Marketing for personalisation at HCVS

To Hackney Council for Voluntary Service (HCVS) in Dalston, East London, for a one-day course on "Marketing your organisation for personalisation", presented by Jo Harvey of Helen Sanderson Associates.

The personalisation agenda:

The rationale behind personalisation is that potential service users are allocated a personal budget and are able to "shop around" for the care they want.

This means that local government funding will be directly allocated to people based on perceived need rather than given to voluntary sector organisations.

Personalisation is not a new idea, and in fact was developed thirty years ago by the disabled people's movement and the US Independent Living Movement, both based in America.

The implementation was supported by the previous Labour government, although to a slower timescale than that planned by the coalition.

One issue raised by our group was the possibility of exploitation, although so far there have been very few reported incidents among those already using personal budgets.

The main intention is to save money, but supporters of personalisation also hope that competition will drive up standards. Whether this will be the case remains to be seen.

All eyes in the third sector will be on the Public Spending Review on October 20th, when Chancellor George Osborne will reveal how much will be cut from government departments.

Marketing in the charity sector:

Marketing is about creating demand for a product, identifying customers with a specific need or needs and creation products which meet these needs.

We examined the four p's: Product, Promotion, Place and Price, as well as the 3-legged stool approach, where the three legs are intelligence, strategy and communication.

A marketing mindset is essential. No good dipping your toe in marketing, you need to dive straight in and become "customer centric" understanding every detail of who you are marketing to and what you market.

We then looked at the process model of marketing, which has four stages:

1. Understanding (Business and Market Evaluation, Customer Analysis, Competitor Evaluation and Macro Trends).

2. Development of product proposition.

3. Decision (marketing strategy).

4. Action.

We then worked through Stage one in small groups using real-life examples.

A good day, and I would recommend courses from HCVS.

Disabled woman brutally attacked on Kingston bus: DId you witness this incident?

A disabled woman was brutally assaulted on a packed 85 bus in Kingston, South London.

The attack occured about 2pm on Sunday, September 19 as the bus was passing Kingston University's camous.

Although the bus was packed, no one came to the woman's aid.

Kingston police are looking for a 5ft 10in black man, aged about 35, with short hair, who headed towards Roehampton after getting off the bus.

He was wearing a dark puffer jacket with a white logo on the left breast area, dark trousers and had a black Blackberry phone.

His companion was a 5ft 6in, large built, Mediterranean-looking woman about aged 35 years old, who had long dark brown hair in a pony tail.

She wore a light grey scoop neck baggy top and a gold necklace. The couple were with a mixed race young girl.

Anyone with information should call Detective Constable Dave Norman, Kingston CID, on 0208 247 4946 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

More at the Surrey Comet.

The distraught husband claimed none of the other passengers tried to stop the attack, even when the attacker tried to drag the woman off the bus after landing the blows.

He said: "My wife was a bloody mess on the floor and her glasses had been smashed into her head.

"When he was insulting her, people were sitting on the bus laughing. This could happen anywhere and people just do not seem to intervene."

Second tube strike to go ahead on Sunday 3rd October

The second of a series of tube strikes over plans to cut 800 ticket office staff will take place from 7pm on Sunday October 3rd until 7pm on Monday October 4th.

Services are unlikely to return to normal until Tuesday October 5th.

Use Tfl's Journey Planner to find an alternate route.

Sharon Grant, chair of passenger group London TravelWatch, commented: "There is no justification for closing ticket offices where there is still obvious demand...We also need guarantees that there will always be staff available to help and provide information to passengers when necessary. This is what passengers expect – and deserve."

More on the tube strikes.

Tube maintenance workers to strike on Monday 4th October:

A 24 hour strike by Tube maintenance workers at depots on the Jubilee and Northern lines will also begin at 7pm on Monday October 4th.

People who normally use the two lines are advised to try and find alternate routes.

Further action, also timed to follow network-wide Tube strikes, is scheduled for the same time on Wednesday November 3, and Monday November 29.

The workers are employed by Alstom.

Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union leader Bob Crow said: "Alstom is a major trans-national company that has been making record profits and is happy to shovel dividends to its shareholders, but has offered what would amount to a substantial pay cut to our members.

A spokeswoman for Alstom told Reuters that the 2 percent pay increase it had proposed was fair and reasonable and the company had put contingency measures in place to minimise disruption for passengers during the strike.

"The deal on offer is worth less than half of those won by other Tube workers this year, and the massive vote for action, and the solid support for the first strike and the overtime ban, should tell Alstom all they need to know about our members’ determination to win a fair pay deal."

British communist party organises public meeting in support of North Korean dictatorship

The Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (RCPBML), based in the workers' paradise of South Lambeth, has organised a seminar and political forum to mark the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea.

The forum will put a positive slant on the vile North Korean regime, with the advert claiming: "The seminar aims to put this information into the context of the present situation, and to strengthen the conviction of the progressive forces in their defence of Korea against the aggression and threats of US imperialism. Please come and invite your circles to mark this significant anniversary."

After the presentation of short papers on North Korea, there will be the opportunity for discussion. Why not come along and tell the RCPBML the truth about North Korea?

The meeting takes place on 5 October at 7pm. The location is the RCPBML headquarters, John Buckle Centre, 170 Wandsworth Road, London SW8 2LA.

