Today is the 20th anniversary of the repeal of Section 28. Finding that out sent me to my bookshelf to see if I still have my copy of AARGH! – Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia – the comic put together to protest it.
It’s really sad that we’re in the position where a mutated zombie version of Section 28 could be unleashed upon us. It may be time for AART! – Artists Against Rampant Transphobia.
From a throwaway tweet over lunch on Tuesday-
I came home and had a play in Inkscape, and here’s the result. If you want to tell Santa what you want, the design is available on a wide variety of products at Redbubble.
The cross-party housing committee isn’t quite proposing the destruction of landlords. But suggesting that the worst of them have their properties confiscated is a good start.
The Conservative Party needs to be so thoroughly beaten at the next election that it collapses and is never heard from again. It’s the least they deserve for policies that leaves us poorer, colder and at greater risk from climate change just so their rich friends can get a little richer.
Though I did accidentally introduce them as Salford Greens at the start of the video. I *was* in Salford Greens for six or so years, so my brain must still be wired to that, I guess.
The frog in a pan of water- not registering the rising temperature until too late- has been used as an analogy for climate change for years. In this article, it’s used in reference to British democracy, fading away with every attack on protest and gag on charities. It’s imperative we get rid of the Tories, but that’s just a first step.
What was the line ascribed to Churchill? “Democracy is a terrible system, but it’s better than the alternatives.” Or something similar.
The linked article argues that the Western model of democracy is flawed, and in many cases not even truly democratic. We need to improve, and face up to some dark history, before we can legitimately claim that what we have is the best system.
I read the original version of this as a long tweet, and it made the bus ride to work very depressing.
Starmer’s Labour Party seem set on ruling out policies that would help them and the country long term, just to appease the right wing press that will never support them anyway. Expect more ‘make Brexit work’, and worse, as the general election approaches.
The right-wing lobbying group want to stop four day work week trials. I don’t think they believe any of their claims. It’s more likely their unnamed backers don’t want to see anything that looks like an improvement in workers’ rights and conditions.
This is an interesting take on how the security forces and Police may not be able to protect us from a corrupt or compromised Prime Minister and government.
Boris Johnson has resigned as an MP, presumably to save himself from being kicked out. We’d all have been better off if he’d done it at least ten years sooner.
Good riddance to him. I wish nothing but unending humiliation and penury for him*. May he find that the rules actually do apply to him, go bankrupt as all his backers decide he’s no use to them, and catch something embarrassing and very itchy next time he cheats on his wife.
*I know we won’t be that lucky, but I can hope for it.
Caroline Lucas won’t be standing in the next General Election. Which is a shame.
But I predict several more Green MPs in Parliament, building on the work she’s done.
The linked article is about efforts to censor free speech on university campuses in the USA, but feels relevant to Britain as well. Unsurprisingly, the people shouting loudest about free speech are the ones actually trying to take it away.
As well as everything mentioned in the article, I have to add that criticism, mockery, and protest are also valid forms of free speech. And the claims of censorship are lies as well. Every ‘cancelled’ celebrity and academic gets to tell the papers and the TV news all about it, but we never get to hear from the big, bad censors.
Saying that students embrace censorship on college campuses is incorrect — here’s how to discuss the issue more constructively https://theconversation.com/saying-that-students-embrace-censorship-on-college-campuses-is-incorrect-heres-how-to-discuss-the-issue-more-constructively-205813
10% of Tory MPs have announced plans to retire at next UK election | Politics | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/24/10-of-tory-mps-have-announced-plans-to-retire-at-next-uk-election
As I kick around plans for a near future story about an independent minded neighbourhood fighting corporate and political corruption, it’s becoming clear that the idealism will need a robust defence. This report on the John Brown Gun Clubs protecting people targeted by the far right in the USA has given me some ideas.
Yet another attack on free speech by this Tory government. I bet most of the Free Speech Absolutists, who are so eager for the freedom to be bigoted, are silent on this.
UK anti-boycott bill is attack on freedom of expression, say civil society groups | Protest | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/12/uk-anti-boycott-bill-is-attack-on-freedom-of-expression-say-civil-society-groups
Given that the new voter ID laws exclude younger and ethnic minority voters, it could be argued that voter ID is voter fraud.
Take a quick dive into a Japanese academic’s interpretation of Marx’s lesser known work and notes as a prescient understanding of environmental issues.
Throwing food at reactionary politicians, fascists and fascist wannabes has a long history. Tomato juice on terfs is just the latest iteration.
Both of Britain’s biggest political parties are dedicated to ‘growth’ and the lie that it will benefit everyone.
I don’t want to live in one of the world’s richest countries if most of that wealth is siphoned to greedy scum at the top, we have an appalling wealth gap, and poverty is worse than it was half a century ago. We’d be better off if we deported the billionaires to Rwanda and gave their houses to the occupants of the small boats our (incredibly rich) Prime Minister targets.