A Big Hearted Warrior Fights for a Better World
From C J Stone, previously published here
Jon Elliott, the man who put a stink bomb into the ballot box during the last election, has had his sentence increased, from a curfew, to six weeks in prison.
John Elliot (Canterbury Times)
He’s been in the news a lot lately. First of all he was bound over to keep the peace, having rushed at Prince Charles’ car before the ceremony of enthronement for the new Archbishop of Canterbury in March this year.
He got in all the national newspapers for that. He was described as “lunging” at the car, but Jon says he thought it was David Cameron, and he was trying to put a leaflet on the windscreen.
After that he was given a split curfew for the stink bomb protest. He was only allowed to leave the house between twelve noon and six pm, and then again after ten pm, which was effectively an eighteen hour curfew. The man who put on his tag said it was the strangest sentence he’d ever heard of.
When Jon went to appeal, the judge decided to increase his sentence instead, describing the protest as “a dangerous political act”.
Pardon? It was a stink bomb. He was hoping to kick up a stink about the state of our democracy. Unfortunately the ballot counter who found the offending item mistook it for poison – Sarin gas and terrorism having been in the news lately – which undoubtedly gave her a fright, for which Jon apologised.
The worst you can say about it is that it was a little bit thoughtless, that’s all. Maybe he would have done better to have exploded the stink bomb in the box, thus making the terms of his protest clear.
At this point I would like to make something clear. Jon is a friend of mine. He is not “dangerous”: he is passionate. He is not “jobless”: he is disabled. He is a big-hearted warrior for a better world, but he could never do any harm, as anyone who has met him will confirm.
It’s funny that, while the war-criminals go free and even thrive in this world, it’s the protesters who end up in prison.
Think Left 
We live in a very unjust, unequal society where some are elevated beyond belief -(by some) and others treated heartlessly.
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I’m afraid this just confirms what a rotten stinking society we live in.
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My kinda guy. Non violent with a big heart and social awareness. We need more people like him not imprisoning them or has free thinking and peaceful protest become illegal? Lunging should be illegal as it is a dreadful sport, but one does have to tolerate these practices in our one big society! The political system stinks like a dead skunk on a hot day who had just stood in a piece of Tory party bullshit. I will try and contact John to show him my support, grateful if anyone has a social link for him. I think he is a beacon of reason in a world of self interest.
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On the day the Osborne claims economic success and Fraser Nelson writes of the overwhelming benefits of the 1% this is a timely reminder of the inequalities existant in the UK and the total fascism of the elites and the legislator towards the population. I hate this country – I hate it’s governance – I hate its constitution, one that perpetuates the divide between rich and poor
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I think part of the problem is that there is no British Constitution just the grounds of one to be built on by the Magna Carta. At the site of signing, Runneymeade near. Windsor, the American legal system has a small monument recognising it as the birth place of the American Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The absence of an English version says it all. The Nanny state does not have to keep its promises, obey international law, or pay those who become ill or disabled Employment Support having paid 40 years of National Insurance but none in last two years get NO help. In my world that would be breach of a fundemental right of a constitution, I paid the money in. There has to be flexibility but within a legal and normal framework that follows the spirit of the law not just at the whim of the party in power. All blame it on those who came before them!
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