LIDS / NOMIS / OASys - The Home Office systems that are on the edge of collapse - are PA the dog to kick or should it be Sir John Gieve ? Again ?

If you go to the Ministry of Justice website you can, in their section on Offender Management read about "End-to-end offender management " which ,"ensures that offenders are offered the best possible opportunity to change their offending behaviour. "

To do this the (old) Home Office embarked on the The National Offender Management Information System (NOMIS) system ...this was designed to "replace ailing legacy case management and offender assessment applications in public prisons and probation."

Three public sector prisons already use the live system - the first in 2006 was HM Prison Albany on the Isle of Wight. That's the position today, same as it was when Rebecca Thomson wrote an article on January 9th this year in Computer Weekly Government scales down prison IT project after costs spiral

The C-Nomis system was to cost £234m. The National Association of Probation Officers estimated that the full national roll-out would eventually cost £950m.

Furthermore the roll-out to the probation service had to be abandoned, and probation officers will have read-only access to the files once the system is installed throughout the prison service. Ho.Ho.Ho.

Prisons minister, David Hanson, told MPs that a revised timetable for the roll out would be published in the spring. Three prisons are already using the system - which is what the Ministry of Justice website is still saying and the roll out timetable is unaccountably delayed.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of Napo, said, "The whole C-Nomis project appears to have been badly managed since its inception. It is arguably an outrageous waste of public money. As a consequence of the problems, probation staff will now have to use systems that are not fit for purpose." See also the story on the web based "Scope" anti terrorist system that is 5 years late.

The situation for probation officers was handily outlined in the House of Commons by David Hanson (Minister of State, Ministry of Justice) on 26th February in answer to a question from David Drew (Labour) ..

There are currently no arrangements in place for staff in probation areas to read or record offender management information directly to or from the prison NOMIS database.

Relevant offender information held on prison NOMIS is transferred between the prison and probation service staff using a system of jointly agreed offender management forms, secure e-mail and dedicated OM mailboxes.

The newly revised and deliverable NOMIS programme, will, through its constituent projects, provide a simple read-only database, that will allow staff in the community to have access to important information from prison NOMIS in support of offender management.

C-NOMIS was to replace Local Inmate Database System (Lids) , Tony Collins wrote in his CW Blog in March that ..."A study by the Prison Service's main IT supplier EDS has found that more than 30,000 (37%) offenders did not have a criminal records number, and more than 21,000 (26%) did not have a police national computer number. The database contains records with made-up surnames such as "self-harm", and 194 offenders with no surname at all. More than 1,500 records contain no nationality information. "

Later, on March 27th in his Blog he expanded with a piece " Errors in thousands of records in prisoner tracking system - internal EDS study" . This provides a lengthy and devastating anlysis of the problems with LIDS which Prison Service staff told him was due to be replaced in 1997.

Beyond the many problems of LIDS it also feeds further internal systems, data in Lids provides some raw data for the Offender Assessment and Sentence Management - OASys which is an aid to assess how likely an offender is to be reconvicted.

The Inmate Information System which helps control the bulging and ever expnding prison population of 83,000+ is based on overnight updates from the Lids system.

Transferring data from this crumbling system, must be a nightmare. Evidently the code must be ancient .. database fields designating nationality include the Soviet Union , dissolved in 1991, and for East and West Germany to be treated as separate countries as though the 1990 unificaton hadn't happened.

With such antique code it must be difficult to obtain people who can nurse it along - there is no career in honing up your skills in Fortran and Cobol.

In the context of this nightmare we have the fact that a PA consultant downloaded the complete LIDS database, which must have been to undertake some serious analysis of the accuracy and content of the curent system.

The Daily Telegraph today show that PA Consulting have received £240m for Government contracts in recent years including £100m by the Home Office for the ID card scheme and other work and £35m to work on new biometric visas for the Foreign Office.

Between 2004 and 2007 the company also picked up at least £31m from the Department for Work and Pensions, £20m from the Department for Communities and Local Government, £17m from the Ministry of Defence, £16m from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, £9m from the Department for Education and its successors and £3.5m from the Cabinet Office.

In short and from personal experience PA are a bright bunch with an impressive record.

The Daily Telegraph also disclose that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was last night under pressure to explain why the Home Office, which had known about the loss since Monday (18th), had not made it public for three days when a whistleblower intervened.

Which leaves one wondering how PA "lost" the memory stick and why a "whistelblower" so wanted the information in the public domain.

A member of staff has been suspended says a spokesman for PA Consulting, "We are collaborating with the Home Office very closely on this matter and we have no further comment to make."

The public have every reason to be concerned. Not that an unencrypted version of LIDS is on a memory stick.

The public and their MP's should be concerned that the overcrowded prisons, the understaffed Probation service, who have difficulty recruiting and keeping staff, are left to manage the prisons with such a failed system which is evidently, totally and completely "unfit for purpose".

It is evident that this is a problem, about which many people have been aware for a long time. The brou ha ha over the "lost" memory stick will of course deflect public attention away from the real problem, envelop discussion in a sub judice cloud of much beloved Home Office secrecy and provide the public with a dog to kick in the guise of overpaid fat cat consultants.

The origins of this shambles (to be fair to Jacqui Smith who inherited this toxic waste of public money) lies at the time when Sir John Gieve was Permanent Secretary, at the Home Office, enabling his boss to secure a visa for his mistress's au pair and producing accounts that the Auditor could not pass... who then went on to greater things overseeing the wreck of the Rock (costing at least £20 Bn, so far) whilst at the Bank of England from whence he has had an early bath.

Mosul's last stand and the Baathistas - Apocalypse real soon...maybe

Well informed Bernhard at Moon over Alabama says - "A new phase of the war over Iraq has started. "

It has been telegraphed for some time as Local news reports have been full of plans for Mosul and the numbers of troops heading there for battle for at least the last two / three weeks.

"The coming fight over Mosul will get bloody. As the Arab media will now be censored, it might take a while until we get a somewhat true picture of it.

Mosul is for some time now a hotbed of resistance activities in Iraq.

It is the capital of the Ninawa Governorate near to the Kurdish area in north Iraq. It lies on both sides of the Tigris with five bridges connection these parts. At least two of these bridges have earlier been under attack. Mosul has nearly 2,000,000 inhabitants.

Maliki has ordered a huge offensive against Mosul involving a three brigade size (10,000-15,000 troops) force of Iraqi government troops and U.S. support (likely one brigade - 3,500 troops).

The attack will start in the next few days."... More ..

The unlikely bulk of ex marine and child molester Scott Ritter looms - " Iraq's Tragic failure" at Truth dig .....

"If the president is free to pursue his policies, it could lead to direct military intervention in Iran by the United States prior to President Bush’s departure from office or, failing that, place his successor on the path toward military confrontation. " ... lay off it Scott you've been forecasting the Iranian invasion since June 2006.

However with his ear well close to CIA sources he does provide a timely reminder that the fag end of Saddam's Baathists have survived Bremer's brave boys and reports that in October 2007 the Iraqi Baath Party held its 13th conference, in which it formally certified one of Saddam’s vice presidents, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, as the supreme leader of the Sunni resistance in Iraq.... and then proceeds to punt this guy as the head honcho for Al Quaeda in Iraq (AQIQ).

He sees the coming strife in the North as a reflection of the Tet offensive.... watch this space.

"Saddam may be dead," says Scott, speaking for his paymasters, the CIA " but not so his plans for resistance. The massive security organizations which held sway over Iraq during his rule were never defeated, and never formally disbanded."

Are we to see the resurgence of the (rumoured dead) Nizar al Khazraji and his grisly pals (so popular with the CIA pre illegal invasion) ex Saddam's Information Minister Mohammed Sahaf, (not so Comical Ali) Health Minister Umid Mubarak and Foreign Minister Naji Sabri Al-Hadithi, 59 ... or even the arrival from retirement of Mr Aziz ?

PS : BBC World News briefing at 5.30 GMT says the Taliban have been re-branded for the Spring (Tet ?) offensive as the "Mujahadeen" and are gathering strength in Qetta on the Pak borders - they talk of 1.5 million madrassa studentswilling to fight for the legendary Muja.

