The Rights Of Man

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.

 

SHAMEFUL SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT WILFULLY IGNORES MALE DOMESTIC ABUSE VICTIMS IN SCOTLAND OVER CHRISTMAS

In the past few months there has been a sense that things may change in Scotland because of the publication of statistics (link) that showed how many men were victims of domestic abuse and domestic violence in Scotland (130% increase since 2000/01). These are under-reported figures of course as there are only incidents reported to the police. Pressure has been applied but so far the Scottish Government is not budging. This is on purpose.

This can be seen by the Scottish Government's shameful Christmas campaign about domestic abuse because it only features, as ever, women as victims (link, link). No mention of male victims whatsoever.

The Scottish Government TV adverts, entitled "I Soar" (link), will highlight the help that is available to those experiencing domestic abuse (women-only!). It will coincide with a new protocol outlining how the police and courts should deal with domestic violence cases. The adverts, voiced by actress Daniela Nardini, will began on Boxing Day.

Unveiling the campaign, Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell, said "Christmas is a time when many families are affected by domestic abuse and calls to the helpline and police increase. I hope that many women will see this year's adverts and take the first steps towards seeking help to rid their lives of domestic abuse."

Stewart Maxwell obviously does not give a damn about help that male victims (and their children) may need.

This campaign is shameful because despite there own statistics, they wilfully and purposely continue to ignore male victims. It is no different of course to the UK Government (link).

BEWARE THE WEASEL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ON MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

One of the things that would have been clear in any analysis in the changing position of the Government, statutory authorities and the media on male victims is the weasel acknowledgement.

Years ago there was no acknowledgement but now there is the weasel acknowledgement. This is where, to give the false impression of gender neutrality, there is a description in an article/publication/report on the lines of  - "Men can also be victims of domestic violence but the vast majority of victims are women" - An untrue assertion (link) as 40% - 43% of victims are men. The article/publication/report then ignores male victims and only mentions female victims.

The Guardian's Joan Smith's article (link)from this weekend is a case in point (worth viewing the debate on the article).

The article states:- "Plenty of middle-class women, and some men, are beaten and humiliated by their partners, but there's growing evidence that the global recession is making people more vulnerable to physical and mental abuse".

It then just goes into the usual diatribe about how women suffer at the hands of men, without presenting the alternative view. All very predictable and just adds to the stereotype that only women can be victims.

Don't let the weasel acknowledgement fool anyone.

 

JUSTICE GAP FOR MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE REVEALED

Picking up a theme in The ManKind Initiative charity's submission (link) to a Crown Prosecution Service Review on Domestic Violence, new CPS crime figures show there is a justice gap for male victims.

The justice gap is because whilst the British Crime Survey (link) and other statistics show that men make up 40% - 43% of all victims of domestic violence, why do the police report low figures (if they do at all) and why are there so few females prosecuted.

The new CPS figures (In a report called Violence Against Women - page 18 onwards - link) show that of the 63,819 (2007-08) completed prosecutions, only 3,770 (5.9%) of those prosecuted were women. This was an increase from 2,579 (5.2%) in 2005-06, effectively 46% increase in three years.

 

As the CPS' training on domestic violence, all their information/leaflets are women-only and fact that they only really believe that women can be victims, it means there is a justice gap for male victims of 37% (43% minus 5.9%). It is difference between the reported victims rate and the prosecution rate.

This difference is an injustice and if it was the other way round (a justice gap for women) it would make the headlines, instead it is ignored. 

GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO IGNORE MALE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS

Whilst there has been some progress this year with some police forces and local authorities starting to look at what they can do for male victims, the Labour Government purposely ignores them.

This can be seen by the Government's launch (link and link) of a new Christmas Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign in association with Refuge and Women's Aid. The £100,000 Channel 5 advertising campaign also includes posters and an enforcement campaign in 10 police areas. This is a pre-cursor to a wider campaign in the New Year.

The issue is of course that despite the Government's own figures showing that 40% of domestic violence victims are men (link), they refuse to run a domestic violence campaign for male victims. This is sexual discrimination against men, plain and simple.

Basically, it confirms what we all know - the Government believes only women can be domestic violence victims and only men can be the domestic violence perpetrators.

