police
Islam, Treason and print
Yesterday I commented about a march/procession that is being organized by “Islam for the UK”. Discussing this matter with other people elsewhere I’ve come to realize that this march may be more significant than at first site. Assuming of course that it’s not just an elaborate hoax which if you read the site seems almost creditable.
However there are two aspects to this march which I think are really worth further consideration.
1) How this march will be policed, and if it will be allowed to go ahead.
2) If the published material for this march is considered either treasonous or seditious and what action if any is taken.
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What a start
So the “honourable” members are back to their subsidised bars restaurants and hard days of submitting fraudulent expenses claims. So how’s that first day gone? Well Jacqui Smith has read out a grudging apology for being caught claiming that a room at her sisters was her main home, and not the house family live at. But as she’s apologised it’s now all ok, no further action will be taken, not even for claiming for her husbands porn, and no she doesn’t have to give the money back. Which is perfectly reasonable you see, as claiming for an entire house obviously costs just as much as claiming for a room so it doesn’t really matter which she claimed for. So all just a terrible misunderstanding and can we all move on please.
Someone who has at least been asked to pay back the odd 12 grand is former iron chancellor gurning Gordon, along with quite a few others. Though it is to be noted that so far they’ve only been asked, as it seems the person asking exceeded their remit in actually applying the existing rule of expenses having to be actually due to costs incurred doing their job, and not just because they want to build up a property portfolio. Terribly terribly mean of Sir Thomas, after all a grand a year for a gardener hardly goes any where these days.
But it’s all ok as they’ve passed a new law (they’re terribly fond of those) putting an independent government funded body (or qango if you will) in charge of approving authorising their expenses. Fret not though it won’t impact the troughing too much the Lords are utterly exempt from it. There is actually good news in that bill, they managed to not scrap parliamentary privilege. Nor did they (as far as I can tell) get to make new laws covering these accounting errors, as opposed to say existing laws such as those covering fraud.
Alas however whilst parliamentary privilege may still be intact. So that our representatives can safely speak freely and ask awkward questions for their lobbyists constituents, it seems that thanks to the auspices of those bastions of free speech at carter-fuck, we may no longer have the chance to hear about it. In the mean time in case you haven’t heard (and you probably won’t have) it turns out that the way the police dealt with Damian Green MP the other year was not proportionate. The Met have a slightly different take on things.
So what a start to the new troughing season, so time for another walk. One day if we’re really really lucky and all wish very very hard they might take a hint.
(Feel free to steal the crap graphic, I’m working on a better version)
News for photographers
This just in via FitWatch, the Met have updated their guidelines for stopping and searching terrorists photographers, to clarify that they can only see your photographs if they suspect you of being a terrorist and also that they have no right to delete digital photographs or destroy film. They actually state that twice, with regards to two different sections.
There is also a Home office circular giving clarification. The hesdline of which is:
Important: Section 43 does not prohibit the taking of photographs, film or digital images in a public place and members of the public and the press should not be prevented from doing so in exercise of the powers conferred by section 43.
A police officer can only stop and search a person they reasonably suspect to be a terrorist under this power.
Both the circular and the Met guidelines are quite short so do take the time to read them, then save a copy in case it changes/vanishes and then make sure to tell other people.
Update: The people over at “I’m a photographer not a terrorist” are putting together a rather dandy map of “authorised” areas.
Climate Camp comedy
The news tells me that Climate Camp in Greenwich now presumably being in full swing, I don’t know if it is or isn’t I’ve not been down there and have no intention in going. At least not without being heavily armed with non-organic petrochemical based soap to keep the hippies at bay. From their website it seems it’s not meant to be a protest but an educational event, I guess that having it as a camp saves on renting a venue and the publicity and location makes it more likely that bored middle class students will put on posh welly’s and carefully purchased scruffy clothes to go down to be told how guilty to feel and how to “stick it to the man”.
All that aside I must admit I quite like some aspects of what the Climate Camp is doing which from my point of view can be boiled down to just two things:
1) Making use of ancient rights to use common ground, a stroke of utter intelligence on their part , though they might like to recall how the peasants revolt actually ended.
2) It provides a wonderful source of free entertainment, both for those going down there (festivals are so expensive and with climate camp you can experience the same mud and squalor for free*) and for those of us watching from a distance.
