Tag: politics

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Campaigner for equal opportunity in the workplace, anti-slavery, human rights

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Social historian Jane Robinson’s Biography of Barbara Leigh Bodichon, a victorian feminist we should all be grateful to, is as entertaining as it is necessary, in histories of the women’s movement,  and from the walls of Girton College, Cambridge, where she looks out, somewhat glossy-eyed. Bodichon was both one of the finest Victorian England’s finest female painters, exhibiting at London’s Royal Academy and formidable campaigner for women’s rights, and her achievements stayed under the radar, as she defied easy categorisation. Her pamphlet “A Brief Summary in Plain Language of the Laws Concerning Women” was the beginning of a long effort … Continue reading Campaigner for equal opportunity in the workplace, anti-slavery, human rights

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Freedom for Julian Assange

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WikiLeaks Founder, Julian Assange, after seven years of self-imposed confinement and then  five years of enforced detention – was months in the making but uncertain to last.  In the end, diplomacy, politics and law that allowed Julian Assange to take off in a private jet from London’s Stanstead airport on Monday, enroute to the Northern Mariana Islands under a a plea deal with the White house to appear before a judge to admit leaking American Military secrets before flying on to Australia and freedom. In a statement, the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) said the possibility of a plea deal “first … Continue reading Freedom for Julian Assange

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Decline of ethical standards

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Boris Johnson’s premiership was brought down by three Ps” – Paterson, Partygate, and Pincher  whammy scandals involving lobbying by a former minister, Downing Street carousing during Covid lockdowns and a government whip living up or down to his name.  Veteran Kings Counsel, John Bowers, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford reveals in Downward Spiral, even the most unwilling Brit back to those febrile weeks towards  the end of Johnson’s administration, when he seemed to be puling apart, the conventions of good behaviour that keep the air in Downing Street smelling healthy.  The scandals eroded trust in the British government, from questionable … Continue reading Decline of ethical standards

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Untouchables and search for Democracy

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Although Bollywood keeps churning out pseudohistorical melodramas depicting colonial India, many Indians understandably hate the Brits for imposing the yoke of foreign rule and their policy of divide and rule.  But there are some who looked favourably on the British Empire like the Untouchables whose story is the backdrop to The Incarcerations. Alpa Shah, professor of anthropology at LSE, beings her account with the Battle of Bhima Koregaon of 1818, when the Untouchables fought alongside the East India Company to defeat their high-caste Peshwa oppressors. To them, British victory held the possibility of social mobility. Alpa Shah pulls back the curtain … Continue reading Untouchables and search for Democracy

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William Wragg resigns party whip over Honeytrap malicious communications

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William Wragg, the MP, has voluntarily given up the Conservative whip, after admitting sharing fellow MPs personal phone numbers with someone on dating app targeted by a suspected  Westminster honeytrap plot. Mr Wragg, the MP from Hazel Grove, who has also given up his roles on the 1922 backbench committee and the Public Administration Committee, will now sit as an independent MP in the House of Commons.  Mr Wragg after chatting with someone on an app sent explicit uncompromising pictures and who subsequently asked him for the telephone numbers of other MPS, said “ They had compromising things on me. … Continue reading William Wragg resigns party whip over Honeytrap malicious communications

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Caught in the honeytrap of malicious communications

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William Wragg, a senior Conservative MP, chairman of a Commons select committee, has admitted his involvement in a honeytrap sexting scandal targeting a minister and fellow MPs, told he handed over the personal phone numbers of colleagues to a man he met on Grindr, a gay dating app. The vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers said that he provided the details after sending intimate pictures of himself to the user. Wragg said he was “scared” that the man ” had compromising things on me”. Those colleagues who included several MPs, members of their staff and a political journalist … Continue reading Caught in the honeytrap of malicious communications

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£100m of public funds spent to prosecute innocent sub-postmasters with false evidence

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A draft report reveals that the Post Office spent £100m  fighting sub-postmasters in court despite knowing its defence was untrue. The Post Office was shown evidence by 2017 that losses could be due to errors in the Horizon IT system or remote tampering, but kept arguing in the Bates Vs Post Office Ltd case that theft or mistakes by sub-postmasters must be to blame. Patrick Green RC, the lead barrister for the sub-postmasters in the Bates case, said these finding were “absolutely shocking and don’t think the case should have happened. Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were … Continue reading £100m of public funds spent to prosecute innocent sub-postmasters with false evidence

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Germany relaxes marijuana law

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German Chancellor Oalf Scholz’s flagship social reforms is realized. Germany legislated the consumption and possession of cannabis by allowing adults to publicly use upto 25 grammes of marijuana from April 1, and this is no April fool joke either. Germany has gone further than their neighbor Netherlands, which is renowned for its relaxed approach to smoking weed, here the possession of 5g is still a criminal offence.In Canada you can possess up to 30g of cannabis, is now liberal than Germany. In the US 24 states allow it for recreational personal use.German lawmakers have voted to legalise consumption and possession … Continue reading Germany relaxes marijuana law

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Currency must be defended from democratic interference

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After the 2008 financial crisis, when the critical attention shifted from the economy to the most fundamental feature of all market economies, money, 2022, is turning out to be the year that puts the politics back into the monetary policy, with the impending fight for the next Conservative party leader between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, “to reduce the tax now or later”.  For over the last 30 years inflation was dormant despite the tremors of the tech crash and the global financial crisis, even the exceptional monetary policy implemented after 2008, failed to provoke any real political controversy. The … Continue reading Currency must be defended from democratic interference

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Chitle’s 111th birthday

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Influential Indian BBC radio broadcaster in the UK during World War II public servant, Venu Dattatreye Chitle, also known as Leela Ganesh Share from Kohapur, Maharastra, India, celebrates her 111th Birthday. She was also secretary to George Orwell during the early years of the second world war. She remained an avid activist for Indian independence. She read news and gave recipes in her Marathi her native language, while teaching British listeners vegetarian cooking skills at a time when meat was rationed during the war. Although she maintainer her support for Britain in the second World War in tis fight against … Continue reading Chitle’s 111th birthday