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Tory policy worsens mental health crisis

T/W Mental health, suicide.

Whilst I could write reams on Jeremy Hunt, today I am focusing on something extremely close to my heart; mental health. It is poignant that I write this today as just yesterday it was announced that, for the first time ever, suicide is the number one killer for those under the age of 25 in the UK, a startling, and incredibly saddening statistic.

Last week, health secretary Hunt announced he would be creating 21,000 new NHS posts, with the specific focus on treating mental health. This £1.3bn investment has, by some, been lauded as demonstrating the Conservative party’s commitment to tackling the mental health endemic in the United Kingdom. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth; not only has the system of mental health funding been systematically dismantled under Tory governance, but the actions of the party are exacerbating the situation of some of the most vulnerable in society, compounding the mental health crisis.

This funding is inextricably contradictory as staffing, as well as funds, is vital to ensuring that the support is on hand for those who need it. According to UCAS, applications to study nursing are down 19 per cent this year after the Tories abolished training bursaries which will lead to a major staffing crisis in the near future. Without sufficient staffing levels, this investment is meaningless.

Further, there is no guarantee this funding will be safeguarded for use in the mental health sector. The raiding of mental health budgets for other areas of healthcare is rife. As Freedom of Information requests found 64% of CCGs used funds for other purposes and that 57% of CCGs propose to cut their spending on child mental health in 2017 – this is despite CAMH’s budgets already being extremely low (at 0.7% of the total NHS budget.) Given that the demand for mental health services has increased by over 20% since 2010, this is of great concern.

What’s more, over the past seven years we have seen countless instances whereby Adults, and children, under distress have had to travel miles for support and treatment, due to closures/lack of beds. This move away from friends and families undoubtedly hinders improvement and can cause additional trauma to someone who is already feeling vulnerable.

In addition to accounts of people travelling over 300 miles for beds, there are examples of children being detained in police cells, ligature points being found on wards and a startling 62% of mental health trusts have been found to ‘require improvement.’

The cynic in me believes that perhaps all this posturing regarding improving mental health funding serves as an aversion from the many issues, introduced or worsened under the Tories that can compound mental health issues, such as austerity. Researchers at Oxford University have established links between changes to the benefit system under the Tories and an increase in a number of cases of mental illness. They even go so far as to estimate that the fit to work tests have resulted in 590 additional suicides and 279,000 cases of mental illness.

To imply that the recent move by Hunt suggests a commitment to improving mental health is insulting.

Update

The hiatus is too long and convoluted to explain - highlights include a career change, a concussion and political fatigue but I’m back and will be aiming to update my blog much more consistently! So apologies for the break and hopefully they’ll still be some people reading this.

What I’m reading:

I’ve just finished reading On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder which was encapsulated the constant sense of Trump induced rage I’ve been feeling since November.

Conceived in response to the Trump presidency and acknowledging the struggle that the next four years will be for many, Snyder draws on instances of ethical collapse from history, inspiring resistance to political tyranny.

Read whilst listening to Frank Turners’ Sand in the Gears & drinking whiskey/beverage of choice.

What I’m listening to:

I’m REALLY enjoying podcasts at the moment, below are a few recommendations:

http://www.missedinhistory.com/

A History fanatic’s dream, this podcast is super informative and can serve to combat, to an extent, the issues with the history curricula taught in schools- namely that it is ethnocentric and seeks to present the West as triumphant and morally superior. I particularly enjoyed the episode on Executive Order 9066 - many tend to forget about Japanese internment and Americans generally like to view the FDR presidency in a rose tinted way and this offers a nice reality check.

http://www.stuffmomnevertoldyou.com/

Linked closely to the aforementioned Trump induced rage I’ve been feeling, is the Feminist rage that’s been a near constant in my life for quite some time. This podcast fits that mood perfectly.

N.B my personal criticisms of the podcast would be that, whilst it strives to be inter sectional, it often views things in a hetero normative way, ignoring LGBT+ women.

I’m also really enjoying the Guilty Feminist podcasts

http://guiltyfeminist.com/episodes/

The most recent episode with Leyla Hussain is great - it was so refreshing to hear someone speak so openly about FGM and the fact that it was indicative of a wider societal attitude towards female sexuality, in essence it’s a patriarchal practice as opposed to a cultural one.

https://www.acast.com/saywhytodrugs/

If you are fed up of the judgmental or frankly sensationalist rhetoric surrounding drugs/drug use then this podcast is for you. The scientific and curious tone massively piqued my interest and I feel like this ‘why’ approach should be applied to a lot of things, providing an understanding as opposed to passing moral judgement.

Who I’m loving:

You know you’re a politics nerd/ maybe a little strange when you have favorite MP’s.

My two new favourites are:

Laura Pidcock - I really appreciate a good maiden speech and, damn, it was a good maiden speech. Laura is what Westminster needs and I’m really impressed with her already.

Preet Gill - I feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful MP representing my constituency. As someone who had pretty conflicted feelings towards Gisella, especially in the run up to the EU referendum, I’m really happy with Preet as my MP. Not only was her election a triumph in terms of the representation of Sikh women in British Politics, a group who are often sidelined from the political sphere, she seems to genuinely understand and care about a lot of issues that are important to me - Education, Social Care and inter sectional feminism.

Disabled by society: why it's time to adopt the Social Model of Disability

It’s been an interesting week politically. From Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey to May’s One Show appearance (which consequently adds much fuel to my aforementioned argument about her lack of commitment to Feminism) the papers have not been devoid of controversy of late. One topic that has dominated the news the last few days is the leak of Labour’s General Election Manifesto. As a Sociologist, with a keen interest in the Sociology of Health, it was refreshing to see the clause about Labour adopting the Social Model of disability; an attitude which, if the party are invited to form a Government in June, will lead to a transformation of the lives of disabled people in the UK.

So what is the Social Model of disability?

The Social Model of disability argues that disability is caused, not by impairment, but rather by the way in which society is organised along ableist lines. This model focuses on how systemic barriers, attitudes and stereotypes marginalise individuals with any form of impairment. As such, their focus is on removing barriers that restrict life choices. This sentiment is encapsulated in Thomas’ statement that ‘disability is a form of social oppression involving the imposition of social restrictions of activity on people with impairments and the socially engendered undermining of their psycho emotional wellbeing.’ Ultimately the model focuses on a valuing the individual and recognising barriers, seeking to provide solutions rather than apply labels . In essence whilst medical model dubs the individual as 'faulty’ the Social Model views societal provision as 'faulty’ rather than the individual.

In my mind, utilising the Social Model of disability to shape policy is the only way to truly transform attitudes towards disability in society. It’s focus on inclusion would normalise impairments and improve people’s quality of life.

In order to understand the merits of this model, all you have to do is look at a tube or train map. You’ll notice that some, but not all, of the stations provide disabled access. Imagine having to plan your days out/ work schedule around the fact that there are only certain stations which you can actually access!

Further, imagine you are vision impaired - you have never been able to read a restaurant menu in your life. Restaurants provide gluten free menus, kids menus, vegan menus but no Braille versions of their menus, reinforcing the idea that you and your choices do not matter.

The changes that would coincide with adopting the Social Model are, largely, inexpensive and when you truly think about it it is nonsensical that they have not been adopted already.

For eager Sociologists who want to learn about the other models of disability:

In contrast to the Social Model, The Medical Model centres around the notion of normality and channels its efforts into scientific endeavours in order to 'cure’ or 'rehabilitate’ the individual - the inference here is that it is disabled people that need to change to fit into the world as it is. This model can often led to the establishment of an alternate lifestyle for disabled people, as seen through the existence of specialist schools, youth clubs etc. Given that the medical model views the disabled as 'sick’ it has no qualms imposing a degree of segregation on them.

There is also mention in Sociological study of the pre Enlightenment Traditional Model of disability which centred around ideas about disabled people as possessed/witches. Whilst we have clearly come a long way from this mentality, I pose to you, given that The Medical Model appears to dominant societal attitudes, have we come far enough?

Recent Reads

Prisoners of Geography – Tim Marshall

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a map is worth a thousand pictures

Given that my last half hearted foray into Geography was quite some time ago in secondary school, I have often shied away from reading books on geographical issues, perceiving geography to be an area outside of my expertise (pub quiz knowledge of capital cities aside.) Despite this, Marshall's work had deep appeal to me - not only do his credentials make him the perfect person to author a work on global political affairs but my aesthetic fascination with maps rendered me sold by the promise that these ten maps would tell me all I needed to know about my favourite topic; Politics. In Marshall's defence, this topographical journey didn't fall short of it's claim.

