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".
UPDATE 10 December (8.10pm): I have heard back from SiteGround. I had no idea they had changed my server's hostname. They write: "[W]e have changed the server hostname back to the correct one." They further add: "It appears that the multi php module for Apache was not enabled properly or actually, it was enable incorrectly and thus during the Apache rebuild the include for the said module disappeared. I have fixed re-added it and distilled Apache configuration file so the next time the rebuild passes the same include will not be removed." What a relief!
Help Support Church and State
Please consider donating to Network for Church Monitoring!
All proceeds from the sale of these e-books are used to keep our Church and State website up and running.
'Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out.' Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
Last year Declan wrote to the Information Commissioner's Office about Mail Boxes Etc. UK; see my blog post of 16 December 2016, Mail Boxes Etc. UK: Declan writes to the Information Commissioner's Office in a last desperate attempt to try and resolve the issue of our registered office address without a court order (WITH UPDATE 19/12/2016). Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) now has two postcodes for our company mailbox: our registered office address under postcode N1 9JY and Declan's business communication address under postcode N1 9FQ. The former is not recognised by HMRC while the latter is not recognised by Companies House! It took months to come up with this two-postcode solution after HMRC put a stop on any correspondence being issued automatically to our registered office address because the building number of our mailbox did not and does not show on Royal Mail records under postcode N1 9JY, which also happens to be the only postcode Companies House will accept with our registered office address. This morning Declan has brought an outstanding payment invoice to the attention of Simon Cowie, the head of the Mail Boxes Etc. franchise in the UK:
For the attention of Simon Cowie, Chairman, Mail Boxes Etc. (UK)
Isin Yildirim
Manager
Mail Boxes Etc. (London - King's Cross)
Address removed for email
9 December 2017
Dear Mr Yildirim,
On 29 November I found in my mailbox an invoice indicating an outstanding amount on my account of £395 (invoice attached). This is the exact amount I paid on 5 September for the renewal of my service for box number 101.
The service was due for renewal on 12 September. I emptied my mailbox on 5 September before making payment. However, I was told on 29 November that there was no company stamp available to mark the said invoice as paid.
Please could you confirm that omissions from records have been rectified for my mailbox security and to ensure that I do not receive any further renewal notifications relating to the previous expiry date.
Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey
Managing Director
Network for Church Monitoring
UPDATE 9 December (11.46am): Declan has received a reply from Mail Boxes Etc. Kings Cross. We can only hope that we will not find any more outstanding payment invoices in our mailbox until the next renewal date in December 2018. We still have not secured our home address with Newham Council - again involving HMRC (see the My Pick link below). And this despite the fact that our home address has not changed for going on four years now!
Help Support Church and State
Please consider donating to Network for Church Monitoring!
All proceeds from the sale of these e-books are used to keep our Church and State website up and running.
'Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out.' Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
Our Church and State website has no less than 40 Nobel Prize winners on it; for details, see this blog's sidebar under "Church and State" (updated today).
This is precisely the hard hitting kind of response needed to clarify the unfair way FACEBOOK is treating your highly reputable site.
- Donald A. Collins, President, International Services Assistance Fund, Washington DC
For the fourth time in less than seven weeks, Declan and I have had to suspend work on our news website Church and State to research Northern Europe for the most committed free speech advocates we can find. The first time we were forced to do this, our web host had told us to remove a Creative Commons article from the site or the site would be disabled by them; see my blog post of 13 October, SiteGround: We are told to remove a Creative Commons article or our Church and State website will be disabled (WITH DOUBLE UPDATE 16/10/2017). Subsequently we have had to deal with three Facebook blocks, the latest this evening. Now Facebook has for the eighth time stopped me from posting to groups without first passing through a time-consuming security check for every post I wish to make, i.e. their 26th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015 (they themselves call it a block in the video above). It seems little consolation that last month Church and State topped more than 3 million hits over the past year; about 70% of our hits are from Americans. My Facebook appeal tonight:
For the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Facebook
7 December 2017
Dear Facebook,
I wish to appeal your decision this evening to stop me from posting to groups without first passing through a time-consuming security check for every post I wish to make (called by Facebook a "block"), and this for an undisclosed period of time and without any stated reason. Please see the screenshot attached.
Please note that I only ever post to groups that are specific to an article's subject and that I am well familiar with. I also only post articles that I have already published on our Church and State website. This latest block records as the 26th time Facebook has blocked me from posting to groups since 1 December 2015. Facebook has also only responded to four of my previous 25 appeals, citing "technical problems" in each instance. (The 24th block below records as a 12-day block because no sooner was the block I appealed lifted on 1 November than I was blocked again until 8 November without any stated reason.)
1st 1-4 December 2015 (4 days)
2nd 5-7 December 2015 (3 days)
3rd 6-9 January 2016 (4 days)
4th 12-15 January 2016 (4 days)
5th 20-22 January 2016 (3 days)
6th 13-16 February 2016 (4 days)
7th 23-26 March 2016 (4 days)
8th 20-23 May 2016 (4 days)
9th 25-30 May 2016 (6 days)
10th 1-3 July 2016 (3 days)
11th 7-8 September 2016 (2 days)
12th 21-22 September 2016 (3 days)
13th 27-28 September 2016 (2 days)
14th 29 September - 3 October 2016 (5 days)
15th 4-5 October 2016 (2 days)
16th 18-23 October 2016 (6 days)
17th 9-14 December 2016 (6 days)
18th 4-6 January 2017 (3 days)
19th 20-23 January 2017 (4 days)
20th 17 May 2017 (1 day)
21st 19 June 2017 (1 day)
22nd 19-21 August 2017 (3 days)
23rd 19 September 2017 (1 day)
24th 28 October - 8 November 2017 (12 days)
25th 23-30 November 2017 (8 days)
On 5 September 2017 I reported to Facebook four other sort of blocks that since April 2017 have included the treating as spam my links to articles and book excerpts on Church and State. The Facebook block against the two articles mentioned in that report remains ongoing (an unprecedented 94-day block to date). And this notwithstanding that I told you that these posts were not spam. You responded on 5 September that you would take another look at the posts and send me a message in my Support Inbox if you have an update. Despite bringing these two posts to your attention a number of times, I have not received an update in my Support Inbox. The second of these posts, which you removed because you say it "looks like spam to us", has in fact been shared/liked by Facebook users over 70,000 times:
Please note that we currently have an international list of 147 Honorary Associates, including two Nobel Prize winners. Since Facebook's 16th block listed above, 117 distinguished academics and other intellectuals have given us permission to add their names to the list. Don Collins, President of the Washington DC-based International Services Assistance Fund, writes: "Surely after multiple postings [Facebook] must know your content is neither lewd nor extreme."
Thank you in advance for your assistance in these matters.
Yours faithfully,
Lola Heavey
Webmaster
Network for Church Monitoring
"Let me recommend an important web site - churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out." Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
Draft paragraph 42 of Declan's next updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
42. On 13 August 2011, then Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone wrote to Facebook on the Applicant's behalf, asking that they explain why the Applicant's wife had been barred. The bar was subsequently lifted; however, since 1 December 2015, Facebook has blocked the Applicant's wife from posting to groups on 26 separate occasions, and up to 12 days at a time (each of these blocks is well accounted for in the N4CM blog). On 22 December 2015, Labour's Lyn Brown, then Shadow Home Office Minister and now Shadow Home Secretary, made an enquiry on the Applicant's behalf to Facebook UK Managing Director Steve Hatch asking if he could offer an explanation as to the terms and conditions the Applicant's wife was alleged to have broken twice previously. To the best of the Applicant's knowledge, Mr Hatch did not respond to this letter. The Applicant's wife only ever posts to groups that are specific to an article's subject and that she is well familiar with, and she only ever posts articles that she has already published on the Church and State website. Facebook has responded to only four of the Applicant's wife's 26 appeals since 1 December 2015, citing "technical problems" in each instance.
1st 1-4 December 2015 (4 days)
2nd 5-7 December 2015 (3 days)
3rd 6-9 January 2016 (4 days)
4th 12-15 January 2016 (4 days)
5th 20-22 January 2016 (3 days)
6th 13-16 February 2016 (4 days)
7th 23-26 March 2016 (4 days)
8th 20-23 May 2016 (4 days)
9th 25-30 May 2016 (6 days)
10th 1-3 July 2016 (3 days)
11th 7-8 September 2016 (2 days)
12th 21-22 September 2016 (3 days)
13th 27-28 September 2016 (2 days)
14th 29 September - 3 October 2016 (5 days)
15th 4-5 October 2016 (2 days)
16th 18-23 October 2016 (6 days)
17th 9-14 December 2016 (6 days)
18th 4-6 January 2017 (3 days)
19th 20-23 January 2017 (4 days)
20th 17 May 2017 (1 day)
21st 19 June 2017 (1 day)
22nd 19-21 August 2017 (3 days)
23rd 19 September 2017 (1 day)
24th 28 October - 8 November 2017 (12 days)
25th 23-30 November 2017 (8 days)
26th 7 December 2017 (1 day) (ongoing)
UPDATE 15 April 2018
26th 7-8 December 2017 (2 days)
27th 10-17 December 2017 (8 days)
28th 28 December 2017 - 4 January 2018 (8 days)
29th 16-23 January 2018 (8 days)
30th 28 January - 4 February 2018 (8 days)
31st 12-19 February 2018 (8 days)
32nd 26 February - 5 March 2018 (8 days)
33rd 7-14 March 2018 (8 days)
34th 16-23 March 2018 (8 days)
35th 24 March - 1 April 2018 (9 days)
36th 4-11 April 2018 (8 days)
37th 14-21 April 2018 (8 days) (ongoing)
November 2017: 16 days
December 2017: 14 days
January 2018: 16 days
February 2018: 15 days
March 2018: 29 days
April 2018: 17 days (to 21 April)
Facebook UK Managing Director Steve Hatch
UPDATE 15 April (11.21am): When it comes to blocking me from posting Church and State articles to groups, Facebook's 26th block since 1 December 2015 was lifted on 8 December 2017 (2 days). I have, however, subsequently been blocked another 11 times from doing the same, and most recently until 21 April (an additional 89 days, incl. 29 days last month). All of these subsequent blocks have also been without explanation, save the 30th block (see below). We are currently on DAY 2 of the 37th block, notwithstanding my appeal yesterday. Our friend and colleague Don Collins wrote in reference to my 30th appeal: "Powerful appeal, but of course likely ignored. So unfair. The pressure for equity from those such as Facebook over their monopolistic control of disseminating public opinion from responsible entities such as Church and State moves such entities closer to legislative regulation." This is that appeal:
For the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Facebook
28 January 2018
Dear Facebook,
Today in an unprecedented block from Facebook everything I post to groups from our Church and State website you are calling spam, with no end in sight. Please see the screenshot attached. On 5 September 2017, I first reported the treating as spam my links to articles and book excerpts on our site. One of these excerpts was from a book by Paul Cliteur, a professor of Jurisprudence at Leiden University and one of the Netherlands' leading public intellectuals.
Seldom has Facebook made it clear why I am being blocked. Today's block records as the 30th time Facebook has blocked me from posting to groups since 1 December 2015. The only explanation given at the time of one of these blocks has been "spam" (received today); and Facebook has only responded to four of my previous 29 appeals, citing "technical problems" in each instance. Nonetheless, I have been blocked from posting to groups a total of 43 days (and counting) in the last three months alone.
A colleague has written that our site is "not at all offensive, especially compared to some atheist sites which, presumably, AREN'T being blocked". This is not to mention the fact that I have also been reporting technical problems with my Facebook Network for Church Monitoring page since 5 April 2017, such as being unable to view scheduled posts or being repeatedly unable to schedule posts.
Thank you in advance for your assistance in these matters.
