Islamophobic Attacks Sky-Rocket

Britain is still reeling in shock from the horrific attack on a soldier in Woolwich, London earlier this week. The soldier, identified as Lee Rigby, was stabbed multiple times with various knives and machetes. The attack was so gruesome that they almost beheaded him. The two attackers have since admitted that they carried out the attack for religious purposes. Cue attacks on Muslims.

Naturally the public was disgusted by that attacks, but unfortunately some of the public are using it as an excuse to attack innocent Muslims all across the UK. There have been over 140 reported islamophobic attacks since the murder, around ten times the normal amount, with mosques and homes being targeted. A petrol bomb was thrown into a mosque during Friday prayers in Milton Keynes, thankfully nobody was injured.

To make matters worse both the EDL and BNP have tried to use the murder to garner support for their bigoted view of what Britain should be. Really disgusting.

On the other side of the issue, the response from the Muslim community has been excellent. The Islamic Society of Britain released the following statement earlier this week:

"Murdering a British soldier is an attack on our nation. No effort should be spared in purging this hate.

Our thoughts and sympathies are with the family of the deceased.

Justifying this killing in the name of faith or religion is false and rejected. Rejected by the Islamic Society of Britain. Rejected by scripture. Rejected by those who commit to God. Rejected by civil society. And rejected by truth.

We, the British, will remain together, resolute and strong."

Whatever the outcome of this issue, we must make sure that our society does not go down the route that the EDL and BNP wish us to do, instead we must do the opposite. We must embrace British Muslims with open arms. 

Gay Marriage Salvaged

Labour has rescued the government's proposal from the Doldrums. The bill has majority in the House of Commons but Tory MP Tim Loughton was determined to go against the will of the majority and added a wrecking amendment. Loughton added a clause which extended civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples. The amendment would cause the bill to be held up for several more years. The amendment was a problem as it had the support of the Labour Party as well as many back-bench Conservatives. Earlier last week the Coalition government issued a warning to Labour, claiming that their support for the amendment could result in the whole bill failing.

With the very real chance that they could cause the bill to fail, Labour has pulled support for the amendment and instead will create its own bill in its place. This has thankfully killed the amendment. This should mean that the UK will have passed same-sex marriage by the end of this parliament. It's about time the UK joined the march for LGBT rights. The mother of parliaments must move forward.

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In global news, last week was excellent for gay rights as France and Brazil legalised same-sex marriage nationwide! They join New Zealand as well as Minnesota, Rhode Island and Delaware as jurisdictions that have legalised same-sex marriage just this year!

EU Membership at Stake

David Cameron has attempted to quell the rise of UKIP and appease Tory backbenchers by promising en EU referendum in 2017. So why so late? Why not next year? The problem at the moment is that the Conservative Party's coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats, are very pro-EU and will not allow a referendum earlier.

Cameron has proposed a bill that would mean that after the next election in 2015, a Tory government would try and re-negotiate Britain's relationship with Europe. If we don't get the concessions the Tories want an in-out referendum would be triggered in 2017. The major flaw with this is that there may not be a Tory government in 2015, Labour is ahead in the current polls. The Tory Party will not be able to make the law binding as governments aren't allowed to pass laws restricting future governments. The bill will have to be a private members bill as the Lib Dems won't allow it to be coalition policy.

So what has pushed Cameron to propose this bill? The recent success of UKIP will have struck fear into him and he needs the support of his Euro-sceptic back-benchers. It won't have helped that in the last several weeks old beasts of the party such as Nigel Lawson, Norman Lamont and Michael Portillo have called for a referendum as well as cabinet ministers Michael Gove and Philip Hammond.

With the UK's membership of the EU in peril I hope Miliband doesn't back this dangerous bill.

A&E Departments Failing Due to Lack of Funding

The NHS is heading towards a crisis over A&E waiting times as the percentage of people waiting four or more hours to see an emergency doctor has risen to over 4%, the highest in a decade. Cuts to NHS spending has hit the service hard, with more cuts ahead it is unlikely to get better any time soon. (So much for Cameron's campaign slogan "I'll cut the deficit, not the NHS"). Leaked emails reveal that in an effort to help ailing A&Es Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, had planned to plough an extra £300 million - £400 million into the service. According to the emails it had to be abandoned due to problems financing it. The government has denied that Hunt ever proposed such a scheme. Naturally I don't believe the government, especially Hunt, we should all remember how dishonest he was about his relationship with News Corp and Rupert Murdoch!

