"Violence cannot be fought with violence"

The dog Λουκάνικος, Bangers, successor to Κανέλλος, Cinnamon

Adam Schatz London Review 19 December 2008:

The police, curiously, have retreated from confrontation with the street-fighting anarchists, preferring to chase down protesters at the tense but mostly peaceful daytime rallies. Amnesty International has reported that two of its Greek members were beaten with batons, and accused the police of engaging in ‘punitive violence against peaceful demonstrators, rather than targeting those who were inciting violence and destroying property’. (Riot police emptied 4600 tear gas canisters, and had to make an emergency request to Germany and Israel to replenish their reserves.) But when the cities were burning at night, the cops were scarcer than firefighters during the great forest blaze: after midnight the cities belonged to anarchists, arsonists, looters – and, it seems, to hooded agents provocateurs with iron clubs. The stated objective behind this ‘defensive posture’ was to avoid further casualties, but many Greeks wonder whether the government had struck a tacit deal with the rioters. ‘We let you torch and plunder to your hearts’ content, and you let us continue pretending that we are in charge’ was the wording suggested by Michas Takis, a journalist at the liberal newspaper Eleftherotypia. [quote ~ Panagiotis Stathis, spokesman for the national police "Violence cannot be fought with violence."]

In one film, from a fixed camera above Syntagma Square, I viewed a road nearly empty of vehicles, campaigners standing in separate clusters on the broad pavements, and near the top of the square a pair of evzones in brown winter uniforms doing their traditional march at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of Parliament. On one forum a visitor to Athens leaving his hostel to visit the Acropolis writes that:

...we hit up the shopping area and people watched. then i saw a tv reporter setting up and asked if i could get a photo of her pretending to interview me. well, me and my big mouth, b/c she asked if she could interview for me, about the presence of police in large numbers around the christmas tree and pedestrian mall. so at least my photo is now genuine. look for me on the AP greek story regarding athens resembling a police state now. i didn't say that i had just come from israel and am used to it, but 'twas fun all the same. tomorrow will be ancient sites day, and at night olympiacos versus some team that will lose badly. fingers crossed for no rain. nap time now.

I was talking, this evening, to Amy who'd dropped in with Liz. She looked at some of the street action on the many videos of events in Athens, and referred me to current thinking in her work books on policing public disorder. I've started looking again at the way the Athens police are deploying, grouping and regrouping and begun to notice patterns in the fog. Having already had intuitions about symmetry in the dynamics of these dramatic scenes - not quite velvet, more like dralon. Amy's pointed me to a missing part of this puzzle. Of course it's been mentioned by others - the limited number of injuries among rioters and police, the minimal use of guns (none authorised) or even baton rounds, the shock aroused by the 'second shooting' - a spent bullet striking a young man's hand rendering it numb; the absence indeed of blood letting except that of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, whose death is unreservedly deplored by the government. These guys (and some women) have been on workshops and courses, taken notes from slide presentations, discussed scenarios introduced by senior officers who've attended international conferences on the management of urban riots. I know the police have training - of varying quality - but I hadn't realised how far practice had advanced informed by global experience. The Wikipedia entry on riot control is solely about weaponry - and daunting though that is - omits the volume of knowledge accumulated and diffused about crowd behaviour and its implications for policing. The arts of reaction and counter-reaction have been refined and must have spread - notwithstanding the low wages and lack of training that Greek police complain about - to the uniformed men I'm seeing in the gassy flaming streets of Athens. Riots judged as 'failures' by professionals, are those where violence is escalated or even provoked by police action; especially when police attack violent demonstrators - either because provoked, or because officers who enjoy violence are given rein, or because violent men have been planted in the crowd to provoke ill-trained and undisciplined police and/or because one or more politicians sees advantage in escalation. e.g. Berlusconi in Genoa. These acts of violence against violent mobs have either played into the hands of those who desire violence - on either side - and have diverted the police from directing their control measures against the violent, so that they end up playing into the hands of the violent, either by attacking peaceful elements in the crowd or killing or injuring aggressive demonstrators who's fate wins the sympathy of moderates, increasing animosity towards the police. I think Machiavelli would have at least reviewed some of his thoughts on the proper application of ruthlessness in the light of research on crowds since Le Bon's pioneering work in the 1890s. According to the text books on this subject, the worst thing the police can do is to return violence with commensurate violence. Blimey! For a testosterone charged male kitted up in riot gear that's counter-intuitive. The police have to avoid being drawn into violence without appearing to appease or permit violence. Those who seek confrontation among the rioters understand this, as do those who wish the same among the police, in collaboration with those in government or with aspirations to government, who seek confrontation to achieve their ambitions. The police have to be wise, as do those who give them orders - if peace is to be waged. So all those millions going into the Bloody Sunday Enquiry are, as well as being a search for truth, an investment in the competence of those handling mass disorder. The situation is complicated by the likelihood that many rioters, some with parental connections in government, including those who steer the police, are reading (a variety of social web links to virtual environments) the same manuals. Given that proportionality has been normal in cold war manoeuvring most of my life, how unsurprising that similar dynamics apply to conflict in civvy street - tailored to the circumstances of Greece. * * * *

