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Nicky Hoogstraten has an arresting experience in Harare - nothing is ever as simple as it seems

Lord Patel's post on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 Davy / Hoogstraten / Zimbabwean funny forex deals is one of the most frequently visited parts of the archives - not probably because of the details of Mr Hoogstraten and his funny financial deals with ZANU Party grandees, mining companies etc., or his deals with Charles Davy who was accused at the time, just as Hoogstraten has just been because of funny Forex deals.

Charles Davy ( temporarily a resident of SA) is of course the future father in law of the red top's friend, the alcoholically challenged , red topped Prince Harry (putative son of the prince of Wales) , whose studious daughter Chelsey sans clothes is (probbly) the principal cause of global interest in this fascinating nugget of journalism.

If convicted murderer (but acquitted on appeal) fun loving landlord, Nicky Hoogstraten has been pulled in (along 20 billion Zimbabwe dollars (£335,883; US$665,148) in cash, US$37,586 (£18,980), 92,880 South African rands (£6,552; US$12,975), £190 (US$376) and 180 Botswana pula (£15; US$29) and a stash of very interesting pornographic films and pictures of local celebrities) it is more to do with having fallen out in his dealing with corrupt ZANU politicians (he was reported to have given Mugabe US$10Mn.)and Ministers (the name of Didymus Mutasa is called to mind) and their desire to steal properties from him and failure to respond to ...er...blackmail.

It is likely of course that the soaring cost of coal, demanded by Eskom in South Africa and Zimbabwe Power Company has attracted interest in his holding in Hwange Colliery Company
"The Company takes cognizance of its role as the backbone of the Zimbabwean economy and supports a plethora of strategic industries", they say on their website." Oddly their notes on Directors page has gone blank.

Ben Rafemoyo of Zimbabwe's ZESA Holdings said on Jan 6th 2008 said they want to re-open 3 thermal stations at Bulawayo, Munyati and Harare, have not been in operation due to coal shortages. They produce a combined 150 megawatts when fired to full capacity. Nearly ZIM$1-trillion has been targeted for building up stocks to fire the thermal juniors. He said the payment for coal would be made to Hwange Colliery Company once the 5.4-trillion dollars (Gulp!!!) it was allocated under the 2008 National Budget was released. Hwange recently took delivery of ten modernised haulage trucks from the Chinese based world acclaimed Norinco Industries.

To put this into perspective , Zim whose peak electricity demand is possibly around 2 900 MW, imports at least half of its national requirements from Hidroelectrica de Caporal Bassa of Mozambique, Eskom of South Africa and SNEL.... however paying for it is a major problem.

Reading for today Ecclesiasticus xiii. 1 He that toucheth pitch, shall be defiled therewith.

Also see The lights are going out all over Africa

Hain - and his terrist connections - past and present.

Talkspace reveals a very distant but nonetheless interesting bit of Hain family history dated Feb 13th 2007.

The Minister for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain was born to South African parents who were anti-apartheid activists in the South African Liberal Party, for which they were made "banned persons", briefly jailed, and prevented from working. Friends of the Hain family formed a small resistance group, the Armed Resistance Movement.

The Armed Resistance Movement (ARM) was an terrorist group whose members were mainly white, and friends of Peter Hain's family were involved.

ARM came into being at the time of the arrest of the major ANC leadership. It succeeded in several bombing operations. However, a bombing in Johannesburg station in July 1964 led to the death of an elderly woman.

One of the ARM's operatives (John Harris, a school teacher) was subsequently arrested, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed.

Harris was a friend of Peter Hain's family, and Harris' wife, Ann, and their young son, David, went to live with the Hains in the run-up to the trial. The 15-year-old Peter Hain delivered the eulogy at the service for Harris after his execution by the South African government for planting the bombs that killed and wounded people in the blast.

Another site has a related part of the story which is best visited to fully understand ..

My grandmother . . . born and bred in England . . . ( Ethel Rhys) died one month after being
blown up on Johannesburg station (july 24th 1964) and it was thought that I would too.

Which might explain how well he understood the NI terrists and gangstas he had to deal with and meet their demands at the St Andrews summmit.

Or the embarassing case of his appointment of Mrs Bertha McDougall as Interim Commissioner for Victims and Survivors of the Troubles On 24 October 2005.

Mr Justice Girvan was tasked to review this curious appointment and taking the role of Solomon, said the appointment of Bertha McDougall by Mr Peter Hain, was in breach of "the accepted merit norms concerning public appointments" and he also called for a high-level inquiry.

Mr Justice Girvan held that Mr Hain had been motivated by an improper political purpose, namely a confidence-building gesture to the DUP.

Bertha is the widow of a police reservist killed by the INLA (Dirty Catholic bastards) in 1981 and her appointment and the method of appointment was challenged by Brenda Downes, whose husband Sean was killed by an RUC (Dirty Prod bastards) plastic bullet in west Belfast in 1984.

Interestingly, in a Judgement delivered on January 15, 2007 Lord Justice Girvan held that the post of IVC formally came to an end on 5th December 2006 by operation of Contract, as a result her report was issued as a personal report... and ..er ... Mr Hain's misdeeds.. er...swept... er... under the carpet. Forgotten .. but not by everybody.

Northern Rock - Dividend excess ... all helped along merrily by the Fucking Stupid Authority

A study of The Commons Select Committee on Northern Rock will produce many fascinating nuggets as obervers and commentators trawl through it's pages - and many more no doubt will remain hidden. Here is just one fascinating insight the report affords into the ways the crooks ran Northern Rock.

Lord Patel has been fascinated with the Interim results of Northern Rock for some time. The Directors were able to very swiftly produce accounts on July 25th 2007 for the 6 month period to 30th June 2007 (showing a profit rise period on period of 0.7%) and declare an increase in dividend of 30.3%.

That they were able to do this was due to the adoption of what is called the Basel II "advanced" regulatory rules controlling requirements for capital adequacy.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision explains the 2 ways that are available to banks under the Internal Ratings-Based Approach of managing credit risk ;

1. Foundation - banks provide their own estimates of PD [probability of default] and rely on supervisory estimates for other risk components.

2. Advanced - banks provide more of their own estimates of PD [probability of default], LGD [loss given default] and EAD [Exposure at default], and their own calculation of M [Effective maturity], subject to meeting minimum standards.

The "Advanced" route adopted by the Directors of Northern Rock requires a waiver from the FSA (Financial Services Authority Handbook, BIPRU 1.3, Applications for Advanced Approaches ) - which was approved by the FSA on 29th June 2007 -Northern Rock's Interim Results, for six months until 30 June 2007 and the consequences of this important waiver are explained on p 14/15 of the Interim results..

Take a deep breath here...

Capital Management and Basle II

On 29 June 2007, we received notification of approval by the FSA of our Basle II waiver application. Our regulatory capital requirements, comprising both Pillar I and Pillar II, are therefore calculated under Basle II with effect from that date.

We have adopted the Retail Internal Ratings Based (IRB) approach for our residential and personal unsecured loans, the Foundation IRB approach for our treasury portfolios and the Standardised approach for commercial loans and operational risk.

The implementation of Basle II results in our Pillar I risk weighted assets at 30 June 2007 falling from around £33.9 billion under Basle I to £18.9 billion under Basle II, a reduction of some 44%. The risk weighting for our residential mortgages reduces to mid-teens %, treasury assets to around half of Basle I requirements, also around mid teens %, reflecting the low risk nature of these portfolios and personal unsecured loans to slightly below Basle I requirements.

Under Pillar II, the Group is required to hold capital to cover risks other than credit and operational risk and for risks not wholly captured under Pillar I. Overall, Pillar II capital is expected to amount to around 40% of our total capital requirements, including the effect of transitional adjustments that place a floor on capital requirements in the first three years of implementation.

This floor is calculated as 8% of Basle I risk weighted assets less collective provisions, multiplied by 95% in 2007, 90% in 2008 and 80% in 2009.

We continue to treat securitised assets as “off balance sheet” for regulatory capital purposes, resulting in deductions from both Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital for the first loss piece retained by Northern Rock. ****

Deductions are also equally made from Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital in respect of the excess of expected losses over provisions, whereas under Basle I Tier 2 capital benefited from the add back of collective provisions.

The introduction of Basle II, together with the planned disposal of capital inefficient assets and continued capital management such as the Whinstone programme results in an anticipated regulatory capital surplus over the next 3 to 4 years. This surplus will enable the reduction of previously planned subordinated debt issues and permit capital repatriation of up to £300 to £400 million over this period. Such repatriation will follow the release of capital as a result of asset disposals and will ensure that available capital is sufficient to support existing rating agency credit ratings and maintain an appropriate mix of Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital.

During the first half of 2007 we issued $650 million (£328 million equivalent) of Upper Tier 2 subordinated debt.

Or as CEO "Shagger" Applegarth , in between visits to the buy to let department, could more simply explain this recklessness with the shareholders funds in answer to Question 135 when he met the Select committee ..

" ....when you get your Basel II approval, the relative risk weighting of certain assets in your balance sheet changes. So what we had, because of the quality of the loan book, was you saw our risk weighting for residential mortgages come down from 50% to 15%. That clearly required less capital behind it, so that links to why we were able to increase the dividend.."

It is a reasonable assumption that to the Directors "We continue to treat securitised assets as “off balance sheet” for regulatory capital purposes, resulting in deductions from both Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital for the first loss piece retained by Northern Rock." meant - we can now pretend that we don't need to have capital to back up Granite and all that other other SIV shit.

..and therefore we can now pay out a dividend increase of 30.4% 3 days after the FSA gave us waiver approval. Luvvly Jubbly. Trebles all round and Adam is off to the Presidential Suite in the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington with Amanda Smithson to shag his brains out.

Hopwever 2 weeks later, by August 7/8/9 th the Directors were having a chat with Mervyn's minions about raising the odd £30Bn. (See BBC Radio 4 interview with the King of the Bank) simply to keep the business going ... and eventually they had to ditch the interim divvy entirely.

Incidentally to Question Q 220 Chairman of the FSA Sir Callum McCarthy ( 64 on February 29th) who it was announced on January 12th, just ahead of the report's publication that he would be "standing down" in September) strongly rejected the notion that the Basel II waiver process was a "a box-ticking exercise".

The next section of the report after the above is Section 46.

It commences, " The problems affecting Northern Rock were those of liquidity and funding, rather than solvency" ... too fucking right, the Directors were pissing away all the money on divvies they couldn't properly fund ... a liquidity problem that resulted in insolvency... ie. they could not pay their debts as they fell due... but of course the CEO had unloaded his shares at the top of the market i January ... the divvy was just another ploy to suck in the mug punters.

Dark secrets lurk somewhere in this unholy and (to the taxpayer) every, very, expensive mess.

******** Although the "Highlights" Press release can boldly claim "Total underlying assets of £113.0 billion - an increase of 28.3% from June 2006 ,underlying assets of £88.0 billion. Statutory assets of £113.5 billion, growth of 27.8% . Capital assets - now you see them, now you don't need to count them in under Basel II **** and all approved by the FSA !!!!

Clostridium difficile in hospitals - a present and growing danger

Lord Patel has always maintained an unhealthy interest in the communicable diseases that patients enjoy during their hospital visits, since the National Audit report in 2002. It is evident that Clostridium difficile (especially amngst the elderly) is a a growing and very unpleasant problem.

Updates on Clostridium difficile in NI Hospitals

The Irish Times reports that Stormont (NI) Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has allocated an additional expenditure ( well he called it an "investment") £9 million would be invested over the next 3 years in a bid to improve patient safety and reduce the spread of infections like MRSA and Clostridium difficile

Single rooms are to be introduced in Northern Ireland hospitals and a new e hospital being built in Co Fermanagh will be the first to have single rooms for all appropriate patients. new measuress have also been introduced , including restrictions on visitors, a rolling programme of unannounced hygiene inspections to all hospitals and a new dress code for all health care staff.

An official outbreak of Clostridium difficile ( of a highly virulent ribotype 027 ) has been declared at Antrim Hospital (which Members of Stormont's health committee visited yesterday) where a specialist ward has been set up to treat patients after the number of cases in a month nearly trebled.

Updates on Clostridium difficile in Scotland

C. difficile Working Group, 1st report in December 2007 on the (now mandatory) surveillance of Clostridium difficile associated disease (CDAD) in Scotland (which only has data for cases in hospital patients > 65 years) states that there were 6035 cases for the whole of Scotland. The annual rate for Scotland per 1000 acute occupied bed days in persons ≥ 65 years old was 2.03 which they say is "comparable to rates generated in England".

The report is a model of it's kind and it is good to see that "approximately 65 % of the laboratory data are received by HPS via the electronic reporting system ECOSS (Electronic Communication of Surveillance in Scotland)". Analysis of samples includes ribotyping which is best presented int his graph - only two cases of ribotype o27 were found with 1 isolate in October.

In a sombre conclusion they say

"In conclusion this first year of data collection under the mandatory surveillance programme for Scotland has shown that healthcare associated Clostridium difficile associated disease is a significant problem throughout the healthcare system in Scotland. CDAD is today considered the leading cause of healthcare associated diarrhoea in the industrialised countries."

It is interesting to note that on Monday, 29 October 2007 Lord Darzi of Denham Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Health in answer to a question from Lord Morris was only able to give such figures up to 2005. But they were alarming

	1999	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Mentions of C.diff	918	1,150	1,338	1,702	2,155	3,697
Number of these where underlying cause of death is C. diff	499	661	709	912	1,187	2,008

Figures from ONS for deaths involving CDI for primary care trusts cannot be provided "without disproportionate costs".

The number of deaths in hospital in Fife involving Clostridium difficile were 23 in 2005, and 41 in 2006 , where it was the main cause have gone down, from 13 in 2005, to 11 in 2006 which means that thenumber of deaths where the bug was considered to be a contributing cause trebled in one year.

NHS Highland said there had been 120 cases of Clostridium difficile last year, up from 50 in 2005, C. difficile was also an "underlying or contributing cause of death" for 5 patients in the area last year.

Clostridium difficile Ribotype 027 - Global incidence

Since 2003, the emergence and distribution of a hypervirulent strain of Clostridium difficile PCR ribotype 027 has been described in North America, Japan, England and Wales, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France, and has also been detected in Austria, Scotland, Switzerland, Poland and Denmark and has ben present in Sweden for several years.This new epidemic strain (PFGE type BI/NAP1 in the USA , also called ribotype 027) appears to be more virulent, with the ability to produce greater quantities of toxins A and B due to a mutant toxin controlling gene.

C. difficile is difficult to culture and none of the commercially available toxin tests differentiate between the various strains of C. difficile - it also appears to be it is resistant to newer fluoroquinolones. Both factors which may have aided it's rapid spread.

Alyson Smith Thames Valley Health Protection Unit, Bucks,UK reported the first evident UK cases in June 2005.

In the Netherlands, St. Jansdal Hospital in Harderwijk, the incidence of C. difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD) increased from 4 per 10 000 patient admissions in 2004 to 83 per 10 000 in the months April to July 2005 -this was characterised as C. difficile ribotype 027. (see also In total 17 Dutch institutions have detected patients with ribotype 027 so far, 15 hospitals
and 2 nursing homes )

In December 2007, C. difficile PCR ribotype 027 was found in two cases of C. difficile-associated disease treated in a hospital in Oslo, Norway.

Evidently treatment of severe or recurrent C. difficile -associated diarrhea is an evolving science and recent literature from outbreaks of severe disease in Canada and the U.S. suggest that mortality is associated with advanced age (≥ 75 years), immunosuppression, shock requiring vasopressors, very high WBC (> 50,000 cells/mm), and elevated lactate levels ( ≥ 5 mmol/L).

Advice from the Dutch Working Party on Infection Prevention is that in all patients who develop diarrhoea in hospital, especially during or after treatment with antibiotics or chemotherapeutic agents, an infection with C. difficile ribotype 027 should be suspected... and treated accordingly.


Hospitals on alert as superbug C difficile becomes resistant to key drug - news report in the Scotsman Sunday January 28th states that a new report by public health officials at the Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections has a report that taken from patients in the Leeds area of England showed that a C difficile ribotype 001 , the 2nd most common in the UK had "reduced susceptibility" to metronidazole - the antibiotic of choice in treating infections.That leaves only vancomycin as the last line of defence for antibiotic treatment.

Out of 88 tests 21 showed "reduced susceptibility".

Examination of the HPA website could find no evidence of the quoted report

There is however a useful article by Jon Brazier, Consultant Clinical Scientist and Head of the
Anaerobe Reference Laboratory, part of the National Public Health Service for Wales Microbiology Cardiff laboratory situated in the University Hospital of Wales. This can be found here. Clostridium difficile disease: a case of greater virulence and new risk factors page 20 HPA magazine Volume 5 Suimmer 2006. This has valuable information on the increasing numbers and spread of different ribotypes of C. difficile within the UK.

See also the Leeds Health Trust Annual report November 26th 2007 - The total number of C difficile laboratory reports for LTHT (indicative of cases of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea) across the Trust: 860(≥65; 648) in 2006/7, 645(≥65;490) in 2005/6, 692 in 2004/5, 743 in 2003/4, and 883 in 2002/3. The C. difficile rate for patients equal to or greater than 65 years in LTHT for 2004 was 2.0/1000 bed days, for 2005 1.86/1000 bed days, and for 2006 1.53/1000 bed days. Nationally there has been an increase of 5.5% in the number of C difficile reports for patients equal to or greater than (≥) 65 years.

Leeds have introduced routine intensive prospective molecular and clinical surveillance of hospital and community CD cases to determine the relative prevalence of epidemic strains, and the spread of CD 027. It is the only such service in the UK. We have examined ~500 cases in detail. C. difficile 027 was identified in both hospital and GP patients (4% of all cases), mainly causing mild/mod disease, and with only minimal evidence of spread or clustering. Intensive surveillance will continue to improve our understanding of C. difficile infection epidemiology and to detect emergent strains.

The Health Protection Agency asked Leeds to establish and lead a Clostridium difficile Ribotyping Network for England (CDRNE). The CDRNE consists of six regional microbiology laboratories in England: Leeds (Reference Laboratory, Leeds General Infirmary), Birmingham (Heartlands Hospital), London (University College Hospital), Manchester (Manchester Royal Infirmary), Newcastle (Newcastle General Hospital) and Southampton (Southampton General Hospital). The CDRNE service is now operational, and is to be used by hospitals/infection control teams in England to investigate increased frequency or severity of cases of C. difficile infection, increased mortality, or increased recurrence rate.


PS : Minister humiliated over Rose Gibb NHS payout Rose Gibb resigned 1 day ahead of a damning Healthcare Commission report into two outbreaks of Clostridium difficile, which led to the deaths of at least 90 patients, at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust . She will receive a £75,000 pay-off despite the Health Secretary Alan Johnson’s pledge at the time that it would be witheld.

Putin plays the power card (again) in the Balkans

There were high level discussions and agreements made in Moscow on Friday when Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica met President Putin and Russian Minister for Fuel and Energy Viktor Khristenko as well as Directors of Gazprom.

The agreements involved cooperation in the oil and gas sector, as well as a protocol specifying the main terms for Russian company Gazprom Neft would obtain 51% of Serbia's state oil company NIS. WaPo says Serbian Energy Minister Aleksandar Popovic confirmed reports that Russia had offered US$600 million -- about one-fifth of the company's estimated market value plus an additional US$730 million to modernize the run-down company.

Under a package deal, apart from the Gazprom / NIS deal a segment of the South Stream gas pipeline just agreed with Bulgaria will transit Serbia and on to to the Bosnian Serb Republic, Croatia and Italy ; construction of the huge Banatski Dvor underground gas storage with the capacity of about 800 million cubic meters will be completed costing some Euros 128 Mn. (See plans for NSI here by Dr. Svetislav Krstic pdf alert)

This whole shindig was a pivotal exercise in Balkan real politik and Putin's Russia, leveraging power through it's energy policy. The pro western Democratic Party faction in nationalist Kostunica's Cabinet, dropped opposition to the deal, ( a view supported by Isvestiya on Friday) needing the Prime Ministers support for incumbent President Boris Tadic, (he is allowed 2 x 5 yr terms) to defeat an ultranationalist challenger Tomislav Nikolic, the deputy leader of the hard-line nationalist Serbian Radical Party, in the country's runoff presidential vote on Feb. 3rd. Nikolic has in the past called for military intervention in Kosovo if it becomes independent and splits from (Greater) Serbia - he also would refuse to hand over fugitives such as Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

The agreements also reflect the joint Russian / Serb opposition to a western supported independence for Kosovo. (Even though Tadic is said to advocate closer ties with the EU)

"Serbia very deeply respects the position of Russia on Kosovo," Tadic publicly told Putin. "We will defend our interests in Kosovo, operating on the basis of international law, and we will never do otherwise."

Putin was, as usual boastfully pushing Russian interests, and to please the public, resolute ; "Russia is categorically against a unilateral declaration of independence for Kosovo," he said, adding that it could "seriously damage the system of international law and have negative consequences for the Balkans and affect stability in other regions." ( Sub text "Watch it you unruly Ossetians")

Russia has historical, cultural, religious and linguistic ties with Serbia , they threatened a veto last year in the U.N. Security Council to block a Western-backed plan for internationally supervised statehood for Kosovo.

Ruairi OConnell our man in Pristina's blog has been brought to readers attention before ... his naive ramblings make one wonder how he will deal with these pesky Russki's..

.."We have to deal with the situation as best we can. And we do have to deal with it, right now; this is vital for European Security, but, most importantly of all, to give all the people of Kosovo a hope for a better life." ... and presumably a supply of natural gas.

See : Guradian U.S. worried about Russia's Balkan energy grab (Reuters) Friday January 25 2008

"A confidential Serbian government document obtained by Reuters said Washington was considering using diplomatic channels to express its concern at the deal and point out the shortcomings. "

"The U.S. side warned about the political influence Moscow would gain by controlling energy resources in Serbia and the region, and expressed a negative assessment about the economic justification of South Stream," said the transcript of a high level meeting between U.S. and Serbian officials in Belgrade."

And Reuters also had a high level contact ...

A State Department spokesman told Reuters via telephone from Washington that the U.S. continued to view Nabucco as the best scheme to provide energy diversification in Europe......"the best option for achieving European energy diversification, particularly with regard to providing a direct route to Europe for Caspian and central Asian gas supplies".

What NU Labour spinners would call ..er... an ..er .. "aspirational" view. What less well equipped might describe as being outflanked and those who express their political views more directly...er.."Fucked"

UPDATE 28/1/08

MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) - The flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet has effectively engaged a designated target with a supersonic cruise missile as part of a Navy exercise in the northern Atlantic, a Navy spokesman said Tuesday.

The Moskva guided-missile cruiser launched the P-500 Bazalt (NATO reporting name SS-N-12 Sandbox), a liquid-propellant supersonic cruise missile, last used in 2003.

The P-500 Bazalt, which entered service in 1973, has a 550 km range and a payload of 1,000 kg, enabling it to carry a 350 kT nuclear or a 950kg semi-armor-piercing high explosive warhead.

Florida sees heroes paid and more terrists locked up - anyone notice ?

Clarence ''Clancy'' Prevost, 69, a former Navy and Northwest Airlines pilot is an American hero and US$5 Mn. richer today. The Rewards for Justice program created in 1984, has paid about $77 million to more than 50 people. The largest payment the program has made was $30 million to a person (unknown) whose information led to Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay Hussein, according to its website.

Prevost,was a key witness at French citizen , and schizophrenic Zacharias Moussaoui's trial and his eventual conviction as a 9/11 conspirator.

Prevost testified that he urged his bosses at the Pan Am International Flight Academy outside Minneapolis to call the FBI in August 2001 because he was suspicious of Moussaoui, an inexperienced and incompetent pilot seeking commercial jetliner training. A few days after Prevost warned his supervisors, an FBI agent came to ask him questions about Moussaoui.

All this leaves two of Prevost's previous colleagues Tim Nelson and Hugh Sims a bit sore. They also have been credited with tipping the FBI to Moussaoui and were honored by the Senate in 2005 with a resolution that commended their "bravery" and "heroism."

Senate Resolutions don't buy many groceries.

Moussaoui's trial, was of course, a farce, but it did give the opportunity to present as evidence all sorts of bits of information to back up the fictions of the official conspiracy theory of what happened on 9/11 - Bad photocopies of even worse printouts of Passenger Manifests of indeterminate origin for all 4 flights. Bits and pieces of an aeroplane "found" at Shanksville .. er... photographs of bits and pieces etc.,

Elswhere in Florida U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke (A Bush appointee) sentenced Jose "Dirty Bomber" Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun, and Kifah Wael Jayyousi on charges of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim individuals in a foreign country, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists. Padilla to a term of 208 months imprisonment; Hassoun to a term of 188 months imprisonment; and Jayyousi to a term of 152 months imprisonment.

Cooke said that as serious as the conspiracy was, there was no evidence linking the men to specific acts of terrorism anywhere.

"There is no evidence that these defendants personally maimed, kidnapped or killed anyone in the United States or elsewhere," she said.

Padilla was added in 2005 to an existing Miami terrorism support case just as the U.S. Supreme Court was considering his challenge to President Bush's decision to hold him in custody indefinitely without charge. The "dirty bomb" charges were quietly forgotten and never figured thereafter.

Adham Amin Hassoun was supposed to have recruited Padilla and 46-year-old Kifah Wael Jayyousi a financier and propagandist for the cell that assisted Islamic extremists in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere, according to trial testimony.

The convictions follow a 3 month trial based on tens of thousands of FBI telephone intercepts collected over an eight-year investigation and a form Padilla filled out in 2000 to attend an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan (magically discovered recovered by the CIA shortly after the U.S. invasion in late 2001 ). Padilla, a former Chicago gang member with a long criminal record, converted to Islam in prison and was recruited by Hassoun while attending a mosque in suburban Sunrise.

It was a patriotic jury that appeared in court on the last day of trial before the Fourth of July holiday with one row of jurors dressed in red, one in white, and one in blue (Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post, Aug. 17, 2007).

Perhaps they will join Clarence ''Clancy'' Prevost, as an American hero and collect a handsome reward from The Rewards for Justice program ?

The lights are going out all over Africa

At the end of a week of unprecedented power cuts across southern Africa, South Africa's Cabinet has declared a "national electricity emergency" and announced energy-saving measures including solar power and more use of gas. (All Africa.com) Government's complete statement here . Power crisis "national emergency": SA govt ."South African power supply company Eskom is looking for a total reduction of 15% and 20% of current electricity consumption across the system. "

Lord Patel and FCUKED have been bleating on about energy security since 1999 - here is a post from Monday, January 08, 2007 which clearly and succinctly states the dilemma facing Southern Africa.

However the whole of Southern Africa is facing huge electricity supply problems.

The SA Power Pool*** - a body that co-ordinates the planning and operation of electricity power systems among South African Development Community member states — total annual demand will clock 44 689 megawatts by the end of 2007
against combined net generation capacity of 45 000MW.

At the current growth rate, total regional demand for electricity is projected to hit 45 827MW by the end of 2008; 47 920MW in 2009; 48 795MW in 2010; and 50 291MW in 2011.

Capital projects totalling US$5.2 Bn are required simply to meet the projected shortfall in the region.

Among the SA government’s new proposals:

Promoting solar water heaters and solar-power traffic and street lights;

Introducing liquefied petroleum gas (LP gas);

Distributing energy-efficient light bulbs;

Introducing power rationing;

Putting pressure on the coal industry, which is exporting its best quality coal, to provide local power stations with a higher quality coal.

Eskom has coal stocks for 2/3 days.The current spot price of coal is about R100 a ton, the cost of transporting it 80km is about R150 a ton.Excessive rain has also dampened stockpiles of the fuel.

