Anti Terror laws used to stop photographers
There was an interesting article on the Guardian web site on friday about police using the anti terror laws to prevent people taking photographs in public spaces. More evidence for keeping the powers of the state under tight control.
This follows a letter of guidance sent on the 4th December by the chief constable of the British transport police to the Association of Chief Police Officers in which he states that the anti terror legislation (known as Section 44) “gives officers no specific powers in relation to photography and there is no provision in law for the confiscation of equipment or the destruction of images, either digital or on film”.
A campaign group called I’m a photographer not a terrorist are planning a Mass Photo Gathering at 12 Noon on Saturday 23rd January 2010 in Trafalgar Square. There is a facebook event for this too.
It’s also interesting that, while we are theoretically free to take photographs in public spaces, more and more of our urban space is being privatised. Shopping centres, for example, are owned by private companies and so the owners can impose restrictions on the behaviour of the general public who visit the centres.
Photography
Booze and War Memorials equals a story
Tags: cenotaph, drunk, drunk student, drunken student, outraging public decency, pissing, Saturday nights, The Sun, urinated, war memorial, Wars, wreath
Chipstead War Memorial
Back in October here was a great palaver in the press about a drunken student in sheffield who urinated on a war memorial. The nation was horrified and the student was charged with “outraging public decency”.
The Sun reported last week that another man has committed a similar atrocity, this time also donning a wreath and wearing it as a hat. According to The Sun this is the third time this has happened within the space of a few weeks.
All very awful of course but hold on a minute, Great Britain has been involved in numerous wars and consequently has a war memorial in every town and village in the country. And like most warrior nations Britain’s men have a marked tendency to get drunk on Saturday nights. Put the two together and it is a positive certainty that, on any given Saturday night, someone will be pissing on a war memorial.
What should really worry us about the bit of video on The Sun’s web site is the way this latest guy was followed by the CCTV as he walked down the street. From the video it looks as if he did not urinate on the memorial but merely in the surrounding foliage as thousands, if not millions, of men will have done for centuries. OK, the guy did then put a wreath on his head but give him a break, he was drunk. And if the Sun expects us not to get drunk it might consider removing the advert for Strongbow cider on the front of this bit of video.