Author Archives: Natalie Bennett

The good news

November 28, 2006 – 10:09 pm

I’ve just been reading something so horrible (I’ll blog it when I can get my head around it) that I need to collect some good news. So a short selection:

1. The British Army is finally abolishing a gross discrimination that has continued since 1816 – female Gurkhas are to be recruited alongside the men. You might think that getting into the army and being sent to Afghanistan or similar is hardly a privilege, but if this is the way for you to escape being a house/field near-slave, win tremendous respect and the opportunity to get your family out of abject poverty, the opportunity can only be a good thing for the women. (As evidenced by the fact they’ve started queueing already, even based on a rumour.)

And hopefully someone will also re-educate the colonel who calls them “girl gurkhas”…. (Somehow I doubt they’ll be recruiting under 18s.)

2. Two books find women are finding new ways in and around relationships. One finds that in the US if you have a PhD or Master’s, despite all the stereotypes you are more likely to be married than your less-educated sisters. (Not that I think marriage is necessarily a good thing, but I fear these stereotypes stop some women continuing their education.) The other finding is that many women who want a child are finding ways to have them, sucessfully, even if there’s no bloke around.

3. Hummer sales have fallen from 34,000 in 2003 to 17,000 this year. Yes, I feel slightly sorry for the people losing their jobs as a result, but a lot more sorry for the Nepalese farmers I was reading about today who are losing all of their land to climate change.

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From the mailbox

November 27, 2006 – 10:46 pm

Feminist Africa an academic journal from South Africa that unusually has its full contents online. As one of the articles in the initial issue (2002) says, much of the research on Africa is driven by First World (government or NGO) imperatives, and very functionally based. This is an attempt to develop a more conceptual framework.
A small sample, from Re-righting the sexual body, by Jessica Horn in the 2006 edition:

Resisting moral corruption from the West is a common motif in the homophobic rhetoric of African leaders. What is bemusing is that moral condemnation and persecution of non-heteronormative behaviour is often supported by allusion to two texts: laws criminalizing “unnatural” sex and the Bible. Both were introduced via the European colonisation of Africa, and in the case of the latter, carried in again by a new wave of US-driven Pentecostal evangelism.
Pentecostalism has been quickly absorbed into communities facing the crisis of HIV/AIDS, severe poverty and armed conflict, providing space for communal catharsis while re-entrenching conservative Christian mores. Furthermore, as discussed above, in international negotiations, African states often seek solidarity with conservative Western governments, including the United States and the Vatican, to assert their claims against sexual rights and, in particular, homosexuality.
This selective, trans-cultural solidarity suggests that homophobia is less an “African” tradition than a patriarchal tradition that has been hijacked into local cultural discourses.

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One poll does not a revolution make

November 26, 2006 – 12:43 pm

… but still the results of a poll on constitutional change in the Telegraph today is fascinating.

There’s very strong support for Scottish independence, in both Scotland and England, and even 48 per cent for England to shed Wales and Northern Ireland and go it entirely alone.

Predictably, the current politicians are having small conniptions, since it would mean a massive political earthquake with unpredictable consequences – not great if you are now at the top of the tree.

But it does bring into focus the suggestions of a possible early election now floating around the Westminster air: there is a Scottish election next year, which could well lead to a referendum on independence there.

And it is clear that if Scotland were to leave the Union, it would not be possible for Labour to win a majority in Westminster. (Not sure if the Tories could either – anyone seen any analysis of that?)

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Aye was innocent!

November 26, 2006 – 12:28 pm

He didn’t kill Tutankhamun – at least that is the conclusion of a study of the mummy. It rejected a conclusion from a 1960s study that Tut died from a blow to a head (for which his successor was a natural suspect), blaming the damage their on excavators.

Instead, it finds a severe broken leg and open wound that probably would have resulted in death from scepticaemia or similar.

So it may have been the horse that did it…

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A good time to sell your beach house…

November 26, 2006 – 12:21 pm

Neatly following on from a discussion I was having last night – how much do we really have to worry about the impact of climate change in Britain within the immediate future? – a preview of a report out this week on rising sea levels, higher waves and stronger storms.

The most obvious impact will be from rising sea levels. A report from the Hadley Centre, the Met Office’s climate research facility, warns that sea levels could rise by up to 2ft 6in around southern England by 2080.
Even Scotland, where rising sea levels are mitigated by the fact that the country is rising slightly from the earth’s crust, will experience an increase of up to 2ft, says the report.
Climate change causes sea levels to rise partly through melting ice sheets but also because, as water gets warmer, it expands slightly. A 1C temperature rise could raise global sea levels by many feet.
The report warns that such rises will be accompanied by an increase in the frequency and strength of big storms. As the atmosphere warms, more heat is generated to power weather systems.
“There has already been a greater incidence of severe winds,” says a report from the National Oceanography Centre at Southampton University. “Wave heights are increasing by about 2% a year around western and northern UK waters.”

I think of one of my favourite seaside spots – Broadstairs. There’s a wonderful Georgian house right on the beach tucked underneath its cliffs, with the small claim to fame that it is supposed to have been where the news of the first victory at Waterloo was delivered. I really don’t like its chances….

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Tetra Pak recycling: a tale of two countries

November 25, 2006 – 11:48 pm

Not a story to be exactly taken at face value, but interesting that there seem to be efforts to recycle Tetra Paks in Thailand. (The cardboard/plastic composites in which much milk, fruit juice etc are now delivered.)

Pity that there is only one such recycling plant in the UK, in Scotland, and to the best of my knowledge there is no recycling of these at all in London, despite the vast quantities that must go into landfill from here.

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