ACPO recognised by Parliament as a "Pressure Group" and a couple of likely (but unlikeable ) Plods

We first became aware of the extraordinary legal status of ACPO when it was raised in debate in the House of Lords (cannot currently find reference) a fellow and noble Lod pointed out that the Home Secetary had no legal right to examine their financial records thasn a member of the public.

However those interested in these interesting matters might be interested in a the CV's of a couple of interesting people who join Lord Patel browsing and sluicing in the bars of Westminster

IMBERT, Lord - IRVINE OF LAIRG, Lord


*12(f) Regular remunerated employment

Chairman of Capital Eye Ltd (a security consultancy, vetting and pre-employment screening agency and security Advisory company employing former police personnel). Now wholly owned by Inkerman (Group) Ltd but founded mid 90's by M' Noble Lord See Footnote with further and better peculiars.
Strategic Advisor to Inkerman (Group) Ltd
Member of Editorial Advisory Board, Professional Security Magazine
*13(a) Significant shareholdings


40% interest in Capital Eye Security Ltd, Dunley Hill Court, Ranmore Common, Dorking, Surrey (a security consultancy, vetting and pre-employment screening agency and security Advisory company employing former police personnel; a family business with maximum value of £100,000)
Minor Shareholder with Group 4 Securicor and Retainagroup Ltd (both security companies)


15(d) Office-holder in voluntary organisations


Trustee, Metropolitan Police Museum Trust, (a trust to raise funds to establish and run a Metropolitan Police Museum)
Trustee, Police Foundation, (an independent research organisation to examine issues to improve Police/public relationships and improve police services to the public)
Patron, Association of Security Consultants
Member of Worshipful Company of Security Professionals
Member of Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) (So even retired officers are involved)
Member of National Association of Retired Police Officers (NARPO)

CONDON, Lord


*12(d) Non-parliamentary consultant

I serve on the Advisory Board of Vidient Systems Inc (surveillance software) who are based in Sunnyvale, California. I am not paid for this role but I have been given share options
*12(e) Remunerated directorships


Non-executive Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director, Group 4 Securicor plc
*12(f) Regular remunerated employment
Chairman, Anti Corruption Unit of the International Cricket Council See FOOTNOTE & Pic

15(c) Office-holder in pressure groups or trade unions


Life Member, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO)
President of the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) (unpaid)

Note how Lord Imbert describes ACPO membership differently

FOOTNOTE 1.

Capital Eye (website) is an international security and policing advisory company, based near London, England. We specialise in:

Security
Designing and implementing security systems for our clients. We provide security consultancy and advice to governments and authorities, business and commerce as well as for private individuals.

Policing
Working with police services. We maintain a powerful, multi-skilled, and highly respected, international team of consultants with senior police, military and security industry backgrounds.

There is of course more, much, much more - see especially DNA profiling ..

FOOTNOTE 2 Liberty led by their ex Home Office lawyer doe eyed scarf juggling Sami Chakrabarti (soon to join Ladies Amos, Handbag, Scotland etc.,) have seen fit to question the legal status of ACPO - well dear lady it is perfectly legal, her ex colleagues at the Home Office have made sure of that - desirable ?

FOOTNOTE 3 There are of course other ex Plods / MI5/6/7/8/9/ Defence Forces (Lord Inge anyone ?) on the burgundy benches earning the odd bob or so from providing their expertise, expereince, contacts, use of ex professional colleagues etc., etc.,



Click on pic to enlarge - rumous by the way that Lords Imbert and Condon are of the pinny wearing, trouser leg rolling fraternity are probably based on very sound information according to our old chum the Kent - Duke of - he doesn't know them personally of course. Well, yes he does, actually.

Interesting thing is of course Plods can't be members of BNP but can be top pinny wearers or even in ACPO - a private company - beats running a car / taxi business like the head of terrorism at the Yard Bob Slow, Slow, Slow, Slow (Tipped for starring in Strictly Come Prancing next Xmas)

Where are they Now ? No 678 Katherine Gun - unemployed and unemployable whistleblower

On BBC4 @ 9.00 am this morning Katherine Gun a Chinese translator who worked at UK Spy HQ, GCHQ in Cheltenham. A recording of an interview was played about her life since releasing a damaging memo from the US National Security Agency which routinely crossed her desk at GCHQ.

This asked GCHQ to help the NSA for help in digging the dirt on the six Security Council members who were holding up the 2nd UN vote on invading Iraq pre-emptively.(Tony Blair's very, very, very close friend and unelected FO Minister Lady " very, very long legs" Amos was of course simultaneously scurrying about Africa with a bag of loot and aposse of MI5/6/7/8/9 opertaives trying to blackmail the same people)

This memo eventually via a friend found it's way into the Observer newspaper in an article by Martin Bright.Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war (See text of e-mail in footnote).

After confessing, an arrest and interview she was charged with a straightforward Official Secrets offence. She revealed at the time to the BBC that it was through the newspaper article that followed her leak that she was contacted by Liberty via her union at GCHQ - the government's communications centre.

In her interview broadcast today she explained that Liberty took up her legal case, organised and paid for it ... naively she says they immediately asked for every bit of paper from Lord Goldsmith, the lying, cheating, conniving then Attorney general - result - Magical - case dropped. Whoop de do !!!!

But consider dear lady the gaff was blown, the e-mail was public property thanks to the Observer and of course would be accepted by the diplomatic circus everywhere as the unremarkable stock in trade tactics of the UKUSA / ECHELON mode of politicking and international fixing.

She has, of her own admission been unable to make a living (now happily a mum) and escaped prison which could have spooked her ex-colleagues. Look ! Your friendly caring, sharing, local spy centre looks after even the naughty chuildren.

Up pops Liberty led by a doe eyed, slim, cashmere scarf wearing, Telly Genic Ex Home Office lawyer happy to foot any bills and run the defence (introduced by her Union ?) - the immediate result of which is the dismissal of all charges (25th Feb 2004) and the removal totally, forever for any chance of public and juridical examination of evidence, cross examination of Ministers, etc., etc., - end of case and general public and press loss of interest.

The BBC were of course more than happy to report that the attorney general's office told them the decision to drop the charge had nothing to do with Lord Goldsmith's advice.

Now evidently the BBC are happy to keep an eye on her progress and allow her ex colleagues to dwell on the unwelcome results of blowing the whistle.

FOOTNOTE :

To: [Recipients withheld]
From: FRANK KOZA, Def Chief of Staff (Regional Targets)CIV/NSASent on Jan 31 2003 0:16 Subject: Reflections of Iraq Debate/Votes at UN-RT Actions + Potential for Related Contributions
Importance: HIGHTop Secret//COMINT//X1
All,
As you've likely heard by now, the Agency is mounting a surge particularly directed at the UN Security Council (UNSC) members (minus US and GBR of course) for insights as to how to membership is reacting to the on-going debate RE: Iraq, plans to vote on any related resolutions, what related policies/ negotiating positions they may be considering, alliances/ dependencies, etc - the whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results favorable to US goals or to head off surprises. In RT, that means a QRC surge effort to revive/ create efforts against UNSC members Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea, as well as extra focus on Pakistan UN matters.

We've also asked ALL RT topi's to emphasize and make sure they pay attention to existing non-UNSC member UN-related and domestic comms for anything useful related to the UNSC deliberations/ debates/ votes. We have a lot of special UN-related diplomatic coverage (various UN delegations) from countries not sitting on the UNSC right now that could contribute related perspectives/ insights/ whatever. We recognize that we can't afford to ignore this possible source.