Oscar Sherman on the RCPBML:

The RCPBML is an eccentric band of Stalinist dinosaurs founded in the 1970s by Hardial Bains, who travelled the world spawning bizarre hardline communist parties.

The RCPBML took the Chinese side in the Sino-Soviet Split, but soon abandoned Beijing in favour of the more ideologically zealous Albania under Enver Hoxha.

In recent years, it has developed a role for itself as the most delusional and fawningly obsequious supporter of North Korea on the far left in Britain.

I recommend Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick as an antidote to the RCPBML propaganda.

Via Harry's Place.

Five tips for new Labour leader Ed Miliband

1. Don't bash the unions, but offer an honest defence of them when people accuse you of being in the pocket of the unions/opening the door for Britain to be like Anthony Burgess' 1985.

2. People liked that Gordon Brown was relatively scandal-free. Don't be seduced by the trappings of power like Mandelson and Blair were. Don't let your personal life be the story.

3. Create and publish alternate proposals to cut the deficit, fully costed and fully accessible online. Encourage constituency Labour parties to print out and display copies in their offices. Labour are taking flak on their plans to save the British economy.

4. You need to be more confident when being approached by a brace of reporters. Easy for me to say, and I know it is early days, but I saw you on Sky News looking nervous and unprepared. I know that Labour has been accused of being to image conscious, but you need to look tough.

5. The Left's weakness in the past has been not taking crime and anti social behaviour seriously. Blair and Brown did bring in anti social behaviour orders and make clear they understood it was a concern, but much more needs to be done. You need to make clear you understand people's concerns and set out what Labour's plans are to bring back a sense of community (which is linked to repairing the welfare state) and cut crime.

Read Dark Heart by Nick Davies, which covers the social and moral decay in many areas of Britain during the nineties.

Dave Hill on the housing benefit cuts

Dave Hill writes the Metropolitan Lines blog on the Guardian website.

His most recent column comments on the housing benefit cuts:

When George Osborne announced his plans to put a ceiling on the amount of housing benefit that can be paid and to cut it across the board, it was immediately clear that the effect on many Londoners would be dramatic. Recipients living in Inner London would be hit particularly hard: London Councils, the body representing the boroughs, quickly calculated that the changes would result in thousands of families having to move to cheaper areas in the suburbs, far from their jobs, schools and networks of neighbours and friends. The prospect arose of poorer Londoners being effectively purged from the centre, with the suburbs having to take the strain.

In the minds of some people, such a displacement would be a good thing. They find it hard to comprehend that anyone receiving such support from the state might not be a "workshy scrounger" leeching off the taxpayer rather than living decently within their means. Others predicted that the market would adapt, with private landlords reducing their rents in order to match the reduced amounts of Local Housing Allowance flowing into their pockets from their claimant tenants.

Both these arguments are now looking a bit thin. I've reported this week that the Department of Work and Pensions's own assessment of the impact of the plans confirms that well over 100,000 London households are going to lose out and that a London Councils survey suggests that landlords will not, in fact, cut their rents in response. Instead, they will evict, resulting in as many of 82,000 households losing their homes. Moreover, DWP figures show that 60,000 of London's recipient households contain people in employment, and Westminster North MP Karen Buck learned earlier this month that every borough contains at least a hundred claimants who are pensioners.

Many Liberal Democrat party members are also unhappy with the cuts, and Simon Hughes is currently holding talks with ministers to try to limit the number of evictions.

Pensioner gets eighteen months for attacking racist thug

If you are a pensioner who hits a Hell's Angel with your walking stick after being racially abused and having your glasses knocked off, you will go to prison for eighteen months.

While it is true that Keith Degroot's assault caused Stephen Hall to spend several days in hospital, and that Mr Degroot has previous convictions for violence, the sentence does seem unreasonably harsh.

It has surprised me that the Leeds pensioner received a custodial sentence, given the pathetic punishments meted out to people guilty of far more unpleasant actions.

Mr Degroot's sentence was longer than:

The man who was let off with a caution by police after raping a child.

The fourteen months handed out to students Jack Brown and Rohan Foley for setting fire to a friend.

Iman Abrahim Ghait, who received twelve weeks for exposing himself to a woman and a teenager.

It is my view that prison places should be prioritised for those who are a danger to the public. I would say that all the above, especially the unnamed child rapist,are.

Is a pensioner who retaliates with serious force when a man racially abuses him and knocks off his glasses a danger to the public?

Of course not.

In related news, a Spanish man who threw a shoe at the Turkish Prime Minister while he was visiting Seville has been jailed for three years.

While Hokman Joma should have been punished for this disrespect and security risk, the sentence does seem unreasonably long.

World Youth Chamber Orchestra playing in London

If you are in or near London on Friday night, I urge you to go to St Pancras Old Church in Pancras Road,NW1 1UL, and hear the fantastic World Youth Chamber Orchestra.

Earlier tonight I heard them play in St Mary's Church in Walthamstow. They were outstanding.

Their programme included Corelli's Christmas Concerto, Handel's Harp Concerto and Nobuya Monta's Cello Concerto, all of which will be played at St Pancras Old Church tomorrow night.

The concert begins at 7:30pm and ends at 9:15pm. Entrance is £5 (£2 for children). Stephen Ellery will be conducting.

Archipelago of Truth has a detailed review of the Walthamstow concert.

Discrimination against parlimentary candidates who are both deaf and mute

From Andrew Sparrow's Guardian blog on the Liberal Democrat conference:

Amazing. A deaf Lib Dem delegate has just told the conference that, under an ancient electoral law still on the statute book, a candidate can be barred from parliament for being deaf and dumb.

David Buxton, a councillor, was speaking using sign language, with an interpreter helping him out. He said that when he stood for a parliament, a Labour rival threatened to use that law against him if he won.

Buxton was speaking in the debate on diversity.

Twitter says security flaw redirecting users to hardcore porn sites is patched

Twitter claim that a security issue involving the javascript onMouseOver function, which opens websites when users held their mouse over the links, has now been fixed.

The bug caused followers of certain accounts, including Sarah Brown's, to be redirected to pornography sites.

Other issues included profiles being covered in large letters tweets being reposted automatically, according to Webuser.

Graham Cluely has made a short video demonstrating how the exploit works:

Youtube: Facts about asylum seekers in Australia

From the advocacy organisation GetUp!, a Youtube video exposing myths about asylum seekers in Australia, made just before the recent election:



Via Fight dem back!

Raheel Raza's excellent reply to the Pakistani Ambassador

Via Harry's Place, an excellent reply by anti-racism activist and interfaith discussion leader Raheel Raza to the Pakistani Ambassador at a United Nations meeting.

The weirdest spam email I have ever recieved

This message arrived in my junk mail folder yesterday. The spammer made the classic mistake of having one name in the From field (González Edgar Rojas) and another in the subject line (From;John David Dion)

From;John David Dion
Attention;My Dear
I am Mr.John David Dion a computer scientist with Western Union Benin Republic.

I am 39 years old, just started work with Western Union Benin Republic.

I came across your file which is marked X and your released disk painted RED I took time to study it and found out that you have paid VIRTUALLY all fees and certificate but the fund has not been release to you.

The most annoying thing is that they cannot tell you the truth that on no account will they ever release the fund to you, instead they let you spend money unnecessarily.

I do not intend to work here all the days of my life,I can release this fund to you if you can certify me of my security, And how I can run away from this Benin Republic West Africa, if I do this, because if I don't I will be seriously in trouble My life will be in danger.

Please this is like a Mafia setting in Nigeria/Benin Republic, you may not understand it because you are not an Africa. The only thing I will need to release this fund is a special HARD DISK we call it HB2/LT.

I will need two of it, recopy your information, destroy the previous one, and punch the computer to reflect in your bank within 24 banking hours.

I will clean up the tracer and destroy your file, after which I will run away from Africa to meet with you.

If you are interested, do get in touch with me immediately on my EMAIL;morrisonblake@mecanico.com.br should send to me your convenient tell/fax numbers for easy communications and also re confirm your details, so that there won't be any mistake.

Best Regard
Mr.John David Dion

I can't imagine this spammer will get many replies. At least the Benin Republic makes a change from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which is where most spammers tell me they are from.

Bribery Act 2010 consultation begins

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke has announced the start of a consultation to support the Bribery Act 2010.

The Act would create a criminal offence of a failure to prevent bribery on the part of commercial organisations and would require the Secretary of State to publish guidance about procedures that can prevent bribery.

The consultation seeks views on draft guidance about procedures that can prevent bribery. Six general principles are proposed, intended to be applicable for all types and sizes of businesses.

The consultation closes at 5pm on Monday 8 November, and the final guidance will be published several months before the Act comes into force in April 2011.

Access the consultation documents and questionnaire at the Ministry of Justice website.

Open discussion forums on the Bribery Act 2010:

A number of open discussion forums will be held across the UK at the following dates and times.

Belfast, Thursday 30 September, 2-4pm

London, Monday 4 October,8:30-10am

Birmingham, Tuesday 5 October, 2-4pm

Cardiff, Tuesday 12 October, 2-4pm

Edinburgh, Monday 18 October, 2-4pm

To receive details and register for a seminar, please email partnersATjustice.gsi.gov.uk (replace AT with @).

Rally To Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive on October 30th

A combined spoof really will take place in Washington D.C. on October 30th, at the National Mall, from 12pm-3pm EST.

Stephen Colbert will lead the Keep Fear Alive Rally and The Daily Show's Jon Stewart will lead the Rally to Restore Sanity.

“Think of our event as Woodstock, but with the nudity and drugs replaced by respectful disagreement; the Million Man March, only a lot smaller,” comments Stewart.

Sadly, I can't watch videos from thedailyshow.com, but if you live outside the UK you can view them at the Huffington Post.

The combined rally parodies events such as the Restoring Honour rally and demonstrations by the Tea Party movement.

More.

Islamic extremist's fatwa forces Seattle Weekly cartoonist Molly Norris into hiding

Cartoonist Molly Norris has been forced to go into hiding after being advised by America's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that her life was in danger.

Norris' life was put at risk by extremist Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who told Inspire magazine in June that the cartoonist's "proper abode is Hellfire" and called her a "prime target."

The fatwa follows Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, a 2010 protest in response to Isamic extremists threatining violence against those who exercise their right to free speech by drawing Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh, who founded Islam, such as Kurt Westergaard and the creators of South Park.

The Qur'an, the Islamic holy book, does not forbid images of Muhammad, but there are a few hadith (supplemental traditions) which prohibit Muslims from creating the visual depictions of Islamic prophets. Muslim adherence to these hadith is varied.

Norris created the artwork for an image posted on the Internet urging people to draw Muhammad, on the logic that Islamic extremists would not be able to murder everyone who drew him, rendering their threats unrealistic.

David Gomez, the FBI's assistant special agent in charge of counter-terrorism in Seattle, told the Seattle News: "We understand the absolute seriousness of a threat from an Al Qaeda inspired magazine [Inspire] and are attempting to do everything in our power to assist the individuals on that list to effectively protect themselves and change their behavior to make themselves less of a target."

I understand that many Muslims find depictions of Muhammad offensive. However, people don't have a right not to be offended. Christianity and Judaism are mocked on a regular basis, so why should Islam be any different?

People have to tolerate free speech that may offend them on a regular basis. All Anwar al-Awlaki is doing is making Islam appear intolerant. Mind you, given Anwar al-Awlaki is linked to the Times Square car bomb plot as cited as having inspired the Fort Hood massarcre in Texas, I doubt a reasoned argument such as this will make any difference.

Recently, stickers were put up around Walthamstow claiming that British troops (as opposed to the four murderous bombers) were responsible for the 7th July bombings. I found the stickers stupid, in poor taste and offensive, but the person or people who put them up there was exercising their right to freedom of speech.

I am astonished that there is not more coverage of this story in the British media.

Dan Bull:How To Pick Between Milibands (Youtube)

Just a bit of fun. Dan Bull's commentary on the 2010 Labour Leadership Contest with the Youtube video How To Pick Between Millibands.

First French radio station to launch in London

French Radio London (FRL) will be launching in November, having secured a channel slot on the London II DAB digital radio multiplex, according to Radio Netherlands' blog Medianetwork.

FRL, which will be London's first French radio station, describes itself as having: "an enticing blend of entertaining and informative output", including music, talk programmes and interviews.

The station's CEO Pascal Grierson comments: "We look forward to broadcasting a unique French voice on London's airwaves. This is an exciting development for listeners as well as UK and French based commercial partners who will benefit from a dedicated platform to reach French-speaking London residents and the wider Francophile community. A bientôt sur la DAB!"

FRL is aimed at London's 400,000 native French speakers as well as Francophiles of all nationalities.

Piers Collins of Switch Digital, which owns the London II multiplex, comments: "It's been a pleasure working with Pascal and the FRL team. I'm genuinely delighted to have helped bring this much-demanded station concept to fruition. FRL will, I am sure, soon be the radio station of first choice for many London radio listeners."

Hear a demo of French Radio London. The station can also be heard online and on 3G.

Nine face trial in Reykjavik over parliament protest

Nine people are currently on trial in Reykjavik, Iceland after they tried to enter the Parliament (Alþingi) gallery, which they were entitled to do under Iceland's constitution.

The Reykjavik 9, who were part of a group of thirty, have been charged with "attacking the sanctity of Parliament" and face sentences of between one and sixteen years.

These are all the details I currently have, but you can find one resident's view on the trial at Is it crowded in here or is it just my own self-righteous ego?

Committee recommends that Iceland politicans stand trial over economic collapse:

The Reykjavik 9 may be in good company.

A special investigation committee says that former prime minister Geir Haarde,former minister of commerce Björgvin Sigurdsson, and former minister of finance Árni Mathiesen should stand trial over their actions leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The committee, known as the Truth Commission, calls for the three politicans to be tried in the Landsdómur court, set up in 1905 to try government officals.

Celebrate 80 years of Walthamstow's EMD cinema this Saturday

A free community event, organised by the McGuffin film society, will take place on Saturday 18th September celebrating 8 years of Walthamstow's EMD cinema and highlighting its potential as a reopened venue.

The day begins at 3pm in Hatherley Mews, adjacent to the cinema, with live music, an art exhibition, food and drink and limited edition EMD cinema merchandise. ALso on show will be potential new designs for a restored cinema.

At 5pm, there will be a screening of Fantastic Mr Fox at the Grove Cafe.

The event will then move to the Victoria Bar, next door to the cinema, where there will be a Hitchcock Buffett, followed by a preview of the documentary The Lost Empire, all about the EMD cinema.

Next, the documentary Save Our Screen, about the battle to save the EMD will be shown, followed by the comedy The Smallest Show On Earth at 9pm. The event ends at midnight.

Come along and support the battle to keep a cultural landmark open.

The EMD is located at 186 Hoe Street, and is a short walk from Walthamstow Central station (take the bus station exit, go through the town square and the open tarmac area, and the cinema is just past HSBC).

Tfl's Journey Planner, for working out how to get to the cinema.

Benefit concert for Taunton Women's Refuge

A benefit concert will be taking place at the Shadow Lounge, 27 North Street, Taunton, Somerset in support of Taunton Women's Refuge.

The refuge provides a haven for women who have suffered domestic violence by someone with whom they have had a relationship.

Entry is £3 and free vegan food will be provided.

The line-up comprises Rat Attack, As We Sink!, Fights and Fires, Subgenerates and Bats abouts Bats.

