14th January 2013
I feel our rescue and emergency services are much more prepared for unexpected events now. A tug was towing an empty decommissioned ship in the English Channel last night. For some reason the tug slowed down and did not deviate from it’s course. The hull behind it carried on at the same speed and crashed into it. The hull later sank. The tug was damaged. As it was carrying 200 tonnes of diesel fuel oil, if it had sunk too a pollution risk would have been created. The call to Brixham coastguard was made at 9.30pm. Within a few hours, I think, a helicopter from RMB Chivenor in North Devon was on the scene, plus two lifeboats, plus the frigate HMS Lancaster and offshore patrol vessel HMS Severn. A new tug was sent to see if it could assist and a second tug put on standby. The operation to get the holed tug back to port is going well. Some may call that overkill. I would not. As with the Olympics we need to show the Gang we are prepared for whatever they might throw at us. In the end they will only do what they think they can get away with.
Considering that by common consent the Prime Minister will shortly be making the most important speech of his political career, he was in remarkable relaxed mood when speaking to John Humprys during his 20 minute interview on Today this morning. He is a man for the times. He gives me confidence.
An Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politician was on Today this morning stating it was now established that the flags protests started because 40,000 leaflets were distributed on the initiative of the Democratic Unionist Party and the Progressive Unionists. The chief constable of the PSNI has also been talking on the subject again. He says the rioters are running free within a political vacuum and that there is evidence drugs gangs are involved in the rioting.
Baroness Meacher is chair of the All-Party Parlaimentary Group on Drug Policy Reform. She was on Today this morning saying that it would be far better if the 60 million ecstasy tablets sold in this country every year now to one in ten young people by Organised Crime were instead available through regulated outlets, like alcohol. That would be far safer for the consumers. In essence it seems they are far too trustful, both of the criminals and for example the mostly Chinese suppliers of legal highs over the internet. Really they have no idea what might actually be in the tablets they take. No one is going to stop their consumption though so we might as well protect them as best we can.
Last Thursday’s FT editorial recommends a straight in or out referendum on Europe once we know what we are dealing with. Before that stage is reached though it asks Mr Cameron to walk a bit of a tightrope. Form alliances, lead from the front but be true to our post-imperial history. It makes the point that the creditors of Europe are Germany and it’s nothern neighbours whilst debtors are the sun seekers of Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
The folowing day’s FT reports on the Leveson proposals. It says Labour are pressing ahead with their plan to introduce a Commons bill later this month to fully implement the recommendations, possibly backed by the Lib Dems. The Conservatives are suggesting a regulator created by Royal Charter backed by statute. The editors are still unhappy about the statute bit. In addition regional newspapers are unhappy with the arbitration limb of likely reforms to solve reader’s complaints, for cost reasons I think.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner writes there that, unlike his first term when a certain amount of off the wall thinking might have been sought, this time President Obama is surrounding himself with lieutenants he knows and trusts. Stephanie suggests that is probably because he knows what he wants to do in his last four years in office; it is just a question of getting on with it.
Following my note on Sunday about the all persuasive presence of politics nowadays I see there is an article in the same Friday issue saying that central bankers will have to become political animals in the future.
15th January 2013
I try and draw a very distinct line between what I consider is part of my private life and any information I feel it appropriate to pass on in my published diary notes. The details here are private but in 2001 I entered into a financial arrangement with a private individual and I am also in a form of one now with another individual, where money is regularly paid to me. Probably the cardinal rule for the Gang, it seems to me, is that no member must every show themselves to anyone outside of their circle. For that reason they slip into quite predictably ways of working which you can identify when you realise the end result being sought. Nothing is ever said or even hinted at. But over a period of time, many years usually, an individual gradually works out that if they do as the hidden men want they will be looked after. If they don’t life will be difficult for them. Whether that person talks to his or her mates about them is immaterial as far as the Gang are concerned. They can never be identified in any event. Their long term aim is to show chosen individuals that it is dead easy, with Gang nudges, to take advantage of other people and get away with it.
