LIVI'S BLOG

THE REAL TRUTH UK FOCUS

2008-02-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

The real truth uk focus

How often have you read the ‘truth’ from the politicians, the media, the harbringer’s of doom and the conspiracy theorists. I’ve often blogged on ‘Big Brother’, ‘The Surveillance Society’ and various other perceived threats to our civil liberties here in the UK, America and the ‘Western World’. As the joint founder of Global Focus I can state here that it is predominately ‘smoke and mirrors’. There is a perceived threat from Big Brother in our country(s). All that is needed is for the ‘seeds’ of fear to be planted and the human psyche will manufacture the remedy. In the case of the UK it is the ‘real’ threat of fundamentalist radical Muslim extremists who enable the right wing fascist elements of our ‘establishment’ to encourage politicians to ask for and receive Draconian measures which curtail our civil liberties and ‘highlight’ the ‘War On Terror’.

The mainstream media are at the forefront of this campaign of ‘awareness’. In this respect they could play a major part in safeguarding our security against a terrorist threat from any quarter, whether it be Radical Muslim extremists or animal rights activists. At the risk of encouraging criticism I can say that the animal rights activist have their hearts, if not their heads in the right place.

We have, here in the UK, entered and participated willingly in allowing our civil liberties to be eroded by allowing the educational authorities (in England & Wales) to encourage a scheme whereby the children cannot receive a lunchtime meal without having to have their school I.D. card scanned, along with thumb print recognition software doing the scanning, to the latest proposal from government to introduce a detailed and comprehensive ‘data base’ of all 14year old + pupils academic achievements, absences and late comings. This, it is proposed will be available to all potential employers, council staff, social workers and even charity workers! It will follow them from age 14 to the day they retire in the mid to late 60’s! This is the ‘tip of the iceberg’. Once the national Identity Card is introduced in 2010 to 2012 all police forces and emergency services will have access to the database, council administrative workers, social workers, charity workers and Uncle Tom Cobly and all will be able to access the database. All health records and criminal records will only be available to the relevant authorities.

The bottom line here is that literally hundreds of thousands of civil servants, charity workers and council employees will have access to sensitive and personal information about YOU, including your bank account details, place of birth, home and work addresses, your chidren’s birthdates, schools attended and a plethora of other personal information about you and your family.

I have no objection to the police having access to information on criminals, ex-offenders and anyone being a potential recidivist, or our doctors having access to our medical records, this after all is for our benefit. BUT it is beyond my comprehension as to why they will need 45 to 50 pieces of detailed personal information on an individual born in this country to be embed in an identity card which in fact needs no more than secure verification that the person in possession of the card is the person who is entitled to use it. The following article in the Guardian was published before the most recent government proposal on I.D. cards and the war on terror. It, nonetheless will give you a useful insight into the UK today.

On a more enlightened and positive note I should add that we have less to be concerned about that envisioned by many people. As a society which is second only Burma and Singapore, and on par with Russia and surpassed by China for surveillance and control of their citizens we have little to fear but fear itself. For a Police State to succeed it requires the population to police itself, through fear and suspicion and the everyday acceptance of being constantly monitored, only difference being the citizens (in our case subjects of the Queen) do the policing for the state, as it was in East Germany, Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia. Fear not fellow Brits ( yes we Scots are Brits too, well up to a point!) we have nothing to fear but political correctness, the establishment, government and our neighbours if it is allowed to happen! Big Brother is alive and ailing!

The following article may be of interest of some readers:

Britain is slithering down the road towards a police state

The pretence of oversight has been ripped aside by the Khan bugging affair: the security apparat has become a law unto itself

Simon Jenkins
Wednesday February 6, 2008
The Guardian

The machine is out of control. Personal surveillance in Britain is so extensive that no democratic oversight is remotely plausible. Some 800 organisations, including the police, the revenue, local and central government, demanded (and almost always got) 253,000 intrusions on citizen privacy in the last recorded year, 2006. This is way beyond that of any other country in the free world.

The Sadiq Khan affair has killed stone dead the thesis, beloved of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, that any accretion of power to the state is sustainable because ministers are in control. Whether this applies to phone tapping, bugging devices, ID cards, NHS records, childcare computer systems, video surveillance or detention without trial, it is simply a lie. Nobody can control this torrent of intrusion. Nobody can oversee a burst dam.

Khan, an MP and government whip, was allegedly targeted by the police for having been a "civil rights lawyer" and thus a nuisance, though the recording of his meetings with a constituent in prison was supposedly directed at the inmate. Either way, the bugging destroyed the "Wilson doctrine", that MPs cannot be bugged. It appears that they can if ministers, or the police, so decide.

Security machismo claims that in the "age of terrorism", real men bug everyone and everything. The former flying squad chief and BBC dial-a-quote, John O'Connor, implied this week that it would be negligent of the police not to bug anyone they - repeat they - thought a threat. The Blair thesis that "9/11 changes everything" has been a green light to every security consultant, surveillance salesman and Labour minister wanting to flex his - or her- muscles in the tabloids.

Years ago a lawyer gave me unassailable evidence that a call with a client had been tapped by the police and handed to the prosecution. Such tapping allegedly required a personal warrant from the home secretary who, when tackled on the subject, flatly denied it could have happened without his approval, which he would never give in such a case. I checked back with a police chief, who roared with laughter. "The home secretary is absolutely right. He must authorise all taps sent to him for authorisation. But not, of course, the rest." Orwell's cuttlefish were squirting ink.

The grim reality of the past week alone is that it has seen a substantial section of the British establishment allowing itself to believe that private dealings between lawyer and client, and between MP and constituent, should no longer be considered immune from state surveillance. A cardinal principle of a free democracy is thus coolly abandoned. It is not a victory for national security. It is a victory for terrorism.

The monitoring organisation Privacy International now gives Britain the worst record in Europe for such intrusion, indeed the worst among the so-called democratic world and on a par with "endemic surveillance societies", such as Russia and Singapore. The Thames Valley policeman, Mark Kearney, who bugged Khan's conversation in Woodhill prison, claims to have protested that it was "unethical" but was overruled and placed under "significant pressure" from the Metropolitan police. He has since had to leave the force. The saga reads like a script from the film about East German espionage, The Lives of Others.

Britain's poor record is the result of government weakness towards the security apparat. Even among supposed liberals, the response is to demand not less surveillance but more oversight. David Davis, the Tory spokesman, said yesterday: "It's got to be controlled; it's got to be accountable." Civil rights champion Liberty wants "simpler and stronger surveillance laws, with warrants issued by judges, not policemen nor politicians".

People have been saying this for years. Britain has a Kafkaesque oversight bureaucracy ranking with the one it purports to oversee. Some six separate surveillance monitors trip over themselves. All operate in secret and appear to be one gigantic rubber stamp. The distinction drawn by the justice secretary, Jack Straw, between "intrusive" and "directed" bugging, illustrates the prevailing mumbo-jumbo. The chief surveillance monitor, Sir Christopher Rose, has been asked by Straw to investigate the Khan affair, which appears to be a failure by the chief surveillance monitor. Is this to be taken seriously?

When the council can bug you for fly-tipping, when prisons can record conversations with defence lawyers, when any potentially criminal act can justify electronic intrusion - and when ministers resort to the dictator's excuse, "The innocent need not fear" - warning bells should sound.

There is no "balance" to be struck between civil liberty and national security. Civil liberty is absolute, security its handmaid. Measures are needed to protect the public, but a firm line needs to be drawn round them. The line must accept a degree of risk, or a police state is just around the corner.

A quarter of a million surveillances in Britain are beyond all power of politicians or overseers to check. It is state paranoia, justified only by that catch-all, the "war on terror". In truth it is not countering terror, but promoting it. Mass surveillances one of the poisons that the terrorist seeks to inject into the veins of civil society.

It is clear the overseers have gone native. Even the "independent" security watchdog, Lord Carlile, has bought 42-day detention. More oversight will not cure surveillance but mask its spread. The extension from terrorism to benefit fraud, fly-tipping and trading standards demonstrates how the official mind flips to Stasi mode at the least excuse.

To claim that Britain is a police state insults those who are victims of real ones. But I have no doubt that feeble ministers are slithering down just this road, pushed by the security/industrial complex. It is not oversight that must be increased, but rather the categories and boundaries of surveillance that must be drastically curbed.

Of course there are people who want to explode bombs in Britain. Taxpayers spend a fortune trying to stop them. But how often must we remind ourselves that the bomber need not kill to achieve his end when we appease his yearning for the martyrdom of repression? The amount of surveillance in Britain is grotesque. It is a sign of the corruption of power, and nothing else.

2008-02-13T23:09:00.000-08:00

Big Brother Update

From The Times

February 13, 2008

New database increases power of surveillance over citizens

Richard Ford, Home Correspondent

More than half the population supports the Government’s controversial identity card scheme, according to a survey for the Home Office.

