>Teachers Strike, Academy Director Claims Mini-bar Expenses

Posted by jasonnparkinson

>Stills, video, print (c) 2010 Jason N. Parkinson. All Rights Reserved.

YouTube: Crest Boys Academy Strike

Wednesday 21 April 2010: All three teaching unions, the NUT, ATL and NASUWT, united in the Crest Boys Academy Strike in Neasden, north-west London.

Academy sponsor E-ACT is forcing through redundancies at the school, claiming a lack of budget funds is causing the redundancies.

This claim came as E-ACT staff blew the whistle on director Bruce Liddington’s expenses, on top of his £265,000 annnual salary.

Coming some three years since the beginning of my coverage of the campaigns against the Academy school system, which culminated in the 30-minute documentary Tent City Occupation, this short film confirms many of the initial fears that led those campaigns. Academy school sponsors are considered private interests, despite being funded by the tax-payer, and are thus exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. This leaves all Academy sponsors devoid of public scrutiny and investigation.

Liddington, former schools commissioner for Labour and staunch pro-Academy advocate, replaced E-ACT director Lord Bhatia following a £70,000 hole in the funds of the then titled Edutrust.

E-ACT Director Bruce Liddington

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(c) Jason N. Parkinson 2010. All Rights Reserved.

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Press Freedom: Hostile Reconnaissance

Posted by jasonnparkinson

Press Freedom: Hostile Reconnaissance highlights the continuing police surveillance of journalists documenting political dissent in the UK and follows the rise of the I’m a Photographer Not a Terrorist! campaign.

The film follows on from the 2008 film Press Freedom: Collateral Damage that exposed the extent of police surveillance on street journalists. The film includes interviews with photojournalist Jess Hurd, NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear and Hickman and Rose partner Anna Mazzola. They are a few among many who continue to campaign to expose and fight the increasing erosion of civil liberties and press freedom in the UK.

© Jason N. Parkinson/reportdigital.co.uk