- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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I'm assuming it's related to the whole 'slanty-eyed Asian' thing.
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May 1, 2014 13:52
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May 10, 2024 16:38
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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I'm trying to figure out where you've put the English Democrats there; the top of the list here in Yorkshire is a former BNP member.
That party's a fully-fledged front - their remaining sane members quit over the neo-Nazi infiltration a while back.
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May 4, 2014 03:38
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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So Civitas is now saying we derive no trade advantage from being in the EU. They fiddling the numbers, or is thi legit? Because it seems to fly in the face of our current understanding of European trade.
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May 6, 2014 10:19
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Also, Britain First is a BNP splinter group. Everyone's aware the BNP are Nazis, right?
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May 6, 2014 10:26
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Oh look, Grayling is being reprehensible again.
quote:Before 2001, the US did not have a problem with rape and sexual assault inside its prisons. That was not because nobody was raped, of course. It was because there had never been a research study large enough and dependable enough to produce any measure of the nature and size of the problem. Federal and state authorities could, therefore, simply avert their gaze and insist there was no need for action.
The complacency was shattered with the publication of a detailed report by Human Rights Watch entitled No Escape: Male Rape in US Prisons. Built upon hundreds of first-hand interviews, the book-length report explained in gut-wrenching detail the realities of prison rape: from one-on-one night-time cell assaults, to multiple-offender gang rapes, to the inmates who were sold to others as sex slaves. It described younger, weaker, more psychologically vulnerable inmates being coerced into sexual activity, under threat of physical violence. Most damningly, the report alleged that much of this was being tacitly condoned and sometimes apparently approved by prison staff and management, who considered it a routine part of prison life and saw no need to intervene.
No Escape was shocking enough to shake America out of its indifference. Two years later, Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act 2003, which became the first stage in a decade-long effort to understand and address the horrors of sexual offending inside US jails – a mission that is still far from complete.
In 2014, Britain does not have a problem with rape and sexual assaults within our prisons. The Ministry of Justice appears determined to keep it that way. How? By seemingly doing everything in its power to block a research programme covering the issue, by the Commission on Sex in Prison. This was set up by the Howard League for Penal Reform in June 2012, at a time when Kenneth Clarke was minister.
Under the notoriously draconian stewardship of Chris Grayling, researchers have now been banned from approaching prison governors or serving prisoners, including those out on licence. This means no prisoner serving a life or indeterminate sentence is permitted to participate in the research and for those on licence, even volunteering to give evidence could be regarded as a breach of conditions, which could be punishable by a recall to prison.
The explanations offered for the obstruction range from the asinine to the bizarre. Grayling, we are told, is in something of a huff with "leftwing pressure groups" such as the Howard League – which has recently coordinated effective campaigns against restrictions on parcels containing such dangerous contraband as clean underwear, children's home-made birthday cards and books. Blocking this important research may be an act of petty retaliation.
Also mooted is the justice secretary's well-established discomfort with the whole issue of sex behind bars, including the provision of condoms on request through prison health dispensaries. The remit of the Commission on Sex in Prison (as the name suggests) goes beyond coercion and violence, and investigates other crucial health and welfare-related issues.
So far, the response from the Ministry of Justice to these allegations, first raised by the website politics.co.uk and fleshed out in the Independent newspaper, has been a strict refusal to comment. Grayling has urgent questions to answer: what cooperation with the commission has been offered, and what has been withdrawn? On what basis? What alternative steps will the government take to quantify and address sexual abuse within prisons?
It is a dreadful indictment of our society and culture that prison rape is considered an inconvenience to politicians, a punchline for comedians or, worst of all, as just deserts for criminals. Whenever a high-profile trial results in a prison sentence, a significant section of the population seems to take sadistic glee in imagining a male offender being raped in prison. Often the comments and jokes seem almost automated and thoughtless, like saying "bless you" after a sneeze. One hopes such remarks are based more on ignorance than malice. That said, it would be harsh to condemn ill-informed members of the public for their ignorance, when it would appear that the ignorance of the government and the secretary of state is entirely avoidable.
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May 6, 2014 11:41
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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A month ago, it turned out that the failures of the free-school system had reached the point where Gove was earmarking extra funds to support failing free schools and avoid the 'political ramifications' of another disaster like Madinah.
Now we know where he's getting that money from.
quote:The coalition government has descended into open war on education as senior Liberal Democrats said Michael Gove had raided £400m from a fund that guarantees school places for pupils in order to plug a massive financial "black hole" in his free schools programme.
