Newly honoured Richard Evans (late of the 'Copland 6') blames Brent Council and Met Police for his heart attack after 'pointless' fraud battle

 

Dr Richard Evans

Dr Richard Evans, now teaching in Mill Hill, but previously Deputy Headteacher at Copland High School in Wembley, was awarded an OBE in the 2022 New Year Honours to add to the MBE awarded in 2003 for services to education

The OBE was for charity work during Covid.  The story in the Barnet Post LINK did not mention what Evans had been involved in before taking up his post at Mill Hill but Evans himself brought it up in an interview with Schools Week, which he may have thought would complete his rehabilitation. LINK

Evans was accused along with five others, including the Copland headteacher Sir Alan Davies, of defrauding the school  out of more that £2m and was suspended and then sacked. The case only came about because of whistleblowwing by a member of staff and union representative.

Evans was (is?) close to the Conservative Party and advised David Cameron on education, and was a former Westminster councillor. He organised fundraising dinners for the school at the House of Lords and was expected to receive a knighthood. Ironically, Alan Davies lost his knighthood as a result of the affair.

Schools Week reports:

Evans, who teaches at Mill Hill County High School in Barnet, ran the 2020 London Marathon for charity having survived a heart attack the previous May. He was treated at the Royal Free Hospital, to which he had delivered food parcels for frontline staff just days before.

Evans told Schools Week that he laid the blame for that heart attack squarely at the door of his ex-employer, the London Borough of Brent, and the Metropolitan Police.

Evans was originally said to have taken £600,000 in excessive payments LINK but the Schools Week article says:

Evans, a former education adviser to David Cameron, maintains he had no idea he was being overpaid as he believed the payments, described as bonuses, had been approved by the local authority.

“The whole experience, quite bluntly, was terrifying,” he said. “When you go through something like this, you question every sinew, every bit of what you held to be important. There’s no sense of apology.”

Not to notice that amount of extra money in your pay packet is pretty amazing!  Local authorities don't award bonuses to school staff.

Evans was also a director of a company set up to put together plans for the Copland school site, Copland Village Developments Ltd. LINK Following academisation of Copland as Ark Elvin a new school building was built at the back of the Copland site and the former street frontage is being redeveloped as flats and retail outlets.

Brent Council tells Schools Week that this was money that should have been spent on the children of Copland High School, children who came from some of the most needy areas of Brent. (Ask Raheem Sterling)

In a further twist to the sorry story Keir Starmer, then  Head of the Crown Prosecution Service became involved in the High Court case. Alan Davies agreed to plead guilt to 6 of the less serious of the 8 charges , in return for the two most serious charges being dropped (that of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering).  It was agreed that charges would be dropped against the five other defendants and Sir Alan pleaded guilty to false accounting.  He was given a two year suspended sentence by Judge Deborah Taylor and charges were dropped against the others.  There is some disagreement over whether this meant they were 'cleared' of the charges.

Richard Evan now blames Brent Council for trying to get justice. Schools Week says.

The council spent £1.7 million of public money on the High Court case and was ordered to pay more than £260,000 in costs. Evans’s tribunal alone cost Brent more than £100,000; he had been told to pay back just £46,000, with the remainder statute-barred.

Separately, legal aid bills in the High Court case ran to half a million pounds.

To date, Brent has recovered just £450,000 of the overpaid cash – plus a Rolex watch that used to belong to Alan Davies.

Evans said his standing in the community had been devastated. “Immediately,” he said, “my name was in the papers. People Google it. Walking down my street, the abuse I got was phenomenal.

“Councils have to learn from this. It was pointless and destructive.”

Does he mean that the allegations should not have been investigated or legal action  taken  and it would have been better not to attempt to recoup any wrongful payment?

 

FOOTNOTE

 There is more murk in the case of the valuable paintings given to the school by artist Mary Fedden. LINK

Headteachers call for government to reassure EU children in UK of their right to stay

 I have been hearing reports of children from EU countries crying in school the morning after the Referendum fearing that they would be forced to leave the UK. This initiative by the National Association of Headteachers is welcome.

Today (Wednesday 29 June) school leaders’ union NAHT published an open letter to David Cameron calling for assurances to be given to EU pupils. The full text of the letter follows:

Dear Prime Minister,

The vote to leave the European Union has brought uncertainty to many areas of life in Britain, including education.

School leaders are reporting to us that some of their young students are worrying about their future.

