At first when i saw the reports that it was pulling all adverts was simply the corporate version of quitting before being sacked, simply damage control to stop the flood of stories about various companies pulling their advertising. Now in the light of the closure announcement though, it looks even more sinister to me.

Personally I would like to see the police take control of the offices to ensure that there is no chance of any evidence ‘accidentally’ going missing in the closure and pack up of the paper. I still think that criminal prosecution should be brought against the people involved in the hacking both under the misuse of telecommunications act, wasting police time and tampering with and investigation.

I also find it laughable that it’s already being suggested on twitter by @subedited that the staff at The Sun have been told they are going to a 7 day operation.

It’s long been known that News Corp see The Sun as their flagship paper, not the News Of The World.

This isn’t a closure, it’s no intention to close their Sunday trade, it’s just a rebranding exercise to get rid of the now unmanageable tarnish that the New Of The World name now has attached to it.

EDIT: Surprise surprise, look what was registered on the 5th…. http://who.is/whois/thesunonsunday.co.uk/

~Shepy

Today I saw a  @paul_a_smith retweeting a link from @arlloyd which was an article, with video on the guardian site showing mounted police charging on the protestors, one of whom is pregnant (and though they had no way of knowing that, they should assume the possiblity of potential risks such as this).  Here is the video from the article:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgxwTF-qeAo&feature=player_embedded

While some of the damage and material loss caused by the protest is deplorable, nothing warrants these people being charged by officers mounted on horses. For the Met Police to then deny that the crowd were charged shows a level of incompetency and underhandedness that is simply unacceptable.

In my opinion, there should be an external investigation which covers:

• Why the order was given to charge
• What risk assessment was done prior to the order
• Why the charge was hidden and denied afterwards
• What injury was caused by this charge
• How will those responsible be brought to task (criminal or professional).

The original article on the Guardian website can be found here for anyone wanting to read more.

~Shepy

The site, with it’s good transport links and ample water supply, was quickly taken over and re-used by the Kilbagie Chemical Manure company who obviously took pride in their manure, complaining about “the heartless swindle of manure companies selling trash and worse under the name of chemical manures”. Even despite their pride in their work, they also only managed to operate the site for little under 15 years.

In 1874 the site went into production as a mill, after a year of building and preparation from the site being acquired in 1873. In the first twenty-five years, Guardbridge Paper Mill grew from a single machine operation to being one of the largest in Scotland. The first machine was installed in 1873/4, with second, third and fourth machines added before the end of the 19th century. Machine number five was built in 1923 and number six added in 1952. The company was already exporting by the beginning of the 20th century.

From modest beginnings in 1873 producing 15-18 tons of paper per week, the company went on to produce high quality esparto grass paper at the rate of 230 tons per week in 1951. The 1960s was a period of serious modernisation but market and technological changes led to the merger, in 1967, of The Guard Bridge Paper Company Ltd with The Culter Mills Paper Company Ltd to form Culter Guard Bridge Holdings Ltd. By 1988 the company had become GB Papers Limited, a subsidiary of the James River Corporation of Richmond, Virginia, USA, and finally operated as Curtis Fine Papers.

In 2008 the plant closed, despite upturning profits, after a deal to sell some of it’s land fell through.  The close took with it 180 jobs that this tiny community could scarcely afford to lose, and in protest the workers staged a march through nearby St Andrews, though to no avail.

Two of the buildings on the site, named as Kilbagie House and Kilbagie Mill House, are listed though what will happen to the rest of the site remains to be seen.

And so, on with some pictures (all click-able to enlarge):

If you want to see the rest of the images from the day, they can be seen in my exploration gallery.

Comments and suggestions always welcome.

~Shepy

Bright and early Saturday morning, Paul and I headed up to Edinburgh and arrived shortly before the protest started.

There was only a fraction of the attendance compared to the London one, but that is to be expected I suppose, even if only due to the size of the respective cities.

The protest marched round the streets of Edinburgh, passing through major shopping and public areas, passing the Edinburgh International Conference Centre where the NATO conference was being held, then continued on down into the Princes Street Gardens.

A few pics from the day (click to enlarge)

The protest marching through the streets of Edinburgh

Protest passing a poppy wreath on a memorial

A girl carried on her father's shoulders, placard aloft

Mounted police wait for the procession to begin moving again

A young man lights a flare outside the EICC where NATO are meeting

Protest march pass Edinburgh Castle

A young couple have better ideas

Leading the Stop The War protest

October 24th 2009 was set to be the date for the ‘Stop The War’ protest, a demonstration march against the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The top 10 reasons for protesting, as quoted by the Stop The War website were:

1. The death rate is rising on both sides

   The number of British troops who have died is now higher than those killed in 6 years in Iraq. Fifteen soldiers died in the first two weeks of July alone. No one keeps track of the number of Afghan dead but it numbers tens of thousands since 2001. In May more than 140 Afghans, mainly women and children, were killed in one air strike.