Sincerely,
Lola Heavey
Webmaster
Network for Church Monitoring
Ted Cruz asks if Facebook is a "neutral public forum". Mark Zuckerberg admits Silicon Valley is an "extremely left-leaning place" and claims he tries to make sure the company does not have a political bias. pic.twitter.com/gaWw7ORQDY
UPDATE 15 April (cont.): Despite our distinguished list of now 174 Honorary Associates from around the world, blocks on public access to our Church and State website also continue unabated. I have updated my blog post of 16 January 2017 with this morning's 1,138th block on public access to the site since 26 July 2016. The blog post also not only reveals a record-breaking 52 such blocks in one week at the end of April 2017 (an unprecedented escalation that kicked off with our focus on the Danish Cartoon Crisis), but it reveals the daily targeting to fluctuating degrees of category pages throughout the site which continues to this day. For example, as I point out in a blog post last year about the Royal Mail's mishandling of our incoming mail following the loss of our employment contracts to the United States, the second article below has more than 1/2 million Facebook likes/shares (not zero):
UPDATE 15 April (cont.): And it's not just Facebook blocks, blocks on public access to our Church and State website, and the daily targeting to fluctuating degrees of category pages throughout the site. Since 26 May 2017, we have been recording Internet cuts to boot; see my blog post of 21 June 2017, Internet cuts: We pay £65 per month for BT Infinity but feel we are in a race against time to stay online (WITH UPDATE 15/4/2018 RE: 183rd Internet cut since 26 May 2017). Perhaps of particular importance in all this is the fact that last November Church and State topped more than 3 million hits over the previous eleven months and despite the even then far from level playing field.
These are the normal internet speeds Declan has been getting on his laptop since yesterday morning (up from a download speed of 0Mbps and an upload speed of 10.5Mbps on 22 November):
As an assault on individual privacy, we compare this on-off targeting of Declan's primary laptop with the removal of our flat door in 2012. It was the Independent Police Complaints Commission's finding on that occasion that since our then live-in landlady had subsequently signed an undertaking to the County Court promising not to harass us, there was no requirement for the Metropolitan Police to take further action.
UPDATE 8 December (8.21am): All four of our laptops have been functioning fine since last Saturday. But again I ask, for how long? British Telecom (BT) is one of the world's leading communications services companies. They have already established that we have a perfectly functioning TV and aerial. Nonetheless, it only took 24 hours last September for our brand new BT TV set-top box to go the way of the old one with no signal quality or strength; see my blog post of 5 September, British Telecom: Tonight Declan complains to BT about our latest 1/2 hour removal from the internet plus the almost total shutdown of our BT TV service (WITH UPDATE 8/9/2017). We have written off this latest BT offering rather than waste more time and money on our BT Infinity 2 service, for which we already pay them handsomely.
Re: Investigatory Powers Tribunal
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) dismissed Declan's complaint against the secret services on papers in less than three weeks, on 1 September 2011, stating that it was "obviously unsustainable". This is paragraph 11 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
11. The IPT was created in October 2000 by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and given the power to investigate any complaints against GCHQ, MI5 or MI6, as well as complaints about surveillance operations mounted by the police or any other public bodies. On 5 March 2014 the Guardian reported that the tribunal, which claims to be completely independent of the UK Government, is secretly operating from a base within the Home Office, by which it is funded. The newspaper found that the IPT had investigated about 1,500 complaints, and upheld only 10; five of these concerned members of one family who had all lodged complaints about surveillance by their local council. No complaint against any of the intelligence agencies had ever been upheld. The discovery that the IPT is lodged within a Whitehall department fuelled criticisms of the tribunal that had been levelled by rights groups, lawyers and complainants. The IPT's critics complain that the secrecy is excessive and that its procedures are stacked so heavily in favour of the government and against complainants that it is fundamentally unfair. According to the Guardian, some senior lawyers have described the IPT as "Kafkaesque", while one eminent barrister has dismissed it as "a kangaroo court". The newspaper also reports that as a consequence of the secrecy surrounding the tribunal and the perception that it is unfair, many would-be complainants spurn it.
Click to enlarge
Is Edward Snowden a Hero or Criminal? This is a solid documentary called #Citizenfour that may influence your thinking either way:
'Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out.' Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
For the third time in two months, Declan and I have suspended work on our Church and State website to research Northern Europe for the most committed free speech advocates we can find. The first time we were forced to do this, our web host had told us to remove a Creative Commons article from the site or the site would be disabled by them; see my blog post of 13 October, SiteGround: We are told to remove a Creative Commons article or our Church and State website will be disabled (WITH DOUBLE UPDATE 16/10/2017). Now since this evening, I have been blocked by Facebook from joining and posting to groups and without any stated reason. This records as Facebook's 25th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015 - the second in two weeks. My appeal reads:
For the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Facebook
23 November 2017
Dear Facebook,
I wish to appeal your decision this evening to block me from joining and posting to groups and without any stated reason. Please see the graphic attached.
Please note that I only ever post to groups that are specific to an article's subject and that I am well familiar with. I also only post articles that I have already published on our Church and State website. This latest block records as the 25th time Facebook has blocked me from posting to groups since 1 December 2015. Facebook has also only responded to four of my previous 24 appeals, citing "technical problems" in each instance. (The 24th block below records as a 12-day block because no sooner was the block I appealed lifted on 1 November than I was blocked again until 8 November without any stated reason.)
1st 1-4 December 2015 (4 days)
2nd 5-7 December 2015 (3 days)
3rd 6-9 January 2016 (4 days)
4th 12-15 January 2016 (4 days)
5th 20-22 January 2016 (3 days)
6th 13-16 February 2016 (4 days)
7th 23-26 March 2016 (4 days)
8th 20-23 May 2016 (4 days)
9th 25-30 May 2016 (6 days)
10th 1-3 July 2016 (3 days)
11th 7-8 September 2016 (2 days)
12th 21-22 September 2016 (3 days)
13th 27-28 September 2016 (2 days)
14th 29 September - 3 October 2016 (5 days)
15th 4-5 October 2016 (2 days)
16th 18-23 October 2016 (6 days)
17th 9-14 December 2016 (6 days)
18th 4-6 January 2017 (3 days)
19th 20-23 January 2017 (4 days)
20th 17 May 2017 (1 day)
21st 19 June 2017 (1 day)
22nd 19-21 August 2017 (3 days)
23rd 19 September 2017 (1 day)
24th 28 October - 8 November 2017 (12 days)
On 5 September 2017 I reported to Facebook four other sort of blocks that since April 2017 have included the treating as spam my links to articles and book excerpts on our Church and State website. The Facebook block against the two articles mentioned in that report remains on-going (an unprecedented 80-day block to date). And this notwithstanding that I told you that these posts were not spam. You responded on 5 September that you would take another look at the posts and send me a message in my Support Inbox if you have an update. Despite bringing these two posts to your attention a number of times, I have not received an update in my Support Inbox. The second of these posts, which you removed because you say it "looks like spam to us", has in fact been shared/liked by Facebook users over 70,000 times:
Please note that we currently have an international list of 145 Honorary Associates, including two Nobel Prize winners. Since Facebook's 16th block listed above, 115 distinguished academics and other intellectuals have given us permission to add their names to the list. Don Collins, President of the Washington DC-based International Services Assistance Fund, writes: "Surely after multiple postings [Facebook] must know your content is neither lewd nor extreme."