It seems that the international community is coordinating and reacting well to the unexpected situation in Mali, spearheaded by France. The United Nations Security Council has unaminously supported France’s action and 3,300 African troops, a force originally scheduled for September, should be in the country within days. There will be a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Thursday and one of West African leaders on Saturday. That they are being effective is shown by one of the rebel leaders angrily saying his comrades will now strike at the heart of France in retaliation for it’s attack on Islam.
There was a former MI6 man on Today this morning who was saying it will take a long time to sort Mali out. Like Afghanistan the Malians will ultimately have to deal with their own country themselves and that is a long term mission. Interestingly he was not looking at the conflict in terms of country boundaries. He referred to the term Sahel and was obviously thinking in terms of the Gang’s strategic aims in the region as a whole.
Radio 4 news has been running an item this morning on Graphene, a new material derived from graphite consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms. At it’s best grade it is stronger than diamond, has better conductivity than copper and is more flexible than rubber. We are putting £61 million into it’s research but even so Britain has only taken out 52 patents for possible applications of the substance. China holds over 2000.
Last Sunday’s The World This Weekend found out through Freedom of Information requests that the number of young police officers under 26 in England and Wales has fallen by nearly 50% in the last two years. That apparently has been caused by the lack of recruitment due to budget cuts. The age profile has been skewed towards the older officers.
Gradually we are beginning to find out more of the strange things that go on in our world out of our view. There is a BBC webpage up this evening saying that the Republic of Ireland food safety authority has found horse DNA in beefburgers produced in two food processing factories in Ireland and one in Yorkshire. Supermarkes selling the up-to 29% part horsemeat burgers were Tesco, Iceland, Lidl and Aldi. I would guess the required tests were quite technical and would not have been carried out unless prior suspicions existed.
On Sunday it was reported that 17 NHS hospitals and 9 other healthcare providers were told in November by the Care Quality Commission that their staffing levels were not high enough to satisfactorily provide for their patients.
I see from Wikipedia that the House Republican Conference is a meeting forum for elected members in the US House of Representatives where the party’s views are made known to them. Today’s FT reports the current chairwoman as saying she thinks it possible Republicans would shut down the government just to make sure Mr Obama understands they are serious. I didn’t think politicians were supposed to be bullies, at least not openly.
There is a very succinctly argued article in today’s FT, in my view, by Gideon Rachman. He observes that not one Israeli has been killed by a suicide bomber in the last three years of the prime minister’s second term. Israel has avoided any major military engagement. It is economically vibrant. When Mr Netanyahu is re-elected next week he should be riding the crest of a wave. Yet he is in serious danger of being seen by future generations as the man who fatally undermined the Jewish state. Israel has been illegally occupying the West Bank now for nearly 50 years. And Mr Netanyahu wants to build more settler homes? It is an unsustainable position. The gentleman is fast losing friends outside of his own country. It is time he pulled his finger out.
Today’s FT editorial considers it appropriate to devote a third of it’s column to the death of 26 year old Aaron Swartz, an internet freedom activist, who apparently committed suicide in his New York apartment last Friday. The US Department of Justice had decided to prosecute him for illegal action he took in 2011 when he downloaded some documents from an academic research facility for which he should have paid but did not. He had no intention to share the files with anyone and subsequently returned them to the organisation. 13 charges were raised against him for which he could have been jailed for 35 years.
The Chief Constable of Humberside, lead on the subject for ACPO, was interviewed in a report shown on the BBC 10 o’clock TV news tonight. He calls for the responsibily of our drug policy to be moved from the Home Office to the Department of Health.
Doctor Tahirul Qadri is a Canadian based Islamic scholar of Pakistani origin. Last month he travelled from Canada to Pakistan and started a high profile long march to Islamabad. Even though the present civilian government is only in office until May he wants to replace it with an interim leadership because of it’s corrupt ways. Those on the march have been getting pretty worked up egged on by his fiery words. This evening both BBC TV and Channel 4 news led their bulletins with the story after the Supreme Court earlier ordered the arrest of prime minister Pervez Ashraf over those corruption allegations. Both networks wondered if Mr Qadri is being used as a stooge by the military, in league with the judiciary, so they can reimpose military law to the nuclear state, last seen in 2002.
16th January 2013
A car transporter overturned on the A2 as it passes Gravesend in Kent yesterday afternoon spewing it’s vehicles onto both west and eastbound carriageways. The driver was seriously hurt but his life is not in danger. Another motosist suffered minor injuries. I could hardly believe the BBC webpage report when it said some additional vehicles would have to be removed from the hard shoulder where they had broken down due to running out of fuel and flat batteries. I imagine the occupants of those stationary vehicles could have been killed when the transporter careered out of control.
There was a helicopter crash in London during rush hour this morning. The aircraft was flying east to west, probably to the nearby Battersea Heliport, when it hit the top of a crane in low cloud conditions at the riverside St George Wharf residential development site near Vauxhall tube station. That is where the new American embassy will be built and within a few hundred yards of the MI6 building. Quite some distance after striking the crane the helicopter apparently spiralled out of control falling into Wandsworth Road killing it’s only occupant, the pilot on his way to pick up a client, and a person walking in the street.
It has come out this morning that the tests finding horsemeat in beefburgers were carried out two months ago. My reading of the situation therefore is that the FSAI took their readings independently for their own Irish domestic reasons. However when the surprising result came through security agencies started carrying their own investigations into what had been going on. Those have now been completed and the supermarkets, with the public, have been informed of the position.
I trust it comes as no surprise that we have just had a much more serious incident involving a Japanese operated Boeing Dreamliner plane. Shortly after takeoff yesterday a Dreamliner had to make an emergency landing in Japan due to battery problems. Japan airlines and All Nippon Airways have consequently grounded their fleets of the aircraft. I do think it most unfortuante that Boeing decided to promote the name Dreamliner. The official title I usderstand is the Boeing 787. It is almost as if they have been set up by somebody to be laughed at.
I am saying nothing but things do seem to be getting frenetic at the moment. I suspect as a direct result of the authorities’ efficient handling of the tug incident in the English Channel on Sunday an oil pipeline leak has been found in the North Sea off Aberdeen. The free oil has been discovered under the Cormorant Alpha platform operated by the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company. The main line taking oil away from 27 oil fields has had to be shut down cutting off, at a stroke, just over 5% of North Sea production.
Algeria is immediately north east of Mali sharing a common border with it. I heard a lady say on the radio yesterday she thought the most important aspect of the Malian conflict is that that border remains secure. If radicalised Islamist fighters flood through from Algeria, no doubt originally from Libya which is immediately to the east of Algeria, it could make things very difficult. This morning a BBC webpage reports that several foreigners have been abducted by militants from a part BP run gas production facility in the Sahara dessert near the Algerian town of In Amenas. The Foreign Office have called it a terrorist incident.
I am unsure whether to publish this note or not. On balance I think I probably will. Things have changed quite a bit psychologically for me since last November. Partly that is due to circumstances in my private life but, more importantly I think, it is because of publication of the book. From the summer of of 2007 until then it was necessary for me to act it highly emotional ways. It was the only means I had to get things done. If I had been thinking about what I was doing nothing would have happened. But that it past. The book is now lodged with the British Library and is available to order for anyone with the courage to read it. My job is done. I can now try and get back to how I used to be. By nature I believe I am a low profile person. If any of you want to discourse with me on the subject I will be very willing to do so. If not that is your decision. I am equally fine with either. It allows me better to concentrate on my private affairs.
There was an intriguing piece on the radio news this morning about Germany’s gold reserves. According to the BBC webpage all central banks store some of their gold abroad so it can be used quickly in times of crisis to buy foreign currency. Of it’s three overseas stores Germany has decided to remove it’s bars from Paris, reduce it’s reserves in New York to 37% of it’s total holding and leave those in London at the present figure of 13%.
