Support a judge! (yes, really)

Not the sort of thing I'd usually say. But strange times...

After the historic victory of the EDO Decommissioners (http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=3673) earlier this month, the judge in the case, Judge George Bathurst-Norman, has become subject of a concerted campaign of smears and defamation by a number of right-wing columnists, the Zionist Federation, and the Board of Deputies of British Jews on grounds that his summary of the evidence was 'anti-semitic'.

The Office of Judicial Complaints (OJC) has as a result opened an investigation into Judge Bathurst Normans handling of the case.

Although we don't normally find ourselves sticking up for judges we find the charge of anti-semitism a grossly cynical attempt to undermine the significance of these acquittals of pro-Palestinian activists on evidence of Israeli war crimes that was for the most part agreed by the Crown Prosecution Service.

There is nothing anti-semitic in putting agreed evidence of Israeli war crimes to a jury.

You can express your concern about this investigation by sending an email to the Office Judicial Complaints, marking your email 'Bathurst Norman'.

customer@ojc.gsi.gov.uk

A full transcript of the Judge's summary of the evidence has been published by the Jewish Chronicle (strange times indeed!) here.

Weird things to be happy about

There's something wrong, and yet very right, about being cheered up by people's amazing strength and cheerfulness in response to horrible things happening to them. Fr'instance, there's Emily Henochowicz, the 21-year-old Jewish-American activist who had her eye smashed out by an Israeli high-velocity tear gas canister at a peaceful West Bank demonstration only a few weeks ago. One of her reactions to losing an eye, something which as an artist can't be great news, is to design a really fucking cool pair of glasses, with a beautiful pattern half-covering one eye socket. There's a picture of them on her blog here.
And then there's Tristan Anderson, who was also hit in the face by a high-velocity tear gas canister fired by an Israeli soldier against peaceful protesters (spot a pattern here?). Despite spending the first six months after the incident in what was often described as a coma but which was something which I guess to most of us would look similar, Tristan is now in a wheelchair, able to speak and function in many ways, although severely constrained in others. He's back in the USA and at a rehab centre, which is probably more than many of us who were following his situation from afar ever thought would be possible (and is of course very far from what most Palestinians who suffer similar injuries would ever be able to access). A Q&A on his progress is here.

On a completely different subject, this neat little site gives an easily digested run-through of why all the Tory cuts which are currently cutting a swathe through public sector and probably third sector employment in this country, as well as many not-as-useless-as-they-might-make-out services, are ill-conceived, economically damaging and hypocritically and ideologically selective.

Tom Hurndall killer released

Anyone familiar with Israeli concepts of justice will be depressed but unsurprised to hear - from a report in Ha'aretz earlier this week - that the soldier who shot peace activist and former MMU student Tom Hurndall is to be released before his sentence is up. Taysir Heib was sentenced to eight years in jail for manslaughter in 2005, so he has been released 3 years early, on the orders of an Army committee acting against official legal positions. The Israeli military's culture of impunity strikes again.
It's rare for Israeli soldiers to be prosecuted or even disciplined for killing or wounding unarmed people, even in the very few cases when those killed are international activists, rather than Palestinians. This week a not-atypical sequence of stories appeared in Ha'aretz, an earlier one stating that a Palestinian shot dead while trying to break into the Barkan settlement in the West Bank was "apparently armed," while an update today revealed that a preliminary enquiry showed that actually, he was unarmed. Guess which version will get quoted by Israel's supporters, and which will vanish down the memory hole? I can't give a link to the second version as it only appeared on the 'breaking news' feed. Will it even get a full story?
It is likely that one of the reasons that a soldier was even convicted for Tom Hurndall's death is that the man who fired the shot was Bedouin, and therefore subject to routine racism in Israeli society anyway.
The Hurndall family have expressed their anger and distress at the move, which they heard about from the British FCO, not the Israelis, but Tom Hurndall's sister commented that it was the Israeli system they were concerned about, not the fate of an individual soldier who they extended compassion to. The family have previously been openly critical about the lack of support they received from 'Middle East Peace Envoy' (WTF? I mean, really) Tony Blair while he was still Prime Minister.

The Daily Mail Song

Paintballs or pepperspray?

I was bcc'd into this email last night, from a friend who is well-versed in the dubious delights of military and 'security' technologies to Jon Snow of Channel 4 news. They raise this point about the bizarre-sounding Israeli claims that some of their commandos were armed with 'paintball guns' (presumably not those who were armed with live ammo):

Hi Jon
I've just watched your interview with an Israeli spokesman (who didn't believe your assertion that Turkey was considering sending a warship to protect a further aid boat wishing to dock in Gaza).
Can I suggest that you investigate whether those paint guns much mentioned in the piece were actually going to be firing pepper spray? I'm told that these weapons are used by Israel, sold to them by the US. This would of course also explain why the Israelis were wearing what look like gas masks rather than some form of goggles to protect them from paint spatter.
For example see www.pepperball.com (you may not see the exact model here, but you will see what is on the market).
Best wishes

The deeply unpleasant military-spec page on pepperball.com is here. The 'law enforcement and corrections' page has some stuff that looks even more like paintball toys.
Which would perhaps also account for the 'strange-smelling gas' that some of the passengers on the attacked boats reported?

Nick Clegg on Gaza

On Tuesday 22nd December last year - 2009 - Nick Clegg wrote on the Guardian's Comment is Free website that:

What is less well-known [than the December 2008/January 2009 invasion] is the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The legacy of Operation Cast Lead is a living nightmare for one and a half million Palestinians squeezed into one of the most overcrowded and wretched stretches of land on the planet. And as Israel and Egypt maintain a near total blockade against Gaza, the misery deepens by the day.
This is not only shocking in humanitarian terms. It is not in Israel's or Egypt's interest, either. Confining people in abject poverty in a tiny slice of territory is a recipe for continued bitterness, fury and radicalism.
And what has the British government and the international community done to lift the blockade? Next to nothing. Tough-sounding declarations are issued at regular intervals but little real pressure is applied. It is a scandal that the international community has sat on its hands in the face of this unfolding crisis.
No doubt the febrile sensitivities of the Middle East have deterred governments, caught between recriminations from both sides. No doubt diplomats have warned that exerting pressure on Israel and Egypt may complicate the peace process.
But surely the consequences of not lifting the blockade are far more grave? How is the peace process served by sickness, mortality rates, mental trauma and malnutrition increasing in Gaza? Is it not in Israel's enlightened self-interest to relieve the humanitarian suffering?
The peace process is in serious trouble right now. Internal Israeli politics limits any meaningful room for manoeuvre, illegal settlement activity in the West Bank continues, and leadership of the Palestinians is divided and incoherent. A two-state solution, long the accepted bedrock of any agreement, is being openly questioned
But paralysis in the peace process cannot be an excuse for the inhumane treatment of one and a half million people, the majority of them under 18 years old. No peaceful coexistence of any kind is possible as long as this act of collective confinement continues.
According to a recently leaked report by the UN office of the humanitarian co-ordinator, Gaza is undergoing "a process of de-development, which potentially could lead to the complete breakdown of public infrastructure". A report released today by a group of 16 humanitarian and human rights groups further spells out the effects.
Family homes destroyed in the invasion lie as shattered as ever. The embargo on construction materials means they will stay that way. Local hospitals and clinics were left devastated by the invasion, and those suffering health problems wait longer than ever to get out of Gaza for treatment. Many have died waiting. Bed-wetting and nightmares are endemic among children.
Half of those under 30 are unemployed. These young people are trapped in a broken land with little hope of economic opportunity. The blockade's restrictions on Gaza's fishermen mean they can sail only three nautical miles from the coast, impoverishing their families. Meanwhile, 80m litres of raw and partially treated sewage is pumped out into the sea every day.
Most disturbingly of all, the lack of access to materials means that basic water infrastructure simply cannot be repaired or improved; 90 to 95% of Gaza's water fails to meet WHO standards. The extremely high nitrate level in the water supply is leaving thousands of newborn babies at risk of poisoning.
The insistence by some that aid should come into no contact whatsoever, even indirectly, with Hamas means NGOs are prevented from repairing basic water and sanitation facilities in schools.
There is a clear moral imperative for Israel and Egypt to end the blockade, as well as it being in their enlightened self-interest to change course. But if they do not do so of their own volition, it is up to the international community to persuade them otherwise.
The EU has huge economic influence over Israel, and it believes the blockade must be lifted. At the same time as exercising leverage over Hamas, it should make clear that the web of preferential agreements which now exists between the EU and Israel – from Israeli access to EU research and development funds to recently improved access for Israeli agricultural products – will be brought into question if there is no rapid progress.
Equally, the US, as by far the largest bilateral donor to Egypt, should press President Mubarak to allow in the humanitarian and reconstruction materials that are so desperately needed.
What will be the state of Gaza's drinking water by next December? Of the health of its children? Of the economy? The attitude of its people towards Egypt and Israel? The risk of waiting another year is too great. Gordon Brown and the international community must urgently declare that enough is enough. The blockade must end.

I wonder if Mr Clegg, from his new position of power in the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition, recalls his words? Perhaps we should ask him. He can be contacted on cleggn@parliament.uk and leader@libdems.org.uk.

The Green Party Dalek video returns!

Reposted from Feminazery...

21 April, 2010
Urgent abortion support appeal: help a teenage girl in Northern Ireland
As publicised by the wonderful Penny Red:

Whether it’s a shortage of mange tout at the supermarket or a friend stranded abroad, we’ve all been affected by the cloud of ash from Iceland. But imagine if you had only a few weeks to navigate your way to England for a safe and legal abortion.
This week, we’ve heard from a number of women who were due to travel to the UK this week for terminations, including a very young teen who is extremely close to the 24 week time limit for abortions in the UK. She had to miss her appointment earlier this week and is now coming next week by ferry and train – a roundtrip journey of more than 24 hours. Her mother solely supports her and her siblings with a part time job and now has to cover costs of £2,300 (procedure + money lost on cancelled flights + last minute ferry and train tickets).
Due to these extraordinary and extremely difficult circumstances, ASN has made a pledge to fund this young woman £500, much more than we usually commit to a single case. This is less than half of the costs she is facing. We would like to help more. If you would like to help cover more costs for her and women like her, please pledge to make a donation today.
You can do this by donating via PayPal (http://www.abortionsupport.org.uk/donate/), writing a cheque (email info@abortionsupport.org.uk for our postal address), or by making an online transfer (HSBC/Abortion Support Network/Sort Code: 40-11-18/Account Number: 64409302).
Please mark the donation “Iceland”.
Thank you in advance for any amount you can give – your donation will make a real difference to this family or to one of the other women who have had to re-purchase tickets to travel to England.

A reply on Palestine!

As with the Refugee Council pledge on asylum, the prize for quickest response goes to Marc Ramsbottom, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Manchester Central. If nothing else, this guy's got an effective campaign office.
Having sent a second round of the PSC's automated election lobbying messages to all candidates who'd supplied emails - I think a couple of days ago, lost count now - this arrived in my email inbox this morning. He says he can't sign the pledge - which seems a little odd, since six of his Lib Dem colleagues have, according to the PSC's list here. However:

Dear Sarah
Thank you for your question. As described in the Manifesto, we seek peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, involving two separate Israeli and Palestinian states which both recognize each other and are internationally accepted, following the borders before the Six-Day War. We will also push Britain and the EU to pressure Israel and Egypt to end the Gaza blockade. We also support an International Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the sale of arms to dangerous regimes and would stop British arms from being sold to states which use them for internal oppression.
Therefore, in answer to your questions, we will call on Israel to relinquish the territories you mention. We will lobby to end the siege in Gaza. In accordance with our manifesto, if Israel is shown to be using arms for internal oppression, we will not sell British arms to Israel. We would also go further, addressing the factors causing such conflict. If elected, the Foreign Secretary would actively work for both the establishment of two separate states in acceptable borders, and for an International Arms Trade Treaty including an international ban on cluster munitions. As we have already agreed policies for the Party in the Manifesto, we are unable to sign pledges outside this. However, as you can see, we specifically support the goals which you are understandingly concerned about.
Marc
Cllr Marc Ramsbottom
Liberal Democrat Councillor - City Centre Ward

On the Refugee Council pledge, I still have nothing in the post from Tony Lloyd, despite an email saying I would be getting something 'in the next few days' - ten days ago. I also have zilch from the Tory Suhail Rahuja, but then he might not have got round to clearing out his inbox to know what messages he's actually got...
On other issues, this morning we get confirmation - thirty years late - that anti-fascist campaigner Blair Peach was indeed murdered by a copper who then, along with his mates, lied about it. Well, golly gee.

Party leader comes to Moss Side!

One of the Major Party Leaders came to Moss Side last night. I'm not sure which one it was, and it was a very fleeting visit, but I expect, not being a marginal or the like, it'll be the nearest we get to a party bigwig (not that that bothers me much).
Hopping my pathetic crippled way up Princess Parkway at about ten thirty, my first thought when a police motorcyclist whizzed past me, lights and siren going, was that someone had shot/stabbed someone else, which is something which, happily, happens round here less often than it used to.
But when about 5 more of them turned up and started blocking the road (maybe I should have though A Coup! and got all excited) it became apparent that something else was up. Then a massive great black 4x4 with tinted windows and a sort of silver people carrier type thing, with police cars too I think, came whizzing past at something that looked well over the speed limit. And I realised that it must have been one of Them, heading back South from the 'Leaders' 'Debate' at Granada Studios. Surely it would be much more cost effective if you're doing a high-security run like that to put the precious cargo in a silver Yaris or a red Fiesta and then no potential attacker would ever be able to track the right car down, and no need for squadrons of coppers.
Needless to say I hadn't been watching the debate, having been busy in the pub catching up on office gossip at Ethical Consumer and debating whether the net effect for the environment of the aeroplane-grounding volcanic eruption was going to be good or bad.
Last time we got a 'senior politician' in Moss Side, of course, they made a total twat of themselves. The Tory shadow home secretary Chris Grayling was taken round the neighbourhood by those sweeties at Greater Manchester Police, and came out with some ridiculous comment about us being 'like The Wire.' At which some enterprising publication got a crime hack over from Baltimore to comment on how his Saturday night out with GMP, where he witnessed some kids cycling suspiciously and someone having a spliff, didn't really compare to his city, with its 350+ a year murder rate.... Grayling, you are a knob. More details here.

Manchester Central: the story continues

Well, I've had replies from the Liberal Democrat and Green Party candidates for Manchester Central, but this afternoon I got a reminder email from the Refugee Council suggesting that I might want to re-contact any candidates which had not got back, asking them to sign the pledge on racism and asylum, and if they didn't feel able to, why not.
Having received a glossy leaflet with a rather scary picture of David Cameron looking all intense and moooooooody on one side, and telling me that "Suhail is always keen to hear your concerns, either about local or national issues, and can be contacted in the following ways..." on the other.




So, I used the email on the leaflet to drop him the suggested reminder. Seconds later I got a reply! Blimey, that's quick, I thought. But it said:

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at yourheartland.org.uk.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.
:
Mail quota exceeded.

So, not keen enough to have a flunky clear his inbox out then...
Sent the same reminder to Tony Lloyd on his shiny new gmail address too...

Manchester Central candidate mithering update

A new reply to my Refugee Council-facilitated candidate-prodding in my email inbox this morning, this time from Gayle O'Donovan, the Green Party candidate. She says:

Dear Sarah Irving,
I have already signed up to this pledge, as it is quiet close to my heart. Please continue to raise this with other candidates as it is an important issue.
Best Wishes
Gayle O'Donovan
www.greengayle.com

With all this reasonableness on asylum issues coming from Manchester Central candidates, you'd wonder why the whole system in this country is in such a racist mess... Oh right, the Labour and Tory blokes haven't got back yet.

Meanwhile, here's a neat little roundup from the Guardian green page of where all the parties are on cycling, with the 'reliably daft' (to put it politely) UKIP wanting to make bike riders get off and walk at busy junctions.

ei: UK's discriminatory criminalization of dissent

ei: UK's discriminatory criminalization of dissent

Posted using ShareThis

Election comments...

No update on those messages to various Manchester Central candidates...
In the meantime, some nice comments on the subject of democracy. Firstly, a new song from Leon Rosselson:



And not as new, but still marvellous, is Robb Johnson's 'This is What Democracy Looks Like." Oddly, I can't find a video of this, but the MP3 can be downloaded free here.

And going even further back, and in contrast with the tedious fuss about televised "leaders'" debates, Gil Scott-Heron:

Mithering Manchester Central candidates...

It's barely worth being interested in the upcoming general election if you live in Manchester Central constituency. As Beloved Husband put it, Tony Lloyd could be “like that German bloke at Liverpool Airport and he'd still get elected.”
But being an interfering type, and various campaign groups having decided to make use of web form technology to persecute parliamentary candidates, I've been helping out.
First, there was the Palestine Solidarity Campaign's lobbying tool to contact MPs asking them to sign up to pledges on issues such as a ban on settlement goods and action on the Gaza blockade. When I did this on about Thursday only Green candidate Gayle O'Donovan and Liberal Democrat Marc Ramsbottom had made email addresses available, so only they got that message from me. Tony Lloyd's parliament.uk address won't work once purdah starts, so they didn't have one for him; I sent the PSC his personal website contact address which will no doubt have pleased him immensely (he always used to be very good at replying to the various human rights, environmental and Palestine-related postcards and email forms he had off me, but I think I've become too annoying and he's given up, or he's got a new admin person who isn't as on the ball as the previous one). They didn't have one for the Tory candidate, Suhail Rahuja, either. Having gone back for another look, the PSC have apparently managed to find an email for him too, so anyone using the form now will get all four of them. I haven't had a response from the two who should have had the initial message, though.
Secondly, there is the Refugee Council's Asylum Election Pledge, asking candidates to “reject racism and xenophobia, and to remember the importance of refugee protection in debates about immigration policy.” Again, the pledge organisers didn't seem to have been able to find Mr Rahuja's email address – 'Tory candidate not interested in constituent's view shocker'? - but had the other three listed.
Encouragingly, on this one I got an emailed reply from Marc Ramsbottom before 24 hours were up, and even more encouragingly he had this to say:

Dear Sarah
Thank you for your email about the campaign by the Refugee Council.
I have signed up to support this campaign at their website and in particular support the right of asylum seekers to be able to work and support themselves and their families.
Thank you for contacting me about this issue.

So, not only responsive but talking some much-needed sense on the subject, something rare in the generally racist, alarmist and repugnant political discourse on asylum in this country. So, one up to Mr Ramsbottom (although I believe OA may have less positive things to say about Manchester Lib Dems' new manifesto position on climate change in an upcoming issue of Manchester Climate Fortnightly. And I will be posting any more replies I get...

Police floor WW2 veteran

As well as reports of heavy-handed policing of the demo against the fascist EDL in Bolton last Saturday, this video has come out of riot police splatting an 89-year-old WW2 veteran who was there to protest against racism. Nice one, lads, 'just doing your duty':

Visa joys

So, eight months later, I finally have my passport back from the Syrian embassy. For the first time in umpteen phone calls someone has actually confirmed that I was denied a visa, although my remains a matter of conjecture. Up to now, I've simply been repeatedly told on the phone that 'Mr Makdisi' or 'the consul' was dealing with it, and had my various emails completely ignored. A friend-of-a-colleague who applied as a freelance photographer was told that he could have a travel visa but couldn't take any pictures while he was there. Shock, horror, the Syrian dictatorship doesn't want anyone to whom they can't clearly attach to an institution wandering about their country. And lest anyone think I'm not applying the same stands to my own horrible government, read on...
Bizarrely, I've also been given back the postal order for my fee. The young lady at the embassy desk informed me that that was because they are “nice” and return visa charges on denied applications. Although since it's over six months old it's entirely and the Post Office's discretion as to whether they refund it, so I'm not holding out much hope there.
So, the question now is whether I actually risk using this passport ever again, or simply ditch it. Can I depend on the Syrians having simply had it sitting in a file for the past eight months, or should I – given the recent activities of their equally nasty but possibly more efficient brothers in the Mossad – be a little paranoid about they might have been doing with it? Answers on a postcard from Damascus...
This has been the week for people getting shafted by various visa agencies – mainly the British. Firstly, there was the Palestinian farmers who were meant to be in the UK for Fairtrade Fortnight, of whom only one actually got a visa. One, a woman with kids from a West Bank village, got a refusal letter from the British embassy in Amman saying that the officials there were concerned that she wouldn't return home – to Iraq. Anyone would think that British bureaucracies were either a) incompetent or b) not keen to have the effects of Israel's military occupation widely known.
Then there were the various speakers who had to contribute to a SOAS conference on the Palestinian left by video instead of in person. Leila Khaled has, of course, been denied a UK visa on at least one occasion (2005) and is also now routinely denied Schengen visas, so her absence was hardly a shock, even if it was a pity. Jamal Juma of the Grassroots Palestinian Anti Apartheid Wall Campaign was prevented from travelling because the Israelis arrested him – as well as many other anti-Wall campaigners – in December, and they haven't got around to returning his documents for him to even apply to travel with.
And thirdly, my mate Adie has been comprehensively shafted by the British Embassy in Cairo, which (unlike other European embassies) insists on having a letter from a 'legitimate' humanitarian organisation before it will issue waiver letters for British citizens to enter Gaza. So it looks like Adie, who has been waiting in Cairo for two months since the Viva Palestina convoy, will not be spending the next six months in Gaza working with a kids' project and building student solidarity networks. The embassy ruled that the fairtrade organisation he had a letter from was not a 'legitimate humanitarian organisation', and appeals for support from his MP, Gerald Kaufman, have borne no fruit.

Email etiquette and political spikings?

Generally speaking, it's been quite a good few weeks. After an initial new year's panic when it looked like the recession was finally going to give me a good slapping, I've got a decent amount of work in (actually that's not completely true; I've got far too much work, as it's coming up to the financial year end and various grant-funded organisations, on the Use It Or Lose It principle, are buying in my services). I got my first Guardian by-line (albeit unpaid and online only, but hey). And Gaza: Beneath the Bombs book stuff is going pretty well, especially when we get lovely reviews like this one.
But obviously I couldn't possibly be that upbeat, so here are a few minor trivialities which have hacked me off recently.
Firstly, it's 2010. Email has been fairly common in the UK for the best part of a decade. Especially amongst campaigners. And surely there must be few Young Folk out there who've managed to evade some computer training at school. But it seems like using the BCC field on a bulk email is still beyond some people's capacity.
First, there was the eejit from the Energy Saving Trust (I promise it's the last time I'm going to whinge about the Boiler Scrappage Scheme and its incompetent administration). He managed to send an email confirming receipt of my voucher and claim - and several hundred other people's - to all of us, in the CC field. Then, in an attempt to rectify the fuckup, he sent one of those pathetic 'Recall Email' messages that civil servants use - but again to all X hundred of us. So if anyone on that list has a mate who works in boiler servicing, they have one very valuable little marketing list there... And then, in the same week, some twonk from the newly-formed Unemployed Workers Union which has been set up in Salford did exactly the same thing, with an absolutely vast (and by the look of it, at least 50% totally unrelated) press list. I emailed them back suggesting that they might annoy people if they carried on like that and got no reply... but got another press release off them slightly later doing exactly the same thing. How to alienate potential supporters and sources of coverage, in one fell swoop. Idiot.
Next thing to piss me off was City Library's Manchester Lit List blog, which supposedly covers all events book-related in Manchester. I sent the announcement for the Gaza: Beneath the Bombs launch to them well in advance, and got no reply. I chased the email, and got a reply saying it would be listed on the blog in the week preceding the event. Which it was - very briefly. I know this because I have a Google Alert on 'Gaza beneath the bombs,' and the Lit List came up on it. But by the time I clicked on the link, it had been taken down. I can only assume that this was a political spiking, since this was a bona fide Manchester book launch, in Manchester, with one Manchester author involved. Which is... interesting.

