David Cameron does indeed have a chance to act on global malnutrition this week at the G8 summit (Wood shavings for dinner: G8 urged to tackle scourge of malnutrition, 17 May). However, millions will continue to die or suffer chronic malnourishment unless he and other world leaders stop giving financial and political support for the failed industrialised food system that has exacerbated hunger and environmental degradation.

Barack Obama's plan for private-sector investment will bring scant comfort to our Mozambican partner, the national farmers' movement, União Nacional de Camponeses. Recent drives by Mozambique's government and World Bank policies to encourage private investment have lifted investors' rights above those of rural people. Moreover, private rural investment in many developing countries has not been shown to decrease poverty levels. On the contrary, this approach has encouraged land grabs, production of food and biofuels for export, as well as exploitation of workers, and worsened small-scale farmers' livelihoods.

Cameron, Obama and their counterparts must drop the failed model of food security for food sovereignty, which requires agrarian reform in favour of small producers and the landless, and the reorganisation of global food trade to prioritise local markets and self-sufficiency. It also demands tougher curbs on global food chain firms, such as supermarkets, and the democratisation of international financial institutions. The right to food is a human right, not a welfare issue.
Graciela Romero
International programmes director,
War on Want

Suzanne Moore (The Second Sexism is just victim-envy, G2, 17 May) would have her readers believe that my new book "details how men, not women, are discriminated against". I specifically noted that I do not deny that women are the victims of sexism. My argument is that men also are. Nor did I claim, as she suggests, that the problem is fundamentally attributable to feminism. I argued that most forms of discrimination against men long predate feminism and thus cannot be caused by it.

She also claims that I blur "the difference between disadvantage and discrimination". In fact, I specifically distinguished disadvantage from discrimination and noted that to make my argument I would need to show not merely that men are disadvantaged but that this is also the product of discrimination.
David Benatar
Cape Town, South Africa

Even the government now has discovered that pauperising people who already have little can still be a profitable business

Individually, the poor are not too tempting to thieves, for obvious reasons. Mug a banker and you might score a wallet containing a month's rent. Mug a janitor and you will be lucky to get away with bus fare to flee the crime scene. But as Businessweek helpfully pointed out in 2007, the poor in aggregate provide a juicy target for anyone depraved enough to make a business of stealing from them.

The trick is to rob them in ways that are systematic, impersonal, and almost impossible to trace to individual perpetrators. Employers, for example, can simply program their computers to shave a few dollars off each paycheck, or they can require workers to show up 30 minutes or more before the time clock starts ticking.

Lenders, including major credit companies as well as payday lenders, have taken over the traditional role of the street-corner loan shark, charging the poor insanely high rates of interest. When supplemented with late fees (themselves subject to interest), the resulting effective interest rate can be as high as 600% a year, which is perfectly legal in many states.

It's not just the private sector that's preying on the poor. Local governments are discovering that they can partially make up for declining tax revenues through fines, fees, and other costs imposed on indigent defendants, often for crimes no more dastardly than driving with a suspended license. And if that seems like an inefficient way to make money, given the high cost of locking people up, a growing number of jurisdictions have taken to charging defendants for their court costs and even the price of occupying a jail cell.

The poster case for government persecution of the down-and-out would have to be Edwina Nowlin, a homeless Michigan woman who was jailed in 2009 for failing to pay $104 a month to cover the room-and-board charges for her 16-year-old son's incarceration. When she received a back paycheck, she thought it would allow her to pay for her son's jail stay. Instead, it was confiscated and applied to the cost of her own incarceration.

Government joins the looters of the poor

You might think that policymakers would take a keen interest in the amounts that are stolen, coerced, or extorted from the poor, but there are no official efforts to track such figures. Instead, we have to turn to independent investigators, like Kim Bobo, author of Wage Theft in America, who estimates that wage theft nets employers at least $100bn a year and possibly twice that. As for the profits extracted by the lending industry, Gary Rivlin, who wrote Broke USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc – How the Working Poor Became Big Business, says the poor pay an effective surcharge of about $30bn a year for the financial products they consume and more than twice that if you include sub-prime credit cards, sub-prime auto loans, and sub-prime mortgages.

These are not, of course, trivial amounts. They are on the same order of magnitude as major public programs for the poor. The government distributes about $55bn a year, for example, through the largest single cash-transfer program for the poor, the Earned Income Tax Credit; at the same time, employers are siphoning off twice that amount, if not more, through wage theft.

And while government generally turns a blind eye to the tens of billions of dollars in exorbitant interest that businesses charge the poor, it is notably chary with public benefits for the poor. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, for example, our sole remaining nationwide welfare program, gets only (pdf) $26bn a year in state and federal funds. The impression is left of a public sector that's totally self-contradictory: on the one hand, offering safety net programs for the poor; on the other, enabling large scale private sector theft from the very people it is supposedly trying to help.

At the local level though, government is increasingly opting to join in the looting. In 2009, a year into the Great Recession, I first started hearing complaints from community organizers about ever more aggressive levels of law enforcement in low-income areas. Flick a cigarette butt and get arrested for littering; empty your pockets for an officer conducting a stop-and-frisk operation and get cuffed for a few flakes of marijuana. Each of these offenses can result, at a minimum, in a three-figure fine.

And the number of possible criminal offenses leading to jail and/or fines has been multiplying recklessly. All across the country – from California and Texas to Pennsylvania – counties and municipalities have been toughening laws against truancy and ratcheting up enforcement, sometimes going so far as to handcuff children found on the streets during school hours. In New York City, it's now a crime to put your feet up on a subway seat, even if the rest of the car is empty, and a South Carolina woman spent six days in jail when she was unable to pay a $480 fine for the crime of having a "messy yard". Some cities – most recently, Houston and Philadelphia – have made it a crime to share food with indigent people in public places.

Being poor itself is not yet a crime, but in at least a third of the states, being in debt can now land you in jail. If a creditor like a landlord or credit card company has a court summons issued for you and you fail to show up on your appointed court date, a warrant will be issued for your arrest. And it is easy enough to miss a court summons, which may have been delivered to the wrong address or, in the case of some bottom-feeding bill collectors, simply tossed in the garbage – a practice so common that the industry even has a term for it: "sewer service". In a sequence that National Public Radio reports is "increasingly common", a person is stopped for some minor traffic offense – having a noisy muffler, say, or broken brake light – at which point, the officer discovers the warrant and the unwitting offender is whisked off to jail.

Local governments as predators

Each of these crimes, neo-crimes, and pseudo-crimes carries financial penalties as well as the threat of jail time, but the amount of money thus extracted from the poor is fiendishly hard to pin down. No central agency tracks law enforcement at the local level, and local records can be almost willfully sketchy.

According to one of the few recent nationwide estimates, from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 10.5m misdemeanors were committed in 2006. No one would risk estimating the average financial penalty for a misdemeanor, although the experts I interviewed all affirmed that the amount is typically in the "hundreds of dollars". If we take an extremely lowball $200 per misdemeanor, and bear in mind that 80-90% of criminal offenses are committed by people who are officially indigent, then local governments are using law enforcement to extract, or attempt to extract, at least $2bn a year from the poor.

And that is only a small fraction of what governments would like to collect from the poor. Katherine Beckett, a sociologist at the University of Washington, estimates that "deadbeat dads" (and moms) owe (pdf) $105bn in back child-support payments, about half of which is owed to state governments as reimbursement for prior welfare payments made to the children. Yes, parents have a moral obligation to their children, but the great majority of child-support debtors are indigent.

Attempts to collect from the already-poor can be vicious and often, one would think, self-defeating. Most states confiscate the drivers' licenses of people owing child support, virtually guaranteeing that they will not be able to work. Michigan just started suspending the drivers' licenses of people who owe money for parking tickets. Las Cruces, New Mexico, just passed a law that punishes people who owe overdue traffic fines by cutting off their water, gas, and sewage.

Once a person falls into the clutches of the criminal justice system, we encounter the kind of slapstick sadism familiar to viewers of Wipeout. Many courts impose fees without any determination of whether the offender is able to pay, and the privilege of having a payment plan will itself cost money.

In a study of 15 states, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University found 14 of them contained jurisdictions that charge a lump-sum "poverty penalty" of up to $300 for those who cannot pay their fees and fines, plus late fees and "collection fees" for those who need to pay over time. If any jail time is imposed, that too may cost money, as the hapless Edwina Nowlin discovered, and the costs of parole and probation are increasingly being passed along to the offender.

The predatory activities of local governments give new meaning to that tired phrase "the cycle of poverty". Poor people are far more likely than the affluent to get into trouble with the law, either by failing to pay parking fines or by incurring the wrath of a private sector creditor like a landlord or a hospital.

Once you have been deemed a criminal, you can pretty much kiss your remaining assets goodbye. Not only will you face the aforementioned court costs, but you'll have a hard time ever finding a job again once you've acquired a criminal record. And then, of course, the poorer you become, the more likely you are to get in fresh trouble with the law, making this less like a "cycle" and more like the waterslide to hell. The further you descend, the faster you fall – until you eventually end up on the streets and get busted for an offense like urinating in public or sleeping on a sidewalk.

I could propose all kinds of policies to curb the ongoing predation on the poor. Limits on usury should be reinstated. Theft should be taken seriously even when it's committed by millionaire employers. No one should be incarcerated for debt or squeezed for money they have no chance of getting their hands on. These are no-brainers, and should take precedence over any long term talk about generating jobs or strengthening the safety net.

Before we can "do something" for the poor, there are some things we need to stop doing to them.

Inner-city violence breeds inner-city violence; and then desensitisation can creep up on a place – our place

The pub on the corner may be called the Elephant and Castle, but I'm a long way from home. I met Pam Bosley at St Sabina's Roman Catholic church in Chicago's south side. Her college student son Terell was shot dead by a stray bullet back in April 2006. As he was getting his drums out of the van in a busy street, he found himself in the middle of a gun battle. His murder remains unsolved. A photo-montage on the front of the church shows dozens of faces of local people who have been killed in random acts of everyday violence. The photo include one of Jarvis, the foster son of the parish priest of St Sabina's, Fr Michael Pfleger. Jarvis was killed by random gunfire in 1998. One weekend last month, 49 people were shot in the central Chicago area, with 10 dead.

Things are nowhere near this scale in south London, where I am a parish priest, but the same violence exists. In April, three local young men were convicted of shooting a five-year-old girl who was caught up in a turf war between the Brixton-based Guns And Shanks gang and their rivals, the Stockwell All 'Bout Money gang. Much of this gang culture originates in places like Chicago. In London, the police are know as "feds", and gang language is lifted straight out of US gangsta culture. So what does the US have to teach about how to tackle all of this?

"America is crazy for guns. We love guns more than life," Pam Bosley tells me, explaining that since the loss of Terell she has toured local schools giving talks on gun violence. The street price for a handgun round here starts at $25. Just to compare, a packet of cigarettes costs nearly $10. The common scam is to go and buy 100 or so guns from the local store, declare them stolen, claim the insurance and then sell them off cheap. Judging by a show of hands in the schools, the majority of pre-teens in the area know how to get hold of a gun.

The logic that justifies this astonishing availability of weapons is that of security: violence will be discouraged if the violent know their victims may themselves be armed. Guns keep us safe, is the line. The photos outside St Sabina's show what a terrible lie this argument is. But it is a lie so well established, so politically persuasive, that it permeates all the way from the desolate streets of the city's south side to the Nato summit meeting today in McCormick Place just up the road. Fear justifies the need for security. And the need for security justifies more spending on guns. For Nato, it used to be the Russians, but now it's Iran.

The problem with this logic is right under the noses of Nato leaders, should they venture out of their compounds. The murder rate in Chicago is up 54% this year. The Windy City now has more murders than New York which has more than twice the population. This is mostly down to the fact that the place is awash with guns and fear, with each of these continually justifying their own existence with respect to the other.

