UK UK Newswire Archive
'Nonviolence Works' Exhibition, Wrexham
09-01-2011 00:18
From 8 January and for the next two weeks, there's an exhibition called 'Nonviolence Works' at St Mary's Cathedral on Regent Street, Wrexham, open every day between 8.30am and 5pm until 22 January.
Members of Wrexham Peace & Justice Forum called in on the opening day to have a look.
The Cutz: this week in Bristol and Beyond ...
08-01-2011 23:22
This week's Tory shit8 January 2011
"New Year: same old news"
[Most links removed]
E V E N T S
BRISTOL AND DISTRICT ANTI-CUTS ALLIANCE (BADACA)
Badaca have a number of meetings coming up this month. If you work in any of these areas or you are in any way interested or involved, please make every effort to attend whoever you are. These are not exclusively trade union or left wing political meetings.
SOCIAL SERVICES GROUP MEETING
TUESDAY 18 JANUARY, 7.30pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
(up the road from the Colston Hall, opposite the Griffin pub)
HEALTH GROUP MEETING
TUESDAY 18 JANUARY, 5.30pm
THE ROBIN HOOD
ST. MICHAEL'S HILL, BRISTOL
FILTON AREA GROUP MEETING
WEDNESDAY 19 JANUARY, 7.00pm
FILTON HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL
BLENHEIM RD, FILTON, BS34 7AX
Meeting sponsored by South Gloucestershire Division National Union of Teachers
BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL GROUP MEETING
MONDAY 24 JANUARY, 7.30pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
PUBLIC TRANSPORT GROUP MEETING
WEDNESDAY 26 JANUARY, 7.00pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
BLACK ACTIVISTS AGAINST THE CUTS MEETING
THURSDAY 27 JANUARY, 7.00pm
MALCOLM X CENTRE
ASHLEY ROAD, ST PAULS, BRISTOL
This meeting is called by the Black Development Agency to set up a Bristol branch of Black Activists Against the Cuts. Speakers include:
* Lee Jasper (London black activist)
* Nigel Costley (Secretary, South West TUC)
* spokesperson from Bristol & District Anti-Cuts Alliance
EDUCATION WORKERS GROUP MEETING
MONDAY 31 JANUARY, 7.00pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
A FAREWELL TO PUBLIC WELFARE?
Bristol's Festival of Ideas is running a four-part series of talks in association with the University of the West of England looking at the Coalition Government's Public Spending Review and cuts. It will feature academics and senior trade unionists. The events are taking place between January and April at Watershed Media Centre. For full details, including author/speaker biographies, titles of individual sessions and links to online booking, go to:
http://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/wp-content/themes/ad-cle....html
BRISTOL ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR 2011
Here’s the basic bookfair details:
Bristol Anarchist Bookfair
7 May 2011, 10.30am to 6.30pm
Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3QY
'In The Tradition Of May Day…Resistance and Alternatives To Cuts'
Details on stalls and holding workshops here: www.bristolanarchistbookfair.org
BRISTOL & DISTRICT ANTI-CUTS ALLIANCE SOCIAL
Saturday 5 March, 8.00pm, Granary Barge, Mardyke Warf, Hotwells, Bristol. To raise money for the Anti-Cuts Alliance and to get people to go on the TUC demonstration in London on 26 March. Theme is Pirates. Tickets £5 from Anne Lemon, 4 Maycliffe Park, Ashley Hill, Bristol, BS6 5JH or annelemon198@btinternet.com .Cheques to Bristol NUT Campaign Fund please.
P R O T E S T
SAVE EMA WALKOUT AND PROTEST
The Condems continue their assualt on workers, the vulnerable and on education. Currently they plan to scrap Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA). We plan to not let it happen! Fight all cuts! Assemble 11am on Tuesday 11 January at the fountains in the Centre, Bristol. Details tbc. Please post any suggestions to Facebook!
LEGAL AID
The government is still intent on abolishing legal aid for welfare benefits, immigration and employment and cutting funding to debt and housing advice. There is a Facebook campaign page coordinating campaigns against these cuts: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Say-NO-to-legal-aid-cuts-...6109#!/pages/Say-NO-to-legal-aid-cuts-in-the-South-West/164305760276109?v=wall.
A demonstration is being organised in Bristol on Monday 7 February 2011 12pm - 2pm outside the Legal Services Commission offices at Queen Square, Bristol.
TARGET ATOS ORIGIN
Take Action Against Atos Origin and all other poverty pimps on the 24 January 2011. Atos Origin have just been awarded a £300 million contract by the ConDems to continue carrying out ‘work capability assessments’ on ill and disabled benefit claimants. It is claimed these assessments are to test what people can do rather than what they can’t. The real purpose is to strip benefits from as many people as possible.
