Chinooks - URGENTLY REQUIRED ON THE BATTLEFIELD - ready for battle (maybe) 8 years after delivery

Few will forget Friday, March 30, 2007 - MOD to get 14 more 'copters. 8 refurbed turkeys and 6 on the borrer from the Prince of Denmark

Few will forget how military mastermind Des Brown announcedthat at last the 8 Chinook MK.3's that have been stuck in a warehouse since 2001 will be off to Iraq / Afghanistan to help out the brave lads dodging the bullets, and those who didn't dodge them a speedy trip to a field hospital (Average time 8 hours due to a shortage of helicopters at present).

Well that was then ...more precisely 11 months ago.Action at last !!!

Well up to a point Lord Copper... because Qinetiq announced an agreement only yesterday that they will contract with Boeing to assist in the upgrade of the 8 Chinook Mark 3 helicopters. Upgrade is not really the correct term because they will actually be , "reverted to a similar standard to the conventionally instrumented Mk 2/2A. " ...which they were supposed to replace they call this "reversion modification ".

This £11m contract will see Qinetiq take on a large portion of the contract (Total upgrade cost will be £90.1m of which £62m is the contract with Boeing) the MoD awarded to Boeing in December 2007. (So plans are fairly roaring along then !!!)

The new equipment from Boeing will allow the aircraft to fly in all types of weather conditions at any time of the day in any geographic region. Qinetiq will install the equipment and conduct flight trials with the hope of having the first helicopters in service by 2009.

In total, the MoD will have spent over £90m on upgrades for the eight helicopters since 1998, even though none of them have ever been used in operations.

Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Edward Leigh MP, has in the past described the purchase of the Chinooks as “one of the most incompetent procurements of all time."

For those who savour these private moments in those hidden away committees the following exchange is worthy of mention … Select Committee on Public Accounts Minutes of Evidence 25 OCTOBER 2004 - i.e 4 years ago....

Q133 Chairman: Thank you very much. But the fact remains, Air Vice Marshal, that for safety reasons you cannot fly this helicopter when it is cloudy; is that correct?

Air Vice Marshal Luker: That is also correct.

The major failures in procurement included ... we are told

1. Important equipment such as weather radar could not fit in the cockpit .
2. Software for flight systems was unable to meet certain standards
3. The aircraft was not capable of operating in desert conditions.
4. The aircraft have limited flight displays.
5. The aircraft have no safeguards against sand in the engine
6. The aircraft have been reduced to being used for flight trials on clear days at low altitudes.

The contract with Boeing and Qinetiq will finally see the Chinooks receive the necessary upgrades. MoD officials have hinted that they would be used for special forces operations.

... if we have any left by then.

Northern Wrecks - both on a Mission Impossible

One of these guys earns £2.6 Mn a year. Is it the guy who runs the company or the company football team ? Hint. They lost 5-1 today.

At least one Turkey Osprey V22 has a gun - but it's not in Iraq. Yet.

BAE Systems Installs Defensive Weapon System on CV-22 Osprey for Testing

BAE Systems has now installed a remotely operated "defensive weapon system" - aboard a U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey . (see post Wednesday, November 28, 2007 for more details V-22 Osprey / Albatross now deployed in Iraq - will have a gun real soon now

Having spent over a decade and many squillions (US$100 Mn each) without any form of defence, you might think that fitting such a weapon AFTER deployment in the battlefield was a bit arse uppards...but...

Using a GAU-2B 7.62 mm mini-gun mounted to the belly of the aircraft, the weapon is designed to provide 360 degrees of accurate, sustained suppressive fire throughout the CV-22’s flight envelope.

The weapon is based on BAE Systems’ Remote Guardian System™, a company-funded effort to develop a common airborne defensive capability for the V-22 and other special-mission rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft. BAE Systems did not initially have access to aircraft drawings or solid models, relying in part on its knowledge of the CV-22 as provider of the platform’s flight control system. Which, considering the size of the pork barrel (US$15 Bn.) to build this flying turkey in all 72 States of the Union was a bit arse uppards... but ...

The hardware installation and ensuing fit-check, completed in January, has quickly followed BAE's recent selection to develop an interim all-quadrant defensive weapon system for the Osprey.

The U. S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), which awarded the contract to integrate and test the weapon mission kit on the CV-22, is currently performing ground testing, with flight testing to follow. SOCOM oversaw the successful installation of the system hardware aboard the aircraft in January at Hurlburt Field, Florida.

BAE Systems has been developing the Remote Guardian(TM) System (RGS), a 2 part sensor / gun , for more than two years and unveiled the system in October 2007 at the Modern Day Marine military exposition in Quantico, Virginia. It was only in January that the company announced its selection by SOCOM to provide the defensive weapon solution for their CV-22 aircraft.

Bit of History

The primary weapon for the Bell UH-1 Huey series in Vietnam was the 7.62 mm M60 machine gun, (effectively the same gun but without automated ammunition feed) although 70 mm rocket pods were skid-mounted on some aircraft. The M60 was effective to around 700 metres range, but US Army helicopters were soon outgunned by the Vietcong insurgents, who in 1963 introduced the 12.7mm Degtyarev-Shpagin DShKM38/46 Calibre, mm 12.7 x 109 (.50) Muzzle velocity, m/s 850 600 rounds per minute weight 34 kg Largo, 16 metres X 1 metre. This was later augmented by the 14.5 mm KPV-14.5 (see pics here) , at that time quite possibly the most powerful machine gun in the world.

Has "missing" USAF B2 Bomber flown to Russia ? One of our planes is missing

Guam is a tiny island and is U.S. territory located 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.

B2 bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base have been shuttling to Guam since 2004 and one has gone missing (see last pic of missing plane ).

The stealth aircraft diappeared from screens and so far the USAF have been covering the story by saying the plane crashed and the ejected pilots are safe.

There is no news if the plane was loaded with a Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000 pound bomb (15 ton) which 20.5 feet long, with a 31.5-inch diameter and carries over 5,300 pounds of explosive material. This mutha will deliver 10 the killer punch of the BLU-109 and will penetrate up to 200 feet underground before exploding.

Guam has been visited by Russian Bear bombers and first flew past on Wednesday August 8th 2007 passing within 300 miles of U.S. air and naval bases on Guam. The TU-95 flight coincided with on-going U.S. military drills in the area; it was the first Russian bomber flight flown against Guam since the Cold War.

The Tupolev Bomber flying on the initial mission carries the AS-15 Kent" air-launched cruise missile, which has a maximum range of 1500 Nautical Miles.

So don't be surprised if a B2 turns up in Vladivostok.(see also)

UPDATE :24/2/08 2300 GMT
The accident occurred 11 days after a Navy plane crashed into the ocean about 20 miles northeast of Guam's Ritidian Point. Four aircrew members ejected from the EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft and were rescued by helicopter. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23302483

Granite and the masters of the Master Trusts - exploiting loopholes with the City lawyers

Guido points via his stringer BOF2BS to the involvement of blue chip City/ Canary Wharf lawyers Allen & Overy in February 2005 in arranging the Granite master issuer's £20bn programme . The team - "led by securitisation partner Kiwi Angela Clist, (pic) with assistance from associate Sanjay Sethi. US advise (sic) was provided by partner Christopher Bernard and associate Daniel Rubin, whilst partner Richard Tredgett advised on the derivatives aspects of the transaction, assited by Niharika Patel.

Tax advice was provided by partner Mark Brailsford, aided by associates Adam Blakemore and Daniel Lewin. Real Estate advice was given by partner Daniel McKimm. Allen & Overy's Trustee Group, led by Simon Hill and Malcolm Charles, separately advised the Bank of New York as Trustee.

Sidley Austin Brown & Wood advised the originator Northern Rock plc - a huge firm with 1,700 lawyers practicing in 15 U.S. and international cities and 61 partners solely involved in "Structured Finance and Securitization" . The firm was Ranked Top Issuer Counsel for U.S. Debt, Equity and Equity-Related Deals for 2006 by Thomson Financial (as it was in previous years). It is interesting to note that Sidley advised in that one year on 548 deals worth $374.1 billion in deal value representing a market share of 10.7 percent (ie total market in 2006 was US$3.7 trillion -ish) . The firm also ranked number three as underwriter’s counsel in the same category with $257.3 billion in deal value from 429 offerings representing a market share of 7.2 percent.

The legal bill for that stellar array of transatlantic talent must have made your eyes water - and would have probably paid off a few mortgages.

What is worthy of note is what A & O proudly declare ;

1. "The SEC registered deal was the first UK securitisation to obtain a shelf registration in the US." - Mr Applegarth and his criminal crew was always pushing the envelope. e.g July 24th FSA approve new Basle II arrangements, July 26th divvy increased by 30% under altered capital requirments - disregarding profits rise of 0.2% for 6 months after mortgages issued rose 47%

2. "A novel aspect of this deal is the Granite Master Issuer plc's ability to issue debt of any rating provided that the senior debt is always sufficiently supported by a requisite level of subordinated debt. This "de-linked" feature will allow Northern Rock to exploit better pricing on subordinated debt opportunistically and is a first in the UK RMBS (Residential Mortgage-Backed Security ) market." - Mr Applegarth and his criminal crew pushing the envelope again.

Forbes have a site that provides information for investors called Investopedia, under "Mortgage Backed Security " it offers this explanation ..." When you invest in a mortgage-backed security you are essentially lending money to a home buyer or business. An MBS is a way for a smaller regional bank to lend mortgages to its customers without having to worry about whether the customers have the assets to cover the loan. Instead, the bank acts as a middleman between the home buyer and the investment markets. "

Therefore it is interesting to note that Northern Wreck from midnight Thursday 21st February 2007 has scrapped its "Together" loans, which offered first-time buyers a mortgage for up to 95 % of their property's value and a personal loan of up to 30% on top.

Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, Coventry Building Society and Godiva mortgages (and probably everyone else by now) had all ceased offering their their versions of the Northern Rock Together loan on Tuesday. John McFall the Chairman of the Treasury Committeewhich had produced after 5 months the report "The Run on the Rock" in contributing wise words in the NR Nationalisation debate on Tuesday February 19th Hansard Col 191 said ;

"Probably a gratuitous request to the new management is for it to ensure that the Together mortgage, with a 125 per cent. loan to value, is no part of the company in the future. A statement to that effect from the management would reassure the rest of the market."

It is also interesting to note that glamorous, perky, pert, slim Yvette Cooper, whilst vilified generally is evidently not as stupid as she appears and managed to place her elegant and well manicured finger on a very pertinent point supplied by the devils in the Treasury who had provided her Lord and Master Darling with a "Technical Note" for the constant irritant to the Gubment Vince Cable.

On Thursday 21st February our fragrant Yvette, stood up straightened her skirt, smiled her charming smile and said amidst discussions of "Granite" ;

Yvette Cooper: The hon. Gentleman cites the technical note, but has not read the subsequent sentence, which clearly states:

“There remain high quality assets on Northern Rock’s balance sheet, as well as Granite’s.”

It also states:

“It is a commercial decision for Northern Rock whether to provide new mortgage assets to the Granite financing vehicle or whether to allow the vehicle to run-off in an orderly way.”

Which is not a point that seems to have hit home in any commentary made then or subsequently . Having due regard to the galactic talents that gave birth to Granite one only has to wonder about the written decision of New York Judge Lifland in August.

Bear Stearns had two funds that got creamed in so-called collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, backed by home-loan bonds and other "assets" , they were"Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Master Fund Ltd., 07-12383 " which raised US $642 million on the launch last last summer.

A sister and less ambitiously titled fund was - " Bear Stearns High- Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Master Fund Ltd., 07-12384.

In August Judge Lifland in the S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan) refused to grant protection from U.S. lawsuits for Bear Stearns Cos.' two bankrupt hedge funds, finding the Cayman Islands wasn't the proper jurisdiction for them to liquidate assets.``The only adhesive connection with the Cayman Islands that the funds have is the fact that they are registered there,''

``There are no employees or managers in the Cayman Islands, " he added in his written judgement," the investment manager for the funds is located in New York, the administrator that runs the back-office operations of the funds is in the United States along with the funds' books and records, and prior to the commencement of the foreign proceeding, all of the funds' liquid assets were located in the United States.''

Is it the intention of HMG to tell the bondholders (or at least not to discourage the Directors of NR to make a "commercial decision" ) to seek redress in the Courts of Jersey ? (or in less legal terminology - Go fuck yourselves) ... and thus test the structures brought to birth at such great cost by Angela Clist, Allen & Overy and Sidley Austin Brown & Wood and Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all for the benefit of the NE Children's Downs Syndrome Association ?

Only time will tell as the mysteries of Allen & Overy's handiwork, Granite Master Trust , and the..."first UK securitisation to obtain a shelf registration in the US" unfold over the coming months and years.

NB A & O had previously done such deals Allen & Overy Advises on Granite Mortgages 03-3 PLC20 October 2003 - Allen & Overy (led by Salim Nathoo ) had advised Barclays Capital, JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers on Northern Rock's seventh securitisation using its master trust - These transactions follow similar deals under Northern Rock's residential mortgage master trust in March and September 2002 and in January 2003, in which Allen & Overy also acted for the managers and underwriters.

Those further interested in the fascinating subject of Master Trusts and RMBS markets can profit by reading Prof. Ian Giddy New York University " The asset securitization technique, offer originators a cheaper source of funding and investors a superior return. Not only does securitization transform illiquid assets into tradable securities, but it also manages to transform risk by means of the separation of good financial assets from a company or financial institution with little loss of revenue. The assets, once separated from the originator, are employed as backing for high-quality securities designed to appeal to investors."

