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| Fertility regulator had 'vendetta' against doctor The fertility regulator appeared to have an 'ill considered vendetta' against one of Britain's most successful and richest doctors, Evan Harris MP has warned. telegraph.co.uk |
Iraq Inquiry: Britain went to war on 'assumption' of Saddam Hussein WMD Britain went to war in Iraq on an 'assumption' that Saddam Hussein still possessed weapons of mass destruction, according to Jonathan Powell. telegraph.co.uk |
Photographers protest against police stop and search More than 2,000 photographers demonstrate against police using terrorism laws to prevent photography in public placesThousands of photographers have staged a mass protest against the "malicious" use of anti-terrorism laws to stop them taking pictures in public places.Trafalgar Square in central London was lit up by flash bulbs as part of the demonstration against photographers being unfairly targeted by police after taking photos. They are usually questioned under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows officers to stop and search without the need for "suspicion" within designated areas in the UK.More than 2,000 professional and amateur photographers took part in the protest organised by the group I'm a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!, many carrying placards bearing its name.Onlookers were handed stop and search cards by organisers outlining their rights.Freelance photographer and Guardian contributor Marc Vallee, who helped organise the protest with appeals on Twitter and Facebook, said he was "delighted" by the turnout."It's quite obvious that professional photographers across the country are being searched because they are photographers not because they are suspicious," he said."It's a common-law right to take pictures in public places and we are here to show that."Earlier this month the European court of human rights ruled that the use of counter-terrorism stop and search powers on photographers and peace protesters was not "sufficiently circumscribed".The ruling by seven judges criticised the entire process by which section 44 stop and searches are authorised by the home secretary, and highlighted a lack of adequate parliamentary and legal safeguards against abuse.The judges said that because officers' decisions about whether to stop and search someone in a designated area were based solely on a hunch or professional intuition, the effect was "a clear risk of arbitrariness".All 43 police forces in England and Wales have received a memorandum warning them that officers were "confused" about stop and search powers."Officers should be reminded that it is not an offence for a member of the public or journalist to take photographs of a public building, and use of cameras by the public does not ordinarily permit use of stop and search powers," said the circular issued last year.Andy Trotter, chief constable of the British transport police, who drafted the guidance for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said photographers "should be left alone to get on with what they are doing".The shift in policy was a direct response to negative media reports surrounding photographers, amateur and professional, who said they were being unfairly stopped, usually under section 44.A succession of high-profile incidents involving the use of the legislation against photographers has embarrassed senior officers, who privately concede that the rank and file are misusing their powers on the ground.In December Guardian reporter Paul Lewis was stopped and searched while taking pictures of the Gherkin building in London and Grant Smith, an architecture photographer, was apprehended around the corner while photographing Sir Christopher Wren's Christ Church.Other recent cases include Jeff Overs, a BBC photographer who told the Andrew Marr Show he was stopped under suspicion of terrorism reconnaissance while photographing St Paul's Cathedral, and Andrew White, an amateur photographer questioned by two police community support officers for photographing Christmas lights in Brighton.Last April two Austrian tourists were forced to delete their shots after being stopped by police in Walthamstow; and Alex Turner, an amateur photographer, was arrested under section 44 after taking images of a fish and chip shop in Kent.Stop and searchPress freedomPoliceTerrorism policyDavid Battyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
South Bank Show bows out with an award to laud Bragg Melvyn Bragg wins outstanding achievement award from own show as ITV decision to pull plug comes under fireAnd the winner of the South Bank Show award for outstanding achievement is … the presenter of the South Bank Show.In their last outing today, the awards did the decent thing and handed a prize to Lord Bragg – Melvyn Bragg to most of us. The awards have run for 14 years and always been eclectic, a reflection of the programmes that ran for 32 years before ITV suddenly pulled the plug last year.Bragg has not been shy of complaining about ITV's decision – "strange, abrupt, bad-mannered," he told one interviewer – but today he was charm itself.Accepting the outstanding achievement award he said: "George Eliot said, 'art is the nearest thing to life'. That's what I believe and that's why we made the programmes."His fellow guests were not so reticent. ITV is due to screen the awards on Sunday night and it may seem a form of self-flagellation. "Good riddance," joked Rob Brydon. "Let's get rid of any bastion of culture and lie around in pig shit." Or Billy Connolly: "How sad that the South Bank Show has gone the way of all flesh. Without arts there is no joy, without arts programmes there's only reality television."Or PD James, who said the occasion was like a wake, lamenting the loss by borrowing from Auden's Stop All the Clocks because "only poets can express the sorrow I feel". Or Sir Ian McKellen: "I don't know how it's happened or why it's happened and it shouldn't have