Tag Archives: lynne featherstone

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone on successes in campaign against FGM

By Mary Reid | Tue 2nd July 2013 - 9:13 am

Over on Huffington Post, Lynne Featherstone has written an article about the heartening early successes in the campaign against female genital mutilation. She writes:

“I wanted to save lives not put them at risk.”

That’s what a former female genital cutter told me during a visit to Kenya last week, as she explained why she downed her tools and instead became a birth attendant.

I believe this woman should be celebrated for taking such a brave stance against the centuries-old tradition of female genital mutilation (FGM).

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged female genital mutilation | 1 Comment

Lynne: Police should target “cutters” who perform genital mutilation on girls in Britain, not their parents

By The Voice | Sat 29th June 2013 - 9:20 am

The London Evening Standard reports:

Police should target “cutters” who perform genital mutilation on girls in Britain, rather than the parents who pay for it, International Development minister Lynne Featherstone says.

The minister, who this week visited Kenya to see how female genital mutilation is being stamped out there, said Britain needs to speed up the first prosecution here to send a warning that the practice will not be tolerated. FGM has been illegal in the UK since 1985 but nobody has

…

Posted in News | Also tagged female genital mutilation and kenya | 5 Comments

Lynne Featherstone live webchat on Mumsnet today at 1pm

By NewsHound | Thu 20th June 2013 - 8:45 am

Spotted earlier this week on Twitter:

It’s #AfricanChildDay and we’re asking how can you help #endFGM? Join MN webchat with Int Dev minister @lfeatherstone on Thurs 1pm #DFID_uk

— Mumsnet (@MumsnetTowers) June 16, 2013

Listen in live, or catch up here later.

Posted in News | Also tagged mumsnet and webchat | Leave a comment

Michael Moore MP writes…Scotland has a role in overseas aid

By Michael Moore | Mon 17th June 2013 - 11:58 am

Amidst the fever of the independence referendum debate in Scotland on issues such as currency, financial services and pensions, Lynne Featherstone and I took part in a series of engagements in Glasgow recently which reinforced with me what would be lost in terms of international development if Scotland voted to leave the Union.

As a former International Development spokesperson for the Party I am still passionate about this issue. I’m proud that the issues we as Lib Dems have long campaigned for have become a reality

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged international development, Michael Moore, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 3 Comments

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone – Gender equality and empowerment are crucial in the fight against world poverty

By Mary Reid | Tue 11th June 2013 - 10:46 am

Lynne Featherstone, the International Development Minister, has written an article for The Herald, reflecting on progress since the G8 in Gleneagles in 2005.

She writes:

In 2005, Scotland hosted the G8 in Gleneagles where world leaders made the historic pledge to “Make poverty history”.

Eight years on, the UK is again hosting leaders, this time in Northern Ireland, so it seems appropriate to reflect on how far we’ve come in reaching that goal.

I am particularly proud that we have helped 5.3 million children have a primary school education and will have improved access to

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged dfid and G8 | 2 Comments

Is it time for retailers to lose the lads’ mags?

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 27th May 2013 - 3:56 pm

Every time you go into a supermarket or newsagent to buy a magazine, you are likely to be confronted with the following:

A women’s section, which contains magazines on, mainly, celebrity froth, sewing, cooking and child-rearing;
Everything remotely interesting,like current affairs, photography, fishing, sport, computers and science fiction being displayed elsewhere;
Magazines with pictures of half naked women prominently displayed in a way that you can’t miss.

What does this tell children about the world in which they are growing up? The message seems to be that women are there to keep everyone else fed (while keeping themselves unrealistically thin, of course), …

Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged Jo Swinson, lose the lads' mags campaign, nick clegg and sexism | 38 Comments

LibLink…Lynne Featherstone: The disabled people hidden from view

By NewsHound | Sun 26th May 2013 - 2:00 pm

Liberal Democrat international development minister Lynne Featherstone has written an article in the Sunday Times about the plight of disabled people in developing countries, and how they often don’t receive much needed aid.

