Afghanistan – Bring the Troops Home: A large march on Saturday 24 October 2009 from Hyde Park to a rally in Trafalgar Square demanded that British troops be brought home from Afghanistan now.
On the march in Piccadilly
British forces have a long record of failures in Afghanistan, beginning with the disastrous British retreat from Kabul at the end of the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1842. The Helmand Campaign in 2006–2014, the most active part of British intervention following 9/11, was also something of a disaster. Between the 1001 invasion and the final withdrawal of British troops in 2021, 457 killed and over 600 seriously injured. Our military intervention there cost around £40 billion and Afghanistan after we left was in a worse state than when it started.
The march, organised by the Stop the War Coalition, the British Muslim Initiative (BMI) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) was of course entirely peaceful, with much noisy chanting and live music from The King Blues.
Joe and Clare Glenton
Among those at the front of the march was serving soldier Lance Corporal Joe Glenton with his wife Clare, already facing court-martial for refusing to return to fight in Afghanistan and defying an order not to take part in the protest.
Peter Brierley who told Tony Blair “you have my son’s blood on your hands.”Pat Arrowsmith
There were other anti-war military family members marching including those whose sons had been killed in Afghanistan, as well as veteran peace campaigners including Pat Arrowsmith and Hetty Bower, then 104.
Hetty Bower
Speakers at the rally in Trafalgar Square included Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Omar Deghayes, Tariq Ali, George Galloway MP, Lance Cpl Joe Glenton and others.
Glenton had deserted in 2007 after being told he would be sent back to Afghanistan after only a brief break following his first tour of duty. He had eventually returned to the UK in 2009 to campaign against the war and hand himself in. In March 2010 he was sentenced to 10 months in a military prison, but was released after serving four months.
Lumsdale & Matlock: There are quite a few places I’ve been to which claim to be where the industrial revolution started, but Lumsdale near Matlock where I went for a walk with Linda on Wednesday 23 October 2019 perhaps has a better claim than most apart from the nearby Arkwright mill in Cromford built in 1771, the first modern factory.
Water from the Bentley Brook powered the early days of the industrial revolution
Lumsdale is a steeply sloping valley with a small stream the Bentley Brook tumbling down it, apparently never running dry. It housed industrial mills from the 17th century on and is a site of national archaeological and historic importance. Among the industries that worked there were lead, textile, paint and timber.
The mills at Lumsdale were on a smaller scale than Arkwright’s Cromford Mill and are now only ruins – I think the last closed in 1927.
The area is now owned by the Arkwright Society and can be explored on a permissive footpath. Parts have been fenced off since my visit for safety reasons and I think some of my pictures were taken in these. But it remains an area where you need to take great care near steep drops, especially if like me you sometime suffer from a little vertigo.
A large single stone bleaching vessel
Although there is little or no parking in the area there have always been quite a few visitor in my several visits to the area. In 2014 it became a scheduled Ancient Monument.
I played a little with various shutter speeds by decided I like it best with those that more or less stopped movement rather than blurred itThe Lower Pond built in the 1850s has been restored several times, most recently in 2014This was the site of the oldest mill in Lumsdale, a former lead smelting mill which was converted to a bone mill around 1600. Bones were heated and then crushed to be used as pigments. The mill only closed in 1920.
Linda and I were in Matlock to look after grandchildren and walked up from Matlock after taking them to school. After exploring the valley we walked across to the top of Matlock for an unexciting pub lunch and then walked on to the top of Matlock Bank.
Former tram depotThe hill drops steeply
We walked around a little at the top of the Bank then came down the steep hill to the bridge over the Derwent. In 1893 when Matlock was a popular spa town a cable-hauled tramway was built to take people up and down the 300ft hill. The fare was 2d up and 1d down. It felt a little mean to me charging for taking people down as I think their weight would actually be helping to pull people up. But the tramway closed in 1927, being replaced by a bus service. So far I’ve always walked up, but usually feel by the time I near the top I should have taken a bus.
And back down to the River Derwent. I think we remembered to collect the kids from school.
The Jewish East End & Al-Quds Day: On Sunday 22 October 2006 I went on a morning guided walk around parts of the formerly Jewish East End, one of the activities of the now long gone (and still missed) London Arts Café. The name was rather misleading as it never achieved its aim to open a cafe dedicated to London and the arts in the city, but did organise some interesting talks as well as exhibitions at various venues showing painting and photography of London and walks and visits such as this. Some record of these is still on-line although the organisation closed down in 2007, though was continued as a short-lived Meetup group.
