tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17864381129331368922024-03-19T03:58:55.399+00:00Random BloweIf you don't like what's in the news today, go out and make some of your ownKevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.comBlogger1108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-20757855294740075402021-01-01T10:00:00.008+00:002021-01-02T10:15:15.934+00:002020 - The Year Cinema (Almost) Died<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7wCCgnLxDB9YVJwj24-FuEiXgAzJjAQnVYIL1r2uBaFBwyvFOy0j5Dw8DH0p5qdA3Jg65gmkprxMyGFmjvqvUeBa8fP5NtsYuS7IrLOYeIvLcgNHeoAKcbo4EXfBE8CBDrdPI2FL_7rg/s704/closed+cinema.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="704" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7wCCgnLxDB9YVJwj24-FuEiXgAzJjAQnVYIL1r2uBaFBwyvFOy0j5Dw8DH0p5qdA3Jg65gmkprxMyGFmjvqvUeBa8fP5NtsYuS7IrLOYeIvLcgNHeoAKcbo4EXfBE8CBDrdPI2FL_7rg/w455-h316/closed+cinema.jpg" width="455" /></a></div><br />For eighteen years, I have been compiling an annual list of films
I've watched over the previous 12 months. Looking back over 2020, when for most of the year it has been repeatedly impossible to attend screenings because of the coronavirus pandemic, has been tough as I only ever record visits
to the cinema, not films on DVD or on streaming services. And I really miss those visits.<br /><p></p><p>Everyone has been dependent on Netflix, Mubi, Amazon Prime and others, but it is just not the same as settling down in the darkness, waiting to watch a film on a huge screen.<br /></p><p> Anyway, here is my shortest list since 2007. As in previous
years, I have rated them all in a largely arbitrary fashion. <br />
<br />
In 2020, I made only 19 trips to the cinema (down from 74 in 2019) and according to <a href="https://letterboxd.com/copwatcher/year/2020/">Letterboxd</a>,
spent just 37.6 hours watching the unmissable to the absolute pants.</p><p>You can find ratings for the previous 17 years <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/search/label/Films%20of%20the%20Year">here</a>. <br />
<br />
<b>Favourite films of 2020: Little Women / </b>Portrait of a Lady on Fire<br />
<br />
<b>Absolute Melon of 2020: </b>Uncut Gems<br />
<br />
★★★★★: Unmissable!<br />
★★★★☆: Definitely worth seeing<br />
★★★☆☆: Decent film<br />
★★☆☆☆: Disappointing<br />
★☆☆☆☆: Pants<br />
☆☆☆☆☆: Why was this released?</p><p> </p><p> Little Women ★★★★★</p><p>Jojo Rabbit ★★★☆☆</p><p>Uncut Gems ★☆☆☆☆</p><p>The Lighthouse ★★☆☆☆</p><p>The Personal History of David Copperfield ★★★☆☆</p><p>1917 ★★★★☆</p><p>Queen & Slim ★★★★☆</p><p>Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) ★★☆☆☆</p><p>Just Mercy ★★★★☆</p><p>Parasite ★★★★☆</p><p>Greed ★★★☆☆</p><p>Portrait of a Lady on Fire ★★★★☆</p><p>The Invisible Man ★★★★☆</p><p>True History of the Kelly Gang ★★★★☆</p><p>Dark Waters ★★★★☆</p><p>The Hunt ★★★☆☆</p><p>Saint Frances ★★★★☆</p><p>Tenet ★★★★☆</p><p>White Riot ★★★☆☆</p><p>.<br /></p><p> </p>Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-27476067856766275552019-12-31T03:11:00.000+00:002019-12-31T03:11:14.111+00:00Films of the Year 2019<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
For the seventeenth consecutive year, this is my annual list of films I've watched over the last 12 months. As ever, this means actual visits to the cinema, not films on DVD or on streaming services. As in previous years, I have rated them all in a largely arbitrary fashion. <br />
<br />
In 2019, that meant 74 trips to the cinema (it was 73 in 2018) and according to <a href="https://letterboxd.com/copwatcher/year/2019/">Letterboxd</a>, 144 hours watching the unmissable to the absolute pants. Compared to 2018, the last year has involved seeing far more decent enough films but very few that I’d want to see again. <br />
<br />
You can find ratings for the last 16 years <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/search/label/Films%20of%20the%20Year">here</a>. <br />
<br />
<b>Favourite films of 2019: </b>Booksmart / Knives Out / Woman at War / Joker / The Day Shall Come<br />
<br />
<b>Documentaries of 2019: </b>Apollo 11 / For Sana / Last Breath<br />
<br />
<b>Soundtracks of 2019: </b>The Last Black Man in San Francisco / Motherless Brooklyn<br />
<br />
<b>Absolute Melon of 2019: </b>Blinded By The Light<br />
<br />
★★★★★: Unmissable!<br />
★★★★☆: Definitely worth seeing<br />
★★★☆☆: Decent film<br />
★★☆☆☆: Disappointing<br />
★☆☆☆☆: Pants<br />
☆☆☆☆☆: Why was this released?<br />
<br />
<br />
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ★★★☆☆<br />
Harriet ★★★☆☆<br />
The Two Popes ★★★★☆:<br />
Motherless Brooklyn ★★★★☆:<br />
Judy & Punch ★★★☆☆<br />
Knives Out ★★★★☆<br />
Lucy in the Sky ★★☆☆☆<br />
I Lost My Body ★★★★☆<br />
Honey Boy ★★★☆☆<br />
Le Mans ‘66 ★★★★☆<br />
The Aeronauts ★★★☆☆<br />
Doctor Sleep ★★★★☆<br />
The Last Black Man in San Francisco ★★★★☆<br />
Official Secrets ★★★☆☆<br />
To Kill a Mockingbird ★★★★★:<br />
Gemini Man ★★☆☆☆<br />
Joker ★★★★☆<br />
The Last Tree ★★★★☆<br />
The Day Shall Come ★★★★☆<br />
Ad Astra ★★★★☆<br />
Bait ★★★☆☆<br />
For Sama ★★★★☆<br />
Inna de Yard ★★★☆☆<br />
Pain and Glory ★★★★☆ <br />
The Mustang ★★★★☆<br />
Hail Satan? ★★★☆☆<br />
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood ★★★☆☆<br />
Blinded by the Light ★☆☆☆☆<br />
Animals ★★★☆☆<br />
Anna ★★☆☆☆<br />
Support the Girls ★★★★☆<br />
The Dead Don't Die ★★★☆☆<br />
Midsommar ★★★★☆<br />
Spider-Man: Far from Home ★★★☆☆<br />
Vita & Virginia ★★★☆☆<br />
Yesterday ★★★☆☆<br />
Apollo 11 ★★★★★:<br />
In Fabric ★★★☆☆<br />
Men in Black: International ★★☆☆☆<br />
Diego Maradona ★★★☆☆<br />
Late Night ★★★★☆<br />
Booksmart ★★★★★:<br />
Rocketman ★★★☆☆<br />
Sunset ★★★☆☆<br />
Beats ★★★☆☆<br />
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ★★★☆☆<br />
Tolkien ★★★☆☆<br />
Woman at War ★★★★★:<br />
Avengers: Endgame ★★★★☆<br />
Wild Rose ★★★☆☆<br />
Loro ★★★☆☆<br />
Last Breath ★★★★☆<br />
Mid90s ★★★☆☆<br />
Shazam! ★★★☆☆<br />
Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story ★★★★☆<br />
Nae Pasaran ★★★★★:<br />
Happy as Lazzaro ★★★☆☆<br />
At Eternity's Gate ★★★☆☆<br />
Us ★★★★☆<br />
Captain Marvel ★★★☆☆<br />
Capernaum ★★★★☆<br />
Everybody Knows ★★★★☆<br />
Happy Death Day 2U ★★★★☆<br />
If Beale Street Could Talk<br />
All Is True ★★★☆☆<br />
Vice ★★★★☆<br />
Burning ★★★★☆<br />
The Favourite ★★★☆☆<br />
Mary Queen of Scots ★★★☆☆<br />
Stan & Ollie ★★★☆☆<br />
Colette ★★★★☆<br />
Mary Poppins Returns ★★★★☆<br />
Green Book ★★★★☆</div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-40046213359061718192019-01-01T00:30:00.000+00:002019-01-01T00:30:00.372+00:00Films of the Year 2018<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
For the sixteenth consecutive year, this is my annual list of films I've watched over the last 12 months and in 2018, that meant 73 trips to the cinema (down from 83 in 2017).<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Overwhelmingly, these visits were to my local Stratford Picturehouse and according to the <a href="https://letterboxd.com/copwatcher/year/2018/">stats on Letterboxd</a>, overall this amounted to 138.6 hours of film watching.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
This has been an exceptionally great year for film: there have been so many I have absolutely loved. The ten I have picked below are not necessarily the ones I admired the most but are my favourites. It was a tough choice. Others, like <b>Roma</b>, <b>Cold War</b>, T<b>he Miseducation of Cameron Post</b> and<b> I'm Sorry To Bother You</b> just missed the cut.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As always, this does not include anything watched on DVD or BluRay and as in previous years, I've arbitrarily rated the films I've seen. You can find ratings for the last 15 years <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/search/label/Films%20of%20the%20Year">here</a>.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Ten favourite films of the year: </b>A Quiet Place / Leave No Trace / Isle of Dogs / Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri / Lucky / The Post / The Breadwinner / First Man / Dogman / Black Panther</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Worst films of 2018:</b> American Animals / Downsizing / The Meg / Tomb Raider</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Great documentaries in 2018: </b>Nae Pasaran / Three Identical Strangers</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
Ratings:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
★★★★★: Unmissable!</div>
<div>
★★★★☆: Definitely worth seeing</div>
<div>
★★★☆☆: Decent film</div>
<div>
★★☆☆☆: Disappointing</div>
<div>
★☆☆☆☆: Pants</div>
<div>
☆☆☆☆☆: Why was this released?</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
Mary Poppins Returns ★★★★</div>
<div>
</div>
Roma<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>★★★★</div>
<div>
Nae Pasaran<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>★★★★</div>
<div>
1Sorry to Bother ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Disobedience ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Girl in the Spider's Web ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Three Identical Strangers ★★★★</div>
<div>
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ★★</div>
<div>
Widows ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Overlord ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Hate U Give ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Wildlife ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Outlaw King ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Guilty ★★★</div>
<div>
Bohemian Rhapsody ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Dogman ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
First Man ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Wife ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
A Star Is Born ★★★★</div>
<div>
Venom ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Skate Kitchen ★★★★</div>
<div>
A Simple Favor ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Rider ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Lucky ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
American Animals ★</div>
<div>
Yardie ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
BlacKkKlansman ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Miseducation of Cameron Post ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Apostasy★★★★</div>
<div>
Cold War ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Meg ★★</div>
<div>
Ant-Man and the Wasp ★★★</div>
<div>
The Apparition ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Mission: Impossible – Fallout ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
First Reformed ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Hotel Artemis ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
A Prayer Before Dawn ★★★★</div>
<div>
Skyscraper ★★</div>
<div>
Leave No Trace ★★★★</div>
<div>
The Happy Prince ★★★</div>
<div>
In the Fade ★★★★</div>
<div>
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ★★★</div>
<div>
My Friend Dahmer★★★</div>
<div>
The Breadwinner ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Solo: A Star Wars Story ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Tully ★★★</div>
<div>
Deadpool 2 ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Avengers: Infinity War ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Lean on Pete ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Wound ★★★</div>
<div>
The Deminer<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society ★★</div>
<div>
A Quiet Place ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Ready Player One ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Isle of Dogs ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Third Murder ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Tomb Raider ★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
You Were Never Really Here ★★★★</div>
<div>
Sweet Country ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
I, Tonya ★★★</div>
<div>
The Nile Hilton Incident ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Red Sparrow ★★★★</div>
<div>
V for Vendetta ★★★★★</div>
<div>
Lady Bird ★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Black Panther ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Shape of Water ★★★</div>
<div>
Early Man ★★★★</div>
<div>
Darkest Hour ★★★</div>
<div>
Downsizing ★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
The Post ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Hostiles ★★★★<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div>
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ★★★★</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-91726050894422857982018-01-07T03:39:00.000+00:002018-01-07T03:39:31.019+00:00Films of the Year 2017<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Somewhat belatedly (because I am abroad), this is my annual list of films I've watched in 2017 and, in keeping with the close of every year since 2003, it's
time to review the ones I've seen over the last twelve months.<br />
<br />
In 2017, I made it to the cinema on 83 occasions - down from 96 in 2016. Overwhelmingly, these visits were to my local <a href="https://www.picturehouses.com/cinema/Stratford_London" target="_blank">Stratford Picturehouse</a> and according to the stats on <a href="https://letterboxd.com/copwatcher/year/2017/" target="_blank">Letterboxd</a>, this amounted to 159.4 hours of cinema.<br />
<br />
As
always, this does not include anything watched on DVD or BluRay and as
in previous years, I've arbitrarily rated the films I've seen. You can
find ratings for the last decade <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/search/label/Films%20of%20the%20Year" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Since I started going to the cinema regularly and keeping track of the numbers, I now make this 826 visits since 2003. Onward and upward.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<b>Films of the year: </b>Dunkirk / Moonlight / La La Land / 20th Century Women<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Worst film of 2017: </b>The Mummy<br />
<br />
<b>Great documentaries in 2017: </b><br />
LA 92<br />
I Am Not Your Negro<br />
<br />
<b>Ratings</b>:<br />
<br />
★★★★★: Unmissable!<br />
★★★★☆: Definitely worth seeing<br />
★★★☆☆: Decent film<br />
★★☆☆☆: Disappointing<br />
★☆☆☆☆: Pants<br />
☆☆☆☆☆: Why was this released?<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Star Wars: The Last
Jedi ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Stronger ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Brigsby Bear ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Dolores ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Wonder ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Battle of the Sexes ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
No Stone Unturned ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Florida Project ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Thelma ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Murder on the Orient
Express ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Breathe ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Thor: Ragnarok ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Happy Death Day ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Call Me by Your Name ★★★☆☆ </div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Death of Stalin ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Snowman ★★☆☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Blade Runner 2049 ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Breakfast Club ★★★★★</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Logan ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Borg vs McEnroe ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Ghoul ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
