A Burmese blogger has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for posting a cartoon of the military leader Than Shwe. Nay Phone Latt, 28, was sentenced by a court in Rangoon's Insein prison, said his mother, Aye Than.Nay Phone Latt's colleague Thin July Kyaw was sentenced to two years imprisonment, Aye Than reported.Another dissident, Saw Wai, was sentenced to two years in jail for publishing a poem mocking Than Shwe in the weekly Love Journal.The first words of each line of the Burmese language poem spelled out the message "Senior General Than Shwe is foolish with power".This specific cartoon idea is by Dr. David Law.[Pippa Wagstaff is currently on a blogging...

A Malaysian court has ordered the release of a prominent government critic free from detention on grounds that his arrest under a colonial-era security law was unlawful, local media and his lawyer have said.Raja Petra Kamarudin, a high-profile political blogger, was detained in September for allegedly stoking racial tensions by publishing articles that the government said insulted Islam, inflamed racial tensions and tarnished the country's leadership.But the high court in the state of Selangor ruled on Friday that the Malaysian home minister had acted beyond his powers in having the blogger arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA), Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Raja Petra's lawyer, said.He quoted Judge Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad as saying that the grounds given for Raja Petra's detention...

At the risk of upsetting the sensitive souls of those in power [in Wales anyway], I wondered what I could do next. Shall I talk further about a well-known catchphrase of all talk and little action or failures that have left Wales firms 'poor cousins'? The economy in crisis seems to be a popular topic for the foreseeable future and has been for some time. Not today.Standing up for a blogging brother. This will do for now.Following the original article in the Western Mail by Martin Shipton, 9th July 2008 there clearly has a lot more mileage to go in the story of Christopher Glamorganshire, with the latest from the real journalists being that of the BBC, Political Editor Betsan Powys on 18th September 2008.Betsan clearly has the insider's view looking at the detail of information provided,...

In an unusually move Paul Carter Kent's senior Tory politician and the leader of Kent Council, has made a remarkable call for restrictions to the freedom of information act.Those who have followed the goings on of Kent Council, must often like me find themselves bemused at some of the enterprises Kent Council gets involved with, which are frequently notable inasmuch as they fall outside, the services you would expect of a local authority, for instance Kent TV, temporary employment agencies, bus and taxi services, health advice line, and this, which is something which I had forgotten about for a while, Oakwood House, the 37 bedroom hotel situated in Maidstone run by the blooming KCC .Now since Paul Carter happens to be a Tory, you might think, how enterprising a conservative council,...

posted by kA couple of years ago I had the pleasure of hearing a public conversation between Iain Sinclair and Alan Moore. Their talk took unpredictable directions and held a large audience's attention. It ended with enthusiastic applause. Unlike most literary events, this was free to anyone who could get there - and about 250 people packed a large lecture theatre at a Midlands university.I like free culture. I grew up enjoying free libraries and free art galleries - even free Shakespeare plays in London parks. It seemed akin to free speech. I've always thought of libraries in particular as a place of liberty.It was a shock to discover that libraries can be places where free speech is censored. I'm not talking about whether Sarah Palin tried to ban books in Wassilia. And I'm not...

My pledge to buy the Jewel of Medina is just one signatory away from being fulfilled, so if you haven’t already signed up, please do. Since I launched the pledge, the publishers Gibson Square have postponed the publication of the book indefinitely, which means that the firebombers may have won. Shelina Zahra Janmohamed has also written a review of the book on the BBC Magazine. In Shelina’s view, the book is a bodice-ripping yawn. Having read the book, I will defer to her judgement. But trash deserves the right to be published as much as quality literature. Get the trash taken off the shelves and the quality will follow. And is Islam really so fragile to be vulnerable to shallow nonsense? To be fair on Shelina, she doesn’t suggest otherwise and doesn’t call...

Kent police have offered compensation to animal rights activists, the protesters who had planned to demonstrate were turned back from Dover docks by Kent police who escorted their coach back to London.This was reported in the independent newspaper a few days ago, apparently Kent police threatened the protesters with arrest, photographed the occupants of the coach including a disable child and several elderly people and would not allow the coach to stop for breaks on the journey back.The coach party was made up of ALF supporters, the ALF apparently advocates economic damage on those it considers profit from exploitation of animals, and its likely that mainstream opinion would be that their views are extreme but whether you agree with their aims or not, surely whilst people are behaving...

