Mrs Nice aka Judy Marks

"MR NICE" MOVIE TO BE RELEASED ON JANUARY 31st 2011

2011-01-06T20:18:00.000+01:00

The movie "Mr Nice" based on Howard´s Book "Mr Nice" and My book "Mr Nice & Mrs Marks" is to be released on January 31st 2001.

Order it now here;

And the Bluetooth version here;

What has happened to the right of FREE Speech in the US?

2010-09-14T00:35:00.004+02:00

A disturbing story reported on Sky News

A British teenager has been banned from America for life for sending Barack Obama an abusive email.

Luke Angel was reprimanded by police on both sides of the Atlantic after firing off a drunken message to the White House calling the president a "p****".
The FBI intercepted the message and contacted police in the UK who went to see the 17-year-old at his home in Silsoe, Bedfordshire.
Luke, a college student, is now on a list of people who are banned from visiting the States.

The teenager told the Bedfordshire On Sunday newspaper that he had sent the email after watching a TV programme about September 11.
When asked about the ban, Luke said: "I don't really care. My parents aren't very happy about it.

"The police who came round took my picture and told me I was banned from America forever."

A Bedfordshire Police spokesman said: "The individual sent an email to the White House full of abusive and threatening language.
"We were informed by the Metropolitan Police and went to see him.

He said, 'Oh dear, it was me'.

"Officers will take no criminal action.

Joanne Ferreira, of the US Department of Homeland Security, said there are about 60 reasons a person can be barred.

She added: "We are prohibited from discussing specific cases."

What do you think?

Penthouse In Palma, Mallorca

2010-07-28T16:17:00.007+02:00

Do you want to enjoy the luxury life of living in a penthouse in Palma de Mallorca?

Mallorca, one of the most beautiful places in the world has it all. Mega- yachts, five-star hotels (soon to have a seven-star hotel), superb golf courses and mouth-watering gourmet restaurants, a superb infrastructure and outstanding venues for culture, shopping and sports.

In the marinas of Palma are an astonishing selection of multi-million pound yachts. One of the world’s biggest yachts the “Lady Moura” is often in Palma. It once belonged to the Saudi Arabian billionaire Nasser Ar-Raschid.

While up in the hidden gem of the mountain village of Deia, there are an untold number of famous celebrities owning homes. These include among many others- Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Lynn Franks, Rhys Ifans –the list could go on and on.

A stay at the “Residencia” in Deia, the hotel opened by Richard Branson and loved by the late Princess Diana is a favourite for the rich and famous.

On Mallorca, there is no shortage of luxury properties. There is an extraordinary range of € multi-million palaces, some priced above 15million euros in which you can live a life of unabashed indulgence-if you’re among the handful of people who can enjoy such things.

If you do not have this kind of money to enjoy the luxury of life in Mallorca, gems like this Penthouse in Palma, Mallorca on the edge of Bellver Woods enjoying superb sea views can be snatched up at a very reasonable price.

click on images to enlarge

This is the penthouse where Howard Marks wrote his "Dope Stories" and lived until 2003.

For more information send an email to palmaapartment@gmail.com

New "Mr Nice" trailer

2010-07-01T12:52:00.002+02:00

The Making of Mr Nice, the movie.

2010-05-03T22:14:00.000+02:00

The van turned a few more corners and arrived at tall, black, heavily guarded gates. I felt the hairs on the back of my head bristle and an icy cold fear devour my body. Either side of the gates, armed guard towers rose menacingly. As the gates slowly opened, unwanted memories and thoughts returned vengefully. How long would I be here? Would I walk out a free woman? When would I see my children again? The dull ache in my heart, so long submerged, awakened.

Behind the van the gates closed, a hard clink of metal against metal. Armed police swarmed around and as I stepped out of the van my legs buckled under me.

Yet incredibly, this wasn’t Yeserias prison in Madrid, once the most notorious women’s prison in Europe where I’d been incarcerated twenty years before. Instead I was in Alicante on the set of a film-a film that covered a period in my life and the life of my ex-husband the international drug smuggler Howard Marks. To me though, it was all too real.

As I stumbled out of the chauffeur driven production team car, the director came rushing over. In the distance I could see screen actor Rhys Ifans, hunched over almost in defeat, handcuffed, and dressed in prison attire, looking so like my husband Howard.

‘This is too realistic’, I mumbled, ‘I feel as if I’m back there’.

Bernard Rose looked at me sympathetically and suggested I got the driver to take me back to the hotel and spend the day in the spa. I gratefully took his advice, thankful that I could leave, unlike two decades before where I’d spent eighteen months behind bars, separated from family, friends and more importantly my children.

The film was shot early last year and was largely based on a mixture of material contained in the books both Howard and I had separately written about our experiences. It seemed ironic that four years after our divorce, our books were in a sense getting married.

I have yet to see the finished result. I imagine it’s going to be weird seeing myself portrayed up there on celluloid. Mine, my husbands and my children’s lives, dissected, portrayed, interpreted and rewritten by a virtual stranger.

