User:Toast/Libel reform

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 * date	Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 7:15 PM
 * subject	Simon Singh's weird idea that might just work
 * mailed-by	indiemedium.com
 * Feb 16 (7 days ago)

Dear Friends,

I’ve had an idea – an unusual idea, but I think it might just work.

As you know, England’s chilling libel laws need to be reformed. One way to help achieve this is for 100,000 people to sign the petition for libel reform before the political parties write their manifestos for the election. We have 17,000 signatures, but we really need 100,000, and we need your help to get there.

http://libelreform.indiemedium.com/lt.php?id=ZkQGUgsEAFsYDEgHAQ0CXg%3D%3D

My idea

My idea is simple: if everyone who has already signed up persuades just one more person each week to sign the petition then we will reach our goal within a month!

One person per week is all we need, but please spread the word as much as you can. In fact, if you persuade 10 people to sign up then email me (simon@simonsingh.net  ) and I promise to thank you by printing your name in my next book … which I will start writing as soon as I have put my own libel case behind me. I cannot say when this will be, but it is a very real promise. My only caveat is that I will limit this to the first thousand people who recruit ten supporters.

When persuading your friends remember to tell them:

(a) English libel laws have been condemned by the UN Human Rights Committee.

(b) These laws gag scientists, bloggers and journalists who want to discuss matters of genuine public interest (and public health!).

(c) Our laws give rise to libel tourism, whereby the rich and the powerful (Saudi billionaires, Russian oligarchs and overseas corporations) come to London to sue writers because English libel laws are so hostile to responsible journalism. (In fact, it is exactly because English libel laws have this global impact that we welcome signatories to the petition from around the world.)

(d) Vested interests can use their resources to bully and intimidate those who seek to question them. The cost of a libel trial in England is 100 times more expensive than the European average and typically runs to over £1 million.

(e) Three separate ongoing libel cases involve myself and two medical researchers raising concerns about three medical treatments. We face losing £1 million each. In future, why would anyone else raise similar concerns? If these health matters are not reported, then the public is put at risk.

My experience has been sobering. I’ve had to spend £100,000 to defend my writing and have put my life on hold for almost two years. However, the prospect of reforming our libel laws keeps me cheerful.

Thanks so much for your support. We’ve only got one shot at this – so I hope you can persuade 1 (or maybe 10) friends, family and colleagues to sign.

Massive thanks,

Simon

http://libelreform.indiemedium.com/lt.php?id=ZkQGUgsEAFsYDEgHAQ0CXg%3D%3D

The Libel Reform Campaign is a coalition of English PEN, Index on Censorship and Sense About Science.

So far, 188 MPs have signed our Parliamentary Early Day Motion calling for libel reform and the Justice Secretary Jack Straw has formed a working party that the Libel Reform Coalition is represented on.

Please also considering donating to keep our campaign going: http://libelreform.indiemedium.com/lt.php?id=ZkQGUgsED1IYDEgHAQ0CXg%3D%3D
 * date	Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 8:33 PM
 * subject	The Big Libel Gig London, 14th March
 * mailed-by	indiemedium.com
 * Feb 16 (7 days ago)

Dear Friends,

We’re grabbing this chance while we have a quiet 10 minutes to give you a bit of advance notice of the biggest, most important, and hopefully the funniest, event in the libel campaign so far this year.

Later on today we are going to publicly announce ‘The Big Libel Gig’ when some of the biggest names in UK comedy, science and human rights will be sharing a stage to tell us that England’s libel laws are unjust, against the public interest and need to be reformed. ‘The Big Libel Gig’ is at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End at 7.30 pm on Sunday 14th March 2010.

There will be a very eclectic line-up of famous names including Dara Ó Briain, Robin Ince, Tim Minchin, Shappi Khorsandi, Marcus Brigstocke, Ed Byrne, Professor Brian Cox and Professor Richard Wiseman.

The Big Libel Gig will also include a chance to hear from Drs Ben Goldacre, Simon Singh and Peter Wilmshurst, who have all felt the full force of England’s libel laws. They’ll talk frankly about how the libel laws have affected them personally.

This is a one-off benefit event to raise money for the libel reform campaign being run by the Coalition for Libel Reform, established by the charities Index on Censorship, English PEN and Sense About Science. If you can’t make the gig, other ways to support the campaign include donating through the dedicated JustGiving page http://libelreform.indiemedium.com/lt.php?id=ZkQHVwAABlQYBQZJBw0GVlw%3D or email donate@libelreform.org for more information.

Tickets are now on sale from www.seetickets.com/see/event.asp?e|artist=the+big+libel+gig&filler1=see&filler2=BLG  , at the theatre’s Box Office in person and by telephone on 0844 4124657. This has not yet been announced publicly, so beat the rush, buy the best seats in the house and support libel reform.

We look forward to seeing you at the campaign’s most important, funny, thought-provoking and staggering event of the year so far.

Best

Mike & Síle

The Libel Reform Coalition

http://libelreform.indiemedium.com/lt.php?id=ZkQHVwAABloYBQZJBw0GVlw%3D

The Libel Reform Campaign is a coalition of English PEN, Index on Censorship and Sense About Science.

