Check out our news website Church and State to find out about our writers and read some amazing stories: http://churchandstate.org.uk. There are no less than 63 Nobel Prize laureates on the site; for details, see this blog's sidebar under "Church and State".
The NAC website is back! Too bad I cannot say the same for the TV. After four TV blow-outs in the first ten months of this our first tenancy off the street, our brand new fifth TV has been a virtual write-off for almost three weeks now (see blog of 14 December TV in the New Year, Declan is assured). As I have mentioned in several blogs this month, MI5 whistleblower David Shayler lived for a couple of years in one of the rooms below us. According to the BBC's Panorama programme, Shayler “caused the biggest crisis of official secrecy since the spy catcher affair”. Shayler, who now goes by the name of Delores Kane and has declared himself to be Jesus, is the one sitting on the chair:
This is an extremely interesting video of Michael Moore talking to Rachel Maddow about WikiLeaks. One of the WikiLeaks cables just posted reveals that the US forced the cancellation of New Zealand screening of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911". Moore makes the important point that if the government went after the screening of a film in New Zealand, "What else are these guys up to?" Excellent point, and I am sure the same applies to the British government.
As I explained in the previous blog NAC is removed from the Internet for the fourth time, Just Host pulled the NAC website down yesterday after only four months - I had paid them through to 2015! On the plus side, today NAC Chair Dr Stephen Mumford has paid Siteground, voted the best web hosting company for 2008 and 2009, for 1 year of service and is happy to fund the NAC site indefinitely.
Dr Mumford is the foremost authority on population growth and US and global security. He is the founder and president of the Center for Research on Population and Security. He has written extensively on the pivotal role of the Catholic Church hierarchy in thwarting efforts to tackle the world’s burgeoning population.
Dr Mumford gave a talk on “Infallibility and the Population Problem” at this years’ fourth annual Population Strategy Meeting, which is the most important population meeting held in the US each year. He illustrated how the Vatican has shown itself to be in opposition to population concerns, and that the doctrine of papal infallibility underlies their behaviour. I have his presentation in the NAC website and hope it will become popular in Facebook. It very much represents the heart and soul of the NAC website, which focuses on reproductive health in particular. Hopefully I will have it back on line tomorrow.
Our new web host, Just Host, notified us this evening that they were pulling the NAC website down. They didn't even provide us with notice - within seconds of an email from them, the site was gone. Fortunately I had everything backed up just before we came down because I noticed we had an article that was going viral (a NAC first) and I told Declan we may very well lose the site, for the fourth time (I would say see NAC "About", but I can't). Their explanation: "Your account is utilizing an excessive amount of system resources". Really? Last month we had 18,819 visits; so far this month, 9,939 visits. And where was the notice that I may have needed to save all my work? We had actually paid Just Host to host the NAC website through to 2015.
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This is the article by Prof Steve Hochstadt that was going viral:
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We were thrilled to learn that WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has been freed on bail. For us, his understanding of his situation in the face of hostile examination (and total disregard for the dictates of procedural fairness) has always been more than impressive. How about this for a performance tonight after 10 days of solitary confinement in London's Victorian Wandsworth Prison:
After a year and a half and four TV blow-outs, our live-in landlady, human rights activist Belinda McKenzie, has assured Declan that we will have a TV in the New Year (see previous blog TV for Christmas too much to expect; this blog provides a link in context to stunning photos of MI5 whistleblower David Shayler who lived for a couple of years in one of the rooms below us). Belinda giving the Stop the War Coalition a run for their money:
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Belinda writes: "The campaign to Make Wars History is the Stop-the-War campaign with knobs on! MWH has a fighting chance (pardon the metaphor) of succeeding where STW plainly won’t (beyond making a noise on the street), namely, to Stop War Permanently."
Chris Coverdale of Make Wars History talking to Ian from Eerie Investigations after his appearance at the English High Court in May 2009. http://www.makewarshistory.org.uk/
Tonight ITV1 is broadcasting John Pilger's first film for three years, "The War You Don't See". We can't get ITV1!
