I love this characterisation by Peter Serafinowicz channelling Leonard Rossiter’s Rigsby. Fiennes will never be the same after you see this.
Joe Glenton giving a speech this week-
400 people packed a Stop the War meeting in London’s Conway Hall on 26 July 2010 to welcome soldier Joe Glenton on his release from prison, following his refusal to fight in Afghanistan.
It’s also refreshing and remarkable to watch, none of the phony staged stuff and mawkish sentimentality for the noble UK that is peddled to us by war pimps.
The UK supreme court (as well as pointing out cuts will stop it functioning) find that asylum seekers should be allowed to work and immediately the govt. counters with attempting to restrict work to a tiny sector of highly skilled jobs. The UKBA is Cardiff escapes from an investigation into racism and lies brought by whistleblower Louise Perrett relatively unscathed, the PCS union sadly seems to have played a dirty role in stopping members from testifying. Amnesty International & Bethan Jenkins AM are not convinced of the efficacy of the investigation. While in the US it is revealed the FBI had knowledge that Shawna Forde plotted to murder the Flores family and further ass covering imperils an effective prosecution. The recorded 911 phone call ‘for help by a courageous Mexican mother during the invasion of her home by the Minutemen vigilantes and after they had shot her daughter and husband in the head‘ is probably all you need to know about the reality of what anti-migrant hate groups really desire.
The family of Ian Tomlinson have now have set up an easy to use paypal link:-
Click To Donate (takes you direct to paypal)
or via the The Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign Site
Or:- make cheques payable to ‘Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign’ and send to:
Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign
c/o Newham Monitoring Project
170 Harold Rd
London E13 0SE
From the Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign site-
This website and the Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign has been set up by Ian’s family. We are grateful for the huge amount of public support received since Ian’s tragic death on April 1st 2009 at the G20 protests in London. It has been very hard for our family particularly following the release of images of the police assault on Ian emerged. Ian is deeply missed by us and we simply want justice for him.
We may have a long and difficult journey ahead to achieve justice and we will rely on your continued support.
Our family has set up this campaign for the following reasons:
• To demand a full investigation into Ian’s death that scrutinises the individual conduct and operational command tactics of police officers present at the G20 protest and those in command of them when Ian was assaulted and died
• To call for full criminal charges to be brought against any officer whose actions or failure of duty resulted in Ian’s death
• To campaign for change to any police policies, tactics or frequent abuses of power which may effectively endanger people’s lives rather than protect them, so that future deaths and injuries to the public can be prevented
• To raise awareness of any issues we may experience as a family seeking justice through statutory and judicial systems that are a cause for public concern
These are some things you may wish to do for now to support our campaign:
• Keep updated by checking this official family website for press releases, news articles and updates
• Join the official campaign mailing list by e-mail at iantomlinsonfamilycampaign@gmail.com and send any messages of support or ideas to this address.
• Stay in contact – send us updates of any events you have organised including pictures, letters received back, press articles etc.
• Write to your MP
• Direct any witness information to our lawyers so it may be used in evidence
With thanks,
Family of Ian Tomlinson
Their reaction to the disciplinary proceedings against PC Simon Harwood, is below-
The family of Ian Tomlinson have welcomed the announcement today by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson that the officer who struck Ian Tomlinson before his death will face disciplinary proceedings.
Jules Carey of Tuckers Solicitors said
“The family of Ian Tomlinson welcome the announcement of Sir Paul Stephenson that PC Harwood will face disciplinary proceedings for gross misconduct. There is provision in the Police Conduct Regulations for misconduct proceedings to be held in public if it is in the public interest. There is an overwhelming argument in this case that the proceedings should be held in public. The family will be looking carefully at what the charges are, the timing of proceedings and whether they are open to the public.
Paul King said “if the officer faces disciplinary charges now, does that mean he could get away with not facing charges for the death of our dad if there is an unlawful killing verdict at the inquest? I can see how it would look nice for the police if the officer turned up to the inquest in his civilian clothes”.
He added “I like to thank all the people who have sent us messages of support. It has really lifted us up and given us strength to keep going”
This I do not believe is unusual, New Labour made the conditions very difficult and the ConDems are gleefully piling on, the suicides where the DWP’s actions and political attacks on welfare are a major/primary factor that cause a tipping point in the stressors on a depressed person causing self termination are a hidden atrocity and will increase. And to be honest I think the this is known and is seen as a neat way of exterminating citizens deemed useless to capital-
{Excerpts} FRIENDS of an acclaimed Scottish writer have accused the new government’s crackdown on welfare benefits of being a factor in his suicide. Paul Reekie, who, along with Irvine Welsh, was part of a wave of young Scottish authors who rose to international prominence in the 1990s, killed himself in his Edinburgh home last month.
