Last night Rihanna performed the penultimate concert of the Diamonds World Tour in Houston, Texas. As usual Rihanna's CIA handlers/Live Nation (the management) kept all official information about the concert tightly locked down. Also there seems to be a distinct shortage of unofficial information about the concert available to me.
However one thing I am not hearing is a long list of complaints about the concert. Therefore I think it is safe to assume that Rihanna appeared on stage within the allotted time to perform the standard set-list with the standard costume changes and stage set up. From the little slivers I've seen the overall concert seemed more subdued that Tuesday's (12/11/13) performance in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. However that is not to say that there was anything wrong with the concert - it just lacked the same level of energy as the particularly strong concert in Oklahoma.
At around the time of the concert there was a small fire and associated local evacuation at a chemical factory in Eminem's home town of Detroit. However I think that was just an accidental coincidence. Rather then being an indication that the management has had a change of heart this lack of big stunts seems to indicate that they thought that the low level controversy surrounding the concert would be enough to cause confusion. For example this Houston concert was a big an obvious reference to Whitney Houston whose tragic life is seeming to be something of a template for Rihanna's future.
The main drama concerning Rihanna's concert last night though was supposed to come from the fact that Rihanna attended Drake's concert in Houston on Wednesday (13/11/13) much as he attended Rihanna's Dallas concert on Monday (11/11/13). As Drake's people have been clearly following my advice Rihanna was not only ushered backstage on Wednesday but was seen to be ushered backstage. Then following the concert Drake and Rihanna attended a strip-club together where a lot of money was spent (estimates range from USD17,000 to USD97,000). The intention here was clearly to make sure that Rihanna and Drake were seen and talked about socialising outside of the concert in a effort to fuel rumours that they had reunited as a couple. This may be one possible explanation for Rihanna's subdued concert performance the following night.
At 09:00 (EST)/14:00(GMT) today the video for Rihanna's single "What Now" will be officially released and Rihanna will no doubt be under an obligation to help promote it via social media. This obviously brings up the controversial detour to Thailand during the recent south-east Asian leg of the tour because apparently Thailand was the only place on earth this video could be shot. Mainly though this unsubtly poses the question of; What now for Rihanna that her tour has ended? I'll go into this in more detail tomorrow once the tour has actually ended but there are basically two scenarios laid out by the management;
The long discussed ideal scenario is for Rihanna to reunite with Chris Brown because that way the management will own Rihanna for the rest of what could well end up being a very short life. In order to help make this scenario a reality the American Music Awards (AMAs) are giving Rihanna a special "Icon" award in order to make sure she attends the November 24th (24/11/13) awards ceremony in Los Angeles. Chris Brown is scheduled to appear in front of an LA Court on November 20th (20/11/13) although it's been rumoured that may be pushed back until November 25th (25/11/13) in order to allow more time to prepare in light of his most recent arrest.
However if Rihanna fails to reunite with Chris Brown the management have put in place a fall back position of forcing Rihanna into a relationship with either Drake or A$AP Rocky. That way the can claim that they haven't failed but have instead cunningly engineered a way to keep Rihanna and Chris Brown apart without having to take appropriate legal action against Chris Brown.
I would like to say that there are other options but until Rihanna is prepared to make life difficult for management by pushing back against them these are her only two options. The type of thing Rihanna could do to push back range from the big and aggressive such as applying herself for a restraining order against Chris Brown to the more subtle such as refusing to meet up with Drake for these little publicity stunts or suddenly becoming 'ill' on the day of the AMA's. Obviously though I think the best idea would be for Rihanna to get in more direct contact with me. That way I'll be able to more fully bring my skills to bear on all these other issues.
11:15 on 15/11/13.
Edited at around 11:40 on 15/11/13 to add; Sometimes I envy commuters. At least they get a gap between waking up and arriving at work.
The four 'Hollywood Marines' who were killed in a range accident at Camp Pendleton on Wednesday (13/11/13) were supposed to give the impression that the management had accepted that something had gone wrong with their plan for Rihanna. Therefore they are currently holding an investigation before choosing whether to press ahead with the first scenario or switch to the second scenario. By giving the impression that the management haven't yet made a decision is intended to add an extra level of uncertainty to the situation as the COP19/CMP9 into it's second week and high level segment .
Edited again at around 14:40 on 15/11/13 to add;
The "What Now" has now been officially released and if you really want it can be viewed here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-3BI9AspYc&feature=youtu.be
The first big inescapable thing about the video is that it is shot entirely in an artificially lit sparse white room meaning could have been shot absolutely anywhere in the world posing the obvious question of why Rihanna had to go to Thailand?
Beyond that the video is really just trying to bring the song to the fore rather then making any great artistic statements. Apart from the title the song features Rihanna singing the lyric "I just can't figure it out" over and over again which really reinforces the question of what now for Rihanna and whether she will figure out the management's plan for her and take action to avoid it?
The song also features the lyric; "Whatever it is it feels it's laughing at me through the glass of a two sided mirror." The video director has taken this as inspiration to use the surveillance theme throughout the video with lots of grainy CCTV-style footage. Coming at the start of the final leg of the Diamonds World Tour this seems intended to place the idea of covert surveillance in Rihanna's mind in order to increase her levels of paranoia and therefore stress in the run-up to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) concert.
As such one way Rihanna could push back against the management is by never, ever using the directors (there are 3 listed) of this video ever again.
Friday, 15 November 2013
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Operation Misery: Month 9, Week 2, Day 2.
Last night Rihanna performed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. To the surprise of no-one Rihanna's CIA handlers/Live Nation (the management) maintained their blackout on official information. However through unofficial sources I can tell that Rihanna arrived on stage within the acceptable time limit before performing the standard set-list with the standard costume changes and stage set. From the small glimpses of video I've seen the concert seemed to be very strong and energetic with Rihanna on top form.
