Alan Lodge's Blog

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwJarFI3Ic4]

A friends last day of driving a bus. He asked me to take a few piccys, for his mum. But I got a bit carried away, and made this as a bit of jolly.

As part of the ‘LGBT History Month’, the rainbow flag, flew above the Council House.  As well as various events held around the city, there is an exhibition of photography in the Central Library [on the 1st floor], Angel Row, Nottingham.

Part of the exhibition is to show the diversity of characters, including artists, comedians, actors, musicians, playwrights, novelists, statesmen & women, sports people …… etc.

Another wall is dedicated to Nottingham Pride events over the last 10 years.  As it turns out, largely consisting of my photography at the last few ‘prides’.  Selections of this work, can be seen at these links.
Nottingham 2007 Pride
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/07/377404.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/07/377425.html

Nottingham 2006 Pride
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/348508.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/348529.html

Nottingham 2005 Pride
Pix 1  http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/07/319629.html
Pix 2  http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/07/319652.html

Nottingham 2004 Pride
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/07/295272.html

Manchester Pride 2006
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/349780.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/349801.html

Manchester Pride 2005
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/322251.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/322272.html
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/322293.html

Manchester Pride 2004
 http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=542032
*****

Nottingham Pride
Web:  http://www.nottinghampride.co.uk
E-Mail:  info@nottinghampride.co.uk

&

NTU LGBT Awareness Fortnight
info@ntupride.org.uk
http://www.ntupride.org.uk

This time it is the photographers and videographers we have to fear.

The two links will take you to the Met’s own website and enlighten you, frighten you, and have you phoning in suspicious behaviour calls on every journalist, photojournalist, video journalist, mainstream, union registered and especially those pesky independent “citizen journalism” activist Indymedia types.

Now the message is, who’s that behind the camera? What are they filming, or photographing, and why?

>

Extract from their new campaign:

Met Launches New Counter-Terrorism Campaign 25.02.08
IF YOU SUSPECT IT – REPORT IT

“Observation and surveillance help terrorists plan attacks. Have you seen anyone taking pictures of security arrangements such as CCTV? Has it made you suspicious?

“Meetings, training and planning for terrorist attacks can take place anywhere. Do you know someone who travels but is vague about where they’re going?

and so on…..

MET Police new terrorism Campaign

2008 Counter-Terrorism advertising campaign launched

less and less hope …….. !

NUJ member Marc Vallée has accepted an apology and out-of-court settlement from the Metropolitan Police today (25/2), further to issuing proceedings against Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis for “Battery” (assault) and breaches of the Human Rights Act, relating to freedom of expression and assembly.

Photojournalist Marc Vallée, was taking photographs of the ‘Sack Parliament’ demonstration protest in Parliament Square on 9 October 2006.

Marc received injuries further to action by Metropolitan Police officers, which resulted in an ambulance attending to give urgent attention and then treatment at St Thomas’ hospital.

He has received a written apology and an out-of-court settlement and his legal costs for pursuing the action will also be met by the police.

Ms Chez Cotton, Marc Vallée’s solicitor, said: “This was an extremely unpleasant incident. Neither the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police or his officers has any legal power, moral responsibility or political responsibility to prevent or restrict what the media record. Mr Vallée is a well-respected photojournalist, lawfully present to photograph a political protest outside parliament, yet he was brutally prevented from doing so by the police. It is right that Mr Vallée has received an apology, an out of court settlement and that his legal costs will be met by the police.”

NUJ General Secretary, Jeremy Dear, said: “Marc will be pleased to have finally got an apology from the police, but it is no cause for celebration. It is disgraceful that the police brutally obstructed a member of the press from reporting on a political demonstration. Press freedom is a central tenet of our democracy so Marc Vallée’s treatment by the police is deeply worrying. The Met needs to take a close look at what must be done to ensure its officers respect journalists’ rights.”

Mark Thomas, comic, activist and a writer said: “Marc’s win shows that police simply cannot attack journalists and get away with it. The Met should be ashamed that the case had to be taken on in the first place, physically assaulting journalists in the pursuit of their job is an outrageous and vile act that smacks of the worst kind of censorship and bully boy tactics. One can only hope that the Met will learn from this and refrain from beating up members of the press in future.”

http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=719

 Well done Marc

Climate change is killing us. So why are we still so reluctant to quantify the deaths it has caused?

 In April last year a group of environmentalists shut down E.ON’s coalfired power station in Ratcliffe-on-Soar. The goal: to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and, in their words, “save lives”. Yesterday judge Morris Cooper presented a 20-page judgment accepting there was an “urgent need for drastic action”, but convicted them of aggravated trespass, saying their defence, that their crime was necessary to save lives, could not be substantiated.

In the trial, for which I was an expert witness, crucial questions were how many people does climate change kill, and what proportion is the UK responsible for? I was surprised to discover that nobody knows. Scientists such as myself are involved in programmes to measure CO2 emissions, air temperatures, sea-ice loss and the much more complex impacts on birds, rainforest trees and coral reefs. We know that climate change-related events are killing people, yet there is no comprehensive global monitoring program to document the lives lost due to climate change. There is no official climate-change body count.

Admittedly, the impact of climate change on human health and mortality is difficult to quantify. There is no comparison group of people not exposed to climate change. Deaths are often due to multiple causes. And while the probability of a particular event occurring under modified climate conditions can be estimated, no single event can be solely attributed to climate change. The biggest obstacle is the sheer variety of effects it has on health. These include direct effects such as drowning in floods and complex indirect effects, such as falling crop yields which increases malnutrition and changes in the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria. Furthermore, care must be taken to subtract any positive health impacts on climate change, such as the reduced effects of cold weather on health in a warming world.

The World Heath Organisation publishes the only global estimate of the number killed by climate change – about 150,000 annually. Worryingly, this estimate comes from a single modelling study in 2002, and includes only four impacts of climate change (deaths from one strain of malaria, malnutrition, diarrhoea-type diseases and flooding). It is, as the authors point out, a highly conservative first estimate and, by now, considerably out of date.

Why are we relying on a single, limited, out-of-date study for our information on the numbers of people killed by climate change? This is not a criticism of the WHO; the real question is why they are apparently alone in this effort.

The core of the climate-change community, of course, is that group studying the atmosphere. Their questions therefore don’t often relate directly to human health. The medical profession is obviously more interested in saving lives now than in the slower and longer term effects of climate change, and so have been late in engaging with the question.

Naturally, funding influences which questions are answered. Politicians have not asked for a body count. But why not? Perhaps there are parallels with another politically charged issue involving widespread mortality, where nobody counted: the war in Iraq. Governments probably do not want to hear about people dying in foreign lands because of their own choices. Who is going to fund comprehensive studies when the headline might read “British carbon emissions responsible for 3,000 deaths last year”?

The precise relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and deaths that both the environmentalists and Judge Cooper wanted information on should not be beyond scientists in the future. Equivalent statements are routinely made by medical specialists, such as the proportion of all stroke deaths attributable to hypertension in a given year, or attributing lung cancer deaths to passive smoking. It is merely a question of deciding whether it is an important question to answer.

Such an understanding is essential for two quite different reasons. First, it is a basic issue of justice. The dead should be remembered and their families and friends should understand the factors involved in their deaths. Second, it seems likely that the numbers of people killed by climate change has been significantly underestimated. This means that, in addition to issues of the morality of equating human lives with the time spent waiting in airport queues, such cost-benefit analyses used to shape government policy with major climatic impacts, such as building a new runway at Heathrow, are likely to be biased by underestimating the cost in human lives of such decisions.

Dr Simon Lewis is a Royal Society research fellow at the Earth and Biosphere Institute, University of Leeds
s.l.lewis@leeds.ac.uk

It’s time for a body count : Guardian 26th February 2008

On the 10th April 2007, 11 people walked into the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station and locked on to the coal conveyor and assorted plant there.

Their objective was to take direct action to halt operations and thus to diminish the CO2 emissions of the E-on plant, the greenhouse gas thought to be largely responsible for climate change.

They were all changed with aggravated trespass “trespassing on land and entering into buildings with the intention of obstructing or disrupting persons engaged in a lawful activity, contrary to section 68(1)(b) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

Throughout the court case [described in the links below], the defendant argued that yes, they did take these actions, but employed the defence of “duress of circumstances” or necessity, and pleaded not guilty.

At the beginning of the case, there was legal argument on if the court would hear this defence.  It did and the case was proceeded with in making such argument. It is thought to be the first case dealing with environmental matters, that this defence had been employed.

On Monday 25th Feb, 10 defendants [one having had the charges dismissed due to lack of evidence] returned to court to receive the judgement. He had earlier said that he wished to compliment all the defendants on the way they had handled themselves and on the presentation of their case. However all were found guilty. 

The District Judge Morris Cooper said that he had rejected the defence of necessity, this being so, and the defendant had all admitted their action they were thus guilty of these offences.

There had been extensive evidence presented to court by an expert witness Dr Simon Lewis. The court had accepted this without contention.  In the written judgement DJ Cooper points out that …

“The law relating to this subject is far from clear as to scope of such a defence.  I am not aware of any legal authority that addresses the question of whether a global threat brought about or contributed to by global human activity is within the scope of such a defence.  This case, there fore, goes into uncharted legal territory”.

Also, I was struck by a quote from one of the authorities relied on in making the decision. London Borough of Southwark V. Williams [1971].

“Well one thing emerges with clarity from the decisions, and that is that the law regards with the deepest suspicion any remedies of self-help, and permits those remedies to be resorted to only in very special circumstances.  The reason for such circumspection is clear, necessity can easily become simply a mask for anarchy”.

So, there you have it!

They were fined varying amounts between £100 – £250.  Additionally, the prosecution asked for £100 costs each and the victim surcharge of £15.  The total bill coming to £2670. All were given time to pay.
Ratcliffe Power Station Court Case : Nottingham Magistrates [day 1]
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/01/389467.html

Ratcliffe Power Station Court Case : Nottingham Magistrates [day 2]
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/01/389535.html

Ratcliffe Power Station Court Case : Nottingham Magistrates [day 3]
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/01/389654.html

‘Clean’ Coal On Trial [Feature]
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/01/389386.html
>> check here for links to the action and surrounding issues

On Friday 22 February at 12.30pm, Nottingham adopted the first Speakers’ Corner in the UK since an Act of Parliament paved the way for the original in London’s Hyde Park almost 150 years ago. The council press release says: ‘It is to be located in the heart of the city centre as a powerful symbol of citizens’ rights, a focus for civic pride and a platform for free public exchange in the midst of Nottingham’s daily hustle and bustle”. With the pedestrianisation of King Street, Speakers’ Corner will then be inaugurated in the autumn

At a ceremony in Market Square, the Council Leader Jon Collins and the Sheriff of Nottingham Jeannie Packer formally announced its creation at King Street. This would be the country’s first since the original was established in London’s Hyde Park in the 1870s.

Tim Desmond, chair of the Nottingham Speakers’ Corner Committee and who’s day job is the chief executive of the Galleries of Justice, said: “We see this as a day of celebration for Nottingham on which we can showcase our heritage as a great free-thinking city and our future as a centre of innovation and above all take pride in the people who make up our community.

“We’ve tried to organise a day with something for everyone. We all have strong views but we rarely get the chance to express them. The whole idea of the initiative we’re pioneering in Nottingham is to bring people together to exchange and enjoy ideas and opinions, to learn from each other and to have a greater say in how are lives are run.”

Then, Peter Bradley, director of Speakers’ Corner Trust, the charity behind the initiative, added: “The sheer breadth and ambition of the day shows just why we chose Nottingham for our national pilot. This is a city bursting not just with ideas and energy, but also with goodwill.

So, that’s alright then! Personally, I think it’s a splendid idea. But many folks have have expressed reservations that this might be a council wheeze, to help ‘clear up’ assorted groups from stalls and protests across the rest of the square and surrounding areas, and place them all neatly at this ‘official location’. But they wouldn’t do that, would they? We know the police and wardens are sometimes quite confused about free speech, handing out leaflets [an allowed activity for political purposes, without the need for permission.  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/10/352444.html ]. Further ambiguity exists, when setting up a stall. Check out an earlier example.  http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2007/05/371109.html

While Coun Collins was speaking, someone at the back shouted ‘bullshit’ [amongst other things]. Earlier in the week, there had been a demonstration in opposition to the council plan to close the Victoria Baths in Sneinton. Firstly, there was an initial ‘misunderstanding’, about access to the council chamber, then there was a further issue about what public consultation could achieve. So, the heckler seemed confused that coun Collins cited the Victoria Baths campaign as an example of such free speech.

Speakers included:
Town Cryer
Tim Desmond, chair of the Nottingham Speakers’ Corner Committee
Peter Bradley, director of Speakers’ Corner Trust
Jeannie Packer, Sheriff of Nottingham
Jon Collins, Council Leader
Adrian Lunga, the Zimbabwean human rights campaigner
Eddie Izzard [via video screen]

 http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/day_for_debate_to_launch_nottingham_speakers_corner

 http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/eddieizzardbacks.htm

Speakers Corner Trust:  http://www.speakerscornertrust.org

Shrovetide football has been played for centuries and possibly for over 1,000 years. Each year on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, Ashbourne becomes a war zone! The majority of the able-bodied men, women and children take to the streets to play what is probably the largest and oldest football game in the world!

– The two teams number in the hundreds / thousands, and the playing field is 3 miles long, 2 miles wide and has the town of Ashbourne in the middle!

Shops are borded up, only an idiot would park his or her car anywhere in the town! If you did not know about the game and you drove into Ashbourne – you would probably think that there is a major case of civil unrest going on !

The game is played by those Ashburnians who were born on the north side of the Henmore river – the Up’ards, against those born on the south side – the Down’ards.

The kick-off or “turning up” of the specially made and painted ball takes place from a brick built plinth in the town centre at the Shawcroft carpark, by a local or national figure.

The recent history of football spans almost 150 years, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the world’s first football association was founded – The Football Association in England. Both forms of football stemmed from a common root and both have a long and intricately branched ancestral tree. Their early history reveals at least half a dozen different games, varying to different degrees and to which

the historical development of football is related.

The game as it was called, belonged in the “mob football” category, where the number of players was unlimited and the rules were fairly vague, for example, according to an ancient handbook from Workington in England, any means could be employed to get the ball to its target with the exception of MURDER and MANSLAUGHTER :-). Needless to say, it is no longer so riotous as it used to be, nor are such extensive casualties suffered as was probably the case centuries ago.

A fire at the Royal Shrovetide Committe office in the 1890’s has meant that much of the the exact origins of the annual Shrovetide game have been lost, there are mentions of the game in the 1600s. In fact, the earliest surviving reference to the game was in 1683 when Charles Cotton, of “The Compleat Angler” fame, wrote about it.

Ashbourne is one of very few towns across the country who still play the game. Similar games are still played in Kirkwall, on Scotland’s Orkney Island and the Cornish towns of St. Ives and St Columb.

Though the origin of such contests is disputed, many believe they date from before the Norman Conquest and that the ball was originally a head, tossed to the crowd after a public execution. In 1314 Edward II tried to ban the competitions from London; 35 years later Edward III attempted to outlaw the game altogether because it was disturbing his archery practice.

In the 16th century Philip Stubbs described Shrovetide football as “bloody murdering practice, rather than a fellowly sport or pastime.” Indeed, the Ashbourne event was briefly banned in 1878 after a man drowned.

As with the fire ceremonies at Lewes in Sussex  http://www.lewesbonfirecouncil.org.uk/, and many other more exhuberant games and events around the courty, there are those who would like to see them all banned.

The main rules of the game are:

Keep the ball out of churchyards, the cemetery and the Memorial Gardens.
You must not intentionally cause harm to others.
The ball must not be hidden in bags or rucksacks.
The ball must not be transported in motorised vehicles.
Murder and manslaughter are barred

Just to remind all: one of the earliest rules, from ancient times, states that players must not murder their opponents!

The event isn’t about going and watching your team. The whole gig is about all present are the team. It’s a ‘mass participation game’.

I have tried to encourage many photographers I know, with an interest in civil rights, demos & protest and public order to go to this event. It’s great practise in ‘crowd flows’ and learning to keep your ‘sea-legs’ with everyone being so physical around you. Yet again, I came out with a fair few bruises, a nosebleed and aches all over ……… I simply had a wicked time.

For yet more about it all, check Ashbourne Towns website at:
http://www.ashbourne-town.com/events/football.html

2005
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=347206
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=347178

2006
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/03/335079.html
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/03/335100.html

2007
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2007/02/363046.html
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2007/02/363068.html

2008
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/02/391444.html
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/02/391466.html

Held on Sunday the 3rd of Feb, from 2 – 10:30pm. at The Art Organisation, 21 Station Street, Nottingham.

The name of the event is ‘Smarter than Yeast?’ The paralell is draw between the exponatial growth of organisms and the exponatial growth of human activities, leading to a global collapse!   Well, that’s the economic growth model directly leading to climate change for you!

So, the event is to raise awareness of Transition Nottingham and to bring together some local groups and individuals with an interest in sustainability and to get some new people interested. Hopefully those that attend will go on to spread the word about Transitions…if we make it inspiring!

Transition Nottingham are supporting this event and organising or supporting other events involving different communities. It is hoped that a series of events will inspire people and get them thinking, talking and acting – who knows what solutions can then be found…

Speakers on peak oil, and the V3 folks on blade carving (for wind turbines), free shop, local groups promoting their projects, live music, poetry, storytelling, short films and visuals….

The venue was available throughout the day and evening. Talks and workshops were held during the day, with folks gathering together in early evening for presentations and films.

More info:

Transition Towns: Nottingham
e-mail: info@transitionnottingham.org.uk
http://www.transitionnottingham.org.uk

Eastside
e-mail: info@eastsideclimateaction.org.uk
http://www.eastsideclimateaction.org.uk

The Art Organisation
http://www.theartorganisation.co.uk

Peace News :: feb 2008

Peace News  http://peacenews.info

The front page item “Putting Climate Change on Trial” was written and derived from my court reporting, written up on these Indymedia postings:

Ratcliffe Power Station Court Case : Nottingham Magistrates [day 1]
Ratcliffe Power Station Court Case : Nottingham Magistrates [day 2]
Ratcliffe Power Station Court Case : Nottingham Magistrates [day 3]

District Judge will deliver his written judgement on the 25th February at Nottingham Magistrates.  We wait to see if he has been pursuaded by the evidence.

Notts Indymedia and others have launched a new radio show called ‘Riseup! Radio’. The community based podcast includes reports covering issues often overlooked by other local media, as well as music from local artists and bands, and chat about stuff that matters. Each month a new podcast will be downloadable through the riseup! Radio website, or by subscribing to our feed. Look out for extra features and new shows in the near future, but for now.. Download, listen, enjoy, distribute and comment on February’s show !

Listen: #1 The February Show

Links: Riseup! Radio Website | RSS feed | Notts Indymedia Audio Archive

I have been able to make panorams since I’ve been taking photos. Cutting up prints, scanning negs than joining together.  Digital pictures using stitching programs etc ……

Playing about this week, with my Canon G9, there is a program set, that does seem to make taking a panorama a lot easier.  When used in this mode, the last image taken, remains on the screen, so it’s a lot easier to place the next exposure in line.  These are then downloaded to a computer and stitched in the normal fashion.

Here are my first stabs at it, using this camera.

View over Nottingham from Casle Rock

and ….. three view over the lake at Wollaton Park, Nottingham

Well, it’s taken a couple of years …… but I have finally taken the leap, and shelled out for a ‘second digital camera’.

