Bath and Wells 1100th anniversary website

New website online from today for the 1100th anniversary of my Diocese, Bath and Wells, which is next year. There's quite a lot of stuff on it, and it looks like a good resource for next year. If you're in Somerset, it's worth a look.

Blurb on our main Diocesan website says:
2009 marks the 1100th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. It seems too important a landmark to go unmarked, and a perfect opportunity to give thanks for our past, celebrate our present, and challenge the future.

Dave Walker meets Barbara Streisand

If you're trying to keep up with the blogosphere fallout from attempts to keep Dave Walker quiet on the story of SPCK, whilst the owners (the Society of St. Stephen the Great, or SSG) pursued bankruptcy in a US court several thousand miles away from most of their major creditors, here's a running collection of links. Todays main business seems to be dissecting the legal arguments in the SSG correspondence with Elizaphanian, who was issued with the same order as Dave after republishing some of the deleted posts (see the comments on his post yesterday). There is a now big fat article on Ministry of Truth which really is worth a read if you want to know whether the arguments stand up.

Meanwhile Phil Groom has posted part of his own C&D order, specifically the bit where he's ordered to take down a website dedicated to fundraising for people made redundant from SPCK.

Phil comments:
But I am now so very, very angry. How dare Mr Brewer target the very page that I set up to raise funds to support the people whose livelihoods have been destroyed by this fiasco??
My only interest in this situation throughout has been to support these people, and (although hopes for this faded some time ago) to try and salvage something from the ruin that SSG has made of the former SPCK bookshops. Why? Because as Dave Walker kept reminding us, “It’s fun to shop at the SPCK”.

Meanwhile after a spate of 'I am Dave Walker' solidarity posts, some are now appearing for Sam Norton too. Sam has published a helpful 'SSG/SPCK for beginners' post today. My hit counter tells me there's been 100+ new people a day coming here to find out what all the fuss is about. For info, my summary is here, Matt Wardmans is here.

The Streisand effect is a phenomenon on the Internet where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information backfires, causing the information to be widely publicized. Examples are attempts to censor a photograph, a file, or even a whole website, especially by means of cease-and-desist letters. Instead of being suppressed, the information sometimes quickly receives extensive publicity, often being widely mirrored across the Internet, or distributed on file-sharing networks (from Wikepedia 'Streisand Effect')

Support the Lambeth 1: Dave Walker/SSG/SPCK update, Thursday 31st July

I'll be posting in more detail later today (hopefully) - big meeting this morning which I need to prepare for. In the meantime, a nice quote from the Facebook group set up to support Dave:

Dave you have supported all SPCK/SSG, staff on your website, and now its our turn to stand by you mate, and were here standing right beside you

If you're new to this story and want to know why we're supporting cartoonist Dave Walker, try this link.

If you want to know who's posting about this, Matt Wardman has updated his list. 64 and counting.

Todays debate will probably be over cease and desist orders, following Sam Nortons posts yesterday. A small army of commenters are queuing up to query the consistency of the communications he's had from SSG. Tall Skinny Kiwi is reflecting on a different case, but has some good reflections on how to handle potentially slanderous comments on blogs. (HT BigBulkyAnglican)

I read on one blog last night that there were meetings happening at some of the remaining SPCK bookshops today, but can't remember which one. Drat.

Finally, Deep Thought is blogging on this, but also has an interesting post on some new research on the Ipod generation, which is well worth a look if you're into that sort of thing. In a normal week that would be my main post today....

Finally, finally, Jesus words about 'if you brother sins against you, go to him and show him his fault', keep bubbling up in my head. My instinct would be to talk all this stuff through, but then I think that if I made contact with SSG through Mark Brewers published email address at his law firm, he would then have my email address, and might use it to send me the kind of note that Dave and Sam have had. So it's a bit of a catch-22. Ideally we'd settle this over a pint, as Shrek suggests.

Dave Walker, SSG, SPCK update: Breaking News

Elizaphanian, who republished some of Dave Walkers SPCK posts on his blog, and recieved a Cease and Desist note for his troubles, has published the notice, and related correspondence, on his blog today.

One key reason he gives is that the matter is in the public interest, which 900+ extra hits on this blog, and a 200-a-day spike in Matt Wardmans traffic since he started coverage, demonstrate. Both the SPCK story, and the silencing of one of its main narrators, are matters of public interest, going wider than SPCK itself to free speech and its place on the internet. I don't like people using websites to abuse people anonymously, and Dave has consistently, carefully and fairly reported the SPCK case. It's impossible to interpret what he's done as a personal attack on anyone. Dave doesn't do personal attacks, he does irony and humour.

One line in the C&D quotes remarks about 'incompetence' and 'injustice' as defamatory. I would have thought bankruptcy could be interpreted as evidence of financial incompetence, and an ongoing union action on unfair dismissal is evidence of an injustice committed. These are not personal attacks, they are fair descriptions of the situation as it stands.

This is what Sam Norton has written in reply, which I think is entirely fair.
I believe that my blog contains only material which is either true or "fair comment" upon truthful matters.

