More herons pix

Ok, I should stop stalking these herons but they are a fascinating sight to behold . I witnessed that the nest has 3 adult herons watching and feeding the chicks. Now that’s collective childcare. I have been watching these herons for over a year and now they have young.

I always imagine when I lurk around camera poised that the herons are thinking not that woman again…. Certainly I reckon the chicks slick their hair into a punky style.

Increase in psych meds

Is anyone really surprised by this?

Prescriptions for antidepressants have risen by 43% in the past four years to nearly 23 million a year, NHS figures reveal.

The Guardian last month revealed a north-south divide in the prescription of antidepressants, with GPs in Blackpool, Salford, and Redcar and Cleveland making the most prescriptions.

Now data obtained from the NHS Prescription Services by the BBC show a dramatic increase in the number of prescriptions for antidepressants between 2006 and 2010.

Money worries and job insecurity are thought to be behind the rising figures. GPs and charities said more people were coming to them struggling with debt and job concerns.

They said financial woes could often act as a “trigger”, but added other factors may also be playing a role in the rise.

As a connoisseur of the new Prozac, Citalopram, this doesn’t in the least surprise me.

Furthermore

“The financial strain on many people has never been worse. They are worried about their spiralling bills and where the next meal is coming from. It can make you feel very down, and it soon becomes a cycle.

But, never fear, care services minister, Paul Burstow has said there will be boosting funding for talking therapies by £400m. Overall, the amount is a drop in the financial ocean….!!

Yes, I am sure (certainly in my own case) there are various factors interacting with debt problems and financial problems. Is this the tip of the iceberg?

With recession along with the expectation of more pain courtesy of the ConDems by way of attacks on the public sector. This means changes in working practices and conditions, modernisation, restructuring, liberalisation, contracting-out, outsourcing and what other words used as a code for privatisation will have a massive emotional and psychological negative impact on people, which will affect their health as we have seen. Recession means depression, with a swirling mix of  a potent cocktail of anxiety, fear, alienation, pressure, stress and atomisation. No wonder people are reaching for the meds.

Big depressed society!

“He was encroaching into a police line”…

If it hadn’t been for Christopher La Jaunie capturing the original footage of Ian Tomlinson being batoned and pushed to the ground by a TSG officer then his death would have been described as unfortunate and that he died from natural causes. The backdrop, the original narrative the cops tried to spin in the immediate aftermath of Tomlinson’s death, being that the cops bravely tried to get to Ian Tomlinson after he had collapsed but were under fire from protesters pelting them with missiles etc. It would have been the continued vilification of protesters contrasted to the bravery of the coppers. But that narrative collapsed when the footage emerged.

I attended the second week of the inquest into Ian Tomlinson’s death where PC Harwood was being questioned. Fortunately, Paul Lewis has been doing a live blog regarding the proceedings while I was furiously scribbling notes in my pad.

Firstly, the main impression I got regarding Harwood while he was being questioned was that he was taking evasiveness into a whole new league, along with being obtuse and taking obfuscation to a new level. Certainly, listening to the man give evidence increased my own levels of frustration (and indeed others members in the public gallery). Harwood’s job was to look after the police carrier (he admitted that he had been a “bit bored”). He saw a man writing graffiti on another police carrier, Harwood left his carrier to make an arrest. Video evidence shows Harwood dragging the suspect (not sure where to) where you see him bang his head on the door of a police carrier as it is being opened, there is an audible gasp from the protesters as this happens (Harwood wrote in his accident and evidence book that “suspect ran into the door…”!!). The suspect was able to get away and run off. Harwood then said he was in “fear of his life”.

Further video evidence shows no rioting protesters nor any missiles being thrown. Harwood is accused of “exaggerating numbers”, “half-truths” and “lying”. Harwood replies, “Why would I need to exaggerate”….He said he had taken refuge at the junction of the Royal Exchange building as he was “coming up against hostility”. He couldn’t get back to his carrier as it was surrounded by protesters and no police around. And again, video evidence was shown where you could see his carrier which was surrounded….by police.

It was suggested to Harwood by Matthew Ryder, QC, barrister for the Tomlinson family, that he could easily have gone back to his carrier. Harwood said he was “unaware of his surroundings’, the atmosphere was hostile and that he had to “withdraw to a safer location”. That he was “frightened and confused” and “shaken and unnerved”. At this time Harwood was still saying that he had been hit over his head with a missile and had lost his baton. Harwood also maintained that he “collided” with a BBC cameraman. Collided? Watching the video footage suggests he pulled the man with the camera to the ground. Yet Harwood continue to maintain that he “collided”… He still argued that he was “surrounded” by rioting protesters but video evidence shows more of people standing around, hardly in rioting mode!

Before I forget, the 2nd day of his evidence (Tuesday) was quite dramatic as Harwood admitted this when questioned by the coroner:

Questioned by the assistant deputy coroner, Judge Peter Thornton QC, Harwood has accepted that the account of events he put in his notebook two weeks after the protests was incorrect.

These relate to Harwood’s explanation of the aftermath of his attempt to arrest a protester for daubing graffiti, when he said he came under attack from hundreds of protesters and was in fear for his life. Video cast doubt over that, and Thornton specifically went through the list.

Harwood: At the time I wrote this, I thought I fell to the floor.
Thornton: Do you now accept that this is not correct?
Harwood: Yes
Thornton: That you lost your baton – that is not correct?
Harwood: Yes
Thornton: That you received a blow to the head – that is not correct?
Harwood: Yes
Thornton: And that there were violent and dangerous confrontations – that is not correct?
Harwood: Yes.
Thornton: And you were struck by a missile – that is not correct?

Harwood: Yes.

When it came to Harwood encountering Ian Tomlinson, he maintained that he used “reasonable force”, the push was a “poor push” and that he was “amazed” that Tomlinson fell to the ground. He said he used a baton strike to “encourage” Ian Tomlinson to move away and then he used an open hand palm strike”. His thought processes included assessment of the situation as Ian Tomlinson was not moving away so decided to push him. Harwood admitted that Ian Tomlinson was not a threat to him or anyone else. So why use this level of force? Harwood maintained he assessed the situation within a matter of seconds between baton strike and push…yet when you watch the video evidence there’s barely seconds between baton and push. It literally goes from baton across the shoulder to push. No hesitation. Harwood is seen using all of body weight in that push yet he denies that.

Also, why didn’t Harwood write-up this incident in his accident and evidence book? He couldn’t remember. Another issue brought up was that Harwood is standing with dogs and dog handler. Training says that cops have to keep behind dog handlers. Harwood went contrary to this training as he moved forward from the dog handlers to hit Ian Tomlinson. But when challenged over this he didn’t admit to disobeying protocol instead he said, “it depends on the situation”…. No one is pushing at the line of cops, no confrontation with anyone. Video footage was shown of Harwood pushing protesters nearly to the ground yet he maintained these were “light pushes”. You can really establish a pattern with Harwood violent rough pushes throughout that time he was around the vicinity of the G20 protests. Yet he considers them “glancing” or “light”…  he downplays excessive and unreasonable force.

Harwood argued that Ian Tomlinson was “encroaching” into the police line (when it was put to him to define “encroaching” he couldn’t give a straightforward definition…. Personally it is an odd choice of word) and that he had to be “encouraged” to move away. Yet when you see the footage Tomlinson is moving away. Why did Harwood feel the need to attack? Because he was “encroaching” on the police line. He refused to reconsider. Even more bizarrely when it was suggested to him that “Ian Tomlinson had his back to you”… Harwood disagreed! Video footage quite clearly shows Ian Tomlinson’s back towards Harwood. Again when challenged that indeed Ian Tomlinson at no point ever walked to the police line Harwood disagreed.

Matthew Ryder, QC, representing the family of Ian Tomlinson accused Harwood of being “absurd”. There was no risk to his or anyone’s safety so why didn’t Harwood look at other options such as shouting a warning. Again, bizarrely Harwood said that Ian Tomlinson had “defiant posture”…and that “he was intent on staying where he was”… By this time of the questioning the coroner intervened and said (again!) that Harwood didn’t have to “answer questions that may incriminate him”… Ryder challenged Harwood again by saying that Ian Tomlinson might have been walking as fast as he could. He was also asked whether it occurred to Harwood that Ian Tomlinson might be disabled? No, he didn’t see any “physical disabilities”..

Harwood couldn’t give a proper answer about what powers he was using when striking Ian Tomlinson. He mentioned vaguely, “breach of the peace”. Ryder accused him of having no legal powers whatsoever as he was struggling to identify any. Harwood replied: “Don’t think I am struggling”….

Harwood was asked whether he was trained to baton people who pose no threat to anyone? Harwood: “Depends on the circumstances”..(he was asked the question before when he answered, “Yes”…I thought I misheard but checking my notes..no I hadn’t). He was then asked why didn’t he go over to see whether Ian Tomlinson was ok? Harwood: “Not classified as part of the training”…

Harwood, when interviewed by the IPCC, appeared with his Police Fed rep and solicitor along with a 32 page statement yet he refused to answer any questions from the IPCC. There are a lot of contradictions in his various statements, lack of recall and so on. Ryder, when first questioning Harwood said, “Will you admit that the force used was unreasonable, unnecessary and excessive”? Harwood: “No”. And that Harwood, “wasn’t here to help the family more to help himself by exaggerating and creating a false picture of events”…

Harwood was obstructive, got bogged down in semantics and deflected questions. Irritating and frustrating yet Ryder had a very good point when he said Harwood wanted to be “centre of attention” and that he wanted to make an “example” of the man graffiting on the police van. And from the footage shown Harwood is an individual law unto himself showing disregard for even his fellow officers. Interestingly, another PC who was also in charge of his carrier was able to get back to it easily and even phone Harwood to ask where he was. This police officer also said that he never drew his baton at all that day.

The other fascinating thing is that senior officers maintained that they had told officers to be “firm but friendly” in policing the G20 protests (really? Now that astounded me… as the media along with the police sensationally whipped up the “predicted” violence). And it was also said that there had been no intelligence that this was going to be violent…

Finally, what exposed for me just how weak and pathetic Harwood was when he asked the IPCC to investigate Ian Tomlinson, whether he may have been a protester and “any previous offending”… Digging the dirt and trying to discredit a dead man as a way to deflect responsiblity for his violent act, responsiblity which Harwood has never taken.

NB: I left at lunch time, and later on in the afternoon Harwood had started to back track (from Guardian live blog of the inquest):

As a result, he has now accepted, on reflection, that Tomlinson was walking away from police and was not “encroaching” upon police lines. Harwood agreed the newspaper seller did have his back to him when he decided to push him. He also accepted that Tomlinson was not being defiant.

All of this appeared to contradict evidence Harwood gave earlier today. The officer did, however, stand by one earlier point, as you can see here:

Judge: “Do you agree that the push looked like a heavy push?”
Harwood: “It looks like a heavy push, yes.”
Judge: “Was it a heavy push?”
Harwood: “No.”

 

Feeding time for the heron punky chicks

Visiting the park this afternoon I saw a wonderful sight that I was hoping I may see, heron chicks being feed by heron parent. The punky chicks literally started to grab parent heron by the beak in expectation of food. I think the 3 chicks were being fed equally but can’t be sure, they all sat their with their mouths wide open for dinner. While all this was happening the other parent heron was standing in the shallows of the pond staring at the nest, later it got into an altercation with a coot. Heron was trying to take some twigs when the coot decided to intimidate the nervous and quiet bird. It backed off then the coot turned around and the heron went for it and grabbed the twigs and flew off to the nest. Success to the heron…. The coots seem to think they the monopoly over the twigs in the pond.

To the readers of the blog you may have seen my interest in herons, fascinating creatures, reflective and intelligent, have been watching them (nay, stalking them) for the past year.

And have taken countless photographic images of these birds. Thinking of putting together a slim volume of photos of herons…”Flight of the herons”… or something like that. Next on the list….ducks and ducklings. Though I still have a soft spot for the herons.

Ian Tomlinson inquest today

PC Harwood took the stand at the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson. I will give a fuller account tomorrow. He said yesterday that he wanted to “help” the Tomlinson family this led to them walking out. Today it was the second day of his evidence, this afternoon the Tomlinson representative, Matthew Ryder began questioning Harwood (which will continue tomorrow). Harwood was evasive and indulging in obfuscation. His answers weren’t straightforward to straightforward questioning.

But the last 30 minutes were the most dramatic:

Questioned by the assistant deputy coroner, Judge Peter Thornton QC, Harwood has accepted that the account of events he put in his notebook two weeks after the protests was incorrect.

These relate to Harwood’s explanation of the aftermath of his attempt to arrest a protester for daubing graffiti, when he said he came under attack from hundreds of protesters and was in fear for his life. Video cast doubt over that, and Thornton specifically went through the list.

Harwood: At the time I wrote this, I thought I fell to the floor.
Thornton: Do you now accept that this is not correct?
Harwood: Yes
Thornton: That you lost your baton – that is not correct?
Harwood: Yes
Thornton: That you received a blow to the head – that is not correct?
Harwood: Yes
Thornton: And that there were violent and dangerous confrontations – that is not correct?
Harwood: Yes.
Thornton: And you were struck by a missile – that is not correct?
Harwood: Yes.

Thornton then asked how Harwood got all this wrong when he wrote the statement on 16 April, more than two weeks after the protests.

Harwood said: “Because at the time that is what I believed happened, from the information I had, that is what I believed happened to me there.”

This is what Harwood had to say on the level of force he used towards Ian Tomlinson:

PC Simon Harwood has said he was “amazed” and “shocked” when Ian Tomlinson fell to the ground after he struck him with a baton and pushed him at the G20 protests.

“The push I used wasn’t that much force in my mind – to have caused that to happen,” he said of the incident on 1 April 2009. The Territorial Support Group (TSG) officer said he believed the use of force was justified because he was seeking to “encourage” the newspaper seller to move away from police lines.

Harwood accepted that Tomlinson posed “no threat” to him or anybody else.

He said he nonetheless moved forward to strike Tomlinson because believed he was remaining “defiant” in the face of requests to move. He said he saw a dog bite Tomlinson’s leg and another officer push the newspaper seller.

Seconds later, he decided it was justified to take action against Tomlinson, who he perceived to be “encroaching” a police line. Harwood could not recall whether he gave the father of nine a verbal warning before striking him.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings…

 

Mobs, mayhem and witch hunts

So here we go, sensationalist language generated by the right-wing press regarding events during March 26 demo… “mayhem”, “orgy of violence”, more “mayhem”, “carnage”, even more “mayhem”… and “mobs”… It kinda reminds me of Caroline Flint’s hideous outburst about the occupation of Tory HQ last year, “Trots, anarchists and idiots”….

Seriously, if your knowledge of the world is based on the Torygraph and Daily Mail (and some do…unfortunately) then you would be forgiven to believing that an armed insurrection happened in central London. I shake my head in despair especially as the right-wing populist media is utterly het up by these “mobs” marauding the streets of opulent Piccadilly while the bourgeoise quakes in their its riding boots chomping on crayfish tails, sour cream & dill on blini supping Royal Blend tea awaiting for the storming of Fortnum and Mason and with trashing The Ritz….. 1917 re-visited. Oh what a vivid imagination the Tory press has.

