How eyes shift over
Golden dawn of summers birth
Sunlight in flower

Let me declare some interests.  I’d vote LibDem.  I think First Past the Post (FPTP) is wrong.  I failed to vote because I’m on my Masters and was pushing deadlines as the registration deadline came around.  I’m going to volunteer to help in the next election as a neutral counter/admin person if they’ll let me.  (So, I will not be able to canvass/distribute leaflets I think, but of course no-one would interfere with my right to vote of have an opinion as long as I didn’t try to influence others during any volunteering time.  Fair enough).

I should also say that I learned the hard way, in Student Politics, that I’m not actually very sophisticated about politics.  In this area I am simple.

I see a problem in British Politics that I had heretofore not perceived.  It is the absolutist approach.  It is clear to me now that a party in power, that is, to be clear, one with a majority in parliament, expects to be able to carry out its programme without interference, simply because it has a majority in parliament.

Let’s examine this a little more closely.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/ shows the 2010 results.  (Tabled also here for convenience).

Now, thing is, nobody, no one party that is, won. They did not get the majority needed to for a majority government.  The Conservatives got 36.1% of the popular vote, so they are the largest by seats and by vote share.

We are told that that under FPTP, they usually have a 42% or 43% share of the vote.  At that point they have a majority of the seats too, and can force through whatever legislation they want.

That does not seem like good government to me.  (I’d be saying this the other way around as well, if it were Labour, so it’s not about not wanting the Tories, which I don’t, see declaration of interests above, this is about the numbers, about democracy and government).  It hardly seems to be the democratic ideal that the minority get to foist their opinion on the majority, who don’t want it.  Yet, we seems to have had this system for years.  It is what all the journos call “strong government.”  Ah, strong government is the euphemism for the tyranny of the few against the majority.  I.E. the markets and bankers know where they are at because there is a single more or less unstoppable political force in charge.

Alright, so I don’t like that idea.  It is the absolute-ism that I refereed to in the title of this piece.  And the parties want it, because they can get their way.  Bad.

So, what is the alternative?

It seems to be a so called “Rainbow Alliance”.  It would be “everyone else”, those who attend and can be counted, against the Tories.  numerically this is better, it could account for 52%-53% of the popular vote.  And it would be a multitude of voices.  But it has been critisised because it would give smaller parties, a disproportionate voice.  That remains to be seen, but it seems, from commentators, (again, on the BBC), that the nationalist parties would seek to ringfence cuts in spending to just England.  Is that right, would they be so irresponsible?  Wales and Scotland both have minority government, in as far as they have it and they seem to get on ok.  In fact, they seem to get on better than ok, Scotland has no Student fees, for example, and makes moves to look after the elderly from the public purse.  Putting aside the rights and wrong of these measures, they must be doing ok if they can do this.  (Remember that Scotland spend 10x as much on its parliament building as it meant to so it’s no bed of roses, nothing is perfect.)

But when all is said and done, it would be a majority of the population that voted for whatever came out of it.  Is this any better?

I suggest not.

I suggest that even when 50% of the population is voting for one party, we are disenfranchising the rest.  We are subjecting them to a disempowerment that is inappropriate in a 21st century democracy. Every time we empower a party to act without regard for the rest of the population, we are leaving half of the country behind in disagreement.  There is no redress, no compromise, no conciliation.

In this respect, the parties, all of them, act like spoiled children, they must have it their way or not at all.  There is no clearer demonstration of this than the current negotiations, and Clegg is right in there.

While I take a position on say Alternative Voting (AV), I realise that despite Tweets asking the LibDems not to vote for it, there is a compromise, and AV might be it.

Parties seems to be unable to make compromises.  They want it their way.

Well here is a thing Political Parties.  We the people want it our way.  We don’t vote presidentially, we vote for our local MP.  We want a multitude of voices, arguing until agreement in parliament.  (Obviously that is my opinion about what “we the people” want, maybe it is wrong.)

Maybe that means compromise.  Maybe that means having a government that is shaped like a lot of other governments in the world, a government of real votes in parliament and real compromise.

Welcome to a whole new world.

The terrorists have won.

Why do I say this terrible thing?

Because Belgium have passed the law banning the Burka.

Now, there are a few things to be examined here.  First of all, my primary new source is the BBC, I’m trying to convert to Euronews gradually, as I think they are less US centric, and their habit of providing video without commentary is a good one, though also capable of biasing news.

The article from the BBC can be found here:-http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8652861.stm

and the Euronews take on it here:-http://www.euronews.net/2010/04/30/belgian-parliament-votes-to-ban-burqa/

Secondly, the ban seems to be aimed at the uncovering of identity,

(BBC) The law would ban any clothing that obscures the identity of the wearer in places like parks and on the street.

Thirdly, let’s deal with my own prejudices.  I don’t like it.  I hate seeing people concealed and separated from society, as if I’m a danger to them, or they are to me; or as if my leering eye will lead them astray because I have no control over myself, (see my entry on femininism, probably just below).  I hate the idea that some control or old convention leads people to conceal themselves from the rest of society.  I like my western values, such as they are; this level of conservatism is not for me and I don’t like it.

Let’s put that aside now.

The counter argument is of course, that people can choose in our plural society to follow their religion freely, and in our society, (in case you’re reading this internationally, I’m a Brit and I have all the stereotypes and prejudices fully installed, for which I apologise; I try to apply my intellect to things to try and  counter the enormous drag factor of such thinking as “Channel fog bound, continent cut off.”), can choose in our plural society to follow their religion, personal practices etc. as long as no-one is harmed.  It’s a value, and we should remember that.  I value that more than I value my personal prejudices.

So what is going on here?

From my point of view there are two difficulties in this move, (oh and by the way you should also see this:-http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8658017.stm 500 Euros, appalling), two difficulties I was saying.

One is that the backlash, which let’s face it we knew was coming, is that women are now being victimized as practicers of their religion.  I know of no religion that requires men to cover up as women are required to do, and therefore the victims of these laws will all be women, some of whom are going to feel terribly vulnerable as result of these laws.  And couching them in terms of “not having a hidden identity” just makes it a lame excuse.

And it’s lame, it’s lame because while we have no general need to conceal our identity, the law enshrines a fear, a fear that anonymity is dangerous, that it is not allowed, because be we have no right to privacy in public places.  It enshrines an idea, that we need to be afraid of people we cannot immediately police, (through CCTV etc.), because we need to be afraid.

It victimises women in particular, Muslims in a more general case, and in the broadest interpretation, it makes us all subject to government scrutiny and control, (or at least, inspection), because we might be terrorists.

Our, and by our in this case I mean Europe, laws have become so much more draconian since 9/11, 7/7 and so many other dates that are sadly meaningful in the track of bombings and other abuses that people have practised upon the world.

These laws, however do nothing to improve safety, but do everything to alienate and stigmatise a tiny minority of Europe’s population, and a majority of the population in the Middle East, people who must be looking on and shaking their heads in wonder at our “liberal” society.

I don’t like the Burka, but I don’t  like suppression, distrust, suspicion and racism a whole lot more.  MY values are that we remember that not everyone on this earth live the same way, that we respect other cultures and value them, because humans need that “hybrid-vigour” that comes from having cultural values that differ.  As a Discordian, I don’t mind if people disagree, in fact, I rather value that; and I don’t want people to have to leave their culture/religion behind just because they are living near me, because eventually I will learn different points of view, and history that I know nothing of, and philosophy that is beyond value.  Let there be a rainbow, and let it be the colours of all the humans.

As usual, if anything comes across real right wing, then I left out some negation somewhere.

Yeah, get ready because I’m in a mood and I’m ready to give a polemic.

I’m a guy, and I wear skirts.  Don’t like it?  Fuck off then.  I’m not subscriber to the “put photos of myself on the blog” guys wearing skirts brigade, because I’m not interested in that kind of publicity, I don’t do it for those reasons, maybe you’ll disagree.

I don’t do it because my tag line says “Girl Inside, Just live with it.”  That’s not why.

There are plenty of reasons why I do do it, and I’ll get to them in a second.

