Save our Libraries

News from Natalie Bennett’s blog, Philobiblion, that the government is planning to introduce charges to use the british library and to begin downgrading parts of it (notably, scrapping the newspaper archives). For a government which claims to want to increase equality of opportunity, this is an incredibly myopic measure. One of the wonderful things about the British Library has always been that any member of the public has access to any book ever printed in the UK – regardless of whether they can afford it.

If this is allowed to go through, I bet they’ll try to introduce charges for using other public libraries making scholarship in the UK even more difficult and even more confined to a rich elite. Libraries are already struggling to stay open thanks to lack of funding from local authorities (some good background in an article I dug out from last June’s Observer, here). Libraries are central to a Green society: they allow the maximum use of resources by those who need them.

More details about the BL closure from that stalwart of equality the Daily Telegraph, here.

A little bit of relevant GP policy (my emphasis):

ED211 Access to learning opportunities should not be restricted by ability to pay nor by gender, class, race or disability/ability. The labelling and segregating of some children, on the basis of standardised tests, must be discontinued.

World AIDS Day

 

A truly international tragedy. One which creates orphans, kills the young and ruins lives.

 

The tragedy that is the global HIV/AIDS epidemic is one which can only be solved by a multi-factorial strategy. It is a problem which brings together so many campaigns for reform – all must be successful in order to combat the disease. As I commented in my post “ABC?”, poverty and lack of education are central to the issue. In addition, reform of Intellectual Property law is needed – perhaps as part of a comprehensive rethink of the meaning of property and a fresh look at the ills of capitalism.

 

As well as the global perspective, on a more individual level the epidemic highlights human rights issues. The right of women to refuse sex and to be protected from rape by the state; the right to easy to access and comprehensive medical care; the right of gay men to not fear discrimination and to a decent sex education for children regardless of gender and sexuality.

 

All of this makes the HIV/AIDS epidemic an extremely political one. The solutions are societal and require a massive rethink of how society is run.

 

Over the next few days, I’ll be posting a series of thoughts on various aspects of this epidemic, I hope they’ll be interesting and worthwhile.

 

 

Go figure…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6033023.stm

Of course, the real way to tackle this problem would be to deal with the underlying issues which cause such poor health in the north. This government has a woeful record at doing that. Hospitals are important, of course they are, but throwing money at that end while not dealing with the wider public health issues will do very little to improve the situation.

Like most things, I think education is at the core of the issue. Not the kind of education that blairites seem to advocate (“what does learning this do for the economy?”) but the kind of education that empowers people to make informed decisions about issues that relate to them. This applies whether it is decisions about health, about politics, about our local communities – anything really. That is what a real education is about – not about how much money can be generated, not about whether it will help in the quest for ”economic growth” but about whether it will enrich peoples’ lives.

Of course, education is only part of the picture. Other measures such as better labelling of foods; fresher, local and organic produce; more access to disease prevention measures; access to health promotion resources and so on are all important in helping improve the health of the population.

It is vital that the government acts to address the wider issues surrounding health. Increasing funding for hospitals is vital, but in itself, it just won’t do.

Sorry for a short and somewhat disjointed post. I felt the need to post about the article tonight, but don’t really have the energy to follow it through. Hopefully I will get the chance to edit it a bit tomorrow!

I want to go to school in a far away place…

Thousands going to ‘poor schools’

“The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust [...] maintains most parents get their first choice of school.”

Of course, the problem with choice is that there is an assumption that everyone is fully informed of the consequences of their choice and is fully enabled to make a rational decision. It also implies that there are no outside factors – what use is it, for someone who doesn’t have a car, to be offered a school that is far away and doesn’t have decent transport links, for example?

The reality is that choice tends to be exploited best by the middle classes. Like the inverse care law in healthcare economics, there seems to be an inverse education law – the people who need the facilities the most (due to less support in other ways) tend to get the worst. The reality is that everyone should have a good school, close to home. Schools should be a hub for the community, providing a centre for life-long learning when they are not being used by their students.

A market-like system in education will increase inequalities rather than reduce them.
Green Party Policy:

ED393 Selection to any school on any grounds will be discontinued. Where a school is over-subscribed, priority will be given to those who live most locally. Charitable status for private schools will be phased out over a five-year period; such schools will be encouraged to apply for public funding (ED604), after first making any necessary changes (see the criteria listed in ED331, ED332, ED333 and ED334).
ED394 Schools will be required to publish plans (with a 3-year timescale) for becoming fully inclusive and enabling, except in the case of single-sex schools, which must plan to include all levels and kinds of ability of either girls or boys.