Priness Anne "kidnap" - Ian Ball still inside after 35 years

On the 20th March 1974 Princess Anne and her freshly laundered wimpish first husband Capt. Mark Philips were rolling along Pall Mall in a RoyalRoller to Buckingham Palace after a charity filmscreening. (Note here that the "kidnapper" Ian Ball says, "In 1971 I was working at Filmatic Laboratories Ltd., Lonsdale Road, London, W1, as a van driver. I used to spend every working day travelling around the West End collecting and delivering cans of film. )

A light coloured car (Ford Escort) blocked their path and a man appeared who fired six shots (from 1 or 2 guns depending on source) . Insp. Beatson fired back (he got a George Cross) and he and royal chauffeur Alex Callender were wounded.

Ball was caught by PC Peter Edmonds, of Cannon Row was awarded one of the first Queen's Gallantry Medals as the Metropolitan Police officer responsible for capturing Ball. Edmonds was on duty as a temporary detective constable at Cannon Row police station when the call about the attack was received.

He drove to the scene in his own car, and saw a man with a gun running across St James's Park. Edmonds gave chase and, although threatened with the gun, threw his coat over the fugitive's head, forced him to the ground and arrested him.

Others at the scene who attempted to restrain Ball included Pc Michael Hills and Ronald Russell, a cleaning company manager who, having manoeuvred his car in front of Ball's to block his escape, ran across and punched the assailant. Both of them were shot, both later received the George Medal. A Fleet Street reporter, Brian McConnell, who heard shots and leaped out and tried to reason with Ball, was shot in the chest; he was awarded a Queen's Gallantry Medal, as was the chauffeur, Alexander Callender.

Rowena Brassey, the Princess's Lady-in-waiting, was also present and like the royal cople were unharmed . Indeed it looks like no shots were fired at them.

It appeared that the shooting was preliminary to a kidnap attempt on Princess Anne to hold her to ransom. A ransom letter demanding £3Mn. from the was subsequently found demanding £3m for her release.

Ian Ball, 26, was prosecuted for the attempted murder of the princess's detective, and various offences under the Offences Against the Person Act.

Ball was sentenced to life imprisonment and placed in a mental hospital - initially in Rampton and he is currently blieved to be in Broadmoor.

1. A curious untraceable website has appeared at least in 2005 - see ref in A-infos Anarchist website http://www.ianball.me.uk/ purporting to be a statement from Ian Ball.

On the 22nd May 1975 (1974) I was convicted, at the Old Bailey, of attempting to kidnap Her Royal Highness Princess Anne.

From the accompanying document entitled 'Hoax Explanation' you can see that I did not attempt to kidnap Princess Anne - the whole incident was just an elaborate hoax.

It continues as a lettermight from a Nigerian source ....

As I am desperate to get out of Broadmoor, I am offering a £1Million reward to the first person who proves the incident was a hoax.

The reward will be paid as follows:- £55'000 immediately (as this is the amount I currently have in my bank account), and the remainder when I have successfully sued the authorities and received the royalties from my autobiography. From the following you can see that the total amount I will get in damages and royalties will be more than enough to cover the cost of the reward.

This page then links to second page http://www.ianball.me.uk/hoax.html entitled Hoax Explanation which you might like to read.

2. Monsters and Critics on Jan 15th 2009 report that Channel 4 Films commenced filming a documentary about the "kidnapping" on Monday (19.01.09) in Bath, SW England with the intention of screening it in September 2009.

According to this M & C report The princess reportedly replied in an unprincesslybut beleivable way ,say "Not b****y likely!" before diving out the other side of the car.

One wonders how an inmate of Broadmoor can set up a website - is this clever viral marketing by Channel 4 ? He's been locked up 35 years now and didn't kill anyone...don't mess with the Windsors.

PS : "To Kidnap a Princess" with Russel Mabey as Ian Ball was made for TV film (ITV) in 2006 and portrayed Ball as a loner schizophrenic.

Role play - Invest Squander the Quantitative easing funds for Mervyn

Quantitative easing (QE)provides the BoE with the ability to buy assets, securities like corporate bonds or commercial paperand Govern/ ment bonds from commercial banks / insurance companies that currently hold them.

Here is your chance to play the bemused academic crossed fingers specialist .... Mervyn King

British Airways (The worlds favourite airline) have bonds they have issued ..lots of 'em.

