http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:00:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/28/moral-judgements-have-no-place-in-the-benefits-system/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/28/moral-judgements-have-no-place-in-the-benefits-system/#comments Thu, 28 Jun 2012 01:00:39 +0000 Ruth Whippman http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25725 If there’s one thing that David Cameron is clear about, it’s that he wants us all to do the ‘Right Thing,’ a phrase that popped up no less than seven times in his deeply moralising speech about the benefits system earlier this week. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/28/moral-judgements-have-no-place-in-the-benefits-system/feed/ 176 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/27/how-we-all-started-working-for-free-3/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/27/how-we-all-started-working-for-free-3/#comments Wed, 27 Jun 2012 07:00:09 +0000 Ruth Whippman http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25651 When I was a student, back in the early nineties, I had a holiday job at the frozen-food supermarket chain, Iceland. One morning, presumably fresh from a leadership course at Frosty HQ, our manager called all the staff together to admonish us for our apparent lack of enthusiasm for the sale of turkey nuggets. “Sometimes I feel that some of you are only in this for the money” she hissed. She was cut off by incredulous laughter. After all, what other motivation could there be for spending one’s weekend restocking a giant fridge freezer? ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/27/how-we-all-started-working-for-free-3/feed/ 54 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/21/how-the-mail-online-turned-us-into-misogyny-addicts/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/21/how-the-mail-online-turned-us-into-misogyny-addicts/#comments Mon, 21 May 2012 03:00:42 +0000 Ruth Whippman http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24349 Mail Online, the more insistent, bitchier spawn of the Daily Mail, is now the most visited newspaper site in the world. Its 45 million or so monthly visitors tune in for its unique mixture of human tragedy: “Pensioner watched in horror as husband choked to death on sample of free ham at Sainsbury’s deli counter,” and hope: “mollusc mucustouted to beat wrinkles.” But neither of these are the real draw. The reason why Mail Online has been so spectacularly successful is because it has perfected a genius formula for peddling misogyny, a formula as addictive as crack.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/21/how-the-mail-online-turned-us-into-misogyny-addicts/feed/ 104 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/01/as-long-as-the-catholic-church-pushes-homophobia-it-shouldn%e2%80%99t-be-allowed-to-run-state-schools/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/01/as-long-as-the-catholic-church-pushes-homophobia-it-shouldn%e2%80%99t-be-allowed-to-run-state-schools/#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 09:13:59 +0000 Ruth Whippman http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=23727 You have to hand it to the Catholic Church. It takes a certain level of chutzpah to come through arguably the most widespread global paedophile scandal in human history and its subsequent alleged cover-up, and still be dishing out moral guidance on ‘disordered sexual practices.’]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/01/as-long-as-the-catholic-church-pushes-homophobia-it-shouldn%e2%80%99t-be-allowed-to-run-state-schools/feed/ 379 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/25/time-to-stop-the-inverted-snobbery/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/25/time-to-stop-the-inverted-snobbery/#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:50:04 +0000 Ruth Whippman http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=23547 When Conservative MP Nadine Dorries described her own party’s leadership as “two arrogant posh boys who don’t know the price of milk “ on BBC2’s Daily Politics Show earlier this week, she declared open class war in the media, prompting yet another run of editorials and comment pieces condemning the toffs at the top. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/25/time-to-stop-the-inverted-snobbery/feed/ 94