Why do I have a girl on my personal blog anyway?  Because you’re suckers for beauty, nevermind that this stock photo, which I purchased for this, is a good representation of an old RP character in a situation in which I would quite to be in, i.e drinking coffee while shopping, YOU the good old public like the feminine, because it our society’s conception of beauty, so I want that, and this is the closest I’m going to get, because I sure as hell won’t change my appearance for you.  I look like a huge bloke with correspondingly strong features and strength and bulk.  I don’t have to enjoy it.  I’m also, as far as I’m concerned, an intellectual, a philosopher, a Geek, (coder Geek), an activist, (Albeit that I spend very little time being an activist, with the one notable exception), a Dad, a Mom, and I use this term a a job title, though it is less ongoing as an activity now, and someone who wants to be peaceful and quiet and studious.  I find that all too often I have to be loud, assertive, occasionally obnoxious (hate that), bloody minded, and even occasionally downright stubborn.

I said that there are a lot of reasons that I wear skirts.  I am often asked, and as I’m a Discordian, and the reasons are numerous, what I reply often depends on the day of the week, or my mood, or who I’m trying to wind up that day, or, Eris forbid, even for religious reasons.  (Later polemic on Discordianism and philosophy I promise).

But there is no single reason, and because I’m in a difficult mood I decided that writing about it here would be a good idea for a change, so in no particular order…

Comfort

Who decreed that all men, at least in the west, shall wear bifurcated garments usually folded up up quite tightly into something that could tear a body in half, especially jeans?  *I* didn’t.  My comfort is important to me.  It’s certainly saved me from being kicked in the balls a few times by my small children, as the small legs get tangled up rather than being guided like a tiny booted missile to the most sensitive, apart from teeth, area of my body.  Thanks trouser makes society and fashion, on behalf of all men for having that guidance system in place.  I like skirts or other non-birfurcated, trousers have their place, but it’s not a bloody uniform.  I thought we were equal. We”ll see later how we are not.

Non-Violence

It used to be that I wanted a sign of protest at my pacificism.  I’m no longer a pacifist, but I do try to be a peaceful person.  I have come to realise that “Lad” culture has badly let me down on this one, I have seem women being far far more violent than I have seen any man being, except my father; try spending a few nights cabbying as I did 20 years ago, and you see what I mean.  What happened to us?  I know what bloody happened, we tried to become equal, and that seems to mean to modern people doing what men do, laddish things; binge drinking, threatening behaviour, (I am more often threatened with physical violence from women than I am from men, for wearing skirts and possibly saying “no”).  Violence towards me has never been acceptable, from man or woman, quit it; because the outcome is going to be same, one of two things, I’ll clock you one or call the police, preferably the second.  I’ve had to do the first.  Why am I attackable because I wear different clothes from the general population?  Ah, common homophobia is still acceptable is it?  Not in my book.  I had enough violence as a child, as an adult I don’t have to tolerate it.  I want peace.

And it’s not just physical either, I had a woman confront me in the street, at random seemingly, some years ago, and declare that she was going to take away my children right then and there because to was obviously an abuse that I was their dad and wearing a skirt.  I’m not at all ashamed to say that I told I would kill her where she stood if she touched my children, (I couldn’t run away or I would have; I was carrying one and pushing the other), so she threatened to get the Police.  That seems right and proper to me, so I just carried on shopping.  I never heard from her again.  (And this was ten years and more ago).

Equality and Feminism

Yeah, equality right?  Bollocks, there ain’t any.  Women are still basically abused in the work place, go look around, the glass ceiling is still there, the is still a 17-20% pay gap between the sexes doing the same job.  On the other hand, I know young men who have gone into child care who have been asked “why? Don’t you want to do a real job?  Isn’t it a bit weird to want to care for children if you’re a man? ”  Subtext, we think you’re a paedo so you can sod off.

OH my goddess have we not left the polemical time of the 70’s when feministas outside Greenham common threw Human Excrement at my Dad and me because he was a man and I’m a boy.  Have we not left the time when at 17 years of age I got told that as a man I was basically a rapist and that was my lot in life, couldn’t be helped but there it is?  (80’s for reference).

So bad enough that I’m naturally brown, and “Paki” was the kindest thing said to an intelligent kid who got beat up every day in school, and then got beat again for getting beat up; but being a man makes me a rapist by default!  What a thing to say to a 17 year old kid, I’d never even been with a woman, and there I was labelled.  Well you know something?  I’ve been storing something up that now needs to be said…

YOU TRAITOROUS FEMINIST BITCHES.

