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becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys · 4 months

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Clownfall: Endgame - Hello December

I am late writing and posting this, because it's nearly the end of term and I am mega busy (I have leave in two days and I am counting the hours...) BUT some stuff happened last week so let's dig in!

Also quick note before we do: I would like to politely request that you stop tagging this with "England" or "English politics". This is about British politics, not just England, and I am not English. Please do not erase me it takes SO LONG to write these thank you all and goodnight anyway ON WITH THE SHOW

Saturday, 25 November

12.01am

We begin our tale with Oliver Wright of the Times, who reports that … no hang on, wait, I've fucked it, okay. To understand this story, you first need to understand Simon Case.

Simon Case is a civil servant, and current Cabinet Secretary and head of UK Civil Service

He was the highest ranking public official implicated in the Partygate scandal, though he didn’t resign nor was he fined

In the Telegraph’s published WhatsApp messages from Partygate in which Tories all chatted to each other (seriously HOW do those keep getting leaked), Case made fun of holidaymakers stuck in hotel rooms by Covid regulations

In the same messages he also described some opposition to Covid restrictions as “pure Conservative ideology”, which is. An Own Goal

He also described BlowJo as a “nationally distrusted figure” whose isolation rules the public were unlikely to follow, which is true but also the Quiet Part

This information is from Wikipedia, which I’m openly admitting here, so my esteemed colleague hbomberguy can stand down.

Why am I mentioning him! Well. Case was supposed to give evidence to the Covid inquiry in October this year, but didn’t because of medical leave (ironically). In November, he still wasn’t back (should have isolated better, eh, Si), and the inquiry was given private medical information relating to Case (presumably evidence that he’s not just faking it so he doesn't have to be shouted at by angry judges and MPs and that).

So! On Saturday the 25th, eighteen and a half hours before Beep the Meep’s spectacular TV debut, Oliver Wright of the Times reports that Simon Case – uh, before his medical leave - advised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that he should authorise pre-election talks between the civil service and Labour. Sunak - I suspect obviously - ignored this suggestion, in case it signalled that an election is now imminent.

According to Wright, it’s now questionable whether Case will ever return to his role.

Shame.

Monday, 27 November

2.44pm

House of Commons time! Let's see what our elected representatives are up to.

Tory MP Jill Mortimer says international treaties written 70 years ago "are not fit for purpose" to tackle illegal immigration, so we need to return to the "Deport the browns to Rwanda" plan. Ugh.

2.50pm

The following was reported by Matt Dathan of the Times, so CALL OFF YOUR DOGS hbomberguy.

James Cleverly – the newest Home Secretary, chappie who described another MPs constituency as a shithole in the House of Commons in his second week on the job – says the Rwanda policy isn’t the “be all and end all”.

Robert Jenrick – the Minister of State for Immigration – says the policy is an "extremely important component" of the government's small boats policy.

So! James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick disagree on this matter! Exciting! Hey, Tumblrs, just for fun...

Let’s remember those two names.

2.58pm

Robert Jenrick says boat crossings have been reduced by more than a third in the last year, but that numbers are still unacceptably high.

FUN SELF-STUDY ACTIVITY: Take a moment to form an opinion of Robert Jenrick! It’ll be worth it.

Here is some information to get you started: Jenrick this year ordered some lovely murals of cartoon characters (Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, etc) to be painted over at a children’s asylum centre in Kent. His explicit reason is because he thought they were "too welcoming" for lone refugee children arriving in the UK, and such children should not feel welcome here.

Have you formed your opinion yet? Then I'll continue.

8.13pm

Rishi Sunak cancels a meeting with the Greek Prime Minister in a row over the Elgin Marbles.

Uh, there's a lot going on here - this is about the stolen marble frescoes that should be in the Parthenon in Athens, that gross British thief Lord Elgin stole decades ago and plonked into the British Museum. Greece has been asking for them back ever since, but a small handful of old white men who are in charge of the British Museum don't want to give them back and keep stating that Greece wouldn't look after them properly, which is a hell of a claim given that Elgin literally broke one when he nicked them, and also, he fucking stole them. Anyway, it turns out to the surprise of no one that Sunak also doesn't think we should give them back, and so when the matter was raised in an Anglo-Greek meeting recently Sunak literally walked out of it, even though the meeting was actually about something else.

So HERE HE IS refusing to do any diplomacy with Greece now i.e. his actual fucking job.

This is a big deal for the immigration-obsessed though! According to a Labour source, Greece is an essential ally for any agreement on illegal migration.

And even the Prime Minister’s supporters think he’s got this one wrong.

Wednesday, 29 November

Prime Minister’s Questions!

This is the (televised) point in the week where the PM has to appear in the Commons and be grilled by anyone who wants to put the boot in about anything at all. Keir Starmer decides today is the day to do some actual opposition, pushes Sunak on several fronts, and pretty much everyone reckons this is Starmer’s best ever performance at PMQs. People especially enjoy Starmer calling Rishi the “man with the reverse Midas touch”.

This is not, strictly speaking, actually funny. But it's political humour, which is like office humour. It doesn't actually have to be.

12.22pm

A former cabinet member tells the press that the Greek government are furious at Sunak’s snub. Uh oh!

Thursday, 30 November

Disgraced former Secretary of State for Health and all round human 1950s meat blancmange Matt Hancock talks to the Covid inquiry today. Specifically, to explain why he, the then-Secretary of State for Health, led the government so badly in the pandemic that we developed the second highest death rate in the world. To hear him tell it, he was an underdog hero doing his best to fight a toxic culture at Whitehall to get the pandemic handled responsibly.

The only problem with this is that it is contradicted by everyone else’s accounts.

He is called a “proven liar” who was “unfit for the job” by proven liar and unfit for his job Dominic Cummings. Former civil servant Helen MacNamara says Hancock displayed “nuclear levels” of overconfidence and said lots of things that later turned out to be untrue. Sadly for HandCock, he said these things to cameras that were recording him onto the telly, and so we do actually know.

Monday, 4 December

Keir Starmer talked about the economy today. He won’t rule out cutting public services, and it looks like he’s trying to tell disenfranchised Tory voters to jump ship to Labour.

Hope it’s a bluff! Very depressing if he’s serious. This is nowhere near as much fun as Tories being humiliated.

21.47pm

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!

(This is from the Mirror, you can’t destory me on your YouTube.)

Labour MP Diana Johnson proposes an amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill to compensate thousands of patients infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 70s and 80s, to the tune of billions of pounds.

And it WON! Narrowly – 246 votes to 242. A huge deal, because that includes 23 Tory backbenchers. That is very bad for Rishi Sunak. He he he.

Tory MP Edward Argar had tried to sort this in adance, by saying the government would provide their own similar amendment to the bill. Basically, he realised this was a controversial bill for the party, and wanted to present a version that could be a Tory victory rather than a Labour victory and Tory humiliation.

Didn’t work.

And neither did a THREE LINE WHIP for Tory MPs to vote against the Labour plan?!?? YES KIDS YOU READ THAT RIGHT Sunak didn't want people infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 70s and 80s to receive compensation in case it made him look bad, so he imposed a three line whip to force Tories to vote against it.

And 23 of them rebelled.

And now he looks even worse.

Lol.

Tuesday, 5 December

Have you done your homework, Tumblrs? Have you remembered those names? Have you formed an opinion?

7.38am

Home Office minister and children's cartoon hater Robert Jenrick is interviewed on Sky News. It’s ugly stuff. He refers to small boats “[breaking] in” to the UK. He insists asylum seekers WILL start being deported to Rwanda before the next General Election. And generally does big talk about cutting immigration.

What a hero.

1.27pm

James Cleverly is in Rwandan capital Kigali, as the UK signs a new treaty designed to help score the Supreme Court’s approval for the Rwanda plan.

1.40pm

So!

Cleverly’s doing pretty much what he said he’d do. He’s trying to legislate to make the Rwanda plan safer, rather than try to disapply human rights treaties. This, of course, is the Sensible Plan, if your plan is still to get people killed, but you want it to actually succeed.

But former Home Secretary Cruella Braverman is driving a load of Tories to push to disapply human rights obligations – and she’s joined in this by Robert Jenrick!!!!

That’s RIGHT! Hope you remembered his name, because now he’s a VILLAIN! Or, well, more of one, and in a more immediate way. After disagreeing with Cleverly in the commons on 27 November, he’s joined Team Suella. Tonight he’ll be part of a meeting between three different right-wing groupings...

1.46pm

The new treaty guarantees that, if these plans go ahead, asylum seekers won’t be returned to countries where their lives or freedom are threatened, and creates a requirement for an independent monitoring committee.

This treaty would be great if we lived in a world where the Supreme Court trusted the Rwandan government to honour treaty obligations. But we live in the world where NOT having this trust was part of the reason the Supreme Court ruled the plans unlawful.

Even if this wasn’t the case, we still need new legislation, and that’ll be way more controversial than this new treaty. The legislation was said to be ready by Thursday, which is a very short turnaround that only a lunatic would believe, but in a SHOCK DISAPPOINTING U-TURN the government now refuses to commit to this.

In any case...

This is causing cracks in the Tory party.

10.33pm

The Parliament's Christmas tree lights are turned on!

It goes as well as anything else in Parliament:

youtube

A visual representation of the Tory Party schism.

Wednesday, 6 December

8.21am

Boris Johnson arrives at the covid inquiry. He will be questioned for two days.

He he he

10.26am

Johnson is asked why around 5,000 WhatsApp messages were lost on his phone from January to June 2020.

Steffan made this brilliant meme. Please do not grass me up to hbomberman.

11.33am

It’s clear by now that Johnson wasn’t alert to the danger of covid by February 2020. Johnson says it wasn’t declared a pandemic by WTO yet, and he wasn’t asked about it in PMQs. Gosh! What a good point, maybe!

Until the KC points out a troubling fact: “You were the Prime Minister.”

Ah. Yes. PMQs are irrelevant, you see – the Prime Minister is allowed information that the opposition aren’t.

And, indeed, he probably would have had, if he'd actually attended the five Cobra meetings about it that would have briefed him on it just as the virus was being discovered.

12.49pm

2.24pm

I’m skipping most of this stuff, since it’s normal lies and non-specific apologies from BJ.

But this one’s interesting. Matt HandCock claimed he told Johnson on 13 March to call a lockdown. There’s no written evidence of this happening. Johnson outright contradicts it.

Lol

5.43pm

Cruella Braverman rejects Sunak’s Rwanda bill. It fails the five tests she claimed his bill would need to pass.

These are tests she made up and published in a newspaper, I should stress, like they don't exist and she is not an authority. This is a bit like if I marched into your house, dear reader, and went "You are not allowed to celebrate the holidays this year because I personally said you have to pass my tests first and you haven't", and I'm pretty sure if I tried that you would drop me in a bin and laugh at me.

But, she has many supporters on the Tory right...

5.48pm

The Sun’s political correspondent says that if the Lords try to block emergency legislation, some Tory MPs reckon Sunak should call an election, fighting on Rwanda.

I desperately want this. I DESPERATELY want this. They’ll lose that election so badly. SO badly. God, likes charge reblogs cast.

6.53pm

The villain Robert Jenrick … RESIGNS!

Oh no! This is not good news if you’re the Prime Minister.

Fucking fantastic for the rest of us, though

7.26pm

Jenrick publishes his resignation letter on Twitter. It’s two pages long, claiming the PM’s Rwanda plan basically won’t work.

Jenrick’s not wrong about that, but I speak as someone who doesn’t want any version of the Rwanda plan – not the monstrous Sunak one, and certainly not the hypermonstrous Braverman one. Good. Thanks for confirming, Darth Bell-end.

8.31pm

I enjoyed this tweet.

8.52pm

Sunak writes back to Jenrick, claiming the new plan WILL work.

Which is not normally what happens?!? Normally they yell about their current madness in a letter, publish it on Twitter because no one else cares or will agree, and get roundly ignored. But, desperate times! Here, Sunak’s challenge is to try to win over the Tories who don’t believe in his ability to deliver the plan. It’s a big ask.

So what are we left with?

10.37pm

A senior figure on the Tory right is asked whether their side will kill Sunak’s bill.

