Issue 4 - February 1998
TAMWORTH TWO SOLIDARITY ISSUE
DEMOCRACY DENIED
IF THERE are any simple-minded souls out
there who still think we live in a "democracy", they should take a careful
look at the current scandal over house-building. Central Government is
insisting that 12,800 extra new houses are slapped onto the already shrinking
West Sussex countryside over the next 13 years. West Sussex county Council had
already agreed to allow 37,900 new houses, but this was not good enough,
apparently, and the county Structure Plan was simply overruled by Whitehall.
Great! So what was the point in all those months and months of "consultation"
with local councils, groups and communities? The equivalent of another
Basingstoke is going to be built all over our fields and meadows. Nobody here
wants it (except property developers, needless to say!) and yet there is no
way, within our marvellously "democratic" system, that we can do anything
about stopping it!
It gets worse! Did you know that, as well as being ultimately powerless in the
face of central power, local councils are even gagged from criticising the
Government? This rule was brought in by Maggie Thatcher back in the 1980s and
allowed the tories to clamp down on Derek Hatton-type Labour councils who were
said to be using rate-payers' money for political ends. It is a well-known
saying that whoever you vote for in a general election, the Government always
gets in, and that Government is now protected from "political" criticism of
its war on the Sussex countryside by local councils in their press releases
and agenda papers. If they break the rule of silence, council officials can
find themselves in court.
Here are three questions for readers to mull over at their own leisure ...
- To what extent does the Government not really represent the
electorate, as it always claims, but the financial interests of business
organisations like the National Housebuilders' Federation?
- Outrage over the Government decision has been widespread, but by what
legal, democratic means can it realistically be reversed?
- Why do you think more and more people are resorting to direct action to
protect the countryside and why do you think Government is passing more and
more laws to stop them? (see also question 1)
NEW HOMES FOR THE RICH
IT is one of the great ironies of
1990s England that for all the new housing estates springing up in what used
to be our countryside, homelessness is still rife. And even when every last
inch of our land has been concreted over in the name of "progress" and
"development", there will still be people forced to live in the gutters. This
is because new houses are not built to provide people with a
home, but to sell them one. How many of the thousands of new
houses going up in West Sussex are going to be affordable by the people who
really need them? The bigger the house, the greater the profit for the
property developers.
We have enough big executive homes for London commuters in West Sussex. the
so-called "need" for these homes is partly invented, partly created by the
housing industry to line thier own pockets. The population is not increasing -
those who can afford it are just taking up more room as part of their selfish
consumer lifestyles. There are something like half a million empty properties
- potential homes - in south east England (like the empty flats over shops in
Warwick Street), which could and should be used to house local people in their
own towns.
Second homes for the wealthy are another aberration. It was nice to see
Worthing MP Peter Bottomley defend the proposed Xmas refuge for the homeless
in the local press, in the face of loud protests from some - but not all -
residents. But this is a man who acquired and extra "home" in Worthing just so
he could pretend he lives here, instead of with wife Virginia in Surrey's
stockbroker belt!
PORK-BOLTERS HOG HEADLINES
THE PORK-BOLTER is a totally
independent newsletter allied to no political party and with the aim of
defending the ordinary people of Worthing against all the authorities,
businesses and institutions constantly trying to rip us off and keep us in the
dark. Our name comes from an ancient nick-name for Worthing people dating back
to fishing village days. We did not name ourselves after those
runaway pigs, the Tamworth Two, you may have seen on the telly and in the
papers not so long ago, but we would like to dedicate this issue to those
real-life pork-bolters, who showed such guts and initiative in saving their
bacon and escaping the slaughter-house. They'd better watch out, though - with
a record of rebellion like that they're bound to have their mobile phones
monitored by Pig Brother.
DIRECT LINE TO BIG BROTHER
MOBILE phones are made out in the
adverts to be all about freedom and independence. BUT now it turns out that
the exact opposite is true. They can be - and are being - used as a sinister
police state device to track people's every movement. Computer records are
even kept for six months, meaning that once the authorities take an interest
in someone, they can immediately tap into the details of their recent
"private" lives.