USA Today 11/2/08 - Al-Qaeda tries to salvage image
ISN 10/2/08 - Questioning the Mosul offensive -"The military buildup in Mosul is part of a large-scale offensive involving 24,000 US soldiers and 130,000 Iraqi troops, designed to root out purported al-Qaida-linked militants in several provinces."
This Fucking War - No Local Allies in Wings for Mosul Fight - " Iraqi and American commanders are preparing for a prolonged - and possibly pivotal - fight against al-Qaida in Iraq in this vital northern hub. They are missing an essential tool used to uproot insurgents elsewhere: groups of local Sunni fighters - the so called Awakening Councils. "

"...creating ties with Sunni militia allies is a dangerous option. "It's just politically very delicate and the U.S. military would be in danger of breaking with its Kurdish allies if it went in that direction"
Captains Journal - Looming Battle for Mosul 10/2/08 see also Last Stand in Mosul 29/11/07

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

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

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

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

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

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

McCanns - Nemesis ?

Through cynicism , boredom, or mischief, the McCann's are now reaping the whirlwind of a disenchanted media. 100 days relentless and restless publicity in a tornado of endless travel, faultless make-up, carefully selected wardrobes, and even more carefully selected words .

From the Pope to the presposterous and dishonest Alberto Gonzalez, they have enlisted help, and received a million pounds as they have fed the sun -drenched press pack and paparazzi . Led skilfully, initially (for 4 unpaid weeks) by the senior Press Manager , Clarence Mitchell ,from No 10 Downing Street and the ever present family - and this includes the vocal relatives and their fellow travellers .

All this has now resulted in a rapid, nasty and brutal reversal in public sentiment and Police policy.

The Sunday Telegraph today repeats a story from the Portuguese newspaper, Sol, who allege that British sniffer dogs have picked up traces of the girl's corpse in the holiday apartment from where she disappeared on May 3. This, says the Telegraph means the McCanns face new distressing claims that their daughter may have been dead before they went to dinner on the evening of her disappearance.

An unnamed expert is quoted saying : "In order for the dogs to detect a body, this would have to stay in place where it died for a minimum of two hours." which they calculate means Madeleine died "some time between being collected from a creche at 6.30pm and when the couple left the flat for dinner at 8.30pm"

It also claimed that police sources believe Madeleine's body could have been hidden for two months before being moved.

Speculating about where the youngster's body might now be, an unnamed source said: "Perhaps dumped in the sea or buried."

Friends of the McCanns said the speculation was "ludicrous and utterly untrue". One friend said: "No one could seriously suggest that Kate or Gerry had anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance."

This speculation is also reported by This is London who also explain that the Mundo Real another Portuguese newspaper claimed yesterday that the couple may have moved a dead body five weeks later in their hired Renault Scenic car , hired five weeks after the disappearance, which they explained was being examined for , "traces of a corpse".

Could the Portuguese Police (the inheritors of the feared PIDE of Salazar) portrayed in a truly xenophobic fashion by the UK press as a bunch of stumbling, bumbling Inspector Cloiseau's be playing games ? Short of damning clues, possessors of unusable telephone traces, e- mails, could they be trying to flush out their quarry ?

Has the love affair with a pliant and supportive press come to an end? Have the Police, who in the UK have had remarkable success in using the media to pressurise liars, been playing a brutal, calculated and very public endgame ?

The results of the tests on what is evidently blood, found on the wall of Madeleine's room may now form the evidence to frame a deadly tale ... and they are due this week.

For all posts on this subject go here.

UPDATE Monday 13/8/07

Daily Telegraph reports today that the Jornal de Noticias reported that blood traces had also been found on the curtains of Mr and Mrs McCann's bedroom. This is also remarked on in an article in the Daily Mail. The Times reports that Robert Murat was / is to be dropped as the only official suspect .

UPDATE Tuesday 14/8/07

Daily Telegraph says the Mccann's hire car ws stripped down over 2 days by the police.

UPDATE Sunday 19th August 2007

The phrase "Could the Portuguese Police (the inheritors of the feared PIDE of Salazar)" used above has been queried ,with the distinction being made between the PIDE and the PJ. The PIDE officers did not disappear - nor their methods, both were inherited and subsumed into the new forces.

Remember that Lisbon was, during WWII the meeting ground for spies / agents from both the Allied forces and the Axis forces... there is a lengthy history of covert policing, with many, many connections. President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, President Aznar, and Prime Minister Barroso of Portugal (now EU President) met in the Azores on March 16th 2003 to declare (effectively) war on Iraq. " ....and a declarative statement on Iraq." said the White House press statement.... which of course re-inforces the tantalising question of what Clarence Mitchell was up to and why Gordon Brown found it necessary to talk to the Portuguese Police.

e.g Northern Ireland. MI5 now have swanky new £20Mn barracks and no doubt they will still be funding members of the republicans and the loyalists, whilst liasing with the Northern Ireland Police Force . Some of the senior members - Sir Ronnie Flanagan's cronies have advanced stages of very selective memory loss and have been retired but their ethos lives on.

q.v. the PIDE. and see here re MI5 / NI

To see all posts on this site on the Madeleine saga go here

JFK Airport - Flight 587 crashes in Queens -256 dead

In the turbulence falsely created by another supposed terrist plot, this time the bombing of subterranean jetfuel pipelines to JFK airport by bombers without bombs, it is worth remembering another terrist incident at JFK Airport just 2 months after 9/11.

The 2nd worst US air accident was on November 12th 2001, was when American Airlines Flt 587 Airbus A300-600 No N14053 mysteriously crashed in Queens, New York, shortly after takeoff from JFK airport, killing 265 people. See the site here on Google Maps.and CNN slide show of crash site pictures and more on Airliners net site of plane and crash site.

The official NTSB version in their report claims the A300, which took off on the same runway as a Japan Airlines Boeing 747, flew into the larger jet's wake, an area of very turbulent air. The co-pilot, Sten Molin, attempted to keep the plane upright with the rudder, but pushed the rudder too far to one side and then overcorrected too far to the other. The strength of the air flowing against the moving rudder stressed the aircraft's vertical stabilizer and eventually snapped it off entirely, causing the aircraft to lose control and crash. According to the NTSB, the crash would not have occurred but for the co-pilot's use of the rudder. NTSB Transcript of the Voice recorder (without a serial number) can be read here.

The aerodynamic loads placed on the vertical stabilizer due to the sideslip that resulted from the rudder movements were beyond the ultimate design strength of the vertical stabilizer.

"No law enforcement agencies provided any evidence that the accident may have stemmed from criminal conduct. The Board said that witnesses who reported observing the airplane on fire were most likely observing misting fuel released from broken fuel lines, a fire from the initial release of fuel or the effects of engine compressor surges" .... which is why no doubt the Chairman of the NTSB could say with certainty hours after the accident that no terrorist action was involved...even though the Hudson tunnels were closed, UN locked down and the Empire State Building evacuated.

There is no memorial to the victims at the site of the crash, (filled in in 7 days) which has now had houses rebuilt on it.A US$8.5 memorial site should be finished by fall this year at the junction of Beach Road and the ocean, including 2 comfort stations.

Todd Wissing is an Airbus A300-600 First Officer and in evidence to the much stalled enquiry said..."Finally, a fellow pilot of mine, points this out regarding wake turbulence, and he says 'if you consider all the places in the world where aircraft take off that are behind other aircraft and you consider that these airplanes have been taking off one behind the other for 50 years…large commercial airplanes…and you consider that Kennedy Airport is probably one of the best airports in the world with the most highly trained air traffic controllers…and you consider what's being speculated here about over-control in reaction to a wake turbulence event that is likely felt a lot by pilots, and I certainly have felt it many times, and you consider what we're being asked to believe that these pilots mis-controlled this airplane and caused structural damage…and go back 50 years [and see that this] has never happened before…it seems to us that they [NTSB] still need to do some work."

No Airbuses were re-called, none grounded and no statements have been made about the accident by Airbus. Senator Schumer called for a re-opening of the enquiry in April 2005 "“The safety and reliability of the [Airbus] rudders have come into question,” he said. “The NTSB owes it to the many families of the victims of the crash [of AA 587] and to the traveling public to find out whether traveling on those planes is dangerous.” Nothing happened.

Huge chunks of the plane were recovered (NTSB photos, engines etc) as were all 256 bodies.

Prison Planet has more information ... start here and watch the video of an eyewitness fireman who saw an on board explosion and subsequent fire before the plane split up and crashed. In August 2004 a supposed Al-Qaeda operative told Canadian intelligence that a Montreal man who trained in Afghanistan alongside the 9/11 hijackers was responsible for the crash. Rense had another theory about sabotage.

BBC "Horizon"showed a fillum on Thursday 8th May 2003, in which blame was fairly put on Airbus construction and over use of rudder pedals by American Airlines pilots.

Even today some American Airlines pilots have their doubts about the lightweight Airbus construction method. They believe that traditional metal structures are easier to check for early signs of wear, pointing to another A300 thought to have flown with tailfin damage for four years after a visual inspection had failed to spot anything. (American Airlines checked its entire A300 fleet for tailfin damage after the November 2001 disaster. It was given the all clear.)

Which is why everyone is looking to see how the all composite Boeing 787 Dreamliner performs in service.

MaddyMania

SAFETY concerns have arisen over a low fence next to a Southampton school in light of the abduction of Madeleine McCann in Portugal.

Bishop of the Algarve - D. Manuel Neto Quintas appealed to Madeleine's abductor to phone him to arrange Madeleine's return - but he failed to supply a phone number.

"Madeleine McCann and the Psychic Tracker"
One of the UK’s most talented pyschic trackers, Amanda Hart, travelled to Portugal in an attempt to use her powers to help locate the missing toddler.

"Maddy has had her hair changed to look more like a young boy.There is a blonde woman and 2 men involved. There is a dog around them - like a rotweiler because of the teeth. Keep getting the guard dog coming up. It is used as a warning to alert people are approaching the property she’s at.There is arguing amongst the adults....blah..blah"

Clarence Mitchell was a BBC Reporter left the Beeb for an important job with HM Government. According to this, he is now the director of the Media Monitoring Unit ***within the Central Office of Information(COI). Tony Hatfield has a snap of him (see pic) with an official looking tag round his neck in the company of Dr. McCann and is evidently getting involved .....?

Madeleine's Picture Lights Up Marble Arch
An image of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann has been projected onto London's Marble Arch ahead of today's International Missing Children's Day. (With a Video from Sky)

Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading developed an implantable RF chip that could tell a computer where he or she was at any time - after the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman he was swamped with people who wanted to chip their children. Now he has (it says here) been bombarded with e-mails over the past few days from parents desperate to keep tabs on their children. As we talk, another e-mail drops into his inbox from a mother of two young children who says that she is deeply anxious about Madeleine’s disappearance and wants to know more about the chip technology.

From 666 Mark of the Beast - A website dedicated to the study of the End Times, the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the Prophecies in Revelation.

"All Aboard the Gravy Train" - Angry Harry has a rant about it all.

***

"Based in the Cabinet Office in Whitehall, our team of professionals monitor regional, national and international media, covering the main media outlets. These include print, terrestrial TV news bulletins, news channels, radio, websites, wire services and a selection of foreign language media.

The information gathered is then analysed, distilled and delivered to our clients in a format that is easy to understand and access – giving them a comprehensive view of how their stories fit into the wider government agenda." read more of the work of this fascinating Government unit.

£313,091.17 in the Find Madeleine Fund to date

Tony Hatfield in his Retired Ramblings has done some digging and uncovered some fascinating information about the "Find Madeleine" fund (The Official Website to find Madeleine McCann). Although the website gives a companyname "Madeleine's Fund :leaving No Stone Unturned Limited, Registration number (6248215 ) a search against that number at Companies House returns

Name & Registered Office:
MADELEINE'S FUND: LEAVING NO STONE UNTURNED LIMITED
2/6 CANNON STREET
LONDON
EC4M 6YH
Company No. 06248215

Status: Active Date of Incorporation: 15/05/2007

It appears the Fund is a Company Limited by Guarantee and that an application for charitable status has been refused. The Company objectives are listed at length on Tony's site.

The website stated that the current balance of the fund at mid day 25th May 2007 was £313,091.17. which doesn't include money taken over the counters of NatWest Bank & Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), along with the donations made by cheque, which have not yet hit the account and that the site had received over 125 Million hits.

The company running the website are Infohost which appears to be run by Calum and Cameron McRae and is Ullapool based (?) . They list 40 odd clients but their website returns "Still in development " for New Projects and News tabs.

Clicking a banner on the Home Page of Infohost for Find Madeleine with the URL www.bringmadeleinehome.com re-directs you to the Find Madeleine website.

Whois on www.bringmadeleinehome.com returns

Registrant:
Madeleine's Fund Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited
2-6 Cannon Street
London, London EC4M 6YH
GB

Domain name: BRINGMADELEINEHOME.COM

Administrative Contact:
MacRae, Cameron  cameron@infohost.co.uk
27 Pulteney Street
Ullapool, Highland IV1 1UP
GB
+441854612821

Whois on www.findmadeleine.com returns

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: FINDMADELEINE.COM
Created on: 10-May-07
Expires on: 10-May-08
Last Updated on:

Administrative Contact:
Private, Registration FINDMADELEINE.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599 Fax -- (480) 624-2599

Contaminated petrol - mystery deepens at Greenergy / Harvest / Vopak - is 5% ethanol component contamination the cause ?

This statement appeared on the Greenergy website 2 nd March 2007 21.00hrsi.e 5 days ago.

In the last hour we have been notified of the results of independent tests on a component that we understand was purchased and used in the production of unleaded petrol by Harvest Energy, the fuel producer that shares our final delivery tanks at the Vopak terminal in West Thurrock. The tests showed excess levels of silicon. We understand Vopak have isolated the component in question.We have asked Harvest Energy to clarify the situation urgently and in the interests of all concerned motorists.

Tesco said in newspaper advertisements yesterday

"We have traced the problem to a batch of unleaded fuel from a storage facility used by one of our suppliers in Essex."

We have asked Harvest Energy to clarify the situation urgently and in the interests of all
concerned motorists.

Readers are invited to checkout Royal Society of Chemistry
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/March/02030702.asp

The Chemistry World Weblog.
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/?p=405

We have asked Harvest Energy to clarify the situation urgently and in the interests of all
concerned motorists.

So 5 days ago "a component that we understand was purchased and used in the production of unleaded petrol by Harvest Energy," was identified. Nobody seems anxious to tell us what it was and how (and when) it got there. How very odd. If you want more search this site for "Greenergy"

Details of a typical Food grade Antifoaming agent used in fermentation here
......"is a translucent, viscous, pseudoplastic compound of polydimethylsiloxane fluid and silica filler. It is tasteless with a slight, but not unpleasant odour. Silica content: 6%

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the most widely used silicon-based organic polymer. It is optically clear, and is generally considered to be inert, non-toxic and non-flammable. PDMS has been assigned CAS number 63148-62-9, and is occasionally called dimethicone. It is one of several types of silicone oil (polymerized siloxane). It is assigned the E number E900 as a food additive.

Fermentation of Beet molasses for ethanol at british Sugar details here at ICBD.

Where are they now ? No 234 The enigma of Esmail Gamasai

Esmail Gamasai was born in Iran 44 years ago, a Shia Muslim, he was educated in Britain and became a UK citizen in 1986 and in 1997 changed his name to Daniel James. He had been a territorial soldier for 19 years and was approached in April 2005 to be a Farsi (mother tongue) interpreter. He suffered 2 strokes and on recovery was deployed by the Army in March 2006.

This resulted in him interpreting for Gen David Richards, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan and one of the most senior officers in the British Army who has been removed and replaced after 9 months in post.

Esmail (Dan) was arrested on Dec 18 on his return to the UK and was remanded to the Old Bailey under the 1911 Official Secrets Act. He was charged that on Nov 2 he "communicated information calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy".

The Attorney General's permission is required before a prosecution can proceed under the Official Secrets Act. That has not been granted to date. When he appeared in court on January 12th the prosecution requested an adjournment to obtain the Attorney General's consent for the prosecution.

Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said at the time James would appear at the court to enter a plea on June 15 A trial lasting 3 months might take place in January 2008.

So everyone is waiting for the Attorney General 57 year old very worried looking Baron Goldsmith of Allerton who has got rather a lot on his plate presently especially after writing on March 17 2003,to the Government stating that the use of force in Iraq was lawful. Those with a long memory will recall that it resulted in the precipitate resignation of Elizabeth Wilmshurst, deputy legal adviser to the Foreign Office, on 20 March 2003 whose letter of resignation can now be found @ BBC and is reporduced here for those who may not have seen it.

A minute dated 18 March 2003 from Elizabeth Wilmshurst (Deputy Legal Adviser) to Michael Wood (The Legal Adviser), copied to the Private Secretary, the Private Secretary to the Permanent Under-Secretary, Alan Charlton (Director Personnel) and Andrew Patrick (Press Office):

1. I regret that I cannot agree that it is lawful to use force against Iraq without a second Security Council resolution to revive the authorisation given in SCR 678. I do not need to set out my reasoning; you are aware of it.

[The following italicised section was removed by the Foreign Office but later obtained by Channel 4 News]

My views accord with the advice that has been given consistently in this office before and after the adoption of UN security council resolution 1441 and with what the attorney general gave us to understand was his view prior to his letter of 7 March. (The view expressed in that letter has of course changed again into what is now the official line.)

I cannot in conscience go along with advice - within the Office or to the public or Parliament - which asserts the legitimacy of military action without such a resolution, particularly since an unlawful use of force on such a scale amounts to the crime of aggression; nor can I agree with such action in circumstances which are so detrimental to the international order and the rule of law.

2. I therefore need to leave the Office: my views on the legitimacy of the action in Iraq would not make it possible for me to continue my role as a Deputy Legal Adviser or my work more generally.

For example in the context of the International Criminal Court, negotiations on the crime of aggression begin again this year.

I am therefore discussing with Alan Charlton whether I may take approved early retirement. In case that is not possible this letter should be taken as constituting notice of my resignation.

3. I joined the Office in 1974. It has been a privilege to work here. I leave with very great sadness.

Baron Goldsmith's views on what Corporal Daniel James .. and maybe General Richards were up to in Afghanistan are awaited with a great deal of interest.

PS Michael Wood was the arsehole and grandee at the FCO who told Craig Murray that torturing people was OK but you couldn't use the evidence obtained in court - As if. Carif also says he was the only man in the FCO who could drink him under the table and also described him as "almost effeminate" Murder in Samarkand Page 162

21/7 - out of their heads ?

It is too soon to draw conclusions. People who set out with bombs to blow people up on empty tubes trains,and buses must have a peculiar mind set. An examination of comments provided to the jury suggests that thse guys were high - qat ?

Who knows yet - but there was something very odd going down that day, and it is difficult to believe these guys were terrists.

Hussein Osman

“He was lying on the floor with his arms outstretched. He was just dazed, like he couldn't believe he was there, lying on his back.

“My original thought was he might have been dazed, he was clearly shocked, in a state of confusion. He was somebody who wasn’t fully in control of what had just happened.”

I was just a few feet from him but he was completely expressionless. He made no eye contact

When Osman stepped off the bus, he was nearly run over thrice by driver Anne Moore, the court heard.

"He didn't seem to be aware of what he was doing, he seemed out of it," she said. I braked heavily to avoid hitting him."

"He was in a position like Jesus when nailed to the cross, with his arms out to the sides."

Ramzi Mohammed

Mohammed muttered "This is wrong, this is wrong" and said innocently replied "this is bread".

Ramzi dropped the rucksack to the ground and pointed at it repeatedly, pretending he had no idea what was happening.

Mohammed said: ‘What’s the matter? It was wasn’t me, it was that,’ pointing to the rucksack. He placed the rucksack on the floor of the carriage.

Muktar Ibrahim

"The way this particular man boarded the bus made him stand out. Most passengers who have a pass don't make eye contact but this man in question was waving his bus pass in a peculiar manner and he made staring eye contact with me."

That uniquitous and well informed commentator Anon. adds 9.00 am today

Another oddity. Remember that picture on the news, the one that looked like a pile of yellow vomit? The one that had the nails in it? Yes? Well, did you notice that the nails were in plastic bags? Ever wondered why? Well, if you use hydrogen peroxide on a chemical plant, part of your hazard and operability study tells you that you have to keep the hydrogen peroxide away from non-passivated iron. The iron causes a catalytic decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide. Now, I know that 'cos I'm a PhD chemist who has made products on chemical plants using hydrogen peroxide. So, how did they know that?

Indeed. Excellent pictures from SKY here on video select FULL SCREEN for best views

Interestingly ..."The jury was told that for safety reasons most of the materials recovered from the alleged attack were destroyed."