MY FIRST CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Some anonymous soul has arranged for me to rceive a free subscription to Evangelical Times http://www.evangelical-times.org/

Thank you for your kindness. Please don't be shy, if you let me know who you are I will return the compliment by subscribing you to my email bulletin if you do not get it already. Just email me at helen@maryhoneyball.net

I will now be taking a break from blogging until the New Year. I hope you have a good Christmas.

Best wishes

Mary

I SUPPORT SAME SEX MARRIAGE

I have not got the titled T-shirt but now the reaction of right-wing Christian evangelical groups means I could not buy it if I wanted to from over 100 shops. This is simply wrong.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/cuttingedge-clothes-chain-faces-a-boycott-and-all-because-of-one-little-progay-tshirt-1206392.html

ADVENT PODCASTS

I have been enjoying the New Humanist magazine's seasonal podcasts with Eddie Izzard, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Fry and more to come have a listen...

http://newhumanist.org.uk/1924

LEYLA ZANA

Today I co-signed a letter in support of my fellow female activist Leyla Zana. Leyla was the first Kurdish woman to win a seat in the Turkish Parliament but in 1994 she was imprisoned by the Turkish authorities for speaking Kurdish in the Parliament. The European Parliament recognised that Leyla was a prisoner of conscience and awarded her the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1995. She collected this prize after her release in 2004.

Given that Turkey is striving to make changes, to promote human rights and to ensure freedom of expression as it attempts to join the EU, it is with regret that I have found out that Leyla Zana has once again been imprisoned. Below is the text of the letter that European MPs have written to the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

On 4th of December a Turkish court sentenced the politician and Sakharov Prize Laureate Leyla Zana to ten years in prison for "violating" the Turkish penal code and the Turkish anti-terror law in nine different speeches. We as Members of the European Parliament strongly condemn this court decision which is a major set back for the democracy process in Turkey. We believe that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right which has to be ensured in a democracy. But unfortunately we witnessed in the past that freedom of expression and also freedom of the press are still not fully protected in Turkey. It is not acceptable that people in Turkey are prosecuted for expressing non-violent opinions. We fear that this court decision, which also revoked Ms Zana's right to vote and run for political office was a political decision as regional elections will be held in Turkey on 29th of March 2009.

Therefore we urge you to make sure that the judgement against Leyla Zana will be annuled and ensure that freedom of expression in Turkey is fully in line with the International Human Rights Standards.

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE

I have just voted in favour of ending the UK opt-out from the Working Time Directive. Since the Working Time Directive improves the balance between work and home life, thereby helping women, as Labour's European Spokesperson on Women, I felt I really had to vote against the British opt out.

This opt-out allowed workers to agree to work longer, subject to certain limits. It specified no more than 60 hours a week on average when calculated over a period of three months or 65 hours where there is no collective agreement and "when the inactive period of on-call time is considered as working time."

The European Parliament decided by a small majority today that the opt out should go and that European workers should therefore be limited to a 48 hour week. However, as this may be calculated over a twelve month period, the net effect will not be as great as some feared. In addition, since the Directive will not come into force for some considerable while, there will be no immediate change, allowing time for new arrangements to be put in place.

There were two votes in the European Parliament on the opt out, both of which required a qualified majority of 393 votes. The first, on the opt out itself, was carried by 421 votes for to 273 against with 11 abstentions. The second vote was on the opt out plus calculating 48 hours a week over a period of 12 months (annualisation). The voting was 544 in favour, against 160 and 12 abstentions.

TASSOS PAPADOPOULOS

With Tassos and Cypriots in Brussels

It is with great sadness that I report the untimely death of Tassos Papadopoulos, the former President of the Republic of Cyprus. Tassos passed away on Friday 12th December, having been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Nicosia General Hospital on November 22nd, suffering from lung cancer.

Tassos served as the Fifth President of the Republic of Cyprus from February 2003 to February 2008. His greatest achievement was Cyprus's entry to the European Union on May 1st, 2004. In January 2008, during his presidency, Cyprus also adopted the Euro currency.

Tassos was President at the time of the Annan Plan and its rejection by the Greek Cypriots in a referendum in 2004.

Tassos Papadopoulos was born on January 7, 1934 in Nicosia. He is survived by his wife Fotini and their four children. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

WOMEN MAKING PROGRESS IN ALBANIA

Recently I co-signed a letter with my colleagues in the Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee to the Albanian Parliament. We congratulated the Parliament for passing a new Gender Equality Law which included gender quotas of 30% for women. We wrote at the request of women's organisations in Albania and asked the Parliament to maintain the gender quotas in the upcoming reform of the Albanian Electoral Code.

The Committee has recently heard back from one of the women's organisations. I have copied the letter below. It is great to hear that our work has helped the situation of women in the Balkans.

'I am writing to say a HUGE thank you for your support to women’s organisations in Albania. The letter you sent to the Albanian Parliament was distributed shortly before the vote took place on the revised Electoral Code and greatly contributed to the outcome. On 20th November, the Committee voted in favour of a 30% gender quota. This is truly a historical moment in Albanian history for women’s rights and gender equality.

Thank you so much for your support and for the great difference you have made.'

MORE PRESSURE ON THE ASAI

Following my complaint to the Irish Advertising Standards Authority, I have received a preliminary response from them. I find it rather shocking.

First they state that they are prepared to investigate complaints about commercial advertisements which have appeared in one of the advertising media that may be in breach of their Code. They then said that Ryanair's product is outside the Code.

I agree the calendar itself is outside the Code. It is up to us as campaigners to complain to Ryanair about this. But the marketing email Ryanair sent advertising the calendar is not exempt from the Code. It is this email that I complained about. This email featured all the same images of un-unionised female workers being 'pimped out' by Ryanair. I have written again to the ASAI to make sure that they realise this.

Is it me or are the ASAI trying to avoid dealing with Ryanair again? They have agreed to discuss the matter but I think we need to put pressure on them not to overlook it.

I urge you to write to the ASAI. More complaints may encourage them to act. Their email address is: standards@asai.ie

The text of the original letter of complaint that I sent to the ASAI is still available on the campaign site:

http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.phpt=43648631921&mbox_pos=0#/group.php?gid=34407854790

PAY GAP STATISTICS

Recently I wrote an article in Tribune on the persistence of the gender pay gap. I worked with the Office of National Statistics to produce data on the gender pay gap in the London boroughs.

You can find this data here:

http://www.maryhoneyball.net/pay-gap-work-areas.xls
http://www.maryhoneyball.net/pay-gap-home-areas.xls

The first table shows the pay gap in a place of work, the second shows the pay gap in the place of residence.

I hope that this data will be useful in continuing the campaign for equal pay for women and men.

MY RESPONSE TO RYANAIR

OPENING UP FAITH BASED SCHOOLS

I am a member of Holborn and St.Pancras Constituency Labour Party. This motion for General Committee (GC) caught my eye and I give it my full support!

This GC notes that the Government has re-affirmed its commitment to the role of faith based schools within our education system.This GC believes that, in the first instance, education should be entirely secular.

However, this GC also recognises that over a third of schools within the maintained sector (and academies and city technology colleges) are faith schools, and that the vast majority of these are either Church of England or Roman Catholic. GC notes that faith schools are allowed, when over-subscribed, to offer a preference to pupils following their designated faith.

GC further notes the recent Government research, which discovered widespread non-compliance with the statutory admissions code. Most of the non-complying schools were faith schools. This GC believes that, especially in places like Camden with a highly diverse community and where schools are regularly over-subscribed, faith schools admission arrangements are damaging to community cohesion and social mobility. GC supports Frank Dobson MP's proposal that faith schools, which receive state subsidy, should accept at least 25% of their intake from
outside the faith to which the school subscribes.

We believe that faith schools could still offer education within a faith ethos without needing to discriminate via a form of covert selection.

Camden Town with Primrose Hill Branch Labour Parties.

GC to send this motion to Ed Balls MP, Frank Dobson MP and the Labour Party National Policy Forum

COMMISSION WEBSITES

This new website, developed and funded by the European Commission, came to my attention this week:

http://www.farmland-thegame.eu/home_en.html

The site aims to teach children about farming in the Europe. Sadly it completely ruins any good work it does by using an image of an unhealthily thin and provocatively dressed young girl to guide users through the site.

I find it both shocking and depressing that the Commission’s Department for Health and Consumer Protection finds it acceptable to promote their work by using this image. Not only is it a horrific gender stereotype but it is also an extremely unhealthy image to promote to children. In the recent gender stereotyping report passed by Parliament, my colleagues and I noted that children are particularly impressionable audiences and that promoting unhealthy and unrealistic body images can negatively affect young viewers’ self-perception.

