Democracy Watch ~ Stories from the Press

~ archive fromwarmwell.com

Jan 31 ~ In Berlusconi and Putin's steps

Tony Blair's instincts towards the media have sinister Russian and Italian echoes - says John Kampfer in today's Guardian "... traits that many hoped Blair and friends had shed are reappearing with a vengeance. How else could one look on Alastair Campbell's finger-jabbing performances last July and his folie de grandeur declaration of victory over the BBC on Wednesday? One might dismiss it as laughable were it not so dangerous. The dangers to the BBC are many, for all the staff protests and management assurances. Watch the BBC fall back into the worst of the old days. Watch it become cowed. The governors' over-reaction in forcing out the director general, and the craven apology of the interim chairman, Lord Ryder, bodes ill..." read in full

Jan 31 ~ Hutton's verdict could spark an unchallenged deluge of propaganda from the government

Financial Times - letter From Mr Vaughan Jones.
".....If our democracy is to be meaningful, one of the crucial roles of the BBC is to raise questions and air challenges to the hype and spin of the government of the day. In a healthy debate no party, including those that just report the issues, can realistically be expected to be infallible. In a 24-hour, competitive news market, where breaking news is vital to hold one's audience, the editorial vetting procedures advocated by Lord Hutton may not be achievable without incurring delay and a lack of spontaneity.
A sophisticated audience can distinguish between opinion and the facts, yet the impact of the Hutton report could stifle investigative reporting and inhibit the lively debate that is essential for good governance. If so it would be a tragedy for the BBC and for the country. .... Shooting the messenger has previously been the hallmark of repressive regimes. If the BBC is to be constrained in its reporting by the Hutton editorial hurdles, while the government spin merchants have no such inhibitions, the public is in for a virtually unchallenged deluge of propaganda...." Read in full

Jan 30 ~ "... but, hey, that's politics," says Austin Mitchell, on how his vote was bought

He voted for top-up fees in exchange for concessions for Grimsby.
The Times "....Austin Mitchell, 69, MP for Great Grimsby, was a firm opponent of government plans for variable tuition fees of up to £3,000 until a few minutes before Tuesday night's crunch vote.
He changed his mind, however, helping the Government to secure the slimmest of majorities, when whips agreed to his demands for two concessions for Grimsby unrelated to the Higher Education Bill. ...".if these could be agreed, it might help me to make up my mind, and clearly the Government was running scared because they did agree. Now, this morning, I am feeling a bit bad about it, but, hey, that's politics."

Jan 29 ~ Demand grows for Inquiry....

Independent "...In a final submission to Lord Hutton, published last night, the Kelly family said: "The Government made a conscious decision to cause Dr Kelly's identity to be revealed and it did so in order to assist it in the battle with the BBC." The family seized on Mr Campbell's diaries as evidence of the Government's "improper" intent. In one extract disclosed to the inquiry, Mr Campbell wrote: "The biggest thing needed was the source out."

Jan 29 ~ "a vast enterprise of looting.."

Ambrose Evans Pritchard in the Telegraph "The European Commission has overseen an "intolerable" breakdown of EU financial control while subjecting whistleblowers to vindictive treatment, Euro-MPs said yesterday. The European Parliament's annual report on the EU's £70 billion budget expressed "extreme alarm" over failures in the commission's accounting system, finding that the books did not add up and large sums of money could not be traced.
The report, drafted by Paulo Casaca, a pro-EU Portuguese socialist, complained that no commissioner had taken the blame for the disappearance of £ 3 million into "black accounts" at the EU's data office, Eurostat. Pedro Solbes, the economics commissioner in charge of Eurostat, has refused to accept the blame for abuses described by investigators as "a vast enterprise of looting".. Yves Franchet, Eurostat's former chief, continues to draw a £ 144,000 salary plus perks while key officials linked to the downfall of Jacques Santer's commission after fraud allegations in 1999 kept their posts in the machinery.
By contrast, Paul Van Buitenen was suspended on half pay after he disclosed endemic abuses under Mr Santer and Marta Andreasen, the commission's chief accountant, was fired when she said the budget was "an open till waiting to be robbed". ."

Jan 28 ~ "Today the stain on the integrity of the Prime Minister and the Government has been removed..." Alastair Campbell

in the Times ".......Mr Campbell ignored reporters' questions about whether he was responsible for leaking sections of Lord Hutton's report to The Sun, which the newspaper published this morning.
Asked why No 10 had set up Mr Campbell's televised statement, one of the Downing Street officials present said: "Because when the accusations were made, Alastair was employed by the Government as the Prime Minister's director of communications and strategy and therefore it's only proper we facilitate his statement."

Jan 28 ~ "there can be few subjects of greater public interest than reasons presented by a Government to its own people as possible grounds for war.

That - let there be no doubt about it - was the purpose of the September dossier. It was an assessment of the threat posed by a foreign power against whom hostilities were in serious contemplation. It was advertised by a label which is almost unique in British political history. The Prime Minister was to share with the people the gist of the formal intelligence assessments he had received from the Joint Intelligence Committee. The invitation was to share the Prime Minister's conclusion, having shared the intelligence....…the BBC anticipates criticism of the 6.07 broadcast in particular and its treatment thereafter, but they do ask the Inquiry to have in mind the public interest in the remainder of its extensive coverage of Dr Kelly's concerns about the dossier, which the BBC believes the public had a right to know." Mr Caldecott, QC for the BBC concluding his statement to the Hutton INquiry on behalf of the BBC, quoted by the Hutton report (p193)
Gavyn Davies has resigned.

Jan 28 ~ "..nothing is more dangerous than intelligence so processed as merely to reinforce the existing prejudices of government."

Of Hutton, the Guardian reports:However, in the words of Simon Jenkins on June 4th last year, "Ministers wanted evidence of an immediate threat that intelligence could not deliver. Just as Mrs Thatcher's bias was against overseas spending, Mr Blair's was in favour of supporting Washington whatever it chose to do. Such known bias infects any intelligence machine. Desperation breeds misjudgment. The September and March dossiers on Iraq were barely plausible. Yet Mr Blair presented them with such conviction that even I half-believed them. ...In May 1983, some time after Franks had given Mrs Thatcher his equivocal exoneration, she did a remarkable thing. She summoned him privately and remarked: "I don't think you said all that was in your mind about intelligence." Franks replied with a Ciceronian lecture: any government with enough money can gather information. The test of a ruler is the judgment applied to that information. That is the true quality of intelligence. It will be of use if it can exert leverage on the swirling forces of power. Thus nothing is more dangerous than intelligence so processed as merely to reinforce the existing prejudices of government..."

Jan 28 ~ What Lord Hutton said

See Guardian's summary See Hutton website for the full report

Jan 28 ~ in its obsession with control the Government has humiliated itself.

Simon Jenkins in the Times says, ".....The student fees argument has become a bundle of nonsense wrapped in humbug enveloped in class prejudice. Yet in its obsession with control the Government has humiliated itself. It has lost millions of pounds in up-front fees and half a billion pounds in short term cost to no advantage, not even political. A minor uprating of university income has come close to toppling the Prime Minister from office. That is the price of meddling. ..."

Jan 27 ~ The Lords have passed a Bill to make provision for the United Kingdom to withdraw from the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union

A press release from the Conservative party today says, "...We will now visit a number of the fishing communities across the UK to talk directly to those involved. In time, we expect to visit other countries that already have successful national management schemes. In the long term, we will come forward with details as to how a Conservative government will establish a management scheme outside the Common Fisheries Policy"
See also Richard North's "An Analysis of the 2002 Review of the Common Fisheries Policy"

Jan 27 ~.. humanitarian intervention had climbed the political agenda as other justifications offered by the US or British governments for going to war collapsed:..

..Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction, his alleged terrorist links and the idea that Iraq could serve as a beacon for democracy in the Middle East. "The dominant justification for the war - WMD - seems to be fading away," he said. "The only way [that is left] to justify this war is as a humanitarian war."
Human Rights Watch began in the US 25 years ago and now has representatives worldwide. The report also concentrates not only on human rights in Iraq but in Africa, Chechnya and the Balkans, and is critical of the US for continuing to hold prisoners in Cuba as part of its "war on terrorism". ..." The Guardian on the the annual report of Human Rights Watch published yesterday.

Jan 27 ~ Ministers were accused last night of presiding over a "wretched moment in history"

by creating a new constitution that would give the Government the ultimate power to veto the appointment of "troublesome" judges...." Independent

Jan 27 ~ Ethics Humbug

The Western Morning News "The Government's "ethics police" were yesterday accused of squandering thousands of pounds conducting investigations into trivial parish squabbles - ....
.....An investigation by a national newspaper into the work of the watchdog, set up to ensure ethical probity in local government, claims that most of its £8 million annual budget is spent probing trivial squabbles between councillors.
Of the 3,495 allegations received last year, half were made against the lowest tier of councillors ..... In three-quarters of cases the watchdog found no evidence of a breach or said that no action could be taken.
....... the Standards Board states in its aims: "Confidence in local democracy is a cornerstone of our way of life....."

