Blackout

In which The Author doesn’t hear a news story on the BBC (again)

I’ve just picked up on an interesting little news story via a Scottish blog named Bellacaledonia. I followed it up, and found the same story on the Guardian website, filed by Robert Booth just after midday yesterday.

Police erected a 2 metre metal fence around much of Parliament Square on Tuesday and arrested 15 demonstrators including Green party peer Jenny Jones.

Lady Jones, 64, chairwoman of the London assembly’s economy committee and deputy chair of its police and crime committee, was arrested for “obstructing police” as they moved in to break up the demonstration. She was “de-arrested” after giving details suitable for a summons.The politician could now face prosecution, Scotland Yard said.

“The evidence in this case will be considered and a decision made whether to proceed with a prosecution,” a Met spokesperson said.

Jones had been to see what was happening at the Occupy London protest on Tuesday morning after her office had been contacted by protesters complaining about heavy-handed police tactics.

The Greater London Authority said the fence was erected to enable the grass to be reseeded. Protestors insist it is their right to use the square to campaign on issues such as the privatisation of the NHS, tuition fees, the bedroom tax and benefit cuts for people with disabilities.

“They shouldn’t have arrested anybody here,” said Jones. “They should have just listened and left them alone.”

According to its website, the goal of the Occupy Democracy campaign is to “direct the energy from current single-issue struggles into a critical mass that can radically challenge the corrupt and unrepresentative system”.

A GLA spokesman said: “The fencing is in place to uphold the byelaws affecting Parliament Square and the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act. The protesters refused to comply with instructions to keep off the grass and enable workmen to get on with vital repairs and maintenance that are needed as a result of their actions.”

Jones is scheduled on Wednesday to give an address to the protesters on policing and civil liberties. She went to the protest on Tuesday after hearing that the police had arrived in as many as eight vans and their response to the protest was “disproportionate”.

Speaking after she was released, Jones said: “The police have a duty to facilitate peaceful protest in this country which people have a legal right to do, but that appears to end as soon as you come within shouting distance of the Westminster village. The people who run this country should not be able to tuck demonstrators away out of sight. Parliament needs to listen and people should have the right to get their voices heard.”

The swoop by police follows a crackdown on Sunday night when large numbers of officers converged on the square to enforce a “desist notice”.

Scotland Yard said in a statement on Tuesday: “This morning there were around 15 people demonstrating in Parliament Square. The group on the grassed area had been sleeping on a tarpaulin which is prohibited under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act of 2011, namely they have items with them to enable them to sleep in Parliament Square.

“We informed them of the breach of legislation and asked them to leave, this was done on a one-to-one basis. They were told that if they failed to leave they would be removed from the site and would be liable to summons for the offence.

“The tarpaulin has been removed and 15 people have been arrested for failing to provide details suitable for a summons. They have been taken to a central London police station. Our role is to facilitate peaceful protest whilst balancing the needs of London communities and minimising any disruption. We will not take sides, but we seek to apply the law fairly and proportionately.”

I listened to the whole of BBC Radio 4’s PM last night, and the half-hour news bulletin immediately following it. If I hadn’t looked through the Guardian website this morning, following a link which one of my friends had shared on Facebook, I wouldn’t have known anything about this police action at the heart of our democracy.

Once again, the BBC have chosen to ignore something which was going on right under their noses. Don’t tell me that one of the many correspondents who virtually inhabit the entrance lobby of the Palace of Westminster didn’t see what was happening. The mere fact that a senior member of the GLA was arrested should have been enough to rocket the story up the news agenda. But no – once again, the BBC ignored a legitimate protest in the nation’s capital.

If this was the first such occurrence, I might not have commented on it. However, it’s far from the first time the Ministry of Truth has chosen to censor any coverage of events like this. During the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, over fifty thousand people marched past the venue protesting about the privatization of the National Health Service. Unsurprisingly, the BBC failed to mention it. Just under a year ago, I related how a media blackout had been imposed on similar anti-austerity protests across the UK. Once again, almost all of the mass media turned a blind eye yesterday.

It’s perhaps significant that a Green Party politician should have been at the centre of yesterday’s news story. The Green Party, with their elected MP Caroline Lucas, has been frequently sidelined or ignored entirely by the BBC and the right-wing media. Only the Guardian, a left-of-centre paper with a strong following among environmental campaigners, seems to remember that Ms Lucas and her party even exist.

On the other hand, the UK Independence Party has gained far more news coverage and publicity from the BBC over the last two years than anyone would imagine. Its spokesmen – and they are men, without exception – have been given free rein to voice their rabid right-wing agenda and odious personal opinions on Question Time and Any Questions, in spite of UKIP’s having absolutely no parliamentary representation until a fortnight ago. I think it’s fair to assume that if Nigel Farage had been arrested yesterday, PM would have devoted over half the programme to the story, and a fair chunk of the main news bulletin as well. In the meantime, the Green Party struggle to get a mention, even as an afterthought, throughout the BBC’s daily news output. They’re just ‘a minority party’, you see.

The blatant censorship of a major news event less than a mile from Brainwashing House, which the assembled hacks can’t have failed to observe, makes me wonder just what legitimate anti-government protestors need to do in order to get their voices heard on the BBC. In fact, I’m starting to question what on Earth has happened to Auntie’s infamous ‘left-wing bias’?

