23 Weeks On

Nominations have been closed for 23 weeks, so when is the election?

If you know, you know.

To Start With The Easy Targets

Peter Hitchens writes:

If defending free speech doesn’t get you into trouble, then you are not in fact defending free speech. The only speech worth defending is unpopular and very often it comes out of the mouths of people nobody likes. One such instance is that of the unlovable former civil servant Graham Phillips, sanctioned by Liz Truss’s Foreign Office in July 2022 for supposedly undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine. The official citation was that he had been sanctioned because he is “a video blogger who has produced and published media content that supports and promotes actions and policies which destabilise Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or independence of Ukraine”. I reported this at the time.

Mr. Phillips, a British citizen, is an obscure and far-from-unbiased video blogger, who has put the Russian side over the Ukraine war, and has been accused of a number of unpleasant actions, as I reported in July 2022. You may be sure I am aware of them, so there is no need to alert me to them again. And yet I am still on his side against the sanctions. So, interestingly, is that fine journalist Owen Matthews of the Spectator, who disagrees totally with me about the Ukraine-Russia war, and disagrees even more with Graham Phillips, but says:

The hunt for Putin cronies has widened from Kremlin–connected Russian oligarchs to include distrust and suspicion of pretty much all Russians – and at least one Briton… Graham Phillips, a former British civil servant who has lived in Russian–occupied Donbas for some years and who has become notorious for his video blogs reporting the war from the Russian point of view, including from the front lines. In July last year, the Foreign Office ruled that Phillips should be sanctioned…

I find Phillips’s pro-Kremlin views obnoxious and his reports blatantly one-sided. But being pro-Russian is not a crime in British law. We are not at war with Russia, nor is the Russian state a designated terrorist organisation. In a democracy, people should be free to be wrong. As the barrister Joshua Hitchens argued in a written submission to the court: “The power the [Foreign Secretary] claims to possess is expansive and unprecedented in modern British political and legal history.”

The crucial point in Phillips’s case against the British Government is the question of the fundamental democratic values which we claim to be defending – and for which Ukrainians are fighting and dying. Collective punishment is profoundly alien to our legal culture, as is punishing people simply on the basis of their views, nationality or ethnicity. At a time when praising and loudly demonstrating for an actual terrorist organisation – Hamas – takes place on the streets of London with apparent impunity, how does the Government justify punishing people for simply being Russian or, in Phillips’s case, for supporting Russia?

Mr. Phillips is also, very notably, the only British citizen (that is, without any form of dual nationality) ever to be sanctioned by His Majesty’s Government.

Some may have seen my report of the Graham Phillips case when it was before the High Court in the Mail on Sunday, or when it was reported in in the Independent.

Please note that the enterprising and rather brave young barrister Joshua Hitchens, who has taken on the case alone and without payment, is no relation of mine. It is an amusing coincidence that, alone among British barristers, he has felt that Mr. Phillips’s case is just and needs to be fought. Well, Hitchens is a Cornish name and some may be reminded of the ‘Song of the Western Men’ and its warning to the despotic King James II:

A good sword and a trusty hand!

A merry heart and true!

King James’s men shall understand

What Cornish lads can do!

I do not know when Mr. Justice Swift, who heard the case over two days at the High Court on November 15th and 16th, will publish his ruling. I was in court for almost every fascinating and important minute and it reminded me of the saying of the Greek poet Archilocus (borrowed famously by Isaiah Berlin) that “a fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one big thing”. I thought that my namesake, Joshua Hitchens, had one big point. Does the Government have the power to punish Mr Phillips without trial? And if it does have that power, is that lawful under the various charters of rights which govern us? His Government-backed opponent, Maya Lester KC (who was supported in court by three other robed and wigged barristers and a small entourage of other helpers), had several small points – about Mr. Phillips’s past activities, his sympathies, and whether he could be regarded in the same light as an actual propagandist for the Putin state, even though (as Joshua Hitchens pointed out) it is probable that nobody of any importance in Moscow has ever even heard of him. Joshua Hitchens also pointed out, as so many in this country seem to forget, that Britain is not at war with Russia and maintains an embassy in Moscow. If we were at war with Russia, as so many of Mr. Phillips’s critics seem to think we are, then the case would obviously be entirely different.