THE DEAN
More than 3,000 people attended a rally on Monday at Speech House Meadow in the Forest of Dean to stop the sell-off of the forest (see pic). If the Public Bodies Bill, to be debated in the House of Lords soon, becomes law, all the 650,000-acre forestry commission estate in England will be sold to developers, charities and power companies to raise cash.
#UKUNCUT
Vodaphone, BHS, Barclays Bank and Topshop were all closed on the busiest shopping day of the year - Saturday 18 December - as anti-cuts protestors drew attention to the retailers' tax dodging.
POLICE RAID
At 5am on Saturday 18 December the home of University of the West of England (UWE) student and anti-cuts and fees campaigner Paul Saville was raided by cops. He was arrested on suspicion of affray and conspiracy to commit affray. Paul, who was involved in the recent UWE occupation was held for 12 hours. His computer, mobile phone and note books have all been seized.
POLITICAL POLICING
Bristol Anarchist Federation (Afed) report that the two people arrested after the anti-cuts demo in Bristol on October 23 were questioned by a Detective Constable from the Avon & Somerset Police. They say the detective asked both men questions about active political groups in Bristol and showed them photographs of individuals the cops believe are involved in the socialist/anarchist politics that they want information on. Is this what we pay taxes for?
U N I O N S
AMBULANCE STAFF
Great Western Ambulance Service staff in Bristol, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset have voted to take industrial action. Unison balloted staff after bosses tried to impose new pay and conditions, which the union say will result in pay cuts and "slimmed down" non-peak cover.
NORTH SOMERSET
Unison members are preparing to stage a series of protests over North Somerset Council's £42 million cuts. Council workers will stage the protests at council meetings in January and February as decisions are made on where the axe will fall.
North Somerset Unison branch secretary Helen Thornton says, "The council's made it clear that they will be operating with a significantly reduced workforce. This could amount to losing 25 per cent of its workforce over the four years of cuts, and that's excluding those council-employed staff who work in schools"
B R I S T O L
FIRE SALE
Bristol City Council has appointed property consultants DTZ to look at ways of raising cash from its buildings and assets across the city. A report is expected by the end of January.
DETAILS ON CUTS PUBLISHED LATE
Bristol City Council's first Resources Scrutiny Commission to look at the authority's budget cuts in-depth took place on Wednesday. Papers for the meeting, which was due to discuss cuts to Business Transformation, Resources and Health and Social Care were only made available on the day to the public.
MORE CUTS MEETINGS
Further meetings of the Resources Scrutiny Commission take place on Monday 10 January and Wednesday 12 January at 6.00pm at the Council House.
COUNCIL REDUNDANCIES
Bristol City Council have told the BBC they are cutting 340 jobs next year rather than the 300 announced in October. They say 160 of the job losses will be from voluntary or compulsory redundancies. The other 180 will come from "managing vacancies, redeployment and natural wastage". The authority currently claim they need to save £28m next year although nobody seems to understand how they intend to do this or the accounts they've produced to explain how they're doing this.
400 REDUNDANCIES ALREADY MADE AT BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL!
Bristol's Chief Exec Ormonroyd, meanwhile, says, ”We expect to make up to 160 redundancies during the next financial year". And then admits "400 council posts have already gone". Presumably while the unions' and the politicians' backs were turned?
TOTAL REDUNDANCIES AT BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL
Would appear to be 740 for 2011 - 2012. That's 400 'vacancy managed' away already; a further 180 to be 'vacancy managed' and 160 'traditional' redundancies. It's not currently known how many posts they are 'vacancy managing' at present, however.
WORLD CUP
Latest figures released by Bristol City Council suggest they spent £689,000 on their failed World Cup bid, not the £250k they told the BBC. Even this latest figure fails to take account of staffing and administration costs. The accounts they've released also reveal that no budget limit was set for the bid. Instead Chief Exec Ormondroyd wrote herself a blank cheque using the council's financial reserves.
KEEPING WARM THIS WINTER
Despite one of the coldest winters in living memory, grants to help insulate homes in Bristol have been stopped because all the money has been allocated for this financial year. The scheme is now on hold until April. The Warm Front scheme pays up to £3,500 towards insulation and gas heating measures or £6,000 for oil heating to low income families, the elderly, or people with disabilities. Next year's fund has already been halved too.
HOUSING BENEFIT
Bristol City Council is trying to save £3m a year by cutting housing benefit payments to vulnerable people receiving extra ‘care support or supervision’ from charities and not for profit organisations as part of their housing.
