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Sound:
audio files on 'Hate Crime' and other issues
2. Christian religion: criticism
3. Arise! Church Guide
4. Abuse, safeguarding and the
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employment
'm making a complaint against Alan Billings, the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner. The body which considers complaints and comes to a decision is the Police and Crime Panel. On this page, I'll be giving background material on the Panel, and, also, the Independent Ethics Panel. Much of the material will be in the form of profiles of members of the two panels. Some profiles have already been published, below. I have absolutely no expectation that the Police and Crime Panel would be able and willing to do justice to the issues and would be able to assess the complaint adequately. This is for two reasons: most importantly, the powers of Police and Crime Panels are very limited in this area. The other reason is to do with complex issues which will become much clearer, I'm sure, despite their complexity, as the work I've started continues. The minutes of the Police and Crime Panel are a source of valuable information in this regard. So far, none of the information is included below, but it will be.
Already, there's a great deal of information on the site, for example, my earlier page on the PCC and the two panels includes material on the failure of the Police and Crime Panel to react adequately when Alan Billings was criticized severely in connection with his dismissal of the Chief Constable David Crompton. It contains material on sexual abuse in the Churches and Alan Billings' failure to give the issue the attention it deserves. It contains material on 'hate crime.' Alan Billings has actively promoted a particular course of action which can leave South Yorkshire Police very vulnerable. Pursuit of 'hate crime' has to depend on evidence, which takes time to collect - it seems that this need for evidence before action has not been appreciated sufficiently by Alan Billings or South Yorkshire Police. The cases described in the column to the right illustrate some possible consequences of ignoring the need for evidence. This issue has already been discussed on the site but it will need much more thorough discussion - even though Alan Billings seems to have ignored the realities, I think it's very, very likely that he will not be able to evade these realities indefinitely.
Councillor Rukhsana Haleem
Labour, Chair, Rotherham MBC
Councillor Clive Pickering
Labour, Vice-Chair, Barnsley MBC
Councillor Tim Baum-Dixon
Conservative, Rotherham MBC
Councillor Roger Davison
Liberal Democrats, Sheffield City Council
Councillor Tony Downing
Labour, Sheffeld City Council
Councillor Peter Garbutt
Green Party, Sheffield City Council
Councillor Sue Knowles
Labour, Doncaster MBC
Councillor Ruth Milsom
Labour, Sheffield City Council
Councillor Janine Moyes
Labour, Barnsley MBC
Councillor Cynthia Ransome
Conservative, Doncaster MBC
Warren Carratt
Independent Co-opted Member
There will be no further material on this page (or any other page of the site) on Councillor Janine Moyes and on William Carratt, the Independent Co-opted Member, for reasons to do with earlier provision of information.
Ann Macaskill (Chair)
Michael Lewis
Janet Wheatley
Mick Hood
Sheila Wright
Alice Raven
Elizabeth Smart
A copy of the profile of Professor Ann Macaskill is provided in my page on Universities, in the second column of the page, the section Sheffield Hallam University.
I intend to add a profile of Professor Elizabeth Smart to this page and
my page on Universities. My main source of information will be minutes of
the Independent Ethics Panel. The page 'Meetings, Agendas and Minutes'
https://southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk/what-we-do/iep/meetings-agendas-minutes/
provides minutes for the meetings of the Independent Ethics Panel. Minutes are provided for the meeting of 16 December, 2020, the date when Elizabeth Smart seems to have begun to attend meetings as a member of the panel, but there are no records of the minutes of any later meeting. This deficiency is one that needs to be addressed. Until it is addressed, publication of a profile will have to be delayed.
This is very similar to the 'Billingsgate Challenge,' on my page Billingsgate. The questions on the Billingsgate page will in general be longer - sometimes much longer - than any of the questions here, although in both cases, there will often be explanatory material and information to accompany the questions, generally much longer than the actual questions. Some of the questions here will relate to the Billingsgate questions. I'd be very surprised if any of the questions, Billingsgate questions or Panel questions, actually get an answer, of course.
1. A short extract from the explanatory material and information provided with Question 2 on the Billingsgate page, followed by a Panel question.
[After giving a quotation from a sermon delivered by Dr Billings at St Mary's Church, Sheffield
https://stmaryswalkley.co.uk/we-walk-on-holy-ground-14th-february-2021-the-sunday-next-before-lent/ ]
'The Revd Canon obviously has not just a high opinion of Moses but believes that Moses has a very high place in the history of God's revelation. This is a You tube video published by the Rock Christian Centre, the place he attended to mark the relaunch of the Christian Police Association - the Fundamentalist Christian Police Association.
The text which is spoken (Leviticus 20) is provided in written form.'
I gave extracts from the text, including this
[1] The Lord said to Moses, [2] "Say to the Israelites: 'Any Israelite or any alien living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the community are to stone him.
and this:
[13] " 'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
and this:
[27] " 'A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.' "
I concluded with these questions:
Is Alan Billings certain that this can't possibly amount to thought crime or hate speech because it appears in The Bible, 'the word of God.' Is it impossible for the word of God to be hateful? Can he really claim that all the instances of thought crime or hate speech dealt with by South Yorkshire Police, with his active encouragement, are more hateful than any of this?
Questions for the Panels: Do you think that endorsing the commands here doesn't amount to hate crime, couldn't possibly be described as a form of hate crime, is nothing like the 'hate crime' for which sanctions have been imposed by South Yorkshire Police or do you take a different view? If an open-air preacher or a preacher in a Church quotes any of this and urges hearers to take the texts to heart and urges schools and other institutions to use the 'teaching' (in modified form, to suit the very different circumstances of the present day) could the preacher be accused of hate crime? Is the policy of South Yorkshire Police and the policy advocated by Dr Billings reasonably consistent and defensible?
2. Another issue, one not discussed in the Billingsgate page, from another Rock Christian Centre video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVYyY2FX4d4
Deuteronomy 20, the same questions.
[10] When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. [11] If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. [12] If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. [13] When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. [14] As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. [15] This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby. [16] However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. [17] Completely destroy them---the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites---as the Lord your God has commanded you.
Questions for the Panels: Do you think that endorsing the commands here doesn't amount to hate crime, couldn't possibly be described as a form of hate crime, is nothing like the 'hate crime' for which sanctions have been imposed by South Yorkshire Police or do you take a different view? If an open-air preacher or a preacher in a Church quotes any of this and urges hearers to take the texts to heart, even though the commands aren't applicable to present day conditions, could the preacher be accused of hate crime? Is the policy of South Yorkshire Police and the policy advocated by Dr Billings reasonably consistent and defensible?
3. These question concerns a situation not too dissimilar from the one which forms the basis of Question 2. Further information in the section on this page Councillor Abdul Khayum, the former Chair of the Police and Crime Panel. Extract from the section:
A LABOUR Councillor who is also a practising magistrate has been placed under official investigation over social media posts calling for the violent annihilation of Israel.
Cllr Abdul Khayum, who sits on Sheffield City Council, is being investigated by Labour over a series of shocking posts, including the sharing of a pro-Islamic terrorist video that depicts graphic violence and reads: “O Allah, destroy Israel.
Do you think that Councillor Abdul Khayum could never have been accused of hate crime or investigated for hate crime? Has 'hate crime' been defined in sufficient detail? Are there anomalies, serious or otherwise? Does the position of the person make a difference when deciding whether to investigate a person for possible hate crime or deciding on the sanction, if found guilty? Would chairing the Police and Crime Panel have any importance as a criterion? When a person is investigated for possible 'hate crime,' how thorough is the process? How thorough is the available documentation which guides the process? Where is the documentation to be found?
3. From the Website of the Rock Christian Centre
http://www.rockchristiancentre.org/why-christianity/
the section on Islam:
'The Law of God shows us that the best of us is nothing but a wicked criminal, standing guilty and condemned before the throne of a perfect and holy Judge. When that is understood, then our “righteous deeds” are actually seen as an attempt to bribe the Judge of the Universe. The Bible says that because of our guilt, anything we offer God for our justification (our acquittal from His courtroom) is an abomination to Him, and only adds to our crimes.'
There were many possible venues which could have been chosen for the occasion which marked the relaunch of the Christian Police Association, attended by the Police and Crime Commissioner, Sergeant Kirkham - the subject of my complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct - and the then Chief Constable. But to be taken into account, the fact that the theological views of the Christian Police Association are very similar to the views of the Rock Christian Centre.
Do you think that this was a suitable venue?
Do the non-Christian members of the Police and Crime Panel and the Independent Ethics Panel mind if they are regarded as attempting 'to bribe the Judge of the Universe?' Could this passage be regarded as amounting to 'Hate Crime?' Does it present a view of non-Christians which is hateful? Was Dr Billings supporting / endorsing / implicitly or explicitly giving the impression that the Rock Christian Centre is free from any trace of hatefulness?
Profiles of panel members and
more on the Police and Crime Commissioner / Commissar
Clicking on a highlighted entry in the list takes you to the
profile. Clicking on the rail, the thin band at page-left, takes you back
to top of page.
South Yorkshire
Ruth Milsom, member of the PCC Police and
Crime Panel and Sheffield Hallam Labour Party. The Jeremy Corbyn
Connection.
Peter Garbutt, member of the PCC Police and Crime
Panel and Sheffield Green Party. Includes a supplementary section, 'Some
deficiencies of the Green Party, with material on mining.'
Rukhsana Haleem, present Chair of the South
Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel
Abdul Khayum, former Chair of the South Yorkshire PCC
Police and Crime Panel and Labour Councillor (was under investigation
for social media post) With supplementary material on the
anti-semitic views of some Labour Party members.
Alan Billings and a long-running case in Rotherham
The site contains this:
Consensus
Always emphasise that the most effective panels promote consensus and shared understanding. The committee must not become a battleground between members of different parties. To that end, cross-party working is essential.
From published comments of Ruth Milsom - I've examined quite a large number - she would likely be the member least likely to be equipped for cross-party working. Her distaste for 'Tories' seems obvious. I've no evidence that she's treated Panel meetings as a chance to do battle with members from other parties, particularly 'Tories,' from the minutes I've consulted. Minutes, of course, don't convey tone of voice. They tend to give the impression that discussion proceeds in a calm and ordered way. Minutes are evidence, but very selective evidence.
Panel minutes are important.
From
https://moderngov.cheshireeast.gov.uk/
ecminutes/documents/s66816/Appendix%20I.pdf
Panels are public committees and are required to publish their agendas and minutes. It will be through these documents that the public will be able to evaluate the performance of the PCC ...
I would think that the minutes of Panel meetings give material for evaluating the effectiveness of the Panel in scrutinizing the actions of the PCC and holding the PCC to account, rather than material for evaluating the performance of the PCC. If a Panel is weak and acquiescent and fails to scrutinize the actions of the PCC adequately or to hold the PCC adequately, then the PCC is likely to appear in a better light.
From the many minutes of the South Yorkshire Police and Crime
Panel which I've consulted, I take a very critical view of their overall
effectiveness in scrutinizing the PCC and holding the PCC to account.
The panel has multiple failures to account for, in my view.
There are errors of commission and errors of omission. The errors of
omission are significant. In future profiles of members of the
Police and Crime Panel and the Independent Ethics Panel I'll make
comments on members who seem to be 'panel passengers,' people who seem
to make very little contribution to the work of the panel. This is a
complex area, so it will probably involve a great deal of work for me.
Other aspects of Ruth Milsom's work:
Ruth Milsom signed a document which called on the Labour Party National Executive NOT to adopt the examples which accompany the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism into the party's code of conduct on antisemitism. More on this issue below.
Some of the examples given on the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Website
https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/
resources/working-definitions-charters/working-definition-antisemitism
Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:
Like Peter Garbutt, another member of the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, she did not vote for a Proposal, with amendment, to adopt the definition of antisemitism of the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The motion and the amendment were carried.
She has written,
' I wanted to see the party adopt a more radical anti-austerity stance and oppose the Tories with real strength of purpose, which is why I campaigned for Jeremy Corbyn to become leader.'
https://labourhallam.org.uk/news/2018/12/16/hallam-members-select-new-parliamentary-candidate/
documents Olivia Blake's gratitude on being selected as
candidate for the constituency.
Thanks so much to Sheffield Hallam members. Together, we will win the seat and elect a Labour Government led by Jeremy Corbyn to transform our country.
'Together we will win the seat and elect a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn.' It's not 'Sheffield Hallam members' who have the power to 'elect a Labour Government led by Jeremy Corbyn.' It's the electorate who have the power to elect a party led by Jeremy Corbyn or a party led by somebody else, including an anti-Corbyn leader, or to elect another party completely. Is she less confident now? Has she had to change her mind?
She was successful in becoming Labour Member of Parliament for the constituency (one of the most affluent in the country, as is well known) but so far, Sheffield Hallam members haven't been successful in electing a Labour Government led by Jeremy Corbyn' or anyone else.
Olivia Blake is completely right about one thing, though: if a Labour government led by JC had come to power (I won't stress the coincidence that Jeremy Corbyn has the initials 'JC,' the same as another Saviour Figure who comes to mind) the country would certainly have been transformed. Of course, political transformations (and the changes that depend upon them, such as economic transformations) can be very successful, wholly for the good (not very common) or disappointing or disastrous (far more common.)
So far, Jeremy Corbyn hasn't been been given the chance to transform the country - by, for example, taking the country out of NATO, decimating the country's defences, making opposition to Israel official government policy,, support for groups in the Middle East with terrorist connections, and so much else. His record includes support or sympathy with the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah. If JC had tried it on, he would quickly have been defeated by the realities. The country would probably have been transfused (and transformed) by an upsurge of revulsion against him, against what he stands for, against the party, or a section of the party, which had allowed itself to be duped by this charlatan.
The document signed by Ruth Milsom
https://lettertolabournec.wordpress.com/
2018/08/11/open-letter-to-the-national-executive-committee-of-th-labour-party/
includes this:
'Dear members of the NEC,
As members of the Labour Party, we, the undersigned, call on the party’s National Executive Committee to resist calls to adopt all eleven examples accompanying the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism into the party’s code of conduct on antisemitism.'
Ruth Milsom - consider the benefits of a historical perspective - recent history as well as less recent history, remote history. This is an extract from my page Israel and the Palestinians which includes material on the Holocaust.
Below, Olivia Blake posing with Palestinian flag.
The
Below, Jeremy Corbyn posing with Palestinian flags.
Some findings of the Pew Research Center, a reputable
polling organization:
Stoning to death for adultery may not be practised in the
Palestinian territories but 84% of Palestinians support the
punishment.
The conviction that a woman must always obey her
husband is widely held, with 87% support in the
Palestinian territories.
Support in Gaza for suicide bombings has declined but 62% of people in Gaza still believe that suicide bombings are often justified or sometimes justified to protect Islam. This is the highest level of support in the Islamic world.
66% of people in the
Palestinian territories believe in execution for those
who leave Islam.
There is widespread
Palestinian support for such cruel punishments as
amputation of the hand. 76% of people in the Palestinian
territories support these punishments.
(The statistics relate to opinions at the time of the survey, conducted in 2013. I find no evidence of widespread liberalization since then. Homosexuality is still illegal in Gaza.
'The last time the Labour Party picked a candidate for
Sheffield Hallam, they made the disastrous choice of Jared O'
Mara, who proudly proclaimed 'Jared stands in support of
Palestine' not long before he abandoned his constituents. (More
about this below.)
At the time that this publicity photo was taken, did Olivia Blake know that in Gaza, unlike Israel, homosexuality is illegal? LGBT gay pride events are common in Israel but - this may come as a surprise to Olivia Blake - LGBT gay pride events aren't in the least common in the Palestinian territories. They never take place there, they would be unthinkable. Sheffield City Council goes out of its way to show its support for the LGBT cause and here is one of the elected councillor, now an MP endorsing and supporting a state which criminalizes and persecutes homosexuals.
Extract from an email I sent to Councillor Blake:
In a fifteen month period, the current MP, Jared O' Mara,
discussed, or mentioned, on his Website only one international
matter, the Palestinian issue, and declared his support for the
Palestinian cause. His Website page can't, or shouldn't be
consulted, as it poses a security threat to computer systems.
It's certain that if elected, you'd be a vastly more competent MP than Jared O' Mara but it seems that Israel-Palestinian matters have dominated your statements on international affairs too. There's a photograph of you holding a Palestinian flag with a group of pro-Palestinian activists. The May Day rally which took place in Sheffield on Saturday May 4 included a group of pro-Palestinian activists holding a banner with the slogan 'Stop Arming Israel.'
I give reasons on my Website page why this slogan is deluded ... '
From an article published 2 May
2017 on the selection of Jared O' Mara as the Hallam
Constituency Labour candidate.
https://www.jusnews.net/labour-picks-disability-campaigner-jared-omara-to-challenge-nick-clegg-in-sheffield-hallam/
'Jane Thomas, the constituency chair, said it was
good that Labour had selected a young, local candidate for
the seat.'
'Hallam votes came close to electing a Labour MP in 2015. Once again we have a strong, Sheffield candidate who is committed to serving the people of Hallam.'
'Committed to serving the people of Hallam.' How wrong she was.
From
an article written by Jane Thomas, 2 August, 2019 on the
subject 'What Labour should learn from Jared O' Mara's
selection
https://labourlist.org/2019/08/what-labour-should-learn-from-jared-omaras-selection/
'Hallam
activists (some of whom have campaigned for 50 years to get
a Labour MP) are angry, demotivated or both. Our
enthusiastic newer members see their campaigning efforts
wasted. Our constituency is deprived of a functioning MP,
with casework not being undertaken. And probably a crucial
Labour gain is lost for some time.'
From the page
https://www.labouragainstthewitchhunt.org/
campaigns/has-the-labour-witch-hunt-climaxed/
Why ... have they got it in for comrade Rock? He has played an important role in organising the left across Sheffield and has made plenty of enemies in the process. Together with former Labour NEC member, Unite’s Martin Mayer, he has set up Sheffield Labour Left List, which organises the left across all six local Constituency Labour Parties (this has become even more important since Momentum Sheffield has been taken over by the pro-Lansman right). He was also a key figure campaigning for Jared O’Mara, the first Labour MP ever elected in Sheffield Hallam, transforming the local CLP in the process, which is now firmly in the hands of the left.
[Bold lettering supplied by me.]
And now for some more information about Jared O' Mara, from Wikipedia. This is very much supplementary material. Additional information, which has been given wide publicity: on 9 February, 2023, he was sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment following his conviction for fraud.
Ruth Milsom, who was a supporter of Momentum, the left wing pressure group which allowed anti-semitism to flourish in its ranks and who is, or was, a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn - I'd be very surprised if she still is - would do well to reflect on the calamitous career of Jared O' Mara, who is, or was, a supporter of Momentum and who is, or was, a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn. If Jared O' Mara is still a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn and still a supporter of Momentum, I wouldn't be at all surprised.
Former supporters of the defunct Momentum movement, former supporters of the discredited Jeremy Corbyn can quickly have their mistakes forgotten. I think that Councillor Milsom may well be in this category. I think it's good that some of them should be reminded from time to time of past mistakes. I also think that people can move on and put the past behind them, although not in all cases.
There are mistakes which should be overlooked, forgiven, forgotten, big mistakes as well as small mistakes - but not mistakes which are horrific, like the mistakes - far more than mistakes - of Einsatzgruppen execution squads in the Nazi era.
The rest of the material in this section, on Jared O' Mara, is Supplementary Material
The material on Jared O' Mara below (extracted from Wikipedia) is strong stuff, but there are likely to be people who will make excuses for him or suppose that he's simply a victim himself. Hallam Labour Party didn't choose the candidate, in this case. But did they do much to correct the disastrous situation or were they ineffectual - useless? If they can claim to have worked tirelessly to rescue the situation, then I haven't been able to find the evidence.
Elected at the 2017
general election for
the Labour
Party, O'Mara
unexpectedly won the seat from former Liberal
Democrat Deputy Prime
Minister Nick
Clegg.
In
October 2017, it was revealed that O'Mara had posted misogynistic, racist and homophobic online
comments before he became an MP.
He resigned from the Women
and Equalities Select Committee,
and was suspended from the Labour Party. After being briefly
reinstated, he resigned from the Labour Party in July
2018. He missed key Brexit votes
in the House of Commons, and showed what was described by an
aide as "vile, inexcusable contempt" for constituents who
called for his resignation.
In July 2019, O'Mara was accused of corruption and sexual harassment. His office was raided by police, and he was arrested but released without charge. He stood down at the December 2019 general election. In September 2021, O'Mara pleaded not guilty to seven counts of fraud by false representation and an additional charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Prior to being elected, O'Mara had stood as a Labour
candidate in various Sheffield council elections. He
supported Jeremy
Corbyn's election as Leader
of the Labour Party in 2015 and 2016. At
the 2017
generalelection,
O'Mara was selected for the constituency of Sheffield Hallam
in an emergency selection process for the snap election
under the control of the National
Executive Committee and
regional boards, rather than by the local constituency
party. The seat had been held by former Liberal
Democrat leader and Deputy
Prime Minister Nick
Clegg.
His campaign benefited from a
national surge in the Labour vote and from university
students in the constituency.
A Progress and Momentum supporter,
O'Mara was backed by them during the election campaign. He
won the seat with a majority of 2,125 votes, overturning
Clegg's previous majority of 2,353 votes.
O'Mara became a member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee in September 2017. However, a series of misogynistic and homophobic online comments posted by O'Mara over a decade before he became an MP were revealed by the Guido Fawkes site on 23 October 2017. He commented about the Girls Aloud pop group: "I advise you to sack Sarah and the remaining four members (Nicola, Cheryl, Nadine and Kimberley) come have an orgy with me"; and said the 2003 winner of Pop Idol, Michelle McManus, had "only won because she was fat".He had also referred to gay men as "poofters" and "fudge packers", and referred to jazz musician Jamie Cullum as a "conceited cunt" who should be "sodomised with his own piano" O'Mara apologised "if his comments caused offence" and resigned from the Women and Equalities Select Committee. In a later speech, O'Mara said the homophobic words he used were part of an Eminem record he listened to at the time.
It ... emerged that he had been posting derogatory comments about children in Sheffield and appeared to advocate corporal punishment to deal with delinquent youth. Following the emergence of the comments to Evans, the Labour Party announced an investigation into O'Mara's conduct but stopped short of suspending him from the party.
Further revelations were made public on 25 October 2017. He
was found to have used racist insults on a Morrissey fan
site in 2002, saying that Danes were
"pig shaggers" who "practised bestiality"
and referring to Spaniards as
"dagos". O'Mara,
when reviewing the Arctic
Monkeys in November
2004, made several sexual comments including how "sexy
little slags" danced to the band's songs. These revelations
resulted in O'Mara being suspended from the Labour Party and
therefore having the party whip withdrawn] After
the party whip was suspended, O'Mara cancelled his
constituency surgery and would not speak publicly again for
some months afterwards. It also came to light that O'Mara
was a member of a band called Dirty Rotten Troubadours. A
song by the band emerged, allegedly sung by O'Mara,
contained the lyrics: "I wish I were a misogynist / I'd put
her in her place / I wish I were a misogynist / I'd smash
her in her face."
After facing calls from his constituents to resign, O'Mara likened them to "a hooligan on the terraces threatening the referee whilst drinking flat lager and smelling of processed meats."
On 3
July 2018, it was announced that O'Mara would be readmitted
to the Labour Party, following a review by its National
Executive Committee disputes
panel. This review had decided to issue O'Mara a formal
warning with a mandatory requirement to attend training,
rather than refer the issue to the National Constitutional
Committee which has the power to expel members.
On 12 July 2018, O'Mara announced his resignation from the Labour Party. He said that he had "not been listened to or given a fair investigation" following his suspension, and that the party "no longer shares [his] commitment to the true definition of equality and compassion." Offering to help constituents with casework, he suggested that he would not step down as an MP. Despite his resignation, the Labour Party affirmed that it would continue to provide support for O'Mara; this was on the orders of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was concerned for O'Mara's welfare. In October 2018, O'Mara said the Labour Party had only made one adjustment for him, namely moving his office closer to the Commons chamber.
In
March 2019, two of his aides resigned; he fired a further
two members of staff, and a fifth resigned in
solidarity. Three of the aides later took O'Mara to an employment
tribunal over claims
regarding holiday entitlement and breach of contract. After
they accused him of using his mental health as an excuse to
avoid difficult situations, he accused one of the aides of
being "ableist".
On
27 July 2019, it was reported that O'Mara had sexually
harassed a 20-year-old
employee. O'Mara had sent WhatsApp messages
to the employee, often late at night, in which he revealed
his love for her, calling her "an angel", "a delicate little
flower" and "effortlessly pretty". In a separate message to
his constituency staff, O'Mara accused the Liberal Democrat
prospective parliamentary candidate for his seat of
believing in eugenics, and claimed that she had repressed
sexual feelings for him.
Following the staff resignations, in May 2019, O'Mara hired blogger and digital marketer Gareth Arnold as his new chief of staff.
On 23 July 2019, Arnold announced his resignation on O'Mara's Twitter account and criticised the MP.Arnold said that O'Mara was "the most disgustingly morally bankrupt person [he had] ever had the displeasure of working with" and had shown "vile, inexcusable contempt" for his constituents. He told O'Mara to call a by-election.
An investigation by the BBC revealed that Arnold was still working for O'Mara two weeks following his resignation, having "extended his notice period", and that staff hired in O'Mara's office had not received the security clearance required by parliamentary authorities.
Arnold referred O'Mara to the police in July 2019 over his
expenses, after which the police raided O'Mara's office,
seizing documents and computers. In mid-August 2019, O'Mara
and Arnold were arrested on suspicion of fraud but released
a day later subject to further investigation. In the criminal
prosecution after
O'Mara left office, Arnold was jointly charged with six of
O'Mara's fraud offences.
In October 2019, one of O'Mara's constituents made a formal complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, alleging O'Mara had failed to act in the public interest and had used public money for his own benefit, and calling for a full investigation into his affairs.
