Church and State blog: July 2017

Monday, July 24, 2017

Facebook remove a book excerpt from one of the Netherlands' leading public intellectuals (WITH UPDATE - DAY 18 10/8/2017)

Outrageous, of course.

Donald A. Collins, President, International Services Assistance Fund, Washington DC

Re: Internet cuts since 26 May 2017

From my earlier blog post's Update 9 August (8.50am):

"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 that Declan and I are dealing with these days. We have also been dealing with Internet cuts since 26 May. See my blog post of 21 June, Internet cuts: We pay £65 per month for BT Infinity but feel we are in a race against time to stay online (WITH UPDATE 9/8/2017 RE: 123rd Internet cut 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 a then unprecedented 6 internet cuts on 6 July; 6 cuts on 22 July; 6 cuts on 4 August; 3 cuts yesterday; none since midnight today (as of 9 August at 8.50am).

121st 8 August 2017, 2.02pm
122nd 8 August 2017, 3.24pm
123rd 8 August 2017, 10.45pm

The War on Free Expression

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2017/07/faith-and-ethics-abraham-and-isaac/

Dr Pascal Bruckner is one of France's leading public intellectuals. Last month Facebook prevented me from posting to our Facebook page a link to an excerpt from Dr Bruckner's book "The Tyranny of Guilt" (2012); see my blog post of 6 June, A book excerpt from one of France's leading public intellectuals disappears from our Facebook page three times. I have now posted it a fourth time and it has disappeared again (WITH UPDATE - Day 17 21/6/2017). That block lasted 16 days. Now Facebook is treating as spam an excerpt from Prof Paul Cliteur's book "The Secular Outlook" (2010). Prof Cliteur is one of the Netherlands' leading public intellectuals. He is professor of Jurisprudence at Leiden University, the oldest university in the Netherlands. This is my report to Facebook requesting the removal of this block:

For the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Facebook

24 July 2017

Dear Facebook,

I posted the following reply to your message in my Support Inbox (please find your message attached):

Please note that the link you are treating as spam is to an excerpt from Paul Cliteur's book "The Secular Outlook". Prof. Cliteur is one of the Netherlands' leading public intellectuals. He is professor of Jurisprudence at Leiden University, the Netherlands. "The Secular Outlook" is published by Wiley-Blackwell; see https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secular-Outlook-Political-Secularism-Philosophy/dp/1444335219.

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 every time I posted to my page a link to an excerpt from a book by Pascal Bruckner, one of France's leading public intellectuals, it disappeared from the page as soon as it was posted. I was unable to post the excerpt from Dr. Bruckner's book to my page until 21 June (a 16-day block).

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.

Regards,
Lola Heavey
https://www.facebook.com/networkforchurchmonitoring/

DAY 18 UPDATE 10 August (10.28pm): Facebook posted a reply message tonight. It reads: "We reviewed your 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." This therefore records as an unprecedented 18-day block against a single post; the second of its kind. It's also not uncommon for Facebook to stop me from posting Church and State articles directly to pages and/or groups. See my blog post of 19 June, Facebook's 21st block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015 (WITH UPDATE 10/8/2017).

From My Picks:

9 June: Ministry of Justice: Complaint to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice against the County Court at Central London, Royal Courts of Justice (WITH UPDATE - Day 13 21/6/2017)

'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

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Newham Council: Still no assurance from Newham Benefits Service that our Housing Benefit will not be suspended after HM Revenue and Customs update my address online without my authority (WITH UPDATE 28/7/2017)

Re: Internet cuts since 26 May 2017

From my earlier blog post's Update 28 July (8.37am):

"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 that Declan and I are dealing with these days. We have also been dealing with Internet cuts since 26 May. See my blog post of 21 June, Internet cuts: We pay £65 per month for BT Infinity but feel we are in a race against time to stay online (WITH UPDATE 28/7/2017 RE: 89th Internet cut 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 a then unprecedented 6 internet cuts on 6 July; 5 cuts on 18 July; 6 cuts on 22 July; 3 cuts yesterday; none since midnight today (as of 28 July at 8.37am).

The War on Free Expression

Last Thursday 13 July Newham Council confirmed that our Housing Benefit may be suspended as a result of the unauthorised updating on 11 July of my address online by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC); see my previous blog post of 13 July, HM Revenue and Customs: My Self-Assessment address has been updated by HMRC without my authority and Declan has just been informed by Newham Council that our Housing Benefit may be suspended as a result (WITH DOUBLE UPDATE 14/7/2017). Then last Friday, 14 July, Newham Benefits Service (NBS) told Declan that they had received his email below and that our Housing Benefit "is still open"; there was no assurance, though, that it won't be suspended.

For the attention of Kim Bromley-Derry, Chief Executive, Newham Council

Chris Boylett
Head of Newham Benefits Service
Newham Council

Address removed for email

14 July 2017

Housing Benefit Reference [number removed]

Dear Mr Boylett,

I refer to my wife's email to HMRC CEO Jon Thompson as below.

Please could you provide me with assurance that Newham Benefits Service will not suspend my Housing Benefit as a result of the unauthorised updating of my wife's address by HMRC on 11 July 2017.

I can confirm that my address has not changed. It has been effective from 17 May 2014, not 11 July 2017.

Yours sincerely,

Declan Heavey
Managing Director
Network for Church Monitoring

71 Queens Road West
Plaistow
London
E13 0PE

Mobile: 0788 043 7681
Email: dheavey@gmail.com

The last two times Declan has had to update his address with HMRC, Newham Council wrote that they suspended our Housing Benefit because the Department of Work and Pensions notified them that our address had changed. The first time this happened, last October, Declan was summoned to a full-blown investigation by NBS. He produced a bundle of 57 pages with a number of further documents, and was interrogated for over an hour and a half by a Senior Council Tax and Benefits Officer before our Housing Benefit was de-suspended. We have absolutely no idea what we could be looking at this time around. (Declan wrote the pre-action letter below in respect of the second such suspension last February.) Suspensions can also last any period of time and the tenant pursued for rent for the length of the suspension.

Click to enlarge

UPDATE 28 July (8.58am): The jury is still out on whether Newham Council will suspend our Housing Benefit. No response from NBS to Declan's email of 14 July above; nor from HMRC to my Tier 1 complaint of 9 July (two days before they went and updated my address without my authority), adding fuel to our narrative going forward that we are being harassed and distressed even by HMRC. We are still in two minds as to whether or not we should complain to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) about serious staff misconduct, on the part of HMRC, involving criminal or near criminal behaviour; see my blog post of 29 November 2016, Will it take the Independent Police Complaints Commission to protect our address with HM Revenue and Customs? (WITH UPDATE 22/12/2016). We are well familiar with the IPCC; for example, in 2012, Declan complained to the IPCC about the police investigation into the removal of our flat door.

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.

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".

Thursday, July 13, 2017

HM Revenue and Customs: My Self-Assessment address has been updated by HMRC without my authority and Declan has just been informed by Newham Council that our Housing Benefit may be suspended as a result (WITH DOUBLE UPDATE 14/7/2017)

Re: Internet cuts since 26 May 2017

From my earlier blog post's Update 14 July (9.16am):

"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 that Declan and I are dealing with these days. We have also been dealing with Internet cuts since 26 May. See my blog post of 21 June, Internet cuts: We pay £65 per month for BT Infinity but feel we are in a race against time to stay online (WITH UPDATE 14/7/2017 RE: 61st Internet cut 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. 4 internet cuts on 25 June; a record-breaking 6 cuts on 6 July; 4 cuts on 12 July; none since midnight today (as of 14 July at 9.16am).

The War on Free Expression

It is our narrative going forward that we are being harassed even by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). In my previous blog post, I published my Tier 1 complaint against HMRC after I discovered a stop on my mail (see their note in bold in the first snapshot above). I told them that my address had not changed since 17 May 2014 and therefore did not require updating. I also informed them that such an update could result in the suspension of our Housing Benefit; the last two times Declan has had to update his address with HMRC, Newham Council wrote that they suspended our Housing Benefit because the Department for Work and Pensions notified them that our address had changed. Nonethless, HMRC have gone and updated my address without my authority (see the second snapshot above). It remains to be seen what, if any, effect this email of mine to HMRC CEO Jon Thompson will have on matters:

For the attention of Chris Boylett, Head of Newham Benefits Service, Newham Council

Jon Thompson
Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary
HM Revenue and Customs

Address removed for email

13 July 2017

Tax Reference [number removed]
Housing Benefit Reference [number removed]

Dear Mr Thompson,

Newham Benefits Service (NBS) has confirmed that my husband's Housing Benefit may be suspended as a result of an unauthorised updating of my address by HMRC on 11 July 2017. Please find attached an ACR recording of his phone call to NBS this morning.

Please would you provide me with a letter stating that HMRC will not update my address again without my authorisation. As stated in my Tier 1 complaint below, my home address has not changed since 17 May 2014.

Yours sincerely,

Maria Dolores Heavey
UTR: [number removed]

M: 0788 043 7681
E: dheavey@gmail.com

UPDATE 14 July (10.57am): This morning Declan wrote directly to Head of Newham Benefits Service Chris Boylett for assurance that our Housing Benefit will not be suspended. We think it unlikely that HMRC will provide us with a letter stating that they will not update my address again without my authorisation. This means that we are looking at having to go through their complaints process (Tier 1, Tier 2 and Independent Adjudicator), and then make a complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman; that is, if we decide not to complain to the Independent Police Complaints Commission about serious staff misconduct involving criminal or near criminal behaviour; see my blog post of 29 November 2016, Will it take the Independent Police Complaints Commission to protect our address with HM Revenue and Customs? (WITH UPDATE 22/12/2016).

Dear Mr Boylett,

I refer to my wife's email to HMRC CEO Jon Thompson as below.

Please could you provide me with assurance that Newham Benefits Service will not suspend my Housing Benefit as a result of the unauthorised updating of my wife's address by HMRC on 11 July 2017.

I can confirm that my address has not changed. It has been effective from 17 May 2014, not 11 July 2017.

Yours sincerely,

Declan Heavey
Managing Director
Network for Church Monitoring

UPDATE 14 July (11.42am): Declan has just phoned Newham Benefits Service (NBS). He was told that his email to Chris Boylett above has been received and that our Housing Benefit "is still open"; there was no assurance, though, that it won't be suspended. Still no response from HMRC to my Tier 1 complaint dated 9 July, two days before they went and updated my address without my authority; see my previous blog post of 9 July, We're back again to HM Revenue and Customs: Is it the intention of HMRC to harass me to have their stop on my mail removed? (WITH DOUBLE UPDATE 10/7/2017).

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

Sunday, July 09, 2017

We're back again to HM Revenue and Customs: Is it the intention of HMRC to harass me to have their stop on my mail removed? (WITH DOUBLE UPDATE 10/7/2017)

Re: Internet cuts since 26 May 2017

From my earlier blog post's Update 10 July (9.06am):

"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 that Declan and I are dealing with these days. We have also been dealing with Internet cuts since 26 May. See my blog post of 21 June, Internet cuts: We pay £65 per month for BT Infinity but feel we are in a race against time to stay online (WITH UPDATE 10/7/2017 RE: 56th Internet cut 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. 4 internet cuts on 25 June; a record-breaking 6 cuts on 6 July; 3 cuts yesterday; none since midnight today (as of 10 July at 9.06am).

The War on Free Expression

On Friday Declan complained to Royal Mail about the treatment of our incoming mail; see my previous blog post, Complaint to the CEO of Royal Mail: Has Royal Mail declared open warfare on our incoming mail? And this question is raised on top of Internet cuts that are going out of control (WITH UPDATE 10/7/2017). Then this Sunday evening I find myself emailing HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) after discovering a stop to any automated correspondence being issued by them to my address.

From HMRC: "HM Revenue & Customs has been unable to deliver mail to you. Please update your address."

For the attention of Jon Thompson, Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary of HM Revenue and Customs

Complaints Service (PAYE and SA)
Tier 1
HM Revenue and Customs

Address removed for email

9 July 2017

Tax Reference [number removed]

Dear Operational Manager,

I wish to complain that I have been asked on my online account to update my address (please see my name and address box).

I hereby confirm that my current mailing address remains as follows:

Mrs Maria Dolores Heavey
71 Queens Road West
Plaistow
London
E13 0PE

This has been my home address since 17 May 2014; therefore, my address does not require updating. This is not to mention the fact that such an update could trigger the suspension of my husband's Housing Benefit (please see the email and attachment below). Please could you have the offending note removed.

Alternatively, I respectfully request that HMRC show that this cannot reasonably be regarded as a reasonable course of action.

Yours faithfully,

Maria Dolores Heavey
UTR: [number removed]

M: 0788 043 7681
E: dheavey@gmail.com

UPDATE 10 July (12.38pm): HMRC are still insisting on my online account that I update my address, notwithstanding the threat to our Housing Benefit if I do so. (According to Newham Council, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HMRC are tied into the oneSource service they share with Havering and Bexley Councils. The last two times Declan has had to update his address with HMRC, Newham Council wrote that they suspended our Housing Benefit because the DWP notified them that our address had changed.) This morning Declan received this response from Samuel Ford of Royal Mail's Chairman and Chief Executive Office:

Dear Mr Heavey

Thank you for your email on Friday 7th July – I was unable to respond as I was not in the office.

I’m sorry that you have had cause to contact us again to report a problem with the delivery of your mail. It is clear that we let you down once more – and it is especially disappointing that it has occurred despite the action already taken with your previous complaints.

I have therefore contacted senior management in your area to take a top-down approach to this complaint. This method of reporting makes the most senior relevant manager aware of the incident so that patterns are stopped before the problem becomes endemic.

Please be assured that I do understand the severity of this issue, and I am doing everything I can to ensure we get this fixed for you.

I will write as soon as I am able – but if you need anything else from Royal Mail in the meantime please just let me know.

Kind regards

Samuel Ford
Royal Mail - Chairman and Chief Executive Office

UPDATE 10 July (6.05pm): HMRC still have not removed their stop on my mail. Declan has been informed by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) that my complaint will have to go through HMRC's complaints process (Tier 1, Tier 2 and Independent Adjudicator) before the PHSO will consider the matter. There's no telling from this e-letter of acknowledgement what we are looking at in terms of HMRC:

Perhaps it will be our narrative going forward that we are being harassed even by HMRC; see my blog post of 29 November 2016, Will it take the Independent Police Complaints Commission to protect our address with HM Revenue and Customs? (WITH UPDATE 22/12/2016).

Friday, July 07, 2017

Complaint to the CEO of Royal Mail: Has Royal Mail declared open warfare on our incoming mail? And this question is raised on top of Internet cuts that are going out of control (WITH DOUBLE UPDATE 10/7/2017)

A record-breaking six internet cuts in one day yesterday, and today started none the better. On 31 May Declan was assured by Samuel Ford of Royal Mail's Chairman and Chief Executive Office that incidents of 'door stepping' would stop; see my blog post of 19 May, Royal Mail: Complaint to the CEO of Royal Mail about 'door-stepping' incidents following the loss of our employment contracts to the United States (WITH UPDATE 23/5/2017). Nonetheless, this morning we found two letters addressed to Declan on the floor in the upstairs communal hall (all tenants have their own letter box). Declan copied Royal Mail CEO Moya Greene into his latest complaint this morning:

For the attention of Moya Greene, Chief Executive, Royal Mail

Samuel Ford
Chairman and Chief Executive Office
Royal Mail

Address removed for email

7 July 2017

Dear Mr Ford,

Further to your email of 31 May as below. Please note that my mail was delivered to the communal hall again this morning.

Please could you take action to remedy this ongoing breach of your policy and procedures.

Yours sincerely,

Declan Heavey

UPDATE 10 June (9.10am): No response from Royal Mail to Declan's email above. We had hoped this email from Moya Greene last May meant we would receive all future mail through our letter box:

Dear Mr Heavey

Thank you for your e-mail. I am sorry to hear that you have had problems with the handling of your enquiry and have asked my senior team to look into this for you straightaway.

Yours sincerely

Moya Greene
Chief Executive Officer

UPDATE 10 June (10.48am): Declan has just received this response from Samuel Ford:

Dear Mr Heavey

Thank you for your email on Friday 7th July – I was unable to respond as I was not in the office.

I’m sorry that you have had cause to contact us again to report a problem with the delivery of your mail. It is clear that we let you down once more – and it is especially disappointing that it has occurred despite the action already taken with your previous complaints.

I have therefore contacted senior management in your area to take a top-down approach to this complaint. This method of reporting makes the most senior relevant manager aware of the incident so that patterns are stopped before the problem becomes endemic.

Please be assured that I do understand the severity of this issue, and I am doing everything I can to ensure we get this fixed for you.

I will write as soon as I am able – but if you need anything else from Royal Mail in the meantime please just let me know.

Kind regards

Samuel Ford
Royal Mail - Chairman and Chief Executive Office

The question for us now is what difficulties we are about to encounter with HM Revenue and Customs; see my newer blog post yesterday, We're back again to HM Revenue and Customs: Is it the intention of HMRC to harass me to have their stop on my mail removed? (WITH UPDATE 10/7/2017).

From My Picks:

8 May 2018: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today we are cut off the internet for a half an hour

'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

Wednesday, July 05, 2017

EDF Energy: Our incoming post targeted too? (WITH UPDATE - DAY 12 7/7/2017)

Re: Internet cuts since 26 May 2017

From my earlier blog post's Update 7 July (8.14am):

"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 that Declan and I are dealing with these days. We have also been dealing with Internet cuts since 26 May. See my blog post of 21 June, Internet cuts: We pay £65 per month for BT Infinity but feel we are in a race against time to stay online (WITH UPDATE 7/7/2017 RE: 50th Internet cut 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. 4 internet cuts on 25 June; a record-breaking 6 cuts in one day yesterday; none since midnight today (as of 7 July at 8.14am).

The War on Free Expression

We have been waiting for our EDF electricity bill through the post since EDF produced the bill on Monday of last week. This morning Declan will report the matter to EDF's Executive Liaison Team under complaint reference number 282884655; see my blog post of 24 June, EDF Energy: Complaint to the CEO of EDF Energy about electricity smart meter readings (WITH UPDATE 26/6/2017). All we know is that we have not changed the instruction on our EDF MyAccount service to receive bills through the post. Perhaps our incoming post has been targeted too; see my blog post of 19 May, Royal Mail: Complaint to the CEO of Royal Mail about 'door-stepping' incidents following the loss of our employment contracts to the United States (WITH UPDATE 23/5/2017).

DAY 12 UPDATE 7 July (8.22am): We received our latest EDF bill yesterday evening by recorded post. However, this morning we found two letters addressed to Declan on the floor in the upstairs communal hall (all tenants have their own letter box). This incidence of 'door stepping' was commonplace a couple of months ago; see my newer blog post this morning, Complaint to the CEO of Royal Mail: Has Royal Mail declared open warfare on our incoming mail? And this question is raised on top of Internet cuts that are going out of control (WITH UPDATE 7/7/2017). We had hoped this email from Royal Mail CEO Moya Greene last May meant we would receive all future mail through our letter box:

Dear Mr Heavey

Thank you for your e-mail. I am sorry to hear that you have had problems with the handling of your enquiry and have asked my senior team to look into this for you straightaway.

Yours sincerely

Moya Greene
Chief Executive Officer

'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

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