My day in the cells
Yesterday, I was arrested outside Fortnum & Mason after the UK Uncut protest on suspicion of Aggrevated Trespass and Criminal Damage. Below is a summary of my experiences of the arrest and of being held. But before I write it, I want to be clear – I am not asking for sympathy and I am not the victim here. A day and night in a police cell is nothing to the impact of these cuts.
—
When we were inside Fortnum & Mason, the police made it clear to us: if we left, we would not be arrested. At 6pm or so, we left, together. The police kettled us outside the shop. I was towards the back, and so could not see exactly what was going on, though I could see in front of me people who had left about an hour earlier, having been let out by the police.
It then became clear that they were, one after another, leading people away to be arrested. So, we shared notes on what this was likely to involve, and sang songs to keep people cheery.
Eventually, it was my turn. I was placed in handcuffs, asked on camera for some basic details, then led down a side street by my arresting officers – one of whom later turned out to be a part time officer, full time German language student. I was told why I had been arrested (suspicion of trespass and criminal damage) and was asked a few basic questions & told we were in for a long night as they struggled to find enough places in stations to fit us all. Others who’d been arrested were in front and behind, and so we shared friendly banter in the street while we waited to be led away.
After about 30 minutes or so I was placed in between my two officers in the back of a people carrier, with another arrestee in between their officers in the row in front. I imposed friendly banter on the police as they drove us around London for the next two hours, and, to be fair, most of them responded in kind. I even had a good chat with one of the officers, who reckoned that most in the police force basically agreed with our points, though he didn’t quite accept my arguments about the multiplier effect. Otherwise, he played “Tap Zoo” on his phone, and listed various PCSOs who he and his colleagues thought were bad at their jobs.
Once at Ilford police station, they led us into a room called “the cage” where we met a handful of others who had also been arrested outside Fortnum & Mason’s. I waited there for an hour or two as the others were led off ahead of me to be processed. Again, I maintained friendly banter with the officers, who were by this point, pretty exhausted. Once the others were gone, though, an older policeman told me that being arrested “isn’t fun” (I do realise). “You ever planning on going to America?” “Want to get a job?” (er, I’ve got one I like, thanks) “well, if you want to go down this path…” He clearly didn’t appreciate the chat.
Then, my turn. The Sergeant at the station asked various questions – my home address, my date of birth, where I was born, whether I had a history of mental health problems, etc, etc, etc. They also told me I had a right to a phonecall (though they never offered it to me). They took photos, and all of my stuff, and sent me to a cell to change out of my clothes and into a set of plastic overalls. They then led me to have my fingerprints and palmprints taken, and returned me to my cell with a tray of lasagne.
Throughout the night, we heard the various noises you’d expect in police cells on a Saturday – a guy shouting for hours from down the corridor: “If you fucking hate me so much, why don’t you just fucking kill me”; “why don’t you just put a bullet between my eyes” etc. He was later taken to have a shower and wash “the skidmarks” from his boxers.
Hours later, once the sunlight pushed through the bottle-glass – 2 inch panes held in concrete – someone eventually pulled up the small flap on my door and asked if I wanted breakfast: “yes please”.
I spent most of the morning drifting between sleep and boredom and hunger and the gentle headache of a caffeine addict. My breakfast and coffee never arrived. The duty sergeant had allowed me to take, for entertainment, a 1×2 inch copy of ‘my rights in the EU’ that I keep in my wallet. I read this. Twice. I pranced around my cell. I even did sit ups and press ups for the first time in a decade.
Then, eventually, an inspector arrived to interview me. I asked him the time: 2:30. “Can I have some food please,” “What, you’ve not had anything all day?”. He told me that he had been travelling all round London, and had to secure a decision about what would happen to us but hoped to get me out of there as fast as he could – apart from anything else, so he could finish his shift. My food arrived about half an hour later, along with a coffee. The cup was amusingly emblazoned with “Kenco” – never miss a chance to advertise.
Around 4.30pm, the inspector came and took me out of my cell to be charged. In the middle, the solicitors I had requested rang, and reminded me not to give any comment. I was charged with aggravated trespass, criminal damage charges had been dropped. Our date in court is in early May, and until then, I’ve been banned from the City of Westminster.
A few of the bits of stuff I had arrived with were returned to me – my wallet and some food. But, as they had indicated the previous night, not my phone, not my clothes or shoes. These are likely to be kept for months, I’m told. I was given a pair of plimsolls, and released into the public reception of the police station, where someone else arrested outside Fortnum & Mason’s waited. We took it in turns to ring legal monitors and our families, and to buy food for each other as the other 4 who had been taken to our station dripped out in their plastic jump suits. Once the six of us were out, we set off together, to start our journies home, sharing stories and complaining about our lost phones and our lost clothes and our lost day.
I got back to the house of the friends I’m staying with a couple of hours ago, warmed by supportive messages from Twitterers and friends. It seems that everyone arrested alongside me has been released, and been given the same charge – I do hope everyone is OK.
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You can certainly see your enthusiasm in the article you write.
The sector hopes for more passionate writers like you
who aren’t afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart.
I would like to it put on record that I am not a rapist or a kiddy fiddler….actually I am something even worse!!!!
Sorry to hear of your mistreatment. By the way The posts on 28 March at 5.03 and 7.37 purporting to be from “Ron Broxted” and “Ciaran Rehill” are in fact from DEREK GORDON HASLAM, a BNP supporter who was questioned on child porn possession.
“Fame at last Adam!”
That’s incredibly shallow of you comrade – I think you need to attend a few more ideology ‘workshops’ to receive further re-education.
And your name sounds a bit waaythitht, maybe you should change it to something a bit more ‘ethnic’ to show solidarity with minorities around the world who are less fortunate than youposh kids – which, lets face it, is pretty everyone…
Solidarity ! Tally Ho !
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/03/george-osborne-oxbridge-david-mitchell
Fame at last Adam!
Ok Ya.
Whilst engaging in a peaceful demonstration at a posh store in a posh part of London at the weekend I noticed I had misplaced my IPod, my mobile cell phone, my expensive gold anklet (the one I received from Prince Charles as a gift when he attended an open day at the small Bamff Castle) and my Jimmy Choo shoes.
If anyone has them can they leave them behind the uni student bar?
Thank You very much indeed!
Flic Shagwell Bragshaw-Wankshaft
(Student of megaphone Diplomacy)
A special request for Adam Ramsay has just come in,
“Cry me a river….”
I was arrested at the weekend for nothing more than jumping around like a floppy appendage at a in a posh store in a posh part of London. How dare the tax payers of the UK fund my arrest!
I don’t want to make this issue all about me of course, I don’t want sympathy and I don’t want this to take away from our aim which was….eh…ok, I’ll get back to you on the aims of the day later!
I mean it look at this :-
(1.) Earlier that day I shat my pants cos there were no sufficient numbers of portaloos dotted inside the kettling area. I reckon there should be around 3 to 4 portaloos per person.
(2.) When I did get arrested I wasn’t called by my proper title which is Little Lord Fontleroy.
(3.) The cell I was put in never had any home comforts, a teddy bear, a poster of Che Guevara for example.
(4.) The food was shite. I’m used to braised steak, oysters and the like. all I got was a damn lasagne.