Prisoners of Geography provides an eye opening insight into how geographical factors shape political on goings, proving a salient reminder of how our landscapes shape our actions. This book is extremely accessible, broken down into ten chapters, each based on key areas of the globe from Middle East to the Artic. One part I found particularly interesting was the section about China, it provided me with really insight to just how China came out from behind the bamboo curtain and became a key player not only across the Asiatic continent but on a global scale. Further, the accessible nature of Prisoners of Geography allowed me to dip in and out at my leisure - as a bibliophile who often commits the cardinal sin of having about five books on the go, this suited me greatly.

This accessibility is not the only merit of Marshall’s book; his passion for and knowledge of geo politics and history is contagious – clearly an expert in his field, Marshall’s engaging writing style took me on a topographical journey across place and time. One criticism is that, at times the book can seem quite brisk, brushing over significant events like the Sykes Picot agreement and the more recent annexation of Crimea – but this whistle stop tour of global history acts simply a springboard for further research for the reader. Geographically deterministic, Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography differed greatly from the politics based books I often read and provided a refreshing, insightful and accessible exploration of the state of global political affairs, serving as somewhat of a remember of the futility of imperialism as we are, after all, imperilled by our geography.

When we are reaching for the stars, the challenges ahead are such that we will perhaps have to come together to meet them: to travel the universe not as Russians, Americans or Chinese, but as representatives of humanity. But so far, although we have broken free from the shackles of gravity, we are still imprisoned in our own minds, confined by our suspicion of the 'other', and thus our primal competition for resources. There is a long way to go. - Tim Marshall, Prisoners of Geography

Why I'm voting Labour.

A series.

As a feminist, as a young person, as an educator, as someone who lives outside of London, as a religious minority, as an environmentalist, as someone who cares about mental health.

As a feminist

Whilst some might, shortsightedly, relish the opportunity to vote for a party with a female leader as some sort of feminist truimph, in actuality the prime ministership of Theresa May is the antithesis of a success for gender parity.

Many Conservative policies have overwhelmingly negative impacts on women, from what Yvette Copper termed ' the state sanctioned abuse of women' in Yarl's Wood Immigration Detention centre, to the inclusion of the so called Rape Clause in April 2016 as part of cuts to tax credits whereby women have to evidence their sexual assault, to austerity policies that can be deemed an ideological assault on the lives of women.

The systematic dismantling of the NHS and the Social Care sector places women into the role of carer - forcing them to either embark on the 'triple shift', caring for elderly relatives whilst still undertaking a career or having to neglect their aspirations in order to fill this social care void. The Thatcherite notion 'there's no such thing as society, only family,' places undue pressure on females, negating the role society SHOULD play in caring for the young, the old and the sick.

Further, May's lacklustre approach to pushing for women's rights - seen recently in her trip to Saudi Arabia where she made no attempts to outwardly critique the Saudi regimes treatment of women. For May, international trade comes before women's (human) rights as seen by her attempts to build rapport with Trump, ignoring his derogatory comments and holding his (ridiculously tiny) hands.

In truth, the Yarl's Wood and Saudi Arabia examples may reveal an even more uncomfortable truth - May's brand of white western middle class feminism holds no room for intersectionality. Her wearing a 'this is what a feminist looks like tshirt' and setting up of an initiative to encourage women to enter the political sphere show that May's feminism is a fashion statement, worn when it suits her and her wealthy white counterparts.

What's more, May has done nothing to speak out against Shipley MP Phillip Davies, a massive advocate of Donald Trump and member of the Women and Equalities select committee who recently tried to filibuster a bill which would ratify the Istanbul Convention - tackling and preventing violence against women. This instance also demonstrates that, irrespective of one's partisan allegiance, it is vital to check your MP's record on issues that are important to you - many Shipley Conservatives recently admitted that they were unaware of Davies chequered record on measures to achieve gender parity.