2. This is an unwinnable war

   The Taliban was defeated in 2001 but is now growing in strength. Osama bin Laden has not been captured. The war is supposedly about defending the Karzai government. But his government is one of the most corrupt in the world. Neither he nor the occupation forces have brought any real improvements for the Afghan

3. Gordon Brown claims the war is about combating terrorism.

   There was no terrorist threat to Britain before the war in Afghanistan, or before the war in Iraq in 2003. It is those wars and their consequences that have made Britain a target. Even MI5 told the government the Iraq occupation was likely to increase not decrease terrorism.

4. We are told this may have to be our ’30 years war’

   We have fought for eight years and the situation is getting worse. Children as yet unborn will be dying if this war is not stopped.

5. The war is spreading to Pakistan

   Pakistan is a nuclear state, opening up the prospect of an even more terrible conflict

6. Life is getting worse for most Afghans under occupation

   There is a huge refugee problem. Corruption is rife. While Tony Blair promised in 2001 ‘we will not walk away’ Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. According to the United Nations life expectancy has fallen for Afghans since 2003. Far more is spent on the war and the military than is spent on reconstruction. Aid meant to help the Afghans is not getting through to those who need it.

7. Britain has spent £4.6 billion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq every year

   This is enough money to create 200,000 graduate jobs annually. We should be funding these jobs, not wasting more money on war. Unemployment must not become a recruiting sergeant for the army.

8. More troops or helicopters won’t help

   The NATO forces are not losing because they don’t have the equipment but because they are in Afghanistan.

9. We were told that the war in Afghanistan was to liberate women

   Women’s lives have not improved. Death in childbirth is rising. The Karzai government even tried to pass a law allowing rape in marriage. Despite all the talk about troops helping girls to go to school, less than a third of Afghan girls are in school and less than 10% can read and write, 8 years after the fall of the Taliban.

10. The majority of Afghans do not want the war and occupation

    The majority of British people think the troops should come home by Xmas at the latest. In two recent polls 56% (BBC and Guardian) and 59% (ITN) want the troops out.

Placards ready and waiting

Thousands turned up to join in the march through the streets of London chanting anti-war and political slogans all the while. The broad spectrum of people making the effort to march really made you think, some of the more notable people being:

Peter Brierley

Hetty Bower

Joe Glenton

Tony Benn

Peter Brierley

Peter recently hit the news as the man who refused to shake the hand of Tony Blair, stating “I’m not shaking your hand, you’ve got blood on it.” Peter’s son Lance Cpl Shaun Brierley was killed while in service in 2003.

Hetty Bower

At 104 Hetty was the oldest protester at the event, but still managed to walk the entire march. Having lived through each of the world wars Hetty said “‘I march because I can see no reason for further killing. I have walked on every march against us going to war. At my age there is not very much I can do but while my legs can carry me I am going to march.”

Lance Cpl Joe Glenton

Joe Glenton is the first serving soldier to take part in an anti-war protest.  Already facing arrest and court martial for being AWOL due to his disagreement with the war, Joe had been told that attendance at the march would result in further charges being brought, but Joe felt so strongly about the issue that he still marched proudly.

Tony Benn

Politician and leader of the Stop the War Coalition, Tony Benn still made the effort to attend and give a rousing speech despite having recently been hospitalised after taking ill at a recent conference in Brighton.

Marching forward at the Stop The War protests in London, October 24th 2009

The march started at the well known Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, demonstrators gathering from 12 noon where they were greeted by stalls from many political groups handing out flyers and newspapers.  Hundreds of placards waited for them to collect and hoist aloft, ready for the actual protest march which began at 1pm.  The march set off at 1pm exactly and lead the protesters through Park Lane, Piccadilly and Haymarket among others, ending at Trafalgar Square where the crowd were entertained with songs by Robb Johnson before listening to moving speeches from Tony Benn, Joe Glenton, an ex Guantanamo Bay prisoner, leader of the British Muslim Initiative and others. Despite rain trying its best to spoil the day, people listened intently to all speakers, whooping cheering and clapping often, making their views known on the war.

Protesting for peace

Rain didn't deter the protesters

Protesters listen to the speakers at Trafalgar Square

There was even a bit of light comic relief at times, provided by Charlie Veitch who is often to be found shouting on a loudspeaker in protests in London. Unfortunately I didnt manage to capture the first part of one of Charlie’s talks to the police, in which he advised officers when using their batons not to hit below the belt, no cracking skulls and if at all possible try not to kill anyone. Even the police were chuckling at this, as you can see here:

Charlie Veitch

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWJx-12ZIYQ”>www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWJx-12ZIYQ

All in all it was an excellent protest, peaceful and respectful as they should be. Hopefully they have made people think, especially with the upcoming general elections!

The rest of the pictures from the day can be seen in my gallery by clicking here.

As ever, comments and suggestions welcome.

~Shepy

As some people had noticed, the online listings for Forfar showed that they were not listed to be in court there.  None of the other local courts showed them listed either, but a wee bit digging soon turned up the fact that they had just been re-assigned to Arbroath from Forfar, which was more or less the same distance from where I was on Tuesday, so I decided to have a look along anyway.

