Time for action not inaction

Time for action not inaction by the Jailhouse Lawyer




It's the European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France. Once the Court passes judgment on a High Contracting Party, for example, the UK, under Article 54 of the European Convention: "The judgment of the Court shall be transmitted to the Committee of Ministers which shall supervise its execution".

The Committee of Ministers has recently started a new website.

Why might Jack Straw be seeing red right now?

"The Committee of Ministers' essential function is to ensure that member states comply with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights".

Could it be because I have his nuts in an uncomfortable position?

Maggie Thatcher Nutcracker

“The Committee of Ministers shall consider any communication from the injured party with regard to payment of the just satisfaction or the taking of individual measures”.

"Individual measures: On 25/05/2004, the applicant was released from prison on licence. He may therefore vote".

Problem solved?

I'm alright, Jack. But, what about all those convicted prisoners I left behind in an undemocratic state?

"General measures:

1) The Action Plan: On 07/04/2006, the United Kingdom authorities supplied an action plan for the execution of this case. The UK authorities committed themselves to undertaking consultation to determine the measures required to implement the judgment (written ministerial declaration of 02/02/2006). A consultation paper setting out the principles, context and options should have been distributed and responses to that paper should be collected by September 2006.

Between September 2006 and February 2007, analysis of those responses should take place, and if appropriate, further consultation should take place and the drafting of a second document containing the preferred option and detailed implementation issues. Further analysis should then take place, and if appropriate, the drafting and publication of another document might take place between March and June 2007.

If legislation is chosen as the method of executing the judgment, then the drafting of legislation will commence at that time. Draft legislation would then be introduced from October 2007 onwards, its timing being subject to parliamentary business.

a) The First Consultation Paper: The consultation paper on “Voting Rights of Convicted Prisoners Detained within the United Kingdom” was published on 01/12/2006. It sets out, inter alia, a summary of the European Court’s judgment, the relevant international documents, the practice of the Council of Europe member states and the proposals that the government believes merit careful consideration:

i) retaining the ban (the Consultation Paper notes that this is the preference of some people and the government but recalls the European court’s finding that retaining a blanket ban falls outside the margin of appreciation of contracting states; however, comments are invited on it);

ii) enfranchising prisoners serving less than a specified term;

iii) allowing those responsible for sentencing to decide; and

iv) enfranchising all tariff-expired life sentence prisoners.

The paper does not set out full enfranchisement as a realistic option, as the government is opposed to it. Proposals were also made specifically concerning prisoners found guilty of election offences and convicted offenders and non-offenders detained in mental hospitals.

b) Information from civil society: It should be noted that on 03/04/2007, the Committee of Ministers received a communication from a non-governmental organisation, the AIRE Centre, under Rule 9. That communication notes that despite the government’s indication that it would engage in a proper debate, it states in the Consultation Paper that it remains wholly opposed to full enfranchisement.

Although the Consultation Paper offers the option of retaining the blanket ban (and welcomed receiving the views of those who agree with this position), it excludes from consideration the possible option of abolishing disenfranchisement of prisoners altogether.

c) The response of the UK authorities: The United Kingdom government recalls that the Consultation Paper did state that views on total disenfranchisement were welcome but nonetheless made it clear, as noted above, that retaining the total ban is outside the margin of appreciation given by the Convention, and is therefore not an actual proposal.

When expressing its belief that an offence serious enough to warrant a term in prison should entail a loss of voting rights while in prison, the government was simply repeating what its position was prior to and throughout the Court proceedings in this case. However, government recognises its obligation to comply with the judgment and has set out a range of options to achieve this.

The United Kingdom government does not interpret the judgment as creating an obligation to enfranchise all prisoners, and has indicated its opposition to such an option, which is why it is omitted from the list of possible options for change in the consultation document. The government indicates that to amend UK law will require primary legislation, and that proposals and resulting draft legislation would be laid before, and thoroughly debated in, both Houses of Parliament.

2) The revised Action Plan: A revised Action Plan has been furnished, which includes a revised timetable. If a second consultation period is required, it would take place from July to September 2007. If legislation is chosen as the method of executing the judgment, the introduction of draft legislation would take place from May 2008 onwards, with its timing being subject to parliamentary business.

The first stage of consultation ended on 07/03/2007, and analysis of the responses is under way. There has been no slippage from the revised plan.

On 25/10/2007, the authorities of the United Kingdom indicated that the government was still considering the responses to the Phase 1 Consultation paper.

• Additional information awaited: Information is required on a regular basis on the progress made in the consultation process and the follow-up to that process.

