Alan Lodge's Blog

A wander around Mam Tor – Derbyshire Peak District.

This post, via my WAP phone

Now at OS map SK112833 [sheet 110]. On the ridge 3miles south of Edale. Started walking from the odin mine road SK135834, via Mam Tor and on the the Rushup Edge Ridge. Blight blue sky 5 mins ago. Then a black cloud just went over and quite windy, so now horizontal rain. Now progressed to sleet and hail. This is not so nice, now ….. !

So, am hiding behind this rock, blogging via WAP, till all this weather, finishes ……!

http://www.streetmap.co.uk

Some earlier wanderings in the Peaks:

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_09_22_tash_lodge_archive.html#82233320

The Observer – Drugs Uncovered Series:

Money Problems:

“Wendy buys a gram of coke for £60.

She splits it into four equal piles.

Later, she sells each wrap to her ‘friends’ for £20 each.

How much does she make from the deal?”

Relating fractions to division:

“Peter invites two friends over to snort some speed.

He chops the powder into eight lines.

Each of them snorts two lines each.

They each get ______ of the speed.

How can Peter split what’s left so everybody gets

one more line?”

Observer ad, for series:

Drugs and the under14’s

Blimey, whatever next?

“In the terror trap” – What are we doing?

A couple of quotes from Timothy Garton Ash article in the Guardian this thursday…… “In the terror trap” Think it very informative, and I commend it to you.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,813115,00.html

“We’ve given up far to many freedoms

in order to be free”.

John le Carre

[a last epiphany of spymaster George Smiley]

&

“To make this choice is to accept a risk: more liberty, less security. But the balance in this case is clear.

Erring on the other side, we would sacrifice too much liberty for too little added security.

Put it like this: I would rather take a one in 10,000 chance of being blown up by a terrorist than a one in 10 chance of having my emails read by a spook”.

Timothy Garton Ash

Thursday October 17, 2002

Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,813115,00.html

TEST from Nottingham Central library. I am browsing in the computer section with a view for networking information. What I’m also interested in is the abilty to get information, via my WAP phone from the library catalogue and Dewey Decimal numbers for ‘navigation’ purposes. Then, to record my ‘finds’ and useful info to this blog, for later retrieval and access. Cool eh?

This .pdf from Hampshire Library Service, gives you an idea of my meaning:

http://website.lineone.net/~literary/epi%20aug%202000.pdf

all discussed earlier at:

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_09_29_tash_lodge_archive.html#82535131

Wapblogger

Wapblogger: a service that allows me to post to my blog, Via my WAP phone. I like to do this from out and about, walking over mountains. I find it an aid, to corolate my landscape photography, when I get home.

I can do this, because of this service,

web : http://www.ubique.ch/wapblogger/

wap : http://wap.ubique.ch/wapblogger/ [in a WAP emulator]

I include these piccys of my phone to explain further: Dialing up the service at http://wap.ubique.ch/wapblogger, I then enter user and password, same as if adding to blog on computer. Then presented with a box, similar to making an SMS text message. Don’t have to keep a ‘live connection’ [to expensive!] while entering text. When finished, dial-up again, log and send, Then a confirmation message appears, confirming the upload.

Here is a message, I’ve just uploaded: “This message is to show how to upload from a WAP phone to my blog.” You can see the begining of the entry, on the WAP phone here.

* * * * *

WAP to Blogger interfacing.

wapblogger is a WAP interface to popular weblog tools Blogger, LiveJournal and any other weblog-style tool supporting the XML-RPC Blogger API.

To post to a weblog with a WAP enabled cell phone!

This is the URL ‘form’ as a guide :>

http://wap.ubique.ch/wapblogger/wb.pl?u=USER&p=PASS&b=BLOGID&a=post

blog info :>

USER username

PASS password

BLOGID blog number [7 digit]

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_07_21_tash_lodge_archive.html#79474162

* * * * *

Further help on all this, from:

Wapblogger FAQ

http://www.ubique.ch/wapblogger/faq.htm

This is the very first message, by these means, back in July:

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_07_21_tash_lodge_archive.html#79474778

Snowdonia:

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_09_08_tash_lodge_archive.html#81468145

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_09_15_tash_lodge_archive.html#81683594

Peak District – Derwent Valley District:

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_09_22_tash_lodge_archive.html#82233320

Announcing the new website of the travellers / techno community in Orgiva, Granada Province, Southern Spain

http://partyvibe.com/conspiracy/

I did this website for my son, Sam, and hosted it on Fortunecity for the last few months to get it all, of the ground. However, the advertising winds a user up!!

So, I hassled the Partyvibe / Network 23 folks for space and have just transfered the pages.

Sam is a man working with the likes of Total Resistance and Desert Storm etc. So is in good company on the ISP have moved him to.

His Mobile : 0034 (0)617 903586 & E-mail: samconspiracy@hotmail.com

Network 23: http://www.network23.org

Partyvibe: http://partyvibe.com

Just to show you some of my family snaps, These piccys are from the site I made for my DJ-type son, he hangs out with ‘Total Resistance, Desert Storm etc, in the South of Spain. Orgiva in fact……

http://partyvibe.com/conspiracy

Anyway, his name is Sam, and i love him …….

The other one, my daughter, is called Siri, she did live in Spain, where she meet her boyfriend, Geoff. Now moved to England, and living in Bath. Guess what? I love her to.

This is what we now have for Peace and Reconcilliation for the Stonehenge situation !!

Stonehenge Peace and Reconciliation Process http://www.greenleaf.demon.co.uk/padras.htm

Now, just how is it exectly, that I am being reconcilled ??

* * * * *

From: George Firsoff george@greenleaf.demon.co.uk

Date: Tue Oct 15, 2002 5:51 pm

Subject: Re: [stonehengepeace] Re: Stonehenge Solstice Festival Revival.

Yahoo! Groups : stonehengepeace Messages : Message 2217 of 2226

QUOTE:

What I was trying to get across was not that I am against the Free Festival so much as that I consider it such a waste of time and energy thinking about and discussing it beceause it does not have a bat in hell’s chance of coming off!

Like those SILLY people who ended up in the Beanfield thought they couldtake on what they called “The State” and they could win!

That was not true. Now since then there are even more laws and rules that will be enforced to stop you doing what you want.

Every year the police have prevented sound systems coming to Stonehenge and setting up in different parts of Wiltshire. You might have scored one night of activity in 2001? before being shut down.

I think there is a dividing point, which is, are you more interested in making things unpleasant for the authorities, or are you more interested in enjoying your music, legally?

* * * * *

This is my account of what actually happened during this period.

http://tash.gn.apc.org/sh_bean.htm

and, my ‘cell notes’, written while locked up after ther attack

http://tash.gn.apc.org/sh_bean-notes1.htm

Also, Operation Solstice

http://tash.gn.apc.org/op_solstice.htm

I minority group containing many families, attacked, while trying to stand up for their civil rights “SILLY”. Blast his eyes and a curse on his ……. AHHHH!

I didn’t know, of this Yahoo group: Yahoo! Groups : stonehengepeace

But I did know of the Stonehenge peace and reconciliation commission, George Firsoff, and Tim Ingle-Abbot etc.

I am not with them. I disagree quite fundamentally what is going on there.

I am for peace, as well as the next man. The Beanfield was horrible, and I don’t wish a re-run on anyone. BUT, what the outcome of their meetings appears to be, is a complete acquiescence to the police and authorities ideas, on how to run a managed event. It seem so long as they get to be all pagan, and wave an oak leaf at each other, in the stones in the middle of the night, it is considered progress.

Well this anarchist is not religious, Christian, Moslem or Pagan. Never was. But I do claim a right to gather, with me and mine, that goes back to the stone age, right there as we have always done.. Really, why should I put that on hold, because of a temporary bit of law, which, when viewed from that length of history, doesn’t seen to stand up. For such attitudes, you may know that I’m still an ‘injuncted person’ and can be arrested for being in an area, ‘delineated on a map therein between dates around the solstice.’ This order by Lord Justice Morland, has never been rescinded.

My interest is, and always was the gathering of the tribes, to follow this tradition. If you look at some of the photos I put there especially the aerial shots, you’ll see 20,000, on one side of the road at a festival on the solstice, many listening to Hawkwind etc, with a couple of hundred of us, going over the road for a celebration of a few hours, to return back to the festival, before it got dark.

Recent years, after all the nonsense, the focus has shifted to the stones.

This is a shame, THEY should have left it all alone! The whole issue, would not now be under such great pressure.

