Archbishop Jonathan Blake

The Most Reverend Jonathan Blake, Presiding Archbishop of the Open Episcopal Church B.A. (Hons), Dip. Pastoral Studies. Mobile: 07767 687711 www.bishopjonathanblake.com archbishopjonathanblake@gmail.com www.openepiscopalchurch.org The Church is a member of The International Council of Community churches and the World Council of Churches. Married and a proud Dad.

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Location: London, Kent, United Kingdom

Gassed Tehran, seized Kabul, helped Mother Teresa, funded TB hospital, priest 1981, went Auschwitz, wrote on Parliament, convicted, began 1st inter-faith NHS chapel, 12 yrs Anglican cleric/vicar - left, baptised 1000's in homes/Mt Snowdon/at circus, wedding underwater, wrote ‘For God’s Sake Don’t Go To Church’, nailed 95 Theses 2 Canterbury cathedral, arrested, co-founded the Society for Independent Ministry, consecrated a bishop, co-founded the Open Episcopal Church, did 1st gay wedding on morning TV, sued Associated Newspapers, co-consecrated 1st women bishops 4 England,Wales,Scotland, accommodated the homeless, posted Mass/took it 2 sex workers, elected Archbishop, arrested 4 climbing with sons,founded ‘When No One’s Watching',made ICV, did Jade Goody's wedding,invited 2 Downing St, wrote 'That Old Devil Called God Again', conviction 4 campaigning against child abuse quashed on appeal, convicted 4 successful blogging 2 stop paedophile. His Christmas Lights raising £79,000 4 Water in 4 Gambian villages. Published "The Tales of Henry the Lovable Hedgehog", the SAFE New Testament + Psalms + radical Book of Common Prayer, ordained priests for UK,US,Thailand,Spain,Ireland

Thursday, July 31, 2014

BEXLEY POLICE ASSAULT OF 14 YEAR OLD

When police officer Stephen Rea assaulted a 14 year old boy  in Bexley Custody Suite the Bexley ICV panel  members were not able to ask any questions because they were  kept in the dark by the police about what had happened. Even when the police officer was convicted of assault last year, the Bexley ICV panel members were not able to question the police about this, because the police blocked their enquiries.
Of what use is this ICV panel?
When a criminal assault of a 14 year old boy happens under their watch and they cannot and will not do anything about it?
Of what use is MOPAC?
When something as serious as an assault of a minor takes place and then we find even younger children are being mistreated, sealed into adult cells?

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/10486772.Bexley_police_officer_Steven_Rea_guilty_of_assaulting_youngster_in_custody_suite/?ref=rc

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

BOLT'S TRUTH TEST?

Slight change of tune....

Whose wrenched Bolt's arm up his back?

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/commonwealth-games/article4161971.ece

WE ARE IMMUNE TO OTHER'S SUFFERING

It seems the West is immune to the suffering of others. Perhaps it's because we indulge in violent cinema but sanitise  our news feeds, so only the mildest depictions of violence are shown.

How can we consume the violence in Gaza while munching our toast or drinking our coffee?

Show us the severed hands of babies, the heads of children rolling like footballs, the torso's of the forgotten mutilated. Make us sick with our indifference and spur us into protest and into action.  

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article4161788.ece


CHAKRABATI'S MISTAKE

Chakrabati panders to populism rather than respecting logical thinking and by so doing misleads many.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article4161508.ece

64,000 HAVE READ THIS BLOG

Archbishop Blake's blog has now been viewed by 64,000 people.

Cutting edge comment from the country's most controversial cleric.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

MOPAC RUNNING SCARED

It seems that the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime are worried lest their own proceedings are exposed to be dodgy. Archbishop Blake insisted that the hearing to consider the fabricated claims of his discourtesy against ICV panel members, should be recorded and took a recording device with him to ensure an objective record was made.
Unfortunately MOPAC were disconcerted by the prospect of being held accountable for their inept procedures and refused to conduct the hearing.
So no hearing was held and there was no opportunity to question and expose the trumped up and insubstantial nature of the claims.
Is Boris Johnson's gathering of police matters under his brief designed to streamline justice to such an extent that hearings and trials become a thing of the past and judges and organisation chiefs just hand out judgements?
If this is the measure of the Mayor's approach to justice, God help us all!

Monday, July 28, 2014

MOPAC AXES WHISTLE BLOWER

MOPAC, embarrassed by its inability to ensure proper detention standards in police custody suites, has removed Archbishop Blake from the Bexley panel, after he revealed to the media, the scandal of an eleven year old being locked in an adult cell against the PACE regulations.

Archbishop Blake has issued a red alert warning, 'It is only a matter of time before someone dies in Bexley police custody.'

He has written about police mistreatment of those with emotional and mental heath problems, those who do not speak English and children. He states that detainees are deprived routinely of food, liquids, washing facilities, and exercise. Detainees are deliberately disorientated, unaware of the time, the procedures and their rights and entitlements.

He claims that staff operate a culture that detainees are presumed guilty and should be offered the least.

MOPAC ordered him to reassure the public that all was well at Bexley and said that such reassurance was the role of the ICV. Archbishop Blake challenged this dishonesty and when his attempts to reform police custody malpractice had met with systematic resistance and when he was shocked by the treatment of the eleven year old child in custody he went to the press.



THE PRETENCE OF INDEPENDENT CUSTODY VISITING IN BEXLEY

Residents of Bexley.

Please don't believe that a system is in place to monitor adequately the treatment of detainees in the Bexley Police custody suite.

Lord Scarman's recommendation and the provision that followed, for members of the public to ensure the proper treatment of detainees, is in disarray in Bexley.

The chair, for years, has been a well meaning, but ineffective elderly woman, more concerned to catch up on the domestic news of the custody staff ,than ensure that the detainees are being properly treated.

Instead of spending time raising concerns about the lack of food being given to detainees, she has been more inclined to check the 'sell by' dates of the pre-packed microwaveable food in the canteen. She has spent her visits checking that the showers are clean,  unconcerned that detainees are rarely allowed to use them. She wanted to ignore the  fact that an eleven year old was banged up in an adult cell alone and instead exchange happy banter with the police on duty at the time.

She, with the deputy chair, appear to enjoy the access their roles give them to influential figures in local and Met wide policing and the socials funded at London's city hall. However so little progress has been made on the provision of the most basic of the PACE 'Rights and Entitlements' of detainees.

If one considers the panel members. One has a son in the police force. Another fusses about whether members are properly insured. A new member worries lest we upset the police by pressing our questions. Meetings resemble a cosy chance to feel important, to rub shoulders with police inspectors and feel fulfilled in contributing to society.

Meanwhile the facts are that the detainees in Bexley's custody suite have been and continue to be abused.

They are not fed properly. Prisoners with empty stomachs are interviewed, even sent before the courts, sometimes starved for 24 hours or longer.

No systematic checking takes place to ensure they have drunk enough liquids.

They are denied their regular medication, even when this triggers anxiety and provokes instability.

Vulnerable detainees, with emotional or mental health issues can be goaded and regarded as a nuisance.

Children are locked up in adult cells and left alone.

Often no access is given to the exercise yard, even if a detainee has been in for longer than the 24 hour usual period.

Detainees aren't invited to wash, not even their hands after they have used the toilet.

Blankets are often not offered.

Lights are left on overnight.

Cell doors and wickets are slammed shut.

At times, detainees are forcibly strip searched.

Sometimes they are restrained by four officers pinning them to the ground.

Those, for whom English is a second language or who cannot speak English at all, are left stranded in their cells unable to communicate.

The police become adept at concealing this mistreatment, at answering criticism and dodging responsibility. The truth remains however, that the PACE rules are not being observed.

Cuts in the police budget mean that the present woeful standards are likely to deteriorate further. However, it is essentially not a financial issue. The poor care is related more to a culture of laziness, indifference and a lack of respect for the principle that underpins our judicial system that a person is innocent until proven guilty.

How am I privy to this information.

First because when I was wrongly arrested in 2009 by the police for giving my children a safe and supervised climbing adventure, I was mistreated by the police. This alerted me to the problem.

I applied to become an Independent Custody Visitor and for a number of years have sought to prompt reform of the Bexley standards.

Unfortunately, my passion to ensure proper standards at Bexley has not been shared by the other panel members.

I'm afraid I wanted to turn their social tea party, where they munch luxury biscuits, dine at local restaurants and hobnob with the influential, into an agent to hold the police to account and raise standards.

My repeated questioning was not appreciated. At one meeting when I questioned the veracity of a police custody record,  the police representative walked out. At another, when I insisted that detainees had to be regarded as innocent until proven guilty, the police representative left the room.

