Archive for August 2009
>Film: Under The Flight Path Crossroad
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Stills, video, print (c) 2009 Jason N. Parkinson. All Rights Reserved.
Film: Under The Flight Path Crossroad
Campaign group HACAN ClearSkies commissioned the film. They campaign to “preserve the quality of life for those living around Heathrow airport in the UK”. As my previous post on this exposed, planes cross Vauxhall – which is situated 16 miles from Heathrow – at an average of one every two minutes, with flights coming in daily as early as 4.30am, registering over 60 decibels.
Early flights into Heathrow like this are only supposed to be in “exceptional circumstances”, yet British Airways has a scheduled flight from Hong Kong passing over Vauxhall at this time every day.
No Place To Hide, the HACAN commissioned study by Bureau Veritas showed aviation noise was a London-wide problem and the use of Continuous Descent Approach (CDA), where flight paths into Heathrow were smooth, rather than the old “step-by-step” descent, was instigated the same time as increased noise pollution complaints were received in the area.
But as Heathrow is set to expand further with the third runway and a massive increase in flights to City airport, the situation of aviation noise over Vauxhall looks like it is going to get worse.
All material on this blog – stills, video and print – is (c) Jason N. Parkinson 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact the AUTHOR for access to any material and the extensive five-year video archive.
>Under The Flight Path
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Stills, video, print (c) 2009 Jason N. Parkinson. All Rights Reserved.
As the Ashes was played out down the road at the Oval cricket ground, I spent Sunday on a roof in Vauxhall, south London filming planes passing overhead, at a rate of one every two minutes. That means before the noise from one plane has totally diminished the next one is on its way over. And it is like that from about 5am, all day, everyday.
Vauxhall, roughly 14 miles from Heathrow, is a crossroads for flight paths for Heathrow and City airport. Campaign group HACAN ClearSkies are concerned about the constant noise pollution caused by the existing flight paths and the effect the third runway expansion at Heathrow and increased flights to City airport will have on the hundreds of thousands of residents who live directly under the flight path.
All material on this blog – stills, video and print – is (c) Jason N. Parkinson 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact the AUTHOR for access to any material and the extensive five-year video archive.
>Brown, Gaddafi, Lockerbie and the G8
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Stills, video, print (c) 2009 Jason N. Parkinson. All Rights Reserved.
Less than two months ago, as the Great Eight met in L’Aquila, Italy, I reported the appearance of Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi from a book store in Rome.
At the time no news outlets wanted the footage: “What’s the story?” I was asked. “What’s the angle? Why is he there?”
The truth is without access to the summit itself, at the time I had no idea. But it seemed slightly coincidental the enemy of decades, now our new friend in the war on terror, was in Rome the same time as the G8. When Gaddafi walked centre stage on the last day of the summit, shaking hands with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, President Barak Obama and Silvio Berlusconi, things began to slot into place.
Now, nearly two months have passed and the dots are slowly being joined. Today the Guardian reported Brown’s meeting with Gaddafi at the G8 summit discussed the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdulbaset al-Megrahi. In that same meeting Brown also discussed increasing UK oil interests in Libya.
But these types of deals in the wonderful world of global governance are nothing new, and not illegal either. One year before Berlusconi signed a $5bn (£3bn) compensation deal to Libya for Italy’s “colonial misdeeds”. In return Gaddafi allowed Italian patrols of Libyan territorial waters and the right to return all refugees to Libyan territory, thus rendering any refugee’s chance at having a fair hearing over their political refugee status to nil.
All material on this blog – stills, video and print – is (c) Jason N. Parkinson 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact the AUTHOR for access to any material and the extensive five-year video archive.
>Video Rush: Unite Against Fascism Vs BNP Festival
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Stills, video, print (c) 2009 Jason N. Parkinson. All Rights Reserved.
Video Rush: Unite Against Fascism March on BNP Festival
The police operation to protect the BNP and maintain public order cost the UK taxpayer £500,000. This included testing out the latest surveillance technology, the Air Robot, which can be seen at the beginning of the footage.
19 people were arrested after protestors attempted to break through police lines to confront the far-right festival-goers.
Related Links
Birmingham Anti-Fascist Street Fights
All material on this blog – stills, video and print – is (c) Jason N. Parkinson 2008. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact the AUTHOR for access to any material and the extensive four-year video archive.
jasonnparkinson@gmail.com
>Video Rush: Birmingham Fascist-Anti-Fascist Street Fights
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Stills, video and print (c) Jason N. Parkinson 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Video Rush: Birmingham Fascist-Anti-Fascist Street Fights
Unite Against Fascism held a counter demonstration, to oppose these groups, both being involved in clashes with police and residents earlier in the year in Birmingham and Luton, which led to street violence, damage to property and a mosque being fire bombed.
This time, as the video shows, the EDL members that avoided being “kettled” by police went straight for the anti-fascist protest, goaded the Birmingham youth, then got beaten and chased out of town. 35 people were arrested and three people were injured.
These far right extremist groups have promised to return in bigger numbers, their next target is to be the Harrow mosque in North West London over the August Bank holiday.
Video Rush: Birmingham Fascist-Anti-Fascist Street Fights
Please contact the AUTHOR for access to any material and the extensive four-year video archive.
jasonnparkinson@gmail.com
>Far Right Groups Beaten Back By Birmingham
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Far right groups English Defence League and Casuals United were beaten back from marching by Birmingham citizens and anti-fascist organisations on Saturday 8 August.
A counter protest called by Unite Against Fascism (UAF) was surrounded by police from the start, but after one individual (pictured above) stormed in and goaded the Asian and Muslim youth protestors broke through police lines and began chasing down the groups hurling racist abuse (pictured below).
The streets around Birmingham’s city centre descended into running street battles. Bricks and rocks were thrown by both sides. Those considered fascists were desperately outnumbered, both by local youth and riot police.
In all, three people were seriously beaten and 35 people were arrested during the street fighting.
A video rush of the day, from which these stills are taken, will appear here soon.
All material on this blog – stills, video and print – is (c) Jason N. Parkinson 2008. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact the AUTHOR for access to any material and the extensive four-year video archive.
>You Find Four Billion, You Lose Four Billion
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Bankers Emergency Meeting at The Treasury Last week, 27 July 2009, bankers were rushed into the Treasury at high speed in chauffeur-driven cars with blacked-out windows for an emergency meeting with Chancellor Alistair Darling. The burning questions on Darling’s lips – why are you not lending more and why are you not passing on the interest rate to your customers? Something I’ve been asking every time I look at my loan repayment plan.
Tuesday 4 August and the news headlines are of bankers taking £4bn in bonuses, citing “business as usual” – a stupendous slap on the back for all the great work they have done.
Bankers Emergency Meeting at The TreasuryHas anyone thought to ask the question; did the Lloyds/HBOS funds get mixed up in the City bonus bin?
All material on this blog – stills, video and print – is (c) Jason N. Parkinson 2008. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact the AUTHOR for access to any material and the extensive four-year video archive.
>London Sharks
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All stills, video and print on this blog are (c) Jason N. Parkinson 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Video Rush: London Aquarium Sharks
Hammerhead Shark
While watching and filming these wondrous creatures you soon realise sharks are highly misunderstood, generally thanks to Steven Spielberg, although maybe the blame should be pointed at author Peter Benchley. But as one poster in the aquarium states, more people are killed by toasters every year than in shark attacks.
All material on this blog – stills, video and print – is (c) Jason N. Parkinson 2008. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact the AUTHOR for access to any material and the extensive four-year video archive.