DEVELOPERS DEMAND FAVOURS AT PUBLIC EXPENSE
Developers Redrow want to drop community project funding and affordable homes from their plans to build 325 homes on land at Wallscourt Farm in Lockleaze, Bristol. The original agreement was for £1,794,000 of community benefits and 30 per cent affordable housing for the site. Redrow has now asked to drop the financial contribution by over ten per cent and cut the affordable homes to 20 per cent claiming the costs make the development financially unviable in the economic climate
HUNG COUNCIL?
Bristol's 'business leaders' are predicting a hung council after the local elections in May. Bristol's yellow Tories, however, have indicated they're happy to run a minority administration if necessary.
EMPTY HOMES
There are 8,500 empty private homes in Bristol. 1,700 of them have been empty for over six months and 350 have been empty for more than three years.
M-SHED
An appeal, launched this year, to plug a £1.8 million funding gap for Bristol's new MShed museum has raised just £20,000 so far. If the money is not raised council tax payers will foot the bill instead.
ELDERLY CARE
New admissions to the 81-bed Kingsmead Lodge care home in Shirehampton, Bristol have been stopped again. The Care Quality Commission has given owners, Mimosa Healthcare, seven days to take action to improve standards of care in the home or face further action. Mimosa had to make a similar undertaking two years ago when five staff provided statements detailing abuse of residents to the authorities. Another Mimosa home, Sunnymead Manor at Southmead, Bristol, received a similar notice in early December.
S O U T H G L O U C E S T E R S H I R E
BEDS
Despite cast-iron promises over the last five years, the 20 in-patient beds at Thornbury Community Hospital are to be scapped. NHS South Gloucestershire says it is not clinically, operationally or financially viable to keep the in-patient ward open
NO GAIN
Developers Taylor Wimpey have told South Gloucestershire Council that the former Royal Navy storage site at Kennedy Way, Yate will be financially ‘unviable’ if the company is forced to pay £1.1million in community contributions. Taylor Wimpey had agreed to contribute £150,000 towards a community building as part of its planning permission to build 228 homes in the development.
N O R T H S O M E R S E T
PUBLIC MEETING
The Weston and North Somerset Trades Union Council are holding a public meeting in Weston-super-Mare on January 12 at 7pm at the Salvation Army Hall, Carlton Street to discuss North Somerset Council's proposed spending cuts of £42.4 million.
COPS
Portishead's police station is closing to the public from June. Residents will have to book an appointment to see a copper in future.
SCHOOL CUT
Plans to expand Backwell School to cope with an increase in student numbers will be drastically scaled back because funding for the project has been cut. The school was to get £2.7 million of government cash for a new building but now it will only receive £2.2 million.
MUSEUM
Weston Town Council will have to find nearly £140,000 in its budget over the coming year to fund its takeover of North Somerset Museum from North Somerset Council.
S O M E R S E T
LIBRARIES
Somerset County Council is planning to save 25 per on its current £5.4 million library budget by handing 20 of its 34 libraries over to community groups to manage.
CHEDDAR LIBRARY
A meeting was held in Cheddar on Monday January 3 to save Cheddar Library. The village library is one of the 20 earmarked for closure by Somerset County Council. The Friends of Cheddar Library has been set up to fight the closure.
WEST SOMERSET
Sandra Slade, an Independent West Somerset district councillor, says all members of the council should resign in protest at government cuts. West Somerset, an Independent and Conservative coalition, is the smallest district council in the country.
LOCAL AUTHORITY
Despite making £43million of savings in November, Somerset County Council's political boss, Ken Maddock says they need to make a further £20million in savings in the next financial year.
G L O U C E S T E R S H I R E
BEDS
Tewkesbury's 48-bed hospital will be slashed down to 20 beds in its new £8 million building. When questioned, NHS Gloucestershire said the new facility could be extended at a later date. Gordon Shurmer, the county council's chairman and a Tewkesbury borough councillor has described the NHS response as "crazy nonsense"
ARTS CUT
The Cheltenham Literary Festival's grant was cut by £49,000 in Cheltenham Borough Council's budget last month. The council say the festival's long-term success will not be harmed by the cut.
LIBRARIES
11,000 residents have now signed a petition to keep Gloucestershire libraries open. A petition with over 5,000 signatures means the county council has to reconsider their proposals.
REDUNDANCIES
One in three senior managers at Gloucestershire County Council will lose their jobs in order to cut the authority's wage bill. The council's cabinet agreed last week to scrap the current management structure and reduce the workforce by 1,000 people over the next four years. That's one in six posts going.
VOLUNTARY SECTOR
Gloucester City Council wants to slash £250,000 from the voluntary sector in the next year and then a further £50,000 each year for the following two years.
F O R E S T O F D E A N
CCTV
Forest of Dean towns Coleford, Cinderford, Lydney and Newent will be left without CCTV cameras when the district council cuts the funding for the service in April. The CCTV cost around £8,000 a year per town at present.
