About two months ago I was invited to speak in support of the motion, ‘This House Believes Feminists Are All Too Often Sexists In Disguise’ at Durham Union Society on the evening of 24 January. The invitation came from Freya Bromley, a student at Durham University, and a regular Huffington Post contributor. Her letter included the following:

The Durham Union Society is Durham University’s oldest and largest student society, and one of the country’s most prestigious student bodies. Since 1842 we’ve been the University’s independent forum for debating controversial issues and inviting leaders in every field to discuss their experiences. We are a registered charity, and aim to educate our 3,000 resident members while providing exciting and unique opportunities to engage with a diverse and fascinating range of speakers.

I was unable to be present at the debate for reasons which needn’t detain us, but I’ve just been asked again, and this time I’ve accepted. Also speaking for the motion will be the veteran men’s human rights advocate Swayne O’Pie, author of an important book, Why Britain Hates Men: Exposing Feminism. It’s also available in a Kindle edition with the title Exposing Feminism: The Thirty Years’ War Against Men.

Speaking against the motion will be the veteran gender feminist Julie Bindel, a frequent contributor of pieces to the Guardian. Her Wiki profile is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Bindel. Speaking alongside her will be Cindy Gallop, a New York-based Englishwomen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Gallop.

The debating chamber holds up to 300 people, and most debates attract capacity audiences. Only Durham Union Society members will be allowed to attend. It should be an interesting evening.

As always I’ll be taking a video camera along, in the hope of recording gender feminist demonstrators (and their male poodles). I live in hope of one day recording someone like the famous Canadian gender feminist ‘Big Red’, a heroine to men’s human rights advocates globally. It’s the video file between the files dated 29 October and 21 November in our YouTube library. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKhX1c3ow6BrzdzP3ydpeZQ/videos

There’s an excellent blog http://ukgeneralelection2015.blogspot.co.uk which has reported, among many other things, on how strong our blog ‘hits’ have been, for a party formed as recently as February 2013. A new piece has just been posted on the site:

Well, on the 22nd January this blog will be one year old. This is when I made my very first post and posted it to the world. Time seems to have flown by and when thinking of what to do to mark the occasion what else other than a poll could I do really. So I will be compiling a Glasgow by-election style form (35 parties to vote for) with all the parties I have come across and have been featured over the past 12 months.

You are then all cordially invited to have a vote, with the result to be posted on the 22nd. It won’t be weighted, it won’t be scientifically measured for fairness. I will do my best to ensure one person one vote. It is just for fun.

Please feel free to take part and to share.

You will find the poll here

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=52d79dd4e4b08a14ac5d53c2

Would you please vote for J4MB? It will take only a couple of seconds. And you can even spend a few more seconds and leave a comment if you want. Thank you for your support.

Across the developed world the vast majority of homeless people are men. In the UK, around 90%. Many are ex-servicemen for whom the provision of support services for disorders such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are woefully inadequate. Given conflicting demands on the public purse, men are second-class citizens.

An insightful and  moving new video by an important new voice, Spetsnaz:

http://www.avoiceformen.com/updates/the-male-homeless/

For many years I was a subscriber to The Daily Telegraph. It was, to those of us who loved the paper some years ago, the essence of what an intelligent right-of-centre newspaper should be. Those days are long gone. I don’t think I’ve read a copy in the past 12 months.

When it comes to reporting gender issues, it’s today no less feminist than the Guardian. My thanks to the supporter who sent me a link to a piece by Hannah Betts, more usually associated with the Guardian. Apparently 2013 was an ‘annus misogynis’. No, really, it was, because Ms Betts says it was, in her mind-numbingly long piece (does the paper pay by the word now?):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10553284/Misogyny-came-into-the-open-during-annus-misogynis-that-was-2013.html

On the strength of this one article alone Ms Betts is a strong contender for next month’s ‘Whiny Woman of the Month’ award.

One of the biggest farces in recent decades in the public sector – and there are so many to choose from – has been the idea of ‘equivalent jobs’, with ‘equal pay for work of equal value’. The idea is that when women choose to work in low-paying jobs, they should be paid the same as if they were working in higher-paying jobs they didn’t choose. Even by public sector standards it’s ridiculous.

Needless to say the initiative was designed to advantage women at the expense of men, who’ve historically been drawn to jobs which command pay premiums on account of few people being willing to do them, due to factors such as:

– unsocial hours

– unpleasant working conditions

– risk to life and limb

So in determining what ‘equal value’ meant, such considerations were disregarded. A dinner lady’s job has ‘equal value’ as that of a security guard working nights and weekends, at risk of being assaulted… In prisons, women working as administrators were deemed to be doing work of ‘equal value’ to prison warders who were at permanent risk of being attacked, injured, and even killed by violent inmates.

The bills for such initiatives have to be paid eventually. It looks like Birmingham City Council  may need to sell or lease some of its key assets to pay its bills:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-25733267

A short put powerful video by a highly regarded Canadian Honey Badger:

http://www.avoiceformen.com/mens-rights/feminism-men-are-actors-women-are-acted-upon

Our thanks to B for this story. Will the trashing of fathers’ and children’s lives by the justice system never end?

http://www.sott.net/article/271748-Father-sentenced-to-6-months-in-jail-for-paying-too-much-child-support

How might this decision turn out to be flawed? Answers on a postcard.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz/360082/Police-given-a-row-over-allowing-Melanie-Sykes-to-keep-her-gun-license

http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/13/laddish-woman-guilty-of-glassing-ground-force-stars-daughter-4261669/

Our thanks to Greg for pointing us to this gem on The Huffington Post, which has just gone up in our estimation:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/gregor-smith/feminism-men_b_4592448.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

I’ve left a supportive comment, and invite you to do likewise. We need to support students with the integrity and courage to speak out against the ideology ruining so many lives.