Bits and Bobs and Campaigns and Carnivals and Poles and Photos.

hippie blog has been mentioned in the 12th Carnival Against Sexual Violence. There are some amazing and inspiring links from that post which you should read. Now!

Also, I want to draw your attentionto an anti-lads' mags action from Stormy. I'm definitely going to take part, not least for the sneaky photographing involved ;)

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From The Guardian's Northerner:

A Polish restaurant in Sheffield, meanwhile, has been basking in a
kind of fame it could never have expected. The Polonium restaurant
has been doing a roaring trade ever since it became apparent that
Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned with Polonium 210. The Sheffield
Star reported the restaurant's fame in its diary column and has since
watched the story go round the world.

"Polish TV and newspapers want to fly me and my wife Jolanta out there
for interviews," the owner Boguslaw Sidorowicz told the Star. "The
story has really caught people's imagination. It's unfortunate
because someone has died, but the story has made it a very
interesting week for us.

"For years people have been asking me what the name means and I keep
explaining. Now I don't have to. I was surprised by the response at
first - with so many radio and television stations and newspapers
getting in touch. We'd only ever been known locally before.

"I did wonder, when the Polonium poisoning story came out, if the
restaurant would attract any more attention, but I never expected
anything like this! Trade at the restaurant has gone up by 50 per
cent, but we're not having to turn anyone away yet."

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I finally gave in my assignment on Night Photography for college this week. If you want to see the six photos I submitted in the end, click here.

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Technorati tags: feminism; anti-lads mags; incurable_hippie; polish; photography; night photography; petition; campaign.

Chesterfields for Christmas!

See more disturbing vintage ads!

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Technorati tags: vintage; vintage advertising; incurable_hippie; smoking.

Recipe Exchange.

This is a recipe exchange. Here's the deal. You post a comment to this entry, with a recipe for me. Ideally something simple, cheap and very tasty. You also include your blog URL in the comment, then reproduce this text in your blog and I will reply to your post with a recipe also.

Have fun, hope you get some great recipes!

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Technorati tags: Recipe Exchange; recipes; incurable_hippie.

Misjudging Rape

Launch of: Misjudging rape

A Dossier of how adjudicators (now known as immigration judges)
flout international law and even their own guidelines when they consider the asylum claims of women and girls seeking safety and protection from rape.

Tuesday 5 Dec 2006 6.30pm

Hosted by Ian Macdonald QC

at Garden Court Chambers

57-60 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2 Nearest tube: Holborn

Speakers include:

Cristel Amiss, Black Women’s Rape Action Project

Sian Evans, Women Against Rape

Anver Jeevanjee, Member Asylum & Immigration Appeals Tribunal 1983-2004

Jovanka Savic, Sutovic Hartigan Solicitors

Louise Hooper, barrister, Garden Court Chambers

Sarah Kajumba, All African Women’s Group



In the UK, where at least 50% of women seeking asylum are victims of sexual violence[1], rape survivors face many obstacles in demonstrating how their claims for asylum relate to the Refugee Convention and why they should therefore be granted protection. The Asylum Gender Guidelines, published in 2000 by Immigration Appellate Authority (now the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal) are one of few official tools laying out how women’s claims should be treated at appeals. The Guidelines aim to: ”ensure that the procedures used do not prejudice women asylum seekers or make it more difficult for them to present their asylum claims.”

Yet when Black Women’s Rape Action Project (BWRAP) and Women Against Rape (WAR) analysed over 60 adjudicators’ rulings they found that:

· Few Adjudicators even referred to the Guidelines.

· Women raped by soldiers were told the rape they suffered was “simple dreadful lust” and therefore not persecution.

· Rape survivors told that it would be safe for them to return to their country of origin and live thousands of miles away from their homes.

· Women who did not report rape immediately accused of reporting in order to “enhance a fabricated asylum claim.”

· The testimony of “a pretty young woman” dismissed as not credible because she did not report rape in her country of origin.

· A woman detained under the fast track system told that three days was “ample time” to find a lawyer and her case dismissed because it was “riddled with discrepancies.”

· In identikit rulings, two women were told by the same judge: “Rape is a horrific crime which should not be utilised lightly merely to bolster an asylum claim.”

· Where the Guidelines were adherred to women reported feeling that they had a fairer hearing.

Background

Hundreds of women come to BWRAP and WAR having been turned down, not because they don’t have compelling evidence of rape and other torture but because hostility, discrimination, disbelief, bullying and indifference meant they never had the chance to speak about what they suffered OR because legal aid cuts mean they were left with poor (or even no) legal representation and no expert or corroborative evidence was gathered to support their claim. This is especially true for cases assessed under the fast-track.[2]

Ensuring justice for women at Tribunal hearings is essential because, as appeal rights have been eroded, it is usually the last chance for a woman to describe why she was forced to flee. If adjudicators get their decisions wrong, vulnerable and traumatised women, children and men are sent back to face further rape and even death. Demanding adherence to the Guidelines and legal accountability from adjudicators, who frequently make arbitrary and unjust decisions, is therefore crucial to rape survivors getting protection and justice.

At a time when research into gender and asylum is proliferating but practical help and assistance continues to be scarce, this Dossier breaks new ground. By publicizing the Guidelines and therefore what women should be entitled to, it helps inform women about their rights and what can be done when preparing an appeal.

Other publications include:

Asylum from Rape petition published by BWRAP Rights & Information Sheet for survivors of rape seeking asylum in the UK, WAR

For more information:

Black Women's Rape Action Project bwrap@dircon.co.uk
Women Against Rape war@womenagainstrape.net
Tel: 0207 482 2496 or 07958 152171; Fax: 0207 209 4751
womenagainstrape.net

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[1] Legal Action for Women (Dec 2005) found that 70% of women detained in Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre had been victims of rape or other sexual violence.

[2] Where those who claim asylum are detained from when they enter the UK on the basis that their case is “straightforward” and capable of being decided quickly.

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Sheffield Asylum Seeker Action
Destitute Asylum Seekers: At 2pm on Wed 6 December, the Liberal Democrats will put a motion to full Council expressing concern at the growing number of destitute asylum seekers in our city and calling on the Government to introduce legislation to enable asylum seekers to work and support themselves and the economy. This follows a letter along these lines from Church Leaders to all party leaders on the Council. Please join the lobby in the Gallery of the Council Chamber. Join up with Shaun Smith and other colleagues inside Sheffield Town Hall entrance at 1.45pm.

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Technorati tags: anti-rape; women; incurable_hippie; asylum.

A Petition For You to Sign

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stand on his head and juggle ice-cream.

Signatures: 403
If he's not going to resign, the least he can do is provide us with some entertainment.

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Technorati tags: petition; anti-Blair; incurable_hippie.

"I tend to think that if God wanted us to believe in him, he'd exist"

Linda Smith.

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Technorati tags: quotation; quotes; incurable_hippie; religion.

Photo Friday: Light

100b2840
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Photo Friday. Fireworks, taken at the weekend on Bonfire Night.

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; fireworks; incurable_hippie; photography; Guy Fawkes; Bonfire Night.

Photo Friday: Accidental

Photo Friday

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; photography; incurable_hippie.

I'm not ok.

The horrible realisation that in only 3 weeks time, it will be the first anniversary of my Dad's death.

It's a real, physical pain in my chest and it hurts like nothing else.

I read last night in a novel that the only things humans need to survive are water and hope. I think when the doctors told Dad that they couldn't make him better, his hope evaporated and that was that. I think that's why it was so much quicker than anyone had thought.

I miss him always. I'm doing a photography course, using his camera. It makes me feel closer to him, but it adds to the pain when each and every week there are more things that I need to tell him. Snippets of info and tips and facts. Same with my OU short course. There's so much in there that he'd love to know. And that I can't ever tell him.

I don't know how many times a day I scream inside my head, 'I want him back'. And I do. I cry so often, nearly always alone, and missing him seems to get bigger the longer it is since I saw him.

I still don't know how to cope with this. I can't believe it's so close to a year on. And that this is it, forever.

It really hurts.

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Technorati tags: grief; incurable_hippie.

Photo Friday: Destruction

Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Photo Friday: Destruction

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; destruction; incurable_hippie; photography; Claywood Flats Sheffield; Sheffield; demolition; nibbler; building demolition by nibbler.

To the Woman in the Opticians

who made me feel shit.

You might have been feeling all superior in your pretty, spot-free thinness, but that is no reason to make me feel utterly dreadful about how I was looking.

Your job is to sell glasses, and yet you decided instead to tell me how little each of the pairs I tried suited me, resulting in me not only not buying any, but also in me feeling unpresentable to the point of wanting to run and hide.

It wasn't your fault that the day I had a load of new spots coincided with my opticians appointment where I would have to look closely in a mirror a lot, to try on new frames. But it was your fault that your whole attitude and reaction to everything I tried on - even the ones I told you I liked! - made me feel horrible.

Please don't do that again. To anyone.

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Technorati tags: body image; incurable_hippie.

Alas, a Bastard.

So alas, a blog (I won't do him the dignity of providing a link), a supposedly pro-feminist male, has sold out to pornographers. Great.

See Fuckery and Betrayal, Alas, a sell-out, The Revolution will be Commodified, No, really, I'm a feminist, Alas, an eruption, alas, a blog, sold out to pimp my ride and many, many, many more.

You probably don't want to see what he has done, but if you do an example is here. Needless to say, he has been 'de-linked' from my right sidebar. I don't want to be partial to funding any of this shit by links from hippie blog.

What is it they call men who profit from women's sexual exploitation? Oh yeah, a pimp.

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Technorati tags: anti-porn; angry; incurable_hippie; sell-outs.

Photo Friday: Thin.

Thin rays of light beamed through the narrow slats of shutters.

Photo Friday: Thin

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; photography; incurable_hippie; thin.

It's really bloody cold.

Gabcast! incurable hippie's musings and rants #2

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Technorati tags: audio; audio blog; incurable_hippie.

Quiet Just Now...

My Quiet Just Now list in my blog roll to the right was getting ridiculously long. It's where I list blogs I have once read and loved, but which closed or stopped or faded or disappeared or flitted.