Not only have I not had the money, but also, the specification of most of the pocket sized camera just didn’t appeal. This has now changed with a number of manufacturers now producing 12 MPix pieces.

The Canon G9 is build like a tank. It feels really substancial, and some will say too heavy. But I like it to feel solid and with a little weight means less camera shake. The specification is completely fantastic. See Below … and just check out the links I’ve made to the reviews.

Canon UK – PowerShot G9 [company site]

Canon Japan [company site] inc sample images

Canon PowerShot G9 Review [dpreview 1]

Canon PowerShot G9 Review [dpreview 2]

Summary Specs PowerShot G9 

Sensor • 1/1.7″ Type CCD
• 12.1 million effective pixels
 
Image sizes • 4000 x 3000
• 3264 x 2448
• 2592 x 1944
• 1600 x 1200
• 640 x 480
• 4000 x 2248
Movie clips • 1024 x 768 @ 15fps
• 640 x 480 @ 30fps
• 320 x 240 @ 30fps
• 160 x 120 @ 15fps
• Time Lapse (640 x 480 @ 0.5/1fps, playback @15fps)
Maximum clip length  • 1024 x 768, 640 x 480, 320 x 240: 4GB or 1 hour
• 160 x 120: 3 mins
• Time lapse: 120 mins
File formats • JPEG (Exif v2.2)
• DPOF 1.1
• RAW
• AVI (Motion JPEG + WAVE)
Lens • 35-210mm (35mm equiv)
• 6x optical zoom
• F2.8-4.8
Image stabilization Yes (Lens-Shift)
Conversion lenses Yes
Digital zoom  up to 4x
Focus TTL
AF area modes  • Face Detection AiAF
• 9-point AiAF
• 1-point AF (center, FlexiZone or Face Select and Track)
• Manual focus
• Focus bracketing 
AF lock  Yes (on/off selectable) 
AF assist lamp  Yes
Focus distance Closest focus distance 1cm
Metering • Evaluative (linked to Face Detection AF frame)
• Center-weighted average
• Spot (center, linked to Flexizone or Face Detection AF points)
ISO sensitivity • Auto
• High ISO Auto
• ISO 80
• ISO 100
• ISO 200
• ISO 400
• ISO 800
• ISO 1600 
AE lock  Yes (on/off selectable) 
Exposure compensation +/- 2EV in 1/3 stop increments
Exposure Bracketing  +/- 1/3 – 2EV in 1/3 stop increments
Shuttter speed 15-1/2500 sec
Modes • Auto
• Program AE
• Shutter Priority AE
• Aperture Priority AE
• Manual
• Custom (2 modes)
• Stitch Assist
• Movie
• Special Scene

Scene modes  • Portrait
• Landscape
• Night Scene
• Sports
• Night Snapshot
• Kids & Pets
• Indoor
• Foliage
• Snow
• Beach
• Fireworks
• Aquarium
• Underwater
• ISO 3200
• Color Accent
• Color Swap
 
White balance • Auto
• Daylight
• Cloudy
• Tungsten
• Fluorescent
• Fluorescent H
• Flash
• Underwater
• Custom 1
• Custom 2 
Orientation sensor  Yes
Self timer 2 or 10sec, custom
Continuous shooting • Approx 0.7fps until card is full (AF)
• Approx 0.8fps until card is full (LiveView)
• Approx 1.5fps until card is full (LCD monitor off)
Image parameters My Colors (My Colors Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color)
Flash • Auto, Flash On, Flash Off, Slow Sync, Red-eye reduction
• +/- 2EV in 1/3 stop increments
• Face Detection FE compensation
• Safety FE
• Flash exposure lock
• Manual Power Adjustment (3 levels with internal flash, 19 with external EX Speedlite)
• Range (Internal, Auto ISO): 30cm – 4.0m (wide) / 2.5m (tele)
Viewfinder • Real-image zoom optical viewfinder
• Dioptre Correction 
LCD monitor • 3.0-inch P-Si TFT
• 230,000 pixels
• 100% coverage
• 15 levels of brightness adjustment
Connectivity • USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
• AV out (PAL / NTSC switchable) 

Phones tapped at the rate of 1,000 a day

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent. Daily telegraph

Britain is in danger of becoming a “surveillance state” as authorities including councils launch bugging operations against 1,000 people a day.

Councils, police and intelligence services are tapping and intercepting the phone calls, emails and letters of hundreds of thousands of people every year, an official report said.
 
Those being bugged include people suspected of illegal fly-tipping as councils use little known powers to carry out increasingly sophisticated surveillance to catch offenders.

The report, by Sir Paul Kennedy, the Interception of Communications Commissioner, has fuelled fears that Britain is becoming a state where private communications are routinely monitored.

It also found that more than 1,000 of the bugging operations were flawed. In some cases, the phones of innocent people were tapped simply because of administrative errors.

David Winnick, a Labour member of the Commons home affairs committee, said greater legal protection was needed to prevent abuse of surveillance powers. Britain already has more CCTV cameras per person than any other country in the world.

advertisementHe said: “Most of these operations are needed and done for good reasons, but the numbers do raise concerns about the safeguards we have put in place to protect people from constant intrusion.”