The legal justification, for putting us down, was damage. It informed the injunctions. But, I’ve always thought that there is a difference between ‘damage’ and ‘wear and tear’, like what you get during its ‘use’. Left to the authorities, it would be put in a glass case and air-conditioned as a museum piece, rather than ‘living history’. Do you see, we come from different planets 🙂

Because of the way, this has all panned-out. I did not go to the event this year, have been every year since 1972! But am so disappointed by the way stuff is turning out. The temporary gathering in the middle of the night under rules, is not what this old foggy thought we were doing. I find it hard to account for what is going on, and why folks have put up with it!

You might also be interested to know, that I’ve not been to a Glastonbury for years either, last 1992. I think that there is a difference between a ‘festival’ and an ‘outside concert’. Just not what I thought we were doing, when I set out on all this.

Others however, understand the significance of this action. Am helping making a Radio4 documentary for transmission on the 27th November, describing some of this, called : In Living Memory”

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_07_21_tash_lodge_archive.html#79296253

Jolyon Jenkins

BBC Bristol

Fri 19/07/02 14:19

Hello

I’m making part of a series for Radio 4 called “In Living Memory” in which we revisit events of the not-too-distant past which have been half forgotten, and ask what the aftermath was. I’ve been wondering about doing something on the travellers’ convoys of 1985-7 and maybe the Battle of the Beanfield in particular. I came across your excellent website.

Could I have a chat with you about it?

Jolyon Jenkins: Producer, network features

* * * * *

This is what we now have for Peace and Reconcilliation for the Stonehenge situation !!

Stonehenge Peace and Reconciliation Process http://www.greenleaf.demon.co.uk/padras.htm

Now, just how is it exectly, that I am being reconcilled ??

* * * * *

From: George Firsoff george@greenleaf.demon.co.uk

Date: Tue Oct 15, 2002 5:51 pm

Subject: Re: [stonehengepeace] Re: Stonehenge Solstice Festival Revival.

Yahoo! Groups : stonehengepeace Messages : Message 2217 of 2226

QUOTE:

What I was trying to get across was not that I am against the Free Festival so much as that I consider it such a waste of time and energy thinking about and discussing it beceause it does not have a bat in hell’s chance of coming off!

Like those SILLY people who ended up in the Beanfield thought they couldtake on what they called “The State” and they could win!

That was not true. Now since then there are even more laws and rules that will be enforced to stop you doing what you want.

Every year the police have prevented sound systems coming to Stonehenge and setting up in different parts of Wiltshire. You might have scored one night of activity in 2001? before being shut down.

I think there is a dividing point, which is, are you more interested in making things unpleasant for the authorities, or are you more interested in enjoying your music, legally?

* * * * *

Oh and this: for peace, more and more angry at me and mine:

From: stonehengepeace@yahoogroups.com

To: stonehengepeace@yahoogroups.com

Subject: [stonehengepeace] anarchists

I find it hard to believe, that the anarchists really believe there can be a free festival, or an event, at Stonehenge. After all they must know the history and they just can’t be that dumb.

This leads me to the conclusion that they are being devious. They just want to make people believe there can be a festival, to passionately desire it, so thousands can come to Stonehenge to act as cannon fodder for the confrontation they are planning with the authorities, you know “the revolution goes on” somebody said – yeah? Some silly 19th century ideological delusion, which is sad if you really look deeply into it! It will not happen!

But what they would achieve is good enough for them, because they might force the authorities to clamp down, to cause another atrocity, so they can say “we told you so, the state always operates like that” they’d have gained converts for their brainwashing, which is at the end of the day what they want.

Because to be really cruel, and I don’t care about that, because I’ve had enough stick from these peddlers of unreality, they are in truth but a small group of extremists who naturally feel lonely, they need more people who think the same as them, and can feed their illusions back at them to make them feel powerful.

If there is a Peace Process it’s job is to defuse this one!

Don’t let the agitators get to you!

The agitators want to provoke a confrontation!

For their own pathetic ends!

If they succeed Stonehenge will be closed up again, for years.

So, there you have it. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my account of what actually happened during this period.

http://tash.gn.apc.org/sh_bean.htm

and, my ‘cell notes’, written while locked up after ther attack

http://tash.gn.apc.org/sh_bean-notes1.htm

Also, Operation Solstice

http://tash.gn.apc.org/op_solstice.htm

I minority group containing many families, attacked, while trying to stand up for their civil rights “SILLY”. Blast his eyes and a curse on his ……. AHHHH!

I didn’t know, of this Yahoo group: Yahoo! Groups : stonehengepeace

But I did know of the Stonehenge peace and reconciliation commission, George Firsoff, and Tim Ingle-Abbot etc.

I am not with them. I disagree quite fundamentally what is going on there.

I am for peace, as well as the next man. The Beanfield was horrible, and I don’t wish a re-run on anyone. BUT, what the outcome of their meetings appears to be, is a complete acquiescence to the police and authorities ideas, on how to run a managed event. It seem so long as they get to be all pagan, and wave an oak leaf at each other, in the stones in the middle of the night, it is considered progress.

Well this anarchist is not religious, Christian, Moslem or Pagan. Never was. But I do claim a right to gather, with me and mine, that goes back to the stone age, right there as we have always done.. Really, why should I put that on hold, because of a temporary bit of law, which, when viewed from that length of history, doesn’t seen to stand up. For such attitudes, you may know that I’m still an ‘injuncted person’ and can be arrested for being in an area, ‘delineated on a map therein between dates around the solstice.’ This order by Lord Justice Morland, has never been rescinded.

My interest is, and always was the gathering of the tribes, to follow this tradition. If you look at some of the photos I put there especially the aerial shots, you’ll see 20,000, on one side of the road at a festival on the solstice, many listening to Hawkwind etc, with a couple of hundred of us, going over the road for a celebration of a few hours, to return back to the festival, before it got dark.

Recent years, after all the nonsense, the focus has shifted to the stones.

This is a shame, THEY should have left it all alone! The whole issue, would not now be under such great pressure.

The legal justification, for putting us down, was damage. It informed the injunctions. But, I’ve always thought that there is a difference between ‘damage’ and ‘wear and tear’, like what you get during its ‘use’. Left to the authorities, it would be put in a glass case and air-conditioned as a museum piece, rather than ‘living history’. Do you see, we come from different planets 🙂

Because of the way, this has all panned-out. I did not go to the event this year, have been every year since 1972! But am so disappointed by the way stuff is turning out. The temporary gathering in the middle of the night under rules, is not what this old foggy thought we were doing. I find it hard to account for what is going on, and why folks have put up with it!

You might also be interested to know, that I’ve not been to a Glastonbury for years either, last 1992. I think that there is a difference between a ‘festival’ and an ‘outside concert’. Just not what I thought we were doing, when I set out on all this.

Others however, understand the significance of this action. Am helping making a Radio4 documentary for transmission on the 27th November, describing some of this, called : In Living Memory”

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_07_21_tash_lodge_archive.html#79296253

Jolyon Jenkins

BBC Bristol

Fri 19/07/02 14:19

Hello

I’m making part of a series for Radio 4 called “In Living Memory” in which we revisit events of the not-too-distant past which have been half forgotten, and ask what the aftermath was. I’ve been wondering about doing something on the travellers’ convoys of 1985-7 and maybe the Battle of the Beanfield in particular. I came across your excellent website.

Could I have a chat with you about it?

Jolyon Jenkins: Producer, network features

* * * * *

West Yorkshire Police:

CARLING WEEKEND – LEEDS FESTIVAL DISORDER APPEAL

Tuesday, October 15, 2002

http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/Press%20Releases/july-nov/popconcert/popappeal.htm

* * * * *

Killingbeck police today (Tues) appealed for the public’s help identifying 24 men in relation to an outbreak of disorder at the Carling Weekend, Leeds Festival music event at Temple Newsam, Leeds, over the August Bank Holiday.

At 11pm on Sunday August 25, following the final act at the weekend music event, a number of people in the red campsite began pulling lighting down.

* * * * *

General trouble and lunch-outs, by all accounts.

All very young, some still at school perhaps.

Thought you all might like to know …!

As an expert in surveillance though, me thinks these are some of the best police snaps I’ve seen. So they’re clearly getting better at this sort of thing.

http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/Press%20Releases/july-nov/popconcert/popappeal.htm

and their ‘ Wanted Poster ‘

http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/Press%20Releases/july-nov/popconcert/poster1.gif

Tash at home!

Just messin’ with the webcam. Normally I use it for continuous video. But interested now and again, to see what a cheppo, can achive, set at highest res for a still photo. Here’s me at home, computing …..

Camera on this shot, set for ‘millions of colours’, outside dimensions of 640 x 480. Auto leveled and ‘unsharp’ mask in Photoshop. Then resaved at 500 across. 72dpi.

This is all quite a novel way for me to proceed, since almost all my pictures are on b&w negative, or, colour transparency film. Which is then scanned. Prefer this way, since no one knows how long a digital image will last. Either on hard disc or CD, and it bothers archivist and historians a little. Where as, I KNOW photographic materials can last [so far] up to 160 years.!

Blog updated service

This service Blogarithm.com, tells you when blogs of interest to you are updated

Blogarithm.com

On their page, they say: Welcome to Blogarithm.com! Here’s how this works:

1. You enter your email address and your favorite blog’s URL above and click the “Watch this Blog” button.

2. You’ll soon get an email that will include a URL for you to visit. Click on this URL or enter it in your favorite browser.

3. A page will become available where you can enter whatever password you like. After that, your subscription will be active!

4. To add more blogs, either go repeat the steps above or click on “my account” at the top of every Blogarithm.com page, enter your email address and password, and you can do things like delete subscriptions, add other subscriptions, change your password, or change your email address.

5. You will receive an email every day telling you which of the blogs that you are subscribed to have been updated, including links for you to take you directly to those blogs!

Stonehenge 360 panorama:

Please be patient and wait for each movie to load. This can take 5 mins or so depending on your machine and your net connection.

Wait while the QTVRs load into your browsers cache file (this will speed up your loading time.)

Stonehenge all the way round!

Nottingham Transport – Text messaging Bus Timetables

ATTAIN – Advanced Traffic and Travel Information system

http://www.dcm.ntu.ac.uk/RTTS/Projects/grr32468/attain.html

Advanced Traffic and Travel Information in NOTTINGHAM (UK)

http://www.doc.ntu.ac.uk/RTTS/Projects/grr32468/public.html

Public ‘Instructions’ Poster

Service provides general information on the Advanced Traffic and Travel Information (ATTAIN) system, instructions for its use and the explaination of the cost of the service to the users.

The ATTAIN system has been developed by the Intelligent Simulation and Modelling (ISM) group in the Department of Computing and Mathematics at the Nottingham Trent University (NTU) in collaboration with the Nottingham City Transport, Nottingham Traffic Control Centre, MIRA Ltd and Nottingham Scientific Limited. The reference bus-stop information was provided by the Nottingham City Council.

The ATTAIN system is essentially an automated text messaging system that responds to specific requests for bus time information. The provision of customised information prevents information overload while affording more thorough examination of alternatives that are pertinent to a specific journey. The requests are made by means of SMS text messages and the replies are provided in the same way. The requests for information must adhere to some simple rules to ensure that the messages are easily understood while the amount of text that needs to be entered is as small as possible. The generic format of the messages and the specific examples are given in the following section.

The ATTAIN system is being introduced in Nottingham in three stages:

Stage 1 – involves provision of the information service for the bus route 87 (City to Arnold) on the basis of ‘standard rate SMS messaging’. This means that the inquirers will pay only for messages requesting the information and will not be charged for the cost of the reply messages (typically 10-12p/message). This stage forms an integral part of the EPSRC funded research project.

Stage 2 – involves provision of the information service for ten bus routes – 2, 3, 4, 6, 25, 30, 48, 53, 80 and 87 – on the basis of ‘premium rate SMS messaging’. This means that the inquirers will pay for both the initial request for information message and the reply message (typically 20-25p/message).

Stage 3 – involves provision of information for all NCT bus routes in Nottingham with a possible extension to other public transport providers. This service will be provided also on the basis of ‘premium rate SMS messaging’.

This is all part of the Nottingham Trent University Mathematics Department Research Projects

http://www.doc.ntu.ac.uk/RTTS/

These are all tools to get an ‘Integrated Transport Policy’ off the ground. Us environmentalist ‘types’ care very much about all this. Not any one system is a solution, to get people out of cars, but, taken together, may abount to something. System been going for while now in Nottingham, but been very under – advertised.

All very well and good, but all the above is doing, is broadcasting the exististing timetable, that still might not be accurate description of movements [as ever !]. However, the following is done via satellites, and tells you ‘what is’ by real time measurement.

Now Leicestershire is giving the advances system a go …….

Satellites take the wait out of catching the bus

Martin Wainwright

Thursday October 10, 2002

The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,808712,00.html

The great British tradition of queueing at bus stops in all weathers for hours is being threatened by the No 4 service between Loughborough and Shepshed.

The 10 mile round trip in Leicestershire has become the first in the country to allow passengers to sit in their armchairs and wait to hear the precise time a bus will arrive at a stop, relayed as a text message to their phone.

“It’s extremely quick,” said Sarah Taylor, a passenger, in Loughborough yesterday, wanting to check if she had time to shop before the next bus. “I got the message back in 15 seconds saying the bus would be there in three minutes, and it was.”

The system, which the blue and yellow No 4 buses are try ing out, involves people making a 12p text call and using a sequence of six letters specific to “their bus stop”. This triggers the 15 second response, which uses a ground positioning satellite system carried by the buses to calculate actual arrival time to the nearest minute.

The technology, which updates the buses’ progress every few seconds, takes “no-wait” technology a step further than the timetables of some bus firms already given by text or phone. The system, if successful, will extend across Leicestershire, and include East Midlands airport shuttles.

Keith Shayshutt, managing director of the Midlands operator Kinchbus, running the trial in Leicestershire, said: “We’re the first to give people ‘real’ arrival times.”

Bringing the net to Eden

Broadband for rural areas? BT says there is not enough demand. Now villagers living deep in the dales aim to prove them wrong, writes Ben Hammersley

Thursday October 3, 2002

The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,803023,00.html

My laptop is so far from bandwidth it has a nosebleed. In the village of Kirkby Stephen, in the Eden Valley, on the border between Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales, getting on to the internet is a major effort. With phone lines shared between remote farmhouses, and mobile phones a cruel fantasy, an internet connection here can drop as low as 12Kbps – if you can get online at all.

But all of this is about to change. EdenFaster, a local community organisation, is about to supply broadband internet connections to the entire valley, bringing 10,000 people, 500 businesses and 50 schools online with an internet connection 20 times faster than ADSL for half the price. They’re doing it on their own because of a “perceived lack of demand” by telecoms companies. They’re doing it wirelessly, and they’re one of the leaders in the new revolution in ways to deliver the internet in the UK.

Online readers will already know the benefits of broadband. The very fast, always-on internet connections have been available in the metropolitan centres of Britain for a couple of years now. Their benefits stretch far beyond being able to look at websites faster, or download MP3s all the quicker: they change and create communities. Education, medicine, local government, entertainment and jobs are all transformed if a constant internet connection can be depended on.

And nowhere else is this more necessary than in the dales. With the average wage only half that of the rest of the country, and a local economy dependent on agriculture and tourism, the introduction of broadband, says Lindsey Annison, EdenFaster’s project leader, will revolutionise the way the local community can live. The area’s scenery and relaxed lifestyle would be perfect for teleworkers if, she says, they could get online.

Mick Keeble, of Croft PLC, which is supplying the Cisco, Enterasys and Check Point kit for the project, says: “The kit itself is commonplace: it’s off the shelf. The only difference is how it’s being deployed and what it could lead to with respect to the quality of life for the people in this area.”

The nearest supply of substantial bandwidth is almost 30 miles away, but climb a nearby hill, and on a clear day you can see it. Stick a wireless connection on the same hill, and you can tap into it. Use the same 802.11b, or Wi-Fi, wireless technology as you find built into modern laptops, and you can beam the bandwidth down into the valley. Repeaters in the villages of Kirkby Stephen, Appleby and Warcop can then receive this connection and create a wireless “mesh” between the houses that each customer can then connect to and get online. Because this mesh acts as a local network, the system also creates a “walled garden” – where local services are delivered at even greater speeds than over the wild internet. The internet is reached via a “gateway” that can be restricted – perfect for the local schools. What’s more, with this approach, as each subscriber comes on, it only makes the local network technically all the stronger and more resistant to failure.

The “walled garden” (the Walled Garden of EdenFaster, naturally) is a clever idea. It will allow local businesses to supply local services, and it gives scope for other projects that would be much more difficult over low-bandwidth connections. Live video is one project, video on demand another, and EdenFaster is now investigating using Voice over Internet Protocol technology to allow for a voice service to replace the expensive and poor quality local phone service. Cabling, it seems, may soon be irrelevant.

The vast majority of broadband connections in the UK are with either cable television systems, or with ADSL, a nifty technology that converts standard copper phone lines into high-speed connections.

For rural areas, however, cable TV is not on the cards, and ADSL presents a number of technical problems. In much of the Eden Valley, the phone lines are aluminium, and not copper – rendering ADSL impossible. Plus, here, as in many areas around the country, it might not be economically feasible to install. BT Wholesale, which installs ADSL equipment into telephone exchanges, has set threshold figures of the minimum number of subscribers that must order ADSL before it converts the exchange.