God's Own Country ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Wind River ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Patti Cake$ ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Limehouse Golem ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Detroit ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
American Made ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Logan Lucky ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A Ghost Story ★★☆☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Atomic Blonde ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Land of Mine ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Kedi ★★☆☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
England Is Mine ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Clash ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Dunkirk ★★★★★</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
War for the Planet of
the Apes ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Spider-Man: Homecoming ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Student ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Baby Driver ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Risk ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Gifted ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
My Cousin Rachel ★★☆☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Mummy ★★☆☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Manhattan ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Wonder Woman ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Graduation ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Colossal ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Miss Sloane ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Alien: Covenant ★★☆☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Neruda ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Lady Macbeth ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 2 ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Handmaiden ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
LA 92 ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Their Finest ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Personal Shopper ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Free Fire ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Ghost in the Shell ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Lost City of Z ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Certain Women ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Life ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Elle ★★☆☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Get Out ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I Am Not Your Negro ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Kong: Skull Island ★★☆☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Logan ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Moonlight ★★★★★</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Hidden Figures ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Fences ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Lego Batman Movie ★★☆☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
20th Century Women ★★★★★</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Loving ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
T2 Trainspotting
(again) ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
T2 Trainspotting ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Hacksaw Ridge ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Lion ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Jackie ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A Monster Calls ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
La La Land ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Manchester by the Sea ★★★★☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Assassin's Creed ★★★☆☆</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sing ★★★★☆</div>
</div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-76055544551040316662016-12-20T09:11:00.000+00:002016-12-20T09:11:00.592+00:00Films of the Year 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
We are drawing closer to the end of 2016, one of the worst years in living memory: the year of Trumpian fascism, Europe-wide xenophobia and the deaths of so many inspirational figures in music and cinema.<br />
<br />
In cinematic terms, however, this hasn't been a bad year for watching films and so, in keeping with the close of every year since 2003, it's time to review the ones I've seen over the last twelve months.<br />
<br />
In 2016, I made it to the cinema on 96 occasions - up from 81 in 2015. Overwhelmingly, these visits were to my local <a href="https://www.picturehouses.com/cinema/Stratford_London" target="_blank">Stratford Picturehouse</a> and according to the stats on <a href="https://letterboxd.com/copwatcher/year/2016/" target="_blank">Letterboxd</a>, this amounted to 177.8 hours of cinema.<br />
<br />
As always, this does not include anything watched on DVD or BluRay and as in previous years, I've arbitrarily rated the films I've seen. You can find ratings for the last decade <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/search/label/Films%20of%20the%20Year" target="_blank">here</a>. Since I started going to the cinema regularly and keeping track of the numbers, I now make this 743 visits since 2003. <br />
<br />
I know. That's a lot.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<b>Film of the year: </b>Arrival<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Worst film of 2016: </b>The Legend of Tarzan<br />
<br />
<b>Great documentaries in 2016: </b><br />
The Eagle Huntress,<br />
Life, Animated<br />
Bobby Sands: 66 Days<br />
Tickled<br />
Notes on Blindness<br />
Speed Sisters<br />
The Fear of 13<br />
<br /></div>
<b>Ratings</b>:<br />
<br />
★★★★★: Unmissable!<br />
★★★★☆: Definitely worth seeing<br />
★★★☆☆: Decent film<br />
★★☆☆☆: Disappointing<br />
★☆☆☆☆: Pants<br />
☆☆☆☆☆: Why was this released?<br />
<br />
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ★★★★☆<br />
Life, Animated ★★★★☆<br />
The Eagle Huntress ★★★★☆<br />
The Birth of a Nation ★★☆☆☆<br />
Snowden ★★★☆☆<br />
Paterson ★★★☆☆<br />
Sully ★★★☆☆<br />
A United Kingdom ★★★★☆<br />
Arrival ★★★★★ (and even better on second viewing)<br />
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ★★★☆☆<br />
Arrival ★★★★★<br />
Nocturnal Animals ★★★☆☆<br />
The Accountant ★★★☆☆<br />
In Pursuit of Silence ★★★☆☆<br />
Doctor Strange ★★★☆☆<br />
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back ★★★☆☆<br />
Queen of Katwe ★★★★☆<br />
American Honey ★★★★☆<br />
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World ★★★☆☆<br />
Swiss Army Man ★★☆☆☆<br />
The Magnificent Seven ★★★☆☆<br />
I, Daniel Blake ★★★★☆<br />
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children ★★★☆☆<br />
Deepwater Horizon ★★★☆☆<br />
The Girl with All the Gifts ★★★★☆<br />
Hunt for the Wilderpeople ★★★★☆<br />
Hell or High Water ★★★★☆<br />
Things to Come ★★★★☆<br />
The Confession ★★★☆☆<br />
Captain Fantastic ★★★★☆<br />
Café Society ★★☆☆☆<br />
Tickled ★★★★☆<br />
Julieta ★★★☆☆<br />
Wiener-Dog ★★★★☆<br />
The Shallows ★★★☆☆<br />
Bobby Sands: 66 Days ★★★★☆<br />
Embrace of the Serpent ★★★★☆<br />
Suicide Squad ★★☆☆☆<br />
Maggie's Plan ★★★☆☆<br />
Jason Bourne ★★★★☆<br />
Couple in a Hole ★★★★☆<br />
Star Trek Beyond ★★★★☆<br />
The Legend of Tarzan ★☆☆☆☆<br />
The Hard Stop ★★★☆☆<br />
Notes on Blindness ★★★★☆<br />
Elvis & Nixon ★★★☆☆<br />
Independence Day: Resurgence ★★☆☆☆<br />
Mile End ★★★☆☆<br />
Adult Life Skills ★★★★☆<br />
Tale of Tales ★★☆☆☆<br />
The Keeping Room ★★★☆☆<br />
Sing Street ★★★★☆<br />
The Club ★★★☆☆<br />
The Nice Guys ★★★☆☆<br />
X-Men: Apocalypse ★★★☆☆<br />
Money Monster ★★★☆☆<br />
A Hologram for the King ★★★☆☆<br />
Everybody Wants Some! ★★★☆☆<br />
Mustang ★★★★☆<br />
Son of Saul ★★★★☆<br />
Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One ★☆☆☆☆<br />
Demolition ★★★☆☆<br />
Green Room ★★★★☆<br />
Captain America: Civil War ★★★★☆<br />
Jane Got a Gun ★★★☆☆<br />
Miles Ahead ★★★☆☆<br />
Eye in the Sky ★★★☆☆<br />
The Absent One ★★★☆☆<br />
Dheepan ★★★★☆<br />
Midnight Special ★★★★☆<br />
Speed Sisters ★★★★☆<br />
Victoria ★★★☆☆<br />
The Here After ★★★☆☆<br />
10 Cloverfield Lane ★★★★☆<br />
Disorder ★★★☆☆<br />
High-Rise ★★☆☆☆<br />
Allegiant ★★☆☆☆<br />
Chronic ★★★☆☆<br />
Hail, Caesar! ★★★★☆<br />
Bone Tomahawk ★★★★☆<br />
Triple 9 ★★★☆☆<br />
The Survivalist ★★★★☆<br />
Deadpool ★★★★☆<br />
Trumbo ★★★★☆<br />
The 33 ★★☆☆☆<br />
Spotlight ★★★★☆<br />
Creed ★★★☆☆<br />
The Assassin ★★☆☆☆<br />
The Revenant ★★★★☆<br />
The Big Short ★★★★☆<br />
Black Souls ★★★☆☆<br />
Room ★★★★☆<br />
The Hateful Eight ★★☆☆☆<br />
Joy ★★★☆☆<br />
The Fear of 13 ★★★★☆<br />
In the Heart of the Sea ★★★☆☆</div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-87679634978413458602016-01-01T17:49:00.004+00:002016-01-01T17:49:24.827+00:00A Year in Film 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
As 2015 draws to a close, I'm back for an increasingly rare update to this blog and, in keeping with the previous 12 years, to review the films I've seen over the last twelve months.<br />
<br />
You can find more stats than you'll ever need and the occasional review over at <a href="http://letterboxd.com/copwatcher/year/2015/" target="_blank">Letterboxd</a>.<br />
<br />
As always, I only count actual 81 trips I made to a cinema - not films on DVD or BluRay - and as usual I've arbitrarily rated the films I've seen. You can find ratings for the last decade <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/search/label/Films%20of%20the%20Year" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Ratings</b>:<br />
★★★★★: Unmissable!<br />
★★★★☆: Definitely worth seeing<br />
★★★☆☆: Decent film<br />
★★☆☆☆: Disappointing<br />
★☆☆☆☆: Pants<br />
☆☆☆☆☆: Why was this released?<br />
<br />
Star Wars: The Force Awakens ★★★☆☆<br />
Sherpa ★★★★☆<br />
Carol ★★★★☆<br />
Bridge of Spies ★★★★☆<br />
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 ★★★☆☆<br />
Steve Jobs ★★★★☆<br />
The Lady in the Van ★★★☆☆<br />
The Lobster ★★☆☆☆<br />
Listen to Me Marlon ★★★★☆<br />
Spectre ★★★★☆<br />
The Program ★★★☆☆<br />
Suffragette ★★★★☆<br />
Crimson Peak ★★★☆☆<br />
The Walk ★★★☆☆<br />
Sicario ★★★★☆<br />
Red Army ★★★☆☆<br />
The Martian ★★★★★<br />
3½ Minutes, 10 Bullets ★★★☆☆<br />
The Martian ★★★★★<br />
Life ★★★☆☆<br />
Cartel Land ★★★★☆<br />
Everest ★★★☆☆<br />
The Wolfpack ★★★☆☆<br />
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials ★★☆☆☆<br />
The Salt of the Earth ★★★★☆<br />
Legend ★★★☆☆<br />
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl ★★★★☆<br />
Mistress America ★★★☆☆<br />
Paper Towns ★★★☆☆<br />
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ★★★★☆<br />
Inside Out ★★★★★<br />
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation ★★★★☆<br />
Minions ★★★☆☆<br />
Ant-Man ★★★★☆<br />
Love & Mercy ★★★★☆<br />
Slow West ★★★☆☆<br />
Amy ★★★★☆<br />
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief ★★★★☆<br />
Jurassic World ★★☆☆☆<br />
Mr. Holmes ★★★☆☆<br />
The Dark Horse ★★★☆☆<br />
The Look of Silence ★★★★★<br />
Timbuktu ★★★☆☆<br />
The Connection ★★★★☆<br />
San Andreas ★★☆☆☆<br />
The New Girlfriend ★★☆☆☆<br />
Tomorrowland ★★★☆☆<br />
We Are Many ★★★★☆<br />
Pitch Perfect 2 ★★★☆☆<br />
Mad Max: Fury Road ★★★★★<br />
The Beat Beneath My Feet ★★★★☆<br />
The Falling ★★★☆☆<br />
Avengers: Age of Ultron ★★★☆☆<br />
A Little Chaos ★★★☆☆<br />
The Salvation ★★★☆☆<br />
John Wick ★★★★☆<br />
Good Kill ★★★☆☆<br />
Woman in Gold ★★★☆☆<br />
While We're Young ★★☆☆☆<br />
Blade Runner ★★★★★<br />
Wild Tales ★★★★☆<br />
Pride ★★★★★<br />
<br />
Robot Overlords ★★☆☆☆<br />
Insurgent ★★☆☆☆<br />
Suite Française ★★★☆☆<br />
A Brilliant Young Mind ★★★★☆<br />
Still Alice ★★★★☆<br />
Catch Me Daddy ★★★☆☆<br />
Chappie ★★★☆☆<br />
Blackhat ★★☆☆☆<br />
Maidan ☆☆☆☆<br />
Trash ★★★★☆<br />
Kingsman: The Secret Service ★★★★☆<br />
Ex Machina ★★★☆☆<br />
Selma ★★★★☆<br />
Wild ★★★☆☆<br />
Foxcatcher ★★★☆☆<br />
Whiplash ★★★☆☆<br />
Exodus: Gods and Kings ★★☆☆☆<br />
The Theory of Everything ★★★★☆<br />
Unbroken ★★★☆☆</div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-52137761365189084172015-09-25T22:59:00.000+01:002015-09-25T22:59:47.962+01:00The Clapton Ultras v Strike!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2lrfZVWREODlWkdfm2c-pNnNUVWGP1KF74B-n2sNSEYBSE8g2ocQdUovCRYZFDp-zikxumOfnhYnHLqIaQJMVUjy5rR5-uA08t9FGGE9wsCYGB7Q7R2eNM-s1Ih9aW-5bjcNb9T9jC6y/s1600/Football-for-all.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2lrfZVWREODlWkdfm2c-pNnNUVWGP1KF74B-n2sNSEYBSE8g2ocQdUovCRYZFDp-zikxumOfnhYnHLqIaQJMVUjy5rR5-uA08t9FGGE9wsCYGB7Q7R2eNM-s1Ih9aW-5bjcNb9T9jC6y/s400/Football-for-all.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>This article appears in the current edition of <a href="http://strikemag.org/" target="_blank">Strike!</a></b><br />
<br />
<i>A football club where minorities not only feel welcome, but get involved, can never really be a bad thing, no matter how much gushing, middle-class wankery gets written about them. Wankery that they aren't responsible for, remember... </i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<b>Comment on 'When Saturday Comes' message board</b></div>
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Before 2012 there were no Clapton Ultras: over the space of only three seasons, a group of left-wing anti-fascist football fans have, with their passion, noisy songs and a fondness for smoke flares in support of Clapton FC, a club in Forest Gate in east London, shaken up the staid, parochial county league that the team plays in. <br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
In doing so, Clapton fans have also attracted increasing outside interest and often unwelcome attention. One senior left-wing union official tried unsuccessfully to use the terrace where the Ultras gather as a stage for some shameless personal grandstanding, whilst far-right groups have repeatedly complained to an indifferent London FA about the Ultras 'political' flags (something we are entirely guilty of). Last year, as numbers grew to over 200 and more and more people headed east to find out what all the fuss was about, the Ultras also started to face attempts to pin one label or another onto us. We have been described both as saviours of the left and condemned as an insufficiently hard-case anti-fascist 'firm'. Memorably, someone even called us 'metrosexual Palestine hipsters', an insult so brilliantly hilarious that it is destined soon to feature on a supporters' banner. <br />
<br />
Why it's always seen as necessary to fit everything new into a preconceived and largely pointless category is a mystery to me. Still, none of it has come close to explaining the phenomenal rise of the Clapton Ultras or the upsurge of support – over 500 supporters at the end of last season - for a lowly non-league club long overshadowed by its rich and popular neighbour, West Ham United, who are based less than a mile away. <br />
<br />
In reality, what is happening in Forest Gate is a reflection of a growing trend amongst an increasing number of football fans who are tired of paying £50 or more for a match ticket, or simply cannot afford to, just to watch a game with no atmosphere or spectacle. At Clapton FC, most fans also support a League side, but have adopted a local team, one with a long and rich history but forever at the fringes of football, because it means watching with friends for only £6, a beer in hand, without oppressive policing or officious stewards insisting everyone remains seated. For many, this is what has attracted them to switch to non-league football, or to return to the game after often years away from regular attendance at overpriced Premiership and League fixtures.<br />
<br />
