Campaign against sex-trafficking targets potential punters; David Cameron’s ’slur’ on stay-at-home mothers; Scots needlework archive
Campaign against sex-trafficking targets potential punters
The Journal.ie – ‘Real Men Don’t Buy Girls’ is the message of the major social media programme.
THE IMMIGRANT COUNCIL of Ireland has launched a major social campaign to highlight the incidence of sex-trafficking in Ireland.
Targeted at potential punters, the message ‘Real Men Don’t Buy Girls’ will be delivered by high-profile Irish music and sports stars to outline the “reality behind trafficking”.
The campaign hopes to create greater awareness among young men about the early age at which many girls enter prostitution.
“There is never any excuse for buying a girl, either here in Ireland or when travelling abroad with mates,” said chief executive Denise Charlton. More at:
http://www.thejournal.ie/campaign-against-sex-trafficking-targets-potential-punters-860225-Apr2013/
David Cameron’s ’slur’ on stay-at-home mothers
By Peter Dominiczak and Rowena Mason, Telegraph – David Cameron has been accused of a slur on stay-at-home mothers after Downing Street suggested that they will be excluded from receiving child care support because they do not want to “work hard and get on”.
Campaigners and Tory MPs have rounded on the Government after it announced that working parents earning up to £150,000 each will get up to £1,200 to help with child care because they have a “greater need” than those who do not work. Under the £1 billion scheme, up to 2.5 million families will each be able to claim vouchers to help subsidise the costs of child care.
The scheme will only apply to couples where both parents are working or a single parent who is in employment.
The policy will, therefore, ignore the interests of 1.2 million parents who choose to stay at home to look after their children, many of whom have already lost their child benefit this year.
Asked whether the Prime Minister was “concerned” that the vouchers scheme was penalising stay-at-home mothers, his official spokesman simply said the measures were “very important as part of supporting those who want to work hard and to get on”. When asked if Mr Cameron believed that stay-at-home parents were less in need of state help than working parents, the spokesman would only say that the Prime Minister wanted to support “aspiration”. More at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9941492/David-Camerons-slur-on-stay-at-home-mothers.html
Scots needlework archive
The National Needlework Archive (NNA) has released an appeal to all Scottish Women’s Rural Institutes (SWRI) to come forward with their item to help preserve their crafts for future generations.
From banners to tea towels and everything in between, if it’s connected to SWRI, the NNA want to know about it.
Each textile record will become part of an NNA archive which will look at how SWRI has changed over the years through needlework.
All pieces will be collated and recorded so the history of SWRI needlework is accessible to educate, advise and inform future generations.
Linda Connell, director of the NNA, comments: “We are not looking at the quality or condition of the textile but rather the overall picture that the needlework collection paints of Scottish history. By studying all the previously un-recorded textiles we will have a record of how needlework has reacted to changes in society.
“Look in the village hall, the church, the library, in your loft and under your bed; anywhere that you might have stored an SWRI textile piece, finished or unfinished, good or bad. We are also looking to record items that may have been handed down through generations, or donated to Institutes or federations.
“And don’t worry about parting with your textile, we just want to record it, so take a picture of it, fill in a form and send the forms to us. Without recording these precious pieces of history, they may be lost forever.”
Isobel Robertson, national chairman of SWRI, adds: “SWRI has always been a great bastion of needlework and crafts. Thousands of homes across the country will have items that could be recorded for the collection. The textiles do not have to be perfect, as long as they have been created by or donated to SWRI. We pride ourselves in keeping traditions alive so I am appealing to SWRI members across the country to help with this really important project.”
A similar project was started by the NNA in 2004 with the English Women’s Institutes and so far, the NNA have recorded over 9,000 artefacts. The project received no external funding and all the work at the NNA and in local WIs was done entirely by volunteers. The initial recording work for the SWRI will also be done by volunteers at local SWRIs and at the NNA.