The main political drama surrounding this concert was of course intended to be provided by me. The management were working on the plan that I would be convicted of criminal damage and then sentenced to something like community service which given my medical status of being unfit for work would have been highly controversial. This would have prompted me to have an evening of rage and ranting which apart from being disruptive in its own right would have been used to create speculation that something violent would happen. To that end there was a small shooting/hostage incident in Phoenix, Arizona in which someone was found killed on a driveway, someone else was found burned in the back garden of the property, a teenage girl was found dead inside the house and another person was found dead in an alleyway close to the house. Apart from the death toll these are all details that were relevant at my trial.
As it turns out though I actually spent most of last night being overjoyed at being acquitted rather being furious at being convicted which took most of the drama out of the situation. I couldn't though resist making Rihanna's date of birth the password for the online bundle of case papers that has now been removed. Although this created a bit of a stir amongst Rihanna's fans I felt that Rihanna at least would have had an excuse for knowing it.
I also felt the need to publicly point out that although she should make a contribution when I refer to my "celebrity readers" in talking about Typhoon Haiyan I am not specifically talking about Rihanna nor am I trying to make her personally responsible for the relief effort. After all part of my objection of Rihanna's recent visit to the Philippines was that it made up part of a very expensive year for her.
It was after I'd published my incredibly coherent - given the hour- update on the situation in the Philippines the management accepted that they weren't going to get the evening they had planned so changed tact. This involved releasing previously unseen photographs from the photoshoot to promote the "Nude" fragrance that featured Rihanna in nothing but sexy lace underwear. For a very obvious reason this would have caused me to focus heavily on Rihanna for the rest of the evening spouting nonsense in the run-up to the concert. Fortunately or unfortunately though I was far too drunk to notice these photographs on my Twitter time-line until this morning.
It was around the time I starting mocking the rumours about whether A$AP Rocky and Rihanna are having sex with each other whilst on tour in order to highlight how deeply annoying it is to be a factor in Rihanna's concert preparations when I've got no idea what's going on in the room I decided that it was probably best to go to bed.
12:45 on 13/11/13 (UK date).
The main political drama surrounding this concert was of course intended to be provided by me. The management were working on the plan that I would be convicted of criminal damage and then sentenced to something like community service which given my medical status of being unfit for work would have been highly controversial. This would have prompted me to have an evening of rage and ranting which apart from being disruptive in its own right would have been used to create speculation that something violent would happen. To that end there was a small shooting/hostage incident in Phoenix, Arizona in which someone was found killed on a driveway, someone else was found burned in the back garden of the property, a teenage girl was found dead inside the house and another person was found dead in an alleyway close to the house. Apart from the death toll these are all details that were relevant at my trial.
As it turns out though I actually spent most of last night being overjoyed at being acquitted rather being furious at being convicted which took most of the drama out of the situation. I couldn't though resist making Rihanna's date of birth the password for the online bundle of case papers that has now been removed. Although this created a bit of a stir amongst Rihanna's fans I felt that Rihanna at least would have had an excuse for knowing it.
I also felt the need to publicly point out that although she should make a contribution when I refer to my "celebrity readers" in talking about Typhoon Haiyan I am not specifically talking about Rihanna nor am I trying to make her personally responsible for the relief effort. After all part of my objection of Rihanna's recent visit to the Philippines was that it made up part of a very expensive year for her.
It was after I'd published my incredibly coherent - given the hour- update on the situation in the Philippines the management accepted that they weren't going to get the evening they had planned so changed tact. This involved releasing previously unseen photographs from the photoshoot to promote the "Nude" fragrance that featured Rihanna in nothing but sexy lace underwear. For a very obvious reason this would have caused me to focus heavily on Rihanna for the rest of the evening spouting nonsense in the run-up to the concert. Fortunately or unfortunately though I was far too drunk to notice these photographs on my Twitter time-line until this morning.
It was around the time I starting mocking the rumours about whether A$AP Rocky and Rihanna are having sex with each other whilst on tour in order to highlight how deeply annoying it is to be a factor in Rihanna's concert preparations when I've got no idea what's going on in the room I decided that it was probably best to go to bed.
12:45 on 13/11/13 (UK date).
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Typhoon Haiyan: Day 5.
Yes Tuesday November 12th 2013 (12/11/13) would indeed have been the 5th day since Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) made landfall in the Philippines. However if you've been following this blog or my Twitter feed (@Sovereignaka) you would know that today I've been a little bit busy.
However from the news I've been able to collide with I'm happy to report that things are slowly starting to improve. In a large part this has been due to the efforts of the Filipino government who have been able to re-establish 20-30% of the electricity and telecommunications to most of the 11 provinces affected. As a result they are beginning to receive more detailed assessments of the destruction experienced.
The Filipino government should not claim all the credit for the improvement though because once again the United States has heroically ridden to the rescue just 52 short days after they inflicted Rihanna on the nation. The first group of US Marines (USMC) arrived from Japan on Monday (11/11/13) bringing with them I believe 1 C130 transport plane and 4 V-22 Osprey's. If you are not familiar with the V-22 it is possibly one of the coolest aircraft ever invented. The size of a medium lift aeroplane it can take off an land like a helicopter. If you know anything about the physics of flight you will understand that this is a truly astounding feat of engineering. However if you know nothing about the physics of flight you will know that this is much like a CH-47 Chinook helicopter only much more expensive and much more temperamental.
However the point I was aiming for in my drunken state is that upon arrival the USMC Commander made the point that for every person they bring into the country they also have to find water, food and shelter for that person. I believe the USMC are now in charge of building airstrips. As a result of these pathfinders though the US has now dispatched the USS George Washington carrier group to the Philippines. I'm not sure exactly how many ships make up that carrier group but the George Washington itself provides an landing platform for up to 80 aircraft. I assume for the duration of this visit those 80 aircraft are going to be made up of UH-60 Black Hawk and AW101 Merlin helicopters from around the world.
