David Blunkett Resigned!

Ha Ha Ha!

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Poem

I want to write a poem
But I don't know what about.
There surely is a subject
About which I want to spout.

I climbed up a big mountain
And walked all along a river.
Inspiration I was seeking
To set me all aquiver.

I rode on bulls and horses
and I ran with wolves and lions
but I still had no ideas 'bout which
I could write some rhymes.

I convened with elves and fairies
And we smoked and got quite drunk,
We took too many drugs and so
My brain, it got quite shrunk.

I thought I heard some music
Coming from inside a tree,
I conversed with grass and lightbulbs
and they came to section me.

I still had no ideas for
The ode I was to write -
I thought all through the sunshine,
I thought all through the night.

Then the birds chorused the dawn
and realisation came with it...
I'd written the bloody poem -
Which you know, cos this is it!

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I want to do an altered board book and I bought a second hand board book today from a charity shop for a few pennies. I'm quite scared because all the altered books stuff I have seen is incredibly incredible and I'm quite crap, but I want to do one and I may - just may try.

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Oh, did I mention that David Blunkett resigned?!

Blunkett 'man of Sheffield steel'.
In the square outside David Blunkett's former fiefdom, Sheffield City Hall, a great wailing went up at lunchtime as news of the resignation filtered through the city.

But it was not an expression of collective sorrow at his second fall from grace.

It was just the siren which blares out everyday at 1pm to tell nearby workers it is time to nip out for a sandwich. Read more...

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Technorati tags: david blunkett; poem; incurable_hippie; sheffield.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Celebrates Religious Festivals.

There is an interview with Maya Angelou at BBC World Service, which I think that everybody in the world should listen to. I'm not joking, I heard this on the radio in the middle of the night a few nights ago, and I'm now listening again from the site, and she is an amazing woman with some really inspirational and insightful things to say. Go, listen!

I also want to talk about government mental health public info films, and old government public information films (do coughs and sneezes spread diseases, anyone??), and suicide girls, and I'm also wondering where borderline teacher has disappeared to.

As ever, I may or may not get round to talking about these things, but that last paragraph serves as a note to self, at least.

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Best Wishes for Samhain, Diwali, All Soul's Day, Eid-ul-Fitr, Hallowe'en. You don't have a religious festival for ages, then they all come along at once... ;)

Diwali

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Samhain

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Eid

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All Soul's Day

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Hallowe'en (tattoo!)

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Technorati tags: religious festivals; maya angelou; incurable_hippie; public information broadcasts.

Illustration Friday: Broken

broken2
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Illustration Friday.

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Technorati tags: illustration friday; broken; incurable_hippie; collage.

Monday Round-Up

Following on from my Ban Cars rant a few days ago, zinkibaru has written a rather stunning post about the dangers and irritation of passive driving.

She presents a sound case for banning cars, for the benefits of those of us who are passive drivers and indeed for the benefit of the earth. She even presents a way to go about creating and implementing the laws.

Obviously an outright ban may be too large a step to take all in one go, so I propose that certain areas are exempt from the Non-driving Bill. People would still be able to drive in private members' clubs and places where no pedestrian would ever go. Obviously they wouldn't be able to drive from home to these places though, as this would involve putting the public health at risk. They would have to keep their cars at the clubs. As a natural accompaniment to the Non-driving Bill it is only wise to also implement strict petrol rationing so that any form of public transport which cannot yet run on renewable energy can have access to the diminishing supply. Read more...

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Buy a white poppy for peace here. Learn about them here.

Find out How Ethical your Pet Food is.

Last week's Link of the Week was the Opacity - Abandoned Photography and Urban Exploration site. For this week's, click on the Link of the Week graphic on the right.

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Some cool / interesting articles from the Guardian.

Living for today.
People from all over the world are now squatting in empty 'des res'
properties in the UK to avoid cripplingly high rents in urban centres

Françoise is a well-groomed young French woman who works part-time in
fashion PR in London, pays her taxes and shares a cottage with friends
in north London. She pays no rent though, because she is one of
thousands of people across the UK who is squatting. "Many people who
squat are working in low-paid jobs and simply cannot afford to pay
rent, particularly in London," she says. "We want to do something
creative with our lives, not just working behind a bar or on a
building site. If you don't have to pay rent on top of all your other
living expenses it can mean the difference between having time to live
and merely surviving."

She wants to see a more pragmatic arrangement between owners of empty
properties and squatters, so squatters can move in and take care of
buildings until the owners need them. "The laws around empty
properties don't have much humanity," she says. "If people have a home
and some food to eat, they can make progress in life. Without these
basics it is very hard to move forward. I used to pay rent, but in
London it's so expensive. There are many beautiful buildings around
and they should be recycled."

Part of nature

She says she has learnt to get by on less since she started squatting
a few months ago. "Hot water and electricity are my basic minimum
requirements in a squat, but I don't mind if there are rats. After
all, they're part of nature." Read more...

In other news:

Met admits stigmatising mentally ill

The Metropolitan police owned up yesterday to stigmatising people with mental illness and "perpetuating a myth" that they are especially prone to violence. It promised a programme of reform to stop the inappropriate use of police cells to detain vulnerable people who are going through a mental health crisis.

Officers said damage was often done by unauthorised leaking of mental health records, giving a misleading impression of suspects' danger to the public. There were also problems if uniformed officers accompanied social workers in detaining a patient under the Mental Health Act.

A review by police and NHS chiefs in London said: "We recognise that people who experience mental illness are far more likely to be a victim of crime than a perpetrator."

Brian Paddick, deputy assistant commissioner, said holding violent patients in police cells protected other people but did nothing to protect them against themselves, or to care for their clinical needs. He promised training to educate officers about the need for patient confidentiality.

The police and NHS organisations agreed to set up a network of "places of safety" across London where people in a mental health crisis could be treated.

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Technorati tags: anti-car; ethical shopping; incurable_hippie; poppies; squatting; mental health; stigma.

Papercraft Perfection.

So, yesterday I went to my first ever Card-Making / Papercraft Show. I have been making cards for about 2 years now and am totally hooked, but I'd never quite made it to one of these big exhibition events before.

It was surprisingly difficult to find Don Valley Stadium, despite having got off the tram at the Stadium tram stop, but once we found our way in it was just great.

The number of stalls was just right. There were enough to find exciting products, get new ideas, and to find some marvellous bargains but there weren't so many that you had to skim past them in an overwhelmed fashion.

My passion for pretty papers was certainly well catered for and I came home with lots and lots of unusual, funky, sparkly and amazing stuff having not spent an extortionate amount of £cash. Of course, it would be very, very easy to spend an extortionate amount of £cash so I recommend taking along the maximum amount you want to spend, and leaving cards at home. (Which was easy for me as the bank has confiscated my card anyway.)

I came away with handmade paper, rubber stamps, ink, peel-offs, stickers, scrapbook papers, pearlescent card, angel wire, vellum and embellishments.