The DG Health evidently was not listening.

I have written a priority question to the Commission asking them what they were thinking of when they made this site and how much it cost to develop. I am also currently rallying support in the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee to take further action.

SURPRISE RESHUFFLE

News broke yesterday that the European Commission President Barroso has announced a reshuffle of senior officials, without warning and apparently without consultation with his commissioners.

http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/barroso-springs-reshuffle-on-angry-commissioners/63279.aspx

Cathy Ashton and Margot Wallström were among those who objected to the move. And rightly so. As well as being an undemocratic move, this reshuffle does nothing to redress the appalling gender balance in the executive branch of the EU. The reshuffle means there will now be just four female heads of the 31 administrative departments. This will reduce to three when Claire Durand, the new head of the legal service, retires in July.

BUILDING EUROPE

Ever since the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, many of our meeting rooms in Brussels have become increasingly full. With Romania and Bulgaria joining the EU in 2007 and growing interest in our meetings from lobbyists, many rooms were simply over crowded. This extra space will allow for more interested citizens to attend our public meetings.

At the end of last week a new building opened in Brussels to provide us with more meeting rooms and more space for the public to follow what goes on here.

Today I finally found time to have a look around the new building. Here are a few photos of the building, which is named after József Antall.

You can see more of my photos on my Flickr account

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maryhoneyballmep/

ADVERTISING CODES

Yesterday I heard back from the British Advertising Standards Authority regarding the complaint I lodged against Ryanair's latest bout of sexist advertising. Because Ryanair's publicity emails were sent out from the company's headquarters, it is the Irish ASA that I need to contact with my complaint.

What is exciting is that the Irish ASA has a clause in its code of advertising standards stating:

'Marketing communications should respect the principle of the equality of men and women. They should avoid sex stereotyping and any exploitation or demeaning of men and women. '

The UK code does not have this, despite the calls earlier this year from the parliamentary Gender Equality committee for all European advertising monitors to address gender stereotyping. In fact, the British ASA contacted me in July to say that a clause on gender stereotyping would not be necessary. They argued the ASA code already provides sufficient regulation to ensure that advertising is not discriminatory or harmful to women.

Ryanair's recent advertising proves the British ASA wrong. Adverts containing harmful stereotypes persist. I have written to the Irish ASA to complain against the adverts. But I shall also find out whether Ryanair used the same publicity in Ireland as in the UK. I want to know why Irish women are protected from this advertising, but not British women.

If you would like to see the text of my letter to the ASAI, please join the facebook group below:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=602192398#/group.php?gid=34407854790&ref=mf

BREAKING GENDER STEREOTYPES

Yesterday the Parliament hosted a conference on breaking gender stereotypes in small and medium-sized businesses. It brought together female and male entrepreneurs from across Europe to debate and share best practice on how to overcome sexist stereotypes in business.

Such discussions are vital for several reasons. They aim to make the work place fairer for all employees, encouraging people to be recognised for the skills they bring to a business rather than just for their gender. But this conference was also organised in order to help SMEs increase their productivity. It is essential that, especially during an economic downturn, the EU supports its smaller businesses. And smaller businesses can only truly maximise their resources if they allow their staff to flourish with supportive work-life measures for women and men and with equal opportunities for all.

For me, this conference is what Europe is all about: bringing together different national experiences to forge progress across the continent. Notions of ‘intercultural dialogue’ and other EU projects can sometimes seem unconnected with the everyday life of Europe’s citizens. But here is an example of exactly that dialogue in action. It will have a dramatic impact on citizens if it means that work places become fairer and more flexible for both men and women.

Of course, I can never understand why the Tories are so dogmatically eurosceptic. Perhaps if they had attended this excellent meeting they would have seen just how much Britain stands to lose if the Tories take us further away from Europe.


You can find out more about this EU programme here:
http://www.businessandgender.eu/

RYANAIR RETURNS

You might be interested in this comment piece about Ryanair's Calendar on the Daily Telegraph's blog site:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/tracy_corrigan/blog/2008/11/27/girly_calendars_dont_offend_me_but_ryanair_does

LETTER TO ASA

Yesterday I sent a letter to the Advertising Standards Authority, complaining about Ryanair's latest derogatory ad campaign. Please feel free to use this letter as a template if you would also like to write to the ASA and to register your complaint.

Advertising Standards Authority
Mid City Place
71 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6QT
24 September 2008
Dear Sir / Madam

RE: Ryanair's Charity Calendar Advertisements

I recently received a publicity email from Ryanair, which included a large advertisement for their 2009 charity calendar featuring semi-naked female cabin crew. The advert also included a link to a 'soft-porn' style video on the making of the Ryanair calendar.

This advertising appears to contravene paragraphs 2.2 (social responsibility) and 5.1 (decency) of the non-broadcast CAP code.

I have highlighted some issues below that are of particular concern:

o Have Ryanair checked that the recipients of this mass email are not minors? If not then they are ignoring their social responsibility to consumers and the wider public.

o Have all of Ryanair's staff consented to this calendar being made? This calendar clearly sexualises Ryanair's female cabin crew and may undermine them professionally. The calendar will, I hope, have been made with the consent of the staff appearing in it. But such advertising will have ramifications for the wider body of staff. It may contravene paragraph 13 of the CAP (protection of privacy). Ryanair does not recognise trade unions, making it vital that their advertising does not adversely affect a body of workers who must remain voiceless.

Ryanair's advertising has caused wide concern, as can be seen in the facebook campaign group that has been set up to raise awareness of the issue.

I ask you to take up these issues with Ryanair.

Yours faithfully

Mary Honeyball MEP

ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The day was established by the UN in 1999 and was chosen to be on 25th November as it was on this day in 1960 that three Dominican sisters were murdered for campaigning against the dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Women's rights have progressed in the Dominican Republic and countless other countries since 1960. This is thanks to the leadership of the UN and other international organisations, not to mention the thousands of women - and men - on the ground who selflessly devote their lives to standing up for the rights of their sisters. But there is still a long way to go.

Just last week I co-signed a letter to the Nicaraguan ambassador to Brussels, written by my colleague on the Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee, urging him to respect the human rights of women's rights activists in Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, a country where abortion is illegal in every instance, including when the life of the mother is at risk, women's rights defenders have faced physical harassment and intimidation by the government.

This is just one example of women still facing violence and harassment purely because they are women. It is clear that, on this day especially, we must ensure that we all continue to work to eliminate the horror of gender-based violence.

CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATES STILL MOST LIKELY TO BE MALE

As someone thoroughly committed to Electoral Reform, I'd like to recommend the following briefing. It's certainly worth subscribing to.

http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/downloads/wpe27.pdf

Stories in this bulletin include: Conservative Candidates still most likely to be male - no surprise there then!

AND

Global Gender Gap 2008 showing there's plenty more work and campaigning for me to do.... have a read.

BOOZE CRUISES ON BBC1 POLITICS SHOW TODAY

I will be on the Politics Show (South West region only) today being interviewed on booze cruises. It is at 12 noon today (Sunday)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7735297.stm

Or watch again via the BBC iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fscnd/The_Politics_Show_South_West_23112008/

ABORTION PETITION

I have signed this petition on changing the abortion laws in Northern Ireland. Abortion is still illegal in most cases in Northern Ireland. This means many women are forced to travel to the mainland UK or go to illegal and dangerous backstreet clinics. It is terrible that women in Northern Ireland do not have the same access to reproductive healthcare, and therefore the same freedom over their bodies, as women in the rest of the UK.

I would urge you to sign this petition too.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/abortionNI/

PLANE SEXIST

Just a year on from its Britney Spears style ad of a scantily clad school girl was formally reprimanded, Ryanair has again done the dirty in a desperate bid for profits and pimped out its "sexiest" airline stewards in a "bare all" calendar.

You might like to read my Guardian Comment is Free article on Ryanair's advertising, or vote in the poll on the left.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/21/ryanair-advertising

The sexy calendar features Ryanair's staff posing in skimpy bikinis wielding hoses and sprawling across aircrafts. But worse still the links I received in a promotional email took me to a YouTube soft porn-style video of Ryanair staff being stroked by greased-up men and scintillating camera close-ups. I received this depressing advert in a spam email, with no age limit, to titillate its customers to "click on the video link to bare all". Be warned!

On a serious note, these women have no access to trade union representation. Ryanair does not recognise any worker organisation and accordingly no trade union has been able to establish itself in Ryanair to defend cabin crew. Even though some of these women could be happy to take part, who do they turn to if they're not?