"What do the politicians say when you lobby them about guns?" I ask Pam Bosley. Most of them don't understand and don't care, she insists. The new mayor of the city, Rahm Emmanuel, thinks the answer is to put more police on the front line. But Pam believes this won't make any difference. There is a code of silence on the streets. Despite the many eye witnesses when Terell was shot, no one offered information about the killers. "We have become desensitised to the violence," she says. Thank God we do not have the same idiotic culture of gun ownership as they do in the US. But desensitisation creeps up on a place. And a code of silence certainly exists among some. The fact that violence is not at Chicago levels is nothing to take for granted.

Conservative party co-chairman says race played role in recent sexual abuse case in Rochdale

A small number of men of Pakistani heritage believe "white girls are fair game" for sexual abuse, the Conservative co-chair Sayeeda Warsi said on Friday.

In remarks which place her at odds with the Labour MP Keith Vaz and some women's groups, Lady Warsi made clear she believed race lay at the heart of the recent sexual abuse case in Rochdale.

"There is a small minority of Pakistani men who believe that white girls are fair game," Warsi told the London Evening Standard after the jailing of nine men for their part in a child sexual exploitation gang. "We have to be prepared to say that. You can only start solving a problem if you acknowledge it first."

Warsi, who is Britain's first Muslim to have a full cabinet seat, spoke out after the nine men from Rochdale were jailed for a total of 77 years at Liverpool crown court last week for sexually abusing young girls. The victims, the youngest of whom was 13 when the abuse began, were passed around the group of men for sex after being plied with food, alcohol and drugs.

Vaz, the former Europe minister who is now chairman of the commons home affairs select committee, said he did not believe the crimes were a "race issue".

But Warsi, who was prompted to speak out after her father condemned the abuse as "stomach-churningly sick", took a different view in her Evening Standard interview. "This small minority who see women as second class citizens, and white women probably as third class citizens, are to be spoken out against," she said.

The Tory co-chair also made clear that Muslim leaders needed to condemn the men's behaviour. "These were grown men, some of them religious teachers, or running businesses, with young families of their own. They knew this was wrong. Whether or not these girls were easy prey, they knew it was wrong.

"In mosque after mosque after mosque, this should be raised as an issue so that anybody who is remotely involved should start to feel that the community is turning on them. Communities have a responsibility to stand up and say: 'This is wrong, this will not be tolerated'."

The intervention by Warsi puts her at odds with some women's groups in addition to Vaz. Speaking on the day the men were sentenced, Vaz said: "It's quite wrong to stigmatise a whole community."

Vaz's remarks were echoed by Marai Larasi, co-chair of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, who told the Guardian last week: "An excessive focus on some cases of sexual exploitation with a primary focus on ethnicity rather than the exploitation itself is misleading and fuels racist attitudes which ultimately won't help women and girls."

Warsi said she spoke out after her father Safdar, who arrived in Britain from Pakistan in 1960 with £2 in his pocket, told her to speak out. Over dinner shortly after the men were sentenced, Warsi's father asked her what the government was going to do.

The Tory co-chair recalled in her interview: "Dad then said: 'Well, what are you doing about it?' I said: 'Oh, it's not me, it's a Home Office issue'."

Warsi's father called on his daughter to do better. "He said to me: 'Sayeeda, what is the point in being in a position of leadership if you don't lead on issues that are so fundamental? This is so stomach churningly sick that you should have been out there condemning it as loudly as you could. Uniquely, you are in a position to show leadership on this.' I thought to myself, he's absolutely right'."

Warsi, who praised the British Muslim Forum and the Muslim Council of Britain for a "fantastic" response in the wake of the sentencing, said the authorities should not allow cultural sensitivities to prevent investigations involving minority ethnic communities. "Cultural sensitivity should never be a bar to applying the law," she said.

If the authorities failed to act in an "open and front-footed" way it would "create a gap for extremists to fill, a gap where hate can be peddled".

This contrasted with Vaz, who warned that the criminal justice system should not "dance to the tune of the British National party."

Warsi has recently faced criticism from Conservative MPs who believe that she is one of the cabinet's weak links. But Warsi shored up her position last week with a strong performance in front of the Conservative 1922 committee.

France's government has equal numbers of men and women for the first time in its history. Here are some of the women

Christiane Taubira, justice

The 60-year-old is the highest-ranking woman in the cabinet. She has been an MP in French Guiana since 1993 and wrote a French law in 2001 making slavery a crime against humanity. In 2002, she was France's first black candidate for the presidency.

Marisol Touraine, social affairs and health

The Harvard-educated head of the general council for the Indre-et-Loire region in central France is a specialist in social affairs. Touraine, 53, will have a central role in the debate over how France can cut its deficit while maintaining its social welfare model and costly health system.

Cécile Duflot, regions and housing

The outgoing head of the Greens was the only minister to travel by public transport to this week's first cabinet meeting but was attacked for wearing jeans by Nadine Morano from Nicolas Sarkozy's rightwing UMP. She is the daughter of a rail worker and a teacher, and trained as a town planner. Supporters describe the 37-year-old as down-to-earth.

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, women's rights, government spokeswoman

At 34, she is the youngest minister in the cabinet. Born in rural Morocco, arrived in France aged four to join her immigrant father, who worked in construction. Gained French nationality at 18 and has kept her dual nationality. As a local councillor in Lyon, she served as one of François Hollande's spokespeople during the presidential campaign and had also been a spokeswoman for the former Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal, who lost to Sarkozy in 2007.

I remember living with innocent people in jail. You don't know it at the time, though sometimes there are clues

Seeing the pictures of Sam Hallam enjoying his first steps of freedom after being cleared of the 2004 murder of Essayas Kassahun brought back vivid recollections from my own prison experience. Hallam served seven years before evidence emerged proving beyond doubt that he was innocent. But I can imagine how it must have been for him as he trod the landings, first of all at Feltham young offender institution and later in the adult prison system. His case would have been at the forefront of his thoughts, from his waking moment to the seconds before sleep. I doubt he ever slept well.

For the seven years he served, the core subject of the majority of his conversations, with fellow prisoners, with staff, with friends and loved ones on visits and in letters would have been his innocence. His supporters – and Hallam had many, including the actor Ray Winstone – would have believed him. But on the landings, on the yard and in the workshops it would have been different. During risk assessments by a multitude of prison professionals, all his protestations and rationalisations would have been interpreted as "cognitive distortions". His file would have been stamped, IDOM. In Denial of Murder. As an IDOM, his risk level would have been deemed too high to allow him to progress through the system. If he hadn't been cleared, his prison future would have looked bleaker than the genuinely guilty.

His sentence had a beginning, but no middle and no end.

I remember living with innocent people. You don't know it at the time, though sometimes there are clues. In one high security prison I lived alongside a number of IRA prisoners, one of whom was the highest-ranking IRA officer in British custody at the time. The same prison held three of the Birmingham Six. I saw how uneasy the IRA men became whenever they encountered any of the three, in the gym or on the yard. It was obvious to any observer that the Birmingham men had no connection with the bombers.

In other cases the truth is not so obvious. If someone in a neighbouring cell wants to proclaim his innocence, well that's his business. Inside it's every man for himself. Who is anyone in there to judge anyway? But when someone you've served alongside for years is eventually cleared, the impact is shattering.

George Long was such a man. Good old George, always had a smile and an offer of help whenever it was needed. When the prison chaplain decided to stage a musical for local elderly people in the chapel, George, skilled with arts and crafts, begged, borrowed and, ahem, stole, the raw materials to make the costumes. He worked so hard, often through the night to get everything ready for the show. He said to me once: "I might not supposed to be in here, but while I am I'm going to do some good." Fifteen years on, George got his shout at the court of appeal and his conviction for murder was quashed. John Roberts was another. In his early 20s he too was convicted of murder. I used to sit next to him in the braille transcription workshop. Every day he told me and others he was innocent. "My mum knows I didn't do it," he'd say, "She'll never give up on me." Sure enough and again after 15 years I opened a newspaper one day to see a picture of John on the steps of the appeal court after his conviction was quashed – with his mother at his side.

"Thank goodness for mothers," I remember thinking.

When Stephen Downing walked free after 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, I was the last prisoner he spoke to. I worked in the prison reception area. The discomfort of the prison officers who had to administer his release was palpable. Stephen, who had been convicted aged 15 was naturally buoyant. Some months earlier he'd shown me a report from the prison psychologist describing him as "highly dangerous". We shook hands and I wished him good luck just before the big gate slid open and out he strolled. As I watched him go I remember my heart pounding probably almost as hard as his.

Like anyone should be, I'm glad for Sam Hallam. Murder victims should never be forgotten. But like George, John, Stephen and countless others over the years Sam too was served badly by the justice system and turned into a victim. Being sentenced to life imprisonment is only, to my mind, marginally better than being sentenced to death.

For many lifers a death sentence is what it becomes. Sam's release is good news, but we mustn't forget there will be others in there who may never get their shout.

• Follow Comment is free on Twitter @commentisfree

Joyce Banda's promise to repeal homosexuality laws welcomed by gay rights campaigners across Africa

Malawi's new president has pledged to lift the country's ban on homosexuality, breaking ranks from much of Africa where such activity remains a crime.

Joyce Banda, who came to power in April on the death of her predecessor, said in her first state of the nation address on Friday: "Indecency and unnatural acts laws shall be repealed." She described the measure as a matter of urgency.

Elsewhere in the speech, Banda said her government wanted to normalise relations with "our traditional development partners who were uncomfortable with our bad laws".

But repealing a law requires a parliamentary vote and, although Banda's party commands a majority, it is unclear how much support the move would have in this socially conservative nation.

Malawi was widely condemned for the conviction and 14-year prison sentences given in 2010 to two men who were arrested after celebrating their engagement and were charged with unnatural acts and gross indecency.

The president at the time, Bingu wa Mutharika, pardoned the couple on "humanitarian grounds only", while claiming they had "committed a crime against our culture, against our religion, and against our laws".

Mutharika died from a heart attack in April. Banda, who was vice-president, stepped in to serve out his term, which ends in 2014. She has hit the ground running with a cabinet reshuffle, the sacking of the police chief and sweeping reforms to break from Mutharika's autocratic rule.

Her audacious plan to legalise homosexuality was welcomed by the campaigner Gift Trapence, executive director of the Centre for the Development of People. "If that's what the president said, Malawi is going in the right direction in terms of human rights and meeting international human rights standards, and saying people are equal irrespective of sexual orientation," he said.

Banda has previously demonstrated her liberal attitudes on the issue, he continued. "When she was vice-president she was invited to address a group of religious leaders and she spoke in favour of including LGBT communities in HIV interventions."

Trapence said Banda's stand offers hope in a continent where homosexuality is criminalised in 37 countries. "It has come at the right time as the African Union is coming to attend a summit in Malawi. This sends a good message to the African heads of state who will attend."

Trapence said the gay couple whose engagement caused a storm, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, were no longer together. Chimbalanga gained asylum in Cape Town, South Africa, while Monjeza is serving a three-year prison sentence for theft.

"They will be happy at this decision," he added. "They will look back at how they suffered and were incarcerated and have a smile that at least they did something to influence the sodomy laws under which they were convicted."

Wapona Kita, one of Malawi's leading human rights lawyers, said he welcomed the president's announcement. "She has done the right thing. The repeal of this bad law is long overdue."

The law is "unconstitutional against international human rights standards", he added.

Undule Mwakasungula, executive director of the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, said: "This is good news for us as we have been advocating for these sodomy laws to be reviewed or repealed as part of all the bad laws. Now that president Joyce Banda has indicated that the sodomy laws will be part of the laws to be repealed, this is very welcome development."

