10 years on…Fathers 4 Justice Tamar Bridge protester – Jolly Stanesby – Jolly by name, Jolly by nature.

In 1588 Francis Drake played his famous game of bowls on The Hoe, Plymouth before joining battle with the Spanish Armada.
In 1620 the Pilgrims set sail from Plymouth’s West Pier aboard the Mayflower for the New World.
In 2004 on a Plymouth bridge Jolly Stanesby escaped the police trap when the police reneged on their word …

23rd January 2004

It’s raining cats and dogs, it’s cool (6°C, 43°F) but Jolly Stanesby is in high spirits.

Jolly says he has a radio, a bottle of wine, enough food and he’s quite cosy. The police have been “as good as gold” since their initial attempts to get him down. All traffic is now flowing freely. Police had closed some lanes when Jolly went up there on Friday Morning.

One listener on a local radio station said “I agree with him but couldn’t he do it on a Sunday”. I guess he has now. Jolly hopes to stay up there for a week. He has several banners on the bridge tower, “Under new management. This bridge is now run by Fathers 4 Justice, “Stand and deliver Mr.B” (Mt.Blair) and “100 children lose contact with their father every day. Cost to you the taxpayer £30 billion”.

The Only Way Is Epic

 

In “The Only Way Is Epic,” the irrepressible innkeeper will also be giving us the benefit of his expertise on the subject of parenting. Al says that,

“He will also tell us why being a dad is the hardest job in the world.

He will reveal that he is possibly joining a group of other fathers who are seeking justice. He will let them have a function room, in return for free membership. He’ll also drive their van to Big Ben, but he won’t wear those silly costumes.”

Blanksy – Stolen, vandalised & faded… a lifetime of street art

BANKSY is one of Britain’s most-loved contemporary artists — but future generations may never get to see the street paintings that have won so many fans.The recent hacking of one mural from a wall is just one of many sad fates suffered by the elusive graffiti artist’s works.

This artwork is believed to be a Banksy is situated on the side wall of a house at Junction 2 of the M32 (With a little addition).

The artwork is depicts Michael Douglas’s character William Foster from the film Falling Down.

Publication of transparency in the family courts.

TRANSPARENCY IN THE FAMILY COURTS
PUBLICATION OF JUDGMENTS
PRACTICE GUIDANCE

issued on 16 January 2014

by

SIR JAMES MUNBY, PRESIDENT OF THE FAMILY DIVISION

http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Guidance/transparency-in-the-family-courts-jan2014.pdf

“In both courts there is a need for greater transparency in order to improve
public understanding of the court process and confidence in the court system. At
present too few judgments are made available to the public, which has a legitimate
interest in being able to read what is being done by the judges in its name. The
Guidance will have the effect of increasing the number of judgments available for
publication (even if they will often need to be published in appropriately anonymised
form)…….”

Sorry Mr  Munby…..Nothing less than a completely transparent and open family court system will do !! The protests will continue.

 

All decent parents and grandparents have inalienable rights to share in the care and upbringing of their children and grandchildren, and the breaking of the bond between child and parent is a grotesque travesty of natural justice

The famous Jurist, and legal and social reformer Jeremy Bentham, famously wrote of democratic justice:

“In the darkness of secrecy, sinister interest and evil in every shape, have full swing. Where there is no publicity there is no justice..Publicity is the very soul of justice. It keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial.”

I KNOW BY WELL RED (dedicated to Danny Madigan and Fathers 4 Justice)

Danny Madigan was a friend of the Tavistock band Well Red who was had at least a dozen cases for his child in the family courts but even though his wife didn’t turn up, they wouldn’t let him have any sort of custody, and practically no visits etc. This went on for years and he went on the booze and drank himself to death literally .

A spokesperson for the band said “He was a lovely guy, and he used to go on holiday with us and our their children, so so sad. We supported our mate as best we could, even had social workers round our house to meet us. At the end of the day they wouldn’t put the wife in jail for perjuring the court, as then the daughter wouldn’t have a mother and by then she didn’t know her father that well. It was such an awful situation”

More than half the people in South West think times are harder for families than 20 years ago

We spend £9 billion a year on managing troubled families; £46 billion a year on family breakdown and £29 billion a year on tackling child poverty yet we could save £32,000 per family a year if crisis was averted.

MORE than half of people in the South West think times are harder than 20 years ago.

