Times caption (online edition only): A growing number of parents are choosing not to circumcise their sons

A piece in today’s Times by Kaya Burgess, Religious Affairs Correspondent. Subscribers can access the article – the comments stream is interesting, predictably – here.

Jews are increasingly choosing not to circumcise their sons and to hold a naming ceremony instead, a rabbi claims.

Anti-circumcision campaigners say there is an increasing movement within Judaism to forgo the removal of a baby boy’s foreskin in the brit or bris milahritual. David Smith, from the Genital Autonomy group, said: “We’ve worked to promote a ceremony called brit shalom, which has a ceremonial element but doesn’t have the circumcision.”

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, of Maidenhead Synagogue, said: “It does happen and is a new phenomenon, a result of parents wanting to have an initiation ceremony into the Jewish faith but without circumcision.”

He said an increase in inter-faith marriage was a factor. “Whereas the Jewish parent is used to circumcision and has 4,000 years of history propelling them along, the non-Jewish parent is not comfortable with it and wants an alternative.”

A piece by Matthew Moore, Media Correspondent, in today’s Times:

The BBC Proms will have a 50-50 gender balance for contemporary composers by 2022, it has been announced.

The summer season of concerts, which were first staged in 1895, will feature more performances of works composed by women as part of a drive towards equality in the arts.

Forty-five international music festivals and conferences, including Cheltenham Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival and Manchester Jazz Festival, yesterday pledged to achieve or maintain equality within five years.

David Pickard, director of the Proms, said: “Achieving a 50-50 gender balance of contemporary composers performed at the BBC Proms is something we have been committed to for some time and consider vital to the creative development of the world’s largest classical music festival.”

The pledge will not apply to historical classical composers. [J4MB emphasis. Shame. I’d have liked to have seen the public response to Myfanwy Jones, one-legged black Welsh lesbian (five box ticks – disability, colour, nationality, sex, sexuality) getting equal billing with Beethoven.]

The move was announced by the music funding charity PRS Foundation as part of its Keychange initiative, which aims to empower women in the music industry.

Vanessa Reed, chief executive of PRS Foundation, said: “The Keychange network of female artists and industry professionals and the festival partners’ idea of establishing a collective pledge will significantly accelerate change. I hope that this will be the start of a more balanced industry which will result in benefits for everyone.” [J4MB: Everyone but male modern composers, and lovers of classical music. Totally accepted collateral damage in order to give money to talentless female modern composers unable to get exposure at serious music events other than through gender quotas.]

Our thanks to C for this:

Our thanks to Steve for this. We may have changed a few words in the headline (above).

Last night the veteran presenter James Whale discussed MGM with callers on his TalkRadio show for almost an hour. Our thanks to E for editing the file so quickly, it’s here (54:09). The callers included:

2:41 – 14:30 David Smith, 15 Square (a charity concerned with MGM, it’s been in existence for 20+ years but doesn’t campaign to end it)
25:40 – 31:25 Mike Buchanan
34:58 – 38:35 Patrick Smyth, prominent intactivist

Interesting (video, 1:11). The film’s YouTube channel, with other trailers, is here.

Our thanks to Francis for alerting us to this. I’ve been in discussions about MGM with Julia Hartley-Brewer of Talk Radio on a number of occasions. Tonight at 9pm – little more than 30 minutes away – James Whale will be covering the issue. I hope to participate, and invite you to call in too – 0344 499 1000. You can listen live here.

A piece penned by Kaya Burgess and published in The Times today (below) has attracted 250+ comments so far, almost all critical of MGM. All the most highly upvoted comments are critical. Yet the paper has chosen to make its “Featured Comment” one from a Jewish man claiming health benefits. We’ve posted quite a number of comments which have received support. If you’re a subscriber you’ll be able to read the article and comments here. The article:

Anti-circumcision groups buoyed by proposals to ban the religious ritual for boys in Iceland are planning protests to put pressure on medical bodies to condemn the practice in Britain.

Senior rabbis and imams have said that any such move would contravene religious freedoms and are gearing up for a battle.

The British Medical Association (BMA) is undertaking a periodic review of its guidelines on “non-therapeutic” or “ritual” circumcision, routinely carried out on newborn and young boys at the request of Jewish and Muslim parents. It will be completed later this year.

According to the most recent estimates, from 2000, about 4 per cent of boys born in the UK are circumcised by the age of 15. The World Health Organisation said studies showed that there were complications in 1.2 per cent of cases. The Royal College of GPs said that its members were put in a “difficult situation”, noting: “There is very little guidance for GPs and other medical professionals on how to manage requests for circumcision.”

My interview (video, 3:14) on The Mash Report has attracted 700+ views and 60 comments in the space of two days. A feminist using the pseudonym “Lucy Bubbles” (appropriate for an airhead) has kindly shared her thoughts about wisdom, in comments I simply had to pass:

I’m probably gonna get so much hate for this based on the comments but some people don’t know what feminism is, it’s gender equality. We want everyone to be treated the same and just because people want the same amount of respect as others they get criticised. feminism is wanting equal respect. Sure it benefits women but it benefits men to (sic) we want men to be respected enough that they can wear what they want and aren’t judged for being “girly”. We want everyone to have equal pay so that everyone can have equal opportunities. We also want mens (sic) domestic abuse to be heard of and not shunned as well as women we want justice for anyone who has be (sic) assaulted or harassed. It’s just easier to start at women’s domestic abuse because there’s so much more because women aren’t respected as much in society as men which is not okay.

I invite you to respond to her comments.

Our thanks to Jeff for this. Extracts:

“Last year, on average, women made up 26% of the festival line-ups in the UK, so we’re talking about doubling that in a five-year timeframe,” said Vanessa Reed, CEO of the PRS Foundation.

“That’s quite ambitious but it’s achievable.”…

Melvin Benn, MD of Festival Republic, which arranges the event, [J4MB: the Wireless festival] told the BBC that his bookers had tried to secure more female acts.

“18 female artists were approached to play Wireless Fest this year, only three of which were secured for our first announcement.” he said.

“Certain artists were unable to commit due to touring schedules or other reasons. In an ideal world, all 18 would have confirmed and we would be having a different conversation.”

One of the Bedford-based guitarists I interviewed for my international bestseller Guitar Gods in Beds. (Bedfordshire: A Heavenly County) (2014) – just £3.00 on Kindle – was John Verity, lead guitarist and singer with The John Verity Band, a heavy metal band. In the 1980s he was planning to tour Germany again, but was informed of new guidelines that all bands performing in Germany had to include at least one female “musician”. He was told that most bands resolved the problem by having women who were “musicians” by virtue of shaking a tambourine from time to time. The idea of a tambourine player in a heavy metal band was so offensive to John, that he refused to tour Germany.