Louise Nousratpour in Westminster
Tuesday January 17, 2012
The Morning Star
Disability campaigners and anti-cuts activists staged a noisy protest outside Parliament today calling on MPs and Lords to throw out Con-Dem ministers' attack on Britain's welfare state.
As the government faced a fresh rebellion in the House of Lords over its controversial Welfare Reform Bill, the protesters gathered outside chanting slogans and displaying banners that read: "No poor mothers = no poor children" and "Time limit on sickness benefits = assisted dying."
"We want the entire Bill dropped," said Kim Sparrow of the Single Mothers' Self-Defence campaign.
She warned that sole parents, such as herself, and children with disabilities would be badly hurt if the proposed benefit cuts went ahead.
"At a time of high unemployment this government wants mothers with children aged five and over to become jobseekers or lose all their benefits.
"And as soon as the child is one year old, mothers who may still be breast feeding or recovering from a traumatic birth will be forced to do work-related activities or lose their benefits.
"We are already at the bottom of the wage scale and these changes will plunge more of us into destitution."
Ms Sparrow was also outraged at plans to cap family benefits at £26,000 a year and abolish the social fund - used for family emergencies such as homelessness and domestic violence.
Hammersmith and Fulham Coalition Against Community Care Cuts chairman Kevin Caulfield, who is wheelchair-bound due to a long-term neurological condition, said the coalition is waging a "systematic attack" on disabled adults and children.
"You have to question ministers' morality when they even suggest cutting benefits for youngsters with disabilities," he said.
Mr Caulfield, who receives the disability living allowance while working, warned planned changes to the benefit could stop people like him from continuing to live a healthy and independent life.
The government wants to tighten the eligibility criteria by replacing the £69 a week benefit with the stingier personal independence payment.
"I use the extra money for the additional needs I have as a disabled person. If I didn't have these benefits, I wouldn't be able to go to work," Mr Caulfield warned.
Last week the Lords threw out some of the nastiest parts of the Bill, including restricting payments for young people with disabilities or illnesses.
But Con-Dem ministers have vowed to overturn the amendments when the Bill returns to the Commons.
Uni to probe anti-semitic student attack
Louise Nousratpour
Monday January 16, 2012
The Morning Star
The London School of Economics (LSE) was investigating allegations today that a Jewish student was punched in the face after he objected to a nazi-themed drinking game during a trip abroad.
The incident is said to have taken place on a skiing trip to Val d'Isere organised by the university's students' union last month.
LSE Students' Union Jewish Society (J-Soc) said that on one of the evenings students played a drinking game where cards were arranged in the shape of a swastika and players were required to "salute the Fuhrer."
When a Jewish student challenged those playing the game he was allegedly subject to anti-semitic bullying and physical assault, resulting in his nose being broken.
J-Soc president Jay Stoll criticised those who believed such games were in good humour.
"When a Jewish student is subject to violence and the nazi ideology glorified, it is no joke, but a spiteful, collective attack on a community.
"This incident highlights the worrying trends of contemporary anti-semitism, but beyond all else indicates a depressing lack of education from students of an esteemed institution."
LSE's student union newspaper the Beaver used its editorial on Sunday to condemn the alleged racist assault and warned of a "worrying resurgence" of casual anti-semitism within university campuses in recent years.
University of Huddersfield students were caught playing a "Hitler drinking game" back in 2010, while members of the Oxford University Conservative Association were accused of singing anti-semitic songs during one of their gatherings in November last year.
The LSE confirmed on Sunday that it was investigating the incident and would "take disciplinary action if the allegations are shown to be true."
louise@peoples-press.com
Monday January 16, 2012
The Morning Star
The London School of Economics (LSE) was investigating allegations today that a Jewish student was punched in the face after he objected to a nazi-themed drinking game during a trip abroad.
The incident is said to have taken place on a skiing trip to Val d'Isere organised by the university's students' union last month.
LSE Students' Union Jewish Society (J-Soc) said that on one of the evenings students played a drinking game where cards were arranged in the shape of a swastika and players were required to "salute the Fuhrer."
When a Jewish student challenged those playing the game he was allegedly subject to anti-semitic bullying and physical assault, resulting in his nose being broken.
J-Soc president Jay Stoll criticised those who believed such games were in good humour.
"When a Jewish student is subject to violence and the nazi ideology glorified, it is no joke, but a spiteful, collective attack on a community.
"This incident highlights the worrying trends of contemporary anti-semitism, but beyond all else indicates a depressing lack of education from students of an esteemed institution."
LSE's student union newspaper the Beaver used its editorial on Sunday to condemn the alleged racist assault and warned of a "worrying resurgence" of casual anti-semitism within university campuses in recent years.
University of Huddersfield students were caught playing a "Hitler drinking game" back in 2010, while members of the Oxford University Conservative Association were accused of singing anti-semitic songs during one of their gatherings in November last year.
The LSE confirmed on Sunday that it was investigating the incident and would "take disciplinary action if the allegations are shown to be true."
louise@peoples-press.com
Experts advise MPs to reject sex classes plan
Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter
Monday January 16 2012
The Morning Star
Parliamentarians were today urged to reject an attempt by Tory MP Nadine Dorries this week to see sex education focus on advising girls to abstain from sexual activity.
A coalition of parents, abortion rights activists and secular groups will protest outside Parliament in London on Friday when Ms Dorries's Ten Minute Rule Bill receives its second reading.
Last year MPs voted for the Bill's proposals that girls between 13 and 16 should receive advice on the benefits of abstinence from sexual activity during sex and relationships education classes.
Campaigners warned at the time that the proposals were taking Britain closer to a US-style culture of religious virginity pledges and sexist attitudes to sexual responsibility.
Abortion Rights campaign co-ordinator Darinka Aleksic accused Ms Dorries today of pushing an anti-women agenda in Parliament under the cloak of female empowerment.
"Dorries conflates arguments about the sexualisation of childhood and the objectification of women with a moralising, shame-based approach to all female sexuality," said Ms Aleksic.
"A move to abstinence teaching will find huge support from the religious lobbying groups with whom Ms Dorries works so closely."
Ms Aleksic argued that abstinence-based sex education is not effective and will only lead to higher rates of sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies.
She added: "Abortion Rights wholeheartedly opposes this Bill and we urge MPs of all parties to do the same."
Lisa Hallgarten of the Parents and Carers for Sex and Relationships Education warned: "If this Bill passes, then it is probable that many schools will only teach about abstinence before marriage in addition to basic sex education."
The protest on Friday is between 10.30am-12.30pm outside Parliament in St Margaret Street, London, SW1A 2AT.
Monday January 16 2012
The Morning Star
Parliamentarians were today urged to reject an attempt by Tory MP Nadine Dorries this week to see sex education focus on advising girls to abstain from sexual activity.
A coalition of parents, abortion rights activists and secular groups will protest outside Parliament in London on Friday when Ms Dorries's Ten Minute Rule Bill receives its second reading.
Last year MPs voted for the Bill's proposals that girls between 13 and 16 should receive advice on the benefits of abstinence from sexual activity during sex and relationships education classes.
Campaigners warned at the time that the proposals were taking Britain closer to a US-style culture of religious virginity pledges and sexist attitudes to sexual responsibility.
Abortion Rights campaign co-ordinator Darinka Aleksic accused Ms Dorries today of pushing an anti-women agenda in Parliament under the cloak of female empowerment.
"Dorries conflates arguments about the sexualisation of childhood and the objectification of women with a moralising, shame-based approach to all female sexuality," said Ms Aleksic.
"A move to abstinence teaching will find huge support from the religious lobbying groups with whom Ms Dorries works so closely."
Ms Aleksic argued that abstinence-based sex education is not effective and will only lead to higher rates of sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies.
She added: "Abortion Rights wholeheartedly opposes this Bill and we urge MPs of all parties to do the same."
Lisa Hallgarten of the Parents and Carers for Sex and Relationships Education warned: "If this Bill passes, then it is probable that many schools will only teach about abstinence before marriage in addition to basic sex education."
The protest on Friday is between 10.30am-12.30pm outside Parliament in St Margaret Street, London, SW1A 2AT.
Terminally ill may win right to choose death
by Louise Nousratpour
Thursday January 5, 2012
The Morning Star
Doctors in England and Wales may for the first time be allowed to help terminally ill people to die after a high-profile commission recommended relaxing the law around assisted suicide today.
A panel of legal and medical experts chaired by former lord chancellor Lord Falconer said adults with less than a year left to live should be able to ask their doctor for a lethal dose of medication.
But stringent safeguards must be in place to protect those who might not have the mental capacity to make such a decision or who might be under pressure from friends or relatives.
The commissioners also stressed that "good quality end-of-life care should be available in all settings."
Lord Falconer, who backs assisted suicide, stopped short of calling for legalisation but said current legislation was "inadequate, incoherent and should not continue."
The year-long probe, which has been mired in a row over impartiality, touched raw ethical nerves in campaigners on both sides of the argument.
Pro-euthanasia activists said its recommendations did not go far enough, calling for laws similar to those in Switzerland, where Dignitas clinics assist terminally ill patients who wish to end their life.
But disability campaigners warned any changes to current legislation would put vulnerable people at risk.
Scope chief executive Richard Hawkes said he had "little confidence that the 'safeguards' would genuinely protect an individual who felt under pressure to end their life."
Royal Association for Disability and Rights chairman Phil Friend added: "In the midst of cuts, we are to believe that the social care budgets would be increased so everyone gets the palliative care they need?
"I'm sorry, I don't believe that."
The commission has also faced accusations of being biased given it was financed by author Terry Pratchett and businessman Bernard Lewis - both staunch supporters of Swiss-style clinics.
Peter Saunders of Care Not Killing claimed that nine of the 11 panel members were "known backers" of legalisation and that medical and legal experts opposed to the idea were not invited to join the panel.
"The overt bias in the structure of the commission is why over 40 organisations including the British Medical Association and many individuals boycotted the inquiry," he said.
Thursday January 5, 2012
The Morning Star
Doctors in England and Wales may for the first time be allowed to help terminally ill people to die after a high-profile commission recommended relaxing the law around assisted suicide today.
A panel of legal and medical experts chaired by former lord chancellor Lord Falconer said adults with less than a year left to live should be able to ask their doctor for a lethal dose of medication.
But stringent safeguards must be in place to protect those who might not have the mental capacity to make such a decision or who might be under pressure from friends or relatives.
The commissioners also stressed that "good quality end-of-life care should be available in all settings."
Lord Falconer, who backs assisted suicide, stopped short of calling for legalisation but said current legislation was "inadequate, incoherent and should not continue."
The year-long probe, which has been mired in a row over impartiality, touched raw ethical nerves in campaigners on both sides of the argument.
Pro-euthanasia activists said its recommendations did not go far enough, calling for laws similar to those in Switzerland, where Dignitas clinics assist terminally ill patients who wish to end their life.
But disability campaigners warned any changes to current legislation would put vulnerable people at risk.
