christopherjamesstone

Big-hearted warrior for a better world

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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.

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.

From The Whitstable Gazette.
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Published by christopherjamesstone

CJ Stone is an author, columnist and feature writer. He has written six books: Fierce Dancing: Adventures in the Underground (Faber & Faber 1996); The Last of the Hippies (Faber & Faber 1999); Housing Benefit Hill & Other Places (AK Press 2001); The Trials of Arthur (with Arthur Pendragon: Thorsons/Element 2003); The Trials of Arthur Revised Edition (with Arthur Pendragon: The Big Hand 2010); & The Empire of Things (Gonzo multimedia 2013). He is currently working on his seventh. From 1993 till 1998 he was a regular columnist with the Guardian Weekend in the UK. His column Housing Benefit Hill was a runaway hit, observing life on a run down housing estate in a small town in England, while his travel column CJ Stone's Britain took a wry look at the state of Britain in the 90s. From 2003-2008, he ran a column for Prediction magazine. Other columns include a fortnightly column for The Whitstable Times and columns for Mixmag & the Big Issue. Currently he writes a fortnightly column for The Whitstable Gazette and makes regular contributions to the Guardian on-line, the London Review of Books and Kindred Spirit magazine.

8 comments

  1. A very interesting man.It’s like with Government spnding cuta.It’s the poor who have to lose it not the wealthy.My water bill went up 50%.I complained and it was reduced but my neighbour who had the same experience said,We have to pay off the National Debt!Can you believe that?
    They don’t even know where that money goes… and he is not stupid normally.with direct debits they can make money by overcharging then investing the money!

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  2. What can one say..But good on ya Jon I’d like to shake ya hand. It should be Cameron, IDS, Osbourne in jail for every life sentence for each life they have murdered in this once Great Britain, the culling of the sick and disabled and most vulnerable peoples in their thousands…for they have breached every Human Rights law set and if the guillotine was here in this era they should be be-headed for Treason of the mist highest. Keep up the good fight Jon don’t let them grid ya down. In Solidarity!

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  8. […] old. I didn’t really know him. He was the father of a friend of mine, Jon Eldude, previously Jonathan David Elliott, who had invited me to the funeral. I was more than happy to attend. I only met David the once, at […]

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