IN Egypt, there is no freedom of speech: Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent daily al-Dustor, was originally convicted in March and sentenced to six months on charges of reporting and publishing false information that questioned the health of 80-year-old President Hosni Mubarak. The judges at the time ruled that a series of articles he published threatened national stability and caused foreign investors to pull their money out of the country. What money? Ibrahim Eissa .. it started in Ramadan and it ended in...

RICHMOND, Virginia, Sept. 25 /Christian Newswire/ – “Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is defending why his administration forced the sudden resignation of five Virginia State Police Chaplains because they prayed publicly “in Jesus’ name.” Police Superintendent Col. W. Steven Flaherty single-handedly created then enforced a strict “non-sectarian” prayer policy at all public gatherings, censoring and excluding Christian prayers, then accepted the resignation of five chaplains who refused to deny Jesus or violate their conscience by watering down their prayers. House Republican Leader Morgan Griffith and Delegate Charles W. Carrico, (R-Grayson) both issued public statements defending the chaplains, questioning Governor Kaine’s role in terminating...

It is interesting that Oxford, England, has been the centre of controversy about the Muslim Call to Prayer sounding out over a loudspeaker in the city three times a day. (See here for example for one article out of many on this subject).  Oxford residents are fighting plans to sound the two-minute long call three times a day in the minaret of the Central Mosque. Oxford-based Muslims are demanding the ‘right’ to loudly broadcast their call to prayer across the city. Munir Chisti, the Imam at the mosque, has said to the press in defence of his mosque’s proposals that ”people were entitled to different viewpoints”. Yet it seems that they  are not prepared to give anywhere near the same religious freedom to non-Muslims in the same city as them, or allow...

Thanks to the person who sent me these links to some information on some persecuted brothers and sisters around the word. http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Sep08/Art_Sep08_18.html http://www.worthynews.com/christian/yemen-detains-nine-ex-muslims-for-converting-to-christianity-15037/ http://www.worthynews.com/christian/laos-forcing-christians-to-renounce-faith-15484/ http://www.worthynews.com/christian/pastor-attacked-churches-burned-in-wake-of-swamis-murder-in-orissa-india-15036/ http://www.worthynews.com/christian/china-religious-freedoms-threatened-as-olympics-draw-to-close-14807/ http://www.christiannewstoday.com/Special_Feature_2.html http://www.christiannewstoday.com/Christian_News_Report_44.html...

Here we go again. Why do these people always think that they can shut down a debate on the internet by complaining to an ISP and getting a blog deleted? It doesn’t work. And, instead, backfires. Had she done nothing, the fact that Jenna Delich linked to the website of a known neo-Nazi figure and former Ku [...]...

Much of the publicity and informed comment concerning China Gate has come from bloggers, rather than developers and council representatives, who've despite their fact finding trips, to China have seemed rather reticent to discuss the issue in public, apparently preferring to publish snaps of the "look at me, I'm on the Great Wall of China" variety, oh and photo ops with Chinese businessmen in Mayoral regalia.For those of us that care, about such things, the present, maybe as good as it gets, for Internet freedoms. Little is heard in this part of the world, on the subject of Net Neutrality, and your thinking so what, and that's far comment since Virgin Media boss Neil Berkett stated rather eloquently "this net neutrality thing is a load of bollocks" according to Internet sources click...

From the desk of The Brussels Journal A quote from the press agency AKI, 18 August 2008The Islamic Community in Serbia said on Monday it was not satisfied with the withdrawal of Sherry Jones’ novel, The Jewel of Medina, from the country’s bookshops. Referring to the book released by Belgrade publisher Beobuk three weeks ago, the organisation’s leader Muamer Zukorlic said it was “offensive to Muslims” and demanded all of the published copies be handed in. He also called for director Aleksandar Jasic to repent for what he had done.After an initial complaint from the Islamic community, Jasic apologised saying the company "had no intention of insulting Muslims in Serbia" and announced the book would not be available in any bookstore in the country. But Zukorlic said on Monday that...

Johann Hari writes in The Independant on Thursday, 14 August 2008 'This is a column condemning cowardice – including my own. It begins with the story of a novel you cannot read. The Jewel of Medina was written by a journalist called Sherry Jones. It recounts the life of Aisha, a girl who was married off at the age of six to a 50-year-old man called Mohamed ibn Abdallah. On her wedding day, Aisha was playing on a see-saw outside her home. Inside, she was being betrothed. The first she knew of it was when she was banned from playing out in the street with the other children. When she was nine, she was taken to live with her husband, now 53. He had sex with her. When she was 14, she was accused of adultery with a man closer to her own age. Not long after, Mohamed decreed that his wives...

The Welsh blogosphere is reasonably small when you compare and consider the size and number of blogs in England and Scotland. We seem to dwindle in numbers from time to time. Some disappear for a while, and some for good. Other blogs seem to take their place, and with mixed success.You could say that we are a 'family', even to the point of looking out for one another, as it seems from the content of some emails that I've been receiving in recent weeks. It looks as though other family members have also received similar communication having written the following:...we have already been informed that this blog is being monitored hourly by a large Cardiff legal firm on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government.It seems I have also been missed by my brother and sister while offline sorting out...

Driving home Friday afternoon I was quite preoccupied, with the thought of Safety Cameras, having been possibly mugged by some rather sneaky ones in a village called Hampton, alongside the Thames , I say sneaky which doesn't do justice, I drove through these at a sedate 30mph earlier in the day, but coming home I noticed some bloody 20mph speed signs just before and after, which till now I've only associated with roads that have speed bumps and chicanes, sorry I'm still preoccupied (B*ST*RDS!).Anyhow back near civilisation on the M2 about a dozen coppers on motorcycles come rolling down the outside lane, in formation and naturally I tuck in behind, once they've passed, thinking this will stop anyone pulling out on me, only to find that its not just their motorcycles that are synchronised...

Interesting new post from Matt Wardman which I think may be of interest to readers of this blog. Read for yourselves:I had an exchange with Tom Watson MP, who launched the debate that lead to eventual creation of the Principles for Participation Online for Civil Servants, before my interview with Radio Wales.In my first post, I said:I wonder if I can get a statement from Tom Watson by 5:00pm that the Principles for Online Participation apply in Wales as well as England?This article is to look at Tom’s reply and to ask a couple of questions about the Welsh Assembly Government.Reply from Tom WatsonI asked:Tom - can you confirm that Civil Service Principles for Participation Online apply in Wales? CS Code does. I’m on Radio later about CS blogs 03:36 PM August 04, 2008Tom Replied:Hi...

Too many things in Wales have 'Supported by the Assembly Government' written on them. It may come as a great surprise to you that this blog isn't one of them.Miss Wagstaff Presents... 'Not supported by the Assembly Government'.Thanks to Dotcommentator for the idea and Matt Wardman for the...

I spot in this weeks Isle of Thanet Extra news of Mr Feng Jun's (of electronics company AIGO) visit to the isle of Thanet, and my immediate attention is drawn to the picture attaching to the article.It shows Mr Feng Jun, in what at first appears to be fancy dress and then the after reading the caption is revealed as mayoral regalia, unfortunately it doesn't state whether it was his own or lent to him by fawning representatives of Thanet council.Just going off at quick tangent, this all got the nuerons in my brain sparking, well glowing and for some reason, memories flooded back to a time, and I don't remember detail but I recall a local councillor in a moment of er .... decided to dress up in Arab garb and drive round Ramsgate Harbour as part of some ill thought out hoax. Of course I...

I have not read the details of this case, but briefly I understand the Mr Mosley has particular interests, which are probably not mainstream, or even acceptable to most but thought there was a case to be made against the News of the World, for invading his privacy.Well it appears that he won that and whilst journalists complain about their freedoms being eroded, I just feel that they are probably more concerned with the cost of the case than press freedom, its not as if every Sunday or even any Sunday the news of the world, covers any issues relating to human rights or injustices other than some wife or husband finding their partner straying. Lets be honest the NOTW is more magazine than newspaper....