Extra transport costs and fuel quality are also problems especially as coal mines were closed over Christmas . ...Many more weeks of rolling blackouts are in prospect.


The sound of stable doors being shut is deafening.

*** Created in 1995, the South African Power Pool (SAPP) aims to link SADC member states into a single electricity grid. The national utilities currently participating in the SAPP are Angola's Empresa Nacional de Electricidade (ENE), the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC), the Democratic Republic of Congo's SNEL, the Lesotho Electricity Corporation (LEC), Malawi's Electricity Supply Commission (Eskom), Mozambique's EDM, Namibia's Nampower, South Africa's Eskom, the Swaziland Electricity Board (SEB), Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco), Zambia's ZESCO, and Zimbabwe's ZESA

East Africa: Regional Power Pool Starts in 2011

Webster's Dictionary adds new words daily

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a Kentucky Wildcat fan.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting lucky.

7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte: To take coffee! intravenously when you are running late.

10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease with a boner.

12. Karmageddon: It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes,and then the Earth explodes, and it's a serious bummer.

13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

14. Glibido: All talk and no action.

16 . Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

Joining the Dots Part 127 : Cambridge spies study the internet to 'Counter Militant Islamist Radicalisation on the Internet - Tony O'Reilly pays the b

Tony O'Reilly's Irish Independent has a fascinating story today about the O'Reilly Foundation making an award...."MI5 spies help student unlock terrorists' web"

Johnny Ryan (27) an Irish student is completing a ground-breaking PhD at Cambridge University under the supervision of British security service MI5's official historian.

Johnny is hoping for a Doctorate after studying how terrorists use the internet under the supervision of Prof Christopher Andrew, 67, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, the official historian of Britain's domestic spy agency - and the University website says of him,"Professor Andrew has been a regular presenter of BBC Radio and TV documentaries on modern history and international relations". He is also a friend of popular TV historian Peter Hennessy with whom he studied under cryptanalyst Harry Hinsley. He is "very close" to the SIS and they chose him to launder and publish (In miniscule and unreadable type) the rather odd , selective and copied / re-copied KGB *** papers of Vasili Mitrokhin, memorable for in unmasking the famous "Grandmother Spy", 87-year old Melita Norwood (d. June 2005 aged 93) codenamed "Hola" by the KGB when she was recruited in Britain in 1937 + other spies****. One report says he is "Widely believed to be MI5's main recruiter in Cambridge. "

Professor Andrew is a great one for spreading the view that the short lived President Yuri Andropov, the KGB chairman had no hand in the attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II in Rome in May 1981. He is also a passionate believer in the utility of SIGINT and other aspects of communications based intelligence...

Johnny Ryan , has already made an impact with his first book, 'Countering Militant Islamist Radicalisation on the Internet', (ISBN: 1-874-109-86-9) published by the Institute of European Affairs which was launched last year by the former chair of the UK Joint Intelligence Committee, Dame Pauline Neville-Jones.(Amazon)

The publishers blurb says ...."Violent radicalisation on the Internet is at the nexus of two key trends: the democratisation of communications driven by user generated content on the Internet; and the democratisation of strategic violence driven by mass-casualty non-state terrorism. How best can Europe capitalise on the first trend to counter the second? "

The Independent continues ..."The book argued against the European Commission's suggestion of using internet censorship to combat terror, and was heavily cited in the Commission's official impact report that decided to abandon the idea of an EU-wide internet censorship system."

Besides a fulsome review on the Amazon website from the Irish Times on 1st July (5 stars given) there are two more very fascinating reviews both awarding the book 5 stars ....

Elegant analysis of link between terrorism and the internet, 3 Jul 2007
By cormacio "cormacio" (france)

I found "Countering Militant Islamist Radicalisation on the Internet" provided an excellent overview of how the internet helps users make the transition from their home environment to a virtual world of dissatisfaction and aggression and, in some cases, on towards active participation in terrorism. The author has undertaken in-depth research and provides many illustrative examples and anecdotes. It is rare to come across a book which marries expertise on both internet and terrorism.

And the following day ...

Insightful overview with a refreshing perspective, 4 Jul 2007
By Marie Della Roche "Marie"

A meaty subject presented in such a way that those of us who are not media savvy can understand. Indeed, the reader need not be an expert on terrorism to benefit from the the authors point of view. Ryan offers an interesting view on the power of ordinary citizens and our ability to influence society through our ordinary lives. Very empowering!

Curiously both "Cormacio" and "Maria Della Roche" have never found the time, energy, effort or enthusiasm to write reviews on Amazon before (or since). Which is very puzzling because the publishers website quotes the OAP Baroness Lady Dame Jane Pauline Neville Jones

"This book is food for thought. ... We really do have a problem in society, and this is chapter and verse what this book is about." - Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, UK Shadow Security Secretary speaking at the launch of this title on 9 July 2007.

(Which was a week after these enthusiastic reviwers had bought, read and put finger to keyboard !!!! - good job someone keeps an eye on what people put on the Internet)

Quick minded readers will remember that this bears more than a passing resemblance to Ms. Plessington who on Christmas Day put up an Amazon review for Peter Neumann and MLR Smith, The Strategy of Terrorism,How it Works, and Why it Fails (Contemporary Terrorism Studies) Routledge, October 2007. ISBN 978-0-415-42618-3 (hardback) ISBN 978-0-203-93700-6 Amazon and an amazing US$130The book (published Dec 11th 2007)


*** Which he was able to do because he was given the job of packing up First Chief Directorate files in the KGB's Moscow headquarters, a massive turn-of-the-century building called the Lubyanka, and shipping them to the KGB's new quarters in Yasenevo.

Mitrokhin started taking notes on the dusty documents passing through his hands—strictly forbidden, of course, and highly dangerous. He hid these notes under the mattress in his Moscow apartment; then he transferred them to a dacha in the countryside, and finally, in 1992, he carried them with him by train to one of the Baltic countries where he, his family, and his 6 cases of materials were picked up by the British SIS. Ho.Ho.Ho.

****Other spies brought to light, partially or fully, were "Hunt," a spy recruited by Norwood but still unidentified by British authorities; "William," a trade union official who worked for the Russians in the 1970s; the British policeman John Symonds, who served as a roving agent for the KGB; and the American Robert Lipka, a clerk for the National Security Agency now serving an eighteen-year prison term for spying for the Soviets in the 1960s.

MRAP - A Correction is needed apparently

On January 22, 2008 we posted 1st US fatality in MRAP in Iraq - Force Protection slides

Badgers Forward (An Army Officer in Iraq commanding an Engineer Company according to his blogger profile - see pic ) corrects the record - (his wife is a self confessed sassy girl, also corrects his posts and listens to NPR) and somewhat testily

The New York Times gets it wrong.

Corporal Stephen Shannon of Company C, 397th Engineer (Task Force Pathfinder) was killed in Ramadi in January 2007 while riding in an RG-31.

Sergeant James Holtom, Sergeant Ross Clevenger, and Private First Class Ray Werner of Company A, 321st Engineer (Task Force Pathfinder) were killed 8 February 2007 while riding in an RG31.

A Soldier from the unit we replaced had a Soldier killed while riding in an RG31 in July of 2006 and there have been several incidents of Soldiers getting killed while riding in Buffaloes.

This is not a point of mere semantics.

As a Commander I told my Soldiers they had MRAPs and the very few in theater were dedicated to Route Clearance operations. When I wrote letters home I told the family members that their loved ones were in MRAPs and they had the very best protection available. None of that has changed except now with DoD stating the first MRAP deaths have occurred, many people have a question in their head. That is unfair to those families and the Soldiers that road in those vehicles.

I think the NY Times could certainly have asked more questions. It is true they accurately quoted the Department of Defense press conference; I can't fault them there, however, if they really knew what was going on here, they would have known that there have have been some MRAPs in country for quite a while.

There is a great deal more, well worth reading for aficionados of MRAP's. Wired have also updated their report " " ...the MRAP hit yesterday was not a Force Protection Cougar (as originally pictured) but a Navistar Maxxpro. These e-mailers note that the 1st Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment uses Maxxpros, not Cougars. " Which is good news for seekers of the Truth but not for Navistar shares.

Full taxonomy of all the US MRAP vehicles here, with details of vehicle, manufacturer, orders placed and pictures.

Claims US troops / airstikes in Ghazni kill 9 and wound 4 Afghan police and civilians

Aircraft supporting an operation by American forces in Ghazni , 45 miles SW of Kabul fired on vehicles - unfortunately one was a police vehicle, rushing to investigate an explosion.

This was caused by troops searching houses at 3.30 am local time, for a reported Taliban insurgent. When Afghan District police officers rushed to the scene, a firefight resulted and left 9 Afghan police officers (including District police chief Kamyab ) and a civilian dead and four other police officers and a woman had been wounded according to Habib-u Rahman, deputy chief of the Ghazni provincial council. Reuters report that Dr Ismail Ibrahimzai, the head of the local public health department confirmed these figures.

Protests erupted later with hundreds of Afghan citizens , chanting anti-American slogans, and protesting about the the killings in Ghazni city.



Readers will recall 19 Korean Christian missionaries were kidnapped near Ghazni and negotiations on their release were held in Ghazni with Taliban representatives. They were eventually released on a stretch of desert road eight kilometres south of the city of Ghazni. - one report by AP of the swap of the first 2 Korean women said "Wearing head scarves, khaki pants and traditional Afghan knee-length shirts, the women were driven to the site by an Afghan elder, Haji Zahir, who also got into one of the Red Cross vehicles with the freed hostages. (see pic)

Oddly the NYT report of the US / Afghan firefight says "Hajji Zaher, an elder in Ghazni town, gave this account: “At 3 a.m., when the Americans were searching the houses and when they blew up the gates, the police rushed to the area thinking that they were Taliban. And at the same time the Americans thought that the police were Taliban and there was a firefight.”

Maj. Chris Belcher, the spokesman for the United States military at Bagram Air Base said (NYT)United States forces were conducting a night raid on the compound of a man suspected of being an insurgent and of organizing suicide bombings.

He suggested that those killed were insurgents and said that he had no information on whether they were members of the national police. “I know there were some deaths, but I don’t have a number,” he said.

AP report that Maj. Chris Belcher,Combined Joint Task Force 82 spokesman said that 4 police officers were wounded by insurgents and that the coalition was looking into the reports of the police deaths. A Defenselink article quotes him ; "Coalition forces searching several compounds in Ghazni district for a Taliban commander associated with suicide bombings were met with small-arms fire. They returned fire, using a combination of small-arms and aerial-delivered conventional munitions, killing several insurgents.The coalition forces found and detained nine individuals when they continued their search of the area."See also Combine Joint Task Force 82 Press ReleaseWho also have a fascinating article "Reducing collateral damage through better accuracy " about the introduction of The M777A2 155 mm Howitzer with a three man crew , which can fire one round every 10 seconds, maintaining a sustained rate of six rounds per minute, out to a range of 30 kilometers. The weapon systems provides both an extended range and the ability to fire Excalibur (XM982) rounds, new precision guided munitions. The XM982 precision guided extended range artillery projectile is the Army's premier satellite guided fire and forget smart munition. Because of its accuracy and increased effectiveness, the Excalibur XM982 requires fewer rounds to destroy a target, which will also effectively decrease collateral damage.

The International Herald Tribune report states ;

The bodies of the policemen, some showing bullet wounds, were taken to Ghazni's hospital. A video shot by AP Television News showed a bullet-riddled police vehicle close to the area where American troops conducted the operation. The metal gates of compounds raided were damaged, and mud walls on nearby houses had bullet holes in them.

Faced with troop shortages, U.S. and NATO-led troops rely heavily on the use of airpower in their fight against the Taliban and other militants in Afghanistan. Such tactics have caused many civilian casualties in past years, and at times caused friction with President Hamid Karzai, who has urged caution and coordination with Afghan authorities.

Elsewhere AP report a NATO soldier was killed and two others wounded in a roadside bomb blast. Another Canadian soldier was killed and two others were injured in an improvised mine explosion near Kandahar.

Boeing 777-236, G-YMMM AAIB Initial Report Update published

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) have updated their report on Boeing 777-236, G-YMMM which crashed at Heathow with an " Initial Report Update".

They report that based on data from the flight recorders there was "adequate" fuel on board and that , " whilst the aircraft was stabilised on an ILS approach with the autopilot engaged, the autothrust system commanded an increase in thrust from both engines. The engines (Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines) both initially responded but after about 3 seconds the thrust of the right engine reduced. Some eight seconds later the thrust reduced on the left engine to a similar level. The engines did not shut down and both engines continued to produce thrust at an engine speed above flight idle, but less than the commanded thrust."

They also report that ,"the autothrottle and engine control commands were performing as expected prior to, and after, the reduction in thrust."

Consequently they are undertaking , "a detailed analysis and examination of the complete fuel flow path from the aircraft tanks to the engine fuel nozzles" with Boeing, Rolls Royce and British Airways staff.

The accident has resulted in a curious story reported in the Sun of a Susan Archibald calling BA lost luggage ten weeks ago and being put through to a 777 pilot about to take off from Heathrow for Los Angeles.

Avandia® gets new labelling in Europe warning of increased heart problems for users

Following an evaluation of the thiazolidinedione class by the European Medicines Agency, GlaxoSmithKline has (GSK) announced (Press release) that it will revise the EU label for its type 2 diabetes drug, Avandia a common and popular alternative for patients who cannot take metformin. This will state that available data suggest that the compound may be associated with an increased risk of myocardial ischaemic events.

GSK specified that the labelling changes will be made to all products containing the main ingredient in Avandia® (rosiglitazone maleate) and Avandamet ® (rosiglitazone maleate and metformin hydrochloride) and Avaglim ® (rosiglitazone maleate and glimepiride).

The labelling will be modified to specify that the drug is contraindicated in patients with acute coronary syndrome, and that use of Avandia is not recommended for patients with ischaemic heart disease or peripheral arterial disease.

GSK however note that the increased myocardial ischaemic risk “was not confirmed or excluded in three long-term clinical trials and the data in their entirety on myocardial ischaemia are inconclusive.”

