Perhaps because none of the signatories was on Love Island, this does not appear to have been published in any of the several newspapers to which it has been sent, so here it is:
With the ongoing torture of Julian Assange, the enactment of the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act and the enactment of the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Act have consigned the United Kingdom to the outermost fringe of international respectability. Were they to be joined on the Statute Book by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, then a triangle of separation would have been drawn around that country. We call on the British Government to withdraw that Bill, or on the British Parliament to reject it; in either event, we call on that Parliament to repeal those Acts, and we call on that Government to release Mr Assange unconditionally.
Yours faithfully,
David Lindsay, Independent parliamentary candidate for North West Durham, 2019 and 2024; candidate for General Secretary of Unite the Union, 2026
Professor Yanis Varoufakis, Member of the Greek Parliament; Secretary-General of MeRA25; Co-Founder of DiEM25; Professor of Economics, University of Athens; Honorary Professor of Political Economy, University of Sydney; Honoris Causa Professor of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Torino; Distinguished Visiting Professor of Political Economy, King’s College, University of London; former Minister of Finance
Renata Ávila, human rights lawyer and author, Guatemala; Council Member of the Progressive International; member of the Coordinating Collective of DiEM25
Dr Susan George, President of the Board of the Transnational Institute, Amsterdam; member of the Advisory Panel of DiEM25
Dr Harry Halpin, CEO of Nym Technologies SA; Visiting Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Council Member of the Progressive International
Professor Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University in the City of New York; Centennial Visiting Professor, London School of Economics; member of the Advisory Panel of DiEM25
Ece Temelkuran, journalist and author, Turkey; Council Member of the Progressive International; former Visiting Fellow of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
Your social circle goes from one extreme to the other.
ReplyDeleteYet it is one circle.
DeleteBut Labour wouldn't even hold a selection meeting so you could be a district council candidate in 2003 and supposedly upmarket, well educated Lanchester has refused to elect you to anything since 2007, it is all very galling to a man with your intellect and connections.
ReplyDeletePrettyboys from the football team always come first, followed by elderly stalwarts of the right wine clubs and the right pub quiz teams. Over the decades, the former become the latter. That's Britain for you.
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