NORTHERN VOICES must be doing summat right because soon after Simon Danczuk made his speech on child abuse and cover-ups in the House of Commons on Tuesday last week, someone hacked into the Northern Voices e-mail account, and our server closed it down. At the same time Northern Voices is under attack from a group, perhaps a hundred strong nationally, called the Anarchist Federation (AF) and an affiliate of theirs with a bit of a grudge now nicked-named the 'Salad Cream Queen'. This lady rose to fame with her twelve 'Nutcracker soldiers' in a star performance at the London Anarchist Bookfair, where she trashed the Northern Voices bookstall and sprayed salad cream on the photo of the murdered 'Goth girl' from Bacup, Sophie Lancaster. Meanwhile over the last few weeks while we have been researching the story of Cyril Smith and the allegedly abused lads at Cambridge House in Rochdale in the 1960s, both John Walker, the former editor of the Rochdale Alternative Paper in the 1970s, and I have been receiving Trojans on a systematic basis. On that same evening Edna, our pet goat, sustained a bloody nose; is someone trying to send us a message?
What's it all about?
The pet goat's injuries was probably down to the local kids in Castleton, Rochdale, throwing stones and the attacks by so called 'anarchists' at the bookfair has something to do with them being thin-skinned about some criticism contained in an obituary about one of their members. But the attacks on the Northern Voices e-mail account and John Walker's e-mail are more suspicious. Possibly it is a rival journalist trying to get an inside story relating to Sir Cyril Smith, or given the interest of special branch and MI5 in the Cyril Smith case, perhaps, when we at www.northernvoicesmag.com and Paul Waugh on www.politicshome.com broke the story of Cyril Smith's alleged abuse of boys at Cambridge House in the 1960s, other agencies were crawling all over us. This is particularly ironic given that the members of the Anarchist Federation are one of the most coy and shy political groupings in the country: that they should start throwing salad cream and acting daft in public just at the moment when MI5 might suddenly be taking an interest in Northern Voices and its associates is comical in the extreme. These shy lads and lasses couldn't have picked a better time to get noticed if they'd tried.
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Monday, 19 November 2012
It Was The Voices That Did It!
Cyril Smith - the Legend Falls
LAST WEEK, Northern Voices was party with others to the opening up of a story that has lied in the shadows for decades. We cannot claim all the credit as we did not do the original research into Cyril Smith: that was performed by the editors of the Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP) in May 1979, when they first published the story and were threatened by Cyril Smith's solicitors at the time with a 'gagging writ'. Private Eye and the New Statesman followed through with reports but the case against 'Smith the Man' was killed before it reached the mainstream media. Later attempts to resurrect the story also failed because those giving evidence against Sir Cyril Smith lacked the confidence to put their names in the public domain.
LAST WEEK, Northern Voices was party with others to the opening up of a story that has lied in the shadows for decades. We cannot claim all the credit as we did not do the original research into Cyril Smith: that was performed by the editors of the Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP) in May 1979, when they first published the story and were threatened by Cyril Smith's solicitors at the time with a 'gagging writ'. Private Eye and the New Statesman followed through with reports but the case against 'Smith the Man' was killed before it reached the mainstream media. Later attempts to resurrect the story also failed because those giving evidence against Sir Cyril Smith lacked the confidence to put their names in the public domain.
In the last few months, almost by chance, Northern Voices was put in touch through one of our contacts down South with a possible witness and victim, who had not been available in 1979. He had not been available to the RAP editors because he left Rochdale in the mid-1970s. His name was Edward Shorrock and I interviewed him the week before last in Rochdale. I found him to be a convincing and articulate witness, who was both plausible and restrained. Most importantly he was willing to go on the record and to put his name in the public domain. This was a significant game changer in the investigation into Sir Cyril Smith and Cambridge House.
I was then able to make contact with John Walker (a former editor of RAP in the 1970s) and Paul Waugh, a House of Commons journalist who runs the politics / home blog: www.politicshome.com . That's how finally, Northern Voices was able to get two witnesses into what happen at Cambridge House in the early 1960s to go on the record and to give Paul Waugh and Northern Voices their stories about how Cyril Smith ran Cambridge House when he was secretary there. Barry Fitton, now living in Amsterdam, though he had given a statement to RAP in 1979 under oath was keen to come forward and talk to the media once he knew Eddie had given his story. In that way Northern Voices, a 52-page, A5 size, small circulation printed journal with a cultural content, that has been going almost a decade and its larger Blog was able provide the voices that last week led to a crucial speech in the House of Commons by Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk, on child abuse, and to general the clamour in the mainstream media.
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There are still a few copies of printed version of NORTHERN VOICES No.13 available with the Bob Miller obituary inside following our decision to reprint it after the original print order sold out at the staging of the Sophie Lancaster play 'Black Roses' in September, at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. NORTHERN VOICES No.12 with the Cyril Smith 'Instead of an Obituary' is also still available and may be obtained as follows:
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com
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There are still a few copies of printed version of NORTHERN VOICES No.13 available with the Bob Miller obituary inside following our decision to reprint it after the original print order sold out at the staging of the Sophie Lancaster play 'Black Roses' in September, at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. NORTHERN VOICES No.12 with the Cyril Smith 'Instead of an Obituary' is also still available and may be obtained as follows:
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com
Friday, 16 November 2012
DAMAGE LIMITATION: Socrates & Cyril Smith
THE Rochdale Observer today did its level best to drag in anyone it could to try to rescue Cyril Smith's damaged reputation: Jimmy Cricket's son, and Cyril's own Godson, Councillor Dale Mulgrew stepped up naturally; ex-Rochdale MP, Paul Rowen; brother Norman Smith; ex-Whitworth Councillor, Eileen Kershaw; Clive Entwistle, 'investigative journalist' formerly of the Rochdale Observer. 'Safeguarding children,' said Paul Rowan, 'is one of the most important issues we face (and) he (Cyril) did a lot in Rochdale to help young people...'; the widow of Chief Inspector Derek Wheater of Rochdale CID, Jean Wheater, now in her 80s, has said: 'There's nothing in it... he was absolutely innocent'; Dale Mulgrew said: 'This is re-visiting an issue which was closed by the police during his lifetime and so it is unfortunate timing that it has resurfaced after his death.' It will be very unfortunate for the Liberal Democrat Party indeed.
But, described as 'a close friend of Sir Cyril', Eileen Kershaw's comment that 'I worked with him at nearly every school governing body in Rochdale and never heard a whisper about him from any of the schools', is odd given the growing extent of the abuse allegations some now from the local schools. Perhaps the most skillful effort at clearing Cyril is that of Clive Entwistle, a former Rochdale Observer reporter, he plays his cards carefully describing a chat with the great man at his home on Emma Street: 'During our talk Cyril was quite open and, in my opinion very honest about the problems of dealing with boys and young men at the time, who were rough, aggressive, lacked self-discipline, resented any sort of authority and had little regard for personal hygene.' Well, there you go then, dirty little beggars - it's alright to scrub their balls. Mr Entwistle enlightens us further: 'Cyril graphically described how boys reeked unsavourily, often suffering from infections and other ailments due to neglect, but still refused to wash or bath.' Thus Cyril 'on medical advice, insisted the boys looked after their personal hygene and when they refused he admitted stripping them and, on occasion, slapped them on the bottom to make them take a bath.' Furthermore, Entwistle writes: 'He (Cyril) admitted he had washed the boys' genitals but only because they steadfastly refused to was themselves', yet 'He (Cyril) was adamant there was no sexual intent in his actions.'
All this Clive Entwistle seems to justify on the basis on historical relativism:
'In the the late 1950s and early 1960s the nation was still feeling the after-shocks-economic and structural-of World War Two. It was also, a time when parents could legally smack their children, teachers administer corporal punishment in school... minor summary justice, not tolerated now, was the order of the day.'
These are the scenarios described by the lads in their accounts: scrubbing and cleaning them down vigourously. The accounts of the lads in the files suggest something like 'Fifty Shades of Grey' without the level of genuine negotiated contractual consent so described by EL James in her novel. Entwistle writes: 'He (Cyril) saw something of himself in their (the lads) misfortune and wanted to give them hope and a chance.' Cyril Smith, the Rochdale lad who says of himself in his autobiography 'BIG CYRIL': 'As a ragged-arsed kid, dressed in second hand clothes I knew the grinding poverty of a mill town in the thirties'. Why does not Clive Entwistle go all the way in his cleansing account and liken Cyril to Socrates? Then we might claim that Rochdale with its Boys' Hostels, pain and punishments, bath time treats, and slaps on the backside is really an Athens of the North, or maybe Sparta with its homosexual aspects. Afterall, Bertrand Russell tells us that: 'Everyone is agreed that Socrates was very ugly; he had a snub nose and a considerable paunch; he was "uglier than all the Silenuses in the Satyric drama" (Xenophon)'
But, described as 'a close friend of Sir Cyril', Eileen Kershaw's comment that 'I worked with him at nearly every school governing body in Rochdale and never heard a whisper about him from any of the schools', is odd given the growing extent of the abuse allegations some now from the local schools. Perhaps the most skillful effort at clearing Cyril is that of Clive Entwistle, a former Rochdale Observer reporter, he plays his cards carefully describing a chat with the great man at his home on Emma Street: 'During our talk Cyril was quite open and, in my opinion very honest about the problems of dealing with boys and young men at the time, who were rough, aggressive, lacked self-discipline, resented any sort of authority and had little regard for personal hygene.' Well, there you go then, dirty little beggars - it's alright to scrub their balls. Mr Entwistle enlightens us further: 'Cyril graphically described how boys reeked unsavourily, often suffering from infections and other ailments due to neglect, but still refused to wash or bath.' Thus Cyril 'on medical advice, insisted the boys looked after their personal hygene and when they refused he admitted stripping them and, on occasion, slapped them on the bottom to make them take a bath.' Furthermore, Entwistle writes: 'He (Cyril) admitted he had washed the boys' genitals but only because they steadfastly refused to was themselves', yet 'He (Cyril) was adamant there was no sexual intent in his actions.'
All this Clive Entwistle seems to justify on the basis on historical relativism:
'In the the late 1950s and early 1960s the nation was still feeling the after-shocks-economic and structural-of World War Two. It was also, a time when parents could legally smack their children, teachers administer corporal punishment in school... minor summary justice, not tolerated now, was the order of the day.'
These are the scenarios described by the lads in their accounts: scrubbing and cleaning them down vigourously. The accounts of the lads in the files suggest something like 'Fifty Shades of Grey' without the level of genuine negotiated contractual consent so described by EL James in her novel. Entwistle writes: 'He (Cyril) saw something of himself in their (the lads) misfortune and wanted to give them hope and a chance.' Cyril Smith, the Rochdale lad who says of himself in his autobiography 'BIG CYRIL': 'As a ragged-arsed kid, dressed in second hand clothes I knew the grinding poverty of a mill town in the thirties'. Why does not Clive Entwistle go all the way in his cleansing account and liken Cyril to Socrates? Then we might claim that Rochdale with its Boys' Hostels, pain and punishments, bath time treats, and slaps on the backside is really an Athens of the North, or maybe Sparta with its homosexual aspects. Afterall, Bertrand Russell tells us that: 'Everyone is agreed that Socrates was very ugly; he had a snub nose and a considerable paunch; he was "uglier than all the Silenuses in the Satyric drama" (Xenophon)'
Authoritarian Fascists expose anti-libertarian politics
by Christopher Draper (York)
I'VE been an anarchist for forty years and always considered English anarchism a broad church but it now seems more like a asylum with lunatics on the rampage. After a pack of Anarchist Federation (AF) bullies attacked a lone representative of the Northern Anarchist Network (NAN) at the recent London Anarchist Bookfair (27.10.2012) it is surely time for everyone who professes alliance to Anarchism to stand up liberty and denounce these party-building authoritarians.An objective account of the attack on Brian Bamford of the NAN and theft of publications from his bookstall appears elsewhere on the web posted by 'Five Leaves Publications' who had no prior connection to Bamford or the NAN but were simply shocked to witness 'anarchists' acting like this.
If one stall-holding organisation attacked another stallholder at an ordinary commercial event one might expect the organisers to do everything in their power to support the victim in seeking recompense. In this case it appears neither the organisers nor the AF intend to do anything to repair the damage. Apparently the Anarchist Federation claim the violence is justified as the perpetrators object to an article published in 'Northern Voices', a magazine edited by Bamford. The bookfair organisers do not feel impelled to disabuse AF of such perverse, authoritarian notions and prefer, instead, to treat the matter as a little local difficulty that could be resolved over a quiet pint. I profoundly disagree.
I also profoundly disagree with Martin Gilbert's posted aversion to anarchists 'washing their dirty linen in public'. I have written previously of Freedoms' refusal to practice free speech and whilst I have no hestitation in identifying the Authoritarian Fascists (AF) as a real enemy of anarchism, I am troubled by many libertarians' tolerance of intolerance. Anarchism is more than laisez-faire, to actively promote freedom we must first stand up to bullies and have no hesitation in identifying them even where they've already infiltrated our ranks.
We don't need the 'Sex Pistols' or the 'Sun' to convince the public that Anarchy means chaos if we tolerate such violence. Furthermore, this was no sudden impulse for my own researches reveal not only premeditation and planning but also a sustained campaign by AF members to disrupt publication of 'Northern Voices'. Over the past two years AF members have repeatably intimidated both sales outlets and the magazine's printers in an unsuccessful attempt to close it down.
Anarchist tolerance should never extend to such intolerant behaviour. If we don't speak out we are complicit in their evil, authoritarian ways. Personally I would go further and ask anarchists who quietly cling to peaceful, constructive, thoughtful engagement with their fellow-men and women to speak up a little more and come out of the closet as anarchists. When I worked as a teacher and whenever I published an article or take part in any community action or event I always identify myself as an anarchist to help promote a sane, positive image of our philosophy. I feel the conspiratorial, play-acting that starts with anarchists' using pseudonyms on the web encourages make-believe revolutionary fantasy more suited to devotees of 'dungeons and dragons'. Perhaps even now deluded members of AF are celebrating their attack as a victory over the dark forces of Satan.
Northern Voices, MI5 & The Daily Telegraph
Can the Coppers Crack it?
IN Northern Voices No.8 we asked 'Was Cyril Smith Set Up?' Back then we questioned if there was something called the 'Clockwork Orange' operation to discredit certain senior politicians, as Paul Foot had published a book that made this allegation, in the 1990s, entitled 'Who Framed Colin Wallace'. In this book he suggested that in the 1970s Cyril was one of a number of figures including Jeremy Thorpe, Edward Heath and Harold Wilson, who some elements in the intellegence services had sought to discredit. The plan was to manipulate the British political system, and place a more right-wing authoritarian government in power. At least that was the theory.
The thing that is now holding up any serious investigation into the allegations against Cyril Smith is the disappearance of the dossier of sexual abuse, that was held by the Lancashire Police at their special branch headquarters in Preston. This week Tony Robinson, who worked for Lancashire police in the 1970s, told the Daily Telegraph he saw a police file that was 'thick' with allegations from lads who claimed they had been molested by Cyril. This file, he said, had been looked at by the then Director of Public Prosecutions. Commenting on the dossier Mr. Robinson said: 'I looked through Sir Cyril's file which was kept in a safe in our office. It was thick full of statements from young boys alleging abuse. It had been prepared for prosecution (and) written across the top of it were the words: "No further action, not in the public interest DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions)".'
A bit after that Mr. Robinson said: 'I was called by an MI5 officer. They asked me if I had the file on Mr. Cyril Smith, and said: "Please have this sent down to London".' That, it seems, was at a time when Smith was the Liberal Party Chief Whip under his leader Jeremy Thorpe, and the Liberals were useful to the Labour Party in forming a government of the centre/ left. It has been suggested that, at that time, there were elements in MI5 who sought to undermine the centre/ left in British politics including the Tory leader Edward Heath, and whose aim was to bring into power a more authoritarian government of the right (see Paul Foot's 'Who Framed Colin Wallace'). All this has been considered in Northern Voices No.8, our argument then was expressed thus:
'Clockwork Orange, in the 1970s, was an attack on civil libertarians by elements who wanted a more authoritarian regime in Britain. They got their wish with Margaret Thatcher.'
This week's report in the Daily Telegraph would now seem to lend some credibility to this view. The worrying thing now is can the police get their hands on the dossier apparently held by MI5?
Thursday, 15 November 2012
Cyril Smith's Blue Plaque Threat to Rochdale Town Hall
ON Tuesday, Northern Voices (see post below 'Cyril Smith Doctoring With Intent') said: 'Such has been his (Cyril Smith's) influence in the town as a local hero that last year he was blessed by having a blue plaque erected to him on our famous Gothic-revival Town Hall, an award agreed in haste by the Rochdale Township committee.' Yesterday Rochdale's Council bosses took down the plaque honouring Sir Cyril Smith after receiving threats.
Colin Lambert, the Council leader, told M.E.N.: 'We make no judgement on the situation with Cyril Smith, but the strength of public feeling is such that we have been alerted to a potential threat to the town hall.'
Given that Cyril had only been dead for just over a year, we then remarked '(t)hat must be something of a record given that it breaches the strict criteria guidelines recommended by English Heritage, a kind of extraordinary networking beyond the grave to overcome political opposition and the rule of 20-years after death.' Had Rochdale Council not acted to take it down Northern Voices would have launched a campaign to have it removed. We say this not because we accept all the allegations against Cyril Smith but because English Heritage has clear criteria that it applies in London and elsewhere and Cyril Smith did not meet these criteria: The first bullet point of the English Heritage criteria is that 'a figure must have been dead for twenty years, or have passed the centenary of their birth, whichever is the earlier.'
Now some years ago Tameside Trade Union Council in Greater Manchester, nominated James Keogh and last year he was awarded a plaque that is now placed in Ashton Library. James Keogh died fighting for a free Spain and democracy in 1938 in the Spanish Civil War. He had been dead well over seventy years when he gained this honour, he was the son of a local binman born on 9 April 1915, the eldest of 11 children. He grew-up on Wellington Street and attended Gatefield Junior School and Christ Church before working as an apprentice at Pikes’ Tailors, formerly on Stamford Street in Ashton-under-Lyne. James got his plaque only after much cogitation and debate, yet Cyril Smith received his commemoration rapidly after only one year. This struck us at the time as an unwise decision, taken for reasons of politics, we now know it to have been utterly rash in the extreme.
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There are still a few copies of printed version of NORTHERN VOICES No.13 available with the Bob Miller obituary inside following our decision to reprint it after the original print order sold out at the staging of the Sophie Lancaster play 'Black Roses' in September, at the Royal Exchange in Manchester; there is also a report on the Blue Plaque awarded to James Keogh of Ashton. NORTHERN VOICES No.12 with the Cyril Smith 'Instead of an Obituary' is also still available and may be obtained as follows:
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com
Colin Lambert, the Council leader, told M.E.N.: 'We make no judgement on the situation with Cyril Smith, but the strength of public feeling is such that we have been alerted to a potential threat to the town hall.'
Given that Cyril had only been dead for just over a year, we then remarked '(t)hat must be something of a record given that it breaches the strict criteria guidelines recommended by English Heritage, a kind of extraordinary networking beyond the grave to overcome political opposition and the rule of 20-years after death.' Had Rochdale Council not acted to take it down Northern Voices would have launched a campaign to have it removed. We say this not because we accept all the allegations against Cyril Smith but because English Heritage has clear criteria that it applies in London and elsewhere and Cyril Smith did not meet these criteria: The first bullet point of the English Heritage criteria is that 'a figure must have been dead for twenty years, or have passed the centenary of their birth, whichever is the earlier.'
Now some years ago Tameside Trade Union Council in Greater Manchester, nominated James Keogh and last year he was awarded a plaque that is now placed in Ashton Library. James Keogh died fighting for a free Spain and democracy in 1938 in the Spanish Civil War. He had been dead well over seventy years when he gained this honour, he was the son of a local binman born on 9 April 1915, the eldest of 11 children. He grew-up on Wellington Street and attended Gatefield Junior School and Christ Church before working as an apprentice at Pikes’ Tailors, formerly on Stamford Street in Ashton-under-Lyne. James got his plaque only after much cogitation and debate, yet Cyril Smith received his commemoration rapidly after only one year. This struck us at the time as an unwise decision, taken for reasons of politics, we now know it to have been utterly rash in the extreme.
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There are still a few copies of printed version of NORTHERN VOICES No.13 available with the Bob Miller obituary inside following our decision to reprint it after the original print order sold out at the staging of the Sophie Lancaster play 'Black Roses' in September, at the Royal Exchange in Manchester; there is also a report on the Blue Plaque awarded to James Keogh of Ashton. NORTHERN VOICES No.12 with the Cyril Smith 'Instead of an Obituary' is also still available and may be obtained as follows:
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Government refuses to name UK employers using forced unpaid labour.
For the last nine months, lawyers acting for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) have been refusing to publish the names of charities and private businesses that are participating in the government's 'Mandatory Work Activity' (MWA) scheme. Under the scheme, unemployed people who claim state benefits, can be forced to work unpaid for 30 hours per week for up to 4 weeks at a time, in order to retain their Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA).
In August, the Information Commissioner - who is responsible for Data Protection - ruled that the information should be released into the public domain, but lawyers acting for the DWP have insisted that the information must remain secret and are appealing against the decision.
In the 14-page appeal document - which has been leaked to the Guardian - the DWP say that to have released details of the placement providers at the time it was requested, would have led to campaign groups targeting placement providers, which would have forced them to withdraw from the scheme. The appeal document also says:
"Previous targeted campaigns had resulted in the withdrawal of providers from MWA and WE (Work Experience)...The DWP considered that of all the workfare programmes being described externally as 'workfare schemes', the MWA programme was the most likely to be influenced by pressure from campaign groups and negative publicity, given that the MWA programmes were generally provided by charitable organisations...and the placements were mandatory...Put simply, disclosure (of names) would have been likely to have led to the collapse of the MWA scheme, with incaculable losses to the taxpayer and many thousands of persons in long-term unemployment who are supported by the scheme."
Many unemployed people who have been pushed onto these government work-for-your-dole schemes, say it represents a form of modern-day slavery or forced labour. Research carried out by the government, also showed that MWA did not help unemployed people back into work after they had completed their 4-week stint on MWA and had "little effect on getting people off benefits in the long term." Indeed, it has been suggested that participation on the scheme, may have a negative impact on employment prospects, because it could convey to a prospective employer that people put on it, are unwilling to work and have been compelled to do so. But this also overlooks the fact that there is a punitive element which lies behind many of these schemes, which are aimed at getting people off the dole. Speaking about benefit claimants, a 'Whitehall official', told a Sunday Times reporter earlier this year:
"If we want them to tap dance, then they will tap dance."
Changes to the rules that were introduced by the government a fortnight ago, will now see unemployed people losing their JSA for up to three years if they refuse to work in unpaid 'placements'. Although the DWP have confirmed on previous occasions that the unemployed on MWA can only be placed with organisations that provide 'social benefit', the Guardian has revealed that unpaid jobseeker's are being placed with private businesses to clean private homes.
Campaign groups like 'Boycott Workfare', argue that it is in the public interest to disclose how many private companies are making profit from using unpaid unemployed people on the government's forced labour schemes, and that this should not be kept secret.
Due to protest actions taken by campaign groups like Boycott Workfare, a number of charities and firms have already pulled out of the government's forced labour schemes. One of the largest charities known to be associated with MWA, the British Heart Foundation (BHF), recently announced that they were "moving away from involvement in MWA towards schemes which provide longer term voluntary placements."