PROSTITUTION DEBATE CONTINUED

I have been following the debate in the media on Jacqui Smith's proposed changes to the prostitution laws and noticed this excellent article by my Labour Party colleague Fiona MacTaggart:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/19/prostitution-home-office

I posted a reply on the Guardian website which I have put below:

Fiona MacTaggart has hit the nail on the head by asking 'who chooses?' when it comes to prostitution. It was exactly this question that caused so much discomfort in recent meetings of the European Parliament's Women's Rights Committee.

This committee, which normally strives to overcome differences to promote the rights and welfare of women, could not unite behind a single position on prostitution. And it was not due to partisan differences but to fundamental disagreements over the issue of who chooses.

My German, Dutch and Austrian colleagues in the European Socialist Party refused to support a report written by a Swedish MEP about the health consequences of prostitution. The report pointed out that 'prostituted women are considerably more at risk of physical and psychological injuries related, not to extraordinary violence, but to the everyday practice of prostitution'. My colleagues' objection to the report was that it portrayed prostituted women as victims. They argued that instead prostitutes are women who have made a choice to work in the sex industry and ought to be supported in their choice. For these MEPs, the question 'who chooses' is a simple one.

But, as Fiona and my Swedish colleague note, the question is not simple. Even in countries where prostitution is legalised, such as Germany, Holland and Austria, women do not make a free or simple choice to enter prostitution. Figures showing the number of trafficked women and drug addicts who enter this trade are just one of many proofs of this.

The Swedish report on prostitution and health was rejected by the Parliament's Women's Committee. Speaking to the committee after the vote, the report's draftswoman condemned those voting against it for gagging the parliament on this important issue. By refusing to compromise on their views regarding the choice that these prostituted women make, the committee killed the report so it could not be debated by the wider Parliament. It is a great shame that we feminists, in our quest to support women and equality, cannot step aside from the emotive arguments regarding personal choice and let the facts on the violence and abuse suffered by too many prostitutes speak for themselves. Prostitution is, as my Swedish colleague said, the last great feminist taboo.

PROSECUTION FOR BUYING SEX

Men may now be prosecuted if they pay for sex with women who are trafficked or controlled, eg by a pimp or drug dealer. Ignorance that the woman was being controlled will not be a defence and men who knowingly pay for sex with trafficked women may face rape charges.

The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has been courageous in introducing this legislation which also includes prosecution for first-time kerb crawlers. Despite criticisms from the likes of former Tory Leader Michael Howard, these measures will, I believe, help bring down the numbers of women trafficked into prostitution.

Never underestimate the numbers of women involved. The Metropolitan Police have estimated that 70 percent of the 88,000 women in prostitution in England and Wales are under the control of traffickers. Trafficking is a brutal and inhuman crime. Men who use prostitutes who have been trafficked are feeding this crime.

Since nearly three quarters of prostitutes in this country have been trafficked there is a very strong chance that those men who visit prostitutes will have sex with a trafficked woman. Studies show that use generates demand. This means that without action such as that taken by the Home Secretary the number of women trafficked into the UK will only go up.

The new legislation has come about following a six month consultation so it is well thought through and not a knee jerk reaction. Yes, I would have liked to see paying for sex outlawed all together as in Sweden, but it was clear the public in this country would not accept such a radical measure all in one go. I do, however, hope we may come back to this in the future and that the present position will not be set in stone for all time.

I think it is telling that the police support the Home Secretary's proposed new laws. The legislation is based in part on evidence from Pentameter, the police operation in London which did much to tackle trafficking in the capital. Her proposals have also been welcomed by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

TORIES ABSTAIN ON EQUAL PAY REPORT

The Tories in the European Parliament yesterday abstained from voting to reduce the gender pay gap across Europe.

The gender pay gap report was written by German centre-right MEP Edit Bauer. Calling for a review and analysis of all member states' existing legislation on the application of equal pay and establishing best practice on the issue, it was ratified by the European Parliament with a large majority.

But Tories voted against a number of amendments on the report that gave weight to the recommendations, including one to name and shame employers who are guilty of pay discrimination. They also rejected recommending that equality bodies should have legal powers to bring wage discrimination to court.

As happens so often, the Tories have said one thing in the UK but done the exact opposite in Europe.

The report also recommended the introduction of obligatory regular pay audits and the publication of their results. This own initiative report has similar leverage in the European Parliament as a House of Commons Select Committee Report.

MP LOSES ALLOWANCE BECAUSE OF "RUDE" BLOG

Paul Flynn, MP for Newport West, has recently had part of his House of Commons parliamentary allowance taken away because his blog, allegedly paid for out of the public purse, ws deemed "rude" as well as disseminating political propaganda.

You can read the full story on the link below.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7736245.stm

I think this an unnecessarily harsh punishment by the House of Commons authorities. Communicating with their electorates is one of the main jobs of MPs and other representatives including MEPs. We should not be shackled by unelected bureaucrats.

GARY TITLEY, LEADER EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARY LABOUR PARTY

BREAKING NEWS.

Gary Titley, Labour MEP for the North West Region and current Leader of the European Labour Party (EPLP), is to stand down as EPLP Leader on 14 January next year.

This means that the EPLP will have to elect a new leader to take Labour into the European Elections in June 2009.

We could have an intersting contest on our hands. Watch this space.

WATERSTONES CAVES INTO EXTREMISM

I saw this disturbing story...

http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2008/11/stephen-green-makes-late-bid-for-bad.html

RYANAIR'S ADVERTISING

Last year Ryanair were reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority for using sexually provocative photos of women dressed up as school girls along with the headline "Hottest Back to School Fares".

Last night I received an email from Ryanair advertising their latest sale and 2009 calendar of scantily clad staff who "bare all".

Do you think this is an acceptable way to portray your female cabin crew? Why not take part in the poll I've added to this blog?

FAIR REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT

Congratulations to Harriet Harman on the Speakers’ Conference on women and members of ethnic minority groups in Parliament. If Parliament is ever going to be a fully representative body for all sections of our society, women, black people and people with disabilities all have to be there.

The current situation where less than 20 percent of MPs are women is really not tenable. It’s one third in the European Parliament, which, though much better, is still not good enough. According to the “Guardian” today, it will take 400 years for the Conservatives to reach gender balance in the House of Commons. There should also be four times as many minority ethnic MPs as at present.

Sadly, our legislature is not at all representative. The political class, from which more and more of our MPs are drawn, to which Hazel Blears referred over the weekend, is growing apace. It is a grouping which is almost all white and middle class. This is not good news for democracy.
The number of MPs from outside the middle class, i.e. from manual worker backgrounds, is falling rapidly. While I think this is more difficult to define than race or sex in that people born into such circumstances can become middle class through education and life experience, we still need to bear this matter in mind.

As something close to my heart, I would like the Speaker’s Conference to look at our voting system. No other country in Europe uses first past the post for elections to their parliament. In this country the narrowing political class concentrates on the 20 or so percent of marginal seats which will decide the next general election. These seats are by their nature particular and unlike the remaining 80 percent.

Any system which sees only 20 percent of the country as electorally significant will never be fully representative. As someone who is elected by a proportional system, I believe it is much fairer in that every vote counts. Electoral reform would be a real challenge for the Speaker’s Conference and one they should take on board.

EU WORKING FOR WOMEN

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

This week I was invited to give a speech on Women in Business at this year's GCC Euro Expo in London. I thought you might be interested to see what I said:



First may I thank the organisers for inviting me to speak at such an exciting and important event as this Gulf Cooperation Council European Expo. With the recent shake-ups in global financial sectors it is clear that now is a crucially important time to support businesses and to promote trade between Britain and the rest of the world.

But a key way for enterprises to grow and to prosper is by having more women working in business. The European Union is currently working towards its Lisbon policy objective of creating more growth and jobs across the continent by achieving 60% employment for women across the EU by 2010. Since Labour came into power in Britain more women are in work than ever before. But while improvements have been made all over Europe there is still not a single EU country in which the percentage of women in the labour force reaches even 50%. Moreover, studies show that of those women who are employed, business is still a minority occupation with men far more likely to be working as business managers, entrepreneurs or to be self-employed. Business remains an unpopular choice for the women of Europe.

What is holding women back from entering into business? And how can the European Union help to address the discrepancy between the genders and so ensure that businesses profit from having the best and the brightest working for them, no matter what their sex?

There are undoubtedly many issues that could be discussed here and that I hope will be discussed during this session. But I will focus on just three factors I consider to be crucial in preventing more women from working in business: education, work / life balance and the inhospitable climate in the business world.

Firstly, whist women consistently perform better than men both at school and at university, they are still underrepresented in the fields of science and mathematics. It is the study of these subjects that often leads to a career in enterprise. The EU is working to increase the overall number of graduates in science and mathematics by at least 15% by 2010 and MEPs on the women's committee have called for further measures specifically to encourage women into these subjects. Universities need to engage in more schemes that promote the study of maths and science to women and so break down some of the gender stereotypes that exist in education. And the EU needs to continue to support them in this.

Secondly, balancing the commitments of domestic life with a career has long been a factor in keeping women out of work. Motivated and educated women are more likely to be either unemployed or stuck in temporary or part-time work in their 20s and 30s than men are at the same age. This is often because they are held back as they are unable to find affordable childcare. Moreover, self-employed women, many of whom work in the business sector, have been particularly vulnerable to work / life clashes because they are not entitled to the same maternity provisions as colleagues.

But in an exciting recent move, the European Commission has announced an overhaul of existing legislation as part of a package to help working mothers. Whilst still in its infancy, this package will give self-employed women the right to paid maternity leave through their country's social security plan. It will also urge European states to live up to their commitments to provide affordable childcare. Only five EU countries, including the UK, have surpassed the childcare provision target for children under three years old despite the EU providing €500m to enable them to reach this goal. Who knows how many talented women are held back from entering and energising the business sector because they cannot find affordable healthcare? Who knows how many entrepreneurial women have been put off from starting their own businesses because of the lack of state maternity provision? Let us hope that this package will start to remove some of these barriers to women in business.

Finally, and perhaps the most difficult barrier to overcome, certainly through regulation alone, is the inhospitable climate facing women that is present in businesses around the globe. Women are still hugely underrepresented in business boardrooms. The gender pay gap in the private sector is 25% - far above the public sector figure of 15%. And women face subtle discrimination in recruitment practices around Europe. The European Union is doing what it can to tackle these problems, from supporting womens' business networks at a local level to passing legislation to outlaw gender discrimination at the international level. But ultimately, change must come from within the business community. Businesses must realise the vast amounts of talent that they are missing by remaining dominated by men. They must realise that their productivity could increase vastly if women, as well as men, were able to fulfill their potential in business.

2009 is the European Year of Creativity and Innovation. I hope that in this year we can increase our level of creativity and innovation in Europe's trade with the rest of the world. But I hope that we do this by allowing women to play their vital role in business.

TORY WHIP WITHDRAWN FROM DEN DOVER

Den Dover, a North West MEP and former Tory Chief Whip in the European Parliament, has had the Conservative Whip removed. You may remember he was accused of employing his wife and daughter via a family-owned company in explicit defiance of Parliament regulations. The official inquiry undertaken by the European Parliament has now found Den Dover guilty and he has agreed to pay back over £500,000 of "unaccountable expenditure".

The "Guardian" link below gives the full story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/13/conservatives-david-cameron

According to today's "Daily Telegraph" Den Dover, who was, incidentally, unavailable for comment yesterday, had earlier said:

"They (the wife and daughter) get market rates, but they put in two or three times the number of hours - they just never stop, and I pray tribute to their hard work. Therefore I am totally innocent of any charges."

NORWAY ON TOP

You might be interested in this article on the BBC News website about closing the gender gap. The Nordic countries come out well in terms of equality, as does New Zealand.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7722389.stm

THE WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE

The article below appeared in the "Guardian" Comment is Free section on Saturday. The Working Time Directive has proved very controversial. Despite what you may have read, agreement has not yet been reached.

Mary Honeyball

guardian.co.uk, Saturday November 8 2008 18.00 GMT

Labour MEPs voted this week to end Britain's opt-out from the working time directive – which limits the working week to 48 hours – in 2011. Ignore the sceptics: the directive would be a good piece of legislation. It seeks to improve the work-life balance that it recognises is necessary to increase women's employment. It looks at creating a more satisfactory working environment to respond better to workers' demands, particularly from those with family responsibilities. In addition, it tries to protect the health and safety of workers.
Although the European Parliament's employment and social affairs committee voted to abolish the opt-out, the decision is not yet law: the matter still needs to go before the full European parliament, scheduled for the week beginning December 15.
The European Council (the employment ministers of the member states, in this instance) took a different view: they wanted to preseve the right to opt out. Differences of view between the Parliament and the council are not that uncommon in EU land. But both must agree if the legislation is to go through. There will no doubt be lengthy and difficult negotiations right up to the crucial European parliament vote. The whole package is genuinely up for grabs, and your guess on the final outcome is as good as mine.
So it is really too soon to lambast Labour MEPs for voting against the wishes of the British government. Yes, the Labour MEPs on the employment committee did vote to end the opt-out after three years. But the full European parliamentary Labour party has yet to vote in the plenary session of the European parliament in December. I can honestly say that we have not yet decided what to do, and we are unlikely to be able to take an informed view until the negotiations between parliament and council are concluded.
I agree that the EU has a long drawn out and not very user-friendly way of creating laws. Interestingly, the UK opposition parties have not complained about the bureaucracy this time, as is their wont on many matters before the EU. Both Philip Bushill-Matthews for the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrat spokesperson Liz Lynne have instead chosen to focus on the alleged disagreement between Labour MEPs and the PM.
Many of the objections raised at the start of the directive's journey through the EU labyrinth have already been ironed out. Were it to go through, it would be exactly the kind of law thart does credit to the EU. What is more, treating workers the same across the EU is very welcome for the single market, one of the few EU agreements accepted by all the major political parties in Britain.

ROBERT EVANS MEP

My colleague and good friend Robert Evans has just announced that he will not be standing as an MEP again. Robert will therefore continue in the European Parliament until the European elections in June next year.

Robert will be missed by his many friends. He has been a hard working and conscientious MEP, serving as Chair of the European delegation to South Asia and as a member of the Transport Committee. He is also a former Vice-Chair of the Civil Liberties Committee. Robert has been an outstanding constituency MEP as his regard in London amply demonstrates.

London in Europe will not be the same without Robert. May I, along with many others I am sure, wish him all the very best for the future.

A PATRIOTIC WEEKEND

Maybe by accident rather than design, I feel as if I have had a patriotic and possible celebratory couple of days. The Lord Mayor’s Show yesterday and now Remembrance Sunday have made this a fairly untypical couple of days.

Of course we should remember those who gave their lives in both World Wars and all the other conflicts where men and women have been sent to fight. There is no question about this, and it is a tribute to our armed services, veterans’ organisations and everyone else involved both nationally and locally that we have the level and seriousness of remembrance we have experienced today.

Yet I always feel uncomfortable watching the spectacle at the Cenotaph, especially now when Britain is involved in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq and has troops stationed in other parts of the world. Our country is still sending young men all over the globe to be slaughtered in some foreign field.

Only this morning the Chief of Defence Staff, Sir Jock Stirrup, made the case for the war in Afghanistan on the Andrew Marr programme. It boiled down to this: since there is a vacuum is a dangerous part of the world, someone needs to make sure things do not get out of hand.

While I would not disagree with this, I would have thought Stirrups’s argument is grounds for full international co-operation. Even I, a Labour MEP with a history of anti-war activity, would concede that it is sometimes necessary to send troops to troubled parts of the world, especially when such action would help reduce terrorism and curtail the drugs trade. However, I do think the pain and suffering should be equally shared by all the countries who stand to gain.

Notwithstanding the fact that the City of London is not at all integrated into the rest of London government, the Lord Mayor’s Show is a great spectacle. I was fortunate to be invited to watch it by the Stationers and Papermakers Livery Company.

There has been a Lord Mayor of London since 1189, though it wasn't until 1215, when King John granted a Charter allowing the City's citizens to elect their own mayor, that the Lord Mayor's Show actually came into being. The Charter stipulated that the new Mayor must be presented to the Sovereign for approval and to swear fealty to the Crown, so each year the newly elected Mayor had to travel from the City to Westminster to pledge allegiance.

The Lord Mayor has been making that yearly journey for 784 years. The modern Lord Mayor's procession is a direct descendant of that first journey to Westminster.

On a weekend when war in Europe is on our minds it was interesting to reflect on the unbroken nature of British history and tradition. Never really having suffered invasion and revolution like most EU countries, events such as the Lord Mayor’s Show have survived more or less in their original form. The same applies to many of our organs of state and institutions of government. This can sometimes be a weakness rather than a strength.

