Slideshow of Belle's European tour promoting the sales ban on animal tested cosmetics 2013

You can read more about Belle's travels in her tour diary.

We need a fairer curriculum and schools open to all

About a third of all state-funded schools in the UK are “faith schools” or schools “with a religious character”. The state funds the schools almost entirely, while the Church or religious group controls both governance and admittance.

A result of this arrangement is, according to the Institute of Education, that the selection by faith schools leads to greater social segregation, with no improvement in an area's results.

The government is, however, increasing faith education with 70 percent of applications for free schools coming from religious organisations.

The British Humanist Association has long campaigned for an end to state funding for faith schools and a fairer curriculum. A curriculum that accommodates pupils of all faiths and those who do not believe in a god. State funding for all faith schools should be scraped.

The public opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of all schools being open to all, as a recent Ipsos Mori poll shows.

Part of a fairer and more balanced curriculum is teaching about all faiths as well as secular beliefs and values ideologies, including humanism as part of Religious Education.

Let's prepare our children for adult life in a pluralist society and make sure that they develop curiosity, creativity and their own thinking skills. That includes participating in sex and relationships education as well as values and citizenship education.

School prayer
The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 states that all pupils in state schools have to attend “a collective act of worship” every day. These have to be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character".

School prayers were unheard of when I went to school in my native Germany in the 80s. I wonder how a secular state with a large migrant, non-Christian population, such as the UK, can allow, and even encourage, collective school prayer.

Parents can ask for the pupils to be excused from attending, but the default is a Christian school prayer.

It puts a lot of pressure on parents when they have to decide to ask the teacher to exclude their child from the 'collective act of worship'. I'm not a parent, but I would think twice before asking for my child to be excused. It's not easy to tell your child that you don't want it to attend something. Especially, if its classmates are.

Children should find out for themselves if they believe in a god or not. There should be no pressure on them to decide.

But how can they do that if one of the first things their learn about religion is to say a Christian prayer?

Examples in real life
A good example for a fair curriculum is the Richmond Inclusive School Campaign. It is opposing plans put forward by the Council and the Catholic Church to set up a faith school. Instead parents are campaigning for an inclusive school that doesn't favour pupils of Catholic faith. That includes admissions equally open to all children and a fair curriculum with a balanced syllabus teaching religious and non-religious matters alike.

For more information on a secular curriculum please visit the website of the campaigning coalition accord.

Betty in Winterthur

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Mobile updates for blogs

Ok, people I am testing this Android app which promises me to make updating my blog dead easy. So far they seem to have thought of everything. I have to see though how the post looks on a big screen.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

GAU, mehr geht nicht

Liebe Redaktion,

ich kenne die Tagesschau als zuverlässige und aktuelle Nachrichtenquelle, die es erfreulicherweise auch mit der deutschen Sprache genau nimmt. Heute muss ich aber zu meiner Bestürzung lesen, dass Japan verzweifelt "gegen den Super-GAU" kämpft". Damit nicht genug, "das Land [steht] an der Schwelle zum Super-GAU, also zu einem Störfall, der nicht mehr beherrschbar ist".

Ich bin mir sicher, dass Sie wissen, dass GAU für von den größten anzunehmenden Unfall steht und, dass man einen Superlativ nicht mehr steigern kann. Warum also diese Schlagzeilen?

Ich verstehe ja, dass sie mit der Konkurrenz mithalten und Katastrophen auch als solche darstellen und mit anderen vergleichen müssen. Aber bitte bleiben sie der deutschen Sprache treu und überlassen den Kollegen von Bild das Pfuschen.

Herzlichen Dank.

Mit besten Grüßen aus London

Florian Leppla

Where no one has gone before.

Worf at his best. And Data's command. If you are missing in quotes it's most likely you will find them here.

Star Trek greatest moments.

Jörg Schönenborn wäre auf der Insel arbeitslos

Auch nach fuenf Jahren in London gibt es noch immer Dinge, die mich verwundern, amuesieren oder die ich schlicht nicht verstehe. Ich habe schon ueber die Situation der Geldautomaten und das mit Hingabe vollzogene Schlange stehen geschrieben. Dieses Mal geht es um Politik und Wahlen, genauergesagt um Wahlergebnisse und wie sie zustande kommen.

In Deutschland gibt es bei Landtags- und Bundestagswahl eine Prognose nachdem die Wahllokale geschlossen habe. Das wird sogar mit Countdown angekuendigt. Bis auf wenige Ausnahmen sind diese Prognose, die Umfrageergebnissen nach dem Urnengang beruhen, akkurat.

Die erste Hochrechnung gibt es in der Regel 15 Minuten spaeter, die Zweite weitere zehn Minuten spaeter undsoweiter. Meines Wissens wird in den fruehen Morgenstunden das vorlauefige amtliche Endergebnis veroeffentlicht.

Beispiel von der Insel gefaellig? Gegen zwei Uhr morgens erklaerte der Wahlleiter Labours Debbie Abrahams zur Siegerin der 'by-election', also der Nachwahl, in Oldham East and Saddleworth.

Das war zwar keine grosse Ueberraschung, Journalisten und Politiker hatten in Interviews einen komfortabken Sieg vorhergesagt, aber offizielle Zahlen gab es nicht. Warum also, macht die BBC oder andere keine exit polls?

Bei der General Election vom 6. Mai 2010, die die Konservativ-liberaldemokratische Regierung hervorbrachte, waren um acht Uhr am folgenden Tag erst 500 der 650 Wahlkreise ausgezaehlt.

Ein Freund wies darauf hin, dass Grossbritannien eben (noch) ein reines Mehrheitswahlrecht habe und nicht wie beispielsweise Deutschland einer personalisierten Verhaeltniswahl.

Aber was spricht dagegen, Wahler nach der Wahl zu fragen, wo sie ihr Kreuz gemacht haben? Der Englaender nennt das exit poll.

Ich habe immer noch keine schluessige Antwort gefunden. Wer mir eine schickt, bekommt ein Pint.

Supporting the EFF campaign No Censorship

Say No to Online Censorship!

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Nice room to let in Whitechapel

A single unfurnished room will be free in Whitechapel from mid August. Nice and diverse area, very central, a lot of small shops, a big Sainsbury's and Whitechapel Gallery are only down the road. Plenty of buses around the corner, tube stations are close as well, either Whitechapel or Aldgate East. The rent is roughly around £550 total, there are a kitchen, living room, 3 bedrooms, all spread over the two top levels of a Victorian terrace. It is available from the 18th of August. Oh and no couples and no pets – sorry.

You would be living with two people. We are Simone and Eva, in our late 30s and 20s respectively, and if I may say we are rather easy going and nice. We are a landscape architect and working in the photography industry. Interests include art, architecture, photography, music, sports as well as relaxing. We are looking for someone friendly and easy-going, who cares about the place and is generally happy to live with other people. The flat should not be an impersonal functional place but we are also busy with our own lives and it easily happens not to meet for a few days. So it is all about balance, which includes respecting the other’s privacy and noise levels but also having fun, if there is time for the odd drink or nice chats together.

Simone has lived in the flat for a few years now and Eva will be joining shortly, so it is two fairly new people moving in around the same time. The landlord does not live in the property.
If this sounds about right to you, please drop us an email with some information about who you are etc and we get back in touch after.

Best

Simone and Eva