Festive greeting

Goodbye 2009 Hello 2010!

Amazingly twelve months are gone by and we are again reflecting and reviewing the year that is passing. People say that it is a sign of longevity, so as a proud owners of a bus passes perhaps they are right and time does pass faster the older one gets and we reflect more, regretting and rejoicing!
A year to remember for consolidating our lives, making plans and saying some great welcomes and some sad farewells. Presently we are still living mainly in Fife because of work commitments but look forward to “retire” in 2010. Certainly my thinking on this issue was focused after my gardening accident in August and subsequent recovery from the garden fire burns and recently biopsy test for prostate cancer, the former leaving me with little scaring and the latter proving negative! So being both relatively healthy we could be looking forward to an active retirement, we know we would have plenty to occupy our time.
In Austwick we have invested a great deal of resources in having a new kitchen, the house looked after, being very grateful to Anne and George of doing so such for us, and again George and his team for the dry stone walling between Elaine and our home. House guests have usually arrived in the midst of the work taking place and plans went a little off beam for the “60TH Birthday” celebration for Ray and I. However we coped and Andy Joan and Ray understood that the laying of the kitchen floor tiles just had to be done at that time! Prior to this we did have a supper night at Austwick Hall with good company and wonderful dining! Our visit to Andy’s new home in July was a haven compared to what he had to put up with on his visit with Joan and Ray!
May saw our first street market attendance making our presence felt with Doogie and Rod coming down for long weekend to discuss their wedding, something that got a mention over some good food and wine but predominated the street market were our stall raised over £300 for the village event and WAD funds! The event of the year was indeed their Civil Partnership and Wedding celebration in Anstruther! A lovely setting with the sunshine adding to the day, something we could not plan for which just happened. The professional video caught every moment and should be found on Amazon!
The end of October found me in Malta at the ILGA Europe conference once again representing Unison LGBT Scottish Committee as a part of the UK delegation. Malta for a conference venue was excellent, with the ILGA conference being very stimulating and for those interested, most of the presentations can be found on “You Tube”! Little time was available during conference sessions for looking around but gladly we had scheduled a day at the end for sightseeing! Malta should tick all the boxes as a great holiday destination; beautiful weather, locations of historical interests but unlike my feelings about Vienna in 2008, it really did not ring those must return feeling! Actually attending the National Delegates Conference in Cardiff did ring those bells and a return visit in 2010 is on the cards!
As we look forward to our Christmas and New Year in Austwick, with friends joining us for over the New Year period, the challenge of 2010 is not under-estimated!
Leaving Scotland will not without its sadness but some personal events in 2009 have made it much easier and we will leave with many fond memories looking forward and not back! In planning moving we have had to break some long standing ties such as working with colleagues and friends at DAPL, and those within Fife NHS and Council. I will certainly miss my role as branch officer in Unison for the LGBT self organised group and co-Equalities Officer. Unison Fife has been a major support and factor in my life especially since I left Fife Council in 2005 and worked within the community and voluntary sector and I am grateful for all their comradeship. Our company “MAJAK” continues get established and is one Fife-based aspect that I intend to keep my involvement. So from time to time I will be back in the Kingdom with my former contact being an asset in MAJAK’s work!
Frank’s bits:
The ending of funding for the Fife Men Project is regretted but perhaps has run its course in providing information and support throughout Fife. I doubt if I will miss this role although working as a part of the team in FIRST will be a real miss. The practical difficulties of having two homes is just so demanding and it is time to focus and I hope it will give members of my family the excuse they need to come and visit us! Ironically we may see and speak with them more often there!
So prepared for the challenges ahead and looking forward to learning a new language – the Yorkshire English dialect with the hope that they will be learning from my Lochgelly Fife accent.


We wish you all a peaceful and healthy 2010.

Busy busy busy

So after Malta and the ILGA Conference speeches are on the internet and really worth a look. I would recommend Juris' address as well as having a sound theological base he has been a friend for those oppressed in Latvia!
Again ILGA was busy but not as tiring or demanding as Vienna. Equally Malta should have ticked all the boxes for return visit but for some reason it did not and I really cannot understand why not! The weather was beautiful although a little chilly at night, the venue was superb which included the hospitality, mind the sea trip at night in the bays of Malta was a little disappointing! Malta in the dark! The timetable was demanding with plenary sessions or workshops from 9:30-19:30 and dinner at 20:00! But we coped between the Scottish delegation!
Just back from Cardiff from the National LGBT Conference - now Cardiff is somewhere I would like to return too in spite of the rain and winds! Good conference too with some controversial items on the agenda and 300 delegates putting pay to the idea that LGBT politics are sorted! We have difficult times ahead of us and need to stand our group against the BNP and Tories both who would dismiss us!
Back to realities and for a change putting myself first! Had to have a biopsy yesterday for some problems that I have tendered to neglect so will get the results next week and of course hope for the best but will cope with the worst! Everything crossed and a little pre-occupied at present! Lots of technical challenges as well with both my laptop and home PC needing new hard drives! The former is sorted and might find a new home as I have the note3book now, but hope that the information on the home PC can be saved!
Anne & George are keeping us up to date about things in Austwick so hope to be down for a fews days prior to the Christmas break so I can get ready for our New Year guests! So keeping busy and I hope well!

Virgin Media

Folk will be wondering what is happening! Far too much and far too busy but hey ho that's life:

Another trauma down in Austwick - Load of work for ILGA Conference - Electrics sorted - Job - Interviews for Frank - Too many clients - Plans for World AIDS Day - Cardiff Conference - November week in Austwick - Christmas and New Year Arrangement & Visitors - PC problems - Email changes - New Wall!

Don't think I have missed anything! Easy one first this is the picture of our new wall taken from our neighbours side! What a splendid job done by George and his team! It really has been the focus of a great deal of attention and compliments! All very much appreciated! So while mentioning thing down south the latest trauma was the electricity interruption and the freezer turning itself off and destroying the contents! Insurance claim was not easy but posted today so we will see! In cleaning the chest freezer I fell in and wallowed in the stinking mess! No comments on that one thank you! Then problems with overloading my Virgin media email resulting in using the community email for personal friend to contact me. Off to Malta on Wednesday for ILGA Europe Conference so he's hoping it will be as good as the weather forecast!

Dry Stone Walling

While we are getting back to somekind of routine the hard work in Austwick continues with the hedge being removed bewteen Elaine and ourselves, opening the space and the digger going the business ready for the dry stone wall to be built! Anne has been keeping us informed and it sounds a mamoth job that really we should have been there for and making the cups of tea rather than our dear 97 year old!

However it's getting there and I understand there are four deliveries of stone, in fact a local farmer's barn that fell into disrepair but the debris being perfect for our purposes. Also we have begun to think about the bathroom which basically means knocking the upstairs toilet and bathroom into one large space and thinking what we would want to put in there to keep us clean! I think when this all happens we use the holiday technique and come home to the work done!

Birthday Bash

Saturday night at the Game Cock Inn with good friends Andy, Joan and Ray, then of course Frank and I! Superb "surprise" dinner for us and the Inn really went that extra mile to make sure it was a memorable occasion. The edge on Austwick Hall as we were in the main body of the kirk and were able to include the other willing participants in the celebration. I understand that we drank the bar dry of gin. Barry would have been proud of us! Just to make sure we had a good time we ended up there for Sunday lunch! I really did not feel like or able to cook especially when the kitchen is still being renovated!

The Berkshire visitors had a good time and as well as feasting and festivals they were able to see some of the countryside in all of it's sunny glory. Thanks for the gardening, planting and lopping (Andy's specialism).

A special mention to Eric for his tower of profiteroles with chocolate male genitalia one the top! As you can see something special to get out teeth into! I suspect the "Wainwrights" and champagne helped Ray but I made sure I gobbled the top one up!

If this is 60 I can recommend the celebration being todays 40 of course! Many thanks for all the good wishes, gifts and kind thoughts for those near and dear!

Bill Speirs 1952-2009

I first knew Bill when campaigning for the repeal of Clause 2a, he was a remarkable man who was able to hold a crowd with arguementative zeal. This are just a few of the tributes to him as his passing is announced this morning:-

Tributes are being paid to the former General Secretary of the STUC Bill Speirs who has died, aged 57. His predecessor Campbell Christie described him as an 'outstanding personality of the trade union movement'. Bill Speirs was a socialist and a trade unionist who was among the most talented of his generation. He shunned a parliamentary career as he rose among the ranks of the STUC. Campbell Christie, the STUC General Secretary from 1986-98, said: "I worked with him or 20 odd years, he was one of the outstanding personalities of the trade union movement during that whole period." His politics were that of the pragmatic left. He was suspicious of markets, was pro-home rule and was aggressively internationalist, being a leading advocate for Palestine and against apartheid South Africa. Jim Devine MP, Labour member for Livingston, said: "I went to see him and there were messages from the South African government, there were messages from Palestine, messages from various other individuals from right throughout the world and I can think of very few if any other politician or trade unionist who would have that sort of support from right throughout the world."
When Thatcherism was at its height, Mr Speirs' reputation blossomed as an articulate and strategically sharp operator in defence of workers. He was on the vanguard of anti-Conservative agitation against the Poll Tax and was a keen architect of the cross-party Scotland United campaign. As a former Labour Party chairman he was a committed member, but was never narrow or sectarian. At the STUC his eight years as General Secretary from 1998 kept the unions at the centre of the political, cultural and civic debates of the time.
Former First Minister Jack McConnell said: "One of the remarkable things about Bill Speirs was that everybody will have disagreed with him at some point. He had opinions on everything and was never afraid to confront the vested interests, he was never afraid to speak his mind, but also he was always winning to make new friends and to build alliances to make things happen."
When he retired from the STUC three years ago, he had a long battle against illness. It pained family and friends who witnesses the slow and inevitable decline. Those who knew him will remember a giant of his generation, who had a natural gift for politics and all its many machinations. They will remember most of all that he fought on behalf of people and causes that he loved.

The Hedge

After months of thinking about it, consulting with lawyers, parish council and dales national park but most important with our adjacent neighbour Elaine, the day arrived when work begun on the removal of the hedge! Apart from opening the garden out and improving the view we hope it will begin to establish our mark! To be replaced by a dry stone wall, Ann George and as Ann describes him, the "lovely Robert" have all rallied around to get the work done! For our part we are keeping out of the way while the tiling, papers and general finishing off in the kitchen gets done! Need to be thinking about work, "MAJAK" and our move to Austwick around about April 2010! This decision came about as a result of the birthday weekend with Joan, Ray and Andy just talking to Frank about the future here! Thankfully he agreed and I don't under estimate that the move from Fife for him is a real milestone! However I think we know that it will be for the best for a list of positive reasons!

Flower shop open!

The 60th birthday flowers adore the chaos that is around in the house! each delivery is unique and lovely. So put them on display in the front porch that should keep them well for the journey to Scotland on Tuesday!

I think such journeys are becoming a challenge and I would suspect the turn of the year will see us making some "life changing" decisions about our future and life here in Austwick! Watch this space!

A lot to think about but clear views are emerging! So today we are off to the market and tonight a birthday party supreme at the "Game Cock Inn". Hush don't tell Ray! I need to sneak along with the birthday bunting! As Jaki said we are really good to ourselves and why not? These are Derek and Jaki's florals!

A very happy birthday to us!

Ann

Ann Robinson, the Austwick one, has a lot to be praised for! Boundary Mills is a great example because as you can see Andy, Ray and Joan had a shopping experience yesterday after their early arrival from Berkshire! Brilliant and the boot was full to overflowing, although yours truly did make a wee contribution!

A very happy birthday with lots of good wishes from dear friends and my loved one, plus flowers and gifts which made the day! Our down South visitors loved Boundary Mills so such that they presented me with a fabulous canteen of cutlery as Mrs Bucket would say, "top of the range".

Kitchen is becoming a little bit of a challenge as the tiling was getting on and looking great, but the adhesive from Focus Store did not set the floor tiles and certainly was not fit for purpose so the builder had to take them all up again, wash the adhesive off, which was not a problem thus indicating the crap it is, and start all over again with "professional" stuff! Will be interested to hear what the store say today when we visit Skipton.

A reflective 60 year old

I think Gladys said it all in her song:

I've had my share,
Of life's ups and downs,
but fates been kind,
the downs have been few,
I guess you could say,
I've been lucky,
Or I guess you could say,
That it's all because of you.
If anyone, should ever write, my life story,
for whatever reason there might be,
you'd be there,
between each line of pain and glory,
cos your the best thing that ever happened to me,
Oh your the best thing that ever happened to me.
There have been times,
when times were hard,
but always somehow I made it, I made it through,
But for every moment that I've been hurtin',
there's been a moment, that I've spent.....
Oh just loving you,
If anyone should ever write my life story,
for whatever, for whatever reason there might be,
you'd be there, between each line of pain and glory,
Cos your the best thing that ever happened to me,
Oh your the best thing that ever happened to me,
don't you know, your the best thing....
Oh that ever happened,
to me.

So really as I do reflect on being 60 yes it's about personal achievements and those I inherited on my life journey and those I met and many I said goodbye to but most of all it is about those I have dear and near to me and not personal possessions, fame or even infamy! Today will be a celebration and I will be raising my glass to 60 years of life! Long may it be so, although our neighbour Elaine (97 years young) told us yesterday that after reaching 60 the years just roll by! Did like to say that 60 is the new age 40.

In recovery

After really intensive medical care for my burns, mainly with "Flamazine" and sterile dressings but also the specialist care from Town Head Health Centre in Settle, the main burn to my wrist is healing really well and they reckon that I will mot need skin grafting but will have scaring that will fade. So really good news here for a change.

Looking forward to Frank arriving on Tuesday, collecting him from Settle train station at 17:56!

Ann and George have been great support as well as true friends who have phoned and emailed me! The last couple of weeks have been scary but thankfully the "flash backs" have dome and I'm getting restful sleep!

Well Ray hits the big 60 today! I'm not far behind him on Thursday. Frank and I are going to Austwick Hall for dinner to celebrate the arrival of my bus pass with Ray, Joan and Andy arriving early on Friday for the celebratory weekend! It promises to be a great way of hitting the "third age" or as I look on it today's 40! Shame Robin from down under cannot be here but we can do it all again in 2012!

Ann drove me to Colne in Thursday as I was in need of a break and retail therapy! "boundary Mill" mainly store outlets, was great so on the list for next weekend. Convinced myself that a good spend was what I needed and my did I have a good spend!

Kitchen wise still waiting for the two cupboard doors that were missing and for the tiler to come in a couple of weeks and then George to paper! Phew what a marathon! Still has not put us off having the bathroom upgraded!

Kitchen Destroyed!

Derek & Steve with Mark and Paul from Scotia Joinery have begun the long awaited revamp of the kitchen! As I have said to make omelette's you need to break eggs and after spending hours taking cupboards apart there sledge-hammer techniques seems to be getting there!
Health wise I'm attending the local surgery and been fortunate to have a care nurse that specialised in burns when she was stationed in the Falklands! "Flamazine" is applied with strict instructions about keeping the burn site wound clean and sterile. Back there on Monday so some self care over the weekend!

Resting!

Today by the date is the first anniversary for my mother's death. A moment in time that represents a year of re-configuration and the expectation for changes that will not be before us. As I said at the time we would not make any of the important decisions until this time, so they are very much in my mind today.

Ironically yesterday I attended the funeral of a local villager, Jim Pye, who after a long cancer related illness left his wife and family. Austwick church is such a peaceful place, if you discount the people - well some of them - and look beyond the obvious and it was a good tribute by the family to someone they loved very much. As i said on the attendance card, "remember those past and fight like hell for the living".

Invited around to have a bottle or two of wine with Ann and George, who have been real friends to me especially when I have been on my own doing silly things! Yes the infamous garden fire took revenge and I am sporting a second degree burn on the right wrist and first degree burns elsewhere! The resin from the trees acted as an accelerator and spurted out covering me to the extent all my clothes had to be discarded very quickly and I rushed into a cold shower! Thankfully I managed some self care and the former first aid training has come it to it's own! I have been very lucky it very easily could have been a real trauma! One way of making a hairy chest smooth as a baby's bum!

So gardening of this type on hold as I'm going to be careful not to get any infection into the burns. Going into Skipton to pay the double glazing firm again, for a small pain of glass needing to be replaced before the kitchen installation next weekend! At last it's actually going to happen!