While the current financial crisis is not the time to introduce constitutional reform, I would urge the Prime Minister to return to this sooner rather than later. While I would always wish to maintain the helpful parts of history and tradition, Gordon Brown would do us all good by dragging those elements in Britain which require it into the twentieth century.

GLENROTHES

What an amazing victory. There is no doubt now that the Labour Party and our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, are back in the race. Even more so as both the Tories and Lib Dems lost their deposits. Although Glenrothes was always going to be a contest between Labour and the SNP, the exceptionally poor showing by the two major opposition parties may be significant for a general election.

Gordon took a brave decision to campaign in the constituency which clearly paid off. Sarah was, as ever, a tremendous asset. It’s good to see her taking a higher profile role, and the great thing about Sarah is that she invariably makes the right judgement about what her role should be.

Congratulations to Lindsay Roy, obviously a well known and popular local head teacher and community stalwart. This by-election pressed all the right buttons. I’m even more confident now that we, the Labour Party can, and will, keep it up.

WOMAN'S HOUR POLITICAL BLOGS

This blog had a honourable mention on "Woman's Hour" yesterday during a discussion on political blogs. The item featured ace blogger, Tory Iain Dale, and Professor Jean Seaton. It arose out of Hazel Blears's widely reported comments that political blogs were nasty, brutish but not very short. (The last of those descriptions is my own - I just think many blogs are too long).

At the end of the piece, both Iain and Jean were asked to name blogs they like and Jean mentioned this very one. Thank you Jean. It's great to know you, and hopefully others, like my blog.

You can listen to the Woman's Hour discussion by clicking on the picture below.

SOMALIAN WOMAN STONED TO DEATH

A copy of this important and shocking letter addressed to Frank Dobson, MP for Holborn and St Pancras, was copied to me. The writer lives in Frank's consituency and, as you can see, speaks very much from the heart.

Some years ago I took up the case of a Nigerian woman, Amina Lawal, who was convicted of adultery by a sharia court and sentenced to death by stoning. Thanks to pressure from around the world, including Amnesty International, she was repreieved, unlike this poor woman.

I would ask everyone who reads this to do whatever they can to stop this kind of behaviour which really should not be happening anywhere in the world in the 21st century.

"I was shocked and incredibly moved when I heard of the 13 year old Somalian rape victim, Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow, who was convicted of adultery and then stoned to death by 50 men, with over a thousand spectators. This is absolutely horrific and barbaric and I, personally, cannot help but feel distressed at the prospect of what she and her family must have gone through. Not only did the authorities fail to protect her and bring about justice concerning the gang-rape, but they again failed her when they did not prevent this unspeakable act of violence and cruelty from happening. I implore you to investigate this further and do everything in your power to prevent such brutality from occurring again, as well as fighting to bring these people to justice. If the matter is outof your hands, I ask for you to please forward this on to the relevant parties."

OBAMA'S LANDMARK VICTORY

The excitement surrounding Obama's victory reminds me of Tony Blair's landslide in 1997. I was there on 2 May when Whitehall was besieged by exuberant well-wishers. The mood stayed that way for some years and Tony Blair never lost an election. His government invested in the National Health Service, raised educational standards to the extent that upward social mobility is now improving and virtually eradicated unemployment.

Blair's landslide was, of course, due in large part to his belief in a better future and his personal charisma. It was also caused by the country being sick of Thatcher and Major and Tory sleaze. People desperately wanted a new dawn.

The same is very true of the Obama victory. The big themes of the Republican Party - tax cutting, outlawing abortion and supporting marriage - are no longer what Americans want. The Republicans were forced to select John McCain, a maverick with unorthodox views, because there was no electable mainstream candidate. McCain then chose Sarah Palin to appease the Republican base, and look where that got him.

America is also becoming less white. US Census Bureau figures indicate that by 2042 white Americans will be in a minority. Some cannier Republicans, notably Karl Rove, understood the electoral implications of this demographic change, which is why President G W Bush supported a liberal policy on immigration, almost certainly much against his instincts.

Even more significant is that not only is segregation dead, but an African-American had succeeded to the highest office in the land. I'm not sure whether this has really yet sunk in. It will transform politics not only in America, but across the world.

Barack Obama is an amazing individual. Bill Clinton was often referred to as an extraordinary American. Mr Obama is ahead even of Mr Clinton. I have a new feeling of optimism which has been lacking for some long time.

THE NEXT AMERICAN PRESIDENT

So Obama has won. Indeed we have won. I think we’ve known for some time what the result would be and it’s now confirmed.

Americans have at last faced up to the racism in their past and voted to draw that terrible era to a close.

Americans have also demonstrated just how fed up they were with the stupid white men who governed them for the past eight years.

I have just one word to say to Barack Obama: women. Hillary gained a great deal of support from working class women. If he is to be a true bringer of change, Obama needs to work for the female half of the population and for women across the world.

Barack – we will be watching you.

THE MISOGYNY OF ROSS AND BRAND

I am going to make one last comment on the Ross/Brand saga and then leave it behind which is where the whole messy tale deserves to be.

The following extract from an article by India Knight in the Sunday Times at the week-end (2 November) puts it very well. Congratulations to India for exposing the attitudes of both Ross and Brand to women.

"......what lies at the centre of this sorry saga is misogyny. None of it would have happened if Ross and Brand displayed - or were asked to display - even an iota of respect for women. Instead, both men have made part of their living out of treating women - wives and mothers excluded - as though they were pieces of meat. This can be very funny but it sticks in the craw.
Ross has an Achilles’ heel: he is a marvellous interviewer of men, but reduces every single female interviewee to meat status. Basically, his whole shtick boils down to “I’d do you”. Unless the woman in question is ancient or deformed, Ross crushes any spark of opinion until said woman can be squashed back into the box labelled “totty”.

Brand, whose issues with sex addiction are well documented, has a similar problem. I interviewed him last summer. He was, shall we say, attentive, rather distractingly so as I sat trying to take notes and keep the conversation on track. My interview appeared in due course.
Three weeks ago I got an e-mail from a friend suggesting that I listen to that week’s radio show podcast. Now, I didn’t go to Brand’s house batting my eyelashes or bandying killer chat-up lines (“My grandpa was Coco the Clown”, maybe); I went to do my job. I was therefore taken aback to find myself named on air as a prelude to Brand discussing my bosoms with, surreally, Noel Gallagher from Oasis, who insistently asked: “Did you sleep with her?”, a question that caused Brand to speculate in some detail about what sleeping with me might have been like. None of this was mean or cruel, but it was out of order and reductive: woman, ergo piece of meat, fair game, punchline, nonperson.

In Ross’s and Brand’s world, it is assumed that all women are gagging for a bit of the old trouser goodness. I don’t necessarily blame them for this: many male celebrities do indeed find it to be so and this assumption happens to be shared by most men - it's just that most men are more discreet about airing their misogyny, because they have normal lives and engage with normal women in normal places, such as offices. Ross, Brand and others operate from ivory towers, no matter how populist their appeal.

The BBC’s failure was in not identifying the alarming propensity of its two presenters for galloping, off-the-scale sexism and in making no attempt to rein it in".

KILLER HEELS AGAIN

I am returning to this subject as I read a very good piece in the Guardian G2 today by Hadley Freeman, the generally sensible fashion editor. Come to think of it a Guardian fashion editor who was anything other than sensible would be a contradiction in terms.

Hadley likens five inch heels to Victorian corsets, the kind which shrank women's waists to half the circumference of their hips and broke ribs into the bargain. Thankfully such barbarity died out after the First World War when a wave of women's emancipation flooded across Europe. The corset faded away, though vestiges of the idea reappeared in the 1950s when constricting underwear made a fairly brief appearance. Nowadays, while some underwear claims to improve the silhouette, it's very rare for it to hurt or cause harm.

So why the killer heels, which actually do hurt and cause damage to the feet and back? Why are these terrible things being promoted and why are serious newspapers, with the honourable exception of the Guardian, running articles taking the view that women should actually indulge in this form of self-torture?

Hadley thinks women in killer heels look like "small children make believing at being grown up". I think it's more to do with incapacitating women. "Sexy" is all too often construed as pliant, malleable and ultimately weak. After all there is not much power in being skinny, ie underfed, and dressed in such a way that it's impossible to move freely. In this sense five and six inch heels are the modern corset. I also believe the pressure to diet and be thin can be seen in the same way.

