Welcome to MY world

Kill the fatted sacrificial lamb

2009-09-21T08:05:00.003Z

The Confused One is seeing just what sacrifices he can make in his spending plans. Given that the 'plans' resemble the agenda of an alcoholic out in Glasgow on a Saturday night, this will be difficult. Seems he has been watching the TV again - the words 'nothing ruled out' and 'nothing ruled in' have been used. Translated, that means that any form of treachery, back-stabbing and downright lying will all be considered if accompanied by suitably worded press releases that nothing will suffer.
What has confused me slightly is that if we can live with cuts to the monetary plans, why was the apparent excess ever written into the Budgets? It is not as if we were on the crest of a wave when the Chancellor last stood up and regaled us with his dream scenario. The sort of thing this is likely to bring about has been signalled by Balls - Balls the Minister that is, not balls the planning. He has been accused of making a U turn just six months after proclaiming that education would be ring-fenced against any cuts. He said a £2bn saving could be achieved through merging comprehensive schools into "federations", with one overall head taking charge of up to six secondaries. Cutting the cost of heating, lighting and repairs to schools by 10 per cent could also save up to £800m a year, he said. Squeezing teachers' pay from 2011, and forcing schools to spend money in reserve are also part of the cost-cutting plan. Given the crap inspection reports that individual schools have received under 1 head per school, the idea of a part-time head is ludicrous. The new form of federation would require much cooperation from the teachers and he surely will not get that with his pay squeeze and rumours of 3,000 headcount reductions. This cess pit of industrial relations and planning will save £2 billion. He says. We are not told if the saving takes account of redundancy payments (if these even exist in the protected world of teachers) and works necessary to achieve the merging of comprehensives. I doubt it.

We are told that doomsday scenarios have been drawn up in several departments. The Department for Transport is vulnerable as it is planning big infrastructure projects, such as Crossrail and a new high-speed rail network. However, Lord Adonis remains committed to both projects and will fight to keep them.

Defence could also be hit hard. Both the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, and the Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, have already been summoned to Downing St to discuss their department's spending plans.

We live in an age where the number of zeroes in a cost figure does not seem to cause a great deal of concern or surprise. I was glancing through the weekend issue of thick papers and there were whole pages of homes for sale northwards of £1 million with a fair sprinkling of 2s and 3s in the millions section. The governmemt casually writes of billions; I even saw something about a trillion somewhere in a forecast. We are not going to get far in that sort of market with 2.5% off the rate of VAT.

We need a big fat sacrificial lamb. Sacrifice that and maybe our Lord will smile upon us. I see a couple of candidates. My one devoted reader will possibly be surprised when I reveal these as defence related. Only loosely defence related to be sure but from that area of the profit and loss account.

There is Trident. As presently constituted, it appears to be a a fearsome piece of kit - one would think that in relation to the days of MAD. a war winner on its own.
It is up for revision. Quite hefty revision it seems. What does not seem to have been visited with any great thoroughness is the requirement. "We have one that is tired. Must get a new one" may well have been OK a few months back but our financial world has changed. Clare Short may be a scary old biddy just waiting a Union card to open Macbeth but she is a lightening rod for opinions. She cautioned that a new system would make us a US poodle - maybe that is where Blair got the idea of being just that?

Britain will be tied to the US in world affairs for "decades to come" if Tony Blair pushes ahead with a decision to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system, his former cabinet colleague Clare Short has warned.
The former international development secretary was speaking at a meeting in the Commons at the launch of a campaign to stop the UK from committing itself to developing a new generation of nuclear weapons when Trident becomes obsolete. She said: "Replacing Trident will tie UK foreign policy to US policy for decades to come. It would prevent the UK from acting with others on global warming, poverty and conflict, and perpetuate our role as US poodle."
Although Trident's life could extend another 20 years, Mr Blair has insisted that a decision on whether to replace it must be made in the current parliament, because of the time involved in developing new nuclear weapons.
He has called for a consultation on the future of Britain's deterrent. But the budget for the Atomic Weapons Establishment, at Aldermaston, has been doubled to £1.5bn over the next three years, prompting suspicions that a decision to develop new weapons has been made. Officially, the increased spending is to make sure Trident is kept up to date.
Michael Meacher, the former environment minister, said: "It is highly questionable whether a non-independent British nuclear weapon still serves any useful purpose. "Replacing Trident would come at an estimated cost of £15bn to £25bn; surely this could be better spent elsewhere

The casual mention of some £25 billion was made in 2005. Given the way that costs go into orbit on defence matters, that must now be other other side of £60 billion.. Ultra tempes Ultre mores. The playing field has changed. Looking back a few years we saw what Cruise missiles can do with high explosive. As poodles, our masters would not permit any escalation into a nuclear scenario. Whilst statesmanship is now of a lesser quality, we saw what can be achieved when push came very near to shove over missiles in Cuba. A nuclear deterrent is a fine sounding thing. I think of the man who kept a dead cat in his bedroom in Surrey and explained it was there to keep tigers out of his bedroom. He justified the mouldering moggy on the grounds that he had never seen a tiger in his bedroom since he put it in place. Is there a remaining nuclear threat that demands a deterrent?

There other fatted calf that could be sacrificed is/are the two aircraft carriers. The situation here has been detailed far better than I can - follow this link if you are still with me. The boys in dark navy blue reckon they cannot serve their commitments without the carrier capability. Don't doubt it but has anyone revisited those commitments to see just how relevant they are in today's scheme of things. We hear that they were valuable assets in the Gulf. Valuable - yes. I question essential or were they used just because they were there. I go back to the Cruise missiles that came from a fleet of common or garden cruisers etc. As for the point that they serve as a air cover asset in Afghanistan? I do not know the range of a carrier-borne plane and just how much overhead time one has when it has flown in from sea side. Swift availability of that air asset is essential - we have seen the sort of losses that arise when helicopters are not promptly available or fast jet bomb runs are delayed.

