Brian Eno's Totem

Thanks to Brian Eno 'Left Field' sales % rising as they do in Enos Totem. Check that music here

https://vimeo.com/34240891

Help the book's % rise here

tinyurl.com/nflgk6h

Brian Eno & me in Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/david_wilson/brian-eno-me_b_6838680.html

Celebrating 50% income for 'Left Field' in two weeks

'Left Field' has now received 50% of pledges in only two weeks. This is amazing progress and thank you to everyone who has pre-bought my memoir and/or helped spread the word. http://unbound.co.uk/books/left-field

Whistleblowers at the Abbey

by Anthea Norman-Taylor

The other weekend I attended a retreat at Ampleforth Abbey, the Benedictine monastery near York, on the subject of ‘whistleblowers’. The idea came from Ian Foxley and Paul Moore.

Ian Foxley is a retired lieutenant colonel who was appointed by the MoD in 2010 to oversee a £2bn military communications project in Saudi Arabia. He had to flee after uncovering bribes paid to Saudi officials. Paul Moore was working at HBOS in 2004 as Head of Risk when he was dismissed for exposing their banking practices.

These two were joined by others from the NHS, the police, academic and legal worlds as well as business and banking. All of them had reported on wrongdoing in their workplace, only to find themselves bullied, shamed, then sacked. All had experienced havoc with their lives and serious mental distress

My own experience was as a trustee of War Child at the time when David Wilson ‘blew the whistle’. My fellow-trustees' reaction was the same as the MoD with Foxley and HBOS with Moore; ‘shoot the messenger'. David was sacked. I had no choice but to resign.

The Charity Commission acted in much the same way as the banks and other big organisations when faced with a whistleblower…rather than face the truth of the allegations, the issues are ignored and the ‘unruly element’ treated as toxic waste.

The Commission appointed a quorum of ‘professional trustees’ who had no real knowledge of the workings of this charity and its history and very little experience in charity work at all. There was no investigation despite questions in Parliament, Guardian editorials and the resignation of Pavarotti and the other patrons.

The charity survived the scandal but never returned to being the cutting-edge provider of essential services that it had been during the Bosnian war.

Everyone who came to Ampleforth had suffered mental health problems, financial disaster and exclusion from a further career in their area of professional competence. You will have to read 'Left Field' to find out what happened to David Wilson.

Whistleblowing is honest dissent not disloyal subversion, and should always be supported and applauded.

Ian Foxley has formed a support group at:

www.wbuk.org

and read David's book

http://unbound.co.uk/books/left-field

Veterans for Peace

Queen & Country

I have been a friend of ex-SAS trooper, Ben Griffin, ever since I attended the High Court to witness his being silenced by the British government for telling the truth about his experiences in Iraq. Today he is an ambulanceman and a leading member of Veterans for Peace UK. He reminds me of ex-soldiers I know from the Bosnian war & who I write about in "Left Field'. Like them he has become a truth-teller, whose voice needs to be heard if we are ever to get over our addiction to war.

The following is a condensed version of Ben's talk at the Oxford Union.

“The idea of fighting for Queen and Country is held by those who have never fought, by those who have no experience of the suffering that war inflicts, by those who gain the most from war - politicians, generals, the arms industry and the media and its armchair hussars.

Who is doing the fighting? A well-trained and professional force whose collective desire is to go to war, any war. This force does not fight for Queen and Country. It fights when and where it is told to fight.

If you believe the media you might imagine that the fighting consists of bayonet charges, lone hand grenade assaults on enemy positions or modern-day Spitfire pilots scrambling to some noble action. In my experience the reality is a lot darker. It involves long periods of waiting punctuated by unforeseen moments of extreme violence, having your legs blown off by an IED, a supposed ally shooting holes in your chest, dying in a helicopter crash, burning to death in a transport plane, being beaten to death by an angry mob, setting up checkpoints in a country you have occupied, disrupting the lives of the people and then killing them when they approach too quickly or fail to stop in time, raiding people’s houses with explosives, detaining young males and handing them over to be tortured, killing people from the safety of a helicopter or drone control room, using words like Haji, Raghead, Sand Nigger, Chogie, Argie, Paddy, Gook, Chink, Jap. Kraut, Hun.

And with all this going on, they cultivate the myth of the soldier as hero. That you should support 'our boys and girls'. That to stop the slaughter would be sacrilege to those heroes that have died.

I am a human being and my allegiance is not to Queen and Country but to the whole of humanity. I no longer accept the lies which perpetuate war. I no longer accept that violence can lead to peace. Never again will I be complicit in the killing and torture of my brothers and sisters. Never again will I accept the vile religion of Patriotism. I refuse to pull on that rancid uniform. I refuse to fight for Queen and Country.”

If 'Left Field' goes into profit, and with your help it will, I'll hand over a portion of them to Veterans for Peace

http://veteransforpeace.org.uk

If we don't make a profit, I will send them some money anyway!

http://unbound.co.uk/books/left-field

From war to art (Mostar)

or how a shell can fall on a shop or be in one - Dan Cruickshank's short film about Mostar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdwsExGXm8A See it here and read about it here… http://unbound.co.uk/books/left-field

What they are saying about Left Field

Brian Eno- "This is an excellent and inspiring book. David's stubborn and yet self-effacing commitment to his ideals carried him through many daunting situations, and his sense of humour kept him able to see the funny side."

Sir Tom Stoppard- "David Wilson has lived a life and a half … the broken world needed people like David then; it still does and always will."

Dorothy Byrne, Head of Channel 4 TV News and Documentaries - "What a life this man has led!"

Mandla Langa, author of The Lost Colours of the Chameleon, and winner of 2009 Commonwealth Prize - "David Wilson is a national treasure,"

David Hencke, former Guardian Westminster correspondent and part of Exaro team, presently exposing paedophilia in high places - "This is the work of a determined guy who is prepared to expose fraud and injustice wherever he finds it."

Eugene Skeef, "A must-read by my comrade and brother David Wilson. Please spread the word and encourage your friends to buy and read David's memoir.”

Orhan Maslo (Oha), "One of the key people of my life has finished his book and it will soon be out. There is a chapter that describes the times we spent together. What good times we had while giving spirit to the Pavarotti Music Centre. This was after my orphanage times and steered me to who I am and what I do today. Thank you David"

Manuela Beste, the first person to read draft MS, “This is surely going to be your core readership - the 1960's generation who grew up with you, agitated like you, still hold true to these struggles like you and today's new generation of angry, frustrated, hopeful young people who are organising for a better and fairer world ...I found the book interesting, moving, thought-provoking, instructive. It thoroughly held my attention .. I wish I could think in visual metaphors like you."

Sebastian Balfour, Emeritus Professor, LSE,

"A vivid account of a life fought for justice, full

of indignation and tenderness."

***********

Click this link to see video, read more about Left Field & pledge support http://unbound.co.uk/books/left-field

Click this link to see video interview with Brian Eno. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwslPeklwTo