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Lucy Meadows: what the coroner said about how the media treated her
Regular readers will need no introduction to the tragic story of Lucy Meadows.
She was the trans-gender teacher monstered by the press following the leaking of a letter from her school telling parents that one of their staff would be transitioning to live as a woman. Ms Meadows was then subjected to a characteristically crude hatchet job by Richard Littlejohn.
Since Ms Meadows took her own life, Dacre has been gradually rowing back on the hostility towards trans people, notably publishing an article by trans author Jane Fae about her experiences, which was at least a step in the right direction.
And Littlejohn has been silent on the whole business, which is a further bonus. But, as ever with the Mail, no heads rolled after Lucy Meadows died.
Perhaps Dacre thought that if he threw a few scraps to the trans community and otherwise got his hacks to keep their heads down, all would be well and the protestors would melt away.
But he reckoned without Michael Singleton, the coroner who has been charged with investigating Lucy Meadows’ death, whose message to the press was as unequivocal as it was hostil, yesterday.
To the members of the press, I say shame. Shame on all of you.
…
Lucy Meadows was not somebody who had thrust herself into the public limelight. She was not a celebrity. She had done nothing wrong. Her only crime was to be different. Not by choice but by some trick of nature. And yet the press saw fit to treat her in the way that they did.
He was particularly harsh on the Mail, concluding the paper had “sought to humiliate and ridicule” Ms Meadows.
“It seems to be that nothing has been learned from the Leveson inquiry,” he went on, adding that he would write to the Culture Secretary urging implementation of the Leveson recommendations (the Mail only removed the Littlejohn column from its website after Ms Meadows’ death had been announced).
But the Mail has a get-out clause: the teacher made no reference to media intrusion in one of the suicide notes she left in her house.
So Dacre and his doggies will be able to claim victim status once more, sickening though that might be. That, though, is how the tabloid mindset works. There will also be talk of the Mail only repeating what had already been published locally.
And so the whole nasty business will go on to the next victim.
Facebook admits mistake on violent misogynist images
Trigger warning: Some readers may find images at the end of this post distressing
Social media giant Facebook bowed to immense public pressure yesterday and accepted the need to revise its guidelines on hate speech against women.
The abrupt u-turn came after an online campaign targeted companies whose ads appeared next to offensive content promoting violence against women.
By yesterday evening 15 companies had pulled their advertising, including Nationwide and Nissan UK. Most of the companies who had pulled their ads were American.
Some, such as Dove, said they were working “aggressively” with Facebook to “resolve the issue”.
Facebook had earlier resisted attempts at removing such content, saying in a statement: “As you may expect in any diverse community of more than a billion people, we occasionally see people post distasteful or disturbing content, or make crude attempts at humour. While it may be vulgar and offensive, distasteful content on its own does not violate our policies.”
The statement was odd since Facebook already removes anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and homophobic hate speech. It has even rejected an ad about breast cancer because it showed a woman’s breast.
The online campaign was organised by over 40 women’s groups and individuals, including US-based Women, Action and the Media (WAM), the UK-based Everyday Sexism project and blogger Soraya Chemaly.
An open letter to Facebook had demanded “swift, comprehensive and effective action addressing the representation of rape and domestic violence on Facebook”.
Facebook initially refused to take action against Groups with titles such as: ‘Rapist Commmunity’, ‘Slapping hookers in the face with a shoe’, ‘punching rihanna’, ‘Bips Dead Hooker Emporium’, ‘This is why Indian girls are raped’ and ‘I kill bitches like you’.
After the social media campaign it deleted some of the groups mentioned.
In a blog-post yesterday evening a Facebook spokesperson wrote:
In recent days, it has become clear that our systems to identify and remove hate speech have failed to work as effectively as we would like, particularly around issues of gender-based hate. In some cases, content is not being removed as quickly as we want. In other cases, content that should be removed has not been or has been evaluated using outdated criteria.
We have been working over the past several months to improve our systems to respond to reports of violations, but the guidelines used by these systems have failed to capture all the content that violates our standards.
Facebook also promised to review and update guidelines and improve moderators’ training.
Examples of images Facebook initially refused to delete
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Images taken from the campaign page.
The public’s contradictory views on austerity cuts
According to YouGov, there are the public’s views on Osborne’s spending cuts.
It’s interesting how contradictory they are, illustrates the point that most ordinary people rarely see politics in a linear fashion.
