Our emails now are getting through to no one, not to Nobel laureates or even our closest colleagues. Declan will keep trying to get through to Nobel laureates with the use of his mobile phone (WITH UPDATE 22/4/2019)
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population." Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see Cliteur, 2010).
Declan is well used to using his mobile phone to get emails through to people, but seldom have we had to deal with a total blockade on our outgoing email. Yesterday I received an email from a colleague in America. He wrote: "Lola--hope you and Declan are okay--haven't heard from you for weeks." I wrote back that I had emailed him a number of times this month; however, according to my email tracker, neither he nor another colleague has seen the email. Yesterday I also emailed a Nobel laureate for permission to republish one of his articles, but he hasn't seen my email either. A total blockade on our outgoing email is unusual but the interception of our email is something we have been complaining about without success since 2008.
Re: Email Interception
Paragraph 42 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
42. The Applicant further complains that the extent of the interference with his and his wife's emails resulted in 2011 in the shelving of the Applicant's petition to the United Nations in support of embryonic stem cell research, which had by then been signed by 29 Nobel laureates as well as hundreds of other distinguished scholars from around the world. In April 2010, an American professor wrote to Minister Featherstone: "I am truly appalled by the unlawful violation of the Heavey's basic right to send and receive email without interference. I would be most grateful for anything you may be able to do by way of taking measures to correct this gross abuse." Despite the Minister's subsequent letter to then Home Secretary Theresa May (see para. 6 above), it is still not uncommon for the Applicant to have to make phone calls to try to get emails through to people. The Applicant has also amassed irrefutable evidence relating to problems with mail delivery (both incoming and outgoing). Most recently, in May 2017, the Applicant complained to Royal Mail about the mishandling of his and his wife's incoming mail following the loss of their employment contracts to the United States. He had repeatedly complained about mail not being put through their letter box before he received £30 in compensation from Royal Mail and an assurance from the Royal Mail Chief Executive's Office that "the actions taken will prevent this happening again".
Paragraph 42 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
42. The Applicant further complains that the extent of the interference with his and his wife's emails resulted in 2011 in the shelving of the Applicant's petition to the United Nations in support of embryonic stem cell research, which had by then been signed by 29 Nobel laureates as well as hundreds of other distinguished scholars from around the world. In April 2010, an American professor wrote to Minister Featherstone: "I am truly appalled by the unlawful violation of the Heavey's basic right to send and receive email without interference. I would be most grateful for anything you may be able to do by way of taking measures to correct this gross abuse." Despite the Minister's subsequent letter to then Home Secretary Theresa May (see para. 6 above), it is still not uncommon for the Applicant to have to make phone calls to try to get emails through to people. The Applicant has also amassed irrefutable evidence relating to problems with mail delivery (both incoming and outgoing). Most recently, in May 2017, the Applicant complained to Royal Mail about the mishandling of his and his wife's incoming mail following the loss of their employment contracts to the United States. He had repeatedly complained about mail not being put through their letter box before he received £30 in compensation from Royal Mail and an assurance from the Royal Mail Chief Executive's Office that "the actions taken will prevent this happening again".
Click to enlarge
UPDATE 22 April (9.45am): We are still not getting emails through to Nobel laureates or even to our closest colleagues. In fact, we can no longer tell when, if at all, anyone will receive an email from either one of us. I recorded on 21 February that 68 Nobel laureates out of those Declan has emailed since 3 January had not seen their email. Before 31 March, only 24 out of his 187 resends had been read (see below). Since that date, Declan has been trying to email Nobel laureates a second time (22 unread emails) as well as those who have not heard from him previously (75 unread emails). Only one out of the 20 emails sent to Nobel laureates on 18 April has been read. That same day one email to a Nobel laureate was read a record-breaking two weeks after it was sent. And we have just experienced Facebook's 58th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015, and, as usual, without an explanation. Despite opposition from Facebook, Church and State topped more than 3 million hits in 11 months from January to November 2017. Subsequently, Facebook's blocks against the site have gone from 47 days in 2017 to 179 days in 2018 plus 37 days this year. Nonetheless, we get hundreds of thousands of hits - over 2 million hits in 2018 despite the equivalent of six months of these blocks; and 1.6 million hits this year despite over one month of the same blocks. About 70% of our hits are from Americans.
On 21 February 68 Nobel Laureates out of those Declan has emailed since 3 January had not seen their email.
Emails resent to Nobel Laureates
21 February: 25 emails resent, 21 unread (4 read)
22 February: 27 emails resent, 23 unread (4 read)
25 February: 46 emails resent, 43 unread (3 read)
26 February: 2 emails resent, 2 phone calls, 1 unread (1 read)
1 March: 5 emails resent, 5 unread (0 read)
2 March: 5 emails resent, 4 unread (1 read)
3 March: 8 emails resent, 5 unread (3 read)
4 March: 8 emails resent, 6 unread (2 read)
5 March: 11 emails resent, 10 unread (1 read)
6 March: 8 emails resent, 7 unread (1 read)
7 March: 10 emails resent, 10 unread (0 read)
8 March: 10 emails resent, 9 unread (1 read)
30 March: 22 emails resent, 19 unread (3 read)
Totals: 187 emails resent, 2 phone calls, 163 unread (24 read)
The above statistics apply to those Nobel laureates recorded on 21 February as not having read Declan's email. Since 31 March, Declan has been trying to email Nobel laureates a second time (22 unread emails) as well as those who have not heard from him previously (75 unread emails).
Not included in the figures above is an email to a Nobel Laureate on 4 March confirming his listing as an Honorary Associate that went unread. This now has happened four times this year, most recently on 1 April.
On 6 January the three out of eight emails to professors that were not read were to Nobel laureates. On 18 April one email to a Nobel laureate was read a record-breaking two weeks after it was sent.
The category pages in Church and State are under attack daily to fluctuating extent. (SiteGround is paid $1,000 per year to host the site and manage the server.) For example, as I point out in my newer post about Royal Mail's service, all three of the articles below have over 1/2 million Facebook likes/shares, not zero. This morning the first article stands at 829K, the second article at 634K, and the third article at 627K. Our 5 Most Popular articles have 3.4 million likes/shares between them.
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