We need to foresee changes in Rules of Engagement. Who knows what will come out of the sad case where the Germans authorised bombing of hijacked tankers surrounded by crowds of they knew not whom. Our enemies in sandy places are cynical enough to ensure they take a couple of women and a few kids on any attack so as to ensure that they will not come under fire on withdrawal. There is a Apache cockpit camera video where men quite clearly planting an IED lead charmed lives just because there is some kid loitering around. The protection carries on even when the kid joins the bombers and it was only the Will of Allah that brought things to a head when the device exploded prematurely. Restrictions on action where there might be civilian collateral deaths are an important part of the new COIN policies. Do we really need £40+ billion Tridents to deal with this.

Those two projects, if scrapped, would give Nero Brown a handy saving and not make a real change to the price of fish as things are today or foreseen in the future. The gallant heads at MOD could languish in the sun of his thanks and the real needs - helicopters, feet on the ground, medical back-up, you name it - protected from the petty and spiteful restrictions they currently suffer.

BANG!!

2009-09-14T14:59:00.001Z

Is that not a wonderful sight - as ye sow, so shall ye reap.

The concern over the kid illustrates why the concern of collateral is sometimes unreasonable. He later came along with stuff for the bombers.

Young lives wasted

2009-09-08T07:24:00.001Z

I recently Twitted on the deaths of our troops in Afghanistan. I created a hash tag #wastedlives. I have been questioned on this – the waste bit is challenged. I need to clarify my thoughts and intention.

The men we are losing are in the prime of their lives. They are all described post mortem as wonderful people, devoted to their careers, the families and the Regt/Corps. Their loss ruins lives of parents, wives, kids who should all have had the benefit of a son, husband and father.
Instead, they were put into situations without adequate support - equipment wise or politically. At the instructions of someone who had either no idea why he was sending them or did not care except it seemed a good idea at the time. We still do not know what the aim was. The rules and regulations prohibit them from having any say in their being committed. The old story of do as you are told. Birkenhead drill.
My point is that their lives were wasted. Everyone should have gone on to old age and attainment of their potential. No good point has or will be served by their sacrifice. Like planting an oak and then chopping it down after a few years. The fact that they accepted the risks and were willing to surrender their lives is immaterial. They were indoctrinated into this attitude. If they were not so conditioned, none would go into battle. That is what training is all about. I did some daft things in a number of IS situations and never had the attitude that I would be happy to die or that my death would achieve anything. My mantra was "My mum did not raise me to die in (wherever)" My death would have illustrated the adage that when one withdraws ones hand from a bucket of water, there is no sign it was ever there.

Recall the scenes we are shown when soldiers depart. The cry to them is “Come home safe”. No urging to become some martyr – that idea only comes when one is trying to make sense of a senseless loss.
I cannot imagine I am different from those who did not make it. I'm sure you know of DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." Wilfred Owen uses it in his foremost World War 1 poem. Dulce Et Decorum Est belongs to the genre of sonnets, which expresses a single theme or idea. The allusion or reference is to an historical event referred to as World War I. This particular poem's theme or idea is the horror of war and how young men are led to believe that death and honor are same. The poem addresses the falsehood, that war is glorious, that it is noble, it describes the true horror and waste that is war, this poem exhibits the gruesome imagery of World War I, it also conveys Owens strongly anti-war sentiments to the reader. He makes use of a simple, regular rhyme scheme, which makes the poem sound almost like a child's poem or nursery rhyme. Owens use of excellent diction, compelling figurative language, and extremely graphic imagery, shows that not only is war terrible and devastating but it is also horrific. It was set amidst the khaki abattoirs in France. Think also of the Norniron thing about "I'd die for my country" It was often said that we would be better with people who would live for their country.
No - their lives were taken from them. It was a poor bloody swap or bargain. In a non-military setting one might say "His death was a tragedy - he had so much going for him". Waste is defined by my betters.
I am not alone in the ‘waste’ arena. David Davies has said “our strategic indecision will throw away all the tactical victories that our brave young soldiers buy with their lives.” In a strong attack on Labour’s handling of the war, Mr Davis also said that Gordon Brown and Tony Blair had “wasted six years and many lives” as a result of a flawed strategy and lack of resources.
Lord Paddy Ashdown said "I fear that we are now - and it is a scandal - wasting the lives of our young men and women who we are putting in the front line in the most difficult circumstances when our political leaders have failed to produce any kind of plan that can take advantage of the victories they win over the Taliban at great cost.
That is what was in my mind when I created @wastedlives. It is a tag that will continue to be used by me

Posted via email from John's posterous

3rd September - a day in history

2009-09-04T06:29:00.002Z

September 3rd 1939 was a momentous day in the history of Great Britain. It was a day on which the Nation announced that it would no longer accept the actions of a tyrant. A dictator who suborned his own people and led them astray with false promises and actions that had festered in his diseased mind over a long period of time.
September 3rd 2009 was such a day. A Junior minister in the Department of Defence resigned and gave his reasons for this step. Eric Joyce, a former major, included these points in his letter of resignation:

I do not think the public will accept for much longer that our losses can be justified by simply referring to the risk of greater terrorism on our streets. Nor do I think we can continue with the present level of uncertainty about the future of our deployment in Afghanistan.

I do not think the British people will support the physical risk to our servicemen and women unless they can be given confidence that Afghanistan’s government has been properly elected and has a clear intent to deal with the corruption there which has continued unabated in recent years.

This declaration should lead on to the removal from a position of power another latter-day tyrant. A dictatorial bully who led us astray with false Budgets promising health, education and wealth. His unelected access to power followed a long period where he had been brooding at what he would do the day he got the foreman's job. We know the attitude of those who get the foreman's job at last.
Now he is to make a speech to the Nation - those who care to listen anyway - reaffirming his dedication to the supposed cause in Afghanistan. Well, of course he has to act as if he were delivering the Mark Anthony eulogy. He cannot now confess that he supported the other power-crazed imbecile who got us into this mess and also did not make any effort to withdraw when Blair went off to pastures new and far far richer ground. He surely cannot be so badly informed as to think that the only base for AQ is Afghanistan and the Taliban R & R leave camp that is Pakistan. All they need is an Islamic country that will ignore their presence or make them welcome in the name of the grand Umma.