In
July 2019, O'Mara said he would stand for re-election at the
next general election, but later said he would stand down
from the House
of Commons after the
2019 parliamentary summer recess. He voted for the "Letwin
amendment" and against the government during the special
sitting of Parliament on 19 October 2019. Postponing his
resignation until after October 2019,[101] he
eventually stood down at the December 2019
general election.He
was succeeded as MP for Sheffield Hallam by Olivia
Blake, the Labour
Party candidate.
In April 2021, the Parliamentary Independent Expert Panel, which determines "appeals and sanctions in cases where complaints have been brought against MPs of bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct under the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS)" removed O'Mara's right to hold a Parliamentary Pass, meaning that he lost access to the Palace of Westminster. The report found that Ms Jennifer Barnes, who reported him, "felt and was subject to escalating behaviours that constitute sexual harassment" by O'Mara and determined that
“in light of the aggravating features, in particular the lack of remorse or insight and the refusal to engage, that the withdrawal of the Responder’s [O'Mara's] right to a pass is the only appropriate and proportionate sanction that will mark the seriousness of the misconduct, address the harm caused to the Reporter by the Responder’s misconduct, and send a signal about the misconduct which declares and upholds standards of behaviour.”
On
19 August 2021, the Crown
Prosecution Service announced
that O'Mara had been charged with seven counts of fraud by
false representation. On 24 September 2021, O'Mara pleaded
not guilty to seven counts of fraud
by false representation and
an additional charge under the Proceeds
of Crime Act.
In January 2023, on the first day of his trial at Leeds Crown Court, prosecutors alleged that O'Mara had attempted to claim falsely nearly £30,000 in a bid to fund "a significant cocaine habit". £19,400 of the claims related to a fictitious charity, Confident About Autism South Yorkshire. Additionally, O'Mara was accused of providing invoices and contracts to his constituency staff for work they never completed. Arnold, who referred O'Mara to the police for the expenses in July 2019, was jointly charged with six of O'Mara's fraud offences.
In the section on Ruth Milsom, also a member of the PCC Police and Crime Panel, I gave a link to the Website of the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. It includes examples of antisemitism in public life. Sheffield City Council voted to
Adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism in a motion and an amendment. Peter Garbutt and Ruth Milsom did not vote for the motion or the amendment. More on the Sheffield City Council proposal and vote below.
Some of the examples given on the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Website
https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/
resources/working-definitions-charters/working-definition-antisemitism
Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:
From the Sheffield City Council site
https://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=20026
Notice of Motion Regarding "Adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism " - Given By Councillor Adam Hurst and To Be Seconded By Councillor Paul Wood
That this Council:-
(a) recognises the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism as: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
(b) notes that the working definition has become the standard definition used around the world;
(c) notes that this definition has been adopted by the UK Government, European Parliament, the UK College of Policing, the US Department of State, the US Senate and the 31 countries comprising the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance; and
(d) formally adopts the official and international recognised working definition of antisemitism for this city.
Supplementary material: some deficiencies of the Green Party, with material on mining.
Of course, it's impossible to do justice to such an extensive field as the deficiencies of the Green Party in a short space. On the site, there's a much more extensive page on the same issue, but it can't possibly do justice to the issues. The title of the page is A short introduction to some simple - and simplistic - green views.' The page has an introduction which gives information about my practice, including this: 'My practice is much closer to green purism ... than its opposite, whatever name it's given. I follow 'green' practices but point out the problems and difficulties of green practice.'
I've carried out extensive work in various 'green' techniques and I'd even claim I've made advances in various ways, for example, in composting, water collecting and water conservation. The current Google ranking for the site for the search term composting water collecting is 1 / 54,400,000.
I include in a section below an extract from a piece I wrote many years ago. I include in this section most of the remainder of the piece:
Catherine Bailey's 'Black Diamonds: the Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty
To seek the well-being of South Yorkshire, it's necessary to understand its distinctive qualities, the distinctive and often very different qualities of the city and the towns, villages settlements and countryside where these histories have been forged. A necessary starting point, if we have any feeling for history and knowledge of history, is recognition of the fact that for many or most of its people, massive deprivation and suffering over the centuries has been the norm, on a different scale from modern deprivation and suffering. I view the preoccupation, on the part of some people, with much more minor difficulties, as cause for concern. To say that every region has its strengths and weaknesses is platitudinous but to recognize the weaknesses is far from being a routine matter. Very important - the recognition that not all problems can be solved, that often, attempts are made to solve problems which have practically no realistic chance of working, the recognition that often success is incomplete, the importance of eliminating utopianism without eliminating realistic hope.
This entry is in close proximity to the short profile of This entry is in close proximity to the short profile of a former Chair of the Police and Crime panel, Abdul Khayum. I make it clear that I have absolutely no evidence of anti-semitic language in the case of Councillor Haleem. This entry is about one aspect of her Moslem beliefs and the disturbing recklessness and cluelessness, as I see it, of some language and actions of Dr Billings. I don't present anything like full evidence here, only a brief mention of mistakes - as I see the matter - of Dr Billings which are discussed much more fuller on other pages.
I've argued that Dr Billings has promoted the Christian view of Christmas in some official pages. He obviously regards the birth of Christ as the coming of the divine into human life on earth. I take it that he holds Trinitarian views, according to which Jesus Christ is the second person of the Godhead. Christmas is very widely celebrated in this country - by non-Christians as well as Christians. The non-Christians are far more likely to send Christmas cards with no religious associations, for example, with pictures of holly, Father Christmas, snowy scenes, Christmas tree decorations and lights, Christmas presents.
Dr Billings used - misused - his official position by publishing two articles with explicitly Christian themes, naming two Gospels of the New Testament.
I am sure you would not accept Dr Billings' Christian view of Christmas. I do not know if you share my view that his promotion of Christian belief was very unwise. It isn't only atheists and agnostics who do not share his view of Christmas but believers of other religions.
Supplementary material. In his book 'Secular Lives, Sacred Hearts,' published in 2004, a long time before he became the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner,' he wrote, in the chapter 'Conclusions,'
'Churches should look for imaginative ways of making the building more accessible and helpful to people ... Here are some suggestions:
Invite the local secondary school to create a series of stations of the cross which can be displayed around the building during Lent and Holy Week. (If sufficient notice is given, art and design departments will often welcome projects that take them into the community.'
There are Church of England and Roman Catholic faith schools which have been given very great power to impose Christian doctrine, Christian services, Christian prayer on pupils who come from non-Christian families - these schools are not just for children from Christian families. There's a vast number of possible art projects, the range of possible subjects is very, very wide - nature, wildlife ... Dr Billings' suggestion was not 'helpful' but an excuse for extending the influence of the Churches.
See also the chapter 'Why people want babies christened' ... but all the chapters of the book are written from a perspective which takes no note of objections to Christianity and the beliefs of people with other beliefs.
Dr Billings isn't a sophisticated user of the media to promote his beliefs and to foster his reputation, such as it is, as writer on Christianity. He hasn't been able to conceal his motives, which are ulterior motives, surely.
On the site, I have a discussion of his article of 16 December, 2022,
Police forces should be ‘woke’ as it helps them understand the communities they serve - Alan Billings
Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour (Matt 25.13). That verse sums up the Church’s pre-Christmas season of Advent: it is all about being alert and awake. We could say being ‘woke’.
The verse quoted, from the Gospel according to Matthew, is part of the 'evidence' used by Christian believers (including Christian dogmatists) to justify belief in the Second Coming of Jesus, coming in judgment.
I take it that Moslem believers would not accept the Christian interpretation which Dr Billings tries to convey. What makes it even more ridiculous and damaging - far more ridiculous and damaging - is the fact that he uses the verse to promote 'woke' views. Does Rukhsana Haleem accept those 'woke' views? In all the lists of woke views I've seen, I wouldn't accept most of those views. This is a matter which needs more detailed discussion. For the time being, I don't provide more detailed discussion.
From the site
'A Labour Party councillor in Sheffield is reportedly under investigation for allegedly posting on social media: 'O Allah, destroy Israel. O Allah, have mercy on us Muslims.'
This site gives more detailed information
https://vote-watch.com/another-labour-councillor-placed-under-investigation-for-antisemitism/
A LABOUR Councillor who is also a practising magistrate has been placed under official investigation over social media posts calling for the violent annihilation of Israel.
Cllr Abdul
Khayum, who sits on Sheffield City Council, is
being investigated by Labour over a series of
shocking posts, including the sharing of a
pro-Islamic terrorist video that depicts graphic
violence and reads: “O Allah, destroy Israel. O
Allah, have mercy on us Muslims.”
Another
post shared a picture of a group holding the
Palestinian flag and treading on the Israeli
flag.
A spokesperson
for the Labour Party said:
“The Labour Party takes all complaints of
antisemitism extremely seriously and they are
fully investigated in line with our rules and
procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary
action is taken.”
I haven't been able to find any information about the result of
the reported investigation.
The Police and Crime Panel is supposed to hold the Police and
Crime Commissioner to account and to scrutinize the words and
actions of the Commissioner.
Supplementary material: Another post on the same site gives revealing information about one individual who is supposed to 'scrutinize,' in his case, not as a member of a Police and Crime Panel.
From the page
A LABOUR Councillor from Tower Hamlets has been promoted to the position of Chair of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny committee, despite having been previously suspended for engaging in antisemitism on social media.
Councillor Mohammed Pappu, who represents the Blackwall and Cubitt Town ward, was suspended by the Labour Party back in 2018 after sharing a series of vile and antisemitic posts and bigoted conspiracy theories.
One post shared and supported by the councillor claimed that Israel had carried out the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as the London bombings and the ISIS-backed attacks in Paris.
Other posts included antisemitic tropes regarding allegations of Jews ‘running the world’, accusing Britain of attacking Syria ‘to install a Rothschild bank’ ...
Yet despite party leader Sir Keir Starmer claiming that Labour would be taking a zero tolerance approach towards antisemitism, Pappu now joins the growing number of Councillors to not only be reinstated, but promoted into a further position of influence.
And more supplementary material, from the page
A COUNCILLOR who was suspended for antisemitism is still being promoted as a member of the Labour Party and has been included as a signatory in a letter urging the British government to condemn Israel.
Councillor Tasleem Fazal from Blackburn and Darwen Council, was suspended in 2020 after a video emerged on social media in which he can be heard hurling a barrage of abuse at Jewish protestors speaking out against antisemitism.
Posted by the now deactivated account “CH Tassy Fazal”, Fazal is recorded yelling at a group of demonstrators holding Israeli flags and “peace for Israel and Gaza” signs, calling them “murderers, murderers, murderers… you’re all murderers”.
From the page
OVER half of Labour’s sitting councillors on Peterborough City Council have dramatically been suspended by the Labour Party for sharing and promoting antisemitism and extremism.
The Councillors – the majority of whom VoteWatch exposed as having used convicted vote-rigger Tariq Mahmood to win their seats – have a history of being mired in scandal. Yet today, the vile group finally paid the price for their bigotry and hate.
Fourteen members have been suspended in total, by both Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Labour CLP’s. Among them are the following:
Councillor Ansar Ali, Richard Strangward, Cllr Angus Ellis, Colin and Linda Watson, Cllr Samantha Hemraj, Kit Hubback, Cllrs Mahboob Hemraj, Cllr Shabina Qayyum, Cllr Aasiayah Joseph, and Cllr Mohammed Jamil.
Cllr Qayyum has frequently been exposed by VoteWatch for incidents including harassing local residents, being accused of postal vote fraud, and for tagging a vile holocaust denier into her official campaign posts on social media.
All were found to have shared antisemitic content, including the claim that Jews were carrying out ‘the final solution’ in Palestine. Others shared a vile video from an Islamic extremist and hate preacher who is banned from entering the UK.
Prominent Labour activists in Peterborough – Richard Strangward, Alan Gasparutti and Colin and Linda Watson – are also said to have been suspended, with VoteWatch having exclusively exposed candidate Gasparutti as having made numerous hateful comments on social media, including supporting the IRA and claiming ‘terrorism brings peace’.
From another site
Labour has been plunged into a fresh anti-semitism row after the Jewish Labour Movement withdrew their support for the party's Peterborough by-election candidate.
Lisa Forbes
was forced to apologize over the weekend after it emerged she had liked a Facebook post earlier this year which claimed Theresa May had a "Zionist Slave Masters agenda".
She also said she had "enjoyed" reading a thread which claimed Isis was created by the CIA and Mossad.
It was also discovered that Ms Forbes signed a letter calling on Labour bosses to reject the adoption of the International Holocaust Rememberance Alliance definition of anti-semitism.
Ms Forbes, who is battling to win the seat in Thursday's by-election after previous Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was forced out after being jailed for perverting the course of justice, vowed to "deepen her understanding" after the posts were uncovered by freelance reporter Iggy Ostanin.
...
The move comes after leading Jewish groups, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council, hit back at Ms Forbes saying her claim that she didn't see the words on the posts "stretches the limits of incredulity".
They added: "We are fed up hearing that Labour opposes anti-Semitism while repeatedly hearing excuses that its members accidentally missed the racism that was staring them in the face.
"Unless Labour disowns Lisa Forbes as a candidate, it will only confirm the party's shameful descent into the racist mess for which they are now being investigated by the EHRC."
Labour Councillor Jim Sheridan, a former MP who was suspended from the party in 2018 after shockingly stating that he no longer felt sympathy for victims of the holocaust ... Sheridan was reinstated into the party, yet last week said that he stood by his antisemitic comments, referring to them as ‘perfectly reasonable’, before going on a tirade in defence of Jeremy Corbyn.
From the page
' ,,, when asked for comment on each individual case, the Labour
Party offer up the same hollow quote to the press before sweeping the
growing issue under the rug: “The Labour Party takes all allegations
seriously”.
'I.E. Panel' in the heading refers to Dr Billings' so-called 'Independent Ethics Panel.' The cumulative evidence made available on this page and other pages will show - the evidence already shows - that the claim to genuine independence is negligible: the error of assuming that coming up with a phrase which sounds reassuring and impressive is any guarantee of achieving the objective.
Professor Macaskill teaches and researches at Sheffield Hallam University. My page on Universities includes material on Sheffield Hallam University, followed by a copy of the material below.
Here, for the time being, I only comment on one publication of Professor Macaskill and the comment is very brief - but my provisional judgement is that, on the evidence of this piece, Professor Macaskill isn't a writer who goes beyond platitudes - academic platitudes and platitudes of the more general kind. I'll have to examine much more of her writing to see if this tentative judgement is confirmed.
https://shura.shu.ac.uk/127/1/
MACASKILL, A. (2005). Defining forgiveness: Christian clergy and general population perspectives. Journal of personality, 73 (5), 1237-1267.
The present research contributes to the search for conceptual clarity by exploring the definitions and parameters of forgiveness employed by Anglican and Roman Catholic clergy in England and then comparing these to data collected from a general population sample. Clergy provide moral and spiritual leadership within their communities and deal with issues of both Divine and human forgiveness on a regular basis, so a logical starting point is to explore the conceptions of forgiveness that they themselves hold.
'Definitions and parameters' is a pretentious phrase which is surely inserted for show, or the result of the process of 'reflex thought.' 'Reflex muscle action is familiar enough, the process initiated by a stimulus. No conscious processes are involved. Reflex action which produces such phrases bypasses thought almost as completely.
A much more prominent example of
'reflex action' from the article. Some thought was needed to come up with the
phrase, but not very much:
'Clergy provide moral and spiritual leadership within their communities
and deal with issues of both Divine and human forgiveness on a
regular basis ... '
Routine semi-mathematical equipment suitable for the
manipulation of statistical data is visible on the page but what
is lacking is any relevant concrete evidence. These
are pious phrases. To have included concrete evidence would have
been to mix genres, to insert material which would almost
certainly not have been to the liking of the editor or editors
and the readership.
Clergy don't provide moral and spiritual l(M and S) leadership within their communities. They only provide a form of M and S leadership within their churches, and not everyone in their churches will have respect for them or pay any attention to their pious phrases.
Recommended to Professor Macaskill -
Factsheet: Abuse and the Church of England
on my page
https://www.linkagenet.com/themes/police-crime-independent-ethics-panels.htm
She received a copy of the Factsheet, with other material, so if
she's read it, she will have a better understanding of the
massive - insuperable - difficulties of automatically assuming
that people she assumes are 'moral and spiritual leaders' are
anything of the kind.
Her unargued assumption that there is such a thing as 'Divine forgiveness' (the capital letter in 'Divine' is provided by the Professor) is surely an aberration in a journal not published by some Conservative Evangelical or Roman Catholic publishing outfit.
All this has implications, not so much for the progress of
my complaint against the Police and Crime Commissioner - The
Independent Ethics Panel will not be holding the Police and
Crime Commissioner to account, that is not their role - but for
the role of the Independent Ethics Panel. The only further
comment I will make for the time being is that the title, the
'Independent Ethics Panel' is yet another instance of the
distinction outlined above, the distinction between claim and
reality. To give a name to the panel which includes the word
'independent' doesn't guarantee in the least a panel which is
genuinely independent. I'll be including evidence that the
panel does not have anything like the independence needed to do
its work adequately.
Mick Hood is someone I respect very much - but not for his role as a member of the Independent Ethics Panel. He works in the steel industry at Stocksbridge. I'm very much aware of the very high achievement of the steel company and of Stocksbridge. One of the photographs on the Home Page of the site is one I took inside a rolling mill at Stocksbridge during a visit I made to the works with other members of the South Yorkshire Industrial History Society. The photograph is included in this section, together with comment. I'll remove all reference to Mick Hood from the page (and the site) after a time, leaving only the mention of the fact that he's a member of the Independent Ethics Panel.
This section includes Supplementary Material about Stocksbridge and its industries. Clicking on the link takes you to the Supplementary Information in this section. As so often, the Supplementary Information is simply contrasting information, included for its interest, not to further my argument on the page. This supplementary material is followed by more general material which isn't supplementary: it has relevance to some of the issues discussed on this page and others.
Members of the Church of England descended on Stocksbridge and so many other places in the Sheffield area. People in the area were, I think, misled and given partial and misleading information provided by the Church. No less than 21 Bishops came. They included a significant number of Bishops who were not abusers themselves but who have now been shown to have failed victims of child sex abuse.
They came, they preached, they prayed, they went away. They were intent on this: saving souls, as they saw it, for Jesus Christ. The practical problems of these areas weren't solved by these people, or by God. Praying for a place leaves the problems of the place unsolved. If anyone wants to take issue with this claim of mine, they're welcome to contact me and perhaps we can have a debate about the so-called 'Power of Prayer,' perhaps with wide-ranging arguments, such as the relative benefits of prayer and armaments in winning the war in Ukraine, or the relative benefits of prayer and science in medicine.
From the page
https://www.foxvalleysheffield.co.uk/news/
hundreds-attend-open-air-service-at-fox-valley
Hundreds attend open air service at Fox Valley
14 September 2015
Hundreds of people attended a special service at Fox Valley in Stocksbridge yesterday (Sunday) led by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu.
The Archbishop blessed local community groups, businesses and churches, as well as the new Fox Valley development during the open-air Community Celebration ...
The visit was part of a four-day ‘Crossroads’ mission across Sheffield Diocese involving 21 Bishops of the Church of England.
The service took place at the new office buildings at the £50 million development, the first phase of the development to be completed. The retail development at Fox Valley is on schedule for a Spring 2016 opening.
...
The new development, which neighbours Tata Speciality Steels in Stocksbridge, is being delivered by the Barnsley based company Dransfield Properties Ltd and the main contractor is Henry Boot Construction.
The visit forms part of a four-day historic ‘Crossroads’ mission across Sheffield Diocese involving 21 Bishops of the Church of England. Hundreds of events will take place as part of the Crossroads Mission across the region in schools, pubs, universities, colleges, shopping centres, community centres, cafes and churches.
Mick Hood, Human Resources Director at Tata Steel, said: “The visit to Stocksbridge by the Archbishop will mean a lot to our employees and the community.
https://www.sheffieldcathedral.org/news/
2015/9/1/bishop-steven-introduces-crossroads-mission
Steven Croft, the Bishop of Sheffield at the time, introduced the mission, did more than 'introduce' the mission. He was an advocate for the mission, he promoted the mission - but the energy he showed as an advocate for the mission and a promoter of the mission was sadly lacking at a time when decisive leadership was called for. He failed, and the Archbishop at the time, Justin Sentamu, also failed. Both of them are mentioned in the extract here.
The extract is followed by information about some other bishops who were
involved in the Crossroads Mission and who also failed abysmally. A striking
fact - I've only been able to find out the identities of a few of the 21
bishops who were involved in the Mission, but a high proportion of those
bishops, the smaller number, not the 21, have been strongly criticized for
inaction in cases to do with sexual abuse in the Church of England.
Bishop Steven Croft said,
'We want to sow the good seed of the gospel outside the churches ... we want to encourage people to learn more about the Christian faith.' The others mentioned in the caption, the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu and Rev Hilda Isaacson, the Archdeacon of Sheffield and Rotherham, will be aware that the Gospel is only 'Good News' for those people who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.' These people, no matter what harm they have done, are destined for an eternity in union with the Saviour. All the others - the vast majority - will be destined for an eternity in separation from the Saviour, in the place, or the state, referred to as 'Hell.' Whatever good they have done will not be taken into account.
So, all the people of Stocksbridge, all disabled people, all loving mothers and fathers, past and present, in this country and all countries of the world, all politicians, local and national, absolutely everybody, are destined to hell if they fail to accept Christ as 'Lord and Saviour.'
There are Christians who don't emphasize the 'bad news' of the gospel and only emphasize the 'good news,' the salvation of a tiny minority, and a minority of Christians don't believe in damnation at all, but they have to ignore or misinterpret so many 'Biblical texts' which show the 'truth' of the matter - the truth' of the matter is no truth at all, but a hideous collection of claims that nobody in their right mind could possibly accept.
Now, some material (taken from Wikipedia) on the shameful record of some of the 21 bishops who attempted to convert Sheffield people to their way of thinking. Names of bishops who played a role in the Mission are given in bold print.
In May 2016 Sentamu was one of six bishops accused of procedural misconduct by a survivor of child sex abuse (the accusation was to do with how the complaint was handled; none of the six were involved in the abuse). Sentamu was named in The Guardian and the Church Times alongside Peter Burrows, Steven Croft, Martyn Snow, Glyn Webster and Roy Williamson, as subject of Clergy Disciplinary Measure complaints owing to their inaction on the survivor's disclosure. The bishops contested the complaints because they were made after the church's required one-year limit. Sentamu had acknowledged receipt of a letter from the survivor with an assurance of "prayers through this testing time". But according to the Guardian report, no action was taken against the alleged abuser nor support offered to the survivor by the church. A spokesperson for the archbishop said that Sentamu had simply acknowledged a copy of a letter addressed to another bishop. "The original recipient of the letter had a duty to respond and not the archbishop", the spokesperson said. All six bishops appeared on a protest brochure which the survivor handed out at Steven Croft's enthronement as Bishop of Oxford. In April 2018 it was reported that Sentamu and four other bishops were under investigation by South Yorkshire Police for failure to respond properly to a report of clerical child abuse. A memo from June 2013, seen by The Times and other media revealed that Sentamu had received the allegation but recommended that 'no action' be taken. The priest against whom the allegation was made died by suicide the day before he was due in court in June 2017.The Archbishop of York's office said:
The diocese of York insists that Sentamu did not fail to act on any disclosures because that responsibility lay with Ineson's local bishop, Steven Croft, who was at the time bishop of Sheffield.
A statement from Justin Welby, made at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse:
It is not an acceptable human response, let alone a leadership response to say “I have heard about a problem, but … it was someone else’s job to report it”.
An article advocating the Crossroads Mission by Bishop Peter Burrows, cited in the article above, can be found at
https://www.sheffieldcathedral.org/news/
2015/9/1/bishop-steven-introduces-crossroads-mission
More on Bishop Glyn Webster, also cited above:
Webster was heavily criticised at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) within the Church of England, and doubts were raised regarding the veracity of the evidence he gave to the inquiry after a victim had alleged that he had spoken with Webster about historical abuse by another Anglican bishop, and that the victim had “been advised by him not to report it” and to move on.
In October 2020, a report was published, entitled "A Betrayal of Trust" – an independent past case review requested by The Church of England, chaired by David Pearl. This found on the balance of probabilities that Webster had lied to the Independent Inquiry and had failed to act in a serious safeguarding breach within the Church.
On 23 October 2020 the Church Times reported the above findings and other national newspapers, including The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The Times all published articles suggesting that Webster might lose his office as Bishop of Beverley and might be banned from episcopal and priestly ministry within the Church of England. Webster resigned in 2022 whilst the accusations were still being investigated.
The Crossroads Mission included the most recent Bishops to have been consecrated in the North at the time. Bishop Philip North of Burnley was one of the two people mentioned. Further information about Bishop Philip North:
On 31 January 2017, it was announced that North was to be translated to become Bishop of Sheffield; his installation at Sheffield Cathedral had been scheduled for June 2017, by which point he must have been elected and confirmed. . However, he withdrew his acceptance of the nomination on 9 March 2017 following several public objections on the basis of his rejection of the ordination of women and the number of women serving as priests in the diocese. In his statement of withdrawal, North cited "personal attacks".
The Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire, the Reverend Canon Alan Billings, has given a biased, misleading, propagandist picture of the Church of England. Any references to the Church's significant - notorious -problems to do with sexual abuse, have been very few and very muted.
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, can surely not be absolved from blame. From the Wikipedia entry on Justin Welby:
In February 2017, Welby apologised unreservedly after allegations that barrister and evangelical Christian John Smyth beat boys in the late 1970s, mainly pupils at Winchester College , until their wounds bled and left permanent scars. Smyth was a senior member of Christian charity the Iwerne Trust in the 1970s and 1980s. These allegations were suppressed] for decades, although Smyth was asked[ to leave the UK.
Welby's early grounding in Christian doctrine was rooted in the 'Bash Camp' network founded by Eric Nash. Welby became a dormitory officer at the camps held in the Dorset village of Iwerne Minster. From 1978–81, John Smyth allegedly carried out a series of brutal beatings on boys and undergraduates, recorded in a report written by Canon Mark Ruston in February 1982.