In South Africa, the only African country with laws protecting gay rights, activist Mark Heywood said Banda would have international support. "I hope that she is persuasive enough in her own country," he told the Associated Press. "It's really important for other African countries other than South Africa to move in this direction. Symbolically, I think it is very important for Africa."

A report this week from Kenya and Uganda by the watchdog Human Rights First found that African homosexuals who fled persecution in their countries were abducted, beaten and raped in the places where they sought asylum.

It cited examples including two refugee women in Uganda who were abducted and raped because they had been assisting LGBT refugees, five cases of "corrective rape" of lesbian or transgender male refugees in Uganda and a gay Somali teenager in Kenya who was doused in petrol and would have been set on fire if not for the intervention of an older Somali woman.

Human Rights First, a US-based non-governmental organisation, called on Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, to help make sure that LGBT refugees gain access to safety and protection from violence.

Shezad Hussain admits contempt of court after juror on another case spotted him smoking at bus stop during lunch hour

A juror on a rape trial who smoked a cannabis joint in his lunch hour was today fined £450 after admitting contempt of court.

Shezad Hussain, 26, smoked the drug at a bus stop just yards from the entrance to Bolton crown court, Greater Manchester.

But he was spotted by a juror on another case who alerted police. Hussain at first denied but then admitted the offence, blaming stress following a violent attack on his family-owned corner shop by "gangsters".

The father of one from Bolton had been one of 12 jurors on a week-long case of a man accused of raping a child.

Hussain was dismissed from the jury on Monday, charged with contempt of court and told to speak to a solicitor.

Mayor Emanuel is spending millions entertaining Nato – and millions more to stifle protest at Chicago's dire levels of poverty

• Gary Younge's report on Emanuel's Chicago and Nato

Chicago is bracing itself for the upcoming summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) this weekend. An unprecedented convergence of summit delegates and their entourages, protesters, and police, is meeting in the third largest city in the United States – the first time in the United States that a city other than Washington, DC will host a Nato event.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff of President Barack Obama, lobbied for the summit to be held in Chicago. Last summer, when it was announced, Emanuel enthusiastically claimed:

"From a city perspective, this will be an opportunity to showcase what is great about the greatest city in the greatest country … It's an opportunity for the City of Chicago economically, but also a message internationally about why Chicago is a city that's on the move and, if you're thinking of investing, Chicago is a place to invest."

Bringing Nato to Chicago fits with Emanuel's plans to project Chicago as a "world-class city", where the rich and powerful come to wheel and deal. In fact, the central business area of Chicago, the Loop, has been turned into just that, with multimillion-dollar parks, adorned with posh restaurants, hotels and, of course, the Michigan Avenue shopping district. This is the Chicago that millionaire Mayor Rahm Emanuel hopes to show off during the Nato summit.

To successfully showcase Chicago, the Emanuel administration has for months tried to limit the protests that inevitably accompany these international gatherings of the global elite. Protesters have been portrayed as violent lawbreakers whose only aim is to cause trouble. Emanuel has used the pretext of hypothetical violence to rewrite the laws governing protest, while spending millions of dollars on new police riot gear and other crowd-control equipment, and bringing thousands of federal, local and state police into the city for the summit.

Beginning last fall, Emanuel cracked down on the Occupy movement in Chicago by arresting 300 people participating in successive attempts to establish an Occupy camp, as was happening across the nation. The message was sent that protesters would be aggressively handled.

But that was only a short-term goal for the Emanuel administration. The investment in new riot gear, including hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on masks for police helmets, is not just for the two-day affair of the Nato summit. Rather, their long-term use has to do with the "other Chicago".

The other Chicago will not be on display during the Nato summit. Though only a few city blocks from where the summit will be held, the other Chicago is a million miles from the gala and parties that will accompany the global 1%'s Chicago enclave. This other Chicago is racked by poverty, unemployment, and home foreclosures – and is hemmed in by a notoriously violent police force.

Just days before the summit is to commence, Cook County (which encompasses Chicago) has agreed to pay yet another African-American victim of police torture, who spent years in prison for a crime he did not commit – after his confession was extracted savage beatings and having a plastic bag placed over his head. Chicago is, of course, home to the nation's first African-American president,; it also has the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of black unemployment and the highest levels of black poverty, at 21% and 33% respectively.

From these conditions of poverty has arisen such an intense hopelessness that Chicago has become the youth murder capital of the United States. More than 530 young people have been killed since 2008 – nearly 80% of them living in the 22 neighborhoods that comprise the majority of blacks and Latinos living in the city.

It was also this Chicago that Emanuel had in mind when he introduced new regulations governing the right to protest in Chicago. The new requirements, referred to by activists as "the sit-down-and-shut-up" ordinance, increases fines for non-violent civil disobedience, calls for protest organizers to secure a $1m insurance policy for demonstrations, and a requirement that " all banners, signs, or other attention-getting devices" be registered with the city beforehand, among many other regulations. When the ordinance was first introduced, the Emanuel administration suggested that the ordinance would be temporary and just for the Nato protests. But it soon declared it permanent.

Meanwhile, it is estimated that the city will spend between $55-65m to host the summit. Emanuel has pledged that this money will come from private donors and the federal government. Maybe so, but for ordinary Chicagoans, merely the idea of spending tens of millions of dollars to host Nato for two days is a kick in the teeth – wherever the money comes from. Since Emanuel came into office, a year ago, he has advocated cutting hours at public libraries, closing mental health clinics, raising fees for city services, and has led the charge to either close or privatize public schools.

Even if this summit funding is raised privately, the idea that Emanuel can persuade wealthy philanthropists to host dinner parties for Nato delegates, but not to keep libraries or desperately needed public health clinics open shows the mayor's real priorities.

This clash of priorities against the backdrop of a Nato summit where countries will discuss how to spend billions more on the failed war in Afghanistan has prompted a wide range of protests in the week leading up to the summit. From demonstrations for immigrants' rights to protests against evictions and foreclosures in Chicago, local and national activists have looked to connect the costs of war to the crises of poverty and austerity driven budgets. The culmination of these protests will occur on Sunday 20 May, when the diverse and broad Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty (CANG8) will lead a march of thousands to protest Nato and its presence in Chicago.

Octavius Black, founder of Parent Gym, says 'dream' is to offer classes to all parents of children entering primary school

An important player in the government's trial of parenting classes has said he wants to give free lessons to the mothers and fathers of every child in the country entering primary school.

Octavius Black, a multimillionaire contemporary of David Cameron at Eton, said he wanted to introduce his Parent Gym programme nationwide after it was included in a government trial of free parenting classes launched by the prime minister.

Cameron said the classes should be taken as seriously as driving lessons and insisted the idea to train 50,000 parents in how to bring up their children was not an example of the nanny state but "the sensible state".

Black founded the Parent Gym programme, which runs in 22 schools in the most deprived areas of London, using profits from the sale of his Mind Gym "brain workout" sessions to corporate clients. His training method has been backed by the London mayor, Boris Johnson, and involves nine two-hour sessions for parents. Themes include communication, managing relationships, play and learning, parenting styles, rules and routines, and creating a supporting and nurturing home environment.

Parent Gym is one of 15 organisations that will deliver the lessons for mums and dads as part of a trial which is expected to reach over 50,000 parents. Others include Barnardo's, Save the Children and the National Childbirth Trust.

From this week parents in Camden in north London, Middlesbrough and the High Peak area of Derbyshire can pick up a £100 taxpayer-funded voucher for the service from branches of Boots.

Cameron said the classes would provide "clear, professionally-led advice on everything from teething to tantrums".

Black said on Friday: "Our absolute dream is to provide Parent Gym to every parent whose child comes into reception [class] across the nation."

Labour this week questioned the government's decision to include Parent Gym on the list of trial providers because of "the close friendship between Octavius Black, Michael Gove and David Cameron".

"It is important that we understand what discussions Mr Black had with fellow members of the Tory government's inner circle on this policy," said Kevin Brennan, the shadow schools minister.

Black's lawyers have said he had no discussions with Cameron or Gove during the tender process. Parent Gym has also said it does not intend to make any money from the programme and will provide the classes free of charge, donating the £100 voucher to local schools.

The Parent Gym coaches are trained in the Mind Gym method, which the company says is "grounded in robust science".

The government believes its parenting programme could save taxpayers money in the long run. "The evidence shows very clearly that if we wish to give each child the chance to fulfil their potential, the foundation years before the age of five are absolutely critical," said the Department for Education. "Support during this time is both one of the most effective types of intervention, and the most cost effective."

Academic research has suggested formal training for parents could be effective in reducing future social problems but there is a lack of long-term evidence.

A recent study led by the National University of Ireland involving academics from England and Wales examined the impact of parental training on 636 people involving children aged from three to 12. It concluded "group-based parenting programmes improve childhood behaviour problems and the development of positive parenting skills in the short-term, whilst also reducing parental anxiety, stress and depression". The cost of around £1,700 per family was "modest when compared with the long-term social, educational and legal costs associated with childhood conduct problems".

The award-winning ensemble – two raucous women and their straight-man producer – are familiar as Land of Hope and Glory

"Just in case you've been on Mars, we might tell you about a wonderful night we had in London …" David Reeves begins. "We got the top award," Beryl Renwick clarifies. "Yes. We got the top one. Gold," Betty Smith finishes. Smith and Renwick, at 90 and 86 respectively, are the oldest people ever to win a Gold at the Sony awards (on Monday last week, for their show on BBC Radio Humberside). It's not even a lifetime's service to radio award – they have only been going six years. I think it is the mixture of intended and unintended comedy. It wouldn't work if they were just being funny by accident, but some of the more surreal moments wouldn't work if they were doing it on purpose.

Reeves is a nice, presentable 35-year-old, and this ensemble – a brace of raucous older women, with a pretend-disapproving straight man – will be as familiar to you when you hear it as Land of Hope and Glory. It's a bit Carry On, a bit Ealing, quintessentially English, ineffably funny. It's been significantly updated – the stand-out moment for me was when Beryl and Betty did a rap over Don't Stop Me Now (they do the words – "I'm a sex machine, ready to reload", which is droll for their dry delivery – but they also chat all the way through: "I think you were out of tune, there". "I don't think I was. I think I was good.") It's all a lot more artful than just two people chatting, and Reeves is clearly a bit (just a smidge … a tiny, tiny bit) vexed to have been cut out of the picture. "I honestly don't think some people writing about it have listened to it. I can't just put the faders on and let them get on with it. They wouldn't have a clue." But his co-presenters themselves appreciate him plenty. "I tell you what," Beryl says fondly, at one point, "we couldn't do what you're doing." "Couldn't be twiddling knobs," Betty avers.

This is the first show they have recorded since winning the award, and they are under an avalanche of well-wishing. Someone even cold-called Beryl to ask her to write a piece about what it was like being the same age as the queen (this went down really badly, the unsolicited contact. "It's not nice," she told Betty. "Don't you entertain anybody, whatever you do." "I won't. I'll tell them to get knotted." "Well, no, don't be rude.")

Renwick and Smith met in 1999, at a social club they both joined when they were widowed (Betty in 1998, Beryl in the 80s). They didn't meet Reeves until they did a tour of the radio station with this social club. He recalls: "They said: 'Can you play any Frank Sinatra? Aren't you handsome?' and then started ruffling my hair." This was the encounter that gave David the idea for the show. It's funny, and I think it's saucier than I realise. At one point Betty says about David: "He wants his legs wiping down, doesn't he Beryl?" I'm a bit scared of what that even means.

