For shame, South Africa.

Considering that South Africa is so proud of promoting all forms of equality, this story is shocking. The UN is not trying for a declaration promoting gay marriage, but to call for the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

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"South Africa and the US are among the countries that shamefully failed to sign on to a declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalisation of homosexuality at the United Nations General Assembly yesterday.

Sixty six other nations however supported the groundbreaking statement confirming that international human rights protections include sexual orientation and gender identity.

It is the first time that a statement condemning rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people has been presented in the General Assembly.

"This was history in the making. Totally ground-breaking. Securing this statement at the UN is the result of an inspiring collective global effort by many LGBT and human rights organisations. Our collaboration, unity and solidarity have won us this success," said Peter Tatchell of the British LGBT human rights group, OutRage!, which lobbied for countries to support the statement.

The statement drew unprecedented support from five continents, including six African nations. Argentina read the statement before the General Assembly. A cross-regional group of states coordinated the drafting of the statement, also including Brazil, Croatia, France, Gabon, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway.

Although the declaration is not binding, the 66 countries reaffirmed "the principle of non-discrimination, which requires that human rights apply equally to every human being regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."

They stated they are "deeply concerned by violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms based on sexual orientation or gender identity," and said that "violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion, stigmatization and prejudice are directed against persons in all countries in the world because of sexual orientation or gender identity."

The statement condemned killings, torture, arbitrary arrest, and "deprivation of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to health." The participating countries urged all nations to "promote and protect human rights of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity," and to end all criminal penalties against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Navanetham Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, strongly supported the statement. Ironically, in a videotaped message, she cited South Africa's 1996 decision to protect sexual orientation in its Constitution.

At first, the Vatican had voiced strong opposition to the General Assembly statement. Its opposition sparked severe criticism by human rights defenders worldwide. In a significant reversal, however, the Holy See indicated to the General Assembly yesterday that it called for repeal of criminal penalties for homosexual conduct.

According to calculations by ILGA (the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association) and other organisations, more than six dozen countries still have laws against consensual sex between adults of the same sex. The majority of these laws were left behind by colonial rulers.

The signatories to the General Assembly statement are:

Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela."

http://www.mambagirl.com/article.asp?artid=2660

Team building: much more fun than you'd think

The last of 6 activities, involving racing these fab little buggies around the track. Of course, by the time 30 people before us had each had their 5 laps, it was a bit of a mud-slide. That is my excuse for being crap at driving. Mind you, in the weird contraption in the activity before, the chap running it ended it by turning to me and telling me to get out of his vehicle immediately...



Team Black: John was the fastest of the day in these things. Not bad...



Team Black - the victors!




View from and of the hotel - rather nice to spend a night in a country manor outside Stratford upon Avon...

That night we watched a spectacularly bad comedian, and for the first time I experienced a truly awful corporate gig as an audience member. Some days I am glad I left the game!

New SpringWidget

A trip down memory Lanes

Congratulations to Zoe5567

Mental

Academia

As soon as I stop procrastinating, and get my Patent Law exam done, I am then but a few Masters corrections & an abstract away from freedom of all things academic and cerebral (apart from finishing The God Delusion) until Feb. Quite an exciting prospect not to have these things looming over your shoulder: a feeling I've not known since December 2003.

The atheists' campaign

I am enjoying the weirdness of London... from urban cross stitch, to Santas on scooters, to a campaign launched to run an ad with the following wording on a bus



The target was £ 5 500,00. They reached that in 10 hours. They have since reached £ 118 118,00 and are mounting a country wide campaign.

I am devastated that I'm not going to be seeing Robin Ince's "Eight lessons and carols for godless people" next month: a gig with some of the best comedy minds in the business, plus Richard Dawkins (http://www.thebloomsbury.com/event/run/1248) But my significant other is coming with me to see Tim Minchin twice, and she's Catholic, so I suppose she's allowed to veto one thing...

But the bus even made the news back home: http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=262595

Fireworks

Apparently Blackheath hosts Europe's largest free fireworks display. Or so I have been told (a number of times).

It was lovely. The stroll up to Blackheath was preceded by a game of Scrabble (which Warren is deemed to have won), and a great meal perpared by his lovely house mates. The display was great: thousands of people gathered on the common to watch the fireworks - bringing their drinks (that mau just have been us) and braving the rain.



A great evening, with dear (and special) friends...

Not so much leaving comedy behind ...

I thought I had left the world of comedy behind, in order to turn my grey matter to the very serious and noble aim of becoming a lawyer. Since arriving in London, I've cobbled together a Patent Law assignment and a Competition Law exam, and otherwise seen a fair bit of comedy. And booked for a hell of a lot more.

So far, I've been to an open mic night, at which Warren did very well, The Cutting Edge at The Comedy Store, to see a friend who was on that night, and Tim Minchin. I have subsequently booked 2 more Tim Minchin dates, Eddie Izzard, Spamalot, and Mark Thomas.

Today, in taking it to quite a new level considering I am paying for it with my own credit card, and not an employer's, I booked a ticket to Dublin to go and see a friend of mine who has become quite the star in Ireland, and who is packing out Vicar Street. I remember seeing the hero's welcome he got as he walked on stage at each gig at the Kilkenny festival last year, and am really excited to see him fill the venue and not share the limelight. Plus, given that I will be trundling home to be an impoverished student for the next two years, I'm unlikely to see him for a while - so I'm skipping the office Christmas party in some fancy club near Leicester Square, taking the day off, and jumping head first into a Ryanair trip!

Bonfire Night

It's Bonfire Night, and the Brits are going mad for standing in large parks, in the drizzle, eating sausages and watching fireworks. I, sadly, am not joining them in my warm coat, clutching a cup of mulled wine, and going "ooooh"... I am in front of my computer frantically trying to get my Competition Law exam done for tomorrow morning. (And indulging in tactics such as blogging to avoid the work.)

The Christmas lights have been up for over a fortnight; Christmas confectionery has been available since September. And today, on my walk to work, I saw this lot travelling along Oxford Street ...



Presumably trying to catch up with their mates on scooters, who were a fair way ahead of them ...

The marvellous Minchin...

cold

walking home at 1am in the snow/sleet.

so grateful for charity store bought ankle lenght winter coat. who needs fashion when you're trying to ward off frostbite.

blah

i hated writing up my masters thesis. i am hating, even more, doing the corrections to it. not least because i tried to get them done in august and was soundly ignored by my spectacularly disinterested supervisor until friday morning. and now i am doing damn near anything to avoid grappling with the tome. underneath the fridge won't sweep itself you know ...

Eddie Izzard

Even though my spectacularly disinterested supervisor has gone AWOL yet again, and not signed off on my Masters corrections, and I really have heard the "Death Star Canteen" routine a few too many times - in both English and French - I am the mostly proud and somewhat anxious owner of 2 Eddie Izzard tickets. Tickets went on sale at 22:00. Mine were purchased almost immediately. All weeks of the run were sold out within days.




As to why I am both proud and anxious ...

Proud, because it is Eddie Izzard, after all, and he sold out very fast.

Anxious, because when I saw him in 2005, he was rather a let-down. (By this, of couse, I am referring to his show - off stage he was wonderful and charming - and sufficiently forthcoming to be referenced a number of times in my dissertation. I do not deny being a shameless name dropper.) But the one-off show, his return to Montreal after a long absence, was anti-climactic. It wasn't the polished 90 minute DVD special, filmed at the end of a long tour, with the ad libs so frequently used that they were all impeccably timed and placed. (To see the difference between a slick and familiar performance, and one that is nowhere near polished, compare "Dress to Kill" and "Sexie".)

"Stripped", however, is a tour that has gone around the US, and will be on for 4 or so weeks in London before I see it. Fingers crossed that the £25 ticket and £7 booking fees aren't regretted

Fridge quotes

My friends ...

I'm so glad my mouth is full right now
We're keeping cows alive by eating them
I had a three and a half hour handover last week
Clinton - he'll find, like, three women. Ja, and go home alone....
Oh look who's winning
He's quite ugly... and not just physically
It doesn't work with denim and a zip
What's the one where people take their clothes off and make out
I don't want Clint to be the single straight male
Just leap out the closet with a stereotype
I have a massively mighty brain and instead it is pointed towards soft furnishings
Champagne!
That's how you know it's drippy and clumpy
Get off the internet!
You can't quote everything
Someone euthanise me
My eyes! My eyes! They're the only eyes I have!
Emus in the zoo! And E-moose!
Just so you know ... that will be of suffocation, not of burning
This is the most ridiculously highbrow evening... Ja, scrabble and box wine
I'm not grumpy; we're just not allowed to vomit
Stop being in love with Warren
One can almost forget we're going to die in a month of starvation
You could get deported though - free ticket!
Now it's only available in Swedish
I know, imagine if someone cheated in this game
Can I eat some crisps
Don't worry - we're just watching you eat. It's lank gross
I don't hear the geyser - I'm too busy thinking about my hair
Why do I still need a wee?
We won because we knew if you think I'm sexy
Why is Clint reading this while we are getting pissed?