I have heard it said that the music industry will not let HMV disappear from our High Streets. Apparently they are scared of the power of retailing their products being concentrated in the hands of Amazon and Apple. If I were in their position I would feel uneasy too.
On top of all it’s other problems Roula Khalaf reports in today’s FT that Egypt is in big trouble with it’s failing economy. Talks on it’s IMF loan were suspended after the recent unrest but it seems that money is now needed as a matter of urgency.
President Obama is going for a high risk approach of trying to push gun control measures through Congress. As his last term is just starting I guess he has decided he can afford to do that. He quite openly says he is not looking at it from any political what-is-possible point of view. He is focusing on what makes sense, what will work for the American people.
Today’s FT editorial calls for some of our many empty shops to be considered for residential use. That in itself would put people into our town centres and be good for local commerce.
17th January 2013
The Algerian situation is gradually becoming clearer. Frank Gardner has said he understands David Cameron rang the Algerian President about it yesterday afternoon. There has been a Cobra cabinet committee meeting to discuss it this morning (I think it likely yesterday’s helicopter crash would also have been spoken about there). The Foreign Secretary has said from Australia that to link the action directly to Mali is a convenient excuse. He informs us we have sent a rapid response team to Algeria. The shadow Foreign Secretary has said that the Algerian militants’ action cannot be justified in any circumstances. I feel it was good of him to put his weight behind the government like that. The Algerian Interior Minister says Mokhtar Belmokhtar is designer of the attack, a man primarily based in Algeria for the last 20 years and who, apparently, also has ties with criminal gangs. The BBC reports he was an al-Qaeda affiliate but fell out with them last year and since has gone his own way. On the events of yesterday it seems Mr Belmokhtar’s group attacked a bus transporting workers near the facility killing a Briton and an Algerian. From there they drove to the compound itself, captured it and made everyone inside their prisoner. The site is now surrounded by the Algerian army and a classic hostage situation had developed. I imagine Algeria is currently under a massive amount of international political pressure to sort out the situation with an amount of specialised presence on the ground from various countries.
Time for me to come back to yesterday’s helicopter crash, the first fatal one in London since at least 1976. It is absolutely amazing the aircraft fell into an open road and not onto any structures in such a built up area. Besides the busy railway line and nearby Vauxhall station I understand there are some gas holders not far away. It could have been so much worse. My thinking at the moment is that is was a well planned Gang operation but because of the speed required for the arrangements some chatter did get out. That I feel is probably why an official Notice to Airmen was issued to pilots last week about the presence of the crane two miles away from the helicopter landing area and why emergy services responded so rapidly to the incident, being on site within a few minutes. I have heard a witness say the helicopter seemed to be in trouble before it hit the crane. The static low cloud weather conditions have been in place for several days. The pilot, Pete Barnes, was very experienced and respected. My suspicion is that whilst on his journey from Surrey to Hertfordshire he was instructed, at the appropriate moment, to divert to Battersea. That meant he would be passing the crane, probably as he flew up the Thames. As his aircraft reached that vicinity I his engines will have started to fail and I suspect he must also have lost control of his steering system. The means for that I believe will have been engineered from the ground in exactly the same way as happened to cause the January 2008 Heathrow air crash which I describe in chapter 6 of my book. I doubt however that the Air Accidents Investigation Branch inquiry will be able to find any evidence to help with my theory one way or the other, especially if it has been lying in a public place since yesterday morning. Then we have the strange story of the crane driver whom The Sun report this morning, under an exclusive banner, was late for work as he had overslept. Their on-line headline is ‘I should be dead (but I stayed in bed)’. I see the gentleman’s four year old son has Aspergers Syndrome so I will not comment further.
The Gang really do not like us at all. This morning at 7am the undercarriage of an empty Gatwick Express train standing at it’s platform in Victoria station, caught fire. The station was evacuated. Extensive disruption will have taken place no doubt to the morning rush hour around that part of London.
