How to grow your own fresh air

Researcher Kamal Meattle shows how an arrangement of three common houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air.

I have been saying for ages that unions should make all offices have plants in them. I'm amazed that people tolerate the shit air around much office machinery. Not just this but, as Meattle, explains there's a proven business case too.

Gay Morrocco and Koranic anti-gay interpretations

News about 'Outrage sweeping across Morocco' following a gay association's announcement of a planned seminar on sexual problems led me to the video below.

The video tells the story of a gay couple's 'marriage', celebrated traditionally by their families and echoing centuries of actual Muslim tolerance of homosexuality.

It dramatically contradicts the news story which plies the same mythical line that certain churches and politicians in African states like Uganda have that "homosexuals have been attempting to infiltrate Moroccan culture".

It claims that "Moroccan authorities are in a very awkward situation since they are torn between European pressure and Morocco's conservative community".

Well good. The more pressure the better. As the video makes clear, you either support basic human rights or you don't. 'Culture' is no defence.

What's more, as with women's rights, it is not a case of 'change cannot happen because the Koran is clear'. The video explains how it's simply how it's interpreted - much like the bible - and some aspects highlighted and others ignored. Again, 'culture' is no defence' - and culture is not immutable.

This argument reflects those of the small but profoundly significant 'renaissance' movement amongst Muslims opposed to the likes of Saudi's Wahabbi's and Iran's rulers, saying there is another way. A movement which we're hear far too little about, instead we hear about zealots like Anjem Choudary.

HOMOSEXUALITY in MOROCCO & in ISLAM (part 1 - 5)

• Moroccan gay organisation Kifkif

Music: I believe in miracles

From 1973, 'I believe in miracles' by the Jackson Sisters. As wow as 'I want you back'.

Music: Seventh Heaven

This is a classic late, late gay scene track. which I have played before. So sue me!

The superb Gwen 'Ain't Nothin' Goin' on But the Rent' Guthrie. Sigh, Sly & Robbie remixed by Larry Levan.



Plus here's a rather scratchy video from the Paradise Garage closing party.

More Gwen.

Shit! My House is on StreetView!

UK Street View Has Arrived

Cute animals: Extreme sheep

"Black people, of all people, should not oppose equality"

I found this incredibly moving.

This is is the chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Julian Bond, speaking to the Human Rights Campaign, the lead US gay civil rights organisation yesterday:

Ending the DINK myth

Forthcoming article for pinknews.co.uk

For around twenty years the perception of lesbian and gay people has been biased. And it's the fault of our own.

There is a overwhelming myth about gays and lesbians which is tied to their public profile, particularly of well-known people, that gay=better-off. But this idea of gay=better-off has been deliberately fanned by gay commercial business — because it's in their interests. DINK (double income no kids) = Will & Grace = yuppie = market!

When I worked for a gay newspaper in Australia we used some of the earliest marketing data about the so-called 'Pink Dollar' to attract then reluctant advertisers. Of course we did, and, shamefully, we also bought into the myth.

We did it because I'd read some early marketing studies which sampled gay magazine readers - and showed what they thought advertisers would want to hear: there was a well-off market which you're ignoring.

I've learnt since that gays and lesbians come in the most rainbow of varieties and most are not very visible. They are the ones affected by factors like poor educational outcomes due to harassment at school, and vulnerability to employee discrimination. They are the ones represented disproportionately in the ranks of the homeless.

I'd also suggest that a certain 'ghettoisation' into accepting jobs - such as lower paid social work or working in service industries - would play a role.

Of course it's even worse for transgender people who just cannot get jobs in the first place (except in sex work).

Unfortunately this DINK information has been used by our enemies to suggest that LGBT are not a group that needs protection, precisely because we're supposedly already well-off. Handed to them on a plate by gays-after-a-buck have been powerful political arguments to use against their fellow gays.

I'm not blaming them, I'm just pointing this out.

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law survey about LGBT poverty, which will be presented to the US Congress on Friday, has been described as the first of its kind.

It's getting PR but it's not a first. There have been similar studies, though very few, going back years, which have shown the same issues which this one apparently does.

"This first [sic] analysis of the poor and low-income lesbian, gay and bisexual population reveals that LGB adults and families are as likely - and, in the case of some subgroups, more likely - to be poor than their heterosexual counterparts, contrary to the popular myth of gay and lesbian affluence."

The review will include a discussion of the social and political factors that may lead to higher rates of LGB poverty, including vulnerability to employee discrimination, inability to marry and higher numbers of those who are uninsured.

This is talking about Americans but pinknews.co.uk has reported previously that around 20% of Brighton and Hove's homeless people are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

The research suggests the LGBT community is over-represented in the homeless population and has negative experiences of local authority homelessness applications.

There is little UK research however American figures show up to 40% of homeless young people are gay or lesbian.

A study by Brenda Roche for the homeless charity Crisis said:

Sexuality issues are often over looked for homeless people. Yet we know that issues related to sexuality and sexual identity can play a key role in the onset of homelessness.

Questions emerge quickly for individuals who are GLBT about disclosure issues within services. Sexual identity can be viewed as a marker of difference in some settings, opening up the individual to greater scrutiny and harassment. The open identification or disclosure of sexual identity may be interpreted as forcing the individuals to categorise themselves or to feel that they are a minority under a greater surveillance.

For many GLBT youth, migration to urban centres typically occurs shortly after leaving (or being forced out of) home. Moving to larger city centres may be prompted by the idea that within this new context there will be greater exposure to a more visible gay community or at least a community more appreciative of diverse identities. At the same time, this transition also exposes the individual to new situations of risk and potential exploitation.

Difficulties due to intolerance and homophobia can contribute to the loss of stable housing or exacerbate periods of homelessness, particularly amongst those who are most vulnerable, such as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (GLBT) youth. Beyond the experiences of GLBT youth though, we have a limited understanding of how the issues of homelessness and sexuality intersect. Only recently has interest emerged about the needs of adults and older people who are GLBT and homeless.

The failure to recognise issues of sexuality means that within systems of care the assumption is one of heterosexuality. For GLBT homeless people this creates one more area in which they feel marked or different in a negative way. This may contribute to or exacerbate the degree of isolation and distress for an already highly marginalised and vulnerable group.

The loss of home for GLBT youth, as a runaway or as a result of being thrown out of their home is an all too common experience. Whether rough sleeping or part of the hidden homeless population (sleeping in temporary accommodation, squats, or relying upon friends, family or acquaintances) there is a continued sense of intolerance and isolation.

What does this amount to?

Estimates on the prevalence of GLBT persons amongst the wider homeless youth population have shown considerable variation. In the United States, national studies suggest that as many as 50% of all homeless youth may be gay or lesbian with estimates in the UK running as high as 30% in urban centres, whereas current broader estimates of population-wide figures of homosexuality in the UK are roughly between 5-7%.

The data on sexual identity and homelessness likely underestimates the situation, reflecting underreporting by individuals and a lack of monitoring by researchers and service providers.

This is to a background of educational underachievement because of systemic discrimination in schools:

Research carried out in 2003 found that 51% of gay men and 30% of lesbians reported being bullied physically at school, compared with 47% of heterosexual men and 20% of heterosexual women. (Mental health and social wellbeing of gay men, lesbians and bisexuals in England and Wales , Royal Free College and University College Medical School, 2003)

Almost two thirds (65 per cent) of young lesbian, gay and bisexual people experience homophobic bullying in Britain’s schools (Stonewall, School Report 2007).

Seventy five per cent of young gay people in faith schools experience homophobic bullying and are less likely than pupils in other schools to report it (Stonewall, The School Report 2007).

Of those who have been bullied, 92 per cent have experienced verbal homophobic bullying, 41 per cent physical bullying and 17 per cent death threats (Stonewall, The School Report 2007).

Half of those who have experienced homophobic bullying have skipped school because of it and one in five has skipped school more than six times. A third of gay pupils who have been bullied are likely to miss school in the future (Stonewall, The School Report 2007).

Why would all the well-documented barriers which other minorities have experienced (e.g glass ceiling barriers for, majority, women) not also result in greater poverty for LGBT? This is the logic but where is the proof?