And they’re not sure! If it’s the only offer on the table, it seems sensible to vote for it.

BUT the right wing of the Tories aren’t famously very sensible. They’ll probably try and add amendments at the very least, but it’s genuinely possible they’ll reject it out of spite, because they are LUNATICS. Or as a political move to weaken Sunak.

And that's what you missed in the Tory Civil War!

(Up to last week)

#politik #clownfall: endgame

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femmespoiled · 10 months

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It's a long-ish video, but it's worth watching.

ID - tiktok video from user gaygtownbae, stitching a video from someone criticising people "cheering on the death of billionaires" on the submarine situation and they go on to say:

So I want to talk about ethics versus morals. My name is Evan, I am a bioethicist and I did my thesis on misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories as a threat to public health. So there's been quite a few of these videos about how people are very upset

(Note number 1 and it says "Note* I made this video a few hours before the announcement about finding the remnants of the vessel, so the language reflects them still missing")

that folks are cheering on the loss of this submarine because it had billionaires in it and I want to talk about how that is in a way considered ethically neutral.

So for the folks who are saying this is really terrible, like we shouldn't be cheering on the fact that there are people in a really dire situation, who are clearly gonna lose their lives, what you are describing is your moral stance that you do not feel comfortable or you don't want to cheer on people being trapped at the bottom of the sea. (note 2 comes in and it says "Dark humor is a valuable technique/tool, especially as an expression of trauma and/or oppression")

You're making an individualized argument, which is fine, that's, totally, that's absolutely the right thing to do, nobody is denying that, but you're having a conversation with people who are cheering on a societal change. Something that has happened in society that may or may not shift imbalances, because what you're seeing is a group of people who are cheering on the loss of what they perceive to be an oppressor. And what we know when it comes to economy and it comes to a lot of things like access to healthcare etc, is that billionaires are a deep cause of a lot of those things ( note 3 comes in and it says "The power, privilege, safety, and existence of billionaires is not harmed by the mockery of a disempowered group.")

The inequality and inequity that people experience, especially marginalized folks, is due to the business practices, pretty directly, of people who are billionaires. (note 4 comes in and it says "Some modern philosophers would say mocking this historic global news event is moral because that is supporting an inherently immoral group's demise from their own choices. As an ethicist I am not trained in impose or challenge the definitions of morality, I am trained to look at designing principles that help us guide and decide societal consensus on morals.")

So this group of people is not cheering on the loss of five people, 5 husbands or sons, or hm, people who celebrate birthdays, what they're cheering on is what could to them symbolize a societal shift. I'm not saying that it's right, what I'm saying is that in this case, and in any other case where people are perceiving the loss of an oppressor, it's ethically neutral.

(notes 5 and 6 come in - the first says "If you've been cheering for Tr*mp to go to jail, making jokes about unvaccinated people getting sick from COVID, etc, you've participated in this behavior. These are all individuals with real lives too. But also, these people have been the source of great communal suffering." And the second says "The "us" and "them" stance that working class people feel toward billionaires is not created by them, they are forced to participate in that adversarial relationship. The wealthy class created it by dehumanizing their existence, extorting their labor, and constantly shifting necessary life supporting resources out of reach of everyone.")

It doesn't really have a good or bad stance and it's not effective or ineffective, they also don't have power in this scenario to change what's happening and so for them, it's empowering to see a group that has always had power be disempowered. It's in the same vein as like cheering on a bully getting beat up or seeing an abusive partner go to jail (note 7 comes in and it says "In an equitable world, the resources put into trying to save these wealthy people who made a dangerous (and ultimately deadly) choice would also be made available with the same urgency for the most vulnerable. But it's not, and this rightfully is enraging for a substantial portion of society.")

Um it's not about the individual as much as it's about the symbolism and just because you don't feel the same way (note 8 comes in and it says "A lot of social movements historically that have sought to challenge autocractic classes and governments have used this type of humor to force change. The group Otpor! is a great example.") , you have a different individualized moral stance, doesn't mean that these people are experiencing something that is wrong or doing something that is wrong, they're just doing something that quite honestly is very human. Humans celebrate the perceived fall of opressors all the time, hm, doesn't really have an ethical stance to it.

(note 9 comes in and says "manipulative and insidious leader can hijack this natural human reaction to seeing their oppressors suffer by redirecting blame to a scapegoated group, but that isn't what will naturally happen from this behavior.")

And when you tell people that they shouldn't be cheering on, you're insinuating that it's inethical and it's just neither and it doesn't lead to a slippery slope unless pushed by a manipulator, because it's not inherently inethical to dislike and celebrate the loss of someone that's been oppressing you.

End ID

#btexts #video #edit because i messed up the name first time

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torillatavataan · 1 year

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Today is the day and by that I mean the tax day!

Income tax records are public in Finland and the tax administration publishes the records of taxes paid annually. This means that every year the media will dig into the records to see who are the top earners in the country.

Local papers may also publish long lists of names of locals categorised in groups according to how much tax they paid. Fun activity for the day is to check how much your neighbour or relative paid income tax the year before.

Tabloids, of course, have a lot of fun with this.

While it may all seem frivalous or even mean-spirited in some cases, public taxes make it easier to spot tax avoidance (which can easily lead to public shaming and people avoiding the company in the future) and income inequality. It allows people to see if their employer is underpaying them. It allows people to see how equally or unequally men and women are paid.

By far most Finns are happy with public tax records and consider it their civic duty to pay taxes. People who want to hide their earnings are looked at with suspicion. It is possible for high earners to ask their records not to be published by the media, however, their names will still be published with the request, so this cannot be used as a method to hide one’s earnings fully.

These companies are the top corporate tax payers: UPM, OP, K-ryhmä, Supercell...

Ex-MPs to top earnings with adjustment allowance - two earned over 100 000 euros

They are the top income earners

Top 100 earners in Finland: new top five - surprise name was a typo

How the president couple earned - [previous president couple] Halonen and Arajärvi high earners too

Here are the highest earning under 30-year-olds in Finland

Highest earning entertainers: they earned over 300 000 euros - some doubled their earnings

Maria Severina is the highest earning woman in Finland - see top 20

Who earned most in your region? Here are the regional top earners

These are the most searched names in Ilta-Sanomat’s tax machine* - familiar name at the top

* service that allows you to search people’s tax information: the tabloids publish all public records for those who earned more than 100 000 euros

Big cash with blueberries - millions for the berry king in South-Karelia

This is how Finland’s best known criminals earned

How popular TV meteorologists earned - Pekka Pouta clearly ahead of TV favourite Anniina Valtonen

Sanna Marin’s sensational “party gang’s” earnings revealed - three reached hefty sums

How covid affected top artists’ earnings - they earned over 100 000 euros: here is the revenue king!

Iltalehti investigates: How those in charge of Finland’s defence are paid

From a farm boy to a serial entrepreneur who made millions - "I'm not going to start living like a royal"

How ski stars earned: zero income for Riitta-Liisa Roponen, Kerttu Niskanen used tricks

Kimi Räikkönen living in Switzerland paid income tax to Finland - this is how much Valtteri Bottas earned in Finland

“We knew nothing of making ice cream” - Millions of euros to three friends

#suomi #finland #finnish #*

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thewales · 1 year

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The Telegraph.

MPs laud Princess of Wales's 'crucial' early years campaigning

Politicians will this week launch an inquiry into early years education examining the quality and affordability of childcare.

The Princess of Wales's work highlighting the early years of childhood has been praised as MPs prepare to launch an inquiry into the state of childcare.

The education select committee will this week announce an inquiry into early years education, which will examine the quality and affordability of childcare.

It comes after the Princess recently wrote for The Telegraph saying "not enough is being done" to nurture the next generation.

She vowed to "shine a light on this issue and to do everything I can to secure much greater focus on those first crucial few years for the youngest members of our society".

The Princess has undertaken a series of campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of early childhood, with a regular programme of engagements designed to boost the sector.

'Crucially important'

Robin Walker, the chair of the education committee, told The Telegraph that her involvement was "extremely welcome".

"The work that the Princess has been doing to raise the esteem and the recognition of the sector is actually crucially important," he said.

"[The sector] has an intrinsic value - it does an enormous amount of good for society, and making sure that we can celebrate that and recognise it is important."

He added: "One of the valuable things that the Royal family are able to do in the UK is draw attention to cross-cutting issues like this in a non-political way, but also to recognise the incredible work that goes on across the sector... it is extremely welcome that she has taken that interest."

Mr Walker, who took over as chairman of the education committee last month, said the need for an inquiry had gained extra urgency because of the "post-Covid environment" and the "concern around the school readiness and the social challenges that children have had in terms of living in isolated homes".

The inquiry will look at the "coherence" of the current childcare system, including the fact that parents are currently missing out on billions of unclaimed tax-free childcare.

It will explore how the lack of affordable childcare prevents many mothers from returning to work even though they would like to.

"With the right support and the right investment from Government, there is a hope for helping many more of those people to work effectively," Mr Walker said.

Recruitment and retention of early years professionals will be another focus.

"Even though the Government doesn't run the sector in the same way as it does for primary and secondary education, I think there’s a very strong case for more to be done around workforce planning, retention, and raising the esteem of the early years professionals who work in the childcare, early years and nursery sector," Mr Walker said.

"I speak to nurseries, they will complain about losing staff to supermarkets and to other areas."

'Save a fortune'

The Princess has previously spoken about how problems such as homelessness, addiction and mental poor health are often grounded in a difficult childhood, and Mr Walker agreed that strengthening early years provision could deliver substantial long term savings.

"Making sure that we have support for the right therapies that can help for instance children with speech and language difficulties... if you can find those right supports and bring them in early enough, you actually save a fortune for the education system in the long run," he said.

"As a country, if we look at ourselves in comparison to many others, we have an earlier school starting age than many countries, and yet the overall outcomes don’t seem to be significantly better or different from doing that."

He added: "I don’t think we can necessarily look to the school system for the whole solution to that. I think we need to look beyond it, and again that’s why I think a focus on the early years, a focus on affordable and effective childcare, is really important."

#duchess of cambridge #The Princess of Wales

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mariacallous · 2 months

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Sometimes the most obvious questions are the best. In the case of the Conservatives, the most obvious question is so glaring that one wonders why Tory politicians don’t ask it ten-times a day before breakfast: why don’t they move to the centre?

The opinion polls are predicting a Tory rout on the scale of 1906, 1945 or 1997.

Surely in the interests of preserving the Conservatives as a fighting force the party must compromise to limit its losses to Labour. Here are a couple of compromises that occur to me. They make perfect political sense until you realise that conservatism has been so radicalised that compromise now feels like treason.

First, health. When we remember the suffering of the early 2020s, we will remember covid, of course.

But we will also remember the millions on NHS waiting lists, the elderly left for hours until ambulances arrive, the cancelled operations, the sick who would work if they could be treated but cannot find a doctor, the explosion in mental illness, the needlessly prolonged pain, the needlessly early deaths.

The Conservatives ought to be doing everything they can to improve the health service before polling day – out of a reptile-brain survival instinct if nothing else.

They will not do it because in British conservatism’s ever-diminishing circles health is not a concern.

The dominant Conservative factions want a right-wing policy offer of tax cuts and immigration controls. Not one of the party’s leaders has discussed how the increase in life expectancy means the demands on the NHS of an ever-larger pensioner population make tax cuts unaffordable. Nor have I heard honest discussion of how the need for foreign health and care workers to fill the gaps in provision makes immigration essential.

Rather than face up to the impossibility of Thatcherite economics in the 21st century they prefer to change the conversation and look the other way.

Let me offer a second example, which I think Brits will soon be obsessing about.

After years of delays Brexit Britain is finally imposing border checks on food imports from the European Union. Wholesalers and retailers predict that bureaucratic costs and the need for veterinary and phytosanitary checks will lead to continental producers deciding to sell their goods elsewhere. Price rises and food shortages will follow.

What kind of government in an election year, of all years, wants empty shelves?

A Conservative kind of government appears to be the answer. The sensible move would be for the Conservatives to follow Labour’s policy of striking a deal to stick to EU standards and ease bureaucracy at the border. That would mean the UK following European food regulations, as EU ambassadors have made clear.

But compared to dear food and empty shops, who the hell cares about that?

Tories care. Brexit is their King Charles head, their reason for being, their obsession.

David Frost, who negotiated the UK’s disastrous exit agreement with the EU, wrote an unintentionally revealing paragraph last week which encapsulated the ideological capture of British Conservatism.

“The Conservative Party owns Brexit. Whether ministers like it or not, or maybe even wish it hadn’t happened, it’s the central policy of the Party and the government. They must be prepared to defend and explain it – to show why it’s so important that Britain is a proper democracy once again. For if voters come to believe Brexit is failing, then the Conservative Party will inevitably fail too.”

There you have it. Brexit is the Conservative party and vice versa.

What a distance we have come! In 2016, a mere eight years ago, the Conservative party’s leader and most of its MPs supported the UK’s membership of the European Union. Eurosceptics posed as mild-mannered people. They promised that leaving the EU would not mean leaving the single market .

But then leave won the 2016 Brexit referendum and set us off on a spiral of radicalisation, which was instantly familiar to those of us who grew up on the left.

Here is how it worked on the left in the 20th century. You would be in a meeting where everyone agreed to a leftist policy: say that the government should encourage banks to give micro loans to poor people to keep them out of the hands of loan sharks.

Everything seems fine until an accusatory voice accuses all present of being sellouts because they do not believe in nationalising the banks,

Or today, after the great awokening, an academic department will propose reasonable measures to check that they are not unconsciously discriminating in their application process, only to be told that, if they were truly concerned with justice, they would decolonise the curriculum and purge it of “white” concepts such as truth and objectivity.

The near identical radicalisation of the right has been more serious because the right has real power.

Here is how its spiral into Tory Jacobinism went.

After winning the Brexit referendum in 2016, retaining the UK’s membership of the single market and the customs union suddenly became wholly unacceptable. They had to go.

As the ideological temperature rose, Theresa May’s attempts at compromise became sellouts, judges became enemies of the people, and the only acceptable way to leave became Frost and Johnson’s impoverishing hard Brexit.

We now have a new Tory ideology: “Brexitism.” It is a style of swaggering bravado and a bawling loud-mouthed way of doing business that goes far beyond the UK’s relations with the EU.

The catastrophic premiership of Liz Truss was “Brexitist”. She crashed the economy because she believed she was right to ignore the warnings of the Treasury, Bank of England and Office for Budget Responsibility.

What true Brexit supporter trusts experts, after all?

Brexit showed that you did not need them. All you needed was the will to impose a radical agenda and then the world would accommodate itself to your desires.

In retrospect, 2016 plays the same role for the radical right of 21th century Britain that 1917 played for the British radical left in the 20th. The fluke communist takeover of Russia in 1917 convinced hundreds of thousands over the decades that revolution could succeed in the UK, even though communism never stood a chance in this country.

The fluke leave win of 2016 has had an equally mystifying effect. Because radical right politics succeeded in one set of circumstances, its supporters assumed they would succeed in all circumstances.

Nowhere in right-wing discourse do you hear suggestions that the Conservative defeat might be softened if the government appealed to the majority of voters. Instead, the right says that the only way to save the right is for the right to move rightwards and become more rightly right wing.

Once again, the parallels with the communist movement to people of my age scream so loudly they are deafening.

To quote the weirdest example. A few weeks ago, an anonymous group of wealthy men calling themselves the Conservative Britain Alliance spent about £40,000 on opinion polling, and gave the results to the Daily Telegraph. They showed the Conservatives were heading for a landslide defeat, as so many polls do.

But the spin put on it by the Conservative Britain Alliance’s frontman Lord Frost (again!) was that the Tories must move to the right to attract Faragist voters, not to try to stem the growth of Labour support.

A further release from the anonymous group of wealthy men added to the impression of a right wing living in the land of make believe.

They produced findings that showed the Conservatives could win if Sunak were replaced by a hypothetical Tory leader. This imaginary figure was a political superhero who would be strong “on crime and migration” (naturally) but also had the superpower to “cut taxes and get NHS waiting lists down” at the same time.

Lower taxes and better public services all at once in a wonderful never never land.

My guess is that it will take three maybe four election defeats to batter the delusions of 2016 out of the Conservative party.

Perhaps no number of defeats will suffice, and Brexitism will be Toryism’s final delirium.

7 notes · View notes

toinfinitywinning · 3 months

Text

this is get to know you time. the cringy name game at every camp in the world you do with toilet paper. enough.

Conversations and thoughts resembling the same level of random and incongruence of my Apple Music library. like Josh Groban is to Eminem: Mercy Me. a lot about everything that’s not a hashtag bc it just needs more attention.

Let the first (post) be first:

Hi. I’ve never done this before (like a seriously grown up blog on purpose. Just when just followed sad somewhat desperate poetry with a random live-laugh-love meme in there somewhere.) and Pitch Perfect.

BUT.

For 2 years I’ve had Long-Haul COVID. It’s a different kind of lonely

Thanks so much, amirite? —Gen-Z apologies if I didn’t use that jumbled acronym-word correctly.

It’s hard to keep up.

See? What am I talking about now and how did I get there…

Due to a very common symptom of LHC…

Again—hard to keep up. It’s there. Tho

And I have a lot of quirk so it’s possible I think you’ll “get” but are just nice not to tell me

BUT.

It’s already gone. Train left the Station yesterday.

Slipped on a penny.

Not Good. not even funny.

Teens with the gorgeous graffiti have to Go elsewhere. I’ve always been jealous of that kind talent.

Whole lot better than something else shiny thrown on the track and it’s derailed. There’s at least some innocence in a paint can.

WOW.

I have major attention and Brain Fog hurdles to conquer or shortly bypass. You might not be able to tell b/c of how My writing jumps around so infrequently.

Not true but still easier.

Mostly innocent and playful.

Sadly the attention part is this many years young.

Writing comes naturally. As it always has, strangely...

And why is healing so exhausting? Writing is therapeutic but My body says—can you not?

i know im not the only one asking that!

As if I have time for that too.

find a community of people suffering just as similarly and gain strength, tips and tricks.

Just, speak-screen edit my writing for me. Maybe a clarification fact-✔.

Just not wherever Tr*mp gets his.

Could be Truth Social. Monthly fee tho will cost you your Red Hat.

MYGAbad

Speaking I struggle with processing w/e skills I must have held onto.

BUT.

Since 2 years is quite. some. time.—I’ve shared many struggles and victories.

Like a Bell curve. Or a punk Domino falling then lining them up takes longer just to go down again in half the time. Repeat.

It’s very likely I Will try to talk about many things at once.

I really can’t help that. LOL.

Jury’s still out but I get most of my writing and miscellaneous musings from mom.

Dad can write the best, longest, and precious prayers and notes.

Almost delicately but like you KNOW he’s giving you a hug.

A Good mix tape’s paper Version.

Enter Run on sentences. Truly a stream by now.

Although my brain muscle is weak I’ve been encouraged by several people to Start a blog. Someday I’ll include the past 2 years of w/e pics are on other SocMed.

I can’t think of anything worse.

Yea, okay LOL.

Judgment free. Occasionally… like normal doses then have to work through that.

Mostly that’s because I knew nothing about anything before I opened My computer and started sharing My thoughts under zero context ridden or form at all.

More likely as well to offend and piss someone off. Well done you’re now one less friend popular. There’s an App for that tho-tracking people Who don’t like you.

Not sure where I’ll land with this. It may not land you either.

Because like a lot of us. Sometimes you don’t get to talk actually. No Room.

I like routine; that’s out. So it gets dull.

I’ve learned I hadn’t yet given myself the space to see all of things I can do sitting down.

But. By “given” I mean to say that perhaps I didn’t know it was there.

One Good thing I’ve gathered from this Hell.

Hell fresh by the Day! Never frozen.

So at that time and in this case of my life; sitting is fine.

Some of it isn’t too bad. The writing. You will find questionable punctuation. Run on sentences that I was running.

Relevance at all.

All around Confusion…altho connect the dots could have been seen as practice.

Or annoying even. I’d have no words.

I truly don’t set out to be funny. I could never do stand-up or improv. Or act.

Humor forced just takes and receives too much energy that might come off insincere.

Nothing on command.

Like Matt Perry’s brilliant improv wit it just doesn’t hit the same.

B/c it was scripted.

A syllabus for it Imagine.

The horn to jump off the swim block.

It’s when Life feels more scripted a lot of people close up.

That’s because you’re not in charge anymore. I’ve lost the Power.

Don’t prefer caring about whether someone likes me like I used to.

I believe you can snooze me for 30 days or say ‘I’m done w/ her’ and send Me to the cyberarchives.

Okay. Okay.

So—90% of the time I’m witty and sarcastic with a bit of cynicism, discomfort (for you), and pettifogging.

I write primarily about the questions of intersectionality.

How do things fit.

Let’s Fit it.

Until I figured out physics and calculus and basic math were behind a career in architecture and the classes I would have to take, I enjoyed taking things apart to make something else.

Not always pretty.

Could be Good what I took apart was the best thing we can’t see.

Like I’m writing questions but with wisdom not meaning to do that either,

A lot of people don’t like that. You do you! Baby.

I don’t mean to be at all harsh or hurtful. I try not to say that anything vainly.

I say it b/c a lot of what I’m writing is all of every piece of stream of consciousness tallied.

And it was a synapse connecting another.

Maybe that’s the creative part? The other side of My Brain is telling Me to ✔ on the other side so I’m like…crickets.

What I write is stream of consciousness, brutally honest and to some might be lightly offensive. In College writing this Way would’ve absolutely driven Me crazy.

Then life steps in and bonks u on the head with a newspaper but 15 years later returns the favor with an iPhone.

Or too blunt. And comes across as harsh. And that’s mostly because if I don’t have an emoji to match my real-life broken ღ I’m breaking up with you.

Self reflection: impulsive

I used to journal so much growing up.

When did I lose that innocence?

We can’t talk about folding paper into cranes and witchcraft finger fortune games anymore?

No more MASH?

Huh, maybe you weren’t born this Way. Ur Parents just drew circles nearest each other or your apple stem twist broke too soon and you want a partner whose name starts with P.

Very often I overshare. If you’re reading this this is not brand new information. No ability to say things simply. Think I’ve already. That can put me really vulnerable to more bitcoin hacks.

And then you need to figure out what bitcoin is. And whether Mario can collect coins as well in place of the hackers.

I’d say ask Tom Brady b/c of his investments but since retirement he’s been pretty deflated.

Mean people that mean to hurt.

First of all I feel sorry for you. Not in a poor you tho.

People Who hurt on purpose don’t often have any Way to vent or get a rise other than evoke feelings in and deflect toward a schoolmate.

Skip back to the part I tried talking about vulnerability. It truly is the invisible cloak and no one can see you but nothing makes sense still and you’ve only fixed what’s on the outside. Now you’re peeved AND cloaked.

At this conjunction junction next I’d suggest try shopping at Target opposed to Abercrombie then.

Feet in the water right above bankruptcy to see how things could be different only what…if?

Good ♧ seriously.

So there’s more grace given when you fall. When it’s not your month Day or even year!

Nobody is there for you!!

And My cloak is getting rained on.

Maybe gathering strength from falling will come a common sense with a 6th one but with seriously meaningful things I’ve learned and less hard knock’s Life for us.

The hard Way.

The bottom’s still there and it actually stinks stinks. Discouraging b/c there are two sides to the bottom of the cave full of stalagTITES and mites.

All the up’s and down’s. Right there. And the COVID-19 bat OMG!

You know you may not be able to fall any further further but once you’re up again you’re wondering whether you should get some cement to close that thing off.

Choose to live! But welcome to the real world—it sucks—ur gonna Love it.

Almost 4got. In the cave you dont always have to wait for Jesus to be resurrected if that metaphor comforts you but if change comes and it requires a whole new worm can of Life we already can’t handle that gets us outta the dank I don’t think we need to ask permission to the rights of that Bible passage.

BUT.

Until YOU are ready for change...

Forget it. At least you meant well. Someone can guide that horse to water but it stays pretty hydrated, so he says he’s Good. Promise. The only talking animal and it was Me Who got to hear it. More importantly, who’s gonna ☊? Care? There’s a country song finding out Who your Friends are. A lot stay lost and it’s not helpful all our Friends aren’t the same.

Missing a Good chance to find out if you’re in a similar predicament and that not always a bad thing.

At times I have literally had to be lifted off the floor.

I don’t do this at all for pity. As you read, My Pride is the biggest obstacle to let Go.

When you do?

The hard way through this.

I am angry and irritable for bouts. Sometimes I’m silly and invite karma punishments.

Go all Brimstone and every type fire and the Old Testament has nothing New-thinking and no one new to add to it. SMH. Nail a list on the wooden church door reading it is nearing endgame. Or, Just open your hotel drawer and tear out the back half.

So change then— If it were Me and it has been just not an actual hole I’d be outta there due to the spiders and crickets alone. Jiminy’s Cool.

If u can’t change and just stay a novice bunny hill—fine! Stay there. Build some confidence through experience.

And isn’t that another thing? Something specific motivates the fire under your (cuckoo!) and before you’d see the dark without any End of the tunnel and more importantly with the light aspect. All the sudden you care b/c what? It applies to you of course be selfish. Fascinating yet humbling.

Then there’s the ‘Why Me’ (?) phase? Not fully pitiful but just pretentious enough to resume the trailblaze. Bad attitude with a healthy dose of are we there yet and trying to Balance whether someone is saying …’they get it; you always feel bad’ so…KY Basketball banter? Ashamed accompanies too bc thing is a few times I did kind of scoff at phrases like I always feel bad. Like, here’s 2 Extra strength Tylenol.Alright, Ok, come test for Covid 1/29/22. It shouldn’t take going through something to empathize with or change but you could’ve listened for longer with a clear mind. Just cannot wrap your head around it and I think sometimes that’s okay. What’s next I’ll try so hard.

+ It’s 12:01am of 1/29/24 (so last night), you still can’t do math and/or struggle to add or subtract 12 so aren’t entirely sure its your sophomore year orientation, and you already surrender to what you didn’t want to get up for in the first place. Kind of silly u set the alarm! B/c Pain, confusion, Discomfort and a Deep loneliness that has very little to do with people awaits. That whole scenario is a disaster but look who’s standing and GOT. UP. period. 15 years ago that’s where I’d be. Just defeated.

THAT. Is enough some days. I say that to you struggling to believe the same but know Deep down.

Year 2 longhaul and youre wondering why there are anniversaries at all given about half are always sad or tragic. Evoking the worst on what could be the best. Might be something To think 2 minutes ago you’d ended your prayer to have a better Day. Of anything is true about everything happens for a reason I’d say having to chooose how to respond given you have the privilege at all to that just means were normal. B/c ill be honest I would not

I’m angry. WHAT is so complicated about your lack of Faith or belief prayer must go into an encrypted iCloud even the FBI can’t retrieve or interpret. Never had a chance! But I’ll add that it’s worth noting prayer doesn’t deal with its existence in transaction currencies..

Feel less Pain but feel more with it or stronger now. Or, just plain ‘ol numb. Similar to Addiction I suppose people get so used to being healthy one Way or another they don’t even notice better OR worse and no one is getting married.

Truth is.

Yea.

I’m in Hell, but I’m not on a ventilator. I’m not without relentless Support.

I still can smile but laugh just a bit before it hurts.

Something is always worse.

SomeONE is doing worse.

Somewhere and definitely rn.

I never knew I’d be dealing greed of perspective for this Long.

Something you’ll never find out about that changed your life’s trajectory where an explanation would have only confused things.

Then we still have the chance to be astonished and then genuine bc of that. Thankful. Expectant. With Faith somehow. Maybe carrying someone else’s Hope for a while might burden you less for a short time.

You dont need to see eye struggle and suffering. You dont need examples. You just know. There’s a fleeting peace u might not see again for 2 days but in knowing it’s not just you with the same bs going on.

Like here. Here is someone who needs support but in a different Way but how unique it could be to trade just for a bit. It’s not leg day this time remember u agreed a temp trade.

We don’t have to know everything. Most of the time I don’t give God the time to keep up w/ Me let alone do anything miraculous before I just hang up.

Although My Life was headed in a completely renewed direction in so many ways of recovery—

I got sick. Not because it was meant to be.

Because COVID. Possibly a rabid bat. Cracked vile or petri-dish

Everything does not happen for a reason and ppl dont like hearing that bc its an easy out. Says time might go on but this thorn wont ever heal. How do we respond? that’s the most authentic and a strength yes or no wand.

I hate cliché. Thing is tho…I think we all hate it b/c it doesn’t hold us accountable. Eh it’s fine.

Unfortunately we wouldn’t have the pretty, surprise, one of the Walk to Remember walks. All up to the of healing and forgiveness individual to each of us.

If for Me that means ive healed all I can and I’m counting on research to help Me out some more maybe I just keep going. Trust Me nothing is forgotten but you do know now that at least you were strong and capable enough to figure all that at all. And—I can do that. Some days aren’t that kind.

Maybe it becomes a goal we never anticipated but ✔ your resilience at the ticket line and saddle up, honey.this donkey only holds ____ lbs. let some things Go. That thing will still only walk in a circle but you’ve evenly distributed your baggage.

The feeling of pure joy. Which btw does still require a thesaurus b/c it is NOT the same as joy. Like a preventative Med to an acute one.

Then feel Accomplishment.

Not knowing what’s next but trying to be prepared.

It’s a surprise party we never RSVP’d and don’t regret it.

And it’s a Good thing u got outbid for that yacht.

Hell, tho, you won’t be forgotten but pushing helps the donkey move faster for now that is acceptable.

Unshun. Reshun. (This will make sense if you Watch the Office)

Flee fly. Be gone. Thankfully we hope to come out more resilient after the rip and tear and often not fully repaired sewing lessons.

But perhaps the biggest trait I’ve had to work on is My Pride. I want to do it.

I’ll give myself 3 strikes. 4 balls.

Then I walk to First.

Please do not get Me a gift.

I Love you and that was so sweet.

Would I be as generous?

Do u work, yea. It’s just one really hurts more and being tough isn’t tough at all if it’s not helping the worst hurt.

Those are sitting down, timeout thoughts.

The compression socks need to breathe.

But once the Pride slides over, let go, I get to know how it feels to very tangibly be taken care of and watched over.

Patience. The other side of a rant.

Later on that.

My main goal is to learn. Connect. Be called out if something comes off really tasteless.

Laugh at things that don’t have anything to do with being chronically sick. Laugh about what Medicine u had to administer and royally failed.

Sometimes all coupled with a handicap car-tag. No crutches either b/c I don’t like hearing I Will get better. It is a nice statement but it is impossible to be sure. Ive struggled with that b/c I know everyone believes that and means well I’ve just taken prior sick Gentry’s generalization and multiplied.

I am not making light. I think part of me is using the sarcasm as a coping mechanism.

Praise God there is something that does help the pain or at least distract from that Pain just not the one in your legs.

A codependency just a bit less severe. Embarrassing. Reason for judgment. Too easy.

If you can believe it—-I am not the same person I was 2 years ago.

For now I truly don’t know how. Pain can leave, anything traumatic can be worked on. You’ve got your scars.

I actually really think a scar is just unique as a snowflake or fingerprint. Telling so many stories. B/c a scar does mean something has healed. And it never forgets at one time it was painful. I’d prefer to see what I accomplish but I see wonder and beauty in them.

Things get pretty deep, complicated and downright pitifully sad. Vulnerable. Frighteningly true and relevant.

So I take what Good I can get in that day and pray those with LHC (Long-Haul COVID-19)

Be released.

However. On the flip tail’s side.

I’m 35 years aware there are some people who just don’t like me.

Until recently I wouldn’t have meant ‘sorry not sorry.’

I do now. To a respectable extent.

Reader discretion is advised. I promise I never set out to hurt anyone.

definitely not on purpose.

Because. Idgaf. Not bars being held. Que sera, sera.

complete transparency and seriously tho this doesn't mean i dont care. i wear my heart on my sleeve like a ding-dong ready to get hurt.

call it a diversion. we were on a break.

i just might take all of whatever hits wrong and turn that in to whatever ounce of assurance I can with the openness and to the best capability to learn new things and grow with compassion.

And back to writing—may already be just engrained but I don’t ever have a thesis, 3 supporting ideas or a better word then a conclusion.

You might find yourself confused. Reading it again prob won’t help.

Some will be really bad. Ugly. Waste of time. it was at least therapeutic for me.

Already is.

Even more might not make sense.

Read at your own risk, basically.

I have confidence but not really. Just enough not to care to change.

But I think about it. Because I’m wrong a lot.

challenge me. ill try to get through the fog.

But a lot of things have changed. in ways i might not even know Beauty in the Mess.

To sum up the above (sorry, there won’t be another summary after this disclaimer’s commercial intermission.)

I want to be as positive as possible.

Be in control of what I can. Ask for help for what I cannot.

I’m so ready to get My Life back. Trust Me and trust anyone Who tells your theyre in constant pain.

Really embarrassing I used to kind of scoff and be empathetic.

Funny how youre so sure of things.

Until it happens to you.

Suddenly it’s back to the drawing board and humility.

I wear my ღ on my sleeve. My greatest superpower and kryptonite.

What you read is as close to what you get as possible.

Balance can be unfair.

Please know that I care. I try harder than I ever had before. There are things I didn’t even Imagine could happen to someone when sick.

In all the ways I want to come out of this even better than what I envy I was entering into when I got sick.

There will be a WIDE range of thoughts similar to how i write. Mostly Sports and public figures and the politics I can comprehend.

B/c I know there’s someone out there who’s homeless because of this diagnosis. Or was deadly. Fired.

Divorced.

Ive become a bit of a nerd. Childish in some ways b/c you have to be creative…to be creative.

How do I even Start philosophizing that? So I don’t.

So I try My best to be the best I can. Inspire. Elicit laughter and new ways of thinking.

Questions.

Really tho? I just wanna be me.

thank you so sincerly to anything fromn a meme to a gift to a hug a prayer a smile, company, vibes if they can travel

but most of all

for holding hope when ive not been strong enough to.

For better or worse

for loving me.

making me feel heard.

idk what tomorrow holds but if its the same as today ill know at least i can make it and i am still beyond blessed and cared for and loved unconditionally.

even if forever.

wanna feel free, free.

to be me unabandoned.

changed for the better without knowing it.

some people dont have that option.

or even less the resource or safety to write about it.

Lastly mostly—I’m thankful for Insurance and the ability and privilege to work from home. And. Still have a job in general.

A Family and Family reserves holding me.

gentry.gonna.gents/g3

next. and if you made it this far, bless you.

thank you.

you mean more than you know to me. to anyone miscellaneous thanks as well and to my family and extended family and friends and job and insurance.

im in better shape than a lot. perspective sucks in the throes. selfish not selfish but my gosh turn the lights off. each journey is sooo different, but idk find the goodness and inspiration inbtw. There will be a rainbow soon enough, I wont make the bold claim and promise you one tho,

semi lastly and vulnerably, we've all been hurt. all going through something.

I say this every time something really bad happens. Ya know the ‘this is even worse,’ talk.

This one holds every candle.

Funny not funny none are the same and you’re never fully prepared.

and no one knows what it is you’re dealing.

give grace when I can’t sometimes.

cliché’s be damned lets just golden rule it b/c that one’s hard to do too but it sounds cute and Idont see a periodic table saying A! U! Be nice and welcoming.

I know I’ve forgotten something.

So I’ll fight.

But I still get to complain.

Feeling so entitled to this ill.

Sincerely,

Gentry

no ps you're welcome

8 notes · View notes

ukrfeminism · 10 months

Text

5 minute read

Thousands of protesters marched through central London (Saturday) afternoon as they demanded Carla Foster to be freed from jail, after her sentencing earlier this week reignited calls for abortion to be decriminalised.

Ms Foster was given a 28-month extended sentence on Monday after she admitted illegally procuring her own abortion during the pandemic when she was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant.

Protesters marched from the Royal Courts of Justice to Whitehall today chanting “Free Carla Foster” and waving signs saying “abortion is healthcare”.