Scope chief executive Richard Hawkes said he had "little confidence that the 'safeguards' would genuinely protect an individual who felt under pressure to end their life."
Royal Association for Disability and Rights chairman Phil Friend added: "In the midst of cuts, we are to believe that the social care budgets would be increased so everyone gets the palliative care they need?
"I'm sorry, I don't believe that."
The commission has also faced accusations of being biased given it was financed by author Terry Pratchett and businessman Bernard Lewis - both staunch supporters of Swiss-style clinics.
Peter Saunders of Care Not Killing claimed that nine of the 11 panel members were "known backers" of legalisation and that medical and legal experts opposed to the idea were not invited to join the panel.
"The overt bias in the structure of the commission is why over 40 organisations including the British Medical Association and many individuals boycotted the inquiry," he said.
Women's rights activists take on media sexism
Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter
Friday December 30, 2011
The Morning Star
Women's rights campaigners called on the Leveson inquiry today to widen its investigatory scope and include sexism and the sexual objectification of the female body in British media.
End Violence Against Women (EVAW), Equality Now, Object and rape charity Eaves said the inquiry would "not be doing its job properly" if it did not address these issues.
They said numerous government and independent reports into the nature and scale of the problem pointed to "considerable evidence" of the impact of the media on the sexualisation of women and girls.
The coalition highlighted the Sun's page 3, adverts for the porn and sex industries and other "innumerable ways" in which women - and even crimes against women including rape and murder - were "routinely trivialised and sexualised" within the press.
"Leveson is not just charged with looking at phone-hacking but for the entire relationship between the press and the public," said Equality Now director Jacqui Hunt.
"Women make up 50 per cent of that public but too often in the tabloid press are portrayed as sexualised objects or victims who are somehow to blame for the violence committed against them.
"When older women are pushed out of the media, when they are not used as expert commentators, when women are not seen as equal partners - this has a negative effect all the way through society."
The groups say the sexualisation of women is degrading and fosters negative attitudes.
They also argue that reporting of rape often focuses on the victims rather than the culprit.
The charities want compulsory training for journalists on the law over reporting violence against women and "clear sanctions" for journalists who break it.
They have also called for the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) to be replaced by an independent press complaints regulatory system.
"At the moment the PCC offers us no justice," said Sarah Green of EVAW.
"Women's organisations have no confidence in it and have stopped using it.
"We need a revamped PCC which has teeth and which women and women's organisations can use."
Friday December 30, 2011
The Morning Star
Women's rights campaigners called on the Leveson inquiry today to widen its investigatory scope and include sexism and the sexual objectification of the female body in British media.
End Violence Against Women (EVAW), Equality Now, Object and rape charity Eaves said the inquiry would "not be doing its job properly" if it did not address these issues.
They said numerous government and independent reports into the nature and scale of the problem pointed to "considerable evidence" of the impact of the media on the sexualisation of women and girls.
The coalition highlighted the Sun's page 3, adverts for the porn and sex industries and other "innumerable ways" in which women - and even crimes against women including rape and murder - were "routinely trivialised and sexualised" within the press.
"Leveson is not just charged with looking at phone-hacking but for the entire relationship between the press and the public," said Equality Now director Jacqui Hunt.
"Women make up 50 per cent of that public but too often in the tabloid press are portrayed as sexualised objects or victims who are somehow to blame for the violence committed against them.
"When older women are pushed out of the media, when they are not used as expert commentators, when women are not seen as equal partners - this has a negative effect all the way through society."
The groups say the sexualisation of women is degrading and fosters negative attitudes.
They also argue that reporting of rape often focuses on the victims rather than the culprit.
The charities want compulsory training for journalists on the law over reporting violence against women and "clear sanctions" for journalists who break it.
They have also called for the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) to be replaced by an independent press complaints regulatory system.
"At the moment the PCC offers us no justice," said Sarah Green of EVAW.
"Women's organisations have no confidence in it and have stopped using it.
"We need a revamped PCC which has teeth and which women and women's organisations can use."
'Sexist' Ryanair ad angers cabin crew
Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter
Tuesday December 13, 2011
The Morning Star
Over 8,000 people have demanded a ban on a "sexist" Ryanair advert which shows a scantly clad cabin crew member under the caption "Red Hot Fares & Crew."
Flight attendant Ghada led an online Cabin Crew Against Sexism campaign and created a petition after seeing the advertisement published in the Guardian.
She called on the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to ban the advert today and said: "I'm a member of cabin crew - I love my job and take it seriously. So I was disgusted to see this Ryanair ad which basically portrays cabin crew as glamour models.
"My work colleagues, many of whom are male, work hard with me to ensure the safety of our passengers. Safety is our number one priority - not the brand of our underwear."
Samantha Mangwana of Russell Jones & Walker law firm, which specialises in discrimination cases, said: "If any staff do suffer sexual harassment, Ryanair may well have made themselves vulnerable to a valid legal challenge with such an advert."
But a Ryanair spokesperson defended the advert, which is based on a calendar featuring stewardesses in their underwear.
"Our cabin crew calendar has raised €500,000 (£423,000) for charity in just five years and we will continue to support the right of our crew to take their clothes off to raise money for those who need it most," the spokesperson said.
The ASA is currently investigating the advert but has not given a deadline for the decision.
A spokesman added: "We have received complaints about a Ryanair advert that has appeared in a national newspaper. We have launched a full investigation."
Ryanair has attracted criticism over a number of years for sexist advertising.
Its advert of a young woman posing as a schoolgirl was banned by the ASA in 2008, which described it as "irresponsible" and appearing to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour.
And Mary Honeyball MEP described Ryanair in 2010 as "still plane stupid" for publishing its fourth charity calendar featuring female staff posing in bikinis.
Tuesday December 13, 2011
The Morning Star
Over 8,000 people have demanded a ban on a "sexist" Ryanair advert which shows a scantly clad cabin crew member under the caption "Red Hot Fares & Crew."
Flight attendant Ghada led an online Cabin Crew Against Sexism campaign and created a petition after seeing the advertisement published in the Guardian.
She called on the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to ban the advert today and said: "I'm a member of cabin crew - I love my job and take it seriously. So I was disgusted to see this Ryanair ad which basically portrays cabin crew as glamour models.
"My work colleagues, many of whom are male, work hard with me to ensure the safety of our passengers. Safety is our number one priority - not the brand of our underwear."
Samantha Mangwana of Russell Jones & Walker law firm, which specialises in discrimination cases, said: "If any staff do suffer sexual harassment, Ryanair may well have made themselves vulnerable to a valid legal challenge with such an advert."
But a Ryanair spokesperson defended the advert, which is based on a calendar featuring stewardesses in their underwear.
"Our cabin crew calendar has raised €500,000 (£423,000) for charity in just five years and we will continue to support the right of our crew to take their clothes off to raise money for those who need it most," the spokesperson said.
The ASA is currently investigating the advert but has not given a deadline for the decision.
A spokesman added: "We have received complaints about a Ryanair advert that has appeared in a national newspaper. We have launched a full investigation."
Ryanair has attracted criticism over a number of years for sexist advertising.
Its advert of a young woman posing as a schoolgirl was banned by the ASA in 2008, which described it as "irresponsible" and appearing to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour.
And Mary Honeyball MEP described Ryanair in 2010 as "still plane stupid" for publishing its fourth charity calendar featuring female staff posing in bikinis.
Lads' mags sound like rapists
Louise Nousratpour
Friday December 9, 2011
The Morning Star
Experts warned today that so-called lads' mags are legitimising hostile sexist attitudes among men.
Researchers found that when presented with descriptions of women taken from the publications and comments about women made by convicted rapists, most of those surveyed could not distinguish the source of the quotes.
The study of men aged between 18 and 46 showed that the majority identified themselves more with the language expressed by the convicted rapists when they did not know the source.
The psychologists from Middlesex University and the University of Surrey also polled a separate group of women and men aged between 19 and 30 to rank the quotes on how derogatory they were, without revealing the sources.
To their surprise, most of the participants in this experiment found the lads' mags quotes more offensive.
Dr Miranda Horvath and Dr Peter Hegarty, who led the research, warned that lads' mags contributed to the normalisation of hostile sexism by packaging their anti-women material as a bit of harmless fun.
Ms Horvath said: "Rapists try to justify their actions, suggesting that women lead men on or want sex even when they say No.
"We are concerned that the legitimisation strategies that rapists deploy when they talk about women are more familiar to these young men than we had anticipated."
From February, many major supermarket chains and petrol stations across Britain have agreed to place lads' mags on the top shelf - out of the eye line of children.
But Ms Horvath said that this was not enough to address "the influence they have on their intended audience of young men and the women with whom those men socialise."
Mr Hegarty warned: "There is a fundamental concern that the content of such magazines normalises the treatment of women as sexual objects."
And Anna van Heeswijk of the women's rights group Object said that if ministers are serious about tackling violence against women they must tackle the associated attitudes peddled in the media.
"The Leveson inquiry is currently looking into the culture and ethics of the press. These disturbing findings unequivocally demonstrate the need for the portrayal of women to be included in the remit of this inquiry," she said.
Friday December 9, 2011
The Morning Star
Experts warned today that so-called lads' mags are legitimising hostile sexist attitudes among men.
Researchers found that when presented with descriptions of women taken from the publications and comments about women made by convicted rapists, most of those surveyed could not distinguish the source of the quotes.
The study of men aged between 18 and 46 showed that the majority identified themselves more with the language expressed by the convicted rapists when they did not know the source.
The psychologists from Middlesex University and the University of Surrey also polled a separate group of women and men aged between 19 and 30 to rank the quotes on how derogatory they were, without revealing the sources.
To their surprise, most of the participants in this experiment found the lads' mags quotes more offensive.
Dr Miranda Horvath and Dr Peter Hegarty, who led the research, warned that lads' mags contributed to the normalisation of hostile sexism by packaging their anti-women material as a bit of harmless fun.
Ms Horvath said: "Rapists try to justify their actions, suggesting that women lead men on or want sex even when they say No.
"We are concerned that the legitimisation strategies that rapists deploy when they talk about women are more familiar to these young men than we had anticipated."
From February, many major supermarket chains and petrol stations across Britain have agreed to place lads' mags on the top shelf - out of the eye line of children.
But Ms Horvath said that this was not enough to address "the influence they have on their intended audience of young men and the women with whom those men socialise."
Mr Hegarty warned: "There is a fundamental concern that the content of such magazines normalises the treatment of women as sexual objects."
And Anna van Heeswijk of the women's rights group Object said that if ministers are serious about tackling violence against women they must tackle the associated attitudes peddled in the media.
"The Leveson inquiry is currently looking into the culture and ethics of the press. These disturbing findings unequivocally demonstrate the need for the portrayal of women to be included in the remit of this inquiry," she said.
Robbing the poor to protect the rich
Louise Nousratpour
Friday December 2, 2011
The Morning Star
More than a million women took part in last week's historic strike against the government's great pension robbery.
Virtually every cut that has been announced by the Con-Dem government has hit women hardest.