After reading Alice Fishburn in last weekend’s FT magazine I understand obesity now kills 2.6 million people a year. A quarter of the world’s population has the affliction and more people wordwide, except for sub-Saharan Africa, are now dying from it’s diseases than from malnutrition. The problem is as bad in India, Egypt and the Gulf States as it is in America and the UK. One thing going for us here perhaps is that we tend to wear tight fitting clothes. In some other parts saris, abayas and kameeezes hide the unsightliness underneath.
US and European aviation authorities have today effectively grounded all 50 Dreamliner airliners so far in service. I feel that is a prudent move.
Conflict around us is not an environment in which anybody should have to exist. Today highlighted this morning that the continuing fighting in Syria, and the criminal acts being committed by some on the rebel side, is just making the normal population more radical. And pushing them into the hands of the extreme Islamist groups. That is very much how it works I am afraid.
Today’s FT comments that in the last 40 years 1 million Americans have been killed in gun violence, including 900 since the Connecicut school shootings last month. President Obama has now presented his gun control proposals, the most sweeping it is said in nearly 20 years. But the National Rifle Assocaition are a really nasty, powerful lot. They are running television adverts comparing provisions for the safety of the President’s children, obvious high profile targets, with the fate of the Sandy Hook children, calling Mr Obama a hypocrite. It is difficult to see how they will be beaten by civilised opponents.
18th January 2013
You will appreciate a lot of things go on in my life which I do not mention. I have decided to tell you about this however. For many years now I believe my gang have had a copy of my house keys and come in when I am not here or when I am asleep. I have also mentioned about hidden pin cameras being about the place. In a conversation I had with a police representative last summer he asked me why I didn’t change my locks. I said if someone is so perverse as to want to do that sort of thing they might just as well get on with it. Besides I do not want to feel like a hunted animal. Coming back to the present day I have two sets of bed duvet covers which button at the end. For a good few weeks now I have noticed that those buttons are becoming undone and the duvet itself is migrating towards the end of the bed sticking out at the end. It is visually noticeable as you walk round the bed and when you get in, it is all cover up by the pillows with no duvet. That is all because, in my view, the Gang need to react with you, just like a fretful child would. They have no chance of affecting you unless their actions do produce some form of response. And so they go on, and on and on. Until this note is published I don’t think my gang will have realised I had noticed. Now they do know I shall be interested to see what will happen next. Will it stop, get worse or stay the same. I won’t tell you about that though.
I heard a clip of Hilary Clinton on the radio yesterday saying that life is not precious to terrorists. I would thoroughly agree and add, if the Gang take an interest in you, it will almost inevitably lead to you becoming less compassionate, both towards yourself and others.
The Police Federation has been in the news recently following the plebgate story. 57 year old Paul McKeever who was due to retire as it’s chairman this month has died today. One of his colleagues said it was a total shock to everybody. I have not seen when he fell ill but the cause is stated to be a suspected embolism. I understand that is a blood clot caused by something floating about in the bloodstream.
Before he postponed his Europe speech yesterday David Cameron was rung by Barack Obama. The President apparently said that the EU is a stabilising force in the world and he thought Britain should be part of it.
I not sure anyone is quite sure what has been going on in Algeria. Up until today at least it seems the Algerians have not allowed any Brits down to In Amenas so information gathering has been difficult. Mr Cameron told the Commons this morning that Algeria decided to act, without consulting anyone, because the terrorists were leaving the site no doubt with a lot of hostages. I feel their action therefore was quite reasonable. It is their country and they have a right to take steps, involving foreigers or no, which they feel are appropriate. Extremism in Algeria has been a problem for a long time. To that extent whether the hostage taking is linked to events in Mali or not is immaterial. The word this afternoon is that the number of possible British hostages is likely to be under 15. The other aspect of course is the future safety of all other foreign nationals working in isolated sites in Algeria. It would be irresponsible of foreign companies and governments, including the Algerians themselves, not to take appropriate preventitive measures.
The Bishop of Norwich presented Thought for the Day on Today this morning. His subject was Algeria. He said he thought the Prime Minister had done the right thing by postponing his speech on Europe. It shows we are a country where human values for others are the key, not politics. He said that as far as the terrorists are concerned, even if you consider others are acting wrongly towards you that does not justify you acting wrongly towards them.
Last Saturday’s FT had a report on the Israeli election noting the rise of the right wing Jewish Home party which wants most West Bank settlements annexed to the Israeli state. Any Palestinians living there would become Israeli citizens. The Party is expected to have some 13 members in the next 120 seat Knesset meaning it will be a force to be reckoned with. It seems hard line views of Israeli citizens is gathering pace with 41% now happy to describe themselves as being right wing.
The same paper records that Saudi Arabia has appointed female members to it’s Shura, an unelected advisory council. As it has no power you could argue that is just cosmetic but still a massive cultural change I would have thought.
These was a very interesting piece in that issue on the Post Office discussing with at least 11 police forces, including Scotland Yard, the possiblity of them having desks, probably staffed by civilians, next to where you post your parcels. That would help with increased revenue for one and allow budget cuts for the other no doubt but I suspect the real reason is a bit more strategic. For a couple of years now Kent Police have had a counter in my local council offices. It is where I often took my Neighbourhood Watch intelligence reports initially. They now also rotate a police vehicle trailer office to the car parks of the local supermarkets so that shoppers can pop in when they are open. I believe it is extemely important the public feel the police are approachable and easily accessible to them. So they can impart issues on their mind if they wish. Especially say a person who feels uneasy about strange things going on around them and is in danger of becoming a Gang helper. A friendly face to talk to, representing authority, might make all the difference.
That paper also suggests that leading Democrats have given Mr Obama their backing to use his executive powers, so bypassing Republicans, to prevent an America financial default in a few weeks should he deem that necessary. I expect it is predominantly a negotiating ploy but, provided it is legal, I would have no objection to it actually happening at all.
19th January 2013
I don’t think I have ever wanted to criticise any FT reporting before. There is always a first time. In this morning’s paper is a joint front page report by six of their journalists, four based in London. It accurately reports Mr Cameron’s statement that he was disappointed the Algerians did not inform him, in respect of his interest in securing the safety of British citizens, until after the operation at the In Amenas plant had started. It then goes on to speculate about Mr Cameron’s possible private negative thoughts on the Algerian’s approach and also refers to mounting international frustration with them. I myself feel however that the home reporters should have had more regard to the words Mr Cameron spoke in the House of Commons yesterday morning. He said he had spoken to the Algerian president four times over the previous days and told him we would stand with his people in the fight against terrorism. Either you accept those words at face value or you do not. I also feel the fact that Mr Cameron had spoken to the Algerian president so many times, possibly a man he has never met, indicates that he wished to transmit his personal support to another human being who was trying to deal with an extremely difficult situation in the way he thought best.
It is announced today that Boeing will suspend deliveries of the Dreamlined, whilst maintaining full production, until everyone is happy that it’s current troubles have been sorted. I have seen an American website say it is thought the main problem has been the overcharging of it’s lithium batteries causing them to catch fire. That of course would be down to old fashioned human error.
A BBC webpage reported yesterday that Matthew Wood’s family met together on Thursday for mutual support the day after he died from burns in Wandsworth Road from Wednesday’s helicopter crash. Whilst at the gathering one of his relatives was burgled. I believe that will have been arranged by the Gang. The horrible people simply do what is possible for them to do. If I am right it means they were aware of Mr Wood and his relative before the crash. That might just be down to luck but much more likely I feel it is because of their presence in every nook and cranny of our society. That I indicated in my email of 12th August 2011, printed as appendix 11/9 of my book.