They called for an end to Victorian legislation that renders abortion a criminal act in England, Scotland and Wales, with women granted exemptions in certain circumstances up until 24 weeks of pregnancy.

There are seven exemptions that can be granted to allow a woman to have an abortion, but none stating that a woman simply does not want a baby. For 98 per cent of women who had an abortion last year, it was recorded as being “performed because of a risk to the woman’s mental health”, classified as “F99 (mental disorder, not otherwise specified)”.

Under current legislation, abortions can only take place after 24 weeks in specific circumstances including when the mother’s life is at risk or if the child will be severely disabled.

Labour MP Stella Creasy delivered a speech to protesters who gathered in Whitehall this afternoon, claiming that current abortion legislation is no longer “fit for purpose”.

“This week proves what some of us have been trying to tell, often at length, patiently, to middle-aged men on Twitter,” she said.

“We do not have a legal right to choose in England and Wales, and that has very real consequences.”

She later told i that the significant turnout to the march “shows women aren’t prepared to accept to the possibility of prosecution hanging over their right to choose”.

“Lawmakers who think they can ignore these concerns fail to understand how important protecting a womans right to choose is to so many,” she said. “Parliament has to act as with more prosecutions on the way this issue isn’t going away.”

Lucy Wing, a 21-year-old from Walthamstow in London who attended the march, said she was “outraged” at Ms Foster’s case.

“I am here because I do not believe that the law that Carla Foster was sentenced under was at all just,” she said.

“A legal understanding of what a person is does not encompass a foetus and it does not encompass a child that was born not breathing. That child does not have any human rights because it is not seen as a person.”

Ms Foster was jailed earlier this week after being found to have ended her pregnancy in May 2020 with “pills by post” that allowed women under 10 weeks pregnant to receive abortion medication during the first Covid lockdown, when access to health services ground to a halt.

The “pills by post” scheme, which was intended to be a temporary measure ushered in during the pandemic, has now been introduced permanently.

Ms Foster, a mother-of-three, pleaded guilty to administering drugs to procure abortion significantly beyond the 10-week time limit, contrary to the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. The offence carried a maximum life sentence.

The judge, Mr Justice Pepperall, had received a letter from medical bodies including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives urging him to pass a non-custodial sentence.

However, he said this was “inappropriate” and sentenced the woman on the basis of the law as it stands.

The case has reignited calls to decriminalise abortion in the UK, with charities launching a fresh campaign to reform “outdated” laws that allow woman to face life imprisonment for ending their own pregnancies.

Ed Dorman, 64, an obstetrician and gynaecologist who also attended the march, said that Ms Foster’s case had “galvanised” the abortion movement and drawn attention to the punity of current laws.

“As you can tell from today, it has galvanised a lot of very strong feeling about the inappropriateness of the way the law, if it’s applied, can result in somebody being sent to prison for ending their own pregnancy,” he said.

“I would like to see, as in Northern Ireland, the whole remit of abortion care being taken out of the criminal law and, whilst still regulated, be like any other part of healthcare.”

Abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland in October 2019 after Westminster passed laws while the government at Stormont had collapsed.

However, abortion is still technically illegal in the rest of the UK as legislation brought into force in 1861 has not yet been repealed.

No 10 said earlier this week that the Government has no plans to alter abortion laws despite outrage over Ms Foster’s sentencing.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Tuesday: “Through the Abortion Act, all women have access to safe abortions on the NHS up to 24 weeks and we have made changes so that now includes taking abortion pills at home.

“We think this approach provides the right balance and … there are no plans to change this.”

The spokesman added: “We recognise that this is a highly emotive issue and obviously we recognise that the strength of feeling on all sides.”

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rhube · 1 year

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Help a gal out?

As followers probably know by now, I'm frustratingly, boringly sick. I have been for 11 years. It took me 7 years to get diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (also known as ME) because of medical prejudice, lack of funding for research, and the deeply misguided NICE guidelines that were recently overturned.

I'm currently on long-term sick leave having pushed through the last three years after I caught COVID, which made my condition significantly worse. The fact that I could work at all means that I have a 'mild' case. Things could be a fuck of a lot worse, and I'm pretty concerned that they are *getting* worse, as the bullshit capitalist landscape we inhabit is not set up to allow me to recover.

But there's something you can do. Even if you have no money and can't donate to help research for a medical cure. If you're in the UK, you can WRITE TO YOUR MP.

I have been thinking of writing to mine for a while, but wasn't sure what I could say. Then Action for ME's Twitter feed popped this up^^.

There's an upcoming meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on M.E they can attend. Action for ME have an email template you can use if you follow the link at the top of this post.

You can use WriteToThem to find your MP and email them. I just did it, and even adding in some personal details about my experience, it only took two minutes.

Please, please take the time to do this. If you're not a UK citizen, please reblog.

The waiting list for my local clinic is 2 years. Action for ME's waiting list is 9 months. In Scotland, there are no clinics at all. Half the clinics in England are still pushing out-dated, dangerous graded-exercise therapy and CBT as 'treatment'. Increasing numbers of people with Long COVID are being diagnosed with ME.

We are in a public health crisis and ME is at the heart of it. We NEED politicians to care. You can help make them care.

Please give 2mins of your day to do this.

#mecfs #chronic fatigue syndrome #long COVID

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lost-carcosa · 6 months

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Disgraced former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who unlawfully suspended Parliament, restricted the right to protest, and lied to MPs, has been appointed to the advisory board of the International Democracy Union, the global centre-right group for “freedom and democracy”.

The International Democracy Union (IDU) is an international alliance of centre-right political parties based in Munich, Germany. It is chaired by Stephen Harper, the former Prime Minister of Canada.

The group announced on Tuesday: “The IDU is excited to announce that PM Boris Johnson has joined our Honorary Advisory Board. His extensive experience as a statesman will be of tremendous help as we work towards building an ever-stronger alliance of the centre-right! Welcome to the IDU, Prime Minister!”

The decision has been met with baffled outrage on social media. In June, a report found that democracy in the UK was in retreat, following Boris Johnson’s cavalier approach to standards in public life and efforts to warp the constitution under his tenure.

Commissioned by democratic pressure groups, Unlock Democracy and Compass, the report found that issues like the partygate scandal – where politicians making the rules repeatedly broke them over Covid – and the lobbying scandal surrounding Owen Paterson which saw Johnson try and fail to get him out of hot water by overriding Commons procedure – undermined the strength of democracy in the UK.

Johnson’s government also introduced mandatory photo voter ID, which has made it much more difficult for millions of people to vote. At the same time, his Elections Act undermined the principle that the body responsible for overseeing elections, in this case the Electoral Commission, should be independent of government. The government can now set the body’s strategy and has a majority of seats on the parliamentary body overseeing it.

Meanwhile, clampdowns on the right to protest and strike, and conscious attempts to delegitimise and weaken the power of independent regulators and the judiciary, compounded existing failings within UK democracy, the report found.

The IDU post is the latest gong for the man who shut down Parliament in order to prevent it voting against his Brexit plans, and who resigned when faced with a potential Commons vote over repeatedly lying to MPs. Johnson’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act has also seen hundreds of peaceful protesters locked up since passing last April.

Responding to the announcement that the former Prime Minister has joined the IDU’s Honorary Advisory Board, Tom Brufatto, Director of Policy at Best for Britain, said: “There is a staggering irony in Boris Johnson – the man who unlawfully prorogued parliament, eroded voters’ democratic rights with the Election’s Bill, and was found to have deliberately misled Parliament and the country during the pandemic – providing advice on the promotion of democracy.

“He should have no further influence on our or anyone else’s politics.”

Byline Times readers responded to the news of Johnson’s new post with disbelief. “Their entrance requirements must be really low to think he’s an asset to the group,” one said.

Another said: “Any potential credibility they have just flown out of the window. [I] can’t believe any organisation thinks having Johnson on board is an asset.”

“Johnson is one of the greatest scam artists the UK has ever seen,” one argued. “If they are pleased he has joined them it says a lot about their integrity or rather lack of it,” another said, while one branded it simply: “Farcical.”

Another pointed to Johnson’s decision in 2019 to withdraw the whip from 21 Conservative MPs who dared to challenge him over his no-deal Brexit push: “At the next election, many were replaced by people of the ‘calibre’ of Lee Anderson, Scott Benton and others.”

One reader noted wryly: “I expect they want his skills and expertise in how to dismantle and damage democracy.” Others mocked the IDU’s use of the phrase ‘Prime Minister’ to describe Johnson, in the way that former US presidents keep their ‘President’ title. “He appears to have fooled the IDU into thinking he is Prime Minister,” one said.

Several replied simply with clown emojis.

Former Conservative leader William Hague is a former chairman of the IDU. In June last year, Hague was among those calling for Johnson to quit as PM, saying his win among MPs was the “worst possible result” for the party.

The damage done to his premiership was “severe” and showed a “greater level of rejection than any Tory leader has ever endured and survived”, Hague said, slamming Johnson’s failure to tackle the drinking culture in No 10 during the lockdowns.

#UK politics #International Democracy Union #boris johnson #alexander boris de pfeffel johnson #boris is a fucking moron #boris is not fit for public service #fuck boris

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krazyshoppy · 2 years

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मध्य प्रदेश में कोरोना के 60 नए मामले मिले, एक्टिव केसों की संख्या हुई 400 के पार

मध्य प्रदेश में कोरोना: मध्य प्रदेश (Madhya Pradesh) के 10 जिलों में कोरोना (Corona) के नए पॉजिटिव मरीज सामने आए हैं. इस समय मध्य प्रदेश में कोरोना वायरस के संक्रमण के 400 सक्रिय मरीज (Active Case) हैं. इसके अलावा प्रदेश में पॉजिटिविटी दर भी कम नहीं हुई है. राहत देने वाली बात यह है कि पॉजिटिव मरीजों के मरने का आंकड़ा बेहद कम है. किस जिले में कितने नए केस मिले मध्य प्रदेश में पिछले 24 घंटे में…

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#Active Case #bhopal #COVID-19 #Indore #MP Corona Update #MP News #MP News in Hindi #Sample Testing #इंदौर #एक्टिव केस #एमपी कोरोना अपडेट #एमपी न्यूज #एमपी न्यूज इन हिंदी #कोविड-19 #भोपाल #सैंपल टेस्टिंग

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nismunc-ipc · 2 months

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FEATURED ARTICLE: The Question of Free Speech on Social Media in the Dewan Rakyat

by Cheong Chenxi of Kyodo News

Pictured above: Malaysian MPs discuss free speech in the era of hate speech and misinformation

DEWAN RAKYAT: In today’s Dewan Rakyat sitting, YB Pagoh of the opposition stated that putting pressure on Social media platforms such as TikTok and Facebook to remove offensive posts is necessary and that lack of compliance from said Social media platforms will result in a ban from being used in Malaysia.

A special chamber was subsequently held during which this topic was discussed further.

During the special chamber, YB Gombak mentioned that “Former and current members of parliament should be held accountable for speech that may disrupt the racial and religious harmony”. He presents the case of former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, who has stated his opinion that non-Malays do not belong in Malaysia, yet received no punishment for expressing said sentiments.

YB Bintulu has also brought up a case of the dangers of Social media, citing that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation spread on Social media about the legitimacy of SINOVAC vaccines has influenced the decision of the Malaysian government to import Pfizer and other vaccines from the west, but not the SINOVAC vaccines from China, which he claims to be equally as safe.

Meanwhile, YB Marang of PAS states that harmful western agendas, such as that of LGBT, should be banned in Malaysia. However, the spreading of Islam in Malaysia should not be banned nor hailed as extremist.

This matter continues to be discussed after the special chamber and a bill has yet to be passed to address said issue.

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the-empress-7 · 1 year

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MPs laud Princess of Wales's 'crucial' early years campaigning

Politicians will this week launch an inquiry into early years education examining the quality and affordability of childcare

The Princess of Wales's work highlighting the early years of childhood has been praised as MPs prepare to launch an inquiry into the state of childcare.

The education select committee will this week announce an inquiry into early years education, which will examine the quality and affordability of childcare.

It comes after the Princess recently wrote for The Telegraph saying "not enough is being done" to nurture the next generation.

