New RDFRS newletter revealed

The Richard Dawkins Foundation(s) for Reason and Science (RDFRS) have released a newsletter, the first one being available here.  (As you might know, there are two RDFRSs.)

Being a fan of Richard Dawkins and his work (as many of you will have spotted a long time ago) I eagerly clicked the link to see what fascinating information it might contain.  Richard has such a good way of spotting interesting things and presenting them in accessible ways.  I thought there was a good chance that it would be another thing that I would subscribe to, but unlike many of the others that I almost dread having to read, this one was going to be something that I would be eager to see.

So - did it live up to my expectations?  Perhaps the existence of two separate but linked foundations, East and West of the Atlantic might make it difficult to choose the content.  There was quite a good article by Sean Faircloth who is a powerful speaker and writer, but apart from that there was a bit of advertising (which I accept as being necessary), mention of a new member of staff (yawn! who cares?) and a selection of other articles that failed to get my full attention.

All in all, I have to say that I found it surprisingly disappointing. 

Let's not give up on them too soon, as they might find their feet and decide which country they really want to talk to.  I don't really mind which one it is, as I do listen to a number of US-centric podcasts.  However, most of those give UK a greater degree of prominence than the first edition of this newsletter has done, from its American heartland.

Very little of Richard's flair and enthusiasm comes through just yet.  Please try harder.

Now if you want a really good newsletter, (which happens to be UK based), you could do worse than that of the National Secular Society, which you can find here.  I actually look forward to getting that one by e-mail every Friday.

The rights of man - more Thomas Paine

Last year I wrote about Thomas Paine, the first New Atheist, having just read his book 'The Age of Reason' which was decades ahead of its time when written in the 1790s.  I hadn't followed up the subject very much until this week I heard an interview on The Pod Delusion (episode 193) with actor Ian Ruskin (starting at time stamp 14:32).  Ruskin is putting on a one-man play about the life of Thomas Paine, and if I was in London (and not working that evening) I might have made the journey to Conway Hall.

I have often wondered where the concept of human rights came from.  The very idea that humans had irrevocable rights has only gained much traction in the last hundred years or so, even though there were hints of it in the previous century.  I have even quizzed a visiting human-rights lawyer on the topic - although I didn't actually get any useful information from her.

Hearing more about Paine's work I am beginning to realise that he played a very significant part in the development of human rights thinking.  He might not had been the originator of all the concepts that he wrote about, but by distilling them into a book called 'The Rights of Man' he certainly brought them to the attention of the people.

Ruskin says that Paine deliberately chose not to protect the commercial rights to his work and that by doing so it meant that the books and pamphlets were circulated much more widely than they otherwise would have been.  Although not exactly a pauper at the time of his death, he was certainly not a wealthy man either.

He can also be remembered for a quotation that is still relevant today.

“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” 

The latter part certainly applies in UK at the moment.

Failed Tory leaders . . .

Iain Duncan Smith ('IDS') used to be leader of the Conservative Party.  He didn't last long.  He wasn't exactly inspirational.  In fact a dessicated slug would have been more inspiring.  Of course I am not a Tory supporter.  I actually have a conscience.

The current Tory leader (and Prime Minister - spit!) has aquiesced to IDS being the Work and Pensions Secretary.  Of course he knows little about work (as ordinary people experience it) or pensions, but why should that matter?  In that capacity he recently committed an interesting faux-pas where he claimed that he could live on £53 per week - just 3% of his current salary.

So anyone who shares my desire that he should honour that claim might like to sign a petition at change.org.  Let's embarrass him into proving that he could do it.  As they say:

This petition calls for Iain Duncan Smith, the current Work and Pensions Secretary, to prove his claim of being able to live on £7.57 a day, or £53 a week.

On Monday's Today Programme David Bennett, a market trader, said that after his housing benefit had been cut, he lives on £53 per week. The next interviewee was Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who was defending the changes. The interviewer then asked him if he could live on this amount. He replied: "If I had to, I would."

