the milk of human kindness

well, what a hectic couple of days. last night i spoke at the sufferage eve debate, which was a great event. thanx heaps to julie, who was the main organiser and had put a lot of energy into the event. and yes, the cupcakes were fabulous.

also fabulous was getting to meet some of the bloggers whose work i read regularly. it was the first time i'd met julie from the hand mirror, and can confirm that she's as wonderful in person as she has been by email and blog. i also met paul litterick, who writes the fundy post, and managed to have a few brief words with david slack who blogs at public address.

i have to say that nicki kaye and lynn murphy, the two speakers on the right, did well fronting up to an audience of predominantly lefties. it's a pity that no women from the right attended the event (or if they were there, they didn't own up to it!), but we still had a pretty lively question and answer session after the speakers.

today was another sufferage day event, hosted by hamilton city councillor daphne bell. daphne has been a personal inspiration to me, in terms of her integrity. she's a politician who just doesn't play politics. she is as honest and upright as they come, and she's shown me that you don't have to play games to succeed. genuinely nice people can get through and make a difference, and she's one of them.

later was the AGM for community radio hamilton, and all good news there. it's a great station, running well thanks to our excellent general manager phil grey. from my work in other community organisations, i know just how much difference a well-motivated and competent manager can make.

today i've also been thinking about those chinese babies who died from tainted milk powder. what a terrible thing it is to lose a child, but to lose one under such circumstances must be especially difficult. it just goes to show that the business sector not only needs regulation, it needs adequate enforcement of that regulation. this disaster is purely a result of greed, of cutting corners to increase profits. of course, i'm sure no-one deliberately set out to kill children or to cause significant health problems. they were just hoping to get away with a very dodgy practice. but more than anything, my thoughts are with those greiving mothers and fathers, and wishing that some good things happen in their lives some time soon.