The screenplay is written and directed by English film director Bernard Rose. Who is most well-known for his direction of the 1992 urban horror film Candyman and the 1994 historical romance film Immortal Beloved.

Perhaps, one might think, Bernard will have the experience of rewriting the romance and horror of mine and Howard’s life. Time will tell.

The film spans three decades. It charts Howard’s life from his childhood in Wales, through his Oxford days to when we meet and fall in love and embark on a life of smuggling large amounts of hashish and marijuana around the world. It will also recount how the DEA arrested us at our home in Mallorca, in the presence of our three young children, Amber, Francesca and Patrick. And eventually, after a long court battle in Madrid extradited us both to the US.

Eighteen months following the arrest I returned home and Howard served seven years of a twenty five year sentence before he too finally returned home to me and the children.

Howard and I, as well as our children all played cameo roles in the film which was shot first in Wales and then in Alicante, Spain. Amber and Francesca took part in the filming in Wales while Howard, Patrick and I played our parts in Alicante. However, in the editing of the film Howard and Patrick have been cut out.

Being involved in the film was fun albeit strange. How many people get to have a major movie depicting their life made? Let alone act in it. The production team was wonderful and supportive; fully understanding it must have felt strange.

For many years a question that I have constantly been asked was, ‘If your book is made into a film who would you like to portray you?’

And although I could think of many fine British actresses I admire, such as Minnie Driver, Helena Bonham-Carter, Kate Winslett or Anna Friel, I could never envisage any of them playing me.

Initially, I was surprised by the film company’s choice of an American actress. I knew little about Chloe Sevigny and had never seen any of her movies. But my daughter Francesca and son Patrick kept saying, “Mum, she’s sooooo cool.” My editor at Ebury, Andrew Goodfellow said he was one of her biggest fans.

Another friend of mine remarked “You have to be cool to know about Chloe”.

I concluded that I obviously wasn’t cool.

Chloe Sevigny became known for her fashion career and her unique sense of style. And in the 1990s starred in a string of critically acclaimed independent films before her first mainstream role in Boys Don’t Cry, for which she received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actresss.

Chloe Sevigny has continued acting in mostly independent, but critically acclaimed roles in art house films. According to an interview I read with her mother “She makes few films because she's so picky about what she does”.

Chloe Sevigny recently won the Golden Globe 2010 for Best Supporting Actress for her acting credentials on HBO’s hit show Big Love.

I was nervous about meeting Chloe and according to Rhys Ifans she was equally nervous of meeting me. But, we almost immediately bonded and discovered we had much in common.

We both had a middle-class upbringing. We were both raised as Catholics, have the same astrological sign of scorpio, designed and made our own clothes as teenagers, and both felt as “odd ones out” at school. We also as teenagers had a love affair with hallucingenics and dope, which we gave up by our early twenties. We also had our fair share of messing about on yachts. I am convinced that she is the perfect one to portray me and now cannot imagine anyone better.

I never watched her on set as I felt it would inhibit her. Especially, as many of the scenes shot in Alicante were paticularly emotionally charged.

She remarked to me that she regretted not having met me earlier (the filming began in Wales) as she would have played me stronger. I took it as a compliment, but it also has me worried that she will have played me too weak.

When I initially met Chloe I was struck by her likeness to my eldest niece, the daughter of my brother Patrick Lane. Whose own account of our smuggling days Recollections of a Racketeer has just been published by Mainstream. He is portrayed in the film by Jamie Harris, son of Richard Harris.

Jamie introduced himself to me by saying, “I’m your brother Patrick”. And strangely enough, he does resemble him. It was all most peculiar.

I think casting Rhys Ifans was a brilliant choice for portraying Howard. I cannot imagine anyone who could play the part better. Not just because they are both Welsh. Both Howard and Rhys have great charm are both highly intelligent and are both almost equally anti-establishment.

Rhys, also has the most wonderful sense of humour and is a loving, kind. loyal friend.

Howard and I have known Rhys personally for several years and Rhys had always wanted to play the part. In many ways I think this might have been one of Rhys most testing roles to date, because of his friendship with our family.

And this was really put to the test in an airport scene Rhys and I acted in together.

During the filming in Alicante I was having coffee with Rhys before he left the hotel to “shoot” the scene just after our arrest from our home in Palma, Mallorca.

In this scene the DEA agent, Craig Lovato, was to interrogate him and he would realize that I also was under arrest and facing extradition to the US.

During our coffee Rhys had psyched himself up so much that he was almost in tears and clinging onto my hand and hugging me. As the car drove off from the hotel to the film set, I could see he was crying. He genuinely throws himself into the role he is playing, which is what makes him a great actor.

The Spanish actor Luis Toscar, known internationally for his villain role in Miami Vice played the DEA agent, Craig Lovato, who had become obsessed with bringing my husband to justice.

On our first day in Alicante my son Patrick and I visited the set. Patrick spied Luis coming out of his dressing room trailer, sporting a large fake moustache ready to go on set. Patrick, in an act of devilment reminiscent of his father, strode up to him and said “You’re the bastard who arrested my parents”.

Luis looked rather taken aback, as Patrick at the age of twenty-two and six feet tall is rather large. Luis apologised to Patrick before nervously rushing away. And as he did so tried to avoid my eyes, as I too fixed him with the evil eye, as he looked so like the DEA man of my nightmares.

I felt rather sorry for Luis, as Rhys and Chloe also kept their distance from him. In their eyes he was playing the “baddie” and to be convincing in their film roles they felt they had to keep their distance.

On Howard’s first night at the hotel in Alicante, he and a bunch of his cronies, who had joined him, were partying very loudly in Howard’s room. Rather amusingly, unknown to Luis or Howard, they had adjacent rooms in the hotel.

Luis was unable to sleep because of the noise and was sorely tempted to go and hammer the door of the offending room. I dread to think what would have happened if pretend Lovato had banged down the door on a “out of his head” Howard.

Instead Luis complained to the reception and had his room changed. He also complained to the production team who, much to everyone’s amusement (except maybe Luis) discovered the culprit was Howard.

The other strange experience about been involved in the film was meeting “my children”. Obviously, the children as they grew up were played by various young actors. The three I met in Alicante were playing Amber and Francesca as young teenagers and an eight-year-old boy Edgar, playing Patrick.

It was strange for my son Patrick to meet his eight-year-old self. He had wanted to play his father, but with no acting experience he wished he could go back in time and at least play himself.

I think the choice of the cast was altogether excellent. Shortly before the film went into production, by sheer coincidence I bumped into David Thewlis and his girlfriend, the actress Anna Friel. This was in an obscure tapas bar in a small village on the island of Mallorca where I live and they were enjoying a short break from their hectic acting schedules.

David Thewlis known for his roles in Naked, Seven Years in Tibet and as Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter movies was to play the part in Mr Nice, of Jim McCann (the Irish connection and self-proclaimed IRA man).

He told me that he is often mistaken for Rhys Ifans ‘Twice a week, people come up to me and say, “You were great in Notting Hill “. I, like David and Anna fail to see the similarity. Anna winked at me and said, “David’s so much uglier”.

David had just received his copy of Mr Nice to study. I, of course gave him a copy of my book Mr Nice and Mrs Marks, and told him to read that instead as it was by far the better book. I’m glad to say he took my advice. I also told him tales about McCann and I think, inadvertently, as Anna’s face whitened and lost its LA tan, nearly frightened him off from accepting the role.

David Trewlis’s ex-wife Sarah Sugarman plays the part of Howard’s mother. And Howard jokingly remarked to me “Well now, I never knew my mother was at one time involved with Jim McCann.”

Patrick and I also met, Omid Djalli, often described as the world’s funniest Iranian stand up comedian and actor. He is playing Malik who was our Pakistani supplier of Hash.

Omid’s international appeal is vast, and after having met him and his lovable grin I could see why. He has appeared in some of Hollywood’s highest-grossing films, like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ the ‘Gladiator’ and, ‘The Mummy’.

He thought it was hysterical that all the family had cameo roles in the film. And everytime Patrick and I ran into him in the hotel he would grin at us and chuckle “It’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant”.

And, I think it’s safe to say that for all of us it was a unique if not surreal experience.

Howard and I overlapped on the film set by a day, and it was always going to be an ‘interesting’ experience. What template is there for how to behave while you and your ex husband take bit parts in a re-enactment of your life together? I certainly didn’t know of one.

In the end I needn’t have worried about how we’d get on together in these delicate circumstances because when Patrick and I arrived, Howard was already embarked on a major bender and didn’t seem to have much idea of what planet he was on, let alone the finer points of what we were both doing there.

The producer and director seemed relieved to see me and seemed to think I’d somehow be able to ‘sort Howard out’. It was a role I’d been playing all our married life. Some things, it seems, never change.

A few days after Patrick and I had returned to Mallorca I received a very penitent message from Howard explaining he’d remained on his bender for days before coming to his senses in the middle of “an incredibly huge and noisy march in the middle of Lahore”.

There are some aspects of life with Howard I don’t miss at all! But after all the years together and despite a divorce I still worry about his health and insane lifestyle.

All in all, the abiding memory of the three decades I spent with Howard is one of happiness and certainly never of boredom. This, in spite of the devastating lows we faced of been separated from our children and from each other by prison.

The producer Luc Roeg of Independent Films has told me he thinks it will be hard for me to watch the film. But until it happens it is impossible to say what emotions I will experience.

Certainly, the making of the film has roused within me deep, powerful and conflicting emotions- seeing my life retold on a cinema screen promises to be even more confusing

But perhaps it will be a thoroughly cathartic experience as well?

SWSX Q&A with Rhys Ifans, Chloe Sevigny & Bernard Rose

2010-05-03T20:09:00.000+02:00

Why Howard and I moved to Mallorca, Spain.

2010-02-15T22:40:00.001+01:00

My husband’s accountant was the one to suggest we left the United Kingdom and live abroad. This was following a long protracted case with the Inland Revenue.

Following Howard’s release from prison in 1982, the tax man demanded back payments of him of a quarter of a million pounds. The revenue claimed Howard had made much money from his marijuana and hashish business and wanted their share of it. To know more read my book
Mr Nice and Mrs Marks: Adventures with Howard

After we settled with the Inland Revenue we took Howard’s accountant’s advice and moved abroad.

It was not obvious where to move to at first. We considered Switzerland, but decided it was too cold and expensive. We thought about Italy, but the phone system was too antiquated for Howard’s liking. Finally a friend suggested Mallorca (or Majorca as the Brits commonly call it).

A friend of Howard’s from prison loaned us his apartment in Magalluf. The epicentre of the mass tourist market, filled with drunken British tourists. It fulfilled all our worst nightmares of package holidays. Our initial impression of the island was horrendous.

We rented a car and within minutes, the stench of booze and vomit was replaced with the scents of almond and cherry blossom. To our delight we found that most of Mallorca is surprisingly deserted and beautifully peaceful. Small villagers hung of hills and have, in the past and still do, provide accommodation for some of the world’s greatest writers, artists and musicians.

The city of Palma is a delightful mixture of medieval Italian and Moorish architecture. The streets mainly free from CCTV cameras. It is full of fine restaurants, tapas bars, museums and art galleries. Fiestas are sprinkled throughout the year. And the way of life so much less stressful than the UK.

We fell in love with the island.

What does "NICE" mean to you?

2009-08-10T16:28:00.007+02:00

The word "Nice," has had more meanings than many other English words. Our modern use of "nice" to mean "pleasant" dates from the middle of the 18th century.

The word “nice” originates from the Latin word "nescius," which means "not knowing" or, more specifically, "ignorant." The French turned "nescius" into "nice," and used it to mean "stupid or simpleminded," and it was this sense that was first carried over into English.

By the fourteenth century "nice" had acquired yet another meaning, that of "wanton or lascivious." In a strange reversal in the fifteenth century, "nice" was used to mean "shy" or "refined," and by the sixteenth century the word had been narrowed down to mean "fastidious or tasteful."

Today we still use this sense in phrases such as "a nice touch" or "a nice distinction." By the middle of the 18th Century it had gained yet another meaning of pleasant and agreeable.

It has evolved to become a word with a high degree of ambiguity in meaning.

A fact best articulated in the following dialogue from Jane Austin’s Northanger Abbey.

“But now really, do not you think Udolpho the nicest book in the world?”

“The nicest—by which I suppose you mean the neatest. That must depend upon the binding.”

“Henry,” said Miss Tilney, “you are very impertinent. Miss Morland, he is treating you exactly as he does his sister. He is forever finding fault with me, for some incorrectness of language, and now he is taking the same liberty with you. The word 'nicest,' as you used it, did not suit him; and you had better change it as soon as you can, or we shall be overpowered with Johnson and Blair all the rest of the way.”

“I am sure,” cried Catherine, “I did not mean to say anything wrong; but it is a nice book, and why should not I call it so?”

“Very true,” said Henry, “and this is a very nice day, and we are taking a very nice walk, and you are two very nice young ladies. Oh! It is a very nice word indeed! It does for everything. Originally perhaps it was applied only to express neatness, propriety, delicacy, or refinement—people were nice in their dress, in their sentiments, or their choice. But now every commendation on every subject is comprised in that one word.”

To many people, "niceness" is a positive value to be strived for. A "nice" person is friendly, non-threatening, and not at all controversial. A "nice" meal involves digestible food, moderately pleasant surroundings, and conversation that does not offend.

A "nice" day is a day that’s enjoyable because it fits what can be considered agreeable to human comfort in terms of moderate temperature, abundant sunlight, and low humidity.

For others, "niceness", is despised because it carries connotations of a certain indifference to life's rich tapestry: an acceptance of blandness; possibly an unwillingness to commit.

For some being “nice”, is to be subservient, a person who makes themselves the exact fit to harmonize with the wishes and needs of others. A person who wishes at any expense not to offend.

What does "nice" mean to you?

Finally Justice Secretary Jack Straw has granted Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs "compassionate release" from his prison sentence.

2009-08-06T19:52:00.012+02:00

Mr Straw said the decision was based on medical evidence that Biggs's condition had deteriorated and he was not expected to recover.

Biggs, who turns 80 this weekend, is severely ill in hospital with pneumonia and doctors have said there is "not much hope".

Last month Jack Straw rejected Biggs's application for parole on the grounds that the robber was "wholly unrepentant" about his crimes.

Biggs was rushed to the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital from his cell at Norwich prison on Tuesday and will remain on bed watch overnight.The three Prison Service staff watching him will be withdrawn tomorrow, once the licence for his release is finalised.

The decision means Biggs can celebrate his birthday on Saturday a free man. It will be 46 years to the day since the robbery.

Although, given his medical condition it is highly unlikely he will get to enjoy much of a celebration. After a series of strokes, he is bedridden, fed through a tube and barely able to communicate.

But for his devoted son Michael it must come as a slight relief that his father will not die in prison. Michael Biggs has reportedly said: "He is absolutely delighted and he hopes that his father will survive long enough to see his 80th birthday on Saturday.

"Mr Ronald Biggs has been informed today of my decision regarding his application for compassionate release on medical grounds," Straw said in a statement.

What do you think? Do you think Jack Straw should have acted sooner?

Corby family fears for Schapelle's sanity

2009-07-30T23:49:00.015+02:00

Whether one think's Schapelle Corby is guilty or not, surely it's time for compassion. She has now spent over five years in an Indonesian jail.

Yes, there are many people rotting in jails around the world in appalling conditions, but if we can only help one at a time, is it not better than none?

The following is a report published by The Daily Telegraph in Australia.

Corby family fears for Schapelle's sanity after so long in jail
By Joe Hildebrand From: The Daily Telegraph July 22, 2009 10:36PM

Corby moved as health worsens

DRUG smuggler Schapelle Corby is so traumatised by her time in jail that she has lost all touch with reality and sometimes even thinks she can walk out any time.

Her condition has so shocked her family that they are begging the Australian Government to send a psychiatrist to Bali to assess her and try to bring her back home for medical care.

Corby's uncle Shaun Hatton has approached broadcaster Alan Jones to put pressure on the Government, while sister Mercedes is understood to be making requests via the official channels.

Mr Hatton said that when he visited Corby last month in a Bali hospital she sat on the floor for an hour and a half, saying nothing and holding a child's toy.
"She goes in and out of lucidity - she's not lucid," he said.
"At one stage she sat on the floor with my daughter's stuffed frog that plays tunes and she was there holding it for 90 minutes without moving."

Mr Hatton said he visited Corby for four or five hours a day for the three days he was there and did not see a doctor the entire time.
She would slip into delusional states in which she would think she could just walk out of custody.
"She thinks she can hop up and go, she'd just start to get ready. She'd change her clothes and say 'let's go'," he said.
"And we'd have to say, 'No Schapelle, you can't'."

Mr Hatton, a Darwin real estate agent, said Corby still maintained her innocence and lived in hope that new evidence would emerge.
"Every day she thinks the nightmare's going to finish. Now she's not thinking lucidly at all," he said.
"She will not admit guilt because she's not guilty."

Mr Hatton said she was in desperate need of medical assessment and care from Australia.
"She's just got to be brought back," he said.

Mr Hatton said she shared a cell with nine others at Kerobokan jail, where she has been returned to serve out her 20-year sentence.

Please visit http://www.schapelle.net/ to see how you can help.

Shapelle Corby a huge case of injustice

2009-07-29T16:48:00.026+02:00

On the 8th of October 2004, a 27 year-old Australian tourist, Schapelle Corby, was arrested at Bali Airport when 9 pounds (4.2 kg ) of marijuana was discovered in her luggage.

Corby is currently serving a 20-year sentence. She was convicted and sentenced in Bali on 27 May 2005 and is serving her sentence in Kerobokan Prison, Bali. On appeal, her conviction and sentence were confirmed with finality by the Indonesian Supreme Court. No further legal manoeuvres on her part are possible; she may petition for clemency from Indonesia's president, but in doing so, would have to admit guilt.

Schapelle has maintained from the time of her arrest that the drugs were planted in her boogie board bag and that she had no knowledge of them. Her trial and conviction were a major focus of attention for the Australian and Indonesia media. Her due release date, with remissions, is currently 12 April 2024.

Having spent time in jail myself, and having listened to numerous “I’m innocent stories” from other inmates. I was at first sceptical of her claim.

However, after reading her book, I believe her.

What do you think?

Whose the biggest robber, the Bankers, Gordan Brown or Ronnie Biggs?

2009-07-12T19:46:00.005+02:00

Jack Straw’s “Cruel and Barbaric” justice.

2009-07-12T18:42:00.010+02:00

A 79-year-old man languishes behind bars, where he has been for the past eight years. His health is shot, he has had three strokes, he cannot speak, needs feeding through a tube and cannot walk unaided. His crime committed 46 years ago in 1963, is no longer a threat to anyone. And last week, the Parole Board recommended his early release.

As Anne Widdecombe rightly said: "The public must be protected, but the public needs protection from a lot of people before they need protection from the person that Ronnie Biggs is now."

Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, has refused Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs parole for being unrepentant about his crime making it almost certain he will die in prison.

A statement released by Jack Straw said: “Mr Biggs chose to serve only one year of a 30-year sentence before he took the personal decision to commit another offence and escape from prison, avoiding capture by travelling abroad for 35 years while outrageously courting the media. Had he complied with his sentence, he would have been a free man many years ago.”

He continued: “Biggs chose not to obey the law and respect the punishments given to him – the legal system in this country deserves more respect than this. It was Mr Biggs’s own choice to offend and he now appears to want to avoid the consequences of his decision. I do not think this is acceptable.Mr Biggs is wholly unrepentant... and does not regret his offending.”

Biggs’s legal adviser, Giovanni Di Stefano, attacked the decision as “perverse”. He said: “All the other Great Train Robbers served a third of their sentences, why should Ronnie Biggs be any different? Ten years is enough. This shows a side of the British Government that is perverse - it is a cruel and unusual punishment.”

Biggs was part of a gang of 15 which robbed the Glasgow to London mail train at Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, in August 1963. They stole a record £2.6m and one man was, unfortunately, coshed on the back of the head during the robbery.

Biggs received a 30-year sentence but after 15 months he escaped from Wandsworth prison in south-west London by climbing a 30ft wall and fleeing.

He was on the run for more than 30 years, living in Spain, Australia and Brazil, before returning to the UK voluntarily in 2001 in search of medical treatment. He was taken to Belmarsh prison before being moved to a specialist medical unit at Norwich prison

Scotland Yard's failure to capture Biggs had been extensively, and gleefully, reported in the press around the world. The public loved it as the dectective, known as, "Slipper of the Yard" failed to get his man.

Did the newspapers and other media who profited so hugely from Biggs escapades ever give any of it to the one (unplanned for) injured man in the robbery?

According to Mr Straw: "Biggs chose not to obey the law and respect the punishments given to him – the legal system in this country deserves more respect than this."

Maybe it does, if one could respect it. But the vindictive treatment of a frail old man whose greatest offence, whatever else Mr Straw says, was to cock a snook at the British police for several decades hardly reflects agreeably on our legal system.

Jack Straw advices our judges not to jail violent criminals yet he insists a frail old man, who 46 years ago robbed a train and is now just months from death, must rot in jail.

Today Britain, has the reputation of been the most violent country in Europe - and even more violent than South Africa.

Releasing this sick old man would, I think, have been both a humane gesture and a relief for prison over-crowding. Two good deeds in one risk-free gesture.

My heartfelt sympathy goes out to Michael, Ronnie Bigg’s son, who has unselfishly supported his father. I once had the pleasure of meeting Michael in Palma, and was struck, not only by his good looks, but by his meek manner and courteous behaviour.

Michael, is another victim of Jack Straw’s “cruel and barbaric” justice.

What is your opinion?

Identity Card U turn or Government stealth?

2009-07-04T21:33:00.005+02:00

British citizens will never be forced to carry ID cards, the Government announced today.

A trial scheme that was to force some airport staff at Manchester and the City of London to carry the controversial cards has been scrapped. Airport workers never wanted to be guinea pigs for this deeply unpopular scheme.

The home secretary Mr Johnson said: 'I want the introduction of identity cards for all British citizens to be voluntary and I have therefore decided that identity cards issued to airside workers, planned initially at Manchester and London City airports later this year, should also be voluntary.'

Previously, ministers said ID cards could become compulsory once 80 per cent of the population was covered.

The government said: 'Holding an identity card should be a personal choice for British citizens - just as it is now to obtain a passport.'

The announcement means that foreign nationals in the UK will be the only group of people who will be forced to carry the cards.

The rollout of the ID card scheme will now be accelerated on a purely voluntary basis for UK citizens at £30 per card, starting in Greater Manchester by the end of the year.

A pilot scheme covering Greater Manchester will be extended to the whole of the North West of England from early next year, Mr Johnson said.

Everyone who wants a card, or a biometric passport, will have their details stored on the national identity register.

Civil liberties groups said this amounted to a compulsory scheme.

Isabella Sankey, director of policy for Liberty, said: 'The Home Secretary needs to be clear as to whether entry on to the National Identity Register will continue to be automatic when applying for a passport.

'If so, the identity scheme will be compulsory in practice. However you spin it, big ears, four legs and a long trunk still make an elephant.’

The ID card has been proposed as a way of countering terrorism, identity theft and misuse of public services and also as a way of proving the carrier's age and identity generally.

Cards are linked to the National Identity Register, a centralised database intended to hold information such as fingerprints, facial and iris scans, past and present addresses.

Crucially, the databanks would be indexed to other Government records, allowing them to be cross-referenced.

The register has been pilloried by civil liberties campaigners as an Orwellian tool of state power that would be easily open to abuse.

Next year young people opening bank accounts are to be encouraged to obtain ID cards and over the following two years anyone getting a passport will get one - but can opt out.

On the surface, it seems as though the government has done a u-turn but I find a few issues with this:

1. The governmant has made no denials that it will sell access to the database.

2. It will be difficult to obtain some services without a card (ie banks have welcomed the ID card idea and will be the first to buy the service). Many organisations will make it impossible to obtain products/services without a card.

3. The government will claim that "we haven't forced you to have an ID card" and lay the blame on organisations rather than on the part of stealth by them.
Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have said they would scrap the scheme if they came into power. But what will happen to the database?

What do you think?

So what exactly is Twitter?

2009-05-18T00:30:00.009+02:00

Are you any the wiser?

Twitter

2009-05-17T18:18:00.016+02:00

Of course, I have digressed from my original post, of how to go about publicizing my book.

Well over 100,000 books are published each year. With bookstores jammed from floor to ceiling it seems the odds are stacked against the author’s book becoming that longed for Best-Seller.

How do you get word out that you have written a book? That it’s a great book and entertaining and people will love it?

The first piece of advice I received was to join face-book. That led to me ranting about the surveillance society.

I then started to hear about “Twitter”. It seemed that everywhere I went the word would pop up and every newspaper I picked up had some mention of “Twitter”.

I decided to go on-line and have a look. Find out what it was all about. I opened a "Twitter" account and that was as far as I got. In fact, I forgot all about it.

That is until two days later when I checked my emails.

DowningStreet is now following you on Twitter!

Monday, 16 February, 2009 9:52 AM
From:
"Twitter"

To:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi, judy marks

DowningStreet (DowningStreet) is now following your updates on Twitter.

Check out DowningStreet's profile here:
http://twitter.com/DowningStreet

Best,
Twitter

Oh my God, it’s that damned Big Brother again!!!

Amber Marks and Who's Invading Your 'Headspace'

2009-05-12T22:07:00.006+02:00

Buy Amber's book now. You won't regret it.

"HEADSPACE" by Amber Marks

2009-05-12T17:15:00.024+02:00

Many people reading my posts may get the impression that I am against modern technology. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I love technology. I love the advances in medicine. I love the convenience of mobile phones and I absolutely adore the internet.

But what terrifies the life out of me is the steady erosion of privacy and the slow descent, (which in recent years appears to be quickening) into the Orwellian nightmare of 1984.

Supporters of the surveillance society continually bleat “If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear”.

I for one do not subscribe to this. I have my privacy and my liberty to fear for.

One of the best books about the ‘surveillance society’ is HeadSpace, by my daughter Amber Marks.

The book is an investigation into surveillance and especially scent-related technologies.

In the book Amber raises concerns about how our privacy and freedom has been seriously undermined by successive British and other governments.

Amber raises some fascinating legal points, both theoretical and from precedent, as well as raising real and pressing human rights issues.

“Headspace" is genuinely well researched, insightful and investigative writing at its best.

And miraculously, despite it being such a serious subject she manages also to inject humour into the content.

To buy your copy click on the cover below.

To find out more about Amber follow the links below;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Marks

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/mar/31/internationalcrime

http://www.kbkcl.co.uk/2008/08/amber_marks/

Cashless Society

2009-05-10T02:02:00.011+02:00

The Human Chip is slowly becoming more and more of a reality.

What do you think?

ID Cards For Manchester

2009-05-09T23:32:00.014+02:00

Tony Blair’s government chose Manchester as the surprise location of Britain's first Las Vegas-style super-casino. Gordon Brown, when he became the unelected prime-minister shelved the plans.

Now the residents of Greater Manchester will be the first in the country to get identity cards.

Identity cards are already in use by foreign nationals to show that they have the right-to-work in the UK.

The credit card-size ID cards will carry fifty separate pieces of personal data including face scans and fingerprints securely encrypted onto an electronic chip.

A huge database will store the collected information which will become a magnet for con artists. The growing catalogue of lost data and missing discs has already illustrated the Government cannot be trusted with personal sensitive information.

Highlighting the feebleness of the argument “if you’ve nothing to hide you’ve nothing to fear” that champions of the cards so readily proclaim.

Residents will be able to apply for a £30 card from the autumn to enjoy the privilege of Labor’s stasi agents harassing them. Local residents wanting to apply for a card have been told to sign up on the governments Directgov web site which will inform users when the cards become available in their area.

Because the ID cards are so despised by British citizens the Government can only proceed to introduce them by stealth. From Manchester the voluntary scheme will gradually cover the rest of the country until they can be made mandatory in 2012

The Home Office is planning to allow post offices, high street pharmacies and photographic shops to offer application processing services.

Jacqui Smith said that it will not only be private companies that benefit from offering the service. "Their customers will benefit from being able to quickly provide their biometrics while they are out doing the shopping," she said.

Almost as if giving such personal information was no more important than buying a tube of toothpaste.

The government claims the scheme will offer increased protection against identity fraud and help protect communities against criminals, illegal immigrants and terrorists trying to exploit multiple identities.

They argue that, “Many people currently use their passport for such purposes but it is not a terribly convenient method and 300,000 of them are either lost or stolen every year.”

But what is to say that ID cards will not be lost or stolen?

The news of the voluntary scheme comes as airline pilots said they would boycott a compulsory ID card scheme for workers at Manchester and London City airports which will also be launched in the autumn.

Critics say the scheme is nothing more than an expensive risk to privacy.

Allied to mass surveillance of the population, monitoring of all telephone calls, e-mails, and internet traffic, introducing ID cards represents another milestone on our descent into socialist totalitarianism.

Do you want an ID card? Do you trust the Government to safeguard all your personal information?

ID Cards

2009-05-09T00:40:00.010+02:00

Are you going to volunteer for an ID card?