Question of Human Right

There are three critical ­questions surrounding the release of Megrahi:
1: Was it right for the justice secretary to give compassionate release to Megrahi? Yes, he made the right call for the right reasons. But it should not have been in his gift to do so. Allowing a politician to be the final decision maker over the liberty or detention of any individual is a serious weakness in the system. An independent and impartial tribunal or court would be far better placed to consider the evidence and make a transparent ruling.
2: Have the human rights of the victims, their families and Megrahi been recognised and respected over the past two decades? No. The relatives of the 270 people who lost their lives are entitled to an independent and effective investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy - the state has a duty to investigate the circumstances and prosecute alleged perpetrators. Here is where the unfulfilled rights of the families meet the unfilled rights of Megrahi. Compassionate release wasn't recognition of his "human rights"; it was due process under Scottish law.
3: The idea of an inquiry has been raised. An inquiry would only fulfil the rights of the families and Megrahi if it was independent and impartial from the UK government and had sufficient scope and powers.
At the very least, the concerns highlighted by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission should be revisited. Political influence over decisions on detentions should also be scrutinised, and the UK government opposition to releasing crucial documents should be dropped. The key lesson is that the human rights of all parties need to be at the centre of the legal process and decision making if the public interest is to be served, and if justice is to be done and be seen to be done.Professor Alan Miller, chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission

In Memoriam -29.08.08

It is, as I have said in the "in memoriam" for the "Craven Herald", amazing that 12 months have gone by since mum's passing! We have done a lot to help come to terms with a gap missing in my life. As for sure life does go and re-configured but nevertheless, it goes on without those we have lost. Ironically the local "fellowship" group linked with the church have asked me to give them a talk about some of the work I have done and still do with I suspect "loss and attachment" being the selected discussion in February!

The "family plot" have been marked by the quartz stone with an brass plaque engraved which reads:

In Memoriam

Alexander Deary -12.01.1925 – 20.04.1994
Amy Dobson Deary – 18.06.1926 – 29.08.2008
Sarah Robertina Hall – 26.02.1906 – 16.01.1999

R.I.P

Elaine and Maggie our near neighbours bought four bushes for the area which in a short time will look really beautiful!

At Andy's table!

It seems ages since we visited Andy for "Pride London" weekend without seeing London at all! It was so hot and humid that being a gang within the million trolling the streets of London would have been just too much. So instead we did what any self respecting queen would do - shop! really good Saturday shop in Reading and find a belated house warming present for Andy's abode - a coffee table - which ended up being a semi house present as Andy contributed to the cost as well as us! Well queens have such expensive taste and no apologies for that! A good picture of Andy with the new purchase and thinking at this price the three piece suite should come free! Looking foward to a certain "family" event in September when we will all meet up again but don't tell you know who!

Austwick Community Broadband

Now members of this community initiative so personal email messages can be sent to adeary@austwick.org while still using the other addresses for the project, MAJAK and GETRA! How complex life can be!

Looking like the kitchen installation will be delayed yet another week but never mind as folk can see it will give me time to prepare! Five papers to get through and the steamer in Kirkcaldy, one of the few things that has not found the way down the A74, M6 and A65, the job was a difficult one until Christine in the local shop gave we a lend of their wallpaper steamer! Great job done in half the time! Bought the tiles and decided to have the kitchen fully tiled as they will be easier to wipe down when the Rayburn is playing up! Ordered electric sockets and disconnected the Moffat cooker range! However will slow up a little with a welcome visit from Marie at the weekend! Wonder where we can eat?

Israel - Hate based murders

Many will find the news of the murderous attack on the LGBT café in Israel a manifestation of hatred while knowing little about the situation in that country for LGBT citizens. This posting is my attempt of readdressing this lack of education and goes someway in marking the memories of those killed.
The state of Israel is a young and very complex nation. It is a religious state with a conservative majority, yet gay activists have managed to gain a legal status and a degree of protection under the law that is equaled in only the most progressive countries. However, as elsewhere, Israeli glbtq communities struggle with divisions within their own ranks, as well as with anti-gay prejudice in the society as a whole.
A Place of Contradiction
Since its inception, the state of Israel has been a place of intense contradiction, a complex, and often volatile, mix of different races, religions, cultures, classes, and degrees of privilege.
Established in 1948 as a Jewish nation and a homeland for all Jews, Israel became a refuge for Jews fleeing worldwide anti-Semitism. However, as tens of thousands of European and American Jews immigrated to the tiny Middle Eastern nation, it also became a symbol of Western aggression, both to the Palestinian people who had inhabited the land for generations, and to their Arab neighbors.
In little more than half a century, the new nation has developed a representative government and a distinct culture, including a vibrant modern Hebrew language created from the ancient Jewish tongue. With the help of allies--principally the United States-- Israel has also built one of the most powerful military forces in the world.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is employed not only to fend off enemies from the outside, but also to suppress and oppress the Palestinian population within its borders and in the highly contested Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza that Israel has occupied since 1967.
Some social analysts believe that it is Israel's embattled state that has prompted government officials toward liberality on some social issues, including gay and lesbian rights. They argue that the Israeli government, viewed as an oppressor nation in many parts of the world, is anxious to demonstrate an enlightened generosity where possible.
Despite the official liberalism, however, lesbians and gays are still stigmatized in many areas of Israeli society, and conservative religious courts still have a great deal of control over family issues, such as marriage, divorce, and child custody.
Gay Liberation
Gay liberation came to Israel, as it did to much of the Western world, during the 1970s. In 1975, activists came together to form the Society for the Protection of Personal Rights. The SPPR was a support organization that worked to improve conditions for gay men and lesbians. Its name was intentionally vague, as public use of the word homosexual was deemed too controversial in an Israel that still had sodomy laws on the books.
Later the SPPR changed its name to the Agudah, the Association of Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender in Israel. The Agudah continues to work for equality for Israeli queers through political lobbying and education. In 1996, the organisation began to produce a weekly LGBT television magazine program called Gayim L'hatzig (Gays Proud to Present).
Though some women worked in SPPR, many Israeli lesbians found a more comfortable place in feminist groups. In 1987, some Israeli lesbian feminists banded together to form CLAF, the Community of Lesbians and Feminists, which works to develop the lesbian community and to fight for lesbian rights, especially in the areas of child bearing, child custody, and partnership benefits. In 2003, CLAF began publishing Israel's only lesbian magazine, Pandora.
Successes
Although gay men and lesbians began working together during the 1970s, efforts to change the legal status of Israeli gay movement did not begin bearing fruit until the late 1980s.
In 1988, the Knesset (Parliament) repealed the sodomy law, in effect decriminalizing homosexuality, and in 1992 a law was passed forbidding discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Feminist Knesset member Yael Dayan became a strong supporter of lesbian and gay rights, and in 1993, she supported the creation of a Knesset sub-committee focusing on lesbian and gay issues.
That same year, a well-known professor and major in the IDF, Uzi Even, came out as a gay man and worked to institute an anti-discrimination policy within the IDF. Even with such a policy in place however, queer soldiers must still be reported and are subjected to special security checks.
In 1994, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a decision with far-reaching consequences for gay men and lesbians, when it upheld a lower court decision to force El Al Airlines to grant spousal benefits to the partner of a gay flight attendant. In 1995, the protection became even broader as Yael Dayan and the Agudah worked to get laws passed granting rights to same-sex couples.
In 1997, Dana International (Sharon Cohen), an Israeli transwoman, won first place in the Eurovision Song Contest, bringing transgender issues into the Israeli mainstream for the first time.
In 1998, Michal Eden was elected to the Tel Aviv City Council, becoming the first openly lesbian public official.
In 2000, the Israeli government began to allow foreign partners of Israeli gay men and lesbians to immigrate.
In 2002, Uzi Even became the first openly gay member of the Knesset.
Opposition
Though gay men and lesbians have been very successful in obtaining legal protections, there is still much conservative opposition to gay liberation.
A 1994 international gay and lesbian conference was marred when right-wing protesters disrupted a ceremonial wreath-laying at the Jerusalem Holocaust Memorial.
In 1998, an annual Tel Aviv drag festival called Wigstock was disrupted when police tried to shut the program down at the beginning of the Sabbath on Saturday evening. Angry gay protesters blocked traffic for several hours.
In June of 2005, Jerusalem's gay pride parade was obstructed by a large demonstration by Orthodox Jews, who hurled bottles of urine and bags containing faeces at the marchers. One of their number stabbed three marchers.
Internal Divisions
In addition to the opposition from without, the LGBT movement has also had to struggle with internal divisions.
As frequently occurs in diverse communities, a split developed between more conservative (and often more privileged) gay men and lesbians, whose focus is on gay rights alone, and members of the radical left, who tend to see gay liberation as part of a much larger social movement. Radical gays often insist that the struggle for gay rights must go hand-in-hand with fighting for other social improvements, such as racial and class equality.
This split has been especially divisive in Israel, which not only has distinct and often harsh class and ethnic divisions within its Jewish population, but also has been conducting a military occupation of neighboring lands for over three decades. Many gays began to feel that they could no longer work simply to gain rights within a system they find militaristic and oppressive.
Lesbians have continued to be a strong presence in feminist groups, taking leadership roles in peace groups such as Women in Black, Bat Shalom (Daughter of Peace), and the Women's Coalition for Peace, which work to publicize and change the difficult conditions created for Palestinians by the Occupation.
In 1997 Jerusalem Open House, "a LGBT community centre advancing the cause of social tolerance," was founded. The philosophy of the center is expressed by its executive director, Hagai El-Ad, "The struggle for our rights is worthless if it's indifferent to what's happening to people a kilometer from here."
Kvisa Sh'chora, or Black Laundry, an anarchist queer group that opposes the Occupation, was founded during the 2001 Tel Aviv Pride March. The group formed a "No Pride in Occupation" contingent, carrying signs that challenged Israeli government policies.
One organizer, Dalit Baum, described the mood that led to the formation of Black Laundry: "It felt impossible to celebrate our civil rights in a carnival atmosphere when we knew what was being done in the occupied territories just a short distance away." Black Laundry has continued to work to support Palestinian struggles for independence and often uses biting humor to shock more mainstream gay men and lesbians out of their complacency.
Israeli Palestinians
Gay men and lesbians who are Palestinian citizens of Israel have their own specific issues. At a time when Palestinian unity is considered all-important, it can be hard for Palestinian gays to assert their own identities and needs. Though there is some support from straight Palestinians, there is also a great deal of opposition to homosexuality from others, especially from conservative groups.
During the early 2000s, a group of Palestinian lesbians formed ASWAT, a support group intended to create safe space for Palestinian gay women both inside and outside Israel's borders to explore their sexual identities and their community. ASWAT means "voices" in Arabic and the group's members describe themselves as "a courageous and dynamic group of women who have decided to organize to challenge the status quo and to improve our own lives, and to hopefully secure equal rights for ourselves and for those who come after us."
Conclusion
Over the past twenty years, Israeli gay men and lesbians have moved from the margins of Israeli society toward the mainstream. Influenced by immigrants from the United States and Western Europe, they have organized a movement for equality.
Despite the successes of the Israeli LGBT movement, however, opposition from religious Jews remains, and the movement itself is fractured by internal divisions. Nevertheless, there is reason to hope that LGBT individuals will continue to expand their legal rights and protections.