Leg Iron provides a rather good summary of how pointless even the alleged softly softly approach the police are taking is. Again the reportedly disorganised “swoop” to the camp was a clever idea for both wrong footing the police and getting maximum attention.
However so far for me the best entertainment has come from this article over at Liberal conspiracy. The article itself is terribly amusing but the arguments between the author and two people they know ** is utter comedy gold. The denials, evasions, melt down and throwing toys out of the pram followed by massive back peddling is wonderful. It’s all of the techniques used by the righteous , as Leg Iron names them, in one easy to digest packet. It should really be preserved as a case study for showing how such arguments work.
Meanwhile I wish everyone down at the climate camp well and whilst you’re protesting about big oil try not to think too carefully about how the plastics in your wellys, phones and the like where made.
*I Don’t go to festivals either so this is utter ill informed prejudice about both things on my part but it makes it al the more amusing for me.
** I also know the people concerned and the author and they’re all three as white privileged and middle class as I am.
NightJack update and round up
Following the Times notable victory over decency yesterday they’ve graciously allowed NightJack to respond in an article I can’t help but feel is very reminiscent of a communist show trial where the accused is allowed to publicly confess their sins and misdemeanors. The tactics he describes the Times using are also very reminiscent of those used to expose Girl with a one track mind, so they definitely have form on this one. speaking of having form it would seem that the Mendacious Patrick Foster, that fearless journalist so desperate to move on from the celebrity pages he’s prepared to sacrifice the career of a decent man to do so, also has form for hacking and covertly filming people having sex – which I think clearly tells us his views on peoples privacy. Whilst as many have pointed out no one has a right to privacy and on the internet probably not a lot of expectation of it either, that still doesn’t make the Times actions in any way justifiable. However there is one very slim upside from this as noted by Anna Raccoon there is now some precedent for investigating and publishing identifying material relating to a serving police office as prohibited by the counter terrorism act 2008.
Update
Daniel Finkelstein responds, and another Times journalist expresses mixed feelings.
Round up of other blogs
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Talking of anonymous police
Whilst the value of police bloggers is in mind I’d like to bring your attention to a “recent”* post of Inspector Gadgets. Who in a “fond” farewell to Hazel Blears time in the home office chair, links to a quite interesting report on the value of our plastic police, sod all it seems. It seems that the powers that be would rather that the finding the plastics have little use except for vehicle crime oh and they spend 71% of their time in the Station. Well worth reading all 9 pages.
Meanwhile it seems that other police are using false arrest to collect DNA samples (Hat tip Samiz Data & Old Holborn), you’ll note in this case that the mainstream media are quite happy to quote an anonymous member of the force. Perhaps it’s just the Times that doesn’t like such things, or perhaps it’s OK to be anonymous as long as you speak to the press.
10 things to do if your house is being searched by the police
An excellent article on Iain Dale’s Journal by Damien Green’s wife:
10 things to do if your home is being searched by the police
this along side NightJacks “Guide for decent people” really are two articles that should be read carefully and learnt from.
Whilst Mrs Greens article is written for the partners of politicians partners, it does seem excellent advice for everyone, though I suspect the bit about photographers won’t apply so much to most of us, and I’d also query point 8:
“8. Recycle redundant electronic goods: Make sure, when upgrading any mobile phone, to dispose of the old handset rather than leave it in a desk drawer and forget about it. That can save the police wasting a huge amount of time packing it up as ‘evidence’ for detailed technical investigation in a neat cardboard box, held in place with plastic ties, when it hasn’t been used for years. The same goes for old laptop computers and old printers.”
Now to my mind I can’t help but think this is actually a good reason to have as many old phone’s computers and hard drives lying around as there may be space for, and really old hard drives make excellent door stops.
Conspiracies and incompetance
Coincidences are wonderful things and I regularly give thanks to the fickle whims of serendipity . So this morning as work required me to be awake at a time I consider far too early for an Easter Saturday, I was presented with three unconnected articles which wonderfully answered a question I’ve often asked myself.
“Why aren’t deniable/false flag activities more common?”
After all for tarnishing reputations or spreading a bit of dirt they should be the easiest things in the world to carry out, a few trouble makers at a demo and the media can dismiss the entire thing. Free throw away websites or journals and anything can be made public. It really shouldn’t tax anyone’s brains too much.