After lunch I went to Marble Arch for the start of the annual Al-Quds Day march. I didn’t stay long as it began to rain heavily.
Here (with minor corrections) is all I wrote in 2006 and a few of the pictures. You can still see more at the links to My London Diary.
The (formerly) Jewish East End
Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue, built in 1899 and one of the very few synagogues still open then in the East End.The synagogue was sold in 2015, and is now a mosque
On Sunday morning I took a walk with members of London Arts Cafe through the once Jewish areas of London’s East End. We were fortunate to be able to go in both the Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue, as well as the Bevis Marks Synagogue, Britain’s oldest standing Jewish place of worship, built in 1698, where unfortunately, photography is not allowed, but you can see some other pictures from our walk.
The famous Jewish portrait photographer ‘Boris’ (Boris Bennett)worked from this building.An emblem by Arthur Szyk in Arts and Crafts Style marks the former offices of the Jewish Daily News.
The External Security Organisation of Hizbullah was proscribed in the UK in 2001, but it was only in 2008 that the whole of its military wing was proscribed. But Hizbullah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party with around 12% of the seats in the Lebanese Parliament, and operates a vast social services network in the country including schools and hospitals, as well as a satellite TV station. The party flag covers both the civil and the military wings of the party, and so its display was not an offence after the 2008 proscription. There were probably more Hisbullah flags on display than usual in 2006 because the march took place just a couple of months after the Israeli invasion and occupation of parts of Lebanon in July-August 2006.
Following years of lobbying the proscription was extended to cover the whole organisation in 2019 and it is now an offence to carry the flag. My pictures are a historical record and do not imply any support for the organisation.
Wakey Wakey Mr Blair: On Friday 21st October 2005 Fathers For Justice held a march – or rather ‘Pyjama Protest’ – calling for children to be allowed to stay overnight with their fathers after families have separated. They met in Green Park and marched to a rally outside the Royal Courts of Justice. Here is what I wrote about it in 2005 with some of the pictures from My London Diary and a link to more.
Don’t Shoot, I’m A Dad reads the T-shirt as the Fathers4Justicemarch goes up Piccadilly
Applying law to families that have broken up is difficult, and currently often results in a raw deal for fathers. Even where they are granted access, there is often no way of achieving it. I don’t think there are any easy answers; when relationships break down, people are often very bitter and irrational and any normal relationship can be very difficult to establish.
There does need to be an enforceable legal framework based on the best interests of the children concerned, and where both parents want to be involved in their future this must normally be for their good. Quite how this can be done is hard to see, and sometimes family courts seem to need both the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job.
The march beginsOn the road with a public warning – corrupt courts will violate your life and human right
What is very clear is that many fathers (and a few mothers) get a raw deal at the moment, and the children involved are short-changed too. Fathers 4 Justice are a very media-savvy organisation and have in the past pulled off some clever stunts to bring attention to their case.
A young Welsh ‘marcher’ enjoys his ride in bed with a bear and a monkey
The demonstration on Friday 21st October, ‘Wakey Wakey Mr Blair’ was in support of overnight stays for children with their dads after separation. Advertised as a ‘Pyjama Protest’, those taking part were asked to wear their ‘jim jams’, slippers and dressing gown, and bring their hot water bottles, teddy bears and even their beds.
Fathers for Justice protestors pose briefly on the road in front of the Royal Courts of Justice before police herd them into a pen on the pavement.“Blair & Co Family Butchers – 300,00 Children have lost contact with their fathers under Labout”
It poured on the morning of the march, which perhaps put a few people off coming, and there were only just over a hundred demonstrators all told, with just a sprinkling of pyjamas and beds, but the good publicity had resulted in a reasonable amount of press interest, both on the march and, rather more waiting for their arrival at the Royal Courts Of Justice in Strand.
Fathers 4 Justice supporters penned on the pavement opposite the Courts
I limped along with the march [still suffering from my knee injury a month earlier] which was led by a hired open-top double-decker bus, going the whole distance and taking a few pictures en route, but the arrival outside the Law Courts was disappointingly unorganised.
After listening to the address from the top of the bus for a few minutes I decided it was time to catch a bus.
A Film Disaster: From Hampstead I went on to Colindale where I took only a couple of pictures – not on line – and then on to Kingsbury. But the next time I developed a batch of film – fortunately only 4 films from a new 100 ft roll – I found there was a disaster. Every image was covered with speckled white spots and quite impossible to print.
I contacted the film manufacturer with a sample and while they accepted no liability, the did replace the roll with a new one, which I suppose was better than nothing. But the damage was so bad it was impossible to make acceptable darkroom prints from the negatives, and I kept them in my files with the message ‘DAMAGED FILM – REFERENCE ONLY’. And a month or so later went back to Kingsbury to retake those incredible 1930s houses by Ernest Trobridge again.
After scanning these damaged negatives it became possible -though very time-consuming – to digitally retouch most of these negatives, and I have done so with a handful of them. But I’ll come back to them later along with the replacement images I took in May.
Isle of Dogs – 1990
Isle of Dogs: The pictures I took a few days later on the Isle of Dogs were also on the faulty film, but again after scanning them I was able to painstakingly digitally retouch a few of them. You can still see a little unevenness in some areas of some of the pictures, most noticeably in some of the skies. These were retouched several years ago and I could do a better job now, certainly if I was prepared to use AI tools.
West India Docks, Canary Wharf, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4i-55
This view was I think from a DLR West India platform. It gives some idea of the building work taking place in the area at the time.
I think this was the first Canary Wharf DLR station – replaced by the rather larger one now there which opened in November 1991.
West India Dock Entrance, Westferry Rd, River Thames, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-64
At left is the distinctive 20-storey residential block Cascades by Rex Wilkinson of CZWG. Across the River Thames in Rotherhithe is Lawrence Wharf, completed by the Danish developer ISLEF between 1986 and 1988 on the former Vitak Timber Imports timber yard and sawmill which closed in 1987
West India Dock Entrance, Westferry Rd, River Thames, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-66
An aggregate works supplying sand and gravel, still much in demand with the immense amount of building works in the area.
John Lenanton & Son Ltd, Regents Wharf, Westferry Rd, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-52
One of the oldest businesses on the Isle of Dogs founded by timber merchant John Lenanton at Batson’s Wharf close by and it soon expanded to Regents Wharf. It was still trading in 1990. While for many years most of the timber came in to the yard by water to the wharf, including by barge from the Surrey Docks, in its later years most came by lorry from Tilbury Docks.
John Lemanton & Son Ltd, Regents Wharf, Westferry Rd, Millwall, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-4j-53
The company closed soon after I made these pictures and its buildings were demolished and replaced by a rather dreary apartment complex.
The two shops at the right of the picture are still there but the rest of the buildings have been demolished and replaced and are now part of the exclusive, gated Ocean Wharf development between Westferry Road and the River Thames completed around 2000.
There is still a row of shops here on Westferry Road and three of the original buildings remain along with some more modern infill, although the businesses in the are different. There is no longer a New Friends Chinese Takeaway or Golden Fish Bar. New Friends is a reminder that Limehouse, London’s first Chinatown is just up the road.
The Golden Fishbar at 46 Westferry Road was apparently a central location for the successful 1986 Channel 4 drama series Prospects about two young East End lads, Jimmy ‘Pincy’ Pince and Billy ‘Bill’ Pearson, played by Gary Olsen and Brian Bovell, trying to make a living on the Isle of Dogs. The shop is now Docklands Fried Chicken, a branch of Docklands Grill House.
Fight for Sites go to Evict Pickles: On Friday 19th October 2012, the first anniversary of the brutal eviction of the Dale Farm Traveller community, activists and some of those evicted marched to the Department for Communities and Local Government to serve an eviction notice on DCLG Minister Eric Pickles.
Police drew batons to keep protesters away from the Ministry building, but some were already on a low roof
Gypsies, Roma and Travellers have long found life in the UK difficult for their nomadic lifestyle, and have long been subjected to discrimination. There is a huge shortage of sites where they can legally stop both short-term while they are moving and for longer winter breaks.
Protesters met on the concourse at Victoria Station
Relatively few local authorities had made a real effort to meet their planning obligation to provide traveller sites, and these are often not popular with some local residents. Dale Farm – as the Wikipedia article tells – began with a planning appeal in the 1980s over the right to establish a site there.
They marched to the Department for Communities and Local Government
Much of the problems that ensued over the subsequent expansion of the site onto a neighbouring plot of derelict wasteland owned by a traveller family came from it being ‘Green Belt’ – despite which it had been allegedly used by Basildon Council to tip waste tarmac and rubble from roadworks for many years.
Drummers at the front of the march with improvised instruments
In 2003 then Secretary of State, John Prescott had made an order giving temporary permission to the site for two years to give the site residents and the local authority time to find a suitable alternative site. But no progress was made, and by 2007 a government report stated that opposition amongst parts of the settled community towards site residents had become ever fiercer.
At the DCLG a couple of people quickly climbed on to the roof before police could stop them
I went to the site in September 2011 and photographed a flash mob later that month at the DCLG, but was not able to be there for the eventual eviction on 19 October 2011 which was widely covered as it happened by UK and international media.
Police held back protesters on the street while more found another way to the roofand held banners there
On the day when I marched with residents and protesters from Wickford Station the three miles to a rally at the site I was surprised at how remote and isolated it seemed to be, and thought it was in many ways a very appropriate place for a traveller site. I felt that Basildon Council had created a fight with the travellers based largely on racial discrimination and had not attempt to come to a sensible resolution.
Police held and arrested a few protesters
The Fight for Sites protest on the first anniversary of the eviction was organised by the Traveller Solidarity Network in protest over the evictions last year and the continuing harassment of travellers at Dale Farm and across the country.
Photographers were hampered by a woman officer who kept forcing us back where we could see little
As I commented then, a year after the eviction had taken place from what had been “in most respects a highly appropriate, tidy and well-kept site” it was now “an eyesore, filled with stagnant water, sewage and toxic material, while 83 homeless families, mainly evicted from the site, are now living on the approach road to the site without electricity or running water” and facing further threat of eviction but with nowhere else to go.
Two people are held by police on the other side of the protest and then carried away
Minister Eric Pickles response to the lack of sites had been to remove the duty of local government to permit traveller sites and to give them greater power to evict. The protesters met at Victoria Station and marched to the nearby DCLG offices to give him a notice of eviction.
Two women decided to lie down in front of the police
It was a colourful protest and ended outside the offices with a number of scuffles between police and protesters, with some climbing onto a rood with banners and posters, as well as pasting up an eviction notice on the building. Photographers were harassed and moved back by police who were at the same time telling us we had a right to photograph the event, and several protesters were arrested.
Police tried to push back one of the ‘caravan’ sides while protesters held firm
I left after the protesters had stopped trying to get in the building and a statement was read out about why the had come to protest. I think the protest was coming to a close; by then it was raining heavily and I needed to be elsewhere.
The protests then pulled back and a statement about the protest was read out
You can read the text of the eviction notice and find more details about the protest and see many more photographs on My London Dairy at Fight for Sites go to Evict Pickles.
Although these pictures are in my files for 1993, my rather limited diary tells me that they were taken in December 1992 when I made two walks in Islington, but gives no other informations about the actual pictures.
At the time I had no commercial outlet for my colour pictures which were very much personal projects, and one in which details such as location were of no importance.
Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-61
The rather strange shadow of a car on an unusual frontage
93c01-02-63
One of several themes that interested me was the popular representation of people – both men and women – in window displays such as these, painted signage and more.
93c01-02-64
I’ve arranged the pictures in the order they were taken and its clear that several were from the same shop window.
93c01-02-65
Creeping in at the bottom of the picture is ‘Shy Girl £65’.
93c01-02-66
After these pictures of shop windows – possibly on Essex Road – I moved on.
Playground, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-52
This garden and playground is Tibby Place just off Essex Road on Greenman Street, and was the site of the Tibberton Baths. In 1894 a large house, Wontner’s Villa, on the west side of Tibberton Square was bought and demolished and Tibberton Baths built on its site, with mens and womens swimming baths and a laundry, opening in 1895.
The baths continued in use until the early 1980s and after they were closed and left empty a fire destroyed the main building. The baths were then demolished and these ornate Victorian iron arches which had spanned one of the rather narrow swimming pools were salvaged and erected in this small park on the west of the site which was given the name Tibby Place.
