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Laurie Penny

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Memo: water cannons part of the plan

Security firm's email also identifies location of possible kettle.

Two hours ago, I was passed this email via a trusted source. It suggests that police plan to kettle demonstrators along the route of today's education march, and that plans are in place to use potentially lethal water cannon "if need be". The memo appears to come from Business Monitor International (BMI, a security risk company. The police have denied the suggestion.

 

Student protest email

Click here to see a larger version

 

Right now, I'm standing at Malet Street with several thousand students, unionists and allies waiting for the march to leave Bloomsbury and head to the City of London.

The stated aims of the march, which was called by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, are to "support the 30 November Strikers" and to "stop the HE White Paper" which is set to open up British universities to further privatisation after last year's vote to triple tuition fees.

Demonstrators are calling for a tax on the rich to fund free higher education in the UK, and the selection of the City of London as a target makes a clear statement that protesters see corporate greed and public sector cuts as inextricably connected.

One year ago tomorrow, students took over the Conservative Party's headquarters at Millbank. After a year of arrests, kettling and brutal crackdowns, the shift to targeting banks rather than Parliament is perhaps indicative of a growing awareness of where and by whom power is truly wielded in Britain today.

A spokesman for BMI declined to comment on the specifics of the memo, but added that the company was often given information "which we pass on internally".

 

 

Tags: Student protests  tuition fees

128 comments

Aintree Iron's picture

Spuddly Middlevertonaina :There is nothing wrong with being a grumpy middle age caddy stick so long as it doesn't get you know where. Please don't worry about the playhouse in jackanorry there is plenty of more stories where they came from. The thing to remember about the Rainbow that there is actually a pot of Gold there, corrugated gold covered in iron filings and sold as liquorice .. big long slimmy sticks of it slipping down the water pipes to knoty ash to where billions of tiny doddy diddy men hang upside up eating crunchies.

Please do not let this distract you from your meat piss and chip buttie breafast. lets hope that this contribution is sufficient to warrant a small kettle and a pot of cake.

Fraziel1's picture

@Mr Divine "The people in the nearby area hate these people because they are rude, obnoxious, threatening, violent and they steal things" . Could not agree more. The immature silly lefties like Laurie choose to ignore the fact that they make other peoples lives a misery. I have personally dealt with many Irish travellers in my line of work and they are as you describe, and worse. One guy said we would cave my head in with a sledge hammer because i would not pay him benefit for the umpteen kids he claimed to have but i knew were not his. Criminal scum, the lot of them.

Lily the Pink's picture

I've just had a drink and I have to say I totally agree with the person who is not even prepared to put her/his/its proper name on the top of the comment box. It's shameful that these goings on are occurring at this day and age when everyone should be tucked up in bed with a nice cup of hot chocolate. Remember all people who are not prepared to put your proper name on the top of the page that this will not do.

stuart's picture

excuse me fraziei1..you are a racist and a bigot,,as somebody that has travellers blood in my veins even though i am english.. i object to your hate filled bile and rant just there,,nazism was born out of attitudes like yours,,and you would never get away with describing muslims in the same way as you do with irish travellers..

SpudMiddleton's picture

"...because my legal team is dealing with this matter"

...fuckin hell...is anyone on here who they claim to be?...erm..like me

anyway, if it isn't a potentially lethal legal team I'm not even interested...stuff that's non-fatal is just so last year

Lily the Pink's picture

And for all those people who don't think that this is my real name I have had a song about me. Now I ask you how can someone write a song about someone that doesn't exist?

btw: I like wearing pink and floral dresses and going for a walk with Les Dawson.

Fergus Pickering's picture

Sending students to jail seems a good idea to me. Let's do more of that.

Chir0n's picture

Who knows whether the police would've used water cannon (see what I did there Ian?) yesterday, but we should be glad they didn't. Anyone who doubts how lethal and "potentially fatal" they can be is uninformed. With one well-aimed blast, those things can take your fucking eyes out - anyone remember Stuttgart last year? Look it up and I guarantee you'll be horrified.

