This is unreal. A guy who was laid off from a company was then required by DWP to do unpaid work *for the same company* on pain of losing his jobseeker's allowance. The company was also probably paid by the state for its "good work" in providing work experience for the unemployed. Guardian
>>><<<
Some good advice to men who want to be allies to feminists. mic
>>><<<
This is great - you can match immigrant communities to London neighbourhoods very easily. Tube Tongues
>>><<<
This is precisely why British people ought to be more sceptical about the Poppy Appeal and associated elements of Remembrance Day. These acts of remembrance are directed specifically only at *British* casualties and veterans. And yet soldiers and civilians from plenty of other places died in the First World War and subsequent conflicts. And, lest we forget, many of these conflicts were caused or exacerbated by British colonialism or otherwise morally unsound foreign policy. Guardian
>>><<<
This appears to confirm an anecdotal suspicion of mine that cycling in painted (i.e. not physically segregated) bicycle lanes is actually more dangerous than being in general traffic.
"Cycle lanes protect cyclists: Another controversial one; on roads with 40mph or 50mph speed limits, University of Leeds academics found that cars leave themselves less space to pass bikes when there are lane markings. This may be because cars pay less regard to cyclists who appear to be in a different lane, says professor John Parkin of UWE." Guardian
>>><<<
Some good stuff here. Cracked
>>><<<
"In the past it’s been hard for sex workers, burdened by illegality and stigma, to speak up. Not this time. Scores of women, trans and male sex workers wrote to MPs, outraged that their views, and the experiences of Swedish sex workers in particular, were being ignored. Swedish sex workers have said that since clients have been criminalised, they have been treated worse by the authorities; as the stigma attached to prostitution has increased, women have become less able to report violence to the police, some have had their children taken away and there have been reports of suicide." Guardian
>>><<<
A defence of market socialism, which gives the proper attention to the problems of economic coordination which are often ignored by naive formulations of socialism (and often quite effectively addressed by market mechanisms). I'd be interested to know what any economists have to say about it. Jacobin
>>><<<
The SAHRC just did a review of working conditions at Mavericks, a major chain of strip clubs in South Africa. The conclusions: no evidence of coercion or "trafficking" (foreign nationals knew what sort of work they were entering into, etc). Of course there are problems, as there often are at strip clubs, mostly related to the workers being legally defined as 'independent' contractors rather than employees. If you want to help sex workers, help them deal with these issues, rather than trying to shut down the industry, ok? SAHRC
>>><<<
Britain accepts pitifully few asylum seekers, despite all the fuss that is made about them, and the degree to which British military adventures *create* asylum seekers in the first place.
"How do we compare with our European neighbours, who are supposedly much less of a soft touch? Germany received 127,000 applications for asylum last year, France 65,000, Sweden 54,000 and Britain just 30,000 (Sweden’s population, for the record, is a sixth the size of ours)." Spectator
>>><<<
LOL. Twisted sifter
>>><<<
smfh
"The Minister then invited Mpumalanga Chief Moses Mahlangu to share his comments. He announced to the crowd that women must be submissive to their husbands. Princess Dineo, from the Northwest Province, then stood up to tell us that feminism is un-African and encouraged the Minister to cut all funds for centers for abused women and children, as they should be dealing with these issues at home. Both speakers received nods from the Minister on the dais and applause from the audience. Others followed decrying women’s abuse of men and women’s aggression as the biggest challenges." Feminists SA
>>><<<
Reflecting further on this article from earlier today, and my experience of eating at two different vegan restaurants on my recent trip to New York City. One specialised in "soul food", a style of cuisine popular with African Americans in the South; the other had more classic hippie food, lots of raw vegetables and the like. The customers at the latter restaurant were almost entirely white, whereas the former had a much more racially diverse client base (and better food, generally).
The contrast makes me realise the extent to which "vegetarian food" is so often coded as "white food" and is prepared in styles familiar to white people. So even well-meaning efforts to make vegetarian/vegan catering the default often end up as de facto cultural imperialism (I had this example in mind, perhaps unfairly). This is a shame, because almost all human cultures have a tradition of preparing tasty plant-based meals. It would be entirely possible to make catering both more vegetarian and more inclusive at the same time.
>>><<<
This is well worth a read, and really reinforces the point that no amount of money and social status can totally protect a black person from racism in a racist world. The long list of rules the author enforces on his kids to try protect them from being attacked or unjustly arrested by the police is kind of heartbreaking. Washington Post
>>><<<
"Essentially, the message is the same: unless women dress modestly and conservatively, they look out of place in academia, because fundamentally, they don’t have the right bodies to be academic authorities.
This infuriates me, and I refuse to accept it. My intellectual abilities as an academic should be judged on my work: my research, my publications, and my lectures. This is how I have earned and now own my place in academia, regardless – or in spite of – my “feminine” appearance." Guardian
>>><<<
A fascinating look at the business of kidnap for ransom. Very knotty moral problems here, as you will imagine. Though this is simply shocking:
"To minimize the risk to their fighters, the terror affiliates have outsourced the seizing of hostages to criminal groups who work on commission. Negotiators take a reported 10 percent of the ransom, creating an incentive on both sides of the Mediterranean to increase the overall payout, according to former hostages and senior counterterrorism officials." NY Times
>>><<<
"Changing how people act is hard, unpleasant work. Heffernan goes on to note a survey that found 85 percent of executives admit that there are problems at their companies that they have "issues and concerns at work they are afraid to raise." Again, that's executives: these are the people most empowered to criticize and change organizations. The point, Heffernan says, is that organizations need cultures capable of not just handling, but actually encouraging, conflict. But that's really hard. "We have to resist the neurobiological drive that makes us prefer people like ourself," she says." Vox
>>><<<
Some good advice to men who want to be allies to feminists. mic
>>><<<
This is great - you can match immigrant communities to London neighbourhoods very easily. Tube Tongues
>>><<<
This is precisely why British people ought to be more sceptical about the Poppy Appeal and associated elements of Remembrance Day. These acts of remembrance are directed specifically only at *British* casualties and veterans. And yet soldiers and civilians from plenty of other places died in the First World War and subsequent conflicts. And, lest we forget, many of these conflicts were caused or exacerbated by British colonialism or otherwise morally unsound foreign policy. Guardian
>>><<<
This appears to confirm an anecdotal suspicion of mine that cycling in painted (i.e. not physically segregated) bicycle lanes is actually more dangerous than being in general traffic.
"Cycle lanes protect cyclists: Another controversial one; on roads with 40mph or 50mph speed limits, University of Leeds academics found that cars leave themselves less space to pass bikes when there are lane markings. This may be because cars pay less regard to cyclists who appear to be in a different lane, says professor John Parkin of UWE." Guardian
>>><<<
Some good stuff here. Cracked
>>><<<
"In the past it’s been hard for sex workers, burdened by illegality and stigma, to speak up. Not this time. Scores of women, trans and male sex workers wrote to MPs, outraged that their views, and the experiences of Swedish sex workers in particular, were being ignored. Swedish sex workers have said that since clients have been criminalised, they have been treated worse by the authorities; as the stigma attached to prostitution has increased, women have become less able to report violence to the police, some have had their children taken away and there have been reports of suicide." Guardian
>>><<<
A defence of market socialism, which gives the proper attention to the problems of economic coordination which are often ignored by naive formulations of socialism (and often quite effectively addressed by market mechanisms). I'd be interested to know what any economists have to say about it. Jacobin
>>><<<
The SAHRC just did a review of working conditions at Mavericks, a major chain of strip clubs in South Africa. The conclusions: no evidence of coercion or "trafficking" (foreign nationals knew what sort of work they were entering into, etc). Of course there are problems, as there often are at strip clubs, mostly related to the workers being legally defined as 'independent' contractors rather than employees. If you want to help sex workers, help them deal with these issues, rather than trying to shut down the industry, ok? SAHRC
>>><<<
Britain accepts pitifully few asylum seekers, despite all the fuss that is made about them, and the degree to which British military adventures *create* asylum seekers in the first place.
"How do we compare with our European neighbours, who are supposedly much less of a soft touch? Germany received 127,000 applications for asylum last year, France 65,000, Sweden 54,000 and Britain just 30,000 (Sweden’s population, for the record, is a sixth the size of ours)." Spectator
>>><<<
LOL. Twisted sifter
>>><<<
smfh
"The Minister then invited Mpumalanga Chief Moses Mahlangu to share his comments. He announced to the crowd that women must be submissive to their husbands. Princess Dineo, from the Northwest Province, then stood up to tell us that feminism is un-African and encouraged the Minister to cut all funds for centers for abused women and children, as they should be dealing with these issues at home. Both speakers received nods from the Minister on the dais and applause from the audience. Others followed decrying women’s abuse of men and women’s aggression as the biggest challenges." Feminists SA
>>><<<
Reflecting further on this article from earlier today, and my experience of eating at two different vegan restaurants on my recent trip to New York City. One specialised in "soul food", a style of cuisine popular with African Americans in the South; the other had more classic hippie food, lots of raw vegetables and the like. The customers at the latter restaurant were almost entirely white, whereas the former had a much more racially diverse client base (and better food, generally).
The contrast makes me realise the extent to which "vegetarian food" is so often coded as "white food" and is prepared in styles familiar to white people. So even well-meaning efforts to make vegetarian/vegan catering the default often end up as de facto cultural imperialism (I had this example in mind, perhaps unfairly). This is a shame, because almost all human cultures have a tradition of preparing tasty plant-based meals. It would be entirely possible to make catering both more vegetarian and more inclusive at the same time.
>>><<<
This is well worth a read, and really reinforces the point that no amount of money and social status can totally protect a black person from racism in a racist world. The long list of rules the author enforces on his kids to try protect them from being attacked or unjustly arrested by the police is kind of heartbreaking. Washington Post
>>><<<
"Essentially, the message is the same: unless women dress modestly and conservatively, they look out of place in academia, because fundamentally, they don’t have the right bodies to be academic authorities.
This infuriates me, and I refuse to accept it. My intellectual abilities as an academic should be judged on my work: my research, my publications, and my lectures. This is how I have earned and now own my place in academia, regardless – or in spite of – my “feminine” appearance." Guardian
>>><<<
A fascinating look at the business of kidnap for ransom. Very knotty moral problems here, as you will imagine. Though this is simply shocking:
"To minimize the risk to their fighters, the terror affiliates have outsourced the seizing of hostages to criminal groups who work on commission. Negotiators take a reported 10 percent of the ransom, creating an incentive on both sides of the Mediterranean to increase the overall payout, according to former hostages and senior counterterrorism officials." NY Times
>>><<<
"Changing how people act is hard, unpleasant work. Heffernan goes on to note a survey that found 85 percent of executives admit that there are problems at their companies that they have "issues and concerns at work they are afraid to raise." Again, that's executives: these are the people most empowered to criticize and change organizations. The point, Heffernan says, is that organizations need cultures capable of not just handling, but actually encouraging, conflict. But that's really hard. "We have to resist the neurobiological drive that makes us prefer people like ourself," she says." Vox
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