If there are particular aspects of the material published on my blog which you believe to be neither true nor fair comment I am prepared to look again at specific items.

Please be aware that I consider the making public of this correspondence to be in the public interest, and that I shall share, via my blog and other media, both your original "cease and desist" request, and any subsequent correspondence.

I would assure you that I have no personal malice towards you in this regard. My concern is that an innocent man (Mr David Walker) has been victimised by your actions. Should you be willing at any point in the future to make a public apology to him, leading to him reinstating his blogposts concerning SPCK, then I shall certainly cease and desist any further writings on this affair.

It's a courageous thing to do, well done Sam. If you think this is in the public interest, you might want to copy and repost bits of it on your blogs too. And if you didn't, then you wouldn't be reading this, would you? ;-)

Support the Lambeth 1: Dave Walker/SPCK/SSG update, Weds 30th July

Welcome to the latest update, and if you're new to what's happened to cartoonist and blogger Dave Walker, have a look at my post from yesterday, which tells the story so far, and links to other places where you can find out more.

Today is Awards and Puzzles Day.

The 'We Support Dave Walker Awards'

Best Quote: “Thank goodness that we have this one, last bastion of free speech– the Internet. The internet, in particular, is the only truly free “press” we still have.” (J Mark Brewer). Ht Matt Wardman. Oh, the irony. SquiggleJones has some commentary on this, well worth a look.

'With Supporters Like These, Who Needs Subpoenas?' Award: Rev Dr Christian Troll and his GAFCON blog (not quite what you'd expect!). I wouldn't endorse his tactics, but its, erm, interesting.

Magic Number of the Day: 300, which the We Support Dave Walker Facebook group trundled past yesterday. Please join it to show your support for Dave. I'm a bit embarassed that is has more members than the SPCK support group, so you should join that as well. I just did. Our membership is a weird and wonderful blend of vicars, bloggers, youth workers, booksellers and journalists.

Misleading headline of the day: Dave Walker Speaks!
....to the Anglican Journal about his cartooning and Lambeth etc. But there is a cryptic message on Dave's blog: Continued thanks, by the way, to friends everywhere, I wonder what it could mean?

Puzzles Section
Missing Word Competition: hosted today at Unicorn Tree Books of Lincoln. See if you can work out which words and phrases have been left out in telling the story of the SPCK staff members in Lincoln who, it is reported, arrived at work one morning, switched on the shop email, and discovered on the aformentioned email that they'd been fired. Nice.

Maths Puzzle: How many Cease and Desists Are There? We know about Dave Walkers, and Elizaphanian (also worth a visit if you like nice photos, film reviews and debates about atheism). The 'Important, Please Read' notice on the SPCK/SSG blog (which just reported the excellent news of a new Christian bookshop in Cardiff) suggests there might be a third. I'm surprised. If there is a no.3, and it was served whilst the blogger in question was on holiday last week, that means there has been no further communication from SSG since last Wednesday. Read into that what you will, but lots of other people have done exactly what Sam at Elizaphanian did. Mind you, imagine tackling Madpriest in court. On second thoughts, don't.

Maths Puzzle: Advanced. Will former SPCK workers get any pension payments? Asingleblog reports a friends attempts to get some answers out of the Church of England pensions board.


More Links (Sorry, couldn't think of how to make these an award or a puzzle)
another blog dealing with this story: US blog TalkToAction, who notes that British bloggers are quickly stirred to action when libel threats are bandied about.

Matt Wardman is updating daily, so have a look there too. He's just posted a list of the Church Times articles on the SPCK/SSG transfer, if you want to look into the background. He also has a full-ish list of who's blogging about this, though see the comments too for additions. Welcome aboard to Maggi Dawn and Tim Abbott.

For the record: my goal in all of this is not to have a go at anyone. It is to have the Cease and Desist order on Dave Walker lifted, and in the meantime to keep the SPCK/SSG story in the public domain, as a matter of public interest and personal interest too. The fact that 800-900 people have come to this insignificant blog in the last 8 days to find out about the story is evidence of the 'public interest' bit.

That's why I'm blogging daily about it (sorry if you come to this blog for other things - don't worry, I'll get back to mission soon, and there are some book reviews on the way) and encouraging others to do so. For my other posts on this, use the SPCK link.

Update: Matt Wardman has posted 3 Dave Walker posts, with commentary, and asks 'are these defamatory?' A fair answer would probably be 'no'. 72 to go.....

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

Just tried to book a new 'education room' at our local Cathedral for a church council away day. Unfortunately it wasn't available for that kind of thing, though they were using it as a venue for yoga classes. Yes, exactly. So we're trying the newly opened Monks Yard just off the A303, which looks nice. And has a cafe.

Dave Walker, 1 Week On

The story so far.
Roughly a week ago, cartoonist and blogger Dave Walker took down 75 posts from his Cartoon Church blog. The posts detailed the story of SPCK, particularly the troubled last couple of years, the takeover by the Society of St. Stephen the Great (SSG), and the problems which have happened since. He did this because SSG had issued a 'Cease and Desist' order, and threatened Dave with libel if he did not comply by noon on Tuesday 22nd July - about 3-4 hours notice.

