All posts in the topic censorship (Short link)
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- There are 2 posts — by 2 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Mike Law at Aug 28 21:41 UTC
Dear Grant Aitken,
The other day I received a call on my answerphone from one of your officers
known as Chac to tell me that there is to be no "politics" or "religion" on
display at the torch event in Stratford this Sunday where all the small
voluntary sector groups have been invited to make their presentations.
I got back to Chac on the phone to ask where the directive came from and he
mentioned your name. Please tell me who instructed you so I can pursue the
matter up the food chain.
I feel I must say that I object to this edict because it is an arbitrary
extension of power and so smacks of an unbridled authoritarianism by persons
who have forgotten the codes of British civil society. I feel that the
Chinese methods are being deployed on their behalf.
Tell me the boundaries of this edict. Recently, we applied as part of a
funding consortium for services to the elderly to build on the work we have
done with the go-for-it grant and we found that we were the only centre to
be excluded. Were we to "present" on this issue would it be deemed
"political" by the ruling party? LBN has been trying to remove us from a
site we've used for youth training for the last 14 years calling us "tenants
at will". If we were to petition on this matter would it be classed as
political? My understanding is that neither of these examples would fall
foul of the Charity Commission's definition of political.
I hope you don't mind answering my questions in a public forum. I think on
this occasion it is appropriate.
Sincerely
John McNeill
General Manager
Custom House and Canning Town Community Renewal Project
Charity no. 1035200 / Co. Ltd by Guarantee no. 2898308
C/o St. Luke's Community Centre
89 Tarling Road, Canning Town, London, E16 1HN
Tel: 020 7366 6402 Fax: 020 7366 6401
"The literary scene in London's East End is a little less interesting this
week, after Newham council banned Kimberley Chambers from reading extracts from
her novel Billie Jo at Beckton Library's over-55s reading group.
The oldies were looking forward to meeting former street trader and minicab
driver Chambers, whose fast-moving tale of Essex girls and East End villains so
impressed publisher Random House it signed her up for a three-book deal. Alas,
Chambers has fallen foul of Newham council's cultural commissar, Cllr Jo
Corbett, who decreed that the book was "unsuitable" and ordered the library to
cancel the event.
Corbett objected because the title might be thought to refer to Billie-Jo
Jenkins, the 13-year-old murdered on her family's patio in Hastings in 1997.
Except it doesn't. The adventures of the novel's Billie Jo bear no resemblance
to any aspect of the case and she doesn't get murdered.
Coincidentally, Sion Jenkins, the foster father of the dead girl who was
convicted of her murder then freed after juries at two retrials failed to reach
verdicts, has published a book, The Murder of Billie-Jo Jenkins, co-authored
with Bob Woffinden, this month. Even when Chambers's agent pointed out
Corbett's error, the council refused to relent, and Billie Jo and its author
remained banned.
It is to be hoped that Newham council will not now try to ban Bobbie Gentry's
classic 1967 pop hit Ode to Billie Joe from any forthcoming Sixties revival
disco."
Private Eye, Issue 1217, page 26