Thank you in advance for your assistance in these matters.
Yours faithfully,
Lola Heavey
Webmaster
Network for Church Monitoring
"Let me recommend an important web site - churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out." Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
Draft paragraph 42 of Declan's next updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
42. On 13 August 2011, then Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone wrote to Facebook on the Applicant's behalf, asking that they explain why the Applicant's wife had been barred. The bar was subsequently lifted; however, since 1 December 2015, Facebook has blocked the Applicant's wife from posting to groups on 25 separate occasions, and up to 12 days at a time (each of these blocks is well accounted for in the N4CM blog). On 22 December 2015, Labour's Lyn Brown, then Shadow Home Office Minister and now Shadow Home Secretary, made an enquiry on the Applicant's behalf to Facebook UK Managing Director Steve Hatch asking if he could offer an explanation as to the terms and conditions the Applicant's wife was alleged to have broken twice previously. To the best of the Applicant's knowledge, Mr Hatch did not respond to this letter. The Applicant's wife only ever posts to groups that are specific to an article's subject and that she is well familiar with, and she only ever posts articles that she has already published on the Church and State website. Facebook has responded to only four of the Applicant's wife's 25 appeals since 1 December 2015, citing "technical problems" in each instance.
1st 1-4 December 2015 (4 days)
2nd 5-7 December 2015 (3 days)
3rd 6-9 January 2016 (4 days)
4th 12-15 January 2016 (4 days)
5th 20-22 January 2016 (3 days)
6th 13-16 February 2016 (4 days)
7th 23-26 March 2016 (4 days)
8th 20-23 May 2016 (4 days)
9th 25-30 May 2016 (6 days)
10th 1-3 July 2016 (3 days)
11th 7-8 September 2016 (2 days)
12th 21-22 September 2016 (3 days)
13th 27-28 September 2016 (2 days)
14th 29 September - 3 October 2016 (5 days)
15th 4-5 October 2016 (2 days)
16th 18-23 October 2016 (6 days)
17th 9-14 December 2016 (6 days)
18th 4-6 January 2017 (3 days)
19th 20-23 January 2017 (4 days)
20th 17 May 2017 (1 day)
21st 19 June 2017 (1 day)
22nd 19-21 August 2017 (3 days)
23rd 19 September 2017 (1 day)
24th 28 October - 8 November 2017 (12 days)
25th 23 November 2017 (ongoing)
Facebook UK Managing Director Steve Hatch
UPDATE 7 December (8.26am): When it comes to blocking me from posting Church and State articles to groups, Facebook's 25th block since 1 December 2015 was lifted on 30 November and records as an 8-day block. However, the block against the two articles mentioned in my appeal above remains ongoing and records as an unprecedented 94-day block to date; the previous record for this sort of block was 18 days last August. There's no telling what's next from Facebook. On 17 November I wrote to them about being unable to view scheduled posts on my Facebook Network for Church Monitoring page. My report detailing this and a series of other restrictions since last April reads:
For the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Facebook
17 November 2017
Dear Facebook,
I have been unable to view my scheduled posts since this morning. Please see the snapshot attached.
On 5 September I reported the treating as spam my links to articles on our Church and State website. The Facebook block against the two articles mentioned in that report still stands (a 74-day block to date). And this notwithstanding that the second of these two articles has been shared/liked by Facebook users over 70,000 times:
On 5 April I reported that the page listing all the groups I belong to was not working. With this rectified, I reported on 10 April that I couldn't schedule posts on my page. Then I reported on 12 April that my scheduled posts were not posting. On 6 June I reported that there was no fault with an excerpt from a book by Dr Pascal Bruckner, one of France's leading public intellectuals (a 16-day block). On 24 July I reported that there was no fault with an excerpt from a book by Prof Paul Cliteur, one of the Netherlands' leading public intellectuals (an 18-day block).
On 10 August Facebook replied: "We reviewed your [Prof Cliteur] post again and found it does follow our Community Standards. The post is being restored to Facebook. Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience."
Thank you in advance for your assistance in these matters.
UPDATE 7 December (cont.): Despite our distinguished list of now 147 Honorary Associates from around the world, blocks on public access to our Church and State website also continue unabated. I have updated my blog post of 16 January with this morning's 903rd block on public access to the site since 26 July 2016. The blog post also not only reveals a record-breaking 52 such blocks in one week at the end of April (an unprecedented escalation that kicked off with our focus on the Danish Cartoon Crisis; 52 blocks last month), but it reveals the daily targeting to fluctuating degrees of category pages throughout the site which continues to this day. For example, as I point out in an earlier blog post about the Royal Mail's mishandling of our incoming mail following the loss of our employment contracts to the United States, the second article below has over 1/2 million Facebook likes/shares (not zero):
'Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out.' Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
3 December (2.06pm): 172 internet cuts since 26 May 2017.* We had to suspend work on our Church and State website on 15 June after 4 internet cuts in one night. With an all-time record breaking 7 cuts in one day by 4pm on 29 August; 14 cuts in September that included on 5 September our latest 1/2 hour removal from the internet plus the almost total shutdown of our BT TV service; no cuts since 22 November (as of 3 December at 2.06pm).
1. 143rd 29 August 2017, 8.42am
2. 144th 29 August 2017, 9.54am
3. 145th 29 August 2017, 10.52am
4. 146th 29 August 2017, 11.38am
5. 147th 29 August 2017, 12.02pm
6. 148th 29 August 2017, 12.47pm
7. 149th 29 August 2017, 3.10pm
-----------------------------------------
10. 152nd 5 September 2017, 11.53am
11. 153rd 5 September 2017, 1.48pm
12. 154th 5 September 2017, 4.35pm
13. 155th 5 September 2017, 9.32pm (28 minutes+)
-----------------------------------------
29. 171st 22 November 2017, 6.31pm
30. 172nd 22 November 2017, 8.32pm
* 12 out of the first 18 internet cuts were within the first four days of a BT engineer's visit on 12 June. It is a matter of written record that this engineer "securely fitted a brand new master socket to another location on the same wall. He also carried out a comprehensive line test and could not find a problem with [our] line".
On 28 September I asked how long the connection speed on Declan's primary laptop would last; see my blog post of 28 September, Declan finally gets back our connection speed on his relatively new £600 laptop. But for how long? (WITH UPDATE 12/10/2017). The answer: a little over two months. This morning the £600 laptop has been rendered entirely useless for the second time since it was purchased 10 months ago. Our other three laptops have been and are working fine with the usual good connection speed for which we pay British Telecom (BT) £65 per month. But these are the almost total wipeout internet speeds Declan has been getting on his primary laptop this morning:
These are the internet speeds we are accustomed to getting across four laptops (currently reduced to three):
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) dismissed Declan's complaint against the secret services on papers in less than three weeks, on 1 September 2011, stating that it was "obviously unsustainable". This is paragraph 11 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
11. The IPT was created in October 2000 by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and given the power to investigate any complaints against GCHQ, MI5 or MI6, as well as complaints about surveillance operations mounted by the police or any other public bodies. On 5 March 2014 the Guardian reported that the tribunal, which claims to be completely independent of the UK Government, is secretly operating from a base within the Home Office, by which it is funded. The newspaper found that the IPT had investigated about 1,500 complaints, and upheld only 10; five of these concerned members of one family who had all lodged complaints about surveillance by their local council. No complaint against any of the intelligence agencies had ever been upheld. The discovery that the IPT is lodged within a Whitehall department fuelled criticisms of the tribunal that had been levelled by rights groups, lawyers and complainants. The IPT's critics complain that the secrecy is excessive and that its procedures are stacked so heavily in favour of the government and against complainants that it is fundamentally unfair. According to the Guardian, some senior lawyers have described the IPT as "Kafkaesque", while one eminent barrister has dismissed it as "a kangaroo court". The newspaper also reports that as a consequence of the secrecy surrounding the tribunal and the perception that it is unfair, many would-be complainants spurn it.
Click to enlarge
Is Edward Snowden a Hero or Criminal? This is a solid documentary called #Citizenfour that may influence your thinking either way:
'Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out.' Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
Donald A. Collins, President, International Services Assistance Fund, Washington DC
For the second time in two months, Declan and I have suspended work on our Church and State website to research Northern Europe for the most committed free speech advocates we can find. The last time we were forced to do this, our web host had told us to remove a Creative Commons article from the site or the site would be disabled by them; see my blog post of 13 October, SiteGround: We are told to remove a Creative Commons article or our Church and State website will be disabled (WITH DOUBLE UPDATE 16/10/2017). Now since last night, Facebook have stopped me from posting to groups without first passing through a time-consuming waiting period for every post I wish to make. This records as Facebook's 24th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015. My appeal reads:
For the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Facebook
29 October 2017
Dear Facebook,
I wish to appeal your decision last night to stop me from posting to groups without first passing through a time-consuming waiting period for every post I wish to make; and this for an undisclosed period of time and without any stated reason. We have been experiencing this block on all four of our laptops, using both the Chrome and Firefox browsers, and despite a home internet connection speed that exceeds 70Mbps. Please see my video at https://youtu.be/5jlnsMpnsnw.
Please note that I only ever post to groups that are specific to an article's subject and that I am well familiar with. I also only post articles that I have already published on our Church and State website. Nonetheless, this latest block records as the 24th time Facebook has blocked me from posting to groups since 1 December 2015. Facebook has also only responded to three of my previous 23 appeals, citing "technical problems" in each instance.
1st 1-4 December 2015 (4 days)
2nd 5-7 December 2015 (3 days)
3rd 6-9 January 2016 (4 days)
4th 12-15 January 2016 (4 days)
5th 20-22 January 2016 (3 days)
6th 13-16 February 2016 (4 days)
7th 23-26 March 2016 (4 days)
8th 20-23 May 2016 (4 days)
9th 25-30 May 2016 (6 days)
10th 1-3 July 2016 (3 days)
11th 7-8 September 2016 (2 days)
12th 21-22 September 2016 (3 days)
13th 27-28 September 2016 (2 days)
14th 29 September - 3 October 2016 (5 days)
15th 4-5 October 2016 (2 days)
16th 18-23 October 2016 (6 days)
17th 9-14 December 2016 (6 days)
18th 4-6 January 2017 (3 days)
19th 20-23 January 2017 (4 days)
20th 17 May 2017 (1 day)
21st 19 June 2017 (1 day)
22nd 19-21 August 2017 (3 days)
23rd 19 September 2017 (1 day)
On 5 September 2017 I reported to Facebook four other sort of blocks that since April 2017 have included the treating as spam my links to articles and book excerpts on our Church and State website. The Facebook block against two articles mentioned in that report still stands (an unprecedented 55-day block to date). And this notwithstanding that the second of these two articles has been shared/liked by Facebook users over 70,000 times:
Please note that we currently have an international list of 129 Honorary Associates, including two Nobel Prize winners. Since Facebook's 16th block listed above, 99 distinguished academics and other intellectuals have given us permission to add their names to the list. Don Collins, President of the Washington DC-based International Services Assistance Fund, writes: "Surely after multiple postings [Facebook] must know your content is neither lewd nor extreme."
Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.
Yours faithfully,
Lola Heavey
Webmaster
Network for Church Monitoring
"Let me recommend an important web site - churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out." Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
Draft paragraph 42 of Declan's next updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
42. On 13 August 2011, then Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone wrote to Facebook on the Applicant's behalf, asking that they explain why the Applicant's wife had been barred. The bar was subsequently lifted; however, since 1 December 2015, Facebook has blocked the Applicant's wife from posting to groups on 24 separate occasions, and up to six days at a time (each of these blocks is well accounted for in the N4CM blog). On 22 December 2015, Labour's Lyn Brown, then Shadow Home Office Minister and now Shadow Home Secretary, made an enquiry on the Applicant's behalf to Facebook UK Managing Director Steve Hatch asking if he could offer an explanation as to the terms and conditions the Applicant's wife was alleged to have broken twice previously. To the best of the Applicant's knowledge, Mr Hatch did not respond to this letter. The Applicant's wife only ever posts to groups that are specific to an article's subject and that she is well familiar with, and she only ever posts articles that she has already published on the Church and State website. Facebook has responded to only three of the Applicant's wife's 24 appeals since 1 December 2015, citing "technical problems" in each instance.
1st 1-4 December 2015 (4 days)
2nd 5-7 December 2015 (3 days)
3rd 6-9 January 2016 (4 days)
4th 12-15 January 2016 (4 days)
5th 20-22 January 2016 (3 days)
6th 13-16 February 2016 (4 days)
7th 23-26 March 2016 (4 days)
8th 20-23 May 2016 (4 days)
9th 25-30 May 2016 (6 days)
10th 1-3 July 2016 (3 days)
11th 7-8 September 2016 (2 days)
12th 21-22 September 2016 (3 days)
13th 27-28 September 2016 (2 days)
14th 29 September - 3 October 2016 (5 days)
15th 4-5 October 2016 (2 days)
16th 18-23 October 2016 (6 days)
17th 9-14 December 2016 (6 days)
18th 4-6 January 2017 (3 days)
19th 20-23 January 2017 (4 days)
20th 17 May 2017 (1 day)
21st 19 June 2017 (1 day)
22nd 19-21 August 2017 (3 days)
23rd 19 September 2017 (1 day)
24th 28-29 October 2017 (ongoing)
Facebook UK Managing Director Steve Hatch
UPDATE 23 November (9.16am): When it comes to blocking me from posting Church and State articles to groups, Facebook's 24th block since 1 December 2015 was lifted on 1 November, but they then blocked me from joining or posting to groups almost immediately that same day until 8 November (no reason given). We are well used to this sort of behaviour from Facebook - where they block me one way and then another in quick succession. We record these sort of restrictions as block extensions rather than new blocks, meaning that this 24th block records as a record-breaking 12-day block (the previous record for this sort of block was 6 days last December). There's no telling what's next from Facebook. Their block against the two articles mentioned in my appeal above remains ongoing and records as a record-breaking 80-day block to date (the previous record for this sort of block was 18 days last August). And last Friday I wrote to them about being unable to view scheduled posts on my Facebook Network for Church Monitoring page. This is that supplementary report detailing these and a whole series of other restrictions since last April:
For the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Facebook
17 November 2017
Dear Facebook,
I have been unable to view my scheduled posts since this morning. Please see the snapshot attached.
On 5 September I reported the treating as spam my links to articles on our Church and State website. The Facebook block against the two articles mentioned in that report still stands (a 74-day block to date). And this notwithstanding that the second of these two articles has been shared/liked by Facebook users over 70,000 times:
On 5 April I reported that the page listing all the groups I belong to was not working. With this rectified, I reported on 10 April that I couldn't schedule posts on my page. Then I reported on 12 April that my scheduled posts were not posting. On 6 June I reported that there was no fault with an excerpt from a book by Dr Pascal Bruckner, one of France's leading public intellectuals (a 16-day block). On 24 July I reported that there was no fault with an excerpt from a book by Prof Paul Cliteur, one of the Netherlands' leading public intellectuals (an 18-day block).
On 10 August Facebook replied: "We reviewed your [Prof Cliteur] post again and found it does follow our Community Standards. The post is being restored to Facebook. Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience."
Thank you in advance for your assistance in these matters.
UPDATE 23 November (cont.): Despite our distinguished list of now 145 Honorary Associates from around the world, blocks on public access to our Church and State website also continue unabated. I have updated my blog post of 16 January with last night's 871st block (the 3rd of the day) on public access to the site since 26 July 2016. The blog post also not only reveals a record-breaking 52 such blocks in one week at the end of April (an unprecedented escalation that kicked off with our focus on the Danish Cartoon Crisis; 57 blocks last month), but it reveals the daily targeting to fluctuating degrees of category pages throughout the site which continues to this day. For example, as I point out in an earlier blog post about the Royal Mail's mishandling of our incoming mail following the loss of our employment contracts to the United States, the second article below has over 1/2 million Facebook likes/shares (not zero):
'Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out.' Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
21 November (4.06pm): 170 internet cuts since 26 May 2017.* We had to suspend work on our Church and State website on 15 June after 4 internet cuts in one night. With an all-time record breaking 7 cuts in one day by 4pm on 29 August; 14 cuts in September that included on 5 September our latest 1/2 hour removal from the internet plus the almost total shutdown of our BT TV service; no cuts since 15 November (as of 21 November at 4.06pm).
1. 143rd 29 August 2017, 8.42am
2. 144th 29 August 2017, 9.54am
3. 145th 29 August 2017, 10.52am
4. 146th 29 August 2017, 11.38am
5. 147th 29 August 2017, 12.02pm
6. 148th 29 August 2017, 12.47pm
7. 149th 29 August 2017, 3.10pm
-----------------------------------------
10. 152nd 5 September 2017, 11.53am
11. 153rd 5 September 2017, 1.48pm
12. 154th 5 September 2017, 4.35pm
13. 155th 5 September 2017, 9.32pm (28 minutes+)
-----------------------------------------
28. 170th 15 November 2017, 9.41pm
* 12 out of the first 18 internet cuts were within the first four days of a BT engineer's visit on 12 June. It is a matter of written record that this engineer "securely fitted a brand new master socket to another location on the same wall. He also carried out a comprehensive line test and could not find a problem with [our] line".
On 15 September 2017 the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) forwarded to the Professional Standards Department of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) my complaint of serious misconduct against HMRC staff. By letter dated 21 September 2017, HMRC Internal Governance dismissed the complaint on the basis that further consideration was unnecessary.
In my previous blog post's update, I explain that Declan and I will be using my complaint yesterday to Home Secretary Amber Rudd about the Independent Police Complaints Commission to defend our tenancy, one way or another. Not only has Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs dismissed the above complaint of serious misconduct against HMRC staff, but yesterday we also received an email from the IPCC telling me that I have no right of appeal to them. The email states: "The IPCC only has remit over complaints against the HMRC when police like powers are used, e.g. raids on property etc." So why did the IPCC come looking for my consent last month to forward my complaint to the Professional Standards Department of HMRC? And why in that same email, and under my own case reference number, did they write: "If you are not happy with the HMRC decision on recording your complaint, you have the right to appeal to us." I appealed against the HMRC's investigation into my complaint, not the non-recording of my complaint by HMRC, as directed by the IPCC website. This is that now non-extant email from the IPCC of 15 September (for some strange reason the terms "police force" and "HMRC" are used interchangeably):
Your ref: 2017/091737
Dear Mrs Heavey
Thank you for contacting the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). We can confirm that we have noted the details of your complaint against the HMRC. The case reference number is 2017/091737.
Please accept our apology for the delay in sending you this response, this is due to a high volume of work currently being received by the Customer Contact Centre.
The IPCC is completely independent of the police service and is responsible for making sure that the police complaints system in England and Wales works effectively and fairly. However, each police force is responsible for considering complaints made against that force and for recording your complaint. If you are not happy with the HMRC decision on recording your complaint, you have the right to appeal to us.
We now need your permission, either by letter, phone, or email to pass details of your complaint to HMRC. Without your consent, we cannot pass on the details of a complaint to a force unless, in exceptional cases, the details of the complaint indicate that it is in the public interest to do so.
UPDATE 21 November (4.26pm): We haven't heard back from the Home Department about the IPCC (nor did we ever expect to). We have always been aware, however, that one way we could use my complaint to the Home Secretary dated 27 October would be as court exhibit to fight the non-renewal of our housing association tenancy next May: the complaint clearly shows that we have been unable even to secure our home address with HMRC four years into the tenancy itself. We were evicted from our previous flat on 14 March 2013 because according to our then live-in landlady's ex-husband, Dr Nigel McKenzie, a consultant psychiatrist in Highgate Mental Health Centre, our flat was needed for somebody with a mental illness. Former MI5 whistleblower David Shayler also lived with human rights activist Belinda McKenzie in the same political 'safe house' for a couple of years until 2007. According to BBC Panorama, Shayler "caused the biggest crisis of official secrecy since the spy catcher affair"; he was jailed for seven weeks in 2002 for breaking the Official Secrets Act. It is unfortunate that Shayler declared himself the Messiah in 2007, became a squatter, and was subsequently ridiculed in the press for changing his name to Delores Kane. A New Statesman article published in September 2006 featuring Shayler and Belinda gives no indication that Shayler believed he was the Messiah at that time; whilst a Daily Mail interview with him the following year reveals he believed himself to be Jesus by June 2007. He has never regained his normal self.
The Esquire article below* is mentioned in a Guardian article dated 27 March 2012. It is an eye-opener, highlighting the monitoring and surveillance that Shayler had to live with back in 2000, and the contradictory briefings and slanders that were coming out of the British establishment and the media. The author, Dr Eamonn O'Neill, is a lecturer in journalism at Strathclyde University.
*On 2 May 2013, Issuu removed this pdf from my Issuu account following a copyright complaint by Hearst Communications. I had uploaded the article to my Issuu account in December 2012. In March 2013, when last I checked, the article had been viewed more than 15,000 times. It can be read here.
BBC PANORAMA: The David Shayler Affair (August 1998)
Former MI5 whistleblower David Shayler "caused the biggest crisis of official secrecy since the spy catcher affair", according to BBC Panorama. He was jailed for seven weeks in 2002 for breaking the Official Secrets Act.
28 October (10.24am): 165 internet cuts since 26 May 2017.* We had to suspend work on our Church and State website on 15 June after 4 internet cuts in one night. With an all-time record breaking 7 cuts in one day by 4pm on 29 August; 14 cuts last month that included on 5 September our latest 1/2 hour removal from the internet plus the almost total shutdown of our BT TV service; no cuts since 13 October (as of 28 October at 10.24am).
1. 143rd 29 August 2017, 8.42am
2. 144th 29 August 2017, 9.54am
3. 145th 29 August 2017, 10.52am
4. 146th 29 August 2017, 11.38am
5. 147th 29 August 2017, 12.02pm
6. 148th 29 August 2017, 12.47pm
7. 149th 29 August 2017, 3.10pm
-----------------------------------------
10. 152nd 5 September 2017, 11.53am
11. 153rd 5 September 2017, 1.48pm
12. 154th 5 September 2017, 4.35pm
13. 155th 5 September 2017, 9.32pm (28 minutes+)
-----------------------------------------
23. 165th 13 October 2017, 8.50am
* 12 out of the first 18 internet cuts were within the first four days of a BT engineer's visit on 12 June. It is a matter of written record that this engineer "securely fitted a brand new master socket to another location on the same wall. He also carried out a comprehensive line test and could not find a problem with [our] line".
From the IPCC website: "If you are appealing against the investigation into your complaint, you will have received a letter from us acknowledging that we have received it and giving an indication of the likely time it will take for us to consider your appeal."
The police complaints system extends to a small number of organisations that are not police forces, including HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). On 15 September 2017 the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) forwarded to the Professional Standards Department of HMRC my complaint of serious misconduct against HMRC staff. I not only complained to the IPCC about HMRC Pay As You Earn and Self Assessment updating my address on 11 July 2017 without my permission (and in the full knowledge of the potential detrimental effect of this on my living situation, given that my address has not changed since May 2014), but I also complained about the then subsequent closure of my Self Assessment account based upon fabricated hearsay evidence which no independent judiciary would accept. On 23 September I appealed to the IPCC against the HMRC's investigation into my complaint; however, I have yet to receive from the IPCC what their website says is a letter acknowledging that they have received my appeal and giving an indication of the likely time it will take for them to consider it. The IPCC has also completely ignored my follow-up administrative complaint of 11 October, which I copied to IPCC Chair Dame Anne Owers, who has responsibility for ensuring the Commission meets its statutory responsibilities as a public body and is accountable to the Home Secretary. This therefore is my email this morning to Home Secretary Amber Rudd titled "Independent Police Complaints Commission's current non-compliance with its statutory responsibilities":
For the attention of Dame Anne Owers DBE, Chair, Independent Police Complaints Commission (by email and recorded post)
The Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP
Home Secretary
Home Office
On 23 September 2017 I appealed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) against the investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) into my complaint dated 12 August 2017, which the IPCC forwarded to the Professional Standards Department of HMRC. Please find attached a snapshot of the online acknowledgement I received immediately following my submission of my completed IPCC appeal form.
The IPCC website states: "If you are appealing against the investigation into your complaint, you will have received a letter from us acknowledging that we have received it and giving an indication of the likely time it will take for us to consider your appeal." I have evidently appealed to the IPCC against the investigation by HMRC into my complaint about serious misconduct by HMRC staff. However, I have yet to receive the Commission's letter acknowledging that they have received my appeal and giving an indication of the likely time it will take for the IPCC to consider the matter. I have also not received a response of any kind to my follow-up administrative complaint of 11 October 2017 cc'd to IPCC Chair Dame Anne Owers, who has responsibility for ensuring the Commission meets its statutory responsibilities as a public body and is accountable to the Home Secretary.
On 12 August 2017 I not only complained to the IPCC about HMRC Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Self Assessment updating my address on 11 July 2017 without my permission (and in the full knowledge of the potential detrimental effect of this on my living situation, given that my address has not changed since May 2014), but I also complained about the then subsequent closure of my Self Assessment account based upon fabricated hearsay evidence which no independent judiciary would accept. HMRC Internal Governance have made the decision that "there is no criminal action by any HMRC officer or readily identifiable potential gross misconduct matter". I disagree with the findings of HMRC's investigation because I feel that they haven't made the right decision based on all the evidence.
Firstly, I have taken issue with the updating of my address by HMRC PAYE and Self Assessment on 11 July 2017 without my permission. By email of 9 July 2017, I specifically informed HMRC PAYE and Self Assessment that my address had not changed and that such an update could result in the suspension of my husband's Housing Benefit. Nonetheless, HMRC PAYE and Self Assessment updated my address against my expressed wishes and with no regard for the detrimental effect this could have had on my living situation. By letter of 19 July 2017, Newham Council Benefits Service specifically informed my husband that the suspension of his Housing Benefit would be automatic should they receive notification of a change in my circumstance from either HMRC or the Department for Work and Pensions as a result of this update.
Secondly, I have taken issue with the then subsequent closure of my Self Assessment account by HMRC PAYE and Self Assessment based upon fabricated hearsay evidence. In a letter of 24 July 2017, HMRC PAYE and Self Assessment Customer Service Manager John Fitzpatrick wrote: "We previously asked you to complete Self Assessment tax returns because you told us that you would receive self-employed income. However, your 2015-16 return only included income of £2,967 from Network for Church Monitoring and as you had told us that this was PAYE income, we have closed your Self Assessment record." I have never told HMRC that I am self-employed, which I am not. I have also never told HMRC that my income as an employee of Network for Church Monitoring is PAYE income, which it is not (as untaxed earnings to date).
HMRC explain in their final decision letter that their update on 11 July 2017 "was to confirm your address as 71 Queens Road West, Plaistow, London E13 0PE, which we had previously noted in October 2014". I do not find this explanation in any way reassuring when it comes to ensuring that my address will only be updated again by HMRC in the event that HMRC PAYE and Self Assessment receive written confirmation from me. Further, HMRC PAYE and Self Assessment have reopened my Self Assessment account and updated their records to show that I am not self-employed, but they have been unable to provide me with any written evidence to support Mr Fitzpatrick's assertions in his letter of 24 July 2017. In fact, no reference is made to this letter from Mr Fitzpatrick in the final decision letter from HMRC.
I am looking for the IPCC to uphold my complaint against HMRC as a serious misconduct matter taking into account: (i) the updating of my address on 11 July 2017 without my permission (notwithstanding the potential detrimental effect of this on my living situation), and (ii) the then subsequent closure of my Self Assessment account based upon fabricated hearsay evidence which no independent judiciary would accept. This matter has caused my husband and me a lot of distress and inconvenience. Hearsay evidence aside, HMRC are well aware that government departments share information relating to their customer's personal details. Because of this, updates made by one department to a customer's address can flow to their records held by another department and can mean a quick suspension of Housing Benefit, which could run up hundreds in arrears in the space of a few weeks.
Please could you be of assistance in respect of IPCC's letter acknowledging that they have received my appeal and giving an indication of the likely time it will take for them to consider this matter. Surely the Commission fails to comply with its statutory responsibilities by ignoring an appellant's claim of serious misconduct against an organisation to which the police complaints system extends? And this is not to mention the fact that the aforementioned administrative complaint is also being ignored. It is not inconceivable that my case against HMRC could see the inside of a courtroom in the New Year, particularly if I cannot protect my home and situation from further misconduct by HMRC staff.
Yours sincerely,
Maria Heavey
Webmaster
Network for Church Monitoring
"Let me recommend an important web site - churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out." Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
UPDATE 28 October (10.29am): Now we have no right of appeal to the IPCC! Yesterday we received an email from them. It states: "The IPCC only has remit over complaints against the HMRC when police like powers are used, e.g. raids on property etc." We fail to understand why we were only told this yesterday and not two months back. We also wonder why the IPCC came looking for my consent last month to forward my complaint to the Professional Standards Department of HMRC; see my newer blog post this morning, Why did the Independent Police Complaints Commission come looking for my consent last month to forward my complaint to the Professional Standards Department of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs? (WITH UPDATE 28/10/2017). The result is that, as things currently stand, we will use my complaint above to the Home Secretary to defend our housing association tenancy. Nothing we have written to date does a better job at establishing that we have been unable even to secure our home address with HMRC four years into the tenancy itself. I also wasn't kidding when I told the Home Secretary that it's not inconceivable that my case against HMRC could see the inside of a courtroom in the New Year, particularly if I cannot protect my home and situation from further misconduct by HMRC staff. The last time our Housing Benefit was suspended following an address update on the HMRC website, Declan was forced to take quick action with this High Court pre-action letter to the Chief Executive of Newham Council in the face of running up hundreds in arrears in the space of a few weeks:
Click to enlarge
We are well familiar with the IPCC. For example, Declan complained to the IPCC about the police investigation into the removal of our flat door in 2012. It was the IPCC's finding on that occasion that since our then landlady had subsequently signed an undertaking to the County Court promising not to harass us, there was no requirement for the Metropolitan Police to take further action.
Re: Removal of our flat door
Paragraph 23(ii) of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
23(ii) On 21 August 2012, Ms McKenzie signed an undertaking to the County Court promising not to harass the Applicant and his wife following her builder's removal of the door to their flat (see Annex 9, p. 31). The Independent Police Complaints Commission later upheld the Applicant's appeal against the police investigation of the incident "on information only", stating that "no further action is required by the force in this instance".
'Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out.' Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty
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
_________________________
[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.
