http://www.mutantblog.co.uk Random musings on the trivial and the profound Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:39:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "AlanA" at Harry's Place takes great exception to posters from animal rights campaigners Animal Aid which encourage people not to donate to charities which fund animal experiments. In particular he objects to a lady called Joan Court who appears in this poster, calling her "a stupid woman who apparently believes that a ... http://www.mutantblog.co.uk/2011/09/animal-rights-and-wrongs/ Having been away for a year or so for no good reason other than laziness I thought I would return with something suitably trivial. And I happened to notice that today is.... International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so in the true spirit of the occasion here are my contributions. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh"  "Shiver me ... http://www.mutantblog.co.uk/2011/09/its-that-time-again/ Liberal Conspiracy had an excellent piece earlier this week about the discrimination and persecution suffered by Romani citizens of various EU countries. I won't quote excerpts here as it really is worth reading the whole thing, but I am glad to see that this rarely publicised issue is finally starting ... http://www.mutantblog.co.uk/2010/08/the-last-acceptable-bigotry/ So it will be a hung parliament, we know that much. The biggest story (apart from the problems with the vote itself) is the collapse in LibDem support, their overall share of the vote is about the same as last time and they are currently 5 seats down - a ... http://www.mutantblog.co.uk/2010/05/election-725am-update/ Election organisers - shit. People unable to vote, polling stations running out of ballot papers, postal votes going missing. LibDems - shit. What the hell happened to Cleggmania? BBC coverage - shit. Andrew Neill on a boat talking to celebrities while actual results are being ignored. http://www.mutantblog.co.uk/2010/05/election-245am-update/ Even in its (probable) dying days of power Labour is still being taken to task by the courts for railroading civil liberties under the pretence of protecting national security. As the Guardian reports The court of appeal has dismissed an attempt by MI5 and MI6 to suppress evidence of their alleged complicity ... http://www.mutantblog.co.uk/2010/05/labour-in-the-dock-again/ An excellent piece at OurKingdom by Clare Sambrook, who takes apart Gordon Brown's defence of the detention of the children of asylum seekers. We believe that history will judge the administrative detention of children to be a moral stain on the reputation of this country, akin to slavery and child ... http://www.mutantblog.co.uk/2010/05/taking-brown-to-task-on-child-detention/ Since I commented on Barack Obama's difficulties last week things have improved for him considerably, with his healthcare reforms finally signed into law. The final bill may not be entirely what many on the left were hoping for but given the entrenched interests he was battling against and the wholly dishonest ... http://www.mutantblog.co.uk/2010/03/socialised-healthcare-yes-please/ It's good to see that Labour has taken such quick and decisive action against the former ministers caught up in the lobbying sting. It would be nice to think that this is a purely principled reaction and the start of a crackdown on political lobbying and on former ministers filling ... http://www.mutantblog.co.uk/2010/03/gordons-revenge/ It has been another difficult week for Barack Obama, with his little problem with Israel. What with his problems getting his healthcare reforms through congress and in finding a way to close Guantanamo Bay it might be understandable if Liberals on both sides of the pond were getting slightly frustrated, ... http://www.mutantblog.co.uk/2010/03/return-of-the-undead/