LAST week, our local knacker of the Cop Shop, Steve Heywood, Greater Manchester Police's assistant chief constable, spoke of the 'renewed' faith in the ability of the police to investigate child sex abuse. Who'd have doubted they weren't up for it, given the reports from the Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre have just reported a 30% rise in abuse reports nationally.
According to last Saturday's Rochdale Observer 'the Cyril Smith scandal has prompted a huge rise in reports of child sex abuse.' The Observer goes on to report that with regard to Jimmy Savile; 'Much of the abuse is alleged to have happened in Manchester during the 1960s, when Savile was a dance hall manager and a presenter of Top of the Pops, broadcast from studios in Dickenson Road, Rusholme.'
With his finger wagging righteously, Steve Heywood declared: 'I believe the media focus on such matters and the subsequent scrutiny on police investigations has renewed the public's faith and confidence in the police service to compassionately yet robustly investigate these offences.'
Moreover, Mr Heywood said: 'Obviously, we always encourage victims of sexual abuse to come forward.' Even when, ultimately law agencies like the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decide it's 'Not in the public interest' or 'completely without corroberation', as in the Cyril Smith case, or perhaps, as in a more recent case known to Northern Voices, when the Crown Prosecution Service mislay the police files in one of their Salt Mines in Cheshire.
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
UNOFFICIAL HISTORIES Conference
Saturday 15th June & Sunday 16th June 2013 - Manchester, UK
A public conference to discuss how society produces, presents, and consumes history beyond official and elite versions of the past.
The Unofficial Histories conference seeks to bring together those who wish to consider the value and purpose of historical engagements and understandings that take place within, on the edges of, or outside “official” sites that produce and transmit historical knowledge and ideas.
After a successful first conference at Bishopsgate Institute in London in May 2012, Unofficial Histories moves north to Manchester, and this time we’re making a weekend of it:
* Saturday 15th June 2013 will be a day of papers, presentations and debate at Manchester Metropolitan University, Oxford Road, Manchester.
* Sunday 16th June 2013 will be a relaxed day of informal activities in Manchester exploring the theme of ’Unofficial Histories’ (details TBC).
We now invite presentation proposals for the meeting on Saturday 15th June 2013 to be held at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Taking its cue from the assumption that history is, as Raphael Samuel put it, “a social form of knowledge; the work, in any given instance of a thousand different hands”, the conference aims to open up to examination the ways in which historians, curators, writers, journalists, artists, film makers, activists and others, seek to represent the past in the public realm, spheres of popular culture and everyday life.
What subjects, ideas and themes are presented? What styles and mediums are used? How is this history produced, transmitted and consumed? Who is producing and consuming it, and why?
We hope to sharpen the awareness of the different sites and forms of historical production and consider how they impact public perceptions and consciousness of history. We are also concerned to understand the interactions between competing and corresponding impulses in history-making: the scholarly and the political; the academic and the everyday; the imperatives of funding, sustainability, ethics and access.
Finally, we would like to consider whether or not such “unofficial histories” have political effects that might serve democratic and emancipatory goals, and/or can be seen as sources of dissent and resistance against conventional, privileged models of historical knowledge.
Presentations of 20 minutes (different approaches to communication are encouraged) are welcomed on any aspect of the above, which may include:
* People’s History & the History of Everyday Life
* TV, Radio and Internet
* Literature, Poetry, Music and Folksong
* Museums, Heritage and Archives
* Feminist, Women’s and Gender History
* Historical Re-enactment and Living History
* Memory, Myth and Folklore
* Class, Culture and Ethnicities
* Art, Drama and Theatre
* Family History and Genealogy
* Oral History, Testimony and Biography
* Local, Regional and Community History
* The Role of the Historian
* History Education, Teaching and Curricula
* Uses and Abuses of History
A public conference to discuss how society produces, presents, and consumes history beyond official and elite versions of the past.
-Call for Participation-
The Unofficial Histories conference seeks to bring together those who wish to consider the value and purpose of historical engagements and understandings that take place within, on the edges of, or outside “official” sites that produce and transmit historical knowledge and ideas.
After a successful first conference at Bishopsgate Institute in London in May 2012, Unofficial Histories moves north to Manchester, and this time we’re making a weekend of it:
* Saturday 15th June 2013 will be a day of papers, presentations and debate at Manchester Metropolitan University, Oxford Road, Manchester.
* Sunday 16th June 2013 will be a relaxed day of informal activities in Manchester exploring the theme of ’Unofficial Histories’ (details TBC).
We now invite presentation proposals for the meeting on Saturday 15th June 2013 to be held at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Taking its cue from the assumption that history is, as Raphael Samuel put it, “a social form of knowledge; the work, in any given instance of a thousand different hands”, the conference aims to open up to examination the ways in which historians, curators, writers, journalists, artists, film makers, activists and others, seek to represent the past in the public realm, spheres of popular culture and everyday life.
What subjects, ideas and themes are presented? What styles and mediums are used? How is this history produced, transmitted and consumed? Who is producing and consuming it, and why?
We hope to sharpen the awareness of the different sites and forms of historical production and consider how they impact public perceptions and consciousness of history. We are also concerned to understand the interactions between competing and corresponding impulses in history-making: the scholarly and the political; the academic and the everyday; the imperatives of funding, sustainability, ethics and access.
Finally, we would like to consider whether or not such “unofficial histories” have political effects that might serve democratic and emancipatory goals, and/or can be seen as sources of dissent and resistance against conventional, privileged models of historical knowledge.
Presentations of 20 minutes (different approaches to communication are encouraged) are welcomed on any aspect of the above, which may include:
* People’s History & the History of Everyday Life
* TV, Radio and Internet
* Literature, Poetry, Music and Folksong
* Museums, Heritage and Archives
* Feminist, Women’s and Gender History
* Historical Re-enactment and Living History
* Memory, Myth and Folklore
* Class, Culture and Ethnicities
* Art, Drama and Theatre
* Family History and Genealogy
* Oral History, Testimony and Biography
* Local, Regional and Community History
* The Role of the Historian
* History Education, Teaching and Curricula
* Uses and Abuses of History
Please submit proposal abstracts of 250-300 words by Wednesday 20th February 2013 to Fiona Cosson, email f.cosson@mmu.ac.uk . For more information, please see the conference website at:
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Report on blacklisted Brickies in the North West
MORE than 20 people from Lancashire are on a blacklist of construction workers banned by some of Britain’s biggest builders, it can be revealed.
The Evening Post understands six people from Preston are on the list kept by a industry-funded firm, the Consulting Association, and was seized in 2009 by the Information Commissioner’s office. There are a further four workers from Chorley, five from Lancaster and another seven from the rest of the county.
Coun Phil Crowe, member of Preston Council for Larches ward, said 'thousands' of construction workers across the country had been ‘blacklisted’ by major contractors and denied jobs on multi-million pound projects. He told a meeting of the authority that “livelihoods and been crushed and reputations tarnished” by the process which he said saw members of trade unions placed on the list. The Labour councillor told fellow councillors: 'The vast majority do not even know why they are being turned down for work and it is sickening to think public money is being used for blacklisting on projects like the Olympic Park.'
He then gave examples of workers from the North West construction workers which had been placed on the blacklist. Coun Crowe said: 'It is like something out of Victorian times.'
Fellow Coun Mark Yates said blacklisting had been 'rife in the construction industry for decades.'
The council passed a notice of motion saying the blacklists had “disadvantages residents of Preston” and supported a campaign led by the GMB, Unite and UCATT unions to force firms involved in blacklisting to apologise.
The Information Commissioner has taken enforcement action against a number of construction companies based on the evidence recovered from the Consulting Association.
Are you one of the blacklisted workers? Tell us your story, telephone 01772 838162.
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/business/builders-on-the-brickie-blacklist-1-5266158
The Evening Post understands six people from Preston are on the list kept by a industry-funded firm, the Consulting Association, and was seized in 2009 by the Information Commissioner’s office. There are a further four workers from Chorley, five from Lancaster and another seven from the rest of the county.
Coun Phil Crowe, member of Preston Council for Larches ward, said 'thousands' of construction workers across the country had been ‘blacklisted’ by major contractors and denied jobs on multi-million pound projects. He told a meeting of the authority that “livelihoods and been crushed and reputations tarnished” by the process which he said saw members of trade unions placed on the list. The Labour councillor told fellow councillors: 'The vast majority do not even know why they are being turned down for work and it is sickening to think public money is being used for blacklisting on projects like the Olympic Park.'
He then gave examples of workers from the North West construction workers which had been placed on the blacklist. Coun Crowe said: 'It is like something out of Victorian times.'
Fellow Coun Mark Yates said blacklisting had been 'rife in the construction industry for decades.'
The council passed a notice of motion saying the blacklists had “disadvantages residents of Preston” and supported a campaign led by the GMB, Unite and UCATT unions to force firms involved in blacklisting to apologise.
The Information Commissioner has taken enforcement action against a number of construction companies based on the evidence recovered from the Consulting Association.
Are you one of the blacklisted workers? Tell us your story, telephone 01772 838162.
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/business/builders-on-the-brickie-blacklist-1-5266158
Attacks on NAN supporters
WITH reference to the recent attacks on Northern Anarchist Network supporters at the London and Manchester Anarchist Bookfairs the following quotation from Julian Assange has a real pertinence. "Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence and.... eventually lose all ability to defend ourselves and those we love".
Monday, 7 January 2013
Who's Worst? The the State or the AF?
Under the Pavement loses Venue!
SOURCES close to 'David Under the Pavement' and other organisers of last December's Manchester Anarchist Bookfair, suggest that owing to the bookfair ending in a chaotic shambles in which one of the organisers nick-named 'Veg', egged on by some members of the Anarchist Federation (AF), like the Londoner Nick Heath, picked on a man with impecable Jewish roots called Barry Woodling, and accused him of being an 'anti-Semite'. Only to show him the door, amid a chorus from the Anarchist Federation calling him a 'f**king disgrace'. It seems that staff at the Museum that housed the Bookfair, and who were called-in to do the Bookfair organiser's dirty work were not amused when they were forced to eject Mr. Woodling. Now it seems that the Museum staff are unhappy about the bad experience presided over by David Under-the Pavement and his mate 'Veg'. They, and the Anarchist Federation, are unlikely to be invited to hold amother Bookfair at this Manchester Museum.
Saturday, 22 December 2012
Post Office Cleaners Win Claim
CLEANERS and engineers who work on contracts at Royal Mail, and who were threatening walk out yesterday, have now called off their action after Royal Mail offered a significantly improved pay award. The workers had voted 91 per cent for strike action in a secret ballot. They had originally been offered a below inflation 1.5 per cent pay rise which, according to their union the CWU, would leave most of them below the level of the living wage.
The Communication Workers Union members are employed by facilities management company Romec - which is 50 per cent owned by Royal Mail.
An eleventh hour proposal from their employer was good enough for the postal executive of the Communication Workers Union to call off the action. The strike would have hit Romec – a facilities company jointly owned by Royal Mail and Balfour Beatty that supplies cleaners and engineers to post depots. The workers had been offered a rise of just 1.5 per cent over 27 months – but a revised offer of 3.1 per cent over 15 months will be put to union members for their consideration.
Ray Ellis, CWU negotiator, said: 'These workers have stuck together and refused to be bullied into accepting an insulting pay offer. They were furious that Romec bosses had paid themselves bonuses of between 9 and 15 per cent. The new offer should take everyone over the living wage – it’s a great victory.’
Friday, 21 December 2012
No Room at the London Flat for Arthur Scargill!
ARTHUR Scargill today lost his long running fight in the High Court with the National Union of Mineworkers to look after him with his running costs for his London flat for the rest of his life. He will also lose his claim to fuel allowance at his Barnsley home and the NUM successfully disputed that it should pay for the preparation of his annual tax return.
Arthur Scargill has occupied the Barbican apartment - rented from the Corporation of London - since June 1982. The rent and other expenses were paid by the union until 2011, except for a period between 1985 and 1991 when Mr. Scargill paid for this upkeep.
Now the London appartment, described to me as 'Arthur's knocking shop' by one NUM miner, and valued at £1.5m, has become too much for the NUM to shoulder because it costs the union £34,000 a year.
The judge rejected Scargill's claims that the union's payment of the rent on the flat was intended to replace the benefit his predecessors had enjoyed and was therefore a lifetime benefit. The judge said the claim was not reflected in the original minutes of the NEC, was not backed up by the contract Scargill signed, and pointed out that the union had continued to subsidise the mortgage on his Yorkshire home. Arthur, for his part, claimed the judgement was 'perverse', and contradicts the evidence in the case. The judgement will come as a relief to the NUM and the working miners.
Arthur Scargill has occupied the Barbican apartment - rented from the Corporation of London - since June 1982. The rent and other expenses were paid by the union until 2011, except for a period between 1985 and 1991 when Mr. Scargill paid for this upkeep.
Now the London appartment, described to me as 'Arthur's knocking shop' by one NUM miner, and valued at £1.5m, has become too much for the NUM to shoulder because it costs the union £34,000 a year.
The judge rejected Scargill's claims that the union's payment of the rent on the flat was intended to replace the benefit his predecessors had enjoyed and was therefore a lifetime benefit. The judge said the claim was not reflected in the original minutes of the NEC, was not backed up by the contract Scargill signed, and pointed out that the union had continued to subsidise the mortgage on his Yorkshire home. Arthur, for his part, claimed the judgement was 'perverse', and contradicts the evidence in the case. The judgement will come as a relief to the NUM and the working miners.
'Spanks for the Memory'! in Private Eye
THE current issue of Private Eye describes how former Labour councillor Eileen Kershaw - mother of DJs Andy and Liz - 'has shed new light on why investigations into her late friend Sir Cyril (Smith) were abandoned. She tells the Rochdale Observer of Smith's alarm when he learned that Knacker was investigating him in the late 1960s. According to Kershaw, "the worry caused him to forgo his usual supper of pie and chips ands start popping Valium". She remembers a conversation between Smith and his parliamentary predecessor in Rochdale, the late Jack McCann, a Labour whip, who "declared that he would call on the director of public prosecutions to drop the case". This contradicts the CPS's recent statement that a prosecution of Smith did not take place in 1970 because the DPP considered the charges "stale" and "without corroboration", rather than because of any political pressure.'
The writer in the Eye also adds: 'Kershaw's testimony also contradicts a statement made a week earlier by a former Rochdale councillor who told journalists: "I worked with him (Smith) at nearly every school governing body in Rochdale and never heard a whisper." Her name? Eileen Kershaw!'
The writer in the Eye also adds: 'Kershaw's testimony also contradicts a statement made a week earlier by a former Rochdale councillor who told journalists: "I worked with him (Smith) at nearly every school governing body in Rochdale and never heard a whisper." Her name? Eileen Kershaw!'
Monday, 17 December 2012
Colin Blunstone at Saddleworth Civic Hall, Uppermill!
Colin Blunstone was due to appear at the Friezland Village Hall in Greenfield, Oldham, a number of weeks ago but had to cancel the concert due to what we understand was an attack of laryngitis.
The English pop singer-song writer is best known as the lead singer in the 1960s band the Zombies, which also included Rod Argent who went on to form his own band. The Zombies are still performing and earlier this year appeared at the Picturedrome in Holmfirth.
The cancelled concert at Friezland Village Hall has now been rescheduled and Colin Blunstone is due to perform at Saddleworth Civic Hall, Uppermill, on Sunday 3rd February 2013. Tickets are available from the promoter Neil Williams at NEILBLUESNIGHT@HOTMAIL.COM (07707 090108) or contact Saddleworth Civic Hall, Lee Street, Uppermill, on 01457 876665 for box office and enquiries.
Northern Anarchist Network Statement.
The Northern Anarchist Network Statement to the Movement passed in Burnley on December 8th re my removal from the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair has received widespread support across the UK. We would welcome additional signatures to the statement which can be found in the Tuesday December 11th posting on this blog. There has been no response from either the bookfair organisers or the Anarchist Federation and it is awaited with interest.
The Blacklist Support Group comment on Kerr!
Ian Kerr, chief executive of the Consulting Association and full-time blacklister of trade unionists and environmental activists since 1969, when he started work for the infamous Economic League died on Tuesday.
His £50,000 a year salary + bonus + BUPA + Mercedes company car lifestyle, funded by the major UK construction firms including Sir Robert McAlpine, Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Carillion, Kier, BAM, AMEC and AMEY came to a halt when the illegal conspiracy was closed down in 2009.
At a recent appearance at the Scottish Affairs Select Committee investigation into blacklisting, he remained totally unrepentant about decades of victimising safety reps in the building industry. Kerr was supposed to have supplied an additional witness statement to the inquiry naming names of senior company Directors who were the ring leaders of the human rights abuse.
The Blacklist Support Group will not be donating to his collection.
His £50,000 a year salary + bonus + BUPA + Mercedes company car lifestyle, funded by the major UK construction firms including Sir Robert McAlpine, Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Carillion, Kier, BAM, AMEC and AMEY came to a halt when the illegal conspiracy was closed down in 2009.
At a recent appearance at the Scottish Affairs Select Committee investigation into blacklisting, he remained totally unrepentant about decades of victimising safety reps in the building industry. Kerr was supposed to have supplied an additional witness statement to the inquiry naming names of senior company Directors who were the ring leaders of the human rights abuse.
The Blacklist Support Group will not be donating to his collection.
Friday, 14 December 2012
Rumour that the Blacklister Ian Kerr is Dead?
Since this article was posted, we have received confirmation that Ian Kerr (pictured), died last Tuesday, 11th December 2012. NV Editor (16/12/12)
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Son of Tameside education boss convicted of drug offences!
Although he's only a council joiner and not the Queen, this year (2012), could turn out to be an annus horribilis for councillor Gerald (Ged) Cooney (pictured), the executive cabinet member for (Learning and Achievement) at Tameside Council, in Greater Manchester.
As the councillor with responsibility for both children's education and libraries in Tameside, it has been a difficult year for the Droylsden West Labour councillor. Cuts in library services that were implemented in October, have seen the closure of five of the thirteen Tameside libraries, job losses, and a substantial reduction in library opening hours. Though many library staff saw their hours and pay cut, eight senior library mangers, including library boss, Adam Allen (a Geordie with a background in sport), have received pay rises after cutting services, from a council supposedly strapped for cash.
While libraries closed and other public services got axed, the leader of the council Kieran Quinn, told an incredulous public that services were not being closed but 'redesigned'.When mother's and kids took to the streets in an attempt to keep their local libraries open, Cooney (who like Quinn always sticks to his press office script), told them in his oft-repeated mantra, that it was "important to remember that libraries were about services not buildings" and that the "new offer would provide a modern and comprehensive service that will meet people's needs." Few people were taken in with his claptrap.
Even though the Libraries and Museums Act 1964, requires council's to provide "an efficient and comprehensive library service", the library boss recently told a public meeting of Denton West-End library users, that the way things were going, there might not be any libraries in Tameside in the future.
More recently, the council's education boss has come under fire after the 'The Office for Standards in Education' (Ofsted) revealed that Tameside ranked as the worst local authority in Greater Manchester for education and the fifth worst nationally. The Ofsted report - that ranked every local council across England for the percentage of students attending schools which it rated good or outstanding - says that "Only a third of Tameside's secondary school children attend good or outstanding schools" and that this is one of the lowest figures in Britain. According to Ofsted, only 34% of secondary school pupils attend a Tameside school that is rated good or outstanding and only 57%, of Tameside's younger pupils, attend a good or outstanding primary school, which is the lowest figure in Greater Manchester.
The council have responded to the Oftsed findings by referring to exam tests results that they say show that Tameside school children are getting a good education. They also say that the opinion of Ofsted inspectors on the perfomance of schools, is a 'subjective measure of many factors such as leadership and capacity to improve'. But no matter how hard Tameside Council try to spin their way out of this, the Ofsted report is damning and must be deeply embarrassing for both the local authority and councillor Cooney, as the Executive Cabinet member responsible for education.
Last year, councillor Cooney claimed £31,998 in allowances from the taxpayer for running failing Tameside schools. Although he's listed has being employed as a joiner by Manchester City Council, it's doubtful that he spends much time in his overalls, given his many other positions that are connected with his political role. Apart from being a Tameside councillor, he's also a member of the Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership Trust and a Member of the Economic and Learning Partnership. He also lists membership of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund Panel and membership of AGMA's board of housing and planning.
There have been calls for Councillor Cooney to lose his executive cabinet post for (Learning and Achievement) because of the Ofsted criticism of Tameside schools. But as this is the season of goodwill, perhaps we should feel slightly sorry for him. Having taken flak during the year for library closures and failing schools, he now as pressing domestic concerns of his own.
Last month, councillor Cooney's son appeared in the dock charged with drug offences. Simon John Paul Cooney, of Parvet Ave, Droylsden, was fined £400 with £125 costs for possessing cocaine. Although his appearance in court received a brief mention in the local Tameside Advertiser, it failed to get any mention whatsoever in the local Tameside Reporter, that is now owned by New Charter Housing Trust Ltd. Whether this ommission by the newspaper had anything to do with the fact that Councillor Cooney is the Chairman of New Charter Housing, is debatable. However, some people might suggest that if Councillor Cooney cannot keep his own house and kids in order, then there is little hope for Tameside schools and the areas school children.
'Mangy Kerr', Colin Trousdale & 'Media City'
TODAY'S Private Eye reports on the 3,200 trade union activists in the British building trade who were on the blacklist of The Consulting Association run by Ian Kerr, and denied the ability to earn a living. The Information Commissioner (ICO), who raided the offices of Mr. Kerr's Consulting Association three years ago, has informed MPs looking into the scandal that the files he took represented only about 10% of the stuff held by Kerr. Mr. Kerr has now told the MPs that he has now destroyed everything that wasn't taken by the Information Commissioner.
It was admitted by Kerr that some 200 environmental activists were also on his books. Private Eye says: 'He did not identify who had requested the information, but at the time the affair caused controversy, when it emerged that the Department for Transport was paying private detectives to spy on and serve writs on protesters.'
Private Eye concluded by asking if The Consulting Association 'provided information which led to workers being prohibited from working on the (construction of) BBC's new "Media City" in Salford, which opened last year, Kerr admitted to being consulted about unnamed "media centres" and Manchester electrician, Colin Trousdale, who had an extensive Consulting Association file, claims he was blacklisted from the project.'
It was admitted by Kerr that some 200 environmental activists were also on his books. Private Eye says: 'He did not identify who had requested the information, but at the time the affair caused controversy, when it emerged that the Department for Transport was paying private detectives to spy on and serve writs on protesters.'
Private Eye concluded by asking if The Consulting Association 'provided information which led to workers being prohibited from working on the (construction of) BBC's new "Media City" in Salford, which opened last year, Kerr admitted to being consulted about unnamed "media centres" and Manchester electrician, Colin Trousdale, who had an extensive Consulting Association file, claims he was blacklisted from the project.'