The YouGov poll of more than 2,000 people – commissioned by charity 4Children to coincide with the publication of its Manifesto: Making Britain Great for Children and Families – found that 59 percent of people thought life was harder now than in the early 1990s, while 61 percent felt that public services should be aimed at families.

However, only one in ten didn’t think their neighbourhood was a good place to bring up children and four out of ten people feared today’s children would have a worse life than theirs.

Many people told pollsters they felt a range of public services were not family friendly, with a mere two percent saying job centres were family friendly. Just over a quarter judged childcare services as family friendly, while GP practices saw just 38 percent feel it was family friendly.

The charity, which runs Sure Start Children’s Centres as well as family and youth services across Britain, said it is throwing down the gauntlet to decision makers to help reshape Britain’s public services, spaces and workplaces in response to the dramatic changes to modern family life.

The charity is calling for national and local leaders to sign up to a Family Commitment which would include:

• A Family Test across national and local government to ensure policies are family friendly

• A major overhaul of support for vulnerable families, including local, joined-up early help

• A commitment to family friendly planning and public spaces

• A major house building programme of affordable and social housing

• Local, joined up help in every community through Children and Family Centres and Hubs

for children 0–19 and their families

• A comprehensive universal childcare guarantee from 0-14

• Part-time and flexible working to become the norm including flexible maternity and

paternity leave

Anne Longfield OBE, chief executive of 4Children said: “Too many children and families are struggling in the South West today with limited potential and life chances as a result.

“It’s clear from what people tell us that this country’s systems and approaches are not working for many families.

“We spend £9 billion a year on managing troubled families; £46 billion a year on family breakdown and £29 billion a year on tackling child poverty yet we could save £32,000 per family a year if crisis was averted.

“This is not just about more money, however, but about a revolution in how we run services and structures to find smarter ways to support family life. We need services that understand the speed and complexity of modern life and join together locally to offer families the support they need.

“We also need to change the current costly approach of leaving troubles to deteriorate into problems. We need a new approach, which steps into support families early; with a ‘stitch in time’ culture that focuses on avoiding problems arising rather than on spending large amounts of money to patch up problems after they’ve occurred.

“However, these changes need to be seen as just the foundation for a complete rethink of how the country approaches supporting family life, which recognises the amazing power and worth of having flourishing families and the importance of helping those families who are just coping or struggling to flourish. If this country is going to compete globally in the future, we need to ensure we are all helping to make the most of the biggest asset the country has – children and their families.”

Read more: http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/half-people-South-West-think-times-harder/story-20440148-detail/story.html#ixzz2qb9e5Lul

Fathers4Justice campaigner found guilty of defacing Queen portrait with purple paint while it was hanging in Westminster Abbey

• Tim Haries, 42, climbed over a cordon and wrote ‘help’ on £160,000 painting
• Told steward who tackled him: ‘Sorry, mate, I’ve nothing against the Queen’
• Haries, of Doncaster, said he had wanted to highlight ‘social justice issue’
• Father of two had denied causing criminal damage to Ralph Heimans’ work
  
• Today he was convicted of the charge by a jury at Southwark Crown Court
• Recorder of Westminster said direct action could not be used as a defence
• Haries will be sentenced on 5 February
  

Fathers4Justice campaigner Tim Haries, 42, was found guilty of causing criminal damage by a jury at Southwark Crown Court today

A Fathers4Justice campaigner who sprayed the word ‘help’ onto a portrait of the Queen as it hung in Westminster Abbey was found guilty of criminal damage today.

Tim Haries, 42, shouted ‘Fathers for justice’ as he defaced the Ralph Heimans painting before telling an Abbey steward who tackled him to the ground: ‘Sorry mate, I’ve got nothing against the Queen’, Southwark Crown Court was told.

Despite telling a police officer arresting him that he was ‘guilty as charged’, the father of two had denied a charge of causing criminal damage of more than £5,000.

Haries, who told jurors he wanted to highlight the ‘social justice issue of our time’, smuggled a can of purple spray paint into the Abbey on June 13 last year, before scrawling the word ‘help’ on the £160,000 painting.

Prosecutor Allister Walker said Haries was tackled to the ground by steward Peter Crook after defacing the large oil painting.

Photographs of the incident were later posted on a Fathers4Justice Facebook page.

Haries told officers who arrived at the scene ‘It’s for Fathers4Justice’, and when asked if it was he who had sprayed the painting, he replied ‘Guilty as charged’, the court was told.

Today jurors were addressed by Haries, who told them he had now decided to represent himself and said he carried out the act as a protest against the ‘social catastrophe’ of fathers not being allowed access to their children.

‘The pain of losing my children has been like a living bereavement for me,’ he said.

‘I believe that contact denial is a hate crime and an abuse of children’s fundamental rights.’

But Judge Alistair McCreath, Recorder of Westminster, told the jury that direct action or civil disobedience could not be used as a defence in law.

Haries was told he could leave the dock and sit at the back of the court room when representing himself.

But, after being found guilty, he said he wanted to reappoint his defence barrister Kyriakos Argyropoulos.

Judge McCreath told him: ‘You can’t just duck and dive and have counsel and not have counsel.’

But Mr Argyropoulos said he consented to represent him again, before the judge said he would adjourn for a month for pre-sentencing reports to be carried out.

Haries, of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, was given conditional bail to return to the court for sentencing on 5 February, but the judge told him this was not an indication of how he would be dealt with.

The £160,000 oil painting by artist Ralph Heimans before, left, and after it was defaced by the father of two

 

Haries later released a statement through Fathers4Justice in which he said his ‘children’s lives are worth more than any painting’.

‘Whilst I disagree with the verdict reached by the jury, I take full responsibility for my actions,’ he said.

‘Every Family Court judge who separates fathers from their children does so with the authority of the Queen.’

He said that he defaced the painting a day after his ‘desperation at not seeing my children was further heightened’ when a shared parenting debate in Parliament was attended by just four MPs.

‘As a result of this disgraceful attendance and the obvious contempt MPs have for the children and families ripped apart in secret courts, I felt compelled to act,’ he added.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2535971/Fathers4Justice-campaigner-guilty-defacing-Queen-portrait-purple-paint-hanging-Westminster-Abbey.html#ixzz2q6im3U7S
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John Hemming: We must change the way family courts are run

Birmingham MP says a lot of human misery is being caused by the UK’s family law

by John Hemming

Family law, particularly when it involves more than one country, is a complex issue involving a number of very sensitive issues. However, the machinery has been hidden away and is only now partially coming to the surface.

The story of the woman who was sectioned on a visit to Essex, subjected to a forced caesarean and then had her baby put up for adoption had a lot of publicity last year. As a result of this we can see some of the detail behind this.

I always think it is a good idea to look at things from the perspective of the children. Her baby daughter is now one. She has two sisters. Families are important to people and sibling relationships are important to children and adults.

When she gets to be a teenager she will find out more about what has happened in her life. Her question will be why was she not brought up with her sisters?

If she meets her sisters she will find they are fluent in a language she cannot speak and she won’t know anyone in her wider family.

It is true that the grandmother does not feel she can deal with all three children.

However, the aunt of the baby’s step-sister offered to look after the two sisters and the baby in the same household.

Essex County Council, however, refused this. Their argument was that the aunt was not a blood relative of the baby. That is a silly argument.

I know, however, that Essex have an adoption target. In their corporate plan of 2012/3 it was 12 per cent of the children in care and they were below target. Previously they were paid £2,469,200 by the Blair government for increasing adoptions.

Hence when it comes to the care plan it is clear that the local authority employees are under a lot of pressure to propose a care plan for adoption.

It is in fact only the younger children that can be adopted. Nationally a very high proportion of the children that leave care under five do so through adoption.

So we are saying to that baby in 12 years time that she was kept away from her family for no good reason and that the local authority had a bureaucratic target to divide families.

My view is that this target lies behind the decision to refuse to allow the aunt to care for the children.

Many foreign governments have complained about what is done in the English family courts.

However, they are not properly subject to scrutiny in England.

Successive governments have been pressing for children to be taken into care earlier and then adopted quickly. Not only does this lead to more miscarriages of justice, but it also makes it harder to protect children from harm.

It is nigh on impossible to predict that a child will starve to death at the age of seven when that child is born. The low threshold for intervention with babies also drives a higher threshold for intervention for older children.

When I say “the wrong children are taken into care”, I mean both that children are taken into care who shouldn’t be, but also that older children are abandoned by the system and end up dying from child abuse and neglect when they need not.

There is very little scrutiny of how the system operates. It does not actually require people to be identified to have more scrutiny.

We also should not imprison people whose only offence is complaining about problems with the system.

I proposed a system of academic scrutiny of family proceedings, but the children’s services directors rejected this.

I could write a lot more about this. I believe a lot of human misery is being created unnecessarily.

We need a change in approach urgently.

John Hemming is Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley