Liberty who proudly boast that they are Protecting Civil Liberties and Promoting Human have responded to our request to help the 70-80,000 people who have their goods seized by the UKBA. I gave them all the details about how the UKBA interviews are conducted. l showed how suspected drug smugglers have far more rights than Cross-border Shoppers etc etc.
My only request of them was they put up some information to help Cross-Border Shoppers. Namely to inform shoppers to use their right to record the interview and their right to not sign the UKBA officers notebook.
Liberty proudly boast :-
We seek to protect civil liberties and promote human rights for everyone.
"Liberty is also known as the National Council for Civil Liberties. Founded in 1934, we are a cross party, non-party membership organisation at the heart of the movement for fundamental rights and freedoms in the UK.
We promote the values of individual human dignity, equal treatment and fairness as the foundations of a democratic society.
Liberty campaigns to protect basic rights and freedoms through the courts, in Parliament and in the wider community. We do this through a combination of public campaigning, test case litigation, parliamentary lobbying, policy analysis and the provision of free advice and information."
Ah yes, l forgot .... you want to see their response to our request. Here you are :-
l bet you all feel very sorry for them. Their 'limited resources' can't extend to a few lines of text and perhaps a link to the relevant UKBA procedures. Atleast you can say one thing for Liberty ... they did actually respond and tell us smokers to f##k off! There were no other responses from the rest of these faux liberty, freedom, civil rights groups.
We're on our own folks. There's no-one who'll fight for our rights except ourselves!
My only request of them was they put up some information to help Cross-Border Shoppers. Namely to inform shoppers to use their right to record the interview and their right to not sign the UKBA officers notebook.
Liberty proudly boast :-
We seek to protect civil liberties and promote human rights for everyone.
"Liberty is also known as the National Council for Civil Liberties. Founded in 1934, we are a cross party, non-party membership organisation at the heart of the movement for fundamental rights and freedoms in the UK.
We promote the values of individual human dignity, equal treatment and fairness as the foundations of a democratic society.
Liberty campaigns to protect basic rights and freedoms through the courts, in Parliament and in the wider community. We do this through a combination of public campaigning, test case litigation, parliamentary lobbying, policy analysis and the provision of free advice and information."
Ah yes, l forgot .... you want to see their response to our request. Here you are :-
Dear Mr ########,
Thank you for your query which we received on the 27/11/2011. I am sorry for the delay in responding to you which is due to the large number of queries we are currently processing and our limited resources.
I am sorry to hear of your situation. Unfortunately, Liberty is not currently campaigning on the procedures of the UK Border Agency. Liberty is a small organisation with limited resources and must focus on its campaigning objectives, which include anti-terror legislation, privacy and vulnerable minorities.
I am sorry that we have not been able to assist. I wish you all the best and thank you for contacting Liberty .
Yours sincerely,
Laura Milne
Advice and Information Officer
LIBERTYl bet you all feel very sorry for them. Their 'limited resources' can't extend to a few lines of text and perhaps a link to the relevant UKBA procedures. Atleast you can say one thing for Liberty ... they did actually respond and tell us smokers to f##k off! There were no other responses from the rest of these faux liberty, freedom, civil rights groups.
We're on our own folks. There's no-one who'll fight for our rights except ourselves!
Anyone with true values of Liberty
ReplyDeletewill treat LIBERTY for what it was,is, and will remain
A PRETENTIOUS BUNCH OF SELECTIVE
BANNER WAVERS
Guardian and BBC Weepies not to
be taken seriously by anyone who
genuinely yearns for justice Anyone taking LIBERTY seriously really shoud seek some Freudian Therapy..ASAP
As usual whatever is not political correct,fades away nowadays...
ReplyDeleteOne piece of thought,what about the tobacco companies themselves? Imperial is 'doing' lets's say smth abouth issues like these
SH, I have to ask. Did you make the same request to Taking Liberties and Forest? Personally, l can't see you not making such a request.
ReplyDeleteWell, SH?
I put the same question to Simon Clark
ReplyDeletehttp://taking-liberties.squarespace.com/blog/2011/11/28/crossing-channel-shopping-update.html?currentPage=2#comments
Just an odd thought SH
ReplyDeleteHave you tried this same approach/question/evidence directly to the EU trade people?
I know that seems a daft place to look for help but at a trivial service level, as with phone roaming, some bits of the EU are on a charm offensive to look good to people and distract them from the real EU agenda, you never know.
SH how much funding do you get?
ReplyDelete"Forest's director, Simon Clark, told the Scottish parliament's Health and Sport Committee in 2009 that Forest received about £250,000 (€285,000; $395,000) a year from three tobacco companies (JTI, British American Tobacco, and Imperial Tobacco Group.
Individual smokers known as Friends of Forest contribute donations ranging from £10 to £2000 to register their support, says the organisation."
Unimaginable to think of Shami C on QT passionately defending the right of Brits to shop freely throughout the EU without harassment from agents of the State despite that embodying all that "Liberty" stands for.
ReplyDeleteNor can I imagine the issue actually being aired at all.
Jay
Wot Jay said - plus - what a bunch of up themselves precious twats = totally conceited, patronising, precious, smug twats - twattery seems endemic it the UK Charidee sector.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago I told Amnesty they could whistle for their regular donations - I told them I really wasn't going to contribute to a charity that loudly parroted how adversely global warming was impacting prisoners of conscience and was spending loads of time preaching on the moral imperative of carbon footprint reduction.
At worst, they were actually actually hinting that using carbon was a heinous crime against 'oomanitee - so stupid twats actually , yep that's about it.
I bet Laura and her boss Shami would give you loads of stuff on how to optimise your carbon footprint / fiddle a subsidy from unsuspecting taxpayers....
Woodsy ... l'll be contacting various groups over the coming weeks and publishing the results. Not sure about EU but it can't hurt.
ReplyDeleteNick ... ;-)
Nick ... just checked our funding and it remains stable. That is to say ... zero. Mum invites me to tea on Sundays though.
Anon and Jay ... Faux campaigners l'm afraid to say. l can't be sure but l think the only reason l even got a reply was l inadvertantly ticked "Mixed-White&Black Caribbean" for my ethnic background. Although in my defence l can actually say that ... our family is very cosmopolitan.
That reply from Liberty was obviously a standard letter with "procedures of the UK Border Agency" pasted in.
ReplyDeleteMost charities are run by people who like working for "Charity". They like to look after decent, pathetic, helpless victims; not wilful filthy smokers.
Smokers, of course, are one of those minorities that right-on charities wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. It's no surprise, is it? :-)
You didn't mention that it was affecting a muslim or two m8...tsk tsk, Shami leather, only wipes up certain kinds of spilt milk...laughable!
ReplyDeleteDisappointing but not surprising. Liberty have a tendency to talk the talk but not walk the walk. Wouldn't say they're the enemy but they're a part time ally at best.
ReplyDelete