I feel better.

Why do I say this?  Why traitorous?

Because labelling all men in this way is a foul foul thing to do to women.  It disempowers them and sets them up to see themselves as victims.  From my point of view, it messages men that their role is about power, which let’s face it rape is about it’s many foul and hideous forms, and induces a fear of being alone with women, which by the way such caution I have passed on to my boys.  Just the accusation can ruin a man’s life and I have cautioned them that being along with any woman is a risk on their part too.  What a terrible indictment of our society, my experiences, and the legacy of a generation.

Women need equality.  That is clear.  It does not mean the homogenisation of society, though I can thin of few things that I would refuse on gender grounds, (personal care pops up right away; but for me I’d rather have a woman than a man, because I can talk about more things more easily, Look! An unequality!  But this is reflection of my personal experiences and not a broader generalisation about empathy based on gender).  But we are not the same, and don’t have to be.  We need equality of respect, opportunity and all the others.  (Three days sick leave without note, I don’t know what it is now, was bought in my the way for women, because men do not get screwed around with by major changes in their bodies once a month.  Foolishness to extend to the male half for “equality”, that misses the damned point, different people have different needs).

No, for equalities sake I wear skirts because eventually I found that I wanted to “walk a mile in their shoes”.

Break for a joke.

A feminist, old school ranty person, told me to walk a mile in her shoes; so I did, but then the policeman drew up beside me and said I had to give them back.  I was glad really, because they bloody hurt.

I wear skirts in part because I want to remind people that we are not equal, and that ultimately, some people are so busy looking at my ass that they don’t see me observing them looking at me.

Shame on them, shame because sometimes, not so much where I live now, because certainly before, people treat me as I’m deaf or Second or Third Language English.  I might be naturally brown, but I’m a Brit you moron’s;  I’m so smart that I taught myself to read, I’m doing a Master’s; I have written papers, I’m probably cleverer than YOU, so don’t ask formerly my wife, or now my girlfriend if I take sugar because I’m right here idiot.  I can SEE you pointing.  I’m just wearing a skirt.  If I was truely from a non-Brit culture, hang on, I can’t say that can I?  I’m in Yorkshire, there are loads of born and bred Muslims, Hundus &c. whose parents may or may not have come from abroad but as one friend who was asked her background recently “‘uddersfield born and bred”.  Still wears the garb of here religion and culture, by choice; no-one points and stares.  (Except kids, but kids do this, proper instruction takes care of this, parent better, I did).  But gender issues are so ingrained that it seems to be ok to point and stare and assume I’m stupid.  It isn’t.

I wear skirts because, and pay attention here because this is probably the most important thing I am going to say, if it is demeaning or wrong for me to do it because I’m a man, then our societies attitude to women must still be that it doesn’t matter what they do, because they count less.

There is alternative hypothesis which I regard as just as bad, and it is that Men must conform because we are not allowed out the the same straightjacket that women have fought so hard for so long to escape, and still not have.

If nuturing, housekeeping, childrearing were really valued, really really valued for the important vital social works they are then my mother in law, for example, and my wife’s workmates would never have said, “Why don’t you send him out to work?” when I was caring for a our little ones at home.  So that’s my value is it, safely at work where I can’t rape anyone, or be a filthy paedo, or bother anyone, just work 40 years and then die.  (This used to be the old pattern of men’s work.)

It’s not valued though, it’s not, we don’t value parenting, and Thatcher made it worse, because she thrust us into a world where both parents really speaking HAVE to work to make ends meet.  That’s no equality, that’s wage slavery.  Huh, I reflect now that I’m a student in my 40’s and £20,000 in debt to my studentness.  Because I couldn’t get a job when our kids were in school full time.

I wear skirts because we are not equal, we were never equal, and it should be daily reminder that this is the case.  Women come off worst, but they are not the only ones.

Feeling Better.