I came out of the show absolutely and utterly exhausted, but also inspired and fired up to make lots and lots of new cards, and to use papers and tools in new ways. It was a great way to spend a Sunday :)

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Technorati tags: papercraft; card making; incurable_hippie; exhibition; funky.

Ban Cars! Seriously!

I was on a bus this afternoon, and I was furious. It was baking hot, stupidly crowded, and taking much, much longer than the journey I was making should have.

And I sat there, fuming (I was, at least, sitting down).

I was furious with all the car drivers who, each in their individual cars, were causing this hold-up by insisting on driving into / out of a city centre. Drivers who were probably all also annoyed by the traffic jam without ever stopping to think that they are part of the jam and that the jam is made up of people like them. It is not other people causing the jam, it is everybody in their car who is in the jam. If you are a car in a jam, you are the jam.

If all of those people were on buses, my bus would have sailed down the city's streets without hindrance. And not only that, if all of those people were on buses there would be more buses, with better provision and frequency.

If all of those people were even car-sharing - if each car in the queue held 4 or 5 people, as they are (mostly) designed to - then there would have been a quarter or a fifth of the cars, leading to much less of a hellish standstill.

But no. Individual people in individual cars. One after the next after the next after the next. Causing me and the 30 other people on my bus to get stressed and annoyed and uncomfortable and hot and vowing to never leave the house again.

I was absolutely furious. I wanted to write this but figured it would make me some enemies. I'm less furious now, but I'm more aware that making enemies is always a risk for someone like me, and that this blog is here so I can say this stuff. You can read or not.

Public transport needs extra money, but many of those who dismiss public transport out of hand have never been near a bus for years. They don't have the first idea what it's like. And, to be honest, the more people who use buses, trains, coaches, the more money will be ploughed into these provisions, and the better the services will be. I am the first to admit that public transport is not perfect, but carrying on driving your polluting, cluttering, dangerous, arrogant car around causes many, many more problems than the odd late bus.

World Carfree Network

(Disclaimer of sorts, incomplete: I know that there are people who really do need cars more than others - those who are disabled and particularly those in rural communities with poor public transport. I'm not talking about those people.)

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Technorati tags: anti-car; public transport; incurable_hippie; traffic jams; rant.

R.I.P. Rosa.

"People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired but that wasn't true I was not tired physically I was not old. I was 42. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."

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"I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don't think there is any such thing as complete happiness. It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism. I think when you say you're happy, you have everything that you need and everything that you want, and nothing more to wish for. I haven't reached that stage yet."

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"To this day I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom."

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"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear."

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"I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move."

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"Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others"

Rosa Parks, February 4th 1913 - October 24 2005

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Technorati tags: rosa parks; civil rights; incurable_hippie; quotes.

10 Indisputable Facts for a Monday.

1. New pillows feel really, really, really amazingly luxurious.


2. However headaches hurt a lot and taint otherwise good feelings and thoughts.


3. I have both of the above.


4. I am confused by the hugeness of the bird flu panic.


5. Z and I have been together for 21 months today :D


6. ...which is a year and three quarters!


7. These lists are always harder than they look.


8. Absolutely masses of people are still sad that Scatman John died.


9. Absolutely nothing is giving me the motivation to tidy my house today.


10. There is no direct translation in French of procrastination. Last time I looked, the dictionary said something like Faire quelquechose demain qu'on devrait faire tout de suite. Hmmm.

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Technorati tags: list; 10 things; incurable_hippie; french.

Photo Friday: Retro.

100_0830retro
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Retro entry for Photo Friday. Otherwise known as my bed.

Buy, Blood, Boogie.

Alternatives to buying Christmas presents has some cool ideas if you are skint / anti-Capitalist / not Christian / just don't want to spend lots of money for that big December thing. I also recommend GreatGifts.org where you will find the alternative gift catalogue if you do want to spend, but not so much on stuff.

Do you want free ice-cream for giving blood? Apparently, Ben & Jerry's will oblige. Giving blood is very important anyway - even if you're not getting any ice cream. I think you do usually get tea and biscuits, if that is your prime motivator.

I take too many different medications at the moment to be allowed to give blood, but I really wish I could. Since my dad has been ill he has had lots and lots of blood transfusions, many of which have made him feel an awful lot better (when his iron levels have been very low). I guess I'd only ever thought about people receiving blood after car crashes or whatever, not on a weekly (or whatever) basis just to maintain a certain degree of health.

The Blood Donations site actually has a fun zone in which, amongst other things, you can read some of Billy Blood Drop's jokes...

Q: What is bright red and dumb?
A: A blood clot!

Q: What does Billy Blood Drop cross the sea in?
A: A blood vessel!

Q: What is Billy's favourite ice cream?
A: Veinilla!

It brings to mind a whole new sense of self-harm humour... a kind of cheesy, embarrassed one!

I am very much loving Audioscrobbler and Last.FM.

Last week's Link of the Week was FOUND Magazine. For this week's, click on the Link of the Week graphic on the right.

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Technorati tags: buy nothing christmas; alternative gifts; incurable_hippie; audioscrobbler; give blood; jokes.

Any dream interpreters out there?

Ok, I am somewhat sceptical about dream interpreting - mostly the kind that if you dream about x then someone is going to die and if you dream about y you are going to get rich.

However, I do think that sometimes our heads try to sort stuff out when we're asleep, and sometimes this can be played out in our dreams.

Anyway, for three nights now I've had dreams with the same theme, which is that I am looking after an animal which I neglect / treat horribly and then (in 2 of the dreams) at the last minute I start looking after them and they're ok. Basically.

Dream 1: I'm looking after Z's cats but one of my hamsters had escaped so I put both cats into empty hamster cages and fed them from hamster bowls. They were too cramped to be able to move, although one bent the bars so she could get her head out.

Dream 2: I'm looking after a dog, a black, curly-haired thing. I'm not a big fan of dogs but this was pretty and cute. But I kept forgetting I was looking after it, so not getting any dog food. I tried to feed it hamster food a few times but (unsurprisingly!) it wouldn't eat it. I had it in a kind of fenced off area of my house. Then one night I realised that it was really very ill because I hadn't fed it, and early the next morning, as soon as the shops opened I went out, bought it dog food and gave it lots of nice food and drinks and it went from scrawny and ill to really healthy and shiny-coated.

Dream 3: I'm looking after a rabbit and a guinea pig. I put them both into one hamster cage, which gives them room to basically lie still next to each other and not move. I forget to feed them again and again and when I finally remember I think the guinea pig is dead so I start feeding the rabbit who starts looking healthier, then the guinea pig stirs and I realise it is still alive after all so I feed it and it ends up fine too.

Ok, so does anyone have any idea what this is telling me? I figured that after 3 dreams with the same theme, there is something that my unconscious, or whatever, is really trying to get across, and until I *get* it, it will keep on and on.

I wake up feeling incredibly guilty for how awful I was to these dreamed-up animals and have to reassure myself a lot that it was a dream and I do treat animals well in my waking life!

Any ideas would be most welcome!

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Technorati tags: dreams; pets; incurable_hippie; dream interpretation.

Definitions and Maps.

Looking something up in my 1952 French-English dictionary, I came across the following definition, of bricolier, which wouldn't be out of place in The Meaning of Tingo!

BRICOLIER - Horse wearing a breast-collar and harnessed at the side to a two-wheeled carriage.

My favourite postsecret of the week has to be:

It also reminds me of zinkibaru's entry for Lost (mine is here). It also reminds me of how I feel, as if I needed reminding.

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Technorati tags: french; language; incurable_hippie; tingo; map; depression; lost.

Photo Friday: Conspicuous

100_0816
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Photo Friday.

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Technorati tags: rainbow flag; photo friday; incurable_hippie; pub; photo; LGB.

activism

activism
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Illustration Friday: Cold (4th post of the day!)

'It is only when the cold season comes that we know the pine and cypress to be evergreen'. Chinese Proverb.

'A cold needs the cook as much as the doctor'. Scottish Proverb

Illustration Friday.

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Technorati tags: Illustration Friday; proverbs; incurable_hippie; cold.

Ailing...

FACTS (Friends of the Aire and Calder Turbines) is a great site, with a wealth of information about the benefits of wind turbines and wind power, and in particular their Fact and Fiction page is worth a read.

You can also send an email to various Yorkshire MPs and MEPs from the site, and it was after doing exactly that that I got this message on the following page:

You can help further by adding your name to the register and the ailing list on the Home / News page.

I feel ill enough to be on some kind of ailing list, so this one seems as good as any!

Last week's Link of the Week was abortionclinicdays. There is now a new one, if you click on the Link of the Week link! (There is also a new one if you don't click, of course.)

The fact that this is my third post of the day suggests that I am being loquacious, multiloquent, prolix, verbose, voluble, communicative, conversational, demonstrative, effusive, enlightening, expansive, forthcoming, frank, garrulous, unreserved, chatty, cogent, copious, cursive, declamatory, disputatious, mellifluent, mellifluous, long-winded, oratorical, padded, palaverous, periphrastic, pleonastic, supererogatory, superfluous, supernumerary, surplus, tautological, verbal, vocal and voluble.

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Technorati tags: wind power; typo; incurable_hippie; link of the week; thesaurus.

Funny... Unfunny.

I am always disappointed by Quote... Unquote's very existence. It occupies the Monday 6.30pm slot on BBC Radio 4 when everyone knows that filling it with Just A Minute or I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue is infinitely preferable.

And whereas the series of Just a Minute and Clue feel like they last about 4 weeks each, each series of Quote Unquote feels like it goes on for at least 26 weeks.

I did meet someone a few weeks ago who likes Quote Unquote, so it perhaps has one fan, but really that is all they have.

And, as Sunday 12pm slot is given over to repeating the Monday 18.30 comedy, the insuffrable corny and emollient nature of Quote Unquote is endured a second time. It thinks it is funny and it really is not.

I am glad to say that it is now 12.32pm on Sunday and so the repeat is over. Just another 18 hours until tomorrow's programme. :-/

(PS Has anyone else's gmail account become suddenly crap at spotting spam lately? I'm having to label most of mine myself even though it's so obviously spam...)


Spam is evil.

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Technorati tags: BBC Radio 4; quote unquote; incurable_hippie; comedy; spam; gmail.

Autumn Leaves, Lesbian Lies.

100_0727
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

This photo ---> I took in the park a few days ago.

Any other business:
Reading through my Snopes email newsletter I was, at first, amused to see that one issue which people submitted (which means they didn't know if it was true or urban legend) was,

The Weekly World News strikes again, this time with a tale about a lesbian mother who has scheduled her adopted baby boy for sex change surgery

.
It became less amusing when I realised that people really thought it might be true. That the level of homophobia and lesbian-hating in our society is such that people would actually believe that a lesbian would have her two-year old son 'changed' into a girl because she didn't like men. And so many of those people who believed it would also really want to believe it because it reinforces so much negativity.

Pah!

I went to the Disability Benefits Conference yesterday and am intending to write an account of the day shortly. Suffice to say it was inspiring, exciting and exhausting.

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Technorati tags: photo; park; incurable_hippie; lesbian issues; disability; incapacity benefit; conference; adoption; homophobia.

20 Random Facts.

Caroline has tagged me to post 20 random facts about myself and then tag the same amount of people as minutes it takes me to write the facts.

1. I'm a Taurus, but I don't really believe in that stuff. However, I am stubborn.


2. I am in love.


3. I have a toy box. For myself.


4. I live with 3 hamsters and 3 fish.


5. Hamsters often feature in my dreams.


6. I am more likely to sing along to the backing vocals than the tune of a song.


7. I am really, really messy.


8. I am usually in the middle of 3 or 4 books at once.


9. I eat way too much chocolate.


10. This is harder than it looks.


11. I cannot abide anything or anyone touching my feet. Including myself, and including shoes. Is it any wonder I'm mad?


12. I occasionally get strangely addicted to French nursery rhymes.


13. I used to work in Sexual Health.


14. I usually pretend I'm fine when I'm not.


15. I have three lighters which don't work next to me.


16. I sent my first email in 1995 and have been hooked ever since.


17. I made a housework chart this morning and have three stars on it now!


18. I'm considering lying about how many minutes this has taken me.


19. Though I am a really bad liar, with too much of a conscience, so I probably won't.


20. I think html is fun.

I tag:

Travelling Punk
Dooey
Anne
Astrid
Lisy Babe
Joy
Taarna
Cat

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Technorati tags: 20 random facts; memes; incurable_hippie; lists.

Sheffield: City Under Construction.

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Technorati tags: sheffield; urban; incurable_hippie; photos.

The nonsense, the whole nonsense, and nothing but the nonsense.

When Z woke up this morning I had been awake for a while, and I announced to her, with much indignity, that the Tory leadership contest had got even more ridiculous now that Richard Branson, Kenneth Branagh, and somebody else who I couldn't remember were all standing for the leadership position now as well as the ones we've heard all about for the last few weeks.

She looked so bemused that I considered what I had said, and asked, "Or did I dream that?"

She thought I had probably dreamt it. I was eventually inclined to agree that these guys couldn't be standing for Tory leader since they weren't even MPs.

But you never know?!

I also, while still asleep (I was later informed) asked her what the metal phone behind my head said on it, after coming out with several nonsense attempts at finding the word say (which I think included tink sink).

I do worry about myself sometimes.

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Technorati tags: dreams; nonsense; incurable_hippie; uk politics.

Liar, liar, your bum's on fire. Your nose is longer than a telephone wire.

