Thursday 24 July 2014

Legal Round About

Alright, having a look at my views list, I'll admit that I've probably over done it on the advocating of petitions and protests but I believe that this stuff is important.  This is the news that doesn't get into the paper because the big companies don't want it to be.  I might be an Autistic but I still live in this world and I care about it and I care about the people in it even if they are mostly homo sapients rather than homo autistics.  Despite the fact that a lot of homo sapients would rather that I didn't exist, I remember that homo sapients are my parent race and I will respect them as such, even if some of their actions turn my stomach and get my goat.  It's why I take the stand that I do.  I can see the best that homo sapients could be and I want to help them reach it.  If that makes me a snob as well as an autistic then so blasted be it.  Besides we need to save this world, it's the only one with chocolate.

Still to give all my loyal readers a break from the advocating I will spilling the beans on my recent efforts to start up my career and get it off the ground.

About a week and a half ago I had to go into Dereham to visit the bank and while I was wanting for the bus home it crossed my mind that instead of making another trip into Dereham I could take care of an idea that I'd had a while ago.  So I walked over to the citizens advice bureau and asked them 'how do I go about getting a busking license?'  The immediate response was 'well, I've never been asked that before'.  Well after trawling through the Internet a while and asking around, I was told to go to Dereham Town Council.  Seeing as it was in the same building as the citizens advice bureau I nipped across the corridor and asked them.

They were not so helpful, in fact they were rather grumpy, saying that the information on the Breckland site was wrong and they didn't know why it was on there so I had to go to Breckland.  Seeing as they have Headquarters in Dereham I walked over there and asked the same question.

They were brilliantly helpful, giving a couple of options, that I hadn't thought about. However, there is no way I can afford the four hundred and eight pounds (£408.00) fee for a street traders license so I'm going with just plain busking.  However, for that you don't need a license, you just need the permission of the parish or town council.  So back to Dereham Town Council I went.  As a footnote, Breckland said that they won't mind me busking in the Nelson Place Precinct of Dereham.

When I got back to Dereham Town Council they were a little less grumpy and told me that it depended on where I wanted to busk in Nelson Place Precinct because the buildings are owned by a consortium of five charities that have they administration handled by Brownings of Norwich but the surface of the Precinct is the property of Norwich County Council.  They gave me the numbers for both of them and then I came home 'cause I'd been three hours in Dereham instead of just one.

The next morning I phone Brownings of Norwich but the person I need to speak to wasn't going to be there until after half past eleven.  So I sat around twiddling my thumbs until nearly twelve when the phone rang.  However, the person at the other end just had time to ask my name before the line cut off.  Believing it had to be the guy from Brownings of Norwich I phoned them back.  It wasn't them but they dealt with the enquiry but dig this, apparently they actually only own one of the buildings and it isn't their responsibility to give me permission either.  However, they won't have any objection to me busking my art work there as long as I don't block any door ways.  They also told me that the Precinct has been adopted by the Highways Department of Norwich County Council so I phoned them next.

They have no interest in me as long as I don't interfere with the paving stones.  They can't give me permission but they don't mind if I busk there as long as I don't damage the pavement.  They also directed me back to, you guessed it, Dereham Town Council.

And guess what, they said that it's not their responsibility to give me permission but, dig this, neither will they say they don't mind because they don't want to give me wrong information and have me get into trouble.

So I have three authorities that say it's not their responsibility to give me permission but also it's O.K. by them and one that says that it's not their responsibility but won't say they don't mind either.

Great, anybody know where I'm meant to go next?

Monday 7 July 2014

TTIP - Secret Courts

Alright, I know it always seems that I'm banging on about some appeal or petition all the time but that is because, as far as I'm concerned, this is the stuff that should be in the news papers but isn't, probably because the big businesses pulling this crap don't want it in the newspapers.

For instance, a trade deal between the EU and US, known as TTIP (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), threatens to undermine our basic democratic rights and puts our public services at risk but despite the severity of the threat, TTIP is facing a media blackout, with the newspapers refusing to publish news about it.  I wonder who told them not to.

Not only that but last month 250 people, including MPs and trade union leaders, were arrested in Brussels while peacefully protesting against TTIP.  Now did that make it into the newspapers, no of course not, the businesses don't want us to know about it.

TTIP is being negotiated in secret – clearly, policy makers do not want people to know about it and if we want to beat this undemocratic deal, we need to make sure people know what's going on behind closed doors.  Makes me feel like I'm living in 1930's Germany and this time it is the big business men who are acting like Hitler.

If that gets up your nose then here is the link to help out.

Take action and get TTIP into the papers.
One of the reasons the corporations don't want people knowing about TTIP is because it is set to include a system of offshore ‘corporate courts’ that will allow companies to sue governments for protecting their people and environment.  They are dressing this up as "investor state dispute settlements" or “Investor-State Arbitration Settlement" (ISDS) but really all it means is that big businesses will be able to sue the governments for trying to curb their powers.

ISDS would set up a system of tribunals where corporations could take our governments to court if they didn’t like a particular law that they thought harmed their business.

If TTIP is passed a future UK government could be faced with huge law suits if it wanted to remove companies from the NHS, freeze energy prices, restore public control to the railways, outlaw fracking, or raise the minimum wage.  That is what has happened where similar ‘corporate courts’ already in existence in other countries.

 Recently Germany was sued for placing a moratorium on nuclear power by a Swedish energy giant, Argentina has been sued for freezing energy bills, Slovakia for renationalising its health insurance system, and Egypt for raising the minimum wage.  Also Ecuador is being sued by Chevron because the country is requiring it to clean up a huge toxic oil spill in the heart of the Ecuadorian rainforest and Australia is being sued by Phillip Morris because it wants to take action to curb teenage smoking.

This is what ISDS would mean for Europe -- more corporate lawsuits against the things we care about.

Thanks to public pressure the EU Commission has opened up a public consultation on the part of TTIP allowing ‘corporate courts’. This gives us a unique opportunity to tell the EU we want democracy, not a corporate power grab. But guess what, they are only keeping the consultation open for a short period of time so it seems to me that they don't want too many people knowing about it.

The SumofUs community has built a tool to make submitting any comments you have about this destruction of our democracy easy - it doesn't take three minutes to use and it could be the best chance to tell both the EU and the US what we think about one of the most dangerous parts of the TTIP trade deal.

The EU’s consultation is a great first step - and it shows that pressure to drop the deal from all over the EU is starting to work. Now the EU have said they’ll listen, we need to make sure they hear from us. We know the public is against these rules -- but the EU needs to hear that loud and clear.
Making a comment is easy with this new tool, and it's our best chance of stopping these secret corporate courts.

See the link above if you want to tell the US to butt off.  Seems weird to be having to do this to a county that has spent over a decade trying to convince the world that it's the good guy.