I’ve been trying to declutter. Amongst other things, I’ve been adding more and more tabs to my browser, thinking, “Oh, I’ll include that in a news update on our site,” and it’s got to the stage where I really, really have to clear up all the clutter. So here you are.

If you remember that we were concerned about the possibility of Holywells High School in Ipswich being taken over by the Church of England, then things went very quiet, there’s been a development. The secretary of state for children, schools and families has approved the county’s plan to turn Holywells into an academy, with Kunskapsskolan, the largest provider of secondary education in Sweden, to be a “preferred partner”. Sounds interesting…

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) continues to undermine free speech at the UN, resisting any possibility of Islam or its member states being subject to criticism or even discussion with resolutions about the “defamation of religion”. The New Humanist blog reported earlier this month that Frank La Rue, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, were attacked by the OIC. The Islamic states are making a mockery of the UN’s commitment to free speech and human rights.

Events in Iran have dominated the news over the last week or so. Blogs, Twitter, You Tube, Facebook, and other social networking sites have kept us informed about what’s happening, despite the Iranian authorities’ attempts to block the flow of news. Maryam Namazie, spokesperson for the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain, and a member of the Council of Ex-Muslims, has been following developments closely on her blog.

Meanwhile, in cloud-cuckoo-land, an orthodox Jewish couple are suing their neighbours in a block of Bournemouth flats over motion sensors which automatically turn on the lights in the communal hallway. Dena and Gordon Coleman say their human rights have been breached because they can’t leave their flat, because motion sensors turn on the lights as soon as they open their door at night, and are suing for £5,000 damages.

Giles Enders, chairman of the South Place Ethical Society which runs Conway Hall Humanist Centre in London, is a hero. He stood up to a bunch of Islamist thugs and threw them out, after they’d hired the hall for a meeting and attempted to segregate men from women, which is against the hall’s terms and conditions. Three cheers for Giles!

The Daily Mail reports that two thirds of teenagers don’t believe in God. I don’t find that surprising, but there are probably many Mail readers who choked on their cornflakes when they read that. According the Mail, they “think reality TV is more important than religion”. Mmm. Maybe some of you will agree, though I rarely watch it.

If you want to get away from all this politics and religion, it’s Suffolk Open Studios time again, when Suffolk artists open their doors to visitors. Why not pay some a visit?