Tuesday
(0)I went out this afternoon to partake of coffee with a friend, and on my way to the coffee house, I stumbled upon a news story, and took some photos of it.
Who is that?, I asked. A Father 4 Justice. Oh, one of them.
Cheap, modern, democratised communications pervade this story, and may also influence the reporting of it. Note that the guy has a portable telephone, which would probably not have been the case a decade ago, and which must surely have influenced how the authorities set about dealing with him. I mean, if you were a copper, it might make a difference if the guy you were trying to arrest was supplying a running commentary of your every move to his pals. Who were recording everything he said, as they surely were.
Other photographers were already out in force by the time I got there.
The professionals were there in strength.
But, so were the amateurs, …
… me included, with my 10x zoom lens and automatic anti-shake focussing, in a camera that cost less than three hundred quid.
One of the features of modern government, or maybe that should be recent government, is that modern/recent government often likes simply to blot stories off the airwaves. I am not saying that they wanted to squash this one. But I am saying that if they had entertained any such censorious thoughts, although they might have got away with this ten years ago, now, they would have far less chance.
They would merely have handed the blogosphere a nice little scoop.
I notice that neither the new story nor this post explain what a "Father 4 Justice" might be. Is it some sort of well known organization over there?
Posted by Ken Hagler at September 27, 2005 11:34 PM
Fathers for justice are most famous for throwing a condom filled with purple flour at Tony Blair in the Houses of Parliament. Memorably the BBC described the condom as, IIRC, a cylinder-shaped plastic container.
Posted by Robert Alderson at September 28, 2005 12:12 AM
Fathers 4 Justice are an international group campaigning for equal rights for over access to children and equality in family law.
The protestors are mostly fathers who dress up in superhero outfits and make very public demonstrations, at such places as Buckingham Palace, London and the Jacques Cartier Bridge, Montreal.
Nice take Brian but I'd like to point out how re-assuring it is that a member of public can still scale high security buildings. It's not like we're in the middle of a war on terror.
Will Charles Clarke use this as further justification to make us carry ID cards? I can imagine the soundbite..."If only this dangerous character had been carrying his ID card, we could have stopped his benefits, upped his CSA payments......"
Posted by mbe at September 28, 2005 12:17 AM
Somewhat OT---Hanson has a terrific essay on the state of academia in Opinion Journal. I linked thru Instapundit.
The reason I said "somewhat" above is that, if you change a few words, the analysis could also apply to the MSM.
Your reaction, of course, might differ.
Posted by veryretired at September 28, 2005 01:29 AM
I expect climbing parliament may have been easier with most of the police with machine guns who are normally there in Brighton, protecting His Holiness the Tone.
It certainly seemed like that on Monday, though I was nowhere near the "security cordon". Guns at the ticket barrier of the railway station.
[I thought it was very interesting that a couple of policewomen (not obviously armed) dropped in on our fringe meeting to enquire how many people we were expecting.]
Posted by guy herbert at September 28, 2005 07:04 AM
Fathers 4 Justice is a group for whom one might have some sympathy but their antics in recent months put them firmly in prize twat status, IMHO. Does not say much for our security. Mebbe the hapless Met. Police chief Ian Blair can explain.
Posted by Johnathan Pearce at September 28, 2005 08:51 AM
Behold the miracle of public sector job security.
Supposedly one of the (if not the) highest security sites in the country is breached by a bunch of guys in silly costumes - and nobody will lose their taxpayer-funded highly paid public sector job (with index-linked pension) as a result.
Of course, the private sector should learn to compete internationally if it wants to keep jobs, whilst at the same time paying for these public sector clowns.
Posted by HJHJ at September 28, 2005 09:49 AM
Jonathon
That fella you see sitting on the Houses of Parliament hasn't been allowed to see his daughter for four and a half years, so I can see how you 'might' have some sympathy for him. Maybe a letter of concern to his MP would be more appropriate.
Posted by Pete_London at September 28, 2005 10:47 AM
Luckily he's not wearing a "Bollocks to Blair" T shirt, so they won't be able to arrest him.
Posted by John K at September 28, 2005 10:58 AM
The question is, if the blogosphere had been left to report the story on its own, would anyone have listened?
Posted by Ken at September 28, 2005 11:19 AM
Brian said:
"They would merely have handed the blogosphere a nice little scoop."
Perhaps...
According to a poll reported by the BBC here
Research conducted among taxi drivers, hairdressers and pub landlords - backed up by conventional market research of more than 1,000 adults in the UK - has found that seven out of 10 people don't know what a blog is. Nine out of 10 don't know what podcasting or flashmobbing are.
It is to easy to get wrapped up in blogging and think that anyone takes any notice - outside other bloggers and some parts of the media they generally don't (with one or two unusual and limited exceptions). It may change of course, but don't hold your breath...
Posted by ian at September 28, 2005 12:31 PM
I think that poll just says more about the unreliablity of the poll sampling techniques to show a true picture - ask a certain demographic only (25-30 media marketing staff), and you might have had a 90% response. Ask another (85-90 former manual labourers) and it might have come in even lower!
Posted by JuliaM at September 28, 2005 05:58 PM
Ian,
I couldn't get your link to the BBC story to work, but I did find the same story reported elsewhere. This story reveals that many people seem to confuse 'blogging' with something else.
Posted by Robert Alderson at September 28, 2005 10:42 PM
nice climb, the edge of that roofing looks easy (and well protected). What is the climb up to that point like?
Posted by chris at September 29, 2005 04:02 PM