(5.) I never got my coffee in the morning. I mean really!
(6.) My solicitor told me to say nothing, not to write anything on the internet about it but I will anyway.
I’m not looking for sympathy though!
@Matt Sellwood
March 30th, 2011 @ 6:53 pm
.I’d recommend that the people who’ve been posting the utter utter shite on this thread *may* want to reread the comments from the beginning and reflect on just how ridiculous they look.
Ditto young Squire Sellwood, take a look in the mirror. Another bumsy chumsy of Squire Ramsay?
You think they are “utter utter shite” because you don’t agree with them.
Must say though, it’s refreshing to read posts without them being taken down as was the norm yesterday.
Not a good idea to take down posts which you don’t agree with while claiming to be occupying shops on behalf of the tax payers of Britain.
@Alex
March 30th, 2011 @ 4:49 pm
Wankshaft,
‘Firstly, I’m not really sure that it is relevant to compare someones home to a shop. However, if even though I would no doubt find your presence in home unpleasant for any amount of time. If you did legally enter my home at 4pm and then leave at 6pm, didn’t stop me from going about my business and I didn’t ask you to leave and nor did the police and thus you left without breaking the law. I would certainly support your right not to be arrested, as you would not have committed a crime. That is what it means to believe in the rule of law, that it is applied equally to everyone. No matter their background or political views.’
Hi Alex, sorry couldn’t reply sooner, I spent the afternoon discussing Billy Bragg quotes in the student uni bar. Cheap drink, so stayed longer than I really should have.
Ok, let’s make this easier for you. Let’s be hypothetical here just for a second or two…
The occupants of Bamff Castle (the Ramsays) are go about their daily business, taking bookings for their holiday cottages, welcoming the people paying £800 a night to stay there.
Out the blue, a large group of people make their way into the front room of this small castle, stand about or sit down for a number of hours chanting childish chants and jumping around like lunatics.
Do the occupants of Bamff castle welcome you with open arms or do they call the police to have you removed?
No semantics with words and no brushing things under the carpet about the differences between houses and shops…Just give me an answer please.
What a shit society we live in!
You haven’t been found guilty of any crime as you had not reached court. Amongst the shady evidence and lack of chance of a successful prosecution – I don’t see how (if life was fair…) they have the power to ban you from the area.
You have every right to go back there and protest if needs be. You should have an injunction banning you from being within 100m from F&M for the meanwhile to prevent a silly loophole, however, you should be able to enter the City of Westminster.
Sorry, should read “Faux principles”
Naive beyond belief: Matt Selwood
A safe labour/tory/green/lib dem, party not really relevant, political ambition always over-rides principles.
I’d recommend that the people who’ve been posting the utter utter shite on this thread *may* want to reread the comments from the beginning and reflect on just how ridiculous they look.
However, thank you for this:
“a safe labour seat is where his ambitions lie”
Made me laugh, a lot. Cos if it is true, Adam’s doing a REALLY bad job. 🙂
Matt
Wankshaft,
Firstly, I’m not really sure that it is relevant to compare someones home to a shop. However, if even though I would no doubt find your presence in home unpleasant for any amount of time. If you did legally enter my home at 4pm and then leave at 6pm, didn’t stop me from going about my business and I didn’t ask you to leave and nor did the police and thus you left without breaking the law. I would certainly support your right not to be arrested, as you would not have committed a crime. That is what it means to believe in the rule of law, that it is applied equally to everyone. No matter their background or political views.
Do you really believe Adam gives a fig for the working/benefit/student classes, get a grip, a safe labour seat is where his ambitions lie, you are merely a stepping stone to his political ambition, by the way, why were you not on the streets protesting when new labour were selling our children and grandchildren into fiscal slavery???
Alex:”The big deal is that nobody, no matter their background, should be arrested for taking part in a peaceful and noncriminal protest.”
Where do you live? Are you one of the protesters who show your individuality protesting in posh stores in posh parts of London?
Can I come round to your place and occupy it peacefully for a few hours. I promise I’ll not bring the excrement as there seems to be pure watery amount flowing from your mouth.
Your not studying politics are you?
I think it’s time for a new approach to occupying posh stores…actually
Can I express a suggestion?
Before we enter the posh stores why don’t we smear ourselves in excrement? We can all bring jars of our own excrement and help each other to smear it on in social solidarity. If students prefer to smear themselves in their own excrement then that’s of course that’s their individual choice…actually.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m totally loving that we posh uni students are very eager to express our own “individuality” by all wearing the same kind of clothes. You know, like huge hats, bright yellow dungarees and t-shirts with geeky slogans on them but it simply isn’t working when we occupy these posh stores..actually.
We all know we are very opinionated and we love to talk loudly and ignorantly about various subjects without firstly making our own minds up but it’s better to be ignorant of the facts when we do get arrested…actually.
So who’s in favour of smearing ourselves in excrement before our next peaceful occupation of a posh store in a posh part of London?
It’ll all be a peaceful, fun packed day and will express our “individuality” to be covered in excrement…actually!
Viva la Revolution!
Student Grant Wankshaft, PHD, MSB, FCK
(Director of Mega Phone participation, Wankbridge University)
Rebellious Uni Student Rules,
“In the end he’s still here isn’t he? I bet his family are glad he’s still here, aren’t they?
What’s the big deal?”
Ok so you’re arguing that unless you’re killed by the police for partaking in a peaceful and noncriminal protest you have no right to complain about your treatment by the police?
If you actually believe this, then I am truly worried for this country.
The big deal is that nobody, no matter their background, should be arrested for taking part in a peaceful and noncriminal protest. If you disagree with the idea that to be arrested you should have committed a criminal act, then please just say so, as otherwise I can’t understand your reasoning and we’ll be here all day.
Alex, can I join your Adam Ramsay fan club?
Gilbert was my best chum but I think you are the massa!
Can we get together sometime and swap some revolutionary & evolutionary stories round a blazing fire while strumming guitars?
@Alex
March 30th, 2011 @ 2:48 pm
‘Rebellious Uni Student Rules,Are you really arguing that unless you live under a violent dictatorship it is immoral to question the criminal system in your own country?’
No what I am really arguing is that in his blog he’s clearly moaning about not getting a cup of coffee in the morning, and your moaning about him not eating anything for 20 hours.
In the end he’s still here isn’t he? I bet his family are glad he’s still here, aren’t they?
What’s the big deal?
“But before I write it, I want to be clear – I am not asking for sympathy and I am not the victim here. A day and night in a police cell is nothing to the impact of these cuts.”
“My breakfast and coffee never arrived.”
“The cup was amusingly emblazoned with “Kenco” – never miss a chance to advertise”
Enough said.
Rebellious Uni Student Rules,
Are you really arguing that unless you live under a violent dictatorship it is immoral to question the criminal system in your own country?
Could we not apply the same reasoning to every domestic issue. This seems a very strange and dangerous path of reasoning to follow.
El Rationale,
I’m not sure that you understood the blog if as you say you thought it was about “not being given coffee and croissants and not being put into a luxury 5 star hotel with fine Egyptian linen after he was arrested.”