There is something else, however, that makes the Clapton Ultras noticeably different from other groups of football supporters: their absolute opposition to the often boorishly sexist, homophobic and right-wing sentiment and behaviour tolerated at many larger clubs. This has been coupled with the adoption of the best elements of a continental anti-fascist Ultras' culture that is strengthened by the presence of many Italian, Spanish and Polish fans. <br />
<br />
What I love so much about attending a home game at the Old Spotted Dog Ground and standing with other Clapton Ultras is not just having a few cans of Tyskie and singing daft chants throughout, but the recognition that the people around me are socialists and anarchists, that at any moment the Italian partisans song 'Bella Ciao' may erupt from the Scaffold (the ramshackle stand made of scaffolding poles and corrugated iron where the Ultras congregate), or a banner might appear in support of anti-fascists in Greece or Germany. It's the fact that we produce all our own merchandise, just like Ultras in clubs across Europe, and that our stickers pop up randomly all over the country. It's knowing that someone might shout out a reminder that Maggie Thatcher is definitely still dead, but no-one is about to start calling the referee a 'poof' or claiming that opposing fans are 'gypos' or 'chavs'. Try that kind of shit at a Clapton game and you'll quickly find out what a crowd turning on you feels like!<br />
<br />
This attitude extends to the club's place in its local neighbourhood, one of the poorest in London and the most ethnically diverse in the country. Acts of solidarity organised by the Clapton Ultras include distributing rights cards on the powers of immigration enforcement teams, organising food donations for a local project supporting asylum seekers with no access to public funds, raising cash for local group supporting victims of domestic violence and turning up in numbers to support campaigns around homelessness and evictions. At the end of the last season, on a truly magical day involving rainbow-coloured smoke flares, we helped launch an appeal that eventually succeeded in raising funds to keep open Newham's only LGBT youth group, which faced closure because of council cuts. <br />
<br />
For many of us, this kind of community organising is just as important as the football: the Ultras bring together, in significant numbers, a group of like-minded activists with years of campaigning experience who can make a real impact locally. This extended to encouraging more local people so Clapton FC better reflects the community where it is based: just recently, we held a stall at the local Forest Gate Festival simply to remind local people that the club still exists and is far more welcoming and family-friendly than many might imagine. It's a real necessary because, perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of working class football fans remain white, straight and male. Constantly reaffirming our opposition to all forms of discrimination is slowly encouraging a greater level of diversity as the number of supporters increases, but not as fast as we would like. <br />
<br />
Fundamentally, though, the Clapton Ultras remain just football fans, who happen to have created a safe, supportive space for others like themselves on the radical, largely unaligned left. It's somewhere to have a laugh, make new friends, temporarily forget what a massive cockwomble David Cameron is and still enjoy an outpouring of emotion at away game in a tiny village somewhere out in the wilds of Essex.<br />
<br />
Disappointingly, we are not saviours of the left and definitely not a hard-case 'firm', no matter how much outside observers might want this to be true. As for 'metrosexual Palestine hipsters'? Well, as the fantastic film 'Pride' said, if someone calls you a name, you take that name and you own it. Look out for the banner in the coming season.<br />
<br />
<b>You can find the Clapton Ultras online at claptonultras.org, on Facebook at <a href="http://facebook.com/ClaptonUltras">facebook.com/ClaptonUltras</a> and on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/ClaptonUltras" target="_blank">@ClaptonUltras</a></b><br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>The Clapton Ultras fanzine, Red Menace, is at <a href="http://redmenacefanzine.wordpress.com/">redmenacefanzine.wordpress.com</a></b><br />
<b>The Clapton Ultras podcast, The Old Spotted Dogcast, is at <a href="http://theoldspotteddogcast.wordpress.com/">theoldspotteddogcast.wordpress.com</a></b><br />
<b><br />
</b> <br />
<br /></div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-75465160359094467942015-07-18T20:00:00.000+01:002015-07-19T12:22:35.409+01:00Newham Labour nominates the 'Prevent' candidate for London Assembly selection battle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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There were extraordinary scenes at East Ham Labour Party last Thursday evening, as a veritable chorus line of the usual party loyalists stepped up to support Newham councillor Unmesh Desai (right), Cabinet Member for Crime and Anti Social Behaviour. Desai desperately wants to become the Labour candidate to replace new Tower Hamlets Mayor, John Biggs, as the City and East constituency London Assembly member.<br />
<br />
One of those who spoke at the meeting was the Dear Leader himself, Sir Robin Wales, who in an surprising intervention praised Desai as a community activist who had “founded Newham Monitoring Project” (not true, he was the group's first worker, but let's move on) and who fought against the British National Party in the south of the borough. This has been the message featuring strongly in Desai's campaign for local endorsement: in emails to Party members, he has promoted himself as an 'activist' with 'a solid track record of three decades of community campaigning'.<br />
<br />
Strangely, there was no time to mention of how Desai, with Wales' support, was personally responsible for ruthlessly engineered the removal of council funding for Newham Monitoring Project (NMP) in the late 1990s, because he saw the group as an obstacle to his political ambitions. Nor did Wales mention his own unsuccessful attempts to pressure the National Lottery to try and stop NMP from receiving funding from it in 2000.<br />
<br />
I have had cause to remark on Desai's staggering hypocrisy before. In 2011 I <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2011/06/journey-from-young-radical-to-old.html" target="_blank">pointed out the irony</a> of a man who was kicked out of the Socialist Workers Party over allegations of 'violent extremism' becoming the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jun/14/violent-extremism-tackled-london" target="_blank">council's foremost cheerleader for 'Prevent'</a>, the government programme for tackling signs of alleged extremism -amongst young Muslims. If nothing else, Desai is living proof that the 'Prevent' strategy is based on a lie: there is no inevitability about an 'escalator of radicalisation' and youthful rebellion is never a guarantee of genuinely radical politics in later life. In Desai's case, quite the opposite.<br />
<br />
One obvious question is this: why, after all these years, suddenly bring up NMP now? I suspect one answer is that the hardline, right-wing Blairite politics that dominates Labour in Newham has considerably less attraction and potential support among party members in the wider City and East constituency, which includes both the boiling cauldron that is Tower Hamlets and the London borough of Barking and Dagenham. That may explain why Desai, who has held no job other than Newham councillor for years, is mythologising a colourful community activism that in reality he cynically abandoned decades ago.<br />
<br />
Labour members outside of Newham should therefore have absolutely no illusions, whatever they hear otherwise. Desai is the most definitely the 'Prevent' nominee – the front man for a counter terrorism strategy that even a senior police officer has called a '<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/09/anti-radicalisation-prevent-strategy-a-toxic-brand" target="_blank">toxic brand</a>' – in this candidates' selection.<br />
<br />
If the kind of candidate you decide to choose is someone the security services would happily endorse, then don't say you weren't warned.</div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-14627390775983666832015-01-30T23:56:00.002+00:002015-01-31T08:28:02.026+00:00Newham Mayor Guilty of Breaching Members Code of Conduct <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Public accountability proceeds, it seems, at its own solemn pace. Newham council's constitution says a standards committee investigation into the conduct of an elected member should take no longer than three months. However, six months has passed since a complaint was made against Mayor Sir Robin Wales, and only now has the committee published its groundbreaking decision - that the Mayor "breached the members' Code of Conduct by failing to treat a member of the public with respect".<br />
<br />
Some background: in July 2014, a video [above] emerged on YouTube showing the Mayor losing control of his temper at the presence of Focus E15 Mothers campaigners at an event in Central Park in East Ham. He was so angry that the footage shows a member of council staff physically restraining him. In the week that followed, a formal complaint was made about the Mayor's behaviour, alleging that Wales had breached the Members' Code of Conduct by failing to observe the statutory principle of “always treating people with respect, including the organisations and public engaged with and those worked alongside”. <br />
<br />
I'd met the young activists from the Focus E15 campaign for the first time only the previous weekend, when volunteering as a legal observer for a march they had organised though the borough. Appalled by the Mayor's behaviour, I gave them some advice soon after the video began to circulate about how to make a official complaint. Eventually I decided to submit a complaint myself and so, ever since, I've had a ring-side seat as the formal 'complainant' to the glacial process that has followed.<br />
<br />
The complaint was about the conduct shown in the video, which was essentially the only evidence. However, after a meeting of Newham's Standards Advisory Committee on 31 July recommended a formal inquiry, an independent investigator was appointed. In August she interviewed me and some of of the campaigners who appear in the footage. The committee did not meet again until early October and then decided set up a Hearing Sub-Committee to consider the investigator's findings and determine whether a breach of the code of conduct had taken place. It met on 21 October and asked the investigator to rewrite her report with new recommendations. A meeting planned for December was cancelled and the Hearing Sub-Committee did not make its final decision until 15 January – but was unable to announce it because the council's constitution insists it was first checked off by its appointed 'Independent Person' (a requirement under the Localism Act 2011).<br />
<br />
The procedure for investigating a complaint is clearly convoluted, slow and in need of reform. I have no idea either how an investigation within three months is even imaginable if evidence is more complex than a short video. I must stress, however, that the independent chair of the Standards Advisory Committee seemed just as frustrated by it as everyone else and was always as helpful as circumstances allowed. What probably hasn't helped was Wales' refusal to cooperate with the formal investigation – to this day, he has not even bothered to deny the accusation against him. <br />
<br />
It is, nevertheless, hard to understand why there was a delay in early October to excise references to “the Mayor’s failure to deny the allegation upon which he chose not to comment at all”, when this rather embarrassing detail appears in minutes released this month. This decision was in all likelihood the work of some of the Mayor's slavishly loyal lieutenants on the committee, but as the discussions were held in secret, it is impossible to know for certain. <br />
<br />
Even before the committee's decision was made, the question of what sanction it might recommend was always, of course, largely irrelevant. It was never likely they would adopt my tongue-in-cheek suggestion of 'anger management classes' and anyway, apart from a letter to Wales with advice on his conduct, which the Hearing Sub-Committee has asked the council's Monitor Officer to write, there are always few options available when a complaint involves an elected Mayor. His unwillingness to engage with or even acknowledge the investigation suggests any advice will disappear straight into the waste basket.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, what is significant is the decision itself: one of London's most powerful and imperious Labour politicians has received his first slap on the wrist in recent memory. For years, Wales has cultivated the idea that he is completely unassailable and therefore someone whose displeasure people should fear. It has worked too, I've seen it for myself both internally and amongst those who have to deal with the council. Even recently, I've been told by sympathetic insiders of threats that are a variant on “you'll never work in this town again”.<br />
<br />
The trouble is, the notion of Sir Robin Wales' impregnability has been successfully undermined: amongst the many impressive achievements of the wonderful Focus E15 Mothers, this is perhaps the most unlikely, but it's true. It may only represent a first step, but I hope it encourages others in future who believe they have been poorly treated by the Mayor or those surrounding him to feel that it is finally worthwhile making a complaint that someone will listen to.<br />
<br />
Maybe, too, if the Mayor ever decides to bang the table, shout down local people, issue threats or browbeat members of staff, he'll start to wonder whether his words have been secretly recorded, as evidence for a Standards Advisory Committee that has actually displayed some backbone. <br />
<br />
<b>The Investigation Report remains a (local) state secret, but you can see the Decision Notice <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5fYrDXduCuRUzkzZWRjOEZMdFk/view" target="_blank">here</a></b><br />
<br /></div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-18300416172459278262014-12-31T12:50:00.000+00:002014-12-31T12:50:05.927+00:00A Year in Film 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As 2014 draws to a close, it is time once again, in keeping with the previous eleven years, to review the films I've seen over the last twelve months.<br />
<br />
According to <a href="http://letterboxd.com/copwatcher/year/2014/" target="_blank">my summary on the brilliant Letterboxd website</a>, I've seen 93 films over 173 hours (not counting the trailers). Apparently, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25958176" target="_blank">infamous Sodastream sales-rep</a> Scarlett Johansson is the actor I've seen most often and, in all honesty, have been the most disappointed with - 'Lucy', 'Her' and 'Under The Skin' were all two star films in my view, whilst 'Chef' and 'The Winter Soldier' won't make it onto my top five of the year. What will are:<br />
<br />
1. Grand Budapest Hotel<br />
2. Interstellar<br />
3. Boyhood<br />
4. Pride<br />
5. Dallas Buyers Club.<br />
<br />
These aren't necessarily the best films - '12 Years a Slave' is extraordinary - but the ones I've enjoyed most and look forward most to watching again.<br />
<br />
Anyway, here's the 2014 list in full: in keeping with previous years, I only count actual trips to a cinema - not films on DVD or BluRay - and as usual I've arbitrarily rated the films I've seen. You can find ratings for the last decade <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/search/label/Films%20of%20the%20Year" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
<br />
<strong>Ratings</strong>:<br />
★★★★★: Unmissable!<br />
★★★★☆: Definitely worth seeing<br />
★★★☆☆: Decent film<br />
★★☆☆☆: Disappointing<br />
★☆☆☆☆: Pants<br />
☆☆☆☆☆: Why was this released?<br />
<br />
<br />
Big Eyes ★★★☆☆: <br />
Birdman ★★★★☆: <br />
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ★★★☆☆<br />
Black Sea ★★★☆☆<br />
St. Vincent ★★★★☆<br />
The Homesman ★★★☆☆<br />
Kajaki ★★★☆☆<br />
What We Do in the Shadows ★★★★☆<br />
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 ★★★★☆<br />
Mr. Turner ★★☆☆☆<br />
The Imitation Game ★★★☆☆<br />
Interstellar ★★★★★☆<br />
Nightcrawler ★★★★☆<br />
Fury ★★★☆☆<br />
Citizenfour ★★★★☆<br />
The Maze Runner ★★☆☆☆<br />
'71 ★★★★☆<br />
Still The Enemy Within ★★★★☆<br />
Gone Girl ★★★★☆<br />
Ida ★★★☆☆<br />
Dracula Untold ★★☆☆☆<br />
Tony Benn: Will and Testament ★★★★☆<br />
Maps to the Stars ★★★★☆<br />
Smart Ass ★★☆☆☆<br />
A Walk Among the Tombstones ★★★☆☆<br />
A Most Wanted Man ★★★★☆<br />
Pride ★★★★★<br />
The Keeper of Lost Causes ★★★☆☆<br />
Finding Fela ★★★☆☆<br />
Dinosaur 13 ★★★★☆<br />
Night Moves ★★★★☆<br />
The Congress ★★☆☆☆<br />
Lucy ★★☆☆☆<br />
Two Days, One Night ★★★★☆<br />
Into the Storm ★★☆☆☆<br />
God’s Pocket ★★★☆☆<br />
Finding Vivian Maier ★★★★☆<br />
Guardians of the Galaxy ★★★★☆<br />
The Search For Simon ★★☆☆☆<br />
Joe ★★★☆☆<br />
Camille Claudel 1915 ★★☆☆☆<br />
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ★★★★☆<br />
Boyhood ★★★★★<br />
Begin Again ★★★★☆<br />
The Breakfast Club ★★★★★<br />
Ilo Ilo ★★☆☆☆<br />
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared ★★☆☆☆<br />
Cold in July ★★★☆☆<br />
Chef ★★★☆☆<br />
The Fault in Our Stars ★★★★☆<br />
The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet ★★★☆☆<br />
12 Angry Men ★★★★★<br />
Edge of Tomorrow ★★★★☆<br />
Fruitvale Station ★★☆☆☆<br />
X-Men: Days of Future Past ★★★☆☆<br />
Jimmy’s Hall ★★★★☆<br />
The Lunchbox ★★★☆☆<br />
Blue Ruin ★★★★☆<br />
Godzilla ★★★☆☆<br />
Tom at the Farm ★★★★☆<br />
Frank ★★★☆☆<br />
Tracks ★★★★☆<br />
Chronicle of a Disappearance ★★★☆☆<br />
Locke ★★★★☆<br />
A Matter of Life and Death ★★★★★<br />
Calvary ★★★★★<br />
The Past ★★★☆☆<br />
The Raid 2 ★★★★★<br />
20 Feet from Stardom ★★★★☆<br />
Noah ★★★☆☆<br />
Divergent ★★★☆☆<br />
Captain America: The Winter Soldier ★★★☆☆<br />
Starred Up ★★★★☆<br />
The Double ★★★☆<br />
Under the Skin ★★☆☆☆<br />
The Zero Theorem ★★★☆☆<br />
The Book Thief ★★★☆☆<br />
Stranger by the Lake ★★☆☆☆<br />
The Armstrong Lie ★★★★☆<br />
Her ★★☆☆☆<br />
Only Lovers Left Alive ★★★★☆<br />
The Patience Stone ★★★★☆<br />
The Monuments Men ★★☆☆☆<br />
The Lego Movie ★★★★☆<br />
RoboCop ★★☆☆☆<br />
Dallas Buyers Club ★★★★★<br />
August: Osage County ★★☆☆☆<br />
The Missing Picture ★★★☆☆<br />
The Wolf of Wall Street ★★★★☆ <br />
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit ★★★☆☆<br />
American Hustle ★★★☆☆<br />
12 Years a Slave ★★★★★<br />
<br /></div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-49364016302888869072014-05-24T20:53:00.000+01:002014-05-24T20:54:37.688+01:00Newham, Sprung<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The local elections In Newham are over and the result, once again, is No Overall Surprise: Sir Robin Wales is back as Mayor after 12 years in power and every councillor is still a Labour representative. <br />
<br />
So much for the delusional optimism / monumental bullshit of this comment on<a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2014/04/whatever-happened-to-newham-revolution.html" target="_blank"> my last post</a> about local politics, from a supporter of the horrendously misnamed Newham Peoples Alliance (NPA):<br />
<blockquote>
Newham finally has a credible opposition..... The efforts of The Newham Peoples alliance have not gone to waste... Be prepared for a historic defeat to Robin wales.... The online Newham recorder poll alongside the NPA Mayoral poll are both indicative of the climax Of the newham spring</blockquote>
Regime change, my arse.<br />
<br />
The NPA's political journey from <a href="http://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/hundreds_turn_out_to_hear_respect_mp_george_galloway_in_newham_1_1933602" target="_blank">endorsement by "left-wing" MP George Galloway</a> to an alliance with the party of bankers, private equity managers and Old Etonians has been an object lesson in breathtaking political opportunism. The willingness of the Tories to at least tolerate<a href="http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/05/20/met-police-investigate-muslim-pro-tory-anti-gay-election-leaflets/" target="_blank"> vile homophobic messages</a> and <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/05/16/tory-party-leaflet-east-london" target="_blank">deliberate religious sectarianism</a> by its new allies offers another lesson too, about what happens when you enter into what I shall mischievously call a "civil partnership" with reactionary communal interests in the borough.<br />
<br />
But the situation facing the left alternative in Newham isn't really anything to take comfort from: the combined Mayoral vote for the Greens and the Socialist Party dominated TUSC was just 4763 (6% of votes cast) and nothing screams "there's no serious left alternative" like the latter's seventh place behind pretty much everyone, other than the mercifully deceased Christian Peoples Alliance.<br />
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I was one of those who, faced with a Green Party 'paper candidate' and a Trot group parachuting in with the hope of recruiting some new members, decided not to vote on Thursday. For this sin, someone on Facebook said in a private message that I was providing "succour to the racists in UKIP". In the circumstances, unfriending him was the very least I could do - a punch in the canister seems more appropriate - but it is systemic of a irritating fetishism about the electoral franchise that I find simply incomprehensible.<br />
<br />
For leftwingers, voting is tactical and like all tactics, its value lies in bundling it together with other tactics into something resembling a strategy. Organising a national demonstration in central London, for example, in order to galvanise a growing movement or motivate supporters in advance an crucial date or decision, makes complete sense. On its own, it's just another <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2012/10/mostly-harmless-pictures-from-saturdays.html" target="_blank">stroll through town</a>. The same applies to voting: if there's a growing momentum for radical change, either locally or nationally, then maybe it's a potentially useful tool. Of course all the other tactics, like building local support and engaging the wider public, take time: at least four years or, if UKIP's trajectory is any indicator, more than twenty. That's why it's tempting to skip these tactics, but on its own, voting turns out to be an ineffective waste of time and resources. No matter how they try to spin it, the Greens and the TUSC in Newham have demonstrated how having no strategy just shows up the chronic weakness of the left locally.<br />
<br />
There is still hope. Others, like the new<a href="http://leftunity.org/" target="_blank"> Left Unity party</a>, do seem to understand that short cuts simply don't work. But in Newham, creating a progressive alternative in 2018 to the political bankruptcy of both Robin Wales' Labour and the kind of faith based opportunism that backed the Tories probably needs to start immediately.<br />
<br />
I'm happy to leave this to others: I'm hoping to get out of Newham before Sir Robin Wales' next re-election in four years time, when I suspect the cohesiveness of the borough will have been finally destroyed by slum landlords, vicious cuts and more of the kind of nasty, reactionary communalism we have seen over the last few weeks.<br />
<br />
Anyway, to borrow from a very old joke, "if you want to find your way there, you really wouldn't want to start from here".<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-16217995672791678502014-04-23T22:59:00.001+01:002014-04-24T19:01:31.862+01:00Whatever Happened to the 'Newham Revolution'?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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At a local event last week, I found myself making small talk with one of Newham Labour's candidates for councillor positions at this May's elections. I've never been very good at small talk, especially with someone I know only vaguely, which is why the conversation started with the inevitable:“so how are things?” The candidate, who I shan't name, explained how busy everyone was canvassing their wards. As this is Newham, where 60 out of 60 councillors are Labour, I jokingly said, “surely you don't have to worry? I mean, you guaranteed to win, right?”<br />
<br />
“Well as Sir Robin says,” came the reply. “We're really fighting the election after next. The cuts that are coming are that bad.” Incredible.<br />
<br />
Labour candidates in this borough effectively become councillors-elect as soon as they are selected: the lack of any credible opposition makes victory a certainty. They also know that between their election and May 2018, they are expected to provide unquestioning support to cuts of £41million in 2015/16 and another £53million in 2016/17 – and evidently Mayor Sir Robin Wales isn't terribly confident his own party nationally will reverse the cuts if it wins the General Election next year. <br />
<br />
So is Newham Labour really worried that the devastating impact of cuts could trigger a change in local politics? Casting an eye over Labour's current opponents, it would represent less a shift and more a major seismic event. What's really noticeable is just how barren and marginal municipal activism has become in the borough, after years of control by a single party dominated by a powerful Mayor. <br />
<br />
At one time Newham had the Respect Party, which <a href="http://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/george_galloway_re_launches_respect_party_in_newham_after_rejection_of_mega_mosque_1_1755669" target="_blank">was relaunched</a> at the end of December 2012 by its divisive, opportunist leader, the MP George Galloway. It has since vanished without trace: Galloway's pledge to field a Mayoral and councillor candidates in 2014 has failed to emerge. He <a href="http://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/hundreds_turn_out_to_hear_respect_mp_george_galloway_in_newham_1_1933602" target="_blank">was back in February 2013</a> in support of the woefully misnamed Newham People's Alliance (NPA), essentially an attempt to organise a distinct Muslim voting block. “This is the beginning of the Newham revolution,” blustered Galloway. The following month, the NPA announced its intention to<a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2013/04/how-credible-is-call-for-referendum-on.html" target="_blank"> trigger a referendum</a> on Newham's mayoral system. That failed to emerge too. It hasn't updated its website since August 2013.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the <a href="http://newhamtusc.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition</a> (essentially the Socialist Party) became the latest in a long line of far-left groups to parachute in, launch themselves on the electorate six weeks before the election and hope for the best. Around the country, the TUSC has barely attracted more than 5% of the vote (you can look <a href="http://www.tusc.org.uk/candidate" target="_blank">here</a> for their own analysis if you're so minded). Even though I personally quite like their Mayoral candidate Lois Austin, who I'm working with on a campaign concerned with police surveillance of activists, the stubborn perseverance involved in repeating the same failed tactic over and over again frankly amazes me. <br />
<br />
As for the Greens, Newham is one of the few London boroughs that has no local party. Its Mayoral candidate Jane Lithgow, who <a href="http://janesprobablyknitting.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">seems like a nice person</a> and encouragingly describes herself as a Green Socialist, stood in the General Elections of 2005 and 2010 in West Ham but <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/person/9447/jane-lithgow" target="_blank">saw her vote drop</a> to just 1.4% - coming in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/constituency/1424/west-ham" target="_blank">eighth place</a> behind both UKIP and the National Front (quite an achievement in multicultural Newham). This May, she will count herself lucky not to lose her deposit.<br />
<br />
What does this tell us? Perhaps that the opposition to cuts in Newham, if it emerges at all, will not happen through the ballot box but through dozens of small acts of resistance. I hope so. But it also suggests that Sir Robin's rhetoric about “fighting the election after next” is really about scaring some discipline into future councillors for when the cuts start to bite hard, as well as encouraging some of the more complacent candidates to turn up for door-knocking now there's an election approaching.<br />
<br />
And given the calibre of most of them, it will probably work too. No wonder local politics is so depleted and dysfunctional.<br />
<br /></div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-63042658958544714532014-04-18T12:15:00.002+01:002014-04-18T12:15:50.409+01:00Local Police Back Out of Radio Debate With Newham Monitoring Project<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yesterday I joined the Director of <a href="http://www.nmp.org.uk/" target="_blank">Newham Monitoring Project</a>, Estelle du Boulay, on local community radio station <a href="http://www.nusoundradio.com/" target="_blank">NuSound Radio 92FM</a>, which is based at Durning Hall in Forest Gate, to discuss policing in Newham. Originally we were supposed to debate the issue with the local Borough Commander, but unfortunately, after agreeing at first to participate, Newham police backed out completely from joining us on-air.<br />
<br />
Some background: at the start of April, NuSound's "Community Hour" presenter <a href="http://radiopete.org/" target="_blank">Pete Day</a> suggested to Chief Superintendent Tony Nash, Newham's new Borough Commander, that he come on and talk with NMP about policing in east London. Initially Nash accepted, but within a day, the local police seemed to start getting cold feet, offering instead his number 2, a Superintendent, and placing conditions that insisted discussions should focus just on policing in Newham. They also wanted a list of topics that would come up. We were happy to comply if it meant that an interesting debate might go ahead. <br />
<br />
However, NuSound was then contacted again, this time by a Detective Chief Inspector, who said Newham police “didn't think it was a good idea” to appear on-air with us. It's a shame – but the offer remains open to the Borough Commander ever changes his mind.<br />
<br />
Anyway, Estelle and I went on the show anyway - here's the recording of what we said:<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/145286967&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<br /></div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-33799082915905519142014-03-21T23:34:00.000+00:002014-03-21T23:56:01.092+00:00Proudly Anti-Fascist - An Open Letter to Clapton FC's Chief Executive<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Yesterday, Forest Gate based amateur football club Clapton FC <a href="http://claptonfc.com/word-from-the-spotted-dog-20/" target="_blank">posted a statement</a> from its chief executive Vince McBean on its website saying that “over the last 48 hours” it had “received several emails from individuals stating their concerns about some of the supporters at Clapton” - notably, that Clapton's fans are left-wing, anti-fascist and that as a result, they might provoke “EDL style demos” at the club's home ground. McBean's response is completely appalling and so this is the letter I emailed to him this evening.<br />