Once domiciled in their New Jerusalem they can attack whomsoever they please. They have the funds to travel. The wide range of countries used by the 9/11 plotters illustrated that their sort of terrorism can be located world-wide. Our own 7/7 experience showed that they can even deploy on our streets. So - that should destroy the claim that fighting them in a place far away will stop them killing us in our homes That other tyrant tried that anyway and it did not work for him. This country is capable of looking after itself. I suppose he has the alternative of claiming we are there for some other reason. I cannot see they have any greater claim to the truth than his Sharia el Magi vs Tottenham Court Road claim.

Joyce did the gentlemanly thing and let 'arry Aintsworth know in advance that he was going. 'arry's boys primed him as to what he should say when the day came. He described Joyce as a junior member of his department and claimed that the picture he painted was not recognised by the majority of his department. I do not doubt that is true but he made his ripost with that arrogance and bluster worthy of Fred Kite. He never gave a moment's thought to the possibility that he and his supporters were wrong. He should replace his office junior with a little boy of the same substance as the lad who pointed out the truth regarding the Emperor's clothing.

Fred Kite? Just a snippet to relieve the sombre note

2009-09-03T13:10:00.003Z

Just wandering about in the dark corners of the Internet when I came across something called the Liverpool Care Plan. I will provide a link but, in the interests of safety and good mental health, I would like to show you something that will ensure you are in a happy frame of mind at the outset.

Right. That was jolly wasn't it? Now, I feel I can take you to the core of my blog - The Liverpool Care Plan. I can reveal now that everyone reading this - and indeed, all those not reading this that this Care Plan is something that will surely have a massive impact upon - quite literally - your lives.
Liverpool? Easy enough. City on the coast up in the North West. Scousers and scallies. Lovable rogues. Hard times and hard people as befits the North West. European City of Culture and all that. Good Philharmonic band.
Care? I am going to cheat a bit and just cut and paste a few lines here.
The Oxford English dictionary says:
• noun 1 the provision of what is necessary for the welfare and protection of someone or something. 2 Brit. protective custody or guardianship provided for children by a local authority. 3 serious attention or consideration applied to avoid damage, risk, or error: handle with care. 4 a feeling of or occasion for anxiety.
• verb 1 feel concern or interest. 2 feel affection or liking. 3 (care for/to do) like to have or be willing to do. 4 (care for) look after and provide for the needs of.
— PHRASES care of at the address of. take care 1 be cautious. 2 make sure (to do). take care of 1 keep safe and provided for. 2 deal with.
Nice cosy word isn't it? Remember the 'nice' association.
That just leaves us with Plan. This out of my head - the pedantic can Google it. I reckon strategy, scheme, idea, proposal, plot or design will cover that.
So - the whole phrase again. The Liverpool Care Plan. Nice (that word again) cosy thing signifying looking after works. Now, time to get specific The Liverpool Care Plan in all it's glory. Quite a bit to take in but what it boils down to is how the doctors care for and plan your treatment in your final hours. Doctors. Final Hours. Scary eh? You would be very scared if you read an analysis of what it is about. Go on - I dare you. This kicks in when you are 65. Believe me - one thinks that is a age that is far far away but the bugger just creeps up on you. Impotence, thinning hair, dodgy memory, people who speak quietly - all things that distract us whilst the body clock ticks on.
Don't take my word for what may well appear at your bedside clothed in a white coat and expression of concern. See what the learned Journals say

The Liverpool care pathway (LCP) is the UK’s main clinicalpathway of continuous deep sedation and is promoted for rollout across the NHS. Rietjens et al’s study highlightssome serious weaknesses in its design.
The eligibility criteria do not ensure that only people whoare about to die are allowed on to the pathway. They allow peoplewho are thought to be dying, are bed bound, and are unable totake tablets on to the pathway. In chronic diseases such asdementia, dying can take years, but such patients may be eligible.Reitjens et al’s paper shows that GPs often put patientson to such a pathway without palliative care advice. A pathwayfor general use should minimise opportunities for early or inappropriateuse.
Murray et al are concerned that sedation is being used as aninexpensive alternative to assessment and specialist treatment.The LCP recommends sedatives and opiates . . .
Adrian J Treloar, consultant and senior lecturer in old age psychiatry

so, he should know

Even the Daily Telegraph has got into the act. Note the nice little panel to the left which amplifies the information. File it alongside last week's report from the Patients Association that very large numbers of aged patients were being pushed over the edge with cruel treatment - and they were not even prisoners of the War on Terror.

That should be enough to keep a few awake. Not 65 - but I bet you know someone who is? Someone you love?

I'm off to my solicitor to arrange my own departure rules. I'll call it the Everton Alternative Arrangements I think.