A man cries "shame"; a woman claps

[photo: Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ, in some of the most intimate records of these weeks, captures mixed reactions]

Observations by the citizen-journalist Teacher Dude who's been posting images and comments from Greece on Flickr: There were times over the last two weeks when what I witnessed seemed taken from the script of an outlandish movie, the kind where everyone tuts and says, "That is just so Hollywood. That would never happen in real life". William Goldman, the writer of movies such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid once said that there were things taken from real life he couldn't put in his scripts as nobody would believe them. Here is a selection of the few I remember from the riots and protests that I covered over the last two weeks. The two guys wearing masks are ready to charge the bank, all set on smashing the security camera and disabling the ATM. However, there is a young woman there, oblivious to the mayhem around her who is taking out her money. The masked men wait, politely ask her if she has finished, then set about the cash machine with hammers. A march goes past a van, inside two tiny Shetland ponies stuck in a space not much bigger than they are. The protesters, enraged by this discuss what to do. In the end they take down the number plates as to....report the owners to the authorities. Just a few metres behind them riot police approach menacingly. 50 kids, one no more than 10 years old pelting the central police station with rocks as bewildered shoppers seemingly unable to grasp what is happening gawp while pieces of paving stone clatter around them. The quasi - military riot police up against tweenies Walking along Egnatia Boulevard lit up by at least a dozen fires, acrid smell of tear gas and burning plastic everywhere. Two middle aged bystanders argue over whether the anarchists about to firebomb a bank are doing the right thing. The older, white haired guy, says, "What do you care? It's not your money". An old woman buttoning holing a passing masked teen, scolding him about what has been happening. Others join in a passionately debate what has been happening over the last few days. A smartly dressed woman, shopping bags around her, waiting at the bus stop claps and cheers masked protesters marching by. The man next to her shouts out "Shame, shame on you" [Teacher Dude, citizen journalist, originally from England, living in Northern Greece, teaches English as a Foreign Language (EFL)...writes of loving photography...cpwefl2003@hotmail.com. His comment below - following a request from me for permission to use his words and this photo - refutes my remote observation but confirms some shared awareness of history among potential assailants 'As far as escalation of violence is concerned I think both sides realise that would quickly spiral out of control as there are literally millions of guns in circulation.'] [Big Fat Greek Summer - 13/12/08 - eye witnessing the ordinary and the dramatic were mingling in central Athens]

* * * * The Tango Team: Tango stands for Tactically Aggressive and Necessary Gambit of Options. This team goes forward and 'dances' with the crowd. The Tango Team can bring to bear the entire spectrum of use-of-force options-from command presence through deadly force-in a controlled, self-contained package. * * * * Last night - Saturday - Lin beckoned me round the other side of the kitchen table from where I was street watching Athens to see the last dance on BBC iPlayer of the Strictly Come Dancing final - between Tom and Camilla (see 32.50 on) - who she knew, though she'd missed the live show, had won. They were good - even I could see.

Making government: "It didn't take an expert..."

Jane C via Facebook tells me she likes the political-management material I've been posting - experimentally - with encouragement from Tony B and Chris G. She suggests an introductory video by me and clearer text on the slides. Yes! The latter advice I realised but an introductory video's a really helpful suggestion. I can record myself talking to screen with my vidcam. Catch the essence in three minutes? * * * * We've been watching Branagh being Kurt Wallender on BBC1. This is so good. Linda and I have been reading Henning Mankell, the detective's creator for several years. The two films shown so far seem to catch the essence of his writing without spoiling the story even when we know the plots. * * * * Knowing about the severe southerly gales in Corfu via Corfucius and links (the seafront at Garitsa below the old fort has part collapsed) I phoned Dave in Korakiana for reassurance about Summer Song in Ipsos' well protected harbour. "All's fine" he said over resented miles "All well with you?" "Yes fine fine. See you soon", "See you soon". * * * * Lin's finally completed her seagull ensemble - a gull at a desk who's an accountant who likes football. She's sending it off to the person who commissioned it tomorrow. * * * * Quick off the mark, Linda found tickets to Corfu for April and May. So now we look to being in Greece late January through February, and again for Easter. Meanwhile in Athens and other Hellenic cities including Corfu, street riots...focused on the police station off San Rocco Square. Protesters have also been gathering at the Greek Embassy in London after a teenager was shot dead by police in Exarchia in Athens. A Greek friend in Birmingham just emailed me: BBC reports are not very accurate with the details but the events are tragic indeed. This whole situation can take a lot of analysis but two things are certain: 1) the government has tremendous responsibility for creating such a climate and 2) it didn't take an expert to know this would happen sooner or later. At least I hope they will take the chance for massive change in the way the state works. This destruction will take the economy back many years but if it triggers the right reforms it could even be a good thing in the long run. Fingers crossed... Malcolm Brabant in Athens some time early morning posted by the BBC at 20:06 GMT, Monday, 8 December 2008 and an English student speaks to the BBC from near the Polytechnic at 1641 on Sunday 7 December and there's a helpful set of comments at the superlative American in Athens blog. "Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." Martin Luther King Jr. I feel so sad for Greece. We saw this in a small way - though it didn't seem small at the time - when riots broke out in our patch in Handsworth in 1981 and worse in 1985. Things did change for the better here but it took twenty years grind by people and government and there's endless work to be done. * * * * Kathimerini: English edition of one of Greece's most respected newspapers - 8 December 2008. An editorial by Nikos Konstandaras

