interloper: Politics

Blair praises 'magnificent' Heath

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 16:12:29 GMT

"Mr Blair, who was leading House of Commons tributes to Sir Edward, said: 'He was magnificent... a prime minister our country can be proud of.'" [BBC]

I noticed the House of Commons took some time off to pass around the valedictory hot air. If a retired ex-member of staff dies in my office we just pass around a memo and have a collection for a wreath.

Get over yourselves

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 10:11:50 GMT

In the otherwise entertaining Rixstep newsletter there is a small piece on the London bombings of 7 July and the two minutes silence observed on 14 July.

Both Radsoft and Rixstep suspended web operations for these two minutes and had for this purpose - and as an explanation - specially inserted home pages. Ed.

I'm sure the world feels better for that.

Avoid London - Area Closed

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 19:37:10 GMT

Avoid London - Area Closed was the message displayed on motorway signs today as I headed south from Stoke On Trent, over 100 miles from London.

And the helpful Mr Bush tells us:

[CNN] U.S. President George W. Bush was among the somber leaders who stood behind Blair as he spoke.'We will not yield to these people, will not yield to the terrorists,' he said in a short statement after Blair departed. 'We will find them, we will bring them to justice, and at the same time we will spread an ideology of hope and compassion that will overwhelm their ideology of hate.'

Police Faked Emergency Calls To Improve Stats

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 22:04:45 GMT

"Sometimes when you rely too much on stats, it can lead to some pretty ridiculous unintended consequences, as people focus on 'fixing' the stats, rather than actually dealing with the issue. That appears to be the case with a police emergency call center in Scotland. After a 'busy night' in which the center's 'call response targets' were not met, one of the dispatchers was sent outside to dial 999 repeatedly (999 being the equivalent of 911 in the US) on his mobile phone. Those calls were, of course, answered immediately, until the center's stats were at an acceptable rate. [From Techdirt]

Laugh or Cry

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 22:19:45 GMT

Assuming there's no irony intended, this is an incredible site. Praise the mass murderer. We have a friend who agrees with our killing.

"A site to thank Prime Minister Tony Blair for his support of the American actions in Iraq." [ThankYouTony]

It's that sinking feeling

Fri, 06 May 2005 00:03:04 GMT

Did the right (or left) thing today by exercising my right to vote in the UK general election. For the first time in 3 elections I had to queue to get in to the polling station. I was the youngest punter there (I'm 21) and felt unnerved by all the grey Tory hairs around me. Perhaps I shouldn't have worn my 'F*** Thatcher!' t-shirt. When I got to the booth I suddenly felt a little light-headed. How wonderful that nice Mr Blair had deigned to allow me to draw two lines with a pencil to demonstrate either my total support for him or my total support for someone else. And if I vote for the eventual loser in my constituency he can ignore me anyway - my vote won't matter! I'll be unrepresented until next time, at least. If I recall, we were supposed to have been given some kind of proportional representation by now, but Mr Blair was too busy fighting wars to get round to it. Maybe next time! Oh, hang on. Is Mr Blair staying the full term or going early. Damn. I wish they'd let us know important things like that.

Tony Blair Lies Heavy

Wed, 27 Apr 2005 21:35:30 GMT

There's a lot of lying going on. Today a client lied about a telephone call I had made to them, quoting things I hadn't said. The notes I made of the call and the subsequent action I took prove that the client lied. But it's a client so they get away with it and I just have to chew my lip and try not to let it get me down.

Meanwhile Billy Liar is lying, and so is Gordon Brown-nose. I heard him say today that the UK went to war with Iraq to remove Saddam Hussian, because he was a cruel dictator. That's a plain lie. We were told at the time that we went to war because of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Liar, liar, liar.

Intelligent life in Rome

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 20:04:55 GMT

"President Bush sat on the aisle in the second row, next to his wife, Laura. Beside them were French President Jacques Chirac and his wife, Bernadette. The two presidents shook hands. When Bush's face appeared on giant screen TVs showing the ceremony, many in the crowds outside St. Peter's Square booed and whistled." [Washington Post]

Windows smash and grab

Sun, 10 Apr 2005 21:29:39 GMT

How does Microsoft get away with it? Their Windows products are constantly shown up to be badly written and security-blind. Yet the world keeps buying the crap.

According to the BBC in October 2004:

Cash machine networks could soon be more susceptible to computer viruses, a security firm has warned. The warning is being issued because many banks are starting to use the Windows operating system in machines. Already there have been four incidents in which Windows viruses have disrupted networks of cash machines running the Microsoft operating system. [BBC]

A year earlier, in November 2003, Windows For Devices reported:

According to several news reports, two U.S. financial institutions were hit with a computer worm that invaded automated teller machines (ATMs) running Windows XP Embedded, in August. The ATMs were manufactured by Diebold, one of the world's leading ATM suppliers. [Windows For Devices]

And most tellingly:

a patch for the...vulnerability had been available from Microsoft more than a month before the incident, but had not been installed in the ATMs. [Windows For Devices]

In 2003 New Scientist reported:

However, programming an ATM to spew out cash would take more than a vulnerability in the operating system. It would require access to the private source code that controls the mechanical opening and shutting of the machine....Loomstein says the only solution is to make sure security patches are up to date. Diebold's response is to install all new ATMs with firewall software, starting from December. [New Scientist]

It is truly frightening that something as ropey as Windows should be let loose on something like cashpoints/ATMs. Especially when the idiots that do use Windows in crucial applications haven't even got the brains to update the security patches. So bad programming and incompetent companies leave your information vulnerable from criminals.

Banana Bollocks

Wed, 06 Apr 2005 20:01:10 GMT

"Bananas may cast a shadow over world trade talks this year as EU negotiators argue with Latin American suppliers over how much they should pay to get their fruit into Europe. Bananas, worth billions of dollars on world markets and a key revenue-earner for many Latin American countries, are the world's second-largest fruit market after citrus and have a long history in Europe as a particularly sensitive area." [Aljazeera]

Sickening NHS

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 19:54:57 GMT

I was interviewing a man today whose wife had died last year. She had been suffering from a mental illness which meant she was docile but uncommunicative. She needed constant care. One night she had been sick, and vomited so violently that she had sprayed herself, her bed, the walls and floor. She was taken to hospital where she stayed for 26 days. Her husband says that when she came home there were traces of vomit in her nostrils, ears, hair and under her breasts. In 26 days at hospital no-one had bothered to wash her.

I'm a consumer unit

Sun, 27 Mar 2005 13:16:53 GMT

"A reliable flow of disposable income does not automatically translate into security or well-being. Look around your average British small town. By day, you see high streets denuded of character as the big retailers dominate and, at night, people out on benders staggering from pub to pub. This is not part of an audition for Grumpy Old Men. This is what people, who resent being valued only as consuming objects, told me." [The Observer]

I am not a person.I am a consumer unit. I am targeted and sold to. Information about me can be extracted without me knowing and sold to others. I am a consumer, a customer, a client, a 'seat', a passenger. I am a revenue stream, a cash resource, a taxable commodity. I am a pair of eyeballs to passively receive advertising propaganda - soma for the masses. I am a taxable unit. I am a class. I am part of a socio-economic grouping. I can be counted, logged, tagged, observed, herded, conformed, marshalled. Layers of bureaucracy, officials, and politicians are supported by me but don't hear me. I am a citizen without a country.

Two months after tsunami full funding is lacking

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 16:19:18 GMT

As far as the UN's own Flash Appeal [is concerned] for the first six months after the 26 December tsunami, governments have paid or committed themselves to pay $721 million out of the $979 million sought. Full Article at UN News Centre [via The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami]

Final hunts held as ban looms

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 22:06:34 GMT

"Hunts in England and Wales have been out to mark the last day that hunting with dogs is legal. With the ban due to come into force at 0001 GMT on Friday, many riders were defiant and vowed their activities had only been 'suspended temporarily'. But anti-hunt groups welcomed the imminent ban, saying it must be upheld." [BBC]

I don't agree with hunting with dogs. I think it's cruel and unnecessary. But I don't agree with banning it. It seems a moral issue to me, rather than a legal one. I don't understand why the Labour government gave so much parliamentary time to it nor why they decided that hunting with dogs had to be made unlawful. The moral argument doesn't work unless all other activities believed to harm animals are also banned. What about angling? Is the next step to ban fishing with hooks? After all, the fish must experience some stress and hurt when they are yanked out of the water on the end of a spike.

This government is quite good at alienating sections of society. And they've just turned a lot of law-abiding people into potential criminals for nothing but dogma.

Tsunami baby returned to family

Wed, 16 Feb 2005 23:03:34 GMT

A Sri Lankan baby found in the debris left by the tsunami has been returned to his parents. Four-month-old Abhilasha, known as 'Baby 81', was confirmed as the son of Murugupillai and Jenita Jeyarajah after DNA tests. Eight other couples had wanted to take the child. He was handed over to his parents in a brief court ceremony, after which the family left for their temporary home in the eastern town of Kalmunai. [BBC]

Blackberry Bollocks

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 21:03:17 GMT

"Tony Blair's former spin doctor-in-chief Alastair Campbell has committed a stunning digital blunder which saw him fire off a four-letter tirade in error to a journalist at the BBC. Reacting angrily to allegations of anti-Semitism in Labour's recently binned campaign posters, an email sent in error by Campbell to the Newsnight journalist Andrew McFadyen, when intended for ad agency TBWA, suggested the BBC should 'fuck off and cover something important'. He also referred to BBC journalists at 'twats', adding to a rift between the spin doctor and the broadcaster which first reached a head over the 'dodgy dossier' in 2004. However, Campbell tried to laugh off the blunder, attributing it to not being 'very good at this email Blackberry malarkey' in a second email." [Silicon.com]

Campbell is one of those people who always blames someone else and never takes responsibility. He should be a politician instead of working for one.

Should have gone to Spec Savers

Sat, 05 Feb 2005 16:38:44 GMT

Councillor Eileen Kinnear, we salute you.

This Tory councillor is getting a lot of attention lately. No-one can be certain whether she wears glasses or not. Can you spot them?

Crowd storms Baby 81's hospital

Thu, 03 Feb 2005 20:50:08 GMT

"Rescuers found Baby 81 among bodies and the wreckage of houses nine hours after he survived the giant waves on December 26 that killed 40,000 Sri Lankans. He was so named because he was the 81st admission to the hospital where, days later, the Jeyarajahs claimed him, saying he was their son Abilass, born on October 19. But doctors refused to release the child without proof that they were the real parents. Subsequently eight other women also claimed parentage, although by yesterday only Mr Jeyarajah, a barber aged 31, and his wife had lodged a formal custody claim. They say documents that prove the boy is theirs were washed away." [The Guardian]

More on this heartbreaking story which I've mentioned before.

UK police release Guantanamo four

Wed, 26 Jan 2005 21:33:15 GMT

"The four British men who returned home from Guantanamo Bay on Tuesday have been released without charge by police. Moazzam Begg, Martin Mubanga, Feroz Abbasi and Richard Belmar left Paddington Green police station on Wednesday night, Scotland Yard said. The men, from Birmingham and London, had been questioned by anti-terrorist officers in the UK after being held at the camp in Cuba for three years." [BBC]

Okay. So why did the USA, bastion of freedom, lock them up for three years?

Fund the everlasting war

Tue, 25 Jan 2005 21:17:44 GMT

"The White House has confirmed it plans to ask Congress for an extra $80bn (£43bn), mainly to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan" [BBC]

M6 toll route 'is boosting traffic'

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 00:26:22 GMT

The M6 toll route north of Birmingham has dramatically increased the number of vehicles on the very motorway it was designed to unclog, confirming fears that building more roads simply creates more traffic. Since the toll road opened in December 2003, junctions to the south have seen weekday traffic rise by almost 10,000 extra cars and lorries. Junctions to the north show 5,000 more vehicles a day. While traffic flows freely on the toll stretch, 38,000 extra vehicles now use both this and the free M6 each day, a rise of more than a quarter on pre-toll days, parliamentary figures show. Environmentalists will use the figures to show building roads encourages car use. " [The Observer]

The road that should never have been built. I well remember the Labour Party in opposition promising that they would cancel the construction of the M6 Toll. As soon as they were in power they changed their minds.

More information at Transport2000.

Election detection

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 20:27:08 GMT

One of the many flaws with the UK political system is that the ruling party decides when an election will be held. Other countries have a definite timetable so that election dates are known decades in advance. But here in the UK the ruling party gets to decide and usually gives only 3 weeks' notice. This means that they privately pencil in the date and then skew their policy announcements and spending plans to build up the good news, and jerk the economy so everything turns right just in time for the election. Meanwhile, the opposition parties move their troops up to the front line as they anticipate the election announcement.

All us poor plebs, who actually have to vote, know is that the ruling party gets a maximum 5 years in power and then, by gentlemen's agreement (this is the UK after all), they announce an election. But they may not. Or they may announce an election after 3 or 4 years. What all this means is uncertainty and dithering. We're in this Phony War stage at the moment. Everyone is expecting an election in May but our beloved leader, His Holier Than Thou-ness Tony Blair hasn't told us yet. When he's finished scratching his arse, consorting with his rich friends, slobbering over George Bush, and killing people in Iraq, we might actually get the chance to vote the pillock out.

Shooting in Tal Afar

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 17:59:22 GMT

"US soldiers in Iraq approach a car after opening fire when it failed to stop at a checkpoint. Despite warning shots it continued to drive towards their dusk patrol in Tal Afar on 18 January. Chris Hondros a photographer with Getty News was on hand to record these pictures." [BBC]

Tsunami baby claimed by nine mothers

Sat, 15 Jan 2005 15:46:50 GMT

Nine women are claiming a baby rescued from the tsunami, prompting angry confrontations at the hospital where he is being treated. The boy was brought to the Kalmunai hospital in eastern Sri Lanka on the day of the disaster covered with bruises and mud. Dozens of parents have passed through, looking for lost infants, and nine have stayed to argue over the child. Dr K Muhunthan said most of them believe the baby is theirs. 'Maybe they are not lying, because they have lost a baby of the same age and all the babies they look at look like their own,' the doctor said. [The Guardian]

This makes me want to weep. I can't begin to understand the emotional chaos these mothers are going through. It's quite clear that whilst the infrastuctures can be repaired, the houses rebuilt and businesses restarted, the emotional stress from this disaster is going to last a lifetime for some.

UK tsunami appeal 'winding down'

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 01:50:50 GMT

"The UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) says it is 'winding down' its tsunami aid appeal, amid predictions it is set to raise £200m. The umbrella charity group has received 2.8 million donations and said the money would make a 'real difference' to the affected areas over coming years. There will be no more advertising of the appeal, but the DEC expects fund-raising events to continue." [BBC]

Well, £200 million is a fantastic response within 3 weeks of the disaster and how good to hear a charity say they have enough money to make a difference.

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