Lift the Ban

I was (first) arrested as part of the Defend our Juries (DoJ) Lift the Ban campaign on 9 August 2025. That was the first time in my 67 years that I'd ever come into conflict with the law but since then I've been arrested three more times, most recently on 30th July 2026. I'm using this blog to report my experiences of the campaign and to explore my both my understanding of what it is all about and how it affects me. I will update this page as I add more posts. 

As a starting point, my motivation, you can see where I am coming from in a piece that I wrote for Sofia magazine The Notion that the Polite, Western Liberal Ever Stood for Anything At All. In it, I discuss two books: One day, everyone will have always been against this by Omar El Akkad and Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza, Munther Isaac.

El Akkad quotes the Palestinian Poet Rasha Abdulhadi:

Wherever you are, whatever sand you can throw on the gears of genocide, do it now. If it’s a handful, throw it. If it’s a fingernail full, scrape it out and throw. Get in the way however you can

Palestine Action has been throwing sand into the gears of genocide and I like to think that my participation in this campaign is me scraping a few grains of sand from my fingernail and throwing them into those gears.

Lift the Ban: arrest and bail - an account of my arrest, how I was taken to Kentish Town Police Station and released on bail

Lift the Ban: charged while out on bail I was charged by post. 

Lift the Ban: plea hearing my experience of the plea hearing in Westminster Magistrates Court

Lift the Ban: do I support Palestine Action? A fundamental question.

Lift the Ban: reflections from cell number 6 at Kentish Town Police station. What I was thinking about when locked in the cell

Lift the Ban: Gaslighting! “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.". George Orwell, 1984

Lift the Ban: Judicial Review of the Proscription of Palestine Action. Part 1, timeline and overview. My notes following the judgement of the Judicial Review. 

Lift the Ban: Judicial Review of the Proscription of Palestine Action. Part 2: the judgment. Some comments on the judgement from the Judicial Review

Lift the Ban: Judicial Review of the Proscription of Palestine Action. Part 3: proportionality. I think something important, crucial, has been missed in the judgement of the Judicial Review. 

Lift the Ban: Second Arrest 11th April 2026. Things hadn't got any better so I did it again. 

Lift the Ban: Third Arrest 12th June 2026. Outside Woolwich Crown Court in support of the Filton 4

Lift the Ban: Escalation video. When I strayed into Section 12 for the first time

Lift the Ban: Fourth Arrest 30th July 2026. The so-called 'Graduation Day' event outside Westminster Magistrates Court when I was arrested under Section 12 for the first time. 

Lift the Ban: Visit from the police. Some other people who had made escalation videos had full-scale dawn raids. I was one of those who just had a "friendly" visit.

Under construction

Lift the Ban: reflections on my (religious) beliefs.