Max Keiser

He's the bloke on the right. Have a listen to what he says.



and again:

Someone else's Christmas Post

I read The Guardian. This post is from a commenter called TheThunkWorks who has spoken thus:

---

My Christmas Post (previously placed on a dead thread to Dean Baker's latest article on Cif America re Ben Bernanke, Time magazine's Man Of The Year)...

...and introducing a word new to me (and to the online Cambridge English Dictionary, but real for all that; at least, I found a definition on Wiktionary): Kakistocracy (with thanks to zoomtube, for making me aware of it)...

TheThunkWorks' CHRISTMAS POST:

What most citizens (both UK and US), and those (honest few?) policy-makers who are not bought-and-paid-for mouths of the financial services industry, cannot seem to bring themselves to grasp is that The Great Economic Collapse of 2008 resulted from endemic crime, not from exuberant carelessness...perhaps, because the enormity of it makes it too great a truth to admit without shaking to their very foundations our common beliefs about how our cultures/societies function.

It is too much. Too great a shock of betrayal...and of guilt at our failure to see.

From the deceitful sales pitches to sub-prime mortgage loan customers, through the forging of details on loan agreements by mortgage loan companies and the selling on up-the-line of the same; to the bundling-up of those sub-primes with other debt-obligation papers (CDOs) and the AAA-rating of same by ratings agencies; up to the selling on of those bundles as guaranteed profit-makers by the biggest-of-the-big, whose operations were audited and approved by accountancy companies reliant on fees from those biggest-of-the-big (too big to fail), which biggest-of-the-big were betting on the failure of those bundles by taking out insurance on them (CDSs) with companies without the reserves to meet the claim if called on (eg, AIG-FP), right on into the back-room deals and back-channel fundings that marked the bail-out transfer of trillions of public money into private coffers...all of it has been marked by systematic fraud and deceit.

It is too much. Too great a shock of betrayal...and of guilt at our failure to see.

And it is a shallow error to dismiss this with a snort of 'conspiracy, ha!'. There is no need to invoke an over-arching conspiracy. A consensus is all that is needed (within which conspiracies, in their true sense, amongst different groups of 'players' can coalesce and dissipate, as and when they succeed or fail).

The consensus within finance (and corporatism generally, too) was an approval and rewarding of deceit and fraud; an institutionalisation of racketeering; the internalisation of the values of organised crime (it is no coincidence that, long before the adoption of bowdlerisations of Sun Tzu's The Art Of War as a 'bible' of financial (corporate) 'power players' and 'wanna-be's', the must-read amongst executive climbers was Mario Puzo's The Godfather).

It is a product of the (much-dismissed by 'serious' politicians and political analysts, certainly in the UK) Culture War. And a culture of corruption (of anything and everything, for the prize of billions for any winning 'player') won dominance.

That dominance remains, as is shown by the continuing cynical abuse of public support (which I illustrate with...[link now below] re multi-million taxpayer funding of the new Goldman Sachs World Headquarters building in New York, whilst that bank slices up the shares to be taken by its 'players' from its $23billion bonus pool...derived from easy profits made possible only by the full-spectrum of the public bail-out of the private financial sector).

This is a crime story, as William K Black (a US Federal financial regulator who investigated the 1980s Savings-and-Loan scandal, and who might now be called a 'forensic economist') explains again in the interview I link to...[links now below]

In the US, the RICO (Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organisation) Act is finally being invoked ('though, not by any law enforcement agency with the necessary muscle). RICO was intended as a legal weapon against organised crime. That is how bad this all is.

zoomtube has it right. This is kakistocracy...'rule by the worst [of men]' (who thought that I or anyone here would need to know such a word?).

Happy Christmas and a safe New Year to all (even Guardian Cif Tech-nerds).

Links:

Goldman Sachs new headquarters:

http://rawstory.com/2009/12/taxpayers-goldmans-office-tower/

William K Black interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk2Yugp0ANQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1xo3xV2ypY

---

Excellent.

Not entertaining or funny at all

Just seen the film "Orwell Rolls in his Grave": here it is.



I wonder if we'll learn the truth after 2012? :)

Moonbat does it again

George Monbiot says it again

While economies grow, social justice is unnecessary, as lives can be improved without redistribution. While economies grow, people need not confront their elites. While economies grow, we can keep buying our way out of trouble. But, like the bankers, we stave off trouble today only by multiplying it tomorrow. Through economic growth we are borrowing time at punitive rates of interest. It ensures that any cuts agreed at Copenhagen will eventually be outstripped. Even if we manage to prevent climate breakdown, growth means that it's only a matter of time before we hit a new constraint, which demands a new global response: oil, water, phosphate, soil. We will lurch from crisis to existential crisis unless we address the underlying cause: perpetual growth cannot be accommodated on a finite planet.

Invent your own currency

Ever wanted to have your own currency? Here's a (PDF) how-to guide.

Lewes Pound How to Guide

Is anyone reading this?

Dear reader

My plans are to spend some more time and energy writing about issues I feel are important, and publishing here.

It sometimes feels like speaking on a stage where I'm unable to see if there's anyone in the theatre. For that reason, I'd like to know if anyone is reading this. I'd be pleased if you could either leave a short comment below, letting me know what you think, and if there are any local issues that could benefit from a bit more attention. Alternatively, you can send me an email at rchisnall AT gmail DOT com.

Thanks.

Oneplace - info about your local authority

There's this new site called Oneplace which has info and data from every local authority in the country.

Here is Somerset's (geek joke: it's area 404!). The overview says

Somerset has identified the following priorities for the area:

• Making a positive contribution
  
• Living sustainably
  
• Ensuring Economic Well Being
  
• Enjoying and Achieving
  
• Staying safe
  
• Being Healthy
  
• Motherhood and Apple Pie (that's my little joke)
  

It will be interesting how they approach the second point. It mentions renewable energy generation in schools, which they're apparently cutting.

Open letter to Somerset County Council

I sent this letter today to the Central Somerset Gazette.