We'd appreciate your support in getting the word to your analysts who might have similar, more in-direct access to valuable information from accesses in your product lines. I suspect that you'll be hearing more along these lines in formal channels - especially as this effort will probably peak (at least for this specific focus) in the middle of next week, following the SecState's presentation to the UNSC.

Thanks for your help

Is a heavily photoshopped pic of Michelle by Annie Leibovitz on the cover of VOGUE enough to celebrate ??

This is his 4th marriage and he has a couple of spares waiting in the wings with some of his children ....

Inventor of kidney dialysis machine in wartime Holland and helped develop the artificial heart , Dr Willem Kolff dies aged 98

Willem Kolff (1911-2009) was born in Leiden, Holland the son of a doctor at a sanatorium and died yesterday in Philadelphia 2 days short of his 98th birthday.

He studied medicine and became an assistant physician in Groningen just before World War II. He resolved to find a solution for his often young patients who were put down for dead when their kidneys failed. Polak Daniëls his professor , committed suicide at the outbreak of the war. Kolff decided to leave Groningen because he refused to work with the successor, a National Socialist and established himself as a specialist in internal medicine in Kampen.

It was in Kampen working under German occupation and supervision where he developed the first artificial kidney during the war. With the assistance of a local enamel bowel manufacturer ( Henk Berk, director of the Kamper Emaille Fabrieken (Kampen Enamel Factories), and a local Ford garage owner who supplied a Ford fuel pump for the original design.

Whilst a pioner Kolff was not the first to demonstrate blood dialysis John Abel in 1914, ( Abel J, Rowntree L, Turner B (1914) J Pharmacol Exp Ther 5, 275-316 ) used anaesthetised rabbits and dogs and dialysis membranes made from treated parchment. After 2-3 hours of dialysis, the animals made complete recoveries. Whilst Abel's inention was to develop a way to measure the blood concentration of substances such as hormones, he highlighted the potential of his process as an 'artificial kidney'.

The (now universally accepted) principle of the method is that the kidney patient’s blood, which contains toxic waste products that are normally removed by healthy kidneys, is passed along a membrane through which small molecules (minerals and organic molecules such as urea) can pass. These pass through the membrane and end up in the rinse water flowing along the other side of the membrane. In this way the artificial kidney cleans the patient’s blood.

Kollf's system did not show any succes until the 17th patient was hooked up Wednesday March 17, 1943 ....after more than two years of experimention. “Thank god there was no ethics committee at the time,” Kolff said in an interview in 2003.

Further more it is clear that Kolff saved more people’s lives during the war by declaring them unfit for forced labour in Germany, or unfit for transport to camps. The first patient he saved with his early dialysis machine, Maria Sofia Schafstadt, was a collaborator during the war,and was a member of the NSB (Dutch National Socialist movement), closely linked to the Nazis.(see Kolff Institute website)

In 1950 Kolff, his wife and their five children emigrated to the United States in 1950 where he was able to raise the funds to develop his ideas which eventually included artificial kidneys, hearts and lungs. The first haemodialysis in the United States was undertaken under his supervision at Mount Sinai Hospital in 1947- today there are said to be 55,000 people in the U.S. with end-stage renal failure (ESRF) that are being kept alive by this invention, or subsequent developments of it. About 5,000 patients are diagnosed annually in the UK with chronic kidney failure resulting in the need for dialysis costing £25 - 35,000 per annum per patient.

In the socialized world of UK / NHS each kidney transplant costs approx £20,000, in 2002-3, 1775 people benefited from a kidney transplant. These transplants are calculated to be saving the NHS £37.6m in dialysis costs each year for every year that the kidney functions .

Dr. Belding Hibbard Scribner , a US physician invented the Scribner shunt, making long-term kidney dialysis possible. The dialysis machine, as originally developed by Dr. Kolff, used glass tubes that were inserted into veins and arteries which led to serious and progressive blood vessel damage. Kolff never patented his invention.

Dr Kolff was also involvd in the first implantation of the Jarvik - 7 artificial heart

In 1967 he became Professor of Surgery and Head of the Division of Artificial Organs at the School of Medicine at the University of Utah. His department helped to facilitate the first use of an implantable permanent mechanical heart. On Dec 1st 1982, in Salt Lake City an artificial heart designated Jarvik-7 after its creator, Dr. Robert Jarvik was implanted by William DeVries, MD to replace that of the dying 61 year old dentist Barney Clark , from Seattle, who survived 112 days but then died of pneumonia. (1982 - Prince William was born and the film ET launched)

The Jarvik - 7 is a device that is still used today and is claimed to have the highest success rate of any mechanical heart or assist device in the world. Since 1982, more than 350 patients have used the Jarvik 7 heart, and it remains in use today - called the CardioWest total artificial heart as Ownership has changed hands several times, but the device design remains essentially unchanged.



No Nobel Prize

Kolff received many medical awards. He was awarded the Japan Prize (1985), de Lasker Award (2002) the Russ Award (Feb 2003). In 1970 he was awarded Commandeur in de Orde van Oranje Nassau and entered the American Inventor's Hall of Fame in 1985.

He was passed over for the Nobel prize which many felt he deserved - word was he developed a process, did not cure a disease. Cynically it could be observed, kidney dialysis, especially in the young, makes long waiting lists for a kidney transplants possible and good sense.

Israel eases blockade on Gaza flower growers - for St.Valentine's Day only for benefit of Dutch flower wholesalers

Israel has temporarily eased its blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip today, to allow Palestinian flower growers in Gaza to export 25,000 carnation blooms to Europe ahead of Valentine's Day.

Most have been fed to animal flocks but at the request of Netherlands wholesalers they will be shipped to Europe for the ersatz "holiday" on Feb. 14.

Carnations In Dutch auction markets (which control the European flower market ) will probably sell for 5-9 Euro cents a bloom.(So total consigment might net Gaza farmers say Euros 4,000.

They are only saleable in the cheapest markets on February 14th as the favoured blooms re Kenyan and Ethiopian roses raised by virtual slave labour by Dutch / locally owned partnerships, renting land, stealing precious water, using chemicals banned in Europe by workers with zero protective clothing nd equipment.

The way to help Gaza is to send money and materials to recognised international charities. Red Cross, etc.,

Then ask yourself do you really want to help the impoverished Greetings Cards industry, Dutch Flower barons, chocalatiers and M&S and the sleazy Philip Green?

If you eally love him , help the German car industry ( They sold a total of 62,000 cars last month, down from 90,400 in January 2008. ...) buy him one of these ....
В марте на Женевском международном автосалоне состоится премьера самой дорогой и роскошной версии седана Maybach 57 S и Maybach 62 – Zeppelin. Автомобиль будет выпущен ограниченным тиражом в сто экземпляров и от стандартных "Майбахов" станет отличаться более мощным двигателем, двухцветной окраской кузова (оттенки подбираются в зависимости от пожеланий клиентов), другой отделкой интерьера и наличием в салоне "первого в мире распылителя утонченного парфюма".
Внешне новинка, помимо особой окраски кузова, отличается более обтекаемыми зеркалами заднего вида, которые, по словам представителей Maybach, позволяют значительно снизить шум от встречного потока воздуха, а также созданными специально для этой модификации 20-дюймовыми колесными дисками и логотипом модели на капоте с надписью "Zeppelin". Салон седана отделан бежевой кожей с контрастной черной прострочкой и деревянными вставками, покрытыми черным "рояльным лаком". Также в задней части салона находятся коврики из овечьей шкуры и два серебряных бокала для шампанского с выгравированной надписью "Maybach Zeppelin".

Is Lord Stevenson of Coddenham due to retire ? Expire ? Will Applegarth be asked to give MP's a lesson in offloading NR shares at market top ?

