Skip to content or view screen version

UK Newswire Archive

Full article | 8 comments

Daisy lane eviction,north wales

28-01-2012 14:39

With evictions up and down the country we can see a clear pattern of ethnic cleansing in action, excluded from society and looked upon as second rate citizens,the caravan act of 1968 to provide camp sites is no longer in force councils do not have to comply, so folk buy there own land ,but planning applications are often refused.

Full article

DPAC and ukuncut block Regent Street

28-01-2012 14:29

Audio

At about midday, a group of activists strung a chain across the Regent Street North junction with Oxford Circus, and a number of wheelchair users attached themselves to the train. Police were fairly slow to arrive, by which time numbers were also swelled with the arrival of those who had responded to the call out.

The protest was a response to the draconian measures being taken to slash welfare provision, with disabled people being some of the hardest hit. A propoganda campaign mounted by the state and corporate media has produced a nasty backlash against disabled people. One woman told me that she has been asked if she really needs her wheelchair.

DPAC called for more protests to be held across the UK, and it is to be hoped that this will happen.

Full article

From Bristol With Love #15

28-01-2012 12:25

From Bristol with Love is a showcase for local music, local news and new forms of local thinking.

Full article | 1 comment

M31 - European Day of Action Against Capitalism

28-01-2012 12:03

A EUROPEAN Day of Action Against Capitalism has been called for Saturday March 31 2012.

Full article

Eviction at St Paul's delayed

28-01-2012 10:55

The Court of Appeal has ruled there can be no eviction at St Paul's protest camp until Tuesday 31 January at the earliest while the judges consider the evidence presented by Occupy London and the eco-warriors.

If the appeal judge decides not to allow an appeal for the St Paul's protesters to go ahead there should be a few days before the City of London Corporation will be able to arrange bailiffs and police to evict the camp.
A legal spokesman for Occupy London told the General Assembly at St Paul's camp on Friday night 27 January, that he wished other groups well, but they were not part of Occupy London.
Asked to consider the question of whether to create an eco-village after being evicted from St Paul's,
and being told that the issues involved were not mutually exclusive, some of the campers expressed approval at the General Assembly.

Full article | 1 comment

Get ready for the eviction of occupylsx

28-01-2012 10:11

The nearest time for the eviction of occupylsx is Tuesday evening on the 31st of January. So start coming down to the camp from then onwards. We are calling on thousands of people to come down and resist the eviction by all means possible.

Full article

Grassroots community action round-up

28-01-2012 09:42

A round up of campaigns organised by people in their communities including saving the local school, health service, and prevent nuclear waste dumping.

Full article

Nuclear energy fat cats EDF Energy targeted for fuel poverty days of action

28-01-2012 09:03

Anti-nuclear campaign group Boycott EDF targeted the UK headquarters of EDF Energy in central London this Friday at lunchtime as part of the national days of action called by the Climate Justice Collective’s Fuel Poverty Action campaign.

Full article

RSPCA won't drop pig abusers

28-01-2012 02:15

“The RSPCA are failing animal protection. They are bringing shame on the whole ideology of animal protectionism and ethics. They are supporting acts of violence against innocent and defenceless animals. The public will be shocked when they find out this” says Jake Knight of the Animal Defence Society.

Full article

Occupy squat the Bank of Iraq

28-01-2012 00:55

Occupy London took and new building this morning a former Nationalised Bank of Iraq called the The Rafidain Bank, with the comment "You told us to stop camping and go after the banks. So we did." The building in Leadenhall Street is massive, formerly the Iraq embassy commercial attache, this is a new Bank of Ideas in the making. Throughout the afternoon various police groups visited the area until around 5pm they entered the building using battering rams, forcibly evicting the occupants illegally. More as i get time...

Full article | 2 comments

Eviction at St Paul's delayed while Court of Appeal considers the evidence

28-01-2012 00:49

The Court of Appeal has ruled there can be no eviction at St Paul's protest camp until Tuesday 31 January at the earliest while the judges consider the evidence presented by Occupy London and the eco-warriors.

Full article

Remembering the Battle of Saltley Gate

27-01-2012 23:59

Militant strike action that brought down the government.