---

Dear Somerset County Council

Right now, world leaders are meeting to try to organise a more
sustainable future for everyone. Only time will tell whether their
plans will succeed, but there is a general acceptance that "business
as usual" cannot continue. The interconnected ''Three E's" of
environment, energy and economy are becoming increasingly unstable
with potentially grave consequences for all of us - especially in
relation to where our food comes from.

Apparently Somerset County Council have decided to go against this
general trend and are threatening to axe many sustainability projects.
These include the Somerset Landscape Scheme, which provides grants to
farmers and landowners to help conserve and restore our landscape, and
renewable energy generation in schools and elsewhere, which also serve
to raise awareness of sustainable energy use.

Far more serious than this is the apparent plan to sell off all our
County Farms, which provide opportunities for people to learn about
farming and growing food. Since there are 60 farms of about 7200 acres
in all, it's a tempting economic asset - but selling them off will
deprive our communities of the the very opportunities we need to meet
the challenges of an uncertain future. As energy prices rise alongside
world food demand, we will probably need to grow more of our own food,
closer to where it's eaten and the County Farms are too valuable an
asset to sell in order to plug a short-term fiscal problem.

All these projects are aimed towards sustainability, which really
means securing a decent future for ourselves and our children. It's
obvious: cutting them back and selling them off is, in the long term,
unsustainable.

What irony that these plans have been hatched by an administration
which calls itself Conservative. With a name like that, one could be
forgiven for believing that issues of conservation and sustainability
would be close to their hearts.

---

I bet the letters editor is getting tired of me. I've written quite a few recently.

Planning officer's report about the proposed Tesco in Glastonbury

Mendip District Council's planning officer, a Mr Edward Baker (whose proper title is Development Control Team Manager Area West [ooph!]) recommended that planning permission for the proposed Tesco between B&Q and Wollens be refused.

This is the report he submitted to the planning board.

Planning Officer's Report

Cynical blogger charmed by baby hedgehog

Got this in my inbox:

---

Hello to all you car drivers everywhere




I have come here to tell you to be so very careful when you are driving




Because this is the time of year when I am just learning to walk




So please don't run me over




Just look how sweet I am




Thank you

Planning advice website

Planning Aid

"Planning Aid provides free, independent and professional help, advice and support on planning issues to people and communities who cannot afford to hire a planning consultant. Planning Aid complements the work of local authorities but is wholly independent of them."

Tesco stuff again

Some links to tesconbury.blogspot.com:

Public Inquiry details

Do we need it (whether we want it or not)?

Other considerations and resources

The Freeconomy Community - justfortheloveofit.org

From the Facebook group about <subj>

The Freeconomy Community's aim is to help reconnect people in their local communities through the simple act of sharing. Not only is sharing our resources better for the environment, it saves you money and builds friendships with those people who live closest to you. It is what we call a WIN-WIN-WIN situation.

Everything is shared for FREE on Freeconomy, and no money changes hands between members.

**************

Why no-money?

One of the critical reasons that we have so many major issues in the world today - such as climate change, sweatshops, wars over oil reserves, factory farms, polluted oceans and rivers - is because we never have to see the direct repercussions that our purchases have on the people, environment and animals they affect. The degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that it now, conveniently, means that people are completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering involved in the making of the 'stuff' they purchase. We have no longer any idea how much embodied energy has gone into the things we consume. The main reason we have no appreciation for this energy is because we are so disconnected from what we buy. The tool that has enabled us to be so disconnected, so separated from what we consume, is money, especially in it modern globalised format.

Take this for an example. If we grew our own food, we wouldn't waste a third of it as we do today. If we made our own tables and chairs, we wouldn't throw them out the moment we changed the interior decor. If we had to clean our own drinking water, we probably wouldn't defecate in it.

If we could see the child working under military presence in a sweatshop, we would probably think twice about buying that new pair of jeans on the High St. If we could see the face of the mother in Iraq as her child lies dead from a cluster bomb, we'd probably think twice about going on an oil-guzzling cheap flight for the weekend. If we could see the size of the landfill sites where our 'stuff' goes, we would probably have a lot more respect for what we have and use.

Money, as a method of easily storing wealth, has also enabled humans to bank exploitation - of people, the environment and animals - and has also replaced communities, friendships and families as the No.1 source of security for people.

****************

What's our 'pay-it-forward'

The philosofree behind the Freeconomy community differentiates it from other forms of alternative economy.

Whilst others are still focused on the concept of exchange, Freeconomy is based on 'Pay-it-forward' principles and economics. One week someone who you have never helped may share their time, skills, tools or spare spaces with you for free; another week someone who has never helped you may ask you to do the same. Every time you help someone you just ask him or her to 'pay the favour forward'.

Not only do you then still have access to a huge resource, you also build the trust and friendships in communities that inevitably form when someone does something 'just for the love of it'.

This is our point - if somebody needs help, why do we need to get anything in return? Is the fact that another human being needs your help not excuse enough?

*******************

So what is it all about?

It's about helping others and providing an opportunity for others to help you.
It's about sharing the skills you have learnt through your life and learning those you haven't for a time when you may need them.
It's about sharing your tools so you can have access to all the tools under the sun without it costing the earth.
It's about using any free space you have to either benefit positive, ethical and local projects, or to enable volunteers to keep doing their amazing work for free.
It's about getting to know people in your own community.
It's about learning to help each other again.
It's about getting ready for a post peak oil world.
It's about making dinner for a friend who was yesterday a stranger.
It's about putting the soul back into society.
It's about helping each other not for profit, but just-for-the-love-of-it...

Bank full of sand...

We've had the massive bank bailouts and I'm sure you know about that. We're in debt to the tune of £13,000 each because our leaders, in their wisdom, decided that reinflating a burst balloon was the way to go.

Barclay's didn't take the state shilling, though. They went to the Gulf instead:

Barclays under fire for letting Middle East states take 30% stake

Now they're fucked too:

Dubai shares plummet as crisis continues

• Abu Dhabi stock market suffers worst day's trading ever
• IMF urges UAE central bank to hammer out a rescue plan
• In London, the FTSE 100 loses 50 points at one stage

---

Interesting times indeed.