But for every medal-winning athlete, there are millions more in the developing world who are treated as sub-human, hidden from view and forgotten. Millions of women who are raped and beaten because they are discriminated against or physically incapable of escaping their attackers. Millions of children denied an education because they can’t see their textbooks, hear their teachers or get to school. And millions of people locked out

…

Posted in News | Also tagged disabled people, international development and the sunday times | 2 Comments

Lynne Featherstone: If you think a girl is in danger of being forced to endure FGM, tell the Police

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 18th May 2013 - 9:45 am

Lynne Featherstone has urged anyone who suspects a girl may be at risk of being forced to endure Female Genital Mutilation to go to the Police with their concerns. She said that she wants to see cases prosecuted to send a powerful message.

She appealed for help to protect girls as what she called “the cutting season” approaches. The procedure often happens during the Summer holidays when the girls are away from school for several weeks.

She said that prosecution and other work to change behaviour were the way forward:

It would be great to have a prosecution and send out the message

…

Posted in News | Also tagged fgm | 4 Comments

Duncan Hames MP writes… Must we continue to use food for fuel?

By Duncan Hames MP | Fri 17th May 2013 - 8:25 am

The European Union is currently committed to ensuring that 10% of each Member State’s transport energy will come from biofuels by 2020. This originated as a well-intentioned attempt to combat climate change, but time has shown that using food for fuel can have devastating impacts on hunger and the environment. I’ve come to accept that it is time for a re-think.

In addition to concerns over their green credentials, biofuels are now recognised to be a key cause of hunger, affecting millions of people in developing countries. The World Bank, OECD, WTO, IFPRI, IMF, and five other UN agencies recommended …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged actionaid, biofuels, climate change, david cameron, edward davey, european union, food for fuel, justine greening, malcolm bruce, nick clegg, norman baker and oxfam | 15 Comments

LibLink…Lynne Featherstone writes on World Malaria Day

By NewsHound | Thu 25th April 2013 - 1:43 pm

Over at the Huffington Post, Lib Dem international development minister Lynne Featherstone has been talking about the importance of World Malaria Day.

Here’s an excerpt:

Malaria affects over half the world’s population, with a child dying every minute from the disease. In the worst-affected countries malaria has a devastating impact on health systems and economies. When faced with these stark facts it can often seem like there’s no hope.

But amongst the gloom there are genuine signs that we may finally be winning the battle against malaria. Across the world malaria is on the decline. Over the past decade governments, NGOs and multilaterals

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged international development and malaria | Leave a comment

Conference Rally: Confessional, motivational and defiant

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 9th March 2013 - 8:29 pm

A conference rally without Tim Farron is a bit like strawberries without cream. When he wasn’t there telling his bad football jokes, I wondered if he’d been put on the Naughty Step for his interview earlier. But, no, he hadn’t even arrived in Brighton.

What we did have was a sense of almost cleansing, confessional, cathartic and heartfelt speeches tackling the pain of the last few weeks head on.

Nick Clegg made clear that he wanted to change the culture in the party. What he said is not new for him. He’s always been very pro equality, but this was a new …

Posted in Conference and News | Also tagged Jo Swinson, liberal youth, mike thornton, nick clegg, Sarah Yong and shirley williams | 2 Comments

LibLink…Lynne Featherstone: Bringing a worldwide end to violence against women and girls

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 6th March 2013 - 9:55 am

Over at the Huffington Post, Liberal Democrat International Development Minister Lynne Featherstone writes about her trip to New York for the UN Commission on the Status of Women which is this year focusing on violence against women and girls.

First she talks about what the UK Government is doing to tackle this problem which affects 1 in 3 women worldwide:

The Coalition Government has provided nearly £40 million of ring-fenced funding for specialist domestic and sexual violence services, and national helplines.

We’ve invested in changing attitudes and behaviours. You may have seen the UK television adverts we’ve launched to tackle rape and relationship

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged huffington post and violence against women and girls | 14 Comments

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “From Eastleigh to Africa – and back again!”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 17th February 2013 - 11:00 am

Nick’s latest weekly missive focuses on two places: his visits as party leader to the Lib Dem by-election campaign in Eastleigh, and his visit as Deputy Prime Minister to Mozambique and Ethiopia to focus on ‘the three Ts’ – tax, transparency and trade. Here’s his letter in full…

Like so many of you, I’ve been to Eastleigh this week. I was there to visit a local college with our excellent candidate Mike Thornton on Monday, and after a brief stop off to see the kids, I headed straight

…

Posted in News | Also tagged africa, eastleigh by-election, ethiopia, featured, G8, letter from the leader, mike thornton and Mozambique | Leave a comment

Nick Clegg writes … A fairer and more prosperous world

By Nick Clegg MP | Tue 12th February 2013 - 1:00 pm

Lynne Featherstone and I are travelling to Mozambique and Ethiopia this week, which will be my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as Deputy Prime Minister. We will see the changing nature of our relationship with these African countries, as well as the UK’s international development programmes in action.

By working with Mozambique, Ethiopia and other developing countries, we are helping to create a world that is fairer, more prosperous and more secure.

This year the Coalition Government will meet our commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income on international development – an achievement that comes with much controversy but one I am proud to deliver.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged ethiopia, featured, G8 and Mozambique | 2 Comments

LibLink – Lynne Featherstone MP: Moving towards a world free from Female Genital Cutting

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 6th February 2013 - 12:16 pm

Today is the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. Tonight, Home Office Minister Jeremy Browne will be giving a speech tonight (which we will bring you later) and Lynne Featherstone has written an article for the Huffington Post.

She will be taking part in an online discussion here at 12:45pm today.

First she outlined exactly why FGC is a problem.

FGC is a cultural practice involving the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia. In its most extreme form the external genitalia are cut out and the girl’s vagina sewn up, to be cut open on her

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged female genital cutting and huffington post | 10 Comments

Equal marriage: who voted which way

By Stephen Tall | Wed 6th February 2013 - 9:15 am

For those wanting to know the voting breakdown of last night’s historic decision in the Commons to approve equal marriage, here it is courtesy of Andrew Sparrow’s essential Guardian live-blog…

Conservatives

FOR – 127 MPs (42%)
AGAINST – 136 MPs (45%)
ABSTENTIONS – 5 MPs (2%)
ABSENT – 35 MPs (12%)

Labour

FOR – 217 MPs (84%)
AGAINST – 22 MPs (9%)
ABSTENTION – 16 MPs (6%)

Lib Dems

FOR – 45 MPs (80%)
Danny Alexander (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey), Tom Brake (Carshalton & Wallington), Annette Brooke (Dorset Mid & Poole North), Jeremy Browne (Taunton Deane), Malcolm Bruce (Gordon), Paul Burstow (Sutton & Cheam), Lorely Burt (Solihull), Vincent …

Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged andrew sparrow, equal marriage, Mark Pack and nick clegg | 49 Comments

++ The ayes have it! Equal marriage approved with 225 vote majority

By Stephen Tall | Tue 5th February 2013 - 7:18 pm

The BBC reports:

MPs have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the government’s legislation for same-sex marriage in England and Wales. At the conclusion of the Commons’ first opportunity to debate the The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, MPs voted by 400 to 175, a majority of 225, in favour of the legislation.

It’s estimated some 140 Tory MPs voted to reject equal marriage.

Here was my immediate reaction…

Equal marriage passed by 400 votes to 175 – 225 majority in favour of the state treating everyone equally. That’ll do.

— Stephen Tall (@stephentall) February 5, 2013

And here’s what some …

Posted in News | Also tagged equal marriage and featured | 4 Comments

Equal marriage: 2 Lib Dem MPs against and a further 9 (or 10) Missing In Action

By Stephen Tall | Mon 4th February 2013 - 3:55 pm

Tomorrow the House of Commons will vote on the Bill to allow equal marriage for same-sex couples which Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone did so much to push forward as Equalities Minister.

Two Lib Dem MPs have so far publicly declared their opposition:

John Pugh MP (Southport)

“I will vote against the Bill – against Gay Marriage but not necessarily for all the reasons the churches give but because I think there is a good liberal

…

Posted in News | Also tagged equal marriage, Gordon Birtwhistle and john pugh | 167 Comments

Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill 2012-13 starts its parliamentary journey

By Paul Walter | Mon 28th January 2013 - 2:23 pm

Lynne Featherstone (right) proudly brandishes a copy of the newly published Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill 2012-13.

There is a parliamentary webpage dedicated to the bill here, where you can read the document and track its progress through Parliament.

The Government’s Equalities Office has published a range of supplementary materials here, including a short guide to the bill, a Factsheet and a Mythbuster.

Posted in News | Also tagged Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill 2012-13 | 4 Comments

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone – Darfur is still suffering ten years after conflict began

By Paul Walter | Mon 28th January 2013 - 9:54 am

Just back from a visit to Darfur, Lynne Featherstone writes on Huffpo about continuing concerns for the region:

Britain’s aid programme is about people, not numbers. But sometimes, the figures are so shocking it is impossible to escape them.

This year marks 10 years since the start of conflict in Darfur and the numbers speak for themselves. During

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged sudan | Leave a comment

Nick Cohen: Labour members are “in despair” of trying to unseat Lynne Featherstone

By Stephen Tall | Tue 22nd January 2013 - 9:30 pm

The Observer’s Nick Cohen isn’t Lynne Featherstone’s biggest fan: “I cannot tell you how much I dislike this stupid, two-faced and dangerous politician,” he writes affectionately in The Spectator.

He later labels her a “menace”, a “hypocrite”, and curses her “wittering” (I wonder if that’s a verb he’s ever applied to a male politician, by the way?).

All of which means poor Nick is in despair. Why? Because, he laments, Labour is completely failing to get its act together in Hornsey and Wood Green, allegedly one …

Posted in News | Also tagged hornsey & wood green, julie burchill and nick cohen | 13 Comments

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone working to transform the lives of women and girls around the world

By NewsHound | Sat 19th January 2013 - 1:00 pm

Lynne Featherstone, Minister for International Development, writes at the Huffington Post, on the opportunities 2013 brings to transform the lives of women and girls around the world.

This year is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a lasting difference to the lives of women and girls everywhere in the world.

Between the Commission on the Status of Women meeting in New York in March, the work on the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals and the UK Presidency of the G8, the international community

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged international development and women and girls | 3 Comments

Lynne Featherstone calls for Julie Burchill to be sacked for post attacking transgender people

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 14th January 2013 - 9:25 am

As Equalities Minister, Liberal Democrat Lynne Featherstone put into place the Government’s Transgender Action Plan. She will be acutely aware of the issues facing transgender people, particularly in relation to violence and discrimination. Hate crime towards that community has been rising as the Independent reported.

Yesterday, the Observer published a piece by controversial writer Julie Burchill which was peppered with hate filled language. Had the target of Burchill’s invective been a particular ethnic group, and she had used similar language, then her piece would have found its way onto the editor’s spike and she would most likely have been …

Posted in News | Also tagged julie burchill, LGBT rights, observer and twitter | 34 Comments

Opinion: 2013 – Time to think afresh about International Development?

By David Hall-Matthews | Sun 6th January 2013 - 10:15 am

Lynne Featherstone in Zambia. Photo: some rights reserved by DFID http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/8220719712/ Another year, another set of attacks on development aid in the right-wing press. Prompted by a spectacularly ill-informed paper from Civitas, the Telegraph, Mail and Spectator tried once again to argue, without evidence, that high proportions of British aid are wasted.