On November 30th last year millions of workers went on strike across the country  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2011/12/489831.html, the biggest general strike since 1926. Earlier in the year there was a similar one day mass strike on June 30th and there have been smaller strikes happing throughout the year  https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2012/01/491367.html,  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2011/12/490171.html,  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/06/480579.html, all fighting against cuts and austerity measures. February 10th will be the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Saltley Gate, an event which important lessons and inspiration can be taken for anyone fighting austerity and cuts today. Then as now a Conservative government were resolute on destroying the working class, who respond with the first national coal strike since 1926. Crucially they were supported by other workers, in Birmingham 30,000 engineers walked out in a solidarity strike. 15,000 of these engineers then marched to join 2000 striking miners who were picketing Saltley coke depot (the last remaining open fuel depot). This forced the police, who had kept the gates open until this point, to close the gates. This was the straw that broke the camels back, around the country tens of thousands of miners had been involved in strikes, shutting down coal depots, docks and even power stations. But the closure of Saltley though solidarity action untimely led to the collapse of the government.

Full article | 2 comments

Eco-warriors propose turning St Paul's Cathedral into Extinction Eco-Village

27-01-2012 23:35

With eviction at St Paul's protest camp apparently imminent some of the eco-warriors are proposing that the anti-capitalist protesters should take sanctuary inside the cathedral and transform it into the Extinction Eco-village to avoid being violently attacked by the police.

Full article

IPCC lecture: "Public Confidence in Policing"

27-01-2012 22:55

Thursday 26 January 2012

"Public Confidence in Policing in the 21st Century" a lecture given by the Interim Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), Len Jackson OBE, at Newton Building, Nottingham Trent University. 



Highlighting high profile cases that they have investivated including the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes and more recently Mark Duggan, Mr Jackson discussed the position and objectives of the IPCC. He went on to outline some of the challenges to be faced in the role of the IPCC with the fothcoming Police Reform and Social Responsibilty Act 2011.

One of the highlights for me, was the fact that more complaints against the police tend to be made by older males. Women still may feel they are not taken seriously by a male dominated force.  The other obvious fact is that young people are well satisfied with the behaviour of police officers towards them :-).  Alternatively of course, they don't bother to complain, completely lacking in confidence in the system.

Nottingham Trent University release says: "Public confidence in 21stcentury policing will be the subject of a lecture given by the Interim Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, Len Jackson OBE, at Nottingham Trent University on January 26. The talk will look at the major issues which have sparked demands for more rigorous oversight of the police as well as the creation of the IPCC, the body responsible for dealing with complaints against police officers and staff in England and Wales.

The talk, which is open to the public and free to attend, is part of a guest lecture series organised by the University’s School of Social Sciences.

As well as providing a history of police complaints and the bodies responsible for them, Mr Jackson will discuss the potential impact of the new Police and Crime Act  on police complaints and how the landscape in this area will change beyond 2012. 

He will also highlight recent experiences of dealing with serious incidents involving European Convention on Human Rights ‘article two’ cases – which protect the right to life – and what has been learned from those cases.

Mr Jackson, who was appointed to the IPCC as a commissioner in 2003 and became deputy chair in 2008, before taking on the role of Interim Chair last year.

He is also an assistant commissioner with the Boundary Commission for England and Wales and a sales and marketing professional with more than 30 years’ experience in the food industry. He has many years’ experience of working with public sector bodies, such as the East Midlands Development Agency, where he was a director for three years from 1999-2001.

He was awarded an OBE in 2002 for his chairmanship of a number of government and voluntary sector initiatives during the 1990s including New Deal and Common Purpose. Between 2002-2008 Mr Jackson was chair of Sport England in the East Midlands and sat on its main board in London."

http://www.ntu.ac.uk/apps/News/116288-4/Interim_chair_of_Independent_Police_Complaints_Commission_to_talk_on_public.aspx

IPCC http://www.ipcc.gov.uk

____________________________________________

ALAN LODGE 

Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham.  UK

Email:                 tash@indymedia.org

Web:                   http://digitaljournalist.eu

Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]

____________________________________________

"It is not enough to curse the darkness.

                                   It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"

___________________________________________

<ends>



Full article

Manchester fuel poverty billboard subvertising

27-01-2012 22:55

Billboards in Manchester were transformed today as anger against the ‘Big Six' energy companies rises. DIY modifications were made in protest about the thousands of people who die each year due to fuel poverty, and the hikes in heating bills. [1]

 

 

To see a video of this action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMd5Zdi0KUo

The Big Six - EDF, Centrica (British Gas), Eon, RWE Npower, Scottish Power and Southern & Scottish Energy have increased energy bills by as much as 22% this January 2012, while profits have soared to a record five-year high [2]. Government statistics show that every year, around 2,700 people, mostly pensioners, die from coldness-related diseases like pneumonia [3].

