lokifan_import | Entries tagged with politics

So remember how I said I was off to Norwich last night? Yeah... as it turns out, not so much. I am usually very good at trains due to excessive practice, but when I fail it’s pretty epic. :( I am going today – practically now, in fact – instead, rather more expensively! I shall still be back in time for Violet’s birthday Thursday though. And then there shall be partying! It’s gonna be awesome.

Anyway, this way I get time to tell you guys about my life! I know you’ll be riveted. :)

I am terribly embarrassed by the post I made the day I left – I mean, in my defence I was incredibly stressed. But ARGH I saw that post again when I got back and was like OH NOES YOU HAVE TO GO TO A GREAT CITY YOU’VE NEVER VISITED AGAIN? AND YOUR PARENTS ARE PAYING? THAT IS SO TRAGIC. REALLY. If you read that post and thought ‘cry moar, emo kid’ I could not agree more. *embarrassed*

( Amsterdam was fantastic! )

Since I’m in the mood, ( brief politics thoughts: )

I feel weird about the last line of a post belonging to the Real IRA because seriously violent republicans can DIAF. So I shall note that I am working on fic for the first time in AGES and it FEELS SO GOOD.

Now am off to update the masterlist at last. Deepest apologies, hd_remixer...

IDAHO, huzzah! Happy International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, everybody. In that spirit, I’ve spent much of today drafting the gender-neutral toilets motion for our next Union Council and writing a letter to Anne Main, my Conservative MP, to let her know that I am unhappy with her voting record on gay rights and both hope and expect to see this government do better than the last Tory one.

If my fellow Brits want to do something similar, you can find your MP’s voting record and contact details at theyworkforyou.com, as well as the Parliamentary website.

On that subject – wow, I wonder how much kinky Cameron/Clegg RPS is going to be generated over the next five years? I’m weirded out by RPS, to be honest (Simon Amstell can be seen looking horrifically embarrassed as McFly/him RPS smut is read aloud here, poor love) but still. There have been so many civil union jokes made already – especially after that press conference in the rose garden! – and their attempts to body-language their way into dominance are a: hilarious and b: sort of hot.

CAMERON: *pats patronisingly*
CLEGG: *pats back*
CAMERON: *puts hand on the small of Clegg’s back*
DOOR TO NUMBER TEN: *closes*
CLEGG: *moves away*
CAMERON: ON YOUR KNEES, CLEGG! I AM PRIME MINISTER NOW!
CLEGG: You’re first among equals, bitch.

And really, David Blunkett described Clegg as a “harlot” of all things!

In other news, the rewatch of Buffy and Angel by Miss Godfrey’s House of Queers has now reached Hero. WE LOVE YOU DOYLE.

[Error: unknown template qotd]

Very interesting question. ‘Respect’ and ‘trust’ are fairly strong words; I can do both of those things irrespective of my political beliefs. I can’t admire people with certain views, at least not the way I do people without them.

I’m strongly against capital punishment, but it doesn’t colour my opinion of people if they disagree (although in Britain that’s unusual). I think they’re wrong, but I see it as people seeing the world differently, and that’s better than fine.

( On abortion things are slightly different. )

As I always say before a post on American politics: I generally try not to post about them for the same reason I keep quiet in discussions on male circumcision. I have an opinion, but it’s not my issue. But when American politicians are saying that the NHS “rations care to the elderly”, has ‘death panels’, denies care to patients if their care will cost more than £14k in six months, refuses to allow pap smears for women under twenty-five – well, then I really feel I can and must speak up. Because all that stuff is rubbish. American politicians are welcome to blather about the evils of ‘socialised healthcare’ but not when they use the National Health as their scapegoat.

The NHS has a lot of problems. But our doctors and nurses are bound by the Hippocratic Oath too. They would never do any of those things.

( It is free at the point of use. )

A rant about the results of the European elections, in which member nations of the EU elect their representatives in the European Parliament. If one of you guys reads this and needs explanations, I'll happily give them. But I won't be offended if nobody does; I just felt the need to rant about the results, and the state of British politics generally, and the fact that in a few years David Cameron will be my country's leader.

Ugh. ( This was depressing in just about every way. )

I just got an email telling me that California voted yes on Prop 8.

Well. I'm going out to a gay bar tonight, as it happens. Tonight may involve a lot of drinking for all involved.

I’ve resisted the urge to post about the American presidential elections, because I don’t think it’s good for foreigners to pontificate about government elections unless they have something particularly important to say, for whatever reason. But I cannot resist the urge to post now, because I’ve been so tense and watching and waiting to find out, thinking of how black candidates’ votes never match the polls and how we hoped so hard the last two times, and our hopes were dashed. My first exposure to politics was as a precocious ten-year-old being brought down by Bush’s election! And now the most liberal politician in the Senate has been elected President of the United States.

( Wow )

It’s Tuesday. Meaning today, in America, a vitally important democratic procedure will take place.

No, not the presidential election go Obama! but the ( Californian vote on Proposition 8. )

The prompts are going to be up for grabs very soon! I WANT THEM ALL. OK, maybe not that Fenrir/OC prompt, but far too many. The plan is to grab my favourite, and then write very fast so I can claim another one before someone else gets it. You would not believe how hyper all this is making me.

Some of the flist knows this, but I don't think I've ever said it here: I'm in the middle of exams. This means I'm horribly behind on my reading, so please forgive me. I tend to come online to post and reply to feedback, and read a bit before it's back to the grindstone of revision. It had better pay off, that's all I can say.

Anyway, yeah, I'm going to be horribly behind, but hopefully it means you won't have to read a year's worth of emo posts because I haven't got into my uni.

There are still drabbles up for grabs over here.

teenageworrier, I SWEAR I'll get that Angelus/Spike one up tomorrow!

nomango, did you hear about David Davis?! OMG! Political girls unite in shock and awe!

I voted in the local election today - for the Lib Dems, since I'm that stereotypical liberal, bisexual young English student. I'm really quite excited by it - I've never voted before, I've always been too young.

The people at the polling station were lovely. And very pleased to see someone vote in the local elections, LMAO. Especially someone under twenty-five.

How do we celebrate a milestone? Yep, fic. Specifically, three angsty post-DH drabbles. I'm including the Epilogue That Can Not Be Named, people.

Title: Shared Gaze
Word count: 300 - 3 connected drabbles
Characters/pairings: Harry/Ginny implied, Draco/Astoria implied. Of course, it's all about Harry/Draco.
Author's Notes: Written for

dracoharry100's challenge, intimate
Disclaimer: The boys belong to JKR, though I think I'm often nicer to them than she is.

( Shared Gaze )

Yay! Congratulations to everyone on my flist who's an American voting Democrat. To the rest of you, well, I love you anyway. Voters always deserve kudos.

Oh well. I wouldn't worry, Republicans.

I am SO HAPPY that Nancy Pelosi's the Speaker for the House! Especially since the Republican campaign against her was: "If Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker, she will attempt to advance her radical gay agenda!" Oh HORRORS! I wish I had some icon to express my hysteria at the sheer idea of 'the gay agenda', but I am poor and so use crappy free LJ.

From a British perspective this is even more entertaining. The British people at large despises Bush -- every one of our nine national papers, with the occasional exception of the Sun, hates him. That's quite an achievement. Now, of course, we get to watch Blair try to fix the credibility of Labour's relationship with Bush without destroying the "special relationship". *cough* Ha. I bet you're regretting just obeying him now, aren't you, Tony?

In case you couldn't tell, I am enjoying smug sarcasm to the max. It's almost enough to stop my disappointment in the Iraqi government for executing Saddam.

Current Mood: jubilant
Current Music: the happy voices in my head

I had SUCH a blast Sunday!
I don't know if non-British LJers would know this, but in the aftermath of 7/7, a classic panic-law was passed. It's now illegal to have any sort of protest or demonstration within a mile of Whitehall, unless you get police permission. This is an erosion of historic civil liberties and rights of the British people. It's absolutely outrageous, frankly; it's been the historic right of the people to take their grievances to those in power. It's part of a growing feeling of authoritarionism in this country, and undermines the truth that the state is there because of individuals, and is there to look after our best interests -- not the other way around.
You might have guessed that I hate this law. It was made primarily to remove the embarrassing publicity caused by Brian Haw. He has been on an anti-war vigil since the start of the war in Iraq. He sits in a folding chair at the front of Parliament Square, wearing a hat covered in badges. He has a big board covered in clippings about the war, and a variety of brightly-coloured umbrellas. The law was supposed to get rid of him, but the courts ruled that he'd started before the law was in place, and it wasn't retroactive. That gave me such glee. I LOVE Britian's judiciary!
There have been police raids, with a dozen officers descending on Brian and stealing his stuff. A woman was arrested for reading out names of British soliders killed in Iraq in front of the Houses of Parliament. Recently an article in Vanity Fair was published, detailing "Blair's Big Brother Legacy". This includes laws that allow any communication to be eavesdropped on without explanation. A visitor to Parliament was arrested for carrying three copies of that issue of Vanity Fair, since he was carrying "politically motivated material", as police described it.
And people are ignoring it. Our rights seem to be being systematically dismantled and nobody cares. The non-demonstration demonstration is a picnic held every Sunday in Parliament Square. I always go. We sit and have a picnic. We have blank placards, to show how we're not demonstrating, yet we are.
Some weeks there are arrests, some weeks there aren't. I always leave when we're warned, though. My mum quite often comes with me. My dad's currently in Japan so she certainly can't be arrested, since I have two young sisters at home. Mum insists I not get myself arrested. The law is being enforced less and less, though, and Mum's tension at joining me in our illegal protest is easing.
It's always fun. We talk about lots of different things, and discuss politics always. My favourite fellow protestor is Artemis. She is five-and-three-quarters and a regular acrobat. We play, because as I say, we're the two youngest and we need to stick together. It was great this Sunday, because it was wonderfully sunny. We sat on the grass and waved blank placards, read the Observer and in my case, re-learnt cartwheels with my three-foot tutor. I LOVE IT.