<blockquote>
Dear Mr McBean<br />
<br />
Today I saw the 'AntiFa' statement posted on Clapton's website and I was so appalled by it that I felt I had to write to you.<br />
<br />
I am one of the new supporters who, as you mention, are joining the club all the time. I've lived in Newham, within walking distance of the Old Spotted Dog, for nearly 25 years but my first game was only a month ago. Like so many others, I found my way to the club through word-of-mouth, after pressure from an old friend who raved about the brilliant atmosphere created by the supporters. When I eventually made it to a match, it turned out that everything I'd been told – about how welcoming the fans are, about their principled stand against racism, homophobia and fascist extremism, about the wit and lack of bigotry in the chanting – turned out to be completely true. That's the reason why I now have a Clapton FC scarf hanging up the front door of my flat.<br />
<br />
Your statement issued yesterday mentioned the club's “strong ethos... of not tolerating discrimination or racism of any kind”. It is an ethos I share: since 1992 I have been a management committee member of the Newham Monitoring Project, east London's oldest anti-racist organisation based just down the road from Clapton FC on Harold Road. Our work involves the kind of community-based advice and support for local people suffering racist hate crime that rarely receives enough publicity but it does mean that discrimination and racism are issues I feel extremely qualified to talk about. <br />
<br />
And I can tell promise you this: when a bunch of far-right keyboard warriors start making unsubstantiated e-mail threats intended solely to provoke a reaction, the last thing you want to do is take them at their word and issue an apology over some non-existent 'offence' or inappropriate conduct you haven't even investigated.<br />
<br />
Actually, that's not entirely correct – the last thing you want to do is to damage and debase your club's reputation by insulting, supposedly in the name of intolerance to “discrimination or racism of any kind,” your loyal and genuinely anti-racist supporters in an desperate attempt to try and appease some obnoxious right-wing extremists. <br />
<br />
At the very least, your statement needs removing immediately and amending so that it makes clear that, as far as the club is aware, there is no basis for any of the malicious claims made in the emails you have received. However, I think you also owe an apology to Clapton FC's fans, old and new – the implication that there might actually be some foundation to these ludicrous allegations is an affront to all of us.<br />
<br />
I look forward to the removal and amendment of the website statement as a matter of urgency.</blockquote>
</div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-77628951166083849022014-02-13T23:05:00.003+00:002014-02-13T23:06:37.282+00:00Olympic Domestic Extremist - An Interview on NuSound Radio<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is an interview I gave today to Pete Day of east London community radio station NuSound 92FM, on the recent release of my 'domestic extremist' police surveillance file.<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/134650075&color=0066cc&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe></div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-42470678360845675782014-02-05T10:00:00.000+00:002014-02-05T10:05:28.089+00:00Secret Diary of an Olympic Domestic Extremist<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>This article first appeared on the <a href="http://netpol.org/2014/02/05/olympic-domestic-extremist/" target="_blank">Network for Police Monitoring website</a></b><br />
<br />
After <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/24/metropolitan-police-spying-undercover-officers" target="_blank">reports in June</a> last year that Newham Monitoring Project, the east London community group I've been part of for over 20 years, was spied on during the 1990s by undercover Metropolitan police officers, I've wanted to find out if information about me is held on secret police databases. The <i>Guardian</i> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/25/undercover-police-domestic-extremism-unit" target="_blank">reported estimates of up to 9000 people</a> classified by police as potential 'domestic extremists' and so to find out if I'm one of them, I <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2013/06/how-to-find-out-what-secret-police.html" target="_blank">submitted a 'subject access request'</a> under data protection legislation.<br />
<br />
The Met were supposed to comply within 40 days but it has taken over six months and the intervention of the Information Commissioner's Office to finally receive a response. If the details provided are complete, they confirm that the National Domestic Extremism Unit (NDEU), part of the Met's SO15 Counter Terrorism Command, began logging my activities in April 2011 because I spoke at Netpol's 'Stand Up To Surveillance' conference - ironically, an event debating the rise of unaccountable police intelligence gathering on protests and local communities.<br />
<br />
What is a 'domestic extremist'? There is no legal definition: it's a term invented by the police. The <span id="goog_1434023657"></span><a href="http://www.acpo.police.uk/NationalPolicing/NCDENationalCoordinatorDomesticExtremism/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO)<span id="goog_1434023658"></span> says</a> it is "generally used to describe the activity of individuals or groups carrying out criminal acts of direct action to further their protest campaign". ACPO also claims that because the majority of protesters are peaceful, they are "never considered 'extremist'... The term only applies to individuals or groups whose activities go outside the normal democratic process and engage in crime and disorder in order to further their campaign". In 2012, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary said in <a href="http://www.hmic.gov.uk/publication/review-of-national-police-units-which-provide-intelligence-on-criminality-associated-with-protest-20120202/" target="_blank">a review of police intelligence units concerned with protest </a>that "the term 'domestic extremism' should be limited to threats of harm from serious crime and serious disruption to the life of the community arising from criminal activity".<br />
<br />
How, then, does someone who has never been charged or convicted of any criminal activity - I've never even been arrested - end up on the 'domestic extremist' database? The answer seems to involve speaking and writing about the security preparations for the Olympics. The NDEU was evidently obsessed with the <a href="http://counterolympicsnetwork.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Counter Olympics Network</a> (CON) and I was covertly photographed speaking at its conference at Toynbee Hall in January 2012. However, my police file also records a Olympics-related talk I gave at Netpol’s <a href="http://kettlepolicepowers.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">‘Kettle Police Powers’ conference</a> in May 2012 and recounts, in some detail, the comments I made on behalf of Newham Monitoring Project at a <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2012/06/we-are-all-simon-moore.html" target="_blank">Save Leyton Marsh public meeting</a> the following month. As a result, I was logged entering the Olympic Park with a day ticket at the end of July, with a thorough description and the comment “believed to be a member of CON”.<br />
<br />
However, the ‘intelligence’ gathered at these events and or subsequently pulled from posts on my blog was either hugely inaccurate or simply fictional: at no time, for example, did I ever become CON’s ‘Security Advisor’ or ever suggest ‘shutting tube stations by triggering fire alarms’. The NDEU file also suggests I “openly stated that the Olympics are likely to be targeted by smaller, unpublicised affinity group style actions”, which is an mischievous spin on <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2012/07/counter-olympics-protestors-to-defy.html" target="_blank">a piece I wrote in July 2012</a>, on how the problems facing anti-Olympic campaigners who had bent over backwards to negotiate with the police had probably given the case for DIY affinity group protest “a tremendous boost”.<br />
<br />
Having made it onto the police intelligence-gatherers’ radar, my file includes my email and phone details and an old photo taken in 2010 by my friend Louise Whittle (lifted from her <a href="http://harpymarx.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/im-photographer-not-a-terrorist-mass-gathering/" target="_blank">Harpymarx blog</a>) at the Trafalgar Square flashmob organised by “I’m a Photographer Not A Terrorist” – yet again, coincidentally, an event concerned with oppressive police surveillance. It also makes repeated mention of involvement in Netpol and records my participation in the ‘Save Wanstead Flats’ residents’ campaign that opposed the siting of a temporary Olympic police base on public land close to where I worked. Involving public meetings, lobbying MPs and even a legal challenge in the High Court, this must surely represent activities that are quintessentially within “the normal democratic process” and yet details of my employer, a respected Newham charity that supported local people to set up the campaign, were added to the file.<br />
<br />
The thing that angers me the most, though, is that the Metropolitan Police had no compunction in sharing information with the NDEU that was received when I became the victim of a crime, after criminal damage to my home. The file notes that this confirmed my mobile number and address and added my landline telephone number.<br />
<br />
As this information was gathered, the file notes: “there is no suggest (sic) that BLOWE has actively engaged in any Direct Action” but “takes up many forms of left-wing activism” and “is known for his involvement in Counter Olympics Network, Save Wanstead Flats and Network for Police Monitoring”. This, apparently, was enough to justify continuing surveillance (I get a mention for attending the UK Uncut bedroom tax protest in April 2013) but it’s a very, very long way from “threats of harm from serious crime and serious disruption to the life of the community arising from criminal activity”.<br />
<br />
Let’s face it: if I can end up with a National Domestic Extremist Unit database entry then almost anyone involved in any kind of ‘left-wing activism’ can too. That’s why I’m urging other campaigners to pursue the <a href="http://netpol.org/campaigns/dont-be-on-a-database/subject-access-requests-an-introduction/" target="_blank">arduous process of their own subject access requests</a> – and why the only way to stop the police from relentlessly gathering unnecessary 'intelligence' is to shut down the domestic extremist database completely.<br />
<br /></div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-33673458843157637522013-12-31T08:00:00.000+00:002013-12-31T08:00:00.275+00:00A Year in Film 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The close of 2013 approaches and, in keeping with previous years, it is time to review the films I've seen over the last twelve months.<br />
<br />
As you can see, I let things get a little out of hand... I blame the unexpected free time provided by redundancy and part-time work, along with the gift by former colleagues of BFI membership that meant access to the London Film Festival. <br />
<br />
This is an anniversary – the tenth year I've been posting an annual list after successfully completing the challenge to watch and review one film a week back in 2003 (see <a href="http://onefilmaweek.blogspot.com/">onefilmaweek.blogspot.com</a>). Last year's total of <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2012/12/films-of-year-2012.html" target="_blank">74 films</a>, up from <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2011/12/films-of-year-2011.html" target="_blank">47 in 2011</a>, looked like a tough target to beat – but this year I went to the cinema a staggering 98 times.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, over the last decade I've paid to see 473 films. Blimey. <br />
<br />
According to the wonderful <a href="http://letterboxd.com/copwatcher/year/2013/" target="_blank">Letterboxd</a>, this year's film-going represents 182.6 hours of screen time, an average of 1.9 films a week (and believe me, around 14 this year were rather less than the full integer). This doesn't include the adverts and, for the record, if I never have to see that <b>teeth-gratingly awful</b> <a href="http://youtu.be/Hf1qCAb1FRw" target="_blank">Volkswagon 'Silence of the Lambs' ad </a>ever again, it will still be soon. Seventy four of the films I saw were at my local <a href="http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Stratford_London/" target="_blank">Stratford Picturehous</a>e, which does insist on showing this ad all the time – please, you guys are brilliant, but just stop now.<br />
<br />
In keeping with previous years, I only count <b>actual trips to a cinema</b> - not films on DVD or BluRay - and as usual I've arbitrarily rated the films I've seen. You can find ratings for the last decade <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/search/label/Films%20of%20the%20Year" target="_blank">here</a>. Here's the 2013 list: <br />
<br />
<b>Ratings:</b><br />
<b>5 stars:</b> Unmissable!<br />
<b>4 stars: </b>Definitely worth seeing<br />
<b>3 stars: </b>Decent film<br />
<b>2 stars: </b>Disappointing<br />
<b>1 star: </b>Pants<br />
<b>No stars: </b>Why was this released?<br />
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Impossible (***)</div>
Gangster Squad (**)<br />
Django Unchained (****)<br />
False Trail (***)<br />
<b>Lincoln (*****)</b><br />
Zero Dark Thirty (****)<br />
Beautiful Creatures (**)<br />
Warm Bodies (****)<br />
No (***)<br />
Fire In The Blood (***)<br />
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 3D (*)<br />
Stoker (****)<br />
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House or God (****)<br />
Under the Cranes (**)<br />
Robot & Frank (***)<br />
Welcome to the Punch (***)<br />
Trance (***)<br />
<b>Good Vibrations (*****)</b><br />
Cloud Atlas (****)<br />
Oblivion (***)<br />
The Place Beyond The Pines (***)<br />
Promised Land (***)<br />
Olympus Has Fallen (**)<br />
Iron Man 3 (****)<br />
Byzantium (****)<br />
Best Friends Forever (**)<br />
Star Trek Into Darkness (****)<br />
The Great Gatsby 3D (***)<br />
Mud (****)<br />
The Stone Roses: Made of Stone (****)<br />
The Purge (***)<br />
Village at the End of the World (****)<br />
Behind the Candelabra (****)<br />
The Iceman (***)<br />
Man of Steel (*)<br />
World War Z (***)<br />
Much Ado About Nothing (***)<br />
Now You See Me (***)<br />
The Act of Killing (****)<br />
In The Fog (***)<br />
The Bling Ring (***)<br />
Pacific Rim (***)<br />
The World's End (***)<br />
We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks (***)<br />
Leave to Remain (***)<br />
Wadjda (****)<br />
The Wolverine (***)<br />
<b>Stories We Tell (*****)</b><br />
Only God Forgives (**)<br />
Frances Ha (****)<br />
Before Midnight (***)<br />
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa ((****)<br />
<b>The Night of the Hunter [1955] (*****)</b><br />
Elysium (***)<br />
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (**)<br />
Lovelace (***)<br />
<b>The Kings of Summer (*****)</b><br />
<b>The Way Way Back (*****)</b><br />
Riddick (**)<br />