This threshold is a matter of controversy. Earlier this year, the pressure group BroadbandforBritain.co.uk commissioned research into the exact number needed per exchange before they considered it to be economically feasible to install ADSL. Although BT quotes figures of between 200 and 750 consumers, BroadbandforBritain and the research firm Ovum, found a figure closer to 50 was high enough. Given a base of 40 residential and 10 business customers, “an entrepreneurial service provider taking advantage of the latest DSL technology would see rapid payback on their capital investment”.

http://www.BroadbandforBritain.co.uk

“It’s a long way from the 200 to 550 that BT are quoting,” says BroadbandforBritain.co.uk’s Andy Williams. He says the UK is missing “a cohesive nationwide policy toward broadband rollout, and there’s a lack of education about what broadband can do”.

For such a rich country, he says, we have a lot of catching up to do, and “BT, although it is a private company, it has a tremendous amount of public responsibility”.

BT disclaims the report. It says that because the UK is more hilly and the exchanges more remote than in the rest of Europe, at least 200 subscribers are necessary. It says the fact that other companies can gain access to the exchanges to install their own ADSL equipment – but haven’t – shows that it really isn’t feasible in many areas. At least without hundreds of customers. Plus, they say, they are involved in projects with radio meshes, such as EdenFaster, and satellite services, to try to find which solution works the best.

The cost factor, it seems, is key. Not so elsewhere, where national governments have been funding broadband rollout. South Korea, for example, has complete broadband coverage, its installation paid for by the government, and while the French, the Australian and the Canadian governments subsidise broadband rollout, here, the attitude is different.

The UK approach is to “establish a competitive marketplace” as opposed to just subsidising the incum bent providers. This is probably a good thing: the German broadband market, for example, is dominated by one provider responsible for 90% of all connections.

But the question of rural broadband remains. There was a one-off fund of £30m made available for regional development agencies to, in the words of a Department of Trade and Industry spokesman, “go away and look for ideas” and implement them as trials. It is from some of the remains of this funding – via the North West Development Agency – that EdenFaster hopes to get off the ground. Time is running out for similar projects, however. The money was made available last year, and there are no plans to extend this offering.

This might be a problem: the demand for rural broadband connections is growing. It is not limited to remote areas such as Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales, either. There are grassroots campaigns being pioneered all over the country, either campaigning for BT to install ADSL, or doing as EdenFaster is, and bypassing BT altogether.

One campaign, at www.pleasebt.co.uk, is run by Chris Maerick for the Hertfordshire village of Stanstead Abbotts. Only 20 miles from London, Stanstead Abbotts needs 200 people to sign up to have ADSL installed before BT will convert the exchange. Maerick has been collecting names. “If you just sit back, nothing is going to happen,” he says. So far, he has 33 local villagers on his list.

Back in the dales, Lindsey Annison is hopeful that their project will be a success. “EdenFaster will create at least one job within the community on top of the benefits of having the connection itself,” she says, and as long as they have one hundred subscribers they will break even. This will not be a problem – one poster in the village shop has already inspired 73 people to sign up, and that’s not including the schools and local businesses. Having been hit by the foot and mouth outbreak, the rejuvenation of the area is topmost in their minds – and many see access to the internet as key to this. Last year, Annison started Digital dales.co.uk to highlight the opportunities in the local area – opportunities that can only be made greater by the introduction of broadband internet connection.

All told, they need £150,000 to transform the area, create some jobs, and provide a possible blueprint for other rural communities. Tomorrow, the North West Development Agency will give them the verdict. We shall be watching.

* * * * *

Banging on the broadband door

The government and BT defended the pace of broadband rollout this week at the Labour party conference in Blackpool.

Angus Porter, managing director of the consumer division of BT Retail, admitted “trigger points” of consumer interest, at which telephone exchanges would be upgraded to offer broadband, were “higher than some people would like”.

But, he added, “the costs of providing the service are higher than some people would like”.

He said that enabling an exchange for ADSL requires a stable electricity supply, air-conditioning and a connection to the internet backbone, the last of which can be more expensive in remote areas.

The trigger points, which have so far been met at five exchanges, are at a level that would lose BT money if they were met precisely – although this loss cannot be too great, he said, or BT would be accused of uncompetitive behaviour by the regulator.

He said the company has to justify its spending to its shareholders, and that on the hundreds of millions of pounds already spent on ADSL-enabled exchanges, “the return to BT so far has been pretty poor”.

E-commerce minister, Stephen Timms, said that there were other ways to get broadband, pointing out that 40% of the country has access through cable television networks, and anyone can use satellite.

Timms said: “There’s still a third of the population not in range of an affordable broadband service.

“I do think it would be a significant mistake to provide [government] funding for broadband rollout on a significant scale.”

He said that mobile phone services, which now cover virtually the whole population, were built with private money. “Public subsidy would not just have been superfluous, it may even have been damaging,” he said.

Instead, the government is spending £30m on broadband pilot projects around the country, which Timms hopes will demonstrate alternative models of provision.

As to the UK’s poor showing in comparison to other countries,Timms admitted “we made a late start”, but added that “we’re now making very rapid progress”. He said the UK’s millionth broadband customer is expected to buy the service by the end of next week.

S A Mathieson

Oh Crumbs, its all happened again!

Further stories of the police attack, Moot of the Mist party in Oxfordshire.

Really, any event that I’ve been to ever, and that I’ve enjoyed and had it like I wanted it, has just never been with someones / anyones permission.!

Have always had to take it. The consequences of such action, however had been felt by party folks at the Moot in Oxfordshire this last weekend.

[ Hence the need for welfare / first aid / legal aid, negotiations etc . all the stuff I’ve been telling you about, and that has now collapsed ] .

Release is in trouble, again:

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_09_29_tash_lodge_archive.html#82384277

I guess this behaviour is going to put many off, from standing up to the authorities, who now feel strong enough, to say no, to everything.

Just thought it worth reminding all that this is where we came in! I was first hit round the head with a stick, by a Thames Valley Police Officer in Windsor Great Park. [some might say that I’ve never been the same, since!].

They have hurt me, most years since. Nothing like the kinds of gatherings we want have never been offered [well only once, Watchfield in 1975, never been repeated]. Have only happened ‘cos sufficient number got together, and took it.

These reports from Guilfin http://www.guilfin.net/reports/?id=rwINET1436

Dirty Circus Boards http://www.dirtycircus.com/board/replylist.asp?TID=8016&recordno=0

Police attend Moot of the Mist 05.10.02…- some eye-witness accounts

kryogen

RE: What The Fuck Happened Message:

Hard for anyone to makea full account cos it was hard to know what was going on being dark and surrounded by trees/people

babylon turned up in large numbers dogs horses and riot gear they approached the party not sure what time as they got up close to the party everyone sat down in front of the police line nobody was violent towards the police in any way rows of ravers peacefully stood firm and showed our unity

from what i remember next thing police line advanced without warning into the rows of party people that had sat down in protest huge horses storming towards peaceful people riot police hitting throwing pushing everyone in their way

from then on not sure exactly what happened basically ended up with rigs being escorted home i think and ravers forced off site after being searched and having cars checked on the way out cos they lost one of their batons and were determined to find who had it!

probably lots of gaps in what happened but theres a rough idea

respect everyone that stood up for our right to party

———————————-

Fushion Julz

Subject: RE: What The Fuck Happened Message:

Perhaps not the full story but….

We headed for the first site planning to arrive at 10.45pm….we were on-the-dot, too, but were blocked from entering by the police with a van and several of them in attendance. (apparantly they had also blocked entrance to a few other sites in the area).

So we headed for the backup….stopped at the services on the M40 just south of Oxford where there was a “Police Operation in progress” sign, but no sign of any around. Arrived at the 2nd site about 11.45ish where Storm and Deviant (I think) were already setting up. Not many ravers at that time, but they started arriving shortly after.

Started setting up and was finished and running by 1amish (shortly after Storm).

Reasonable number of people arrived, some reporting a big police presence at the end of the track. About 2.30am the first 12 officers, including an Inspector, arrived…ordered a shut-down under sec63, but refused to give me the name of the Superintendent who signed the order (which they must do).

They took many photos and video taped for several minuites and then after a couple of cans were throwm at them, they retreated and said they would be back to deal with the situation. After a brief discussion we decided to continue (Storm continued the whole time, but I don’t think the police got to speak to them).

Reports, then, of a huge presence massing in the lane, but people still arriving over the fields…Then about 4am the OB returned with some mounted (6 or 7) and about 70 other officers, some with dogs. They stopped our gennys and slung the leads over the hedge into the field! Then they ordered everyone to move back in a line in front of the police to the level of Storms rig…..Here people got a little organised and stood firm….a little

discussion took place with the inspector and he offered the last chance to shut down. Storm did so, but th police were unprepared for a third rig still playing and mounted a violent attempt to break through to reach them some way down the track.

At some point, they also were stopped and , Storm were threatned with police help” if they didn’t start clearing up and the mounted officers herded most of the people away from the rigs and down the track.

As they were leaving, one of the sergeants (I think) gave us his consent to stay till it was light to clear the rubbish and pack away the marquees… pretty much everyone was gone by 5.30am, but we stayed till 3pm and cleared the site.

————————————–

Subject:

RE: What The Fuck Happened Message: well, heres my account anyway….

We got to the first site but it had been pigged so we hung about waiting for the phone line to change message and then headed to the other site. Got there and spent about 30 mins trying to park the car then went down to the site. That nice polis helicopter did me a great favour by lighting up the track for me all the way down to the party, saved me breaking an ankle before I even got there, thanks.

About 4am I was just mooting away when someone told me the pigs had arrived.

I went for a look and sure enough, there was a whole line of coppers standing there with full riot gear, no numbers on and a few mounties as well

It all started off quite peaceful like, but some of the mooters decided to start huring abuse, rocks, anything they could find really. It was then that I jumped over the fence near the middle rig.

I’m all up for standing by the rig and protecting it, but I’m not up for a full on fight with the polis. If you look at the picture above you’ll understand why. Peaceful protest yes, all out war no.

Things were turning from bad to worse, but in my opinion the polis were aggrevated into having to use their batons. There was one fuck wit at the front who just wouldn’t let it go, he got a battering. All of his mates (?) were shouting to him to stop and trying to hole him back but he took no notice and antagonised then even more.

It was at that point that me and the lads I was with decided to make a sharp exit over the fields and many others were doing the same.

We got half way up the track towards the entrance and saw a polis road block with searchlight etc. We sent the driver on ahead with nothing on him and sure enough he got searched and his car got searched. That left me and the other two to tab cross-country, over numerous barbed wire fences, bushes and fields to get to the M40 where we met up with the driver.

It was clear from the moment the polis had rocks thrown at them that this was one party that had ended and was never gonna take off again. There was no way it would be a peaceful protest so why hang about (unless you like violence?).

If you pitch a load of coppers against some fucked up mooters, whose gonna win? They have a clear head, armour, weapons and back up, what do we have?

We are never gonna win when it come to fighting and I’m not sure we want to either. Therefore it needs to remain peaceful, agree or disagree?

———————————-

Mooter

Subject: RE: What The Fuck Happened

Bit spaced this morning – I kinda agree with you, but could the police justify the beatings they gave if no one was chucking stuff at them first? No, not really. They can’t just wade into a load of peaceful munters and start battering them, they need provocation.

From where I was standing they were provoked. They were just standing in a line, doing nothing. Then all of a sudden people start chucking all sorts of crap at them, what did we expect?

I know I’m not going to be the most liked person on this board for having this view but I’m still gonna say what I’m thinking and post under my usual ID to do so.

I still believe that if everyone had sat down, chilled out and not chucked anything at the old bill the outcome might have been a bit different.

———————————-

DiscoPete

Subject: RE: What The Fuck Happened

It’s my beliefe that the OB are under the impression that if they show us their serious and can stop a party that we’ll stop trying to have them, and that the huge amount of budget money spent in the short term will result in no more parties.

WRONG!

It’d be a sad day if a rig decided it wasn’t going to go out just because there’s a good chance of getting raided, and the same is true for punters – if anything they have less to lose.

Question – How long do you think the police finance executives will continue to support the cost of helecopter/equestrian/dog/riot operations on an ongoing basis?

By being calm and persistant, every time a party gets shut down at a vast expense -> we win.

For the record, I also do not condone any action that could result in an asult charge. Throwing stones and bottles or verbal abuse does not achieve anything. A randomly thrown rock has as much chance of hitting a punter, punters car, van or rig as the intended target.

A violent situation is predictable. The OB are trained to control and restrain. When faced with someone who calmly would like to just talk about it, they have no clue what to do, and that made me smile.

I was first aproached and agressivly directed to step away from the decks, i complied and they walked me round to the front of the van. They then asked me to turn off the rig, somethig I could have much more easily done from where I was standing behind the decks 🙂

One final observation -> did anyone else notice how scared the WPC in the front line was? She was bricking it 🙂 Obviously throwing her weight about and acting like a thug helped her to feel in control of the situation.

Nice to meet more DC people, especially the morning crew, it turned into a chilled sunny Sunday morning.

DiscoPete

–Just add caffine (with some water)

———————————-

gimly son of thorin oakenshield

Subject: RE: What The Fuck Happened

I was there too and there was a stone thrown so I hear but it didn’t hit the police it hit a raver, there may have been be more but I didn’t see any and I was in the thick of it all the time. I did see some beer sprayed at them cos it went over me as well.

To say that that gave them the excuse is wrong. Having a few objects, and it certainly was only a few because I didn’t see any, is no excuse to hit and ride over innocent people, one hit in the wrong place can be very serious.

To those that sat down in front of them you were brave but foolish if you thought that would stop them, sure it will for a while until they get orders. For example the ones sitting at the front were offering no violence and it didn’t stop the police horses trying to walk over you when they saw there chance, which was when those standing at the back moved to stop the police that were moving behind the van, in my opinion it was only the combination of those standing at the back that stopped them from walking over you in the first place.

If you think the police were justified well that’s understandable as well we are conditioned to behave its just we are treated so badly some people are a bit fucked.

I saw the police push and shove people first, I also saw them assault some girls and some blokes get hit trying to stop it. It’s understandable that someone is going to be outraged enough to get violent but nearly everyone else restrained himself or herself.

I could hear the attack the storm rig and see the police hitting people as I moved nearer with my camera two horse police tried to ride me down and pinned me to the hedge trying to hit me with his stick I restrained myself but one hit with a truncheon in the wrong place and it can kill or seriously disable you, so I kicked the horse in the leg and put my hand over one of the horses eyes, that gave me the chance to get out of there while he got control of his horse.

In my opinion if the police hadn’t been so aggressive it would of been peaceful.

Stand up for the police if you want, I think if everyone had of just sat down the outcome would of been the same some people would of still got hurt they were having none of it. I am proud of everyone and I mean EVERYONE except those that stood up for the police.

You must remember the police weren’t here to stop a violent group; they were armed to the teeth to stop people who just wanted to listen to music and dance in the middle of nowhere.

I know some people wont like this but if the police new they could just walk all over

us they would more often.

And no way was there 70 of them

In my opinion defending the police in this case is worse than whoever threw something.

———————————-

Of course, this is not the first time. This sort of violence been going on since i can remember. The last one, I know about though, was the Mutant Dance Party at Ashton Court, Bristol, back in July. Here is the link, to read all about that:

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_07_21_tash_lodge_archive.html#79299422

ukbloggers

Have found the UKbloggers group on Yahoo Groups.

UKbloggers is an adhoc mailing list for folks who keep UK-based / oriented weblogs (though I suppose if you’re just interested in UK weblogs you’re free to join).

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukbloggers/

The main webpages that you can use to check for information about UK Blogging are at http://gblogs.threadnaught.net/

&

http://gblogs.org.uk/ is intended to be a repository of meet-related information.

I have already joined Weblogs.com Yahoo Group, but a bit Americanified, for me.

Check out at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/weblogs-com/

Hawkwind, who are they?

Been going on for years. Have known about some of this trouble as I’m been associated with both camps. It is all about who has the ‘rights’ to use the Hawkwind name. None of this changes who people are, of course. But from the fans point of view, it’s about ‘brand and brand loyalty’. Hence for the record companies an venues, it is know that the crowds, and hence the money, will follow the label / brand name.

Oh god!! with money, has it ever been any different?

This site explains some of the bad blood, between the ‘factions’. Who’s side am I on, I don’t know!!

http://spaceritual.net/

spaceritual.net has been put together by Nik Turner, and features several members of the original Hawkwind line-up.

This site is the ‘official Hawkwind Site’

http://hawkwind.com/

* * * * *

A letter from the guestbook of spaceritual.net

Fellow Hawkfans,

A grim day in the history of Hawkwind dawns on us. Yes today Dave Brock takes Nik Turner to court to stop Nik using the name Xhawkwind. Nik can’t afford the fight so Dave with the power and money will probably win. It’s not just Nik who will loose out, the band includes many of the original line up including: Terry Ollis-Drums, Mick Slattery-Guitar, Thomas Crimble-Bass, plus others who have guested like Del Dettmar and Dik Mik. The fans will be the real ones to loose out, because they might not get that chance to see them play thanks to Dave’s power trip! A tour has been planned for later this year, so far Xhawkwind have played just a few gigs, which have gone really well. The crowds have enjoyed hearing the old songs being played in the 70’s style, that’s what put them on the map in the first place after all. Xhawkwind don’t play any of the songs Dave wrote because they don’t want to face any further legal action, but they can play the songs written by Bob Calvert and group compositions, which means they have still got a decent repertoire. Xhawkwind played at the Glastonbury festival, jamming some of the old songs and getting a great reception.