The event, which is organised by Anonymous Promotions, begins at 7pm.

Tea dance in Hackney to mark 70th anniversary of the Blitz

A tea dance will be held on 6th October from 1pm to 4pm at Stoke Newington Town Hall in Hackney, East London, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Blitz.

The dance is for those 50 and over, and costs £4 (you can pay at the door).

Stoke Newington Town Hall is located in Stoke Newington Church Street, and has the postcode N16 OJR.

Entertainment is provided by the enticingly named Mr Wonderful.

For further information call (0208) 356 4676.

What was the Blitz?

The Blitz was the bombing of Britain during the Second World War by the Nazi regime, between September 1940 and May 1941.

London was bombed for 76 consecutive nights, damaging over half a million houses and killing tens of thousands.

Many children were evacuated to the countryside, with those remaining sheltered in Anderson shelters or in London Underground stations during bombing.

2010 Hate Crime vigil on 23rd October

A vigil commemorating victims of hate crime will be held on Saturday 23rd October in Trafalgar Square, central London.

It will take place from 7pm to 9pm, with a two minute silence at 8pm.

Last year, 10,000 people filled Trafalgar Square to hear a wide range of speakers and show support to victims of hate crime.

Mark Healey, organiser of the vigil, said: "We are remembering all victims of hate-crime. Harvey Milk said, ‘you have got to give them hope’ and I think that ‘hope’ is what this event is about. Hope that we can work together and put an end to all forms of hate-crime."

Those than can not attend the London vigil are asked to light candles and observe the two minute silence at 8pm.

The event is organised by the No To Hate Crime Campaign.

You can follow the campaign on Twitter and Facebook.

Women in Shroud

Last night I watched the documentary Women in Shroud in the School of Oriental and African Studies' Khalili lecture theatre.

The documentary was a shocking exposure of the repression of women in Iran, including barbaric executions by stoning for minor crimes and trumped-up charges.

Women in Shroud follows Shadi Sadr, a women's rights activist who defends women who have been sentenced to execution by stoning.

Sadr visits a number of women, among them Leila Masi, who was sold to men since the age of nine and was also sentenced to death for alleged incest, which Masi says was actually rape.

Masi is now at the Omid-E-Mehr, an NGO for disadvantaged women.

The film also shows journalist Asrem Amini investigating a double stoning execution, and partial video of an execution, showing the brutality of stoning.

After the film, Shadi Sadr took questions from the audience.

When the film is released, I strongly recommend you watch it. My thanks to the organisers of this important showing.

Take action against stoning in Iran:

Support Change for Equality and sign the petition demanding gender equality in Iran.

Send a letter to the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Ali Larijani, urging him to end stoning as a means of execution in Iran, at the Amnesty International action page.

Preview of Women in Shroud:

Tony Blair: the right target now for the left?

I know how controversal a figure Tony Blair was during his final term, but I was still taken aback by the angry scenes that greeted him outside Dublin's Easons Bookshop during his book signing.

If you subscribe to the view that Blair is a war criminal, it is hardly surprising that you would protest against his appearance.

However, throwing eggs and shoes at the object of your hatred just makes you look like a yob, and a yob who wastes food at that.

No doubt David Cameron must be pleased about the anti-war protests. They distract actions against the Coalition's cuts and remind people that Labour were in power when Iraq was invaded.

Iraq is Cameron's war now, not Blair's.

The disturbing aspect of the protests is that they seem to have extended from protesting about Blair's conduct over the Iraq war to protesting against Blair telling his story.

This is stupid. One does not have to agree with a book to want to read it, a fact that some who support the war have failed to grasp.

Moving Blair's The Journey from the Biographies section to the Crime section is illogical, as he has never been convicted of any crime. Biographies of those who have been charged with war crimes, such as Milošević, or those who directly ordered the deaths of millions, such as Hitler, are not placed in the Crime section.

All this protest does is inconveniences bookshop staff and makes it more difficult for people trying to buy the book.

The Facebook group for the protest, Subversively move Tony Blair's memoirs to the crime section in book shops, currently has over 10,000 members.

It doesn't seem like they care much for bookshop staff. When one group member comments " It was quite amusing to begin with but it's a bloody pain in the arse if you're a bookseller. Just think it doesn't really make a difference to Tony but it does to the bookseller who has to spend all day trying to find the missing books!" she receives the patronising reply "One day, the bookseller stopped looking for the book and wondered why it kept reappearing in the Crime section. It was then that they realised that the real problem wasn't where the book was but that there was a book at all."

Blair should tell his side of the story over Iraq. People are entitled to write books about why the Iraq War was wrong (many have) or why they believe Tony Blair is a war criminal (many have). Buying the book does not mean that you support Tony Blair or his actions, and money from the book goes to charity.

As an aside, Tony Blair is not a fictional character, despite the wishes of many of the Stop the War Coalition. Why then is the book being placed in the Crime section next to James Ellory and R.D. Wingfield as opposed to the True Crime section next to books such as The Hounding of David Oluwale?

The people who should be really angry about Blair's autobiography are not the anti-war movement but the Labour Party.

Blair's revelations will cause damage to many of those featured, and may affect the Labour leadership contest as well as the 2015 general election.

Perhaps he should have waited for a while before bringing out his book, not to wait for the protests to die down (will they ever?) but to avoid damaging the Labour Party.

Incidently, I mentioned The Hounding of David Oluwale, by Kester Aspden, as I have just finished it and it is fantastic. I strongly recommend you read about this terrible miscarriage of justice.

Bachabaze: Child abuse in Afghanistan

Rustam Qobil reporting for the BBC World Service:

It's after midnight. I'm at a wedding party in a remote village in northern Afghanistan...

Almost everyone's attention is focused on a 15-year-old boy. He's dancing for the crowd in a long and shiny woman's dress, his face covered by a red scarf.

He is wearing fake breasts and bells around his ankles. Someone offers him some US dollars and he grabs them with his teeth.

This is an ancient tradition. People call it bachabaze which literally means "playing with boys".

The most disturbing thing is what happens after the parties. Often the boys are taken to hotels and sexually abused.

You can also read more on Bachabaze at SF Gate.

Via the excellent Mick Hartley.

On the PakPassion Forums, saqlain comments: "Don't assume that such problem only exist in Afghanistan. Pakistan and India are also encountering such social evils and to some extent nothing has been done about this issue, especially in Pakistan."

Cloudforce 2010 review

To Cloudforce 2010, an industry event hosted by Salesforce, at the Royal Festival Hall, Central London.

I am currently project managing the rollout of a Salesforce database across the various departments of City and Hackney Mind, and attended the event to get a better understanding of the possibilities of Salesforce in particular and cloud computing in general.

Cloud computing is where shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers via the Internet.

The day allowed me some fruitful networking with expo exhibitors and other Salesforce users, including fellow nonprofit users from Friendship Works and Multifaith Book.

I learnt about Salesforce Chatter, an application with profiles similar to Facebook, which allows users to follow records, documents and customers. Chatter looks really exciting.

There were three session times throughout the day with four options per session time. I choose:

1. Sales Cloud 2 for Beginners, which offered some revision on the basis of Salesforce and how these are improved in the latest version, including analytics and reports.

2. Sales Cloud 2 for Customers, a more advanced course which explained, among other topics how useful Sales Cloud 2 could be for contact centres.

3. Force.com. The World's Leading Business Cloud, which focused on developing applications for Salesforce and where we were shown step by step how to develop an application.

The Salesforce staff there were professional and helpful, and the food given out was of good quality.

My favourite part of the day was the Non Profit Networking Area, a clever idea from Salesforce that allowed me to meet a number of useful and friendly contacts.

I was also impressed at how seamlessly the event went ahead, given the event was moved from Tuesday to today due to the tube strike.

My one criticism was the failure to repeat the Sales Cloud 2 for Customers. I would have preferred to go to the Beginners session first and the Customers session second, but this was not possible.

I learnt a lot at Cloudforce, and am keen to further investigate Salesforce Chatter and other aspects of Service Cloud 2, the latest update of Salesforce. My interest in Salesforce is whetted.

If anyone reading this works in a nonprofit and uses Salesforce, why not drop me an email at richard.brennanATcityandhackneymind.org.uk. Replace AT with @.

Swaziland government tries to prevent political activism

Public workers in Swaziland, Africa will be banned from being active in trade unions and other political groups if the Public Services Bill is passed.

The Bill would make it "an offence for a public officer to hold an office in or be visibly associated with a political formation or organisation".

There is no definition of a "political formation or organisation" within the Public Services Bill or elsewhere in Swazi law.

The Bill has been put before the Labour Advisory Board (LAB), made up of representatives from the business sector, government and trade
unions.

LAB is legally required to review any act which affects labour, and has dismissed the Bill as unnecessary. The Government is pressuring the LAB to support the Public Services Bill.

Action For Southern Africa (ACTSA) calls for people to to the Swaziland High Commission to call for the Government to drop the bill.

You can send a prewritten email to the Swaziland High Commission here.

More about Swaziland:

The Southern African country has the highest rates of HIV in the world. Two percent of the population die from HIV each year, and tuberculosis is also frequent.

Between 2000 and 2009, life expectancy dropped from 61 to 32 years.

Human rights are also abused. In a letter in the Guardian TUC general secretary Brendan Barber and ACTSA director Tony Dykes highlight the case of Sipho Jele, who was arrested for wearing a T-shirt supporting a pro-democracy political party and was found dead in prison with signs of being strangled.

Albinos are at particular risk of being murdered, according to the Daily Telegraph, as witch doctors believe that their blood and body parts can bring good luck.

The Swaziland media is also under threat, Prince Mahlaba, the brother of Swaziland's absolute ruler King Mswati III, commented at a forum in July 2010 that: "Journalists who continue to write bad things about the country will die", according to AfricaNews.

Discrimination against the disabled investigated by Independent on Sunday

Ten million people in this country are disabled, yet too many people treat them like entertainment.

An Independent on Sunday investigation has found a huge gulf between disabled and nondisabled people, with nine out of ten Britons having never had a disabled person in their house for a social occasion and only one in five having worked with a disabled colleague.

Paralympian Anne Strike told the paper about being patronised while out with her son, which journalist Emily Dugan describes as part of "the "Does he take sugar?" syndrome, as disabled people are simply denied the basic right to speak up for themselves."

The paper also highlights the despicable rise in violence against the disabled. Sentences are often not long enough to deter the sick attacker.Zena-Cheri Gormley, 21, and Laura Ramsey, 23, only received four and a half years in prison for a brutal attack on a disabled man in Gloucester.

Mark Goldring, chief executive of the learning disability charity Mencap, told the Independent on Sunday: "There's a huge way to go.... There's still a level of hostility among some people, and there's indifference which means that a lot of hostility is tolerated."

The paper has also interviewed ten disabled people about the discrimination they face in everyday life. It is well worth a read.

Four ways to support the disabled:

Instead of patronising disabled people and patting them on the head, here are some ways to show solidarity.

Firstly, contact your local public transport operative and ask them what they are doing to improve access to public transport for disabled people. Transport for London, for example, should have prioritised step-free access at all Underground stations.

Secondly, read about the effects a cut in the Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) system will have on 64,000 disabled people. Lobby your MP to oppose the cut.

Thirdly, give money to facilities for disabled people looking for sponsorship.

Stephen Fry has tweeted about Norwich City Powerchair Football Club, which is currently trying to raise funds to participate in the Wheelchair Football Association (WFA) National League tournaments.

You can donate to the football club via their Paypal account ncpfcATtiscali.co.uk (replace AT with @).

Fourthly, report anyone who carries out hate crime against the disabled to the police.

Calls to restore "Truthiness" to America with a Stephen Colbert rally

Recently, controversial Fox News and radio pundit Glen Beck sponsored and spoke at the Restoring Honour rally in Washington DC on August 28, 2010.

Beck's speech called for all Americans to turn to God and unite despite political or religious disagreements.

Beck and former Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin also praised George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and American war veterans.

Held on Martin Luther King Day and held at the Lincoln Memorial, where King made his "I Have A Dream" speech, the rally has attracted criticism both from those in the civil rights movement and some evangelical Christians, who saw the event as being doctrinally unsound.

Russell Moore, dean of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said Christians should not rally behind "vacuous talk about undefined 'revival' and 'turning America back to God' that was less about anything uniquely Christian than about, at best, a generically theistic civil religion and, at worst, some partisan political movement."

However, there were also positive reactions, with Martin Luther King Jr.'s personal attorney and speechwriter, Clarence B. Jones, saying King would have been "pleased and honored" by the Restoring Honour rally.

Restoring Truthiness rally:

Now, in a parody of that rally, many are calling for comedian Stephen Colbert to speak at a "Restoring Truthiness" rally in Washington DC on the 10th October.

A Facebook group has been set up, as well as the Colbert Rally website, which updates people on the movement's progress and encourages people to share the proposed event via social media.

The original idea came from "mrsammercer", who submitted her views to the social bookmarking service reddit on Wednesday.

My view:
I hope this event goes ahead. I dislike the way religion is being used for Glenn Beck's own self-promotion, and I, like Russell Moore, see the Restoring Honour rally as more political than religious.

These people are entitled to express their political views, and other people are entitled to parody them.

Sadly, I won't be in America on 10th October, but I look forward to seeing coverage of the Restorting Truthiness rally.

Some people have also called for Tiny Fey to do an impression of Sarah Palin at the rally. While I find Fey's Palin impression unfunny and tedious, I have nothing against the idea.

Youtube video of a typical broadcast by Glenn Beck:



Youtube video of Jon Stewart parodying Glenn Beck (shown on MSNBC):

Anti-Semitism causes Jews to leave Malmö and Venezuela

Professor Robert S. Wistrich, the head of the Hebrew University's Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism, claims that anti-Semitism is worse today than in 1910.

Speaking to Gil Shefler of the Jerusalem Post, Wistrich commented: "Today, even in the most advanced and democratic societies, Jews are uncomfortable.

"The real difference between 1910 and today is not that anti-Semitism is less common but that Israel provides a powerful shield and deterrent. Not a perfect deterrent and also a cause of anti-Semitism in itself."

Events in Malmo, Sweden's third largest city, and Venezuela would seem to support Wistrich's view.

Anti-Semitism in Malmö:

Registered hate crimes against Jews in Malmo doubled in 2009.

In April, Education minister Jan Björklund met with representatives of the Jewish community, who told him about Jewish children not feeling safe at their pre-schools and families who decided to leave Malmö to escape persecution and harassment, according to The Local.

Incidents reported in the Swedish city last year include a chapel set on fire, desecrated Jewish cemeteries, worshippers abused on their way home from prayer, and "Hitler" chanted in the streets by masked men.

Ilmar Reepalu, the mayor of Malmö, has been accused of not doing enough to protect Jews. His view that anti-Semitism is a consequence of Israeli policy in the Middle East has also been blamed for encouraging attacks by some Muslims.

Out of an estimated 700 Jewish families in the city, 30 have already left, and more are planning to go.

Bejzat Becirov , of the city's Islamic Centre, described the anti-Semitic attacks on Jews by some young Muslims as "embarrassing." The Islamic Centre has itself suffered religiously motivated attacks, including smashed windows and pigs' heads left outside.

Anti-Semitism in Venezuela:
Over the past decade, the number of Jews in Venezuela has decreased from 18,000 to around 9,500.

