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Dear All, This notice about Libel reform, as the Defamation Bill moves through Parliament, is of importance to open scientific debate. As in http://www.radstats.org.uk/no104/Wilmshurst104.pdf Paul Marchant From: Libel Reform [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 17 June 2012 15:50 To: Marchant, Paul Subject: URGENT: Simon Singh needs your help in the final and most important push for libel reform Dear Libel Reform Supporter, Join Dara Ó Briain, Professor Brian Cox and Dave Gorman in the final push for libel reform It has been a long time since many of you backed me in my fight against the British Chiropractic Association. My nightmare and similar cases helped spark the Libel Reform Campaign. Now, thanks to your support, a Defamation Bill is making its way through Parliament. This is a staggering achievement in less than 3 years, so we can all pat ourselves and each other on the back ... at least a bit. The Bill addresses some important issues, such as reducing libel tourism and providing protection for academic publication, but I am sorry to say that the Bill falls short in some crucial areas. There is no worthwhile public interest defence and the Bill offers no restrictions on the ability of corporations to silence critics. Also, instead of bringing the law into the 21st century by protecting website operators, the current draft of the bill reduces their protection from being made liable for the words of others. Unless these issues are addressed, libel threats and libel actions will still be used to bully newspaper journalists, scientists, bloggers, consumer groups, human rights activists and others. On 27th June, I will be part of group who will present the petition you all have signed to No.10 Downing Street asking for a Bill that will make the laws fairer, more accessible and in the public interest. I will be joined by the three charities at the heart of the Libel Reform Campaign (Index on Censorship, English PEN and Sense About Science), and three supporters who have been part of the campaign since it started (Dara Ó Briain, Professor Brian Cox and Dave Gorman). In this final push for a truly fair and effective Defamation Bill, I need your help in two ways. I hope that you will able to support one or both of these missions. 1. Please send an email to your MP. If every MP receives dozens of emails on this issue, it will raise awareness that the current Bill is inadequate. To send an email to your MP, you simply need to click on this link<http:[log in to unmask]>. The first click will automatically find your MP's email address. Add in your own postal address and edit the text if you want to. The second click will send the email. That's it. 2. Please join us all at the Houses of Parliament on 27th June at 10:30 immediately after the delivery of the petition to Downing Street. Dara Ó Briain, Professor Brian Cox, Dave Gorman and organisations backing libel reform will be speaking. A large show of support will impress upon MPs that many people are committed to winning the battle for a fairer defamation law. If you have not visited Parliament before, then please take this opportunity to be part of democracy in action. Better still ask your MP to come to the meeting at 10.30am and/or meet you after PMQs (which ends at 12.30pm) to discuss the issue. Full details of location and how to invite/meet your MP can be found at http://www.libelreform.org/news/528-mass-lobby-for-a-public-interest-defence. Finally, before we deliver the petition, please encourage others to sign the libel reform statement so that we can add another 10,000 names. Please email your friends and tweet: "Support #LibelReform by signing the petition http://bit.ly/8gJQ7w - if you've signed already, click http://bit.ly/LRKDCm to remind your MP" Finally, finally, I would like to thank you for supporting libel reform over that last three years. If we can persuade the Ministry of Justice to make a couple of amendments to the current proposals, then together we will have made the biggest contribution to free speech in Britain for over a century. Simon Singh Defendant in British Chiropractic Association v Singh [http://www.warpmailbox.com/em.aspx?ca=10123&cu=3167093] To view the terms under which this email is distributed, please go to http://disclaimer.leedsmet.ac.uk/email.htm ****************************************************** Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender of this message. If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically to [log in to unmask] Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk. *******************************************************