Hollie Greig with Robert Green and human rights activist Belinda McKenzie
In the previous blog I published the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions' letter to the High Court requesting that Mr Justice Sycamore ignore the claim that the Judge ordered Declan to resubmit for his consideration (see blog of 3 December By Order of Mr Justice Sycamore Declan resubmits his claim for judicial review; this blog highlights one paragraph in Declan's claim form which summarises his case against the Secretary of State). This is Declan's letter to the Court on Friday requesting that the Judge provide the Secretary of State with the opportunity to respond to the claim:
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Well, we have just learnt that a TV for Christmas is too much to expect. After four TV blow-outs in this our first tenancy off the street, the reception from the outside aerial has not been worth a damn for over two weeks now; and our live-in landlady, human rights activist Belinda McKenzie, has just informed us that the technicians who could connect us to the cable TV in the rest of the house are booked out for Christmas (see blog of 14 August Declan pays £100 to be linked to the cable TV network in the house; this blog contains stunning photos of MI5 whistleblower David Shayler who lived for a couple of years in one of the rooms below us)! This was Declan's email of reply to Belinda last Friday regarding Hollie Greig campaigner Robert Green:
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At least the NAC website is going well, despite the opposition. Last week British cultural icon Stephen Fry gave us an exclusive excerpt from his autobiography Moab Is My Washpot.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions says that Declan was not ordered by Mr Justice Sycamore to resubmit his claim for judicial review (see blog of 3 December By Order of Mr Justice Sycamore Declan resubmits his claim for judicial review; this blog highlights one paragraph in Declan's claim form which summarises his case against the Secretary of State):
The Administrative Court Office (ACO) of the High Court of Justice Administrative Court has Declan's number or what? On Friday Declan had to threaten to write to ACO Court Manager David Brupbacher to get them to seal his resubmitted claim (see blog of 3 December By Order of Mr Justice Sycamore Declan resubmits his claim for judicial review). This morning he had to threaten them with the same just to get them to seal two Certificates of Service. Goodness knows what it will be the next time (possibly with the Civil Appeals Office), so this was Declan's start up with Brupbacher this evening (click to enlarge):
And what is it with Declan's TV? He has had four TV blow-outs in the first ten months of this our first tenancy off the street. Then, a couple of weeks ago, the fifth TV was rendered useless (see blog of 28 November Judge issues order in Declan's case and more problems with our TV; this blog provides a link in context to stunning photos of MI5 whistleblower David Shayler who lived for a couple of years in one of the rooms below us). Last night Declan could only get BBC1, tonight he can only get Channel 4, barely watchable. Our live-in landlady is human rights activist Belinda McKenzie. Belinda has assured Declan he will have a TV on Friday (see previous blog). Here is another video of Belinda, this time delivering a letter to the Papal Nuncio on abuse in the church:
After a year and a half and four TV blow-outs, our live-in landlady, human rights activist Belinda McKenzie, has assured Declan that his (fifth) TV in this our first tenancy off the street will be up and running on Friday (see previous blog By Order of Mr Justice Sycamore Declan resubmits his claim for judicial review; this blog provides a link in context to stunning photos of MI5 whistleblower David Shayler who lived for a couple of years in one of the rooms below us). Belinda speaking in solidarity with the people of Iran:
This afternoon Declan ran into the Administrative Court Office (ACO) of the High Court of Justice Administrative Court in a major way. They made out that Mr Justice Sycamore did not order Declan to resubmit his claim for judicial review (see the Judge's order here). Only after Declan threatened to put the Judge's order before ACO Court Manager David Brupbacher did they seal the resubmitted application against the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Declan's entire case is summarised in the one paragraph contained in Section 5, "Detailed Statement of Grounds" (click to enlarge):
Just to cheer Declan up, tonight he has come home to his fifth TV in this our first tenancy off the street - after four TV blow-outs in the first ten months - only to discover that it is fit for the skip. Now we can't even get BBC1 from the outside aerial (see blog of 14 August Declan pays £100 to be linked to the cable TV network in the house; this blog contains stunning photos of MI5 whistleblower David Shayler who lived for a couple of years in one of the rooms below us). Our live-in landlady is human rights activist Belinda McKenzie. This is a video of Belinda speaking in July outside the High Court in solidarity with Anne and Hollie Greig, a case of paedophilia that threatens to rock the British criminal justice system:
It would appear the writing is on the wall. Bottom line here is that if the High Court and the Court of Appeal throw out Declan's case, he will be once again making an application to the European Court of Human Rights pursuant to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights protecting the right to respect for family and private life (see blog of 21 October 2008 European Court of Human Rights declares application inadmissible).
Click to see full ECHR letter of dismissal:
True to form, Declan has already cracked open his appeal pack for the Court of Appeal.
Declan has come home this evening to the reply Mr Justice Sycamore of the High Court ordered the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to provide him with in respect to his claim for judicial review (the Judge's order is contained in the previous blog Judge issues order in Declan's case and more problems with our TV). Surface it is to say that the letter that the DWP has written and their summary grounds for dismissal of Declan's case are in blatant disregard for the provisions of section 9 of the Jobseekers Act 1995 (see blog of 13 November Declan's claim for judicial review). Mr Justice Sycamore also ordered that Declan resubmit his claim, if he still wishes to do so, after hearing from the DWP. He fully intends doing so, and promptly, despite having to declare "extreme financial hardship" in this email of complaint earlier this afternoon to Satnam Gill OBE, the principal and chief executive of The Working Men's College (WMC), one of London's premier adult education colleges:
As for our fifth TV in this our first tenancy off the street - after four TV blow-outs in the first ten months - tonight we have gone from one to two watchable analogue TV channels (see previous blog; this blog provides a link in context to stunning photos of MI5 whistleblower David Shayler who lived for a couple of years in one of the rooms below us). Not that Declan is missing the TV these days! I don't watch it at all.