It would be laughable if it wasn’t so offensive. The press are now making it personable by putting the spot light on individuals, be prepared for a witch hunts against individuals regarding March 26. Witch hunts have the capability to destroy lives along with losing their jobs. Yet the press don’t concern themselves with investigative journalism instead they smear and muck rake. But hey, sensationalism, distortions and fiction sells paper. I have seen witch hunts over the years in the Labour Party, trade union movement, tireless campaigners who have been picked on by the press. Two women I knew personally at different times in my life were trashed by the media because of the work they did along with uncovering personal events in their lives.  The result of this “investigation” was them seeing their lives splashed in the papers. Did the journos ever once wonder what damage this would do to either of them? Nope, it was about selling papers by delving into the lives of people they disapprove of.

Again, I have seen the end results of what witch hunts do to people and it aint pretty. It is our duty to defend people who are slashed on the front of right-wing papers not gloat but show solidarity because this is just the beginning. We will see the media gradually using “anarchist” more and more as a smear or indeed any kind of political distinction that puts you on the anti-cuts consensus-unfriendly spectrum. We have to work together and defend each other from attacks as they will intensify as the cuts get deeper and deeper along resistance getting louder and louder.

“Breach of the peace bubble”….

It’s now the second week of the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson and today PC Simon Harwood (the cop who pushed Ian Tomlinson to the ground) gives evidence which will probably continue tomorrow.

Earlier in the day Inspector Timothy Williams, Harwood’s senior officer, described, rather surreally, kettling as ”breach of the peace bubble”.. Along with also revealing that a senior officer told him to treat lawful protesters with “kid gloves” and violent activists with an “iron fist”.

More of the heron, a fox, goose and a bench

 

A Heron and its punky chicks

I have long been a fan of the two herons that lurk in my local park. They are a quiet smart thoughtful looking bird while they stare into space. Always imagine the heron as a kind of Prof. Yaffle from Bagpuss (ok, I know it’s a Woodpecker ….but). I prefer them from the noisy collective of gobby Cormorants who hang out at the edge of the pond while the herons just stand further away on the bank staring silently into space looking all intellectually scholarly.

And was pleased to see the two herons with their young in the nest. I saw them a couple of days ago and was told by a man walking by that this was a second year these herons have had young. And quietly walking around the pond I was able to see them in their nest on their own and then later parent heron came back with fish.

It was a wonderful scene and immensely fascinating. I was never real that interested before in watching birds but must confess now that I am now hooked.

What about the riot of the rich?!

There has been some truly awful posts written about the events last Saturday especially regarding the aftermath. For example here, here and here. This is my comment on Stuart White’s post on Lib Con.

I feel there’s a similarity to what happened Saturday and the events of the Poll Tax “riot”, the recriminations and condemnation by those on the left towards the so-called riot in 1990. It did have a witch hunting feel about it. I won’t condemn the behaviour of Black Bloc, because there’s far far worse things happening to people with this government with no mandate. Anger exploded on the streets same with the Poll Tax and certainly now things are so much much worse as young people are seeing their lives, their futures trashed. It also looks like the state is clamping down on UK Uncut probably because they had the audacity to have a sit-in in a bourgeois grocers.

As Briar [another comment on the post] states:” Why do they care so much about bank windows and so little about the families whose lives will be devastated by the cuts agenda?”

Indeed

Also, I think the author of this piece is being disingenuous when he uses “violent direct action” and “non-violent direct action”…. Is an act of damage to property an act of violence? Kicking in windows or chucking paint is nothing compared to the human damage this government is doing along with the vicious violence dished out by the cops. That’s the reality of violence and that’s what we should be concentrating on as opposed to protesters damaging property. Oh and talking of cop violence this week has been the start of the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson.

Like with the Trafalgar Sq Defence Campaign re Poll Tax arrests there should be a similar one set up for the UK Uncut arrested. It is our duty to support them and show solidarity.

Just finally, the right-wing press love concentrating on this, distracting us from the real violence of the ConDems. So why is the left falling for this, doing the dirty work of the press? Smashed windows and graffiti is nothing to what we will experience from these cuts!

See Tim’s Solidarity Forever