Birmingham magistrates court hosts its first tweet-a-thon aimed at showing the reality of police work and the legal system In an age when crime can be committed on Twitter, it was only a matter of time before the social networking tool became involved in punishment. Claiming an internet first, police in the Midlands began a ” tweet-a-thon ” on Tuesday, posting live updates from a magistrates court as a motley cast of alleged shoplifters, brawlers and ne’er-do-wells made their way through the lower chambers of the British legal system. Five press officers from the West Midlands police, the country’s second largest force, were deployed to Birmingham magistrates court armed with a wireless laptop. Their mission: to bear witness, in fewer than 140 characters, to justice being meted out. The day-long exercise had a serious purpose: showing police work doesn’t end with an arrest, according to the force’s assistant chief constable, Garry Forsyth. However, like an exercise in Manchester last October to tweet 24 hours of police incidents, it shone a light on the sometimes surreal world of petty crime. ” A 60 yr old female suspected shoplifter appeared in court for stealing flour and a cucumber. Adjourned until next week ,” said one early contribution. In another, a light-fingered shopper’s activities were given pithy mitigation: ” 24 yr old Yardley man £200 fine £65 compensation for stealing electric fans and a mirror as the queue was too long! ” To pad out the inevitable (and sometimes interminable, as anyone who has ever attended court can testify) delays between cases, the police tweeters also served up informative snippets about the history of Birmingham magistrates court. Who knew that it cost £113,000 to build and has eight stained-glass windows ? Being a magistrates court, which can only serve justice on relatively minor offences, many of the sentences were (conveniently for Twitter), short. The brief posts, however, didn’t reveal why some sentences were shorter than others. If he was following proceedings on his mobile phone, the 27-year-old Small Heath man given a 12-week sentence for stealing wine from a branch of Aldi – a punishment which triggered instant apoplexy in the Twittersphere – was probably annoyed to read about the 39-year-old merely fined £115 for a similar theft . ” Crazy! ” was the instant response from Twitter user Pastorwhitley, perhaps kicking off one of the swiftest-ever justice campaigns for a defendant who may become known as the Aldi One. More sentence reports, rich in tragically banal details, followed: ” Police: The woman was found to be smuggling mascara out of a shop down her bra. She also stole aftershave. ” There were, of course, more complicated charges, including at least one rape and several serious assaults. These were duly bumped upstairs, legally speaking, to crown court, where the jury is still out on the legality of live Twitter reporting by journalists. Though it would have been sublimely appropriate, there were no reports of Twitter-related criminal activity similar to the case last year that saw 27-year-old accountant Paul Chambers convicted of “menace” and fined £1,000 for tweeting a threat to blow up Doncaster airport. Police Twitter UK criminal justice guardian.co.uk
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BBC Trust clears Panorama documentary on Mavi Marmara over majority of complaints, but upholds three out of 51 points The BBC Trust has ruled that a Panorama documentary about the Israeli boarding of the Mavi Marmara was “accurate and impartial” overall, but did breach editorial guidelines. Panorama: Death in the Med, presented by Jane Corbin and broadcast on BBC1 in August 2010, looked at the controversial boarding by Israeli commandos of the Mavi Marmara, which was part of a flotilla attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Nine people travelling with the flotilla died in the ensuing confrontation, and a number of Israelis were also injured. Death in the Med prompted 2,000 calls to the BBC. Of those who expressed their opinion about the programme, 72% were negative, although a quarter of those were part of a lobby organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website, according to the BBC. Subsequently 19 complaints, raising 51 substantive points, were put to the BBC Trust’s editorial standards committee. Complaints on three of these points were upheld by the trust – two relating to breaches of the BBC’s editorial guidelines regarding accuracy and one on impartiality. The accuracy breaches related to the inclusion of preliminary autopsy reports into how activists died and details of the full extent of the aid on board the flotilla. Panorama was also found by the BBC Trust to have breached impartiality guidelines by not verifying that Israelis took proper care of the badly wounded following allegations of mistreatment of some of the casualties. “The BBC’s courageous journalism is perhaps the clearest articulation of its public service mission, and it is essential that the BBC is able to report on the most controversial issues of the day. But it is equally essential that it meets the very highest standards of accuracy and impartiality,” said Alison Hastings, the chair of the trust’s editorial standards committee. “By having a robust system in place to reassure licence fee payers that issues are picked up and lessons are learned, the BBC can have the space and credibility to make these types of programmes.” A spokesman for BBC News, which made Panorama: Death in the Med said: “BBC News welcomes the findings of the trust on the Panorama Death in the Med. We are pleased that the trust found that the film achieved ‘due impartiality and due accuracy’ and did not uphold the complaint overall. We also welcome the trust’s conclusion that the film was ‘an original, illuminating and well-researched piece of journalism’ and that ‘Panorama performed a valuable public service’. “We note that the trust upheld three out of the 51 points of complaint and we will consider seriously any lessons to be learned. We note that the trust also remarked it is unlikely that a current affairs programme such as this, covering such a contentious issue, would be found to be entirely flawless if it were subjected to the level of deconstruction and analysis that Death in the Med has undergone.” More details soon… •
Continue reading …Viking is alunching a review of its bestseller Three Cups of Tea following reports that facts were fudged in the memoir and a multi-million-dollar charity that grew out of the book may largely be a fraud. Several facts in writer Greg Mortenson’s book and the sequel, Stones Into Schools —including…
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Interview with Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions As the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer is responsible for prosecutions, legal issues and criminal justice policy. Since he took up the post in November 2008, he has had to contend with the case of the death of Ian Tomlinson at the 2009 G20 Summit, the controversy around assisted suicide and has been drawn into the News of the World phone hacking scandal. Now he faces another challenge. Last autumn, a 28-year-old mother began an eight-month prison sentence for “falsely retracting” a rape allegation against her husband, despite the court accepting that she had suffered prolonged domestic abuse and had withdrawn the
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A great crime against pedantry is in progress and it’s time for someone to draw a line There are monkeys, and then there are apes. They are two different things, like dogs and bears, or pants and socks, or homeopathy and functioning medicine. Monkeys, apes. Apes, monkeys. If you’re not getting this, here’s a handy visual guide to cut out of your monitor and keep: There are many obvious differences between monkeys and apes. Apes are bigger, lack tails, have larger brains and more human-like shoulder joints. Monkeys leap around in trees and crap on your head from a great height. If an ape is crapping on your head, the chances are your head is planted in the ground with 450lbs of ape on top of it. While both are primates, apes and monkeys are in different families. Simians are divided into New World monkeys and Old World simians, with Old World creatures further divided into Old World monkeys and apes. Humans are members of the ape family, distinguished by weediness, lack of hair, technological development and widespread ironic denial of their ape heritage. These differences are important. Other writers are preoccupied with trivia like the NHS reforms or education funding, but a great crime against pedantry is in progress and it’s time for someone to draw a line. Like many of today’s problems, this one is epitomized by a Daily Mail headline : “Fans go bananas for new Planet Of The Apes trailer which takes humanised monkey effects to a whole new level.” Really? Really? Only actually, as ‘humanised monkeys’ go they look a bit rubbish to me, because they don’t really look like monkeys at all, they look more like apes, what with the film being ‘Planet of the Apes’ and all. Of course the original film is problematic as well, as you can see from the fatally-flawed premise : “An astronaut crew crash lands on a planet in the distant future where intelligent talking apes are the dominant species.” The irony here is that intelligent talking apes already are the dominant species on Earth. John F. Kennedy was an intelligent talking ape. Gandhi was an intelligent talking ape. Jesus and the Prophet Mohammed were intelligent talking apes. David Cameron is an… a talking ape. Somehow though, whether through overt denial or just poor education, we’ve wandered into a perverse reality where people think that they aren’t apes but that apes are monkeys. In terms of biological heritage this confusion is like believing your Mum is actually your distant cousin – feel free to make up your own joke about inbreeding and creationists here. Apparently these subtle nuances are beyond a lot of entertainment journalists covering “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” : Andy Serkis Knocked About With Monkeys! No, he knocked about with apes. “Trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes Promises Monkey Invasion” No it doesn’t. The monkeys aren’t invading. The monkeys aren’t really a big part of the film, certainly not in a speaking role. Rise of the Planet of the Apes – James Franco talks monkeys No, he talks apes, because he is making a film about apes. Monkey Business APE business. “‘Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes’ Concept Art: The Monkeys Shall Inherit The Earth” The monkeys shall do bugger all. The most significant change to occur in the lives of monkeys after the events of this film will be a direct result of the discovery that poo flung at furrier overlords is more likely to stick. I know that entertainment journalists aren’t all morons. Some of them are able to achieve remarkable feats of intellect and empathy, like sitting through The Last Airbender all the way to the end without having a brain aneurysm, or making up all those combo-names for celebrity couples like “Angelad”, or remembering the names of all 42 Kardashian sisters and then actually giving a crap about what they do. So come on – apes , not bloody monkeys, apes. Is it really so hard? layscience@googlemail.com | Twitter: @mjrobbins Zoology Taxonomy Science fiction and fantasy Martin Robbins guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A frantic pal watched helplessly as his friend was attacked by a man as the two chums spoke in different countries 11,000 miles apart via webcam. Qian Liu, 23, was found dead in her Toronto apartment by an acquaintance alerted by the friend . He was speaking with the Beijing…
Continue reading …The Internet’s “red light district” has gone live, with the first sites using the .xxx domain name suffix making their debut. ICM Registry, the company tasked with running the new domain, says .xxx will only be available to the adult industry. For now, however, new sites like porn.xxx, sex….
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Baking a selection of biscuits to promote The King’s Speech is a clever marketing ploy – even if Colin Firth’s face is missing Don’t think that you’re done with The King’s Speech yet, not by a long shot. Yes, you may have laboured through the theatrical release and all the pointedly unfunny comedy sketches and the building Oscar hype and the Oscars themselves and the cleaned-up, family friendly, slightly mercenary-seeming re-release, but The King’s Speech isn’t finished with you yet. As a frantic last-ditch effort to win over those immune to the monarchy and films about the monarchy, The King’s Speech has decided to play its joker. And, surprisingly, it turns out that its joker is biscuits. The King’s Speech – the fleetingly filthy original version, at least – is fast approaching its DVD release date, so Bracknell-based bakers Biscuiteers have whipped up a grand selection of bespoke King’s Speech biscuits as a clever marketing ploy. And, despite the fact that biscuits genuinely couldn’t have played any less of a part in the story than they did – possibly to the extent that there wasn’t even a single biscuit in the entire film – you can sort of see the appeal. It more or less makes sense. After all, what could be more British than biscuits? Drizzle and substandard dentistry, that’s what. And neither of those things would make for a practical or effective form of movie merchandise. Plus, with the royal wedding oppressively bearing down on everyone, there has never been more demand for chintzy nonsense like this. How better to salute the nuptials of the grandson of your unelected monarch than with a biscuit shaped like a carriage, or a biscuit shaped like a crown, or a biscuit shaped like the union flag, or a biscuit shaped like a rectangle with the words “The King’s Speech” on it? Short of stitching bunting from the sails of the HMS Victory herself, it’s hard to say. The only real disappointment is that the biscuits don’t truly reflect the content of the film. While there is admittedly a microphone biscuit, you can’t help but feel that they’re missing a trick by not having Colin Firth’s face on a design. Or Winston Churchill. Or a corgi. Or Guy Pearce enthusiastically nodding at a swastika. Or a biscuit shaped like a speech bubble, with the words “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck and fuck! Fuck, fuck and bugger! Bugger, bugger, buggerty buggerty buggerty, fuck, fuck, arse! Balls, balls fuckity, shit, shit, fuck and willy. Willy, shit and fuck and tits” iced across the front in flowery cursive. You could argue that baking a few biscuits to promote The King’s Speech is entirely superfluous – the DVD was already likely to become a bestseller, even before the promise of additional snacks – but this could herald an important precedent. Perhaps from now on audiences and critics will rate films based solely on the variety and quality of baked goods used to promote them. And, although that does nod towards a dystopian future where Big Momma’s House 3 is more acclaimed than Citizen Kane because each DVD had a slightly moister slice of Battenburg strapped to it, I’d argue that it wouldn’t be a world I’d mind living in. Colin Firth Drama Marketing & PR Stuart Heritage guardian.co.uk
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Robin Garbutt bludgeoned wife Diana with metal bar as she slept before pretending armed robber had struck A shopkeeper who bludgeoned his postmistress wife to death as she slept then blamed an armed robber has been convicted of her murder. Robin Garbutt, 45, knew his wife Diana had been unfaithful and feared his theft of thousands of pounds from the post office they ran in Melsonby, North Yorkshire, was about to be discovered. A jury at Teesside crown court rejected his story that a man with a gun told him: “Don’t do anything stupid, we’ve got your wife”, before robbing him as he worked in the shop, and that moments later he discovered her lifeless body in bed. Garbutt shook his head as he was convicted by the jury of eight men and four women by a majority of 10 to two.The panel had been deliberating for 12 hours and 50 minutes. His sister collapsed in tears as the verdict was announced. Diana Garbutt’s mother, Agnes Gaylor, also wept. Mr Justice Openshaw was expected to sentence Garbutt on Tuesday. Garbutt hit his wife three times over the head with a metal bar while she slept in the living quarters above the Melsonby village shop and post office in the early hours of 23 March last year. He later opened the shop as normal, served about 60 customers, then closed it again. He dialled 999 and claimed his wife had been attacked, crying hysterically on the phone, then when a paramedic told him rigor mortis had set in, challenged it, saying “she’s still warm”. He told police a raider had come in and robbed him, then when he ran upstairs his wife was motionless, face down on the bed. His story unravelled after police delved into the secrets of his seemingly happy marriage. They found the couple owed £30,000 in credit card debts and, despite the long hours Garbutt worked, were making little profit. The couple were due to go on holiday to the US, where his wife’s father was from, and Garbutt is thought to have feared that a relief postmaster would discover thousands of pounds were missing from the business. Police also found his wife, 40, had become involved with three men and was searching online for men aged 35-50 to date. The couple had discussed splitting up and the prosecution said Garbutt faced a future with no assets if that happened because they were in his wife’s name. Crucial evidence came from a