Occupy London: Evenin' All

Some police officers getting ready to do a nice bit of peaceful evicting.
I wonder why they're doing it at night.
And why they've turned the St Paul's floodlights off. 
Because the starlight's so romantic?

Update: Ronan from Queer Resistance is interviewed during the eviction for BBC World Service's The World Today and discusses what happens next for the movement. 

Update2: And then with perfect timing the next morning; "Barclays Bank has been ordered by the Treasury to pay half-a-billion pounds in tax which it had tried to avoid" BBC News.

Occupy St Paul's: Friend Or Foe

Revd Giles Fraser, Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, resigned today because of the church's plans to evict Occupy London protesters camped outside.
Being a thoroughly modern vicar Giles announced it on Twitter.
"It is with great regret and sadness that I have handed in my notice at St Paul's Cathedral."
He told The Guardian; "I cannot support using violence to ask people to clear off the land. It is not about my sympathies or what I believe about the camp. I support the right to protest and in a perfect world we could have negotiated. But our legal advice was that this would have implied consent... The church cannot answer peaceful protest with violence."
Fagburn likes Giles Fraser.
Amongst his many good works, he is the founder and president of Inclusive Church;
"We call on our Church to live out the promise of the Gospel; to celebrate the diverse gifts of all members of the body of Christ; and in the ordering of our common life to open the ministries of deacon, priest and bishop to those so called to serve by God, regardless of their sex, race or sexual orientation."
(He's straight, since you're wondering).
Giles is a regular contributor to The Guardian.
Here is a piece on the Church of England and gay marriage; 500 Years Of Intolerance.
Of course not all his fellow churchmen agree with Giles Fraser.
On The Daily Mail's website Revd Peter Mullen writes; "The Bishop of London is quite right to say that the protesters should move on. It is a pity that he did not add the admonition to both them and to his Dean and Canons to grow up."
Revd Peter Mullen writes a lot for The Daily Mail, and is the Mail's go-to guy when they want a stupid quote from a reactionary cleric.
How reactionary?
In 2008, Mullen blogged;
"Let us make it obligatory for homosexuals to have their backsides tattooed with the slogan SODOMY CAN SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH.
"In addition, the obscene 'gay pride' parades and carnivals should be banned for they give rise to passive corruption, comparable to passive smoking. Young people forced to witness these excrescences are corrupted by them."
Which was nice.
Who do you think Jesus would support?

Fagburn: In Briefs

There are two big gay stories running at the moment, but apart from them there's not much been worth commenting on in the papers this week.
A friend told me it was half-term. Dunno why, but this always seems to happen on shool holidays.
YOU TELL ME!!!
So here are a few things "in brief" that Fagburn thought may be of interest...

• Although a current obsession of the media is babies as a lifestyle accesory for rich and famous gay men, new American research - All Children Matter: How Legal and Social Inequalities Hurt LGBT Families - suggests "Contrary to stereotypes, children being raised by same-sex couples are twice as likely to be living in poverty as children raised by married heterosexual households" (Summary). More on the media and marketing myth of gay men as a monied class - also much loved by our enemies on the right, of course - on the excellent Gay Money blog.

• Hopefully Fagburn won't be the last person in the virtual world to draw your attention to the genitaltastic, hilarious, but ultimately rather disturbing new video for Duck Soup's Big Bad Wolf. Can't wait to see Diva Fever do this.

• Fagburn is but of course in solidarity with everyone at Occupy London. And is so proud that two voices often heard speaking up for #occupylsx in the media have been our friends Naomi from UK Friends Of Bradley Manning and Ronan from Queer Resistance.

• It's Trade's 21st birthday on Saturday night Sunday morning - which makes Fagburn feel very old. Here's an interview with Laurence Malice to mark the occasion from the Independent blogs. One point on Axl Rose (note spelling) though: Fagburn witnessed this and it was one of Guns N Roses entourage asking if they could come along later, not Axl himself. Ever wondered what all the fuss was about? Here's Richard Smith's "award-winning" essay on a night at Trade Us Boys Together Clinging.

• Fagburn is gagging to see Lawrence Of Belgravia - the new documentary about my favourite failed Pop star, "Mad" Lawrence of Felt (and Denim fame). If you're not stuck in Brighton like me, you can see it at the London Film Festival this week.

• If you are stuck in Brighton, Owen Jones - author of Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class - is talking at Waterstone's this evening. I'm going. It's great that young Owen has become the go-to guy for sharp and fresh left-wing comment in the last few months, so why the hell wasn't he on the Newcomers section of The Independent's Pink List 2011?!!

• Flaunt magazine has a choice of two covers this month. One of James Franco sitting at a desk and one of his naked butt. Quite possibly a publishing first.

• Some bloke called Gareth Thomas is retiring from rugby. Snore! How many times? We don't do sport. But apropos of nada did you hear about the GT-tribute designer shoes by his chum, Christian Louboutin? A snip at £640!

• Russell Tovey returns to BBC3 with a new series of Him & Her. Not til next Tuesday mind, but there's a thing about it in The Independent today. And it means we can print a nice picture of the lovely "Ears" in his briefs. Enjoy!