Pupils are worried about being forced to leave Britain. They are fearful of a potential rise in racism and community conflict. They are concerned about their prospects in an uncertain and isolated Britain.

It is not just the economic markets that need calming. Our young people need a statement from the government to address their fears.

NAHT strongly urges the Government to give pupils from the EU better assurance that they will be able to complete their school education without interruption; that they and their families remain welcome and valued members of the communities they call home.

Our schools are the places in which we shape our future as a nation. Our teachers and school leaders can help young people make sense of dramatic changes and build their own plans. To do this, we need clarity, swiftly. Please do not ignore the impact of the EU referendum result on the next generation.

Sincerely,

Russell Hobby
General Secretary

Barry Gardiner and Natalie Bennett to speak at tomorrow's 'Backwards on Climate Change' demonstration

#GoingBackwards on Climate Change

Backwards march down Whitehall on 8^th May  Assemble Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square at noon

 

“Instead of making excuses tomorrow to our children and grandchildren, we should be taking action against climate change today.” said David Cameron at the Paris climate summit.

On Sunday 8^th May the Campaign against Climate Change will be joined in London by Vivienne Westwood’s Climate Revolution, families and many others to challenge Cameron to explain to their children and grandchildren why his government has spent its first year in office going backwards on climate change, including dramatic cuts to funding for clean energy and warm homes. The message will be brought home in an original protest style: a backwards march down Whitehall exactly one year after the Conservative government took office.

Other ‘Going Backwards’ protests will be taking place the same weekend in cities including Bristol, Leicester, Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester.

Protestors in London will be assembling at Nelson’s Column, Trafalgar Square from 12pm.

“Record-breaking temperatures and a melting Arctic might seem a long way away from the UK but the impacts of climate change are here now, and we’re running out of time to act” said Suzanne Jeffery of the Campaign against Climate Change. “People hit by ‘once in a generation’ winter floods in Somerset, York, Cumbria, and other vulnerable parts of the UK are all too aware that things are changing.”

The action will link together the different ways the government has backtracked on climate action, and the harmful impacts these policies are having today. Colourful performances, staging and poetry, will bring the issues to life and challenge Cameron and Osborne to live up to past promises.

Esther McWatters from Bishops Stortford said “Having children motivated me to start campaigning on climate change, for example helping local schools put solar on their roofs. To find out that George Osborne has just cut over a billion from solar energy and given the same amount in tax cuts to oil and gas companies is shocking.”

Campaigners will highlight the government’s short-sighted infrastructure policy, including spending a planned £15 billion on new roads, while bus services are cut. “Air pollution is now a public health crisis across our country with 40,000 people dying prematurely and children and the elderly the most affected by breathing toxic and illegal air,” explained James Thornton from ClientEarth. “ClientEarth will take the government back to court because of its failure to clean up the air we breathe and we are going to show them people want action.”

 

The threat of a new runway at Heathrow is a key issue for London. This is expected to breach the UK’s climate limits, producing the same carbon emissions as the whole of Kenya, as well as bringing noise and air pollution to the local area.

Another health concern for both families and older people is the impact of cold and damp homes. The UK’s houses are some of the worst insulated in Europe but funding cuts for energy-saving measures mean the rate of improvement is just a fifth of what it used to be.

“Homes that leak heat are bad news for our fuel bills, damaging to our health - last winter 15,000 people died from living in cold homes - and also very bad news for the climate” said Becky Methven from Fuel Poverty Action. “The cuts to public funding really are terrifying.”

Frack Off London, Talk Fracking and Vivienne Westwood – backed by a spirited anti-fracking choir – will address the latest fracking information and underscore the very serious mistakes being made by our government trying to push through fracking in the UK.

“As the government blocks the cheapest forms of clean energy – onshore wind and solar, other countries are benefiting from new technologies. Green jobs are lost while money is wasted on subsidising dirty fossil fuels. Ultimately this means that as the planet heats up we are missing that vital window to act on climate change” said Claire James from the Campaign against Climate Change.

The protest is supported by organisations including Greenpeace, Biofuelwatch, War on Want, Campaign against Climate Change, Campaign for Better Transport, ClientEarth, Climate Revolution, Fuel Poverty Action, Global Justice Now, HACAN, Plane Stupid, Frack Off London, Reclaim the Power, the Solar Trade Association, Talk Fracking, Time to Cycle. 

