As the turbulence of 2011 subsides just enough for us to catch our breath and look back over the last 12 months of a truly eventful year, it seems amongst the chaos and cacophony there were moments we can take as inspiration, some we can take comfort from and others that act as warnings of things to come.

As we have said countless times in the paper these are remarkable times we are living through and it is an incredible time to be an anarchist, to be a part of all this, active in the very moments of defining social change.

With uncanny prescience the first Freedom headline of the year stated ’2011 -year of rebellion?’ and went on to suggest in no uncertain terms “with capitalism in crisis it’s time to get angry”. Little did we know what form that would take, or how people would respond with such enthusiasm to the call.

March 26th TUC demonstration against the cuts was for many a surprise and a delight. A massive turnout of 500,000 people, itself impressive, was overshadowed by a nascent black bloc, rarely seen in the UK, that tore through the streets and shopping district of central London stealing the limelight away from a Labour leader desperate to get his soundbite on the six o’clock news.

This was followed by the unprecedented social riots of August. Like the March 26th black bloc high street stores were targeted, although for very different reasons, as the anger and desperation of an austerity generation was unleashed with devastating effect across several major cities in England.

There was also the two massive public sector strikes, June 30th and November 30th, and although anarchists played little visible role in either day it bodes well for the future that workers are gaining confidence in their ability to take collective action.

The Occupy movement, seemingly coming out of no-where, caught the imagination with public spaces being occupied across the world and transformed into permanent protest sites. This global commonality, (although politically unassured – see page 6 of this issue) suggests a universal recognition that things at the very least can’t continue the same way.

We also saw the once invincible Murdoch empire begin to crumble with the closure of the institutional tabloid News of the World and expose the real relationship between police and media.

What was troubling was the very public outing of several undercover cops working within the protest and activist scenes. The fact that they were able to work unhindered for such a long time suggests radicals have yet to come to terms with real issues of state infiltration. There were many other examples of political policing this year (see front cover article) that we should be prepared. It may be obvious but it’s worth repeating the greater the state feels threatened the greater the repression it will attempt to impose.

Overall though 2011 has given us glimpses of our potential. To all Freedom readers, enjoy the remainder of the year and we will see you recharged and ready for 2012.

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This article originally appeared in the December edition of Freedom newspaper see here
Freedom newspaper can be purchased directly from our shop or available at any good radical bookshop/social centre.

Freedom Bookshop
Angel Alley
84b Whitechapel High Street
London E1 7QX
Alternatively take out a yearly subscription and have the paper delivered to you.

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Another question, as always, is what is the role of the anarchists in all of this? Can we remain simply a voice of disapproval amongst a growing wave of social discontent? Should we simply be a place of ideological sanctuary for those with a radical temperament? Are we just presenting an alternative viewpoint?

No, our job, indeed the job of any serious anarchist, is to be involved. Wearing anarchism like a badge or splashing anarchism across the internet as an argument desperate to be won – these activities are becoming less and less relevant the more we are confronted with the reality of our social crisis. Now is the time to be part of a movement. If anarchism to you is a personal belief system maintained through theoretical discourse, all well and good, but it is still a method of organising society and it is still an engagement with the practicalities of social change. Anarchism in 2012 can no longer rely on simply having the right opinion.

And Freedom’s job in all this is to ask questions of the movement, to try and understand why UK anarchists have been so slow to respond to the incredible transitions we are living through at the moment. Our main question is: what is the role of anarchists in the age of austerity? Where are we, who are we, and what are we doing? The feedback page of this issue of Freedom is filled with new radical groups, all committed to practically engaging with real people about our material needs. This can only be a good thing, and it is certainly impressive so many new initiatives emerging at such a crucial time.  And 2012 will be crucial in a global context – this is a period of expectation and preparation.

Perhaps if we were to make one prediction it is that the anarchist social scene dies a death to be replaced by a committed and organised group of people intent on getting their hands dirty, as anarchists, in all aspects of political organising and social change.

We can but hope.

The UK anarchist movement, or rather those active in anarchist politics, is growing and developing at an astonishing rate, and with it we are being swept along on tidal wave of radical social change. The ruptures we have witnessed recently, from the banking collapse to the August riots, offer increasingly assured glimpses of the fragile nature of capitalism and the state. The political and social uncertainties we are facing are both daunting and a gifted opportunity.

It was a few months ago that we said in these very pages that there was no better time to be an anarchist, and it seems everybody else is coming to that same conclusion.

David Goodway, the respected political historian, writing recently in the Guardian newspaper said: “Britain almost certainly has a greater number of conscious anarchists nowadays than at any previous point in its history and, in addition, there are many more natural anarchists: that is people who, while not identifying themselves as anarchists, think and behave in significantly anarchist way”.

And Chomsky who was asked during an interview should all students become anarchists replied emphatically ‘yes’ adding “Students should challenge authorities and join a long anarchist tradition. As soon as one identifies, challenges and overcomes illegitimate power, he or she is an anarchist. Most people are anarchists. What they call themselves doesn’t matter to me”

Even the Socialist Workers Party, the vanguard of leftist power-politics has acknowledged, albeit through gritted teeth, “the growing popularity of anarchism, as both movement and ideology”, so much so they have been forced to republish their critique of anarchism for a new audience.

The fact that different strands of political thought are all recognising the role anarchist methodology is playing in the current wave of social struggles should inspire in all of us the confidence to organise and act as a visible anarchist movement. This is our time.

Anarchism is now being represented not as a constructed ideology but as a body of people engaged in activities that openly question the dominance of capitalism and the role of the state as valid forms of social organisation. As a movement we stand at an important moment – we either take up the challenge or get left behind.

As a tool of propaganda, as a source of  information and as part of the anarchist infrastructure Freedom remains committed to help building a movement worth defending, in a society worth fighting for. This is your paper.

This article originally appeared in the new monthly October edition of Freedom newspaper see here
Freedom newspaper can be purchased directly from our shop or available at any good radical bookshop/social centre.

Freedom Bookshop
Angel Alley
84b Whitechapel High Street
London E1 7QX
Alternatively take out a yearly subscription and have the paper delivered to you.

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The paper will be divided into those areas most affected by the Tories austerity measures and are asking groups or individuals to write focusing on those areas. The list is not exhaustive and we welcome any politically relevant contributions.

What we are facing and how we’ll be affected:
» Public sector (including local government, local services, job losses)
» Education (students and education workers)
» Benefits

Anti-cuts movement in general:
» political trajectory and the politics of opposition
» critique of tactics/labour party/’the left’/trade unions etc

Practical information:
» How best to fight the cuts
» supporting ongoing struggles and initiatives
» Anarchist/radical perspectives on current issues

To formal groups – a section of the paper will be given over to anarchist and radical groups as a piece of promotional/propaganda/advertising. We invite you to write about your groups – its activities, political background and perspectives on the cuts etc

Article  word count should ideally be :
» 450 words – small
» 800 words – large

Deadline no later than Thursday 17th March
Send articles to
copy@freedompress.org.uk marking them ‘March 26′

We will also be having 2 stalls at the demo, one at the student feeder march in malet street, ULU and one at  south london feeder march in Kennington Park, (hopefully to reconvene at hyde park). If you want material to go on the stall please drop it off at the bookshop marked ‘march 26th’.

There will also be space in the paper for adverts, if your group, organisation, future event wants to be promoted the available space will be a7 size, make sure the artwork is in by the 17th March at the latest.

in solidarity
Freedom Press

Both Anna Mendelssohn and Jake Prescott died within months of each other, and while both had retired from the political scene, their actions and activities during their time in the Angry Brigade brought a certain dynamism and daring to anarchist politics, not witnessed before or since, and raised the bar in terms of how we confront the state.
Howard Zinn, who for many a young anarchist was the introduction to a new way of thinking – the original politics from below – with his seminal A People’s History of the United States. The scope, clarity and sheer magnitude of his work still cast a long and impressive shadow across the political spectrum despite his untimely demise.

The most recent deaths of John Rety and Colin Ward perhaps resonate most with Freedom and its readership. Both contributed enormously to the paper, Freedom publishing, and to the anarchist movement in general. It is a testament to both that their works still play an important role in our political thinking. They were great men whose commitment and fearless passion for anarchism was informed by their humanity and desire for a better world.

How anarchists treat their comrades in both life and in death will always reflect, in microcosm, the society we wish to see develop. It is a great shame that neither man will have the opportunity to see that society come into being. It is up to us to ensure their lives were not lived out in vain. Freedom as a paper, as a publishers and as a bookshop continues to provide the traditions both Colin Ward and John Rety so ably contributed to.

With the general and local elections looming it will become the job of anarchists to ensure the spectre of capitalism and the state doesn’t monopolise the discourse, and that our ideas become relevant and necessary, and most importantly heard, above the clatter of clashing ideologies. Social change can never be mediated through the very institutions that are actively preventing that change. As such Freedom is compiling an ‘election special’ in the run up to the general election. We need to reclaim the agenda and express anarchism as a real and achievable goal. John and Colin, I’m sure, wouldn’t have it any other way.

What went wrong with Anti-Capitalism.
The power of the forces of reaction to recuperate opposition is well know but it reached new heights with anti-capitalism. Most shocking was not that the ruling class was able to convince the masses that capitalism was just one aspect of modern society rather than its ruling ideology but that this concept pervades deeply into the politically active radical scene. While the 90’s saw a gradual convergence of single issue campaigns into a united attack on capitalism as a whole the noughties have seen the opposite. A fracturing of campaigns many losing touch with the reality of class exploitation leading to a shopping list of oppressions competing  for activists.

The War Against Terror
No apologies for using the proper acronym because 9/11’s after effects dominated the decade and twated the revolutionary project good and proper. It is a coincidence that the last appearance of the WOMBLES as a padded block was at the DSEi arms fair on 9/11/2001 but very symbolic. The unwillingness of the movement to adopt collective self defence on demo’s ensured the success of kettling as a tactic and allowed the surveillance tactics of the Forward Intelligence Teams to first marginalise and then render powerless those willing to resist police

Defeat on the street
After the J18 Carnival against Capitalism in 1999 there was an inquiry into the policing of the event. Older readers will remember that after the Poll Tax riot of 1990 there was an inquiry and even older readers will remember that after the Brixton Riots there was an inquiry. So it comes as no surprise that after the G20 there have been all manner of inquiries. Unfortunately there is one big difference. All the previous inquiries were about why the cops got a kicking this time it’s the protestors whinging about police violence. Rioting is the icing on the cake of working class power. For those of us in the marzipan of the politically active proletariat the Noughties are an object lesson in how neglect of the stodgy cake of industrial and community organisation has led to the icing flaking off and the inspiration of the almond paste drying up.

Climate Confusion
Anarchists have been harping on about the environment since the days of Kropotkin. This decade has seen unprecedented interest in green issues and global warming in particular. Sadly rather than reinforcing the need to get rid of capitalism and replace it with something nicer we now have a growing authoritarian trend which is calling for state repression of the working class to advert climate change. We badly need to reforge the alliance between  libertarian politics and class consciousness if the planet is to be truly saved. What we need is the unity shown  in Doctor Who and the Green Death where ex miners and a hippy commune combine to defeat the dangerous pollution of global chemicals.

Green shoots, or Red and Black ones.
No prizes for guessing Freedom’s prescription for the next decade. The need for building a solid base of industrial and community organisation. Showing that class struggle is the solution to climate change not an alternative. Taking a professional approach to street action. Ensuring effective opposition to fascist and police violence.
Having an exciting paper to spread the word. All so simple but the simplest thing can be the most difficult.

A front page article in Freedom a few months back stated that we are living through a unique set of social conditions. Add to that strange and turbulent times and it gives a fair indication of the last six months as editors of Freedom newspaper. Both of us were literally thrown into the role, unexpectedly and certainly unprepared, and, given that neither of us have a journalistic background and have limited writings skills, it has been a steep learning curve – and one that’s still on an upward trajectory. What we do have is over 30 years experience between us as active participants in the anarchist movement, and it’s this that we draw on in writing, editing and developing Freedom as a paper.

The accusation by one of our more senior and charismatic anarchist comrades that Freedom was ‘an irrelevancy’ is a little unfair and perhaps a little true as well. For years the paper has been simply treading water. What Rob Ray, the last proper editor, brought was a desire to move beyond inward-looking personal viewpoints and brought a certain journalistic standard, one that we hope to maintain, and one I am personally grateful for. The paper will not become an insular private club or a mouthpiece for airing our personal grievances and petty disagreements – if it does we know we would have failed.
As part of the Freedom Collective we are looking at this as a bigger long-term proposition. The need for the anarchist movement to be more visible, more accessible, more involved and more relevant is at the forefront of our thinking. As such we hope the paper, the bookshop and publishing become a necessary and vital part of the movement’s infrastructure and a means by which we can usefully express and communicate anarchist ideas to a greater number of people.

Freedom Bookshop

Previously the bookshop was hidden in a small damp and dusty room on the first floor of the building. When Andy began managing the shop some two years ago it was with the intention to create both a self-sustaining commercial enterprise and a proper environment for anarchists to feel at home in (essentially drag the place into the 21st century). To this end the shop has exceeded all expectations. Already it has become an active social space and hub for London anarchists to meet, where the federations hold their meetings and all manner of groups and campaigns put on events. Along with LARC across the road, it forms a pivotal role in creating a visible anarchist presence in London. The shop itself is now bright, airy and accessible – we serve coffee and there are chairs and a table for people to sit and read. Come the summer we will be having chairs and tables outside and we are in the process of extending the building to include a downstairs kitchen and toilet.

The role of the shop has become:

1. a welcoming place for people curious about anarchism to come and find out more, and hopefully get involved;
2. a radical social and political centre;
3. the first port of call for anarchists outside the capital, and from across Europe and the world to find out what’s happening here.

Freedom newspaper

The ultimate ambition for the paper is for it to become an anarchist movement paper. Given the anarchist mindset and the troubles besetting Black Flag this may well be beyond our reach. It does however give us a clear aim and a desire to build a genuine anarchist movement that Freedom can be a part of, represent and promote. The politics of the paper I think reflects our political and social backgrounds. From a personal perspective I want a paper that ordinary working class people – my family, the people I grew up with, the people I work with, to feel comfortable reading, and for anarchists to feel it goes some way to promote a credible anarchist identity. The sentiment ‘grown up politics for pissed off people’ is something to aspire to. The paper also now has a functioning internet presence where limited news articles will be posted up, but we remain committed to producing the hard copy every two weeks.

Freedom publishing

We continue to print anarchist classics that would otherwise get lost amongst the fuzz and distortion of the internet age. We are in the process of reprinting the classic Tintin comic book Breaking Free. A worthy addition to next year’s Christmas list!

Goodbye noughties

Time for us to take a retrospective look at the decade. In December 1999 things were looking up for libertarian politics. The upsurge of protests from the campaign against the Criminal Justice Act in 1994 had intertwined with more traditional anarchist strands to forge a genuine alternative to the perceived triumph of liberal democracy. The collapse of the Soviet Block had not only discredited Stalinism but undermined the 57 varieties of Leninism as well. New Labour had proved to be much the same as Old Tories. With Parliamentary and Authoritarian Socialism written off maybe people would fancy the libertarian kind.

What went wrong with anti-capitalism.

The power of the forces of reaction to recuperate opposition is well known, but it reached new heights with anti-capitalism. Most shocking was not that the ruling class was able to convince the masses that capitalism was just one aspect of modern society rather than it’s ruling ideology but that this concept pervades deeply into the politically active radical scene. While the ’90s saw a gradual convergence of single issue campaigns into a united attack on capitalism as a whole, the noughties have seen the opposite. A fracturing of campaigns many losing touch with the reality of class exploitation leading to a shopping list of oppressions competing for activists.

The war against terror

No apologies for using the proper acronym because 9/11’s after effects dominated the decade and twatted the revolutionary project good and proper. It is a coincidence that the last appearance of the wombles as a padded block was at the DSEi arms fair on 11th September 2001, but very symbolic. The unwillingness of the movement to adopt collective self-defence on demos ensured the success of kettling as a tactic and allowed the surveillance tactics of the Forward Intelligence Teams to first marginalise and then render powerless those willing to resist police

Defeat on the street

After the J18 Carnival against Capitalism in 1999 there was an inquiry into the policing of the event. Older readers will remember that after the Poll Tax riot of 1990 there was an inquiry, and even older readers will remember that after the Brixton Riots there was an inquiry. So it comes as no surprise that after the G20 there have been all manner of inquiries. Unfortunately there is one big difference. All the previous inquiries were about why the cops got a kicking, whereas this time it’s the protestors whinging about police violence.

Rioting is the icing on the cake of working class power. For those of us in the marzipan of the politically active proletariat, the noughties are an object lesson in how neglect of the stodgy cake of industrial and community organisation has led to the icing flaking off and the inspiration of the almond paste drying up.

Climate confusion

Anarchists have been harping on about the environment since the days of Kropotkin. This decade has seen unprecedented interest in green issues and global warming in particular. Sadly, rather than reinforcing the need to get rid of capitalism and replace it with something nicer, we now have a growing authoritarian trend which is calling for state repression of the working class to avert climate change. We badly need to reforge the alliance between libertarian politics and class consciousness if the planet is to be truly saved. What we need is the unity shown in Doctor Who: the Green Death where ex-miners and a hippy commune combine to defeat the dangerous pollution of global chemicals.

Green shoots, or Red and Black ones.

No prizes for guessing Freedom’s prescription for the next decade: the need to build a solid base of industrial and community organisa­tion; showing that class struggle is the solution to climate change not an alternative; taking a professional approach to street action; ensuring effective opposition to fascist and police violence – and having an exciting paper to spread the word. All so simple, but the simplest thing can be the most difficult.

A turbulent year in politics

Editorial A front page article in Freedom a few months back stated that we are living through a unique set of social conditions. Add to that strange and turbulent times and it gives a fair indication of the last six months as editors of Freedom newspaper. Both of us were literally thrown into the role, unexpectedly and certainly unprepared, and given neither of us have a journalistic background, and limited writings skills, it has been a steep learning curve, and one that’s still on an upward trajectory.

What we do have is over 30 years experience between us as active participants in the anarchist movement, and it’s this that we draw on in writing, editing and developing Freedom as a paper.

The accusation by one of our more senior and charismatic anarchist comrades that Freedom was “an irrelevancy” is a little unfair and perhaps a little true as well. For years the paper has been simply treading water.  What Rob Ray, the last proper editor, brought was a desire to move beyond inward looking personal viewpoints and brought a certain journalistic standard, one that we hope to maintain, and one I am personally grateful for. The paper will not become an insular private club or a mouthpiece for airing our personal grievances and petty disagreements; if it does we know we would have failed.

As part of the Freedom Collective we are looking at this as a bigger long term proposition. The need for the anarchist movement to be more visible, more accessible, more involved and more relevant is at the forefront of our thinking. As such we hope the paper, the bookshop and publishing become a necessary and vital part of the movement’s infrastructure and as a means by which we can usefully express and communicate anarchist ideas to a greater number of people.

Freedom Bookshop
Previously the bookshop was hidden in a small damp and dusty room on the first floor of the building. When Andy began managing the shop some two years ago it was with the intention to create both a self-sustaining commercial enterprise and a proper environment for anarchists to feel at home in. (Essentially drag the place into the 21st Century). To this end the shop has exceeded all expectations. Already it has become an active social space and hub for London anarchists to meet, where the federations hold their meetings and all manner of groups and campaigns put on events. Along with LARC across the road it forms a pivotal role in creating a visible anarchist presence in London. The shop itself is now bright, airy and accessible – we serve coffee and there are chairs and a table for people to sit and read. Come the summer we will be having chairs and tables outside and we are in the process of extending the building to include a downstairs kitchen and toilet (and possibly shower!).

The role of the shop has become 1. a welcoming place for people curious about anarchism to come and find out more, and hopefully get involved 2. a radical social and political centre 3. the first port of call for anarchists outside the capital, and from across Europe and the world to find out what’s happening here.

Freedom newspaper
The ultimate ambition for the paper is for it to become an anarchist movement paper. Given the anarchist mindset and the troubles besetting Black Flag this may well be beyond our reach. It does however give us a clear aim and a desire to build a genuine anarchist movement that Freedom can be a part of, represent and promote. The politics of the paper I think reflects our political and social backgrounds. From a personal perspective I want a paper that ordinary working class people – my family, the people I grew up with, the people I work with, to feel comfortable reading, and for anarchists to feel it goes some way to promote a credible anarchist identity. The sentiment “grown up politics for pissed off people” is something to aspire to. The paper also now has a functioning internet presence where limited news articles will be posted up, but we remain committed to producing the hard copy every two weeks.

Freedom Publishing
We continue to print anarchist classics that would otherwise get lost amongst the fuzz and distortion of the internet age. We are in the process of re-printing the classic Tintin comic book Breaking Free. A worthy addition to next years Christmas list!

There is no denying that the latest report on the policing of protest by the HMIC (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary) is hugely critical of the police. Throughout the 220-page document there are many polite ways of saying that the police screwed up. There was an “inappropriate” use of police powers. The use of force showed a lack of “clear standards”. And the understanding of the law was, um, “inconsistent”.

All of which is very gratifying for those thousands of people who have been on the receiving end of, um, ‘inconsistency’. But the question everyone’s asking is, of course, what is going to change? The answer is probably not much, although the HMIC would prefer it if the police didn’t get caught with their trousers down again.

The most crucial change they want to bring about is that of public perception. The image of the police has taken a hell of a battering with all the coverage of G20, Kingsnorth, police databases, kettling etc. On page 1 the report states: “The police service is very much on display during these [protest] events and police conduct is subject to intense levels of exposure and scrutiny… This is important now and will be increasingly so as we move towards the Olympics in 2012 and beyond.”

The government is clearly sensitive at the thought of pictures of British police hitting ‘peaceful’ protesters being beamed onto the world’s television sets in 2012. It isn’t really the image they want exported. And probably neither do the police themselves, who have a nice little earner at the moment exporting the ‘British Policing Method’ (surveillance, low level harassment and intelligence-led ‘disruption’) to countries across Europe.

The important thing, said top HMIC cop Dennis O’Connor in presenting the report, is to remember the importance of ‘style’. ‘Style’ amounts to giving the police an image that they are ‘approachable, impartial and accountable’, not at all smug, superior, firmly on the side of capital, and accountable to no-one.

‘Style’ brings us a renewed commitment to ‘communication’ and ‘negotiation’. “The police needs to modernise its approach and be more inventive in using new technologies to engage with hard to reach or resistant communities” says the report. One of these ‘new technologies’ has been the use of Bluetooth to try to communicate directly with protesters via their mobile phones, and which was used, with somewhat limited success, at the Tamil protests and, more recently, at an anti-EDL rally in South Wales.

The strategy is to find ways to communicate directly to the ‘peaceful majority’ in any public order gathering, which has the added advantage of by-passing any organisers who don’t particularly want to communicate with police. Public order strategy will be one of slow escalation, allowing time to persuade protesters to leave and avoid conflict. This isolates any determined ‘troublemakers’ that choose to hang around. Where people don’t go, the use of force or containment is justified.

This divide and rule tactic is not a particularly new idea, but it may be seen more often if HMIC has its way.

Public order also looks as though it is going to become more consistent as training will be standardised across the 45 police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This means (at least in theory) that police from different forces will be able to work together without getting in each others way and screwing things up. But that seems a bit optimistic…

Although the report is mainly a public relations exercise, there are some minor, but genuinely useful, things in it. There is strong criticism of the police misusing stop and search powers, and powers to obtain name and address. It also emphasises a right to protest which limits the use the police can make of restrictions, arrests for obstructing the highway and breach of the peace.

Remarkably, it also contains some very strong criticisms of the Forward Intelligence Teams, suggesting that their operations may not be lawful. They have been firmly reined in from their old practices of harassment and intimidation. And, if this report is implemented, they will no longer have the freedom to do what they want, but will have to justify all their intelligence gathering operations.

It isn’t much of a change, but it is movement in our direction, and that’s a rare thing, and something we should feel pretty good about. The ‘domestic extremist’ units run by ACPO also face change, as the report makes it clear that continuing to operate as private companies is not an option. This will make them subject to Freedom of Information requests – and it will be interesting to see what we can get out of them.

Although these nuggets are good to have, the overall direction for the future of policing in the UK is still one of increasing social control and manipulation, surveillance and intelligence-led policing.

The HMIC is not going to change that – that bit is surely up to us.

This piece would not be possible without the co-operation of many people who have shared their experiences and shown transcripts of interviews to the Legal Defence and Monitoring Group – to spare their blushes all names have been withheld.

Law…
Until the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, the fact that you didn’t answer questions in police interviews could not be drawn to the attention of the jury or magistrates when you were tried.

Sections 34–39 of the Act modified the law to allow an ‘adverse inference’ to be drawn if under certain circumstances you rely on a defence that you could reasonably have mentioned when questioned.
The law is complex as always, but in almost all cases, and any where you do not know the full legal position back to front yourself, the best thing to do remains to answer ‘no comment’ to all questions. Any good lawyer will be happy to advise you to do this, which strengthens your position as you are doing it on ‘legal advice’.

There are many other reasons that may be legitimate too – including, as mentioned by the Lord Chief Justice in 1997, being ‘suspicious of the police’. We sincerely hope you are.

For more details the law can be read online at statutelaw.gov, the wikipedia article on right to silence is a good stating point and for an in depth analysis see Silence and Guilt: an assessment of case law on the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 by David Walchover.

…and practice
It may seem blindingly obvious but the police are trained in interviewing techniques and very few of us are trained in how to handle interrogation.

The starting point is that you are an amateur team playing away to a professional one and the best you can hope for is a nil- nil draw by playing an uncompromising defence.

Second, remember your audience, not the people in the room but the magistrates, judge or jury who will decide your case. The tone of your voice will be important in how you are perceived. Avoid sounding angry or, worse, bored or arrogant.

Now to the common tricks that will be used to break down your ‘no comment’. Easiest to deal with are threats or inducements. Tick these off inwardly as a good sign, the cops have a weak case and their tactics will look bad in court. Then there is the ‘we’ve got the evidence, so and so’s confessed and shopped you, make it eaisy on yourself’, lies ’cos if they had you bang to rights they would have charged you already as they are in fact obliged to under PACE. Most dangerous is the verbal trickery.

• Intermixing uncontroversial questions with incriminating ones:

‘This is a copy of The Sun newspaper?’
‘Yes’
‘That’s your picture on the front cover isn’t it?’
Now the ‘no comment’ sounds very weak.

• Hard followed by soft:

‘You were one of the organisers of J18 weren’t you?’
‘No comment’
‘But you know who they were?’
‘Well, the ones in London…’

• Even more sneaky are blatant lies you will want to refute:

‘For the tape, Ms A is nodding her head.’

• Most perilous, because it comes first, is the slippery slope offered before the interview starts.

‘Would you like a cup of water? Is the chair okay? We really should get something more comfortable, I keep telling them.’

• There’s nothing wrong in replying before they start the tape or even confirming your name for the tape when it’s started, but beware! It’s better to look a bit of a prat (it can always be explained in court as nervousness) than getting into the habit of answering questions.

‘I’m just doing to ask some questions to check you understand the caution. Do you have to answer my questions?’
‘No.’
‘What might the court think if you choose not to answer the questions?’
‘They might see that as suspicious.’
The suspect went on to give a perfect ‘no comment’ interview, but it’s now a suspicious one.

• Lastly, don’t be clever. The right answer is not ‘I’m sure they will follow the directions laid out by Lord Bingham in the case of Argent’, just ‘no comment’. As for the comrade who said “I’m bored of all this ‘no comment’ thing, I’ll just name a different type of fruit each time you ask a question” – we prefer to draw a discrete veil.

So to sum up, here’s everything you need to remember after reading this article: answer ‘No Comment’ to all questions in police interviews.