Janine's blog

Engagement - Not Bans and Boycotts

Engage was set up to campaign for links rather than boycotts as a way of supporting justice in Israel/Palestine. It initially concentrated its efforts on opposing the call for an academic boycott of Israel, but is now campaigning against the Israeli government's outrageous imposition of a ban on...

Abortion Time Limits: Urgent Action Needed Before We Lose

At my last union branch meeting, I lost a vote on a resolution opposing cuts in the abortion time limit. The vote was about 6 for, 10 against, with plenty abstaining (including our branch's SWP member, about which more later).

The arguments against were that while everyone supported a woman's right...

Western Sahara: Galloway on the wrong side again

I really wish I wasn't doing so many posts about George Galloway. But he keeps on saying/doing outrageous stuff - eg. on the veil, and on abortion - and until his footsoldiers notice that the Emperor has no clothes, I'll have to keep pointing out his nakedness.

Morocco occupies the Western Sahara...

Community Halls: Hackney Council Ups The Hire Charges?

Hackney Council is consulting on a new policy for hiring out estate community halls. This might not seem the biggest issue in a world of capitalist triumphalism and reactionary revivalism, but it's going to have an impact on working-class communities, so read on.

Until now, Tenants' and Residents'...

Fake Charity Advertising Scam

I got this glossy A5 leaflet though my door the other day. Make sure you're logged in and you'll see a picture of it. The text reads as follows ...

Dear householder
CLOTHING COLLECTION

WE URGENTLY NEED CLOTHING
THAT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY MAY NEVER WEAR AGAIN
MAYBE IT'S NO LONGER YOUR SIZE, OUT OF...

Straw, Galloway and the Veil

I was gathering my thoughts about Jack Straw's comments about Muslim women and the veil and had a look at Respect's response.

I have long since stopped being flabbergasted by George Galloway's statements, but this one really takes the biscuit: "Who does Jack Straw think he is to tell his female...

The Falsie Has Landed

Today I got my new eye. If you are logged in to this site, you can see a picture of it. What d'you reckon?

It feels pretty uncomfortable at the moment. It's going to take a couple of weeks to get used to it, increasing wearing time from a couple of hours per day until I have it in from when I wake...

Bring Me Sunshine?!

"Let sunshine win the day" says David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party.

Sunshine? From the Tories?! Right - that'll be like the sunshine that shone down on mining communities when the last Tory government closed their pits, yeah? Or the sunshine streaming in through the letterboxes of...

Hands Off My Home

60-year-old Elizabeth Pascoe has won her court battle to stop English Partnership taking a wrecking ball to her home under the Government's 'Pathfinder' housing scheme. She managed to persuade a judge that demolishing the place you live in is an infringement of your human rights. Well yes, you'd...

Clissold Leisure Centre - Still Sunk

This one's for Hackney locals (including you Stoke Newington types who don't like to admit you live in Hackney), swimmers, and followers of useless local Councils and "Labour" politicians who fail working-class communities.

As you may already know, the Clissold Leisure Centre was Hackney Council's...

Wanker Of The Week?

A Mr Idris Francis is up in the European Court today, trying to get out of a fine for speeding, having lost his case in the High Court back in 2004. He reckons that because he was punished for refusing to tell the police who was driving the car, his 'right to not incriminate himself' was breached...

Letter-Writing Against Tube Privatisation

I got this letter (below) published in the Hackney Gazette this week. It's self-explanatory. I look forward to any response from TfL/Livingstone to the challenge at the end.

Last week's Gazette reported Transport for London's launch of its 'London Overground' project, joining up the North and East...

Luke The Nuke Dot Com

Labour Party spotters, Hackney activists and ex-student movement hacks of a certain age will be familiar with a certain Luke Akehurst. Uber-Blairite Luke is one of the few people who is actually ideologically committed to the Blair project, rather than just going along with it for the sake of a...

Final TUC Blog: Bits and Roberts

Apologies for the delay in posting the final TUC Congress blog. I've been laid up all weekend with PMT. I get it very badly every month, but this month could have been made worse by a dose of Post Margaret Tension, after the quite dreadful speech by Foreign Secretary Beckett.

There is something...

Jail For 'Girl Who Cried Rape'

I'm very bothered by the six-month custodial sentence handed down to a teenage young woman who apparently falsely accused four men of rape. Why am I bothered?

Rape is a seriously under-reported crime, because it is horribly traumatic to report rape and try to 'prove' your version of events in the...

TUC Blog: Wednesday morning - equalities

It's groundhog day on equalities representation, as Congress once again debates and rejects the dangerously revolutionary proposals that the TUC's Women's, LGBT, Black Workers' and Disabled Workers' Conferences should have the right to:

  1. submit two resolutions to Congress rather than one as at...

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