Monday
Mar012010
Nick Hogan in "violent" jail
Monday, March 1, 2010 I understand that this is where former landlord Nick Hogan is being held following his imprisonment on Friday (see previous posts).
In 2007 the Manchester Evening News described Forest Bank jail in Salford as "one of the most violent jails in the country". The paper reported that:
"In 10 years, there have been 2,329 attacks by prisoners at Forest Bank jail in Agecroft. Last year alone there were 339."
Help get Nick Hogan released. Click HERE.
Reader Comments (26)
Quote from thre article if I may.
"The shocking figures reveal how a decade of Labour mismanagement has left prisons in crisis and the public at risk. So many people are crammed into prison violence has spiralled out of control."
Oh no, bloody Labour again.
They say you can tell the ilk of a regime by how they treat their prisoners.
How true.
Nick's prisoner number is DN5431. Please write to him and use this number on ALL correspondence as it might not get through without it.
HMP & YOI Forest Bank
Agecroft Road
Pendlebury
Manchester
M27 8FB
UKIP have just sent me this.
UKIP stand by their "Political Prisoner"
Smoke ban rebel licensee Nick Hogan is a “political prisoner”, according to his party UKIP.
Hogan: will serve six months over smoke ban row. Hogan, who refused to abide by the smoking ban, was jailed for six months on Friday after refusing to pay a fine of £3,000 and costs of £7,236 dating back two years.
Hogan, who used to run the Swan with Two Necks and Barristers in Bolton, was more recently the spokesman for the night time economy for the UK Independence Party.
But a party spokesman said: “He continue to be spokesman on the night-time economy and we wholeheartedly support him. There’s no way we are ashamed or embarrassed at all.
“He is in jail for political reasons. In our minds he’s a political prisoner.
“What has he done? He has allowed people to smoke in his pub. People get less for throwing acid on a woman’s face.”
Hogan maintained he advised customers it was illegal to smoke but it was not his place to enforce the law. Instead he gave them the freedom to choose whether to abide by the new law.
http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/ViewArticle?R=86142&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ma-rss-general-news+(General+News+Rss+news+feed+for+Morning+Advertiser)
Donation duly made. Unbelievable.
The extent to which this law is designed to crush any opposition is clearly revealed in the LACORS/CIEH Smokefree Guidance 2nd Edition Jan 09.
Page 23 of this document, the enforcement section includes the following:-
"In addition to the evidence of smoking taking place the Courts have also indicated that they are taking into account the following matters.
* That they do not agree with or support the
Smokefree legislation.
* That they are actively campaigning against
it.
* That they do not intend to do anything
more than simply inform people that they
should not smoke."
The jailing of Nick Hogan should be a wake
up call for the public to get the smoking
ban reformed to allow choice.
The Anti-Smoking zealots would do well
to realise the monster they have
created.
INTOLERANCE IS THE MOST PREVENTABLE CAUSE
OF INEQUALITIES
Simon, can't you get your pal Iain Dale to put up a link or post on his site? This needs to go viral.
Nick is a political prisoner and the political blogs should highlight his plight.
As A smoker along side with my Husband. I really think that this Law is crazey.I feel that something needs to be done. People get Drunk, yet us smokers TUT TUT !!What about giving people eg publicans the choice of one room where all smokers can go with good ventilation.And a seperate room for Children as well.this really is a nanny state
Ali, I agree. I have drawn it to Iain's attention but he gets a lot of emails begging him to publicise this, that and the other so I won't put pressure on him. I know what he'd say!
Iain Dale is a wimp and I've never been clear as to whose side he is on except his own. of course!
Belinda - thanks for Nick's details. Card sent. I hope he gets it before we get him out. Let's hope he's home by the end of the week.
Well done to Simon for posting a link to the fund on his blog and promiting it!
Good to see Ed West mention this on the Telegraph news blogs. So no excuses for Iain Dale.
I have met Nick and he is one determined man.
