SpyBlog - Great Leap Forward into into a Surveillance Police Nanny State - whilst revolution is plotted publicly

The always excellent Spyblog reports on , "A flurry of repressive Labour government Secondary Legislation passes unnoticed by the mainstream media and opposition politicians"

This was the publication on the last day of the Parliamentary session of the next Great Leap Forward into into a Surveillance Police Nanny State . The old NuLabour trick of "burying the bad news" in a flurry of announcements which overwhelm the limited analytical resources of the mainstream media(? Hmmmm.) and the opposition political parties - by micro-meddling Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

A host of meddlesome intrusions and also Statutory Instrument 2007 No. 2184
The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2007
Made 24th July 2007 - Coming into force 25th July 2007
Which apparently bans obscure Islamist lunatic fringe groups i.e."Jammat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh" (JMB)(website website Jihadunspun.com of West Vancouver, Canada. ) and "Tehrik Nefaz-e Shari'at Muhammadi." (TNSM)

"TNSM’s objective is the militant enforcement of sharia law in Pakistan. There is significant evidence that it regularly attacks coalition soldiers and Afghan Government forces in Afghanistan. It provides direct support to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and is believed to have been behind an attack on a Pakistani military base in November 2006, which killed 42 personnel." Hansard 10 July 2007 : Column 1370 Tony McNulty

Who went on to say - as is his style...

"The proscription of those two groups (JMB and TNSM) will support our international partners in disrupting terrorist activity by making the UK a hostile environment for terrorists and their supporters. It will also send the strong message to terrorists that the UK is not willing to tolerate terrorism either here or anywhere else in the world.

However, Spyblog points out there is Still No Ban on the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan despite all the civilian and British military casuaties they are causing. Banning the Taliban would allow for the arrest of the fanatical idiots who raise money and go to Pakistan to join up with the Taliban to fight against British troops.

Neither is there a ban on any Chechen terrorist groups. Many supported and funded in London by the exiled Terrorists like Boris Berezovsky, who unlike Mr Mohammed Fayed have British Citizenship and can rely upon the Government to resist his extradition to certain death in Russia for attempting the violent overthrow of the State - which he regularly and publicly states is his objective.

"The Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has told the Guradian he is plotting the violent overthrow of President Putin from his base in Britain after forging close contacts with members of Russia's ruling elite." Guradian Friday April 13, 2007

"We need to use force to change this regime," he said. "It isn't possible to change this regime through democratic means. There can be no change without force, pressure." Asked if he was effectively fomenting a revolution, he said: "You are absolutely correct."

Picture of Groszny

Malcolm and Barbara: Love's Farewell - Newsnight review

BBC2 Newwsnight Review (video) is the weekly opportunity for metropolitan culture groupies to visit their views on us rustic and suburban mortals. (Newsnight have ceased their podcasts - it was part of a trial they now say) This week the review team was Tristram Hunt, Tony Parsons, Kerry Shayle and Natalie Haynes whose first review was of " Malcolm and Barbara: Love's Farewell" what ring mistress Martha Kearney irritatingly, and incorrectly called a "controversial film" by Paul Watson.

Evidently we are in for a tough time at 9pm on Wednesday August 8 (ITV1) when this heavily trailed film absorbs us for 90 minutes in the 11 year struggle of Barbara to love and cherish her husand Malcolm as he descends into the terminal hell for both him and his family of Alzheimer's. “Alzheimer’s is not seen as an illness,” says Barbara. “We all get a bit forgetful as we get older, and so on. And it’s minimized."

Tony Parson's sensibly dismissess the PR "controversy" in an unwise and clumsy metaphor as a "storm in a skinny latte cup" and admits it's "a tough watch", Shayler says it's "heartbreaking and heartrending" and Tristram Hunt says it's" wrenching to watch".

As to the alleged scenes of death, Kerry Shayle caps any stupid and pointless argument .." We are all grown ups here..we know the film has been edited".

Natalie Haynes is described as a stand up comic - as a sit down critic she managed to contribute absolutely nothing to the understanding of the film or add in any way to the debate. (about this film or any other item)

As a much needed antidote it might be worth considering the genial view of elderly absent mindedness which we unwisely associate with Alzheimers, which Tony Parson's grimly reminds us that in what the film calls "the scourge of the 21st century", which with an older ageing population this film faces an, "uncomfortable truth".

Rainy summers drive me indoors to dip (yet again) into the Wodehouse chronicles of Blandings .. this time Lord Emsworth ( a non too distant relative of Lord Patel it seems in this case) is faced with his 12 year old nephew whose (mis)use of an airgun has caused the "blister" Baxendale to receive one on his posterior...

" Like so many men advancing into the sere and yellow of advancing life, Lord Emsworth had an eccentric memory. It was not to be trusted an inch as far as the events of yesterday or the day before were concerned . Even in the small matter of a hat which he had laid down somewhere five minutes ago it was nearly always useless. But by way of compensation for this it was a perfect encyclopedia on the remote past. It rendered his boyhood an open book to him.

Lord Emsworth mused on his boyhood. Happy days. Happy days."

Knowitalz.com is an Alzheimer carers blog from N. Carolina looking after her dad. Take a look. A dutiful daughter manages to inject some earthy humour into an unwelcome task.

Bloody endgame in Zim as Army / Security services lose take control

It is increasingly evident that the Army are in control / on the rampage in large parts of Zim.

Karoi Farm in Headlands, Manicaland province is now occupied by Brigadier General Mujaji. *** (pic) It was seized soldiers allegedly taking orders from a brigadier-general who illegally grabbed a farm there in February. Vice President Joseph Msika has given an order to vacate which has been ignored . The farm owner Charles Lock secured a High Court order in his favour but the police who went to effect it were sent packing by the soldiers who are now guarding the farm. (Manical land is homeland of former Finance Minister, Dr Simba Makoni, who hails from Manicaland Province and is widely spoken of as the presidential chice of Retired General Tapfumaneyi Rex Solomon Mujuru, the first commander of the Zimbabwe National Army selected by Mugabe in 1980 when he arrived in triumph from Mozambique.)

Lock's MP is also Security Minister, thug, bully boy Didymus Mutasa who simply refered it to Provincial Governor Tinaye Chigudu, who pushed it onwads and upwards to Msika.

It is claimed Court documents show that the Brigadier has 'cocked his weapon' each time the police havevisited. Vice President Msika is quoted sayin g in his defence "The policy ocument (on land) didn't say all white farmers should be chased out. I am not a racist and I refuse to be racist.'

There are other reports of senior officers forcefully evicting families. It is being said that this is not free lance State looting but Mugabe / Mengistu is trying to involve the army as part of a crazy last ditch, 'command agriculture' programme. This is claimed to be Chinese in origin but the Army generals do not need to import the idea of theft from the Far East.

More likely is the either the consolidation of power through rewarding his cronies in the military and security services or again they are exploiting the weaknesses of a declining sovereign.

Mujuru has however overseen the careful introduction of army staff in important civilian roles. The Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, was previously an intelligence officer in the army. He had worked with Justin Mupamhanga, the permanent secretary for Energy and Power Development , not ex military he was a senior officer of the Central Intelligence Organisation.

The Ministry of Energy and Power Development is led by Retired Lieutenant-General Michael Reuben Nyambuya. Retired Brigadier-General Ambrose Mutinhiri heads the Ministry of Youth Development and Employment Creation. Retired Lt.-Colonel Hubert Magadzire Nyanhongo is the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications. Justice George Chiweshe, who is a High Court judge as well as chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, is a former advocate-general in the Zimbabwe National Army. He was responsible for court-martials. Retired Colonel Christian Katsande heads the Ministry of Industry and International Trade as permanent secretary. Even Zimbabwe's Ambassador to Cuba is a Retired Major General, His Excellency Jevan Maseko.

Outside Government Air-Commodore Mike Karakadzai is general manager of the decaying National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) whose chairman is Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba is still a serving officer. In stead of a career prison oficer the Commissioner of Prisons is Retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi.

The corrupt, loss making Grain Marketing Board was run by Retired Colonel Samuel Muvuti a career cut short when he was suspended after being arrested on allegations of defrauding the parastatal of close to US$1 million.

The endgame is rapidly unfolding.

****
Brigadier General Justin Itayi Mujaji is an ex-combatant of the war of liberation of Zimbabwe. Currently he is serving in the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) as Director General in charge of Planning and Programmes at ZDF HQ. Brigadier General Mujaji is a holder of an MBA degree as well as a BSc (Honours) Economics degree from the University of Zimbabwe. He is also CIS qualified and is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators in Zimbabwe. He is a Commissioner with the Sports and Recreation Commission.

Bridge / Tunnel / Dollar Collapse ?

The American Society of Structural Engineers (ASCE) have a website which every US citizen and tax payer should visit. It also helps you keep up to date on the Minneapolis Bridge Collapse ;

"As of 2003, 27.1% of the nation's bridges (160,570) were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, an improvement from 28.5% in 2000. In fact, over the past 12 years, the number of bridge deficiencies has steadily declined from 34.6% in 1992 to 27.1% in 2003. The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) strategic plan states that by 2008, less than 25% of the nation's bridges should be classified as deficient. If that goal were met, 1 in 4 bridges in the nation would still be deficient. There were 590,750 bridges in the United States in 2000; however, one in three urban bridges (31.2% or 43,189) was classified as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, much higher than the national average. In contrast, 25.6% (118,381) of rural bridges were classified as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete."

".......The annual investment required to prevent the bridge investment backlog from increasing is estimated at $7.3 billion. Present funding trends of state departments of transportation call into question future progress on addressing bridge deficiencies......

Adding to these problems is the inability of the Administration and Congress to reauthorize the nation's Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21), which has now had six extensions since the program expired on September 30, 2003. The progress made in the TEA-21, which authorized $218 billion for the nation's highway and transit programs in 2001, is beginning to slip as America continues to shortchange funding for much-needed road and bridge repairs. etc., etc., "

Mean while Dubya is keeping Congress back in school until they pass a law allowing him to do anything he fucking well wants ....

Coming soon ... to a bridge, tunnel, subway, near you.

Oh! By the way the Big Dig collapse pictured above killing 38 year old Milena Delvalle, ... ?

The National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency responsible for investigating transportation accidents, (except 9/11) found that the accident was caused by inferior quality building materials, sloppy work on the part of the construction firms (Gannett Fleming, Inc., and Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff ) , and carelessness on the part of the local highways department, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

"I don't think anyone can feel the tunnels are safe, given what happened this morning," said Gov. Mitt Romney

Detroit share of US auto market shrinks below 50% - bridge crumbles in sympathy

"US manufacturing industry has failed to understand and react to a rapidly changing world. Emboldened by the strident, pre-emptive, transformational world of the Bush imperialist gang, exporting by force of arms and bribery their distorted vision of democracy, their own has been disembowelled. "

GM makes you sick 18/3/05

For the first time ever, the US automakers market share in their homemarket fell below 50% in July.

Leading number crunchers on the auto industry Jesse Toprak, of Edmunds.com automotive Jeff Schuster, of J.D. Power and Associates, both reveal this revealing benchmark today.
Sales trackers Autodata Corp., also says the retail market share controlled by Chrysler Group, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. at 49.5 % and that includes their import brands, Saab, Volvo, Land Rover and Jaguar (both up for sale) . Nissan sales are up 4.2 % so far this year.

In July GM sales slumped 22.3% (down 9.4% for the year so far) compared with '06 Ford declined 19.1 percent (down 12.2 percent for the year) and Chrysler fell 8.4 percent (sales fell 9.1 percent so far)

Detroit boosters say, well that's fine but it doesn't include bulk sales for rental companies and fleet sales. Everyone knows there is no profit in rental sales and in deed Ford are planning to cut sales into that market by 30%

They also point to the BIG 3 Detroit makers reliance on trucks which they claim make 30% of their sales compared , say with Toyota at 5%.

The US domestic motor manufacturing business is being eclipsed. Gas prices rise (with zero prospect of it falling soon or indeed ever) and they continue to turn out overweight, gas guzzlers whose engine design / fuel efficiency / build quality is 20 years behind the rest of the world.

This is what the Huffington Post lead on after the twin Cities Interstate Bridge Disaster and what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada has to say.

22/7 Sir Ian Blair told lies from the start to the IPCC

Stockwell 2 report. Sec 1:4 Page 4
"At 10:50hrs, in a telephone conversation, the Commissioner (Sir I Blair) told Nick Hardwick, the Chair of the IPCC, “we’ve now shot somebody, I think dead, who refused to respond to anything that we were asking him to do”. He added “I’ve got three more potential suicide bombers out there..."

Soon after this conversation the Commissioner wrote to Sir John Gieve, the
Permanent Secretary at the Home Office which confirmed the shooting and telling him that he had warned off the IPCC.

At this time .....

1. Sir Ian Blair had been told of the shooting and that the man was he thought dead ,a reasonable assumption with 7 - 13 bullets in his head fired at point blank range. It is evident that he had also been told that the dead man, "who refused to respond to anything that we were asking him to do" which was a lie he was happy to retail in the full knowledge it was a lie or to leave the truth of the statement personally untested.

2. The number of wanted "potential suicide bombers" was now down from 4 to 3, Nick Hardwick could therefore reasonably assume that the dead (?) victim of the Met's sharpshooters was one of the potential suicide bombers.

Would it be unreasonable for Nick Hardwick to assume that the Commissioner when talking to the Chairman of the IPCC and the most Senior Home Office official had checked and verified personally the accuracy of the information provided to him ?

Presumably a lowly News desk Editor would ask of his informant supplied with the same information on the day would have demanded further proof, of death, identity, method, photographs etc.,

That the Commissioner was only speaking to an audience of one is not important , it must surely be his duty to ensure that all information he provides is both accurate and has his personal authority to substantiate it.

Either the Commissioner is lying - which is certainly true, despite his repeated and implacable denials in public today, or he is massively incompetent and believes any fucking thing his officers tell him.

Either way he should go.

As for Hayman and Clarke, it has long been evident that they are stupid, incompetent, dishonest racist liars ad should have been sacked years ago.

Actionable intelligence - Obama and Hillary, an elusive quality

"We have to have a much smarter relationship with Pakistan and the military of Pakistan to build credibility and support for their taking the actions that only they can take within their own country. But clearly we have to be prepared.... if we had actionable intelligence that Osama bin Laden or other high-value targets were in Pakistan I would ensure that they were targeted and killed or captured."

Hillary Clinton / American Urban Radio News Networks / Wednesday 1/8/07

"If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will.... There must be no safe-haven for terrorists who threaten America. We cannot fail to act because action is hard."

Barrack Obama / Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars / Wednesday 1/8/07

If you remember, good old Dubya couldn't even remember who Gneral Musharrif was so this must represent some sort of improvement in the level of geographical understanding of US Presidential candidates.

Paul Watson superb film maker, journalist and friend

Lord Patel is both a shareholder in ITV and a lifelong friend of Paul Watson. Paul was Patrol Leader of 3rd Altrincham Scouts Badger patrol and Lord Patel was his second. At school together we were both exposed to brilliant , inspirational and aspirational teachers like Jas. "Jazzer" Hale (Bro. of MP Lionel Hale, member of the Brains Trust), Bill "Arty" Mills, Oscar Pritchard and Civil War historian Ron "Knobby" Dore - sometime wicket keeper for Hampshire, amongst many others.

We were taught to question , to probe, to build up our personal experience and accept nothing as received wisdom. Producing, in both of us, awkward, hard edged, argumentative but principled iconoclasts.

Paul, a talented artist, a talented painter he has work in the National gallery, and went on to the Royal College of Art when David Hockney was there. He broke ground in cinema verite with his famous and fabled 12 part "The Family" for BBC, based on the Wilkins family of Reading - albeit following the "An American Family" by Craig Gilbert in 1972. Paul later followed this early 20 years later with the Australian series fly on the wall "Sylvania Waters" .

With over 40 years filming under his belt he has produced many, many memorable films. Lord Patel's own favourite is the five part series "The Factory" (1994) which was a gem, and deservedly won an RTS award, the Press Critics Prize and Best Documentary Series.

If anything can , this tiny peek into a failing business encapsulates everything to be said about UK post war industrial decline, its owners, it's management and it's methods.

Currently the (as yet unseen) sequel to "Malcolm and Barbara .. a Love Story", itself a winner in 1999 of three RTS awards including Best Single Documentary 1999 which was nominated for a Bafta, is now in the eye of the storm about honesty in cinema verite. It has , height of absurdity been described as a "snuff movie". (Minette Marin Sunday Times 27/7) ***

That ITV, providers of such global classics as The History Man, Birkenhead Re-visited, Jewel in the Crown, Whickers World are reduced to the tawdry post midnight "quiz" shows and other squalid devices which have been exposed as devices to steal money from even children is shameful.

For ITV top Brass in an orgy of navel gazing, or indeed any one make any comparison between the criminal theft of viewers time and money with Paul's brilliant films shows how stupid and far this self - flagellation has gone.

It is evident that Barbara doesn't have the slightest worry about the film, about Paul's work as a Director and as a friend. She is now on record explaining how the death of her much loved husband was handled with care and sensitivity by Paul even if some cinematic legerdermain had been undertaken in the editing suite. A freeze frame symbolised the end for both Barbara and Malcolm 's journey if not the exact time of nemesis . This moment has been seized, trivialised and sensationalised by the folks who have to sell these things in a global marketplace. To film the death moment wouls, as Paul says be voyeuristic.

OK. So the Press Release, produced by some PR scribbler, should have said we see Malcolm dying ..... rather than use the word die.

Big fucking deal.

If it helps get more people to see the mastery of his craft, that is good - remember this is the culmination of 11 years filming of a heroic and loving couple. That such seedy and uninformed comment is the vehicle is not good but at least they will have the opportunity to evaluate the work of a master craftsman.

Lord Patel says that as shareholder, a friend and a member of the human race.

I look forward to seeing the film... Let's hope it does something for the share price, reflecting the proud history of ITV's part as the engine of creativity in Britain's cultural landscape.

Paul will be speaking at the 2007 Sheffield Doc Fest "Change the way you look at the world" 7-11 November 2007.

*** She evidently had not seen the film, and a comment on the article by Malcolm's brother explains the context better than anyone can.

"From the moment someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness, technically,that person is dying. In the new film, we see my brother, Malcolm Pointon,dying. We do not see him die - filming finshed three days before Malcolm stopped breathing, so the argument about the ethics of showing this on television, while important, does not apply to this case. I was there on the Monday before Malcolm's death, and heard Paul say, as he left, that he had enough material for the film, and would now leave the family in peace. He did not return that week. Malcolm died on the following Thursday morning."

'nuff said

UPDATE Fri. 3rd Aug 2007
For those interested in these sorts of things News Sniffer has all 9 versions of the BBC news story about the dispute between Paul and ITV, who said what, when and why.

Zimbabwe coming to the boil

Moses Moyo has a slight variation on the Mujuru for new President of Zimbabwe by Autumn.

Evidently things are moving to a climax. Lord Patel is still putting his hard earned on Mrs M. for President.

Asian businessman refused peerage in Cameron blackmail honours scandal - Lord Patel rights major insult to all Asians.

"To be honest with you, a peerage is neither here nor there. I wanted to help David Cameron work and promote the party so that we win the next general election. Peerage or no peerage is irrelevant - it is missing the entire point."

Apparently former Conservative party candidate Ali Miraj, (curiously his website is "temporarily closed") has asked David Cameron for a peerage ... and been refused.
He has also been refused some prime seats in past months.

"Peerage or no peerage is irrelevant - it is missing the entire point" says our brave, doughty, worthy and rightfully aggreived aspiring Parliamentarian and would be village Hampden. Lord Patel is therefore pleased to right this dreadful wrong to all Asians and is happy to award the affronted man of principle, a peerage ... Arise Lord Mirage .. the effect is of course entirely illusory but it will impress the odd maitre d' and possibly his mother.

Unlike the titles Lord Levy and Tony Blair were peddling .. this one is entirely FREE.

Brown - UN - same old shit as before ...

"Mr Brown again described the conflict in Darfur, which has cost an estimated 200,000 lives and created two million refugees, as the "greatest humanitarian disaster" facing the world today. "Guardian 31/7/07

He announced that later today the UK, along with the US and France, would table a new UN resolution which would see a 20,000-strong peacekeeping force - the largest in the world - sent to Sudan by October 1.

So Iraq, with probably in excess of 700,000 civilians dead, 2 Million who fled to exile and probably the same number displaced internally by sectarian, religious and tribal strife bombed by the occupiers with over 7,000 lbs of bombs per day.... shattered water, electricity and sewage systems ... a daily catalogue of kidnapping, rape, torture, murder.

..... they don't need a peacekeeping force ?

Burnley BNP Bomber gets 2 1/2 years for having home chemistry kit

Robert Cottage, 49 a former British National Party election candidate, and school bus driver, has been sentenced today for 2yrs 6 months in jail after admitting stockpiling (mildly) explosive chemicals at his home.He has already beein in prison for 9 months, given good behaviour he should be out in 6 months.

He pleaded guilty in February to the charge of possessing explosives but after 2 trials was cleared along with a co-defendent of additional charges of conspiracy to cause explosions.

His activities were brought to the attention of the Police by his bride of less than 2 years. The Forensic Scientist called by the Prosecution at the trial stated that only what could be called a "squib" could be produced from the collection of chemicals he had odered over the Internet.

US sinks DPRK vessel in Persian Gulf carrying nuclear materiel / equipment ???

Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit, (who also has the story) Jeff Emanuel of Redstate and Jeff Emanuel, Andrew Breitbart of The Drudge Report, Breitbart and Breitbart TV, and Andrew's attorney Larry Solov are touring Israel with hosts America's Voices in Israel led by the lovely Fern Oppenheim.

This news is from Scott Johnson of Powerline it appears that the Discerning Texan is also part of the party.

They repeat - mentioning the notoriously unreliable DEBKA file the following story which is copied verbatim (Monday Jan 30th dateline) from the ACG Centre for Intelligence Studies for you to make of it what you will.

(Vancouver, BC) -- "How close were we to seeing an armed nuclear conflict?" That is the question being asked as Syrian nationals temporarily vacated Beirut, Lebanon and the Jordan Valley during mid July according to sources close to ACG-CIS.

Many security and intelligence officials believe that this behavior may have been related to the US sinking of a North Korean ship approximately 100 nautical miles from the coast of Iran.

It was not immediately clear why, around July 10, 2007, the Syrian nationals, primarily engaged in construction, trades and agricultural occupations, should have vacated Lebanon without notice. The nationals were noticed to have returned to Beirut and the Jordan Valley by July 21, 2007.

ACG Centre for Intelligence Studies (ACG-CIS - Canadian security company) is of the opinion that the approximate 10-day absence may have been in part due to a warning system alerting the nationals to the possibility of an impending military or terror strike against Israel and other western interests in the region. (Their Website says "July 23 2007 US Sinks North Korean Ship Bound for Iran. "How close were we to seeing an armed nuclear conflict?" ACG-CIS has developed full analysis of situation with alink which doesn't seem to work)

According a number of news sources, officials and clerics from Syria and Iran met during this time period reportedly to draw plans and scenarios for proposed attacks and increased activity against western interests in both the Mid East region and elsewhere. Those talks ended last week with no official announcements from any of the participants.

ACG-CIS, based upon further analysis, believe that the nationals were warned of an apparent military style strike or strikes as Hezbollah was reported to be moving missiles in civilian populated areas throughout southern Lebanon.

This movement along with the involvement of the Iranian president, an adamant believer in nuclear technology and development, lead to concerns about the possibility of a military style "dirty bomb" nuclear attack or a ballistic missile attack involving nuclear weapons purchased from North Korea.

It was reported earlier this month that while the North Korean 2006 test demonstrated the viability and reliability of North Korea's Scud- and Nodong-class systems, it left open the status of the three ballistic missile systems that the Korean People's Army (KPA) recently placed, or is placing, into service as testing on North Korea short-range missile systems has been quietly ongoing.

In reports first published by DEBKAfile, American naval and air forces intercepted two North Korean vessels clandestinely en route for Iran with cargoes of enriched uranium and nuclear equipment in the past month.

The shutdown of Pongyong's nuclear facilities has made these items surplus to North Korea's requirements and the Islamic Republic was more than willing to pay a hefty price for the goods. On July 12, the second intercepted North Korean freighter was sunk in the Arabian Sea.

Whilst it all seems highly unlikely the final paragraph does have some consistency but it is more likely that the US would keep the vessel(s?) than sink them. However as there is a new rapprochement with DPRK maybe (as is highly likely) this is a rogue lot of military officers wanting to cash in a few chips, just as the Russians did to DPRK in the 90's and as such an embrassment to the current regime, anxious for US$'s, oil, food.

Of course it call also be a all a load of old bollocks.

The Full Debka File piece Vol. 7, Issue 310, July 20, 2007 is available here..

"On July 12, the second intercepted North Korean freighter was sunk in the Arabian Sea by torpedoes fired from a US submarine 100 miles southeast of the Iranian naval base-port of Chah Bahar. Delivery of its freight of enriched weapons-grade uranium and equipment and engines for manufacturing more fissile material including plutonium in its hold could have jumped-forwarded Iran’s nuclear bomb and warhead project, lopping off at least a year of work. For this Iran’s rulers were ready to fork out $500 million.
A few hours earlier, President George W. Bush received an intelligence briefing on the vessel, its freight - listed on official documents as a consignment of iron - and destination.

"DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources report that three senior North Korean engineers are due in Tehran by August 20 and another nine in December. By then, North Korea expects the IAEA certificate confirming the closure of its nuclear program to be safely in the bag.
Tehran is also giving North Korea three years’ supply of free oil."

They also mention french naval involvement - aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is in the Persian Gulf

"Over several weeks, the Americans cast a dense net of maritime and aerial surveillance, co-opting friendly Asian and European air and naval forces, to keep tabs on every vessel departing North Korea with freights of iron.
The first North Korean vessel was caught in the net on June 25.
Suspected of carrying radioactive materials hidden behind a cargo of iron, the vessel had entered the Arabia Sea and was two days voyage from Iran when, according to our sources in Paris, President Bush and French president Nicolas Sarkozy had a quick conversation over secure lines. That exchange resulted in a decision to rush US and French naval units in the neighborhood to intercept the suspect North Korean freighter and blow it out of the water.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources report that much about the incident remains under tight wraps. It is not clear whether the ship was sunk by an American or a French submarine and, even after the event, it is not certain that the doomed ship did in fact carry nuclear materials or equipment."

They also claim that on June 28, the US Navy released this statement:

US sailors helped rescue the crew of a North Korean-flagged ship on Monday. The incident occurred in the Arabian Sea when the ship reported it had engine problems, no food or water and was in danger of sinking. The USNS Kanawha and the French ship Dupleix helped evacuate the ship’s 16 crew members to safety. None of the crew was a North Korean citizen.

The US and French ships are part of Combined Task Force 150, which conducts maritime security operations in the Gulf of Oman, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the North Arabian Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean.

The Military Sealift Command ship in the US Naval Fleet is the USNS Kanawha Auxiliary Force (it is a fleet oiler and due for refurbishment by BAE).

However this report may explain some confusion

Reuters Updated: 11:22 a.m. PT July 14, 2007 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19761656/TEHRAN - A South Korean-flagged cargo ship with 23 people on board has sunk off the coast of Iran and 13 people are missing, Iranian officials said.Masih Momeni, an official with Iran's ports and shipping organisation, was quoted by state radio as saying the ship carrying iron from China sank in the Sea of Oman, 110 nautical miles southeast of Iran's port of Chahbahar.

Another official at the shipping organisation, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters the ship sank on Thursday. He said the 10 saved were four South Koreans, four Filipinos and two Chileans.Momeni had said the 10 were picked up by passing vessels. It was not immediately clear if the remaining 13 missing were all crew.

But the MSNBC link doesn't find anything. However France 24 has the Reuters report and the Straits Times but neither name the vessel .

Finally however we find the US Navy Press release which is clear and provides a detailed explanation how the US vessel and french vessel Dupleix helped to "rescue its 16-person crew, consisting of 13 Indians, two Burmese and one Sri Lankan."... ""This was extreme boating in heavy seas," said Kanawha's chief mate Will McDermott in a tale of naval derring do.

So the headline should have been "US DOESN'T sink(s) DPRK vessel in Persian Gulf carrying nuclear materiel / equipment (???)

But it does demonstrate what those Zionist twats at DEBKA and their hangers on will do and the lengths of deceit they employ to spread their bullshit stories and feed the warmongers.

Severed Heads in Malaya - Jenny Eclair's Voyage of Discovery

Lord Patel was entertained but not instructed by a French teacher called Reg Lascelles, an enthusiastic radio Ham, who recorded the "beeping" Russian Sputnik which was broadcast throughout the world on Radio news.

He had done his National Service in Malaya (as it was then called) and one memorable day brought in for our amusement, pictures of him and his colleagues holding up the severed heads of Communists they had captured in Malaya. Chin Peng deals with the repressive methods of the British at length. The Daily Worker (the then paper of the British Communist Party) on 10 May 1952 printed pictures of British soldiers holding the severed heads of two guerrillas (see pic above from Daily Worker - similiar to the one's old Lascelles showed us at school). This was suppressed by the the rest of the UK press and secret, recently published report was undertaken but nothing was done.

In their way, they were identical to the Abu Ghraib and Basra pictures . As Lin Peng the Chinese Communist leader said in his memoirs "Truly, the barbaric al-Qa’ida inspired terrorist groups in Iraq had good teachers in the form of British imperialism in Malaya, Kenya and elsewhere in the past."

Harry Politt the UK Communist leader in a pamphlet, Malaya Stop the War! wrote ;

"The British lads who are being sent thousands of miles away to Malaya are not defending Britain or safeguarding democracy. They are there to defend the corrupt colonial system under which two-thirds of the children receive no schooling, the workers’ own trade unions have been suppressed, and real wages are only a third of their pre-war starvation level. Despite all the official propaganda about Malaya being the most prosperous British colony, for the Malayan people conditions are appalling."

He went on to express sentiments many would agree with today about Iraq and Afghanistan ..

"... This is the degraded Police State for which the Tories want to sacrifice more British lives. Already hundreds of British lads have lost their lives in Malaya. It is time for the British people to put an end to this cruel and ghastly war. ... For the Tory rubber and tin profiteers there is plenty to gain, but for the British people the only dividends are death, more taxation, cuts in social services, and attacks on wages and working conditions."

It was pictures of severed heads she found as a child which propelled Jenny Eclair to Malaysia to dig, for the excellent Channel 4 series "Children of Empire", into both the "Emergency" and her family past - she had been born in 1960 when her Father was in the Green Howards on a 2nd tour as an officer in Military Intelligence after the new nation of Malaysia was born at at Merdeka Stadium on Aug 31, 1957. At independence 75 % of all rubber plantation acreage was in European (mostly British) hands, along with 61 % of all tin production, and 75 % of all services and trade .. for them the "Emergency" had paid off..

A necessarily brief and potted history of this complicated Communist / colonial / religious episode was illustrated with interviews with a head hunting Eban native tracker, ex soldiers and irredeemably stupid but sincere planters. The heads were severed as it was impractical to bring in the dead bodies - photographs of the corpses, the heads and often the live corpses were used to warn the Chinese population not to join the Chinese in surgents or support them - it actually encouraged recruitment.

The efforst were not without their atrocities. Yeras before My Lai on 11th December 1948, a unit of the 2nd Battalion of the Scots Guards entered Batang Kali, a small hamlet in the Selangor area of Malaya. The soldiers then rounded up and massacred 25 Chinese villagers and burnt many of the dwellings.

The role of General Templar , Later Field Marshal , who was brought in after a change of Government , by Churchill, was explained, and the way his "hearts and Minds" campaigng really did mean meeting grievances over land rights, citizenship and the end of indentured labour - resulting eventually in independence.

It was Templar who was famously asked before the Suez invasion by Eden and his war crazy cronies if he could take Cairo . "Take Cairo ? Certainly Sir. What the bloody hell do we do when we get there ?"

A question which might well have been raised later when the war crazy cronies of Dubya wanted to take Baghdad."Take Bagdhad ? certainly Sir. What the bloody hell do we do when we get there?

This is first rate Television, and you can read more, see the video, and pictures at Channel 4 here see also the David Stel episode equally excellent. See also

On another personal note Lord Patel first managed Kath Docherty and Jenny Hargreaves in 1977, both drama students at Manchester Poly, when they appeared, first as a pop poetry duo, "The Miss Fits" and later as "Kathy la Creme and the Rum Babas "(hence the Eclair) in Manchester clubs. Memorably thrown off ( and literally out of) BBC Radio Blackburn one morning when Kathy had launched into "Yer never Borrer from Barclays Bank" just as the local branch Manager's wife was sitting down for her mid morning Light Digestive and Coffee .......

Happy Daze.

Gordon Brown lets slip Bush's Scottish secret holidays .... time to open up the Colgate

"you went to Scotland, you told me, at the age of 14, and had to sit through very long Presbyterian Church services in which you didn't understand a word of what the minister was actually saying. (Laughter.)" G.Brown. WH Press Conference with G Bush

Therein lies a tale - an inadvertent slip by Gordy or a deliberate move to embarass the President ?

The reason for the Great Decider's youthful exposure to the Scottish Presbyterian Church may not be secret but it is little known or discussed....

Briefly, Bill Gemmell Snr. was very Blue chip (and very rich) Edinburgh Merchant Banker - an outfit on Charlotte Square called Sime Ivory. In the 50/60's they helped fund an outfit in Texas called Zapata Oil run by (they also pulled his nuts out of the financial fire when Arbusto Energy finally sank in the Gulf of Mexico) ...George Bush Senior .. whose son George Bush Jnr (now President) ... who used to come and play in the summer on the Gemmell family Renfrew estate (and young Bill Gemmell got reciprocal invitations to the Bush summer compound at Kennebunkport).

Such good friends that when Bill Gemmell Jnr married, that George Bush Jnr few over to be Best Man at Bill's wedding... and when George was President and came over to the UK to have cucumber sandwishes with the Queen and discuss how things were going in Iraq with Tony in November 2003, Bill Gemmell Jnr was at Buckingham Palace browsing and sluicing with the best. ( David Blunkett dog handler and father of the child William, then stirring within her loins, accompanied an American lady called Mrs Quinn whose sexual liasions were not then a matter of public knowledge .. but let that one pass.).

Now Bill Gemmell Jnr had started an oil exploration ourfit called Cairn Energy Ltd which went public and Cairn Energy PLC had their swanky offices opened by ... Tony Blair. (Bill Gemmell Jnr became Sir Bill Gemmell in 2004 by the way) .

So. ?

Well Bill Gemmell went to a school in Edinburgh. So did Tony Blair. They were both at Fettes. They played (probably amongst other things) Fives together (an obscure British Public School game of racquets) . They knew each other and evidently kept in touch.

Did the youthful Tony Blair ever share times together at the Gemmell's Renfrew Estate when George Bush Jnr was being bored rigid by the Presbyters of Scotland ?

If they did, maybe they shared their Colgate toothpaste ... nudge, nduge, ...wink wank.

This is George Bush Snr with his grandchildren , Dubya's twins, in bed on his birthday. A happy picture from Time magazine (88/89) at the time that stories were being whispered about Bush's "problem", and his association with the Franklin Credit Union's Lawrence King was becoming an issue.

Now what is that pyramid thingummyjig on GB's lap ? More >>>>

Memo : Lord Patel plse look up Max Mazy, Texana, Baker, Rajasthan oil leases, US Embassy Bangladesh ..love Toni Fabuloso

GB/UK meets GB/US - swap lies about terrist threats

So GB / UK meets GB / US and he we are engaged in a "generation-long battle" against al Qaeda-inspired terrorism - Brown (CNN) said ...

"This is a battle for which we can give no quarter. It's a battle that's got to be fought in military, diplomatic, intelligence, security, policing and ideological terms. There should be no safe haven and no hiding place for those that practice terrorist violence or preach terrorist extremism."

He went on to say (WH Press transcript);

"So we are at one in fighting the battle against terrorism, and that struggle is one that we will fight with determination and with resilience, and right across the world."

" preach terrorist extremism" - So where does Mr Boris Berezovsky fit in THAT scheme of things ? Or is he one of those GOOD terrists ?

"right across the world" - Fuck it we can't hack it in Afghanistan and Iraq.

STOP PRESS BREAKING NEWS MOnday 12.00 pm

Oceania has declared war against Eastasia

Having breached FISA the Decider now wants to change the law to suit the spooks - I heard it on the Radio

The Voice of America reminds us that President Bush talks to the nation every week, this week the Decider told (VOA says he "appealed to") Congress to modernize gut the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The Decider is in a rush and wants Congress to make the changes before it breaks for summer recess next month

To fix this problem, my Administration has proposed a bill that would update the FISA statute trash the Fourth . This legislation is the product of months of discussion with members of both parties in the House and the Senate—and it includes four key reforms:

1. It brings FISA up to date with the changes in communications technology that have taken place over the past three decades.

2. It seeks to restore FISA to its original focus on protecting the privacy interests of people inside the United States, so we don’t have to obtain court orders to effectively collect foreign intelligence about foreign targets located in foreign locations.

3. It allows the government to work more efficiently with private-sector entities like communications providers, whose help is essential.

4. It will streamline administrative processes so our intelligence community can gather foreign intelligence more quickly and more effectively, while protecting civil liberties.

Remarkably the Decider has been secretly discussing this with members of both parties in the House and the Senate for "months". It includes proposals that would allow U.S. telecommunications companies to cooperate more fully to do any fucking thing the spooks want to do to gather information.

Well, with the disclosures in the NYT and subsequent Court actions show that AT&T allow the Gubment spooks free access to all their voice and data traffic without all that fiddly paperwork and the need to interrupt Judges on the golf course, it is a bit difficult to see how those folks could co-operate more fully. Note also how AT&T have amended their Privacy policy recently - and personal data they have about you - well it belongs to AT&T ...and evidently, therefore the Gubment.

It is AT & T Company Privacy Policy that the company, not customers, owns customers' private data. "While your account information may be personal to you, these records constitute business records that are owned by AT&T," the policy states. "As such, AT&T "may disclose such records to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."

The company also asserts that it has "an obligation to assist law enforcement and other government agencies responsible for protecting the public welfare, whether it be an individual or the security interests of the entire nation." This new policy, adopted in June 2006, dropped a reference stating that the company "does not access, read, upload or store data contained in or derived from private files without the member's authorization."

Remember when you sign up your mandatory 3 year AT&T carrier deal for your iPhone ... there is every likelihood that there is a back door in there for the Gubment to listen.

Go to Kurt Nimmo for more. Also Chicago Sun

US of A ..The Land of the Free

The sinking of USS Indianapolis - Capt. McVay vindicated

Charles Butler McVay III was the captain of the USS Indianapolis which was sunk 62 years ago today, on the night of 30th July 1945 by a Japanese submarine, after having delivered the first Atom Bomb to Tinian which was to be the deadly cargo of Enola Gay.

The Official website tells the tale of his court martial

Captain McVay was taken to Guam where he faced a board of inquiry ordered by Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz (CINCPAC) which convened on August 13, one day before the sinking of the ship was announced to the public (simultaneously with the announcement that the Japanese had surrendered, thus insuring negligible press covergae).

Overriding the opposition of both Nimitz and Admiral Raymond Spruance (for whom the Indianapolis had served as Fifth Fleet flagship), naval authorities in Washington, specifically Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal and Admiral Ernest King, Chief of Naval Operations, directed that court-martial proceedings be held against McVay, and the trial was scheduled to begin on December 3, 1945, at the Washington Navy Yard. (Directly influenced it has been said by the parents of officers and seamen who died)

Captain McVay thus became the first United States Navy commanding officer brought to trial for losing his ship in combat in World War II, despite the fact that over 700 ships were lost during World War II, including some under questionable circumstances.... and after hostilities had finished worldwide.

A little known fact is, that in the immediate aftermath of the war a military plane was dispatched to Japan with an armed escort to bring Mochitsura Hashimoto the submarine commander who sunk the USS Indianapolis to Washington. It was realised however that to introduce a Japanese submarine commander as a witness against a serving US Naval officer would not be smart move.

Following the proceedings, an unprecedented thing happened. Almost to a man, the officers sitting in judgment signed a petition asking the court to set aside the verdict in light of McVay's record. As Admiral King had retired in the interim, it fell to ADM Chester Nimitz to grant the petition of the court, and he set aside the punishment. He could not set aside the fact of the conviction. Admiral Nimitz restored Captain McVay to duty and posted him as commandant of the New Orleans Naval district where he was promoted to Rear Admiral (lower half), where he finished his career and retired.

It is reasonable to assume from the evidence that a decision to convict McVay was made before his court-martial began. The survivors of the Indianapolis are convinced that he was made a scapegoat to hide the mistakes of others, mistakes which included sending him into harm's way without warning and failing to notice when the Indianapolis failed to arrive on schedule, thus costing hundreds of lives unnecessarily and creating the greatest sea disaster in the history of the United States Navy.

On November 6th 1968 Charles Butler McVay III, last Captain of the USS INDIANAPOLIS (CA-35), stepped out on his front stoop, and using his navy issued service revolver, blew his brains out. The Indianapolis had claimed her final victim. He died without having been exonerated from responsibility for the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.

In about 1996, 11 year old Hunter Scott from Pensacola, Florida, saw the movie "Jaws" and was moved by the harrowing and very accurate soliloquy of Quint who explained his hatred of the sharks by telling his story of surviving the attack upon the USS Indianapolis.

When told the actor was describing an event which was true, young Hunter began researching the story for what became an award-winning school history project but then, still fascinated, pursued it further, obtaining addresses of all survivors to whom he sent a questionnaire. One of the questions was whether they felt Captain McVay's court-martial was justified and his conviction fair. To a man they said it wasn't. Like any sensible US citizen he wrote to his Congressman.

The most remarkable and unexpected result of Hunter's efforts was that his Congressman Joe Scarborough brought legislation (HR3610) forward - after a lengthy and bitter battle over years, where the Navy successfully removed any reference " to the court-martial being morally unsustainable or the conviction being unjust" an amendment was added to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2001 which exonerated Captain McVay.

President Clinton signed the Bill but no President has issued a pardon. Some commentators remark that the captain of the USS Cole which was holed in Aden may have escaped court martial because the navy did not want a re-run of the McVay episode.

It is worth recording that Mochitsura Hashimoto the commander of the submarine re-appears again in this story, in a complete role reversal, writing a letter to Senator Warner in support of Captain McVay with eloquent testimony ...

I do not understand why Captain McVay was court-martialed. I do not understand why he was convicted on the charge of hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag because I would have been able to launch a successful torpedo attack against his ship whether it had been zigzagging or not. I have met many of your brave men who survived the sinking of the Indianapolis. I would like to join them in urging that your national legislature clear their captain's name. Our peoples have forgiven each other for that terrible war and its consequences. Perhaps it is time your peoples forgave Captain McVay for the humiliation of his unjust conviction.

"I believe this whole ordeal about the sinking and especially the outcome of the court-martial was and is a black mark on the Navy and not the Captain."

From statement submitted at September 1999 Senate hearing by Lyle M. Pasket, USS Indianapolis survivor.

Lord Patel was lucky enough to meet and have a chat with some of the few remaining survivors of the USS Indianapolis 2 summers ago, whilst in Indianapolis. He recommends you go to their website and read this fascinating footnote to the War in the Pacific.

Diana married Charles 26 years ago today - does no-one remember ?

Glancing at the Sunday papers it looks as though no-one can remember this happy, happy day.

The worlds's richest man

Carlos Slim Helú Aglamaz was born in Mexico City on January 28th 1940 the sone of Julián Slim Haddad Aglamaz, a Lebanese Marronite Christian who had emigrated from the Lebanese hill village of Jezzine as a teenager.

90% of the telephone lines in Mexico are operated by Telmex which he bought when the Mexican phone system was privatised. Telcel is the local mobile company with 80% of all cellphones in Mexico. Both companies are largely owned and operated by Slim.

His wireless carrier América Móvil has more than 125 million users (Dec 2006) across a slew of mobile phone companies he owns across South America - he bought Verizon's SA interests last year for US$3.6Bn.

His worth is estimated at US$67.9 Billion which is equivalent to 7% of Mexico's annual output.

He is 67. He is the world's richest man.

... and you have probably never heard of him

UPDATE 4/8/07 Wall Street Journal have a lengthy. detailed and insteresting article about Slim yestreday.

The pic BTW is of King Midas about to be torched ( a fate he esacpes incidentally) on a Greek urn.

North Sea Oil and Tax revenues decline faster than ever

Two years ago, Gordon Brown's UK Treasury forecast tax revenues from oil and gas producers of £13.5bn during 2007/08. The official prediction now, despite higher oil prices and higher tax rates, is only £8.1bn.

The UK is now a net oil importer. So rapid is the North Sea's depletion that, in three years' time, imports will account for 40 per cent of the oil we use, rising to 90 per cent by 2020.

- Total indigenous UK production of crude oil and NGLs in Q1 2007 decreased by 19.9 Mn tonnes a reduction of 4.5 % on Q1 2006. This included production from 3 new fields which started production during the year ending March 2007, including the very large Buzzard field. DTI Qtrl Energy report

Think on Lad !

Al Quaida bombers hit Mexican oil / Gas pipelines in sophisticated terrist attacks - Maybe

It is evident that the series of remotely controlled explosion that hit Mexican gas and oil piplines in the week ending July 16th were more sophisticated than at first reported.

Kevin Hall says that the operation indicated extensive knowledge of Mexico’s energy infrastructure,. Not onyl did they hit gas and oil pipelines they had sufficient knowedge to hit major shut off valves to cut nationwide distribution. He quotes a "US official" (?)

“These are major, very expensive shutoff valves that control the flow of all this petroleum (and natural gas). This wasn’t a round tube in the middle of nowhere.”

The bomb planters knew which side of the valve to strike, ensuring that crude oil did not flow to a nearby refinery and that natural gas did not flow to foreign and Mexican manufacturers in the central Bajio region, the "US official" said.

The Oaxaca based Ejercito Popular Revolucionario (EPR) (Popular Revolutionary Army) has claimed responsibility for the attacks and justified their actuions against the state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). It called the July 5 and July 10 pipeline bombings self-defense and demanded the release of two missing members.

So far the Mexican in vestigations have been kept secret, (and it appears aided by "US officials" ) and Mexican media accounts have un helpful and misleading.

Voice of America's VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Mexico City say the attacks remain a mystery as the EPR have never ventured so far North nor had the access to HE explosives and bomb making skills (no visits to the beauty suppliers for Hydrogen peroxide for these terrists it seems) .

He quotes " political analyst" Ana Maria Salazar , who says she remains baffled by the bombings and says she cannot rule out the possibility that a foreign terrorist group might have had a hand in it.

Then , well, well, well ....

"There was a threat posted on a Web site a couple of months ago, supposedly by al-Qaida, that was threatening all the countries providing petroleum to the United States, which included Mexico and Venezuela, which made Hugo Chavez very upset, by the way," she added. "So there is that possibility."

Energy analyst David Shields sees the hand of the powerful and violent drug trafficking cartels, against which President Calderon launched an offensive shortly after taking office last December. He points out that despite good protection to its oil production and export infrastructure, which employs missile-equipped naval vessels to patrol waters near offshore oil platforms, the internal 60,000 kilometres of internal pipelines and pumping structures serving Mexico's own population are much more vulnerable.

Whilst dismissing attacks on export facilities he sees a continued threat to its domestic energy supply network could cripple important industries and discourage foreign investors who are considering placing plants here. "Security experts" on the basis of the evidence of the explosions say the perpetrators knew the attacks would disrupt important industries and probably had information from someone inside PEMEX as to which pipes to bomb for the most effect.

Two things are for sure - someone somewhere is going to boost the Al Quaida connection.... and the price of oil and gas isn't going to go down.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday and more bad news for the UK - shortages of gas and scientists

Department of Trade and Industry Energy Trends and Quarterly Energy Prices Trends 28th June 2007 For the 1st Qtr of 2007

GAS: QUARTER 1 2007

- Total indigenous UK production of natural gas in the first quarter of 2007 was 16.8 % down on Q1 2006.
- Compared with Q1 2006, exports of natural gas in Q1 2007 increased by 44.1 per cent and imports increased by 50.6 per cent.
- Demand for gas in Q1 2007 was 3.4 % lower than in Q1 of 2006.
- Gas use for electricity generation increased by 34.2 % and domestic consumption fell 12.9% public administration, commerce and agriculture consumption fell by 11.2 % and in the industrial sector by 12.3 %.

Sunday Express helps chart industrial decline
Now in the grip of greedy pornographer Desmond the Uxpress Group has a good history, especially of financial reporting. 2 Stories in the Sunday Edition today are noteworthy
1. Tracey Boles the Deputy Business Editor -" Half our Gas to be foreign by 2009" injects a raw xenophobic touch to the realisation that indigenous gas supplies are declinig lickety split. Apparently British Gas (whose parent Centrica reports this week) have provided the headline by telling her that imports could provide 50% of UK gas demand by 2009. "Industry forecasts" had previously indicated 2010/11 for this milestone - see the figures above - complete figures from the report here - show the level of decline - which has been accelerated by (litle reported) damage to the North Sea Central Area Transmission System (CATS) gas pipeline,which shut on July 1 after its concrete casing was damaged by a ship's anchor near Teesside port. Divers are inspecting the damage and operators BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward also told a news conference that it would be a number of weeks before repairs would be complete.As gas cannot be extracted this also affects oil production.

The 404 Km seabed CATS pipeline brigs gas ashore at Teesside from the Armada, Seymour, North Everest, Banff, Eastern Trough Area Project, J-Block, Lomond and Erskine fields U.K. gas network operator National Grid PLC NGG. The pipe has previously been delivering gas at a rate of just over 40 Mn cubic metres a week.

Naturally this will also affect North Sea Oil production but nobody is publicly putting any numbers to reduced gas and oil production as a result of the incident. It will not be small or insignificant... can't blame God this time either.

2. FCUKED, the Forthcoming United Kingdom Energy Deficit has been campaigning since 1999 about the loss of indigenous energy resource, and it's impact on the import / export gap and consequent fiscal costs - and consequences.

To remedy this we have promoted the need to build new nuclear power facilities and managed to get Tony Blair to discuss it for the first time in Manchester just prior to the 2005 election.

Building nuclear power station is now official Government policy (although they are consulting Ho.Ho.Ho.) , the shortage of nuclear engineers, (no UK Unversity runs a course) let alone a sufficient number to build the ten stations required is a major resource problem.

This was identified in 1999 by the drop in students sitting A levels in the basic sciences plus Mathematics and IT who would be the seed corn for engineers we would hope to be 5/6 years into their professional career today.

Therefore the lament by Sir John Rose CEO of Rolls Royce about "his biggest headache is finding experienced engineers in the UK" after producing stunning results. Tracey Boles again reports, 1 Mn jobs gone in the last decade in manufacturing industry and too many pupils are abandoning sciences for the humanities.

Therefore it is not surprising ,that with a bulging Order book for the massively successful Trent engine series for the Airbus 380, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the possibility (if it ever is built) for supplying the A350 presents Sir John and Rolls Royce are faced with the difficulty of actually making them.

Rolls Royce is gearing up to build it's first overseas manufacturing and test site Tracey exlains and are looking at the US (where subsidiary Allison operates in Indianapolis ***) and Singapore. With Asia and the Middle East accounting for 44% of the order book, and the US$50 Bn, aero engine market opening up in China, it doesn't need much skill in human resouces to consider the streams of young engineers flowing out of Singapore / Malaysia / Universities to decide where to go. (not to mention S.Korea and Japan).

FCUKED's money is on a bit more land in Singapore harbour.

*** Mitch Daniels the Republican Governor of Indiana and ex member fo the G Bush Administration (Office of Budget Management who helped plan the illegal invasion of Iraq) would bend over backwards for Allison to develop their plant(s?) as the GM manufacturing plants in Indiana fade away.

Pic shows Sir Ralph Robbins, former Cairman of Rolls Royce, Sir Frank Whittle's son Ian and Chales Blundell PR Bullshit supremo art RR help celebrate (with a large lunch) on 4th July the birth 100 years ago on June 1st of Sir Frank Whittle who designed the first jet engine (his first patent was in 1930) which everyone ignored until it was too late.

"To travel to Australia used to take 200 days and because of Sir Frank it takes 22 hours," said Cllr Charlie FraserFleming, a trustee of the Sir Frank Whittle Commemorative Trust.

"It was a huge effort to get the turbojet engine made all those years ago. A lot of people didn’t believe it would work and he didn’t get a lot of support from the government."

Very good at glorifying past failures of Governments to listen to scientists - a brilliant engineer and far sighted man he only died 11 years ago. A 9 foot statue was also undraped in the Millennium Park in Coventry where he was born.

Like Radar, jet engines were another innovation given to the US during WWII who quickly and superbly exploited the technology (see Bell XP59A Airacomet US's first jet 1942) to become world leaders.