Name of movie: 365 Without 377
Date: 2011
Length (hrs): 53 mins
Film genre: Documentary
Characters: Beena, Pallav and Abhenna.
Director: Adele Tulli, who graduated in South Asian Studies and has worked on several activist projects in India and Europe
Setting: India
Plot information: A documentary following the decriminalizing of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalized any sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex.
When does the movie take place? July 2009
What happens in the movie? Imposed under the British colonial rule in 1860, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalize any sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex, stigmatizing them as ‘against the order of nature’. On 2ND July 2009 the Delhi High Court passed a landmark judgement scrapping this clause, thus fulfilling the most basic demand of the Indian LGBTQ community, which had been fighting this law for the past 10 years. Three characters, Beena, Pallav and Abheena travel through the city of Bombay heading to the celebrations for the first anniversary of the historic verdict. ‘365 without 377’ is the story of their journey towards freedom. (IMDB)
What makes the movie interesting? The chance to see a different culture handling a British imposed culture, and how they developed as people and overcame the challenges of being ‘gay’ in India, where even though the law as been annulled by the Delhi High Court, for many they still believe it will take much more than this to change the mindset of the Indian community as a whole
What is the best part? The best parts for me was looking at the three main characters lives, and how just like ourselves they are ordinary, but have developed as people and are willing to stand up for their beliefs and rights.
How do you feel when the movie ended? Neither sad or happy, but I did feel that I wanted to learn more, and hope that another documentary will do a follow-up say in 5 years time.
Who will like this move? People with an interest in LGBT activism, people with an interest in humanity, people who like India
On a scale of 1 (don’t like) – 5 (like), how do you rate this movie? For me definitely a 4
Archives for 2016
Happy New Year to You and Your Computer
End of Year Operations on Your Computer
We all plan to clean our house(?) and make ourselves ready for the New Year; however the same is true for our computers. There are things we should do, or at the very least investigate whether we need to do, and these are:
- Ensure your applications are up to date
- Back up our data
- Ensure our Windows or Apple operating system is up to date
- Clean temporary files/cache folders
- Update anti-malware programs and run a full-system scan
- Uninstall unused applications – but be certain that you don’t need them. If in doubt ask someone who knows.
- If you have been putting your PC to sleep rather than shutting down and then restarting, then shut it down and restart.
- Ensure all hardware, where necessary has been upgraded.
Remember a computer only runs well when it has been looked after.
IF IN DOUBT ASK SOMEONE WHO KNOWS FOR ADVICE.
Happy New Year
The 24th Day – Movie Review
Name of movie: The 24th Day (Amazon UK Link)
Date: 2004
Length (hrs): 1h 32 mins
Film genre: Thriller
Characters: Tom (Speedman) and Dan (James Marsden)
Director: Tony Piccirillo
Setting: Los Angeles
Plot information: The 24th Day is a low budget, but excellently acted psychological thriller, well written as a story.. The story is mainly set in an apartment, in an almost abandoned apartment block, with a few intersperses when Marsden goes out.
The central story of the movie, is that of someone who discovers he is suffering from HIV/AIDS, and who sets out to find the person who infected him. He is married, and apart from ‘one’ gay sexual act has been faithful to his wife.
Can you briefly describe them; do they resemble characters from book or play if there was one?
The characters from The 24th Day, have been developed out of a play in Los Angeles starring Noah Wylie (of ‘ER’ and ‘The Librarian’ fame) and Peter Berg. The script is entertaining, and there are subtle parts which require you watch and listen carefully, or you will miss them – and this would be a pity.
What makes the movie interesting? I found the movie to be somewhat tiresome. I have seen similar movies in the ‘straight’ cinema, and this slow build up, to what is supposed to be a climatic ending just doesn’t work for me.
Does the movie surprise the audience? The 24th Day may be a surprise to some of the audience, but for myself, I soldiered through to what was a predictable ending.
How do you feel when the movie ended? Let down, as |I felt more could have been done with the story. Both actors applied themselves excellently, and achieved more that could have been expected from what I felt was a rather mundane story and script.
Who will like this move? Probably people who follow either of the two actors will follow the story, but it is unlikely to do much else.
On a scale of 1 (don’t like) – 5 (like), how do you rate this movie? I would rate it as a low 3
Are you ready for the New Year – 2017?
How we should get ready for 2017!
In America we have seen Donald Trump’s election win, and in the UK we have seen Brexit win out. Whilst we don’t know what the courts will say in terms of the Prime Minister’s rights, it is clear that the referendum has been taken and won and that the New Year will bring many changes, and that the far right seems to have gained ascendancy in terms of leaving Europe and also in terms of how we are supposed to ‘handle’ immigrants and other minorities.
President Elect ‘Trump’ has through his cabinet choices shown that he and his cronies are completely anti-LGBTQ, as all of them have either voted for some bill that denied the LGBTQ community one or all of the following:
- job protections
- right to marry
- health services
In the UK we have seen the backlashes and phobias starting with people being beaten up because ‘they are not British’. Taunts like ‘ go back from where you came from’, ‘go back into the closet’, ‘your are not normal’.
It is obvious that things will get worse, especially if the Prime Minister, Theresa May, decides to push the removal of the Human Rights Act and replace with a Britsh Bill of Rights, which in all probability will be of no use at all, and probably only protect the rich and business.
So what can we do about it?
Firstly, we need to make certain that our LGBTQ organisations are actually working for our community, and not just fund raising to ensure there existence. But also, we as a community need to be involved with these organisations – they cannot exist in a vacuum. And it is pretty obvious that funding is drying up from government and other sources.
Secondly, we need to remember that back in the 60s and 70s, whilst we did have some problems regarding personalities, we all realised that we needed to work together to achieve the common goal. This is even more relevant in the light of the attacks that are being made on our community from so many directions. We need to work together in the New Year to achieve our common goals.
Thirdly, we need to channel our voting power in the New Year. No longer should politicians of any ilk or cloth assume because they say they support they support the LGBTQ that they will automatically get our vote – they must prove they are more than fair-weather friends.
Lastly, we need to work with other groups who have experience and knowledge; they can help us develop our policies and mechanisms, the same as they can learn from us. There is strength in numbers, as well as that feeling of not being alone.
We need only look back in our history to discover how we in the past have come together and fought and won. Don’t stand alone, find friends, gather together in groups and support and learn to fight within the bounds of the law to get our rights and those of the future community
Further reading:
Selective Education – Yes or No?
Does selection work in education?
In the ‘i’ published on the 13 December 2016, Richard Vaughan wrote an article ‘Super-selective schools ‘would transform state education’. The article was reporting on Lord O’Shaughnessy’s call for the introduction of a network of highly selective comprehensive schools to cater for the most ‘cognitively able’children.
In effect this would create a stream of grammar schools, who would be able to select their attendees/pupils. Grammar schools have been in existence since the 16th Century, but the modern grammar school as we know it, dates back to the Education Act of 1944, which made secondary education after the age of 14 free.
At this time secondary education was remodelled into two basic types:-
- Grammar schools which were academically focussed, and would naturally lead to higher education
and
- Secondary modern schools, which would generate qualified children for trades.
During the 1950s and 1960s various groups and politicians felt that the selective system reinforced class 
division and privilege. Because of this in 1965, the government ordered local education authorities to start phasing out grammar schools and secondary moderns to be replaced with a comprehensive system.
Selective Education, by demand????
The current Prime Minister Theresa May, who has made the expansion of grammar schools one of her main priorities (and by default this means also the faith based schools). In previous governments, there was a look warm reception to selection being reintroduced by the Conservative platform, but it was in their current manifesto so of course it must be done, even if it it is ill-conceived. Lord O’Shaughnessy has voiced a note of caution to the proposed changes, in that ‘any move by the Government to allow all secondary schools in an area to apply to become selective, would be detrimental to the educational development of many…’
In November 2015, Andrew McCulloch wrote a very informative paper on whether ability-based selection has to increase inequalities in education – in summary he says
…If we want to understand how a selective education system might work without increasing educational inequalities, we need a greater understanding of how the different parts of education systems work together to influence overall levels of attainment…
My take on this and other reports is that selection into special schools doesn’t need to occur. What we need is more resources into all of our schools, not the dilution of what we currently have. Teachers, as I have written about before, need resources (these are not just the things like buildings that are a fit for purpose, equipment that is up to date, books etc; but also more time to plan and to support children at all levels). I cannot and do not see that introducing a new ‘grammar stream system’ in ‘special schools’ who will of course get all the new resources, will help the rest of the children not attending those schools!
Further reading:
- Grammar schools: What are they and why are they controversial?
- Selecting and Group Students – OECD
- Some schools select the pupils that they want to teach
- Does ability-based selection have to increase inequalities in education?
Questions to think about when you have read this article and some of the others I noted:
- Why do some schools want to choose the children that they are willing to teach?
- Which types of schools are able to choose students?
- Which types of schools are not able to choose students?
- Which types of pupils are rejected by some schools?
- What tricks can schools use to make sure they only have to take students that they want
- Should schools be allowed to choose students?
- Should parents be allowed to choose schools?
HMRC achieves Big Brother Status
I was reading an article by Paul Rigney entitled ‘The all seeing eye – an HMRC success story?”, in itself the story does show a success story, in that the HMRC (for a government department) has managed to combine three discreet function into a fully functioning catch all system that enables HMRC to:
- analyse tax data
- collate information from credit reference agencies to pinpoint individuals and behaviours that may indicate fraud etc
- They can extrapolate who is a director of a number of companies, his/her family connections and the companies that a partner is a director of as well as family trusts.
Investigations which may have taken weeks or even months in the past, can now be carried out in a day or less.
The HMRC system is called ‘Connect’, and its use and application will continue to grow with the planned introduction of quarterly returns and other instruments now in the pipeline.
These tools also enable the HMRC to keep a beady eye on online traders using such sites as eBay or 
Autorader, or even Amazon and evaluate whether the trading sales activity qualifies as “business activity” or not for purposes of taxable income.
So why am I writing about what seems to be a perfectly valid use of resources and government money (remember it is our money)? Well over the last few years I have written about ‘Big Brother’ government, and its abuses. The latest of which has come to light through a FOI (Freedom of Information) request by one of our national papers, which showed how local government has been misusing the legislation, put in place to cover terrorism, to monitor all weird and wonderful things like, dog pooing in parks, litter louts, parents registration for schools etc – all obvious targets for the terrorism surveillance.
Government has to govern, and indeed we all want to live secure lives free from attack and terror; but what we must not do is give up our right to a free society, one in which we are not observed through discreet surveillance, one in which we can be locked up for disagreeing with government or taking pictures of a demonstration and use of police as examples. the list of abuse is wide, and we as the voting population need to ensure that our freedoms are just that, our freedoms. Ensure that you vote properly when you next have an election, it is your and your family’s future.
Ofsted downgrades some schools due to curriculum problems
Let us be clear about this headline ‘Christian schools downgraded by Ofsted over homophobic teachings’, it is ill conceived and really sensationalism at its worse; the report clearly states that the downgrade is about the curriculum, and it is illustrated in the following paragraph:
Concerns have been repeatedly flagged about the use of ACE in British schools in the past, with an investigation in 2014 raising concerns about ACE textbooks teaching that homosexuality is a choice, evolution is a lie, abortion is wrong, and AIDS can be avoided by following the Bible.
not just about homophobic teachings. This is a long running problem between Ofsted and schools which are following the ACE curriculum, an import from the USA, and very obviously very right wing in its beliefs and teachings.
A Balanced Curriculum
I have no objections to any curriculum as long as it is balanced and fair, and importantly accurate and factual. Our country has a long history of adjusting its curriculum as things have been found out that change our concepts and thoughts – we must not allow bigots to control the educational system and the lives of our children
A number of private Christian schools have threatened legal action after having their status downgraded by education watchdog Ofsted, partly for failing to “promote respect” for LGBT people and British values.
Source: Christian schools downgraded by Ofsted over homophobic teachings · PinkNews
Traditonal Values – is there such a thing?
Now I know that quoting Wikipedia is so blase, however in this case I feel the definition is worth looking at: Wikipedia defines “Traditional Values” as “those beliefs, moral codes, and mores that are passed down from generation to generation within a culture, subculture or community.”
However on investigation, Wikipedia cannot define where those beliefs, moral codes etc come from. There is no defining text, and what is also interesting is that this cultural phenomena is wildly held as fact, when even within family to family said ideas can be wildly different.
A colleague of mine, put his thoughts as:
Clearly this moron hasn’t heard of New Orleans – though as it is French / Irish / Italian Catholic maybe he is going to allow it to secede from the secession.
I will always respect another’s opinion, however for it to be acceptable it must be rational, and have at least a modicum of intelligent thought behind it. Mr MacKinnon has obviously not given this a deep enough thought process, as indeed we could say the same about his previous boss President Reagan with some of his actions and speeches. For Mr MacKinnon to say that ‘marriage equality’ is such a threat to personal liberty that states should risk a second civil war to preserve the right to discriminate against people, only goes to show how bigoted he is and how he has failed to research and understand that society has never stood still, it has always moved forward, and always will
Further reading:
A right-wing author has a plan for people who aren’t happy about shifting attitudes about LGBT rights.
Source: Conservative author wants states to secede over gay rights | MSNBC
Community – Parris says there isn’t a LGBT one!
Interesting comments, however Mr Parris has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth, and I believe he has yet again! It is fairly obvious to anyone with half a brain that ‘community’ is always made up of bodies with similar interests, and therefore you could using Mr Parris’s analogy say there is not such thing as community in the wider sense if applied to the population in the United Kingdom. The LGBT community is formed from liked minded individuals, and groups, who feel that they are being victimised or oppressed. To achieve the rights that we currently have we have had to fight both in court, at the ballot box and sometimes even in the streets. 
Where was Mr Parris during this – hiding behind (sorry in) the closet. He consistently has fought against LGBT rights, as can be seen by his various statements on gay marriage and how the church should oppose this.
Examples of that LGBT community which Mr Parris says doesn’t exist, and why we still need to fight for our rights:
- These brave LGBT activists are marching for equal rights in Montenegro
- Gay couple subjected to vile homophobic attacks on consecutive nights say ‘it just doesn’t make sense
Obviously I could continue to put up more links, but I believe the news and public opinion are enough of a reminder of why we need to continue to fight for civil rights for minorities, and not to allow small minded people to take a so called moral high ground, when in reality they don’t have one.
Former Tory MP Matthew Parris has said that the LGBT community does not exist.
Source: Gay former Tory MP: ‘There’s no such thing as the LGBT community’
Paul Dacre Does the Two Step
Paul Dacre does the two step
I well understand Paul Dacre’s reservations on government interference, however, he must also understand that if the news media had been accurate and honest with its articles, and also not used what can only be termed underhand tactics (if not downright corrupt and criminal on occasions) then the government in all probability would not interfere. But having said that, I would voice a note of caution, in that successive governments since the end of the second world war have been attempting to control both the media, and now because of the internet, the internet and peoples freedoms and access to information. More importantly, the government has now passed an Act which basically gives them carte blanche to monitor and intercept any forms of communication they want in relation to any individual in the United Kingdom. Big Brother strikes again!
Daily Mail editor-in-chief takes swipe at ‘so-called liberals’ who have refused to join Ipso as he announces departure
Source: Paul Dacre to step down as chair of journalists’ code of practice committee
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