Myself and a few other bloggers picked up on this, concerned that Dave was being put under undue pressure, and that the SPCK story detailed on his blog might be lost.

So we've done several things:
1. Dave's posts have been retrieved from the Google cache, and reposted in various sites on the internet. This site archives all the Dave Walker posts, as do the Defend Dave Walker site, and a 'Save the SPCK' archive, two of several set up in the last 7 days as a result of the SSG threat.

2. A We Support Dave Walker group has been set up on Facebook, to show our solidarity with Dave. It has nearly 300 members at time of writing, including Bishops, Cathedral staff, booksellers, prominent bloggers, and a couple of journalists for national newspapers. There are also members from the US, Australia and Africa, as well as many in the UK. Please join it if you support Dave.

3. A couple of sites are keeping a running record of links to the story. Matt Wardman has been the engine room for much of this, with a list of people blogging on the story here (52 at last count, though this is rising all the time), a summary of the story so far , and daily updates on the story. Meanwhile This website is trying to keep track of all the links to the story in the blogosphere. As an indicator, this blog has had about 1,000 more visitors then normal over the last 6 days, as people have followed the story. And there are dozens of us.

4. The bullying of Dave Walker has prompted some bloggers to look more deeply into the current court cases involving SSG, including their attempts to be declared bankrupt in Texas (being disputed), and a queue of creditors and former employees in the UK seeking settlement. Ministry of Truth has done lots of digging, and the comments there are worth a look too. If the idea was to prevent reporting of the ongoing SPCK saga on the internet, it has failed spectacularly.

5. ASBO Jesus has done some very clever and hard-hitting cartoons. Or you can get a disguise kit here to prevent you being hit with a C&D yourself.

Other sources for the SPCK story are still live (at the moment), including the SPCK/SSG blog, and archives from the Church Times, and The Bookseller (search term 'spck').

Dave continues to maintain a dignified silence. Either that or he's too busy partying with the Bishops at the Lambeth conference.

There are several ongoing issues:
1. The threats against Dave Walker have not yet been withdrawn, and they should be, so that all 75 posts can be reposted and the public reporting of the SPCK story continues.

2. Libel threats being made to other blogs - it is highly likely that this is happening, though the wording of the threats themselves probably prevents people saying they've been threatened. One blogger has already concluded this is all a bluff, and gone on record as having been C&D'd.

3. The bankruptcy case involving SSG in the USA, and the irregularities found in their paperwork. There are a nest of other issues too: whether a UK organisation can be declared bankrupt in the US, why they are seeking this through a court several thousand miles away from most of their creditors, as well as some questions over payments and finance.

4. The USDAW action against SSG on behalf of 15 former employees. To quote from the USDAW General Secretary
It is clear that staff, many of whom have been long standing loyal workers, have been mistreated and many are understandably very upset and concerned. We are very concerned at a new company (ENC Management Company) being set up in these circumstances, while our members are losing their jobs. These loyal staff are being given misleading information about these US bankruptcy proceedings and the effects this may have on their rights to take legal action in the UK. Our fear is that the Brewers’ actions may be an attempt to move assets away from the business and out of the reach of our members with legitimate claims.

“We will carry on as before with the claims against the Brewers who are accumulating wealth whilst riding roughshod over hard working employees. We will continue to assist all our members affected by this messy situation and work to rectify it as soon as possible.”

What's really sad about this is that SSG is a Christian charity, and here are unions and all sorts of other people involved in something that should have been sorted out amicably. The Anglican Communion take note: this is how messy it gets if you give up on acting lovingly.

If you want to do something, blog about this, write to a church newspaper, join the Facebook group, and write to Mark Brewer, asking him politely to identify precisely what he had a problem with on Dave's site, and could he please contact Dave to withdraw the C&D order. The address is
7 Tufton Street
London
Great Britain
SW1P 3QN

The SSG website has other contact details, including a phone number. If it does liquidate, there are several churches which is has acquired as well as the SPCK chain, and goodness knows what will happen to them.

Dave Walker, SPCK, SSG: Monday evening links

A couple of blogs seem to be digging into the detail of the Brewer family dealings, and there's some very interesting stuff there.

Ministry of Truth has copies of all the court papers linked to the Brewers bankruptcy claim. It is strange that, just before filing for bankruptcy, a 5-figure payment seems to have been made to a charity of which a certain person was (according to one commenter) sole trustee. He's done lots of digging around, and has a list of questions which he's emailed to Mark Brewer. Very very interesting.

Asingleblog has summarised some of the M.O.Truth stuff, and has quite a lot of comments with further links and evidence.

Phil Groom has posted an 'Important: Please Read' note on the SPCK/SSG blog, which is pretty good guidance for anyone involved in commenting or blogging about this.

Meanwhile Elizaphanian, who has also recieved a Cease and Desist notice, hasn't desisted and is posting movie reviews to take his mind off things. Is that the sound of a bluff being called?

Finally, there is an SPCK supporters Facebook group, which has more background, if that's what you're after. Might be worth making backup files of those too.....