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Notts Indymedia and others have launched a new radio show called 'Riseup! Radio'. The community based podcast includes reports covering issues often overlooked by other local media, as well as music from local artists and bands, and chat about stuff that matters. Each month a new podcast will be downloadable through the riseup! Radio website, or by subscribing to our feed. Look out for extra features and new shows in the near future, but for now.. Download, listen, enjoy, distribute and comment on February's show !Listen: #1 The February ShowLinks: Riseup! Radio Website | RSS feed | Notts Indymedia Audio Archive

On Saturday, activists from across the Midlands and Yorkshire met in Nottingham to co-ordinate activities against the British National Party (BNP).Around 100 campaigners met at the Queen's Walk Community Centre in the city for a conference organised by Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP.Participants discussed the ways in which the BNP could be opposed, the formation of a regional anti-fascist network and the possibility of protests against the BNP's Red, White and Blue Festival.Links: Midlands and South Yorks Activists Organise Against Racist BNP | Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP Event : Leaflet PDFNewswire: Stop the BNP in Brinsley gains ground | Broxtowe BNP Councillor Expelled From Party | BNP threaten anti-fascist leafletters in Brinsley | Anti-fascists successfully blockade BNP meeting venue

The trial of the eleven climate change activists who disrupted operations at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station on April 10th 2007 has started today at Nottingham Bridewell Magistrates Court. They have pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated trespass and arguing that it was necessary to take such action in order to prevent the imminent threat that climate change poses to the human population. They are arguing that the threat of climate change on human life is so imminent & serious that it is a proportionate and reasonable response to commit aggravated trespass to try to reduce carbon emissions from England's 2nd largest CO2 emmiter, Ratcliffe on Soar power station.This is the first time that the defence of necessity in relation to climate change has been used in a court of law. The defendants will call an expert witness; a climate scientist, and Royal Society Research Fellow, to prove to the court the scale and imminence of the threat that climate change poses.Reports: Ratcliffe Power Station Court Case : Nottingham Magistrates [day 1] | Ratcliffe Power Station Court Case : Nottingham Magistrates [day 2] | Ratcliffe Power Station Court Case : Nottingham Magistrates [day 3] | Climate Change Trial OpensPrevious feature: Climate Activists Bring Powerstation Operations To A HaltFrom the newswire: Climate change on Trial! | E.ON irony & hypocrisy in market square | Climate activists in court - report | Climate Change On Trial: Call for support demo | Evening Post depicts Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station as 'cutting edge technology' | E-on climate greenwash in Market Square | Rattcliffe 11 to face courts | Activists needle shareholders over E.ON nuclear power | Climate change activists target power station - photos from inside | Photo reports from the action: [1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5]Audio: Concerned about Climate Change? Spring Into Action Now! - an audio pieceLinks: E.On | Eastside Climate Action | Indymedia Climate Chaos page | Wikipedia on Ratcliffe On Soar | Ratcliffe On Soar (photo portrait by Alan Lodge).

From the 28th January, as part of an extended pilot scheme, residents of Nottingham will be subject to Voice Risk Analysis when telephoning to make a claim for Job Seekers' Allowance.Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) software analyses a person's 'normal' voice and flags up changes in frequency and tone characteristics which may mean the person is lying. The DWP has helped to fund a series of local pilot schemes to study the effectiveness of the technology in reducing so-called "benefit fraud" (which pales into insignificance when compared with tax evasion by the rich). Even amongst those who worry about such things, there is scepticism about this usefulness of this technology as an anti-fraud tool. Mainstream critics say that savings do not necessarily mean the software is accurately pinpointing fraudsters, arguing that genuine claimants may also be deterred from claiming when entitled to benefits.Links: Nottinghamshire Unemployed Workers Centre | Welfare Reform UK | Sheffield protest against changes to welfare | Nottingham Claimants ActionBackground Links: Nottingham Proforma for Expressions of Interest for DWP City Strategy | Strategy: Nottingham Local Area Agreement | DWP Fraud and error - Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) | DWP Press Release: Hutton announces new technology to strengthen fight against benefit fraud | TUC lies, damned lies and lie detectors: introducing lie detector tests for benefit claimants | Handard - Social Security Benefits: Lie Detectors 23 Apr 2007 : Column 928W | Government to use voice 'lie detector' technology to catch benefit thieves | Advanced Validation Services (AVS)

Animal rights activists in Nottingham campaigning against the sale of Foie Gras in the city have found themselves the targets of police repression. On the evening of Friday December 14, campaigners were told that they could not use a megaphone, with the police citing Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 as their basis for this prohibition.The heavy-handed police response is indicative of a national trend towards increasingly repressive policing of animal rights protests and a a more general limitation on the right to protest.Newswire: Foie Gras protests continue in spite of increased pressure from police | Foie gras day of action | Foie Gras Not Fair to the Goose | Kick foie gras out of NottinghamLinks: Nottingham Animal Rights | Wikipedia on Foie Gras | Banfoiegras.org | Freedom to ProtestAudio: Fois Gras feature in audio - mp3

