The Rights Of Man

NORGROVE BETRAYS FATHERS AND CHILDREN - WILL THE COALITION GOVERNMENT?

As the report was announced yesterday and the coverage has been extensive, the betrayal by Norgrove of fathers, grandparents and children can be fully seen. Though some commentators are in shock this site did discuss that it was on the cards, however, it is worse because at least in the interim report there was to be some recognition of shared parenting - now there is none.

Why did Norgove make matters worse? He comes up with feeble excuses about definitions and irrelevances from Australia which made no sense.

Things Norgrove was clear on were:

• He does not believe that fathers and grandparents have any role or are relevant to the successful upbringing of children.
• He believes there is no anti-father bias in the courts
• He believes the people represented by by FnF, F4J and others groups are so small they are not wort worrying about (listen to his interview on Radio 4's Today Programme 2hr 32 min in - you need to click on the right hand side). He actually effectively says this.
• He believes there should be no link between child maintenance and access (what can a man do against a recalcitrant law breaking mother?), though he believes in tougher enforcement.

This is all wrong and it is clear he that while he says everything is in the interests of the child, he doesn't think it is in the interests of child to have contact with their father. It is almost the same issue about the IVF treatment in the news update on Wednesday where the law says it does not matter that a child born through IVF does not have a father around.

The only two straws of hope is that the coalition government said it believed in shared parenting, though, this seemed more around from pregnancy rather than the concept we are talking about. It did also say it wanted better access arrangements for separated couples and grandparents.

The last piece is that Iain Duncan Smith has waded in and will do all he can to persuade the government to reject Norgrove's view that shared parenting does not not matter. Let us hope this is a battle he wins.

Posted by Skimmington

Some of the media coverage (plus read comments)- BBC, Christine Odone (Telegraph), Daily Mail, Telegraph

Please add more links if there are other worthwhile articles

FAWCETT SOCIETY AND IT'S FUNDERS

Having yesterday looked at the ridiculous anti-male march that the Fawcett Society are undertaking, I thought I'd dig around a bit more.

Their 2008/09 annual accounts (could not find any more recent) make interesting reading.

Firstly, the society states it believes in equality between men and women and these are its founding principles (page 2) but nothing it does actually means that - it is about special treatment and extra rights for women.

Its charity commission entry is far different. It says:

FAWCETT IS THE UK'S LEADING CHAMPION OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS. OUR ROOTS ARE IN THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE VOTE AND TODAY OUR AUTHORITATIVE, RESPECTED AND VIBRANT CAMPAIGNS ENSURE THAT WOMEN'S RIGHTS ARE HIGH ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA. OUR CAMPAIGNS AIM TO: ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION, VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT AGAINST WOMEN AND ENABLE WOMEN TO PLAY A FULL AND EQUAL PART IN DECISION MAKING, EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT.

 During the year it had 14 staff and only two were men - how gender neutral.

The most important issue is about where it gets its money from. Page 16 shows they received money from the Cadbury Trust, Lloyds TSB, Barclays and BT.

Page 17 reveals they also received £80,000 from the Electoral Commission (paid for by taxpayers - those heinous men going out to work), £64,000 from the Unison trade union and £17,000 from London Councils. It seems there is little central  government funding. It had £158,000 off of the Electoral Commission between 2007/08 and 2009/10 - for what?

They got £70,000 for their Sexism and the City campaign in 2009 from the City Parochial Fund.

There are no figures for 2009/10 but don't think that means they have no influence. According to coalition government records, since May 2010, they have met officially - Lynne Featherstone once, Theresa May thrice and the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, once.

It would be great to get hold of the 2009/10 or 20110/11 annual accounts but the Fawcett society seem reluctant to publish them. Is that because they don't want to reveal, and the government does not want to reveal either, how much money they get off of the taxpayer to fund their anti-male campaigns.

Posted by Skimmington 

NEWS UPDATE

Here are a few recent articles:

 Irish Independent: Charity dismayed at banned ad (Fergus Black) A good example of how to use equality laws to fight the case for male equality. Further debate in Irish Examiner, Irish Herald and ASAI.

 BBC News Scotland: Rise in male victims of domestic abuse  - Excellent work from Abused Men in Scotland

 Daily Mail - Cameron demands more women to be in top jobs (Kirsty Walker)

 Daily Telegraph - Ed's pro women reshuffle gives Cameron a problem (John McTiernan). As with boardroom appointments, the positive discrimination for women in politics continues apace as it dominates the news agenda with Miliband's reshuffle and it dominates the Conservative Party's thinking. Talent is secondary to gender.

