I cannot say I am terribly pleased with the court decision. It has certainly fallen in the right direction (abortion is a dreadful business, but it needs to be available, and clauses and agreements to nibble away at the abortion right is never welcome), but I would have prefered to have seen a compromise. Namely, a midwife is free to refuse to carry out an abortion in person, but ultimately answers for ensuring that there is someone who will. I believe that those professionals who are not prepared to carry out an abortion is in a significant minority in the Swedish healthcare staff, and as long as the procedure is carried out timely and properly, who is doing it cannot be much of a concern. A blanket 'no' seems rather heavy-handed, when an alternative is present.
Still. Better this than the other, if an entirely binary option is what we are stuck with.
Yet another case involving a gang of Asian men in the UK grooming and sexually abusing young girls has come to trial, with 29 defendants, facing more than 170 charges of abuse of girls between the ages of 11 and 17 around Huddersfield.
It is, at this point, a national crisis, and yet this latest case isn't even a BBC headline, having been passed over in favour of important stuff like a speeding squaddie, Harper Beckham becoming a trademark, predictions of Easter traffic jams and the latest update in the United Airlines melodrama.
We are failing a generation of young girls in these communities, and it is absolutely disgusting.
But - but - but, Sir! We cannot give an inch to the horrible, terrible spectre of
IslamophobiaⓇ! Imagine giving this tiny, local incident (in which the perpetrators could be anyone, absolutely
anyone, I might add!) greater attention than necessary. Why, someone, somewhere, might be persuaded to dislike such fellows! They might even think, oh, horror of horrors!, that such abuse might be more common in certain demographics, and we cannot possibly allow it, not for worlds! Why, some people have not even heard of cultural relativity (can you believe it? It is 2017, for pity's sake!), and cannot possibly put it into its proper context, but immediately apply their own, regressive, outdated, imperialist values upon it! And that would be ever so horrible!
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No, on second thought, I do not think satire is something for me... I will need a bath, now.Agreed. There is something terribly disconcerting in how carefully this is being flown under the radar. I suppose a certain tactful discretion and calmness is important when reporting on sex crime trials, but this is ridiculously discrete. It might be a fault of my own, but I cannot believe that such a vast case would be passed so quietly along under 'ordinary' circumstances.
At least they wrote something on the matter, albeit no more than what was strictly necessary.
EDIT : As for the xfag slang, I always thought it was okay when applied to myself. Go figure. Thanks for the warning though.
I usually replace X with 'friend'; newfriend, drawfriend, furfriend. I think it is rather lovely that way. It creates a pleasant atmosphere.