Civil Partnership Day!

The day dawned with sunshine to greet everyone which considering the weather we had the previous days, was a great surprise! Doogie and Rod had bought themselves a wee treat - a second car! Classic Mercedes with cutomised number plates that on arrived the day before!This picture does not do them or the car justice so I'm hoping some better ones are forthcoming in the next few days!
Frank and I nipped into Anstruther to time the walk for after the ceremony at the Town Hall most of the guest were following the yellow brick road back to the Craw's Nest! it turned out to be a little gay pride march, rainbow flag to the fore and rainbow balloons that that made the Town Hall such a gay place to be held by the children! Wonderful!

WOW! Some weekend!

The Civil Partnership and Wedding of Dogie (Duncan) & Rod (Rodney) was a superb event and truly lived up to expectations being worthy of the planning, organisation, negotiations, and financial outlay! As MC for the day I had the honour of making sure things went ahead to a timetable and all the elements of the day coming together! Actually feeling more nervous that at our own day, I was aware of the responsibilities such a role brings with it! It's for others to judge as to how I carried out those responsibilities but I can honestly say I tried my best! Seeing Walter, Marco and Doreen was an extra treat although I would have loved to have more time with them to catch up on all the happenings but that was not to be!

The Craws Nest Anstruther was the venue for the Wedding Breakfast and evening celebration and I have written to them a "thank you note" for going that extra mile and having staff who worked so hard in making the arrangements happen! Excellent!

Frank and I booked into the Craw's Nest and wandered into the "Dreel Inn" for dinner. Lovely old inn where Rod's mum works occasionally. Food was fine with a starter of Mussels (really a taster rather than a starter with 6 mussels to tempt you to have it as a main course the next time); a rather thick and unrecognisable puree of vegetables present as the soup of the day but us both having excellent sirloin steaks! Skipped puddings as I suspected they might be a "Brake Brother" delivery!

Back to the hotel guest arriving and family mingling with some apprehensions about "this is my first Civil Partnership" funny that it was Doogie & Rod's as well! By the early hours of the morning a group remained and Sandy (who was to read the cards to the couple the next day) suggested we introduce ourselves and say something about how we felt! GREAT idea and plenty of ammunition for later on in the day!

Out and About!

Returned after 1200 mile trip to see Andy, Joan and Ray! Intention being to attend London Pride last Saturday but as it was too hot (weather that is) we had a day shopping in Reading and being entertained at Ray and Joan's!

Sunday visited the Old Devil Inn - which was a good as last year and ate far too much, so hope the Alli tablets work! Returning to Austwick we trimmed Andy's bush and we hope killed it off in the process! However the main news in that Andy's new home is very homely and once he has put his touches around the place will be very much a place to be! Also Robin from down under is doing the regal visit and is hoping to be with us on 2012 for the Olympics! Wow great news and we hope a visit to Yorkshire and Scotland would be on the list! Frank hopes to escape work that June so it may be that we are down in England by then! So a great week away and lovely time with good friends!

Death of Michael Jackson

There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child.

By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age - and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal life.

I well remember the hysterical welcome when the Jackson's produced the song "Ben", quickly to be dashed when it was publicised that "Ben" referred to a rat! Well I have had some "ben's" in my time!

Again to be critical, what martyrs we make of our iconic hero's and heroines, with this weekend marking the 40th anniversary of the blessed Judy's death! The 24/7 news has gone haywire with some of the comments at best being fatuous and worse insulting to a memory. Let's remember him in our own way. Celebrating his creative nature and undoubted talents, but learning from his victimhood.

Kitchen designs

Well with Howden's help we are getting there but still not finalised the end design as yet! Some apsects need to be sorted and we may have picked a darker wood than expected so may well be back to the drawing board!

Had a great week with John and Gordon joing us last week, but the weather could have been a little kinder! However I think thye chilled out alright and were a help in and around the garden! So much of that to be done! Frank and I are going down next week on our way to visit Andy for the Pride weekend - not sure if we are invading London but will prepare just in case we do! Then back to Kirkcaldy for the most of July and of course the grand event, Doogie & Rods Wedding! After the eye clinic on 4th August I'm down preparing for Audrey, Alistair & Emma's visit and perhaps a colleague of Frank's sometime after that. Hope so as it will bring a little revenue to keep the house financially sound!

The Rise of Fascism

As the European elections have shown, the British National Party has moved from the extremist fringes to becoming the first fascist party in the UK's history to win seats in a national vote. It's also trying to appear more moderate and respectable in an attempt to win more voters - what the party bosses call "the suits not boots" strategy. Scratch the surface of the party and you'll discover racist politics of hate masquerading as mainstream politics.
Run by hardline fascists who claim the Holocaust did not happen, the BNP is against racial integration and peddles white supremacy. Its leaders are determined to impose extremist rule in Britain and want to create a system where black and Asian people are relegated to the status of second-class citizens. The BNP may have got cleverer but its political views remain the same. Here we explore the truth about the most controversial party in British politics today.
Party Leaders - Nick Griffin - Fresh from winning an MEP's seat, the BNP chairman presents himself as a modern, respectable politician, but he's nothing of the sort. For more than 30 years he has been a hardline fascist and is a champion of the politics of factionalism, which he uses to shore up and preserve his own position against those who challenge his authority. In his run-up to the European elections he has been building links with openly Nazi and fascist politicians internationally. Griffin thought the publication of the entire BNP membership on the internet was "good publicity". But it was an unmitigated disaster and risked the personal security and employment prospects of party members. Griffin has for a long period tried to emulate the mainstream success of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far-right leader of France's National Front.
Andrew Brons – The BNP’s other successful candidate in the European elections, where he won one of the Yorkshire and the Humber seats, Brons is a veteran of far-right politics. He joined the neo-Nazi British National Socialist party as a teenager and stood five times for the National Front in the 1970s after a brief spell as its leader. The 61-year-old was fined £50 by Leeds magistrates in 1984 for abusive chanting that included calling an ethnic minority police officer an "inferior being".
Race - Theparty has publicly toned down its repatriation message, but it still wants an all-white Britain. The party's constitution says anyone who cannot prove a link to Britain before 1948 can never be considered British. Several articles penned by its leaders clearly show its opposition to any form of racial integration. Not only can ethnic minorities never be British, even if they are now third-generation citizens, but the BNP believes any form of mixed-race relationship would lead to the "dilution of the white race". The BNP supported apartheid in South Africa and wants to introduce a similar system in Britain. Its 2005 general election manifesto called for white British people to be given preference in jobs, housing and education which would see ethnic minorities become second-class citizens under the law.
The Holocaust - The BNP’s leaders realise the Holocaust is the worst-possible advert for Nazi policies, so they deny it ever happened. Party leader Nick Griffin is one of the biggest Holocaust deniers and once described it as the "hoax of the 20th century". The party produced a newspaper called Holocaust News which denied the existence of the Holocaust and referred to it as the "holohoax". It continues to host meetings with some of the world's leading Holocaust deniers, including Robert Faurisson who was a witness at Griffin's trial for inciting racial hatred in 1998 where the BNP leader was found guilty. The German Günter Deckert, who has been jailed for denying the Holocaust, spoke at a London BNP meeting in 2001. British Holocaust denier David Irving has also addressed BNP meetings and his recent imprisonment in Austria prompted protests from BNP members in London.
This week it emerged that white supremacist James Von Brunn, who shot a security guard at Washington's Holocaust Museum on Thursday, had attended fundraising events for the British National Party. Two weeks ago, the Sunday Herald revealed the party was setting up "youth camps" in Scotland. The nightmare scenario of burning crosses, Nazi salutes and extremist indoctrination was found in a video of a BNP camp. The outdoor event, held in Scotland several years ago, saw BNP activists joking about concentration camps and burning a wooden cross in an undisclosed Highland location. The BNP admitted it will roll out camps across Scotland in the next year, and adult activists are using social networking sites such as Bebo to recruit youngsters to the BNP's cause.
The Future - Political experts said the BNP were unlikely to win enough power to enforce its views on the majority. Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University said: "The BNP has demonstrated persistently a relatively high level of support in certain parts of the country, but it's not clear that it is making much of an advance beyond what it's been achieving. "A relatively small increase in support was enough to take them the right side of the PR threshold and to pick up support. "Are they currently in a position where they are likely to secure a significant amount of power? The answer to that is no, partly because their support is not enough, and partly because none of the other parties are willing to work with them."
All this and more, a great degree of ignorance in my community, apathy and self interest all indicate that we are on the verge of political collapse. A ripe and fertile recruiting ground for right wing white supreme extremists such as the BNP!