Anger’s teen martyr

The rising tide of anger and despair of the past few years now has its martyr, a 15-year-old boy whose blood will be used to bind together every disparate protest and complaint into a platform of righteous rage against all the ills of our society (endemic and imported). Andreas Grigoropoulos – shot and killed by a police officer in Exarchia on Saturday night, caught in the crossfire of indifference, intolerance, stupidity and criminal neglect that allows minor problems to grow until they come to undermine our very society – will quickly become a flag of convenience for anyone who has a grudge against the state, the government, the economic system, foreign powers, capitalism and so on. The anger that every citizen feels when faced by the death of a young person murdered by employees of the state will be channeled into the renewal of public protests for any number of social or economic reasons. Political movements will reshape their policies around the public exploitation of the cult of the innocent murdered by the state. The state and the government, their hands indisputably dipped in blood, will now devote themselves entirely to their self-preservation; they will do nothing for the country’s inhabitants other than try to placate them with many words and little action.

If Greece had already appeared difficult to govern, it will now be out of control, as we can ascertain by the government’s grovelling and the police force’s spiteful inaction in the face of widespread rioting across the country over the past two days. If the members of the government had already given the impression that they would rather be doing something other than governing (seemingly incapable of dealing with the fallout from the controversial Vatopedi monastery land swap and the country’s runaway deficits), now they will try to vanish without a trace. If self-proclaimed anarchists had acted as if they had a grudge against the state, now that their aimless rage has been sanctified with the blood of one of their own, they will rampage until the last store, the last car, the last trash can in central Athens is burned. The romance of reaction against a nebulous, apologetic “establishment” and the impunity that these groups will enjoy for the foreseeable future, will ensure that the anarchists’ ranks keep swelling. If mainstream political groupings were trying to regain some of the street credibility they had lost by being pampered pets of the system, the blood that everyone now claims as their own will again see our bourgeois intellectuals at the barricades – this time with a score to settle, rather than expressing the rapacious though vacuous dreams of a generation ago, in 1968. If common citizens and hapless immigrants/refugees had already felt fear because of the absence of a caring state, today we all know deep down that it is “every man for himself.” Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos has already said as much: “The police will be on the defensive.” In other words, the institutional incompetence that resulted in a police officer’s criminal act will now be presented as a policy of wise restraint. We have already witnessed its results in the fires that keep springing up in Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities across the country. It is undeniably tragic that the meaningless but dangerous game of cowboys and Indians that has been played in Exarchia for decades should lead to the loss of life. It is tragic that the loss of one life should highlight so many impasses in our society and our politics. Instead of seeing that our refusal to resolve problems makes them intractable, I fear the way that we will use this death will simply make our problems worse.

Portents and omens

I was at St Silas' Church in Lozell's Road for our ward committee meeting last night. I raised the matter of the Victoria Jubilee Allotments S106A. 'We all know what this is about. So when?" The best I could get was an assurance that the Constituency Planning Officer would report to the next meeting on 21 January. I'm thinking. This evening, after I'd sent an e-mail to Kay Alexander about 'the flytipping menace', Ashley Blake of Midlands Today came round to do a one minute live slot (on YouTube) about the photos I've attracted to Flickr. On the OB camera was Ellen who remembered me from editing the film Nick Booth conceived and directed in 2000 on The Victoria Jubilee Allotments - Losing the Plot. She was interested in the waiting land. Adrian Goldberg has done a piece in The Stirrer and promises to stay on the case. Cllr Kim Brom (link no longer active) said after the meeting she'd press Alan Orr for news about the S106A over the next few days. Note: Alan Orr's letter of 30 April '08 :

The Agreement relates to the Heads of Terms as approved by the Development Control Committee on 13th May 2004 re application: N/01514/03/FUL . The main Heads were:

a). Provision of 80 allotments on site and their transfer to the City Council. b). Provision of a tertiary (toddlers) play area and associated open space (on site), and the payment of £25,000 in lieu of the provision of a secondary ( for older children) play area. c). A financial contribution of £150,800 towards open space improvements off-site. d). The provision of two playing pitches and a cricket square, a pavilion changing room facility and car parking, and their transfer to the City Council. e). The provision of 24 affordable housing units on site. The S106 Agreement was completed on 23rd August, 2004, executing the above Heads of Terms. To date, no changes to the Agreement have been made. In respect of its implementation, in terms of the affordable housing units, to my knowledge these have been provided. Indeed, I understand that as the developer (initially Westbury Homes, and now Charles Church) entered into a partnership with more than one Registered Social Landlord, the provision of affordable housing on the site is in excess of that required under the S106 Agreement which will have been to the benefit of meeting local need for such housing. In respect of the other provisions of the Agreement, as is the common practice their delivery is related to a number of 'triggers' depending on the stage of the overall development or the housing element of the development. Thus, the provision of the allotments and the sports pitches is related to the occupation of 40 open market dwellings on the new housing development (the 40 dwellings does not include the 24 affordable housing units). Currently, the sports pitches have been laid out but their transfer to the City awaits the completion of the changing room pavilion and associated car park.