• Recent development: by letter of 14/04/2008 the authorities provided further information on general measures. The Secretariat is currently assessing this information.

The Deputies decided to resume consideration of this item at the latest at their 1043rd meeting (2-4 December 2008) (DH), in the light of the information already provided on general measures.

Latest development

By letter of 11/04/2008 the authorities provided information on general measures".

Actually, there are a couple of later developments. On 2-4/12/2008 the Committee of Ministers further visited the case of Hirst v UK (No2). And, Jack Straw sat right down and wrote himself a letter.

What the government called "The Action Plan" and the Committee of Ministers used the same language, in my view, amounts to nothing more than an inaction plan!

Under Rule 9.2 of the Rules of the Committee of Ministers for the supervision of the execution of judgments and of the terms of friendly settlements:

“The Committee of Ministers shall be entitled to consider any communication from non-governmental organisations, as well as national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights, with regard to the execution of judgments under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention”.

Both Gordon Brown and David Cameron have stated that a battleground for the next General Election will be the Human Rights Act 1998. As this is my territory, I am happy to do battle on this ground. Whilst they both try to woo the editors of the Sun and the Daily Mail, they have forgotten something. The US Secret Service responsible for bodyguarding the President and President Elect are not concerned with the editors of tabloids. What they fear most is the lone assassin.

One of the arguments the government put to the Grand Chamber, is that convicted prisoners should not have a say in politics and who should govern the country. However, irony of ironies, "Prisoners may hold the key to the legal validity of the next General Election, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) concluded in its Annual Report published on 31 October 2008".

Today I was speaking on the phone to Duncan Campbell (Guardian journalist), and I said that Jack Straw is embarrassed and does not know which way to turn.

He agreed.

I then asked the question, "Would he be more embarrassed if he had to press to get a law passed by Parliament to allow convicted prisoners the vote, or if he had to explain to the taxpayers why thousands upon thousands of prisoners are to receive millions upon millions of their pounds as compensation for being denied the vote?

He said he felt that the latter would be more embarrassing.

[canadian province quiz] five clues

Same procedure - 5 points if you can answer on the first clue, 4 points if you had to highlight the second clue and so on. Here we go:

1 The people are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic;

2 The coat of arms has a gold lily on a blue background, a lion on a red background and maple leaves;

3 June 24th is its national holiday;

4 It's the world's largest producer of maple syrup;

5 It has a national insect - the white admiral butterfly.

Gimme clue for no points: The name comes from the Algonquin word kepék, meaning "it narrows".

[baby factory] what's in a name

Bronx Mowgli, out of Ashlee Simpson, by Pete Wentz and Sophocles Iraia, out of Miranda Manasiadis, by Jermaine Clement, are two of the wackier names of 2008.

They join a long tradition of Moon Unit Zappa, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, Audio Science, out of actress Shannyn Sossamon and some man, Pilot Inspector, out of Beth Riesgra, by boyfriend actor Jason Lee, Saffrom Sahara, out of Yasmin Parvaneh, by Simon Le Bon and God'iss Love Stone, out of rapper Lil' Mo, by husband Al Stone.

Still, that pales by comparison to boxer George Foreman's children George Jr., George III, George IV, George V, and George VI plus daughters Michi, Freeda, Georgetta, Natalie, and Leola.

If I was starting over again, I'd probably name my son Indon Barack Obama Kenya and my daughter Paris Madonna Jolie, asking Gordo to be their godfather and Polly Toynbee their godmother.

Nah, I'm lying. I'd call him Rotten Little Rodent and her Man Magnet II. You have to love your kids, you know.

[salvos] nobbled by the pc maniacs

Eh? Salvos are banned from rattling their tins?

Members have been issued with guidelines stating that they must keep their tins still even when music is playing. One volunteer with the Christian charity said she had been told that rattling could also offend other religions.

Again and again I say - you might not be Christian, you might have a jaundiced view of the Salvos and what they preach but if you sit back and let this go with ne'er a murmur, then one day the PC maniacs are going to turn on you.

This sort of thing requires letters to be written and petitions to be signed, not particularly for the Salvos but for any of us caught in this mindless, do-gooder, wet blanket PC madness. Rattling tins offends other religions? Give me a break.

The other day there were Romanians around our area, playing the accordion. Fine, what was the problem? Or is the problem only that it is a Christian group who are causing the "offence"?

For Boomers and younger, it might be as well to know that before the proliferation of help organizations, hotlines and so on, a very good thing, by the way, it was mainly the Salvos who were on the front line of domestic violence victims, addicts, derelicts and the like.