Broxtowe BNP councillor Sadie Graham appears to have been expelled from the party for setting up a "treasonous" blog, along with the party's Head of Administration, Kenny Smith. The blog, containing materials from anti-fascist organisations, called for the removal of Mark Collett, the party's Head of Publicity.After a Stasi-like operation in which the BNPs 'Intelligence Department' (fronted by an ex-South African police official) recorded and spied on telephone calls of party members, stories are circulating on Nazi webforums that five BNP security entered Graham's house and ransacked it looking for further evidence. This is further bad news for the beleaguered fascist party who are already facing serious internal divisions and a revived militant anti-fascist movement.Update: Sadie Grahams house raided by police | BNP threaten anti-fascist leafletters in BrinsleyFeatures: Anti-fascists successfully blockade BNP meeting venue | BNP wins seat in BroxtoweNewswire: Sadie Graham Expelled from BNP! | 2nd Anniversarry of mums brutal murder by Kirkby Notts"freeSpeech"BNPcandidate | Nott's group go to BNP Conferance | Sadie Graham Shoots Straight| BNP threaten anti-fascist leafletters in BrinsleyLinks: Lancaster UAF | Antifa (UK)

While in London and Glasgow over 10,000 climate campaigners took to the streets to take part in marches over the weekend, in Nottingham, many people took to the delight of the East Midlands Vegan Festival and Sumac Crafts Fair. While these events have a strong social aspect, especially during these dark winter days, there are strong links with those who braved the bad weather to call for climate justice.Campaigners organising the annual Vegan Festival pointed out that a massive proportion of climate change is caused by livestock farming and the production of meat/dairy products. They urged world leaders in Bali, attending the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference, "to take the urgent action needed to prevent the catastrophic destabilisation of global climate". Protests calling upon the world leaders for action on climate change have taken place across the world. The last week has seen many actions across the UK on various aspects of the climate change agenda.Audio: Collected Interviews about the Vegan Festival. [Ronny] - mp3 16MPhotos: 4th East Midland Vegan Festival, Council House, Nottingham | Sumac Craft FairLinks: East Midlands Vegan Festival | The Sumac Centre | Notts Indymedia Climate Chaos page | Climate Action Network Nottinghamshire | Eastside Climate Action

On Tuesday November 27, Nottinghamshire Police used a Taser stun gun on a man in Beeston. Although it has attracted only limited interest, it could be an important development. Tasers have recently been introduced to the police arsenal in the UK, having been widely used by police in the US and Canada for some time. This happened with minimal public debate, despite increasing concerns about their use across North America. Currently restricted to armed response officers there are calls from both senior and rank and file police officers for their use to be greatly expanded. They certainly aren’t going to go away any time soonAccording to the Evening Post, Notts police were called to reports of a man acting erratically outside the Natwest on High Road, Beeston at 11.30am. The Post also indicates that there was a suggestion the man might have been carrying a firearm, however it is now clear the man did not have a gun and there is little in the article to indicate on what basis such suspicions might have arisen. The various eyewitness reports certainly indicate erratic behaviour, but if anything make the presence of a gun seem unlikely. One account has the man shouting, “Call the police,” while another has him pushing people about threatening to “knock you out.” Hardly behaviour which would indicate he was armed.Links: Tasers in Nottingham | Police taser diabetic in a fit,when they should be arresting terror oil corprats | Canada Probes Taser After Another Death | USA - anotherone killed by police using "less" lethal taser | TASER GUNS BY UK POLICE ,HAVE BEEN CAUSING CONTROVERSY IN AMERICA | Taser’s don’t kill, Excited Delirium does!

Nottinghamshire Police have been condemned for their heavy handed dealing with a peaceful protest which took place at Nottingham University. The protest, which was organized by students, occurred outside the Hallward Library on the University Park Campus, to raise awareness about the Israeli West Bank barrier, aka 'the wall'. A mock wall was constructed and spray-painted with slogans and images.After Nottingham Uni security failed to 'apprehend' the situation, the police were called. This resulted in the threat of arrest to a number of students. For 'breach of the peace', 'assaulting a police officer', 'filming a police officer'(!), obstructing a police officer and obstruction of the highway. One student was arrested to 'apprehend a breach of the peace'. The wall was dismantled (rather symbolic given the context) and moved on after about half an hour.Links: Arrest at Nottingham Uni over Palestine Protest | Notts Indymedia Palestine pageAudio: This Week In Palestine – Week 48 | Week 47 | Week 46 | Full audio archivePrevious protests: Starbucks Not Welcome at University | Nottingham University Student Die-In :: to protest at ethical investments | 'Die-in' at Nottingham University to protest at unethical investments | Protests as arms dealers attend careersfair

