RogiLife.Com

A bust card is available for photographers in the UK who may be stopped and searched, or even detained, under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

“The card has been compiled by photographers with many years experience dealing with the police and stops and searches as well as legal advice from lawyer Anna Mazzola who specialises in public law, human rights, actions against the police and other detaining authorities.”

You can download it from the ‘I am a photographer, not a terrorist‘ website, or to save them some bandwidth feel free to download it from me directly by clicking on this link: UK Photog Bust Card (64k .pdf).

Either way, be sure to read further details regarding the card on this bust card page and also to read the comments on that page as they contain further useful unformation.

Unless there are any last minute changes of plan, Ronnie Biggs will be freed from prison within a matter of days to live out what remains of his life in a care home.

According to Bigg’s solicitor Giovanni di Stefano;

“He knows about this and he’s very pleased and his release is now just a few days away. It’s a brand new home that he will be going to and his son will be only a half a mile away and will be able to visit every day.”

This is good, if long overdue, news in my opinion.

Boa sorte, Ronnie.

An official petition has been launched to call for public photography restrictions imposed by the UK’s Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 to be overturned.

The new legislation, introduced by the UK Government on 16 February, makes it a potential crime to take pictures of police officers and other armed forces. The petition, available on the UK Prime Minister’s website, was launched by photographer Simon Taylor.

‘On the 16th of February, the government passed a law (in the Counter Terrorism Act) making it illegal to take a photograph of a police officer, military personnel or member of the intelligence services – or a photograph which “may be of use for terrorism”. This definition is vague at best, and open to interpretation by the police – who under Home Secretary guidelines can “restrict photography in public places”,’ the petition reads.

‘We call for these vague restrictions to be lifted, as they can easily be misused by the police.’

The 2008 Act amends the Terrorism Act 2000 regarding offences relating to information about members of armed forces, intelligence services and police.

The new set of rules, under section 76 of the 2008 Act and section 58A of the Terrorism Act 2000, will target anyone who ‘elicits or attempts to elicit information about (members of armed forces) which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.

A person found guilty of this offence could be liable to imprisonment for up to 10 years, and to a fine.

To sign the petition, visit the official page at petitions.number10.gov.uk.

According to an ‘expert’ at the Foster family inquest in Britain today, Christopher Foster, the man who shot and killed his wife and daughter after his business failed, was not really such a bad guy. He was simply ‘protecting his family’.

This is the expert’s opinion:

“He sees it almost as a way of protecting his family from the harms that might come to them as a consequence of his changed circumstances.”

Well, I just thought that I’d like to put it out there that before the days of political correctness and makey-uppy expert opinions, we didn’t think of killers as tragic victims of circumstance.

People who killed innocent people were thought of as ‘murderers’. Those who, according to British law, carry out;

‘The unlawful killing of a human being, under the Queen’s Peace, with “malice aforethought“‘.

So please, let’s cut the crap that Christopher Foster was some kind of victim himself – the guy cold-bloodedly blew away his wife and fifteen year old daughter.

Doing that doesn’t mean that he was a tragic, misunderstood, soft-at-heart regular guy – it means that he was evil.

It’s as simple as that.

Ronnie Biggs, the old Great Train Robber, has been moved from his prison cell to a hospital in Norwich, England, as he has pneumonia.

His son Michael has issued another appeal for his father’s release;

“My father is a very sick man who will be 80 this year,” said Mr Biggs, who lives in London. “Why don’t they just show some compassion and free him so he can be with his family? Why waste taxpayers’ money now? My dad isn’t a danger to anyone.”

Back in 2007, Biggs himself issued a statement appealing for release on compassionate grounds;

“I am an old man and often wonder if I truly deserve the extent of my punishment. I have accepted it and only want freedom to die with my family and not in jail. I hope Mr Straw decides to allow me to do that. I have been in jail for a long time and I want to die a free man. I am sorry for what happened. It has not been an easy ride over the years. Even in Brazil I was a prisoner of my own making.”

Biggs undeniably did, whilst on the run, clearly ‘take the piss’ out of the British authorities for years on end (not least by making this ‘No One Is Innocent’ video with the Sex Pistols) and was thus guaranteed to wind up in a world of trouble when he returned to the UK, but hasn’t he done enough time now? I’d say so.

I don’t really have any great sympathy for the old blagger as far as him getting a hard time when he returned, and nor would he expect any – he is a proper old-time criminal, but enough is enough now, no?

It’s not like he was one of the Kray brothers, after all.

Have a heart. Let him out.

Want to help? There is a petition you can sign for Biggs release.