Yesterday Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its rating on British Airways' long-term corporate credit from investment grade to "junk," falling from BBB- to BB+, .. plus a warning they might be downgraded further. (Moodys show them as equivalent Ba1 details here )

They gave resons, plenty of 'em why they had downgraded them.

S&P said Friday it was looking at;

1. BA's losses
2. Worsening demand, particularly on BA's high-dollar premium passengers across the Atlantic
3. Currency losses from the weakening British pound
4. Failing UK economy
... and er ... other factors... order book with Boeing for more planes etc.,

"As a result of the more challenging industry environment, we believe that BA's financial risk profile and credit measures are no longer, nor are likely to be, appropriate for an investment-grade rating over the next several years," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Leigh Bailey.

Now as Mervyn .. or one of his double firsted henchmen ... do you buy this crap ?

The holders will gladly take the proffered loot and run .... and invest it , squirrel it away on the busted balance sheet, handsome salaries, bonuses, boxes at Man United, sponsoring Rugby Union, Newcastle United, Newcastle Rugby ....

After all, what is there to stop them ? If there is Mervyn has not told us what it is..no doubt they will "monitor" the situation as did the BoE previously... with the same people doing the monitoring ... and the same bankers pissing the money away.

Now are you really convinced that QE is a really great idea to get the UK economy moving ?

Where are they Now ? No : 342 Huma Abedin , Shrillarys lover and "special advisor"

On her first trip abroad as US Secretary of State, Shrillary talked to an audience of women at Ewha Women University campus in Seoul the questions were not apparently about O'Bombers about, bombing campaigns in Pakistan , tax cuts or US healthcare, or even about looming North Korea's nuclear weapons or the global economic crisis.All eyes were on Shillarys pet Huma Abedin.

With her tried and trusty team of ex Clintonistas savvy smart lawyer Jake Sullivan, lurking in the shadows away from the cameas, her national politics adviser, Huma Abedin (her glamorous aide de camp - BBC speak for Love that dare not speak it's name) and Kiki McLean, a veteran Democratic strategist and press aide to husband Bill when he was Arkansas Governor.

Elsewhere the delightful, slim Saudi born and educated Hua is described as , "Clinton’s traveling chief of staff and “body woman”".Politico

According to Town Hall "Abedin carries the title "senior adviser." What she knows about foreign policy remains a mystery, but she knows the Clinton political operation. On this trip, according to The Washington Post/ Toronto Star , Abedin "silently will hand Clinton a glass of water when her voice rasps during a briefing."

In the New York Times Mark Landler reported on her swing through Japan and said, "Huma Abedin, Mrs. Clinton’s aide-de-camp and ubiquitous seatmate during the campaign, was never more than a few steps away from her boss. Ms. Abedin even accompanied Mrs. Clinton to her tea with Empress Michiko, though she was guided to an antechamber to wait."

When asked a difficult question , refuse to answer or lie - that's what bankers do - especially Fed Chairmen

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who usually votes with the Democrats, tackled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and said he found it "unacceptable" that the central bank risked taxpayer money without detailing where the funds went.

"My question to you is, will you tell the American people to whom you lent $2.2 trillion of their dollars?" Sanders asked ..... referring to the size of the Fed's balance sheet.

When Sanders pressed on whether Bernanke would name the firms that borrowed from the Fed, the central bank chairman replied, "No."

Vermont Public Radio has the transcript of the exact exchange.

So now you know that Congress does NOT run the United States ... Uncle Ben's Lies will do instead.

Typhoon MRCA in action with the RAF as the Italians see it

The most recent issue of the Italian magazine Aeronautica & Difesa has a well illustrated story on the Typhoon now in use with the Royal Air Force. Here is one picture, but for those who like this sort of thing there are plenty more.

UK gas stocks at record lows as Energy Minister O'Brien whistles valiantly in the dark.

It was a chance for MP's to ask the wimpish, The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Mr. Mike O'Brien) questions yesterday.

Mrs. Ann Cryer (Keighley) (Lab)opened the batting with a shrewd Yorkie, " What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK’s gas storage capacity; and if he will make a statement." [260723]

O Brien was full of a correct but lamentably late catalogue of efforts to build gas storage over the next ten years - when it was blindingly obvious that gas stroage has been static whilst usage soaring - and will constitute 70% of our energy source for electricity by 2012.

Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con) bowled a fierce boucer " On 20 February this year—two weeks ago—Britain hit a new low, with just four days-worth of gas in storage in the reserve. Does the Minister consider that an acceptable margin for safety?"

O' Brien lamely and uhelpfully remarked "It is not about how many days worth of gas there are. The amount of gas in storage at a given point cannot meaningfully be assessed in terms of days." ... so why does the National Grid publish the figures for short term , medium term and long term gas storage evey day on their website ?

O Brien admitted that As at 3 March 2009, the total volume of gas storage stocks in the UK was no more than 1.2 billion cu m. The UK’s total gas storage capacity is approximately 4.4 billion cu m. (Germany and France never drop below 100 days.)

If you wish to be more informedread Hansardfor the full account of the lamentable state of UK gas stocks .. but better stil, read
UK NAT GAS WINTER 2009, FEBRUARY UPDATE Posted by Rune Likvern on February 20, 2009
More posts by Rune Likvern on U.K. nat gas supplies this winter :

Will UK face a nat gas crisis during this winter (Part 1 of 2)

Will UK face a nat gas crisis during this winter (Part 2 of 2)

See also review of debate at e-politix

The Man in the Street - then banged up the DNA'd -sounds like terrism

Have a look at this news-video about Stephen Clarke, a man who was accused to taking pictures of sewer-gratings in Manchester and arrested ahead of the 208 Labour party conference

Stephen was held on suspicion of planning an act of terror, imprisoned for two days while the police searched his home, his phone and his computer and memory sticks etc., . When they couldn't find anything suspicious (or any pictures of grids of any sort) , they released him, but kept his DNA on file, as the biometric of someone who had been accused of plotting a terrorist act. See also story on Boing Boing Mach 3rd, film only at Channel M TV (part of Guradian group)

Gilbert Duclos film "La Rue Zone Interdite" Cannel 5 in French is available on You Tube

Lehman Bros liquidators ask awkward questions - Barclays dives 25% on news - Market Cap now £5. 5 Bn.

This Forbes / Reuters / FT report seemed to spook the market as it opened, Liquidators quiz Barclays over Lehman funds-FT .....

Liquidators for Lehman Brothers, Alvarez and Marsal asked Barclays in a letter of February 19th , to account for funds it received as part of its purchase of the failed investment bank's North American unit, the Financial Times reported on Thursday (today) Barclays questioned on funds.

Citing sources close to the situation, the newspaper said U.S. liquidators Alvarez and Marsal were seeking clarification on the fate of US$4.2 billion transferred to Barclays to cover Lehman's bonus and severance payments and other liabilities.

The liquidators calculate only US$900 million has been spent, the newspaper said.

Barclays booked a gain of £2.3bn ($3.3bn) in it's Annual accounts pulished last week, on the difference between the fair value of the assets and liabilities acquired from Lehman and the price paid for them. The gain accounted for about a third of Barclays' pre-tax profits and helped Barclays Capital, its investment banking arm, to record a profit of £1.3bn.

Lehman Brothers Holdings, the bank's remaining businesses, now managed by Alvarez & Marsal, said it was "not making any allegations but is simply requesting factual information from Barclays as to certain discrepancies". Ho Ho. Ho ... but the liquidator wants his money back please.

The Daily Torygraph report Friday that "Sandy Chen, of Panmure Gordon, in a report on Barclays' monoline and structured credit exposures says : "If corporate defaults jump and structured credits undergo another wave of downgrades, we think that the structure of swaps with monolines and other counterparties that Barclays put in place to limit losses could buckle – leading to further impairments and/or writedowns."

Making money by printing money ,, winners and losers - and you ain't a winner pal ...

Boris Fyodorov, the late (died ,heart attack aged 50 Nov. 2008)reformist Russian Minister of Finance was a bastion of rectitude and struggled against the abuse of authority and the looting Oligarchs.

Confusion helps the powerful, he declared. Complex complicated bailouts, uexplained and unpublished (cf Paulsen's Pals Act) complicated government bailout schemes, multiple and vicious and volatile exchange rates, or high inflation, it is very hard (impossible) to keep track of market prices and to protect the value of firms. The result, if taken to an extreme, is looting (cf armed raid on Gazprom offices in Ukraine yesterday ) : the collapse of banks, industrial firms, and other entities because the insiders take the money (or other valuables) and run.