“The EMEA has previously concluded that the benefits of rosiglitazone continue to outweigh its risks. The revisions to the rosiglitazone label resulting from this review will provide some additional guidance to physicians prescribing rosiglitazone,” said Dr Alastair Benbow, Vice President and European Medical Director, GSK.

Labelling requirements were updated by the FDA in the US over cardiovascular concerns on November 14th 2007 "FDA Adds Boxed Warning for Heart-related Risks to Anti-Diabetes Drug Avandia " , so this brings the EU label in line with the US product labelling.

This need for re-labelling follows a "meta-analysis" published by Dr. Steven Nissen, chief cardiologist for the Cleveland Clinic, in the New England Journal of Medicine in May 2007 which detailed a major study showing increased risks of heart attacks, especially amongst Diabetes Type II patients without other signs or indicators of heart problems. Previous post here

75th Anniversary of Prohibition to be celebrated in Cincinnati

In 1932, the Democratic Party's platform included a plank for the repeal of Prohibition, and Democrat Franklin Roosevelt ran for President of the United States promising repeal of federal laws of Prohibition ushered in by the hated 1919 Volstead Act. By then, an estimated 75% of American voters, and an estimated forty-six states, favored repeal.(See ***Carroll v US Govt)

On 20 February 1933, Congress adopted, by more than the required two‐thirds, an amendment resolution repealing Amendment XVIII and it officially ended at midnight April 6, 1933 . In 1933, the state conventions ratified the XXI Amendment, which repealed Amendment XVIII (The only constitutional amendment ratified by the electorate rather than legislators) and prohibited only the violations of laws that individual states had in regard to "intoxicating liquors". Federal Prohibitionary laws were then repealed.

It took until 1966, for all States to fully repealed their state-level Prohibition laws, the last was Mississippi ... today there are about 18 million Americans living in the hundreds of counties across the United States that maintain Prohibition.

Cincinnati's Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. has therefore decided to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 with a strong dark lager, that they are christening Moerlein Emancipator Doppelbock

Hardman noted that Prohibition wiped out scores of beer-related businesses in Over-the-Rhine, a district situated between Downtown and Clifton Heights. At the time this was a thriving commercial and residential district packed with German immigrants. prohibition helped trigger the neighborhood's long decline ...only recently being reversed.

The Emancipator label (no pic available yet) by Cincinnati artist Jim Effler features a newspaper headline heralding Prohibition's end, incorporated into a celebratory Over-the-Rhine street scene with a Moerlein beer wagon pulled by two goats. The goats are a tip to the upcoming bock beer season and the area's annual Bockfest carnival in early March.

Moerlien' have re-vamped their previous Doppelbock seasonal beer, with a blend of six malts and a slightly lower alcohol content, down from 7.9 percent 7 percent (!!!!). CEO Greg Hardman said he's also hoping to bring back Hudy Bock for Bockfest again this year, although a severe global hops shortage is complicating the task.

Lord Patel has been invited by Greg to the first tapping of Moerlein Emancipator which will be staged at the Pavilion in Mount Adams on Jan. 31. Proceeds will benefit the nonprofit, community volunteer group Give Back Cincinnati.
To enter the brewers website you need to be over 21 and have to enter your DOB to prove that you are.

Bill Covaleski Brewmeister & President of Victory Brewery Downingtown, PA founded 1996 , tells us that they are also celebrating (as they do every year) with their Throwback Lager (a disappointing 5.4%) on April 6th - outlets will toast Franklin Delano Roosevelt, at 9.00 pm. They have some smart celebratory screen savers to down load as well, and T shirts - see pic.

***Carroll v US Gov. is in modern terms an in terestig by-product as the Supreme Court (267 U.S. 132 (1925), argued 4 Dec. 1923, rescheduled 28 Jan. 1924, reargued 14 Mar. 1924, decided 2 Mar. 1925 by vote of 6 to 2) allowed a search of a motor vehicle without a warrant - which has resonances with Dubya's prediliction to listen in to phone calls, Internet buzz of US citizens without a warrant today.

Hain gets his collar felt and Gordy puts youthful and family face on his Cabinet

As a result of Peter Hain falling on his sword after being caught lying, and being fingered to the Metropolitan Police by the Electoral Commission , his job has gone to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport James Purnell (Stalybridge MP & Balliol and one time Chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel and at 37, is no longer the youngest member of the Cabinet and has taken over "tango" Hain's full time job.

Hain's part time job looking after the whingeing Welsh is now taken over by Paul Murphy, 60 (Oriel) currently the chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee and despite his name is the MP for Welsh constituency Torfaen (with 64% of the vote in 2005) . An active Roman Catholic he was an effective Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 24 October 2002 to 5 May 2005 , a job he handed over to Peter Hain over after the 2005 election.

It was Murphy who told the House of Commons that, " the Chief Constable of Northern Ireland indicated that in his professional opinion responsibility for that robbery(Northern Bank heist of £25.6 MN (ish)) should be attributed to the Provisional IRA." which helped fund Gerry Adams' political gangstersand drug dealers.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Andy Burnham, 37 will take on the Culture, Media and Sports portfolio.

His job will be taken over by Yvette Cooper, 38 currently Housing Minister, where she will join the Cabinet, forming a family business unit, with her tubby hubby Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and possibly illegitimate son of Gordon Brown.

Dishy, pushy, hardc working Caroline Flint ,47 (Curiously spoken of as "bright new talent") MP for Don Valley since 1997 takes on the job of Housing Minister from Yvette Cooper and will be able to attend the Cabinet in this role (as did Mrs Balls).Took a BA (Hons) in American Literature and History combined with Film Studies from the University of East Anglia and has admitted smoking (and inhaling) dope when she was there.

Bringing this game of pass the post full circle as her first Parliamentary job was in 1999, Parliamentary Private Secretary to Peter Hain in his capacity as Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. (Poor girl was then passed on as PPS to John "Knucklehead" Reid, the Glasgae gangsta's friend.

What goes around comes around.

Gordon Brown has circled the wagons and prudently taken the chance to re-inforce his Cabinet with loyal camp followers . The proceeds of assiduous "brown" nosing.

Now we wait for Mr Alexander and his sister Bendy Wendy and Harriett Harman to do the decent thing.

Peter Hain caught like Al Capone by fucking up his financial records - is bertie Ahern going down as well ?

The St Andrews Agreement ( Gaelic : Comhaontú Chill Rímhinn) was an agreement between the British and Irish Governments and the political parties in relation to the devolution of power to Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland Minister Peter Hain, 48 represented UK Government interests and Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern, 47 those of the Irish Government.

Peter Hain resigned this afternoon as a member of the Cabinet and both his day jobs - Work and Pensions Secretary and Welsh Secretary, when his financial affairs had been examined and found wanting. His hasty resignation followed the Electoral Commission saying that it had decided to refer the late declaration of £103,000 of donations to his Deputy Leader of the Nu Party (5th out of 6 candidates - although this was before 6th and last candidate Hazel Blears had her Festive face lift).Labour .. in their words ."Following discussions with the Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service, the Electoral Commission has now referred matters to the Metropolitan Police for them to consider whether an investigation should commence."

Therefore there are those in Dublin how long Bertie Ahern can manage to keep his job. A man with a chequered past - he claimed he studied at University College Dublin but they have no record of his attendance. He was however a Member of Dublin City Council 1977 - 1991 and Lord Mayor in 1986, his brother Maurice Ahern is also a Fianna Fáil member of Dublin City Council and brother Noelis the Fianna Fáil Dáil Deputy (MP) for Dublin North West since 1992 .

Bertie like his political pal Peter has money and tax problems as well, which relate to the The Tribunal of Inquiry Into Certain Planning Matters and Payments, commonly known as the Mahon Tribunal in honour of its chairman, which was established by the Irish Government on November 4, 1997.

The origins of this lengthy and very revealing and very public long running saga of bribery and corruption relating to planning in and around Dublin goes back to July 1995, Michael Smith, a former chairman of An Taisce and barrister Colm Mac Eochaidh, a Fine Gael candidate in Dublin South East in the 2002 general election co-sponsored a £10,000 reward for information leading to convictions for planning corruption.

Briefly, by the end of October last year the Tribunal had cost €69.5 million and €34.5 Mn. was recovered by the Revenue Commissioners and the Criminal Assets Bureau, according to the Second Interim Report.

The work of the Tribunal led directly to the biggest tax settlement in the history of the State. In June 2006, the Bailey brothers and their company, Bovale Developments reached a settlement worth about €25 million with the Revenue Commissioners in respect of PAYE, PRSI,Corporation Tax and Income Tax in 2006.

In 2004, Bovale was the most profitable property company in the history of the State, recording a surplus of almost €70 million. The company is no longer limited.

Lifelong and active Fianna Fail supporters, Mick Bailey (51) and his younger brother Tom (45) paid themselves (and Tom's wife Caroline) an annual salary of €5.3m and appeared at many fundraising events and can always be seen in the party's VIP tent at the Galway races and take full page advertisements in Fianna Fail's The Nation magazine.

Consideration by the Tribunal of their affairs had been hampered because of a fire at the Bailey site at Mygan Park, Finglas, in July 1998 which destroyed accounts - and this on the day before they appealed to the Supreme Court to prevent their personal affairs being considered by the Tribunal. Quite unreasonably ene of the witnesses, described the brothers as "the Mothers of Invention" to their brief and very fat cat Colm Allen.

Bertie Ahern appeared as a witness just before Christmas on 20/21st 2007. It was an appearance that provided a glimpse on a year in the life of Bertie Ahern’s quixotic personal finances. From December 1993 to December 1994, the Minister for Finance (as he then was) received for his personal use from various “friends” IR£39,000 and £38,000stg - not far off €250,000 in today’s money.

Famously he said on the first day ...“I'm not answering what I got for my Holy Communion money, my Confirmation money, what I got for my birthday, what I got for anything else, I'm not into that.”

It became clear later , as the Tribunal's silver haired brief , Des O’Neill patiently and painstakingly went through the entire chronology of Mr Ahern’s dealings with the Tribunal that there was an awful lot else that he was not answering for, and that he did not answer for a long long time.

Bertie's principal problem ( and nemesis) is a Sligo-born property developer Tom Gilmartin who has previously told the Tribunal (and anyone who would listen) that property magnate and developer Owen O'Callaghan had told him that he (O'Callaghan) had given Bertie Ahern IR£80,000 that sparked off the tribunal's investigations into the Taoiseach's finances.

Gilmartin alleged that O'Callaghan told him (Gilmartin) that money was paid to Bertie Ahern for his help with the planning for the development that became the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.

Bertie Ahern and Owen O'Callaghan have both vehemently denied Gilmartin's allegations.

Well known broadcaster Eamon Dunphy was due to give evidence to the Tribunal tommorrow - In a private interview with the tribunal's lawyers, he is said to have told them that the developer Owen O'Callaghan told him (Dunphy) that he (O'Callaghan) had given money to Bertie Ahern.

In his interview a year ago, Dunphy is understood to have said that Cork-based O'Callaghan told him: "Mr Ahern had been bought and had taken money in the early 1990s."

This has always been denied by O'Callaghan.

Curiously Dunphy will not be appearing .... because the Tribunal cannot ...er .... find a lawyer to ...er...cross examine him.

Now as Accountancy Age report today battling Bertie refuses to resign over the mysteries of his personal finances, maintaining he has ‘nothing outstanding’ with the Irish Revenue office, following repeated calls from Enda Kenny, the Fine Gael leader (:‘This is much too serious a matter, when the Taoiseach of our country is unable to produce a tax clearance certificate and be compliant with the Revenue Commissioners.’) and Eamon Gilmore, the Labour leader to quit. Sinn Fein and their leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin have remained totally silent on the matter... there is, after all, honour amongst thieves.

In Dublin, Ahern told the press if he would quit, he said: ‘Never. I just got a mandate a few months ago so I have to see that out. Maybe 2012.’

Fine Gael this week formally filed a complaint against Ahern with Standards in Public Office (Sipo), claiming he is not tax compliant. The prime minister said he would produce a certificate of application, which was the ‘same in tax law’ as a tax clearance certificate ... er..it isn't.

Will Bertie follow Hain ...and Al Capone ... finally caught out by not keeping his accounts in order ?

It produces a pleasing symmetry that the two main players in the St Andrews Agreement will lose office for lying about their finances , watched by Gerry Adams (Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh) , 59 whose private army had lifted £25.6 Mn. from the Northern Bank and Paisley's family were so keen (letter to the MLA from direct rule Minister , Welsh Nu-Labour MP David Hanson dated October 13, 2006 - the final day of the St Andrews talks, has been published under a Freedom of Information request by ex-DUP MEP Jim Allister - who had quit the DUP over the power-sharing deal with Sinn Fein) to get approval of six matters to enrich their property developer friends as the correspondence disclosed last week detailed. (Friday, January 18, 2008 The Paisley Dynasty and the murky deals that sealed the St Andrews NI agreement - orchestrated by Tony Blair )

Commons Metronet Fiasco report due as PFI funding is threatened as Monoline Insurers of PFI Bonds struggle for credibility and new credit lines

The House of Commons’ Transport Select Committee chaired by vinegar faced Gwyneth Dunwoody (see pic - details below) publishes their report into the London Underground and its Public-Private Partnership Agreements tommorow.

High powered, highly paid consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) (£21.4 Mn.as lead Financial advisors and with a large PFI practice of 132 projects across the UK, ) Ernst & Young (£1 Mn.) , and KPMG (£2.4 Mn. ) were paid over £25m for advising on this wonderful deal which has collapsed leaving the tax / London rate payer with an embarassingly large bill to pay to simply keep the Underground working.

That of course was only a small part of the total fees of £445 Mn in fees the The Public Accounts Committee found had been paid to put the 30 year project together : more than the equity put in by Metronet's shareholders -"world-class companies"; Thames Water, Balfour Beatty, French electricity supplier EDF (employees of Pm's bro.), Canadian train maker Bombardier and engineers WS Atkins.