The Use of the Master Trust Structure in Asset-Backed Securities - Master trusts mark new era for European ABS (December 01 2000 ) which extensively quotes Ms Clist on RMBS.....Giddy says "The solution that Schroder Salomon Smith Barney ( SSSB ) and Allen & Overy came up with was the use of a master trust. Master trusts were first used for automobile loan securitization in the US, and then adopted recently by credit card companies for their issues. But the Bank of Scotland deal was the first deal to apply it to the MBS market. " ....

"The tiny but very significant loophole SSSB (and A & O) has found through this is that by repackaging the master trust certificate in another trust..."

Yvette Cooper, you understand had / has a complete grasp of the Granite Master Trust structure and it's significance.

No doot tha'll be a canny few of they re-possessiions like , doon the Scotlan' Ro' tha noos. "Fetch me a pint canny lass ..and ah'll read that agin' "

UPDATE : Saturday 11.00 GMT BBC4 The Weeek in Westminster has just had fellow Lord Barnett, Lord Patel's MP from yesterday year, shrewd Jewish Manchester Accontant and EX chief secretary to the Treasury under James Callaghan in the 70's , author of the long standing Barnett Formula explaining how in the House of Lords the Whips scurried round with copies of the letter and "Technical Note" (On which the fragrant Yvette waxed so lyrical) from Darling to Vincent Cable - and confessing he couldn't understand it.

He was joined by the slim and elegant Ex Chancellor Lord Lawson (and father of cook Nigella) in roundly criticising both the haste and the evident lack of transparency of the Nationalisation Legislation.

Clitoridectomy - a subject no-one wants to talk about

The Raelian Movement had an auspicious start . Rael (AKA, Claude Vorilhon)At the age of 27, on the morning of December 13, 1973, a dramatic encounter with a human being from another planet, at a volcano park in the center of France, known as "Puy de Lassolas".

After this remarkable event the Movement and it's followers kept below the radar but Rael wrote a book , modestly entitled , "The True Face of God," explaining how he was taken to the planet of the Elohim in a flying saucer in 1975, where he was introduced to noted earthlings such as Jesus, Buddha, Joseph Smith and Confucius. The Elohim, small human-shaped beings with pale green skin and almond eyes, were apparently the original inspiration for the Judeo-Christian God. They informed Vorilhon that he was the final prophet -- sent to relay a message of peace and sensual meditation to humankind under his new name of Rael -- before the Elohim would return to Jerusalem in 2025.

After a fair time on the free love, sex is good circuit (See Salon article in 2000 "Rael Love") this family circus burst into prominence in 2002 when they announced production the world's first cloned human.

The baby, nicknamed "Eve," was due to arrive in the US under the auspices of a glamorous and leggy blonde who clamed to be a biochemist , Brigitte Boisselier, CEO of Clonaid, the cloning company the Raelians had formed.

Regrettably Clonaid spokeswoman , gorgeous, pouting, ruby lipped, full bosomed, Nadine Gary couldn't / wouldn't say where in the United States the mother is from, where the child was born or what U.S. city they would be arriving in... and that was the end of news about the "healthy 7-pound girl was delivered by Caesarean section Thursday and is an exact genetic copy of her mother".

Which is just as well because a po-faced official from U.S. Food and Drug Administration , which regulates human experiments, says its regulations forbid human cloning without prior agency permission and wanted to know more.

Officially a cult in France the Raelians have an entry in the Japanese Wikipaedia where they claim to be active and this bill board in Nagoya suggest some lively activity. (Pic click of "Love Hug in in Seoul to enlarge )

Adopt a clitoris and help to make history

Now the Raelians have hit on a new bandwagon / gravy train and set up Clitoraid and like any stumbling , fumbling teenager they have discovered the clitoris and all the bits that go with it.

Rael is outraged by clitoridectomy or as it described in ladies journals "genital mutiliation" in which part of a girl's genitalia is sliced away.


Rael wants your money to build a "pleasure" hospital on a piece of land they have bought in a suburb of Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso's second-largest city. Women would be treated exclusively to have their clitorises "reconstructed." explains Lara Terstenjak, a spokeswoman for Clitoraid.

Marci Bowers, who runs a thriving sex-change clinic in Trinidad, Colorado, and has been called the "rock star" of transgender surgery who will re-instate what is often the crude surgery of witch doctors and the application herbs has been roped in as chief surgeon.

So far they have been able to apply the pleasure principle to 6 Raelians.Their website will provide lots more information. Adopt a Clitoris -PayPal accepted.

See UNICEF for more and better information about this wretched practice or The Female Genital Cutting Education and Networking Project

There are between eight and ten million women and girls in the Middle East and in Africa who are at risk of undergoing one form or another of genital cutting. In the United States it is estimated that about ten thousand girls are at risk of this practice. FGC in a variety of its forms is routinely practiced in Middle Eastern countries (the two Yemens, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Southern Algeria). In Africa it is practiced in the majority of the continent including Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Upper Volta, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mozambique, and Sudan.

..and that is not a funny business... and we won't even mention male genital utilation which is called circumcision, has no medical benefit and is purely a religious / cultural ritual which is simply a sexual assault on children.

Only last week it was reported 3 Million Women Circumcised Annually - UNFPA Protests
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) last week made a stong call to government to end female genital mutilation (cutting), a practise which causes an irreparable, irreversible damage to women. Read more >>

Turkish forces, Bomb, shell and invade Iraq - 10,000 plus troops on the move

News has just started to hit the wires that Turkey has invaded northern Iraq, at 7 pm last night chasing down Kurdish PKKof 10,000 plus troops followed a barrage of attacks by Turkish warplanes and heavy artillery. (Pics today from NTV)

In Baghdad, the foreign ministry said it was unaware of any invasion, but Ankara said its troops in its surprise attack were supported by fighter jets, and would leave Iraq when their objectives were achieved.

Private NTV television reported 10,000 troops were involved and said they had pushed about six miles into Iraqi territory and were anxious to make a major and surprise blow before the snow melts and the guerillas mount a spring advance into Turkey to attack Turkish troops. .

The United States described the invasion as "not the greatest news." "A land operation is a whole new level," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza told reporters in Brussels.
The Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, has bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, from where it has launched a series of attacks inside Turkey in pursuit of a Kurdish homeland. Turkey has regularly mounted aerial attacks and small-scale commando raids on PKK positions in Iraq. This however is the first time it has sent a significant force into Iraq.

The PKK is outlawed in Iraq, and is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

This invasion was predicted in Canadian Spectator in 2003 before the illegal invasion. It just took a bit longer than expected. Pic Abdullah Ocalan PKK leader see Kurdish Information Network

The White House said the United States had been informed in advance of the incursion and urged Turkey to limit the operation to "precise targeting" of the PKK rebels hiding there. It is however not clear what, if any, role the United States played in the invasion. The European Union also urged Ankara to keep the campaign limited.

"We understand the concerns of Turkey ... but we think this action is not the best response," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told a news conference in Slovenia.

Hoshiyar Zebari Iraq's foreign minister said . "There has not been any major incursion or land invasion ... What is going on is around a few hundred Turkish forces have crossed the border looking for the PKK or their bases,"

A senior military officer with U.S.-led coalition forces based in Baghdad made a similiar comment about the force size.

Earlier, Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, director of MNF-I's Communication Division for Operation Iraqi Freedom , said the operation was understood to be of "limited duration" and aimed solely at PKK fighters in the area.

Turkey has of course made Dubya happy by recognising his gangster outpost in Kosovo as were fellow members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Albania and Afghanistan.

UPDATE : 13.30 EST
Moon of Alabama

Largest Minority Today Turkey Shells Kurdish Iraq: A Sign of Declining US Power? September article Is Israel Secretly Training Kurds in Iraq?

BBC Online September Israelis 'train Kurdish forces'

Fresh Bilge today- who makes the excellent point "Maybe things would be different, if Turkey hadn’t messed with the US by refusing access to Iraq at the last minute."

Rob Hyndman wonders ..."whether Turkey has invaded Iraq only ostensibly to suppress PKK activity, and is actually motivated by fear that the Kosovar independence declaration will fuel Kurdish appetite for, and the legitimacy of, an independent state in Northern Iraq."

NYT Turkish Military Tells of Incursion Into Iraq

Boeing 787 plans for Dash 3 and Dash 10 variants overweight and delayed and Japanese (back at Changi) look at Airbus 350XWB at Singapore Airshow

Boeing initialy planned to produce 3 versions of the Dreamliner the 787-8(60 metres wspan 15,200) and a stretched 787-9 (63 metres wspan 15,750Km) (currently a total of 824 orders ) and the 787-3 (59 metres wspan 5,650Km) ere wingspan range which is a shorthaul version due for service in 2010 and for which Japan Airlines Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd. have ordered 43 planes.

Now Boeing Co. has suspended some work on the 787-3 and some employees have been shifted to other tasks, "including work on improving the 787-8 and meeting nearer-term schedule requirements, on the twice-delayed 787 Dreamliner

Lori Gunter says Boeing but remains "absolutely committed" to producing the 787-3 model for the Japanese airlines that have ordered them and said Boeing is focused now on getting the first 787-8 to fly, and said it's too early to talk about the very stretched 787-10 being stalled.
Randy Tinseth, Boeing's chief marketing officer, told Bloomberg News on Monday "The 787-3 today is still part of our plan for the program and still being offered." and “We have a commitment to ANA and JAL to build that airplane.”

The Flightblogger.com who is reporting to Lord Patel from the Singapore Airshow said that the scuttlebutt was that Boeing was considering suspending the short-haul version in a move that might be a precursor to cancelling it.

The Seattle Times spoke to Stephen Udvar-Hazy who said the short-range variant of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, the 787-3, is too heavy to make sense in any market outside Japan and in conversation with Jon Ostrower Hazy also discussed "weight creep" on the current 787 models.(which the alert bankers prattled on about inthe early December Carson/Shanahan raodshow=webcast).

Hazy insists the initial Dreamliner models are overweight, causing Boeing to trim their range capabilities.(Louis Gunter confirmed that Boeing cut its range forecast for the initial Dreamliners about a year ago because of increased weight). Hazy said flight tests beginning this summer should reveal the extent to which Boeing can cut out some of the excess weight.

In the meantime, Hazy said, Boeing's development of the next major Dreamliner derivative — the bigger 787-10 planned with 300 seats — has slowed down because the extra weight on the base airplane means the bigger derivative will need engines with more thrust than originally planned, as well as stronger landing gear.Tuesday. He said flight tests beginning this summer should reveal the extent to which Boeing can cut out some of the excess weight. March 28, 2006 Boeing to "supersize" 787 "Dreamliner"

Steven Udvar-Hazy told ATWOnline on the sidelines of the ALTA Airline Leaders Forum in Cancun on November 8th that the 787-9 is around 14,000 lb. over budget on its operating empty weight. In addition to the challenge this presents for the -9, it creates a problem for the proposed 787-10 because the additional weight on the already heavier platform could mean a heavier landing gear as well as higher-thrust engines, changes that would cause it to lose a lot of commonality with the smaller -8 and -9 variants, he said.

JAL are quoted saying - “We have been informed that there is a possibility of a delay to the 787-3, ...and we have not received a new delivery schedule since the delays to the programme were announced. Obviously the 787-3 is important to our plans. It has a shorter wingspan, which is important at key airports in Japan.” (Apparently Japanese are smaller - or at least their airports are)

Reuters report that 2 company sources say Japan Airlines Corp is looking at buying some Airbus' mid-sized A350 XWB (extra wide body) planes after production delays for Boeing Co's 787 planes But then as lead buyer there must be some hard bargaining going on for compensation for the delays or even cancellation of the 787-3.

JAL is overhauling its fleet to cope with skyrocketing fuel costs. Just this week it said it planned to raise its fuel surcharge on international routes.'Fuel efficiency is a crucial factor for all aircraft, and that is one of the reasons why we chose (the) 787,' JAL spokesman Stephen Pearlman said.

Japanese heavy industrial firms (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries) are contributing 35% of the construction of the Dreamliner and 70% at least of the carbon Toray Industries Inc*** (April 2006) announced orders from Boeing for PAN carbon Fibre worth US$3 Bn.billion for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner passenger jet. Toray now hold about 32% of global supply which they want to boost to 39% by 2010 to 13,900 tons per annum and to 24,000 tons by 2010.)

We have probably seen the last of the 20% fuel savings claims as well..... and the -3 and -10 variants look way, way down the track ... and the whole Dreamliner project looking very flaky as the compensation claims start mounting.

*** 20th Feb 2008 Toray Industries, Inc. announced that it will expand its capacity to produce the PAN-based carbon fiber TORAYCA*. The company will add to its Ehime Plant an additional carbonization facility for special thin carbon fibers for industrial use having an annual production capacity of 1,000 tons. This new facility is scheduled to begin operation in July 2009. The company’s recently adopted capacity-expansion plan involves a total investment of approximately ¥16 billion (US$1.5Bn.)

The worldwide demand in 2007 for PAN-based carbon fibers is estimated to have been about 35,000 tons, and the demand is expected to expand at an annual rate of 15% or more in the years ahead and to reach close to 53,000 tons per annum in 2010 by which time Toray will be producing 25,000 tons.

Pic Airbus Sigapore Airshow Brochure

Giving it all away .....

Facebook's Terms of Use state:

"by posting Member Content to any part of the Web site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, reformat, translate, excerpt and distribute such information and content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorpoate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorise sublicenses of the foregoing."

Facebook's privacy policy:

"Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (eg. photo tags) in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalised experience. By using Facebook, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States."

There are some bad minded / stupid / conspiracy theorists / gooks / geeks who say the CIA is behind Face Book. What Nonsense IAO ? Bollocks! IAO ? again ? BOllocks

I've done all I can,
now it's out of my hands
stand on my head
and say oh,
I was just a boy
giving it all away... Leo Sayer / D.Courtney

Frozen chips - data remanence - hackers and zeroising to meet FIPS 140-2 and soon 14-3 is your data REALLY secure ?? Be scared, be really scared !!!!

Shredding Your Garbage: Reducing Data Lifetime Through Secure Deallocation Jim Chow, Ben Pfaff, Tal Garfinkel, Mendel Rosenblum (14th USENIX Security Symposium Aug 2005) paper at Stanford University Department of Computer Science

Is an obscure paper that was a response to knowledge that "sensitive data is often scattered widely through user and kernel memory and left there for indefinite periods " .. what is called persistence in memory and how this can be exploited - One recent study of security bugs in Linux and OpenBSD discovered 35 bugs that can be used by unprivileged applications to read sensitive data from kernel memory. (see also Data remanence Wikipedia)

Anyway this paper was enough to prompt the assorted academics, hackers, gooks, geeks and general ne'er do wells at the Centre for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University( website ) to look at the way , DRAMs can (and do, contrary to popular belief) retain their contents for seconds to minutes after power is lost, even at operating temperatures and even if removed from a motherboard.

DRAMs are not automatically or immediately erased and the Princeton Posse realised their contents persist sufficiently for " malicious (or forensic) acquisition of usable full-system memory images."

You can read a handy introduction about how they researched this topic here

New Research Result: Cold Boot Attacks on Disk Encryption by Ed Felton + their full Research paper here (NB Researcher Joseph P Calandrino was under appointment to the Department of Homeland Security(DHS) Scholarship and Fellowship Program under DOE contract number DE-AC05-06OR23100.) Hmmmmm.

Their technique (Cold booting) was fffffrighteningly quick'n'easy ... they simply ffffroze the DRAM's (see pic) that contained master decryption keys for disk encrytpion systems by using cans of dust remover upside down yielding temperatures of -50 °C (about the outside temperature in Buffalo today) and even liquid nitrogen (-196 °C) they hold their state for hours at least, without any power.

They show (and have explanatory videos / pics ) how power can be cut to the computer, then power it back up and boot a malicious operating system (from, say, a thumb drive) that copies the contents of memory. Having done that, the attacker can search through the captured memory contents, find any crypto keys that might be there, and use them to start decrypting hard disk contents. Their reserach paper also has very effective search algorithms for finding and extracting keys from memory, even if the contents of memory have faded somewhat (i.e., even if some bits of memory were flipped during the power-off interval).

They also found it possible to chill the DRAM chips before cutting power and in discussion Ed Felten says .."An attacker could still remove the DRAM and transplant it into another computer that has a friendlier BIOS." Not with the Starbuck's brigade of keyboard monkeys however. Apples new stylish paperweight MacAir’s 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM is soldered directly onto the motherboard. (deliberately to overcome this ?)

What must unnerve the computer / software vendors is the ability the Princeton Posse could demonstrate to defeat three popular disk encryption products: BitLocker, which comes with Windows "What a shitlolad of trouble thisis " Vista ( both use the federal government’s certified Advanced Encryption System algorithm to scramble data as it is read from and written to a computer hard disk see below re FIPS 140-2) ; FileVault, which comes with overpriced and Macs loaded with MacOS X; and dm-crypt, a favourite of the deranged people who use Linux.

Now that they have found this , you might like to go back in time here consider what Peter Gutman published long ago in 1996 for the Sixth USENIX Security Symposium Proceedings, San Jose, California "Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory" ...

He identified the problem ,"Contrary to conventional wisdom, "volatile" semiconductor memory does not entirely lose its contents when power is removed. Both static (SRAM) and dynamic (DRAM) memory retains some information on the data stored in it while power was still applied. " and that" (a) destructive method to speed up the annihilation of stored bits in semiconductor memory is to heat it" and conversely " to extend the life of stored bits with the power removed, the temperature should be dropped below -60°C. Such cooling should lead to weeks, instead of hours or days, of data retention."

Also this weakness has been identified more recently - Matthew G. Lamb Wed Oct 29 2003 quotes Tim Murray

"Note that the sufficiently well funded can play analagous games with semiconductor memory; if you store data in RAM for a long time there are ways of analyzing the chips to deduce a lot of it too. .... Note, too, that getting the RAM very cold (e.g., a liquid nitrogen bath) quickly after shutdown should allow it to keep its state for quite some time after the power button goes off(certainly long enough to get it to the lab.... this is a good point for people who use encrypted file systems.... Likely, the key will be stored in memory,probably in the same location, for quite some time."

So what they have discovered is...well, not that new, nor is it insurmountable and has been catered for in the latest federal ( Toni Fabulosos moles tell us that UK SIS / GCHQ use these ) cryptographic standards.

A standard for all security system is "Zeroisation" (Wikipedia) which requires the resetting or zeroising or erasing sensitive parameters (especially keys) from a cryptographic module to prevent their disclosure if the equipment is captured.

Standards for zeroisation (plus a lot more) are specified in ANSI X9.17 and (in North America) Federal Information Processing Standard FIPS 140-2.Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules which is issued by National Institute of Standards and Technology in conjunction with Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) more details here its successor standard FIPS 140-3 is under Development

Bruce Schneier exposed this weakness in his book ; ‘Secrets And Lies : Digital Security In A Networked World’ and fairly low cost utilities are available for commercial use to overwrite RAM contents on power off (useful info here about Windows weaknesses - YOUR WINDOWS® OPEN )***. This does not provide protection against stealing the RAM chips from the powered up machines of course - except for the MacAir .

*** Highly recommended brief , simple, clear intro.

OfGEM - a case for a clean sweep, bag and baggage, Chairman and Directors....

Centrica announced profits today of £1.95Bn up 40% from £1.39 Bn. on revenues slightly down to £16.3Bn. With a rise in the divvy up from 11.5 p to 13p produces a yield of 4.4% which can hardly be considered extortion or usury.

The British Gas Residential part of the business , which supplies gas and electricity to households, made an operating profit of £571m last year, up from £95m in 2006, with £533m of the earnings coming in the first half. By the end of the year the division was making a loss, but last month’s price increaseshould restore profitability.


Ofgem begins energy market probe (BBC )

Faced with this apparent excessive increase in profits the comatose energy regulator, Ofgem, has immediately launched an investigation into the electricity and gas markets for households and small businesses.

The Energy Retail Association, argues that Britain has "the most competitive energy market in Europe". Gypsy Petulengro tells us this is / will be a complete waste of time, energy, effortand money. If OfGEM don't understand by now how the energy market works it is not doing it's job, it needs no enquiry it needs to get off its corporate fat arse and actually chase the energy companies around ... which we have said before...

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 There is something very badly wrong at OfGEM... The UK consumer is being suckered and they stand by and do nothing but bleat.

We will leave you with an interesting observation on the languid Sir John Mogg (65 this year) the 3 day a week (100K a year) Chairman of OfGEM since may 2003 who spends much of his time in his beautiful £2Mn. gracious Edwardian detached house overlooking magnificent East Park in sunny Brighton - although he supports Aston Villa from the town of his birth.

Sir John was Director General of the Internal Market and Services Directorate General (DG MARKT) is one of 37 Directorates General and specialised services which make up the European Commission. Its main role is to said to be to coordinate the Commission’s policy on the European Single Market, which aims to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the Union.European Commission Director of Internal Markets .

For running this Sir John collected £150,000 per annum , plus all sorts of perks. Come the enlargement of the EC and the re-shuffling of jobs and sharing out the spoils with a mixed crew of Estonians and eastern riff-raff Sir John had to be moved on, but he decided to take the "Article 50"option , a little known but very benficial exercise in EC pork barreling when he left in 2003.

He retired, and receives the same inflation proofed salary / perks etc., for 5 years or until retirement age whichever is longer. He is also Chairman of the European Regulators Group for Electricity and Gas (ERGEG), in December 2005. He is also the President of the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER). .. which no doubt helps to keep the dosh rolling in.

One doesn't imagine he and the delightful Lady Mogg have much concern about settling the gas bills, nor their friends the Charles Powell's or the Christopher Meyer's. The mandarin should be sacked forthwith - he has plenty to live on and there are plenty more people who could actually DO something.

The Boy David Miliband tells a small Truth to conceal even greater fucking big lies. We have been here before

Magna Carta says .. "No man shall be ... exiled … but by lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land" not forgetting The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 states in Article 13(2) that "Everyone has the right to leave any country including his own and to return to his country". The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 states in Article 12(4) that "No-one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country", a Covenant ratified by the UK in 1976.

Diego Garcia is the largest of the Chagos Islands and had been effectively exchanged (what we lawyers call "sold") to the US for an Air Base by Labour Peer Lord Chalfont and (now Lord) then PM Jim Callaghan who was a bit behind on the HP for the "Chevalining" or secret upgrading of the Polaris Missiles - which he forgot to tell his Party members about at the time.

The islanders were shipped off to Mauritius, money that went to the Mauritius Government as a sort of blood money never reached them and so they were consigned to poverty. Overall there are 2000 of them and 200 live in the UK after a change in the law by Jack Straw over their status.

For more fucking lies and the tale of deceit about Diego Garcia, the Chagossians, prisons and rendition ...

Wednesday, July 11, 2007 UK Government are fucking lying again about CIA rendition, the Chagossians and Diego Garcia
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Chagos Islanders give the fucking lying bitch at the The Foreign Office a Bloody Nose
Thursday, May 11, 2006 Chagos Islanders have outstanding win against the UK Government.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005 Lady Amos Fast risen Blair "babe" at Straw's FO ....

"Lady Amos is remembered of course, scuttling around UN member states in Africa to try and drum up votes for a 2nd Security Counci resolution to make the forthcoming invasiaon of Iraq legal. Also Leader of Privy Council where she oversaw the House of Lords ruling about the rights of the Chagos Islanders to live on Diego Garcia. Curiously reluctant to answer questions about US "rendition" Gulags on DG.

Miliband admits the lyng in House of Commons this afternoon

Foreign Secretary the Boy David Miliband now admits the Government have successively lied and proffers Condileezza Rice's "deep regret" for having lied about rendition flights to Diego Garcia. Repeatedly and ad nauseam Government Ministers have said there is "no evidence" and few have believed them.

Even now they lie in their teeth claiming 2 planes stopped over each plane carried a single terror suspect and neither of the men had been tortured, the CIA said. The UK now accepts on the basis of what the damn Yanquis now say and for the first time that US planes on "extraordinary rendition" flights stopped on British soil twice.

Jack Straw, speaking in Brussels, and the Prime Minister are quoted as saying they are "disappointed".

Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star US general who is a professor of international security studies at the West Point military academy spilt the beans however - in May 2004 he said: "We're probably holding around 3,000 people, you know, Bagram air field, Diego Garcia, Guantánamo, 16 camps throughout Iraq." In December last year he repeated the claim: "They're behind bars...we've got them on Diego Garcia, in Bagram air field, in Guantánamo." has twice spoken publicly about the use of Diego Garcia as a detention centre for suspects.

In May 2004, he said: "We're probably holding around 3,000 people, you know, Bagram airfield, Diego Garcia, Guantánamo, 16 camps throughout Iraq." In December last year he repeated the claim.

The registration number of a Gulfstream executive jet has been linked to several CIA prisoner operations that flew from Washington to Diego Garcia, via Athens, on September 11 2002, soon after the capture of Ramzi Binalshibh, a suspected planner of the September 11 attacks.


Why have they now admitted lying ?

It has absolutely nothing to do with this surely ? Freedom Of Information: Government blocks access to secret military papers on Diego Garcia Robert Verkaik, Law Editor Independent Feb 1st 2008

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition (chairman, Andrew Tyrie Conservative MP) used powers under the Freedom of Information Act to request minutes of US/UK political military talks held in a Washington in September last year.

The Government has refused the request to release the papers claiming it "would prejudice the defence" of territory by "exposing plans to counter possible terrorist attacks". They also say it could damage diplomatic relations between Britain and America.

"There have been repeated allegations that the US has used the British territory of Diego Garcia in its rendition programme. Yet the Government has done next to nothing to investigate them, and continues to rely on US assurances which have been called into question by the Intelligence and Security Committee." says Tyrie.

He points out that UK human rights charity Reprieve has uncovered credible evidence , published in a repor last year which says that Diego Garcia has been the subject of repeated, credible and concurrent claims that the island has played a major role in the US system of renditions and secret detention.

Reprieve submits that the UK's failure to conduct a prompt, independent and effective inquiry into these claims is a further clear breach of its duties under international and domestic law. A claim backed up by Clive Stafford Smith, Director of Reprieve who represents many Guantanamo prisoners.

He has previously said when Barry Mccaffrey made his statements about DG ..."Clive Stafford Smith, Repreive's legal director, said he was "absolutely and categorically certain" that prisoners have been held on the island. "If the foreign affairs committee approaches this thoroughly, they will get to the bottom of it," he said.