And as for you @Buckskins, did you think that when the government used OUR TAXES to bailout the banks, that they deserved it for knowing how to "turn a pound"? Is that euphemism for "rip off the poor"? Fuck-wit.

Lily the Pink's picture

here's my song. lets all sing along ...a one a two a three four five once I caught a fish alive .. no that's a dfferent song. this is the song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x8D4T--0v4

stuart's picture

see..me and laurie have got one thing in commen,,we are both true working class warriors underdogs and we dont give a @@@@ how much of you middle class torys @@@@@ think about us,,in fact bring it on you tory rich @@@@@@@ ha ha you maggie thatcher loving @@@@@@,,,,,yeeeeeeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjMnhiCUnr0

John P Reid's picture

laurie you don't half come out with some rubbish

Give it to the Rich's picture

Got to agree with Buckskins when he said, " take it from the rich". There is no doubt that the rich deserve to be given more than what they have already. If I had my way the rich would have everything and nobody else would have anything: the rich deserve all the pie not just the top 99.9% of it.

Give it to the Rich I say. Well said Buckskins.

Buckskins's picture

Holyoak said the plantation's previous record was a 695-pound hog shot several years ago. Enough wild hogs roam Holyoak's plantation that he has made it a side business to allow people to hunt them, but he said "Hogzilla" was too big to let someone else shoot.

Buckskins's picture

Groucho.

There is plenty of truth in what you're saying, however it's no secret that money makes money. When you remove the incentive for those that are making it then what's the point. There are plenty of Brits that came from sh!t and are self made millionaires.

The King Troll's picture

WHO the Fuck is implying that trolls have no fuckin humanity you deep seated ball of tumbleweed twit. no fuckin humanity I 'll give you some humanity right where it doesn't hurt because Us trolls have so humanity it hurts like hell bent in double stitches. If anyone calls me a Fuck lack lustre humanity horse thief again I'll twat him the balls and I can assure you it wont be a feather hammer.

Don't mess with the King of the Trolls

Buckskins's picture

Half my darn post disappeared.

Buckskins's picture

Everyone gets rich from the herd. That is the target population for a profitable business. It's not stealing, it's business. Unless you are an out and out communist which I doubt, how can anyone say honest business is theft from the poor. Of course there are crooks out there, but I'll tell you what. Where I'm from you get a bad name and for you it's over. A year later you're dining at loaves and fishes. Here you shake hands after a deal is made. If your word is no good you may as well saddle up and get out of Dodge.

Soap Queen's picture

Got to agree with Mr. Buckskins when he says that the water cannons need a good cleaning agent. If I can I would like to recommend my own extra special cleaning product called " First Seal". This seals all the horse shit that has been coming out of the cannons since the dawn of time and one, two three steps beyond. This product has its own jingle and a very showy band recommended by the top scientists to kill 280$% of all known germs dead.

HOLY TRINITY's picture

We recommend this product so it MUST ABSOLUTELY MUST BE right

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x8D4T--0v4

Fergus Pickering's picture

And can we send travellers as well?

Give it to the Rich's picture

You got it wrong you three that' not the product. this is the product and its all ours
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x8D4T--0v4

Thatcher's Iron Stiletto's picture

Laurie "gullible" Penny

The UK has 6 water cannons and ALL are in Northern Ireland.

If you want to stoke violence and animosity - do it with your own ass on the line.

Give it to the Rich's picture

Couldn't agree with you more Buckskins. These are my sheep and my sheep alone bleating out of the window. I intend to keep them my sheep. In fact I want some more sheep. Why shouldn't I have more sheep? Have I not worked hard for these sheep? And when these sheep say " hey diddle diddle" and they want a baby sheep surely that sheep is mine because it gave birth on my land.

I have a right to protect my sheep from foxes because they are my sheep and my sheep alone. They don't belong to the foxes. No I want my sheep to live without having to smoke after anal sex.

Stuart Eels's picture

Testing testing testing

Ian5's picture

I doubt the Water Cannons reference, the term should have been water cannon. No need to capitalise, and cannon is both singular and plural. I rarely side with the police, but would think on this occasion their denial is accurate.

Stuart Eels's picture

Mr Divine, didn't you notice stuart the gangsta girl guide has now been subject to water cannon assualt in Northern Ireland as well as being burnt out of his home in the riots last year? You couldn't make it up, then again perhaps he could.

Bucksins, we all know you are nearly as big a fake as stuart, so grow up.

Ellmore Disco's picture

Am I alone in finding the image to have mysteriously disappeared?

Stuart Eels's picture

Of course Laurie Penny wasn't there, she never had her riot botties on again, just as she didn't at events last year, come New Statesman get rid of her.

Buckskins's picture

"surely that sheep is mine because it gave birth on my land. "

The Lamb/Lambs are yours because you own the parents. If they were someone else's sheep that birthed they would not be yours. I'm unfamiliar with Sheep and anal sex.

Ian5's picture

Yes, I cleared my cache and I still see the image.

SpudMiddleton's picture

"@stuart eels..i dont need lessons on police brutality from somebody that cant even spell assault properly...bty. i have also been tasered as well stuart eels..

I thought you sold the big issue...where you selling it?...downtown Baghdad? Kabul? I hope they pay you a special danger-supplement?

SpudMiddleton's picture

..more of a goat man myself...goats- and chaff-to the day I die.

Sheep and wheat are for little mummy's boy ciabatta-munching surrender-badgers...just the way it turned out of the wash.

that said...I do enjoy a Donner...and bread

Mrs.Josephine Hyde-Hartley's picture

How could anyone in their right mind believe this so-called electronic communication is real? Everybody knows the BMI's just a fat index.

SpudMiddleton's picture

Aintree Iron

I'm not sure what you were trying to do there... it came across as a sort of tribute...possibly not intentional, but thanks anyway...I'm not sure you've really got the range or sureness of touch for parody or satire, but there are indications from your work that with the required effort, you may, one day, master some of the basics.

Aintree Iron's picture

@Spud: Have you got advanced dog shit inbetween your ears? It wasn't Stuart Eels that was selling Big Issue in Kabul it was the likely lad from Texas ... Buckskins .. that's how he made his millions. Where else do you think he could have got his money from to buy all those totally wild Mexicans and keep them in cages on his ranch? The Pole that is North of the North Pole? Get a grip man you're writing gibberish. Stick to the scrip.

Aintree Iron's picture

Yes MR Spuddy Everrtonian you're absolutely wrong it wasn't a tribute basically it was something else all together. You probably couldn't understand what I was saying because you haven't done a dissection in mass media and communication like me. What sort of intellectual are you? No you're one of those inteleuals who think they are intelligent because they've been rolling around the fields in the dog shit of Eaton and Oxford. Well let me assure you now that just because you can spell better than me doesn't mean I'm not three times ..nay five times more intelligent than you. Make that 6 times more intelligent and stick in another one time for good luck. Once you've handled the advanced study of intelligent matters you can then progress to the higher level of intelligence ... the basics. Until then you can't move on.

Taggart's picture

They claim state benefits when they have lots of money overseas invested in property and land in Southern Ireland: the place to stash their ill gotten gains, a bit like a tax haven. At the Dale Farm protest there were hardly any men seen photographed. This is because the men are aggressive thieves and some wanted by the law. http://www.furniture101.net/

Mr. Divine's picture

I don't think you should insult my good mate from Liverpool like that. We've had our differences in the past but let me assure you that his time in prison for something he hasn't mentioned has made him the intellectual he is today. He read lots of books while he was in there. And although he is as you rightly point out a Evertonian that doesn't mean you should insult him in the way you are doing. Me and little Spuddy go back a long way .. he has insulted me in the past but I have forgave him. Even though he hasn't done that with me he will once he has fixed his neighbours' burst water main.

Mr. Divine's picture

by the Way: you're both dickheads because it was little stuart that sold the big issue.

SpudMiddleton's picture

Divine

"Once you've handled the advanced study of intelligent matters you can then progress to the higher level of intelligence ..."

You couldn't manage the advanced handling of your fat arse out of the La-Z-Boy recliner in which you type your turgid doggerel and catch up on your daytime soaps. Don't tell me about getting a grip.

SpudMiddleton's picture

"...it was little stuart that sold the big issue"

I thought little Stuart was the CGI mouse who lived with Hugh Laurie...I didn't know he'd developed a death wish and moved to Kabul.

Steve's picture

My heart pounded for my love Laurie. I couldn't resist it. I had a beer and the feeling left me. It was the first beer I had for I don't know when as I've kind of lost track of time. The feeling left me and I was as drunk as anything and confused. I don't want to drink again. I want my heart to keep pounding for her. My heart hurts. I have a sadness that I can't contain at times. the ache is so strong. I wonder what I'm doing here. The feeling is more confused because my children are here and my youngest one is only 3 and she's beautiful.

Stuart Eels's picture

Oh no little stuart, you mean that you are not just a girl guide gangsta leader, who's been burnt out by the rioters, water cannoned in Northern Ireland and tasered by the Met. You are also a campaigner for travellers rights! Lord help us, how do you manage all these things and still find time to instruct your solicitors?

Mr. Divine's picture

Let me enlighten you on anal sex with a rusty iron rod Buckskins. Once an iron is placed in liquid of any sort it rusts and tiny particles of it fall off and stay in the liquid. If the liquid has a porous shell the particles find their way into that shell. Over time the filings can grow making the anal passageway feel very sore and red. They can get so sore that it burns every time you defecate. Even thinking about anal sex can stimulate the growth of the iron filings. This is because the body has electrons running through its nerves as the brain sends signals all the way through the body. My advice to anyone who has had anal sex with an iron rod is not to think of having it again because just thinking about it will result in greater pain and infection in the colon.

Aintree Iron's picture

Give it to the Rich: I'm pleased that you don't want your sheep to smoke after anal sex. Ciggy smoke contains minute traces of iron that finds its way into the heart. And as Mr. Divine points out the body is electrically charged through the nervous system. If there is a sufficient quantity of these filings they short circuit the electricity and they result in a stroke or a heart attack. In fact people living in polluted cities breath in metallic traces everyday due to exhaust fumes of motors. Motors are made are metal and they can rust due to the salt and water on the roads. This is most noticeable in rusty exhaust pipes As you walk down the road these trace metals are entering your body virtually in every breath you take.

Anthony Miller's picture

"The UK has 6 water cannons and ALL are in Northern Ireland"

Yes, but you forget they are "Lethal" watercannon.

Time and time again when it looked as though the troubles were drawing to a close the IRA would state "No, we cannot come to an agreement because we remember Wet Sunday".
People lived in perpetual fear of getting a bit wet and cold.

As far as I'm aware there are no recorded instances of anyone ever being killed by water cannon and just because some idiot insinuates it may be possible of wikipedia doesn't mean they should be taken seriously. One person was blinded once in Germany but really you have to be hit at point blank range to suffer any serious injury..

Anyway I must stop now I've cut myself on a potentially lethal piece of paper while pulling it out from underneath my potentially lethal keyboard and potentially fatal mouse.

Steve's picture

I would love to go to her. Is it not possible she can come to me and live nearby? Not forever just for the time my children grow up.

Aintree Iron's picture

It is important to police the air that you breath at every step of your life. That's if you really want to be someone's wife.

HOLY TRINITY's picture

Josephine: You exist do you not? Therefore what you write is part of the existence of life. The words that are written down on the screen are of the existence of life. So they are real words.

We have assigned you a charity. Why are you neglecting the duty that we have assigned you? Have you not had sufficient warning? Or do we have to up the ante next time?

FA's picture

"One year ago tomorrow, students took over the Conservative Party's headquarters at Millbank."

Took over? Students RIOTED - which is why subsequent protests were kettled. Stop excusing criminality.

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