Save Temple Cowley Pools: City Council doesn't deny Lying

The time has come. We have been having a discussion by email with the City Council's Chief Executive, Peter Sloman. We have placed evidence before him, showing that the council has lied over the operating costs of Temple Cowley Leisure Centre, and asked him to do something about it. He has refused, and announced that he has nothing more to say on the matter. Well, we do have more to say, and will say it on this blog over the coming week. The… Read more

Save Temple Cowley Pools: Chipping Norton more deserving than Oxford?

Looks like the Council has missed the boat again. The City Council refused to apply for a grant to help reduce carbon emissions even more at Temple Cowley Leisure Centre, because they are determined to close it whatever the evidence shows (see elsewhere across this site for evidence, and up and down this blog for interactions with the City Council). Pool covers, installed everywhere except Temple Cowley, cuts down evaporation of the warmed water… Read more

Save Temple Cowley Pools: More Schoolchildren - but where will they swim?

A public notice in the OxMail, from Oxfordshire County Council, announcing that numbers are due to increase at St Christophers, next to Temple Cowley Leisure Centre, from 315 to 420. Ok, so seems like the school is safe for the time being - but, where will they go to swim? At the moment, they walk next door to TCP, with little 'downtime' between the two and maximum education and exercise. If the City Council gets its way, Temple Cowley L… Read more

Save Temple Cowley Pools: Car Park Charges Everywhere?

Letter in Oxford Mail pointing out how the Council's new car park charging regime will discourage people from exercise in our parks, and annoy local residents as they park for free on the streets nearby. Thanks to Mr Foxall for referencing the pools, pointing out that TCP is where it should be in the heart of a community: "In short, the introduction of parking charges at facilities that are enjoyed by and paid for by the community as a … Read more

The Top Soil: Dear America,

This letter is penned as a response to the 9/11 letters that BBC Radio 4 have been running this week. I can remember it distinctly. It was a Friday, and we were in the middle of school holidays. The bang was loud enough to hear from home; we dismissed it – it was probably a car backfiring. Later, we heard all about it. The radio (on in the kitchen, where my sister and I ate lunch) reported it as a bombing of the US embassy. Int… Read more

Oxford WDM (World Development Movement): Take action: Food Security and Famine Prevention in Africa

A 3-hour debate will take place on Thursday 15th September (11:30am), in the Main Chamber of the House of Commons on Food Security and Famine Prevention in Africa. This is a great opportunity for MPs to raise the role of financial speculation which has been driving up global food prices and is exacerbating the effects of the famine. Action: Email your MP to let them know about this debate and encourage them to attend and raise ques… Read more

Oxford Save Our Services: An open letter to Nicola Blackwood from health organisations in Oxford calls on her not to vote for the end of the NHS

The letter below, signed by health organisations across Oxfordshire, has been published in the Oxford Mail this week. The Save Our Service and Keep Our NHS Public campaign to stop Nicola Blackwood MP voting for the ‘end of the NHS’ has also been featured in the Oxford Times this week. Dear Nicola Blackwood, Your government is privatising the NHS and cutting £20bn from the budget at the same time. We were told … Read more

The Top Soil: Neocolonialism: the blind spot of the West

It’s been a few months since I read Samir Amin’s Ending the Crisis of Capitalism or Ending Capitalism? but one of the key chapters remains a thought through everything I think about these days “accumulation by dispossession.” Although David Harvey is the man who is credited with its conception, Samir Amin takes the concept further – looking at how colonisation was yet another means of dispossess… Read more

Lashings of Ginger Beer: Links roundup

Welcome to the weekly Lashings links round up! Feel free to add your own links in the comments, with a brief description and trigger warnings if appropriate. BBC Radio 4 have a program discussing some aspects of sex and gender in science fiction. Sociological images asks whether facebook advertising is exploitative, and touches briefly on the fact that it targets its ads based on h… Read more

Lashings of Ginger Beer: Can feminists be funny?

OK, OK, here's one: Q: What do you get if you cross, um, Silvio Berlusconi with... an accusation of sexism? A: Silenced! Haha? What? Not laughing? But... it's topical, nearly... and, and it's funny because it's true, right? Oh. Yeah. It's sad that it's true - that's the one. But at least it isn't as bad as all those how-many-women-does-it-take-to-screw-in-a-lightbulb jokes - the … Read more