Monthly Archives: July 2024

LGBT activists protest Glasgow Pride ‘pinkwashing’

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/lgbt-activists-protest-glasgow-pride-pinkwashing

Northern Pride in Newcastle Photo: Neil Terry Photography

LGBT+ activists protested on Saturday against the sponsorship of Glasgow’s annual Pride celebrations by firms linked to Israel.

Hundreds of protesters including members of Glasgow Greens, the Scottish TUC and Glasgow Stop the War formed a Radical Bloc calling out Pride organisers for so-called pink washing through collaborating with companies who simultaneously sponsor the event while “directly profiting from Israel’s illegal occupation and ongoing genocide in Palestine.”

The protest took place as Pride activists staged annual celebrations in towns and cities across Britain, including at Northern Pride in Newcastle, where the banners of trade unions Unite, Unison, Royal College of Midwives and teaching unions NEU and NASUWT were raised.

The Glasgow protesters said sponsors included energy company SSE, chemical firm Merck and multinational finance company, JP Morgan.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/lgbt-activists-protest-glasgow-pride-pinkwashing

Continue ReadingLGBT activists protest Glasgow Pride ‘pinkwashing’

Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace & Justice Project responds to the King’s Speech

Spread the love
Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace & Justice Project responds to the King’s Speech

The new Labour government laid out its legislative plans in the King’s Speech and, whilst there are a few commitments to celebrate, there are far more glaring omissions that would go a long way to building a fairer society for all.

With that said, we wholeheartedly welcome plans to bring our railways back into public ownership and end no fault evictions for renters – policies that are key elements in our 5 Demands to build an alternative to the misery faced by millions. We also welcome the intention to introduce the Hillsborough Law and Martyn’s Law to ensure accountability and justice for the victims of gross systemic failings. As well as this, we are pleased to see the long-awaiting conversion therapy ban remain on the parliamentary agenda and hope that the introduction of this law will end the cruelty faced by far too many experiencing gender dysphoria and play a key role in a kinder and dignified level of healthcare needed by transgender and non-binary people.

However, the complete and utter moral failure to abolish the disgusting and punitive two-child benefit cap, which was implemented by the Tories and has pushed countless families into poverty. The pleas from numerous campaigners have fallen on deaf ears in the new government. We totally condemn the lack of political will from Keir Starmer’s Labour Party who, make no mistake, have made the conscious choice to keep millions of children in destitution and food insecurity.

…

Continue ReadingJeremy Corbyn’s Peace & Justice Project responds to the King’s Speech

Scrap two-child benefit cap to end child poverty, Labour told: ‘Good intentions are not enough’

Spread the love

https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/two-child-benefit-cap-poverty-taskforce/

The new Labour government has promised an ‘ambitious plan’ to end child poverty, but it is yet to commit to ending the two-child limit

The new Labour government has launched a taskforce to work towards ending child poverty, but charities have warned that “good intentions are not enough” as they ramp up calls for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped.

Keir Starmer’s party has promised an “ambitious” plan for ending child poverty, but it has so far refused to commit to removing the two-child limit, which is also referred to as the two-child benefit cap and has been described as “one of the cruellest welfare policies of the past decade”.

It means that families who have a third child or subsequent children born after April 2017 are denied up to £3,500 a year compared with those whose children were born sooner.

…

Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: “The taskforce is a welcome first step towards fulfilling the government’s pledge to bring in an ambitious child poverty strategy.  

“But with a record number of kids in poverty now, scrapping the two-child limit on benefits has to happen in the government’s first budget.  The two-child limit is driving up child poverty more than any other policy, children need it to be removed as a priority.”

https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/two-child-benefit-cap-poverty-taskforce/

Continue ReadingScrap two-child benefit cap to end child poverty, Labour told: ‘Good intentions are not enough’

Why Labour’s ban on puberty blockers shows party abandoning progressive principles

Spread the love

https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-labours-ban-on-puberty-blockers-shows-party-abandoning-progressive-principles-4709353

5/9/24 This content removed following DMCA takedown notices initiated from the Scotsman claiming copyright infringement. I disagree with them – i.e. I don’t accept that I’m infringing the Scotsman’s copyright – and they look to be produced by a simple automated routine without human supervision or intervention i.e. a stupid bot. I’m disappointed that my website host accepts these notices without question, has redirected some articles as a result and threatened further restrictions.

I have successfully defended one article that the Scotsman was claiming copyright to. That copyright is clearly owned by the letter’s authors. That’s the standard of competence I’m up against.

Scotsmen poncing about. Sporran, haggis, gear …

Continue ReadingWhy Labour’s ban on puberty blockers shows party abandoning progressive principles

June 2024 was the hottest on record: Greenpeace calls for making polluters pay the mounting bill for extreme weather

Spread the love

Reacting to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service that June 2024 was the hottest June on record, which makes it the 13th consecutive month for which the global average temperature reached a record.

Ian Duff, Head of Greenpeace International’s Stop Drilling Start Paying campaign said:

“Survivors of extreme weather over the last month are in the millions. From China and India to Greece and Italy, from Saudi Arabia to Jamaica and the US, floods, fires, and heat waves have shattered homes, claimed lives and hurt people’s health, costing the world over USD 41 billion in damages in the first months of the year, according to a recent Christian Aid report. This is happening while Big Oil is making huge profits while people are suffering – reportedly over USD 2.8 billion every day for the past 50 years.

“Yet, climate change’s perpetrators are but a few. A handful of international oil and gas companies are chiefly responsible for fuelling extreme weather events. Not only did they deny climate science, they actively slowed down the solutions and now the expansion plans by Big Oil’s executives are a reckless assault on our planet. 

“Greenpeace is campaigning to finally push governments to hold the oil and gas industry accountable for the loss and damage it creates, while it is raking up trillions in profits. Big Oil might have bought the media, they might have bought politicians – but our future and our heritage are not for sale. Through legislation, litigation and nonviolent action, we join youth groups, senior citizens, Indigenous Peoples and many others to restore justice and secure a stable climate.”

Continue ReadingJune 2024 was the hottest on record: Greenpeace calls for making polluters pay the mounting bill for extreme weather