It has long been known that the state listens in to the phone calls of anyone
it thinks is some sort of threat. And this doesn't just mean "terrorists".
Trade union officials, environmental campaigners, political dissidents -
anyone who has the gall to actually disagree with the powers-that-be in London
is considered fair game for the Big Brother treatment. For instance, if you
think it's wrong for half the Sussex countryside to be covered in concrete
(see Democracy Denied) it could be you! But the
mobile phone situation is even more sinister, as it means people's actual
movements are being logged, whether or not they are actually speaking on the
phone (it just has to be switched on). The scandal was unearthed by a Sunday
newspaper in Switzerland. Reported The Guardian on January 3:
"When British mobile phone companies were asked, they too admitted that on
production of a court order they will allow law enforcement agencies access to
their computer records."
This has all obviously been going on for years. It has emerged that the
Russians used mobile phone tracking to murder a Chechen rebel leader - they
sent a laser-guided missile to his exact location when he was on his mobile to
King Hassan discussing moves for peace! The use of the cellular phone network
for state surveillance also sheds new light on a planning mystery that has
been worrying people all over Sussex for the last few years. Why are mobile
phone firms allowed to put up massive masts all over the Downs, and anywhere
else they fancy, without having to get the planning permission that everybody
else needs to build anything much more than a birdbath in their back garden?
This must be partly down to successive Governments' crawling attitude to big
business - they even let different firms put up rival masts to cover the very
same areas. But perhaps they also exempted the mast network from planning
restriction and public scrutiny because it forms an important part of the
high-tech infrastructure of total control that our power-hungry rulers are
keen to put into place across the country, for reasons which can only be
regarded as frightening and ominous in the extreme.
NO FRIENDS OF HIGGINS
BAD news for readers looking forward to
the chance to dress up as Worthing's former MP, Lord Higgins, the man who won
the hearts of the town by representing us for 30 years without ever insisting
on living here. It seems that reports of a society formed in his honour by
grateful citizens in the town were not 100 per cent accurate and we would like
to put it on record that there are in fact no Friends of Lord
Higgins in Worthing. You may recall that we also ran a Good Lord
competition, inviting readers to complete the following sentence in no more
than 12 words. "I think Terence Higgins deserved his peerage and the
Freedom of Worthing because ..." We received an enormous number of
entries, including one or two that were not openly abusive of the Conservative
peer. One in particular was signed "Terence Higgins" but since it gave a
Worthing address and was postmarked locally, it was clearly an outrageous
hoax. A close second was the entrant who praised Lord H's brave commitment to
"slapping a f***ing great motorway all over the South Downs", but the winner
is the reader who said Terence Higgins deserved his accolades "because of all
the great work he has done for AIDS victims." Hear, hear!
FREE STREET PARTY ON FEB 14
A FREE street party is being
staged in Worthing town centre to celebrate Love the Earth Day
on Saturday February 14. We cannot tell you who is organising the event
because the information came to us anonymously. But we can pass on the message
that opposition to car-culture and traffic pollution is the inspiration behind
the event, while the idea on the day is simply to "have some fun". Party-goers
are invited to "bring what you expect to find". Remember not to break any laws
or anything, right? Meeting place is the green by Heene Terrace, on the
seafront (near the Irish bar) at 12 noon on Saturday Feb 14.
LIFE'S A RIOT FOR SUSSEX COPS
THE end of one Millennium and
the start of a new one will be seen by most of us as a good excuse for a bit
of a celebration, probably in the company of our closest friends or family.
But for the control-freaks at Sussex Police, celebrating the arrival of the
year 2000 means another excuse for throwing their weight around and spoiling
other people's fun. An article in the force's Patrol magazine starts off by
suggesting that the party-pooping initiative is all about "putting safety
first". But by the third paragraph it is revealing that the police are part of
a Sussex Millennium Management Group "which has been set up to comprehensively
evaluate the public order impact of the end of the Millennium".
In other words, the cops are scared that the whole of Sussex is going to erupt
into rioting when the 20th century comes to an end!
But don't worry - the Sussex constabulary is determined to ensure that not so
much as a party popper will go off anywhere in the county without a vanload of
baton-wielding shock troops ready to smash the door down and restore sobriety.