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
5- years of Steven Acheson at Fiddlers
Dear Comrades,
I would like to invite you to join me in going down to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station in Warrington on the morning of Wednesday 19th December to join other workers in marking the fifth anniversary since electrician and UNITE member Steve Acheson was sacked from a job on the site. For the last four years Steve has protested outside the gates of Fiddlers Ferry. Steve has campaigned against blacklisting in the construction industry for years and has fought alongside other workers in struggle. You might remember him from when he spoke at the Salford May Day Rally in 2011.
Steve is a staunch trade unionist in every sense and I hope workers can get down and give him the support he needs.
If you would like to give a Christmas donation to the Fiddlers Ferry appeal you can do so by giving it to Steve on the day or by giving me a call on 07817434240 and I will arrange to get it off you to take down.
In solidarity,
Steve North
President, Salford Trades Council
Actionsnw nssn (nwshopstewardsnetwork@gmail.com)
President, Salford Trades Council
I would like to invite you to join me in going down to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station in Warrington on the morning of Wednesday 19th December to join other workers in marking the fifth anniversary since electrician and UNITE member Steve Acheson was sacked from a job on the site. For the last four years Steve has protested outside the gates of Fiddlers Ferry. Steve has campaigned against blacklisting in the construction industry for years and has fought alongside other workers in struggle. You might remember him from when he spoke at the Salford May Day Rally in 2011.
Steve is a staunch trade unionist in every sense and I hope workers can get down and give him the support he needs.
If you would like to give a Christmas donation to the Fiddlers Ferry appeal you can do so by giving it to Steve on the day or by giving me a call on 07817434240 and I will arrange to get it off you to take down.
In solidarity,
Steve North
President, Salford Trades Council
Actionsnw nssn (nwshopstewardsnetwork@gmail.com)
President, Salford Trades Council
Crime Chief to act on Child Abuse
GREATER Manchester's new police and crime boss has called for a meeting of the area's ten town hall leaders to find ways to protect kids from sexual exploitation; such as the recently exposed offences of Cyril Smith, the former Rochdale MP, accused of abusing young boys, and the recent case of nine men convicted for grooming teenage lasses for sex in Heywood. Tony Lloyd, elected as the first police and crime commisioner for Greater Manchester last month, gave the topic of sex abuse top priority for the coming 'first meeting of the police and crime panel,' according to tomorrow's Heywood Advertiser.
Elected to his post two weeks ago, Mr. Lloyd said: 'We know the events that took place in Rochdale shocked people across all the communities in Greater Manchester but we also know these aren't isolated cases.' The meeting is expected to take place early next year.
It was well known in Rochdale that Smith had been accused of abusing young lads, and the police were convinced in the 1960s that the former Liberal MP for Rochdale, was an active paederast after they investigated claims he interfered with boys at Cambridge House hostel for lads. Yet, the Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the case at that time.
Since then Rochdale Council has been seriously slagged-off for not following up of signs that teenage girls were the subject of sexual grooming by a ring of taxi operatives linked to two takeaways - the Balti and Tasty Bities - in the Heywood area of Rochdale. Both of these are now under new management.
Elected to his post two weeks ago, Mr. Lloyd said: 'We know the events that took place in Rochdale shocked people across all the communities in Greater Manchester but we also know these aren't isolated cases.' The meeting is expected to take place early next year.
It was well known in Rochdale that Smith had been accused of abusing young lads, and the police were convinced in the 1960s that the former Liberal MP for Rochdale, was an active paederast after they investigated claims he interfered with boys at Cambridge House hostel for lads. Yet, the Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the case at that time.
Since then Rochdale Council has been seriously slagged-off for not following up of signs that teenage girls were the subject of sexual grooming by a ring of taxi operatives linked to two takeaways - the Balti and Tasty Bities - in the Heywood area of Rochdale. Both of these are now under new management.
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Northern Anarchist Statement to the Movement:
THE Northern Anarchist Network meeting in Burnley on the 8th, December, unreservedly condemns the treatment handed out to NAN supporter, Barry Woodling, at the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair on the 1st, December, 2012. He was subjected to intimidation, threats, and verbal abuse at the hands of one of the organisers called 'Veg' assisted by Anarchist Federation members, including Nick Heath. In addition to being harangued as an 'imbecile', a 'dullard', and a 'fucking disgrace', he was accused of being an 'anti-semite'. Barry was subsequently thrown out of the bookfair. Such a monstrous charge beggar's belief in view of his Jewish roots, and the murder of a member of his family in the Nazi Gas Chambers in the 1940s.
We thus call upon the organisers of the bookfair, and the Anarchist Federation to unreservedly apologise for their authoritarian actions, and to offer a guarantee that there will be no repetition of this in future. It seems that the Anarchist Federation and the Bookfair organisers are doing the State's work for them by attacking the NAN and its supporters.
_______________________________________________________
The following 55 people have now agreed to have their names added to the
list supporting the above statement. Not all of these are anarchists,
and most were not in attendance at the Northern Anarchist Network
meeting at which the decision was made to make this declaration
supporting Barry Woodling. It is a declaration that any decent person
may sign. These are the signatures so far:
Paul Arnold (Manchester); Kevin Brenan (Bristol), Stacy Bluer (Salford), Mariam Shaw (Longsight), Donavan Pedelty (Wales); Trevor Bark (Northumbria); Grace Bamford (West Yorkshire); Basil Landau (Manchester); Neel Tiwana (Manchester); Sheilia Simpson (Manchester); Neil Donaldson (Shropshire); Diana Garcia (Manchester); Johnathan Davis (Manchester); Dan Fernandez (Manchester); Mingus (Manchester), Sal Choudhry (Manchester); Martin Hopwood (Manchester); Martin Gilbert (Cumbria); Barry Woodling (Swinton); John Simkin (Lancashire); Eileen Hall (Burnley); Deon Bamford (West Yorkshire); Duncan Ball (Shropshire); Ilyan Thomas (Wales); Jim Petty (Burnley); Laurens Otter (Shropshire); Brian Bamford (Rochdale); Chris Draper (York); Derek Pattison (Dukinfield, Greater Manchester); Joe O'Neil (Swinton South, Salford); Bob Crane (Bury); Yvonne Dodge (Radcliffe); Camilo Melara (Manchester); Johnathan Simcock (Derbyshire); Denise Bamford (Todmorden); Anna Jeffery (North Yorkshire); Adele Dodge (Radcliffe); Patrick Finnerty (Rochdale); Sean Dempsey (Bury); Dave Douglass (South Sheilds); Rachel Whittaker (Republic of Ireland).
Martin Bashford (York), Dave Chapple (Bridgewater), Chris Chilton (Bolton), Susan Reddington (Bolton), Elaine Cross (Bolton), Denis Pye (Bolton), Dameon Bamford (Todmorden); Dave Fogg (Manchester), Lydia Morrel (Manchester), Heike Gabernowitz (Manchester), David Hernandez (Manchester).
CARLOS ANTONIO FIGUEROA LILLO (MADRID, Spain), John Lawrence (Oman), Seamus Cain (USA)
Donald Rooum, the veteran anarchist cartoonist long associated with Freedom Press in London, expressed his personal support for the spirit of the statement in so far as it represented a call for civil liberties and a more inclusive approach, but indicated that he wished to find out more. Others, particularly some associated with Bristol Radical History Group have also expressed their concern and offered to mediate. Up until now mediation has proved impossible.
We thus call upon the organisers of the bookfair, and the Anarchist Federation to unreservedly apologise for their authoritarian actions, and to offer a guarantee that there will be no repetition of this in future. It seems that the Anarchist Federation and the Bookfair organisers are doing the State's work for them by attacking the NAN and its supporters.
_______________________________________________________
The following 55 people have now agreed to have their names added to the
list supporting the above statement. Not all of these are anarchists,
and most were not in attendance at the Northern Anarchist Network
meeting at which the decision was made to make this declaration
supporting Barry Woodling. It is a declaration that any decent person
may sign. These are the signatures so far:
Paul Arnold (Manchester); Kevin Brenan (Bristol), Stacy Bluer (Salford), Mariam Shaw (Longsight), Donavan Pedelty (Wales); Trevor Bark (Northumbria); Grace Bamford (West Yorkshire); Basil Landau (Manchester); Neel Tiwana (Manchester); Sheilia Simpson (Manchester); Neil Donaldson (Shropshire); Diana Garcia (Manchester); Johnathan Davis (Manchester); Dan Fernandez (Manchester); Mingus (Manchester), Sal Choudhry (Manchester); Martin Hopwood (Manchester); Martin Gilbert (Cumbria); Barry Woodling (Swinton); John Simkin (Lancashire); Eileen Hall (Burnley); Deon Bamford (West Yorkshire); Duncan Ball (Shropshire); Ilyan Thomas (Wales); Jim Petty (Burnley); Laurens Otter (Shropshire); Brian Bamford (Rochdale); Chris Draper (York); Derek Pattison (Dukinfield, Greater Manchester); Joe O'Neil (Swinton South, Salford); Bob Crane (Bury); Yvonne Dodge (Radcliffe); Camilo Melara (Manchester); Johnathan Simcock (Derbyshire); Denise Bamford (Todmorden); Anna Jeffery (North Yorkshire); Adele Dodge (Radcliffe); Patrick Finnerty (Rochdale); Sean Dempsey (Bury); Dave Douglass (South Sheilds); Rachel Whittaker (Republic of Ireland).
Martin Bashford (York), Dave Chapple (Bridgewater), Chris Chilton (Bolton), Susan Reddington (Bolton), Elaine Cross (Bolton), Denis Pye (Bolton), Dameon Bamford (Todmorden); Dave Fogg (Manchester), Lydia Morrel (Manchester), Heike Gabernowitz (Manchester), David Hernandez (Manchester).
CARLOS ANTONIO FIGUEROA LILLO (MADRID, Spain), John Lawrence (Oman), Seamus Cain (USA)
Donald Rooum, the veteran anarchist cartoonist long associated with Freedom Press in London, expressed his personal support for the spirit of the statement in so far as it represented a call for civil liberties and a more inclusive approach, but indicated that he wished to find out more. Others, particularly some associated with Bristol Radical History Group have also expressed their concern and offered to mediate. Up until now mediation has proved impossible.
Cyril Smith: CPS sites Bribery & Obscenity
TODAY, new allegations emerge regarding historic documents and files relating to Cyril Smith, the former Rochdale Liberal Democrat MP. The Crown Prosecution Service has now said that it has found that a file was received in the early 1970s, when Smith was then aged 42, regarding an allegation or allegations involving indecent and obscene publications. Then in the early 1980s another file was submitted in which there was a claim involving the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act of 1889: this 19th Century law forbid the bribery of a member, officer or a servant of a public body.
These files would be left-over allegations held by the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) before it was subsequently forwarded to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), after it was set-up in 1986. Some of these separate files, according the a report in tomorrow's Rochdale Observer, reached the DPP's office in March 1970, only to be forwarded to the CPS in the late 1990s. The CPS has now revealed that there are three separate files on Cyril Smith.
Smith at present stands accused of abusing eight young lads at Cambridge House hostel on Castle Mere Street, Rochdale, in the early 1960s. Northern Voices' first revealed this on the 13th, November, shortly before the Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk, gave details in his speech to the House of Commons at around 4.30pm on the same day. On that day Simon Danczuk told the House of Commons of 'young boys who were humiliated, terrified and reduced to quivering wrecks by 29 stone bully imposing himself on them' .
