Pro-choice open meeting next week
Outraged by anti-choice abortion clinic protests? Concerned about the counselling plans?
Then come to our Pro-Choice public meeting next week and have your say.
We are seeing an alarming change of climate at the moment, as activists and politicians opposed to a woman’s right to choose turn their attention to abortion providers and individual women seeking abortion.
Already this year we have seen women harassed and filmed outside abortion clinics, the website of abortion provider BPAS hacked by an anti-choice fanatic, hundreds of clinics hit by spot checks in search of bad practice.
And we’re still awaiting the launch of the government’s consultation on abortion counselling, which could see anti-choice groups handed NHS contracts to advise women on their pregnancy options.
Fortunately pro-choice supporters have been responding brilliantly: groups have sprung up to oppose clinic ‘vigils’ and harassment, counter-protests have drawn huge crowds, and just last Saturday loads of you held demos around the country to tell anti-choicers to ‘SPUC Off!’
Now we need to build on this upsurge in support and talk about what comes next. So we’ve scheduled a Pro-Choice Public Meeting in Parliament on Wednesday 16th May.
Speakers confirmed so far include:
Diane Abbott MP, Shadow Minister for Public Health
Zoe Williams, Guardian columnist and journalist
Kat Banyard, founder of UK Feminista and author of The Equality Illusion
Richy Thompson, British Humanist Association, Education & Faith Schools officer
The meeting is free and open to all, but if you would like to attend please email choice@abortionrights.org.uk and let them know you’re coming.
7.00pm, Wednesday 16th May, Committee Room 10 in Parliament.
Watch: Greek fascists storm conference
Yesterday, Nikos Michaloliakos, the leader of the Greek neonazi group “Golden Dawn”, delivered this Hitler-style speech after his group has entered the parliament with almost 7%.
It shows the scene at the Golden Dawn victory press conference.
As the leader was walking in, a henchmen shouts at the journalists to rise up. Those who didn’t were told to leave.
Poll: Tony Blair’s return would hurt Labour
The polling company Survation asked an interesting question in a poll out today.
Tony Blair has recently expressed an interest in re-engaging with British politics. Would you be more or less likely to vote Labour in a General Election if Tony Blair was Labour leader rather than Ed Miliband?
Net More likely 24%
Net Less likely 40%
Neither more nor less 37%
Among Labour voters from 2010, the figures were roughly reversed: Net more likely 40%, Net less likely 21%. But around 40% of Labour voters said it would make little difference.
Turns out Tony Blair is no longer the harbinger of popularity he once was with the general electorate.
Students ‘pulling police off horse’ go free
Student protesters Andrew Hilliard (18) and Christopher Hilliard (23) have today been acquitted, after being charged with violent disorder from 9th December 2010. The jury reached the unanimous verdict within two hours after a trial of two weeks.
This brings the total to 11 cases resulting in acquittals for violent disorder from 9th December 2010, with only one case resulting in a guilty verdict.
Andrew and Christopher were arrested on 9th December 2010 after being accused of pulling police officer Cowling from his horse, both young men’s lives have been kept on hold for almost 18 months before finally being able clear their names.
The day after the incident in 2010, David Cameron publicly announced that ‘the boys who had pulled the police officer off his horse belonged in jail’, despite the brothers denying the charges.
According to the campaign group Defend Peaceful Protest:
In the defence’s summing up, Andrew’s barrister asserted that in a trial which has seen 8 police officers give evidence against the defendants, at least one police officer has lied, seeking to deliberately mislead the jury, which as she explained was both an unpleasant and difficult job to establish.
She also asked the court to consider what a different trial we would have seen without the benefit of vast amounts of footage served and edited by the defence. Footage which depicted police officer Cowling carrying out four separate counts of assault on both Andrew and Christopher.
At one point Andrew’s barrister told the jury, “Cowling must think you don’t have eyes in your head”, when comparing Cowling’s version of events with that which the footage showed.
Jennifer Hilliard said outside court today, “this is a good day for justice and the democratic right to protest.”
The Defend the Right to Protest Campaign welcomed today’s acquittals and said they will continue to stand in support of the Hilliard brothers and all those who have endured the court system to fight injustices.
Libdem cllr tells Clegg – ‘open your eyes’
Sunderland’s only Lib Dem called on Nick Clegg to “open his eyes” as he became the first victim of his party’s massacre at the polls.
This is what he said to a reporter from Sunderland Echo
The key quote:
Nick Clegg should take a real hard look at what they are doing as it has been really bad tonight. He needs to listen, he’s got to do something.
via Sunderland Echo
New survey show huge disability stigma
A survey for the MS Society by ComRes has shown shocking attitudes across Britain towards people with disability.
The report, out today, shows that a quarter of Britons think disabled people exaggerate their disability.
Alarming stigmas and attitudes
One in five (21%) British adults surveyed think disabled people need to accept they can’t have the same opportunities in life, with men (28%) more likely than women (15%) to hold this view.
More than one in four (26%) Britons think bars and nightclubs are not places for people with wheelchairs, a belief more commonly found in men (31%) and 18-24 year olds (32%), compared to women (21%) and 45-54 year olds (22%)
Poor knowledge and understanding
One in four (24%) Britons believe disabled people often exaggerate the extent of their physical limitations, with men (28%) again more likely to hold this view than women (20%).
More than three quarters of people with MS (76%) can think of at least one occasion when someone has questioned the fact they have MS because they ‘looked well’, with over half (53%) able to recall at least one occasion when their symptoms have been mistaken for drunkenness.
Understanding of MS particularly poor
A large majority (71%) of British adults admit that they don’t feel they know enough about MS.
Most people don’t realise MS attacks in early adulthood, with almost 4 in 5 people (79%) either estimating that MS is most commonly diagnosed among people aged over 35 or answering ‘don’t know’.
Significant numbers of people who know someone with MS are under-equipped to understand the condition, with just one in five (20%) feeling they know enough about it.
Watch: How to sack Boris on Thursday
The Sack Boris campaign have produced this excellent video.
Green taxes on bills lower than estimated
Without reform to the energy market consumers could miss out on as much as £1.9bn in 2020 in cheaper energy bills, according to a new report published by the think tank IPPR today.
The report also finds that costs to suppliers of delivering environmental and social obligations may be less than even Ofgem estimates.
The report argues that tougher regulation of the energy market is needed by regulator Ofgem to improve competition and to ensure that pricing is fairer for consumers.
It says the ‘Big Six’ energy companies are continuing to overcharge their existing customers to subsidise cheap offers
As a result some families are paying as much as £330 more than their neighbours to use the same amount of energy from the same company
Will Straw, IPPR Associate Director, said:
Our research adds to the growing body of evidence that competition is not working in the energy market. We are calling on the Big Six and Ofgem to demonstrate whether efficiency savings are being achieved in the energy market and whether consumers are benefitting from lower bills as a result, as we would expect if competition was working.
We need more competition among energy companies so that households get a fairer price for their energy. Ofgem’s previous attempts to reform the market have not delivered the changes needed. UK consumers cannot afford further delays in bringing down bills.
IPPR recommends that:
- Ofgem addresses the problem of overcharging and loss leading by enforcing its own policy that energy companies must offer tariffs that are reflective of their costs.
- Ofgem should reconsider its proposals for tariff reform and consider restricting suppliers to offering a fixed number of tariffs
- Ofgem should consider fully the needs of independent generators in its proposals to improve wholesale market liquidity and consult on the full range of reform options for the market, including a return to a pool
Poll spells disaster for Tories in local elections
A new poll by the company Survation has found that Tories will face a huge drubbing in local elections in a few days time.
Their local elections poll found a massive 17 point drop in support for the Conservatives, with a swing of 12.5% to Labour.
Labour were also much more trusted to protect local services by voters.
The poll was conducted for the Daily Mirror.
Survation is a member of The British Polling Council and abide by its rules.
Watch: Mayor candidate Bowler’s bad week
via Nathaniel Tapley
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or RSS feed. You can also get them by email and through our Facebook group.
» Robin Hood tax: backed by the rich AND the rest, says new poll
» Criticism of Obama for its own sake: a reply to Mehdi Hasan
» Do older people really need more NHS healthcare?
» There are alternatives to the reckless ‘Plan A’
» On Beecroft: it is already quite easy to sack people
» Why Cameron’s claim of 600,000 jobs created is plainly wrong
» By using age to allocate NHS funding, Lansley rewards Tory voters
» The rise in domestic violence deaths is not an “isolated” problem
» Adrian Beecroft highlights mindset of Tory right
» The US is now a model for the Eurozone to save itself
» The IMF plan to revive the economy doesn’t go far enough
|
49 Comments 94 Comments 24 Comments 59 Comments 10 Comments 26 Comments 24 Comments 69 Comments 44 Comments 25 Comments |
|
LATEST COMMENTS » jojo posted on Robin Hood tax: backed by the rich AND the rest, says new poll » the a&e charge nurse posted on Do older people really need more NHS healthcare? » Trooper Thompson posted on Robin Hood tax: backed by the rich AND the rest, says new poll » Sarah AB posted on Robin Hood tax: backed by the rich AND the rest, says new poll » pagar posted on '43% of young women sexually harassed' » Chaise Guevara posted on Robin Hood tax: backed by the rich AND the rest, says new poll » Nathan Hulse posted on How Newsnight demonised a single mother » re posted on Robin Hood tax: backed by the rich AND the rest, says new poll » Cylux posted on Red Tory Blond: gay marriage "homophobic" » Trooper Thompson posted on Robin Hood tax: backed by the rich AND the rest, says new poll » Barrie J posted on Robin Hood tax: backed by the rich AND the rest, says new poll » Chaise Guevara posted on Robin Hood tax: backed by the rich AND the rest, says new poll » Chaise Guevara posted on Red Tory Blond: gay marriage "homophobic" » Chris Smith posted on BBC misrepresents gas story to help 'deniers' » Just Visiting posted on Red Tory Blond: gay marriage "homophobic" |
