webofevil | (no subject)

A man who stripped naked and super glued himself to a desk at the JobCentre has been ordered to pay £400 compensation.

Ian John Robinson walked into the JobCentre in Quay Road, Bridlington, in October last year before taking off his clothes and super gluing his arms to a desk in protest against the Department of Work and Pensions. Robinson, of Hornsea, said his actions were borne out of frustration that he had not been awarded Disability Living Allowance or motability benefit despite suffering from “chronic pain” from arthritis.

During the incident, police and an ambulance were called but Robinson managed to prise himself off the desk without injury before he was arrested.

During the hearing, presiding magistrate Mike Bowman told Robinson: “A lot of us have had difficulties with public services, but you do not go around and treat people in that way. There are ways and means of protesting, but not the way you did it. I am pleased you have now got your benefits sorted out, but what this conditional discharge means is that you must keep your nose clean for the next two years.”

Robinson was ordered to pay the compensation and [£100] costs at £5 a week. [Scarborough Evening News]

I'm sure we're meant to take away from this the lesson that we shouldn't transgress, the law will prevail etc etc, but I've highlighted what strikes me as the most important element in this story. You'll note that at the end of this debâcle, despite his having to pay a fine, it all actually led to his benefits getting sorted out. Far from being a cautionary tale, this serves as a template for everyone who will be wrongly labelled "fit to work" or even just "healthy" over the next few years. I suspect that a campaign of nationwide nudity would force the government's hand in a way that blogging and lobbying could never match.