Friday, October 14, 2005
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair last night sensationally vowed to end the tradition of being presumed innocent until found guilty. The PM pledged to turn the nation’s criminal justice system on its head and hand police sweeping new powers. He promised fixed penalty notices for ANY crime — forcing suspects to prove their innocence in court. Mr Blair admitted it was a “watershed” moment in legal history. He said in Downing Street: “It’s summary justice. It’s tough but in my judgment the only way to deal with it.”
A revolutionary idea to be discussed this week at the UN World Summit in New York City calls for a radical change in the way sovereignty has been perceived for centuries. Instead of viewing nations as independent agents, immune to interference in their internal affairs, the new definition of sovereignty treats it as conditional: a nation can maintain its sovereignty only if it meets its responsibilities to its citizens and the international community. Thus a government that does not protect its people from ethnic cleansing, of the kind that occurred in Kosovo and Rwanda, or from mass starvation as found in Niger, would be considered a government that has forfeited its right to independence. The UN would be fully entitled to authorize an intervention in the internal affairs of that nation, a major departure from the Charter of the UN, which declares, “Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the jurisdiction of any state.”
Hundreds of Christians have protested outside Britain's Parliament against a proposed law which would ban incitement to religious hatred. The demonstration by a coalition of groups- and also including members of the National Secular Society - was timed to coincide with the second reading of the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill in the Lords. Opponents say it will damage freedom of speech and worsen community relations. Home Secretary Charles Clarke says it will only affect "extreme behaviour" and not prevent poking fun at religion. [Similar hate speech legislation in Victoria, Australia, ended in the conviction of two pastors for criticising Islam.]
And Britain's House of Lords has also been debating whether doctors should be allowed to help some terminally-ill people to die. Anglican bishops are among the most fierce opponents of the measure, which is set to be contained in a private member's bill. Lord Joffe said his bill would make it legal for doctors to prescribe drugs that a terminally-ill person could take to end his or her own life.
A Swedish man who donated his sperm to a lesbian couple must pay child support for the three children he fathered, Sweden's Supreme Court has ruled. The man, now 39, donated his sperm to the couple in the early 1990s. Three sons were born during the years 1992-1996. The man told the court that he and the women had agreed that he would play no role in the boys' childrearing and that the two women would be their parents. Shortly after he signed the document, the two women separated and the biological mother demanded that the man pay child support.
A woman firmly antagonistic to marriage surprised herself by getting married - and grew to realise it was in fact the better option. "We live in such speedy times that even the period between first meeting and eventual marrying has contracted from an average three-and-a-half years in the 1980s to 18 months today. This must mean that I'm slightly out of sync with the times for in my case that interval was 22 years."
Lindsay Mitchell, a campaigner against the DPB, points out some close parallels between the people of New Orleans left behind following Hurricane Katrina and the welfare class in New Zealand. "We cannot avoid the fact that unmarried or unpartnered women with children are the poorest among us... [A] US report asks whether the poverty of blacks is the result of racism and a legacy of slavery. The answer is no. It is the result of welfare destroying the family, "by replacing the adult male as the father figure and main provider in the family and then rewarding illegitimacy with a bigger cheque". Setting aside the legacy of slavery, the same question could be posed here. The answer remains the same. The safeguards from poverty are education and a stable relationship. These are as important and as available to Maori and Pacific people as they are to any other group.
A report by NZ's new Families Commission, published yesterday, has found that parents who have been on parenting courses have found them useful - but hard to find.
Increasing computer use, coupled with hours of text messaging and playing handheld games, may be contributing to an epidemic of short-sightedness among teenagers, say eye experts.
A revolutionary idea to be discussed this week at the UN World Summit in New York City calls for a radical change in the way sovereignty has been perceived for centuries. Instead of viewing nations as independent agents, immune to interference in their internal affairs, the new definition of sovereignty treats it as conditional: a nation can maintain its sovereignty only if it meets its responsibilities to its citizens and the international community. Thus a government that does not protect its people from ethnic cleansing, of the kind that occurred in Kosovo and Rwanda, or from mass starvation as found in Niger, would be considered a government that has forfeited its right to independence. The UN would be fully entitled to authorize an intervention in the internal affairs of that nation, a major departure from the Charter of the UN, which declares, “Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the jurisdiction of any state.”
Hundreds of Christians have protested outside Britain's Parliament against a proposed law which would ban incitement to religious hatred. The demonstration by a coalition of groups- and also including members of the National Secular Society - was timed to coincide with the second reading of the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill in the Lords. Opponents say it will damage freedom of speech and worsen community relations. Home Secretary Charles Clarke says it will only affect "extreme behaviour" and not prevent poking fun at religion. [Similar hate speech legislation in Victoria, Australia, ended in the conviction of two pastors for criticising Islam.]
And Britain's House of Lords has also been debating whether doctors should be allowed to help some terminally-ill people to die. Anglican bishops are among the most fierce opponents of the measure, which is set to be contained in a private member's bill. Lord Joffe said his bill would make it legal for doctors to prescribe drugs that a terminally-ill person could take to end his or her own life.
A Swedish man who donated his sperm to a lesbian couple must pay child support for the three children he fathered, Sweden's Supreme Court has ruled. The man, now 39, donated his sperm to the couple in the early 1990s. Three sons were born during the years 1992-1996. The man told the court that he and the women had agreed that he would play no role in the boys' childrearing and that the two women would be their parents. Shortly after he signed the document, the two women separated and the biological mother demanded that the man pay child support.
A woman firmly antagonistic to marriage surprised herself by getting married - and grew to realise it was in fact the better option. "We live in such speedy times that even the period between first meeting and eventual marrying has contracted from an average three-and-a-half years in the 1980s to 18 months today. This must mean that I'm slightly out of sync with the times for in my case that interval was 22 years."
Lindsay Mitchell, a campaigner against the DPB, points out some close parallels between the people of New Orleans left behind following Hurricane Katrina and the welfare class in New Zealand. "We cannot avoid the fact that unmarried or unpartnered women with children are the poorest among us... [A] US report asks whether the poverty of blacks is the result of racism and a legacy of slavery. The answer is no. It is the result of welfare destroying the family, "by replacing the adult male as the father figure and main provider in the family and then rewarding illegitimacy with a bigger cheque". Setting aside the legacy of slavery, the same question could be posed here. The answer remains the same. The safeguards from poverty are education and a stable relationship. These are as important and as available to Maori and Pacific people as they are to any other group.
A report by NZ's new Families Commission, published yesterday, has found that parents who have been on parenting courses have found them useful - but hard to find.
Increasing computer use, coupled with hours of text messaging and playing handheld games, may be contributing to an epidemic of short-sightedness among teenagers, say eye experts.
