The Rights Of Man

CMEC - WHERE IS THE EQUAL JUSTICE ON CONTACT ORDERS?

The new CSA - The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (link) announced proposals this week that would mean parents who were not paying for the upkeep of their children would be able to have their driving licences and passports taken away without the CMEC having to go to court. The issues on this are numerous.

Firstly, the use of the court system offers an independent legislative check and stops state officials believing they have unaccountable powers to harm UK citizens. It is fundamental to all the debates on ID cards, CCTV, using terrorist powers to spy on people going about their business etc etc. It is about the state controlling people and not people controlling the state, It is absolutely fundamental to the concept of liberty this once proud freedom loving country used as its foundation. Under this Government, it is no more.

The day-to-day incompetence of civil servants, bureaucrats and officials is legion so why does anyone think this organisation will be any different and more efficianet, transparent and fair than the awful CSA. An organisation that drove many men to commit suicide and why organisations like CSA Hell were set up.

Media Coverage

One of the issues constantly remarked here is the way that a story that is presented in a gender-neutral way is then twisted into gender stereotyping male bashing.

The story put out by the DWP was gender neutral - it said parents. But these newspapers just blamed it on fathers -  Daily Mail, Daily Mail 'Deadbeat Dads', Scotsman, Telegraph, ITV. As if there are no absent mothers!

The most remarkable anti-male article seen for a long while was the anti-male feminist par excellence Polly Toynbee. She is literally overflowing with her hatred of men, it's almost as if she cannot control her rage, she says "The truth is that marriages often break down when women escape from bad role models - the ones who become the won't-pay fathers." No wonder she recived some 739 comments on her post. She has form on this issue.

Where is the fair deal?

Ultimately though, whilst the draconian powers have been ramped up, nothing changes.

The same inhumane admin cock ups as the CSA, refusing to answer letters or check up whether those claiming are telling the truth will continue?

Where is the justice when a mother walks out on the father to shack up with a new man leaving the rejected man to still pick up the tab?

Worse and this is the real injustice. If parents (lets say a father) are going to lose their passports and driving licences then the parent (lets say a mother) with custody who refuses to abide by contact orders, should then lose her passport and driving licence. This would be one remedy the Family Courts could use rather than the usual spineless inaction.

In a world of joined-up Government and fairness, this would be the case. However, we live in a Britain where the state dislikes men and has no interest in fairness towards them.

FEAR OF MALE TEACHERS: A BYPRODUCT OF THE WAR ON MEN

The Daily Mail has long been the only newspaper in the UK who generally rejects the all-men-are-evil approach. They have some excellentwriters or accept contributions from the likes of Melanie Phillips, Erin Pizzey and Amanda Platell.

In this brilliantly written piece (link) by Carol Sarler, she highlights that one of the reasons behind the severe shortage of male teachers (article, report) is because some mothers have a negative view of men and also because they fear their children (especially daughters) will be at risk of some sort of sexual assault.

Ms Sarler rightly points out that it causes a real problem for boys who don't have fathers in the home so have no male role model. And of course, it effects men who want a career in teaching.

As posted before, the anti-male culture we live in has a myriad of victims. One post recently highlighted the issue on adoption (link) and now we have male teachers being unfairly put under the microscope. False accusations abound, which means when a man is accused of sexual assault etc on a pupil, his career is ruined and it is irrelevant if he is innocent. That is why there is an organisation called Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers (FACT) (link).

There are two ironies that always get overlooked as well.

Firstly, as the article says "When the NSPCC reported this week that the police estimate some 50 allegations a day of sexual abuse against children, they meant, overwhelmingly, abuse at the hands of family or of parents' friends."

Secondly, there have been many stories recently about female teachers having unlawful intercourse with their male pupils (link, link). All I hear is a vacuum of silence from those who think women=good, men = bad on this issue.

In education, as with so many other facets of life in Britain, the war on men is having a serious effect. 

HARMAN'S CORONERS AND JUSTICE BILL - THE TRACY BARLOW EFFECT

On the 14th January, Harriet Harman got her way and the Coroners and Justice Bill received its first reading in Parliament.

Whilst the bill is wide ranging, there were three cracking articles and debates in the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and the irrepressible Melanie Phillips, also in the Daily Mail who declares it as "Harman's latest male-bashing policy."

The key issue is not really about what charge a man would recieve if, in a momentary loss of control, he kills his wife because of adultery (presume it applies to women finding their husband in bed with anotherwomen), it is the sub-text around the 'defence' for killing a man because of domestic violence or the perceived fear of violence. The adultery issue is a smokescreen.

The clear subtext is one that is at the core of the anti-male Government and establishment that is so prevalent in today's Britain. The wording of the law will be gender-neutral but the application of the law will not be, it will be anti-male.

The Daily Telegraph explains it well - "It will streamline the defence of provocation to two key areas, one of 'fear of serious violence'. If a victim of domestic violence fears she will be attacked again she could argue such a defence if she kills her partner and, if the jury accepts the defence, would be convicted of manslaughter and avoid the mandatory life term."

The problem is firstly Harriet Harman has made it clear, this is about a defence for females and females-only. It sets the tone for the Crown Prosecution Service and the police. If a man who commits such a crime because of the domestic violence he suffers/fears from his wife/partner, he is very unlikely to be believed. His defence team will have to work ten times harder to get the prosecution to swallow it and that is before you come to the jury.

The problem with the jury is that because 99% (and this is being generous to the 1%) of the propaganda by the Government, Police, Crown Prosecution Service, media and others is that only women can be victims of domestic violence, they are not likely to be believed. I suspect the jury will probably feel such claims as being laughable. It is irrelevant that 40% of domestic violence victims are male, who knows this fact? The Government, police and others know it (it is a Home Office fact) but choose to ignore it.

The second issue is that it makes it easier for violent women to kill their husbands/partners and then claim that it was because they were victims or in fear, without any proof. The man cannot speak from beyond the grave. The tone of Harman's comments is that the police and CPS almost have to accept the word of a woman when she says it was because of provocation, proof is not needed.

A clear example would be that in Coronation Street a few years ago Tracy Barlow cold bloodily killed her male partner Charlie Stubbs and claimed it was because of domestic violence, which was untrue. The police saw through it and she was jailed for murder. If this Bill becomes a law, it is likely she would have had her sentence wrongly commuted to manslaughter and would probably be out of prison by now.

Many men complain that they are the victims of false accusations by violent wives/partners and when they ring the police, the wife/partner says it was the man who was the perpetrator. The police of course believe the women becuase they are told to. With 22 men being killed per year by women in a domestic relationship, there is a risk this figure will now increase because some will feel they can get away it.

Commentary on the proposals was also made on this site here in 2008

  

US REFERENCE SITE FOR GENDER DEBATE

This site is featured (link) as one of the top 100 gender blog sites in the world.

This list is always worth perusing.

Thank you to everyone for their support which means issues affecting UK men reach a worldwide audience. 

2008 GCSE RESULTS SHOW HOW BOYS EDUCATION HAS BEEN DESTROYED BY FEMINIST EDUCATION SYSTEM BUT THERE IS HOPE...?

One of the key issues raised a number of times on this site (1, 2, 3 and see Education link) is how the end of examination based O-levels in the late 80's and the move to a coursework based system (GCSEs) completely changed the attainment success of the genders.

Now far fewer boys go to university than girls and the latest results show boys education is five years behind that of girls and they are simply struggling.

The 2008 GCSE results published yesterday (Table 2) how how acute the problem is.

Girls continue to outperform boys, particularly at the higher grades (A*-C); 69.9 per cent of girls achieved five or more grades A*-C compared to 60.9 per cent of boys (the same approximate figure for girls was in 2003/04 - five years ago). The gap was 10% in 2004/05 so in three years, it has closed by just 1%.