Libyans

2009-09-02T16:25:00.001Z

The whole world and his wife seems to have spoken out about the release of the Libyan. (I would name him but I suspect it would cause my spiel chucker to go into meltdown). I have some thoughts on the topic and offer them for anyone who is seeking the views of the cantankerous right wing.
Firstly, the American point of view. Whilst I accept their right to comment in critical terms, I cannot give them any influence arising from those thoughts. It seems to be based upon the fact that we have gone back on our word. This word was given to them way way back and we now know far more than we did at the time we gave the undertaking that the guilty party would end his life in a British prison. There is now much more doubt about whether the man is in fact guilty. I consider this to be a major factor in the 'breaking our word' situation. Another factor in the demands from America is that the speed with which things moved caused many to speak out before they knew the true basis for the decision. It would be easy to criticise the American sense of fair play and justice derived from legal facts. Right back to the lynch-mob up to the widespread bombing of Libyan targets following an explosion in a Berlin nightclub there was a tendency of bomb now, investigate later. If I have any recognition of the American case, I take it from the actions of Jim Swire; father of one of the deceased and a leader in a parents of deceased group. He can understand why the release took place.
So much for the American POV. I would like to se this condemnation taken further. Given that we cannot keep our word and blithely toss aside solemn undertakings - their view and not mine - it must surely be unwise to trust as as allies in the prosecution of any significant joint enterprise. I'm sure you can all see where I am going here. We would seem to be the last country on earth to be in any coalition and can bring our troops home with no heart ache or problem. Trade - trade with the Americans has always been on the basis that they hold all the cards. They are masters at tariffs. Their much vaunted Lend Lease programme when we faced extinction was drawn on very firm marketing processes and we were saddled with debt for a very long time. No regard as to how Hitler's and Tokyo plans would have prospered if our island-wide aircraft carrier sank. The days of the Marshall Plan are long behind us. Tourism reductions. Big deal; we faced the same downturn when the Lockerbie incident was new and as terrified Americans were too scared to fly. Anyway, only a very small proportion of Americans hold passports and even less have used them.
So - that is the American angle so far as I see it. The furore spinning around the watering holes of our politicians both at Westminster and in Edinburgh's House of Sticks is potentially much more damaging. It seems now that Brown has done the washing of the hands equally as well as Pontius Pilate .
My attitude is that he has now removed himself from any responsibility, he has no grounds for any further comment. To hide behind Lord Mandy of Randy and have the protection of that man's waspish tongue is cowardly in the extreme. The boy Dave and the Lib Dem chap are merely making their winging calls for an inquiry for party political grounds and not from any desire for clarification. The Scottish Minister has explained his motives to exhaustion of all listeners; what more would an inquiry serve?
We have heard that there was an objection to having the Libyan die in a British jail and this was for humanitarian reasons. I can see another motive. There would be rioting on the streets of Libya and these could have a detrimental effect upon trade when British companies reviewed the security of their assets and personnel. I was responsible for arranging the recovery of wives and children from Tripoli of a major US oil company following the burning of the US Embassy in Tripoli. Many were almost catatonic. The cancelled appeal connects here. What if journalistic enterprise in running their own non-official appeal concluded that the Libyan was innocent. Imagine the ire and harm that would cause when linked into the death of a sick and innocent man in a far away country?
There remains the question that Scotland's action was related to trade; so far denied. Why deny it? It seems strange that America threatens trade sanctions as part of indicating disapproval but then cries foul when we do something to preserve trade.
This whole thing has gone on long enough. Let us find something else.

Posted via email from John's posterous

Just testing

2009-08-28T20:33:00.001Z

This is just a test to check if posterous works on my eee netbook with it's hybrid OS. If you post to blogs and suchlike, posterous.com is great and saves a heck of a lot of hassle. Try it. Just do what I have done - compose to post@posterous, write your spiel and send it away. In that phrase which is beginning to annoy - simples!

In the career of glory one gains many things; the gout and medals, a pension and rheumatism....all of these fatigues experienced in your youth, you pay for when you grow old. Because one has suffered in years gone by, it is necessary to suffer more, which does not seem exactly fair.

Elzear Blaze - The Military Life

Posted via email from John's posterous

2009-08-26T15:04:00.004Z

Just wandering through the ether this morning and my eye was caught by this

Things move so quickly these days. No sooner had Kenny MacAskill made his decision to have al-Megrahi flown back to his native Libya than the backlash had begun. Without particularly meaning to, Scotland suddenly found itself in the unenviable position of being the first nation to really nark Barack Obama. And, to be honest, we kind of thought someone else would have got there first.

The internet was awash with outrage. "Boycott Scotland!" was the cry on message boards the world over. In particular Americans, so long proud to claim Scottish ancestry, were encouraged to cease buying our products and show us exactly how pissed off they were. Websites like www.boycottscotland.com sprung up, with hints and tips about how to damage the country that had so slighted them.

These vehement proclamations might have defeated a lesser country, but the Americans had forgotten two important aspects of the Scottish character.

One, we also know how to use the internet and two, we like nothing more than a good rammy. And enter the rammy we have.

That is most certainly true. Whilst my sojurn here has found the Scots to be tolerant (of me anyway) there can be no doubt that they insist on having their say. I suppose it is born from their stubborn resistence to English attempts to subjugate them over the centuries.

Read some of the current responses

Art - but am I arty enough?

2009-08-25T11:25:00.003Z

This is from a series of images claiming that upcoming photographers can match the bad old boy of almost porn Helmut Newton.
The shot below (in the Trabant workshop?) does present an image of a gritty and polluted Eastern Zone. Even the 7 or 8 years ago that I was there in Berlin, things were better than what I see here. Newton's work has a sparkle to it that lifts him above the allegation that his images are the other side of near the knuckle.

What I get from this image is sense of a broken down, abused and rusty old joy rider. And I don't like her shoes either! Helmut lends himself to stuff ideally suited to being turned into posters

2009-08-24T17:11:00.002Z

I have been going on about the government's tactic of justifying our stay in Afghanistan by the threat that failing to engage them there would allow them to bring the fight to us here in UK

Well. Seems as if I am not the lone voice crying in the wilderness after all. No less a person than the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said

"Al Qaeda is still "very capable" of carrying out a terrorist attack on US soil"

Clever of Brown to bring out all that stuff about released Libyans so as to distract public attention from our making a nonsense of yet another of his spins.

Day dream believer.

2009-08-23T14:00:00.004Z

Guy from the Adam Smith Institute day-dreamed Letters To The Editors whilst wandering around in the Lake District, As he had no mobile internet with him (tut tut) they were never sent. This should have gone to The Times. I think it is just so right and proper, I've given it the oxygen of publicity here.

Sir, Your leading article of August 11 is misguided. Decades of bitter experience have shown that no amount of military might can win a 'War on Drugs'. Indeed, all such interventions actually achieve is to raise the market price of these substances, and give the cartels an even greater prize to fight over. The human cost of this failure is enormous. Surely it is time to accept that the only sensible solution is to take narcotics out of the hands of gangsters, and legalize, licence and regulate their production and sale. As well as depriving criminals of a lucrative market, this would have considerable health and social benefits, reducing the incidence of overdoses and poisoning, and making treatment of addicts much easier. Empirical evidence from Portugal, which decriminalized drugs in 2001, bears this out.

