Mandy says he "misled" us about Deripaska

Mandy explains in a letter to the Times how he came to "mislead" us about meetings with the Russian oligarch Deripaska. The Times says

Lord Mandelson has admitted that the public were misled about when he first met the oligarch Oleg Deripaska and acknowledged that his new ministerial role requires him to be more careful about his contacts with the wealthy.

Amazing how he only came out with this statement after he had Mandied Osborne along with his pal Rothschild. You would have thought that someone so involved with this case would have remembered his prior contacts a little earlier.

Mandelson's full letter is here where he promises to be a good little boy in the future. What else will he remember and when are we going to hear some more about the alleged tapes of his meetings with Deripaska.

I’ll be more careful, says Lord Mandelson - Times Online

October 24, 1929 vs 24th October 2008

Don't want to worry you but back on the 24th October 1929 the Wall Street crash started. Are we looking at this again?

October 24, 1929: start of Wall Street crash - Telegraph

Paramedic becomes Doner in Kebab shop

The Independent reports that

A man who went berserk in a kebab shop left two paramedics in hospital today after biting one on the leg. Another ambulance worker was slightly injured when he was later headbutted by the man in Clontarf Garda station.

The paramedics from Dublin Fire Brigade were called to a disturbance at the take-away in Fairview Strand, north Dublin at around 4am. Gardai also arrived at the scene around the same time to find the man foaming at the mouth and threatening violence.

The man, suspected of being intoxicated, turned on one of the ambulance workers and bit him on the leg, according to Dublin Fire Brigade. After gardai were forced to restrain him and bring him to Clontarf Garda station, paramedics were again called out at around 5am to bring the man to hospital. Another disturbance erupted during which a paramedic was headbutted as he attempted to take the man for medical help.
Both ambulance workers have since been released from hospital and their injuries are not serious.

Gardai are expected to question the man when he is released from
medical care.

The Independent does not report if the drunk thought the man's leg was tastier than a Kebab.

Paramedic bitten on leg in kebab shop - Europe, World - The Independent

BBC says "Downturn" ends £1bn plant project in Scotland

The "Downturn" is apparently responsible for the end of plans to build a £1bn wood processing plant that could have created thousands of jobs. Note the BBC statement it was the "Downturn", not the Recession.

Forscot said it had decided not to proceed with its proposals for a paper, pulp and energy plant at Invergordon due to a lack of funding.The company said there was also little chance of attracting investment in the current economic climate.

This is a sad end to a project which would have provided much needed employment in this area.

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Downturn ends £1bn plant project

Not the R word page - BBC Mandied

As I said a couple of days ago the BBC has been Mandied and we are now in a "Downturn".

Need I say more.

By the way Sterling down 6 cents to day. FTSE down 6% and GDP down 0.5%. No more "Boom and Bust"

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | downturn

Wot - No R word here says BBC

Sister Moonshine from the album Challenge, What Challenge by Supertramp.
I would have used The Meaning but I can't find a decent video of it

Mandy and that nice Mr Campbell must have on the blower to their old pals at the BBC to explain to them that the R word is forbidden. There is no R word and they must not use the R word. They will have explained that under Labour the R word it is not a R word but a "downturn", this is because as we know under Brown there is no possibility of "Boom and Bust". Also they are now turning a Crisis into a "Challenge". So officially for the BBC Friday when the latest figures appear it it will be a Downturn day rather than a R word Day. Will it also be D-Day for Brown.

As Matthew Parris says in the Times

Corporate challenge

Crisis? What crisis? I'm looking forward to catching out BBC newscasters and editors using that word. From tomorrow there is to be a corporation-wide ban on broadcast references to any “economic crisis” when discussing what our Government might prefer to call the “global financial challenge”. In place of “crisis” BBC staff have apparently been instructed to say “downturn” - the same word, incidentally, that Cabinet ministers are pointedly employing in place of “recession” or even “coming recession”. Friday is D (for Downturn) Day in corporation-speak.