* * * * Had my third lesson at Apple in the Bullring this morning with a different Ash. This time I was introduced to MPEG Streamclip, free software to convert a variety of video files and learn about the H264 codec. My grasp with these ways of making films is steadily increasing. We even discussed the idea of a website with text and streamed videos to help explore dynamic at the political-management interface. I haven't got a graphics chip on my MacBook so I need to do film processing - except for tiny clips on the big computer at home. * * * * Karen Van Hoff and her daughters came for the weekend and we talked, looked over Richard's website (see also) for her, played karaoke via the laptop, sang along with Leonard Cohen, especially Democracy, over and over went in and out of town and laughed a lot and got the good news that my brother George's first pub stand-up routine in London had gone really well and he'll send me a film of the evening. * * * * A flower delivery came yesterday for Linda from Saga's Customer Services thanking her for pointing out an error in the pensions advice from Paul Lewis on page 174 of their November Issue

'If you delay claiming your pension, either to get increments or the lump sum, there is a risk you may never live to enjoy it. If you die before you claim your pension, no-one can claim the lump sum.'

We rechecked it with the Pensions Service - phone answered quickly and explanations given clearly. Yes, that advice is incorrect. Sighs of relief, but Lin took the extra trouble of phoning Saga. They too were good on phone answering and I thought the flowers, a few days later, a really nice gesture for Lin taking the trouble to suggest others might be confused - especially as Lewis is so good on money advice - self described as a capitalist-socialist. * * * * Watching the 44th creating his government is just fascinating - for an academic to watch the process of government formation in a democracy; for any citizens anywhere, including me, to learn what follows the vote, especially with this US transition phenomenon of two months between election and inauguration. Who will be Obama's Treasury Secretary? Who determines the terms of any GM bail-out - the incumbent or the elect? Has it ever been possible for so many outside the Beltway to watch this process in a time so freighted with portents and omens. * * * * The news from north Corfu involving famous names is eclipsing a more significant and dramatic sequence of events further south in Corfu's village of Lefkimi - a series of escalating confrontations between riot police and villagers protesting against a large landfill site of dubious legality. Today's Kathimerini reports a repeat - yesterday morning - of protests at Lefkimi against the landfill being built there. Police and locals fought earlier in the year; in January, May (see also) and June. This week a police car was burned and village protestors injured in dawn encounters with the police. There were barricades, fireworks and stones and over forty arrested. News is sporadic. This is Brabant for the BBC in October 08. This is an angry Brit in June 08 on a Greek blog continuing to the present and this is from Earth First - an international environmental group supporting direct actions. The online Greek-English newspaper, Corfu Today, 22 November 08, posted on HolidayCorfu:

In Prosecutor, led the noon march in which 46 people were arrested in yesterday's incidents in Lefkimmi. Among the categories are facing serious injury when police, insulting and threatening a continuation. Trial date was set for Monday but is expected to set new trial date because of the planned mobilization of lawyers and occupy the courts. The incidents yesterday in Lefkimmi resulted in burning of a patrol car, and rolled, but many arrest and outbursts are the result of tension once again created yesterday outside the site of the landfill. About 150 residents of the area react to the creation of the landfill, by decision of the Steering Committee set up yesterday morning proceeded to capture the road leading to the creation of installation. The tension culminated on 3 after noon when, during the shift change of SWAT men to supervise the area since early last summer, created incidents which culminated when some of pooled burned down the police jeep. A few minutes later, the arrested 46 were brought in. Safety for participating in the episodes, episodes from the slightly injured one of the demonstrators, who moved to the Center for Health Lefkimi to him first aid. The seizure of the road ended late last night.

* * * At Frederick Adam's beautifully restored neo-classical house at Kanoni (the one with the silly name 'Mon Repos') there's an exhibition of old black and white photos of Corfu by John Davenport Shakespear, an army officer, living with his family before its union with Greece in 1862. Wounded in the Crimean War, he returned to England, married Louisa Caroline Sayer, They moved to Corfu where their daughter was born and met Edward Lear, from whom Shakespear bought the photographic equipment he used to make this permanent exhibition.

With nan

It feels like a sort of theft since Linda so detests being photographed.
"I don't like being called grandma. I don't like being called nan!"
I caught her unawares with our grandson two days ago when Amy came round so we could play with Oliver.

'My heart is at your festival'

In his burbling way he's starting to try to make words. The wonder! Man the tool user; man who speaks; man who will walk on two legs; this astonishing set of senses processing experiences at inestimable speed, far beyond consciousness or future recollection but perhaps the intimation of memories of something enchanting, the freshness of a dream. Incognate understanding - seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling, hearing the new world; enveloped in unconditional love.
*** ***
On the allotment yesterday a touch of the feral, a vixen sat and stared at me as though affronted; so still I didn't see her until a red shape twitched in my peripheral vision and there she was beside a clump of redshank gazing at me, unafraid, out staring me before...

