It is so sad to remember that Pauline died two years ago today. During her brief and passionate campaign she opposed the injustice meted out to vulnerable young women. Her aim was to abolish prisons which she could clearly see did not work. They are used simply as a dumping ground for the sick and mentally ill who are abandoned by a society with no time for them.
What would Pauline have made of the outcome of this election? The present government is made up of rich privately educated white men. There has already been talk of building more prisons.Pauline did not put her trust in politicians but preferred to work with anyone and everyone to shine a light on the darkness of our present prison system.
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Our Children
Three or four years ago I read Margaret Humphrey's book "Empty Cradles"She described the mass transfer of little children in our orphanages to the Commonwealth countries. I was appalledat the callousness and the lack of regard for the future welfareof these our children,that successive government showed The book haunted me and when I was next on trial in Helensburgh for demonstrating against theTrident nuclear submarine I waved the book at the magistrate to prove that politicians do not neccessarily act in the interests of the citizen and for some reason in this country almost certainly not in the intrests of of our children.
We have more children in prison than any other European country.Report after report comes out damning our Young Offenders Instituitions now all being run privately for profit. Not one public inquiry has ever been made into the death of a child occurring in one of them even though the death might have been caused by restraint.Now Mr.Aynsley-Green has concerns about the imprisonment of children in the immigratinon detention centre at Yarl'sWood where some mother's are currently on hunger strike.Even the Church's are calling for better treatment for the children.
Itis good that Gordon Brown apologised last week for what happened to our orphans in the past but surely lessons have been learned.But some of our most vulnerable children and their families are suffering now and action shold be taken now. An apology in the distant future is not enough.
We have more children in prison than any other European country.Report after report comes out damning our Young Offenders Instituitions now all being run privately for profit. Not one public inquiry has ever been made into the death of a child occurring in one of them even though the death might have been caused by restraint.Now Mr.Aynsley-Green has concerns about the imprisonment of children in the immigratinon detention centre at Yarl'sWood where some mother's are currently on hunger strike.Even the Church's are calling for better treatment for the children.
Itis good that Gordon Brown apologised last week for what happened to our orphans in the past but surely lessons have been learned.But some of our most vulnerable children and their families are suffering now and action shold be taken now. An apology in the distant future is not enough.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Children, prisons and forced migration.
I have been on an interesting holiday in the USA. I visited Maine staying a week on Peaks Island and a week on Mount Desert Island.It was the holiday of a lifetime and I certainly warmed to the gentle ,friendly people that I met wherever I went.
It was depressing coming home to the on going litany of how we as a country fail our children. In 2002 I read Margaret Humphrey's book,"Empty cradles".I was profoundly disturbed to learn how the government had connived with the churches and other agencies in emptying our orphanages, shipping children off to Commonwealth countries without ever following up on the treatment they received once they got there. Ed Ball, Minister for children was reported in recent newspapers as saying "this was indeed a stain on our society" An apology is to be made by Gordon Brown in the New Year for this forced migration of our children and for the suffering that was meted out to them
Perhaps Ed Ball would also look responsibly into a present day stain on our society? Many of our children are locked up unnecessarily in prisons routinely condemned by Anne Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons, as squalid, insanitary and staffed largely by inadequately trained staff.
It was depressing coming home to the on going litany of how we as a country fail our children. In 2002 I read Margaret Humphrey's book,"Empty cradles".I was profoundly disturbed to learn how the government had connived with the churches and other agencies in emptying our orphanages, shipping children off to Commonwealth countries without ever following up on the treatment they received once they got there. Ed Ball, Minister for children was reported in recent newspapers as saying "this was indeed a stain on our society" An apology is to be made by Gordon Brown in the New Year for this forced migration of our children and for the suffering that was meted out to them
Perhaps Ed Ball would also look responsibly into a present day stain on our society? Many of our children are locked up unnecessarily in prisons routinely condemned by Anne Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons, as squalid, insanitary and staffed largely by inadequately trained staff.
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Hiroshima day
Four of us decided to have a stall at the Cross in Chester on 6th August in remembrance of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima1945. We gave out prepared leaflets and invited passers by to sign the CND petition asking the government to agree to a Convention in 2020 and to ensure the cancellation of all preparations to renew the Trident nuclear weapons system. We collected over 87 signatures and what was so important the interest shown was supportive and informed.
Meanwhile on 17th August five activists from the Trident Ploughshares Coulport disarmament camp entered the most important military site in Britain, the nuclear submarine base at Faslane also near Glasgow, by simply walking through the main gate.
Meanwhile on 17th August five activists from the Trident Ploughshares Coulport disarmament camp entered the most important military site in Britain, the nuclear submarine base at Faslane also near Glasgow, by simply walking through the main gate.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
YOI Report
Yet another damning report on our prison system fro Anne Owers ,Chief Inspector of Prisons. And this time on a newly opened young offenders prison for 15 -18 yr old boys, Cookham Wood Kent.
She found boys hiding in their cells. She found a seriously unsafe and poorly controlled environment with tense relations between boys and staff. Force was being used and more than a third had been physically restrained. The residential units were claustrophobic.Imagine teenagers confined in such conditions. She called for a cap on the numbers of youngsters being held there until a level of safety can be guaranteed.
Pauline Campbell campaigned vigorously on the lack of safety in women's prisons and one year after her death we are confronted with this horrific situation in a boys prison.
Phil Wheatley,director general of the National Offender Management Service says that things are better since the inspection and they will keep the levels of numbers under strict review before any increase I am struggling hard to believe that things will truly improve.
She found boys hiding in their cells. She found a seriously unsafe and poorly controlled environment with tense relations between boys and staff. Force was being used and more than a third had been physically restrained. The residential units were claustrophobic.Imagine teenagers confined in such conditions. She called for a cap on the numbers of youngsters being held there until a level of safety can be guaranteed.
Pauline Campbell campaigned vigorously on the lack of safety in women's prisons and one year after her death we are confronted with this horrific situation in a boys prison.
Phil Wheatley,director general of the National Offender Management Service says that things are better since the inspection and they will keep the levels of numbers under strict review before any increase I am struggling hard to believe that things will truly improve.
Prison is not the answer
In December 2007 I wrote to the Joint Youth Justice Unit deploring the fact that young people are sent into custody. The last paragraph of the letter I got back reads: "courts must retain the power to decide in individual cases what sentence is appropriate in the light of all the circumstances of the offence and the offender"
On 23rd. June, 2009 I read in the newspapers that an urgent review is to be launched into the injuries of ten children at Castington YOI following restraint by the staff. How can the courts ever think that sentencing a child to a two year period of pain and violence is appropriate? Any parent who restrained a child in such a manner as to break bones would be in serious trouble.
Why then does the State, having assumed the responsibility of the parents, give prison officers the tacit permission to use violence - indeed trains them in restraining techniques?
Phil Wheatley, director general of the National Offender Management Service has accepted and recommended Dame Anne Ower's (Chief Inspector of Prison's) call for an independent inquiry.
It is outrageous that yet again Wheately sees fit to use the mantra "so that lessons can be learned". When, I ask, will that happen?
On 23rd. June, 2009 I read in the newspapers that an urgent review is to be launched into the injuries of ten children at Castington YOI following restraint by the staff. How can the courts ever think that sentencing a child to a two year period of pain and violence is appropriate? Any parent who restrained a child in such a manner as to break bones would be in serious trouble.
Why then does the State, having assumed the responsibility of the parents, give prison officers the tacit permission to use violence - indeed trains them in restraining techniques?
Phil Wheatley, director general of the National Offender Management Service has accepted and recommended Dame Anne Ower's (Chief Inspector of Prison's) call for an independent inquiry.
It is outrageous that yet again Wheately sees fit to use the mantra "so that lessons can be learned". When, I ask, will that happen?
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
No to Trident Replacement
The Tories ,if elected,will pursue the policy that the UK requires a stategic nuclear deterrent in a nuclear armed environment. This is a letter to my MP in response to this information.25.5.09
Dear Stephen O'Brien,
Today Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, used the words erroneous , misguided and a danger to the world to describe the nuclear test which took place in North Korea which was reported to day.I believe the same words can equally be used to describe the threatened renewal of the Trident nuclear submarines. Far from ensuring the security of future generations their potential use in a war condemns the peoples of the earth to constant fear and insecurity.
They are not, and never have been, a deterrent. We were led to the brink of disaster in spite of them in the Cold War. Geoff Hoon threatened to use them against Iraq in March 2002 and they certainly are not a deterrent against terrorists.I know from personel experiencejust how vulnerable the submarine base at Faslane really is and having a nuclear arsenal there lays the population of Britain to the risk of an attack.
It is true ,as you say,that nuclear weapons cannot be un-invented but it is wrong to imply that we cannot dismantle and dispense with them. Obama has said he wants a world free of nuclear weapons.They have never been sanctioned by the international community ie. the very people who would suffer in a nuclear war.Many governments have nothing to do with nuclear weapons.Of the 192 states in the UN only 8(and from today North Korea) have built or deployed nuclear weapons.
Please find enclosed a notice of a pamphlet written and printed by Jim Mc Clusky which should be essential readingby those currently in power who choose not to think in a new way and cling to the erroneous, misguided and dangerous belief that nuclear weapons will save our planet.
(The Nuclear Threat - Jim Mc Clusky printed by Russell Press Ltd)
Dear Stephen O'Brien,
Today Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, used the words erroneous , misguided and a danger to the world to describe the nuclear test which took place in North Korea which was reported to day.I believe the same words can equally be used to describe the threatened renewal of the Trident nuclear submarines. Far from ensuring the security of future generations their potential use in a war condemns the peoples of the earth to constant fear and insecurity.
They are not, and never have been, a deterrent. We were led to the brink of disaster in spite of them in the Cold War. Geoff Hoon threatened to use them against Iraq in March 2002 and they certainly are not a deterrent against terrorists.I know from personel experiencejust how vulnerable the submarine base at Faslane really is and having a nuclear arsenal there lays the population of Britain to the risk of an attack.
It is true ,as you say,that nuclear weapons cannot be un-invented but it is wrong to imply that we cannot dismantle and dispense with them. Obama has said he wants a world free of nuclear weapons.They have never been sanctioned by the international community ie. the very people who would suffer in a nuclear war.Many governments have nothing to do with nuclear weapons.Of the 192 states in the UN only 8(and from today North Korea) have built or deployed nuclear weapons.
Please find enclosed a notice of a pamphlet written and printed by Jim Mc Clusky which should be essential readingby those currently in power who choose not to think in a new way and cling to the erroneous, misguided and dangerous belief that nuclear weapons will save our planet.
(The Nuclear Threat - Jim Mc Clusky printed by Russell Press Ltd)
Friday, 15 May 2009
Pauline Campbell
It is with deep sorrow that I remember Pauline Campbell who died a year ago today.She dedicated her life, after the tragic death of her daughter Sarah in Styal prison in 2003, to campaigning for prisons to be abolished."They do not work" was the message she brought before politicians and the general public.She was warm, loyal, caring and above all honest. I believe that some of the politicians in whom she put her trust are not fit to hold a candle to her. If they had gone a little way towards meeting her demands for a better deal for women in prison she might still be alive today.
Her heroine of all time was Elizabeth Fry. She her self was so proud to be called a modern suffragette.(see Death at the Hands of the State Prof.David Wilson p54 Howard League for Penal Reform)
Her heroine of all time was Elizabeth Fry. She her self was so proud to be called a modern suffragette.(see Death at the Hands of the State Prof.David Wilson p54 Howard League for Penal Reform)
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Women's Archive of Wales
On Saturday 28th March I went to Wrexham to the Wales Women's History Roadshow run by Women's Archive of Wales. Cynthia Burek of Chester University,a geologist, who is the first Professor of Geoconservation in the world gave a talk on the role of women in the history of geology. the title was " The Role of Women in the Development of Geology in Wales." The dedication and perseverance of these women in this field dominated by men was inspiring.Simply moving around Wales in Victorian times would be major feat.
Friday, 20 March 2009
Home office reply
The Home Office has replied to the letter which was handed in 19th February 09.The matters raised in the letter are now the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice and they will send a suitable reply.
We have all been concerned today for the welfare of Rod Cox .He tried to leave Gaza yesterday but was stopped by the Egyptians at Rafah.His minibus was full of paintings done by Palestinian children and were due to be displayed in Brussels and then auctioned over here to raise funds.
Rod was described at a meeting in Liverpool on Monday as the" peace man" by a lady who had trvelled out to Gaza with him. Here is a good man trying to help people who are suffering.
The Egyptian Embassy and Christine Russell MP for Chester have been contacted. Everyone's help is vital
We have all been concerned today for the welfare of Rod Cox .He tried to leave Gaza yesterday but was stopped by the Egyptians at Rafah.His minibus was full of paintings done by Palestinian children and were due to be displayed in Brussels and then auctioned over here to raise funds.
Rod was described at a meeting in Liverpool on Monday as the" peace man" by a lady who had trvelled out to Gaza with him. Here is a good man trying to help people who are suffering.
The Egyptian Embassy and Christine Russell MP for Chester have been contacted. Everyone's help is vital
Friday, 13 March 2009
9 march 09 Trident Trial
I was tried with four other women from Trident Ploughshares at Reading Magistrates Court on 9 .3. 09.We were charged with obstructing the highway with a non motor vehicle at the Aldermaston weapons Factory in Berkshire on 27 october 08 My submission in my defense was as follows.
The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki sixty four years ago when I was fifteen. Pathe Gazette news and the BBC radio left us in no doubt as to the horrifying , destructive,devastating effect of these bombs and the terrible suffering inflicted on the civilian population.Wilfred Burchett was the first correspondent to enter Hiroshima one month later. He sent an uncensored report to the Daily Express describing the cataclysmic suffering he encountered in the city after visiting a makeshift hospital.The title of his dis patch was- The Atomic Plague- the plague being the radiation. He said he was writing it as a warning to the world. The occupation authorities denied any radiation and staight away imposed strict censorship and withdrew his press accreditation. General Groves, responsible for the planning and manufacturing of the bomb reassured the US Gongress that radiation caused no undue suffering- in fact, he said, it is a very pleasant way to die.
By 1946 the US Stategic Bombing Survey concludedthat Japan would have surrendered even if the bombs had not been dropped. Wilfred Burchett said, "Hiroshima changed my life and I became active on the question of nuclear dis armament. It was not possible to stand by.
It would take too long to list the number of people who have striven to warn the world since then. Einstein,Mountbatten,General Lee Butler,Chomsky,Harold Pinter are a few of them. Sean McBride winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1974 said then that the time had come for we, the people, to demand the outlawing of nuclear weapons- it is essential that the ordinary people of the world should have a say about their own survival.
The unbelievable escalation of nuclear weapons that has taken place since 1945 is manifested by the deployment of the Trident submarines and the ongoing enlargement of the Adermaston Weapons Establishment. Joining Trident Ploughshares in 1998 is my way of having my say about an issue that has affected people all over the world throughout my lifetime and even now is threatening the future of my grandchildren. I will, with the example of Wilfred Burchett always before me,remain active on the question of nuclear dis armament. It is not possible to stand by.
We were found guilty and fined £215.
The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki sixty four years ago when I was fifteen. Pathe Gazette news and the BBC radio left us in no doubt as to the horrifying , destructive,devastating effect of these bombs and the terrible suffering inflicted on the civilian population.Wilfred Burchett was the first correspondent to enter Hiroshima one month later. He sent an uncensored report to the Daily Express describing the cataclysmic suffering he encountered in the city after visiting a makeshift hospital.The title of his dis patch was- The Atomic Plague- the plague being the radiation. He said he was writing it as a warning to the world. The occupation authorities denied any radiation and staight away imposed strict censorship and withdrew his press accreditation. General Groves, responsible for the planning and manufacturing of the bomb reassured the US Gongress that radiation caused no undue suffering- in fact, he said, it is a very pleasant way to die.
By 1946 the US Stategic Bombing Survey concludedthat Japan would have surrendered even if the bombs had not been dropped. Wilfred Burchett said, "Hiroshima changed my life and I became active on the question of nuclear dis armament. It was not possible to stand by.
It would take too long to list the number of people who have striven to warn the world since then. Einstein,Mountbatten,General Lee Butler,Chomsky,Harold Pinter are a few of them. Sean McBride winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1974 said then that the time had come for we, the people, to demand the outlawing of nuclear weapons- it is essential that the ordinary people of the world should have a say about their own survival.
The unbelievable escalation of nuclear weapons that has taken place since 1945 is manifested by the deployment of the Trident submarines and the ongoing enlargement of the Adermaston Weapons Establishment. Joining Trident Ploughshares in 1998 is my way of having my say about an issue that has affected people all over the world throughout my lifetime and even now is threatening the future of my grandchildren. I will, with the example of Wilfred Burchett always before me,remain active on the question of nuclear dis armament. It is not possible to stand by.
We were found guilty and fined £215.
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Aldermaston Action 2008 - court appearance pending
I went to visit my friend at the weekend so that we could put something together in preparation for our defence following the action on the 27th. October, 2008 at Aldermaston nuclear weapons facility.
The trial will take place on Monday 9th. March at Reading District Court at 9.30 a.m.
I'm remembering the day of that Big Blockade. Trident Ploughshares action, together with CND. There were 33 arrests in total. I was arrested for obstruction of the highway with a 'non-motor' vehicle.
The police sent a video to me which was very helpful. It shows the action from beginning to end.
I think this is the tenth time that I will have had to appear in court.
The trial will take place on Monday 9th. March at Reading District Court at 9.30 a.m.
I'm remembering the day of that Big Blockade. Trident Ploughshares action, together with CND. There were 33 arrests in total. I was arrested for obstruction of the highway with a 'non-motor' vehicle.
The police sent a video to me which was very helpful. It shows the action from beginning to end.
I think this is the tenth time that I will have had to appear in court.
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