My view of it from the start has been that I too could be accused by some immature Minister of producing “media content that supports and promotes actions and policies which destabilise Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or independence of Ukraine”. And not just Ukraine. I have been quite disobliging about another of our allies, Saudi Arabia, and even about the USA. Of course, if governments want to punish people who get in the way of their foreign policy objectives, they are going to start with the easy targets. But it does not mean that they will stop there.

The Safeguarding Challenge: Day 140

I am morally and factually innocent of every criminal offence with which I have ever been charged, and the allegation at the base of any outstanding charge has been made in order to incite my suicide.

That purely factual statement is acknowledged as such, unless and until it had been expressly repudiated to davidaslindsay@hotmail.com, by each and all of the members of the Board of the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency, currently Nazir Afzal, Amanda Ellingworth, Wesley Cuell, Bishop Paul Mason, Carol Lawrence, Jenny Holmes, Sister Frances Orchard CJ, and Sir David Behan.

That purely factual statement is acknowledged as such, unless and until it had been expressly repudiated to davidaslindsay@hotmail.com, by each and all of the members of the Hexham and Newcastle Diocesan Safeguarding Committee, currently Monsignor Andrew Faley, Gail McGregor, Paul Weatherstone, Father Christopher Hancock MHM, Father Jeff Dodds, Canon William Agley, and Catherine Dyer.

And that purely factual statement is acknowledged as such, unless and until it had been expressly repudiated to davidaslindsay@hotmail.com, by each and all of the members of the Hexham and Newcastle Diocesan Safeguarding Team, currently Meriel Anderson, Ian Colling, Paul Brown, Lisa Short, Yvonne Brown, and Robert Appleby.

I am morally and factually innocent of every criminal offence with which I have ever been charged, and the allegation at the base of any outstanding charge has been made in order to incite my suicide. I should emphasise that there is absolutely no risk that I might ever give anyone the satisfaction of my suicide.

This post will appear daily until further notice.

The CPS Challenge: Day 140

I am morally and factually innocent of every criminal offence with which I have ever been charged, and any outstanding charge is being pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service as part of its organised persecution of the opponents and critics of Keir Starmer, which is its principal national priority.

I am morally and factually innocent of every criminal offence with which I have ever been charged, and any outstanding charge is being pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service in order to prevent me from contesting the next General Election.

I am morally and factually innocent of every criminal offence with which I have ever been charged, and any outstanding charge is being pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service in order to prevent me from seeking the position of General Secretary of Unite the Union.

I am morally and factually innocent of every criminal offence with which I have ever been charged, and any outstanding charge is being pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service in order to prevent me from establishing a thinktank to strengthen families and communities by securing economic equality and international peace through the democratic political control of the means to those ends, including national and parliamentary sovereignty.

I am morally and factually innocent of every criminal offence with which I have ever been charged, and any outstanding charge is being pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service in order to prevent me from establishing a weekly magazine of news and comment, a monthly cultural review, a quarterly academic journal, and perhaps eventually also a fortnightly satirical magazine.

I am morally and factually innocent of every criminal offence with which I have ever been charged, and any outstanding charge is being pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service in order to prevent me from taking journalistic, political or other paid work for fear of losing my entitlement to Legal Aid.

I am morally and factually innocent of every criminal offence with which I have ever been charged, and any outstanding charge is being pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service out of the same racism that has caused it to refuse to prosecute the Police Officers in the case of Stephen Lawrence.

And I am morally and factually innocent of every criminal offence with which I have ever been charged, and any outstanding charge is being pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service in order to incite my politically motivated murder, a murder that the CPS has already decided would never lead to any prosecution.

Each of those eight statements stands as a matter of record unless and until it had been expressly denied to davidaslindsay@hotmail.com by each and all of the members of the CPS Board, currently Max Hill KC, Monica Burch, Rebecca Lawrence, Mark Hammond, Simon Jeffreys, Dr Subo Shanmuganathan, and Kathryn Stone.

Each of those eight statements stands as a matter of record unless and until it had been expressly denied to davidaslindsay@hotmail.com by each and all of the CPS senior leadership, currently Dawn Brodrick, Steve Buckingham, Mark Gray, Sandra McKay, Gregor McGill, Grace Ononiwu, and Baljhit Ubey.

Each of those eight statements stands as a matter of record unless and until it had been expressly denied to davidaslindsay@hotmail.com by each and all of the members of the CPS Audit and Risk Assurance Committee, currently Simon Jeffreys, Mark Hammond, Michael Dunn, and Deborah Harris.

Each of those eight statements stands as a matter of record unless and until it had been expressly denied to davidaslindsay@hotmail.com by each and all of the members of the CPS Nominations, Leadership and Remuneration Committee, currently Max Hill KC, Rebecca Lawrence, and Monica Burch.

And each of those eight statements stands as a matter of record unless and until it had been expressly denied to davidaslindsay@hotmail.com by each and all of the 279 members of staff of the CPS North East Area, by definition including, but not restricted to, Chief Crown Prosecutor Gail Gilchrist, and the Area Business Manager, Ian Brown.

This post will appear daily until further notice.

The Clergy Challenge: Day 843

I invite each and every bishop, priest and deacon of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle to contact davidaslindsay@hotmail.com if he thought that I was factually or morally guilty of any criminal charge that had ever been brought against me.

Not legally guilty; Bill Cosby is legally innocent. Factually and morally guilty. No name would be published except at the request of its bearer, but if anyone ever did get in touch, then the readers of this site would be the first to know. The current total is zero.

This post will appear daily until further notice.

The Representatives Challenge: Day 843

As already stated on the day after my release: "The instant that Labour lost control of Durham County Council, then I was granted an unsolicited tag for more than 10 weeks of future good behaviour. I invite each and every Member of Parliament for the area covered by Durham County Council, each and every member of Durham County Council, and each and every member of Lanchester Parish Council, to contact davidaslindsay@hotmail.com if they thought that I was factually or morally guilty of any criminal charge that had ever been brought against me. Not legally guilty; Bill Cosby is legally innocent. Factually and morally guilty. No name would be published except at the request of its bearer, but if anyone ever did get in touch, then the readers of this site would be the first to know." The current total is zero.

Furthermore, I invite each and every other candidate for the parliamentary seat containing Lanchester to contact davidaslindsay@hotmail.com if they thought that I was factually or morally guilty of any criminal charge that had ever been brought against me. Not legally guilty; Bill Cosby is legally innocent. Factually and morally guilty. In this case, names most certainly will be published, including as part of my election literature. The current total is zero. If that remained the case when the next General Election was called, then my literature would state that each and all of my opponents, by name, did not think that I was factually or morally guilty of any criminal charge that had ever been brought against me. At least in that event, then I challenge Oliver Kamm to contest this seat.

This post will appear daily until further notice.

Quas Primas, Indeed

Right up there with the restoration of Corpus Christi to its proper day, as kept by the Pope, is the need to end the widespread persistence in this country of the practice of effectively ignoring this Solemnity of Christ the King by holding instead something called “Youth Sunday”, which has nothing to do with the readings, and which largely consists of making youths do what their Boomer grandparents thought that they should want to do.

Next year, this Solemnity of the Social Reign of Christ is likely to fall either just before or, less probably, just after the second General Election in a row. Yet there is presumably every intention of handing over the Liturgy to, in some cases, small children, for whom there are also special Eucharistic Prayers that need to be banished. We are at last to have the Lectionary in English. That will be the ideal opportunity to put a stop to this nonsense once and for all. We are already never going to hear the Happytudes again.