...sauntering off through the same space under the railings between my allotment and the park, that unmistakable brush no dog sports that makes the name paused for a moment as she checked before leaving cover. I took her for vixen because there was nothing cubby about her yet she was slight and left no smell.
**** ****
There's a great chunk of railing and wall knocked out of the boundary fence by Handsworth Park gate on Hamstead Road, with skids on the tarmac and yellow smudgy police markers showing a track from the other side of the road. We'd been irritated the police helicopter hovering almost overhead beyond our street for at least half an hour in the early hours. Next day, seeing familiar twisted metal, rubble and brickwork piled up in the park compound, I asked what had happened...

"It was two cars"
I'd noticed parts of vehicles in the rubble, the interlaced hoops of an Audi logo
"And a BMW"
"Insurance?"
"I doubt it"
"The driver was uninsured?"
"Deceased. There are no flowers. Odd that."
Flowers wilting by the site of a fatal crash is a habit here; our imitation of kandylakia; sometimes with a note of condolence from strangers. Nothing in the news.
"Apparently there was a lot of blood. Two cars - one chasing the other. Three dead."
Later I learned that the police would not disclose the vehicle registration numbers to the council so that they could draw up an insurance application, so this breach in the park boundary will go unrepaired for months, perhaps over a year.
*** ***
A plume of smoke from fires across Chios, born miles southward driven by a dry Etesian wind, passing over Mykonos, Paros, Naxos, Folegrandos, Ios, Kritiko Pelagos, the Cretan coast between Souda Bay and Rethimnon, drifting over her highlands into the Libyan Sea, spreading and dispersing above the deserted stone terraces of Gavdos, where summer campers may remark it on their smart phones. Men are likely to have started this and other fires across Greece.

*** *** ***
Linda's summarised the results of a Handsworth Helping Hands meeting last week - with Nick Reid who oversees waste collection and street cleaning for the City Council in our neighbourhood:

Meeting with Nick Reid – 16th August 2012

Church Vale Litter Bins/Anti-Dumping Signage

HHH: What‘s happening about extra bins for outside the shops at Church Vale Triangle? How about the ‘orange bin’ theory? Could another sign, facing the pavement rather than the road, be put at the major dumping spot on the corner.

Nick: Bins have been ordered for by the shops at Church Vale. Not convinced about orange bins, but will look out for them. Yes, another sign can be put up.

Litter Bins

HHH: All litter bins seen by DF and LB on 16^th August, en route from Putney Avenue to Turville Road, were full to overflowing. Looked like street litter – cans, sweet wrappers, etc.

Nick: Litter bins are often misused for household waste. Will review the number of litter bins in the area and the frequency with which they are emptied.

Mobile Cameras

HHH: What’s the possibility of having mobile cameras to catch fly-tippers in ‘hot-spots’ such as Church Vale?

Nick: The police have access to cameras, if there are any for the area. HHH need to speak to local police.

Midland Heart Properties

HHH: There is a particularly large amount of rubbish in the gardens and vicinity of Midland Heart properties in the area. Streets with a lot of Midland Heart properties tend to have more street refuse than other streets. Stamford Grove is an example of this and is very bad at the moment.

Nick: Will contact Val Brown to discuss. May arrange a walkabout with Val to identify offending properties.

Street Sweeper (Cart)

HHH: Where is the street sweeper supposed to sweep and how often?

Nick: Will supply HHH with a copy of the route and regime.

Street Sweeper (Mechanical)

HHH: There have been reports of driver being seen sleeping when he should be working.

Nick: Mechanical sweeper is old – it’s off the road and awaiting repair at the moment. Will investigate sleeping on duty allegations. (There have been 2 dismissals recently for this.)

Annual Bulky Waste Collection

HHH: There is a great deal of bulky waste - mattresses, etc. - being dumped in the streets recently.  A lot of it comes from landlord-owned properties. When is this year’s collection due?

Nick: Unsure of date, but one is booked. The Councillors can allocate funds for an extra bulky waste collection if they feel it’s necessary. Cost is approximately £1000 (£3 per property) for a typical area.

Rubbish Collection Day Signs

HHH: Could rubbish collection day signs be put up in streets where people are putting rubbish out on the wrong day?

Nick: Yes they can. (But they don’t look very nice.  HHH: They’re better than the rubbish.)

Rats

HHH: There are reports of increased numbers of rats in the area.

Nick: Birmingham pest control service is free. Phone 303 6999.

Littering/Fly-Tipping Prosecutions

HHH: Have there been any prosecutions? Wouldn’t prosecutions be a good deterrent?

Nick: Birmingham prefers not to prosecute its residents and evidence which will secure a conviction is hard to get. We can’t prosecute anyway – it’s the Enforcement Officer’s remit. You could arrange a meeting with the Enforcement Officer. There may have been fixed penalty notices issued in the area. Will try to find out if so and how many.

35 Haughton Road

HHH: The rear garden is full of rubbish, which may present a health hazard. Residents are complaining. It’s a landlord-owned property.