Sixty-one per cent of people agree strongly or slightly with the £5.75 billion scheme, with 20 per cent disagreeing strongly or slightly. The number of people unhappy with the project because they believe it would infringe their personal freedom has fallen.

More than 2,000 people over 16 were interviewed. The researchers found that the number of people who believe that the scheme will prevent illegal immigration has jumped from 23 per cent to 32 per cent. Just 16 per cent of people believe it will prevent fraud.

The research, the most recent available, was carried out before HM Revenue and Customs lost two CDs containing the personal details of 25 million people.

The scheme is one of three huge projects that will allow the Government to keep a closer check on citizens. The national identity register will contain individuals’ full names, other names by which they have been known, date of birth, place of birth, gender, the address of principal residence in the United Kingdom and the address of every other place in Britain or elsewhere where they have a place of residence and nationality. A separate database will contain fingerprints and a person’s photograph.

Two national databases are also underway: the NHS Care Records Service and the Children’s Database.

Connecting for Health will involve uploading medical records for more than 50 million patients on to an online database, allowing information to be shared among health care professionals. The NHS Care Records Service will contain a limited amount of essential information that can be combined with locally held care information. Patients will mostly be identified by summary care records containing only a few personal details. Their full medical history will only be available to doctors involved in their treatment using chip-and-PIN cards, which require a six-digit code to access some parts of the system.

In September a national children’s database is due to be set up containing the details of every child in England and Wales. Ministers say that details on all families are needed so that children’s services can contact one another. Details held will include names, addresses, schools, GP details, and other services involving each child.

Town hall officials, charity workers(WHY?) and even careers advisers will have access to the database, along with doctors, social workers and teachers.

The decision to set up the database was made after the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié in 2000, which uncovered communication problems between schools, social workers and GPs.

Existing databases hold huge amounts of information on citizens. One of the biggest is the Department for Work and Pensions customer information system, which holds about 85 million records, including the personal details of anyone with a national insurance number. It has the full income and personal details of anyone in receipt of benefits, including 11.5 million with state pensions, 2.65 million on incapacity benefits and 4 million who claim either pension credit or income support.

A database at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency holds the names, addresses, driving licence and vehicle details of 42 million drivers.

The Passport Agency has the records of 80 million passports issued, including the 47 million that are currently valid. It holds names, addresses, date and place of birth of applicants.

Revenue & Customs holds the names and addresses of six million people who make tax credit claims, the names, addresses and national insurance and salary details of the 30.5 million people who pay income tax and the details of 25 million people who receive child benefit.

Losing streak

September 2007 GMRC lost a CD with national insurance and pension details of 15,000 people
October Laptop containing data on 2,000 ISA-holders stolen

November Two CDs with details of 25 million people lost in post

December Four CDs with court case details missing; laptop with data of 60,000 people stolen from Citizens Advice Bureau; details of three million learner-drivers lost; data on 6,500 pension-holders lost
January 2008 Laptop containing details of 600,000 people stolen; details of 1,500 students lost

Source: Times database

First One For A While

2008-02-13T23:06:00.000-08:00

First one for a while

I haven’t been posting many blog entries recently. Two reasons for that really. Number one, I have been too busy, simple as that. Number two. Many of my blog entries are about politics and to be honest I have become disillusioned by politics, here in the UK, in America and worldwide in general. No matter how many of us blog on politics nothing will ever change. We, as citizens of planet Earth are ruled by an elite bunch of greedy power mad individuals who make Machiavelli look like a schoolboy in comparison when it comes to dirty tricks! Our planet endures continuous war all around the globe. Much of this in the name of democracy, freedom and human rights. What a fucking joke! Democracy, freedom and human rights have fuck all to do with it!!!!! It is all about profit and power! Profit for the corporations and power for megalomaniacs’ like George Bush and our former premier Tony Blair.

So, I will be back soon, blogging happily away again, but for the moment I will remain silent until inspiration strikes again! lol

Listening To A Teacher

2008-01-16T04:50:00.001-08:00

Listening To a Teacher

Recently I had a discussion with a teacher, a Deputy Head teacher at a local high school. It was yesterday in fact. We talked for some time on his work and my thoughts on our education system. Like me, he is in his mid fifties. He is one of the ‘old school’ type of teachers, concentrating on discipline, dress code and general attitude of his pupils towards their education. I know him well, he is good at what he does, though his tendency towards discipline and attitude doesn’t always go down well with his students, or some of the parents too, I might add! I have clashed with him in the past, one of my sons is a student of his. He and I have a good understanding now. I tell him my thoughts on his style of teaching and the ethos of his school.

Our discussion turned to the unruly element in his school, in almost every school here in the UK. He, as a senior manager has to deal with the belligerent often unruly ill disciplined element in his charge. Listening to him I can empathise with his thoughts on how to deal with them. He can be fair but harsh, almost too harsh at times. I told him this, gave him my (asked for) opinion on the school. I made a number of suggestions as to alternative ways of coping with pupils who have lost interest in their education and appear to revel in disrupting classes and lessons. He took what I had to say on board, though I suspect he will not act on any of it, either on a temporary basis, to asses the facts or at all, due to his rigid mindset.

He listened with interest on my thoughts about NOT teaching the children how to learn, but instilling an almost puppet like style of learning by rote and sitting and hopefully passing set tests, as in Standard Grade Tests and Highers (GCSE’s in England). I asked him about his knowledge of alternative ways of quite literally educating children in Junior school. Keeping to the mainstream curriculum, while in a parallel way instilling a way for the children tp enjoy the thought processes and methods of learning. He was knowledgeable on this topic, probably more than I, him being a teacher. He declined to comment much, preferring to listen. No doubt I gave him a little food for thought. Hopefully he will devise a method of using it. J

I also, while I had his undivided attention, asked him about what was to become of the less academically gifted of his pupils. Talented youngsters, intelligent individuals, but with no or little interest in further education, as in going to university. We spoke about newly introduced schemes where the pupils can attend both school and technical college, with a view to go onto taking up an apprenticeship. The future builders, engineering workers, much in short supply in the UK. We, at present have to attract people from the other EC (European Community) countries to come and live and work here as carpenters plumbers etc. His information on this was encouraging. Under a Thatcher government in the 80’s and into the 90’s our skill bank of essential building and engineering workers was decimated. It wasn’t only the mining industry and the Unions who received the ‘Thatcher Touch’ she also discouraged companies from attracting or employing apprentices, no doubt part of the social engineering programme she implemented, with a view to Britain being a nation of service industries rather than a manufacturing nation as it was always know as. Major was the stop gap between the decline of a corrupt, incompetent and Conservative ruling party and New Labour, under the leadership of ‘Maggie’ Blair. Yes good old Tony in the early days of his premiership stood before the nation on TV and espoused the qualities and foresight of a woman he admired, yes, no other than Maggie Thatcher (the milk stealer: UK reference)

As we are well aware now, he took her philosophy of greed, a trait she instilled in a generation of British people, the young ones who are now entering politics and some even are now serving Members of Parliament and took it a few steps further down the line to the present day. Today we have NEW Labour in power, for too many years, as corrupt as the previous Conservative government under Thatcher, more so possibly. The surveillance society, ‘Big Brother’ and an Orwellian future even Thatcher could not have imagined in her wildest dreams lies before us! Hopefully it can be changed, not reversed, because the time for change is imminent. I do wonder though do the British people have the resolve and determination to force through change. Can they reverse the decline in our political system. Fascism is alive and well in Westminster, will it gain even more power and influence under Brown or Cameron, same ilk different disguise, or will our men and women waken in time to stop this decline. Do you know? Tell me about it, communicate, get your bum of the sofa and blog, reply, tell me what you ‘really’ think, don’t be shy. Big Brother doesn’t bite, YET!

Yesterday (Saturday)

2008-01-05T17:30:00.000-08:00

I've pasted this from my Y360 Blog

BILLY WILL's Blog Full Post View | List View

People interest me, all types of people. People who can open up and be themselves.....

Entry for 06 January 2008 YESTERDAY: Yesterday I sat in my living-room in the afternoon, drinking coffee and having a smoke. Yes, I smoke cigarettes, not PC, unhealthy and smelly too to non-smokers. I was quietly reflecting on the year past and looking in anticipation to the year ahead. I enjoy quiet moments. My 19 year old son was sitting where I am now, using the PC. I assumed he was on messenger chatting with friends or on a motor sports website, he is into fast cars and racing. Maybe even catching upon his studies, he's prone to using the PC for serious stuff too. :)

It was very quiet, peaceful, we live in quiet place, no cars or other background noise to distract me. David, my son, was wearing headphones. As I sat there I could hear speech, not music or racetrack sounds but someone speaking, it was hearable (new word lol) and it caught my attention. I stood, walked over to the desk and asked him if it was a Martin Luther King video he was watching he waved me round it was an audio recording of one of his speeches. Yes, he was, on a Saturday afternoon, a teenager, listening to that great man speak words of wisdom. I didn't say much more just told him, enjoy, smiled and went back to my coffee.

Now my son is a typical young man in his late teens. Like most of his friends he works, goes to college and parties whenever he can, mainly weekends. None of them have police records, no one in authority imposes Asbo's (anti-social behaviour orders.... for my American friends benefit) on them and they go about their lives enjoying themselves.

Here, as I said recently in my blog the teenagers are painted in a negative light by the media, it isn't really like that though. 3-5% of the malcontents and ne'er do wells in our society are teenagers, they get 90% coverage in the media, the David's of the country get very little coverage.

If you are British you can skip this part. If you are American or from almost any other country in the Western World, the world in general in fact, you will have your own opinion of the British. Me, I am Scottish by birth, technically British too, on my Passport, but Scottish through and through. Here in the UK, Scotland too, there is a disease which is rampant. It has been with us for generations and will always be part of the British, if not Scottish psyche. It doesn't have a name, just a debilitating effect. No, it isn't apathy, or indifference or self-interest none of them lol, I blog about them often enough though :)

It is an unfathomable desire to deride and destroy the success, reputation and life sometimes of people who succeed in their chosen profession, career or sport in most cases. The Media are the vanguard of this process. They build them up, then pull them down! They profit from the person's success, yep, report it, sells papers, build them up, make them household names and when they decide that the person is no longer 'flavour of the month' they produce derogatory articles and half facts about them, splash questionable accusations about them on the front pages and, yes, make more money from it, it is after all a profit making enterprise, owning, controlling and publishing a newspaper or any form of media business.

No wonder Rupert is such a successful man! Hmmm asking myself here, why did I blog on this? Not my type of topic, really. Oh well, a change is as good as a holiday. Speaking of holidays, it is time I had one, not a chance for a while though, too many things happening in my life for holidays. Life is kind to me, my needs are simple. I have no debts , no mortgage still hanging over me. I have a number of Direct Debits each month, got to pay the bills, but other than that life is simple.

Simplicity is an under rated commodity. The word simple has negative connotations in some circles. To call a person simple is considered an insult in our society. I've heard it said, "are you daft, that concept is too simple, it will never work". But I like the word, the concept of simplicity is a fine one. I try to live by it K I S 'Keep It Simple' works most of the time for me!
Life, as we, you and I live it isn't simple, it is too complex and demanding. Or it can be. Try to live by my uncomplicated philosophy in life, quite literally keep it simple. Huh, fine words you may say ffs! this guy is too busy airing his views on blogs to keep it simple lol, a grain of truth there too!

I will leave you with this thought. I can only speak for myself here, by the way. Another key part of my philosophy in life is this, summed up in one word, 'ATTITUDE' We all have one. I try to keep mine positive and it doesn't always work I can tell you. But it is a 'simple' fact, it is the one thing in life we all have 100% control over! So, if I keep myself to myself, and I try to be honest and straightforward, and I am known to speak my mind, and you don't like it goodbye. I try to surround myself, in the real world, here too in cyberland, with positive straightforward responsible people. To me 'attitude' is essential, whether it be positive or not, but it is a required attribute for people I work with. They have, in general positive attitudes, and if it fails them we bring them back up again. Part of life my friends, when a workmate or friend is down you don't avoid or ignore them, you help them to lift themselves, with support and encouragement it invariably happens.

Another little sermon from the Right Irreverent Pastor Billy (Livi) (Colin), so many names he has, it is confusing lol

May the force be with you (chuckle)

Taking A Break

2008-01-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

Taking A Break

Jan 5, '08 5:21 AM
for everyone

It is shortly after three in the morning here. Taking a meal break, just finished a nice chicken casserole. Sitting here with a coffee. I've decided to add a wee entry, sudden impulse, what you read here is spontaneous, unedited and straight off the top of my head!

You have been warned!

I'm listening to background music,scattered thoughts......hmmmm must be leading somewhere I need to focus, best way to write, no point in rambling.

I'm relatively new to Multiply, like some of you I came here in preparation for Y360 closing down. The rumour mill said early January possibly the 8th, who knows, who cares, well I do! Yahoo was, to me, a place to relax, blog, chat on messenger, play Yahoo pool occasionally. I subscribed to my first Yahoo account maybe nine or ten years ago. I'll continue to use it for e-mail, messenger etc. Y360 was a good place to blog, I was comfortable with it and until it closes I'll still use it.

In the past I've tended to use my blog (pre-Y360) as a journal, mainly for my own use and for people close to me, good friends. Limited access was the order of the day. But I decided to blog on Y360 and leave it open to almost anyone to read. Good move. Much of the Y360 content is devoted to people who like cuddly wee animals, cute poems, glittery graffics in their messages and blogs and that is great. I've has passed away an idle moment or two reading that stuff.

I, on the other hand decided to use my time, in my own opinion, in a more productive way. I cannot abide all those sugary sentimental blogs I see so much of, they simply piss me off! I, as you may know, prefer to blog on political or moral issues. Keywords in my blog entries are often Neocons, fascists etc. I abhor the right wing, fascist politicians we in the western world endure. Men and women who use the term 'democracy' as a cloak for their Machiavellian machinations in Westminster and Washington. Britain's, often called the Home of Democracy. Ironic, isn't it? Here we live in what has almost become a police state.

Anyone who is familiar with my Y360 page already knows my views on the political scene here and in the US. Therefore no need to go down that street at present.

BUT

There is one drum I will continue to bang! An incessant din, known to drive the malcontents and indifferent bloggers to distraction! Yes, I mean you!

How can intelligent, caring, hard working, genuinely good people sit each evening after work and ignore the planet, the country, the street they live in? How can they sit there secure in their ignorance, indifference and apathy? Surely they must have twinges of guilt. To consistently turn a blind eye to the plight of our nation goes beyond appeasement, it verges on criminal negligence. Yes, I did say 'the plight of our nation'. 'What the fuck is this guy on about' I can hear from the wings. One day your children, grandchildren or maybe even great grandchildren will ask you this simple question. Why did you let this happen? Why didn't someone stop the politicians from taking control of our lives? Why is there a camera in every house? (fuck the street corners BiG Brother will be right inside your house in 10 -15 years from now) Why is my friends dad in Prison? (reply, he refused to conform) Why Why Why, lots of questions will come your way and do you know this. If you did what many people do today, (and that is 'fuck all') and sat on yer well padded arse and laughed at folk like me, yes folk like me, people who take the time and trouble to attempt to enlighten, encourage and motivate others you will have joined the army of the indifferent sad people who see our civil liberties being eroded and do fuck all about it!

If you have read this far chances are that none of the above applies to you. Congratulations, you will receive your complimentary chocolate watch in time for summer!

I have a message for anyone taking the time to read this, thank you.

Assuming you have a positive attitude to life and you are politically aware the following words may offer you some encouragement. 2008 is a new beginning in a sense. Not just to the year, but to people's attitudes. I, like many people, enjoy a beer and a blether. Invariably in the sports bar I frequent the talk is of football, rugby etc. On the odd occasion politics does rear it's ugly head. Another topic is the youth of today, young people are often criticised, accused of being rowdy, untidy etc., I am sure you've heard it before. I invariably stick up for the youth of today, I have three teenage sons so I feel I am qualified to comment.

My 19 year old son holds down two jobs and is also a full time student, great work ethic, loves to party, drives a fast car, all of the usual attributes of youth. In my eyes there is another plus there too. He is politically aware, rarely discusses politics with me and evenless so with his circle of friends. BUT having gotten to know his friends well, known some of them since pre-school days I do know this. Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats and all the other parasites we call politicians are in for a rude awakening. Young men and women are literally the leaders, innovators and business people and workers of tomorrow and they have the measure of the Blair's, Brown's and Cameron's of today! Our young people are so much more sophisticated than people realise and today's politicians are completely out of touch with them. Instead of introducing Asbo's and using Draconian methods to 'control' the youth, treating them as pariahs and a problem they must come to realise that, like the young of any generation they willl rebel. The difference being it will not be insurrection and rioting on the streets (the miners did that under Thatcher) this time, the ballot box will be their main weapon. Democracy may yet be alive and well! This generation will decide the future of our islands, not staid 'out of touch' politicians in Westminster!

2008 is literally the beginning of the end for the apology we have here in the UK for a democracy. Our political Leaders, our servants indeed, will see the 'control' methods they introduce being eroded and removed. There is a movement of like minded individuals in the UK. People who truly care for our fellow 'citizens', yes citizens. Apart from that the population in general have seen though the sham we have for a Parliament. No doubt Labour will be defeated to be replaced by a Conservative government at the next election. The status quo may be maintained for another 4-5 year term, but mark my words, within the next ten years democracy will rear it's 'genuine' head again and it will be thanks to out present day teenagers and their ilk. By then, in their late mid to late twenties they will rock the political boat and the old guard will be 'lost overboard'!