Smyth was described by Welby in 2017 as "charming" and "delightful" and they swapped Christmas cards for some years in the 1990s. In 1978, Welby left the UK to work in Paris, and Welby stated that "I had no contact with them at all". It later materialised that Welby had attended the camp in this period and had continued to receive the camp newsletter. Andrew Atherstone in the biography,
Risk Taker and Reconciler, describes Welby as having been "involved in the camps as an undergraduate […] businessman and theological college student in the 1980s and early 1990s."
In 2012, a victim of Smyth reported the abuse to the Church of England and Welby was informed in 2013. The Archbishop maintained that this was the first he had heard of the abuse by his old friend. The New York Times on 14 October 2017 quoted a senior Church of England figure as saying that "all senior members of the trust, including officers like Archbishop Welby, had been made aware of the allegations against Mr Smyth, even those who had been abroad". Questions have remained among Smyth victims as to when Welby first knew, and some have labelled the Archbishop an "observer", a term denoting a person who knew about abuse but who did not report appropriately.
Alan Billings has failed to give an honest account of the Church's problems, the self-inflicted harm, the disarray and stupidity. The problems are so many that it would be impossible for one person to cover a fraction of them. He has failed, comprehensively failed. No solution will be forthcoming from Dr Billings. He is part of the problem. His 'Police and Crime Panel' and 'Independent Ethics Panel' have been subservient to him, have propped him up, have been unwilling and unable to offer any effective checks. His grossly excessive powers have not been subject to effective checks and balances.
Supplementary Information about Stocksbridge and its industries: extracts from the wonderful print publication, 'Sheffield at War,' published in 1948, and the Wikipedia entry on Stocksbridge. The extract from 'Sheffield at War' includes heartening material on some of the massive benefits of industry and the work of the Samuel Fox factory at Stocksbridge.
From 'Sheffield at War:'
The United Steel Companies Ltd., owners of ironstone mines, coalfields, blast furnaces, teel furnaces, rolling mills, forges and foundries, have the distinction of being the largest steel producers in the British Commonwealth.
The organization of the undertaking falls into three main geographical groups, but this account is concerned with only one of them - the Sheffield Group, which includes Steel, Peech and Tozer and United Strip and Bar Mills, Samuel Fox and Co. Ltd., and a number of South Yorkshire collieries.
The great business was not built up to wreck
cities, to sink navies, or to destroy armies, but to contribute to the
comfort and happiness of the peoples of the world by giving them ships,
railways and motor cars for transport, buildings to dwell in, plants to give
them power, light and heat, agricultural machinery to bring them food.
With the outbreak of war the whole of the great resources of the
United Steel Companies was diverted to the production of vital materials to
equip our sea, land and air forces. {Bold print as in the
original.]
... Samuel Fox and Co. Ltd., situated at Stocksbridge had, before the war, been concentrating to an increasing extent on the production of alloy and special steels, and of highly finished products such as springs, wire and cold rolled strip, and here again the effect of the war was to intensify the demand for these products, and steps were taken to increase production in all sections of the works.
The first demand was for large quantities of high grade alloy steels, principally for aircraft. A new 10-ton arc furnace had just been installed when war broke out, and other furnaces were added later. This increased production of alloy steel also made it necessary to provide additional processing facilities. [Again, bold print as in the original.]
...
At the special request of the Government, a plant was installed in the spring shop for the manufacture of tank suspension coil springs ...
The wire products of this branch were urgently required for war purposes, in particular high tensile alloy steels for aero and motor engines, fuse spring wire, welding wire and bullet and ball steel. There was a steadily increasing demand for stainless steel and for high temperature resistance wire.
...
The output of the stainless steel works was quadrupled to meet war requirements; these latter were chiefly for stainless sheets for aircraft exhaust pipes, and also for stainless steel sheets for army cookers, and for high manganese sheets for steel helmets.
From the Wikipedia article on Stocksbridge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stocksbridge
Until the early 18th century, what is now Stocksbridge was a deciduously wooded valley, running from Midhopestones at its northwestern extremity to Deepcar at its southeastern end ... In 1794 three businessmen, Jonathan Denton, Benjamin Grayson and Thomas Cannon built a large cotton mill extremely close by, or possibly upon, the site of the original mill ...
Below, the original cotton mill
The valley bottom today is almost entirely occupied by steel works. Samuel Fox acquired the old cotton mill in 1842, at first renting it from its then owner, Joshua Newton. Nine years later, in 1851, he purchased the mill outright from Joshua's son, Thomas Newton. Fox converted the place to use as a wire mill, and built much of the infrastructure of Stocksbridge, primarily to house his new workforce and to supply their needs.
The business continued to expand, and extended into different products, but underwent a major change in direction in the early 1860s when Fox realized that he could save large amounts of money by making his own steel for the wire, rather than buying it in. Furnaces and a rolling mill were installed, which in turn allowed the production of railway lines and springs.
...
Samuel Fox & Co joined Steel, Peech and Tozer at Templeborough to form the United Steel Companies (USC) following the First World War. From then on the products of the USC sites were coordinated so that each works specialised in set products. Fox’s specialised in special steel produce such as spring steel and stainless steels. This developed into the manufacture of high-quality steel for the aviation industry ... During the Second World War, 'Sammy Fox's' Steelworks was kept busy as part of the war effort. During the Sheffield Blitz by the Luftwaffe, the bombers used the dam at the end of Stocksbridge as a turning point for their run back toward Sheffield.
More supplementary information:
Below, a photograph I took inside a rolling mill at Stocksbridge during a visit organized by South Yorkshire Industrial History Society. I've been a member of the society for a long time. The society also organizes events which are concerned with present-day industrial achievement. (Another event, attended by a very large number of people, was concerned with the construction of the Tornado A1 steam locomotive.) I'm surprised that I took a photograph at all. I had no interest in photography for a long time and since then very little interest and interest for a limited purpose, to produce images for this site. The rolling mill will now be part of Liberty Steel if this particular mill is still in operation. Liberty Steel has an annual steel rolling capacity approaching three million tonnes, outstanding by any standard.
The photograph is, followed by a short piece on industry I wrote at about the time I visited the rolling mill with the other members. There's a reference to the photograph in the piece. This isn't supplementary material. There's a reference to religion in the piece I wrote. The views I put forward many years ago are views I still have.
'Independent' here is a flagrant misuse of the word 'independent.'
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/crime/
yorkshire-police-trainees-pressured-not-record-crimes-54611
3 June 2017
A Yorkshire police force has been urged to review its practices after its new officers revealed they faced pressure not to record incidents as crimes 'to avoid adding to already heavy workloads'.
South Yorkshire Police has admitted it is “disappointed” by
what emerged in a report on the views of 16 recruits who had just
completed a training course.
The officers told members of the force’s independent ethics panel that they faced an “intense” workload and work pressures, made “more difficult by systems and equipment which do not work well or are unavailable”.
'However, the commonality of issues and themes emerging indicates the need for the force and/or the [police and crime commissioner] to consider further in depth and systematic review.”
The report was carried out by ex-management consultant Linda Christon and former Sheffield head teacher Michael Lewis, two members of the independent ethics panel ... They spent the morning with 16 post-Foundation Course officers
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/
hmicfrs/wp-content/uploads/crime-recording-making-the-victim-count.pdf
... there remains appreciable public concern that real crime levels are not truly represented in the statistics, particularly those recorded by police forces.6 A factor in public concern, and a probable cause for scepticism about national crime figures, is the culture in the police – as in other parts of the public sector – of pursuing targets and being under pressure to demonstrate good performance.
Reliable crime-recording is essential if police are to be able to make sound decisions on the deployment of their resources, and to operate with the highest practicable levels of efficiency. In times of austerity, they cannot afford to do less. They need to know what are the patterns of criminal behaviour in their force areas, and the intensity and severity of that offending. Police and crime commissioners need this information too because they hold their chief constables to account, and they in turn are held to account by the public.
The Justice Inspectorates' report is not without faults - the naive belief that 'Police and crime commissioners ... are held to account by the public' is a rash generalization.
In 'Keeping Safe: the Police and Crime Plan for South Yorkshire 2017 - 2021,' Dr Billings claims that in South Yorkshire, 'all crime is investigated.' A claim with absolutely no basis in reality.
My own experience of South Yorkshire Police is that for some issues, in some cases, they seem to have all the time in the world. I wouldn't say that in South Yorkshire, all false allegations are treated very seriously and acted upon, without being investigated first, but I have personal experience of South Yorkshire Police doing just that, and the Police and Crime Commissioner has actively worked to implement and support a system which disregards other, far more important aspects of policing and which treats claims to victimhood as requiring action, whatever the pressures on South Yorkshire Police.
Zuleika Payne of the South Yorkshire Police Federation:
“If you were to ask frontline officers what their biggest challenges are day to day, in addition to the inherent dangers police officers face, the sheer volume of recorded crime awaiting investigation which is astronomical.
A brief summary of a long-running case, described below. Two people
alleged that my vehicle had collided with theirs, in Rotherham. The
allegations of these two people compared with the allegations of Lu
Skerratt-Love and the reckless and very unwise belief of a
fundamentalist Police Sergeant in the complainant's veracity.
I was told about the catastrophic nature of the so-called 'collision,' the grinding noises, the bedlam, and about the supposed injuries to the two - nothing so specific as a broken bone or bruising, but instead, claims about continued paint and discomfort, inability to carry out everyday tasks due to the trauma.
This episode lasted not for months but for a little over five years. Finally, the case came to court. It was heard at a Rotherham Court ... At the hearing, there were none of the melodramatic events that appeared in the early documents sent to me. The driver made no claims about the incident. His passenger mentioned simply this: there was, allegedly, a 'slight nudge' as the vehicles supposedly collided. In fact, there wasn't even a nudge. My vehicle never came near their vehicle.
From the Community Protection Notice - Written Warning issued to me:
'Being satisfied that your conduct is having a detrimental effect, of a persistent or continuing nature on the quality of life of those in the locality and the conduct is unreasonable now issue you with a WRITTEN WARNING ... It is a criminal offence not to comply with this NOTICE ...
In more detail:
This section isn't about the long-running sexual abuse scandal in Rotherham and the actions of South Yorkshire Police but a completely different matter - an experience of mine which has confirmed my view that Alan Billings' view of hate crime and action against hate crime faces serious difficulties and that South Yorkshire Police's work in this field faces serious difficulties too.
The material appears in the second column of
The South
Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner: The Police and Crime Panel and the
Independent Ethics Panel
It includes this, from an exchange of views between Nick Ferrari and
Alan Billings in an LBC radio programme.
'Speaking to Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire'sPolice and Crime
Commissioner, Nick told him:
"If a motorist cuts another motorist up in Rotherham and one says the other
a few choice words, we now have to get the police involved, do we? "You've
got enough police men and women, do you, to come and talk to me about it?" '
Alan Billings and South Yorkshire Police seem oblivious to the pitfalls of testimony. They show no sign of recognizing that allegations can be made so easily, for a very wide range of reasons, many to do with genuine incidents of some seriousness, others not at all. They show no sign of recognizing the need to take evidence and to examine the evidence thoroughly. Malicious complaints and trivial complaints can take up so much of the time of the police, but to make a quick, summary judgement will sometimes invite trouble.
The episode which involved me involved an allegation that I had 'cut another motorist up in Rotherham.' It didn't involve any issues to do with so-called 'hate crime.' What it did involve was a malicious accusation for the sake of gain.
I was driving along in the Rotherham area when a car drove close to mine and the driver motioned to me to stop. I did stop. I left my vehicle and the driver and his passenger got out of their vehicle. The driver angrily said that I'd collided with their car. That was completely untrue. I made an examination of his vehicle and found no damage at all. He found no damage to my vehicle. The driver and his passenger showed no signs of any injury. They seemed completely well, but irate. We exchanged names and addresses and drove away.
After a time, I received a letter from a law firm, repeating the allegation that I'd collided with his vehicle. It was followed by a succession of documents from a bewildering variety of firms. I became used to finding that the case handled by X was now being handled by a completely different firm. At an early stage, I was told about the catastrophic nature of the so-called 'collision,' the grinding noises, the bedlam, and about the supposed injuries to the two - nothing so specific as a broken bone or bruising, but instead, information about continued paint and discomfort, inability to carry out everyday tasks due to the trauma.
This episode lasted not for months but for a little over five years. Finally, the case came to court. It was heard at a Rotherham Court, just before it was close. I had been provided with a barrister and there was a barrister representing the couple. The case was heard by a judge.
At the hearing, there were none of the melodramatic events that appeared in the early documents sent to me. The driver made no claims about the incident. His passenger mentioned simply this: there was, allegedly, a 'slight nudge' as the vehicles supposedly collided.
The judge found in my favour, and said that he had found me a thoroughly truthful and trustworthy witness.
The preliminary material here is about Roman Catholic and Church of England schools, which raise important questions about unfair or disproportionate influence - as well as outright indoctrination. This is a secular society, more exactly, a largely secular society which tolerates a wide range of religous beliefs - but also a largely secular society which gives privileges to the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England which surely can't be justified. For the time being, there is no prospect of removing these faith-based privileges.
The Churches have these privileges in schools but I see it as essential not to allow other institutions to become 'faith-based' or subject to undue influence by Christians. Any attempt by Christians to impose their faith in areas where they have absolutely no right to impose their faith should be resisted. Attempts to promote Christian belief in the police force should be resisted.
Alan Billings has blatantly ignored the fact that he's the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire, a secular or largely secular place, not a faith-based Commissar. He's seen fit to quote a Bible verse about the Second Coming of Jesus, a doctrine believed in not just by Conservative Evangelicals and Roman Catholics but many more Christians, including Alan Billings. He's quoted an Old Testament prophet in one of his Police and Crime Plans. He attended the event to mark the relaunch of the South Yorkshire Christian Police Association. I comment on all these things, and much more, in these pages. He has broken the oath of impartiality he took on assuming office.
https://humanists.uk/campaigns/schools-and-education/faith-schools/faith-schools-why-not/
''it is not the job of publicly funded schools to instil a religious faith in children … it is one thing for parents in private to bring up their children to believe what they, the parents, think true and important. It is quite another for parents to expect that the state should undertake the role of transmitting such a belief. '
[My comment: it is not the job of a publicly funded Police and Crime Commissioner to promote Christian faith in the course of his duties as South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner. There is no reason why he should mention Christianity at all in the course of these duties - but again and again, he's been unable to resist the urge - the urge to evangelize, that is.]
https://faithschoolersanonymous.uk/category/
catholic-schools/
Ten per cent of all state-funded schools in England are Catholic, equivalent to around two thousand schools, and all are free to teach faith-based and confessional religious education, discriminate on the grounds of religion in their admissions and employment policies, and provide sex and relationships education in line with Catholic beliefs about same-sex relationships, abortion, and contraception.
... the Education Guardian published a probing (and excellent) interview by Peter Wilby with Malcolm McMahon, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool and chair of the Catholic Education Service (CES). The Archbishop’s views on the role and ethos of the CES’ schools should trouble us all. Some examples. Wilby rightly notes that the CES’ model approach to teaching relationships and sex education to children contains no mention of ‘homosexual’ or ‘gay’ at any stage, and when asked whether or not Catholic schools teach about gay relationships, the Archbishop limply replies that ‘Christian teaching “is at the centre of our schools”’. So far, so worrying. And it doesn’t get any better. Asked if some pupils at Catholic schools have same-sex parents, the Archbishop gives the quite remarkable response: ‘Why would same-sex parents want to send their children to a Catholic school?’
https://catholiceducation.org.uk/about-us/faqs
There are 2,090 Catholic schools in England and 85 Catholic schools in Wales. Catholic schools make up 9% of the national total of state funded schools. The Catholic Church is the largest provider of secondary education and the second largest provider of primary education in the country.
the most recent Government data on schools, pupils, and their characteristics shows that the number of children attending Church of England schools is 1.16 million, demonstrating that the level of influence the Church has over the education system is entirely disproportionate when compared to levels of adherence to its beliefs and practices in the wider community.
The Statistics for Mission show that, between 2009 and 2019, Church attendance has steadily decreased and, in just five years, the ‘worshipping community’ has shrunk by close to 30,000 people. This decline is further evidenced by the results of the most recent British Social Attitudes Survey, which found that 12% of the total population, and just 1% of those aged 18-24, identify as belonging to the Church of England.
As always, if I'm mistaken about any matters of fact and they're brought to my attention, I'll make corrections or deletions, if I find that I've been mistaken. I'm always prepared to receive representations in connection with profiles, if, for example, a profile is found to be too harsh in any way, and prepared to modify or delete profiles - but I won't delete a profile if I'm ordered to do that. I revise profiles as often as I can and generally extend them rather than shorten them.
I think I may well have met Miriam Cates. Her face is familiar, and I can think of the circumstances where I may well have seen her and talked to her, for that matter. There are such people as likeable, very pleasant Christians, obviously, and I've reason to think that Miriam Cates is one of them, but it's impossible to ignore the doctrines they believe.
Christians who are politicians should be challenged, in a courteous way. How does a Christian politician who believes in hell answer if asked, 'Do you believe that all your constituents are doomed to hell - apart from the small minority who have a belief in Christ as Lord and Saviour? I've provided variations on the question quite often on the page, in connection with different groups.
Questions to politicians need not always be courteous, exactly, they can be forthright and forceful, but they should never be abusive or threatening. So many politicians, at the local and national level, councillors as well as MP's, are treated in a hideous way and I know that Miriam Cates has been treated very badly. I think that police forces need to spend far more time on protecting politicians - not from reasonable questions, but from attempted mob rule. My own experience of receiving police visits to issue warnings to me, not once but twice, is relevant, I think. The police too face abuse, threatening behaviour and actual violence so often. Safeguarding the police should be another priority.
Now to make some use of some of the categories mentioned in the heading to this section.
Outstanding: Miriam Cates' academic record. She studied Genetics
at Cambridge University. I'll include a version of this short
profile in my very extensive page on Cambridge University and other
universities. The title of the page is 'Cambridge University:
excellence, mediocrity, stupidity With material on other
universities.'
www.linkagenet.com/themes/cambridge-university.htm
I'd make the modest claim that the page has some prominence in the
field of Cambridge University mediocrity-stupidity studies but it's
woefully deficient in the field of Cambridge University excellence
studies. I couldn't possibly do justice to the achievements. I
haven't been able to cover adequately Cambridge mediocrity and
stupidity either. This is a very extensive field too. Similarly with
the other universities covered on the page.
The current Google rankings for the page, then, are overall rankings, which doesn't take into account the shortage of material on excellence. Some current rankings:
Cambridge University excellence stupidity
1 / 4,210,000
universities excellence stupidity
4 / 11,200,000
There are similar results for search terms including mediocrity, eg
Cambridge University mediocrity stupidity
1 / 1,990,000
universities mediocrity stupidity
2 / 6,570,000
The focus of attention in this section is Miriam Cates the Christian rather than Miriam Cates the politician (with a few remarks on her prowess in Web design.) I'll make only a few provisional comments about her work as an MP. She hasn't been an MP for very long.
I don't have very full information about Miriam Cates' record as an MP.
Her Website is www.miriamcates.org.uk
As supplementary material, I'll also mention the Website
https://www.redemptionmedia.co.uk/
She co-owns the company 'Redemption Media' with her husband, David Cates. The Website is bad, but not unspeakably bad.
The Home Page gives a link to 'Blog' and a duplicate, an
identical link. None of the 'Recent Posts' (there are only a few)
seem to be recent at all. The most recent posting in the Archives
list is from July 2014. This is a dated site, not an updated site.
The Home Page has blocks of garish, clashing colour - the design
is as unimpressive as much of the content. Some of the content on
this botched site, quoted without comment:
So, there are some predictions for 2014…what are yours? Let‚Äôs re-group in 12 months and see what happened!
Redemption Media Key Stats
* #1 app across 10 global regions
* Voted “What’s hot” by Apple for 6 months
* #3 in China
* Over 800k downloads
* “#1 ethical app that could change the world” TechWorld
The page 'Client Testimonials' includes this:
'I have worked with Dave [Cates] and his team on various
projects spanning various development disciplines — from Flash
development to PHP and development for iOS devices — great approach
and great breadth of expertise!“
None of the testimonials give a date but I think it's
likely that most or all are from years ago. 'Flash development,'
mentioned in this testimonial, refers to Adobe Flash. Adobe didn't
support Flash after 2020 and blocked Flash content from running in
Flash player from Junuary 12, 2021.
The 'Job Description' section of the site mentions 'Experience
with Flex / Flash Builder applications' as desirable but not
essential. Flash Builder reached end of core support in 2017 and end
of extended support in 2019. This seems to be a Website which is not
on core support or extended support. As regards its overall design,
it was long outdated right from the start.
Like Miriam Cates, David Cates has obvious academic strengths. In his case, the subjects he studied, at Sheffield Universities were electronic and electrical engineering.
The first statement on the page, 'Cede power from councils to
communities' and this, Trusting
the People - the case for community powered conservatism will
need further discussion. For the time being, I don't provide it.
Let's go now to the bad, the shockingly bad and the unspeakably
bad, after a few remarks on an aspect of her Christian beliefs which
is not just good but very good and a few remarks on her views of
human sexuality and relationships - I take the view that these
aren't in general to be condemned outright, but some of her
views on human sexuality are very disturbing.
This is written from the viewpoint of a committed opponent of Christianity, of course. In my experience - very wide experience, over a long period of time - committed Christians have never attempted to answer objections to Christian belief. Why make the effort, when the effortless or almost effortless response of prayer is available?
Very good, as I see it, is her relative reticence as regards
religion in her political life. The contrast with Alan Billings is
very great. He has shown lack of restraint amounting to
recklessness. So far as I know, unlike Alan Billings, Miriam Cates
hasn't inserted quotations from the Bible into a newspaper article,
into documents where they're not just unnecessary but an intrusion.
So far as I know, she hasn't combined her political activities with
open or semi-concealed evangelism. Alan Billings has - I've given
the evidence on the pages in this section of the site.
Miriam Cates has promoted a view of human sexuality which won't be to the liking of many, many people but I haven't found evidence of campaigning which could possibly be described as extremist. People are fully entitled to present a view of the centrality of marriage - marriage between man and woman - and other conservative views of relations - 'conservative' here not referring to the conservative party, of course. Shouting slogans such as 'Trans rights NOW' isn't something that an MP should be doing.
All slogans which include the demand 'NOW' seem to me suspect. I don't think I'm being literal-minded.
In November 2021, during a parliamentary session, Cates warned schools against inviting LGBTQ charities Stonewall and Mermaids to provide counselling services as she felt that they taught "dangerous and contested extreme ideologies that don't have a basis in science".
(From the Wikipedia entry for Miriam Cates MP.)
I think that Stonewall and Mermaids are ideological to some extent or a large extent. Some of the causes they promote are harmful. I'd include support for the botched Scottish transgender legislation in that category, without any hesitation.
Unfortunately, the theological views she supports are 'dangerous and contested extreme ideologies that don't have a basis in science.' In the past, these religous ideologies were far more dangerous, inflicting harm on a massive scale - the massacre of Jews, the execution of unbelievers, the Protestants persecuting Catholics, the Catholics persecuting Protestants, the censorship the witch trials, and so many other abuses.
Miriam Cates was involved with the Philadelphia Network, which operates as Network Church Sheffield as well as St. Thomas Philadelphia.
https://ncsheffield.org/about/abouthistory/
Scriptures that have been particularly important in forming our identity include:
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Revelation 2
2 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.
16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
https://sermons.faithlife.com/sermons/667257-revelation-2:23-24
And I will kill her children with death - A strong Hebraistic mode of expression, meaning that he would certainly destroy them. It has been made a question whether the word "children" here is to be taken literally or figuratively. The word itself would admit of either interpretation; and there is nothing in the connection by which its meaning here can be determined. If it is to be taken literally, it is in accordance with what is often threatened in the Scriptures, that children shall be visited with calamity for the sins of parents, and with what often occurs in fact, that they do thus suffer. For it is no uncommon thing that whole families are made desolate on account of the sin and folly of the parent. See the notes on Romans 5:19. If it is to be taken figuratively, then it refers to those who had imbibed her doctrines, and who, of course, would suffer in the punishment which would follow from the propagation of such doctrines. The reference in the word "death" here would seem to be to some heavy judgment, by plague, famine, or sword, by which they would be cut off.
· Well the final warning to this church, was that God
was going to kill of the children of Jezebel. This heresy would not
continue in the House of the Lord, he would eliminate any remaining
offspring of this teaching.
· People often think that the God of the Old Testament is a
different God in the New Testament. And while we see more of God’s
nature in the New Testament, the fact remains, that God is the same
in both Testaments. Sin must be dealt with, in one of two ways.
Either at the cross of Calvary where Jesus paid the price with His
life, or with a person giving their life into eternal punishment.
The Great Commission
New International Version
Matthew 28:19
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.
10 And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
11 But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.
12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
13 Thus saith the Lord God; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.
14 And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.
15 And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad;
16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran.
17 And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.
18 And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side.
19 And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.
20 The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side.
21 So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.
Matthew told The Star in 2020 that during the prayer he was told to ‘shout’ ‘I break the power of homosexuality over me’ and ‘I cancel the agreement with the kingdom of darkness – any associated demons go in the name of Jesus.”
The report that a gay man was subjected to 'conversion therapy' at the Network Church is mentioned here, at the end of the section.
According to a report in 'The Star,'
https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/people/church-investigation-over-claims-of-gay-exorcism-3552801
Matthew Drapper was pressurized to take 'conversion therapy.' The article includes this:
The Ven Malcolm Chamberlain, the Bishop of Sheffield’s lead in safeguarding said: “We are responding to Mr Drapper’s complaint according to Church of England safeguarding practice guidance, and regret the length of time it has taken to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
More than a year later, it still hasn't reached 'a satisfactory conclusion.' The results of a review of the case still haven't been published, so far as I know.'