Labour says that more than 70 per cent of the latest £2.37billion cuts announced in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement last week will come from women workers, who form the majority of public sector workforce and are more likely to work in low-paid and part-time jobs.
The proposed public sector pension changes, which sparked Wednesday's biggest strike in a generation, will also discriminate against women.
"We are clearly being scapegoated," says civil servant Mandy who is minding a PCS picket line near London Bridge.
Reluctant to give her full name, she describes George Osborne's decision to cap her pay at 1 per cent as "a disgrace" and rejects claims that it is a necessary step to help mend the economy.
"How has our current two-year pay freeze helped the recovery when we are heading for another double-dip recession?" she asks.
Mandy says she decided to take action after realising that soon she could not only lose her pension but also her job, referring to the Office for Budget Responsibility's (OBR) revised forecast that 710,000 public sector jobs will go by 2017.
"A friend of mine works in care. She doesn't earn much money at all but, like me, she decided to strike for the first time in her life because she was so outraged," Mandy says.
"I have been paying into my current pension for six years. I could lose a substantial amount of that money if the changes go through."
Around 3.7 million women like Mandy will be affected by the changes - a staggering one in four of all working women in Britain.
Even under the current scheme the average pension for a public sector male worker is just £4,000 a year after a lifetime of service. This is reduced to £2,500 for his female colleague.
"Hardly gold plated, is it?" says a Greater London Authority (GLA) worker who does not wish to give her name.
She has joined a well-attended and lively Unison picket outside mayor Boris Johnson's offices at City Hall.
Only 10 per cent of the workforce are crossing the picket. Many of them look visibly ashamed with some whispering "sorry" before slipping past well-mannered, smiling Unision members who urge them to join the action.
The GLA worker says government plans to make people like her pay hundreds of pounds more a year in contribution for lower pension is "nothing more than a stealth tax" to pay off the deficit.
"I will have to pay £600 more a year and not a penny of it will go towards my final pension," she says.
"Ministers say it's unfair for taxpayers to foot our pension bill but we are the taxpayer and we already pay a chunk of our income towards our own retirement. We are not asking for handouts - just what's owed to us."
Unison regional secretary Linda Perks, who is visiting the City Hall picket, is excited about how successful the day has turned out to be.
She says the union, which has more than a million women members, has been inundated with membership applications since the pensions dispute began.
"In the London region we recruited over 800 new members last week alone," Perks adds.
Unison has reported a 126 per cent jump in applications in recent weeks - around 80 per cent of them women.
"This means pensions are a burning issue for women in particular," Perks says. "It's not that long ago women didn't see themselves as full-time workers and didn't even consider joining the scheme.
"But many have now joined, which means their living standards are above the poverty line when they retire and they're not dependent upon their children or relatives to maintain a reasonable standard of living."
Perks is worried that the changes will plunge more women into pensions poverty and turn back the clock on their relative economic independence.
"We fear that proposals to increase contributions by up to 50 per cent will lead to many leaving the scheme and new starters won't join because the extra tax on their income is simply unaffordable," she warns.
"The scheme itself is in danger of collapsing altogether, which means people will have to rely on state pension and means-tested benefits, pushing their retirement pay below the poverty line again."
Perks warns that, if the scheme collapses, it will also be bad for the economy.
"The health pension scheme produces a profit of £2bn a year which goes straight back into the Treasury. The local government scheme, which is an invested scheme, produces between £4bn and £5bn a year in profits - that keeps the stock exchange going.
"So if that scheme goes, billions of pounds will just vanish from the money markets and affect the economy quite badly."
Perks believe that the success of the strike will strengthen workers in their resolve to fight the cuts and this government.
"For many today is the first time they've ever come out on strike. This is going to change and strengthen the trade union movement because the experience of going on strike and the sense of solidarity that is part of such action is very powerful, even life-changing.
"We obviously don't want to have to organise more strikes around this particular issue.
"But if the government won't move, we'll have to consider it."
Friday December 2, 2011
The Morning Star
More than a million women took part in last week's historic strike against the government's great pension robbery.
Virtually every cut that has been announced by the Con-Dem government has hit women hardest.
Labour says that more than 70 per cent of the latest £2.37billion cuts announced in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement last week will come from women workers, who form the majority of public sector workforce and are more likely to work in low-paid and part-time jobs.
The proposed public sector pension changes, which sparked Wednesday's biggest strike in a generation, will also discriminate against women.
"We are clearly being scapegoated," says civil servant Mandy who is minding a PCS picket line near London Bridge.
Reluctant to give her full name, she describes George Osborne's decision to cap her pay at 1 per cent as "a disgrace" and rejects claims that it is a necessary step to help mend the economy.
"How has our current two-year pay freeze helped the recovery when we are heading for another double-dip recession?" she asks.
Mandy says she decided to take action after realising that soon she could not only lose her pension but also her job, referring to the Office for Budget Responsibility's (OBR) revised forecast that 710,000 public sector jobs will go by 2017.
"A friend of mine works in care. She doesn't earn much money at all but, like me, she decided to strike for the first time in her life because she was so outraged," Mandy says.
"I have been paying into my current pension for six years. I could lose a substantial amount of that money if the changes go through."
Around 3.7 million women like Mandy will be affected by the changes - a staggering one in four of all working women in Britain.
Even under the current scheme the average pension for a public sector male worker is just £4,000 a year after a lifetime of service. This is reduced to £2,500 for his female colleague.
"Hardly gold plated, is it?" says a Greater London Authority (GLA) worker who does not wish to give her name.
She has joined a well-attended and lively Unison picket outside mayor Boris Johnson's offices at City Hall.
Only 10 per cent of the workforce are crossing the picket. Many of them look visibly ashamed with some whispering "sorry" before slipping past well-mannered, smiling Unision members who urge them to join the action.
The GLA worker says government plans to make people like her pay hundreds of pounds more a year in contribution for lower pension is "nothing more than a stealth tax" to pay off the deficit.
"I will have to pay £600 more a year and not a penny of it will go towards my final pension," she says.
"Ministers say it's unfair for taxpayers to foot our pension bill but we are the taxpayer and we already pay a chunk of our income towards our own retirement. We are not asking for handouts - just what's owed to us."
Unison regional secretary Linda Perks, who is visiting the City Hall picket, is excited about how successful the day has turned out to be.
She says the union, which has more than a million women members, has been inundated with membership applications since the pensions dispute began.
"In the London region we recruited over 800 new members last week alone," Perks adds.
Unison has reported a 126 per cent jump in applications in recent weeks - around 80 per cent of them women.
"This means pensions are a burning issue for women in particular," Perks says. "It's not that long ago women didn't see themselves as full-time workers and didn't even consider joining the scheme.
"But many have now joined, which means their living standards are above the poverty line when they retire and they're not dependent upon their children or relatives to maintain a reasonable standard of living."
Perks is worried that the changes will plunge more women into pensions poverty and turn back the clock on their relative economic independence.
"We fear that proposals to increase contributions by up to 50 per cent will lead to many leaving the scheme and new starters won't join because the extra tax on their income is simply unaffordable," she warns.
"The scheme itself is in danger of collapsing altogether, which means people will have to rely on state pension and means-tested benefits, pushing their retirement pay below the poverty line again."
Perks warns that, if the scheme collapses, it will also be bad for the economy.
"The health pension scheme produces a profit of £2bn a year which goes straight back into the Treasury. The local government scheme, which is an invested scheme, produces between £4bn and £5bn a year in profits - that keeps the stock exchange going.
"So if that scheme goes, billions of pounds will just vanish from the money markets and affect the economy quite badly."
Perks believe that the success of the strike will strengthen workers in their resolve to fight the cuts and this government.
"For many today is the first time they've ever come out on strike. This is going to change and strengthen the trade union movement because the experience of going on strike and the sense of solidarity that is part of such action is very powerful, even life-changing.
"We obviously don't want to have to organise more strikes around this particular issue.
"But if the government won't move, we'll have to consider it."
Bureaucrats first, patients second
Louise Nousratpour
Friday November 25, 2011
The Morning Star
New NHS guidelines on childbirth this week have reopened the debate around whether caesarean section on demand is simply about a woman's right to choose or whether it is a sinister sign of second-rate health care.
No one in their gender-right mind disputes the fact that women must have the ultimate say in how and where they give birth to their baby.
But to make an informed decision they must have access to the right care and professional advice at the point of need and free of charge.
However, government cuts to the NHS and the dangerous shortage of midwives has raised concerns that more women may choose elective c-sections for fear of being left "pushing alone" if they opt for vaginal birth.
An ongoing survey by WHO warns c-section rates have reached "epidemic proportions" in many parts of the world.
More than 24 per cent of women in England and 27 per cent in Wales have a caesarean while overall c-section rates in Scotland have risen from 8.6 per cent in 1976 to 25.4 per cent in 2010.
The WHO report warns that women undergoing c-sections that are not medically necessary are more likely to die or be admitted into intensive care units require blood transfusions or encounter complications that lead to hysterectomies.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) insists that its updated guidelines aims to reduce the rate of elective c-section as it recommends that healthy women anxious about childbirth should be offered one-to-one professional help to allay their fears.
"The new recommendations mean that these fears will be taken seriously and women will be offered mental health support if they need it," Nice deputy chief executive Dr Gillian Leng explains.
She stresses that healthy women should only be granted c-section if proper counselling has failed to convince them otherwise.
Nice has also revised its guideline around pregnant women with HIV positive, recommending that they should now be advised to give vaginal birth in light of new evidence that the risk of transmitting the disease to their baby is, in some cases, the same as caesarean.
And it seeks to dispels the myth that "once a caesarean, always a caesarean" to encourage women who have had the surgery during previous deliveries to opt for normal birth.
Midwives and gynaecologists are confident that the right professional help and advice is key to cutting the number of elective c-sections.
But Cathy Warwick Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is concerned that the resources are not there for midwives to assure women that they will get the best quality and support if they deliver naturally.
This has left some women thinking that "the only way (they are) going to have good care is to have a major abdominal surgery," she adds.
Warwick is confident that if women are properly informed about their choices "very few" will opt for surgical childbirth.
"After a c-section you've got a major abdominal wound and you're asked to look after a baby - it's a bit like asking someone to go straight back to work after a major surgery," Warwick says.
National Childbirth Trust (NCT) chief executive Belinda Phipps warns midwifery numbers are well below the level required to guarantee safe and satisfying care.
"We hear from too many women who have found their experience traumatising in some way," Phipps says.
Veteran natural birth campaigner and gynaecologist Wendy Savage argues that the best way for healthy women to give birth is vaginal and the safest place to do it is at home with two midwives present as required by law.
"Hospital is associated with illness and death. A woman giving birth should not be treated like a sick patient," she says.
Nice guidelines from 2004 say women should be informed that booking for a home birth reduces the risk of having a c-section by 50 per cent.
But, although women have a legal right to choose where they give birth, the chronic shortage of midwives means home births are not being encouraged.
Latest official figures show a drop in the number of women choosing to have their baby at home - from 2.9 in 2008 to just 2.5 per cent last year.
Prime Minister David Cameron promised before the last general election that the Tories would increase the number of midwives by 3,000.
But latest NHS figures for England show the number has risen by just over 500 in the last year.
In a stark warning to Mr Cameron, Phipps said if caesarean rates increase after the change to the guidelines, "it will be evidence that women are not getting the quality of midwifery support they need to instil confidence and feelings of safety while giving birth."
Caesarean facts
- A total of 24.8 per cent of women (or 157,356) in England's NHS hospitals had a caesarean in 2009-10, compared to 24.6 per cent (154,814) in 2008-09. The figures do not include caesareans carried out in private hospitals
- In Ireland the c-section rate stands at 30 per cent
- In Scotland, normal vaginal deliveries have fallen steadily since 1976 from 75.8 per cent to 61.7 per cent in 2010 - while the overall caesarean section rate has risen from 8.6 per cent to 25.4 per cent.
- Caesarean section rate in Wales has gone up from 24 per cent in 2000-01
to 27 per cent in 2009-10.
- At 46 per cent, China has the highest rate of c-section in the
world - a quarter of them not medically necessary
- The US c-section rate is at an all-time high of 31 per cent.
- Caesarean dates back to the Roman times, but the earliest record of a mother surviving a c-section dates to 1500AD.
- The first modern Caesarean section was performed by German
gynaecologist Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer in 1881.
Friday November 25, 2011
The Morning Star
New NHS guidelines on childbirth this week have reopened the debate around whether caesarean section on demand is simply about a woman's right to choose or whether it is a sinister sign of second-rate health care.
No one in their gender-right mind disputes the fact that women must have the ultimate say in how and where they give birth to their baby.
But to make an informed decision they must have access to the right care and professional advice at the point of need and free of charge.
However, government cuts to the NHS and the dangerous shortage of midwives has raised concerns that more women may choose elective c-sections for fear of being left "pushing alone" if they opt for vaginal birth.
An ongoing survey by WHO warns c-section rates have reached "epidemic proportions" in many parts of the world.
More than 24 per cent of women in England and 27 per cent in Wales have a caesarean while overall c-section rates in Scotland have risen from 8.6 per cent in 1976 to 25.4 per cent in 2010.
The WHO report warns that women undergoing c-sections that are not medically necessary are more likely to die or be admitted into intensive care units require blood transfusions or encounter complications that lead to hysterectomies.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) insists that its updated guidelines aims to reduce the rate of elective c-section as it recommends that healthy women anxious about childbirth should be offered one-to-one professional help to allay their fears.
"The new recommendations mean that these fears will be taken seriously and women will be offered mental health support if they need it," Nice deputy chief executive Dr Gillian Leng explains.
She stresses that healthy women should only be granted c-section if proper counselling has failed to convince them otherwise.
Nice has also revised its guideline around pregnant women with HIV positive, recommending that they should now be advised to give vaginal birth in light of new evidence that the risk of transmitting the disease to their baby is, in some cases, the same as caesarean.
And it seeks to dispels the myth that "once a caesarean, always a caesarean" to encourage women who have had the surgery during previous deliveries to opt for normal birth.
Midwives and gynaecologists are confident that the right professional help and advice is key to cutting the number of elective c-sections.
But Cathy Warwick Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is concerned that the resources are not there for midwives to assure women that they will get the best quality and support if they deliver naturally.
This has left some women thinking that "the only way (they are) going to have good care is to have a major abdominal surgery," she adds.
Warwick is confident that if women are properly informed about their choices "very few" will opt for surgical childbirth.
"After a c-section you've got a major abdominal wound and you're asked to look after a baby - it's a bit like asking someone to go straight back to work after a major surgery," Warwick says.
National Childbirth Trust (NCT) chief executive Belinda Phipps warns midwifery numbers are well below the level required to guarantee safe and satisfying care.
"We hear from too many women who have found their experience traumatising in some way," Phipps says.
Veteran natural birth campaigner and gynaecologist Wendy Savage argues that the best way for healthy women to give birth is vaginal and the safest place to do it is at home with two midwives present as required by law.
"Hospital is associated with illness and death. A woman giving birth should not be treated like a sick patient," she says.
Nice guidelines from 2004 say women should be informed that booking for a home birth reduces the risk of having a c-section by 50 per cent.
But, although women have a legal right to choose where they give birth, the chronic shortage of midwives means home births are not being encouraged.
Latest official figures show a drop in the number of women choosing to have their baby at home - from 2.9 in 2008 to just 2.5 per cent last year.
Prime Minister David Cameron promised before the last general election that the Tories would increase the number of midwives by 3,000.
But latest NHS figures for England show the number has risen by just over 500 in the last year.
In a stark warning to Mr Cameron, Phipps said if caesarean rates increase after the change to the guidelines, "it will be evidence that women are not getting the quality of midwifery support they need to instil confidence and feelings of safety while giving birth."
Caesarean facts
- A total of 24.8 per cent of women (or 157,356) in England's NHS hospitals had a caesarean in 2009-10, compared to 24.6 per cent (154,814) in 2008-09. The figures do not include caesareans carried out in private hospitals
- In Ireland the c-section rate stands at 30 per cent
- In Scotland, normal vaginal deliveries have fallen steadily since 1976 from 75.8 per cent to 61.7 per cent in 2010 - while the overall caesarean section rate has risen from 8.6 per cent to 25.4 per cent.
- Caesarean section rate in Wales has gone up from 24 per cent in 2000-01
to 27 per cent in 2009-10.
- At 46 per cent, China has the highest rate of c-section in the
world - a quarter of them not medically necessary
- The US c-section rate is at an all-time high of 31 per cent.
- Caesarean dates back to the Roman times, but the earliest record of a mother surviving a c-section dates to 1500AD.
- The first modern Caesarean section was performed by German
gynaecologist Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer in 1881.
Women pledge to fight Tories
Louise Nousratpour
Sunday October 30, 2011
The Morning Star
Women's Charter activists vowed at their annual conference on Saturday to "agitate, educate, organise and litigate" against the government's assault on their jobs, services and rights.
Charter for Women chairwoman Mary Davies told delegates in London that massive public-sector job cuts and attacks on the welfare system threatened turn the clock back on gender equality.
David Cameron's Big Society idea would inevitably rely on a swelling army of unemployed women doing unpaid caring work, she warned.
But speakers hailed the looming co-ordinated pension strike by state workers on November 30 as a first step towards wider action to bring the Con-Dem to its knees.
Gloria Mills of the Unison union, which boasts more than a million women members in the public sector, said that her union was working "round the clock" to deliver a Yes vote.
She complained: "The government has decided to protect the pension of the male-dominated uniform professions - the fire brigade, the armed forces and the police - while penalising the female-dominated sector such as nurses and teachers.
"So if you're aiming a hose or a gun, you're fine."
Southall Black Sisters speaker Pragna Patel explained how her organisation "help women who were completely invisible in society, with the state turning a blind eye to domestic violence in minority communities in the name of 'cultural sensitivity'."
She told delegates how the organisation had used equality impact assessments to force authorities to rethink local cuts and closure decisions.
Both the government and local authorities have been caught flaunting equality laws and bypassing impact assessments when making decisions about where the austerity axe should fall.
She recalled the London-based group's major victory in 2008 against the Ealing Council's plans to cut its funding.
Ms Patel also urged delegates to remain vigilant to a shift in funding from progressive organisations to reactionary faith groups as happened in the case of the Poppy Project, which lost its government funding to the Salvation Army.
"The Salvation Army is now in charge of dealing with highly traumatised sex-trafficked women and girls," she said.
The Charter for Women is a set of key demands launched in 2004 to bring gender equality back into sharp focus.
It has the backing of the TUC, among other organisations.
Sunday October 30, 2011
The Morning Star
Women's Charter activists vowed at their annual conference on Saturday to "agitate, educate, organise and litigate" against the government's assault on their jobs, services and rights.
Charter for Women chairwoman Mary Davies told delegates in London that massive public-sector job cuts and attacks on the welfare system threatened turn the clock back on gender equality.
David Cameron's Big Society idea would inevitably rely on a swelling army of unemployed women doing unpaid caring work, she warned.
But speakers hailed the looming co-ordinated pension strike by state workers on November 30 as a first step towards wider action to bring the Con-Dem to its knees.
Gloria Mills of the Unison union, which boasts more than a million women members in the public sector, said that her union was working "round the clock" to deliver a Yes vote.
She complained: "The government has decided to protect the pension of the male-dominated uniform professions - the fire brigade, the armed forces and the police - while penalising the female-dominated sector such as nurses and teachers.
"So if you're aiming a hose or a gun, you're fine."
Southall Black Sisters speaker Pragna Patel explained how her organisation "help women who were completely invisible in society, with the state turning a blind eye to domestic violence in minority communities in the name of 'cultural sensitivity'."
She told delegates how the organisation had used equality impact assessments to force authorities to rethink local cuts and closure decisions.
Both the government and local authorities have been caught flaunting equality laws and bypassing impact assessments when making decisions about where the austerity axe should fall.
She recalled the London-based group's major victory in 2008 against the Ealing Council's plans to cut its funding.
Ms Patel also urged delegates to remain vigilant to a shift in funding from progressive organisations to reactionary faith groups as happened in the case of the Poppy Project, which lost its government funding to the Salvation Army.
"The Salvation Army is now in charge of dealing with highly traumatised sex-trafficked women and girls," she said.
The Charter for Women is a set of key demands launched in 2004 to bring gender equality back into sharp focus.
It has the backing of the TUC, among other organisations.
Mums and babies 'at risk' from caesarian free-for-all
Louise Nousratpour
Sunday October 30, 2011
The Morning Star
Mothers and babies will be put at risk by proposals to give all women the right to give birth by caesarean section, experts warned at the weekend.
Draft plans to extend access to the procedure - currently only deployed where there is medical need - have been floated by the NHS National Institute for Clinical Excellence.
But Royal College of Midwives chief executive Cathy Warwick said that CS for non-medical reasons was "inappropriate" and expressed confidence that "when women are fully aware of he evidence they will not be asking for CS."
Some studies have found that mothers are two to three times more likely to die following a caesarean section than after giving birth normally.
And gynaecologist Wendy Savage told delegates to the annual Charter for Woman conference that it was already "madness" that a quarter of mothers in England and a third in Ireland had had the procedure.
Ms Savage, who made history as the first woman consultant to be appointed in obstetrics and gynaecology at The London Hospital, said that the safest way for healthy women to give birth was natural and the best place to do it was at home with two midwives present - as required by law.
She added that a chronic shortage of midwives meant that home births are not being encouraged.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the report, due out next month, was still subject to consultation.
Sunday October 30, 2011
The Morning Star
Mothers and babies will be put at risk by proposals to give all women the right to give birth by caesarean section, experts warned at the weekend.
Draft plans to extend access to the procedure - currently only deployed where there is medical need - have been floated by the NHS National Institute for Clinical Excellence.
