Dear Friend,

The issue I am writing to you about is of the utmost importance and seriousness: it involves a grave threat to our freedom of expression and communication. In brief, it concerns a sinister imposition of US-based, but world-wide, political censorship in the guise of "filtering of spam".

As we all know, the problem of spam (unwanted email, some of it distasteful or noxious) has reached enormous proportions and has become not only a nuisance, but -- by clogging the email system -- a real danger to free email communications.

Faced with this situation, various remedies are being tried.

Dear Richard,

I heard you speak in the Anglican Church in Bovey Tracey last night. I attended hoping that the depravity of the onslaught on a broken country was going to be raised, along with that other triumph of the Judaeo-Christian coalition, Palestine. The vicar told me that my submitted question on how each candidate would see resolution 242 being enforced was the only one about Palestine in the forty-two questions submitted. Of course, parochial England cannot contemplate a slow crucifixion of a people which a Christian Lord James Balfour instigated 78 years ago. Better to stick to hunting and rural post offices which latter are being killed off by the neo-liberal policies which your party shares with the two other conservative parties.

Short address in the event of being given the GENEROSITY award

at St Mellion, Friday 29th of October 2004

I am humbled and I thank you with words that I hope are far removed from Hollywood.

We are more the creatures of our upbringing than our genes I think - more of nurture than nature.

My Mum had a very soft heart and she loved babies and the natural world as do I. She said "share and share alike" to the four of us. I was the eldest of four in those lean war and post war years.

My Dad had a rudimentary education and a frustrated intellect. He said things like "you can only do your best" and "stand up for yourself". The latter certainly spurred independence of thought but sometimes sounded hard to a sensitive youngster.

Dear Sir,

The firewall on my computer became inactive 5 weeks ago. Therefore I opened the e-mail system for very brief periods only. However, in those few days every one of my 6000 plus e-mail files was erased or removed. This will have been done by a state sponsored agency and not by an amateur acting singly.

Who might wish to cause me great difficulty? I speak and act firmly for justice in Palestine and against an occupation of indescribable brutality. I have asked, with other specialists, for the law to be upheld in the case of the late Dr David Kelly; that there should be a full inquest and not the half one that has taken place. I have spoken, marched and written to stop the war crimes committed against Afghans and Iraqis by our government and its odious leader.