Orgone Accumulator

Master of the Universe

Warriors on the edge of time

Brainstorm

The Awakening

D-Rider

Shouldn’t do that

Silver Machine

Any Hawkwind fan would have loved to have seen that, 1500 lucky ones did! Don’t let Dave Brock ruin it for everyone. Write to the papers, contact the Hawkwind website, let people know what you feel about it.

A concerned fan

* * * * *

reprinted from latest Record Collector

Dear RC

I’m writing in response to the recent Hawkwind article in RC273 and Nik Turner’s letter of reply in RC275. I’m now standing up and being counted as someone who has followed Hawkwind for over 20 years including making pilgrimages to Stonehenge to try to catch them at the Solstice.

I have immense respect for Dave Brock and his piloting of Starship Hawkwind through the chaos of the 70’s so that it was available to me in the 80’s as an adolscence-shaping experience – but this feud over the name ‘Hawkwind’ is not only undignified, but negates the communal spirit of the band in which they first formed.

Dave should know better than anyone that Hawkwind fans are nothing if not obsessive and often collect any musical offering featuring past and present members of the band. Side projects from Hawkpeople have always been embraced in the past and Nik Turner, Mick Slattery, Terry Ollis and Thomas Crimble have the most legitimate claim to the name Hawkwind- please don’t insult us by insinuating they are a fake version of Hawkwind that may be foisted upon us unawares as we (or promoters) are unable to distinguish between them. Hawkfans should be perfectly well aware of who they are and if they choose to witness the best renditions of the early material for decades, then its nothing to do with the ‘real Hawkwind’ (or are they worried they can’t compete?)

As for Lemmy’s comment that Nik is a ‘second rate sax player’ at least Nik has made the effort to improve his style over the years, as attested by his forming the Fantastic Allstars in the late 80’s. Jazz is much more difficult to play than space-rock-Hawkwind songs are technically undemanding but fantastic fun, as opined by Hawkwind guitarist Mick Slattery, in relation to the psychedelic blues he also plays with his band Fatfinger. Having just seen Nik jamming along with various friends in the Green Fields at Glastonbury this year, I’d challenge Lemmy to perform at a moment’s notice with such creativity and versatility. There was a definite undercurrent of opinion at Glastonbury that Hawkwind’s set on the Thursday had a tremendous amount of energy, while they still represent the spirit of festivals as demonstrated by the number of people there to see them.

Nik Turner is one of the most genuine musicians that I know and has sacrificed the pursuit of Mammon for the much more uncertain and often less well-rewarded path of playing music he really believes in. Time to let him

get on with it without all the legal proceedings and unpleasantness and allow people to make up their own minds about which incarnation of Hawkwind they would like to experience

Classic Rock has published the following article.:

X marks the spot Hawkwind row with Brock and Turner gets ugly.

Nik Turner and various other Hawkwind members past and present, including Lemmy, sci-fi writer Michael Moorcock and keyboard player Dik Mik, are set to take legal action against current band leader Dave Brock and a series of Hawkwind reissues. Led by former saxophonist Turner, who recently called Classic Rock to express his indignation at an Upfront story we ran two months ago, they allege that Brock himself is “destroying Hawkwind’s reputation”, and that he has also failed to pay royalties or seek permission” for the releases from what Turner called the “golden years of Hawkwind”.

Earlier, singer/guitarist Brock claimed that Turner and his group xHawkwind were “a Hawkwind tribute band”, and that their recent appearances at this year’s Glastonbury and Guildford festivals had cheated fans who were expecting the current line-up. Turner argues that the presence of vintage-era members Mick Slattery (guitar), Del Dettmar (keyboards), Thomas Crimble and Dave Anderson (both on bass) and Terry Ollis (drums) validates xHawkwind’s existence.

Worse still, Lemmy, Moorcock, Dik Mik, Ollis, Slattery, Dettmar and Crimble, plus ex-members Steve Swindells, Harvey Bainbridge, Paul Rudolph, Alan Powell, Adrian Shaw, Dave Anderson and even the estates of the late Barney Bubbles and Robert Calvert, now say they are pursuing Brock – who has trademarked the Hawkwind name – claiming “non-payments of royalties”.

Moorcock told us: “For some years Dave Brock has, wherever possible, removed the work of writers like myself and Bob Calvert from reissued albums and has generally behaved in a an unethical way. While I have been generally silent on these matters, Dave has been feathering his own nest at the expense of the others, especially the best-known members of Hawkwind. He has continued to put bands together which he has called Hawkwind which are only him and various new musicians. I’m speaking now because I believe Dave has behaved unethically in bringing an injunction against Nik Turner for using the name xHawkwind.”

* * * * *

A press release has been prepared to explain some of all this.

http://members.aol.com/uheep2/pr.htm

Press Release 08/08/2002 – “Without Prejudice”

(Please note that this press release is independent from Spaceritual.net and does not necessarily reflect the views of Spaceritual.net)

Original Hawkwind members including Lemmy from Motorhead, science-fiction writer Mike Moorcock (see message from Mike Moorcock to Hawkwind fans further down), Nik Turner and a score of others line up in the court case against Dave Brock – about Brock’s destruction of the Hawkwind reputation and his issuing of CD albums featuring early members of Hawkwind and not paying royalties to or seeking permission of those members of the “Golden Years” of Hawkwind.

It started at the Glastonbury Festival 2002, Thursday 27th June 2002. Nik Turner and his eight-month old band XHawkwind.com (now forced to change temporarily to Spaceritual.net), featuring original members from the 1970s: Mick Slattery – guitar, Thomas Crimble – bass, Terry Ollis – drums (the band also often features other original 70s members such as Del Dettmar – noise generators/synths, Dave Anderson – bass, guitar, and Ron Tree – 90s Hawkwind member – bass, poetry, vocals, are just soundchecking as the first band to play on stage at Glastonbury 2002 (they played in a big top crammed with around 1,000 people and more were listening outside!) and Nik receives an injunction from Dave Brock, who is now trying to force Nik not to use any variation of the word Hawkwind as band name (Hawkwind was Nik’s original nickname from before the band was called that!!)

Dave Brock also bombarded the internet, pleading with punters to return their tickets and ask for their money back if they had bought those tickets thinking it was Hawkwind that was going to perform at the Guildford Festival and not Nik Turner’s XHawkwind.com After the Guildford Festival had finished, a journalist rang up its promoters and inquired as to how many people had asked for refunds because XHawkwind.com had substituted Hawkwind (owing to Dave Brock insisting on more costs to the Festival as the event drew nearer). The total number of people who have asked for a refund on their tickets as per Dave Brock’s massive internet campaign was ZERO!

By the 5th of August 2002, this had turned into a legal battle between all of the 70s Hawkwind stalwarts on one side and Dave Brock (who had registered Hawkwind as a trade mark without telling any of the past members of the band!) on the other, so the following ex-Hawkwind members are now pursuing Dave Brock about the so-called “Dave Brock-related bootlegs”, as well as non-payment of royalties:

Lemmy, Michael Moorcock, Nik Turner, the estate of the late Barney Bubbles, the estate of the late Robert Calvert, Terry Ollis, Steve Swindells, Harvey Bainbridge, Paul Rudolph, Alan Powell, Adrian Shaw, Dave Anderson, Thomas Crimble, Mick Slattery, Dik Mik and Del Dettmar.

* * * * *

and on Dave Blocks’ / Hawkwind.com site, they say ……

PLEASE NOTE: DESPITE VARIOUS PROMOTION TO THE CONTRARY, WE HAD ABSOLUTELY *NOTHING* AT ALL TO DO WITH THE GUILDFORD FESTIVAL !!!!

Hello there! The Guildford festival were using the name ‘Hawkwind’ without permission. Simply putting an ‘x’ in front of the word Hawkwind was not far enough removed to avoid confusion. (Can you imagine watching xMotorhead, xLevellers, xOzric Tentacles etc while drinking xCoca Cola or indeed xXXXX!) There is an awful lot of confusion going on as well as legal action. The band who played WERE NOT Hawkwind and are not connected to or endorsed by the real band.

Hawkwind would like to make this clear to all of their fans.

Hawkwind are pleased to announce that the proceedings which Dave Brock had to take against Tony Scott and Scotty Events Ltd (Guilfest) in respect of the use by other artistes of the name of XHawkwind have reached an amicable conclusion. Tony Scott undertook to the court that he would not use the name ‘Hawkwind’, ‘xhawkwind’ or any name confusingly similar in relation to any band playing at Guilfest 2002 which is not associated with Dave Brock.

Tony Scott also has agreed to pay a contribution to Hawkwind’s legal costs.

* * * * *

Hope no-one gets all shirty and legal with me, for just reposting this lot. Am just trying my best, in explaination of it all.

stonehengeentertaimentsdiscussion / Stonehenge Group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stonehengeentertaimentsdiscussion

This list has been set up to debate and perhaps even work something out in relation to having Solstice Celebrations that include the possibility of amplified music in the Wiltshire area and near Stonehenge if at all possible!

To join this group, please state what your interest in the group actually is and perhaps what kind of event you would like to see at or near Stonehenge.

There are several other discussion group lists on the Stonehenge / gathering subject: here, some more links:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stonehengepeace/

&

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stonehenge2003Celebration/

Here is an edit, of one my first contributions to this list:

I didn’t know, of the other groups you mention. But I did know of the Stonehenge peace and reconciliation commission etc.

I am not with them. I disagree quite fundamentally what is going on there.

I am for peace, as well as the next man. The Beanfield was horrible, and I don’t wish a re-run on anyone. BUT, what the outcome of their meetings appears to be, is a complete acquiescence to the police and authorities ideas, on how to run a managed event. It seem so long as they get to be all pagan, and wave an oak leaf at each other, in the stones in the middle of the night, it is considered progress.

Well this anarchist is not religious, Christian, Moslem or Pagan. Never was. But I do claim a right to gather, with me and mine, that goes back to the stone age, right there as we have always done.. Really, why should I put that on hold, because of a temporary bit of law, which, when viewed from that length of history, doesn’t seen to stand up. For such attitudes, you may know that I’m still an ‘injuncted person’ and can be arrested for being in an area, ‘delineated on a map therein between dates around the solstice.’ This order by Lord Justice Morland, has never been rescinded.

My interest is, and always was the gathering of the tribes, to follow this tradition. If you look at some of the photos I put there especially the aerial shots, you’ll see 20,000, on one side of the road at a festival on the solstice, many listening to Hawkwind etc, with a couple of hundred of us, going over the road for a celebration of a few hours, to return back to the festival, before it got dark.

Recent years, after all the nonsense, the focus has shifted to the stones. This is a shame, THEY should have left it all alone! The whole issue, would not now be under such great pressure.

The legal justification, for putting us down, was damage. It informed the injunctions. But, I’ve always thought that there is a difference between ‘damage’ and ‘wear and tear’, like what you get during its ‘use’. Left to the authorities, it would be put in a glass case and air-conditioned as a museum piece, rather than ‘living history’. Do you see, we come from different planets 🙂

Because of the way, this has all panned-out. I did not go to the event this year, have been every year since 1972! But am so disappointed by the way stuff is turning out. The temporary gathering in the middle of the night under rules, is not what this old foggy thought we were doing. I find it hard to account for what is going on, and why folks have put up with it! You might also be interested to know, that I’ve not been to a Glastonbury for years either, last 1992. I think that there is a difference between a ‘festival’ and an ‘outside concert’. Just not what I thought we were doing, when I set out on all this.

The key to having a festival, ANYwhere in the district, is the Ministry of Defence. Oh god! Am so tired.

How many times have we been round all this. National Trust own immediate fields around it, English Heritage own it, and the fields the stones are on. Several thousand acres from Larkhill north, east and west are the MOD. Every year, we ask for some, every year they say no, with similar excuses. Need for army training, unexploded ordinance, Some of this is true, especially with war coming round again. But it is not true for somewhere like Barton Stacy, A303 between Andover and Amesbury. They have political masters, and also, don’t want to be viewed as an easy touch for accommodating hippies. This has many implications for elsewhere in the country! Policeman say they’re upholding laws, and incidentally, don’t have any land. And so, it all goes round again ………!

Farmers are not just farmers in this district, but are huge conglomerates like Countess Farms etc. This is important, since in other places, we have manages to slip an ‘economically challenged farmer’ a few quid, to be

abroad or something. So, in the absence of a suitable farmer, and co-operation of MOD.

The merry dance just continues.

I am turning into a commudginly old git! Think folks in the younger generation, have grown up with the belief that you pay for stuff, to get a service. But the ethic of free festivals was / is

Bring what you expect to find

If not you, who,

If not here, where,

If not now, when.

We cannot have such free gatherings, without the shift in ‘headspace’ that gets people to ask what they can do, for the maintenance of the tribe / event. This is why I went off about Release and such going down.

Personally, I was so impressed by some of the early gatherings, that I asked myself, what can I do to sustain all this. I went away, and joined the London Ambulance Service and got a training that I applied with the welfare team, and release. I met hundreds of others, with similar commitment. And by such input, sustain events that would not have happened otherwise.

Some of you may know, that, in ‘party mode’, in advance of the CJA etc. I was involved yet again, in organising resistance.

All Systems: http://tash.gn.apc.org/allsystm.htm

However, this time round, found many folks just thanked you very much, and watched, while other did work.!! Thus, missing the point.

This is just so different from few years before, when folks did things, and others watched, identified need, and offered to learn and help. Do folks see what I’m getting at? There is now such a mis-match between needs, and

available folks.

I have remarked before ” people now have the festival / party/ events /

they deserve, discuss!”

Gosh, got carried away, sorry, going to bed now.

I hope we can work something out, but have no idea what :- )

Love. tash

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stonehengeentertaimentsdiscussion/message/19

stonehengeentertaimentsdiscussion / Stonehenge Group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stonehengeentertainmentsdiscussion

This list has been set up to debate and perhaps even work something out in relation to having Solstice Celebrations that include the possibility of amplified music in the Wiltshire area and near Stonehenge if at all possible!

To join this group, please state what your interest in the group actually is and perhaps what kind of event you would like to see at or near Stonehenge.

There are several other discussion group lists on the Stonehenge / gathering subject: here, some more links:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stonehengepeace/

&

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stonehenge2003Celebration/

Stonehenge Peace and Reconciliation Process: http://www.greenleaf.demon.co.uk/padras.htm

Here is an edit, of one my first contributions to this list:

I didn’t know, of the other groups you mention. But I did know of the Stonehenge peace and reconciliation commission etc.

I am not with them. I disagree quite fundamentally what is going on there.

I am for peace, as well as the next man. The Beanfield was horrible, and I don’t wish a re-run on anyone. BUT, what the outcome of their meetings appears to be, is a complete acquiescence to the police and authorities ideas, on how to run a managed event. It seem so long as they get to be all pagan, and wave an oak leaf at each other, in the stones in the middle of the night, it is considered progress.

Well this anarchist is not religious, Christian, Moslem or Pagan. Never was. But I do claim a right to gather, with me and mine, that goes back to the stone age, right there as we have always done.. Really, why should I put that on hold, because of a temporary bit of law, which, when viewed from that length of history, doesn’t seen to stand up. For such attitudes, you may know that I’m still an ‘injuncted person’ and can be arrested for being in an area, ‘delineated on a map therein between dates around the solstice.’ This order by Lord Justice Morland, has never been rescinded.

My interest is, and always was the gathering of the tribes, to follow this tradition. If you look at some of the photos I put there especially the aerial shots, you’ll see 20,000, on one side of the road at a festival on the solstice, many listening to Hawkwind etc, with a couple of hundred of us, going over the road for a celebration of a few hours, to return back to the festival, before it got dark.

Recent years, after all the nonsense, the focus has shifted to the stones. This is a shame, THEY should have left it all alone! The whole issue, would not now be under such great pressure.

The legal justification, for putting us down, was damage. It informed the injunctions. But, I’ve always thought that there is a difference between ‘damage’ and ‘wear and tear’, like what you get during its ‘use’. Left to the authorities, it would be put in a glass case and air-conditioned as a museum piece, rather than ‘living history’. Do you see, we come from different planets 🙂

Because of the way, this has all panned-out. I did not go to the event this year, have been every year since 1972! But am so disappointed by the way stuff is turning out. The temporary gathering in the middle of the night under rules, is not what this old foggy thought we were doing. I find it hard to account for what is going on, and why folks have put up with it! You might also be interested to know, that I’ve not been to a Glastonbury for years either, last 1992. I think that there is a difference between a ‘festival’ and an ‘outside concert’. Just not what I thought we were doing, when I set out on all this.

The key to having a festival, ANYwhere in the district, is the Ministry of Defence. Oh god! Am so tired.

How many times have we been round all this. National Trust own immediate fields around it, English Heritage own it, and the fields the stones are on. Several thousand acres from Larkhill north, east and west are the MOD. Every year, we ask for some, every year they say no, with similar excuses. Need for army training, unexploded ordinance, Some of this is true, especially with war coming round again. But it is not true for somewhere like Barton Stacy, A303 between Andover and Amesbury. They have political masters, and also, don’t want to be viewed as an easy touch for accommodating hippies. This has many implications for elsewhere in the country! Policeman say they’re upholding laws, and incidentally, don’t have any land. And so, it all goes round again ………!