For five GCSE's or more including English and Maths, the percentages are 52.3% for girls and 43.2% for boys.

The argument consistently made is that because boys and girls are different, the one-size-fits-all education system is producing gender winners (girls) and gender losers (boys).

As outlined in Dr Leonard Sax's book (link) boys need the competition and pressure of exams (0-levels) whilst girls are better at sustained work which comes with coursework (GCSE). Other issues include, of course, the falling number of male teachers in schools who provide sound role models and discipline. There should be a choice of examination systems so that boys can take O-levels and girls GSCEs (of course,if girls wish to take O-levels then fine)

In addition, there is growing evidence that all-boys schools can help and this article (Telegraph) about Lawrence Sheriff School shows what can be done to help boys reach high attainment levels.

The Conservatives have also mooted removing coursework (link) from GCSEs but that is more to do with stopping cheating but a by-product would be that it would help boys.

All together though, yesterday's results has meant that another cohort of boys has under-performed because the education system in the UK is biased against them and does not meet their needs.

AMANDA PERTHEN WRITES BIASED COPY FOR DAILY MAIL ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Amanda Perthen, a freelance journalist writing for the Daily Mail, wrote some atrociously one-sided copy on domestic violence in the New Year (link).

In an article on 3rd January 2009 for the Daily Mail, she wrote about an increase in domestic violence because of the recession. This was because the National Centre for Domestic Violence reported a 40 per cent increase in victims seeking its support in December 2008.

The National Centre, to be fair, were gender neutral in their comments but the journalist skewed the whole feature towards men as perpetrators, female as victims. A comment from Womens Aid but none from Mankind Initiative or Men Aid. In addition, she just used the 1 in 4 women will be victims in their lifetime but did not use the 1 in 6 men.

Pure Bias as reflected in the comment at the bottom of her article.

PROGRESS IN NORTH EAST ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN

Heartedly, there are some areas of the UK that treat male victims of domestic violence sensibly and equally.

The Sunday Sun reported this week (link) that a number of councils such as Wear Valley,  Blyth Valley and Stockton provide support.

Refuge support is needed of course but recognition will have to come first.

WHY BOLTON AND KEIGHLEY MEN SHOULD NOT VOTE LABOUR

In the Parliamentary seats of Bolton West and Keighley, Labour have banned men (link) from being their Parliamentary candidates at the next General Election.

Both enter the hall of shame, which now lists 29 Parliamentary seats where Labour have banned men from representing them in the next Parliament (see full list at end)(previous posts 1 and 2).

Labour's use of all-women shortlists in Bolton West and Keighley is an attack on men. It stops them from being able to represent these communities and constituents in Parliament, solely because of their gender.

Under election rules of course, any UK resident can stand in any constituency, but obviously if you are a Labour supporter, member or even councillor living in Bolton or Keighley you may have wanted to represent your local community and local people. Well, if you are a man, Labour have banned you from doing so.

In Bolton (link), Labour have 19 male councillors - all banned from applying to be their local MP. A large number are also Asian men and when people keep complaining that there are not people in Parliament from an ethnic background, what do they expect when Labour ban Asian men from applying to be the MP in their town?

In Keighley (link), it is harder to discern the political make-up (between Labour and the other parties) but plenty of councillors are men and also plenty are from an ethnic background so again, many Labour men already representing their town are banned from representing their town in Parliament.

One of the least explored and ignored areas of male discrimination in the past 12 years has been the introduction of all-women shortlists for Parliamentary seats which has lead to the political disenfranchisement of men by the Labour Party.

No man with any dignity, pride and self-esteem can vote Labour at the next General election in Bolton West, Keighley and the other 27 constituencies where Labour are operating all-women shortlists.

 Do not vote Labour because they stopped you and your fellow local men from having the chance to represent your local community in Parliament, solely down to the fact that you are a man.

Full list of Constituencies where Labour are using all-women shortlists at the next General Election

• Birmingham Ladywood
• Brighton Pavillion
• Bolton West
• Burton
• Camborne & Redruth
• Cardiff Central
• East Dunbartonshire
• Gravesham
• Hackney South
• Hemel Hempstead
• Hornsey & Wood Green
• Ilford North
• Keighley
• Kenilworth & Southam
• Leeds North West
• Leeds West
• Manchester Withington
• Nottingham South
• Nuneaton
• Reading East
• Rochester & Strood
• Scarborough & Whitby
• Selby & Ainsty
• Sunderland Central
• Walthamstow
• Washington & Sunderland West
• Wellingborough
• West Ham
• The Wrekin

MEN - MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT

THE SHAMEFUL HYPOCRISY OF ANTI-MALE BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL

 A story that ran pre-Christmas but with further evidence of the hypocrisy of the anti-male establishment comes this time from Bristol City Council.

In December, they forced a sports club founded in 1894 in a deprived part of Bristol to change its name from Broad Plain Boys Club because unless it did so, it would no longer receive funding of £11,600 per year. This despite the fact that it holds sports evenings for girls.

The story was covered - (Bristol Evening Post 1, Bristol Evening Post 2, Daily Mail, Daily Express , Telegraph,

For centuries there have been boys and girls clubs (and boys and girls school etc) and as long as there is roughly the same service, there is no problem. The problem always comes when you have state funding because when you have an anti-male politically correct council like Bristol, then you open the doors to all sorts of political interference. In addition, this excellent Club should be cherished especially as inner city boys need help and as one commentator said, the Council can always help set a Girls Club.

The real hypocrisy though is the fact that Bristol Council provides funding and support to a number of women-only services:-

Bristol Women's Forum (site and Annual Report)- supported by Council officials and who have a formal role in scrutinising the council's policies. It is only open to women and there is of course no Bristol Male Forum.

Women Who Make A Difference Award (link) - no male equivalent.

Women-only swimming at the council's swimming baths (link and scroll 1/3 down).

Bristol and Avon Chinese Women’s Group (source Daily Express) - £30,494 a year. 

Bristol Pakistani Welfare Community, a group aimed only at women (source Daily Express) - £10,984 per year.

It is clear that Bristol City Council's demand for the Broad Plain Boys Club to change its name is not about being gender neutral, it is a shameful and nasty act of anti-male behaviour. If it was not, then it would not fund or support women-only activity and be proud of it.

NEW BOOK - THE DECLINE OF MEN by GUY GARCIA

A new US book entitled The Decline of Men - How the American Male Is Tuning Out, Giving Up, and Flipping Off His Future by Guy Garcia (link) was published late last year.

He is described by Wikipedia (link) as an award-winning journalist, novelist, and multimedia entrepreneur, specialising in multi-cultural consumerism and socio-economic trends. The book is described by publisher Harper Collins (link) as  "an eye-opening exploration of contemporary American manhood, The Decline of Men shows how men are struggling to redefine what being a man means in today's world. Their confusion has led to rampant male malaise, which has left many men feeling alienated and disconnected."

The ever excellent Amanda Platell is one of Britain's leading opponents of our anti-male society and in a brilliant article (Daily Mail) she "disagree(s) with Garcia when he says 'men aren't giving up - they're being run over because they're lazy and can't multi-task'". She says that "The feminists view the current state of play in the war of the sexes as a great victory - they feel it proves they were right and that women were smarter than men all along."

Her article gives examples such as if fewer girls were going to university, there would be an outcry, but because fewer boys go to university now, no-one cares. Well, we do have the most anti-male Government in the history of the UK!

Her article follows on a previous first class piece (link) about Kathleen Parker's "Save the Males". Compare Platell to the usual nonsense in The Independent from Sophie Morris (link).

These books are great for raising the issues and effects of the anti-male society we live in but we could do with a British equivalent.