Speakers will include Asad Rehman, Friends of the Earth, Suzanne Jeffery, Campaign against Climate Change, Barry Gardiner, Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change and Green Party leader, Natalie Bennett.

'Traditionally Submissive' Muslim Women Hit Back at David Cameron

Sian Berry: Cameron's estate policy is all about social cleansing

Responding to news that the government wants to bulldoze so-called sink estates in London, including Broadwater Farm in Tottenham, Green mayoral candidate Sian Berry today condemned this policy of “social cleansing” and pledged to oppose estate demolitions in the capital.

Sian Berry said:

In the great majority of cases, demolition is not the right thing to do. Unless an estate is beyond repair, it’s much better to work with the community to improve housing stock than to demolish it completely.

The Greens’ housing policy for London is based on a presumption against estate demolition, especially where the local community is opposed to it. As Mayor, Sian Berry would use her powers to call in planning applications where councils want to demolish communities:

My guiding principle would be to explore all the options and let the tenants decide. I would put resources and staff into a new Community Homes Unit at City to support community-led housing schemes, especially in estate regeneration. It would help residents all over London develop their own masterplans for the kind of refurbishment and redevelopment they want for the areas they call their homes.

That’s very different to the social cleansing the Prime Minister clearly favours, which is a short-sighted as well as an ugly way to run a city. Whenever estates are demolished, they are replaced with a much smaller number of homes affordable to people on average salaries. That either forces people further away from where they work, putting more strain on the transport system, or out of the city altogether. We will eventually find that central London is a depopulated island of ‘investments’ that can’t actually function at all.

Dee Searle, former Green candidate for Tottenham and currently running for a seat at City Hall, added:

It's depressing that David Cameron persists in repeating tired, inaccurate stereotypes about Broadwater Farm.

The area has a vibrant, diverse community that successfully challenged Haringey Council's plans to demolish part of the estate earlier this year and runs many valuable local projects. Like many council estates it would benefit from investment. But this should be in consultation with residents.

Green MEP warns Cameron's EU renegotiation could mean race to the bottom on environment and health

In discussions on the UK’s future place in Europe, Green MEP Molly Scott Cato today warned the European Parliament that Cameron’s renegotiation agenda risks bargaining away citizens’ rights and creating a race to the bottom on environmental protection and health standards. She also said that the many in the UK who want the country to remain as part of the EU back a genuinely positive vision for the future; a vision based on a stronger, more effective European Parliament with greater decision-making powers and upholding the rights of citizens.

Molly Scott Cato was speaking during a plenary session in Strasbourg ahead of a European Council meeting later this week. The Council meeting will include a discussion on the European referendum and address some of the remaining political issues before a concrete proposal is adopted in February. David Cameron wrote to Council President Donald Tusk in November setting out four areas where he is seeking reforms as part of negotiations on the UK’s membership of the European Union.

In her one minute address to the Parliament, attended by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Nicolas Schmit, representing the Presidency of the Council, Molly Scott Cato said

I am speaking about the very serious threat that my country may soon leave this Union. David Cameron wants us to believe his renegotiation ‘vision’ is the only show in town when it comes to EU reform. His pro-austerity, regulation-lite, anti-migration rhetoric is more nightmare than vision. And it appears he now wants to export and inflict this nightmare on the rest of Europe. 

But it is clear that his fake negotiation is unravelling. His pledge to ‘reduce red tape’ sees him doing his bit for the corporations, eager to eliminate anything that stands in the way of their profits. And his support for dodgy trade deals like TTIP show he is happy to see a race to the bottom on workers’ rights, environmental protection, and health standards.   

But many in the UK want to be a part of a genuinely reformed Europe, with a stronger, more effective European Parliament with greater decision-making powers and scrutiny over the Commission and Council.

Greens say yes to the EU, yes to real reform, and yes to upholding the rights of all citizens which Mr Cameron is so keen to bargain away.

Local government cuts and offering alternatives to those attracted by ISIS

Guest blog by Scott Bartle
 

Friday 13^th was an eventful day as it was in the morning that David Cameron explained how he’d worked ‘hand in glove’ with the USA to execute Mohammed Emwazi in Syria, where we are not ‘at war’. This was a man that walked the same streets as us in Brent, perhaps buying food from the same checkouts and was described by those that knew him as a ‘nice guy’ before adopting the moniker ‘Jihadi-John’. Meanwhile, in the afternoon over at Woolwich Crown Court 19 year old Yahya Rashid from Willesden who had left the country to join ISIS was found guilty of terrorism charges. As the guilty verdict was given to Yahya, in France final preparations were being made by ISIS to attack Paris. After the mass-murders French Gendarme conveniently found a passport upon a perpetrator matching one shown by someone who identified as a refugee in Greece. However, other reports from the media indicate that the majority of others involved in the Paris attacks were more like Yahya Rashid, considered ‘home-grown’.