My understanding of the article is that it was highlighting the treatment that peaceful and lawful (according to the senior police officer inside) protesters receive at the hands of the police.
I can’t find a reference to croissants but only to the fact that Adam was arrested at 7pm and didn’t receive any food until 3pm the next day. How often do you go without food for 20 hours? I don’t think this is unreasonable thing to point out as being harsh and unusual.
Perhaps if you reread the blog, taking the time to understand it, instead of making assumptions based on someone’s background you may find that your anger might relent.
You Oxford Uni students make me laugh.
I’m off to by some acne cream then spend an afternoon in the student bar, I’ll join your posh shop revolution shortly!
Unite! Unite the beards!
@Alex
‘Rebellious Uni Student Rules OK, are you seriously suggesting that the best way to protest tax avoidance in the UK is go and protest in Syria’
No what I am suggesting is that Young Squire Ramsay is self-gratifyingly moaning about spending a night in a police cell and complaining about not getting coffee on a silver tray the following morning in the UK when protesters are being shot and killed in Syria.
Do keep up young chap!
Gilbert
March 30th, 2011 @ 9:05 am
I wasn’t in the protest. I’m just sticking up for my brother.”
You weren’t at the protest? You lecture us all about solidarity with your posh brother then inform us you weren’t even there? How very dare you! hahahaha
What were you doing on the day of the protest?
Were you taking the bookings for the £800 a night holiday cottage in the 1300 acre estate in which this “small castle” sits with a glint in your eye?
Gilbert: “Oh look mumsy, we’ve made a packet from posh people this week…but why aren’t the working class people we pretend to stick up for not staying in our holiday cottages?”
Mumsy: “Oh do be rationale young Gilbert, while your brother’s single handedly standing up for the working class by peacefully occupying a posh store in London we are back here in Perthshire in our small castle making sure that the working class riff-raff can’t afford to spend the weekend at our holiday homes! Working class people don’t shoot grouse or partake in eating wild boar sausages, don’t be so thick!”
Alex
March 30th, 2011 @ 9:07 am
“Try and think through what your going to write before you do so and perhaps consider reading this wikipedia page on logic”
Perhaps you should have given this friendly advice to mumsy’s boy Sir Adam Small Castle before he wrote his sensationalist blog about not being given coffee and croissants and not being put into a luxury 5 star hotel with fine Egyptian linen after he was arrested.
Reading all the wanky comments on this blog from various smug posh kids and Adam’s chums put me in mind of this, darlings…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_Grant
You have to say that the guys at Viz have got you nailed comrtades.
Solidarity. Tally Ho !
What you engaged in is non-violent direct action without vandalism – nothing more than a sit-down protest in a department store. Your purpose in doing so was fully justified: to protest at tax avoidance by major retailers in the UK at a time when sadistic spending cuts are being inflicted on the services required by ordinary working people.
You were arrested and detained for hours for entirely political reasons. It is vital that you and others are not intimidated by the experience. The next such demonstration needs to be bigger.
It seemed before 26 March that to have an UNCUT action coinciding with the other protests was a good idea. What happened, unfortunately, was that it gave an opportunity to the police and authorities to associate you in their propaganda with the anarchist circus going on outside.
One final point is to avoid talking to the police unnecessarily. The purpose of your actions is not to convince them of anything. Once arrested just be as silent as possible, but otherwise cooperative.
You toytown trots make me heave. Get a proper job and start earning your own cash instead of expecting everyone else to give you a free ride. Your gravy train is being derailed. The sooner you lot realise that, the sooner you can stop acting like idiots. Labour bankrupted this country by over spending since 2002. Now the countries broke, it’s time to pay it back. Since your part of the problem you obviosly have no solution so why not STFU.
Champagne Socialist Hypocrites.
David Cameron wrote:
“Just to be clear, as I know that Daily Mail readers have famously low IQ scores (i.e. they attempt to buy newspapers but keep leaving the shop with a piece of dog shit, this comment is ironic.”
LOL! You have a point there, Dave. Even the people that comment on the Sun website are noticably brighter than the those who spill their bile on the Daily Mail! Have you seen the shit “stories” the Mail covers??? ROTFL!!!!
Rebellious Uni Student Rules OK, are you seriously suggesting that the best way to protest tax avoidance in the UK is go and protest in Syria. I feel a great deal of solidarity with the people of Syria and I’m sure the issues are linked through the web of capitalist oppression. But I can’t really see a grain of logic in your reasoning that if Adam disagrees with tax avoidance by UK corporations he should go and protest in Syria!
Furthermore, I find it shocking that you seem to be under a misguided illusion that you are somehow making intelligent comments. I suggest you stop reading the Daily Mail, it is clearly messing with your sense of reality. Try and think through what your going to write before you do so and perhaps consider reading this wikipedia page on logic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic
I wasn’t in the protest. I’m just sticking up for my brother. I appreciate your lecture on Middle Eastern politics, however.
Gilbert
March 29th, 2011 @ 6:59 pm
“You have a total right to that anger. People are literally dying in this country because of fuel poverty”
And many are dying in Libya and Syria doing what you are doing, protesting. Your brother got arrested and wants sympathy. Big deal.
So stop being so far up your own arses that you have to occupy posh shops on London to try and get your points across.
Head to Syria if you want to do some serious protesting. No, you and your brother would rather come joint 1st for cock of the year thinking you’r the bees knees for occupying a posh shop for an hour or so.
El Kapitan
March 29th, 2011 @ 6:45 pm
“Succinctly-put, indeed!
We pay THEIR wages, they should listen to us.”
Ooohhhh. Yeah, cos if they don’t listen to us rebellious uni students we’ll occupy another posh shop, then another, then another.
If you “pay their wages” then have a go at them, occupy government buildings not fkn posh shops. Pretend anarchists.
I agree with all the comments about Adam Ramsay’s family. Who the hell do these people think they are? Running a huge estate in rural Scotland, providing affordable housing and employment for people with rural backgrounds, supporting the local economy by installing heating systems in their property, renting out land to local farmers to graze their organic sheep and cattle on. They should do the decent thing and sell off their land to property developers to build lovely overpriced pseudo mansions or golf courses so that the hard working townies who really deserve to live in the country and commute to the towns in their 4×4’s can benefit from this rural idyll. Get those shirking country bumpkins into the sink estates with the junkies where they all belong.
Adam, after reading some of these comments, I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re right. It is totally disgusting and an outrage to your background! How dare you be a decent human being; who’s so moved by the plight of others that you’d risk arrest, to fight in solidarity with people from a different social background to yours. What right do you have not to be determined by your social background. And how dare you spend your time campaigning for a more just society, instead of hunting foxs. You’ve let me and more importantly you’ve let the foxs down!
Just like Tony Benn, Fredrick Engels and Joe Strummer, you don’t seem to get it? You don’t have the right to any independent political thought, than that which is instilled in you by your class background. Let alone, the right to take any kind of political action which doesn’t benefit the aristocracy. You should be supporting your fellow aristocrats, who cares about working people, you should be joining me and Gideon, slash and burn is so much more fun (and profitable too), than even, hunting the fox. Why betray your class by supporting the working class? Please stop being such a decent and selfless person.
