God Save The Queen!
I think the Queen is a wonderful woman who deserves enormous respect. Disrespect her and you disrespect the whole of Britain. The Royal Family is an excellent institution that is fantastic value for money as well as having proved itself to be the most effective head of state in the world.
I’d like someone to point out a better model for government than ours.
It’s far, far from perfect but I see nothing better anywhere else.
Look at the US, even with a written constitution and elected President who’s obviously a pretty cool guy as an individual, Guantanamo is still open, the DEA and CIA are international gangsters, corruption, mass incarceration and human rights abuse prevail.
No one is a fiercer critic of our government than me but there’s no better alternative anywhere that I see.
British Spirit
Crimewatch On Prohibition
It’s not my favourite programme. It’s the BBC doing tabloid exploitation and sensationalising crime. Since Fiona Bruce was kicked off for being “too old” it’s lost all semblance of any dignity. I watched it tonight though and was struck how three out of four of the vile. disgusting crimes featured were all, quite obviously, the product of prohibition.
The first two were characterised by levels of risk or violence totally out or proportion to the potential gain – crack or smack heads in need of a fix or a pipe. The third was clearly a punishment attack over drug debts.
These evil crimes are the product of government policy. I make no apology nor claim any excuse for the scumbags that committed them but if prohibition was ended, the criminal markets were undercut , then there would be no motive for such evil. Those few that wished to destroy their lives could do so without being forced into crime against those innocents who choose a more productive and decent life.
It is the most absurd idiocy of modern government that this moral retribution against those who err is the cause of most crime in our society.
Is it not time that we opened our eyes and employed a touch of common sense?
Ol’ Tone Sets The Standard
I’m certainly no Labour party supporter and I don’t believe ol’ Tone is a perfect human being but he makes Cameron, Osborne and Clegg look like the useless muppets they really are.
Tony Blair is a class act and British politics is diminished by his absence.
The Nasty Side Of British Business Calls Vince Cable A “Socialist”
Adrian Beecroft – The Nasty Side Of British Business
I agree, “socialist” is a term of abuse. Anyone who can seriously suggest this irrational philosophy as a model on which to run a 21st century economy is at least deluded, if not a saboteur.
Usury
Adrian Beecroft, founder of the “Wonga” payday loan company describes Vince Cable as a “socialist” and says he is “not fit for office” in the Daily Telegraph today.
But any sort of abuse coming from a man who runs the disgusting, exploitative, shameful “Wonga” is hypocrisy at its very worst.
Wonga is a despicable business, based on usury and exploitation of poor people. What is does used to be illegal and it still should be. Morally, Beecroft is a criminal both in intent and action.
If he calls the moderate, independent, Dr Cable a “socialist” then I call him a fascist. Those of us who would like to see a modern, inclusive, intelligent Tory party reject out of hand any contribution from this man who represents the very worst, nastiest side of British business.
I’m Back. Six Months Early.
In January I took my website offline because it was being used to focus destructive attacks against CLEAR.
That was a mistake. I should have kept it up. The haters and hypocrites continue with their lies and smears irrespective of truth or anything that I do. I am proud of my writing here. That is not to say that my views don’t develop and change over time but I hold true to fundamental principles of justice and against prejudice and discrimination. It is ironic that those are the charges that have been levelled against me.
Here you will find strong opinions, powerfully expressed. My views are essentially libertarian and I repudiate hate against anyone, despite the spite and abuse that has been levelled at me. There is evil in the world though and I make no apology for my condemnation of the Israeli state, of the wicked extremes of Islam, the crimes of all organised religions and the corrupt oligarchy of politicians, media and bankers that run the Western world. These evils must be fought against.
Let me be very clear about CLEAR and my role in it. It is a single issue party and I will work with anyone, whatever their political allegiance, race, religion or philosophy in order to end the prohibition of cannabis. I was elected leader in February 2011. I won a vote of confidence with a 70% majority in April 2012. Under my leadership CLEAR will continue its evidence based campaign for responsible reform of the cannabis laws.
I am back. And I will have my say.
A New Brand Of Politician
I am easily moved. It is connected with my Welshness. The 15 brave souls singing before they charge for Wales at Rugby Union and I am in bits.
It is rare though for just a few words in print (OK, on a screen!) to move me so much.
Russell Brand
I am right at the end of the 731 pages of written evidence to the HASC drugs inquiry and I come to Russell Brand.
Not someone I have held in high regard until I saw his contribution to the Versus YouTube debate. Even there he was hyperbolic and almost abusive but the intellect and truth shone out of him.
In his submission to the inquiry, he quotes an article that he had published in The Guardian on 24th July 2011, and this passage made me cry.
It’s also one of those rare examples where the use of foul language is absolutely perfect.
“I arrived late and as I made my way to the audience through the plastic smiles and plastic cups I heard the rolling, wondrous resonance of a female vocal. Entering the space I saw Amy on stage with Weller and his band; and then the awe. The awe that envelops when witnessing a genius. From her oddly dainty presence that voice, a voice that seemed not to come from her but from somewhere beyond even Billie and Ella, from the font of all greatness. A voice that was filled with such power and pain that it was at once entirely human yet laced with the divine. My ears, my mouth, my heart and mind all instantly opened. Winehouse. Winehouse? Winehouse! That twerp, all eyeliner and lager dithering up Chalk Farm Road under a backcombed barnet, the lips that I’d only seen clenching a fishwife fag and dribbling curses now a portal for this holy sound.
So now I knew. She wasn’t just some hapless wannabe, yet another pissed-up nit who was never gonna make it, nor was she even a ten-a-penny-chanteuse enjoying her fifteen minutes.
She was a fucking genius.”
Amy
Statement By Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR)
The statement posted on the CLEAR website earlier tonight concerning the “sacking” of Peter Reynolds (now removed) is false and unlawful. The officers of the party as registered with the Electoral Commission are Peter Reynolds and Janice Wells. The affairs and records of CLEAR are fully compliant with its own constitution and with the Electoral Commission’s requirements.
By hijacking the CLEAR website, Chris Bovey has committed a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. He has been reported to the police and our solicitors have been instructed. We also have documentary evidence implicating Des Humphrey, Orson Boon, Sanj Chowdhary, Greg de Hoedt and Levent Akbulut in a criminal conspiracy.
This has been reported to the police under crime reference number C12D12966.
Mark Palmer, Peter Reynolds, Jan Wells
The CLEAR executive committee, 30th March 2012
Drugs Inquiry Written Evidence
While the CLEAR website is down, we will continue to provide a service to members from here, my personal website.
One of the recent posts on the CLEAR site attracting most interest was the 731 pages of written evidence submitted to the Home Affairs select committee drugs policy inquiry
You can download the evidence here.
The CLEAR Website
While the CLEAR website is down, we will continue to provide a service to members from here, my personal website.
The problems with the CLEAR site started last Monday when the home page disappeared. However, all direct links to content still worked and admins still had access to the back end in order to create new content. Efforts to repair the home page took the site offline for short periods through the week but generally it was working satisfactorily.
The website is hosted on a server belonging to Chris Bovey, a former member of the CLEAR executive committee. He undertook to upload a backup to restore the home page and for this reason the site went offline last night.
Regrettably the site is still offline and passwords to it have been changed. Now, neither I nor Derek Williams, the website editor, have access to it.
The good news is that we have full backups of the site which are held independently and under Derek’s and my control. We also have new hosting arrangements in place.
It remains to be seen whether Chris Bovey will honour his commitment to restore the site. CLEAR owns the data and domain name and we will take whatever steps are necessary to secure them.
At the worst, if we have to restore the site to a new server, I expect it to be back up by the middle of next week. If Chris Bovey allows us access to the existing server to carry out a transfer it could be much sooner than that.
Our apologies to all members and supporters. Rest assured that we are doing everything we can to restore normal service.
The CLEAR campaign to end the prohibition of cannabis continues!
Peter Reynolds 
Change Is In Sight
with 3 comments
I really believe that change in our cannabis laws is imminent. Since the CLEAR campaign began the whole impetus for change has accelerated. Even those who are not supporters of CLEAR and who disagree with our policies have become more focused, more coherent and more active.
The impact we have had in the media with the Comment Warriors campaign and the Press Complaints Commission should not be underestimated. Those with a keen eye for progress should check the letters pages of this weekend’s Sunday newspapers. Our message is being listened to and heard.
It is the written evidence to the drugs policy inquiry that really excites me. So much of it recites CLEAR evidence and support for our policies but even when we are not mentioned, all the submissions that advocate reform deliver a coherent message. They cannot be ignored.
The cannabis e-petition has now been superseded. It was never going to reach the 100,000 signature target anyway. Even if it did, all that was offered was the possibility, maybe the probability, of a debate in parliament and the best we could have expected from that was for an inquiry – which is what we’ve got already.
I think the cannabis e-petition has probably been signed by 80-90% of the “stoners” or user activists but we know there are three million people in Britain who use cannabis regularly, so where were they?
These are people who don’t want to join the campaign but, undoubtedly, they’d like to see a change in the law and I believe that many non-users are now seeing the social and fiscal advantages of regulation instead of prohibition. These are the people that hold the power.
It will probably start with some sort of medicinal use and gradual relaxation of enforcement until it is actually formalised. In fact, that’s what ‘s already happening with Sentencing Council guidelines. It will be fascinating to see the impact of the US elections when drugs policy is bound to come to the top of the agenda.
We are getting there. I congratulate all who are involved in delivering our message with the invincible power of evidence and truth.
Written by Peter Reynolds
March 30, 2012 at 11:56 am
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged with Cannabis Law Reform, Comment Warriors, drugs policy, inquiry, Press Complaints Commission, Sentencing Council