Tribes and that sort of thing

2009-08-23T09:28:00.001Z

I had planned a blog about tribes in Afghanistan. About how tribalism would no accept democracy and would just sit it out until the Westerners convinced themselves that ANP (P for Police) and ANA (A is Army) had absorbed all the training and mentoring they needed. We would go home. The tribes would turn back to the life they knew so well.
But - my plans have come to naught. There is already a far far better analysis out there. Best I can do is point you in the right direction.

We woz robbed - a chorus for many voices

2009-08-22T10:57:00.003Z

I am a little confused regarding the angst over the manner in which the repatriated Libyan was greeted. Our politicians and most of America have represented the occasion as a Second Coming. It is not, it appears, the turn-out that was so distressing but that it was given to someone described as a Mass Killer. Milly Band gathered her skirts around her as if rape were inevitable. Americans are demanding the guy be ridden out of town on a rail and subjected to an end akin to that which was a high point of American justice not so long ago.

There was a strong case for an appeal. A process which, it would seem, was abandoned more to clear procedural hurdles than for any reason of weakness or content. Many of those who are so worried by the escape someone they deem to be a Mass Murderer would be well to the fore if it involved a Brit or a Yank facing ultimate punishment.

Amongst the allegations is one that the release was purely and exclusively an easement towards improving trade relationships between UK and Libya. Indeed, Gadaffi's son has gone public with this. The Foreign Office says the idea that trade follows the flag is nonsense and such a thing never passed their patrician lips. That could well be true - much as been made by the Brits that they were totally uninvolved in the decision of the Scottish executive.

Let us assume that trade was a factor. It would, clearly, have been just one factor. Legislation exists and there is the compassion for the walking dead going home to the heart of his family. Trade is not such a dirty word as it was when we had entrances exclusively for tradesmen. Our peripatetic golfer is heavily engaged in trade even with is high position on the Royal batting order. See what his latest plans were prior to the 'hero welcome' allegation

The Duke of York had been set to visit Tripoli in the first week of September for about three days in his role as Special Representative for UK Trade and Investment.

And then, of course, we have the meeting of Corfu's semi-resident The Prince of Darkness with that same son of Muammar. At a time when the lad was engaged in politicking for the release of his subject. Mandy has denied that the subject ever arose but why would a busy man waste his time. Also, it is inconceivable that the Mandy Minders would not have established the nature of the meeting in advance. Could they really have just been comparing the benefits of foreign buggers?

Social - No. Networking - Yes

2009-08-22T09:21:00.001Z

Under pressure from the Youth Wing of the family, I signed up some while back to both Facebook and to Twitter. The pressure was subtle - as I would have suspected from the relevant individual anyway and took the form of a challenge. The suggestion was that Silver surfers could not hack it on the Internet and that triggered a Manchurian Candidate response from me.
I was quite receptive at first. At first. Just until I exercised my feeble knowledge and did a Google search. I then established that I was mixed up with a load of young tearaway as Serfdom commenced at 50 years of age. My failing powers were unknown to me. At the age of 50 I had been preparing, fighting for and controlling a budget of over £6 million, directing premises and property matters at more than ten offices throughout the UK and was lead consultant of a Facilities Management NHS contract worth just over £30 million. I was regularly walking over 20 miles a day in the hilly and virtually deserted parts of England and Scotland. I was at a muscle-not-posing-pouch-gym four times a week.
I could accept that there had been degeneration between my 50th. and 76th birthday but it was the arrogance of those who set up a age classification at 50 that dismayed and annoyed me. However, to withdraw myself from these two sites could well have intensified the calumny about age-related mental ability.
That rather extended lead-in is necessary background to clarifying my decision to leave both FB and Twitter. I had been a member of a number of discussion groups and forum where the exchanges were robust to the point of being antagonistic and insulting. Some were run in accordance with the (pedantic) rules of Usenet where the ethereal corridors were patrolled by Moderators eager to banish on the slightest hint of a misdeed. So, there can be no suggestion that I cannot keep up. In fact, it is the lack of that sort of cut, parry and thrust that sees me walking off, Shane-like, into the sunset.
Examine the claim Social Networking. Twitter has been analysed as has Facebook. I can understand the networking bit. I have been careful in my choice of 'understand' because I was always - and remain - dubious about the premise of networking. My experience as a military detective and as a commercial executive was that such liaisons were considered essential to success but I had never followed the collection of business cards and names. I am a solitary sort of bloke; individuals are fine once I have sized them up but lists of people en-masse were not my thing. The discipline of establishing secretary and PA names, birthdays, wife's forename and golf handicaps was beyond me. I thought - and have proven time after time - that I had sufficient chutzpah to telephone or go see an individual who could assist me and get what we both wanted even though we might have started the day totally unaware of the other's existence. So, I have no need of the network side of either Twitter or Facebook. It was the absence of the claimed Social aspect that disappointed me.
I had been used to a reaction to my posts. I would post or read and contribute to a thread that interested me. Back would come a response and generally I was able to follow up on that. Others would gather and we might have ten or more all participating with a wide gamut of personal opinions. Sometimes these got personal when someone would go for the player and not the ball but I found ad hominem situations quite exciting. Facebook seems to attract the middle-class; nothing wrong with that but they are seemingly reluctant to contribute anything that might be described as 'not quite nice'. They retreat behind the net curtains.
Twitter appears - to me anyway - to have a wider range of contributor but a lesser participation. I do not know the figure but I suspect that the ratio of those registered to those who post or respond is very low. There is some - to me inexplicable - need to boast of 'followers' and 'followed'. Applications boast that they will have every Red Sea pedestrian following you in the space of 24 hours. Why the hell would anyone want that? What do they do when they have them? Tweetup gatherings are announced but, whilst these might be held in social settings such as a pub, it is clear that the main attraction is - you've guessed it. Bloody networking again.
After a while, I became bored. I felt that I was having sex with a woman too drunk to know what day it was or dining with a shy virgin who kept her knickers firmly in place with men's braces. Neither challenging or attractive. I thought I might attract responses by submitting contentious posts outside the normal patterns. Nothing. Then I started being (discreetly) abusive or annoying to others. Almost zilch. A return in the realms of decimal point 0 0 sod all.
So - that is why the Aged Parent and John Wood will mount up and ride off into the purple sage resisting any call to Come Back. I cannot say I did not enjoy my short exposures. But then, I cannot say that I enjoyed anything either. To those who tried - thanks. To the others, please carry on with the Networking and God Bless. I am off back to the cut and thrust of My World.

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Big holes

2009-08-03T19:24:00.001Z

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LettersFromATory/~3/wO-MnXoGNK0/

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Pretty girl becomes pretty lady

2009-08-02T10:42:00.002Z

When my daughter was a small person, we used to get her into the mood for being photographed by showing her a camera and saying 'There's a pretty girl in there' Luckily, the majority printed were just that - a pretty girl. Examples are hanging on her walls as we speak. She has a new person now to make her look pretty. I reckon he is lucky like me - all that was needed was to press the button. She did the rest.

Mind you, it is in the genes of course!

Eureka!

2009-07-30T08:31:00.002Z

Not truly a Eureka moment as I am not in the bath like old Archy was. Eureka as in the meaning of a sudden enlightenment.
I have been reading some accounts of the Communist campaign in Malaya during the early '50s. When I got out there, it was almost over but many of the restrictions were still in force or recent enough so that a newcomer could see what had been done to defeat Chin Peng's forces. My readings revived these memories and I went on to compare Afghanistan of today with those days and situations.
We had trained and supplied what became the CT force much as we had the mujahadeen. Our Force 136 fought the Japanese and the muja. the Russians. Both were successful campaigns but went on to become fresh fields of battle. Our enemy operated in areas where they had many advantages over us - the jungle and the wide open deserts and widespread communities. They were quite pitiless in punishing anyone whom they deemed had collaborated with us; these punishments were terror instruments in themselves. Children slaughtered in front of parents who were spared as living testimonies of helping the authorities. CT's needs were simple and they were quite capable of living off the country - simply taking what was needed from the non-involved peasants.
Tactically, they were devious and used quite simple plans of attack. Well sited ambushes. Booby traps. Explosives. Attack resources to draw our forces into areas where almost everything was in their favour. We had ample assets in terms of air power and artillery but were given little opportunity to deploy them. Our enemy was unconcerned at inflicting collateral damage but were well aware of our need to retain hearts and minds. We spent vast sums in direct operational costs - £1 million for every terrorist killed. We expended much money in local reconstruction which the enemy promptly destroyed at little or no cost to themselves.
Back then, Whitehall showed little involvement. The local European community of tin miners and rubber planters were very vocal and fiercely contemptuous of know nothing and care even less functionaries in England. The major US and UK companies involved in tin-tapping decided what was best for themselves and went about maintaining that situation. Even to the extent of supplying their estate managers with arms, ammunition and funny-money as required.
One of the most radical measures was the relocation of villages. These originally were scattered widely and provided life blood for the CT. Guarding the dispersed communities was almost impossible. Solution was to transfer inhabitants to purpose built villages built with an eye to their protection. Resistance to the moves was initially high but this was overcome but granting title to land in and around the village. This had a tremendous psychological effect. Transferees were given materials to build their own accommodation and transport to the new opportunity was freely provided. This initiative was branded by CT propagandists as a renewal of the Boer War concentration camps but the enthusiasm of the new villagers did not sustain this view.
So - where does this meld with our problem in Afghanistan?
Were we to repeat the relocation, we would have many advantages. The new compounds would be designed to afford public health and hygiene standards to raise the expectations of life for babies, children and adults. Pure water. Regular sanitation. Our reconstruction monies would go directly to the individual compounds to benefit the Afghans there. Not as some sort of Social Security handout to people squatting on their heels but to set up village industry and self-sufficiency. We would not transfer the poppy farming. Resistance to this should be overcome when alternative channels of income were identified, set up and supported. The design of the new would incorporate bases for ANA and ANP garrisons designed and fitted out to maximise their capability. Watch towers, fortifications, strong communications. Suitable trained (and indoctrinated) Afghans to form local councils in conjunction with the traditional grey-beards.
This will take time. And money. We are currently looking at involvement in the current mess for many years and the corruption takes a lot of the money. Devolving our attentions over the villages would reduce the opportunity for skimming central fundings. It would also need commitment. One thing America does well is handling large projects. Our own forces are renowned for small scale engineering. We surely Can Do - all it needs is will power.

Fight 'em on the beaches etc etc

2009-07-12T15:20:00.002Z

The Government has taken a new stance in its attempts to convince us they are doing a good job. A new bogey-man has been deployed to stop Joe Public pressing that the troops come home from their exile in Afghanistan now it is clear that their sacrifices can never achieve any lasting improvement there. Brown first brought up the new spectre

Britain's offensive against the Taliban is showing signs of success, despite the heavy losses of recent days, says Gordon Brown.The Prime Minister said the campaign in Afghanistan was a "patriotic duty" to keep the streets of Britain safe from the threat of terrorist attack. In an interview with the British Forces Broadcasting Service, he paid tribute to the "sacrifice" of the 15 troops who had died since the start of the month in the bloodiest fighting the Army has seen in the Afghan campaign.
Britain's offensive against the Taliban is showing signs of success, despite the heavy losses of recent days, says Gordon Brown. "I know that this has been a difficult summer - it is going to be a difficult summer," he said. "These sacrifices that have hurt so many families in our country are ones that the whole of Britain will want to acknowledge."

Next it was the turn of his clear-eyed young acolyte David (Boy) Milliband who said

Troops are fighting for the ‘future of Britain’ warns Foreign Secretary as the Afghanistan death toll rises. David Miliband spoke out following a surge in British casualties, which saw eight soldiers killed in just 24 hours.

This brings the death toll since combat began in 2001 to184, overtaking the 179 troops killed in Iraq.

Miliband today defended Britain’s continuing presence in Afghanistan saying that the country had to be secured to safeguard against future terror attacks on home soil.

He said: "We must ensure that Afghanistan can not again become an incubator for terrorism and a launching pad for attacks on us.”

"This is about the future of Britain because we know that the borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan have been used to launch terrible attacks, not just on the US but on Britain as well."

