sympathy with those on the radical wing of the Lib Dems who feel betrayed by Clegg, Alexander and co. They will have spent years listening to their leaders in opposition decrying “the two main parties” and promising nirvana if only they were in power.
continue reading… »
49 universities are or were under occupation
contribution by Patrick Kingsley
Some people have been wondering which universities and colleges have been in occupation recently. I visited a few last week, and on my travels I heard mentions of at least 45 others – a list which I’ve posted randomly below.
Disclaimer: I haven’t verified them all, and many of them aren’t in occupation any longer.
Do email me (or post below) if there are any glaring errors or omissions. The Edinburgh occupation has got an updated list of the still ongoing occupations with their websites and Twitter feeds.
Provisional list
1) UCL
2) Warwick
3) UWE – ongoing 11/12/10
4) Oxford
5) Essex
6) Edinburgh – ongoing 11/12/10
7) SOAS – [now finished]
8 Cambridge
9) Southampton
10) Lancaster
11) Nottingham
12) Sheffield – ongoing 11/12/10
13) Glasgow
14) UEL – ongoing 11/12/10
15) London Southbank
16) Roehampton
16) Royal Holloway
17) Cardiff
18) Durham
19) Newcastle – ongoing 11/12/10
20) Bradford
21) Leominster
22) Dursley
23) Winchester
24) Hastings
25) Strathclyde
26) Loughborough
27) Kent
28) Leeds – ongoing 11/12/10, with Leeds Met
29) Leeds Met – ongoing 11/12/10, with Leeds
30) Manchester Met – ongoing 11/12/10
31) Manchester – ongoing 11/12/10
32) Plymouth – ongoing 11/12/10
33) Birmingham
34) Sussex
35) London Met
36) Camden School for Girls
37) Slade
38) LSE
39) Goldsmiths – ongoing 11/12/10
40) UEA – ongoing 11/12/10
41) Camberwell – ongoing 11/12/10
42) Exeter – ongoing 11/12/10
43) Bristol – ongoing 11/12/10
44) York – ongoing 11/12/10
45) Falmouth – ongoing 11/12/10
46) Bath Spa
47) Hull
48) Aberystwyth
49) Birkbeck [now finished]
—
Patrick Kingsley is a freelance writer, reporter, and regular contributor to the Guardian.
John Pilger shames himself by attacking feminists over Julian Assange
In many respects I’m rather loathed to call too much attention to John Pilger’s truly dreadful commentary on Sweden’s efforts to extradite Julian Assange from the UK.
Pilger is easily one of the greatest investigative journalists and documentary film-makers of the modern era. One cannot, therefore, be anything other than saddened by the all-too-obvious decline in his powers of observation and objectivity evident is his article this week for the New Statesman.
It amounts to little more than a stream of mendacious ad hominem attacks on anyone who dares to suggest that Assange should be required to answer the allegations laid against him in a court of law.
continue reading… »
Labour voters switch to supporting AV in poll
Results of a new ICM poll for the Electoral Reform Society, published in today’s Independent, show that the campaign to switch to Alternative Vote system is gaining strength.
It found that 56% of people favour the alternative vote (AV), in which voters rank candidates in order of preference, while only 44% want to retain the current FPTP system.
There is clear age divide in preferences. AV is backed by 61% of 18-24 year-olds and 75% of 25-34 year-olds.
But 52% of 55-64 year-olds and 57% of those aged 65 and over want to stick with FPTP.
The problem for the ‘Yes to Fairer Votes‘ campaign is that younger voters are less likely to go out and vote on election day.
There is also a divide by party preference, with Labour voters now mostly for AV.
Conservatives oppose change by a margin of 63% to 37% and Libdems endorse AV by 87% to 13%.
Self-identified Labour voters backed a switch to AV by 60% to 40%.
Previous polls by YouGov have shown that Labour voters were opposed to AV by a small margin. Perhaps the launch of the Labour Yes campaign has changed some minds.
A poll by ICM earlier in December showed similar trends on electoral reform.
Why Labour was right to reject Bob’s drug policy
Bob Ainsworth MP was in the news yesterday, calling for the decriminalisation of drugs. Good for him.