- 37% think the cuts are good for the economy, 46% bad for the economy
- Only 28% think they are being done fairly, 57% unfairly
- 40% think they are too deep, 12% not deep enough, 30% about right
- However, 57% think they are necessary, and people are still more likely to blame Labour (36%) than the coalition (29% for the cuts)
(From YouGov/Sunday Times)
Rod Liddle apologises for ‘black savages’
First, professional troll Rod Liddle wrote:
I was slightly puzzled by the early media reports of the appalling murder in Woolwich and particularly the wrangling over whether or not this could be called ‘a terrorist attack’. Does it make much difference? Two black savages hacked a man to death while shouting Allahu Akbar; that’s really all you need to know, isn’t it?
Then, today, after outrage on Twitter, the Spectator editors deleted the word ‘black’, and Liddle offered this apology
To avoid the ludicrous phrase ‘men of Muslim appearance’ I originally used the word ‘black’ to describe the appearance of the knifemen. If anyone took that wrong way, I’m very sorry.
This is only slightly ridiculous than the original comment. Why is it necessary to refer to their appearance at all?
Do we describe the pigmentation of every criminal in the UK?
PS – Rod Liddle never got back to us earlier about whether he wrote these racist messages on the Millwall FC website under a pseudonym.
Why Britain should play an active part in arming Syrian rebels
If the UK government is considering arming Syrian rebels, it should also consider embedding British personnel with rebel forces.
This arms supply method was developed by Fitzroy MacLean in his dealings with the Partisans in WW2. It is accounted for in MacLean’s famous book Eastern Approaches.
The reason for embedding personnel, with our equipment, is partly that we can then be sure who is using our arms, but also in order that we have a relationship and an influence, both now and in post-conflict Syria.
In WW2 the Balkans were just as bloody as Syria is right now, if not more. Whole villages were executed as Nazi punishments. Engaging the Partisans, MacLean would often dissuade them from responding in kind. “A modern country would not do that kind of thing.”
He was reminding them that after the war they would be expected to join the international community, as a nation, not a barbarous tribe. MacLean probably averted a considerable number of massacres and atrocities, but he was only able to do so because he was present.
British influence, of this kind, would be felt by the Syrian rebels, if we were arming and amongst them.
Most of the reports concerning the character of the rebels comes from Turkish and American intelligence in Syria. The problem with this intelligence is not that it is wrong, but that it paints a picture of the rebels unaffected by a relationship with us. They long ago gave up on the west as allies. We have little influence, while Saudi Arabia and Qatar has considerable clout.
My point in describing the MacLean system is to draw attention to the humanitarian benefits, which cannot be replicate by sitting on the sidelines and saying “Nothing to do with us. We’re not responsible.”
Do we achieve innocence through inaction? If a man is drowning and we stand by and watch, are we not responsible for his death, due to our lack of action? If a doctor watches a man die, knowing that the medicine in his bag which could save him, has that doctor done nothing wrong, by his inaction, of has he killed the man by his failure to act?
If the rebels demonstrate themselves as barbarous, while under the influence of the Saudis, are we not at least partly responsible, by our refusal to enter and engage?
By embedding our personnel, we can pick and choose which militia can use our technology.
We can encourage talks and cooperation between factions, acting as honest broker. We can influence a peaceful outcome and avert further tragedy. That is the type of player we should be.
Not racist? ‘Send the black cunts home’ – EDL
The English Defence League are not a racist group, their leaders keep claiming in the media.
But even their top people can’t help themselves.
This video was taken at the EDL’s very recent Newcastle demonstration, which attracted over 1,500 people.
This clip was edited out of the official video.
It features a key EDL operative, who is brought on stage by leader Tommy Robinson, saying: “send the black cunts home”.
The crowd cheer him on.
(via @exposetweets)
This is also mirrored on Facebook in case YouTube take it down
The Facebook mirror has now been taken down.
Letter: Afghan Interpreters deal still abandons too many
In a letter published in today’s Times newspaper (£), former foreign minister and shadow home secretary David Davis and Major-General Timothy Cross and the head of the refugee charity Refugee Action are among those to warn that the government’s recent decision to offer a settlement package to some Afghan interpreters risks excluding many of those who served British troops in Afghanistan.
The letter comes from a group containing parliamentary, military and campaigning voices, who welcome the government’s commitment to offer asylum to some of the interpreters, but are concerned that the terms will arbitrarily deny protection to many who need it.
The Times notes that several of the translators who have been prominent in public campaigns on this issue would be excluded by the narrow terms of the deal.
A government statement offers grounds to hope that renewed pressure can alter the final offer, as this has yet to be finalised: “Officials have drafted the proposed redundancy package, which will now be considered, fine-tuned and approved by Ministers by the end of May,” a government spokesman told The Times newspaper.
