Declan barred from the IT centre at The (Church of England) Connection

Last Friday Declan was barred from accessing the IT centre at The Connection at St. Martin-in-the-Fields (“St.Martin's”), which he had been using almost every day since the beginning of August to print copies of our CVs and requests for application forms and fight for the reinstatement of his joint claim for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). The Connection is a Church of England homeless centre situated at St. Martin-in-the-Fields – one of the most famous non-cathedral churches in London. According to Wikipedia, St. Martin-in-the-Fields is “famous for its work with homeless people through The Connection at St Martin's which shares with The Vicar's Relief Fund the money raised each year by the BBC Radio 4 Appeal's Christmas appeal”.

On 28 April 2008, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, spoke at a special Service of Thanksgiving to celebrate the renewal of the church: in January 2006, work began on a £36 million renewal project; the Church of England got the money through public appeals and a grant of £15.35 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Anyway, you can read the Archbishop’s sermon on his website, but what interests us in particular is one of the notes which appears at the bottom of the sermon:

More specifically, among the many aspects of Christian ministry at St Martin's, there is a long tradition of caring for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness. This work continues with the Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields, formed in April 2003 from a merger between St Martin-in-the-Fields Social Care Unit (working with rough sleepers and other vulnerable homeless people) and the London Connection (which helped young homeless people).

Furthermore, the Connection website also explains that in its IT Centre (“the Workspace”) users can get job search support like CV preparation, internet search, etc. The webpage states: “Since 1990, the Workspace team has provided employment training and education support for homeless people, people in temporary accommodation and people at risk of becoming homeless.” Well, I am puzzled! For more than 2 1/2 years (from 3 November 2006 to 13 July 2009) we slept rough on the streets of London, having been put there by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) because Declan did not “sign on” two days before he was actually due to do so (see “About us”). Moreover, for the last three months the DWP has given us an absolute nightmare (see, for example, blog of 7 October “After a huge run-around, the Department for Work and Pensions denies me a Crisis Loan”).

Declan was also getting lunch at the Connection – although it costs about £1.50, there is always a queue because many homeless people are receiving benefits (we only received notification of the reinstatement of Declan's joint claim JSA on Saturday). We were also puzzled when on 19 August the Providence Row charity denied us access to food by effectively barring us from entering their Dellow Day Centre in the morning (a coffee in the afternoon is fine!). Declan lodged a formal complaint of discrimination against the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy with the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Archbishop Vincent Nichols (see here); having received nothing by way of reply, he took his complaint on 23 September to the Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain, Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz (see here); and finally he wrote to Pope Benedict XVI (see here). Shortly after Declan wrote to the pope, the papal nuncio replied (see here) ... to zero effect!

Perhaps also revealing is that Declan and I have been barred from the Methodist Church Whitechapel Day Mission. On 18 June 2007, the minister’s wife barred us due to concerns about our safety following an unprovoked assault on me in the canteen by another homeless woman (crime reference no. 4217341/07; see blog of 18 June 2007 “Assault and bar in the Whitechapel Mission”). Despite that the Whitechapel Mission’s website states that homeless people are not barred or excluded and that Declan wrote by registered post to the minister himself and to the then head of the Methodist Church of Great Britain, Rev. Graham Carter, we were never readmitted.

For the record, this is the email that Declan sent last Saturday to the CEO of The Connection Colin Glover (the letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to which Declan refers is published here):

Subject: The Connection at St. Martin-in-the-Fields

Dear Mr. Glover,

I refer to the attached copy of my email of complaint of 15 October to your IT floor supervisor, Ms. Diana Cimpanu ("ComplaintCSTM(15.10.09)”), which I copied to you together with the attachment therein referred to, namely, my email letter of 7 October to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions The Rt. Hon. Yvette Cooper MP regarding the reinstatement of my joint claim for Jobseeker's Allowance (see attachment “Cooper(7.10.09)”).

I wish to confirm that yesterday I was denied access to computers and photocopier in the Connection at St. Martin's by your IT manager Bill (surname withheld), which I had been using since the beginning of August to access my Google Mail account (that is, when possible to do so, see attachment “ComplaintCSTM(15.10.09)”), print CVs and requests for application forms, and photocopying documentation relating to the reinstatement of my joint claim for Jobseeker's Allowance.

You will note that I am once again taking the time to copy the Chief Executive of Providence Row Jo Ansell into my current situation. As I mentioned in the aforementioned email of 15 October to Ms. Cimpanu, it was Ms. Ansell who, on 19 August, denied my wife and me access to food in the Dellow Day Centre run by the Sisters of Mercy in spite of our unstable circumstances (see attachment "Cooper(7.10.09)").

Perhaps you would be so kind as to forward this email and its attachments to the Justice of the Peace in the City of London Lady Diana Brittan, Chair of the Connection at St. Martin's. Ultimately, I will be lodging a formal complaint with the Archbishop of Canterbury His Grace Rowan Williams; by which time I expect to have an alternative contact address for Lady Justice Brittan.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey

Email: dheavey@gmail.com

Home address:
83 Priory Gardens
London N6 5QU

cc Lady Diana Brittan, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Connection at St. Martin's
Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Master of the Salters' Company
His Excellency Most Rev. Faustino Sainz Muñoz, Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain
His Grace Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster
Sr. Coirle McCarthy, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy
His Grace The Duke of Norfolk, Patron of Providence Row
Alderman Sir Michael Oliver, Vice President of Providence Row
Mr. Simon Bartley, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Providence Row
Ms. Jo Ansell, Chief Executive of Providence Row
Mr. Howard Sinclair, Chief Executive of Broadway Homelessness and Support
Superintendent Lorraine Cussen, Snow Hill Police Station

And this is the email that Declan sent last Thursday to the Workspace supervisor, Diana Cimpanu:

Subject: The Connection at St. Martin-in-the-Fields

Dear Ms. Cimpanu,

I refer to our conversations this morning and wish to reconfirm that between 11.15am and 12.00 noon I was unable to access my Google Mail account from the Connection at St. Martin's. I attach copy of my email letter of 7 October to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions The Rt. Hon. Yvette Cooper MP, to which I was unable to gain access.

I regret that I am unable to provide you with a list of the particular days and times I have experienced this anomaly at your day centre since the beginning of August. However, as I told you, this week it has been particularly bad and getting progressively worse; moreover, I have yet to hear another client of yours complain of any such difficulty. In future I will keep accurate and daily records of the time I spend on your computers and any difficulties I experience accessing the internet, for your future reference.

You will note that I am taking the time to copy the Chief Executive of Providence Row Jo Ansell into my current situation. As I have previously explained to you, it was Ms. Ansell who, on 19 August, denied my wife and me access to food in the Dellow Day Centre run by the Sisters of Mercy in spite of our unstable circumstances (see attachment "Cooper(7.10.09)"). I am also copying this email and attachment to, among others, the Justice of the Peace in the City of London Lady Diana Brittan, Chair of the Connection at St. Martin's c/o the Chief Executive of the Connection at St. Martin's Colin Glover at info@cstm.org.uk. (To compound our difficulties, we our in possession since 14 October of neither a tenancy agreement nor a rent book, despite our repeated requests from our live-in landlady for both items.)

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey

Email: dheavey@gmail.com

Home address:
83 Priory Gardens
London N6 5QU

cc Lady Diana Brittan, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Connection at St. Martin's
Mr. Colin Glover, Chief Executive of the Connection at St Martin's
Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Master of the Salters' Company
His Excellency Most Rev. Faustino Sainz Muñoz, Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain
His Grace Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster
Sr. Coirle McCarthy, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy
His Grace The Duke of Norfolk, Patron of Providence Row
Alderman Sir Michael Oliver, Vice President of Providence Row
Mr. Simon Bartley, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Providence Row
Ms. Jo Ansell, Chief Executive of Providence Row
Mr. Howard Sinclair, Chief Executive of Broadway Homelessness and Support
Superintendent Lorraine Cussen, Snow Hill Police Station

Idea Store Whitechapel library blocks my laptop from accessing the Internet

Well, it seems obstacles just keep coming our way: in yesterday’s blog, I published a letter that Declan wrote to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions concerning the difficulties we are experiencing trying to get the benefits we are entitled to - and this after the Department for Work and Pensions unlawfully put us the street for more than 2 1/2 years; in the blog of last Wednesday (see here), I published a letter Declan wrote to the Papal Nuncio in London about his formal complaint of discrimination against the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy - for denying us access to food!

