Church and State blog

Monday, April 13, 2020

Royal Bank of Scotland: Despite his earlier dealings with the RBS Executive Response Team, Declan has been waiting over six weeks to learn from Natwest Bank who cancelled a standing order on the Network for Church Monitoring business account without his knowledge or consent (Financial Ombudsman case ref. PNX-3576860-D6B8)

25/2/20
Declan has asked for a simple action—put the pay owed to him in [his personal] account—but it is now in dispute at this Bank!
How could this be?
Don Sr
http://network-of-those-abused-by-church.blogspot.com/

Our Church and State website has no less than 59 Nobel Laureates on it despite the never-ending assault on our email; see paragraph 2 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar (updated today).

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Headquarters in Gogarburn. The RBS owns National Westminster Bank (NatWest).

On 25 February Declan called into NatWest Stratford Branch Broadway about the non-payment of his salary, only to discover that the standing order payable to him on the Network for Church Monitoring business account had been cancelled. And this notwithstanding that the Royal Bank of Scotland Executive Response team assured Declan in writing on 17 February that there were then two new standing orders on the account payable to him and me. They also paid him on that day £100 compensation in recognition of his time, travel costs and inconvenience. Prior to this latest visit to NatWest Stratford Branch Broadway, Declan's previous visit to this or any NatWest branch was on 13 February, so it could not possibly have been him who cancelled the standing order. The deputy manager at NatWest Stratford Branch Broadway complained to the NatWest Complaints team on Declan's behalf: "Customer's desired outcome for now is to find out who has cancelled the standing order and why it hasn't been paid. Customer is not willing to provide another signature on a new standing order until he knows who has cancelled it and why it has not been paid." Declan's salary continues to be paid online by quick transfer from the business account to his personal account. He is still waiting to learn from NatWest who cancelled the standing order without his knowledge or consent (NatWest case ref. PHO-0265369320). This is information the Bank is withholding from him notwithstanding the involvement of the Financial Ombudsman; although he hasn't heard from the ombudsman since he was emailed a case reference number over a month ago on 5 March (Financial Ombudsman case ref. PNX-3576860-D6B8).

Financial Ombudsman complaint

This was Declan's complaint to the Financial Ombudsman before he visited NatWest Stratford Branch Broadway on 25 February. He was subsequently informed that the cancellation of the standing order will be considered by the ombudsman in addition to and part of this complaint, which Declan submitted only knowing about the then ongoing partial disclosure in printout form of the standing order payable to him and the non-payment of his salary the day previous.

Tell us about your complaint - what happened?

Despite a total of five visits between two NatWest Bank branches, and my telephone and email correspondence with my contact in the Royal Bank of Scotland Executive Response team (my emails cc'd to RBS Chief Executive Alison Rose), I have not received a printout of page 1 of the new standing order payable to me that was set up on the Network for Church Monitoring account on 12 February 2020. All I have from the RBS Executive Response team is an assurance that there are now two new standing orders on the account payable to me and my wife against the reference ending 0400. (On 11 February 2020, the manager of NatWest Chancey Lane Branch incorrectly set up the standing order payable to me with a reference number ending 040.) On 17 February 2020, £100 compensation was credited to the Network for Church Monitoring business account in recognition of my time, travel costs and inconvenience. I was also provided with the address of the Financial Ombudsman Service for the referral of my complaint. I can confirm that yesterday I did not receive the first payment of my salary in accordance with the page 2 details of the standing order payable to me that I was provided with on 12 February 2020, having been repeatedly refused a printout of page 1 of that standing order by the manager of NatWest Stratford Branch Broadway. I called into NatWest Stratford Branch Broadway twice the following day. On both occasions, I could not come away with this printout - on the second occasion having once again dealt with the manager himself.

How have you been affected - financially or otherwise?

I have been left out of pocket notwithstanding £100 compensation in recognition of my time, travel costs and inconvenience. This matter continues to take a toll on my time and money through no fault of my own.

How would you like the business to put things right for you?

I would like NatWest Bank to provide me with a full printout of the standing order payable to me that mirrors what I have for the standing order payable to my wife, and that my salary is paid from the Network for Church Monitoring account into my personal account.

Submitted on 25 February 2020

On 11 March Declan received the princely sum of £9.50 from Royal Mail to refund the postage on our employment contracts to the United States. It is evident from the track and trace report that the mail item was lost by the United States Postal Service one step away from the delivery point. We have had problems with the delivery of this mail item for the past few years. In fact, this is the second time in three years that Royal Mail has compensated Declan for his postage of the item. Three years ago the item didn't even make it past our nearby Royal Mail collection office; see my post of 18 February, I have just discovered that a United States Postal Service image no longer appears in the relevant Royal Mail blog post last year! I have written to MediaFire about this (WITH UPDATE 11/03/20).

