Last week the European Parliament debated the situation in Tibet. There were calls for a boycott of the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing this summer. Many, including the President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering, expressed solidarity with the Dali Lama.I do not believe we can continue to let China get away with human [...]
Filed under: Beijing, China, Olympics, Tibet | Tagged: Human Rights | Leave a Comment »
Women in Zimbabwe can hope to live for just 34 years. It’s slightly higher for men – 37. Life expectancy has actually fallen by two months during the past year. Aids, the crumbling economy and hyper inflation are all taking their toll.In the UK female life expectancy is 81 and 76 for men. At the [...]
Filed under: Life Expectancy, Zimbabwe | Tagged: Human Rights, Women | Leave a Comment »
After the European elections in June next year there will be some amendments to the way the European Union works. Yes, you’ve got it. I’m talking about the Lisbon Treaty. Two important posts need to be filled after June 2009, assuming all Member States ratify the Treaty. One is the President of the Council of [...]
Filed under: Commission, Equal Rights, Gender | Tagged: Women | Leave a Comment »
While I, along with most decent people, try to respect an individual’s religious faith, I find it impossible to accept the shanigins of the Roman Catholic Church on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill currently going through the House of Commons. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, seemingly the leading man in a frock on this matter, has [...]
Filed under: Des Browne, Paul Murphy, Ruth Kelly, Science | Tagged: Catholic Church, Embryology Bill, Women | 3 Comments »
Occasionally you are in the right place at the right time. I shall never forget the moment on 23 April 2003 when the Green Line in Cyprus was opened. I just happened to be there for a meeting of the European Parliament/Cyprus House of Representatives Joint Parliamentary Committee. As darkness fell, Committee members made their [...]
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This week I’ve been blogging about the seminars that I was involved with at Labour Party Conference in Birmingham. The last seminar I spoke at was on fighting the sex trade in Europe. By definition, the sex trade and human trafficking are international problems. The European Union is ideally placed to address these issues, partly [...]
Filed under: Sex Trade | Tagged: Human Trafficking | Leave a Comment »
At the end of February I attended the Labour Party Spring Conference in Birmingham. This year I spoke at three seminars on fairly diverse subjects. One seminar was on education, one on campaigning on the web and the third was on fighting the sex trade in Europe. Education is not normally an area where the [...]
Filed under: Erasmus, Labour Spring Conference, Sex Trade | Tagged: Women | Leave a Comment »
We are all waking up to David Cameron’s anti-woman agenda. Although he hides it well with plausibly warm words, the modern Tory Party is no more in favour of equal opportunities than its previous incarnations. Take the abortion time limit. Cameron has decided to vote to lower the legal limit for abortions from 24 weeks [...]
Filed under: Conservative, Emily's List, Nadine Dorries, Women MPs | Tagged: Abortion, David Cameron, Tory | Leave a Comment »
The days when the budget was one of the highlights of the parliamentary year attracting huge news coverage and whipping up strong emotions are long gone. Today the budget is one event among many, but no less important for that. Alistair Darling did a good job yesterday, declaring: “Even in today’s difficult and uncertain times, [...]
Filed under: Budget, Child Poverty | Tagged: Climate Change | Leave a Comment »
Congratulations to Spain’s returning Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. It is very good to see another centre left government in Europe and to know that Spaniards have confidence in their socialist party. “The Spanish people have spoken clearly and have decided to open a new period without tension, without confrontation,” Mr Zapatero told [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Women's Rights | Leave a Comment »
