Christians under attack again, fulminate the tabloids
contribution by Tim Fenton
Christians are under attack yet again, according to the Christian Legal Centre. Clearly our “aggressively secular” society is at work. This time, the Mail is going in to bat for Richard Scott, a GP who works at a practice in Margate.
Scott has apparently told a patient, by his own account, “that faith in Jesus could give comfort and strength”. I have to confess that this is not among the various diagnoses that I’ve been offered, on the NHS or otherwise, over the years.
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How the Arab Spring is going to turn nasty
contribution by David Malone
A recent article on ZeroHedge is all outraged that at the news that the US government is going to act as guarantor for a 1 billion eurodollar bond issuance by Egypt. They ask why the US is:
…backstopping paper by another government, which will soon be very much insolvent…
The answer in a UPI article on May 18th is simple – the price of Wheat. Just as it was for why we had the uprisings in the first place.
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Why there could be civil war in Sudan again
contribution by Tim Flatman
Over the weekend, Sudanese Armed Forces took control of Abyei town on the borders of North & South Sudan, after two days of aerial bombardment and ground fighting in surrounding areas.
President Bashir dissolved Abyei administration in a congratulatory broadcast. Tens of thousands of Southern civilians were successfully evacuated in the morning, with no adequate shelter or food. The number of civilians killed or injured in the attacks is unknown.
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Tory MP says MEP’s rape comments ‘appalling’
Tory MP Louise Bagshawe has become the first Tory to speak out today and criticise Tory MEP Roger Helmer for his comments on rape on his blog.
On Saturday, Helmer wrote (emphasis ours):
Let me make another point which will certainly get me vilified, but which I think is important to make: while in the first case, the blame is squarely on the perpetrator and does not attach to the victim, in the second case the victim surely shares a part of the responsibility, if only for establishing reasonable expectations in her boyfriend’s mind.
So if degrees of culpability vary widely from case to case, how are we to establish an appropriate sentence in each case? Easy. We appoint people called “Judges”, and let them decide.
Feminist bloggers and tweeters immediately hit out, saying he was blaming women for being raped.
Tory MP Louise Bagshawe said Helmer’s comments were “appalling” on Twitter.
She then added:
He speaks for himself alone. A woman (or man) always has the right to change their mind. What if their partner insults them (one example)
A petition has also been launched against Roger Helmer and a Facebook campaign set up.
Roger Helmer previously asked why it was not “OK for a psychiatrist to try to ‘turn’ a consenting homosexual?” and has also said that the word homophobia was a “propaganda device”.
He is also a big climate change denier and has hosted several conferences promoting denialism.
Update: No 10 has now issued a statement distancing themselves from the Helmer too:
This is clearly not the view of the Conservative party or the UK delegation in the European Parliament, and does not reflect the comments made by Ken Clarke.
The Evening Standard has picked up on Helmer’s comments too.
Coalition government introducing ID cards
The Coalition has quietly begun work on a new national identity system, less than a year after it scrapped Labour’s derided ID cards.
A prototype of the new system is due to be in place as soon as October this year. It will aim to reliably identify users of government websites, as part of plans to deliver more public services via the web.
George Osborne believes the shift online will cut Whitehall administration costs and so help soften the blow of spending cuts over the next few years.
Several private companies that already hold personal data, including credit card providers, will be involved in the system.
Unions call for National Vigil to save NHS
Health Unions across the UK have today put out a call for a National Vigil to save the NHS.
The vigil will take place on the evening of the third of Andrew Lansley’s Health and Social Care Bill, in the House of Commons. The date has not yet been set for the reading.
A yes vote on the third reading will move the controversial measures significantly closer to becoming law.
The TUC has been coordinating discussions between health unions to discuss their response to the HSC bill.
Today it put out a call for a national vigil:
That evening, as our health service faces its biggest shake-up since its creation in 1948, people across the country will be showing their concern by lighting candles for the NHS, in their windows at home, or as part of local vigils.