So, the USP of their published remarks is the avoidance of a war on terror being fought on the streets of England. Given the results of their "War on" campaigns such as W.o. drugs, W.o. knives. W.o. want amongst many others the chance of a W.o. terror breaking out is something to be avoided like the plague.

If we are indeed fighting the W.o. terror as an away match, we seem to be missing the ground where it is being held. In 2002, analysts were reporting that Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill, who has taken over the command of the US-led campaign has admitted that the difficulties will grow because it will enable many, if not all, of the top Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders who are still lying low in small groups in Afghanistan, to flee into Pakistan.

Commander of the US-led forces in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Franklin L. Hegenbeck, said in an interview that virtually the entire senior leadership of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda has been driven out of eastern Afghanistan and is now operating with as many as 1,000 non-Afghan fighters in the anarchic tribal areas of western Pakistan. He claimed on the strength of intelligence reports that the Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders were plotting terrorist attacks, including car and suicide bombing, to disrupt the selection of a new government in Afghanistan this month.

At least two senior Taliban leaders, Fazul Rabi Said-Rehman and Obidullah, have said in an interview that Taliban leaders are reorganising their militant religious movement and the Al-Qaeda was recovering fast. They said there was a split within Pakistan’s powerful spy agency, ISI, between those who share the Taliban’s ideology and those who support Pakistan’s alliance with the US. The two Taliban leaders who claimed that both Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden were alive, warned of some more suicide attacks on the US and Britain in retaliation for the war in Afghanistan.

So, not only have they placed themselves beyond the reach of significant Allied forces, but wherever they were they retained the ability to create terror in both UK and USA.

And then we have another view on the "War on ......" concept. The director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, put himself at odds with the home secretary and Downing Street last night by denying that Britain is caught up in a "war on terror" and calling for a "culture of legislative restraint" in passing laws to deal with terrorism.
Sir Ken warned of the pernicious risk that a "fear-driven and inappropriate" response to the threat could lead Britain to abandon respect for fair trials and the due process of law.

He acknowledged that the country faced a different and more dangerous threat than in the days of IRA terrorism and that it had "all the disturbing elements of a death cult psychology".

But he said: "It is critical that we understand that this new form of terrorism carries another more subtle, perhaps equally pernicious, risk. Because it might encourage a fear-driven and inappropriate response. By that I mean it can tempt us to abandon our values. I think it important to understand that this is one of its primary purposes."

Sir Ken pointed to the rhetoric around the "war on terror" - which has been adopted by Tony Blair and ministers after being coined by George Bush - to illustrate the risks.

He said: "London is not a battlefield. Those innocents who were murdered on July 7 2005 were not victims of war. And the men who killed them were not, as in their vanity they claimed on their ludicrous videos, 'soldiers'. They were deluded, narcissistic inadequates. They were criminals. They were fantasists. We need to be very clear about this. On the streets of London, there is no such thing as a 'war on terror', just as there can be no such thing as a 'war on drugs'.

"The fight against terrorism on the streets of Britain is not a war. It is the prevention of crime, the enforcement of our laws and the winning of justice for those damaged by their infringement."

I see another attraction for a withdrawal of all our forces from Afghanistan. If AQ and its cohorts chose to further a war here, we would be fighting on a battleground where we have considerable advantages over the sandy place. We have something over 160,000 police. The 9,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan would be supplemented by the home reserve and there are those in Germany close at hand. I am sure that our intelligence gathering here would be more intensive and better targetted than it is now. We have Menwith Hill and CCHQ all involved in listening in to plots and plans. Take the prejudicial stance that anyone from a Muslim background could be a AQ operative or sympathiser and we wuld be able to target them on better 1 to 1 terms than the many in Helmund province. Anyone attempting to plant IED along the Mall or to set up mortars in Regent Street would come to notice. We have a fairly sophisticated cctv and number plate recognition network in place. The cost of supplying our overseas forces is considerable and a saving there could be applied to the crime prevention measures here.

For my money, I would be much happier with a crime prevention operation here rather than a war in Afghanistan. All we do there is irritate a lot of the people. Any determined assault we mount leads to civilian deaths by nature of the grossl;y disproportionate force deployed. There are no rules to this game. So, what is there to prevent AQ from initiating a - to use words Brown and Milliband understand - a war on terror here anyway? If they truly thought they could do this and there was any mileage in it - they would. That is what terrorism is about - spreading terror.

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Payment by results

2009-07-08T17:01:00.001Z

That nice young man Darling has announced his reforms of the general banking system. I've not found the enthusiasm to go into the nitty gritty but it seems that he has merely done a bit of a tune up round the edges. No major change in the supervisory system which remains with three major parties involved. Just a bit of finger wagging at bonus schemes. This after the greatest banking melt down for a very very long time.
I had hoped to see that the banks would be denied the opportunity to indulge in what is little more than gambling. There needs to be a firm foundation of banks that will serve the basic needs of customers. No get rich quick plans coming out every day. No take overs. Just plain vanilla attention to serve clients with terms, conditions, plans and charges all pre-determined and immutable. These staid and proper banks would never get into any circumstance that needs them being supported from central funds.
There is a need for cowboys to cater for the risk-takers. I have heard the term 'casino bank' and that seems about right to me. Players in a casino know the risks they run and a few spins of the wheel can strip them of everything they have made at the table. If one of the casino organisations were to go down the pan - so be it. They would not cause any major movement in the finance world and there would be no question of rescue, part-nationalisation or support. The term 'casino' would serve as a warning to those who would do business with them and they also would be on their own if things went tits-up. No great need for supervision; there would be clear and unambiguous rules and audit would be frequent and rigorous.
The question of bonus payments needs attention. The mantra is that the employer must pay inflated salaried and promise bounties for performance if they are to get the employee they desire. Nonsense. High demands and expectations by the prospective CEO or whatever are nothing other than blackmail. "Pay me this or I will go elsewhere" The system needs to be such that there is no elsewhere that will pay him the inflated salary and benefits from performance. If banks and other employers refused these high rewards to all, the idea that they had to meet the blackmailer's demands would fall by the wayside. Rugby clubs have wages caps where their total wage bill must not exceed a stated sum and these work. If the cap is £1 million and the employer wants to pay Mr Wonderful £900K - fine. All he has to do is fund the rest of his Board on the £100K that is left. There would be no £90 million transfer deals as in soccer if the agent and player knew no one would pay more than £30 million.
There should be other controls. The high cost of motor fuel and the instability of the market is artificially created. Getting a 50 gallon drum filled at the well head remains the same this week as it did 26 weeks ago. It is the machinations of the traders that cause the ups and downs. Trading on oil supplies must be barred. Only in the last few days we have seen how a trader went on a late night binge and caused a heck of a lot of trouble. The refiners all have long term contracts with those blessed with oil in their ground and it should be these that govern prices. Having a fixed price for crude would bring to a halt the nonsense where oil countries manipulate prices by raising or lowering the amount released on to the refiners. I have used oil as an example only. The same system should apply to all things capable of being traded in futures markets. These 'positions' also effect prices where costs to produce and market is steady but the cost of the item varies wildly.
I do not know enough of the, to me, murky world of the venture capitalist but the sale of deals here suggests it is something that needs control if it is not to damage a nation's economy. They are drawn into deals where they smell vast and quick profit as shark smells blood in the water. Fine. But there must be firm controls set up such that what they do is isolated from routine banking and should work alongside the 'casino' banks on the same terms. If they want to play no limit poker and go all-in and someone has a better hand - tough. Do not come crying to me.