The founder of the Rebel Inc publishing label has sent a strongly worded letter to Osborne, linking his policies to Reekie’s death. The letter states: “It has come to my attention that while many of my friends and I were at the funeral of our good friend Paul Reekie, aged 48, it would appear that you were giving a speech in Parliament announcing your intentions to slash the benefits paid to the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. I thought I would let you know that Paul took his own life. He didn’t leave a note but he laid out two letters on his table. One was notifying him that his housing benefit had been stopped. The other was notifying him that his incapacity benefit had been stopped. The reason I’m writing this letter is just so you know the human cost of attacking those on benefits.”
Another close friend believes the letters from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) may have been the final straw for Reekie, who is thought to have been suffering from depression. In an online tribute to the devoted follower of Hibernian FC, he spoke of the last time they met, just days before he took his own life: “I knew (Paul) was lonely and wasn’t too happy overall.
“He told me that he’d had a ‘brutally bad’ time recently, especially because social security officials had disallowed and stopped his disability benefit, even though he had a bad heart condition. I didn’t know Paul for any of his artistic things really, just as an absolutely brilliant pal and out-and-out funny bloke.” A political group to oppose cuts to disability payments, the Black Triangle Campaign, has been launched in Reekie’s memory.
Paul Farmer, chief executive of health charity Mind, fears a radical tightening of work capability assessments could lead to tens of thousands of people being forced to look for work when they are unable to do so. He said: “Most people with mental health problems want to work, but need time and support to be able to do so. We have seen some truly shocking examples of people who cannot be reasonably expected to enter any workplace being assessed as fit for work.”
A great victory for Medical Justice that also exposes again that the UKBA target the most vulnerable, deporting suicidal people-
A Home Office policy which allows the speedy deportation of foreign nationals refused permission to remain in the UK was declared unlawful and quashed by the High Court today. A judge ruled that the policy meant people were being given “little or no notice” of removal and deprived of access to justice.
The decision was a victory for Medical Justice, which provides independent medical and legal advice to detainees in immigration removal centres. Mr Justice Silber, sitting at the High Court in London, gave the Home Office permission to appeal against his decision, saying the case raised issues of general public importance, including the constitutional right of access to justice.
There is a general Home Office practice of giving those facing deportation 72 hours notice of removal directions. Today’s legal challenge was triggered by an “exceptions policy”, introduced by the Government in March 2007 and widened in January this year. The policy creates categories in which an individual can be given little or no notice. The categories include vulnerable people who are at risk of suicide or self-harm, and also children who arrived in the UK unaccompanied and may abscond because they cannot be detained.
Dinah Rose QC, appearing for Medical Justice, said UK Border Agency officers had used the policy to swoop late at night and escort people to flights leaving only a few hours later. Distressed individuals were deprived of the chance to speak to a lawyer and, if so advised, launch last-ditch challenges against removal.
It’s a shame the Home Office have been given permission to appeal this when in a just society they would be on trial for these abysmal human rights abuses-
T, an unaccompanied minor, had been forced to earn a living by prostitution in Italy and had been raped there and in Libya. She came from Italy to the UK when she was 15 years old. She was removed back to Italy in order that, under the Dublin Regulations, her asylum claim be considered there. She was given no notice of the removal. According to Mr Justice Collins, “she was descended upon by a posse of enforcement officers at 4 o clock in the morning, no doubt aroused from sleep; was bundled out and taken straight to the airport, and was given no opportunity whatever of contacting anyone.”
Mr Nyam has been detained several times with a view to removal from the UK. 10 removal attempts have been abandoned, mostly because Mr Nyam ended up being hospitalised. During one period of detention he was hospitaised six times before he was eventually released. He was hospitalised three times during a subsequent period of detention, which had continued even when no removal directions were in place.
(Via Endgagdget-South Korea enlists armed sentry robots to patrol DMZ)
Samsung Techwin’s new Intelligent Surveillance & Security System, incorporating the SGR-1 security guard robot – which has lethal and non-lethal capabilities…
Who has this tech? People who can afford it, the Rich will take the Earth from the rest of us (who shall be termed terrorists by their media) and robots will be their soldiers and cinema, TV & web is being used to make us admire, geek out and love big shiny techno machines of war as watching the ad makes clear… suckers!
PS. Love that in the advert-speak the gun killing people part of the Samsung Techwin SGR-1 is called the much nicer techspeak keyword ‘Suppression’ in a world where war is waged by Departments/Ministries of Defence.
Samsung Techwin suggests that the system could be used for border security, transportation nodes such as airports and seaports, critical infrastructure, including power plants, pipelines, dams and historic sites, and military bases.
The SGR-1 itself is priced around the £200,000 mark, but Samsung Techwin believes the entire system could be of interest to major town centres, allowing them to very tightly integrate and track their security concerns.
PPS. I began thinking this is a hoax but from searches it does appear to be real, hmmm. Stars & Stripes and from a year ago an early mention.
