Guardian's Liberty Clinic - query about British citizenship

From the Guardian's Liberty Clinic


How can I be discriminated against because of my mother's gender?

The actual question was: "How can the the Borders, Immigration & Citizenship Bill - with its gender and age discrimination - be legal?"

The answer from Emma Norton, a legal officer at Liberty, is quite disappointing and not very helpful or encouraging. And she had the gall to brag about how "Liberty welcomed this change in the law which removed this historic discrimination against those who wished to claim citizenship through their mother."

The law has been amended but the discrimination has not been removed! We (the children born abroad to British mothers) finally are eligible to apply for British citizenship but it means we "have a right to register as a British citizen" and we have to pay £540 , and attend a citizenship ceremony before we can claim our British citizenship by descent!

Liberty is also known as the National Council for Civil Liberties. Founded in 1934, we are a cross party, non-party membership organisation at the heart of the movement for fundamental rights and freedoms in England and Wales. We promote the values of individual human dignity, equal treatment and fairness as the foundations of a democratic society.

Well, I certainly don't consider this very unfair path to citizenship with its conditions (registration, fee and ceremony) to be equal treatment or fair!

The comments following Ms Norton's reply are very interesting. I suggest everyone reads the comments if they want to understand exactly why this issue of inequality regarding British citizenship is so very unfair.

The MPs are guilty of passing a blatantly discriminatory Bill for passage into law. They should all be very ashamed.

Follow a Museum Day on Twitter

Sometimes the simple ideas really are the best!

The first Follow a Museum Day was today, February 1st 2010, to help draw attention to the museums on Twitter, and get more people to consider following a museum.

The hashtag #followamuseum is being used to help everyone follow the subject on Twitter.

It is really a fabulous idea because I've discovered quite a few museums to follow and to bookmark for reference when I'm looking for ideas for museums to visit.

Here's a list of museums in the UK to follow on twitter:

http://www.followamuseum.com/uk.html

I was already following some of them but I found some new ones too, such as; Museum of Childhood , The Museum of English Rural Life , The Computer Museum , At Bristol and The British Postal Museum & Archive (if you're on Flickr and have photographs of anything British and postal, you can add it to Britain's Postal Heritage )

I really enjoyed this idea. It was very interesting to find out more about various museums. And I'm sure the publicity it generated will help the museums a lot.

ContactPoint children's database suffers security breaches

ContactPoint database suffers 'serious' security breaches during trial phase
The controversial database containing personal details of all 11 million children in England has suffered at least three security breaches even before its nationwide launch.

(link via Telegraph)

I've written about the ContactPoint database before. I've always been against the idea but of course that doesn't matter. Parents don't have a say - unless you are a celebrity or a politician because they are concerned about the security of their children's details, and they can opt out!!

And surprise, surprise! The big fear was that it wouldn't be secure (no database is 100% secure) and sure enough there have been at least three security breaches already - before its nationwide launch!

I wonder how the parents in England that supported the idea of the database, feel about it now.

Can there be anyone who still believes ContactPoint is a good idea?

A History of the World in 100 Objects - new series on BBC Radio 4

This sounds like an intriguing new project on BBC Radio 4

About A History of the World:

On Monday 18th January, Radio 4 officially launches this project with the first programme in a a major new series 'A History of the World in 100 Objects', written and presented by the Director of the British Museum, Neil Macgregor.

The British Museum has chosen 100 objects from its collection and now we want you to add yours. Help us build a digital museum by adding your object to this website.

Just take a photo of something you own that you think tells us about a time, a place or a community. What part does your object play in a history of the world?

BBC - A History of the World

Radio 4 Blog - At last! A History of the World

The Hoxton Hotel: next £1 sale on 21st Jan

It's time again for the £1 sale at The Hoxton Hotel

The Hoxton Hotel - the famous £1 sale is coming soon

21st January at midday!

500 rooms for £1 and 500 room for £29 for dates between the 1st Feb – 30th April 2010

Hoxton Hotel
81 Great Eastern Street
London
EC2A 3HU

Good Luck - this sale is extremely popular!

Please note: I have no connection with The Hoxton Hotel - I just like to pass along information about a great deal when I can!

How Emma Bridgewater tableware is made - videos

A detailed look at how Emma Bridgewater tableware is hand made and decorated in Stoke on Trent and Emma's inspirations.

Short films that shows the complete process from clay slip preparation to the finishing of the end products:






Visit www.emmabridgewater.co.uk for beautiful tableware.

Edited to add: I have no connection with the Emma Bridgewater business - I just think it's very interesting to see how the tableware is made and thought I'd share these videos on my blog.

Police sledging, Oxford - watch the video

What do you think about their moment of fun using riot shields to sledge down a snowy hill while on duty?

Are you angry about their behavior since they were on duty? or do you think they should be allowed to have a bit of fun - as long as they didn't stay long and went right back to work?

The 2010 Quality of Life Index: The 10 best countries to live

The 10 best countries to live (and the 10 worst)

International Living magazine's 30th annual survey of the best countries to live:

1. France
2. Australia
3. Switzerland
4. Germany
5. New Zealand
6. Luxembourg
7. United States
8. Belgium
9. Canada
10. Italy

And Britain? 25th place for best country to live

The worst
1. Somalia
2. Yemen
3. Sudan
4.Chad
5. Afghanistan
6. Sierra Leone
7. Djibouti
8. Eritrea
9. Guinea
10. Angola

(link via Times Online)

What do you think about the survey results? If you live in France, do you agree that it's the best country for living in?