Alli or allied!

I have taken the plunge and started (day two) the Alli diet plan and tablets! So far so good although doing the fat and calorie count is a bit of a bind! Also taking a multi-vitamin A,C,D & K to supplement what Alli uses up! Walked the neighbour's dog for an hour or so and started the daily diary, so giving it a month and will try and shed half a stone! Bang goes the lager and Austwick cider!
We are tripping down again on 17th until 21st so will be there for Frank's 62 year celebration! No doubt a meal in the Game Cock will leave the diet at the door a little! I think we may be joined by Gordon and John for Gordon's return visit and John's regal presence!
For those who don't know here is some information about Alli or visit the company's website:
Alli is clinically proven to boost weight loss when added to a reduced caloried, lower-fat diet. alli is the first pharmacy-only weight loss aid licensed throughout Europe - it isn’t a miracle pill or quick-fix solution. It encourages steady, gradual weight loss and helps to reward your efforts where it matters – the scales.
Alli works in a unique way. The active ingredient, orlistat, attaches itself to some of the body's enzymes that break down fat. This prevents some of the fat you eat from being digested and absorbed.
Alli isn’t a stimulant or an appetite suppressant. It’s formulated to work only in your digestive system and should not affect your heart rate, your brain or cause sleeplessness.
alli prevents some of the fat you eat from being absorbed, so adding alli to a reduced calorie, lower-fat diet can boost your weight loss by 50%. This means that for every 2 lb (1 kg) you lose from your own efforts, with alli you can lose 1 lb (1/2 kg) more.
There are lots of other advantages to dieting with Alli:
you get to eat satisfying, balanced meals that don’t compromise on taste or flavour
we’ll support you with motivating, easy-to-use tools, that show you how to lose weight and keep it off you can share your highs and lows via the alli discussion forum you can swap tips and tasty lower-fat recipes or meal ideas.

More about you know where!

Since my local altercation I have been amazed how many people are booked for that holiday destination which obviously reflect an ignorance outweighed by the strength for the Euro against the pound sterling! So perhaps some background information might assist, for as we say in Scotland, folk need to "think again".
In recent years Egypt has developed an horrific record of persecuting gay people. There have been mass arrests, kangaroo courts, severe prison sentences, harassment, entrapment, death threats, allegations of torture, and it`s getting worse. How long has this been happening?Here is some background: Egypt has been deporting people who are HIV+, regardless of sexual orientation, since 1994. In 1997 a gay Egyptian couple sought asylum in Australia because they feared persecution at home. In 1999 a book entitled `Plain Bread` was taken off university reading lists because it contained passages about homosexuality that were deemed indecent. Egypt is widely regarded to have an oppressive attitude to human rights.What happened in May 2001?The watershed event was the detention of 52 men after a raid at a gay-friendly party on the River Queen boat in Cairo. The men were allegedly tortured whilst in detention and accused of devil worship by the press. 23 of the men, and one minor aged 16, were sentenced to prison terms between one and five years of hard labour. Bowing to international pressure, President Murburak quashed all of the convictions except those of the two alleged ringleaders. What`s been going on since the Queen Boat arrests?According to GayEgypt.com, the Queen Boat arrests opened up the floodgates and since then there have been numerous cases of harassment, arrests, entrapment and more allegations of the torture by the authorities of gay men. What is particularly worrying is the trend of entrapping people who use gay chat rooms; one young man was arrested and sentenced to 15 months after arranging to meet someone he met online - his `new friend` turned out to be the police and transcripts of their chats were used to prosecute him, another was arrested after his phone was bugged.Is homosexuality illegal in Egypt?Ironically, no. The minimum age for heterosexual, lesbian and gays sex is set at 18. However those who have been arrested are being tried under the religious Sharia law and are generally charged with "habitual debauchery."What now?Following the Queen River trial, several world leaders expressed their outrage about Egypt`s treatment of gay men, however, it seems to have had little effect in the long term. In April 2003 Giza Criminal Court sentenced 14 men to between one and three and a half years in prison for “habitual debauchery” because they were believed to have been gay. They were later acquitted on a technicality. GayEgypt.com has been served with repeated death threats because it has dared to report on the situation for gay people. Amnesty International are urging the Egyptian authorities to release all those imprisoned on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and implement human rights policies. Meanwhile, a campaign is growing to highlight the fact that Egypt might not be such a great holiday destination after all.

Kinship lost

It was with some regret that I had a major disagreement with a long-time friend the other day. He announced that he was going to Egypt in September! How can someone so informed about global gay related issues fail to recognise the practices that oppress and criminalise our brothers and sisters in such countries. Yes, the tourist pound goes a long way, but indirectly supports this oppression!
It took me three years to get the information together, present reports to Unison LGBT and finally get motion 37 through last years conference in Bristol. Motions at conference have an organisation implication but often come at personal cost. I would betray everything I have done over those years and my words addressing conference would be mere rhetoric if allow such decisions to go unchallenged.
Here is the text of Motion 37:
Criminalisation and enforced testing of people suspected of being HIV positive
in Egypt - Carried (Bristol November 08)

This not only violates the most basic rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) people and people living with HIV, it also threatens public health, by making it
dangerous for anyone to seek information about HIV prevention or treatment.
The most recent arrests occurred after police followed up on information coerced
from men already in detention, according to the Health and Human Rights Program
of the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).
Two of the newly detained men tested positive for HIV. As in previous cases,
authorities forced the new detainees to undergo HIV testing without their consent. All
those testing positive have been held in Cairo hospitals, chained to their beds.
Other facts particular to Egypt underline a high magnitude of risk: up to 30% of
married women in remote rural areas have sexually transmitted infections. Data on
condom use rate among married women using contraceptives reflect a decline. In
addition, Egypt has high levels of Hepatitis C, a virus with similar modes of
transmission to HIV.
There is also evidence of high-risk behaviour, such as needle sharing and
unprotected sexual relations among injecting drug users. At particular risk are up to
1 million street children in Cairo and Alexandria who are often subjected to violence
and sexual exploitation.
The high level of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV is an
important reason for the limited number of people undergoing voluntary testing. This
is especially the case for high-risk groups such as sex workers, intravenous drug
users and men having sex with men.
The absence of information and knowledge on sexually transmitted diseases and
HIV/AIDS, together with the lack of counselling and guidance at schools and within
the family and the health system, put young people at particular risk.
Conference calls upon the National LGBT Committee to work with Amnesty and
through the Trades Union Congress and International Lesbian and Gay Association
Europe to raise the issue within the United Nations Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) to put pressure on the Egyptian authorities and to publicise the behaviour
of the Egyptian authorities through UNISON Communications to alert members of the
actions of a country where many UNISON members would be spending holidays.