EUROPEAN (PACE) PRIZE AVAILABLE FOR DENYING MEN AN EQUAL POLITICAL FRANCHISE

In the last ten years, the war on men has included stopping men from seeking to be MP's etc solely on the basis that they are men. This has been done in the name of equality to ensure that there are more female politicians. While there is an argument for more female politicians, the way that UK political parties have been trying to achieve this has been through stopping men from being able to stand. The Labour Party for instance, has brought in all-women short-lists even bringing in an Act of Parliament to achieve it. These issues have been covered (link, link).

Now it emerges that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has introduced a 2009 Gender Equality Prize, which rewards political parties that strive to promote gender equality in politics (link).

So now it is not just good enough to stop men from being able to serve their community, you can win a prize for it!

PACE have been campaigning on this issue (link) for some time and has declared "Introducing quotas and parity measures is only one way to reach the equal representation of women and men. Also reforming electoral systems, changing internal rules of the parliamentary assemblies and introducing policies to improve reconciliation of work and family and private life and fight the gender pay gap are needed."

 It is not just in the UK where political gender discrimination is allowed, "five European countries have stipulations in the electoral law or in the constitution which impose quotas on political parties in order to increase women’s representation or to attain parity democracy: France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia.

This male discrimination is endemic across the EU and is one of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous, assault on men and equality.

 

 

FIRST RATE WELSH SELECT COMMITTEE REPORT ON DOMESTIC ABUSE

Unlike the Scots (link), the Welsh take supporting male victims of domestic abuse seriously. There are some male refuges and the Welsh Government fund the excellent Dyn Project (link).

Last week, The National Assembly for Wales’ Communities and Culture Committee published a report on domestic abuse in Wales (press release, report).

In the press release, they declared "Consideration to be given to the needs of men from different backgrounds and circumstances affected by domestic abuse."

Their Recommendation (number 8) makes it clear that the Welsh Government must make sure their action plan supports men, as well as other groups. Too right.

A couple of asides worthy of mention show there are some other issues.

Paragraph 6.1.9 states that "The Committee appreciates the concerns expressed by some women’s groups that the lack of a gender specific definition is leading to increased pressure to divert the limited resources currently allocated to supporting women-only services towards mixed or male-oriented support services."

What this is really saying is that women's groups in Wales don't like and don't want resources spent on male victims, only on women. The cat is out of the bag. How in keeping with equality is that?

Paragraph 6.2.8 also highlights problems with female victims who need refuge space for them and their children but if they are boys this can be a problem. So what are the mothers and refuges to do? Leave the boys with a violent man?  

 

WHY DOES THE TELEGRAPH PERSIST IN PUBLISHING GILL HORNBY's RANTS?

The Daily Telegraph used to be the bastion of freedom loving Conservatives and also a bastion of the family  - supporting both mothers and fathers.

However, it has recently started to publish a columnist called Gill Hornby who produces some of the most spiteful anti-male copy ever seen in a national newspaper.

In June this year, she said in The Telegraph (link) that Father's Day was the worst thing Richard Nixon ever did. To quote her "But the most worrying thing is that there is a new generation of impressionable young minds who might somehow get the Days of Fathers and Mothers confused. They may even, given the strength of the commercial message, judge them as equal."

This week, she ranted (link) that we "shouldn't attack the 'problem' of single mothers and start considering that of absent fathers. Because they have chosen to have no sense of obligation towards their offspring, we as a society seem to have no expectations of them. We don't even call them "single parents" - though they may be single, and are definitely parents - because they chose to do no parenting whatsoever. They are simply called 'men'".

Of course, there will be some men who abandon their children, as there are many mothers who do the same. However, there are hundreds of thousands of men, who if divorced/split from the mother of their children pay maintenance. In addition, of course, there are thousands who are denied access/contact to their children (despite paying maintenance) because the mothers use the Family Court system to stop them.

To say these men have "no sense of obligation towards their offspring "shows Ms Hornby just wants to use her column to, in a juvenile fashion, attack men. She has no idea what she is on about.

It is astounding that the Daily Telegraph is publishing such nonsense.