She vowed to "shine a light on this issue and to do everything I can to secure much greater focus on those first crucial few years for the youngest members of our society".

The Princess has undertaken a series of campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of early childhood, with a regular programme of engagements designed to boost the sector.

'Crucially important'

Robin Walker, the chair of the education committee, told The Telegraph that her involvement was "extremely welcome".

"The work that the Princess has been doing to raise the esteem and the recognition of the sector is actually crucially important," he said.

"[The sector] has an intrinsic value - it does an enormous amount of good for society, and making sure that we can celebrate that and recognise it is important."

Robin Walker

Robin Walker, the chair of the education select committee, says providing the right support early can 'save a fortune for the education system in the long run' CREDIT: Paul Grover

The inquiry will look at the "coherence" of the current childcare system, including the fact that parents are currently missing out on billions of unclaimed tax-free childcare.

It will explore how the lack of affordable childcare prevents many mothers from returning to work even though they would like to.

"With the right support and the right investment from Government, there is a hope for helping many more of those people to work effectively," Mr Walker said.

Recruitment and retention of early years professionals will be another focus.

"I speak to nurseries, they will complain about losing staff to supermarkets and to other areas."

Source: Telegraph

Thank you so much for this. Let me see if @the-cat-with-the-emerald-tiara-1 has the full article.

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thecrimecrypt · 1 year

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Crimes That Shook Britain (Yorkshire)

The Crossbow Cannibal Between June 2009 and May 2010, Stephen Griffiths murdered three sex workers in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

His final attack was captured on CCTV and led to his arrest. He shot his last victim - Suzanne Blamires - with a crossbow as she tried to escape his flat, before stabbing her in the head with a knife.

In custody, he boasted to officers of West Yorkshire Police, ‘I’ve killed loads,’ and also claimed to have eaten body parts of his victims. It’s thought his other known victims - Shelley Armitage and Susan Rushworth - also suffered this fate. Griffiths, who called himself the Crossbow Cannibal, was jailed for life and will die in prison.

The Murder of Jo Cox Jo Cox, 41, was MP for Batley and Spen, West Yorkshire - the constituency where she was born - and was married with two small children, aged 5 and 3.

On 16 June 2016, she was killed outside the library where she was to hold a constituency meeting. She was shot in the head and chest with a sawn-off hunting rifle and stabbed 15 times. Jo’s killer Thomas Mair - a far-right extremist - was convicted of murder on 23 November 2016 and was given a whole-life term.

The Yorkshire Ripper Known as the Yorkshire Ripper, serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, from Bingley, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, was serving 20 consecutive life sentences after he was found guilty of 13 murders and seven attempted murders in 1981.

Over five years, he attacked women across West Yorkshire and Manchester, picking victims he believed to be prostitutes, though not all were.

Once arrested, he attempted to plead guilty to manslaughter, claiming diminished responsibility and saying God told him to kill prostitutes. Sutcliffe served most of his sentence in Broadmoor Hospital, a high-security psychiatric facility, but was judged sane enough to be moved to HMP Frankland in 2016.

Sutcliffe died at University Hospital of North Durham aged 74 on 13 November 2020, having been sent there with COVID-19. He had a number of underlying health problems including, obesity and diabetes. He reportedly refused treatment.

The Kidnapping of Shannon Matthews In February 2009, Karen Matthews, from Dewsbury, called the police when her daughter Shannon, 9, didn’t come home from school. What followed was the biggest investigation by West Yorkshire Police since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.

Every newspaper in the country reported on the case, with one offering a £50,000 reward for information leading to Shannon’s safe return.

Three weeks after she’d gone missing, Shannon was found alive at a flat less than a mile from her home. The flat belonged to Michael Donovan - the uncle of Karen’s boyfriend - Donovan was arrested and, soon after, so was Karen Matthews.

In November 2008, both denied charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice. Leeds Crown Court heard Karen had engineered Shannon’s kidnap with Donovan to claim the reward. Shannon had been drugged, tethered, and hidden inside a divan bed during her captivity.

Matthews and Donovan were found guilty of all charges and jailed for eight years. Both have now served their sentences.

The Fox Killings Arthur Hutchinson, also known as The Fox, was wanted by police for rape. Then, on 23 October 1983, he broke into the Sheffield home of Basil and April Laitner.

Also there were their children Richard, 26, and Nicola, 18. Hutchinson killed Richard, Basil, and April, then raped Nicola at knife point before fleeing. He’d already spent five years in prison for attempting to murder his brother-in-law.

After a 39-day manhunt, The Fox was captured and serving life. He will never be released.

The Murder of Sharon Beshenivsky Sharon Beshenivsky had been an officer with West Yorkshire Police for nine months in November 2005. On the day she was killed, the mum of five and her colleague went to an emergency call at Bradford travel agency.

There, they were fired on by armed robbers and Sharon was fatally wounded, her colleague seriously injured. Three men were convicted of her murder and got life. Three others were also jailed in connection to the killing.

#murder #truecrime #tc community #tcc family #serialkillers #killing #true crime community #serialkiller #blog #the crime crypt #crimes that shook britain #england #jo cox #yorkshire ripper #peter sutcliffe

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mariacallous · 4 months

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From Turkey to Italy, from Greece to Moldova, 2023 was eventful. But even in difficult times, there are always individuals and organisations that make a difference through their actions. BIRN presents some such positive examples.

Some gave a helping hand to those in need in a difficult time, such as this year was. Others challenged controversial decisions…and succeeded. Others literally saved lives through smart moves.

Countries in Central and Southeastern Europe are ending another eventful year in which some people and organisations made their mark through tireless, inspiring actions.

Czechia: Lawyer who gave society its #MeToo moment

“He who speaks the truth is simply persuasive,” Adela Horejsi said in an interview with local online magazine CzechCrunch. But when the “he” is a “she”, and the truth in question threatens to rattle the cage of a man in a position of power, truth-telling can be a Herculean and strenuous task.

It was a task that Horejsi, 42, took on with empathy and expertise as she fought to defend the rights, safeguard the dignity and give a voice to her clients – women who had accused former MP Dominik Feri of rape and sexual harassment.

Before his fall from grace, Feri was one of the rising stars of Czechia’s younger and more progressive generation of politicians. The country’s youngest-ever and first black MP (he is partly of Ethiopian origin), he was selected by “Politico 28 – Class of 2019” as one of the figures most likely “to shape the future” of his country.

Known for his characteristic afro hairstyle and gentlemanly fashion style, he rose to wider fame in the COVID-19 era, when his frequent Instagram posts explaining rules and regulations became a go-to platform that cut through the government’s chaotic and muddled communications. The third Czech to pass the million-followers mark on social media, he would change his country’s fate – but in a way few would have predicted.

After an extensive two-year investigation, the Prague district court in November found Feri guilty on all charges of the indictment: two cases of rape and one attempted rape.

Sentencing him to three years in prison, the judge highlighted that the victims had presented their cases “factually, chronologically and logically” – testament to the meticulous work of Adela Horejsi with her clients on a topic where the slightest incoherence can prove fatal to the credibility of the case.

Previously better known for her work in cases relating to obstretic violence, Horejsi – alongside other activists and organisations who have been advocating for victims of sexual violence – has proven instrumental in changing the tone of a debate that was highly toxic and victim-blaming in the early days after the publication of their testimonies, by shifting the focus back on the experience and trauma suffered by the women.

Further cementing 2023 as a landmark year in the protection of women from sexual harassment and violence, the Czech government earlier this month approved a new legal definition of rape based on the absence of consent rather than the use of force – a change long advocated by activists. The impact of the Feri case, and of the courageous work of Horejsi and her clients, on this newfound perspective, shouldn’t be underestimated.

Hungary: Brave campaigner for right to dignified death

Daniel Karsai had a good life – until about two years ago. The constitutional lawyer, who had climbed mountains in Nepal and Peru and had an active sporting career in football and jiu-jitsu, believed the best was yet to come. But then he was diagnosed with a wasting disease that gradually paralyses the muscles and leads to a terrible death, all while completely conscious, as it does not affect the sufferer’s mental abilities.

Karsai decided not to wallow in self-pity but to fight: not against the disease, which is incurable, but against the Hungarian legal system, which he says denies him a “dignified death”. Under current law, any form of active euthanasia is banned, and anyone who helps assisted suicide – even outside Hungary’s borders – can face up to five years in jail. In a high-profile case in November, Karsai challenged this at the European Court of Human Rights, ECHR.

In a moving plea, the already frail, wheelchair-bound lawyer asked the court to help him “open a door” when he can no longer do so, saying he was also fighting for others facing similar circumstances. Karsai’s case has deeply moved Hungarian society. Pictures of him sitting alone in the Hungarian parliament, completely ignored by the passing ruling Fidesz party MPs (except for one), went viral and have become a symbol of the insensitivity of a ruling elite that claims to follow Christian values but seems to have lost its sense of humanity. It has also sparked a debate across party lines, between left and right, believers and atheists, young and old. Tamas Fabiny, an Evangelical Lutheran bishop in Hungary, pledged his support to Karsai and thanked him for finally initiating a meaningful debate where reasonable arguments and human perspectives clash, in this “painfully divided, often hate-filled, society”.

“This case touches my life very personally, but it is also a wonderful professional challenge because it is about the limits of human life and human rights, freedom and human dignity,” Karsai said in an interview. “It’s the biggest case of my life, also from a professional point of view.”

Polls suggest that 70 per cent of Hungarian society believes some form of euthanasia should be legalised. Karsai’s case may speed up a long-overdue reform of the penal code. He may not live to see the moment, but that would be his legacy.

North Macedonia: IT man who donates computers to poor kids

Borce Stamenov is an IT engineer from the small town of Kavadarci. Some seven years ago, a woman came into his office asking if they had any spare old computers. Borce assembled one, and when he took it to the woman’s family, he was moved and inspired.

The joy he saw in the eyes of her three little children, who never had a computer, and the realisation that what they were so joyous about was someone’s discarded PC, which they’d considered “garbage”, sparked a great idea.

Why not do this for others in need as well? And why not use social networks, where he was already active, to call for more donations?

That’s how he launched Doniraj Kompjuter “Donate a computer”. The first 100 donated computers soon led to 200 and more. Borce says he could not stop because what he was doing filled him with joy as well.

“I always get very emotional responses. Plus, I have a feeling that I am also doing this to show to people that if you have a good idea you should act, and you can do a lot,” Borce told BIRN.

For the first two years, he did this all alone, calling people and firms to donate their old or new computers, refurbishing them and then sending them to poor families, of which there are plenty in North Macedonia, unfortunately.

He was then joined by another volunteer. This year there are four in total, doing all the volunteer work in their free time.

But their transparency on social media has brought them trouble as well. This summer, days after Borce announced that they would take a short break for a vacation, a robber broke into their workshop, stealing some of their most powerful computers that they have been preparing for gifted students.

It all ended well, however. Police soon found the thief and returned the computers.

Meanwhile, the initiative has grown. By the end of 2023 they hope to have donated 3,000 computers in total over all the years.

The end of this year was a time for recognition. The initiative won the “Meto Jovanovski” state award, given for excellence in promoting, protecting and improving human rights.

While Borce says his priority will always be to give computers directly to children in socially vulnerable families, the initiative has also equipped 40 schools with IT classrooms, many of them in remote rural areas where the information gap is felt the most.

“We are not trying to replace the state, but we are trying to help it,” Borce explains.

Greece: NGO finding new ways to save marine eco-systems

The Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation, a non-governmental environmental organization whose aim is to protect marine and island ecosystems, has introduced Artificial Intelligence records in a move to record the populations of marine mammals such as bottlenose dolphins, blow whales and others.

To this end, they are cooperating with an international scientific team.

“We do not feel like heroes; we feel it is important to recognize the effort and inspire others who really want to contribute to the protection of the environment because it is a common responsibility that we all share. If there is not substantial cooperation, with a result, then we will not be able to change things. We can make a difference wherever we are,” Anastasia Miliou, marine biologist and director of research at the Archipelagos, told BIRN.

Archipelagos is based on the Greek island of Samos and, since 1998 has been working on protecting marine biodiversity in the northeastern Mediterranean, especially the Greek seas and islands. Some 100 people from 43 countries with four boats and research bases in the Aegean work together through applied scientific research, education, conservation actions and community engagement. Their aim is to prevent further disasters and protect the important biodiversity of the Greek seas, explains to BIRN Anastasia Miliou, marine biologist and research director of the institute.

Archipelagos’s fields of action include the investigation and protection of Greek deep waters, the deep-sea corals, which are more than 7,000 years old, endemic seagrass meadows, the forests of the Mediterranean, over-fishing, rare species, cetaceans, the seven species of marine mammals that migrate and live permanently in Greek seas, sea turtles, and more.

Archipelagos, in collaboration with other organisations from different countries, has made a database of more than 80,000 photos of sea mammals to be able to use AI algorithms to improve their re-recognition. So far, Archipelagos has identified 172 dolphins by their characteristic markings. Now, with AI technology, they will be able to increase the ability to re-identify species.

“We have been recording sea mammals for 25 years under good or relatively mild weather conditions; most of the year, we don’t know we don’t how they act. So, we have a lot of knowledge gaps that make them difficult to manage and protect. New technologies help us to fill these knowledge gaps,” Miliou said.

Montenegro: Environmental champion who doesn’t fear politicians

This year, Montenegro’s Environmental Protection Agency chief, Milan Gazdic, won praise from citizens simply because he rose above the political interests of those who’d appointed him and acted independently in a country where corruption, political ties, and environmental devastation are routine.

During the last year, Gazdic included civic organisations in his Agency work and pointed to various cases of environmental devastation in the country. Even though the government appointed him in February 2022, Gazdic acted independently.

Former Environmental Agency managements tolerated authorities’ and investors’ projects that exploited the country’s rivers and coastline for decades, despite civic activist warnings.

“In Montenegro, everyone wants to bypass the law in one way or another, so problems arise when you insist on law implementation. We will work according to the rules, so everyone should be used to the new Agency practice,” Gazdic told BIRN.

On May 15, Gazdic officially involved civic activists in the prevention of Illegal fishing in the environmentally endangered Lake Skadar. The agency gave them official permission to use drones and cameras to monitor the lake and locate poachers in one of Europe’s last freshwater wildernesses.

In April, civic organisations called on the authorities to protect Gazdic from the pressure of investors and some government officials. Gazdic was criticized by the authorities in the town of Gusinje on April 5, after the Environmental Agency banned a music festival in the mountains of Prokletije National Park.

Gazdic stresses that there is often pressure on Agency management from some political officials and investors.

“There is always a lot of pressure. Investors and people who do not understand nature protection say the Agency is holding back the country’s development. The agency is dealing with the environmental protection that affects people’s health, which is the basis of the country’s development,” Gazdic told BIRN.

On August 19, the Agency rejected the Ministry of Capital Investments’ request to open three stone pits near the UNESCO-protected town of Kotor. On August 18, it filed criminal charges for illegal logging in the national park of Durimitor but also called on authorities to stop illegal construction in the protected area and popular tourist destination.

On June 10, 2023, Gazdic said that Montenegro, as a touristic destination, should not allow illegal construction and usurpation of land because it could endanger the landscape.

On September 20, 1991, Montenegro became the first country in the world to declare itself an “ecological state” and vowed to safeguard its natural resources.

In last year’s annual report on Montenegro’s progress towards membership of the European Union, the European Commission warned that the country needed to improve its waste management, water quality, nature protection, and climate change efforts.

Bosnia: Quick-thinking pensioner who halted killer’s rampage

August 11 was a regular Friday morning for most locals in the small town of Gradacac in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The streets were crowded with people visiting the street market, running errands and finishing tasks before the August heat forced everyone into hiding.

Hasan Jasarevic, 77, who usually works Thursdays and Fridays in his son’s hunting equipment shop in the centre of Gradacac, could hear the police and ambulance sirens while he was behind the counter.

“I thought there’d been a car accident,” Jasarevic told BIRN, from his home in Bosanski Samac, on the banks of Sava river on the northern border with Croatia.

“Soon after, I heard screeching tires in front of the shop, when a man wearing only shoes and shorts, covered in blood, walked into my shop,” he remembered.

Later, Jasarevic would find out that this was Nermin Sulejmanovic – a man who had just killed his ex-wife while livestreaming it on Instagram.

“He pointed a pistol to my head and said: ‘Give me all the 9mm ammunition you have,’” Jasarevic continued.

That morning, Sulejmanovic, a body builder with a thick criminal file, had been on a killing spree. Besides committing one of the most shocking femicides in Bosnia’s recent history, he killed two others – a father and a son – while wounding three others, including a police officer.

Without a second thought, Jasarevic grabbed seven boxes of starting ammunition – fake bullets used to start races – and gave them to Sulejmanovic, potentially saving more lives that day.

“I was not scared at that moment,” Jasarevic recalled, and continued: “I’s been a prisoner in the war and saw a lot of death during that war.”

While leaving the shop, Sulejmanovic dropped one of the boxes on the floor, but just left it there and left.

“At that moment, my older granddaughter who had already seen what he (Sulejmanovic) has done over social media, came into the shop and just said: ‘Grandpa, have you seen what he has done?’” Jasarevic remembered. The fear came at that point, he recalls.

“I locked the shop, took my hunting gun and locked my granddaughter and myself in the apartment above the shop,” he said, adding that he informed his son of what just happened and asked him to call the police.

“I have seen a lot of death, and could never shoot a person, but I still took my gun with me,” he admitted.

In the meantime, a massive manhunt was underway. Hundreds of police officers were looking for Sulejmanovic who, thanks to Jasarevic’s quick reaction, had only three bullets left. He used one of them to commit suicide as the police closed the ring around him.

Later, Jasarevic was awarded the “Zlatni Zmaj” (Golden Dragon) award, the highest recognition of the town of Gradacac, while his act has been celebrated in the shock that followed the events.

Serbia: Advocates for women’s inheritance rights in patriarchal society

When it comes to women rights and their systematic discrimination, much of the talk refers to the representation of women in institutions or gender sensitized language.

An initiative for women’s inheritance rights, “How much is my share?” has gone deeper than that, showing how patriarchy works subtly and, linked with state law, discriminates against women and pushes them into poverty.

In Serbia it is widely considered that a female child should not take the family inheritance, as it is expected that women will leave the parents’ home on marriage and contribute to another family through domestic work and childbearing. That is why traditional customs suggest that all the family’s possession go to the male heir.

“How much is my share?”, started by the Women’s Association of Kolubara District, ZUKO, and 14 other organisations, wanted to tackle this.

Their research done throughout Serbia showed that almost half of women, 44 per cent, renounce their inheritance in favour of male relatives. If they find themselves in a situation of existential threat, because they gave up their inheritance, they may lose their right to social assistance.

Jelena Ruzic, President of the Women’s Association of Kolubara district, ZUKO, told BIRN that it all started with their work with women in villages that depend on agriculture.

“We realized, working with these women … that there is a big gap when it comes to property ownership in terms of gender. Then we started digging more into the causes,” she explains.

To raise awareness of the importance of claiming rights to inheritance among Serbian women, the 15 organisations formed a Coalition for Equal Inheritance and started a media campaign on a topic that is rarely ever talked about. The campaign also provides free legal assistance to women who are in the inheritance process.

Ruzic says she realized through her interviews with women that 95 per cent of them had not paid any attention to the issue, saying they first heard about it through the campaign “How much is my share?”

“That shows that gender patterns are so strong that is hard to change them. In our tradition, sisters are valued as people who are strong and who will do everything for others. It is hard to escape that feeling of value through sacrificing for others,” she said.

She is happy that their campaign has raised awareness in different parts of society.

“Civil society organisations, media and even decision makers are all now aware of the problem. That is not an adequate change, but it is a start,” she emphasizes.

Poland: Movie director who challenged negative stereotypes about migrants

Agnieszka Holland, an internationally-renowned Polish film director, in 2023 made the movie that, according to her, moved audiences most in her entire career – about refugees and migrants trying to cross the Belarus-Polish border. But she was demonised by the then Polish government and right-wing media in an almost rabid attack that forced her to hire private security.

In the movie Green Border, which premiered in early September, Holland used three inter-connected stories – of a Syrian refugee family, a Polish border guard and a group of activists helping the migrants – to bring to a wider audience events taking place on the Belarus-Poland border since the summer of 2021.

In an interview with BIRN in October, Holland explained that the early days of the Belarus-Poland border crisis reminded her of events in 1938 at Zbaszyn, on the former German-Polish border, where thousands of Jewish people of Polish origin were stuck for months, facing illness and death, after Nazi Germany deported them and Poland refused to let them back in, having previously removed their Polish citizenship.

“Symbolically speaking, we could say this was the beginning of the Holocaust,” Holland explained.

For many, the movie was very important because it brought to the general public – in a relatable manner – a crisis that had been happening for two years but which still remained unknown – or misunderstood – because of the massive propaganda around the subject promoted by the nationalistic Law and Justice PiS government.

Green Border quickly became the most watched Polish movie of the year and stirred strong responses among audiences: “The reactions I get from the audience at the screenings is something I have never experienced before in my life,” Holland said. “It feels like collective therapy. People get together and speak about things they never spoke about before in cinemas.”

And it’s precisely for that reason – that it caused a strong reaction in many – that the government sought to discredit it, with key members of the governing camp, including President Andrzej Duda, criticizing it without even seeing it.

Former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro went as far as to compare the movie to Nazi propaganda (linking to a common trope of PiS, that anyone criticizing the government is serving foreign, particularly German, interests). That was particularly offensive to Holland, whose father was Jewish and who has family members that were killed in the Holocaust.

Holland sued Ziobro and hired guards to protect her in the period of most intense attacks. But she remains hopeful that the backlash was worth it, for making a movie that hopefully not only informs but also changes the minds of some of those that used to get their knowledge of the topic before only from governmental sources. In the end, Holland said, what matters is “to give a voice to the voiceless”.

Moldova: ‘Good Samaritan’ who helps Ukrainian refugees, cancer victims

Doina Cernavca, 38, is one of the most famous activists in Moldova for the projects and charity projects she leads for people in need. Until last year, she was mainly active on behalf of people in need from Moldova. But the situation changed with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Her NGO, “Help a Person”, was present from the first day of the waves of Ukrainian refugees who decided to leave Ukraine through Moldova, especially women and children. About one million Ukrainian refugees have transited or stayed in Moldova so far.

“We were the first in Moldova to open the doors and gates at Casa Bună and we organised the largest collection of humanitarian aid for refugees,” the former journalist told BIRN.

In 2022 alone, Cernavca collected more than 300 tons of aid for Ukrainian refugees through her humanitarian association and delivered 10,000 portions of food daily.

Cernavca says she witnessed the human dramas of women who received calls that their husbands had died at the front, or that Russia had bombed their home towns entirely and they would no longer be able to return.

“Last year, we had the biggest impact on helping refugees. In 2023, we were more on programs to support children and women,” she said.

“With our help and the volunteers from the Endava company, the Ukrainian children had IT lessons, and the women had conversation clubs with specialists who helped them move on with their lives,” she added.

Cernavna went through an emotional experience of her own about half-a-year ago that would mark her. Her father died of cancer. But she turned this pain into force and founded “Casa Valeriu” [Valeriu’s House] in her father’s memory. Cancer patients and those who come to Chisinau for cancer treatments are housed here free of charge and offered meals, as well as psychological counselling.

“The first question by those who call us and reserve a bed on the phone, two or three times, is if everything is really free. Yes! Because we are a community of people for people, we survive on donations from people and partners and sponsors,” she says.

Patients with oncological problems who come to Casa Valeriu, she says, are very warm people who understand that the success of their treatment depends a lot on them.

“We are trying to instil in them a dose of optimism and confidence as it must be good and there is no other way. As long as people want to go forward, we give them all the necessary support,” she concludes.

Romania: ‘Agent Green’ taking on trophy hunters and forest chainsaws

Gabriel Paun, 46, and the NGO he leads, Agent Green, are some of Romania’s most influential campaigners for saving the environment and wildlife. However, they have long gone beyond internal borders in their multiple activities.