At his modest grilling and ritualistic half strangled apology for an apology on Wednesday by the doozies on HOC Treasury Committee the evidently flailing , and failing Lord Stevenson of Coddenham, 64 ("very close" friend of Lord Mandlebum although mybe body fluids remain unexchanged)ws asked about HBOS's response to accusations that it wasn't taking risk seriously, Lord Stevenson replied:

'Carefully arranged risk management systems, developed over the years with our regulator, did not spot scenarios coming up that have come up.'

(Now exposed by the sacked and legally gagged Risk Manager s having been resented, resisted and even ignored by Directors)

Well perhaps we could ask them to have a friendly fireside chat with Adam "Shagger" Applegarth (I cheat on my wife so fuck the shareholders who stupidly put their trust in ME)

Old Adam knew a thing or two in late 2006 .. and acted accordingly ... for his personal benefit

Adam Applegarth sold shares in Northern Rock in 2006 - he sold 111,426 shares for £1.06m. In January 2007. He sold his remaining 135,963 shares for £1.62m at near their peak price of £11.98 EACH . By August they were worthless. His 2007 payments from NR as an employee were £1.3m : half as a basic salary and half in bonuses.

At the time the Bank was expanding domestic residential mortgages, buy to let , and increased the interim dividend by 33%. (Which was never paid as they were insolvent)

Applegrth was also shagging his mistress from the Buy to Let department of NR (she also had £1 Mn of residential domestic mortgages to juggle with and drw a handsome rent on flash Newcastle Quayside properties)

An Apology to Lord Stevenson (Daily Mail ) Article 24th October 2007

"Captain of industry reveals how he suffers from clinical depression but carries on working 24th October 2007 This is how the story about how the man at head of HBOS, with no bnking qualifications exposed his problems ....(getting his defence in early ?...unfit to plead yer 'onnor)

One of Britain's captains of industry has spoken for the first time of his 'hellish' battle with clinical depression....

He continued to work throughout the illness, succeeding at his job but deriving no pleasure from it...

He has been free of depression for five years (Ed. since 2003 - see today's news re Gordon Brown at HOC - FSA warned HBOS in 2002 it was taking too many risks - remember Howard Davies resigned after 1 yer at FSA Dec 2002 see footnote)) and controls further attacks through a combination of anti-depressants and cognitive behavioural therapy.

Let us sincerely pray for the return to perfect health of Lord Stevenson of Coddenham and that he has no need to unexpectedly resign / retire / suicide / be murdered / run over / have an accident with a shotgun / fall off cliff / go for lonely country walk

Ditto His Ex CEO Sir James Crosby

See also Sunday, August 10, 2008 - Northern Wreck's criminal CEO's pay to let you run your fingers through my hair old baldy shag bag's £1 Mn property empire and lucky young son's luck

FOOTNOTE BBC report on Sir Howard Davies resignation 12/12/02 the late lamented Consumers Association (and heavy smoker) Ms Shiela McKechnie told BBC News Online that someone be appointed that would protect the consumer first and foremost.

"The FSA needs someone from the outside to clean up the financial services industry, consumers are leaving in droves and confidence is at a low ebb."

"It's an earthquake," said Redmayne Bentley Stockbrokers director Richard Grossman. "Davies has been a voice of reason and proportionality in circumstances that haven't always been easy," said James Perry, a partner at law firm Ashurst Morris.

Sheila McKechnie, told BBC News Online in the immediate aftermath of the announcement.

"It is not a good time to change the person at the top. Sir Howard had the right attitude I see his resignation as a failure of the FSA not the individual."

It's been a Funny Old Week for Eruz Israel - Tits up in Washington and Wall Street - Tits out for the lads in the BIG APPLE

Just so US taxpayers can get the detail on exactly how they intend to squirt way US$800 +++ they have set up a website ..... http://www.financialstability.gov/


In between filling his IRS returns , Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday 10th Feb outlined a comprehensive plan to restore stability to the US / World / Galaxy financial system.


In his address, Secretary Geithner discussed the Obama Administration’s strategy to strengthen the US / World / Galaxy economy by getting credit flowing again to families and businesses, while imposing new measures and conditions to strengthen accountability, oversight and transparency in how taxpayer dollars are spent. (plus a whole list of hornswoggling , boondoggling and pork) .


Secretary Geithner explained how the financial stability plan will be critical in supporting an effective and lasting economic recovery. HoHo.Ho.


For more information, please visit http://www.treas.gov/initiatives/eesa/



See Daily Telegraph Geithner plan disappoints investors. FT ....."During the half hour on Tuesday that Mr Geithner was making a much-anticipated speech on his rescue plan for the banking system, the S&P 500 fell 3.4 %, while its financial sub-index fell 6.5 %. Ten-year bond yields had been above 3 % in the hours before the speech, but dropped back to 2.86 % as investors piled back into bonds. "



Someone kindly sends this You Tube link $550 Billion Dollar Bank Run - Collapse Of The Entire World Economy In 24 hours



In the interests of air safety, the Zionist knicker pushers M&S , admirers of Southern Airlines , here is Leo di Cap's pic he sent us of his stunning supermodel girlfriendjust days she learned she had landed the coveted cover of Sports Illustrated magazine's Swimsuit 2009, she's flying high on the side of a plane.. Bar Refaeli unveiled Southwest Airlines' new SI One 737 at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Wednesday (11 Feb 09).. The plane, which features a huge image of the Israeli model - almost wearing a bikini, will fly the very friendly skies for a month..



Complain to Leo about pic Qlty. His hands were shaking - not many guys get to see their girl friends 12 foot high pudenda.

UPDATE :Feb 12 10:05am ET Dow at 7745.91 Down 193.62 (-2.44%) ( 3 month low)

German State spies illegally on their employees - don't read all about it - well not in the UK

Deutsche Bahn CEO Apologizes For Spying Scandal

Hartmut Mehdorn controversial and mysterious CEO of Deutches Bahn(DB) the German State Railway company, since 1999 fter a spell at Airbus , is another publicly apologising CEO.(DW)

After a meeting with the DB company's workers' council on Friday in Frankfurt he said ,"DB apologizes to its employees," (which includes UK citizens and Union members who work for what was EWS Ltd - was BR Freight) . Mehdorn said after a meeting with the workers' council on Friday in Frankfurt. The Transnet, GDBA and GDL unions had already been demanding that Mehdorn issue an apology for the two surveillance operations the company has historically conducted on employees.

Mehdorn had conceded that employee representatives should have been involved in the illegal surveillance using private data - it appears that only 600 "trifling" cases were discovered, but there is a suggestion that senior employees somehow were "overlooked".

Deutsche Bahn has already acknowledged that the bank data of 173,000 employees was secretly compared with customer data. They explained this was a clandestine policy to uncover "corrupt practices". The first surveillance sweep was conducted in 2002-2003 and, according to new information confirmed by Deutsche Bahn this week, a second employee investigation was carried out in 2005 on the same number of employees.

Anti-corruption agency Transparency International questios the legality of the surveillance procedures, considering that workers' representatives were not involved, nor were the affected employees informed of the investigations after they took place.

The Ministry of Transport has also announced that the board of directors at Deutsche Bahn has arranged an additional meeting for Feb. 18 to clarify the current state of knowledge bout the 2 known projects. But Ministry spokesman Rainer Lingenthal says this is too late. A quick clarification is desired and will be communicated to the board "in a suitable way."

It has been widely speculated in the German Press that journalists and politicians were also monitored MInister Lingenthal points to a written dismissal regarding this claim from Mehdorn on Jan. 29. But now the "files will be put on the table," says the spokesman and the case will be judged.