Metronet had responsibility for renewing nine of the twelve lines on the entire London Underground network and were projected to spend £17 billion during its 30-year contract - of which £7 Bn. would be spenty in the first 7.5 years.

Ernst & Young got two bites at the cherry because they are now handling the administration which Alan Bloom of E&Y admitted to the Committee in November was costing £13m a day to run - not including work that Metronet is still contracted to carry out - meaning more costs for prospective new owners Transport for London - who had guaranteed 95% of the £2bn debt the five-member Metronet consortium took out which carry commercial interest rates and can be called in by the banks in 6 months. Loans from the European Investment Bank that are paying for infrastructure investment in the London Underground are insured with Monoline insurer Ambac (see below).

Bloom ( who guided Railtrack back into public hands) also refused to disclose information relating to the value that had been put on the ailing company by advisers Rothschild. 'It's very confidential, he said.


Train Naming ceremony: (From left) MD of London Underground Tim O'Toole, Managing Director of GB Railfreight, John Smith and Metronet Chief Executive Andrew Lezala with Gwyneth Dunwwody MP at the naming of Metronet's Class 66 engineering locomotives

Gwyneth Dunwoody, named by Gwyneth Dunwoody, Chair of the Parliamentary Transport Committee.
METRO-LAND, named by Tim O'Toole
Metronet Pathfinder, named by Sam Ellis, a 27-year-old project engineer who entered Metronet through its graduate scheme
Harry Beck, named by John Smith, MD of GB Railfreight honouring the designer of the modern tube map.
Sir Edward Watkin, chosen by David Jukes, winner of a competition run by RAIL magazine. Sir Edward was the pioneering chairman of the Metropolitan Railway

PS : Historically, funding for PFI came from bank debt, but bonds have proved an attractive form of long term financing. Bonds require an international rating. To secure a good rating and lower the cost of funding, companies buy insurance for their bond issues from Monolines. Monoline insurers in the UK are US owned AMBAC UK and MBIA - for example a £30m bond issue by the Royal Bank of Canada Financial Group, for the Greenwich University PFI in 2004 .

They were at it again jut before Christmas ... NEW YORK, December 20, 2007-- Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) (Ambac) announced today that Ambac Assurance UK Limited recently provided a triple-A credit enhancement for the financing (£146.4 million) of new and updated roads in Northern Ireland. This financing was completed as part of the Government's ongoing Private Finance Initiative (PFI) investment in the provision (of) transport services.

NEW YORK, December 6, 2007-- Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) (Ambac) said today that Ambac Assurance UK Limited recently provided a triple-A credit enhancement for a major U.K. hospital financing (£192.65 million ) completed as part of the British Government's ongoing Private Finance Initiative (PFI) investment in the provision of health care services. Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust (“the Trust”) procured the scheme for a new 5-storey hospital and a multi-storey car park. The hospital is situated approximately 40 miles to the north east of London.

NEW YORK, November 26, 2007-- Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) (Ambac) said today that Ambac Assurance UK Limited recently provided triple-A credit enhancement to two major U.K. hospital financings completed as part of the British government's ongoing Private Finance Initiative ("PFI") investment in the provision of health care services.

The two bond issues by Consort Healthcare in September 2007 were for GBP 122 million (Salford Hospital) and GBP 78m (Tameside Hospital).

"These monoline insurers, the biggest of which are MBIA and Ambac, are hanging on to their crucial triple-A credit ratings by a thread. " Financial Times today

"US insurance bonds meltdown bad news for UK" James Doran in New York, Evening Standard today.

"Massachussets Regulator Subpoenas Bond Insurers MBIA, Ambac" Reuters Today

Quince - the Golden fruit of winter

Quinces are a curious group of low growing, prickly ansd straggly shrubs in the Rose family, Chaenomeles / Cydonia , which produce a hard green apple like fruit, turning golden in the Autumn / Winter.The Portuguese name "marmelo" gives it name to the orange confection of marmalade, popular now as the bitter Seville oranges fill the shops.

The highly perfumed fruit, (said to be eaten by the bride before she and the bridgeroom enter the bedroom on the wedding night) is added to the frozen stores of apple sauce by Lord Patel to give winter apple pies a sharp tarty bite. They also perfume a room.

Cultivation probably started 2,000 years before Christ and was spread by the ancients as the Golden Apple - which led of course to Adam's fall - and also appears as the legendary golden apple of Hesperides that Paris gave to Aphrodite and started a war. The Italian name of pomme d'oro which by an accident of transatlantic history has been transferred to the red Tomato.

In the Middle East it finds it's way into many recipes for fruity pastes to brighten meat pies and dishes - sfarjel in the Lebanon, mixed with pomegranite in Syria to produce a ubiquitous dibs rouman and in Iran as beh. Many Middle East herbalists recommend a tea of the bright luscious shiny seeds for chest complaints.

In Spain, they make a paste to accompany cheese called carne de membrillo (also dulce de membrillo) which takes up the dark reddish tinge of the cooked quince ( and which the Portuguese confusingly call marmelada and the Italian version is called cotognate) and long pre-dates (it is said) the marmalade beloved by British breakfasters on the Costas.

To make this tasty confiture is very complicated.....

1. Peel and de pip the fruit, boil for some 40 minutes until soft.
2. Mash / blitz in blender and add equal weight of sugar, then simmer with a little water (rose or orange water for foodies).
3. Turn out the sticky red paste and let it set on greaeproof paper on a tray.
4. Store when cool in jar / Tupperware.

Red Ken has trouble with wind : It is someone else's fault- the race is not to the Swift Mk. I

Peter Hulme Cross: (One London Party member of the London Assembly Environment Committee) Please can the Mayor update me on progress with the faulty wind turbines removed from the LDA head office roof?

Ken Livingstone: The wind turbines were removed due to a product recall (Swift turbines manufactured by Renewable Devices in stalled Nov. 2006 and recalled after 6 weeks). The LDA is pursuing the installation of replacement wind turbines following the re-engineering of the software that controls the wind turbines as soon as possible.

At the time the Great and Noble Leader said: "This innovative renewable energy scheme will provide clean, green electricity for the new headquarters of the London Development Agency and the London Climate Change Agency. It demonstrates my commitment for the Greater London Authority organisations to lead the way in taking measures to tackle climate change through reducing carbon emissions.

"The London Climate Change Agency has provided the expertise for this project which will act as a living example of how the Agency can help other organisations to become more sustainable in their use of energy."

Barry Marsh, Director of Solar Technologies, the contractor installing the project at Palestra, said: "This is a renewable energy first and complements our other renewable energy projects"

The installation of the wind turbines on Palestra was supported by an Energy Saving Trust grant of £155,276 under the DTI Major Photovoltaic Demonstration Programme. The total cost was £436,000 and the project comprised an 84kW renewable energy system - a combination of 63kWp of photovoltaic panels on the roof and 21kW of fourteen building-integrated wind turbines also on the roof. The combined renewable energy system was designed to generate 3,397,000kWh of renewable electricity . The total amount of electricity produced since the solar panels were installed and connected to the distribution network in October 2006 to September 2007 is 45,264kWh (11 months operation) and was claimed to exceed the predicted output of the solar panels. The economic value of this electricity was said by the LDA to be £3,560 in its first year of operation. Also see here see here

On the 8th January the LDA announced that they will trial the new Swift II wind turbine - which has been developed by Renewable Devices using re-engineered software and different construction to the original Swift Turbines - and one other turbine. Full installation will be subject to the results of the trial installation and is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2008.

Nothing in the LDA is ever straightforward or simple and "Scottish and Southern Energy have refused to re-install the wind turbines on behalf of Solar Technologies Ltd. Therefore the London Climate Change Agency ( LCCA ) has decided to re-install the new turbines outside of the Solar Technologies Ltd original contract."

Sounds a splendid way of ;
a) Spending the tax payers money
b) Demonstrating how uneconomic, such small scale "renewable energy" schemes are (Capital Payback 100 years ?).

The charming, polite, helpful Rachel Clark at the LDA Media Team on 020 7593 8616 or email rachelclark@lda.gov.uk. will answer ay questions you might have.

Algeria - FCO gives new travel advice of terrorist attacks - and a funny Diplomatic joke about the Oirish

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office today (5.45pm) changed its travel advice for Algeria. Due to the continuing threat of terrorist attacks we now advise against all but essential travel to Bouria, Tipasa and Chlef districts, which are east and west of Algiers. The relevant summary point now reads:

"We advise against all but essential travel to Algiers and to the administrative district (wilayas) of Boumerdes, Bouira, Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia, which are east of Algiers and Blida, Medea, Tipasa, Chlef and Ain Defla, which are south and west of Algiers. You should make journeys within Algeria by air where possible."

BTW, Ruari O'Connell Deputy Head of the (so called) British Office in Pristina provides a rosy (and unbelievably naive) view of the future of Kosovo on the FCO blog in trotting out the official misguided view on Nobel Peace prize wannabe Comrade Ahtisaari's proposal for the final status of Kosovo - Ruari also tells a joke his Oirish Grandmother used to tell him (stop me if you have heard this before) ... A man found himself in the back of beyond, totally lost. Finally, after driving round in the dark for hours, he comes across an old farmer on a horse and cart. Winding down the window, he leans across and asks "Excuse me - I'm not from round here; could you help me get back to Dublin?"

Apparently (the way Ruari tells it) ...The old farmer thinks for a while, then says: "Oh, I can get you back to Dublin all right - but I wouldn't start from here".

By Jove these diplomats have a sense of humour - which if you are sent to Pristina is something that you should make sure you pack.... although it is difficult to imagine that any archetypal, thick, bog stomping , potatoe chewing Oirish diplomats will see the funny side of the story.

Perhaps he could waylay his boss, the boy David and tell him the one about the Kike whose shop had burnt down ....

Plod earns massive pay rise - "Solid intelligence" says Chief Police terrorist

Deputy Assistance Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police terrorist unit, Sphincter of the Yard and owner of the largest lunch pail today described the intelligence as “specific.” when 72,000 Police arrived at Parliament Square.

"Dodgy Dossier" lies must be published says the Information Tribunal ... Chris Ames and the lies of Captain Scarlett, Alastair Campbell , Tony Blair

Today by the government argued that releasing an early ( and so far secret) draft of the controversial dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) prepared by the then-Foreign Office press secretary, John Williams on 7 and 8 September 2002 would not be in the public interest.

It preceded what the government would later claim to be the first draft, written by Joint Intelligence Committee chairman John Scarlett on 10 September, his chum Alastair Campbell, another serial and serious liar, also denied outright that there was such a document.

The Information Tribunal has today ordered the Foreign Office to disclose the document which can then be compared with liar John Scarlett's 10th December draft.

This ruling upholds the decision by Information Commissioner Richard Thomas last May , that the Williams draft "might be capable of adding to the public's understanding of the issues in question".

The "dodgy" dossier was finally published on 24 September 2002, two weeks after Scarlett’s “first draft”, and was central and critical to the lies, deceit and dishonesty that characterised the Government's case made to Parliament t illegally invade Iraq ... which had been decided by Presdient Bush and Tony Balir in April 2002 when they met in Texas.

The inquiry by Lord Hutton - which largely cleared the Government - was not handed the draft or address the questions which it might raise, according to the Tribunal.

The ruling - which follows an initial Freedom of Information (FOI) request from dogged campaigner Chris Ames in February 2005 (subsequent to a refusal from (then) Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to produce it) - states that there should only be a "very small redaction in the manuscript annotation - a handwritten note to be redacted which the Foreign Office claimed would be damaging to international relations." before it is disclosed - a claim that it did not make at the time of its initial refusal. The information is "not central to the purpose or content", the Tribunal states.

The Tribunal is also very critical and scathing about inconsistencies in the government’s evidence. They repeatedly observe that the main Foreign Office witness, Stephen Pattison, its Director, International Security, “was not involved at the time and volunteered no information about the source of his information”. It states that “it is a matter of concern that the information given to the Information Commissioner on the very nature of the information in dispute was apparently different to the evidence given to us.” (Which is effectively calling him a liar)

These comments relate directly to the role of the Williams draft in the production of the dossier. The FCO had told the Commissioner that Scarlett commissioned Williams to write the draft but subsequently changed its story. (Which is effectively calling them liars)


The tribunal refers to Pattison’s “assertion” that the draft was “not used in the dossier drafting process.” It commented that he was “apparently unable to identify any source for the assertion quoted above among either those who were so involved or from any contemporaneous document.” (Which is effectively calling him a liar)

MP John Baron , Conservative, Billericay (Defence Minister Bob Ainsworth last week said his information about lack of equipment in Afghan was "Absolute Bollocks") said: "This decision lifts the lid on government efforts to cover-up the role played by spin doctors in producing the Iraq Dossier.

"I am now pressing the Foreign Secretary immediately to make public the Williams draft, so that we can assess for ourselves the significance of this document in the run up to war – a war which we should never had been party to.

"The Tribunal agrees that the Williams draft could have played a greater part in influencing the drafting of the dossier than the Government has so far admitted - even to the Hutton Inquiry. The Government cannot hide this document any longer."

The Government can (and probably will) appeal to the House of Lords.
PA report

Chris Ames explains the significance of the decision of the Tribunal to force the Foreign Office to release the secret draft of the Iraq WMD dossier at the New Statesman.

The full text of the Tribunal decision is available here. PDF warning!!

Ipswich prostitute captured on CCTV - were the 7/7 bombers ???

Maire Alderton , mother of 24 year old Anneli Alderton, told Ipswich Crown Court today how her daughter turned to prostitution to fund her drug habit. She had been in prison four times and had received rehabilitation treatment for drugs.

The police did a remarkably good job of ensuring a CCTV from a train journey Anneli took on the 1753 GMT train from Harwich to Colchester on 3 December, received wide, local, national and international publicity less than 7 days after she was murdered.

How odd that those 4 bombers who travelled from Luton to London on 7/7/2005 , seen by many, many CCTV cameras in car parks, stations, concourse, 3 underground trains and a bus - have never been publicised in the same way.

"Police are scrutinising 80,000 pieces of footage from security cameras to discover how the three young Muslims spent almost four hours in the capital." Times Sept 21st 2005.