This video of best selling author Christopher Hitchens debating Tony Blair in Canada last Friday, on whether religion is a force for good or ill, is the most popular video I have ever posted on the NAC website. I posted it on Saturday night and already over 200 people have shared my page through Facebook. When I listen to Hitchens I can't help thinking how sad it is that his voice will soon be cut short. He is terminally ill with cancer.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been ordered by Mr Justice Sycamore of the High Court to reply to Declan's claim for judicial review, and Declan ordered to resubmit the claim on the Judge's terms (see blog of 13 November Declan's claim for judicial review). We are more than interested to receive the DWP's reply. Declan says that most certainly he will be resubmitting his claim notwithstanding the Judge's terms (click to enlarge):
As I stated in the blog of 14 August Declan pays £100 to be linked to the cable TV network in the house (this blog contains stunning photos of MI5 whistleblower David Shayler who lived for a couple of years in one of the rooms below us), we had four TV blow-outs within 10 months of what is our first tenancy after more than 2 1/2 years sleeping rough on the streets of London. Our live-in landlady is human rights activist Belinda McKenzie (a video of Belinda speaking in solidarity with the people of Iran can be seen here). This is Declan's email this afternoon to Belinda regarding our problems with TV reception (click to enlarge):
In the NAC section "What we do", we have updated the page Support gay rights. This is an outstanding speech by Archbishop Desmond Tutu on gay rights, which features prominently in Declan's write up.
It is just as well Declan has his appeal pack for the Court of Appeal. This is the response (not a reply) he received in this afternoon's post from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to his letter before claim for judicial review against our jobcentre, Highgate Jobcentre Plus (click to enlarge):
Declan is aware he will only have seven days to appeal a High Court judge on his request for permission to apply for a judicial review of the Jobcentre's decision of 13 September not to adhere to the provisions of Section 9(6) of the Jobseekers Act 1995 (see previous blog). His claim against A4E for our small claims court, the Central London County Court, is already written up and, based on current circumstances, ready to file (see previous blog, paragraph 2).
What is it that the DWP wants the Court to read that they don't want Declan to see first? Well, I look forward to blogging it!
On Thursday Declan applied to the High Court for a judicial review of Highgate Jobcentre Plus’s decision of 13 September not to refer A4E Holloway's proposed jobseeker's agreement to the decision maker (the Secretary of State) in accordance with Section 9(6) of the Jobseekers Act 1995. The Jobcentre neither replied to the Declan’s appeal of 22 September, nor forwarded his appeal to the Tribunals Service for a ruling whether the appeal may go ahead or not. They then failed to reply to the letter before claim (see blog of 28 October The High Court (Judicial Review): Letter before claim). Now they are going to have to reply ... to the High Court (click to enlarge):
A4E (Action for employment) is a private company, and the largest provider of welfare to work programmes on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). On Wednesday my A4E Personal Career Coach Greg Janiszek told me that we shouldn't be wasting so much time writing letters. Well, he hasn't seen anything yet, because Declan intends taking legal action against A4E for compensation in the Small Claims Court. For the last three months they have given us an absolute nightmare on every conceivable front and wiped us of the little bit of money we had to get back on our feet. And this after we were forced by the DWP to sleep rough on the streets of London for more than 2 1/2 years because Declan did not "sign on" TWO DAYS BEFORE he was due to do so on 29 September 2006 (see blog of 21 June Department for Work and Pensions double breaches the Data Protection Act: Letter to the Information Commissioner). Nice!
Geoffrey Robertson QC – The Case of the Pope
In the NAC section "What we do", we have updated the page Expose abuse in the church. The eminent international human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC has told us we can publish any six-page excerpt from his new book, The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse, which features prominently in Declan's write up. I chose the first six pages from chapter 10 "Can the Pope be Sued?", a world exclusive. And a must read for every bishop!
For two months now I have been writing that I don't have the documentation of an illegal immigrant to establish my identity. We were robbed of all our money and documents in the Sisters of Mercy's Dellow Day Centre in 2008, and the case was thrown out because the nuns refused to provide the police with CCTV coverage of the robbery (see blog of 4 September Sisters of Mercy revisited - our first YouTube video). It doesn't seem to matter who Declan or I write to, we cannot get Broadway Homelessness and Support to confirm that they will assist me with requesting my Irish Citizenship Certificate from Dublin (see blog of 13 September Broadway will help me become a Spanish citizen!) - it took Broadway over a year and three applications to retrieve Declan's birth certificate from Ireland!
This is Declan's latest on the issue - the letter he refers to from Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone regarding the interception of our communications is archived here - click to enlarge:
It also very much looks like Declan will be filing his claim for judicial review against Highgate Jobcentre Plus in the High Court on Thursday week (see previous blog The High Court (Judicial Review): Letter before claim). Not only has the Jobcentre failed to forward his appeal for breach of Section 9(6) the Jobseekers Act 1995 to the Tribunals Service for a ruling whether the appeal may go ahead or not, but they have yet to respond to his judicial review "letter before claim" (published in the previous blog). He already has the judicial review claim form (N461) written up and ready to file!
This is an outstanding video which I uploaded to the NAC petition page regarding SCNT or "therapeutic cloning". I have mentioned throughout this blog that Declan's petition to the UN on this essential research has had to be shelved several times because almost no scientist was getting his email in their inbox (notwithstanding that the petition has been signed by no less than 28 Nobel laureates as well as hundreds of scholars and scientists, including recognised authorities from the world's leading universities and research institutes). It's hard to know what it will take to be able to protect our private communications.
Jobcentre Plus (JCP) is an executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions. It was JCP that put us to the street in 2006 and kept us there for more than 2 1/2 years because Declan didn't "sign on" TWO DAYS BEFORE he was due to do so on 29 September 2006 (see blog of 21 June 2010 Department for Work and Pensions double breaches the Data Protection Act: Letter to the Information Commissioner). Their unaccountability then went all the way - Declan exhausted the appeals process from the street, where his case was dismissed by Mr Justice Walker of the High Court (Judicial Review), Lord Justice Scott Baker of the Court of Appeal and the European Court of Human Rights despite that he was denied the internal appeals process by procedural impropriety on the part of the enforcement authority.
Last month Declan appealed the decision of our jobcentre, Highgate JCP, not to refer proposed variations of his jobseekers agreement to the decision maker (the Secretary of State) in accordance with Section 9(6) of the Jobseekers Act 1995. Just as we expected they would, the Jobcentre has simply ignored the appeal (archived here). It is a loophole in the Jobseekers Act that although a jobcentre must forward proposed variations of a jobseekers agreement to the decision maker if asked to do so by the claimant, there is no way for the claimant to force compliance. This time around, with a roof still over our heads, Declan is wasting no time with the pre-action protocol for judicial review (click to enlarge):
With the advent of the “War on Terror”, the role of religion in political conflicts has become paramount and NAC, responding to the challenge, has broadened its scope to question the premises upon which the “war” is based. Last week WikiLeaks released the largest classified military leak in history. The 391,832 reports ('The Iraq War Logs'), document the war and occupation in Iraq from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2009 (except for the months of May 2004 and March 2009) as told by soldiers in the United States Army. According to the BBC, the leaking of the documents is likely to increase pressure on governments to release details of civilian casualties in future conflicts.
Also last week, the UK Government published the post-mortem report on British weapons inspector Dr David Kelly. Kelly's body was found in woodlands close to his Oxfordshire home in 2003, after it emerged that he had given information for a BBC news story questioning the government's claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. In their article Did MI5 kill Dr David Kelly?, Global Research reported that Kelly was planning to write a book that could have violated the Official Secrets Act.
The Mary Ward Centre is one of London's premier adult education colleges. This morning its Principal Ceri Williams requested that I update my blog to include copies of her replies to my complaint against the college for threatening me with expulsion (see blog of 2 October Mary Ward Centre threatens me with expulsion). As I stated in the previous blog, it turns out that I have been the victim of an "administrative error", but I had been concerned that our jobcentre could have taken our benefits because I am not turning up for courses (see blog of 4 October Mary Ward Centre: Letter to Principal Ceri Williams)!
Declan already has the jobcentre, Highgate Jobcentre Plus, on appeal for not referring proposed variations of his jobseeker’s agreement to the decision maker (the Secretary of State) in accordance with section 9(6) of the Jobseeker’s Act 1995 (see an extract from the appeal in blog of 21 September Two allegations against Declan within a week!). If they don't respond within the next two weeks, he will be applying for a judicial review. The Mary Ward Legal Centre specialises in Welfare Benefit Law. The last thing we needed this week was an uncontested allegation from the Mary Ward Centre that I am one of their "non-attenders".
This, then, is my correspondence with Williams this morning that includes copies of her replies to my complaint (click to enlarge):
Ceri Williams, third from the left, standing next to her Chair Diana Good (click to enlarge)
The Mary Ward Centre is one of London's premier adult education colleges. In Saturday's blog Mary Ward Centre threatens me with expulsion, I published a letter I received that morning from the college's Head of Computing, IT and Business Clive Allum informing me that I didn't notify them I wouldn't be attending their two-day course "Excel Introductory" on 23 and 30 September, adding, "As a result we have to cancel any future computing enrolments you may have on our system." Well, it turns out that I have been "the victim of an administrative error", according to Vice Principal Suzanna Jackson this afternoon.
I had been concerned that if the college did not rectify this situation, our jobcentre could have taken our benefits since I am not turning up for courses! For the record, this is the email I sent this morning to the college's Principal Ceri Williams, copied to her Chair Diana Good (a former litigation partner at Linklaters, one of the UK's highest ranking law firms, who has a part time judicial appointment):
Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens would have made few friends in the Catholic community after they triumphed in opposing the motion in the Intelligence Squared debate (2009) "The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world". It has been said that here Stephen Fry is much more like Goebbels' prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials.
Today I received a letter from the Mary Ward Centre, one of London's premier adult education colleges, whose aim it is “to promote public education and social service for the benefit of the community”. They say that I didn't notify them I wouldn't be attending their two-day course "Excel Introductory" on 23 and 30 September, adding, "As a result we have to cancel any future computing enrolments you may have on our system."
In fact, not only did I go to the trouble of turning up in person at the college on 21 September to explain why I may be up to two hours late for the first lesson on 23 September, but Declan turned up with me. And the valid reason I had for having to be late was that on the morning of 23 September we had to sign on at our local jobcentre; and although a claimant can arrange to sign on another day if he has a good reason, things were way too rough for us with the jobcentre to even consider doing so (see blog of 21 September Two allegations against Declan within a week!). The person who the enrolment officer put me through to on the telephone to explain all this was the Head of Computing, IT and Business, Clive Allum. This is the letter I received this morning from Allum:
Allum was adamant when we spoke over the telephone that students couldn't be more than 30 minutes late for a class no matter what the excuse and that they had to cancel my enrolment for the course in question. As a result I also had to cancel my enrolment for the follow-up course "Excel Advanced" and was lucky to get a place on a six-week Microsoft Office course, which I have attended the last two Fridays. It is not clear from the letter above if my enrolment on this course has now been cancelled too.
