Some things I've been reading

Cath Elliot attacks Cardiff Council's decision to promote pole dancing for 11 year olds, Playboy's new Oxford Street store and "Corporate Paedophilia". Whilst Elliot appears to be most concerned about the effect this may have on "sexual predators" I do think there are some interesting issues here about the way big business takes and shapes sexuality in order to make a buck.

I notice the ever interesting Gregor Gall also has a piece in CiF on the postal dispute where he says that "The New Labour government could have prevented or stopped this dispute at any time it wished - it is not only the paymaster but the single shareholder in the company. But it does not want to intervene in the dispute to resolve it, for that would mean tipping the scales in favour of the CWU - something it and Royal Mail do not want."

Meanwhile in the Independent there's a good article on racism in the fashion industry. They quote one agency saying "The racism you come across is not underlying, it's blatant. People will say things like 'Don't send any more black models', and one designer even said black people didn't suit his clothes. And we're not talking about small designers here; it's all the big ones."

There's an interesting piece in the Australian Socialist Worker advocating trade union support for the Greens. Took me by surprise anyway.

On the blogging front I note that Louise at Stroppyblog raises the issue of union busting by Kettle Foods. She advocates a boycott. Regular readers may know I have a weird attitude towards boycotts but it's good to raise the issue none the less.

The Huffington Post has an interesting blog on the private army that is Blackwater. Immune from prosecution, under no democratic control these lethal goons have been a constant feature of post-invasion Iraq. You got the money, why not hire yourself some killers?

Dave's Part made a very interesting point about the difference between Labour and the Democrats when it comes to their attitudes to strikes and lastly we have this tribute to Che Guevara.