Whilst Labour may not hold gender parity at the forefront of their ten pledges for 2017 and they have certainly made faux pas pertaining to feminism before (think Eagle's leadership bid where she used the image of a pink union jack whilst offering no policy proposals relating to the issue of female inequality,) they offer the only plausible alternative to a party whose policies will serve to make life far worse for women. According to Fortune magazine, by 2020 women will carry an estimated 85% of the burden of government changes to social services and taxes.

Life updates and the forgotten elections

Firstly, apologies for the brief hiatus. It’s been a busy month or so with deadlines at work, trips to Prague and London, attempting to train, albeit slowly, for the upcoming Two Castles run and job hunting. As many people are aware, at the end of this academic year I am coming out of teaching, moving towards my goal of working in policy/politics. I’m pleased to say that, on Friday, I was offered my dream job, working within the political sphere for a not for profit association - I’m very much looking forward to the challenges that await me from June. So it is with renewed enthusiasm that I come back to this blog. The forthcoming general election has become somewhat of an elephant in the room which I’ve been desperate to address but first a brief piece about the upcoming elections on Thursday (4th May.) for the first Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority. In addition, given that over 4,000 council seats are being contested on this day too, this will be combined with by elections to elect one ward councilor in the Hall Green and Perry Barr wards. The debate surrounding the West Midlands mayorals has completely changed since the announcement on the 18th of April that, irrespective of the Fixed Term Parliament Act of 2011 which aimed to schedule elections to the Commons at regular fixed intervals, May would (with the authorisation of 2/3rds of MPs) be holding a general election on the 8th June. This snap election will undoubtedly have a plethora of impacts on next Thursdays polls. Firstly, it would be fair to say that turnout will be relatively low, given that the focus on the central parties may induce a degree of apathy towards this devolved role and a sense of voter fatigue. This is problematic as it not only impacts on the legitimacy of the outcome of this first mayoral election in the West Midlands but as Hajnal and Lewis (2003) pinpoint an important concern with low-levels of citizen engagement in local elections, noting that at the local level where policies on most likely to be implemented and where a majority of the nation’s civic leaders are being elected important public policy decisions are being made without the input of most of the affected residents. Ultimately, for those concerned with issues such as waiting times at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, class sizes in Birmingham Schools and declining industry in the Black Country, not only can a vote at the general election for certain parties attempt to address these areas but, people must be aware of the power the West Midlands Mayor will have pertaining to these policy areas and thus should research and vote accordingly. As a result of the 2016 Cities and Local Government Devolution Act, the Mayor will control a £1.1bn, 30-year investment fund, an adult skills budget and have compulsory purchase powers over housing and planning. The Mayor will also control the consolidated transport budget, the local roads network, bus franchising and smart ticketing on the transport network. Certainly, the degree of responsibility this individual will have should galvanize the electorate to vote or at least ballot spoil. Secondly, many may view this election as a ‘poll’, a way to voice discontent or content with a particular party or a parties’ leader in the run up to the general election. This not only decreases the scrutiny on the individual candidates for Metro Mayor but also marginalises third parties from the debate (given that they are sidelined in General Elections.) The electoral system used in the forthcoming Mayoral elections, SV, actually provides an opportunity for people to vote for third parties without inducing the spoiler effect (an unfortunate byproduct of FPTP.) In essence, it is vital that people look into the candidates themselves rather than becoming too fixated on the party they align themselves with. Perhaps, May believed that by holding the General Election so close to the local/mayoral elections she could elicit a coattails effect, with local councillors and prospective mayors riding off the Conservative Campaign. Given that the Conservative party usually takes somewhat of a battering at local government level this could certainly be the case. Whilst the Conservative campaign has been, in my eyes, a muddle of sound bites, u turns, unanswered questions and repetition ( the use of the phrase Strong and Stable over 30 times at PMQ's was more than mildly infuriating), it is important that the electorate don't simply vote for Conservative councillors and Mayors purely because of the way national politics is shaping up. The list of West Midlands candidates is below: Siôn Simon MEP - Labour Candidate, Andy Street - Conservative Candidate, Beverley Nielson - Liberal Democrat Candidate, Peter Durnell - UKIP Candidate, James Burn - Green candidate, Graham Stevenson - Communist Party candidate .

Juxtaposition. Back from an amazing trip to Prague and ready to write (expect a blog post this evening!)

So this should provide plenty of inspiration for writing, can’t wait to start my MSSc in Autumn! ☺️

#linkoping #gender #intersectionality #intersectional feminism

The Evening No Standards

With Osborne’s recent, and frankly absurd, appointment as the new editor of the London Evening Standard, the revolving door that exists between politics and the media has, once again, been called in to question.

Firstly, questions can be raised about Osborne’s ability to juggle the workload required of an elected member of parliament, his after dinner speaking engagements which earn him a healthy £650,000 a year sum and his new role as editor of a daily London newspaper. In essence, Osbourne’s constituents are being deprived of quality representation, how can one adopt the delegate or even trustee (Burkean) model if one has no time to meet with their constituents? This asymmetric democracy, whereby some MPs play an active role in their constituencies and air their needs in parliament through private members or public bills (exemplified by Steve Rotherham’s proposed Tyre Safety Bill) whilst others simply utilise their position to gain elevated status, unaware of the needs of those they are supposedly representing, is truly alarming.

The cross pollination between the political realm and the media has existed for quite some time, though typically the revolving door spins the other way, with polished journalists leaving their media roles for jobs within the political sphere, utilising the acting skills they have acquired in their time in front of the camera to add a certain veneer to political administrations. As Leibovich states ‘they (journalists and politicians) are trained to talk to strangers and talk in a very public [sphere] and act in a very public way.’ This can be exemplified by the fact that over 30 individuals in the Obama administration came from media backgrounds, including Murray (a former journalist for the Washington Post) who joined as Biden’s communications director in 2011 and then went on to replace Dan Pfeiffer as Obama’s aid in the West Wing.

Further, the media and politics have always had a close relationship – as explored in Jones’ seminal work ‘The Establishment’ whereby he points to the unwavering dedication of all 179 of Murdoch’s publications to glorifying the Iraq war, something he argues was a by-product of the close relationship between the media mogul and Blair. Moreover, all you have to do is read Sarah Vine’s column in the Daily Mail (actually, don’t ever read the Daily Mail) to realise that her marriage to Gove and her deep rooted commitment to the Conservative party shapes her writings. In essence, how can the media serve as a watch dog if these institutions are becoming incestuous?

Further, Doyle states ‘abuses of power and influence by elites need to be monitored by a free media’ and given that editorial positions offer individuals extensive power to transmit a distinct ideology such as the ability to select or reject news stories, the media is often not as free as assumed.

Ultimately, Osborne’s new role, irrespective of the fact it requires a ridiculous level of multi-tasking, carries some more sinister undertones. The fact that a political figure, one who will be, no doubt, seeking electoral success in 2020 can control the flow of news in a free, London wide publication that is thrust into the hands of unassuming commuters (often serving as their only news source that day) means that the paper can be a tool of electioneering, of disguising the inequalities that are pervasive under a Conservative Government and shape public opinion to favour the status quo, lulling individuals into even more of a false class consciousness. As Milliband (1973) argues ‘the role of the media is to shape how we think about the world we live in and audiences are rarely informed about important issues such as inequalities in wealth or why poverty persists’ – this will certainly worsen with Osborne at the helm of such a large publication.

