Women's Views on News |
| Posted: 29 Oct 2015 09:57 AM PDT
Dear Mr Cameron, she began. And continued: My children’s school has asked them to undertake a homework project on what “British Values” means to them. Although I’m happy to support them with their homework, I admit I’m struggling with the concept of “British Values” and what they are supposed to mean. I want to tell my children that in Britain, we value our children because they are our future. Yet under this government, 3.6 million children in Britain live in poverty. Mr Cameron, as a direct result of tax and benefit decisions made by your government since 2010, this figure is set to rise to 4.3 million by 2020. And you have imposed massive cuts on Children’s Centres, which were designed to help lift the poorest children from poverty. I want to tell my children that in Britain, we value and protect our environment. Yet, Mr Cameron, you are ignoring local government opposition and forcing fracking upon our country, which poses significant risks to our environment and risks poisoning our water supply. You are also failing to protect Britain’s national parks and protected wildlife habitats from destruction through fracking. You have cut subsidies for renewable energy, but continue to subsidise non-renewable and nuclear energy. What kind of environment can our children expect to inherit? I want to tell my children that in Britain, we look after the sick, which is why we have a free healthcare system, the NHS. But Mr Cameron, our NHS is now in financial trouble, isn’t it. The NHS has just reported a £930m overspend in the first financial quarter of this year, and we both know that this is as a direct result of the actions this government has taken: short-sighted financial planning and sweeping cuts to the public sector. I find myself wondering how long the NHS, free healthcare, and therefore caring for the sick regardless of ability to pay, will survive under your government. I want to tell my children that in Britain, we value our education system. But this year, your government introduced the most severe funding cuts to education in years, which has affected jobs, morale and subject availability. Since Michael Gove was made Education Minister, our government has attacked and undermined the teaching profession, making greater demands upon our teachers while cutting resources and funding. There have been hasty, sweeping changes to the exam system; my daughter worries whether her qualifications will mean anything at all once she leaves school. I want to tell my children that in Britain, everybody’s right to education is valued. But since you have become Prime Minister, university tuition fees have trebled and you have scrapped maintenance grants for the poorest students. I now find myself wondering whether my children will be able to go to university at all, even if they are bright enough for Higher Education. I want to tell my children that Britain values human beings over corporate greed. Yet you seem on the verge of signing up to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which would give enormous power to multinational companies at the expense of consumers and workers. I want to tell my children that in Britain, we value disabled people and believe that they too make a valuable contribution to our society. Yet you have practically removed all of Britain’s support structures for disabled people. In fact, because of your government’s violations of the rights of disabled people, Britain is the first country ever to face a high-level international UN inquiry into its breach of disabled people’s rights. I want to tell my children that it is a British value to offer help and sanctuary to those who have nothing because they are fleeing war or persecution. Yet we are now facing the largest refugee crisis since WW2 and the UK houses just 1 per cent of the world’s refugees. Of 4 million Syrian refugees, just 143 have been resettled to the UK. Furthermore, in 2010, the UK pledged to end child detention for immigration purposes, yet just last year, 40 children under 5 were held at detention centres in the UK. I want to tell my children that in Britain, we value human rights. But your government wants to scrap the Human Rights Act, so your government will be able to overrule the European Court of Human Rights, meaning far less protection for our people from human rights violations in the UK. I want to tell my children that in Britain, we value our laws which are designed to protect our people and our environment. Yet one of the first things you did as Prime Minister was remove and weaken many of our existing laws, benefiting business at the expense of individual people and our environment. I want to tell my children that in Britain, we value freedom of speech and freedom to protest so that when good people make bad decisions, we have the voice and power to speak up against what is happening. Yet what use is freedom of speech when the British government callously ignores even widespread opposition to its decisions? What good is the freedom to protest when you pass laws to silence British trade unions and pressure groups? There is no such thing as freedom of speech or protest when you make people afraid to speak out, Mr Cameron. I want to tell my children that British Values mean being brave and kind, tolerant and inclusive, caring and sharing, honest and integrous. Yet these are not exclusively British Values, Mr Cameron, and – it must be said – values which are hardly being demonstrated by the current British government. These are values that are intrinsic to being a good person, regardless of nationality. You don’t have to be British to be a good person. The reverse is also true: not all British people are good people, Mr Cameron. When I asked my young children what British Values meant to them, their response was, “We are brave and kind and honest. We care and share. We look after our world. We care about other people. We look after babies and children, people who are sick, poor people, disabled people and homeless people.” If even the youngest children in our society understand that these qualities are something British society should aspire towards, why doesn’t the British government? A society is only as good as the way it treats its weakest and most vulnerable members, Mr Cameron, and I’m very sorry to say that I could not find any examples of my children’s “British Values” in your government. Where do I even begin with the hypocrisy of trying to instil “British Values” into the next generation by a government who fails to lead by example? Perhaps we are trying to teach “British Values” to the wrong people. Thankfully, bravery and kindness, tolerance and inclusion, caring and sharing, honesty and integrity are being nurtured in the next generation, without the need for these values to be labelled as “British”. Perhaps, Mr Cameron, you should spend more time in British classrooms, in the presence of our children and our teachers – you might actually learn something. Then again, I rather suspect you are beyond redemption, she wrote, and signed off. The reply she received from his office – and pictured above – is not really very enlightening. |
| Work rights for the terminally ill? Posted: 29 Oct 2015 09:23 AM PDT
