I can see the tv from my desk at work and BBC news is showing some people live from Westminster, looking very cold and windswept, talking about how the Archbishop of Caterbury has apologised to gay people.  Which is good of him.

There was also an article in yesterday's Guardian on a split within the Church of England caused by Conservative Evangelical Christians who are refusing to accept women as Bishops.

At the start of this week's meeting of the General Synod, the church's parliament, in London, they warned that their clergy would in future be trained outside the Church of England if the proposals go ahead later this year.

The pressure group Reform, which claims to represent 350 ordained clergy and which has a track record of threatening action unless it gets its way, claimed its parishes would raise money to train their own clergy and would accordingly reduce payments to the Church of England.

More exciting stuff below the fold.

Some documents landed on my desk from FERPA - the English translation of which is the European Federation of Retired and Elderly People.  It is a union of older people across Europe:

Some 70 million people are aged over 60 in Europe today, amounting to between 3 and 4 in every 10 voters. Their labour, and their political, social and trade union commitment have helped to build the European Union. They therefore demand the right to play an active part in European policy-making at all levels.

Specifically the documents are from their Women's Committee, looking at the evidence of the feminization of poverty and the impact this has on older women.

Monsieur LEP is away this week, on the Superheroes Academy where he will be put through a number of gruelling tests before they give him back his cape and underpants and let him dash around once more.  
Meantime, here is a doggie Superwannabe, with a snug fitting cape of his own.

The heavy weather edition:

Happy New Year!

How will you be celebrating?

So, who's a cool cat round here?

I had a bright idea...

This is Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government and leader of Welsh Labour.

Rhodri Morgan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hywel Rhodri Morgan (born 29 September 1939) is a Welsh Labour politician, who has been the Assembly Member for Cardiff West since 1999 and is the current First Minister for Wales.

It is hard to write an article that would do this man justice, and he has been written about plenty recently following his decision to step down as First Minister.  We are now nearing the end of the Welsh Leadership selection process to choose a new leader of the Party from one of three candidates.

One thing is clear. Rhodri Morgan's leadership will be greatly missed, not just by those within his own party but across the political spectrum in Wales and across the public consciousness.

Yes fine, a deliberately provocative title.  But you know something?  That's exactly what we do ('we' as in wider society).  People are fond of saying "we've made a lot of progress", and some people even announce that the battle for gender equality has been won.

It's been won!

So who am I, and what is my role in society?  Does my gender have any bearing on my likely outcomes in life?  Certainly not, because we've won the battle for gender equality.

I can come and go as I please. I can wear what I like, and not fear violent reprisals. I can follow the career path of my choice knowing that I can get to the top on my own merit. I know that I can have children and share the childcare equally with my partner and not be penalised for taking time out of my career.  I know that whatever job I do, I'll be paid the same as any man doing the same job or a job of equal value. I won't live in poverty either in my working life or as a pensioner due to social policies that privilege marriage and male breadwinners. I won't be stereotyped, or pigeonholed.

And above all, I will never be the target of degrading, offensive or irrelevant comments just because I'm a woman.

I can see you!

Great photos for Sunday viewing - afew

I wish I had more time to do this article justice but I strongly recommend taking a read of Deborah Orr's article in yesterday's Guardian outlining how equality and diversity are not the same thing.  This fact, I take for granted since my work revolves around it but for many people the distinction is not clear at all.  And this lack of understanding is very much at the root of the backlash against 'equality' that we are seeing tumbling all around us right now, from the English Defence League's violent marches to the ruckus over whether or not the BNP's Nick Griffin should be allowed on tonight's Question Time.

Front-paged by afew

Despite being less stable than Nigeria? Oh my.

So says the World Economic Forum, which has just compiled its annual list of the 55 most `financially developed' countries in the world. Despite the mauling it's had in the last 12 months, the City of London has nonetheless pushed the UK above the US into the top spot overall. That's a rare bit of good news for the Government, at a time when reports suggest that various big players are thinking about abandoning the capital for less taxing climes. Admittedly, we were also a slightly worrying 37th in the financial stability rankings - although as economist Nouriel Rabini points out, greater stability is not necessarily a goal in itself...

Call me dim, but why wouldn't we want stability?

bumped by nanne

Apparently the third highest ranking BNP official has been caught lying - fabricating two murders for a BNP campaign.

He has been found guilty of bringing both the Greater London Authority and the Barking and Dagenham Council into disrepute - his lies show the depths the BNP are willing to stoop to in their vile propaganda war.

Where to start?  I'll begin at the end I guess.  I was beaten in the final round by 66 votes to 42. Gutting.

But what was I doing there in the first place?