All this effort and evidence hasn't resulted in producing a single moving image capturing any of the four (or any other people involved in the bombing). We do of course have a picture said to be of them taken on a "dry run" 9 days before... so it is interesting that Rachel from London , having met John Reid the (then) Home Secretary ( along with others) received a 4 page letter that answered some questions they had raised with him ...eg on CCTV footage

"The Metropolitan Police have told us that the primary reason for this is that the footage forms part of the police evidence. Their practice is to limit the
release of footage to that which is pertinent to progressing their investigation. In deciding what to release, the police need to take into account that any footage could potentially [ underlined] prejudice any prosecutions that result from the on-going police investigation.''

Evidently after 2 1/2 years later , and the alleged perpetrators dead, there is no potential prosecution which could impede the production of such evidence.... and who knows, it may , as in the case of the Anneli Alderton help focus the memory of some members of the public, jogging memories...

Ipswich had 5 drug addicted prostitutes killed ... London still mourns 56 dead and many hundreds more are injured directly or by the loss of children, friends and family.

If the Police can produce such evidence for safety of people in Ipswich , the population of London deserves to see more about what exactly happened that fateful July day which would help to prevent further such tragic events....unless of course the reason is, that no such CCTV film exists amongst ,"the 80,000 pieces of footage from security cameras" on that day.

Clostridium difficile out break in Northern Ireland kills 16 and 13 seriously ill

The Northern Ireland , National Health Northern Health and Social Care Trust area have recorded 16 hospital related deaths to a virulent strain identified as ribotype 027 Clostridium difficile.

Five deaths in Whiteabbey and one in Braid Valley hospital, Ballymena in the last 3 months have also been linked to the same strain of Clostridium.

Antrim hospital is currently treating 13 patients in a special "a dedicated cohort ward" identified as having contracted illness caused by the contagious bacteria - Clostridium Difficile Associate Diarrhoea (CDAD) which causes violent and often fatal diarrhoea especially in older people.

Currently there are there are currently 26 declared cases of C.difficile, "the bulk of them at the Antrim Area Hospital".

The Trust's medical director, Dr Peter Flanagan, explained that an outbreak of C.difficile is declared when the number of cases increases above the normal level.

"We would expect around 8 cases per month. We currently have around 20 per month," he said.


Lab reports of C-difficile in Northern Ireland increased from 412 in 1996 to 1,486 to 2006. The disease is cited in more deaths than the better known MRSA superbug, the expert said.

Belfast Telegraph - Patients isolated after superbug outbreak at hospital - Friday, October
Belfast Telegraph - 16 recent fatalities linked to superbug - Wednesday, January 23, 2008


Proventec PLC (AIM : PROV) has been awarded a 14-month tender for the sole provision of
specialist steam cleaning equipment by the National Health Service ('NHS') Purchase and Supply Agency with an optional 1 year extension by it's subsidiary, Liverpool based, Osprey DeepClean . The contract results from the recent £50 Mn. extra funding for the Strategic Health Authority.

The company claim that their carried out healthcare studies, carried out
in conjunction with the University College London Hospital is an endorsement that our dry steam cleaning units can provide a higher standard of cleaning and hygiene.


David Chestnutt, Chief Executive of Proventec announcing the contract said, "'Hospitals have a duty of care to provide a clean environment for patients.There have been accusations that the Government's recent initiative for a national deep clean is merely a gimmick. It is not. "

Well he would say that wouldn't he. Bollocks.

Clostridium difficile is a faecal contaminant and a rigorous policy of handwashing with disinfectant soap by all staff, and visitors is the surest way to prevent it's spread....which is why it has spread so relentlessly throughout the UK hospitals.

Listen to and Download "Henry Handwash" MP3

Detailed report on deaths in NI where C difficile is given as a cause 2000/05

David Miliband in ecstasy over secret UN resolution on Israel Iran

David Miliband (Toni Fabuloso still cannot believe he is the Foreign Secretary) excitedly calls us to tell us about the new UN Security Council Resolution on Iran ...

"I am very pleased that the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China meeting today in Berlin have agreed to the contents of a new UN Security Council Resolution on Iran's nuclear programme. The new resolution will build on resolutions 1696, 1737 and 1747

"Today's meeting was united, constructive and determined. We urge Iran to respond positively to the repeated requests from the international community to suspend its enrichment related and reprocessing activities and to take advantage of the far-reaching offer of economic and scientific as well as political cooperation that would result from suspension of these activities. A positive choice by Iran holds the prospect of real progress for its citizens. Confrontation with the international community will only further isolate Iran and hurt Iran's citizens.

"The agreement today is a signal of shared determination to work against the dangers of nuclear profileration and for an inclusive international system based on clear rules and responsibilities."

Press Office, Downing Street (West), London SW1A 2AL - also sent us a note from him.

Now read that again, this time substitute the word Israel for Iran..... Israel are of course unlike Iran have not signed the Nuclear Non - Proliferation Treaty and so do not receive inspections from Egyptian born busybody, Nobel Peace Prize winning Mohamed ElBaradei,and his inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Although in November 2007, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz called for ElBaradei to be sacked, saying "The policies followed by ElBaradei endanger world peace. His irresponsible attitude of sticking his head in the sand over Iran's nuclear programme should lead to his impeachment."

Of course in all his evident joy at the news - the boy David failed to mention that the assembled dignitaries decided not to announce any of the details of the sanctions.."which the international community will only further isolate Iran and hurt Iran's citizens ".

Coincidentally German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (who had invited them all the Berlin to make this wholly symbolic and futile gesture historic announcement) said “We are agreed on the content of the next Security Council resolution,” took no questions.

Ms. Condileezza Rice did not speak after the meeting. She is reported to have said in a delphic utterance earlier in the day .. “I don’t think it’s any secret that we and the Russians and perhaps the Chinese don’t have precisely the same view of timing on these resolutions.”


Learn more about Mordechai Vanunu who exposed the Israeli nuclear weapons factory at Dimona here and his website here and also about Pennsylvania born Cheryl Bentov (AKA Cheryl Hanin) the Mossad spy, "Cindy" who lured Vanunu, (see pic) to be drugged, kidnapped and imprisoned for 20 years in solitary confinement .. she is a slightly podgy 46 year-old mother of two daughters, and a pillar of Orlando's Jewish community who lives in an exclusive gated commuity with her husband Ofer Ben Tov a former military intelligence major, in Orlando, Florida and sells real estate.

Red Ken's chum, Lee Jasper's deputy, barrister Rosemary Emodi deliberately lies to BBC, resigns

Lord Mayor of London , Red Ken's , has a (so far) chief race adviser Lee Jasper, who had a deputy - gorgeous Common Purpose graduate and barrister Rosemary Emodi LLB LLM (Society of Black Lawyers) , last week she denied visiting a £200-a-night resort in Nigeria last November to the BBC.

Confronted with the evidence that Virgin Nigeria confirmed Ms Emodi flew from London to Lagos on 30 November, stayed for three nights and returned on 3 December she promptly resigned her £100 K per annum job and The Lord Mayor's office said a formal statement made by Ms Emodi was untrue - bad news for a barrister.

The chalet at the La Campagne Tropicana resort in a £200-a-night chalet was paid for by her hosts.... she was accompanied by Eroll Walters, the director of community group Brixton Base Limited, and Director of Black Londoners Forum (BLAME) and a very close Lee Jasper.

"Errol Walters is a man driven by his convictions and believes that equality and fair play should be experienced by the less fortunate in society. His drive and vision is for a level playing field to be made available to all, no matter what the background or social status is. "

Errol has 3 children and spends his pastime watching athletics, football and cricket. His main interest lies in politics, both UK and Jamaican, and is keen on becoming involved in government in either country.

Erroll on Left and Red Ken on right

UPDATE 2.30 BST Ken's lying aide quits Andrew Gilligan London Evening Standard

- Interesting to see that the City office of blue chip lawyers Herbert Smith (who generously sponsor the National Portrait gallery from their famed monster fees)just popped in (up) to read the above ... you are recommended to visit their site and read their excellent guide to the Gubment nuclear power policy posted on Monday...Excellent.

They are also advising Hydrogen Energy, a BP / Rio Tinto, Joint Venture with Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Company (investment and development arm of the government of Abu Dhabi) to start the detailed engineering design of a US$2 billion industrial-scale hydrogen-fired power generation project to be operating by 2012.

Hydrogen fuel, produced (they say "created" but lawyers don't get trained too well in physics) from natural gas would be used as fuel producing clean electricity and the resulting CO2 in a seperate, uncosted project could be captured and stored in geological formations or used for enhanced oil recovery.

The Greater London Authority offices and Lewisham Council offices have been regularr visitors all day and the BBC just appeared at 4.50.My.My.

Putin Rattles his Cold war sabre - NATO watches

Mr Putin is buckling his swash, flexing his military muscles big style in the Bay of Biscay - a spectacle calculated to unnerve the NATO defence planners and boost his popularity back home. On Tuesday 2 "Blackjack" bombers used the Bay to test fire missiles - escorted by British and Norwegian Tornado and F-16 jets (not Typhoons / Eurofighters ! (out of range ?) according to Interfax / Reuters were escorting the Russian 'Blackjack' bombers, Interfax reported, quoting the Russian Air Force.

The Russian bombers joined aircraft carriers, battleships and submarine hunters from the Northern and Black Sea fleets for the Atlantic exercises, in the bioggest Russian naval exercises since Yeltsin and the Berlin wall fell.

Last month Russia tooled up for major navy exercises in the Mediterranean, with 11 ships the navy's flagship (and only) aircraft carrier, the Soviet-made Admiral Kuznetsov (launched 1985) commanded by Vice Admiral Nikolai Maksimov, the commander of the Northern Fleet. It is backed up by 47 aircraft, the missile carrying cruiser Moskva, the large anti-submarine ships Admiral Levchenko and Admiral Chabanenko, and the supply ships Sergei Osipov and Nikolai Chiker left the Mediterranean on January 19, passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and reached the Atlantic.

Russia's air force said turbo-prop Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers, codenamed "Bear" by NATO, would join the exercise on Wednesday - they have been patrolling the North Sea for months and have the capacity to carryup to 6 internal AS-15 nuclear armed missiles that have a range of almost 2000 km.. Russian sources said that from tommorrow (Wed) the following planes would be involved : Tu-160 (Nato code "Blackjack" supersonic, variable geometry, strategic low-level penetration heavy bomber. ) , Tu-95 (Bear) , Tu-22 M3 "Blinder", Il-78 ("Midas" flight tankers and re-fuellers), A-50,SDRLO (Long Range Detection System)"

Meanwhile back at the ranch ...The second battery of S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile defense systems will be deployed in the Moscow region at the end of this year, Special Forces Commander Col. Gen. Yuri Solovyov said in Moscow yesterday.

"We expect the second regiment of S-400 systems to be deployed in the Moscow region in the end of this year."

See also Existentialist Cowboy and the Russki Strangelovian Muscovite missile Defence system

Many of the comments on this Times article "Russian bombers to test-fire missiles in Bay of Biscay" are worth reading.

Royal Academy help foster Russian / German Peace Pact bilateral gas deals at expense of EU collective energy security

Excited crowds celebrate Tsar Nicholas II's proclamation in response to the 1905 revolutionary uprising against him. In it he promised basic civil rights such as freedom of speech, universal male suffrage and a limited form of parliamentary democracy.

His “manifesto” split the opposition. The liberal Kadet party celebrated it as a victory, but socialists warned (correctly) that the concessions were cosmetic, and that power remained in the tsar’s hands.

Ilya Efimovich Repin Repin (1844-1930) disapproved of the successful 1917 revolutions that overthrew the tsar and he spent his remaining days in Finland.
The Royal Academy Exhibition looks exciting - and look who is sponsoring it !

OAO Gazprom, BASF AG and E.ON AG signed a basic agreement on the construction of the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) through the Baltic Sea in 2005. The parties to the agreement intend to set up the North European Gas Pipeline Company as a joint German-Russian venture, with Gazprom holding 51 % and BASF and E.ON each 24.5 %.

At the signing of the agreement, President Putin of Russia and Chancellor Schröder of Germany stressed the strategic importance of the project for the further development of German-Russian relations in the energy sector.

In 2006 E.ON agreed to take up a 25% minus one share stake in Yuzhno Russkoye, and in return Gazprom is receiving minority interests of 50% minus one share in Hungarian gas companies E.ON Foldgaz Trade and a 25% stake in the regional power and gas supplier E.ON Hungaria.

See Postman Patel - Sunday, November 19, 2006 - Gazprom / LUKoil - Russian energy gets to grips with Europe

See "Wine, Worship and Sacrifice: The Golden Graves of Ancient Vani," on view Dec. 1 through Feb. 24, 2008 at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington ..... You might like to visit the Georgian Ambasadorial website and read about the exhibition and also ...How ...

"One of the priority tasks of Georgia's foreign and security policy is a full integration into the Euro-Atlantic community, which will enable our country not only to insure its security but also to contribute its own share to strengthening of peace and stability in the world. We keep right on target for democratic development and are willing to assist other countries too in the democratization processes, to which the establishment of peace and stability is one of the essential prerequisites.

Of great importance, in this context, is the participation of Georgia's armed forces in international peace operations. Since 1999 Georgian peacekeepers have been engaged actively in an effort to protect peace and stability in various regions of the world, within NATO-led and Anti-terrorist Coalition’s operations.

See also Vani - The Land of the Golden Fleece

Another end run for RasPutin.

There is a very good reason why bankers rhymes with wankers

Lord King Speech at the Mansion House 16th June 2007...

"Our central view remains that inflation will fall back this year as the rises in domestic gas and electricity prices last year drop out of the annual comparison, and the recent cuts in prices feed through to household bills."

The Bank of England's governor "Myopic Merv" the King of Threadneedle Street spoke to business leaders in Bristol tonight.