Amazingly enough, they have been working on this major threat to law and order
since 1996 and have already cancelled all leave for 31 December 1999 to 2
January 2000! Adds Supt Geoff Rands: "We are looking to spread our
intelligence net well before the turn of the year, everything during 1999 will
have a heightened significance. The likelihood of increased activity at any
event has to be taken into consideration." You would have thought that once in
a thousand years it would be OK for us to let our hair down - but apparently
not.
PORKY PIE'S TIP OF THE MONTH:
How to Wind-up the Secret
Police
- Get a mobile phone.
- Make lots of phone calls to dodgy people to draw attention to
yourself.
- Switch on the phone, wrap it up and pop it in the post to Mobile Phone
Tracking Dept, MI5.
- Red alert! They think you have infiltrated their HQ to blow it up!
- Phone your mobile number and laugh long and hard!
CLUB 76-112
IT has been pointed out to us that our statement in the last issue's Porky
Pie's Tip, asserting that all councillors are aged between the
ages of 76 to 112, should not in fact be taken wholly seriously. Cllr Bertie
Backhander, aged 113, told us he was distinctly unimpressed. There has,
furthermore, been an initial sighting by a Pork-Bolter of a self-confessed
councillor appearing to be under the age of 35, though this is as yet
unconfirmed.
PORK SCRATCHINGS
CONGRATULATIONS to Worthing
police for being the first boys in blue ever to stage their own
Reclaim the Streets type event. The eco-warriors from the cop shop leapt into
action as Worthing town centre ground to a halt during the Christmas shopping
rush. Borough council staff were in danger of relieving the gridlock around
Chatsworth Road by using a pelican crossing to control traffic - until the
police turned up and told them it was illegal, thus ensuring that the maximum
disruption was caused to the town centre and the case against car-culture was
hammered home! No doubt they'll be there in force on February 14.
* * *
WELL done also to Worthing MPs Peter Bottomley and Tim Loughton for signing
the Early Day Motion in favour of the Road Traffic Reduction (UK
Targets) Bill, along with some 400 other MPs. We will update you in
the next issue as to whether they actually turned up and voted for it on
Friday January 30.
* * *
CHRISTIAN AID has been banned from running a TV advertising drive on the
problems of Third World debt. Behind-the-scenes pressures led the
British Advertising Clearance Centre to rule that the advert,
which shows how debt payments prevent developing countries investing in health
care, contravened its guidelines - which presumably say that adverts must
never, ever, under any circumstances, tell the truth.
* * *
A FREE counselling service for 13-25 year olds is now being offered by
Worthing's Information Shop for Young People at Marine Place,
off Warwick Street. It also offers free shower and laundry facilities for
young people without a permanent home, cheap food and drink and a confidential
freephone advice and information number on 0800 511111. The centre opens
1pm-4pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 1pm-5pm on Thursdays. Manager
Dave Sax says he hopes to expand hours and services still further.
* * *
THINK PIG! THINK PORK-BOLTER If you want to make sure of getting a copy
of issue 5, simply send us a stamped, self-addressed envelope. To get the next
six issues send a donation of at least £2. Please think about making it
a bit more, if you really want to help us. We promise not to tell anyone under
normal circumstances, but we should point out that, in line with Government
regulations, we will have to publish the names of anyone donating more than
£50,000. Sorry about that. Copies of issues 1, 2 & 3 are also
available. Cheques/postal orders made payable to The Pork-Bolter. email
subscriptions also available. Drop us a line: porkbolter@eco-action.org or PO Box
4144, Worthing, West Sussex, BN14 7NZ. website: http://www.eco-action.org/porkbolter
Printed and published by The Pork-Bolter, PO Box 4144, Worthing BN14 7NZ.
No copyright coz information is freedom, innit?
* * *
OFFICIAL WARNING Cunning and devious out-of-control pigs are a serious
menace to public safety in 1990s England. DO NOT allow these irresponsible
creatures to mess about with your mobile phone, interfere with road traffic or
gatecrash your parties.
and finally ... DON'T GET ANGRY, GET ACTIVE!