Valiantly joining in the UK has also dispatched a single C130 aircraft and the HMS Daring destroyer from Singapore. Daring is expected to arrive on Friday (15/11/13) complete with one Westland Lynx helicopter which although it can fly upside down is like the helicopters the Filipinos have already got only a bit more sh't. However the HMS Daring along with all the ships in the USS George Washington group each represent a clean water factory which will save lives.
On Monday the Flipping government declared a "state of calamity" which legally makes absolutely no sense to me at this point although I believe it prevents local vendors raising their prices in order to profiteer from the disaster and makes government funds readily available to the provinces. Although this seems highly sensible to me it does stop short of the declaration of martial law that I insist is required. After all if people are going to attack rescue helicopters as they land rescue helicopters are going to be have to be flown with an armed escort helicopter and frankly those escort helicopters should be allowed to at least machine gun a few of the c*nts on the ground.
In terms of disaster relief I believe the United Nations World Food Program has now set up a special fund that is accepting donations here; https://www.wfp.org/donate/typhoon-philippines-a
Also the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is attempting to raise money but I can't recommend that umbrella organisation until I manage to streamline my hatred of the 'charity' "Save The Children" into something vaguely resembling English.
However for my celebrity readers the Filipino government has transferred it's clearing account to NDRRMC at the Development Bank of the Philippines SWIFT code; DBPHPHMM account number (#36002016). At the risk of setting fire to the Asian markets and starting a small war with Iran I assume fees are going to be waived.
Finally in this overwhelmingly Catholic nation I think it is up to the Pope to grant collective last rites to all the dead so that they can immediately be cremated or ideally buried in mass graves whilst still getting into Heaven.
23:55 on 12/11/13.
However from the news I've been able to collide with I'm happy to report that things are slowly starting to improve. In a large part this has been due to the efforts of the Filipino government who have been able to re-establish 20-30% of the electricity and telecommunications to most of the 11 provinces affected. As a result they are beginning to receive more detailed assessments of the destruction experienced.
The Filipino government should not claim all the credit for the improvement though because once again the United States has heroically ridden to the rescue just 52 short days after they inflicted Rihanna on the nation. The first group of US Marines (USMC) arrived from Japan on Monday (11/11/13) bringing with them I believe 1 C130 transport plane and 4 V-22 Osprey's. If you are not familiar with the V-22 it is possibly one of the coolest aircraft ever invented. The size of a medium lift aeroplane it can take off an land like a helicopter. If you know anything about the physics of flight you will understand that this is a truly astounding feat of engineering. However if you know nothing about the physics of flight you will know that this is much like a CH-47 Chinook helicopter only much more expensive and much more temperamental.
However the point I was aiming for in my drunken state is that upon arrival the USMC Commander made the point that for every person they bring into the country they also have to find water, food and shelter for that person. I believe the USMC are now in charge of building airstrips. As a result of these pathfinders though the US has now dispatched the USS George Washington carrier group to the Philippines. I'm not sure exactly how many ships make up that carrier group but the George Washington itself provides an landing platform for up to 80 aircraft. I assume for the duration of this visit those 80 aircraft are going to be made up of UH-60 Black Hawk and AW101 Merlin helicopters from around the world.
Valiantly joining in the UK has also dispatched a single C130 aircraft and the HMS Daring destroyer from Singapore. Daring is expected to arrive on Friday (15/11/13) complete with one Westland Lynx helicopter which although it can fly upside down is like the helicopters the Filipinos have already got only a bit more sh't. However the HMS Daring along with all the ships in the USS George Washington group each represent a clean water factory which will save lives.
On Monday the Flipping government declared a "state of calamity" which legally makes absolutely no sense to me at this point although I believe it prevents local vendors raising their prices in order to profiteer from the disaster and makes government funds readily available to the provinces. Although this seems highly sensible to me it does stop short of the declaration of martial law that I insist is required. After all if people are going to attack rescue helicopters as they land rescue helicopters are going to be have to be flown with an armed escort helicopter and frankly those escort helicopters should be allowed to at least machine gun a few of the c*nts on the ground.
In terms of disaster relief I believe the United Nations World Food Program has now set up a special fund that is accepting donations here; https://www.wfp.org/donate/typhoon-philippines-a
Also the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is attempting to raise money but I can't recommend that umbrella organisation until I manage to streamline my hatred of the 'charity' "Save The Children" into something vaguely resembling English.
However for my celebrity readers the Filipino government has transferred it's clearing account to NDRRMC at the Development Bank of the Philippines SWIFT code; DBPHPHMM account number (#36002016). At the risk of setting fire to the Asian markets and starting a small war with Iran I assume fees are going to be waived.
Finally in this overwhelmingly Catholic nation I think it is up to the Pope to grant collective last rites to all the dead so that they can immediately be cremated or ideally buried in mass graves whilst still getting into Heaven.
23:55 on 12/11/13.
Like Gladiators. In Suits
Today I've had my afternoon in Court and I would like to tell that I've been found not guilty. Mainly because that would be a lot easier then explaining the technical detail of what actually happened.
As I mentioned yesterday the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had failed to disclose the exhibits referenced in the initial disclosure of evidence. As a result my defence argued that it was impossible to mount a proper defence meaning that I would not receive a fair trail. They then suggested to the CPS that they apply for an adjournment. The rather young CPS lawyer instead dispatched a police officer to bring those exhibits to the Court. This of course would have been completely useless because the main exhibit - the hammer - would then have to be sent off for forensic examination. However it circumvented the technicality meaning that the case could proceed.
We began with a reading of the statement of the victim - the witness living in the address with the damaged windows - which makes up pages 20 and 21 of the initial disclosure bundle. This was brief and simply talks of hearing a load noise and seeing a non-descript male wearing dark clothing including a hooded top with the hood up walking away from the scene in poor light. The problem was that at the time of my arrest and thoughout the day leading up to that arrest and along with most of the following day spent in police custody I was wearing blue jeans and a grey fleece top which did not have a hood. So either this statement described someone who was not me leaving the scene or was a case of a witness who had seen nothing making a guess based on what I normally wear. As this statement was so brief and was contradicted by all other witnesses the CPS decided not to call this witness for cross-examination and the defence saw no need to disagree.
Next we moved onto the independent witnesses whose statement makes up page 16 of the initial disclosure bundle. This is the terrific work of fiction that was referenced during the 'plebgate' House of Commons select committees. In this statement that was given to the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the case - "Sarastro" - more then a month after the event the witness claims that she not only saw a man fitting my description leaving the scene of the crime in excellent visibility but that I stopped and had a little conversation with her. In that conversation I supposedly told her that I had smashed the windows because "I don't like those people" before telling her where I lived. This conversation was not witnessed by the victim who had a much better view. Also it sounds remarkably similar to the statement I gave to the police after discovering a burglar in my shed in a case that led to complaints being made to both the police borough commander and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (the other IPCC). The use of the phrase "Those people" by a white person to describe black people seems to be the witness implying that this was a racially motivated offence which is rightfully considered much more serious.
This witness went on to claim she was able to provide probable cause for my arrest because she had witnessed my initial contact with the arresting officer. The problem is that this conversation happened well within the confines of my property meaning that it was well beyond the witnesses field of vision and her view was so obscured that there was actually an entire other two storey house in the way.
So although defences don't say things like that in Court it appeared very much that the OIC and the independent witness had conspired to give a false statement that helped solve some of the quite big problems with the case. This is commonly know as the criminal offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice contrary to common law.
The independent witnesses was cross-examined in Court but insisted on doing so from behind a screen. Now this could have been interpreted as me being such a scary and nasty person that merely having to glance at me would cause her severe emotional and psychological distress. Alternatively though it could be interpreted as the witness being unable to look me in the eye as she lied through her teeth thus committing the further criminal offence of perjury. Despite the screen under examination from the CPS lawyer the witnesses story began to fall apart to the point where she had to be reminded to read her statement before answering. By the time the defence had completed their examination the witness had become so flustered that she was unable to confirm to the Court where she lived and why she had never seen a man who had been living two doors down from her for 8 years before in her entire life.
At this point the prosecutions cause had been all but lost but as it's highly inappropriate to just give up halfway through we moved onto hear from the arresting officer and the (OIC).
Being rather skilled at this sort of thing the arresting officer merely confirmed what was in his statement which makes up pages 18 and 19 of the initial disclosure bundle. This states that upon arrival on the scene the officer proceeded to walk onto my property where he first encountered me standing smoking in poor visibility. This is all true but if it is proof that I'd committed the offence it also proves that I am guilty of every single other crime that has been committed anywhere in the world whilst I was standing on my property smoking a cigarette of the past 8 years. What this statement does though is raise the question of on what authority the police officer entered the private property without a search warrant or probable cause. Needless to say although he didn't lie in his testimony the arresting officer gave the impression that this conversation had in fact occurred on the public street in full view of the independent witness. That was something we were going to bring up during my testimony.
Following this initial contact the arresting officer then went off to speak to the victim and any potential witnesses before detailing the exact circumstances of my arrest. Here the arresting officer claims that I was offering such a level of resistance that I had to be restrained by three police officers and handcuffed in the enhanced rear-stack position. Although I feel I was being more sarcastic then violent this is what happened. However the arresting officer then claimed that he left this unruly prisoner unattended while he went to search an outbuilding. On a work surface within that outbuilding the arresting officer claims he discovered a hammer with glass fragments on the head which he seized as evidence. The problems with this are that a police officer would never leave a prisoner - unruly or otherwise - unattended, there was no work surface in the outbuilding and the police failed to confirm the presence of glass fragments through forensic tests. Put simply the search and seizure were actually carried out by a police Sergeant and a police Inspector who were also at the scene and the arresting officer was simply lying in his statement. However rather then challenging the officer on cross-examination these issues were simply left for my testimony to contradict because the absence of the hammer spoke more loudly then my lawyer ever could.
Finally came the evidence of the OIC which is vital because his conduct effects all the other evidence in the case. His testimony was simply a reading on the transcript of the police interview the recording of which was part of the evidence the CPS had failed to disclose. Prior to the OIC's testimony the defence filed a motion to exclude the interview because my father had been used as an appropriate adult in clear violation of the 2012 update of Code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) 1984. However before this motion could be ruled on the OIC gave his testimony which involved him reading his part of the interview and the CPS lawyer reading my part of the interview which was fun because it led to the prosecution standing up in open Court and saying; "Well police officers lie." On cross-examination the defence merely got the OIC to confirm that he had made no attempt to contact an appropriate adult as described in PACE either whilst I was in custody or at any point whilst I was on bail and I had repeatedly objected to my father being used as an appropriate adult. This helped paint a picture of a police officer trying to get the evidence to fit a suspect rather then allowing the evidence to lead them to a suspect.
As soon as the OIC had finished giving his evidence the defence withdraw its motion to exclude because we suddenly realised that during the interview the OIC had quoted from the statement given by the independent witness that wasn't actually given until some 40 days after the interview had been terminated. That gave a lot of people the impression that the OIC had given the statement to the witness rather then the other way round as was being claimed.
Then after a short delay while we waited for the CPS lawyer to accept that the hammer could not be brought to Court in time the prosecution case rested.
Then in the style of episode 1 of series 2 of US TV Show "Scandal" the defence filed a pro-forma motion calling for the case to be dismissed due to a lack of evidence. After a short recess in which the defence lawyer warned me that these motions never work it worked. As a result I have been acquitted of the offence because the prosecution had not been able to present a strong enough case for me to have to answer. Quite why it has taken the best part of 7 months for that obvious conclusion to be reached is one of the matters I expected to be bringing up in another Court in the none too distant future.