Now, the CPS has dug these new/ old files up from out of what the police call the CPS's 'Salt Mines' believed to reside somewhere in Cheshire. Surprise, surprise, the CPS has said it cannot judge the degree of seriousness of the allegations or what, if any, action was taken. The CPS just say that they are making this public now 'in the interests of openness and transparency', and to cover their own backsides, of course.
These files would be left-over allegations held by the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) before it was subsequently forwarded to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), after it was set-up in 1986. Some of these separate files, according the a report in tomorrow's Rochdale Observer, reached the DPP's office in March 1970, only to be forwarded to the CPS in the late 1990s. The CPS has now revealed that there are three separate files on Cyril Smith.
Smith at present stands accused of abusing eight young lads at Cambridge House hostel on Castle Mere Street, Rochdale, in the early 1960s. Northern Voices' first revealed this on the 13th, November, shortly before the Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk, gave details in his speech to the House of Commons at around 4.30pm on the same day. On that day Simon Danczuk told the House of Commons of 'young boys who were humiliated, terrified and reduced to quivering wrecks by 29 stone bully imposing himself on them' .
Now, the CPS has dug these new/ old files up from out of what the police call the CPS's 'Salt Mines' believed to reside somewhere in Cheshire. Surprise, surprise, the CPS has said it cannot judge the degree of seriousness of the allegations or what, if any, action was taken. The CPS just say that they are making this public now 'in the interests of openness and transparency', and to cover their own backsides, of course.
Monday, 10 December 2012
Tyne & Wear IWW: Condemn Bookfair Attack
LAST night, Dave Douglass told us at Northern Voices that the Tyne & Wear Branch of the IWW had this month moved a resolution condemning the attack by members of the Anarchist Federation on the Northern Voices' Bookstall and the editor of N.V. at the London Anarchist Bookfair on the 27th, October 2012.
Alice-in-Wonderland 'Anti-semitism' Charge Against Nephew of Holocaust Victim at Manchester Anarchist Bookfair
'YOU'RE A f**king disgrace!,' yelled Londoner Nick Heath at the local Jewish anarchist Barry Woodling as he was escorted out of the Emergency Exit at the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair on December 1st, only to have to climb down a small fire escape. Mr. Heath is a prominent anarchist intellectual and member of the Anarchist Federation (A.F.) in London. At 3.30pm a week ago last Saturday, the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair decended into a scene from Alice-in-Wonderland, as Barry Woodling, with Jewish origins from Swinton in Salford, and a supporter of the Northern Anarchist Network, was accused of 'anti-Semitism', forced by Mr. Heath and others to leave the Bookfair.
Earlier in the day Barry Woodling had distributed a leaflet outside the bookfair at the Peoples History Museum, complaining about the Bookfair's organisers failure to allow the anarchist body - the Northern Anarchist Network - to have a stall at the Bookfair. This small protest had passed off without incident, and it ended at noon. Mr. Woodling then went in to enjoy the bookfair, and attended a workshop between 1pm and 2pm, dealing with the Mexican town Cherar's attempts to create a free community whose citizen's govern themselves. The rest of the day he spent wandering around the stalls at the Bookfair and talking to friends such as the people on Bob Jones' Northern Herald Bookstall.
At around 3.30pm Mr Wooding was confronted by one of the Bookfair's organisers who goes by the pseudonym of 'Veg' (so-called because 'Veg' is believed to be a vegan or maybe because he is a bit of a vegetable?); 'Veg' accused Barry of being an 'anti-Semite' because, it was claimed, that he had distributed a leaflet with an 'anti-Semitic' reference in it, which the organisers had had complaints about during the day. 'Veg' refused to explain either who had complained or what precisely was 'anti-Semite' in the leaflet, but began pushing Barry and threatening to deal with him when he got him outside; 'Veg' is a man of slight build, but he behaved provocatively calling Barry an 'imbecile' and a 'dullard'. At one stage some other customers intervened to try to reason with 'Veg', but he was persistent and was soon joined by others, including Nick Heath from the Anarchist Federation and some of his London friends, and a man from Didsbury who has previously used the pseudonym'Iron Column', and has been close to Sally Hyman, who led the attack of the bookstall of Northern Voices at the London Anarchist Bookfair in October.
Neither 'Veg' or 'Iron Column' are believed to be members of the Anarchist Federation, but 'Veg' is an AF groupie and attends their meetings; 'Iron Column' is close to Sally Hyman, and both have been involved in previous complaints against Northern Voices and the Northern Anarchist Network. Yet, the latest 'anti-Semite' charge against Barry Woodling now takes us into the realms of Alice-in-Wonderland and crackpot politics that has few rivals in a sane society. Mr.Woodling, besides being a supporter of the Northern Anarchist Network, is well known in left-wing politics in Manchester. His Jewish family connections are perhaps less well known, but his mother is Jewish and her sister, Elsa Greenman, died in Auschwitz; his uncle, Liam Greenman survived Auschwitz, lived into his 90s, and Barry lovingly wrote about him in Northern Voices No.5 in the Autumn of 2005. In the Spring/ Summer [2006] issue, Northern Voices No.6, Barry Woodling wrote a sympathetic review of Dave Chapple's booklet 'Henry Suss & the Jewish working-class in Manchester' published by the Somerset Socialist Library, and in Northern Voices No.9, Mr Suss's daughter, Sali Money from Stroud sent the following letter to Barry [published in Northern Voices No.9]:
'Very many thanks for the article [in Northern Voices No.6] on my father Henry Suss... We all really appreciated your [Barry Woodling's] presence at Dad's memorial do. It is a great comfort to know he's impacted so well on others! It makes it all worthwhile!'
