Saturday 31 October 2009

Tuesday 27 October 2009

Rants Finished

I decided to produce a little booklet for my 'rants' to go in. Just to contextualise them alittle bit. Going to print that when i get back with a nice shiny red cover and off white paper. YUM!

Had a crit with Joe. This was my first attempt at really producing a booklet. Pointed out my changing of the page numbers, and that spaces between images and text varied from page to page. I'm going to go into indesign and start making different master pages and decide upon a layout.

Notice the massive gap between the top of image and type on page 3. I have no idea why it says page 6 on the previous page.

Layouts

I experimented with different layouts and colours. I knew i wanted 2 different shades of red and a greyish/black colour. The idea is light shining through an open door onto a pool of blood; which is what the basis of the article was.

I decided this was the best layout. I've developed my work practise and arranged my time better, and produced this piece of work in a couple of hours, if that. I feel i am more suited to shorter deadlines, as i work better under pressure

Headline 4: A bloodbath on my doorstep

This article was about living in Rio de Janeiro in an area considered peaceful and away from the trouble and gang warfare. Except one day some gangsters came and got shot up by police on this poor womens doorstep.

Researching into how Blood flows after a shooting
Not going to post any images as they are pretty disturbing

Sunday 25 October 2009

Tony Blair

Cash for Honours

The Crown Prosecution Service has said no-one will face charges following the 16-month cash-for-honours investigation. Here is our guide to what happened.

What was the police inquiry all about?

Scotland Yard investigated claims that laws made in 1925 banning the sale of honours had been broken by political parties giving peerages in return for donations and loans. It also investigated whether a law made in 2000 which says that all donations of more than £5,000 must be declared, had been breached. During the investigation, the police also asked questions about alleged conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. All concerned in the inquiry denied wrongdoing

What prompted the investigation?

It emerged last year that a number of large secret loans had been made to the Labour Party before the 2005 general election, and that some of those lenders had subsequently been nominated for peerages. Scottish National Party MP Angus MacNeil wrote to the Metropolitan Police asking them to investigate whether any laws had been broken. The investigation was later widened to cover the other main parties.

What is the latest development?

The CPS announced on Friday that no-one is to face charges.

How big has the investigation been?

It began last March and has seen 136 people interviewed. The main file handed over by the police to the Crown Prosecution Service was 216 pages long, and more than 6,300 documents have also been handed over.

Did the probe focus on Tony Blair?

Mr Blair became the first prime minister to be questioned by police in the course of an investigation. He was interviewed three times - in December, January and June - but not under caution, so he was being treated as a witness rather than a suspect.

What about his aides?

Mr Blair's chief fundraiser Lord Levy was arrested for a second time, on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, in January. Downing Street's director of government relations, Ruth Turner, was arrested on 19 January, 2007, on suspicion of offences under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act. She was also questioned on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Answering bail on 20 February she was again interviewed for about two hours before being bailed again, pending further inquiries. She was previously questioned by police in September, but not under caution. Both have always denied any wrongdoing.

What sparked a cover-up probe?

The BBC was told there was a document in which Ruth Turner expressed her concern that Lord Levy had put to her a version of events she believed to be untrue.

What did Lord Levy say?

Lord Levy said in a statement there had been a "regular stream of leaks to the media during this year-long investigation, all of which have presented a prejudiced and distorted view". This had "created a climate which does not allow for any fair assessment of the investigation", it added. A statement from his solicitor strongly denied any "wrongdoing whatsoever".

Who else was arrested during the inquiry?

Biotech boss Sir Christopher Evans, who lent Labour money, was arrested and interviewed. In April 2006 Des Smith, a head teacher who helped find sponsors for the government's flagship city academies programme, was arrested and questioned. Both denied any wrongdoing. In February 2007 the Crown Prosecution Service said there would not be any charges against Mr Smith, due to "insufficient evidence".

What do those who were arrested and subsequently released without charge say? Lord Levy, Ruth Turner and Sir Christopher Evans have all expressed relief and delight that the investigation is finally over.

There has been no direct criticism of the police, although Lord Levy attacked "damaging" leaks he said had occurred during the course of the investigation.

What about Tony Blair?

He has said the investigation had ended as he "always expected it would".

He added: "Much of what has been written and said about them [those involved] has been deeply unfair, and I am very pleased for all of them that it is now over. "I want to make it clear that I level no criticism at the police."

What do the police say?

Assistant Commissioner John Yates, who headed up the investigation, said from the outset that his officers were simply doing their job.

He defended the decision to pursue the "challenging case", saying it had not been made lightly. He stressed that the allegations had been very serious, adding: "It was absolutely proper therefore that, when appropriate, police used the full range of powers at their disposal to gather the available evidence or potential evidence."

He said the police had to go where the evidence took them but the investigation would have ended sooner if it had not been for allegations of a cover-up.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair backed Mr Yates but said he would be producing a report on lessons that could be learned from the investigation.

DECISION TIME

I've made a decision about which British Political figures i am going to have my t-shirts revolve around.

1) Tony Blair

War on Iraq w/ buddy George W. Bush

2) Jeffrey Archer

Libel case

3) Blunkett

Fast tracking visas for lovers nanny

4) Jeremy Thorpe

There has been no more bizarre scandal in British political history than the one involving Jeremy Thorpe and Norman Scott. Thorpe was a dashing young Liberal MP, elected in 1959 aged 30. A former president of the Oxford Union, everything was falling into place for him. But in 1961 he met Norman Scott, a troubled individual who would plague Thorpe for the rest of his life. Scott claimed that Thorpe had sex with him, an act that would have been illegal at the time.

IN 1962 Thorpe helped Scott avoid a charge of theft. But that was just the beginning of Scott’s odd behaviour. Meanwhile, Thorpe’s career prospered, and he became Liberal leader in 1967. Scott went to the press in 1969 with allegations about their relationship, but the papers wouldn’t publish. In 1973, he moved to Thorpe’s constituency, bringing trouble.

The next year Thorpe was involved in talks with Ted Heath about a possible coalition after the 1974 election. But Scott wouldn’t go away. In 1975, an ‘assassin’ was supposedly hired to kill him. The assassin executed Scott’s dog, Rinka, and warned him he would be next. In the ensuing court case, Scott stated that he and Thorpe had had an affair — the press could now report this charge without fear of being sued. The ‘assassin’ was found guilty of firearms offences and sent to jail. On his release in 1977, he sold his story, alleging he had been hired to kill Scott.

Thorpe lost his seat in the 1979 general election. Later that year, he went on trial for conspiracy to murder. He was found not guilty.

5) John Profumo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profumo_Affair

So much sleaze

I think Sleaze series is a good title for the series of t-shirts i want to produce, as it sums up everything about them.

I keep finding new politicians and their scandals. Some who i'd forgotten about.

Jeffrey Archer

In July 1987, the libel case over the allegation that Archer had had sex with Monica Coghlan came to court. The payment to Coghlan was explained as the action of a philanthropist rather than that of a guilty man. He won the case and was awarded £500,000 damages. Archer stated he would donate the money to charity. This case would ultimately result in Archer's final exit from front-line politics some years later.

There was astonishment at the description the judge (Mr Justice Caulfield) gave of Mrs Archer^[10] in his jury instructions: "Remember Mary Archer in the witness-box. Your vision of her probably will never disappear. Has she elegance? Has she fragrance? Would she have, without the strain of this trial, radiance? How would she appeal? Has she had a happy married life? Has she been able to enjoy, rather than endure, her husband Jeffrey?" The judge then went on to say of Jeffrey Archer, "Is he in need of cold, unloving, rubber-insulated sex in a seedy hotel round about quarter to one on a Tuesday morning after an evening at the Caprice?" By this time, according to the journalist Adam Raphael, Jeffrey and Mary Archer were, in fact, living largely separate lives.

The editor of the Daily Star, Lloyd Turner, was sacked six weeks after the trial by the paper's owner Lord Stevens of Ludgate.

Archer had been selected by the Conservative Party as candidate for the London mayoral election of 2000. He was forced to withdraw when it was revealed that he was facing a charge of perjury.^[15]

In November 1999, Ted Francis, a friend (who claimed Archer owed him money) and Archer's former personal assistant Angela Peppiatt claimed he had fabricated an alibi in the 1987 trial. They were concerned that Archer was standing as Mayor of London and doubted that he was suitable. Peppiatt had kept a diary of Archer's movements, which contradicted evidence given during the 1987 trial. This formed the basis of the case against Archer.^[16]

The News of the World published the allegations on 21 November 1999 and Archer withdrew his candidacy the following day. Conservative leader William Hague said "This is the end of politics for Jeffrey Archer. I will not tolerate such behaviour in my party".^[17] On 8 October, he had described Archer as a candidate of "probity and integrity. I'm going to back him all the way" at the Conservative party conference.

On 4 February 2000, Archer was expelled from the Conservative Party for five years. On 26 September 2000, he was charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice during the 1987 libel trial.^[15]

A few months before the beginning of the perjury trial, Archer began in the star role in a courtroom play (which he also wrote) called The Accused. The play was staged at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket and concerned the court trial of an alleged murderer from beginning to end. The play used the technique of assigning the role of jury in the trial to the audience, theatre-goers voting on whether Archer's character was guilty at the end of each performance. Archer would attend his real trial during the day and be judged in his fictional trial in the evening.^[18]

The real trial began on 30 May 2001, a month after Monica Coghlan's death. On 19 July 2001, Archer was found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice at the 1987 trial. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment by Mr Justice Potts. Archer never spoke during the trial, though his wife Mary again gave evidence as she had done during the 1987 trial. Ted Francis was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice. Archer's mother died on 11 July 2001 aged 87, and he was released for the day on 21 July to attend the funeral.^[19]

Archer was sent to Belmarsh Prison, but was moved to the category "C" Wayland Prison in Norfolk on 9 August 2001, and to HMP North Sea Camp, an open prison in October 2001. From there he was let out to work at the Theatre Royal in Lincoln, England, and was allowed occasional home visits. Reports in the media claimed he had been abusing this privilege by attending lunches with friends, including former Education Secretary Gillian Shephard and in September 2002 he was transferred to Lincoln Prison for a month. While in prison, he wrote the three-volume memoir A Prison Diary. During his time in prison, he was visited by a number of high-profile friends, including the actor Donald Sinden^[20] and the performer Barry Humphries.^[21]^[22]

In October 2002, Archer repaid the Daily Star the £500,000 damages he had received in 1987, as well as legal costs and interest of £1.3 million.^[23] That month, he was suspended fromMarylebone Cricket Club for seven years.^[24]

On 21 July 2003, he was released on licence, after serving half of his sentence, from HMP Hollesley Bay, Suffolk.^[25]

Many of Archer's friends remained loyal. He and Lady Archer were guests at the memorial service for Norris McWhirter at Saint Martin-in-the-Fields on Thursday, 7 October 2004 where they sat in the same pew as former head of the Conservative Monday Club, Gregory Lauder-Frost, and in front of Lady Thatcher, who embraced Lady Archer.

On 26 February 2006, on Andrew Marr's Sunday AM programme, Archer said he had no interest in returning to front-line politics: he would pursue his writing instead.^[26]

The Sleaze Series

The Bumper Book of British Sleaze by Richard Morton Jack and Owen O'Rorke

This is a very readable reference book on the people involved in the scandals and embarassing incidents in British social life and politics between 1986 and 2007. It includes Jeffrey Archer, Neil Hamilton, Robert Kilroy-Silk, Robert Maxwell and many more. All the nefarious, sleazy characters are in here with a clear, accurate and concise summary of why they are infamous. Good fun and a very useful reference source.

Review from Amazon. Going to try and find this in local library or buy it if need be for research purposes.