He explained that a combination of totally unexpected and inforseeable higher energy and food prices, which his highly educated, high powe4r economists, econometricians and business brains have now discovered that a lower exchange rate (steadily decling over the last 6 months against the Euro and the Dollar) and higher import prices (Biggest trade deficit last month - third largest bill for Norwegian oil - which will never decrease as N.Sea oil dries up - followed by N.Sea and Irish sea gas) and food (grain prices have been soaring for last 12 months) are pushing inflation above the 2 pct target.

'It is possible that inflation could rise to the level at which I would need to write an open letter of explanation, possibly more than one to the Chancellor,' he said.

The governor is obliged to inform the Chancellor of the Exchequer should CPI inflation overshoots it's artificial target by more than one percentage point. In the ten years of alleged independence, this happened once, last April.

Is it any wonder they fucked up over Northern Wreck ?

Myopic Mervyn's speech can be found in full here

"The latter is the rise in energy and food prices, reflecting continued strong growth in Asia, that, together with rising import prices, threaten to lift inflation noticeably above target in the coming months. "

Wow ... we didn't see that coming guys !!!!

Cometh the Hour Cometh the Man Commander in Chief - History to repeat itself ?

A recent book by Newsweek journalist Jonathan Alter about Franklin Roosevelt’s first 100 days in office, The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006), paints a startling picture of the political climate in the United States in the dark days of early 1933.

Roosevelt’s Inaugural Address had begun the process of restoring hope, but not everyone caught the new mood right away. The press coverage that morning largely downplayed or ignored FDR’s line: “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” The New York Times and most other newspapers relegated the line to their inside pages, while focusing instead on the vivid wartime allusions he employed five times during his speech—martial metaphors that suggested that there was, in fact, plenty to fear after all. The greatest applause line from the large crowd on the east side of the Capitol came when Roosevelt said that if his rescue program was not quickly approved: “I shall ask Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis: broad executive power to wage war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.”

Within a few years, “dictator” would carry sinister tones, but—hard as it is to believe now—the word had a reassuring ring that season. So did “storm troopers,” used by one admiring author to describe foot soldiers of the early New Deal, and “concentration camps,” a generic term routinely applied to the work camps of the Civilian Conservation Corps that would be established by summer across the country.

(see here and here and Rex84)

The propaganda machine, owned by the elite, was ready to be put into action in the defense of the property of the rich:

"The most powerful American publisher, William Randolph Hearst, seemed to favor dictatorship. The Hearst empire extended to Hollywood, where Hearst that winter had personally supervised the filming of an upcoming hit movie called Gabriel Over the White House that was meant to instruct FDR and prepare the public for a dictatorship. The movie’s hero is a president played by Walter Huston who dissolves Congress, creates an army of the unemployed, and lines up his enemies before a firing squad. FDR not only saw an advance screening of the film, he offered ideas for script rewrite"(Ibid., p. 6)

Ist US fatality in MRAP in Iraq - Force Protection slides

Bombed out.

The US Army is making a huge investment in MRAP, the new Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected armoured vehicles in an attempt to reduce casualties from roadside and culvert bombs in Iraq.

On Saturday the first US soldier was killed inside an MRAP (Type and Manufacturer unknown) . A gunner was killed and three crew members were wounded when a vehicle drove over a homemade bomb buried beneath a road southeast of Baghdad - it is reported to be a 300lb fertiliser based bomb triggered by pressure of the 18 ton behemoth. (picture above is another attack - none available up to press)

They vehicle and crew were taking part in an operation clearing Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia (?) insurgents from southern Arab Jabour, a rural, overwhelmingly Sunni area less than 10 miles southeast of Baghdad on the Tigris River.

100,000 pounds of bombs had been dropped prior to the attack to clear the ground because of the known dangers of buried bombs and IED's. (!)

Forensic bomb teams examined the site and the vehicle to see iof they could detect any design flaws in the vehicle and as they do with every such device to learn about devlopments in bomb desig, placement and triggering.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates singled MRAP's out in his holiday-season message in December, saying, “To ensure that troops have the best protection available on the battlefield, MRAPs became the military’s highest acquisition priority, and thousands of these vehicles are in production and en route to theater.” In May , Congress authorized $4 billion for a project.

Only last week Gates toured an assembly facility for MRAP's at Force Protection's plant in Charleston, S.C., where they are the 2nd largest employer turning out 200 vehiclesMRAP vehicles a month - basically an extremely heavily armoured MAC truck chassis, a month.

Gates has described them as “a proven lifesaver on the battlefield.” He cited Army reports that there had been 12 attacks on the vehicles with homemade bombs since a push began last summer to send more of them into combat zones, mostly in Iraq. No soldiers died in those attacks, he said.There are more than 1,500 MRAP's of them in Iraq now, and the military plans to purchase more than 15,000 of them at a cost of $22.4 billion.

Since last summer, however, Force Protection Inc. (FRPT) a startup company who were early into the market for MRAP's with 2 vehicles , the Cougar (UK version called Mastiff) and the Buffalo, (US$600K - 800K per pop) based very much on previous South African designs for bomb proof people carriers. FRPT has steadily lost market share to larger rivals managed by veterans in the manufacturing industry. Navistar (NAVZ ) and BAE Systems now rank as the leaders of the multibillion-dollar MRAP program. CEO Gordon McGilton cashed out most of his Force Protection stock early last year, when he exercised 1 million options -- right after they vested -- selling the underlying stock at - ($US30) nearly five times the current share price . He retains just a minor stake in the company and the company announced his retirement 8th January he retires from the Company effective January 31, 2008.

FRPT announced a $74,130,482 million contract for integrated logistics support (ILS) on the Company’s Cougar MRAP Category I and Category II vehicles with the US marine Corps on Thursday 17th January 2008.

Bombed Out


Previous posts by Lord Patel on MRAP


UPDATE 12.45 EST This story has already been visited by West Point, Raytheon and Batelle amongst others.... and the House of Representatives has spent many ahappy hour rooting about inthe cellar.

See this article about a visit to the Force Protection plant last week. "The MRAP's size and weight also makes it difficult to chase the enemy down narrow roads, over unstable bridges, or across rough terrain. Citing those reasons, along with the improved security environment in western Iraq, the Marine Corps will buy just 2,300 of the vehicles instead of the 3,700 it initially planned on. The Army still wants 10,000 MRAPs, but like the Marine Corps plans to keep its more mobile Humvees" the article aso claims At least 487 U.S. troops died in Iraq last year from IEDs, roadside bombs, cars bombs and other explosives.

The Cougar can hit 65 at full speed. In Iraq, where temperatures run high, drivers don't go more than 55 to avoid overheating the tires. The truck gets about six miles to the gallon.

The Cougar and a much larger Force Protection-built MRAP called the Buffalo have been attacked more than 3,000 times. There have been only 3 recorded American fatalities. (So the headline may be wrong) In one case, a service member who was not wearing his seat belt was killed when the bomb exploded near the vehicle....
.

Killing 100,000 calves at birth concentrates the minds of Ministers, farmers and Supermarket meat buyers

When Sherpa Tensing was showing Edmund Hilary up Everest, the dairy farmers of the UK's fields were decorated with brown and white Aryshire cows, and bulky well built Friesians that would yield milk for 7/8 years. Milk yield per cow was in the region of 5 gallons of milk per day , plus a useful beef product at the end of it's life , there was also a thriving although small veal trade.

Now the milking herds which feed the supermarkets who control the domestic milk trade rely on the Holstein milk machines which can yield 120 litres per day, but may be so worn out they only serve 3 lactation cycles. The average Holstein cross cow now produces a lifetime 8,285 litres against just 4,000 litres in 1974.

These sedentary cows never see grass, they are kept indoors , fed (up to now) on the subsidised , but increasingly expensive grains that the barley barons have so effectively produced.

Cows need to breed to produce milk and a consequence is 160,000 male calves are born every year. Currently 100,000 or 2,000 a week are simply shot at a day old. Now that live exports restarted in May last year after the ten-year ban EU BSE beef ban the remainder are sent to the continental veal trade ( and fetch some £50 each - £200 before BSE hit the herds) where after removal from their mother at birth and shipment they are left a short (8 week) life fed, not on mother's milk but a high protein diet and a lonely life to prevent too much exercise and resultant growth of connective tissue (gristle) to provide the perfect pink veal cutlet.

Then the the foot-and-mouth outbreak in August stopped all live beef exports and the shooting of worthless day old calves made a quantum jump.

There is a small organic veal trade in the UK which forms 0.1% of the retail meat trade, almost exclusively to the Metropolitan restaurant trade.Now the Gubment want to boost this trade and A Beyond Live Exports working group chaired by Lord Rooker, the Minister for Farming and Animal Welfare, wants to develop a national production scheme that ensures the rearing of a calf from birth until it is ready for slaughter in optimum welfare conditions. "On the hook, and not on the hoof" is the PR mantra from DeFRA about this desire to change export policy on calves.

They working group identified two targets - the production of rosé veal, where calves will live outdoors, be fed on a mixture of grass and milk and slaughtered at 10 to 12 months. The other is for calves to be fattened on grass until they are 16 to 19 months, to produce young beef - which with the current obession with Holsteins is simply impractical.

Heather Jenkins, the head of meat buying at Waitrose is keen on their Calfline project to promote UK veal and Tesco are promoting organic rosé veal this spring.

Duncan Sinclair, head of agriculture at Waitrose, told the annual Semex Dairy Conference in Glasgow (13/15 Jan 2008) that the Calfline scheme appealed to consumers, because it offered a realistic alternative to exporting dairy calves to Continental veal units.

"The future will bring more of these schemes," forecast Mr Sinclair. ``Issues for consumers now include climate change and the impact of globalisation. Schemes built around a relationship between farmers and retailers add value to food and they certainly increase customer appeal," he said.

Duncan Sinclair is a bit of a conference groupie he is addressing British Cattle Conference, 2008 in hrewsbury today in on the subject The Native Breeds - Is it time for a revival?and you can catch him at Keele University on 5th February talking about - “A Retailers View of Sustainability” - you can also read about how Waitrose work with the beef industry here see pic.

It is interesting that the British Cattle Conference kicks off this morning with a presentation Reinventing Dairy Beef by Kev Bevan, Senior Rural Business Consultant, Scottish Agricultural Services - SAC Select Services, Auchincruive, Ayrshire kev.bevan@sac.co.uk

The abstract in the program reads ..."The UK and EU have a structural beef deficit that is expected to grow in coming years with South American imports predicted to fill this deficit. This gloomy outlook, however, need not arise if new breeding technologies can be allied to enlightened supply chain management to lift the value of beef from Holsteins."

The Conference will also hear about the rising threat from South America Beef Production in Brazil - Threat or Opportunity? by Professor José Fernando Piva LobatoAssociate Professor of Beef Production Systems, University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It is therefore interesting that two "workshops" will discuss, during the conference the propositions ;'This club believes we should breed a dual function dairy cow' and 'This Club believes we should breed beef composites'

Straw in the wind ?

Andrew Marr and BBC catch up with Russian developments ...

Andrew Marr - one of the overworked, overpaid hacks the BBC relies on to keep the message "on message" chatted with sex bomb Jacqui Smith on his Sunday politics program.

Today he "Started the Week" on BBC4 at 9.00 am he interviwed Economist Journalist Edward Lucas who was peddling his book The New Cold War: How the Kremlin Menaces both Russia and the West is published by Bloomsbury. (Order from Amazon)

He claims to be a lone voice in highlighting how (19 minutes into program) Vladimir Putin has used its Russias soaring oil and gas revenues to gain influence in the West while ruthlessly silencing its critics and neighbours. He claims no-one is taking any notice - hence his use of the term "the New Cold war" .

Lucas laments how Putin popped into Bulgaria last and stitched them up for the South Stream pipeline which effectively destroys the EU Nabucco pipeline - which First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Gazprom's chairman signed up with Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev But this was actually stitched on June 24 2007 in Zagreb, when President Putin held a bilateral meeting with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov ) as detailed by Lord Patel last week - Putin and his gang extend energy interests and ownership

Anyway all credit to Edward Lucas, Andrew Marr and the BBC for eventually getting the news about South Stream and it's importance to energy security in Europe published.

Whilst we have posted a great deal of many of the aspects of the rise of the silovaki - Putin's team consolidates - Which commences

..."Yesterday the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs replaced three members lost from the Board, former YUKOS CEO Mikhail
Khodorkovsky, Chairman of Supervisory Board at Industrial and Construction Bank Vladimir Kogan and Vice President of the Union Viktor Dombrovsky.

They were replaced by LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov, Metalloinvest and Gazmetall co-owner Alisher Usmanov and Kuzbassrazrezugol CEO Andrey Bokarev.(see pic)"

Is worth reading.

Of course the blogistes are merely ill informed commentators.

*** Leonid Tygachev is President of the Russian Olympic Committee.

Tony Blair - War criminal, the evidence - Amazing Pictures

We don't steal pictures often but this comes from here and would make a good T shirt to travel on a plane journey to Tel Aviv.

By the way, did you know that Ruth Turner who sold the honours, worked ..er.. hand in glove with the King of Karaoke, did the paperwork, stalled Commander Yates, told lies, is now Tony's ..er... personal assistant ? News reaches Lord Patel that she is very personal with her assistance.

Red Ken - Drunk in Charge

If you watch Martin Bright's Dispatches documentary on Channel Four tonight you will read Tom Griffin's posting about Dean Godson's neoconservative crowd at Policy Exchange.
and the history of the Godson family / father (US labour attache at the London Embassy) / brother, and their fascinating role in post war political smears - including the work of Brian Crozier (Institute for the Study of Conflict) , Lord Chalfont (who gave Dieogo Garcia (less it's troublesome inhabitants) , Woodrow Wyatt squirrel expert and father to the luscious Petronella AKA "Petsy" bicycle of the right and the mother of Boris Johnson's aborted love child, and latterly to David Frum, Telegraph/Spectator writers Charles Moore and Frank Johnson who have been so helpful to Martin.