The Hidden Cost of the Biofuels Stations proposed for Bristol and for sites across Britain.

Posting this for others to get the word out there - please share.

Public Meeting

The Hidden Cost of the Biofuels Stations proposed for Bristol and for sites across Britain.

THURSDAY 3RD DECEMBER
7:00pm to 9:00pm
3rd Floor, Bush House (Above the Arnolfini), 72 Prince St.,Bristol, BS1 4QD

Simply attending this meeting would hugely improve our chances of preventing this proposal from going through - please spread the word far and wide!

Background
A company called W4B Renewable Energy want to build a 50 MW power station at Avonmouth Docks in Bristol, which would burn 90,000 tonnes of vegetable oil, most likely palm oil, every year. More than 22,000 hectares of oil palm plantations would be required to feed this one power station, and even more land if other feedstock was used. W4B have mentioned jatropha as well as palm oil, yet jatropha is not yet commercially available, many plantings are failing, yet thousands of people have already lost their land and livelihood for jatropha plantations to feed Europe’s biofuel market. Peat expert Professor Siegert of Munich University has said about palm oil power stations in Germany: “We were able to prove that the making of these plantations and the burning of the rainforests and peat areas emits many thousands of times as much CO2 as we then are able to prevent by using palm oil. And that is a disastrous balance for the climate.” (tinyurl.com/y9xel3g)

Ever more communities in countries like Colombia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Ecuador are losing their land to palm oil companies, with plantation expansion to a large extent driven by Europe’s biofuel policies. Avonmouth local residents will be affected by increased levels of nitrogen oxide and small particulates which are linked to respiratory and cardiac disease in an area that already has high levels of pollution.

In agreement with Europe's biofuel policies, the UK GOVERNMENT HAS COMMITTED TO INCREASE UK BIOFUEL CONSUMPTION ON A YEARLY BASIS. IT PROVIDES LARGE FINANCIAL INCENTIVES TO STIMULATE THE CONTINUED GROWTH OF THE BIOFUEL MARKET IN THE UK: In 2008, Biodiesel received a 20 pence per litre fuel duty incentive and Biofuel sales were approximately 1100 million litres (UK Report to the European Commission under Article 4 of the Biofuels Directive (2003/30/EC)) and are targetted to rise.

Why its important to attend this meeting!
Whether you would like to learn more or want to make your views heard, then please attend the meeting. Politicians and the press have been invited so we can make those in power aware of our concerns by showing strength in numbers. Planning proposals for the Avonmouth biofuel plant will be considered early in 2010 and plans exist to build a number of similar 'agrofuel' (biofuels from industrial agriculture) power plants around the UK. There are sustainable alternatives to biofuel! The more of us who show support NOW, by attending the public meeting, the greater our chance of halting biofuel plant development in the interests of more sustainable fuel sources.

---

An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore

Got this in my inbox:

---

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade Afghanistan!" Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.

There's a reason they don't call Afghanistan the "Garden State" (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade

raising poppies). Afghanistan's nickname is the "Graveyard of Empires." If you don't believe it, give the British a call. I'd have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev's number though. It's + 41 22 789 1662

. I'm sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder

you're about to commit.

With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the "war president." Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.

Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn't have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.

I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush's Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.

Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you're doing it so you can "end the war") will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you've said and done in your first year. One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout "tea bag!"

Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning.

We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can't take it anymore. We can't take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of "landslide victory" don't you understand?

Don't be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn't be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can't change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.

The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can't be won over by abandoning the rest of us.

President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either."

What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that's what they'd do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.

All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam "might" be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know.

When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.

Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.

Tonight we still have hope.

Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON'T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother's son.

We're counting on you.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com


P.S. There's still time to have your voice heard. Call the White House at 202-456-1111 or email the President

Ozymandias

I've always loved this poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley

---

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".

---

Think the Gherkin or maybe Dubai...

Desiderata

written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Stop and search numbers fall

Grauniad article:

Big fall in police use of stop-and search powers after outcry

Home office figures show that only tiny proportion of anti-terror searches lead to arrests

Quote:

---

There has been a sharp fall this year in the police use of counter-terror stop and search powers in the wake of a public outcry over their discriminatory nature, according to Home Office figures.

But the statistics still show that only a tiny proportion – 0.6% – of the searches carried out under anti-terror laws led to an arrest.

During 2008-09 more than 256,000 people were stopped in the street and searched by the police without the need for reasonable grounds of suspicion under section 44 of the Terrorism 2000 Act. This record level of police activity followed the failed bomb attack on a London nightclub in 2007. Only 1,452 of these searches led to an arrest or other action, and the vast majority on matters unrelated to terrorism.

---

'Mission Creep' is still a big issue with regard to much of ZaNuLabour's paranoid, misguided legislation. The cynic in me is thinking that perhaps this is a small change, while the bigger issues (the laws themselves and their potential for abuse) aren't addressed. 42 days? Right to silence? Control orders? One-sided extradition to the US with few legal safeguards? I could go on...

It's been an interesting day for news...

What's the news today? We'll start here:


Court backs banks on overdraft charges

In blow to consumers, supreme court rules OFT does not have power to decide whether unauthorised charges are fair

---

Hm. Damn...that's really bad. It couldn't come at a worse time, considering the changing public attitude to banks. They already look like greedy litle piggies...and then

G20 report lays down the law to police on use of force

A blueprint for wholesale reform of British policing to create a service "anchored in public consent" was unveiled today by the inquiry prompted by Scotland Yard's controversial handling of the G20 protests in London.

Denis O'Connor, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, used his report to demand wide-ranging reforms and a return to an ideal of policing based on "approachability, impartiality, accountability and … minimum force".

[...]

The report – instigated after the Guardian revealed that a newspaper seller, Ian Tomlinson, had died after an attack by a police officer – was broader and more critical than many had expected.

O'Connor warned of a "hardening" of policing style in recent years and the erosion of the British approach to policing developed by the 19th-century prime minister Sir Robert Peel and based on consent.

---

Bloody hell. The police are really getting it in the neck. It remains to be seen if his recommendations are implemented. It would be nice but I'm not holding my breath.

Then this:

Banks forced to reveal numbers of millionaire staff

New laws created in the wake of Sir David Walker's report will compel banks to say how many of their staff earn more than £1m, but 'high end' earners' names will not be revealed

---

They're going to wriggle out of it somehow...I'll bet they left a big loophole in that one.

Labour plans to dismantle Whitehall.

Afghanistan campaign 'mishandled'
Ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove criticises army's under-resourcing, and failure to explain war to public


Iraq intelligence 'patchy', inquiry told
Officials say ministers were repeatedly warned over limits of information about Iraq's military capability

Mandelson hobnobs with Gaddafi Jr
Business secretary joined Libyan leader's son and Cherie Blair at shooting party hosted by Rothschilds

---

It's enough to make your head spin.

A Wordle

...is one of these things.

Click on it to see a bigger version.

Thanks to Wordle for the great app.

CCTV in Glastonbury

...well almost.



[later...]

It appears to be offline right now, so I've changed it from the Town Hall camera to the new Tor one.

I'm no fan of CCTV 'insecurity' cameras. But...since there are more than 4 million CCTV cameras in this country, it's practically speaking impossible for people to be watching all of them. Maybe some are recorded. I've always felt that they were about making people feel unsafe rather than the opposite, their presence being a reminder of a) the street is dangerous! Go home and hide under the covers! and b) if you're even thinking of doing something naughty, our advanced brain-reading imaging software will convict you of thoughtcrime before you've even pulled your hoodie up - if there's anyone watching, which I doubt.

Incidentally, the people who watch the CCTV cameras in Glastonbury (of which we have at least 4 - on the town hall, by the Oxfam shop, outside Labyrinth Books, and across the road from 3 Silver Street, otherwise known as the Robert Barton Trust - let me know if I've missed any 'official' ones) are sworn to secrecy regarding the address of the monitoring station. How hard would it be to find out where it is? Not particularly. The people running the system must be really paranoid.

At last, someone warns about Ketamine

The Guardian has this article today. It's about time someone raised this issue. How the hell can this drug still be classified as class C? Anyone who's seen someone K'd out of their heads can tell you how awful it is - and now the health risks are becoming clear.

Quote:

---

Ketamine, a powerful tranquilliser used on horses, is being taken in growing number by young people in the UK, causing crippling health problems.

Some addicts have needed to have their bladders removed and must now wear catheters. Other users have suffered serious kidney problems, breathing difficulties, addiction, bouts of unconsciousness and trouble with urinating. The drug also involves a heightened risk of heart attack.

Some users also end up with cocaine-style damage to the inside of their nose, because the drug is often snorted in powder form, though it can also be injected, taken as a pill or swallowed as a liquid.

---

It's amazing that this can be class C when cannabis is class B, and - even more stupidly - psylocybin mushrooms are class A. No wonder kids don't give a toss about health warnings when they're not based on evidence.

Come back Dr Nutt, your country needs you.

Some random quotes and thoughts

The future's already here - it's just unevenly distributed. (Attributed to William Gibson.)

We need to reduce our standard of living in order to improve our quality of life. (That's by me.)

For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong. (H L Mencken)

The big picture, the long term, and the common good. (Should be the basis for every decision we make.)

Nobody wins unless everybody wins (from a Canadian politician in Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine)

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under. (H L Mencken)

The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function. (Albert Allen Bartlett)

Speaking of which: here's Bartlett's amazing polemic about our unsustainable lifestyle:



It's one of 8 videos which I highly recommend.

Tesco'ed into action

Ouch! Every little hurts...but at least I've got something to blog about again.

I've written a bit about the Tesco planning application.

Things have moved on since then. Mendip District Council's Planning Board went against the advice of Edward Baker, their planning officer, and gave Tesco permission to build on the Avalon Plastics site. Of course Avalon Plastics have to move off first, supposedly to a new on the adjacent Morlands site - which hasn't been built yet.

Apparently when a council Planning Board disagrees with a planning officer, the application automatically gets referred to a higher, regional instance - and so it was.

It's gone further than that. Secretary of State for DEFRA Hilary Benn has 'called in' the planning application.

Now I might be infringing copyright with this next bit, but until such time as someone informs me otherwise, I'll assume 'fair use'. It's the full text from an article in the Central Somerset Gazette, which isn't on their website (yet):

---

Controversial Tesco plan is called in for public inquiry

Laura Linham, Central Somerset Gazette central@midsomnews.co.uk

The Secretary of State [for DEFRA] is to have the final decision on a flagship Tesco store on the outskirts of Glastonbury.

Speaking at a meeting of Glastonbury Town Council this week, Councillor Jim Barron reported that decision had been "called in" by the secretary of state [for DEFRA], Hilary Benn.

Most planning applications are decided locally by the district or other council, but Mr Benn has reserve powers to direct the council to refer an application to him for decision - a 'called-in' application.

Each year many thousands of applications are made but the secretary of state only calls in about 50.

Generally, he will only call in an application if he thinks there are planning issues of more than local importance.

These include a development conflicts [sic] with national planning policy on important matters, or a development that could have wide effects beyond its immediate locality.

Tesco's application for a store on the site of the Avalon Plastics factory in Beckery New Road [sic] was approved by Mendip District Council's planning board in August, despite continued fears for the impact it would have on local businesses in both Street and Glastonbury.

The Planning Board voted 11 to one in favour of the new development - against the recommendation of their own planning officer - on the current site of Avalon Plastics at Beckery New Road, near the B&Q store.

The move allowed Avalon Plastics could move next door [sic] to the Morlands Enterprise Park, securing the jobs of 150 employees and allowing for further expansion and investment.

The proposed new Tesco would include 41,000 square feet of shop floor space built on stilts, with 324 parking spaces underneath.

A spokewoman for Mendip District Council confirmed that the application would now go to a public inquiry, but added that the Government Office for the South West had not yet organised a date for the hearing.

---

Why did it get 'called in'? Probably because it goes against a Planning Policy Statement. I don't know yet.

It could be that Hilary will shame his father and rush an approval through just before ZaNuLabour gets trounced in the next election. Who knows?

