Equal Rights for faiths but not women

The much-discussed Amendment means that the government's position on sex education in faith schools effectively amounts to saying,

"This is how you put on a condom, but you will go to Hell if you use one."

As ever, the right of same-sex partnerships to be given equal status to marriage in those lessons is regarded as a given by all civilised people, yet there is no mention of the rights of girls. It's girls who in the Catholic faith are solely responsible for the sin of fornication and what used to be called 'unwed motherhood', and girls born into Muslim families who can be forced to marry as young as twelve.

The now retired headmaster of my old school, a former grammar turned comprehensive, told me that during his tenure, thirteen and fourteen year olds were being taken back to the home country, typically Pakistan, to 'visit granny', and returning married.

Is this going to be covered in the new mandatory PSHE?

And is Ofsted going to be coming round to check?

Blue Heaven

Avatar, nominated for Best Picture among others at the Academy Awards this year, has caused the American Christian right wing to work itself to a greater frenzy of rage than even Bill Clinton or the Harry Potter books. Its crimes include not just promoting paganism - hell, we knew they'd hate that, but also being 'anti-capitalist'.

Anti-capitalist? Sure, you know Jesus the Capitalist. So who was the Jesus who overturned the money lenders' tables at the temple and said the meek would inherit the earth? Guess that must be another one.

A fag by any other name

Quote of the Day surely goes to Forest, the people who bravely campaign on behalf of cigarette manufacturers to preserve our God-given right to kill ourselves, slowly. On the Today Programme this morning, in answer to the news that the government wants to cut the number of British smokers by half, spokesman Simon Clark called the proposal 'dangerous'.

Call me old-fashioned, but I'd always thought that selling a product which can give you 69 different kinds of cancer with absolutely no upside is far more deserving of the adjective. In fact, if trying to help people stop smoking is 'dangerous', then presumably promoting lung cancer as a lifestyle choice should be renamed too. Hmm, isn't there a buzz word that would fit the bill? One that has quite a bit of support. Assisted Suicide it is then. And it'll look nicer on the packet.