The BNP, Free Speech, and BBC Question Time

A senior government member has struck out at the BBC’s Question Time for its invite to BNP leader Nick Griffin, who is currently due to appear on the 22nd October edition of the program. Peter Hain wants the BNP’s invitation rescinded because they aren’t a lawful organisation, due to a court ruling over their constitution.

Freedom of Expression

Some of you know this, but I lost my laptop charger at Greenbelt 2 weeks ago. Its been winding me up ever since, and its partly why a few days got missed in the usual blogging cycle. And its driving me potty. Its also reminding me just how important the gift of expression is, and how thankful I should be for it. From the political right to expression, to having the wherewithal to do it, its becoming rather obvious just how much I take it for granted.

How deep the roots of injustice?

It was somewhat inevitable I might get around to writing something about the world post-April 1st. It has taken a little getting used to, with the sudden swathe of differing activities and events, campaigns and legal cases, and the sudden fascination of Evening Standard with police not displaying their numbers.

A top-down guide to avoiding “Ghost Town Syndrome”

Council are demanding the ability to tidy up their town centres by finding uses for closing shops, mostly for the avoidance of “anti-social behaviour”. What is to be categorised in that term is anyone’s guess, but here’s some very social ideas on how these premises should be handled.

Thoughts on Tolerance 3: Geekery

So to conclude this week-long run on Tolerance, I want to look at something perhaps a little more light hearted. I am, at heart, something of an omnigeek, which might explain the mix of topics covered on this blog. Here’s some thoughts on Geeks, Tolerance and protecting Identities from outside persecution.

Norrebro: The Radical District

So, Travel Blogging, seeing as I’ve now been ‘travelling’ for 4 days. The first day and a half was basically bus journeys, during which time I was joined by a couple of fellow activists, one who I knew was attending and one I didn’t realise would show up. The coaches barely stopped more than 5 minutes anywhere which meant very little opportunity for food, but after breakfast on the ferry to Denmark from Germany, we were ready to go enjoy Copenhagen pretty much as soon as we’d arrived, met our greeter and drunk coffee…

A truly awful false dichotomy

I’ve been watching the Google alert emails “Climate Camp” lately and spotted a couple of really quite disturbing pieces. The first appeared on a website called Spiked and the second appeared in the Guardian Online’s ‘Comment is Free’ section, both basically making the exact same argument: that somehow those of us who protested at Drax and Heathrow are in opposition to those who are currently camped at a much less publicised protest at Gatwick Airport.

The ones to watch

Sometimes I get really downbeat about the lack of people across the world who are standing up to oppression. Its happened a lot lately, especially because there’s hardly anything going on in the UK now the summer is over, and most of the opportunities that do exist right now for doing political actions are being missed. Given I’m part of the human race and should by now know its tendency to be ever-resistant of repression, its weird how it takes me until there’s a few random news stories here and there before I actually remember that somewhere, as ever, someone is resisting.

In Defence of Jailed Street Artists

I’ve found myself, not for the first time, drawn to speak out in defence of Street Artists who have been penalised for their work. Thomas Dolan (20) and Thomas Whittaker (18), aka Krek and Mers, have been given 15 months and 1 year for their work, at a time when much more serious offenders are getting lesser terms and we’re being told that jails are over crowded. Their parents are outraged, and their friends have set up a Facebook campaign in their defence.

Climate Camp: an early reflection

I’m sure the next two months will see a huge number of reflections on Climate Camp, but here’s some stuff I feel I should commit to hard-drive now, with the camp only just gone from the pages of the papers. Please forgive any harsh criticisms, and believe me when I say that, despite any of the following sounding negative, these have been some of the best days of my life.