“Israel” is a fascinating word. According to the Bible it means, “He struggles with god”. This was the name given to Jacob because he struggled with God all night. And won. A ridiculous statement if taken at face value. As a metaphor it opens a treasure of interpretations. In any case, this all-night wrestling match between a shepherd and the creator of the universe should not be regarded as documentary.

Academic Bible researchers tell us that the entire story of creation was added to the Story of Moses as a prologue hundreds of years after the time of Moses. This makes the name Israel even more fascinating. Who were these Israelite-Egyptians who invaded and conquered the land of Canaan?

For one thing, they were not slaves. They were armed. Slaves don’t carry weapons. The Bible refers to them alternatively as tribes and armies. Moses was negotiating for them with the…

If you don’t live in Stafford or the surrounding area, you won’t have heard that the people of Stafford have gone to extraordinary lengths to try to save their hospital. For some time now, a ‘Greenham Common’-style camp – started and entirely run by ordinary local citizens – has been pitched outside the hospital to protest against the relentless plans by the government’s ‘TSA’ (Trust Special Administrator) and to try to save vital health services.

You would think, all things being equal in a 24hr-news age, that such an unusual thing would have attracted the interest of all kinds of media – at the very least as ‘filler’ on thin news days. But apart from a few mentions in the local media and in the blog of local activist group SSH (‘Support Stafford Hospital), the existence of the camp has been conspicuous by its absence in the press and on…

Well known Bedroom Tax blogger SPeye Joe has some very good news.

He goes into a lot of legal detail, which you can read from his site if you wish.

However, this is such an important ruling that I thought I’d summarise it for those who have less of an interest in the full legal background.

Basically, readers, the case the post reports on is this:

A father has two sons. One son lives in Scotland with his mother but goes to his father in England for one weekend a month and school holidays.

The father was hit with a 14% Bedroom Tax for his one spare bedroom, where his son who also lives in Scotland stays, until the tribunal found that  the Right to Respect for a Private And Family Life section of the European Convention Of Human Rights required it to rule that  a ‘home’ includes a place…