So far, 197 MPs have signed our Parliamentary Early Day Motion calling for libel reform and the Justice Secretary Jack Straw has formed a working party that the Libel Reform Coalition is represented on.

Email
 * date	Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 5:27 PM
 * subject	Simon Singh at the Royal Courts of Justice and MPs to report on libel reform
 * mailed-by	indiemedium.com

There are two very important events for the Libel Reform Campaign this week.

Tuesday: Simon Singh’s case

On Tuesday 23rd February, Simon Singh’s libel case with the British Chiropractic Association is before the Court of Appeal in London. His case will be heard by three of the most powerful legal figures in the UK, the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls and Lord Justice Sedley. Simon’s case is very significant and depending on how it goes, could either strengthen our right to ‘fair comment’ or hugely undermine it. Look out for coverage of this in The Daily Telegraph, The Times, the Guardian and elsewhere on Tuesday.

Wednesday: MPs report on our libel laws

The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee will release a report on Wednesday 24th February that, amongst other issues, will look at the impact of English libel law on free expression. We submitted evidence to the Committee of how our libel laws are unjust and against the public interest and we hope they will make serious and far-reaching proposals for reform.

What can you do?

Come down to the Royal Courts of Justice (map) at 9.45 am on Tuesday to show your support for Simon.

We want MPs to get letters all next week so they understand how important this issue is for people across the UK, and abroad. Please try and persuade one or more friends, family or colleagues to sign the petition: www.libelreform.org/sign

We have received 10,000 new signatures in the last 10 days, but there is still a long way to go, so please keep spreading the word. Simon and others are undergoing a severe strain to defend free speech, and we know that it would be a major morale boost for him if supporters could spare five minutes to persuade friends and family to sign up to libel reform. It would be great if we could add 5,000 more names before Simon leaves the Court of Appeal tomorrow.

Email

Message from Simon Singh: “A big step for me, a small step for libel reform, and what you can do to help today.”

Dear Friends

Sorry for the silence, but it has been a ridiculously hectic (and happy) time since last week’s victory at the Court of Appeal. However, I urgently wanted to get in touch to update you on the status of my case, the latest news on libel reform and what you can do today to push libel reform up the political agenda.

BCA v Singh

April Fool’s Day 2010 was a day to remember. The Court of Appeal gave a ruling in my libel case with the British Chiropractic Association. The ruling strongly backs my arguments and puts me in a much stronger position when my trial eventually takes place. At last, after two years of defending my article and my right to free speech, I seem to have the upper hand and can breathe a small sigh of relief.

Moreover, the judges made it clear that they did not want to see scientists and science journalists being hauled through the High Court. In particular, they endorsed the view that a so-called comment defence should be adequate for scientific and other articles on matters of public interest. As well as the legal technicalities, the three wise, charming and handsome judges quoted Milton on the persecution of Galileo and directed that the High Court should not become an “Orwellian Ministry of Truth”.

Libel Reform Campaign

This is a small step forward for libel reform, but there is still a huge battle to be fought over the issues of costs, libel tourism, public interest defence, balancing the burden of proof, restricting the ability of powerful corporations to bully individuals (e.g., bloggers, journalists, scientists) and so on.

The General Election was called yesterday and the manifestos will be published in the next week, so we need one last push to persuade the major parties to commit to libel reform. Although we have already achieved a huge amount (from editorials in all last week’s broadsheets to the Commons Select Committee recommending libel reform), we must keep up the pressure!

Both the Labour and Conservative parties have made encouraging sounds about libel reform, but now is the time for them to make commitments in their manifestos.

What you can do today to pressure politicians

I have spent over a million minutes and £100,000 defending my article and my right to free speech, so I am asking you to spend just one minute and no money at all persuading others to sign the petition for libel reform at www.libelreform.org/sign

The last time I made this request, we doubled the number of signatories from 17,000 to 35,000. Can we now double the number from almost 50,000 to 100,000?!

You could ask parents, siblings, colleagues or friends to sign up. You could email everyone in your address book. You could blog about it, mention it to your Facebook friends and twitter about it. In fact, I have pasted some possible tweets at the end of this email – it would be great if you could twitter one, some or all of them.

You could forward all or part of this email to people or just steer them to www.libelreform.org/sign. Or you could persuade people that English libel law needs radical reform by using some of the reasons listed at the end of this email.

Remember, we welcome signatories from around the world because English libel law has a damaging impact globally.

Please, please, please apply maximum pressure to the politicians by encouraging as many new signatories as possible. Please do not take my victory last week as a sign that the battle is over. My case is still ongoing and the campaign for libel reform is only just starting.

Thanks for all your support – it has been incredibly important for the campaign and a real morale booster personally over the last two years.

Simon Singh.