Today I had to put away my laptop because Tower Hamlets Council’s Idea Store Whitechapel library - where I have been doing all my work since we were put to the street in November 2006 - restricted my access to their network to “local only” (a first), effectively blocking my access to the Internet. I didn’t see anybody else raising the issue with a member of staff. Anyway, I am unlucky: the technician is away for the day and no other staff member “has the expertise” to deal with my query. Next time, Declan will write to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council, Councillor Lutfur Rahman (see blog of 13 May “Letter to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council”).

So much for the work I had hoped to do on “War on Terror” today - I have been sent some amazing stuff from a conference that was held in Buenos Aires a couple of weeks ago; of course, now I'm twice as interested! This is the email Declan sent to the manager of the library a moment ago:

Subject: Idea Store Whitechapel

Dear Mr. Ali,

I wish to confirm that at 1.00pm my wife brought to the attention of a member of your staff that she didn't have access to the Internet via her laptop. At 1.30pm, a member of staff explained to her that the technician is away for the day and that there is no-one else in the IT Department that has the expertise to explain to her why she is the only person in the library whose access to the Idea Store network has been restricted to "local only".

I can confirm that as at this moment (3.00pm) no Internet access has been restored to my wife on her laptop, and a member of staff has only spoken further to her to reconfirm that nothing can be done to rectify the situation today.

I present below a copy of my email to you on 21 September.

Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey

cc Ms. Heather Bonfield, Head of Cultural Services

----------------------

21 September 2009

Subject: Idea Store Whitechapel

Dear Mr. Ali,

I wish to confirm that at 5.30pm this evening my wife brought to the attention of a member of your staff that her access to the Internet via her laptop had slowed down to an almost standstill. She inquired of this member of staff if she was the only user experiencing such difficulties, as no announcements had been made and no other user seemed to be having problems using the Idea Store network. I can confirm that as at this moment (6.45pm) no Internet access has been restored to my wife, nor has any member of staff spoken further to her.

Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey

Letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

This morning, Declan wrote once again to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Yvette Cooper, about the difficulties we are experiencing trying to get the benefits we are entitled to - and this after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) unlawfully put us the street for more than 2 1/2 years. All is explained in letter below, but in sum, we are being paid half our benefit entitlement since 17 July because the DWP has effectively lost my National Insurance number and will not reissue me with another one. I should perhaps mention that in the previous blog I publish an Open Letter that Declan wrote to the Papal Nuncio in London, Rev. Faustino Sainz Muñoz, regarding his formal complaint of discrimination against the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy: on 19 August, the Providence Row charity run by the Sisters of Mercy denied us access to food! This is the email letter Declan just sent to Cooper:

Subject: Reinstatement of my joint claim for Jobseeker's Allowance

Dear Secretary of State,

I refer to previous correspondence, in particular my registered letters to you of 9 and 21 September. I attach copy of my complaint of 23 September that I lodged with His Excellency Most Rev. Faustino Sainz Muñoz, Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain, against the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy for unlawful discrimination involving the Chief Executive of Providence Row, Mrs. Jo Ansell (see attachment “Complaint(23.9.09)”). The letter opens as follows:

On 19 August 2009, my wife and I were denied access to food in the Dellow Centre of Providence Row of the RC Diocese of Westminster because, according to a Providence Row letter of 18 August, our “room/flat” is deemed by the charity “to be stable accommodation”.

With regard to the reinstatement of my joint claim for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) - which originally ran from July 2005 until it was terminated on 27 September 2006 because I did not "sign on" two days before I was due to so on 29 September 2006 - I reconfirm that Broadway Homelessness and Support ("Broadway") gathered on 31 July 2009 more specific details from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about my benefits claim of 17 July 2009. I was informed by Broadway that although my part of the claim had been processed (and £101.05 for the period 17 July to 30 July subsequently paid on 11 August), my wife's part of the claim has been suspended from the outset of the claim because the DWP has effectively lost her National Insurance Number (NINO), and consequently she needs to reissued a NINO before her part of the claim can be processed. (On 18 June 2008, I was robbed in the canteen of the Dellow Centre of all my and my wife's money and documents, crime reference no. 4215697/08; I was informed at Bow Road police station on 24 June 2008 that the case had been struck out due to the police being unable to obtain any CCTV footage whatsoever from Providence Row (see attachment "Ansell(25.6.08)").)

In numerous emails to the Chief Executive of Broadway, Mr. Howard Sinclair, which I copied to you for information, I pointed out that am also in receipt of a letter of 4 August from Haringey Council in respect of my claim for Housing Benefit, informing me that I must (a) tell them my wife's NINO and provide proof that it belongs to her by submitting a letter or form issued by the DWP, and (b) provide current proof of my wife's JSA by way of a recent letter from the DWP showing my current address. The Council advises in this letter that I must provide them with both of these proofs before 4 September or my claim for Housing Benefit may be suspended. We have subsequently received nothing in writing from Haringey Council to indicate that my claim for Housing Benefit remains open until the outcome of my joint claim JSA.

I can confirm that my wife has yet to be reissued the NINO - her initial appointment for 3 September at Camden NINO Jobcentre was cancelled due to "a regular clerical error", according to Broadway (see attachment "Broadway(8.9.09)"); she was subsequently interviewed on 10 September, but informed that it could take several weeks for the NINO to be reissued. Moreover, I understand that the DWP continue to be of no assistance to Broadway in providing the letter I am seeking that confirms that the payments of £128.60 I received on 18 August (for the period 31 July to 13 August) and 28 August (for the period 14 August to 27 August) are "hardship payments" for 2 persons - and not payments of my wife's JSA, which I only learnt from Broadway on 2 September is still suspended. I have repeatedly requested of Broadway that I be advised as to how long this letter will take to be processed and sent out. On 8 September, I received a reply from Mr. James Laurie for and on behalf of the charity, stating: "I will be in touch when I have heard back from the Jobcentre regarding the letter confirming hardship payments" (see attachment "Broadway(8.9.09)").

On 14 September, Broadway made inquiries of the DWP as to why my wife and I had received no benefit payment of any description from the DWP for the period 28 August to 10 September, but the DWP was unwilling to discuss my claim with them because they were not "sitting with the claimant" (see attachment "Broadway(14.9.09)"). I attended Broadway Head Office on 15 September to call the DWP to ask them whether the NINO had been allocated and where things stood with my claim. I was informed by the DWP that there was "no information" on my wife's NINO, and that £128.60 in payment of my JSA (not a hardship payment for 2 persons) would be lodged to our account later that day. Accordingly, my wife attended Broadway Head Office on 16 September to apply for her third Crisis Loan (our fourth in total) on top of the £230 we already owed the DWP in crisis loans since 20 July. She requested £40 for the period 16 September to 29 September (2 weeks), but was denied by the DWP because they did not have a NINO in her name. On 17 September, she again applied for a crisis loan, this time with both Broadway’s and my assistance, but was told that £128.60 was deemed by the DWP to be enough money for two people to survive on for a two-week period, the previous two crisis loans in her name of £70 (for the period 3 August to 16 August) and £20 (for the period 18 August to 24 August) notwithstanding.

We now have a very serious set of circumstances that may result in us being forced to return to sleeping rough at Salters' Hall. To further exacerbate the situation, I continue to be denied access to food in the Dellow Centre, despite my repeated protestations to the Archbishop of Westminster, His Grace Archbishop Vincent Nichols, and the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy, Sr. Coirle McCarthy, about our unstable circumstances. The DWP terminated our benefits in September 2006 because I did not sign up early enough – even though both my wife and I were doing so in a timely fashion; and I exhausted the appeals process from the street: my case was dismissed by the High Court (Judicial Review), Court of Appeal and European Court of Human Rights in spite of the fact that I was denied the internal appeal process by procedural impropriety on the part of the enforcement authority. That we are now dealing with a series of obvious "mistakes" (however deliberate), I cannot imagine what would motivate the authorities to repeatedly deny us benefits to which we are entitled.

You will note that I am taking the time to once again copy Superintendent Lorraine Cussen of Snow Hill Police Station into my current situation. As I mentioned in my registered letter to you of 9 September, it was Superintendent Cussen who, as the supervisory police officer who is overseeing Operation Poncho II within the City of London Police, suggested that I seek the assistance of Broadway (see attachment "Cussen(13.7.09)"). I am also copying this email and attachments to, among others, the former Law Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Master of the Salters’ Company c/o the Clerk to the Salters’ Company at clerk@salters.co.uk.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
NI no. -------------------

Email: dheavey@gmail.com

Home address:
83 Priory Gardens
London N6 5QU

cc Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Master of the Salters' Company
His Excellency Most Rev. Faustino Sainz Muñoz, Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain
His Grace Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster
Sr. Coirle McCarthy, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy
His Grace The Duke of Norfolk, Patron of Providence Row
Alderman Sir Michael Oliver, Vice President of Providence Row
Mr. Simon Bartley, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Providence Row
Mrs. Jo Ansell, Chief Executive of Providence Row
Mr. Howard Sinclair, Chief Executive of Broadway Homelessness and Support
Superintendent Lorraine Cussen, Snow Hill Police Station