The Government have form for this behaviour of course

Thursday, March 09, 2006 Adam Ingram admits CIA flights via RAF Northolt ......

In an identical case Adam Ingram was forced to make a mealy mouthed confession in a letter to Menzies Campbell that disclosed details of CIA flights through Northolt.

This information was only provided when he was threatened with being reported to the parliamentary ombudsman if he continued to refuse to answer detailed questions about flights suspected of being used for "extraordinary rendition".

The shifty Scot has reluctantly disclosed that two aircraft known to have been chartered by the CIA landed 14 times at RAF Northholt, west London, and RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire between October 2003 and May 2004.

Mr Ingram did not say the aircraft were used by the CIA, he insists his disclosure was not "at odds with the foreign secretary's statements on the subject".

Jack Straw has said that the government is "unaware" of any CIA flights landing in Britain or using UK airspace since 1998 and transporting terrorist suspects. ( an unawareness, or convenient amnesia, that extends to other colleagues on matters of public interest such as the saintly Tessa). Read on ....

So they make a worthless partial fudgy statement that maybe ,yes ,well some planes did land ... so, no need for one of those terrible enquiries where people ask questions and want answers...

Judging by what Mr Hague said on behalf of the Conservative Party on the BBC 4 PM news you can't expect them to be jumpng up and down demanding an enquiry either.

Swan Song for NATO - The Real Cost Of Defeat In Forgettistan

This article by Mike Whitney is reproduced it it's entirety it provides the most powerful and telling argument for UK withdrawal without delay.

"It is our right to defend our country. We are not a threat to other countries. But we have to use our rights when our country is occupied by foreign forces." - Mullah Omar, Taliban leader

It was supposed to be "the good war"; a war against terror; a war of liberation. It was intended to fix the eyes of the world on America's state of the art weaponry, its crack troops and its overwhelming firepower. It was supposed to demonstrate once and for all-- that the world's only superpower could no longer be beaten or resisted; that Washington could deploy its troops anywhere in the world and crush its adversaries at will.

Then everything went sideways. The war veered from the Pentagon's script. The Taliban retreated, waited, regrouped and retaliated. They enlisted support from the Pashtuns and the tribal leaders who could see that America would never honor its commitments; that order would never be restored. Operation Enduring Freedom has brought neither peace nor prosperity to Afghanistan; just occupation. Seven years have passed and the country is still ruled by warlords and drug- merchants. Nothing has gotten better. The country is in shambles and the government is a fraud. The humiliation of foreign occupation persists while the killing goes on with no end in sight.

War is not foreign policy. It is slaughter. Seven years later; it's still slaughter. The Taliban have taken over more than half of Afghanistan. They have conducted military operations in the capital of Kabul. They're dug in at Logar, Wardak and Ghazni and control vast swathes of territory in Zabul, Helmand, Urzgan and Kandahar. Now they are getting ready to step-up operations and mount a Spring offensive. That means the hostilities will progressively intensify.

The Taliban's approach is methodical and deliberate. They've shown they can survive the harshest conditions and still achieve tactical victories over a better-equipped enemy. They are highly-motivated and believe their cause is just. After all, they're not fighting to occupy a foreign nation; they're fighting to defend their own country. That strengthens their resolve and keeps morale high. When NATO and American troops leave Afghanistan; the Taliban will remain, just as they did when the Russians left 20 years ago. No difference. The US occupation will just be another grim footnote in the country's tragic history.

The United States has gained nothing from its invasion of Afghanistan. US troops do not control even a square inch of Afghan soil. The moment a soldier lifts his boot-heel; that ground is returned to the native people. That won't change either. General Dan McNeill said recently that "if proper US military counterinsurgency doctrine were followed; the US would need 400,000 troops to defeat Pashtun tribal resistance in Afghanistan." Currently, the US and NATO have only 66,000 troops on the ground and the allies are refusing to send more. On a purely logistical level; victory is impossible.

The battle for hearts and minds has been lost, too. A statement from the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) sums it up like this:

"The reinstatement of the Northern Alliance to power crushed the hopes of our people for freedom and prosperity and proved that, for the Bush administration, defeating terrorism has no meaning at all....The US doesnt want to defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, because then they will have no excuse to stay in Afghanistan and achieve their economic and strategic goals in the region....After seven years, there is no peace, human rights, democracy or reconstruction in Afghanistan. The destitution and suffering of our people is increasing everyday. ...We believe that if the troops leave Afghanistan, our people will become more free and come out of their current puzzlement and doubts...Afghanistans freedom can only be achieved by Afghan people themselves. Relying on one enemy to defeat another is a wrong policy which has just tightened the grip of the Northern Alliance and their masters on the neck of our nation." (RAWA www.rawa.org)

Gradually, the Allies are beginning to see that Bush's war cannot be won and that continuing the fighting is counterproductive. There is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and the political objectives are getting murkier all the time. The lack of direction just adds to the growing frustration.

Recently Secretary of Defence Robert Gates tried to bully the allies into sending more combat troops to fight in the South, but he met with stiff resistance . He said:

"I am concerned that many people on this continent may not comprehend the magnitude of the direct threat to European security," Gates said. "We must not become a two-tiered alliance of those who are willing to fight and those who are not. Such a development, with all its implications for collective security, would in effect destroy the alliance."

But public support for the war is waning in Europe. This is America's war, not theirs. Europeans don't need to occupy foreign nations to meet their energy needs. Their economies are thriving and they can simply pay for their fuel on the open market. Only America wants the war. It's all part of a crazy geopolitical "grand strategy" to project US power into the region to control its resources. So far, there's no indication that the plan will succeed.

Germany has the third biggest economy in the world. Over the last few years, they have strengthened ties with Russia and made agreements that will satisfy their long-term energy needs. But German involvement in Afghanistan has put a strain on relations with Moscow. Putin thinks that the US is using the war to put down roots in Central Asia so it can control pipeline-routes from the Caspian Basin while surrounding Russia and China with military bases. Putin is right. Naturally, he'd like to persuade German Chancellor Angela Merkel to withdraw from Afghanistan which would strike a blow against the US-led alliance. And, that is the way it will probably turn out, too.

Eventually, German leaders will see that its foolish to tweak the nose of the people who provide them with energy (Russia) just to support Washington's adventures. When Germany withdraws from Afghanistan; NATO will disband, new coalitions will form, and the transatlantic alliance fall apart. The cracks are already visible.

President Bush has said that the war in Afghanistan must continue or the country will become a haven for drugs, terrorism and organized crime. He says we are fighting a "poisonous ideology of Islamic extremism which threatens to become a global movement".

But the Taliban and Pashtun tribesmen see it differently. They see the conflict as an imperial war of aggression which has only added to the suffering of their people. A recent report by the United Nations Human Development Fund appears to support this view. It shows that Afghanistan has fallen in every category. The average life expectancy has gone down, malnutrition has risen, literacy has dropped, and more than half the population is living below the poverty-line. Hundreds of thousands of people have been internally displaced by the war. The occupation has created plenty of misery, but no democracy. The war was a failure.

Afghanistan now produces 90% of the world's opium; more than any other country. The booming drug trade is the direct corollary of the US invasion. No one even denies this. Bush has created the world's largest narco-colony. Is that success?

Presently, there are no plans to improve the lives of ordinary Afghanis or to remove the warlords. Reconstruction is at a standstill. If the US stays in Afghanistan, the situation 10 years from now will be the same as it is today, only more people will have needlessly died. Most Afghanis now understand that the promise of democracy was a lie. The only thing the occupation has brought is more grinding poverty and random violence.

There's no back-up plan for Afghanistan. In fact, there is no plan at all. The administration thought the Taliban would see America's high- tech, laser-guided weaponry and run for the hills. They did. Now they're back. And now we are embroiled in an "unwinnable" war with a tenacious enemy that grows stronger and more resolute by the day.

Eventually, the Europeans will see the futility of the war and leave. That will be the end of NATO.


On cue the General speaks

Major General David Rodriguez, head of the US-led coalition force, on a trip to meet officials in the town of Maidan Shahr, west of Kabul today said the US military would stay in the country "as long as they are needed."

In answer to a journalists question about the time neeeded to defeat the Taliban-led insurgency he said "We definitely think it will take a few years for the Afghan people and the Afghan leaders supported by the coalition forces to defeat them,"

Deputy US ambassador Christopher Dell, who accompanied Rodriguez said that Taliban had little support among people.

"They are simply trying to terrorise them to play with fear in order to achieve their objectives".(AFP)

Int. Herald Tribune - Feb 7th Afghan poppy set for another big year, UN report warns

Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime presented a UN report at an international donors conference in Tokyo. In 2007, 477,000 acres, or 193,000 hectares, = 745 sq miles (@ 259 hectares to the sq.mile) were under poppy cultivation, yielding an estimated 9,000 tons of opium. This year it will be larger.

Capitalism (and the mad Zionists) waits in the wings to takeover from Castro Bros.

The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, which aims to profit from the resumption of U.S. trade with Cuba, rose 3.9 % after surging 17 % the day before , the biggest gain in its 13- year history.

Its largest holdings include Jacksonville, Florida-based holding company Florida East Coast Industries Inc. and cruise lines Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Carnival Corp. The Fund’s investment policy is to invest at least 80% of its assets in investments that are economically tied to Caribbean Basin Countries.

The Annual report last year stated ..."We continue to position the Fund’s portfolio in companies we believe will benefit from resumption of trade with Cuba and we have a very good working list of companies we would add to the portfolio once it appears the embargo will be lifted."

Florida East Coast Industries, Inc. 20.54% (real estate)
Seaboard Corporation 10.24%(food processing and ocean transportation)
Consolidated Water Co. 7.51%
Garmin Ltd. 4.49% (GPS receivers based in Cayman islands)
Watsco Incorporated 3.96%
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. 3.52%
Trailer Bridge, Inc. 3.16%
Carnival Corp. 3.11%
Orthofix International N.V. 2.91%
Mexico Fund 2.42%

They also have 10,000 shares in Carlisle ...

There is a curious commercial connection between Cuba and Israel (Israel of course always vote with the US to blockade Cuba at the UN) see here Friday, September 15, 2006 Rafi Eitan - a thoroughly nasty Israeli with very odd Cuban connections ....."There are said to be 1,000 Jews in Cuba, where they have been granted the freedom to worship and receive support from Jews in the United States and Europe. Cuba has five synagogues: three in Havana, one in the central provincial capital of Camaguey and one in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba." ..." on the 22nd June, 2006 with a massive Menorah lit, at a public Chanukah service by Castro and Eitan together and Tel Aviv's Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Israel Lau was present. The Menorah is 2.5 meters (8.1 feet) tall and 2 meters (6.5 feet) wide and is designed by Israeli sculptor Yuri Matzkin, who teaches at the University of Tel Aviv."

Rafael ('Rafi') Eitan is the is the leader of Gil - Gimla'ey Yisrael (pensioners of Israel ) party which unexpectedly won 7 seats in the Israeli 2006 elections. Eitan is minister responsible for old-age pensions. He is also known as "Stinky" in Israel’s intelligence community , (he fell into a sewage ditch when he was in the Palmach, the strike force of Israel’s pre-1948 defense organization).

" .....In 1981, Eitan was named head of the Defense Ministry's Lekem, the Bureau for Scientific Relations, where he continued work on terrorism. He was said to have planned the bombing of the Iraqi Osirak reactor (after the Iranaians with the help of Israel had missed) and also been involved with in earlier years with kidnapping Eichmann in 1960."

Read on about how Eitan's GBM (Grupo BM) which is incorporated in Cuba, (but Eitan represents the company in Israel under the name Reesimex International Trade Limited) which has invested over US$20 Mn in agriculural and real estate investments.

BAE Systems profits look good, Carriers still very much in the air, unlike the "navalised" Typhoon - French JV in the running to use Rafale fighters ?

See Black Knights website

The Indian Airforce have now taken delivery of 2 more Hawk advanced jet trainers at the IAF Bidar base which means they have taken delivery of 6 from their order for 66 aircraft.

42 are being built under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in Bangalore. and a total of 24 Hawks are being built in the UK at BAE Brough - the 22nd of which made its maiden flight this month.

BAE profits growth

BAE Systems PLC reported a 22% rise in annual pretax earnings on a 14% sales growth for last year from £13.7 Bn to £15.7 Bn.

Earnings before interest, tax and amortisation were £1.48 Bn (£ 1.20 Bn.). The company's order book has grown to 38.6 bln from 31.7 bln previously.

The company said it was seeing continued growth from its US businesses, which now account for some 50 pct of group sales, seeing especially strong demand for sophisticated electronic warfare and protection systems.

The acquisition of Armor Holdings has delivered further progress to BAE's wheeled vehicle strategy, with the group saying the Armor acquisition is well on track to deliver its required return on investment.

BAE will also benefit from the proposed acquisitions of MTC Technologies and Tenix Defence. They also have a £5Bn. cash pile to invest (£700Mn cash, term debt of £2.5 BN and £1.5BN erevolving credit) to fund any more acquisitions - probably in North America where they have a greater appetite for making war.

The UK government committed itself to the new Elizebethan Class Carrier programme in July, enabling BAE to enter into a Framework Agreement with VT Group for the creation of a joint venture which would, subject to completion, bring together both firms' surface warship building and surface support operations. BAE wants to conclude the deal as soon as the British government outlines its plans.... which given the strains on national expenditure and the concerns over Rolls Royce involvement with the Joint Strike Fighter power plant may be a very long time... and indeed may not even happen.

"We are ready to complete the JV when we know what the naval programme is going forward. It would not be wise of us to conclude the agreement with VT until we know the shape of the naval programme going forward ***and therefore what value each party brings to the joint venture," said a very prudent Turner, who will soon be retiring.

"Unless more priority is given in the longer-term to defence equipment so the UK can continue to defend its interests and security around the world there will be a reduction in UK defence spending. I don't see the cancellation of programmes but the MoD budget situation is so severe on the equipment side that they are looking at stretching out a number of programmes," said Turner.

Turner sees the global spread of BAE as a bulwark against the MOD's indecision and poverty - Saudi Arabia, South Africa, where the land systems OMC business is busy selling its RG31 and RG32 mine protected vehicles.

The Swedish section is in production of the CV90 infantry fighting vehicle is underway for the Dutch Army. In Australia , BAE is acquiring Tenix Defence, a leading Australian defence contractor.

NB: No mention of the wholesale bribery / corruption to secure business in Saudi Arabia

*** This is very usefully discussed at Wikipedia perhaps the most exciting element is that the carriers as so far planned will be 75,000 tons DW and 284 metres and the biggest dry dock in the UK available is 60,000 tons and the 2 Portsmouth docks are only 250 odd metres long.

The smart money is on a joint French / UK project utilising Rafale (so called omni-role) fighters in a variation of the CATOBAR - A Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery CVF would have catapults and arrestor cables and an angled flight deck using existing naval aircraft, most likely say Lord Patel's spies in the dry dock at Brest the Rafale-M. (Pic below)
...which would of course mean that the "Navalised" Typhoon wouldn't see the light of day, because ;
A. Development of the RAF version is years behind and squillions over budget.
B. There is zero export potential for sales.

Maybe Des "I speak your Weight" Browne wearing his MOD hat yesterday when he met the MOD Top Brass came to decision... but then maybe not.

Oil hits record highs $100 plus - Wheat prices hitting UK retail food prices. Northern Wreck will be the ruin that wrecks Gordy's day

Oil price hits record high in US Press Association

The cost of light, sweet crude reached a record 100.40 in New York .....speculation that OPEC will cut output ... Tuesday saw a 4.5% surge in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), following a 3% rise last week.

Wheat prices start to get a public airing in UK

Anna Hill On BBC Farming Today this morning spoke to a wheat farmer (6 mins into programme) who explained production costs rise, fuel - diesel was 35p a litre to 50 p litre , Fertilisers are £300 a tonne compared with £150 last year .Today it is costing £100 to produce a tonne of wheat.

She points out that world stocks are down from 20 weeks to 9 weeks.

Hugh Wiseman CamGrain farmers co-op (they have deal with Sainsbury's) talks of a crisis in world food supplies. World is short of wheat for humna consumption. Increases in wheat and grain yields seem to have reached a plateua . "We are down to the bare boards". Also referred how CAP reduction to zero for set aside would have to be continued despite concerns of the RSPB. See EU set aside zero subsidy policy produces a rapid response by English farmers.

Richard Clarke News Editor of the Grocer explained how their weekly "100" survey showed food prices across 100 typical food items had risen 8%. This included white bread up 33 % semi skimmed milk 21% and free range eggs 38%. He ascribed this to wheat costs, improved diets in the Far East, biofuels and road fuels, and plastics.

If interested in history See December 23, 2007 Wheat , corn, soya prices at record levels - demand exceeds world supply, fertiliser, farm and fuel costs rise - food costs jump and inflation follows and also September 16, 2007 Australian drought - poor spring rains - higher world wheat prices in prospect - low stocks and heavy demand and even earlier , November 01, 2006 World wheat shortages loom - prices soar - when it was suggested .."Get out the dough bowl and buy some yeast."

Now for the slightly better news. On MGEX Spring Wheat has fallen back from highs last week at US$18.15 a bushel down from US$18.60 and the spot month limit has fallen back to 60 cents and will be removed from Feb 25th.

Compare this with the graph Sunday Feb 18th when we asked ,had wheat reached its top ?

Should you bump into Lord King of the Bank of England & Northern Wreck or any of his double first Economists please pass on the news.

PS : Looks like the House of Lords are going to spend some time looking at the small print of the Granite Contract. See Tuesday, September 25, 2007 (the day the Directors cancelled the Interim divvy ) Northern Rock plc - Down’s Syndrome North East Association (UK) - Granite "securitisation" and the duties of the Directors of Northern Wreck- a puzzle and also Richard Murphy's useful exegisis of Granite.

Airbus A380 cockpit 3D 360 degrees panoramic dynamic view

Click here and pretend you are at the Singapore Airshow and having a 360 degree panoramic view of an Airbus 380 cockpit. Also interior shots, first class cabins, steerage etc here Courtesy and Copright Gilles Vidal for Airbus. Even if not interested in airplanes this is a fascinating bit of 3D visual imagery - very slick and fast.

CNN report (to the delight of Boeing staff here) that Singapore Airlines A380 London flight was withdrawn due to a fuel pump problem - the first operational glitch - a 747-400 replaced the service.

Airbus SAS announced that it has received orders for 310 of its long-range A350 jets which will compete directly with the 787 Dreamliner but will not share their composite monocoque fuselage construction.

How Tony Blair's impatience and a bunch of hopeless amateurs fucked up the installation of IT in the NHS ... for ever.

The NHS IT business stratergery ... Plan A

A Freedom of Information Act request by the indefatigable Tony Collins of Computer Weekly has resulted in the publishing of detailed papers from an NHS IT meeting at Downing Street, on 18 February 2002, was attended by several Cabinet ministers, the Cabinet Secretary, representatives of IT suppliers including Microsoft UK, No. 10 policy advisers and health experts. (see below) (Pic above of confidential internal Cisco plan A - we will do all this and we will do it all in one go - why wait ?,.Cisco make routers and switches )BTW there is no Plan B.

The Department of Health promised systems would provide "seamless" care across the NHS by 2004/05 - less than half of the time now allotted to the scheme. (see below)

Now, it is clear, that Tony Blair regarded even the 2004/05 timescale as too long. Ignorant of what was involved, he asked/demanded repeatedly for it to be shortened. He wanted to be able to boast of visible benefits of NHS modernisation in time for a general election in May 2005.

To no avail , as it is now evident that all the plans discussed (but the meeting was not recorded or minuted - but who wanted to tell the Emporer there was no new suit - or that they couldn't deliver) were unrealistic and hopelessly optimistic delivery and implementation of new national systems will stagger on until at least 2013 - 8 years (Ho.Ho.Ho.) later than the timetable presented to Downing Street.

Cabinet Office solicitors have spent 3 years stonewalling Tony's FOI request because “disclosure of the information may disrupt the proper consideration of NHS IT projects in coming years” and “information as to the format of the meeting demonstrates the way in which the policy relating to NHS IT was developed and approached".

What they reveal (having been released on February 11th the day the Information Tribunal was due to meet to consider a ruling on whether they should be disclosed) is the wholly informal and casual fashion a masive and hugely costly (and at that stage uncosted) IT-based modernisation of the NHS was discussed. No minutes were taken , simply a letter from one official to another which reported some of what was said – there was no independent appraisal of the scheme.

The Department of Health’s briefing paper to Blair gave undertakings about making use in the IT programme of the NHS Modernisation Agency and the NHS University – both of which have since been dissolved.

Who was at the meeting ? - Lord Patel names the Gilty Men (and woman) who casually arranged to piss many, many millions of the taxpayers money up against the wall. For a project it increasingly appears will never, ever see the light of day.

Some of those present at the NPfIT meeting at Downing Street, February 2002:

The gullible elected politicians

The Prime Minister Tony Blair / retired - moved on
Secretary of State for Health, Alan "wifebeater" Milburn / sacked 2003 back bencher ever since to "spend more time with his family".
Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Smith / in office till May 2002 moved to Pensions then in 2004 resigned and like Milburn wanted to send more time with his family)Solid Blairite and ex ST Johns Oxford)

The ennobled and gullible

Cabinet Office Minister, Lord 'Gus' Macdonald / appointed especially to take over responsibility for overseeing how the Government delivers online services, how it awards public sector IT contracts and how new technologies are used within the civil service.Replaced Feb 2003 not been in Government since.
Health Minister, Lord Hunt / now @ Ministry of Justice

The Obedient Servants (mainly Civil)

Ed Richards, Media Policy adviser to No 10, former head of strategy at the BBC, who drew up a key political strategy for Labour’s general election campaign )CEO OFCOM salary £306 K.- It was as a media adviser to No 10 that he helped draft the Communications Act that brought Ofcom into being.
Sir Richard Wilson Cabinet Secretary / still there
Nigel Crisp NHS Chief Executive / Now Baron Crisp KCB sacked - resigned March 2006
Prof Sir John Pattison Department of Health lead director for the NHS IT programme,
Ian Walker, HM Treasury, led the civil service team which supported Sir Derek Wanless (now ex Northern Wreck Director) in his review of the long-term funding of the NHS

The self important leeches in the private office

Prime Minister’s policy adviser on health matters, Paul Corrigan /left May 2005 - author of "Shakespeare on Management"
Cabinet Office E-envoy reporting to the PM, Andrew Pinder / still in same job
Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce, Peter Gershon (HM Treasury announced on 22 July 1999 that the Office of Government Commerce would become the Government's centre of excellence in procurement on 3 April 2000. )

The Americans who were about to clean up on the hi-tech wizardry

Microsoft UK CEO Neil Holloway / Now Vice President Business Strategy for Microsoft International
Public Sector Healthcare, Cisco , Kevin Dean

Some people who had probably wandered in by mistake

Wendy Thomson, Chief Adviser on public service reform / Canadian left May 2005 now at McGill University)
Michael Barber, head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit / Left June 2005 now Sir M Barber Sept 1st 2005 joined McKinsey
Dominic Hardy, Prime Minister’s Policy Unit

SP apart from the Cabinet Secretary and the elusive Dominic Hardy everyone else has moved on... oh! Pinde is still there , fuck knows what e-Envoys do, not a lot it appears,except piss money away ... and this was how you as a patient would find this NHS dream scheme ....

Ho.Ho.Ho.

Yvette Copper lies, King prepared his defence and the exact nature of the assets we now own (especially Granite) are amazingly no clearer

It is impossible to fully grasp the complexities of the legislation for the rushed nationalisation of Northern Wreck (although who would argue with AK see earpiece here) but Famous for 15 Megapixels points us all to the remarks made by the fragrant, elfinesque, and frightfully beautiful Yvette Cooper who regularly exchanges bodily fluids with her well endowed Balls who no doubt populates the intimiacies of the longeurs of post coital triste with wise and witty enecdotes about life in Gordon's Treasury. ... and little good it has done her pretty little head.

Therefore it is worth noting what Hansard records the ignorant haughty bitch saying yesterday....

"Banks stopped lending to each other in the normal way and Northern Rock, owing to its business model, could not get the money that it needed to keep going. The action that we took last autumn was widely supported at the time. The Government stepped in and effectively saved Northern Rock."

Up to a point Lord (Cooper)Copper... the way the shares dropped £1 on the day the NR interims were produced July 26th when the Directors had voted a 33% rise in the divvy, on the back of profits rising less than 1% on nett lending up by 47.3% a suggests that prudent bankers may well have had other and very specific reasons for not lending to Northern Wreck other than "Banks stopp(ing)ed lending to each other in the normal way" - inter bank lending was continuing but at punitive (and temporarily excessively high LIBOR rates).

Northern Wreck had in fact telegraphed their problems well before September 9th when the BOE intervened and had approached Lord King as early as August 11th/12th (BBC Radio 4 Today repeat of File on 4 Interview interview) for the odd £30Bn.well before LIBOR rates had taken off. (BBC4 Today Interview 6th November which you can hear here) which you will find is curiously truncated from the transcript here to make the timetable of events less clear.

SANTS (CEO of FSA) : " ....we immediately identified that there was a potential possible risk here to Northern Rock, and proactively engaged with them as part of our group of firms that we were moving to a crisis management mode."

PESTON: So did you contact them, as it were?

SANTS: We contacted them.
...

KING (BOE) ...bit by bit the funding, the wholesale funding to Northern Rock started to ebb away. [Note it did not STOP]

PESTON: So how much did you estimate at that stage Northern Rock was likely to have to find let’s say by the end of the year, as it were, in terms of the borrowings that they’d made from the money markets that were simply not being replaced?

KING: Well, we thought that it was of the order of about £30 billion was the amount that they would have to find. It became clear quite quickly that the bulk of that funding – say £20 billion to £25 billion or £30 billion would have to come from the Bank of England. So it became clear that Northern Rock required a very very large sum of money.
.....

KING: On the weekend ( 25/26 Aug) before we granted the facility to Northern Rock, I was asked whether, if a certain retail high street bank were to make an offer or a bid for Northern Rock, whether we would be prepared to lend that bank £30 billion at bank rate for about two years. And I think what that did was to demonstrate that our original view, that it was not possible to save Northern Rock without a large injection of money on that scale was clearly right ......

On the other point that Vince Cable raises about Granite - this was addressed by ex Treasury Minister Ken Clarke just as the clock chimed midnight last night and ended discussion in the quaint way these things are done in the Palace of Varieties Westminster. On the Division the Ayes =293 and the Noes and Malcontents = 167 and off it goes to the other place.

This was what the slim, lissom, nubile renaissance woman Yvette Cooper said ...
...and this is what the Cty savvy gent who evidently understands these things said

..and for these members of the opublic who cannot understand how Granite appears on the Balance Sheet as an asset but is a Trust whose beneficiaris the NE Downs Syndrome Group is beyond us ... but I smell a large roomful of lawyers (see Times beloe) getting ready to Hoover up very substabntial sums of dosh over many years, ready to make Jarndyce v Jarndyce look like a Sunday School PicNic. (But see newer post Saturday, February 23, 2008 Granite and the masters of the Master Trusts - exploiting loopholes with the City lawyers )

One wonders what Fitch and Co are doing to put a credit rating on Granite today ? See their report on Covered Bonds yesterday.

Late Breaking News
Public left with only 'rubbish' of Northern debts claims MP Scotsman (Edinburgh Evening News)

"However, during the Commons debate Mr Cable said Treasury Chief Secretary Yvette Cooper appeared not to know what was happening to the bank's best mortgages.He said: "What we are now being told is that in some way this has now been hived off to the benefit of a person or persons unknown, apparently, to the minister."What is going on here appears to be not public ownership of Northern Rock but an asset-stripping operation designed to benefit whoever, we don't know."This is a very serious development."

"A Treasury spokeswoman today said it was "simply wrong" to say that all the high quality mortgages are in Granite. She said: "Northern Rock does not sell all its high quality mortgages to Granite; it retains a substantial volume of high quality mortgages on its own balance sheet.Speaking outside the Commons, Labour's John McDonnell, said he had written to Chancellor Alistair Darling asking for an immediate statement."

See also BBC Online ..."Chancellor Alistair Darling has moved to calm fears about the nationalisation of Northern Rock after it emerged the bank's best assets would stay private.
Mr Darling said taxpayers would not benefit from the nationalisation of a firm holding £45bn of Northern Rock's most profitable mortgages. "

The Times Northern Rock advisers facing fees showdown -" Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Blackstone – are holding out for their full share of £75 million in agreed fees, despite the fact that the Government did not follow their advice to sell the bank. “The reality of it is that they all had letters that had a base amount and a ‘success’ amount,” one source said.
The base amount = £50 million, with £25 million “success” fee."

"The Government is already on the hook to pay a fee of between £15 million and £20 million to its own advisers, Goldman Sachs and the legal firm Slaughter and May." ..."The Treasury has also agreed to pay £5 million to each bidding team to cover the costs of their banking advisers, lawyers and accountants."

If you understand who own Granite, NEDSA, the BOE/taxpayers/ or someone else .. please let us know.

UPDATE : 23rd September If arrived from links elsewhere please also go to see newer post Saturday, February 23, 2008 Granite and the masters of the Master Trusts - exploiting loopholes with the City lawyers )

Save Bedford Hospital and the estimable Dr Barry Monk

"Save Bedford Hospital" is the website of the Save Bedford Hospital party, a political party registered with the Electoral Commission which will be fielding Dr Barry Monk, Consultant Dermatologist as their parliamentary candidate .

A well informed, incisive, media savvy scribe and plainly pain in the arse of the Bedford medical establishment . Barry provides evidence that there are sound scientifically minded, intelligent, rational people in the NHS who will raise their heads above the parapet.

Recommended ;
3rd February 2008

The fascinating contacts between Alan Johnson MP , the Health Secretary, and one time wannabe Deputy Leader of Nu Labour and Dr Reg Race who with his wife Amanda Moore runs Quality Health - this family business is one of a select group of “approved contractors” that health trusts must hire to conduct staff and patient surveys and which has contracts with 320 of the 487 NHS trusts to conduct annual surveys introduced by Labour ministers in 2003.

They met on November 13th to chat about the weather, Reg's contracts and possibly the £5,000 Reg (or more correctly Quality Health) he gave to Alan for his failed deputy leadership campaign.

Not for those with an anxious disposition Dec 22nd 2007

Statistics - how the NHS is having problems (and will continue to have) struggling to cope with winter / epidemic events.

And so to bed

HOSPITAL ALERTS
Amber alert: Early warning of pressure increase in the normal activity.
Red alert: Escalating pressure in one or more part of the system continuing to increase.
Black alert: Contingency measures are exhausted and pressures are not sustainable.

Check when you get rushed in this winter - the colours used to code the alert state have a certain mordant quality.

A patient's view
Getting personal
Public opinion

Where's Patricia Hewitt ? 16th September 2007

A very odd tale about the ousting of Peter Reading, chief executive of the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, (salary £180K p.a.) is said to be on "unavoidable annual leave" and the trust ..." did not know when he was due to return."

It appears that The Department of Health asked the Strategic Health Authority to carry out a review into what went wrong with the Pathway project, a PFI scheme to transform the three Leicester hospital sites. (Last cost estimate £921 Mn. up from £711 Mn) Zuffar Haq, chairman of Leicester Patients' Group said that "I am very concerned that Mr Reading will be made a political scapegoat"

Anyway they succeeded in making him a ascapegoat and his retirement was announced on 21st September in such a hurry that "Pauline Tagg, our Chief Nurse, agreed to become acting Chief Executive for a limited period" ...

Now the good people of Leicester where Lord Patel spent many happy years looking down a microscope are currently blessed with an Interim Chief Executive Derek Smith former Chief Executive of Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust (For which he will receive £1,500 per day (Personneltoday.com) which is probably slightly more than Pauline Tagg collected doing the same job)

To be followed in May 2008 by Malcolm Lowe-Lauri, the Chief Executive of King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust who will be Leicester’s new Chief Executive. "“Malcolm has led both King’s College Hospital and before that Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals" says the hospitals website biography of this youthful wunderkind.

These NHS Chief Executives seem to collect Chief Executives jobs like some people collect stamps and roam the hinterlands of the service as wildebeest roam the veldt. Interesting that a new member has joined the Board - a Mrs Christine Emmett In addition to a whole roster of fascinating public jobs , she was ...er.... a non-executive director at Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Anyway a site that is well worth a root if you are concerned about the black hole that is the NHS ... and if you live in the Bedford area well worth taking the opportunity to go to one of his public meetings, and come the election, put your shoulder to the wheel.

He also mentions the resurgence of syphilis (which comes within his speciality) a nasty, but asurprisingly easily treated problem with modern antibiotics, which has also arrived in the neonatal wards of Rochdale.

Links to other vibrant medical websites documenting the meltdown of what the damn Yanquis call socialised medicine can be found on the foul mouthed and fruity Dr Rant

There seems to a faint whiff of the barricades drifting across the lower ranks of the pill pushers.

Singapore Air Show - 787 compensation claims, booming S'pore aerospace industry and Temasek's well connected CEO

Steven Udvar-Hazy, chief executive International Lease Finance Corp (ILFC), the world's top plane leasing firm, is not a happy man.

ILFC have orders for 74 Boeing 787's and 15-20 of ILFC's 787 orders are expected to be affected by the the double production delays ... which are not necessarily the end of its problems.

The booming and busy (80,000 visitors, 827 exhibiting companies from more than 42 countries) Singapore Air Show is a hot bed of gossip about the costs to Boeing as ILFC is wanting compensation, as are Japan's All Nippon Airways , Australia's Qantas and Air India have already made their position clear about compensation. Steven wants compensation, he tells us "on a large scale" and puts the monthly income of Boeing 787 lease at US$1 million.

Airlines have so far ordered 857 of the planes, worth $140 billion at list prices.

Goodrich Corporation opened its new US$32 Mn. 530,000-square-foot aircraft component and systems maintenance and repair campus today which will employ 700 staff. It will be a stratgeic base to provide services for commercial and military aerospace customers from across Asia, Australia and the Pacific Rim. Services will cover a broad range of aircraft including new and future models such as the Airbus A380, Boeing 787 and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.

Nearby Pratt & Whitney and their partner Eagle Services Asia (as Pratt & Whitney Global Service Partners ) have installed their patented EcoPower(R) closed-loop atomised water process to wash Singapore Airlines' fleet entire fleet of passenger and cargo aircraft engines. They claim this will result in savings of US $15 million in fuel costs and reduce CO2 emissions by 128 million pounds. This is because the improved EcoPower system can reduce fuel burn by as much as 1.2% percent and increase the exhaust gas temperature margin by as much as 15 degrees Celsius.

When opening the show yesterday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 56 (eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew - democratic dynasties rule OK ? **) said that the the new 300-hectare Aerospace Park in Seletar will help to boost the Singaporean aerospace industry which hit a record high in 2007 with an output of nearly US$7 billion.

"Last year, Boeing and Airbus announced record orders for new aircraft. In the next two decades, the global commercial aircraft fleet is expected to more than double in size," said the prime minister.

Airbus, announced a record year in 2007 having sold 1,341 aircraft and ending the year with a backlog of 3,600 orders. Boeing posted more orders in the year (1,413)

*** Lee leads the People's Action Party with 82 of the 84 seats in Parliment and enjoys an annual salary of US$2 Mn. Lee's wife , US educated technocrat, Ho Ching (#3 in Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women) is the director of state investment agency Temasek Holdings which handles US$160 Bn (ish) of state funds and is owned 100% by the Ministry of Finance. (Morgan Stanley source of valuation) - a substantial investor in Barclays Bank (US$4.34 billion June '07).

Web of cash, power and cronies by Eric Ellis Sept 29, 2007 explains how Singapore state investments provide Burma's pariah junta with the crucial equipment mostly denied by Western sanctions, and that Singapore has helped keep the junta and its cronies afloat for 20 years. 74-year-old junta leader Than Shwe has been getting his intestinal cancer treated in a Singapore government hospital, protected by Singapore security.

US Heparin production boosted by APP as Baxter and FDA still need to identify their problem with Chinese sourced drug component

It's an ill wind.

Schaumberg, IIlinois based APP Pharmaceuticals (formerly known as Abraxis Bioscience Inc. ) and Baxter each supplied roughly 50/50 o fthe heparin for the US market which is essential for haemodialysis. Now that Baxter have of heparin , APP have ramped up production to meet demand and have arranged new production lines at its Grand Island, N.Y., plant.

APP source the heparin product from several sources inspected and approved by both the FDA and the Chinese regulatory body SFDA.

APP shares rose 79 cents to $11.30 in trading on the Nasdaq on the news which was also affected by the University of Chicago Medical Center, announcing that it switched last month to APP product. A chain of 1,600 U.S. kidney-dialysis centers run by Fresenius Medical Care North America, a unit of Germany's Fresenius Medical Care AG, already have announced switching to buying exclusively from APP. Fresenius has 120,000 dialysis patients who get esential life saving treatments three times a week.

Shares of APP are still nearly 20 percent off a 52-week high of $15.25 the stock price hit in April of last year.

Baxter note that heparin makes up less than 1% of Baxter's corporate sales and are working with the FDA who are examining the Cherry Hill, N.J., Baxter facility and the Waunakee, Wis., plant of Baxter's supplier, Scientific Protein Laboratories LLC. Scientific Protein's Chinese joint venture, Changzhou SPL in Changzhou, China, is to be examined closely by a team that will include manufacturing experts and a Chinese-speaking chemist.

The FDA is still puzzling over the cause of the heparin reactions potentially tied to Baxter's version of heparin and they are also facing Congessional scrutiny about their failure to examine and approve Changzhou SPL which they claim was due to a mix up over similiar names of companies on their database.

Joseph Famulare, deputy director of the FDA drug center's office of compliance, said the name of the operation "that was sent to the office of compliance for evaluation was not the correct firm. It was another firm with a similar name," which had been inspected and found to be in compliance.

This problem has highlighted concern in the U.S. over the mounting number of foreign-sourced drug ingredients (unkown to many consumers) and the FDA's questionable ability to effectively monitor quality control.

Such Congressional concern might spill over into other practices outsourced to China - testing on animals, humans etc.,

Albanian / Kosovan Gas/Oil find

Here is a fascinating item that appears to have received little attention

Independent Resource Evaluation Confirms Existence of Giant Oil and Gas Prospects on Manas Petroleum's Albanian Exploration Blocks Manas Petroleum Corp. (MNAP.OB)

Baar, Switzerland, January 10th, 2008 Manas Petroleum Corporation is pleased to announce the results of a Resource Evaluation prepared by Gustavson Associates LLC regarding Manas Petroleum's blocks A, B,D and E in Albania.

The Report considers the licenses 8 primary and recognized prospects identified from approximately 4,000 kilometers of seismic shot by AlbPetrol, Shell, and Coparex on the concession position.

Gustavson assigns 2.987 billion barrels with 3.014 trillion cubic feet of associated gas as the P50 prospective oil resources in its oil with associated gas case. Gustavson notes that because of the depth it is possible that the prospects will hold natural gas. In its oil with a gas cap case Gustavson calculates the prospective resources to total 1.4 billion barrels of light oil and 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Gustavson estimates that in the event only gas is present the P50 prospective resource is 28 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Gustavson examined the Manas Albanian license position which consists of Blocks A, B, D & E with a total of approximately 780,000 gross acres located along the NW-SE trending fold belt of northwestern Albania. (on the Kosovan border) The plays include potential conventional exploration targets involving sub-thrust hydrocarbon accumulations in fractured carbonates. Gustavson's assessment is limited to the potential undiscovered oil and gas resources underlying the company's licenses.

The report notes that:
"The primary exploration targets are sub-thrust fractured carbonate reservoirs similar to those discovered in the 1990's in the Apennines of Italy. During the same time Shell and Coparex discovered a deep under-thrust structure within the blocks that, by their calculations, has the potential to contain a combined 820 million barrels (MMBO) recoverable of oil."

It states: "Manas has this opportunity because Shell and Coparex suspended all exploration activity and abandoned the blocks in reaction to the extreme unrest in Albania and the conflict in neighboring Kosovo allowing Manas to later acquire these superbly defined, giant, virtually drill ready prospects."

See also
Manas - The ongoing conflict for control of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies

Gambian gambit - with Swedish switch and lengthy endgame to avoid night attacks

Gambian born Caockmari Omoike ,36 entered the UK as a Swedish national using a Swedish passport.

Caockmari Omoike of Lansdown Road, Crumpsall and Nyima Njai of Woodlands Road, Crumpsall ,one and the same person, made tax credit claims for a total of 18 children (9 each) for payments in excess of £940 a week.

Omoike began to claim Child Tax Credit from the end of January 2006 and Salford City Council's housing benefit investigation team and HMRC investigators got wind of the fraud in April 2006 - she had made over 200 telephone calls to the Tax Credit Helpline amending the size of her families. On the 9th June 2006 she was arrested at her one room flat on Lansdown Road to face trial for fraudulent tax credit claims totalling over £23,900

Omoike falsely claimed to work 16 hours per week to qualify for childcare. EU nationals living and working in the UK are allowed to claim tax credits under EU law.

She was first arrested in June 2006 and searches of her single room rented flat in Manchester it was established there were no children, and documents were found including ;

1.Award notices of tax credit in the names of Omoike and Nja
2. A postal redirection existed in the names of Omoike and Njai to redirect post to a PO box in Gambia 3. 3. Wire money transfers to Gambia (money also went to Sweden)
4. An unused return air ticket to Gambia for a future date
5. Multiple identity cards were seized in the names Omoike and Njai;

Omoike admitted the fraud, was released on bail and then led the Police a wild Goose chase for over 12 months via Armagh, and Cardiff before arrest and remand in custody on the 29th October 2007. In court on 10th January 2008 she pleaded guilty to 11 counts of Tax Credit Fraud ( £23,902.44) and three counts of Housing Benefit fraud (£3,498).

It isn't only Judge Anthony Ensor who is "concerned" about the simplicity with which she was able to claim for so many non-existent children, apparently without evidence of birth certificates.
It is impossible to believe she acted alone, or that other fraudsters aren't operating identical or similiar (so far) undetected scams. As the HMRC have managed to mislay the complete database of every family claiming tax credits, protestations that procedures are in place, routines have been re-examined, lessons have been learnt give the tax payer no confidence whatsoever .... and with unkown numbers of EU nationals arriving at Victoria bus station, Hull, Felixstowe, Harwich , Dover, Portsmouth and Poole docks and Stansted Airport every hour ....

Suspect fraud ? Call HM Revenue & Customs confidential line 0800 59 5000
Help required with tax credits ? Call Tax Credit Helpline 0845 300 3900

Pic : We don't intend to suggest that you money around with the HMRC but Gambia is a good place to get away from them for some ideas of fun in the sun try
http://www.hibiscushousegambia.com/
http://www.bikesnbuggies.co.uk/
http://www.paradiseisland-gambia.com/
http://www.guesthouse.gm/
http://www.realgambia.net/

Major General Elyezer Shkedy head of IAF tells Global audience how aerial forces are now involved in half Israeli anti terrorist ops - Guernica Redux

Major General Elyezer Shkedy, Commander, Israeli Air Force (IAF) since April 2004, one of Israel's first "Top Gun" F -16 pilots, made a presentation yesterday "Asymmetric Warfare in Urban Populations is The Real Test of Air Power" @ the Global Air Power conference which is part of the glittering and huge Singapore Air Show.

Selected recorded video images from actions recorded over the Gaza Strip and Lebanon demonstrated that "if air power isn’t precise, backed by real-time intelligence which can warn of potentially calamitous results (civilian casualties), and the action time between sensor and shooter brought down to minutes, then a significant part of that power can be restricted". Ho.Ho.Ho.

Rocket launchers were shown firing then racing for shelter into private buildings, rocket launchers placed near mosques, mortars close to schools. All this said the Commander has the potential for terrible collateral damage and civilian casualties if the intelligence does not pin-point in real time the location of the targets and the suitability of those targets for retaliatory action claimed the warfighter with special responsibilites for the war in Iran.

Commander Shkedy ran through a list of long range, medium range and short range systems that the IAF had been targeting.

Shkedy pointed out that in 2002, out of all terrorists engagements by the Isrtaeli military forces , the IAF was only responsible for around 5% of actions. However, after 2004 that percentage began to climb dramatically and that by 2007 46% of engagements were from the air.

Of course , so enthused by "precise air power, backed by real-time intelligence " was the Commander he failed to mention the indiscriminate use in Lebanon of cluster bombs on civilians. A period of relentless bombing made longer by the deliberate refusal to even attempt to stop the ceaseless aerial bombardment of towns and villages by Western political leaders.

Meanwhile, yesterday at 120-nation, 4 day conference commenced in New Zealand's capital, Wellington, on a proposed convention to ban cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians .

Human Rights Watch report "Flooding South Lebanon: Israel's Use of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon in July and August 2006, "was launched which detailed how nearly 200 civilians have been killed by cluster bombs since the conflict ended. Haartez reported at the time , ""What we did was insane and monstrous, we covered entire towns in cluster bombs," the head of an IDF rocket unit in Lebanon said regarding the use of cluster bombs and phosphorous shells during the war. Quoting his battalion commander, the rocket unit head stated that the IDF fired around 1,800 cluster bombs, containing over 1.2 million cluster bomblets. " They also had a report "IDF admits targeting civilian areas in Lebanon with cluster bombs ".

The United Nations said perhaps 1 million submunitions were still left behind in Lebanon

Arye Mekel, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman is quoted in the San Diego Times ;

“The use of cluster munitions is not prohibited under international law. Like other weapons, its use is subject to the laws of war,” he said. No mention of "precise air power, backed by real-time intelligence " there then.

In Israel Prime minister Ehud Olmert was left in little doubt that Israel’s highest military officers are fed up with straining at the leash and being held back from effective ground action to stamp out the Palestinian missiles and terror at source in Gaza.

Chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi : “The army stands ready to deepen and expand its operations (in Gaza) as needed in accordance with the decisions reached.”

Shkedi (No doubt anxious to utilise "precise air power, backed by real-time intelligence ") said at a separate venue: “For us, terrorists on the fence and missile fire are unacceptable.”

How long before the precisely aimed cluster bombs rain down on Gaza? Would Shkedi regard a lot of dead Palestinians....er .... "potentially calamitous results " ?

Bomb,Bomb,Iran ! Why bother there's plenty of Iraq and Afghanistan left yet

Air Force Link Feb 15th Airpower summary

In Afghanistan a total of 25 close-air-support missions were flown.

In total, coalition aircraft flew 43 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom

A Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet dropped a guided bomb unit-38 (2,000lb) in order to destroy an enemy rocket position in Basrah.

On Feb. 14, Air Force and RAF tanker crews flew 39 sorties and off-loaded approximately 2.7 million pounds of fuel to 210 receiving aircraft.

On February 16, the Los Angeles Times reported that a US air strike managed to kill 9 Iraqi civilians and 3 Sons of Iraq. See here "Errant U.S. airstrike kills 9 in Iraq"

On February 16th the Seattle Times reported "3 Iraq guards die in errant U.S. strike" - 3 neighborhood security guards were killed and two others injured when U.S. attack helicopters fired at their checkpoint south of Baghdad , Iraqi police said. The article also reports that the U.S. military has acknowledged a Feb. 2 airstrike that killed 9 people, including at least 3 Awakening members and a child.

An Awakening Council in Zab said four of its members were killed when attack helicopters fired at a house in the area about 20 miles southwest of Kirkuk during raids late Wednesday and early Thursday 14/5th Feb. Two women were also killed.

Sheik Mohammed Ghuriari, who heads the so-called Awakening Councils that supply fighters at US$10 per diem (called Concerned Local Citizens or Sons of Iraq by US PR staff) ) to protect neighborhoods in the north of Babil province, said it was the third U.S.-led strike on their checkpoints in fewer than two months. He claimed 19 people had been killed and 14 injured.

Read Dahr Jamail's detailed report Here see also Bastard.logic here

"The use of B1 bombers shows the terrible failure of the U.S. campaign in Iraq," Iraqi Major General Muhammad al-Azzawy, of an aerial attack on a clutch of villages in the Latifiya district south of Baghdad on January 10th. Two B1 bombers and four F-16 fighter jets dropped at least 40,000 pounds of explosives on the villages and plantations within a span of 10 minutes.

"They were bombing everything and everybody."

"Apache helicopters later fired at the trucks that were carrying the families out of the area"

The Air Force Link Jan 19th Air Power Summary or on the 11th Jan made no mention of such an attack or the use of B1 bombers.

Here's paragraph 22 of a 34-paragraph January 22nd story by Stephen Farrell of the New York Times:

"The threat from buried bombs was well known before the [Arab Jabour] operation. To help clear the ground, the military had dropped nearly 100,000 pounds of bombs to destroy weapons caches and I.E.D.'s."

A January 21st Los Angeles Times Iraq piece by Ned Parker and Saif Rasheed;

"The U.S. military also said in a statement that it had dropped 19,000 pounds of explosives on the farmland of Arab Jabour south of Baghdad. The strikes targeted buried bombs and weapons caches. In the last 10 days, the military has dropped nearly 100,000 pounds of explosives on the area, which has been a gateway for Sunni militants into Baghdad."

This piece also mentioned the destruction in the area of a Mine protected vehicle (MRAP) which Lord Patel posted about . Also see article by By Tom Engelhardt

US Military Camp Bondsteel, In the newly "Independent" Kosovo

Have just discovered this fascinating, detailed and highly informative article on this huge US military outpost. Also this piece from le Monde by By Jean-Arnault Dérens - Independence for Kosovo: the domino effect An end to Balkan national states ..

"The emergence of states and the definition of their borders marked the entry of the Balkans into modern politics. The new states were generally nationalist, based on and adapted from the models provided by the specific history of western Europe."

"Kosovo is now a pawn in the planetary battle between Russia and the United States, so little attention will be paid to the real interests of the Albanians, Serbs and others living in Kosovo."

Which is just another way of describing the mongrelisation of Europe by allowing unlimited, uncontrolled immigration and the flowering and fostering of narrow nationalist and historic differerentiation....Wales, Scotland ... Basques ..

...or setting up the dominoes to fall.

No wonder they keep prattling on about the Treaty of Westphalia ( a leitmotif of Tony Blair) which signalled the arrival of the nation state in Euope.

Otto Dix and Portraiture - Stuttgart Kunstmuseum Exhibition

Otto Dix (1891-1969) was a leading member of the Neue Sachlichkeit, or New Objectivity movement, who first held a group exhibition in Mannheim in 1925, along with Georg Grosz and Max Beckmann . The Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart, southern Germany, which has one of the biggest collections of Dix's work has launched an ehibition of his work.

In 1923 Dix's painting, The Trench was purchased by the Wallraf-Richartz Museum. When the painting was exhibited in 1924 its depiction of decomposed corpses in a German trench created such a public outcry that the museum's director, Hans Secker, was forced to resign.

Best known for his impressionist portraits portraying the worst excesses of the Weimar underbelly his ruthless and disturbing realism upset the National Socialists when they obtained power in 1933. he was labelled as a "degenerate" and lost his job as a post as a teacher at the Dresden Academy teacher. Dix's dismissal letter said that his work "threatened to sap the will of the German people to defend themselves".

Dix's paintings The Trench and War cripples were exhibited in the state-sponsored Munich 1937 exhibition of degenerate art, Entartete Kunst. They were later burned.

The exhibition, entitled "Match: Otto Dix and the Art of Portraiture," will also show 88 portraits by other artists spanning the centuries, from Lucas Cranach and Andy Warhol. "It is only by seeing his works alongside the works of other artists that the timeless importance of Otto Dix the portraitist becomes clear," the exhibition curator Daniel Spanke told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.

Pic at head of post - A 1923 portrait of Mrs. Martha Dix, the artist's longtime lover and later wife.

Gallery of pictures from the exhibition
Gallery of pictures that can be seen in Germany
Galleries of pictures worldwide

Newborn Baby 1927
Selbstbildnis (mit Zigarette) (Self-Portrait with Cigarette), 1922Drypoint34.6 x 27.4 cm (image)The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts purchase, funds from the Patrons of Art and Music 1960.72.14

Good news at last for Arsenal fans - Amazing pictures !!!!

Nobody in Manchester really wants to pile on the agony for the residents of Woolwich but there is a glimmer of light amongst the many supporters of their struggling football club.

Finans magazine's latest list of Russian zillionaires is led by Oleg Deripaska at US$40 billion his dosh handily exceeds the US$17 billion of Chukotka governor and Chelsea Football Club owner, divorcee, playboy Roman Abramovich.

But it's good news all round for the obese Co-owner of the “Arsenal”, Alisher Usmanov who was upgraded to 12th, (from 22nd place) with US $13,3 billion and drew almost level with Vagit Alekperov of fast growing LUKoil ($13,5 billion).Latest pic of Alisher surfing.