But Royal College of Midwives chief executive Cathy Warwick said that CS for non-medical reasons was "inappropriate" and expressed confidence that "when women are fully aware of he evidence they will not be asking for CS."
Some studies have found that mothers are two to three times more likely to die following a caesarean section than after giving birth normally.
And gynaecologist Wendy Savage told delegates to the annual Charter for Woman conference that it was already "madness" that a quarter of mothers in England and a third in Ireland had had the procedure.
Ms Savage, who made history as the first woman consultant to be appointed in obstetrics and gynaecology at The London Hospital, said that the safest way for healthy women to give birth was natural and the best place to do it was at home with two midwives present - as required by law.
She added that a chronic shortage of midwives meant that home births are not being encouraged.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the report, due out next month, was still subject to consultation.
Campaign to turn backs on Page 3
Louise Nousratpour
Friday October 14, 2011
The Morning Star
Women's rights activists today stepped up campaign for tighter regulation on "sexualised and degrading" images of women in tabloids and newspapers, including a ban on The Sun's topless "Page 3 Girls."
The Turn Your Back on Page 3 campaign urged ministers today to extend the Bailey review, which tackles the commercialisation and sexualisation of children, to include a probe into the Murdoch newspaper's use of imagery.
The group said: "Page 3 symbolises the acceptance and normalisation of the sexual objectification of women and girls that pervades our daily newspapers and popular culture and therefore ultimately, symbolises and contributes to our unequal status.
"The government either values and respects the female half of humanity or it doesn't and the removal of Page 3 would be a momentous step in the right direction in proving to society that is does."
Turn Your Back On Page 3 spokeswoman Francine Hoenderkamp welcomed Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone and shadow equalities minister Harriet Harman's support and urged other MPs to get behind the campaign.
She slammed Rupert Murdoch's "abuse and manipulation of our democracy and free press and his attitude towards the representation of women in the media."
Women's rights group Object said: "With the recent Murdoch scandal, the inquiry into the culture and ethics of the press and government concern over the sexualisation of children, now is the perfect time to step up our lobbying to get rid of the Page 3 phenomena."
Friday October 14, 2011
The Morning Star
Women's rights activists today stepped up campaign for tighter regulation on "sexualised and degrading" images of women in tabloids and newspapers, including a ban on The Sun's topless "Page 3 Girls."
The Turn Your Back on Page 3 campaign urged ministers today to extend the Bailey review, which tackles the commercialisation and sexualisation of children, to include a probe into the Murdoch newspaper's use of imagery.
The group said: "Page 3 symbolises the acceptance and normalisation of the sexual objectification of women and girls that pervades our daily newspapers and popular culture and therefore ultimately, symbolises and contributes to our unequal status.
"The government either values and respects the female half of humanity or it doesn't and the removal of Page 3 would be a momentous step in the right direction in proving to society that is does."
Turn Your Back On Page 3 spokeswoman Francine Hoenderkamp welcomed Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone and shadow equalities minister Harriet Harman's support and urged other MPs to get behind the campaign.
She slammed Rupert Murdoch's "abuse and manipulation of our democracy and free press and his attitude towards the representation of women in the media."
Women's rights group Object said: "With the recent Murdoch scandal, the inquiry into the culture and ethics of the press and government concern over the sexualisation of children, now is the perfect time to step up our lobbying to get rid of the Page 3 phenomena."
The termination of personal choice
Louise Nousratpour
Friday September 16, 2011
The Morning Star
Anti-choice Tory MP Nadine Dorries is planning to breathe new life into her already failed campaign to reduce the legal time limit for abortion - barely a week after a humiliating defeat in Parliament to alter the counselling process.
Last week MPs overwhelmingly rejected her amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill which would have forced women considering termination to go to "independent" counsellors.
Dorries argued that abortion providers and medical experts should be stripped of their exclusive responsibility for counselling, suggesting that advice given by not-for-profit organisations such as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and Marie Stopes was biased.
In an article for the right-wing Daily Mail newspaper on Monday, she insists that she had "won" the argument as ministers had now agreed to investigate how counselling is delivered.
"The next job," she declares, "is to get the upper limit down from 24 weeks to 20 before the lifetime of this Parliament is over."
Dorries's last attempt to cut the abortion limit to 22 weeks was defeated in Parliament in May 2008 following a massive campaign by the pro-choice lobby.
A disturbing fact is that David Cameron, then in opposition, voted for the proposal. And during last year's election campaign, the Tory leader reiterated his support for the anti-abortion campaign.
In her Daily Mail piece, Dorries repeats claims that the Lib Dems had "blackmailed" Cameron into voting down her counselling proposals, adding that, immediately after the vote, the premier had sent her a text message saying he was "sorry" and that he had "desperately" wanted to pass the amendment.
Following last week's debate, Health Minister Anne Milton said that the government agreed with the "spirit" of Dorries's amendment and would be bringing forward its own proposals on the "best" form of counselling.
The Department of Health will launch a consultation on the issue later this year, despite Milton's own admission that there is "no evidence" that existing services need reviewing.
Doctors and health charities warn that any changes to the current system could threaten access to "impartial and medically accurate" advice by opening up NHS contracts to anti-choice front organisations.
They are also concerned that another layer of counselling could delay the process and increase the number of late abortions.
A recent study by the Education for Change found that pregnancy counselling centres run by Christian and anti-abortion groups were giving "misleading and scaremongering" advice to pregnant women.
Its undercover researchers who posed as pregnant women reported that at one centre, Skylight Counselling, they were given material linking abortion to breast cancer and infertility.
Abortion Rights campaign co-ordinator Darinka Aleksic says the government's expressed support for changes to the counselling system is worrying.
"We will be keeping a close eye on the forthcoming consultation and proposals around that.
"The advice currently offered by abortion providers is as independent, accurate and impartial as counselling offered by doctors for any other medical procedures, such as treatment options around breast cancer.
"And suggestions that there is an abortion industry are completely baseless - providers are run as charities and do not make profits."
Aleksic adds that Britain already had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe as women seeking termination needed two doctors' signatures.
As for Dorries's plans to resuscitate the campaign to reduce the abortion time limit, pro-choice campaigners insist both scientific evidence and public opinion are against it.
Research by the British Medical Association and the Commons science and technology group show that there has been no improvement in survival rates for births under 24 weeks - the current legal limit.
But the pro-choice lobby says there is no place for complacency, especially when top government brass, including Cameron, are sympathetic to the idea.
The Family Planning Association held a public meeting in the Commons on Monday, bringing together a cross-party of pro-choice MPs and organisations to decide the next step forward.
Spokeswoman Rebecca Findlay says the aim is to "organise a campaign that will promote evidence-based policy making to move the debate away from individual opinions and judgments."
The British Medical Association's ethics committee member Dr Evan Harries adds: "Our only victories have been defensive ones. There needs to be a campaign which will put us on the front foot."
THE FACTS:
- Abortion has been legal in Britain since 1967, but only by permission of two doctors and in restricted circumstances
- The 1967 Abortion Act only applies to England, Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland abortion can only be obtained if the woman's life is at risk and in some cases of foetal abnormality
- Abortion laws in the UK are more restrictive than in almost every other European country, where abortion on request is legal in the first three months of pregnancy
- 10 per cent of GPs consider themselves to be conscientious objectors and refuse to grant women abortions. According to their professional guidelines, conscientious objectors should refer a woman seeking an abortion immediately to another health-care provider. They are, however, not legally obliged to do so
- Late abortions are extremely rare but necessary - fewer than 1 per cent are carried out after 22 weeks. Almost 90 per cent of abortions take place in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy
- Marie Stopes International says 90 per cent of women using its services make their decision about abortion without choosing to speak to a counsellor
- 76 per cent of the UK population is pro-choice
Friday September 16, 2011
The Morning Star
Anti-choice Tory MP Nadine Dorries is planning to breathe new life into her already failed campaign to reduce the legal time limit for abortion - barely a week after a humiliating defeat in Parliament to alter the counselling process.
Last week MPs overwhelmingly rejected her amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill which would have forced women considering termination to go to "independent" counsellors.
Dorries argued that abortion providers and medical experts should be stripped of their exclusive responsibility for counselling, suggesting that advice given by not-for-profit organisations such as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and Marie Stopes was biased.
In an article for the right-wing Daily Mail newspaper on Monday, she insists that she had "won" the argument as ministers had now agreed to investigate how counselling is delivered.
"The next job," she declares, "is to get the upper limit down from 24 weeks to 20 before the lifetime of this Parliament is over."
Dorries's last attempt to cut the abortion limit to 22 weeks was defeated in Parliament in May 2008 following a massive campaign by the pro-choice lobby.
A disturbing fact is that David Cameron, then in opposition, voted for the proposal. And during last year's election campaign, the Tory leader reiterated his support for the anti-abortion campaign.
In her Daily Mail piece, Dorries repeats claims that the Lib Dems had "blackmailed" Cameron into voting down her counselling proposals, adding that, immediately after the vote, the premier had sent her a text message saying he was "sorry" and that he had "desperately" wanted to pass the amendment.
Following last week's debate, Health Minister Anne Milton said that the government agreed with the "spirit" of Dorries's amendment and would be bringing forward its own proposals on the "best" form of counselling.
The Department of Health will launch a consultation on the issue later this year, despite Milton's own admission that there is "no evidence" that existing services need reviewing.
Doctors and health charities warn that any changes to the current system could threaten access to "impartial and medically accurate" advice by opening up NHS contracts to anti-choice front organisations.
They are also concerned that another layer of counselling could delay the process and increase the number of late abortions.
A recent study by the Education for Change found that pregnancy counselling centres run by Christian and anti-abortion groups were giving "misleading and scaremongering" advice to pregnant women.
Its undercover researchers who posed as pregnant women reported that at one centre, Skylight Counselling, they were given material linking abortion to breast cancer and infertility.
Abortion Rights campaign co-ordinator Darinka Aleksic says the government's expressed support for changes to the counselling system is worrying.
"We will be keeping a close eye on the forthcoming consultation and proposals around that.
"The advice currently offered by abortion providers is as independent, accurate and impartial as counselling offered by doctors for any other medical procedures, such as treatment options around breast cancer.
"And suggestions that there is an abortion industry are completely baseless - providers are run as charities and do not make profits."
Aleksic adds that Britain already had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe as women seeking termination needed two doctors' signatures.
As for Dorries's plans to resuscitate the campaign to reduce the abortion time limit, pro-choice campaigners insist both scientific evidence and public opinion are against it.
Research by the British Medical Association and the Commons science and technology group show that there has been no improvement in survival rates for births under 24 weeks - the current legal limit.
But the pro-choice lobby says there is no place for complacency, especially when top government brass, including Cameron, are sympathetic to the idea.
The Family Planning Association held a public meeting in the Commons on Monday, bringing together a cross-party of pro-choice MPs and organisations to decide the next step forward.
Spokeswoman Rebecca Findlay says the aim is to "organise a campaign that will promote evidence-based policy making to move the debate away from individual opinions and judgments."
The British Medical Association's ethics committee member Dr Evan Harries adds: "Our only victories have been defensive ones. There needs to be a campaign which will put us on the front foot."
THE FACTS:
- Abortion has been legal in Britain since 1967, but only by permission of two doctors and in restricted circumstances
- The 1967 Abortion Act only applies to England, Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland abortion can only be obtained if the woman's life is at risk and in some cases of foetal abnormality
- Abortion laws in the UK are more restrictive than in almost every other European country, where abortion on request is legal in the first three months of pregnancy
- 10 per cent of GPs consider themselves to be conscientious objectors and refuse to grant women abortions. According to their professional guidelines, conscientious objectors should refer a woman seeking an abortion immediately to another health-care provider. They are, however, not legally obliged to do so
- Late abortions are extremely rare but necessary - fewer than 1 per cent are carried out after 22 weeks. Almost 90 per cent of abortions take place in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy
- Marie Stopes International says 90 per cent of women using its services make their decision about abortion without choosing to speak to a counsellor
- 76 per cent of the UK population is pro-choice
Nursery given stay of execution
Louise Nousratpour
Wednesday August 31, 2011
The Morning Star
Royal Mail workers at London's largest sorting office celebrated a partial victory today in their fight to save their workplace nursery.
Communication Workers Union (CWU) negotiators revealed today that a breakthrough in talks late last week had given the Childsplay Nursery a five-month "reprieve" while its long-term future is discussed.
The facility at Mount Pleasant mail centre in north London was due to close in November but a high-profile campaign by working parents and CWU members has forced the company to consider alternatives.
CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward described the agreement as "excellent news for hard-working parents across London and good news for the company too."
But he acknowledged that there is still "a long way to go" to secure the nursery's long-term survival.
Roger Charles, the union's branch secretary at Mount Pleasant, said he was "very hopeful" that a positive solution would come out of the negotiations.
"The details of the proposals are sketchy but the mere fact that management are considering alternatives to outright closure, after refusing for so long, means that common sense is prevailing," he said.
The pioneering creche serves Royal Mail staff from across the capital and offers affordable childcare that suits their long and unsocial hours.
Mr Charles warned that many would find it "impossible" to stay in the job without the facility.
"This latest agreement gives us time to find ways of keeping the facility open and sustainable for as long as possible," he said.
CWU national equality officer Linda Roy added: "We've got a lot of work to do, but now that both the union and the company are on the same side I'm optimistic that we can save the nursery."
The CWU said that formal terms for upcoming talks between the union, Royal Mail and childcare provider Kiddy Care would be agreed next month and then all parties will "work towards a solution."
Wednesday August 31, 2011
The Morning Star
Royal Mail workers at London's largest sorting office celebrated a partial victory today in their fight to save their workplace nursery.
Communication Workers Union (CWU) negotiators revealed today that a breakthrough in talks late last week had given the Childsplay Nursery a five-month "reprieve" while its long-term future is discussed.
The facility at Mount Pleasant mail centre in north London was due to close in November but a high-profile campaign by working parents and CWU members has forced the company to consider alternatives.
CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward described the agreement as "excellent news for hard-working parents across London and good news for the company too."
But he acknowledged that there is still "a long way to go" to secure the nursery's long-term survival.
Roger Charles, the union's branch secretary at Mount Pleasant, said he was "very hopeful" that a positive solution would come out of the negotiations.
"The details of the proposals are sketchy but the mere fact that management are considering alternatives to outright closure, after refusing for so long, means that common sense is prevailing," he said.
The pioneering creche serves Royal Mail staff from across the capital and offers affordable childcare that suits their long and unsocial hours.
Mr Charles warned that many would find it "impossible" to stay in the job without the facility.
"This latest agreement gives us time to find ways of keeping the facility open and sustainable for as long as possible," he said.
CWU national equality officer Linda Roy added: "We've got a lot of work to do, but now that both the union and the company are on the same side I'm optimistic that we can save the nursery."
The CWU said that formal terms for upcoming talks between the union, Royal Mail and childcare provider Kiddy Care would be agreed next month and then all parties will "work towards a solution."
Activists urge Britain to oppose EDL march
Louise Nousratpour
Tuesday August 30, 2011
The Morning Star
Anti-fascism campaigners urged supporters from across Britain today to join their demonstration against the English Defence League (EDL) in east London.
Home Secretary Theresa May has banned the far-right group from marching through the multicultural Borough of Tower Hamlets on Saturday.
But EDL leader Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who is also known by the name Tommy Robinson, has promised to "still show up."
Following Ms May's announcement last Friday, he told BBC London: "We will have a static demonstration."
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Service told the Star today that while police had no legal powers to prevent a static demonstration, "we have powers to put conditions around assemblies and location."
Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and the United East London - a coalition of local trade unions and community groups - are now seeking police permission to hold their counter-demonstration outside the East London Mosque in Whitechapel.
UAF joint secretary Weyman Bennett said that the Met was planning "a massive police operation" to escort EDL supporters into the borough.
"The fascists' so-called static protest on Saturday is in effect a march through the heart of Tower Hamlets since the police will be escorting them from A to B," he said.
"We want the biggest possible turnout to show that the vast majority of people don't want the racists and fascists anywhere."
More than 25,000 people had signed a petition asking the Home Secretary to ban the EDL march.
And the Metropolitan Police said it feared "serious public disorder and violence" particularly so soon after the recent riots.
In response Ms May has outlawed marches by the EDL or any other groups in Tower Hamlets and four neighbouring boroughs - including Newham, Waltham Forest, Islington and Hackney - for 30 days from September 2.
Campaigners said that while the ban on EDL marches was a victory, the blanket 30-day ban on all demonstrations was a "complete overreaction."
They expressed particular concern that the decision could affect planned events on October 2 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, when more than 100,000 anti-fascists stopped Oswald Mosley and his supporters from marching through east London.
Tuesday August 30, 2011
The Morning Star
Anti-fascism campaigners urged supporters from across Britain today to join their demonstration against the English Defence League (EDL) in east London.
Home Secretary Theresa May has banned the far-right group from marching through the multicultural Borough of Tower Hamlets on Saturday.
But EDL leader Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who is also known by the name Tommy Robinson, has promised to "still show up."
Following Ms May's announcement last Friday, he told BBC London: "We will have a static demonstration."
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Service told the Star today that while police had no legal powers to prevent a static demonstration, "we have powers to put conditions around assemblies and location."
Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and the United East London - a coalition of local trade unions and community groups - are now seeking police permission to hold their counter-demonstration outside the East London Mosque in Whitechapel.
UAF joint secretary Weyman Bennett said that the Met was planning "a massive police operation" to escort EDL supporters into the borough.
"The fascists' so-called static protest on Saturday is in effect a march through the heart of Tower Hamlets since the police will be escorting them from A to B," he said.
"We want the biggest possible turnout to show that the vast majority of people don't want the racists and fascists anywhere."
More than 25,000 people had signed a petition asking the Home Secretary to ban the EDL march.
And the Metropolitan Police said it feared "serious public disorder and violence" particularly so soon after the recent riots.
In response Ms May has outlawed marches by the EDL or any other groups in Tower Hamlets and four neighbouring boroughs - including Newham, Waltham Forest, Islington and Hackney - for 30 days from September 2.
Campaigners said that while the ban on EDL marches was a victory, the blanket 30-day ban on all demonstrations was a "complete overreaction."
They expressed particular concern that the decision could affect planned events on October 2 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, when more than 100,000 anti-fascists stopped Oswald Mosley and his supporters from marching through east London.
Profits from the coalition war on poor
Louise Nousratpour
Friday August 19, 2011
The Morning Star
Multimillionaire welfare-to-work privateer Emma Harrison is in charge of finding work for thousands of "troubled" families whom David Cameron blamed this week for rioting that swept across England.
She was appointed in December as the Prime Minister's "family champion"" to identify so-called workless households and get them off benefits and back into work.
At the time she said there were roughly 120,000 "troubled families" who had never worked in their lives.
She also claimed that much of Britan's problems "stem from" them.
In his "fightback" speech this week Cameron promised to put "rocket boosters" under his back-to-work programme targeting 120,000 families as part of his strategy to mend the "broken society."
Leading the initiative through her Working Families Everywhere campaign, Harrison will be paid by results under the government's controversial Work Programme.
Her company Action for Employment (A4E) has already been awarded 25 per cent of the government's £5bn budget for the flagship welfare-to-work programme, where contracted companies are paid "bounties" of between £4,000 and £13,700 for every unemployed person they put back into work.
Ten per cent is paid upfront and the rest 18 months later.
The targeted families are among the poorest in society who struggle in the face of multiple and complex problems such as mental health issues, physical disability, drug addiction and huge debts.
They are already being helped by a range of different government agencies, many of which are facing budget cuts and even closure because of the Con-Dem's so-called austerity measures.
Built on Labour's family intervention model, the "family champions" initiative is funded through councils' early intervention grant, which was cut by 11 per cent this year and which will also have to fund Sure Start children's centres, teenage pregnancy and youth support services.
Under her Working Families Everywhere campaign Harrison plans to recruit social workers employed by local authorities and train them to become "family champions."
Harrison explained in an interview with the European Social Fund this month: "To date, the family champions have been coming from the local authorities because that's where the initial money went into. My role is to help recruit those family champions, train and develop them.
"Family champions at the moment are people who are already employed by the local authority.
"In the future, there are volunteers. People who are volunteering to be family champions, so some will be paid professionally and others may be volunteers."
This planned army of "champions" will then target "troubled" families with the sole purpose of getting them off benefits and back into work.
"We have already worked with three local authorities in Hull, Blackpool and Westminster," Harrison said following Cameron's speech this week.
"This is just the beginning."
She has antagonised social support agencies by claiming that they only "poke" at troubled families in unfocused ways.
But she also admitted that without those very agencies her "champions" would not be able to cope with the complex issued faced by the targeted families.
Family Action group Rhian Beynon brands Harrison's remarks "galling."
"Defining families with complex multiple needs primarily through worklessness is highly problematic," says Beynon. "If someone has mental health problems you cannot make that person work."
Meanwhile Public-sector union Unison has warned that the massive shortage in the number of social workers is "a ticking bomb."
In March, the union published a dossier of cutbacks hitting social work departments. It warned that, on top of existing shortages, they will put the lives of children and vulnerable adults at risk.
Admin support, training and early intervention support work - all of which social workers depend on - are being slashed, exacerbating the "perennial problems" of crippling caseloads and high vacancy rates.
Unison national officer for social work Helga Pile said at the time: "Every day the safeguards and support that social work departments offer are being stretched thinner and thinner - at a time when more and more families are struggling to cope."
Action for Children highlights the impact of government cuts to local authority budgets, warning that some family intervention projects were being starved of funding and faced closure.
"They are seeing them not necessarily as the priority that they used to be," the charity's head Dame Clare Tickell told BBC Radio 4 this week.
And Child Poverty Action Group says the government must reverse its cuts policies if it wants to help troubled families get their lives back on track.