Just to be clear, as I know that Daily Mail readers have famously low IQ scores (i.e. they attempt to buy newspapers but keep leaving the shop with a piece of dog shit, this comment is ironic.
You immature little student wannabe hell-raisers are miffed because you voted for the leftie Clegg and he promptly shat on you. Well get used to it. That’s politics, kiddies. That’s your first lesson in voting for politicians. They promise you the world – then shit on you. You’re not alone. We tories have the same feeling about Cammeron. Not me personally, because I always knew he was a lying bastard who would betray tory core values, but a lot of folks did vote for the cunt – only to feel shat on just like you do now too, by that other phony, Clegg.
In another 20 years or so, when you’re all grown up and your brains are fully formed, you will realise just how pointless your “class struggle” was. You’ll just neck back the champagne you were born to neck back and moan about taxation like the rest of us who have already grown up and consigned politicians to the dumpsters where they belong, along with their worthless promises. Here endeth the lesson. Bye, kiddies.
erm, @man in the street, since you ask, if you are in Scotland, here’s where you can get your grant:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/03/19104742
As it happens, I am not particularly in favour of prioritising these schemes, as they benefit home owners more than people who rent. But they are accessible to all homeowners (in Scotland). I don’t know how it works in England.
And do you really have to go around being such a dick?
When Iain Macwhirter wrote about Adam, he said that his “shambolic appearance disguises one of the sharpest political brains I have come across”.
Which probably means that while you lot are here bitching and moaning about his castle and his Mumsy, Adam is back doing what he does best – campaigning, organising and motivating hundreds of other young people.
Well done for speaking out Adam, and for everything you’re doing, I’m so proud of you. You’re a bit like a lefty Boris Johnson – distracting everyone with your hair and your bad jokes while secretly plotting big things 😉
man on the street. You have a total right to that anger. People are literally dying in this country because of fuel poverty. People are spending their hard earned cash on soaring heating bills because they can’t afford to insulate. My brother – whose role in the running of this castle begins and ends with having grown up there – has spent a lot of his time campaigning on these very issues: for free insulation, against fuel poverty. I don’t mind you calling me twat (though you might want to spare a thought for bigger twats like Fred Goodwin or Fabricio Toure). But you fucking lay off my brother. He’s on your side. It’s not his fault he comes from where he comes from. It’s like Ian Brown said: it’s not where you come from. It’s where you’re at.
Anthony – “To the short sighted people having a dig at you here . . grow up and stop being so blind to the spoon fed crap the government feeds you . Protests like these can and will change the world . I’ve paid taxes all my life and feel like the UK gov are taking the Piss .”
Succinctly-put, indeed!
We pay THEIR wages, they should listen to us.
FUCK the Alternative Vote, why aren’t we voting on legislation to make MANIFESTO PROMISES LEGALLY BINDING??
Because lying is legal until it isn’t, rather than the other way round, which might help society. Of course, at the expense of skilled liars (politicians and the like).
£40,000 is a hell of a lot of loft insulation for pensioners homes, many of whom died in the very cold winter we’ve just had. Lives saved, emissions down, everyone’s a winner.
Why the fuck are ‘you’ getting £40,000 for one boiler? Really? How the fuck does that work?
Hey Gilbert
where’s my £40,000 to make my house part of the green revolution then?
you see, you’re class get that kind of cash, I don’t.
you utter, utter twat.
Squire Tucker…
Do you hang out at the vegan café next to my work? OH **MY** GOD!!! I totally know who you are!!
For everyone else’s benefit, there’s this guy there who I always argue with about the importance of consensus decision making in horizontal communal structures, you know how it goes – he’s kind of cool and we actually went out once but it didn’t go too well. Anyway, he is the only person I ever met to say bumsy chumsy and old bean, and he totally loved to write crap all over random people’s blogs. SUCH a coincidence!!!
Hello, ‘man in the street’. Seeing as Adam doesn’t actually own a castle, but just happened to grow up in one, (well a ‘little castle’ as the Daily Mail puts it, but fair enough), the ‘cunts’ here would actually be Adam’s (and my) Mum and Dad. As far as I know they weren’t actually involved in any occupation, but thanks anyway. The boiler in question is a fairly experimental new technology (certainly very new in the UK) which uses locally sourced sustainable woodchip to heat three flats (OK, one of them a holiday flat, I admit), plus the bit of the ‘castle’ which our folks live in. One reason for funding new micro-renewable tech like this is to help kick start Britain’s green economy. I appreciate the underlying bitterness here, though. Britain’s rural economy is pretty heavily subsidised by hard pressed urban tax payers like (I presume) yourself. But isn’t that a reason to invest more in potentially self-sustaining rural business (like biomass) rather than in loss-leading and often rather rather destructive forms of farming that most that currently receive the lion’s share of such subsidies?
Adam Ramsay
March 29th, 2011 @ 3:09 am
“To those who post anonymous attacks – thanks. We’ve not chosen a dick of the week yet, but I can assure you that, come Friday, we will enjoy mocking you relentlessly – so thanks for the entertainment.”
Your soooooo welcome old bean! It’s been ever so fun! Uni humour is the best, no it really is…it’s THE best!
Now old bean onto “Dick of the Week”, will you be looking in the mirror as you choose?
Toodle Pip ol’ bumsy chumsy!
Adam’s bumsychumsy (Ric Lander)
March 29th, 2011 @ 2:25 pm
“so let’s get on with some real debate.”
As long as Adam keeps selecting which posts stay and which posts go there can be no debate. Is that how your debate works? Do all the talking and delete everything else?
t
March 29th, 2011 @ 3:04 pm
“In the cell the food I was given was absolutely awful.”
Oh poor you, my heart bleeds for you! Next time bring some wild boar sausages along!
“But before I write it, I want to be clear – I am not asking for sympathy and I am not the victim here.”
There fixed it…
“But before I write it, I want to be clear – I am asking for sympathy and I am the victim here. I am craving attention so please sympathise with how ghastly my night in a cell was”
Roughly the same story here.
I was towards the back of the queue too.
In the cell the food I was given was absolutely awful.
My phone was ceised, which is very annoying as I use it quite a lot for work.
I was released around 9:15pm on Sunday.
They kept my clothes, so I had to take the tube back home in what looked like pyjamas… A bit humiliating…
The policemen who arrested me were not very friendly, but the ones at the police station were quite nice. Were they sympathetic to our cause ?…
Solidarity!
I love Gilbert. And Adam. And in-fact all the Ramsays. I am posting because I agree with this action, and because I am his friend.
Let’s talk about the issues. If you are posting in response to this article because you are under the impression that the action described is reprehensible, let’s talk about that.
1. Criminal actions were not committed. Trespass is not a criminal act and there appears to be no evidence for further actions – i.e. damage caused to the building or contents, fear and alarm caused to staff or shoppers, intimidation etc. If you can provide such evidence let’s see it – that actually matters!
2. Legal protest is an important part of a functioning democratic society. You should not be dissuaded from expressing a view – vocally or with your body – just because the elected political party doesn’t agree with it – quite the opposite. Indeed this is exactly how issues are raised and discussed in our society. If you feel otherwise, say so – that is actually interesting!