Jan 26 ~ ".. the moral obligation to assist genuine refugees"

Guardian The report from the Commons home affairs select committee, which is endorsed by the former Tory shadow home secretary, Ann Widdecombe, concluded that nearly half of the asylum seekers who come to Britain were fleeing conflict rather than poverty. "Whether we are dealing with genuine asylum seekers or economic migrants we should never lose sight of the fact that we are dealing with human beings, not numbers, and they should be treated accordingly," it concluded.
The committee, which is chaired by the former Labour Home Office minister, John Denham, says a number "weaknesses" in the asylum system need to be dealt with, in particular the "poor quality of much initial decision-making on asylum claims".
.... The MPs also called for an independent review of the so-called section 55 power under which asylum seekers who fail to make a claim within 72 hours of arriving in Britain are denied access to welfare benefits saying it continues to lead to "unduly harsh treatment". ...... "More needs to be done to ensure that failed asylum seekers leave the UK and tough action against abuse is justified. But this does not relieve our country of the moral obligation to assist genuine refugees," said the former Home Office minister. "

Jan 25 ~" Intelligence was “cherry-picked”, with damning intelligence against Iraq being selectively chosen

while intelligence assessments, which might have worked against the build-up to war, were sidelined. Intelligence work had become politicised under Labour , and spies were taking orders from politicians. They provided worst-case scenarios which were used by politicians to make factual claims. .." The exclusive story in the Sunday Herald, in which the "views of senior members of the intelligence community" are given. They "believe the political fallout from the publication on Wednesday of the Hutton Inquiry's report will result in an attempt by the Prime Minister and his senior Cabinet colleagues to blame the intelligence services for the shoddy information which was used by the government to convince the British people and parliament that Saddam's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) were a threat to the UK." Sunday Herald

Jan 25 ~"Blair in panic as WMD blow strengthens tuition fee rebels"

Sunday Herald "Tony Blair's last-ditch charm offensive against MPs threatening to vote against the government in Tuesday's crucial vote on tuition fees was dealt a fatal blow this weekend by the US's leading weapons inspector in Iraq, who said Saddam Hussein had no arsenal of chemical and biological weapons.
....David Kay's resignation - anticipated by Washington since mid-December - has ended any lingering hopes by Downing Street that they could persuade many more of the rebels to back down ahead of Tuesday's vote. Rather than reducing rebel numbers, the resignation statement, from the man who headed the CIA-backed Iraq Survey Group's hunt for WMD in Iraq since the fall of Saddam, seems to have emboldened those rebel MPs who believe it may be payback time for Blair. A defeat on tuition fees will see Lord Hutton's potentially damaging report into the death of Dr David Kelly being delivered the next day into a hothouse of speculation about Blair's future. The void that is now at the heart of the government's case for going to war was exploited by the former foreign secretary, Robin Cook, who immediately called on Blair to use his Hutton report statement in the Commons on Wednesday to admit going to war was a mistake. ..."

Jan 25 ~ Three European Commissioners under fire in the row over Eurostat and the missing £3.5 million - dubious contracts ran on, unchecked, until at least 2002

Sunday Telegraph "Three European Commissioners under fire in the row over Eurostat, the fraud-ridden statistics agency, will be accused of bringing European institutions "into disrepute" when MEPs give their final verdict on the 2001 accounts this week.
Neil Kinnock, Michaele Schreyer and Pedro Solbes face the possibility of what would amount to votes of censure by the European Parliament as MEPs consider a hard-hitting report on the commission's control of EU finances. ....... Mr Solbes, the commissioner directly responsible for Eurostat, says that he was unaware of a long-running anti-fraud investigation into the statistics agency until last spring, as do Mr Kinnock, the commission vice- president in charge of its drive against sleaze, and Mrs Schreyer, responsible for the EU budget. ........"

Jan 24 ~ "All I want is justice for my son"

Guardian last Wednesday with the story that the families of British detainees at Guantanamo Bay are to take their fight for the men's release to the US with the help of the foremost American civil liberties group, the American Civil Liberties Union. "..... "It is plain and clear that the treatment of these 660 being held without charge, without access to a lawyer, without access to a court, violates the most fundamental of human rights," said Philippe Sands QC, professor of law at University College, London. Mr Begg's father, Azmat, said he believed that the American public would support the families when they learned about the detainees. "All I want is justice for my son," he told the meeting. "Democracy and justice cannot exist in any country unless governments act according to international human rights law and the conventions that apply to captured prisoners." ..."

Jan 24 ~ A Cumbrian village is to establish the first cooperative-run state school after losing two appeals to keep its 18-pupil primary open.

One of the most encouraging news articles we have seen for weeks was in the Guardian yesterday (many thanks to Coleen for this)
"Villagers in Lowick, which is spread over three small parishes on the southern edge of the Lake District, have been told that their 150-year-old school must close in July due to falling rolls. Pupils will instead have to travel up to 11 miles a day by taxi to Perry Bridge school. However, campaigners for the school, including its pupils, who mounted the judicial review which failed to halt its closure, insist that the school is vital to the community .......The Co-operative Action Fund has donated £28,000 to help produce a legal model of the new school before term starts in September. The school's headteacher, Shirley Rainbow, said the school is the "focus of the community".
"There is no shop, no post office, just the church and the school. We were badly hit by foot and mouth, nobody could go anywhere, but they came here, just to talk," she said. They plan to call the school the Lowick Pioneers school. ..."

Jan 23 ~" The drugs economy is the single biggest handicap to social cohesion in Britain. It blights law and order, family policy, mental health, truancy and gun control. "

Simon Jenkins in the Times Drugs turn the brains of politicians into marzipan today on the reclassification of cannabis.
"....Drugs must some day be legalised and controlled. In the meantime, policy must at least make sense. The Conservative Party demands that the drugs advisory committee no longer consider aligning penalties to harm, only to politics. The party flirted with sanity under William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith. Now it is telling millions of young people that a Tory vote is a vote to put them and their friends in prison. They might prefer Mr Blair's top-up fees to that. ..
...The global drugs trade kills far more people than terrorism. Yet it receives scant priority. The West's regime change in Afghanistan may not have stamped out al-Qaeda but it liberated the opium market which the Taleban had ruthlessly suppressed. Ninety per cent of Britain's heroin now comes from that country. The street price has fallen 20 per cent in a year. Meanwhile, 60 tonnes of home-grown cannabis in the form of Sativex, to relieve sufferers from cancer and multiple sclerosis, are waiting in the stores of GW Pharmaceuticals. Ministers must overcome a state of frozen political terror for them to be put on sale. ..." " Read in full

Jan 22 ~ What would the Opposition do with our time-honoured judicial system? ....

The answer is evolution, not revolution, writes Joshua Rozenberg, Legal Editor of the Telegraph "....we should still beware of cosy deals among judges. If the Government's proposals are to become law, they must pass muster with opposition MPs. And in a policy paper launched today, two Tory front-bench spokesmen say that "as Conservatives who support evolutionary rather than revolutionary change," they intend to reject "Tony Blair's teenage radicalism"....Alan Duncan, who shadows Lord Falconer....sees no "intellectual rhyme or reason" in Government plans to abolish the Lord Chancellor, to replace the law lords with a supreme court and to create a judicial appointments commission..." Read in full

Jan 22 ~"...as rhetorically flat as it was intellectually dishonest"

The Washington Post comments ( Richard Cohen) "Hussein is gone, and that is all well and good, but gone too is the confidence of the American people that this administration levels with them. Bush certainly did not do that Tuesday night. This State of the Union address was as rhetorically flat as it was intellectually dishonest -- a political pitch designed to obscure uncomfortable facts and to solidify the conservative Republican base. .." Read in full
Scotsman yesterday "Mr Bush emphasised the need for security at home and called on Congress to renew key provisions of the controversial Patriot Act, which has been attacked by civil liberties campaigners as a "snoopers charter", used to spy on the public. While parts of the act were due to expire next year, "the terrorist threat will not expire on that schedule", Mr Bush said. He went on: "Our greatest responsibility is the active defence of the American people. Twenty-eight months have passed since September 11, 2001, over two years without an attack on American soil - and it is tempting to believe that the danger is behind us. That hope is understandable, comforting - and false....."
If we have nothing to fear but fear itself then Bush is ladling it out in bucketfuls to the Americans.

Jan 22 ~ Boris Johnson on swill

He tells us that "Britain's sewers are becoming like that nightmarish advertisement, showing the effects of smoking on the arteries...in the last couple of years the pressure on the sewers has grown, and it is coming from our plates" Telegraph "....the problem in the sewers. That is why our landfill sites are now mountains of whitening bones and melba toast. It is because, in 2001, in a fit of unnecessary alarm, they abolished swill feeding.
In so doing, the Government whacked an industry which was worth £40 million a year, and which disposed of 1.7 million tons of biodegradable material in the most natural way possible. The 62 licensed swill users had their livelihoods taken away, without compensation. . There was one failure, when Bobby Waugh, of Heddon-on-the-Wall, was convicted of feeding unprocessed swill to his pigs. This is thought, though by no means proven, to have been the cause of the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak. Even if that were so, it makes no sense to abolish swill feeding, since Waugh's practices were already illegal..... ."
(See also the Jason Podmore case)

Jan 21 ~ " People have given this President an unwarranted benefit of the doubt this past year;

people want to believe their president is not lying to them, and they particularly they want to believe that a war that he's lead us into, with great personal leadership, against opposition in this country and abroad, was just and necessary and successful and worthwhile. It wasn't, actually, and that means that the President has been following a policy that's depended on lies, and on secrets. And that means that he's been vulnerable to a truth-teller at every step of the way, and Joseph Wilson is one of those who did step forward, and provided an example that obviously this White House is very afraid will be followed by others. I hope it will be followed by others.
But they set out him to intimidate him, and to intimidate others who might emulate him..." More from Daniel Ellsberg

Jan 21 ~ "There is probably very little Mr Bush would not do to get re-elected...."

The Guardian today on the Democrats' "coming struggle to unseat George Bush"
"....the And all the time Mr Bush, who hits the trail today fresh from his State of the Union address, will be strutting his presidential, war-leading stuff while adding more millions to his war chest. He is not leaving anything to chance. In recent days, Mr Bush (or his administration) has bought $50m worth of surplus orange juice in Florida (as in 2000, a key swing state), promised yet more tax cuts, torn up immigration policy to win Latino votes and shamelessly milked the memory of Martin Luther King. There is probably very little Mr Bush would not do to get re-elected, including going to Mars. .."

Jan 21 ~"... Leadership was supplanted by regulation. Catastrophe ensued..."

Simon Jenkins today in the Times, on the fiasco that is the UK railway system. "Investment planning collapsed and had to be resumed by the Treasury. When the boom in demand came in the 1990s, the network could not cope. When accidents happened, as they do, there was no experienced management to keep its nerve. Talented executives, key to cost control, had fled the system. Contractors doubled prices.
So awful was the Robson plan that it has had to be refashioned three times since 1993. It still does not work. Subsidy has soared to three times in real terms what it was under nationalisation. If anyone wants to know why air travel is now cheaper then rail, they need only look at 14 tiers of authority between a rail passenger and destination.
Mr Darling says that "renationalisation" is not an option. He clearly does not speak English...." Read in full
( When Simon Jenkins says that "Mr Darling is the Paul Bremer of the railway. He is charged with delivering his boss "peace by election time", despite being largely ignorant of the empire over which he rules. He therefore merely craves control..." he is surely describing a government mindset that is affecting far, far more than the railways.)

Jan 21 ~ Cost of Government spin operation rises fivefold to £2.4m since 1997

Independent "The cost of the Government's spin operation has increased five-fold since Labour came to power prompting questions from opposition MPs about the use of taxpayers' funds. The communications budget in Whitehall has jumped from £ 575,000 in 1997 when Tony Blair entered Downing Street to £ 2.4 million this year.
Ministers explained the increase in the budget of the Government's information service by saying that its "role and responsibilities" had evolved and developed. The Government's Communications and Information Service (GICS) includes Whitehall press officers and ministers' communications advisers. They are in charge of pushing out ministerial information to the media and responding to stories in the press.
The figures show that spending on spin has steadily increased since Labour came to power. In 1997 the figure was £ 575,000, which rose to £ 680,000 in 1998-99. The next year the budget crept up to £ 815,000. Then in 2001-02, spending shot up to £ 1.88 m. The budget leapt dramatically in 2002-03 to £ 4,079,000 when it included the cost of media communications for the Queen's Jubilee celebrations.
At least half of this year's budget of £ 2,458,000 will be spent on "emergency communications", the Cabinet Office minister, Douglas Alexander, said.
However, the Liberal Democrats said the dramatic leap in funding meant that claims from Downing Street that the Government had given up spin were untrue.
Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman who obtained the figures in a written reply, said: "Government spin that spin is dead has been shown to be spin itself."
"At the same time that they are massively increasing propaganda spend they are cutting environmental budgets to the bone. A five-times increase is impossible to justify though I suspect that theGovernment's reaction will be yet more spin to try to do so."

Jan 21 ~ "Some of the families of British terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo Bay are being helped by a new human rights body

to seek justice for their loved ones. The Guantanamo Human Rights Commission was launched by the actors Corin and Vanessa Redgrave yesterday to unite the families and lawyers of prisoners from across Europe." Independent

Jan 21 ~ House of Lords - Several government sources said that the creation of the new working peers was one of many decisions put on hold until after the Hutton report is published

BBC "... Downing Street has still not submitted the list of nominees for vetting by the Appointments Commission. The Commission recently took over the job of vetting new peers from the Political Honours Scrutiny Committee. A spokesman for the Commission said: "We have yet to receive the list. It is entirely down to the Prime Minister when he wants to introduce a new list." The BBC understands that the new list will include five new Tory peers, eight Liberal Democrats and about twenty Labour Lords. ..."

Jan 20 ~ the Civil Contingencies Bill would replace outdated legislation "not designed with the needs of modern society in mind".

The Scotsman reports the Second Reading of the Civil Contingencies Bill. Douglas Alexander "... reassured MPs that allowing ministers to by-pass Parliament and issue urgent orders would not over-ride human rights legislation."
"The definition of an emergency in the Bill was changed after a joint committee of MPs and peers set up to scrutinise it warned it would allow a future Government to invoke the powers simply to protect its own existence. ...Originally including threats to the "political, administrative or economic stability", an emergency is now defined more tightly as "an event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare, the environment or the security of the United Kingdom or a place in the United Kingdom".
This could still cover a wide range of disasters from a terror outrage to major flooding, catastrophic storms, outbreaks of animal or human diseases, oil-spills, disruption of fuel supplies or even a serious attack on the Internet. Mr Alexander said the wide consultation on the legislation had made "a real difference" and promised to involve the public further before making specific regulations. ..." Read in full
The last line of the article quotes Mr Alexander: "Press reports that human rights would be suppressed were wrong, he said."

Jan 20 ~ Downing Street will not "yield to pressure on freedom of information"

The Phillis report criticises the Government for greatly watering down its original proposals, contained in the Freedom of Information White Paper, and rendering the final Bill ineffectual.
"Spin-doctors to stay in shadows at briefings" Times headline
In spite of the Times' headline above, the significant part of the article is:Read in full

Jan 19 ~ "... official who refused to release documents on the grounds that they "could fuel public discussion on the subject"..."

In view of the publishing of the Report authored by Bob Phillis (see the Times and the Independent articles below) we remind readers of the Freedom of Information articles by Richard Wakeford, head of Science and Technology Information, posted here in 2001.
He pointed out that the Government White Paper of Dec 1997 "Your Right to Know" said that
  • ALL Government departments,
  • ALL Public bodies and
  • ALL Private Organisastions were originally covered.
  • Strict tests would be in place to ensure information would be released except where disclosure would cause substantial harm or to be against the public interest. Then, after the task of steering the FOI bill passed to the Home Office, key proposals had been so watered down that broad umbrella exemptions were incorporated; Indeed, suggests Mr Wakeford in this article from 2001, the Act may even in places be weaker than the voluntary Code of Practice on Access to Government Information that was introduced by John Major in 1993.
    As for Freedom of Information in the European Union, it is in danger of going into reverse. "A watching brief on the European situation is maintained by the magazine Statewatch at http://www.statewatch.org/ . Quoted here is the ineffable comment of a European official who refused to release documents on the grounds that they "could fuel public discussion on the subject"...."

    Jan 19 ~ Curb spindoctors and lift veil of Whitehall secrecy, says report

    By Rosemary Bennett in the Times Tony Blair will be told today in a hard-hitting report to overhaul the entire machinery of government communications and to lift the veil of secrecy that covers Whitehall business.
    Bob Phillis, chief executive of the Guardian Media Group and author of the report, will recommend that more ministers brief the press and not leave the business of delivering the Government's message to spindoctors. ...... will also say that the Freedom of Information Act passed by Labour is woefully inadequate for a modern democracy. An urgent review is needed if public faith in government is to be restored.
    The Act was dramatically watered down by the Government before it became law in the last Parliament....... However, to great relief of the Government, Mr Phillis stops short of recommending that the Act itself is amended.....
    ...The Act places three hurdles in the way of publication of government documents.
  • "Class exemptions" state that they cannot be published if that would damage commercial and security interests.
  • Secondly, they cannot be published if it would harm individuals.
    If these two hurdles are overcome, ministers have a right to veto publication.
    ... Mr Blair has pre-empted the Phillis report by offering to accept all his key recommendations. He has promised to appoint a civil servant to the job.... David Hill, his new communications chief, has been given a much more clearly political function, with no powers over other departments.
    Mr Phillis will say that communications need to be more central to the policy-making process and not just tacked on at the end in a panic when officials realise that aspects of an initiative may be unpopular. He will also call for greater openness in the daily briefings to political correspondents. The report wants lobby briefings to be televised, to lose their reputation for secrecy. ..." Read in full and see Independent report below.

    Jan 19 ~ Brown blocks Downing Street plan for White House-style briefings

    By Andrew Grice, Political Editor of the Independent ... Downing Street wants Mr Blair's two official spokesmen, Godric Smith and Tom Kelly, to appear on live television like C J Cregg, the fictional White House press secretary seen in the TV series The West Wing. But some cabinet ministers, including Mr Brown, believe that elected ministers, rather than civil servants, should be the Government's public face.
    ....Several ministers are reluctant to face questions on issues ranging across government, for which they would need to be intensively briefed to avoid mistakes. ......" On-camera ministerial briefings were tried in 2002 but petered out because ministers were reluctant to appear.
    The one that received the most coverage was when Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, was contradicted by Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, who was chief of the defence staff, over the impact of the firemen's strike on the armed forces.
    Today's report by a committee chaired by Bob Phillis, chief executive of the Guardian Media Group, will warn that a "breakdown of trust" between the Government, the media and the public has turned people off politics. ..."

    Jan 18 ~ For justice's sake - Publish the legal advice for Iraq war

    Leader Observer "Tomorrow, a young woman of principle will appear at Bow Street magistrates court charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act. Katharine Gun, a former translator at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), is accused of leaking a top-secret document sent by spies in the United States. The document urged Britain to join in a dirty-tricks operation aimed at discovering the voting intentions of United Nations delegations on the eve of the war on Iraq. At the time of the disclosure, in March 2003, the British and American governments were still doing everything in their diplomatic power to persuade six key nations - Chile, Mexico, Pakistan, Guinea, Cameroon and Angola - to vote for a second UN resolution authorising the use of force in Iraq. The existence of the espionage operation, first revealed in the pages of The Observer, showed the lengths to which the American government was prepared to go in order to secure a vote for war.........At the time of the disclosure Ms Gun had no reason to believe the British Government would go to war without a second resolution. Most experts in international law believed then that intervention would be illegal. Many still do.
    The Government has been under pressure to disclose the Attorney General's legal advice, which made the case for war without a second resolution. If it helps Ms Gun get a fair trial, then we believe that advice should be released immediately. "
    See also some of the warmwell pages about Iraq and the UK Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith

    Jan 18 ~ Scotland Yard report says Government's anti-terror policy is "uncoordinated, condescending, outdated and incoherent"

    Telegraph
    ".... The Unicorn Project, which was commissioned by Assistant Commissioner David Veness, the head of Scotland Yard's Special Operations, condemned the Government's anti-terrorism policy as "uncoordinated, condescending, outdated and incoherent". ..... After a seven-month investigation, in which the project team spoke to personnel from more than 180 private companies, government departments and security agencies, it concluded that the Government's policy lacked leadership, direction and had failed to impart any worthwhile message to both the public and commerce.
    The report, a copy of which has been obtained by The Telegraph, also stated that little use had been made of what the report referred to as "first responders" - members of the public such as door supervisors, security guards and receptionists, who could easily be schooled in situation awareness and consequently help to save lives in the event of an attack. The report has been disseminated to the Metropolitan Police, elements of the commercial sector and various government departments, and is due to be published next month...... In a section of the report labelled "observations", it reads: "The present policy (such as it is) is no longer plausible; it is unanimously viewed as being condescending and muddled. It is acknowledged that there are departments and individuals striving to do better, but there is no apparent coordination of either the message to be imparted or the means to do it." ....... "The Government's deficiencies will be exposed during the Civil Contingencies Bill that starts going through Parliament this week." (Patrick Mercer the Shadow "Homeland Security" Minister)

    Jan 18 ~ "under those same EU rules, it would now cost him £155 to get the relevant visa (free to asylum seekers)"

    Booker's Notebook "...it is apparent that, in contrast to EU citizens (or asylum seekers), the UK is no longer particularly keen to welcome anyone from the English-speaking world, even those who have lived here much of their lives."

    Jan 18 ~ a dramatic swing against elected assemblies

    Booker's Notebook ".... the "vice-chair" of the unelected North-East Assembly was Gill Hale, the northern secretary of the local government union Unison, many of whose members might lose their jobs under an elected assembly, since this would mean the abolition of Durham and Northumberland county councils.
    What made this odder was that Unison contributed its members' money to the Campaign for English Regions, at the same address as Unison, which in turn gave money to the North-East Constitutional Convention Ltd, a private company set up at the same address to campaign for an elected assembly, of which Ms Hale was the director and secretary. Unison members expressed considerable surprise at this.
    Last week, at the end of a Northern Echo report on a YouGov poll showing a dramatic swing against elected assemblies (only 19 per cent in Yorkshire are now in favour), it was discreetly announced that Ms Hale has stepped down from her assembly post."

    Jan 17 ~ Is the British public not disturbed to see its own government putting such intense pressure on the media?

    The BBC's independence from government is now clearly under threat ...an article in today's Guardian by Peter A Hall, Krupp Foundation professor of European studies at Harvard University. Read in full

    Jan 17 ~ Introduction of a Lords Speaker would be a "retrograde" step

    Guardian

    Jan 16/17 ~ "Some may see Ms Weleminsky as a whistleblower and martyr; others may fear she was the colleague from hell. The reality is that both may be true at the same time."

    MPs voted to refer Lord Falconer's action against Judy Weleminsky to the Commons standards and privileges committeex Guardian "The lord chancellor's suspension of a whistleblower who spoke out about failings of an official child protection agency is to be probed by a parliamentary watchdog, it was agreed. MPs voted to refer Lord Falconer's action against Judy Weleminsky to the Commons standards and privileges committee over fears it could have been a breach of parliamentary privilege. The government backed the investigation, with Mr Hain saying it would uphold the principle of protecting witnesses "to the end".
    See also friday's Guardian Leader "...The need for a more open public culture means that grown-up disagreements on public bodies - whether Cafcass or the cabinet - ought to be publicly acknowledged and debated. But there have to be some limits and rules. Some may see Ms Weleminsky as a whistleblower and martyr; others may fear she was the colleague from hell. The reality is that both may be true at the same time."

    Jan 16 ~ it sometimes feels as if Islamophobia is replacing anti-Semitism as the principal western statement of bigotry against "the Other":

    William Dalrymple, writing in the New Statesman, warns thatAn emailer writes today, "Speaking to contacts in London, I hear of "immigration sweeps" that are targeting and upsetting the ethnic community there (and probably elsewhere) we are creating our own terrorists."

    Jan 15 ~ US police forces are allowed new powers in the " homeland" to conduct searches...and the US sends forces to peaceful Mauritania in its "war against terror"....

    Guardian yesterday "In a 6-3 ruling, the supreme court yesterday reversed a lower court decision in Illinois not to allow police to set up roadblocks to collect information from motorists. The supreme court said it did not represent an unreasonable intrusion on privacy. The three dissenting judges said the ruling exposed motorists to police interference. "
    This came on a day when the US announced what it calls "a new front in the war on terror." A small vanguard force arrived this week in Mauritania to pave the way for a $100m (£54m) plan "to bolster the security forces and border controls of Mauritania, Mali, Chad and Niger."
    "West Africa is not known as a hotbed of support for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network but Washington is taking no chances in a region with strong Arab and Muslim ties. ..."

    Jan 14 ~ "Mr Blair should chuck out his orgy of sycophants."

    Simon Jenkins' My humble proposal for saving the PM's posterior "....who is it who dares kick the imperial backside? Surely not Jonathan Powell or David Hill or Sally Morgan. Surely not Gordon Brown, who kicks only the crotch. Mr Blair's old friends, Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell, are at the end of the phone with a reassuring murmur or verbal massage. Surely Mr Blair is not referring to the press. ...
    ...He had hoped to use Hutton to blame the BBC for Dr David Kelly's death, desperate to deflect attention from his own abuse of intelligence. This hope was absurd at the time and has seemed crazier ever since. It was the act of a serial egotist for whom "l'état, c'est moi ". ....
    ...Faith is diminishing in "old government", in a hierarchy of politicians and officials exercising judgment, taking risks and accepting blame. Yesterday saw their replacement on parade, a stamping army of regulators, judges, lawyers and consultants. They are Dickens's public commissioners who "came to reign upon Earth. . . and knock the wind out of common sense". ...(Read in full)

    Jan 13 ~ Under a new proposal, the White House would decide what and when the public would be told...

    Sun Herald WASHINGTON - Under a new proposal, the White House would decide what and when the public would be told about an outbreak of mad cow disease, an anthrax release, a nuclear plant accident or any other crisis.
    The White House Office Management and Budget (OMB) is trying to gain final control over release of emergency declarations from the federal agencies responsible for public health, safety and the environment. The OMB also wants to manage scientific and technical evaluations - known as peer reviews - of all major government rules, plans, proposed regulations and pronouncements. .....
    Many in the scientific community worry that the OMB's selection process for reviewers will taint impartiality.
    .... "If the plan is implemented, it will mean that political considerations, and not public health, will be the administration's primary concern in the deciding whether to release health and safety information to the public in emergency situations." ."

    Jan 13 ~"PM opens the way for spin doctor Campbell's return"

    Independent "Tony Blair indicated yesterday that he would be happy to see the return of Alastair Campbell, his former communications chief, during the next general election ..
    In an interview on the BBC's 'Breakfast with Frost' yesterday, Mr Blair said he had not yet decided whether to ask Mr Campbell to return to an election role. But "if Alastair wants to come and help then his services will be used". "As you know, I mean he's rough and he's tough but he's someone with tremendous integrity," Mr Blair said.
    Mr Campbell said in an interview with 'The Times' last week that he regretted leaving Downing Street when he saw the Prime Minister under pressure.
    Mr Campbell said he was still one of Mr Blair's informal strategy advisers and would not write a book about his experiences as long as Mr Blair remained Prime Minister. Publishers are said to have offered him more than £2 million for an instant account of life alongside Mr Blair. "
    See also the Scotsman comment from yesterday .

    Jan 12 ~".. Internet-based groups could contribute to the spread of unfiltered messages in American politics."

    "TV Ad Contest Targets President"
    (Los Angeles Times- requires free registration) "Fourteen in all, the TV spots aim to depict the anger and frustration many Democrats harbor toward the Bush administration. But they're not the work of any slick political ad firms - they're finalists in a nationwide contest sponsored by MoveOn.org, a popular Internet-based political action group. . .
    The MoveOn.org contest spotlights the aggressive and uncharted role special interest groups not linked to either party are expected to play in the 2004 presidential campaign. Some say it also shows how such Internet-based groups could contribute to the spread of unfiltered messages in American politics."
    (It's MoveOn.org Voter Fund, not MoveOn.org, by the way, which sponsored the contest. To view the winning ads after they're announced tonight http://www.bushin30seconds.org/ )

    Jan 12 ~ Big Brother Britain, 2004

    Four million CCTV cameras watch public. UK has the highest level of surveillance Independent"... what is terrifying is that we are alone in the world for not even having a debate about what it means for our privacy." Read in full

    Jan 11 ~ I could easily have put a bomb in my baggage

    John Humphrys in the Sunday Times "....They can treat us like criminals and fingerprint half the world and scan our irises until we go cross-eyed. They can have air marshals in every other seat and stop us forming little whining groups as we huddle, cross-legged, waiting for the loo. They can force so many airlines to cancel flights that the queues at Heathrow will stretch halfway round the M25.
    They can do all that, but they can't guarantee that any of it will work. .." Read in full

    Jan 10 ~ "... the question of whether, following Hutton, there should be a wider judicial inquiry ... cannot properly be taken by the prime minister, when it is his actions that are under scrutiny."

    Michael Meacher in Wednesday's Guardian on the ".. centralisation of power, which has been gradually gathering pace for decades. Richard Crossman, subsequently a cabinet minister, said 40 years ago that the power of the prime minister had been increasing, was still increasing, and should be cut back. It wasn't reduced, and the process has steadily been taken further, to the point where the big issue in Britain now is a widely held and deeply resented sense of powerlessness.... "

    Jan 10 ~ the strategy for "unfriendly information" is to "deny, degrade and destroy".

    ".. embedding journalists in Iraq was a clear means of building up "friendly" information. An MoD-commissioned commercial analysis of the print output produced by embeds shows that 90% of their reporting was either "positive or neutral". .... ....
    .... "In other words," notes retired US army colonel Sam Gardiner, "we will even go after friends if they are against what we are doing or want to do."
    In the UK, according to Major Nigel Smith of the 15 Psychological Operations Group, staffing is to be expanded and strategic information operations "will take on a new importance" as a result of Iraq. Targeting unfriendly information is central to the post-conflict phase of reconstruction too. The collapse of distinctions between independent news media and psychological operations is striking. .."
    Read in full The domination effect from Thursday's Guardian

    Jan 9 ~ Blair may not attend debate on Hutton

    Independent " .. MPs had always assumed that he would also lead the Government's case in the all-day debate. Michael Howard will lead for the Tories and Charles Kennedy for the Liberal Democrats."

    Jan 7 ~ No 10 move delays Hutton report

    Telegraph (new window)

    Jan 7 ~ "Mr Blair and George Bush are mocking President Roosevelt's admonition that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself".

    Simon Jenkins at his best - but where are all the other journalists? H L Menkhen thought that "the function of a newspaper in a democracy is to act as a sort of chronic opposition to the reigning quacks" Read in full

    Jan 7 ~ "This looks like the identity card scheme without the plastic card"

    Register would give everyone ID number Times (new window)
    "....Why are we getting this measure put forward now, only weeks before the Home Office is to publish a draft bill for identity cards? This looks like the identity card scheme without the plastic card."

    Jan 7 ~ if this is what foreign aid amounts to, it seems to me that there is too much of it

    George Monbiot on the way Britain's Department for International Development is beginning to do more harm than good. Read in full

    Jan 6 ~ A "pox on the countryside"...says the CPRE

    Local councils are to be stripped of their powers to block development on greenfield sites. Western Morning News The Campaign to Protect Rural England is describing the plans as a "pox on the countryside"...."Tom Oliver, CPRE head of rural policy, said ministers were making the "fundamental mistake of failing to value the ordinary, everyday countryside for its own sake".
    Read again Simon Jenkins on the subject (his article Britain for sale: apply Gordon Brown and Co in full)

    Jan 6 2004 ~ The prospect of an elected House of Lords, which appeared to have vanished from the government's agenda last year, is now actively under consideration

    Financial Times (new window) ".... Mr Blair's primary concern about further Lords reform - the risk that peers could challenge the supremacy of the Commons by appearing to have an equally valid direct mandate from the electorate. "

    Jan 6 ~ "You all are changing the face of America by participation in these Meetups.

    We haven't had anything this powerful in American Democracy since 1772 and the committees of correspondence set up by Sam Adams in Boston. And through this activity we're bringing citizen participation into democracy. It's a tremendous inspiration to me…" - General Wesley Clark, speaking about meetup.com (new window) an interesting example of the way democratic political discussionis now able to take place across the internet.

    Jan 4 ~".. even against the menace of terrorism, we have to be vigilant that, in protecting its citizens, the state does not arrogate too much unaccountable power to itself... It is tragic to watch the Lord Chancellor, Charlie Falconer - a smart, modern politician - trying to justify an unelected House of Lords.."

    Observer Leader (new window) " ....This month, the Hutton report will expose, just as other government inquiries such as the Phillips inquiry into BSE have done, how poor the political process and structure of government decision-making actually is. Action is deferred or postponed; information is manipulated; the prejudices of individual civil servants or Ministers, rather than considered appraisal, too often determine policy.
    New Labour, before it took office, was an enthusiastic advocate of transparency and accountability. In office, it has converted to the caricature of the British state - that its vocation is to govern the great unwashed as it deems fit. This was never good enough, and will certainly not work today. It is tragic to watch the Lord Chancellor, Charlie Falconer - a smart, modern politician - trying to justify an unelected House of Lords."

    Jan 4 ~ David Owen: Self-rule by Blair gives him a Suez crisis

    David Owen in Sunday Times (new window)

    Jan 4 ~ two policemen supported the "bailiffs"....if the courts themselves disregard the law and their own instructions, the whole principle of the rule of law is under attack

    From Christopher Booker's Notebook " In November I reported on the strange but not untypical experience of Peter Troy, a self-employed businessman, who had been called on early one morning by two men claiming to be bailiffs who wanted to remove his car in payment of unpaid parking fines. When Mr Troy called in the Durham constabulary to stop the removal of the vehicle he needed for his work, the two policemen supported the "bailiffs". He subsequently discovered that the seizure would have been illegal on two counts: first, because the men, employed by a private firm, were not certified bailiffs and, second, because it is an offence to remove a vehicle or other "tools of trade" in pursuit of unpaid parking fines.
    When Mr Troy wrote formally to complain to Robert Whitehouse, the chief executive of Durham magistrates courts, he was perfunctorily told he had no grounds for complaint. When he subsequently obtained a copy of the warrant issued by the court, this specifically prohibited the "bailiffs" from seizing his car. Mr Troy has now lodged a civil case against the Durham magistrates in the county court, arguing that if the courts themselves disregard the law and their own instructions, the whole principle of the rule of law is under attack."

    Jan 4 ~ When it comes to empty promises, Mr Timms is certainly a faithful champion of Blair's Britain.

    Booker's Notebook

    Jan 2/3 ~ the controversial Lords Reform bill is unlikely to be introduced early in the new year as expected.

    Guardian (new window) ".. The Tory former chancellor Ken Clarke and the party's former leader William Hague are both refusing to sit on the joint committee...those refusing to serve fear that the committee will prove "purely decorative", and will be used to condone the "government's dirty work".
    Mr Clarke told the Guardian: "As far as I am concerned it is a waste of time. If invited, I shall refuse to serve on it. I am not wasting my time on something that was completely hijacked by the prime minister. .... The government will try to reconstitute it to give an air of respectability to their hopeless bill to get hereditary peers out. It's to go through the motions, giving it respectability and making it appear that the government approach is an acceptable, all-party approach. ..."

    Jan 2 2004 ~ "...Accountability abhors a vacuum."

    Sir Simon Jenkins today in the Times on the BBC and its Listeners' Law
    " ....... The collapse of the parliamentary arm of the British constitution invites the media to supplant it. Accountability abhors a vacuum. The Commons no longer behave in any sense as scrutineers of government or as a check on legislation. They merely date-stamp the latest Blairite ectoplasm. If the people's representatives will not do what the Constitution expects of them, self-appointed tribunes will take their place. Journalists and broadcasters will be the proxy exponents of the public will.
    Which brings me full circle. There is virtue in the listeners' law after all. I have debated it for an entire column. I am sure that the BBC would declare this as no more than their original intention. A listeners' law is better than no law at all. Where indeed would we be without the BBC?" Read in full

    Jan 2 ~ " the danger is always that we become the evil we deplore."

    Another bishop has joined the chorus of senior Church of England figures attacking the Government's anti-terrorism measures. Telegraph (new window) "The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill, suggested that the decision to jail 14 terrorist suspects in Britain without trial could have severe consequences." The bishop said in his New Year message: "In our own country we appear to have abandoned one of the cornerstones of our liberty - habeas corpus.
    "It is good that our security services are vigilant and trying to keep one step ahead of violent crime. But the danger is always that we become the evil we deplore." He complained of the willingness of politicians to exploit "easily-identified hate figures" such as Saddam Hussein.

    Jan 2 ~ John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, will step up his campaign to persuade the people of northern England to accept regional government...the cost?

    Telegraph (new window) ".... Referendums will be held in the autumn in the North-East, the North-West and Yorkshire and Humberside to establish elected assemblies.
    But how much will the exercise cost? A White Paper last year suggested that each assembly would require about £25 million a year to run. Yet it is apparent from the other devolved administrations in Britain - let alone what has happened in Europe - that once such institutions are set up they grow like Topsy.... bloated bureaucracies of Scotland, Wales, London and Brussels are testament to the predisposition of such bodies to expand at the taxpayers' expense. Not only are more staff taken on but the salaries and perks that go with the jobs tend to increase as well. Soon, an administrative monster is created - one that has a self-interest in getting fatter and no desire to slim down."

    Jan 1 ~ Government ministers to retain 150 'secrecy laws'

    Independent (new window) "....Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner who polices the Freedom of Information Act, said yesterday that one of the laws the Government intended keeping concerned his own powers. Under the Data Protection Act it is a criminal offence for the Commissioner or any of his staff to disclose information that he has gathered while carrying out his duties in connection with the Act. Ministers have refused Mr Thomas's request to repeal this law. Mr Thomas, who was a senior lawyer at Clifford Chance, the London law firm, before being appointed Information Commissioner last year, said: "This has a chilling effect because it can cover any information that comes into my possession. I hope this is still part of an ongoing debate I am having with ministers and that they will change their minds before next year."..."

    Jan 1 2004 ~ "The EU's controversial arrest warrant comes into force today

    (Guardian) allowing Britain and other member states to secure the extradition of suspected terrorists or criminals far more easily than before. It also makes it far harder to resist a request to hand over a national to another EU state. The measure, one of a package introduced in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, has aroused the concern of civil liberties activists who fear uneven standards of justice and inadequate judicial safeguards. .... In Britain, the system has been savaged by the Tories as a panic measure, while the civil rights group Liberty has warned that whatever governments may promise, standards of justice differ widely....."

    Jan 1 2004 ~ "A Happy New Year - and may you feel free...."

    The words were those of Tony Martin, hearing which listener's new law idea gained the highest number of votes in a Today programme poll. Today listeners voted to make a new law allowing home owners to take any measures they thought fit to ensure the security of their own homes. This "Listener Law" will be put forward as a private members bill. Listen again.

    Jan 1 2004 ~" just maybe, it will be the beginning of the end of this corrupt, banal administration of con artists

    who shamelessly use the dead of that day in September as the cover to get away with anything.
    I think it's time we all stood up and started asking some questions of these individuals.
    The bottom line: Anyone who would brazenly steal an election and insert themselves into OUR White House with zero mandate from The People is, frankly - sadly - capable of anything... " "The Sad and Sordid Whereabouts of bin Cheney and bin Bush" A Free Online Chapter addition to "Stupid White Men" by Michael Moore

    Dec 31 ~" Welcome to a new, democratic way to spread the truth about George W. Bush," says MoveOn.org

    Log in to vote in MoveOn.org Voter Fund's political ad contest. (new window)
    "... it's your turn to fight back against the propaganda being beamed at you by the current administration's media mavens. ... The winning commercial will be televised during the week of the President's State of the Union Address this January. ...Many of these ads are amazing, many are funny, and some are entertaining, so enjoy them, watch them, and e-mail them to anybody and everybody you can think of. Ideas are powerful -- let the truth be told. George W. Bush is misleading our country."
    See also In the last election, we knew the election was stolen; in this election, we may not even know that much. by John Greeley, a Marine Corps veteran of the war in Vietnam and a graduate of St. John's Law School

    Dec 31 ~ Times Square welcomed revelers to its New Year's Eve party Wednesday with two tons of confetti, thousands of balloons, a pop star, a war hero, rooftop snipers and metal detectors.