Boycott Workfare have welcomed the move and told the newspaper: "It is good to see a charity that was using workfare on a massive scale acknowledge that forced unpaid work isn't palatable for their supporters or customers...Charities should not be making people poorer by putting them at risk of benefit stoppages. They have an ethical obligation not to profit from forced unpaid work."
Although the DWP denied that the actions taken by protest groups had a bearing on the decision taken by BHF to distance itself from MWA, it is clear that protest action is having an effect and making some charities and firms think twice, about participating in these appalling government schemes.
In August, the Information Commissioner - who is responsible for Data Protection - ruled that the information should be released into the public domain, but lawyers acting for the DWP have insisted that the information must remain secret and are appealing against the decision.
In the 14-page appeal document - which has been leaked to the Guardian - the DWP say that to have released details of the placement providers at the time it was requested, would have led to campaign groups targeting placement providers, which would have forced them to withdraw from the scheme. The appeal document also says:
"Previous targeted campaigns had resulted in the withdrawal of providers from MWA and WE (Work Experience)...The DWP considered that of all the workfare programmes being described externally as 'workfare schemes', the MWA programme was the most likely to be influenced by pressure from campaign groups and negative publicity, given that the MWA programmes were generally provided by charitable organisations...and the placements were mandatory...Put simply, disclosure (of names) would have been likely to have led to the collapse of the MWA scheme, with incaculable losses to the taxpayer and many thousands of persons in long-term unemployment who are supported by the scheme."
Many unemployed people who have been pushed onto these government work-for-your-dole schemes, say it represents a form of modern-day slavery or forced labour. Research carried out by the government, also showed that MWA did not help unemployed people back into work after they had completed their 4-week stint on MWA and had "little effect on getting people off benefits in the long term." Indeed, it has been suggested that participation on the scheme, may have a negative impact on employment prospects, because it could convey to a prospective employer that people put on it, are unwilling to work and have been compelled to do so. But this also overlooks the fact that there is a punitive element which lies behind many of these schemes, which are aimed at getting people off the dole. Speaking about benefit claimants, a 'Whitehall official', told a Sunday Times reporter earlier this year:
"If we want them to tap dance, then they will tap dance."
Changes to the rules that were introduced by the government a fortnight ago, will now see unemployed people losing their JSA for up to three years if they refuse to work in unpaid 'placements'. Although the DWP have confirmed on previous occasions that the unemployed on MWA can only be placed with organisations that provide 'social benefit', the Guardian has revealed that unpaid jobseeker's are being placed with private businesses to clean private homes.
Campaign groups like 'Boycott Workfare', argue that it is in the public interest to disclose how many private companies are making profit from using unpaid unemployed people on the government's forced labour schemes, and that this should not be kept secret.
Due to protest actions taken by campaign groups like Boycott Workfare, a number of charities and firms have already pulled out of the government's forced labour schemes. One of the largest charities known to be associated with MWA, the British Heart Foundation (BHF), recently announced that they were "moving away from involvement in MWA towards schemes which provide longer term voluntary placements."
Boycott Workfare have welcomed the move and told the newspaper: "It is good to see a charity that was using workfare on a massive scale acknowledge that forced unpaid work isn't palatable for their supporters or customers...Charities should not be making people poorer by putting them at risk of benefit stoppages. They have an ethical obligation not to profit from forced unpaid work."
Although the DWP denied that the actions taken by protest groups had a bearing on the decision taken by BHF to distance itself from MWA, it is clear that protest action is having an effect and making some charities and firms think twice, about participating in these appalling government schemes.
Sir Cyril Smith & Great Men
THE descriptions of Cyril Smith's exploits with young lads in the early 1960s as 'doctoring with intent', would make a good metaphor for his intervention in Rochdale's politics in the last half of the 20th Century. It was a form of tampering with the mechanics of political life in the town that deformed or some would have it enhanced political life in Rochdale. I've known other figures like him in my life, I lived for a time in Spain under General Franco in the 1960s, Franco dominated Spain, its institutions and Spanish life for 36-years, and in Gibraltar, where I worked and lived in the late 1960s and 1980s, I met Sir Joshua Hassan, who was the Chief Minister there between the 11 August 1964 – 6 August 1969 and again between 25 June 1972 – 8 December 1987. Both these men had a immense influence on there constituences: the Spanish Caudillo (meaning chief or warlord) and the Jewish Gibraltarian Chief Minister, and both were like Cyril larger-than-life figures. But both, in a way, disabled their societies for years, Franco gave his people a kind of 'peace' but it was at the price of stiffling a free press and led to corruption and speculation in real estate; Sir Joshua secured Gibraltar and resisted a Spanish takeover but that too led to the cultivation of what George Borrow called the 'Rock rascal', smuggling and a society in which the rich didn't pay their share of the taxes. When Cyril Smith died in 2010, Simon Danczuk MP for Rochdale, who raised serious issues about Cyril Smith in the House of Commons yesterday, said:
'Sir Cyril was a towering figure who cast a large shadow over the political landscape in Rochdale. His influence was felt everywhere. I could not but admire the fact that as a member of what was then a very small party he managed to win five elections in Rochdale as a Liberal. I think this would be very hard to achieve today. Remember when Cyril won the seat there were only a handful of Liberal MPs. Sir Cyril was one of the first politicians of the TV age to use his personality and charisma to enormous affect. In that respect he was ahead of his time.'
In the Bertold Brecht play 'Galileo' the leading charater says: 'God help the land that needs heroes', Rochdale and the English must learn to live without a need for great men.
'Sir Cyril was a towering figure who cast a large shadow over the political landscape in Rochdale. His influence was felt everywhere. I could not but admire the fact that as a member of what was then a very small party he managed to win five elections in Rochdale as a Liberal. I think this would be very hard to achieve today. Remember when Cyril won the seat there were only a handful of Liberal MPs. Sir Cyril was one of the first politicians of the TV age to use his personality and charisma to enormous affect. In that respect he was ahead of his time.'
In the Bertold Brecht play 'Galileo' the leading charater says: 'God help the land that needs heroes', Rochdale and the English must learn to live without a need for great men.
Rochdale Born & Bred
Mr. Rochdale and Civic Pride
by Paul Waugh (editor of the politics home blog)
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a Waugh as in Rochdale*, rather than a Waugh as in Brideshead. Born and bred in the town, I’ve always been proud of a birthplace that has both a rich history and a markedly defiant streak to its nature.
Rochdale is also the birthplace of John Bright, the great Liberal statesman known for his iron determination to champion his cause. Bright’s statue still casts a knowing Victorian eye over the populace from a hill above the Esplanade. The town boasts a fine neo-Gothic town hall - so fine that, legend has it, Hitler decided to spare it from his bombs – and its eponymous canal powered trade across the North West even before the railways arrived.
Like many northern towns that boomed in the industrial revolution, Rochdale’s cotton and engineering factories were decimated by economic change after the war. Times have been tough for many, but Rochdalians have often fought back to defy their stereotype of a depressed mill town. From Cargo Studios (which saw tracks recorded by Joy Division, the Fall and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) to the success of Rochdale lass Anna Friel (of Brookside and now London stage fame), we weren’t all flat caps and whippets.
Yet despite this variety, it’s undeniable that for many people outside the town, Rochdale was famous for just three of its offspring: Gracie Fields, a 'struggling' football club and Cyril Smith.
In Cyril Smith’s case, it wasn’t really an exaggeration to describe him as Mr Rochdale. He served as MP for the town for 20 years, from 1972 to 1992. But before that he was a councillor for just as long, having won his first council seat at the tender age of 23, a record for the time.
Born into poverty, his was an impressive story of a working class boy who pulled himself up by his bootstraps, setting up his own springs factory and rising through the political ranks to become Mayor, Alderman and ultimately a Member of Parliament. Like the town itself, he was stubbornly independent.
As chairman of the Estates Committee, Big Cyril had a very direct impact on the fabric of the town, playing a key role in slum clearance and replacing older buildings with new 1960s blocks.
But he always had a keen interest in youth development, chairing the Education Committee, the Youth Advisory Committee and Youth Employment Committee. He was the driving force behind the creation of a new ‘Hostel for Working Boys’ at Cambridge House in 1962, an affordable place for youngsters from troubled homes.
Allegations about Smith’s conduct at Cambridge House were first aired in 1979 by the Rochdale Alternative Press (RAP). Only Private Eye printed their substance, but a writ served by Smith seemed to deter any other national interest. As a boy I remember the fuss caused by the RAP story but the controversy seemed to melt away after he was re-elected as Liberal MP in the ’79 election. Smith and his family strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
Today, two of the former residents at Cambridge House have gone on the record for the first time (see my extended piece HERE). In Barry Fitton’s case, he is going public with allegations that he previously made anonymously. But even in 1979, this appeared not to be idle gossip: he along with other boys, signed an affidavit to back up his claims that Smith subjected him to punishments. Like the others, he had also been interviewed by police in the late 1960s but nothing came of the case. Far from jumping on a bandwagon of the Savile affair, as some cynics may allege, Mr Fitton would argue he has tried and failed to get justice more than 30 years ago for abuse that happened nearly 50 years ago.
In Eddie Shorrock’s case, he has never before aired the allegations either publicly or anonymously. There are other witnesses who I have not been able to track down yet, but who may also come forward.
Simon Danczuk told the House of Commons today of “young boys who were humiliated, terrified and reduced to quivering wrecks by 29 stone bully imposing himself on them”.
“What happened to them? How can they ever forget what happened to them? Why was this allowed to happen? We need to be sure that this type of investigation takes place now, that those victims get a chance to have their voices heard.”
As it happens, when he was a prominent councillor, Cyril Smith once said this:
"I want a Rochdale of which we can be proud and a Rochdale of which future generations will be proud - a Rochdale at which future generations will look and say of us, as we can say of our ancestors, 'They did not let us down.'”
The Rochdale child sex grooming case is completely separate from the Cyril Smith allegations. Yet Rochdalians can be forgiven for being depressed that the name of their town seems to be linked to one piece of bad news after another. Mr Danczuk today said he had received fresh testimony from another man who is "ashamed of what happened to him" at the hands of Smith.
There will be friends, family and loyal supporters of Cyril who feel that today's developments smear his good name. But there will be others who feel that this day is long overdue. Either way, a new investigation by Lancashire Police, and possibly the DPP, may be the only way forward.
Let’s see if the boys of Cambridge House – now pensioners - will get any sense of closure. And let’s see too if that civic pride to which Cyril Smith once referred can be somehow be restored.
*FOOTNOTE: Edwin Waugh was a Rochdale born dialect poet. Eveyln Waugh was someone else entirely. Both fine writers in their own way, but a tad different. From www.politicshome.com
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Cyril Smith Doctoring With Intent!
N.V. finds new witness to 'Sins of Cyril' at Boys' Home in 1960s
'WHEN you were ill at Cambridge House,' Edward Shorrock told Northern Voices (NV), 'Cyril was round like a shot.' He was speaking to me last week about Cyril Smith, the former Liberal M.P. for Rochdale who died just over two years ago, and who Eddie said had 'abused his powers' while he was the Secretary of the association that ran Cambridge House boys' hostel in the early 1960s. In May 1979, the Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP) exposed how Smith indulged himself in strange power-play interactions with some of the young lads resident at Cambridge House: enacting sexually flavoured punishments, spanking bare bums and administering curious medical examinations on some of the youngest inmates.
Northern Voices has seen a list of names of his victims, lads in their mid-teens between 1962 and 1964, who told RAP in the late 1970s that Cyril made advances to them, and subjected them to spankings and degrading medical inspections. All of this was published in the May 1979 issue of RAP. Yet, within 3 hours of this story being distributed to then Rochdale newsagents, Cyril got his solicitor to issue a writ on the editors of RAP. As John Walker, a former editor of RAP, told me in 2011: 'Cyril slapped a writ on us 3 hours after publication... this would be regarded by lawyers as a "gagging writ",' and 'it was a legal ploy used by Smith's solicitors to frighten off main stream media interest, allowing Cyril to say that the allegations by the lads were untrue, and that he was instigating libel proceedings.' In the end only Private Eye and the New Statesman covered the story. This 'gagging writ' against RAP was never followed through by Cyril's solicitors (see Northern Voices No.12); John Walker told me: 'Eventually we challenged the lawyers (of Cyril) to sue or drop the writ (and) they quietly did so and made a small token payment to our almost negligible costs.' In 2011, John Walker told N.V.: 'I stand by every word that we wrote then,' John also added 'He (Smith) used his position of authority to further his own rather selfish and unpleasant ends... but more seriously, he took advantage of some downtrodden, disadvantaged people in society whose fate had been put in his hands, and further damaged them.'
Edward Shorrock who spoke out for the first time this week, was one of those vulnerable lads who had been arrested as a bicycle thief in Bury at about 16 years-old and sentenced to two years probation, only later to be sent by the probation service to Cambridge House, on Castlemere Street, Rochdale. Journalists including the Rochdale Observer have seen three sworn statement from three of the former Cambridge House residents, but Eddie did not give a statement to RAP's solicitors in the 1979 because he had moved to Bristol in 1977. Today both he and another lad, Barry Fitton, have gone public and have given their accounts to the lobby journalist, Paul Waugh (a Rochdale lad himself) on his site at www.politicshome.com . Eddie told me last week that he was more troubled by Cyril's 'abuse of power' at Cambridge House, than the actual strange 'voyeuristic' sexual nature of his curious encounters alone with Cyril which involved undressing; it was a kind of 'doctoring with intent', a peculiar exercise in power-play.
Cyril, then a Rochdale Labour Councillor, Alderman and eventually to be Liberal M.P. for Rochdale, had a kind of charismatic chemistry that dominated those around him and enabled him to manipulate situations through a method that would now be called 'networking'. Such has been his influence in the town as a local hero that last year he was blessed by having a blue plaque erected to him on our famous Gothic-revival Town Hall, an award agreed in haste by the Rochdale Township committee. That must be something of a record given that it breaches the strict criteria guidelines recommended by English Heritage, a kind of extraordinary networking beyond the grave to overcome political opposition and the rule of 20-years after death. Immense power indeed, for a Rochdale lad who says of himself in his autobiography 'BIG CYRIL': 'As a ragged-arsed kid, dressed in second hand clothes I knew the grinding poverty of a mill town in the thirties'. To this day with his blue plaque anointing our most famous and adored Gothic revival building, one that even Adolf Hitler reputably praised, Cyril seems to be truly a giant among pygmies.
Will Edward Shorrock now become 'Eddie the Giant-Killer'? Will our great British media at long last dare to take on the might of the now deceased Sir Cyril Smith and his supporters? Is today's news the beginning of the end of a great legend in our town? It fair takes your breath away pondering the possibilities of how the Rochdale political establishment and the Rochdale Observer will react to a fallen hero; a fallen hero indeed, because it was on Armistice Day, last Sunday, that Eddie gave his own unvarnished account of the goings-on at Cambridge House in the 1960s to Paul Waugh. On the day he left Cambridge House, Eddie had always had the parting words of Cyril ringing in his ears and it was something like: 'nobody crosses me!'
Saturday, 10 November 2012
Revealing the Roch; Rediscovering Rochdale Bridges
THIS Activity Plan proposal below is interesting in so far as it is revealing more about the English psychology of the proponents. The interest here is not in the beauty of the art or the architectural features of the medieval bridges but rather in the 'learning activity' and the 'partnership services' and the 'meeting the neighbours' and the breaking down of 'false divisions within the town's communities'. Anything but the art and beauty of the buildings and riverside. That may be because English people and politicians feel uncomfortable about aesthetic things and prefer to waffle on about politically correct slogans.
Frederic Raphael, writing on the sculptor, Henry Moore, in the magazine 'Modern Painters' wrote: 'Art has become (or remains) separate from politics in England not because it is too difficult for politicians but because they do not have money for it and because whatever is not economic is not real to them...' The English politicians only grasp the price of things, and thus we should expect that civil servants in Rochdale can only talk twaddle when go on about the medieval bridges of Rochdale, they have become cut off from the roots of our great architectural tradition and only now understand the simplistic ugliness that now adorns so many of the modern buildings in Rochdale town centre. I urge readers to read the text below for what it reveals about the mentality of the typical English civil servant and politician. God help us!
Activity Plan Proposal, stage 1:
A Summary:
Rochdale Bridge and the Butts Bridge are a crucial part of the town’s important cultural heritage and the river part of its natural heritage. They are valuable resources for learning and enjoyment and as such should be a shared resource, but at present are known and experienced by very few people. The success of the project will be shown by the extent to which it engages the diverse communities of Rochdale and its ability to fulfil the potential of the Bridges as a source of identity and symbol of unity for them.
By revealing Rochdale Bridge, the capital work in itself is a learning activity because thousands of people will discover the existence of this hidden heritage asset. However RMBC want to go beyond this broad engagement and complement the capital work with a programme of activities aimed at achieving high levels of learning and participation. The focus will be on engaging the surrounding communities in Inner Rochdale. The programme will link into existing initiatives to ensure a lasting legacy.
B Research/Consultation undertaken:
Rochdale Council and its partners have substantial experience of working with the communities in Inner Rochdale and have built strong relationships and trust with local groups. Rather than ‘reinvent the wheel,’ the project seeks to build on this good work through by working across Council and partner services and utilising existing networks and frameworks where suitable. This section summarises the outcomes of consultation and research which has influenced the outline activity programme.
B1 Township – the local RMBC township office works within local communities. “Meeting the neighbours” is an overarching concept used by the Township under which community projects have been implemented. It seeks to bridge false divisions within the town centre communities through events to encourage neighbours to meet and participate in activities together. An example of a project was a series of sessions held across communities to learn a dance. The dancers from each community were then brought together to perform at the Memorial Gardens in the town centre. A review of the project has shown a need to involve more inter-generational activities and people with a disability. There are clear opportunities around the symbolism of Rochdale Bridge at the centre of the communities for this project to operate under this tried and tested framework.
B2 Touchstones – Touchstones, managed by Link4Life, lead the provision of cultural heritage activities within Rochdale Town Centre and have proven expertise in this area. Their products are well received and trusted with schools and local groups- their schools programme, for example, is regularly fully booked. Meetings with the Education Co-ordinator and the Art Gallery Access Officer have explored what makes successful projects and how we can tie into their strategies for mutual benefit and to ensure the lifespan of the resources created as part of the project continue after the project’s completion.
B3 Rochdale Cultural Heritage Group (RoCH) – RoCH is an umbrella group representing the different cultural and heritage groups within Rochdale. They have been crucial in gauging public support, advising officers on the activities and how the capital work can reflect public aspirations.
B4 Additional research and consultation - It should be emphasised that this project has emerged from informal and formal consultation over many years and work within Inner Rochdale communities. To be discussed more within application form. Additional research and consultation includes;
▪ Rochdale THI (presentation to Whitworth community centre, support letters)
▪ MSc Dissertation on the extent to which heritage-led regeneration proposals in Rochdale engage and reflect the local Pakistani community
▪ MRUK report
▪ ……
2.5 Other projects/Best practice – We have researched and contacted a number of other HLF-funded projects that have similarities to our proposed project: The Lune Viaduct, The River Ribble, British Steel Archive Project. This will be expanded upon in the application form.
C Audience:
Due to its concealment, there is no audience currently engaging with the Rochdale and Butts Bridges and it would be premature to focus engagement too closely on a specific audience. The Bridges are in the centre of Rochdale; an area which is within the 1% most deprived areas in the country and has ethnically diverse, yet segregated communities.
The MRUK report, produced for RMBC, gives insight into the views of the people of Rochdale borough. It found that “One of the most striking attitudes that arose from all respondent audiences was the importance of maintaining a link with the industrial origins and heritage of the area. This was seen to be an important aspect of the identity of the people and the community in which they live. Those respondents living within the Borough displayed quite negative perceptions, which can be descried as being of low expectation, low self esteem, with little sense of local pride and a lost identity.
D Concept:
Rochdale Bridge contains a unique and dynamic record of human activity, shaped by generations of Rochdale people responding to the surroundings they inherited. The activity plan will record and celebrate the project, which is this generation’s contribution to that history. Under the framework of ‘Meeting the Neighbours’ the project will engage with these different communities through a series of workshops on the bridge, its history and its conservation that will be tailored to each group. The workshops will culminate in outputs created collaboratively between the different groups thus bringing them together in discovery, recording and celebration of the Bridges as a source of identity and symbol of unity.
The workshops/learning sessions are divided into ‘discovering’, ‘recording’ and ‘celebrating’. During the development stage the Project Officer would work with the community groups to arrange a package of workshops suitable for their audience. This system of workshops allows activities to be repeated with different groups, and adapted to their needs; making them effective and efficient. Similar frameworks used by Touchstones, Township and the Middleton Young Roots project have proved successful. This project would be more ambitious; reaching more groups, with a wide variety of workshops and continuation of some workshops following completion of the project. Participants will be invited to join RoCH and have long-term involvement in decisions about the cultural heritage.
To Do:
Identify groups
Put costs against sessions etc – realistic within the budget?
Frederic Raphael, writing on the sculptor, Henry Moore, in the magazine 'Modern Painters' wrote: 'Art has become (or remains) separate from politics in England not because it is too difficult for politicians but because they do not have money for it and because whatever is not economic is not real to them...' The English politicians only grasp the price of things, and thus we should expect that civil servants in Rochdale can only talk twaddle when go on about the medieval bridges of Rochdale, they have become cut off from the roots of our great architectural tradition and only now understand the simplistic ugliness that now adorns so many of the modern buildings in Rochdale town centre. I urge readers to read the text below for what it reveals about the mentality of the typical English civil servant and politician. God help us!
Activity Plan Proposal, stage 1:
A Summary:
Rochdale Bridge and the Butts Bridge are a crucial part of the town’s important cultural heritage and the river part of its natural heritage. They are valuable resources for learning and enjoyment and as such should be a shared resource, but at present are known and experienced by very few people. The success of the project will be shown by the extent to which it engages the diverse communities of Rochdale and its ability to fulfil the potential of the Bridges as a source of identity and symbol of unity for them.
By revealing Rochdale Bridge, the capital work in itself is a learning activity because thousands of people will discover the existence of this hidden heritage asset. However RMBC want to go beyond this broad engagement and complement the capital work with a programme of activities aimed at achieving high levels of learning and participation. The focus will be on engaging the surrounding communities in Inner Rochdale. The programme will link into existing initiatives to ensure a lasting legacy.
B Research/Consultation undertaken:
Rochdale Council and its partners have substantial experience of working with the communities in Inner Rochdale and have built strong relationships and trust with local groups. Rather than ‘reinvent the wheel,’ the project seeks to build on this good work through by working across Council and partner services and utilising existing networks and frameworks where suitable. This section summarises the outcomes of consultation and research which has influenced the outline activity programme.
B1 Township – the local RMBC township office works within local communities. “Meeting the neighbours” is an overarching concept used by the Township under which community projects have been implemented. It seeks to bridge false divisions within the town centre communities through events to encourage neighbours to meet and participate in activities together. An example of a project was a series of sessions held across communities to learn a dance. The dancers from each community were then brought together to perform at the Memorial Gardens in the town centre. A review of the project has shown a need to involve more inter-generational activities and people with a disability. There are clear opportunities around the symbolism of Rochdale Bridge at the centre of the communities for this project to operate under this tried and tested framework.
B2 Touchstones – Touchstones, managed by Link4Life, lead the provision of cultural heritage activities within Rochdale Town Centre and have proven expertise in this area. Their products are well received and trusted with schools and local groups- their schools programme, for example, is regularly fully booked. Meetings with the Education Co-ordinator and the Art Gallery Access Officer have explored what makes successful projects and how we can tie into their strategies for mutual benefit and to ensure the lifespan of the resources created as part of the project continue after the project’s completion.
B3 Rochdale Cultural Heritage Group (RoCH) – RoCH is an umbrella group representing the different cultural and heritage groups within Rochdale. They have been crucial in gauging public support, advising officers on the activities and how the capital work can reflect public aspirations.
B4 Additional research and consultation - It should be emphasised that this project has emerged from informal and formal consultation over many years and work within Inner Rochdale communities. To be discussed more within application form. Additional research and consultation includes;
▪ Rochdale THI (presentation to Whitworth community centre, support letters)
▪ MSc Dissertation on the extent to which heritage-led regeneration proposals in Rochdale engage and reflect the local Pakistani community
▪ MRUK report
▪ ……
2.5 Other projects/Best practice – We have researched and contacted a number of other HLF-funded projects that have similarities to our proposed project: The Lune Viaduct, The River Ribble, British Steel Archive Project. This will be expanded upon in the application form.
C Audience:
Due to its concealment, there is no audience currently engaging with the Rochdale and Butts Bridges and it would be premature to focus engagement too closely on a specific audience. The Bridges are in the centre of Rochdale; an area which is within the 1% most deprived areas in the country and has ethnically diverse, yet segregated communities.
The MRUK report, produced for RMBC, gives insight into the views of the people of Rochdale borough. It found that “One of the most striking attitudes that arose from all respondent audiences was the importance of maintaining a link with the industrial origins and heritage of the area. This was seen to be an important aspect of the identity of the people and the community in which they live. Those respondents living within the Borough displayed quite negative perceptions, which can be descried as being of low expectation, low self esteem, with little sense of local pride and a lost identity.
D Concept:
Rochdale Bridge contains a unique and dynamic record of human activity, shaped by generations of Rochdale people responding to the surroundings they inherited. The activity plan will record and celebrate the project, which is this generation’s contribution to that history. Under the framework of ‘Meeting the Neighbours’ the project will engage with these different communities through a series of workshops on the bridge, its history and its conservation that will be tailored to each group. The workshops will culminate in outputs created collaboratively between the different groups thus bringing them together in discovery, recording and celebration of the Bridges as a source of identity and symbol of unity.
The workshops/learning sessions are divided into ‘discovering’, ‘recording’ and ‘celebrating’. During the development stage the Project Officer would work with the community groups to arrange a package of workshops suitable for their audience. This system of workshops allows activities to be repeated with different groups, and adapted to their needs; making them effective and efficient. Similar frameworks used by Touchstones, Township and the Middleton Young Roots project have proved successful. This project would be more ambitious; reaching more groups, with a wide variety of workshops and continuation of some workshops following completion of the project. Participants will be invited to join RoCH and have long-term involvement in decisions about the cultural heritage.
To Do:
Identify groups
Put costs against sessions etc – realistic within the budget?
Friday, 9 November 2012
Northern Anarchist Network Agenda:
The next meeting of the Northern Anarchist Network
will be held on the 8th, December 2012
at the
Central Methodist Hall,
Grimshaw Street off York Street,
in Burnley Town Centre.
There are many local bakehouses, tea rooms and cafes in the area.
______________________________________________
Starting at 12 Noon until 1.30pm: in the first session
John Simkin will address Anarchist policy in today's world politics.
1.30pm to 2pm: Lunch.
2pm until 3.30: the NAN has invited two speakers
from the Manchester Occupy Movement.
3.30pm to 3.45pm: Tea.
3.45pm until 5pm:
PROBLEMS OF ANARCHISM
Given recent events at the last London Anarchist Bookfair, the Jimmy Savile saga & the Leveson Inquiry a speaker from the Northern Voices' Editorial Panel
will address the current problems of Anarchism with regard
to civil liberties and a free and independent press.
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Authoritarian Anarchists
The Manchester Anarchist bookfair takes place on Saturday Dec 1st at Peoples History Museum and not on Dec 8th as inadvertently posted in my last blog.
Bans, proscriptions, attacks on the freedom of expression have no place within the anarchist and libertarian movement. Nonetheless a rash of authoritarianism has affected parts of the anarchist movement in Manchester specifically the Anarchist Federation.
The sorry saga of intolerance had its origins at the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair at the Dance House in 2010. There was an unsuccessful attempt by a leading member of the Anarchist Federation to remove copies of the magazine Northern Voices (NV) which were being sold. It should be emphasised that issue number 13 which has subsequently been removed from Freedom Bookshop was not printed until 2012.
In 2011 both Northern Voices and the Northern Anarchist Network (NAN) were banned from the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair and this ban has remained in force for the 2012 bookfair. The NAN is an autonomous network with individuals and groups participating from Manchester, Burnley, Bury, Tameside,Wellington, Leeds, Cumbria and Newcastle. Northern Voices is not a publication produced by the NAN and has an entirely separate editorial collective. No explanation whatsoever has ever been offered for these bans.
These "New Authoritarians" within the Anarchist Federation and others who support the ban reveal a "stalinist mindset" and their actions are deeply corrosive and damaging. Doctrinaire anarchists and ideologues would be well advised to heed the words of the French philosopher Voltaire. "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
Bans, proscriptions, attacks on the freedom of expression have no place within the anarchist and libertarian movement. Nonetheless a rash of authoritarianism has affected parts of the anarchist movement in Manchester specifically the Anarchist Federation.
The sorry saga of intolerance had its origins at the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair at the Dance House in 2010. There was an unsuccessful attempt by a leading member of the Anarchist Federation to remove copies of the magazine Northern Voices (NV) which were being sold. It should be emphasised that issue number 13 which has subsequently been removed from Freedom Bookshop was not printed until 2012.
In 2011 both Northern Voices and the Northern Anarchist Network (NAN) were banned from the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair and this ban has remained in force for the 2012 bookfair. The NAN is an autonomous network with individuals and groups participating from Manchester, Burnley, Bury, Tameside,Wellington, Leeds, Cumbria and Newcastle. Northern Voices is not a publication produced by the NAN and has an entirely separate editorial collective. No explanation whatsoever has ever been offered for these bans.
These "New Authoritarians" within the Anarchist Federation and others who support the ban reveal a "stalinist mindset" and their actions are deeply corrosive and damaging. Doctrinaire anarchists and ideologues would be well advised to heed the words of the French philosopher Voltaire. "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
'Sticks & Stones will Break My Bones but...'
Reply from Northern Voices Editorial Panel to London Anarchist Bookfair Collective:
Dear Anarchist Bookfair Collective,
Thank you again for your swift response to my original e-mail. Since I returned to the North and related the events at the Bookfair to others, both on the NV editorial panel and elsewhere, there has been much distress expressed about the violent attempt to gag us. I have always been happy with your treatment of our organisation in the past, but I was a bit concerned that you had failed to retrieve our stock. Be that as it may, you are quite right when you say that the term a 'contractual duty of care' is a nonsense: this phrase was wrongly introduced to the e-mail as it was dictated over the phone to me. It was wrong because it muddles together two different spheres of the law, 'Tort' and 'Contract'. A duty of care, as you show, relates to the law of Tort. I take on board what you are saying about the limited contract at the Bookfair. The duty of care, as you say applies to visitors as well as stall-holders, not to mention the right of trespassers, in some circumstances, to the right of a duty of care. As you clearly state there is 'a responsibility for health and safety...' and projecting salad cream into someone's eyes (my eyes, in this case - see Five Leaves report) is clearly not conducive to good health and safety practice.
Where I think you breach your own criteria about being none judgemental, and 'not going to act as police, judge or jury for the anarchist movement' is at bullet point [3] where you equate 'not writing shit about dead comrades...' with a physical attack by members of AF led by Sally Hyman on the Northern Voices' stall. One is reminded here of the northern English saying: 'Sticks & stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me'. The fact is the piece in NV13 about Bob Miller was well researched with a phone interview with Mike Ballard and information gained from others who knew Bob Miller (the piece deals with the problem of secrecy and openess); but even if there is anything that is factually incorrect in the piece, neither Sally or anyone else has written to Northern Voices to put us right, and we have continually urged the parties to use their right to reply. Indeed, this is not the first time that Sally Hyman has conducted herself in this way against NV: I wasn't present, but in 2010 she snatched some copies of NV10 off a stall at a Manchester Anarchist bookfair at the Dancehouse on Oxford Road. On that occassion she returned the copies when the organiser intervened. Bob Miller was still alive at that time, so Sally has a history of this kind of behaviour well before the current incident. We have also seen an e-mail, which Sally earlier this year sent to Martin Gilbert, in which she declined to meet with us to discuss her ongoing problems with NV, and she has turned us down on every occassion we have asked. The advice you have given us to meet up is well intentioned, but it is no good if one of the parties prefers to act in a mob-handed way.
The NV Editorial Panel, which met yesterday, asked me to ask you about your Bullet Point [7] in which you say there was a request to ban Northern Voices from this year's bookfair: who was it who made this request & when did they make the request? I ask this because the 'offending publication' NV13 was published in March 2012, and we didn't hear anything until August 2012, when one of our outlets said there had been a complaint and later our printer was approached by Sally Hyman who was using a list to try to blackball Northern Voices. Also do you have the details for the address of the Anarchist Fed., we already have Sally's details.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Brian Bamford: Editor of Northern Voices.
Dear Anarchist Bookfair Collective,
Thank you again for your swift response to my original e-mail. Since I returned to the North and related the events at the Bookfair to others, both on the NV editorial panel and elsewhere, there has been much distress expressed about the violent attempt to gag us. I have always been happy with your treatment of our organisation in the past, but I was a bit concerned that you had failed to retrieve our stock. Be that as it may, you are quite right when you say that the term a 'contractual duty of care' is a nonsense: this phrase was wrongly introduced to the e-mail as it was dictated over the phone to me. It was wrong because it muddles together two different spheres of the law, 'Tort' and 'Contract'. A duty of care, as you show, relates to the law of Tort. I take on board what you are saying about the limited contract at the Bookfair. The duty of care, as you say applies to visitors as well as stall-holders, not to mention the right of trespassers, in some circumstances, to the right of a duty of care. As you clearly state there is 'a responsibility for health and safety...' and projecting salad cream into someone's eyes (my eyes, in this case - see Five Leaves report) is clearly not conducive to good health and safety practice.
Where I think you breach your own criteria about being none judgemental, and 'not going to act as police, judge or jury for the anarchist movement' is at bullet point [3] where you equate 'not writing shit about dead comrades...' with a physical attack by members of AF led by Sally Hyman on the Northern Voices' stall. One is reminded here of the northern English saying: 'Sticks & stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me'. The fact is the piece in NV13 about Bob Miller was well researched with a phone interview with Mike Ballard and information gained from others who knew Bob Miller (the piece deals with the problem of secrecy and openess); but even if there is anything that is factually incorrect in the piece, neither Sally or anyone else has written to Northern Voices to put us right, and we have continually urged the parties to use their right to reply. Indeed, this is not the first time that Sally Hyman has conducted herself in this way against NV: I wasn't present, but in 2010 she snatched some copies of NV10 off a stall at a Manchester Anarchist bookfair at the Dancehouse on Oxford Road. On that occassion she returned the copies when the organiser intervened. Bob Miller was still alive at that time, so Sally has a history of this kind of behaviour well before the current incident. We have also seen an e-mail, which Sally earlier this year sent to Martin Gilbert, in which she declined to meet with us to discuss her ongoing problems with NV, and she has turned us down on every occassion we have asked. The advice you have given us to meet up is well intentioned, but it is no good if one of the parties prefers to act in a mob-handed way.
The NV Editorial Panel, which met yesterday, asked me to ask you about your Bullet Point [7] in which you say there was a request to ban Northern Voices from this year's bookfair: who was it who made this request & when did they make the request? I ask this because the 'offending publication' NV13 was published in March 2012, and we didn't hear anything until August 2012, when one of our outlets said there had been a complaint and later our printer was approached by Sally Hyman who was using a list to try to blackball Northern Voices. Also do you have the details for the address of the Anarchist Fed., we already have Sally's details.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Brian Bamford: Editor of Northern Voices.
London Anarchist Bookfair Collective's reply to us
Below is the full response from the London Anarchist Bookfair collective to our e-mail in our post entitled 'Appeal to Responsible Anarchists':
Dear Brian,
You are not going to like this. You’ll understand that we are pretty pissed off about anyone behaving stupidly at the book fair but also that we are equally pissed off when we get your email demanding money and threatening court action. We don’t put on the book fair for this. You can't pretend your email is 'attempting to resolve things in a comradely manner'. We can understand that you are upset, just as we can understand why Sally is upset. But, generally, we are not going to act as police, judge or jury for the anarchist movement. The dispute is between yourself and Sally and as such it needs to be the two of you who sort this matter out.
Specifically:
• It's not our responsibility to recover or look after any of your stock or anyone else’s and certainly not our responsibility to compensate you for any damages or losses to your stock and we won’t be doing so.
• The 'contract' is just that you pay for a stall. The rest is your responsibility.
• We do not have any "contractual duty of care". This is nonsense and a court will find it nonsense too. We try and take responsibility for health and safety of all bookfair goers regardless of whether they have paid for a stall or not over things like overcrowding etc- but we had no more of a "duty of care" to you than to anyone else there ( as anarchists we believe we all have a social duty of care to eachother and this would probably include both not threatening people or throwing mayonaise over them, and not writing shit about dead comrades simply to wind up people up)
• There is no point in writing to us for your demands to the AF. None of us are in the AF or are likely to be admitted at present. You can approach them directly.
• We will continue to make our own decisions about who can and can't have stalls and are no more going to be swayed by your demands than by any of the other lobbies/approaches we get.
• We don’t intend to ban the AF or any of the individuals involved however unimpressed we are with their behaviour.
• Similarly we didn’t ban you from the bookfair this time despite a request and do not intend to do so in future.
• However, as you are reading far more into an agreement to book a stall at the bookfair than can conceivably be there you have to agree that it would be stupid at present for us to let you have a stall in future.
• If you are able to confirm that you have understood that the only agreement you are entering into when you book a stall at the bookfair is that all it is is a table, then we should be able to continue to let you book stalls in future. if you still want to.
Put simply, people need to grow up. We think this could be sorted sensibly - eg both of you talking, not reprinting the offending paper, coming to some agreement about the pamphlets etc, a quiet pint and an acceptance that what supposedly unites you is meant to be far more important than what divides you. And we can do the same too next year- if any of us have spare moment.That would be a comradely manner.
Dear Brian,
You are not going to like this. You’ll understand that we are pretty pissed off about anyone behaving stupidly at the book fair but also that we are equally pissed off when we get your email demanding money and threatening court action. We don’t put on the book fair for this. You can't pretend your email is 'attempting to resolve things in a comradely manner'. We can understand that you are upset, just as we can understand why Sally is upset. But, generally, we are not going to act as police, judge or jury for the anarchist movement. The dispute is between yourself and Sally and as such it needs to be the two of you who sort this matter out.
Specifically:
• It's not our responsibility to recover or look after any of your stock or anyone else’s and certainly not our responsibility to compensate you for any damages or losses to your stock and we won’t be doing so.
• The 'contract' is just that you pay for a stall. The rest is your responsibility.
• We do not have any "contractual duty of care". This is nonsense and a court will find it nonsense too. We try and take responsibility for health and safety of all bookfair goers regardless of whether they have paid for a stall or not over things like overcrowding etc- but we had no more of a "duty of care" to you than to anyone else there ( as anarchists we believe we all have a social duty of care to eachother and this would probably include both not threatening people or throwing mayonaise over them, and not writing shit about dead comrades simply to wind up people up)
• There is no point in writing to us for your demands to the AF. None of us are in the AF or are likely to be admitted at present. You can approach them directly.
• We will continue to make our own decisions about who can and can't have stalls and are no more going to be swayed by your demands than by any of the other lobbies/approaches we get.
• We don’t intend to ban the AF or any of the individuals involved however unimpressed we are with their behaviour.
• Similarly we didn’t ban you from the bookfair this time despite a request and do not intend to do so in future.
• However, as you are reading far more into an agreement to book a stall at the bookfair than can conceivably be there you have to agree that it would be stupid at present for us to let you have a stall in future.
• If you are able to confirm that you have understood that the only agreement you are entering into when you book a stall at the bookfair is that all it is is a table, then we should be able to continue to let you book stalls in future. if you still want to.
Put simply, people need to grow up. We think this could be sorted sensibly - eg both of you talking, not reprinting the offending paper, coming to some agreement about the pamphlets etc, a quiet pint and an acceptance that what supposedly unites you is meant to be far more important than what divides you. And we can do the same too next year- if any of us have spare moment.That would be a comradely manner.
Good Luck.
London Anarchist Bookfair collective
For an independent report on what happened at the London Bookfair in October 2012, readers should go to:
Five Leaves Blog: Salad (cream) days
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
'Whistleblower' tells Parliamentary Committee that Carillion were operating a Blacklist!
The following report was sent via the Blacklist Support Group:
1. Alan Wainwright evidence to Select Committee investigation into blacklisting
There is a paper trail and a reference code on Carillion's own internal computer database whenever workers were refused work because of the Consulting Association blacklist which was set up by me says Alan Wainwright - ex-Director turned whistleblower - giving evidence to the Scottish Affairs Select Committee investigation into blacklisting this afternoon.
"I was blacklisted for giving information to an Employment Tribunal" - Alan Wainwright
View his evidence here:
Alan wainwright also named senior figures in the industry who were involved in blacklisting:
Frank Duggan - Group Personell Director for Carillion PLC - all blacklist name checks were sent via Frank Duggan at Carillion Head office. Kevin Gorman - HR for Crown House division of Carilion - now HR for Bristow Helicopters offshore.
Liz Keates - Head of HR at Carillion
Sandy Palmer - NCS (Carilion in-house employment agency)
Dave Aspinall - NCS (Carillion in-house employment agency)
John Ball - Head of Human Resources at Carillion
Roger Robinson & Brian Tock - 2 Managing Directors of Crown House division of Carillion - both discussed the Consulting Association blacklist with Alan Wainwright
Sheila Knight - EMCOR - Drake & Scull - circulated lists of workers on Pfizers, Royal Opera House and Jubilee Line amongst senior managers on other firms.
Michael Aird - Balfour Kilpatrick
Prue Jackson - Personnel Director - Hayden Young
David Brinckley - Hayden Young
Union people who knew about the blacklist:
Derek Simpson - Amicus General Secretary since 2005
Mickey Tuff - Amicus official - discussed with Alan Wainwright in 2004.
2. BLACKLISTING STILL EXISTS TODAY
Crossrail blacklisting dispute continues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQie9SW8400
3. ICO fails to release all the blacklist files as required by a Court Order
The ICO has released unredacted blacklist files to Guney, Clark & Ryan solicitors under a Court Disclosure Order as part of the High Court claim. For some so-far unexplained reason a number of files have not been sent including Brian Higgins (the individual with the largest blacklist file) and Jonny Jones (UCATT bricklayer).
What is going on?
GCR are currently chasing the files that got "lost" in transit to see whether it is a genuine mistake or if there is some other explanation. Watch this space.
4. ICO disclosure to GMB & UCATT
The ICO has provided the GMB and UCATT unions a list of names for the people on the blacklist to enable them to check against their own membership database. Expect more files to be released very soon.
5. Scottish blacklisting Meeting
There will be a special meeting to discuss blacklisting in our industry with top lawyers Liam Dunne and Brendan Clough.
The meeting will take place on:
10:30am Saturday 17th November 2012
STUC
333 Woodlands Road
Glasgow
1. Alan Wainwright evidence to Select Committee investigation into blacklisting
There is a paper trail and a reference code on Carillion's own internal computer database whenever workers were refused work because of the Consulting Association blacklist which was set up by me says Alan Wainwright - ex-Director turned whistleblower - giving evidence to the Scottish Affairs Select Committee investigation into blacklisting this afternoon.
"I was blacklisted for giving information to an Employment Tribunal" - Alan Wainwright
View his evidence here:
Alan wainwright also named senior figures in the industry who were involved in blacklisting:
Frank Duggan - Group Personell Director for Carillion PLC - all blacklist name checks were sent via Frank Duggan at Carillion Head office. Kevin Gorman - HR for Crown House division of Carilion - now HR for Bristow Helicopters offshore.
Liz Keates - Head of HR at Carillion
Sandy Palmer - NCS (Carilion in-house employment agency)
Dave Aspinall - NCS (Carillion in-house employment agency)
John Ball - Head of Human Resources at Carillion
Roger Robinson & Brian Tock - 2 Managing Directors of Crown House division of Carillion - both discussed the Consulting Association blacklist with Alan Wainwright
Sheila Knight - EMCOR - Drake & Scull - circulated lists of workers on Pfizers, Royal Opera House and Jubilee Line amongst senior managers on other firms.
Michael Aird - Balfour Kilpatrick
Prue Jackson - Personnel Director - Hayden Young
David Brinckley - Hayden Young
Union people who knew about the blacklist:
Derek Simpson - Amicus General Secretary since 2005
Mickey Tuff - Amicus official - discussed with Alan Wainwright in 2004.
2. BLACKLISTING STILL EXISTS TODAY
Crossrail blacklisting dispute continues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQie9SW8400
3. ICO fails to release all the blacklist files as required by a Court Order
The ICO has released unredacted blacklist files to Guney, Clark & Ryan solicitors under a Court Disclosure Order as part of the High Court claim. For some so-far unexplained reason a number of files have not been sent including Brian Higgins (the individual with the largest blacklist file) and Jonny Jones (UCATT bricklayer).
What is going on?
GCR are currently chasing the files that got "lost" in transit to see whether it is a genuine mistake or if there is some other explanation. Watch this space.
4. ICO disclosure to GMB & UCATT
The ICO has provided the GMB and UCATT unions a list of names for the people on the blacklist to enable them to check against their own membership database. Expect more files to be released very soon.
5. Scottish blacklisting Meeting
There will be a special meeting to discuss blacklisting in our industry with top lawyers Liam Dunne and Brendan Clough.
The meeting will take place on:
10:30am Saturday 17th November 2012
STUC
333 Woodlands Road
Glasgow
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
An Appeal to Responsible Anarchists
Applying a 'Duty of Care' to stall-holders at Anarchist Bookfairs
Martin Gilbert in his post that precedes this one, has given a factual account of his experiences at last month's Anarchist Bookfair and at Freedom Bookshop at Whitechapple the night before. I was at Freedom Bookshop that evening to supply stock of Northern Voices No.13 (NV13), and I was told by Andy, the bookshop manager, that NV13 with a leading interview with the murdered 'Goth' girl's mother Sylvia, had been banned because of the 'Bob Miller obituary' in the same issue. Andy said that he regarded the obituary as being 'in bad taste' and told me that future issues would be accepted and sold. Andy added that 'some people who knew Bob Miller' and worked at the Bookshop had objected to the to the obituary. At that moment in walks Nick Heath, and treated me to a Cockney rendition of 'You can f**k off, mate!' Nick Heath, a leader of the Anarchist Federation to which Bob Miller was affiliated, apparently works at Freedom Bookshop on Wednesday afternoons. (see Martin Gilbert's reflections on the post below this one).
Being a Lancashire lad, I was naturally taken aback by this incident but recovered my composure with the help of Martin. It was more of a comic opera at the Anarchist Bookfair the next day when Sally Hyman/ Miller, Mike Ballard and a party of Anarchist Federation supporters used threats and intimidation to try to get me to vacate the Northern Voice (NV) stall: both Sally and Mike uttered threats but the rest of the group assembled before the NV stall with arms folded over their pigeon chests and shoulders squared. Sally Hyman continued to repeat the phrase: 'You are invading my space and we want you to leave (the bookfair)!' and 'what's in there (pointing to NV13) is shit!'; Mike Ballard uttered the comment: 'You are the persecutor Brian, and what's in there (pointing to NV13) is all lies and half-truths'. Ms Hyman/ Miller concluded by saying that 'you must leave by 11am' and 'we'll be back then'. Trevor Bark on the next bookstall witnessed the incident as did the stall-holder on the Five Leaves stall to my left.
Without wishing to exaggerate this episode I would say that it represents the nasty face of affiliated anarchism at its worst: it has more in common with the Third Reich in the 1930s than anything I experienced while working with the FIJL (Young Iberian libertarians) in Franco's Spain in the 1960s. Worse indeed, than the treatment I received from the Spanish Civil Guards in the province of Segovia in the summer of 1963, when I was held for failing to carry proper papers. This kind of behaviour ought to have no place in an anarchist movement which should be setting a better example. We will keep updated on developments.
___________________________________________________
Dear Tony, David and other London Anarchist Bookfair organisers,
I am disappointed that you have not been in touch with me since last Saturday's Bookfair. I presume that you did not recover any of the stolen stock or get anywhere with those who attacked the Northern Voices stall and stole various publications shortly after 11.00am on the morning of the Bookfair. You are probably aware that a factual report of the incident appeared on the Five Leaves Blog last Sunday, Five Leaves occupied the adjoining stall to mine, I have had no previous contact with Five Leaves and that account of what happened is accurate.
As you are aware we had a contract with you and in these circumstances you had a duty of care to us. Hence, it is clearly inappropriate that as organisers of the bookfair that you should ignore what happened on this occasion, and was a matter brought to your attention of the day of the event: the title of the offences perpetrated on this occasion in English law would amount to 'assault', 'criminal damage', and 'theft' at the very least, not to mention 'threatening behaviour' and 'joint enterprise', when Sally Miller nee Hyman from Oldham and Mike Ballard from Manchester used threatening behaviour to demand that I vacate the Northern Voices stall on their first visit at approximately 10.30am, these two individuals were accompanied by others (according to the Five Leaves account 10 others) including, according to another witness - Claire from the Nottingham Anarchist Federation and Andy from the London Anarchist Federation. Sally repeatable told me 'You are invading my space, and I want you to leave (the bookfair)'. I was then told by Sally that I had until 11.00am to leave my stall, when they would return to ensure that I did. Shortly after 11.00am the group returned as they had promised to do and after a brief exchange in which Sally Miller nee Hyman asked me 'Do you know why I am doing this?', Ms. Miller nee Hyman took out a plastic bottle of what appeared to be Salad Cream and began to squirt the substance in roughly my direction - I was seated at the time but tried to move out of range as the attack continued relentlessly - Trevor Bark on the next stall got caught in the cross-fire and became collateral damage as did the property of a another stall beyond him. Having satisfied herself using the Salad Cream, Ms. Miller then turned her attention to the contents of the stall itself and snatched ten copies of Northern Voices No.13 and took off with them, other members of the group that she was clearly leading then began to help themselves to other items including the Spanish Civil War commemorative booklet with an introduction by Stuart Christie originally produced by Tameside TUC, the James Keogh Blue Plaque commemorative booklet produced by Tameside TUC, the 'Worker's Next Step' booklet and some ten more copies of Northern Voices No.12 and No.11. The ringleader and her chief conspirators all belonged to the Anarchist Federation. The total of the stock taken amounts to £65.76p and is itemised below:
8 copies of the Spanish Civil War commemorative booklet 3rd Edition (Tameside TUC) priced £4.98 = £39.84
10 copies of James Keogh Blue Plaque commemorative booklet (Tameside TUC) value £1 = £10.00
8 copies of 'The Worker's Next Step', a Northern Anarchist Network booklet price £1.99 = £15.92
Total cost: £65.76
As organisers of the Bookfair you owe all stall-holders a 'contractual duty of care', and can't allow one stall-holder to attempt to bully another to vacate their stall, and you have a contractual responsibility to safeguard stall-holders from these kind of acts. In this case we on the Northern Voices' stall suffered intimidation which resulted in material loss with physical consequences, and we seek the following:
A) Compensation for loss of stock from the stall-holders on the Anarchist Federation stall.
B) That the Anarchist Federation publicly disassociate their organisation from the violent actions taken by their members, and that this be put in writing and that a copy of this be sent to me.
C) That the Anarchist Federation circulate their members informing them not to indulge in such actions in future, and that the Anarchist Federation guarantee that there will be no re occurrence of these aggressive acts to other stall-holders by their members.
I appreciate that you as organisers didn't have foreknowledge of these attacks, however as this matter has now been brought to your attention I expect you to approach the Anarchist Federation with our list of requirements above. If you fail to secure these three objectives then clearly it falls upon you to:
a) Compensate us for our financial loss.
b) to not offer future stalls to the Anarchist Federation as stall-holders until they can guarantee that their members will refrain from intimidating other stall-holders.
As anarchists we always try to resolve things in a comradely manner, but if this fails we will pursue the matter through the County Courts. I expect a reply and some serious suggestions for resolving this matter by the 15th, November 2012, otherwise I will have to take the matter further.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Bamford: Editor of Northern Voices.
For an independent account of what happened at the London Bookfair in Oct. 2012, readers should go to:
London Anarchist bookfair
I would like to thank Martin for an excellent report on the London Anarchist Bookfair which raises important issues that need to be urgently addressed by the anarchist movement in general and the anarchist Federation in particular. Furthermore the Northern Anarchist Network has been refused a stall at the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair on December 1st, in Manchester without any reason being offered.
Reflections on the Anarchist Bookfair & the A.Fed.
by Martin Gilbert
THE day before the London anarchist book fair (on Oct. 27th), I went to Freedom book shop. By chance, there I met Brian Bamford. After a short time Nick Heath (Anarchist Federation [A.F.] founding father) entered the shop emitting a string of verbal abuse against Brian. Freedom book shop is visited by comrades from all over the world as well as people who are quite new to our ideas and actions. Nick’s outburst, whatever the cause could only give the worst of impressions. The following day at the book fair I met a comrade who told me that Brian’s stall, booked in the name of Northern Voices had been wrecked, apparently by Anarchist Federation supporters. While looking for Brian in the very crowded venue I came upon the AF stall. I complained to those present with more or less what I had written for the northern voices blog. Just because Brian had been so offensive that was no reason to ban all those who support the Northern Anarchist Network [NAN] (from selling literature that we had all agreed on) at the Manchester book fair. There is more to the NAN than Brian Bamford, I stressed, we have various differences of opinions with each other, I am far from alone in my arguments with him. We cannot 'all be tarred with same brush'. To wreck his stall was the height of stupidity. Only teasing an Anarchist Federation supporter there, I suggested that we could not expel Brian. Quite seriously, the AF’er said that the NAN should expel Brian. I replied that we are anarchists and do not expel people, suggesting also that some of the AF need to shed their Marxist luggage. I then turned to face Nick Heath who seemed to deny knowledge about Brian being assaulted, suggesting that it was not officially agreed by the Anarchist Federation. For na independently witnessed account of what transpired at the London Anarchist Bookfair in 2012, go to:
Five Leaves Blog: Salad (cream) days
Monday, 5 November 2012
Exposing the Apprenticeship racket!
Although the government has invested £1.4 bn on its apprenticeship policy there has been considerable criticism for some time now, about whether the taxpayer is getting value for money. There have been allegations of 'fake' apprenticeships and criticism of the practice of 'converting', where existing employees are being labelled apprentices so that an employer can claim a government subsidy for training their staff through a 'learning provider' who also claims a fee. Others also point to the low number of 16 to 18-year-olds who are being taken on as apprentices under the governments' policy, and question the value of many of these apprenticeships, in terms of their labour market value.
The supermarket giant, Morrisons, is one of the countries biggest providers of apprenticeships. In 2010/11, they started more than 18,000 level 2 retail apprenticeships which are equivalent to a GCSE. Most of the apprentices learn 'retail skills' for an average of 6 months. However, most of their apprentices are over the age of 25 years and are existing employees. Indeed, last year the over 25s acounted for 75% of all apprentices in the U/K and there are even apprentices aged over 60 years old. Last year the government also gave £8m to City and Guilds to train 25,000 apprentices working for ASDA.
'Competence-based qualifications', which were introduced in the late 1980s, allow individuals to gain qualifications for skills they already have instead of attending training courses to retrain or to upskill. The practice of 'converting' existing employees to apprentices allows the government to increase the number of adults with qualifications within the workforce, which lifts the UK up the international league tables. England is the only country in Europe, where apprenticeships at level 2 far outnumber those at the higher level 3. Customer service, health and social care, and retail, are now the sectors with most apprentices and the average length of an apprenticeship in the U/K, is one or two years, with some lasting as little as 12 weeks.
In Germany, France and Switzerland, apprenticeships can take three to four years to complete and are a passport to a good job and real opportunity. Most of these apprenticeships are at the higher level 3 and are equivalent to A-level-type qualifications. Some apprentices, are also working towards a foundation degree. However, in the U/K, many employers do not feel that there is any value in training apprentices. In 2011, a survey conducted by the human resources provider 'Adecco Group', found that 57% of employers did not have an apprenticeship programme, and only 51% , thought they were cost effective.
Due to the outcry about bogus and fake apprenticeships, the minister responsible for apprenticeships, John Heyes, wrote to the National Apprenticship Service, asking them to scrutinise the quality level of apprenticeships to ensure that skill levels were maintained. But despite this, it would seem that some of these so-called apprenticeships would appear to be of little value in terms of offering proper skills, and little more than a means for obtaining labour for less than the National Minimum Wage (NMW). Last month, Jobcentre Plus, advertised this vacancy for an 'APPRENTICE CUSTOMER SERVICE' based in a tea room in Stalybridge in Greater Manchester:
Job No: STC/14341 - Employer Reference: SDTS - Wage: £2.65 per hour. Hours: 5 days.
Location: Stalybridge Cheshire. Duration: Permanent. "This is an Apprenticeship. A Stalybridge based tea rooms is seeking a customer service apprentice. Full training will be provided as part of this role by Plato Training. We are looking for a keen and committed person who is seeking a career in customer service. The role will include: serving customers hot and cold drinks and food. Cleaning and keeping the premises clean. Taking orders and waitress service. You must have good communication and presentation skills. The role is full time. Full training is provided and you will work towards your QCF Certificate in Customer Service. If you are looking for a company that will provide you with training and support, this is the post for you. This is a Government funded Apprenticeship and funding is guaranteed for 16-24 yeard olds, although anyone can apply...This vacancy meets the requirements of the National Minimum Wage Act."
In her report on vocational training, which was produced for the government, Professor Alison Wolf of King's College, stated that many of these apprenticeships had "little or no market value" and judging from the above example, it is not difficult to see why. Nevertheless, young people in this country, have a right to proper techincal and practical education and it serves no one to pretend, that 'micky mouse' courses in 'customer services' amounts to the same thing.
Past Tense Obituary: Alan Woodward
I am sorry to say that our friend and companero Alan Woodward passed away on Saturday 20th October, 6pm, at the North Middlesex Hospital.
