7th January 2013
Kevin Connolly had a piece on Today this morning solely about Avigdor Lieberman, Mr Netahyahu’s foreign minister and leader of the junior partner in his coalition. He is a Russian immigrant having, some commentators say, a bunker mentally, a lot of resentment, and pleased to be seen as a maverick. It seems you either love him or hate him. The impression given is that he has poor judgement and dangerous because of it. He is currently subect to an onging corruption investigation so his days in politics could be numbered.
8th January 2013
When I am out in London now the Gang seem to be far less in my face than has sometimes happened in the past. I supect that is because they feel their intelligence gathering mode is currently of higher priority. When I left Maida Vale studios in the evening I could have used one of two tube stations. I choose the one a bit further away and when I walked past a nice looking pub with two bars I popped in for a bar snack. The Gang obviously did not see me do that and lost me for about half an hour. I think they will have had to look at their maps to work out where I might be. They picked me up before I left however and, even in a sleepy establishment like that, had one Gang helper I believe on the pub staff. They were very much all over me during the subsequent tube journey. Then going back to the car there was the strange incident of the police landrover with siren blazing and lights flashing rushing to a parked car with hazard lights on perfectly safely placed at the side of the A102. Just before they got there a young lady in the back passenger seat ostentatiously waved at me as I walked nearby. Not a normal drive home either.
Yesterday’s Evening Standard reports that guns in London are getting harder to find and teenage gangs are increasingly turning to extemely powerful stun guns which can be bought on the internet for £60. They are far more powerful than standard police issue. Often now they will be seen in armed robberies, aggravated burglaries and disputes between drug dealers.
In my view if any of us feel we are wronged in life, and we think they could help, we should have the courage to ask the courts for help. This I imagine is what the current chief constable of Avon and Somerset, Colin Port, did when he was not able to positively discuss with his new Police and Crime Commissioner, Sue Mountstevens, the basis for him to stay on in his job. His term would normally have been renewed this month I think and athough it seems he wanted to continue, not for as long as a five year term under open competition as Ms Mountstevens insisted. Mr Port accepted his PCC has the right to appoint a new chief constable if she wishes but in doing so she must follow the correct legal procedures. She must give him six months notice and not interview new candidates whilst the chief constable is still in post. The judge rejected Mr Port’s application for a judicial review today saying that the force must come first. Mr Port says he might appeal. I don’t think Mr Port has been seen in public today. As Ms Mountstevens left the court building she would not say anything to the waiting journalists and certainly, in my view, did not look like a lady who had just won her case.
An example here of the strange things that can happen in a civilised society which no rational, caring person can do anything about. A lady was driving on the A27 near Arundel on Sunday and as she rounded a bend narrowly avoided a lorry coming towards her on the wrong side of the road. She stopped, no doubt in a shocked state. Two people from a damaged car involved in the accident left their vehicle and, she says, found their way into the back of her car. It was when paramedics arrived that her two passengers first complained of neck pains. In such circumstances medics no doubt have strict procedures to follow, in case for example broken necks are involved and untoward movement could cause permanent paralysis. It was decided the only way to safely remove the two was to take the top off the lady’s car. Two shocks for the lady then within a couple of hours. The end of the BBC webpage report says no serious injuries were incurred in the accident from which I take it the pair went home after being examined in hospital. I talk about neck injuries and whiplash claims in the chapter 10 and chapter 12 appendices of my book. That lady could have been anyone of us.
If you are messing around with the weather it seems logical to me that you would want to destabilise people working in that field as much as possible. The UK Met Office has just revised downwards it’s prediction of increase in average world temperatures over the next few years. It says it’s previous computer model was deficient.
Yesterday Lord Strathclyde stepped down from the cabinet after 25 years representing the Tories on the front bench in the House of Lords. Today it has been Tory business minister Lord Marland. Both men are friends apparently and are leaving to follow outside business interests.
The first phone hacking trial has just started, that of the lady detective chief inspector who was managing the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit in September 2010. It was then that one of her team was diverted to investigate some finciancial aspects of allegations into phone hacking. She thought that was very wrong in view of the important work her squad were doing. In her evidence today she has painted a highly sexist office around her and difficulties in her family life. On 9th September 2010, the ninth anniversary of the twin towers attacks, she rang the newsdesk at the News of the World to complain anonymously . My guess is that the thought was put into her mind by someone else. Shw was subsequently traced through her mobile phone number. It seems she might have passed on the names of the NoW staff being investigated. The reporter she spoke to says she asked for payment for that information. The lady detective says it is ludicrous to suggest that.
9th January 2013
In the chapter 13 appendix of my book I go through possible threats to the national infrastructures of our world. Today came back to that theme this morning and just before 7am interviewed the chairman of the Commons Defence Committee. Should our national grid network suddenly go down for example that would be catastrophic for every defence and public department as well as each citizen in this country. The gentleman said his committee had had the minister in to talk about such an eventuality and he did not feel the government are sufficiently on top of the problem.
David Miliband gave an ebullient speech from the backbenches in the House of Commons yesterday on the government’s social welfare proposals. He implied that under the pressures the governemnt current feel they are resorting to typical political tactics. First you invent an enemy, then you spin your campaign to a frindly newspaper editor and thereby frame the debate. He seemed to be wondering though whether that is really in the public’s best interests. I have heard gossip that he had a rapprochement with his brother over Christmas. I hope that maybe the case. I sent the elder Miliband an email on 28th September 2010 and received a gracious reply. I believe him to be a very capable politician.
I write about our efforts to better master lung cancer through reducing our smoking habit in chapter 11 of the book. From a BBC webpage published last week it seems we are now down to a core 20% of the population who still smoke. And that that figure is remaining stubborningly constant. In my view we should try and be a bit more inventive in trying to persuade smokers to be kinder to themselves. Apparently research shows 70% of smokers say they still want to give up.
I think I am correct in saying that earth, with it’s surface liquid water and of just the right size, occupies a bit of a magical position in our solar system which allowed life to form. It’s a bit like goldilocks’ porridge. Not too close to the sun so that everything burns but not too far away so that we miss it’s warm life giving glow. Scientists in California have just issued a report on their progress in finding other close sun orbiting planets in the universe like ours. It seems there could be as many as 17 billion suitable candidates in our galaxy alone. Some will undoubtedly be within what the scientists call the habitable zone. It is a bit strange then that, as far as we are aware, we are the only life around. I suspect we will never work out the answer to that riddle.
Andrew Marr suffered a stoke yesterday. His doctors say he is responding to treatment. His family have asked for privacy. I wish Mr Marr a speedy recovery.
It seems to me that the Gang will always try to suffocate with their influence an area or organisation which interests them. Such a place might be inside No 10 Downing Street. We have had a bit of political knock about today about the Coalition’s mid-term report on it’s original pledges and whether the document was published as originally intended. What got them going at each other was a photograph of one of the Government’s senior advisers walking in Downing Street holding a type-written sheet of A4 paper vertical to the ground at waist level about a foot away from his body. It looks a bit unnatural to me and allowed a photographer to snap the words on the sheet showing the government were in two minds on how to present their audit. I refer to an identical, much more serious in my view, incident in chapter 5 of my book when on 8th April 2009 a former assistant commissioner of the Metropolitian Police did exactly the same thing.
I don’t think I have specifically written about Kashmir before but it is a disputed area between India and Pakistan. It has been partitioned and periodically fought over since 1949. Anything untoward happening there is guaranteed to raise tensions between the two countries. So I trust no one will be surprised at the high emotions caused by the alleged killing of two Indian soldiers when Pakistani troops apparently crossed the dividing Line of Control. I hope both countries have the sense not to let things get out of hand.
The assistant secretary for European affairs in the US State Department is in London at the moment and wants us to know he is worried about the UK’s future relationship with the EU and how it could adversely effect America’s own relations with our continent. I am all for a person speaking their mind even if it may not go down well in some quarters. I suspect the message has been given with Mr Obama’s approval. And that he believes it to be helpful for Mr Cameron.
There was a eurosceptic senior backbench Conservative MP in Today’s studio this morning invited there to publicise his views on that subject. He was quite rude about his hosts. He obviously felt wound up but I do wish he had tried to be a bit more polite. He did not have to accept the offer made to him of an interview if he didn’t want to.
The position in Northern Ireland is frustrating a lot of people and there are various views on how their predicament can be bettered. There was a lady on that programme saying the essence of the problem in her view is that the opposing parties are not sharing power, they are carving it up between them. Leadership is the problem. Political leaders are not serving their populations as they should be.
I imagine the audience peak for the Today programme is around 8am. They use their 8.10 slot for one of the major issues of the day. This morning it was the correlation between lead poisoning and crime. Looking at the internet this afternoon it seems that as long ago as the 1930’s it was realised lead is not good for the normal functioning of our brains. Better substitutes in lead based paints started to be introduced in the 1950’s. Then, of course, young children do tend to put things into their mouths. Because of their small bodies no doubt in was noted children were subject to marked behavioural problems from lead poisoning. However it seems the thought process never moved onto how adults might be affected in the same way. Lead paint was banned in the UK in 1992 and leaded petrol in 2000. Up until then lead had been put into petrol, so we were told, to make car engines perform better. What Today wanted us to know is that respected acedemic research has existed for some time to show that when lead is removed from our environment, 20 years later the incidence of violent crime significantly decreases. A gentleman from Leeds University said he had looked at the evidence and found it compelling. If that is the case I would really like to see some further investigation into the types of crime the affliction generated. I think it might be that if you become suseptible to violence thgrough lead poisoning you will automatically start getting into trouble with the law, although that is only my intuition.
In his Friday article in that day’s FT last week Philip Stephens remarks how similar are the mindset of the Republicans in America and the Conservatives here, in so many ways. The former appear obsessed with tax and the latter with Europe. Be that as it may, in essence he suggests they do not seem to like very much too many many types of people they hope will vote for them. He points out that the Republicans have not won a presidential popular vote in five of the last six elections and here the Conservatives have not been outright electoral victors since 1992. They should therefore be careful what they wish for.
10th January 2013
Philip Hammond has been commenting on the National Audit Office report of our current defence budget overspend. Apparently our future commitments will now cost us £60 billion. He believes the government is doing well in it’s ongoing task of cost control. However he likens the situation to a supertanker on the high sea. After years and years of total mismanagement it takes time to turn the thing around.
Since their introduction in 2000 we now have over 200 academy schools in England. Most are registered charities and, although funded by the state, are completley independent of it as far as day to day operation is concerned. There is a report out this morning by the Academies Commission saying it believes some academies secretly vet pupils and families so they can decide who they feel is suitable to go to their school. They do that by such techniques as holding social events with prospective parents or having pre-admission meetings. It seems to me such practices must be extremely socially divisive.
Wikipedia tells me Kurdistan is a region primarily covering Turkey and Iraq but also extending into Iran and Armenia. The Kurds would like self rule and since the 1980’s, at least some Kurds have been militarily fighting the Turkish state for that status. Three Kurdish woman activists have this morning been found dead, shot in the heads, in the Kurdish Institute in Paris. One of the three was the co-founder of the nationalist KPP movement which, apparently, currently favours peace talks with the Turkish government. The thing I notice though is that it is women again.
I remark in my book that our existence involves big things and little things. Everyday life is about the small pleasures but we miss the big issues at our peril. There is a report out this morning by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers which estimates that up to half, two billion tonnes per year, of the world’s food is wasted. Water is the world’s most precious resource yet is says 550 billion cubic meters a year of it is used to grow crops which are never eaten. Yet we will need to feed three billion extra mouths on the planet by 2075. As far as the UK is concerned it is well known we throw away up to 30% of the food we buy. 30 is also the percentage given for the scrumptious vegetables that are not harvested because we do not like how they look. I waste no food in my house. The rest of you should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves.
The English journalist Piers Morgan now lives in America and has become a US citizen. He currently hosts a nightly chat show on CNN. He was criticised in the Leveson Report into phone hacking. I do have to say the man’s style is not my cup of tea but he certainly has guts. He was on Newsnight last night talking about his open opposition to the current gun laws in his adopted country. He has called the gun lobby argument that as many people should become armed as possible in order to protect themselves and others, as stupid. He has, it seems, received an immense amount of vilification for his position. I support him in his stand.
