02:50 p.m., Monday, November 12, 2001
It might not be connected. It might just be a horrible coincidence. But it's two months and a day since the first attacks, and it's the same time of day to within half an hour. And I just got this email alert in my inbox:

'An American Airlines jet has crashed on the Rockaway section of the Queens district of New York. Several buildings are reported to have been hit.

New York has declared a Level 1 security alert.'

independent site
BBC news site

I feel sick.
[by Beth]

04:10 p.m., Friday, November 9, 2001
I post this story to remind us all the the Taleban are repressive, scary people, and that just because I am against the bombing campaign, does not mean that I don't want to get rid of them. But I also do not believe that the Northern Alliance are any better.

'If the US attacks were an assault on "civilisation", why shouldn't Muslims regard the Afganistan attack as a war on Islam?' A great article. Read it.

Back on Monday - have a great weekend.
[by Beth]

03:59 p.m., Friday, November 9, 2001
Sorry about the lack of posts yesterday. Pitas.com was down.

Interesting article about the Americans avoiding their own casualties by backing the Northern Alliance.

The UN fears a disaster if the US keeps bombing near the Kajaki Dam.

Teachers are told that they must be impartial in discussing the situation in Afghanistan. To a certain extent, I believe that this is right, but I believe that teachers should play devil's advocate when discussing such things - challenge the views of the children, make them think about alternative viewpoints, but make it clear that they are not saying one thing is right and another wrong. If authorities are saying that this should not happen, I disagree.
[by Beth]

03:47 p.m., Friday, November 9, 2001
WH Smith is considering giving magazines age ratings similar to cinema ones.

'However, publishers are concerned the classifications could result in men's, clubbing, gay and teen magazines being relegated to unpopular shelves to put them out of the reach of young readers.

'One insider, who had seen the document, said "all the sexual content in women's magazines comes under the radar" of the consultation document.

'The source added that, under the proposals, the 15 "certificate" would apply to all gay magazines and comics like Viz.

'The lads' mags, FHM, Loaded and Front; clubbing titles, Mixmag and Muzik (which often contain pragmatic advice on drug taking) and raunchy women's magazines like Cosmopolitan and More! could all fall foul of WH Smith's proposed guidelines.'

Scary precedent to set. In some ways, I think it might be an idea; but I know that when I was growing up, many girls got all their information about sex from magazines, as their parents and schools weren't exactly sources of reliable information. To take that away from younger girls is going to make them more curious and more likely to experiment. And that just defeats the object. If you ban these magazines from kids of a certain age, they're just going to want to know why, and a black market will develop and they'll read them even more.
[by Beth]

01:26 p.m., Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Just added a link for faxyourmp.com. It's a free service if you're in the UK. Fantastic. Anything to get people to contact their MPs more often!
[by Beth]

01:07 p.m., Wednesday, November 7, 2001
This has seemed self evident to me since this started. Bin Laden is the leader, but if he dies, someone will step forward and take his place. And it'll be nigh on impossible to destroy his network with bombs, unless we're willing to bomb ourselves as well. We need to use our intelligence systems (but not give up our human rights to do so) and put these people in jail. They think death will give them glory and send them straight to heaven. The rest of their lives in jail, on the other hand, would be their idea of hell....
[by Beth]

12:55 p.m., Wednesday, November 7, 2001
In a country where a vicar is attacked by a gang of Asian youths who were trying to burn down his church, something has gone wrong. We need to get all the people in these areas feeling like part of the community so that they don't feel so dislocated from society that this seems acceptable. We need to make sure that the Asians are treated the same as everyone else so that they are not so angry that they attack what they resent.
[by Beth]

12:41 p.m., Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Corporal punishment has not been allowed in British schools since 1986 (1998 for schools independent of local councils). But a private Christian school in Liverpool is challenging the law. It's quoting the Old Testament to back up its case - "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him" (Proverbs 13:24) and "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die" (23:13).

I'm sick of all this 'fight violence with violence' mentality. 'We want a peaceful, safe world, so we're going to hit our children until they behave / bomb Al Qaida into the ground until they can't threaten us any more!' Don't they see the irony? Don't these schools remember the 'love your neighbour as yourself' part? Discipline doesn't have to mean violence. We wouldn't put up with adults being disciplined in this manner - why should children be vunerable?
[by Beth]

11:19 a.m., Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Do you think that people with mental illness can never really recover? Think again. Most do, and one of the biggest barriers to recovery is society's belief that it's not possible.
[by Beth]

03:35 p.m., Monday, November 5, 2001
An article about bullying in schools and how it should be fought. The list of 'reasons' for these children being bullied is heartbreaking - fat, thin, clever, lonely, gay, black, white. We need to get through to children from the second they're born that everyone is equal, and that noone should ever be victimised for what they are.
[by Beth]

03:31 p.m., Monday, November 5, 2001
An interesting article about the image of Muslims in the UK. Worth a read.
[by Beth]

03:19 p.m., Monday, November 5, 2001
I can't believe that this protest is still going. They showed pictures this morning of the protests in September, and the full horror of the hate struck me again. They're supposed to be part of the UK - what would the reaction be if the same thing happened on mainland Britain? I wanted to go and face the protestors, tell them I was brought up Catholic and ask if they hate me, ask if it makes them proud that their only method of protesting the route of some school children is by hurling pipe bombs and insults. Ask them if they're proud that they can make small children and their parents cry. And bang their ****ing heads together.

We're supposed to be a civilised nation. And we can't even work this out.
[by Beth]