Inspirational day at the Young Labour Political School. Below is a brief account of my day (I'll get back to writing more journalistically tomorrow, the hiatus has been a result of an exorbitant workload!) The day started, following coffee and croissants (10/10 for the food Young Labour), with an address by Jeremy Corbyn. Whilst I've heard Corbyn speak several times before, this speech was particularly impressive - delivered with a passion, drive and aggression that he can often be accused of lacking in parliamentary debates and TV appearances. Corbyn covered a range of topics, from the mental health epidemic to local devolution to the disappointing loss of the Copeland By-election. This speech was pure eloquence and determined grit and left me eager to engage my inner activist as the day progressed. Following the leader's welcome, attendees were offered a range of breakaway workshops to participate in. Whilst the whole programme was appealing, I decided to attend the morning session on SRE ran by LGBT Labour which discussed the lack of inclusivity in Sex and Relationship Education within schools and gave participants an opportunity to share how inadequate their own experiences of SRE had been. This was really fascinating from a teaching perspective as it allowed me to reflect on my own practice and also provided me with the opportunity to discuss my ideas for improving education with other LGBT+ young people. Also, it was great to hear young activists talking about how they had challenged sexist, transphobic, homophobic or biphobic practices in their schooling! The second workshop I attended centred around Anti Semitism in the Labour Party and Engaging the Jewish electorate (who make up around 0.6% of the UK's population.) Hosted by The Jewish Labour Movement, it was eye opening to realise the extent of abuse faced by individuals such as Luciana Berger MP and to see examples of extremely anti Semitic language being utilised in official Labour forums. Whilst I don't necessarily agree with The Jewish Labour movement's stance on Israel, it was interesting to hear the experiences of Jewish elected officials and the workshop shared a plethora of interesting ways in which to engage subsections of the electorate. As someone who wants to run for elected office in the not too distant future, the discussions regarding voter engagement were invaluable. In terms of the panel discussions, the Workplace 2020 session exemplified how truly difficult it is for young people to gain quality employment and be treated fairly in the workplace. Audience members shared some particularly shocking examples of employer malpractice, especially with regards to zero hour contracts, disability and the age pay gap! For me, the final panel discussion, centred on curbing the rise of the far right in the UK and the rest of the world, was a real highlight. Not only did all the speakers provide pragmatic ways in which to challenge facist beliefs within communities but the discussion explored the fact that, now UKIP can be perceived as somewhat redundant, ANTIFA activists need to focus their attention on an increasingly right wing Conservative Government (let's not forget the vans that May introduced as Home Sec that told unregistered immigrants to go home!) We were also privileged enough to hear from Andrine, a member of Norwegian Young Labour, who bravely shared her first hand account of the 2011 far right terrorist attack in Norway, carried out at a camp for young socialists. Andrine told us how she had stared Breivik straight in the eyes as he shot her in the chest, smiling. Andrine's speech not only elicited a standing ovation and many a tear, but demonstrated the importance of working collaboratively with other socialist groups across the world to quell the monumental, and frankly terrifying, rise of the far right. All in all, a fantastic, thought provoking day at the Young Labour Political School and great to meet so many other inspirational young socialists!

Found a whole page dedicated to Bercow memes; evening sorted. Apologies for the total lack of posts lately, work has taken over somewhat. I'll try and post some budget analysis tomorrow!

Australia’s dirty little secret

Since white settlement in 1788, Australia has hidden the residue of its colonial ambitions exceedingly well. Whilst the abhorrent behaviour of the white population against minority groups in other societies is well documented, often resulting in global pressures – as seen through the manner in which the Black Lives Matter movement in the US spread to 90 cities and across the Atlantic to the UK, the treatment of aboriginal people in Australia appears to be largely forgotten and ignored by the rest of the west.

Despite the fact Australia is happy to appropriate elements of aboriginal culture for the purpose of eliciting tourism, it’s treatment of indigenous people leaves them marginalised from mainstream society, rendering them collateral damage to the economic boom that many parts of Australia have been enjoying in recent years.

Such maltreatment undoubtedly stems from the nonsensical doctrine of terra nullius that still serves as a central feature of Australian Common law. This legal fiction dictates that land within Australia belongs to no one, meaning that seizure and continuing possession of land by settles is, for all intents and purpose, entirely legal. The doctrine of terra nullius contributes to a sense of non indigenous superiority that is ingrained in Australian society.

In the realm of law and order, indigenous people find themselves making up a disproportionate amount of the prison population (at least 25%, despite making up only 2.6% of the general populace.) It is clear these communities are not only over policed, but also so marginalised and materially deprived that crime serves as a tempting route out of economic hardship. The criminal justice system tends to view indigenous people as secondary. In August 2014, an indigenous woman, named Ms Dhu, died in police custody after complaining of rib pain and having her welfare disregarded by custodial staff. Furthermore, racial bias and profiling underpin police actions towards aborigines– meaning that the level of their criminality is skewed. There are countless accounts of the police following aboriginal individuals, looking for opportunities to label them as criminal. Aboriginal artist Tony Albert’s work We Can Be Heroes 2013-14 comes from the “daily experience” of Aboriginal boys “being followed” and “watched” by police, feeling as if they were “walking targets for bullies, racists and the police.”

Moreover, it was not until 1967 that aborigines were granted citizenship. This secondary status they occupy has an impact on employment (the unemployment rate of indigenous peoples is four times the national average) and mental and physical well being (the 460,000 aboriginals in Australia suffer an average life expectancy 17 years less than the rest of the country and the suicide rate for this group is six times the national average.)

Finally, the treatment of the aboriginal people by white Australians has, at times, been entirely depraved. Indigenous women make up around a fifth of homicide victims and there is evidence to suggest that there is widespread sexual abuse of aboriginal children in Australian society. Clearly, the most vulnerable in society become more vulnerable if they are indigenous.The little children are sacred report, released in 2007, examined the sexual abuse of indigenous children in Australia; among the 97 recommendations the report made, one stated that the scale of such abuse rendered in a matter of national importance and urgency.

John Oliver once referred to Australia as ‘the most comfortably racist society on earth’ and their treatment of indigenous people certainly suggests that Australia holds a very dirty secret; its racism.

Spotted on the tube

Faux Democracy: The endless flaws of First Past The Post

Since the bid to implement a new electoral system for Westminster through the AV referendum in 2011 proved unsuccessful, it appears that any attempts at electoral reform are now firmly off the political agenda. Whilst proportionally representative systems have their flaws and often make it more difficult to gain a majority and thus form a stable government (epitomised by Italy's grand coalition in 2013 which comprised of four parties,) First Past The Post is flawed beyond belief and is serving to foster at best a two party system and at worst a one party state in the United Kingdom. The first issue with this majoritarian system is the manner in which seats allocated fail to reflect votes cast. The notion of winner takes all offers no prizes for second place and thus a substantial amount of votes, particularly those for third parties, are wasted. This can be seen through the fact that in 2015 UKIP gained over 12% of the vote but only have one seat in the Commons. Further, The Green Party acquired in excess of 1 million votes in 2015 yet only hold one seat, the same number as in 2010 when they gained under a quarter of a million votes. Evidently the composition of the commons does little to reflect the current political climate in the U.K. First Past the Post is undoubtedly a tool to subjugate third parties - this is particularly marked when compared with PR systems such as AMS used at Holyrood whereby in 2016 the Scottish Liberal Democrats gained 5% of the vote and secured 5 seats in Scottish Parliament, such systems clearly enjoy a great degree of proportionality. A second way in which First Past The Post serves as a tool in maintaining a two (or one) party system is that it renders itself susceptible to gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is the process through which the ruling party redraws constituency boundaries to create safe seats, leaving little room for elections to be a proponent of political change. In 2015 only 21 seats were seen as 'battleground seats.' The existence of so many safe seats results in the quality of candidates fielded being compromised and apathy becomes rife. Further, gerrymandering is only set to worsen as the number of MPs is gradually reduced from 650 to 600 - this is estimated to create an additional 20 safe seats for the Tories. In essence, this could prevent the formation of a Labour government for quite some time. The current system renders general elections practically worthless as they do not serve as a means through which any form of political change can be achieved. In effect, putting an X on a ballot paper every five years in not really political participation but rather a feature of the faux democracy that exists in the UK.

Half term is for reading, writing and long train journeys.

Ink on her skin: tattoos, body modifications and the female form

NB: These are excerpts from what will, hopefully, form a larger, more extensive piece of writing.

“Wear your heart on your skin in this life” - Sylvia Plath

Tattoos can be seen as having extensive symbolic meaning, for some the external pain of having a tattoo becomes a manifestation of internal anguish, a way to turn a feeling into something more tangible and thus, make it easier to process. This notion is supported by Sarnecki’s statement that “ having a part of your body tattooed serves as a conduit to understanding and incorporating both a physical and psychological loss while also regaining some sense of control and a new sense of individual empowerment”. Therapeutic tattooing is not solely a contemporary idea. Civilisations such as the Ancient Egyptians believed in the tattoos curative powers - the seemingly meaningless dots found tattooed on mummies were actually covering traces of arthritis and other such conditions, thus tattooing can be seen as somewhat medicinal. Often, the pain of the tattoo becomes an important, almost positive entity - supported by Victoria Pearce ( as cited in an interview National Geographic 2013) who claims tattoos are an “affirmation of self ownership of the body.” Ultimately, the rationale of tattooing after trauma is not uncommon as Quillan states “in the wake of Hurricane Katrina – tattoo parlours in New Orleans saw a huge amount of people clamouring for tattoos related to the incident”, thus they can serve a way in which to remind and to, eventually, heal, for many.

Nevertheless, the process of being tattooed has not always had such positive connotations, in fact that process itself can prove a source of trauma, as exemplified by the notion of punitive tattooing. Punitive tattooing was, historically, a means through which people were branded in order to either homogenise or dehumanize the human body (normally by the ruling classes.) Within Nazi concentration camps, people were marked with numbers, in order to strip them of their identity and their humanity. Further, the Ancient Greeks used to tattoo their slaves on the face - marking offences such as gluttony and laziness. The ground-breaking documentary Modify (2005) explores the fragile nature of the distinction between mutilation and modification, we see that, when planned, tattooing can be empowering but when out of one’s control it becomes a punitive, mutilating and uncomfortably permanent entity.

The female tattooed body is viewed in a contradictory light – it can be seen as a way to simultaneously attempt to subvert but also appeal to the male gaze. For some, the choice to become tattooed serves as a means for women to regain power over their body. If we view the needle as a phallic entity, by choosing to be tattooed females are in control of their own penetration. The empowering nature of tattooing is supported by the assertion in Dan Browns fictional work The Lost Symbol that “the act of tattooing ones skin was a transformative declaration of power, an announcement to the world: I am in control of my own flesh.” In addition, female tattooing serves as a subversion of patriarchal norms given that it overcomes this notion of the placid female body. This is supported by Margo de Mello’s assertion that “ many Victorian women were drawn to tattoos as a way of demonstrating that they were less likely to accept the idea of the quiet, pale and bounded female body.” Therefore tattoos subvert expectations and also the male gaze, forcing the eye to look at the female body in a different light. Additionally, it allows the female to “reclaim their body from the everyday experience of feeling unattractive”, The notion of tattoos as attractive is not unfounded, they are seen as sexually appealing in a variety of cinematic sources such as Wanted ( Timur Bekmambetov, Universal Pictures, 2008) where the tattoo is used to further enhance the sex appeal of Angelina Jolie’s character, Fox. In one scene, she drops her towel to reveal a design of Kmher Characters on her shoulders and a large Bengal Tiger on her lower back. This placement leads to a sense of intrigue and inferred promiscuity. The vulgar contemporary phrase “tramp stamp” refers to a tattoo on the lower back, suggesting negative connotations, sexually, about it’s owner. This notion of the tattooed woman as promiscuous is shown in a historical juristic example as cited in Kang and Jones where Albert Parry describes a rape case in the late 1920′s in Boston in which the prosecutor, upon realising the young woman he was defending had a tattoo, requested that the case be dropped. Thus, the tattooed body is seen as less pure and damaged goods.

Moreover, there is a view that such body art is indicative of deviance. This is not entirely unfounded given that there is a history of tattooing in relation to criminality. In Japan, horomono ( tattoos) were a sign of belonging to part of the Yakuza - the criminal underworld. Moreover, Japanese criminals were often given tattoos by the authorities, thus begun to hide them with decorative patterns in order to conceal their criminality. Additionally, anthropological approaches towards tattooing ( the existence of this approach inferring a primitiveness in itself) such as Lombroso’s “ Criminal Anthropology ( 1895) and his subsequent “ The savage origins of tattooing ( 1896) cast a prejudicial shadow on tattooed individuals. Lombrosso (1986) claims that criminals sometimes used tattoos as a semiotic tool of cataloging crimes. However, this view of the tattooed criminal, or underclass is increasingly becoming diluted - with Roberts and Ryan ( 2002) arguing that it is outdated, given “ The recent rise in the prevalence of tattooing might well attenuate the traditional link between tattoos and perceived deviance through social learning processes.”

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John Oliver on trans rights.

I usually try to avoid posting videos that are more than five minutes long, but this commentary about trans rights from John Oliver was too great to pass up. He does a wonderful job of introducing what it means to be transgender, as well as discussing:

media coverage,

the terrible statistics on discrimination and anti-trans violence,

the gender binary in institutions and institutional inertia,

and the ridiculousness of “bathroom bills.”

Mostly, he just does a great job of talking about how easy it really is to just get over it and treat people like people.

- Lisa Wade

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