Assisting Matt Wardman in his quest (posted 15 July 2008):This post is a repost of the questions that I am interested in finding anwers to in the case of Welsh blogger Christopher Glamorganshire, who was sacked from his job because of his blogging activity in autumn 2007.I have reposted them for reference separate from the previous post where I did a full analysis.The most intriguing and important point is how the “Welsh Civil Service Code” has lead to Christopher Glamorganshire being “dismissed for activities related to the Glamorganshire Blog that contravened the Civil Service Code”, while the English Civil Service Code is now complemented by the set of principles mentioned above, which were developed after an English Civil Servant blogger (Civil Serf) caused a debate online...

I'm running late with this story. You mustn't blame me as I'm busy packing for the big move this weekend and have taken a back seat from blogging for a short while - still managing the odd post as I review the papers.It seems that 'Christopher Glamorganshire' was sacked from the Welsh Assembly Government civil service for blogging. I'm not familiar with the blog but have seen a link to 'Glamorganshire' on the blogs of many others. Sadly, it no longer allows you access.A few months ago there was a rumour about a Welsh Civil Servant having been sacked, and comments of that nature were even made on this blog. I've noticed that there seems to be a healthy community spirit in the blogging community and a number of compliments have been made today, with the following among them:"funny", "well...

Glyn Davies stands up for the right to blog [within reason].Last night former Conservative AM Glyn Davies, a regular blogger, said:The Christopher Glamorganshire blog was on my list of ‘my favourites’. It seemed to me to be written in a sensible and rational manner.Clearly, if his contract of employment said he was not allowed to blog, he doesn’t have much of a case. But if it is simply a question of supposedly contravening the code, I think sacking him is very harsh and heavy handed.This all smacks of the heavy hand of the state.We have another Champion!More on this...

Bob Geldof KBE has given his support to David Davies, quite rightly too, suggestion that somehow highlighting freedom, standing against arrest without charge, is some sort of publicity stunt which has been the Labour government line, is clear nonsense. If anything still unites Briton it is our traditions of justice and fair play.According to the Press Association Geldof spoke to students and constituents at Hull's Guildhall for half an hour. Referring to the up coming by election the press association quotes him as follows "This by-election isn't normal, it is extraordinary" "This is a fight about illegal boundaries of the state" "We are being asked to vote about us and we may never get to vote on something so profoundly fundamental." all of which anyone who gives a toss for this...

I'll make this as brief as possible, first I would like to apologise, to one of my fellow Thanet bloggers, for not responding to a report in one of Thanet's inferior newspapers, which unquestionably reported someone suggesting that he had libelled them in some way, however the reporter was so inept that he or she didn't actually attempt to question this accusation made by some local businessman.Much of last evening was taken up for me, by what I consider the rather patronising email and letter, which apparently sought to explain laws concerning defamation etc., and potentially consequences if I didn't moderate my commentary. Like my bloggs, the letter in question seem to ramble on, and about things which I've never said, and people I'm reasonably sure I haven't insulted either...

Without prejudiceFirstly to my regular readers, I intend to be a vague, but the person who sent the e-mail and attached letter, will of course be aware to whom I am addressing my comments.First off, you will note that I have not mentioned your organisationcompany for a week or two or maybe much longer so I wonder why you choose, this moment in time to make the suggestion that I have somehow defamed you or any of your colleagues.Now if I went into any more detail, I would probably have to identify the nature of your companyorganisation but would say I have not, to the best of my knowledge made any that could be construed as remarks that defame you or your colleagues or even the entity you obviously work for.The paragraph that starts"You suggest" takes several quotes from one of my past...

Last week I was in the pub talking to a friend and we were talking about blogging. This person doesn’t know much about it, but he knows that I’m heavily interested in it. (NB. This person is a Labour Party supporter, which explains a lot.) He asked me a really strange question. “So, who is it that’s in charge of blogging then?” “What do you mean, ‘in charge’?” “Well, there must be someone who’s behind it all.” “What do you mean? No! It’s something that you do yourself! Anyone can set up a blog.” I actually had to explain to him that there is no overlord that looks after the blogosphere. There is no official process. You don’t have to ask anyone’s permission to set up a blog. And...