The 64,000 dollar question is, of course, why do so many women go along with what others, society if you prefer that terminology, want for them even when it is manifestly not in their own interests? Women obviously feel pressured to conform to a certain image and behave in certain ways. Some of this image and some of these behaviours are positively detrimental. It would, I believe, be better for all of us if women, and men as well, felt less need to look and act in certain ways and felt freer to pursue their own destinies, as long as they did not harm others in the process.

SCANDAL OF MOTHERS HELD IN PRISON

I had the following letter printed in the Independent on Saturday 1 November.
The letter deals with a very important topic. I therefore thank the Independent for being bold enough to publish it, including my direct criticism of Tory MEPs.

Scandal of mothers held in prison

Your report on the devastatingly high numbers of mothers imprisoned in the UK for non-violent offences (front page, 27 October) raises an important issue for those of us in front-line politics. In Brussels this year, my colleagues and I made recommendations to EU governments stating that pregnant women and mothers of young children should be jailed only as a last resort.
The report's recommendations, to alleviate the mental and physical dangers posed to mothers and children by a prison environment, were voted through by most MEPs across all countries and parties. But, embarrassingly for the UK, our Conservative MEPs abstained from voting. The Tory MEP Chris Heaton-Harris said the findings of the report "are more coherent with somebody who watched too much Prisoner: Cell Block H as a child than the actual situation of women in prisons".
I hope that your reporting of the realities of numbers of mothers in prison will wake politicians who deny what life is like for a mother raising her child behind bars and spur immediate action to redress this rising birth rate in jails.

Mary Honeyball MEP
Labour Spokesperson in the European Parliament, Women's Rights Committee, London W9

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SHOULD BE LOCATED IN BRUSSELS

Yes, I am returning to the Strasbourg question. My British colleagues from all parties , as far as know without exception, want the European Parliament to meet in one place. That place should obviously be Brussels.

There is at present a Written Declaration (similar to an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons) before the European Parliament as follows::

1. Calls on the Member States to amend the Protocol on the location of the seat of the institution, in order to allow the Parliament to hold all its sessions in Brussels
2. Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the other EU institutions and to Member States and to actively promote this solution.

Written declarations have to be submitted by five MEPs. This one was put forward by Catherine Stihler, my Labour colleague from Scotland, Alexander Alvaro and Frederique Ries, Liberals from Germany and Belgium respectively, Finnish MEP Pia-Noora Kauppi who is a member of the EPP centre-right group and Helga Trupel, a Green also from Germany.

If you would like to know more about this and related issues, please go to: http://www.ep-reform.eu/

I’s high time we ended the Strasbourg nonsense. It would be very helpful if you would sign the online petition to have the European Parliament located in Brussels: http://www.oneseat.eu

CYPRUS INDEPENDENCE DAY DINNER

The National Federation of Cypriots in the UK and the Greek Cypriot Brotherhood held their annual dinner to celebrate Cyprus Independence Day yesterday. In the delightful Atrium Restaurant in Westminster we were privileged to hear Cyprus Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou tell us about the current position in the Cyprus talks.

He was cautiously optimistic, as we all are, but felt that Mehmet Ali Talat, the Leader in the north was far less positive that Mr Christofias, the President of the Republic of Cyprus. He briefed us all on the main issues: property rights, missing persons and foreign troops, and said that the discussions so far had been only preliminary talks. The real meat has yet to come to the table .

It was very good to hear from a member of the government in the Republic. It was also a good event in that I was able to catch up with many friends in the Cypriot community in London whom I haven’t seen for a while. My thanks to all those involved in organising the evening.

GOOD RIDDANCE

Good riddance to both Russell Brand, who at least had the good grace to resign, and Jonathan Ross who has not, though it looks as if his contract is in serious danger

While I am totally on the side of Andrew Sachs and his grand-daughter, I am deeply troubled that this story has become so all-consuming. Two overpaid, naff “comedians”, one aged though thoroughly decent actor and a his showbiz grand-daughter have relegated everything else to the shadows.

Where are we going? What does this show about Britain in the 21st century.

KILLER HEELS

During the past week I have seen half a dozen articles in serious publications about high heels , for women that is. And not just two – three inches, but five to six inches. Celebs such as the absurd Victoria Beckham and Gwyneth Paltrow, a talented actress who seems to be going off the rails, have been photographed in ridiculously silly shoes. Publicity seeking fashion designers, notably Christian Louboutin, intend to bring out five to six inch heel shoes for general consumption, if you can afford £300 upwards for a pair of shoes, that is.

The trend to uncomfortable shoes which are almost impossible to walk in is worrying on at least two levels. Health is one of them. Even moderately high heels cause any number of feet and back problems; five to six inches shouldn’t be contemplated. High heels also restrict women’s mobility. Being six feet tall isn’t much good if you can’t do anything very much.

I do wonder if we are seeing another move to “keep women in their place”. If you feel the need to spend hard earned cash on very silly footwear which you can’t walk in, it’s surely bound to have an effect on your general effectiveness. Killer heels should be strongly resisted by all women (other than mad celebs, of course).

THE TORIES' PRETTY LITTLE HEAD

Did you know that the Tories have hired a marketing firm called "Pretty Little Head" to advise Cameron and Co on how to relate to women?

Obviously the Old Etonian Bullingdonites feel women are a bit beyond them. The evidence bears this out. A recent Ipsos Mori poll for the Fawcett Society found that 44 percent of women are satisfied with David Cameron's performance as Tory leader compared with 52 percent of men.

The question is, will "Pretty Little Head" crack it for them? I really don't think an outfit with a name like "Pretty Little Head" stands much chance with the majority of women voters. Patronising or what?

FRIDAY IN LONDON

I don't usually write about my days in London as they are generally taken up with going through work with my staff based in the Region and similar activities.

However, last Friday I met up with Glenys Thornton (Baroness Thornton) who is an old and close friend. She also happens to be a Whip in the Lords with responsibility for health.

She was, in fact, off to Luxembourg for a meeting of European Health Ministers who were to discuss the pharmaceutical industry and social care - all in a weekend's work I guess.

Quite by chance, I had met John Carr, Glenys's husband, or should I say Glenys is John's wife, earlier in the week in Strasbourg. As just about the world leader in combating child abuse on the internet, John was in Strasbourg to attend the Council of Europe who were looking at this issue.

It was good to see both of them. One of the great things about politics is the way you make longstanding friendships.

CANVASSING

Yes we still do it, and more often than many of you may think.

I was out in Kentish Town on Sunday where there is a Council by-election this coming Thursday. As a Camden resident and a member of Holborn and St Pancras Labour Party, which includes Kentish Town, I wanted to make a contribution to the by-election. Added to which, the local campaign is being organised by Hilary Lowe, a long standing friend and stalwart Party activist.

We have an excellent candidate in Awale Olad, a local youth worker who lives in the ward, is a member of Kentish Town's Safer Neighbourhood Panel and is passionate about his area.

The by-election was caused as the sitting Liberal Democrat Councillor, Philip Thompson, secretly moved to Arizona. Unbelievably, the Lib Dem leadership in Camden tried to cover this up while Cllr Thompson continued to claim his £700 month allowance. He only owned up and resigned when he was exposed in the newspapers.

Given this controversy you may have expected the Lib Dems to select a real Kentish Town person. Not a bit of it. Nick Russell, the by-election candidate, lives in West Hampstead. What is more, he only moved there in 2005, following a tour of the United States. What is it about Camden Lib Dems and the USA?

Kentish Town deserves a campaigning local person who will put the interests of the ward and its people first. Awale is the only choice.

THE PEER, THE BANKER AND THE OLIGARCH

Jonathan Dimbleby on the "Daily Politics" this morning quoted a former Tory grandee as telling aspiring politicians to avoid invitations to cavort on yachts. What a wise man (they were all men in those days).

The tangled saga of the peer, the oligarch, the banker and the Rt Hon Tory seems set to run and run. I have to say I dislike these kinds of stories. This one, in particular, attempts to tell of some kind of scandal, or even scandals, on the back of tales of the super rich designed, I imagine, to add flavour and spice to what, as far as I can make out, is essentially something of nothing.

Having said that, I do think the Rt Hon Tory George Osborne's judgement was suspect for two things - leaking his purported conversation with the peer (Baron Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool as he now is) about the alleged shortcomings of our Prime Minister and seeking money from the oligarch, the richest man in Russia, Oleg Deripaska. It's the second of these which is important in that Osborne was apparently looking to if not circumvent, then at least stretch, British law regarding political donations.

