I have good news for all of you who, like me, are missing Psychic News and its weekly update on Spiritualism. The team who did such an excellent job of producing the newspaper were made redundant in the summer. Now three of them have got together to launch a website that they have called, aptly, “The Spirit of PN”. Susan Farrow, former editor, Paul Brett, assistant editor, and Magnus Smith, researcher and assistant, are the brains behind the venture.
It is free to subscribers and, eventually, will provide opportunities for advertising. As regular visitors to this site will know, I have invited Sue to write about her departure from Psychic News, after it was killed off by the Spiritualists’ National Union in July, as well asking her to pay tribute to veteran Spiritualist Tom Harrison, who was a special friend. I’m delighted that Sue now has her own, independent internet platform on which she can express her views and report on the Movement globally. I wish her and her team every success.
Why not pay a visit to the Spirit of PN and register as a subscriber to receive regular updates: http://spiritofpn.wordpress.com/
By an amusing piece of synchronicity, on the same day I heard that “The Spirit of PN” had launched (today!), I also heard that the SNU applied on 6 October to have the Psychic News banner title registered as a trade mark. You don’t believe me? Then take a look here.
So, whilst the “Spirit of Psychic News” lives on in digital form as an independent voice of Spiritualism, the SNU is trying to snatch the title of the newspaper it killed off, by slapping trademark restrictions on it. Why preserve something they have closed down? I’ve always argued that they were plotting to do something with it and this seems to confirm that suspicion.
Will they get away with it? Not if I and my fellow trustees of the Spiritual Truth Foundation have anything to do with it. We’ll be pointing out to the Intellectual Property Office that the SNU have no right to claim ownership of the title, since it belongs along with other assets to Psychic Press (1995) Ltd, the company it is (again) planning to put into liquidation, this time with the date of 15 November set for the creditors’ meeting.
I’m sure, one day, those at the SNU responsible for making these absurd decisions, which must be costing the Union thousands of pounds, will be held to account.