Further Adventures of the Circumlocution Office

In which The Author submits evidence to a parliamentary inquiry

With consummate timing, the House of Commons announced yesterday that there is to be an inquiry into the whole system of Employment Support Allowance and Work Capability Assessments. You see, I should have had my money today, as I sent my last doctor’s paper to the DWP a fortnight ago today. However, the Circumlocution Office have struck again. Rather than rehearse the whole chain of events here, I’ll simply reproduce the submission which I sent to the House of Commons a few minutes ago. They asked for the text to be in numbered paragraphs, so here it is in full:

1. I have been claiming ESA for mental health problems since July 2013 and have not yet been called for a WCA. I take regular medication and attend an outpatients’ clinic at my local hospital.
2. Medical certificates have been issued by my GP on a monthly basis since then, except over the Christmas and New Year holiday when a two-month certificate was issued.
3. My medical certificates were previously sent to Caerphilly Benefit Centre at an address in Penarth Road, Cardiff.
4. I would receive a text message, normally the next day or the day after, acknowledging receipt and advising me that payment would be made as usual.
5. My most recent certificate was issued on Friday, January 24, 2014.
6. I noticed that the accompanying letter reminding me that a renewed certificate was due, and the pre-paid envelope, still referred to ‘CaerphillyBenefits Centre’, but that the address was now in Wolverhampton.
7. I posted the certificate on Friday, January 24, after leaving the surgery in the afternoon. (This was about 5.00 p.m.) It is possible, though unlikely, that I missed the evening collection.
8. Throughout the following week (w/e January 31) I did not receive a text message acknowledging receipt of my certificate.
9. On Saturday, February 1, I received a second reminder letter, dated January 28.
10. On Monday, February 3, I telephoned my GP’s surgery and explained that I would need a copy of the original certificate, as it appeared to have gone astray. The receptionist said, ‘Oh, they’re always doing this!’
11. I visited Aberdare Jobcentre that same morning, and was told by a very unhelpful clerk that they no longer have telephones which the public can use to contact the DWP.
12. I was given a pre-printed sheet of telephone numbers, most of which were 0845 numbers. I told the clerk that I didn’t wish to call an 0845 number, as they are expensive to call from mobile phones and payphones. The clerk replied, ‘It’s charged at local rate.’ This information is inaccurate, as a BT payphone charges considerably more than local rate for a call to an 0845 number.
13. When I asked the clerk for an email address which I could contact, I was told that I needed to make a telephone call. The same clerk then suggested, ‘Or you can write to them,’ and gave me a pre-paid envelope, addressed to ‘Mitcham Benefits Centre.’
14. I collected the duplicate certificate from the surgery immediately after leaving Aberdare Jobcentre and posted it in the town centre at approximately 10.15 a.m., in good time for the lunchtime collection on February 3.
15. Throughout the whole of this week ending February 7, I have not received any communication from the DWP – not even the text message acknowledging receipt of my certificate.
16. This morning, (February 7), the day when my payment would normally be received, I was unsurprised to find that the money had not been credited to my account.
17. I called to my GP’s surgery at approximately 9.45 and explained what had happened. The receptionist immediately telephoned the DWP to ask what had happened to the two certificates which had been issued. After a couple of minutes, she told me, ‘They hung up on me.’
18. She then telephoned the DWP again, and let me speak to someone named Jill (or possibly Gill.) She advised me that my certificate covering the period up to February 23 had been received yesterday (February 6). She told me that my payment had been processed, but would take three working days to be credited. I could therefore expect to receive my money on Tuesday – February 11.
19. I replied that I found this delay unacceptable, and the receptionist (who was privy to our conversation) suggested sending a copy of the certificate by fax, in order that I might receive payment today (February 7.)
20. Jill said that she would email the ESA team and ask whether this would be possible. She took my mobile telephone number and said that I could expect a phone call ‘by 4.30’. I checked the clock in the surgery and it was then 9,45 a.m. I pointed this fact out, and was told, ‘That’s how the system works.’
21. I currently have five pounds and some change in my wallet. My electricity meter is set to run out of credit this morning, which means that I will need to use the emergency credit at some stage. I will almost certainly need to borrow money from a friend this weekend, as I currently have a choice between heating or eating.
22. I have spoken to friends who have similar exciting adventures at the hands of the DWP, one of whom had to wait a full six weeks before receiving payment.
23. I trust that I do not need to point out that the abiding principle of National Insurance (a system into which I have paid for over twenty years) is that benefits are paid to those in need when they cannot work. In the same way as a car driver or property owner expects his insurers to pay out promptly and without undue fuss when a claim is made, I expect the same treatment from the administrators of my National Insurance payments.
24. Furthermore, I would highlight the many obstacles placed in the way of the public who wish to contact the DWP, whether they be financial or technological. It is the year 2014. Facsimile transmission was commercially available in 1861 (a decade or more before the telephone), and the first email was sent over forty years ago. At the very least, I would expect a free phone number to be made available in the absence of public telephones in Jobcentres.
25. Finally, it is unacceptable that a letter posted on a Monday should arrive on a Thursday. Regardless of the cost to myself, I will be sending all further correspondence to the DWP by First Class mail, Recorded Delivery. That will enable me to track its progress and pin down its arrival at Wolverhampton – or wherever its next port of call may be.