The Future Is Bright!

Tags: indifference

Our Caring, Sharing, Society

2008-01-03T02:00:00.000-08:00

A new year lies ahead. The 'citizens' of the UK have come to a crossroads. It is a crucial decision making time ahead. Over the past year I have, using another more widely viewed blog consistently posted entries highlighting the gradual erosion of civil liberties in the UK and elsewhere in the Western World. Over 20,000 people have visited my site. Approximately 3,000 to 5,000 people have read my blog there. There is a core readership who consistently comment and reply to my blog entries. I will continue to blog there, but during the coming year I will attempt to target people who genuinely care about the state of our political system here in the UK and I will use this Blog as a platform.

My last blog entry on that site was on Hogmanay, 31st of December 2007. To date there has been one comment. That comment was welcome and encouraging. The noticeable absence of any further comments over the past few days is understandable, due to the Festive Period. It is also an indicator (to me) of the lack of interest in our civil liberties. Fortunately there are literally thousands of men and women prepared to defend our way of life and the freedom of speech our fathers and their fathers before them fought for in WW II. The impromptu lunchtime protest last year when the police caved in through sheer weight of numbers illustrates how aware the British people are in respect of the attempt to erode our freedom of speech and the right to take part in 'legal' protest. (see photograph at 'head' of blog)

Below is a copy of the blog and comment on it from my friend AA. I posted this on the 31st December 2007. It was my final bog entry for the year.

Entry for 31 December 2007 LAST ENTRY FOR 2007: Please read the following words, I stumbled across John Buckley's blog just an hour ago. If this does not give you food for thought just curl up in your cocoon of apathy and indifference and be ashamed of yourself!

John Buckley…… http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog

I know I have a tendency to speak out loudly and vociferously where the political arena is concerned. I have a big mouth in that respect. It's always caused me trouble, sometimes more than I could handle. I never wanted to be "that guy" but I can't help it, because I think this stuff is genuinely important.

Every day it seems, I see, hear, or read something that makes me wonder where on earth we are heading as a (supposedly) free society. I'm genuinely afraid for the future. I don't want to be, but honestly I really am. I wish I could believe in some optimistic vision of our collective future, but some days I really don't.

I'm afraid... Sincerely and deeply afraid.

Afraid that not enough voices are speaking out to really make a difference and that there is an agenda in action that the majority of us barely seem to notice, let alone understand. Afraid that repressive policies and practices are being rammed through our societies at such a pace, that not only do we struggle to comprehend them, but they leave us all reeling in their wake.

Sometimes I'm afraid to even speak out, for fear of being ridiculed or marginalised. I hear people expressing opinions that seem to me to be based on very little active research. Instead those opinions sound like they have been inculcated and carefully crafted by others. Most people seem to think that history and society evolve by accident rather than design, I believe the research and facts show otherwise.

I wonder if ordinary people have the strength, courage, or conviction, to oppose (or even understand) the actions of their governments. Even when those actions are deeply immoral and generally understood as such, it seems people feel powerless to resist them.

Thus it is that an American President can assume absolute power by fraudulent means, or that our nation can be dragged into a terrible despairing conflict by dishonest methods, fabricated evidence and blatant deceit, yet there appears to be little we the people can do about it.

My own study of history, tells me that so much of what occurs is deliberate not accidental. That there are powers we rarely see, controlling the movement and development of our societies, but which always manage to remain carefully hidden and shielded from casual scrutiny.

Watching endless successful attacks on our basic freedoms, leads me to question my own place in a culture so unwilling to defend the weak, the marginal or the victims. For if we will not defend our weaker brothers and sisters when the attack dogs are unleashed upon them, how can we expect to be defended when our own time comes to face the bully?

Do we value difference, tolerance, justice? Do we truly? Do we defend the rights of others as we would wish our own to be so defended? Indeed do we even value freedom anymore? Or is it only a freedom that we don't have to do anything to defend that we care about? The freedom to consume what we want when we want it, or to ignore the cries of agony from those that we allow to be victimized in our name, for a cause we supposedly espouse, yet do not truly support or believe in.

Are we willing to give our lives for anything these days? We willingly give ourselves to a million empty distractions. Yet it seems to me, that more and more, there is little we are willing to do to defend anything substantial. Little we are willing to sacrifice and the more unwilling we become to risk anything of ourselves, or to defend the principles we say we believe in, the more frightened I become that those very freedoms will be sacrificed on the altar of our apathy, indolence and ignorance.

I'm passionate about what I see happening around me. When I see: gross injustice, willful ignorance, barbarous brutality, or the stone-cold bullshit of propaganda and censorship being played out on the public stage, something inside of me cries out against it!

Restricting the right to peacefully protest, fingerprinting tens of thousands of schoolchildren, erecting a culture of pervasive surveillance, fighting unjust wars, that kill, maim and disfigure the innocent; these and a thousand other indignities and brutalities, are not the footprints of a society headed for the green fields of freedom. They are the tracks of a culture walking the hard stone road to tyranny.

I want to continue to live in a country where freedom thrives. I want to enjoy the right to think freely and speak openly. To hear and express opinion, without fear of being censored or punished, because my thoughts, or the thoughts of others, are not the politically correct or popular opinions of the day.

I wish to enjoy a fair reward for my labor, to live peaceably with my neighbor, in a country where the rights of individuals, to act, in accordance with laws that are just - and in accordance with their own deeply held personal beliefs, are above all preserved. Where privacy is a right, not a privilege, where freedom is a fact, not a platitude.

Yet for all my bravado, I feel alone in many ways. I am afraid that I have even been cowed of late. I begin to wonder if voices like mine, who do not wish to see a country where children are fingerprinted like criminals, or to live inside a culture of 'cradle to grave' surveillance, will be ignored. In my heart of hearts, I am afraid that a lesser nation is coming to pass.

Already it seems to me, that I live in a society where every citizen is viewed as a potential enemy of their own government. Once this mentality becomes endemic, it will define the way in which governments relate to their people. It will breed a socially toxic bacterium of institutional fear, informational distrust and identity suspicion. Everybody will be a either a potential victim or criminal; both types will be constantly monitored. It is already happening...

What I'm most afraid of, is that the ordinary everyday folk, who are the real hope of the future of freedom here; continue to maintain an enveloping silence, feign ignorance, change the subject, look away. When they see the rights our ancestors gave their lives to preserve being eroded in front of them. I think for me, that fear eats away at my optimism most of all.

I don't want to look into the eyes of my own child one day and say to them, that the reason they are not free, their government so callous, unjust and oppressive, is because I and millions like me, lacked the courage to fight to preserve the most basic and valuable of freedoms.

That we accepted trinkets, in place of treasures. Were pacified with platitudes and tolerated lies, when we should have demanded honesty and transparency- Surrendered to fear and ignorance, when we should have shown courage and wisdom, thus ignoring our better natures, and finally, bargained away our permanent liberties for an illusory cage of temporary safety.

Keywords: UK, Personal, Life, Future, Freedom, dissidentvox, commentary

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Monday 31 December 2007 - 04:28AM (GMT) Edit | Delete

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Aaran…
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John Buckley's blog is indeed an excellent one bro, it is what the Blogosphere is in my opinion all about. It makes you want to reach out and comfort him and express solidarity and say 'you're not alone John'. It is a heart felt plea for action against tyranny and is not an uncommon sentiment on the British broad left. To me however, that is rather an irony.
In May 1997 I was a member of the Labour Party. I had only been a member for a couple of years, having hitherto resisted any involvement with that dubious organisation for decades. I only joined because my union activities offered the 'perk' of cut price membership and I also wanted to support John Smith as the least worst option at the time.
When Smith died I became active in the party campaigning against Blair in the leadership election campaign and of course my membership gave me a vote for what that's worth.
Blair was elected on 2 May 1997, I resigned my Labour Party membership on 3 May 1997.
When a 'comrade asked me why |I was resigning the day after the Party's greatest victory since 1945 I said that the the combination of authoritarian policies and left leaning rhetoric represented only one political ideology so far as I could see... fascism. It's a simple fact of political philosophy, but at the time the Tory press were portraying Blair as 'Bambi'and the comrade in question thought I was mad.
I was a member of the FAF (Front Against Fascism) in 1967, I remain a member today except (for the information gathers out there) it doesn't really exist....right?
I have a different take on things to John Buckley,although I fully understand the sentiments he expresses. He should have been in Trafalgar Square on 8 October 2007 when the police in London wanting to ban a march on Parliament caved in because 5 or 6 thousand marchers turned up at an impromtu protest on a Monday lunchtime in Central London.
I see a different world, I was out all last night working with A&E staff and on-call GPs and the Police to deal with victims and perpetrators of New Year localised chaos which as you know Billy, is something of a cottage industry in the UK. Stuff is happening, John should know this and stop feeling so negative. The most powerful curb on civil liberties in this country is psychological not based so much upon physical force as believing the propaganda of fear. I talk to people all the time about these sorts of issues my views are well known to all who know me. Some work colleagues even read my blogs at work, yes night shifts really are THAT boring.
I am old enough to rember the parochial nature of political activity before the internet and every day I count my/our blessings.
Great blog mate, thanks for posting it.
P&S AA:)