Ps. Please spread the word by sending out one, some or all of the following tweets

Pls RT English libel law silences debate, says UN Human Rights Committee. Sign up at www.libelreform.org & back #libelreform Pls RT English libel costs 140x more than Europe. We can't afford to defend our words. Sign up at www.libelreform.org & back #libelreform Pls RT Two ongoing libel cases involving health. The law should not crush scientific debate. Sign up at www.libelreform.org & back #libelreform Pls RT London is notorious for attracting libel tourists who come to UK to silence critics. Sign up at www.libelreform.org & back #libelreform

PPs. Reasons why we need radical libel reform:

(a) English libel laws have been condemned by the UN Human Rights Committee.

(b) These laws gag scientists, bloggers and journalists who want to discuss matters of genuine public interest (including public health!).

(c) Our laws give rise to libel tourism, whereby the rich and the powerful (Saudi billionaires, Russian oligarchs and overseas corporations) come to London to sue writers because English libel laws are so hostile to responsible journalism. (Again, it is exactly because English libel laws have this global impact that we welcome signatories to the petition from around the world.)

(d) Vested interests can use their resources to bully and intimidate those who seek to question them. The cost of a libel trial in England is 100 times more expensive than the European average and typically runs to over £1 million.

(e) Two separate ongoing libel cases involve myself and Peter Wilmshurst, and we are both raising concerns about medical treatments. We face losing £1 million each. In future, why would anyone else raise similar concerns when our libel laws are so brutal and expensive? Our libel laws mean that serious health matters are not necessarily reported, which means that the public is put at risk.

PPPs. I know that I will leave people out of this list, but I owe a huge thanks to:

1.	The 10,000 people who joined the Facebook group “For Simon Singh and Free Speech - Against the BCA Libel Claim”, particularly those who joined when the rest of the world ignored the issue of libel.

2.	The 300 people who packed Penderel’s Oak in May 2009 and who helped launch the Keep Libel Out of Science campaign, particularly the speakers: Nick Cohen, Dave Gorman, Evan Harris MP, Professor Brian Cox, Chris French, Tracey Brown (Sense About Science), Robert Dougans (Bryan Cave) and David Allen Green.

3.	The 20,000 people who then joined the Keep Libel Out of Science campaign.

4.	Jack of Kent and every other blogger who ranted and raved about libel reform when the mainstream media was turning a blind eye.

5.	Everyone in the mainstream media who is now covering the various libel cases and the issue of libel reform.

6.	Sense About Science, Index on Censorship and English PEN, who formed the Coalition for Libel Reform. And thanks to everyone who has contributed pro bono to the campaign in terms of design, technical support, chivvying support for the EDM and more.

7.	The 46,000 people (i.e. you) who have signed the petition for libel reform, particularly those who have cajoled others to sign up at www.libelreform.org/sign

8.	All the big names who have spoken out in favour of libel reform, from Professor Richard Dawkins to Derren Brown, from the Astronomer Royal to the Poet Laureate, from the Amazing Randi to Ricky Gervais. Particular thanks go to Dara O Briain, Stephen Fry, Tim Minchin and Robin Ince, who have gone out of their way to step up to the plate when the campaign has needed them. Immense thanks also to the 100+ big names who were the first to sign the petition to keep libel out of science and highlighted the need for libel reform.

9.	Everyone who has emailed and twittered and told me in person that I am not going crazy, and who reassured me that I am doing the right thing by defending my article.

10.	Thanks to Nick Clegg, leader of the Lib Dems, for promising to put libel reform in his manifesto. And thanks in advance to Jack Straw (Justice Secretary) and Dominic Grieve (Shadow Justice Secretary), because I know that the Labour and Conservative parties are going to commit to libel law reform. I cannot believe that they will allow more scientists, serious journalists, bloggers, biographers, human rights activists and others to go through the same hell that I have had to endure for last two years.

Email

Conservatives, Labour & Lib Dems back our campaign / behind the scenes at the Big Libel Gig It’s official – all the main political parties are backing our campaign for significant changes to English libel law. It’s a huge success and it’s thanks to your support. In January, Nick Clegg told us that the Liberal Democrats backed our campaign, followed by support from the Labour party when Jack Straw came to our public meeting in Parliament on 23 March. Yesterday, Dominic Grieve signed the Conservative Party up to our campaign saying: “The Conservative party is committed, if elected, to undertaking a fundamental review of the libel laws with a view to enacting legislation to reform them. This reform could best be done by means of a separate Libel Bill and this is the preferred approach for us.” This would not have happened unless 48,000 people like you backed our campaign, turned up to our public meetings, Big Gig and lobby of Parliament. With the decison by three of the most important judges in the land on Simon Singh’s case last week extending your right to fair comment, and a commitment to our politicians to reform the rest of our unjust libel laws, we’re on the cusp of radical and long-awaited reform. Yet, it won’t be easy. On Tuesday, an attempt to cut lawyers’ fees failed in the House of Commons. We know that some libel lawyers will oppose reform every step of the way. It’s a lucrative business with some cases costing £3 million in lawyers’ fees. The vested interests are huge. We need your support not just now, but more importantly in the next few months when we see how our newly elected politicians propose to reform the law in the next Parliament. Please continue to back us. Your support got us this far. But the work we do in the next few months will make all the difference. Thanks from everyone at the Libel Reform Campaign: