Sunday, July 31, 2011

Pro-choice Pod

I was interviewed for a podcast at the pro-choice demo a couple of weeks ago. You can listen in here.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Do what I say!

Just a short post but one everyone ought to read for your own safety. So Saturday night I'm coming home from my gig. The bus screeches to a halt - there's been a road traffic accident. A man is lying unconscious in the road in a pool of blood. Various bystanders are trying to help.

Now partly because I was a good girl guide and partly because I have witnessed several similar accidents I know what to do. So I get off the bus and since it's a long straight road and the traffic has stopped in both directions and an ambulance been called I say "Don't move him - he might have a spinal injury - don't move him, don't touch him". Now I am not lacking in a clear audible tone of voice - really - everyone hears me and everyone knows I'm serious.

Immediately a big bloke jumps in and starts moving the guy around. I shout at him to stop, that it's not safe to move him around. He replies "It's alright, love, I know him". Ah yes, the well known spinal injury preventing force field of previous acquaintance... Amazing it's not discussed in medical text books more. I explain again. "I hear you love, I hear ya" he says before grabbing the guy's head and lifting him up six inches by it. Yes he lifted the unconscious bleeding guy up by his head. "What are you doing?" I ask. "Chill out love, I'm not going to move him, I'm just putting a jacket under his head as a pillow" is the angry response.

It would be one thing if the big bloke had asked me to explain further or explained what he thought was a good idea. I would have been all up for explaining my point or asking the 999-ambulance operator for advice. But no, he heard me loud and clear and decided to just wade in and do what he (on the basis of clearly no medical knowledge whatsoever) thought was a good idea. Well if his friend never walks again all I can say is: blame the patriarchy.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Spot the Culturally Insensitive Difference

So here's the Daily Star's shock horror exposé claiming Ryan Giggs had a "kinky frolic" (I think that means "dance") with a belly dancer:
And here's what an actual belly dancer looks like:

I know lots of women who enjoy belly dancing classes and none of them would describe it as being about "kinky frolics". They do it to keep fit, to feel good about themselves, to maintain a link with their cultural past and a few, occasionally, to entertain - on a stage or in a performance space, in front of a well-behaved mixed or all-female crowd. If there is any audience participation it is usually getting people to join the dance imitating the professional - as a sort of teach-in. Oi tabloids, get your grubby sensationalising hands off of our art forms!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Hello America

It appears your news networks think they can feed you any old lies...



...now in case it's not clear (and it's REALLY not) the Pentagon and Citibank were hacked. People effectively broke into their computer systems and downloaded information. A discussion about whether finding out about dodgy corrupt goings on justifies the means used to get hold of the info and whether the info is ending up in the right hands might be interesting to have, but it's not the point. The point is that the News of the World organisation was a hacker - not a victim of hacking, a PERPETRATOR of hacking. Their journalists didn't hack government offices or large banks - they broke into privately owned mobile phones including those of murderer children and dead Iraq war veterans. Yes they broke into dead children's phones and dead soldier's phones. Seems like Fox News has forgotten to mention this in their coverage.