Danes get ready to flee Iraq

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaking at his weekly press conference on Tuesday said the situation in Iraq was 'unsatisfactory' although the goal (?) remains the same..

Calling the situation in Iraq 'unsatisfactory', Rasmussen suggested a change of course for the country's participation in the military coalition which Mogens LyketoftLeader of the opposition Social Democrat Party (SD) said at the time of the spring parliamentary elections last year, in a TV debate ...

“I am in favour of the withdrawal of our contingent at the end of its mandate at the beginning of June (2005) since we cannot continue to take part in something that many Iraqi’s consider to be an army of occupation,”… “Denmark will never take part in a war against Iraq that the Secretary General of the UN qualified as illegal. We shall never commit the same error that Anders Fogh Rasmussen committed by entering a war without the UN’s mandate and thereby breaking up European cohesion. We shall not follow the USA blindly as the present government has done. We shall be a critical ally,”

Denmark has had 500 hundred troops stationed in Basra since the early phase of the occupation, which Parliament agreed to extend their mandate to remain there until summer 2007, as public support for Danish involvement and continued presence has waned. (Yes! Their Parliament get to vote on the issue!)

The Danish State and it's people have also been heavily criticised world wide about the publication of deliberately offensive anti-Muslim cartoons - see pic of sacking of the Danish Embassy in Teheran in February 2006 - some Danish companies have also lost a huge amount of sales / profits in the Middle East and Indonesia. Ambassadors in Iran , Syria and Indonesia were recalled.

Rasmussen, shadow boxed on the shape of Denmark's military presence , which he said could take on "a new form" before an actual withdrawal.

'We can be there, but in a more retracted position (?), from which we assist the Iraqi government in situations where it is especially necessary.'

WTF ?

He said any development of a new strategy in Iraq should build on a dialogue with the coalition partners and repeated a call for an international conference that would explore how best reforms can be carried out in Iraq.

Part of the dialogue with the Coalition has included the decision on August 30th 2005 when the Central Intelligence Agency were told that they can no longer use Danish airspace for flights to transport suspected terrorists around the world. Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller said the Danish government has told the United States that it is opposed to the unauthorized flights.

Møller had originally denied that the government had knowledge of transports taking place in Danish airspace that violate “international conventions.”

All this sounds like .... how can we slip through the door in Iraq marked exit as gracefully as possible ?

Bush the Infallible, the Immaculate... does he have divine guidance ?

President Bush, simply ignores the wishes of the elected representatives whenever he wants, either adding signature clauses to bills, undertaking breathtaking breaches of the constitution - use of torture, breach of habeus corpus, making war as he wishes, warrantelss wiretapping and electronic surveillance - Jeffersonian participatory democracy is for export, not home consumption with this bone head.

He is at it again ... Just as he appointed John Bolton to the post of UN Ambassador utilising the Senate recess to deliberately appoint him. His excellency King George has now appointed Richard Stickler to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration in deliberate defiance of the Senate, which he is allowed to do without Senate approval , when Congress is out of session.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was forced to cancel a vote on Stickler's confirmation last June due the lack of Senate support for Stickler's nomination. Then in August, in an unprecedented action, the Senate returned Stickler's nomination to the White House before it went on break. But refusing to take the hint, the President renominated Stickler at the beginning of September. The Senate unamused and unmoved by this direct confrontation on their authroity again returned the nomination to the White House.

Senators Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd have led the opposition to Stickler, citing his industry background and the lack of commitment to MSHA reform that he displayed at his confirmation hearing. The AFL-CIO, United Mine Workers of America, United Steelworkers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the International Brothers of Boilermakers have all called on Bush to withdraw the nomination.

Kennedy called for a new nominee:

“We are in the midst of a mine safety crisis — 58 miners have already died this year, more than any year since 2002.

Thirty-eight coal miners and 20 metal/non-metal miners have died in the workplace this year which began with the tragic January 2 Sago Mine disaster in which 12 coal miners died."

On his website Senator Kennedy said of Stickler

"Mr. Stickler has spent the overwhelming part of his career as a coal industry executive, focused on profits and production, not on worker safety. In fact, mines where he was in charge had injury rates far above the national average.... During his tenure as head of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Deep Mine Safety, he was well known for granting exceptions from safety rules for mining companies. He even bent critical rules designed to prevent mien fires on conveyor belts and to guarantee that miners could reach safe places to protect themselves from runaway railcars......

...... read on at the website how mining company interests were protected and promoted

Bush as ever , was not listening. His nominee, with an appalling record of overseeing mines with incredibly poor safety records stood for nothing.. nobody was going to tell George Bush what to do. Fuck the Senate - they only represent the people. It was a dialogue of the deaf on his side.

The full story is at the excellent (must read) ;"Confined Space News and Commentary on Workplace Health & Safety, Labor and Politics " and posted last week.

Jeffersonian participatory democracy at work

On yer chest ...



On yer bumper (why do repair shops call them fenders ?)

These and other exciting ways to discourage Republicans and cover your bumper or your chest at www.topplebush.com plus vast library of humorous pics, cartoons, and access to articles about the lies, deceit, dishonesty, crooks, scumbags and snake oil salesmen of the Bush Administration. (both)

Novozymes / Abegnoa - Biofuels market expanding worldwide

Lord Patel has frequently directed his readers to the premier position that Novozymes (and Abegnoa) have in supplying essential enzymes for preparation of biomass feedstocks for fermentation to produce ethanol for fuel for internal combustion engines either raw or mixed with mineral based fuels.

Novozyme shares (NZYM B and the ID code/ISIN DK0010272129) quoted in Copenhagen jumped 20 DKK nearly 5% today on release of Q1 2006 figures which show ;

1. Sales rose by 11% ,Operating profit rose by 14% and operating profit margin was up to 19.2%, compared with 18.6% in 2005

2. Earnings per share (diluted) rose by 5% to DKK 2.97.

Readers are encouraged to read a helpful essay on their website about bio-fuels and Novozymes role as a major supplier to world wide growth in producing so called bio-fuels by Larry Peckous, a principal scientist in Customer Solutions at Novozymes in Franklinton, USA.

"Where will fuel ethanol plants pop up next?"

Briefly ;

Europe

Whilst maize (corn) is a the most widely used ethanol feedstock in the USA, in Europe other traditional grains are used and Novozyme have produced Viscozyme® Wheat, Viscozyme Barley and Viscozyme Rye for more Euro specific cereals.

The EU has set targets of 5.75% of energy consumption in the transport sector by 2010 and 20% by 2020. Sweden, Germany, France and Spain are among the European countries that have come furthest towards meeting the targets.

10 fuel ethanol plants where enzymes are used in the process are in production , 7 use wheat, 2 use rye and 1 uses barley. Many large-scale dedicated fuel ethanol plants planned or under construction, which takes some 18 months.

The major player and bio-fuel pioneer is Abengoa, a Spanish company will operate the first plant (180 MN Euro investment) using maize (plus wine alcohol) is under construction (May '06) at Lacq in the south of France capable of producing 200,000 tons of fuel ethanol per year by 2008. The French Government having awarded an overall tax relief on 100,000 tons. Abengoa Bioenergy own 56 % of the operators AB Bioenergy France and the remaining shares are held by Aquitaine Industrie Innovations, Euralis, Etablissements Lacadée, Lur Berri, Maïsadour, Vivadour and Agpm.

Abengoa S.A. is a listed company based in Seville ((ABG.MC) Euro 22.00 close today up from Euro 13.35 over last year = 65%), they have 3 bioethanol facilities in Spain - Ecocarburantes Españoles and Bioetanol Galicia, and Biocarburantes de Castilla y Leon - with an overall installed capacity of 550 million liters per year and export ethanol.

