Equal Parenting Alliance News – April 2006
© 2006 The Equal Parenting Alliance
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Let us know what you think
This is our first newsletter and we’d be pleased to get your feedback to hear what you think of it.
Would you rather have it sent to you as an Acrobat file by email, or would you rather download it? We’ll also make future newsletters available for browsing on our web site.
In future newsletters, we may also publish any comments or contributions you send us.
Q. How many family court judges does it take to change a light bulb?
A. The answer is not clear at the moment, this failed light bulb is a very serious issue which the court must consider most carefully. Of course, we cannot be sure why the light bulb failed so I shall ask CAFCASS to prepare an expert report for the court within 14 weeks asking for their comments. It is, of course, also possible that the light bulb failed due to some form of abuse, such as repeated turning on and off, and I understand that the social worker involved has also expressed her concerns that the bulb is never given sufficient time to ‘recover’ after it has been left on for a few hours.
The court has also heard some most worrying allegations that the bulb has sometimes been inappropriately left on during the day, frequently for hours at a time. This I find very concerning. In view of the fact that this court must be careful to consider only the best interests of the light bulb I shall instruct a guardian ad lightem to represent the bulb and establish it’s wishes and degree of understanding regarding the length of time it should remain on.
In the meantime, though it is unfortunate, it will be best for the bulb if it remains off and un-changed while these studies are undertaken and all the issues considered most carefully. However, in the bulb’s best interests we will – of course – ensure that it is inserted into a bulb holder under supervision once a fortnight for two hours, with no power applied and with the power switch left clearly
Where’s my membership card?
Most people who’ve joined in the last few weeks will not have received their promised welcome packs and membership cards.
Please accept our apologies for this, we’ve been waiting for agreement on our new logo before we print and send these out.
So please bear with us.
Will we be fighting local elections?
Several people have asked us if we are going to be putting up candidates in the upcoming local elections.
The short answer to this is: No, we won’t.
There are a number of reasons for this.
Firstly, as we are just starting out, we are not in a position – either financially or in the number and geographical spread of our members – to fight any elections at all yet.
Secondly, we will only generally be fighting for seats in the House of Commons and the European parliament. This is mainly because these elections get more publicity, especially at a national level. Of course, these policies will always be under review.
We expect our first election will be an opportunistic by-election somewhere where we have a suitable candidate available and a degree of local support. Realistically, it will probably be at least a year before we are in a position to fight for a seat.
Do we have local groups?
We’ve been asked if we have any local groups that members around the country can join. We don’t yet. Remember we’ve only been in existence as a party about six weeks, and haven’t got that many members yet.
Hopefully, our membership base will start to pick up and we’ll get to a point where there’s enough members in a region to warrant a local get together. Please let us know if you’re interested in getting in touch with other members in your area, and we’ll see what we can do.
Watch this space!
Tip: On the web site, clicking on the yellow highlighted ‘LATEST’ link on the top menu bar, will always take you to the most recently changed or newest page.
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