A noteworthy and powerful critique was his publication of a book of blank pages under the title The Economic Achievements of the Chernomyrdin Government.


Now that HMG / Treasury / BOE have decided today on their stop gap / stop go policy of £75 Bn (5% ish of GDP) (approved to the level of £150 Bn. by the MEPC) nothing is clearer. Confusion reigns.

Our analysis is that this move this is the same effect as a private limited company extending it's Purchase Ledger in the knowledge it cannot meet it's debts as they fall due . They become technically insolvent.

The major UK based banks will sensibly hoover up the funds pronto - including Barclays who the sleek jowled Varley assures us have no asset valuation problems.

Cui bono ?

The banks have greater liquidity which they will use as they please (owned by the taxpayer or not) and HMG have assets no-one (anywhere) is inclined to buy at any price.

So if £75 Bn doesn't work, we suck up another £75 Bn. Then what ?

On top of this we relentlesy dribble away tax payers funds ... as the following post shows.

Still Tranche 3 of the Eurofighter is to be cancelled anyday now, so that will save a bob or two on the Defence Budget.. probably enough to repair the Vanguard submarine loitering without intent under a French submarine sous l'Atlantique .

Next step 2 carriers sunk without trace ?

Kerching !!!!! £2.5 Bn. more tax payers money dribbles away ..

Item 1. Local Government nest eggs hatching in very cold, very empty, Icelandic bank accounts Bye Bye £1Bn. (ish)

According to Governmen figures rleased today , at the end of 2008 125 local authorities in England (Scotland looks after their own via Holyrood) had outstanding investments of around £923.2 Mn in Icelandic banks. Guradian list Oct 2008 here eg : Nottingham city council: £41.6m invested in Glitnir, Landsbanki and Heritable • Transport for London: £40m deposit with Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander

At the time the Prime Minister told the BBC that the Icelandic authorities' handling of accounts had been "effectively illegal" and "completely unacceptable".

Local Government Minister, Cambridge educated John Healey. Communities and Local Government (National) Minister since June 2007 has laid an order today before Parliament Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 [S.I. No. 321] under the Local Government Act 2003.

The effect of this is to enable enable authorities to postpone ( ie : fiddle their accounts) to apparently remove any possible budgetary impact of this until 2010-11.

Without this help, ( he claims) they would have to make immediate provision for possible losses in their revenue budgets - with potentially serious impacts on council tax or services.

" ...I am taking this exceptional step that gives authorities some breathing space that should allow them to be clearer what sums, if any, are still at risk. Meanwhile the Government will continue its efforts to ensure that investors recover as much as possible from the banks." ... which on current evidence looks like zero. Still, we can put off the accounting for it until after the election.

UPDATE : Friday newrelease with more information links details of Councils affected etc.,

Item 2 : DfT gets into train leasing via Diesel Trains Limited Kerching £ 1.5 Bn.

The beautiful and talented, unelected and unelectable, yet adorable, godlike , Transport Minister, Lord Adonis (Andew to frineds on the scarlet benches of our House) has quietly announced today yet more tax payers funds for railway companies.

Subsequent to its mention in the Chancellor's pre-budget review in November 2008 a company, Diesel Trains Limited, has been set up which will see an extra £1bn dedicated to accelerating major transport projects.

Initially this involves around £300m for an additional 202 train carriages (say £1.5 MN each) to relieve overcrowding in the Thames Valley, around Bristol and on longer distances in northern England. The trains (which will be rented by the DfT) are set to enter service by 2012 subject to negotiations with train operators First Great Western, Trans-Pennine Express and Northern Rail.

The DfT is currently negotiating with other train operators for the purchase of 120 new carriages, in addition to these DMUs, and, over the next 12 months, would expect to see orders for a further 250 carriages. By the end of next year, orders for over 1,000 new carriages are likely to have been placed = about £1.5 Bn. (ish)

A successful bidder (Bombardier are the sole UK manufacturer left in UK ) to build the new train carriages is expected to be announced in April. The DfT makes clear that it does not intend to be a long-term owner of trains (Ho.Ho.Ho.) and the new company is not intended to compete with other rolling stock leasing companies.

These are the major leasing companies who will benefit from these plans... . (ROSCO's)

* Angel Trains - owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, and which claims to be the biggest rolling stock company in Britain, with some 5,000 assets... and is now owned by the taxpapyer anyway.
* HSBC Rail - a lessor of domestic passenger rolling stock, owned by HSBC.
* Porterbrook - owned by Abbey National, which leases some 3,500 locomotives, trains and freight wagons.

These were joined by 2 more companies in 2008:

* Sovereign Trains - a company that forms part of the same group as the open-access operators Grand Central and Grand Union. Sovereign Trains owns the rolling stock currently operated by Grand Central.(see pic)
* QW Rail Leasing - a joint venture between the National Australia Bank and SMBC Leasing and Finance to provide the EMU rolling stock to London Overground.

Which makes you wonder why the leasing companies don't just go out and buy the trains they need to meet the evident demand

PS : Pic is of a Grand Central DMU at York Station.

PPS : Meanwhile premium ticket and season ticket sales are declining.

If the US Treasury cannot sell US$2T of paper >end of 2010 then the Obama plan falls apart : Ditto UK

On January 22nd Tim Geithner in a written reply to Congress, in response to a question from Sen. Olympia Snowe, (R-Maine), that President Obama’s administration “backed by the conclusions of a broad range of economists - believes that China is manipulating its currency.”

Best estimates are that China bought US$374 billion of U.S. bonds in 2008. With the Obama administration proposing a deficit of more than $1 trillion in 2009, is it good policy to insult your best foreign customer?

Tim's comments were followed by a bond sell-of and Su Ning, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, countering that "these remarks are not only inconsistent with the facts, but they are misleading about the reasons for the financial crisis."

Yesterday Tim was testifying to Congress again. A Congressman asked a direct, simple question.

“Mr. Geithner can we sell the bonds necessary to fund this deficit? Are the Chinese still buying our bonds?”

Mr. Geithner responded with a full three minutes of non-answers to those questions. At the end of three minutes the Congressman repeated his questions.

For another two minutes Mr. Geithner ducked the questions.

If the US Treasury cannot sell about US$2T of paper up to the end of 2010 (at the current historical low rates), then the Obama plan falls apart. Period.

NB : Fleshy Gordon is in the same spot more or less, but his problems arise from selling UK Government securities in the next nine months to fund his banking payola, PFI bail out (which has only just started) etc.

Armageddon

If interest rates are (as widely rumoured) due to drop yet again in the morning - the job looks even harder.

Steve Bundred, (pic Nov200) chief executive of the Audit Commission,said in an article in the Times Feb 26th , "The measures that the government is taking to stimulate the economy may well be absolutely necessary but they involve unprecedented levels of public borrowing and public debt,"

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) say UK national debt rose to £703.4bn in January, or 47.8% of GDP the highest for 20 years - this will (say the ONS) increase sharply if the money being pumped into Britain's faltering banks was taken into account.

Mr Bundred warned that if borrowing pushed above 65% of GDP, there was a "distinct possibility" Britain could face "the Armageddon scenario most feared by the Treasury: that there will be insufficient lenders to match the planned level of borrowing".

PS : & UPDATE The 2008 Audit Commission report on the NHS included the first full year audit of payment by results bills, which found that up to £1bn of the bills hospital trusts have sent primary care trusts could be wrong.

UK Ex Ambasador / ex FCO xplains how Ministers sanctioned torture - OK if e don't use it as evidence ina court of law - othewise fine and dandy

This is a memo to Craig Murray http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/documents/Wood.pdf . you are advised to read the succinct , clear evidence about how Ministers (especiallly Jack Sraw) have consistently lied about participation in torture by the UK.Craig's blog 2nd March 2009 How Hard for the Truth to be Heard .... ain't that a fact.

Slump

Food prices up, Unemployment up, Government borrowing up, foreclosures up, House sales down, mortgage funding down, .... this is a slump..

Click BBC pic from today to enlarge and see where your 401K / Pension / Annuity has gone.

WSJ today The Obama Economy
As the Dow keeps dropping, the President is running out of people to blame.

"As 2009 opened, three weeks before Barack Obama took office, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9034 on January 2, its highest level since the autumn panic. Yesterday the Dow fell another 4.24% to 6763, for an overall decline of 25% in two months and to its lowest level since 1997. The dismaying message here is that President Obama's policies have become part of the economy's problem."

Lord Haw - Haw remembered as UK Gubment seeks to twist the law for popular support

Harriet Harm , Fleshy Gordon and the rest who are hounding Sir Fred and his magic pension pot by the uncertain majesty of the law remind us how Governments never hesitate to twist the law to stoke public sentiment.

