KIDS IN THE WILD AND MISSING LEADERSHIP

No one can seriously say that stealing from and torching businesses is really excusable but it must also be said that the majority of recent rioting was down to a lot of young people who come from privation and dont come from a Janet and John background in a nice middle class area, even despite the occasional anomaly from a good backgroundd which the media like to feature.

For a few moments lets look at the lack of leadership for these kids and some of the recent role models. First we have corrupt well paid reporters and journos who were quite prepared to hand dosh to equally corrupt police officers.for tips and rumours, to add to the factoids which they had already hacked from private cell phone messaage  boxes. Once again we are confronted by the poacher-gamekeeper dual roles beloved by people in leading positions. Its truly criminal to hack phones and even more criminal to bribe coppers for private gossip and info. Worst of all as an example of criminal hipocrisy is that there were high flying rozzers willing to enter into into these mutally satisfying arrangements. And if this was not enough right at the top were the fine examples of law and order in the Houses of Parliament. These fine and upstanding crooks were fiddling expenses claims out of the public purse.

And... lets not forget the crooked and greedy activity of leading bankers etc who have literally brought many people to levels of privation . Off course this is white collar crime and therfore not nearly as serious as blue collar crime irrespective of the collossal sums involved and all the more galling to ordinary honest folk that these same crooks aka bankers are actually getting bonuses and rewards for their outrageous activities. It is people like these scumbags who have acted as fine icons  of our modern society for rather too many poorly educated kids from sordid backgrounds about as far from a Janet and John book as they can get and with little if any future.

Fukushima a disaster waiting to happen, just like Sellerfield.

Well just as we thought the money wasted on Thorpe chicken has come home to roost. A scheme that required and depended on ships and trains full of nuclear waste travelling between Japan and Cumbria was never going to be sane let alone profitable. The only person who wanted this kind of thing was the insane old bag known as Margaret Thatcher and her equally insane cohorts at British Nuclear Fools. The scheme and site in Cumbria has never been anything but intrinsically dangerous and certainly not viable but it was just the kind of thing one might expect from a pair of nutters like Reagan and Thatcher.

This dreadful duo are the people who brought us the Starwars plan which couldnt be made to work or be afforded and of course the the Big Bang in the Stock Exchange, part funded by a consortium apparently headed by the Dirty Digger (Murdoch) and other luminaries such as Robert Maxwell aka the Bouncing Czech. The original idea seemed to require the closing down of what remained of British manufacturingindustry and the ramping up of the banking and money markets sector of which Britain was so proud. It never seemed to the practitioners in reagonomics that there was anything wrong in abandoning all pretense of making things we might sell abroad.  Instead, the banks and markets were deregulated and allowed to operate an automatic business based on the 80s loadsamoney principle.  Litte wonder is it that both the nukes business and the doshateria melted down and at about the same time.

Now, both the UK and the USA which it emulates so brazenly are presiding over economies which are up to their ears in debt and surrounded by the smouldering rubble of their earlier exploits.

THE DAILY DIGGER

BBC Radio Four tells me today that Rupert (Dirty Digger) Murdoch is at a meeting of moguls in the US with people including the billionaire owner of Facebook, whatever that is.

Whatever happened to PC Ned Strangelove (aka The Bent Copper) the police correspondent of Private Eye fame. ? Perhaps Chief Superintendant Knacker of the Yard Knacker would like to comment

If Andy Coulson of News of the World Phone Hacking and Prime Ministers advisor fame, reports to the Police or is arrested later today as expected, should we not ask if the officers dealing with this are the same ones, who were apparently on the take from Journos for information or will this issue disappear in the smoke. I think we should be told.

The BBC just now referred to the News of the World as part of the nations furniture. My suggestion is of a comode

NUCLEAR NEWS FROM CUMBRIA

NUCLEAR NEWS FROM CUMBRIA

Fw: LAKE DISTRICT NUCLEAR DUMP - 'TRUMP CARD' IN BID FOR SELLAFIELD REACTOR

Thursday, 26 May, 2011 21:29

From:

"Liz Vaughan" View contact details

To:

"Brian Jackson"

#yiv1423151351 .yiv1423151351hmmessage P { PADDING-RIGHT:0px;PADDING-LEFT:0px;PADDING-BOTTOM:0px;MARGIN:0px;PADDING-TOP:0px;} #yiv1423151351 .yiv1423151351hmmessage { FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma;}

----- Original Message -----

From: jean mcsorley

To: mcsorley

Sent: Monday, May 16, 2011 2:37 PM

Subject: LAKE DISTRICT NUCLEAR DUMP - 'TRUMP CARD' IN BID FOR SELLAFIELD REACTOR

LAKE DISTRICT NUCLEAR DUMP - 'TRUMP CARD' IN BID FOR SELLAFIELD REACTOR

16 May 2011

Evidence leaked to Greenpeace and released under the Freedom of Information Act shows local nuclear consultation on nuclear waste disposal is a sham and pro-nuclear lobbyists know Sellafield is not a suitable location for a new reactor.

In January 2012, the three councils - Cumbria County Council and Copeland and Allerdale Borough Councils will decide whether to proceed to the preliminary siting process for a radioactive waste dump in West Cumbria to take all the UK 's legacy and new build wastes and spent fuel.[1]

The documents reveal that the three Councils which have made an 'expression of interest' in West Cumbria hosting a national nuclear dump secretly view hosting the dump as a 'trump card' in getting new reactors at Sellafield.[2]

They also show that the nuclear champions are aware that electricity from new reactors at Sellafield will not be used in Cumbria requiring large pylons around the Lake District National Park to transmit the electricity to other parts of the country. That information was withheld from the public, as well as details about problems with the Sellafield site geology and that existing radioactive contamination in the sea off Sellafield could pose problems in cooling a new reactor.

The people of West Cumbria have a right to expect the highest standards of openness and transparency from those seeking to dispose of dangerous radioactive materials into their region. Instead, Greenpeace had to force local councils to release information in the public interest through Freedom of Information requests and threats of complaint over non-compliance with information legislation.

Greenpeace said today:

'The Councils, and others who initiated these meetings, seem to view West Cumbria and the Lake District as their private fiefdom to be offered up for nuclear waste dumping. Their blind pursuit of nuclear jobs will cost jobs and income in the tourism, food and drink and agricultural sectors dearly.'

'These minutes expose the cynical machinations behind the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely stakeholder engagement programme. Claims about openly discussing nuclear waste disposal with the people of Cumbria are nothing more than a sham based on a hidden agenda. The discussions on disposal should now be halted. The Councils should not be allowed to take any further steps on this matter until there is full disclosure and examination of all the documents concerning new build and wastes from all parties involved.'

The documents also reveal the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was heavily involved in the closed door meetings, yet it is not meant to actively promote nuclear power. The NDA will be the developer and operator of a national nuclear dump, but it role in these behind scenes meetings raises questions about conflict of interest.

Notes for editors:

What the documents say:

Minutes and presentations at meetings from January 2008 to February 2010 reveal[3]:

l The pro-nuclear lobby knows that Cumbria can't use all the electricity from new Sellafield reactors: ' Cumbria is in the wrong place' in terms of electricity demand (one 'solution' mentioned in the minutes is to get a major energy user to move to Cumbria ). (15/1/08 - page 2)

l Information was withheld from the public regarding the scale of the impact of massive 50 metre pylons around the Lake District National Park - to connect new reactors to the national grid. (19/3/09 - page 56)

l the geology of land around Sellafield is problematic and would add significantly to reactor construction costs (15/1/08 page 2 minutes and slide 19, page 7, of presentation).

l Plutonium contamination in the sea - from Sellafield's reprocessing discharges - could cause problems for cooling new reactors: there is 1/3rd tonne of plutonium in a mudbank offshore where the reactor cooling water would be extracted (13/8/09, page 11)

l the link between new build at Sellafield and using the UK 's plutonium stockpile as a fuel in reactors on site 'is an artificial construct' (11/6/08 page 28)

l the NDA would be asked to make land available at Sellafield at a 'favourable commercial rate' (slide 4, page 11 presentation)

l the name of any new build site would have to be changed to distance it from Sellafield and to avoid 'reputational damage' (3/9/08 p 41 and slide 8 page 13 presentation)

What the documents are:

118 pages of minutes of meetings of pro-nuclear interested parties from January 2008-February 2010 released under Freedom of Information by Copeland - April 2011.

The minutes can be found here: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/document/building-case-nuclear-new-build-sellafield

The meetings involved - at different times - councillors and officials from the NDA, Cumbria, Copeland and Allerdale Councils, Cumbria Vision, West Lakes Renaissance, Sellafield unions, the North West Development Agency, Invest in Cumbria. Sellafield Ltd, Mercury Stone (Marketing company) AMEC (nuclear service company, Furness Enterprise, as well as a representative of Jamie Reed, Copeland MP and John Hetherington an independent consultant.

Leaked: two presentations (shown 15/1/08) for West Lakes Renaissance (an urban regeneration company) written by the nuclear services company AMEC.

l Meeting the Energy Challenge Assessing the Business Case for Nuclear New Build at Sellafield Stage 3 - First set of slides - 26 slides over 9 pages. Dated 10/01/2008,

l Meeting the Energy Challenge: Influencing Strategy to Attract New Build to Sellafield Stage 4 - second set of slides - 10 slides over 4 pages. Date 10/01/2008

l All slides with West Lakes Renaissance and AMEC header

The slides can be found here: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/document/amec-stages-3-and-4-energy-coast-deal


Documents released by West Lakes Renaissance - 3 papers

1. Influencing Strategy and Implementation Plan (undated)

2. Pre-approval for expenditure and brief - WLR 05/7/2007

3. Copy of summary for Energy Coast Master Plan

How we got the documents

After a series of FOI requests to the NDA on David Hayes (then Special Projects Manager) we were told (1 February 2008) that they had:

'not found any paper work associated with these meetings, I understand that one of them was informal, there was no paperwork and it was not minuted. The other meeting did have papers, but they are not held by the NDA i.e. David Hayes didn’t keep anything.' Yet in early 2008 we had been mailed copies of slides from a presentation at a meeting of 15th January 2008 at which, we were informed, David Hayes of the NDA was present. The minutes confirm this.

In February 2008 we emailed WLR to ask for information regarding its work on new build at Sellafield (see above for reply received). In its email on releasing information, WLR said that as a limited company it was not under any obligation for respond to FoI requests. Despite further letters, challenging this, it has refused to answer any more queries.

In December 2010 we emailed both Cumbria County Council and Copeland Borough Council requesting copies of: 'all emails, memos, minutes of meetings or powerpoint presentations involving Copeland officials or councilors and representatives of Britain's Energy Coast West Cumbria, along with records of any relevant discussions (formal or informal)on this matter between the two organisations.

It took four months and the threat of a complaint over non-compliance with Freedom of Information legislation (from 7th December 2010 until 5th April 2011) before Copeland responded to the FOI request which resulted in the minutes been sent.

Despite an exact same email to Cumbria CC (sent 7/12/2010) and again on 2/2/2011 (and an email of complaint (26/3/2011 that it is potentially in breach of FOI legislation) Cumbria has yet to respond to the request.

Contact

Niall Sookoo, Greenpeace media office, 07 711 156 881

Jean McSorley, Consultant, Nuclear Campaign, 07 801 212 959

A NO VOTE FOR AV WILL BE A DEFEAT FOR DEMOCRACY IN THE UK

I have for many years supported reform of our voting system in this country. The majority of countries in the EC vote using PR and i do not see any damage to the European electoral system.  I do however see a much more democratic and responsive system which embraces a much wider range of views and opinions than i see here in the UK.  

Was Osama Bin Laden responsible for the Twin Towers attacks. ?

No one can blame the American people for wanting the capture and punishment of the man (men) behind the attacks upon the Twin Towers in New York or the Pentagon in Washington DC but, was he guilty?  I heard him deny it in the media on a number of occasions which seems strangely out of tune with the Al Quaida organisation which was always proud of its attacks on the American imperialists and their puppets.

There have always been  conspiracy theories about the 911 attacks and the way that Bin Laden was allegely dispatched.  In the aftermath of 911 the USA under neocon leadership was ever eager to lash out at anyone who was either a terrorist or even someone who acted or looked like one and this has not won the USA many friends. The timing of the 911 attacks themselves suggested a good deal of inside knowledge about simultaneus War Games and exercises, not just in the USA but also in the UK during the 7/7 attacks in London.

Although Sadam Hussein was clearly no friend of Osama or Al Quaida and no proof existed to even susggest this, the USA were quick to attack and overrun Iraq and insist upon Sadams capture and kangaroo trial. Many lies were told and circulated and sexed up to support this illegal action. Similarly the Taliban were treated as obvious cohorts of Al Quaida and evidence to implicate was either falsified or at best exaggerated. Anyway i am surely not alone in asking these questions below is the cutting from todays UK Guardian Newspaper carrying an Item from Robert Burns (AP Washington)

"Knowing there would be disbelievers, the U.S. says it used convincing means to confirm Osama bin Laden's identity during and after the firefight that killed him. But the mystique that surrounded the terrorist chieftain in life is persisting in death.

Was it really him? How do we know? Where are the pictures?

Already, those questions are spreading in Pakistan and surely beyond. In the absence of photos and with his body given up to the sea, many people don't believe bin Laden — the Great Emir to some, the fabled escape artist of the Tora Bora mountains to foe and friend alike — is really dead.

U.S. officials are balancing that skepticism with the sensitivities that might be inflamed by showing images they say they have of the dead al-Qaida leader and video of his burial at sea. Still, it appeared likely that photographic evidence would be produced.

"We are going to do everything we can to make sure that nobody has any basis to try to deny that we got Osama bin Laden," John Brennan, President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser, said Monday. He said the U.S. will "share what we can because we want to make sure that not only the American people but the world understand exactly what happened." Lets all hope they are right. It seems to be getting very popular to kill leaders without trial or witnesses rather than do anything in the public nowadays. This is another threat to real justice.

KELVIN McFRENZY

I watched with some dismay as Kelvin McKensie raved and yelled on Question Time. Of course for many years he was Rupie (Dirty Digger) Murdochs henchman and worked for the well known Toilet Paper aka, the Sun. He has plenty of bluster and lots of opinions all of them stupid, out-dated and clearly dictated to him by other meddling right wing buffoons. (see Dirty Digger)

He loves Nuke power of course. so i think we should ask him when we can start disposing of dangerous nuclear waste in his garden. Its only radio-active shit and keeping all the shit in one place makes sense although Kelvin lacks sense and knows only subservience to his financial puppet masters. What can i say about such an ass-hole other than "Kelvin, shut the fuck up and give us all a rest."