Labour MEPs and British trade union officials have called for urgent EU action to protect terminally ill workers throughout Europe. They are now pushing for the UK’s trade union-led campaign, Dying to Work, to be supported at a European level. The campaign, intially launched in May this year, aims to ensure that terminally ill employees are not cruelly fired from their workplace. The TUC's Dying to Work campaign was launched after an employer of a GMB member tried to dismiss her following a terminal cancer diagnosis. MEP Glenis Willmott, Labour's leader in the European Parliament, said: "I was appalled to hear that a constituent of mine was threatened with dismissal when she told her employer that she had a terminal illness. "What sort of society do we live in when employers treat their staff in this manner?" The employee, Jacci Woodcock, took her employer to court and is now bravely fighting for more employment protection for others with a terminal illness. The TUC wants UK legislation to include terminal illness as a 'protected characteristic'. This would mean that an employee with a terminal illness could not be dismissed as a result of their condition. Lee Barron, Regional Secretary for the Midlands TUC, said: "Some people are surprised to hear that someone with a terminal illness would want to work, but many people don't have a choice, they still have to provide for their families and pay the bills." "Labour MEPs raising this issue at a European level is a great achievement. "The TUC are committed to extending the protection of terminally ill employees in the UK." Richard Oliver, the GMB’s Political Officer for the East Midlands, said: "I am delighted that we were able to raise this issue again at the European Parliament. Getting support from MEPs from across Europe really strengthens our campaign." At the launch the campaign, Midlands TUC Regional Secreatry, Lee Barron, said: 'People often say that some things are right and left. Well this is not. This is about right or wrong. 'Too many people are being put in the appalling situation of fighting for their right to work whilst coming to terms with their terminal illness. 'This campaign may take time. 'But the morality of the cause cannot be questioned and the Midlands TUC, along with our supporters will keep on fighting for the rights, dignity and respect that terminally ill worker deserve." "Labour MEPs are committed to taking EU action to support employees with a terminal illness," Glenis Willmott said. "We want to ensure that employees with a terminal illness are treated with dignity and respect. "This surely isn't too much to ask?" |
| Abortion: not just a women’s issue Posted: 29 Oct 2015 02:18 AM PDT
Writer Graham Linehan has joined the campaign to legalise abortion in Ireland, highlighting the value of a male voice in what is often a woman-only conversation. Earlier this month the Irish writer and director Graham Linehan joined forces with Amnesty International in the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment – the constitutional ban on abortion in Ireland. Linehan produced a short campaign film called Chains, voiced by Liam Neeson for the latest of Amnesty International's efforts to decriminalise abortion in Ireland. In addition, Linehan and his wife Helen have recorded a short interview for Amnesty International, talking about their own personal experience of abortion. When Helen Linehan was pregnant with the couple's first child they discovered a fatal foetal abnormality which would mean their child would not survive much longer than an hour, and would experience great pain upon birth. At the time the couple lived in England and were recommended by doctors to have a termination. Both Helen and Graham describe the experience as difficult, but ultimately necessary. The Linehans have chosen to share their story now following their unsettling realisation that had they been living in Ireland at the time, Helen would have been forced to carry the baby to term. The interview ends with Linehan calling upon Ireland’s politicians to treat the current abortion law ‘as the emergency it is’. It is incredibly rare to hear a man speaking publicly about his experience of abortion, which is why Graham Linehan's decision to speak openly about what happened to him and his wife is so poignant. In total, approximately 200,000 women undergo an abortion in the UK each year. That means that approximately 200,000 men have helped their partner to an unwanted pregnancy. Some of these women will be experiencing tragic situations similar to the Linehan's. But for many of these women it is simply not the right time in their lives to have a baby. While not all of these 200,000 women's sexual partners may be aware of the situation, and many women deal with it alone, thousands of women will go through the experience with a man by their side. Men can provide moral support; accompany their partner to clinics or hospitals; and look after them while they are recovering, both physically and emotionally. For many women, this can be invaluable. But these men are invisible; men rarely publically acknowledge ever having been party to an abortion. Although women rarely admit to it either. Last month, in an effort to tackle the silence around abortion, American activists Lyndy West and Amelia Bonow created the #ShoutYourAbortion hashtag on Twitter – asking people to talk about how their lives had been impacted by having an abortion. In total over 88,000 people joined the conversation, and the campaign made widespread international news. West and Bonow were acting in response to efforts to defund Planned Parenthood (PP), the US organisation that provides a number of services, one of which is access to abortion. In Bonow's words "The campaign to defund PP relies on the assumption that abortion is to be whispered about". In an article in The Guardian Bonow acknowledged that even amongst her pro-choice friends people do not talk about abortion: ” I live in a progressive city, I have a fiercely pro-choice social circle and family, I write confessionally about myself for a living – so why is it that I never speak about abortion in anything beyond an abstract way, even with my closest friends?” This is common. Indeed silence on abortion is very much the status quo. Which is the reason Graham Linehan's entry into the debate, now, is important. Because for things to change – both in Ireland and the UK – men need to recognise that abortion rights are relevant to them as well. Men should not want their girlfriends, wives, sisters, or female friends to suffer harassment when they walk into a clinic or hospital where terminations are practiced. In the case of Ireland there are undoubtedly thousands of Irish men who do not wish the women they care about to undergo the traumatic experience of travelling to England for a termination they deem is necessary. Or, even worse, be forced to carry on with a pregnancy knowing full well the baby is not going to survive. Or dying themselves. Ultimately, a woman's choice to have an abortion lies entirely with her. But that doesn't mean she has to do it alone. She didn't get pregnant by herself. On average about 10 women a day travel from Ireland to the UK to have an abortion. An experience that is gruelling, financially and emotionally difficult and ultimately something they should not have to go through. If more men follow in Graham Linehan’s footsteps and talk freely about their personal experience of abortion it too will help to reduce the unnecessary stigma which surrounds the topic. It will also help to increase pressure on the Irish Government to enact the changes it so desperately needs to. |
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