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The National Secular Society has urged Scotland's justice minister not to renege on a commitment to ensure a strengthened level of protection for free speech on religion in the current hate crime bill.

A vital free speech provision around religion has yet to be determined, even though it had appeared to be settled and a final vote on the legislation is likely to be just days away.

The NSS has long warned that plans to criminalise 'stirring up hatred' on the grounds of religion within the bill pose a threat to freedom of expression.

The Scottish parliament's Justice Committee had agreed to an amendment to protect expressions of "antipathy, dislike, ridicule and insult" of religion or belief during previous consideration of the bill. However, this now appears to be under threat after the launch of a last minute consultation on freedom of expression provisions in the bill. The consultation, which closed on Monday, lasted just four days.

The NSS and Edinburgh Secular Society have now jointly written to Humza Yousaf, Scotland's cabinet secretary for justice, over the issue.

The NSS said a free speech clause covering religion that only protected "discussion or criticism" would be "too imprecise" and go "nowhere near far enough to protect robust debate, satire, comedy and commentary about religions or beliefs".

It added that the law should "in no way serve to criminalise people for their opposition to ideas or protect people's beliefs from antipathy, dislike, ridicule and insult".

The letter argued that the "wide consensus and strong support" for the additional protection for speech about religion or belief should be reflected in the legislation. And it says it would be "unconscionable at this late stage to renege on additional free speech protections already agreed to".

SexWorld is a 1978 USA adult Sci-Fi film by Anthony Spinelli
Starring Lesllie Bovee, Kent Hall and Kay Parker

Taking off on WESTWORLD, a bus load of people going to a resort that helps them solve their sexual hang-ups. Everyone and everything is monitored by a huge computer run by a gang of white-coated technicians, which deduces their deepest sexual fantasies - whether or not they are aware of them. The clients are paired off with each other for optimum effect. A bigot, for example, is given a beautiful black woman to make love to, and a frigid housewife is linked up with a tender, soft-spoken lover.

Its good to see that some Golden Age porn films are being released on 4K Blu-ray. Of course the older films have the advantage on 4K as they were shot on cinema quality film.

thedigitalbits.com comments about the quality:

Sex World was shot on 35 mm photochemical film using Panavision cameras and lenses for an intended 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio. Vinegar Syndrome presents the film in native 4K, scanned and restored from the original camera negative with HDR10 high dynamic range. Image quality is actually quite good. Not that we expect anything less from Vinegar Syndrome, but the fact that the original negative still exists in well-preserved quality is remarkable in itself.

Sex among the elderly, and particularly among elderly patients suffering from dementia, has long been a taboo subject in the United States. This contrasts with some European nations, such as Denmark, where Copenhagen's Thorupgaarden nursing home makes pornography and prostitutes available to residents.

In U.S. facilities, sexuality is more likely to be met with concern or even derision. This proves especially true with cognitively impaired patients. In 1996, an Ohio court denied a husband overnight nursing home visits with his stroke-afflicted wife for fear that he might seek sexual intimacy with her -- and that this might lead to litigation for the facility.

One challenge in dementia cases is the issue of consent. Yet consent -- with its formal standards -- is a problematic concept when speaking of impaired patients. Elderly patients with dementia do not consent (in the legal sense) to many things -- having their blood pressure checked, showering and changing clothes, eating. Rather, they often assent to such activities, either by smiling or expressing enthusiasm or merely offering no resistance, even when they may not fully understand what they are doing or why.

...See full article from medpagetoday.com

MINDWARP (aka Brain Slasher) is a 1991 USA Sci-Fi horror thriller by Steve Barnett
Starring Bruce Campbell,Angus Scrimm,Marta Martin

The film was cut in the US for an MPAA R rating but was later released uncut in an MPAA Unrated Version. A BBFC 18 rated 1993 VHS release seems to be the cut R rated version but the 2021 Blu-ray is reported to be the uncut version.

UK: BBFC details not yet published for the MPAA Unrated version:

• 2021 Eureka Entertainment (RB) Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad released on 22nd February 2021
• 2021 Eureka Entertainment Amazon Prime VoD [UK only] at UK Amazon #ad

Reviews

• See review from entertainment-focus.com : " 'Mindwarp' tries to offer a fresh perspective (for the time) on a post-apocalyptic world rife with division "

Promotional Material

In the future, life will be a dream. And reality a nightmare.

In a post-apocalyptic world, one woman ( Marta Alicia ) relies on computer fantasies to entertain herself, but a glitch sends her to a far-off wasteland to deal with monsters called Crawlers. She is saved by a young rebel ( Bruce Campbell ; the Evil Dead franchise, Bubba Ho-Tep ), but the pair are later captured and brought underground by the Crawlers. There, an overlord called the Seer ( Angus Scrimm ; the Phantasm series) presides over the kingdom and tries to make life miserable for his captives.

The first film produced as part of the Fangoria Films label, Mindwarp is a gore-filled sci-fi horror classic of the early 90s, and Eureka Classics is proud to present the film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

SPECIAL BLU-RAY EDITION CONTAINS

• Limited-Edition O-card slipcase (First Print Run of 2000 Copies Only)
• 1080p presentation on Blu-ray
• LPCM 2.0 audio
• Optional English SDH
• Brand new feature length audio interview with Tony Timpone, former longtime editor of Fangoria Magazine
• Fangoria s Weekend of Horrors 1990 footage from the horror convention, with Bruce Campbell and Angus Scrimm in attendance after recently filming Mindwarp
• Reversible sleeve artwork featuring original poster artwork for both the original US release, and the international Brain Slasher artwork
• PLUS: Limited-Edition Collector s Booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar and author Craig Ian Mann; and a reprinted article from Fangoria sister publication, Gorezone (First Print Run of 2000 Copies Only)