Beryl is probably the chattier of the two, but Betty has a laugh that is almost ceaseless. She's like one of those nuclear power stations whose alarm is going constantly, so that when you hear the sound of silence, you know something really serious has happened. I'd say they are pretty competitive. "She's had no children, you know," Betty says, as a complete non sequitur, in the middle of Beryl talking about her first wage cheque. "I've had 10." Starting at 21, finishing at 39, Betty was pregnant on and off for 18 years but even the youngest is now 51, and the oldest 70. Her grandchildren alone would constitute a bigger audience than a lot of things get on BBC4. She used to have an actual bar in her house, but since her husband died, has scaled down her decorative alcohol to a shelf of miniatures all the way round her living room (I didn't see her house, I was just told about it. "But I've never been drunk in my life," she says, to clarify).

I'm interested to know whether they have renegotiated their fee since the award. That's what Frank Skinner would have done, if he had won. "We're getting paid now," Beryl says, "but we would never be the kind of people who would ask for money." Betty adds: "I want to keep on doing this for as long as I can." Worst. Negotiators. Ever. But great radio, and a strangely moving trio. "So long as he doesn't call us old dears," Beryl tells me. "I say: 'Excuse me, we are two recycled teenagers.'"

No, this is not a Scandinavian boutique hotel, it is a class A prison housing murderers and rapists

Excerpts from videos published by the NHS designed to help new parents through the first five years of their child's life

LGBTI people fleeing persecution in home country among most vulnerable and isolated of all refugees, finds study

African homosexuals who flee persecution in their own countries are abducted, beaten and raped in the places where they seek asylum, a study of Kenya and Uganda has found.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people are among the most vulnerable and isolated of all refugees, according to the report by watchdog Human Rights First (pdf). This is especially true in places where they are at heightened risk owing to violent attacks, discrimination and laws that criminalise same-sex relations.

The US-based non-governmental organisation has called on Hillary Clinton, the American secretary of state, to help make sure that LGBTI refugees gain access to safety and protection from violence in their countries of asylum.

Human Rights First examined the plight of LGBTI refugees in Kenya and Uganda, two countries where homosexuality is illegal.

Its report The Road to Safety cites examples of violence, including:

• Two refugee women in Uganda who were abducted and raped in 2010 because they had been assisting LGBTI refugees.

• A gay male refugee in Uganda who was locked in his home and a group of refugees tried to burn him alive last November.

• Five cases of "corrective rape" of lesbian or transgender male refugees in Uganda were reported by NGOs between June and November 2011.

•A gay Somali teenager in Kenya who was doused in petrol in 2010 and would have been set on fire by a crowd of Somali teenagers in Eastleigh, Nairobi, if not for the intervention of an older Somali woman.

Human Rights First said Kenya and Uganda host more than half a million refugees between them, with sizeable populations from countries including Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Burundi.

LGBTI refugees reported high levels of prejudice within refugee communities, which denies them access to the refugee social networks, a major source of social support.

Some have been forced to relocate their homes frequently to avoid the scrutiny and potential hostility of landlords, neighbours or other refugees who would harass, threaten or evict them if their sexual orientation or gender identity were discovered, the report adds.

"Moreover, host governments aggravate the risks for LGBTI refugees by making discrimination official government policy," its authors say, noting that "public rhetoric demonising homosexuality has been particularly vicious" since Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill was introduced in October 2009. One example was a newspaper front page that published the names and photographs of 100 alleged homosexuals under the headline "Hang Them!".

The report continues: "Although public rhetoric in Kenya has been generally less violent, LGBTI persons do face discrimination, harassment and sometimes violence. A conviction in Kenya for consensual sexual conduct between men carries a five-year jail sentence."

LGBTI refugees face particular difficulties in reporting threats or attacks to the police, the report adds. They are vulnerable to abuse and extortion by police officers, some of whom use laws that criminalise same-sex relations to threaten arrest unless bribes are paid.

"These laws, as well as broader societal discrimination, also undermine access to asylum and make it very difficult for LGBTI refugees to find effective protection and lasting solutions to their displacement."

Human Rights First urged the UN and relevant NGOs to help LGBTI refugees report violent incidents to the police, conduct outreach to refugee communities to tackle violence by other refugees, and work with domestic LGBTI organisations to provide access to emergency hotlines, legal services and security training.

It also called for LGBTI refugees to have access to safe shelter, with accommodation options separate from where other refugee populations live, and improved access to speedy resettlement.

David Cameron says we could all be better parents with a few lessons. Share your nuggets of wisdom for new parents

David Cameron is defending parenting classes, arguing that they are in no way a "nanny state" policy. His Can Parent initiative is allowing parents to fund classes through £100 vouchers handed out at Boots in some areas. Launching the scheme, Cameron said:

"It's ludicrous that we should expect people to train for hours to drive a car or use a computer but, when it comes to looking after a baby, we tell people to just get on with it"

If you have children, what is your single best piece of parenting advice?

• Follow Comment is free on Twitter @commentisfree

We round up the best advice from our recent live Q&A on how to improve the 'investment readiness' of social enterprises

Jonathan Jenkins, chief executive, The Social Investment Business Group

Investment readiness IS NOT:

• a bit of consultancy, polishing a business plan or some flashy powerpoint slides

• telling an investor they should be interested, even if it doesn't fit their criteria, because it's doing a good thing

• presenting utterly unrealistic income growth projections

Investment readiness IS:

• relationship building and listening to what an investor is interested in funding, understanding how they structure it, what their financial/social return expectations are

• presenting BOTH viable model and a credible management team - you can't have one without the other.

• getting a quick "no" rather than a long drawn out "maybe"

• the mental resilience to keep going when you are faced with rejection - which will happen

Investors should not ignore profit distributing vehicles: I think there is a massive untapped pool of social businesses, which might not be a CIC or a charity, but are clearly doing good, and should not be seen as rapacious capitalists

Resource

Social Investment Business is running a £10m Investment and Contract readiness fund for the Cabinet Office. We have a panel of most of the UK social investors (chaired by Big Society Capital) looking at applications from readiness "providers" and will be accepting applications from social ventures in the next month or so.

I think UnLtd's Big Venture Challenge was one of the best variations on a theme - it selected 25 ventures and put money into them directly. They used potential future investors to help them make the selection, and as a result many have gone on to get investment from people who had never previously invested in impact investments.

Azlina Bulmer, programmes and development manager, Charity Bank

Social investors do look for 'social impact': There are so many different ways of measuring impact, including a a social return on investment (SROI). While measuring impact is an important, unfortunately there is no single method which would satisfy more than one investor, so it is also important that any method chosen is not going to be too burdensome for the organisation.

Investors must break down the language barrier: There is a need to bridge the gap between social investors and social enterprise. There is much resistance to even looking at social investment as an option. Many thinks it is complicated and perhaps as investors we are guilty for not making things simpler.

One size does not fit all: We must never forget that each organisation is its own entity and therefore should be treated as such.

Get feedback: If investors turn you down, really push them for their reason(s).

The money is out there: Most investors will say that there is actually quite a lot of money available to lend; what we are not seeing is good number of proposals. With Big Society Capital, you will see more money became available.

Resources

One organisation that really stands out for me is The Lighthouse Group in Bradford. They started with a relatively small investment from us less than 10 years ago and now they operate nationally.

James Wise, portfolio director, Social Business Trust

Those seeking investment should ask the following questions:

• what do you need funding for? (For instance, growth or subsistence?)

• what type of funding is most suitable? (Do you have time to find grants, the willingness to share equity or the resources to pay back loans)

• who are the right people to provide this? (If grants, foundations or HNWs?, if loans is it banks or social investors?)

Investors will look at the market: We have seen social enterprises with a great team that tick all the boxes below, but are providing a product or service that is in a small or shrinking market. If this is the case, you have to focus on how you will outperform the competition / diversify into new areas to achieve growth.

Consider grant funding: With regards to organisations with low / no revenues, an initial option is to find grant funding to help build the resources to find new ways to raise revenues. While it is certainly more difficult to get paid for services in the social sector at the moment, the landscape is changing very quickly and new opportunities are opening up.

Resources

Many funding bodies are set-up specifically to provide grants so that social enterprises can explore these new routes. See Social Business Trust, Impetus and UnLtd. Some Government funds are also available.

Stephen Rockman, founder, Merism Capital

Offering an investor an ROI is pointless: Its hard to know what/how investors are targetting and, personally, I find it slightly presumptuous. Invariable such calculations are pretty basic and therefore more or less meaningless.

Investors don't believe forecasts: The business model how/where you make money/surplus is key to the piece.

Questions regarding structure are indicative of two things: (These include 'how is impact measures?' and 'who invests pre-revenue?')

• social entrepreneurs need to get smarter in terms of how/when they approach investors (timing is everything)

• we investors need to do a much better job of explaining what we do both to each other and potential investees.

More initiatives are needed: Big Venture Capital was great. The sub £250k market failure exists in many sectors and is worse here than the other side of the pond. I hope that we'll not be the only seed impact fund for much longer and that also angel initiatives start to deliver

Peer2peer networks: These are essential for entrepreneurs in building skills, providing critical input and creating a critical mass that will attract investors. 100% of our deals come via networks we've grown, created via hubwestminster or support.

Prachi Mathur, associate vice-president, Intellecap

The key milestones from pre-startup to sustainable/investable social enterprise are:

• Proven revenue model - show that your product/service brings funds into the company on a regular basis

• You have broken even - show your revenue now meets your costs

• You have a strong team / second line of management

• You have clear organisation structure and have put in place systems and processes to manage next phase of growth

• Your customers and vendors speak highly of you and the services

• The business can rapidly grow - i.e. there is strong demand for the product/services and this growth will require further capital infusion

Sustainability is essential: Grants can only take you to a particular point, after which the enterprise will have to look for more grants. Hence, it is important that we look to create sustainable enterprises who are able to fund themselves over a period of time.

Resources

It is for this very reason that Intellecap has started the Intellecap Impact Investment Network - to facilitate early stage investments (less than USD 500,000) by creating a dedicated and passionate community of angel investors. Some of these angel investors are also first time impact investors.

• Dipika Prasad, who works with Prachi, adds that the Sankalp Forum, run by Intellecap, outlines '5 tips to improve your chances of receiving capital.'

Servane Mouazan, chief executive and founder, Ogunte

A co-mentoring programme is certainly useful: These help people access incubators or finance platforms better equipped. This probably helped the 25 Big Venture Challenge winners.

Resources

Ogunte's Wave PI - Pre Incubator prepares women social entrepreneurs to go on that investment (or financing) journey. In parallel, we work with aspiring women activist angels, so that they understand the profile of applicants, their resilience level, the sector they are evolving in, what behaviour they will come across, and how they can then best invest knowing all this.

This talk by Halla Tomadottir about the way they invest at Audur Capital.

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the social enterprise network, click here.

Former foreign secretary highlights costs of youth unemployment as he attacks George Osborne's austerity measures

The Labour party is stirring. The appointment of Jon Cruddas as the party's policy co-ordinator has been widely welcomed while Tony Blair is letting it be known that he supports Labour's call for a renewed focus on growth.

And now David Miliband has popped up with a highly significant intervention. In a speech on the Queen's speech in the House of Commons on Thursday, the former foreign secretary gave a stark warning of the dramatically escalating costs of youth unemployment.

Miliband said this will cost £30bn over the next ten years. This is a particularly startling figure because it represents a £2bn rise on the estimated cost of youth unemployment announced by Miliband just three months ago when he launched the Association of Chief Executive and Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) commission on youth unemployment in February.

This is what Miliband told MPs on Thursday:

We costed the levels of youth unemployment on the basis of the figures for the first quarter of 2011, which showed a net present value cost of some £28bn. I asked the university of Bristol to rerun the figures for the last quarter of 2011, which it has done, and the calculation now stands at £30bn. In the space of 2011, the net present value cost has gone up by £2bn. That seems to me to be two billion reasons for a greater degree of urgency and effectiveness in government policy.

George Osborne had the grace to remain in the chamber for the speech by Miliband in which he outlined the "massive problem" of long term youth unemployment. He said that 260,000 young people have been unemployed for more than a year. A further 200,000 have been unemployed for more than six months – a situation that is getting worse.

Miliband, who said the government's Work Programme is only helping one in 50 of the young unemployed find a job, called on the chancellor to take three steps:

• Require all public contracts over £1m to offer apprenticeships to young people.

• Bring forward from 2014 money to raise the size of the wage subsidy or the number of people helped. This was introduced last April and its impact is "at best unproven", Miliband said.

• "Bite the bullet" and introduce a part-time job guarantee because every study shows that without this one year's unemployment will become "three, four or five years' unemployment".

Miliband then used his speech to launch a powerful assault on the government's claim that Britain has entered a double dip recession as a result of the troubles in the eurozone. The former foreign secretary said Europe "cannot be the alibi for the collapse of our economy" over the last 18 months. Britain has experienced worse growth than the following EU countries since Osborne announced his spending review in the autumn of 2010 – Germany, France, Poland, Sweden, Austria and Slovakia.

Miliband, who told the Guardian Open Weekend in March that the coalition was following a "masochistic strangulation strategy", told MPs:

The chancellor's claim about the problem that the eurozone mess is causing for our economy is actually undermining his own promise to rotate our economy from domestic demand to external demand. The question is: what should we do about that? He says that the lesson is to stay the course.

I say that when the external environment changes, we should change course. The storm in Europe is not a reason for us to stick to plan A; it is a reason to shift to plan B. There is a warning in the travails of the eurozone, but not the one that the government claim there is. Debts are rising today in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland because fiscal policy is exacerbating the downturn in the economic cycle. The prime minister said in his speech today that we are 'on track', but Conservative austerity is not working at home and collective austerity is not working in Europe.

Miliband's attack on the coalition show the Labour party is uniting around a message that the coalition's strategy of austerity is "choking off demand", as Ed Balls and Peter Mandelson wrote in the Guardian earlier this week.

Osborne had always thought that the divisions in the Labour party, in which Blairites felt that Balls was failing to place enough emphasis on deficit reduction, was a great strength for the coalition. But as Britain slips back into recession, and as voters in Europe tire of austerity, Labour is uniting around a message that the coalition's deficit reduction plan is fast becoming a liability.

If the Master, as Osborne calls Blair, chooses to speak out the chancellor will be genuinely nervous.

Tory party co-chairman adds voice to row over Rochdale grooming case, saying she believes race played role in crime

The Conservative party co-chairman has hit out at the small minority of Pakistani men who see white girls as "fair game".

In comments that follow the Rochdale grooming case, Lady Warsi said she believed race was a factor in the crime. She urged Muslim leaders to address the issue and ensure that men who regard white women as "third-class citizens" were isolated by their communities.

Nine Muslim men, mainly of Pakistani origin, were found guilty last week of plying girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs so they could use them for sex. After the trial, Greater Manchester police sought to play down suggestions of any racial element to the case, as did Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the home affairs select committee.

But Warsi, who is Muslim, told the London Evening Standard newspaper: "There is a small minority of Pakistani men who believe that white girls are fair game. And we have to be prepared to say that. You can only start solving a problem if you acknowledge it first.

"This small minority who see women as second-class citizens, and white women probably as third-class citizens, are to be spoken out against."

Britain's most senior Muslim politician said she had decided to speak out after her father, who moved to the UK from Punjab, told her she should be "out there condemning [the crime] as loudly as you could".

"In mosque after mosque, this should be raised as an issue so that anybody remotely involved should start to feel that the community is turning on them," Warsi said. "Communities have a responsibility to stand up and say: 'This is wrong, this will not be tolerated'."

She urged the authorities to have the confidence to tackle allegations involving minorities. "Cultural sensitivity should never be a bar to applying the law," Warsi added.

Sara's story is an extraordinary one of loss, survival and, at the end, the remarkable bonds between us all

Nearly 11 years have passed since I last broke my own rule and wrote in this place about something deeply personal. Then, in the summer of 2001, it was the birth of my first child and the article was a hymn of praise for the National Health Service that had ushered my son into the world.

Today I write about my mother, who died 10 days ago. Once again – though this is not my only aim – I want to record my praise, even awe, for the people who looked after her. It was not so straightforward this time. Yes, the NHS funded it all, but my mother was tended to – at home in Bournemouth – by a variety of agencies, some public, some voluntary and one private. I confess that before this experience, I would have been wary of such an arrangement. But my prejudices were confounded. The team worked together with perfect efficiency, a coalition of Macmillan and Marie Curie nurses, agency staff, NHS district nurses and care assistants and the local GP. Not once did any information slip through the cracks. It meant we could fulfil our promise to my mother that she would spend her last weeks not in hospital or in a hospice, but at home.

At no point, despite all the equipment and expertise that came through the front door, was money so much as mentioned. Never were we confronted with a choice of a cheaper option or a limit to our "cover". My mother got all the care she needed and no one presented her or us with a bill. That is the glory of our national health system, one we take for granted too easily. It is a treasure to be cherished.

And yet what will stay with me is a thought not about systems or organisations, but about people. Perhaps two dozen different women helped my mother in those last days. They were gentle and sensitive, speaking softly and with great care. Several of them, it turned out, were motivated by past experience of caring for their own, terminally ill relatives. On the last full day of my mother's life, I noticed that the eyes of one nurse, Sue, were welling with tears. She had been watching me talk to my mother and had, I think, been reminded of her own farewell to her father. When she said goodbye to me, she said something I shall never forget. "Thank you for letting me in."

I never asked what any of these remarkable people are paid, but I don't imagine it's very much. And yet they do work that is tough, exhausting and priceless. I know the explanation for that paradox but, in truth, it is inexplicable.

Still, what I've been thinking about most during these last 10 days is my mother. She won no prizes, she built no monuments – and yet her life was extraordinary. When I wrote a memoir of three generations of my family, including the lives of relatives involved in some of the epic political events of their era, it was nevertheless her story that touched people most.

She was born Sara Hocherman in 1936, in the small town of Petach Tikva in what was then Palestine. She was two months premature: the doctors warned that her life was "hanging by a thread". Her father was an ultra-orthodox Jew who showed his children what might politely be called distracted neglect. He did not provide for them or his wife and, after an older sister died through malnutrition, my mother's mother returned to her native London with her two surviving children.

By the time she was five, in 1942, Sara was an evacuee in the Bedfordshire countryside, taken in by a kindly unmarried lady who took a shine to the little girl. But Sara missed her mother terribly. In the spring of 1945, the war's end approaching, a reunion seemed only weeks away. Then one of the very last V2 rockets to fall on London hit Hughes Mansions in the East End, killing 134 people; 120 of them were Jews, my mother's 33-year-old mother among them. When everyone else was celebrating VE Day, eight-year-old Sara was in mourning.

What followed were hard years in the post-war East End, and in 1949 a return to what was now Israel, to witness the earliest years of the state. That period was hard too: my teenage mother had to contend with poverty, family estrangement and disease. In 1955, Sara returned to England where she eventually met and found happiness with my father. Illness would strike again when my mother was 43; once more the doctors would say her life was hanging by a thread. But somehow she survived.

There is so much to say about all of this, and one way or another I will spend the rest of my life saying it. But three points stand out.

The first is that my mother's experience made her much more hawkish than me on matters relating to Israel. To lose her mother (and an aunt) along with so many other Jews to one of Hitler's bombs meant she had felt the breath of the Shoah on her neck: it entrenched a yearning that she felt as a desperate need, the craving for a place the Jews could call their own. She was not the only one to feel it. Whatever view you ultimately take on the Israel-Palestine question, you cannot hope to understand that conflict unless you also understand this need.

Second, whenever one contemplates war or military intervention anywhere, one needs to contemplate this unbending fact: that every bomb or rocket that falls, no matter where in the world it lands, is destined to create another Sara Hocherman – a child who has lost a parent. And the pain of that act will live on through the decades and through the generations, as it did in my family.

Lastly, my mother's life was proof of the power of love. She was rescued first by her aunt, Yiddi, who took her in, and next by my father, who was with her for 52 years and with her at the very end. Their love ensured that, though my mother was unfathomably strong, she was never hard. She contained next to no bitterness, only oceans of empathy.

So this weekend, do yourself this favour, if you can. As my mother would have put it, deploying the idiosyncratic grammar that was part Yiddish, part passive-aggressive self-deprecation, "Phone your mother: she's also a person."

Jonathan Freedland has set up a Just Giving page in his mother's name, for Macmillan Cancer Support

Twitter: @j_freedland

The hormone dopamine is responsible for the cravings of addiction, but when levels are abnormally low it causes the muscular twitches of Parkinson's disease

The latest fashion in child-rearing is about regulating the behaviour of women, not benefiting children

Was it just a few weeks ago that Time ran a cover story claiming women were poised to become "the richer sex" – getting more education than men, working up a storm and, in one out of four marriages, bringing home the fatter slice of bacon? That was followed by Katie Roiphe's fact-free Newsweek cover story alleging that women have become so weary of being in charge, they long for men to dominate them in bed.

Well, never mind all that. Now, according to Time, women are giving up on careers to embrace attachment parenting – breast-feeding their kids till age three or more; having Baby sleep in your room, if not your bed; and "babywearing" – carrying your baby in a sling every minute of the day and never, ever letting it cry. Corner office? Bondage and spanking? Turning yourself into a human kangaroo? It's hard to keep up.

I was originally going to write this column as an attack on women who have fallen for the attachment-parenting spiel, which makes them feel endlessly guilty and then encourages them to project that guilt outward onto more relaxed mothers. Women are so eager to blame themselves and one another about, well, everything – weight, looks, clothes, sexual behaviour (you haven't lived till you've heard a seventh-grade girl refer to another as a "ho"), marriages and, of course, baybeez, every wrinkle of whose behaviour is directly attributable to their mothers' having made some small but fatal mistake.

But that would be to join in the attack on mothers. As it happens, I agree with French feminist Elisabeth Badinter, who, in her short, sharp polemic The Conflict, argues that intensive, obsessive mothering bodes ill for women's equality. As long as women's primary focus is domestic, men will run the world and make the rules (and if you are happy with a Congress that's only 17% female, you can stop reading right now). Dr Bill Sears, guru of attachment parenting and, not incidentally, a devout Christian, is fairly explicit that mothers shouldn't have jobs – he even suggests that couples borrow money from their parents to enable the wife to stay home. (That Romney-esque suggestion shows how class-based attachment parenting is.)

Not only is this arrangement bad for women; I don't think it's necessarily good for children either – being hovered over constantly and obliged to serve the emotional needs of an adult who has blocked herself from normal adult modes of pleasure and accomplishment. (One woman profiled in Time has even given up her friends. The only time she let anyone else care for her baby was when she was in labour producing another.) What does attachment parenting tell daughters about how big their dreams should be? How does it teach sons not to expect women to cater to their every whim? How does it teach any child that the world does not revolve around him or her? It's true that only a tiny number of families practice attachment parenting to the full – there are only 5 million stay-at-home mothers in the whole country, and most of them are either very wealthy or very poor – but its ideals are pervasive: As Badinter puts it, Baby is king; Mom is servant.

Child-rearing fashions come and go, but they're always about regulating the behaviour of women – middle-class educated women. If these discussions were really about children, we would be debating the policies that affect them – what to do about our shocking level of child poverty, for example. It's not on the radar except insofar as single mothers, with their selfish, licentious, man-spurning ways, can be blamed for it. Yet child poverty surely affects children's well-being more directly, and more injuriously, than a pregnant woman indulging in the occasional glass of wine, or the momentous question of whether to use cloth nappies or disposable ones.

