All posts tagged: tells

Religious privilege in equality law must end, NSS tells EHRC

Religious privilege in equality law must end, NSS tells EHRC

Published by skeptic

The National Secular Society has called for an end to religious privilege in equality law in response to a consultation from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The EHRC consultation called for feedback on its Strategic Plan, which will guide its activities from 2025 to 2028. Its three proposed areas of focus are work, participation and good relations, and justice and the balance of rights. The EHRC is an independent statutory body responsible for encouraging equality and diversity, eliminating unlawful discrimination, and protecting and promote human rights in Britain. Work: Employment discrimination in faith schools The NSS called for the repeal of exemptions to the Equality Act 2010 which enable employment discrimination in state funded faith schools. Some, if not all, staff can be hired, promoted and remunerated on the basis of religion. In some schools, staff can be disciplined or dismissed for conduct “incompatible with the precepts” of the school’s religion. The NSS also warned about abuse of ‘genuine occupational requirements’ (GORs) which allow employers to require employees to belong to a particular …

UAW tells Stellantis workers to vote for strike

UAW tells Stellantis workers to vote for strike

Published by skeptic

The UAW union’s Stellantis Council met yesterday to discuss the beleaguered carmaker’s “ongoing failure” to honor the agreement that ended the 2023 labor strike, and their latest union memo doesn’t pull many punches. It’s not a great time to be Stellantis. Its dealers are suing leadership and threatening to oust the company’s controversial CEO, Carlos Tavares, as sales continue to crater in North America, it can’t move its new, high-profile electric Fiat, and it’s first luxury electric Jeep isn’t ready. And now, things are about to get bad. In an email sent out by the UAW earlier today (received at 4:55PM CST), UAW President Shawn Fain wrote, “For years, the company picked us off plant-by-plant and we lacked the will and the means to fight back. Today is different. Because we stood together and demanded the right to strike over job security—product commitment—we have the tools to fight back and win … We unanimously recommend to the membership that every UAW worker at Stellantis prepare for a fight, and we all get ready to vote …

Paralyzed Man Unable to Walk After Maker of His Powered Exoskeleton Tells Him It’s Now Obsolete

Paralyzed Man Unable to Walk After Maker of His Powered Exoskeleton Tells Him It’s Now Obsolete

Published by José

Image by Michael Straight A former jockey who was left paralyzed from the waist down after a horse riding accident was able to walk again thanks to a cutting-edge piece of robotic tech: a $100,000 ReWalk Personal exoskeleton. When one of its small parts malfunctioned, however, the entire device stopped working. Desperate to gain his mobility back, he reached out to the manufacturer, Lifework, for repairs. But it turned him away, claiming his exoskeleton was too old, 404 media reports. “After 371,091 steps my exoskeleton is being retired after 10 years of unbelievable physical therapy,” Michael Straight posted on Facebook earlier this month. “The reasons why it has stopped is a pathetic excuse for a bad company to try and make more money.” According to Straight, the issue was caused by a piece of wiring that had come loose from the battery that powered a wristwatch used to control the exoskeleton. This would cost peanuts for Lifework to fix up, but it refused to service anything more than five years old, Straight said. “I find …

Liam Gallagher jokes about price of Oasis tickets as he tells fan to ‘shut up’ | Ents & Arts News

Liam Gallagher jokes about price of Oasis tickets as he tells fan to ‘shut up’ | Ents & Arts News

Published by skeptic

Liam Gallagher has joked about the price of Oasis tickets after fans were left frustrated after being charged over-inflated prices for tickets. In a series of expletive-laden tweets, the Oasis frontman said: “OASIS are back [you’re] welcome and I hear [their] ATTITUDE STINKS, good to know something’s never change F******.” Asked by one fan if he had any spare tickets, he replied: “Shit loads but [they’re] really expensive 100 thousand pounds. Kneeling only.” In response to someone who wrote: “Didn’t expect them to rip the fans off as much as they have done. It’s genuinely a shame,” Gallagher replied: “SHUTUP.” When someone asked how his mother Peggy felt about the reunion, Gallagher responded: “She’s gutted she couldn’t get a ticket”. Asked how he was feeling, he replied: “SMUG only kidding SMUG AS F*** I told you all we were gonna get back together one fine day.” Image: Noel and Liam Gallagher. Pic: oasisinet.com It comes as Oasis topped the UK’s Official Albums Chart with their debut album Definitely Maybe, 30 years after its release. It …

The lies nostalgia tells us

The lies nostalgia tells us

Published by skeptic

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. The current political climate is suffused with nostalgia for supposedly better times. I remember my own childhood, and those days weren’t better—but they had their sugary moments. First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic: Batman, Barnabas, and Bobby Kennedy So much of our current national strife is predicated on how much better things were Back Then. For younger people, “back then” is the time they can barely remember, before Donald Trump began polluting our politics. For some people, it’s the years just before 9/11. Others have fond childhood memories of their first game system, in the 1990s, or their narrow ties and big hair from the ’80s. My generation—call us Gen Jones, wedged between the Boomers and the Xers—grew up in the late ’60s, a nice time to be a child but a period of frightening turmoil …

Netanyahu tells Congress ‘our fight is your fight’ in fiery defence of war in Gaza

Netanyahu tells Congress ‘our fight is your fight’ in fiery defence of war in Gaza

Published by Sam

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Wednesday told the US Congress that Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza is also America’s war. “Our fight is your fight … Our enemies are your enemies,” Netanyahu said to thunderous applause. Despite the overwhelming show of support from parts of the the chamber, dozens of congressional Democrats boycotted the speech while thousands of protesters demonstrated outside the Capitol building. Source link

Antiques Roadshow expert refuses to value item and tells guest ‘you won’t be pleased’

Antiques Roadshow expert refuses to value item and tells guest ‘you won’t be pleased’

Published by Sam

An Antiques Roadshow expert was left scratching his head over a peculiar item, and even warned its owner that they ‘might not be pleased. ‘. The popular BBC programme returned for another episode on Sunday (July 21), with Fiona Bruce once again leading the show. This week’s episode took viewers to Forty Hall. Eager members of the public were quick to present their cherished items for valuation by experts. However, expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan found himself stumped when he encountered one particular object. A guest presented a wooden stick, explaining: “It’s been in my family for as long as I know. My mother was born in India and she got married in India.” Ronnie Archer-Morgan was left scratching his head when a guest brought in a wooden stick and told them he had no idea what the item was -Credit:(Image: BBC) “It’s been in the family ever since. My mother at one point did try to explain to me what it was for, there are metal holes as you can see at the top.”, reports the …

House of Lords reform should remove bishops, NSS tells Government

House of Lords reform should remove bishops, NSS tells Government

Published by skeptic

The Government should remove automatic seats for bishops as part of its reforms to the House of Lords, the National Secular Society has told a minister. The NSS has urged Nick Thomas-Symonds, the new Minister for the Constitution, to consider the 26 seats reserved for Church of England bishops in its plans to reform Parliament’s upper house. The Government’s plan to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords was announced today during the state opening of Parliament. The Government also said it will “modernise the constitution” via a “modernisation committee” of the House of Commons which would work towards improving work practices and procedures. In its letter to Thomas-Symonds, the NSS said giving individuals automatic seats in the legislature because they are religious clerics “is at least as archaic, elitist, unfair and indefensible as the seats given to hereditary peers”. Like hereditary peers, the bishops are unelected and are appointed due to their hierarchical position in the Church, rather than on merit. The arrangement is a result of the …

Time is right to end blasphemy laws, NSS tells NI justice minister

Time is right to end blasphemy laws, NSS tells NI justice minister

Published by skeptic

The National Secular Society has told Northern Ireland’s justice minister that proposals to abolish the country’s ‘blasphemy’ laws could now secure the support of the NI Assembly. In a letter to Naomi Long MLA this month, the NSS encouraged the Department of Justice to bring forward a consultation on repealing the offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel “at the earliest opportunity”. Alternatively, NI could repeal the blasphemy laws via their proposed hate crime legislation, as Scotland did in 2021, the NSS said. Campaigning by the NSS and human rights groups succeeded in the repeal of blasphemy laws in England and Wales in 2008. Northern Ireland is now the only country in the UK with blasphemy laws. The Republic of Ireland repealed its blasphemy laws in 2020. The NSS highlighted that the Alliance Party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and Sinn Féin are all understood to endorse the repeal of blasphemy laws. These three parties command 51 votes in the Assembly, while only 45 are needed for a majority. The NSS’s letter follows previous correspondence …

NSS tells DfE: faith selection in schools must be ended, not extended

NSS tells DfE: faith selection in schools must be ended, not extended

Published by skeptic

Government plans to abolish restrictions on faith-based admissions at free schools are “divisive, dangerous and should be abandoned”, the National Secular Society has said. In response to the Department for Education’s consultation on abolishing the 50% faith admissions cap for new and existing free schools, the NSS said the move would “prove disastrous for social cohesion” and “entrench inequality, unfairness and segregation in our school system”. Under the 50% cap, free schools with a religious character may select up to 50% of pupils based on religion when oversubscribed. The remaining 50% must be selected without reference to faith. Voluntary aided faith schools are already permitted to select 100% of their admissions based on religion when oversubscribed. The Conservative Party confirmed in its General Election manifesto it would proceed with scrapping the cap, despite the manifesto also saying “discrimination based on religion is unacceptable”. The Labour Party, which is predicted to win a majority at the General Election, did not mention faith schools in its manifesto. Last year Keir Starmer said Labour would be “even more …