R E G I O N A L / N A T I O N A L
PARKING
The Labour government's guidance encouraging councils to impose higher car parking charges was very publicly scrapped this week as the ConDems crank-up their PR campaign to end the "war on the motorist". This means local councils rather than the ConDems can be blamed for high parking charges in the future.
FIRE
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) says fire services are facing having to cut hundreds of jobs in 2011. They predict that engines could be taken out of service and fire stations closed. John Drake, the FBU's regional secretary for the South West, says the service has been down to "the bare bones" for years and has warned any cuts will affect public safety.
FIRE CONTROL
A regional fire service control centre that has cost taxpayers £25 million has been scrapped having never been used. Since plans for the centre were launched five years ago, it has been hugely delayed and costs have spiralled. The new centre near Taunton currently stands empty at a cost to the taxpayer of £5,000 a day.
The control centre is 39 miles from Bristol and was set up to handle emergency calls from Gloucestershire to the Isles of Scilly. Earlier this year the project was slammed by MPs, who said it was “a catalogue of poor judgment and mismanagement”.
COPS
The Plain English Campaign (PEC) has told Avon & Somerset Police to save money by ditching its "pointless marketing slogan”. The PEC says no-one needs to be told that our local force are "Working Together to Make the Communities of Avon & Somerset Feel Safe and Be Safe" and that the term "police" tells people all they need to know.
CHILD CARE COSTS
ConDem plans to slash the child care element of working tax credits by 10% will cost 35,870 families in the South West £370 a year and force working mothers to quit their jobs says a report from the The Resolution Foundation.
AUSTERITY?
“2011 will probably be another year of relative austerity,” says Nigel Jump, chief economist at the South West Regional Development Agency. “It will be a year of dampened domestic demand: directly arising from public spending cuts and indirectly from the lower household real incomes in turn resulting from higher taxes, higher non-discretionary costs and job losses which will affect more female workers,” is the verdict from one of the region's leading neo-liberal soothsayers.
COUNCIL TAX
The ConDems will be cutting funding for council tax benefit by ten per cent in 2013. That's £8 million worth of benefits in the former Avon area.
LIBRARIES
"There are more UK libraries closing than there are days in the year."
BED BLOCKING
Thousands of elderly people are being forced to stay in hospital despite being fit enough to leave because of ConDem cuts to council adult care budgets. In a survey of 502 doctors, 251 (50%) said "bed blocking" was worse now than a year ago, while 200 (40%) said it had not improved. They also said that recent cuts to local council social services budgets was exacerbating the problem.
B U S I N E S S
ESTABLISHMENT BULLSHIT
The man who oversaw Cadbury's sale to Kraft and the subsequent closure of the firm's Somerdale plant in Keynsham has been given a knighthood for services to British industry. Our congratulations to Sir Roger Carr who also personally pocketed £4million from the Kraft sale.
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/Workers-anger-knightho....html
SOMERDALE
Production of chocolate bars at Cadbury's Somerdale factory will end in the next few days. Job losses from the shutdown will be 400. (that means Sir Roger was paid £10,000 per job loss)
MONEY LENDING
The Bristol-based Illegal Money Lending Team, which tackles loan sharks, says referrals are up 700% since it started three years ago. The team, which covers the region from Gloucester to Cornwall will be scrapped in March in favour of a Birmingham-based team to cover all of England.
POST OFFICES
Over thirty Post office branches are currently up for sale in the region.
FARMERS FOR ACTION
Farmers campaigning over wholesale milk prices are facing big bills for costs after becoming involved in a legal battle with supermarket multinational Walmart/Asda. The supermarket has obtained injunctions against Farmers For Action (FFA) chairman David Handley and his regional co-ordinators to stop the group picketing its distribution depots. This followed disruption before Christmas at Asda's Chepstow, Skelmersdale and Grangemouth depots.
Asda is expected to seek a ruling to put a permanent ban on any farming organisation or farmer trying to disrupt its commercial activities through 'unlawful action'. Asda claims FFA's campaign has already cost it hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost output.
E C O N O M Y
UNEMPLOYMENT
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) warns unemployment will hit at least 9% this year, a total of 2.7million people.
CBI
The economy will come to a virtual standstill in the next three months as higher tax deters consumer spending, while inflation is driven higher by energy prices, the CBI employers' body says..
PETROL
The AA says petrol prices are “facing severe upward pressures”. Petrol reached 123p per litre before Christmas – up 14% on the year – while a rise in fuel duty and the 2.5% increase in VAT will add around 3.5p per litre to the price of fuel.