It’s beyond most of our capacity to do anything about a foreign policy so reliant upon fossil fuels we’ve contributed towards conflict over its supply since WW1. From the Baghdad Railway, to the overthrow of democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossaddegh of Iran in 1953 to the wars in Iraq and the funding of ISIS to topple President Assad in Syria, it can feel pretty stuck. However, within our grasp we do have the power to offer alternatives to people from our communities who may be leaving our communities to get involved with ISIS. We must recognise that ISIS is merely a gang for those in a multi-cultural world who are better connected. 

The myth of the ‘five star jihad’ is pervasive as recruits like those from Birmingham leave clutching their copies of ‘Islam for Dummies’ from Amazon. On social media images are posted of a hiphop lifestyle of five-star hotels, hanging with their friends, driving smart cars offering a perception that there will be more opportunities with the ladies. This is the allure of stuff, people looking for material things, love or a sense of community and belonging. These are life-goals shared by many that people have become disaffected in their ability to reach, and see joining ISIS as a more achievable way to meet their needs. What to do about these things hasn’t changed since 1936 when Winifred Holtby highlighted Local Government as the ‘first-line of defence thrown up by the community against our common enemies – poverty, sickness, ignorance, isolation, mental derangement and social maladjusment’. 

What’s changed is the ability of our elected representatives to recognise this and that cuts in the short term equate to costs – both financially and socially in the long term. 

More often than not adults who make choices to get involved with crime have had behaviour considered ‘anti-social’ or ‘challenging’ since childhood. Research aggregated by Professor Martin Knapp of the London School of Economics estimated that the cost of conduct related crime in England to range from £22.5bn to £60bn a year, and £1.1-1.9m over the lifetime of a single offender. 

These costs on the public sector are distributed across many agencies and are around 10 times high than children with no behaviour problems. Yet research has found that gross savings over 25 years from an intervention provided from services can exceed the average cost of the intervention by a factor of around 8 – 1. We need to recognise that despite this money being spread across many agencies it is still our tax money that is being lost. Local Government needs to recognise it’s likely to be around for ever and start operating on long term plans. As last month’s decision by the Labour run council to engage in ‘savage’ short-sighted cuts to youth services See LINK  or destroying places like Stonebridge Adventure Playground could cost us all dearly. 

Scott Bartle stood as The Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Brent North in 2015 and is a behaviour psychologist who works in forensic services. 

Police curtail protests at Modi Wembley Stadium event

The main protest against Narendra Modi's UK visit was on Thursday opposite 10 Downing Street but several groups were outside Wembley Stadium this afternoon to make their protest as thousands arrived for the Modi extravaganza.

The police seemed determined to keep demonstrators out of Cameron and Modi's earshot and moved one group on despite claims that by doing so they were limiting free speech and the right to protest.

As the video shows they were moved well away where few could witness their protest. It is a little like being assured of course that you have a right to protest and to be heard - these are 'British Values'- just step into this cupboard, close the door and protest to your heart's content.

Fireworks expected for Modi's Wembley Rally

This Friday November 13th  2.30pm will see a highly unusual event at Wembley Stadium when Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will address a vast crowd.

Brent Council leader Cllr Muhammed Butt,  wrote on 'Muhammed's Blog'  'Two events to enjoy and two ways to do your bit'  on the Council website. One of the 'events to enjoy' was Modi's appearance. LINK:

Hot on the heels of welcoming record breaking crowds to Wembley as part of the Rugby World Cup, Brent is looking forward to more important visitors next month.

Wembley stadium will play host to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday 13 November. The event is set to welcome around 55,000 people from all over the UK in an invitation only event. It is expected to be the largest reception any foreign head of government has ever received in the UK.

Cllr Butt, or perhaps the Brent Council communications team, blithely ignore the controversial aspect of the visit, although perhaps they should have been aware of the rage evident outside Brent Civic Centre when Barry Gardiner invited Modi to the UK before Modi's election. LINK

Since Modi came to power there have been allegations that he has created division in the country. He has just conceded defeat in the Bihar election in which he took a major role.