In a dramatic escalation of tensions, the Lib Dems confirmed highly damaging leaked information from a senior government source, who said that Gove had secretly taken the money from the Basic Need fund for local authorities last December, in the face of stiff opposition from the Lib Dem schools minister David Laws.
The Basic Need budget is given to local authorities to ensure that they can provide sufficient school places for all children in their area and it is crucial when there is heavy pressure on pupil numbers.
The government source behind the revelations tore into Gove, describing him as a "zealot … so ideologically obsessed with his free school experiment [that] he's willing to see children struggle to get suitable school places". This was done, said the source, because Gove had let the free school budget spin "out of control".
Last month this newspaper revealed a secret plan to focus support on failing free schools because of the "political ramifications of any more free schools being judged inadequate".
The Lib Dems said the leaked information from the heart of government was accurate and the secretary of state had pressed ahead in order to try to fill an £800m projected "black hole" in spending on free schools between 2013 and 2016.
A spokesman for Gove did not deny that the Basic Need budget had been raided, but said that the free schools budget was "demand-led". He claimed that providing more money for free schools allowed more places to be created, although the public accounts committee recently reported that a quarter of free schools opened by September 2012 had 20% fewer pupils than planned.
The spokesman added: "The suggestion we are cutting money for new places in areas of need to pay for free schools where they are not needed is totally wrong. These claims pretend that money spent in free schools is not creating new places in areas of need. That is simply not true."
The revelation will take strained relations between the Conservatives and Nick Clegg – a close ally and friend of Laws – to breaking point: there were blazing rows last week over coalition policy on free school meals and on knife crime.
According to the coalition insider, the £400m would be enough to fund 30,000 new school places, and would do much to ease pressure in areas where parents struggle to find places. It is understood that Gove tried to make up the remaining shortfall by using a further £400m underspent from other departmental budgets.
Laws is said to have been strongly against the move because the raid reduced the Basic Need budget for 2015-2017 from £2.75bn to £2.35bn.
The coalition source added: "Everybody knows there's real pressure on school places at the moment and the secretary of state knows better than most. It is nothing short of lunacy to slash the amount of money available for new school places to lavish on free schools. The Conservatives are putting the needs of a handful of their pet projects ahead of the requirements of the other 24,000 schools in the country.
"Michael Gove is so dogmatic about free schools, he essentially places no spending restrictions on them at all. The free schools budget is out of control and the secretary of state would rather sink another £800m into the black hole, rather than rein in spending."
Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said the Lib Dems could not run away from blame: "The Free School programme had the Lib Dem stamp of approval from day one. They're as much to blame for the failings as the Tories. Gove's decision to transfer this funding away from areas in need of new primary places into the Free School programme is an act of ideological vandalism."
A number of free schools, which can be set up by parents and others outside the supervision of local authorities, have been given the lowest ranking by Ofsted in recent months, raising concerns about the programme's future.
This month's damning report on The Hawthorne's free school in Liverpool means twice as many free schools have been given Ofsted's "inadequate" rating as other state schools.Analysis by the Times Educational Supplement has shown that 11% of free schools were inadequate, compared with 6% of all state schools, although a higher proportion of free schools – 15% – were also judged outstanding. Overall, 45 Ofsted reports on free schools have been published, of which seven were outstanding, 23 good, 10 required improvement and five inadequate.So far 174 free schools have been opened, with a further 116 in the pipeline. Ministers have earmarked £1.5bn for the free schools project by March 2015 – and £1.1bn has already been spent. An £800m deficit would be huge for a government trying to rein in spending. Among the schools judged as "requiring improvement" in recent months (the second lowest Ofsted ranking) is Greenwich free school, whose co-founder is Jonathan Simons, the head of education at Michael Gove's favourite thinktank, Policy Exchange.
Bedford free school, previously praised by Gove as "academically ambitious", was also found to require improvement earlier this year. Ofsted insiders said they feared the reporting of more failing free schools would follow in the weeks and months to come.
The spokesman for Gove added: "From 2015, funding to councils for new school places will rise by more than £200m a year. On top of this, investment in free schools will provide tens of thousands of new places in areas of need.
"Indeed the vast majority of free schools - more than seven in 10 - are in areas with a shortage of places. This investment in free schools is entirely in addition to the rising basic need funding for councils which we announced in December.
