22 Wednesday Dec 2010
Posted in Notes
The very large (imaginary) blogging team at Researching Reform would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and a fantastic holiday filled with fun, laughter and love and at least one snow man!
Below are some images that remind us here at Researching Reform of the jolly season, we hope they make you feel warm and fuzzy too!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!
Words can paint pictures too....
Merry Christmas!
22 Wednesday Dec 2010
Posted in Family Law
In an article published today by the Huffington Post, it claims that Russia has the highest divorce rate in the world, as per the United Nations Demographic Yearbook, which states that for every thousand people in Russia, five get divorced. Only those countries that submitted complete data have been placed on the list. (Figures for the UK are added but are only partial although like for like those figures available as against Russia’s are markedly smaller).
Table 25 holds the official stats for divorce but the other tables are worth a read through, too. (Tables 23 and 24 relate to marriage statistics).
22 Wednesday Dec 2010
Posted in Family Law
This year, mothers, fathers and children all over the country and beyond are joining together online to remember the families who have been unjustly fractured by social services, parental alienation and those children who have lost their lives amongst the turmoil.
At 10pm, this Christmas Eve, you are invited to join the nearly 2,000 strong members of the Group “Light up the Sky 2010″ and light a chinese lantern, to be released into the night sky. You are invited to light as many as you wish (with the Group’s own suggestion being 10 lanterns per family/ person) but however many you choose to light, every one will count.
The issues this campaign exposes were raised yesterday in the House of Commons by John Hemming, MP and make for a sobering and insightful read.
When so many of us will be sharing Christmas with those who mean the most to us, Researching Reform would like to highlight those families who will not have the opportunity to do so. We would like to wish those families strength and hope for the coming New Year and of course, lots of love.
22 Wednesday Dec 2010
Posted in Family Law
Slinking around the net as Researching Reform does, we came across this interesting book (offered here as an audio book, and part of a soft sell but we left it that way in case it was of interest) by CS Lewis. Two books in fact, one of which explores the impact of the ‘modern’ English school curriculum and its possible impact on the erosion of human kind’s ability to connect with the world around it and the second which explores natural law and the view that we cannot live well without it.
Not having read either essay/ book we can’t take a view on the content but it sounded fascinating and therefore, worth sharing.
Thoughts on the above material from those who may have read these works are always welcome.
The Abolition of Man and the Great Divorce
20 Monday Dec 2010
Posted in Family Law
There are a lot of very juicy philosophical and semantic points in the article below and most definitely worth a read, if nothing else to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of judicial discretion.
Sheikh Ali Goma’a, the Grand Mufti of Egypt has issued a fatwa (islamic legal opinion) stating that the mispronunciation of the word ‘divorce’ in Arabic may render the action null and void. This is at first sight a left field move for the Sheikh, who has a reputation for being moderate and indeed for being disliked by Islamic fundamentalists. But there are problems with the high rate of divorce in Egypt with men leaving women to go in search of work in the surrounding cities, perhaps out of shame, as the recession hits and they can no longer take care of their families. In this way, Sheikh Ali Goma’a may well be attempting to protect the abandoned wives in this context, but is this the right way to go about it?
At the risk of making readers feel uncomfortable, this ruling has a very sexy legal undertone: the push and pull of politics as blind justice is no longer able to protect nor provide for those in need. In what looks like a showdown between the academic world and the ruling demographic, who will win?
You may like to have a read and see what you think; intensely fascinating……
When Divorced Doesn’t Mean Divorced
Sheikh Ali Goma’a