Round about 9:15 the merry bunch arrived, and as had been promised on one of the urbex sites, Rookinella offered me a chocolate orange.  I had no interest in it, but as there was a homeless guy sitting on the next bench along so I said she should just give it to the tramp.  She didnt pass it to the homeless guy, but she did unwrap it and eat some, so I guess a tramp got it in the end, just not the one I was thinking of.

Anyway, the day was somewhat of a damp squib court-wise, as the group were sent away after about an hour or so after court opened session for the day, meaning for those coming from Brighton a 1,000+ mile round trip to not even bother appearing in court.  Summons for them to return to Arbroath will be in the post for them to re-attend soon however, so I’ve set a script monitoring the Arbroath listings for their appearance and other methods checking also, so assuming I’m free around the time of the new date then I’ll no doubt make a second visit.

The famous five at Arbroath Court

~Shepy

(Begin Quote)

Im not sure if im meant to tell everyone what has gone on… then again i dont care.

Rookinella and her band of merry men were caught inside Stracathro hospital this week gone, and got arrested for being found in an enclosed space and for intent to steal.  Now keep this quiet, this is strictly between you and I, because Rookinella (Lucy Sparrow) probably does not want this information getting back to her parents (Same situation, would you want your parents to find out?), so whatever you do please dont tell anyone (Like Mark Sparrow, her dad).  Anyway, the upshot of it is that they have to attend court on the 11th of August, now i personally think that with previous convictions such swag hags as Rookinella are probablly caking it right now, but that is just personal opinion.  Anyway, they have to attend the Forfar Sheriff court on the 11th August to have the final sentence handed down to them. Now normally we would have to rely on those involved to report back on the proceedings of the day, but miracle or miracles i find myself otherwise engaged locally to forfar around that time, so selflessly i am willing to attend court and report back full and factual information to the urbex community as a whole on the proceedings of the day.

~Shepy

P.S. I realise this is a private forum and therefore not indexed by google, for this reason i have cross posted this to my own google indexed blog.

(End Quote)

Quickly we ducked back into the building and decided to wait it out and have a cigarette while we waited for the thing to pass overhead so we were not seen exiting the place. After a bit of discussion we agreed that it was unlikely they would send out a helicopter for us, a couple of trespassers and after waiting for 15 minutes and still no signs of the helicopter moving on any, we decided to just exit anyway. One set of ninja manoeuvres to get out quickly and we walked clear of the building and started taking our external shots of the place. The helicopter was hovering close to the place, but not quite over it so we assumed it was perhaps there for something going on over at the road nearby.

After we had our external shots we walked over to exit the fence surrounding the place to find two police officers waiting, and it hit home rather quickly that indeed the helicopter was there for us.

Luckily it was just a case of us explaining to them that we were just there taking photographs, and to back this up i always carry a little printed 12 page booklet with some examples of my previous urbex pictures, and showed the officers the pictures in our cameras to show we had just been doing the same. They took our details and carried out a couple of quick PNC checks whilst having a chat with us about the dangers inherent to the hobby etc and then sent us on our merry way, at which point we saw two police vans sitting over at the end of the building around the corner.

Now I’m used to police attention whilst exploring, often security or a busy body in the area will call them out and we will be questioned, which has lead to me being arrested on a couple of occasions and then being released after questioning. I can understand this entirely, and in a way am quite thankful for it as it helps to prevent the pikies from stealing the lead from the roofs, the copper from the floors and generally just trashing these places that we like to visit.

I do however think that the helicopter was a bit excessive, especially as we had parked our car about a quarter mile from the site, and it was the farmer near to where we had parked who had called in the incident to the police. They knew where our vehicle was, they had the name and address of the owner from a vehicle check no doubt, so why then would they need to send out a helicopter to look for us as well as the two vehicle sand four officers? Whilst I appreciate that they will not have been able to find or see us due to the fact we were in the building, they knew exactly where we would head once we left the building, so they could have simply caught us at that point.

A quick search of google turned up the following information for the cost of a police helicopter for one year; £1,216,542 for 1294 flights, but unfortunately due to the varying nature of the duration of these flights these figures can not be used to calculate the cost per hour of a helicopter to the force. I did manage to find however that if a helicopter is called in by a neighbouring county’s police force then it would be charged at £1,500 per hour. These figures are also based on 05-06 data, so presumably due to increasing fuel charges this figure is now much greater. Working on that figure though, and the half hour stated by one of the officers that they were at the site, they have spent at least £750 to keep a helicopter in the air to look for us at a site no bigger than a football field, and could have easily stopped us for questioning or whatever else they pleased when we returned to the car. It all just seems a little wasteful and keen to use the helicopter to me.

Anyway, we were let go without arrest or charge, and the explore was really quite enjoyable and turned out some nice pictures, so ultimately it was quite a good explore for us. Pictures to come soon.

~Shepy