    Newsday.com (new window)

    Dec 31 ~ Sharon's resignation, and other reckless predictions

    Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian (new window) "Blair and Bush have little to fear in 2004. But what of the rest?" Jonathan Freedland makes what he calls "reckless predictions" on the Hutton Report, The US elections, Iraq, Isreal and Palestine, and on the home front, "...Gordon Brown stays on as chancellor - and waits."

    Dec 29 ~ There is no constitutional machinery for holding a prime minister to account

    After his interview with Jonathan Dimbleby yesterday ... "Mr Bremer was forced to backtrack after being told that Mr Blair had made the claim..." in a Christmas broadcast to British troops in Iraq.
    Downing Street stood by Mr Blair's comments, but Mr Bremer's words were seized on by critics of the war, who have accused Mr Blair of putting his own "spin" on the report by experts searching for Saddam Hussein's alleged arsenal of banned weapons.
    Writing in The Independent, Robin Cook, the former foreign secretary, said: "It is undignified for the Prime Minister, and worrying for his nation, to go on believing in a threat which everyone else can see was a fantasy. Nor will Tony Blair ever recover his credibility until he stops insisting he is right when the public can see he was wrong....." Independent Bishop attacks Blair as 'white vigilante' (new window)
    Ian McWhirter, writing in yesterday's Sunday Herald Sunday Herald (new window)

    Dec 28 ~ "The year ends appropriately with the row over charges that lives have been lost through the clumsy drafting of the Data Protection Act 1998."

    Booker's Notebook - a survey of the year. " But even the BBC has been forced to admit there is no hope of amending this Act because it merely implements an EC directive, 95/46. Under the principle of the acquis communautaire, once EU legislation is agreed, however faulty, there is virtually no mechanism for changing it..."
    Mr Booker also comments on the Janet Hughes' story

    Dec 24 ~ Mr Blunkett tells Britons to suspect foreigners with funny bags, to pay more taxes and to shut up about civil liberty.

    Simon Jenkins in the Times. "All governments can say is give us more money and more power. Of course I want to be safer. I pay a fortune in taxes to that end. I might even accept some change in civil justice to enhance that safety, but only if convinced of the necessity. At Guantanamo Bay and Belmarsh prison I am not so convinced.... "

    Dec 23 ~ "a proposed law that will give local authorities the right to veto publication of critical auditors' reports, amounts to a charter for corruption."

    icWales (new window) yesterday reported "Earlier this month, during a House of Lords debate on the Bill, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Thomas of Gresford criticised evidence given to the Welsh Affairs Committee of the House of Commons by the Welsh Local Government Association. The WLGA argued that it should be open to a local authority to refuse to consent to the publication of condemnatory audit reports.
    Lord Thomas said, "That is muddled thinking. The Auditor-General is the guardian of the public interest, not the institution that is being inspected."
    Mr Sutton, who conclusively won his case for constructive dismissal against Flintshire Council last week when councillors voted to abandon any further appeal against his Employment Tribunal victory, has spoken out against Clause 54. "If this clause goes through, Wales will effectively become a banana republic," he said. "..... the National Assembly should hold back from local authorities the money it costs to run internal audit and instead have a centrally funded internal audit function where staff are not employed by the councils...."

    Dec 23 ~".. worries about civilised values in an uncivilised world."

    John Humphrys in the Sunday Times ".... Amnesty International has accused Britain of having "a Guantanamo in its own back yard". It says 14 people have been locked up in British prisons under our new anti-terrorism laws, some for nearly two years, without having been told what they are charged with. They have no access to secret intelligence evidence against them and there is no prospect of a trial in sight. Amnesty says that this is "Kafkaesque". David Blunkett, the home secretary, is outraged.....
    ....Emergency measures are called for in exceptional times and we are at war.
    The problem is with the word "emergency". By definition it means temporary. ..... If public support cannot be sustained, as it is in a "normal" war, by the prospect of ultimate victory, it may have to be sustained by fear -- and increasing fear at that. It is impossible to rely on victories because we do not see the vanquished enemy or the strategic target defended by brave soldiers. There is no bridgehead to be held. Instead we must trust the authorities when they tell us, necessarily without details, of yet another plot thwarted.
    Many Americans are growing increasingly uneasy at being told that they must accept a diminution of civil rights in the face of an unseen danger. A friend recalled the chilling words of Martin Niemöller, the German pastor: "First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist . . . Then they came for me. And there was nobody left to speak out for me." My friend was not making a comparison between modern America and Nazi Germany. He knows that would be preposterous. But he worries about civilised values in an uncivilised world. " Read in full

    Dec 5 ~ Blair's preferred option is a dormant Lords

    Peter Riddle in the Times"... ministers have been accused of high-handedness over the Constitutional Reform Bill to abolish the lord chancellorship, to take the present law lords out of the second chamber by creating a supreme court and to establish an independent appointments commission. This would have required tactful handling at the best of times, given the innate conservatism of the old and the bold (however learned). But by suddenly announcing the changes without consultation, and with many loose ends, the Government fuelled suspicions about a threat to the judiciary. ..
    .... Many senior judges have seen no need for the change, have been worried about the appointments commission and have objected to the loss of the Lord Chancellor defending their independence around the Cabinet table....
    The bigger question is how far a largely appointed second chamber should recognise the limits of its legitimacy. Should there be a new convention, or rules, on the balance between revising and delaying (perhaps formalised on constitutional Bills)? But Mr Blair prefers to put the Lords to sleep."

    Dec 4 ~ The judicial review will not only determine whether the Environment Agency acted lawfully with regard to the modification of Able UK's waste management licence

    Friends of the Earth http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press releases/ghost ships in court battl.html "This case is much more than a battle over the Ghost Ships. It is about ensuring that international laws to protect our wildlife are complied with, and that local people are not deprived of their right to be involved in decision-making on issues which affect their environment. To suggest, as some have done, that failure to obtain the necessary permissions is a mere technicality shows a serious disregard for the rules that are supposed to protect us and our environment."

    Dec 4 ~ House of Lords ".... the Government may be forced into a humiliating retreat."

    Labour vandalism gets 188 Lords-a-seething - Telegraph
    ".....Tony Blair is in trouble in the Lords for two main reasons. The first is the Government's breach of trust. In 1999, more than 600 hereditary peers were evicted from the Lords. The rump of 92, elected by the rest, were permitted to remain, pending the "second stage" of reform.
    Many Labour and Liberal peers feel cheated of the reformed second chamber they were promised. Other peers, while not averse to an elected element, reckon the 92 hereditaries have earned their keep. The entirely appointed House now proposed pleases nobody.
    The second reason peers are unhappy is the cavalier treatment of the judiciary. This "impulsive vandalism", as Lord (Geoffrey) Howe called it, will weaken judicial independence, create a pseudo-Supreme Court, deprive the revising chamber of the Law Lords and the Cabinet of the Lord Chancellor. Again, hardly anybody (except Lord Falconer) is in favour...."

    Dec 4 ~ Trials to prepare for compulsory ID cards

    Alan Travis in The Guardian "The Home Office admitted yesterday that its six-month trial of new hi-tech passports would "lay the foundations for a compulsory identity card scheme". The pilot scheme, which starts next month, will involve 10,000 volunteers receiving personalised smartcards containing biometric information - initially a digital image of their faces based on a passport photograph. The trial will assess the cost of and reactions to the scheme, and will be run by the Passport Service and Mori, the pollsters. The contractor, Schlumberger Sema, will announce the first of four sites where it will be launched next month. The immigration minister, Beverley Hughes, admitted this was a preparation for compulsory identity cards, although the legislation has been delayed for a year:.....
    Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the human rights organisation Liberty, said the scheme would legitimise identity fraud. "At least Beverley Hughes has had the honesty to admit there will be nothing voluntary about this," she said. ..."

    Dec 3 ~ Peers Vote Against Hereditaries Axe

    Scotsman "The House of Lords fired a powerful shot across the Government's bows over Lords reform tonight when peers voted against its plans to axe hereditary peers. They took the rare step of passing an amendment to the traditional vote of thanks to the Queen for the State Opening. ..... The Tory amendment, passed by 188 votes to 108 (majority 80), "regrets" the Government's decision to abandon the search for cross-party consensus on constitutional reform. The amendment, moved by Tory peers' leader Lord Strathclyde, accuses the Government of launching "unilateral" proposals that "could gravely weaken" the House. And it calls on ministers to "withdraw their current proposals and to undertake meaningful consultation with Parliament and the senior judiciary before proceeding with legislation". The Liberal Democrats, who abstained on the Tory move, have warned that the Government cannot rely on their support for the eviction of the hereditaries, unless it is accompanied by moves towards a wholly or mainly elected second
    Liberal Democrat peers' leader Baroness Williams of Crosby, in a separate amendment to the vote of thanks, accused ministers of repudiating their previous commitment to create a "more democratic and more representative" House. ........this was the first time since February 1914 that the House of Lords has passed such an amendment."

    Dec 3 ~ Law on corporate killing 'to exempt public bodies'

    Independent "Ministers plan to grant their departments blanket immunity from hard-hitting legislation on corporate killing to be published this month. The new law will make it easier to imprison directors and managers of private companies for manslaughter offences but almost impossible to prosecute ministers whose departments will be able to claim Crown immunity. The Home Office is set to ignore independent legal advice from barristers at Matrix chambers that such a move would breach the European Convention on Human Rights...."

    Dec 3 ~ Guantanamo "...a team of lawyers was dismissed after complaining that the rules for forthcoming trials were unfair.