Abengoa Bioenergy is also the fifth largest ethanol producer in the United States with an installed capacity of 365 million liters. (i.e 1 Mn litres per day.) As starch to ethanol conversion efficiencies have improved, Abengoa have lead in the utilisation of soluble co-products (i.e high protein biomass wastes) as animal feedstock has also been improved so improving the unvestment return on installed plants.

Eastern Europe

Interest in biofuels is growing in Eastern Europe , there is a plant under construction in Slovakia. Projects are under consideration in Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Ukraine, as well as in oil rich Kazakhstan and in Russia.

South Africa

Construction started on the first (of seven planned) maize based plant South Africa in May this year which will use surplus food capacity.... as millions starve in Zimbabwe.

Australia

Manildra are the largest ethanol producers with their Nowra plant in NSW using wheat and sorghum. two other Queensland plants in Queensalnd use Molasses from the sugar industry. Total production is an annual 90 million litres.

The Australian federal government’s target for 2010 is a production of 350 million litres. Four new plants are planned in Australia to process wheat and sorghum.

Manildra US produces industrial alcohols at its facility in Hamburg, IA. USA.

China

China leads Asia in etahnol production with an output of 3.8 billion litres in 2005 from 4 maize based plants and there are plans for rice straw biomass plants.

In June 2006, Novozymes announced a three-year cooperation agreement with CRAC (China Resources Alcohol Corporation) ( See Lord Patel's report ) to conduct research into developing this new technology based on the enzymatic conversion of cellulose.

Thailand

The fastest emerging market for fuel ethanol in Asia is Thailand. The Thai government’s goal is to use ethanol to replace the additive MTBE in gasoline.

The Gubment have a fuel excise tax exemption for ethanol and an income tax waiver for investors for the first eight years. Current plans are for 1 million litres of fuel ethanol per day in 2006 2011 target of 3 Mmn litres p, day) , their are 2 cassava root plants and 4 using using molasses. A third cassava plant will come in stream in December 2006.

Licences have been granted for building at least 14 plants using molasses and four new plants using cassava.

High gravity fermentation

There is increasing interest in so called high gravity fermentation. This technology allows less water to be used and as a result less energy is needed for cooling, heating and evaporation which means more compact, less costly plants. Where Novozyme have especial expertise)

BNP Bombers - DA-Notice Press-Gubment collusion works smoothly to supress comment

The Mystery continues. BNP members Robert Cottage, and David Jackson, (now in custody) attended a pre-trial hearing at Preston Crown Court yesterday (24/12) on charges under the Explosives Act and a trial date has been set at Manchester Crown Court of 12 th February 2007.

These bald facts have not been published by any National or Local printed press to date, but have appeared online at BBC, ITV, and the International Herald Tribune carries a very brief online AP report. The Socialist Worker simply publishes the facts.
Libcom.org report the hearing with a comment ....

"Left-wing activists who contacted various media outlets to question the blackout were told by the BBC that "editorial staff always have more news reports than can be fitted into the time available" and that insufficient room was available to publish the story more widely." Pic Jude Abbott of Chumbawumba at Menwith Hill June 2005 advertsing white male terrist.

Currently there are 5 Standing Defence Advisory Notices (DA-Notices which supersede the old D-Notice) in effect which are issued by the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee, (website - which is well worth a visit) adherence to which is voluntary. ( Note that The (book) Publishers Association choose not to be represented , but their members use the DA-Notice system. Links have also been established with the UK Internet Service Providers Association.)

The operation of the DA Notice System is lucidly described by the current Secretary to the Committee, Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Vallance in a speech he gave to the 4th International Conference for Information Commissioners 23 May 2006 - SECRECY VS SECURITY; THE JIGSAW EFFECT. (see website)

Anybody seeking to understand how this system works is well advised to very carefully read and understand what he says. It is worth noting that ;

Stressing that the system is voluntary he disengeniously argues,

"unsupported by any form of legal sanction." he points out that whilst the Government guards secrets ;" .....it is the media that plays the decisive role. It is ultimately they who will judge whether or not, and how widely, information is published or broadcast, and in reaching that decision they face balancing their own rights and interests against their wider societal duties and obligations."

He continues to claim that the DA-Notice system ...

" has delivered a great deal in the protection of our national security simply because it accepts that media-government relations in this area at least must be based on a partnership rather being automatically adversarial."

He claims in a typically class ridden British appeal , "we are all in the same boat" appeal for social cohesion, that this incestuous dialogue ...

"fosters collective responsibility for something of key importance to us all, and it upholds the absolute right of the media to breach the established guidelines without the threat of legal sanction if they judge at any time that the arrangement is being exploited or that a crucial principle is being risked."

Evidently it is impossible to suppress the appearance of people in Court on charges under the Explosives Act in remote Burnley or Preston (way oooop North!) , but it is curious that there has not been a single word of analysis, political comment, or contextual reference. This self imposed purdah is certainly not accidental by the major UK News outlets, whilst the BBC / ITV online sites carry the bald facts, the story of the BNP Bombers has not had an airing on any UK Radio / TV program (unless you know different!) or newspaper / magazine . The lesson is clear , good solid class riddled belief in the status quo and the suppression of any suggestion that it is under threat.

There is clearly a conspiracy of silence, a mutual and carefully orchestrated omerta which is scrupulously observed by a willing and obedient press. So far this stately dance continues - it is therefore both fascinating and revealing of the "official" mind and their their understanding of the public perception of "secrecy" and the State.

For example consider the concluding remarks the Secretary made to the Soho Writers' Festival Civil Liberties Panel 19th November 2002 (on the D Notice website) which displays both a Metropolitan arrogance and the hauteur of an establsihed, civil and very disodedient servant of the public.


"So where does that leave official secrecy? Even before September 11 last year, we all saw how the Freedom of Information Act had been watered down behind the scenes, and implementation postponed. You may not have seen, but I can assure you it is so, that the way in which Ministries now treat Data Protection Act requests is also not as open-handed as when it first came into force. And to end with the oldest Act in question, the current version of Official Secrets Act is now effectively 14 years old.

It was written in a vastly different world, still in the Cold War era, and for a public who then had rather different attitudes to many aspects of what can loosely be described as human rights. Many other aspects of British and international life have also changed in the intervening years, including the style of our government, the international legal framework, and the role of the media, and of course there is the impact of the internet on matters of secrecy. It seems logical therefore to me that, sooner rather than later, the Official Secrets Act will need to be looked at again.

However, this, and other aspects of greater openness, have no high political or bureaucratic priority, nor are the media themselves, individually or collectively, very consistent in pressing for greater openness. Nor, in the view of many in Westminster, Whitehall and Fleet Street, does anyone in the British public beyond the M25 have much interest in any of this. Personally I disagree strongly with such a cynical view. But I am not sure what it will be that will light the blue touch-paper of the rocket of reform."


It will be fascinating to see how the Press reporting is muzzled (or modified) when the trial reaches Manchester in February next year. The address by the D Notice Committee Secretary in 2002 had this illuminating "guidance" on terminology .."The D-Notices do not, for example, consider even the most violent of the current Animal Liberation Front activists to be terrorists.". qv the BBC has described the Northern Irish IRA as "terrorists", but describes Palestinian armed groups as "militants" to this day. The BBC guidelines on the use of the word terrorist (Microsoft Word .doc)are well worth reading as is the Guradian style guide for using the word.

i.e Muslim youths who make ill considered remarks on their mobiles about Man U are "terrists" but middle aged white men , who assemble rocket launchers, chemical precursors to explosive materials, etc., Internet based recipes for same, MOD Bio-warfare kit, etc., are clearly just enthusiastic (if misguided) firework enthusiasts chargeable under the Explosives Act.