Deutsche Telekom also admit illegal spying

On top of this unfolding scandal the country's main telecommunications operator Deutsche Telekom (1/3rd State owned) has also admitted to secretly spying on employees to uncover, "suspected cases of corruption."

Deutsche Telekom's data protection advisory board held its first meeting on 9th February.

The Bonn public prosecutor's office has also informed Deutsche Telekom that, after evaluating data relating to the spying scandal, it is now to inform those directly concerned.

In May Deutsche Telekom filed criminal charges as the company had , "become aware of cases of misuse of mobile communications calls."

When filing the charges back in May the company handed over all call data that was still available to the Bonn public prosecutor's office in order to allow them to hold comprehensive investigations. For legal and data privacy reasons, Deutsche Telekom was not permitted to ascertain who was registered as having the telephone numbers affected; as such the public prosecutor's office alone was able to evaluate the call data records it had been given. Deutsche Telekom expects to be informed of the names of other victims in the course of the proceedings.

The Bonn public prosecutor's office has already informed Deutsche Telekom that not only employee representatives on the Supervisory Board and journalists, but also members of works councils and other employees of the Group were apparently victims of data misuse.

Manfred Balz, Member of the Board of Management for Data Privacy, Legal Affairs and Compliance sid today “I have already described one monstrous breach of the free of the press and the right to co-determination. The fact that members of works councils were spied upon, people who uphold employees rights under the protection of the Works Constitution Act and enjoy the explicit confidence of the employees, adds another particularly offensive dimension to these outrageous incidents.”

Yet more apologies

Deutsche Telekom say they will approach the persons concerned as soon as they are aware of their names. The company will then apologize to them in an appropriate form.

UK Press silent on the case -

Just consider the new DVLA TV d campign - , produced
by DLKW through COI, on the subject there is ‘No Way Out for Car Tax Evaders’. It describes
the on-road (al fresco in front of your girlfriend) enforcement
process, from clamping and towing to ultimately crushing your vehicle, that the
DVLA can employ should you fail to pay. ... a young man and his
girlfriend return to their car on their way home from a night out-
attempting to unlock his car door crumples. Explosions / implosions
are a prelude to an invisible crusher , the car begins to crush
itself.

The VO - suitably grim and
official ..... don’t pay your car tax, the DVLA has the power to clamp,
tow, or even crush your car.

End Frame .... the car being crushed to a cube at the man’s feet whilst his
horrified girlfriend looks on.

This slots in alongside the BBC TV Licensing Database ads, this is the simple extension of the interconnected databases, for children, NHS records, HMRC , access to telecoms records, ALL international travel (already collected for travel the US under Privy Council Order in Council) - add our DNA , e-mails, website logins, bank records (the US already reads ALL Swift money transfers).

Now why don't the UK Press want to publish how the German State owned industries snoop on employees, journalists ..... even their UK resident employees. Hnds up if you work for E-0n , RWE , EDF , Swiss Post Office , DHL (Bundespost)....

POSTSCRIPT : To illustrate the point we chose to direct readers to Stef's posting "It's all in the Database" with the BBC Database You Tube version of the ad.... well wudja bleeve it .... it's no longer there ...."improper use" etc, etc.,

Make do with this from the Auto Trader - money well spent ...

Just trying to remember what is so attractive about the new Lily Allen CD that Kirsty Wark enjoyed so much on Newsnight

Never did see Lily as a Donald Duck

Zionists send Obama out on road to ground zero of economic recession.'

As the Christian Festival of Christmas wound down we reminded readers on Friday, December 26, 2008 Obama "the first Jewish president" - has a deep understanding of issues that confront Israel and the Jewish community - Alan Solow .. Alan Solow, is an attorney (Goldberg ,Cohn) from Chicago. He is a widely respected leader of the Jewish community. He was inaugurated as Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations early this month .. At a democratic forum In Cleveland , Ohio , in October 2008, 700 people heard Alan Solow and Denis Ross, Middle East advisor to Obama, and previously director for policy planning in the State Department under President George H. W. Bush and special Middle East coordinator under President Bill Clinton as well a co- founder of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) reassured Jewish voters that Obama would not only strengthen Israel’s security but also do a far better job of it than his rival Sen. John McCain.

This was after AIPAC hd sprinkled their advisors, guides, confidants, gtekeeperes, lobbyists, spies in to the White House.

We also said that as they now commanded the heights of the economy O'Bomber would be used for what he does best - campaign for the Presidency nd forecst he would be criss crossing the US glad handing, looking Pesidential in downtown Palookaville.

After all there no room for a rookie Senator on the Beltway with the likes of Joe Biden, Bahm and his bro's - Geithin to feed tax payers money to Wall Street (even if he overlooks feeding the IS their due) , Summers and the rest of the gang have no need for him.

As he passes through he can learn that the Senate have scraped his US$800 (plus) (ish) giveaway to Main Street for State and County funded schemes to rustle up some boondoggle and pork.

So it's off to Elkhart IN. (again - he was there 6 months ago) (Pop 52,000) (109) miles from Chicago, (134) miles from Indianapolis and (203) from Detroit deep in Amish teritory. "Elkhart's thriving Business economy is due in large part to the entrepreneurial spirit that has been prevalent in our community for more than a century" says the ebsite whose "Future Events" failed to tell everyone he was coming(Town Hall speech in full)

Then carefully spliced with a re-eneactment of that speech for the prime time TV he is off now to Fort Myers FL - Miami Herald today Florida officials welcome spotlight on Fort Myers
The national media descend on Florida Tuesday as President Barack Obama hosts a town hall meeting on the economy in Fort Myers.

Although after heavy lifting by Joe Biden they schmoozed the FL ticket the locals are a bit nn-plussed t his arrival trailing clouds of recession . Depression . Slump. "Will Prather, chairman of the local Democratic party. ``It's a bittersweet pill and a dubious honor that he is coming to our community because it is ground zero of this economic recession.''

Meanwhile the ttack dogs in Washington seem to have scraped his key Senate vote on his much vaunted nationl economic stimulus plan Closely followed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's bank rescue plan to spray more unknown and undocumented sums of tazpapeyes funds around his Fed cums nd Wall Street.

The $838 billion economic bill survived a key test vote in the Senate late last night , setting up a final vote for today . The plan must then be reconciled with an $819 billion version from the House of Representatives.

En passant Washington headed for sunny bt subdued Florida after Wll Street closed he pushed his bill (no questions allowed) for the stimulus plan, warning that failing to act swiftly and boldly "could turn a crisis into a catastrophe."

"could turn a crisis into a catastrophe."
Don'tcha just get the feeling those words are going to come back and haunt him ?

Meanwhile the Another war for the Jews Paty ooks happy with the election results in West Jerusalem and Beersheba (Pop 531,000)

The best policy President Obama can adopt - save lives - help Medicare - improve health of the nation's kids (his own )(and the dog) - QUIT SMOKING

President Obama is a fool. He smokes. He is a lifelong smoker. He damages his health and long life.(Time Dec 20th 2008
Can Barack Obama quit smoking?)

He promised to give up before the campaign ended (BBC)

On top of his reckless disregard for his health he also sneaks off for a drag - a bad role model especially for Afro-American kids.

He also affects the health of those around him - especially his delightful kids, his beautiful wife - and now we know passive smoking can harm your pooch.

Passive smoking puts pets at risk

In 2002 Dr Antony Moore Tufts University in Massachusetts studied 180 cats treated at a Tufts veterinary hospital between 1993 and 2000.

Aadjusting for age and other factors, cats exposed to second-hand smoke were twice as likely to develop feline lymphoma kills,*** see FOOTNOTE which three out of four cats within a year of being diagnosed.The risk tripled if exposed for 5 years and 4 times if both adults smoked.Dr Moore said the findings raise questions about the risks to children of developing lymphoma if their parents smoke.

