And sorry the link wasn’t correct — although I guess any link is better than nothing. It wasn’t a link that I provided.

I already sent a mail to what I thought was your email address at the Guardian, but it bounced back. I also sent it to the general ‘userhelp’ address at the Guardian but I don’t know if it’s been received as I’ve had no response, anyway, here’s the text of the mail I sent:

I was very excited to see that you’ve linked to my website. However, the link is wrong. The link points to the festival that took place in Lechlade, Gloucestershire, on May Day bank holiday weekend 1992. Castlemorton, which is a lot more (in)famous, took place on the bank holiday at the end of May in the same year. The correct link is:
http://freepartypeople.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/may-12th-1992-castlemorton-common-free-festival/
Also, Castlemorton is in Worcestershire, not Gloucestershire as stated in the article.

Thanks!

Yes, but just now, with elections and expenses scandal and Gordon will-he-won’t he and Cabinet resignations, there’s virtually no room for anything else in home news. They obsess. Usually not for long. Then they move on. The expenses scandal is a rarity in that it’s lasting so long.

I think generally nothing in the media lasts more than two weeks. If we woke up tomorrow and it was World War II but we had the modern media, we’d have switched off before the end of September 1939.

Seen to-day’s Telegraph headline?
“Enormous crowds in Hong Kong commemorating Tiananmen Square”
Bigger crowds in Trafalgar Square, a little nearer home, protesting Iraq went unreported.
Conspiracy Theory?

Thanks for getting in touch. I’ve thought for a long time that politics should be like jury service, as it’s apparent that it doesn’t work allowing people with no relevant qualifications — and often only a thirst for power — to run the show. I also don’t understand why the media collectively refuses to cover protests adequately. I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but in this case it seems to be generally understood that protests will be
underreported, or not reported at all.

Hello Andy,
Thanks for a very good posting on the Beanfield and relevant to-day.
The motivation for enhanced police powers and repressive government legislation seems to be part of a pattern — the determination to keep the lid on an educated and informed population beginning to realise that in a democracy it is the people themselves, and not elected ‘representatives’ and certainly not a monarchy who are sovereign. At present the sovereign has no voice in a ‘democracy’ but is conned into voting away their right to self government.
The Beanfield lesson would be pretty bleak if there was not a way to reverse it.
The way I suggest, is an amendment to the ‘constitution’ (which exists on the ground but not on paper.) The amendment is to put the people in power in an Assembly chosen by lottery of the adult population.
This Assembly of the people is the appropriate new body to keep MP’s in check and initiate debate on any subject.

I am interested in the words you use to describe the pressure on the media not to report events. The policy seems to be to totally suppress any articulation of the people — except on the terms of representative institutions who have already captured the system.
Using the term ‘mob’, reporting only the violent fringe and ignoring legitimate gatherings (the latest Gaza protest in Trafalgar Square of some thousands did not make the BBC radio or TV news!) and consistently and grossly underestimating demo numbers are part of the pattern. Now is an opportune time to promote the Assembly.

Can you explain how this pressure works?
James, Dorchester