The Rights Of Man

THE ANTI-MALE JUSTICE SYSTEM - DENNIS NORTH HAD TO APPEAL AGAINST PAYING EX-WIFE £200,0000 AFTER 30 YEARS OF DIVORCE

The case in June of Dennis North,a builder being ordered to pay more money (£200,000) to the woman he divorced nearly 30 years ago after a judge heard she had "fallen on hard times" was beyond madness and certainly anti-male.

Mr North successfully appealed against the judgement.

As quoted from the Daily Telegraph (link) at the time, "Mr North, 70, was divorced from his first wife Jean, 61, in 1978 - a year after finding out she was having an affair with the man she later went to live with. In 1981 he made a financial settlement with the woman he married in 1964, buying her a house and investments." It was also covered elsewhere including a debate on the Daily Mail site (link) and The Times (link).

Mrs North, who now lives in Leeds, was awarded the £202,000 by a district judge last year. The ruling was later upheld in the High Court.

Mr North then had to appeal and Lord Justice Thorpe, sitting with Lord Justice May and Mr Justice Bennett, ruled that the award was “fundamentally flawed”. The story was covered in The Times (link) and The Telegraph (link) . The Appeal Judges ruled that District Judge Peter Greene who awarded her the lump sum had an approach which was “fundamentally flawed” and the appeal should be allowed.

The issue is that the judgement made by this District Judge Peter Greene was so wrong and unfair that it is clear he is not fit to be a judge. Why did Mr North have to spend time and money appealing the case? Any costs should be paid personally by the District Judge.

Can you imagine a court awarding such a figure to a man whose ex-wife then went on to make a fortune? Of course not.

MORE KEN LIVINGSTONE SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MEN - BLACK CABS

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, once again this week showed that he is proud to discriminate against men and wants more of it.

This time, he is offering preferential treatment to women preferential treatment so they can gain 'The Knowledge' needed to become a black cab driver in London. This move includes language, numeracy and childcare support.

If you are man, you get nothing, if you are a women, all the help you can get. Many men spend years learning The Knowledge often having to sacrifice their spare time whilst they earn a lving elsewhere. This sacrifice often includes time away from family (which includes women of course). The story is covered here (link).

Livingstone is seeking re-election next May, no man should vote for him.

CIVITAS E-BOOK : WHO ARE THE VICTIMS : WOMEN OR MEN?

Civitas, the instute for the study of civil society, have been leading champion against the all pervaisve world of political correctness. This has included questioning the anti9-male world we live in and the discrimination that men face.

A new e-book has been added to their list (link) called "Who are the Victims - Women or Men?" (link)

The book examines the experiences in domestic violence matters by Erin Prizzey.

In addition, it also has an expert piece on the myth of the gender pay gap by JR Shackleton and P Urwin.

All Civitas pamphlets are worth looking at and a number on the subject of male discrimination are listed in the bottom right column of this site.

"WOMEN UNWILLING TO BREAK GLASS CEILING ON SENIOR POSITIONS" - NOT SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION

The Fawcett Society and the Equal Opportunities Commission have often complained that the lack of women in senior positions in UK companies is down to some form of sexual discrimination. They do this in an unthinking knee-jerk fashion without looking to see whether there are any other reasons. Then they propose positive discrimination policies that will lead to discrimination against men or just go into their typical male bashing mode

At the end of September, The Financial News (link), a City based weekly newspaper delved into this and found that lack of aspiration and financial motivation, might be to blame. The article can be seen here (link).

The article lists interesting reasons which will help in dismissing the mind-set of those who blame gaps in female pay or boardroom status on discrimination. The key issues that are identified are:-

"... a growing number of employment lawyers and consultants argue that [the lack of women in the boardroom] this is less down to overt sex discrimination and more of a question of a lack of ambition, unwillingness to ask for big pay rises and different motivation from their male counterparts.

Read the article for more detail. 

EQUAL RIGHTS CHARITY, PARITY, REVAMP WEB-SITE

Britain's only genuinely equal rights campaigning group, Parity, have revamped their web-site (link). It is first rate.

PARITY have been a trailblazing organisation fighting for equality. PARITY was first formed in 1986 as the Campaign for Equal State Pension Ages, a wholly voluntary organisation concerned with the equal rights of men and women. 

It has led where other supposedly equal rights groups like the now defunct Equal Opportunities Commission and other feminist organisations have hid away because they did not want to support genuine equality. They only support women's causes and nothing will change under the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.

Through litigation in the courts applying European Union or European Convention law binding (by statute or treaty) in the UK, PARITY has instigated cases resulting in:

• equal qualifying ages for men and women - for exemption from NHS prescription charges (1995), for winter fuel payments (2000), and for local bus travel concessions (2003), and
• equal treatment for widowers and widows in survivors social security benefits and bereavement tax allowances (2000).

Their new web-site also includes sections on men's health, boy's education, sex discrimination, equal parenting and also male victims of domestic abuse.

10,000 PEOPLE SIGN PETITION OVER MALE DISCRIMINATION IN POLICE PENSIONS

A government e-petition organised by DC Mick Pearson of Greater Manchester police revealed clear sexist anti-male discrimination in the way that final lump sums are paid by the police pension schemes. Over 10,000 people signed the petition (link).

He found that on retirement, a female police office will recieve £12,000 more than a male officer and as revealed by Personnel Today (link), a female superintendent could recieve £26,000 more. This, despite, the fact that a woman could pay less.

This is a clear case of where men are sexually discriminated against. There has been rightfully an outcry on some women losing out on pensions because they have looked after their children and for other reasons. Nothing on an issue like this though, no outcry from the Equal Opoortunities Commission or the Guardian/BBC.

DC Pearson is quoted in Personnel Today as stating,  “Not all females live longer than males – and many other factors come into it, for example, some ethnic groups may live less than others, people who smoke tend to live less, or hereditary factors.

“To offer women higher lump sum payments purely because they are women is discrimination.”

He added: “Everybody should be treated equally – if it’s a financial investment, we all pay the same contributions each year, so we should all get the same contributions back.

“I don’t think the scheme should take into account different factors like gender, or factors such as hereditary disease or health factors [like life insurance funds do] as this is a financial investment – we should all get the same. Even if it’s legal, it’s still unfair.”

Pearson tried to raise the inequality between men and women in lump-sum police pension payments with the Police Federation three years ago, but said he was frustrated to find they “took the attitude that rules are rules – and they were set in stone”.

He is again calling on the Police Federation to review the current system. “The petition will be put before the new Prime Minister, and I can use it as a basis to ask the Police Federation to do something,” he said.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES COMMISSION TO MERGE IN OCTOBER INTO NEW COMMISSION: MEN STILL TO BE IGNORED

When, at the end of September, the Equal Opportunities Commission is subsumed into the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, do not believe that things will change for men.

After 30 years in existence, the plight of men has worsened and partly this is because the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) purposely ignoring male issues and promoting discrimination against men in the guise of positive discrimination for women.

One of the biggest changes in that period was the equalisation of retirement age but this clear discrimination was ignored by the EOC. It took campaigns from a charity called Parity (link) to make that happen, as with a number of other cases ofinstitutional sexism by the state against men on issues like prescription charges and bus passes.

When the changeover happens next month, the same old ignorance of the needs of men will be maintained and the same old refusal to deal with male sexual discrimination and male gender discrimination will continue.

There will still be no call for a Minister for Men, which the Equal Opportunities Commission does not support (link), despite actively supporting a Minister for Women.

There will still be the same old denial about the need to raise the profile of male domestic violence victims and how the education system is failing boys.

To get around the latter fact they even commissioned research this month to try and prove that class is the biggest factor affecting boys education, not the feminised education system (link). The EOC would never commission similar research if it was an issue affecting girls!

It also ignores issues around pensions, prostate cancer and other issues (see sidebar on the Minister for Men manifesto).

Just because the name on the door will change on 1st October 2007, the people will not, as nearly all will be joining the new Commission. Their ignorance of the needs of men will be harder to track as will facts like those revealed in August where it was shown that only 18% of employees (link) at the EOC were men.

The new EHRC will still ignoring men and only promoting women's issues.

It will still be promoting male discrimination under the politically correct guise of positive discrimination for women.

It will be the same old story that men will continue to be sexually discriminated against and the state will merely look on.

MALE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS IN BLACK COMMUNITY : EXCELLENT ARTICLE IN THE VOICE

There was an excellent article published in The Voice newspaper about battered men in January. It was orignally missed by this site but a helpful reader forwarded it. Please read it here (link).

TV REQUEST : GENDER DIVISIONS

London-based television company Brighter Pictures are hoping to make a new programme about gender divisions in society.

They are looking for people who feel antipathy towards, or are uncomfortable with, members of the opposite sex; or more importantly for readers of this site, people who feel that the rights of members of their gender are being subjugated in today's society.

If any readers feel this way or know anyone who feels this way, they should get in touch with Andy at Brighter Pictures on - [email protected] or 020 8222 4898.

Brighter Pictures have stated that all correspondence will be dealt with sympathetically and in complete confidence. They are looking for UK-based individuals only so if you are from the UK and feel this way, do get in touch with Andy as soon as possible.

BOYS EDUCATION BEHIND AT SEVEN

Following the series of examination results this summer, boys at school are behind girls at every level and in practically every subject. As the results show here in the Daily Mail (link), boys are behind girls at the first stage of primary school, including a massive 11% behind at writing.