We are told that the banker, Nat Rotschild, didn't much like Osborne's behaviour, which he seemed to view as abusing his hospitality. Fair enough if you ask me. Now, just to add another layer of speculation, we learn that certain shadowy EU officials are having a go at Peter Mandelson because they don't seem to approve of his relationship with the Deripaska. (We never said this story was easy).

The "Times" ran an article today quoting the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, saying that Lord Mandelson's actions as Trade Commissioner had all been above board. However, this has not stopped concern being expressed about the impact of Peter Mandelson's refusal to give a full breakdown of his activities, which surfaced in Brussels during a top-level conversation late last week, according to EU sources.

Perhaps this slight disagreement between the PM and Brussels bureaucrats is understandable. What is completely mystifying is that the European Commission has also announced that Lord Mandelson's diary is not a public document but a management tool and is therefore exempt from freedom of information rules. It seems that the EU wants to have it both ways by attacking Mandy than refusing to release something which could have provided evidence to back up their case. The end result is confusion all round, which may have been the desired effect.

It is, however, true that standards of transparency are more exacting in the UK that in the EU. This goes for MEPs as well as Commissioners. The strange behaviour on the part of leading figures in Brussels regarding disclosure of information relating to a Commissioner only goes to underline this unfortunate fact. I believe if the EU is to ever become a serious player it needs to put its own house in order by introducing clear rules of behaviour which are fully open to public scrutiny. Such action should be taken sooner rather than later.

THIS BATTY BLOG

I, your very own batty blogger, returned from Strasbourg yesterday evening. I must say I am glad to be back in London. The Strasbourg circus takes its toll and it’s always good to get home.

I thought I’d go in for a bit of light relief today. Please see Martin Meenagh’s comments on my blog. I’m glad he is developing a bizarre affection for it, and there are probably worse things to be than batty.

Thank you Martin.

Martin Meenagh said about the Atheist Bus Campaign...

This bus campaign sounds like a bit of fun. When Florence on the Magic roundabout completely lost it, she turned into a 'number 13 to the strand' as I recall. What bus will you be when caricatures of catholicism finally make you pop a vessel Mary?

I completely apologise. It was Ermintrude who went mental, and decided that she was a number 12. My bad.I am developing a bizarre affection for this batty blog. Please do not reciprocate.

22 October 2008 08:23

EXTENDING EDUCATION IN EUROPE

On Tuesday we voted on a report by French Liberal Marielle de Sarnez seeking more participation in the new Erasmus Mundus programme.

As a member of the Culture and Education Committee and Labour Spokesperson on the Committee, I watched the fate of this report with great interest. The EU is well placed to extend learning across Europe and further afield. The Erasmus and Erasmus Mundus programmes are an excellent way of doing this. I have first hand experience of the worth of these programmes, having had assistants in my office who have benefited from Erasmus.

Erasmus Mundus is an excellent programme well known to university students. The original Erasmus programme provides scholarships to students allowing them to study in another European country as part of their degree. Students who study abroad gain improved language skills and become more employable both at national and international level.

The Erasmus Mundus programme is similar (if slightly less well known) than the original Erasmus. Erasmus Mundus extends cooperation in the field of higher education to 'third countries' outside the EU. It also helps stimulate intercultural dialogue with these countries.

The Erasmus Mundus programme is used to promote the EU as a worldwide centre of excellence in learning. It helps to attract the best post-graduate students to EU universities - top foreign students have traditionally gone to the USA. This has a big impact on improving research and innovation in the EU.

Erasmus Mundus acts under three areas, providing financial support for:
1) joint masters and doctoral programmes between institutions in different countries - including scholarships to allow students to follow these programmes
2) partnerships and enhanced structural cooperation between institutions - including developing human resources
3) promoting EU higher education throughout the world

Mme de Sarnez's report proposed extending the existing scheme from 2009 - 2013.

I thoroughly agreed with Mme de Sarnez when she said "It is a good programme, and considering the difficult times we are going through this is giving a positive image of Europe in the rest of the world." The new Erasmus Mundus Programme has a budget of about €950. 424 scholarships were granted from 2004-2008 to students from third countries in the previous programme. 323 universities took part, 265 of them in Europe.

What could be wrong with any of this, you may ask? Well British Tory and UKIP MEPs found reasons to vote against the report, which was incidentally passed by 623 votes for, 56 against and 5 abstentions. Once again the Tories are way off beam.


Voting against were Tories:
Ashworth, Atkins, Bradbourn, Bushill-Mathews, Callanan, Chichester, Dover, Harbour, Heaton-Harris, Kamall, Kirkhope, McMillan-Scott, Nicholson (Ulster Unionist) Parish, Stevenson, Sturdy, Tannock and Van Orden
and UKIP: Batten, Bloom, Clark, Farage, Titford and Whittaker.

THE RESULTS IN PLENARY

During this week in Strasbourg we debated measures to clarify the status and rights of temporary workers in the EU, which covers paid leave and rights for pregnant women, amongst other things.

We also discussed steps that will clarify which court has jurisdiction when people of different nationalities divorce.

MEPS BACK TEMPORARY WORKERS
The number of temporary workers is on the increase, but national legislation differs across the EU. A new directive, which received its final vote in favour yesterday, includes guarantees from "day 1" for temporary workers, covering areas like resting times, paid leave and non-discrimination towards pregnant women. French Socialist Harlem Désir, the rapporteur on the proposals to regulate the status and conditions of temporary workers, welcomed the positive vote by saying:

"Adopting this directive will send a signal that Europe's social heart is still beating.."

I couldn't agree more. The Temporary Agency Workers Directive has taken a long time to get through the arcane processes of the European Union, but it will now pass into law in all Member States. It will of special benefit to women and those who may find it more difficult to get permanent jobs. It's a good piece of legislation which Labour MEPs supported all the way through.

FOREIGN DIVORCE MADE FAIRER
A report written by German Socialist Evelyne Gebhardt to set out Europe-wide guidelines making it clearer which country's courts have jurisdiction when couples of different nationalities divorce was voted on Tuesday. The report could help clarify who would get custody of children and property following the 170,000 plus divorces a year across Europe.

Jacques Barrot, Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security was keen to get as many member states as possible on board for this significant report.

The voting on Monday demonstrated he had achieved this, at least as far as most of the European Parliament was concerned. There were 522 votes in favour, 89 against and 35 abstentions.

Sadly 19 of the 89 who voted against were British Tories: Ashworth, Bradbourn, Bushill-Mathews, Callanan, Chichester, Deva, Dover, Elles, Jonathan Evans, Harbour, Heaton-Harris, Kamall, Nicholson (Ulster Unionist), Parish, Stevenson, Sturdy, Sumberg, Tannock and Van Orden.

It is quite incredible how often the Tories are out on a limb and unable to support even the most helpful reports which come before the European Parliament. They are still basically a bunch of head-bangers. Don't let anyone try and convince you otherwise.

TORIES VOTE AGAINST THE NEW BRITISH COMMISSIONER

The following British MEPs voted against Baroness Ashton when her nomination was put to the vote in the plenary session of the European Parliament today:

Deva and Callanan (Tory)

Batten, Clark, Farage, Nattrass (UKIP)

Allister (ex-DUP)

Kilroy-Silk, Knapman, Mote, Wise (ex-UKIP)

These abstained:

Hannan, Helmer, Ashworth, Atkins, Beazley, Bowis, Bradbourn, Bushill-Matthews, Chichester, Dover, Elles, Harbour, Kamall, Kirkhope, McMillan-Scott, Parish, Purvis, Stevenson, Sturdy, Sumberg, Van Orden (Tory)

Newton-Dunn (Lib Dems)

For the record the votes cast were as follows:

For Cathy Ashton 538
Against 40
Abstain 63

This means that of the 103 who either voted against or abstained 23 were British Tories.

This is absolutely shameful bahaviour by a Party that claims to have British interests at heart. The Tories in Europe have once again shown their true colours.

MEREDITH KERCHER

You may have seen newspaper reports today about the British student Meredith Kercher who was murdered in Italy last November.
I worked hard on getting compensation for her family as this article in the "Guardian" on 21 April 2008 shows.

Kercher family in compensation limbo

Haroon Siddique
guardian.co.uk,
Monday April 21 2008 16.00 BST

The family of the murdered British exchange student Meredith Kercher may be denied compensation because Italy has not implemented an EU-wide scheme to help victims of violent crime, it was revealed today.

Kercher, 21, was found dead last November in the house she shared in Perugia.
In April 2004, the EU introduced a system "to facilitate access to compensation in cases where the crime was committed in a member state other than that of the victim's residence". All states were due to implement the directive by January 1 2006.

The UK has done so, but Italy and at least one other EU country have not, and the London MEP Mary Honeyball has tabled a question in the European parliament asking what can be done. The question is expected to be heard next month.

Meredith's family, who live in Croydon, have not received any compensation. "It all seems grossly unfair," Honeyball said. "They have been through such a lot. If it happened the other way round, an Italian victim would get compensation.

"The thing the EU has got to get to grips with is although there are timetables for disposition, it doesn't always happen."

Jan Downs, the deputy manager of Victim Support Croydon, alerted Honeyball to the Kerchers' case.

"It's a difficult time for them," Downs said. "They've got the added complication that the crime happened abroad and it's a different legal system. They've got all that to deal with apart from the emotional issues."

The European commission can enforce a directive where a member state fails to comply.
In the UK, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority pays cash to victims of violent crime in England, Scotland and Wales, whether they are British or from elsewhere in the EU. It aims to pay compensation within nine months, although in complex cases it can take longer.

An American student, Amanda Knox, 20, her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 24, and an Ivorian, Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, are being held on suspicion of Kercher's sexual assault and murder.

ACROSS EUROPE THERE IS A RISK THAT ABORTION LAWS WILL BECOME LESS, NOT MORE FOCUSED ON WOMEN'S HEALTH AND THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE

The Guardian's Comment is Free section has just run this piece by me on abortion in Europe. It is women who are the real losers following the decision to give into those in Northern Ireland who do not want the same abortion rights there as in the rest of the UK.

TURNING BACK THE CLOCK

Today's votes on abortion make the case for a Europe-wide push to decriminalise abortion stronger than ever. It is shameful that the UK government announced yesterday that it was not able to table three amendments to liberalise Britain's abortion laws. One of these amendments sought to extend the rights of abortion to all UK citizens; women in Northern Ireland still face prosecution for aborting even in cases of incest or rape.

Access to abortion services across Europe is at best varied, at worst oppressive, misogynist and life-threatening. Abortion is in theory available in all of the EU member states except Andorra, Malta, Ireland and Poland. Yet the reality is often tempered by an absence of health facilities, lack of doctors willing to carry out abortions, repeated unnecessary medical consultations and lengthy waiting time for the procedure, all of which make access more difficult, or even impossible.

Abortion in Europe falls under health provision, which is left to member states and something that the EU does not wish to rule on. However, access to healthcare when complications arise from a termination without fear of prosecution of either the patient or the clinician is an issue of European human rights. Women surely enjoy the fundamental freedom to be free from fear, threat and coercion as they deal with the consequences of rape and other grave human rights violations?

These are not only my opinions but also those of the UN, the World Health Organisation, Amnesty International, the Council of Europe and the European parliament women's committee, all of whom have in recent years called for protections on a women's right to an abortion.
This is an issue too important to be continually batted about across Europe in the never-ending game of left versus right, conservative versus liberal and religion versus secularism. Over the past 20 years countries across Europe have reversed, reinstated, liberalised and restricted abortions over and over again, often as a result of changes in government and religious influence, not as a result of scientific analysis.

Poland reinstated some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe in 1993, following the collapse of communism and the resurgence of the powers of the Catholic and Lutheran churches. As a result of this, Polish NGOs estimate some 200,000 women endure backstreet abortions every year.
Meanwhile, under the political radar of many, the government of Lithuania is now seeking to create one of the most restrictive bans in all Europe. This is a country where abortion laws have changed little since independence and which has one of the lowest abortion rates amongst the Baltic nations. But if socially conservative parties win the upcoming election as predicted, Lithuanian women's access to abortion will be limited to only the most extreme cases of threat to life, criminality or severe disability.

On the flip side, the centre-left Portuguese prime minister Jóse Sócrates has recently made moves to liberalise his country's abortion laws, which were previously some of the most restrictive in Europe. But this ruling is only dependent on his political status and could be reversed under a change in government.

Where governments legislate to legalise abortion, women's rights to it are protected under European law. In a test case in March last year, the European court of human rights ruled to oblige all 46 member states of the Council of Europe to ensure that abortions are available where they are legal. An almost blind single mother of three from Warsaw, Alicia Tysiac, was awarded damages by the Strasbourg-based court for being denied an abortion in 2000 when medical testimony said her pregnancy would seriously damage her failing eyesight.

But important and helpful though this ruling is, it only protects European women who live in countries where abortion is legal. It does not apply in member states where abortion is outlawed. Pressure needs to be put on rulers of those countries by the EU to end these discriminatory laws which, incidentally, drive abortion dangerously underground.

Previously, one of the best ways of putting pressure of EU member states' governments to change their laws on abortion was through the women's rights and gender equality committee of the European parliament, a committee on which I have sat since 2000. In 2002, this committee passed a report written by the Belgian Socialist MEP Anne Van Lancker, recommending that in order to safeguard women's health, abortion should be made legal, safe and accessible to all. It also called on member state governments to refrain from prosecuting women who have undergone illegal abortions.

Van Lancker produced a landmark report, which influenced many others, including the parliamentary assembly for the Council of Europe, which earlier this year recommended the decriminalisation of abortion across Europe.

However, the face of the European parliament women's committee changed in 2004 with the election of rightwing, Catholic MEP Anna Záborská to the chair of the committee. Now even small amendments calling for female prisoners to have the same access to abortions as their non-captive counterparts cannot get passed. Gone are the days when the women's committee could give active help to Women on Waves, the floating abortion ship which provides abortion services at sea to women from countries where abortion is not allowed.

While abortion is generally a free vote in the UK, in Europe, parties vote fairly unanimously along party lines. All the rightwing parties in the European parliament, including the UK Conservatives, voted against section 13 of the van Lancker report, which called for the decriminalisation of women who have illegal abortions. They effectively voted to allow women to suffer from prosecution on top of the suffering they may have endured in having an illegal abortion.

I hope those shouting for the rights of women outside the Palace of Westminster will also turn their faces and chants to Europe. Women across the continent are in desperate need of them to shout, protest and vote for their rights in the elections next year.

THE ATHEIST BUS CAMPAIGN

The following piece recently appeared on the Guardian "Comment is Free" site. I love the idea of the Atheist Bus Campaign. It's good to see those of us who are rationalists and humanists taking positive action.
I hope as many of you who can will donate to this excellent campaign.


Comment is free
All aboard the Atheist Bus Campaign
It's real, it's happening: you can sponsor the first atheist advert on a bus – and Richard Dawkins will match your money
Comments (537)

Ariane Sherine
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday October 21 2008 07.00 BST

The Atheist Bus Campaign launches today thanks to Comment is free readers. Because of your enthusiastic response to the idea of a reassuring God-free advert being used to counter religious advertising, the slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" could now become an ad campaign on London buses – and leading secularists have jumped on board to help us raise the money.
The British Humanist Association will be administering all donations to the campaign, and Professor Richard Dawkins, bestselling author of The God Delusion, has generously agreed to match all contributions up to a maximum of £5,500, giving us a total of £11,000 if we raise the full amount. This will be enough to fund two sets of atheist adverts on 30 London buses for four weeks.
If the buses hit the road, this will be the UK's first ever atheist advertising campaign. It's an exciting development, which I never expected when I first proposed the idea on Cif in June. Back then, I was just keen to counter the religious ads running on public transport, which featured a URL to a website telling non-Christians they would spend "all eternity in torment in hell", burning in "a lake of fire". When I suggested the atheist counter-slogan (now shortened for readability), the response was extremely positive, and hundreds of you pledged your support after the follow-up article.
As you read this, a new advertising campaign for Alpha Courses is running on London buses. If you attend an Alpha Course, you will again be told that failing to believe in Jesus will condemn you to hell. There's no doubt that advertising can be effective, and religious advertising works particularly well on those who are vulnerable, frightening them into believing. Religious organisations' jobs are made easier because there's no publicly visible counter-view to refute their threats of eternal damnation.
The Atheist Bus Campaign aims to change this. In addition to the slogan, the adverts will feature the URLs of secular, humanist and atheist websites, so that readers can find out more about atheism as a positive and liberating alternative to religion. We've also set up an interactive campaign website and Facebook group, so that questions raised by the adverts can be publicly debated.
CBS Outdoor, the bus advertising company, will run the atheist adverts in January if the funds are raised – but we need your help to make this happen.
Your donations will give atheism a more visible presence in the UK, generate debate, brighten people's day on the way to work, and hopefully encourage more people to come out as atheists. As Richard Dawkins says: "This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think – and thinking is anathema to religion."
To donate to the Atheist Bus Campaign, please visit here.