Talking about everyone’s background and stuff is getting very boring, so let’s move on. The cuts, and how people oppose them, is the actual thing here – that is interesting – so let’s get on with some real debate.
🙂
Sorry, I forgot to say….
Solidarity.
That seems to be how you posh kis greet each other these days. Its sooo excitiong isn’t it, playing at being Revolutionaries….
Coward.
Comrades,
Is Adam Ramsay going to be protesting at the Royal wedding ?
Or is he on the guest list ?
Dear “Adam’s Mumsy”,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA !!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, Jesus…. you could *not* make this shit up….
So, what’s ridiculous in what I said? Produce an argument. Reveal your basis. Emerge from your cowardly glibness. Bring it on. I think you won’t say anything real, because you can’t. You know the moment you reveal the colors of your flag is the moment before I destroy you.
Christ, people are dicks!
Solidarity, Adam — well done!
YAH! Lets tax the rich.
Solidarity!!!!!
Give me your castle. You stole your wealth and lands off the people while they were sent to war and died. Have you no shame!
Anarchy! Get rid of Government. Starve the useless eaters.
Marxism! Get rid of private ownership and if the prole won’t work, give them a “friendly gas”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0fHMljbvLE
etc. etc.
How immature and daft are the people insulting Adam for his family?? He can’t help who his parents are – funnily enough, none of us can. Instead of grasping onto his heritage as a means of ridicule, I think he should be praised for siding with the “underdogs” and the less fortunate DESPITE his family wealth. I’m sure he could sit at home in his castle and not feel any of the discomfort of the coming years that many people will feel cause of the cuts. But instead he is out there trying his hardest to bring the issues to the attention of the nation, trying to stop these cuts that will affect much of the population. Sneer all you want about his “posh” heritage, but I think you’re contradicting yourselves when you make such a big deal about it. To me, finding out about it has only made Adam a better person in my eyes, because doesn’t act like a posh, privileged, “Mummy’s boy” at all. So please, take your idiotic insults elsewhere, because they don’t hold any water here.
“A White person who marches for Black rights is not a hypocrite. A straight person who marches for gay rights is not a hypocrite. A rich person who marches for the rights of the poor is not a hypocrite. In fact, those people are, like Adam Ramsay, heroes.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA !!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, Jesus…. you could *not* make this shit up….
When all else fails, use censorship.
You twat.
I think you’ll find despite the offensiveness and unconstructive nature of many of the posts here, we haven’t censored anyone. To be honest, I don’t want to have to change that, I want us to have a robust debate and to be able to talk to people we don’t agree with, but if all we’re going to get is insults and ad hominem we might have to reconsider that. Can we please stick to debating the real issues and not just throwing insults.
So where exactly does “pathetically childish trolling” fit on Ghandi’s ignore > ridicule > fight > win axis?
Oi Ramsay!
Can we have our £40,000 back that you received from the taxpayer to fund purchase of a boiler at your castle, you cunt!
Gilbert’s comment is spot on. I was thinking of making it myself and then I didn’t, reasoning that responding to transparently biased, mud-slinging, personal remarks is to dignify them. However, the point is an important one. Do you think Adam Ramsay chose his parents? Do you think he chose where he would grow up? Do you think he chose the language he would speak or the culture he would know? Do you think he chose the color of his skin or his hair? Do you think he chose his gender or his sexual orientation?
The people who call him a hypocrite or mock the seeming disconnect between his background and his beliefs are acting as though Adam chose these things. He did not. You cannot be a hypocrite for not acting in the interests of a group you dod not choose to be a member of. A White person who marches for Black rights is not a hypocrite. A straight person who marches for gay rights is not a hypocrite. A rich person who marches for the rights of the poor is not a hypocrite. In fact, those people are, like Adam Ramsay, heroes.
To act as though Adam Ramsay’s heroism is actually hypocrisy is to make an elementary error in judgment, or to engage in demagoguery. In the case of the stupid comments on this site, I suspect both.
“Thanks for facilitating the meetings inside F&M, it was really important and you did it really well.”
I’m sorry but you smug, self-righteous arseholes are literally beyond parody….
Lilith,
Darling, did you also see the research which showed that if you are female, smug and middle-clarse you are more than 5 times as likely to be a vegan than someone who grew up on a council estate ?
Astounding.
“We’ve not chosen a dick of the week yet, but I can assure you that, come Friday, we will enjoy mocking you relentlessly – so thanks for the entertainment.”
Raa Raa Raa, we’re going to smesh the Oiks !!!
Good show Darling…. you show those beastly oiks what us toffs are made of.
Tally Ho !
Thanks to everyone saying nice things here. To the people with intellegent criticism, I’m happy to debate with you – but it’s 3am and I have work in the morning. To those who post anonymous attacks – thanks. We’ve not chosen a dick of the week yet, but I can assure you that, come Friday, we will enjoy mocking you relentlessly – so thanks for the entertainment.
And, Gilbert, thanks.
I’m not clever enough to discus politics here, so il just call you a moron and hope you suffer instead
Moron!!!!!!!!!!!11111!!!!
Lilith: “I was wondering if people had read about the research that had been done recently that discovered that people who are right wing actually have a biologically different brain to more left wing liberal people.”
Interesting, intersting indeed!
Have you heard about the research which was done recently that discovered the revelation that if your Auntie Flo had a floppy appendage she’d actually be your Uncle Dick?
Gilbert
March 28th, 2011 @ 11:36 pm
Tim, nice but dim.
I’ve been reading the comments, I was wondering if people had read about the research that had been done recently that discovered that people who are right wing actually have a biologically different brain to more left wing liberal people. Right wingers have a larger part of the brain that is to do with fear, they are actually more afraid than left wing people which colours their beliefs and perceptions about the world.I bet they’re crapping themselves after this weekend, hence the pathetic attemps at trolling. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8228192/Political-views-hard-wired-into-your-brain.html?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4d1bf5e99049065c,0
I’ll second that “well said Gilbert.”
Presumably the insightful people on here would also take issue with someone with meat-eating parents opting to become a vegetarian.
Well said, Gilbert. I’m sick of all these pseudo ad hominem attacks. I don’t know Adam, but I know his – well, your – sister, and have always had the highest regard for her ability to reason logically and stand up for what she believes in. I also know how proud she is of Adam – and rightly so.
Some of us know the truth about your family – and we are not listening to the trolls.
I’m sorry, I’m struggling to understand some of these comments. What, exactly, does Adam’s background have to do with this? If you happened to grow up in a castle and choose not to vote Tory does that make you, like, a hypocrite or something? Do you think that Adam lives in a mouldy flat on a miserable NGO salary out of some dastardly long term plan to slake his lust for power by riding on the coat tails of, er, the Green Party? Does it not occur to you that people do things like this out of principle? By the way, I’m Adam’s big brother. If you want to get at him, you go through me first.
Andy
March 28th, 2011 @ 5:49 pm
“The Fortnum & Masons management should be arrested. Have you seen the prices they charge? Criminal!”
Still not as much as the prices the Ramsays charge for their holiday cottages in Bamff castle estate! Criminal!
Jock Barge
March 28th, 2011 @ 6:20 pm
“Tory Trolls – bravo gentlemen, I haven’t encountered such sophisticated repartee since primary school.”
Sorry to disappointing you “Jock Barge”, never voted Tory in my life.
I suspect the Ramsays did, judging from the history section in their website though.
Taking your cloths from you, they are trying to teach you a lesson. Completely arbitrary. I admire your courage and hope it works out well for you.
Thanks for facilitating the meetings inside F&M, it was really important and you did it really well.
Hope the cells weren’t too bad, we didn’t get an evening meal or a call till the next day! They also legally have to give you something to read whilst you’re in the cells. Its usually some shit novel but it saves you from going mad.
What a rebel. Breakfast and coffee too, it’s a tough life.
Tory Gilbert you say the cuts are being unfairly doled out, so pray tell how would you cut fairly ? Can you also tell us how you would deal with the deficit in a bit more detail without automaton mantras such as “to fast too deep”.
The problem all you groovy kids and even more groovy lecturers have is that you have no idea of the importance of wealth creation. Without it you have no wealth to finance any public service.
You have to grow up and stop believing in magic money trees.
As the last Labour secretary to the treasury said after 13years of Gordons genius “There’s no money left”
Btw a forum troll is someone who posts irrelevant messages on a forum , it is not as some on here would like it defined,someone who happens to disagree with you.
Well done Adam.
A beautifully written piece. Ignore the trolls and best of luck. xx
Thanks to all uncut protesters who took part in the protest on Saturday, whilst us more staid ones enjoyed the music/solidarity of the main march.
We need people to protest in different ways so hope you have a rest, think you and all who ended up in the cells deserve it, and then carry on!
Still people out there, not realising there are alternatives to cuts. Unfortunatly some seem to have swallowed the Labour Party line we need cuts but slower, very strange, so information about those evading/avoiding/not paying large amounts of tax, about Robin Hood Tax etc. very important to get over to people.
You dont seem to have attracted a very good class of troll though, must try harder next time.
You should have told the Inspector that you were willing to act as an informant against your friends. I did when I got lifted on an ALF demo. I made a tasty few bob in the years that followed.
Hats off to Adam and crew! Without people on the street, nothing will change. Our country, and the whole west for that matter, has gotten so apathetic we have forgotten the power of numbers.
Keep it up!
Anyone who goes on in favor the cuts, and then claims to talk for “working people, raising kids, paying taxes…” hasn’t done their maths.
The plain fact is that the cuts are being unfairly doled out, and the people on the bottom lose out. Cut a school program, working families have to pay more – or just lose out. On and on.
Cut universities, everyone loses.
Anon! Steve! Do we have to wait until the taxes on canned cider and lager get raised before we get your support?
Adam – great respect and solidarity, I hope it’s all aright.
Tory Trolls – bravo gentlemen, I haven’t encountered such sophisticated repartee since primary school. However, there’s definitely a backhanded compliment in your sudden presence here; has this blog been name-checked on Conservative Home or The Daily Mail?
The Fortnum & Masons management should be arrested. Have you seen the prices they charge? Criminal!
Peter Garbutt, using the he phrase “Daily Mail Reader” is not an argument but rather a childish utterance similar to the word “keys” which is intended to close done all arguments as is by just saying you win.
Pathetic.
Also answer me this can you name me one country, just one where rampant socialism of the type advocated by the champagne revolutionaries in evidence here, actually works?
History shows all such big state totalitarianism leads to oppression, famines and firing squads.
Hitler, Stalin, pol pot, Mao all children of the left.
I find it hilarious when the so right on studenz get on their sanctimonious high horse about matters they have no real understanding of. The irony is that most of them will end up voting conservative in a few years time once they get exposed to the real world of work, taxes and raising families. Enjoy your little demonstrations while you can and continue to live in your disneyesque world of magic money trees ,but be in no doubt most of the country view you as nothing more than a spoiled little brat pack.
How lovely it is to see all these outraged right-wing people resorting to illogical insults. Almost all of them anonymously or under a pseudonym. You can almost hear them spluttering over the Daily Mail.
We’re all proud of you, Adam; you and all those with you carried the UKUncut ethos of peaceful direct action to the heart of the establishment. I just hope you can capitalise on the publicity, through the racket being made by the police and the raucous gutter press.
Mr Ramsay’s parents small castle namely Banff Castle sounds so, so luxurious!
From their website: “Prices range from £278 to £595 inclusive of heat, light, logs, linen and towels.”
Anyone fancy “occupying” it for a weekend?
Toodle Pip!
Ironic that young Sir Ramsay occupies a shop for selling sausages to the rich. Meanwhile back at the “mall castle” ma-ma and pa-pa Ramsay sell wild boar loins at £16.00 per kilo.
Must doff my cap now sir Ramsay! I’m off to get the hunting tweeds on! See you in a mo! Tally-ho Old Boy!
“The contents of the house have been accumulated by the family over the last 250 years.”
http://www.bamff.co.uk/history_of_bamff.html
All property is theft comrades !!
Who’s up for an organic, ethnically diverse sit-in protest up at Adam’s Mummy’s and Daddy’s place ?
I wonder what ma-ma Ramsay and pa-pa Ramsay would say if a group forcibly occupied the ancestral Banff House?
Oh dear, oh dear.
Journeys is spent with a ‘y’. But hey, you’re probably an anarchist.
HappyMarx:
“I think F&M need further investigation, as just who are Wittington Investments? Also F&M are a symbol for privilege and opulence (I can’t afford to shop there). I think they are a fair target.”
————————
Strike first, ask questions later, eh? Would you defend such behaviour from the Police?
Of course, when class is involved, no such concerns need apply. The Sanctimonious Left gleefully dishes out extra-legal ‘justice’ to those that push all the right buttons: wealth, success, tradition.
I might ask you whether garlic and herb Wild Boar sausages raise your heckles- can you afford them at’£5.50 for 500gram package’?
Perhaps you better get up to Bamff estate and smash this symbol of privelige and opulence too?
(this is NOT aimed at those on here who do NOT consider themselves to be anarchists)
To the braindead people protesting, or rioting AND calling themselves anarchists…
Get a fucking dictionary and learn what anarchy actually is.
Protesting against cutting the size of the state is the polar opposite of anarchy and you are giving real anarchists a very very bad name.
If you want to be free to protest against state cuts, then fine, be honest and call yourself Marxists, or socialists or left-wing loonies. The state as it is is far too big and the tories are NOT cutting it. The overall spending is increasing every year, and cuts are forced by the rate of increase in the size of the debt labour lumped on the country.
Protesting about slowing the speed of the increase in government spending is NOT anarchy!!!
Anarchy is a belief in individuals having the ultimate freedom to live, in peace, free from state control, state obligation, or state subsidy. Having the freedom to do whatever they like, so long as it does not impair anyone else’s right to do likewise. Real anarchists do not want more government spending. They want nothing from the government AT ALL!
Most importantly, they believe in the maxim, do no harm. They should never cause injury, harm or loss to another human being.
Those Trotsky bastards on TV smashing up the centre of London are NOT anarchists, they are the inevitable expression of the frustration of the supporter’s of the left when they have run out of other people’s money AGAIN!!!
There is NO MONEY LEFT!!!
Fine over tax the corporations to fund an oversized state? When they leave the country and take all their jobs with them, where the fuck are you going to get your left wing hand outs from then???
Anarchy is NOT smashing the city.
It is refusing to pay taxes and not claiming benefits or working for the state in any way shape or form and doing no harm to others.
However you put it,you were in the wrong, A very naughty boy . Mummsy will be very upset , so probably no titty milk for you for a few weeks.
Well done, Adam, I’m proud of you.
I could not understand why you all have been charged with ‘aggreavated trespass’ as I had always understood that trespass was a civil matter. So I have looked it up and understand that since 1994 ‘aggravated trespass’ is a criminal matter. Now I can understand that ‘aggravated trespass’ would probably involve some sort of violence to property or person but this certainly does not seem to fit the case of the 138 #UKUncut protestors. F’r instance here in Essex Basildon council has been trying for several years to evict a travellers camp. Since they have not been able to do so using this law it seems odd that police were able to arrest you and your comrades so easily on Saturday. Well easily is not quite the word is it? They misled you all by saying that you would not be arrested if you left peacefully, they kettled you when you did leave, and as shown on the TV news programmes a certain amount of force was employed. At the same time of course other violent agitators were wreaking havoc not that far away and surely the police personnel ‘attending’ to you and your comrades would have been better employed elsewhere?
Hey Adam, so sorry to hear of your arrest. Solidarity is utterly important at this time especially as we have seen the way the state uses political sentencing. I think F&M need further investigation, as just who are Wittington Investments? Also F&M are a symbol for privilege and opulence (I can’t afford to shop there). I think they are a fair target.
I was in the kettle at Piccadilly and saw violence dished out to protesters. With me media whipping up the usual sensationalist headlines (“Battle of Piccadilly” is my fave at the moment) about “yobs smashing windows” but not about the hideous violence by cops.
Let’s put this in perspective protesters smashed windows and daubed in walls/statues the police injury and kill people. What is more symbolic is today is the start of the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson.
The fact that UK Uncut held a peaceful sit-in shows that the state are desperate to arrest and charge. We have to defend these protesters arrested.
People are angry (I don’t want to get into the rights and wrongs of window smashing) especially as there futures are being trashed, education is being denied, unemployment, no pension, welfare state being dismantled and public sector being destroyed. And you wonder why people are taking to the streets involved in direct action?
Btw: Adam, has there been a defence campaign set up to support you and the others arrested, are there any public meetings? If you need any help in contacting anyone or help in getting further support just contact me 🙂
Solidarity!!
Anyone who thinks it is OK for the state to spend more than 50% of GDP is unhinged and should emigrate to North Korea. All those useless wankers “working” in non-jobs in the public sector are condemning their kids to be tax slaves. The state needs to be shrunk to half its present size.
Ben A Samuel,
Realy sorry to hear that you lost your FBU flag and scarf. Adam took his favourite teddy on the demo and lost that too, even though nanny told him to leave it in the East wing ballroom with all his other toys…
You simply *must* drop by for drinkies some time soon…
Mwah ! Mwah !
Hmmn what a twat you and your uni mates are! Cut welfare and you see all the leeches of society come crawling in protest, uni and ema are not a right they are a choice!
Cancelling welfare and aid is the quickest way to sort this mess and continue to take money from the banks.
I’ll be glad when the left wing yobs are thrown in prison hopefully 4 in a cell so they can enjoy more taxpayers money together
I am concerned at the fragmenting movement and it’s encouraging that small number of rioters “melted in” because I’d really love it if the SWP and NSSN melted into the Coalition of Resistance. There is very little ideological difference, and what difference there is is unachievable in law and in practice anyway. Is Conway Hall in Westminster? I think it’s in Camden so pls put April 1st in your Diary if up for hearing some speeches!
Tom if it’s any consolation, the 3 who smashed the Ritz Piccadilly forgot to wear gloves and will probably be charged with as many years they set back the movement est. 1991.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33387220@N03/5563042526/in/set-72157626360253700/#/photos/33387220@N03/5563042526/in/set-72157626360253700/lightbox/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137568376313742¬if_t=event_wall#wall_posts
I lost my FBU flag and scarf…
Why did you choose to occupy Fortnum & Mason? An odd choice – they are owned by Wittington Investments, who are in turn majority owned by the Garfield Weston Foundation, one of the largest charitable foundations in the world. UK Uncut say that one of Wittington’s other subsidiaries, Associated British Foods (owners of Primark) is accused of tax avoidance. If that is true, that is a completely separate arm to Fortnum & Mason. Why not occupy Primark instead? Did you think occupying Fortnum & Mason, a renowned and prestigious store, would gain more publicity? Is it just because Fortnum & Mason is “posh”?
TO Adams Mumsy ,
You tosser im a 37 year old married man with two kids . aged 7 and 2. Wasn’t nice having to stay in a hostel with em . I’ve lost everything how dare you say im a liar . I hope you rot you bastard .
Oh dear…Hope you’re alright? Interesting read Adam, I didn’t realise you had a blog. Let us know how the trial goes…x
I had never heard of Fortnum and Mason. I have now and so have hundreds of thousands more in this country thanks to this protest. Your arrests weren’t in vain.
You need to head back to Scotland for some rest and relaxation at your family Castle, Adam
http://www.oldholborn.net/2011/03/meek-shall-inherit-earth.html
IT still surprises me that is is alwyas the Right, the ignorant, the prejudiced and those who wish to remove freedom of speech and basic human rights who exhibit this destructive mix of abusive bile and insane irrationality.
Serves you right you moron.
Adam Ramsay is the most morally courageous and principled person I know.
good on ya. solidarity.
Anon – you ought to be ashamed of expressing your opposition anonymously. Adam Ramsay and the other peaceful protestors have bravely written and spoken openly about their experiences without the need to hide or use pseudonyms.
These peaceful protestors were not violent – their sit-in was eloquent and poetic and thus at stark contract with the violence of paint throwing and window smashing unleashed by separate anarchist groups.
You say that they “are protesting against a democratically elected government with a mandate (via the largest party) to implement these ‘cuts’. You do not represent anyone, and you’re trying to subvert the democratic process, using direct action to get the majority to submit to the will of your ignorant, asinine minority!!!”
Forgive me for throwing accusations of ignorance back in your face, but although this government was elected democratically, they did not 1) win the election outright and more important 2) the voters did NOT vote for the policies this coalition government are now implementing.
And you are wrong to assert that the message behind the Fortnum’s protest is not shared by a lot of people. Happily, whatever the merits of this peaceful demonstration, it has given expression and image to what a lot of people now think – that the budget cuts (and yes Labour or anyone other elected party would also have had to deal with the deficit) is divisive, favours the wealthy and is therefore an unfair re-distribution of “wealth”. Any sanem reasonable person would understand that his is fundamentally wrong in a democratic and modern socety.
Well done to all of you F&M protestors.
However, the ignorant comments above from elderly readers of the Daily Mail pulling on their leash for a toothless bite at you make me ashamed to be human.
And they still didn’t arrest the taxdodging scum.
Never believe them when they say they’ll let you leave – they never do. It’s an old tactic.
Ignore the tories on here.
Yes, Adam, you can probably forget about ever going to the USA. You’ll be turned back at whichever airport you arrive at.
But it’s your parents I feel sorry for. All that money spent on education wasted.
“I’ve lost my business my home and car due to the recession and found myself homeless .”
Antony, you’re a fucking liar ! You’re probably some smug, middle-clarse student cunt…
Now fuck off and finish that sociology essay, there’s a good boy.
Lots of respect to you guys for what you did . best wishes and good luck .
To the short sighted people having a dig at you here . . grow up and stop being so blind to the spoon fed crap the government feeds you . Protests like these can and will change the world . I’ve paid taxes all my life and feel like the UK gov are taking the Piss . what about taxing banks more , cutting mp’s wages not fighting in overseas wars etc , there are alternatives to the deep cuts . I’ve lost my business my home and car due to the recession and found myself homeless . My local council helped me out . guess what due to the cuts the life saving team Who helped me are all now out of work .
This has made me want to get going again on Saturday even more.
You’ve been arrested for sitting on the floor in a posh, tax avoiding tea shop? Crazy!!!
On being arrested for occupying Fortnum & Mason:
http://hellotenzin.posterous.com/on-being-arrested-for-occupying-fortnum-mason
Adam Darling,
We’ve got no caviar left and the staff have taken the day orf…. please be a dear and pick some beluga up when you and your Uni chums pop into Fortnums…
Mwah, mwah
Mumsy
Anyone interested in seeing what aggravated trespass looks like might want to see this youtube video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx0rFqidrAI [part 1]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2CTDsnH2R4 [Part 2]
Now the persons committing aggravated trespass here are the Metropolitan police. Of course they are refusing to prosecute their own officers making the actions against the 100 or so mass arrested a touch hypocritical.
Be very aware, these officers had no lawful right to be in the home and you can clearly see them threatening to smash a glass panelled door into the face of the occupant with a battering ram – ‘the enforcer’.
Well done to the Fortnum & Mason 100 your actions are obviously having the desired effect.
Adam how much tax did your parents pay when they inherited the castle?
Who paid for your education you know-nothing naive sad little girl. You realy haven’t got a clue have you. Oh and by the way I hope the police prosecute you and mummy & daddy aren’t allowed to pay the fine for you
Adam – yes I’m planning to go on saturday, at the moment there are def. 3 court dates then on the 10th, 11th and 12th may, and two charges – aggravated tresspass and disruption/obstruction (CJA charge).
to the trolls: please note that I was arrested, as were others, for both aggravated tresspass and criminal damage, but that everyone I know has had the criminal damage charge dropped, for a very simple reason – there was no damage inside the shop.
Tresspass is not a criminal offence (aggravated tresspass is).
We left the shop voluntarily shortly after 6pm in part because it seemed many of the staff finished then.
It is in no way comparable to going into someones home, it was not violent and protest is absolutely part of the democratic process – always has been, always will be.
It’s not about getting the majority to submit to the will of the minority, it’s about making sure everyone knows about an issue (in this case tax avoidance with reference to the cuts) and allowing people to make up their own minds.
If UKUncut had never occupied Vodafone, does anyone really think that tax avoidance would be the huge political issue that it is? The story would never have got out of private eye (except maybe into the guardian) and fuck all people would have heard about it.
Oh, and I have a job, I don’t take handouts, I never have and I hope I never need to. I also ran a business for 6 years which gave me ample opportunity to avoid tax by paying myself in dividends rather than through PAYE and I chose not to – because I believe in a system of general taxation and collective provision, so all you trolls can stick your stereotypes up your arse.
I don’t know why I’m responding to the trolls really. I probably won’t again
Don’t worry you can go back to mummy and daddies castle now you wanker
Showing ignorance again. Fortnum & Mason DO pay tax and yes they donate massive sums to charity:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/georgepitcher/100081450/fortnum-and-mason-just-the-most-stupid-target-for-those-student-rioters-to-pick/
But I do like your remark re where money SHOULD go. You talk about…democracy? You are protesting against a democratically elected government with a mandate (via the largest party) to implement these ‘cuts’. You do not represent anyone, and you’re trying to subvert the democratic process, using direct action to get the majority to submit to the will of your ignorant, asinine minority!!! Go get a job. Fool.
Amazing the vitriol your ordeal engenders. Guys, why not reserve your contempt for the idle rich who gain the most from the poor arguing amongst themselves? I always think that deference to the ruling class is Stockholm Syndrome.
Having just been made redundant aged 49 with a house and family, I applaud the protesters who will have nothing to reproach themselves about when they reflect on these miserable times …
Did you tuck into the fois gras and truffles while you were there, or do you get it delivered to your castle?
I hope you are all thrown in JAIL for a hugely long time. Scumbags one and all. Get the HELL OUT of my city with your VILE violent ways. Civil society has no place for you here. You will all be up against the wall in the not too distant future.
LOL Solidarity my ass. It’s called trespassing. Democracy and the right to protest doesn’t mean you have the right to walk into people’s living rooms and shit on their furniture. The only solidarity you people have is your collective stupidity. No wonder you wait in lineups for handouts.
Moron.
good to see you are safe and well, I watched the footage on tv and was worried, i have been following your activities for a good while via fb etc and wholeheartedly agree with your position. I am too disabled to join with you but I have found a way to protest and that is with the armchair army on fb.
best of luck and loads of love.
It’s the 10th of May – think we’re all together…
Ah, at least I got food, told them I had electrolyte imbalance.
Your experience sounds fairly similar to mine, when’s your court date?
I really hope they throw the book at you. Why is it ok for you to occupy Fortnum and Mason but it’s not ok for the police to arrest you?
And why pick a charitable organisation like Fortnum and Mason? They pay their taxes and gives extensive amounts to charity. Even the Guardian has avoided £60 mil in tax, why not sod off and occupy their HQ?
You’re an idiot. End of. You obviously had no understanding of what you were doing.
It was OK for them to occupy because we supposedly live in a country that allows peaceful protest. It wasn’t OK for the protesters to be arrested because they didn’t actually cause any damage and were told they would be allowed to leave.
Fortnam and Mason are not a charitable organisation. They are a private business 79.2% owned by a charitable trust. They do not pay their taxes, that’s why they were targeted. And even if they do give a significant proportion of their profits to charity it is not for the rich to decide where that money should be spent when it should be taken in taxation to be spent on democratically decided services that can be used by everyone. It should also be noted that one of those organisations the ‘charity’ money has gone to over the years is the Tory party, to the tune of £900,000.
Well done, Adam. Sorry I wasn’t there, and good luck with the charges. (and to everyone who got arrested).
(and hope you’re OK?) – much solidarity.
Hi Tom,
That is interesting. Yup, I’ll be there on Saturday – you?
Adam
Similar to my experience, solidarity. Interestingly it seems some people have been charged with aggravated trespass and others (like me) have had that charge dropped as well and some other charge from CJA 1994 (disruption/obstruction – I’d need to check my charge sheet) instead.
Will you be able to make the defendant support meeting next weekend?
I like how the guys smashing windows got off scot free while a group of peaceful occupiers got arrested.
How absolutely absurd for you guys to get arrested. Solidarity! I hope these charges don’t come to anything.
Solidarity from here, Adam. Let me know if you need anything.