This petition calls on Iain Duncan Smith to live on this budget for at least one year. This would help realise the conservative party`s current mantra that "We are all in this together".

This would mean a 97% reduction in his current income, which is £1,581.02 a week or £225 a day after tax* [Source: The Telegraph]

Stridency is the least you should muster!

Richard Dawkins sometimes seems to rejoice in the way that his critics refer to him as 'strident'.  Shortly before the death of Christopher Hitchins, Dawkins interviewed his fellow 'horseman of the apocalypse'.

He told Dawkins in the interview:

“You have a discipline in which you are very distinguished. You've educated a lot of people; nobody denies that, not even your worst enemies. You see your discipline being attacked and defamed and attempts made to drive it out.

“Stridency is the least you should muster . . . It's the shame of your colleagues that they don't form ranks and say, ‘Listen, we're going to defend our colleagues from these appalling and obfuscating elements.’”

Well said - of course!

One small thing that I can claim is that I frequently defend Dawkins against the way that he is mis-represented.  Religious family members might not like him, but they can't, in all honesty, use stridency as an excuse.

You can read more at this link.

Join Avaaz and choose the campaigns that matter to you.

Avaaz is a significantly successful campaigning organisation.  They recently sent me an e-mail which I would like to share with you.  Join Avaaz and have your say.  It is one of the few ways that ordinary people in democracies have to affect the world around them.

With 2012 almost over, I wanted to take a second to stop and reflect on this crazy, beautiful community of hope that we've all created together. The numbers are mind-boggling --

• 17.2 million of us are getting this email today, and that number is skyrocketing -- almost doubling in the last several months!
• We've come together from all 194 nations, 1.7 million of us in Brazil, 1.6M in France, 773,000 in India. Here's the map
• We've taken more than 100 million actions, online and offline, and told over 250 million friends about important campaigns
• Our voices have brought awareness to critical issues, with coverage in at least 15,000 news reports this year alone
• 400,000 of us have donated, giving almost $7 million through Avaaz to other humanitarian and democracy organisations
• 20,000 of us have already started, and started winning, campaigns using our new community petition tool

But behind the numbers is so much more -- thousands of stories of people coming together with a hope that is powerful enough to overcome cynicism and achieve change. Not just in small ways, but in some really, really big ways.  

Remember Malala, the incredibly brave young girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls education? In a week, the Avaaz team worked with partners in Pakistan to identify an ambitious plan to get all kids into school, and after 886,000 of us signed the petition for this plan, the UN education envoy Gordon Brown presented it directly to President Zardari who himself signed the petition! Malala was "thrilled" to be greeted in hospital with the news that Zardari had approved funds to get 3 million more children into school! Brown called our mobilisation "crucial".  

This was just before 1.8 million of us played a major role in winning a Palestinian state. After Israel and the US started bullying countries to vote against it at the UN, we unleashed opinion polls in 4 countries, thousands of phone calls, lobbied leaders and erected giant 4 storey flags outside official meetings. In the final vote only 9 countries out of 193 voted against! The EU Palestinian Ambassador said "Avaaz played a critical role in persuading governments to support the Palestinian people's bid...their solidarity and support will be remembered and cherished across Palestine".

And earlier this year, a whopping 2.8 million of us joined a powerhouse campaign to stop the ACTA treaty -- a critical win against global corporations trying to censor the Internet. The treaty died in Europe, and the Parliament's president said he was "very impressed by Avaaz's massive petition which was taken seriously by the European Parliament". Other leading members of Parliament publicly cited our voices as critical to getting them to scrutinize and oppose ACTA.

That's 3 of literally hundreds of stories to tell about this year alone! (Check out our updates page for more.) I can't wait to see what our community is capable of in 2013, from protecting rainforests and wildlife to standing with the Syrian people and the Arab Spring to dismantling Rupert Murdoch's corrupt media empire, and so much more.   

This is an amazing thing we've built together, an engine of hope and change in the world. And every one of us has contributed to make it happen. Next time you're out at dinner with friends or at a party, try asking if anyone else is part of Avaaz. Chances are someone will be, and maybe you'll have a conversation that builds your hope. Because we can achieve a lot on our own, but if we come together and stick together, anything is possible.

With enormous appreciation for every lovely and committed person in this unique community,

Ricken and the whole Avaaz team

Saving the internet - freedom of speech

Here is another excellent campaign from Avaaz.

Let's all sign up to prevent an increase in governmental control of the internet, in the name of freedom of speech.

Avaaz - The World in Action

Here is a link to the campaign.  I hope you might join in by signing it, wherever you live.

Its confusing

It took me a while to tune into the Jesus and Mo meme, but this has got to be one of his best ever cartoons.

Remember . . . the invisible character is the ever-wise bar maid.

Einstein the agnostic

Should we agree with Einstein's reported words?

"From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist.... I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our being." **

Clearly he had a view about religions but had much more important things on his mind, and I'm glad that he did.

But whether his opinions about the actions of others as outspoken atheists matter at all is another thing.

Personally I recognise his point of view but do not agree with all of it.  I think people should be more outspoken when faced with supernatural claims.  After all, the religious don't keep quite about their opinions, so why should we?

Christopher Hitchens' interjected cries of "Shame on you" in a debate (I think this one) with a rabbi were much more appropriate than Daniel Dennett's natural politeness.

Sometimes you should not tolerate nonsense!

Small note.  **The context of this fragment of a letter was a letter to Guy H. Raner Jr, July 2, 1945, responding to a rumor that a Jesuit priest had caused Einstein to convert from atheism; quoted by Michael R. Gilmore in Skeptic, Vol. 5, No. 2.

Hamza's Innocence!

Hamza Al-Masri, otherwise known as Abu Hamza, is now innocent again - at least temporarily!

At least that is, he is formally innocent but I can't imagine him remaining in that state for very long.  It seems rather likely that he will soon be proven guilty in a court in USA.  America knows how to administer justice in a more swift and permanent way than wishy-washy Europe.

Hamza off to America - from The Mirror

. . . and the British tax payer is rid of Abu Hamza once and for all!  Smiles all round then!

The Osama bin Laden case last year showed the difference between the New and Old World's justice systems last year.   Bin Laden's swift dispatch might not have been universally popular, but at least it was more effective than the way that Europe is currently entertaining Mladic, as I wrote in this post last year - Mladic - worse than bin Laden!

Will Europe ever get this right?

To finish on a lighter note, I came across this parody news article this week.  Hamza lands Panto role. 

Visit London - this Saturday

Every Saturday there are 'events' in London, capital city of the UK, but this Saturday, 15th September 2012, there are two that I plan to attend.

First there is the March for a Secular Europe.  I went last year and this year we are hoping that even more people will attend.  If you have never been on a protest march then I can only recommend the experience.  London is accustomed to them and there is little fuss.  This one in particular will be good natured, and may be attended by religious and non-religious people alike.  At the end of the march there will be a rally, with a number of great speakers, including:

• Robin Ince, Comedian and BHA Distinguished Supporter
• Chris French, Skeptic and Professor of Psychology, Goldsmiths University
• Warren Ellis, Writer and BHA Distinguished Supporter
• Peter Tatchell, Human Rights Campaigner
• Joan Smith, Journalist
• Mejindarpal Kaur, Legal Director, United Sikhs 
• Richard Norman, Philosopher
• Pavan Dhaliwal, Head of Public Affairs, British Humanist Association
• Terry Sanderson, President, National Secular Society
• Antony Lempert, Secular Medical Forum Chair
• Adam Knowles, Gay And Lesbian Humanist Association
• Nahla Mahmood, Council of ex-Muslims of Britain and One law for All
• Sue Cox, Survivors Voice Europe
• Maurizio Turco MP, Italian Radicals

See more details here.  No tickets needed - just turn up in your thousands.

Then in the evening, there is the Big 3rd Birthday Do, in Conway Hall.  This has been organised by The Pod Delusion, which is surely one of the best secular and skeptical podcasts around.  Speakers include:

• Kate Russell from BBC Click
• Young Atheist Handbook Author Alom Shaha – not talking about his book, but performing some MAGIC.
• Guardian Blogger Martin Robbins on Why The Daily Mail Is Evil!
• Pod Delusion regular Drew Rae offering us some Risk Assessment for the Apocalypse!
• ‘Skeptic’ Magazine editor Deborah Hyde on the Psychology of the Supernatural!
• and fire scientist Claire Benson – who hopefully won’t be burning down Conway Hall!
• …with MORE to be announced! 

This promises to be an entertaining day.  Anyone else coming?  You could still get tickets when I last checked.

Incidentally, Saturday 22nd should be just as good. The National Secular Society's conference keynote speaker is Richard Dawkins.

The story of Atheism+ - Part 2

Following on from yesterday's Part 1, this is a continuation of some of the views opposing Atheism+.
 
Here, 'Hayesenberg' gives a shorter, less thorough, but very poignant attack on Richard Carrier's diatribe.

He rightly points out the lack of individualism in Atheism+ policies.

Then 'theskepticalheretic'

talks about Thunderfoot's (non-)involvement and brings clarity to the definition of atheism, and its lack of status as a 'group'.  The whole business of "you're with us or against us" comes under the spotlight.

Noelplum99 has a good go at Atheism+ at this link, and CardinalVirtues here

For what initially appears to be an opposing viewpoint, here's Matt Dillahunty in a video that some people claim to be in support of A+.  That would be worrying, but watch it and decide for yourself.

What have you decided?  He speaks well about the ideas but seems not to have completely realised the utterly radical views expressed by Richard Carrier.

Matt says that he has been A+ for years. Although he says that he agrees, he sensibly says that no member of his atheist organisation is actually required to agree.

So you have to choose between Carrier's and Dillahunty's approach. Dillahunty is sensible but on that basis it seems unlikely that he will be included by Carrier. Unlike Carrier, he is happy that other people can hold opinions that are not identical to his own.

It is obvious that I agree with Dillahunty. His skepticism is more important than his atheism, and indeed is the cause of his atheism. Without atheism he would still be a secular humanist.

And if I said that that was all there is to it ... then I would be wrong.

The story of Atheism+ - Part 1

Here are some links relating to the new saga of Atheism+, in case you did not know how it all started. I have probably missed out some critical stages, but this gives a flavour of it, at least.

For about a year there have been rumblings from a few feminists about the way that they have been treated by people - mostly, but not exclusively, men - at skeptical or atheist conferences. A Google search for Elevatorgate would give you a bit of information about a Youtube video by Rebecca Watson, and how Richard Dawkins' somewhat satirical reply, Dear Muslima, outraged some people and seemed a bit poignant to others.

In the background, people seemed to be forming lines of battle. On the one side were those who complained about their treatment, along with their supporters. On the other side there were men and women who advocated that the victims should be less sensitive, should take control of their own lives a bit more, and get a backbone.

Paula Kirby wrote a rather sensible open letter called Sisterhood of the Oppressed, which you can find linked from here.  Being a woman she was able to say some of the things that many men had been thinking but were wise enough not to say.  I think Paula has suffered from consequential vicious attacks though.

Soon after that, a blog post started a brand new and much more destructive wave - indeed tsunami.  It came from a syndicate of blogs called Freethought Blogs, often known as 'FTB'.  Jen McCreight blogged under the name Blag Hag that she had unwittingly infiltrated an alleged all boys club and that she had been ill-treated as a result. 

In itself, Jen's blog post was not unreasonable, although she might need to learn to involve the police in prosecuting people if her allegations are real.  Its a matter of law and order if someone threatens you and presumably would be sub-judice if you intended to bring a formal prosecution.