And only tangentially are child-raising fads about fathers; men are more "involved" now than 50 years ago, but you won't catch them beating themselves or one another up over not making organic baby food from scratch. Indeed, Time's attachment-parenting package includes a humorous "Detached Dad's Manifesto," which suggests that Dad's role is to provide "a little dose of fatherly distance" from attachment parenting's heavy demands. That tells you everything you need to know about these guilt-inducing scripts.

Badinter blames intensive mothering for distorting feminism and pulling women back into the home. But one could also say it's a socially approved way of withdrawing from a workplace that, in addition to all the usual sorrows and pains, has been sexist in general and hostile to mothers in particular, and of resolving the frustrations of the double day – women's greater domestic burden. (These are also features of French life, despite France's excellent daycare system.) America is famously unfriendly to mothers – no paid parental leave, a lack of affordable daycare, patchy after-school, long workdays, little vacation. Even legally mandated paid sick days are controversial. Individual mothers manage to negotiate these shoals – after all, most mothers are employed – but overall, lack of social supports is America's way of telling them they don't really belong at work. Their real job is at home.

Work/life balance is usually listed as a "women's issue." That's because "life" in that context does not mean socialising, learning new things, volunteering or enjoying yourself. It means the traditional work of women – raising kids and doing housework. For similar reasons, the trade-off of shorter hours for no promotion is called the "mommy track" – not the "parent track," and certainly not the "daddy track."

Where Badinter goes wrong is that she blames women for adapting to this unjust state of affairs by moralising their own subjection and making it the basis for their identity. This lets men off the hook yet again. For the "mommy wars" to end, maybe the "daddy wars" have to begin.

Copyright © 2012 The Nation – distributed by Agence Global

On-air mistake occurred in report on Twitter users who allegedly revealed identity of footballer Ched Evans's victim

North Wales police have referred Sky News to the Crown Prosecution Service and the attorney general's office following the accidental broadcast of a rape victim's name.

Officers from North Wales police on Thursday questioned four staff at Sky News' Osterley headquarters in south west London after the broadcaster inadvertently displayed a Twitter feed that named the 19-year-old victim on air last month.

The on-air mistake occurred as part of a report on Twitter users who allegedly revealed who footballer Ched Evans's victim was following his conviction for rape.

Sky News said in a statement: "Yesterday we met with North Wales police to demonstrate and explain the technical error which caused the inadvertent broadcast of the victim's name in a recent serious sexual assault case.

"The name was on screen for a fraction of a second and was visible only when viewed in slow motion. We apologised to the victim and her family as soon as we became aware of the error and are co-operating fully with the police."

A formal interview took place with Sky News staff and the investigation will continue, according to the north Wales force, which said that it was now up to the CPS whether to press charges.

A North Wales police statement confirmed: "The case, as with all other cases in the investigation into the naming of the victim on social media sites, will be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service and the attorney general's office."

Detective chief inspector Steve Williams said that Sky News "has fully co-operated with the investigation".

Sixteen men and women from north Wales and South Yorkshire have been arrested and bailed during the investigation so far.

The police statement added: "The force is reminding people that the law gives rape victims and other victims of serious sexual offences, anonymity for life and that if anyone publishes a victim's identity they will be subject to investigation and possible criminal proceedings."

Evans was jailed for five years last month at Caernarfon crown court after being found guilty of raping the woman who was "too drunk to consent".

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/mediaguardian and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/mediaguardian

News, comment, blogposts and tweets across the sector

3.11pm: Lizzi Easterbrook writes

Thanks to everyone who took part in our live Q&A on leadership earlier. We will be doing a round-up on the site next week and you can still read all the comments here.

Elsewhere, your views on the news looks at the response from readers working in and using community care services to this piece by Denis Campbell. They are debating the dossier of evidence from RCN that suggests that NHS services outside of hospitals are struggling to cope with growing demands on services. Read their views and let us know what you think by adding your comments.

1.24pm: Jessica Fuhl writes

We're tackling quite a few hot topics in our live discussion on leading through change at the moment. We've covered risk, integrated care, patient leadership and more - so pop over there to see the discussion develop. It's running until 2pm so there's still time to post a question for our panel.

12.54pm: Clare Horton writes

Our leadership debate is well underway; as well as keeping an eye on that, here's the lunchtime headlines:
• HSJ [subscription]: Leeds Hospitals, Mid Yorks and York FT 'missing elective wait targets'
• BBC: Weight management 'benefits' for mother and baby
• Telegraph: Government puts faith in gardening to tackle care crisis
• Shropshire Star: Health chiefs back new £27m Ludlow hospital

12.02pm: Jessica Fuhl writes

Pulse today reports that the chair of the NAPC has warned that CGGs are unlikely to succeed unless they get a firm grip on unwarranted variation in primary care.

According to Pulse:

Speaking at the think tank Reform's High Quality Healthcare conference in London, Dr Charles Alessi said CCGs would need to spend a lot of time 'looking inward' if they were to succeed in transforming care.

Read the article in full online here.

11.01am: Clare Horton writes

The government's new Can Parent initiative, which is being launched by the prime minister today, includes a digital information service for new parents. A Department of Health press release says parents-to-be and new parents who sign up for the service:

will receive regular emails and text messages containing relevant and timely NHS approved advice as their pregnancy develops and as their child grows.

The NHS Choices tweets:

David Cameron tells chief political correspondent Nicholas Watt:

I would have loved more guidance when my children were babies. We've all been there when it's the middle of the night, your child won't stop crying and you don't know what to do
Parents are nation-builders. It's through love and sheer hard work that we raise the next generation with the right values. That's why this government is doing everything possible to support parents. This is not the nanny state – it's the sensible state.

The initiative also includes pilot parenting classes in Middlesbrough, Camden in north London and in High Peak, Derbyshire, and a pilot relationship support service in York, Leeds, north Essex and in some London boroughs for expectant parents and those with children up to the age of two. The idea is a response to last summer's riots.

9.19am: Clare Horton writes

Making headlines elsewhere today, the Telegraph reports that heart services face being closed or merged with others over fears they are too small. It says a review of services for adults with congential heart problems has been launched after it was found that some units are treating fewer than ten patients a year.

A father who lost his son to leukaemia is calling for young people to be given lessons on how to donate stem cells, blood and organs. Keith Sudbury's son Adrian received a stem cell transplant which gave him an extra year of life, but died aged 27, having kept a blog documenting his illness. Sudbury told the BBC he wants to raise awareness by making donation part of the curriculum for students aged 16 and over. The Anthony Nolan charity is supporting the idea of 'Adrian's Law'.

And the Independent reports that Department of Health figures show the number of breaches of rules on mixed-sex NHS wards rose by nearly 100 last month.

8.58am: Clare Horton writes

Good morning and welcome to the daily blog from the Guardian's healthcare network. We'll be bringing you the pick of the news and comment from across the sector throughout the day.

On the network today, we're discussing leading a changing NHS. Our panel of experts will be live online from noon today to discuss the challenges of change and whether managers will be able to achieve efficiency savings. Post a question now, tweet us @GdnHealthcare, or watch the debate as it happens.

We've also a lovely piece by Dorset pharmacist Mike Hewitson, in which he describes his typical day:

My pharmacy is located in a small rural town and has been independently owned for its entire 222 year history. I am immensely proud to be the custodian of such an important community resource, which has been in our hands for the last 4 years.

The Guardian reports on how a teenager diagnosed herself with cancer after watching her illness depicted in a Cameron Diaz movie.

And there's also an update on Nicholas Crace, the former charity director who has become the UK's oldest living kidney donor, after giving away one of his 'Formula One' kidneys at the age of 83.

If there's a story, report or event you'd like to share, please add a comment below the line, or tweet us @GdnHealthcare.

This week's social life blogger explains what he teaches – and learns – working with refugees in social care

I joined a leaving care team in children's services in June 2009 and the majority of my caseload are refugees: young people whose childhood was disrupted by manmade emergencies to such an extent they were placed in harm's way and sought protection in the UK.

The team supports looked-after children and care leavers from the age of 16 to 21, or if in education up to the age of 25. We support refugee and asylum-seeking children and young people that have been referred by the UK Border Agency through a rota system.

The majority are unaccompanied minors. They were either smuggled or trafficked into the UK, which treats all children equally, irrespective of their immigration status.

Some have been allowed to stay, some have not and some are still in a state of limbo. It is the background of these young people and their hope that enhanced my commitment to their rights, entitlements, and in general to rebuilding their life in the UK.

Each individual refugee or asylum seeker comes with a different story irrespective of their country of origin but all share one goal: to succeed. The determination to make it exists, but what they need is practical guidance, someone to listen and open their heart and their door to them.

My style of supporting these young refugees is simple: listen, give them time, and cut out the bureaucracy. Once this becomes routine, then you gain their trust and a sustainable level of engagement.

Each young refugee arrives with a unique challenge: immigration, education, housing, employment etc. The biggest challenge is accessing services that they may not be entitled to because of their immigration status.

This is where true advocacy comes in: finding pro bono legal services to represent young people at immigration tribunals; convincing college admission boards to admit young people whose asylum applications are outstanding; making sure they extend their leave to remain in good time.

This is where I put a lot of emphasis on practical support for young refugees otherwise they risk removal from the UK. For those who have been allowed to stay, the sky is the limit. My advice to them is: education, education, and more education. This is the surest way of integrating into mainstream UK society and becoming a useful citizen.

Advising these young people of their rights and entitlements and explaining how things work in the UK is also important and gives confidence to young refugees and asylum seekers. I have some who are at universities and some who are doing well in other walks of life. It has not been easy supporting some of them, especially those who are considered "end of line". You share their sorrow, frustration and uncertainty.

They know they have somebody they can talk to if you have sustained a healthy level of engagement. Through these talks, some have decided to go back home voluntarily. One day you are elated as a young refugee joins a university, and the next you find yourself consoling a young refugee who has been declared "appeal rights exhausted". All they need to know sometimes is that you have gone that extra mile for them, and they knowthat from the experience they have had with you and the respect you have shown them.

My experience of working with young refugees and asylum seekers has also made me more patient, kind, and resilient. Some are now British citizens, completing their degrees, working or joining universities. It makes me and my team proud that we had something to do with it. It is hard work but it pays.

This article is published by Guardian Professional. Join the social care network to receive regular emails and exclusive offers.

The problem has produced a fragmented mass of services. What is needed is long-term mentoring – and proper co-ordination

For all the recent headlines on youth unemployment, it is neither a new or clearly understood problem. The figures are shocking: more than 1 million young people aged 16-24 seeking work. But the rise in youth unemployment actually predates the recession; it started in the early 2000s, a time when the economy was growing strongly.

For this million, and indeed the wider economy, unemployment can be incredibly damaging but so many organisations have now justifiably made this a crowded policy agenda. A recent audit of Shoreditch in east London carried out for the Private Equity Foundation, found more than 70 organisations dedicated to tackling the problem – not including statutory bodies such as local authorities, youth justice, jobcentres, careers services, schools and work programme providers.

The plethora of organisations presents a complex and fragmented system to negotiate, both for young people and employers. This can result in young people falling through the cracks and deter employers from engaging with the system.

This is not something that can be solved from Whitehall – potential policy responses will be very different in rural towns in Wales compared with inner city areas in London, for instance – and a centrally imposed national policy will not be flexible enough to deal with these differences.

Speaking at the launch of the Work Foundation's new missing million research programme last week, David Miliband, chair ofAcevo's commission on youth unemployment, called it a "mishmash of organisations" at local level.

The problem remains heavily concentrated in particular parts of the country. For example, the Neet (not in education, employment or training) rate among 16-18 year olds in Knowsley and Merseyside is four times that of Harrow. Generally speaking, the greatest problems can be found in parts of the north-east, north-west, the West Midlands and in some inner London boroughs.

It is this intense concentration at a local level that is partly behind the growing calls for devolution and more local control to tackle the issue.

While local authorities – through the services they run, along with their links to the community and local employers – would appear to be the natural agencies to bring the system together, government policy has acted to undermine the role they can play, devolving many responsibilities previously held by local authorities down to the level of individual schools and colleges. This will serve to further fragment an already complex system.

The response needs sign up from departments across Whitehall, and this needs to translate to a meaningful devolution of responsibilities and powers down to local government.

The localist point was also stressed by Professor David Bell from Stirling Management School at the Work Foundation event. He argued that there was a need to put someone or something in place to join things up.

Perhaps part of the answer lies in an approach being piloted by the foundation's ThinkForward scheme in Shoreditch – an area of particularly high child poverty. It is being delivered by Tomorrow's People, which provides intense and sustained long-term mentoring of young people through "super coaches" who work to support, build links and create a bridge between young people and the world of work. It is precisely this continuity of support that young people need. But co-ordination is key.

Lizzie Crowley is a researcher at The Work Foundation

This article is published by Guardian Professional. Join the Guardian Public Leaders Network free to receive regular emails on the issues at the top of the professional agenda.

Analysis of the Scottish council election results shows few black and minority ethnic people in city hall - just 17 out of 1,223 councillors, and only two parties promise action

So if Scottish councils are getting less male and stale, how are they doing on the pale? Not very well at all is the answer. The country's town and city chambers are almost entirely white.

So even in 2012, despite decades of migration and the increasing prominence of "new Scots", the number of non-white councillors in Scotland elected on May 3 would make up just one rugby team, with two subs. Or fill a minibus.

Across Scotland's 32 councils, there are now just 17 non-white councillors taking places among the 1,223 seats available, or 1.4% of the total. None are black, of African or African-Caribbean descent. And few occupy seats outside west central Scotland.

In theory that's equivalent to about 40% of the estimated population of 172,000 black, Asian and mixed race Scots, or about 3.3% of Scotland's total estimated population in 2010. But that population figure is a crude estimate, quite likely to understate Scotland's true ethnic diversity, because no detailed figures are kept. Holyrood's figures are equally low: with just two Asian MSPs, its figure stands at just 1.5%.

There are similar crises of representation in England: in Birmingham, black church leaders and community groups are marching on City Hall next week to protest at the absence of black councillors in senior leadership roles in a city with a very large black population.

If it wasn't for the Scottish Labour party's renewed focus on positive action, which has been accelerated by their fight against the Scottish National party for control in Glasgow, the overall numbers would be far lower. In Glasgow, which is the country's most ethnically diverse city, there are now eight Asian councillors. Six are from Labour, two SNP; none are Chinese or black, mind.

Strip Glasgow out and the remaining nine black and minority ethnic (BME) councillors in Scotland are spread across six councils. Three Asian councillors are in North Lanarkshire, so the five remaining councils have just one non-white councillor apiece, with perhaps Scotland's first Chinese heritage woman councillor in Dumfries, the SNP's Yen Hongmei Jin. The Tories and the Scottish Green party have no non-white councillors at all; the Lib Dems just one.

Simon Woolley, the director of Operation Black Vote, the leading ethnic minority campaign group, which is about to start new training with some Scottish parties, said the new figures were better than previous years. He said:

It isn't fantastic, but it's not shocking. It's still poor. It demonstrates a disregard for diversity, particularly where the numbers are low. It's the usual refrain when there's relatively small BME populations: "We don't have a BME problem here."

He said there was a significant level of disinterest in local parties across the UK; in many parts of England, few bothered to look at how accurately council groups reflected local electorates. Real success would come when BME councillors were elected in areas with small ethnic minority populations, or none at all, and not just in cities like Glasgow where Asian Scots are a large, visible presence.

It has to translate to more than just the soft underbelly of politics. It's got to resonate for leadership roles and also out in the provinces, which are largely getting ignored.

It won't be until next year that 2011 census figures on Scotland's ethnic mix are published – there has been a delay in the release of all Scottish census results – and accurate alternative figures on ethnicity do not appear to exist.

Don't be fooled by its job description, but the General Register Office for Scotland apparently doesn't keep any; the best estimates come from the labour market reports compiled by the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) with extra Scottish government funding.

The 2010 Annual Population Survey by the Scottish government and the ONS estimated Scotland's total population stood at 5,149,900, of whom about 82,900 were "Asian or Asian British", 17,000 "Black or Black British", 16,500 were Chinese and 23,000 mixed race, with a further 30,700 "other".

There are significant caveats about this data: the figures are extrapolated from a sample of 21,500 households and on ethnic minorities vary dramatically from year to year, so are quite likely to be inaccurate. It is possible the census will find a larger "new Scots" population; potentially around 5%.

This is a key question for Scottish political leaders: how well do their parties reflect and represent Scotland's diverse, multi-ethnic population, across all areas? There are three trends in the parties' attitudes to improving ethnic diversity: active reform, open-handed outreach, and wishful thinking nearing benign inertia.

Labour, driven by the intense pressure to reinvigorate itself by last May's drubbing by the SNP, has forced through change through positive action: keeping pace with its policies on women's representation, it has by far the best ratio of all the parties, with 11 BME councillors and a 2.79% representation rate, after putting those candidates in winnable seats.

Three of those elected were women: one, Shamin Akhtar in East Lothian, is now the council's cabinet member for education and children's services. That may make her the most senior ethnic minority councillor in Scotland.

A Labour party spokesman said it was still dissatisfied with its equalities rates, but added there was a real push on this issue before the council elections:

Each local party is asked to draw up a plan explaining how they will promote ethnic minority and women candidates in winnable seats. Although our deputy leader is of Asian background, we acknowledge there is much more work to do in the party at all levels - there is only one Scottish Labour MP and one MSP who classify themselves as black, Asian minority ethnic.

The SNP, driven by Alex Salmond's efforts to make it an inclusive, civic rather than ethnic nationalist party, has made significant strides in engagement with "new Scots" as voters, but largely in the west of Scotland and without translating that into actual political representation. It put up 10 BME candidates, similar to Labour's 12, but got just five elected out of 634 in total, a rate of 1.18%.

Humza Yousaf, the SNP MSP for Glasgow, and product of the SNP's widening appeal to Asian Scots, said the party was reviewing its candidate recruitment policies and wanted to significantly improve.

He said councils had to reflect Scotland's population fully, and give black and Asian communities a voice which might otherwise not be heard, and were far better able to push on their particular needs on health or housing:

The increase in BME councillors is good, it's positive, but it's nowhere near enough. We can't be happy with mediocrity. We can't get to the stage where we think it's great to make progress having one Asian councillor in Aberdeen, a Chinese one in Dumfries and Pakistani councillors in Glasgow. We can't just say that's a crack in the glass ceiling, and that's good enough for us.

We see that elsewhere: ethnic minorities have been able to raise issues specifically for their communities. If we don't have access, we won't be adequately represented, just by having a single voice.

The Tories, who have no active policies but insist they wish to revitalise their reach and appeal, have not one non-white councillor amongst the 115 elected. They put up three candidates.

A party spokesman said:

Scottish Conservatives do not believe in positive discrimination and we do not select our candidates based on anything apart from merit. We want to attract candidates of the highest calibre, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, marital status or disability.

The Lib Dems, whose numbers were halved in the rout of 3 May, have just one Asian councillor, a percentage rate of 1.4%; because it lost so many seats, that is the Scottish average. It had only four non-white candidates out of 178 put up for election, and could have done better.

The Scottish Green party, which insists it has the most progressive policies on women's equality (40% of its MSPs in 2003 were women), has no such policies on black and minority ethnic representation. It had no non-white candidates at all this year.

We are a small but steadily growing party - 1300 members at the moment - and while we don't collect data on the ethnicity of our members our branches around Scotland are open to anyone interested in green politics.

The Disneyfication of gay marriage in Japan does the country's civil partnership campaign few favours

News that a lesbian couple will be allowed to "perform" a non-legally binding commitment ceremony in Tokyo Disneyland is being celebrated as a victory for the burgeoning civil partnership campaign in Japan. But in a country where apolitical fantasy dress-up is a national pastime, a fake wedding in an imported land of make-believe is hardly a victory for LGBT rights.

At Tokyo Rainbow Pride last month, I asked dozens of individuals of varying ages, political persuasions and non-straight identities about the one thing the Japanese government could do to improve their lives. "Give us civil partnership" was the resounding answer. Currently, gay couples living in Japan often resort to adopting one another as a means of full legal protection, and while the country signed a UN protocol last year promising to protect its LGBT citizens, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is yet to be outlawed.

Meanwhile, the campaign for civil partnership championed by Taiga Ishikawa, one of only two openly gay Japanese politicians who has been in office just a year, is embryonic. The decision to allow Koyuki Higashi and her partner Horoko to spend fanciful amounts of yen on their symbolic union is understandably significant to them. But will the commercially-blessed ceremony, played out in a culture where recreational costumery is but a socially-acceptable respite from conservative daily life, be anything more than gay cosplay?

Part of the answer lies in Disney's initial refusal to allow the ceremony. It would trouble others, the couple were told, not to see the pair dressed in a complementary morning suit and meringue; they could have the ceremony provided they dress "like a man and a woman." Tradition in Japan prevails, particularly when the overwhelming expectations on women to present as hyper-feminine means Japanese lesbians are predominantly femme, hence increasing the likelihood of the troubling two-frock spectacle.

While the Japanese love of camp gameshow hosts and drag queens favours gay male representation, Disney's concession is actually a strike of sorts for lesbian visibility, currently confined to cartoon porn and the spectacle of popular girl group AKB48 passing sweets to one another by way of their nubile teen mouths in a recent TV commercial – which, incidentally, received 116 viewers' complaints for what Japan's broadcasting ethics and programme improvement organisation described as encouraging homosexuality. But with a distinct dearth of genuine lesbian and bi women in the public eye, let alone in the entertainment world, it's hard to believe that the sight of two grown females committing to one another in an artificial arena created to indulge childhood fantasies will have any real political significance.

In fact, Disney's decision probably says less about shifting Japanese attitudes to gay partnership and more about how a western corporation's diversity duty can be commandeered by an Asian company anxious not to offend national sentiment. The Tokyo Disney Resort is actually run by a Japanese entity called The Oriental Land Company, which licenses the name and characters from the Disney corporation. Notably, international companies of Japanese origin that sponsor Pride events in the rest of the world have often refrained from doing so within Japan. Japanese morals, traditionally informed by Shinto, Buddhist and Confucian teachings, may not be burdened by a concept of homosexual sin, but public sexual display, whatever the orientation, is still generally perceived as shameful, hence the reluctance to publicly support LGBT events.

In the case of Tokyo Disneyworld, the Oriental Land Company is able to lean on the west's increasingly open tolerance towards homosexuality without necessarily affronting traditional Japanese social mores. But all cultures bring with them their own prejudices, in this case, a Christian anxiety about same-sex coupling in the house of God. Despite Tokyo Disney's green light, Koyuki and Hiroko will not be able to exchange symbolic vows in the park's chapel due to "Christian teachings".

The hope of course is that Koyuki and Hiroko's campaign can be used as an opportunity to openly discuss the need for civil partnership, in a society where workplace promotions are frequently dependent on marital status. But while the Japanese clearly seek workaday respite in the fanciest of dress-up games, a new subculture of playing wives in Disneyworld is unlikely to be a fairytale flight to equal marriage.