Before I go and get drunk though I should point out that the old trick of the prosecution 'forgetting' to disclose evidence causing a case to collapse prior to witnesses giving evidence is often used in organised crime cases either to protect an informant or disrupt a group by making them think someone is an informant. However in this case I think the reasons where somewhat different. In fact although phone reception was terrible I do believe the UK Houses of Parliament - the very heart of government - came under threat the moment I walked into Court.
18:35 on 12/11/13.
Edited at around 20:30 on 12/11/13 to add;
Although all the evidence in the initial disclosure bundle is now a matter of public record so can be obtained from the national records office in the next 6-9 months before I publish them on the Internet I would like to redact certain identifying details. After all while I'm sure mine is an endorsement he could happily live without I genuinely feel that the police force is a better place for having the arresting officer on it. Unfortunately at this point I am now to drunk to write my own name let alone delete it from a series of documents. So, erm, f*ck you,
As I mentioned yesterday the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had failed to disclose the exhibits referenced in the initial disclosure of evidence. As a result my defence argued that it was impossible to mount a proper defence meaning that I would not receive a fair trail. They then suggested to the CPS that they apply for an adjournment. The rather young CPS lawyer instead dispatched a police officer to bring those exhibits to the Court. This of course would have been completely useless because the main exhibit - the hammer - would then have to be sent off for forensic examination. However it circumvented the technicality meaning that the case could proceed.
We began with a reading of the statement of the victim - the witness living in the address with the damaged windows - which makes up pages 20 and 21 of the initial disclosure bundle. This was brief and simply talks of hearing a load noise and seeing a non-descript male wearing dark clothing including a hooded top with the hood up walking away from the scene in poor light. The problem was that at the time of my arrest and thoughout the day leading up to that arrest and along with most of the following day spent in police custody I was wearing blue jeans and a grey fleece top which did not have a hood. So either this statement described someone who was not me leaving the scene or was a case of a witness who had seen nothing making a guess based on what I normally wear. As this statement was so brief and was contradicted by all other witnesses the CPS decided not to call this witness for cross-examination and the defence saw no need to disagree.
Next we moved onto the independent witnesses whose statement makes up page 16 of the initial disclosure bundle. This is the terrific work of fiction that was referenced during the 'plebgate' House of Commons select committees. In this statement that was given to the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the case - "Sarastro" - more then a month after the event the witness claims that she not only saw a man fitting my description leaving the scene of the crime in excellent visibility but that I stopped and had a little conversation with her. In that conversation I supposedly told her that I had smashed the windows because "I don't like those people" before telling her where I lived. This conversation was not witnessed by the victim who had a much better view. Also it sounds remarkably similar to the statement I gave to the police after discovering a burglar in my shed in a case that led to complaints being made to both the police borough commander and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (the other IPCC). The use of the phrase "Those people" by a white person to describe black people seems to be the witness implying that this was a racially motivated offence which is rightfully considered much more serious.
This witness went on to claim she was able to provide probable cause for my arrest because she had witnessed my initial contact with the arresting officer. The problem is that this conversation happened well within the confines of my property meaning that it was well beyond the witnesses field of vision and her view was so obscured that there was actually an entire other two storey house in the way.
So although defences don't say things like that in Court it appeared very much that the OIC and the independent witness had conspired to give a false statement that helped solve some of the quite big problems with the case. This is commonly know as the criminal offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice contrary to common law.
The independent witnesses was cross-examined in Court but insisted on doing so from behind a screen. Now this could have been interpreted as me being such a scary and nasty person that merely having to glance at me would cause her severe emotional and psychological distress. Alternatively though it could be interpreted as the witness being unable to look me in the eye as she lied through her teeth thus committing the further criminal offence of perjury. Despite the screen under examination from the CPS lawyer the witnesses story began to fall apart to the point where she had to be reminded to read her statement before answering. By the time the defence had completed their examination the witness had become so flustered that she was unable to confirm to the Court where she lived and why she had never seen a man who had been living two doors down from her for 8 years before in her entire life.
At this point the prosecutions cause had been all but lost but as it's highly inappropriate to just give up halfway through we moved onto hear from the arresting officer and the (OIC).
Being rather skilled at this sort of thing the arresting officer merely confirmed what was in his statement which makes up pages 18 and 19 of the initial disclosure bundle. This states that upon arrival on the scene the officer proceeded to walk onto my property where he first encountered me standing smoking in poor visibility. This is all true but if it is proof that I'd committed the offence it also proves that I am guilty of every single other crime that has been committed anywhere in the world whilst I was standing on my property smoking a cigarette of the past 8 years. What this statement does though is raise the question of on what authority the police officer entered the private property without a search warrant or probable cause. Needless to say although he didn't lie in his testimony the arresting officer gave the impression that this conversation had in fact occurred on the public street in full view of the independent witness. That was something we were going to bring up during my testimony.
Following this initial contact the arresting officer then went off to speak to the victim and any potential witnesses before detailing the exact circumstances of my arrest. Here the arresting officer claims that I was offering such a level of resistance that I had to be restrained by three police officers and handcuffed in the enhanced rear-stack position. Although I feel I was being more sarcastic then violent this is what happened. However the arresting officer then claimed that he left this unruly prisoner unattended while he went to search an outbuilding. On a work surface within that outbuilding the arresting officer claims he discovered a hammer with glass fragments on the head which he seized as evidence. The problems with this are that a police officer would never leave a prisoner - unruly or otherwise - unattended, there was no work surface in the outbuilding and the police failed to confirm the presence of glass fragments through forensic tests. Put simply the search and seizure were actually carried out by a police Sergeant and a police Inspector who were also at the scene and the arresting officer was simply lying in his statement. However rather then challenging the officer on cross-examination these issues were simply left for my testimony to contradict because the absence of the hammer spoke more loudly then my lawyer ever could.