Built and opened in 1930 as the Carlton Cinema this was one of noted cinema architect George Coles finest, and is Grade II* listed. You can read more details on the Cinema Treasures web site which states it was taken over by Associated British Cinemas Ltd in February 1935 but only renamed as the ABC Islington in 1962. It closed as a cinema in 1972 and was converted into a Bingo club, continuing in use until 2007, when apparently the government smoking ban in public places made it impossible to continue. It was then bought by a church who are slowly restoring and converting its interior and has been renamed Gracepoint.
Hairdresser, Islington, 93c01-02-44
A good selection of hairbrushes, combs and other items in the window of this Islington hairdresser.
Service Dept, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-43
I rather doubt that service was still available, and certainly not from this window.
Blue picture, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-42
‘SYLA for prettier bathrooms’. A rather cheeky picture on public display, blue in two meanings.
Café, Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-41
‘BEST FOR MILES’ is the claim above the menu, but unfortunately I can read nothing below – it was winter and there was no lighting inside the cafe and the fast colour film I needed to use simply did not resolve enough, and there was a lot of colour noise.
You can see the rather basic Christmas decorations in this picture made shortly before or after Christmas.
I think my next post in this series will be pictures really taken in 1993.
The European Social Forum took place in London from Friday 15th October to Sunday 17th October 2004 and I covered events on the street on all three days, along with some other events. In this post I’ll include the entire text I wrote in 2004 (with the usual corrections) and just a few of the hundreds of pictures I took with links to the others still on My London Diary.
Friday
The samba band under Waterloo Bridge
The event of the month was undoubtedly the European Social Forum, held in London from 15-17 October. This brought together trade unionists, socialists, peace campaigners and greens from all over Europe to demonstrate that “Another Europe Is Possible“, but apparently left many complaining about how the event had been organised and manipulated. I choose not to attend the more serious sessions but to look at how this conference spilled over more creatively into the streets of London.
It was a generally good-natured event, with an international samba band. From the top of a tourist bus an American voice asked the bill what was on. As he floundered to reply, the woman I was talking to suggested “Hey it’s a fluffy takeover!”
Rising Tide: Global warming will result in much of London being flooded
On the Friday, Critical Mass were out on their bikes, together with Rising Tide and other environmental protesters. On a ‘London Underwater 2050 Tour of the G8 Climate Criminals‘. Starting under Waterloo Bridge, they went on tour, visiting the London offices of several climate change villains, including petrol giants Exxon Mobil and BP and the Canadian government, ending up outside the National Portrait Gallery, site of the annual BP-sponsored portrait award.
Most of the police were good-natured and cooperative throughout, but there were some ineffectual attempts to block the path of the demonstrators. By standing in the road the police blocked traffic, while the demonstrators simply walked around them.
Worrying was the deliberate police use of photography as intimidation, with the police photographer going out of his way to confront demonstrators, aided by two other officers.
Reading the indictment outside BP offices in St James’s Square, London
I worry because I think it is an attempt to attack civil liberties, but also because such behaviour makes all photographers suspect. I can only work effectively if I gain the trust and cooperation of those whose pictures I take. Perhaps it helps that photography is one of the activities that also arouses suspicion and intimidation by the police.
As I walked away at the end of the demonstration, this team ran 50 yards down the road and caught up with me, one calling “Excuse me, sir!” and tapping on my shoulder. I turned to face him, and found myself looking into the lens of the police photographer, who took my picture as his colleague started to question me about who I was taking pictures for. It seemed clear and deliberate harassment, intended to intimidate a photographer acting entirely lawfully, photographing on the public highway.
The samba band and others visited the temple of Mammon. Oxford Street on a Saturday must rank as about the most depressing place on earth, although IKEA – where my wife and son spent the day buying furniture for his new flat – must be a close contender.
Samba band in Oxford St, London
I couldn’t stand a whole afternoon in shopping hell, so left to watch the Rosary Crusade Of Reparation procession leaving from Westminster Cathedral on its way to Brompton Oratory. “The future”, I was assured, “is Latin“, and the event started with Bishop Fernando Arêas Rifan from Brazil intoning “Credo in Unum Deum” from the loadspeaker on a police van. The creed was continued by the congregation, led by several Knights Of Malta and the traditional Catholic Family Alliance.
CGT banner at Puma in Carnaby St, London
Later I re-joined the French CGT and British GMB unions who were demonstrating outside Puma in Carnaby Street, over their use of sweated labour. It is an issue that has been highlighted in this country by ‘No Sweat’ who were also there, along with what was by now my favourite samba band, an international group with strong contributions from Sheffield and France.