Be Very Afraid, and some updates...

Firstly, thanks to OA again for striking fear into my heart when I opened my email to this excerpt from a Financial Times book review:

The most shocking tales are about Sarah Palin, who last week took up a new role as a Fox News commentator, and whose recent book, Going Rogue, is selling in the millions. So uninformed was McCain's running mate that advisors had to give her junior school tutorials on the first and second world wars, Vietnam and the cold war. Palin insisted that Saddam Hussein launched the September 11 attacks. As the depth of her ignorance sunk in, as well as her total lack of interest in rectifying it, McCain's senior staff members were “ridden with guilt over elevating Palin to within striking distance of the White House.

And a couple of updates.

First, wahey! My boiler scrappage scheme voucher has arrived, and as I type the cats are cowering in the bedroom as the rest of the house descends in to a chaotic mess of disconnected pipes, lifted floorboards and men in boiler suits wielding bits of machinery. But that doesn't mean I'm retracting any of my comments on the equally chaotic implementation of the scheme, which I put down to the EST's political masters trying to create a bit of a warm (literally) fuzzy feeling before the electioneering really gets going.

The second one is a corker. Remember Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling declaring that Moss Side was like the Wire? A couple of journalists - a freelancer from Manchester and a crime reporter from the Baltimore Sun - decided to swap cities and see if he was right. So Baltimore blokey, from a city with several hundred murders a year, gets to spend a night with GMP in sunny Moss Side. Simon Binns reported the result in Crains:

Justin Fenton, the Baltimore Sun crime reporter, spent a week on a job swap with Northern Independent hack Mark Hughes in order to see if Moss Side really was like hit TV show The Wire, a recent claim made by Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling. Fenton was positively disappointed at the lack of excitement, however, after 14 hours with Greater Manchester Police. “The lack of action on my ridealongs has been quite ridiculous, especially since the press and the officers I rode around with in Manchester insist that these are tough streets,” he said. “Here's what I witnessed first-hand: a car full of teens who had just finished smoking marijuana; a kid whose furious bike riding raised suspicions but turned out to be nothing.” Furious bike riding is a suspicious activity now? Good news for Manchester's public image, though, and proof that cycling really has taken off since the Velodrome and Sir Chris Hoy's Olympic success.

The Boiler Scrappage Scheme: pt II

So, the Monday After the Saturday Before (see this rant), I get a phone call in response to the message I left for the Energy Savings Trust. I will not, for reasons which will become obvious, be divulging anything at all that might identify the person who rang me. That's the problem with slagging off organisations like this - some of the people working for them are actually genuinely dedicated and lovely. It's their bosses that are the problem.
So, Nice Person from the EST (NPEST from now on) gives me a call and establishes that what I would like is to apply for the effing Boiler Scrappage Scheme. They then helpfully offer to take down all my details for the application form, while admitting that they haven't actually seen the form before and certainly haven't filled it in. There's a first time for everything. But NPEST does warn me that this might result in my application going in several times, as they've already been told that "although the form looks like it doesn't work it actually has."
Maybe.
So, NPEST goes through the form, filling in the details as I read them off. They get a bit stuck trying to fill in the address section, since, as they comment, the fields are a bit confused and all over the place and it's not totally clear which bit of one's address is meant to go where.
NPEST also divulges (which I'm guessing they shouldn't have) that there was supposed to be a dedicated team staffing the phone lines to deal with the boiler scrappage scheme. I don't know if these are secondees from somewhere else in government, or what. But, says NPEST, for some reason they're not actually being trained until this week, ie won't actually be staffing anything for a few more days at least, and the EST's normal staff were significantly dischuffed to find this out when they came into work this morning, expecting to be able to farm this particular weight off onto someone else.
So, according to the computer screen in front of NPEST, my application has actually gone through this time. I haven't had any kind of confirmation email to that effect (and this must be six hours ago now), which is a bit worrying, but given the standard of form building which seems to be standard at the EST they probably just haven't remembered that people might actually want some kind of receipt.
The saga continues... (or, hopefully, it doesn't, but I get a nice voucher in the post).