• Follow Comment is free on Twitter @commentisfree

Cameron defends parenting classes

Sign up to Society daily email briefing

Today's top SocietyGuardian stories

• Parenting lessons: this is not the nanny state, says David Cameron
• Child support charges could increase poverty, warn MPs
• Remploy bidders offered wage subsidy
• Payday loan borrowers 'trapped in debt spiral'
• Barristers may strike over legal aid
• 83-year-old gives away one of his 'Formula One' kidneys
• Last night a DVD saved my life
• London housing crisis: should we build on the green belt?
• How David Cameron's cuts strategy is losing him the support of Tory women
All today's SocietyGuardian stories

On the Guardian Professional Networks

• Live debate from noon: leading a changing NHS
• Carrie Wilson explains how support and encouragement could help those leaving care achieve success in life
• Co-operative councils ask residents to design the public services they need
• Why the waiting list is black gold for housing professionals

On my radar ...

• The continuing debate over the future of the Remploy factories. Disability Rights UK has launched an unsigned piece calling for "rigorous and analytical look at the situation, in the context of our struggle for rights and independence". On its site it says:

There are plenty of voices advocating – quite rightly – for the disabled people who currently work at Remploy to not lose their jobs. But we believe the call to keep the factories open is potentially damaging: what is missing from this debate is the determination to be rid of the sheltered employment model that the Remploy factories represent, and that the disabled people's movement has always criticised.

Comedian Laurence Clark describes a school visit to a Remploy factory and explains why he turned down an invitation to perform at a benefit for Remploy staff. He adds:

... as much as I'm in favour of inclusion in the workplace, the inescapable, uncomfortable truth of the Remploy closures is that most of the disabled workers being made redundant will probably not find other jobs in the current climate. Furthermore, impending cuts and other changes to support systems will only make it harder for disabled people to survive and thrive in work.

• The Institute of Education's new education and social sciences blog, which looks like it's going to be a really interesting forum. Subjects already covered include the pupil premium, "sexting" and performance related pay for teachers.

• A despairing post on the Being Here blog, in which a mental health social worker explains how her team is being disbanded and redeployed:

There simply isn't going to be such a thing as mental health social work within a multidisciplinary team. Upset personally, terrified politically. This Biopsychosocial model we'd all worked towards collectively, the idea that a person existed within a socio-political context, that a person was created from events as well as biological material, the knowledge of different social roles, power-differentials within caring relationships, the question of meaning and identity, all of these are lost. While nursing staff have some training in these ideas, necessarily it is not the bread-and-butter of their training, nor should it be. No professional can be completely holistic in the true sense. That is why the multidisciplinary approach was conceived, and has been the backbone of Community Mental Health for over forty years. It has now been undone in a matter of months and there appears to be no reverse gear. Already service users are experiencing the loss of care coordinators they have known for years in some cases and are responding as you'd expect. There is chaos. There are increased referrals and presentations. People are highly distressed. Wards are closing. Community resources are shutting down. Assessments for benefits are being done with harsher (nonsensical?) criteria. And to add to this current situation an already demoralised and exhausted workforce are being hauled out of the jobs they have done some of them for decades.
I feel as if my MSc is now void. My specialist post-qualifying award is now void. As if I never had any business being in mental health in the first place as I'm not a medical member of staff. As if these problems people experience are all purely medical and nothing else and there is no need to look at bigger, broader pictures that come with the social model.

(thanks to Ermintrude for the link)

• A new post on the New Statesman blog by Frances Ryan on disability and the return of blame culture:

... the real disableds don't scream about the blame culture, the one that's been given new life by dire economic conditions. They sit by as it grips and excludes and pushes them outside, only brought back in when something on the inside needs to be declared their fault.
The true disabled take whatever's done or said to them, dutifully lifeless in body and the mind. When they get a little vocal though, when they dare object and campaign and speak the truth – that's when they become a different type of disabled, the type that [Cristina] Odone took the time this week to warn us against. This type are "savvy activists", she told us; having the potential to succeed appears to be a reasonable ground on which to criticize the opposition. They favour "manipulation and shock value", she distorted, citing the menacing vision of a few campaigners wearing a symbolic glove.
True disableds fit the box that's been made for them. Passive, needing and accepting. Just not enough to make Odone or the compassionate conservatives start to feel guilty; then it's probably time to take your offensive need and go indoors. Luckily that's starting to happen anyway, thanks to cuts to the benefits and services that enable many disabled people to leave the house. Taking a human's dignity and freedom is all well and good of course, but one doesn't want to have to look at it whilst it occurs.

• A local government "bucket list". Inspired by a post on the We Love Local Government blog listing things to do before you leave local government, the Systems Thinking for Girls blog has put together its own list, including:

List the restructures you have been through over the years and describe to your manager any impact you think these had on the service you provided for the citizen/customer and on staff morale.

Other news

• BBC: Aberdeen dementia patient 'had 106 carers'
• Children & Young People Now: Refugee children missing out on legal advice, says report
• Community Care: Working Together consultation and Munro due in weeks
• Independent: Police forces put £1.5bn privatisation plan on hold
• Inside Housing: Landlords to float on stock exchange
• LocalGov.co.uk: Whitehall warned about the perils of social media
• Public Finance: Whitehall will hang on to 50% of business rate income
• Telegraph: Government puts its faith in gardening to tackle elderly care crisis
• Third Sector: Bad volunteers are like a cancer, says Scout Association director

Events and seminars

Social media for health and social care

Thursday 31 May, Kings Cross, London

With massive changes facing health and social care provision the need for clear, open and accessible communication channels is greater than ever. Whether you are looking to improve engagement with patients, clients and peers, promote your services or increase media coverage, this practical, interactive seminar tailored for health professionals will show you how social media can help you do it.

Identifying, measuring and demonstrating social value

Tuesday 12 June, Kings Cross, London

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 highlights the need for the public sector to ensure suppliers can demonstrate social, economic and environmental concerns are at the heart of public sector contracts.This seminar looks at the importance of measurement and assessment techniques, embedding social values through tendering and contract management, and a variety of evaluation and monitoring tools.

Scrutiny: making an impact

Tuesday 26 June, Kings Cross, London

This interactive seminar challenges traditional approaches to scrutiny, demonstrating in-depth questioning techniques and exploring the use of video evidence. It also considers the difference between a finding and a recommendation, how to word recommendations so they can't be ignored and work through good practice to evaluate each scrutiny process.

Making the most of social media for social housing

Friday 29 June, Kings Cross, London

This overview of social media channels will show you how to use them to maximum effect, with clear, practical examples of ways to save money, improve your communications and form a social media campaign

SocietyGuardian blogs

Patrick Butler's cuts blog

Sarah Boseley's global health blog

SocietyGuardian on social media

Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter

Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter

Follow Clare Horton on Twitter

Follow Alison Benjamin on Twitter

SocietyGuardian's Facebook page

SocietyGuardian links

SocietyGuardian.co.uk

Guardian cutswatch - tell us about the cuts in your area

Public Leaders - the Guardian's website for senior managers of public services

The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page

Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs

SocietyGuardian editor: Alison Benjamin

Email the SocietyGuardian editor: society@guardian.co.uk

Poignant, thoughtful and exhilarating by turns, the art of the family comes to the Laing in Newcastle. The Guardian Northerner's arts explorer Alan Sykes finds much to enjoy and admire

Family Matters, which opens at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle today, Friday 18 May, shows over 60 artists and their very differing depictions of the family, going back to a 1542 portrait after Holbein of Edward VI aged six, and on to the 21st century.

The exhibition is organised around five broad – and overlapping - themes:
inheritance; childhood; couples & kinship; parenting and home.

Perhaps not surprisingly, death is frequently in the foreground or background of the paintings. Poor young Edward VI, dressed up in imitation of Holbein's grandiosifying iconography of Henry VIII to symbolise the power and continuity of the Tudor dynasty, only survived his father by a few years and died a teenager. Donald Rodney's 1996-7 "In the House of My Father" is a photograph of a miniature house held in the artist's hand. The house is made of skin removed from Rodney in operations for the sickle cell anaemia which was to kill him only a year later, aged 37.

In Gainsborough's charming "The Painter's Daughters Chasing a Butterfly" from the National Gallery, it is thought that the fragile butterfly may have been the painters way of depicting his older daughter Mary, who had died young. Sometimes the portraits are even done post mortem. In Pompeo Batoni's "The Hon Thomas and Mrs Barrett-Lennard with the daughter Barbara Anne", the daughter had been dead for a year when the grieving couple arrived in Rome on a grand tour. The painter had to make the likeness of Barbara Anne from a miniature which the Barrett-Lennards carried with them. Van Dyck's portrait of Venetia Digby was apparently commissioned by her widower, who had plaster casts of her face, hands and feet taken after her death. The sitter had died very suddenly and mysteriously aged only 32, and some suspicion of foul play fell on the husband, but nothing has ever been proved.

It's not all doom and death, however. Zoffany's amusing picture of David Garrick in drag and a rage in Vanbrugh's "The Provok'd Wife" is here, contrasting with the amusing for different reasons and much more overtly theatrical "The Prodigal Daughter" of 1903, by John Collier, in which a modern and independent-minded young woman is pitched against her Victorian-in-every-sense parents.

David Hockney's "My Parents", of 1977, shows his mother smiling fondly at her talented son, while his father is hunched over a copy of "Art & Photography" - apparently he was inclined to fidget when sitting if not allowed to read - while in a mirror on the chest we see a reflection of Piero della Francesca's "The Baptism of Christ" from the National Gallery. Michael Andrews' touching "Melanie and me Swimming" shows the artist teaching his daughter to swim, and looks at parenthood from the opposite end of the lens to Hockney.

Of course, one can have fun thinking of works that could have been included – I would have loved to have seen the extraordinary 1635 portrait">portrait of Sir Colin Campbell, 8th laird of Glenorchy, and his seven ancestral predecessors as laird, by George Jamesone, from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. And some one can do without: even the Laing's Marie-Thérèse Mayne admitted that Joshua Reynolds' "The Age of Innocence" portrait of a young child is "cloyingly sweet", and it certainly makes one understand why the Pre-Raphaelites lampooned him as "Sir Sloshua Reynolds".

Although the "themes", which are enforced through colour-coding in the labels and in the catalogue - which is irritatingly divided into 5 flimsy pamphlets with no index, rather than being in a single handy volume - are too vague to be of any real use, there are certainly enough treasures to make it worth visiting the Laing to enjoy this free show. Other artists in the show include Gillian Wearing, Rachel Whiteread, Vanessa Bell, Mona Hatoum, Sickert, Stanley Spencer, Lely, Julia Margaret Cameron and Allan Ramsay.

Councillor Ged Bell, Chair of Tyne & Wear Joint Museums & Archives Committee (which runs the Laing and other museums and galleries in Tyne & Wear), says:

"It's very exciting to see the North East being involved in a partnership such as this Great British Art Debate project. The North East, as well as the rest of the UK has a wonderful artistic heritage which powerfully illustrates our sense of who we are and the Great British Art Debate is designed to encourage people to take part in an important debate about Britishness."

The Laing is one of the venues in Newcastle and Gateshead which will be taking part in this year's "The Late Shows", which takes place on the evenings of Friday 18 and Saturday 19 May, and this year includes a ukele jam session in the Sage Music Centre, a Space Hopper disco in the Shed, Gateshead, tours of the Victoria Tunnel under the streets of Newcastle, new sculptures at the Mining Institute and exhibitions and events in over 50 other venues – all accessible via a free bus service. Last year 24,000 people visited the 46 participating venues over the two nights, and this year the organisers hope to break that record.

"Family Matters" has been seen at the Norwich Castle Museum and at Museums Sheffield. It is on at the Laing until 2 September and then travels to Tate Britain (1 October to 21 December).