The earliest study I am aware of about LGBT poverty was Irish. Conducted by the Combat Poverty Agency in Dublin in 1995 it found:

21 per cent of respondents were living in poverty and over half (57 per cent) of respondents said they found it difficult to make ends meet. The findings also outlined clearly the range of effects of harassment and discrimination, and the extent of social exclusion experienced by lesbians and gay men.

A large number of respondents suffered from social exclusion. Participants reported problems with harassment, discrimination or prejudice at many stages of their lives - for example, in revealing their sexuality to family and friends; in school, college or while on training courses; in employment. Problems of isolation and loneliness at school or in continuing their education were not uncommon, and exclusion was evident in the area of service provision, for example housing and insurance.

Many had not revealed their sexual orientation to others, particularly in the work place, for fear of rejection or recrimination. 21% of respondents avoided work for which they were qualified through fear of discrimination and a further 39% avoided categories of work for the same reason. 7% reported being dismissed from a job because they are lesbian or gay and a further 14% had resigned from a job because they found it too difficult to reconcile their job with their sexuality.

A third of respondents said they had left home at one time or another with no certainty as to where they were going to live next. 41 percent of respondents said they had been threatened with violence because they were assumed to be lesbian or gay, and 25 per cent said they had been punched, beaten, hit or kicked because they were assumed to be lesbian or gay. The vast majority (84 per cent) of respondents knew somebody who had been verbally harassed, threatened with violence or physically attacked because they were assumed to be lesbian or gay.

Everything about this should ring true with the lived experience of LGBT - most LGBT are far from well-0ff. But it says something for the power of the DINK myth that:

• the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law LGBT poverty study can get away with being described as a 'first'
• as a organised community, we have ignored those who have failed to get over the economic barriers

In the UK it is truly time for a study to bust this myth. Stonewall?

Online action to oppose domestic violence

This is great, and seemingly successful: I got a very swift response from my MP and a pointer to the action they'd taken - strongly due to the response this online campaign generated.

Less swift response (still waiting) from the CEO of my local council ...

Go sign up.

Postscript: Jon Stewart is god

The Indie has a piece today asking Where’s our Jon Stewart?

This is in response to the, apparently, international fallout of Stewart's ball-shattering interview with business cable channel host Jim Cramer.

The article (rightly) largely laments the demise of British TV satire. But in the wake of the Cramer interview I think some of the other comment I've read is right: we don't need another 'hard-hitting' interviewer. Stewart delivered better than Paxman or Humphrys has ever done (more wit, less arrogance) but we still have far better interviewing than the US MSM has had for years.

The article also laments that chat shows like Graham Norton's don't have the political content that someone like Letterman has, but, again, they're not filling some MSM void. Plus Norton pushes the envelope on a different sort of 'politics'.

What we do lack for sure is decent TV satire. On radio we have it in spades.

Bush/Cheney torture worse than Gestapo's

Via Andy Sullivan:

From the Red Cross's summary of Bush-Cheney torture techniques:

Contents
Introduction
1. Main Elements of the CIA Detention Program
1.1 Arrest and Transfer
1.2 Continuous Solitary Confinement and Incommunicado Detention
1.3 Other Methods of Ill-treatment
1.3.1 Suffocation by water
1.3.2 Prolonged Stress Standing
1.3.3 Beatings by use of a collar
1.3.4 Beating and kicking
1.3.5 Confinement in a box
1.3.6 Prolonged nudity
1.3.7 Sleep deprivation and use of loud music
1.3.8 Exposure to cold temperature/cold water
1.3.9 Prolonged use of handcuffs and shackles
1.3.10 Threats
1.3.11 Forced shaving
1.3.12 Deprivation/restricted provision of solid food
1.4 Further elements of the detention regime...

The Gestapo's list of torture techniques that fit into their "enhanced interrogation program" - a torture regime designed to avoid too-obvious or incriminating physical scars:

For shame that the UK went along with this. Churchill must be turning in his grave.

New Tory slogans

Now this is more like it. A online Labour idea that's workin' ... snap.

Hardly a new idea - here's one where you can add your own slogan to that classic Obama poster, now in the Smithsonian - but a good one nevertheless.

It's the Tory logo generator. Go make your own. Here's some that others have dreamt up.

Incredible tilt-shift film of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

This is astonishing. Manages to make it look like claymation!


Mardi Gras from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

HT: Towleroad

Study: Homophobia lowers earning power - well doh!

An analysis of poverty among lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans is to be presented to Congress next Friday.

Produced by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, the survey has been described as the first of its kind.

It's not. There have been similar studies, though very few, going back years which have shown the same issues this one apparently does.

Its authors have said it undermines myth of gay affluence and demonstrates that lesbian, gay and bisexual citizens are as likely, or more likely, to be poor than heterosexuals.

They added: "Because the U.S. Census Bureau does not explicitly ask questions about sexual orientation, LGB families have been invisible in poverty statistics.

"This first analysis of the poor and low-income lesbian, gay and bisexual population reveals that LGB adults and families are as likely - and, in the case of some subgroups, more likely - to be poor than their heterosexual counterparts, contrary to the popular myth of gay and lesbian affluence."

The review will include a discussion of the social and political factors that may lead to higher rates of LGB poverty, including vulnerability to employee discrimination, inability to marry and higher numbers of those who are uninsured.

There is a overwhelming myth about gays and lesbians which is tied to their public profile, particularly of well-known people, that gay=better-off. This has been deliberately fanned by gay commercial business because it's in their interests.

When I worked for a gay newspaper in Australia we used some of the earliest marketing data about the so-called 'Pink Dollar' to attract then reluctant advertisers. Of course we did, and, shamefully, we also bought into the myth.

I've learnt since that gays and lesbians come in the most rainbow of varieties and most are not very visible. They are the ones affected by factors like poor educational outcomes due to harassment at school, and vulnerability to employee discrimination. They are the ones represented disproportionately in the ranks of the homeless. I'd also suggest that a certain 'ghettoisation' into accepting jobs - such as lower paid social work or working in service industries - would play a role.

Someone like Stonewall needs to fund a similar study here. This myth needs busting.

The age of stupid

Something in Alistair Campbell's blog caught my eye. He, like many others, was lamenting the changes to Facebook's interface.

Last night, I was trying to put a message on Alina's wall to thank her for sending me a Canadian review of my novel, and for doing the New Statesman piece. It went up as a status update. So then I put up something lamenting my failure to differentiate between a message and an update, and added as an afterthought ... 'and where did this new [Facebook] design come from?'

So this morning I tried to work out whether I was already, after just a few weeks, becoming a bit small c conservative about life online, (like those right-wing bloggers who can't get used to Labour people being here now, and pick us up on our twitter etiquette, whatever the hell that is) or whether in fact, the design changes made are just bad changes made for the sake of change.
I will mull all this as I go out on my road bike in this beautiful sunshine, and prepare to watch the new film on the environment, The Age of Stupid, later today. Now that is going to be a changemaker. I just know it.

I would have explained myself better if I had been able to track back through comments on a few earlier Facebook postings. Or if I could find a way, quickly, of scanning through all the comments that came in to various updates in the last 48 hours when I have been away from my desk. But I couldn't for the life of me work out how to do it. I could do it the day before yesterday.

Now the title of this post is deliberate - Campbell's obviously not stupid, some might think the opposite ('evil genius'). But if I've learned anything from reading Jakob Nielsen for a decade it's this, most people using the interwebs are not that good at it. And most interfaces don't work for vast numbers of people most of the time.

Nielsen keeps reporting this impirical truth.

When you have online properties which have in their remit the need to be able to be used by practically everyone surely the need, the techniques, the simple methods, to do this should be front-and-centre?

I don't feel they are in egov though. Oh they're there but they're not front-and-centre, and as Campbell says, in the rush for change you end up sounding like a small c conservative if you say 'hang on a minute'...

But having my contrarian streak, as well as being long in the tooth, web-wise, I will :]

So, with all the buzz about social networking and engagement where is usability? Does this 'stuff' pass the mom test?