Author Archives: Natalie Bennett

From the inbox

May 24, 2007 – 12:34 am

A depressing but all too predictable report on sexual violence against women accompanying unrest in the Ivory Coast. (From Amnesty International)

A new blog, subtitled “News feminist philosophers can use”, and simply called Feminist Philosophers. (But in case the second word puts you off – it has its feet very firmly on the ground.)

Lest that should all prove a bit too depressing, the sort of thing that I’d love to see a great deal more of on the web: a scholar has transcribed, and presented for all to read, My Booke of Rememenberance”(sic): The Autobiography of Elizabeth Isham (PDF), who lived from 1609 to 1654, a lively period in English history of course, but her life was very inwardly focused, this fitting very much within the framework of spiritual biography.

One of the other interesting things about her is that she seems to have consciously chosen to stay single.

And she and her family suffer those tragedies so terribly typical of the time:

my sister broke her thigh againe which was a great grife to my frindes, who presently sent for Mr. Hales a man very skilfull in the art of bonseting but my Sister soune as she hard or saw his coming her teeth would chatter in her head for very feare hauing so much experiance of broken bones he stayed not long from her (because as he confessed he was troubled in his sleepe of her) but came againe to see her, where he found the bone amiss & was fa[i]nt to break it to make it right…”

(Hat-tip to Sharon of Early Modern Notes.)

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London history conference

May 22, 2007 – 9:31 pm

Rats, I’d love to go to London in Text and History, 1400-1700, in September, but unfortunately its dates exactly correspond with the Green Party autumn conference.

Although I can’t help wondering why a conference about London is being held in Oxford…

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Carnival of Feminists No 38

May 20, 2007 – 2:11 pm

Slightly delayed by the joys of Blogger (isn’t it nice to get out of it!), but worth waiting for, the Carnival of Feminists No 38 is now up on Team Rainbow.

Definitely the most colourful yet – living up to the rainbow name, there’s “philosophical feminists leaping through epistemological hoops, the audience cheering and jeering in the stands, the fire-swallowing radicals compelling us to see it another way, and the multiple oppression trapeze artists leaping across the chaos to make a connection from one oppressive paradigm to another”.

How could you miss it? So don’t waste time here; pop over there and check it out!

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Weekend reading

May 20, 2007 – 2:07 pm

There’s talk of making much of London’s “Theatreland” – Soho and Covent Garden pedestrian-only – sounds like a great idea to me (as long as they leave cycle paths…)

(Found on 32 Spokes, the blog of a new London cycle courier.)

“White trash” is one of those terms that sounds modern, very late 20th century, but in fact it dates back to the 1820s, and had a long and nasty association with the eugenics movement.

A history of “air hostesses” – from the days of snap underwear inspections…

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New Zealand outlaws smacking

May 16, 2007 – 6:22 pm

Interestingly on a Green Party MPs’ private bill, New Zealand has effectively outlawed the corporal punishment of children, and by an overwhelming majority.

“It is about our children and what I believe is their God-given right to grow up secure in the love of their family, valued as equal citizens to the rest of us and without the constant threat of legalised violence being used against them,” the law’s sponsor, Sue Bradford of the Green Party, said in parliament.

As you might expect, this also matched the policy of the Green Party of England and Wales.

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Powerful news on domestic violence

May 16, 2007 – 3:00 pm

Intensive, integrated programmes to identify likely deadly stalkers can be hugely effective, according to data quoted by by Magnus Linklater in today’s Times.

If [UK] police and social services studied techniques now routinely used in countries such as America, Canada and Finland, but which are radically different from those deployed in Britain, 80 per cent of the deaths that are likely to happen over the next three years could be prevented. And since, on average, two women die each week in this country at the hands of a current or former partner, that is a substantial claim….Mosaic20, a computerised model that assessed the likelihood of an attack, placed it on a scale of one to ten and measured it against nationally compiled statistics. So accurate did their predictions become that San Diego, where such attacks were common, was persuaded to set up a family justice centre, where anyone believing that they may be at risk can go for expert assessment and, if necessary, protection. The centre has been instrumental in reducing the domestic murder rate from 12 a year to just one.

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