I say this, not because I agree with him (I don’t), but because this intelligent intervention is exactly what you would like from ex-ministers no longer burdened with concerns like getting the party they are a part of re-elected. No politician suggests decriminalising all drugs out of excesive concern for their future political prospects.
That said, if I were in Ed Miliband’s office, I would have drafted exactly the same statement that they issued.
continue reading… »
Consumer confidence falls to a 20-month low
Consumer confidence fell to a 20-month low during November as people became increasingly pessimistic about the future of the economy, research shows.
Nationwide said its expectations index, which measures people’s optimism towards the economic situation in six months’ time, dived by nine points during the month to 61, its lowest level since March 2009 and more than 50 down on where it stood in November last year.
The fall was driven by a nine-point jump in the number of people who think the economy will be worse in six months’ time than it is today, while there was also an 8% fall in the proportion of people who think there will be many or some jobs available.
But consumers are also pessimistic about the current economic situation, with 69% of people saying they think it is bad, 5% more than during October. The number of people who believe there are not many jobs available also rose by 6% to 64%.
IFS: Child Poverty to rise due to Coalition plans
Between 2010–11 and 2013–14 average incomes are forecast to stagnate and both absolute and relative poverty among children and working-age adults are expected to rise, according to projections published today by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The IFS researchers forecast absolute and relative income poverty amongst children and working-age adults for each year to 2013–14, using a static tax and benefit micro-simulation model combined with official macroeconomic and demographic forecasts, taking into account current government policy.
They also forecast poverty under a scenario where the coalition Government simply implemented the plans for the tax and benefit system it inherited from the previous administration.
In more detail, they say:
• Median income, and therefore the relative poverty line, will fall in real terms, driven by the fall in real earnings;
• Absolute poverty amongst children will be roughly constant and that amongst working-age parents will fall by around 100,000, but absolute poverty among working-age adults without children will rise by about 400,000 until next year
• Poverty among working-age adults without children will continue rising, by about 300,000 and 200,000 for absolute and relative poverty respectively.
• The Government’s tax and benefit reforms act to increase relative poverty in 2012–13 amongst each of children, working-age parents and working age adults without children by about 100,000, and increase absolute poverty in 2012-13 by about 200,000 children, about 100,000 working age parents and about 100,000 working-age adults without children. This finding is at odds with the Government’s claim in the 2010 Spending Review that its reforms will have no measurable impact on child poverty in 2012–13.
Poverty beyond 2013–14 is likely to be affected by the Universal Credit, and future work will forecast poverty to the end of this Parliament when the Government publishes its Welfare Reform Bill.
The full report will be published tomorrow morning at a briefing.
Another key Coalition claim destroyed (this is becoming repetitive).
More Vodafone and Topshop protests coming
Campaigners from charities and Britain’s largest civil service union will tomorrow demonstrate outside the headquarters of HM Revenue and Customs.
War on Want and the Jubilee Debt Campaign will join with campaigners from PCS Union in a rally against reductions in HMRC resources.
They say that a “blitz” on tax dodgers is needed to avoid cuts in public services and jobs.
The call also had support from the Daily Mail today, which revealed that major companies and personalities were avoiding hundreds of millions of pounds in taxes every year.
The demonstration will take place outside HMRC HQ to oppose UK government plans that would axe a further 13,000 jobs in HMRC on top of the 30,000 that have gone since 2005 and the closure of around 200 offices.
On Saturday a mass action organised by the group UKuncut will take aim at high-street names Vodafone and the Arcadia group (which owns Topshop) over allegations of tax dodging.
UKuncut say:
Saturday December 18th is Pay Day, our next day of mass action. One week before Christmas, thousands of people across the country will be hitting the high streets to make sure tax dodgers pay.
Once again we will be targeting the multi-national and the multi-billionaire, Vodafone and Sir Philip Green. Both have been shaken up by the protests so far, but on December 18th they will face protests on a scale they could not have imagined just a few months ago. Vodafone and Arcadia will be targeted on every major high street in the UK. It’s up to you to make it happen.
You can sign up to the actions across the country on Saturday from this page.
(illustration for LC by Dave Howells / @davehowells)
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