Sadden by the news

While we were enjoying the weather on Saturday we saw the Air Ambulance helicopter circle overhead. Sadly it was for Mr Brian Braithwaite Exley, a stalwart of Austwick since 1948. His main interests were rugby football, field sports, local government and education and he has always been very active in rural and village life.
Being a former Deputy Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, and a Deputy Chairman of Staincliffe Magistrates sitting in Skipton, Settle and Ingleton, Vice Chairman of Skipton Building Society and Chairman of Austwick Parish Council, you will see what I mean!
He had vast experience in local government included Settle Rural District Council, the West Riding County Council, the North Yorkshire County Council and the Yorkshire Dales National Park and was Chairman of the West Riding Town and Country Planning Committee and a member of the Yorkshire and Humberside Economic Planning Committee. Also he had been a governor of many of the local schools. He is survived by his wife Barbara, two sisters who were evidently having a picnic when he was taken ill, and son serving in the forces presently in Afghanistan. On a bum note, of recent times he sold land in Pant Lane much to the annoyance of some locals. There really is a us and them culture coming through! Sad how such material things can cause so much pain! Although I only knew the gentleman because of Mum, I think I will pay respect if I can get down for his funeral.

We went Cuckoo!

With a couple of weeks in Austwick which included the time when we went cuckoo - back to reality! The weather for the second week being superb as was the company of Doogie and Rod who did a great job helping at out stall for the street market! We made nearly £380 for the street market funds and £38 for WAD!

Everything else went to Age Concern and Frank is on first name terms with them and the local authority recycle site in Settle!

As you can see I volunteered to do the cuckoo for the local pub, which has a French theme and Frank working the video, books and anything else stall under the banner "sisters are doing it for themselves". Wonder when the nuns will appear in Austwick?

We were so fortunate with the weather as our first week was a bit of a wash out and lots of jobs around the home and in the garden were not done then, but we did catch up a little with doors being painted and the second garage tackled, as well as having a real good sort out in the house! New blinds appeared as promised with the garden looking a picture! All in all a relaxing but busy two weeks!

Country Life!

Nearly the first week oover and the Austwick festival looms for over the holiday weekend. Fingers crossed that the weather is good or at least the forecast so folk flock into the village as a lot of work goes into these community events, as we know through the GETRA Gala days and work at the project!
Pictures in due course but must bash on with our "cuckoos". Rod and Doogie on their way to stay for the weekend which is of course going to focus on the festival and good eating, a little drinking at "Le Auberge Coq de Combat".

MP's slush funds

Being a political animal I could not let this week pass with out comment on the major happenings in the UK as after all this is supposed to be the mother of parliaments," said one MP towards the end of last week. "Instead, those looking in think it's the mother of all sewers. Normal business? There won't be any till the plague clouds lift."
Three weeks from the European elections and possibly a year until the next UK general election, Westminster is facing its most serious crisis of identity in living memory. MPs will return to the Commons tomorrow with a mist of pessimism surrounding everything they do. Those with options are said to be seriously reviewing standing again. Those without options have, in the worst cases, already taken steps towards securing a decent lawyer in the event of fraud and tax evasion charges being brought against them. And for one MP "not yet" (his words) caught up in the scandal, "there's the rest of us who simply couldn't have imagined a week as destructive as the last seven days, and who really can't see what lies beyond the next round of damaging headlines".
When a parliament is seemingly devoid of trust and ideals, there should be accelerating debates about reform, redesign, regrouping, re-establishing lost trust. In Westminster last week there was a feeling that, as the sewage had yet to reach its peak flow, there was little point to early talk of a clean-up. One MP's researcher said the Palace of Westminster fell into an "almost hallucinatory daily timetable" where the real day, the day that mattered, didn't begin in the morning but when "the first evening whiff of what The Daily Telegraph was printing" was being talked about. Another MP put it more graphically: "If this place had a mortuary, the bodies would be piling up. But the catastrophe that's still to come is when the post-mortems really do begin in earnest. The electorate put us all here, and the electorate will take away one hell of a lot of people: innocent, guilty, by-standers, conspirators, the criminals, those who got caught, those who didn't. It won't matter."
At the end of last week, seasoned observers were still trying to out-do each other in describing what the unravelling expenses and allowances scandal would do to the famous green leather benches of the Commons. "Ten ministers gone within days" was one prediction; "Manure parliament fears voter revolt" one imagined headline. "A trap door has opened and I don't know where I'll land," said another. Nail-biting tension is a cliché normally reserved for penalty shoot-outs or horror films. Both scenarios share the common factor that the outcome is uncertain, hence the anxiety. But since it was MPs who drew up and voted for the rules, filled in their expenses and allowances forms and were in regular contact with the authorities who paid out the claims, there are many who live and work in Westminster who didn't believe the claims of shock and surprise. One individual said: "The rules and the game were known to all and there has been evidence available for years on the misuse of parliamentary allowances. The Commons committee which is supposed to oversee any misuse has been shown evidence, hard evidence, before. Their decision has been to simply not uphold this evidence." The insider added: "Everyone is doing it, and report after report documented what was happening. Those who have reported abuse, and have chosen to take it to a high level, have been bullied to withdraw their accusations. "Abusing allowances simply became a way of life in parliament. Yes, a few victims were fed to the dogs. Over the last 10 years this has meant the government allowing investigations of their own backbenchers or the opposition. But if ever anything got too close to anyone in the Cabinet, complaints were bullied into withdrawal, with witnesses bought off with promised honours or being promoted into a ministerial position to keep the matter away from difficult territory. "The show of surprise and the excuses of not knowing the rules is simply not credible. Everyone was at it. It was a way of life." However, this senior source said that what had troubled even those who had carried out previous allowances and expenses investigations was the scale of the abuse that was detailed by the Telegraph on its front pages last week.
The revelations began with Gordon Brown seemingly exposed by claiming for the wages of a cleaner he shared with his brother. However, The Telegraph later effectively withdrew their own headline, saying the PM had done nothing wrong. But when the full content of the allowances scandal began to unfold, it left MPs who normally march proudly through the corridors of the Commons, feeling like proud members of an exclusive club, looking like withered, heads-down individuals. No layer of government, no party, young MPs and older former ministers alike: every tier looked to be contributing their own sleaze chapter, adding to what one former ministerial aide referred to as "the build-up of shit in the gutter".
Jack Straw claimed council tax and mortgage bills and forgot about the discount he'd been given. Lord Mandelson put in a house improvement bill after he announced he was standing down. Hazel Blears claimed for three properties in a year, spent £5000 on furniture in three months and avoided paying £13,000 in capital gains tax on her property deals. Alistair Darling and Geoff Hoon benefited from "flipping" their first and second home designations. Margaret Beckett claimed £600 for hanging baskets and pot plants, and claimed £72,000 in second-home allowances despite having no mortgage or rent to pay on her constituency home.
The Speaker, Michael Martin, claimed £1400 in chauffeur-driven cars. Phil Woolas put in claims for sanitary towels and nappies. Margaret Moran claimed for dry-rot treatment for a second home. Barbara Follett claimed £25,000 for private security. Phil Hope spent £37,000 fitting out his London flat. That was just two days, focusing on government ministers and Labour MPs.
When attention turned to the Conservatives, we heard of Michael Ancram spending £100 on swimming- pool boiler repairs; £115 for David Willett's 25 light bulbs; £2000 to clear Douglas Hogg's moat; £620 for Sir Michael Spencer's chandelier and the cost of mowing round his "helipad". Then there was the £87,000 Anthony Steen was paid over four years for his country home, which included help for a forestry expert to keep an eye on his trees; the "misjudgment" of Michael Gove, who claimed £7000 on furnishings; and £2000 claimed by Oliver Letwin for the repair of a leaking pipe under his tennis court.
Each day last week brought new embarrassment, with Gordon Brown and David Cameron each anxious to outdo the other when it came to contritional censure for the high-profile "mistakes" in their respective camps. One Labour MP - who was not attacked over his expenses - said: "Gordon probably thought he needed more and more evidence before making a decision. In fact, his decision to have someone look back on all Labour's MPs' records wasn't a decision at all - it was him trying to put off making a decision and hoping more evidence would be seen as a good thing." Cameron didn't need to wait for more evidence. He saw Alan Duncan claiming £3000 for gardening, like Hogg's moat and Sir Michael's chandelier and helipad, as heralding the return of the arrogant Tory toff who couldn't care less what his constituents thought. He saw his Torytopia vanish with Andrew MacKay and Julie Kirkbride's £280,000 double-counting and he needed to act quickly. MacKay was forced to resign as Cameron's aide, and other resignations were promised as Cameron insisted all Conservative MPs' allowances were put on a new website designed to show a new era of transparency had arrived. Cameron also ordered his MPs to get out their chequebooks, and nearly £28,000 has been repaid. Having failed to sack the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, over her manipulation of the allowances system, Brown needed a victim quickly. Elliot Morley and his housing expenses, which included £16,000 for a mortgage that was already paid, was ready-made. Morley was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party. Others, party sources say, will also see the Labour whip removed. The £13,000 "phantom" mortgage claimed by the backbencher David Chaytor may now bring a criminal investigation that, once widened, won't be easy to control if it gains momentum. Labour MPs caught in the headlights have so far paid back £107,000. But tomorrow won't be an opportunity to put their house in order. Instead it may be chapter two - or, as one elderly MP, said: "Last week we felt the walls fall down; now it's the turn of the ceiling to come down on us." The main parties' fortunes have already collapsed in the polls; UKIP and the BNP are there to pick up the malcontents.
In Westminster Hall on Thursday afternoon, a group of MPs were standing together near the spot where Charles I was sentenced to death. One asked: "How did we let it get to this?" He got this answer: "The answer's already in the question. We did.