Wiliam Joyce "Lord Haw Haw" was tried for treason at the end of the war and hanged. Despite the fact that he was born in America, whose parents had become US citizens. He had also become a German citizen when he made his vile broadcasts from Germany and so could not possibly be tried for treason. (Although a new Actof Treason 1945 was brought in a rush, to allow only one judge to sit to put things all square)

The quite reasonable arguments of his publicly provided solicitor and QC based on the above were brushed aside and the jury and the public were happy to see him hung.

The Attorney General, Sir Hartley Shawcross,(who went on to star in more dodgy legal business at Nuremberg and hangings) convinced the jury, that Joyce's possession of a British passport, obtained fraudulently my lying about his nationality to obtain it, entitled him (until it expired) to British diplomatic protection in Germany and therefore he owed allegiance to the King at the time he commenced working for the Germans.

When Joyce appealed to the House of Lords they refused his appeal and even dissenting Lord Porter said it was matter of fact (for the jury to determine) whether this technicality afforded him protection from the court not the highest court in the land.

As Joyce had been an MI5 spy in Germany (he had been sent there in the 30's by the curious "M" or Maxwell Knight a proto - fascist and friend of Oswald Mosley who was head of section B5(b) responsible for infiltrating agents and based in Dolphin Square ). Documents released in 2001 show clearly this was something they wished to conceal they freed his wife - who had been as active as he was - to the Belgians and had indeed previously connived at letting her"escape".

In another contemporary slant Mosley defected from the Conservatives to the Labour Party in protest at the widespread and well known habit of torturing Sinn Fein prisoners by the "Gentle Black & Tans".

Judging by much public comment there are many RBS shareholders who would happily see poor old Fred tortured - or even like Joyce , well hung.

On the day when world markets slumped to record levels it does relieve Washington bound Fleshy Gordon of the worries of saving the world yet again.

EU Czech Presidency propose a get - out clause for running dirty coal plants until 2020. UK Gubment will be delighted

A proposal is said to be ready for tabling by the European Union's Czech presidency as a result of an overhaul of EU acid rain laws.

Many ageing EU coal-fired power stations, could cut back operating hours and win an extension to their working lives. Reuters claim to have seen this detailed plan which could provide life extensions for UK 's antique plants (no new one plants for 30 years) to 2020.

Agrement is not expected soon or easily as current EU emissions laws introduced in 2001 force European power stations to fit costly equipment to remove sulfur and nitrogen oxides blamed for acid rain, but older plants could opt out provided that they close after 20,000 hours of running time or by 2015.

The Czech proposal would allow plants to further delay closure until 2020 if they limit themselves to 15,000 hours running time.

Environment ministers will meet next Monday to discuss an overhaul of those emissions controls in a new Industrial Emissions Directive AKA Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) directive.. Under the original law the UK has already opted out 13 plants, a total of some 34.3 Gw - the highest EU opt -out and about 15% of total UK capacity.

Poland has opted out 32% of its capacity, Spain 10% , France 5% and Romania 22 %.

Seventeen of the EU's 27 member states have chosen to close a total of 205 plants.

This relaxation will provide much needed capacity as the UK struggles with output from nuclear plant and supplies of gas to feed plants in winter due to inadequate planning to store gas.

Running coal plants intermittently will increase running costs, maintenance and more imported coal.

Re-inforcing the shambles of energy planning the last decade has been in the UK.

The danger is of course that any such relaxation will provide a backstop to allow for yet further delays and indecision by the masterminds of UK energy policy .

UK Government lobbied MEP's for change to law

This confirms a Guradian story 21st January 2009 thatthe UK government lobbied MEP's for this sort of chane and warned in a 4 page briefing paper (UK Concerns on the Proposed Recast Industrial Emissions (IPPC) Directives Provisions Concerning Large Combustion Plants) that the Guradian has seen "that electricity prices would increase by 20% if the proposed legislation isn't changed. It is also concerned that the new rules would threaten the security of the UK's electricity supply."

This story broke the day before the environment committee of the European Parliament voted on over 500 amendments tabled to the – the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) directive.

It appears that the Oxbridge double first mandarins at BERR have finally woken up .."The paper sounds a drastic warning that it may prove impossible to build and operate replacement plant by the end of 2015, saying this would "exacerbate the risks and shortfalls" outlined."