It doesn't mean of course that Red Ken isn't a conceited, hopeless, arrogant and aggressive drunk who has happily diverted his gaze whilst some of the people who surround him have continued to benefit remarkably from having their hands in the trough of GLA funds... or benefit from ... well ... the Olympics is going to benefit many.... many people with interests in the Thames Estuary.. and they aren't all Ken's friends.

There is not shortage of shits, shysters and free - loaders amongst the Metropolitan muttering classes.

Kenya - Civil Society .. rapidly becoming very uncivil

Alexis De Tocqueville was fascinated by American society and famously remarked in his 2 Volume Democracy in America "The very essence of democratic government consists in the absolute sovereignty of the majority; for there is nothing in democratic states that is capable of resisting it."

His notions of "civil society" have fed the concepts of a fair, industrious, democratic society - something that is exmained in the latest volume of the Dag Hammarsskjold Foundation's latest issue of "development dialogue" (No 49) which just thundered through the letter box.

Naturally, considering the news from Nairobi, Steve Ouma on " Civil society and the nation state - The case of Kenya" caught our attention.

He quotes Makau Mutua's *** speech to the Human Rights in East Africa shindig organised by the wealthy Ford Foundation in Nairobi in 2004 in support of his view that ...

"In Kenya...the emergence of civil society organisations in both form and character is fairly recent ...Without civil society , those in power turn into despots"

and also

" The Kenyan background demonstrates the role of the civil society institution within the national democracy"

Views probably endorsed by President Kibaki (250,000 displaced in excess of 600 people killed up to press) as his Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula summoned Britain's High Commissioner Adam Wood to express displeasure.Officials are particularly irate at comments by beautiful, pouting, glamorous Sheffield MP Meg Munn, Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for the Foreign Office (Hansard) , that Britain has "not recognized" Kibaki's government.

"Our elections don't need a stamp of authority from the House of Commons," Moses protested to reporters.

However Mr Ouma's breezy,delightful optimism is hardly worth remarking on save he has introduced us to a useful, novel and one trusts a classification of Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) which as an ex-taxonomist ( well part time) we can recommend.

DONGO's Donor organisded NGO's
MONGO's My own NGO
GONGO's Government owned NGO's (!?)
FANGO's Family onwe NGO's
FONGO's First Lady NGO's (eg No Child Left behind ?)

*** Makua Matua SUNY DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR AND FLOYD H. AND HILDA L. HURST FACULTY SCHOLAR , University at Buffalo Law School)

In 2002-03, while on sabbatical in Kenya, Professor Mutua was appointed by the Government of Kenya as Chairman of the Task Force on the Establishment of a Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission. The Task Force recommended a truth commission for Kenya. During the same time, Professor Mutua was a delegate to the National Constitutional Conference, the forum that produced a contested draft constitution for Kenya.

He will shortly be publishing Human Rights NGOs in East Africa: Emergent Themes, Challenges and Tensions

Meg Munn ( another wretchedly sunny optimist) chuntered on in the debate about Kenya ..."The fundamental issues that need to be addressed remain the same. All the allegations of fraud during the elections should be fully investigated. Those who are found to have acted illegally and contrary to the principles of democracy should be held to account (By whom, How, when ? Ed.). That also applies if they are found to have instigated or orchestrated violence, as has been alleged. The possibility of auditing the results of the election should be examined (Ho.Ho.Ho.), although we recognise that the original data may no longer be available. In the longer term, it is important that there is institutional reform to reduce the risk that the events of late December might be repeated."

The BBC report on Kibaki his PNU party and the Mount Kenya Mafia ..Defence Minister Njenga Karume, Nairobi university chancellor Joe Wanjui, and big time investors Nat Kangethe, accountant and never far from with Joseph Kanyago Chairman of Express Kenya, East Africa Couriers, East Africa Elevators (OTIS), Toyota Kenya Foundation and the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA). and Nick Wanjohi ...not forgetting Naushad Merali from the Moi era - who bought the Vivendi Telecom International shares in KenCell at $230 million and sold them to Celtel the very same day for $250 million, making a cool profit of $20 million ....principal shareholder is is retired President Moi's Sameer Investments with Directors P.K. Jani and H. Da Gama Rose.... nor should we pass over long time Kibaki ally and financier of his election campaigns, Eddy Njoroge, the managing director of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen).




Kibaki's inner group also include the vice chancellor of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Others in this group include Alex Mureithi, the presidents’ nephew, Machira Gichohi, the Managing Director of the Kenya Dairy Board, Jean Kamau, a prominent lawyer working at the International Republican Institute and lawyer Lee Muthoga.

There is also the “Muthaiga Club” going back to 1992 and Kinaki's first stab at election, Julius Gecau who was connected with Kenyatta but fell out with Moi, Nat Kang’ethe of MCL, Saatchi and Saatchi, the international public relations firm, Eddy Njoroge the managing of Kengen, Peter Kanyago, a businessman and chairman, Othaya Development Group, George Muhoho, tha Managing Director Kenya Airports Authority, Duncan Ndegwa, former Central Bank Governor.

Lee Karuri an architect is also a leading Christian and with George Muhoho
a former priest (now MD Kenya Airports) represents it might be said their connections with the faithful.

There are also the Young Turks alumni of Nairobi’s Saint Mary’s School for the pampered children of the very rich including Alfred Getonga son of Simeon Getonga late Town Clerk of nairobi, the Presidents 2 son, Jimmy and David, and their ever present sister Judy Wanjiku.

To whom we can add, John Macharia, son of media tycoon S.K. Macharia of Citizen Media Group and director of Triple-A-Capital , George Thuo CEO of the City Hoppa bus company, and Mr Francis Michuki, son of Transport minister John Michuki.

Northern Wreck - Making money whilst the clouds gather in the City

The Treaury has issued a regulatory announcement regarding Northern Rock " HM Treasury, on behalf of the Tripartite Authorities, today announces the basis on which the Tripartite Authorities are taking forward discussions with the Board of Northern Rock ...." which you can read at the LSE website.

The Treasury have also issued a bland self congratulatory Press Statement on their Website which sensibly glosses over the fascinating detail of the results of burning the midnight oil in the City.

Probably the most notable feature of these announcements is the continuing delay, dither and extended window provided for City "advisors" , a mixed bag of lawyers , bankers , brokers, shysters and snake oil sales men can continue to bleed the company and the UK taxpayer of funds.

Amazingly both current private sector bidders , the bearded wonder and Luqman are charging the shareholders of Northern Rock all their costs in preparing a sutiable plan to get their hands on £25 Bn upwards of Government Funds. Those costs plus the circling cloud of advisors have probablyseen their income exceed £50 Mn since the end of August.

We are now offered a timetable .."a restructuring plan to be submitted to the European Commission by 17 March 2008 " ... "detailed proposals ... must be received bythe Tripartite Authorities by 4 February 2008" , very much at odds with the hasty weekend decision to offer tax payers money to fund the criminal Directors, who issued fraudulent accounts, issued dividends they couldn't pay (which had to be stopped on Gubment advice) and enriched themselves in various other ways.

It is worth noting that the interim results which contained and sustained that dividend payment were issued on July 26th , 25 days after their half year end - such was their haste to take advantage of the Basel II agreements on Capital structures.

Sacks of Gold have now come up with a wizard wheeze that converts the current Taxpayers loans with the issue of bonds guaranteed by the taxpayer ... and sufficient funds to continue trading. A total exposure for the UK taxpayer exceeding £50 Bn. and maybe even more.

Meanwhile as this leisurely fumbling and bumbling , evasion and failure to make decisions continues ..."The existing HM Treasury guarantee arrangements remain in place. Savers' money remains safe and secure." ... any saver (and indeed shareholder) with any sense will have withdrawn their dosh and done a runner long, long ago. Evidently no-one elses's money is safe or the Treasury would have said so.

A simpleton's guide to Brown / Balls / Darling / Sack of Gold wizard scheme.

1.Bundle whatever assets are left in Norther Wreck over which anyone else has prior claim (Granite and SIV's ect) "residential mortgages, unsecured consumer loans and
certain investment-grade securities," the Treasury describes this disparate collection of near assets.

2. "A financing vehicle" would fund the purchase this ragbag by "the issue of notes in the capital markets" ..."guaranteed by HM Treasury " ... for which HM Treasury gets first dibs ..." a first priority interest in the asset pool" when it all goes tits up (hopefully after the next election)

3. Naturally conditions apply for the lawyers to earn vast fees (again) ..."a robust
and acceptable business plan" Ho.Ho.Ho. "the documentation would need to contain appropriate covenants in favour of HM Treasury to protect its interests " etc., etc., Luvvly Jubbly.

4. "ownership of the company and fulfilment of its management roles by suitable persons" ... No wonder the bearded wonder is not actually a Director of Virgin Money (However that illusory and much traded company is currently defined / valued / owned / managed )

5. HM Tresury Equity Participation: "HM Treasury would require an appropriate share in
potential upside equity returns of the company." Ho.Ho.Ho.

6. Let out clause ..."Implementation of the financing structure would follow receipt of the necessary state aid authorisation." Built in blame of those nasty faceless bureaucrats in Brussels.

7. CONTINGENCY PLANNING (Note the caps) Prudence has been at work again ..." the Government would bring forward legislation which " ...."transfer Northern Rock's share capital, including its preference shares, into public ownership"

Finally, if the dreaded "N" word has to be used ..."In the event of Northern Rock being brought into temporary public ownership, it would be managed on arms' length terms, as a commercial entity, by a newly appointed experienced and professional management team." ... which makes one wonder why this route is currently not a viable or sensible one ... albeit as Vincent Cable endlessly points out it is the "least worst option".

To keep the Labour MP's happy (and no doubt Labour voters in the North east ) ..."Any decision or announcement to take Northern Rock into temporary public ownership would also address the future of the Northern Rock Foundation."

Goldman Sachs International ("Goldman Sachs"), " is acting as financial adviser to members of the Tripartite Authorities " ... and is adding vast sacks of gold to their stores ... why worry ? Why hurry ? When you have found a cow to milk ... keep on milking it.

PS : Toni Fabuloso has just appeared with the coffee and remarks, " If I want to lend money secured by HMG - I can buy Gilts ... and any capital gain is tax free ". The mention that HMG is talking of "potential upside equity returns of the company" is met with a snort.

Sharp lady ... and makes a very fine bacon buttie .. the sounds and smells of which are happily apparent....

PS : The Daily Mail calculate ( how, they don't explain) that Sacks of Gold could clear £25-£50MN from brokering such bonds ... naturally of course there will be a Rights issue , new shares issued which Sacks of Gold and the rest of the City will boost as the new revitalised, sooper dooper , get in at the beginning , fill ya boots for the savvy investor and stuff (yet again the credulous and the "smart money" investors a little bit down the line. fees, fees, and yet more fees.

Don't think of Northern Wreck as a disaster - as Churchill said of Dunkirk it provides a "springboard for opportunity".

UPDATE 5.30 pm BST : Chancellor of the Exchequer - Darling interviewed on BBC4 "PM" admits after much harasing byEddie Mayor that the taxpayers loans / exposure / guarantees are without limit on time and value.

FSA stands by as NR shares increase in value by 33% as a result of overnight statement to 94 pence (ish) .. how can anyone believe there is a "normal" market" in the shares ?

UPDATE : 11.30 pm BST Read Richard Murphy at Tax Reserch on the ultimate and useless Paradox ..."The guarantees will only be called in if Northern Rock has made further losses, but at that same point in time it will not have the resources to pay either the fees or interest due to the government. As such the claimed benefits of this deal exist only on paper, they can never be realised."

Living on the EDGE - Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered amphibians - ZSL highlight their problems

The Guradian today reports that the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has launched a new conservation and fundraising initiative which aims to highlight some of the world’s most extraordinary creatures currently threatened with extinction.

The new programme assesses all amphibian species according to how Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) they are.

ZSL has identified a gigantic, ancient relative of the newt, a drawing-pin sized frog, a limbless, tentacled amphibian and a blind see-through salamander as 10 of the most endangered and is starting work to protect them

See the Guradian article and stunning gallery of the world's most endangered amphibians - plus a gallery of the UK's most endangered species - one of which the Corncrake reported seeing in 2007 on the Pennine moors.

Lord Patel has charted the discovery of some of the newer (and rarer frogs this year).

Is the Home Secretary back on the spliffs ?

45 year old, Oxford educated (Hertford College) ex teacher, mother of 2 young boys, plump, comfortably overweight JACQUI SMITH, the first ever female Home Secretary, to whom exercise is evidently a luxury, has admitted she would feel unsafe walking the streets of London late at night.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, she said she would not feel comfortable out alone after dark in deprived areas such as Hackney .... or even affluent ones like Kensington or Chelsea.

On the BBC1 Andrew Marr show this morning , wearing her trademark white jacket (perhaps her only one besides the uniform red jacket (and glasses) she wore at the State terrist conference last week - see above) with generously proportioned black trousers, was asked by Andrew to comment on Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester's recent remarks that Islamic extremism is creating 'no-go' areas in parts of Britain.

With her chubby jowls wobbling only slightly she said "There are no no-go areas in Britain" .

Miss Smith evidently has considerable difficulty in distinguishing between her plump arse and her plump elbow... or ... she is back on the spliffs. You Tube

BA038's Ace pilot's action packed, fun filled life - Amazing pictures

The well publicised hero's welcome at BA HQ of twice married (to cabin crew) Captain Burkill, pilot of prematurely ended flight BA038 , and it's portrayal of the the archetypal bronzed, strong, self effacing pilot was remarkable .. and who knows, a trifle premature in advance of the official accident report..

Even more so , when fond memories with lots of ...er.. revealing happy snaps of a previous existence with Caledonian Airways of him practising belly flops in one of Rupe the Poop's scandal sheets and the fulsome picture of happy family life in a different family newspaper provide the inoccent passenger with conflicting ideas about the guys and gals who fly these beasts.

In another of Rupes Rags Richard Woods, Steven Swinford and Paul Eddy provide a first rate , legthy and detailed article of what is known so far about the puzzling prang.... reminds me of a remark of a talented young lady engineer at Rolls Royce , that an aircraft landing is really just a controlled crash.