Ha!
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Technorati tags: UK politics; bliar; incurable_hippie.
About me? Mad, disabled, in debt, feminist, radical, angry, pacifist, warrior, radio 4 listener, geek, flower-power chick... About Hippie blog? Ramblings, photos, fury, giggles and musings about love, peace, friendship, madness, happiness, the state of the world, my life, cool pics, my health and general ranting...
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Technorati tags: UK politics; bliar; incurable_hippie.
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Technorati tags: books; book reviews; incurable_hippie.
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Technorati tags: photos; boats; incurable_hippie; holiday.
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Technorati tags: meme; books; incurable_hippie.
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Technorati tags: terrorism; UK Politics; incurable_hippie; cynicism..
We need your support for the Volunteering England lunch expenses campaign.
As part of Volunteering England’s ‘Right to Reasonable Expenses’ lunch campaign, we are urging volunteers and volunteer involving organisations to join us in Volunteering England’s Lunch Expenses Protest Week. We want you to post your lunch receipt to the Secretary of State The Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP at the Department for Work and Pensions to illustrate the true cost of buying lunch outside the home.
Volunteering England Protest Week will run from Monday 14th August to Monday 21st August 2006.
We must convince the DWP to withdraw their guidance ‘A guide to volunteering while on Benefits’.
We need your support to maximise the protest week.
Please forward this email to all volunteers and volunteering involving organisations you know. We are also calling on umbrella bodies that have a wider membership to circulate this message as widely as possible.
We have until Monday 21st August to make a real difference to 2 millions volunteers who could be affected by the guidance.
Below is the wording of the letter template for you to use.To the Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP on the issue of volunteer lunch expenses.
Please find attached receipts for the cost of lunch whilst volunteering. The new interpretation in the Department for Work and Pensions ‘A Guide to Volunteering While on Benefits’ prevents volunteers on benefit from claiming reasonable expenses. We believe that:- the guidance issued by the Department for Work and Pensions is unfair and contradictory and should be withdrawn
- lunch expenses are a legitimate expense, the cost of which should be reimbursed to benefit claimants whilst volunteering
- nearly two million people may now face an unnecessary barrier to volunteering which directly contradicts government’s expressed aim of opening up access to volunteering to disadvantaged groups.
The message and receipts should be sent to:
The Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP
Secretary of State
Department for Work and Pensions,
Richmond House,
79 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2NS
Further Information
For more information about the work and services of Volunteering England, please visit our web site.
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Technorati tags: volunteering; benefits; incurable_hippie; campaign.
The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge
I, Pippa hippie,
Pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months.
I Pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recylcle pre-loved items for myself for the term of my contract.
I Pledge that I shall create and craft items of clothing for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract.
I Pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings!
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Technorati tags: wardrobe refashion; altered clothes; incurable_hippie; creative.
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Technorati tags: psychiatry; drugs; incurable_hippie; mental health.
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Technorati tags: feminism; feminist; incurable_hippie.
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Technorati tags: links; comedy; incurable_hippie; beauty.
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Technorati tags: lewis carroll; alice in wonderland; incurable_hippie; imagine a woman; poetry; women.
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Technorati tags: books; music; incurable_hippie.
- "Nearly half (45%) of teenage girls in an NSPCC/Sugar magazine survey have had their bottom or breasts groped against their wishes.
- Fifty-six per cent* of unwanted early sexual experiences occurred for the first time when girls were aged under 14.
- 51% of unwanted sexual experiences happened more than once and left the girls feeling dirty (47%), ashamed/guilty (39%), worried/insecure (36%), angry (34%) powerless (30%) and frightened (27%).
Chris Cloke, NSPCC head of child protection awareness said: "Sugar readers are revealing early sexual experiences that disregard the need for consent, with young girls threatened or bribed into submitting before they are emotionally or physically ready."Of those girls who had been pushed into doing something they didn't want:
- nearly half (44%) had been made to feel guilty for initially saying 'no'
- over a quarter (29%) cited simply being told by the person pushing them that it was the right thing to do
- 1 in eight were given drink or drugs
- 1 in nine were concerned that rumours would be spread about them
- 1 in ten were threatened physically
- 1 in ten were actually hurt physically
- 1 in ten were bribed with presents or money
In all, 43% of girls questioned said the person responsible for the unwanted experience was a boy they knew or were friends with; one in three cited a boyfriend around their age. Fourteen per cent held a family member or family friend responsible, 13% 'a group of lads', 10% a boyfriend more than five years older than them, and 4% a teacher
A large majority (91%) of the NSPCC/Sugar survey respondents judged it 'never acceptable' for someone to push a girl into a sexual experience against her wishes. Over half (55%+) still believed that their own unwanted early sexual experiences had been at least partly their fault.
Girls' perception of what is sexual abuse varied depending on the age of the perpetrator. Nine out of ten (88%) girls labelled being pushed into a sexual experience against their wishes by an adult over 18 as 'sexual abuse'. Fifty-three per cent described the same experience at the hands of someone their own age as 'pressure sex'.
The NSPCC and Sugar have joined forces to encourage young people to speak out about any concerns they have about sex. Readers can get help and support from the July issue of the magazine and by visiting a new NSPCC website www.donthideit.com which provides a confidential and anonymous space to learn what sex abuse is and how to stop it. They can also call the NSPCC's freephone 24/7 ChildLine service on 0800 1111.
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Technorati tags: sexual abuse; teenage girls; incurable_hippie; Keep your Jesus off my penis; NSPCC; Sugar Magazine.
Weird Words: Sabrage
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The act of opening a bottle with a sabre.
Imagine opening a bottle with great ceremony by striking off its
neck with one sweep of a blade. Traditionally the bottle contains
champagne and the implement is always a sabre.
You might think the result will be lots of broken glass and mess,
but the skill of sabrage lies in hitting the bottle hard just at
the bottom edge of the annulus, the glass ring at the top of the
neck. The blow breaks the neck off cleanly, complete with cork.
Experts advise you chill the bottle very well and avoid shaking it,
remove the foil and wire cage, hold it away from you at an angle of
about 40 degrees and strike with the bottle seam uppermost. Do not
try this at home, kiddies. In truth, a sabre is optional: almost
any hard object with an edge will do it.
At least one organisation, the Confrérie du Sabre d'Or, maintains
this tradition at its champagne parties. But otherwise, both it and
the term are rarely encountered. Stories hold that it dates from
Napoleonic times and was invented by cavalry who found it difficult
to open champagne bottles while on horseback, but did have usefully
heavy sabres handy. You may celebrate the ingenuity of this story
with a small glass of something bubbly if you wish.
Its language origin is definitely the French "sabrer", to hit with
a sabre. It's a close relative of "sabreur", one who fights with a
sabre, best known in "beau sabreur", a fine soldier or dashing
adventurer. But the modern French "sabrage" mundanely refers to
cleaning vegetable detritus from sheep fleeces.
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Technorati tags: language; sabrage; incurable_hippie; quirky.
For those old enough to remember the women's protest group of the 70's and 80's, 'Women Fight Back' are back!
The increasing emergence of lap dancing clubs in the city was enough to make a group of local women and girls take up the challenge of fighting back against the exploitation of women's bodies for men's profit and enjoyment. The exploitation of women's bodies seems to be becoming a more and more acceptable medium for advertising and entertainment. What was once deemed politically incorrect 20 years ago is now deemed as being okay, It would seem that with all the Equal Opportunities policies we now have in society, women's equality is now considered guaranteed and safe from threat. Policies have actually resulted in women' issues being put on the back burner, the fight is over, so anyone discriminating against us in the workplace etc will be taken to court. However what we are actually left with is a green light to sexism, there is no resistance to exploitation of our bodies anymore, there doesn't need to be because there is a policy that does that for us!
Lap Dancing clubs are emerging everywhere, Birmingham has been described as the 'lap dancing capital of the country'. Adverts for Spearmint Rhino appear on billboards along the city’s major roads. Wherever you drive around the city, the image of a sexily clothed woman lying back under text that says, 'The Negotiator', is inviting men along to clubs to negotiate their price for her.
Women Fight Back are serious in their intention to rid the city of these centres of sexual exploitation and of the harm that they cause to women, children and society as a whole. Campaigning will take on many forms, there will be something for all women to get involved with, age is no problem, as long as you are female you can get involved. Email the link below for more info or get involved.
womenfightback@hotmail.co.uk
She was held captive in a flat, possibly in London, after being shipped to the UK by men who told her she would be working as a house lady.
Her captors regularly beat and raped her and forced her to sleep with 10 men a day for nine months.
She eventually became pregnant by one of her captors but was forced to continue sleeping with clients.
She was driven to Sheffield and dumped when she became too pregnant to work.
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Technorati tags: Iraq; feminism; incurable_hippie; rape; anti-prostitution; trafficking women; Women Fight Back; anti-war; campaigns.
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Technorati tags: Illustration Friday; skyline; incurable_hippie; photography; Sheffield..
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Technorati tags: domestic violence; anti-pornography; incurable_hippie; volunteering.
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Technorati tags: Iraq; health; incurable_hippie; Basra.
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