A chill wind for Stigmum

A law firm acting for an oil trading firm tried to take an injunction against the Guardian to prevent the paper from publishing a question tabled in Parliament. The paper wished to publish "the contents of a report related to the dumping of toxic waste in Ivory Coast" which has made thousands of people sick. The company in question had other ideas and is currently involved in a libel action against Newsnight for covering the story.

This gagging of the press is becoming more common apparently. If companies don't want people knowing of their ugly and unscrupulous dealings, then lawyers, Ian Hislop informed me in his commentary, will use "injunctions to secure privacy and confidentiality". He says, which has frightened Stigmum somewhat that "now it is not a question of publish and be damned as it used to be: we are now finding that we can't even publish at all."

Anybody should be horrified by that. Stigmum is of course because she is 'publishing'; she is telling my story using emails and phone calls with council officials without their knowing. She and her child may well be damned. We have tried, as you know, to get legal advice from the national union of journalists, but as we are not members, we can't and as we don't ask to be paid (for what we ultimately don't get published out there) we can't become members. Parliament is 'open' to Freedom of Speech. Does that apply to 'post' that you receive too? Stigmum brazenly continues while I get increasing paranoid. Tonight she's feeling the chill.

Oh, all we want is transparency. If the ugly aspects of society are faced, then that can lead to positive change, no? (well, that was what prompted my going for therapy all those years ago - face my ugly self in order to change her)

Don't you want to know everything going on in your world? Or know that you can know everything if you want to know everything? You can't change what you don't know can you? What else can't the media tell us?

Fuck. I only bought the paper because it was giving out free fairytales. Thought I might read them to my son......Got more than I bargained for.

Chilly chilly chill chill, physically, metaphorically, bugger.