All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

History ‘student’ who wrote in support of Michael Gove is really a Tory PR executive

Oh dear Jago (and Nick). Did you really think nobody would notice?

.

The amount of major spinning going on by the right-wing press at the moment, anybody could be forgiven for thinking they’re worried the Conservatives are in danger of losing the next election.

Pride's Purge

(not satire – it’s the Daily Telegraph!)

21-year-old graduate of History and Politics Jago Pearson – who wrote in the Daily Telegraph in support of Michael Gove’s assertion about left-wing thinking in universities and schools – forgot to mention in the article that he’s an executive of a Tory PR company.

Media Intelligence Partners is a Conservative PR company run by top Tory spin doctor and die-hard Thatcherite Nick Wood.

Here’s Jago Pearson posing as a History graduate just six months out of university in the Daily Telegraph article:

Left-wing thinking still prevails in schools

And here he is on MIPPR’s own page (click to enlarge):

jago pearson

 

Oh dear Jago (and Nick). Did you really think nobody would notice?

.

Considering the amount of major spinning going on by the right-wing press at the moment, anybody could be forgiven for thinking they’re worried the Conservatives are in danger of losing…

View original post 161 more words

On Egypt’s General Sisi

Nervana

As the news has come in of Egypt’s military chief, General Sisi, looking for a strong turnout in next week’s constitutional referendum as a mandate to run for president, a mixture of near hysterical praise and hostile cursing of him has intensified on social media.  Sisi’s supporters are jubilant that he his still alive and that the rumors of his death spread by the Brotherhood’s supporters turned out to be fabricated, while his opponents are fuming that his candidacy has become a high probability.  The mixture of fascination and resent of strong men run deep in the Egyptian society; it is a symptom of a deeper, chronic struggle with Western modernity, which was manifested recently in the poor management, and even exploitation __ by all parties __ of both the January 2011 and June 2013 uprisings.

 “ Sisi ___ may you end as Kim Jong-un’s uncle.”  This was a…

View original post 862 more words

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | The Dream Said

I remember my dream

saying: You are who you are,

Not someone who follows others;

You make your own path.

When you cry for help

the whole universe unifies to help you

accomplish your goals

to ensure what you want will be given.

These experiences you have along the way:

trying to learn something new,

trying to learn what this world is,

trying to learn who you are,

not always knowing the right or wrong direction

while struggling to find your quest,

hoping that one day the decisions you made

will lead to another place

where everyone understands you

and you understand yourself—

why you exist, what you can do.

You are a woman known as mother, sister, wife,

a woman who wants to find her own way.

You see you are not alone.

The whole universe is with you.

So the dream said.

And I say yes, I am awake,

I remember. I am

bringing my dream to life.

By Seema K.

via Afghan Women’s Writing Project | The Dream Said.

H7N9 has mutated, may spread from human to human: expert | Society | FOCUS TAIWAN – CNA ENGLISH NEWS

The report said that H5N1 and H7N9 have been two of the the most lethal avian influenza viruses for humans in recent years. Since the first case of human influenza A H5N1 was reported in 1997 in Hong Kong, the virus has affected more than 60 countries around the world, with a fatality rate of 60 percent.

After a number of human infections of the H7N9 virus have been reported in eastern China, mostly in the Yangtze River Delta region in late February 2013, more than 140 human infections of H7N9 have been reported in 12 provinces and cities in China, including 46 deaths, according to the report.

Gao said that closing live poultry markets, adopting more intensive livestock farming practices and using the mass slaughter of live poultry are good measures to control the spread of the H7N9 epidemic.

The Shanghai City government has announced it will shut down live poultry markets from the Lunar New Year holiday (Jan. 31) until April 30. (Cheng Chung-sheng and Y.L. Kao)

via H7N9 has mutated, may spread from human to human: expert | Society | FOCUS TAIWAN – CNA ENGLISH NEWS.

Chinese Feminist Activist Walks 2,000 Kilometers to Protest Sexual Abuse · Global Voices

Traveling alone on foot is still a new concept in China. While some women like the adventurous idea, they worry about sexual harassment on the road. That’s why Chinese feminist activist Xiao Meili started her new project: Beautiful Feminist Walk- A Protest Against Sexual Abuse to Promote Women’s Freedom.

Xiao, the lead actor in the Chinese version of the “Vagina Monologues”, is walking all the way from Beijing to the southern city of Guangzhou – a distance of about 2,000 kilometers – to protest against sexual harassment and child abuse. She has already spent four months on the road and along the way has been collecting signatures, staging performances and handing out information to local governments. She has been sharing her experience on her blog with photos, writing and drawings.

via Chinese Feminist Activist Walks 2,000 Kilometers to Protest Sexual Abuse · Global Voices.

Health chief urges Lunar New Year precautions against bird flu | South China Morning Post

(6 new cases of H7N9)

Food and Health Secretary Ko Wing-man on Sunday urged Hongkongers to take precautions against bird flu during the Lunar New Year, warning them not to visit markets in Guangdong province and east China when they visit their relatives over the holidays.

via Health chief urges Lunar New Year precautions against bird flu | South China Morning Post.

Puerto Rican Supermodel, 25, Said To Have ‘Planet’s Most Perfect Face’ | Repeating Islands

perfection

The Puerto Rico-born woman is only 25, but the international buzz about her just keeps getting louder, and shows no sign of abating, Latino Fox News reports.

Joan Smalls Rodriguez, born and raised in Hatillo, Puerto Rico, is the January cover of Elle Magazine, which has dubbed her no less than “the planet’s most perfect face.”

By putting Smalls Rodriguez on its cover, Elle shifted from the usual movie star in favor of a supermodel.

The magazine said Smalls Rodriguez possesses a “flawless, unequivocal beauty.”

via Puerto Rican Supermodel, 25, Said To Have ‘Planet’s Most Perfect Face’ | Repeating Islands.