Seen in this context the 'anti-Semite' charge of 'Veg', the bookfair organisers and by implication, Nick Heath and Anarchist Fed., is daft. Barry Woodling has been on many anti-racist demonstrations in Manchester, not to mention his presence at James Keogh's Blue Plaque inauguration in Ashton-under-Lyne Library in November 2011 [James Keogh died in the Spanish Civil War fighting Fascism in 1938], and then there is his involvement in the Manchester electrician's campaign against the blacklist in the British building trade, and he was on an electrician's protest at a full Council meeting at Ashton Town Hall only last December, and is currently a supporter of 'Manchester Occupy'.
Mr. Woodling is clearly a distinguished political activist, who has ethnic Jewish ancestors going back donkey's year. Why did the Anarchist Fed. and the bookfair organiser pick on Barry Woodling? Whatever we think about the politics, and most folk in this country rightly don't think very much, this kind of thing is political illiteracy of a very high order. It is a vivid example of what Ludwig Wittgenstein, another man of Jewish origins who studied at Manchester University, called 'aspect blindness'. Now perhaps we are wrong to say that these boneheaded blacklisters of Northern Voices, like the bookfair organisers and AF, who seek to gag and ban people and publications, are 'Nazis by nature'; we may be wrong because though they use the methods of the Nazi they profess to be libertarians. I would argue that it is by their actions and their methods that they should be judged, much more so than by their abstract theories. And yet, what kind of Nazis would have been so dumb as to pick on Barry Woodling of all people, and accuse him of 'anti-Semitism'?
Earlier in the day Barry Woodling had distributed a leaflet outside the bookfair at the Peoples History Museum, complaining about the Bookfair's organisers failure to allow the anarchist body - the Northern Anarchist Network - to have a stall at the Bookfair. This small protest had passed off without incident, and it ended at noon. Mr. Woodling then went in to enjoy the bookfair, and attended a workshop between 1pm and 2pm, dealing with the Mexican town Cherar's attempts to create a free community whose citizen's govern themselves. The rest of the day he spent wandering around the stalls at the Bookfair and talking to friends such as the people on Bob Jones' Northern Herald Bookstall.
At around 3.30pm Mr Wooding was confronted by one of the Bookfair's organisers who goes by the pseudonym of 'Veg' (so-called because 'Veg' is believed to be a vegan or maybe because he is a bit of a vegetable?); 'Veg' accused Barry of being an 'anti-Semite' because, it was claimed, that he had distributed a leaflet with an 'anti-Semitic' reference in it, which the organisers had had complaints about during the day. 'Veg' refused to explain either who had complained or what precisely was 'anti-Semite' in the leaflet, but began pushing Barry and threatening to deal with him when he got him outside; 'Veg' is a man of slight build, but he behaved provocatively calling Barry an 'imbecile' and a 'dullard'. At one stage some other customers intervened to try to reason with 'Veg', but he was persistent and was soon joined by others, including Nick Heath from the Anarchist Federation and some of his London friends, and a man from Didsbury who has previously used the pseudonym'Iron Column', and has been close to Sally Hyman, who led the attack of the bookstall of Northern Voices at the London Anarchist Bookfair in October.
Neither 'Veg' or 'Iron Column' are believed to be members of the Anarchist Federation, but 'Veg' is an AF groupie and attends their meetings; 'Iron Column' is close to Sally Hyman, and both have been involved in previous complaints against Northern Voices and the Northern Anarchist Network. Yet, the latest 'anti-Semite' charge against Barry Woodling now takes us into the realms of Alice-in-Wonderland and crackpot politics that has few rivals in a sane society. Mr.Woodling, besides being a supporter of the Northern Anarchist Network, is well known in left-wing politics in Manchester. His Jewish family connections are perhaps less well known, but his mother is Jewish and her sister, Elsa Greenman, died in Auschwitz; his uncle, Liam Greenman survived Auschwitz, lived into his 90s, and Barry lovingly wrote about him in Northern Voices No.5 in the Autumn of 2005. In the Spring/ Summer [2006] issue, Northern Voices No.6, Barry Woodling wrote a sympathetic review of Dave Chapple's booklet 'Henry Suss & the Jewish working-class in Manchester' published by the Somerset Socialist Library, and in Northern Voices No.9, Mr Suss's daughter, Sali Money from Stroud sent the following letter to Barry [published in Northern Voices No.9]:
'Very many thanks for the article [in Northern Voices No.6] on my father Henry Suss... We all really appreciated your [Barry Woodling's] presence at Dad's memorial do. It is a great comfort to know he's impacted so well on others! It makes it all worthwhile!'
Seen in this context the 'anti-Semite' charge of 'Veg', the bookfair organisers and by implication, Nick Heath and Anarchist Fed., is daft. Barry Woodling has been on many anti-racist demonstrations in Manchester, not to mention his presence at James Keogh's Blue Plaque inauguration in Ashton-under-Lyne Library in November 2011 [James Keogh died in the Spanish Civil War fighting Fascism in 1938], and then there is his involvement in the Manchester electrician's campaign against the blacklist in the British building trade, and he was on an electrician's protest at a full Council meeting at Ashton Town Hall only last December, and is currently a supporter of 'Manchester Occupy'.
Mr. Woodling is clearly a distinguished political activist, who has ethnic Jewish ancestors going back donkey's year. Why did the Anarchist Fed. and the bookfair organiser pick on Barry Woodling? Whatever we think about the politics, and most folk in this country rightly don't think very much, this kind of thing is political illiteracy of a very high order. It is a vivid example of what Ludwig Wittgenstein, another man of Jewish origins who studied at Manchester University, called 'aspect blindness'. Now perhaps we are wrong to say that these boneheaded blacklisters of Northern Voices, like the bookfair organisers and AF, who seek to gag and ban people and publications, are 'Nazis by nature'; we may be wrong because though they use the methods of the Nazi they profess to be libertarians. I would argue that it is by their actions and their methods that they should be judged, much more so than by their abstract theories. And yet, what kind of Nazis would have been so dumb as to pick on Barry Woodling of all people, and accuse him of 'anti-Semitism'?
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