Finally came the evidence of the OIC which is vital because his conduct effects all the other evidence in the case. His testimony was simply a reading on the transcript of the police interview the recording of which was part of the evidence the CPS had failed to disclose. Prior to the OIC's testimony the defence filed a motion to exclude the interview because my father had been used as an appropriate adult in clear violation of the 2012 update of Code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) 1984. However before this motion could be ruled on the OIC gave his testimony which involved him reading his part of the interview and the CPS lawyer reading my part of the interview which was fun because it led to the prosecution standing up in open Court and saying; "Well police officers lie." On cross-examination the defence merely got the OIC to confirm that he had made no attempt to contact an appropriate adult as described in PACE either whilst I was in custody or at any point whilst I was on bail and I had repeatedly objected to my father being used as an appropriate adult. This helped paint a picture of a police officer trying to get the evidence to fit a suspect rather then allowing the evidence to lead them to a suspect.
As soon as the OIC had finished giving his evidence the defence withdraw its motion to exclude because we suddenly realised that during the interview the OIC had quoted from the statement given by the independent witness that wasn't actually given until some 40 days after the interview had been terminated. That gave a lot of people the impression that the OIC had given the statement to the witness rather then the other way round as was being claimed.
Then after a short delay while we waited for the CPS lawyer to accept that the hammer could not be brought to Court in time the prosecution case rested.
Then in the style of episode 1 of series 2 of US TV Show "Scandal" the defence filed a pro-forma motion calling for the case to be dismissed due to a lack of evidence. After a short recess in which the defence lawyer warned me that these motions never work it worked. As a result I have been acquitted of the offence because the prosecution had not been able to present a strong enough case for me to have to answer. Quite why it has taken the best part of 7 months for that obvious conclusion to be reached is one of the matters I expected to be bringing up in another Court in the none too distant future.
Before I go and get drunk though I should point out that the old trick of the prosecution 'forgetting' to disclose evidence causing a case to collapse prior to witnesses giving evidence is often used in organised crime cases either to protect an informant or disrupt a group by making them think someone is an informant. However in this case I think the reasons where somewhat different. In fact although phone reception was terrible I do believe the UK Houses of Parliament - the very heart of government - came under threat the moment I walked into Court.
18:35 on 12/11/13.
Edited at around 20:30 on 12/11/13 to add;
Although all the evidence in the initial disclosure bundle is now a matter of public record so can be obtained from the national records office in the next 6-9 months before I publish them on the Internet I would like to redact certain identifying details. After all while I'm sure mine is an endorsement he could happily live without I genuinely feel that the police force is a better place for having the arresting officer on it. Unfortunately at this point I am now to drunk to write my own name let alone delete it from a series of documents. So, erm, f*ck you,
Operation Misery: Month 9, Week 2, Day 1.
Last night Rihanna performed in Dallas, Texas. As usual Rihanna's CIA handlers/Live Nation (the management) provided absolutely no official information about the concert and due to the fact the concert only ended some three hours ago unofficial is strictly limited.
However I can tell that Rihanna performed the standard set-list with standard costume changes and the standard stage set-up. Rihanna appeared on stage within a hour of the scheduled start of her performance which was late enough cause some excitement amongst the crowd but not late enough for that excitement to turn into anger. Obviously having not seen it I cannot personally comment on the strength of Rihanna's performance but I gather that it was energetic and more then competent.
During the time surrounding Rihanna's concert there were no highly illustrative shootings, fires, playing crashes or similar stunts from the US. However rather then reflecting that the US is now going to be behaving itself for the remaining three Diamonds World Tour concert this seems to be the US thinking that the gossip from the concert itself would be disruptive enough. Quite a few celebrities attended last night's concerts most noticeably Drake who Rihanna used to be romantically involved with. Rihanna is of course being supported on this tour by A$AP Rocky who she has been rumoured to be romantically involved in. Therefore the intention was to start the rumour that Rihanna is having sex with either Drake or A$AP Rocky as I sit here and type this.
Unfortunately though the reason why we know Drake attended the concert is that lots of fellow concert goers spotted him as he was in the audience rather then backstage. Also lots of people saw him partying at a nightclub after the concert without Rihanna meaning that it is extremely unlikely that he will be able to catch up with Rihanna's tour bus as it heads to Oklahoma. As for the rumours of A$AP Rocky I've never treated them with any degree of credibility. As such the small 4.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the Philippines shortly after the end of Rihanna's concert seems to be the earth itself mocking the US by making fun of the way we say the earth moves when people achieve orgasm.
All indications are that the US intends to press ahead regardless with its Rihanna plan. On Friday (15/11/13) they are going to release the video for the single "What Now." This is of course the video that caused Rihanna to go on her controversial diversion to Thailand during the South-East Asian leg of the tour. The release of the single is of course supposed to pose the question of "What now for Rihanna?" The fact the video is being released on the last day of the tour is just toe-curlingly awful but then subtly and deftness of touch have not been the hallmarks of this operation.
While I'm here I should also tidy up a little spat I had with Rihanna on Sunday (10/11/13) when she noticed I'd favourited on Twitter a blogpost comparing the Rihanna song "S.O.S" with the chemically-mediated tritrophic interactions of the Ascophyllum nodosum seaweed. I should point out that this was most probably written by an author trying to inject humour into an otherwise quite dull subject. However I thought it should be brought to Rihanna's attention in order to highlight exactly what I mean when I say "coded discussions." After all that article was quite vanilla by the usual standard.
09:35 on 12/11/13 (UK date).
However I can tell that Rihanna performed the standard set-list with standard costume changes and the standard stage set-up. Rihanna appeared on stage within a hour of the scheduled start of her performance which was late enough cause some excitement amongst the crowd but not late enough for that excitement to turn into anger. Obviously having not seen it I cannot personally comment on the strength of Rihanna's performance but I gather that it was energetic and more then competent.
