Simon Kirby MP’s Disabled Person’s Parking Badges Bill will receive its Third Reading in the House of Lords at 3.15pm this afternoon. Simon is the MP for Kemptown & Peacehaven.
The Bill has received widespread support in both the Commons and the Lords and was able to bypass a Committee Stage in the Lords as Peers backed Mr Kirby’s proposals without amendment.
The Third Reading is the final stage of the Bill’s passage through Parliament, and the last point at which Peers are able to make amendments to the legislation. Should the Bill pass its Third Reading it will hopefully go on to receive Royal Assent and become law.
Simon said:
“This Bill will make significant improvements to the Blue Badge scheme, making it much better for disabled people who rely on the availability of disabled parking spaces. I am delighted that it has been so well received in both Houses of Parliament, which has allowed it to progress so far. It is now on the verge of becoming law, which is fantastic news for genuine users of disabled parking spaces in my constituency and across England and Wales.”
Latest figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) show there have been 4,407 laboratory confirmed cases of norovirus this season (from week 27 to week 01 2013). The latest figures are 56 per cent higher than the number of cases reported at this point last year, when there were 2,828 cases.
The report shows that there has been a continuation in the downward trend in the number of confirmed cases over the last week with a 32 per cent drop on the previous week (257 week 52 to 175 in week 01 2013).
This shows the unpredictability of the norovirus season where the number of confirmed cases rises and falls. However, there will still be new cases arising before the season ends.
During the two weeks up to January 13 there were 39 hospital outbreaks reported, compared to 33 in the previous fortnight, bringing the total of outbreaks for the season to 728.
A new strain of norovirus called Sydney 2012 has been circulating this season. Although this was detected through HPA surveillance at the start of the season it was not the dominant strain at that time. Later testing has revealed that it is now the dominant strain. This could be an explanatory factor in why there was an early start to the season.
John Harris, an expert in norovirus from the HPA said:
“Norovirus activity always varies from year to year and although we might have expected cases to rise again now we have passed the New Year period this hasn’t been the case. We can’t read anything into this fall and don’t know how busy the rest of the season will be. The busiest months are normally from December to April, so further cases will occur but we can’t say if there will be further significant increases in the number of laboratory reports. “There have been reports in the media of people with symptoms of norovirus attending their local hospital but we would urge people not to do this. If you think you may have the illness then it is important to stay away from any healthcare facility and care homes to avoid spreading it to people who may have underlying health conditions and already be vulnerable. If you need advice it is best to phone NHS Direct or your doctor.”
Norovirus can be transmitted by contact with contaminated surfaces or objects, by contact with an infected person, or by the consumption of contaminated food or water. Symptoms of norovirus include a sudden onset of vomiting and/or diarrhoea. Some people may have a temperature, headache and stomach cramps. The symptoms only last for a couple of days and there are no long-term effects. Maintaining good hand hygiene is also important to help prevent it spreading.
Registration opens today for the tenth annual Stonewall, Equality Walk, which takes place in Brighton on May 5. The 10k Walk, supported by American Express, raises funds for Stonewall’s Education for All programme, which helps schools tackle homophobia and support lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) young people. Over 600 supporters took part in last year’s Walk, raising a record-breaking £70,000.
Homophobic bullying remains commonplace in Britain’s schools. Last year Stonewall’s School Report 2012, based on research by the University of Cambridge, showed over half of gay young people are homophobically bullied in Britain’s schools, while nearly all hear homophobic language.
Tragically nearly a quarter of gay young people have attempted to take their own lives. The Equality Walk is one of the charity’s main fundraising events to support its anti-bullying work.
Stonewall Director of Fundraising Catherine Bosworth, said:
“Once again we’re hoping to see hundreds of people turn out for the Equality Walk to take a stand against homophobic bullying. Every penny raised will help us support gay young people who face a daily nightmare of assault, abuse or isolation at school, simply because of the way they were born.”
The Equality Walk is a family-friendly event, which opens with a gathering in the Royal Pavillion Gardens and ends with an all-ages party in the sea-front bar The Honey.
The former Labour leader of Brighton & Hove City Council and present chair of the Sussex Beacon, Simon Burgess was the first person to register for this years Brighton Walk as confirmed by a Stonewall tweet saying so.
Simon said:
“The recent awful transphobic article by Julie Burchill is yet another reminder of the bullying that can be directed against anyone who is LGBT. I hope Stonewall will be overrun with registrations for the 10th Equality Walk to show that Brighton & Hove is united in condemning bullying. I have taken part in many of the Equality Walks and they are always fun as well as a powerful statement that people are prepared to stand up and be counted in the fight for equality.”
Following a day of growing anger at the article written by Julie Burchill and published by the Observer on Sunday, January 13, John Mulholland the editor of the Observer has withdrawn the offending article on line and issued the following statement.
He said:
“We have decided to withdraw from publication the Julie Burchill comment piece ‘Transsexuals should cut it out’. The piece was an attempt to explore contentious issues within what had become a highly-charged debate. The Observer is a paper which prides itself on ventilating difficult debates and airing challenging views. On this occasion we got it wrong and in light of the hurt and offence caused I apologise and have made the decision to withdraw the piece. The Observer Readers’ Editor will report on these issues at greater length.”
Former equalites minister, Lynne Featherstone MP led the calls for Burchill to be sacked by the Observer from writing her regular column.
Toby Young a regular blogger on the Telegraph website said the decision by the Observer to withdraw the article was “a disgrace”. He reproduced the article unedited on the Telegraph website saying: “Julie Burchill has given me permission to reprint the article the Observer has seen fit to unpublish. This is the full text”.
Burchill got herself embroiled in the controversy after defending her friend, writer Suzanne Moore who had upset many people by her comments about “Brazilian transsexuals”. Burchill piece was titled “Transsexuals should cut it out.” and in it she called transgender people “screaming mimis”, “bed-wetters in bad wigs” and “dicks in chicks’ clothing” among other unpleasant phrases.
The Scottish Transgender Alliance (STA) has warned of “rising transphobia in the British media” which it claims could have a damaging impact on the mental health of transgender people.
Julie Burchill
The warning comes after what it describes as “a sustained campaign against transsexual women” in some parts of the media over the past few weeks culminating in an offensive article by Julie Burchill published in the Observer on Sunday, January 13.
In the article, Burchill directs a torrent of transphobic abuse at transgender people, describing them as “a bunch of bed-wetters in bad wigs” and other unrepeatable slurs. She goes on to suggest that transgender women aren’t real women by comparing them to “Black and White Minstrels” and making offensive comments about their anatomy.
The STA say that:
“such offensive language would not be deemed fit to publish if it attacked people on the basis of their race or sexual orientation rather than their gender identity” complaining that “transphobia is, for some reason deemed acceptable by the British media with a devastating impact on the mental health of transgender people.”
Nathan Gale, Development Worker for the STA, called on the Guardian to issue a full apology.
He said:
“Having your identity ridiculed in such an offensive way in a respected national newspaper is extremely damaging for trans people. Many trans women live in constant fear that they will be harassed or abused just walking down the street. Such comments being legitimised by the media make that fear all the more real. Like many we are shocked that such a transphobic article was allowed to be published in the first place, and it seems unlikely that such derogatory language would have been printed in the Observer had it been in relation to another minority group. The Scottish Transgender Alliance will continue to work to improve the positive visibility of trans people. In the meantime we hope that the person responsible for allowing Burchill’s article to be published is held to account and a full public apology issued.”
In 2012 the Scottish Transgender Alliance commissioned the largest study into the mental health of transgender people ever to be published in the UK. The results were “extremely concerning” with 33% of respondents stating that they had attempted to kill themselves as least once in their lives. The STA say that while there are many factors contributing to the high prevalence of mental health difficulties among trans people, “the impact of other people’s negative attitudes should not be overstated”.
51% of respondents said that media portrayals of transgender people had a negative impact on their wellbeing.
One respondent said:
“It is a constant reminder of how much most people despise me for what I am.”
The STA acknowledge that “the public outrage sparked by Burchill’s comments is encouraging”.
A petition on the Care2 petition site demanding an apology from the Guardian Newspaper Group for publishing the article has already gained over 3000 signatures in less than 24 hours.
Guardian News Group have asked their readers’ editor to “investigate the matter”.
Jess Woods MBE, the project director at Allsorts Youth Project in Brighton has called on the editor of the Observer to apologise to the trans community after he published a piece in the Observer last Sunday, January 13, by Brighton based columnist Julie Burchill described by the former Equalites Minister, Lynne Featherstone MP as “Bigoted vomit”.
Allsorts runs a group for young trans people and in a letter to the editor of the Observer Jess highlighted the seriousness of the attack on trans people by Burchill and the potential damage this type of hate attack does to their mental health.
Her letter read:
“I do not expect to wake up on a Sunday morning, open my Observer and find words of hatred and humiliation directed at trans people (Julie Burchill 13th Jan 2013: Cut it out, you transsexuals). At Allsorts Youth Project we run a group for young trans people. Why do these young people need additional support? Because daily they face abuse, insult and ridicule. What does this do to their mental health? In a recent survey, we found that 66% of young trans people had contemplated suicide, 22% had attempted suicide and 33% had self-harmed. Nobody will be suprised by anything Julie Burchill has to say these days, but I do think your readers will be, like me, astonished that you saw fit to publish words so carefully crafted to cause maximum harm to such a highly vulnerable group in our society?
Our charity would like to make a formal complaint to the editor of the Observer about this piece, please advise how to proceed?We would also like you to consider publishing an apology to the the trans community and provide an opportunity for representaitves of the trans community to publish a piece that informs your readers why this kind of pernicious journalism is dangerous and irresponsible.”
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