London LGBT Pride - giving publicity to human rights abusers
This week, I've seen two movements that I love become sullied by complicity with the arms trade.
First, Church House (a leading Christian conference centre) hosted a gathering of arms dealers and generals. Now, London LGBT Pride are about to allow a section of this week's march to be used to publicise a company that is complicit in homophobia– and other human rights abuses – around the world.
Planning land warfare - in the Church of England's HQ
Where will a group of generals and arms dealers gather tomorrow (24 June) to discuss the future of land warfare? A military camp? The Ministry of Defence? An underground bunker? No, it's the headquarters of the Church of England.
Where do 'British values' come from?
Schools in which pupils are taught to follow the same values as the government are usually associated with totalitarian regimes. This has not stopped Michael Gove and David Cameron from saying that 'British values' should be taught in all British schools.
Are disabled people now expected to rely on charity from arms dealers?
The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Berkshire has recently been given £2 billion by the UK government to construct new facilities. The AWE has just donated £1,200 to local disability charities in Basingstoke.
Mainstream parties have been defeated by the monster they created
Nigel Farage's smug grin is all over the media this morning. But the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties have been defeated by a monster of their own creation.
Challenging the arms trade on its home turf
This evening, I’ll be speaking about the arms trade on the edge of Farnborough – the home town of the multinational arms company BAE Systems.
British Baptists take a step forward on sexuality - but need to go a lot further
Ministers in the Baptist Union of Great Britain who bless same-sex partnerships will no longer be disciplined for doing so if they have the support of their local church. I think this is brilliant news.
White Feather Diaries: remembering those who resisted the First World War
Yesterday saw the formal launch of the White Feather Diaries, a social media project exploring the lives of British pacifists during the first world war. The project's run by Quakers in Britain, who hired me as a writer and an editor for the project. I'm really pleased to be working on this project. Yesterday we announced the names of the five individuals whose writings will form the basis of the project, when it goes online in the summer.
Arrested for quoting Churchill?
If you believe the Daily Mail, then a European election candidate has been arrested “for quoting Winston Churchill”.
UKIP takes "out of context" defence to breaking point
People who defend themselves by saying “My words were taken out of context” sometimes have a good point. It is possible to misrepresent someone, either deliberately or accidentally, by quoting their words out of context. However, a UKIP candidate in Portsmouth has stretched this defence to breaking point. He has also attempted some creative redefinitions of common English words.
