"This is an ongoing institutionalised bank raid"

"The award-winning documentary film Inside Job does for banking what An Inconvenient Truth did for climate change. It's an hour and 20 minutes that quietly and clearly documents the appalling corruption that brought the global economy to the brink of collapse. Made by American Charles Ferguson, it is about to be released as a DVD in the UK. It needs to go viral, and kickstart public pressure on the faltering Vickers commission on banking reform. As the film points out, each banking crisis in the last 25 years of deregulation has been progressively bigger and costlier, culminating in the massive bailout of 2008. Yet effective reform has stalled, all the key players and institutions are still in place: business as usual."

TV party tonight

TV programmes I am looking forward to this year:

The Real L Word season 2
True Blood season 4
Weeds season 7
Walking Dead season 2
Amber Rose's Behind Her Shades (pending a network pickup)
The rest of Game Of Thrones

Play-deducing aspects of a person's character (however superficial) by the TV they watch: another form of covert supermarket-basket detective work, an activity I engage in frequently. Just call me Charlotte Holmes.

Ken Clarke and the culture of shame in the public/political sphere

This is about Clarke, but it is also about all the women - left-leaning and otherwise -  who have been disappointingly cautious and almost sympathetic in their attempt to positions themselves away from potential, tarring accusations of 'opportunistic scary validated feminist' (Shami Chakrabati, Melanie Phillips, Suzanne Moore).

Moore points out that: "in terms of the law, some rapes are more "serious" than others. Sentencing and punishment vary according to circumstances and aggravating factors". So what? Clarke may have been "right" in a legal definition sense, but his belligerence revealed an inadequate understanding of rape. The fact remains that the legal system for which Clarke speaks CONSISTENTLY FAILS THE VICTIMS OF RAPE. His inabailty to sensitively phrase this issue does excuse his proposals. He revealed a worrying if predictable POV that ignores the still pervading culture of shame that victims face -  75 - 95% or rapes in the UK still go unreported, shame culture is alive and kicking  - and is attempting to capitalize on the post-rape trauma that victims endure by introducing a cost-cutting measure that will give perpetrators a 50% jail time discount, despite the persistent offenders stats that prove short/custodial sentences frequently lead to more rape.

He FUCKED UP! There is no shame in pointing this out! It should make absolutely no difference that other MPs  have used this event as a chance to crow hypocritically at Clarke. His attitude and proposals are NOT ok and the fact that he is one of the Tory party's most progressive (ha!) members should not lessen our ire.

Also, here is a depressing/positive piece penned by Roseanne, on the "staggering sexism and class bigotry" she endured during her sitcom years, and her rad survivor spirit: “This is no fucking character! This is my show, and I created it—not Matt, and not Carsey-Werner, and not ABC. You watch me. I will win this battle if I have to kill every last white bitch in high heels around here.”

 

Slutwalk

I love it when friends can articulate stuff yr too scrambled/burried with worked to arrive at yourself. Inbox chitchat winz via this neat and thoughtful comment on Slutwalk, from my bredrin Pablo K, of The Disorder Of Things.

"I like the boldness of the message. I like the way it reclaims a word. I like the activism that is going alongside it and think the message is right, i.e. 'no one is a slut, and no one deserves to be raped'. My problem is this: if some people are made uncomfortable by it, and if those people are rape survivors, then some caution is in order. Is this a case of women standing up for each other in general and ignoring the experiences of those who have actually been through rape? Or is it something survivors can support in general? I don't really know the answers to those questions :) But those would be my questions for friends and comrades who find it empowering"

http://www.facebook.com/#!/slutwalkuk

Prove It On Me

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Rihanna and the rise of raunch pop

"I hate that my four year old's favourite song is S&M. At home, we've banned the music channels because of what they're putting out at any time of day, but that doesn't stop us hearing the full uncensored version at, to give a few recent examples, an ice skating rink during half term, a holiday park disco - for kids and numerous shops. This stuff is corrosive. The message it sends about what women are and what they are for is deeply harmful."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/may/12/rihanna-raunch-pop

First Sight: Michael Kiwanuka

 









Michael Kiwanuka, profiled for The Guardian:

"A 23-year-old north London singer-songwriter with the voice of a 1960s US soul man, a vintage sound brimming with yearning and cracked joy"