Susan Watts presented a really important report, in my view, on Newsnight on Thursday night about privacy and personal data in relation to health. Following on from my diary note of 10th December 2012 about the human genome the discussion has now moved on to whether all of us should be asked if we are willing to allow our unique DNA fingerprint to be recorded on a computer database for the benefit of society, or at least a proportion of individuals within it, as a whole. Not only humans of cousre have DNA identities but diseases have too. If we have sufficient data we could understand much better why some people seem to be suseptical to some diseases, or fall foul to the winter vomiting bug for example, and some do not. Better targeted treatments could then be devised. Whether we would agree to that of course is a matter of trust and confidence. Not that long ago I would have shuddered at the prospect. Now I see things differently. I understand that the key to everything is having good quality information. The Gang are so formidable because their intelligence is all-compassing and exchangeable wherever they are on the globe. If we want to beat them we need to have access to good quality information like they do. As I explain in my book I no longer have any secrets. I have had to adjust my life accordingly. It is not really that bad when you get used to it. If the Gang take an interest in you, you will have no secrets either. For that reason I think it would be a good idea if a national, voluntary human DNA database were set up.
There was a Algerian businessman living in the UK on Today this morning. His information is that the terrorists were taking some of their hostages to Mali when they were first attacked by the Algerian military. It also seems there were 700 people inside the compounds of the gas facility which earns Algeria about $3.9 billion a year. A powerful incentive then for their government to act proactively to protect their economic interests. Also for a mini-town like that it seems hardly a hostage taking plan, more a full frontal military assault. No doubt the Gang Master thought it was very clever tying it to the French initiative next door. But he moved before he was ready. He is on the back foot.
This afternoon I heard a lady reporter on PM say that Mauritanian news agencies seem to have a lot of information from the terrorist side of the Algerian battles. When I looked into that I found a BBC webpage from November last year. It relates that al-Qaeda affiliated groups have become increasingly active in Mali, Algeria and Mauritania.
Leon Panetta has been on a farewell tour around Europe this week. He was on Today this morning and later conducted a joint press conference with our Defence Secretary. A sign of quiet confidence in my view and confirmation, if anyone needed it, of that special relationship. At the latter Mr Panetta said that violent attacks on one country’s citizens living abroad was not acceptable. And neither was al-Qaeda having safe havens anywhere in the world. I do not believe he would have said either unless he thought they could be achieved, and are within sight.
The House of Commons was talking about horsemeat beefburgers on Thursday. Yesterday in Parliament on Today was reporting on the Environment Minister’s statement there. He was tetchy, and pompous. He seemed to be upset that his opposing number was opposing him. I suspect his advisers had been advising him badly. Although things have moved on massively since then it made me think of The Prime Minister’s statement about Raoul Moat as I describe in chapter 5 of the book.
The Algerian hostage situation has ended this evening. The final British related casualty toll is three Britons confirmed dead, three more missing likely to be dead and one foreign national UK resident dead. William Hague, after coming back from Australia early, was asked whether he wished to criticise the Algerian governemt. He said it was right that we should have offered our help but it was a matter for them whether to accept. Only they can know what is right in their circumstances. He said there is a lot more information to come in when more considered judgements will be possible.
20th January 2013
A group of six were walking or climbing on a snow covered mountainside above the Glencoe valley in Scotland yesterday. One of them simply says an avalance swept them away. Four of his friends were killed.
I thought the Prime Minister gave a well measured statement to the media at Chequers this morning following conclusion of the Algerian operation. He said our fight against our opponents will go on for years, possibly decades. But it is quite manageable. It will not stop us getting on with our lives. We will wear them down in the end. Then at lunchtime I heard Sir Jeremy Greenstock, whom I thought always commented with great understanding on the Iraq War when that was uppermost in our minds, on the World This Weekend. He suggested that extreme Islamist groups migrate towards ungoverned space where the rule of law is poor. We need to remove those spaces from our world.
Also from that programme I learnt that the foreign UK resident killed in Algeria was Bolivian.