"Free schools are hugely popular with parents and are more likely to receive top ratings from Ofsted than council-run schools. So it is absolutely right that, where they are needed, new places are created in free schools."
Fucker doesn't even deny it.
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May 10, 2014 23:15
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Does that apply to Scottish Labour, though? I'm aware that the same party can have a different culture in different regions, and Scottish Labour have quite a rep as toxic shitheels.
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May 11, 2014 14:06
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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I think UKIP are the best thing ever, they will decrease the tory vote.
My dad is thinking about starting a " Bring Back The Empire Party ". Become a member and you get a paperback of Kiplings poems, a globe coloured in pink and a pith helmet.
That should split the vote even more.
As if it matters.
Isn't the Overton window kind of an issue, though?
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May 12, 2014 19:06
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Yeah - it's really sad.
I mean, I held some pretty lovely opinions at that age. Not as lovely AS THAT, but still, lovely. Most of them will turn their back on those opinions, a couple of them will continue to be terrible people.
Call me thick, but I didn't realise BNP were a platform against homosexuality either. Thought all they cared about was them foreigners!
They're literal Nazis. Remember the pink triangles?
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May 13, 2014 21:26
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Remember all those Bulgarians and Romanians who were coming to take our jobs? The ONS have released figures for the numbers of such working in the UK - 140,000, an increase of less than 30000 in the last year and a fall of 4000 since visa controls were lifted.
Eight days out and UKIP have been made to look like loving idiots. And the sun is shining too.
Ooh, source, please? I could use this.
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May 14, 2014 10:20
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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How much of the market is homeowners letting out rooms? I can see that side of the market being slightly more susceptible to increased rent regulation.
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May 14, 2014 20:00
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Global Sustainability Institute says we're going to be out of domestic oil and gas in five years.
If (as I suspect) they factored in shale gas, things might get a bit awkward for the pro-fracking proponents.
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May 16, 2014 11:00
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Well.
Serco find out one of their employees is raping internees at a detention centre. They cover it up, someone leaks it. They've been forced to admit it and will now have to enter discussions to compensate MP speechwriters for whatever bullshit they can come up with to wash this one away.
That sounds familiar somehow...
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May 17, 2014 22:50
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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So I'm voting in the Euro elections this Thursday, and my area is the South-West. Would this thread's fine Internet detectives kindly fill me in on which candidates are poo poo, which are less poo poo, and which are hardly poo poo at all? I'm discounting the Tories, the BNP, the English Democrats, UKIP, and An Independence From Europe for obvious reasons.
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May 20, 2014 19:50
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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That site gives a glowing review to Glyn Ford, but doesn't mention its reasons. I don't know him, so what makes him so fantastic?
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May 20, 2014 20:41
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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A quick check on Wikipedia says Ford did some heavy-duty antifascist work when he was an MEP, and has a strong record on science. The Greens may have a better party platform, but apparently they're not bringing their A-game in the South-West due to perceived unelectability, which raises the question of how much you trust the candidates they've got there to deliver what they're promising.
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May 20, 2014 21:01
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Looks like UKIP have found a new angle for their race-baiting - Asian electoral fraud.
quote:UKIP have found themselves at the centre of yet another election race row - this time in Oldham.
The anti-EU party has been reported to both the police and the Electoral Commission over a leaflet being distributed around much of the borough.
Its pamphlet - which Labour is blaming on Joe Fitzpatrick, one-time agent to shamed former MP Phil Woolas, but now a UKIP activist and candidate - appears to warn that Asian candidates are intent on rigging the poll.
It also suggests that the town hall solicitor is prepared to turn a blind eye to fraudulent ballot papers.
Among its tongue-in-cheek suggestions on 'how to win an election' are to 'count on the white folk not voting', as well as to 'steal postal votes'.
Oldham's Labour council leader has slammed the leaflet as 'gutter politics' designed to stir up racial division.
Jim McMahon - who is also named specifically on the pamphlet - said: "It is intended to create racial divisions in the town and tarnish the reputation of honest and hardworking public officials.
"UKIP nationally need to condemn this kind of campaigning because it brings the whole democratic process into disrepute.
"If they had any morals they would expel the candidates and agents involved.”
Oldham council's returning officer has now reported the party and Mr Fitzpatrick - who they say is behind the leaflet - to both the Electoral Commission and the police, Mr McMahon confirmed.
The storm has significance both due to its location - Oldham has a history of racial tension and has long been a key UKIP target - and the individuals involved.
Labour veteran Mr Fitzpatrick - who at one time served as a councillor in Lees - dramatically defected to UKIP a few weeks ago in the wake of an internal party row.
He is now standing for UKIP in the Oldham ward of St James.
But he has also been in the headlines before, as agent to then-Oldham and Saddleworth East MP Mr Woolas.
Mr Woolas was convicted following the last general election of lying on an leaflet about his Lib Dem opponent, including suggesting that he had courted Muslim extremists.
An email from Mr Fitzpatrick about his proposed election strategy for Mr Woolas was later discovered to have said at the time: "If we don't get the white folk angry, he's gone."
Neither UKIP nor Mr Fitzpatrick have yet responded to the MEN's requests for comment.
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May 21, 2014 18:32
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Probably much closer to the truth - like how around here our BNP candidate decided that the BNP wasn't hardcore racist enough, so went and joined the English Democrats
Actually, the guy is ex-Labour, but he was a right shitstain with them as well - he said of the candidate he was working to elect that "If we don't get the white folk angry, he's gone."
The English Democrats are a weird choice for your dude to go for, though (not that racists are known for smart decisions) - they're racist precisely because the BNP infiltrated them en masse and turned them into a (briefly) more socially-acceptable front. Before that they were just a bunch of anoraks all about the warm beer and Morris men (blackface optional).
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May 21, 2014 20:03
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Are you referring to the Conservatives, or is another party wanting to do the same?
UKIP do.
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May 23, 2014 16:51
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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One thing I keep seeing from David Cameron today is his statement of 'The Conservative party does not do pact or deals!'
What the hell did he do with the Lib Dems in the last general election to get his the role of Prime Minister then?
Hey, at least he's being honest this time. 
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May 23, 2014 21:46
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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I'm a lowly primary teacher, and it did cross my mind that there may be some political motive, but the inclusion of Dickens on the approved list threw me into doubts and so I decided to leave the litcrit to a specialist.
There may be some 'it's old and therefore safe' going on with Dickens. He's addressing the problems of the Victorian Era, and this is the 21st century. Checkmate, liberal academics. 
let's ignore the fact that quite a few of the Tory Party literally want to bring back the Victorian era.
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May 25, 2014 11:19
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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So what's Educating Rita about, thematically (Wikipedia has a plot summary, but doesn't delve deeper than that)? That might tell us something about Gove's new curriculum.
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May 25, 2014 12:30
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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One of Le Monde's correspondents reckons that UKIP got 22% of the euro vote: https://twitter.com/ArLeparmentier
If that's accurate, they waaaay underperformed their polling.
How much did they get at the last Euro election?
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May 25, 2014 21:41
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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I checked that Le Monde tweet, and that's 22% of the vote-share for all far-right parties, not just UKIP. Given that UKIP got 17% and the BNP 6% last time...
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May 25, 2014 22:05
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Can somebody please explain left-wing anti-EU parties to me? What is their beef and what platform are they campaigning on? I presume not an immigration one so I assume it's down to principles of democracy and economics etc.
Well, the Common Agricultural Policy is an economic, political, and ethical disaster, there's a severe democratic deficit, and a perception that the EU pushed austerity down everyone's throats.
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May 26, 2014 11:57
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Ed Milliband is everything that's worst about our political process. If he had any balls he'd be standing up and calling UKIP a bunch of racist toffs while announcing plans to save the NHS, welfare and education. No loving wonder political apathy is so high when the party that claims to represent the people doesn't give a poo poo.
My mum's a research professor in pain, and is saying that the NHS's funding situation is bad enough that it's likely to collapse by August. Even if they had the political will, Labour might not get the chance to save it. 
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May 26, 2014 15:44
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Anyone else read the second book of Paul Cornell's London Falling urban-fantasy series yet? Because it contains a great deal that's relevant to this thread's interests.
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May 26, 2014 18:37
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May 10, 2024 16:38
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- Darth Walrus
- Feb 13, 2012
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Quick question for anyone versed in 2000AD, which are the best stories/arcs to pick up? I've mostly been confined to American or Japanese comics and don't have much basis aside from a 100 page pamphlet from 1999 I just read.
Also: anyone know any good books on the British gaming industry? Another topic I'm not versed in (can't even get out of my house in "Hampstead").
This article may help you somewhat.
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May 31, 2014 18:52
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May 1, 2014 13:52