Referring to George Orwell’s vision of a surveillance state, Mr Winnick added: “To walk blindfolded into 1984 is not anything that anybody in their right mind would want.”

Michael Parker of NO2ID, which campaigns against ID cards, said the figures showed the state’s desire to gather more information about people. “We are living in a surveillance state.”

The report shows that in the last nine months of 2006, there were 253,557 applications to intercept private communications under surveillance laws. It is understood that most were approved.

In that period 122 local authorities sought to obtain people’s private communications in more than 1,600 cases.

Councils are among more than 600 public bodies with the power to monitor people’s private communications.

Senior council officers are given the power to authorise surveillance in order to catch fly-tippers, benefit fraudsters and rogue traders. However, intelligence agencies must seek the permission of ministers while police need approval from chief constables.

Eric Pickles, the Conservative local government spokesman, said the use of surveillance powers against suspected fly-tippers was “completely over the top.”

Sir Paul, a senior judge with access to secret intelligence material, also reported 1,088 incidents where public bodies broke the rules on surveillance operations.

His report covers interception activities over a total of 264 days, during which time new applications for interception were made at a rate of 960 each day.

This did not include warrants personally issued by the Foreign Secretary and the Northern Ireland Secretary – thought to be several thousand – which are kept secret.

Each application under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act can cover several means of communication used by one named person, or all communications to and from a named building.

The Local Government Association defended the use of the powers against people “ruining the countryside or trying to take the taxpayer for a ride”.

Eric Metcalfe, a barrister who advises Justice, a civil rights group, called the findings “disturbing”. He added: “Putting the Home Secretary in charge of authorising interceptions is like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.”

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said: “It beggars belief that in a nine-month period, based on these figures, the entire City of Westminster could have had their phones tapped – yet Britain remains one of the few Western countries that won’t allow this evidence to be used in court … to prosecute criminals and terrorists.”

But Sir Paul confirmed that MI5 and other intelligence agencies remain opposed to any change in the law.

Everybody seems to be listening in

A total of 653 state bodies — including 474 councils — have the power to intercept private communications.

Bugging is usually carried out by MI5, MI6, GCHQ and the police and most people are targeted on suspicion of terrorism or serious crime.

But under laws that came into force eight years ago hundreds of public bodies can carry out surveillance.

These include the Financial Services Authority, the Ambulance Service and local fire authorities and prison governors.
 
Daily Telegraph: Full Article

No chanting, no music, no banners, just a shuffle down Park Lane and onto Victoria to hand in a petition at the Home office.  Then on to the pub, i guess.

10 or 20,000 policemen demonstrated through London [depending on who you believe], to protest at their pay and conditions. Government say that they are ‘not moved’, since their offers are very generous.

The BBC reported ‘An extremely orderly protest’

Because of the police past attitudes to the policing of protest, a number of folks turned up to watch their progress with a view to making citizens arrests if their was any signs of disorder 🙂

Reports on the Indymedia UK newswire ‘Police demo … behind enemy lines’ 

Earlier on this blog, Police are upset, at a demonstration ban on pay & condition They were cross abount not being able to march to Parliament.  That blasted SOCPA law 🙂

Police anger at Commons march ‘ban’ [Observer]

and …… the icing on the cake  ………….

“BNP Chief at head of police march” [Evening Standard]

BNP chief on police march

A senior member of the BNP marched at the head of a huge police demonstration over pay in London today. Richard Barnbrook, the far-Right party’s leader in London, walked alongside top members of the Police Federation

Mr Barnbrook, a BNP councillor in Barking & Dagenham and a candidate in the election to pick London’s next Mayor, told the Standard he took part to support the police and denied his presence was an embarrassment. An estimated 22,500 off-duty police officers, many wearing white baseball caps with the logo “Fair play for police”, walked from Park Lane to Millbank, passing close to the Houses of Parliament.

Police Federation officials claimed they were powerless to prevent Mr Barnbrook from marching. Spokesman Metin Enver said he was not invited specifically but police officers recognised him when he turned up. He said: “Some of my colleagues saw we had the BNP Mayoral candidate with us. The one thing we want to make clear is we didn’t invite him. It wasn’t a closed march. He chose to attend by his own accord which is his right in a democracy. It is disappointing if anyone chose to join the march for their own agenda.

“We didn’t ask him to leave because whether we like it or not we live in a democracy.”

Mr Barnbrook said: “I was there to support the police. I spoke to one of the organisers of the march and I explained who I was and he was quite happy about it. We did some interviews for BNP TV. I spoke to a few Pcs and they were happy to talk.”  ……………

More from the Evening Standard >>>>

Riseup Radio is a community based podcast from Nottingham, UK. Reports, music and chat on stuff that matters. Join us for the monthly podcast…

http://riseupradio.wordpress.com

It will be a selection of audio reports, put together in an entertaining way, from Nottingham Indymedia.  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire

I still liked ‘ nott-a-pod ‘ for a title …….. but they won’t listen!

The river has been rising all week.  Floods nowhere near as grim as in the summer and the levels are falling.  However there is another shed-load on the way. 

Earlier in the week, I had been along the Trent to the Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont and the whole course is underwater.  So, this loan Canoeist was playing, and ‘giving it some welly’, between the suspension and Trent Bridges, in Nottingham.

He had to mind out for the odd tree-truck passing by at speed though.

Went for a walk down by the river this afternoon.  I’d gone out to take some more pictures of the river, as it’s in flood.  But luckily, levels are falling again now. 

But I got distracted by these pieces of ‘wall arts’ so I thought I’d take a few pictures……

Yesterday 17 January 2008, I [with a few hundred others I hope] wrote to Meg Munn MP, Minister for Asia and the Pacific, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.  I wanted to know what was being done about it all. [see yesterdays blog entry…….]

Anyway, they have been released.  But there is no mention of investigation or charges being laid against those commiting, what to appears to me, to be a criminal act.  What’s new you might say.

This is the reply below.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Room G/108
Consular Directorate
Old Admiralty Building
Whitehall
SW1A 2PA
Tel: 0207 008 0145
Fax: 0207 008 0161
E-mail: liz.hawkins@fco.gov.uk

18 January 2008

Thank you for your e-mail about the detention of a British national on a Japanese whaling vessel to which I have been asked to reply as the assistant consular desk officer for Japan.

You will be pleased to learn that the British national has now been returned to Sea Shepherd’s vessel, the Steve Irwin.  During the incident, we remained in close touch with both the Japanese and Australian Governments.  We are grateful to the Australian Government for making one of their vessels available to effect the safe transfer of the two men from the Japanese whaling ship to their own ship.

Yours sincerely,

Liz Hawkins
Consular Directorate

HOWEVER …….

On viewing the Sea Shepherd News release pages at:

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080118_2.html

they appear to have a different take on it all …….
Sea Shepherd News Release

Lack of Cooperation May Kill the Whales

From onboard the Steve Irwin in the Southern Oceans

The Australian Customs and Fisheries Patrol vessel Oceanic Viking has thrown the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin off the trail of the Japanese fleet.

After picking up the two Sea Shepherd crewmembers from the Yushin Maru No. 2 the Oceanic Viking notified the Steve Irwin to head for a rendezvous point a few hours away.

This was unusual considering that the Yushin Maru No. 2 was only about ten miles away at the time. The Steve Irwin was forced to stop tailing the Yushin Maru No. 2 to meet up with the Oceanic Viking. This allowed the whaler to head off in an unknown direction to rejoin the factory ship Nisshin Maru.

After dropping off Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane, the Oceanic Viking headed off in a direction away from the Japanese fleet. The fleet then apparently changed course and has now been lost from Sea Shepherd. Greenpeace tagging along with the Nishin Maru has reported that the catcher boats have met back up with the main fleet.

Although Sea Shepherd has been relaying the position of the catcher boats to the Greenpeace ship Esperanza for the last three days, Greenpeace refuses reciprocate and refuses to reveal the present location of the fleet.

“With “allies” like the Australian government and Greenpeace, it is becoming increasing difficult to keep the Japanese fleet from killing whales,” said Captain Paul Watson. “Australian Customs deliberately led us away from the fleet and Greenpeace is guarding the coordinates like the crown jewels to prevent us re-locating the fleet.”    

Complicating the search is the fact that the Japanese have sent a new ship the Fukoyoshi No. 68 to shadow the Steve Irwin at all times. The vessel is not part of the whaling fleet. It’s a large Japanese drag trawler. It does not have any fishing gear onboard and seems to have more electronic gear than normal for a fishing vessel. This ship is apparently reporting the Steve Irwin’s position to the Japanese fleet.

Sea Shepherd has shut down whaling for a week. Unless the Steve Irwin can find the fleet soon, the killing will begin again. The Oceanic Viking will take pictures of dying whales and Greenpeace will hang banners, take pictures and continue on with their ineffective stunts. They will not stop the killing.

“If whales begin to die within the next few days, I will hold Greenpeace and the Australian government responsible,” said Captain Paul Watson. “They know we can stop the killing because whales don’t die when Sea Shepherd arrives. By leading us off the tail of the whalers and refusing to cooperate on coordinates they are deliberately helping the whalers to escape from Sea Shepherd and to resume the slaughter of the whales.  I understand that Greenpeace needs kill footage and images of “heroic eco-warriors” buzzing about in inflatables but that does not stop the harpoons. Our very presence will deter the Japanese from killing whales. Sea Shepherd is the best weapon that Greenpeace can use to stop the resumption of whaling. By withholding cooperation they are contributing to the death of the whales. If any whales are killed within the next week I will hold Greenpeace responsible for their deaths because they have the power to cooperate with Sea Shepherd to prevent the killing from continuing.”

The Steve Irwin is conducting helicopter surveillance patrols to re-locate the whaling fleet. The fleet should be within two hundred miles of Sea Shepherd.

>>

Now, if this is true, Greenpeace have just lost several brownie points in my view. I am likely to write to the national office, and ask what the fuck is going on. We don’t appear to be all on the same page.

also:

Sea Shepherd News :: Japanese Poachers Release Sea Shepherd Hostages
http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080118_1.html

Japanese Whaling Fleet On the Run With Two Sea Shepherd Hostages. The Japanese harpoon vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 has taken two Sea Shepherd volunteer crew members hostage. Benjamin Potts 28, an Australian citizen and Giles Lane, 35, a citizen of Great Britain are being held hostage onboard the whaling vessel. Both men were assaulted and then tied to the railings of the whaler. They were then moved and tied to the radar mast by the whalers.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s ship Steve Irwin is in full pursuit of five vessels of the Japanese whaling fleet including the Japanese supply vessel Oriental Bluebird.

Both men boarded the Yushin Maru to deliver a message to the Japanese captain that the whalers were in violation of international conservation law by targeting endangered species in an established whale sanctuary in violation of a global moratorium on commercial whaling. They also notified the captain that Australia had just passed a court ruling barring Japanese whalers from the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion Zone.

All of this activity has taken place in the area of 60 Degrees South and 78 Degrees East. All activity has been documented from the Sea Shepherd helicopter and the fast moving Delta vessel. The Steve Irwin has dispatched a small fast Delta boat and a helicopter to attempt to persuade the Yushin Maru No. 2 to stop and release the hostages.

Captain Paul Watson has notified the Australian Federal Police that he would like to see kidnapping charges brought against the Japanese whalers. The Australian government and the British Embassy have been informed that their citizens are being held hostage on an illegally operated Japanese whaling ship in International waters.

The Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru has fled over 700 miles to the Northwest and is heading towards South Africa accompanied by the Greenpeace ship Esperanza. The entire whaling fleet is on the run and outside of the whaling area with the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin in hot pursuit of five vessels of the Japanese fleet.

No whales have been slaughtered for the last four days and it does not look as if the whaling operations are going to begin again for another week at least, and not at all if the vessels are prevented from regrouping. The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin has a good supply of fuel and can remain in the area for some time and will continue to police the illegal whaling operations by the Japanese fleet.

Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson will turn over authority to the Australian government to enforce the court ruling against illegal whaling in the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion Zone upon request from the Australian government and an agreement that Australia will enforce the court’s ruling to bar all Japanese whaling activities in the Australian Antarctic Territory.
The text of the letter taken aboard:

To: The Captain of any Japanese ship involved with poaching operations in The Australian Antarctic Territorial Economic Exclusion Zone.

Sir,

My name is Giles David Lane

I am a British citizen and an unpaid volunteer on the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Steve Irwin

I have come onboard your ship because you have refused to acknowledge communication from our ship pertaining to your illegal activities in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territorial Economic Exclusion Zone.

I am not boarding your ship with the intent to commit a crime, to rob you or to inflict injury upon your crew and yourself or damage to your ship. My reason for boarding is to deliver the message that you are in violation of international conservation law and in violation of the laws of Australia. It is my intent to deliver this message and then to request that you allow me to disembark from your vessel without harm or seizure.

I am empowered to act to uphold these laws in accordance with the United Nations World Charter for Nature and the laws of Australia.

I am boarding you with the request that you please refrain from any further criminal activity in these waters and cease and desist with the continued killing of endangered whales in this designated Whale Sanctuary in violation of the IWC global moratorium on commercial whaling and that you cease and desist in continued violations of Australian law by killing whales within the territorial waters of Australia without permit or permission from the government of Australia.

I am boarding you on the orders of Captain Paul Watson who requests that you treat me with respect and in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

sea shepherd supporter

http://www.seashepherd.org

So, thinking that this is an appauling set of circumstances, I have written to the Japanese Embassy and Meg Munn MP of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to protest

Meg Munn
Minister for Asia and the Pacific
Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Dear Meg Munn

Please accept this communication, copied to the Japanese Ambassador, expressing my concern at the assault of 2 men on a Japanese Whaling Ship.  One of whom is a UK national.  I hope you will be able to take measures to help bring about their release and look to you for any assistance that the UK government can offer.

I am grateful for your most urgent assistance.

regards

Alan Lodge
>>>>>>>>>>>>

Japanese Ambassador
Japanese Embassy
info@jpembassy.org.uk

Dear Sir,

I am writing to you to protest in the strongest possible terms the on taking of two hostages on board a Japanese Whaling Ship.

Press reports have suggested that the two men, (one of whom is a UK National Giles Lane), who peacefully boarded the Yushin Maru No. 2 to deliver a letter, they were assaulted and then tied up. Photographs show the two men being tied up to the ships superstructure outside and I am of course greatly concerned for their safety.

I request and demand that you intervene at once to ensure that these men are released and returned safely to their vessel as soon as possible. I also hope that your government will ensure that the captain and crew of the Yushin Maru No. 2 be called to account and prosecuted for their actions.

Yours sincerely,

Alan Lodge