Dave Walker, who has been flying the flag for the beleagured SPCK bookshop chain, has been threatened with libel by the St. Stephen the Great Charitable Trust (SSG), who took over the chain last year. Since then, most (if not all) of the SPCK bookshops have closed, and there have been various questions about management practices. One former bookshop manager, Steve Jeynes, tragically took his own life just a few weeks ago.
Dave has been keeping a close eye on all of this, and providing a forum for people to share news about the chain. He has been told he'll be sued unless all SPCK posts are removed from his website.
If you want to contact Dave to support him, or offer money so that the action can be fought (don't let the bullies win!), then his contact details are here. If you're anywhere near the Lambeth conference, go to Dave's tent and give him your support.
Some of the story is at Christian Bookshop News. Phil Groom has also kept a blog here dedicated to the SPCK/SSG developments. However, as Phil is on holiday, even if he's been threatened by the Brewers (the family who are SSG), he's too busy getting a tan to do anything about it.
Update: Peter Kirk is on the case, and thinks the Brewers don't have a leg to stand on.
Update 2: Matt Wardman, a close observer of threats to the blogosphere, has posted, with a couple of links which summarise the story at various stages, and a radio interview.
and again: connexions tells you how to find the deleted posts on Google. Dave Walker has now removed the original post, so I'm not sure what's going on now!! Hopefully Mark Brewer has gone back on his threat. No doubt there will be more.
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