For reference the FBI definition is ...Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. e.g invading Iraq, Lebanon etc.,

Explosives news from Burnley

Burnley has it's share of homemade explosive devices.

The BBC reported on the 6th April 2006 that a boy John J Ashley of Gordon Street, Worsthorne,had been hurt when he picked up a device in a yard (private property)of the Worsthorne Mini Skip Company in Cross Street near his home at approximately 10 pm. which exploded ....(Lancs Police pic of device after explosion - Lancs Telegraph report 8th April 2006)
Sun report
The boy's father Phil said: "I heard [a] bang and then I heard JJ screaming... He came running in and there was blood everywhere . He was kept overnight at Wythenshawe Hospital and his severely damaged hand (including a cut artery) required 3 hours of surgery. It is hoped he will regain the use of three of his fingers but will require further platsic surgery and sking grafts. (Burnley Express report 11th April 2006)

A second 3 foot long device was found nearby, which police claim a shot gun cartridge inserted in the device exploded when an attached string was pulled or snagged. It appeared to the Police to be some form of scaring device or booby trap to keep out trespassers.

Army and Bomb disposal squads were called out and the area searched.

Peter Smith, 49, and Jack Clarkson, 61, both of Burnley, (skip company owner) were charged with possession of a prohibited weapon also of Burnley, Derek Kokocinski, 55, is charged with making the device. They appeared at Burnley Magistrates' Court on 26 May 2006.

The 3 white defendents appeared again today at Burnley Crown Court (they are not in custody) to register a plea. Lawyers for the defence claimed that the device was not a firearm, a claim supported by a technical witness brandishing a report, and that the defence and prosecution should consult to establish the nature of the device before proceeding. The matter will be adjourned until both sides can agree.

The following points appear of interest ;

1. An explosive device injures a member of the public at random, manufactured to injure (BBC pic) - 6 months after the event the Police / CPS cannot be certain that the device is a "firearm" and therefore prosecution for manufacturing / ownership of a firearm is delayed and may fail.

2. The 3 white defendents have not been remanded, there are no charges under the various Terrorism Acts, and associated recent legislation.

3. Should the defendents claim succeed, it appears that the Police / CPS / Anti Terror Brigade have no legislation under which they can charge the 3 - resulting in their not being charged.

PS. There is no news on the Burnley BNP Bombers who were expected in Court this week..DOH .. as Antagonist points out the appearance was at PRESTON Crown Court and this is covered by BBC and ITV news reports - simply that they will appear for trial 12 February 2007 at MANCHESTER Crown Court. NO application for bail was made.

ON balance glad to cover the Burnley case - serendipity.

Neo-cons vanish up their own arsehole - Official

The Lobby, Unmasked by Justin Raimondo at Antiwar.com
The AIPAC spy scandal has many tentacles

"The "good" ship Neocon is a pirate vessel, one that brazenly hoists the Jolly Roger and takes no prisoners: it patrols the sea-lanes in search of victims and, when it finds them, pounces without mercy or hesitation. Up until now, it has evaded all attempts to corner and sink it, and its success is due, in no small part, to its many allies and well-wishers onshore. Yet for those of us who see this crew as a prime candidate for sinking, the neocons' comeuppance on account of the collapse of the Iraq campaign is hardly enough. Their disgrace, properly conceived, has barely begun."

Read on ... this superb article unmasking the neocons, the Israeli Lobby (which doesn't exist) , AIPAC and the authors of of the Great Iraq Disaster, who are taking refuge behind all sorts of rationalizations: we didn't have enough troops, our strategy isn't aggressive and destructive enough, the war is being lost in the hearts and minds of the American people and not on the battlefields of Iraq, the invasion was launched while the moon was in Pisces – the neocons are nothing if not inventive when engaged in the process of covering their asses....

Superb. Keep a copy for your grandchildren! Read it NOW

BNP Bombers fail to appear

No appearance of the BNP Bombers in Burnley Magistrates Court or the Crown Court today but I found this pavement advice outside the Magistrates Courts.

Network claims Tactical nuke went up in October 11th Falcon Base Camp.

From JUS Global Islamic Media Aliance Video (Arabic commentary) - On October 11, 2006, a Tactical Nuclear Device appears to have exploded when fire broke out in an ammunition dump at Camp Falcon (Camp Al-Saqr) 8 miles outside Baghdad. See photos here.

Video from live nightly newscast in Baghdad caught the detonation - miles away - with it's characteristic ENORMOUS blinding white flash, a rising core of fire then a small mushroom cloud!

This video is 5.21 and the explosion is at 4.50 + mins , whatever it is exploding it's a big mutha fucker.If it was a nuke radioactive emissions would be readily detectable.

At the time General Cadwell in a DoD briefing in Baghdad (Oct 12, 2006) made the following statement (there has been a news blackout since).

First of all, I'll take on the Falcon attack. It was caused by indirect fire, a mortar that did in fact hit our ammunitions supply point there, which caused a tremendous amount of secondary and tertiary explosions that occurred throughout the night there. There's that one articular area which fled into another area -- did in fact go off all night.

Very fortunately, no coalition forces or Iraqi security forces were injured, nor civilian casualties that anybody's aware of at this point. We lost some munitions, but took no personnel casualties.

Euronews has another video of the explosion (55 secs) plus shots of damage outside the camp the following day.

TBR News has an excellent report dated Friday 20th which claims 300 dead US soldiers, the loss of US$1 Bn of materiel, including 6 Apache helicopters and a reported 160 Iraqi military amd assorted civilians. Retaliatory strikes killing 120 civlians were made by aerial forces seemingly at random around Baghdad allegedly firing at the source of mortar / rocket attacks.

SF Indymedia has a lengthy report as well confirming huge numbers of casualties carried to Al Habbaniyah hospital in 9 cargo / Red Cross planes.

Global Research has a report dated 22nd October confirming much of the above reports.

Whatever happened that night, we shall never be told, but it has evidently had a massive impact upon the US resolve / ability to fight.

TV for Tots, 24/7 - Outsource your kid's brain.

BabyFirstTV (BFTV Limited, 34 Horsell Moor,Horsell,Woking,Surrey,GU21 4NJ,Tel:00 131 0 442 9853) is coming to Britain by the end of 2006, and the British television regulator OFCOM is now considering the channel's application to launch a 24/7 channel aimed at young children.

Launched in the US in May this year it is available in the US through satellite providers for about $9.99 per month and is expected soon on cable. Baby First TV will also be available in Spanish by the end of the year. (see WKRN TV news item with video clips) The BabyFirst TV website claims ...

Our mission at BabyFirstTV is not only to supply parents with the best content for their babies, but also to be a reliable and trusted source of information for parents on topics related to the early stages of parenting.

"Baby Basics" is a magazine-style program hosted by leading child psychologist, Lynne Kenney, Psy.D., providing helpful tips for parents with children aged 6 months to 3 years.

“Family Wellness” is an activity-based program hosted by Shawn Killinger, a former anchor and lifestyle reporter for several local CBS and Fox stations throughout the country.

This channel follows the so called diaper demographic ...Disney's ‘Baby Einstein’ and the recent ‘Sesame Beginnings’' but First TV claim they encourage parents to watch TV alongside their children, offering instructional subtitles on the screen. "Brainy Baby" and "Numbers Farm" are designed to kick - start children on the path to the Ivy League as early as possible

White Dot, the international campaign against television, intends to stop them, they claim tha infants need physical activity and human interaction that is removed by TV
- "Shut up and watch "is their war cry.

Links between TV and attention deficit disorder, childhood obesity, poor acquisition of language and aggression are well known and well documented.

White Dot quote the American Academy of Pediatrics,

"During the first two years of life children need good, positive interaction with other children and adults. Too much television can negatively affect early brain development. This is especially true at younger ages, when learning to talk and play with others is so important."

Dr. Donald Shifrin, spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics is quoted, “Using videos and television in this age range is basically an uncontrolled experiment on youngsters.”

The Right Wing Bomber(s) revisited

Two men will appear in Burnley Magistrates Court tomorrow morning on charges under the Explosives Substances Act 1883 . Both members of the BNP, one stood in May for Vivary Bridge ward of Colne.

Chemicals (said to be of 22 types and largest domestic haul ever) a rocket launcher and an MOD Bio warfare suit were found in their terraced houses in Colne and Nelson. There has been zero reporting in the national press of their arrest although it has been covered locally. Nelson News Burnley News


This has echoes of the London Nail Bomber of 1999

The London Nail Bomber , David Copeland, struck three times in Brixton on April 17, Brick Lane on April 24 and on the 30th April in the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street, a gay bar in Soho in which 3 people died. In total 100 people received severe injuries.(BBC Online has good archive)

After the first two bombs, anonymous phone calls were made by someone claiming to be responsible and claiming to represent Combat 18 a Fascist right wing racist gang of thugs. After the third bomb a work mate of the bomber Paul Mifsud identified him from the CCTV pictures and told the police.

Living in Farnborough it became known that the bomber, David Copeland had joined the BNP in 1997 when he was photographed standing next to the party's founder John Tyndall.

While in the BNP David Copeland admitted he found information on the internet on how to make bombs from fireworks. He also read racist and anti-Semitic literature from extreme right wing Christian groups in America.

At the end of 1998 he joined the National Socialist Movement (connected with Colin Jordan originally and now the BPP see website) and became, a few weeks before the bombing it's regional unit's leader.

His flat in a quiet suburban street had walls decorated with swastika flags and photos of atrocities and bombings from around the world, including some from his own bombings at Brixton and Brick Lane, what he later called his "handiwork".

There were also explosives and weaponry, a crossbow , hunting knives and a gas-powered pistol.

Interviewed by the Police he said, ""My main intent was to spread fear, resentment and hatred throughout this country, it was to cause a racial war," he wrote to BBC correspondent Graeme McLagan denying he was schizophrenic. He claimed that what he called "Zog", the Zionist Occupation Government, was trying to sweep him under the carpet by pumping him full of drugs.

At the end of a remarkably speedy trial which lasted 3 weeks on 30th June 2000 Copeland was sentenced to six life sentences for three murders. The Judge said: "Nothing can excuse or justify the evil you have done... The public must be protected from you and assured that if you are ever released it will not be for a very long time."

Bigots ban burkhas, boxing vests - whilst Christians are killed in Iraq

The horrific murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004 and the subsequent revealing of a network of violent Muslim extremists resulted in a backlash in the Netherlands.

On Nov 17 2004 Fok.nl reported this fascinating story : VMBO wil geen Lonsdale na brand moskee (VMBO doesn't want Lonsdale after mosque fire).

Briefly in a small dutch town, Helden, a mosque was set on fire and a local school banned the wearing of Lonsdale brand clothing. In April 2005 an Islamic primary school in Uden was set on fire , the second arson attack against the school since Van Gogh's death. A 17-year-old boy was arrested for the attack.

Lord Lonsdale's name lives on not only as the 5th Earl of the Lonsdale family, but as a leading figure in donating the Lonsdale belt for boxing champions (awarded after three defences of any title) but also the eponymous brand of boxing and athletic sportswear.

In 1979, Paul Weller from The Jam walked into the Lonsdale shop in London and bought some of their T shirts which he wore on tour. The label's cool image down amongst skinheads and punks was established to the astonishment of the brand owners whose brand was more familiar on the chests of Mohammed Ali and Mike Tyson.

However on the Continent the brand rapidly acheived a notoriety for being worn by right wing crypto Fascists, who by careful adjustment of a black leather blouson jacket could reveal the initials NSDA - very nearly - NSDAP - Hitler's NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or National Socialist Party). Disturbed by this the company sought to lose the Nazi image (with no success) by sponsoring gay pride festivals in germany. The firmalso plans to sponsor multi-cultural events and a football club for Africans in Germany under the slogan "Lonsdale loves all colours".

By this time the cultish teenage world in Holland had adopted the brand and interpreted the brand name as L O N S D A L E "Laat Onze Nederlandse Samenleving De Alochtonen Langzaam Elimineren". which translates to "Let Our Dutch Society Slowly Eliminate The Immigrants" .. which led to it's banning in schools. A Dutch website http://www.lonsdalenews.nl was set up to monitor the anti-islamic activities, invariably attributed to the "Lonsdale Youth".

Now Dutch Interior Minister Rita Verdonk, (AKA Iron Lady) wants to ban another item of clothing. This time the burkha, whose wearing is, claims right-wing MP Geert Wilders, a threat to security.

Already the wearing of face covering scarves, as an anti football hooligan measure is forbidden - a measure which Mussolini introduced in the 1930's in Italy which is being recalled in some towns and is being used to impose a ban on burkhas.

Some Belgian towns, including Antwerp and Ghent, last year banned wearing burkhas in public. France and many parts of Germany have banned the hijab, in public buildings, in particular in schools.

Meanwhile if you want to read about the persecution, rape, kidnapping, killing of Christians in Iraq go to The Barnabas Fund report of 20th October 2006.

Headscarves must be unworn in Tunisia - religious observance conceals political objectives

A Lebanese family walks to the port city of Tyre after fleeing their village of Naqura in South Lebanon, Monday 31st July 2006.

The President of Tunisia Zine El Abidine Ali, has recently described the headscarf as a sectarian form of dress which had come into Tunisia uninvited. A 1981 law forbids the wearing of the hijab and police have recently been stopping wearers, asking them to remove the scarf and agree to refrain from wearing it in future.

98% of the population are Muslims but the Government who casually lock up what they see as extremist Muslim political opposition, say that scarf wearing is using religion to hide political aims. They also claim they have a Free Press but close down papers and lock up editors and journalists regularly. ... the beaches are nice however ... and they filmed The Life of Brian in Monastir.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) which claims to be America's largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group said :

"Freedom of religion should be a valued aspect of any society. People of all faiths must be granted the right to freely practice their religion without government interference or intimidation.

"The Tunisian law banning Islamic attire in certain areas, and the apparent expanded interpretation of that law, violates international human rights standards set forth by the United Nations and ratified by virtually every nation on earth.

"Tunisia cannot claim to be a free and open society while carrying out such repressive and authoritarian actions."

In the past, CAIR has defended the right to wear Islamic attire in France and Turkey. The council has also defended hijab and other religious rights in American schools and workplaces.

Iraq. Now for Plan B.

The digital clock on my desk said 1202 hours 4 April 2004 as I sat down to a tasty sandwich. Sue Shea buzzed me.
"General Sanchez on the line. Urgent."

"All hell is breaking loose with Muqtada sir," he said "We're getting reports from Sadr City, Najaf .. Al Kut ....."

Page 318 / My Year in IRAQ Paul Bremer.

Having shut down Muqtada's newspaper al Hawza (page 313) which had published names of Iraqis working for the Coalition who should be killed , and publishing a Muqtada sermon from the previous Friday which called for arms against Israel and America and saying the 9/11 terrorist attack was a "blessing and a miracle from God" ... Bremer faced the murderous and bloody response.

Starting from Sadr City the battle spread. In days al-Sadr and his forces were in control of the cities of Najaf, Kufa, Kut, and Karbala. Muqtada was the new boy on the block, with little theological training, he was however a charismatic figure and outstanding orator - and now represents the voice and the strength of the Shia behind Prime Minister Maliki. For example

......the US forces arrested a member of Muqtada Sadr's army Sheikh Mazen al-Saedi who had been involved in death squad activity that killed hundreds of Sunnis. General Caldwell at his Press briefing on 19th October admitted (on questioning by Paul Schemm, AFP) that he had been released on the orders of Prime Minister Maliki - he did add that "he signed a conditional release promising to support the government of Iraq and disavow future acts of violence on his release".

Yeah like whatever.

After the British troops abandoned Amara overnight at the end of August the Mahdi army established their authority, and having started trouble this week, they have dictated a truce on their terms - sufficent to keep Coalition forces from interfering - a fight for which they have no stomach anyway.

This bloody skirmish in Amara, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell's (see pic) acceptance that US crackdown (Operation Together Forward ) on violence in Baghdad has failed, demonstrates the strategic failure and a massive strategic failure that Dickie Dannat and others have identified.

Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations who was a Bush administration foreign policy official, talks of a "tipping point" both in Iraq and the US. "More of essentially the same is going to be a policy that very few people are going to be able to support," said Haass, adding his view that the administration's current Iraq strategy "has virtually no chance of succeeding." Even George Bush talks of the Tet offensive as the turning point in the war he managed to avoid.

So ...

The Coalition forces took Iraq, and had no plan about what to do ....

Mired in violence, unversally hated by the population throughout the country .... whatever plan they had and were working to...er...isn't working.

So... what we need is ..er .. a new strategy.

Virginia Sen. John Warner, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska have joined the Democrats in calling for a new Iraq strategy...

Any ideas on a post card please, George W Bush, Commander in Chief, White House, Washington DC. ZIP 20500

Rapture - the end time has been signed - like thieves in the night

Richard L. Armitage, signatory to the PNAC creed, deputy U.S. Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005, exposer of Ambassador Wilson's wife as a CIA operative to the Press, delivered the 23rd annual Rev. Thomas J. Furphy Lecture 7:30 tonight at DeSales University's Billera Hall.

Don't cut and run in Iraq was his message .... more like a leisurely stroll to the exit ..

"We notify the Iraqis that we're going to be drawing down a reasonable but careful percentage of our troops over a reasonable interval of months -- just for example, 5 percent of troops every three months."

"This will show seriousness of purpose, I think. It will give our population some hope and enthusiasm that this is not a never-ending affair. And also it will put the heat on the Iraqis, because ladies and gentlemen, we can't win this militarily. By the way, we can't lose this militarily."

"A lot of us, including me, are going to have a lot to answer for" , Armitage said.

So that's the message good Christian folk. We fucked up big style, we fucked over a nation , we fucked over it's people ... killing some 650,000 on the way, 1 million citizens have fled the country we "liberated". Now like the second coming , like a thief in the night, we will quietly steal away.

I Thessalonians 5:4,9-10 "For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night."

This is how the end time followers believe the rapture will come , rapture (in Greek harpazo, in Latin rapere) means to be caught up or taken away suddenly. The rapture refers to the sudden removal of all of God's people on the earth. In the twinkling of an eye, born again Christians will suddenly be transformed out of our human bodies and will rise up into the air to join Jesus Christ.

PS This has nothing to do with the Richards / Jagger "Thief in the Night" on Bridges to Babylon which is basically about creeping up into the bedroom of his babe and shagging her senseless.

"Premature withdrawal " .... Amara up in arms / flames

Amara, administrative centre of the Maysan province, Iraq, on the banks of the Tigris, south of Basra (pop. 300,000) and 50km from the Iranian border, was surrendered to Iraqi military control by Britain this August. It is a city used to religious and sectarian strfe and killing. Shi'ite Sadrist "Mahdi Army" militias (with 5 members in the Iraqi Government) fight with Badr brigades and both fight the Police and Iraqi Army for control of the city.

Tensions have grown since the abduction of five men earlier this week, including the brother of a local Mahdi leader, were allegedly abducted - some say arrested - by police on suspicion of involvement in the killing of a senior police intelligence officer Qassim al-Tamimi, said to be a Badr brigade member.

These erupted today resulting, Riyadh Saed, the duty physician at the city's main hospital reported there were 15 dead and 59 seriously injured. See BBC video of the fighting.

A British rapid reaction force stands by in Basra on the historic military principle , "hold me back befire I 'it 'im" stance, ready but unwilling to intervene. Further reports speak of the potential of a massive uprising in Baghdad as Ramadan tensions work themselves out.

Lord Patel wrote about the extraordinary British forces departure from Amara on Sunday, September 3
"Far called, our Army melts away ....."

"British forces evacuated the military headquarters without coordination with the Iraqi forces," Dhaffar Jabbar, spokesman for the Maysan governor, told Reuters on Thursday, as looters began moving into the camp in the wake of the British withdrawal......

Not quite the orderly handover to the Iraqi Government forces peddled so assiduously by HMG. Please read the full article to get the full flavour of this extraordinary military manouvre.

Those with a long memory will remember how it was reported in May 2004 how Sheikh Abdul-Satter al-Bahadli "a close adviser to Muqtada al-Sadr" , delivered a sermon at a Basra mosque waving an assualt rifle and called on supporters to launch a jihad against British troops.

Waving documents and photographs of Abu Ghraib women prisoners he claimed were of 3 Iraqi women being raped at British-run prisons, he said $350 would be given to anyone who captured a British soldier and $150 for killing one. He told the 3,000 worshippers that anyone who captured a woman soldier would be allowed to keep her as a slave.

Common Ills has a good posting on the Amara situation today

Shannon Airport to be De-militarised

Tony Lagouranis and Stephen Lewis former US interrogators at Abu-Ghraib prison are both members of Iraq Veterans Against the War and will be addressing the anti-war demonstration in Shannon next Friday, 28 October 2006.

The Belfast branch of Anti-War Ireland is hosting a free public meeting at Queen's University on Wednesday, 1 November, at which Tony and Stephen will speak.

Room - G105 in the David Kerr building at Queen's University, Belfast.
7.30pm on Wednesday, 1st of November.

email Belfast AWI at awibelfast@googlemail.com

Top Civil Servant knew Dr David Kelly was murdered

Two blogs worth a peek ........

Dr David Kelly by Rowena Thursby.

How senior British diplomat David Broucher described a meeting with Dr. David Kelly on 27th February 2003 in Geneva to the Hutton Inquiry which never took place.

A (fantasy) meeting at which Dr. David Kelly is supposed to have predicted his suicide to David Broucher with the words ...‘I will probably be found dead in the woods' ..... read more ...

The Guradian at the time reported that Broucher's appearance was a bit like the Sorcerers Apprentice ...

"Towards the end of Lord Hutton's inquiry yesterday, Mr Broucher, British ambassador to the disarmament conference in Geneva, made a surprise appearance.


He said he had sent an email to Patrick Lamb, (pic) Kelly's boss at the Foreign Office, on August 5, ( he testified on the 21st August) recalling a chance conversation with Dr Kelly at disarmament talks in February, in which he set out his concerns. Lamb also gave evidence.

Broucher told the Hutton enquiry he only met Dr Kelly once, if so, it was on 18th February 2002 when Dr Kelly recorded this in his diary (which she found in his house) as detailed by his sister Sarah Pape, at the Hutton enquiry.
Section 97 line numbers -
11 Q. It is FAM/1/1. If we look at the entry for February,
12 what does it tell us?
13 A. It mentions specifically a meeting with David Broucher
14 on 18th February 2002,

Further diary entries confirmed his arrival and departure flights from Geneva. So Broucher could not possibly have discussed (as he claims) ..

1. Resolution 1441 which was not passed until 8 October 2002 . So it was not, as counsel Dingemans said, in force at the time,
2. ‘The September (Dodgy) dossier’ was not even at the draft stage in February 2002, and was not published until the September of that year,
3/ ‘the 45 minutes’ with all the problems it incurred, did not exist in February 2002 - it was not introduced until August of that year.

This discrepancy was reported on at the time .. Daily Telegraph 2/9/2003

How very odd .... a (very senior) civil servant with a faulty memory. There are however, very many odd things about the death of Dr. Kelly. Go to the wesbite and sign up.

Tumerica

Kim Jong Il vs George W. Bush: A Dumb and Dumber Leader Quiz - remarkable parallels in the Lives of the Great Dictators by Tumerica in the form of a quiz - amazing factoid about the "size" of these men's fathers. Nudge, nudge , know whaddi mean ?

also Foley Folly Fallout II: "If I was one of those sickos who did this, I'd be nervous" ....Let's EX-FOLEY-ATE the House and the Congress. Vote anti-Republican this November!

Offshoring warrantless surveillance - more bollocks from the conspiracy freaks

Dag Wilhelmsen is General Manager of the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency and is on a 4 day visit to Bulgaria to meet the Minister of Defence Vesselin Bliznakov and the State Commission on Information Security. Dag says of the NC3A "we provide, as a host nation as it's called, the capability to acquire a lot of NATO equipment and systems such as satellite communications, automated information systems, communication networks and deployable capabilities for NATO's operations."

In the light of the entry of Bulgaria to the EU in January announced last week it is important there is clarity of understanding between all NATO members.

His visit coincides with a curious e-mail Lord Patel has received regarding previous posts on US warrantless surveillance of domestic telephony / IP traffic in the US. The unkown but knowledgeable informant claims that the US outsource surveillance just as they do, imprisonment, torture and interrogation.

Data split off AT & T and other networks is ( the writer claims) squirted anywhere in the world for further analysis and this is undertaken by friendly folks who accept US military establishments, suitably equipped who take on staff on short term, highly deniable contracts who can be found strolling the streets on 4 week breaks on an island to the Eastern end of the Mediterranean well known for it's highly visible and well known mountain top communications gear.

They then disappear for 6 week stints - it is claimed - to the home of Ovid and a little further south and north of Greece .. where they might this week bump into Dag Wilhelmsen.

The writer was impelled to write (they say) after reading a post about CACI (suppliers of torturers to Abu Graigh and beyond) and their software skills in providing EU telcos to meet the forthcoming Data Directive.

So. get this crazy idea, data is split off domestic US telcos (well we know that), squirted to (say) Bulgaria and Romania, (i.e outside US legal jurisdiction) to be worked over by staff familiar with analytical software (but anonymised) used to handling massive data volumes (with security clearances of the highest order) , supplied by firms such as CACI (and many others ?) which might be tied in with NATO Command and Control agencies ? Preposterous nonsense, curiously this lunatic didn't involve a pitch for Viagra. Who on Earth would believe such crap ?

That's the trouble with the Internet, this sort of bollocks can circulate without the slightest shred of evidence. That Dag Wilhelmsen, the General Manager of the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency was evidently wasting his precious time in Bulgaria meeting the Minister of Defence Vesselin Bliznako. Let's trust he didn't waste any time (and NATO taxpayers money) going to the US installation at the Ravnets base outside the port / airport of Burgas on the Black Sea.

9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA (c)

You may not have read , 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, by Webster Griffin Tarpley which is available for US$12.21 at Amazon.

A recent (7th October 2006) review .... Among Hundreds of Books, The Strongest Approach to Truth, by Robert D. Steele is worth considering.

"I am forced to conclude that 9/11 was at a minimum allowed to happen as a pretext for war (see my review of Jim Bamford's "Pretext for War"), and I am forced to conclude that there is sufficient evidence to indict (not necessarily convict) Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and others of a neo-conservative neo-Nazi coup d'etat and kick-off of the clash of civilizations (see my review of "Crossing the Rubicon" as well as "State of Denial"). Most fascinatingly, the author links Samuel Huntington, author of "Clash of Civilizations" with Leo Strauss, the connecting rod between Nazi fascists and the neo-cons. "

"I sit here, a 54-year old, liberally educated, two graduate degrees, war college, a life overseas, 150 IQ or so, the number #1 Amazon reviewer for non-fiction, a former Marine Corps infantry officer, a former CIA clandestine case officer, founder of the Marine Corps Intelligence Center, and I have to tell anyone who cares to read this: I believe it. I believe it enough to want a full investigation that passes the smell test of the 9/11 families as well as objective outside observers. I believe it sufficient to indict Dick Cheney and other neo-cons. Sadly, the Executive is now in the service of corporations that benefit from high crimes and misdemeanors, rather than in the service of the American people who suffer great ill from these terrible mis-deeds. "

The number of sane, well educated people who cannot buy the collapse of the Three World Trade Centre Towers, the Shanksville Mystery Crash, the Missile hit on the Pentagon on 9/11. They cannot buy impossible mobile phone calls, the remarkable survival of personal effects like driving licences when 100 ton planes with indestructible titanium engines evaporate .....

Book yourself a place in one of the jails being built across America, read Tarpley's book, tell someone about it.... Find out how the Military Commissions are going to work from the inside.

Where are they now ? - The Basra Two

Remember these two guys who Tim Collins describes in today's Daily Torygraph as "The riots and kidnap of British servicemen last September "....well here is a pic from the Daily Torygraph Afghan Pic File. The description is ..."British and American soldiers meet with village elders in the hope of bribing them with farming equipment and other incentives in exchange for reports on Taliban insurgent activities in the area, as part of the "hearts and minds" operation in southern Afghanistan"Original DT link here.

Nothing Entertaining about Women Behind Bars

In response to a question by Alex Salmond (Banff & Buchan, Scottish National Party) on 9th October, Gerry Sutcliffe the arithmetically challenged Home Office Minister detailed the monstrous way prisons are treated as dustbins for women who need medical treatment and assistance ;

No records are kept centrally of the number of women entering prison with drug, alcohol and mental health problems.

He could state however that Epidemiological studies , show ....

1. 40% of sentenced women are classified as hazardous drinkers;

of these women 77% had 2 or more mental disorders and 33% of the remainder had one mental disorder

2. 47% of women on remand report severe drug dependence and 7% moderate dependence;

of these women 75% had mental disorders

3. 90 % of women prisoners had at least one mental health disorder with 14 % possessing several disorders

There is limited information available on the proportion of women receiving interventions for drug dependency, records are not available centrally to show what proportion of women have had interventions to address the misuse of alcohol.

Women prisoners commencing treatment programs were ;

2003-04 297
2004-05 448
2005-06 577

The treatment of women in UK prisons is a stain on the nation, it is worse than they might expect in the Third World ... where many of them come from being forced to act as drug mules.

There are not votes in drug and alcohol crazed, abused women.

PS In 2003 14 women took their own lives in prison - 9 in 2002 - 6 in 2001.

The female prison population is appproximately 4,500

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics about Tagging

In England and Wales 67.4% of all prisoners released from prison re-offend within two years - a figure that has stayed stubbornly high for decades.

Under the Home Detention Curfew, prisoners can be released up to four and a half months early, as long as they wear an electronic tag.

Gerry Sutcliffe, who was appointed as Under-Secretary of State for criminal justice and offender management on 5 May 2006 said last week that only 4% of people offended while wearing tags.. in real life this means that since the scheme was introduced 1999 Home Office figures show that more than 1,000 violent crimes, including five killings, have been committed by prisoners released early with electronic tags.

This use of statistics is entirely spurious, dishonest and manifestly nonsense...

1. Offenders released early are specially selected and evaluated for a low risk of offending.
2. The 4% rate relates to and average period of 60 - 90 days whilst being tagged and only for against offences against the person.
3. There are NO FOLLOW UP studies about the rate of re-offending of prisoners who are freed from the tag.

There is one statistic that is precise, determined and brings a smile to the Home Office Ministers - MPs on the Commons Public Accounts Committee said it cost £70 a day less to enforce a curfew than keep people in jail... it also releases another desperately needed prison places.

Tagging is also used in place of prison - Curfew Orders in England and Wales, a Restriction of Liberty Order in Scotland. Of these there is no monitoring of offending whilst tagged or later re-offending - we simply don't know - except that one (out of only 2,500 convicted prisoners) tagged offender in Scotland committed murder.

However , the most detailed information is available about the , costs, and performance of the tagging companies.

The whole concept of tagging is said by Sheila Bird of the Royal Statistical Society to be, " ill designed, and that studies concentrate only on costs of the process and not in it's effectiveness in preventing re-offending"

Former senior probation officer David Fraser advocates that tagging should be abandoned..

"Supervising persistent offenders in the community, with or without a tag, is disastrous for the public," he said.

"The public need to be protected from crime. It is absolutely amazing that [the government] are able, somehow, to ignore this. What must happen? They are sleepwalking into civil unrest, in my view."

The growth in the UK prison population is astonishing, the management of it is increasingly stretched and drug taking, widespread, (50% in many prisons) is tacitly allowed to pacify the population. The concept and practice of rehabilitation and education , is underfunded, understaffed, and impractical. Prisoners are housed further and further from their families destroying family ties.

No wonder the Minister lies about the Statistics....but then he neither understands what prison is to do, nor how statistics should be used with care and accuracy.

67.4% of all prisoners released from prison re-offend within two years in England and Wales - a figure that has stayed stubbornly high for decades.... nothing is being done to address the problem.

Professor Sheila Bird is Principal Statistician at the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit and is a specialist in (amongst many other areas) Illegal drugs epidemiology including in prisons; application of scientific method to criminal justice for injecting drug users and in determining cost-effective sentencing.

She chaired the report "Performance indicators: good, bad and ugly" by the Royal Statistical Society which discussed the utility and practice of performance monitoring of public bodies.

Kim Howells and UK Gunboat Diplomacy - the firm smack of Gubment

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE News Release issued by The Government News
Network on 13 October 2006
Today Foreign Office Minister, Kim Howells MP, Minister responsible for Middle
East issues, voiced his concern at the recent deaths of civilians in Gaza.

He said:

"We are concerned by reports of the death of a number of Palestinians,
including two children, on 12 and 13 October, as a result of Israeli military
actions in Gaza. Israel is entitled to defend itself from rocket fire, but
any response should be proportionate, in accordance with international law
and seek to avoid civilian casualties."

FCO PRESS OFFICE: 020 7008 3100
Press Office, Downing Street (West), London SW1A 2AL
Telephone: 020 7008 3100 Fax: 020 7008 3734
Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Presumably killing one child was ...well...OK..er...proportionate.

UK Energy Security - Nuclear Con - Fusion (2)

In 2005 UK based electricity generation totalled 398 terawatt-hours,of which 61-63 terawatt-hours is generated by British Energy PLC who operate 8 nuclear power stations with a total capacity of 9,568 megawatts.he company also operate a coal fired plant at Eggborough with a capacity of 2,000 megawatts.

Due to a "leak" underground at the Hartlepool plant the reactors were shut down last month and their re-opening has been delayed. The work required might indicate similiar work needs also to be undertaken at Heysham 1.

Today the company announced that 2 more reactors have developed problems resulting in the need to close down the reactors...."a level of boiler tube cracking at the high end of the range previously experienced."

Hinkley point B has an installed capacity of 1,220 megawatts, while Hunterston B's is 1,190 megawatts, both are gas cooled reactors, and came on stream in February 1976, their design life ends in 2011.

The company also report problems with fuelling at Dungeness B which will result in unplanned outages - and one unit at Heysham is operating at reduced load due to "temperature anomolies".

It is early to calculate the effect on production of these problems but informed estimates consider that these closures will reduce annual output by at least 10% and as much as 15% cutting total national production 3/4% - when dmeand is growing at 1-2% annually. The repairs will of course add massively to operating costs.

There will be other effects...

UK Domestic electricity prices will rise both short and long term - increasing industrial costs and impacting on houehold costs to drive up inflation.

Production from other coal / gas fired plants will drive up CO2 emissions - making EU emission targets more difficult / impossible to acheive.

British Energy share price dropped dramatically today - 25% which will reinforce the nervousness of investors about the massive costs of replacing the current nuclear plants - making decisions about the financing, building and commissioning nuclear plants even more problematic for a Gubment with a new found, but unpopular belief in new UK nuclear plants.

However someone WAS planning and Dusseldorf based E.ON, Europe’s second-biggest utility after France’s state owned EDF, operates in the UK as Powergen, who announced in December they were planning a new "clean" coal fired station and announced last week plans to build two new 800-megawatt so-called "supercritical" units at Kingsnorth, in Kent. Supercritical means, slightly more efficient, slightly less emissions and much, much higher operating costs and increased future coal imports. Overall these will replace the present units at the site so do not add significantly to UK total electricity production.

E.ON UK has already applied for S36 consent to build two new gas-fired power stations, at Drakelow in Derbyshire and at the Isle of Grain in Kent, and is conducting a feasibility study into building a clean coal power station at Killingholme in Lincolnshire.

It would be unwise to suggest that this Gubment after 9 years in office has an "Energy Plan" but what plans they had for electricity generation are looking increasingly flaky, costly, reliant on overseas shareholders and suppliers of fuel and result in more CO2 emissions.

UPDATE
An interesting piece at Money Week which re-inforces above views.

UK Energy Security Background Notes (1)

UK Energy Security has many facets, security of sources of supply, security of transport, security of storage, security of distribution and naturally all this has to be costed into the delivery of the final product to the user.

Future plans also depend upon security i.e accuracy of production data and forecasts based on it. So this analysis of actual forecasts and experience is worth examining.

U.S. Department of Energy / EIA published their International Energy Outlook 2001 (IEO2001) which received some acute and startlingly accurate criticism when published, from Roger D. Blanchard, Northern Kentucky University, 4/9/2001

The EIA report made projections about North Sea Oil output for the UK and Norway...

1. North Sea
EIA - North Sea production reaches a peak in 2006, at almost 6.6 million barrels/day (mb/d).
2. The UK
EIA - The United Kingdom is expected to produce about 3.1 mb/d by the middle of this decade, followed by a decline to 2.7 mb/d by 2020.

To Roger Blanchard this decline in production , "appears totally unrealistic."

2. Norway

EIA - Norwegian production is expected to peak at about 3.7 mb/d in 2004 and then gradually decline to about 3.1 mb/d by the end of the forecast period.

For Roger Blanchard ..."Norwegian crude oil production probably either peaked last year or will this year." ...."The oil discovery rate in Norway has been poor in recent years so as the older fields decline, a steep decline should be expected for Norwegian oil production.

So 5 years on how did the EIA forecasts hold up for the North Sea ?

Well Ron Patterson in the Energy Bulletin revisited the figures in December 2005 .. which Chris Vernon also discussed here at Vital Trivia

NORTH SEA FORECAST "The facts are that the North Sea was already post peak when these words were written. The North sea peaked in 1999 at 5.947 mb/d. For the first nine months of 2005 the North Sea has averaged 4.787 mb/d, 1.16 mb/d below the average for all of 1999, the peak year. And that is over 1.8 mb/d below what they expected the production to be next year. It is almost a lead pipe cinch that by then the North sea will be producing at least 2 mb/d below their predicted 6.6 mb/d, and declining fast."

UK FORECAST The UK peaked in 1999 at 2.684 mb/d and now in the middle of this decade, their expected peak, the UK is producing an average of 1.668 mb/d over 1.4 mb/d or about 46 % below where the EIA expected UK production to be.

NORWEGIAN FORECAST Norway had already peaked in 2000 averaging 3.197 mb/d for that year. So far in 2005 they are averaging 2.72 mb/d, well below the 3.1 mb/d the EIA predicted they would be at in 2020. In fact they are now declining by about 3.3 % per year, a rate that would put them at about 1.6 mb/d in 2020.(EIA 3.1 MBD)

Chris Vernon points out that there website claims

The Energy Information Administration (EIA), created by Congress in 1977, is a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy. They provide policy-independent data, forecasts, and analyses to promote sound policy making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment.

Why did they get it so wrong ...? Incompetence or a desire to mislead ?

That they got it spectactularly wrong is not in doubt. Roger Blanchard saw it at the time ....

What is Dickie Dannatt up to ?

There was a special re-union Fifty years after the 2nd Battalion of the Green Howards was formed, at Darlington on Saturday 6 April 2002.

Special guests included former Chief of the Defence Staff Field Marshal the Lord Inge of Richmond (Clubs :Boodle's, Beefsteak, Army and Navy, MCC ) KG, GCB, DL, the Colonel of the Regiment and Assistant Chief of the General Staff Major General Richard Dannatt who spoke after the lunch.

Listeners to the BBC Radio cannot have missed the fruity military tones of Lord Inge boosting the reputation, honesty, integrity of his pal Dickie and fellow Green Howard ,although his comments in the House of Lords on 29th June this year are more worthy of consideration considering the "unexpected" contribution to public debate by Dickie Dannatt.

His contribution covers several columns in Hansard and is well worth reading. Sufficient to provide the odd paras below .. probably more interesting was the announcement by AEGIS Ltd 4th November 2005 that My Lord Inge, Privy Councillor and KCMG had joined the Board as non-executive Chairman..... He is an adviser to Investcorp ( US$32 Bn of funds) and BAE Systems, and a consultant to OWR AG (Germany) (world leaders in NBC de-contamation).

This is part of what my Lord said in June

Britain's Armed Forces have to face not only in Iraq and Afghanistan probably the most demanding, dangerous and complex operational challenges that they have faced for many years, but major funding problems and concerns about the shortcomings of equipment currently in service on operations and, in particular, the vulnerability of the old Northern Ireland Snatch Land Rovers, which was starkly illustrated in last week's Sunday Times. This is not a new problem which has suddenly arisen.

Re : Iraq

...While I am certainly not suggesting that we should pack our bags and come home with our tail between our legs, it does not help that the war has become increasingly unpopular and no longer commands the support which it did.

He moved on to the subject of Afghanistan

.... a country which exports a very high proportion of the heroin on the streets of this country, and I accept that it is a noble objective to want to greatly reduce the Afghan heroin crop. But I wonder if we have thought through the implications of our policy. I believe that it is a huge long-term challenge and I have very serious reservations about the size and fighting capability of our deployment, and about our operational objectives in Afghanistan.

He brought attention to one aspect of military procurement..

.... will the Minister give us a progress report on the future rapid effect system vehicle, which was given a very high profile as a vehicle, was critically important to the re-organised, more mobile Army, and was a key element of the Strategic Defence Review in 1998? I could be wrong, but I understand that no prototype has been designed, yet this vehicle is due in service in five years' time—in 2012. In the same year, the Lynx and Puma helicopters are due to come out of service. Both are critical for the Army's and the Royal Air Force's operational effectiveness.

I would like a clearer understanding of the Government's plan for the removal of the poppy crop and what the replacement economy will be.

...... we need to recognise that even from a cursory glance at our force levels in Helmand province, we do not have an adequate reserve in theatre ready and available.

Interestingly he was followed by My Lord Truscott who commenced by declaring an interest as an associate fellow of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI).

Joining the Dots,

Inge, Aegis, RUSI, CGS ...General Sir Roger Wheeler , Knight Grand Cross of the Bath , CBE was CGS1997 and 2000. Sir Roger is the current 'Constable of the Tower of London'. He also joined the Aegis Board at the same time as Lord Inge .. and is also a Board member of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (AKA National Police Service in embryo) . Another chap who makes his own modest contribution is Fatty Soames, MP happily joining Aegis at the same time who is also a member of Council of the RUSI.

Now if anyone suspected a military ...well...er...congruence of interest in affecting ...er ... shall...we say political affairs where would it be ?

AEGIS ... just exactly what do they do ? .. and what plans have they got ?

HAKLUYT & COMPANY LIMITED 34 Upper Brook Street, London W1K 7QS is also said to be a company that can call on the expertise of My Lord Inge and his pals who get involved in the most extraordinary business activities.


What exactly is Dickie Dannatt up to ?

Jon Fraser speaks for us all .....

The Daily Telegraph invited comment at their Speakers Corner on the question did General Dickie Dannatt go too far ? ...

The majority response was support, with a lesser but smaller response from those who criticised the General for breaking the chain of command and speaking out of turn. There were a few, a very few who criticised the Military of which he is the head... the following is worth a wider audience.

"It’s no good being in Iraq for years and then claiming its not going to plan. I’m not a professional soldier and I haven’t been to Sandhurst but like many members of the public knew this conflict would end in civil war between the various factions. If Dannatt had any moral fibre and courage he would have resigned earlier and then made his thoughts known. This is just petulance. And to say we have a better chance in Afghanistan, which has always been wild and backward, as opposed to a rich secular state like Iraq shows a level of ignorance only matched by our politicians.
Posted by Jon Fraser on October 13, 2006 11:40 AM

It was always noticeable to me that when the illegal invasion took place, the Navy - Ark Royal were back in record time, closely followed by the Tornadoes. The PBI were simply stuck in the destert 13 Km outside Basra at the airport.

The British Bluntschli's voted with their feet.

For those interested in seeing the Videos of General Dannatt explaining himself to the various news organisitions they will find 13 Videos here.

Look and Learn on the Web -

In January 2004 with angel finance by CEO Dr. Tim Tuttle and CTO Dr. Adam Beguelin launched Truveo its video search engine technology in September 2005 which utilizes a proprietary web crawling technology they call "Visual Crawling".

"The next few years will see a dramatic increase in the amount of video available on the web," Dr. Tim Tuttle said last December when taken over by AOL. - to be added to Seattle based Singingfish acquired in in November 2003 to form the basis of the AOL Video Search - which is brilliant.

Nothing is more certain as traditional printing presses have been hit by the web , perhaps the TV studios are going to be hit as the amateur film maker, newscaster, newshound stakes their place.

Since then Google’s (Market Cap US£130Bn) has acquired for US$1.65 billion worth of shares video playing Web site YouTube.... which let's face, it is small potatoes to them, and will undoubtedly swell their ad base.

Now we hear that Yahoo are deep in talks with Facebook a private company located in Palo Alto, CA. It is a networking site built around college students — Facebook launched in February 2004, and the website claims over 10 million registered users across over 40,000 regional, work, college and high school networks. According to comScore, Facebook is the seventh-most trafficked site on the web and is the number one photo-sharing site.

Facebook has the most unfriendly face of any such site (clean, minimal so cool it's freezing) and says of itself in PR Newspeak ,which was probably constructed by software that correctly understands syntax but not people.

"Facebook is a social utility that helps people better understand the world around them. Facebook develops technologies that facilitate the spread of information through social networks allowing people to share information online the same way they do in the real world. "

Those guys at Yahoo would be well advised to look at ITV's acquisition of Friends re-United for US$200 Mn....The CEO who did that is now spending more time with his roses.