Blog posts by Barbara Felix: 2007
Because a war in Chechnya is still a war
By Barbara Felix | 1 December 2007, 17:50
A former conscript of the first Chechen war (1994-6) and volunteer in the second one (1999 onwards) has written a book about his experiences. Entitled ‘One Soldier’s War in Chechnya’, Arkady Babchechenko tells, in full unflinching detail, of “the taste…
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Cameron’s bid to make the Tories sympathetic towards rape victims
By Barbara Felix | 1 December 2007, 17:34
David Cameron has been speaking out against Britains low rape conviction rate, and has been calling for longer prison sentences for convicted rapists, plus changes in school sex education, and more rape counselling centres. As the report shows, our statistics…
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Learning And Inequality From An International Perspective
By Barbara Felix | 17 November 2007, 22:05
There’s also a good piece about learning and inequality in The Economist, but looking at it from an international perspective, which makes for sobering yet occasionally uplifting reading….
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Prostitution and small ads debate
By Barbara Felix | 17 November 2007, 21:54
Just thought I’d draw your attention to a fascinating and well balanced piece of journalism in the Economist that explored Harriet Harmon’s recent discussion of small ads for “adult massages” and the like that you so often see in local…
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Wonder if Lauren Henderson could extract any new style feminist enjoyment from this…
By Barbara Felix | 4 November 2007, 18:00
In response to Abi’s piece about sexual harassment, couldn’t help but be reminded of an incident that happened on a bus I was on earlier this week. As we were crawling along the rat run route from Oxford Road to…
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7th September in Salford: Volunteers Needed
By Barbara Felix | 29 August 2007, 20:51
From The Big Issue In The North: “Organisations that want to know more about the benefits of volunteers from groups not normally attracted to volunteering - such as young people, asylum seekers, black and minority ethnic communities and the unemployed…
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Cool Vs. Freak
By Barbara Felix | 26 August 2007, 12:48
Yesterday at the supermarket checkout, I saw a very young girl (let’s say about 7 or 8 tops) wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the legend COOL VS. FREAK. Whilst the first few immediate reactions I had ranged from “Oh my…
A degree in activism and social change
By Barbara Felix | 19 June 2007, 00:22
From The Big Issue In The North, 28/5/07 - 3/6/07: “Leeds University is to launch a new masters degree in activism and social change. The course will bring together the worlds of academia and radical social campaigning and is being…
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Campaigning just got easier…
By Barbara Felix | 5 June 2007, 11:19
news comes from the Big Issue In The North that a website has been launched by Advocacy Online to allow individual campaigners and small campaigns to set up online actions. Users will be able to customise every aspect and remain…
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Abortion around the world
By Barbara Felix | 30 May 2007, 21:56
There’s a very good report in the May 19th edition of the Economist about abortion in an international context. It mentions the recent Irish case, whilst also mentioning that Mexico City has recently voted to legalise abortion. In China, meanwhile,…
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Family Policy, German Style
By Barbara Felix | 30 May 2007, 21:32
Germany’s family minister, Ursula von der Leyen, is aiming to increase nursery places in Germany to 750,000, to cover a third of Germany’s under threes. The aim is to make it easier for mothers to work, and to encourage them…
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The brutality of childbirth, with a footnote about post natal depression
By Barbara Felix | 4 March 2007, 17:07
According to a report in the independent today, there has been a 21% rise in deaths of pregnant women in the care of NHS maternity services over a three year period. In addition to this, 17,000 women have suffered physical…
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The Trials and Travails Of The Beauty Queen
By Barbara Felix | 4 February 2007, 18:53
Just thought I’d draw your attention to this piece on the guardian, an interesting examination by Kira Cochrane of the world of the beauty pageant and beauty queen, I know ‘Interesting’ might seem like an oxymoron in this context, but…
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