happened."And perhaps most cuttingly, Prince Charles, who, in a filmed contribution, said: "The programme remains without rival. I cannot say I am encouraged as mainstream television abandons such a unique and special commitment.Civilisation needs all the help it can get. It is a sad loss."As well as being an opportunity to say goodbye to the South Bank Show, there were of course winners. Connolly presented the best comedy award to Armando Iannucci's The Thick of It,, beating Home Time and The Inbetweeners while in the TV drama category, Red Riding beat Being Human and Collision.In music Florence + the Machine's album Lungs won over Frankmusik and The xx, and there were wins for the ENO's Peter Grimes and the cycle of Carl Nielsen concerts by the Hallé and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.The Donmar Warehouse's production of A Streetcar Named Desire – which also today picked up three Critics' Circle awards – won best theatre production over Jerusalem and Alan Bennett's The Habit Of Art.Adam Foulds won the literature prize for his second novel, the Booker shortlisted The Quickening Maze, which tells the story of the mad Victorian poet John Clare.In dance, there was a win for David Bintley's E=mc2 performed by the Birmingham Royal Ballet and in film Andrea Arnold's Essex love story Fish Tank beat An Education and The Damned United. Anish Kapoor's hugely popular retrospective at the Royal Academy won him the visual arts prize.Melvyn BraggTelevision industryMark Brownguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Boris Johnson to quit Met police post Conservative mayor tells London assembly he will relinquish role 'in view of the changes that are coming to the MPA'Boris Johnson, the London mayor, confirmed today that he intends to stand down as chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority.Johnson's decision to step down from the role after just 15 months prompted accusations that he was "chickening out" of a manifesto commitment to take personal charge of the MPA.His decision is part of a mayoral mini-reshuffle, announced today, which will also see him relinquish the reins as chair of London's waste and recycling board.Johnson told the London assembly this morning that he is proposing to hand over the reins of the MPA to Kit Malthouse, his deputy mayor of policing, who is also the MPA's vice-chair.This was amid "the changes that are coming to the MPA and the reforms that are under way", said Johnson, who insisted he would remain the "democratic component" for London policing.The mayor's aide denied that Johnson's comments on forthcoming reforms was a reference to the mayor's expectation of a Tory win at the next general election.Johnson told the assembly: "I do believe that the Metropolitan Police Service is doing a fantastic job and I am very content that crime is coming down."I think in view of the changes that are coming to the MPA, in view of the reforms that are under way, it would be a good thing if we changed the chair of the MPA, and I am proposing to stand down."He added: "I can reassure you and reassure members of the MPA that my links with the commissioner [Sir Paul Stephenson] are as strong and as robust as ever."Jenny Jones, who also sits on the London assembly as a Green party member, accused the mayor of going back on his word."The mayor made a clear commitment to Londoners in his election manifesto to personally take charge of the police authority. He has now gone back on his word, realising that being both mayor and chair of the MPA is just too much for one person to do properly."It was an ill thought-out promise, and one that showed his lack of experience. The Met are facing difficult times ahead, with budgets being cut in all areas. The chair of the MPA needs to take the time to understand this complex organisation to provide effective leadership."Boris Johnson has not really been involved from the beginning and perhaps feels it is time to stop pretending."Johnson's office rejected suggestions that the mayor was stepping down from the respective committees to reduce his workload.The mayor was said to want to spend "more time at the coal face" now he has put the "right structures and policies" in place at the MPA.In a bid to take "party politics" out of the MPA, the mayor wants a non-elected member of the MPA, Reshard Auladin, to become Malthouse's vice-chair.Johnson faced criticism from government ministers when he forced out the former Scotland Yard chief, Sir Ian Blair, within days of becoming MPA chair in October 2008. The mayor exercised his right to become MPA chair following new legislation.David Cameron's Conservatives have pledged to scrap police authorities across England and Wales and replace them with individuals chosen by the public if they form the next government.The shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, said in November that the Tories had their sights on ensuring Johnson would become the "elected commissioner" of the Met under Tory proposals.Malthouse provoked controversy last September when he declared that he and Johnson "have our hands on the tiller" of the Met and have an electoral mandate to influence what it does.He asserted that the Johnson regime had "elbowed the Home Office out of the picture" and would no longer act as a rubber stamp to whatever the force proposed, insisting: "We do not want to be a passenger on the Met cruise."Johnson also has his sights on promoting another Conservative from the London assembly, James Cleverly, whom he appointed as youth ambassador just a year ago.Johnson wants Cleverly to replace him as chair of the Waste and Recycling Board, where he would oversee an £84m budget and "drive forward ambitious plans to end London's poor record on recycling".The member for Bexley and Bromley recently told the Guardian he was considering putting himself forward as a Tory prospective parliamentary candidate.Boris JohnsonLondon politicsPoliceLondonHélène Mulhollandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |