Voice Of The Resistance

Iranium: The Movie

2011-02-08T10:21:00.000Z

This is the 60-minute film that prompted the threats and subsequent closure of the Canadian theatre where the first screening was due to take place last month.

I watched it last night and it's a well-made film drawing on Iran's history and the rise to power of Ahmadinejad. It has lots of talking heads and concentrates on the potential capabilities of a nuclear Iran with a short segment towards the end about the repression of the people and the 2009 protests.

I don't know who's behind the making of the film but it's another stage of the softening-up process for confrontation with Iran - and remember, that's something Tony Blair was advocating at the Chilcot Inquiry. I really recommend you watch this and judge for yourselves:

Calling England

Common Purpose and Climategate

2011-01-23T10:07:00.004Z

Sir Brandon Gough, Chancellor of the University of East Anglia, accused of being complicit in academic fraud and corrupt abuse of public funds:

http://www.stopcp.com/cpclimategate.php

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Britain's Police State: Britain adopts Chinese model of policing protest?

2011-01-14T14:57:00.004Z

CCTV has led to large scale arrests, following the recent student protests in London, over increased tuition fees. A total of over 180 people have been arrested, with the majority identified by CCTV.

The current arrests very much represent a landmark - we are now equipped for the Chinese approach to public order, in almost a complete reversal previous British policing.

The power of the new system is based on the ability to track down individuals at leisure. However, this ability could be used as easily to track anyone, in “political policing” of lawful democratic activity.

More than 180 people have been arrested by police investigating rioting during the series of protests against rising student tuition fees.

Senior officers said the vast majority of the 182 suspects were aged between 17 and 25 and have never been involved in violence or criminal acts before.

Detective Chief Superintendent Matt Horne, who is leading the inquiry, said he expects the figure to grow considerably as 80 officers comb through video footage.

Speaking at New Scotland Yard… he said the inquiry could take months to complete. … What struck me is the number of people arrested who did not go that day with necessarily any intention of committing any violent action."

London Evening Standard

Police had been criticised for their handling of the protests, particularly the tactic of “kettling“, where large groups - hundreds - of demonstrators were confined for several hours and not allowed to leave until late at night. It was argued that this tactic actually caused violence, and punished many who had done nothing wrong. Similar criticisms were made when this tactic was used at the G20 protests in London last year.

Here is the contrast: - previously, almost all the arrests would have taken place at the scene, to remove trouble-makers from the fray, to de-escalate the situation, not afterwards, to “settle scores“. Now, everything has changed.

The combination of these two new tactics - containment and surveillance - has parallels with handling of large disturbances by Chinese authorities: - rather than attempt to make arrests at the scene, the police merely contain the disturbance to limit any damage; CCTV photography is used to identify individuals within the crowd, who are then arrested later, at their homes.

The use of CCTV in China, to identify protestors, dates from at least 1989 : -

Fo example.........."Neutral" Technology at Tiananmen Square

Following the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, the Chinese authorities tortured and interrogated thousands of people in an attempt to identify the demonstration’s organizers. But even if the students and workers had resisted the terrors of the secret police, the hapless demonstrators stood little chance of anonymity. Stationed throughout Tiananmen Square is a network of UK manufactured surveillance cameras, designed to monitor traffic flows and regulate congestion. These cameras recorded everything that transpired in the months leading up to the tanks rolling into the square.

In the days that followed, these images were repeatedly broadcast over Chinese state television. Virtually all the transgressors were identified in this way. Siemens Plessey, which manufactured and exported the cameras, and the World Bank, who paid for their installation, claim they never had any idea that their "technologically neutral" equipment would be used in this way. However, in 1995 the World Bank authorized the funds to set up the same traffic flow system in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Lhasa is not, as yet, known for having problems with traffic congestion; besides, the area in which the traffic flow system is in operation is solely for pedestrians.

Is it valid to make a comparison between Britain and China? After all, the people arrested in London allegedly were involved in violent disorder and British government is not going to torture them.

On the other hand, the model of policing has sharply diverged from traditional “policing by consent”, with scenes such as police horse-charging protestors and dragging a disabled man from his wheelchair. Something has to have gone wrong when police arrest, not determined trouble-makers but, large numbers of young people who “have never been involved in violence or criminal acts before” and “who did not go… with… any intention of committing any violent action”.

The techniques of surveillance and identification employed here could just as easily be used to identify lawful political activists, leaving a quiet meeting. There is the manpower to do this - by comparison with the current 80-man search, Britain already has a permanent police unit of 100 staff, looking full-time for “extremists“. Extremism is a term also applied to peaceful, lawful protest.

In the near future, identification is likely to be much faster and less labour-intensive, due to new CCTV technology, scheduled for implementation. Not just in Britain - New York plans soon to overtake London in CCTV technology.

There are very strong European dimensions to these events - the European wave of austerity programmes and protests, the European sponsorship of new surveillance technology and what may be an emergent European style of policing political dissent, with an EU manual on policing public order. We can see common tactics in policing, for example, kettling - penning-up large numbers of demonstrators - which was used at London was also seen at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, December 2009.

Identification

How have British police identified these 182 suspects in London - people mostly without a photo on file?
One way has been to post photographs on the news, as the Chinese did in 1989, but it appears the majority were identified by other means, because the number of photos released has been small compared with the number of arrests.

A second method the police announced was by searching websites and forums, “where activists might boast about their actions”.

It has not been disclosed how police have conducted this search, so this will inevitably be the subject of speculation. In theory, police could able to search social websites for photos matching suspects, using new facial recognition and semantic search technology. Facial recognition has made huge progress recently, largely overcoming problems with size of databases. Semantic search makes it possible to search on criteria other than text, for example, to search by image characteristics. The UK National CCTV Strategy discusses how the CCTV network may be used in conjunction with other databases to allow data-matching/mining and profiling; the same techniques can be applied to any database.

Facebook has recently added facial recognition to its features, to allow users to tag names to photos. Privacy on the Facebook scheme is opt-out, rather than opt-in, hence it is possible many people may be unaware of their participation in this new functionality. Other people may be completely unaware that there may be photos of them on the web, posted by others (e.g. group photos with friends) and tagged with their name. Although Facebook claim their tool is not suitable for site-wide trawling, the intelligence agencies have put significant resources into data-mining social network sites.

So watch your ass Facebook Users!

However, the most powerful tool to identify people is by tracking their movements, to a point where they can be identified, for example, by getting in a car (which can be identified by vehicle registration) or by getting on public transport (potentially to be identified by a travel pass). So that any camera can identify a vehicle, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) facility is being added to town centre CCTV systems, not just traffic cameras, as part of the National CCTV Strategy (see p40). On public transport, the National CCTV Strategy, sought to integrate “Transport system cameras to travel cards“(p40), so that travellers identities could be established as they passed through barriers. Police tracking of travel cards is an established reality - in 2008, police obtained over 3000 individuals’ travel records from Oyster Card, Transport for London’s smart-card. OysterCard has been so successful, it is now ttempting to be rolled out across the entire UK, for all public transport, as the integrated ticketing scheme.

Technology to track individuals from camera to camera, through a city’s CCTV network, has been available for over a decade and has been deployed widely. More recently, technology now allows police to track suspects by their clothing. This allows police to re-acquire suspects, if they are lost between camera sightings.

...Once the item to search for is selected - a Nike T-shirt worn during a shop robbery, for instance - the computer analyses it, pixel by pixel.

It then scans for matches in the police database and footage from other CCTV cameras in the area, and provides a list of search results to help identify and locate the suspect.

"We say to the machine, 'there's a Coke logo, go and find it'," says David McIntosh, of Omniperception. "The technology is like a bloodhound. You give it a smell and it will go off looking for it."

For example a camera might only have a clear of shot this fictional Nike-clad suspect from 150 yards away. Feed this image into the system, and it will recognise the outfit filmed from other angles and distances, even if partially obscured.

The best results are gleaned from giving the computer an image of a suspect, rather than feeding it "clean" brand logos.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, of the new London-based unit [Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido) ] ... says the system could help track a suspect's movement before and after an offence. This may throw up footage of their face without hat or hood, or even where they live.

How can CCTV spot suspects by clothing logos?

The power of his technology is its ability to trawl through vast amounts of data, generated by extensive camera networks, or to piece-together fragmented information, which may have been assembled from numerous sources. This is important considering that the majority of the 500,000 CCTV cameras in London are not yet networked, and police have to search laboriously through recordings - for example, private CCTV systems in shops and cameras on buses. (However, it is likely that many of these cameras may become networked within the decade). It is easy to see that without machine-searching, it would be impractical to access and organise this huge amount of data.

Many quoted numbers of CCTV cameras in Britain can be misleading. Yes, there are a lot of cameras, but in London, only few of tens of thousands of these can be accessed easily by police, which would make the rest relatively useless for routine political surveillance. Those cameras that have live-networked access vary in ease of data-retrieval. Despite this, the London CCTV network provides formidable coverage, particularly on trains and the London Underground.

There had been a sustained programme to upgrade the system, under the National CCTV Strategy. This appeared to be threatened by the pledges of the new coalition government, but now, it seems likely that the recent disturbances will guarantee the upgrade goes ahead. The London Olympics in 2012 are also expected to prompt major upgrades of police and surveillance systems.

Although there is an official estimate of 500,000 CCTV cameras accessible by police in London, the vast majority of these can only be accessed by requesting recordings.

In 2007, there were 10,524 local authority CCTV cameras in 32 London boroughs - but the figure today may be significantly greater - these are all networked live-feed public cameras. Additionally, there are currently 12,000 cameras on the London Underground network, plus Transport for London has 900 traffic cameras, to which the police also have networked live access.

These are still large numbers - about four times the number used by NYPD and transit.

At the present time, cameras on London buses are not networked live - however, there are “60,000 recordable CCTV cameras operating on the 8,000 London buses”, and the police make “650 requests every month for images”. Several other British cities, do have live-feed CCTV on buses, which can be accessed not only by central commend but also by mobile officers, on hand-held viewers. This seems likely to come to London by 2012.

Images obtained from private cameras are important. Police announced that photographs of suspects have been obtained from the private CCTV systems of shops along the route of the march. There is a voluntary registration scheme for privately-owned CCTV systems, so that the police may obtain recordings when required. As part of new proposals for regulation of CCTV, this registration is expected to become compulsory. As part of the controversial “Internet Eyes” monitoring scheme, many shops are beginning to link their CCTV systems to the internet. It is easy to see how this could evolve into live-access to the authorities.

The CCTV network in London is still evolving and still very piecemeal - the price of being a pioneer. This is why it has taken as many as 80 officers to track down 180 suspects. It won’t be nearly so difficult in future. We can be fairly certain that, by the Olympics in 2012, the network will be much more streamlined and automated. There has been a sustained programme to create this, as part of the National CCTV Strategy. Reportedly, under an initiative called 3Ci (Command, Control, Communication and Information) access and control has now been consolidated centrally. It is believed that now, any of London’s networked CCTV cameras can be accessed and “driven” from any one of three “Special Operations Centres”. Several similar regional CCTV centres have now become operational throughout the UK.

Is this about crime?

In numerous studies, CCTV has been found to have a very low effect in reducing crime.

CCTV represents a radical departure from the approach of traditional policing. The methodology of observation and recording is that of the secret policeman, not that used in tackling real crime. Perhaps that’s why CCTV has had so little impact on crime, yet has been so effective at arresting demonstrators.

According to this report

…the London CCTV system is mainly useful for reconstructing crimes or incidents after they happen—rather than preventing them—people familiar with British security measures say that the camera system is gradually being used more extensively for intelligence-gathering and surveillance by undercover agencies like Special Branch, the political policing arm of Scotland Yard, and MI5, Britain's clandestine domestic intelligence service…

Mark Hosenball, Newsweek

If CCTV does not deter crime, does it help solve crime, and catch criminals? In London, CCTV does not seem to have helped much, finding the perpetrators of real crime, such as robbery and violence,

Only one crime is solved a year for every 1,000 CCTV cameras, police admitted …

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville said: '£500million has been spent by the Government on cameras. Despite this, in 2008 less than 1,000 crimes were solved using CCTV …'

He said that of the 269 robberies reported in one month only eight were solved with the help of CCTV footage. …

Detectives are thought to be reluctant to scour hours of recorded footage 'because it's hard work'.

CCTV helps solve just ONE crime per 1,000 as officers fail to use film as evidence

Matthew Hickley, Daily Mail 25th August 2009

In parallel with this new-found investment in technology, policing in Britain has been moving away towards something more remote and detached. Town-centre police stations, where the public could go to report a crime, a lost dog or whatever, have been closing down, to relocate out-of-town, to large “patrol bases” in business parks, which are closed to the public. It sounds like beat-policemen, community contacts and the human touch are seen as a thing of the past.

Where next?

The big problem with CCTV has always been a shortage of people, to watch the cameras, or to sift through recordings. All this is set to change with radical artificial intelligence (AI) systems currently under development by the European Union (EU). Now, machines will be able to watch the cameras, spot crime or aberrant behaviour, alert officers to the scene, track (and identify) the suspect, and collect the relevant video clips into a file, together with any other relevant information from other feeds.

HERMES, INDECT and ADABTS are AI suites aiming for deployment in 2012-3. They will be capable of analysing multiple different types of data-streams, identifying events and assembling a file with a commentary.

According to the EU website, the HERMES system will be capable of recognising events such as robberies or violence, and can “not only detect events in real time as they are filmed by surveillance cameras but also describe them semantically and react to them intelligently. It operates at three levels: tracking the movement of people and objects; monitoring the behaviour of people; and, in the case of high-resolution footage taken at close quarters, detecting changes in facial expression.”

HERMES is also designed to automatically search for and correlate other data, from other sources, such as multiple alternative camera positions or other identification systems.

ADABTS is intended to recognise "suspicious behaviour" so [this] can be automatically detected using CCTV and other surveillance methods. The system would analyse the pitch of people's voices, the way their bodies move and track individuals within crowds.

ADABTS is being developed by a consortium including arms company BAe Systems and the Swedish Defence Research Agency.

INDECT is aimed at surveillance in a different sphere - it will enable, “continuous and automatic monitoring of public resources such as: web sites, discussion forums, usenet groups, file servers, p2p [peer-to-peer] networks as well as individual computer systems, building an internet-based intelligence gathering system, both active and passive [with the aim of] automatic … recognition of abnormal behaviour or violence"

Tom Burghardt described INDECT as a system for “profiling internet dissent” INDECT had emerged from strategies in Europe and the CIA to data-mine information about political opposition, from social networks and related sources.

What these official descriptions above do not mention is that, to do their job, these systems have to lead to the automatic machine-identification of individuals. It is not hard to see how the ability to track individuals and access “multi-media data streams” will make this possible. It is also easy to see how the ability to identify individuals combined with the ability to assemble data in organised files, with notes, could construct personal dossiers on the movements and contacts of any individual. This would be a gift for the surveillance and control of legitimate political activity.

In 2007, a European Union working group presented a proposal called the ”Digital Tsunami“, to track and record the lives of every individual. This was described by Tony Bunyan of Statewatch: -

"Every object the individual uses, every transaction they make and almost everywhere they go will create a detailed digital record. This will generate a wealth of information for public security organisations", leading to behaviour being predicted and assessed by "machines" (their term) which will issue orders to officers on the spot. The proposal presages the mass gathering of personal data on travel, bank details, mobile phone locations, health records, internet usage, criminal records however minor, fingerprints and digital pictures that can be data-mined and applied to different scenario – boarding a plane, behaviour on the Tube or taking part in a protest.

‘The surveillance society is an EU-wide issue’,

Tony Bunyan, 28 May 2009, The Guardian
Officially, this proposal was never adopted as policy. In practice, every measure within it has been adopted, under the new name “Digital Agenda“. Worryingly, this dovetails with a new, authoritarian approach in the “Stockholm Programme” on security, justice and home affairs.

CCTV becomes much more powerful in this role when combined with complimentary tracking technologies, such as the RFID chips (Radio-Frequency Identification), which have been inserted into ID cards around the world. Bank cards too increasingly incorporate RFID. In several European countries, bank cards have taken on the function of ID cards - called eID (or “electronic signatures“), issued in collaboration with the national population register, via “commercial certification authorities“, they are recognised for accessing public services. As mobile phones are becoming used for payment, these too are being registered within the same system. This international eID registration system has come about to enable electronic payment, and has been organised by a UN agency, UNCITRAL. This has become another branch of a global population register.

Technologies exist to locate and identify the position of all RFID tags within the view of a CCTV camera. Integration is becoming simpler and more affordable, with commercial solutions available.

Since opening in 2007, all passengers at Heathrow, Terminal 5 have been tracked and managed by a combination of RFID and facial recognition CCTV. The system was developed by the European Union as “The INtelligent Airport” project (TINA). Normally at airports, domestic and international passengers would be carefully segregated, for security, but at Terminal 5 they are allowed to mix in one departure lounge, controlled by ubiquitous surveillance. Effectively, passengers are tracked by RFID and facial recognition CCTV is used to verify, to a high degree of accuracy, that the subject is the authorised holder. The system can also identify anyone not carrying an RFID pass, and recognise a pass dropped on the floor. The system can also recognise the RFID in passengers’ passports, which are the same as RFID in national ID cards, both standardised by the ICAO. This surveillance system is trusted to provide the same level of security as physical segregation. Facial recognition is now a proven, mature technology.

The European Union is investing heavily in promoting RFID and a system for tracking RFID, called the Internet of Things (IoT). Every tagged object will have its own webpage, with the web-address being its RFID serial number. Every time an RFID tag is scanned, the webpage will be updated with the time and location. Designed to track goods in the supply chain, corporations realised that this could also track customers after purchase, to produce marketing information. This scanning and logging will become frequent and pervasive, as RFID scanners replace anti-theft portals at shop entrances, and all will be networked into the Internet of Things.

It is easy to see how the Internet of Things could potentially dovetail with intelligent CCTV and AI systems to enable ubiquitous surveillance.

Conclusion
The real threat comes not from CCTV but from its application to identifying citizens, then tracking and recording their lives. This phase of CCTV is only just beginning, but will be heavily upon us, very soon.

My New Blog

2011-01-13T18:32:00.005Z

I just thought I would let members know that I've started a new blog called:

Rachel Reeves Global Leader

This blog was inspired by an article in the Independent that predicted that new Labour MP Rachel Reeves will be a world leader in 20 years time.

I thought it would be interesting to keep an eye on her for a few years, maybe the whole 20 years, to see if this come true...

Gabrielle Giffords Only Subscribed To Two You Tube Channels - One Of Them Was Jared Loughner's!

2011-01-11T22:15:00.000Z

I discovered something about Gabrielle Giffords' shooting last night and I don't know about you, but to my mind it stinks to high heaven!

This is my original post which is followed by a rather disturbing update.......

So the Lefties put it all down to Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement - how typically opportunistic of them to use this as a means for their New World Order muppets to call for the disarming of American citizens, (prior to their impending enslavement), closely followed by the same calls in the UK and the rest of the EU, no doubt, (makes the job easier, you see), they never ever change!

SPOT THE NUTTER

Let me blow that "theory" into tiny little pieces without needing to say very much to do so!

This is a screenshot of Congresswoman Giffords' You Tube channel.......

If you look just above, you'll see that she only subscribes to two channels, one of which is Classitup 10.

Now I wonder who that could be? Let's see, shall we, and please do check out his reading material.......

I also believe that in the video what he was trying to say was
"In a few days you WILL know I'm conscience dreaming!"

So - this guy is a total nutter - what a surprise!

And what are the chances of him being yet another NWO patsy?

I REST MY CASE!

+++UPDATE+++

Curiouser And Curiouser

From the comments on this post.......

And sure as shooting.......

SOMEONE IS TIDYING UP LOOSE ENDS!

US Party Politics And The Arizona Shootings

2011-01-11T10:27:00.000Z

The shootings in Tucson, Arizona have sparked a fierce debate about whether inflammatory right-wing rhetoric was somehow a party to the murders.

Six people died, 1 of which was a 9 year old girl, and 20 were injured, including Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head.

Within hours the local country sheriff, Clarence Dupnik, who happens to be a member of the Democratic Party, held a press conference in which he went out of his way to link the murders with political rhetoric.

This has led to a wave of soul searching in the American media and online.

Most criticism has been directed by the left of centre against the Republican right and in particular Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.

The evidence that they have created a "climate of hate" includes Mrs Palin's online campaign map from last year using crosshairs over the Democratic-held congressional seats.

She has also used the phrase "don't retreat - reload".

One typical comment on Mrs Palin's Facebook page read: "You cannot flippantly talk about 'reloading' and putting people on your TARGET list and not expect some nut to take you literally."

It is true that language and symbolism in American political debate is more emotional and violent than in many democracies - but missing from the debate appears to be a sense that it has always been this way and that America has always been a country where the gun has played a role.

The founding fathers called each other "traitors" in print, there have been 20 attempted presidential assassinations, four of which were successful.

JFK, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy died in the blood-soaked, rhetoric-fuelled, 1960s in which one of the most memorable political slogans came from the Black Panthers: "By Any Means Necessary."

In 2004 the Democrats used a map of the US under the headline "Targeting" and bullseyes over states they were concentrating on - the blurb talked about operating "behind enemy lines".

This may have been less overtly violent than Mrs Palin's crosshairs but is in the same vein, as is Barack Obama's "if they bring a knife we'll bring a gun" speech in 2008.

Sheriff Dupnik introduced the rhetoric idea into the news story at an early stage.

Immediately it gave the media and public a different angle to the usual gun control/loner/drugs narrative which arises after similar events.

A link to political rhetoric cannot be ruled out in the Arizona tragedy - and there is a genuine debate to be had about the relationship between language and violence in the media.

But there appears to have been a rush to judgement that there is something special about this event.

Politics in America has always used the language of the gun, and the gun has always been used in America.

My Opinion............

Jared Loughner.............although I hasten to add not yet convicted, but who is the main suspect as the shooter (must be careful in law here)..........was a looney with a gun.

He was un-hinged.............twisted and indeed in strong need of medical and mental help.

A simple read through this piece will give an idea of the individual at the centre of this.

He slipped through the net.............reading the above piece will show that many suspected but nobody did anything about it.

This was a tragedy waiting to happen..............and sadly it just has.

The blame of Sarah Palin is wrong................trust me I think the woman is a political joke.
Her day time TV program / fly on the wall documentary is just that...........A JOKE.

Her choice of language and the use of the cross hairs may well have been inappropriate with hindsight, but has been a ploy used in US politics for many many years..........and is part of the US psyche.

That did not make Jared Loughner pull the trigger..............he did that all by himself.

I will make an inflammatory statement here.............

Hungerford and Dunblane where horrific gun crimes here in the UK. After both incidents there was a huge overhaul of fiearms laws.

Many gun clubs went to the wall. Many sporting and target shooters gave up the sport.

However none of the legislation passed stopped the Cumbria incident or more recently Raul Moat.

Again un-hinged people who pulled the trigger themselves.

Repost from my Blog

The comment that says everything

2010-12-12T13:32:00.003Z

"Just because of their social attitudes, the Tories are part of the Progressive/Marxist establishment now. A change of leader won’t save them. They are doomed. They are SO on the wrong side of history. The Third Way, which is the LibLabCon’s method, isn’t about a golden medium between Methodist Socialism and Anglican Conservatism. It’s a path halfway between Fascism and Communism.

In a classical Libertarian/Constitutional era, the LibLabCon will be viewed the same way as we view the Nazis or the Soviets."

http://witteringsfromwitney.blogspot.com/2010/12/mainstream-conservatism-vs-liberal.html

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The abdication of the West

2010-12-09T13:16:00.002Z

Read this and weep. Notwithstanding the carefully-orchestrated propaganda to the effect that nothing much will be decided at the UN climate conference here in Cancun, the decisions to be made here this week signal nothing less than the abdication of the West. The governing class in what was once proudly known as the Free World is silently, casually letting go of liberty, prosperity, and even democracy itself. No one in the mainstream media will tell you this, not so much because they do not see as because they do not bl**dy care.

http://sppiblog.org/news/the-abdication-of-the-west

What to do? Send this blog posting to your legislators. It is their power, as well as yours, that is being taken away; their democracy, as well as yours, that will perish from the Earth unless this burgeoning nonsense is stopped.

They don't like it up 'em

2010-12-06T11:28:00.008Z

...one should not underestimate the willingness of the continental European political elites to inflict pain on their peoples in pursuit of what they see as ‘the greater good’.

So just do it, without warning.

Being just one piece of advice in a long list, in a must-read ASI article on How to leave the Euro.

Marco Pierre White's Swan Inn snatches defeat from the jaws of victory

2010-12-05T13:53:00.002Z

Reposted from The Red Rag

Far from politics but I wanted to share my experience of how the behaviour of a single poor staff member can completely change one's attitude towards a business.

Last night Mrs C and I celebrated our 29^th wedding anniversary. In recent years we have flown to Paris and Madrid for our anniversary but due to business commitments we were unable to get away this year. So we decided we would stay in the UK and have a nice meal and overnight stay. Mrs C booked a room at Marco Pierre Whites Swan Inn Restaurant in Aughton, Lancashire.

Despite the relative prosperity of our home county of Cheshire there is a dearth of decent restaurants. So we were looking forward to travelling a little further from home for a great dining experience at what their website describes as the perfect venue for any occasion.

We had booked a table for seven o’clock, we thought we would arrive early and relax in our room for a while prior to heading downstairs for aperitifs about 6:30. We arrived about 5:00pm and were given room one.

The room was cold so we turned the radiator up, it didn’t take long for us to find out why it had been turned down. A noise like a pneumatic drill filled the room. We turned it back down but within minutes the banging started again, this time coming from the room next door. It was no big deal at this point but it was obvious we would be unable to sleep unless it was sorted out. I called down to reception and within minutes the noise had stopped and a lady knocked on our door to tell us she had turned the radiator off in the room next door. She explained they had recently had some plumbing work done and there was air trapped in the system.

I assumed the room next door must be empty so we were quite happy with the solution, as it was minus seven degrees last night we turned our heating back on whilst we went for our meal, the plan was it would heat the room while we were out and we could then turn it off overnight so as not to be disturbed by the banging.

I had a gin and tonic and Mrs C enjoyed a Bacardi and diet Coke whilst we perused the menu. The wine list wasn’t great, I was surprised how limited it was, but there were a couple of good reds on there and I picked a reliable old favourite. A rich full bodied Pommard, I felt it would benefit from being decanted so I requested this and ordered it early. I also ordered a bottle of 2000 vintage Dom Perignon to start with.

Mrs C ordered pottage of mussel s followed by a pork loin, I ordered panache of sea scallops and a main of halibut with a side of creamed potatoes. The wine waiter brought the champagne and he was friendly and knowledgeable, he had recently been to a tasting where he had tried the 2002 Dom Perignon which he was looking forward to stocking soon. He also delivered the red to give it time to breath, he apologised that he could not decant it as they only had two decanters and they were both in use.

So we did not start off with quite the standard I had expected, but that was quickly forgotten as hors d’ouvres arrived. My sea scallops were beautifully seasoned and cooked to perfection. Mrs C’s pottage of mussels was absolutely delicious, and I didn’t just take her word for it I tried a spoonful myself in return for half a scallop. She did feel the pottage would have benefited from having more than three mussels but concurred with me about the quality of my scallops.

The atmosphere was very pleasant and it was clear all of the diners were having a great night. Our mains were absolutely delicious, a genuine first class dining experience that was enhanced by the friendliness and professionalism of the waiting staff. We were completely unhurried and took our time before ordering desert. The waitress recommended the chocolate and pistachio marquis, Mrs C and I are both fans of pistachio so we ordered one, I had also noticed that they did a chocolate fondant with pistachio so I ordered that as well and we planned to share washed down with a bottle of Hungarian desert wine. The fondant was superb but we were a little disappointed with the marquis which was a touch too dry. Our waitress asked how our deserts were and when I mentioned that the marquis was a little dry she immediately apologised and said she would deduct it from the bill. I told her there was really no need but she insisted. A true example of outstanding customer service.

We finished with a cheese plate which again did not disappoint. We asked for a liqueurs list but it never arrived. In all honesty we both forgot we had asked and a little while later we asked a different waitress for our bill. Then the waitress we had asked for the liqueurs list came back and advised they did not have a list but asked us what we wanted. We said we had asked for our bill now so would leave it. It really didn’t matter at all and probably protected us from a hangover.

All in all I would rate this restaurant as outstanding whilst still having room for improvement, a more comprehensive wine list, a couple of extra decanters, and a list of available liqueurs would help the overall experience match the outstanding quality of the food and service.

So to bed, the room was lovely and warm so we immediately turned the knocking radiator off. A quick flick through the TV confirmed my fears that we were limited to Freeview and would not be able to look in on the Ashes where apparently we were trouncing Australia. They did have wireless broadband though so we were able to watch on Sky Player.

We had a wonderful night but were in for a rude awakening. That infernal plumbing was knocking again, clearly the room next door was occupied after all and they had turned their heating on, and who could blame them with the Siberian weather we were facing. It was however impossible to sleep. I phoned reception to complain and ask if perhaps the heating could be tuned off overnight. The man on the phone said he would look at our room rate for us and I advised him that a rate of zero would be appropriate. We checked out with Mark in the morning, I told him he needed to get the plumbing sorted out and without a word of apology he simply said it was being fixed on Monday.

So after less than eight hours of very disturbed sleep we went for breakfast. It was 9:50 on Sunday morning. A waitress making up tables advised that they stopped serving at 9:30, I was very surprised that they stopped so early on a Sunday and expressed my disappointment that they did not tell us that when we checked in. Now here is where thing went wrong, badly wrong. We now were experiencing a case study in how the rudeness and arrogance of a single staff member can do untold damage to a business.

Given they were fully aware of our disturbed night, great customer service would have been to show a little flexibility and make us some breakfast. Surely it was not beyond the capability of the numerous staff there. However, they were absolutely not prepared to do so, the waitress was just explaining that the chef had left when Mark interfered with “9:30 is our brand standard” and far from apologising insisted that we would have been told “as we always tell people breakfast ends at 9:30 when they check in”. When I assured him we had not been his response was “yes you were, and it was in your welcome pack in your room.” I was astonished, it was beyond belief that this man could be so badly trained and have such appalling customer service skills that he chose to call me a liar. Not just once but three times, after the first time I pointed out that he was calling me a liar and that surely he should just accept that we were not told and it was all just an unfortunate misunderstanding. But no, he was having an argument and he was damned determined to win, we were leaving, we were in the entrance hall en route to the car park but Mark had followed us still insisting we had been told. I lost my temper and shouted at him that he should stop. We were leaving and there was no need for him to persist in his allegations that we were liars. He once again repeated that we must have been told “as we always do.” I no longer just doubted his customer service skills but his mental capacity as we headed off in search of breakfast. He was now shouting “Get out, go now!” which was odd as we would have already left had he not followed us persisting in his obnoxious behaviour.

It was an entirely forgivable oversight that the lady on check in didn’t advise us of the breakfast times, and to be fair at no point had we asked and the onus was on us to do so. A simple sorry would have been enough, sure we would still have been a bit disappointed but that would have been the end of it.

Following the wonderful meal we would have been sure to return but I very much doubt if we now will. I asked Mark to get the manager to call me, we will see if he does. The contrast in service between the night and the day was as stark as the difference between... well... night and day I suppose.

"Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer"

2010-11-24T17:01:00.002Z

All sorts of insults were traded this afternoon before Godfrey Bloom UKIP MEP was thrown out of the European Parliament. Wonderful stuff.

It was supposed to have been a high-minded debate on the Irish collapse and the euro crisis but instead the talk in the European parliament today degenerated into a screaming match about goose-stepping Nazis, Spitfires and Adolf Hitler.

Cross-posted from Calling England

Ex-MPs: how Britain was conned into joining the 'Common Market'

2010-11-22T11:02:00.000Z

Thanks to James Goldsmith, we were spared the financial death throes that Eurozone members such as Ireland are now experiencing. We can only hope that the Euro is shredded by the markets, causing deadly fissures to appear in the EU façade and 'community'.

If Ireland takes IMF cash, it will largely be under the thumb of Britain - the country whose embrace Ireland could not wait to excape as it rushed to the bosom of the EU.

If Ireland takes Merkel's (expropriation) of EU cash, then it can expect to lose its sovereignty to the EU and would be forced to raise its corporation tax, thereby reducing its competitiveness.

If Ireland does a deal with Britain, it will be even more firmly yoked to Britain than it ever was - this time, via the serfdom which accompanies unpayable debt.

What a a fine mess they've made. If only they'd listened to us and not signed that blasted treaty.

In 2008, before the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, Eric Deakins, MP for Walthamstow West 1970-74, MP for Walthamstow 1974-87, and junior minister for Trade (1974-76) and the DHSS (1976-79) in Labour governments under Wilson and Callaghan respectively, witnessed and have spoken out against the dishonesty exhibited by a succession of leaders in committing Britain to the European Project.

Described are the aims of the Treaty of Rome, and how in subsequent years the process of integration into a European political entity has gradually been forced through, against the wishes and without the knowledge of the majority of British people.

Little by little, we are being roped in by the EU, aided and abetted by their new best friends, Cameron and Hague, who know a thing or two about twisting language to sound like the truth, so to disguise a cleverly crafted lie.

If we do not make a stand, Britain will be in the Euro one day - or in an incarnation of it, the end game being complete political union under an unelected body of totalitarian technocrats, who will transform Britain into an ex-nation of serfs. Except for the politicos, of course, who will be rewarded handsomely.

The copyright of the video below is held by the Campaign for an Independent Britain.

Ht tip: UKIPWebmaster

Ex-Labour MPs Nigel Spearing and Eric Deakins tell of how the British people were duped. They were both Members of UK Parliament at the time of Britain's entry into the 'Common Market' and witnessed how it was pulled off.(7-video autoplay).

Hat tip: Free Britain Blog

Cross-posted

Common Purpose Dirty Dozen Rogues' Gallery - an obloquy

2010-09-26T14:40:00.002+01:00

These people are common criminals and traitors who have conspired to corruptly abuse millions of pounds of public money.

There are insufficient words in the dictionary to adequately convey the opprobrium and censure that should be heaped upon these creatures.

http://www.stopcp.com/cpwhoswho.php

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How To Pick Between Milibands

2010-09-20T21:45:00.000+01:00

By Dan Bull

See more from Dan, Here and Here.

Common Purpose UK Mind Map

2010-09-18T10:40:00.001+01:00

Here is a mind map giving an overview of Common Purpose:

http://www.stopcp.com/cpmindmap.php

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In Case You Missed It

2010-09-16T14:03:00.002+01:00

The Paedophile & The Labour Politician

2010-09-12T13:04:00.000+01:00

Derek Sawyer

Convicted paeodophile Derek Slade, 61, escaped police for years using an alias with the knowledge of a Labour politician at the heart of Britain’s justice system. Derek Sawyer is a man who has acquired key positions on bodies running the capital’s police, magistrates and probation services. He represented all London’s councils on the Metropolitan Police’s public safety board and was made a trustee of two crime prevention youth charities, including Catch 22 – patron the Princess Royal. He is currently chair of the London Region Courts Board, which works with Her Majesty’s Courts Service to achieve effective and efficient administration of the courts.

Sawyer, former Labour leader of Islington Council, helped Slade maintain a fake identity after Slade was first convicted of abuse in the Eighties. The politician even set up a limited company – International British Educational Projects (IBEP) – with the paedophile that allowed him to work with vulnerable children under his false name with a fake CV and a reference. The pair have a connection that spans four decades.

Sawyer became a Labour councillor in Islington in 1982. Oddly, the ward he represented was St George’s – the same as the name of the school he and Slade founded. He took over the leadership of Islington Council from Margaret Hodge in 1992, when the media revealed that paedophiles had infiltrated all 12 of its children’s homes. Hodge took the flak for the scandal but the role of her successor also now demands closer scrutiny. Although a damning independent inquiry confirmed Islington had employed 26 alleged child pornographers and pimps, the council – now headed by Sawyer – had set its terms of reference and barred it from naming anyone. No one was ever arrested in the UK.

Read more at the link above. Keith Vaz is also mentioned (and there's other news about Vaz here).

Peter Tatchell: ‘While it may be impossible to condone paedophilia, it is time society acknowledged the truth that not all sex involving children is unwanted, abusive and harmful.’

There's a huge cover-up about this sort of behaviour amongst our politicians. Dunblane, Haut de la Garenne?

cross-posted

Change? What Change?

2010-09-10T09:16:00.002+01:00

Anyone who thought some semblance of sanity would return to government if they voted Conservative at the GE had better think again.

Last March I wrote about Mindspace, a discussion document prepared for the last government by the Institute for Government and signed off by the head of the civil service, Gus O'Donnell.

Cameron has a Behavioural Insight Team ('The Nudgers') on his staff and seems set to take up the policies advocated. We already know how keen he is on the 'Red Tory' theories of Phillip Blonde and this just confirms my worst suspicions.

This isn't what a government is for. The primary role of government is to represent the people and defend the nation (which they're spectacularly failing to do). As far as I can tell there is little difference between Labour nannying and Conservative nudging. LEAVE US ALONE!

The IfG, which has charitable status, has published a new report about increasing the effectiveness and accountability of quangos. The report starts from the premise that quangos are 'A Good Thing'. 'Nuff said!

Another indication that all's not well with the coalition comes from the Health Minister, Anne Milton, who has defended last year's £7m spend by the FSA on nannying adverts telling us what to eat - how to cook a turkey, eat an apple, drink water - HERE.

Cross-posted

Eye Tube - uncensored video space

2010-09-04T09:23:00.004+01:00

Fed up having your videos flagged on You Tube by the likes of SWP/UAF/Common Purpose?

Now there is an alternative to Youtube - Eye Tube.

You can put up videos without fear of having them removed.

http://eyetube.me/

Like this one:

What Has Europe... etc?

2010-08-27T18:56:00.003+01:00

Surprise, surprise, there's some disquiet within the EU at the moment; I don't know how these muppets ever thought such a project would work. For muppets read delusional and traitorous b@st@rds.

Poland isn't happy; the Czech Republic isn't happy; neither is Hungary nor Slovakia. And those are just the governments. Germany is squabbling with France over Sarkozy's proposal to create a designated EU humanitarian relief fund (The European Union Natural Disaster Rapid Relief Fund - EUNDRRF. Is anyone managing to keep track of all these abbreviations?)

I think the only government not making waves at the moment is our own - perhaps Cameron, like Blair, sees himself as a future President. Let's see what he does with the EU's proposal to raise the British contribution to their budget to £10.3bn by 2013.

EU Foreign Minister, Cathy Ashton, is to speak on behalf of the EU at the UN. Apparently Cameron won a 'concession' here - she'll only be allowed to speak in the General Council and not the Security Council. It always goes the same way - give a centimetre and they take a kilometre.

Speaking of kilometres, road pricing across Europe, "for the sake of the environment", seems to be on the cards but that shouldn't come as a surprise given the number of surveillance cameras already lining our roads.

I think I've already mentioned Italy's proposal to extend expulsion (aka deportation) to EU nationals as well as the Roma in France but it's worth repeating if only to draw attention to the way politicians play with words.

Scotland and Norway aren't too happy either. They're threatening Iceland with legal action over mackerel fishing rights.

It pays to riot in the EU says Evans-Pritchard and I think he has a point. Ireland, which abided by the rules, is paying more for its borrowings than Greece, which did not.

Thanks to Open Europe for this link. Five activists from the group Désobéissance Civile Belgique occupied a crane in the centre of Brussels to protest against the Lisbon Treaty, which they said "rejects the European member states and has been ratified without consulting the citizens". They attached a banner to the crane criticising the "antidemocratic movement" of the EU. They also argued that no referendum has been held on the euro and that EU President Herman Van Rompuy was elected without elections. Good for them - that's five more up a crane in Brussels than there are in Great Britain.

Open Europe also reports that the EU wants to set up a database to fight "radicalisation", noting that it should target not just terrorists, but also the far left, the far right, and anti-globalisation activists

My eye and Betty Martin "EU citizens favour stronger European economic governance. 75% of Europeans are in favour of giving the EU a stronger role in the co-ordination of member states' economic and budgetary policies."

The German Constitutional Court has strengthened the ECJ and Lisbon Treaty. "EU decisions may only be checked if European institutions seriously overstep their powers" . I wonder what 'Common Purpose' is in German?

This looks promising: 86m euros and 750 'citizens' could "launch a devastating cyber attack on the EU." It's time to raid the piggy-bank, folks.

Other Sources:
New Europe
Euractiv
EU Observer
Heise.de
Open Europe

Lest We Forget

2010-08-25T21:43:00.001+01:00

The Law Commission has just published a report recommending the repeal of "at least" 1500 of Labour's laws. They also recommend that no further crimes should go on to the statute book without Parliamentary scrutiny.

Most of the new offences were slipped into law on the say-so of quangocrats without being debated in Parliament, it found...
...Since Tony Blair came to power in 1997, the commission said, more than 3,000 such crimes had been created.
New crimes brought in since 1989 fill three volumes of the criminal law record, Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales, taking up 3,746 pages.
All the crimes established in the 637 years between 1351 and 1988 fill only one volume.

It's too early for celebrations - there's no word yet from the government about what it intends to do about this. The report confirms what many of us have been complaining about, that quangocrats and lobbyists make the rules and our waste-of-space MPs don't do their proper job of representing us. Shame on anyone who voted for a sitting MP without properly vetting their expenses and voting record first.

Source

You can have this for good measure too. It's a reminder about who have been the muppets here - clue: it wasn't Mandelson and it wasn't the Labour govt if their near-30% support is anything to go by:

Cross-posted

Reason for the Army intervention in Afghanistan

2010-08-16T12:04:00.001+01:00

The reason we are in Afghanistan. This is why the troops were sent in, at 2001.

The Opium Supply dropped to 7 hectares. ( from Wikipedia no less)

Of course how long has this trade been going on for? over 150 years, since before 1845, Look up Lord Palmerston, Queen Victoria and the Opium wars.

On July 27, 2000, the Taliban again issued a decree banning cultivation.[98] By February 2001, production had been reduced from 12,600 acres (51 km2) to only 17 acres (7 ha).[99] When the Taliban entered North Waziristan in 2003 they immediately banned cultivation and punished those who sold it.[citation needed]Another source claims opium production was cut back by the Taliban not to prevent its use but to increase its price, and thus increase the income of Afghan poppy farmers and tax revenue.[100]The Taliban's top drug official in Nangarhar, Mullah Amir Mohammed Haqqani, said the ban would remain regardless of whether the Taliban received aid or international recognition. "It is our decree that there will be no poppy cultivation. It is banned forever in this country," he said. "Whether we get assistance or not, poppy growing will never be allowed again in our country."[99]

Who buys the Afghani Crop? Someone must buy it,? And they must have a lot of power to influence what goes on

12600 hectares of Opium is sold to one or maybe two people/organisations, and those organisations have a vested interest in keeping that supply.

You can figure out who is behind it, by looking up the references shown about the Opium wars and Lord Palmerston.

The price of opium is related to the price of Gold, See the Hong Kong Market rates for 1977.

The Fear that Wilders is Right

2010-07-14T09:23:00.001+01:00

Crossposted from All Seeing Eye and very relevant because it directly affects the state of the nation.

An excellent FrontPage Symposium discussing the attitudes of people who hate Wilders mainly because if he is correct their whole cosy world would disintegrate.

It't not often an article comes with arecommended reading all the way through tag but this one certainly scores. A flavour:

"Today we witness the blatant desperation in our culture and media for a “moderate Islam” — an Islam that many non-Muslims vehemently insist exists, but that mysteriously eludes them. This moderate Islam will make everything better, we are told, once the “extremists,” who are the “minority” in Islam, will be sedated. This sedation will be most easily achieved, the argument continues, when the Islamophobes stop blaming Islam after Islamic terrorists point to Islamic scriptures in explaining what inspired them to perpetrate their terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, in terms of the planet that we happen to be occupying, a “moderate Islam” is nowhere to be found; no school of Islamic jurisprudence exists that counsels Muslims to renounce the Qur’an’s teachings on Islamic supremacism and the obligation of violent jihad. And yet, to suggest the truth of this reality in our culture gets one only the accusation of being a racist and an “Islamophobe.”

Head over here for some good reading.

For Ed Fraser Senior Programme Editor Channel 4 News online

2010-07-13T22:29:00.001+01:00

From the Twitter account of http://twitter.com/karthikeygandhi
@frasereC4 dvlpd 5 years ago, http://is.gd/dqO9Q http://is.gd/dqO7J It was only a matter of time before the Police force got them here -
@frasereC4 In fact I would have expected them to have arrived by about mid 2008, to tie in with the Civil contingencies act,14 minutes ago via web in reply to frasereC4@frasereC4 and with the EU police powers that that entailed the current police force to use that kind of force, It comes as no surprise that14 minutes ago via web in reply to frasereC4his weapon has finally been used in Britain. Let me tell you something about ACPO people They do not know what is going on13 minutes ago via web have spoken to the commissioning officer of bedfordshire police, He was completely clueless. The person who commissions the surveysPeter somebody, They have no idea because they are unaware of EU law and the statutory instruments that affect the police force at the11 minutes ago via webcurrent time, The whole thing is a shambles. Just imagine if three people like Mr Moat had done the same thing in three different areas -11 minutes ago via webat exactly the same time, One on Dartmoor, One in the Highlands of Scotland and Moat in Northumberland, The poor police force would be10 minutes ago via webhaving Kittens, We already have the words of that officer who said Well hes not going to be coming down the high street, and yet he did thatliterally 4 hours later. Frankly most people in Britain yourself included have no idea what is happening. You have to have some kind ofsixth sense, & a keen eye to pick up such stuff.My Grandfather was head of CID 4 20 million people, as well as being a High Court Barrister for the British in Punjab Pre partition, I.e. the Whole of Punjab under the British. Time to wake up You have had the wool pulled over your
eyes, for so long that you are like the frog in the warm water and dont know until you get boiled, Granpa was also head of CID for Himachal Pradesh
Thankfully my mother god rest her soul used to warn me about Black money I never understood what she meant but now I do. There is corruption that runs through the highest strata of society, The tea clippers didn't just carry tea They carried opium, Follow the money , Same with the modern day heroin trail, Find the acetic anhydride manufacturers and where the heroin routes cross and you have your pushers, BP is one of the most prolific consumers of acetic anhydride which is needed for heroin production, It gets shipped here in TIR lorries,from Bulgaria I find it completely amazing that the head editor for Channel 4 is unaware Instead of me typing several twitter messages why dont you ask me to meet you and explain in full gory detail.? Im perfectly happy 2 share this information with U. Follow me & DM an email I live in London

Conflicting Press Reports

2010-06-15T14:49:00.001+01:00

Every day there are a few articles across all the papers about what's happening in the EU and every day brings a contradiction on policy.

Yesterday it was reported that Germany had bowed to France's demand that there be no treaty changes to allow for the eurozone bail-outs and new economic "governance" but today's articles report Sarkozy has said that treaty changes will be necessary after all and that progress towards economic government of all the 27 eurostates should be strengthened.

Ms. Merkel agreed that Europe needs more integrated "economic government"—a French phrase that Germany has long resisted—while Mr. Sarkozy accepted that such coordination should take place mainly at the level of the 27-country European Union, and not, as France has insisted up to now, among the smaller circle of 16 countries that share the euro.

The rumours about a Spanish bailout persist:

In the meantime, Spain admitted that the European financial crisis is taking a toll on the country's banks, with foreign banks refusing to lend to some. Spanish Treasury Secretary Carlos Ocana admitted officially for the first time that some Spanish banks faced a liquidity freeze in the interbank market and said the government was working to restore confidence.

There's more trouble ahead for Greece as another ratings agency, Moody's, followed S&P's lead last month and downgraded their sovereign debt to junk level. No wonder the EU is talking about creating their own credit ratings agency!

Almost three-quarters of investors recently polled by Bloomberg News said they believed Greece would default on its debt payments. Greece's budget cuts and ailing economy are unlikely to generate enough wealth to meet interest payments, investors say. The Greek prime minister George Papandreou also faces internal turmoil, as civil servants and public sector benefit holders radically oppose the fiscal tightening.

Since he hasn't had his name in the papers for, ooh, at least 24hrs, Barroso has grabbed some more headlines by saying that some countries in Europe could be headed for "military coups" . Who better to rescue them from themselves than the incredibly open and democratic EU? At least any popular uprisings will give EuroGendFor a chance to test its strengths.

Mr Barroso’s warning lays bare the concern at the highest level in Brussels that the economic crisis could lead to the collapse of not only the beleaguered euro, but the EU itself, along with a string of fragile democracies.

And this farcical Franco-German political, economic and military construct is what Cameron & Co want to ally us with.

Cross-posted

The New Govt & Our Armed Forces

2010-06-11T11:59:00.003+01:00

It's hard to be completely objective about the outcome of Cameron's visit to the troops in Afghanistan but I get the impression he was more welcomed than Brown ever was. Like the rest of us, the Forces are listening to the words and waiting to see the follow-through action but there is a sense of optimism that, this time, it might be different.

Blair and Brown blithely sent the country to war with no thought for manpower, funding or equipment and then when problems arose, they lied and covered-up, thinking of their own political reputations and their 'legacies' rather than the welfare of our troops. Even the ineffectual Bollox Bob Ainsworth has decided the coast is clear enough for him to come out and criticise past defence policies.

I doubt Cameron & Co will go down the same route and so far he's made some encouraging noises.

"That is why we came here. That is why we cleared away those training camps. If we left tomorrow, those training camps could come back tomorrow, because today the Afghans aren't yet ready to look after their own security. As soon as they are ready – and you are helping to train them to be ready – then we can leave and go home."

Something else would help too and that's the Afghanis themselves. If, instead of leaving their country and letting someone else fight their wars, they stayed & played a more positive role in cleaning up their politics, getting rid of the warlord mentality and building the foundations of a modern state, we'd all be out of there a lot quicker. It's time to sort out the bumper poppy harvests too and stop the drugs trafficking. If GMO crops are such a wonderful blessing for mankind then let Monsanto plant up Afghanistan with them, for free, as a humanitarian gesture to replace the poppy fields and give the farmers a living wage.

There still seems to be confusion over a British role in clearing Taliban-infested Kandahar. Depending which paper you read and which day of the week it is, we're either going or we're not. The latest is we're not but we might be. The Sec of State for Defence, Liam Fox, says we're not but US Gen Stanley McChrystal is hinting we might. He's also laying the ground for a longer stay in Afghanistan than any British politician wants.

Speaking at a NATO meeting in Brussels, he said: "I do think that it will happen more slowly than we had originally intended. It's more important we get it right than we get it fast."
He said he would know by the end of the year "whether it's progressing", but added: "I don't know whether we'll know whether it is decisive."

One thing Cameron should do asap is speak to Obama - not about his unhelpful BP rhetoric - but about this: US calls again for UK/Argentina talks. The sovereignty of the Falklands is non-negotiable and it's about time Obama showed the quality of statesmanship we expect from the USA. Cameron really should have nipped this one in the bud by now.

Cross-posted

Middle East Build-up

2010-06-06T20:11:00.001+01:00

From Iraq to Syria from Diego Garcia to Iran and from Turkey to Israel, a nasty picture is emerging. One by one, events are taking place that seem destined for an inevitable confrontation in the Middle East.

Since 2003, when no WMD were found in Iraq, there has always been speculation that they'd been sent to Syria. Now it seems there are satellite photos which support that assertion.

Turkey also seems to be positioning itself with PM Erdogan making all kinds of war-like noises. Not only is he preparing another flotilla to challenge Israel's blockade, to be escorted by armed Turkish warships, but he's apparently said he himself might be on board.

The prime minister's office in Ankara is forking out millions of dollars to the IHH (Insani Yardim Vakfi), the Istanbul-based terrorist group linked to al Qaeda and Hamas, with orders to purchase 8-10 large ships for a formidable fleet to challenge the Israeli Navy and its enforcement of the 20-mile blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The PM has also

... shored up his intelligence ranks ahead of his planned showdown with Israel, replacing professional directors for the first time in modern Turkish history with civilians, radical Muslims close to him personally.

Erdogan has also built up Turkey's forces in Northern Cyprus but was apparently warned off from accompanying the last Gaza flotilla by Obama and Sarkozy. Perhaps he sees himself as another Ataturk, father of his people? Something's definitely going on with him but there are better, more peaceful ways he can get his name into the history books.

Two footnotes: Turkey still carries out human rights violations against the Kurds and Cameron's Conservatives still want Turkey in the EU.

UPDATE: With thanks to Ian P-J in the comments, for the latest news: Iran is also offering to provide military escorts

"Iran's Revolutionary Guards naval forces are fully prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys to Gaza with all their powers and capabilities," Ali Shirazi, Khamenei's representative inside the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.

Cross-posted

A musical interlude

2010-05-30T21:13:00.001+01:00

Yes I know its not the usual kind of thing on here but it is just beautiful

The Road To Ruination

2010-05-26T09:40:00.000+01:00

What a scam all this is:

The EU will introduce a 'surprise' (aka hitherto secret) new plan today to combat global warming, committing Britain and the rest of the EU to the most ambitious targets in the world. The plan proposes a massive increase in the target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in this decade.

The EC is determined to press ahead with the cuts despite the financial meltdown, even though it would require Britain and other EU member states to impose far tougher financial penalties on their industries than are being considered by other large economies.

Business leaders fear that thousands of jobs could be lost and energy bills could soar. Carbon taxes on road fuel, heating and other sources of emissions could be introduced, with proceeds reinvested in renewable energy products.

The possibility of trade wars also rears its head with the suggestion that EU industries could be protected by imposing border tariffs on imported goods from non-EU countries with less stringent emission controls. The tariffs would be introduced with a requirement for importers to buy emissions permits. Free trade my ar*se - the EU is a protectionist bloc.

The EU Climate Commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, is also under pressure to explain her failure to close the loophole which has allowed alleged fraudsters to make millions of euros through the EU's emissions trading scheme. She had apparently been informed about the fraudsters targeting the Danish carbon industry in August 2009, but had said she didn't know about the fraud until December 2009.

In so-called missing trader fraud, bogus traders open an account in a national carbon registry, buy emissions allowances in one EU country VAT-free and sell them on with VAT added. The trader pockets the VAT without paying it to the national exchequer and the trader goes "missing".

Meanwhile more detail is emerging of the LibServatives' Energy Bill, including a 'smart' energy grid and a dedicated investment bank which, for householders, will mean more borrowing, more debt, more taxes, more monitoring, higher energy bills.

I'd argue that greater damage is done by corporations through deforestation and subsequent species loss but what equivalent 'trading' scheme can tptb invent that will tax the ordinary person while letting the real culprits off the hook? The smallest examples of this are charging shoppers for unrecyclable plastic carrier bags and for recycling the supermarkets' own wasteful packaging. They always hit the ones at the bottom of the food chain.

One More Time

2010-05-21T19:29:00.002+01:00

What has the European Union done for us?

The BBC gives us news about the EU:

In all the hoo-ha about the euro and the EU the German FM, Guido Westerwelle, responded to an attack on Merkel by saying: "It doesn't matter whether you think Ms. Merkel is terrible or whether you think I'm terrible. It's about whether Europe will stand or fall!"

German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, presented his proposals for moves towards an 'economic government' and said, "We won't make it without amendments to the existing treaties. I know many other countries are sceptical."

Former Italian PM and Commission President Romano Prodi: [This is] "a very important step towards the gradual creation of a European fiscal federalism....Combining the resources of the eurozone countries and the Commission with those of the European Central Bank is a step beyond the stability and growth pact. I therefore consider the recent decisions made in Brussels as a very important step towards the gradual creation of a European fiscal federalism."

Jean-François Copé, President of the UMP party in the French Parliament, said, "I said to him, you know David, I know the euroscepticism of your party, but let me tell you something...We need you. We need you for Europe...I hope this sentence has been kept in his mind."

I wonder if Cameron will be able to resist the flattery and blandishments of the EU - none of his predecessors has.

The first sight of Cameron's cojones

It's good to see Cameron taking NATO to task over Afghanistan. The coalition is hardly balanced when the USA and the UK bear the brunt of the burden. He also had something to say on the state of the euro and Britain's position - am I hoping too much that it's a case of softly, softly? I just wonder who the monkeys will be:

What Cameron had to say on the Kandahar/Helmand split:

My Goat's Been Got

2010-05-19T16:17:00.004+01:00

The long grass of democracy

I'd hoped that this coalition would grow on me. I was waiting for the action, not the words because we all know that words mean only what the politicians want them to mean - see Clegg's sudden discovery that what the Libdems and the Conservatives meant by 'Big Society' were the the same thing after all and that they really shouldn't have been arguing about it in the run-up to the election, oh goodness me no, we're all friends now.

I didn't like Clegg before and I like him even less now. He's an in-the-pocket, paid-for, dyed-in-the-wool EU f/wit and that, by extension, means he doesn't tell the truth. Like all British politicians over the decades he doesn't tell the truth about the government stance on the EU; the government pursue their own agenda for their own reasons while telling the people that it doesn't really mean anything and to go back to sleep and not worry our little heads about it - this is big boys' stuff. I wonder what successive generations of politicians have been promised in return for selling the country down the river? I wonder if Ted Heath died a happy man?

The other thing I don't like about Clegg is how he seems to have taken over Carswell and Hannan's idea of the Grand Repeal Bill for himself and his Party so they will get any kudos if (big 'if') anything of any consequence is actually repealed.

Cameron was weak in Opposition and he's weak now - a strong leader of the Conservative Party, sure of his position and a true belief in the principles of the Party, wouldn't have been so quick to fall into bed with a bunch of eco-internationalists who retain a belief in social engineering and wealth redistribution.

The only thing the LibServatives agree on is that Labour's repressive laws have gone too far and need rolling back. I'll eat my red hat if they do anything about RIPA or the Civil Contingencies Act and as for the Human Rights Act which the Conservatives repeatedly pledged to repeal and put in their election manifesto, well, we can forget that too. I wouldn't count on changes to the Digital Economy Bill or anti-terror legislation either. As for cctv, they're not actually taking any of them down they're just saying that any more must be paid for by local councils and that any revenue from them will now be forwarded to central government.

Am I cynical? You bet. I have more faith in the new Home Secretary, Theresa May, when she says they're considering repealing Labour's 24-hr licensing laws and taking the decision whether to prosecute or not away from the CPS and giving it back to the Police. Whoever thought that 24-hr drinking would make the British adopt 'a European cafe culture' should be sectioned.

One other point is that all these 'little nudges' from the Red Tories and the Red LibDems will bring is into line (or, if you prefer, 'harmony') with the grand concept of the EU. Layer upon layer of bureaucracy with everything driven by 'localism' but all that does is drive actual, real power away from the people to an unelected body in Brussels. Nothing will get rid of the fact that we are ruled from Brussels, whether we elect our Police Chiefs or not, or have local petitions about our MP. I've written before about the likes of Hannan and Carswell being 'useful idiots' - I'd rather not believe it but when their ideas dovetail nicely with the overall scheme for the EU, you can't really blame me.

I've just remembered something else. Who remembers when Clegg said that the Conservative Party in Europe was allied to a bunch of 'nutters and homophobes' since it left the EPP?

The leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, wants to abolish the nation state. He wants a 'United States of Europe' - taking over responsibility for justice and security policy, taxation and creating 'a European army'. The LibDems are also in bed with the Feminist Initiative from Sweden - one of the party's policies is to abolish marriage and create ' genderneutral' names. Then we have the Latvians - one of its leaders equated gays to paedophiles and the party regards homosexuals as 'degenerates'. By Clegg's own reasoning he's not only nutty and homophobic but hypocritical too. I wonder how long it will be before Cameron's Conservatives re-join the EPP?

The upshot of all this is that no, I'm not applauding Clegg or Cameron.

References:
Panem et circenses - vote for an English Anthem
Telegraph - Clegg: tell us what should be scrapped
Guardian - Clegg: democracy shake-up
Daily Mail - Clegg: Human Rights Act
Daily Mail - Clegg: Grand Reform Act
Guardian - Theresa May speaking to the Police Federation
Old Andrew Pierce article

Office of Budget Responsibility needs watching

2010-05-18T10:08:00.002+01:00

The US 'Office of Management and Budget' has been mirrored recently by the UK government as 'OBR' - Office of Budget Responsibility.

The Office of Management and Budget is basically the power in the US government. They write the budgets for government but more important than that, the IT Directors for the agencies of government report to OMB. That's where they derive their power. They control the computer systems. Note: They call the IT Directors 'Chief Information Officers' (CIO).

Here is the Wiki description but they describe the OMB in such dry terms that you don't really get the idea of how much power they wield:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget

Here is the Organization Chart for the OMB:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/about_omb/omb_org_chart.pdf

Extrapolate that globally. The UK sets up the same organizational structure. France sets up the same. Germany the same and so on.

That's the real 'New World Order'. Below the surface, an administrative layer of technocrats who design and implement government systems harmonized and networked globally.

Technocratic Coup:

http://www.channelingreality.com/Digital_Treason/technocratic_coup.htm

I wondered what the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) was really for.

Another department that needs watching.

German Marks re-printed in preparation for collapse of the Euro?

2010-05-16T22:44:00.000+01:00

(Click to enlarge)

The collapse of the Euro has been predicted by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard for some time, and now, speculation (pardon pun) is gathering pace as people begin to grasp that the massive Greek bailout is but a mere sticking plaster. It merely buys time.

Most pundits (Bob Chapman amongst them) believe that the Euro is toast and that Greece will never be able to repay its debts, even if its loans are restructured.

Germany would be hit harder than any other nation, should Greece default - or any of the PIGS, and for this reason, there is speculation that it has begun printing German Marks.

Related:

German windfall profits from exiting the Euro

Cross-posted

And so it begins

2010-05-14T15:55:00.002+01:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8682174.stm

Here are the first signs that the culling of the middle class is upon us, You will be next unless you speak up
Doctors, along with lawyers and other freelance, middle-class professionals, have been accused of fuelling Greece's black economy by failing to give receipts and under-declaring income.
It is time to disappear.... and plot against the evil in the world

The Truth

2010-05-13T16:13:00.000+01:00

"A truth’s initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed. It wasn’t the world being round that agitated people but that the world wasn’t flat.

When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic." ~ Dresden James

Brown out at least

2010-05-12T13:25:00.002+01:00

Another Sneaky Power Grab By The EU

2010-05-12T08:04:00.001+01:00

EU seeks more powers over national finances

While everyone here has been getting into a blather about proportional representation and who 'won' or 'lost' the election our EU colleagues have been busy working out how to take over even more control of our national destinies.

At this rate there won't be any point having general elections because all the important decisions will be made by a bunch of unelected foreigners in Brussels.

It's called being 'progressive'.

Let us Pray

2010-05-12T04:42:00.000+01:00

Wherever you are Pray

We need to do Gandhiji's solution to being taken over by the corporate interests and the imperialistic attitudes of the new empire and the corrupt empire

Get your salt from the sea, Make your clothes from homespun hempen fibre that you have guerilla planted in every highway, byway ,public park, every grass verge every waste bit of ground, so that the whole place reeks of hemp

Do not plant it on your own land, use theirs and green the land, green this pleasant land and build Jerusalem

Plant it on your enemies lands, plant it in secret places, plant it where the sheeple cannot see it

Do not falter, Do not stop, do not give up until we have builded Jerusalem in this green and pleasant land

++Brown Out Labour Out now on Facebook++

2010-05-09T20:42:00.002+01:00

A bit low-tech, but never mind....

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brown-Out-Labour-Out/117816668251252

I'm off to Brown's house to hand in a postcard

2010-05-09T09:00:00.001+01:00

Gordon Brown, 21 Ferryhills Road, North Queensferry, Inverkeithing, Fife KY11 1HE

BROWN OUT, LABOUR OUT

- 71% of voters: anti-Brown, anti-Labour
- No chance of a stable majority coalition
- 36% of voters want Cameron:
-- more than the 2005 Labour vote
- Only legitimate options for government:
-- Con/Lib coalition or Con minority

- Brown and Labour - no democratic mandate

I would have posted it, but he's in today, so too good an opportunity to pass by...let's see if the cops let me hand it in or agree to pass it on.

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Brown out at least

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++Brown Out Labour Out now on Facebook++

I'm off to Brown's house to hand in a postcard