First thing on Monday morning, Declan and I are back to the college to hand-deliver a letter addressed to the Principal, Ceri Williams, which will also be dispatched by registered post. This is not the first time I have had to deal with this college. Last June they informed me via email that the follow-up course I had booked, "Access Advanced", had been cancelled due to a lack of interest, and they then sent my refund cheque to the wrong address (see blog of 22 June The Mary Ward Centre).
The Mary Ward Centre is a registered charity. According to their website, "The Mary Ward is the friendly place to learn"; and even better, "All Centre staff know about the importance of customer care and are proud of the reputation the Centre has for treating people right." What is going to happen on Monday? Am I going to be told that in effect I am expelled from the college for the rest of the academic year?
As I said in the blog of 22 September A4E: Letter to City of London Police Commissioner Michael Bowron, I am more undocumented than an illegal immigrant following the robbery in June 2008 of all our money and documents in the Sisters of Mercy's Dellow Day Centre for the homeless - for more than 2 1/2 years we were forced to sleep rough on the streets of London by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) because Declan did not "sign on" TWO DAYS BEFORE he was actually due to do so on 29 September 2006 (see blog of 21 June Department for Work and Pensions double breaches the Data Protection Act: Letter to the Information Commissioner). It has taken Broadway Homelessness and Support more than a year to retrieve Declan's birth certificate from Ireland (see blog of 10 September Broadway Homelessness and Support), and they have yet to agree to assist me with requesting my Irish Citizenship Certificate so that I can be reissued an Irish passport (see blog of 13 September Broadway will help me become a Spanish citizen!). This afternoon I even received an email from the Private Secretary to Irish Minister Dermot Ahern. Declan will send this thread to him by registered post tomorrow (the letter from the Papal Nuncio regarding the Sisters of Mercy is published here):
(In the video contained in the blog of 3 September Declan's case against A4E on YouTube, I explain that we came to England from Dublin in 2003 and for two years attempted to start a network of those abused by church with our own money and how the opposition we encountered was so great that we had no choice but to go on benefits in 2005. And if you want to know what kind of opposition we encountered before we were forced to the streets for more than 2 1/2 years, the blog of 11 September City of London Police in the spotlight contains some photos of our flooded kitchen and bathroom in August 2004!)
This afternoon I ran into my A4E (Action for Employment) employment officer Greg Janiszek in a major way - A4E is a private sector company that has £300 million of Government training contracts and controls 25% of the long-term unemployment budget for the DWP. Janiszek had the cheek to tell me that the reason why I have not gained meaningful employment is because I am sending all my CVs and application forms to non-profits through the post! He is of course well aware that Declan has written to our MP Lynne Featherstone, now a minister in the Home Office, asking her to be of assistance "in correcting the unlawful violation of our basic right to send and receive email without interference" (see blog of 21 April Interception of communications: Declan writes to our MP). This is her most recent letter to Declan, which I have shown Janiszek on more than one occasion (click to enlarge):
Janiszek is also aware that Declan's petition to the UN regarding stem cell research has been shelved several times because almost no scientist was getting his email in their Inbox (see here); that our blog and the NAC website has been hacked and vandalised several times (see here and here); and that abuse has been hurled at a NAC Honorary Associate via Skype (see here). I am not sure if I have told him that in 2008 over 300 draft documents were erased from our Gmail account (see here). But certainly I have informed him, and more than once, that the original NAC website was suspended in March 2008 due to a Spamcop report that was drawn up the day after the Home Office denied that a warrant had been issued to intercept Declan's communications (see here).
No employer or agent has ever got back to either of us to tell us we are living in the twentieth century! We are doing our very best to find employment despite all the obstacles. Between two training courses (Declan actually attends a third training course on Saturdays - of no interest to A4E because it is in his "free time") and travelling to and from an allocated A4E branch that is not even in our own borough (our local A4E branch happens to be less than a ten-minute walk away from our flat), we do not have the time for a window-dressing exercise through Gmail. We have to get through to employers, and the only way to do that is to send CVs and application forms through the post, notwithstanding the time, trouble and expense.
My Irish Citizenship Certificate aside (Janiszek has asked me not to send him any more emails regarding this matter), why doesn't this employment officer facilitate my efforts by getting me the work experience I need - work experience they are obliged to provide me with and which I am repeatedly asking him for? Neither has Janiszek lifted one finger to help me get onto a training course. A4E, a private company, is the largest provider of welfare to work programmes on behalf of the DWP. Who is in breach of contract here?
This morning I had my first bit of luck in a long time! Our jobcentre, Highgate Jobcentre Plus, couldn't find the form I sign to make sure our benefits are paid in full next Tuesday, only to discover that it was actually in my file all the time. Phew!
