No Platform for Farage: Scotland leads the way

I realise I’m now blogging about a storm in a tea cup, but yesterday’s outing to Edinburgh by Nigel Farage needs discussing. Not in the way that Radio 4’s Today program decided to ‘discuss’ it, but rather to discuss the commendable actions of the few people of Edinburgh sufficiently organised/networked to get out and do the right thing.

E-Campaigning Forum Take-aways

I had the chance to attend the E-Campaigners Forum in Oxford last week. I spent two days in workshops learning all sorts of exciting things about the world of online campaigning today. There were loads of things that looked really exciting and which I hope I’ll get to use someday, but I’ve written this with a focus on low-cash situations.

Sowing the seeds: Tax is Liberating

Its the 6th birthday of Graham’s Grumbles today! To celebrate, I’m posting something here which I wrote for Student Christian Movement‘s blog series leading in to their Seeds of Liberation conference.

Tax has always been a contentious topic. In 1773, Britain tried to force American colonists to pay taxes on tea imports. In an act of civil disobedience, crates of tea worth nearly £1million in today’s money were thrown off ships and into the harbour. What became known as the Boston Tea Party became a rallying cry for many on issues of who gets taxed, by whom and at what rates.

Why £65,000 isn’t a lot of money

Much is being made of MPs view on their rate of pay. According to Andrew Bridgen MP, “a vast majority of people do not think £65,000 a year is a lot of money”. The statement is partly true, but also alarming in its implications.

Some thoughts on General Synod

I’ve finally hammered out my over-riding thoughts on Tuesday’s twist to the on-going saga of General Synod and its interminable debate on women bishops. My conclusion is that there’s plenty that ordinary lay people can do to keep things moving forwards.

Tax Star Distraction

Read all about it: People You’ve Heard Of undertaking Massive Tax Fraud. We’ve had Jimmy Carr and a bunch of other stage figures out-ed as tax avoiders, or maybe even evaders. The problem was right on the end of our noses – our TV screens – all along. Is this a real story? Yes. Is it the real story? No. Its barely significant.

Communicating the need for Europe

During the recent Labour Party Conference in my new city of Manchester, I attended a fringe event on the European Union, entitled “From Austerity to Plan B”. The EU plays a massive role in our lives, and our being a part of Europe as a continent is something we cannot deny. But in Britain, even the word “Europe” is often maligned, as if it represents only foreign interests and bureaucrats.

Normalising Extremism

Human beings have always tended towards definitions relative to themselves. We feel most at ease with that which is somehow intrinsically the same as ourselves, and when we go searching for something new, it is always in terms of otherness – foreign holidays, alien planets, ethnic cooking, as though our own cooking is not tied to our ethnicity.

By their petitions shall ye know them…

I’ve been hearing a lot about petitions doing the rounds over coffee after Church services lately. This is not, in itself, a bad thing. But the choice of petitions often leaves a lot to be asked of a church’s priorities and a recent article on the Guardian site showed that this trend is spreading into other church-run activities, like playgroups.

Too young to know?

Last Saturday I was out protesting against the Government’s Workfare program. It was, all in all, a good protest, though I have plenty of thoughts on strategy for the campaign in future. One incident stuck out to me – a scene of about five seconds that massively wound me up, in which a mother demanded I not give her daughter a flier. I responded as best I could, but her final words on the matter were “can’t you see she’s only 14?”.