This government has proven time and time again that they can't be trusted with the NHS, come 2015 we should vote them out of office, if only to protect the sacred cow of British politics.

The Gay Marriage Avalanche

Gay marriage legalisation is rapidly becoming an avalanche as country after country passes same-sex marriage. It's hard to believe that it was only 12 years ago that the Netherlands became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage. Up until this year 11 countries had passed same-sex marriage as well as sub-national jurisdictions of Mexico and Brazil as well as nine US states plus DC. Since then the pace appears to be quickening, already this year same-sex marriage has made great progress. In the United States it has already passed the Illinois state senate and is now pending in the house. Delaware and Rhode Island have both legalised same-sex marriage and Minnesota seems likely to be the next. In the UK it passed a vote in the House of Commons by a massive majority of 400 - 175! In France it has passed both houses and faces a few procedural hurdles. In New Zealand and Uruguay it has been signed into law and Colombia may join soon. Six Brazilian states have also passed it in 2013.  At the beginning of this year I made a prediction, that the total population of the countries and jurisdictions that had legalised same-sex marriage before 2013 would be less than the total of those who passed it in 2013/2014. Prior to this year the combined population of everywhere that has passed same-sex marriage was roughly 363,310,000. It's difficult to gauge exactly where will pass same-sex marriage within the next two years, although we can already be certain of a few. Already in 2013, 42,930,000 extra people live in areas with it legalised.

Here are a list of jurisdictions I believe are highly likely to pass same-sex marriage in 2013/2014

France, England & Wales, Scotland, Luxembourg, Andorra, Colombia, California, Illinois, Minnesota and Rio de Janeiro. Total population: 241,250,000

Here are jurisdictions I believe have a chance of passing same-sex marriage in 2013/2014:

Finland, Germany, Ireland, Nepal, Taiwan, Vietnam, Oregon, Ohio and Michigan. Total population: 257,280,000

I am finding it difficult to find reporting on Brazil (other than Rio) but I would be surprised if no more states were to pass it in 2013/2014 as, of the 13 states that have passed it, six have done so this year alone. For my prediction to come true, countries with 363,310,000 people would have to pass same-sex marriage. Of the jurisdictions I think have at least a chance of passing same sex marriage (541,460,000), only those worth 2/3 of the total would have to pass same-sex marriage! The above countries all currently have supportive governments, but there will be elections in the mean time; some supportive governments will be voted out in favour of opposing ones. Fortunately the opposite can work too and we could see other countries added to the list of same-sex marriage supporters. I am confident that my prediction will be proven with time. 

Local Elections

The political establishment in Westminster has been shaken to its core after UKIP's astonishing night. The results are shown below. (note only the Labour and Conservative Parties have control of councils)

Conservatives: 18 Councils (-10), 1116 councillors (-335)

Labour: 3 Councils (+2), 538 councillors (+291)

Liberal Democrats: 352 councillors (-124)

UKIP: 147 councillors (+139)

Green: 22 councillors (+5)

Other: 22 (no change)

Independents: 165 (+24)

13 councils had no overall control (+8)

The night was terrible for the Tories, losing control of 10 councils and 335 councillors. The Liberal Democrats also had a bad night, losing control of 124 council seats. Together the coalition lost 459 councillors. This is a clear sign from the country that the public does not like their approach to our problems. One of the surprises though was Labour, which expected to do better under the circumstances, perhaps gaining control over more councils. Unfortunately for Labour only a few more seats on councils such as Lancashire would have given them a majority. If you're looking at the results and wondering why Labour didn't beat the Tories overall, you should remember that these are English county councils, Conservative heartlands. Labour strongholds such as Scotland and cities were not voting.

Naturally the big story was UKIP's success in taking many seats, although no councils. The leader, Niger Farage, was delighted with the result but already people are questioning his ability to take seats in a general election. UKIP is still a party of protest and come the next general election you will see a decline in its vote share. The major problem UKIP has is breaking from the idea that they are a one issue party - saying no to Europe. The party will have to hash out policies or people won't take it seriously. The only problem is that once they spell out their policies they will lose all the left wingers who voted for them recently. You should remember that UKIP is more conservative than the Conservatives.