Nottingham university students have been campaigning tirelessly over the last few weeks to get their University to get Starbucks off campus, and stop them selling their unethical beverages in the Hallward Library. Students were shocked when, a few weeks ago, their café in the main library on campus suddenly started serving Starbucks coffee. In a move that has upset a large part of the student body the university decided to change coffee supplier without any sort of student consultation and now the students are up in arms.For the last two weeks students have manned an ‘anti-Starbucks’ stall outside the Hallward Library where the Starbucks coffee is being served (at nearly double its pre-Starbucks price). The movement against the corporatisation of our educational facilities has been swift; nearly 700 people have joined the Facebook group against Starbucks, hundreds of people have signed the petition and loads of cups of tea and coffee have been sold from a makehift stall outside the library to students who don’t want to pay £1.45 for a coffee.Notts: Telling Starbucks to 'Buck Off' at Nottingham Uni. | Amnesty Protest in Nottingham City Centre - Close Guantanamo Bay [Please] | Starbucks national day of action, 18th AugustUK: Whitechapel Knees Up against Starbucks | Sheffield IWW - Starbucks skanked to death | Anti-Starbucks picket in Cardiff | Chiapas Solidarity picket of Starbuck, EdinburghLinks: IWW Starbucks Workers Union | Boycott Starbucks | Starbucks continues to Greenwash with Weak Environmental Policy | Starbucks Social Responsibility Newsletter

Demonstrations have been held this week in Carrington to save the local post office from closure. In the last fortnight, the Save Carrington Post Office Action Group has emerged and has been campaigning to keep the Carrington Post Office [CPO] open. They have urged people in the CPO's catchment area to write letters to the Post Office and Post Watch, asking for the CPO to be considered for further review after the public consultation. The action group has also delivered over 4,000 leaflets and its petition has collected 2000 signatures in just two weeks. In addition to carrying out its own branch assessment report, the group held a couple of demonstrations this week.Futhermore, a wheelchair-using customer of the Post Office, attempted to travel to the two alternative post offices as suggested by the Post Office to see how accessible they really are. Doreen Sim, who has used CPO twice a week for the last twenty years to pay her bills and collect her pension, says the current journey takes her just 5 minutes from her home along all level terrain and wide pavements...Articles: Save Carrington Post Office Demo Pictures (Saturday) | Save Carrington Post Office Demo Pictures (Tuesday) | Save Carrington Post Office: March to MPs Office with Petition | Save Carrington Post Office!Links: Closure of Lenton Post Office | Post Office closure list of 180 is released | MPs raise Post Office closure doubts | Ministers accused as 2,500 Post Office closures confirmed | Post office closure response: services must be maintained for the most vulnerable

Asylum seekers, refugees, trade unionists and supporters from all over the North marched from the Home Office in Sheffield to Lindholme Detention centre near Doncaster between 26-28th October. The marchers were demanding "The right to work for asylum seekers" and stating that "Seeking asylum is not a crime." They finished at Lindholme immigration removals centre, the nearest such centre to Nottinghamshire, where asylum seekers are often held without having committed any criminal offence. The demonstration there on Sunday 28th was joined by supporters from Nottingham.A rally was held at the fence of Lindholme and the marchers could hear detainees inside chanting in response to them. A candlelit vigil for those who'd died in detention centres was held and speakers from many countries, including the Congo, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Iran, Iraq and South Africa spoke. The demonstration is the latest in a series of protests at Lindholme making the demand to "Shut Down Lindholme!"Links: "Dignity Not Detention" March on Lindholme | Photos from the start of the "Dignity Not Detention" march on Lindholme | The start of the "Dignity Not Detention" march on Lindholme (Pitsmoor) | Dignity Not Detention! march arrives at Lindholme | Dignity Not Detention! leaflet (pdf)Previously at Lindholme: No Borders demonstration at Lindholme Immigration Removals Centre | Lindholme Noise Demo Photos | 10 Lindholme Detainees still free | Detainees held in 'filthy' conditions, Lindholme, nr DoncasterIn Notts: Nottingham demo called against deportation charter flight to DR Congo | Nottingham Congolese Community demonstrated against continued deportations | No Borders Nottingham 'National Day of Action on Asylum Rights' | Mayday in Nottingham (Round Two)

It was one of those things that the City Council wouldn't want to kick up a fuss about. After all, it was a controversial decision to merge the city's welfare rights department into the management of the housing benefit service back in September 2006. Employees were only told about the decision 2 or 3 days before it was implemented and were told in an email to 'keep quiet' about the issue. You can imagine people getting concerned over 'conflicts of interest' when you're supposed to get impartial and independent advice on welfare rights from people in the very same office as those authorizing the actual applications.But thankfully someone decided she couldn't stay quiet over the issue. Sarah Roy, who worked for the council, posted an article on rightsnet.org.uk, a website for welfare rights workers to share information and knowledge. She posted the article in July but the City Council ordered the site to remove the posting instantly or else they would 'seek an injunction in the High Court and sue for damages'. The article was pulled. Another publication, called 'Benefits and Rights' also received legal threats from the council after it told readers it was to feature the issue in its next edition. They ran a 'shortened version' of the article. Sarah Roy was eventually fired over the issue. Read the full article for a second posting Sarah wrote on the Rightsnet forum, which has now also been removed.Links: Benefits and Work newsletter | Evening Post coverage: (1) (2) | Nottingham City Council | Nottingham Claimants Action (NCA)