The Revolutionary nature of Jubilee

We’re not talking about the Silver and Gold Jubilees here, but of Social Justice Jubilee. If you’re not a Christian, I hope this is still a useful examination of active wealth redistribution with some secular benefit. This is mostly based off a random thought popping through my head and perhaps its not the most biblically correct or politically astute post ever, but here goes.

So, expenses: Tories vs Labour, who wins?!

What struck me the whole way through the expenses claims scandal is that its actually rather unfair that this is coming down on Gordon Brown, a Labour politician. I think this bares worth a little explaining and underlining. Expenses have been abused by both sides, but what of the actual trends in abuse?

Celebrity to save Brown government

In the midst of the reshuffle, one story seems to have been somewhat skipped over, perhaps because it didn’t have the bitch-factor that most of cabinet announcements provided. To save his political backside, Brown has decided to bring in a reality TV show celebrity to prop his otherwise-screwed government: Sir Alan Sugar.

Equality of the Sexes? Not yet.

Following on from the Bechdell test last week, here’s another guest blog post on the topic of feminism and gender. Lois Cross examines the current state of women’s equality to men, and in particular the pay gap and the culture of maternal career breaks.

What have 15 years taught us?

Last night, I gave a talk at the University of York on historical events and movements of the last 15 years that have focused on actions of individuals. It was over 8 pages of writing, so I’ll spare you the boredom, but here’s something of the conclusion I gave, focusing on the timing of the emergence of this flood of movements, and on what they might have taught us.

Fair Trade vs. Rainforest Alliance

There’s a silent shift going on in coffee trading at the moment, or so it would seem to someone like myself who simply can’t miss changes to labelling practice. For years, the “big deal” has been Fair Trade, tied perhaps to a concern that one’s coffee has not been touched by the “Big Bads”: Nestle and Starbucks.

Can drug warfare in Mexico be controlled?

The Mexican government is to offer rewards of $2million for information about drug chiefs. In a country ravaged by the effects of the drugs trade, tough action is certainly required, but will this type of policy really work? The BBC wants people “to have their say” about this, but as my thoughts are probably too detailed to fit in a post to their site, I thought I’d lay them out here.

The Real IRA: Can we blame the downturn?

It seems people want to blame everything on the downturn right now, and indeed, some of that might be a bit far fetched, but since hearing of the attacks at an army base in Northern Ireland by the Real IRA, I’m struggling to avoid a possible conclussion: that the downturn has something to do with it.

A car-free solution to factory closures?

I was watching News 24 on Saturday (not for long, I should add) and happened upon an interview with a representative of Friends of the Earth. I was appalled by what the FOE representative had to say: the solution to car industry woes is to build more cars, and make them a bit nicer. What are they thinking? Aren’t they missing the real opportunity?

Making the poor pay

A couple of articles from the BBC really ticked me off, and reminded me how completely unjust our economic system can be. Predictions are being made that 600,000 jobs will be lost this year (and I suppose the cynical might think to round that up to a million) and now bosses want those of us with work to suffer real-terms pay cuts.