Declan has spent two months now writing to the manager of this jobcentre. When we signed on two weeks ago, it was more of the same: what letters? (see blog of 9 September Highgate Jobcentre Plus doesn't disappoint). Surely in two weeks time, after this letter to the manager, it won't be "What Appeal?" (see blog of 21 September Two allegations against Declan within a week):
What a nightmare the robbery of all our money and documents in the Sisters of Mercy's Dellow Centre - the same morning Declan was due to send his second Request for Priority to the European Court of Human Rights from the street (see here) - is turning out to be. In the blog of 11 September City of London Police in the spotlight, I published an email of reply from the head of the City of London Police, Commissioner Michael Bowron, signed by Superintendent Lorraine Cussen, threatening us with physical removal from the porch we were sleeping in - the very same day we dramatically came off the street! In this email, it was also suggested that we seek the assistance of Broadway Homelessness and Support, a premier homelessness organisation in London. Well, it has taken Broadway more than a year to retrieve Declan's birth certificate from Ireland (see blog of 10 September Broadway Homelessness and Support), and they have yet to agree to assist me with requesting my Irish Citizenship Certificate so that I can be reissued an Irish passport (see blog of 13 September Broadway will help me become a Spanish citizen!).
In this thread to Commissioner Bowron, Action for Employment (A4E) are back in the frame (see blog of 18 September A4E continues to flout the law despite Declan's appeal). A4E is a private sector company that has £300 million of Government training contracts and controls 25% of the long-term unemployment budget for the Department for Work and Pensions. I have been doing my very best of late to try and get them to phone Broadway about my Irish Citizenship Certificate, but today I again ran up against a brick wall (click to enlarge):
I do have all our important documentation on memory sticks, but not even an illegal immigrant is as undocumented as we are!
In the blog of 16 September Jobcentre confirms A4E broke the law, I wrote that our jobcentre, Highgate Jobcentre Plus, had something cooking when they sent a letter to Declan calling him for an interview today to discuss a "query" on our claim to benefits. Well, we attended the interview only to be informed that somebody had told the Jobcentre that Declan was getting paid as the director of NAC! The grilling lasted almost 40 minutes, but at the end of it all, the compliance officer told us "the doubt has been removed". Declan's statement reads (archived here):
I maintain a website with my wife at churchandstate.org.uk (NAC) on a voluntary basis. This does not affect my job seeking in any way. It is voluntary work carried out in my free time outside my job seeking pursuits. NAC is not registered as a company, although I am working in my free time to that end. I am not formally a "director", therefore, and I do not get paid. I have submitted with this statement bank statements going back four months. I refute the allegation made against me (by an unknown source) completely.
This is of course the second allegation against Declan within a week. The first allegation came compliments of Action for Employment (A4E) - a private sector company that has £300 million of Government training contracts and controls 25% of the long-term unemployment budget for the Department for Work and Pensions. They tyrannically allege, having seriously breached section 9(6) of the Jobseekers Act 1995 by denying Declan the Decision Maker (the Secretary of State) on proposed variations of his jobseeker's agreement, that he has been disruptive in our local A4E branch (see blog of 14 September Declan appeals A4E). They have also transferred him back to a branch which he requested a transfer out of due to ease of travel (see previous blog A4E continues to flout the law despite Declan's appeal). Clearly A4E are beyond the pale. This is an extract from Declan's appeal against Highgate Jobcentre Plus, which will be dispatched by registered post tomorrow morning (click to enlarge). The letter he refers to in this extract from the manager of Highgate Jobcentre Plus is published in the blog of 16 September Jobcentre confirms A4E broke the law.
Below is a video of the speech by Richard Dawkins at the "Protest The Pope" rally last Saturday. Although not all secularists are as straight-talking as Dawkins, if there were more powerful voices like his, the government would be more careful about silencing people like us. (In the video contained in the blog of 3 September Declan's case against A4E on YouTube, I explain that we came to England from Dublin in 2003 and for two years attempted to start a network of those abused by church with our own money and how the opposition we encountered was so great that we had no choice but to go on benefits in 2005. And if you want to know what kind of opposition we encountered before we were forced to the streets for more than 2 1/2 years, the blog of 11 September City of London Police in the spotlight contains some photos of our flooded kitchen and bathroom in August 2004!)
Action for Employment (A4E), a private sector company that has £300 million of Government training contracts and controls 25% of the long-term unemployment budget for the Department for Work and Pensions, continues to flout the law despite our jobcentre confirming in writing that they broke it (see previous blog Jobcentre confirms A4E broke the law) and Declan's appeal against them for an Appeal Tribunal (see blog of 14 September Declan appeals A4E).
Rather than this provider choosing to refer their Holloway branch's proposed jobseeker's agreement to the Decision Maker (the Secretary of State) in accordance with section 9(6) of the Jobseekers Act 1995, they have transferred Declan back to their Camden branch. Because we have to put a minimum of 8 hours per week there using the computers to look for work, Declan wasn't too keen about wasting more than an hour travelling back and forth and asked to be transferred to the Holloway branch, which is no more than a ten minute walk away for us. This is from A4E:
After more than a year of Broadway Homelessness and Support trying to obtain Declan's birth certificate from Ireland (see blog of 10 September Broadway Homelessness and Support), yesterday it finally arrived in the post ... in an envelope addressed to S Riches! On 18 June 2008 we were robbed of all our money and documents in the Sisters of Mercy's Dellow Centre (see blog of 4 September Sisters of Mercy revisited - our first YouTube video; this blog also contains a letter from the Papal Nuncio). I have asked my A4E employment officer to inquire of Broadway whether they are willing to assist me with requesting my Irish citizenship certificate (see blog of 13 September Broadway will help me become a Spanish citizen!). To up the ante on this request, I have not only copied everyone au fait with the robbery into this email to him, but added the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs to the list:
In his opening address to the Queen at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh on Thursday, the pope has once again stirred controversy after he associated atheism with the Nazis. Coming from an organisation that treats child sexual abuse as trivial, that's about as rich as it gets! Check this short clip for an investigation by Channel 4:
Action for Employment (A4E) is a private sector company that has £300 million of Government training contracts and controls 25% of the long-term unemployment budget for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). In the previous blog, I published Declan's appeal against A4E for unfair treatment. Well, we now have a letter to hand from the manager of our jobcentre, Highgate Jobcentre Plus, confirming that A4E broke the law.
On 16 August, Declan requested both verbally and in writing that A4E refer a proposed jobseeker's agreement of theirs to the Decision Maker (the Secretary of State) under section 9(6) of the Jobseekers Act 1995. This section states quite clearly that "The employment officer may, and if asked to do so by the claimant shall forthwith, refer a proposed jobseeker’s agreement to the Secretary of State". According to the Jobcentre, this referral was never made by A4E:
By the way, in the video contained in the blog of 3 September Declan's case against A4E on YouTube video I explain that we came to England from Dublin in 2003 and for two years attempted to start a network of those abused by church with our own money and how the opposition we encountered was so great that we had no choice but to go on benefits in 2005. Oh, and if you want to know what kind of opposition we encountered, the blog of 11 September City of London Police in the spotlight contains some photos of our flooded kitchen and bathroom in August 2004. Talking about freedom of expression, check this one-minute clip for a British Catholic priest saying, with an straight face, "Thank goodness we live in a country where we can protest freely. And I think it's important that people can do that. And it's important for the church to be listening to people's concerns and issues. I think that is very important."
Declan has put in an appeal for an Appeal Tribunal against Action for Employment (A4E) - a private sector company that has £300 million of Government training contracts and controls 25% of the long-term unemployment budget for the Department for Work and Pensions. Basically, he has now received an electronic copy of a letter that has yet to arrive in the post but, within two paragraphs, this letter is both breaking the law and making serious and unfounded allegations against Declan (click to enlarge). Who has the credibility problem?
It seems that A4E are like the police and can't investigate themselves (see blog of 11 September City of London Police in the spotlight). In fact, they are quite dangerous: request a decision maker on a proposed jobseeker's agreement in pursuance of Section 9(6) of the Jobseeker's Act 1995 and you are lucky if you don't find yourself in a Magistrates Court for a breach of the peace! And all of this under the nose of the A4E chairman and owner, Emma Harrison CBE, and the manager of our jobcentre, Highgate Jobcentre Plus (see blog of 9 September Highgate Jobcentre Plus doesn't disappoint).
A4E now either re-investigate Declan's case for unfair treatment or he will make sure it sees an Appeal Tribunal. He is also willing to file this case in court down the line. This is an extract from his appeal, which was dispatched by registered post this morning (click to enlarge). The letter he refers to in this extract to the manager of Highgate Jobcentre Plus is published in the blog of 28 August Perhaps the Department for Work and Pensions will understand YouTube videos.
As I said in the previous blog, Declan has repeatedly asked Broadway Homelessness and Support, a premier homelessness organisation in London, to assist me with requesting my birth certificate from Madrid so that I can be reissued an Irish passport - on 18 June 2008 we were robbed of all our money and documents in the Sisters of Mercy's Dellow Centre (see blog of 4 September Sisters of Mercy revisited - our first YouTube video). My A4E employment officer has now agreed to contact Broadway. To further up the ante, I have copied this letter to just about everyone au fait with the robbery (the blog of 4 September just mentioned carries a letter from the Papal Nuncio):
Broadway Homelessness and Support, a premier homelessness organisation in London, has been trying to obtain Declan's birth certificate from Dublin for over a year now with no result (see Friday's blog Broadway Homelessness and Support). This arises from the robbery on 18 June 2008 of all our money and documents in the Sisters of Mercy's Dellow Centre (see blog of 4 September Sisters of Mercy revisited - our first YouTube video). Declan has also repeatedly asked Broadway to assist me with requesting my birth certificate from Madrid so that I can be reissued an Irish passport. They are willing to assist me with requesting a Spanish Identity Card - just about the last thing on my mind! Anyway, this is Declan's latest email to them, copied to those he emailed on Friday when we decided to up the ante on all this:
As I stated in the blog of 14 August Declan pays £100 to be linked to the cable TV network in the house (this blog contains stunning photos of MI5 whistleblower David Shayler who lived for a couple of years in one of the rooms below us), we've had four TV blow-outs in less than 10 months. Although we have yet to be connected to the cable TV network in the house, we have an explanation for the TV blow-outs. It turns out to be a wet cable section - psychotronic attack ruled out! - and likely pockets of water in the cable due to a combination of a connection without waterproof insulating tape and a damaged cable. Phew!