Then I wrote in an email  that MOPAC, the Mayor's Office For Policing and Crime received, that the panel members appeared reticent to raise matters with the police. I suggested that that this may be because ' they are drawn in the main from a generation that was expected to show deference to the police and figures of authority and were unused to confronting injustice, malpractice or corruption.'

I wrote also that the panel was 'an ineffective instrument' and was not 'fit for purpose' and suggested that panel members wanted to 'continue the self-satisfaction of being able to say they do voluntary work...while achieving so little'.

The police wanted me out.

The panel members wanted me out.

My accreditation has now been removed because allegedly 'I failed to treat fellow ICV's with due respect and courtesy'.

So there it is. Let the detainees suffer abuse, as long as the Bexley ICV panel can continue their sweet liaisons.

The Bexley ICVs work in league with the police and MOPAC supports the pretence of custody visiting when the reality is that the ICV work locally is mere window dressing to given the impression that all is well in police custody.

It is not.

The public, the media and local politicians overlook this to the peril of society.












Monday, July 21, 2014

THE EATING FLESH HABIT

 Cannibalism is on the rise, often within Christian cultures that have bred the concept of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus Christ.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article4153472.ece

BLAIR - CHAMPION OF THE POOR?

 The party for the poor with millionaire leaders eh?

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4153552.ece

OH ISRAEL ISRAEL

You cannot bomb a people into submission....

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article4153321.ece

Thursday, July 17, 2014

PRE ORDER MY NEW BOOK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/That-Old-Devil-Called-Again/dp/1782795383/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405603723&sr=8-1&keywords=that+old+devil+called+god+again

Monday, July 14, 2014

WONGA's PUPPETS

WONGA's puppets are the poor... 

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/banking/article4147061.ece

THE SPOILT GRADUATE?

 I'm confused. Why didn't this woman get a job during her education to help the family finances as well as her sister? Why now, with all three of them contributing to the domestic budget, could they not have paid the rent? Why, while they were living as tenants, knowing that their rent was low, did they not set money aside as a precaution for a rent increase or a house move? Why was some of the money spent on entertaining or the purchase of 'glam' clothes not diverted into a 'rainy day' fund? Why was some of the big garden not used to grow vegetables?
I fear that a young graduate, in glam clothes, working at a media company has got that sexy edge to gain the ear of the spoilt world, when in fact the true poor have no such platform and will similarly wonder, why a family who had so much for so long, have not handled matters more wisely. The woman's anger should perhaps be used as an incentive and an energy for self reflection and new personal choices.

WORMS AND BUTLER-SLOSS

 That Baroness Butler-Sloss was appointed in the first place, that her brother was attorney-general, that worms began to surface, that still, in the face of mounting concern the government said she was above reproach suggests this inquiry will be yet another whitewash where the privileged manage to find yet more Machiavellian ways to conceal their corruption.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article4147011.ece

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

THE NSPCC SUPPORTS CHILD ABUSE

Westminster, the Church, the Law , the Police, Social Services,  and the NSPCC are all implicated in child abuse it seems. Even today the NSPCC is refusing to call for the criminalisation of the failure to report suspected institutional child abuse. Shocking evidence is emerging of senior figures across all these professions who have colluded together to cover up and perpetuate the abuse of children. What bitter irony that those who have wagged their fingers, set our laws and claimed to protect vulnerable children are among the very ones to destroy the innocence of childhood lives. Don't accept at face value then the sweet words of this generation's finger waggers, law makers and moralists. Trust more that fine and free spirit of truth and justice that knows of no containment and makes fools and criminals of the 'high and the mighty' that seek to take positions over us.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4140850.ece

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

THE FAT DESPERATE TO GET FATTER

 Our consumer driven society, where the most read article, amid the world's dereliction, is whether we can gorge further without consequence, is doomed. 

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/article4135690.ece

COUSTEAU UP TO NO GOOD?

Sounds fishy to me...

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/science/article4136357.ece

THE FAME DISEASE

 The cost of fame - lives wrecked, individuals distorted, relationships contaminated, families destroyed, society duped, the young misguided, the world denuded. Time to rethink?

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/americas/article4136068.ece

ISRAEL STOKES THE FIRES

 So why did the Israeli government stoke the fires by vengeful language and actions after the tragic deaths of their youngsters?

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article4136259.ece

THE POLICE MUST SHOW THEMSELVES TRUSTWORTHY

 More evidence that you cannot begin from a default position of trust in the police, their testimony or their documents.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article4136290.ece