An appropriate malapropism?

There’s an interesting article in the Guardian today about a report which demonstrates a 17 year gap in the ‘disability-free life expectancy’ of the withs and withouts in the UK. That’s an enormous gap! This quote caught my eye: The report says the conditions in which people are born, live, work and age, shape their [...]

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It should be difficult

I am against the death penalty. In all circumstances. Ohio is planning to execute Kenneth Biros by way of an experimental lethal injection. Currently, where a US state executes a person by lethal injection, three drugs are given. This is supposed to be a humane and painless way to die. Research has been done that [...]

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Heavy-handed? You don’t say!

I was watching the ABC news on TV, and saw the TV version of this story. In essence: NSW is trying to crack down on graffiti. One of the “initiatives” from the clever clogs in charge of this banana State is to impose higher penalties. For example, a quote from the TV version was something [...]

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Muslim school in Camden rejected by the Court

The Land and Environment Court has dismissed the appeal by the Quranic Society against a decision by Camden Municipal Council not to allow a Muslim school in the area. I haven’t read the decision yet – if I get the chance to do so next week, I may post about it – but the ABC [...]

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Discrimination in the provision of education

You’ll probably see some of the themes of my posts during this week, Reconciliation Week, being revisited in my posts for NAIDOC Week in a month or so. That’s because, as I mentioned in my previous post, Reconciliation Week sort of snuck up on me, and that means I don’t have a great deal of [...]

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A little activism against the Intervention

Fire Fly has more detail. Basically: Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, has announced that there will be a compulsory acquisition of Alice Springs town camps. She has wonderful [that's sarcasm] timing, today being the start of National Reconcilation Week and all. Fire Fly has a good roundup of information, including the text of a statement [...]

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Close the Gap day – sign the petition

Today is Close the Gap day. What gap? The 17 year gap in average life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. That’s 17 years. Amnesty has a petition. At the time of writing, there were only about 550 signatures. That’s horrendously low. I encourage you to go and add yours. (I found out about this [...]

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Quick hit: women’s rights in Afghanistan under threat

Not that that’s news, particularly. Anyway, if this is true, it’s pretty awful: Karzai has reportedly signed a law that rolls back women’s rights. Apparently, the law has not yet been published, but it is understood to contain (among other things) provisions that legalise rape within marriage and provisions that prevent women from leaving their [...]

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