Meanwhile, I'm getting tooled up for the struggle - it's going to be a war of words. Bring it on!

This is too good not to re-post:

Oh yeah there's this too - Tesconbury. Just hope it doesn't get mired in conspiracy theories...

To blog or not to blog?

I suppose I'm not the first or last person who has started a blog and then not updated it very often. It's not because I've not got anything to say - here's my comments on the Guardian's website - I've just lost focus. If anything, I get too many ideas for what to write and, like a swordfish trying to find a single victim in a huge shoal, they all get away. Writer's glut is as bad as writer's block.

Anyway here's a poem by Charles Bukowski. I hope I don't get sued for posting it :)

---

tough company

poems like gunslingers
sit around and shoot holes in my windows
chew on my toilet paper
read the race results
take the phone off the hook.

poems like gunslingers
ask me what the hell my game is,
and would I like to shoot it out?

take it easy, I say,
the race is not to the swift.

the poem sitting at the south end of the couch draws, says balls off for that one!

take it easy, pardner. I have plans for you.
plans, huh! what plans?
The New Yorker, pard.
he puts his iron away.

the poem sitting in the chair near the door stretches, looks at me: you know, fat boy,
you been pretty lazy lately

f--- off, I say. who’s running this game?

we’re running this game, say all the gunslingers
drawing iron: get with it!

so here you are:
this poem was the one who was sitting on top
of the refrigerator flipping beercaps.

and now I’ve got him out of the way
and all the others are sitting around
pointing their weapons at me and saying:
I’m next, I’m next, I’m next!

I suppose that when I die
the leftovers will jump some
other poor son of a bitch.

A hero of mine

Noam Chomsky, here interviewed by Andrew Marr, who gets perhaps a little more than he bargained for.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:

More Ireland...

Current location: Kenmare

I was in Kinsale for four days (via Dungarvan which has a bay full of wading birds, and Cork which is a big town). This was where the Transition movement began and it seems that they're doing OK.

Then on to Baltimore, which has an interesting history. You can read a bit more here and here (although the last gets it all mixed up with Islamic extremism).

The weather's good! It's dry, sunny and warm with a cool breeze. I camped last night by a lovely little stream with a waterfall and a pool. Ahhh...

Here's a few pics:


From sculpture on Kinsale harbour.


Where I camped by Lough Hyne.


Lough Hyne from the hill above it.


Skoleskibet Danmark (link in Danish)

Cork...

Now in Cork after having spent the night by the sea in Dungarvan. It's a charming little town with a beautiful bay which is full of wading birds - curlew, dunlin, oystercatchers, turnstones, a few egrets, and brent geese in the winter.

(I'd spent the previous night in my hammock by near a factory called Genzyme in Waterford. It seems manufacturing drugs is a big thing here.)

I'd imagined that hitching in Ireland was dead easy: after all, the Irish have a reputation for being open and hospitable. I don't know if it's me, or if it's because buses are cheap here, but I've found it difficult - I've had to wait far longer than I would in the UK. One driver told me that it's due to the boom of the last ten years, which has made people more affluent and changed atttudes. I don't know. Having said that, the lifts have been very friendly and chatty, and have more often than not gone out of their way to drop me somewhere convenient.

Next destination: Blarney, so I can kiss the Blarney Stone.

The swallows are gathering on the wires, ready to leave...

Coed Hills images

Here's what I couldn't post the other day. The mosaics are for Simon and Emma :)

Coed Hills and Ireland images...

Current location: Waterford, which has an area called Christendom. I wonder if Jesus is going to visit there sometime?

I got to Wexford the day before yesterday after getting rained on (again) on the way from Rosslare. Guess what? It rained. It pissed in at a 30 degree angle from a variety of directions yesterday - but at least the night was dry. I could hear fish - probably mullet - splashing in the water from where I slept.

I'd pitched my tarp well enough but sometimes you just have to accept that the weather has got the better of you. I gave in at about two in the afternoon and spent the night in a nice cheap hostel in Wexford.

Here's some pics from Rosslare and Wexford. I hung out on the quay at Wexford, while the weather held, but got accosted by some stupidly drunken Polish (I think) seaman who was offended by my refusal of a swig of cooking sherry. I was worried that at one point I'd have to slap him to make him go away but he saw sense...I guess "Fuck off!" in a loud voice is pretty international.

My neighbours the seals were much nicer. As you can see, they had a little conference about me :)



Wexford is a bit depressing. The Credit Crunch has hit Ireland quite hard and the result can be seen along the seafront, where half the shops are closed. It's a bit better on the main shopping street but the radio is reporting 12-13% unemployment.

The nice chap who gave me a lift to Waterford mentioned that I should establish my Irish credentials right away with people - my maternal grandfather was a McCarthy from Dublin, and that's about all I know - as according to him, there were still some funny people around this country.

The landscape is beginning to look very nice...very green but with the odd mountain here and there. I'm thinking of heading out west to a marine nature reserve called Lough Hyne which looks very nice...

Ireland...

First time in Ireland and...it's wet. The radio said that it's the wettest summer since 1866 when records began. I'm currently in Wexford Library, where they won't let me upload any images so they'll have to wait.

I got there via Coed Hills, which is a great place full of nice people. They've got a good thing going there, especially the Yurt-making bit.

I was waiting around at the western end of the M4 when this old hippy type (called Keith) saw me and offered me a lift - to Carmarthen - where I'd hoped to hook up with Will and Ed, buskers extraordinaire for a few days walking and singing. As it happened, I got a lift straight to Fishguard that afternoon, after Keith had dropped me off. Keith chained-smoked spliffs as he drove and gave me one to smoke later, which made the ferfy journey from Fishguard to Rosslare a relaxing one.

I arrived in Rosslare at 6am Saturday morning, having forgotten to change any money. I'm in no rush so I whiled away a couple of days on the beach at Rosslare, which was a bit damp but OK (I have a funny feeling that dampness is going to feature strongly on this trip). The landscape there is beautiful but the best bit of all was the seals: a dozen or so at any one time live near this reef. Seals are naturally curious and while I was watching them, I learned a new trick. A bloke came walking down the beach and stopped by a small group of seals and made a howling noise, similar to a dog or suchlike. The seals seemed attracted to it...

I tried this later and it works! If you give it a go, make sure you stand absolutely still. The seal that approached me was about 15 yards away when I reached for my camera. He didn't like the movement and swam off with a huge splash, which must be their 'alarm' sign.

Hitching out of Rosslare yesterday was hard. It was bucketing down, between bouts of heavy drizzle. Eventually it stopped and I ended up walking a few miles out of town and spending a (dry) night under my tarp by a hedge in a field: probably the only bit of land round here that isn't waterlogged.

I'll try to upload the pics I took another day.

Sunrise Off-Grid Festival

I've just come back (sort-of) from the Sunrise Off-Grid Festival. It was great! You can find some pics here or below...



It's a small festie (about 1000 people or so, I'd guess) in a field outside Shepton Mallett. The nice thing about being so small is that you get to recognise the same faces around and about, there isn't an "us and them" feel with ugly security bods checking your armband all the time, and the one or two lunchouts who drink too much get politely reminded not to spoil it for everyone else.

My feeling is that small, local, and theme-focused is the way to go. The whole thing was run on solar and wind (I only heard one very quiet generator). There was plenty of space for kids to fly kites and play and dogs too!

I worked my ticket as a steward/litter-picker which essentially meant I had nothing to do, as there wasn't any litter. I spent most of my time helping people out and sorting tangled kite-strings :)

Fake?

Amazing but fake, methinks. It's a good fake, though!



(later...) Turns out it's an ad for Microsoft Office or something.

Beautiful

Amazing. Pretty girl too ;)

Obama and Google

Barack Obama posthumously awarded the assassinated Gay Rights activist Harvey Milk a very big gong. The US religious right must be foaming at the mouth, just like Big Pharma is.

I was wondering why Barack Obama would pick two major fights at once. Either he's a fool, or he's incredibly brave, or...he knows he's going to win.

Everybody knows what a bunch of loonies the right-wingers are. Sometimes they're so far out that parody would be impossible...

Big Pharma have let the attack dogs loose.

Obama's not a fool. He's been waiting for this fight for years. He's got some very tough guys around him who aren't afraid of taking the fight to the opponent, to let them flail their rabid arms around and look thoroughly stupid. One of their mouthpieces will probably suggest killing him.

The Bush years have provided him with a legal framework that allows the state to do what the hell they like as long as it's about 'Terrorism'. I think he's a decent guy who's turning nasty to get the bullies off his back and as soon as some nutcase says 'shoot him', then we'll find lots of them being outed as gays, adulterers, embezzlers, paedophiles and terrorists too. The Oklahoma City bombing and other cases of domestic terrorism will be in the news again. You get the picture.

I hope Obama knows how and when to stop a fight.

And then there's Google, They've got some vapourware, it seems. Ho hum.

So how can I afford to take two months off?

I found this amazing website and forum:

Wild About Britain

"Wild About Britain is home to hundreds of thousands of pages about British wildlife, the Environment and the Great Outdoors; from birds, butterflies, fungi and trees to climate change, marine life, astronomy and the weather. We're also a huge online community with 30,000 members and more than 2.5 million unique visitors a year."

Good stuff!

---

If anyone's reading this, I suppose they're wondering how it is that I can afford to spend two months hitchhiking about without working. It's not too hard if you know how, and don't have any commitments. I have no commitments that can't handle a 10 week absence.

I've just moved as my old landlady wanted the house back - and I didn't want to stay there anyway, as she's a bit strange at times. People sometimes act selfishly when they own property (I call it The Propertarian Mindset), but she's a bit further out than that.

Anyway, I moved at the beginning of the month and knew very quickly that it wasn't going to work out, but I was in the middle of a (English to Danish) translation that was taking far longer than I'd expected. The good thing was that I'd just been paid handsomely for another translation I'd done a few weeks ago. Either I'd spend it on rent for somewhere I didn't want to live, or just go on the road for a bit.

I told the people who take care of things in this, my temporary abode, how things were and they didn't mind if I left in the middle of the month, which is what I'm doing.

Would you do a thing like that? It's funny but I don't consider it a hard thing to do: if you've got the gear and the mindset for it, and are reasonably fit, it's quite comfortable. The key is to take your time. Just forget about being busy or trying to achieve something and slow down a bit. Wisdom can be like a wild animal: if you charge around trying to find it, you'll scare it away and, more crucially, your eyes will miss the signs of its presence. If you just sit down and enjoy where you are, which is what happens to me when I'm hitchhiking, you'll find it easier to let go and tread lightly around your mind. Heavy thoughts have ruined more journeys then heavy rucsacks.

Never feel anxious again!

I like this site:

Anxiety Culture

:)

I got 'moderated'...

I comment on articles on The Guardian's website now and then. They remove comments they deem unsuitable and that just happened to me. It looked like this:

====

Mandelson casts the Tories as the party of cuts

Is that a spelling mistake?

====

Oh well.

Tesco stuff again

Good old George Monbiot does it again:

"My town is menaced by a superstore. So why are we not free to fight it off? People know a Tesco will suck the marrow from us. Yet the decision is left in the hands of a remote and frightened council"

We've got our own Tesco planning hearing on Wednesday. Luckily the council's planning officr recommends a refusal: he says a supermarket of that size which also sells lots of non-food will be detrimental to both Glastonbury and Street. However, the council don't have to heed his advice. We're going to have to remind them that they're elected...

Monbiot points out that Tesco has the financial muscle to really hurt a council in court if they appeal. I hope that doesn't scare the councillors.

Myspace

I got myself a myspace profile: myspace.com/barefootreporting.

I like the social side of teh intertubes but stuff like Facebook, Myspace etc are such a rich source of information for snoopers - be they governments, employers or anyone who hasn't got your best interests at heart - that I believe we should think long and hard about what we reveal on them. Facebook groups for activism are just plain stupid.

Facebook only works if you use your real name so it's a gift for anyone trying to protect the status quo in these 'interesting' times. We seem to be engaged in the type of constant warfare Orwell described in the book 1984. War (in the book) was necessary to keep the vast majority of people in poverty and ignorance. Governments like our own are now using war as one part of a strategy to keep us in fear of some great disaster (terrorist, social, economic, and possibly environmental): and that if we don't give them ever greater powers to snoop on 'dangerous individuals', then all our babies will eaten or somesuch. 'The Enemy Within'; it's ground-level fascism.

What government with a surveillance agenda like our own, or the US govt., could resist the lure of something like Facebook? That's too good a source of info, and guess what, it's free and people have already made it Facebook's property - to do with as they wish.

Something I read about Facebook made me think. Normally, if someone starts a project like that, and somebody who should have had a share gets screwed - for example someone who had the idea before you, and which you just ran off and developed - then it goes to a huge high-profile court case and the media have a field day. Have you noticed how the disputes around Facebook's origins and shareholdings have been solved oh-so discreetly? Could it be that some agency or other has been whispering in their ears and applying a bit of pressure? Of course we don't know, as it's all secret.

Btw: overheard the following odd utterance in a cafe: "I don't know if we've met. Are we friends yet?" Facebook ones, y'understand...

A bit more detail about my journey

Hitchhike around and collect stories. It's a very simple idea and can be done in many ways. I'm going to do it on an absolute shoestring, and when I travel I enjoy bushcraft-style camping right in the wilds. Here's some examples:

That was on Chesil Beach in 2007. Here's the rest of the pictures from that trip.

Last year I walked a tiny portion of the Southwest Coast Path from Exmouth to West Bexington.

Here's another seaside "Basha" shelter:

So that's the sort of place I'm going to sleep. What I love about using a 'basha' rather than a tent is the contact with the open air at all times. If you use a tent you might feel safer (and stay drier - or so you might think) but the fact is that if you tuck your tarp or basha into the right place - using the natural features - you'll be every bit as dry as with a tent.

So what about safety? Look at it this way. You can't really see out of a tent, and being inside it also means you hear less. A tent has also got a clear profile and size. That makes it harder to make it vanish in the landscape.

The basha is a different proposition. You've got clear vision around you (which also means you see the wildlife in the late evenings and early mornings) and I guarantee you that if someone comes towards you in the night, you'll become aware of them long before they know you're there.

Another advantage is space: both the space you need to pitch it and the living space you get for it. You can take advantage of natural features both to conceal your shelter and to fasten it. I really enjoy the little challenge towards the end of each day of finding a nice spot and you actually need a lot less space than a tent. You don't need to find somewhere flat either. Under a tarp you've got so much more space than in a tent too. Moving around under it is so much easier too: you don't always bump into the sides of the tent.

However, my advice is to avoid pitching in the dark (unless you can't help it). Places look very different during the day!

Cooking under a tarp/basha is a breeze. Cooking in a tent is a nightmare!

Tarps are much lighter than tents. Tarps are easier to camouflage. Tarps are simple and easy to repair. Tarps are flexible.

Mine is a British Army standard issue one. My advice is to buy a decent secondhand one from an Army Surplus store. I've yet to see a new 'real' one for sale. The big difference between the real ones and the copies is the materials, the quality of construction and and the coating. The army ones are silicon-impregnated and the fabric itself is tough as old boots and doesn't absorb water, so if it's wet for a few days, it doesn't mildew anywhere near as readily. All in all, if squaddies can't fuck it up then it has to be OK.

I'm not a closet weekend warrior or anything but I do like being inconspicuous. The camouflage pattern is really good and military stuff is tough, although a bit heavier. I've got army goretex waterproofs as well for these reasons - as well as them being dirt cheap. You can get a jacket & trousers for about 70 quid. Look out for the better jackets and trousers: the jacket has pockets on the front, and the trousers have zippers on the legs, which are also double on the front from above the knee to the hem.

I'll write some more about gear later.

Ray Jardine is an amazing bloke who's taken the simple approach to the limit...

Plans for the next few months

I don't know if anyone's reading this, but here you go.

I'm going to spend the next few months travelling, beginning in Ireland. I'll be doing some barefoot reporting, of course.

What i plan to do is to hitchhike around and collect people's stories. I'll film them and then put them online here for you to experience too.

What stories will they be? I have no idea. I'm guessing that Irish people still know how to tell a story or two...

Folk Against Fascism

I'm a bit of a (not that good) folkie: not the finger-in-yer-ear type though, even though I do sing some traditional songs.

Turns out those racist bar-stewards the British Nazi National Party have been using folk music to raise money and give their poisonous message a nicer feel, and many folkies are unhappy about that. I'd be livid if they ever used anything I wrote in that way. (I wouldn't mind them slagging me off though! It's fun to hear criticism from people who just don't get it.)

So Folk against Fascism was born. Good one!

This bloke can tell you more.

Phoney excuses for a war

I was reading today about this poor bugger who's being screwed by the MoD after they'd fucked up...not only by sending him out in a vehicle which couldn't protect him against home-made Afghan land mines, but also by putting almost £50k in his bank account by mistake. Like any sensible bloke in his situation, he paid off his mortgage with it.

I don't like violence. I don't think it ever really solves anything: that being said, I have a lot of respect for decent honest soldiers. They're doing what they feel is right and I've known a fair few young tearaways who've responded positively to the kind of military discipline the armed forces provide. I've known more who've been totally fucked up by it too and come out with untreated PTSD but that's a whole 'nother story.

That's why it irks me when our sort-of elected leaders send them into unwinnable wars on phoney pretexts. The War in Afghanistan isn't really about terrorism and drugs. OK, it's logical that scumbags who want to blow up civilians in the name of a skewed interpretation of some holy book or other (and you can put Israel in that bag too) will eventually retreat to an area like the Afghan-Pakistani border if you chase them hard enough. Likewise, it's the ideal place to grow opium, which has after all been traditional in these parts since long before our civilisation was even a twinkle in Aristotle's eye. Nobody has ever been able to control that place against the will of the local people.

The real reason that this war is - peddled on a ticket of Drugs! and Terrorism! - being fought is energy. There are huge oil and gas reserves east of the Caspian and Uncle Sam needs to make sure he can get his fix without the hands of those nasty Russians or sneaky Chinese on the tap. (Of course you could always avoid that by piping it through Iran ... yeah right.)

You don't believe me? Have a read of this. And this. Hands up all of you who've seen the pipeline mentioned on the news.

And so you have some poor sod whose legs have been blown to bits getting screwed twice. Once by being sent to 'war' on a false pretext, and now by the very people who should have taken care of him afterwards.

Excuse me while I vomit.

The 6th of August should be remembered?

Do you know why? If not, click here and find out.

I remember what the 80s felt like: we were really shit scared that someone would fuck up and fumble their way to nuclear war. August the 6th always reawakes remnants of that feeling of utter dread.

Somerset man arrested...and his goods handed to private company

If you're in any doubt that we're living in a what George Monbiot calls a "Captive State", then here's your proof.

British man arrested for role in running FileSoup file sharing website

So: An association of private companies called FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft Ltd) now sends the police to do their bidding. Copyright infringement (which is what Megacorp says filesharing is, under law) used to be a civil matter but now it appears to be in a grey area between civil and criminal law.

The guy's stuff was seized, he was released on bail (but not charged), and - get this - his stuff was handed over to FACT.

One commentator (on the Guardian article) put it well:

I don't care about the rights and wrongs of the site, I care about the rights and wrongs of letting private entities breach a persons human rights. That is something ONLY the police should have the power to do. It should not be allowed for FACT to purchase a warrant or buy a prosecution.

So what next? Extradition to the US on an allegation that you've downloaded a film? Welcome to the other side of the looking glass.

Relax, it's satire...

In The Know: Is The Government Spying On Paranoid Schizophrenics Enough?

It's satire - today.

Big Green Cockup og Big Green Conspiracy?

Here's a couple of interesting Guardian articles:

Is the Big Green Gathering another victim of the crackdown on dissent?

and

Protesters warned that measures from the criminal justice bill would be turned against the wider population. We were right

OK, The Big Green wasn't screwed closed on the background of the CJA but you can see the tendency, right?

It looks to me like any experience not mediated by some commercial exchange (preferably through some big business) is being made more and more difficult. It doesn't surprise this grumpy old cynic: after all, when big companies effectively dictate terms to the government (ever wondered why so many business regulations are "voluntary codes of conduct" these days?) then they'll use their influence in any way they can. Levels and squares, aprons and sashes...no, they don't do funny handshakes.

Still incompetent, just slightly less so...

It turns out that the previous post was about a silly mistake: the council employee screwed up and sent the letter out in oh-such-a-terrible hurry that she forgot to put the right dates on. Oh dear.

The meeting is on the 12th of August, not the 29th of July.

I'm not sure which I prefer: incompetence of that nature or sneaky conspiracies to disenfranchise people. Hanlon's Razor again..."Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity". Ho hum.

It's bloody raining again.

A conspiracy of incompetence?

I've had a nice snooze (for about 7 months) and it's about time I posted something. Here's a fictional story . It's fictional, remember? Really, truly it is. Nothing like this could happen in reality - whatever that is.



There once was a nice supermarket company called Tesco. In its drive for total domination of all levels of the food supply in this country, it decided to set up shop in the small town of Avalon, and submitted a planning application. It chose a plot at the other end of the Morlands site. The plot belongs to Avalon Plastics. The good bit about this (depending on your point of view) is that Avalon Plastics had already received planning permission (with conditions) for something like a supermarket on that very site. I suppose that was a major contributor to the economics of their planned move onto the Morlands site.

Anyway, word got out and people - including myself - started writing letters to the local rag, mostly against the proposed development. If you want to know why I'm against supermarkets, read Shopped by Joanna Blythman. The few 'pro' people kept going on about jobs: but Martin Caraher held a lecture recently in which he pointed out that for every 20 jobs Tesco 'creates', 30 disappear in the local area. So much for creating jobs.




Anyway, if you check out the Mendip planning website above, you can submit your comments to a planning application there...in theory. For some strange reason, it didn't work. Maybe they've fixed it now, but it didn't work then. It's also very hard to find the application itself unless you know exactly what you're looking for.

(Here's a link that will show you what the store might look like: http://tinyurl.com/l3y2m4. Be patient, it takes a while.)

Mendip District Council were shamed in the Central Somerset Gazette into admitting their incompetence and allowed people to submit comments via email - and extended the timeframe by a week or so.

My friend Jane submitted a comment or two and asked to be kept up to date with any public meetings etc and received a letter on 31st July. It invited her to a meeting which took place on the 29th of July.

OK, so maybe they're incompetent and 'forgot' to send it in time? Maybe so: but the funny thing is that they actually dated the letter 31st July. To add insult to injury, the letter states that you have to submit your comment the day before the meeting. Here it is:



So there we have it. Mendip Council could be accused of using incompetence as a tool for getting around difficult issues. You couldn't submit comments. You get invited to a meeting two days too late - and you haven't even taken the trouble to backdate the letter so it looks like it's been lost in the post. I'm not accusing them of overt dodgy dealing but it does seem rather convenient. Hanlon's Razor applies.

Charlie Brooker does it again

Some people might dismiss Charlie Brooker as a lightweight cynic but he's actually a very serious bloke with a savage sense of humour.

His latest rant in the Guardian is a peach. I wish I could rant like that.

If he was ever foolish enough to run for parliament, he'd get my vote.

Have a read:

They do what they want, these people, and you and I are cut out of the conversation. I'm sure they're dimly aware we still exist. They must spot us occasionally, through the window, jumping up and down in the cold with our funny placards . . . although come to think of it, they can't even see us through the window, since they banned peaceful protest within a mile of Parliament.

...

It's all over. The politicians have finally shut us out of their game for good and we have nowhere left to turn. We're not part of their world any more. We don't even speak the same language. We're the ants in their garden. The bacteria in their stools. They have nothing but contempt for us. They snivel and lie and duck questions on torture - on torture, for Christ's sake - while demanding we respect their authority. They monitor our every belch and fart, and insist it's all for our own good.