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A new dimension

2009-07-02T19:01:00.001Z

I've mentioned my attraction to country music. I use the free Spotify which has resources far in excess of iTunes and it plays in the background. I've got my own playlist which must have over 1000 tracks. Anyway, I came across a German country singer Tom Astor, It is really weird hearing a vocal in German that one knows so well in English. He sometimes sings along with the original artist and the mix of them in English and him in German is fun. Go and listen on the link.

I have some Spotify invites if anyone thinks they might want to get started.

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Civic duty

2009-06-30T10:43:00.001Z

My civic duty score is increasing.

Last night I attended a Council Meeting on the subject of the Jim Clark Rally through our town. Clark was the local boy made good in car rallying and Formula 1 racing cars. Every year, there is a motor rally based in Duns. Quite unique as local roads get shut off for normal traffic to let the big beasties have a run at speeds up to 145 miles per hour. No 60 mph limit those days.

This years held a few weeks back broke new ground in having one section run through the middle of the town. Residents and visitors were strictly marshalled as to where and when they might be about in the hour or so prior to the start of the stage. I put my 'even Hitler didn't get to tell me what to do in my own home' hat on and felt pretty negative about the whole thing. In the event, my stroppiness was noticed and I was treated very well and properly.

One concern that did stay was safety. I live in the Market Square and the course came into the Square and then made a 90 degree right turn to go down a street leading off the Square. The Big Boys in the International class came up to this corner at about 100 mph and drifted sideways into the turn. A crowd of about 200 gathered on the outside of the bend and, whilst there were straw bales in position, the bales were not secured. A car hitting them would not be slowed but would merely slide on with the straw as a battering ram. Three cars that I saw did have difficult negotiating the corner but were brought under control without too much damage and no injury. Somewhat proved my concern for potential tragedy.

I wanted to comment and chose to go to the Council meeting. I was one of about 50 mostly middle aged men and women. I had expected it would be mainly boy racers with a sprinkling of coffin dodgers attending out of boredom with life indoors. The majority of attendees had notebooks and recorded the to and fro of the debate. Some had drafted what they wanted to say. I got to make my observation without it being seen as a complaint and had a full and constructive answer.

I was encouraged by what transpired. I'll do it again (so long as it does not qualify me as a 'coffin dodger attending out of boredom'). Just another sign of how we seem to have a very good community spirit up here.

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A Fine Day Out

2009-06-27T15:01:00.001Z

We went to the Royal Highland Show yesterday. First time attending such event for some while; we regularly used to do the Game Fair, The Kent, the Kilnsey and the Great Yorkshire Shows and occasionally the Scottish Game Fair. Norma likes the sheep; I like the bulls and the pigs. Fine food producers are out in force and free samples are everywhere so we go around opening and closing mouths like fish in a bowl.

Weather was fine. Sunny but with a few small clouds added to a breeze to keep it from getting too hot. The live stock was in fine order. We lasted about five hours before the aged feet gave up on us. As we were leaving, the Queen was just arriving and we had front row position as the motorcade passed us by. We waved – hope that made her day!

At events such as these, I always take along a helium-filled balloon which gets tied to the radio aerial so we can spot the car in the row upon serried row of cars. We saw our balloon well enough but it was tied to another car. Luckily I had noted other clues and we got home OK. Before driving off, I went back to the Ali Baba car and cast free the balloon. Hope they were there searching until midnight! Bastards – what a low trick was that?

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We live in troubled times

2009-06-21T11:49:00.001Z

Download now or preview on posterous

We live in troubled times.doc (67 KB)

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Back to the BoomBox days

2009-06-19T08:40:00.001Z

Back in the day when it was not some sign of race to heave a massive box on the shoulder and hip wave along. Volume, of course, had to be deafening. Or maybe just sit around a musical packing case with a few cold sherbets and maybe a herbal cigarette or two. Hit Playlist and retreat!

More credibility issues

2009-06-18T12:23:00.002Z

There cannot be anyone left who has any faith in the integrity of our elected representatives. Just when they should all be concentrating on getting back to people we can trust, they introduce procedures expressly designed to withhold essential information from us. We are no longer entitled to know the disposal of serious and dangerous criminals within the legal system.
I can see the touchy-feely agenda that this comes from. I might even understand how these faulty-gened individuals are processed. We have had numerous examples where dodgy characters have been let go and slip back into the abusive or threatening conduct that got them locked away in the first place. Even tagging is no guarantee. I do not regard imprisonment as being an opportunity to teach the offender how to behave or learn how to exist in a civilised community. No - all I want is him kept away from me. So long as that is achieved, they may do as they wish with crims. Hulks on the Thames worked in Dickens' times. Hard labour is what I expect not soft treatment and slip-shod assessments as to the risk to the public.

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