equality | The Spicy Cauldron

Tory money scandals are rich and timely reminders

It seems the media has sated its appetite for condemning the Labour government, at least for the time being. Now the focus is on the Conservatives, with a couple of high-profile stories this past week focusing on flagrant abuses of power and privilege at the taxpayers’ expense.

First we heard about the leader of the Conservative Party’s Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) resigning from the position after admitting he broke expenses rules. Giles Chichester paid thousands of pounds in staff allowances to a firm of which he is a paid director. Remarkably, Chichester intends to stay on as an MEP and has described his supposed error as a “whoops-a-daisy” moment.

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Saturday, June 7th, 2008

tags: Conservatives, equality, gay rights, ghettos, homophobia, hypocrisy, impropriety, money, politics, power, sleaze

Does the California gay marriage ruling mean it’s time to reconsider ‘civil partnership’ terminology in the UK?

“Limiting the designation of marriage to a union ‘between a man and a woman’ is unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute,” said California Chief Justice Ron George in his written opinion yesterday, as California’s top court ruled a state law banning marriage between same-sex couples as unconstitutional.

The state’s Supreme Court said the “right to form a family relationship” applied to all Californians regardless of sexuality. Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger previously vetoed laws passed by the state legislature to legalise gay marriage not once, but twice.

If only we had a constitution in the UK, then those of us affronted by the completely unromantic, cold and clumsy ‘civil partnership’ being applied to same-sex unions could push for marriage as a term applied to all state-recognised relationships irrespective of the genders of those involved.

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Friday, May 16th, 2008