Tuesday 1 January 2008 - 05:46PM (GMT) Remove Comment

Britain Today

2007-12-03T05:13:00.000-08:00

The threat from terrorism does not justify slicing away our freedoms

Britain is now one of the world's most spied-upon societies, where such ancient rights as habeas corpus are hacked to bits

Timothy Garton Ash
Thursday November 15, 2007
The Guardian

Smiley swirled the last of the brandy in his balloon glass and muttered: "We've given up far too many freedoms in order to be free. Now we've got to take them back." That legendary spymaster's warning about the over-intrusive, over-mighty national security states that we in the self-styled "free world" built up during the cold war was delivered in John le Carré's novel of 1990, The Secret Pilgrim. But instead of taking those freedoms back, British people have lost more of them. Across the western world, vastly more personal information is held on individuals by states and private companies; ancient liberties are curbed, people detained without trial, free speech stifled.

Shamingly, among the very worst offenders, the most careless with its citizens' liberties, the most profligate in surveillance, is the British state. Once proud to style itself "mother of the free", Britain has the most watched society in Europe. The country that invented habeas corpus now boasts one of the longest periods of detention without charge in the civilised world. And the guardians of national security want to make that even longer. Yet these same guardians cannot detect illegal immigrants working in their own offices (and even, in one case, reportedly helping to repair the prime minister's top-security car), nor detain a terrorist suspect (who turned out to be a wholly innocent Brazilian) without shooting him in the head.

A compulsion to legislate ever more new restrictions is combined with paroxysms of staggering inefficiency. Can anyone think of a better formula for sacrificing liberty without gaining security? Smiley must be turning in his grave. Or if, as is sometimes rumoured, he is still living quietly in Cornwall under another name, then we need to hear his voice again: "We are giving up far too many freedoms in order to be free. We must take them back."

The salami-slicing of Britain's civil liberties, including the right to privacy, has at least two causes. One is the spectacular growth, since Smiley's day, of the technologies of information, communication, observation and data registration. The other is the threat of international terrorism, especially jihadist terrorism, made dramatically visible by the New York, Madrid and London bombings. Even without the atrocities of 9/11 and 7/7, there would have been a vast growth in the personal information stored in computer servers, mobile phone records, credit-rating databanks, CCTV videos and the like. Even without that explosion in the technological possibilities for state and private Big Brothering, such terrorist attacks would have provoked a tightening of security.

It is the combination of the two which makes this so alarming. And Britain has the grisly distinction of leading the democratic world on both fronts. The official information commissioner, Richard Thomas, says the country has already sleepwalked into a surveillance society.

Privacy International, the human rights group which monitors surveillance societies worldwide, says Britain is the worst-performing democracy in this respect. Take a look at the map on their website (privacyinternational.org): Britain is the only country in the whole western world to be coloured black, an "endemic surveillance society", alongside communist China and Putin's Russia. The UK has more than 4 million CCTV cameras. Its national DNA database, the largest in the world, is supposed to have some 4.25 million people on it by the end of next year - or roughly one in every 14 inhabitants. According to the last published report of the interception of communications commissioner, more than 400,000 official requests were made to tap telephone calls and monitor emails in the period from January 2005 to March 2006. A staggering 795 security, police and local authority bodies are entitled to make such requests. Need I go on?

At the same time, bill after bill has chipped away at our ancient rights, in the name of combatting terrorism. For centuries, habeas corpus meant you had to be charged or released after 24 hours. In 2004, that was increased to 48 hours; last year, it went up to 28 days; and the police want to push it up again. Yet, as the civil liberties pressure group Liberty has recently shown in a careful comparative study, most other leading democracies come nowhere close to that figure, despite facing similar threats. In Canada, for instance, the pre-charge detention limit is still one day; in the United States, it's two days; even in Turkey, it's only 7.5 days.

Of course we should not be naive. International and homegrown terrorists do pose a threat that is especially difficult to detect. If the head of MI5 is anywhere near right to say that there may be 2,000 such people in Britain, they need to be watched, and stopped before they act. There is a difficult balance to strike between liberty and security. But over the last decade Britain has erred much too far on the side of security. In fact, that is to understate the error: we have probably diminished our own security by overreacting, alienating some who might otherwise not have been alienated, while at the same time building up the free world's most thick-knit public and private surveillance society.

It's interesting to ask why this historic homeland of freedom has erred so much on the side of restricting freedom. Is it just, as is often said, the "authoritarian reflexes" of New Labour? Or is it precisely because we think of ourselves as a land of old and self-evident liberty that we are so relaxed about letting this and that right or customary freedom (each seemingly small in itself) be sliced away?

The myth - our own myth about ourselves - is so strong that we don't see the changed reality underneath. We go on saying, "It's a free country, isn't it?", and don't recognise that it's less so by the day. I find it suggestive that Britain, probably the freest society in Europe in the last century, is now the most watched society in Europe, while Germany, a country with a unique 20th-century double experience - Nazi and Stasi - of unfreedom, is now, according to Privacy International, the least watched.

Yet more important than wondering how we got into this mess is to work out how we get out of it. What is needed is a change of paradigm: from liberty through security to security through liberty. We have a prime minister who presents liberty as a - perhaps even the - central British value. He invites us to explore how "together we can write a new chapter in our country's story of liberty".

Invitation accepted. Let's start by not extending the period for detention without charge a single day further. Let's continue by cutting back not our rights but our bloated public and private apparatus of surveillance. One candidate for the Liberal Democratic leadership, Nick Clegg, has said he will go to prison rather than surrender the personal data needed for the proposed ID card, and the other, Chris Huhne, has proposed an "anti-Big Brother bill'. Committees of both the Commons and the Lords are to report on the surveillance society in the next few months. Let us become again what we think we are: one of the world's most free countries. Let the fightback begin.

www.timothygartonash.com

The last days of America as we know it

2007-12-02T03:42:00.000-08:00

The era of American dominance in the world is nearly over. It will likely be replaced by an era of Chinese dominance, in which western medicine, western science, western debt spending and western culture will ultimately be rejected by most world nations.

It's time for Americans to face up to the reality of the country they're living in. Take the issue of health care as a rather important example. Did you know that you can get better health care in Cuba than America? Did you know that the life expectancy of a Cuban citizen is the same as an American citizen, and yet Americans spend hundreds of times more money per capita on disease care and sickness care than Cubans? American medicine is an utter failure, and it's destroying the economic viability of the entire country. Businesses are going bankrupt or moving offshore because of health care costs, and even those that can afford to operate on U.S. soil are faced with the reality that it's almost impossible to hire employees who can actually think these days thanks to the widespread use of brain-damaging prescription drugs. Success stories like Google are increasingly rare.

I remember living in Taiwan in the 1990's, and I paid something like $4 / month for health insurance coverage. A visit to the doctor cost me $2 out of pocket. Every person in Taiwan who has a job gets automatic health insurance coverage, and the nation has prospered economically over the last four decades in a way that the U.S. simply cannot match. The Taiwan people are innovative, resourceful and hard working. Of course, they're also hopelessly corrupt when it comes to politics, but that seems to be a universal law: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

America's reputation is in shambles

If you travel the world these days and ask about America, you might be surprised at the negative answers you'll hear. This is not obvious to people living in America because, of course, they only have access to the controlled, pro-America news sources that dominate mainstream thinking. But the world opinion of America has already suffered a severe setback under the leaderhip of President Bush, and in time, the world will reject American intellectual property, the American medicine scam and the harmful effects of American foods and beverages.

History will reveal America to be a nation that burned itself out on drugs, debt spending and junk foods, destroying the health its own people until its population could hardly even reproduce without medical intervention. Lacking any useful ideas, steeped in the defense of the status quo and abandoning the true needs of its own people, American political leaders have set our nation on a destructive course that may prove impossible to reverse. And they seem to want to destroy as many other nations as possible along the way -- as long as it generates more profits for U.S. corporations in the short term. "Poison the world and reap the profits!"

The future belongs to smart nations

Any nation that wishes to protect itself from the same fate America is headed towards would be wise to reject American foods, medicines, beverages, consumer products, intellectual property laws and financial practices.