The list will now live in this post. For the foreseeable future, links may be added again to the right side bar, to be merged into one post again later should that become necessary.

But the list, up to now, is:

QUIET JUST NOW


• le blog de Tryo


• A Frenchman in England


• Albion: mes tribulations outre-Manche


• Rob Manuel 1


• maZine


• Wherever You Are


• mercuryfern


• Little Brown Dress Journal


• Got Scurvy?


• The Black Dove


• amhainn


• The Blackboard Jungle


• Demob Happy Teacher


• Nahdendee


• The Girl Behind


• Election 2005 blog from the Guardian


• 2Queens


• Just Zip It


• The Lefty Directory


• M.J.'s Blagh Blagh Blagh


• My Karma Just Ran Over Your Dogma


• Don't Bomb Us - a blog by Al Jazeera staffers


• Dolly Dimple 3


• Dolly Dimple 2


• Bloggerheads


• Hippiegrrl Explains It All


• Practicalhippie.com: Weblog


• Ditch Monkey


• Insanely Inane Thoughts


• weather station


• Odd Socks


• Margarita's largo el pasillo


• Flowfield Unity


• Fractured Muse Chronicle


• Creativity takes Courage


• Eyes Wide Apart


• bubblegum


• Oh My, Two Lines (1)


• Creative Collage


• The Sparkly Pink Princess


• Femivist


• Ample Ramblings


• Sguelachdan


• Run Over By The Truth


• Vociferate


• Uniquely Alike


• greenfairydotcom


• samscam


• dazed-and-confused


• borderline teacher


• Girly Dyke


• Feminist Blogs UK


• Brutal Women


• A Bird's Eye View


• yehovahyireh - Taarna (1)


• 360 Degrees of Sky - Life in Rural Zambia


• I Blame the Patriarchy! (1)


• Chasing Daisy 1


• I Could Have Been a Contender


• Survivor Worker


• Altered Books: Karen's Whimsy


• Call Centre Confidential


• My Daily Om


• Some Way Out of Here


• The Infected Papercut


• Pas de Deux


• February 30th


• Menstruating She-Devils


• Life, Interrupted


• The Church of Critical Thinking - Your Suspicion is our Mission


• Lins Blog


• Democracy Is Choice


• Hunkabutta Tokyo photos, a stranger's life in pictures


• Steve, Don't Eat It!


• Do Buddhists Watch Telly?


• Eccentric Bohemian Hermits


• Mostly Decaf


• Letter from Gotham


• Adventures in Ethical Consumerism


• Thoughts of Kaili


• Thoughts of Kaili 2


• Dolly Dimple 1

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Technorati tags: blog roll; links; incurable_hippie.

Happy 60th Birthday

Woman's Hour. Here's to 60 more (and a bit more politics please)...

Woman's Hour is great. There are the odd, predictable, whining complaints along the line of 'Why can't we have a Man's Hour?'. Well, the other 23 hours of the day are Man's Hour, ok? Deal with it!

Anyway, a good proportion of Woman's Hour listeners are reportedly men, so maybe there is some hope.

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Technorati tags: woman's hour; radio 4; incurable_hippie; bbc; women.

Audio Audio. Test.

Gabcast! incurable hippie's musings and rants #1

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Technorati tags: audio; audio blog; incurable_hippie; test.

Photo Friday: Anger

Photo Friday: Anger

100_0407
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; photos; incurable_hippie; anger; Park Hill flats; Park Hill, Sheffield.

Lunatic Enters Number 10.

That was the headline I saw when I rushed by a newsagents today. It was something along those lines and was on, I think, The Sun (junk).

My genuine first thought was 'He's been there for years'.

My genuine second thought was 'Has there been an election?'

It was only after considering the above that I realised they were talking about a guy that nearly broke in with a knife, or something.

I think I was right with the first thought actually. (And that's not even going into the appalling language which only feeds fear and prejudice against people with mental illness...)

Good photography-type news is that Schmap have used four of my photos for their Sheffield guide. Quite odd selections, but I'm not complaining!

I got a £50 cheque from yougov today. Marvellous!! They do surveys - some market research, a lot political - and it's taken a while to get to the £50 (which is when they'll send the cheque), but blimey was it nice to receive! The main reason I do their surveys, though, is that periodically the results of a survey you take part in get onto the news or the topical comedy programmes, and you can only exclaim "I DID THAT ONE!" and be joyous! (Small things may amuse small minds, but that's fine by me). So yey, £50, that will help pay my rent. Fantastic!

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Technorati tags: UK Politics; photography; incurable_hippie; polls.

Pierrot Passed Away. Bless.

Pierrot hamster left us for hamster heaven on Saturday. He was quite an astonishing little blokey, not least for living until a couple of months before his 4th birthday (hamsters generally live until about 2 years old). He was a very gorgeous and cute thing, and sadly he had become quite ill and deformed in his last days. He had a great life and my house is trying to get used to just having the one hamster in it.

Here he was in his glory days:

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Technorati tags: hamster; pets; incurable_hippie; video.