Darling has a track record on Computer hacking

Hansard Column 539 10th Jan 1988
Computer Hacking

Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if, pursuant to his answer of 13 December 1988, there have been any attempts to interfere with unclassified systems by any computer hacker.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : Two such attempts have been detected. Both were defeated by security precautions.

It seems a pity that his wide and deep interest was not maintained and that the security of HMRC systems was not subject to a similiar forensic scrutiny by him.

Apparently Plod is scouring several rubbish dumps (including Deptford Re-cycling Centre , Landmann Way, Deptford London SE14 run by HTL Waste Management Services) for the slipped discs....all that overtime Sarge' ..."luvverly jubbly".

Strange. We were told last week that the discs ..." have probably not left government property, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) believe".

Just how does a courier firm take such a parcel without providing a receipt ?

It has been revealed that Steve Lamey who was Chief Information Officer and identified by Lord Patel as the man in the hot seat ,was paid £240,000 per annum.

The European Court of Human Rights says UK breached HUman Rights of victims of terrorist attacks by RUC officers.

When Michael McGrath was leaving the Rock Bar, just after closing time at about 10.40 p.m., , on 6 June 1976, a man drove a car up , and shot him twice in the stomach twice in the stomach.

The man then placed a 10lb gelignite bomb ( no peroxide based DIY bombs in Northern ireland) against the door of the pub. The detonator exploded but the bomb failed to explode. That man was RUC Reserve Constable Laurence McClure.

This was just one of the attacks by the Glennane gang - the facts known today show that the gang members included staff of the RUC,UDR and security service agents were directly involved in murders and bombings.

State agents such as Robin Jackson, the Jackal, played ( d.1998 of cancer) a central role in this gang and their activities were known of and tolerated at a senior level within security and NIO circles. A number of the gun and bomb attacks carried out by this group were directed by agents working to Special Branch and Army Intelligence. The former British Intelligence officer, Captain Fred Holroyd, who was himself based in Portadown between 1973 and 1975 has no doubt that Robin Jackson was a "licensed killer" for the "security services." Ken Livingstone detailed his revelations in his maiden speech when first elected as an MP.

At least 120 people died as result of the activities of this wider group.

This week The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg gave judgment in favour of the families of eight men who were murdered by a Loyalist murder gang in the South Armagh area in the mid 1970’s.In each case the Court unanimously found that .. "Holds that there has been a violation of Article 2 of the Convention due to the lack of independence of the RUC during the initial stages of the investigation begun in 1999;

Article 2 states ;
"1. Everyone's right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.

2. Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary:
(a) in defence of any person from unlawful violence;
(b) in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained;
(c) in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection.".

It is worth recalling that on 30 June 1980 three RUC officers, McCaughey, McClure and Mitchell, faced charges of attempted murder of the applicant, wounding the applicant with intent contrary to section 18 of the Offences against the Persons Act 1961, attempted murder of the persons inside the bar, causing an explosion contrary to section 2 of the Explosives Substances Act 1883, possession of explosive substances with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury and possession of firearms and ammunition with intent. The three officers pleaded not guilty to the charges of attempted murder; McClure and Mitchell pleaded not guilty to wounding the applicant. The Director of Public Prosecutions ("the DPP") entered a nolle prosequi in respect of those charges which accordingly were not proceeded with. No reasons were given for this decision. The only person facing a charge concerning the applicant was McCaughey, who received a term of 7 years for wounding him. McClure was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for causing an explosion, possession of an explosive substance with intent and possession of firearms and ammunition with intent, all sentences suspended for three years.

Another RUC officer, David Wilson, was charged with withholding information contrary to section 5(1) of the Criminal Law (Northern Ireland) Act 1967, based on the fact that he had been aware of the attack beforehand and had not taken any steps to prevent it.

With the exception of McCaughey, the other officers received suspended prison terms.

In sentencing, Lord Lowry (Lord Chief Justice in Northern Ireland) stated inter alia:

"... It does not seem realistic to believe that after all that they have endured – some with their careers in ruins, others with their careers in jeopardy- that they require much by way of deterrent or by way of reform, and no proper sentence which I pass will make an impression on terrorists while other members of the police force are no doubt already embarrassed, sufficiently embarrassed and shocked by what has happened in these cases and been seen to happen to their colleagues. ... I must remember that whatever sentence is just it would follow that it would be imposed on a different and lower scale from that appropriate to terrorists, no matter whichever side, whose aim is to achieve their political ends by violence and to attack the very fabric of society."

McGrath was contacted by the Police in April 1980 and summoned to appear in Belfast Crown Court on 23 April 1980. He was subsequently advised of various date changes and then that the case was postponed and that he would be contacted. In fact the hearing took place on 30 June 1980. The applicant had not been informed and learned about the outcome on the radio.

Read more at Tom Griffin's Green Ribbon

The IRA attempted to assassinate Lord Lowry in 1982 , (he had freed Gerry Adams in 1978 - he ruled there was insufficient evidence that he was a member of the IRA) they broke into a house and it appears in firing through a plate glass window the shot was deflected and saved him - fascinating story abour it here - http://www.neilcraigan.com/brokenbonds_loosedchains/2007/11/a-story-from-be.html - he went on to give a public lecture he was planned to make. He died of natural causes in London on 15th January 1999. (Obituary)

How the Watchdogs weren't watching Northern Wreck

Prem Sikka's penetrating analysis of the "Toothless Watchdogs", that haven't barked in the sub prime crisis (Comment is Free and excellent reading ) .....this pithy comment by Whitt says it all

Comment No. 958271 November 29 18:38

"Markets are inherently risky, and no amount of regulation will stop that, unless you remove the prospect of a return on investment, and so defeat the purpose of investment." - Xiangfa*The problem is not that markets are risky. The problem is that the agencies responsible for assessing risks and rating them were telling people that sow's ears were silk purses. It's pretty much the same as meat inspectors coming across three-day-old road kill and then stamping it "Grade A Prime". You can in fact regulate against that.

Turkmenistan agrees natural gas price rise with Gazprom in advance of winter.

Gazprom chief Alexei Miller met with Turkmen President (since February 14th) Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov (BBC biog) last week and Gazprom the Russian state-run gas monopoly. Gazprom has agreed a 30%-50% price rise with Turkmentistan for natural gas imports from Turkmenistan from 2008 onwards.

Turkmenistan's gas reserves are second largest in the former Soviet Union and Gazprom buys major portion of gas exported by Turkmenistan and trades it to other coutnries - mainly Ukraine.

Under the deal, Russia will pay $130 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas starting from the first half of 2008 and in the second half it will be increased to $150. (The current price is US$100 per 1,000 cubic meters - so with the decline in dollar values the rise is not as big as it might first appear).

Gazprom has also agreed Russia would buy gas from Turkmenistan at a rate determined by "market principles" from 2009. Turkmenistan's gas reserves are second in the former Soviet Union. Gazprom buys major portion of gas exported by Turkmenistan and sells it to other countries.(Let's not forget US Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice met Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to discuss possible US investment in Turkmenistan. 18 US government delegations – 15 from the executive branch and 3 from the Congress – have traveled to Turkmenistan over the past nine months, probing for ways to strengthen bilateral relations.

As European gas price rises rise in line with oil and EU wide trading / pricing , UK domestic gas price will rise, probably by up to 30% by mid 2008.

A £1bn pipeline connecting new gas import terminals at Milford Haven in Wales to the national transmission network opened last week although the LNG terminals still have to be completed.

South Hook, operated by ExxonMobil, is expected to begin operating next summer. BG Group, the biggest shareholder in Dragon LNG, says it expects its terminal to open in the first half of next year.

Wee Wendy 'fesses after unwanted exposure of her cute notepaper by Guido Fawkes

The details of corrupt donations to Labour North and South of the Border continues unabated ....