----
If I was Iain Dale and I read these last two comments I would privately think "Get stuffed". I certainly wouldn't write anything under duress. Iain is entitled to write whatever he likes on his blog, and if he chooses not to write about Nick Hogan that's his prerogative too. Talk about an own goal ...
It will stay on the blogs like the AGW story.
The mail published it and full quodos to them.
Ed West is right.
This government are really sinister.
EVIL.
I am begining to see something so EVIL in them I am almost begining to believe in religeon.
Simon, duress? It was a gentle nudge :)
Of course he is entitled to write about whatever he likes.
----
Seconds out, Gentlemen !
Anyone have any idea how the MSM are handling this one - if at all ?
Belinda -
Thanks for the details. I'll send Nick a note of support tomorrow. It ain't much, but.......
So far only the Daily Mail.
Lots of supportive comments.
Ed West's blog in the Telegraph.
The BBC but no comments
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8540651.stm
As usuall ,complicite.
Strong message raising the profile of this case and encouraging support sent to 400+ members of my pro-licensed trade Facebook group with link to the Paypal donation page also included. Fund currently stands at just over £4250. Let's get Nick freed! Screw Labour and the Nanny State.
Driving home, I've just noticed their latest creations on the bilboards referencing the dangers of alcohol. Can we expect a drinking ban in pubs next?!
The pubs will have to become coffee houses.
Till they ban that !
Some of these health nuts would as well.
I live close to Bolton. I visited Nick's pub (the Swan) a few days after the ban came in. There were 'no smoking' signs as required and, over the bar, several notices in large print saying, words to the effect, "Smoking is not permitted. If you do smoke, then it is at your own risk". Also, I read the Health Bill and the Act (in fact, I still have a copy on my computer). There were notes (I cannot remember exactly where) which definitely did not envisage publicans, shopkeepers, restaurateurs, etc having to literally FORCE people not to smoke – they needed only to follow the procedure laid down. In my opinion, Nick was ‘fitted up’ or ‘set up’ in his trial. Moreover, I believe that he was ‘fitted up’ again in this latest trial re non-payment of fines ‘pour encourage les autres’.
I would really like to be able to read the transcript of his original trial. According to the Daily Mail article, it was said at the trial that there were ‘letters’ on the pub tables saying that people had ‘the freedom to choose or not to smoke’. It seems that this statement was taken to indicate guilt, even though it is a simple statement of legitimate fact and does not, in itself, imply ‘permission’. In any case, in my recollection, having seen these notices first hand, I am pretty sure (but not certain) there the notices said more than the words quoted.
The imprisonment of Nick Hogan should not only be a question of getting him out. The authorities decided to make an example of him. In fact, what they have done is make a hero and a martyr of him. We must not let the matter just fade away. We must make Nick's sacrifice worth while.
Come on, Simon! Come on, Forest! Come on friends and acquaintances of Nick! Come on, Nick’s solicitors! Let us have the transcript of his original trial and his recent trial word for word on the internet. Give us all a chance to see how he was ‘framed’.
I have tried myself to find these details via the site of the ‘The Royal Courts’ etc, bla, bla, but without success. Like finding a needle in a haystack. It would be the best possible thing if the many intelligent people who visit this site were able to sift through the evidence and discover (as will almost certainly be the case) the many and varied ways in which Nick was unjustly convicted of a non-crime and was used, abused, bullied and possibly even tortured (mentally).
I have made my £50 donation. If necessary, I will contribute more, but we NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.
It may be possible for his original conviction to be overturned, even though he pleaded 'guilty'. After all, if in fact there was no crime, then a guilty plea is irrelevant. If that were the case, then the fine and costs could be reclaimed and, possibly, damages for the miscarriage of justice. We could all then decide to give the proceeds to a deserving charity - such as ASH, CRUK or BHF.
Far more political pressure needs to come from us and from Forest, in combination with other civil liberty groups. If we could campaign with them and the Conservatives we might defeat this obsessed government. I really mean this because a vote for smaller parties, or labour, will just continue these controls and loss of liberty. They will be imposed, again, by default. We should negotiate with Cameron or our local Conservative candidate and start to bring some real democratic pressure to bear. We cannot afford to be neutral, non-political. This has gone far enough. Labour will just continue to blast the public with propaganda on 'health, risk and for your own good', and they will do so by default unless we take this very seriously indeed. It is costs millions of our money and here we are trying to get Nick out of jail.
Johnson and Johnson, makers of Chantix and Nicoderm, fund the bans through their Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-RWJohnsnF.html
Many tax exempt political action committees (charities?) received millions to sell smoking bans from RWJ Foundation. These bans are nothing but clever marketing strategy, with lots of highly publicized "sky is falling" hype
http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?ia=143&id=14912
And what the 99 million dollars was going to. Note on page seven the "inside -out", provision going for patios later, AFTER business owners spend thousands of dollars to build them to accommodate their smoking customers, clearly showing that the tobacco control activists have ABSOLUTLY NO CONCERN about local issues or businesses. You may need to CTRL and scoll to enlarge it.
http://www.no-smoke.org/pdf/CIA_Fundamentals.pdf
Prohibition is their next goal.
http://alcoholfacts.org/RWJfoundation.html
Most of the bars ignoring the bans in the USA to stay in business have a "fine kitty" to prevent this kind of stuff.
He deserves all he gets. He is a ....... and its great that his time has come.
Why are posts being removed? do we not have a say in free speech.
Why dont you practice what you preach.
I dont have to like Nick Hogan to disagree with the smoking ban.
Idiot - you really are one in a million - literally! Leave his posts, Simon, if you are deleting them. Let everyone see what a prick this cowardly chap (or chapette) is. If you're too scared to stick your name to your abuse then maybe it's better that you keep your horrible mouth shut! That the Govt' made a law to pander to the likes of this brainless person above just goes to show how bigotted they are! Keep losing 'em votes mate!
Sorry, Pat, I believe in free speech but some of the comments made by "Nick Hogan" are potentially libellous. I'm sure there are other bloggers who will accommodate him. I won't.
Also, I won't provide a platform for someone who wants to make such comments yet hides behind an alias.
Note: I have edited his comment above and barred him from this site.
"Nick Hogan" (the poster) is like all antis - a sociopathic misfit brimming with hatred and bile. Why can't the Government see through these people? Why does it continue to listen to them? Why does it continue to FUND them!? The Labour lot I can understand but the Tories....? I know that over three quarters of grassroots Tories are strongly anti-ban. So why is the Tory leadership so for it? Can't they see the votes they would gain by promoting fairness? More importantly, can't they see that many people are becoming increasingly politically radical as a result of it? I didn't even know what liberatarianism was in 2007. Now I can barely log on without coming across a horde of angry bloggers and their readers all demanding that the State leave them alone. Such a belief was radical and somewhat alien to the British in 2006. Now many proclaim it. Loudly. Admittedly this Government have been indescribably awful but I wonder how much damage the Ban has done, beyond the obvious pub closures and the like. I still believe the anger about MPs' expenses wasn't so much about the actual fiddling but was more about, "I'm angry, I hate you and now I have a chance to get the boot in."
The real damage the Ban has done to social cohesion and the British political landscape still remains to be seen. It's only going to get worse, too.
Sadly, I think that within the next few years we'll see violence. I don't condone it but I certainly wouldn't be surprised. Everyone I know is angry and cynical and the Ban has played no small part in this - even in the non-smokers, as many see it as the thin end of the wedge when it comes to the State commanding you like a serf and are worried about what the next few years will hold.
The stitch up from ASH, the DoH and a complicit media will not make this go away. The more people feel they are being ignored the more angry they will get. Something really needs to be done, and soon....
I've met Nick on a couple of occasions when attending meetings to get the SB amended. He does'nt deserve to be locked up just because the DoH want to convince us the SB is working and accepted throughout the UK. Not wanting revenge but justice remember the same Labour MPs that lied to us in 2005 will be asking for our support again in May. Make it as clear as you can when you tell them the reason for not voting Labour this time and beware of false promises.