In rape cases, 'no' means 'no' to everyone except the British...

This follows on from a piece I posted yesterday around the issue of evidence on alcohol use in rape cases. In short, Lady Stern is calling for an abolition of an argument often invoked in rape cases that drunk men who rape can be excused because they know no better. This...

Copenhagen must bring gender justice

"Marginalised women across the developing world will be hit hard by climate change – but their voices are rarely heard."Of course, we know by now that the Copenhagan summit has ended with barely a glimmer of progress. This was nothing if not predictable. Who thought for one...

Drunk men who demand sex should be 'treated as rapists

"Drunken men who demand sex from their wives or girlfriends should be treated as rapists and no longer allowed to claim their judgment was blurred by alcohol, according to the head of the government's review of the rape laws."Well now. This is what seems to be a progressive...

British involvement in Iraq war blamed on Blair’s ‘sycophancy'

"British soldiers were sent to their deaths in Iraq because of Tony Blair’s “sycophancy” towards Washington and the failure of the governing class to speak the truth, a former prosecutions chief says today."This is the kind of thing we need to be hearing now: the truth....

Help teens have sex without pregnancy

"If we are to lower the abortion rate among young women, we must accept that teenagers will have sex and offer them advice." This humble NowPublic author has been saying this for years. Newsflash: teenagers have sex! Another newsflash: teenagers aren't great at using...

'Stoned wallabies make crop circles'

"Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around "as high as a kite", a government official has said."This is simply fantastic, and I very much hope it's true. If you ever wondered how crop circles come about (and don't believe that...

Pope to write to Irish Catholics about 'shameful' clerical abuse

"Pope Benedict XVI is "deeply disturbed and distressed" by a report detailing clerical sexual abuse in the archdiocese of Dublin and is writing to Irish Catholics to help them ensure the future safety of children in the church, the Vatican said today."Oh, this I cannot wait...

Fear dictates Ireland's abortion policy

"Pro-life hatred so dominates the debate it's hard to imagine any real change following this bid to overturn the Irish abortion ban."This piece resonates so greatly with me. As a pro-abortion women who has spent most of her life so far living in Ireland, I know that there is...

Kick the state out of our [gay and straight] bedrooms

In many respects, this has long been the issue for me with regard to gay marriage/ civil unions. It is the interference of the state, again, in the decisions that we (any of us) make about our private lives. The UK government interferes with every single aspect of our private...

Source of Iraq 45-minute WMD 'intelligience' was a taxi driver

"Introducing the first of the British government's "dodgy dossiers" on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in 2002, the then prime minister, Tony Blair, announced that Saddam Hussein's military planning "allows for some of the WMD to be ready within 45 minutes of an order to...

Iran’s investigations into abuses are a sham, says Amnesty

"The Iranian government’s investigations into allegations of torture, rape and unlawful killings in the country “seemed to have been more concerned with covering up abuses than getting at the truth”, Amnesty International said today." Well, there's nothing too...

Muslim woman 'abused' over dress by Christian hotelier

"A Muslim woman was asked by a Christian hotelier if she was a terrorist and a murderer because she was wearing Islamic dress, a court has been told. Ericka Tazi told Liverpool magistrates she faced a tirade of abuse from Benjamin Vogelenzang and his wife Sharon, at their...