I wear skirts, because somewhere inside I feel better when I do.  I think it comes from bucking teh trend, from not conforming or obeying, or being “just a man”.  I’ve had a great deal of adulation for it, for which I am grateful, and great deal of abuse, which reminds me that we are not fixed yet.  But we don’t live in a broken society, there are many things wrong, but we’re ok, if we’re not ok, then why do a lot of people want to come live here?  We, as a society should be proud of that.  Notwithstandnig recent events, we can walk the street with a reasonable expectation of not being shot, mugged, mown down, or otherwise buggered about with.  (Oh thanks to Disney programmes, “Bugger” no longer semantically related to “Buggery” or I think you would say “Sodomy” now, because “bugger” person that bugs, affectionate in the states, “They’re cute little buggers ain’t they”.  I like to reclaim a word to innocence.  Spread it.)

I wear skirts because it makes me feel better, which is after all the only reason to wear clothes, (in the end), not for your titillation, so no pictures, no to make you feel better, not to promote YOUR feminist point or position as an individual or society, student unions take note, but to make me feel good, because I can do what I want in an equal society, as long as I don’t do any harm to others.  You have to question it though when some idiot wrote his car off on a lamp-post because he was looking at me.  How we laughed after making sure he wasn’t dead or injured. (Because we care).

Health.

I wear skirts because it’s healthier.  I’m still good and fertile despite the twin problems of diabetes and high-blood pressure, and the additional disadvantage of sitting at my desk ten hours a day sometimes.  Because MY testicles are not bound up in jeans every day, apparently a major health problem now.  Free and easy baby, free and easy.  Firm underwear prevents knocking about.  And no, it’s not frilly you fucking idiot.  Piss off, it’s personal.

Asshole filter

Basically the logic is this.  If you point and stare, you are either a child or an asshole.  If you reject me for a job because I’m wearing a skirt, then you are an asshole, I’ve worn skirts in work or at Uni for the last ten years, it doesn’t impair my ability to think,  (see the rant about equality above).  Wearing a skirt does not make me feminine so my brain isn’t going to overheat from intelligence or something, oh wait, women’s brains don’t overheat from education, reading or voting.  Amazing.  (Bear in mind that IN MY LIFETIME, women under 21 didn’t get the vote, men did; black people still suffered from segregation; smoking was cool and gosh yes I was called a “Paki” from ignorance at school because there were black kids and white kids and me.)

So next time, dickhead, that you call me “dear” beause I’m wearing a skirt, and patronise me, I’m going to have no compunction in turning the tables and possibly cause, as I have done in the past, your immediate relationship break up when your girlfriend realises that you apply these values to her.  OR for the women that should at me the in street occasionally, I shall not cry for your lack of wages; get back to the damned sink if I’m unacceptable, and bring me my tea.

___

If I have left out the word “not” and said something really right wing, then I apologise.  I leave out the negation when I am being sarcastic sometimes, and reading it back won’t help.  I am a bad proff reader for informal work.

I believe in equality and diversity.  I believe that even if I don’t like something that someone is doing, say in a social sense or a religious sense, they still have the right, and I shall stand up for that right.  I shall still value the idea that difference, difference itself is valuable and healthy, and that disagreement and discord is an inevitable part of human life, and that we should embrace it, because people of good intent can get along, no matter how different or similar we are.  I believe that Britain should be proud of itself, for we are a plural society, a place where people want to come and live, get educated, to BE.  That is something we all do, something to which we all contribute. I believe that we export knowledge and culture, and we should import culture too, and knowledge.  We should hold our heads up, because whatever the sins of the British Empire, and they were many, OUR society is essentially inclusive and embracing.  I don’t speak about tolerance, I speak about embracing, for we are all humans, and we all have human needs.

Well, right, I haven’t blogged to here for ten months or more again.  Mostly, I haven’t got anything to say.  What am I doing now?  A Master in eCommerce.  In some respects it’s hard, very hard; in others I have to keep stopping in case I overshoot by quite a long way.  Argh.

More when I can be bothered.  I might archive some material from other blogs here.

I was asked how the Nationals went.  This is the shortest thing I can say about it.

The Nationals was profound in ways that it would take me some considerable time to expand upon.  I can summarise it in short in only this way; I found wonder again.  For years I have searched for wonder in RolePlay, that thing that gives a joy like no other, and I found that they players were curious and playful as children, but with the intellect and reasoning of adults.  For once, the jaded tropes of behaviour were put aside, and the attitude of “seen it all before” were left at the door.  It gave me a glimpse of my true power, that I can really think alien, really think outside the box, (“there is no box”), and create.  That thing happened whereby science was indistinguishable from magic, that the characters and the players both were filled with wonder, and it was good.

Looks like I’m getting into Word Press Template writing right now.

I like simple elegant websites, for myself anyhow, and I am never satisfield with website design.  I have banged on about this before.  It’s never easy getting to a new schema, but Word Press is the simplest and most elegant design I have come across in a while.

Music: Quantic Soul Orchestra – As usual I don’t listen to music with lyrics while working.  Lyrics distract, and while no music is wall paper, yes I really can listen critically while working, I can place it in the “No Interpretation” place in my head.

In the meantime, I design another simple, timeless piece for Works First Time.  Then I shall blog there.

The advantage of getting into this right now is that one, I shall not lose another job because my websites are not up to date, unmaintained and unwritten, and I shall have another string to my bow.  I shall probably not approach gurudom in this area, but I shall certainly be an expert.  This is what we must do as programmers.  It is part of the knowledge crash which we shall soon all suffer from.  Yeah I know, I walked into a preposition there.

Point is that I spend more than 50% of my time learning.  Maybe I need a simpler job.

This morning I’m working on Works First Time, my tech and getting things done, (not the schema splurged all over the web last year, just the actual action of being able to get things done).

I’m redesigning it from scratch, and making it available for update in a way that I have not before.  So watch this space, I’ll tell you when I’m done.

Problem. I don’t readily generate content.

I’m a “Website Designer”, in theory. In practice I’m a Middleware Designer, or a Web Application Designer.

I don’t generate content, generally, I don’t care about it except as the filler for the design. But I loather particularly all website design. Notable exceptions are Google, and LifeHacker. There are others. (Steve Gibson’s fanatically ranting grc.com, the man is a genius and I’m sure quite quite mad, is terrible in many ways. If he is, he is driven so by the daft things he writes solutions for in Windows, he writes in C for it, I think that counts. Most useful site I ever came across. Really).

I was saying that I don’t generate content. For the most part I have nothing to say of any importance whatsoever on the web. I have put things on the web before, (like my Garden Shed project), but nearly all content I generate has been some filler to test some design concept or to test some design of the middleware I have been testing out.

Point is, have been doing this for a long time. People want sites and I write the software that makes them be able to write their own material without bothering me. Now lots of other people are doing it too. Badly. Wordpress, for what it does, (mostly Blogging), actually does it rather well. Which is why I am using it. What I do is rather more advanced, not in file uploading, (Because I don’t touch Flash), not in content generation, that’s up to the client, but increasingly in content organisation. This is the part where most CMSs (Content Management Systems), fall over, they cannot organise the structure of their website, or allow its re-organisation. Mine can. Wordpress promises some more of this in the future, I do it now. but my stuff is not for blogging, it’s for site creation and maintenance.

In fact I have recently come to understand that that the effort involved in making this easy might be overblown for 90% of the time. It is that little 10% that is important, the creation time, when information might be re-organised at the page level. This is about the granularity of information and how it is organised.

Now, my dissertation, yes, I completed my undergraduate degree, (at the age of 44), last year, (see the date on the entry), talked about the organisation of information. I did some research, Goddess knows I’m not the greatest researcher, but the trail of effort to organise information in the more meaningfully semantic way leads back past Berners-Lee, who implemented the Internet that we know today, but did not, as so many write, invent it, to Ted Nelson, who coined the phrase Hypertext way back in the 60’s, and positied the internet in this shape, the shape we have today, and POINTED OUT THE FLAWS almost immediately, (for another time); past Vannevar Bush, who imagined at the end of the Second World War a universal system for looking up data involving projected and cut and paste microfiche projected on screens on a desk, right back to Paul Otlet, who with his team at the turn of the 20th century started indexing what came to be 15,000,000 books on twice that many index cards. That kind of effort shows that organising information is an important and worthwhile pursuit. Ted Nelson shows us that it is worth pursuing down to paragraph level.

That’s where I’m going. The hell with generating content. That’s for people who want to sell things, or hold an exposition. I couldn’t give a damn about that, I want to organise it.