LOVE IT!!!

I couldn’t believe this at first when I saw a comment posted on a friends facebook… Strangely its not in th UK News as of yet.

He added later “I was in the vicinity. I had to get away from the main area as it was getting very heated indeed. I could just about see what was going on. Some people were covered in blood…. Felt like a horror movie. Some of the protesters were throwing things at the police therefore delaying medical attention to the dying man – Police version: natural causes!! I am shocked”

These lovely Community Support Officers agreed to have their picture taken with a rose given to them by The Optimists Society on Valentines day.

However when we asked them about how they felt about the New Anti-Terrorism 2008 acts, they had absolutely no idea what we were talking about.

Heh, nice picture though!

Jail for photographing police?

The relationship between photographers and police could worsen next month when new laws are introduced that allow for the arrest – and imprisonment – of anyone who takes pictures of officers ‘likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.

Set to become law on 16 February, the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 amends the Terrorism Act 2000 regarding offences relating to information about members of armed forces, a member of the intelligence services, or a police officer.

The new set of rules, under section 76 of the 2008 Act and section 58A of the 2000 Act, will target anyone who ‘elicits or attempts to elicit information about (members of armed forces) … which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.

A person found guilty of this offence could be liable to imprisonment for up to 10 years, and to a fine.

The law is expected to increase the anti-terrorism powers used today by police officers to stop photographers, including press photographers, from taking pictures in public places. ‘Who is to say that police officers won’t abuse these powers,’ asks freelance photographer Justin Tallis, who was threatened by an officer last week.

This government’s contempt for civil liberties continues…

Will this “anti-terror” law be used by the police to harrass anyone they want to? Of course it will.

Complete story, from the British Journal of Photography here.

Love it.

I want a T shirt of it.

Would it be bad of me just to make one? I mean – they put the pic up in the street, so it’s kind of public domain, right?

This is in Trafalgar Square, pretty much the centre of London, the centre of tourist London, and that place should be the jewel in our public crown. But the powers-that-be are so concerned that someone might climb up the lamp post and, you know, do criminal stuff (what? throw petrol bombs? moon at the police?) that they cover it in “anti-climb paint” and then stick on an ugly, amateurish sign about the paint.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH! Take a look at the lamp post itself. It’s pretty, it’s well made, it’s either Victorian, or it’s a decent replica. And they stuck their ugly, paranoid little photocopied sign on it.

The final thing I’m going to rant about is that fact that, actually, this wasn’t a lamp post. It was, (of course!), a frigging CCTV camera post.

The days we live in!

CLUB NIGHT – FREE THE STREETS! – 13 November 2008

In the summer, the Manifesto Club launched a campaign against booze bans, standing up against the petty bureaucracy that sucks the life out of public spaces. A whole host of activities are either banned outright or only allowed with official permission. As well as booze bans, there are now no-photo zones, no-leafleting and no-demonstrating zones; CCTV cameras watch our every move and we are searched at the entrance of many public buildings. What is behind the creeping regulation of public space? Is the freedom from official regulation trivial in the face of terrorism and antisocial behaviour? Or should free citizens demand the right to regulate public spaces for ourselves?

Speakers:

Dolan Cummings is co-founder of the Manifesto Club; research and editorial director of the Institute of Ideas, where he edits the online review Culture Wars. He has written widely on the regulation of public space, including a Manifesto Club Thinkpiece, Smoking Policies: a civilised approach (PDF).

Steve Forrest is a photographer who is interested in developing a critical perspective on the way we respond to regulation in public space. He worked extensively in the Middle East, Africa and the UK, before joining the photography collective Insight Visual in 2001, where his clients include the the New York Times, Newsweek and Guardian Weekend. His recent project is Paranoid Britain.

Event: Free the streets! Against the antisocial regulation of public space
Date: Thursday 13 November
Venue: The Evangelist (Downstairs), 33 Blackfriars Lane, London EC4V 6EP (Map)
Time: Doors open 7pm; discussion begins 8pm.
Cost: Free to Manifesto Club Members; £5 non-members.

We hope to see you all there!

Suzy Dean
co-organiser

…you ain’t getting it back!!!

1) London’s levee system is mentioned at the end of the video
2) I’m moving from London to New Orleans on Monday
3) Londoners watch Youtube (if you click through to the video on youtube and watch and comment, the video will rise to the top thus highlighting the fact that what happened in New Orleans after Katrina was a man-made disaster).

“What are they doing?”, you ask. Busting a major crack ring? On the trail of a terrorist cell?

Nope.

Catching cyclists.

Yep – you heard me right. They have Stokey on lock-down so that they can bust people for riding down alleys without dismounting, running red lights, etc.

OK – bad cycling annoys me as much as the next person. I can’t stand the little toads that ride at speed down the pavement – I just shout at them: “are you too frightened to ride on the road?” And running a red light when there are pedestrians around is a no-no for me too.

But seriously – a police crackdown, utilising this many officers to catch a few mildly anti-social cyclists is just absurd. Is this what I pay them for?

A friend of mine was fined £30 by a copper the other day. The crime: going across the pavement with his bike in order to lock it to a railing. He freewheeled the bike, standing on the pedal, like you do. Result a £30 fine. Frigging ridiculous.

So – the question is: now that cycling has begun to really take off as a form of green, healthy transport for Londoners (post-Olympic effect too), who has ordered the police to crack down on cyclists in this absurd manner?

Hey police cadets – looking forward to a glorious career of hassling cyclists?