Promoting a Day of Nonviolence and Peace
In Britain we now have Armed Forces Day, but no specific day to mark or encourage peaceful conflict resolution or transformation.
DWP: public servant or propaganda vehicle?
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), a government department which appears to be increasingly and inappropriately fashioned by the the ideological welfare-cutting politics of secretary of state Iain Duncan Smith, displays some interesting communications priorities.
MLK and the revolutionary spirit of love
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on 15 January 1929. The federal holiday in his honour in the United States is the third Monday in January.
Charity exemption is not the way to tackle a dangerous Lobbying Bill
There has been a united, determined campaign against the gagging impact of the Lobbying Bill on the part of voluntary groups and NGOs. Some will therefore think it a shame that a minority of charities, and the Charities Aid Foundation, have at this late stage chosen the path of seeking exemptions for themselves rather than focussing on the wider considerations.
The real lobbying villains are getting away with it
Today (13 January 2014) the House of Lords is discussing Part 1 of the controversial Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill.
Lord Tyler and Baroness Williams attempt to buy off charities on lobbying
Lord Paul Tyler, Liberal Democrat spokesman in the Lords on constitutional reform issues, and Baroness Shirley Williams, former leader of Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords have attacked Caroline Lucas MP as "misguided and wrong" in her concerns about the Lobbying Bill – namely, that unless significantly amended (or better, scrapped and completely redrafted) it will let corporate lobbyists off the hook while gagging non-party organisations and unions.
Lobbying Bill trade union 'data grab' should also be resisted
Much attention has been focused on the Transparency in Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill in recent weeks – notably, its failure to tackle the real problem of 'big money' corporate lobbying, together with its attack on the democratic rights and free speech of non-party NGOs, charities, faith and belief groups and other civic organisations in the run-up to an election.
Agenda-challenging journalism matters
After a thoroughly enjoyable New Year's Eve in Edinburgh (a ceilidh at St James' Leith, and then a view of the city's fine fireworks celebrations), connecting with the broadcast, digital and print media this morning was a thoroughly depressing experience.
Greetings from Ekklesia: the real work of Christmas
Ekklesia's voluntary staff and associates would like to extend the warmest greetings to our many friends, collaborators and co-conspirators in these islands and across the world at Christmastide 2013.
Christmas: the arrival of the unexpected God
Christmas is a time for reflection. But sometimes, thankfully, someone else says pretty much what you might have said yourself, and probably better. Gratitude to Giles Fraser for his seasonal Guardian piece, 'The Bethlehem story takes us deeper into what it means to be human' (24 December 2013).