Nick: Will speak to the Enforcement Officer about finding the landlord and issuing a notice to clear the rubbish.

Recycling

HHH: Some residents aren’t recycling. Report from resident of Putney Avenue that no-one in the street recycles.

Nick: Pilot of recycling ‘targetting’ being trialled at the moment, with leaflet distribution, boxes resupplied, etc. Too soon to tell if it’s been successful. If successful, could be used to target particular streets in our area. Results should be known in about a month’s time.

Targetting Rubbish Hot-Spots

HHH: Could rubbish hot-spots be targetted to receive special attention, such as leaflets, street notices, reissue of recycling boxes, street clear-ups, extra collections, etc. HHH could possibly help with leaflet distribution and street clean-ups.

Nick: Yes. Need to identify hot-spots.

HHH: First hot-spots for attention:

1.  Wilton Road and Church Vale Triangle

2.  Stamford Grove

Action agreed by Nick Reid:
  1. Locate extra bins outside shops at Church Vale Triangle.

  2. Put up anti-dumping sign facing pavement at Church Vale major dumping spot on corner.

  3. Look out for orange litter bins.

  4. Review number of litter bins in the area.

  5. Review frequency of emptying litter bins in the area.

  6. Contact Val Brown at Midland Heart re. rubbish problems at their properties.

  7. Possibly arrange ‘walkabout’ with Val Brown to identify problem Midland Heart properties.

  8. Supply HHH with copy of street sweeper route and regime.

  9. Investigate ‘sleeping on duty’ allegations re. mechanical sweeper driver.

10. Put up ‘Collection day’ signs in streets where wrong day putting out of rubbish persists.

11. Contact Enforcement Officer and get statistics re. fixed penalty notices in the area.

12. Contact Enforcement Officer re. issue of clearance notice to landlord of  35 Haughton Road.

13. Evaluate ‘recycling targetting’ pilot and implement if and where appropriate.

14. Plan action to be taken in targeted rubbish hot-spots.

HHH to liaise with Nick and review progress in late October (approximately 10 weeks).

HHH Action:

  1. Contact police re. mobile camera availability.

  2. Identify further rubbish ‘hot spots’.

  3. Report specific rubbish problems as necessary.

  4. Monitor progress.

  5. If required, assist with leaflet distribution.

  6. Liaise with Nick Reid.

  7. Review situation in late October.

*** *** ***
By moving it again at Lin's suggestion, I've halved the monthly charge for storing the Out of Town films and tapes in the JH collection that John Rose and I moved from Plymouth to Birmingham in March. This time we took the collection it in the HHH van from the city centre to another store closer to home.

Jack's OOT commentaries

"When your in a white van you start behaving white van" said John engaging at the lights with another van driver on the subject of football, about which he knows nothing.
"Better start going 'Phwoah! Look at that!'" I said
Richard just smiled. We met Charlotte at the counter of Space Self Storage on Tyburn Road. Wandering around her desk was a Shih-tzu called Romeo checking visitors.
"Continuing white-van," said Richard "how about a KFC?"
The drive-thu was was half a mile up the dual carriage-way next to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, we ate on a grassy knoll by the water's edge.

Take-away on the canal

Trouble in Newtown

We made up some sandwiches for Amy and I took them down to her on six hour cordon duty after a shooting in Newtown on Friday evening. Lin had put her some cola in a little wine bottle we'd got on a flight, "Dad! I can't be seen drinking from that." I went off to the local shops at Newtown and got her a coke.
It looks as if gun crime is on the increase again after a lull with a linked shooting in Bilston. Mark Cowan and Laura Corcoran wrote in the Birmingham Evening Mail last Wednesday - before this incident:

'that the police and the council had been hoping to rely on civil injunctions to ban so-called 'nominals' (people about whom information is kept on files shared between agencies) from city streets or hanging around with each other in a novel way of ending tit-for-tat gang violence.'

Police and the council were hoping initial interim orders were having an impact.

'But two months ago, the Birmingham Mail revealed the project had hit a snag after a High Court judge dismissed an application for the first full ground-breaking injunctions in January.
West Midlands Assistant Chief Constable Suzette Davenport told a commission on gun and knife crime (video) that firearms offences had started to climb since January. "Having been very successful at the end of last year where the number of gang-related shootings were reduced, since January those figures have gone back up," she said. The figures include gun-related incidents and street robberies. Mr (sic) Davenport later stressed the number of incidents had not reached the same levels as before the operation, codenamed Malva, was launched last summer.
The gun crime setback emerged as Mr Davenport gave evidence to the Channel 4 Street Weapons Commission, chaired by Cherie Booth QC, when it came to in Birmingham yesterday to hear evidence on what could be done to tackle the problem. While the use of injunctions under Section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972 to target gang members is a break from the traditional use of the legislation, which is normally used to target dodgy traders, the authorities are confident they are on firm ground. Birmingham City Council lawyers have lodged an appeal against the decision. Mr Davenport said it was ruled that so-called Section 222 injunctions could not be used they hoped to encourage Government to work on alternatives. She added: "I am hoping we can encourage the Government that if they do not feel Section 222s are appropriate, we can look at other things which can give us an element of control over these people so they are not shooting each other or innocent people in the community."'