In the blog of 8 September Letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, I put the trailer for the new film Psywar: The real battlefield is your mind which features among others Noam Chomsky, the late Howard Zinn, Peter Phillip of Project Censored and Just Jhally of Media Education Foundation. The film is first class. Watch a few minutes of this and you'll be hooked. Seriously informative.
I am a former social psychologist from Madrid. My husband Declan, a former physical education teacher, is from Dublin. We came to England in 2003 from Ireland with the then-aim of forming a network organisation for those abused by church. We were twice forced, through no fault of our own, to live rough on the streets of London for almost 4 years in total, from November 2006 to July 2009 and from April 2013 to May 2014. Declan established Network for Church Monitoring as a nonprofit company limited by guarantee in 2011. We are currently living under the threat to life of a 'no fault' Section 21 eviction notice from our landlord, Peabody Trust housing association. This notwithstanding that our tenancy is a flat that falls under the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative (see paragraph 3 under "Church and State" below). We have no children.
MAYOR OF LONDON RSI PROPERTY DAY 406 IN A WEEKLY PERIODIC TENANCY SUBJECT TO A SECTION 21 NOTICE
(SEE PARA. 3 BELOW)
1. Our 308 Honorary Associates include 20 Nobel Prize laureates. Declan and I are engaged in a project that deals with the publication of issues significant to social policy in a number of key areas, e.g., climate change, population, futurism, atheism, and free speech. Established as Network for Church Monitoring, a non-profit company limited by guarantee, our main publication, found at the website, Church and State, calls attention to subjects, not the least which have been critical of the interaction between religious and secular institutions. We have been the target of numerous threats and actions, e.g., the former resulting in threats to Declan's life, and the latter, which have led to vandalism. The various incidents are on record with the police and other official agencies.
2. There are no less than 63 Nobel Prize laureates on the Church and State website from 20 Honorary Associates, eight articles, nine book excerpts and 33 petition signatories. (For example, one Nobel laureate signed our Nobel petition in support of human embryonic stem cell research and gave us permission to excerpt from one of his books.) Our list of associates also includes 18 US National Medal laureates, and six Turing Award laureates (the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in computer science). We have published one article and excerpted from the books of seven members of the British House of Lords. And there are 31 knighted professors on the site from 13 Honorary Associates, one book excerpt and 21 petition signatories. These figures are despite the never-ending assault on our email (this link reveals the targeting of our emails to, among others, a close colleague in Washington, DC as well as space advocates and Nobel laureates).
3. This is Day 406 for us living under the threat to life of a 'no fault' eviction by Peabody Trust.[1] We live in a Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) property. Peabody's appalling new terms of tenancy have forced us into an unstable weekly periodic tenancy that poses a threat to Declan's life and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights. Declan accumulated quite a history with the Housing Ombudsman Service before he received the Ombudsman's decision not to investigate a referral from Lyn Brown MP on jurisdictional grounds. The Ombudsman was asked to consider whether or not our tenancy has been renewed like for like; and whether, if not, it should be in light of the landlord having accused us of not signing a like-for-like agreement. The Equality and Human Rights Commission will not accept a referral of discrimination from Ms Brown, the Commission's helpline (EASS) having grossly distorted the complaint against Peabody. We no longer have pro se access to the courts (see next paragraph).
4. This eviction matter came before District Judge Ruth Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020, when both counsel for St Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of the claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us. Declan currently has before the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman the decision of the Information Commissioner that allows St Mungo's to continue processing coercive support plans without our knowledge or consent and that also poses a threat to his life.
5. When it comes to traffic, we have had 10.7 million hits in the past three years on Facebook; however, I left the platform on 13 March 2021 for one year rather than risk being banned for life. It is indisputable that with any sort of level playing field Church and State would have far exceeded 2.5 million hits last year. In addition to a large variety of blocks without explanation, Facebook had so severely restricted our Page's distribution by October 2020 that it was almost as good as an unpublished page.[2] Currently, we are up to their 85th block since 1 December 2015, and as usual without an explanation. This block records as one half of their 3rd double block in the first five weeks of this year that lasted 60 days. Our traffic has also been curtailed by over 2.5K blocks on access to Church and State since 26 July 2016, including 29 full distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since 17 May 2019 that have lasted for as long as 54 hours at a time.[3] About 70% of our hits are from Americans.
"This is precisely the hard hitting kind of response needed to clarify the unfair way Facebook is treating your highly reputable site." Don Collins, Founder, International Services Assistance Fund, Washington DC
Last updated: 26/06/21
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[1] Once a fixed term has elapsed, the landlord has the option to seek eviction even if the tenant has upheld their obligations in full (though of course the landlord must still apply for and obtain a county court order).
[3] Since October 2019, we have been defining a full DDoS attack as having such a high volume of up to 4-minute blocks on access to Church and State that we don't bother recording them all.
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