About Time (**)<br />
Rush (****)<br />
Hawking (****)<br />
InRealLife (***)<br />
<b>What Maisie Knew (*****)</b><br />
Prisoners (****)<br />
<b>Nothing But a Man [1964] (****)</b><br />
In a World... (****)<br />
Blue Jasmine (***)<br />
How I Live Now (***)<br />
Philomena (****)<br />
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors <br />
[<i>part of the London Film Festival</i>] (**)<br />
The Fifth Estate (***)<br />
Kon-Tiki [<i>part of the London Film Festival</i>] (****)<br />
Let The Fire Burn [<i>part of the London Film Festival</i>] (****)<br />
11.6 [<i>part of the London Film Festival</i>] (***)<br />
Trap Street [<i>part of the London Film Festival</i>] (****)<br />
Drones [<i>part of the London Film Festival</i>] (***)<br />
Drinking Buddies [<i>part of the London Film Festival</i>] (**)<br />
Captain Philips (****)<br />
Enders Game (***)<br />
Nosferatu {1922] (***)<br />
Thor: The Dark World (***)<br />
<b>Short Term 12 (*****)</b><br />
Gravity (****)<br />
Filth (***)<br />
The Counsellor (**)<br />
The Butler (**)<br />
Utopia (***)<br />
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (****)<br />
Parkland (***)<br />
Computer Chess (*)<br />
Nebraska (****)<br />
Saving Mr Banks (****)<br />
Inside Llewyn Davis (****)<br />
Kill Your Darlings (***)<br />
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (***)<br />
Blue is the Warmest Colour (***)<br />
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (***) <br />
<br /></div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-25058377140119478232013-12-18T09:29:00.000+00:002013-12-18T09:29:03.610+00:00NMP Olympics Policing Report Highlights Reality of Stop & Search<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This morning, Newham Monitoring Project published a report setting out how it deployed close to a hundred 'community legal observers' (CLOs) during last summer's Olympics and how the experiences of these volunteers can help other organisations, both in the UK and abroad, to consider using a similar community legal observation model in the future. You can download a copy <a href="http://www.nmp.org.uk/2013/12/nmp-publishes-report-on-community-legal.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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I contributed to writing the report and recommend reading the daily 'timeline' appendix summarising some of the feedback from CLOs who were out on the streets. Amongst the stories is one incident, similar to so many others we heard repeatedly during the Olympics, that involved a young Asian man who chose to assert his rights when he was stopped and searched in Stratford. It illustrates how, even when someone is confident and knowledgeable about their rights, this is not enough to prevent a frustrating and intimidating encounter with the police:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
While waiting for my partner at Stratford station, I was approached by three officers yelling 'take your hands out of your pockets'. As they gathered around me, I asked what they wanted and was told they had planned to just ask me some questions but because I was being ‘aggressive’ and ‘anti-police’ they were now going to carry out a stop and search. <br />
<br />
One officer began the search without any explanation, so I asked why they were failing to follow ‘GOWISELY’ (an acronym <a href="http://scontutor.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/sneak-preview-of-sc-resource-centre-post-stop-and-search/" target="_blank">used in police training</a> as a reminder of information officers must provide when they perform a stop and search1). The officer was very unhappy I asked this and after consulting his colleagues, he said I was suspected of placing drugs in my socks. Officers were very rude as they then began the search and asked many questions, which I chose not to answer. They also threatened me with arrest when I refused to provide my name and address.<br />
<br />
My partner arrived as the search was almost completed. As I explained what had happened, one of the officers called out to her: 'does he lie like this to you all the time?' They then said I was free to leave but I reminded them that they had forgotten to offer me a record of the search and I wanted one. The officers kept insisting to my partner 'he is free to go, he is a free man' but she politely said, 'I think he wants his receipt, even if we’re late'. One of the officers then filled in a search record and handed it to me, which said I had been seen pulling up my socks and had appeared agitated around a sniffer dog – which hadn't even arrived until after the search had begun. I immediately challenged the search record and said it was false. One officer again told my partner that I was a liar and walked away to write up his notes. Luckily I had paper and a pen with me and was able to note the officers' badge numbers. I am now pursuing a formal complaint. </blockquote>
What makes this young man different from many of his peers is that he happens to be a caseworker for Newham Monitoring Project and somebody who provides advice and training on police stop and search powers. He also has a law degree, but all the officers saw was a someone young and black, which was enough to make him a suspect.<br />
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As NMP's report notes, "It is hardly surprising that, in similar circumstances, someone who is far less confident about their rights would find those rights are ignored". And in this is the basis for everything we have argued about why the police are still not trusted by young people.<br />
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Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-72262217518495246842013-12-13T10:19:00.001+00:002014-02-04T11:55:35.650+00:00Students Respond To Police Violence With Call For #CopsOffCampus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
These videos provide a good summary of Wednesday's student '<a href="https://copsoffcampusblog.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Cops Off Campus</a>' protest in London against police violence, organised largely through social media.<br />
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Not everyone was convinced it was quite the 'victory for the student movement' that <a href="http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/education/16869-cops-off-campus-cuts-off-campus" target="_blank">some have claimed</a> <br />
<br />
'<a href="http://www.tmponline.org/2013/12/12/cops-off-campus/" target="_blank">The curiously all too quick 'victory' of #copsoffcampus</a>' at The Multicultural Politic<br />
'<a href="http://theaccidentalacnarchist.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/student-demo-a-victory-dont-make-me-laugh-well-played-university-of-london-and-the-metropolitan-police/" target="_blank">Student Demo a victory? Don’t make me laugh</a>' at The Accidental Anarchist<br />
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<b>See also:</b><br />
<br />
Vice - <a href="http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/students-cops-of-campus-two" target="_blank">London students reclaimed their campus yesterday</a><br />
Channel 4 News - <a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/protest-students-london-university-cops-campus" target="_blank">No arrests at #CopsOffCampus student protest</a><br />
indyrikki - <a href="http://indyrikki.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/for-once-a-huge-police-mobilisation-didnt-beat-students-up-copsoffcampus-report/" target="_blank">For once, a huge police mobilisation didn’t beat students up!</a><br />
Manchester Evening News -<a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/30-students-occupy-manchester-university-6397440" target="_blank"> Students occupy Manchester University office in policing protest </a></div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-53873754299237035792013-12-09T11:23:00.002+00:002013-12-10T10:15:57.887+00:00Metropolitan Police Fails to Respond to Seventy Percent of Personal Data Requests<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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More on the magical mystery tour I've embarked upon to prise personal information from the hands of the Metropolitan Police.<br />
<br />
Back in June, I wrote <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2013/06/how-to-find-out-what-secret-police.html" target="_blank">a piece</a> explaining how campaigners, if they believed they may have been targeted for undercover surveillance, could submit a Subject Access Request under data protection legislation to find out what personal details are held about them by the police. My own initial submission to the Metropolitan Police, whose Special Demonstration Squad targeted the Lawrence family, their supporters and police custody death campaigners during the 1990s and who are now responsible for the National Domestic Extremism Unit, apparently went missing but a second request was formally acknowledged on 25 July.<br />
<br />
Five months ago, when I said that despite an entitlement under the Data Protection Act to receive an answer within 40 days, no-one ever receives a response in that time, I had little idea just how prophetic that would prove to be. After chasing the Met's Public Access Office, I finally received a letter from them three months later, on 25 October, which apologised for the delay in responding but gave absolutely no indication when, if ever, it planned to respond to my request. I therefore complained to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), who told me in early November that they had written to the Met asking them to provide me with a full response by 9 December.<br />
<br />
<b>The ICO's deadline is today. It has been 138 days since the Metropolitan Police received my request for personal data, it has </b><b><b>still </b> failed to respond despite repeated prompting and now it has ignored the independent regulator set up to promote openness by public bodies.</b><br />
<br />
Curious to discover whether police resistance to providing the data it holds about me is less wilful non-compliance and more staggering incompetence, I also submitted <a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/dpa_subject_access_requests_from#outgoing-311537" target="_blank">a Freedom of Information request </a>asking for the number of Subject Access Requests received by the Metropolitan Police during the six months from 1 April 2013 to 30 September 2013 and how many were completed within the 40 calendar day limit. Remarkably, the Met <a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/dpa_subject_access_requests_from#incoming-457405" target="_blank">replied last week</a> refusing, initially, to answer these simple questions on the grounds of cost, because I had asked for the number of <u>successfully completed</u> requests. It claims it has no internal systems in place to monitor this and insisted it would need to check each of the 480 submitted in the six month time period that were simply completed. Eventually, however, the Met <a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/dpa_subject_access_requests_from#incoming-457823" target="_blank">did manage to admit</a> that it received 1600 requests between April and September this year.<br />
<br />
<b>So now I know my request is one of the staggering 70% (1120 out of 1600¹) that the Metropolitan Police has failed to respond to within the required 40 days during the six months from April.</b><br />
<br />
This degree of repeated failure to provide adequate public transparency by any public body is shocking but to put it into some context, it's worth remembering that for the first three months of the period from April, <a href="http://www.ico.org.uk/news/latest_news/2013/three-authorities-being-monitored-over-foi-responses-30042013" target="_blank">the ICO said it was monitoring the Met</a> over concerns about its timeliness.<br />
<br />
I have now asked the ICO to again intervene on my behalf but, when it is evident that the Metropolitan Police is neither transparent or accountable on the personal data it holds, the time has surely come for the Information Commissioner to begin regulatory enforcement action.<br />
<i><br />
</i> <i><b>The Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) </b>has produced a detailed guide to writing and submitting Subject Access Requests to check what information is held by the National Domestic Extremism Unit. It is available to <a href="http://netpol.org/2013/11/21/subject-acccess-requests/">download</a> or online <a href="http://netpol.org/campaigns/dont-be-on-a-database/subject-access-requests-an-introduction/">here</a>.</i><br />
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<hr />
<b>Note</b><br />
¹ This includes any Subject Access requests received by the Met right up to 30 September: my FoI request was made exactly 40 days after that date.<br />
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Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-69210613004896502942013-11-24T09:38:00.000+00:002013-11-24T09:38:02.614+00:00The Problem is Civil Obedience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is terrific - Matt Damon, a lifelong friend of the American historian and activist Howard Zinn, who died in January 2010, reads excerpts from a <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36950.htm">speech Zinn gave in 1970</a> as part of a debate on civil disobedience.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And our topic is topsy-turvy: civil disobedience. As soon as you say the topic is civil disobedience, you are saying our problem is civil disobedience. That is not our problem.... Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is the numbers of people all over the world who have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience.</blockquote>
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Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-62708572659152951062013-10-21T18:50:00.000+01:002013-10-21T18:50:22.108+01:00Spies in Blue Bibs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>This is a comment piece I wrote for the<a href="http://netpol.org/2013/10/21/spies-in-blue-bibs/" target="_blank"> Network for Police Monitoring</a></b><br />
<br />
Are Police Liaison Officers – suspiciously friendly in their pale blue bibs and now commonplace at marches and demonstrations – really deployed simply to ‘facilitate protest’ and ‘ensure there are no surprises’, or is their role rather more duplicitous? For some time, campaigners from groups involved in the Network for Police Monitoring (NetPol) have suspected there is more to these officers, created in response to severe criticism by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary’s ‘Adapting to Protest’ report of intelligence gathering at the 2009 G20 protests, than their public image suggests.<br />
<br />
In March this year, NetPol <a href="http://netpol.org/2013/03/13/police-liaison-officers-intelligence-gathering-self-policing-and-the-dangers-of-talking-to-the-police/" title="Police Liaison Officers – Intelligence gathering, self-policing and the dangers of talking to the police">highlighted</a> how Chief Inspector Sonia Davis, head of the Police Liaison Teams (PLT) unit in the Metropolitan Police, gave evidence as a prosecution witness in the trial of Critical Mass cyclists arrested on the evening of the Olympics opening ceremony. Under cross examination, Davis admitted that PLTs gather information on protesters and had even been covertly deployed at previous Critical Mass rides to try to identify ‘leaders’. This might sound a lot like intelligence gathering to most people, although Davis and other senior officers deny this. However, the standard operating procedures for the deployment of Police Liaison Officers had never been made available. Without greater transparency, it was difficult to been difficult to see whether the Met’s claims were truthful.<br />
<br />
In early July, NetPol was approached by a constable from the Met’s Gateway Team, who coordinate and train Police Liaison Officers. He had read NetPol’s concerns about the Critical Mass court case on our website and, in the suspiciously friendly way we have come to expect, invited NetPol to participate in forthcoming PLT training, saying this would “offer a real insight into how we deploy Police Liaison Teams and may go some way to alleviating your concerns”. Collectively, NetPol members decided to politely decline, but asked for copies of the training materials and other policies and procedures that might provide some genuine insight without participating in what felt like a public relations exercise.<br />
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Incredibly, the officer told us the only way we could access information inevitably available at training sessions we had been invited to attend was through a Freedom of Information Act request. So in late July, <a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/role_of_police_liaison_officers" target="_blank" title="Met Police Liaison Officers Freedom of Information request">we submitted one</a>.<br />
<br />
In August, the Met provided a surprisingly detailed response <a href="http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/sep/uk-protest-plos.html" target="_blank" title="Statewatch | Police Liaison Officers">(summarised here by Statewatch</a>). Amongst the training materials released was a presentation on Protester Tactics that contains a hugely disingenuous definition of people involved in protest: we know that the national domestic extremism database contains information on a far wider range of people than those described here as ‘extremists’:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIXX5eRysdZ4Wnz5HEIrZCeRCFj7r3QV0r2yWaJPvo085jx5_zC0nqTlir_13rd1hT_YjaRONvnHSZoR2u9pFIkF8PazSVd8NFMNk1XqV6FEPswS24aBHkgbpEIMHJs777RjP0m6K9jdBd/s1600/Protester+tactics+image.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIXX5eRysdZ4Wnz5HEIrZCeRCFj7r3QV0r2yWaJPvo085jx5_zC0nqTlir_13rd1hT_YjaRONvnHSZoR2u9pFIkF8PazSVd8NFMNk1XqV6FEPswS24aBHkgbpEIMHJs777RjP0m6K9jdBd/s400/Protester+tactics+image.png" width="520" /></a></div>
Indeed, with recent demonstrations like the Tower Hamlets anti-EDL protest in September facing such intense restrictions that the Met has, for all intents and purposes, itself become an events organiser, this is probably far closer to the truth:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0o_gf-DBB4EFxDROt85coSDdUs1HBxk4Q7R3NHdGHNb1-jd-I3cbWmw6W2tClbFMndDdwfY7Ip1PLZfi60aGvkJFTMsOa9R85CF3cCVHR6DWrJc2CI1LVEPEjH1-LsifN7KVhQPGFEvk/s1600/Alternate+pyramid+diagram.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0o_gf-DBB4EFxDROt85coSDdUs1HBxk4Q7R3NHdGHNb1-jd-I3cbWmw6W2tClbFMndDdwfY7Ip1PLZfi60aGvkJFTMsOa9R85CF3cCVHR6DWrJc2CI1LVEPEjH1-LsifN7KVhQPGFEvk/s320/Alternate+pyramid+diagram.png" width="320" /></a></div>
The document released by the Met on <a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/170321/response/422052/attach/5/BLOWE%20Crowd%20Psychology%20and%20Communication%20v1%201.pdf.pdf" target="_blank" title="Presentation - Crowd Psychology and Communications">Crowd Psychology</a> (PDF) is also interesting: it’s acknowledgement that crowds have “multiple and separate psychological groups” that “will not always be influenced towards violence by other groups in the crowd” is at odds with the <a href="http://netpol.org/2013/09/09/mass-arrest-an-abuse-of-power/" target="_blank" title="Mass arrest – an abuse of power">Met’s use of mass arrests</a> to sweep up and arrest protesters, the vast majority of whom later face no further action (as we have seen with cases from 145 arrests of UK Uncut activists at Fortnum & Mason in March 2011 to the 286 arrests of anti-fascists in Tower Hamlets in September 2013). In both cases, the claimed aim of PLTs to “differentiate between groups in the crowd, particularly when using force” seems to come a distant second to intelligence gathering. In the case of direct action at Fortnum & Mason, the then Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmhaff/uc917-i/uc91701.htm" target="_blank" title="Uncorrected Transcript - Policing of TUC March on 26 March 2011">admitted to the Home Affairs Select Committee</a> that “the fact that we arrested as many people as we did is so important to us because that obviously gives us some really important intelligence opportunities”.<br />
<br />
Most revealing are the<a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/170321/response/422052/attach/19/BLOWE%20SOP.doc.pdf" target="_blank" title="Standard Operating Procedure for the Operational Deployment of Protestor Liaison Teams (PLTs) in the MPS"> Standard Operating Procedures</a> (PDF), which specifically address the intelligence, acknowledging that “any suggestion that PLT’s are intended to be ‘intelligence gatherers’ is likely to undermine efforts to build trust and confidence amongst protest groups and individuals”. However, it goes on to say:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“recent experience does tell us that PLT’s do gather accurate intelligence in the normal course of their duties. This is mainly because, pre and post event they are engaging with protest groups and do elicit information in the course of these duties which could be regarded as intelligence . This could include : numbers attending, start and finish times, route, intentions of the group, others groups likely to associate themselves with the event, persons likely to attend, etc . Similarly, on the day of the event, the PLT’s are likely to be working inside or around the group in question and, as a result, <b>are likely to generate high-quality intelligence from the discussions they are having with group members [emphasis added]</b>.”</blockquote>
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It adds that “<b>all PLT officers must ensure all intelligence is recorded on Crimint</b>” (a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimint" target="_blank" title="Wikipedia | Crimint">criminal intelligence database</a>) and all intelligence obtained during an event “is passed to Bronze Intelligence for analysis and dissemination to Silver and the rest of the Command Team (in the same way as any other intelligence)”. The document goes on to describe the deployment of PLTs as a “tactical option” to deal with identified ‘threats’ to an event, an alternative to deploying Forward Intelligence Team (FIT) spotters and photographers that is the “least intrusive” option.<br />
<br />
This confirms what we have suspected for some time: Police Liaison Officers do have an intelligence gathering role and, in certain circumstances, this may become their main role. This means that if individual protesters chat to them, details of a conversation may end up on a Metropolitan Police database.<br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE</b><br />
<br />
One a final note, at least the Met provided the information we asked for. A <a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/role_of_police_liaison_officers_2" target="_blank" title="Sussex Police | Role of Police Liaison Officers">similar request to Sussex Police</a> was refused. Despite the extensive use of PLTs at anti-fracking demonstrations in Balcombe and anti-fascist protests in Brighton, the force claims it has no agreed, formal policies, operational documents or standard operating procedures – a claim that lacks any credibility. Even if it is using national guidance produced by the College of Policing, Sussex Police is legally obliged to release this: the Freedom of Information Act covers information held by a public authority, not just data it creates or owns. Unfortunately, a similarly opaque response has been given by Thames Valley Police. NetPol is looking at taking this further with the Information Commissioner.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, NetPol is currently awaiting the outcome of <a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/guidance_on_police_liaison_offic" target="_blank" title="College of Policing | Guidance on Police Liaison Officers">an FoI request to the College of Policing</a>, which is due in early November.<br />
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Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-7683347817995019792013-10-08T19:03:00.002+01:002013-10-08T19:03:55.321+01:00Resisting Police Surveillance - An Overview<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b>This is an unedited version of an article I wrote that appears under the title "Keeping an eye on us" in the current issue of <a href="http://www.redpepper.org.uk/" target="_blank">Red Pepper</a> magazine. It aims to give an overview of the complex issue of police surveillance and undercover spies.</b></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbN5W-GRQNHJ8O258pGa5Z_JWCuJWHoPjTGlmXby4Mc6wIragFcAQxpO2k5b4jdXi1Y9K6d5XmlbKbx_SaLiAYCNO7QI_HbMhYdHe5kMH9dtjOg-21mgZRbUqYpT3tmZ2YBvzuePMPcIKH/s1600/FIT-UKuncut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbN5W-GRQNHJ8O258pGa5Z_JWCuJWHoPjTGlmXby4Mc6wIragFcAQxpO2k5b4jdXi1Y9K6d5XmlbKbx_SaLiAYCNO7QI_HbMhYdHe5kMH9dtjOg-21mgZRbUqYpT3tmZ2YBvzuePMPcIKH/s640/FIT-UKuncut.jpg" width="520" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Surveillance officers at Kings Cross station for UKUncut protest, April 2012 [Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/copwatcher/8657743187/" target="_blank">Copwatcher on Flickr</a>]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The existence of a secret Special Branch unit that had infiltrated and gathered intelligence on political groups has been known for some time: the journalist Peter Taylor <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/23/ukcrime.immigrationpolicy" target="_blank">spoke to</a> a number of anonymous former members of the Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) from the 1970s and 1980s for his television series 'True Spies' as far back as 2002. <br />
<br />
However, the unmasking in October 2010 of police officer Mark Kennedy, who had worked undercover for seven years in the environmental protest movement, was unique. For the first time, a police spy had been publicly named and it led to further revelations about other undercover officers, including <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jan/19/undercover-police-officer-lynn-watson" target="_blank">'Lynn Watson</a>' in Leeds, '<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jan/19/undercover-police-officer-mark-jacobs" target="_blank">Marco / Mark Jacobs</a>' in Cardiff and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jan/19/wife-fourth-police-spy-children" target="_blank">PC Andrew 'Jim' Boyling</a> inside the roads protest group Reclaim The Streets in London. It has also triggered an internal Metropolitan police review led by the chief constable of Derbyshire, Mick Creedon, and a two year investigation by Guardian journalists Paul Lewis and Rob Evans, which has so far identified 12 police spies inside different protest movements. The publication in June this year of their book, “Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police”, with an accompanying Channel 4 Dispatches programme, has reignited public and media interest in the conduct of these officers and the lack of accountability of undercover police operations.<br />
<br />
Unravelling the secret identities of men like Mark Kennedy has revealed genuine individual suffering that has resulted from their lies and deception, including the cynical sexual abuse of women activists, who have <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/undercover-with-paul-lewis-and-rob-evans/2011/dec/16/legal-action-over-police-spies" target="_blank">begun legal action</a> against five officers, and the blacklisting of workers in the construction industry based on information passed to private companies by the police. However, much of the headline-catching and often shocking information from former Special Demonstration Squad officer Peter Francis, the Guardian's whistleblower who is central to Lewis and Evans' book, focuses on the period from the late 1980s to 2000 when Francis was working undercover. His exposures include the key role of one former SDS officer Bob Lambert, now an academic at the University of St Andrews, in co-authoring the London Greenpeace leaflet that led to the infamous McLibel defamations trial in 1994. Francis has also revealed the targeting of the family of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence and of anti-racist and black justice campaigns throughout the 1990s, including one, the Newham Monitoring Project in east London, that I was active in at the time.<br />
<br />
However, keeping the spotlight on activities involving the now-disbanded SDS during the 1990s has, to some extent, allowed the Metropolitan Police to try and distance itself from what it is portraying as 'historical allegations' that are hard to investigate: in <a href="http://content.met.police.uk/News/Commissioner-statement-following-allegations-about-undercover-officers/1400018214005/1257246745756" target="_blank">a statement</a>, Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said, “finding out the truth about what happened 20 years ago is not a straightforward task”. Although the surveillance of the Lawrence family in particular is embarrassing for the Met, it has distracted attention away from undercover officers like Kennedy, Watson and Jacobs, who were active much later, during the last decade. <br />
<br />
Until they were uncovered in 2010, all were part of a different and far bigger operation than the London-centred SDS, called the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), which operated undercover throughout England and Wales. Until 2010, when it came under the command of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, the unit was based within the Association of Chief Police Officers, a private company, which meant that it was largely exempt from any public scrutiny. As recently as 2009, Mark Kennedy's activities for NPOIU led to the arrest of 114 climate activists in Nottingham for conspiring to shut down a coal-fired power station and came close to creating a serious miscarriage of justice: evidence he had gathered that exonerated many of the arrested activists was not disclosed to the defence at their trial and 20 people were <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/14/ratcliffe-coal-station-activists" target="_blank">convicted of conspiracy</a>. These convictions were only quashed when the case against six others collapsed after Kennedy has been exposed.<br />
<br />