Boris Berezovsky who fled to avoid prosecution to the UK where he was welcomed by Tony Blair and sweetly (and very swiftly) given UK citizenship is down to 80th, with an estimated wealth of $1.3 billion.

Keep an eye out however for glamorous , slim, pouting, beautiful Elena Baturina head of Inetko Group who was downgraded to 27 from 17, with US$7 billion but is also Mrs Mayor of Moscow as her spouse was Mayor Yury Luzhkov . (Forbes has her at 335th in the world)

After Luzhkov became mayor, her Inteko company became the largest construction firm in the city, mostly building prefab housing when his term as Mayor ended she bailed out and sold off a lot of her interests - and sensibly took the cash.

She is the president of the Equestrian Federation of Russia and tells su that she spends most of her time with horses and her two daughters.

Blue Tongue confirmed in Ulster. Ulster FU call for ban on cattle imports

The Ulster Farmers' Union has very sensibly called for a voluntary ban in relation to the import of animals from bluetongue-affected areas after confirmation of blue tongue disease in a single cow at an Antrim farm

The animal had been imported from the Netherlands. A further 23 cows and four calves will now be slaughtered following further tests.

Northern Ireland's Chief Veterinary Officer Bert Houston said another farm which received animals from the same lorry from the Netherlands is also under restriction as a precaution. The shipment had followed all the import control procedures that have been put in place to protect Northern Ireland from the disease.

Shrinking UK Defence Budget and expanding demands Feb 20th showdown - Des Browne (wearing MOD hat not the tartan tammy) and the Top Brass

HMS Illustrious, the UK Navy's 25-year-old aircraft carrier, is a "ready response" part of the dwindling UK fleet. She often sets sail without her complement of Falklands War winning Harrier jump-jets .

Why ?

Probably (if airworthy) they are busy frightening the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Now HM Illustrious has trouble even going to sea. - crews said goodbye to their loved ones on January 21st as they set out to head a multinational flotilla in the Indian Ocean for 16 week long Operation Orion 08. This is to visit 20 ports in the Mediterranean, Africa, Middle East, South Asia and the Far East and is part of the Royal Navy’s regular operating pattern, repeating a similar deployment to the Indian Ocean in 2006.


Commander United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group, Commodore Tom Cunningham, said at the time:

"Orion 08 is a great opportunity for the RN to demonstrate one of its core capabilities. The ships' companies and support networks have been working tremendously hard to get the ships to sea on time and we are now all looking forward to this deployment which will allow us to further develop Joint Force Harrier operations and UK relationships in this important region.”

2 days later she was back in Portsmouth for repairs to a failure of meat freezers on board - essential in warmer climes. Apparently cheaper to return to port than fly out a plumber.

On February 8th Illustrious was to be found 70miles west along the English Channel at Portland fixing a problem in separating oil from bilge water.

Then on February 13th a faulty propellor-shaft had to be mended.

Her escort ships - the one's providing defense cover had troubles, with ...er... an unresponsive air-defence system.

Now HM Illustrious is going to miss an exercise in Oman - shortage of Harriers. Again.

Whilst the Navy, naturally, puts on a brave face and part time Ministers of Defence boast of two new “super-carriers” which may be built to carry the stealthy new allied Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) - which is hitting snags and breaking budgets. HM Illustrious is designed to be taken out of service in 2014 and be replaced by one of the 2 new Queen Elizabeth class carriers.

These spanking new carriers are making a hole in an already overstretched dfence budget ... facing at least a £500 Mn hole this year building up to a £2 Bn shortfall at the end of the decade.

On February 20th service chiefs and civil servants will try to agree on a savings plan for approval by Des Browne, when he isn't held up on running Scotland by proxy .

The bottom line is £2 billion must be taken out of the £12 billion annual equipment budget over the next two years in order to balance the books . At the same time paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , improving soldiers' pay and conditions to boost necessary recruitment and retention and probably another fast developing black hole in Kosovo / Serbia.

The navy is paying the price for the carriers: its eight existing destroyers will probably be replaced by just six of the new Type 45 ships (The first, HMS Daring, launched February '07 and HM Dauntless Jan 27th) .

The attack submarine fleet is likely to shrink from the current nine to six new Astute-class vessels. Nobody knows what will replace the 17 frigates. Britain could one day find itself with two new carriers, but too few escorts to protect them and not enough planes. They may sail, but will they be able to fight?

Joint Strike Fighter - Engine,STOVL version , Rolls Royce power plant and UK carriers at risk as Congress doles out 2009 Military pork barrel ration

The future of the Joint Strike Fighter is of critical concern to both the future defence strategy of the UK, the Navy and it's only aircraft engine manufacturer.

Congress presides over a massive pork barrel for the military industrial complex but it does, ultimately, want to develop the best and most lethal tools to support their role as the world's policeman.

When developing the F - 16 they were keen to ensure that General Electric (GE) and Pratt & Whitney (P&W) were pitted against each other to power, what was then seen as a world beater. So when the F35 Joint Strike Fighter was entering it's developmental phase, the Pentagon, who were pushing the Lockheed airframe complete with the P & W F135 Congress demanded they look at the GE/Rolls Royce alternative.

Now the argument has surfaced again in dramatic form as news has filtered out that on February 4th the F-135 had another turbine blade failure whilst on test. A third stage low pressure blade on flight test engine (FTE 6) which was en route to power the short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35 B aircraft BF1 (see Banner above). Which is the version that the Royal Navy require for their 2 spanking new aircraft carriers.

The first failure in August during ground testing was eventually traced to high cycle fatigue as a result of vibrations with other components on the third LP stage ( which has been added to power the lift fan) and P&W now feel they have managed to resolve the problem and proof tested FTE-1 and FTE -3 .

This latest test was designed to allow identification of blades prior to failure and it failed - which delays testing of the BF-1 expected to fly the STOVL plane in May.

Back in the UK Rolls Royce have announced a cut back of 2,800 staff worldwide - The company refused to say where the cuts will come, but it is likely most will be in Britain - probably 1,500 in the UK. Almost 60% of Rolls' 39,500 workers are based in Britain. More than half of those - 12,500 - are at its Derby manufacturing base, with another 3500 in Bristol.

Whilst Congress doles out the pork in the 2009 Military estimates GE is pitching again. Congress added US$480 million for GE's engine before approving the budget in he 2008 appropriation . It found US$370 million the year before. Congress are being asked by GE for US$440 million this year.

GE also is anxious to point out that the US government has already invested heavily in its engine — US$2.3 billion by the end of fiscal 2008 — and says killing it now would waste that money already spent. On February 13th they were able to announce that the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team had successfully completed its Critical Design Review, a major milestone in the F136 engine development program.

A critical matter for Rolls Royce as they mull their cutbacks.

P& W 's woes couldn't have come at a better time. Of course they could just ditch the overweight, fault prone STOVL version.... and make the UK carriers planeless. But they won't because the US Navy need it and Rolls Royce have the technology to get the STOVL element right.

Is Spring Wheat at the top of the market ?

The Market closed up 82 on Friday at MGEX. Kansas and Chicago are still operating at 60 cent daily limits whilst MGEX is using US$1.35 (which declines by 50% after 2 days).

Evidently demand is being affected by price ... but Iraq and Egypt have entered large contracts.

If these sort of levels maintain .. and crop conditions in the Southern Hemisphere suggests they will, it is early to make any judgements for the Northern Hemisphere.

It is difficult to see any reason why prices should not be sustained, short a massive global recession. Therefore in the next 12 - 24 months we can expect to see prices of grain related products, bread, pastas, flours up 15% to 20% and protein based on grain , poutry, pig, cattle rising higher.

Corn will be boosted by non food markets for fuel and we can expect US$5 a bushel plus for the next 2 seasons.

UPDATE Financial Times Monday

William Lapp, president of Advanced Economic Solutions, a Nebraska-based food consultancy, said the price surge was not a temporary hump but rather a structural change.
“We are not facing a short-term price blip...but a sustained move to a new and higher plateau for prices,” he added.

The American Bakers Association stopped short of asking for an export moratorium but pressed for curbs on foreign sales. Lee Sanders, ABA vice-president for government relations, said there was usually a surplus in the US wheat market equivalent to three months of US consumption.
“It is currently at a very low one-month level, which is extremely concerning,” she said.
Cereals traders said it was unlikely Washington would support export curtailments, but added that the call highlighted the tightness of the market.

CNN 60 year low of US wheat stocks Video "A Load of Crop" how ethanol subsidy for corn growers is distorting markets byreducing wheat acreage.

And by the Way ...

Platinum, soared to $2,030.60 at the New York Mercantile exchange, its 11th record high in 12 days. April futures, settled up $22.20 at $2,005.90 an ounce on the back of news on Wednesday that a power crisis in top producer South Africa that has curtailed mine production could persist for years.

Spot platinum hit a record of $2,205 an ounce and closed at $1,997.00/7.00 in New York.

April gold at the COMEX division of the NYMEX rose 60 cents to $910.80 an ounce. Spot gold closed in New York at $907.10/90, up from $906.70/7.50 on Wednesday.

In electronic ICE Futures, the U.S. May cocoa contract was up $57 at $2,545 a tonne in late trade, having peaked at $2,560, a level last seen in June 1984.

lUXOR 4 u FORUM .."We are currently experiencing in Luxor a flour shortage, and it is being rationed. Many people do not realise this, but supplies from America have been delayed. "

Northern Wreck to be nationalised - but B & B offers quick buck to be made

A Nationalisation bill for Northern Rock was agreed with the Conservative Party (NOT WITH VINCE CABLE IT SEEMS) Week Ending December 1st, to put Northern Wreck plc into public ownership - and to rush it through in one day before Christmas.

The Government wanted interested parties to submit final deals by the end of the week. Parliament went into recess on December 17 and returned on January 7.

The reason for this was 3 fold.

1. It gave the Gubment room for negotiations in dealings with Branson et al.
2. It put the bidders on notice that the Gubment meant bizniz
3. It pulled the rug out from under Vince Cable the only person to talk sense about Northern Wreck.

They now realise Vince's point that nationalisation is the "least worst solution" and have simply run out of road and with the budget looming on March 12th they want the whole thing buried before then.

Swift Bill rushed through - end of story. Draw a line, Move on... nothing to see here.... and all the gory details will be concealed from public gaze.

Hopwever here is something worth pondering

Bradford and Bingley share price has been sinking fast all year. 44% down over 6 months and a massive drop on last week of 27% to 176 p = Market Cap just over £1 Bn. Last weeks fall due to "Preliminary" results (i.e unaudited so beware) on Wednesday for Y/E 31st Dec.

Total dividend per share up 5% to 21.0p (2006: 20.0p)
Tier 1 capital ratio 8.6%, total capital ratio 15.1% (2006: 7.6%, 13.2%)
Residential lending balances up 27% to £39.4bn (2006: £31.1bn)
Savings balances up 7% to £21.0bn (2006: £19.7bn)
Group net interest margin 1.10% (2006: 1.19%)
Underlying cost:income ratio improved to 42.8% (2006: 44.2%)*
Underlying profit before tax up 5% to £351.6m (2006: £335.9m)*
Statutory profit before tax £126.0m (2006: £246.7m)*
Total customer deposits funded 60% of customer loans (2006: 61%)

Which is all very, very good news excpet the profit but then they have written off losses on sale of commercial and housing association portfolios of £58.0m, treasury asset "impairment" of £94.4m, hedge ineffectiveness of £23.5m and other fair value movements on treasury instruments of £49.7m.

Underlying costs increased by 3% to £280.2m (2006: £271.6m), improving the underlying cost:income ratio to 42.8% (2006: 44.2%) so no worries there of runaway costs.

The total number of cases three months or more in arrears and in possession has increased to 6,170 (2006: 4,337), equating to 1.63% (2006: 1.30%) of the total book. No real problems there although not ideal.

An improvement in loan-to-value across our whole residential lending portfolio adjusted for house price inflation is 55% (2006: 53%) providing a good level of equity.

Then the very good news ..

We grew the Group’s total assets by 15% to £52.0bn (2006: £45.4bn). This growth was due to a 27% increase in residential lending balances to £39.4bn (2006: £31.1bn) driven by record gross residential mortgage advances, up 36% at £14.0bn (2006: £10.3bn). Of this total, £9.7bn (2006: £7.7bn) was originated through intermediaries and direct channels, and £4.3bn (2006: £2.5bn) was purchased from GMAC-RFC and Kensington Mortgages. Our estimated share of net new lending in the UK mortgage market was 7.7%, more than double our share of outstanding balances of 3.3%.

Now remember the Market cap is £1 Bn. For this you get £50 odd Billion of assets and Total customer deposits £24 Billion which is funding 60% of customer loans.

The real worry is the asset mix ;
Buy-to-Let 45% (down from 40% so moving in the right direction)

Self-certified mortgages 16 %

Other residential ( ie traditional owner ocupier) 15%

Commercial and housing association 2% (down from 11%)

Wholesale / Other 22%

That Buy to Let looks unhealthy and if the market turns down current wisdom is that this will be hit first. But. But with increasing immigration and changing lifestyles renting is growing and demand is rising, not slowing, so perhaps this is even a plus.

All in all the shares (yielding 11.9% PE 6.25 !) look a good buy first thing in the morning. ... and if Lord Patel is not the only one working this one out then they could jump over £2.00 early doors giving an instant 10-12 % capital gain.

And of course if the bidders for Northern Wreck ( or anyone else) , now thwarted, have been running their ruler over B & B (which they most certainly have) and decide to make a bid ....?