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| Diary: the police cough up over G20 protest abuse. Shame it took three years | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| • Last week we told of veteran campaigner Pat Arrowsmith and her battles with the forces of law which might see the 83-year-old jailed. Now comes better news of another veteran activist, Ernest Rodker. Four years ago the Guardian recounted Rodker's experience at the G20 demo in London during which Ian Tomlinson died. Rodker, then 71, had also been violently knocked to the ground by police in Bishopsgate and complained about his treatment. The Independent Police Complaints Commission found in his favour. "Since then it has taken almost three more years for the police to agree to pay me compensation," said Rodker this week, having just received £9,000. He reckons about 120 others complained about violence that day and wonders if any pursued their claims. It calls for patience and fortitude. Still, at least he survived to see it. | • Last week we told of veteran campaigner Pat Arrowsmith and her battles with the forces of law which might see the 83-year-old jailed. Now comes better news of another veteran activist, Ernest Rodker. Four years ago the Guardian recounted Rodker's experience at the G20 demo in London during which Ian Tomlinson died. Rodker, then 71, had also been violently knocked to the ground by police in Bishopsgate and complained about his treatment. The Independent Police Complaints Commission found in his favour. "Since then it has taken almost three more years for the police to agree to pay me compensation," said Rodker this week, having just received £9,000. He reckons about 120 others complained about violence that day and wonders if any pursued their claims. It calls for patience and fortitude. Still, at least he survived to see it. |
| • Things get personal as the row over IDS's bedroom tax intensifies. In Westminster, where the struggle of haves versus have-nots is fought daily, the debate generates both heat and light. Labour members have taken a good look at the properties owned or occupied by leading Tory advocates of the bedroom tax in their area. They report one senior Tory honcho sitting pretty in a Belgravia property of "4 beds, 2 baths, 2 reception rooms". Estimated value on Zoopla: £4,926,287, up £621,982 in the past year. There's another, similarly snug, "8 beds, 5 baths, 6 reception rooms". And a third local bigwig in a three-bed semi-detached valued at £2,037,045. When life is good, it's very good in Westminster. | • Things get personal as the row over IDS's bedroom tax intensifies. In Westminster, where the struggle of haves versus have-nots is fought daily, the debate generates both heat and light. Labour members have taken a good look at the properties owned or occupied by leading Tory advocates of the bedroom tax in their area. They report one senior Tory honcho sitting pretty in a Belgravia property of "4 beds, 2 baths, 2 reception rooms". Estimated value on Zoopla: £4,926,287, up £621,982 in the past year. There's another, similarly snug, "8 beds, 5 baths, 6 reception rooms". And a third local bigwig in a three-bed semi-detached valued at £2,037,045. When life is good, it's very good in Westminster. |
| • Yes, campaigners aren't afraid to point the finger. Quizzed by the Camden New Journal, director Ken Loach points directly up the Mall. "We have a government introducing a bedroom tax that will see older people thrown out of their lifelong homes because they can't afford to live there. Yet one person who receives massive benefits and lives in a house with many bedrooms is the Queen. Her kids have left home – will she have to pay the bedroom tax?" That really would bring the show to an end. | • Yes, campaigners aren't afraid to point the finger. Quizzed by the Camden New Journal, director Ken Loach points directly up the Mall. "We have a government introducing a bedroom tax that will see older people thrown out of their lifelong homes because they can't afford to live there. Yet one person who receives massive benefits and lives in a house with many bedrooms is the Queen. Her kids have left home – will she have to pay the bedroom tax?" That really would bring the show to an end. |
| • Much excitement in the Westminster Tory heartland, where municipalists are enjoying the local version of the hit play One Man, Two Guvnors. The star on this occasion is Alastair Moss, a lawyer who not only sits on that authority as a Conservative councillor but who last week was also elected on to the City of London corporation. Labour says he should hurry up and do the right thing. "Being a councillor in one city is hard work, but trying to be a councillor in two places is ridiculous," says Labour's Paul Dimoldenberg. But Moss tells us he'll be sticking around until next June, saving, he says, the cost of a by-election and offering both sets of constituents a peerless service. And also shining in his day job. Available for weddings and barmitzvahs, if anyone's interested. | • Much excitement in the Westminster Tory heartland, where municipalists are enjoying the local version of the hit play One Man, Two Guvnors. The star on this occasion is Alastair Moss, a lawyer who not only sits on that authority as a Conservative councillor but who last week was also elected on to the City of London corporation. Labour says he should hurry up and do the right thing. "Being a councillor in one city is hard work, but trying to be a councillor in two places is ridiculous," says Labour's Paul Dimoldenberg. But Moss tells us he'll be sticking around until next June, saving, he says, the cost of a by-election and offering both sets of constituents a peerless service. And also shining in his day job. Available for weddings and barmitzvahs, if anyone's interested. |
| • Over the Channel, where the April Fools' Day release of Carla Bruni's next album risks being overshadowed by the legal woes of her husband, ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy. The ex-supermodel and former first lady faces the annoyance of her carefully choreographed promo schedule being disrupted by the demands of her husband's media advisers. Something of a blow to Bruni, who made no secret of the fact she wanted to relaunch her singing career out of the shadow of the former pres. Still, waste not, want not, so she has used her fourth musical offering to sing the Sarkozy's praises. There's a love song based upon her pet name for him, "Mon Raymond". Quite poignant. "My Raymond is all good. He's authentic. When it comes to crossing the Rubicon none can accuse him of hesitation. My Raymond he is a hunk. He's an H-bomb." They're already humming it in the banlieues. Quite a hit. | • Over the Channel, where the April Fools' Day release of Carla Bruni's next album risks being overshadowed by the legal woes of her husband, ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy. The ex-supermodel and former first lady faces the annoyance of her carefully choreographed promo schedule being disrupted by the demands of her husband's media advisers. Something of a blow to Bruni, who made no secret of the fact she wanted to relaunch her singing career out of the shadow of the former pres. Still, waste not, want not, so she has used her fourth musical offering to sing the Sarkozy's praises. There's a love song based upon her pet name for him, "Mon Raymond". Quite poignant. "My Raymond is all good. He's authentic. When it comes to crossing the Rubicon none can accuse him of hesitation. My Raymond he is a hunk. He's an H-bomb." They're already humming it in the banlieues. Quite a hit. |
| • Finally, a turn up at Westminster coroner's court. Plans to hold closed-door talks about the inquest into the death of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse hoaxed by Australian radio DJs at the hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge, quickly evaporate. Her family asks that the meeting be open. The coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, concurs. She's agreed the hospital be represented and said one nurse will remain unidentified, but acceded reluctantly. Perhaps she read yesterday's diary. Anyway, a good day for transparency. | • Finally, a turn up at Westminster coroner's court. Plans to hold closed-door talks about the inquest into the death of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse hoaxed by Australian radio DJs at the hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge, quickly evaporate. Her family asks that the meeting be open. The coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, concurs. She's agreed the hospital be represented and said one nurse will remain unidentified, but acceded reluctantly. Perhaps she read yesterday's diary. Anyway, a good day for transparency. |
| Twitter: @hugh_muir | Twitter: @hugh_muir |