In 2023, Agent Green was energetically involved in saving bears in the forests of Romania from trophy hunters and from high-ranking officials who lobbied for this activity with the official excuse that the bears had become dangerous, so they must be neutered and killed in order not to be a public danger.

“It’s clear that I ruined some plans for him that he wanted to do quietly, but he couldn’t, “ he said of former environment minister Tanczos Barna. “He just had to start this absolutely terrible campaign, in which during the two years of his ministry he managed to demonise this species [bears],” Paun told BIRN.

Romania is one of the last bastions of bears in Europe, maintaining and important balance in the ecosystems. Most unofficial estimates put the bear population at least 6,000, around 60 per cent of the total European population, excluding Russia.

Because of that, Paun says, there is a big lobby by wealthy hunters in Europe to hunt in the Romanian forests.

In May 2021, a scandal erupted after an Austrian prince, Emanuel von and Zu Liechtenstein, killed a bear called Arthur, who was one of the largest specimens in Europe. The prince admitted killing the bear but said he did it legally. He claimed the animal was dangerous.

Paun told BIRN that the threat arose after the trophy hunting industry and industrial farmers teamed up to hunt this species, which is crucial to the health of nature.

He is also in direct contact with the European Commission and MEPs to stop the illegal deforestation of forests in Romania, which occurs through the impotence, or collaboration, of the Romanian state and in the absence of adequate internal legislation and with few coercive instruments at the European level.

Forests represented 43 per cent of the surface of the European Union in 2022. According to Romania’s National Institute of Statistics, INS, Romania’s forest fund has grown steadily in the last 15 years. According to them, Romania has more than 6.6 million hectares of forests, which cover around 29 per cent of the country.

But, according to a Greenpeace report from 2022, about six hectares of forest disappear from Romania every hour.

“The idea is that we move the topic of deforestation and show it as one of national security. That’s where our new audience is. The south of the country must be massively reforested to prevent desertification,” he concludes.

Bulgaria: Couple who challenged anti-LGBT discrimination

2023 was a key year for Bulgaria’s embattled LGBT+ community, both for good and bad.

In the repeat general elections in April, the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party started a campaign focused on promoting a referendum “against gender ideology”. In June, right before the annual Sofia Pride, another pro-Russian party, Revival, organised a series of protests against the screenings of a Belgian gay drama Close, deeming the movie immoral. In July, te far-right figure Boyan Rasate was convicted for hooliganism for vandalising the Rainbow Hub LGBT community centre in 2021. Later in the year, a trans protester initiated a hunger strike in front of Sofia’s Justice Palace after the court rejected her request to change her ID documents to match her gender identity – a consequence of a controversial ruling by the Supreme Court which further limited the rights of transgender people in Bulgaria.

But some good news came in September, when the European Court of Human Rights told Bulgaria to create a legal framework that allows same-sex couples to receive adequate recognition and protection. The case, led by human rights lawyer Denitsa Lyubenova, concerned a same-sex couple, Darina Koilova and Lili Babulkova, whose marriage in the UK in 2016 was repeatedly not recognised by Bulgarian institutions.

In 2017, on the basis of the constitution defining marriage as a contract between men and women, the Sofia municipality declined to make their union legal in Bulgaria. The couple, both translators in their thirties, has been vocal in their intentions and managed to gain considerable media attention, gaining valuable visibility for the LGBT+ cause as well. The ruling is expected to be a major factor in further cases and the developments around Koilova and Babulkova have now become symbolic for the uphill battle that the country’s LGBT community is facing.

The couple was also given the annual award for “Persistence and Bravery” by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.

In a different case from in June last year, the Strasbourg court ordered Bulgaria to pay compensation to the mother of a 26-year-old man killed in a homophobic murder in Sofia in 2008.

Kosovo: ‘Serb Traitor’ who sheltered journalists from violence

Mladen Perovic, from Zvecan, in Serb-majority northern Kosovo owns the café where Kosovo Albanian journalists found shelter during the violent clashes between local Serb protesters and KFOR soldiers on May 29.

Perovic told the media on May 31: “When I arrived at around 10 am journalists were already there; it was a good place to report and naturally when I opened, they all went in the café.” He opened up around 10 am, “when it was obvious the protest would last”, so people could refreshen themselves and use the bathroom.

After the protest escalated, he said he “ran away from the café” to be safe, “but after some time, when the situation stabilised, concerned about my private property, I went back to my bar where the journalists were”.

They had been trapped there for around three hours, from around 2 pm to 5 pm, as it had been the only safe place for them to be.

Perovic helped the journalists leave the safely. He told the media that he decided to close his café and had asked the protesters if they would allow the journalists safe passage; they had responded that “nobody will touch them”.

Perovic said he was later called a “traitor” for having assisted the journalists. “I do not know what I have done to be called a traitor and be targeted,” he said.

Croatia: Volunteer rescuers who don’t hesitate when life is in danger

Croatia’s Mountain Rescue Service consists of experienced and selfless people who save life without asking for anything in return

After the catastrophic earthquakes that hit Turkey in February, members of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, HGSS, were among the first to come to the rescue. It is a non-profit volunteer organization that deals with searching and rescuing people.

In the same hour, after learning about the earthquake, HGSS members reacted immediately and started preparations. They sent one medical team, consisting of one doctor and two medical technicians, three K-9 search teams consisting of dogs and their handlers, and nine drones and their pilots, a total of 15 HGSS members, with the necessary logistics. “In such disasters, when floods and earthquakes are a question, no country can do it alone because all systems are paralyzed. That’s why we sent help as soon as possible,” recalls Marko Rakovac, executive head of HGSS.

Interestingly, after the earthquake in 2022 in central Croatia, in Sisak-Moslavina County, Turkey was the first country to offer a helping hand and send housing containers and heaters for people who’d lost their homes.

In September 2023, 15 HGSS members went to Turkey again at the invitation of the Turkish authorities to rescue the American speleologist Mark Dickey from the Morca cave in southern Turkey, at a depth of 1,000 meters.

When Marc Dickney was trapped at the bottom of the cave on September 2 they rescued him alive on September 11, again proving that they are one of the best teams in Europe.

“We knew what was happening, so we reacted immediately. It was a specific situation because you need people who know how to move along vertical lines, some of which are up to 300 meters deep,” Rakovac told BIRN, saying that HGSS never hesitates when human life is at stake.

HGSS was founded in 1950 as a sub-commission of the Croatian Mountaineering Association, and since 2001 has been a separate legal entity.

Annually, they stage about 800 interventions, of which about 550 are rescues on mountains, 250 are searches for missing people, about 30 are interventions in or on water and about 20 are by helicopter.

HGSS is a rare organization that has never been associated with any negative connotation or anything else that could threaten their reputation in the public.

“Saving someone’s life is a special feeling. When we start an action, we never know how it will end and whether we made a good decision at a certain moment. Stress is always present. But when someone’s life is saved, the ‘universe’ rewards it all,” Rakovac says.

Italy: Woman demanding justice for her sister’s murder

Elena Cecchettin didn’t flinch in front of the journalists of the Italian national TV show “Dritto e Rovescio” on the night of November 19. It was the day before the body of her sister, Giulia, was found, where it had been hidden by her former boyfriend, Filippo Turetta.

The case sparked an outcry in Italy. Giulia Cecchettin was the 105th victim of femicide in 2023, according to the Italian statistics body, ISTAT.

She was reported missing on November 11 together with Turetta. The couple had been separated for several months, but she had agreed to see him that night. Social media users mobilised, sharing pictures of Giulia in the hope that she would be found, though many started to fear for the worse. Their fears were confirmed on November 18. The next day, Turetta was arrested in Germany, where he had fled after reportedly committing the crime.

Elena Cecchettin looked straight at the camera. “In these days, there has been talk about Turetta, and many people have spoken about him as if he were a monster, like someone sick. But he is not a monster … he is a healthy son of the patriarchal society.”

The dignity, lucidity and strength of the young woman is humbling. Alone in front of the media, she transformed her personal pain into a public and political statement. She brought to the forefront of public discussion years of reflections and demands of feminist movements. She asked all men and the Italian state to take responsibility for what had happened and for letting such crimes continue to happen again and again.

In the next days, however, she was attacked several times. A regional councillor of vice-premier Matteo Salvini’s League Party, Stefano Valdigambero, raised suspicions of her own involvement in the killing, and concerns over her affiliation with cults. Far-right and men’s right movements made her the centre of conspiracy theories regarding alleged movements that aim to emasculate men.

But she didn’t stop. Together with her father, Gino Cecchettin, she has continued to demand public accountability for her sister’s death. “Make sure that Giulia is the last one.”

Albania: students challenging law that aims to limit their rights

Not long ago, Albania’s government, through an unusual law, prohibited medical students from leaving from the country for five years after finishing their studies.

But for many students this was a “no go” since the start. Students protested, boycotted the academic year and took the matter to the Constitutional Court, which has suspended the law until a definitive decision.

“The protest started on June 20. Since then, there has been no stopping, because the protest is not just a gathering in the square; we have gathered, protested, boycotted school, we have met the President … We tried to be everywhere,” Dea Guri, one of the students that have protested against the law, told BIRN.

“It was very tiring for us to protest at the peak of the heat, in 40 degrees, it was also the exam period, the summer season. But we all found time to protest, react and gather. And then we came back with a four-week boycott. It has been a very intense and tiring period,” she added.

On July, Prime Minister Edi Rama delivered the five-year ban himself, wanting to send a “message”, while presenting it.

“Every medical student who enters the University of Medicine will have to first familiarize himself with the fact that medicine has as many studies’ years as there are, and then in order to be equipped with a diploma, they must spend five years in the service of this people,” Rama said.

But many education experts have opposed the idea, saying that it would not be productive deeming it a “populist–communist law”.

Another student who has also been protesting against the law, Rei Haluli, told BIRN: “It’s been one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve had, because we all came together and had a goal”.

“When the law was approved, we stayed until the early hours of the morning, we wanted to talk in the parliament, as a group of interest; it is the most normal thing, but this was not allowed by the speaker,” Haluli said.

Turkey: Volunteer Who Lost His Job Saving Quake Victims

Turkey’s worst-ever quake disaster in February 2023, registering 7.8 and 7.6 on the Richter scale, devastated 11 provinces in the country’s south and south-east, killing at least 55,000 people and leaving millions more homeless.

Search-and-rescue units, police, the military, fire fighters, miners, construction workers and volunteers from Turkey and abroad united to save lives of people trapped under the rubble.

In a collective effort, they were the heroes of Turkey in 2023 – but some of the rescuers suffered real-life consequences for their sacrifice.

Burak Kesici, a 26-year-old hotel worker at the time, was fired from his job after he promptly travelled to earthquake-hit Hatay to help.

When he learned of the scale of the calamity in the earthquake zone, he immediately started a journey there to try and save lives.

“After I got verbal permission from my supervisor to go for three days, I went to the provincial headquarters of the Workers’ Party of Turkey, TIP, and we gathered whatever supplies we could get. Later, we travelled to Hatay with a convoy of a truck and three cars,” Kesici said.

The TIP, a new generation left-wing party, was one of the first groups that reacted to the earthquake and mobilised its members and volunteers.

“When we decided to go, we did not think we would be involved in search-and-rescue missions because we were not professionals. However, when we arrived, we saw the calamity,” Kesici recalled.

Kesici said they could not sleep in the first days because of the trauma and horror they had experienced.

“We saved many lives, but I cannot forget one survivor: Nebil. On the third day of the quake disaster, we entered a building which was about to collapse. Nebil was screaming for help … However, his young daughter died next to him,” Kesici recalled.

When Kesici returned to Mersin, after an absence of a week, he slept for an entire day. When he asked about returning to his job, his supervisor told him he did not need to return at all.

“Then, they threatened me, and they said they would not even give me my salary and compensation. Later, this was covered by the media. The day the news article published, I saw that the money was in my bank account,” Kesici said.

Kesici was only one of many volunteers who lost their jobs. Many miners, construction site workers and other volunteers were also reportedly fired by their employers.

The week Kesici spent in Hatay changed his life.

“Previously, I had studied journalism but I did not finish the faculty. After everything we went through [in Hatay], I have decided to become a paramedic to save lives professionally in an event of another such disaster,” Kesici concludes.

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