Kokoda trail, 1942 - salvos on hand


They were at the forefront of helping women and families and had a revolutionary notion of women before the feminists co-opted it ... the Foundation Deed of the Christian Mission, stated that women had the same rights to preach as men.

In America, the Salvation Army's first major forays into Disaster Relief resulted from the tragedies of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Their soup kitchens, thrift shops, family tracing and shelters are just some of the things they do.

Yes, they have a Christian slant and I have a problem with their ideas on alcohol. The music is not something I could listen to all day. However, if I found myself down and out in the coming depression, I'd not say no to a kindly face offering me some soup and sustenance and they could preach all they liked.

[ferry disaster] greed and ignorance

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First, the news:

A wooden ferry carrying about 100 passengers has sunk in the Philippines, with at least 22 people drowned and about another 30 missing.

The ferry Maejan was approaching Aparri in Cagayan province in the north of the country when its bamboo outrigger broke in heavy seas off Ballesteros.

Passengers panicked and some leapt into the sea, creating instability on the vessel, which then capsized.

As you'll see in the top photo, the outrigger consists of two parts. The spindly arms extending outwards are called the akas and the long log in the water is the ama.

Now look at the photo above of a Hawaiian outrigger under sail. You can see that the ama has very little inherent buoyancy and far less weight, so it's only a balancing act of the crew which keeps the whole platform upright.

It acts in much the same way as poles do in skiing – they’re not designed for pushing hard against the snow – they’re only there for delicate balance.

There is designed to be one ama only, which skims a metre above the water on the "upwind" side [ignore the tiny float on the other side for now] and this long plastic float is kept there, skimming, only by the crew's skill and constant movement.

Furthermore, this ama is designed to be used in conjunction with sail, which gives it nice counterbalance and therein lies the stability. It's not designed for use on a power boat which has no sideways, sail assisted stability.




The south-east Asian variety of the ama really does use an actual log, joined by spindly akas, which don't need to be strongly made because as mentioned already, they are not designed to absorb pressure - they're designed only for delicate balance.

If any downwards pressure were to be put on these amas, then they would instantly go under the water and the boat would roll.

Now, the moment you design amas either side of the central hull [the boaty part of the boat], you have created a trimaran, not an outrigger any more. You are asking the amas for something completely different – you are asking them to absorb sideways and downwards pressure.

Therefore spindly akas and non-buoyant amas are no longer of any use [check the ferry in the top photo again] and must be discarded in favour of far more buoyant and sturdy amas, as in photos 3 and 4.

Also, in 4 below here, you can see that the central hull has no inherent stability whatsoever. It is of concave design near the waterline, [by comparison with a normal convex shaped hull] and the trimaran hull is, by definition, top heavy above.




The reason it is designed this way is that if you have a narrower beam [width] at the water line, this in turn means a more efficient, longer shape and less wetted area, which in turn means either more speed or in the case of a commercial craft, more fuel savings.

Clearly, a ferry company is interested in that.

Where the ferry company makes its mistake is in choosing the western trimaran central hull, a wedge shape balancing on its sharp end, combined with a south-east Asian, spindly, log design ama either side, designed to be used with a normal hull shape and not to be used as waterline balancing floats.

In other words, they want a trimaran for fuel efficiency reasons, plus speed, but are not prepared to use the key design component of that – the buoyant amas, which are expensive to build and add weight.

Any expert could tell them that as long as the weather is fine, they may survive but in bad weather, with passengers on board, they're all dead.




Now look at the commercial ferry above. Even with a normal, rounded shape, stabilizers below and a wide beam [width], this boat is rolling in the heavy seas.

So can you imagine what the ferry in the top photo would be doing in such seas? The moment high seas alter its balance, over goes the ferry and in the Philippines region - they do go over and people do die quite regularly.

[state quiz] which of the fifty is it

The way it works is this: 5 points if you can name the state on the first clue. If you need to highlight the second clue but you can then name the state: 4 points and so on.

NOTE ON MONDAY: Some people didn't realize they needed to highlight the blank looking lines with the mouse to reveal the clue.

So, here we go:

1. There is no sales tax and household goods are exempt from property taxes.

2. On January 20, 1954, -70 °F was recorded at a gold mining camp.

3. Its rivers form parts of three major watersheds.

4. The native Americans' last effort to keep their land was here.

5. It’s the fourth largest state in the United States.

Clue [for no points]: Hannah is not the state’s favourite daughter.