"I think there are a lot of people who might not quit smoking for themselves or their family," Said Dr Moore in 2002 . "But they might for their cats."

Dr Moore and colleagues plnned a study on dogs."They accumulate a lot on their fur," he said. "In a veterinary clinic if a cat comes in, you can tell if it's in a smoking household because it smells of smoke."

The Guradian today has reports today of another study Don't smoke, it's bad for your pet's health by Ian Sample, their Science Correspendent - see also BBC and AFP "28.4 percent -- said that if they knew that second-hand smoke was bad for their pets, they would give up tobacco."


A VERY brief history of Nicotine

Economically valuable agicultural crops are effectively chemical factories. The most deadly was imported into Europe from coastal USA and the West Indies and was originally chewed (Smoked ?) and called in the native tongue Tobacco said to be after the vilage of Tabak - a village in what is now Dominica.

Jean Nicot, was born, son of a lawyer, in Nimes in Languedoc about 1530. A "colourful" charcater he is cedited with being the Parisian Ambassdor to Lisbon after having been in the service of the Keeper of the Great Seal of France.

In that capacity he attracted the attention of the King, who made him his private secretary. He was then appointed ambassador to Portugal. Among Nicot's friends in Lisbon was the scholar and botanist Damião de Goes. When Damião de Goes had Nicot over for dinner, he showed him a tobacco plant growing in his garden and told him of its marvellous healing properties. The application of the tobacco plant to a cancerous tumor allegedly worked wonders. Nicot tried treating an acquaintance's face wound for 10 days with the plant with excellent results. Nicot became convinced of the healing powers of tobacco.

Nicot obtained cuttings which he planted in the garden of the French Embassy. In 1560 Nicot wrote of tobacco's medicinal properties. He described tobacco as a panacea and sent tobacco plants to the French court. Nicot sent snuff to Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France, in 1560 to treat her migraine headaches. Nicot had applied it to his nose and forehead and found it relieved his headaches. Catherine de Medici followed suite and was impressed. She decreed that tobacco was henceforth to be called Herba Regina, the "queen's herb."

Linnaus took up his surname as the genus (Nicotiana) which he described. His surname was later adopted for the active alkaloid, highly addictive and narcotic product Nicotine.

Nicotine soap

Pure nicotine is highly toxic to warm-blooded animals. It is widely marketed as a 40% liquid concentrate of nicotine sulfate, which is diluted in water and applied as a spray. Unlike dusts this does not irritte the skin.

Nicotine is used primarily for piercing sucking-insects such as aphids, whiteflies, leaf hoppers and thrips. Nicotine is more effective when applied during warm weather. It degrades quickly, so can be used on many food plants nearing harvest. It is registered for use on a wide range of vegetable and fruit crops.

Passive smoking / Childen / Cyprus

Evidence of the danger of passive / secondary smoking ae increasing daily. Stella Michaelidou, director of the State Laboratory of Cypus has released the results of a pilot study highlighting passive smoking as a threat to development in children.

The Health Ministry found traces of metabolised nicotine, known as cotinine, in the saliva of 94 % of children from non-smoking households and 97% of all surveyed children.

It is a pilot survey but the results are too significant to ignore," she said.

Cyprus ranks 17th among EU member states for smoking prevalence, according to 2003 figures from the World Health Organisation, but Cypriot males are the bloc's 6th heaviest smokers. About 42% of households contain a smoker.

Greek Cyprus banned smoking in public places in 2002, but is very loosley applied and rude and inconsiderate smokers still puff away in bars and nightclubs. The Greek Cyprus Parliament is debating ways to tighten the law for a blanket ban on smoking in all public places.

*** FOOTNOTE Feline Lymphoma and Leukemias
E. Gregory MacEwen

This is post 5,010 since April 2005 - Apologies and explanation for brief hiatus

There are many enemies of blogging. The worst is a product called Microsoft Vista. When supplied on brand new Acer Aspire desk top you have a world beating , brain churning bit of expensive power hungy kit.

Just when needed most to keep in touch globally this bag of crap fell over. Terminally.

Things are not quite back to normal but we now have a modest, mildly antique FREE tower running Windows XP Pro. The first 5 day stint of chemotherapy is over.

Things is looking up.

Stay tuned.

Having thrown money at the banks - saved the world, considered worldwide depression .....

BOE Special Liquidity Scheme - the Plan - April

On 21st April 2008 the Bank of England launched their Special Liquidity Scheme (SLS)providing participating banks to swap temporarily their high quality mortgage-backed and other securities for UK Treasury Bills.

With securities markets shut the banks had on their balance sheets an 'overhang' of unsealeable and unpledgeable assets (they were also in fact simply lying about their value in their books and had been for some time.

The SLS Scheme, let the banks swap illiquid assets of allegedly "high quality" for Treasury Bills- which near money or as good as money in the till.

The scheme has three key features:

Swaps would be for a period of 1 year and may be renewed for a total of up to 3 years.

The risk of losses on their loans remains with the banks.

The swaps are available only for assets existing at the end of 2007 and cannot be used to finance new lending.

Initial discussions with banks suggested that use of the scheme is initially likely to be around £50bn.

The Scheme will be "ring-fenced" and independent of the Bank of England's regular money market operations. So it will not interfere with the Bank's ability to implement monetary policy.

BOE Special Liquidity Scheme - the Plan - 9 months in operation.

Some details have been published yesterday about the BOE/SLS scheme (the drawdown period for the SLS closed on 30 January) which are truly breathtaking.

1. Biggest user was HBOS which packaged £ 53 Bn alone.
2. 32 banks and Building Societies participated.
3. More than 80% of the Sterling Balance Sheet Items of the participants has been swapped.
4. This meant a staggering £185 Bn. was borrowed.
5. This was swapped for £287 nominal value of packages of mortgages in the first 9 months of the scheme.
6. This means the borrowing banks accepted a "haircut " of £102 Bn which the BOE factored in as an insurance on a reduction in the value of the loans.
7. This BOE "haircut " can grow as the original intention was that the "The risk of losses on their loans remains with the participating banks."

The bottom line is of course that no-one really knows what has happened to the Treasury Bills - has their value been used to fund uy outs, loans overseas, bonuses, pay offs to redundant bankers who steered their banks onto these financial shaols by producing fraudulent balance sheets.

...and of course there is still the complaint that no more funds are available to commerce and industry after this huge exercise.

Because of this other facilities remain open - for example , the Bank’s Discount Window Facility, introduced in October 2008 as part of the Bank’s framework for its operations in sterling money markets remains.

Eligible collateral is wider than that accepted in the SLS and is not limited to assets on balance sheets before a particular date. In recognition of the continued stresses in financial markets, the Bank announced on 19 January 2009 that, for an additional fee, access to its Discount Window Facility was being extended to 364 days in addition to the normal 30-day window, which would continue to be available.

The Bank of England has also today reduced Bank Rate by 0.5 Percentage Points to 1.0% and their Press release states ..."Credit conditions faced by companies and households have tightened further. The underlying picture for consumer spending appears weak. Businesses have responded to the worsening outlook by running down inventories, cutting production, scaling back investment plans and shedding labour. "

UPDATE : Daily Mirror Friday

The Government / taxpayer owns 68% of hugely loss making RBS who have persistently produced fraudulently valued assets on their balance sheets for several years.

RBS's investment banking division paid out £1.83 billion in salaries in 2007, most of it in the form of bonuses, and is reportedly ready to pay out further bonuses for last year.

Lyndsey refinery at Immingham - Total and international global business win hands down aided by Scots Zionist Gordon Brown and UK Gubment

So the Unions (who in theory cannot wildcat strike- must have motions, votes etc.,) have negotiated a deal (using the Gubment AKA ACAS) with Total. (BBC Online Striking workers stand firm on British jobs Ho. Ho. Ho.) Total succcess or Total failure ?

So approx 100 beefy middle aged Lincolnshire / Yorkshire men ( and maybe the odd female pipefitter in this age of sexual equality) can be used to biff the Italian, Spanish, Poles, Portuguese etc., into line if they start demanding too high wages, better accomodation , food, working conditions, protective cothing etc.,

Total is, according to their website - a French based multinational energy company with 96,400 employees and operations in more than 130 countries. Total with its Subsidiaries and affiliates, is the fourth largest publicly-traded (Paris and new York) integrated international oil and gas company in the world. (French regulation information here) .

The principal owners of power generation in the UK are German - Eon, RWE (Powergen) and the French State owned Electricite de France (EDF) who now own all (fast declining) UK based nuclear power generation - which may at some future date be replaced by French (Ariva) designed / manufactured reactors.

70% and rising of coal used for power generation is imported as is 50% of gas in the winter - indigenous supplies are declining at 8 to 9% per annum.

All LNG gas supplies / transport / storage and import plant and dockside storage is owened and controlled by foreign companies and National Government investments authorities.

What a victory for workers solidarity ! Total couldn't really give a twopenny fuck who builds the Lyndsey extension , UK, Irish, Spanish, Portguese.

Ineos is a global US$ 54 chemical congolmerate rapidly developed by 53 year old Jim Ratcliffe (25 on the ST Rich list) developed from companies such as BASF, Bayer, Borealis, BP, Degussa, Dow, Enichem, Hoechst, ICI, Norsk Hydro, Unilever, and Solvay. The Grangemouth strike cost them Euros 181 Mn. (Press release 21/1/09)

Backers , firstly Aberdeen based Murray Johnstone, then Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have helped provide the funds for him build his global vision - despite , and even helped by the credit crunch, isolated from the principal global bankers (Net debt at the end of 2008 was only €7.5 billion. ) they will operate where and how they want - increasingly in Asia.

High profile Midlands criminal barrister and Judge specialising in prosecuting paedophiles suicided in stream in Norfolk over weekend.

Judge William "Willie" Everard, 59,who sat at Derby Crown Court has been suicided in a stream at South Creak(e) near his Fakenham, Norfolk holiday home. Local Plod describe it as a "tragic accident".(Derbyshire Evening Telegraph)

A spokesman said the death was not being treated as suspicious but investigations were continuing. A post-mortem examination carried out yesterday revealed the cause of death as drowning. The Daily Telegraph report that his death ..."was being treated as "unexplained".

His very dead body was discovered by a member of the public at about 8am on Sunday February 1st 2009 . Judge Everard (elected in 2004) was formerly a criminal lawyer with Nottingham-based KCH Barristers, which he joined in 1974. Julie Warburton carries on his work , with a key specialism in serious crimes against women, children and vulnerable adults.

After becoming a judge in 2004, he sat on the Midlands court circuit.

Judge Everard main home was in Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, near Loughborough, with wife Christine - they had no children. James Howlett, who succeeded Judge Everard as head of KCH Barristers in 2004, said he was head of the chambers for many years.

“He was an outstanding criminal lawyer, a good friend and a keen sportsman who enjoyed cricket, hockey and fishing,” he said.

Judge Everard practised almost exclusively in criminal law, said Mr Howlett, and was at the forefront of prosecuting serious sexual crimes against children.

One of Judge Everard’s most recent cases at Derby Crown Court involved gunman Shane Barke who was wearing a black balaclava when he shot blanks from a replica revolver into the property, in Morley Street, at about 1am on July 2 last year. There were five adults inside and three children asleep upstairs.

Judge Everard jailed Barker for three-and-a-half-years in October last year.

He also jailed paedophile James Swift for 15 months in October 2007 after he admitted two charges of sexual assault on boys.

As previously reported in the derby Evening Telegraph, Swift was arrested in April 2007 after residents living nearby gathered outside his home because they were suspicious about the number of youngsters visiting the house.

James Swift, 35, was sentenced to 15 months in prison at Derby Crown by Everard after admitting two charges of sexual assault on boys.

Caroline Bradley, prosecuting, told the court that young boys often visited Swift's house in Church Street, Normanton.

Two boys, aged nine and 10, were at Swift's home on March 3 when the assaults took place. He told one of them he would "hang him from a tree" if he told anyone about the assaults.

The Midlands criminal legal circles are a twitter with rumour, innuendo, suggestions, nods and winks but unless someone breaks cover this will be qietly filed away by Chief Constable Julia Hodson LL.B (Sheffield), an MA in Crime Deviance and Social Policy (J. Moores University, Lancaster) and a Post-Graduate Diploma in counselling and four years in the legal department of Derbyshire County Council ... passing through GMP in 1995 on her meteoric rise to the top.

In February 2005 she became the Acting Deputy Chief Constable of the Lancashire Constabulary where she is well remembered as very friendly = she was very much involved in the Morecambe Bay Cockle enquiry - which happened 5 years ago tonight. See BBC report of her role.

UPDATE Wed. 0930 GMT. Julia Hodson had working with her on Morecambe bay, DS Mick Gradwell who dealt with all the very unpleasant coroner's reports etc., and his team was awarded the Justice Shield, the highest national Criminal Justice award, in 2006, after the handling of this unpleasant task. He went some 4 months ago to send his last couple of years to final retiremement from Lancs Constabulary (who woud pick up his retirement pension plan after 28 years with Lancashire Constabulary a DS since 2000, and has been the head of CID in both Blackburn and Blackpool. ) . To ... Jersey to work as Senior Investigating Officer on the paedophile cases related to Haut de La Garennes.

He of course caused a sensation when he held a press conference with Deputy Chief Officer (and Acting CC) David Warcup, and in their briefing they made it clear that in their view there had never been any evidence that murders had taken place at Haut de la Garenne.

This was on the day Chief Constable Graham Power was sacked (see lengthy and full details here) and just as the Howard league for penal reform issued a damning report on Jersey Child care.

Who the Fuck is Lord Stephen Carter ? You may well ask.

Did you perhaps wonder who the youthful, geeky, gormless Lord Stephen Carter , Baron Carter of Barnes was , who announced the much unread, worthless, dismal, useless, The Digital Britain report, the government and new media ? ***

Here is a fascinating clue.

Before Scottish born and educated Lord Carter was a government apparatachik and minister he was Chief Operating Officer at NTL; under his watch NTL went into Chapter 11 bankrupcy owing £12 billion - one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in American history. he to shareholdesr outrage got paid off £1.7m in compensation, including a £600,000 bonus. ...and he is another fucking Scotsman in Government ... Since October 2008 Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting and was ennobled on 16th October 2008.

Papers released by the court in a class action by shareholders (they got £9MN compensation - and it was alleged Carter “issued various false and misleading statements in the news media”) reveal Carter's alleged comment about shareholders was: "What I tell them is nine-tenths bullshit and one-tenth selected facts". See Times 1th Jan 2008 - the excellent David Leppard - Gordon Brown’s new spin doctor ‘deceived shareholders’

The Most boring man I ever met

*** Official Press release on report ..."Stephen Carter said:
“Communications have been revolutionised in the last 20 years, with consumers and businesses alike embracing the opportunities and taking advantage of the reality of the new technologies.”
He added: “Digital Britain is about capturing the opportunities on offer for UK PLC and the public, and advancing our standing as a world leader in these industries.

Wow. News to everyone in this neck of the woods then. Kinda snook up on us.

O'Bombers Afghan surge hits logistics / supply problems on several cold fronts

O'Bombers promised withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by 2010, (still ending out 50-60 bombing missions per day) doesn't mean troops returning but being re-deployed to salvage a failed and failing war in Afghanistan and insreasingly in Pakistan.

Only hours after taking office O' Bomber had personally approved air strikes into Pakistan, and in so doing wasted no time in establishing himself as the new warmonger in chief.

Now it is evident that the new "surge" in Afghanistan is meeting tough supply problems both on the ground and in the air suply routes .

1. The Russian Government has long ago indicated that supplies across their territory for military purposes will not be allowed and are not a topic for discussion. Recent announcements confirm this. 26/1/09 " Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Maslov told Itar-Tass, “No official documents were submitted to Russia's permanent mission in NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] certifying that Russia had authorized the United States and NATO to transport military supplies across the country."

2. The Khyber Pass - subject of a continuing war of attrition over several months has suffered a massive breakdown with the bombing of a bridge on the single road into Afghanistan from Peshawar. Asian Times 26/1/2009 "The Peshawar bazaar is doing a roaring business hawking stolen US military ware, as in the 1980s during the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union. This volume of business will register a quantum jump following the doubling of the US troop level in Afghanistan to 60,000. Wars are essentially tragedies, but can be comical, too. "

3. Our Mole in Moscow was present when Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev ((he took office in 2005 after replacing Askar Akayev in the so called US sponsored TULIP revolution.) made his way in a vast motorcade to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev - who has announced Russia was providing the poor ex-Soviet country with billions of dollars in aid (AP). The upshot was that Manas airport in the capital Bishkek , which has been home to a thousand-strong American airbase operated by Air Force's 376th Air Expeditionary Wing since 2001 after Kyrgyzstan joined the anti-terror coalition set up in the wake of 9/11 is to close (real soon). The facility was unofficially renamed Ganci Air Base, after Chief Peter J. Ganci Jr., chief of the New York City Fire Department who gave his life Sept. 11 during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. (There are reports of Russian based servers fucking about with Kyrgyz links but we get messages / links without problems)

Our other Mole in Manas points out that this has been a focal point for discussions within the Moscow-Beijing led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) who have been insisting on its closure since 2005. --- see post Wednesday, August 15, 2007 Russia / China join in Anti-American Summit and Wargames, Bishkek and an earlier post Saturday, June 10, 2006 -
The Great Game - Bishkek centre stage

On Monday U.S. regional military chief General David Petraeus was in talks with President Kurmanbek Bakiyev when in the Manas base during a visit to Bishkek on Monday. Reuters report In Bishkek, the U.S. Central Command chief said the possibility of closing the base did not figure in his meetings with the Kyrgyz leaders. gen. Petraues also made his first ever visit to Manas 1th Jan 2009 - General Petraeus visits Manas Air Base (Air Force Link) describing how how the ..."376th AEW is currently supporting operations in Afghanistan as the premiere air mobility hub for Operation Enduring Freedom and the International Security Assistance Force. The wing also serves as a main transit point for cargo and coalition personnel passing in and out of Afghanistan."

By an odd coincidence (perhaps) a meeting of deputy foreign ministers from the SCO member countries (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) met in Moscow on January 14 th.... and the The SCO will have Afghanistan high on the agenda at their annual beanfeast / summit scheduled for August in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

4. All this time Russia has also operated Kant airbase near the Kyrgyz capital, just 15 km from the US base which has persistently been upgraded and improved.

5. Friday, August 12, 2005 -Russian Roulette in Central Asian republics. On July 29 2005 the Uzbek Government formally gave the U.S. 180 days to evacuate their Karshi-Khanabad (also written Qarshi-Xonobod) air base on which the the Pentagon has spent huge sums improving and upgrading the base.In the short term the closure of the Karshi-Khanabad air base, loss of jobs and U.S. money would damage the Uzbek economy. The Pentagon had spent huge sums improving and upgrading the base.

However President "Boil in the Bag" Karimov and has beautiful and very rich daughter have had an on / off sly game with both Putin and Bush and some US presence is still allowed - but German planes are still allowed to be based and overfly Uzbekistan on the way to re-supply Afghanistan.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Tashkent 2 weeks ago. Medvedev characterized Russian-Uzbek relations as a "strategic partnership and alliance" and said that on matters relating to Afghanistan, Moscow's cooperation with Tashkent assumed an "exceptional importance". He said he and Uzbek President Islam Karimov agreed that there could be no "unilateral solution" to the Afghan problem and "nothing can be resolved without taking into account the collective opinion of states which have an interest in the resolution of the situation".

Moscow cozies up to Karzai

On top of this Medvedev's remarks coincide with reports that Washington is cruelly cutting Afghan President Hamid Karzai adrift. the Us is apparently planning to install a new "dream team" in Kabul.

Medvedev has written to Karzai offering military aid.

Karzai apparently accepted the Russian offer. Such an acceptance is an implicit breach of US objections that in terms of secret US-Afghan agreements, Kabul needed Washington's prior consent for such dealings with third countries.

... and not forgetting the other players in the region and the importance of energy pipelines to / from fabulously oil / gas rich Caspian to Russia / China ...



By all means consult the posting Sunday, December 16, 2007 How do you solve a problem like Dariga Nazarbayeva ? daughter of Pres. Nazarbyev fro the odd marital relationships between the Kygryz and Kazakh Presidential families. Or see BBC Biog of Kazakh President here.

UPDATE : 4/1/09 Good BBC Online report Wednesday about moves to close base ,""A draft decree on terminating the agreement on the US airbase has been sent to parliament," said Gubment spokeman Aibek Sultangaziyev, he told the BBC that the United States would have six months to close down operations after the measure was approved.

Rather forlornly Colonel Greg Julian, US spokesman in Afghanistan, told the Associated Press that Mr Bakiyev's statement was "political positioning". Jason Straziuso of AP reports under headline 17 hrs ago - US supply routes in Afghanistan squeezed 2 ways -
which sounds an awful lot like whistling in the wind.

Glenrothes bye - election result was falsified - records destroyed

Via aangirfan - Steve Bargetson of the Courier newspaper in the Kingdom of Fife has unearthed something very, very, very peculiar about the Glenrothes bye election called unexpectedly on the death of Nu Labour MP John MacDougall who had a 10,664 majority.

There is one single official record of WHO voted in Westminster by-election last November.

It has gone missing.

The result - with Nu Labour winning by 6737 majority over the SNP was unexpected by EVERYONE - the Bookies, the Press, the SNP , Nu Labour, SDP, and that rare animal the Scottish Tory.

All the major parties, including Labour on election night itself, had predicted that the nationalists would narrowly win the seat, which borders Prime Minister Gordon’s Brown’s constituency.

The Labour victory sent shockwaves through the SNP and was the catalyst for a revival of Labour’s fortunes nationally.

In December the SNP in Glenrothes applied to the sheriff court to obtain a copy of the marked electoral register—on which officials in polling stations score out voters as they register to vote. It is the official record of who presented themselves to vote.

Candidates and their agents are allowed to see a copy of the register, which records only the fact of voting not who they voted for (or indeed spoiled votes).

After repeated requests for the document last month, Councillor John Beare, the convener of the SNP Central Fife constituency, has been told that it has gone missing.(His website list his interests including (Elections & Electoral Systems))

Mr Beare said he was told renovation work has been carried out at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court and that some documentation had been removed for confidential waste disposal.

Under the present electoral arrangements, certain papers including voting papers and a copy of the marked electoral register are to be kept by the sheriff clerk for that electoral area for a year after an election.

Last night Central Fife SNP MSP Tricia Marwick said the missing record of who voted places a question mark over the result.

Asked if she suspected foul play, she said, “ No I do not. Nor do I believe it was a fair election.

“All I can say for sure is that the crucial information that proves it one way or another has gone missing.

“I have no evidence of foul play. I sincerely hope not. But the turnout at this by-election surprised everyone and the result was a surprise.

“This is why the marked up register in this election was absolutely crucial.

“Without this register the democratic process has been undermined.

“It is vitally important that voters have confidence that the conduct of the election was fair.

“I am not saying for one minute that something untoward went on, but without the register we just don’t know.

“There must be confidence in the process.”

Mr Beare said that he leans towards a “cock-up rather than conspiracy” theory as to how the register disappeared.HO.HO.HO - a trusting politician.

“I do think in the 21st century there is a big question to be asked about how we keep our records,” he said.

A Scottish Court Service spokesman said, “We can confirm that the sheriff clerk at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court took receipt of these items following the Glenrothes by-election in November and that the voting papers for this election, which were deposited at the same time, are available.

“This is deeply regrettable and we are investigating the circumstances relating to this loss.”

Labour candidate Lindsay Roy , who was a reluctant candidate and until his election, was popular rector (Headteacher) of Kirkcaldy high school. He won the Glenrothes by-election on November 6 last year polling 19,946 votes with a 6737 majority. Roy was not an active politician BUT was / is a friend of Gordon Brown - but has been fairly inactive as MP - has spoken in 3 debates in the last year (maiden speech Dec 8th 2008) — well below average amongst MPs. He has received answers to 0 written questions in the last year — well below average amongst MPs. He is a member of 0 select committee (0 as chair).

SNP candidate Peter Grant, who is also leader of Fife Council, came second with 13,209 votes.

52.37% of the 69,155 electorate is recorded as having voted.


The defeated candidate can still however , in the absence of the register demand a recount.

UPDATE Scotsman Wed 4th SNP raises doubts on Glenrothes as inquiry launched into by-election

"Question marks had already been raised over the turnout at the by-election – it was, unusually, much higher than in the general election – and the number of postal votes, which was four times the average."

Mr Roy is quoted ..He added: "That said, claims that the election was unfair are a distraction. I would be delighted to sit with Ms Marwick (Tricia Marwick, the Nationalist MSP for Central Fife) and watch the ballot papers being recounted, but the reality is that local people voted Labour."

The Times - Official Glenrothes by-election results 'lost'
The Herald - Demand for inquiry as Glenrothes by-election register is lost
Fife Today - Row over missing Glenrothes by-election register - ""It seems that the registers must have gone misisng almost immediately after they were delivered to the Sheriff Clerk's office because John Beare first asked for copies on November 19." Hmmmmmm. Election was on 7th Nov.

BBC Online

5th Anniversary of Morecambe Cockle Pickers

On February 5th 2004, 23 Chinese cockle pickers drowned because they were illegally employed by a ruthless and criminal gangmaster. The cockle pickers were abandoned on the mud flats of Morecambe Bay as the tide rose at a rate said to be ‘faster than a galloping horse’.

They had no protection.

They had no escape.

Two bodies have never been recovered.

Lin Liang Ren the main man, was convicted on 21 counts of manslaughter and sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment followed by deportation to China.

His girlfriend Zhao Xiaoqing (2 yrs 9 months) and cousin Lin Muyong (4 yrs 9 months) were found guilty of the immigration offences.

Father and son both named as David Anthony Eden , from Prenton in Merseyside, who bought cockles from the work gang, were cleared of helping the workers break immigration law.

As a result the Gangmaster Licensing Authority was set up (brainchild of Jim Sheridan MP) , led by incompetent and probably corrupt ex Chief of Sussex police Paul Whitehouse, who resigned just before he was sacked by the corrupt and unpleasant Home Secretary David Blunkett has made a fine chairman.

The GLA are to be congratulated on having quietly, firmly and efficiently whipped the gangmasters into shape, the leading supermarkets into reluctant compliance and their suppliers into a sullen acceptance that mediaeval work practices have to stop.(Search site on GLA of many of their successes)

It is scandalous that their writ is not to be allowed by the Government to extend into catering and the building trades - a reluctance which is shared by the Unions expressing their renowned support for the international solidarity of the working class - so much in evidence in their wildcat strikes this week - fuelled by the saurian minded mantras of the man described as Prime Minister.

Just ponder how working standards, practices , pay and conditions have improved for workers in the food production industry in the UK.

Please also eschew any stupid purchases of flowers grown by slaves in conditions disallowed in the EU, usinfg illegal chemicals from which they are unprotected, of flowers for St Valentine's Day from Ethiopia.

Self employed Seb Coe Chairman of ODA hounds out self employed Romanians and Bulgarians from Olympic site deal with UCATT - International solidarity

We posted about the strange gagging orders re the Olympic development Authority suppliers and PMQ's attempting to reveal some niceties of supply of "sustainable (?) aggregates for the Stadium - Wednesday, January 28, 2009 Olympics delivery Authority has been gagging suppliers with draconian (and probably illegal) contracts which last 6 years -

Well evidently the truffle hounds of Westminter are on to the spoor of the fiddlers and their fiddles which £9Mn of expenditure of taxpayers hard earned funds necessarily generates -- See Independent 2/2/09 where it appears ;

1. Self-employed workers were banned from the Olympic site under an agreement signed late in 2007, after UCATT had warned that their presence invited illegal foreign labourers to seek work on the site, and could lead to strikes. The union claims that after a delay, the agreement is now being enforced. This was a a result of a slide around weasel word deal whereby Romanians and Bulgarians whose nations had joined the EU in 2006, were denied rights of equal access for work as other constituent EU nations citizens, to work in the UK, but they were granted an unrestricted right to start their own businesses here. The Romanians working on the Olympic site "claimed" they qualified to work because they were self employed.

Quite what the emplyment status, unionised or other of Chairman Lord Coe is remains unanswered (even if asked). See FOOTNOTE

2. Andy McSmith of the Independent in the above article reveals some 200 Romanian construction workers who were helping to build the 2012 Olympic Park have been "quietly sacked" in the past two months during a clampdown on illegal foreign labour, .... it has been alleged by a "senior source".

3. A PMQ (source cannot be referenced to Hansard but is widely quoted in the Press) revealed that nearly one in 20 of the workers employed there in 2008 had been arrested for working illegally. Between April and December 2008, 136 illegal immigrants were caught working on the site, according to figures obtained by the Conservatives. An answer to a written parliamentary question revealed that 16 had been prosecuted, 11 removed from the UK, 19 granted leave to remain, and 90 were either awaiting a decision, or awaiting travel documents prior to being removed from the UK.

4. Until last year, Romanians made up about 6 % of the workforce on the Olympic site, making them its third-biggest national group, after the British and Irish, according to one source. The wrokforce numbers will rise this year to about 6,000.

In another report an ODA spokesperson said: “These figures demonstrate our joint efforts with the UK Borders Agency (UKBA) to ensure people working on site are legally entitled to do so. Since early last year (2008) UKBA representatives have been on site working in partnership with our staff and contractors checking the documentation for every worker employed on the Olympic park. This protection will have led to many of these investigations and also we, our contractors and the Metropolitan Police facilitate intelligence-led investigations on site.”

FOOTNOTE : THis has nothing to do with the story in the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Mirror of a kiss and tell all about the size of his libido by ex bed / playmate and former mistress of ten years and mother of his aborted love child ("Sebastian certainly lived up to his Olympic reputation in the bedroom," ) Vanessa Lander, which was published just days after Lord Coe was put in charge of London's 2012 Olympic bid.