Jane Simpson, 34, from Manchester Climate Action group, who participated in the DIY modifications said "I just wanted to come out and say it. The energy companies are ripping us off big time and making a fat buck off it. But it's about much more than prices. It's about big corporations dominating our energy supply. We need democratic community control over how we heat our homes."

James Terry, 26, also linked the issue to climate change. He said: "It's not just people in the UK who are dying because of the energy companies obsession with profits - people around the world are dying from climate change resulting from the government and energy companies refusing to make the change to renewable energy."

"We need a chance to discuss where we get our energy from and how much it costs, not just have it dictated to us by big energy companies"

Those least able to pay for energy are forced into installing meters and paying more, and when the money runs out, so does the light, heat and hot water.

While the Big Six energy companies are making a five-year record profit of over 700% per customer, the government is cutting its Winter Fuel Allowance.  [4]

This action has been inspired by the ‘Winter Warm Up' weekend of action called by Fuel Poverty Action [5]. Hundreds of protesters are expected to participate in actions in Leeds, London, Cambridge and other parts of the country. The group are highlighting the injustice of the ‘Big 6' control over energy resources.  Reports are emerging of an occupation of Lewisham Town Hall in London.

See www.fuelpovertyaction.wordpress.com for more information on the national event.

 

ENDS

Notes

--------

[1] Fuel poverty is defined as expenditure of 10% or more of household income on fuel. There were 25,700 ‘excess Winter deaths' last Winter. At a conservative estimate, 10% of these deaths were directly due to people being unable to afford to heat their homes.

Government's full statistics here: data.gov.uk/dataset/excess_winter_deaths

[2] Energy Companies Profits at 700%. See article: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-204902...

[3]An April 2011 YouGov survey found that nearly 1 in 4 households (24% or 6.3million homes) were suffering fuel poverty. See full report here:http://bit.ly/s4NbSh

According to the government-commissioned Hills Poverty Review, 2,700 people - a conservative estimate - will die this winter as a direct result of being ‘fuel poor'. For the full review see: www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/funding/...

[4] Energy Companies Profits at 700%. See article: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-204902...

[5] Fuel Poverty Action is a project of the Climate Justice Collective

(CJC). CJC has emerged out of Climate Camp UK. Fuel Poverty Action aims to expose the economic and environmental causes of fuel poverty and take action to create energy democracy and climate justice.

Full article | 1 comment

crackdown on radical left groups in Italy

27-01-2012 21:24

the arrest and trial of some members of CARC, an Italian Maoist party, under renacted fascist mussolini era laws, for 'subversive association for purposes of terrorism'. This law has not only targeted Maoists, but other far left groups, including Anarchists and Autonomous groups that are in some way independent of the 'official left'. Demonstration in London at Italian Embassy on the 8th February.

Full article

Sparks Picket Photos

27-01-2012 20:55

photos

photos

Full article | 1 comment

Bank of idea stormed by police and evicted, numerous arrests!

27-01-2012 19:09

The bank of ideas was this evening aggressively stormed by dozens of police and evicted without warning. Many arrests have been made and the police have been aggressive to people gathered in the street outside the building threatening them with arrest and beating them with batons. The situation is getting pretty hectic.

Full article

This Sunday on Uhuru Radio: Ludo de Witte!

27-01-2012 18:55

THIS SUNDAY, 11AM EST on Uhuru Radio ( http://uhurunews.com/radio/?tzoffminutes=300):

Hear an exclusive interview with Ludo de Witte, the author of The Assassination of Lumumba.

De Witte's acclaimed book provides a powerful look at the US and Belgian plot to capture, torture, and murder Patrice Lumumba, leader in the African independence movement and Congo's first democratically elected head of state.

A beloved leader amongst the African masses, Lumumba played a leading role in the struggle for the liberation of Africa and all of Africa's resources. 51 years after the assassination of Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo remains under foreign domination, with over 7 million Africans killed in US proxy wars over the past 10 years.

Nyabinga Dzimbahwe, Agitprop Director of the the African People's Socialist Party and host of “Africa Live”, will interview Ludo De Witte, author of Assassination of Lumumba, this Sunday (January 29, 2012) at 11AM EST on Uhuru Radio!

Full article

Do you want to help stop the world’s most destructive project?

27-01-2012 17:15

UK Tar Sands Network is looking for a volunteer to join our small Oxford-based team. You would help us with a range of activities, including organising protests and campaign events, keeping our website and social media up to date, public education, outreach and network-building, and some day-to-day administrative tasks that help keep the show on the road.