'Endemic' rape and abuse of Irish children in Catholic care, inquiry finds

“An official report into abuse – physical, sexual and emotional – in Catholic schools in Ireland produced a harrowing picture yesterday of ill-treatment which it described as endemic,” says the Independent this morning. The government-appointed Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse - which carried out a nine-year investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse in reform schools, workhouses, orphanages, children’s homes and other childcare institutions – found that “Catholic priests and nuns for decades terrorised thousands of boys and girls in the Irish Republic, while government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rape and humiliation”, says the Guardian.

The commission’s original judge, Mary Laffoy, resigned from her post in 2003 over claims that the Irish department of education – which was in charge of inspecting the orphanages and industrial schools – was refusing to hand over documents to her. Judge Sean Ryan, who took over as chair the commission, said that when confronted with evidence of sex abuse, religious authorities responded by moving the sex offenders to another location, where in many instances they were free to abuse again.

One of the things we do in the NAC website is Expose church-state programmes. So far, we have exposed two such programmes: British child migrants and Magdalene laundries. In fact, one of our Action alerts is to the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy – institutions run by the Sisters of Mercy were also part of the culture of abuse, the report found – to demand an end to Sisters of Mercy-run laundries; a 2003 Guardian article, titled “In God’s Name”, noted that “the same Catholic orders who operated Magdalene Laundries in Ireland ran laundries in North and South America, Australia, France and are now concentrating their efforts in Asia and Africa”.

We run on the site an incredible Channel 4 documentary on the Magdalene asylums in Ireland titled “Sex in a Cold Climate” (see below). The documentary is almost an hour long; unfortunately, I haven’t seen it in its entirety because I have less than three hours of computer time in our local council’s Idea Store Whitechapel library: we frequently run into trouble in this library; only last week I was bullied by two security guards into vacating the computer I had booked the previous day, which I refused to do (see blog of 13 May “Letter to the Leader of Tower Hamlets Council”).



I should perhaps add here that Declan and I get our breakfast from Monday to Friday - my food for the entire day - in the Sisters of Mercy Dellow Day Centre. We also frequently run into difficulties in this day centre (see blog of 14 May “Letter to Archbishop Vincent Nichols”).

We are (illegal) beggars

In the last blog I reported that Declan and I were being forced into (illegal) begging. Alas, we have been illegal beggars for four days now and I can tell you we are not having a whale of a time. Not to be outdone, two days ago the Bishopsgate City of London police threatened us with immediate arrest and custody pending a court appearance the next time either one of us is caught begging. That seems to me a bit prejudicial: the beggar we call “the Crutch” – for obvious reasons – and at least 3 or 4 other homeless are always begging, not just in Liverpool Street Station (outside of which we have our respective pitches where we sell The Big Issue magazine) but in the streets about the station.

Anyway, it’s not like we have a choice. On Thursday evening we sold no Big Issues at all and so I had to again run the gauntlet in the station until I could put together a few pounds. Yesterday morning Declan had to walk off his pitch (for a litany of the sort of difficulties we encounter selling the Big Issue see here) because the homeless with the supermarket trolley was back sleeping on the ground to one side of him: another example of the Bishopsgate police’s willingness to turn a blind eye despite the trendy hotel overhead. I hadn’t sold anything either, so we again had to go into the station and while Declan was keeping an eye on me I went downstairs and approached people – my line: “I’m terrible sorry to bother you, can you help me with some change, please?” It’s imperative we somehow manage to scrape the money together to buy two coats expediently, or at least one for Declan (he was hospitalised last December with pneumonia and on 2 August had to attend the local Accident & Emergency department where he was treated for an upper respiratory tract infection).

After being threatened with a criminal record on 13 September, that afternoon Declan sent the following letter by registered post to the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights:

Application no. 22541/07
Heavey v. the United Kingdom

                                RULE 41-URGENT

Dear Sir/Madam

In reference to my urgent request for expedition under Rule 41 of the European Convention on Human Rights made on 8 September 2007 (with particular regard to the reasons cited for the necessity of expedition), I enclose for the attention of the Court copy of my letter and enclosure of today’s date to Chief Superintendent Ken Stewart of Bishopsgate Police Station regarding my (illegal) begging this morning.