 BBC: Nearly half of allegations against teachers are malicious - Still waiting for the government legislation on this stopping teachers from being named unless guilty.

 Guardian -Women need quotas not canapes (Jane Martinson) - More dangerous antimale nonsense from Ms Martinson

 Guardian - Boardroom quotas for women? Good or Bad (Jill Treanor)

Posted by Skimmington

 

NEWS UPDATE

A few to catch up on

Cycletta - Women-only cycle rides inclduing at Whipsnade Zoo

The Guardian - Labour must stand by side with women (Yvette Cooper)

The Guardian - Rolls Royce points to lack of female maths and science students (Jill Treanor)

The Guardian - Sheffield council agrees to backpay of thousands of women (Owen Bowcott)

Evening Standard - The one woman Dave needs to listen to (Sarah Sands)

Irish Times - Amen launch abuse campaign (Aoife Carr)

The Guardian - Is Iceland the best country for feminists (Kira Cochrane)

The Guardian  - Is it any wonder women's support for Cameron is dwindling (Jane Martinson) - Ms Martin does not seem to like women who do not share her "all men are bastards" worldview.

Posted by Skimmington

 

WHY YOU MUST ATTEND THE UK'S FIRST NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR MEN AND BOYS

The excellent Men's Network have now announced the agenda of the first UK's first National Conference for Men and Boys and it looks great.

Turning up to the conference to hear and take in part of these debate is important but there is another clear reason to attend.

If we are all really serious about ensuring that men and boys are treated equally and that we want to take forward the argument and put on the political agenda, then attending this conference is a must.

One of the reasons anti-male feminist groups have been so successful is that they are better organised and have larger numbers of committed people. We need to learn from this.

The Men's Network has done superb work in Brighton and Hove to actually take the debate and the arguments forward in a rational way to the authorities. This national conference takes that a stage further and it is vital to us all that this conference succeeds and becomes the first of many.

Please attend, it really does matter.

 Posted by Skimmington 

IN LABOUR'S WORLD EQUALITY MEANS BANNING MEN FROM SPEAKING OR LISTENING

I had mentioned that I was to review what was going on at the party conferences and as you would expect Labour's is very revealing as they are continuing to want to be the vanguard of the anti-male political world we live in.

The Liberal Democrats had Featherstone ranting and its pro-women/anti-man groups but nothing compares to Labour. 

It was bad enough when they were in government where they introduced a Minister for Women (but no Minister for Men) and then government ministers took it in turns to bring in as much as anti-male policies as possible to poison the public sector, the state institutions and the state as a whole. They bankrolled much of the "women's movement" in the charitable sector.

Now at their conference they decided to devote a whole day to talking about women's issues and not allowing men to listen, speak or take part (only Ed MIliband was allowed). This from a party that puts equality at the centre of everything it does, yet bans people because of their gender. As one recent reader pointed out - no platforming people who may oppose them and not engaging them is a classic Marxist feminist ploy.

They also like the Liberal Democrats ran a whole pelthora of woemen-only courses etc.

On the "No Men Shall Speak or Listen" day the hypocrisy is breathtaking but unsurprising, and some agree (see media coverage below). Soon the whole of the Labour Party conference will be women-only.

Posted by Skimmington

 Media coverage: The Indepedent, Women On, The Sun.

 

WHY DOES NO ONE MENTION 70 YEARS OF STATE PENSION SEXISM AGAINST MEN

Never underestimate the power of the "women's movement" in pleading for special treatment and special favours - they always get their way. You only have to look at the infamous anonymity u-turn.

When the coalition government said that the state pension age should be 65 for men and women at 2018 and then rise to 66 in 2020, the "women's movement" went mad. And as we all suspected, the government has caved in and is looking to make special compromises.

No decisions have been made but the mood music all this week at the Lib Dem conference has been how the coalition government is looking to 'soften the blow'. Steve Webb, the pension minister is looking at it, spurred on by the Cabinet Member, Iain Duncan Smith, with the soothing overtures of David Cameron who is going  after the women's vote. 

There has been  plenty of coverage on the issue and wonderful comments in the sections which allow it, but there continues to be no recognition by politicians or the media about the fact that men have been condemned to 70 years of sexism by having to retire at 65 while women have had the luxury of retiring at 60 (now albeit rising) - as well as living longer.

One of the best comments in the newspapers sums it all up:

When I celebrated my 60th birthday five years ago a female colleague of mine celebrated her own 60th birthday at around the same time as mine. Being male, I did not receive any State Pension at all. My female colleague started to receive her State Pension on top of her salary and also stopped paying National Insurance. State Pension equality is well overdue. Allan Jones, Prenton (Daily Mail)

The silence remains deliberate and shows how sexism against men does not register on the political map, but a whiff of alleged sexism against women, goes straight to the very top. Shameful.

Posed by Skimmington

Media coverage - Telegraph, Daily Mail

LIB DEM CAMPAIGN FOR GENDER BALANCE IN PARLIAMENT - MEN NEED NOT APPLY

As we now enter party conference season it is always worth looking at what is happening on the promotion of women, anti-male propaganda and also the purposeful ignorance of male related issues (sexism by omission).

At the Lib Dem conference, we can see the Campaign for Gender Balance, which is trying to bring in sexism and special treatment in the selection of candidates - an issue that Labour have been using for years (all women-shortlists) as have the Conservatives (A Lists, quotas, hand picked candidates).

The Lib Dems don't go as far as those two parties but nonetheless they have women-only training, extra financial support and mentoring. They also had a whole raft of special sessions at the conference on political campaigning and training which were for women-only.

This of course from another party that talks about fairness and equality but actually practices sexism against half of the population.

The conundrum that must face any Lib Dem though is that in their minds a 'working class' boy with a poor education living on a run down council estate has more opportunities of becoming a Lib Dem candidate and Member of Parliament than a female barrister brought up in Fulham who went to Rodean public school. This proves how sexist this nonsense is and how it just means there is no equality in British democracy.

Posted by Skimmington

PS: Coming next week - Labour bans men from conference hall for women-only debate. 

AN EQUALITIES MINISTER WHO PROUDLY HATES HALF THE POPULATION

If ever anyone raises the question that men are not discriminated against and modern-day feminism is about the hatred of men, then all you have to do is to point to the extraordinary rant by the laughably named Equalities Minister, Lynne Featherstone.

At the Liberal Democrat Conference, her twisted hate for men was uncovered - and it sounded like she  wanted to out-Harman Harman as being the UK's manhater-in-chief. She has form remember.

The first thing that strikes you about her speech is the fact that despite being the Minister for Equalities, there is no mention of the challenges facing men - unemployment, education, health (especially cancer), suicide, family justice and the lack of recognition in areas such as domestic abuse.

The other issue is that her hate-filled venom was not kept for the main stage, it was kept for a fringe meeting away from the glare of the national media. So she thought. As reported widely (see end), and to paraphrase, she not only said men were to blame for everything she also said that women had to grab the levers of power to be superior to men.

Reverse the genders and you could hung drawn and quartered, but people like Featherstone feel comfortable saying it.

One outcome and maybe it continues to be wishful thinking is that there seems to be a gradual increase in the number of people (both men and women) who want to ridicule the anti-male Marxist men-hating stance of people like Featherstone, Harman, Flint, Cooper etc.

Four Conservatives MP's do so as does Anne McElvoy in the Standard.

The point though is surely how can you have a Minister for Equalities who so obviously hates 50% of the population and is proud to say so.

Posted by Skimmington

Media coverage - The Sun (the headline should not be Lb Dem MP, but Government Minister!), Daily Mail and Evening Standard

TOM MARTIN ANSWERS BACK IN THE GUARDIAN

It is not often this site is charitable to The Guardian but fair's fair, they allowed Tom Martin to respond to Jonathan Dean's piece about Tom's case.

You are left though with a sneaky suspicion they thought he would shoot himself in his foot when he of course is to on his mettle to fall into that trap.

 As ever, the article is illuminating and so are the comments.

One thing I noticed in the comments was the lack of anti-male feminists coming to the fore to take Tom on. Maybe it is because they know he is right and also because that is not the sort of tactics they employ. They prefer to fight on their own territory rather than have a discussion with those who disagree with them (when do you see the feminists argue against Dr Catherine Hakim on her gender pay gap critiques).

Lastly, it is great Tom is taking this on and also in his article he linked through to this site (resulting in 365 individuals hitting the site) - hopefully many will stick around.

Posted by Skimmington