COMMODITY PRICES
Cotton prices are at a 15-year high and the price of flour, cereals and poultry are also up. The UN believes food prices are now in "danger territory" surpassing the levels of 2008 when the cost of food sparked riots around the world,
http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/news/Fuel-prices-record....html
HOUSE PRICES
House prices fell by 1.6% over 2010 and are set to fall further this year say Hometrack.
HOUSE BUILDING
Confidence among construction firms is "historically subdued", says the Chartered Institute for Purchasing and Supply as residential property construction last year registered its sharpest fall since the depths of the recession.
BANKRUPTCY
Pensioners are the fastest growing group of bankrupts in Britain, according to the latest insolvency figures.
S T U F F
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Ratcliffe Trial: Sentencing
08-01-2011 18:23
On Wednesday 5th January, the defendants in the Ratcliffe Trial were sentenced. The judge spoke highly of the defendants describing them as ""honest, sincere, conscientious, intelligent, committed, dedicated, caring"." Five were given community orders ranging from 18 to 90 hours to be carried out within 12 months. The remaining thirteen all received conditional discharges ranging from 18 months to 2 years. Most had no order for cost awarded against them. However, two of the defendants had to pay £1,000 and £500. A further 2 defendants had their sentencing deferred until January 18th.
A second trial begins on Monday 10th January, this time focusing on the police's pre-emptive arrest.
On the newswire: Ratcliffe Crown Court Trial 'Collected Report' PDF | Final statement from the Ratcliffe defendants | Ratcliffe Trial Day 16 – Return for Sentencing
Previous features: Mass Arrest of 114 Climate Activists in Raid | Ratcliffe Conspiracy Trial Begins | Ratcliffe Trial: Prosecution Opens | Ratcliffe Trial: Week 2 | Guilty verdict in Ratcliffe trial
At the conclusion of the trial on the 14th December 2010, all 20 defendants were found guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Trespass.
They were arrested in April 2009 during the biggest pre-emptive arrest in UK history. The 114 people were detained at Iona School, Sneinton, where they were involved in planning an operation to shut down Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station for a week. The facts were not disputed. Giving evidence, this was clearly there intention and that they were equipped to do it. The defence of necessity was employed in that they were acting to prevent a greater harm; death and serious injury to others as a direct consequence of climate changes bought about by the burning of fossil fuels, most notably coal.
Since being found guilty, His Honour Judge Teare had deferred sentencing until today awaiting reports. Two defendants have been further deferred until January 18th 2011.
It is reported that this trial and police costs add up to £700,000.
Miss Gerry for the prosecution said that a number of defendants did have previous convictions for offences relating to social and environmental matters. None relating to violent or acquisitive crime. She asked the Judge to award £5,000 costs against each defendant. When asked, the prosecution said that the actual prosecution costs against each defendant were £20,000.
In mitigation, Mr Ed Rees for the defences seeks to make some general points pertaining to all the defendants:
- If the action had in fact been carried out, it would have been peaceful and safe in character.
- ;There is no suggestion of violence or disorder on any of the defendant part.
- There would have been unlikely to have been any damage.
- The planned event never took place.
- The motivation of those involved being of a caring and concerned character. He cites a Court of Appeal authority for this to be taken into account. Jones & Others R. v [2006] EWCA Crim 2942 (20 September 2006)
Mr Rees went on that all the defendants practice what they preach. All had engaged in the democratic and political process and not just in direct action and that this should further mitigate any sentencing. All the defendants have so many character and glowing personal testimonials by professions and peers and had many social concerns.
As to costs, Mr Rees says that the trial length was greatly reduced by defendants admissions. Hence only requiring one prosecution witness. He thus invites the court to take account of what is reasonable and just.
Some defendants were in receipt of a variety of benefits and disability / incapacity benefits and thus the prosecution asking for £5,000 would thus be unreasonable and unjust. Further, ome prosecution work and costs would be common to the next trial to be heard and thus this should also be taken into account.
All three barristers representing the defence then gave individual mitigations for each of their clients.
Returning after lunch the Judge Jonathan Teare makes a brief summary of the facts of the case. He agrees he is thwarted in his wish to make the defendants pay a larger proportion of the costs of the case because of their limited means. Further, with respect to those with previous convictions, he had been minded to give suspended prison sentences. However, after a little discussion, it turns out that as the maximum penalty of three months imprisonment, a £2,500 fine, or both. That this short sentence cannot be suspended.
Thus, dealing with sentencing, five were given community orders [unpaid work] ranging from 18 to 90 hours to be carried out within 12 months.
The remaining thirteen all received conditional discharges ranging from 18 months to 2 years. Most had no order for cost awarded against them. However, two of the defendants had to pay £1000 and £500.