Farmers are not just farmers in this district, but are huge conglomerates like Countess Farms etc. This is important, since in other places, we have manages to slip an ‘economically challenged farmer’ a few quid, to be

abroad or something. So, in the absence of a suitable farmer, and co-operation of MOD.

The merry dance just continues.

I am turning into a commudginly old git! Think folks in the younger generation, have grown up with the belief that you pay for stuff, to get a service. But the ethic of free festivals was / is

Bring what you expect to find

If not you, who,

If not here, where,

If not now, when.

We cannot have such free gatherings, without the shift in ‘headspace’ that gets people to ask what they can do, for the maintenance of the tribe / event. This is why I went off about Release and such going down.

Personally, I was so impressed by some of the early gatherings, that I asked myself, what can I do to sustain all this. I went away, and joined the London Ambulance Service and got a training that I applied with the welfare team, and release. I met hundreds of others, with similar commitment. And by such input, sustain events that would not have happened otherwise.

Some of you may know, that, in ‘party mode’, in advance of the CJA etc. I was involved yet again, in organising resistance.

All Systems: http://tash.gn.apc.org/allsystm.htm

However, this time round, found many folks just thanked you very much, and watched, while other did work.!! Thus, missing the point.

This is just so different from few years before, when folks did things, and others watched, identified need, and offered to learn and help. Do folks see what I’m getting at? There is now such a mis-match between needs, and

available folks.

I have remarked before ” people now have the festival / party/ events /

they deserve, discuss!”

Gosh, got carried away, sorry, going to bed now.

I hope we can work something out, but have no idea what :- )

Love. tash

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stonehengeentertainmentsdiscussion/message/19

Stockport Cannabis Cafe raided again, and owner goes to jail, for 3 YEARS!

They keep getting Busted! This page gives an account of the continued nonsence ……!

http://www.greenhosting.co.uk/dutchexperiencewebsiite/busted.htm

The Dutch experience was busted again, the plain clothes police who mingled with the crowd, moved in before the cafe had even opened. After initially trapping Colin Davies in the cafe doorway and causing him to scream out in pain due to his serious spinal injuries. Colin was then manhandled back into the cafe, at this point Colin was placed on the floor near to the entrance, whilst all around medicinal cannabis users in wheelchairs and on crutches looked on. After a short while Colin was then dragged away to a waiting police van. The police still remained in the premises with all the people who were in the cafe still being held there.

Here is the Cafe website: http://www.dutchexperience.org

Cannabis cafe raided as owner jailed

Thursday, 3 October, 2002 BBC Story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2296211.stm

The UK’s first Amsterdam-style cannabis cafe has been raided on the same day its owner was jailed.

The news came just hours after cafe owner Colin Davies was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of drugs offences.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed on Thursday the Dutch Experience cafe in Stockport had been raided by officers.

Davies had claimed the cafe was set up for seriously ill people who used the class B drug for medicinal use. He was arrested after smoking a joint at the cafe

His defence team applied for his immediate release because he has already served nine months in jail, but the judge refused.

Davies, 44, from Romney Towers, Brinnington, Stockport, was arrested when the cafe opened on 15 September 2001 after being caught smoking a joint.

He had claimed the cafe was based on similar ventures – the so-called “medi-weed” system – which operate in the Netherlands.

He said his clientele were people who smoked cannabis to ease painful illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and arthritis.

But he was found guilty of three counts of possessing a class B drug with intent to supply, of supplying a class B drug and of being involved in the importation of cannabis.

His trial heard customs officers seized cannabis worth £18,000 at Dover and 430 ready-made joints destined for addresses linked to Davies.

The prosecution also alleged £3,000 cash found at his flat was the proceeds from the sale of the drug.

Davies was also convicted of permitting the premises to be used for the smoking of the drug.

In passing sentence, the judge said Davies had persistently flouted the law.

James McCrindell, for the defence, said: “This episode began out of a genuine belief on the part of Davies that it was appropriate to help others who were in difficult circumstances in relation to their medical condition.”

Here, earlier story in the continued saga:

Stockport goes Dutch

Wednesday, 24 July, 2002

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2148590.stm

Dutch entrepreneurs are preparing to test the UK’s soft drug laws by opening up to 50 cannabis cafes. But there is already one such British establishment defying the police… in Stockport.

The opening of a so-called cannabis cafe in Stockport last September seems not to have caused the drab town on the outskirts of Manchester to descend into reefer madness.

Despite the media attention surrounding an establishment which openly flouts UK drug laws by allowing its customers to consume marijuana, many locals are unaware of its exact location.

“I’ve worked here for eight month and have never found it,” says one man standing, as it happens, just a few hundreds yards from The Dutch Experience.

Close by a council flower planter boasting a few (unsmokeable) errant hemp leaves, a group of teenagers is even less help. Their ignorance of the cafe seems to suggest the town’s youth are barely interested in – let alone being corrupted by – their proximity to soft drugs.

While not signposted, The Dutch Experience turns out to be no secretive drug den.

Situated in a cobbled arcade, the cafe’s neighbours include a hairdressers, a jewellery shop and a fitness centre, where sandwiches can be ordered by those hungry for something more substantial than the cafe’s crisps and chocolate bars.

Inside the air is not exactly heavy with the odour of hashish. In fact the smell of instant coffee seems to be winning the day.

The serious smoking takes place in a members’ room, into which you can only enter once you have provided two photos, shown your passport and signed a declaration that you are “not in anyway a police officer or informant of the police”.

The form is useless in any legal sense, but is an act of defiance for a place raided three times by the local constabulary and whose creator, medicinal cannabis advocate Colin Davies, is in Strangeways Prison for his troubles.

Despite this, at least three customers are waiting in the public cafe to join up, the whole process of filling forms and issuing laminated cards going as efficiently as can be expected from a business conducted in a dope haze.

Any spare space is given over to “Free Colin Davies” posters, a photo of Mr Davies giving the Queen a bouquet laced with hemp leaves and a picture of Brian Paddick – the London police officer who pioneered leniency towards soft drug use.

Stacked beside the stereo are exactly the sort of CDs you’d expect to be on heavy rotation. Bob Marley, The Chemical Brothers, Bob Dylan… and er, Chris Rea.

Berry – a young clog-wearing Dutchman who once guided tourists around Amsterdam’s government-tolerated cannabis coffee shops – says the 1,200-strong clientele doesn’t really fit the stoner stereotype.

“This place is busier than any coffee shop I’ve ever seen in Amsterdam. In the day it’s mainly medicinal users – people in wheelchairs and on crutches.

“We have the suits popping in at lunchtime. Then at night it’s a bit more recreational – nurses, teachers, that sort of person. Our youngest member is 18, the oldest 90-something.”

Berry is keen to stress the cafe’s service to those who say their use of cannabis eases the symptoms of serious illness. “We have people with cancer, Aids, multiple sclerosis – not drug scene people at all. It’s criminal that the government makes them go to street dealers who sell harder drugs too.”

Though many of today’s smokers are fit and healthy (though hardly bright-eyed) young men, Caroline – who smokes because of a crippling spinal problem – backs up Berry’s argument. It’s the only thing that lets me get out of my wheelchair

Caroline “I was always dead against cannabis. I even shopped my son to the police when I found out he’d taken it. But now it’s the only thing that lets me get out of my wheelchair and walk with my crutches.”

Caroline says she doesn’t mind sharing the cafe with recreational users. “As a woman, I wouldn’t go into a pub alone. Here I feel comfortable. We’re a community that looks after one another.”

The community spirit doesn’t extend to the cafe’s landlord – who is said not to be keen on his outlaw tenant and is no longer cashing the rent cheques. So what do the neighbours think of The Dutch Experience?

Hardly a tourist Mecca, the cafe has at least raised Stockport’s profile. “We had lots of enquires by phone and in person when the cafe was first in the news,” says a woman from the nearby tourist information office.

Further upwind from the pungent extractor fan which services the cafe’s members’ room, one shopkeeper professes to not understanding what all the fuss is about.

“They’re no trouble. You get some people hanging around, but they’re too spaced out to cause any trouble.”

I’d posted all these reports from press, on the progress of Cannabis law, back in june, on my blog. Do take a look. Entries for the 11th July 2002:

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2002_07_07_tash_lodge_archive.html#78817318

If you want to add your nine-pennies worth, the Hempcity Community Forum, about it all:

http://213.169.220.28/upload/forumdisplay.php?s=32b573cfc50d570d71821fcafc714f7e&forumid=26