Third humanist killed in the streets of Dhaka

Washiqur Rahman becomes the third humanist to be cleavered to death in the streets of Dhaka

This morning, the humanist satirist and blogger Washiqur Rahman was hacked down not 500 yards from his house, because he criticised religious fundamentalism in a blog. Barely a month has passed since Avijit Roy, the Bangladeshi American founder of the Mukto-Mona blog, was killed in identical circumstances. Ahmed Rajib Haider met a similar end in 2013.

The institutionalised persecution of the non-religious is seen all over the world. In some places, as in Saudi Arabia, the state acts as persecutor. In others, like Bangladesh, a tradition of turning a blind eye to murders committed in the name of blasphemy has given confidence to well-coordinated thugs and terrorists. Following an international outcry over Avijit Roy's death, the man who promised to murder him was arrested for the crime, and afterwards Ahmed Haider's suspected killers were indicted for murder as well. But these late-in-the-day reactions did little to deter the man who killed Washiqur this morning.

As we told the UN this month, states need to act decisively to emphatically and explicitly prohibit murders inspired by perceived acts of blasphemy. A wave of violence now plagues the non-religious in large swathes of the world, and governments, including our own, face a moral obligation to resist it.

Terry Pratchett

Remembering Terry Pratchett (1948–2015): storyteller, campaigner, humanist

We were all saddened to hear of the death of our patron Sir Terry Pratchett last week

Many of us grew up reading his stories and feeling moved by the wonder and joy of the fictional worlds he created.

We were also very lucky to have worked with Terry on a range of issues. As our patron he lobbied with us against 'faith' schools, filmed videos about Humanism for teachers to use in schools, and, after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he became a public face for our longstanding campaign to legalise assisted dying for the terminally ill and incurably suffering.

Just last year, he took part in our open letter to the Prime Minister, rebuking him for his damaging assertion that Britain was a 'Christian country'. He also submitted testimony in favour of assisted dying as part of our intervention at the Supreme Court case of Tony Nicklinson and Paul Lamb, making a powerful plea for the right to die.

Truly, Terry was someone who lived a good life, spreading a great deal of joy and happiness, even transforming his own suffering into a cause for the betterment of all society. We are eternally grateful for all his work, and can only say that we will miss him and that our thoughts are with his loved ones.

If only Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett had had the figures at her finger tips

The Green Party proposed to spend £5 Billion on affordable housing for rent - that would be paid for by ending tax relief for buy to let and other landlords.

2013 figures from Her Majestys Customs and Revenue (HMCR) show that private landlords claim £5.31 billion a year in mortgage interest and other financial costs and £7 billion in other tax deductible cost including repairs, letting fees and insurance. So the green party could have got another £7 billion ! 

At the moment the Governments spends less than £1 billion a year on the affordable homes programme.

Typically Natalie was interviewed by a right-wing radio presenter who had no ideas about the figures either.

Who could imagine that the Government hands out £22 billion a year in Housing Benefit (largely to private landlords) and a further £12 billion in tax reliefs to private landlords yet spends such a piddling sum on houses for rent and most of them are at 80% market rent and not what used to be called affordable rents.

http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5030/landlords-claim-tax-relief-on-5bn-mortgage-interest-a-year

Power Trip - a decade of policy plots and spin by Damian McBride

Published in 2103 by Gordon Browns former 'spin doctor'  I am reminded of the phrase the banality of evil, in this case the banality of the reality of power.

Perhaps the most disappoint revelation in the book is page 307, chapter 41, "too many mistakes"
in which it say that upon becoming Prime Minister Gordon Brown planned to call a general election on the policies of: "abolition of tuition fees and big cuts in inheritance tax and stamp duty, and a major constitutional reform programme covering the House of Lords, the voting system, war powers and MP's outside income."   As his poll rating bounced anyway and the plans were dropped.

The death of Robin Cook who apparently would have been Browns choice for Chancellor and/or Deputy Prime Minister is also surely a major blow to progressive pluralist politics. Cook who had achieved so much with the Cook-McClennan agreement would surely have driven forward a change to the voting system and a Lib Dem/Labour coalition. 

A lot of sense fromJeremy Browne MP

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/jeremy-browne-interview-why-this-fallen-star-of-the-lib-dems-wont-be-standing-for-reelection-10042759.html

all together now - the abc of the Beatles songs and albums

by David Rowley -is there anything else to say about the songs of the Beatles ? David Rowley has already written one book "Beatles for Sale" in 2002, but he has started afresh with a new account dismissing his old book as naive.  A jolly good light read for anyone who has ever listened to the Beatles.