E-mail: Simon. Thank you for your email and your kind comments on the story. Unfortunately, it would seem a production error resulted in a few key words being changed regarding the title of Suzette Davenport, who is obviously a woman. I shall raise the matter with the news editor later to try and find out what happened. Regards, Mark Cowan

Trigger points
On Tuesday morning we have a meeting arranged by Councillor Mahmood Hussain at the Parklands Housing office off Hamstead Road to try to hasten the promised playing fields and allotments on the site of the old Victoria Jubilee Allotments (VJA). In return for building on a good third of the site the developer contracted, on 13 May 2004, when planning permission was granted to build on the site, to use the remaining space to lay out 80 allotments which would be transferred to the City Council, to provide a toddlers' play area and associated open space, a play area for older children, to pay £150,800 towards open space improvements off-site, to lay out and transfer to the city council two playing pitches and a cricket square, a pavilion changing room facility and car parking, and 24 affordable housing units on the same site. The section 106 Agreement was completed on 23rd August 2004 and we've been assured by the Constituency Planning Officer, Alan Orr, that at the end of April 2008, 'no changes to the Agreement had been made.' (e-mail sent to Mark Jackson while we were in Greece, dated 30 April 08)

According to Alan Orr 'the required affordable houses have been provided. The developer (initially Westbury Homes, and now Charles Church) entered into a partnership with more than one Registered Social Landlord, to build affordable housing on the site, and there are now more than those required under the S106 Agreement.

Alan went on to say in his e-mail to my friend - and fellow campaigner - Mark Jackson:

that in respect of the other provisions of the 106 Agreement, it is 'common practice' to work to a number of 'triggers' (my italics) depending on the stage of the overall development or the housing element of the development. Thus, the provision of the allotments and the sports pitches is related to the occupation of 40 open market dwellings on the new housing development (but, guess what? '40 dwellings' does not include the 24 affordable housing units. Currently, the sports pitches, according to Alan, have been laid out 'but their transfer to the City awaits the completion of the changing room pavilion and associated car park.'

Alan believes the trigger point for the allotment provision 'has been, or is soon to be reached' and claimed to be arranging a meeting with representatives of Charles Church to ascertain their detailed timescales for the delivery of the sports pitches and allotments to the City Council.

'The provision of the tertiary (older children's) play area and associated open space is required within 6 months of the completion of the final residential unit of the housing development, and the sum of £25,000 towards the provision of a secondary play area (off-site) is to be paid on commencement of the laying out of the open space. The sum of £150,800 (to be used towards open space improvements in Handsworth Park) is to be paid by the developer on approval by the City Council of the works carried out to provide the allotments and sports pitches. '

There's much room for fudge and further prolonged delay, especially if Charles Church are not marketing these properties with any enthusiasm - and housing sales have slowed. I ran a check on Parklands in Handsworth and came up with nothing - though Midland Heart, one of the area's prominent Registered Social Landlords, has property for sale on the Parklands site. The collateral impact of playing fields, allotments and play areas in this area of city can help fight crime as surely as greater contentment can help people's health. I'll say as much at the meeting on Tuesday morning with the developer's representatives, ward councillors, Alan Orr and the chairman of Handsworth Cricket Club, Basil Hylton. We can only perservere.

* * *

I have had a phone chart with Paul, my stepfather's biographer, about the VJA after he pointed me towards a website on which he's doing podcasts about allotments - the Allotment Channel. He also pointed me towards another interesting site which I've linked to Democracy Street - Home Farmer. Narrowcasting works so well for important interests that aren't as yet mainstream.

* * *
I've been enjoying a variety of journeys to work in the Midlands this week - negotiating the canal between home and campus and taking the bus and tram on the way to Dudley on Friday. I got change for a tenner from the conductor on the Centro tram. "Gosh that's nice" I said to a chap older than me even as he handed me my change. "Like the old days" he said with a smile. I have the conviction that were the cost savings of single staffed buses and the disappearance of park keepers balanced against the cost of the harm done to urban civility by these so-called savings, the wages of those who provide stewardship of public space would have been amply justified. But you can cost putting out a fire. It's far trickier to cost stopping it happening in the first place. How do you measure and justify the tax bill for prevention and maintenance. I conjecture that rather as the Titanic disaster and the recent Asian tsunami produced almost immediate responses in early warning measures, regardless of cost, so the slow burn growth of public squalor in the wake of the widespread withdrawal of stewardship of public places, has taught us that if people are to return in large numbers to public transport, to parks and urban streets, they must be confident such spaces are afforded protection. Our learning is the product of a long slow decline, lasting over 40 years. It will take as long to recover, and in the meantime we have trickier lessons to learn - about how to ensure our inclination to acquisitiveness, or in the case of most of the world the need to have reliable food and shelter, while protecting and sustaining the Earth's diverse yet mutually supporting system of living things. We are just learning 'to wake from a 300 year old dream' and challenge the tragedy of the commons.