Wendy Alexander (Mrs Professor Brian Ashcroft) faces a visit from the Polis after recipient Mr Paul Green published her cute personal thank-you letter from her home for his illegal donation of £950 -an amount determined to escape transparency radar .

Mr Philip Green 65 (who he ?)had given another earlier identical £950 donation to the Scottish Labour Party through a Mr Gordon, and that had been accepted, too.

Mr Gordon is Glasgow Cathcart MSP and a former leader of Glasgow City Council, and was the bagman for both donations from the Jersey tax exile.

Wendy's wee bro is Douglas MP for Paisley and the Secretary of State for International Development.

Guido is doing an excellent job destroying what little credibility Labour have both sides of the border.

David Abrahams, wannabe, husband, father and Labour MP for Richmond, liar, litigant and criminal financier

The Northern Echo has the full story bt David Lloyd of the abortive bid by David Abraham (AKA David Martin) to be Labour candidate for Richmond in 1990 / 91 here .... Raising David .

Hilarious.

Elsewhere Matthew Parris is coruscatingly brilliant ..."New Labour, it seems, can't even cook its own books. They can't even co-ordinate a cover-up. They failed to find out fast enough what it was they had to cover up, failed to take the elementary precaution of reconciling their excuses, and failed to square their alibis. Talk of a piss-up in a brewery "

Marina Hyde reminds us , 17 of the 22 Labour donors who have given more than £100,000 since 2001, have received honours. Gosh.

The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act. Orwell would have been thrilled ... AIPAC are

The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act.

The Act was sponsored by Congresswoman Democrat Jane Harman (pic of her with friend) of California. The House passed it by an overwhelming 404 to 6 vote (22 didn't vote) on October 23rd. It now awaiting approval by the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which is headed by well nown libertarian Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.Detailed Vote here (Dennis Kucinich voted against)

Folks may possible remember that Harman was the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the 109th Congress. In October 2006 reports surfaced that Harman was under investigation by the FBI for "allegedly (with the help of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC NYT 24.10.06) enlisting wealthy donors to lobby then-House Minority Leader (and current House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi to retain her position as the head Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Pelosi subsequently chose Silvestre Reyes to be the Chair of the Intelligence Committee in the 110th Congress

Approval by the committee will take place shortly, to be followed by passage by the entire Senate. Text of the Bill here.

This Bill, which has had scant attention in the MSM is predicated on the belief that the United States will soon have to deal with home grown terrorists and naturally, well ...er... something must be done... get up a posse?

The Act will ( will not would because it will be passed) create a congressional commission that will be empowered to hold hearings, conduct investigations, and designate various groups as "homegrown terrorists."

The commission will frame and propose new legislation that will enable the government to take punitive action against both the groups and the individuals who are affiliated with these domestic terrists.

This Commission will be peripatetic - it will hold hearingsthroughout the US to find the terrorists and root them out. These hearings of established by the Bill of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Commission can be arranged by any of the proposed 10 commission members , they can obtain testimony, administer oaths to witnesses, meaning that multiple hearings could be running simultaneously in various parts of the country.

The Commission members appointed directly by Congress will be selected for their "expertise," and (naturally) will reflect the usual political interests. They will be paid. They will have staff.
The Bill is silent on defining terrorism either inclusively or exclusively. "Homegrown terrorism" as "planning" or "threatening" to use force to promote a political objective, meaning that just thinking about doing something could be enough to merit the terrorist label are however detailed in such a fashion to keep lawyers in breakfasts for decades.

The act also describes "violent radicalization" as the promotion of an "extremist belief system" without attempting to define "extremist." (See Glossary)

The Commission will not operate in perpetuity. It's work completed (in some 18 months ! - ie to be inherited by the next Administration) a Centre of Excellence for the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism will be established to study the lessons learned.

The centre will operate either out of the Department of Homeland Security (you bet it will) or out of an appropriate academic institution and will be tasked with continuing to monitor the homegrown terrorism problem and proposing legislation and other measures to counter it.

The lack of clarity in the language and clear objectives will allow theose so inclined to hi-jack and abuse the process and seek define any group that is pressuring the political system as "terrorist," ranging from same- sex marriage freaks, polygamists, to second amendment rights supporters, anti-abortion protesters, anti-tax agitators, immigration activists, and peace demonstrators and 9/11 deniers.

The intention of course is to provide a spurious belief and widespread support that the groups and individuals on the extreme fringes of society - Mulsims maybe ? acn be hounded and perscuted, as these wannebe vigilantes roam the States hunting for someone to feed the bloated Department of Homeland Security who have the funds, resources and intelligence capabilities to hunt down the enemy within...having been remarkably unsuiccessful in fuinding the enemy without.

Glossary from Bill ;
‘‘(2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION.—The term ‘violent radicalization’ means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to ad19
vance political, religious, or social change.
‘‘(3) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM.—The term 'homegrown terrorism’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.
‘‘(4) IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE.—The term ‘ideologically based violence’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual’s political, religious, or social beliefs.

THis is the lady who promoted the Bill and whom you might wish to represent any views you may have ..
Democratic Rep. Jane Harman,
Washington, DC2400 Rayburn House Office BuildingWashington, DC 20515Phone: (202) 225 8220Fax: (202) 226 7290

See Open letter to her from 911.Blogger

UDA thugs get severe sentences for blackmail, intimidation and money laundering

It is good to report a major success for NI Police - UDA strong man Andre Shoukri ( he replaced north Belfast UDA 'brigadier' Jim Simpson in 2002) has been sentenced to nine years on 18 charges including blackmail, intimidation and acquiring and using criminal property.

The charges against 30-year-old Shoukri included using "certain criminal property, namely a money transfer" from a building society to buy his Clare Heights home in Belfast in November 2004.

John Boreland, 38 from Sunningdale Gardens, also got 9 years, on four charges of blackmail, one of intimidation and one of possessing a firearm, or imitation firearm to commit assault.

Terry Harbinson , 25 from Tyndale Gardens, Belfast, who admitted blackmail, and intimidation and possession of a firearm, or imitation firearm got 7 years.

.. and what a lucky man Former Met policeman Ian Peter Craig, 47, is . Craig of Garland Hill, Manse Road, Belfast, turned mortgage advisor who aided and abetted, counselled or procured Shoukri in the dishonest obtaining of a money transfer received two years, suspended for three years.

US$ drops - Russian reserves soar with oil/gas sales and Saddam's paymasters pay up

As the US$ drops slightly to 1.476 against the Euro, Russia's gold and currency reserves rose to an all time high of 459.6bn on November 23, as the Bank of Russias has been hoovering up dollars on the home market - Alexei Ulyukayev, Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia, said earlier this month , that Russia's reserves could rise to $470bn by the year-end

China now has $1.434 trillion in reserves, up $101bn in the third quarter and nearly 45% up in the first nine months of 2007. Japan's current reserves exceed $945bn


Boris Berezovsky (AKA Platon Elenin ) gets 6 years for £4.5Mn fraud

Boris Berezovsky at the Savelovsky district court in Moscow has found him guilty in absentia of of stealing over RUR 214 million (approx. US$8.78m) from Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot and sentenced him to 6 years in prison -= shortened from the 9 years the prosecutors demanded because berezovsky has an under age daughter.

Berezovsky is quoted in Moscow Times ...."As for the ruling, it's an absolute farce,I am absolutely united with Mr. Dudkin (his state appointed lawyer) in this case. I don't give a damn either."

Britain has already twice refused Russian requests to extradite Berezovsky, with a court declining the first request days after he was given asylum in September 2003. British police had arrested Berezovsky on charges from Russia that he and an associate defrauded a regional government of $13 million in the mid-1990s by stealing cars from Russia's largest automaker, AvtoVAZ.

The most recent charge against him is the theft of $13 million from the SBS-Agro bank... the charges caim he organized a criminal group in 1997 to steal over $13 million from the bank

Guvnor and Putin's chum Timchenko see oil wealth grow

Friends of Putin however continue to garner massive wealth - for example, oil pumped by Yuganskneftegaz was previously exported by Yukos or one of its offshore subsidiaries, now the same oil is exported by Gunvor (Norse for "cautious in war"), which has capital reserves that are estimated to be about $20 billion. Gunvor is a Geneva-based oil-trading company co-founded by Putin's chum, Russian ,Gennady Timchenko (see pic) and Swedish oil trader / international yachstman Torbjorn Tornqvist. (Owner / driver of Artemis, he has again won the Annual TP52 Global Classic circuit)

The company claims to handle 30 % of Russia's seaborne oil exports - Gunvor expects trading volumes to rise to 83 million tons from 60 million in 2006, which will make them the world's No. 3 crude trader behind Glencore (formerly called Marc Rich & Co AG)and Dutch group Vitol. With a consequent rise in the oil price their turnover should rise to about $43 billion this year from $30 billion in 2006 (Vito T/O 2006 = US$114 Bn)

UN / OFF program kickbacks lead to heavy fines / payments

Vitol hit the headlines 2 weeks ago when they pleaded guilty to a larceny charge in connection with a scheme to pay secret kickbacks to the Iraqi government in exchange for oil under the United Nations'oil-for-food program

District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said the company pleaded guilty to a single count of grand larceny in the first degree in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan

Vitol will pay restitution of US$13 million (€8.8 million) to the Development Fund for Iraq and will make a payment of US$4.5 million (€3 million) to the city and state of New York.

They weren't alone as Chevron Corp. also agreed to pay US$30 million (€20.2 million) to settle civil and criminal charges related to secret surcharges paid by third-party merchants in exchange for oil under the programIn February this year El Paso Corp. agreed to pay $7.7 million (€5.2 million) to settle civil and criminal charges that it indirectly paid $5.5 million (€3.7 million) in illegal surcharges to Iraq.

See Guradian 22nd Dec 2007 connection to Putin denied. Ho.Ho.Ho.

Muslim persecution of Christians - nothing new

In Pakistan's Penal Code the section 295C blasphemy law, introduced in 1986, has a mandatory death penalty for anyone "who by words either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly" who defiles the Prophet Mohammed.

However, the law is abused to do away with one's enemies or to seize the property of those accused. From 1986 to 2004, more than 4,000 cases of blasphemy were reported.(Approx 1% of Pakistan's population is Christian)

Ayub Masih was arrested for blasphemy on October 14, 1996 in his village, Arifabad in Sahiwal District (about 700km from Islamabad) on a complaint filed by a Muslim neighbour Muhammed Akram. Akram alleged he heard Ayub saying "If we want to know the truth about Islam read Salman Rushdie". He was found guilty and given a death sentence on April 27 1998. Shortly afterwards, on May 6, the Catholic Bishop of Faisalabad, John Joseph, who was trying to have the blasphemy law abolished, committed suicide by shooting himself on the steps of Sahiwal Law Court in an extreme act of protest.

On May 10, following Bishop Joseph's burial, Muslim extremists rampaged through a Christian neighborhood in Faisalabad, attacking and burning a number of homes and shops; dozens were left homeless.To assuage public anger, the local authorities razed 70 houses occupied by Christian families.

On May 12 1998 , in the wake of the Muslim-Christian clashes, a two-judge panel of the Lahore High Court suspended Ayub Massih's death sentence

At the time there some modest press comment outside Pakistan.

Sahiwal ?

It's the town in Pakistan, twinned with Rochdale.

There is a sequel

Towards the end of July 2002, Freedom Now facilitated the delivery of a letter from 12 U.S. Senators (one Senator signed separately) calling for Ayub Masih's release. Signatories to that letter included Senators Brownback, Leahy, and Wellstone, all well-positioned in the Congress to impact U.S. policy towards Pakistan.

With pressure on the Pakistanis growing, the Government accelerated the date of the hearing before the Supreme Court of Pakistan. On August 15, 2002, a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court sitting in Islamabad heard arguments on the long-awaited final appeal.

The three Judges rendered an oral decision acquitting Ayub Masih of blasphemy charges and ordering his immediate release. In essence, the Supreme Court held that the arrest, conviction, and sentencing of Ayub Masih violated due process, very much following the reasoning of the United Nations. Moreover, this decision set a very positive precedent for all other blasphemy victims in Pakistani jails.

There was a serious danger to Ayub the moment he was released from prison. The U.S. State Department worked with Human Rights Groups to arrange Ayub's quick exit from Pakistan. He arrived in the United States on September 4, 2002. After successfully claiming political asylum on the basis of his well-founded fear of religious persecution should he return to Pakistan, Ayub is now taking English lessons and is working two jobs.

He planned to become a Christian Minister.

Jon Mendelsohn - the "ethical" lobbyist - my arse says Greg Palast - and fat Harriet's fund raiser

Greg Palast reviews his time in exposing Jon Mendelsohn the LLM "ethical" lobyist how the "fix" worked. .. Tesco , Murdoch ... and ...

What’s odd here are the protestations of shock at the behavior of Mendelsohn, described in the Guardian as an "ethical" lobbyist. "Ethical" my arse.

It was exactly nine years ago that Mendelsohn and his lobby firm partners were caught trading cash for access. How this Mendelsohn character ended up heading Labour Party fundraising and how he obtained the sobriquet ‘ethical’ is the real shocker.

I know a few things about this Mendelsohn. The "businessman" with the hidden recorder was me. In June 1998, joined by my recorder and a real US businessman, Mark Swedlund, who designed my elaborate corporate front, I met Mr. Mendelsohn at his tony Soho London office. There Mendelsohn confirmed what was already on tape from his partners in the lobby firm he founded, LLM.
..............

But the PM embraced Mr. Let’s-Make-A-Deal. The reason was made clear to me by Mendelsohn himself, a man as brainy as he is cynical and wealthy. Those many years ago, at the dawn of the Blair regime, Mendelsohn handed me a confidential manifesto he’d penned for LLM clients only. It was a map of the soul of New Labour.

Here was a chilling combination of Mendelsohn, Mandelson and Nietzsche. "AN OLD WORLD IS DISAPPEARING AND A NEW ONE EMERGING," he announced in upper case. In the "Passing World" were "ideology" and "conviction" - which would now be replaced by "Pragmatism" and "Consumption." "Buying" would replace "Belief."

And ultimately, in this Brave New Labour World, style was all: "WHAT YOU DO," wrote Mendelsohn, was passé, replaced by, "HOW YOU DO IT."

So why demand Mendelsohn’s head now? Gordon Brown is a prudent man whom, I suspect, reads a newspaper or two - and knew exactly whom he had positioned to fill his party’s coin sacks. Mendelsohn is just a gun for hire, a forgettable factotum. I wouldn’t place the blame on the hired gun, but on the man whose finger is on the trigger.

For more MWC Media with Conscience

Meanwhile David Grossman at Newsnight poses 10 Questions for fat Harriet .. especially about her fund raising bash at the Ministry of Sound on 5th December .

This lunchtime I filed a series of 11 questions to the Labour Party - I'm still waiting for a response Here are the questions:

1 How did Harriet Harman fund her campaign for the deputy leadership election?

2 How much did the campaign cost to run in total?

3 Is the loan for £10,000 pounds from the National Westminster Bank taken out on the 3rd October 2006 the only loan she has entered into to fund her campaign?

4 Why is she still raising money for a campaign that finished on 22nd June 2007?

5 Where will the money go that is raised at the event planned for 5th December 2007 at Sounds Nightclub in Leicester Square?

6 If the money raised at this event goes towards settling campaign debts, where are the required records of those debts?

7 Did she borrow money in her own name for the purposes of the campaign without declaring it to the electoral commission as a loan?