Aside from the poor economy and the high crime rate, anti-Semitism was also cited as a reason by Confederacion de Asociaciones Israelitas de Venezuela (CAIV) head Salomon Cohen in an interview with the Jerusalem Post.

A report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights warns of a "threat to the life and physical integrity of the Jewish community in Venezuela" and express concern over "reports claiming that the Jewish community in Venezuela is being especially affected by violent incidents."

President Hugo Chavez's strong ties with Iran are blamed in part for anti-Semitic rhetoric from the Venezuelan state.

Hebraica community centre president Simon Sultan told The Jewish Daily Forward: "We’re facing the first anti-Jewish government in our history." The Hebriaica community centre was raided by armed police looking for weapons and "subversive activity." Neither was found.

Other controversal incidents have included a raid on Colegio Hebraica, a Jewish school in Caracas, by the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia (Bolivarian Intelligence Service), and accusations by the pro-government newspaper VEA that Jewish community leaders participated in the attempted coup of 2002.

Continued anti-Semitism in Iran:
Meanwhile, Iran continues to be a hotbed of anti-Semitism.

Last month, a holocaust denying website was launched by a nongovernmental cultural organisation. The sick website even requires readers to click on a swastika icon to navigate between pages, according to JTA. Of course, there is also the vile Iranian Holocaust Cartoon Competition.

Mike Whitney, writing in the Russian newspaper Pravda, takes a different view.

Police and Thieves: Thoughts on ITV's The Bill

Rather a break from writing and commenting on the news, but I wanted to mark the final episode of The Bill, a programme that was part of my childhood.

The Bill ran from 1984 to 2010, and focused on the lives and work of police officers in one station, unlike detective dramas such as Morse and A Touch of Frost, which concentrated on two or three characters and usually involved a murder or four.

It was intended to portray police officers in a realistic light, although I'm not sure the show stuck to that throughout its history.

For me, The Bill's golden era was between 1998 and 2001. During that time, the show introduced and made good use of some of the show's best characters: PC Cass Rickman, DC Duncan Lennox, DC Danny Glaze and PC Nick Klein.

Episodes were witty and gripping, with an inventive yet realistic mix of crimes being solved.

The Youtube video below is of the titles from 1998-2001, taking me back to watching repeats on UK Gold after school



Sadly, falls in viewers and advertising revenue meant that the show was revamped by ITV into a soap, with sensational stories such as the station being set on fire twice, the love triangle between PC Kerry Young, PC Luke Ashton and Sergeant Craig Gilmore, and the saga of PC Gabriel Kent.

I think the Wikipedia entry for PC Gabriel Kent sums up the years of soap and cliche. Yes, the ratings went up, but that doesn't make the episodes of those years any better.

To put his wicked plan into action, Kent stole his brother's ID and qualifications and arrived at Sun Hill as Gabriel Kent, as he had form for assault - a conviction that would've prevented him from joining the Force.

He arrived to seek revenge on June, but the mode of his insanity grew and grew as he demolished both members of the public and his colleagues when he committed crimes of fraud, perjury, pretend incest, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, conspiracy to murder, rape and murder.

Throughout his time at Sun Hill, Kent evolved from a bullying bigot into an ultimately evil serial killer, by murdering PC Kerry Young, the Sun Hill Sniper and leaving Andrea Dunbar to die in the Sun Hill Fire 2005.

Recently, the show did return to something of its old self, but I found it hard to get into it again, having not watched it for several years. I did watch some of the final episode (which had 4.8 million viewers), but lost interest after a while (and there were excellent documentaries competing with it on BBC2 and Channel Four).

I think the Bill could have recovered viewing figures had it continued to improve for "Old Bill" fans. Perhaps it could have aired once a fortnight instead of once a week, in order to save money for ITV.

Equity condemns cancellation of The Bill:

Christine Payne, General Secretary of the actors' union Equity, said :"This is a disaster! Almost every television actor in the country has at some stage worked on The Bill over the last 26 years and it is an enormously important source of work for Equity members. It also has a one of the most loyal audiences of any ongoing drama currently on television. We call on ITV to reconsider their decision to cancel this important programme.

"Our thoughts are with those members of Equity and other unions who will lose their job because of this decision and we are deeply concerned about what this implies for the future of ITV’s commitment to quality drama production.

"I understand that ITV has said that it is considering filling this slot with original UK-produced drama. I believe that my members expect that to be a cast iron guarantee - anything less would not be acceptable."

Who were your favourite and least favourite The Bill characters?

For me:

Favourite: DS Geoff Daly, PC Cass Rickman, DC Duncan Lennox, DC Danny Glaze,PC Nick Klein, PC Tony Stamp, DCI Jack Meadows, Inspector Gina Gold, Sergeant Bob Cryer, Sergeant Matt Boyden.

Least favourite: PC Kerry Young, Robbie Cryer, Sgt Callum Stone, PC Honey Harman, most of the soaplike blurs on screen between 2002 and 2009, Superintendent Tom Chandler (never seemed realistic and became a tabloid villain), PC Nick Slater and PC Phil Young.

You can discuss the Bill here and at the Billfans forum. Old Bill fans might want to consider buying Graham Cole's book On The Beat. Graham played PC Stamp.

The Bill has been shown around the world, and has been especially popular in Australia.