Julian Assange Granted Bail.

After neither Britain nor Sweden could decide who was opposing it Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange was today freed on Magistrates bail after the Appeal Court in London ruled that in order to oppose bail someone actually has to oppose it. Mr Assange will be freed from Wandsworth prison just as soon as his supporters can deliver £200,000 in cash to the court and a promise of a further £40,000 is made. Those providing the money will have to registar with the police and this has scared off some of his supporters. At this point may I suggest that Mr Assange appoints a criminal lawyer to deal with this sexual offences case because his current media lawyer is relying on the BBC to explain to him the difference between a surity and a security.

Also there is an aspect to the case that I've either forgotten to mention before or didn't make clear when I did. At some point between the Wikileaks release of the Iraq war Logs and the Afghanistan war logs some of the worlds more totalitarian regimes took the USA's failure to prosecute Mr Assange and Wikileaks as a sign that the American's were running the whole operation as a way to bury foreign governments under a mountain of paper. So Britain and Sweden got together and dreamt up these rape charges as a way of taking revenge on the Americans. So what is being widely viewed as an American attack on Wikileaks is actually Wikileaks being used as a political football in a European attack on America. Of course the real reason why the Americans haven't prosecuted Assange or Wikileaks is because they can't. The first amendment to the US constitution guarantees the right to free speech and a 19th century Supreme Court precedent which I can't remember extends that right to the media. So while it is illegal to steal classified documents if someone steals those documents and passes them on to the media it is not illegal for the media to publish them. Personally I see an argument about net neutrality in there somewhere but I wouldn't worry too much. After all it wouldn't be the first time a European monarchy has been thwarted by the US constitution.

In other legal news I today received another request for that £500 hearing fee from the Court of Protection which makes me want to go out an kidnap a badger. I also opened last weeks letter from the Notting Hill Housing Group. Basically it just denies any knowledge, refuses to give me any information and urges me to call them most urgently. In short it is what I knew it would be before I'd even opened the envelope - a desperate attempt to have themselves included in the COP process. It's now too close to Christmas to take any action so I'll have a think about it and deal with it in the New Year.