In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk

Category: human rights

  • Naming the Beast of the Year

    Posted:

      This beast has our country’s contours written all over it. It has leapt from out of the ruins of the city, those hollow squares, and from the great labrynth below ground where the thread got tangled, and from the wi-fi and the wires through which we do not speak but intone like digital toys…

  • The Dance of the Emperor who Wears no Clothes

    Posted:

    The Brexit dance continues. And in London, a court case has just come to an end, in which lawyers have been debating whether or not Parliament should have influence over the Brexit process. We shall hear the result of that court case in the near future. But its implications are profoundly important and the discussion…

  • Our present democracies will not rescue us from ourselves.

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    For the young, it will already seem a long time ago that the Soviet Communist bloc effectively closed down, its remarkable leader Mikhail Gorbachev introducing “Perestroika,” its various constituent states, including Russia itself, “giving way” to democracy in remarkably quick succession. A major symbol of that dramatic and joyful time was the destruction of the…

  • Mental Health Witness – malpractice in mental health consultation

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    Health and Social Services in the UK often run open meetings for people who use mental health services. Such meetings are seen as opportunities to give people information on new policy developments, as well as letting them “have their say.” By definition, an open meeting means anyone might come, in whatever state they are in.…

  • Mental Health Witness – Who’s a Skiver, then ?

    Posted:

    George Osborne’s division of the nation into Us “Strivers”  and Them “Skivers” (but weren’t  we once “all in this together” ?) has reminded me of some nineteenth century history I learned at school. It provides some context for Osborne’s venomous jingle two centuries later, and a way of measuring its quality and pedigree. I still…

  • A Statement of Principle in time for Christmas

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    I suspect that many of us see “principle” as something we can just hive off and leave in airy-fairy land while we hurry out to do our Christmas shopping.  So I’ll say straightaway that, on the contrary,  true and meaningful principle may in the end be the only fact that counts, far more significant and…

  • Freedom of the Press does not mean Free Speech

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    With Leveson now published, and much debate on the subject being reported, I think it is worth pointing out  that the Internet is not the only elephant in the room in these discussions. So long as newspapers are owned by super-rich oligarchs, ex-pornographers and the like, and mirror or reflect in any way the views…

  • The Resignation of Denis MacShane

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    Denis MacShane was Minister for Europe under Tony Blair.  He brought a wider and more cultured vision and experience to that role than many politicians and activists  ever get near, at least in this country. For instance, he  translated into English a Brecht poem for “Poems on the Underground”.  He also responded positively to a…