By the time the band reached the top of Carnaby street, the police were obviously getting restless. I heard one giving the opinion to a member of the public “they’ve been pissing about for six hours and it’s time they went home“. Muscled officers in baggy black fighting gear were flexing muscles and grinning stupidly, obviously relishing the likely opportunity for a little action, as officers and demonstrators argued the toss.
Band in Carnaby St, London
Eventually commonsense and law prevailed and the demonstrators were allowed to keep moving along. On Oxford St we headed towards the goal of the CGT, the Virgin Megastore. There were actually a couple of tempting CDs on special offer, but I managed to leave empty-handed just before security, on police advice, lowered the shutters as the demo arrived, making a very brief stop for a CGT photo-opportunity.
No Sweat news at Niketown, Oxford Circus, London
After yesterday’s harassment, I slipped across Oxford Street at this point, past the police vans that were holding up the traffic and behind a bus before disappearing rapidly down the underground. It saves hassle, and I wanted to get to a great Nepalese meal near Euston Station.
Network Rail chose October weekends to isolate Staines from the rest of the world with extensive engineering works and a replacement bus service. The first I travelled on [on Saturday] got lost several times, taking the wrong route out of Feltham (including a prohibited two point left turn from the station yard) and proved unable to find the station in Hounslow. Getting various directions from other bus drivers and passengers, a mile further on he made a three point turn in the main London road, only to come back and drive past the turning for the station again. Directed by a passenger he then tried some side roads hardly wide enough for the bus to edge its way through, only to arrive at a one-way section leading away from our goal. We finally squeezed through another narrow side road to Hounslow Station.
Next time [on Sunday] the driver only got lost twice, missed out Feltham Station completely, and had to make one U-turn on a major road, but otherwise it was uneventful. I don’t like to knock the railways, but a little organisation would help.
Agit Contre la Guerre (ACG) were one of the liveliest groups on the march.
Sunday was the climax event for the European Social Forum, with a huge anti-war march to a rally in Trafalgar Square, and it was big. Stop The War as usual were trying to control the uncontrollable and mainly succeeding in frustrating the media. Demonstrators simply and entirely predictably surged past the ‘front of the march’ they tried to establish.
I don’t know how many there were on the march, but the police estimate of 15-20,000 seems as usual on the low side, although the organisers 75,000 may be equally too high. The most reliable guess is an average of the two.
Jamal Jumaa, Director of Stop the Wall Campaign in Palestine spoke forcefully
People were still flooding up Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square as I left, some two hours after the rally there was due to start.
Among the speakers I photographed were Tony Benn, George Galloway and Aleida Guevara, the daughter of Che.
Aleida Guevara (Che’s daughter)
Although it was a generally well-behaved and good-natured event, there were a few minor incidents – the police reported nine arrests. I saw two incidents that were sparked by aggressive police behaviour in trying to photograph some of those present, as well as some violent attempts to break through the stewards and access the fenced off platform area in the square, by demonstrators who wanted to raise the problem of several arrests having been made but were not allowed by the Stop The War stewards.
George Galloway: “There is one word in our hearts and our prayers – Falluja. Falluja is going to be a new Stalingrad over the next few weeks”
Domination of the anti-war movement by Stop The War and the SWP must take the blame for its lack of effectiveness. When a few lorry drivers can force a government volte-face, it takes really effective dinosaur socialism to prevent the views of a majority of the British people having any effect at all.
Shut DESO Action Day – Mark Thomas and some of the demonstrators form a ring around the DESO building
Bloomsbury, London
On Shut DESO Action Day, Monday October 16 2006, protesters formed a human chain around the building housing the Defence Export Services Organisation close to the British Museum in Bloomsbury declaring it a Global Danger Zone.
In 1966 Denis Healey, Secretary of State for Defence in Harold Wilson’s Labour government founded the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) to help British arms manufactures export military equipment and services.
The building also contained the careers offices for the armed forces
Since this protest in 2006 it has been rebranded several times, first as the Defence & Security Organisation, then UK Defence and Security Exports which is now a part of the Department for Business and Trade, in July 2026 itself rebranded as (now known as the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST), but throughout has remained much the same.
