(Barry Adamson looks magnificent...
Thanx Stan!)
Barry Hay – Victory Of Bad Taste (CD)
3 hours ago
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Blair Peach - Not Forgotten
Although investigators believed police killed Peach, they said there was "insufficient evidence" to bring charges over his death. via web
SPG officers lied to seniors during Blair Peach inquiry. The Met wanted them prosecuted for perverting the course of justice. None were.
Blair Peach report says he was “almost certainly” killed by a Special Patrol Group officer from carrier U.11.
Blair Peach report: “it can reasonably be concluded that a police officer struck the fatal blow”.
SPG officers lied to seniors during Blair Peach inquiry. The Met wanted them prosecuted for perverting the course of justice. None were.
Blair Peach report says he was “almost certainly” killed by a Special Patrol Group officer from carrier U.11.
Blair Peach report: “it can reasonably be concluded that a police officer struck the fatal blow”.
New Zealand-born Blair Peach died after a blow to the head during a demonstration in Southall, London, against the National Front in April 1979. Photograph: Public Domain
The anti-fascist protester Blair Peach was almost certainly killed by police at a demonstration in 1979, according to a secret report released today.
Documents published on the Metropolitan police's website shed new light on the death of Peach, a 33-year-old teacher from New Zealand, whose death marked one of the most controversial events in modern policing history.
A campaigner against the far right, Peach died from a blow to the head during a demonstration against the National Front in Southall, west London.
A crucial report into the death, which Peach's family have campaigned to see for more than 30 years, was finally released today. It said it could "reasonably be concluded that a police officer struck the fatal blow". A police van carrying six officers was identified as having been at the scene when the fatal blow was struck.
The 130-page report was produced by Commander John Cass, who ran the Met's internal complaints bureau and led the investigation into Peach's death. It reveals:
• Peach was almost certain to have been killed by an officer from its elite riot squad, known as the Special Patrol Group (SPG). A number of witnesses said they saw him being struck by a police officer, and the report found "there is no evidence to show he received the injury to the side of his head in any other way";
• despite concluding Peach was killed by a police officer, Cass said there was "insufficient evidence" to charge any officer over the death, a decision echoed by the director of public prosecutions, to whom his report was delivered. An inquest into the death later returned a verdict of "death by misadventure";
• suspicions centred on the SPG carrier U.11, the first vehicle to arrive on Beechcroft Avenue, the street where Peach was found staggering around and concussed. Cass said there was an "indication" that one officer in particular, who first emerged from the carrier but whose name has been redacted from the report, was responsible;
• the criminal investigation into Peach's death was hampered by SPG officers, who Cass concluded had lied to him to cover up the actions of their colleagues. He "strongly recommended" that three officers should be charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, giving detailed evidence to show how they were engaged in a "deliberate attempt to conceal the presence of the carrier at the scene at that time". None were ever charged;
• from the outset, the Cass investigation appeared unlikely to find an officer guilty. He defined Peach as a member of a "rebellious crowd" in his terms of reference, adding: "Without condoning the death I refer to Archbold 38th edition para 2528: 'In case of riot or rebellious assembly the officers endeavouring to disperse the riot are justified in killing them at common law if the riot cannot otherwise be suppressed'."
Along with the Cass report, the Met has released more than 3,000 pages of supporting forensics documents, witness statements, interviews with officers and legal analysis.
They include all the detailed evidence gathered by police in the weeks and months after Peach was killed. The nature of his injuries led at least one pathologist to conclude Peach's skull was crushed with an unauthorised weapon, such as a lead-weighted cosh or police radio.
It was already known that when Cass raided lockers at the SPG headquarters he uncovered a stash of unauthorised weapons, including illegal truncheons, knives, two crowbars, a whip, a 3ft wooden stave and a lead-weighted leather stick.
One officer was caught trying to hide a metal cosh, although it was not the weapon that killed Peach. Another officer was found with a collection of Nazi regalia.
In his report, Cass said the arsenal of weapons caused him "grave concern", but claimed there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the officers involved.
A total of 14 witnesses told investigators they saw "a police officer hit the deceased on the head" but, according to Cass, there were discrepancies in their evidence and most could not identify the officer.
The Met has resisted publishing any material relating to the death of Peach for almost 30 years.
That decision was reversed last year after an investigation by the Guardian into the parallels between events surrounding Peach's death in April 1979 and the death of Ian Tomlinson, a 47-year-old newspaper vendor who died during last year's G20 protests in London.
The Met commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, intervened to support the release of the report after Tomlinson's death.
Peach's long-term partner, Celia Stubbs, said she was "relieved" to see the report after so long. Along with other relatives of Peach, and the officers named in the report, she first received the documents on Friday.
"This report totally vindicates what we have always believed – that Blair was killed by one of six officers from Unit 1 of the Special Patrol Group whose names have been in the public domain over all these years," she said.
Her lawyer, Raju Bhatt, said he was still examining the documents, but his initial reading indicated Cass had tried but struggled to "undermine" evidence, suggesting one of his officers killed Peach.
"What I read in this report is a senior investigating officer desperately trying to explain away this death, but despite himself, he is driven by the weight of the evidence to conclude that the death was caused by one of his officers," he said.
Names of officers and witnesses are blanked out of the report, but their identities can easily be established from published material, including several unofficial reports into Peach's death and transcripts from his inquest, where several officers gave evidence.
Bhatt said friends of Peach would gather outside Scotland Yard today, and read out the names of the six suspected officers inside the SPG carrier U.11.
The names include five officers serving under Alan Murray, the SPG inspector in charge of the carrier. Aged 29 at the time at the time of the death, Murray resigned from the Met in anger at what he believed was an unfair inquiry by Cass.
Last night Murray, who is now a lecturer in corporate social responsibility at Sheffield University, declined to comment on the Cass report, saying he had not been given time to digest its findings.
Deborah Coles, co-director of Inquest, an organisation that was set up in 1981 partly in response to Peach's death and provides advice on contentious deaths, called on the Met commissioner to concede that the force was responsible for Peach's death.
"The whole police investigation into what happened on 23 April 1979 was clearly designed as an exercise in managing the fallout from the events of that iconic day in Southall, to exonerate police violence in the face of legitimate public protest," she said. "The echoes of that exercise sound across the decades to the events of the G20 protest and the death of Ian Tomlinson in 2009."
Paul Lewis @'The Guardian'
I was there at the protest against the Naional Front that day in Southall and witnessed a lot of police brutality...another time at a Rock Against Racism march I saw a NF sticker on the inside of a police car windscreen!
Conservative promises to protect the arts remain unconvincing
Hurrah for the more than 40 performers – on the website at least Stephen Frears has signed twice – who wrote to the Observer last weekend pointing out that an incoming Conservative government is likely to serve the interests of the BBC's commercial rivals. No slogan in this election is more chilling than Vote Cameron, Get Murdoch.
My purpose in having coffee with Jeremy Hunt, the personable young shadow culture secretary, was to obtain reassurance, not least because mention of the arts, culture and broadcasting is entirely omitted from the 118-page Conservative party manifesto. Hunt sees nothing sinister in this. "There are lots of things which aren't in the main manifesto," he says. But he is humorously resigned to the suspicion aroused by Tory arts spokespeople. "Rupert Murdoch is not responsible for Conservative media policy. I am responsible, with David Cameron."
What did he feel about the letter? "I thought it was a shame that a group of artists for whom I have great respect were taken in by Labour party spin. I wish they'd written to me. The Conservative party are strong supporters of the BBC. We founded it in 1927, not a fact that widely known, or widely admired by certain elements of the Tory right. We are as proud of founding the BBC as Labour is of founding the NHS."
There are questions, Hunt says, about the specific ways the licence fee is spent. "We don't think it's right that the director general is paid £840,000." But he promises that the Tories "have set the principle. Because of changes to technology, we may have to think of new ways to collect the licence fee, but there will be a household tax which pays for public service broadcasting. That's something we accept".
He adds: "David Cameron will protect the BBC, he sees it as a very important part of his brand of modern conservatism. He loves the BBC programmes. He's a huge fan of Top Gear."
Talking about broadcasting, Hunt is pragmatic. But when he addresses arts subsidy, then, to my old ears, his fantasies of changing an entire culture seem as sweeping and unrealistic as those of any 70s Trot.
Are you ready to use the words 'subsidy works', I ask. "Yes. I'm very happy to say 'subsidy works', although I would tend to say 'public support works'. In fact because I'm feeling quite combative this morning, I will say that I believe funding for the arts will be significantly greater under a Conservative government than it would be under a Labour government."
How is that possible? As soon as Hunt answers by referring to "things in the tax system we can do to boost private giving", I tell him that I see flashing red lights. In the US there is a strong tradition of people making fortunes during their own lifetime and therefore expecting to give something back. But also, Americans have a religious notion of tithing which our culture lacks. The aristocracy here sets an atrocious example by holding on to everything it's got. Or stolen.
'I think, if I may say, David, that's quite an old-fashioned view. My concern is that people who do make their own money aren't, with some exceptions, as generous as they might be. And I would like to encourage them. I don't see it as a panacea. I see it as a 20-year project. If we could make it a social norm that people gave 10% of their legacy to an artistic or charitable organisation, that would be wonderful."
Jeremy Hunt comes across as cleverer than David Cameron, and on first meeting he's certainly way nicer. But I fear his fundamental analysis is wrong. Explaining why Thatcher's government was always so hostile to the arts, he claims we've moved out of a sharply ideological time. But surely, on the contrary, we're just about to move into one. If public service cuts are as severe and damaging as predicted, inclusive politics will soon belong to the past.
The first deal done in a smoke-filled room by representatives of a hung parliament should be as follows: the monarchists get to keep the monarchy, everyone else gets to keep the BBC.
David Hare @'The Guardian'
Dozens Walk Past Dying Hero Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax On New York Sidewalk
Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax was stabbed several times in the chest while saving a woman from a knife-wielding attacker. Then he bled to death while dozens of people walked by -- one stopping to snap a picture of the dying man with his cameraphone before leaving the scene.
Tale-Yax, 31, a homeless Guatemalan immigrant, collapsed at 144th Street and 88th Road in Jamaica, Queens, while in pursuit of the woman's attacker around 5:40 a.m. on April 18. He was pronounced dead by medical workers who responded to a 911 call around 7:20 a.m. But surveillance video obtained the New York Post, which the New York Times got the NYPD to confirm is genuine, shows that plenty of people saw Tale-Yax lying there in his death throes and did nothing.
The police said they were looking for the man who was in the altercation with the woman. He was described as 5-foot-6, with a medium build, wearing a green short-sleeved shirt and a green hat.
The police were not sure if the woman knew what happened to Mr. Tale-Yax, but they said it was possible she knew the suspect. They are waiting for her or a third party to come forward with more information.
Australia shelves key emissions trading scheme
The Australian government has shelved plans for an emissions trading scheme (ETS), the centrepiece of its environmental strategy. It has made repeated attempts to get the measure through parliament, but has been blocked in the Senate, where the government does not enjoy a majority. The government will now not start the scheme until 2013 at the very earliest. PM Kevin Rudd blamed the opposition for withdrawing its support for the measure and slow global progress on emissions. Previously, Mr Rudd has called climate change the "greatest moral challenge of our generation", and pledged to curb pollution by bringing in a comprehensive emissions trading scheme. But his attempts to enact the measure into law have repeatedly failed because his party does not command a majority in the upper house, Senate, and the opposition Liberal Party is now led by a climate change sceptic who won the leadership of his party by vowing to block the reform. In announcing his decision to shelve the measure until at least 2013, when the present Kyoto climate pact expires, Mr Rudd blamed the opposition and the slow progress from other countries in combating global warming. "These two factors together inevitably mean that the implementation of a carbon pollution reduction scheme in Australia will be delayed," he said. "The implementation of a carbon pollution reduction scheme in Australian will, therefore, be extended until after the conclusion of the current Kyoto commitment period, which finishes at the end of 2012." This is a major climb-down by the Rudd government, and also reflects the changing politics of climate change in Australia. Ahead of the Copenhagen climate change conference, Mr Rudd looked set to fight - and win - this year's Australian election on the emissions trading issue, but polls have pointed to an erosion of public support. Given its reliance on coal, Australia has the highest per capita emissions of any developed country, and this decision could draw strong criticism from abroad.
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