"Attacking child benefit, cutting tax credits and reducing support for childcare all flunk the family test, hurt families and weaken our society," says its head of policy Imran Hussain.
"The government came in promising to cut child poverty, saying the previous government hadn't done enough, but the IFS has shown that its policies will increase child poverty by 300,000 in the next three years."
Friday August 19, 2011
The Morning Star
Multimillionaire welfare-to-work privateer Emma Harrison is in charge of finding work for thousands of "troubled" families whom David Cameron blamed this week for rioting that swept across England.
She was appointed in December as the Prime Minister's "family champion"" to identify so-called workless households and get them off benefits and back into work.
At the time she said there were roughly 120,000 "troubled families" who had never worked in their lives.
She also claimed that much of Britan's problems "stem from" them.
In his "fightback" speech this week Cameron promised to put "rocket boosters" under his back-to-work programme targeting 120,000 families as part of his strategy to mend the "broken society."
Leading the initiative through her Working Families Everywhere campaign, Harrison will be paid by results under the government's controversial Work Programme.
Her company Action for Employment (A4E) has already been awarded 25 per cent of the government's £5bn budget for the flagship welfare-to-work programme, where contracted companies are paid "bounties" of between £4,000 and £13,700 for every unemployed person they put back into work.
Ten per cent is paid upfront and the rest 18 months later.
The targeted families are among the poorest in society who struggle in the face of multiple and complex problems such as mental health issues, physical disability, drug addiction and huge debts.
They are already being helped by a range of different government agencies, many of which are facing budget cuts and even closure because of the Con-Dem's so-called austerity measures.
Built on Labour's family intervention model, the "family champions" initiative is funded through councils' early intervention grant, which was cut by 11 per cent this year and which will also have to fund Sure Start children's centres, teenage pregnancy and youth support services.
Under her Working Families Everywhere campaign Harrison plans to recruit social workers employed by local authorities and train them to become "family champions."
Harrison explained in an interview with the European Social Fund this month: "To date, the family champions have been coming from the local authorities because that's where the initial money went into. My role is to help recruit those family champions, train and develop them.
"Family champions at the moment are people who are already employed by the local authority.
"In the future, there are volunteers. People who are volunteering to be family champions, so some will be paid professionally and others may be volunteers."
This planned army of "champions" will then target "troubled" families with the sole purpose of getting them off benefits and back into work.
"We have already worked with three local authorities in Hull, Blackpool and Westminster," Harrison said following Cameron's speech this week.
"This is just the beginning."
She has antagonised social support agencies by claiming that they only "poke" at troubled families in unfocused ways.
But she also admitted that without those very agencies her "champions" would not be able to cope with the complex issued faced by the targeted families.
Family Action group Rhian Beynon brands Harrison's remarks "galling."
"Defining families with complex multiple needs primarily through worklessness is highly problematic," says Beynon. "If someone has mental health problems you cannot make that person work."
Meanwhile Public-sector union Unison has warned that the massive shortage in the number of social workers is "a ticking bomb."
In March, the union published a dossier of cutbacks hitting social work departments. It warned that, on top of existing shortages, they will put the lives of children and vulnerable adults at risk.
Admin support, training and early intervention support work - all of which social workers depend on - are being slashed, exacerbating the "perennial problems" of crippling caseloads and high vacancy rates.
Unison national officer for social work Helga Pile said at the time: "Every day the safeguards and support that social work departments offer are being stretched thinner and thinner - at a time when more and more families are struggling to cope."
Action for Children highlights the impact of government cuts to local authority budgets, warning that some family intervention projects were being starved of funding and faced closure.
"They are seeing them not necessarily as the priority that they used to be," the charity's head Dame Clare Tickell told BBC Radio 4 this week.
And Child Poverty Action Group says the government must reverse its cuts policies if it wants to help troubled families get their lives back on track.
"Attacking child benefit, cutting tax credits and reducing support for childcare all flunk the family test, hurt families and weaken our society," says its head of policy Imran Hussain.
"The government came in promising to cut child poverty, saying the previous government hadn't done enough, but the IFS has shown that its policies will increase child poverty by 300,000 in the next three years."
Families fight for care centre
Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter
Friday August 5, 2011
The Morning Star
Families fighting to save a Glasgow daycare centre for disabled people stepped up their campaign today to force the council to find alternatives to closure.
They say Glasgow City Council plans to demolish the Accord Centre in the East End, which supports more than 120 people with learning disabilities, to make way for a car park for the Commonwealth Games 2014.
Service users and carers were promised a like-for-like replacement when the Games were announced.
But campaigners say the Labour-controlled council has reneged on this promise as it cuts up to 40 per cent from care for people with learning disabilities.
A spokesman for the council insisted that alternative arrangements had been made.
He denied that the site would be turned into a car park but said that "it may be acquired for the Commonwealth Games facilities."
Accord was empty "most of the day" and keeping it open would be a "waste of public resources," the spokesman said.
He added that the majority of Accord service users were "happy" with being moved to the Bombury Centre as an alternative arrangement.
The families dismissed this as "a lie."
Save the Accord Centre campaign spokeswoman Grace Harrigan, whose son attends the centre, said "everyone is angry" about the closure.
"Far from being underused, the centre was overcrowded and had a waiting list," she stressed.
"But since it was targeted for closure, the council has tried to discourage people from coming by stopping all activities, including computer classes and cooking lessons."
Ms Harrigan also dismissed the council's claim that Bombury was a like-for-like facility.
She said it was "a community centre, not a daycare centre. It lacks the specialised resources and services people with learning disabilities need.
"Bombury is already struggling to cater for people in the local area, let alone taking on those from Accord."
She also accused the council of "refusing point-blank" to meet with the carers and the families to resolve the dispute.
"All we want is an adequate like-for-like facility - a demand backed by First Minister Alex Salmond," Ms Harrigan added.
Save the Accord Centre has organised a demonstration in the city centre for August 27.
louise@peoples-press.com
Friday August 5, 2011
The Morning Star
Families fighting to save a Glasgow daycare centre for disabled people stepped up their campaign today to force the council to find alternatives to closure.
They say Glasgow City Council plans to demolish the Accord Centre in the East End, which supports more than 120 people with learning disabilities, to make way for a car park for the Commonwealth Games 2014.
Service users and carers were promised a like-for-like replacement when the Games were announced.
But campaigners say the Labour-controlled council has reneged on this promise as it cuts up to 40 per cent from care for people with learning disabilities.
A spokesman for the council insisted that alternative arrangements had been made.
He denied that the site would be turned into a car park but said that "it may be acquired for the Commonwealth Games facilities."
Accord was empty "most of the day" and keeping it open would be a "waste of public resources," the spokesman said.
He added that the majority of Accord service users were "happy" with being moved to the Bombury Centre as an alternative arrangement.
The families dismissed this as "a lie."
Save the Accord Centre campaign spokeswoman Grace Harrigan, whose son attends the centre, said "everyone is angry" about the closure.
"Far from being underused, the centre was overcrowded and had a waiting list," she stressed.
"But since it was targeted for closure, the council has tried to discourage people from coming by stopping all activities, including computer classes and cooking lessons."
Ms Harrigan also dismissed the council's claim that Bombury was a like-for-like facility.
She said it was "a community centre, not a daycare centre. It lacks the specialised resources and services people with learning disabilities need.
"Bombury is already struggling to cater for people in the local area, let alone taking on those from Accord."
She also accused the council of "refusing point-blank" to meet with the carers and the families to resolve the dispute.
"All we want is an adequate like-for-like facility - a demand backed by First Minister Alex Salmond," Ms Harrigan added.
Save the Accord Centre has organised a demonstration in the city centre for August 27.
louise@peoples-press.com
Save our nursery
Louise Nousratpour
Monday July 18, 2011
The Morning Star
There is a little gem tucked away on a busy junction in central London.
Not many people know about it but this pioneering creche has helped hundreds of parents stay in work, safe in the knowledge that their children are being properly looked after just a few doors away.
Now their jobs are on the line.
Royal Mail has decided to shut the Childsplay nursery at its Mount Pleasant sorting office by November, without consulting staff or assessing how it will affect their jobs and families.
"Managers admitted bluntly that they have not carried out the equality impact assessment," says Roger Charles, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) branch secretary at Mount Pleasant. The CWU is leading the campaign to save the creche.
"It appears that all they have done is a simple cost-benefit analysis which didn't take into consideration the impact the closure would have on the people, many of whom are single parents from ethnic-minority communities, who currently benefit from the facility."
Silvia Benton, a single mother who works long and unsociable hours, is worried that she may have to quit her job to look after her five-year-old son if the nursery closes.
"I wrote to (Royal Mail chief executive) Moya Greene and explained to her that I was completely dependent on the nursery to keep my job," she said.
"I have tried to find alternative childcare arrangements and recently went through the entire list of registered childminders in my local area in Hackney. But as soon as they hear about my shifts, they're not interested."
Postal workers are among the lowest paid in London, making a subsidised childcare facility like this one a lifeline for working class families.
But it's not just about affordability.
Childsplay is also the only nursery in London that is open for shift workers from 6am to 10pm, catering to Royal Mail staff from all over the capital.
Benton, like many of her colleagues who use the creche, has even offered to pay more than the current £110 a week fees to keep it open.
"I would rather pay a little more in childcare costs than lose my job," she said. "I wouldn't want to rely on benefits, especially not now, when the government is cutting everything."
But the firm has ignored the offer and negotiations have stalled.
Royal Mail chiefs have also snubbed the CWU's idea to open the facility up to the general public to raise more money.
And they recently ruled out a £150,000 offer from Islington council to build an outdoor play area, claiming health and safety reasons.
"They don't seem to want to look into any alternatives," says Charles, a new father who would personally benefit from the creche.
"We actually asked whether they would keep it open if we found a way that would cost them nothing and they said 'probably not'."
Half tongue in cheek, he adds: "I think there are some people in Royal Mail management who really don't like children. They certainly don't want working-class families to have access to these sorts of facilities to keep themselves in work.
"They'd rather replace working parents with people who don't have children or family 'baggage' because parents are naturally more likely to ask for flexible hours or time off if their children fall ill."
Childsplay opened as a flagship facility in 1994 with a view to open similar nurseries in Royal Mail centres across Britain.
But that never happened.
Now management claims that keeping Childsplay open would be "unfair" to staff outside London - an argument Charles rejects as nonsense.
"Throughout the nursery's 16-year history there have been attempts at Royal Mail workplaces up and down the country to open similar facilities but they have come to nothing because of lack of support from management.
"People from all over the country could benefit from such facilities at a time when local authorities are cutting back on childcare, and Sure Start centres are very hard to come by.
"As a state-owned company, Royal Mail should be doing more for its employees."
In its heyday there was a three-year waiting list for the Mount Pleasant creche.
Today only a dozen children are enrolled as managers have banned staff and current contractor Kiddy Care from advertising nursery places.
Kiddy Care won its contract last year on the condition that it would not take on any more children.
"The facility has been left to wither on the vine," Charles says.