The threats to disability benefits are getting more and more frightening as time goes by. People who rely on and need these benefits as they are truly unable to work are getting frightened by the increasingly real possibilities of having their money stopped, being just as unable to work, but unable to claim benefits either.

The conference will hopefully be a force to reckon with, but the even more recent comments from David Blunkett just add more worry to many people.

And if nothing else, this level of stress and concern and anxiety is almost guaranteed to increase people's own experiences of mental ill-health and make them less able to work!

But then today I was listening to PM and heard that David 'Nightmare' Blunkett is considering introducing lie-detector technology onto the phone lines of Civil Servants who work with benefits, so that they can detect false or fraudulent claims from the public.

(I always think I can't be shocked any more, and I always, always am).

Now, this lie detector technology notes changes in the stress of the voice which is undetectable to the human ear. With these minute changes it can identify stress associated with telling a lie. But can it tell the difference between stress from telling a lie and stress from other causes?

There is an insurance company who have apparently used this lie-detector technology on their telephone claim lines for 18 months, to detect and prevent fraudulent applications for insurance money.

They then interviewed a Psychologist who specialised in deception. He stated that yes, the voice does indeed react to stress in certain ways detected by this technology, but this is not necessarily the stress or strain of lying. He pointed out that if someone is phoning esure after a burglary, their voice is likely to show these stress signs as a result of anger or distress or fear of having been robbed.

Similarly, if someone is phoning the Benefits Agency as a result of not having had their money on time, they might well be angry or annoyed or frightened or desperate. If the lie-detector software identifies the strain in their voice as them telling a lie - when in fact they are distressed in a totally different way - they could be labelled a fraud when they are really, truly not.

The psychologist stated that there is no machine that could detect the difference between stress in someone's voice from lying, and stress in someone's voice from being frightened, or angry, or many other emotions.

Putting lie-detector technology onto the phone lines of Benefits Agencies will make people even more concerned and scared to deal with these agencies than they already are. It will make people feel like criminals, and make them fear the repercussions if, for whatever reason, the technology brands them a liar. It will make people who already struggle with using a telephone even more wary. And it's just wrong!

As far as I know, lie-detector tests are not admissible in court because they are just not reliable. Should they then be used in these often life-and-death issues of giving people money to live on?

I think not.

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Technorati tags: disability benefits; david blunkett; incurable_hippie; lie detectors; rant.

Illustration Friday: Lost.

This is my submission for this week's Illustration Friday, the theme of which is Lost.

It is a collage of a large question mark, on which are layers of an old Sheffield A to Z map, and pages torn from a notebook made from obselete maps.

The background paper is Japanese (?) text, interspersed with various European and UK place names in English.

I thought these displayed confusion over place - my understanding (for this project) of lost - quite well.

(More Hippie images).

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Following on from this post,

Switch off the TV and get on your bike, Blunkett tells long-term sick:

The work and pensions secretary, David Blunkett, today urged hundreds of thousands of people on incapacity benefit to stop watching daytime TV and start looking for work.

Speaking ahead of a press conference today on the government's principles for reform the welfare state, Mr Blunkett risked provoking further anger from Labour's backbenchers over his already controversial plans to overhaul incapacity benefit.(more...).

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Technorati tags: Illustration Friday; lost; incurable_hippie; lost; collage; disability benefits.

National Disability Benefits Conference, Sheffield.

15/10/2005

The government is planning to make some of the biggest
changes in welfare provision for sixty years,
particularly that of disability benefits and
specifically Incapacity Benefit (IB). Sheffield
WelfareAction Network (SWAN)is setting up a national
founding conference (to be held Mid October) in
Sheffield to highlight these changes and the present
state of disability welfare and to facilitate the
setting up of a national framework to campaign against
these punitive changes.

National Disability Benefits conference, Sheffield
15/10/05
Challenge the cuts!


‘Welfare reform is one of the Governments seven
priorities for the coming term'
Tony Blair


‘Incapacity benefit (IB) can no longer be used as a
"crutch" for those who refuse to work.’
David Blunkett: Secretary Department of Work and
Pensions(DWP)


The Govt’s Welfare Reforms: Survival of the fittest?

The government is planning to make some of the biggest
changes in welfare provision for sixty years,
particularly that of disability benefits and
specifically Incapacity Benefit (IB). Over 800,000
disabled people may lose over £30.00 a week from their
benefit and face being cajoled into unsuitable work
These are changes which are of real concern to most
disabled people, and which will plunge many into
poverty and despair. While the changes are
comprehensive and also involve issues of personal
choice and civil
liberties (see below), the main thrust of the changes
is that there will be a penalty /cut of over £30 (well
over a third of benefit) if the person receiving IB
does not attend what they (the Gov’t) are calling
‘work-focused interviews’ to prove they are actively
seeking work, Clearly, as this will be based on
targets not need, (over 80% of IB claimants will be
required to attend), we will have the frightening and
frankly bizarre situation whereupon hundreds of
thousands of the most vulnerable people in the U.K who
find it hard to ‘just get through the day’ will be
pressured into looking for work that is not available
or impossible to undertake, or face losing this money.

Where are these jobs?

Clearly this is not about 'helping the sick back into
work' because as many critics of the policy have
noted, where are these jobs going to come from? In the
UK there are just 628,000 job vacancies at any one
time and there are about 800,000 people who are
unemployed on Jobseekers Allowance and therefore
'actively seeking work' in addition to the single
parents (around 700,000 people) and in addition to the
2,700,000 people on incapacity based benefits. So, a
whole lot of people looking for suitable work! David
Blunkett the DWP Secretary has been looking enviously
over the water to our U.S cousins to see how the
private sector and faith based charities can be used
to administer such welfare, perhaps he should look at
New Orleans to see how successful that model is.

A Soviet Union model revisited?

What is just as disturbing are the mechanisms that
will be used on People with Disabilities (PWDs) to
get them back to work which include training five
thousand psycho-therapists in Cognitive Behavioural
Therapy (CBT) (considered by many to be a
controversial therapy) in order to develop mandatory
sessions in which they can be ‘persuaded'
they are ready and suitable to pursue employment.
This is remarkably similar to the techniques used to
‘brainwash’ dissidents in the former Soviet Union. An
extension of the state into such an area is a very
significant and dangerous move. Already, a new model
of disability is being used by DWP medical staff with
severe consequences for PWD’s particular those with
‘invisible’ illnesses like M.E and IBS. (see below)

Challenging The Reforms…

In Sheffield, political seat of the DWP Secretary
David Blunkett,a new non party political group:
Sheffield Welfare Action Network (SWAN) has been set
up to challenge and campaign against these iniquitous
and cruel changes. Changes, which will affect and
burden vulnerable people, who already face one of the
most punitive welfare systems in Europe. The Left,
social justice groups and other progressive forces
have largely ignored welfare issues for many years and
hopefully this will be a start to raising the profile
of such welfare issues.


A National Response

However, SWAN is aware that such changes will need to
be resisted on a national level to be effective and is
proposing the formation of a network of U.K wide
campaigning groups to be called ‘Dignity: The National
Campaign Against Punitive Welfare’. To this end, SWAN
is seeking the widest support from individuals and
others, NGO’s,Health Support Groups, Faith Groups, the
Labour Movement, Student Unions, etc, to help create
this network. SWAN is setting up a national founding
conference (to be held Mid October)in Sheffield to
highlight these changes and the present state of
disability welfare and to facilitate the setting up of
a national framework to campaign against these
punitive changes. As well as the conference we aim to
have other future activities such as street protests,
lobbying ministers/m.p’s petitions, etc.


The Conference

The Future of Benefits
A national conference on cuts in disability benefits
and the reality of living on welfare

15 Oct 2005


Venue: Sheffield Hallam University Union of Students
The HUBS, Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2QQ
Complete Disabled Access and right
near main Train station)

Time 10.30 AM –4.30PM
Food/Refreshments
Donations
Will be accepted on the door


Speakers

Lorna Reith – Chief Exec. of Disability Alliance.
Sheila Messider - Advice Centre Support in Sheffield

Workshops(TBA)but include: how to campaign, running
groups, researching information, models of ill
health/disability, media views of welfare

Testimonials
Personal stories from those on disability welfare and
the difficulties they face

Focus
To highlight the coming disability welfare reforms and
raise the profile issue of disability welfare rights
and related issues (sadly neglected for many years)
and disability benefits issues generally and to
promote and widen its scope,

To set up a national campaigning network against the
proposed disability benefit welfare changes,
specifically disability benefit cuts and any coercive
measures that may be implemented.

Contacts
To find out more or if you have any questions, do not
hesitate to contact our secretary Chris on
07903453006 or email us on
sheffieldwelfare_an@yahoo.co.uk. (website coming
soon.)

Regards,
SWAN


Resources/links


Labour to crack down on incapacity benefit

FRASER NELSON
POLITICAL EDITOR
DAVID Blunkett yesterday drew the battle lines for an
autumn battle over welfare reform as he warned that
incapacity benefit (IB) can no longer be used as a
"crutch" for those who refuse to work.

news.scotsman.com

Ministers plan biggest shake-up of the welfare state
for 60 years
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor
Published: 12 September 2005
The Government is to embark on the biggest shake-up of
the state benefits system for 60 years, according to
David Blunkett, the Work and Pensions Secretary.

news.independent.co.uk"

Incapacity Benefit to be replaced in 2008
www.disabilityalliance.org

Incapacity benefit overhaul at heart of welfare reform

www.guardian.co.uk

Information
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

www.rightsnet.org.uk

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Technorati tags: disability benefits; sheffield; incurable_hippie; poverty.

And it's Good Night from Him...

I loved The Two Ronnies as a child, and Porridge too.



I was very sad to hear that Ronnie Barker died today. Sad enough to go for the corniest entry title ever, under the circumstances.

In a hardware shop. Ronnie Corbett is behind the counter, wearing a warehouse jacket. He has just finished serving a customer.
CORBETT (muttering): There you are. Mind how you go.
(Ronnie Barker enters the shop, wearing a scruffy tank-top and beanie)
BARKER: Four Candles!
CORBETT: Four Candles?
BARKER: Four Candles.
(Ronnie Corbett makes for a box, and gets out four candles. He places them on the counter)
BARKER: No, four candles!
CORBETT (confused): Well there you are, four candles!
BARKER: No, fork 'andles! 'Andles for forks!
(Ronnie Corbett puts the candles away, and goes to get a fork handle. He places it onto the counter)
CORBETT (muttering): Fork handles. Thought you said 'four candles!' (more clearly) Next?
BARKER: Got any plugs?
CORBETT: Plugs. What kind of plugs?
BARKER: A rubber one, bathroom.
(Ronnie Corbett gets out a box of bath plugs, and places it on the counter)
CORBETT (pulling out two different sized plugs): What size?
BARKER: Thirteen amp!
CORBETT (muttering): It's electric bathroom plugs, we call them, in the trade. Electric bathroom plugs!
(He puts the box away, gets out another box, and places on the counter an electric plug, then puts the box away)
BARKER: Saw tips!
CORBETT: Saw tips? (he doesn't know what he means) What d'you want? Ointment, or something like that?
BARKER: No, saw tips for covering saws.
CORBETT: Oh, haven't got any, haven't got any. (he mutters) Comin' in, but we haven' got any. Next?
BARKER: 'O's!
CORBETT: 'O's?
BARKER: 'O's.
(He goes to get a hoe, and places it on the counter)
BARKER: No, 'O's!
CORBETT: 'O's! I thought you said 'O! (he takes the hose back, and gets a hose, whilst muttering) When you said 'O's, I thought you said 'O! 'O's!
(He places the hose onto the counter)
BARKER: No, 'O's!
CORBETT (confused for a moment): O's? Oh, you mean panty 'o's, panty 'o's! (he picks up a pair of tights from beside him)
BARKER: No, no, 'O's! 'O's for the gate. Mon repose! 'O's! Letter O's!
CORBETT (finally realising): Letter O's! (muttering) You had me going there!
(He climbs up a stepladder, gets a box down, puts the ladder away, and takes the box to the counter, and searches through it for letter O's).
CORBETT: How many d'you want?
BARKER: Two.
(Ronnie Corbett leaves two letter O's on the counter, then takes the box back, gets the ladder out again, puts the box away, climbs down the ladder, and puts the ladder away, then returns to the counter)
CORBETT: Yes, next?
BARKER: Got any P's?
CORBETT (fed up): For Gawd' sake, why didn' you bleedin' tell me that while I was up there then? I'm up and down the shop already, it's up and down the bleedin' shop all the time. (He gets the ladder out, climbs up and gets the box of letters down, then puts the ladder away) Honestly, I've got all this shop, I ain't got any help, it's worth it we plan things. (He puts the box on the counter, and gets out some letter P's) How many d'you want?
BARKER: No! Tins of peas. Three tins of peas!
CORBETT: You're 'avin' me on, ain't ya, yer 'avin' me on?
BARKER: I'm not!
(Ronnie Corbett dumps the box under the counter, and gets three tins of peas)
CORBETT (placing the tins on the counter): Next?
BARKER: Got any pumps?
CORBETT (getting really fed up): 'And pumps, foot pumps? Come on!
BARKER (surprised he has to ask): Foot pumps!
CORBETT (muttering, as he goes down the shop): Foot pumps. See a foot pump? (He sees one, and picks it up) Tidy up in 'ere.
(He puts the pump down on the counter)
BARKER: No, pumps fer ya feet! Brown pump, size nine!
CORBETT (almost at breaking point): You are 'avin' me on, you are definitely 'avin' me on!
BARKER (not taking much notice of Corbett's mood): I'm not!
CORBETT: You are 'avin' me on! (He takes back the pump, and gets a pair of brown foot pumps out of a drawer, and places them on the counter) Next?
BARKER: Washers!
CORBETT (really close to breaking point): What, dishwashers, floor washers, car washers, windscreen washers, back scrubbers, lavatory cleaners? Floor washers?
BARKER: 'Alf inch washers!
CORBETT: Oh, tap washers, tap washers? (He finally breaks, and makes to confiscate his list) Look, I've had just about enough of this, give us that list. (He mutters) I'll get it all myself! (Reading through the list) What's this? What's that? Oh that does it! That just about does it! I have just about had it! (calling through to the back) Mr. Jones! You come out and serve this customer please, I have just about had enough of 'im. (Mr. Jones comes out, and Ronnie Corbett shows him the list) Look what 'e's got on there! Look what 'e's got on there!
JONES (who goes to a drawer with a towel hanging out of it, and opens it): Right! How many would ya like? One or two?
(He removes the towel to reveal the label on the drawer - 'Bill hooks'!)

You can also see lots of their cool stuff.

---

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Technorati tags: Ronnie Barker; The Two Ronnies; incurable_hippie; comedy; obituary.

Found Poetry.

In what is now called
the common practice
period consonant intervals.

Perfect consonances
unisons and octaves
perfect fourths and
perfect fifths

Imperfect consonances
major thirds and
minor sixths
minor thirds and
major sixths

This is as would be taught
in a beginning.
Intervals such as the
perfect fourth
and the thirds
were once considered
forbidden dissonances.

Consonances used
freely and unprepared,
occurring on weak or strong beats.

Polyphonic cadences
(caesuras),
requiring two voices,
created by successive dyads,
the first an imperfect consonance
on a weak beat,
the second a perfect consonance
on a strong beat,

such as a major sixth moving to an octave
(for instance, the major
(imperfect)
sixth D-B
followed by
the perfect octave
C-C').

(found here).

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Found Poetry: n. The presentation of a borrowed text or found object as a poem or as part of a poem.

Found Poetry Against the War.

Found Poetry in Altered Books.

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Technorati tags: found poetry; harmony; incurable_hippie; creative.

Illustration Friday - Float

float
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Illustration Friday.

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Technorati tags: collage; Illustration Friday; incurable_hippie; shipping forecast.

Photo Friday - Darkness.

100_0643
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Or is it light?

Photo Friday.

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; darkness; incurable_hippie; candles; light.

Some points for a Saturday Evening...

1. The way Walter Wolfgang was treated at the Labour Party Conference was appalling, but not just because he was 82 years old. No-one of any age should have been treated that way for shouting 'Nonsense' at Jack Straw.

2. Re: Sunny's comment - the issue with the right bar links ending up under a single post, or the last post on the page is the same in internet explorer and firefox. It's not an error especially, just the way the coding works.

3. I feel ill. Everything aches and I'm exhausted. If I didn't know any better, it feels like I did some hellish aerobics class yesterday. In fact yesterday everything ached also.

4. I am absolutely in awe of The Crafty Girl. Stunning, stunning work. Have been reading her blog for weeks if not months, and never cease to be rendered speechless at what she produces.

5. The Sheffield Freecycle email group which I set up was featured in the local paper, and now has a stunning 906 members.

6. Taarna, I thought it looked sexual / sensual also.

7. Yesterday's Dead Ringers was particularly good.

8. I do not understand why Charlotte Green keeps being on the radio as a continuity announcer when she is normally a Newsreader.

9. hippie blog has exceeded 18,000 visitors tonight. That's pretty stunning.

10. I'm fed up and tired and cold and sore. I have no idea what this entry is about. I hoped to get to 10 points and I have, so I'm going to bed.

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Technorati tags: lists; BBC radio 4; incurable_hippie; miscellaneous.

Brazil.

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes
by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident'


"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"


His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as
the president sits, head in hands. Finally, the President looks up and
asks...

'How many is a brazillion??'


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Technorati tags: joke; anti-Bush; incurable_hippie.

Heavies against the Hecklers.

So, yesterday I heard on the news that two hecklers had been removed from the Labour Party Conference during Jack Straw's speech. I raised my eyes to heaven and thought it sounded a bit heavy-handed. Whatever happened to democracy and debate, I wondered.

It made me think of an incident a year or so ago, when Tony Blair was heckled when he was talking about the Iraq war, and Blair had made some glib comment to the heckler about how he was lucky to live in a free society where such things were allowed - just as the heckler was in fact being bundled out of the hall surrounded by stewards... Poignant and telling moment, I thought.

Then later on yesterday I heard more. I heard that one of the hecklers was actually 82 years old. Blimey, I thought. More heavy-handed than I had even realised! He must have said some pretty bad things to have been man-handled out of the room.

Then even later on last night, I heard the actual facts.

Jack Straw had been speaking when he was interrupted by Walter Wolfgang, a Jewish escapee from the Nazis who is now 82 and has been a Labour Party member for 48 years.

Jack Straw had just said, "We are in Iraq for one reason only: to help the elected Iraqi government build a secure, democratic and stable nation".

So, what was this interruption which caused such aggressive behaviour from 'security' staff? Which led to this 82 year old man being threatened with terrorism charges?

He shouted, Nonsense. Nonsense! That's it! One word.

When he got 'removed' from the conference as a result, his neighbour said, "You must be joking!", for which he was duly evicted too!

I mean, if it wasn't so obscene it would be funny. (Edited to add, see the photo here).

This government has become less and less democratic, and erode our freedoms more and more and more. ID cards, the appalling terrorism bills. When something happens like someone being held captive in Iraq, they won't enter into any talks because they say that we "shouldn't negotiate with terrorists", but when it suits them they will do anything and everything and use the threat of terrorism to justify their actions.

They will react to terror when it suits them. They will happily ignore it or sneer at the idea when that suits them better.

That day in February two years ago, when 2 million people marched against the war in London and the government and Blair carried on as if nothing had happened, was the day I realised that any pretence of democracy in this bloody country is a myth and a legend.


In other news:
GPs to stop prescribing antidepressants blamed for suicidal feelings in under-18s.

The Future's Not Bright If You're Orange.

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Technorati tags: walter wolfgang; democracy; protest; uk politics; incurable_hippie; disillusion; anti-depressants; orangutans;.

Illustration Friday: Fresh.

This week's Illustration Friday - Fresh.

100_0466abbb
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Fresh flower.

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Technorati tags: Illustration Friday; photo; incurable_hippie; gimp.

Photo Friday: Burn

Mmm, attractive! For this week's Photo Friday challenge.

PS, I have finally sorted out the right sidebar issues in Firefox. An errant end tag in my code was causing all the strangeness.

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; ashtray; incurable_hippie; smoking; cigarettes; photo.

Sunflowers

100_0628
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

are my favourite flowers. I have some :)


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Technorati tags: sunflower; photo; incurable_hippie; floral.

Selected Highlights from my Daily (e)Mail.

Selected highlights from Schnews:

CRAP ARREST OF THE WEEK

For being in a Barbershop Quartet!

Police arrested four people at last week's DSEi Arms Fair protest
who performed an anti-war song in the style of a Barbershop
Quartet with hands covered in blood. They were originally arrested
them under an obscure 1824 'enclosure' law, then for burglary.
After a few hours in the cell they were let go with a fixed
penalty notice of £80 for causing "harassment alarm or distress".
Not a good result for public harmony.

----

Crap Racism of the Week

For spending too long on the bog!

On the anniversary of 9-11 two Muslim men were forced off a plane
by fellow passengers. The flight due to leave from Cyprus was
cancelled after some passengers became worried that one of the men
had spent a long time on the toilet. They were removed from the
plane and questioned by police who concluded there was no problem
with the men who had been on a pilgrimage to see a Muslim
spiritual figure in northern Cyprus. The flight took off the next
day without the two men, who had to fly with a different airline.

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Positive SchNEWS

When a Muslim woman became the target of a hate-mail campaign by
Flemish fascists for wearing a headscarf to work, no-one saw how
it would backfire.

Her co-workers began to all wear scarves themselves, and the
factory's owner has been on international media channels
denouncing the cowardly Nazis. She even got a visit from the
Belgian King! The incident has proved embarrassing for the
country's strong right-wing anti-immigrant party, who had
previously supported such intolerant views.

------

This may seem somewhat morbid, a list of asylum seekers who have committed suicide in the UK in the last 5 years, but it feels really important for me to post it.

Firstly, these people need to be heard, be honoured. It is too late for us to do what we really should have done when they were alive, but that makes it even more important to hear and honour their lives now.

Secondly, so many of these people killed themselves shortly after having their claim refused, or before they were due to be deported. This seems to be stronger evidence than ever that their claims were genuine. When push came to shove, many of these people decided that they would rather die than be returned to their country. This is a damning indictment of our asylum system, and of the inhumane detention and removal centres that we are keeping people in.

See No Borders, and see The Refugee Council.

From NCADC:

33 asylum seekers have taken their own lives, 7 in Immigration Removal Centres, 6 in prisons and 20 in the community, in the UK over the last five years.


List compiled by Harmit Athwal of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR)


If recipients of this mailing know of any other deaths of asylum seekers from self-harm, not listed below, please send details to IRR or NCADC.

* Manuel Bravo, a national of Angola living in Leeds was 'snatched' by immigration officials with his son Antonio on the morning of Wednesday 14th September. In the early hours of Thursday the 15th September Manuel was found hanging in a stairwell at Yarl's Wood Removal Centre. Manuel and Antonio had been living in Armley, Leeds for the last three years after leaving war-torn Angola.

* Edmore Ngwenya, 26, from Zimbabwe, drowned at Salford Quays on Wednesday 14 September.

* Babak Ahadi, (33), 6/7/05, Iranian asylum seeker who set himself alight at his NASS accommodation in Bristol. He died the following day in Frenchay hospital.

* Ramazan Kumluca, (19), 27/6/05, a Kurdish asylum seeker from Turkey who was found hanged in Campsfield House removal centre in Oxford. He had been detained for five months and was said to be depressed after a bail application was rejected for the third time.

* Kenny Peter, 7/11/04, a Nigerian asylum seeker who died in Charing Cross hospital, nearly three weeks after sustaining injuries during an apparent self-harm attempt at Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre. It is believed that on 19 October, Kenny jumped from a landing and sustained serious injuries, from which he later died.

* John Kanau Manana, (24), 15/10/04, a Kenyan who was found hanged from a ligature in his cell at Leicester prison on 15 October at 3.55. Paramedics were called and attempted resuscitation and he was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4.50.

* Majid Rafieei, 14/10/04, a destitute Iraqi asylum seeker who was found hanged at his Sheffield home after his asylum claim was refused.

* Ceife Yimene, (24), 26/9/04, an Ethiopian asylum seeker who left a hospital where he had been seeking help and hanged himself. Ceife was living in emergency accommodation in Newcastle while his asylum claim was being processed. He became very depressed in the weeks leading up to his death. On the day of his death his friends were so concerned about his health that they took him to the Accident and Emergency department of Newcastle General Infirmary. After seven hours he was reportedly in a 'catatonic' state and when he was eventually seen by a Doctor he was told, 'If you won't speak then we can't help'. Ceife left the hospital and hanged himself from a tree. (IRR News story: Did undue pressure on an asylum seeker lead to his suicide?)

* Ako Mahmood Ahmed, (25), 8/04, a Kurdish asylum seeker who died after jumping from a bridge at a Coventry shopping centre. He arrived in the UK in May 2004 and was 'dispersed' to Coventry in June. His asylum claim was rejected and he lodged an appeal. However, because of new legal aid limits, Ako was unable to find a solicitor to act for him despite help from Coventry Refugee Centre. As a result, he was faced with destitution on the streets of Britain and the prospect of deportation to Iraq. (IRR News story: Desperate asylum seeker takes own life)

* Tran Quang Tung, (23), 23/7/04, a Vietnamese man who was found hanged in Dungavel removal centre in Scotland just days after being transferred from Harmondsworth removal centre after the disturbance.

* Sergey Barnuyck, (31), 19/7/04, a Ukrainian who was found hanged in Harmondsworth detention centre. His death sparked a night of disturbances at the centre and led to all of the detainees being transferred to prisons and other detention centres.

* Hussein Nasseri, (26), 25/6/04, an Iranian asylum seeker who was found with a gunshot wound two weeks after his asylum claim was refused. Hussein, who was homosexual, fled Iran in March 2000 after being imprisoned for three months for his sexuality. He feared being executed if he was returned to Iran - where homosexuality is a 'crime' punishable by death. In June 2004, he received a letter telling him that his asylum claim had been refused. The inquest recorded a verdict of suicide. (IRR News story: Inquest finds asylum refusal was motive for gay Iranian's suicide)


* Zekria Ghulam Mohammed, (27), 18/05/04, an Afghan asylum seeker who was found hanged at his flat in the Dennistoun area of Glasgow. Zekria had been living in Scotland for four years and prior to his death his asylum claim had been refused and benefits stopped. He was also facing eviction from accommodation provided by NASS. Zekria, who trained as a dentist in Afghanistan, 'was ashamed and broken. He felt there was no hope left', according to his friends.

* Unnamed man, 2004, an Iraqi asylum seeker who set himself alight in London. He had a history of mental health problems and was scared he would be returned to Iraq.

* Liang He, (23), 10/11/03, who was found hanged at Bedford prison.

* Mohammed bin Duhri, (20), 20/10/03, a Palestinian asylum seeker who was found hanged at Belmarsh maximum-security prison. He had been held at Dover Immigration Removal Centre but, after he allegedly assaulted a guard, he was moved to Belmarsh. Three prison officers were suspended for filing reports saying, after the death, that he was still alive.

* Tema Kombe, (32), 4/9/03, a Ugandan asylum seeker who was found hanged in a toilet in the psychiatric ward at Heatherwood hospital, Ascot, after being detained under the Mental Health Act. The inquest returned a verdict of misadventure after hearing that he had made three previous attempts on his life.

* Israfil Shiri, (30), 3/9/03, a destitute Iranian asylum seeker who died six days after pouring petrol over his body and setting himself alight in the offices of Refugee Action in Manchester. His asylum application had been rejected and he was homeless and penniless. Israfil, who was gay, feared being executed in Iran if he was deported. He also suffered from a painful bowel complaint but, after his asylum claim was refused, he was unable to get medical treatment and was in constant pain. An open verdict was recorded by the inquest. (IRR News story: Open verdict on death of asylum seeker who slept in a wheelie bin)

* Vasiliy Todchuk, (24), 9/03, a Russian national who had deserted from the Russian army in Chechnya, was found hanged on a building site in Govan, Glasgow. He had been detained in Polmont YOI on criminal charges in early 2003 and attempted suicide on the day before his release. Several weeks before his death he had been advised that he would be deported.

* Liu Jin Wu, (35), 5/5/03, a Chinese asylum seeker who took his own life while on remand at HMP Barlinnie in Scotland. It emerged during a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) that he was a Mandarin speaker who only had access to an interpreter three times during his ten weeks in the prison. He was on remand for two counts of attempted murder and during police interviews had told them that he was hearing voices; a provisional diagnosis of paranoid psychosis was made. He had been told he faced deportation regardless of what happened during the criminal proceedings as his asylum claim had been refused. The Inquiry was also told staff failed to check on him hourly as was required when he was found to be suicidal. But the FAI concluded that his suicide was due to mental health problems rather than any failure by the prison authorities.

* Mikhail Bognarchuk, (42), 31/1/03, a Ukrainian asylum seeker who was found hanged at Haslar removal centre.

* Sirous Khajeh, (29), 24/12/02, an Iranian asylum seeker who was found hanged at his home in Huddersfield. He was a torture victim who had been told that his asylum claim had been rejected and he faced eviction from his home and deportation. However, this information was incorrect and Sirous had in fact been granted asylum. A Yorkshire coroner recorded a verdict of suicide and was critical of the Home Office's handling of his application.

* Beverley Fowler, (32), 2/10/02, a Jamaican woman who was found hanged two days before the end of her sentence in Durham prison. She was a mother of three who was due to be deported back to Jamaica after serving a sentence for drug smuggling. In September 2003, an inquest recorded an open verdict. The inquest was told she feared for her safety in Kingston because the man who forced her into drug smuggling had murdered her partner.

* Forsina Makoni, (79), 11/5/02, an elderly Zimbabwean woman who died after setting herself alight in Gillingham after her claim for political asylum was refused. She had been a vocal opponent of Robert Mugabe's regime and became depressed in the weeks before her death after her claim was refused.

* Shiraz Pir, (25), 7/5/02, a Pakistani asylum seeker who died five days after being found hanging in his Bristol home after his asylum claim was rejected. Facing deportation, he could not understand why friends had been given refugee status and he had been denied. He left a note asking that his body be returned to his parents. An inquest recorded a verdict of suicide whilst the balance of his mind was temporarily disturbed. The coroner criticized the Home Office for the delay with his asylum application.

* Mohsen Amri, (27), 12/3/02, an Iranian asylum seeker who committed suicide at his home in Handsworth, Birmingham, after having a work permit refused and asylum application rejected. He had been in the UK for two years and made repeated requests for work permits (he did not want to work illegally). His asylum application had been refused on a technicality.

* Nariman Tahamasbi, (27), 25/2/02, an Iranian asylum seeker who was found hanged in Lewes prison. He had been refused asylum in the UK and fearful of being deported back to Iran, he attempted to flee to Canada using the same forged travel documents that had brought him to the UK. He was arrested at Gatwick airport, charged over false documents and sentenced to six months imprisonment. Less than a week after arriving in the prison he hanged himself from the bars of his cell with a bedsheet and died in hospital five days later without regaining consciousness. A jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure following a three-day inquest into the death in may 2005. (IRR News story: Asylum death deemed misadventure)

* Souleyman Diallo, (28), 1/1/02, a Guinean asylum seeker who committed suicide by jumping 100 feet off Redheugh Bridge, Tyneside, a few weeks after being told he was to be deported to Guinea. Souleyman, who spoke little English, was dispersed to Gateshead soon after he arrived in July 2000 and was not provided with any translation services. He felt that the interpreter at his appeal hearing had misinterpreted him. His solicitor commented that his 'inability to access competent legal advice, difficulties in communicating his case and tight deadlines for submission statements have contributed to his case being properly heard'. She made a complaint to the Immigration Commissioners about his death. The coroner recorded an open verdict.

* Nasser Ahmed, (35), 21/8/01, an Eritrean asylum seeker who was found hanged at his flat in Nelson, Lancashire shortly after his asylum claim was rejected.

* Shokrolah 'Ramin' Khaleghi, (27), 18/1/01, an Iranian asylum seeker, dispersed to Leicester, who was found dead in the International Hotel, a hostel for asylum seekers, after his asylum claim was rejected. He had been a political prisoner in Iran, jailed for six years and tortured for refusing to serve in the Iranian army and affronting fundamentalist beliefs by shaving his facial hair. He took an overdose one week after learning that his asylum claim had been rejected.

* Saeed Alaei, (26), 21/12/00, an Iranian asylum seeker, dispersed to Nelson, Lancashire, who was found hanged after his asylum claim was rejected.

* Glynnis Cowley, (40), 4/00, a South African mother of three who committed suicide in Liverpool after her asylum claim was refused. She had been arrested Heathrow in June 1999 after being found in possession of cannabis and sentenced eight months. She alleged that she had been kidnapped and forced to act as drugs courier. While in Holloway prison her asylum claim was refused and after her release she launched an appeal but took her life before it was heard.

* Robertas Grabys, 24/01/00, a Lithuanian asylum seeker who was found hanged in Harmondsworth detention centre on the day he was due to be deported. A report into his death criticised the private company that was in charge of Harmondsworth at the time.

Harmit Athwal
news@irr.org.uk.

End of Bulletin:

Source for this Message:
Institute of Race Relations (IRR).

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From FoE:

Many garden plants are now setting seed, and it's easy to collect and save them for planting next year. The ideal way to bring some colour to your garden or window box without spending any money! For a step-by-step guide, see BBC - propagating / collecting seeds.

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Flatten the Flats plea. More offensive shit from certain members of the City Council about Park Hill flats (my photos here) who don't care that they are talking about people's homes and their own rich privilege.


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