Alan Woodward was a lifelong working class revolutionary immersed in
support for workplace struggles and other anti-capitalist movements. He started with the International Socialists (later the Socialist Workers Party). He was then very active in the Haringey Trades Union Council. In recent years he gravitated towards independent libertarian politics, including the Haringey Solidarity Group, believing it was necessary for workers to take direct control of all workplaces and thereby create a new economy and society without capitalism or governments. In his writings he explained he was drawing on what he saw as the best traditions of revolutionary socialism and anarchism.
He actively supported and tried to attend every local workers picket line in Haringey, either as the organiser for the Trades Council or as part of local campaigns. At the same time he helped set up the Radical History Network of NE London and organised dozens of local talks and meetings on a whole range of past disputes and struggles to ensure that the voices of those who took part in them would continue to reverberate and help us all in our struggles and movements today.
He produced a huge body of agitational, campaigning and radical literature, leaflets, strike bulletins, newsletters, historical snapshots, pamphlets and recently an autobiography. Yet he underplayed his own role as he preferred to promote the collective self-activity of those involved in strikes, disputes and working class movements.
Alan had a fall Tuesday overnight and was admitted to North Middlesex Hospital on Wednesday. At the time he was weak and confused possibly due to sepsis (infection) and also the bang on his head suffered when he slipped / fell. Analysis of the CT scan and investigation by the neurologist indicate that he had had a lacunar stroke.
In his last day he was able to speak but was very tired. His close family had rallied round during his hospital stay. Alan is irreplaceable, and will be sorely missed especially In Haringey, but his influence will remain with us all as the struggle for a new society continues unabated.
----------------------------------------------
At Past Tense we knew Alan only for a few short years, since the early 2000s, when he started coming to our old South London Radical History Group meetings. But quickly you felt that you'd known him for years and years... He always brought an interesting perspective, consistently positive and optimistic even where us sarf londoners were scowly and grumpy, but always open to a broad range of ideas, experiences and methods. We're proud to have been a part of the inspiration for Alan in the setting up of the North East London Radical History Network [RaHN], and appreciated that while we were always a bit disorganised and irregular, Alan's relentless work ethic saw RaHN outlive us. We shared with him the belief that exploring history, our own and further back, could be crucial in understanding where we are and where we are going.
We'll miss him. But no-one who has spent their life in the restless search for a freer life is ever truly lost to us... They live IN us.
_______________________________________________________
Ps.: In July last year, Alan Woodward organised a talk for me to address the North East London Radical History Network in Haringey on the topic of the Spanish Civil War. It was an excellent event and very well attended with intellegent questions about historical methodology and the situation in Spain. He was a great bloke and trade unionist. His death is a blow to all of us who knew him.
Brian Bamford: Editor of Northern Voices.
Alan Woodward was a lifelong working class revolutionary immersed in
support for workplace struggles and other anti-capitalist movements. He started with the International Socialists (later the Socialist Workers Party). He was then very active in the Haringey Trades Union Council. In recent years he gravitated towards independent libertarian politics, including the Haringey Solidarity Group, believing it was necessary for workers to take direct control of all workplaces and thereby create a new economy and society without capitalism or governments. In his writings he explained he was drawing on what he saw as the best traditions of revolutionary socialism and anarchism.
He actively supported and tried to attend every local workers picket line in Haringey, either as the organiser for the Trades Council or as part of local campaigns. At the same time he helped set up the Radical History Network of NE London and organised dozens of local talks and meetings on a whole range of past disputes and struggles to ensure that the voices of those who took part in them would continue to reverberate and help us all in our struggles and movements today.
He produced a huge body of agitational, campaigning and radical literature, leaflets, strike bulletins, newsletters, historical snapshots, pamphlets and recently an autobiography. Yet he underplayed his own role as he preferred to promote the collective self-activity of those involved in strikes, disputes and working class movements.
Alan had a fall Tuesday overnight and was admitted to North Middlesex Hospital on Wednesday. At the time he was weak and confused possibly due to sepsis (infection) and also the bang on his head suffered when he slipped / fell. Analysis of the CT scan and investigation by the neurologist indicate that he had had a lacunar stroke.
In his last day he was able to speak but was very tired. His close family had rallied round during his hospital stay. Alan is irreplaceable, and will be sorely missed especially In Haringey, but his influence will remain with us all as the struggle for a new society continues unabated.
----------------------------------------------
At Past Tense we knew Alan only for a few short years, since the early 2000s, when he started coming to our old South London Radical History Group meetings. But quickly you felt that you'd known him for years and years... He always brought an interesting perspective, consistently positive and optimistic even where us sarf londoners were scowly and grumpy, but always open to a broad range of ideas, experiences and methods. We're proud to have been a part of the inspiration for Alan in the setting up of the North East London Radical History Network [RaHN], and appreciated that while we were always a bit disorganised and irregular, Alan's relentless work ethic saw RaHN outlive us. We shared with him the belief that exploring history, our own and further back, could be crucial in understanding where we are and where we are going.
We'll miss him. But no-one who has spent their life in the restless search for a freer life is ever truly lost to us... They live IN us.
_______________________________________________________
Ps.: In July last year, Alan Woodward organised a talk for me to address the North East London Radical History Network in Haringey on the topic of the Spanish Civil War. It was an excellent event and very well attended with intellegent questions about historical methodology and the situation in Spain. He was a great bloke and trade unionist. His death is a blow to all of us who knew him.
Brian Bamford: Editor of Northern Voices.
Blacklist update - 1st November
1. "McAlpine were checking an average of 65 names a day during the mass
recruitment stage of the Olympics stadium construction project. Public
money was being spent on blacklisting construction workers.
The Blacklist Support Group raised concerns and held protests but they
were largely ignored because no-one wanted to believe that it was
going on."
Evidence by UCATT General Secretary Steve Murphy and Jim Kennedy at
the Scottish Affairs Select Committee investigation into blacklisting
on 30th October 2012
Full video evidence here:http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=11656
Blacklist Support Group
recruitment stage of the Olympics stadium construction project. Public
money was being spent on blacklisting construction workers.
The Blacklist Support Group raised concerns and held protests but they
were largely ignored because no-one wanted to believe that it was
going on."
Evidence by UCATT General Secretary Steve Murphy and Jim Kennedy at
the Scottish Affairs Select Committee investigation into blacklisting
on 30th October 2012
Full video evidence here:http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=11656
2. Carillion have issued a statement to the Select Committee continuing to deny any involvement in blacklisting by their senior management in any part of the business other than Crown House.
Alan Wainwright (blacklisting whistleblower and ex-Director of Crown House) gives his version of what was going on at Carillion. Read his blog here: http://alanwainwright.blogspot.co.uk/
Alan Wainwright will be giving evidence to the Select Committee at 2:30pm next Tuesday
3. HRBlacklist website
3. HRBlacklist website
RMT identify a website set up to blacklist union activists:
plus we made The Times today
Blacklist Support Group
Thursday, 1 November 2012
Private Eye on 'larger-than-life' Northerners
TODAY'S issue of Private Eye follows on from Northern Voices in linking the Jimmy Savile case by asking 'will attention finally be paid to another prominent "larger-than-life" northerner who was abusing vulnerable teenagers in the Sixties?' Just like Jimmy Savile this jolly man from Rochdale was knighted, despite widespread rumours of his capers with young lads at a Hostel for boys, and as with Savile, the victims' allegations were shrugged-off because the bloke was well liked in political circles.
In the article entitled 'Another dark knight', Private Eye declares: 'We refer to Cyril Smith, the former MP for Rochdale' and the writer goes on to say, 'When Smith died two years ago, Nick Clegg ventured that he was "one of the most likeable politicians on his day".' As the Eye points out: 'Clegg now says of Savile: "I just keep asking myself, why did this remain buried for so long".' This is a bit inconsistent given how the political class kept the lid on the Cyril Smith affair for donkey's years.
The one attempt to bring out the Smith story was in the Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP) in May 1979 when it showed that Smith had, as the Eye says: 'dished out sexual "punishments" to vulnerable youngsters at Cambridge House boys' hostel, which he had founded in the Sixties.' As one former resident at the hostel, who had been 15 at the time, related in the RAP report: 'Cyril Smith found that I had taken some money, (and) he asked me if I would accept his punishment or be dealt with by the authorities... He then told me to take my trousers and pants down and bend over his knee. He trapped my hand between his legs. He hit me many times with his bare hand and I pleaded with him to stop... Afterwards he came to my bedroom and wiped my buttocks with a wet sponge.' Other ex-residents at Cambridge House gave similar accounts of Cyril's behaviour.
The Liberal leader at that time, David Steel complained: 'All he seems to have done is spanked a few bare bottoms.' The Lancashire police took the matter seriously by investigating Smith and preparing a report, and a copy was sent to the director of public prosecutions, but, according to Private Eye, this 'seemed to vanish'.
The report in today's Private Eye concludes: 'If all this suggests some kind of institutional cover-up, it wouldn't be the only one in Rochdale. For years the powers-that-be knew about sexual abuse at Knowl View, a special residential school for children, but did nothing about it. Knowl View was eventually closed in 1995. Seven years later a former teacher, David Higgins, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault and gross indecency with young children at the school. His crimes had been committed in the years following its foundation in 1969 by ... Cyril Smith, who was also a governor.'
See earlier postings on this Blog entitled: 'Jim Savile & Cyril Smith: Dead Men Tell No Lies!' (October 10th, 2012) and 'Jim'll F**k It!: Larger Than Life Northern Figures' (October 4th, 2012).
__________________________________________________________
The printed version of NORTHERN VOICES No.13, now on sale with all sorts of stuff others won't touch. NORTHERN VOICES No.12 with the Cyril Smith 'Instead of an Obituary' is also still available and may be obtained as follows:
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com
In the article entitled 'Another dark knight', Private Eye declares: 'We refer to Cyril Smith, the former MP for Rochdale' and the writer goes on to say, 'When Smith died two years ago, Nick Clegg ventured that he was "one of the most likeable politicians on his day".' As the Eye points out: 'Clegg now says of Savile: "I just keep asking myself, why did this remain buried for so long".' This is a bit inconsistent given how the political class kept the lid on the Cyril Smith affair for donkey's years.
The one attempt to bring out the Smith story was in the Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP) in May 1979 when it showed that Smith had, as the Eye says: 'dished out sexual "punishments" to vulnerable youngsters at Cambridge House boys' hostel, which he had founded in the Sixties.' As one former resident at the hostel, who had been 15 at the time, related in the RAP report: 'Cyril Smith found that I had taken some money, (and) he asked me if I would accept his punishment or be dealt with by the authorities... He then told me to take my trousers and pants down and bend over his knee. He trapped my hand between his legs. He hit me many times with his bare hand and I pleaded with him to stop... Afterwards he came to my bedroom and wiped my buttocks with a wet sponge.' Other ex-residents at Cambridge House gave similar accounts of Cyril's behaviour.
The Liberal leader at that time, David Steel complained: 'All he seems to have done is spanked a few bare bottoms.' The Lancashire police took the matter seriously by investigating Smith and preparing a report, and a copy was sent to the director of public prosecutions, but, according to Private Eye, this 'seemed to vanish'.
The report in today's Private Eye concludes: 'If all this suggests some kind of institutional cover-up, it wouldn't be the only one in Rochdale. For years the powers-that-be knew about sexual abuse at Knowl View, a special residential school for children, but did nothing about it. Knowl View was eventually closed in 1995. Seven years later a former teacher, David Higgins, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault and gross indecency with young children at the school. His crimes had been committed in the years following its foundation in 1969 by ... Cyril Smith, who was also a governor.'
See earlier postings on this Blog entitled: 'Jim Savile & Cyril Smith: Dead Men Tell No Lies!' (October 10th, 2012) and 'Jim'll F**k It!: Larger Than Life Northern Figures' (October 4th, 2012).
__________________________________________________________
The printed version of NORTHERN VOICES No.13, now on sale with all sorts of stuff others won't touch. NORTHERN VOICES No.12 with the Cyril Smith 'Instead of an Obituary' is also still available and may be obtained as follows:
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com
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