Baltic Pride - Action Urgent

Amnesty International UK Urgent Action Required - Defend Baltic Pride
Dear all, Baltic Pride is under threat from Riga City Council. please take urgent action to defend Baltic Pride. PLEASE TAKE ACTION TONIGHT - A MEETING TOMORROW MORNING COULD DECIDE THE STATUS OF BALTIC PRIDE Amnesty International is calling on the Latvian authorities to ensure that the planned Baltic Pride event on Saturday 16 May is allowed to take place. Permission was granted for the march, organised by Mozaika – a Latvian organisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people – by Riga City Council on 8 May 2009. In response to security concerns, relating to possible conflicts with counter-demonstrators, it was agreed that the march could take place in Vermandarzs Park and a few surrounding streets. Today, a majority of Riga’s City Council members signed an open letter to the Executive Director of the City Council, Andris Grinbergs, calling on him to revoke permission for the march on the grounds that it was offensive to public decency and posed a threat to public security. The Council members stated that if the Executive Director did not revoke permission by 16.00 on 14 May, they would seek to overrule the decision through a vote in the City Council. “Banning the march would be unlawful under Latvian law,” said Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty International’s Director of the Europe and Central Asia programme. “It would also violate the rights of Baltic LGBT people to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. “ Amnesty International calls on the Latvian authorities to ensure that the Baltic Pride event is allowed to take place under the originally agreed conditions and to ensure that marchers are provided with the necessary protection against the threat of violent disruption by counter-demonstrators. Please click the link to e-mail the Prime Minister of Latvia. If you are on facebook or twitter, please let everyone know about this action. It is urgent we generate as much action as possible overnight. TAKE ACTION HERE http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=604
Thank you

Going Cuckoo!

Down to Austwick for a couple of weeks with a long list of things to do! However the bank holiday sees the annual street market and cuckoo festival with us being in the company of Doogie and Rod for that weekend. We had a great Saturday sampling the special meny meal for their wedding in July. Years since I had been to the Craw's Nest in Anstruther and it's an ideal venue for the celebration!
So hunting birds feathers to make our cuckoos for the festival with the theme of "family" so working on the alternative version and using face pictures from past events, so expect some Rocky Horror moments!

The Edinburgh 8

Behind a veneer of middle-class respectability, hiding their crimes from the communities which trusted them. On Thursday, eight men involved in one of Scotland's worst paedophile rings were convicted in one the most heinous abuse cases in British history.
Now Lothian and Borders Police are to launch a probe into how the ringleader, Neil Strachan, slipped through the net to keep preying on children and babies despite having two previous convictions for abusing young boys and being on the sex offenders' register - and supposedly under police supervision.
The case has raised concerns that the register is ineffectual as a monitoring system and prompted calls to expand it into cyberspace, so police can monitor known offenders' online activities.
Tory MSP Bill Aitken said the fact Strachan was known to police raised huge concerns over the effectiveness of the register, and that the propensity of sex offenders to re-offend was a sign that tighter measures must be put in place. Aitken said: "The internet has been a great benefit but it has not come without its problems and this case highlights some of them. I do think there is a strong case for making it a condition of release on licence for those convicted of child sexual offences to have to register their email addresses or any such internet names with police."
Created in September 1997, the sex offenders' register contains details of anyone convicted, cautioned or released from prison for a sexual offence. This includes rape and abuse of children as well as consensual sex between underage teenagers or urinating in the street.
All convicted sex offenders must register with police within three days of their conviction or release from jail. During their time on the register, which is determined by a judge, offenders must tell police if they change their name or address, and inform them if they spend more than seven days away from home. Police can also apply for sex offender orders that bar offenders from activities and areas that would give them access to children. High-risk offenders may be tagged and given licence conditions. However, offenders are only placed on the register for life if they are given a jail sentence of more than 30 months.
Child protection charity Stop It Now! has criticised the register for allowing some offenders to slip through the net because their jail terms are not long enough for them to be on the list for life.
Last year Strathclyde Police issued details of paedophile former police officer Martin Cusick, who had gone missing in Glasgow in 2005. He was eventually tracked down in Canada.
Murderer Peter Tobin was also on the sex offenders' register, but evaded police and went underground for almost a year before killing Polish student, Angelika Kluk in Glasgow in 2006. He has also been convicted of killing schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton in 1991 in Bathgate.
Recent figures show there are 3000 registered sex offenders in Scotland. Glasgow has 430, and as of March this year, 1182 sex offenders were living in the Strathclyde Police force area. Strathclyde Police also publish monthly figures on how many sex offenders are living in their jurisdiction but do not give details of exactly where. However, the internet has given paedophiles unprecedented access to children and other paedophiles. A spokesman from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) said: "The internet gives paedophiles access to children in a way like never before, through social networks, email and chat rooms. It is also a way for paedophiles to network with other paedophiles.
"The internet does not create paedophiles, though. It just provides an opportunity."
But, he added: "Everything you do on the internet leaves a digital footprint and law enforcement will follow those and track you down." Strachan was free to work at Celtic East Boys' Club in the 1990s, despite being convicted of molesting a young boy almost a decade earlier.
The 41-year-old, who is facing a possible life sentence after being convicted of molesting an 18-month-old toddler, was convicted at Linlithgow Sheriff Court in 1985 of abusing a boy but went on to be secretary of the Edinburgh club in 1995.
He later served three years in jail for indecently assaulting another boy and was put on the sex offenders' register. Other members of the ring, John Murphy, 31, and Neil Campbell, 46, both worked with children, but neither had any previous offences.
Murphy, from Glasgow, worked as a drama teacher at Claremont High School in East Kilbride after being caught having a homosexual threesome in Glasgow city centre. He was struck off by the General Teaching Council but this was overturned by the Court of Session and he went on to teach at a college. Campbell, an elder of Jordanhill Parish Church who worked at an after-school club and performed with Sunday School in nativity plays, underwent Disclosure Scotland checks but his clean record allowed him access to children. The same was true of mainplayer James Rennie, 38, who had been a teacher and was the chief executive of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth Scotland when he was caught.
The justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, said the case, uncovered in Lothian and Borders' Operation Albegra, highlighted the fact many child abusers are not convicted sex offenders.
He added: "Scotland has the most robust child protection inspection regime in the UK and we're continuing to strengthen our systems for safeguarding children. The offences in this case pre-date some of the key reforms already now in place.
"The police have rightly undertaken a joint review of the management of the individual who had previous sex offence convictions, working with health and social work agencies, to identify what lessons may be learned for the future."
A spokesman for the charity Children 1st said: "The sex offenders' register can create a false sense of security and people who abuse children are very devious. We need to look at what other measures are in place to prevent offenders re-offending, including their internet activity."

Happy Anniversary!

29 years for Frank and I last Sunday but today is it really 10 years? A decade since the devolved Scottish Parliament was first elected or - to borrow Winnie Ewing's decidedly deft phrase - reconvened. Do you remember the coalition negotiations between Labour and the Liberal Democrats? In fact, the coalition deal was signed on the 14th of May, only just a week after the election. Do you remember the early row over the choice of Holyrood as the permanent home? That went on for months, right? No, it was pre-empted by Donald Dewar's decision as Secretary of State. MSPs voted to endorse Holyrood on June the 17th. The row, of course, continued. Do you remember the campaign which led up to the election? Remember these moments?
• March 12, John Swinney confirms a "Penny for Scotland", a plan to use the "Tartan Tax" to reverse a UK cut in the standard rate of income tax
• March 21, David McLetchie says the Tories would, in the last analysis, vote with Labour to thwart the SNP
• March 29, Alex Salmond calls the bombing of Kosovo "unpardonable folly"
• April 22, Alex Salmond cancels news conferences in favour of street campaigning. Says he wants to "get our jackets off and get stuck in"
• April 30, Tony Blair in Glasgow; William Hague in Edinburgh; SNP publish economic strategy for independence
• May 4, Jim Wallace says the public have made the abolition of tuition fees "non-negotiable"
• May 5, rumours of rift between Donald Dewar and Gordon Brown over strategy
• May 6, pouring rain across Scotland after days of warm weather
A remarkable campaign, a remarkable election - and the prelude to 10 remarkable years. One wonders what the next decade is going to bring? Suggestions would be welcome!