Please note that under the heading “Necessity of expedition”, the aforementioned urgent request for expedition states the following:

An urgent expedition is necessary in this instance because of the violations of the applicant's human rights already existing and are likely to be even greater. The right that will be violated is the right to private and family life by the threat to the applicant of being severely assaulted, becoming seriously ill and/or being reduced to begging. This would constitute a threat of irreparable and serious harm. Being reduced to begging is a threat that is imminent given that the applicant’s savings have already been exhausted.

Yours faithfully

Declan Heavey

Enc

And this is the enclosed letter to Chief Superintendent Ken Stewart (without its enclosure):

Dear CS Stewart

My (illegal) begging

I refer to my conversation this afternoon with PC 809C at Bishopsgate Police Station regarding my (illegal) begging in Liverpool Street Station this morning.

I understand that the next time either my wife or I are caught begging that we may be subject to immediate arrest and custody pending a court appearance.

In reference to my letter and enclosure to you of 5 September 2007 regarding Crime Reference No. 7221/07, I enclose copy of chronology in respect of my efforts to have the suspect prosecuted/convicted.

Yours sincerely

Declan Heavey

Enc

cc  The Registrar, European Court of Human Rights (by registered
      post – together with enclosure herein referred to)

We are also being squeezed in other ways. Take for example the porch we sleep in at night. For the last two nights we have slept under the flashing blue light of the porch alarm – the last time we were treated to a full weekend of this flashing light was at the end of July. Last night, at 8.30pm, two employees came out of the office building through the porch door as we were unpacking our things and although they stayed in the porch while one of them was digging for something in his pocket, they didn’t seem to notice the flashing light. The cleaner arrived at 8.35pm – and out at 8.45pm – and she didn’t notice it either. It was also missed by the two police officers on horses that questioned us in the porch on 1 July (Bishopsgate police’s ninth visit) and on 10 August (eleventh) when they passed by the porch at 9.00pm. Oh well, it sure looks like tonight we will be treated to more of the same.

The British government, as a High Contracting Party of the European Convention on Human Rights, is proving disinclined, in our case, to comply with its obligations under Article 34, which establishes a duty on Convention states not to hinder the effective exercise of the right to apply to the European Court. The Court has frequently emphasised that it is of the utmost importance for the effective operation of the system of individual petition that applicants or potential applicants should be able to communicate freely with the Court.

It wouldn’t take Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery of the interest group behind this extraordinary hunting – perhaps it’s not a coincidence that we have been barred from the Methodist Church-run Whitechapel Mission by the minister’s wife due to concerns about our safety? That I haven’t been able to grab a shower for well over a month in the, er, Sisters of Mercy-run Dellow Centre? Granted, NAC is running a campaign against Magdalene Laundries in Asia and Africa that is not very flattering to the Sisters of Mercy. Whoops.

Perhaps an explanation for the Vatican’s pursuance of as much political clout as it can get – the Holy See maintains diplomatic relations with 174 states and in 2004 its rights as a Permanent Observer in the United Nations were strengthened by the General Assembly – is Christopher Hitchens’s four irreducible objections to religious faith: “that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum of servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking”.

The Catholic Church, in particular, has a very accurate perception of what is good for itself and the hierarchy never tires of letting the world know what an important role it plays in humanitarian interventions and how often its agencies are one of the few to be able to quickly reach people in need. A few months ago the satirical Private Eye wrote a small article on former advertising executive Steven Hilton, which stated: “Hilton told Coca Cola and Nike that the way to avoid bad publicity was to embrace social responsibility whole heartily. A few token good works would just be ‘icing on shit’ as he charmingly put it.” I wonder where Hilton looked for his inspiration.

It’s always something in the Whitechapel Mission

Yesterday morning in the Methodist-run Whitechapel Mission Declan had an encounter with yet another Pole. (Declan and I are having run-ins with homeless Poles of late – a large percentage of the homeless visiting the mission and the Dellow Centre are Poles, which doesn’t help. It was two Poles that laughed me off last week in the laundry room of the Dellow Centre. And it was a Pole who ranted in Polish at Declan in the mission a week ago or so. Declan has also had to deal with Poles in the washroom of both establishments, most recently this morning in the case of the mission.)

Anyway, this time a Pole wanted to use my scarf and Declan's coat as his mattress and if, on his way back from the washroom, Declan hadn't grabbed his coat while it was still in the Pole’s hands – my scarf was already on the floor – that is exactly what he would have done.

It was good that Declan got hold of his coat before the Pole had time to throw it on the floor because after he was punched twice in the face in the mission by a homeless in an unprovoked attack on 17 February – and was informed by the mission manager that staff don't get involved in fights – I can't see how staff would have stepped in on an argument over a coat and scarf.

We, unlike the homeless we encounter every day, cannot get clothes either from the mission or the Sisters of Mercy-run Dellow Centre, and have to buy them with money we earn selling The Big Issue. This reminds me that the weather is getting better now and we are going to need to replace all our clothes soon. I am looking forward to that.

It is always something in the Whitechapel Mission. When the women’s shower is not being blocked by a homeless woman who is not even bothering to turn on the water – it happened twice last week, once at 6.10am – some other homeless is insisting that one or other of us talk to him or her. This morning we were one of the first into the mission at 6.00am, only to find that there was a puddle of water beneath the table we usually sit at – there are only three chairs attached, the fourth being broken – which Declan had to soak up with a kitchen cloth. He filled two cups with water which would otherwise have soaked through our bags.

Also this morning, I had company at my pitch outside Liverpool Street Station, where I usually sell The Big Issue. Just in front of me – less than two metres separating us – this guy is propping up a placard under arm, while at the same passing fliers like he is in the military. His instruction was clearly to put me out of business because every time I sold a magazine he would shuffle from one foot to the other, attempting to pass the fliers even more forcefully. He was getting some looks, I can tell you.

I decided right there and then that I would give up my shower and breakfast of a bowl of cereal in the Dellow Centre and go instead to the local City of London Camomile Street Library to type my blog and then save it to my USB Flash Drive for Declan to correct and make the necessary amendments (I am Spanish).

It turned out that the only two computers that accept a flash drive are now out of order – the librarian didn’t know when they would be back working – so I had no choice but to copy and paste the contents of the blog into my webmail. It meant that the police were able to read my blog before Declan. Yes, I am afraid that like many other activists, our email is being monitored by the police. We have even had emails to us sabotaged. But then, what is new?

A squat? I don’t think so

Last night when we arrived at the porch we sleep in, we discovered a couple had taken possession of it and were in a corner trying to look like they were hot for each other, but other than that not moving at all. So bogus, you would think they had just met and didn’t even like each other. They stayed in the porch for what must have been a very long, boring and cold 55 minutes.

So, two nights ago it was a worker that wanted us out of the porch for the night because he was going to do handiwork inside the building – but couldn’t open the door with the keys he had … and last night this couple. It doesn’t take rocket science to work out the latest idea of the Metropolitan Police: to put people in our porch, our guess is, with the intention that we voluntarily abandon it – too much hassle. They should put next a homeless, lying on cardboard, with a few cans of beer by his side. That would put us out for the night!

Declan and I have put two and two together and reached the conclusion that the police want us to move into a squat – we have heard the word “squat” quite a bit recently.

A squat! Where some homeless can assault Declan without floor staff to intervene, like in the Whitechapel Mission? Where we can be robbed, or spiked with drugs? Which the police can raid any time it pleases them, under any pretext and have us arrested? I don’t think so.

The only way the Metropolitan Police are going to get Declan and I into a squat is if in our next reincarnation – which we don’t believe in – we come back as rats. Oh, I forgot, we are not going into an empty building either.

This morning we arrived at the gates of the Sisters of Mercy run Dellow Centre at 7.30am to do our weekly laundry and were first in the queue. (The Dellow Centre doesn’t open until after 9.15am but if we don’t arrive that early, chances are we will not be given a washing machine.)

Having been told by the worker in charge of laundry that yes I can do a laundry, I nevertheless discovered when I came out of the washroom – Declan was still changing his clothes in the men’s washroom – that two homeless were in the laundry room getting undressed at breakneck speed into the only two washing machines available. When I pointed out to them that I have been outside since 7.30am and was first in the queue, they laughed me off. When I pointed out to the worker that he had told me that I could do a laundry, he says sorry, that my name wasn’t on the list and the two homeless could carry on – which they were doing anyway.

This morning also, but after the laundry business, Declan collected his new badge to sell The Big Issue from our co-ordinators in Liverpool Street – current badges become obsolete from this coming Thursday. The co-ordinators didn’t have my badge though. So Declan and I decided it was in our interest to take a bus and collect it from head office rather than have a lunch. Oh well …