Monthly Archives: January 2011

14-year-old commits suicide after abuse in custody

Posted on January 30, 2011 by David

This week, a coroner’s inquest found that Adam Rickwood, a 14-year-old boy detained in a Secure Training Centre, committed suicide by hanging after being subjected to unlawful force by a member of staff. The truth about the terrible consequences of … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal justice | View Comments

Don’t deport Brenda Namigadde

Posted on January 28, 2011 by David

I learned this evening that Ugandan lesbian refugee Brenda Namigadde, currently a prisoner at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre, is due to be deported to her home country tonight. It may already be too late, but there is a petition … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil liberties, LGBT, Social justice | View Comments

In which I discover the strange world of “astrological research”

Posted on January 28, 2011 by David

Many of my readers will already have heard about the Astrological Association of Great Britain’s recent complaint of anti-astrology bias at the BBC, after astronomer Brian Cox and comic Dara O’Briain described astrology as “nonsense” and “rubbish” in a recent … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Weirdness | View Comments

Some progress on civil liberties, but not enough

Posted on January 26, 2011 by David

The Government has announced a number of sweeping changes to Britain’s anti-terror laws, removing some of the most egregious abuses of the New Labour era. However, they are not going far enough. The system of control orders, something I’ve written … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil liberties | View Comments

The Daily Mail song

Posted on January 25, 2011 by David

Here’s an appropriate musical accompaniment for my previous post. I realize it may not be immediately comprehensible to my non-British readers, but just substitute Fox News or the WorldNetDaily and you’ll get the general idea. In the songwriter’s own words: … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | View Comments

On schools, gay relationships, and the Mail’s profit margins

Posted on January 25, 2011 by David

In general, I rarely link to Daily Heil Mail stories unless I have no alternative: having no particular desire to give more page-traffic, and hence more advertising revenue, to Britain’s leading purveyor of sexist, racist and homophobic bile. However, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Idiocy, LGBT | View Comments

Round-up of interesting stuff

Posted on January 24, 2011 by David

If you need an antidote to the media’s usual diet of garbled nonsense, here’s a selection of articles and blogposts that are worth reading this week. Ben Goldacre dismantles the perennial claim that “Blue Monday” has been “proven to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Politics, Science | View Comments

An appalling story

Posted on January 23, 2011 by David

In 2006, an optometrist in Fairfax County, Virginia, was shot dead outside his home by a police SWAT team. His crime? Placing a $50 bet on a football game, in breach of Virginia’s anti-gambling laws. Five years later, Radley Balko … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil liberties | View Comments

Incompetent bigot appointed as government drugs advisor

Posted on January 23, 2011 by David

From time to time, reading a news story causes me a deep-seated feeling of personal anger and sorrow which I just can’t shake. This is one of those times. A GP who is an outspoken anti-gay activist has been appointed … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal justice, Idiocy, LGBT, Politics, Social justice | View Comments

Islamophobia, part deux: in which Giles Fraser gets it right

Posted on January 22, 2011 by David

Writing in the Guardian, Giles Fraser says more-or-less what I was trying to say with my recent post on Islamophobia in Britain. The worst sort of dinner party bigot may talk about Islam as a faith but – nod, nod, … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, Social justice | View Comments