The Judge added as he sentenced them: I have read a great deal about all of you since the trial concluded. There is not one of you who cannot provide glowing references from peers or professionals. And, if I may select, some of the adjectives that recur throughout they are these: honest, sincere, conscientious, intelligent, committed, dedicated and caring. You are all decent men and women with a genuine concern for others, and in particular for the survival of planet Earth in something resembling its present form. I have no doubt that each of you acted with the highest possible motives. And that is an extremely important consideration.
Judge Teare went on and said the protest had been well-considered and well-prepared. You had come from every corner of the country. Transport, food, clothing, climbing and safety equipment had been organised, costing several thousand pounds. Mobile phones, walkie-talkies, gas detectors, hard helmets, sleeping bags and sanitary facilities had all been provided. You had been organised into teams and briefed on your actions.
But while accepting the protest had been intended as a legitimate action by people who genuinely believed in their cause, the Judge said that their motives could not absolve them from punishment.
In concluding, the Judge said that never before had he dealt with so many defendant who were polite, committed and punctual during proceedings.
Two defendants have had sentencing deferred until January 18th 2011.
Cold Winter? Global Warming?
08-01-2011 17:31
Has Headingley a new HEART
08-01-2011 17:22
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The Headingley Development Trust (HDT) held the grand opening of HEART (Headingley Enterprise and Arts Centre). HEART is based in an old primary school in Leeds. The building is leased to HDT for 125 years and HEART, the project running the building, will provide a community centre for Headingley for 25 years. It is so clean and slick it is hard to distinguish it from a for-profit company.
Press Release: Beyond Words: Silent Witness to Injustice
08-01-2011 16:42
Press release for London Guantanamo Campaign action to mark ninth anniversary of Guantanamo opening in 2002 on Tuesday 11 JanuaryStroud Views & Burblings - new independent freesheet issue 1
08-01-2011 16:21
Ratcliffe Crown Court Trial 'Collected Report' PDF
08-01-2011 15:23
Ratcliffe Crown Court Trial 'Collected Report' Nov 2010 - Jan 2011
The story so far ..... At the conclusion of the trial on the 14th December 2010, all 20 defendants were found guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Trespass.
They were arrested in April 2009 during the biggest pre-emptive arrest in UK history. The 114 people were detained at Iona School, Sneinton, where they were involved in planning an operation to shut down Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station for a week. The facts were not disputed. Giving evidence, this was clearly there intention and that they were equipped to do it. The defence of necessity was employed in that they were acting to prevent a greater harm; death and serious injury to others as a direct consequence of climate changes bought about by the burning of fossil fuels, most notably coal.
Since being found guilty, His Honour Judge Teare had deferred sentencing until today awaiting reports. Two defendants have been further deferred until the 18 January 2011.
It is reported that this trial and police costs add up to £700,000.
The Judge added as he sentenced them: I have read a great deal about all of you since the trial concluded. There is not one of you who cannot provide glowing references from peers or professionals. And, if I may select, some of the adjectives that recur throughout they are these: honest, sincere, conscientious, intelligent, committed, dedicated and caring. You are all decent men and women with a genuine concern for others, and in particular for the survival of planet Earth in something resembling its present form. I have no doubt that each of you acted with the highest possible motives. And that is an extremely important consideration.
Over three and a half weeks, all present in the court were informed of the facts by leading experts in the field. I received a three and half week seminar on the subject. Although I knew a thing or two about the issues before my involvement in the trial, I came away knowing far more. Further, my own sense of alarm has been significantly increased. Something must be done!
The problem is that the jury weren't so convinced as I was and didn't accept the defence. They didn't accept the idea of the democratic deficit. They still clearly believed that democratic means are sufficient to bring about the required changes and that the actions of these defendants were thus un-necessary.
There was never any dispute about the scientific facts and opinions presented during the trial. The prosecution didn't take on any of the experts in their evidence. They were thus all agreed. Action is required within a very few years to avert our arrival at the 'tipping points' much referred to. Points beyond which almost anything industries and governments do will no longer have any effect, since the materials causing changes have such a lag before their effects come into being. I can only guess that the jury was as alarmed as I was about some of this evidence, but they still didn't accept the need for urgent 'direct actions' by individuals on these matters. What I would call social responsibly in fact.
The jury are of course, representatives of the public. To make a sufficient difference to these issues, people must be informed and convinced of the need for action in large numbers, and shortly. The jury at the earlier Kingsnorth case were so convinced and acquitted those defendants.
Now, we can all cry about it. It should have been otherwise in this case too. How can I listen to the same evidence as they did and come to completely the opposite conclusions?
Those of us with concerns about all of this should make a better effort at 'sharpening our pencils' and trying to take millions more people with us in the need for more significant changes than we currently see. Direct action has to be an increasing component of this greater picture.
Another trial of 6 other people arrested during the police operations in April 2009. will be starting on Monday 10th January, 10am at Nottingham Crown Court.
As ever, I wish them the very best.
Will the last one alive on the planet, kindly turn the lights out!
http://ratcliffeontrial.org
Collected links to this reporting, as it progressed, can be seen at the last item in this series at:
2011 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial Day 16 – Return for Sentencing
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/847
____________________________________________
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>
Time running out for North Kelvin Meadow
08-01-2011 15:22
“Time is running out to save an award winning community green space in Glasgow’s West End from Developers”. North Kelvin Meadow, a well used and supported greenspace in the heart of Glasgow’s West End is now the subject of a planning application to build 115 flats, which if successful, will mark the end of this well loved community initiative.
Urgent Action: insistent Black Eagles death threats against human rights and ind
08-01-2011 15:02
SMS text messaged Death Threats to Martha Giraldo and Aida QuilqueLeeds Toxic incinerator meeting
08-01-2011 12:31
Consultation in to the South Leeds Toxic waste incinerator .
Subpoena Of Twitter Accounts Of WikiLeaks Supporters
08-01-2011 12:04
Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald reports that the Department of Justice has served Twitter with a subpoena seeking private information on several supporters of Wikileaks. The federal order, he says, is much broader than originally believed.
Says Greenwald:
The information demanded by the DOJ is sweeping in scope. It includes all mailing addresses and billing information known for the user, all connection records and session times, all IP addresses used to access Twitter, all known email accounts, as well as the "means and source of payment," including banking records and credit cards. It seeks all of that information for the period beginning November 1, 2009, through the present.
City council rent bombshell for allotment holders
08-01-2011 11:23
Nottingham City Council is holding a consultation of changes to allotment tenancies, rent levels and plot allocation. They claim that the review "aims to encourage more people to get involved with growing food in Nottingham." In fact, the changes would involve the trebling of rents for allotments in Nottingham.
A skim read of the proposed changes to tenancy agreements does not reveal anything too controversial. In fact, a lot of the proposals are good ones (in principle) because they aim to deter the passing on of allotments to friends when there are people on the waiting list for new ones.
However, it is my view that these are not the core aims of the review. By far the biggest change to the current system is the proposed changes to rents for plots. The current figures, listed in a table in the consultation are: Ground rent - 7p/sqm, water charge - 6p/sqm (it doesn't say what the units are). However, they are proposing a gradual increase in grount rent so that, by 2016 it will be 20p/sqm for ground rent and 15p/sqm for water. This is a 180% increase for ground rent and 150% increase for water. These figures are well beyond the rate of inflation and will make allotment holding and growing your own food a much more costly activity.
Given the massive cut to their budget, it's not surprising that NCC are looking for ways to make money, especially as they claim to be trying to provide enough allotments for the increasing numbers of residents who want one. However, passing that cost on to existing allotment holders seems extremely unfair. Allotment holders, after all, are usually the people who can't afford houses with gardens and grow their own food to supply their food needs.
All allotment holders are being sent a consultation pack which they can use to object to the proposed changes. Given NCC's past record on consultations (ignoring the results they don't want, rigging them so they get the results they do) I don't imagine we'll get much positive interaction through bureaucratic routes. However, I'm sure there are more creative ways we could protest this unequitable move.
January 15th-20 Years of War on Iraq *5.30 Gathering *7.30 Public Meeting *Vigil
08-01-2011 06:02
*Sponsored by Catholic Worker communities (Giuseppe Conlon House/ London, St Francis House/ Oxford, the CW Farmhouse/ Rickmansworth), "Harringey Soldiarity Group" and "Justice not Vengeance".An initiative from D.C.
http://dccatholicworker.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/january-15-1991-january15-2011-20-years-of-u-s-war-on-iraq/ taken up in London,spreading across the world! Thessaloniki 4 solidarity: Trial starts 14 January
08-01-2011 01:22
June 2003 - EU Summit
The EU summit in Thessaloniki, Greece, sees huge mobilisations from anti-globalisation movements around the world. Aggressive police repression leads to over a hundred arrests, of which 29 are charged. Countless more protestors are badly injured, many hospitalised, by rubber bullets and baton charges. Out of 29 activists charged, most are released on bail in the days following the protests. The remaining 7 prisoners are remanded awaiting trial.
October 2003 - Solidarity with the Hunger Strikers
The prisoners begin hunger strikes demanding to be released from remand. Solidarity campaigns form around the world, against prisons and in support of the Thessaloniki 7. Literally hundreds of actions take place. The hunger strike continues until the 27th November when they are released on bail awaiting trial. Some of the remanded have at this point been refusing food for as long as 63 days.