Units like NPOIU that were created in the late 1990s represented an expansion in tactics by the police. The last decade has seen a significant shift towards gathering vast quantities of intelligence data and sifting it for patterns and connections to predict how individuals and groups will act, the basis for the National Intelligence Model originally developed in 2000 for tackling serious organised crime. The same approach has been adopted wholesale by officers monitoring protest movements and the result is that, with little democratic debate or accountability, large numbers of people who have been engaged in legitimate campaigning, many with no criminal records, are now on secret police databases for opinions or activities (like non-violent civil disobedience) that were once seen as “normal” in a free society. A <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/25/undercover-police-domestic-extremism-unit" target="_blank">recent estimate</a> suggests there could be as many as 9000.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0pLQ9eloyM4WwU8mpc0Tgq3MIbvfuHK7eNzfiWynZpai1mc93ol3SPqoMhWtx__pn8n__aK8kmAgyY1YBy8DyUjPGdym-aYkqFI95yE0bDSEI4lCW9lTTXxNeQ5-okxR9MIACcjKpuU-r/s1600/IMG_0554.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0pLQ9eloyM4WwU8mpc0Tgq3MIbvfuHK7eNzfiWynZpai1mc93ol3SPqoMhWtx__pn8n__aK8kmAgyY1YBy8DyUjPGdym-aYkqFI95yE0bDSEI4lCW9lTTXxNeQ5-okxR9MIACcjKpuU-r/s640/IMG_0554.JPG" width="520" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Police Liaison Officers at the anti-EDL protest in Tower Hamlets in September [Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/copwatcher/9703026756/" target="_blank">Copwatcher on Flickr</a>]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Whilst there are almost certainly still undercover officers at work, collecting data on an industrial scale involves more visible and far more invasive methods. Forward Intelligence Team (FIT) police photographers target 'persons of interest' at protests. Officers make widespread use of stop and search powers, as was evident at the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/8488613.stm" target="_blank">Climate Camp at Kingsnorth in 2008</a>, or refuse to allow demonstrations to leave a police 'kettle' until they provide their names and addresses. It can even mean mass arrests as a form of intelligence-gathering, which according to <a href="http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/04/08/police-admit-ukuncut-arrests-made-for-intelligence-gathering/" target="_blank">testimony given in Parliament</a> by Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens, seems to have been the main reason for the detention of UKUncut activists who briefly occupied the Fortnum and Mason store in London in March 2011. A <a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/role_of_police_liaison_officers#incoming-422052" target="_blank">recent Freedom of Information request </a>about Police Liaison Officers, the officers in blue bibs who have appeared at demonstrations since 2009 and whose role is supposedly facilitating protest and improving communication, has confirmed that they are "likely to generate high-quality intelligence from the discussions they are having with group members" and “must ensure all intelligence is recorded on Crimint" [a Met police database]. During the trial of a number of cyclists arrested at a Critical Mass on the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympics last year, a <a href="http://netpol.org/2013/03/13/police-liaison-officers-intelligence-gathering-self-policing-and-the-dangers-of-talking-to-the-police/" target="_blank">senior officer revealed</a> that at least six Police Liaison Officers had attended the previous Critical Mass in plain clothes and on bikes to 'identify organisers'.<br />
<br />
Coupled with the <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/26/socmint" target="_blank">use of technology to monitor social media</a> by the successor to the NPOIU, the National Domestic Extremism Unit, the police are aiming to build a detailed picture of individuals that involves far more than investigating and prosecuting offences. According to Val Swain of the <a href="http://netpol.org/" target="_blank">Network for Police Monitoring (NetPol)</a>, which brings together a number of groups concerned about the rising level of protest surveillance, “while ostensibly acting against criminality, intelligence-led policing of protest has the potential to disrupt and deter the act of protest itself”. Put simply, its origins in tackling organised crime mean it is almost designed to frighten people into avoiding the exercise of their right to protest and worse, says Swain, it operates “away from the scrutiny of the criminal justice system, there are no checks and balances, no public visibility, and no effective accountability”. NetPol argues that it is this lack of accountability that protected undercover officers like Mark Kennedy for so many years and ensures that almost anyone can be treated as a potential criminal if they participate in many forms of protest. It is calling for the abolition of the National Domestic Extremism Unit saying, “we do not accept that the case has been made for the necessity of continuing the activity of a unit that has been associated with unethical and possibly unlawful behaviour, nor any other that specialises in the surveillance of dissent”.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZAhFz9Zk_2gCQvPvaVg5pvlVAAhlNVxejLu7mwtOATQaXYPiufYfxeBWiYvOzDDK8iaduydoHED1FmGy7_o5_i80PX1Ackrp2zpnPra4X1grzX-0Z8L2WtXyWXm1b6wBpxAdoIrNt1rq8/s1600/100_2862.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZAhFz9Zk_2gCQvPvaVg5pvlVAAhlNVxejLu7mwtOATQaXYPiufYfxeBWiYvOzDDK8iaduydoHED1FmGy7_o5_i80PX1Ackrp2zpnPra4X1grzX-0Z8L2WtXyWXm1b6wBpxAdoIrNt1rq8/s640/100_2862.JPG" width="520" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FIT photographer at Occupy's 'Meet The 1%' protest, May 2012 [Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/copwatcher/7182879638/" target="_blank">Copwatcher on Flickr</a>]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>But while the surveillance of protest continues, what can individuals do to protect themselves? There are some simple steps: avoid talking to Police Liaison Officers, for example, would seem sensible considering what we now know about their intelligence role. The campaigners from FITwatch <a href="http://www.fitwatch.org.uk/2012/10/16/stay-safe-stay-anonymous-2-masking-up/" target="_blank">recommend</a> using face coverings to ensure police Forward Intelligence Team officers cannot photograph you: masks are always legal to wear, although in certain circumstances a police officer may arrest you if you refuse to remove one. It is probably a good idea too to avoid carrying a mobile phone with every personal contact you have if there is a possibility that you may be arrested. NetPol is also arguing that protesters should avoid agreeing to leave a police 'kettle' in exchange for providing personal details to officers, particularly now that <a href="http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/media/judgments/2013/susannah-mengesha-commissioner-police-metropolis-judgment-18062013" target="_blank">the High Court has ruled</a> that it is “not lawful for the police to maintain the containment for the purposes of obtaining identification, whether by questioning or by filming [and] not lawful to require identification to be given and submission to filming as the price for release.” <br />
<br />
It is important to remember, more than anything, that almost every effort to gather more and more intelligence on protesters has been successfully resisted by activists and their lawyers. Meanwhile, if you want to find out what data the police already hold on you, consider making a Data Protection Act subject access request to find out if you are on the “domestic extremist” database. Guidance on how to do so is available from <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/apr/11/domestic-extremist-police-databases" target="_blank">Guardian </a>or here at <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2013/06/how-to-find-out-what-secret-police.html" target="_blank">Random Blowe</a>.</div>Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-68095059110091638902013-09-01T18:35:00.001+01:002013-09-01T18:35:56.720+01:00Photos From Yesterday's Stop The War Coalition Protest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yesterday afternoon, I ambled into central London to take some pictures of the small Stop The War Coaition (StWC) demonstration billed as a 'victory march' after Thursday's <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2013/aug/29/mps-debate-syria-live-blog" target="_blank">House of Commons vote</a> blocking British involvement in military intervention in Syria.<br />
<br />
The vote may well have been, as StWC's <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/31/syria-vote-corner-turned" target="_blank">Andrew Murray puts it</a>, "a vindication of the mass anti-war movement in this country over the last decade", but the march was a pale imitation of the protests from a decade ago: a couple of thousand people at most, mainly the usual subjects from the far left and from CND. Within a smaller crowd, it was considerably easier to spot the people who refuse to accept that, whilst bombing Syria will make a bad situation worse, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/31/syria-assad-war-criminal" target="_blank">Syria President Bashir Al-Assad is still a war criminal</a>.<br />
<br />
Anyway, here are a few photos: there are more <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/copwatcher/sets/72157635310358871/" target="_blank">on Flickr</a>.<br />
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Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-52494497111283221632013-08-07T20:58:00.000+01:002013-08-07T20:58:01.182+01:00Welcome To Zero-Hours-Tolerant Newham<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the wake of the<a href="http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2013/08/05/one-million-workers-on-zero-hours-contracts-finds-cipd-study.aspx" target="_blank"> CIPD report</a> this week suggesting that up to one million workers in the UK are on zero hours contracts – where an employee is expected to be on-call and is paid only for hours worked – the discovery that Newham council uses them has been highlighted on <a href="http://newhamnettles.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Mike Law's blog</a> but hasn't yet made it into the <i>Newham Recorder</i>. The paper should probably pay more attention. This is a story that has the potential to deeply embarrass not only Newham Labour's council leadership but the national Labour Party too.<br />
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The Freedom of Information (FoI) request that reveals the number of staff on zero-hour contracts is buried deep within the <a href="http://www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/Freedom-of-Information-disclosure-log.aspx" target="_blank">FoI Disclosure logs on the council's website</a>. So that others don't have to search for it, enquiry number 15701 on page 48 of the 228-page log for May 2013 says the following:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Subject: Zero Hour Contracts</b><br />
<br />
I would like to know <br />
<br />
(a) How many workers employed by the council are employed through zero hours contracts.<br />
<br />
- I’d like figures in the financial year ending 2012-13 and <br />
- for the financial year ending 2009-10<br />
<br />
(b) For both years, I’d like a breakdown of workers employed in this way:<br />
i – Directly through the council<br />
ii – By private companies operating on council contracts<br />
<br />
c) What percentage the figure is for each year of total council employees </blockquote>
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The council's response was as follows:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
1. A total of 1060 workers were employed by Newham Council through zero hour contracts during 2012/2013. This represented 7.6% of all of our employees as of the 31st March 2013. These are sessional workers, or casual staff who work on an as-and-when basis. They work largely in schools and community centres delivering advice sessions, tuition and sports coaching. <br />
<br />
These sessional workers are not subject to a ‘mutuality of obligation’. That means they do not have to work when asked, nor are we obliged to ask them to work. All other employees are required to work to contract and we are obliged to provide them with their contracted hours.<br />
<br />
A total of 1044 workers were employed in the same way through zero hour contracts during 2009/2010. This represented 7.6% of all employees as of 31st March 2010.<br />
<br />
2. All of the employees holding zero hour contracts were employed directly through the Council. It is not possible for us to determine whether or not any of the private companies operating on council contracts during the periods given employed any staff on zero hours contracts.<br />
<br />
3. As of 31st March 2013, 7.6% of all employees were on zero hour contracts.<br />
As of 31st March 2010, 7.6% of all employees were on zero hour contracts.</blockquote>
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Zero-hour contracts are the classic example of McJobs – it's no shock that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/05/mcdonalds-workers-zero-hour-contracts" target="_blank">90% of McDonalds staff</a> are on them. Not everyone thinks they are a bad thing – the almost comically blue-blooded Etonian Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, a man who married an heiress, took his nanny with him when out canvassing and will never, ever experience what Jarvis Cocker called a life “with no meaning or control”, thinks zero-hour contracts are <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10225661/Zero-hours-contracts-why-do-Lefties-always-think-they-know-best.html" target="_blank">great for business</a>. However, people I know who have been on them describe this type of contract making their lives more precarious – slashing their previously regular wages when introduced (by as much as 50%) and often leading to dismissal when their period of employment might lead to some actual rights (usually close the two-year mark). Equally, Newham council may talk about ‘mutuality of obligation’ and that workers are not forced to work when asked, but the experience of people I've spoken to (who mainly work in home care) is that refusing to accept on-call hours when asked means an employer stops ringing: you card is marked as 'unreliable'. This places enormous pressure to accept any hours, no matter how inconvenient, which makes the idea of having anything like 'quality time' equally precarious.<br />
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What makes the discovery that a significant number of Newham council staff – around one in every thirteen workers – are on zero-hour contracts so politically damaging for Labour is not just the decision of its leader Ed Miliband to highlight how “for too many people in Britain, the workplace is nasty, brutish and unfair” and to specifically condemn “the exploitation of zero hours contracts to keep people insecure” and .”using agency workers to unfairly avoid giving people the pay and conditions offered to permanent staff”. It's that this <a href="http://labourlist.org/2013/06/full-text-ed-miliband-speech-a-one-nation-plan-for-social-security-reform/" target="_blank">keynote 'One Nation' speech</a> was made at Newham Dockside, the home of the zero-hours-tolerant Newham council. <br />
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It's damaging too because a statement that I wholeheartedly agree with by Dave Prentis, General Secretary of local government union UNISON, said:“the vast majority of workers are only on these contracts because they have no choice. They may give flexibility to a few, but the balance of power favours the employers and makes it hard for workers to complain”. Yet one Unison National Executive Committee member, John Gray. cannot possibly support his General Secretary without facing accusations of hypocrisy, because he is a Labour councillor in zero-hours-tolerant Newham council. <br />
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And it's damaging for precisely the reasons Mike Law has highlighted – that not one of the prospective Labour candidates standing for zero-hours-tolerant Newham council has had a single word to say on this issue.<br />
<br />
Opposition to zero-hours contracts is apparently Labour Party policy. So will the party's 100% majority of local councillors - and the candidates who face inevitable election in 2014 - make a start on their leader's concerns about "our responsibilities to each other" by taking a stand in their own borough?<br />
<br /></div>
Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00003057501738525190noreply@blogger.com1