xerode
Bits of art and politics and
ducks and cats and dinosaurs
and things that make me laugh.
I swear i'm not a hipster.
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RIOT PORN - Athens in Flames (via @rupinjapan)
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Ed Miliband has attacked David Cameron for failing to stop the sale of cut-price Chocolate Oranges - something the PM complained about in opposition.
In 2006, Mr Cameron criticised WH Smith for discounting chocolate rather than fruit despite the UK’s obesity crisis.
But the Labour leader told The House magazine the situation had not changed.
“If he can’t sort out the chocolate orange, he’s not going to sort out the train companies, the energy companies, the banks, is he?” Mr Miliband said.
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I want to denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process that led to the signature of this agreement: no inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, exclusion of the EU Parliament’s demands that were expressed on several occasions in our assembly.
As rapporteur of this text, I have faced never-before-seen manoeuvres from the right wing of this Parliament to impose a rushed calendar before public opinion could be alerted, thus depriving the Parliament of its right to expression and of the tools at its disposal to convey citizens’ legitimate demands.”
Everyone knows the ACTA agreement is problematic, whether it is its impact on civil liberties, the way it makes Internet access providers liable, its consequences on generic drugs manufacturing, or how little protection it gives to our geographical indications.
This agreement might have major consequences on citizens’ lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade.
Kader Arif on ACTA(Source: Boing Boing)
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Denis Thatcher’s ghost is her only real match, and occasionally he plays a Jiminy Cricket-type role in her imaginary conversations with her in widowhood. He pricks her conscience; but only to say things like “You’re drinking too much”, rather than, say, “You presided over the dismantling of the UK’s manufacturing base, sold off the country’s commonly owned silverware to a bunch of money-grubbing, pinstriped opportunists, practically eliminated the country’s social housing stock and eroded the welfare state by unleashing the worst of which the British people are capable – fear, ruthless greed and small-minded loathing, racism, xenophobia and homophobia – adding insult to injury by administering all this with a sickly, acrid, old-fashioned dose of castor oil moralism. It is just that you rot in senile purgatory and die a lonely death.” Generally, Denis encouraged rather than tempered her delusions of righteousness.An excerpt from the review of The Iron Lady by The Quietus
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Working for nothing – the truth about low pay in the UK
New research indicates that more than 20% of British employees are earning less than a living wage
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This is a bad thing, right? Tories set to disband in Scotland
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Pro-tip: hitting wheelchair-bound protesters won’t win you any fans, London Metropolitan Police (via UK Megathread: The Geopolitical Epicentre of the Culture of Death - The Something Awful Forums)
The man pictured being pulled from his wheelchair is Jody McIntyre who, coincidentally, was interviewed in the Observer last month.
I spoke to his brother, Finlay, who says Jody was actually pulled from the chair twice. The first time was near Parliament Square when police insisted he move from close to the front of their lines. Three officers, he said, picked Jody up and dragged him away.
The second was nearer the river, when officers insisted he and Finlay were in danger near police horses. This time, Finlays says, his brother was pulled bodily on the ground across the street.