DESO and now UKDSE helps companies export arms and security equipment, organising exhibitions, providing serving soldiers to help demonstrate the use of weapons at these, organising trade missions, advising on government export finance, identifying export opportunities and even producing brochures advertising British arms. It trains companies on how to export military and ‘dual-use’ arms and security equipment legally despite our export controls. UKDSE is now run from inside the Ministry of Defence.
Here’s what I wrote back in 2006 – I’ve left out a sentence about a web site which is no longer in existence. You can find out more from the the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) which campaigns against the UK government’s active promotion of the arms industry including UK Defence and Security Exports (UKDSE).
The Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) spends £15 million a year of our taxes selling arms for British arms manufacturers, often to countries with poor human rights records or engaged in violent conflict. We contribute ten times as much to promoting arms sales than promoting civil exports. Always headed by an arms industry executive, DESO gives the arms manufacturers a unique influence over government policies.
Mark Thomas talks with Bruce Kent at the protest
On Monday 16 October, 2006, around 250 protesters, many dressed in white, made a human chain around the DESO HQ in Bloomsbury, just a few yards from the British Museum, and designated the department as a ‘Global Danger Zone’. From there, many went to lobby their MPs to close down DESO. Mark Thomas came and spoke to those demonstrating, adding his voice to those asking for DESO to be closed down – and making an offer of alternative employment for some of the staff.
The demonstration was organised by Campaign Against The Arms Trade and supported by other groups including the Fellowship Of Reconciliation, Speak, War On Want, CND, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party.
Letting Agencies Illegal Colour Bar – on the march with Brent Housing Action, Unite Community and others
Letting Agencies Illegal Colour Bar: On Tuesday 15 October 2013 people were quick to react to to a BBC London investigation broadcast the previous night showing that letting agents in London were prepared to break equality laws and discriminate against African-Caribbean people on behalf of landlords.
The protest started at National Estate Agents, one of those shown by the BBC to be willing to operate a ‘colour bar
Among the letting agents who were shown to be operating a colour bar were two on the Willesden High Road in Brent, and Brent Housing Action organised a protest against National Estate Agents and A to Z Property Services who had been named by the BBC. Supporting Brent Housing Action were Unite Community, Brent Renters Campaign, Housing 4 All (the Counihan Family Campaign), Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group, and Cllr Margaret McLennan, Brent Council’s lead member for housing. Several other Brent councillors also joined the protest along with two workers from another letting agency in Willesden Green.
The BBC investigation had put a flat in Notting Hill on the market with a number of agents and had then sent closely matched Black and White investigators to ask for a viewing of the property.
The ‘Counihan Family Campaign’, a part of the ‘Housing for All’ campaign was supporting the protest
At National Estates, the Black applicant was told the flat had already been let, while the White man was given an appointment to view.
A to Z Property told the Black investigator they would ring back – but never did, while offering the White investigator a viewing. It seems clear that both agents were operating an illegal colour bar.
It was well known that many letting agents were acting illegally. The the BBC report quoted a Runnymede Trust survey “29% of black people seeking private housing had experienced discrimination – compared to 1% of white respondents.” It also stated that “36 people told the Property Ombudsman they were the victim of racial discrimination in the past three years, not one single complaint was upheld” and only two of the allegations were fully investigated.
It seemed to many a return to the disgusting practices of the 1950s and 60s, made illegal under the 1968 Race Relations Act, and now against the Equality Act 2010. The protesters called for prosecutions and an end to all illegal discrimination by housing agents.
Both of the named agencies were closed and shuttered for the day. After speeches and protesting outside National Estate Agents, the group of around 30 protesters marched the half mile along Willesden High Rd to A to Z Properties, where a further protest with a few short speeches was held.
Brent is one of London’s more multicultural boroughs, and one with a proud record of community activities celebrating this. Brent councillors and Brent Housing Action promised to take further action to stamp out the housing colour bar to “make sure these practices – and the racism underpinning them – can finally be consigned to history.”
The National Estates Agent shop is now a nail bar, but A to Z Property Services is still at the same address on High Road Willesden.
Unfortunately such discrimination is still common in letting agencies. Shelter and others including the UK Government give advice on what to do if you feel you have been discriminated against, but I think there has been little real action to stop it happening, although the law has been strengthened to prevent discrimination against Of course what we really need is far more council housing to provide homes for all at a fair cost, but while we still have a high-priced private housing market – often taking half of tenant’s wages for substandard accommodation and paying huge subsidies to private landlords – at least that market should operate within the law.
