Abortion Rights: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
There’s a certain irony to promoting “non-directive counselling” as a means of reducing the abortion rate. But I’m starting to think that the coalition government doesn’t really understand irony. The Department of Health announced today that they are planning to use NHS funds to support independent abortion counselling – provided by anti-abortion pressure groups – [...]
Why We Have A Welfare State
David Cameron thinks that the only way to save our public services is by harnessing the opposing forces of volunteerism and capitalism. I’d like to think that history proves him wrong, because, if a combination of philanthropy and market forces could deliver the best deal for our society, nobody would have ever thought we needed [...]
The Cost of Efficiency Savings
Of all the dirty tactics that the Conservatives have deployed since coming to power, using the localism agenda as a cover for massive austerity measures has to be one of the dirtiest. Local authorities, which provide the public services that so many people use on a day-to-day basis – social care, housing, schools – have [...]
Tory MEPs wreck vote to upgrade EU emissions targets.
A report calling on the European commission to move “as soon as possible and before the end of 2011″ to increase CO2 emissions reduction targets from 20% to 30% by 2020 was today voted down by the European Parliament after it was hijacked by amendments from centre-right MEPs. Despite claims from David Cameron that the [...]
The Dependency Paradox
Personal responsibility is a recurring theme in Conservative rhetoric, although they tend to use the more down-to-earth expression of “doing the right thing”. David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith in particular like to use this to block any criticism of the proposed reforms to the benefits system and public sector pensions. Instead, they champion a [...]
Enough of the drama: on the language of rape
This week we’ve had the annual figures released from the Crown Office, which show the number of convictions for rape, and as normal, it makes pretty depressing reading. So far only two of the political parties in The Scottish Parliament have commented on the figures, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. While both parties are [...]
A more civilised kind of politics is not ‘from another planet’
I had forgotten how civilised Scottish politics is. Last night, I was representing the Greens at the Edinburgh University Students’ Association hustings. Three years ago I stood on the same stage and argued with Harry Cole (and 2 others) about who should be next student president. If memory serves, it was a raucous affair – [...]
Liar Liar – anti cuts song for Christmas #1
On Monday night, a couple of your intreped Bright Green reporters went along to the launch of Captain Ska’s campaign for his anti-cuts smash YouTube hit “Liar Liar”. You should watch it here. Then you should buy it, and contribute to the campaign to get this anti-cuts soon-to-be classic to Christmas number one – this [...]
“This is the expression of a generation at the end of its tether” – Young Greens
The Young Greens, the youth and student branch of the Green Party have today commented on the student protests in London. Sam Coates, co-chair was at Millbank yesterday, he said: The anger at yesterday’s protests was remarkable, especially towards the Lib Dems who have left so many students feeling betrayed and unsure where to turn [...]
Anger of a Doomed Youth
Scenes of 18 year olds smashing the windows of the Tory Party HQ were not what I expected today. I expected it to be big – possibly the biggest demonstration since the Iraq war protests of March 2003. But I didn’t count for the anger of a doomed youth. The NUS were quick to criticise. [...]
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