8 Did she borrow money against any assets owned jointly with Jack Dromey for the purpose of funding her campaign?

9 Why is Harriet Harman using her office in the House of Commons as a base from which to raise party political funds, in contravention of Parliamentary rules? (the initiation for her fund raiser on the 5th December invites people to send donations to Charlotte Montague at her office at the House of Commons)

10 Is Charlotte Montague’s salary paid from Harriet Harman’s MP’s allowances?

11 If Charlotte Montague is paid from Harriet Harman’s MP’s allowances why is she working on Harriet Harman’s campaign from Harriet Harman’s office at the House of Commons? Why has she not registered this in the relevant register of interests for MP’s staff?

Update : 1st December 8.00 - Put yer party frocks away, Harriet has cancelled her fund raising bash. Now we wonder what the Ministry of Sound charge for a cancellation at this busy time of the year ? - anyone want to subscribe to the cancelled fund raiser ?

Northern Wreck - Amazing pictures

Northern Wreck (5th largest Mortgage dealer in the UK) have borrowed another £2.7 billion from the Bank of England last week – taking the total loaned since its crisis began in September to £29.8 billion.

Figures published by the London Stock Exchange that the Rock’s directors made more than £6.5m from share sales since January last year.

Chief executive Adam Applegarth made £2.7m and invested £5,989 from January 2006 to the present day.

His deputy, David Baker, made £1.9m and invested £50,032.

Financial Director (and on sick leave) Keith Currie sold £1.1m and bought £2,992 .

Andy Kuipers sold £742,520 and invested £116,492.

Vince Cable, acting leader of the Liberal Democrats said: “We are in desperate territory here as the amount of money being loaned to Northern Rock is increasing rather than decreasing."

“With the total now close to £30 billion, the taxpayer cannot be expected to continue to dole out such vast sums of money on a weekly basis – especially as much of it appears to be unsecured and may end up going down a plughole. The Government must seriously look at nationalising the bank and ensuring taxpayers’ money is secured.”

Meanwhile staff have been told of a Christmas bonus - a one-off payment of £200, plus up to 2% of their salary, depending on their attendance record.

Northern Rock PLC announced last night that Laurence Philip Adams has been approved by the FSA and has been appointed as a director of the company.

Nu Labour - Daggers out as the blame shifting starts over dodgy donors

Now here's a funny thing .. if you want to go to the No 10 Downing street site to get the official record of the PM's Press Conference you will find that a great deal is missing / redacted / removed . e.g it starts ....

Prime Minister:
[party political content]
Question:
[party political content]
Prime Minister:
[party political content]
Question:
[party political content]
Prime Minister:
[party political content]
I think everybody has known that when Lord Hayden Phillips was looking at party funding that things had to change. We have been waiting for the results of his review to see what has to be done.
[party political content]
Question:
[party political content]
...and so on until we get to the naming of Teddy Bears.

If you follow the link to helpful notes on transcript editing you get ..

Sometimes it is necessary to edit the transcripts. This is either because in accordance with long-standing practice under the Ministerial and Civil Service codes, government websites cannot carry party political content, or because the audio quality has made it impossible to transcribe

Which is odd because there were one or two journalists hanging about with cameras, recorders and note books at the time to provide a precise record.

Now we have Dizzy saying that ...

It's being reported on the newswire that Peter Hain has failed to register a donation of £5000 from, of all people, Jon Mendelsohn?!?!

The Guradian confirm this and say the "failure to register was due to an "administrative error" he had not told the Electoral Commission. Although he registered other gifts it is understood the donation was overlooked because it arrived later, in June."

Dizzy also has fascinating information on the development work of Sterling Capitol Group PLC and it's chairman Bob Murray CBE and their extensive and large donations to Labour Party coffers.

..and the Evening Standard saying that Jon Mendelsohn ...

Had suggested that he could help the campaign access a "network" of third-party donors who would offer a way to avoid the difficulties caused by the cash-for-peerages affair.

The Labour donor affair crept closer to Gordon Brown today amid claims that
his chief fundraiser suggested the use of third party payments.

The Evening Standard has been told that Jon Mendelsohn approached the organisers of a Labour deputy leadership campaign more than eight months ago.

Amid increasing pressure for a police investigation, (now underway) the claims about Mr Mendelsohn's role raise fresh questions over what and when the Prime Minister and his staff knew about the practice of using go-betweens.

The Evening Standard has established that Mr Mendelsohn was in contact with not just one, but two deputy campaigns and discussed fundraising.

Which might make any self respecting , honest, reputable Fund Rasing Chief to the Prime Minister ( who Guido fawkes points out is now also Labour Party General Secretary - and responsible for declaring donations to the Electoral Commission) would reach for a handy lawyer to fire off a nasty letter..at least.

Now the Guradian today report that Harriet is fingering ex minister and ex MP for Shipley Christopher Leslie .."(he)had suggested she seek a donation from Janet Kidd, Abrahams' secretary - despite having himself rejected her money for the Brown campaign." see his statement in full at Daily Telegraph also a statement by Baroness Gale of Blaenrhondda, treasurer to the Harriet Harman for Deputy leader campaign

"As part of our fundraising effort, the campaign team approached Chris Leslie at the end of June, .....Contact was made with Janet Kidd, a donor to the Labour Party of long standing, who then sent us a donation for £5,000. We had no reason to believe that this donation was coming from anyone other than Janet Kidd. Harriet Harman first heard about this on Friday ......... ( and hubby had nothing to do with it !) .....The Harriet Harman for Deputy campaign was not put in touch with Janet Kidd by Jack Dromey."

Strange how every body deals with Ms Kidd but no-one knows who the fuck she is.

PS: Hilary Armstrong and her husband Paul Corrigan both resigned from the Government and its services when Gordon Brown arrived and will naturally be upset at the difficulties that Gordon Brown finds himself in .. as will their close friend wife beater Alan Milburn.

Dutch Virgin Pill - fools your husband but not the Almighty

Muslim brides are expected to be virgins. Historically this has been evidenced by a flow of blood as the hymen is ruptured - apparently this only occurs in about 60% of initial vaginal intercourse ... according to medical science.

Reconstructive hymen surgery is available, is expensive, painful and pointless - but it may deceive the bridegroom.

The University Medical Center of Utrecht (UMC) receives about 20 requests annually from girls of Turkish and Moroccan origin to undergo a hymen repair. About half of the requests are accepted, says gynaecologist Ineke Van Seumeren.

The Dutch Minister of Health, Hoogervorst is on record saying he wants to stop to hymen repairs . In these operations the hymen is "restored" by sewing the vagina walls to each other, thus ensuring rupture and bleeding on the wedding night. That happens since men want their wife to bleed on the wedding night in order to show that she is a virgin.

This contradicts medical ethics" Hoogervorst said in the parliament. "There are big question marks about this interference." Hoogervorst, who was answering a question by one of the parliament members said that the restoration operations are on the same rank as female circumcision and called it a crime.

Now Van Seumeren has invented a suppository which she has had manufactured. The vaginal suppository works quite simply. The pill contains red gelatin that once inserted becomes fluid after half an hour by the body's temperature.

The "virgin pill" (Dutch : 'maagdenpil') has caused considerable interest in Holland - so far the service appears to be free.The Muslim fathers say that whilst you may deceive your husband you cannot deceive God.

Canada / US pipeline explosion and fire - 2 dead.

Oil company Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB) (NYSE:ENB) reported at 3:45 CST, yesterday an explosion and fire on an Enbridge crude oil pipeline approximately three miles southeast of Enbridge's Clearbrook, Minnesota terminal near the Candian border.