The truth is that, under the Coalition, far more attention has been paid to value for money in aid spending than ever before. What is more, there’s little need to speculate about where

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged civitas, G8, international development and publish what you fund | 22 Comments

LibLink: Paul Burstow, Lynne Featherstone and Paul Tyler

By NewsHound | Fri 4th January 2013 - 12:21 pm

Elsewhere, whilst some of us adjust back into the normal routine after the New Year, some of our tribunes are already up and running.

Paul Burstow hit the headlines yesterday with his call for means-testing of the winter fuel allowance, with the intention of saving £1.5 billion, to be redirected towards paying for the proposed social care changed recommended by the Dilnot Commission. Writing in the Guardian;

Some argue this is a debate we need to have at or even after the next general election. But by that time it will be too late. The research in my report reveals that

…

Posted in News | Also tagged paul burstow and paul tyler | Leave a comment

Lynne Featherstone takes on church leaders on equal marriage

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 26th December 2012 - 4:45 pm

Liberal Democrat hero of everything to do with equalities, Lynne Featherstone, has used her blog to take a coach and horses through the arguments that various church leaders have been using this Christmas to attack the Coalition’s plans to introduce equal marriage.

Sometimes MPs’ and Government Ministers’ blogs can become quite bland. This is not the case with Ms Featherstone’s. It’s good that she is quite comfortable with the idea of talking directly. It’s important that someone does. Willie Rennie did exactly the same up here in Scotland …

Posted in News | Also tagged catholic church, equal marriage and willie rennie | 25 Comments

Fighting for the rights of women – all over the world

By NewsHound | Thu 13th December 2012 - 5:55 pm

This week, The Independent has run an interview with International Development Minister Lynne Featherstone – and no surprise that equalities feature strongly in her approach to the job:

Today we are talking about Zambia, from where she has just returned from a trip to meet victims of domestic violence, as well as the First Lady and the newly-appointed Minister of Gender, as part of her brief as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for International Development (DFID).

In Masabuka, Featherstone discussed ways to empower a population where 63 per cent of women believe domestic battery is justifiable. “It’s a culture that is so

…

Posted in News | Also tagged equalities and international development | 1 Comment

Alistair Carmichael MP writes…Why I’ve put the whip away for the Equal Marriage vote

By Alistair Carmichael MP | Wed 12th December 2012 - 6:59 pm

Everybody knows that the first rule of Fight Club is that you do not talk about Fight Club.

I am no Brad Pitt but the same is also true of the Whips’ Office.

It is not normally my practice to discuss whipping arrangements for the parliamentary party, nor to discuss publicly the process by which decisions are reached. Today, however, I am prepared (exceptionally) to do so and to explain the decision taken last night to allow Liberal Democrat MPs a free vote …

Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged chief whip, equal marriage; house of commons, Jo Swinson and nick clegg | 68 Comments

Equal marriage: it’s a matter of religious freedom

By Mark Pack | Mon 10th December 2012 - 5:59 pm

There’s been a lot in the media today from opponents of equal marriage about how the state mustn’t go about redefining marriage.

What they keep on skating over is that equal marriage isn’t something cooked up by atheists and agnostics. It’s also – as Lynne Featherstone has pointed out – supported officially by Quakers, Liberal Jews and some Unitarian Churches, not to mention many people of other faiths that officially take a different view.

Insisting that the state continues …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged equal marriage and featured | 58 Comments

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone in Zambia, part 3

By Mary Reid | Tue 4th December 2012 - 10:49 am

Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat International Development Minister has been visiting Zambia and blogging about her trip. In her first day she wrote about a UK-funded empowerment programme for adolescent girls. She followed that with an account of programmes in the rural south supporting education, health care, private sector development, social support, and reducing gender-based violence.

She spent the final day of her visit with the Minister for Gender, and together they launched 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence in Zambia.

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged Zambia | Leave a comment

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