Month: August 2017

Councils need 12,000 more women to close gender gap

/ Mike Buchanan / 8 Comments

Idiocy on stilts. The Guardian article cites three blithering idiots:

  • Jess Phillips MP
  • Clare McNeil, associate director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)
  • Marianne Overton, vice-chair of the Local Government Association

Extracts:

A gender imbalance across local government has been exposed in a damning report that suggests councils – especially the new mayoral authorities – are lagging behind even Westminster in taking steps to improve equality.

The study, published on Sunday by the Institute for Public Policy Research, reveals that only 33% of councillors and 17% of council leaders in England are women, something the thinktank suggests is causing a “democratic deficit”.

In the new mayoral combined authority boards, only 4% of constituent members – those with full voting rights – are women and all six bodies are led by men. The West Midlands, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, the Liverpool City Region and the West of England authorities are all without any female constituent members…

Women make up only 38% of Labour party members and only 36% of Conservative party members.

“It cannot be right in 2017 that there are barely any women represented in the leadership of our newest democratic institutions, the combined authorities,” said Clare McNeil, IPPR associate director. [J4MB: What imperious sexist nonsense. If on the basis of merit barely any women (or none) are represented, so be it.] “Efforts made to address this in Greater Manchester and elsewhere are to be welcomed, but radical change is needed if devolution is to be about bringing power to the people, rather than consolidating it among white middle-aged men.” [J4MB emphasis: ‘white middle-aged men’ – racist, ageist, sexist.]…

The IPPR wants leaders of political parties to commit to achieving a 50:50 balance in male-female party membership. [J4MB: Even though far more men than women have a strong interest in politics. Yes, that makes sense.] And it wants authorities to make a commitment that at least 45% of those on combined authority boards are women. [J4MB: An increase from the current 4%.] If significant progress towards greater gender balance in local government and combined authorities cannot be achieved through these changes, then it says legislation should be introduced requiring elected positions to be filled equally by genders, or with a split of 60:40 or better.

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MGM appointment in Coventry cancelled

/ Mike Buchanan / 5 Comments

Patrick Smyth in Coventry

Following my blog post on the scheduled circumcision of a 12-year-old boy in Coventry today, I had an email exchange with the clinic. The appointment for the circumcision was cancelled, and we had plenty of contact with the police. Three police cars were stationed outside the clinic when we arrived.

However, the appointment cancellation isn’t the end of the matter, because we expect the appointment to be re-scheduled. There are a number of details in this story which I think it unwise to divulge at this stage, for the sake of the boy.

We wore bodycams throughout our three-hour protest (from midday to 3pm, when the clinic closed for the day) and handed out hundreds of leaflets to passers-by. We also had dozens of interesting discussions with passers-by, mainly Muslim. We wore bodycams, and took six hours of video footage between us. Some footage may appear on our YouTube channel in due course.

My thanks to Patrick for driving from Cambridge to my home town of Bedford, to collect me en route to Coventry. He must surely be the most dedicated anti-MGM campaigner in the country.

We’ll post more on this story as and when we’re able to, without compromising the boy’s safety.

If everyone who read this gave us just £1 – or even better, £1 monthly – we could change the world. Click here to make a difference. Thanks.

Help us try to stop the circumcision of a 12-year-old boy in Coventry today (Saturday)

/ Mike Buchanan / 20 Comments

Our thanks to John for informing us of the plight of a 12-year-old boy who doesn’t wish to be circumcised, but is being taken to the QC clinic in Coventry for the procedure to take place at 1:00 pm today. We know of this from three Reddit posts:

17 days ago – here
10 hours ago – here
9 hours ago – here

The organization carrying out operations is the QC Clinic, which operates in Coventry and Sheffield. We’ve archived a number of pages from their website:

Home page
About us (with details of Dr Altaf Mangera)
Our services
Prices and Bookings
Locations which includes this:

Coventry

Clinic Address: City of Coventry NHS Healthcare Centre, Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry CV1 4FS.

Pay and display parking on the premises is available. Pay and display street parking is also available and it is cheaper.

We are on the ground floor of the building. Please follow signs for “Phlebotomy”/Blood Test, the “Phlebotomy”/Blood Test waiting area is where you will find our friendly receptionist. Upon arrival please report to our receptionist.

Please report to reception 10 minutes prior to your appointment time.

Contact us which shows the Coventry ‘clinic’ being open between 9am and 3pm today. I’ve just posted the following through this online form:

Illegal male circumcision
I lead the political party Justice for Men & Boys http://atomic-temporary-215937230.wpcomstaging.com. Non-therapeutic circumcision is illegal under the Offences Against the Person Act (1861), being at least Actual Bodily Harm, and possibly Grievous Bodily Harm. I shall be travelling to your clinic in Coventry today in a bid to stop the circumcision of a 12-year-old boy who has claimed on Reddit that he is to be circumcised at 1pm today without his consent.

Mike Buchanan
07967 026163

If you can, please join Patrick Smyth and myself in our bid to stop this circumcision. We plan to arrive at the clinic well before 12:00, and will be bringing placards and leaflets, as well as wearing a bodycam. I’ll also do what I can to alert the local media in Coventry. Please call me (07967 026163) if you’ll be joining us. Thanks.

If everyone who read this gave us just £1 – or even better, £1 monthly – we could change the world. Click here to make a difference. Thanks.

A message from the ladies at… ahem… Bush Hall

/ Mike Buchanan / 3 Comments

One of the venues we approached as a potential venue for ICMI18 was Bush Hall, which turns out to be an appropriate name. They sent me this email:

Thank you for enquiring to hire Bush Hall via <name redacted>.

I’m afraid our license doesn’t permit us to host any religious or political events.

Even if we could we wouldn’t. As a primarily female run company, researching what your party stands for has shocked us to say the least. [J4MB: Standing up for the human rights of men and boys… yes, shocking.] We know that the owners would morally oppose allowing you to hire Bush Hall as a platform to promote anti-feminism. [J4MB: They’d oppose the hire of the venue to people who tell the truth about feminism, namely that it’s an ideology seeking to relentless increase female privilege, and male disadvantage? Of course. Cue moral outrage.]

I hope you find your perfect venue because it sure as hell isn’t here.

Kindest regards,

Betsy – Gormless Feminist Of The Month
Sophie – Toxic Feminist Of The Month

BETSY HARLEY
MUSIC & EVENTS COORDINATOR

Let’s try a gender switch on one of those paragraphs, and imagine another venue had a hire enquiry from the Women’s Equality Party, and responded with this:

Even if we could we wouldn’t. As a primarily male run company, researching what your party stands for has shocked us to say the least. We know that the owners would morally oppose allowing you to hire Bush Hall as a platform to promote feminism.

If everyone who read this gave us just £1 – or even better, £1 monthly – we could change the world. Click here to make a difference. Thanks.