The Saudis and international Humanitarian Law

A court action by campaigners has resulted in a judgement that licences should be reviewed  before any further military equipment is exported to the Saudis.

This is because the Saudis have violated international law by targeting civilians and even at least one hospital in the Yemen conflict. The International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, and the government have been complacent about these violations, cynically accepting worthless Saudi assurances that they have carried out their own investigation, and that any 'violations' were accidental, or the result of collateral damage. I have no doubt that the review of licences will result in a government finding that the Saudis had no intention of targeting civilians, and that it is perfectly safe to continue with the exports, thereby ensuring that realpolitik, pragmatism, and expediency wins the day over ethics and morality.

Woman-Hating Fashion Designers

I could be accused of being a grumpy old man. Well I am old and I do get grumpy about this modern world and some of the stupid people that inhabit it.  One of the things that has caught my attention this week relates to fashion models.

We know that over the years fashion designers have encouraged models not to look like normal healthy girls, and the latest example of their woman-hating excesses has been to encourage models to develop stick-like thighs with a pronounced gap between them. The fact that this looks neither natural or womanly is of no consequence to these egocentric designers. They are mostly male, and they don't like curvy women. They prefer their models to be boy-like. In case anyone gets the wrong idea let me say right now that I hold no prejudice against gay men, but if you are designing for women the honest thing to do is to consider women's shapes. Designing for shapeless stick-insects may be easier (You don't have to fit fabric around curves) but it is not good for the models, it is not good for young impressionable women concerned about self-image, and it's not good for society.

Michael Jimack  (1st March 2019)