So it seems that according to an updated journal on the New York Times, that “agent provocateurs” were indeed in play at the G20 protests until challenged at which point they appear to have readily revealed themselves. Following on from this there is the developing story concerning Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes regarding a deniable website that the powers that be “considered” setting up to do their dirty work. What both these stories show is that whilst such activities should be simple they remain beyond the competence of at least part of our current regime. The G20 incident due to the official mendicant having more ID on them than even a normally cautious protester, and cutting and running far too quickly and for the website story it’s yet more proof that groups of people (especially in government) can’t keep secrets and that they still haven’t learnt about the dangers of paper trails.
So the answer to my question is that out with specialist groups that make such matters their business, there simply isn’t the competence to carry out such simple tasks (something all the failed IT projects in Government should have tipped me off about really). This lack of competence is also why there probably isn’t a conspiracy. Which is quite cheering really.
Some what unrelated: From comments on Guido’s journal by Joe Gormley’s Grandson I’m now aware of http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/ which lets you track how news stories change on line over time within the same article.
Trouble delivered as ordered
So just as predicted if not required there was it seems a certain amount of trouble at todays G20 protests. Having been sat at home working I can only go by the reports sent in by the BBC, blogs and other media outlets. Which probably gives me as much authority to comment as most people we’ll see on TV or read in the papers.
Apart from the numpties that tried to bring an armoured car into the city, which I’d expect to encounter no small degree of interest even on the best of days. Especially when it does look so very confusingly like a real police vehicle:
The rest of the reported violence seems to have been to at least some extent remarkably staged managed, here we have a spontaneous bit of violence surrounded by a veritable wall of photographers.
So it would seem that someone at least was making sure that the reporters got good images of things kicking off. There are also reports of “masked black clad” demonstrators running to the more peaceful bits of the demo (the climate camp) to make the atmosphere there more aggressive.
Given the banks that were attacked are already being bailed out by the Government, one way or another this was effectively state sponsored violence against state property. Even if the state didn’t directly provide a detailed script. With Barricades and fires being set up in the city there should be plenty more action for the mornings papers, certainly enough to drive any talk of expenses or problems at the G20 summit from the front pages. What remains to be seen is if how much more nonsense tomorrow will bring and if we’ll discover whose agenda this is all serving.
I do find myself left with one question still, what are these protesters actually protesting about? Given the mixture of interest groups and banners on display it seems that either:
a) G20 is just a convenient event for people with little to no commno ground to protest at
or
b) The protest is in favour of “Something being done” and “down with that sort of thing”
Kicking off
So appropriately enough tomorrow’s April fools day and the powers that be have declared it to be the day when troubles should begin. After all with so many important people around and security being so very the flavour of the day, any response at all to so much as a gnat farting in the general direction of the great and good must be both appropriate and proportionate no matter what form it takes. There’ll be the usual suspects of course, and no doubt a few people there to ensure that some trouble happens. Just in case people aren’t suitably scared, businesses that might just about be considered somewhere near one of the decreed trouble spots have been warning/ordering staff to stay home or wear disguise. (I’m one of the ordered to stay away)
Fortunately the weather forecast is good which should help make for a lively turn out, and it’s near enough to Easter that I’m sure some students will be able to drag themselves away from dusty libraries to protest about – well what ever it says on the placard the SWP hand them.
For me despite the various pro-capitalism demonstrations adding to the patchwork, it’s seeming all far to directed to lend any support to. It will though of course justify some good headlines, maybe a few news laws or the use of an old one. Mainly though I suspect it will serve to drive ministers expenses from the headlines and bury the almost guaranteed abject failure of the summit to achieve anything other than a few photo ops.
But for all that I wish those that go to make their voices heard well, and hope at least some of them present a clear and coherent message of their own. For me it’s quarter end and this bit of business would be as good a use of my time as claiming for an 88p bath plug (Seriously what’s with that? I value my time too much to even contemplate such a thing is Jacquis time so cheap? On the other hand this pay be why I only have one home.)
So good luck to all those attending on which ever side of the thin blue line they may be. But remember kids don’t take banners from strangers, and don’t forget your latte.
Footnote: Image provided by the lovely people at http://www.sendamessage.nl/.
UK terror threat status
- Severe 2010/01/25