As shared parental leave arrives, Dads should grasp the chance to bring up baby, writes Anthony Herbert New rules start today that mean fathers can share parental leave with their partners when a child is born.
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The acquisition of John Fowles’s desk – complete with uneaten sweet – by the Harry Ransom Center, may tell us about the way ahead for literary archives When I was growing up in Dorset, not far from ” Casterbridge ” , I went through a Hardy phase, reading everything from Under The Greenwood Tree to The Dynasts , his verse play, set in the Napoleonic wars. Briefly, yes, I became quite obsessed. Anyway, the county museum in Dorchester became a kind of shrine to my devotion. Somewhere in the depths of its gloomy, hushed interior was a replica of the writer’s study with his desk, his pens and inkpot, his pince-nez spectacles; in fact, all the things he left behind at his death (from pleurisy) in 1928. Next to his books (rows of leather-bound Macmillan editions) the bric-a-brac on Hardy’s desk became the real focus of my interest, a vivid window onto the solitude and silence of the writer’s life in old age. The Dorset County Museum, which still celebrates the accumulated treasures of one of England’s richest counties, flashed into mind last Friday when the Harry Ransom Center in Texas announced its acquisition of John Fowles’s writing desk, to be exhibited to the world on the writer’s 85th birthday. Fowles was not a Dorset native like Hardy, but he lived for many years on the coast at Lyme Regis. He died in 2005, after a series of strokes. For the archivists of Texas, the appeal of Fowles’s desk (they already have his manuscripts) is that they can exhibit its contents : the single Tic Tac mint, the silver fountain pen and the spare HMV gramophone player needles. There’s also a plastic typewriter ribbon canister containing seeds and petals and a note “Nicotinia 1963″, which presumably derives from the years Fowles worked on The Magus. I’m not sure that any of this leaves us any the wiser about Fowles but it does underline something about the future of libraries and literary museums. In the age of the laptop, ebook and memory stick, it will be the non-literary artefacts that will attract attention. There’s even the beginnings of an academic discipline emerging around such material. See, for instance, Sam Gosling’s “Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You” . It’s true that great archives like the Harry Ransom (and the Bodleian) do boast departments whose function is to curate writers’ discarded hard drives. However, compared to the great manuscripts of the past, this is dull, unrevealing stuff. Perhaps the future lies with brass knuckles, dried seeds and fossilised Tic Tacs. Thomas Hardy John Fowles Fiction Heritage Robert McCrum guardian.co.uk
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Been there readers have taken March’s theme, Wild, and run with it. Here are the pick of the entries
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Lack of black and Asian faces in both legislatures strengthens case for positive action, campaigners believe Despite being set up to empower and involve the people of Scotland and Wales, both their devolved legislatures have been slow to include the countries’ ethnic minorities. On this count at least, they have been arguably weaker than Westminster. Despite having at least 170,000 people from an Asian, black or mixed race background among its electorate – 4% of the Scottish population – Holyrood has only ever had one non-white MSP elected, four years ago. The Welsh assembly too, despite Cardiff’s long history of black settlement and having an overall minority ethnic population of roughly 100,000 people across Wales – at least 3% of the population – first had a minority ethnic member elected in 2007. In both legislatures there is a black democratic deficit, said Ashok Viswanathan, deputy director of the campaign organisation Operation Black Vote (OBV). He believes the case is now strengthening for positive action to promote ethnic minority candidates in both places, including all-black shortlists. Both legislatures originally took steps to ensure gender equality, but not for ethnic minorities. “There’s no reason why they can’t introduce positive action programmes for ethnic minorities,” Viswanathan said. He said there should be “some way of opening the gateways in the corridors of decision-making, raising confidence, giving people the skills and knowledge so they can play a full and positive role in the democratic process”. In all, there are at least 22 minority ethnic candidates seeking election to Holyrood and Cardiff Bay for the five main parties – Labour, the Tories, the Scottish National party or Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens – but only a small number are likely to be elected. However, in contrast to the Scottish parliament, the Welsh assembly has put in place measures to combat that under-representation. It has a mentoring programme for minority ethnic candidates with OBV. Two of the Welsh candidates on 5 May, Liz Musa for Plaid Cymru and Mari Rees for Labour, came through that shadowing scheme. Bashir Ahmed, Scotland’s only non-white MSP, was elected in 2007 as a list candidate for the SNP but his Holyrood career was shortlived. A senior member of Glasgow’s large Pakistani community, he died in early 2009 to be replaced by a white SNP activist who was next on the party list. The SNP has worked the hardest of the Scottish parties to build up its minority ethnic links and profile, particularly in Glasgow, in a deliberate effort to show that it does not stand for ethnic nationalism but also to build up a new constituency in a city controlled by its main rival, Labour. Of all the parties, the SNP has selected the only minority ethnic candidate with a very strong chance of being elected next month: Humza Yousaf, a former aide to Alex Salmond and to Ahmed at the Scottish parliament. He is also on the Glasgow regional list, second to the SNP’s deputy leader, Nicola Sturgeon. Labour has set up its own informal minority ethnic “shadowing” project with councillors, MSPs and MPs in Edinburgh, and is standing seven candidates across Scotland. But apart from Yousaf, few of the 16 other minority ethnic candidates have strong chances of winning seats: they are in unwinnable constituencies or too low on regional lists. And of all the 17 minority ethnic candidates in Scotland, only two are women and neither is in a strong position, raising additional questions about how representative Holyrood can claim to be. In Wales, three of the five minority ethnic candidates so far named are women. Additional reporting by Paris Gourtsoyannis and Jennifer McClure Scotland Wales Race issues Equality Scottish National Party (SNP) Plaid Cymru Welsh Assembly Government Liberal Democrats Green party Scottish politics Welsh politics Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
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Policy Exchange report comes as No 10 prepares natural break in legislation to decide what changes should be made to bill One of the thinktanks closest to Downing Street is to tell David Cameron to slow the pace of health reforms to ensure GPs feel comfortable in their new role. The advice, in a report from Policy Exchange , comes as No 10 prepares a natural break in the legislation to decide what changes should be made to the bill. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, launched a scathing attack on the reforms and their handling by Downing Street, including horse-trading between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. The report, entitled Implementing GP Commissioning, suggests the health and social care bill’s proposals to abolish every primary care trust (PCT) by 2013 “could lead to the new structure simply replicating the existing system in all but name”. It is based on interviews with the GP leaders or managers of 16 “pathfinder” consortiums, and with other experts. Its findings will add pressure on Cameron to rethink how he sells the reforms and whether they should go ahead at the pace planned, given the growing hostility from GPs. Some of the Policy Exchange ideas would require radical recasting of commissioning. The study concedes that “the government has lost many potential supporters inside and outside the NHS”, and blames the Department of Health for not winning over GPs. It also questions “whether GPs have the necessary skills to run such highly complex operations before the transition to GP commissioning takes places”. Eve Norridge, the lead author of the report, said: “There are many GPs who have the potential to become highly successful commissioners. It would be a loss to everyone, especially patients, if the policy were discredited due to overly hasty implementation. “Ministers need to address GPs’ concerns before loading such huge new responsibilities on their shoulders. “The danger is that GPs take part so reluctantly in the new scheme that it ends up replicating the existing model rather than becoming the new and innovative system the government desires.” The Department of Health has insisted that applications to join the pathfinder projects show real support for the ideas contained in the bill, but others argue that GPs have merely bowed to what they regard as the inevitable. The interviews suggest: • Not abolishing primary care trusts too quickly. PCTs are struggling to deal with the transition because good staff are increasingly leaving, knowing their organisations are set to be abolished in two years’ time. The subsequent loss of expertise is creating a vacuum that is deterring many GPs from trying new and innovative ideas under the new system. • An end to micromanagement. The authors argue that “many GPs are worried about the size of the new commissioning board and whether a culture of bureaucracy is really ending”. The research found some had been pushed into large groups against their will. Others are “facing pressure to employ ex-PCT staff, regardless of whether they are the best people for the job”. • Bringing commissioning decisions much closer to patients. The report says: “This is one of the key aims of the policy, but it is under threat. GP consortia need to be much smaller than existing PCTs. Current projections for the size of GP consortia mean that commissioning could be no closer to patients than it was in 2002.” • A lack of clarification about the framework and terms under which external support providers might operate. • An absence of trust in the new system. The report says: “It is crucial that patients have absolute trust in their GPs if the new system is going to work. Consortia and their GPs should have to declare any hospitality or gifts they receive from providers of NHS care. “The regulator will need to ensure that information is widely available to mitigate against the conflict of interests between GPs’ roles as providers and commissioners of services.” David Cameron Health policy Conservatives Liberal Democrats Health NHS Doctors GPs Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Yesterday afternoon, as I played basketball in the driveway with my son and daughter, an argument arose over who hit the ball out of bounds. My feisty 10-year-old daughter tried to settle the argument by launching the ball at the back of her 12-year-old brother’s head. That made him so angry, he took the ball and kicked it into the woods. Game over. Children have to be taught to settle disputes and express their opinions respectfully. Unfortunately, it’s a lesson some adults never seem to have learned. Take, for example, Terry Jones, the pistol-packing Florida pastor who threatened to burn a Quran on 9/11 last year. Well, a little over a week ago, he… you guessed it. He burned a Quran. If you recall, Jones didn’t go through with it last year because there was such an outcry from nearly everyone — President Obama, Secretary of Defense Gates, politicians from both sides of the aisle, celebrities, religious leaders, regular folk and pretty much anyone with a lick of common sense — that burning a Quran, and offending one and a half billion people, wasn’t a good or sane idea. But it may have been General David Petraeus whose argument was the most convincing — at least for me. When I spoke with him last year, he boiled it down to a simple matter of life and death. General Petraeus said that there was nothing brave about burning the Quran over here while our soldiers pay the consequences over there — in Afghanistan, Iraq and now, Libya. When I interviewed Jones last year, I did my level best to hear him out. But all I could think of was how I would feel, as a Christian, if somebody desecrated my most sacred book, the Bible. His only defense was to say that the Quran wasn’t sacred to him. The leader of the Dove World Outreach Center — the irony in the name shouldn’t be lost on anyone — began this year’s campaign of hate with a new angle. Instead of a simple book burning, Jones decided to first put the holy book of Islam on “trial.” He dubbed it, “International Judge the Quran Day.” The thinking must have been that if the book were “guilty,” then it deserved to get burned. About 30 people attended, 12 of whom formed the “jury.” For good measure, the mock trial featured a prosecuting attorney and defense lawyer. However, in case you have any doubts, it was Jones who was not only the “judge” in this kangaroo court but also the jury and executioner. I think you can guess the verdict. With the outcome certain, it’s a wonder Jones had it go on for more than six hours. After soaking a Quran in kerosene for an hour, Jones oversaw the torching of the book. Fresh off last year’s circus as well as last week’s circus trial, Jones wants another 15 minutes of fame. So he’s now decided to fly to Dearborn, Michigan, on April 22 where he’ll protest outside the Islamic Center of America, the country’s largest mosque. Jones says he’s not protesting against Muslims, but that he’s protesting against Islamic law. He says he wants Muslims to “honor, obey and submit to the Constitution of the United States.” Last I checked, I haven’t seen any lobbying efforts by Muslim Americans to have the U.S. Constitution overturned. Ignoring Jones and hoping he disappears into obscurity doesn’t seem to work. If anything, he seems to have the survivability of a cockroach. Jones has to be confronted head-on, and that is exactly what an interfaith group of 35 pastors and imams from the Detroit-metro area is doing. On Monday, the group spoke out against Jones’ visit and announced they were planning a prayer vigil in response. Reverend Charles Williams II of the King Solomon Baptist Church said, “As a Christian minister, silence for me would be consent.” As much as I dislike giving Jones any more attention and a 16th minute of fame, silence and inaction in the face of bigotry don’t work. Worse, they can unfortunately — and incorrectly — signal approval or at the very least acceptance. Jones needs to realize that his words and actions make him the very thing he despises: He is no better than the fringe of Muslims who hate. Hate masquerading as political protest is still hate, which is why Jones must be repudiated so he realizes that his actions are not only offensive, but also dangerous — especially to our troops. We teach our children that they can disagree without being disagreeable. That lesson evolves as we grow older. As adults, we learn that we can protest peacefully and that we can oppose something without being offensive. Like Terry Jones, my daughter tried to explain to me why she was right to throw the ball at her brother. I explained to her why she was wrong and sent her to her room, much to my son’s delight. But that was short-lived because he too was sent packing to his room with what we in the South call a “talking to.” Terry Jones needs to be taught the same lesson, but his is not a game. His actions can have dire consequences for all of us. The lesson he needs to learn is that he has every right to express his opinion about Islam or to disagree with Muslims, but he doesn’t have to spit in their faces to do it. He didn’t need to desecrate a book that one and a half billion people hold sacred in order to make a point. He shouldn’t needlessly put the lives of our armed forces at greater risk. Terry Jones lives in the South, so he’ll understand this idiom as well as anybody: Terry Jones needs a “talking to.” Here’s how you can talk to Jones.
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Ready for a taste of a sweet Honeycomb tablet with a Sony twist ? You’d better be — Japan’s Nikkei is quoting Sony chief executive, Sir Howard Stringer, saying that the company’s first Android 3.0 tablet will be on sale by the end of summer. Better yet, it’ll pop for retail in the US first, according to the report. This lines up nicely with the reported September launch of the PlayStation Certified Tegra 2 “S1″ tablet featuring that unique “wrap” design we first told you about back in February. Or will it be S2 clamshell ? Who knows, Howard isn’t saying. The new tablet tattle was apparently uttered at the same event where Howard spilled the beans about Apple’s plan to use Sony sensors . Come on Howie, quit the teasing and just come out with it you saucy Welsh minx. Sony’s Howard Stringer confirms Honeycomb tablet in US by summer originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Article by WorldNews.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. On April 4, 1968, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. While much of the mainstream media focuses on his death and the individual who supposedly killed Rev. King, it is important to remember that he was participating in a predominantly black sanitation workers strike in Memphis for union recognition. This labor struggle was an ongoing revolution demanding fair wages, racial, social and economic equality, and, of course, full-employment or the right to work with dignity. Like Rev. King, throughout its history, the core tactics of the labor movement have been largely nonviolent. Strikes, demonstrations, boycotts, work stoppages,…
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Fourth straight day of demonstrations in Afghanistan cities after burning of holy book by Terry Jones’ church Protests have continued in Afghanistan against a Florida pastor’s burning of the Qur’an, prompting four straight days of demonstrations against the destruction of Islam’s holy book. The protest in eastern Laghman province briefly threatened to turn into another melee as about 300 protesters brandished sticks and threw stones at police, who in turned started firing shots in the air. Anger flared in Alingar district with the crowd moved towards the provincial capital of Mihtarlam, where they clashed with officers, said GeneralAbdul Aziz Gharanai, the provincial police chief. However, protesters dispersed as officers started firing warning shots and no one was wounded, Gharanai said. At least 21 people have been killed over three days of protests across the country. The violence started after the burning of the Qur’an by a Florida church on 20
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