A Tory MP has bombarded the government's equalities watchdog with a series of extraordinary letters about race and sex discrimination, in a one-man campaign against "political correctness".In the latest of 19 letters sent since April 2008, and likely to dismay equal rights campaigners, Philip Davies asks Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission: "Is it offensive to black up or not, particularly if you are impersonating a black person?"In a postscript to the letter, he asks "why it is so offensive to black up your face, as I have never understood this".
A Tory MP has bombarded the government's equalities watchdog with a series of extraordinary letters about race and sex discrimination, in a one-man campaign against "political correctness".
In the latest of 19 letters sent since April 2008, and likely to dismay equal rights campaigners, Philip Davies asks Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission: "Is it offensive to black up or not, particularly if you are impersonating a black person?"
In a postscript to the letter, he asks "why it is so offensive to black up your face, as I have never understood this".
<secret code>
Stereotypes exist for a reason. keep to the Fen Causeway
Senior parliamentarians are calling for the government to lift a cloak of secrecy surrounding the Prince of Wales's direct lobbying of ministers, as fresh details of his letter-writing emerged.The chairman of the House of Commons justice committee, which scrutinises secrecy laws, called for the disclosure of recent letters from the prince to cabinet ministers including Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, on subjects thought to range from the standard of primary school education to the design of ecotowns.This week the information commissioner, who adjudicates in secrecy disputes, ordered the prince's letters to remain secret because their release could compromise the appearance of his neutrality and they are essential to educating the future king. The Guardian also revealed that he has written to ministers in at least eight Whitehall departments since 2006.
Senior parliamentarians are calling for the government to lift a cloak of secrecy surrounding the Prince of Wales's direct lobbying of ministers, as fresh details of his letter-writing emerged.
The chairman of the House of Commons justice committee, which scrutinises secrecy laws, called for the disclosure of recent letters from the prince to cabinet ministers including Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, on subjects thought to range from the standard of primary school education to the design of ecotowns.
This week the information commissioner, who adjudicates in secrecy disputes, ordered the prince's letters to remain secret because their release could compromise the appearance of his neutrality and they are essential to educating the future king. The Guardian also revealed that he has written to ministers in at least eight Whitehall departments since 2006.
he wants to feel useful. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
but he doesn't cos he's just not very bright and is surrounded by flatterers who ultimately don't do him any favours. keep to the Fen Causeway
TEHRAN: Iranian Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, a fierce critic of President Mahmoud.Ahmadinejad, has died. Montazeri died on Saturday night in his sleep at his home in the religious city of Qom after a long illness, the reports said. The ayatollah had been banished from politics since the late revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, dismissed him as his designated heir in March 1989 for criticising the Islamic system. Montazeri accused Ahmadinejad's government of dictatorship after his disputed re-election in June. In 2001, the Ayatollah suffered a severe heart attack just after he was released from a five-year period of house arrest and was hospitalised for a long time. Despite political isolation and house arrest for more than ten years, Montazeri remained a respected religious figure and one of Iran's most acknowledged marjae taqlids, to whom Muslims refer for religious guidance. While reformist circles supported Montazeri, the hardliners branded him as secular and condemned his critical approach toward Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini as the country's supreme leader in June 1989. Montazeri criticised the Iranian election system several times and said under these conditions and without genuine and fair competition, elected officials could not respond to the people's needs. The Ayatollah also criticised the foreign policies of President Ahmadinejad. He said the errors committed by the Islamic Republic and the provocations of the Ahmadinejad government brought about an international cohesion that led to the sanctions against Iran with worrying consequences for the population. Despite his religious status in Iran, Montazeri was regarded by the system as a dissident and as a result Iranian state television has not paid any special attention to his death. According to the Fars news agency, so far only Grand Ayatollah Yussef Sanei, himself an Ahmadinejad critic and close to the reformist opposition, has been one of the few high-ranking clerics to have expressed his condolences.
The ayatollah had been banished from politics since the late revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, dismissed him as his designated heir in March 1989 for criticising the Islamic system.
Montazeri accused Ahmadinejad's government of dictatorship after his disputed re-election in June.
In 2001, the Ayatollah suffered a severe heart attack just after he was released from a five-year period of house arrest and was hospitalised for a long time.
Despite political isolation and house arrest for more than ten years, Montazeri remained a respected religious figure and one of Iran's most acknowledged marjae taqlids, to whom Muslims refer for religious guidance.
While reformist circles supported Montazeri, the hardliners branded him as secular and condemned his critical approach toward Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini as the country's supreme leader in June 1989.
Montazeri criticised the Iranian election system several times and said under these conditions and without genuine and fair competition, elected officials could not respond to the people's needs.
The Ayatollah also criticised the foreign policies of President Ahmadinejad. He said the errors committed by the Islamic Republic and the provocations of the Ahmadinejad government brought about an international cohesion that led to the sanctions against Iran with worrying consequences for the population.
Despite his religious status in Iran, Montazeri was regarded by the system as a dissident and as a result Iranian state television has not paid any special attention to his death.
According to the Fars news agency, so far only Grand Ayatollah Yussef Sanei, himself an Ahmadinejad critic and close to the reformist opposition, has been one of the few high-ranking clerics to have expressed his condolences.
According to my contacts, a genuinely spiritual man who recognised that the election of June marked the end of Iran as a theocracy. "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
