ChavWivaLawDegree

My chickens http://blufiles.storage.live.com/y1pHpY7ZId26qPGiMDDUXpySIX9vkBgsDhsN3grP-I_j8sTmgg40wCSNy3Axj5ug3X0u2nMJjKV4Ms http://blufiles.storage.live.com/y1pHpY7ZId26qOkzHZqJmCZWha1n28XLDg2SkCSqEzAUX8iWBinLNeeUXr8-ZphqgpxhKBiAyqthlo http://blufiles.storage.live.com/y1pHpY7ZId26qOM943MqGzOUPHJSVs6hwoVRKJDh9cvGioBM1dp1sjQ_cl8X4oCwUabY00XQyMLLG0 http://blufiles.storage.live.com/y1pHpY7ZId26qNLSE15wNG4LevFEhROTIUuNQtxkN_PmSG2_0vVam4bHFQSf-L6sKf15zcZzNX-sR4 http://blufiles.storage.live.com/y1pHpY7ZId26qP8PqE0UKoxhCEEcpGFT8kdOJ-yOtfyE-QSXjx02skdehZinlILqbrvdBstFbTGycg

RosieH, here is a quick run down. Julie Bindel, one of the main people pushing for this change in the law, is part of a 'feminist' strand that believes all prostitution demeans women and is always violence against women and she cites some of her American colleagues work in her four country report. She claims to be an academic but her methodology is very weak and her work it's not recognised among professionals working with prostitutes. Here are some of the reasons supplied for my use by Dr Petra Boynton and Dr Tuppy Owens: A draft of her 4 country study (completed for London Metropolitan Women and Child Abuse Studies Unit and funded by Glasgow City Council)was circulated before she'd ever even visited The Netherlands and interviewed they people she says informed her conclusions. Her research is generally believed to have taken her around three weeks. Most people take a year or so to do that kind of work. Her research was not published in any reputable scientific journals which is what you would expect for a study you claim to be so important. The UK's leading scientists, researchers and healthcare providers disagree with her findings as do the esteemed Women's Institute! The statistics of '80% (or thereabouts) of prostitutes being drug/alcohol dependent' is incorrect and taken from the police data which refers to street prostitutes arrested, not all street prostitutes or prostitutes in general. When she did her lapdancing research many of the women complained they felt violated by her and the way she ran her research - even with some complaining to The Observer newspaper about their treatment. She was also banned from many dancer websites for harassing members and causing distress. She also conducted her research without any official ethical approval, thereby leading academic colleagues to officially complain about her poor research and bad practice to London Metropolitan University. Other info that may be useful are Julia O Connel Davidson's recent rebuttal to Harman about the trafficking data: Harriet Harman has made claims about the thousands of women trafficked into prostitution in the UK, but we need to ask where she gets her data from. Professor Julia O'Connell Davidson who has researched prostitution for many years gives an insight into how inaccurate Harman has been in a recent letter to The Guardian (28/12/07) "Harriet Harman holds that a Swedish-style law against buying sex is necessary to stem demand for sex workers trafficked into Britain (Harman calls for prostitution ban, December 21). She was supported by former Europe minister Denis MacShane, who insisted there are 25,000 sex slaves in the UK. This is a startling assertion - 25,000 is more than the entire workforce of Debenhams. How is it that this vast number of women and girls are so readily available to male clients and yet simultaneously so difficult for the police to detect? When 515 indoor prostitution establishments were raided by police as part of Operation Pentameter last year, only 84 women and girls who conformed to police and immigration officers' understanding of the term "victim of trafficking" were rescued". At this rate, the police would need to raid some 150,000 indoor prostitution establishments to unearth MacShane's 25,000 sex slaves. The fact that there are estimated to be fewer than 1,000 such establishments in London gives some indication of how preposterous MacShane's claim is. Abuse and exploitation undoubtedly occur in the UK sex sector, but only a minority of cases involve women and girls being imprisoned and physically forced into prostitution by a third party. More usually, those who are vulnerable are working to pay off debts incurred in migration, or to supplement paltry single-parent benefits. Their vulnerability is in large part a consequence of government action and inaction - its failure to regulate the sex sector, its immigration and welfare policies etc. And raids by police and immigration officials normally result in their deportation or prosecution for benefit fraud, not in their assistance or protection. The government's concern about sex trafficking appears to have helped immigration officers meet their targets for deportations without protecting sex workers. Evidence from other countries (including Sweden) suggests that a policy of suppression, whether focused on clients or sex workers, can have very negative consequences for those who trade sex. But in place of serious debate based on independent research evidence, we are offered hyperbole and emotive rhetoric about sex slaves. We need to move beyond this and think not only about how to offer those who currently work in prostitution protection, but also how to ensure them rights." Here is Bindel's four country report, which coincedently fails to look at New Zealand which has gone down the de-criminalisation route instead of legalisation and registration which most girls dislike. In New Zealand the girls can choose to work for themselves or for a brothel with an employment contract to guarantee equal rights to other workers. Unsurprisingly, most girls have chosen to work for themselves or with their friends instead of making brothel owners rich! Ron Weitzer is a critic of the American researchers who are cited and emulated by Bindel. He exposes their flawed methodology and and inherent bias in a very good report written last year. One last link I'd like you to look at is this one from Sweden which shows that far from reducing the incidence of trafficking, the Swedish rapporteur on trafficking says it has doubled.

Woops many appologies Mr McG!! I will give a fuller report on why I think the current suggestion in the Criminal Justice Bill, of criminalising clients and forcing women caught soliciting to undergo counselling sessions or go to jail, is wrong when I get some time, but it's all to do with not acehiveing the stated aims, ie reduce traficking and violence to prostitute women and being based on bogus research buy fundamentalist so called feminists who catagorise all prostitute women as victims in need of saving therefore perpetuating the mysoginistic infantalisation of women instead of addressing the causes or asking what the prostitutes themselves actually want! Sorry spelling up the spout because I am very tired.

Sorry it's not on tonight. They recored 2 episodes, and the one I was on is next week Tuesday at 11pm. Dom - come and join me at the next debate!!!

Maximay, I think you have gor me mixed up with your mum. Nice one. Great advice guys. I'm gona go have a bath, try to relax and try to stop my stomach flipping up and down for a bit!!! If anyone gets a chance I'd love a copy!

I am appearing against the scary Julie Bindel, I'm terrified, but hope you guys can give me some constructive criticism if u get to watch it.

I didn't get the leghorns in the end. I have a white one, creamy one, a brown one and a black one, all different breeds, but can't for the life of me remember what they are!!

If it stays open late, then I think it should be considered.

I got my chickens today, but can't upload the pics. They are great and despite all your doom-mongering, the dogs didn't even bark at them. Yallas whined a bit but Hannibal sniffed them and wagged his tail. they settled in nicely and I just hope my fox-proofing will prove to be truly fox-proof. Big thankyou to hundredandone for all his help. Thank you

haha

Oh my God, when did my nose get so big?? Nice pics, everyone laughing and having a good time. Bignumber5 what did I do that was so scary? I'm sure AnnaJ was way scarier than me, especially because she actually looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth!

Another one from my Jamaican Jokes app on Facebook - not as funny as spadetownboy's but made me chuckle cos I've driven all round Jamaica: Driving In Kingston BASIC RULES FOR DRIVING IN KINGSTON 1. Turn signals will give away your next move. A real Kingston driver never uses them. 2. Under no circumstance should you leave a safe distance between you and the car in front of you, or the space will be filled in by somebody else, putting you in an even more dangerous situation. 3. The faster you drive through a red light, the smaller the chance you have of getting hit. 4. Never, ever come to a complete stop at a stop sign. No one expects it and it will result in you being rear-ended. 5. Never get in the way of an older car that needs extensive bodywork. The other guy doesn't have anything to lose. 6. Braking is to be done as hard and late as possible to ensure that your ABS kicks in, giving a nice, relaxing foot massage as the brake pedal pulsates. For those of you without ABS, it's a chance to stretch your legs. 7. Never pass on the right when you can pass on the left. It's a good way to scare people for a laugh. 8. Speed limits are arbitrary figures, given only as a suggestion and are apparently not enforceable in Kingston. 9. Just because you're in the right lane and have no room to speed up or move over doesn't mean that a Kingston driver flashing his high beams behind you doesn't think he can go faster in your spot. 10. Always slow down and rubberneck when you see an accident or even someone changing a tire. 11. Learn to swerve abruptly. Kingston is the home of the high-speed 'dally' , thanks to the KSAC, which puts pot-holes in key locations to test drivers' reflexes and keep them on their toes. 12. It is traditional in Kingston to honk your horn at cars that don't move the instant the light turns green. 13. Remember that the goal of every Kingston driver is to get there first --by whatever means necessary.

I've decided to finally try to give up booze, at least for a month. Feb is nice and short, can't be that hard!?!

I feel really sorry for her. It's painful watching her implode in public.

Damn that's horrible. Would we be able to visit him in the hospital? Is he in Kings?

Sorry, just added a comma!

I ran off to the bus stop to meet my daughter and her friends at the Temple Bar in Walworth Road, saw Jah, felt a bit cold, so kindly accepted Mr Lush's offer to walk me home! Drank some brandy with said Jah, chatted even more sh!t than I had at the Dog, and then after waving the merry Mr Lush off, collapsed in my bed. Woke up this morning feeling rather delicate, so am glad I never managed to make it to the Temple Bar!

Sean - "Hoping to get down to the Fog for 8:30 or so" what is the Fog?

I was at a Green drink thing at City Hall before Christmas and Ken was there, having a drink and a laugh with everyone. I cornered him cos I had complaints about a couple of things and he was really nice. Gave me details of how to e-mail him cos he said he would forget what I was moaning about by the morning and was generally a charming affable bloke in my opinion.

Is that a pub or a block of flats?

I'll get there about 9-ish after decanting my youngun off to my ex-husband!

Sian Berry's supporters Facebook group has more info: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4305641550 So have a look before any of you think there are only 3 people in the race!

She's a nice person and the policies are right, so don't know why anyone would vote for anyone else. Ken will get my 2nd vote tho.

Haha Mockney that's class!

Funny as f&*(