CNN LINK reported:

A sitting Indian PM rarely gets too involved in state elections; Bihar's vote was unusual with Modi making numerous stops and dozens of speeches on the campaign trail.

The defeat represents a second loss of face for Modi's BJP this year, after it lost state elections in Delhi in February. Only last year the BJP swept to power in national elections, winning a rare majority of seats in the country's lower house of parliament.

Bihar's vote has been a particularly divisive election, with the BJP accusing its opponents of pandering to Muslim voters, and of not being reverent of cows, an animal Hindus consider holy.

The ugly back-and-forth contributed to a larger national debate about rising intolerance. In recent weeks, as many as four Muslims have been killed across the country on suspicion of either consuming or transporting beef.

This morning the BBC Radio 4 Sunday programme had a segment about the visit which summarises the issues:

Human rights activists are holding a demonstration 'Narendra Modi Not Welcome in London' in Downing Street  and then Parliament Square on Thursday November 12th at noon  followed by a meeting in the House of Commons.

The event, deliberately timed to coincide with the Hindi festival of Diwali,  is highly unusual in Britain and although not organised by Modi or the Indian Government is aimed at securing his position as a major world statesman. It follows similar events in the US and Australia.

This is how NDTV LINK reported the event:

A starry show is planned in London next week and no, Bollywood is not headed there. Two days after Diwali, the highlight of the huge reception planned for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the famous Wembley stadium will be a spectacular fireworks show after the PM's speech.

Bollywood will be represented at the hour-event only by singer Kanika Kapoor, who has sung popular songs like Chittiyaan Kaliyaan and Baby Doll, and a performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra will be another highlight.

But mostly, organisers of the Wembley event told NDTV, the programme will feature performances by Indian school students from across London. Hundreds of students have been preparing for the last two months.

"Groups of children of about 50 from each school have come together and have choreographed their acts specially for the Prime Minister's programme,'' said Vijai Chauthaiwale, who heads the BJP Overseas Cell.

Mr Chauthaiwale flies out tomorrow to London to oversee final preparations. At least 55,000 people and 400 media persons are expected to attend the show and UK Prime Minister David Cameron is likely to accompany PM Modi for it.

"The theme is the diaspora, their journey from places like Uganda to the UK,'' said Mr Chauthaiwala, who also helped with the last two community events abroad for the PM.

PM Modi leaves for UK on November 12, a day after Diwali. His first visit to the country since he took office is likely to include lunch with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace on the 13th, the same day as the reception at Wembley.

The Prime Minister has been hosted by the Indian community on most of his visits abroad, and organisers have vied to make these grander than the last.

The reception at the Madison Square Garden in New York last year has been held up by many as the gold standard so far. 18,000 people had attended that event. Almost the same number attended the reception for PM Modi at San Jose in America's Silicon Valley this year.

From: https://akodalikar.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/ukwelcomesmodi/

The over the top nature of the event, the sycophancy on display by some MPS, along with right-wing nationalism and near worship of the 'leader' leaves me with a sense of disquiet, especially after the Chinese and Egyptian visits.

Crash Call for the NHS - Saturday Shepherd's Bush Green at noon

Potential unintended cosequences of a 7 day NHS

Reposted from Open Democracy - Our NHS LINK, author Dr David Wrigley, under Creative Commons terms LINK. No changes have been made from the original text.

“We can become the first country in the world to deliver a truly 7-day NHS”, David Cameron used his ‘first major speech’ of his brand new Conservative majority government to tell us.

It sounds appealing - but does it stand up to scrutiny, or is it just more spin from the former spin doctor?

With 5 years of unconstrained power ahead of him, Cameron will now be expected to deliver on this key Tory manifesto promise.

If Cameron really wants to achieve a 7-day NHS he needs a 7 point plan. 

1. Get the 5 days right first.

If the government wants to make the NHS work safely and efficiently 7 days a week, then it might be a good idea to get the 5 days of Monday-Friday working well beforehand. At the moment the NHS is in dire financial straits – and its demoralised doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are leaving or retiring early. What was the adage Cameron likes to use – fix the roof while the sun is shining? Well the sun isn’t shining much in the NHS these days - but you certainly need to fix the roof Mr Cameron, and pretty sharpish. 