I don't assume that the 'conversion therapy' did take place. The Network Church has a lively / unhealthy interest in demons, amangst so much else. From the Website
https://ncsheffield.org/talks/idols-2/
Annwen Stone continues the talk on idols, reflecting on Matthew 10:8 when Jesus called us to; “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”
She says that Jesus called 'us' to 'drive out demons' and do those other things. The 'us' refers to herself, people listening, the Network Church as a whole and other churches - all, supposedly, able not just to drive out demons and heal diseases - including leprosy, but to call the dead back to life. Whether the conversion therapy did take place - I think there's a strong possibility that it did, in some form, this is astonishing, astonishing and stupid.
I don't exclude the possibility that Miriam Coates is no longer a Christian believer, or that her Christian beliefs have changed.
The Commissioner has powers which are grossly excessive, in my view - I give the evidence on these pages. In what amounts to an extraordinary blunder, on the official local government page
The South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, made up of local
councillors and co-opted members, is credited with grossly excessive
powers - the power to 'recruit and dismiss the Chief Constable!' It's
the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner who has this grossly
excessive power. He has used the power to dismiss a Chief Constable,
David Crompton - and he was severely criticized for his action. There's
more information about this in the third column of my page
police-crime-independent-ethics-panels.htm
The Police and Crime Panel is
responsible for scrutinizing and supporting the South
Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).
It's the panel's job to:
The powers of Police and Crime Commissioners to remove Chief
Constables are described on the page
Scrutinizing the work of the Commissioner is, or should be, high-level work in many cases. To hold the PCC to account properly will often involve challenging the PCC: challenging work. On the evidence I have, in South Yorkshire, it's much easier than that in practice. By avoiding proper scrutiny of the PCC, by failing to challenge the PCC when the PCC is open to criticism, the work becomes much easier, a matter of routine and token gestures.
To what extent do the members of the two panels have the skills and general capability necessary for efficient discharge of their duties? I examine below Abdul Khayum, a previous member of the Police and Crime Panel who was Chair at meetings of the Panel over a long period. From the profile below,
A LABOUR Councillor who is also a practising magistrate has been placed under official investigation over social media posts calling for the violent annihilation of Israel.
Cllr Abdul
Khayum, who sits on Sheffield City Council, is
being investigated by Labour over a series of
shocking posts, including the sharing of a
pro-Islamic terrorist video that depicts graphic
violence and reads: “O Allah, destroy Israel ...
Abdul Khayum was the Chair of the Police and Crime Panel at the meeting of 7 July, 2017. One of the items recorded in the minutes was this:
'Judicial Review: Outcome.' On 9 June 2017, the High Court
of Justice Queen's Bench Division quashed the four decisions of the PCC
(Police and Crime Commissioner) leading to David Crompton being required
to resign ...'
Abdul Khayum has stated that he's required to hold the Police and Crime Commissioner to account but he did nothing, and the so-called Independent Ethics Panel did nothing - I can find no trace of the episode in the minutes of their meetings.
The High Court of Justice had made serious criticisms of actions
of the PCC.
In the third column of my page
https://www.linkagenet.com/themes/police-crime-independent-ethics-panels.htm
a section,
'POLICE AND CRIME PANEL FOR SOUTH YORKSHIRE VIEWS OF HM CHIEF INSPECTOR
OF CONSTABULARY IN THE CASE OF CHIEF CONSTABLE DAVID CROMPTON.'
From the minutes of the Police and Crime Panel Meeting:
The Chair replied that he did not see any merit in going over the details of the judgement or reviewing the decision of the court. The Panel were welcome to pass comments on the report or ask for any clarifications but going back over the Judicial Review and requesting the Commissioner to explain his actions was inappropriate in this forum and would not help the Panel going forward.
At the next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel, Councillor Khayum was the Chair. He addressed the panel in these terms:
The Chair reminded Members that the Panel’s role was very clear; this was to challenge and scrutinise the Police and Crime Commissioner. Evidence that the Panel has been challenging the Police and Crime Commissioner - or even the much easier task of 'scrutinizing' the Commissioner - isn't very frequent in the minutes, but there are heartening exceptions. A few Councillors have been making an effort.
At the Panel meeting of 29 September, 2017, Councillor Otten made these comments on the Chair's reluctance - refusal - to request that the Commissioner should explain his actions:
Minutes:
With regard to the Judicial Review: Outcome, Councillor Otten stated that he felt that the following statement in the minutes was inaccurate: "to request the Commissioner to explain his actions was inappropriate in this forum and did not help the Panel going forward".
Councillor Otten queried what the role of the Panel was; if these words could be spoken and recorded in the minutes.
L Noble confirmed that the words recorded in the minutes were spoken by the Monitoring Officer at the meeting.
Councillor Otten stated that, in his opinion, this was a matter arising. He raised concerns that Panel Members needed to understand what the role of the Panel was, if it was not appropriate to ask the Commissioner to explain his actions.
The Chair recalled from the meeting that, in terms of Judicial Review Outcome, it would not help matters moving forward, if Panel Members were to go back and ask the Commissioner to explain his actions and decisions.
Councillor Otten commented that, it was a supremely narrow view of the role of this Panel’s work if there are whole areas of the Commissioner’s work, which fall outside of the remit of this Panel’s scrutiny and challenge of his decisions.
I have to say that the election address he produced for the elections to the post of Police and Crime Commissioner was very disappointing, based on generalities. An acute and even slightly original approach was completely lacking. Did he take more than a few minutes to write it? The election was held on 6 May, 2021 and Joe Otten didn't win. He stood for election in 2016 and didn't win.
Three short extracts from my page Capability, which includes material on the PIN (Police Information Notice, often referred to as 'Harassment Warning) issued to me for using the words 'blundering buffoon.'
1. Yorkshire people are often supposed to be blunt, plain-speaking folk, but South Yorkshire Police seem to have a very different view - of South Yorkshire people as fragile, timid people with no capacity for common sense or good sense, incapable of standing up for themselves. Serving police officers have a career which is interesting, obviously of immense value to society, but one which potentially makes great demands - sensitivity, compassion, firmness, the willingness to use reasonable force when needed, determination, physical and sometimes moral courage, flexibility, versatility, and other qualities. Sometimes, though, policing can be a very easy job. I'd say that the job allocated to the policewoman who delivered the Harassment Warning wasn't too demanding. I don't give her name here or anywhere else.
2. What if the NHS spent a great deal of time and money on treating very minor injuries, insignificant injuries - ones which could hardly be described as injuries - possible injuries, or even non-existent injuries, whilst neglecting conditions which are very serious or exceptionally serious? Police forces, South Yorkshire Police included, do something not so very different.
The National Health Service, facing unprecedented demands and unprecedented financial crises, may well have to introduce rationing of its services. Harsh realities are having a huge impact. Police forces, however, also confronted by harsh realities, sometimes act as if money is unimportant - public money, that is - if we're to judge by their readiness to spend money on completely unnecessary PIN's
3. Alan Billings has identified 'Treating People Fairly' as
one of the three 'Policing and Crime Priorities' in his glossy
publication 'Keeping Safe: The Police and Crime Plan for South
Yorkshire 2017 - 2021, Renewed 2019.'
Only a few categories of unfairness are discussed on the page
'Treating People Fairly,' for example these.
'Ethnic minorities point to the fact that they are
disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system and
may feel that they have undue police attention.'
Other minorities - such as LGBT ... - may say they are not
recognized or understood as well as they should be. If hate crimes
are to be properly recorded and investigated we need the police to
understand what the issues are and what is at stake.'
And I hope that Dr Billings understands that people who don't belong to the communities he singles out can be treated unfairly by the police. I hope that Dr Billings understands that an accusation of hate crime can be completely unfair, completely unjust - and that the issuing of a Harassment Warning can be completely unfair, completely unjust.
Before the main extracts, some introductory material:
From the Community Protection Notice - Written Warning issued to me: ' ... your conduct is having a detrimental effect, of a persistent or continuing nature on the quality of life of those in the locality and the conduct is unreasonable now issue you with a WRITTEN WARNING.
A copy of an email I sent to the secretary of the local allotment association (4.10.2019). The secretary replied and informed me that she had sent a copy of my email to a Police Officer who deals with community policing.
'I saw the damage at one allotment this morning, the kind of damage seen so often this year - a very disappointing, disheartening experience. On Wednesday, I went to an 'Open Meeting on Safer Neighbourhoods,' attended by Alan Billings, the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Paul Blomfield MP and, also, a police officer. I spoke at length on the problems experienced at our Morley Street allotments this year.'
Does South Yorkshire Police suppose that I engage in two completely different activities - destructive activities, damaging the 'quality of life' in the locality, and constructive activities, doing what I can to oppose damage in the locality, to the extent of attending a meeting and speaking at the meeting? Does South Yorkshire Police suppose that the person who has tried to enhance the neighbourhood by his gardening activities, recorded on the Home Page of the site and on other pages, is a person whose conduct 'is having a detrimental effect of a persistent or continuing nature on the quality of life of those in the locality?'
I can assure South Yorkshire Police that my work, which includes work for swifts, those miraculous but threatened migratory birds which visit these streets each year, by means of a new design of nesting box, and work for dragonflies, which now visit the area, and so many other projects, occupy my time. I can assure South Yorkshire Police that I spend absolutely no time wrecking the neighbourhood and damaging the quality of life of those in the neighbourhod.
Allegations to the contrary are poisonous and amount to defamation of character. I was accused of 'harassment' but it's South Yorkshire Police who have been harassing me, surely, by their repeated, clumsy, inexcusable actions: to be more exact, the damaging actions of one or two members of South Yorkshire Police.
The pages of the site which are concerned with South Yorkshire Police and the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner are all written with this in mind: no matter what the failures of South Yorkshire Police, the emphasis is upon the failures of Alan Billings. As I see it, the strengths of South Yorkshire Police far outweigh the failures - a general comment, not a specific comment concerned with my own case. As I see it, the failures of Alan Billings outweigh any strengths. I take the view that he should resign.
Below, information about my efforts, over a long period of time, in connection with a massive, potentially hazardous pile of fly-tipped material on the site later used as a 'Garden Church' - which did nothing for so long. Eventually, the pile was removed. I've no information about who carried out the work. From these local origins, a wide-reaching case has developed, involving issues as varied as freedom of expression, the blocking of freedom of expression , the multiple failures of the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, and so much else - including the failure of South Yorkshire Police to consider its use of scarce resources.
Two members of South Yorkshire Police were sent to my house to present the grotesque 'Community Protection Notice - Written Warning' and were here for almost an hour. An earlier visit to present a Harassment Warning to me for calling someone a 'blundering buffoon' in a private phone conversation and email took up a similar amount of time of one member of South Yorkshire Police. This is a farcical - and disturbing - use of police time and police resources.
What of Alan Billings, the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner who is supposed to scrutinize the actions of South Yorkshire Police, amongst other things? I take the view, based on wide and detailed evidence, that he has a not-so-hidden-agenda. His position as a Church of England 'Reverend Canon' is obvious all too often in his statements and actions. I take the view that he has not adhered to the oath he was required to take on assuming office. In 'Keeping Safe, the Police and Crime Plan for South Yorkshire 2017 - 2021' he writes,
'The overriding message for the coming year (2019 -20) is that we must get better at working together for the common good. The prophet put it this way: 'Seek the well-being of the place where you are set ... for in its well-being you will find your own.' (Jeremiah 29,7)
As I've pointed out in other places, there was absolutely no need to include this quotation from an Old Testament Prophet in his 'Police and Crime Plan.' The words omitted from the quotation and the text which follows in the original make it absolutely clear that Alan Billings has quoted out of context, concealing and distorting the 'message' of the 'prophet.' The 'message' of the prophet Jeremiah has no relevance whatsoever to the problems and challenges of policing in South Yorkshire.
The extracts:
The complaints are against a Sergeant of South Yorkshire Police and the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner. Some of the material is grotesque. For instance, the first item in the list below describes the action taken by South Yorkshire Police for my use of the words 'blundering buffoon.' To send a Police Constable to my house to deliver the Harassment Warning, together with all the administrative time which must have been spent - and now the time spent in assessing my complaint - is to me grossly irresponsible use of police time. I have previously made a complaint concerning this particular matter. The complaint was handled by a Hate Crime specialist and the outcome was unsatisfactory in every way.
That is one of the reasons why I have since complained to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. The 'blundering buffoon' issue was only the start of a series of events which were not farcical but deeply disturbing, with implications, I believe, for some of our fundamental freedoms. For now, the various events and episodes, the arguments and documentary evidence I have provided, are being assessed by the Professional Standards Department of South Yorkshire Police. The Professional Standards Department is taking their time. I wonder why.
5 December, 2015. Police constable came to my
house and issued a 'Police Information Notice' (often referred
to as a 'Harassment Warning.') Extracts from the Police Information
Notice, omitting the names of the complainants:
' ... if the kind of behaviour described here were to continue, then you would be liable to arrest and prosecution.'
Crime Ref: K/116966/15
Details of alleged conduct
YOU CALLED AND LEFT A VOICEMAIL MESSAGE ON MR & MRS X LANDLINE CALLING THEM BLUNDERING BUFFOONS.'
YOU HAVE ALSO EMAILED MR X AT WORK STATING THE SAME INSULT.
An immediate comment. The claim that I called Mrs X a 'blundering buffoon' is false. I did use the words 'blundering buffoon' but the words were used in a private phone conversation and a private email addressed only to Mr X. I used a courteous tone in the phone call and in the email message.
