Tuesday, 11 August 2015

News you might have missed: July 2015



From a naked Tory MP to Tim Farron's election, and LGBT diplomats to the future of Higher Education...

Here's the news you might have missed in July...


Politics

Budget to propose longer Sunday trading hours
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33421315?SThisFB
Scotland manages to cope with longer Sunday trading hours - it's time England did it too

There will be English-branded political parties only when there is an English Parliament

That's ONE way to clean up politics: New Tory MP poses naked in the shower for racy TV advert being aired in America
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3151984/That-s-ONE-way-clean-politics-New-Tory-MP-poses-naked-shower-racy-TV-advert-aired-America.html
Unexpected! (Warning: Link to Daily Mail)

Chile lawmakers approve marijuana decriminalisation bill
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-33438405?SThisFB
Interesting...

Syrian Kurds accuse Turkey of attacking their forces - BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33675760?SThisFB
Not a good development in the fight against ISIS

The political isolation of Britain’s working class: Liberals should reach out
A strong argument

The battle against the authoritarian Tory and Labour politicians continues…

MPs should keep their pay rise
Controversial, but I agree!

Tim Farron's First Speech As Lib Dem Leader
Pretty engaging ;-)

New Lib Dem leader Tim Farron ‘refuses to answer’ when asked if gay sex is a sin
Didn’t look good

Sad fall out from the above story

Actions versus words… I’m still torn but his record isn’t as bad as some people argued

The @timfarron saga rolls on, then. This post is in answer to an anon comment...
This à Liberalism is legislating for the rights of people to do things that you personally disapprove of, because as long as they aren't harming anybody else it's not within your gift to intervene.

Tim Farron sets out Lib Dem opposition to the Tory welfare cuts while Labour goes for abstention
Go Tim!

Twitter reacts to one Labour MP's Welfare Bill abstention...
It didn’t go well…

A liberal approach to evidence-based policy-making
We definitely need more of this


LGBT

Foreign and Commonwealth Office gathers all LGBT Ambassadors
Symbolic but positive

In Europe, Pride Is a Key Political Barometer. Budapest’s Was Safe, at Times Even Joyful.
Good news

Congratulations! Irish Parliament passes Gender Recognition Bill
Woop woop!

Opinion: When ‘Free Pride’ isn’t all that ‘free’ at all
Good coverage of the arguments for banning UKIP but not Drag Queens from Pride festivals

Interview: The US LGBT rights envoy on what’s next for the global LGBT community
I’m not sure if the role is needed (surely it could be embedded in everyone’s work in government) but he is doing some good work

Dr Christian Jessen: I was ‘naive’ and ‘stupid’ to give drugs advice on Grindr
Yep!

European Court: Countries must recognise same-sex partnerships
Technically only Italy must, but this is still good news

Pride and the United Nations
The UK Ambassador to the UN is campaigning for LGBT rights – I support this message!

Interview: Equalities minister on voting against same-sex marriage, taking her children to Pride
Sigh


Science

ZX Spectrum keyboard remake nears completion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33379468?SThisFB
But will it make the irritating noise that the cassette player used to make?

That Lab Coat Looks Good on You
The gender of a woman astronomer was changed when her research went viral!


Education

Universities don’t understand how international students learn
Shockingly enough, there is no such thing as a typical international student

Should PhD students be classed as employees?
I’m undecided…

OU students' progress to be monitored by software
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33675471?SThisFB
I expect this will be nationwide in two years

The future of universities is more political than ever
There is lots of uncertainty ahead

Funding reforms mean 'substantially higher debt for poorest students'
Good for the deficit but bad for poor students – Tory HE policy in a nutshell

Finding new ways to measure graduate success
The current system can be gamed by institutions, any new system will need to resist that


Entertainment

Review: Vicious, S02E06 – Wedding
Vicious has got a lot better and i really enjoyed this finale. I may have had a tear or two at the end...

Looks awesome

Meet this year's Great British Bake Off contestants, from a bodybuilder to the Dalai Lama's personal photographer
A happy diverse bunch...

'Xena: Warrior Princess' Reboot in the Works at NBC 
Hope they don’t mess it up


And finally…

I saw a few of these in Sitges...

Lol “I can’t believe none of the hipsters have discovered Coventry. It’s almost like a little city to itself but only 58 minutes from Euston on the train.”

Awesome Panda GIF


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