Two sides of the facilitated communication debate
Doctors said my son's brain was damaged — but he was bright | Life and style | The Guardian This article is by Rahila Gupta whose son, who died in 2002, had cerebral palsy...
Indigo Jo Blogs Blog
On Switzerland and boycotts
It seems that offence has been taken at my reference to two bloggers in my last entry who reacted to the vote against minarets in Switzerland last Sunday to the effect of “I won’t...
The Swiss minaret law and its implications
I've been asked to offer my opinion on the result of yesterday's referendum on minarets in Switzerland, perhaps inevitably. I had expected such a law to be passed, contrary to the opinion polls which...
WordPress permalink tip
For anyone setting up a new self-hosted WordPress blog (not on wordpress.com or any similar hosting service), here’s a tip on getting your permalinks set up and getting rid of the queries in the...
Vanuatu Prime Minister loses job
BBC News – Vanuatu PM loses parliamentary seat over blunder All because he failed to send an explanation to the speaker of Parliament. Back when I was the chair of council in my student...
Why Tories messed up in attack on Islamic school
Why Conservatives failed the test on Islamic schools – Education News, Education – The Independent It appears that the Tories overlooked a number of things while criticising state funding for two schools supposedly linked...
Borders UK goes into administration
BBC News – Borders bookshops in the UK go into administration Yet another big British retailer is on the verge of going bust. Borders was another victim, like Zavvi, of the Woolworth’s bankruptcy; they...
Egyptian football stupidity
I've never made much secret of the fact that I hate football. I have done since I was forced to play it at school as a child, but I equally dislike the acrimonious rivalries,...
Blaming it on witchcraft
A sister tweeted earlier today that a "religious lady" had told a relative of hers that her apparent difficulty in finding a spouse might be due to "nazar" or the "evil eye". I tweeted...
The link between childhood behaviour and crime
Most UK crime caused by people with childhood behavioural problems, study says | Society | The Guardian I was quite worried when I saw this headline, and was reassured to read on and find...
Treading on eggshells
How far should we go to avoid the hypothetical possibility of offending someone? The other day, I came across a video posted on the disability group blog FWD/Forward in which members of the Disabled...
What if we’d lost the Falklands?
New Statesman – What if… Britain had lost the Falklands war Dominic Sandbrook writes a series of “what if …” articles which imagine history as it might have been had one thing about history...
“Connection with Allah” overrides Shari’ah, says columnist
Kevin Myers: 'Fear of Islamophobia stopped Hasan's superiors from disciplining him for his jihadist outpourings' – Kevin Myers, Columnists – Independent.ie Kevin Myers, a columnist on the Irish Independent (a paper whose website is...
Iraq police suckered by fake bomb detector
Ben Goldacre on a hilarious, but tragic, example of obvious bogus science and how the Iraqi police were taken in, to the tune of £19m ($32m): A British company called ATSC is selling a...
Haunting dreams
Wheelchair Dancer: Dreaming on Wheels Last night, I had my “first” dream about me as a disabled person. It was scarily vivid. Law and Order style, I shouted to, well, whomever — faceless dream...
Hypocrisy of praising Nidal Hasan
Muhajideen Ryder on the hypocrisy of the people who praise Nidal Hasan now when they would, before his massacre, have called him an infidel: It is shocking to see Muslims praising and calling Nidal...
A footpath round Britain’s coast?
BBC NEWS | UK | Coastal access law changes Rounding the British coast is popular right now; Hilary Lister did it in her little sip-and-puff sailboat, the BBC keeps doing it to make one...
Local papers letting the powerful off the hook
I, too, mourn good local newspapers. But this lot just aren’t worth saving | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian And he mentions the Cambrian News … this was the local...
Going postal in Texas
So, a Muslim army major has gone on the rampage with two automatic handguns on a US army base in Texas, and killed (so far) 13 people. Obviously, the usual suspects rush to blame...
Learning disability bullying claims victim’s mother
A mother has died in a fire while trying to save her son, after bullies set fire to their house by posting a lit firework through their door last night (5th Nov, Guy Fawkes...