All Enbridge pipelines(Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4) in the vicinity were immediately shut down and isolated and Enbridge emergency crews were dispatched to the site. The Lakehead pipleine system is capable of delivering 1.5 million barrels a day of Canadian oil to the US which is 66% of the oil that is shipped.The US consumes approx 27Mn bpd.

The company reported today the death of 2 employees posted missing yesterday.

The entire Lakehead system involvses more than a dozen pipelines in various parts of North America with a combined capacity of 2.2 million barrels per day.

The mainline between Alberta and Superior, Wisconsin, transports approximately 1.5 million bpd, most of which goes to refineries in the U.S. Midwest. The remainder is shipped to refineries in Central Canada.

Pipeline capacity is tight due to rising oil production in Alberta from the oil shales, and Enbridge has been working hard to expand pipeline capacity .


The system suffered several incidents this year prior to the blast on Wednesday.

JANUARY 3
- 300,000 bpd Line 14, which connects Superior, Wisconsin, to Chicago, ruptures in rural Wisconsin. The line is shut for approximately 24 hours.
FEBRUARY 2
- Line 14 suffers another leak in Wisconsin. Nearby 630,000 bpd Line 6A, which connects Superior, Wisconsin to Chicago, is also shut as a precaution.
APRIL 16
- 450,000 bpd Line 3, which connects Hardisty, Alberta, with Superior, Wisconsin, has a leak near Gleavon, Saskatchewan. NOVEMBER 14
- Line 3 shut for 18 hours after small spill discovered near Clearbrook, Minnesota. Nearby 670,000 bpd Line 4, which connects Edmonton, Alberta, with Superior, Wisconsin, is also shut as a precaution.
NOVEMBER 29
Two lines are restarted within hours of the blast.

There are some 13 500 kilometres (8,500 miles 12" to 48" dia) ) of pipeline in Enbridge's liquids systems which carry some two-thirds of Canada's crude oil from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin is transported through the Enbridge mainline system and maintained and operated by 1,200 staff.

The system has more than 530 active pumping units with one million kilowatts of installed power.

See post on the Belgian pipeline gas explosion here..."Late sleepers in Ath, 30 km SW of Brussels were woken by a massive explosion at 8.55 am on Friday July 30th 2004. " ... a cause was never established.

We wait to fnd out what happened at this remote site where maintenance was being undertaken.

Crude oil rose on first reports and the fell back.

"Lord Houghton" , law lecturer, lay preacher in £51 Mn VAT carousel fraud jailed for 61/2 years - 8 Mr Bigs free due to botched investigation by HMRC

Malcolm Edwards-Sayer (DOB 27.10.58) of 103 Derby Road, Bramcote, Nottingham, lectured in law at South East Derbyshire College from 2002-2004.College Principal Linnia Khemdoudi said: "As far as we know he had a degree in law, which qualifies him to teach A-Level law, and had all the rest of the qualifications that we would require."

He was also a part-time lay preacher with the diocese of Southwell.

His career (sometimes as Lord Houghton a manorial title he purchased) as a trader in mobile phones will be disrupted for 6 1/2 years whilst he stays in prison as a result of pleaded guilty today on 8 counts of Conspiracy to Cheat the Public Revenue under the Criminal Law 1977 and for Money Laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. He was also disqualified from being a director for 12 years. (Plus 3 1/2 years to run consecutively for 16 counts of deception on charges brought by Nottingham Police for pretending to be a solicitor.)

Edwards-Sayer facilitated the fraud through his control of a number of companies based in the UK and Gibraltar. He failed to pay VAT to HMRC of over £51 million. The fraud included the following companies Malcolm Edwards t/a Barclay Devere in Nottingham, who defaulted on paying £12.2 million in VAT repayments, Greenday Wholesale Ltd in Stoke, who defaulted on paying around £4.9 million, Swift Online Ltd in Stoke, who defaulted on paying around £7.5 million and Storm Promotions Ltd in Coventry, who defaulted on paying around £26.8 million.

Edwards-Sayer has been in custody since October 2005 after being jailed for six months for breaching an order banning him from using his parents' bank accounts - even his mother's after she died of cancer.

A confiscation order has been applied for and will be heard next year.

* An associate , Rachel Horton (DOB 28.03.70) of 12 Friar's Crescent, Newark, Nottingham, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on 15 November 2007 to 150 hours Community Service. She was charged with one count of Money Laundering (for £1 Mn ) under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Horton controlled a company and its bank account in the name of La Ronde Ltd in Nottingham, which never traded in any real or legitimate sense. It was used by Horton to launder the proceeds of crime of some £1 million which were sent out to Latvia and onto Hong Kong.

The Police say it's twice the Brinks Mat robbery - think of it as 0.16% of the money lost in the Northern Wreck

The judge however bollocked HMRC because it appears that "Lord Houghton's " take as some £200,000 and that 8 "big fish" couldn't be prosecuted due to a botched investigation and got away to enjoy the results of this massive fraud.

Waste disposers convicted and assets recovery agreed - wasted resources ?

On the 9th May 2006 at Omagh Crown Court, of David Edwin Allingham aged 63 years, and his wife Freda Elizabeth Allingham aged 60 years, of Kilcoo Road, Garrison, Enniskillen were convicted of offences detected by Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) officers during an inspection of land belonging to the defendants in the townland of Slattinagh, Garrison, Co Fermanagh, on 4 December 2003.

The site inspected was on land immediately overlooked by the Allingham home. At the site the EHS officers excavated several holes and these were found to contain biodegradable mixed municipal and medical waste which was evidently identified as being of Southern Irish origin.

On 20 June 2006, David was sentence to a total of 9 months imprisonment for these offences, his wife Freda was sentenced to a total of 4 months imprisonment suspended 2 years. A full confiscation hearing for the seizure of assets was held at Londonderry Crown Court on 24 and 25 September 2007, with judgement being reserved until yesterday.

This resulted in granting two Confiscation Orders in the total sum of £80,868 in respect of a Garrison farmer and his wife, who were both convicted on two counts of keeping and disposing of illegal waste.(offences contrary to Article 4(1)(c) and Article 4 (6) of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, that on 4/12/03 in the County Court Division of Fermanagh and Tyrone, kept controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health; also Article 4 (1) (b) and Article 4 (6) of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, that between 8/12/03 and 28/7/04 in the County Court Division of Fermanagh and Tyrone kept controlled waste in or on land otherwise than under or in accordance with a Waste Management Licence. )

His Honour Judge Babington held that Mr and Mrs Allingham had benefited from their particular criminal conduct in these offences to the sum of £48,520.80 and £32,347.20 respectively, and further made a Confiscation Order in the sum of £48,520.80 in respect of Mr Allingham and £32,347.20 in respect of Mrs Allingham, which the Court ordered they must pay by 27 May 2008 or serve a period of imprisonment of 16 months and 14 months respectively in default, at the conclusion of which sentences they will still owe the full confiscation amounts.

Naturally ARA Deputy Director Operations, Charlie Dickin is cock a hoop : "We are determined to recover the proceeds from all types of illegal activity, including keeping and disposal of illegal waste which, as well as damaging the environment, poses a risk to public health.

"The convictions, custodial and suspended sentences together with the recovery of criminal profit in this case send out a clear message to those involved in criminal activity that ARA together with its partners will do everything in its power to put them out of business.

"Collectively we are working hard to make sure that criminality and gangsterism doesn't pay."

"It is further evidence of the effectiveness of the multi-agency approach within the Organised Crime Task Force in tackling serious and organised crime in Northern Ireland."

Apparently the disparity in the cost of disposal of waste to Landfill in the Republic of Ireland, (averaging 220-350 Euros per tonne), and landfill charges in Northern Ireland which were typically £30-£50 per tonne, has apparently acted as an economic driver encouraging the illegal transport of waste from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland, and into other parts of the United Kingdom.

According to EHS trade sources indicate that hauliers engaged in this illegal transport charge waste facilities in the Republic of Ireland 120 Euros per tonne to take this type of waste away. The waste facility therefore benefits in the region of between 100-230 Euros per tonne of waste, and the haulier splits the 120 Euros per tonne he has charged with the landowner whose land is used for illegal landfill. EHS further states that trade sources indicate the landowner receives between £5 and £10 (i.e. 7.50 to 15 Euros), per tonne of waste.

In August 2007 EHS issued a request by virtue of Article 24(2) of the Council Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006 on Shipment of Waste Regulations to Dublin City Council, requiring them to ensure that the waste on Mr & Mrs Allingham's land is removed and taken back to the Republic of Ireland for disposal. To date EHS have received no formal response to this request; however indications are that the relevant ROI local authorities are likely to comply with it.

Whilst one wouldn't want to defend the evident but nonetheless criminal business enterprise of the elderly Mr and Mrs Allingham - in the light of the massive scale of gangsterism now rampant elsewhere in Northern Ireland their determined pursuit of this hapless couple - the loss of some £24 Mn from the Northern Bank the recent brutal murder of Paul Quinn involving IRA elements http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/ireland/article3205143.ece it does require some examination of the way the law is applied in Northern Ireland.

Surely the forces of Laura Norder in Northern Ireland can find better ways to dispose their forces ?

PS : The victorious Charlie Dickin, Deputy Director (Operations), is a seconded police officer from Avon and Somerset Constabulary who was appointed as a Deputy Director of ARA in April 2006, prior to which he set up and managed the Financial Investigation Centre of Excellence, also within the Agency.

With a background almost exclusively in criminal investigation, he was originally seconded to the Home Office in 2001 from his post as the Head of Fraud and Financial Crime to work with the Proceeds of Crime Bill team in the preparation and implementation of the legislation and as part of the development team for the Assets Recovery Agency.

He has had other successes - Wai Keung “Nicky” Cheung (see pic) an alleged drug trafficker’s property empire and luxury cars worth nearly £3m (€4.3m) were frozen in September .The Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) was granted an Interim Receiving Order at the city’s High Court after claiming Cheung amassed the portfolio through narcotics, fraud and tax evasions.

It is unlikely that Chueng was/is a member of the IRA or the UDA - it doesn't appear that he has been convicted of any offences.

Indian Nuclear Power throttled back on shortage of uranium fuels ....

The state owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited has said that five of the 17 nuclear power plants in the country (5 more being constructed) had been shut down and the remaining are operating at an average of less than 50% capacity for want of fuel. (website) (pic of Kudankukulum new PWR plant in Tamil Nadhu State under construction)

Two units at Narora atomic power plant in Uttar Pradesh are shut down for annual maintenance work while the newly commissioned Kaiga unit 3 in Karnataka and one unit of Kalpakkam atomic power plant near Chennai are facing closure for want of fuel, Chairman and Managing Director of NPCIL S K Jain said recently.

He also said that the remaining 12 plants which had an established 95 % capacity are now running between 50-70 % making the average capacity of nuclear power production in the country less than 50 %. This has come after an upbeat Press release in August which claimed there were no problems and new mines would be opening up - India is said to have indigenous Uranium reserves to fuel 10,000Mw capacity

Which should give the energy planners looking at the plans for building a new nuclear fleet in the UK cause for thought...and send investors looking for Uranium mining stocks to invest in.

Ploughshares into satellites - Galileo soars on EU farming cash

The EU independent Galileo satellite navigation project's (independent of the US /China/Russia) has been struggling due to lack of funds. With one bound the budget is free as ( despite German resistance - who voted against) The EU has decided to fill out the Galileo project's massive budget gap with an additional 2.4 billion euros ($3.56 billion).

China's Compass, or Beidou, system is well on target to be operational next yearand although only covering the region in and around China initially , will eventually expand to cover the rest of the world. Russia is also developing its own system called Glonass , with the aid of India

The EU had originally pledged 1 billion euros, "private industry" was supposed to provide the rest but the consortium involved in the satnav project pulled out of the deal last spring, and Galileo's flight was threatened. The Galileo project is estimated at a total 3.4 billion euros and is expected to create over 100,000 new jobs in Europe.

Though 1.6 billion euros have been sprung fromthe EU's unused agriculture budget. This neat accounting trick was the brainchild of Budget Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite. germany ob jected because their share (as the biggest contributor was of the order of 500 Mn Euros) - a Ministry of Finance mouthpiece said grudgingly ,""The result [of the vote] is relatively bad , but the nature of majorities is that you have to accept them."

The final agreement in a happy compromise was two-thirds will come from unspent farm aid budgeted this year and the rest will be drawn from funds earmarked for research next year.

Contracts to be granted in variety of sectors

Germany had originally suggested funds come from cuts to other EU research projects and initially had the support of Britain, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. When the EU agreed to draw 600 million euros from other scientific endeavors in the bloc, Germany was the only country to maintain resistance to the financing plan. Spain abstained from voting.

In a plan to head off German concerns that the bulk of funds will go to French companies the project will be offered in 6 sectors , with no single company receiving a contract in more than two sectors, said European Commission spokeswoman Michele Cercone. UK based Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) is joining forces with OHB, based in Bremen, Germany - OHB will build the satellites; SSTL would produce the electronic payloads. (BBC)

Despite their whinging Germany will still play the lead role through Astrium, a subsidiary of European aerospace group EADS, in the construction of the 26 satellites that are due to follow an initial four already planned in an initial phase.

One of the 2 land stations will be in Germany , with the second in Italy.

Greater accuracy than US counterpart

The project is critical in avoiding European military dependence on the United States' GPS navigation system. It is being sold publicly on the befits of greater precision and reliability - with accuracy for located objects within one meter - and the opportunity to be able to warn car drivers of traffic jams and accurately predict delays in the city bus system. The system has also been billed as a way to help rescue workers trace missing persons and by law enforcement officers locate escaped prisoners.

Galileo should have the planned 30 satellites in orbit by 2013.

UK Parliamentary opposition

As ever the Parliamentry Luddites have had their say - Gwyneth Dunwoody , Transport Committee Chairman said earlier this month ...``The government must stop this folly,'' . To fund Galileo, the EU ``is prepared to break all the rules for prudent budgetary discipline. This cannot be allowed to proceed.''

The Commitees report concluded ..."We are not opposed to the Galileo project per se, but we see no choice but to recommend that the British Government seek a debate on the future of Galileo at a European Council of Heads of State and Government. We also recommend that the Prime Minister discuss with other Heads of State and Government how to ensure that decisions of this magnitude will never again be pressed through in the unacceptable manner and on the basis of such poor evidence and analyses as has happened in the case of Galileo." (i.e stick a spoke in the wheel)

They continue in a remarkably democratic fashion ..."We believe it is essential that the UK Parliament is given the opportunity to debate developments in the Galileo programme once again before any decision is made on the project. British tax-payers will be paying around 17% of the cost of Galileo (" almost two-thirds of the cost of the entire Crossrail project" they helpfully remind us) "

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was one of the first to defend the project after President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the program was “a major strategic target.” Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said it was of “fundamental importance” to the EU.

``Germany and France want this project,'' German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a news conference in Berlin after talks with French President Nicholas Sarkozy. ``We have agreed that we don't want to put it off. We're deeply convinced that Europe needs this system.''

The UK can vote against the project but because it fails a threshold (0.03% threshold which would trigger the unanimity procedure ) for size of budget cannot veto it. Thank God. This approval is a good thing - even if it brings road pricing closer.

Space Wars

Washington's declared space doctrine is now set on maintaining dominance of the sector and also wants to deny the use of space assets by its competitors / adversaries. The US is reluctant when it comes to cooperating and sharing its advanced space technology (or any other) with other nations, even in the case of its European allies - a situation that has pushed other space-faring nations to cooperate among themselves.

As a direct consequence China and India are now seeking to challenge Washington's dominance of the launch industry as well as emerge as low-cost competitors in the manufacturing of satellites for the would-be space powers.

In September, India sent a spy satellite into orbit on behalf of Israel (who also participate in Galileo) , a traditional client of the US launch industry. A few months earlier, New Delhi put Italy's Agile satellite into orbit. In May, Beijing succeeded in launching a Chinese-manufactured communications satellite (NIGCOMSAT-1, aboard a Long March 3B rocket, ) into orbit on behalf of Nigeria from the Xichang space center in southwestern Sichuan province, (another symbol of China's broad network of economic relations with Africa) and a similar satellite is expected to be launched on behalf of South Africa and Brazil.

Nigeria hopes to sell communications bands to neighboring African countries and will operate the satellite from Abuja where they will offer services to Africa and parts of the Middle East and southern Europe. (Typical cost of internet access in East Africa is $200 to $300 a month !)See plans for undersea cable here.

It's a changing world and the dunderheads at Westminster haven't woken up to it yet.

Small Victories - EFF gets court order in warrantless surveillance case to examine telcomm co's lobbyists records

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston responded to a request by The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for information about "discussions, briefings or other exchanges" telecommunications companies and members of Congress have had recently with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA" . She issued a court order stating that the information should be handed over by December 10th.

The EFF filed a class-action suit in January 2006 against AT&T Inc., accusing the company of illegally making communications on its networks available to the National Security Agency without warrants. Now Congress wants to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that would protect them from such court challenges.

"Any attempt for immunity is aimed at getting these very important cases swept back under the rug," EFF spokeswoman Rebecca Jeschke said Wednesday.

President Bush confirmed in December the NSA has been conducting warrantless surveillance of calls and e-mails which they claimed believed the involvement of al-Qaida terrorists if at least one of the parties to the communication is outside the U.S.

The administration contends the program is legal and necessary, but has never agreed or disagreed that purely domestic calls and electronic communications are being monitored.(They are of course)

FISA requires the government to obtain court approval before conducting electronic surveillance on U.S. soil, even if the target is a foreign citizen in a foreign country.

Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for the intelligence director, said the department doesn't comment on pending litigation, but "of course we comply with court orders."

Don't hold your breath.

PS Susan Illston was born in Japan and was Nominated by William J. Clinton on January 23, 1995, to a seat vacated by Barbara A. Caulfield; Confirmed by the Senate on May 25, 1995, and received commission on May 26, 1995.

A white female judge nominated by Clintonan , my god the Republicans just hate them.

Probably the most beautiful woman in the world

Henry Holland, designer and creator of the House of Holland rhyming slogan T-shirts dropped into a chippy in Stubbins, near Bury and met Laura Hollins AKA Agyness Deyn and friend of Lord Patel

Laura Hollins, shows her birthday as February 16, 1983, the web and agencies give the same day but use the year 1986....

She’s been on the cover of Italian, American, and British Vogue and appeared in advertisements for Burberry, Giorgio Armani, and Vivienne Westwood and last night Littleborough born Agyness Deyn attained ultimate industry acclaim by being named Model of the Year at the British fashion Awards.

They mekk 'em good ooop North !

Senegalese magic

Our good friend Rama Yade, (Ramatoulaye Yade-Zimet ) President Sarkozy's latest squeeze , 31-year-old Senegalese-born and Muslim and his subminister of foreign affairs and human rights has asked us promote "The Drums of Senegal" by Karim Mbaye

Call him 07768 606 224 for a copy £6 (ish)or to book him and his Gambian friend Jali on Kora with vocals.

Jon Mendelsohn ... Labour Friends of Israel rally round

Well wudjbleeve it Jewish homosexualist ex Chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel , ex MP Stephen Twigg pops up on Channel 4 News at 7.30 pm GMT saying what a splendid chap Jon Mendelsohn is.

Steven Twigg Opened the Wolfson Hillel's School Pears' Foundation Early Years Unit in 2005 (in Southgate where Twiggy was brought up) when he was Minister of State for School Standards (see pic) ...the school to which the Mendelsohn children are sent and where their mother Nicola is a Governor.

Nicola (Mrs) Mendelsohn,(now 33) head of Grays Advertising where friends of Lord Patel remember her (she is from Manchester) graduating with a degree in English and Drama from Leeds University in 1992. Since elected at the Institute in Practioners in Advertising Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 26th April 2006 to their Council and ferocious networker."I love my work, and you can hold it all together. I have a live-in nanny (and 4 kids) , an array of cleaners, and Tesco.com is a lifesaver - and my husband is very supportive. " Guradian Face of the Future

Nicolas's top tip ..." If you don't ask, you'll never get. Chutzpah is everything. "

Blackberries have made things a lot easier - you can send a two-line message instead of having a 10-minute conversation - we bet it has been overheating today. (e mail nicola.mendelsohn@greyeu.com ) see also "The Power Mum" Independent 18 th April this year.

Nice to know you can call on your friend when you are in a tight hole isn't it ?

General Colin Powell - a troubled past and his role in supplying Iran with weapons

In 1987, when congressional Iran-Contra investigators asked about the
intercepts and other evidence of Pentagon knowledge, Powell again pleaded a weak memory.

He repeatedly used phrases such as “I cannot specifically recall.” At one point, Powell said, “To my recollection, I don’t have a recollection.”

Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush by Robert Parry, Sam Parry and Nat Parry (Amazon)

Read about Colin Powell' fascinating history in Vietnam , supplying Iranians with missiles via Israel ... here

Death Valley ... this week

Des Browne part time soldier

Credit due to Beu Bo D'or Lord Patel sat next to a Lt Colonel in the Army last night to celebrate Lancashire day and was astonished to hear of the resentment about the Scottish solictor who is moonlighting as both Minister of Defence and for somewhere called Scotland.

A country that lost to the spaghetti munchers and now has lost it's manager - perhaps Des will have a go in his spare time.

Readers may wish to consider how he spends his days ..

1 Feb 2007 : Column 510W Hansard

Nuclear Weapons

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the use of nuclear weapons on climate change. [115894]

Des Browne: We have monitored discussion in the academic arena on the possible effects of a large scale nuclear exchange on the world's climate but we have not undertaken any such assessments ourselves. Most recently, a study was presented to the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in December 2006 on the subject. This found that even a small scale regional nuclear war could disrupt the global climate for a decade or more.

Good enough reason to cancel Trident.

Labouring for Israel

In considering the staff in Gordon Brown's office Lord Patel had forgotten a previous post ...
Saturday, February 24, 2007 ...

Gila Sacks, expert on Jewish Slavery joins Gordon Brown's SPADS

" ...Gila Sacks, the daughter of Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi since 1991, has landed a job with Gordon Brown, The Jewish Chronicle reports. ".....

"The stunningly beautiful, raven haired, doe eyed, slim, academically gifted, Jewish princess (born 1983) married Elliott Goldstein in October 2004 and now joins Gordon Brown's 10 other advisers @ No. 11("spads" = special advisors paid for by the tax payer) after having been a Director of Strategy and development for the UJIA , a Jewish charity in Finchley, with strong links to Israel and an excellent dating agency. Gila's talented, sports loving, hunky husband is an investment manager in the hotel, cosmeceutical (sic) and insurance industries. "

Labour Friends of Israel in the House by Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, March 21, 2005 at
Spinwatch is a useful (if now out of date) background on the LFA - which is very interesting to read in the light of Lord Levy's peddling of honours to fund the 2005 election.

One time chairmans was Jon Mandelsohn listed as the 28th most influential person in "British Jewry" by the Jewish Chronicle this year. The paper wrote: "At ease in the corridors of power, Mendelsohn has the contacts and know-how to advance Israel's case in his LFI role." Pic is of Nicola (Mrs) Mendelsohn,(now 33) head of Grays Advertising where friends of Lord Patel remember her (she is from Manchester) graduating with a degree in English and Drama from Leeds University in 1992. Since elected at the Institute in Practioners in Advertising Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 26th April 2006 to their Council and ferocious networker."I love my work, and you can hold it all together. I have a live-in nanny (and 4 kids) , an array of cleaners, and Tesco.com is a lifesaver - and my husband is very supportive. " Guradian Face of the Future

Nicolas's top tip ..." If you don't ask, you'll never get. Chutzpah is everything. "

Blackberries have made things a lot easier - you can send a two-line message instead of having a 10-minute conversation - we bet it has been overheating today. (e mail nicola.mendelsohn@greyeu.com ) see also "The Power Mum" Independent 18 th April this year. Nicola is also a governor of The Wolfson Hillel Primary School (founded in 1992 as a United Synagogue School **** ) as well as a Director of the Fragrance Foundation - Fragrance Foundation UK is a non-profit making educational organisation setting standards of excellence for the fragrance industry in the UK.

Jon Mendelsohn (friend, protege and general lickspittle for Lord Levy) who took up a job of Chief Fund Raiser on September 3rd (in a voluntary capacity - presumably therfore unpaid - on leave from LLM - Lawson, Lucas, Mendelsohn the Westminster lobbyists) issued a statement just before Gordon Brown rose for PMQ's today.

Yet another piece in the puzzle rasing more questions than it answers (In full at BBC Online) .

Probably the most extarordinary part is ...

"When I was researching previous gifts and plans I enquired into the names of individuals I did not know or otherwise recognise which included Janet Kidd, Raymond Ruddick and latterly John McCarthy.

I was informed by Peter Watt to whom I reported that this was an arrangement with David Abrahams which was long-standing and which was appropriately dealt with in relation to the Party's reporting requirements. He told me these donations fully complied with the law and I had no reason to doubt that information.

was long-standing

How long standing ? Back certainly to the days of Matt Carter ? ... even earlier .... to My fellow Lord Triesman ?... it would appear so. No doubt Newsnight's mystery midnight caller could fill in the details, if asked. ...or Mr Carter or Triesman the Trot.

fully complied with the law

It did not and clarification on the point would have been easily sought. by reading the Act, the Electoral Commission advice, or even contacting the staff of the Compliance Office at the Electoral Commission.

I had no reason to doubt

He had every reason to doubt what Watt said as he was "unhappy with the arrangement whereby donations were taken through a third party and was determined it would not play a part in our future plans"....."I did not discuss this with the officers of the National Executive Committee or party leadership but I decided to tell Mr Abrahams that his method of contribution was unacceptable. "

Quite extraordinary - he doesn't tell anybody (although Baroness Jay's antennae had picked this up) and finally gets round to writing a letter to David Abrahams (AKA John Martin) with whom he had a dust up on the LFI (" given our personal history of past disagreements") that lands on his Northern doorstep just before the Daily Mail blows the gaff.

Mandelson accordingly wrote a letter (when is very,very unclear)

PS : To unclear the air there is of course the letter about which Mr Abrahamson was so anxious to discuss on Newsnight, a handwritten letter according to Abrahams, typed according to Mandelsohn (a curious and tangling discrepancy ). Abrahams received the letter yesterday, Tuesday - in his telling it appears not via a postal service but was "on his mat".

This is the text according to Newsnight's account

Dear David,

Thank you for your message which Oliver(Labour Party apparatchik) passed onto me. The party is of course very appreciative of all the support you have given over many years. At some point I would like to have the opportunity to talk with you personally about what we are doing and our plans for the time between now and the next general election. I know your diary is very busy but as one of the party’s strongest supporters it is only right that you are kept informed of what we are doing and the priorities that we are assigning to our resources. Any time that your diary allows, when you are next in London, I would very much like to meet to discuss this with you.

Warmest regards, John

The Director of General Election Resources (so far)

Perhaps that's how these things are done in Israel.

Update 4.30 pm : The deeply unpleasant Stephen Pollard on his Spectator Blog has a fascinating insight of his time at the Fabian Society and the egregious and pusy David ("Dave" to Jack Straw who has never, seen, heard , felt, touched,smelt or known)Abrahams.

A commentator calles Joss Fitzsimmons makes the entirely ludicrous and ill founded suggestion that perhaps DA's subscriptions were DA acting as bag man for the Israeli Lobby ... and suggests ..." Blair said Israel needed "more time to complete their objectives" when they were bombing defenseless Lebanon. Did David Abraham pay for that statement I wonder?" As if.

Macaulay said that the Puritans hated bear baiting not because it hurt the bear but because it gave pleasure to the spectator. PMQ's resembled an unruly bear pit today and Vincent Cable (en passant - but then aren't they all, leader of the Lib Dems launched the wonderful image of Stalin transforming into Mr Bean.

**** Incidentally Steven Twigg Opened the Wolfson Hillel's Scool Pears' Foundation Early Years Unit in 2005 when he was Minister of State for School Standards. Alas no longer an MP but he was Chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel.and also had a very exciting social life at Oxford where he sometimes read PPE at Balliol. (BBC)

David Abrahams(AKA David Martin ), Jon Mendelsohn, Gordon Brown and the "Labour Friends of Israel" - jacta alea est

In an interview with BBC's Newsnight, Mr David Abrahams (AKA David Martin - who telephoned the show) said: "I've just got a letter through my door from Jon Mendelsohn. (It said): 'The party is of course very happy about all the help you have given to the party... As one of the party's strongest supporters I would like to meet you.'" ... "warmest regards ... Jon."

The Independent has it today ...."Dear David, thank you for the message which Oliver [an official of the Labour Party] passed on to me. The party is very appreciative of all the help and support you have given over many years. At some point I would like to have the opportunity to talk with you personally about what we are doing and our plans between now and the next general election..."

Mentioning the priority for resources for the next general election, Mr Mendelson added: "Any time that your diary allows when you are next in London I would very much like to meet to discuss this with you. Warmest regards, Jon. Director of General Election Resources."

It now appears after more information has become available that on Friday when the Daily Mail contacted the Labour Party, Jon Mendelsohn (so influential in the Labour Friends of Israel and chief fund raiser for the Prime Minister ) went into panic mode - presumably in an attempt to shut Mr David Abrahams up...or at least encourage him to be silent. After all we still don't know if the money that he was channelling to the Labour Party was all his.(D Tel)

Mr David Abrahams (AKA David Martin )would be well advised not to go for long walks in the countryside .... that is not to suggest that Robin Cook and David Kelly were murdered... but they were.

The Prime Minister spoke at the Labour Party Conference to the Labour Friends of Israel and made some interesting remarks ...

"when I was growing up, Kirkcaldy and Tel Aviv were linked very closely because my father used to spend many weeks in Israel, he was the chairman of the Church of Scotland’s Israel Committee, "

"I will continue to do what I can both to defend Israel and to protect the security of Israel’s borders "

"I have strong sense of the injustices that have been done to the Jewish people over these years and that is why as Chancellor, I wanted to put money into the Holocaust Educational Trust"

About LFI

Founded in 1957, LFI is one of the most active groups in the Labour Party, drawing wide support from Ministers, MPs, MEPs, peers, advisers and activists. Our commitment to Labour is as much a part of what we do as our support for a secure and peaceful Israel.

No doubt the LFI will be anxious to demonstrate that the money that Mr David Abrahams (AKA David Martin ) was routing to the Labour Party, Harriet Harman , Hilary Benn etc., through , Ms Kidd, Mr McCarthy, the Conservative voting (and ignorant of her role) Mrs Janet Dunn and the paint splattered Mr Riddick was mr david Abrahams to donate .. and could not possibly have been "donated" by anyone else.

Zionism is of course a bipartisan policy in Westminster ... see here