He is convinced that the closure is not about cost-cutting but rather an attempt to do away with what the company sees as a "burden" on a publicly owned business gearing up for privatisation under the coalition's Postal Services Bill.
"It's not the sort of facility that a private company would be interested in offering staff," he says.
"Royal Mail is currently spending in excess of £50 million on modernising Mount Pleasant. If they have such obscene amounts of money to spend on machinery to replace workers they can afford the £160,000 they say the nursery cost them each year."
The union is stepping up its campaign this summer with a fresh wave of demonstrations and ministerial lobbying, as well as urging the public to sign a petition calling for the nursery to stay open.
In May hundreds of parents and their children staged a protest outside the centre, waving home-made placards and chanting: "Save Our Nursery."
The campaign has won the support of local Lib Dem MP Emily Thornberry, who wrote to Greene last month, arguing that it would be "a great shame to lose this pioneering workplace provision.
"I was not convinced that this decision is either right or necessary."
Charles is confident that the union will not hesitate to take industrial action if management continues to ignore the growing clamour for a rethink.
"We won't rule out anything in this battle to save the creche.
"If it means that the wider union needs to take some sort of action to make Royal Mail chiefs change their decision, that is what the union will do."
To help the campaign, please write to your MP and sign the online petition at www.cwu.org/online-petition.html
LGBT community comes out and proud in London
Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter in London
Monday July 4, 2011
The Morning Star
Tens of thousands of rainbow-flag waving revellers turned central London into one massive street party this weekend.
Trade unionists, activists and flamboyantly dressed revellers followed dozens of floats set up on buses and lorries to mark the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LBGT) community's biggest celebration of the year.
The annual London Pride festival snaked its way through Regent Street and Whitehall for a rally in Trafalgar Square, followed by an afternoon of live entertainment, food counters and campaign stalls.
A massive trade union contingent sponsored by the TUC marched behind the Love Music, Hate Homophobia lorry floats, while campaigners handed out lollipops with the slogan "Homophobia Sucks."
Police and ambulance staff drew some of the biggest cheers from the thousands of bystanders who had lined the streets to watch the Pride march.
St Martin in the Fields church on the square also showed its support by flying the rainbow flag on its mast and ringing the church bells.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber told the huge crowd that he "brought solidarity from millions of workers we represent" and urged LGBT people to join the fight against cuts.
"These reckless spending cuts will put LGBT equality at grave risk," he warned.
"Not just the massive reduction in local authority funding for voluntary sector groups, nor just the cancellation of gender reassignment surgery on the NHS, but also the colossal cut in police spending, which will undermine the fight against hate crime.
"The government's education reforms will give a green light to more faith schools - a recipe for more prejudice against LGBT pupils and staff.
"Let's work together, campaign together and fight together for a fairer and more equal Britain."
By the stalls in the square, young Labour activists were handing out "Never Kissed a Tory" stickers, which proved very popular with many angry over the coalition government's attempt to dilute hard-won equality laws.
The previous Labour government won favours with the LGBT community for introducing the Civil Partnership Act and repealing the Thatcher administration's infamous section 28, which banned local authorities from promoting homosexuality.
Prime Minister David Cameron has come under fire for assigning the equality brief to Home Secretary Theresa May, despite her voting record on LGBT rights.
And London Mayor Boris Johnson, who was a staunch supporter of section 28, enraged equality campaigners after he cancelled Pride parties at City Hall as part of wider cuts to events for specific minority groups.
Labour mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone, who attended Saturday's Pride parade, vowed to reverse the Tory mayor's "backward" decision if elected.
"A fairer London depends on our city continuing to move forward on equality," he said.
On the union stalls, revellers were invited to sign a petition against the government's "red-tape challenge" designed to weaken the Single Equality Act and health and safety laws.
PCS equality rep Ian Crossland branded the initiative "a disgrace. It is imperative that we preserve and ornament the law, especially when in many countries around the world LGBT people are still being persecuted," he told the Star.
As the afternoon drew to a close, partygoers spilled out into the Soho district - famous for its many LGBT-friendly clubs and bars - to continue the celebrations with street parties and events long into the night.
Monday July 4, 2011
The Morning Star
Tens of thousands of rainbow-flag waving revellers turned central London into one massive street party this weekend.
Trade unionists, activists and flamboyantly dressed revellers followed dozens of floats set up on buses and lorries to mark the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LBGT) community's biggest celebration of the year.
The annual London Pride festival snaked its way through Regent Street and Whitehall for a rally in Trafalgar Square, followed by an afternoon of live entertainment, food counters and campaign stalls.
A massive trade union contingent sponsored by the TUC marched behind the Love Music, Hate Homophobia lorry floats, while campaigners handed out lollipops with the slogan "Homophobia Sucks."
Police and ambulance staff drew some of the biggest cheers from the thousands of bystanders who had lined the streets to watch the Pride march.
St Martin in the Fields church on the square also showed its support by flying the rainbow flag on its mast and ringing the church bells.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber told the huge crowd that he "brought solidarity from millions of workers we represent" and urged LGBT people to join the fight against cuts.
"These reckless spending cuts will put LGBT equality at grave risk," he warned.
"Not just the massive reduction in local authority funding for voluntary sector groups, nor just the cancellation of gender reassignment surgery on the NHS, but also the colossal cut in police spending, which will undermine the fight against hate crime.
"The government's education reforms will give a green light to more faith schools - a recipe for more prejudice against LGBT pupils and staff.
"Let's work together, campaign together and fight together for a fairer and more equal Britain."
By the stalls in the square, young Labour activists were handing out "Never Kissed a Tory" stickers, which proved very popular with many angry over the coalition government's attempt to dilute hard-won equality laws.
The previous Labour government won favours with the LGBT community for introducing the Civil Partnership Act and repealing the Thatcher administration's infamous section 28, which banned local authorities from promoting homosexuality.
Prime Minister David Cameron has come under fire for assigning the equality brief to Home Secretary Theresa May, despite her voting record on LGBT rights.
And London Mayor Boris Johnson, who was a staunch supporter of section 28, enraged equality campaigners after he cancelled Pride parties at City Hall as part of wider cuts to events for specific minority groups.
Labour mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone, who attended Saturday's Pride parade, vowed to reverse the Tory mayor's "backward" decision if elected.
"A fairer London depends on our city continuing to move forward on equality," he said.
On the union stalls, revellers were invited to sign a petition against the government's "red-tape challenge" designed to weaken the Single Equality Act and health and safety laws.
PCS equality rep Ian Crossland branded the initiative "a disgrace. It is imperative that we preserve and ornament the law, especially when in many countries around the world LGBT people are still being persecuted," he told the Star.
As the afternoon drew to a close, partygoers spilled out into the Soho district - famous for its many LGBT-friendly clubs and bars - to continue the celebrations with street parties and events long into the night.
'Make it legal worldwide' Friday 01 July 2011
Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter in London
Friday June 30, 2011
The Morning Star
TUC LGBT Conference: Gay rights activists called on the trade union movement today to fight for same-sex relationships to be made legal around the world.
The TUC lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender conference heard of the persecution and death that LGBT people still risk because of their sexuality.
Many countries still treat same-sex acts as a crime, while in some countries including South Africa lesbians are subjected to "corrective" rape to "cure" them, delegates at Congress House in London heard.
Conference welcomed the recent UN Declaration of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, which commits member states to respect and protect LGBT people's human rights.
It called on TUC-affiliated unions to work with sister organisations across the world to press for a universal decriminalisation of same-sex relationships.
Delegates honoured the memory of Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato, who was bludgeoned to death this year after a newspaper published photographs of him and other LGBT people under the headline "Hang them."
Same-sex acts are illegal in Uganda and an MP tried unsuccessfully to push for the death penalty.
Delegates praised Ugandan activists' success in defeating the infamous anti-gay Bill.
Unite delegate Adam Umney urged the TUC to step up its work with sister unions internationally against countries with anti-gay laws, including awareness campaigns and government lobbying.
Unison speaker Darienne Flemington said: "We must raise LGBT profile and exploit our contacts at ETUC, ITUC and groups like Amnesty to push for a universal decriminalisation of same-sex consensual relationships."
Conference also urged affiliates to support UK Black Pride - a not-for-profit organisation supporting LGBT black and ethnic-minority people as well as gay asylum-seekers fleeing rape and murder.
In her address, UK Black Pride director Phyllis Opoku-Gyimah highlighted the racism suffered by LGBT black people.
She welcomed delegates' commitment to reclaim the gay rights issue from the far-right English, Welsh and Scottish Defence Leagues.
Delegates had raised alarms in a debate on Thursday that fascist groups were whipping up Islamophobia over gay rights.
They vowed to "fly the rainbow flag" at counter-demonstrations.
Ms Opoku-Gyimah urged delegates to encourage their unions to affiliate to UK Black Pride and do more to recruit LGBT black members.
"We need to send a united message - no to public service cuts, no to fascism and no to Islamophobia."
Friday June 30, 2011
The Morning Star
TUC LGBT Conference: Gay rights activists called on the trade union movement today to fight for same-sex relationships to be made legal around the world.
The TUC lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender conference heard of the persecution and death that LGBT people still risk because of their sexuality.
Many countries still treat same-sex acts as a crime, while in some countries including South Africa lesbians are subjected to "corrective" rape to "cure" them, delegates at Congress House in London heard.
Conference welcomed the recent UN Declaration of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, which commits member states to respect and protect LGBT people's human rights.
It called on TUC-affiliated unions to work with sister organisations across the world to press for a universal decriminalisation of same-sex relationships.
Delegates honoured the memory of Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato, who was bludgeoned to death this year after a newspaper published photographs of him and other LGBT people under the headline "Hang them."
Same-sex acts are illegal in Uganda and an MP tried unsuccessfully to push for the death penalty.
Delegates praised Ugandan activists' success in defeating the infamous anti-gay Bill.
Unite delegate Adam Umney urged the TUC to step up its work with sister unions internationally against countries with anti-gay laws, including awareness campaigns and government lobbying.
Unison speaker Darienne Flemington said: "We must raise LGBT profile and exploit our contacts at ETUC, ITUC and groups like Amnesty to push for a universal decriminalisation of same-sex consensual relationships."
Conference also urged affiliates to support UK Black Pride - a not-for-profit organisation supporting LGBT black and ethnic-minority people as well as gay asylum-seekers fleeing rape and murder.
In her address, UK Black Pride director Phyllis Opoku-Gyimah highlighted the racism suffered by LGBT black people.
She welcomed delegates' commitment to reclaim the gay rights issue from the far-right English, Welsh and Scottish Defence Leagues.
Delegates had raised alarms in a debate on Thursday that fascist groups were whipping up Islamophobia over gay rights.
They vowed to "fly the rainbow flag" at counter-demonstrations.
Ms Opoku-Gyimah urged delegates to encourage their unions to affiliate to UK Black Pride and do more to recruit LGBT black members.
"We need to send a united message - no to public service cuts, no to fascism and no to Islamophobia."
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