Goodlad

2009-05-06T20:48:00.023+02:00

My interest in surveillance has always been large. I suspect because of my long marriage to Howard Marks aka Mr Nice (the infamous charismatic dope dealer).

Before the birth of our children Howard was a fugitive and we lived much of the time with phony passports, driving licenses and bank accounts.

The DEA alleged that Howard at one time had as many as forty-three aliases, eighty-nine phone lines and owned twenty–five companies trading throughout the world.

To find out more buy my book Mr Nice and Mrs Marks: Adventures with Howard

Surveillance today is far more pervasive than in the days of our escapades. The recent House of Lords committee report warns that it “threatens to undermine democracy” and that it “represents one of the most significant changes in the life of the nation since the end of the second world war”.

Civil liberties campaigners have warned about the risks of a “surveillance society” in which the state acquires ever-greater powers to track people’s movements and retain personal data.

Many would argue that surveillance and identity cards were needed to stop the likes of Howard and I continuing in a life of crime.

“There can be no justification for this gradual but incessant creep towards every detail about us being recorded and pored over by the state”

Lord Goodlad, chairman of the House of Lords constitution committee.

Do you agree with Lord Goodlad?

American Civil Liberties Video

2009-05-05T21:47:00.020+02:00

The following is an American Civil Liberties Video, made in 2004.

It illustrates how new technology and weak privacy laws can be used to reveal sensitive information about a person involved in even the most mundane of activities.

Although the video is highly amusing it is also exceedingly disturbing.

Do you want to order that takeaway now?

Huge Internet Spy Centre

2009-05-05T21:21:00.021+02:00

SPY chiefs are forging ahead with secret plans to monitor all internet use and telephone calls in Britain. This is despite Jacqui Smith's announcement earlier this week that proposals for a central warehouse of communications data had been abolished on privacy grounds.

A mass internet surveillance system known as Mastering the Internet (MTI) will cost hundreds of millions of pounds. It will consist of thousands of deep packet inspection probes inside communications providers' networks.

MTI will grant intelligence staff in Cheltenham GCHQ complete visibility of UK Internet traffic. It will allow them to intercept and monitor all e-mails, website visits and social networking sessions in Britain. The agency will also be able to track telephone calls made over the internet, as well as all phone calls to landlines and mobiles.

At the moment the agency is able to use probes to monitor the content of calls and e-mails sent by specific individuals who are the subject of police or security service investigations.

Today these interceptions must be approved by a warrant signed by the home secretary or a minister of equivalent rank.

The new GCHQ internet-monitoring network will shift the focus of the surveillance state away from a few hundred targeted people to everyone in the UK.

Last week, in what seemed to be a concession to privacy campaigners, Smith announced that she was dropping the controversial plans for a single “big brother” database to centrally store all communications data in Britain.

Jacqui Smith said. “The government recognised the privacy implications of the move [and] therefore does not propose to pursue this move.”

Smith announced that up to £2 billion of public money would instead be spent helping private internet and telephone companies to save information for up to 12 months in separate databases.

She neglected to mention that substantial additional sums — amounting to more than £1 billion over three years — had already been allocated to GCHQ for its MTI programme.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said “We opposed the big brother database because it gave the state direct access to everybody’s communications. But this network of black boxes achieves the same thing via the back door.”

Ministers have said they do not intend to snoop on the actual content of e-mails or telephone calls. The monitoring will instead focus on who an individual is communicating with or which websites and chat rooms they are visiting.

Supporters of MTI and IMP say they are essential if intelligence agencies are to preserve their capability to monitor terrorist and other criminal networks. GCHQ does not want to discuss how the data it gathered will be used.

Are they gathering this information to “protect us?” What do you think?

Data lost, stolen, mislaid

2009-05-05T16:51:00.011+02:00

Public alarm is growing about the dangers of identity theft. Nearly every week in the press we read reports of data loss.

These losses are not caused by criminals hacking computers (a huge area of concern) but by human error.

Not only is it bad enough that a vast realm of private information is gathered about us. We then have to read about its loss or theft.

And only wonder “Who has it?”

Towards the end of 2007 HM Revenue & Customs lost two CDs containing the banking details of 25 million Britons. Ministers admitted they had vanished.

In December 2007 The News of the World obtained two disks mislaid by the Department for Work and Pensions containing the national insurance numbers of 18,000 claimants.

The Ministry of Defence revealed in October 2008 that a laptop had been stolen.

The laptop contained passport details, National Insurance numbers, family details, medical records, and the bank records of at least 3,500 people who had expressed interest in joining the Armed Forces.

On the 26 April '09 the Serious Organised Crime Agency reported that a Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) officer left her handbag containing a memory stick containing downloaded data on undercover agents and their informants on a bus.

The SOCA officer was on route from Quito, Ecuador to Bogotá, Columbia, to start a new job as a liaison officer working with MI5 and MI6, the British security and intelligence services, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

This significant data breach of 600,000 potential services recruits included passport details and bank account data.

The above are just a few instances of many such cases, not only in the UK but in the US as well.

Do you feel protected?