From My Pick's:

3 April: Declan's claim against the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's before Senior Circuit Judge Marc Dight CBE has been adjourned to a date to be fixed. St Mungo's TST is still unwilling to even take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of theirs (WITH UPDATE 13/04/20)

The Central London County Court is based at the Royal Courts of Justice.*

What the issue in these court proceedings boils down to is whether the court will decide that Declan and I should live in a destabilised tenancy that inhibits our ability to exercise our rights and poses a threat to his life, simply because the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team in North London (TST North) will not even take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of theirs. The court must surely find that this is not proportionate and lawful.

Our need for this support continues to escalate?

* I had to upload this image of the Royal Courts of Justice to an alternative place on 18 May. It is another of my images in MediaFire that is now not appearing.

"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 (1930-2020), (then) President, Americans for Religious Liberty

http://churchandstate.org.uk/honorary-associates/

Our list of 276 Honorary Associates includes 16 Nobel Prize laureates, 10 US National Medal of Science laureates and 12 knighted professors notwithstanding the excessive targeting of these three categories of emails in particular.

Thursday, April 09, 2020

Our problems with email continue unabated. Our closest colleagues continue to be targeted. Declan regrets not using Mailtrack for two important emails he sent yesterday

Our Church and State website has no less than 59 Nobel Laureates on it despite the never-ending assault on our email; see paragraph 2 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar (updated today).

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).

Last month an unprecedented number of my emails requesting permission to republish material did not get through to people. Particularly targeted were my emails to authors who write about ageing. For weeks Declan has also found it extremely difficult to get through to prominent ageists by email.

On 1 March I posted Email interception: The never-ending assault on our email continues unabated. Not one of Declan's 19 emails yesterday to knighted professors has been read. Mailtrack records a 13% success rate based on the emails we sent. The post reveals the targeting of our emails to Nobel laureates and knighted professors in particular. Another excessively targeted group is recipients of the National Medal of Science, presented by the president of the United States. According to Mailtrack alerts (or the lack thereof), one unread email last month was Declan's considered reply to a question asked in a second email from a new Honorary Associate who has won several prestigious awards, including the US National Medal of Science. Over the years Declan's communication with many new associates has been quickly severed in this manner, including with no less than four Nobel laureates last year.

In 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 emails resulted in 2011 in the shelving of his and his wife's petition in support of human embryonic stem cell research, which had by then been signed by 29 (now 31) Nobel laureates as well as hundreds of academics. 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" (emphasis added). Minister Featherstone's subsequent letter to then Home Secretary Theresa May and the Applicant's Human Rights Act claims to the IPT and European Court have had no effect; if anything, the situation has gotten substantially worse. In February 2019, 68 of the Nobel laureates emailed since the previous month had not seen their email, according to Mailtrack. On 21 April 2019, the Applicant's MP Lyn Brown acknowledged by autoreply his complaint about the interception of email but hasn't responded to it. Last month (June 2019), 155 of his and his wife's emails went unread, including four reply emails to those who had just agreed to be listed as Honorary Associates of N4CM. The Applicant has also amassed evidence relating to incoming and outgoing mail delivery. For example, in May 2017, he complained to Royal Mail about the mishandling of his and his wife's incoming mail following the loss in London of their employment contracts to the United States. He repeatedly complained about mail not being put through their letter box before he received £30 in compensation and a failed assurance from the Royal Mail Chief Executive's Office that "the actions taken will prevent this happening again". On 17 July 2018, the Applicant complained to the Office that their renewed Tenancy Agreement was delivered through the bathroom window of another tenant's flat. They can still find letters for them in the front hall of the property they live in.

12 July: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's highlighted

Emails resent to Nobel laureates

3/9/2019: 24 Nobelists emailed, 1 bounce, 23 unread (0 read)

On 21 February 2019 68 of the Nobel laureates emailed since 3 January 2019 had not seen Declan's email. Then followed:

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 applied to the 68 Nobel laureates recorded on 21 February 2019 as not having read Declan's email. Since 31 March 2019, Declan has been trying to email some Nobel laureates who heard from him in early 2019 as well as those who haven't heard from him at all. He has been successful in the latter category only very occasionally.

Not included in the figures above is an email to a Nobel laureate on 4 March 2019 confirming his listing as an Honorary Associate that went unread. This quick severing of communications happened four times last year with Nobel laureates and continues to occur with other new associates to this day.

Posted 19 September 2019
Last updated 9 April 2020

Despite Facebook's unfair practices, last year we had 5.7 million hits, with approximately 70% from Americans. Our top five articles have 6.4 million Facebook likes/shares between them.

'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 (1930-2020), (then) President, Americans for Religious Liberty

Church and State

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).

[2] 17/10/20: We have permission to publish this ISAF letter of 30 September to Facebook COO Sheryl Samberg. Facebook has so severely restricted our Page's distribution since 4 September that it's almost as good as an unpublished page

[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.

Church and State blog

Monday, April 13, 2020

Thursday, April 09, 2020

Our problems with email continue unabated. Our closest colleagues continue to be targeted. Declan regrets not using Mailtrack for two important emails he sent yesterday

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