meal of fish and chips the couple ate the night before Mrs Garbutt died. An expert on digestion told the jury she had stopped processing the meal about six to eight hours after she finished eating, giving a likely time of death in the early hours rather than at about 8.30am when Garbutt claimed the robber struck. David Hatton QC, prosecuting, told the jury: “One of the questions you will have to consider, if you accept this evidence, is the likelihood of a robber or robbers being prepared to violently kill a female sleeping in her own bed at all – but then, having done so, to wait for four to six hours before going downstairs to rob the post office. “And then, it has to be said, having been prepared to bludgeon the lady to death upstairs and wait for that length of time, to leave the defendant himself unharmed and unrestrained to raise the alarm.” Crime guardian.co.uk
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World governments pledge millions for the construction of a 20,000-tonne steel arch to prevent further radiation leaks Governments from around the world today pledged $785m (€550m) to seal the stricken nuclear reactor at Chernobyl within a 20,000-tonne steel shield that would be large enough to enclose St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The huge arch is designed to prevent any further radiation from escaping for 100 years. The pledges, made at a conference in Kiev ahead of the 25th anniversary of the disaster on 26 April 2011, bring the total raised for the Chernobyl safety works to $1.8bn and will enable efforts to finally secure the reactor which caught fire in April 1986. Twenty-eight governments have so far offered money. The European commission was the biggest contributor with €110m. The US pledged €86m and Britain – which still has more than 300 hill farms in Wales under radiation restrictions following fallout from Chernobyl – will contribute €35m. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced an extra €120m. Japan, Italy and Canada are considering whether to contribute to the fund. The planned arch-shaped structure, which at 190 metres (623 feet) wide and more than 100 metres tall, will take five years to build. It will replace a hastily built concrete “sarcophagus” erected around the reactor in 1987. This now has serious cracks in it, raising fears that 95% of the original nuclear material which is left inside the reactor could escape. Radiation levels directly over the sarcophagus are too high for the arch to be built over it, so it will be constructed in two halves and then moved over it on rails. It is designed so that authorities could start dismantling the reactor from inside in 100 years’ time. The shield is intended to stay in place until either the radiation threat decreases or the Ukrainian government finds a permanent storage facility for the 200 tonnes of uranium and one tonne of radioactive plutonium still inside the ruins. World governments, which had already raised more than €1.1bn in international funding for the shelter, as well as for a permanent nuclear fuel store for other reactors on the Chernobyl site, said that the current crisis in at the Fukushima plant in Japan persuaded them to respond to the appeal by Ukraine, which estimates the accident has so far cost the nation more than $12bn. “Recent events in Fukushima, Japan, have reminded us of the danger this issue may represent,” said European commission president, José Manuel Barroso. The French prime minister, François Fillon, said Fukushima evoked memories of Chernobyl: “More than ever our responsibility is to join together our efforts to limit the consequences of such disasters and to prepare for the future.” But Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the Soviet Union at the time of the Chernobyl disaster and now head of the environment group Green Cross International , used the occasion of the 25th anniversary to say nuclear power was not the answer to the world’s energy problems or to climate change. “Nuclear power has been presented as a financially sound, economically efficient, clean and safe solution that will bring about energy security and drive economic growth. Recently, the so-called ‘nuclear renaissance’ has hitched a free ride on the back of the need to find low-carbon solutions to the climate crisis. The bottom line on the economics of nuclear power is that it simply does not add up. That is why private investment is wisely focusing on better alternatives,” he said in a statement. “It is necessary to realise that nuclear power is not a panacea, as some observers allege, for energy sufficiency or climate change. Its cost-effectiveness is also exaggerated, as its real cost does not account for many hidden expenses. In the United States, for example, direct subsidies to nuclear energy amounted to $115bn between 1947 and 1999, with an additional $145bn in indirect subsidies. In contrast, subsidies to wind and solar energy combined over this same period totalled only $5.5bn. But Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said: “Today, nuclear power is the only real alternative to fossil fuel as a source of a reliable supply.” He acknowledged that confidence in atomic energy has taken a severe blow after the tsunami-triggered disaster at Fukushima. “Fukushima represents a potentially significant setback for nuclear power,” he told participants at the forum, although he stressed that confidence will be “re-established in due course”. “Chernobyl and Fukushima should be shown to be aberrations,” he said. Chernobyl nuclear disaster Nuclear power Ukraine Europe John Vidal guardian.co.uk
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