* * *
An exchange with my friend Jan about my talk in Tokyo:

Dear Jan. Just getting acclimatised to England again. Hope you're well. I'd appreciate your views on the talk I need to give in Tokyo to Japanese civil servants in June on 'how to ensure standardisation of services across local governments'. Yes, they want me to talk about that - not how to nurture local choice. Best S

Hi Simon. Good to hear from you. I've kept in touch via your blog. Regarding 'how to ensure standardisation of services across local government', it seems to me that Britain is the perfect example. Despite verbal utterances to the contrary this is exactly what the Government has tried to impose and with some success through: targets, national indicators, inspection regimes, intervention (e.g. Hull & Lincolnshire), ring-fenced funding, capping, 'naming & shaming', to mention but a few. The postcode lottery has been used as an excuse. In the present political climate where Conservatives and Liberals are the dominant forces at local level I can not see any significant decentralisation take place. In fact I think there will be further neutering of local democracy under the banner of local democracy. Sorry to be so pessimistic but I simply cannot see any meaningful 'place shaping' taking place in the foreseeable future other than rhetorically and tokenistic. Hope I am wrong! Best Jan

Dear Jan. I think much can occur in the informal space between legislation and politics. Humans are ingenious. What I have found fascinating from preparing this talk - hardly more than 30 minutes (with translation) - is that in Japan which certainly contains distinctively different areas, the idea of standardised services across the country is a matter of pride and their absence regarded as a problem to be put right quickly. Local choice is not high on the agenda. So I am unclear what this man's work involves.
And what am I to make of this - the local decentralisation law. Thanks for your response. I'm delighted you are taking a look at my blog. Best Simon

Simon. This is fascinating stuff. I suppose national cultures play an important role in all this. I think he is the equivalent of a local government minister in the national government. I also get a strong sense of local ADMINISTRATION being the most important element of decentralisation rather than local GOVERNMENT. I do think developments here since 1997 are interesting in terms of what localism now has become and what the drivers are. The content of Local Area Agreements are almost identical in every locality. The same goes for Community Strategies. Variations, as they exist , tend to be linguistic and in terms of impact and emphasis rather than substance. Everywhere you will see safer & stronger communities, healthier communities, sustainable communities, economic development, wellbeing of the vulnerable, being the priorities. The reason for this is that these are the national priorities upon which LAs are judged through CPA and other inspection regimes and their star rating determined. Also LAs can only access additional funding though performing well on national priorities (e.g. stretched targets). Decentralisation can never be absolute but the absence of powers to raise revenue for local priorities based on popular demand is a major obstacle to local democracy. I think the profiles of local councillors and turn-out in local elections tell their own story. Best Jan

Yes indeed, Jan. The core fact is that only 4.71 pence of every one of my tax pounds is paid directly to local government (I dug that out from Chris Game this morning). I know more is clawed back through grant - but with many many conditions as we all know. In Japan far more of people's tax yen are raised locally. Thanks for your other thoughts. All grist to my mill on this complex subject. S

Simon. Although I remain sceptical, perhaps in a paradoxical and perverse way the present circumstances may just be conducive to more meaningful decentralisation. Given the government's unpopularity they may throw caution the wind and be more inclined to pass powers downwards (it helps with the blame!!) although their track record is not good and I don't think it is in Gordon's nature to give up any powers. There's a Scottish bean-counter for you! It is more likely this debate will ebb and flow with changes hard won and substance difficult to achieve. 'Place Shaping' can only ultimately happen with more powers (of the positive kind, not spying on people's bins or surveying people for school catchment areas) and more revenue being collected locally. It means fundamental questions about policing, health, transport, development, being given much higher local determinants. There are dangers in too much power at local level e.g. Southern states of USA in 50s & 60s re race is a sobering lesson. Only federal intervention turned it around. The dark forces of local determination must somehow be curtailed by national government or counterbalancing forces locally; a real conundrum. Some real challenges for officers and members - local collusion vs professional engagement, corruption - moral & financial. You can see the Japanese anxiety. Best Jan

This is great, Thanks Jan. Yes I know the horror stories. The village can be a source of companionship and care and the locus of a lynch mob. Simon

Good luck with your trips to Australia and Japan. Keep writing your blog so I can keep up with what you are doing. Let's get together when you're back. Best Jan

* * *
From Kalamos Books: A law extending a smoking ban in Turkey to most enclosed areas - including taxis, ferries and shopping malls - came into effect Monday 19 May. Outdoor smoking was also banned in locations such as stadiums and playgrounds. A ban on lighting up in bars, restaurants and coffeehouses will be implemented next year. Smoking is already barred on buses, airplanes and in larger offices.

Petition to save forests in Greece. The Save our forests and give our planet a chance Petition to The Greek Parliament,The United Nations,The European Union was created by and written by Konstantina Stafylaki (ambelos_village@yahoo.com).

One of the best issues of Carfree Times is just out - edited by Joel Crawford, author of Carfree Cities. There's a fascinating conversation with the traffic scientist Professor Hermann Knoflacher of Austria in this issue.
* * * *
On 17 May it was Arthur's 90th birthday, enjoyed at home with Dorothy in Bevan Lee Road in Cannock. Lin decorated the cake.