Walking with the Badger To Sussex for the post-Christmas do of Optima Systems at The Chequers in Slaugham, followed by a crisp walk the next morning in St Leonards Forest and a suprisingly good lunch with the Badger at The Wheatsheaf, north of Lower Beeding.
Hats off to Apple To Brent Cross for the opening of the new Apple store. The place was packed but I still got useful advice on Apple Cinema Displays. Also on my iPod — “It’s dead; we’ll have to replace it.” Which they did. Just like that. Handsome.
Balkan ska To Islington and the Bar Academy for the first Balkan edition of the now twice-monthly Orient Express dance. The Baghdaddies, a Geordie band, played a lively blend of Balkan ska. Hats off to Seb & Aysegül for a great night.
We, the audience To Charing Cross and the RSA for a lecture on Parliamentary spaces: politics, power and artistic licence, booked out. Barbara Heinzen and Oby Obyerodhyambo made an effective case for the urgency of a worldwide conversation about the global commons, and distinguished from their own backgrounds the kinds of preconceptions and positions that have to be abandoned for such a conversation to produce anything. But the tone of the responses was set by the chairwoman — How did you come to choose this format? — and we the audience engaged with the lecture’s form and not its substance. We need a planetary parliament, urgently, and — we thought mauve for the wallpaper? A great success, apparently.
Dining with my Fellows at the Society’s restaurant had been recommended, but the Vaults were closed, and we wandered north to stumble across Porters in Covent Garden, now a quarter-century since my previous visit. A humbler Rules, they gave us a restorative dinner, the kind of comfort food to put paid to Miki’ still wheezing cough.
Clutching at Straw For those who doubted HM Government’s commitment to it, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw set the record straight at the opening of a two-day conference on transnational terrorism in London on 16 Jan.
If we want to be seen to deliver justice and offer a stronger and better world view than that of the terrorist, we have to be seen to stand by our values and our strengths. We have to show that when it comes to counter-terrorism we practice what we preach. I want to set this out as plainly as possible. This Government is committed absolutely to our obligations under United Kingdom and international law.That should remove any lingering doubts about adding your signature to Tony Benn’s letter to the UN Secretary-General and the UK Attorney General asking them to investigate the abundant evidence of war crimes committed in the invasion of Iraq. Off you go now.
Defective Yeti has provided a brief summary of the Iraq war in the form of a text adventure.
Maya Anne Evans writes from Our World Our Say
My name is Maya Anne Evans. On 25th October last year I was arrested and charged. Simply for standing outside Downing Street and reading out the names of the British soldiers who have died in Iraq. It doesn’t seem possible that something like this could happen in our country but it happened to me. I thought we had freedom of speech.
If you believe that it’s time we stood up and challenged this Government then please help Our World Our Say do that in 2006 by making a donation.
I was arrested under the Designated Area Order clause of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act. On 1st January that act came into force in full — giving the police the power to arrest people for any act of petty law breaking — conceivably even dropping a piece of litter.And under the act for all but a truly minor crime, the police can take a sample of your DNA, photograph and fingerprint you and take impressions of your footwear. They can keep this even if you are not charged.
If you, like me, are alarmed at the serious erosion of our basic freedoms then please take a moment now to send a donation to help Our World Our Say in 2006. They have big plans if they can raise enough funds including:
They need to secure at least £50,000 for work that is already in the pipeline. It’s vital that Our World Our Say has the funds to act as it’s not just the new laws that threaten us, it’s also the extremely sophisticated technology that the Government is investing in that enables them to watch and track our every move. You can see details at the foot of this email.
The authoritarian tendencies of this Government and its willingness to give the police almost unlimited powers are deeply disturbing. They seem to have a disdain for individual rights that goes against the fundamental principles of our society.
The Government gives various justifications for their measures: to prevent terrorism; to stop anti-social behaviour; to prevent crime. But the end result is the same. They’re destroying the liberties that are the basis of our democracy. To me that’s not the way to beat terrorism. The underlying message is that no one can be trusted and that wanting to voice your own opinion will not be tolerated.
If you are alarmed about what is happening to our liberties then please take a few minutes now to make a donation.
The Government needs to know that the British people will not let freedom of expression and association be crushed in this way. We must not forget that not dissimilar methods were used by the apartheid regime in South Africa, and the totalitarian government in East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down.
The Designated Area Order clause of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, that I was arrested under, makes it illegal to hold any sort of protest around Parliament without police permission and with stringent conditions attached, like no megaphones.
Why are Police resources being wasted on repressing protest when the Police are so stretched anyway? Believe it or not two police sergeants, twelve constables, and two police minibuses were deployed to stop my protest. I was then taken to Charing Cross police station, locked up for five hours, and later given a criminal record.
My story is but one example. Here are a few more.
There are many, many other examples that don’t make the news, but around this country protest is being stifled and individual rights are being eroded and the power of the state to monitor and apprehend individuals has grown beyond reason. Please help Our World Our Say challenge this by making a donation.
If, like me, you feel you can’t sit back and let our basic freedoms be curtailed then take action. You could support me in my next protest. If you send an email to mayaaction@ourworldoursay.org your details will be forwarded on to me.
You can also help Our World Our Say build their presence by making a donation online.
By getting people to work together we can stop — and turn back — the erosion of our liberties. The internet offers a new way for millions of people to work together.
Whilst the cost of the ID Cards Scheme could be up to £30 billion those of us protesting do so on tiny resources. You could send £20 or whatever you can afford to pay for adverts, posters, opinion polls and a major upgrade of the Our World Our Say web site.
Thank you and Happy New Year
Maya Anne Evans
To make a donation go to: http://www.securegiving.co.uk/donate_to/owos_donate.html
If you wish to donate by paypal go to: http://www.owos.info/make_a_donation/donate.php
You can also send a donation to: Our World Our Say, FREEPOST LON15893, LONDON SE24. NO STAMP NEEDED
Brave New Year
As a New Year resolution for all those at No. 10, we suggest a daily rereading of the promises they made before we gave them power.
With a new Labour government Britain will be […] an advocate of human rights and democracy the world over […] Labour wants Britain to be respected in the world for the integrity with which it conducts its foreign relations. New Labour manifesto, 1997
And if you are an elector, give it some thought yourself.