It was followed by a long and particularly boring blog post by Richard Carrier, which prompted many inflammatory and divisive comments.  I wouldn't even have known who he was unless I had an interest in the existence (or otherwise) of an historical Jesus. In response you can watch a very thorough critique of Carrier's rudeness and intolerance from CobraJones

  

This is quite long, but it is a great commentary of my very thoughts on reading the comments under the post by Richard Carrier.

More tomorrow in Part 2.

Antidisestablishmentarianism is not favoured!

Following on from yesterday's interesting revelations from the Ipsos Mori poll carried out on behalf of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, let's examine the results of part 2, which can be found in full here.

There is a thread of discussion about the topic here.  Note that this report includes the questions from part 1 which I discussed yesterday in 50% of UK christians 'not religious'.

Part 2 is much more about social attitudes of those claiming to have ticked the 'Christian' box on the 2011 census.  I will pick out a few points which seemed interesting.

Only 54% supported state funding of 'faith schools' for their own denomination, with a very slightly lower figure in favour of extending that privilege to other denominations of christianity.  The figure dropped to 44% for other religions.  To an atheist it seems surprising that 'religious' people always prefer to favour other (opposing) religious people over those who are non-religious.  It is a consistent finding but nonetheless difficult to comprehend.  I think it can only demonstrate that they haven't understood the threat properly.

There was surprisingly little support for reserving seats in the House of Lords for bishops of the Church of England.  Only 26% were in favour, with 32% against.  Similarly, support for retaining the current situation of the Church of England as the 'established church' was rather weak.  46% seemed to favour disestablishment, with 32% preferring to go for antidisestablishmentarianism.  (Not often that you have an excuse to use one of the longest words in the English language!)

Nearly half (46%) did not consider homosexuality to be 'wrong', with 28% believing that it was.  (The others were apathetic about it - which seems typical of the sample.)  Three times more agreed that homosexual couples should have the same legal rights as heterosexuals than disagreed.

Three times more agreed with legal abortions than objected, and 2.5 times more agreed with the concept of assisted suicide for the terminally ill (with proper safeguards in place).

But the big surprises come in the attitudes to the separation of church and state.  78% thought that religion should be a private matter that government should not interfere with, whereas only 7% disagreed.  A similar proportion thought that religion should not have special influence on public policy.   Perhaps if UK could have a constitution we could arrange to have the same First Amendment as USA?

The really big consensus in the whole survey was about the law.  92% agreed, very reasonably, that the law should apply to everyone equally, regardless of their personal religious beliefs.  Take note Mr Prime Minister and Judges!  Ignore this at your peril.

It is time for Sharia to be outlawed in civilised countries!


 

The Dawkins Announcement is here!

As had been suggested, the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science has made an announcement and if you want to hear Richard speak about it on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow morning you can find all the details here.

RD.net promised that there would be an announcement 'after midnight' and the world waited . . . and waited.  What they said was true of course.   It was just a little longer after midnight than we hoped

At last, after holding our breath for half an hour, it appeared . . .

RDFRS UK commissioned Ipsos MORI to carry out the research in the week immediately following the 2011 UK Census. It explored in depth the extent to which adults recorded as Christian in the 2011 UK Census (or who would have been recorded as Christian, if they had answered the question) believe, know about, practise and are influenced by Christianity, as well as their reasons for having described themselves as Christian in the Census. [Read on]

As luck would have it, the dreadful Baroness Warsi has managed to time a visit to the Vatican perfectly.  Steve Zara has written a nice succinct comment on the story on his blog.

The most important line in the announcement (for me at least) was this:

A copy of the data relating to this Press Release may be found here.

Reason and science live up to their names. 

And there is more! The second press release can be found here:
UK Christians oppose special influence for religion in public policy

Everyone is searching . . .

I run Google Analytics on the Something Surprising blog and it tells me a bit about how my visitors found me.  Strangely enough, I even believe some of it (although not quite all).  It is more like a weather vane than a weather forecast, but a great service, and free, and informative.

Sometimes it is entertaining to see what search terms had been used in Google to get to Something Surprising.  Here are a few of them.

First - some slightly surprising ones - but bear in mind that I specialise in surprising things, so it should not be too surprising:

• what is the motto of the french navy? -- I gave a humorous answer here
• quite a night at the erawan -- Yes, I really covered that too
• smell the rectum of a whale in the most expensive of perfumes -- and this one
• bin laden homeopathy -- Yes, this one too.
• was william lane craig ever defeated? -- Oh yes!  Definitely!  But he would never admit it.
• lake with hole in the middle - here, and, frankly, quite a scary picture
• absurd irrational things -- Hmmm.  I generally prefer rational.  But . . . speaking of absurd and irrational

Some of the search terms are indeed absurd and irrational, and you might wonder how anyone could put all these words together in any single place:

• apollo 18 rock spiders
• dinosaur and unicorn receive a text message
• devonian hogmanay
• how can i convince myself that homeopathy works -- Hint:  It doesn't.

Some of them are theistic or simply naive (and ignorant)

• do unbelievers know right from wrong? -- How many guesses do you think you might need?
• can you convert an atheist -- Into what?
• are Christians on to something -- Yes, nearly their third millennium of waiting for the second coming.
• real reason dinosaurs became extinct noah arc -- No I think there was a different reason.
• why did god create science -- Perhaps so that it could confuse the believers?
• what do unbelievers see -- Erm?  Which way are they looking?

A few of them are more like statements of opinion than search terms:

• "jesus fish eating darwin fish" with the flying spaghetti monster in turn attacking the "jesus fish".
• muhammad is a narcissist, a pedophile, a mass murderer, a terrorist, a misogynist, a lecher, a cult leader, a madman a rapist, a torturer, an assassin and a looter." former muslim ali sina offered $50,000 to anyone who could prove otherwise based on islamic texts. the reward has gone unclaimed -- Who could possibly disagree?

And a few are slightly disappointing - I try not to be demotivational but have obviously failed.

• demotivational pictures natural beauty
• demotivational woman strong independant until things get a little bit di
• offensive jesus demotivational

But I just loved these

• why astrological predictions fail at times -- As if they succeed at other times?
• flat world ocean elephants turtles
• giant texas sinkhole keeps growing
• goldilocks and the three bears learning outcome
• how to make a fake fish tank
• have the russians been on the moon -- What? All of them?
  
• impossible discoveries
• uses of unstable isotopes: peaceful uses
• zombie compound fortification -- I think I can be sure I never touched on this topic

What fun!

Protection from ridicule

Have you heard about the fuss that erupted in London a couple of weeks ago?  It was all about the use of a Jesus and Mo cartoon on a poster created by an student atheist group at University College London.

You can find the whole story here on Richard Dawkins' web site.

The strange and simple Jesus and Mo cartoons have an appearance that belies their cleverness, and I can now say that I am a devout convert.  If you have never seen them before I should explain that the invisible character is the barmaid.  She speaks more sense than the two 'stars'.  (Oh by the way . . . erm . . . Mo is short for Mohammad.  I just thought I would mention that for the sake of clarity.)

Having seen this, you might understand why my Twitter icon has recently changed in support of the right to free speech.  If Islamist Fundamentalists are allowed to get away with silencing people in UK's capital then it is clear that the future of Britain as a free democracy is being eroded at its very heart.

Here is the latest brilliant cartoon in the series.  I recommend you to visit the site and look back through the archives.

Jesus and Mo is licensed under a Creative Commons License:

Feel free to copy for noncommercial purposes, under the same license.

Please provide a link back to jesusandmo.net

Long live the legacy of Hitch

Sadly, the news this morning tells us that Christopher Hitchens has finally lost his battle with cancer.  I wonder whether anyone could replace his wit and wisdom, his drive to achieve justice across the world and his sheer energy.

Jut grabbing a few examples of his work from my collection of notes:

We often heard him claim about religions:
"What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence."
Never afraid of a controversial truth, he said about Jerry Falwell - evangelical fundamentalist Baptist pastor, televangelist - 1933-2007:

"If he could have been given an enema, he could have been buried in a matchbox"


and who could argue with his claim that

"We don't have any choice but to have free will"  and


"God creates us sick and then offers a cure under penalty of eternal torture".



I'm sure the tributes will flow around the atheist blogosphere for a considerable time.  Let's hope that some of this tide of adoration leaks out and influences other thinking communities.

'Real' Militant Atheism

This is another guest appearance by an reader of Something Surprising to celebrate the first 50,000 page views, comes from USA with permission for publication here.

*************************

You can call it "militant atheism" and say Christians and other theists are being persecuted when we start burning, torturing, imprisoning, and mutilating theists for their beliefs.

*************************

Thanks to Shay Chandler for this  Facebook post which she has kindly agreed that I can publish here.

For a secular Europe (London 17th Sept)

If you live in England and read this blog I hope you will seriously consider joining this event in London on 17th September 2011.  (I'm giving you nearly three weeks advance notice!) 

Last September, the Protest the Pope March was a great day out for a great cause, and I expect that this one will be just as good.  These points come from the web site for the Secular Europe Campaign:

We promote:

• freedom of religion, freedom of conscience and freedom of speech
• women’s equality and reproductive rights
• equal rights for LGBT people in all the European Union
• a secular Europe – democratic, peaceful, open and just, immune to the clandestine influence of privileged religious (or other) organisations
• one law for all, no religious exemptions from the law
• state neutrality in matters of religion and belief

We oppose:

• the privileged status of the churches under Article 17 of the TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union)
• the special status of the Vatican in the United Nations
• state-funded faith schools
• the economic privilege and political influence of the Vatican

The reporting of last year's event did betray the bias of the UK media in a typical way.  On the same day the pope was holding mass in Hyde Park and the organisers said that 80,000 people had attended.  The biased BBC of course reported this as fact, in an evening news programme, devoting about 15 minutes of air time to the event.

Meanwhile the peaceful protest march was attended by quite a few people as well, including a good many Roman Catholics who disagreed with the doctrines of their church.  At the end of the march it filled Whitehall for several hundred metres blocking all the traffic and limiting access to Downing Street.

The BBC reported this in a subtly different way.  For a start they generously devoted a whole 20 or 30 second slot to it, and they said:

"The organisers claim that about 20,000 people attended, but the police were unable to confirm this".  

That is what passes for balanced reporting from the UK Government's official purveyor of propaganda.  The police probably knew exactly how many were there (and maybe could have given the BBC the mobile phone numbers, e-mail and postal addresses of most of us).  No doubt was shed about the number of pilgrims attending mass, but the BBC indulged in the age old trick of 'poisoning the well' when reporting the march.

I'm looking forward to being there on September 17th.  Maybe I will have chance to meet you!

p.s.  Did you notice that in the background of the first photograph you can see the Athenaeum Hotel, with one of Patrick Blanc's famous and beautiful 'Living Walls'.  Maybe I will do another post about these soon.

Will ow.ly go extinct?

Just a brief thought with #libya in mind.

With the demise of the current regime in Libya, what will happen to all the internet domains with .ly in their urls?

Hootsuite's 'ow.ly' short urls are not the only ones that will be affected.  Let's hope that the demise of a despotic regime in northern Africa doesn't bring the internet to its knees.

I fear that people on knees in that area are likely to be bowing in one direction - namely towards Mecca!

I don't defer to the authorities in Mecca!  (You might have guessed that.)

p.s.  Added 25th Aug . . .  @hootsuite_help kindly sent me a message: "@plasma_engineer In addition to Ow.ly, HootSuite also offers Owl.li. We assure you that owl-themed URLs will not go extinct. ^CT"  

That's a relief!  :)


Hootsuite is a good service and I recommend it highly!