Declan’s petition to the UN is being brought to a halt

In my blog of 26 January “Declan’s Google Mail is raided” (after all emails received by Declan after 12 August were unceremoniously dumped in the "trash", and the names and emails of 2,500 scientists contained in 250 draft documents were wiped for good), I expressed my concern that Declan’s petition to the UN in support of therapeutic cloning, which so far has been signed by 362 scientists, including 21 Nobel laureates, could be “seriously” targeted next. Alas, it has. Of the 150 scientists I emailed on 8 February not one signed the petition – one scientist signed that day but he was emailed on 6 February – and I got two Out of Office AutoReplys with “[SUSPECT SPAM]” in the subject.

I also reported anomalies in my blog of 6 January “European Court of Human Rights declines to expedite Declan’s case” when I wrote that Declan had been informed by some signatories that they hadn’t received emails from him and that the week previous I had found two emails from scientists, asking Declan to add their name to the petition, in the spam box. On 6 February Declan was again informed by a signatory that an email had not been received, despite Google Mail's record of it having been sent.

It has been our belief from the outset of the petition that the only way to combat these sorts of anomalies is to send large quantities of emails in the hope that at least some will get through, which clearly has been the case. However, at this particular moment, I dare say the petition is on the brink of total collapse: I am sending the same large quantities of emails – although on 29 January the Tower Hamlets Council-run Idea Store Whitechapel imposed a 3-hour limit on free computer use in respect of both our membership cards (which I also predicted would happen in my blog of 20 January “Begging for over a week”) – and yet on Tuesday no scientist signed, while only one signed on Thursday and one yesterday. Whether the emails from Declan’s database are being sent to spam boxes or getting lost in cyberspace is anyone’s guess. Why is the petition being brought to a halt? Well, perhaps it is because last week I began researching A-list supporters of therapeutic cloning and early this week we began emailing them to ask if they would consider making a small contribution of $10 or $20 to help us continue doing this important work.

Nights in the porch, which is situated in a business area, are never boring: last Saturday, while I was asleep in my sleeping bag, a guy grabbed me by the shoulders and roared “Hello” (I thought rough sleepers had the reputation of being at the very least unpredictable in their behaviour); in the middle of two nights this week we were roared at to “wake up”; late on Tuesday night two guys stopped by the porch and began throwing obscenities at each other; and how can I forget that I had to clean the porch twice this week of urine (as I reported at the time, on 15 December somebody actually defecated and urinated in it).

All this week we have been harassed by homeless. For example, on Tuesday a homeless walked with us half the length of a street calling us, among other things, “f**king rats” and c**ts, and Friday morning, while Declan was having his cereal breakfast in the Sisters of Mercy-run Dellow Centre, this same homeless sat behind him, making out that we were both lucky to be still alive (I would need a whole blog to give a description of what is going on in this place - despite that now Declan and I leave as fast as possible - starting with the queue outside the front gate and finishing with the ‘breakfast’). Oh, and the Friday before last Declan was told by an attendant in the public toilets of the local train station (the same station where I have been doing my begging early in the morning since 10 January, see previous blog - the latest in this saga: a police officer now stands where I get some of my money and some people I ask for spare change seem too personal in their unkindness) that he could no longer use the facility to wash, despite Declan having paid the 20p admittance fee – Declan continues to wash there, although the attendants have been paying him particular attention every morning (we have been forced to wash in the train station ever since back in June the Methodist Church-run Whitechapel Mission barred us from its premises due to concerns about our safety).