China bans Western religious music – Telegraph
Chinas culture ministry has banned public performances of Handels Messiah and other major works of western religious music.
It would seem that the with the Olympics over, China is again free to reveal it’s position on basic human rights.
UK Indymedia – The Fight to Save Annociate Nimpagaritse
Save Annociate Nimpagaritse
Echo and the Burundimen | 18.09.2008 10:45 | Sheffield
Arrested and awaiting deportation
On Friday September 12, 8 policemen raided a house in Burngreave at 6.15 a.m. Frightened women woke up to find police in their bedrooms. The purpose of the raid was to arrest and detain a young Burundian woman, Annociate Nimpagaritse, and prepare the way for deportation to her country of origin.
This a sad story of a young woman who fled to this country to escape persecution. Follow the blog Free Annociate set up by Graham Wroe and take what ever action you feel is right.
“What, I wonder, do Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and all the other professional atheists who make good money out of knocking people’s religious faith make of the behaviour of Margaret Mizen in the immediate aftermath of her son Jimmy’s murder?”
Justin Thacker, Head of Theology at EA, writing in The Friday Night Theology
The brutal unprovoked killing of Jimmy Mizen left me wondering if anyone was safe in this advanced corner of civilisation called Britain. Then I heard his mother speaking coherently about the love of God and of the people in her church and how she had been supported by their care. I remember hearing similar voices from close family of victims of violence here in my own country. Safety from violent and evil men isn’t guaranteed either here or anywhere else in the world. But universal access to the love of God and the power to forgive is. It’s up to me to accept it.
The Friday Night Theology is a weekly piece from the Evangelical Alliance designed to provoke discussion over the weekend. It’s usually based on a significant event in the news – so it’s topical.
BBC Radio 5 Live has a problem on Wednesday Lunchtimes – it’s two main presenters, Brown and Cameron, are becoming very predictable. Whatever the subject they both turn the conversation to competetence and exchange accusations about the others ability to lead.
So here we are again, Prime Ministers Questions; today mainly on Europe.
BBC NEWS | Politics | Leaders clash over EU referendumGordon Brown has clashed in the Commons with Tory leader David Cameron and Lib Dem Nick Clegg over an EU referendum. Mr Cameron said Mr Brown had lost his “courage” while the Lib Dem leader said the prime minister had “bottled it”. Mr Brown hit back by accusing Mr Cameron of “appeasing” his eurosceptics and putting British jobs at risk. He ridiculed Lib Dem plans to abstain.
So should we have a referendum? It would be suicide for Brown because he knows he couldn’t win. The right wing press has lined up its tanks along the cliff tops of the channel coast with a firm “No”. There is a deep suspicion in Britain about what goes on in Brussels and Strasbourg and a perception that we give more than we get from the EU. But the risk is also high for Cameron because the process of disentangling the UK from Europe would be long and costly. Will he still be supporting a referendum if he becomes PM? Continue reading
I know it was cheesy and some of the acts were dreadful, but it can’t be right that the contestants in the BBC Show The One and Only were not paid. When I think of that really nice guy, who performed as Frank Sinatra, not being paid – he worked so hard and came in second. He must have lost out on his day job. I just hope he gets lots of bookings now to make up for Endemol’s stinginess.
Endemol has hit back at accusations from actors’ union Equity that it should have paid contestants who took part in BBC1 tribute act show The One and Only. Equity questioned the legality of not paying contestants at least minimum wage, as the show has required acts to waive their protections under working time laws, as well as assign all rights in their performances to Endemol, which makes the show through its subsidiary Initial.The union contrasted this approach with BBC1’s in-house talent shows How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, in which all finalists had industry-standard contracts with pay rates well above minimum wage.
You’re probably asking “Why does he care?” and I’ve probably blown the credibility of this blog – but I read this in Broadcast and thought – this isn’t right. So now I’ve had my say.
