Spelling Fun!

These are way more sparkly and funky than I feel, but here goes...

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Spell With Flickr.

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Technorati tags: spelling; sparkly; incurable_hippie; letters.

Don't Bomb Al-Jazeera!

Heard the Word of Blog?

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Don't Bomb Us
Prepared to Publish
Boris Johnson will publish.

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Background:

Legal gag on Bush-Blair war row.
The attorney general last night threatened newspapers with the Official Secrets Act if they revealed the contents of a document allegedly relating to a dispute between Tony Blair and George Bush over the conduct of military operations in Iraq.

It is believed to be the first time the Blair government has threatened newspapers in this way. Though it has obtained court injunctions against newspapers, the government has never prosecuted editors for publishing the contents of leaked documents, including highly sensitive ones about the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, last night referred editors to newspaper reports yesterday that described the contents of a memo purporting to be at the centre of charges against two men under the secrets act.

Under the front-page headline "Bush plot to bomb his ally", the Daily Mirror reported that the US president last year planned to attack the Arabic television station al-Jazeera, which has its headquarters in Doha, the capital of Qatar, where US and British bombers were based.

Richard Wallace, editor of the Daily Mirror, said last night: "We made No 10 fully aware of the intention to publish and were given 'no comment' officially or unofficially. Suddenly 24 hours later we are threatened under section 5 [of the secrets act]".

Under section 5 it is an offence to have come into the possession of government information, or a document from a crown servant, if that person discloses it without lawful authority. The prosecution has to prove the disclosure was damaging.

The Mirror said the memo turned up in May last year at the constituency office of the former Labour MP for Northampton South, Tony Clarke. Last week, Leo O'Connor, a former researcher for Mr Clarke, was charged with receiving a document under section 5 of the act. David Keogh, a former Foreign Office official seconded to the Cabinet Office, was charged last week with making a "damaging disclosure of a document relating to international relations". Mr Keogh, 49, is accused of sending the document to Mr O'Connor, 42, between April 16 and May 28 2004.

Mr Clarke said yesterday that Mr O'Connor "did the right thing" by drawing the document to his attention. Mr Clarke, an anti-war MP who lost his seat at the last election, returned the document to the government. "As well as an MP, I am a special constable," he said.

Both men were released on police bail last Thursday to appear at Bow Street magistrates court on November 29. When they were charged, newspapers reported that the memo contained a transcript of a discussion between Mr Blair and Mr Bush.

The conversation was understood to have taken place during a meeting in the US. It is believed to reveal that Mr Blair disagreed with Mr Bush about aspects of the Iraq war. There was widespread comment at the time that the British government was angry about US military tactics there, particularly in the city of Falluja.

Charges under the secrets act have to have the consent of the attorney-general. His intervention yesterday suggests that the prosecution plans to ask the judge to hold part, if not all of the trial, in camera, with the public and press excluded.

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Technorati tags: anti-war; UK Politics; incurable_hippie; US politics; Boris Johnson; publishing the memo; anti-Blair; anti-Bush.

Protest Thomas Cook's 'sex tours' in Amsterdam.

Dear Thomas Cook,

I am writing to express my disgust that your company is selling and marketing 'sex tours' for adults and children visiting Amsterdam.

Your literature states that,

Of course, no visit to Amsterdam would be complete without a night-time visit to the famous Red Light District. One of the oldest and most beautiful parts of the city, the narrow, cobbled streets of this quarter fill with hordes of tourists on weekends and holidays. All come to gawk at the surreal display of scantily clad women who pose in the purply-red glow of their black-lit shop windows. Not unlike a bizarre zoo, the Red Light District is an unmissable experience, as attested by the packs of roving young men, couples holding hands, giggling groups of women, and busloads of Japanese tourists toting cameras. Spectacle notwithstanding, real business is done here at a steady pace, and those seeking a slightly more authentic experience should head for the area on a weeknight.

Such tours are not only irresponsible but downright offensive. Of women in prostitution, 50 - 85% experience violence, and more than 80% in the Netherlands are of foreign origin, a number of whom will have been trafficked into the sex trade.

The co-director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women states that "Women are sold as commodities in the Dutch sex industry, and Thomas Cook charges tourists (£12 for adults and £6 for children - under threes go free) to view the 'marketable products' and chuckle at the 'human merchandise'."

The women trapped in prostitution in Amsterdam do not deserve to have coachloads of tourists pointing and laughing at them, and indeed creating an official 'sex tourism' industry will only continue to normalise this abuse of women and make it appear more socially acceptable. Prostitution - in Amsterdam as elsewhere - is in fact violence against women. This is the truth of prostitution.

I am writing to you to request that you please withdraw from these appalling 'family tours' of Amsterdam's Red Light District, and instead focus on your own company's Responsible Business Policy in which you state that

by offering alternative, more virtuous and learning leisure activities, the lives of working people would be greatly improved if they became better educated through travel"

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It is disgusting that you are promoting and running tours such as this through Amsterdam's red light district. I hope that you will reconsider and cancel these tours immediately.

Yours sincerely,

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Further Information:
The Observer: Red Light Tour condemned as 'sick'
Thomas Cook Amsterdam page
Truth About Rape Thomas Cook page
Contact Thomas Cook.

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Technorati tags: Thomas Cook campaign; prostitution; incurable_hippie; anti-rape; feminism; ethical travel.

Illustration Friday: Small.

Illustration Friday.

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Technorati tags: Illustration Friday; small; incurable_hippie; drawing.

Freedom Finance: Their Words, My Order.

'We'll give you an extremely massive debt'

'Freedom Finance could give you severe credit problems'

'We would definitely repossess your home'.

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See previously subvertised debt envelopes...
Freedom Finance 1
Freedom Finance 2
Imagine Finance 1a
Imagine Finance 1b

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Technorati tags: debt; subvertising; incurable_hippie; anti-debt.

Thoughts of the Day.

1. Norton, while invaluable, is entirely infuriating.


2. Ebay, on the other hand, is fun and great for cheap little crafty / card-making bits.


3. I am very glad that Clue is back on in the Monday 6.30pm slot.


4. I bought this fridge magnet ----> some time ago. I need a new version now - one for when the bank have confiscated the cheque book...


5. Falling asleep on the living room floor leads to utter confusion on waking, and strange indentations on your cheek.


6. Flat Pepsi Max tastes better than flat Diet Coke.


7. but if I was rich I would be tempted to stop drinking any bottle which went flat and start drinking a new one straight away. Terribly wasteful, but as I'll never be rich, it won't be a dilemma I'll ever have to face.


8. Holla Back is angry, sassy, feisty, funny and fun. I love it.


9. I always forget that posts consisting of a list are hard.


10. So I am occasionally daft enough to do another.

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Technorati tags: lists; comedy; incurable_hippie; pepsi vs coke.

De-Politicisation of Violence against Women.

The personal is political. Many, many things come down to that.

The fact is that when women are harassed in the street, intimidated at work, beaten in their home and raped after a night out, it is all done within the context of a patriarchal, misogynist society. It is this society which allows it to continue, it downplays experiences and disbelieves women, it mocks and ridicules our tears, it denies, denies, denies everything.

The misogyny we live in allows misogyny itself to be perpetuated and keeps battering women down.

That girls are taking Playboy stationery to school, and that news today is that One in three Britons believes a woman who flirts is partly or totally responsible if she is raped are symptomatic of this culture, not to mention the rape conviction statistics of 5.6%. Yep, 5.6% of reported rapes end in a conviction. Outrageous.

So, when I saw this advert I was so, so disappointed and disillusioned...



It was a few years ago that it stopped being a Domestic Violence forum and became a Domestic Abuse forum. But this? Firstly, they do not specify whether they even want a woman for the job. A domestic violence forum really needs a committee of women. (Any questions, see above, below and all around you). Secondly, someone with experience of work on domestic abuse would be *useful*, not essential. Now, it is not just women who have worked in this field who have vital experience and knowledge. It is women who have lived through domestic violence also, in their own lives or their friends' and sisters'. Thirdly, in the ad there is no necessity at all that any kind of background to do with domestic violence (e.g. life experience, volunteering, researching, working...) is there. And fourthly, the advert doesn't even specify that the chair is required for the Domestic Abuse Forum. It could be for anyone at all! How far from feminism, from women's lives and work, is this?!

So, the domestic abuse forum is advertising for, potentially, a man with no knowledge of domestic violence or abuse at all. Anyone, it seems, with management and human resources experience. As that's what's important when you're dealing with women's lives. Of course.

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Technorati tags: personal is political; feminism; incurable_hippie; women; domestic violence.