2. Invest in your NHS staff 

Nurses got years of 0% or (at best) 1% pay increases during the coalition years. They effectively ‘donated’ over £1.5bn a year of unpaid overtime to keep the NHS afloat amidst the cuts. They were pilloried for failures that were not of their making. Blamed for scandals that were often due to hospitals chasing Foundation Trust status at all costs, their eye only on the bottom line. Many health professionals are becoming unwell now because they cannot give any more to the job they love. The number of nurses off with stress soared by up to 48% last year.

How are they going to feel now the government tells them that in a 24/7 NHS it will be “archaic” to pay supplements for working “unsocial hours”? Many nurses rely on these payments to boost their stagnating income.

3. Get your workforce planning sorted 

Cameron claimed last week that “We are training and hiring many more GPs right now”. But in fact one third of GP training places are empty. And one in three GPs plan to retire in the next 5 years, leading to a workforce time bomb fuelled by 5 years of unpopular NHS policies and huge cuts (known as ‘efficiency savings’).

4. Sort out social care and community healthcare

The huge cuts to local authorities has meant social care being cut to the bone, with budgets being slashed by up to 35%. Many elderly and vulnerable patients are being left alone or with haphazard 10 minute visits from zero-hour contract workers who have to dash from client to client in order to make any sort of living. These patients are becoming increasingly unwell and needing more NHS care. Inadequate community healthcare services (district nurses have been cut by 40% in 5 years) mean they languish in hospital beds, unable to be discharged safely to the community.

5. End the dog eat dog competitive market in the NHS 

We are wasting billions annually on administering an unwanted healthcare market where providers fight each other for contracts and NHS managers spend their lives refereeing and sorting this all out. No one (except the private health industry) has asked for this. The money saved from scrapping this market system could fund decent social care for all the elderly and vulnerable people in our society.

6. Make all NHS services available 7 days a week 

But tell us – as Cameron has so far refused to – what it would cost. Doing it properly would cost billions. As a GP if I see a patient on a Saturday or a Sunday I need the full range of services available to me in order to treat my patients effectively. I need a fully functioning hospital laboratory with blood collection services twice a day over the weekend. I need access to NHS physiotherapy for my patients with urgent musculoskeletal problems. I need access to health visitors to refer children needing their input. I need access to a fully functioning radiology department offering x-rays, CT scans, MRI scans, ultrasound and other investigations. 

7. Beware of the unintended consequences

Increasing the NHS to a full 7 day service will increase demand – and therefore cost. Cameron’s promised ‘extra’ £8bn would merely plug one small gap in the black hole opening up at the centre of the Department of Health. To stretch already overstretched services more thinly will lead to a poorer service in coming years – and no doubt, the electorate to blame the government for a failing NHS. Cameron may have already said he will be leaving Downing Street before 2020, but is this really the legacy he will want to leave for his successor?

A 7 day NHS service is attractive to patients and attractive to politicians seeking votes. But no other western health economy has managed to provide it, as Cameron said himself. With the NHS already struggling many really doubt this government can do it properly. I hope it won’t be imposed on already beleaguered NHS staff and they are forced to provide the 7 day service against their professional advice. 

Be careful of what you wish for Mr Cameron and Mr Hunt. This one could come back and bite you very hard indeed.

People's Assembly Call to Action: May 27th, May 30th and Jiune 20th

From the People's assembly against Austerity

The People's Assembly is calling an End Austerity Now protest at Downing St, marching to the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster for a rally on the evening of the Queens Speech.

Protest: Wednesday 27 May
Assemble: Downing Street, 5:30pm
March to: Emmanuel Centre for rally at 7pm, Marsham Street, London, Westminster SW1P 3DW
(speakers to be announced)

Share and invite your friends - click here

National Day of Action - Saturday 30 May

We're also calling a national day of action on Saturday 30 May to build for the 20 June demonstration.

We're asking all local People's Assembly groups, supporting organisations and individuals to do something on that day - anything ranging from a big scale event to a leafleting session for the demo. Some suggestions:

Organise...
 - an 'End Austerity Now' protest in your town or city
 - direct action - from occupations of empty housing to road blocks or banner drops
 - a stall in your high street to publicise the demonstration
 - a public meeting in your area (contact the office - we can send speakers)

In London the People's Assembly will be supporting a rally organised by the PCS union in support of striking workers at the National Gallery, against the governments attacks on the trade unions & against austerity:

Rally @ Trafalgar Square - 1pm
Saturday 30 May more info soon

Please let us know what you're planning and we'll advertise it on the website.

The big one...

National Demonstration - End Austerity Now
Saturday 20 June 2015

Assemble 12pm, Bank of England
More info on route soon. The website page will be kept updated with any news.

Invite your friends on Facebook

All these events need to lead into the biggest national demonstration against austerity yet. This looks like it's going to be massive. Please invite your friends and get involved.

In case you missed it... - Yesterday's newsletter: 7 reasons to demonstrate on 20 June
 - Thousands march in Bristol against austerity ahead of the national demonstration in June. Click here for report

Urgent appeal
This demonstration is more important than ever. It needs to be massive. We urgently need to raise funds to make sure we can reach as many people as possible.

We have launched an urgent appeal to all our supporters to make a donation. The more money we raise, the more coaches we can put on, meetings we can organise, leaflets we can print, and more people we can put on the streets.
No amount is too big or too small! Click here to donate

Emperor's New Clothes Rap - Cassetteboy

Caroline Lucas: Why I oppose Government's motion on Iraq air strikes

Caroline Lucas spoke in the Parliamentary recall Iraq debate today:

Every vote I cast in Parliament weighs heavily on my mind, especially as, unlike most other MPs, I have no whip telling me what to do – I consider the evidence, reflect on the principles I was elected to stand up for, listen to my constituents in Brighton Pavilion.  

Never more so than on a day like today, when MPs are deciding whether to carry out air strikes in Iraq against the so called Islamic State (ISIL).

Whatever we decide people will die. Be it directly at the hands of ISIL, whose barbarity seems to know no limits. Or when they are hit by bombs dropped by the US, France or the UK

And, of course, people are dying as a result of the humanitarian crisis engulfing the region – the Refugee Council tell me it’s the first time since the Second World War that the number of people worldwide who are fleeing their homes is more than 50 million, and the conflicts in the Middle East are a key driver of this exodus.  The death toll from the crisis in Syria is heading towards 200,000. Getting aid to all Syrians and Iraqis in need must remain one of the UK’s top priorities.

Amongst the questions I have asked myself ahead of today’s vote is how best to help close down the cycles of violence, which are taking so many lives.

There are no easy answers. But there is this certainty: killing people rarely kills their ideas.

The hateful ideology of ISIL must be stopped but the risk is that air strikes will be counterproductive: every Western bomb dropped will fuel it anew, providing fertile recruitment, fundraising and propaganda opportunities.

I don’t think this is like the last Iraq war.  I don’t think that the Prime Minster is manipulating intelligence or lying to the House.

There is much in the Government’s motion with which I agree.  It is written in a measured and very reasonable-sounding tone.  But the considered, thoughtful tone cannot get away from the bottom line, which is to give permission for the UK to bomb Iraq. Nor can it mask that what is often called ‘precision bombing’ is rarely precise.  We should be under no illusion that we are debating whether to go to war.

With virtually everyone on the Government and opposition benches looking set to vote for air strikes, there is a real danger too that diplomatic and political solutions are side lined yet further – and possibly even made more difficult.

The real question should not be whether to bomb but how we can intensify work politically and diplomatically to address the fundamental hostility between Sunnis and Shias – with regional powers such as Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia centre stage and support for a fledgling new Iraqi government to deal with seemingly intractable problems like the failures of the Iraqi armed forces, sharing of oil revenues, decentralisation demands and territorial disputes a top priority.

Also uppermost in my mind, in a week where it’s been revealed that a young man from Brighton has been killed whilst fighting for ISIL in Syria, is that there is nothing Islamic about what this extremist group are doing. That as well as embarking upon a concerted effort to find a political solution to the current crisis, we must also redouble our efforts to tackle the radicalisation of some members of our communities, and redouble our efforts to address deeply worrying levels of anti-Muslim sentiment and incidents.

Our best hope of reducing the numbers radicalised would be to champion a new foreign policy doctrine based on clear principles, consistently applied.  This should not include selling arms to brutal regimes like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It should not include tolerating war crimes in Gaza.  We must stand up for international law.

Being the only Green MP can be lonely at times, especially on days like today. But my inbox this morning is full of messages from constituents urging me to vote against air strikes and I know that when I stand up and oppose the Government’s motion, I am representing the views of many.