February 2004 - Charges Dropped
In 2004 all charges are dropped in view of the overwhelming evidence in support of the defendants. Those who are not from Greece are finally allowed to leave the country.
Autumn 2005 - Charges Reinstated
The prosecutor of Thessaloniki appeals against the earlier decision to the drop the charges. Legal arguments continue for more than two years, and a trial date is finally set.
January 2008 - First Trial
The first trial takes place and finds the defendants guilty and passes sentences of between four and eight and a half years for charges including distinguished and repeated rebellion, possession of explosives, resisting arrest, and causing explosions.
September 2010 - Second Trial Adjourned
The second trial is adjourned until January 2011.
14 January 2011 - Second Trial Will Start
Out of the original Thessaloniki 7, 3 have so far had their cases resolved with sentences ranging from 4 to more than 8 years. The remaining four defendants are:
Simon Chapman, Britain
Suleiman "Kastro" Dakdouk, Syrian origin
Michaelis Triakapis, Greece
Fernando Perez Gorraiz, Spain
Sheffield: "Close track" call after greyhound dies
08-01-2011 00:27
There are 43 potential New English Opencast Sites
07-01-2011 22:22
A group in Leicestershire has produced evidence about the current and possible future locations for opencast coal mining in England. In all it identifies 23 Current sites and 43 potential sites, including sites in Co Durham, Northumberland and Gateshead.The evidence is in the form of a two part review and it has been produced to support the arguments for the 500 Metre Buffer Zone Bill which gets its 2nd Reading in the House of Commons on 11/2/11.
A new fighting force for animals launched
07-01-2011 22:02
A new fighting force for animals has been launched in West Sussex.Nottm Animal Rights Events
07-01-2011 20:23
Welcome to 2011
Current issues includes 11th January deadline to oppose plans for Nocton Mega-Dairy; the status of Paul Smith furs sales; Secret whaling deal plotted by US and Japan; and more
Welcome to 2011
11th January deadline to oppose plans for Nocton Mega-Dairy
NOCTON Dairies has resubmitted its planning application for a 3770 cow dairy farm in Lincolnshire, intending to increase the capacity to 8,100 if it can get away with it. Oppose the plans at
http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/mega-dairy/object.html
If it goes ahead, it will be the largest in the UK and will imprison 3,770
cows in sheds with concrete floors over 22 acres. The farm will have 24hr
milking parlours and will produce 430,000 pints of milk daily.
Not only will this be a breeding ground for disease and cause a huge
amount of suffering to the imprisoned animals, is will also mean the
destruction of a wonderful landscape in which plenty of wild birds and
other animals live.
This is a call to anyone against this monstrosity to make their voices heard!
Nocton Dairy - Google News http://bit.ly/avsAfX
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Broadway cinema want opinions on their café-bar. Use survey at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/broadwaycafebar to suggest more vegan
options!
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Week of action against Beyond Retro
Monday 10th January 2011 to Friday 14th January
Unless their new year’s resolution is to go fur free, Beyond Retro will be
entering 2011 with a headache!
Activists around the world have been campaigning against this unethical
company for a number of months now, with protests at the head office and
stores in London, their Brighton store and demonstrations at the home of
the managers in Canada.
However, Beyond Retro has continued to make a profit from the skins of
tortured animals, so it’s time to remind them that cruelty has
consequences!
We are also asking people to contact Beyond Retro (via phone and email)
during the week of action, so even if you can’t attend any protests, you
can still help us to keep the pressure on them.
Check http://www.caft.org.uk/BRetro/ for further information!
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Meanwhile we are still monitoring the situation re Paul Smith who has
promised to withdraw fur from his stores, but we are awaiting final
confirmation.
If you do facebook (why would you!) add your comment at
http://www.facebook.com/paulsmithdesign/posts/176441529050623
Follow Campaign for a fur free Nottingham news at
http://furfreenotts.weebly.com/
(note the Pauls Smiths link is broken - use the one above)
Check for future demos at http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=785
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WikiLeaks: Secret whaling deal plotted by US and Japan
American diplomats proposed Japan reduce whaling in exchange for US help cracking down on the anti-whaling activists Sea Shepherd, leaked cables reveal.
More at NAR Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/NottinghamAR
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All this and more may be discussed at the next Nottm AR Meeting at Sumac
next Thursday. It would be great to welcome you if you have not been along
for a while.
See http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=1430
btw
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- - - - - - Nottingham Animal Rights - - - - - -
c/o Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Nottingham NG7 6HX
Ph: 0845 458 9595 / mobile:0787 086 1837
Email: nar@veggies.org.uk Website : http://www.veggies.org.uk/nar
Nottingham Animal Rights newslist: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/nar