Pete at 90!

Back in Kirkcaldy after a few days in the country and celebrating our 29th illegal anniversary! What better way than to roll back the times (and they were not good one) to celebrate Pete Seeger's 90th year! Trying to find a net transmission of the his concert but no doubt YouT wuill have it tomorrow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5KnYADCSms

90 today — and he's still performing. In fact he's playing and singing tonight at a birthday bash in Madison Square Garden, alongside Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris and many others.
Proceeds from the show will go to Clearwater, an organization — and a boat — launched by Seeger 40 years ago to raise awareness about pollution in the Hudson River.
Pete Seeger firmly believes that song can bring us together and make our lives better. He sang for and with workers in the 1940s. His beliefs in their rights — and his refusal to testify about those beliefs before Congress — got him blacklisted.
But Seeger kept singing. He sang for civil rights in the '50s and '60s. He sang out against the Vietnam War — and all of the others since. He continues to encourage all of us to sing: You can't leave one of his concerts without singing along.
But as we celebrate his 90th birthday, we shouldn't forget that Pete Seeger is also one hell of a banjo player.

Clive James on the Susan Boyle phenomenon!

Whatever our thrill at Susan Boyle's performance, it remains the case that audiences expect cosmetic beauty, says Clive James.
By now every media commentator in Britain on every subject including global warming has delivered his or her opinion about Susan Boyle, the woman of unremarkable appearance who went on Britain's Got Talent and proved to have such a remarkable voice that an aria from Les Miserables acquired the celestial overtones of a solo passage from a cantata by Bach and even such exalted arbiters of taste as Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell were reduced to helpless protestations of awe.
Limping along two weeks behind the action, I can only hope, as I add my groat's worth of opinion to a mountain range of accumulated wisdom, that I have something to say which might prove useful.
All the obvious things have been said. But it is sometimes worth asking whether all the obvious things that have been said are quite true.
Barely had the last ringing note of Susan Boyle's beautiful voice faded in the air before the first media commentators were out of their box to lash Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell for their coarseness in having concurred, with their facial expressions, in the loutish mirth of the studio audience that had greeted Susan Boyle before she began to sing.
I looked at the footage carefully and I'm bound to say that I didn't find either Mr Morgan or Mr Cowell looking any more crass than usual.
They seemed to me to be striving to be polite while they contemplated her admittedly unshowbizlike appearance, just as she seemed to me to be striving to be polite while she contemplated them - two men whose faces are surely fated to inspire laughter, in the way that faces do when they belong to the kind of man who is deeply, sincerely concerned with the impression he is making.
Mr Morgan, at some stage early in his career, decided that an air of irrepressible shrewdness should be basic to his image, and after many hours of training before the shaving mirror he managed to perfect a look of penetrating scepticism.
Poet's voice
Mr Cowell, for his own part, has a set of teeth so uncannily perfect that you can see why he has to spend so much time in America, the only country that will admit such a display of radiant gnashers through customs without X-raying the rest of the body they are attached to, to see if any part of it is made of enriched uranium. Yet Susan, face to face with these two improbably refulgent paragons, was unfazed, and launched without hesitation into her song.
Within four bars she had established herself as a talent. As Seamus Heaney, a great critic of his art as well as a great practitioner, has told us, we recognise a true poet's voice immediately by its inherent strength, its integrity, its coherence and its clarity.
We recognize a true singer's voice in the same way. Susan Boyle has got it, and even the more oafish members of the studio audience, who could have come by time travel straight from the Roman Colosseum on a day when children were being fed to the lions, were instantly won over. When Susan finished, there was a fitting tumult.
The next bit, however, was harder to interpret than some of the commentators let on. They assumed that Mr Morgan and Mr Cowell had no advance knowledge that Susan would have a voice. I suppose it's possible, although I must say it seems unlikely to me. I spent 20 long years working in the front line in television studios and I seldom saw circumstances in which a surprise of such magnitude could be kept secret.
But really it doesn't matter much whether the two men were choosing their words of praise on the spot, without acting, or whether they had had time to think the words up. What mattered was what they said, and it was very instructive.
Mr Morgan was the more blatant in letting the world know that he was stunned. The message from both men was that they had expected Susan's performance to be as nondescript as her appearance was lacking in glamour.
Sense of entitlement
By emphasising these previous low expectations, they underlined their subsequent large-heartedness in praising her to the skies.
Many commentators were able to spot that both men were suffering from an overdeveloped sense of entitlement, in which, while expecting the rest of us to admire them because they were so ready to admit they had been wrong, we would not despise them for having held such low expectations merely because the lady was not a glamour puss.
With those commentators I was in agreement. The conceit shown by Mr Morgan and Mr Cowell was deeply off-putting and if I had been on a special judging panel to judge the judges I would have told both of them to beware, because a name made from giving opinions in a television studio is a name written in water.
There is no more perfect recipe for self-delusion than to suppose that being a television personality is some kind of achievement in itself. The best insurance to stop it happening is to keep a recording of say, Beethoven's 7th Symphony nearby in order to remind yourself of what an actual achievement is.
Susan was a lot closer to the world of achievement, as opposed to the world of mere celebrity, than the two men. But right here is the area where the commentators have not yet gone, and ought to. Because the laws of nature had not been repealed, only momentarily jolted, and it remains a law of nature that appearance is a factor even in the world of serious singing.
The judges of Britain's Got Talent know quite a lot about the technicalities of putting a song over in a way that Ant and Dec might say wow to, but they don't know much about serious singing, which is a different thing.
Unlikely stimulus
The facts, alas, say that in every opera house in the world the chorus contains at least half a dozen people with voices as good as Susan's, and most of them won't become stars, so all the hoo-hah about Susan's sudden stardom was at least partly illusory, based on the dangerous notion that overnight prominence on television will always change reality permanently.
In the opera house, music ought to matter more than anything but it remains true that one of the reasons people flock to hear Anna Netrebko and Elina Garanca singing together is that they look the part almost as well as they sing it.
Things shouldn't be that way, but strangely enough they have become more and more that way in the last forty years, during the very period when feminism as a train of thought has done so much to educate us about the restrictive nature of expectations based on pulchritude.
When I first started attending Covent Garden in the early 1960s it was still quite common for the soprano to be an unlikely stimulus for the tenor's cries of passion. Today, most of the sopranos look like film stars. It could be said that the more our primitive male prejudices are broken down, the more we all become free. But one of the consequences of freedom is that ticket buyers are free to choose, and it is likely to remain a fact that ticket buyers of both sexes will choose to see the imported dreamboat.
Susan might very well, after this, get a job in the chorus and even sell a lot of records, but if the press expects more than that it could be adding yet another chapter to a long story in which discoveries have been shoved onto the boards to fulfil a role in a fairy story which is fated not to turn out well.
So unless all concerned are very careful there might be a worse injustice on its way for Susan than getting laughed at when she was first exposed to the audience of a show that depends on a regular supply of contestants who are there to be made a fool of. She might be trapped by an even more pitiless expectation: that she will go on being a big star beyond the point where she became a star because she didn't seem as if she could.
Susan's future has undoubtedly been altered but we can only hope it has been altered for the better. At whatever level of musical theatre, there is no automatic equality.
It all depends on people having unequal characteristics, and one of those is appearance, in which there is no justice. In view of that fact, a man might try not to bellow with scorn when he sees a woman he regards as a frump. And then, when he evolves into a man a bit better than that, he can try not to look quite so smug when he congratulates himself for admitting that the frump has done something remarkable, and so on.
I was there to see my generation of males being educated by feminism. I was one of the males who most needed education, and I am all too aware that the process is endless, and can have many setbacks. To many women, our purportedly civilized West still looks like a man's world. Perhaps it always will, and one of the things that freedom has confirmed has been a man's freedom to remain prejudiced.
But in Afghanistan right now there are women risking their lives to protest against religious laws that could mean they would never be allowed to leave the house without their husband's permission.
We might think that nothing could be worse that Mr Morgan generously assuring Susan, and I quote his sensitive words, "Without a doubt, everyone was laughing at you." But it's a free country, we were free to judge the judges, and Susan had her moment of triumph, which she carried off with far more grace than she was shown.