Can we please call on you to join us?
…
Please make a pledge to light a candle on the evening of the debate. We’ll send you an email with more information when the date is announced.
…
In every town in the UK, in every street, we’ll be showing our support at the NHS’ darkest hour.
Sign up to the vigil from this website.
Why Labour should continue demanding Ken Clarke’s resignation
Harriet Harman has written an open letter in the Guardian today, criticising Ken Clarke again. On Saturday, Ed Miliband was asked about Clarke and once again he defended his call for the resignation.
Some media commentators have disagreed with this. Steve Richards on Thursday, Andrew Rawnsley yesterday and Jackie Ashley today. But Labour should carry on criticising Ken Clarke.
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Cameron tries to revive ‘Big Society’ again
Are we in the third revival or the fourth one? I’m starting to lose count. Today, Cameron is trying to grab the agenda by ‘reviving’ Big Society’.
Cameron will try to rejuvenate the big society as he attempts to show his government has bigger goals than simply “balancing the books”.
We’re back to the Lord Ashcroft polling again, which identifies this as a key failing of Cameron’s government so far.
So how will this happen?
• A white paper on giving will be unveiled on Monday to encourage charitable donations. The Link cash machine network has reached agreement with banks that use its service to allow customers, who make 10m transactions a day, to donate through its machines from 2012. Paperwork for gift aid donations up to £5,000 will be removed and the rate of inheritance tax for estates that leave 10% or more to charity will be reduced.
• The Whitehall green book, which is used to assess the costs and benefits of different government policies, will be amended to take account of their social impact.
• Cabinet ministers will devote at least one day a year to volunteering.
One day a year! Wow. They are being generous aren’t they?
Andrew Lansley and his wife: a conflict of interest?
At the heart of the Tory NHS ‘reforms’ are concern about the encroachment of the private sector. So the fact that Andrew Lansley’s wife has set up shop as “Low Associates” offering “strategic policy advice” is of more than passing interest.
Sally Lansley’s (nee Lowe) company is based in her home, so it must be challenging to keep her role as Andrew Lansley’s wife and her role as a strategic policy advisor separate.
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Ed Miliband: This is the ‘Jilted Generation’
Labour leader Ed Miliband will give the first of three public facing speeches tomorrow morning, expanding on the themes he outlined at the Progress conference on Saturday.
The speech will focus on problems faced by future generations thanks to government policies.
He will dub them the ‘Jilted generation’, in contrast to the ‘Jam generation‘ that has taken power in Westminster.
He will say:
I suppose every father says this, but becoming a parent changes your outlook on life. Sometimes it’s too easy to be sucked into work, into the day-to-day. But when you begin a family, your perspective broadens, you begin to consider the kind of future you might wish for your children.
I am worried – and every parent should be worried – about what will happen to our chidren in the coming decades. About what the future holds for us, our children and our country. About what sort of place Britain will become.
The speech will say that future generations will have it worse in five ways:
- It will be harder to get a decent job
- It will be harder to get a decent pay
- It will be harder to get on housing ladder
- It will be harder to escape debt
- It will be harder to get on in life because of cuts (EMA for example) that limit social mobility.
Ed Miliband will use the cuts to explain how David Cameron is making it worse for future generations:
David Cameron has set out his benchmark of success: dealing with the deficit. It is the over-riding concern to which all others are sacrificed. But his claim to be protecting the next generation by making this his only priority is blown apart because they are bearing so much of the burden for his decisions: from cuts to sure start to the end of educational maintenance allowances to the trebling of tuition fees.
In broader political context, tomorrow’s speech is part of the ‘national mission’ theme. Two further speeches will focus on the ‘squeezed middle‘ and ‘community ties’
He is also expected to talk more about how the degradation of the environment will affect future generations in another speech. This one was kept to economic themes.
It will take place tomorrow morning at the Royal Festival Hall.
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