Roger Harrabin was out in the Sussex countryside for Today this morning looking at people in tree houses. The programme suggests that road protesters effectively stopped the government’s road building projects in the 1990’s. With another 190 in the pipeline now it seems young die-hards are again using exaxctly the same tactics. However our laws have been changed over the last 20 years and it seems the authorities are confident the Hastings to Bexhill by-pass will be completed without any delay.
The senior lady detective charged under Operation Elveden was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court this afternoon. The jury took four hours to unaminously decide she had lied and not the News of the World reporter. In support of that interpretation perhaps is the fact that the police were not informed of the incident until News Corp’s management standard’s committee started trawling through all their records in early 2011. It also seems the reporter emailed his colleagues about the details of lady’s phone call almost as soon as she had made it. The lady’s defence had been that, because of the importance of the subject, she had acted in the public interest in passing on otherwise confidential information to a newspaper.
Perhaps one of the essential differences between us and the Gang is that we can do things out in the open. They have to do eveything in secret. There are a group of German MPs here at the moment to point out a few disadvantages to us of leaving the EU. Apparently by the end of this century Europe will account for only 4% of the global population. One of the MPs suggests we need to stand together.
I have just read an online article in The Guardian published last November. It refers to the polling that Lord Ashcroft, former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, carries out. It says that the Lord has built a reputation for conducting fair and accurate polling which sometimes delivers unwelcome messages to all political parties. I wonder if he does it just for himself.
In chapter 11 of my book I refer to the irrationally fierce competition that seems to exist in this country between our main supermarkets. Although Asda, so far at least, has been silent Waitrose had a very good Christmas trading season, then Tesco from a low base, then Sainsburys with Morrisons recording a small downturn, all in comparison I imagine with last year. Sainburys were a bit piqued however as reported on Channel 4 news this evening. They issued a statement saying that 0.4% of Tesco’s increase were not real sales, just a notional figure given away in Clubcard points. Tesco readily agreed but retorted that even if you stripped out that element their figures were still better than Sainsburys’, so there. And that is where our differences should be. Out in the open. Not all bottled up where they cause more harm than we realise.
The Ministry of Justice has announced today we are shutting down six complete old and inefficent prisons and significant parts of three more. That is possible of course because there is sufficent slack in the system, about 7000 places I understand. There is also talk of a new super prison being built to hold 2000 interns. Adapatable and cheap per prisoner no doubt but some families would have to travel from one end on the country to the other to see their loved ones.
The word is that last month Mr Obama had to drop his first choice for a new secretary of state, Susan Rice, after strong Republican political opposition. From the report in Monday’s FT it seems he he taking a much more strident line with his choice for secretary of defence, Chuck Hagel. It appears Mr Hagel is intensely disliked by some on both sides of the political fence for various of his views. This time however the President is up for a fight.
11th January 2013
Someone in my family gave me one of those Keep Calm and Carry On motto pads for Christmas, one quotation for each day of the year. The publishers call it old advice for a new world. The one for 5th January reads, ‘the game of life is not so much in holding a good hand as playing a poor hand well’.
The Person in the News in last Saturday’s FT is Eric Cantor. Apparently he has told friends he thought he was on safe ground when he rejected the fiscal cliff deal as he believed that would also be John Boehner’s position. The fact he misread the situation has increased mutterings agaianst him that his personal ambition can get ahead of his good judgement. It seems he is cited as a future possible leader of the Republican Party.
Janan Ganesh writes about Europe in last Saturday’s FT. He suggests we should should try and get ourselves off the hook of those words European Union and think a bit more about where we want to stand, and what we want to acheive, in a modern world. Do we wish to be inward or outward looking. Europe it changing so rapidly at the moment no one knows where it will be in one year’s time let alone five years. We should not wish to shut ourselves into a box. It is pie in the sky to think we can pick what we like from our European associations and reject what we don’t like. The world doesn’t work like that. It would be politically impossible for the other members of the club to allow us to do it. It will not happen. Better now to understand the realities of the situation than put yourself in a position where you will be emotionally tearing yourself apart for the next few years.
The same paper looks at Joe Biden’s position in the new Obama administration. It says it was he, in his capacity as Vice President, who had crucial discussions with the Republican leader in the Senate on the American fiscal cliff negotiations after talks between the Republican and Democratic leaders themselves there, failed. It anticipates he will also be deeply involved with Mr Obama’s wish to bring about comprehensive immigration reform. And of course his high profile job at the moment is to try and do something about gun control reform for his president.
A small piece on the same page suggests that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is seen perhaps as the most dangerous terrorists gang around at the moment.
Chance is a strange thing. A few days before Mr Biden is due to make an announcement on gun control proposals there was a shooting incident yesterday in a Californian high school. A gunman entered a classroom of 28 members with a shotgun and blasted one pupil grievously wounding him. The gunman mentioned the name of another pupil. At that point a teacher and a staff member, both unarmed, spoke to the gunman and persuaded him to put his weapon down. Normally the school would have had a volunteer armed guard but on that particular day he could not get in due to snow. Perhaps egged on by that twist, it seems it is a tailor made story for some emotioanl members of the media to use to show how a few well chosen non-threatening words can beat the power of the gun.
Boeing’s Dreamliner aeroplane, which carries over 200 passengers, has been flying commercially since October 2011. Although there have not been any crashes it has become a bit accident prone with, according to Sky News, five faults found this week alone. It has now been announced that the Federal Aviation Administration will carry out a review of the plane to cover all aspects of it’s design, manufature and performance. One of the Gang leadership’s subjects of course is air transportation and, in my view, making it as difficult for allof us as it can. In chapter 6 of my book I suggest there was a design fault involved in the Heathrow air crash in Juanuary 2008. I fully support everything being checked out on the Dreamliner.
Francois Hollande has announced this evening that French troops have today started taking part in operations in northern Mali, against rebel Islamists. He said their presence is legal and with the permission of the Malian president. That sounds a little defensive to me so I guess he felt he had to act because the rebels are gaining too strong a hold on Mali, a former French territory.
A joint Meropolitan Police and NSPCC report has been published today covering allegations of 50 years of sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile against mostly children. Because of the consistent similarity of the type and method of his accused behaviour the police have no doubt most are true. The top investigating police officer refers to Jimmy Savile hiding in plain sight but that no one could do anything about it. The police also believe he must have been helped by an informal network. I understand a complaint against Mr Saville was made as late as 2009. It was referred by the police to the Director of Public Prosecutions who decided to take no action. Before that, the report concludes, 75% of Mr Savile’s opportunist or predatory sexual advances could have been successfully prosecuted. All very unfortunate.
12th January 2013
On 3rd January 2013 I noted smog problems in Iran. A BBC webpage tells me today that Beijing is currently suffering the same thing. Besides the stationary weather pattern and car engines, the other cause apparently is general industrial pollution.
As a result of their intervention in Mali I think France will have felt pressure to act now about a particular French hostage, one of nine apparently currently held across north Africa. Yesterday French commandos, probably from their country’s military base in Dijbouti, failed in a mission to release one of their intelligence agents kidnapped by al-Shabab in Somalia. It seems two French servicemen was killed in the operation.
I wrote about the Dreamliner aircraft yesterday. I think someone else sees things as I so I will quote exactly from the Lex business column in today’s FT. Lex is writing in the context of advice to potential investors in Boeing. ‘Is there something in the Japanese air? Of the series of mishaps that plagued the Boeing 787 Dreamliner this week – from problem brakes to a cracked cockpit window to an oil leak to a battery fire – all occured either in Japan or in an aircraft operated by a Japenese airline. Creepy or not?’. I did not make the Japanese connection in my note. It’s inclusion would have deviated from the single point I wished to make. However the Gang’s style is invariable to have dual purpose in it’s actions.
I have noticed here that at times of General Election politicians seem to loose their grasp of normally acceptable behaviour. I expect the same is happening in the run up to Israel’s election at the moment. Today had a report from there this morning and national security is the predominant issue. I think that is a pity. It should not be uppermost in people’s everyday thoughts. Daily life should be about the small things. I also think it would be unfortunate if politicians tried to frighten citizens into voting for them. Just as an unsettling backdrop the programme said the country is experiencing a bout of unusual weather at the moment. Apparently there has been so much rain the height of the Sea of Galilee has risen by 6 inches.
Little glimpses can build up into a bigger picture. A minor piece of that programme was about a hunt in the Florida everglades starting today to kill as many as possible of the wicked Burmese pythons there whose natural predatory nature is affecting the ecosystem of the area. It was decided to ring up one of the organising team in America. When the gentleman was asked how many pythons were in the everglades he didn’t know.
It has been in the news this week about astronomers having just found the largest known structure in the universe thought to have been formed by two galaxies colliding with each other. As reported in that programme, apparently because we can see it means one of Albert Eistein’s basic assumptions in his theories was wrong. Things are hardly ever as they appear at first sight.
Something that always seems to happen when shocking new information comes into public consciousness is that views can ossilate quite markedly away from a considered judgement before equilibrium is ultimately restored. With the police and NSPCC report fresh in everybody’s mind it could lead to us men being afraid of expressing normal adult affection towards children in case that should be interpreted as abnormal behaviour. A lady on Today this morning was intimating that point of view. It reminds me of when in January 2011 the Musician’s Union advised it’s members not to get too physically close to pupils for fear of being branded paedophiles. The only way you can resist that sort of advice, or instruction, is to have the self confidence to know that how you behave is okay.
Replicating the mutual support of the Libyan conflict a BBC webpage reports this morning that David Cameron rang Francois Holland last night and offered the use of two RAF transport planes in France’s operation in Mali. Apparently the French planes do not have the same capacity as ours. I susequently see that Denmark and America are also providing logistical help.
Steve Hilton used to be David Cameron’s director of strategy. Last spring he left to lecture at Stamford University for a year. From this morning’s radio newspaper review I am aware that the Sunday Times reports Mr Hilton has said in a lecture to his students that often while has was in post No 10 found out about governemnt actions through the media. Apparantly he used the phrase that in his experience bureaucracy masters the politicians. That would make more sense of Mr Cameron’s remarks about the Yes Minister programme he made whilst in Malaysia in April last year as noted in the chapter 11 appendix of my book.
The World At One today had a piece reporting that the EU is putting presuure on Switzerland to be more cooperative in dealings between the two entities. It seems that Sitzerland wants it’s cake and to eat it too. One half of all it’s doctors come from the EU yet it won’t share taxation details with it’s surrounding neighbour. To me that is not a defensible position especially as a lot of it’s infrastucture services come to it across-border. At least we are physically on the edge of Europe. Switzerland is in the middle.
Earlier in the week no great prominence was given to a sectarian attack in Pakistan against Shia Muslims. First a bomb went off in a snooker hall in the city of Quetta, then another when rescuers and journalists arrived. 85 people died in all. As happened in Iraq perhaps we are switching ourselves off from the dreadfulness of it all. In Pakistan though people want a modicum of protection. If the government can’t provide that, a report in yesterday’s FT suggests, the people could turn to the army. A commentator there also opinions that for years Saudi Arabia had been fighting with Iran through their proxies in the country. Saudis are mainly Sunni and Iranians mainly Shia.
As widely reported at the time I see that last Wednesday a letter appeared in the FT from ten British business leaders led by Sir Richard Branson. They worry that if the Prime Minister plays his EU negotiating hand too negatively we will end up leaving the Union to the detriment of the intersets they represent.
The same paper reports that in 2014 US oil imports, due to home fracking and stagnant demand, will fall to their lowest for 25 years. That is going to cause some big long term global consequences in my view.
I was surprised last week when the media reaction to the horrible execution killings of three PKK ladies in Paris was so measured. At one time, not that long ago, I feel journalists would have been speaking about terrorists and wringing their hands in despair. Now the key word was politics. The purpose was to prevent a particular kind of peace between Turkey and the Kurds. John Kay made a very similar point in last Wednesday’s FT about the Leveson report. He said phone hacking too was all about politics. And the signals participants were getting from those with apparent political power. To that extent he suggests the form of regulation is immaterial, it is the political atmosphere in which it operates that is important. So that the regulator feels free to be strong, impartial and transparent. As far as my own story is concerned something I noticed was that when I started contacting firstly my local newspaper, and then the FT, how they too seemed to become much more political in their outlook. Even though I have a chapter in my book loosely based on politics I cannot really say that aspect of things is something I have ever properly got my head around. To me it is just about doing the right thing. It is as simple as that. Perhaps it is because I have been dealing directly with criminals whereas most people do not. If I did move in other circles possibly it would all become clear to me.