• Home /
• News /
• 2012 /
• August /
• Statewatch News Digest: 9 August 2012

Statewatch News Digest: 9 August 2012

28 March 2012

CIVIL LIBERTIES

UK: PM: NHS Constitution to be modified to allow drug companies patient records access: "Prime Minister David Cameron has announced the NHS Constitution is set to be changed to allow pharmaceutical companies access to anonymised GP records 'on a scale never seen before'."

UKBA can't do the most basic aspects of its job: "The borders agency fails immigrants in ways that defy understanding"

LAW

Romanian judges report death threats: "The European Commission has expressed concerns that threats made against judges in Romania's constitutional court could undermine its independence"

UK: Panton House 16 anti-protest trial: total victory!: "In a political trial targeting public protest, all sixteen defendants arrested during in an OccupyLSX banner drop at Panton House on Wed 30 Nov 2011 were today acquitted of all the charges laid against them by the Crown Prosecution Service" See a news report from the time: Arrests after Occupy protesters target West End office

POLICING

UK: "Total Policing" in London: "With the recent outburst of political activism during London's Olympic moment, Scotland Yard's hazy notion has come into sharper focus. In the Olympics-induced state of exception, "Total Policing" means total paternalism plus total preemption. Two outbursts of activism spotlight this trend: the overzealous arrests of both Greenwash Gold's "Custard 7" and Critical Mass cyclists"

UK: Olympics spectator with Parkinson's wants 'exoneration' after arrest: "Mark Worsfold, 54, says he was handcuffed by Surrey police officers 'for not smiling' while watching men's cycling road race"

UK: Critical Mass challenge to police bail conditions: "Lawyers representing some of the 182 cyclists arrested on the London Critical Mass have stated that they are considering a legal challenge to the punitive bail conditions that have been imposed by the Metropolitan Police"

PRISONS

UK: Prisoners paid £3 a day to work at call centre that has fired other staff: "Becomng Green, which took on customers for 'work experience', says dismissals 'part of normal call centre environment'"

NETHERLANDS: Holland's prison cells criticised, too many female prisoners: "Prison cells in the Netherlands do not meet the required European standard and there are questions over the doubling of the number of female inmates, according to a report published on Thursday by the EU committee for the prevention of torture"

RACISM & FASCISM

CZECH REPUBLIC: Number of Roma children in schools for mentally impaired drops: "The share of Romanies educated as slightly mentally disabled in Czech practical schools dropped by 8.6 percent in the past two years, the School Inspection concluded after checking these schools, Katerina Savicova, from the Education Ministry's press section, has said"

Appointment of a Holocaust denier causes anger in Romania: "The appointment to a ministerial position of a politician who made comments denying Romania’s responsibility in the Holocaust has angered many in the country"

Italian Hitler wine bottles 'offensive': "Wine bottles featuring Adolf Hitler on the label have been called "offensive" after complaints from US tourists in the Italian city of Garda"