The nations that survive and prosper over the next hundred years will be:

• Those nations that save money and invest in their future (rather then spending it on war or underfunded entitlement program).

• Those nations that reject western foods and pass laws to protect their populations from dangerous chemicals in foods, beverages and consumer products.

• Those nations that reject American intellectual property guidelines and ban corporations or private individuals from "owning" patents on medicines, seeds and genes.

• Those nations that invest in education, energy efficiency and environmental cleanup in order to create a better future for their children.

• Those nations that invest now in energy independence, teaching their people to use less energy while switching to vehicles that can run on electricity (which can be produced domestically in any country).

• Those nations that reject elite-controlled banking and money systems and restore the power of the currency to the people, where open trade can happen with zero inflation, creating enormous abundance for the people.

No nation will likely fully embrace all these points, but those that manage to fulfill at least some of them will do far better than those who don't. What's certain is that those nations attempting to mimic the culture of America will suffer the same fate as America -- a fate that will soon be obvious to even the most insistent deniers who claim that environmental pollution, endless debt spending and the mass contamination of food and medicines with deadly synthetic chemicals are somehow sustainable practices. The end result of all this is not in question by any serious thinker: Widespread bankruptcy, disease pandemics, environmental collapse and a bursting of the food production bubble.

Papua New Guinea may ultimatey emerge as one of the few successful, sustainable nations in the world. If you're not sure why, I urge you to read Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, and then study the history of human civilization from a geographic viewpoint. You will see that the only nations with any sort of future are those that protect and nurture the health of their people and their environment, taking a long-term perspective rather than short-term economic gain. America has no long-term vision other than controlling world oil resources. America has no investment whatsoever in the health of its people and virtually no effort to protect its environment. America is fixated on short-term thinking and stop-gap measures, ignoring the greater concerns of education, renewable energy, individual health and individual liberty. And finally, America is a bankrupt nation by any honest accounting method, and it is only by the grace of debt holders of Asia that America can continue to sell debt at all.

No wise nation will follow America into this quagmire (and why should they, when they have their own quagmires to explore?).

The good news in all this, by the way, is that you don't have to follow the fate of your nation. By protecting your own health, saving your own wealth and investing in the future of yourself and your children (through education, fertile land, etc.), you can avoid the worst of what's coming and actually thrive during difficult times. That's why taking charge of your own life right now is more important than ever. Be independent from the mainstream. Learn how to protect your own health and reject medical propaganda. Understand the basic laws of economics and how debt is manufactured and sold. (A good book on that is called the Concise Guide to Economics and it's available free at http://www.conciseguidetoeconomics.com ). Teach yourself the basic principles of sustainable living, green living and "hippie wisdom." These are the things that will get you through the tough times ahead.

In terms of financial news, be sure to read the Daily Reckoning (www.DailyReckoning.com) if you want to hear the truth about world financial news. Also check out the book Empire of Debt, which earns my top recommendation for the best book available on the coming financial collapse of America.

I haven't even mentioned peak oil yet, by the way. Ever wonder what happens when the oil runs out? Check out this page on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil

About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and technology pioneer with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions from interested parties he writes about.

Saint Andrew's Day

2007-11-23T13:36:00.000-08:00

Saint Andrews Day 30th November 2007

Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, Romania and Russia and was Christ's first disciple.

Other facts in brief

He was born in Bethsaida in Galilee
He was born and brought up as a Jew
He spoke Aramaic
Andrew's Greek name was Andreas which means 'manly'
He was the elder brother of Saint Peter
Andrew was a fisherman by trade
He was the second person to be baptised by John the Baptist after Jesus
Andrew was martyred for his faith in Patras
Legend has it that some of St Andrew's bones were taken to Scotland by St. Rule (also known as St Regulus) in Pictish times
His bones once lay in St. Andrew's Cathedral
The first church in England to be dedicated to him was in Rochester
His emblem is a cross Saltire
The flag of Scotland, the Union Flag, the Arms and Flag of Scotia all feature a Saltire to commemorate St Andrew
He is also patron of the Order of the Thistle, one of the highest ranks of chivalry in the world

St Andrew's Day: The new battleground?

LOUISE GRAY ( // lgray@scotsman.com)

ST ANDREW'S Day became the new battleground yesterday in the debate over Scotland's identity, as the First Minister unveiled how the event was to be marked for the first time under an SNP government.

In a flurry of Saltire-waving and patriotic songs, Alex Salmond said Scotland would celebrate its patron saint on 30 November with events around the country, heralding the start of a new, two-month winter festival.

The First Minister insisted it would be a celebration of Scottishness and denied he was using it as "SNP propaganda".

But opposition MSPs accused the Scottish Government of hijacking St Andrew's Day for its own political purposes and warned against attempting to use events to further calls for independence.

George Foulkes, a Labour MSP for the Lothians, said: "What the SNP is wanting to do is to try to link the flag and Flower of Scotland and St Andrew's Day with their political philosophy of separation and narrow nationalism.

"I think the Saltire, the anthem and St Andrew's Day are the possession of all Scots, not just in Scotland but overseas. It is part of our history and international, and should not be to do with one political party."

The winter festival will take in three uniquely Scottish events - St Andrew's Day on 30 November, Hogmanay on 31 December and Burns Night on 25 January.

Information packs, which include Saltire flags, have been sent to nurseries and universities, while leaflets have gone out to schools suggesting ways to celebrate St Andrew. The exercise is costing just under £6,000.

A website lists events around the country, including ceilidhs, concerts and a "living history" demonstration to recreate elements of the Battle of Culloden, where the Jacobites fought government forces.

It is not only in Scotland that St Andrew is celebrated on 30 November. Around the world, from Abu Dhabi to Washington DC, there will be balls, dinners, lectures and concerts.

Mr Salmond said: "St Andrew's Day is a celebration of Scotland at home and abroad. It is a chance to enjoy the multicultural Scotland we have become. But it's more than an excuse for a party - it's an opportunity to celebrate our history and our talents.

"You would have to have the most enormous Scottish cringe to believe there is anything wrong with celebrating your own nationality while respecting others.

"People in Scotland and across the world celebrate their nationality while respecting other people's identity. It is part of being a self confident country."

The First Minister said St Andrew's Day was for all political parties. "This is not SNP propaganda; this is Scottish promotion," he said. "The Saltire does not belong to the SNP - it belongs to Scotland."

Tourism bosses welcomed the new winter festival as an opportunity to increase the number of visitors over the winter months and boost the economy.

Gavin Ellis, the chairman of the British Hospitality Association Scotland, said: "Any efforts to promote Scotland as a must-do destination in the perceived off-season is to be viewed as a positive move."

He said it was up to tourism operators to make the most of the opportunity.

"It is not just the parties - Scotland is a fantastic place to visit in the winter. If it helps focus business as to what it can do to make itself more appealing when there is spare capacity, then people will come, and it is up to the industry to create additional attractions for our guests to visit," he said.

However, Josh McAllister, the president of Edinburgh University Students Association, said he was concerned that the use of flags, which were also sent to schools by the last administration, could be seen as propaganda. "If the Westminster government sent Union flags to every school, college and university in Scotland, would the SNP support it? Most students know that any national identity is about a lot more than a piece of cloth," he said.

"The general point here is whether sending out flags is the best use of civil servant time and public money."

Jackie Baillie, the Labour MSP for Dumbarton, said the government should not be telling people how to celebrate St Andrew's Day. "Anyone who has seen the success Ireland has had with St Patrick's Day would want that same celebration for St Andrew's Day," she said.

"However, the real secret of a great St Andrew's Day won't be about government orders. It will be about local people and local activities. Rather than telling people what to do on St Andrew's Day, the SNP government would do better to listen to the Scottish people."

The Scottish Government's plans come at a time when the Conservatives at Westminster are questioning the devolution settlement as unfair to the English, and commentators such as Kelvin MacKenzie of the Sun have criticised the Scots for spending money rather than earning it.

Peter Lynch, a senior lecturer in politics at the University of Stirling, said the SNP was trying to "build a nation" in a similar way as Westminster was promoting a sense of "British values and citizenship". He went on: "I suppose what the SNP are trying to do is to make Scotland look like a nation state rather than a region of the UK."

Professor Tom Devine, professor of Scottish History at Edinburgh University, welcomed a celebration of St Andrew's Day by unionists and nationalists.

However, he said education had to improve so people had a "balanced" sense of Scottish nationalism.

"Symbolic tokenism [like St Andrew's Day] is not unimportant but insignificant to the need for a full scale re-engineering of teaching not just Scottish history but also the Scottish present and future," he said.

"We would have a more relaxed relationship with England if we knew about our national history and relationship over the years. The danger is, because of educational difficulties, people have grown up with a number of myths and beliefs, most of which are insignificant but some of which can be difficult.

"The most important single thing is to ensure that future generations have a proper understanding of where they come from and also Scotland's position in the world."