During the time surrounding Rihanna's concert there were no highly illustrative shootings, fires, playing crashes or similar stunts from the US. However rather then reflecting that the US is now going to be behaving itself for the remaining three Diamonds World Tour concert this seems to be the US thinking that the gossip from the concert itself would be disruptive enough. Quite a few celebrities attended last night's concerts most noticeably Drake who Rihanna used to be romantically involved with. Rihanna is of course being supported on this tour by A$AP Rocky who she has been rumoured to be romantically involved in. Therefore the intention was to start the rumour that Rihanna is having sex with either Drake or A$AP Rocky as I sit here and type this.
Unfortunately though the reason why we know Drake attended the concert is that lots of fellow concert goers spotted him as he was in the audience rather then backstage. Also lots of people saw him partying at a nightclub after the concert without Rihanna meaning that it is extremely unlikely that he will be able to catch up with Rihanna's tour bus as it heads to Oklahoma. As for the rumours of A$AP Rocky I've never treated them with any degree of credibility. As such the small 4.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the Philippines shortly after the end of Rihanna's concert seems to be the earth itself mocking the US by making fun of the way we say the earth moves when people achieve orgasm.
All indications are that the US intends to press ahead regardless with its Rihanna plan. On Friday (15/11/13) they are going to release the video for the single "What Now." This is of course the video that caused Rihanna to go on her controversial diversion to Thailand during the South-East Asian leg of the tour. The release of the single is of course supposed to pose the question of "What now for Rihanna?" The fact the video is being released on the last day of the tour is just toe-curlingly awful but then subtly and deftness of touch have not been the hallmarks of this operation.
While I'm here I should also tidy up a little spat I had with Rihanna on Sunday (10/11/13) when she noticed I'd favourited on Twitter a blogpost comparing the Rihanna song "S.O.S" with the chemically-mediated tritrophic interactions of the Ascophyllum nodosum seaweed. I should point out that this was most probably written by an author trying to inject humour into an otherwise quite dull subject. However I thought it should be brought to Rihanna's attention in order to highlight exactly what I mean when I say "coded discussions." After all that article was quite vanilla by the usual standard.
09:35 on 12/11/13 (UK date).
Monday, 11 November 2013
There Must Be a Climate Summit On.
Because as has been the case in three of the past four years I find myself writing the sentence; "I'm going to be in Court tomorrow."
As I've been saying since this criminal damage allegation began back in May 2013 I'm not going to reveal my defence strategy by going into detail before the trial. However I think I am able to tell you about something important that has or rather hasn't happened. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have failed to disclose the evidence alluded to in the initial case file to my defence team. As a result we have not been able to examine this evidence meaning we cannot mount a proper defence meaning that a fair trial cannot take place.
As such legally the only thing the CPS can do tomorrow is request that the Court grants an adjournment until such a time as this evidence is released and can be examined by the defence. The Magistrate is under absolutely no obligation to grant this request and my defence will be vigorously opposing it and pushing for a full acquittal instead. After all this is entirely the CPS' fault and the continuation of the case and the associated bail conditions infringe on my liberty.
So at the risk of famous last words and although I've spent the day making preparation I fully expect to turn up to Court tomorrow only to be told by my attorney that the case has been dismissed and I can leave straight away. After all 'forgetting' to disclose evidence prior to trial is an old trick for making cases disappear without having to explain the real reason why the prosecution has failed. The only worry is that this type of trick is normally a bit above a local Magistrate's pay-grade.
23:10 on 11/11/13.
As I've been saying since this criminal damage allegation began back in May 2013 I'm not going to reveal my defence strategy by going into detail before the trial. However I think I am able to tell you about something important that has or rather hasn't happened. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have failed to disclose the evidence alluded to in the initial case file to my defence team. As a result we have not been able to examine this evidence meaning we cannot mount a proper defence meaning that a fair trial cannot take place.
As such legally the only thing the CPS can do tomorrow is request that the Court grants an adjournment until such a time as this evidence is released and can be examined by the defence. The Magistrate is under absolutely no obligation to grant this request and my defence will be vigorously opposing it and pushing for a full acquittal instead. After all this is entirely the CPS' fault and the continuation of the case and the associated bail conditions infringe on my liberty.
So at the risk of famous last words and although I've spent the day making preparation I fully expect to turn up to Court tomorrow only to be told by my attorney that the case has been dismissed and I can leave straight away. After all 'forgetting' to disclose evidence prior to trial is an old trick for making cases disappear without having to explain the real reason why the prosecution has failed. The only worry is that this type of trick is normally a bit above a local Magistrate's pay-grade.
23:10 on 11/11/13.
Sunday, 10 November 2013
Typhoon Haiyan: Day 3.
On Friday (8/11/13) the Philippines was struck by Typhoon Haiyan which is known locally as Yolanda. As I've said before if this typhoon had originated in the northern hemisphere it would have been classed as a category 7 hurricane. The system that classifies hurricanes only goes up to 5 so meteorologists are currently arguing whether Haiyan should be classified as a "Super-Typhoon" or a "Hyper-Typhoon." Whatever you call it though along with the 2005 Tsunami, the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2012 Japanese earthquake this has been one of those natural disasters that even has seasoned watchers sitting back and simply going "Wow!"
Reaching 50 miles (80km) wide and travelling some 400 miles (640km) across 6 central Filipino islands Typhoon Haiyan brought sustained winds of 195mph (312kmph) and gusts of 285mph (456kmh) along with a 45 foot (14 metre) storm surge that reached within 4 miles (6 km) of the coast. So significant was this flood of sea water that it was enough to drown people trapped in the second stories of buildings. Across Haiyan's 20,000 sq/mile (32,000sq/km) footprint devastation is reported to be at 70-80%. That means that 70-80% of all the homes, hospitals, schools, farmland, sanitation facilities (sewers, water wells etc), electricity pylons and telecommunication masts in the area have been destroyed leaving 10million people (1/8th of the total population) in need of emergency relief.
To their credit the Filipino government's preparation for Haiyan has been excellent. Prior to the typhoon making landfall they took the precaution of evacuating 1 million people out of its path and have made USD5.2 million available for the relief effort which in a country where the average yearly wage is USD1000 is a lot of money. However the sheer scale of the devastation has begun to overwhelm them. For example I think they only have 50 medium lift helicopters and 1 C130 plane available to cover a wide area that is inaccessible by road. Also much of the food aid they had stockpiled is in the form of dried rice and dried noodles. With the storm surge and to be blunt the rotting corpses of the dead contaminating the water supply much of this is going to be worse than useless. As a result as of 11:00 (GMT) today the Filipino government have only managed to bring relief aid to 500,000 people or 5% of those who need it.
This perceived failure by the government has left many of those affected feeling abandoned leading to a collapse of law and order with violence and looting breaking out. Therefore at this point the only solution I can see is for the Filipino government to declare martial law and channel all the relief and rescue efforts through the military with proper civilian oversight of course.
Be under no doubt that over the coming days and weeks I will be bending your ears, twisting your thumbs, arms and any other appendage that comes to hand in an effort to raise money in response to this disaster. However at the moment we are still at the point where we are trying to work out exactly what is needed, where exactly it is needed and how to get it there. So at the moment the main need of the Filipino government is for other governments, especially ones with a presence in the region, to provide it with as many helicopters and STOL aircraft as possible along with the crews needed to fly them.
When the time for fund raising comes in situations like this I cannot recommend the charity ShelterBox http://www.shelterbox.org/ highly enough although I will need to check their specific involvement in this disaster. What ShelterBox do is provide a plastic box. Exactly what this box contains varies on where it is being sent but it usually includes a tent, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, a basic toolkit and cooking utensils although it lacks basic high energy food. The contents of these boxes are all exactly the same and all boxes are exactly the same size. This means that you get fit x number of boxes onto a pallet and x number of pallets onto a plane/helicopter/truck. Therefore it is the quickest and most efficient way of making sure that everybody gets the basics of survival (1.water, 2.shelter, 3.food) as quickly as possible.
Beyond that it is also always a good idea to donate money to the United Nations World Food Program https://www.wfp.org/donate/typhoon-philippines-a
For those of you though who have friends or relatives in the Philippines or are lucky enough to be one of my celebrity readers I've noticed that the Filipino government has designated the Land Bank of the Philippines, Batasan Branch, Quezon City, Account number (3124-0055-81) as their official clearing account for foreign donations. So you can simply walk into your bank and transfer money directly to the very trustworthy Filipino government which will help cut out most of the political b*llshit and inter-charity turf-wars that normally accompany this type of disaster.
20:25 on 10/11/13 (UK date.)
Reaching 50 miles (80km) wide and travelling some 400 miles (640km) across 6 central Filipino islands Typhoon Haiyan brought sustained winds of 195mph (312kmph) and gusts of 285mph (456kmh) along with a 45 foot (14 metre) storm surge that reached within 4 miles (6 km) of the coast. So significant was this flood of sea water that it was enough to drown people trapped in the second stories of buildings. Across Haiyan's 20,000 sq/mile (32,000sq/km) footprint devastation is reported to be at 70-80%. That means that 70-80% of all the homes, hospitals, schools, farmland, sanitation facilities (sewers, water wells etc), electricity pylons and telecommunication masts in the area have been destroyed leaving 10million people (1/8th of the total population) in need of emergency relief.
To their credit the Filipino government's preparation for Haiyan has been excellent. Prior to the typhoon making landfall they took the precaution of evacuating 1 million people out of its path and have made USD5.2 million available for the relief effort which in a country where the average yearly wage is USD1000 is a lot of money. However the sheer scale of the devastation has begun to overwhelm them. For example I think they only have 50 medium lift helicopters and 1 C130 plane available to cover a wide area that is inaccessible by road. Also much of the food aid they had stockpiled is in the form of dried rice and dried noodles. With the storm surge and to be blunt the rotting corpses of the dead contaminating the water supply much of this is going to be worse than useless. As a result as of 11:00 (GMT) today the Filipino government have only managed to bring relief aid to 500,000 people or 5% of those who need it.
This perceived failure by the government has left many of those affected feeling abandoned leading to a collapse of law and order with violence and looting breaking out. Therefore at this point the only solution I can see is for the Filipino government to declare martial law and channel all the relief and rescue efforts through the military with proper civilian oversight of course.
Be under no doubt that over the coming days and weeks I will be bending your ears, twisting your thumbs, arms and any other appendage that comes to hand in an effort to raise money in response to this disaster. However at the moment we are still at the point where we are trying to work out exactly what is needed, where exactly it is needed and how to get it there. So at the moment the main need of the Filipino government is for other governments, especially ones with a presence in the region, to provide it with as many helicopters and STOL aircraft as possible along with the crews needed to fly them.
When the time for fund raising comes in situations like this I cannot recommend the charity ShelterBox http://www.shelterbox.org/ highly enough although I will need to check their specific involvement in this disaster. What ShelterBox do is provide a plastic box. Exactly what this box contains varies on where it is being sent but it usually includes a tent, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, a basic toolkit and cooking utensils although it lacks basic high energy food. The contents of these boxes are all exactly the same and all boxes are exactly the same size. This means that you get fit x number of boxes onto a pallet and x number of pallets onto a plane/helicopter/truck. Therefore it is the quickest and most efficient way of making sure that everybody gets the basics of survival (1.water, 2.shelter, 3.food) as quickly as possible.
Beyond that it is also always a good idea to donate money to the United Nations World Food Program https://www.wfp.org/donate/typhoon-philippines-a
For those of you though who have friends or relatives in the Philippines or are lucky enough to be one of my celebrity readers I've noticed that the Filipino government has designated the Land Bank of the Philippines, Batasan Branch, Quezon City, Account number (3124-0055-81) as their official clearing account for foreign donations. So you can simply walk into your bank and transfer money directly to the very trustworthy Filipino government which will help cut out most of the political b*llshit and inter-charity turf-wars that normally accompany this type of disaster.
20:25 on 10/11/13 (UK date.)
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