It’s sick but there’s nothing they can do about it
Never let it be said this government does not occasionally provide a good laugh. And the launch of the Downing Street website is one of the best. This is not just because of the squirm-making messages from Tony Blair.
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2000/feb/20/freespeech.theobserver
Can we trust this government with the sex education of our children? I ask because they have swung between libertarian pressure groups and pro-family moralists without a single thought about what contemporary teenagers themselves might need or want.
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2000/feb/16/schools.comment
Specialist schools, Tony Blair declared at the weekend, are meant to sort out the comprehensive system. It sounds great but, as with so much of this government’s policy, closer inspection suggests presentation may be more important than policy coherence. Specialist schools inevitably imply selection, yet the government says it is committed to eliminating selection.
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2000/jan/18/schools.comment
This article is about The Guardian’s search for Woman of the Millenium.
” Few issues have aroused such passion on these pages as the quest for Women of the Millennium. We have been bombarded with suggestions, indignant letters and even the odd poem, since it emerged that on Radio 4′s Today programme, the top 100 British personalities of the millennium included only six women, none of whom was shortlisted.
Today’s editor said he’d hoped for more female nominations; well, we’ve got them aplenty. Over a thousand votes were cast and 400 names suggested. With the notable exception of Tracey Teresa (‘illegitimate daughter of Mother’), these were mainly sensible suggestions – women who have made a significant contribution to the history of this millennium.”
So why is it that when the public are asked to nominate ‘great’ people, they overlook women? Is it because, by virtue of biology, women can never aspire to those categories of courage, vision, statesmanship and genius by which greatness is usually assessed?
Read more:
Details of the Dome’s “lavish party” on millennium eve are at last appearing and its contents are more likely to depress than impress. A string of New Labour sympathisers, including Stephen Fry and Mick Hucknall, will entertain the hand-picked audience. This will be followed by what used to be called a “medley” of musical turns, a bit of pop, extracts from West End musicals and a bit of classical music. Something to suit all tastes. The Queen will then “open” the Dome. It’s going to be the Royal Variety Performance, only without the variety.
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/dec/21/millennium.uk1
Is Susan Faludi right to conclude in her new book – Stiffed, serialised this week in the Guardian – that men are lost souls in search of an identity? Ros Coward argues that the Pulitzer prizewinner’s research will spark fresh discussion about masculinity
Is worrying about men the next stage of feminism? It certainly looks that way, now that Susan Faludi has waded in on the subject, joining a growing number of other feminists pondering “the crisis of masculinity”. In the UK, Fay Weldon lost friends by suggesting sex roles had inverted, while Adrienne Burgess argued against the exclusion of fatherhood from the feminist agenda. In my new book, Sacred Cows, I argue against demonising men when many women have made great gains and some men are experiencing significant losses.
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/sep/09/gender.uk2
What is the matter with all these people? This will be a unique moment of revelation of the physical world
For the last few months, I’ve been getting steadily more excited about next week’s eclipse. Like millions of others, I hope to witness the totality and I’m prepared to travel to do so. Currently my household is torn between camping on Dartmoor or taking a boat off the south coast of England. As the day gets nearer, I’ve been reading everything I can about it, the scientific background and accounts of previous eclipses.
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/science/1999/aug/03/eclipse.comment
The Common agricultural policy is as damaging to the European environment as ever – but politicians still shirk from radical reform.
Full article:
https://www.resurgence.org/magazine/author82-ros-coward.html
There are disturbing aspects to the way that BBC researchers may have themselves stimulated a tragedy
Is the BBC justified in distancing itself from blame for the appalling tragedy which befell two children at the hands of the subject of an Inside Story documentary?
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/media/1999/jul/06/bbc.comment
The Green party will provide a real opposition to the Conservatives – if the voters are willing
In previous elections when I’ve voted for the Greens, it’s been as a protest vote. They had so little chance of success I didn’t need to worry about their unreadiness for political life. In Thursday’s European elections I shall be voting Green in a different frame of mind. With proportional representation, they stand a real chance of getting seats and the worry is no longer what would happen if they entered mainstream political life prematurely, but what on earth will happen if they don’t. So what’s changed?
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jun/08/eu.greenpolitics