A recent YouGov poll for British Future showed the public believe the government should allow the interpreters to settle, a view held by six out of ten of those expressing a view.
Letter to The Times
Sir, We welcome the decision to grant some Afghan interpreters the right to resettle in the UK. The principle was established in Iraq, and there is no reason to treat our brave Afghan interpreters differently.
However, the proposed relocation package falls short of guaranteeing protection and safety for many brave individuals. Specifically, the asylum offer may only apply to those working on or after January 1, 2013; excluding hundreds who risked their lives alongside UK troops in this decade-long war.
Death threats forced many interpreters to stop working for the British before 2013, and many are still in hiding. Under such a deal, Abdul — who courageously raised the alarm about the hundreds of men at risk and whom 82,000 people have backed — may not be offered sanctuary in the UK as he stopped working with the British Army in June last year.
It would be an affront to the proud tradition of this country as signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees to refuse protection and safety to those who put their lives on the line to serve with our forces. We urge the Government to extend the protection measures and offer a safe haven to all of our translators in Afghanistan, and not abandon the hundreds who, stranded by this deal, will be left to live in fear of execution by the Taleban.
David Davis, MP
Stephen McPartland, MP
Baroness Berridge
Major-General Timothy Cross
Dave Garratt, Refugee Action
Alex Wilks, Avaaz
Sunder Katwala, British Future
(via British Future)
How Labour could go further in reducing violence against women
by Holly Dustin
A report by the Deputy Children’s Commissioner last week found that children, especially boys, are viewing violent pornography and that this is influencing their behaviour.
This is highly disturbing and comes swiftly after our own report, Deeds or Words? which found that the government is failing in its promise to prevent abuse of women and girls.
So why isn’t this a political priority?
The background to these reports is a growing body of evidence to show that young women and girls are targeted for certain types of abuse by men and boys, some of which is linked to new technology.
Recent research on ‘sexting’ by the NSPCC, which found it to be often coercive and linked to abusive behaviour, was tragically highlighted by the case of 13 year old Chevonea Kendall-Bryan who fell to her death pleading with a boy to delete indecent images of her. Our own polling in 2010 found that one in three girls in the UK said they had been ‘groped’ or experienced other unwanted sexual touching at school.
An Ofsted report found that poor quality Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) in over a third of schools was leaving children vulnerable to inappropriate sexual behaviours and sexual exploitation.
We were delighted when Yvette Cooper MP Labour would make SRE compulsory in order to teach young people about sexual consent, and respectful and equal relationships. But SRE is one part of a much broader package of work that is urgently needed if we genuinely want to prevent abuse before it begins.
So, as Labour’s manifesto work progresses, we want to see concrete commitments to:
1) Run a long-term public campaigns to change abusive attitudes and behaviours (similar to the ongoing drink-driving campaigns which have changed attitudes to seat-belts and drink driving over a number of decades)
2) Make SRE compulsory as part of a ‘whole-school approach’ to tackling violence against women and girls which would include ongoing teacher training so that teachers are equipped and confident to identify and respond to the signs of abuse
3) Tackling misogynistic messages through the media and social media that condone abuse. Hats off to the fantastic campaign targeting rape and domestic violence pages on Facebook. The Children’s Commissioner’s report has highlighted children’s access to violent pornography and the disturbing murders Tia Sharp and April Jones cases reportedly include pornographic images, including images of rape and incest. We are supporting a campaign by Croydon Rape Crisis to make possession of simulated images of rape porn illegal.
4) Funding women’s groups to run innovative prevention projects in the community, and to ensure that all women and girls experiencing abuse, either now or in the past, have access to specialist women’s support services.
We are calling on our political leaders, both men and women, to be aspirational and to say that violence against women and girls is not inevitable, and they will take action to prevent it. A world that is safe and equal for women and girls is possible, and we now need to make the promise a reality.
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Holly Dustin is at End Violence Against Women Coaltion
This is the best way to thwart an EDL demonstration
Threatened EDL protest at York mosque thwarted by impromptu tea party thrown by local people to celebrate our Muslin neighbours. Sunny day!
— Tim Jones (@FrTimJones) May 26, 2013
He clarified he mean ‘Muslim’ of course, not Muslin.
(via @MarkPack)
Update: There’s more info on this brilliant plan in the Yorks Press.
Watch: Ex-British Army Sikh responds to Woolwich attack
Don’t agree with all the sentiments, but I thought this was quite good.
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