The context here is very important. If the police had contacted me before using up the time of a Police Constable, I would have given information about provocative, time-wasting, bizarre behaviour on the part of Mr X which went on for months.
8 September, 2021. Email sent to Lu Skerratt-Love pointing out difficulties (mainly security, safety) to do with the proposed garden church at some allotments near to my allotments. Email not received by Lu Skerratt-Love. Tim Ling of the Church Army had decided to block emails from me to Lu Skerratt-Love. By 12 September he had blocked emails from to himself and all members of the Research Unit. Since that time, no members of the Church Army have received emails from me.
I received a message to inform me that 'Delivery has failed ... Your message wasn't delivered. Despite repeated attempts to deliver your message, the recipient's email system refused to accept a connection from your email system.'
All Lu Skerratt-Love's complaints to South Yorkshire Police about alleged emails from me were made when she must have known that she had never received emails from me, are based upon falsification.
8 October, 2021. Letter from me to Lu Skerratt-Love and Tim Ling, quoted in its entirety below. After this one letter, no further letters sent.
October, 2021. Received a phone call quite late in the evening. Informed that this was a representative of South Yorkshire Police but no name given. I was told to remove material concerning Lu Skerratt-Love from my Website. I made it clear that this was out of the question.
22 November, 2021. Card received from South Yorkshire Police asking me to contact them. When I contacted them, told that Lu Skerratt-Love had complained about receiving unwanted emails from me. Told to stop this. I pointed out that Lu Skerratt-Love hadn't received any emails from me. They were blocked. Considered making a complaint but decided not to. I didn't want to cause any difficulties for the Police Constable who communicated the information.
15 February, 1922. Two police constables called at my house to issue a 'Community Protection Notice - Written Warning' after yet another complaint from Lu Skerratt-Love, about alleged emails and letters, to other members of the Church Army as well as herself. Again, a complete fabrication. After the email and letter mentioned above, no further emails and letters have been received by these people. I decided that a complaint to the Professional Standards Department of South Yorkshire Police is fully justifiable.
WRITTEN WARNING [Emphasis as in the original]
issued to me by South Yorkshire Police PC's on 15.02.2022
Pursuant to Section 43 Part 4 Chapter 1 (Community Protection
Notices) Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014.
' ... your conduct is having a detrimental effect of a persistent or
continuing nature on the quality of life of those in the locality
and the conduct is unreasonable.'
'If from this time and date, the conduct is still having a
detrimental impact on the quality of life of those in the locality,
you will be served a Community Protection Notice. It is a criminal
offence not to comply with the Notice ... If found guilty you could
be fined up to £2,500.'
Details of the alleged conduct:
The Police have become aware of you contacting Lu Skerratt-Love via email and hand delivered letters. You have also been contacting her work colleagues via email and letter regarding her. In some of these correspondences you make mention of her personal faith. When you write these emails and letters it causes great upset to Lu and her colleagues at work. This is not fair and certainly not right to do so. It is important that you realise how much you are upsetting / distressing Lu with this conduct. You would not wish for such conduct for your loved ones. We are willing to help in anyway.
From my email to Lu Skerratt-Love. The tone isn''t
threatening or abusive but courteous. In any case, she never
received the email or any other emails from me. It was impossible to
send an email to Lu Skerratt-Love because emails were blocked.
Dear Lu Skerratt-Love,
'I write in connection with this post on the St Marks Website:
'SHEFFIELD FOREST CHURCH – SATURDAY 11 SEPTEMBER AT 2.30PM
'After a summer break, we’re back! Join us for Forest Church on the
theme of Creation at the Garden Church in Walkley (Walkley
Community Garden, Morley Street S6 2PL) for
time to be and worship in God’s creation. Bring a drink and a snack
for after the service! Our services are intentionally all age and
LGBTQ+ affirming, so whatever stage of life or journey you’re on –
you’re so very welcome! For more information, you can find us on
facebook or email
sheffield.forest.church@
'I have two allotments on the Morley Street site in Sheffield. I was
dismayed to find that the Forest Church is planning to hold this
event at Morley Street this Saturday.
The plan is disastrously misguided, surely. These are some
objections:
'The place where it is planned to hold the event is rented land.
These are Sheffield Council allotments and as such, are subject to
allotment law. The allotments are rented by Lower Walkley
Community Group (LWCG). The group's decision to give permission for
the Forest Church to hold the event was very misguided but I have
evidence to show that throughout, the use of the land by LWCG has
been incompetent.
'[You are] seemingly unaware of the legislation applicable to
allotments which is intended to protect the safety of the public and
the issue of legal liability. Allotments do have hazards, and in the
event of injury to a member of the public attending the event at the
'Forest Garden,' there could easily be severe legal consequences.
That was the email, not read by Lu Skerratt-Love. What about the letter? There was a chance she did read the letter. What was the tone of the letter?
The Written Warning, Community Protection Notice did state,
When you write these emails and letters it causes great upset to Lu and her colleagues at work. This is not fair and certainly not right to do so. It is important that you realise how much you are upsetting / distressing Lu with this conduct.
This is the content of the Letter delivered to the Church Army Head Office, addressed to Dr Ling. There has only been a single letter from me. The reference in the Written Warning to 'letters' is factually incorrect. The tone of the letter is forthright, more so than the email, a note of examperation wil be detected, but the letter is not at all abusive.
Dear Dr Ling,
There are matters which I need to bring to your attention, and the
attention of Lu Skerratt-Love. I can't use the most convenient
method, for me, email, since you've blocked my emails. This is
simply a short preliminary note. I don't discuss in any detail these
matters
Instead of using paper and envelope, buying a stamp and using the
post, I've chosen instead to call at the Church Army building and
deliver this
note in person and I intend to use this method whenever I can
justify a further communication to you or to Lu Skerratt-Love. [I've
never made any further communication with Tim Ling, Lu Skerratt-Love
or anyone else at Church Army Sheffield. This was the only letter
they've received.] I've decided further to
make use of 'open' communication, without enclosure in an envelope.
The matters I need to bring to your attention aren't confidential.
Banning, blocking and attempts at blatant censorship should be
avoided by people in any organization which values its reputation.
Your decision to block emails from me was completely unjustifiable.
All I had done was to send emails to a few people and organizations
to inform them of my concerns about the proposal to set up a garden
church at the Morley Street Allotment site. The reasons I gave and
the evidence I gave were to do with matters of allotment law,
security and safety. I've documented the issues in detail and
published them on my Website. The documentation will be extended to
take note of future developments. The people and organizations who
received my emails - few in number - could be expected to find the
issue of a garden church relevant, for example, St Marks Church.
Lu Skerratt-Love had publicized the issue on the St Marks Church
Website.The tone of my emails was courteous. I used Lu Skerratt-Love's
Church army email address because I had no alternative. This was the
only email address I could find.I felt at the time that it was
unwise of her not to make available an alternative email address.
Lu Skerratt-Love's decision to complain to the police, her attempt
to have me remove material from my own Website, was disastrously
misguided, like your decision to block my emails. Lu Skerratt-Love's
twitter page is full of complaints against the police but she chose
to turn to the police (as an alternative to prayer, perhaps, or to
supplement prayer). This, to me, was wasting police time. I don't
claim that it
was wasting police time in the strict legal sense but if people
demand action from the police for the flimsiest of reasons, or no
good reason at all, or for thoroughly bad reasons, then the police
have less time available for all the other issues, far more
important issues, which they have to deal with, such as doing
something to curb the excesses of Extinction Rebellion, rape,
violent crime, and many more. [I don't equate the excesses of
Extinction Rebellion with rape or violent crime, of course. This is
a short list with examples which are very different in their degree
of seriousness.]
I don't make demands myself, although I think that an apology is due
from Lu Skerratt-Love and yourself. If you find the arguments and
evidence I've put forward on my Website unpersuasive, then by all
means let me have - better still, publicize - your counter arguments
and evidence.
As I say, this is only a preliminary stage. I've already spent a
great deal of time and effort on these matters and I'm willing to do
far more. Any necessary communication with you or Lu Skerratt-Love
will be by personal delivery of a note. [I didn't deliver any more
notes/letters.]
I hope you will be able to bring this note to the attention of Lu
Skerratt-Love. [In the event, I provided a copy for Lu Skerratt-Love.]
Obviously, you're free to bring it to the attention of other people
as well.
Best Wishes,
Paul Hurt
6/10/21
Extract from email sent to Allotment Officer, Sheffield City Council concerning a proposal to set up a garden church in allotments near to my allotments.
The Garden Church Facebook page mentions at one point the use of
the land to promote what is referred to as 'mission.' The word
has a special meaning for Christians. This is a commonly cited
definition:
'A Christian mission is an organized effort to spread
Christianity to new converts.'
The Facebook Page of the Garden Church has a photograph of an
existing 'allotment church,' showing Jill Duff, the Bishop of
Lancaster, with adults and children. Three of the children and
one adult were baptized by the bishop at an event at the
'allotment church.' It's completely clear that one of the main
aims of this allotment church is to convert non-Christians.
This is how Sharon Collins, who is associated with the
'allotment church,' describes the 'mission' of the allotment
church. She moved to an estate and then
' We
began prayer walking in earnest around the estate, laying hands
on and claiming places for Jesus and just crying out, when we
got given the use of a disused allotment in the community, which
means we could once again meet to worship and we became a very
public and visible church.
"It's a very strategic position that God has thrown the doors
out for us. So it is wonderful to be there. There's some fencing
that surrounds the allotment and we use that as well for
mission. [Bold
print supplied by me.] So we often put posters up with Bible
verses on them or with words of encouragement on them.'
Jill Duff, the Bishop of Lancaster who attended and baptized at
the 'allotment church' has views which should be more widely
known. She's an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage and
supports a view of sexual relations which has now become very
uncommon in this country, but not in the Church of England. She
has conservative evangelical views according to which the vast
mass of people are destined for hell - only those who accept
Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour are 'saved.
As I've pointed out, Sheffield City Council is under no obligation to make land available for 'missionary' work. Its obligation is very different - to supply allotment land to those wanting to cultivate it for (primarily) fruit and vegetables. People who take on allotments will have a wide range of views on religion and related matters. It's completely unfair to allow a group with one particular set of views to make allotments into a temporary church.
'You
would not wish for such conduct for your loved ones.'
This statement appears in the section 'Details of the Conduct'
in the 'Community Protection Notice - Written Warning' issued to
me.
The 'conduct' mentioned is, as I've made clear, a grotesque
allegation based upon falsification. It happens that the
'Community Protection Notice - Written Warning' (CPN) was issued at a time when
the plight of two of my loved ones were a major factor
in my life. Here, I only mention - briefly - one of the two, my
mother.
The two Police Constables who came to my door to deliver the
Community Protection Notice - Written Warning came on the day
after my mother - and the mother of my sister and one surviving
brother - had been admitted to the frailty ward of a hospital.
She was 96 years old and for a long time, her health had been
worsening.
I made efforts to contest the issuing of the Written Warning
against a background of acute family concerns, then. Later, our
mother was admitted to a different ward. On a Friday, we were
informed that our mother could not possibly survive longer than
a few days. By Monday at the latest, she would have died.
Ii
decided to call at Snig Hill Police Station in Sheffield, a main
station, to ask if I could speak to a senior police officer,
available, according to the Website. I'd had enough of email
communications. i thought it important to discuss these actions
of South Yorkshire Police in person. I was told that there was
no senior police officer available at the time.
At all other times, I, and my brother and sister, have had a
realistic as well as emotional attitude. We have fully
recognized the inevitability of these events. We knew that our
mother could never be expected to live for much longer. Even so,
the conjunction of the police action against me and this family
matter had an effect on me. At the police station, I quickly
became distraught. The woman at the enquiry desk was very
understanding and handled the matter very well.
After leaving the police station, I went to the hospital and found that mother had died a short time before. My brother and sister joined me there. I consider that the statement 'You would not wish for such conduct for your loved ones' should never have been included - but none of the 'Details of the conduct' should have been included. The Written Warning should never have been sent. It was sent without any attempt whatsoever to elicit my testimony. It was sent when I had already made it completely clear that the complainant had already made complaints on the same matter which were based on false allegations.
I consider that Alan Billings has failed to consider the great difficulties which may arise when people are encouraged to complain about other people in situations where it would be completely impractical to devote the necessary resources to investigate the complaints adequately and where the expectation of police action is unrealistic. However, with the active encouragement of the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, action that people with common sense would consider completely unrealistic seems often to be regarded by the Police-Commissioner partnership as completely realistic. Do matters of cost deter them? Do they ever think that the money spent on these cases could be better spent, on more important and more urgent matters? But these social engineers have their ambitious - grandiose - plans and are determined to force them through, it seems.
I consider that Alan
Billings has failed to give nearly enough thought to the
realities and the practical difficulties. If time is spent on
these matters, then other matters must often be neglected. I
consider that Alan Billings has encouraged a situation in which
injustices are more likely. This brief comment is amplified and developed
in various places on other pages of the site. But this issue
is only one of a significant number of issues concerning
the inadequacies of Dr Billings - as I see the matter -
which are discussed on these pages, with argument and evidence.
