Monthly Archives: May 2007

Carnival of Feminists

Carnival of Feminists No 38

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!

Cycling

Weekend reading

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…

Environmental politics Politics

New Zealand outlaws smacking

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.

Feminism

Powerful news on domestic violence

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.

Feminism

From the inbox

* The global epidemic of tobacco use among women and girls, from the Canadian Women’s Health Network. (Lots of other good stuff on that site.)

* A review of the fascinating-sounding Uncommon Ground: White Women in Aboriginal history.

* The latest ILO publication on “Equality at work: Tackling the challenge”.

* A belated pointer to the weekend’s Britblog Roundup No 117.

Blogging/IT

How to test your concentration…

Work on Wifi in a “Digibar”, playing house music upstairs, where you are, while a heavy rock band plays downstairs, the vibrations, as well as the noise, coming up through the floor.

You’ll forgive me any spelling mistakes, I hope…

I’m just wondering if the signal stretches across the road to the Tandoori place. I have the feeling the barman would like to get rid of me – I’m not exactly giving his bar the image he’d hope through the entirely glass front; I’m about 20 years too old, and not dressed in the T-shirt of my favourite, cutting-edge band.