Move along now no bias at the BBC.

Now that we've come to the crunch... | Matthew Parris - Times Online

Mandy and his Friends

According to the Times

Lord Mandelson has frequently accepted hospitality from Nathaniel Rothschild, including a stay at his chalet in the Alps.

The depth of the friendship between the former European Trade Commissioner and the international financier has emerged as the extent of business links between Mr Rothschild and Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch, has become clear.

Lord Mandelson stayed at Mr Rothschild’s home in Klosters, Switzerland, earlier this year. In August he was a guest of Mr Rothschild in Corfu, during which he was “billeted” on Mr Deripaska’s yacht because there were so many guests staying at the family villa.

The Times then goes onto explain a little of the web that links Mandy to this little partnership and explain how throughout this the sainted Mandelson has not been affected in performing his roles at the EU and now in the British Parliament.

Whilst the Times may believe that, and from my reading, they are more than a little reluctant to do so, I am more than a little worried that someone who has already had to resign twice because of some "difficulties" might again got himself into a pickle.

If Osborne is supposed to have show a degree of lack of judgment, then Mandelson has a complete lack of judgment, that has already impacted his chosen career.

It's time that this servant of us, the public, came clean and told the full story of the relationship he has with Mr Rothschild's, Deripaska and the others in his little web.

Perhaps the Prime Minister might want to get someone to answer these allegations.

Lord Mandelson’s friendships ‘did not affect his EU role’ - Times Online

Hercules Deaths Result Of Serious Systemic Failures

Yet again we have a report of serious systemic failures causing the deaths of servicemen. The Herald reports

The deaths of 10 British servicemen killed when their RAF Hercules was shot downin Iraq was the result of "serious systemic failures", a coroner said today. The fact that the Ministry of Defence and RAF had not fitted the Hercules fleet with ESF (explosion-suppressant foam) was a factor in the tragedy, coroner David Masters said.

He continues

"The failure to fit ESF was on the facts found a serious systemic failure and a contributory factor in the loss of the aircraft."There was a loss of opportunity for the survival of the crew by that failure."The Hercules C130k aircraft, 47 Squadron Special Forces flight XV179, was flying at low-level (about 150ft) in daylight from Baghdad to Balad to await further tasking orders when it was downed by insurgents. The coroner, ruling that the 10 men were unlawfully killed, highlighted the way intelligence was not passed on about a previous attack by insurgents on the US Blackhawks on the same day in the same sector. He described this as another "failure." But he said XV179's decision to fly at low level was not a failure because the Hercules flying community at the time had no idea of their vulnerability to small arms fire, which they were in range of at 150ft.

More information on the Hercules case here.

Hercules Inquest Deaths Result Of Serious Systemic Failures

Brown makes it up again

I see our erstwhile PM whilst forgetting to answer any questions at PMQ's yet again has managed to answer one from the "Beast of Bolsover" Dennis Skinner who was somehow allowed to ask the last question at PMQ's by his mate "Gorbals Mick" the "non-partisan" Speaker of the House of Commons.

Unfortunately his answer as is usual with our lying and fudging Prime Minister does not make a lot of sense. Gordon demanded an investifThis from the BBC

The No 10 spokesman also refused to be drawn on which "authorities" would carry out an investigation, saying "whichever authorities are appropriate".

The Electoral Commission told BBC Radio 4's The World at One it would not be investigating the claims as "soliciting a donation is not an offence".

Labour MP Tony Wright, chairman of the public administration select committee, also dismissed calls for a probe.

"Gordon obviously thinks it was a serious matter, and I suppose in a sense it is a serious matter," he said.

"But we are not talking about corruption here, there was no corruption. We're not talking about law-breaking, there is no law-breaking. What there is is a massive misjudgement.

"I am not sure which authorities Gordon thought he was talking about. The only one I can think of is the Conservative Party."

Conservative MP John Redwood said Lord Mandelson should be forced to answer questions about his presence on Mr Deripaska's yacht and he rejected claims Mr Osborne had shown poor judgement.

"There is no crime committed and this is just an absurd media fantasy," he told WATO.

As usual Gordon has made it up again to cover for his stupidity.

Brown makes it up again

Sterling Plunging - Labour Recession is here

After last nights speech by Mervyn King saying we are in recession Sterling plunged on the markets.

Not really surprising when you consider the state this country is in.

Guardian has this

The pound began tumbling last night as the Bank of England governor told business leaders in Leeds that the economy is shrinking and hinted at fresh interest rate cuts.

By this morning it had fallen by seven cents to $1.6209, a drop of more than 4%. Traders reported frantic selling as investors rushed to cut their losses by selling the UK currency.

Shares also fell sharply in London this morning, with the FTSE 100 shedding over 100 points, or 2.3%, in early trading to 4127.29.

Sterling had already been hit yesterday by unexpectedly gloomy manufacturing data showing that confidence has collapsed, and King's comments appear to have added to concern over quite how weak the British economy now is.

Guido has this

Government borrowing is at record levels, unemployment is heading towards two million, car workers are on a 3-day week, public sector workers are threatening strikes, nationalisation is back, Deripaska-owned Leyland is even in back the news and we are entering a recession. To complete the whole 70s era feel we have a sterling collapse. 6% last night, 20% since the beginning of the year.

The BBC's business editor is focusing on political gossip. Guido will therefore have to take up the slack on the business reporting front..

Pound falls to five-year low as Bank head admits recession is here | Business | guardian.co.uk

The R word has happened

Recession is apparently upon us or so the Governor of The Bank of England whispered in a speech to the CBI last night, hardly reported by the MSM yesterday. Mr King had this to say

Why has the outlook deteriorated so quickly? The banking crisis dealt a severe blow to the availability of credit. Growth in secured lending to households fell to an annualised rate of 1.9% in the three months to August, its lowest level in more than a decade. The Bank of England’s survey of credit conditions suggests that the terms on which banks provide credit to companies have tightened even further. And, on some estimates, the supply of finance to the UK corporate sector has ground to a halt. This credit shock has come on top of a fall in real disposable incomes resulting from the rise in energy and food prices earlier in the year. So, taken together, the combination of a squeeze on real take home pay and a decline in the availability of credit poses the risk of a sharp and prolonged slowdown in domestic demand. Indeed, it now seems likely that the UK economy is entering a recession.

So what are the media concentrating on instead, the story that George Osborne might have discussed a donation to the Tory Coffers of £50,000 pounds from a possibly illegal donor. Not a donation but a possibility of a donation that was refused. Even the main protagonist Nat Rothschild needed 3 attempts to get his "idea" of the facts correct.

Here we are in the middle of a crisis that has seen banks collapse, the apparent almost collapse of the banking system in Britain and on a day we learn that we are officially in Recession and the media are frothing at a Mandelson spin story.

As Hezza said in an interview on Radio 4 interview for the PM programme

Extraordinary, bizzare, have we all gone mad

How better can I express it.

Market jitters continue as bank chief uses the 'R' word - Scotsman.com News

Rothschild and Mandy - Just Good friends

The Rothschilds and Peter Mandelson are as they say just good friends. This article is by Jonathon Carr from the Sunday Times on 22nd September 2002. Now I wonder what has happened in the past 6 years that might have lead to what has been going on in the news for the past week. Or is it as Nick Robinson from the BBC said Osborne paying a heavy price for breaking the rules of the rich man’s club… Mandelson’s revenge.

HE IS a man with generous friends. Peter Mandelson, the former secretary of state for Northern Ireland, has found a new backer for his political ambitions in the shape of Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, the multi-millionaire banker. De Rothschild may be 21 years Mandelson’s senior but the two have become firm friends, lunching and sharing an interest in Albanian affairs. When the banker married his third wife two years ago, Mandelson was a guest. So it is perhaps no surprise that de Rothschild has emerged as the mystery funder of Policy Network, a “super think tank” that boasts some of No 10’s senior policy advisers on its board and is chaired by none other than Mandelson. The sum donated to date is said to be £250,000. The name of the donor is missing from the think tank’s accounts, but its directors have been privately concerned that they will look secretive if they continue to hide his identity. One tipped off The Sunday Times last week: “It hasn’t been publicised, but de Rothschild’s involvement is well known to the board.” Last night critics said the donation is yet another example of a businessman with vast commercial interests in government policies giving “cash for access” via a Labour think tank. De Rothschild and Policy Network have declined to comment on the matter. De Rothschild, 71, heads the British arm of the Rothschild banking dynasty and chairs N M Rothschild & Sons, its merchant bank. His personal fortune is estimated in The Sunday Times Rich List as £500m. Mandelson’s attraction to rich men has already led to him resigning from the government twice. The revelation that Geoffrey Robinson, the multimillionaire businessman and Labour MP, had loaned him £330,000 to buy a home prompted his first resignation from the Department of Trade and Industry. Then his friendship with the billionaire Hinduja brothers led to his downfall as Northern Ireland secretary when he was accused of helping them obtain British passports. De Rothschild was not previously known to have political leanings but the donation is attributed to Mandelson’s influence and to the banker’s wife Lynn Forester, a friend of Bill Clinton and part of New York’s Democratic party elite. The couple’s friendship with Mandelson blossomed when he was flown to Albania, where de Rothschild and Lord Sainsbury are trying to preserve the city of Butrint, a world heritage site. In June this year the de Rothschilds were among the organisers of a “progressive” leaders’ conference run by Policy Network at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire, which attracted Clinton and the prime minister. In the evening, the gathering moved to Ascott House, de Rothschild’s home in Buckinghamshire, for a seated banquet for 100. The board of Policy Network — set up by a group of young Blairites in 2000 — reads like a Who’s Who of Labour’s inner circle. It includes Andrew Adonis, head of Downing Street’s policy unit, Roger Liddle, a senior member of the No 10 policy unit, Lord Levy, Blair’s chief fundraiser, and Adair Turner, the former CBI director who is now part of Blair’s “blue sky” thinking unit. When Mandelson resigned as Northern Ireland secretary, both Policy Network and No 10 steered the MP for Hartlepool in its direction. A source close to the think tank claimed it was all part of attempts by Downing Street and friends to “feather bed” his second fall from grace. According to Policy Network directors, the de Rothschilds gave the money to a charity, the Policy Network Foundation, before Mandelson came on board. A Downing Street spokesman denied that there was any conflict of interest between Adonis’s and Liddle’s presence on the board. He said: “These are unpaid positions from which no financial gain is sought or received.”

H/T to Barry on PoliticalBetting

Rothschild bankrolls Mandelson think tank

Mandy - Try Try Try Again

Mandy's and Labours attempts to catch George Osborne in their sticky, sleazy web have failed yet again. Their prompting to Rothschild to stir it up again, possibly via the Bliar person have come unstuck as Osborne details his contacts, both with Deripaska and of course Mandy who seems the common linkage in the whole story. I would suggest that it is Mandy that the media should be turning their spotlight on. Notice how Mandy appears at almost all the meetings.

In his statement to the press and in particular the biased duo at the BBC (Yes, you Robinson and Peston) he has this to say. I'll put it in full because it such a good rebuttal of all the sleazy things that Labour has become now with added Campbell and Mandy trying to direct the media

George Osborne has met Oleg Deripaska on five occasions, four of which happened over a weekend in Corfu in August.

On January 26, at the Davos World Economic Forum, Mr Osborne was introduced to Mr Deripaska in the company of others including Peter Mandelson.

They had a brief group conversation about the world economy.

On August 22, while on a family holiday in Corfu, Mr Osborne and his wife were invited onto Mr Deripaska's yacht by Mr Rothschild.

Others present again included Peter Mandelson. The conversation involved Russian and British politics. There was no conversation of any kind about political donations.

That evening Mr Osborne attended a party at the Rothschild villa and sat on the same table as Mr Rothschild, Mr Deripaska and Mr Mandelson. Again, there was no conversation about party funding.

The following evening, August 23, Mr Osborne attended a dinner at a local taverna.

Mr Deripaska did not attend but both Mr Rothschild and Peter Mandelson did. The conversation involved the state of British politics.

The next day, Mr Osborne, who had been staying in a rented house but was now staying at the Rothschild villa with his family, mentioned to Mr Rothschild that Andrew Feldman - who Mr Rothschild had met once before - was holidaying half an hour away with his family and friends.

Mr Rothschild then invited Mr Feldman to join them for an early evening drink at the villa.

This was a social invitation and at no point previously had Mr Osborne and Mr Rothschild discussed the possibility of a donation to the Conservative Party from Mr Deripaska.

Mr Feldman, Mr Osborne, Mr Rothschild and two other house guests gathered on the villa terrace.

There was a discussion about British and American politics and, in the course of which, Mr Rothschild suggested to Mr Feldman that his friend Mr Deripaska could be interested in making a party donation.

Mr Feldman had not met Mr Deripaska previously and was not aware who he was.

Mr Feldman made clear that there are very strict rules on donations to political parties in the UK.

He explained that there are only two ways of giving a political donation. Firstly, if you appear as an individual on the UK electoral roll. Secondly, if the donation comes from a legitimate UK trading company.

This is an explanation Mr Feldman gives regularly when asked about donations both privately and publicly.

At this point, Mr Rothschild said that Mr Deripaska owned UK trading companies including Leyland Daf.

There was no discussion about how a donation by Mr Deripaska could be concealed or channelled.

At no point did Mr Osborne or Mr Feldman solicit or ask for a donation, suggest ways of channelling a donation or express any wish to meet with Mr Deripaska to discuss donations.

The conversation moved on to the US elections. Some time later Mr Rothschild - having phoned Mr Deripaska - invited Mr Osborne, Mr Feldman and one other house guest for a further drink on Mr Deripaska's yacht which was moored nearby.

Mr Osborne and Mr Feldman agreed to meet with Mr Deripaska and his wife and family.

They stayed on the boat for about an hour and drank tea. There was a discussion about British and Russian politics, education and Russian history.

There was no conversation or mention of party funding or the possibility of Mr Deripaska making a donation to the Conservative Party.

After the group left the boat. Mr Feldman did not see Mr Deripaska or Mr Rothschild again and had no further conversations with Mr Deripaska.

Mr Osborne met Mr Deripaska again briefly the following lunchtime when both Mr Deripaska and Mr Mandelson visited the Rothschild villa.

The conversation between them lasted no more than five minutes and again there was no discussion about political donations.

Indeed Mr Osborne, has had no further discussions with Mr Deripaska. Nor has he had a further conversation with Mr Rothschild about donations.

On September 18, Mr Feldman and Mr Rothschild had a phone conversation about the possibility of Mr Rothschild hosting a fundraising dinner for the Conservative Party - something the Rothschild family have done before.

At the end of that conversation Mr Rothschild mentioned that Leyland Daf, a UK trading company owned by Mr Deripaska, was interested in making a donation to the party.

Leyland Daf is well known to be a company recently purchased and owned by Mr Deripaska.

Mr Feldman said that he was not sure if such a donation was appropriate. He told Mr Rothschild that he would have to seek advice on the matter.

Later that day it was decided after consultation with senior party officials that it would not be appropriate to accept such a donation.

There was no further contact from Mr Rothschild or Mr Deripaska and the matter was considered to be at an end.

For clarity, neither Mr Feldman nor Mr Osborne have ever discussed with Oleg Deripaska the possibility of him making a political donation.

At no point in any of these meetings and discussions did either Mr Osborne or Mr Feldman solicit or attempt to solicit a donation from Mr Deripaska. Nor did they at any stage suggest any way that a donation could be channelled or concealed through a British company.

This statement constitutes a full and detailed explanation of Mr Osborne and Mr Feldman's dealings with Mr Deripaska. We would now urge Lord Mandelson to provide the same.

Over to you Mandy. Explain ALL your dealings with Deripaska.

The spinning web that is Mandelson

Sir Walter Scott wrote

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive”

We must congratulate Lord Mandy on his weaving skills. As the Telegraph "reports"

George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, met Oleg Deripaska on his yacht this summer. It was alleged there was discussion of a possible £50,000 donation to the Tory party.

It comes after questions were raised in Parliament over Lord Mandelson's relationship with the oligarch, whose hospitality the Business Secretary is said to have enjoyed on several occasions.

The hand of Mandy is firmly on this story. As Guido reports

Mandelson's ability to get Nathan Rothschild, a Tory donor, to counter-attack Osborne over the "pouring poison" line is widely seen as a tribute to his powers of persuasion.

In reality Rothschild, who has long been enamoured with and in thrall to Tony Blair, acted after Mandelson got Blair to call Rothschild to encourage him to embarrass Osborne. M'learned friends are now being consulted as claim and counter-claim are spun. Isn't it great to have all the fun of the circus with Mandelson back...

As Our Gordon said. No more spin.....

The spinning web that is Mandelson

The Mystery of Northern Rock and the other 1.2 trillion

A while ago Fraser Nelson writing in the Coffee House Blog wondered if a certain Gordon Brown, our erstwhile PM, might try to hide the nationalisation of the Northern Rock away so it didn't count against the National Debt. He wrote this thinking it might not be possible.

Well lo and behold we now hear that he has done just this. With a sleight of hand Gordon has made 7% of our supposed National Debt just disappear. That's 82 billion according to my calculations from the ONS website. This means that the figures quoted by Gordon Brown in parliament yesterday for a national debt percentage of 37.9% of GDP were entirely bogus. They are now at 43.4% of GDP. Of course Gordon has redefined debt now so he can use some "doublespeak" to make it sound good.

Gordon has basically hidden the debt. It's like me saying I have no debts, oh, apart from my mortgage which doesn't count as it's really an asset. The problem with this is that I have to pay it off which of course leaves me less money to deal with my other spending.

Now of course Gordon and Alistair Darling think they can spend, spend spend in an orgy of Keynesian economic theory to sort out their earlier problems. Of course these problem are not of their own making, they are the devil's spawn sent from America to destroy us.

Of course the figures shown above are entirely bogus as described below. Gordon, who wants banks to be transparent, has hidden away much of the true national debt. His creative accounting with the public pensions and PFI has left true debt at a level vastly above that which he purports is within EEC guidelines. The true figure may be as much as 1,854 billion, 3 times as much as Gordon wants to admit and makes our National Debt over 120% of GDP, a truly remarkable figure, which eclipses that of even Italy. These figure were calculated by Conservative MP, Brooks Newmark, he

says the true level of government borrowing is much higher. He calculates – including the cost of projects financed through the PFI, unfunded public sector pension liabilities, the debt incurred by Network Rail and the recent nationalisation of Bradford and Bingley – the true figure is at £1,854 billion – three times greater than the official figures, equivalent to 126.9 per cent of GDP, or £75,984 for every household in the country. "The true figures for government debt are the result of this government's loose fiscal policies and excessive spending,"

Writing in the Guardian Brooks has the following to say

The British government often congratulates itself on its efforts to keep public finances on a stable and sustainable level. Yesterday Gordon Brown even claimed:

"Debt is considerably lower than a decade ago".

However, Britain's public debt is actually £1,866 billion, equivalent to 125.5% of GDP, nearly three times larger than the government's published figure of £645 billion and 43.4% of GDP. This measures out as a debt of £76,475 per British household.
While figures recently released on the scale of the government's public spending bonanza point to government borrowing leaping to a record £8.1 billion in September, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Opaque off-balance sheet measures have, until
revealed in The Price of Irresponsibility published by the Centre for Policy Studies, kept hidden the full cost of projects financed through the Private Finance Initiative, the extent of unfunded public sector pension liabilities, the debt incurred by Network Rail and the recent nationalisation of Bradford &Bingley. Yet, the figure may be much worse. While the exact impact on the public finances of the government's recent bail-out of the banking sector is as yet unknown, it could imply an addition of as much as £500 billion to the balance sheet. This would increase public debt to a massive £2,366 billion, which is 159.1% of GDP, or over £96,967 per British household.

I just wish I could make my mortgage disappear like Gordon does.

Making Northern Rock disappear Coffee House

Labour's dodgy biil to save their Marginal MP's

Not content with the way the set up of constituencies already massively helps them win a majority and still poll less than the Conservatives, they are now trying to stop Political Parties from spending money in constituencies before an election is called. This is despite the fact that standing MP's can spend up 40,000 pounds a year "communicating" with their electors.

Jack Straw is obviously wanting to get this bill passed as soon as possible so that it hampers other political parties before the next General Election

Tories Claim General Election Spending Rules Fix

The Big Brother database and the DPP

Hard on the heels of stories about the Giant databases and the censorship of the internet we now have the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, publicly telling the current Labour Government not to

"break the back of freedom"

by creating irreversible powers that could be misused to spy on individual citizens and so threaten Britain's hard-won democracy. Sir Ken, who steps down next month as DPP, continued

"We need to take very great care not to fall into a way of life in which freedom's back is broken by the relentless pressure of a security state.

"Technology gives the state enormous powers of access to knowledge and information about each of us, and the ability to collect and store it at will. Of course, modern technology is of critical importance to the struggle against serious crime. Used wisely, it can protect us."

But he added that "we need to understand that it is in the nature of state power that decisions taken in the next few months and years about how the state may use these powers, and to what extent, are likely to be irreversible. They will be with us forever. And they, in turn, will be built upon. So we should take very great care to imagine the world we are creating before we build it. We might end up living with something we can't bear".

The most important point of this speech is the fact that these type of plans are irreversible. Once they are in place they just never go away and are almost always built upon to take away more freedoms and allow us less privacy in our normal lives.

This is from the Government who has publicly said that not supporting 42 days allows terrorists to kill members of the public. The implied threat is that they know best and can do no wrong.

This is the true "crimespeak" of 1984 arriving in 2008.

Big Brother database threatens to 'break the back of freedom' - UK Politics, UK - The Independent

Doublethink and Crimethink Time has arrived

Read this I will add more later.

According to Andy Burnham, the introduction of a ratings system for internet content would not be "over-burdensome". We have asked the Ministry of Truth (aka Department for Culture, Media and Sport) on several occasions how such a system might work and how its Minister’s view that such regulation would be easy to implement could be squared with general consensus that it would be unworkable. Or, as one expert put it: "bonkers". We asked again last week.

The Ministry did not feel they could elucidate further. A spokesperson explained that as the UK Council for Child Safety on the Internet had only just been set up, and would be making recommendations about regulating the internet in due course, "it wouldn't be helpful or appropriate for us to speculate about what those recommendations might be".

Also have a look at this article in the Guardian

UK.gov says: Regulate the internet • The Register

Mandy rumours Continue.

Gordon may yet live to regret the re-re-appointment of Mandy. The rumours continue that he was hitting the gravy train hard whilst he was EU Trade Commisar. There are now allegations of at least 3 separate relationships that may not be quite right. Time will tell, but with the history of Mandy's previous ministerial positions it's not looking good.

Storm over Mandy's freebie yacht cruise with shoe tycoon Mail Online