Entry for 21 November 2007 CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE!

2007-11-21T07:04:00.000-08:00

From The Times

November 21, 2007

Moment’s blunder puts half the country at risk

A junior official who appears to have been asleep on the job burnt the child benefit database onto two discs – and posted them

Sean O’Neill, Francis Elliott, Rajeev Syal and Rhys Blakely

Perhaps his mind was elswhere that Thursday morning. England's hopes of qualifying for the European Championships had been dentged the night before by defeat in Moscow — still, there was the Rugby World Cup Final to look forward to at the weekend.

Certainly, when the request came to send child benefit data to the National Audit Office in London, the junior official’s mind does not appear to have been on the job. He burned the entire national child benefit database on two computer discs, popped them in an envelope and sent them to the post room for collection by TNT couriers.

“He messed up, it was treated as a normal piece of mail,” an insider at HM Revenue & Customs said.

The IT worker returned to his duties, unaware that posting that envelope would trigger the country’s biggest police investigation into possible identity theft and jeopardise the career of the Chancellor.

He had committed a potentially catastrophic security breach.

HMRC’s procedures state that such detailed data — the names, addresses, National Insurance numbers and bank details of every child benefit claimant in the country — should never leave the offices in Washington, Tyne & Wear. If the auditors wanted to see that material, they were to be invited to the North East to view it on a standalone computer in a secure room.

But the NAO staff had not asked for this level of detail. They had specified that they wanted limited information, specifically claimants’ names, NI numbers and child benefit numbers. They knew the procedures and the risks associated with sending addresses or bank account details.

The NAO wanted to select a sample of claimants and then visit HMRC to study the full records as part of the 2007-08 child benefit audit.

HMRC decided unnecessarily, as it had done seven months earlier for the 2006-07 audit, to send much more and exposed 7.25 million families to the risk of identity fraud by organised criminals.

The Information Commissioner was already investigating two serious data-protection breaches at HMRC — the losses of a laptop containing 15,000 individuals’ details and a CD with information about Standard Life customers. On October 18, however, no one could foresee the problems ahead. It was not until the following Wednesday, when the NAO called to say that the discs had not arrived, that anything was done.

And then, the wrong thing was done again. The full database was burned on to two more discs and posted again. This time, however, the despatch was approved by senior staff and sent by recorded delivery.

The second package arrived at the NAO offices at Buckingham Palace Road where officials continued to be concerned at the non-arrival of the first parcel.

They continued to pursue the issue and eventually, on November 8, managers at Washington decided to tell Paul Gray, the recently appointed chairman of HMRC.

If his junior officials did not realise the gravity of the situation, Mr Gray did. He ordered an inquiry by the Revenue’s investigators who began the search for the missing package.

Mr Gray, a former Treasury civil servant, also knew that his political bosses had to be told. Alistair Darling was at home with his wife in Edinburgh on Saturday, November 10, when a call came through on the secure line reserved for sensitive communications.

Jane Kennedy, a junior Treasury Minister, was on the line with details of the fiasco. Both ministers’ private secretaries listened in to the call.

Within minutes, Mr Darling was on the phone to the Prime Minister. It took him 30 minutes to tell Gordon Brown what, to the best of his knowledge, had happened.

A furious Chancellor demanded an immediate overhaul of security at HMRC but it was a case of closing the stable door. The Chancellor was told on Monday, November 14, that HMRC thought that it was confident of tracing the missing package, but Mr Darling’s patience was running out.

By Wednesday, he said, “it was clear to me that the HMRC searches had failed to find them [the discs]”. He ordered Mr Gray to call in Scotland Yard.

That call was made the next day, November 15, and the Metropolitan Police assigned the inquiry to the Specialist Crime Directorate, which handles sensitive investigations.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Janet Williams was placed in charge of the investigation which initially involved six officers. Within days, as senior officers realised the urgency of the case and the scale of the inquiry, the number of officers was doubled. Personnel were seconded from other forces and an extensive series of searches began.

A source said: “We have no evidence of a crime, but the potential for a crime is there. Something can be regarded as lost when actually it may have been stolen.”

The search is something of a needle in a haystack job. TNT carries about 100,000 pieces of mail for HMRC every night of the working week. The courier firm said that the first package had been sent with general mail and therefore had no “track and trace” facility. A TNT spokesman said: “It has been impossible, in this instance, to conduct an audit to identify if the item entered the system.” Searches have been carried out at the NAO’s London offices, where three officials have been interviewed. A source there said: “The fact is that the package never arrived here.”

The biggest search operation is taking place at the HMRC child benefit headquarters in Washington, where several staff have been interviewed as witnesses. But the searches have been fruitless and huge emphasis is now being placed on fraud prevention.

Apacs, the banking industry body that overlooks payments systems in Britain, was informed last Friday and co-ordinated an escalation of the banks’ systems for pinpointing suspicious transactions.

Millions of transactions are monitored every day and the most advanced systems can track payments in real time. A high-street bank executive said: “We are doing what we normally do, but on a much larger scale. If you are attacked by a fraudster and we suddenly see ‘you’ purchasing £500 worth of jewellery from a shop in eastern Europe, we aim to spot it.”

Experts in identity theft have warned that sophisticated fraudsters might never touch existing accounts, but use the data to obtain credit cards and loans. David Hill, senior security consultant at red24, said: “It may be that the first we see of any criminal activity is in a few months’ time when bills start appearing for goods we haven’t ordered.”

Post haste

March A junior Revenue official sends child benefit payment records to National Audit Office, disregarding security rules. Data later returned

October Further request for information from NAO

October 18 Junior official sends two password-protected disks with all child benefit payment records to NAO using the courier firm TNT, again ignoring security rules. They fail to arrive

Late October More disks sent to NAO, this time by registered post. They arrive safely

November 8 Revenue manager is told that the original two disks failed to arrive

November 10 Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is told. He demands an investigation and orders searches for disks

November 12 Revenue officials tell Chancellor that they expect the data to be found

November 14 Chancellor told searches have failed to find disks, and decides police should be called in. Paul Gray, the Revenue chairman, offers to resign

November 15 The Chancellor discusses the breach with Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner

November 20 The Chancellor tells Parliament of the lost disks and announces Mr Gray’s resignation

Have your say

This is not an isolated failure of a single person having a bad day. Instead it is a systematic failure of a system that could allow an entire database to be copied to two CDs.

I am a program manager working for a supplier in a UK bank. My role is to push customer data projects forwards. In contrast the bank has numerous processes that often slow things down, the most stringent of which are always connected with the security of data.

A request to copy the entire customer database would need to go to senior VP level. If my team wanted to bypass this process we would be unable to do so because we don't have the IT rights to access all the data, the bank's servers would stop the copying of the data to a PC, almost all PCs have their CD drives disabled & remote access excludes file transfer.

Data security in HMRC therefore appears to be defined by un-policed rules which are not reinforced by system design. I suspect the public sector will soon have very powerful IT Risk Offices.

Andy Johnson, Bristol, UK

UK Gravy Train. Lord Haw Haw and Friends

2007-11-11T22:36:00.000-08:00

Entry for 12 November 2007

UK Gravy Train. Lord Haw Haw and Friends.

(Bold, Red and Italic text has been inserted into the original text by myself, Billy)

From The Times

November 12, 2007

Peers help themselves to £300 a day tax-free

Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent and Patrick Foster

Hundreds of peers are exploiting a loophole on expenses to give themselves a tax free income of up to £48,000 a year, The Times has found.

Rules agreed by Parliament allow members of the House of Lords to claim up to £308 a day to pay for meals, hotels, taxis and other travel expenses associated with their role.

But peers do not have to submit receipts and an analysis of their expenses shows that nearly two thirds automatically claim the maximum almost every time they visit the Lords.

Several Lords have told The Times that they see the expense payments as an allowance and that routinely claiming the maximum amount is common practice. This discrepancy could lead to an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs. The payments are currently tax free because they are “reimbursement of actual expenses”, according to the Lords’ rule book, rather than a form of salary.

Lord Brabazon of Tara, the head of the Privileges Committee, the watchdog in the Lords, has admitted that the rules are ambiguous. One veteran Conservative peer said that there was an “element of hypocrisy” in the arrangement but it represented the best compromise possible after the 1999 reforms.

An analysis of peers’ expenses for The Times reveals:

— 359 of the 550 Lords who claimed “day subsistence” — a £78.50 payment for meals and taxis — claimed the maximum on 95 per cent of occasions or more.

— 272 of the 406 peers who live outside London and claim “overnight subsistence” for hotels — worth £159.50 — claimed the maximum on 95 per cent of occasions or more.

— 338 of 514 Lords who claim office expenses, worth £69 a day, claimed the maximum on 95 per cent of occasions or more. Unlike the House of Commons, secretarial costs are paid to the peer to distribute.

A number of Lords have claimed allowances regularly while voting infrequently. Lord Paul, a friend of Gordon Brown whose family is reportedly worth around £1.5 billion, claimed allowances for 137 days between April 2006 and March 2007. He voted 26 times on 21 different days over the same period, according to the Public Whip website. He said: “Most votes are before 5pm. I usually go after that. After work.”

However, Lord Paul and a number of other peers defended the amounts that they claimed, saying that their actual expenses were higher than the maximum that they could claim. He said: “That’s far less than I deserve. If a lawyer can charge thousands of pounds, then I can charge that. I spend more money than that, so I put in for the amount I can. That’s what I’m allowed to do, and that’s what I do.”

Peers’ expenses cost the taxpayer £17.7 million in the year to March, representing 18 per cent of the running cost of the Lords.

The rule book on the House of Lords website says: “All amounts paid in settlement of claims represent reimbursement of actual expenses arising out of unpaid parliamentary duty, rather than income from employment. Consequently they are not subject to income tax, and need not be included on a tax return.” It adds: “A member’s signature effectively certifies that the amount claimed has been spent.” Claims are checked by the House of Lords finance department and audited by the National Audit Office.

Lord Brabazon said: “Frankly most people claim the maximum. It’s up to individual peers to claim what they claim, within the limits. That’s the way the Lords works. You don’t have to prove how much you spent overnight.”

Asked if that could allow for abuses, he said: “I couldn’t possibly comment.” Asked if there was conflicting guidance, he said: “I can see what you’re getting at. I would agree that it’s ambiguous and that’s the way it works.”

Maurice Fitzpatrick, senior tax manager for Grant Thornton, said: “The general rule in the private sector is that when Revenue & Customs conduct inspections that they expect expenses reimbursed to employees to be backed up by receipts. I can’t see a general exemption for this allowance, and I can’t see anything that says this daily allowance is automatically free of tax.”

HM Revenue & Customs said: “Payment of expenses is a matter for House authorities. HMRC do not comment on individual cases.”

The Battle for Pakistan

2007-11-09T15:52:00.000-08:00

This is gives food for thought:

Published on Friday, November 9, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

The Battle for Pakistan

by Imran Khan

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/09/5127/

A Global Crisis Looming

2007-11-05T16:21:00.000-08:00

A Global Crisis Looming

The outlook is darkening

Martial law declared in Pakistan

A credit crisis, an energy crisis and a dollar crisis resulting in an International crisis is confronting the countries of the world.

General Musharraf has stated that Pakistan is descending into chaos. In his view there are extemists waiting to take over and he believes that only the army can stop them. He believes that that democracy cannot solve the problem, whilst professing to hold democratic principles! He fears an early change to the regime. If this was to happen he would view it as national suicide.

The United Kingdom government and that of America too insist that the situation can only be resolved inside a constitutional framework. If Pakistan moves towards a democracy will any of the democratic leaders, such as Benazir Bhutto, succeed? Has Pakistan reached the stage of being ungovernable?

Pakistan is essential to America, without them as an ally the US could not maintain its position in Afghanistan. The southern flank of the oil rich countries of the Gulf rely on Pakistan’s alliance with the US to protect their interests. The West is dependent on a stable regime in Pakistan. The worst possible scenario would be an anti Western Islamic regime.

The Rise In The Oil Price

The rise in the oil price. serves some political purposes, the high oil price is speculative, partly caused by fear of an extension of the war in the Middle East. The oil price could drop if the threat of war, including war with Iran, became more distant.

It may well be that the oil price increase has been caused by a real shortage, because of the growth in demand from China. Pakistan’s troubled times ahead brings with it serious problems for the oil market.

The large Western banks have made serious financial blunders in recent years. The sub prime crisis being the most recent and noticeable. During August there was a credit crunch which the ‘experts’ failed to predict. This was apparently due to low quality mortgage loans and a reluctance amongst the bank to lend to each other. Here in the UK Northern Rock Building Society was a prime example!

There was a similar credit crunch in the 1970’s, it may happening again caused by the falling housing markets and the recycling of oil dollars. Considering the political climate in the Middle East the oil price is predicted to grow higher and the global shortage of funds may become serious. This global crisis happens to include Pakistan.

The dollar has been devalued against most currencies and against gold too. The Neocon Bush administration has been responsible for the large US deficits. Since Bush came to office the price of gold has trebled. This partly reflects the rise in the price of oil and it also shows a lack of confidence in the dollar.

Please bear this in mind… If there had been no Islamic militants General Musharraf would not have called a state of emergency resulting in martial law. In a crisis like this one there has to have been real pressure for it to have happened.

An oil price of over $90 a barrel reflects the shortage and the threat of war only increases the tension amongst nations. If people trusted the dollar gold would not be over $800 an ounce. Painful decisions will have to be made, the events being played out daily on the world stage ensure that.

Highly Relevant Cartoons!

2007-11-01T02:10:00.000-07:00

These amusing cartoons are published in the Times Online today Thursday 1st November 2007. They say it so well, much better than words in many ways. Enjoy (chuckle)

Peter Brookes

Morland

Nature Notes

The Power of The People

2007-10-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

Today we are on the verge of a catastrophe. A Neocon led American government are in the final stages of their preparation for war with Iran. We have a rogue nation (government) prepared to risk WW III by attacking Iran and leading the world into The Final Conflict. All that stand between us and WW III is literally the power of the people, people like you and I.

Anglo-American planners have underestimated the capacity of the power of ordinary people and the human spirit. In the Middle East it has been the resistance of ordinary people that has brought militant globalization to a standstill. Popular resistance movements have bogged down the military might of the remaining global superpower.

The human spirit and the power of the people have been overlooked by the Neocon, New World Order administration governing the American people at present. We, the people, will bring Bush, Cheyney and Co. to heel! Russia, China and Iran will be the major players in the political field, but it is ultimately the duty of people throughout the world to bring American politicians to their senses….

A nation is only as legitimate as the people(s) who live in it define it. America is not at war with individual nations, but with the people(s) of these nations. Nor are the American people at war with these nations, it is the American ruling establishment and elites that are at war with these people(s).

The forces of resistance are the forces of the will of the people, without the support of the people none of them could last or stand up to some of the most powerful war machines in human history.

The U.S. government misleadingly claims that it is bringing democracy to these lands, but since when was democracy forced from the top down to the bottom? Is this not the opposite of democracy; things being forced down from the top to the bottom? Democracy is an expression of the masses that manifests itself upwards and not from the opposite direction.

No force on earth can defeat the popular will of the people; this is why domestic populations are manipulated into supporting wars. It is only division that allows small groups to take temporary reign over the people(s). However, for every scheme and plan to create division and anarchy amongst the people(s) of the world there is a plan to unite them and strengthen them. This is one of the greatest fears of many in positions of power. This is the fear of any awakening of large societal groups and populations.

Fear and hate are the weapons of the real terrorists, the masters of deception, and those who belittle others for profit and personal gain. These are the terrorists who give orders in positions of political leadership in the White House and elsewhere at the expense of their own people and the rest of humanity. The world is now embarking into the abyss of perpetual war and a period in which the contemplation of the use of nuclear weapons is being made. A stand must be made by individuals of good conscience and will. It seems possible that it will be a matter of time before the citizens of Europe, North America, and other lands will be compelled or necessitated to join the peoples of occupied lands in resistance

Those that see themselves as masters of destiny have had their ideas proven wrong in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Somalia, and Lebanon. It may look as if opposition to a war agenda is like tiny raindrops beating against an unrelenting mountain, but mountains can be eventually eroded by those tiny raindrops. There exists a “sensitive dependence on initial conditions,” commonly called the “butterfly effect,” whereas the flaps of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil may set off a tornado in Texas. Individual actions can offset the march to war that is unfolding on this planet.

Colin Says

2007-10-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

The thoughts, views and opinions of Colin (aka Billy Will).

LIVI'S BLOG

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Britain is slithering down the road towards a police state

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Britain Today

The threat from terrorism does not justify slicing away our freedoms

The last days of America as we know it

America's reputation is in shambles

The future belongs to smart nations

Saint Andrew's Day

Other facts in brief

St Andrew's Day: The new battleground?

LOUISE GRAY ( // lgray@scotsman.com)

Entry for 21 November 2007 CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE!

Moment’s blunder puts half the country at risk

A junior official who appears to have been asleep on the job burnt the child benefit database onto two discs – and posted them

Related Links

UK Gravy Train. Lord Haw Haw and Friends

Peers help themselves to £300 a day tax-free

Related Links

The Battle for Pakistan

The Battle for Pakistan

A Global Crisis Looming

A Global Crisis Looming

The outlook is darkening

Highly Relevant Cartoons!

Peter Brookes

Morland

Nature Notes

The Power of The People

Colin Says