    BBC "New York's Vanity Fair magazine reports that some of the lawyers say their ethical obligations are being violated. ....
    ..... in October, a former US appeals court judge, John Gibbons, told BBC News Online that justice was being "totally denied" to the detainees in Guantanamo. "They don't have access to lawyers; they have had no hearings; they are just in limbo. That's as clear an example of justice denied as you can find," he said. US authorities reportedly plan to release at least 100 inmates from Guantanamo Bay detention camp later this month, but few details have been released. The US has already released 88 inmates - although many were re-arrested in their home countries."

    Dec 2 ~ Labour's cloak of secrecy is bigger than the Tories'

    Rob Evans in The Guardian
    "Ministers in Tony Blair's government have issued more official gagging orders than the previous Conservative government, figures show.
    ...... The figures have been collated from lists of orders obtained during an investigation by the BBC's File on Four programme, which will be broadcast tonight on Radio 4.
    ..... While in opposition, Labour made political capital by criticising Conservative ministers for exploiting gagging orders to suppress politically embarrassing evidence. Sir Richard Scott, during his inquiry into the arms-to-Iraq affair, delivered a scathing attack on the abuse of such certificates.
    ........ File on Four highlights two cases where gagging orders have been criticised.
    Seven former inmates at the Portland young offenders' institute in Dorset who claim they were abused there are suing the Home Office. Their lawyers have been denied copies of medical records as well as information on the outcome of a disciplinary action against an officer at Portland. ......"

    Dec 2 ~ "Inspirational Communication" a new phrase for propaganda?

    The Western Morning News under the headline "Huge Increase in Windfarms" "....Energy Minister Stephen Timms yesterday paved the way for a huge increase in the number of windfarms as he told the industry to "go out there and build"..... .The Government yesterday acknowledged the growing opposition with the announcement of £2 million funding for an "inspirational communication" campaign to sell renewable energy to the public and planning authorities, who have thwarted many windfarm plans in the South West. ....
    .... South West Euro MP Giles Chichester ...."Their policy is wholly unrealistic. We would need thousands and thousands of wind turbines to meet the existing target; I am astonished that they have increased it. Even if you built them you would have to provide back-up for times when the wind is not blowing or blowing too strongly. "Ministers are just following fashion. I am fully behind those who are resisting these masts in most of Devon because there are fundamental problems with the technology yet they would severely scar the landscape."
    Beware missionary Zeal over wind farms....

    Dec 2 ~ New York Times picks up on Lord Steyn's comments

    .....Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.... ....... arguments by the United States have not proved persuasive with its allies.
    In a speech last Tuesday, one of Britain's most senior judges, Johan Steyn, offered a scathing criticism of the United States' continued detention of prisoners at Guantánamo, the latest of several protests from top international lawyers. "The question is whether the quality of justice envisaged for the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay complies with the minimum international standards for the conduct of fair trials," Lord Steyn said. "The answer can be given quite shortly. It is a resounding, `No.'
    " The speech was notable because it is extraordinary for sitting judges to comment directly on current situations. He also said that "authoritarian regimes with dubious human rights records" have seized upon Washington's example to justify their own improper behavior...." New York Times

    Dec 2 ~ "Lord Hutton has alarmed the government by refusing to send drafts of his report into the death of David Kelly to ministers

    officials and others - including the BBC - who will be the subject of criticism.
    His decision, which breaks with the normal practice of judicial inquiries, could give Tony Blair only hours to react before the potentially damaging report is published.
    "It's going to come as a bolt from the blue," one government official told the FT. "We're being given no advance warning at all." The judge is expected to submit his report to Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, early next year. Insiders say the government is unlikely to delay publication for more than about 24 hours for fear of being accused of a cover-up. January 12 is being touted as a publication ..." FT

    Dec 1 ~ The European Constitution may well hang on the balance of referenda across various EU member states.

    From euobserver.com " The European Constitution might be subject to referenda in half of the EU member states. Seven countries have already declared definitively, that they will consult their citizens." The site has the exact situation in each of the 25 EU countries..

    Nov 30 ~ it could be a "shabby" deal based on forced confessions.

    BBC " A deal to repatriate British terror suspects held by the US at Guantanamo Bay could be finalised by Christmas, according to reports. The nine Britons could be flown back to the UK whether or not they are charged with any crimes, The Observer claims. The report was welcomed by campaign group Fair Trials Abroad but raised concerns that it could be a "shabby" deal based on forced confessions. The British Foreign Office refused to say whether such a deal was close. ..."

    Nov 30 ~ Stop telling me what to do

    Henry Porter in the Observer "Why do our rulers always want to boss us about? It's time to stand up and start causing trouble ..."

    Nov 30 ~ Is the European Union good at what it does?

    Sunday Telegraph " Before handing over a new tranche of powers, it is surely sensible to look at what Brussels is doing with the powers it already has, writes Daniel Hannan Amid all the arguments about the Euro-constitution, we are forgetting to ask a very basic question: Is the EU good at what it does? Last week, the Court of Auditors published a report into precisely this. For the ninth year in a row, the auditors found so many flaws in the EU budget that they refused to approve it. This ought to have been massive news ....
    Why are we not more concerned? Partly, I suspect, because we take Euro-sleaze so much for granted that it is no longer newsworthy. Partly, too, because the report was long and difficult. None the less, it ought to matter a great deal: how else can we judge the EU if not by its record? So, on your behalf, I jammed some matchsticks under my eyelids and spent last week doing some concentrated reading. The most striking thing about the document is that it reveals systemic abuse. We are not dealing with isolated cases of human weakness, but with what Lord Macpherson would call institutional corruption..." Read in full

    Nov 30 ~ One law for the West - Such is the fear of terrorism that our governments now treat natural and legal justice with contempt

    David Aaronovitch in The Observer David Blunkett got into trouble again last week....
    When he spoke, ...He was almost certainly calculating whether the detention might have helped to prevent a terrorist attack. Yesterday, other papers reported the discovery of hollowed-out shoes, and one carried a front-page splash on the possibility that a new attempt was being planned to blow up a transatlantic flight with a shoe-bomb. There seemed to be no concern that this report might prejudice a trial. But perhaps there should have been. ...
    Justice is one thing, protection is another.
    .... I have long had a nightmare about the consequences of terrorism in Britain. ... I have heard many of the usual people fulminating about the crimes of the Americans at Guantanamo Bay, and thought that they probably had a point, but what else was one to do? .
    .... the senior law lord Lord Steyn is not one of the usual people. He isn't a kneejerk single-issue campaigner or a parti pris semi-politician. So his lecture last week on Guantanamo constituted a butt in the ribs to those of us who have been turning the other way.....
    Lord Steyn described as 'a monstrous failure of justice' the decisions of US courts not to consider credible medical evidence of torture when trying Camp Delta cases. He went on: 'Trials of the type contemplated by the United States government would be a stain on United States justice. The only thing that could be worse is simply to leave the prisoners in their black hole indefinitely.' His target was the sheer and deliberate arbitrariness of the procedures.
    ....'How,' he asked, 'could it be morally defensible to discriminate in this way between individual prisoners? It lifts the curtain a little on the arbitrariness of what is happening at Guantanamo Bay and in the corridors of power on both sides of the Atlantic.' ....
    'The judge's words sent a real shock through my body........ At what point does our behaviour become as bad in consequence as the thing which we desire to prevent?

    Nov 30 ~ It comes to something when they have to close down the Today programme just to stop me appearing on it.

    Christopher Booker " On Thursday I recorded some comments on the latest shambles over the EU constitution, due to be broadcast just after 8 am on Friday, as a prelude to an interview with Jack Straw. Just before 8 am Today went off the air, replaced by sinisterly distracting piano music of the sort Radio Moscow used to play when a Soviet leader had died.
    It appeared that much of the BBC had been silenced by a power failure, but Today managed to regain its transmission from another studio, just in time for Mr Straw to explain why it really wouldn't matter if the EU didn't have a constitution. Without my contribution, there was no one to point out that Mr Blair had originally said there was no need for an EU constitution, and then had said that it was essential. Now he and Mr Straw seem to have returned to their first view. This might seem a frivolous way to approach the drawing up of a framework for Britain's government. But it is of a piece with most of what Mr Blair gets up to."

    Nov 29 ~ "We are passionate decentralisers, unlike Labour"

    Christopher Huhne, MEP for South East Region (Liberal Democrat) writes to the Times today. "....What are we to make of a Chancellor who rightly berates red tape and regulation in Brussels but who has hired more British civil servants in just one year, up to April 2003, than the entire staff that the European Commission has managed to accumulate since the 1950s? The Commission numbers 22,453 people, the same size as Surrey County Council. The British Civil Service now has 552,870 staff. .."

    Nov 29 ~ Given that British intelligence about the status of Iraq's WMD has been shown to be fundamentally flawed, the genesis of this failure should be addressed.

    Scott Ritter the former UN weapons inspector, in a letter today to the Guardian
    "Operation Rockingham's role in this is not small.
    Morrison speaks of the "independent" nature of the intelligence work conducted by Operation Rockingham. The reality is that it institutionalised a process of "cherry-picking" intelligence produced by the UN inspections in Iraq that skewed UK intelligence about Iraqi WMD towards a preordained outcome that was more in line with British government policy than it was reflective of ground truth.
    Many examples can be offered to counter Morrison's assertions that Operation Rockingham was little more than a "tiny intelligence cell", the sole purpose of which was to provide intelligence leads to the UN inspectors. Far from being the "shining example of the effective use of intelligence in support of the international community", Operation Rockingham was, in fact, more reflective of an institutional predisposition towards the politicised massaging of intelligence data that resulted in the massive failure of intelligence that we all have tragically witnessed regarding Iraq and WMD. ..." Read in full

    Nov 29 ~ Legal row after terror arrest

    The Guardian Attorney general to investigate Blunkett
    Richard Norton-Taylor, Matthew Taylor and Owen Bowcott "The attorney general is to investigate whether the home secretary's outspoken comments about the arrest of an alleged al-Qaida terrorist are a breach of the laws of contempt of court.
    Lord Goldsmith's office promised the politically embarrassing inquiry into possible contempt of court - by one cabinet minister of another - after the attorney general by coincidence delivered a critique of reporting practices that undermine the laws of contempt of court. "Some lawyers are concerned...," Lord Goldsmith QC told a conference of journalists in London, "that these days we may see reporting about the background of the suspect at the time of the arrest that in previous years was usually only seen after a conviction."
    David Blunkett had said: "This individual posed a very real threat to the life and liberty of our country... This person has connections with the network of al-Qaida groups." ..... Some lawyers believed the remarks constituted a clear breach. Keith Mathieson, a media lawyer at Reynolds Porter Chamerberlain, said: "It was an extraordinary thing for the home secretary to say. It's hard to think of anything more prejudicial to say about anybody now than that they are linked to al-Qaida." ...."

    Nov 28 ~ Bill 'risks ministers misusing power'

    Times "Sweeping plans to overhaul laws to deal with emergencies could allow a government to dismantle democracy, a joint parliamentary committee says today. The committee expresses alarm that, in the wrong hands, the plans could allow a government to ditch legislation that had underpinned the British constitution for centuries. It also said that ministers would be given powers to set aside human rights laws and that they would have too much power to interpret what constituted an emergency. The "potentially dangerous flaws" in the draft Civil Contingencies Bill are outlined in a detailed report by a joint committee of MPs and peers set up to scrutinise the plans. ..."
    See also BBC "....The measures are aimed at shaking up legislation that date back to the 1920s, giving ministers all the powers they need to tackle a wide range of incidents - ranging from foot-and-mouth to an attack on the internet. ...."

    Nov 28 ~ Blair rejects referendum call

    BBC "..the prime minister again insisted he would not accede to demands for a referendum on the draft constitution.
    Earlier Foreign Secretary Jack Straw insisted there was "no case" for a vote on the issue.
    Mr Blair said: "If this constitution were to mean the end of us as a nation state then it would be a different matter but it doesn't. "What's more, take it from me there is nothing we are going to agree to here that's going to put at risk any of these key red lines that we have set out." ....."

    Nov 27 ~ UK to reject draft EU blueprint

    BBC "The government says it will reject an Italian draft of the new European Constitution because it would remove member states' veto on foreign policy. A Foreign Office spokesman said the draft by Italy, which holds the EU presidency, is unacceptable although more discussions are due on Friday...."

    Nov 27 ~ Blair 'has broken his promise' on peers

    By Andrew Sparrow, Political Correspondent Telegraph Tony Blair was accused of breaking a promise yesterday after he confirmed that he wants to remove the 92 remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords. Tories said the measure would contradict a firm commitment given by the Government four years ago to allow the peers to stay until Lords reform was finalised. Opposition parties can outvote Labour in the Upper House and peers said they would block the Bill outright if Mr Blair refused to amend it. Lord Strathclyde, the Tory leader in the Lords, said: "This is a mean and vindictive measure. It will not improve the scrutiny of legislation and it breaks an undertaking given by the Government in Parliament. ...
    "If you cannot trust an undertaking given by a minister at the Despatch Box about the future of Parliament, then can you trust any assurance given by a minister?" asked a Tory source. By convention, opposition peers do not vote against proposals mentioned in the Government's manifesto. But Lord Strathclyde said this would not stop his party voting against the Lords Bill, because the Labour manifesto promised something quite different."

    Nov 27 ~ Of all the constitutional constraints on Labour's leviathan state

    there are only two left: the House of Lords and the judiciary. That is why the Queen's Speech included Bills that will damage both. Telegraph

    Nov 26/7 ~ Service providers must again be smashed by centralism, upheaval and reform

    Simon Jenkins in the Times ".....This nemesis of Labour's second term of office is painful to watch. Years of trial-and-error reform have led to the same outcome as afflicted Mr Blair's heroine, Margaret Thatcher: an overcentralised public sector riddled with leader-loathing. Prime ministers in that predicament are easily seduced into foreign affairs. Mrs Thatcher squandered her political hegemony in rows with colleagues over Europe. Mr Blair has squandered his over Iraq..... "

    Nov 26 ~ "the FBI is targeting Americans who are engaged in lawful protest. The line between terrorism and legitimate civil disobedience is blurred."

    Guardian comment
    "....instead of hearing the voices on the streets - voices pleading with police to stop shooting and clearly following orders to disperse - we heard only from police officials and perky news anchors commiserating with the boys on the front line. Meanwhile, independent journalists who dared to do their jobs and film the police violence up close were actively targeted. "She's not with us," one officer told another as they grabbed Ana Nogueira, a correspondent with Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! who was covering a peaceful protest outside the Miami-Dade county jail. When the police established that Nogueira was "not with us" (ie neither an embedded reporter nor undercover cop) she was hauled away and charged. ...On Sunday, the New York Times reported on a leaked FBI bulletin revealing "a coordinated, nationwide effort to collect intelligence" on the anti-war movement. The memorandum singles out lawful protest activities. Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the document revealed that "the FBI is targeting Americans who are engaged in lawful protest. The line between terrorism and legitimate civil disobedience is blurred." We can expect more of these tactics on the homeland front. Just as civil liberties violations escalated when Washington lost control over the FTAA process, so will repression increase as Bush faces the ultimate threat: losing control over the White House. " "

    Nov 26 ~Anti-terror powers watered down

    Evening Standard "......Until now it was planned to exempt special directives under the Civil Contingencies Bill, to be flagged in (the).. Queen's Speech, from being challenged in the courts. But a report from a joint committee of MPs and peers on Friday will recommend a crucial amendment. This will allow emergency regulations to be overturned if they breach the Human Rights Act or other laws. Government sources said the committee's recommendations would be accepted when the Bill's full details are published. ..."

    Nov 26 ~ We must stop the drive towards a superstate

    Clare Short in the Times "You don 't have to be a Little Englander to ask what is the point of the EU...... the reality is that pro-Europeans are driving a project that leads inevitably to a superstate, which most of us don 't want. .
    We have reached a point when we need a new rationale for the EU. There is increasing agreement that we need more decentralisation and stronger local government in our own overcentralised island, and this should be complemented by a commitment to review all EU powers - strip out all the unnecessary regulation and test every EU power against the principle of subsidiarity. The future I see is an EU slimmed down to run the single market; and a Commission revamped with efficient and fraud-free financial management systems. ." Read in full

    Nov 26 ~ to call for a referendum on the EU Constitution

    From http://www.referendum04.co.uk/march.html "On 6th December Referendum04 will be co-ordinating the biggest 'Virtual March' on 10 Downing Street the country has ever seen. It is to call for a referendum on the proposed EU Constitution and will demand of Tony Blair and the Government that the 'People's Voice' be heard.
    It is part of a co-ordinated symbolic statement by similar groups across the whole of Europe in advance of the Inter Governmental Conference (IGC) Summit.
    Participation will involve you registering your request for a referendum at the Prime Minister's e-mail address and will take no more than a minute of your time. It can be done from the comfort of your home or office without the need for travel arrangements, sandwiches or an umbrella! We will provide full, easy to follow instructions nearer the time. We do however, need numbers, so simply e-mail us back at: referendum04@btconnect.com (click and insert your name in the subject box) and we will add you to the ever growing list. ....
    Neil Herron Campaign Director "

    Nov 25 ~ Britain is preparing to abandon the European Union constitution if the differences between the 15 member states cannot be resolved

    a senior Foreign Office source has revealed. Scotsman "In a surprising policy shift, the official indicated the future of the EU was not dependent on the treaty being ratified and enlargement would still take place next year. Labour has come in for sustained criticism for its approach to the constitution, which critics claim will shift huge swathes of power from London to Europe. .......
    Although Downing Street remains confident that its red lines will be met, there remain too many other outstanding problems, notably on energy policy, rows over the role of the commission and the weighting of votes per country on the council of ministers.
    Any abandonment of the constitution would be seen as an astonishing retreat by Labour and provoke claims that the government is seeking to avoid a political backlash for refusing to allow a referendum on the issue. Some were last night interpreting the official 's comments as brinkmanship on the part of the government. "

    Nov 24/5 ~ Humphrys and John Simpson have already voiced their opposition, faced with the suggestion they should give up their newspaper columns

    Guardian John Humphrys' column is always well worth reading. What an ill-advised reaction this plan would seem to be.

    Nov 24 ~ Rampant fraud costs EU more than £600m a year

    Anthony Browne, Brussels Correspondent of the Times
    Frauds against the European Union totalling more than half a billion pounds have been uncovered in the past year, according to official figures obtained by The Times, which show that fraud is far more widespread than had been thought. The number of suspected cases has risen by nearly a fifth in just one year to 3,440, with fraud being discovered in almost all the institutions of the EU and all its funding programmes. In the last financial year alone, 252 cases of fraud were proven, leading to 230 cases being sent to court. .......The figures, to be published in the next fortnight by Olaf, the EU's independent anti-fraud unit, in its annual report, are immensely embarrassing for the European Commission, which took office four years ago with the aim of stamping out fraud and corruption. Neil Kinnock, the vice-president of the Commission, has been responsible for introducing a barrage of controls to clean up the EU. .......
    One of the most rapidly growing areas of fraud is in external aid, both to the candidate countries joining the EU and to the developing world, most notably in the EU's aid programmes to Africa...."
    See also ~"The commission must not be allowed to make Olaf the scapegoat for its own shortcomings"

    Nov 23 ~ Blair plans new laws to curb civil liberties

    Sunday Herald and Sweeping new emergency laws to counter UK terror Independent
    "UK wants similar powers to controversial US Patriot Act. Sweeping new emergency legal powers to deal with the aftermath of a large terrorist attack in Britain are being considered by the government. The measures could potentially outlaw participation in a protest march, such as last week's demonstrations during President Bush's state visit, making it, in effect, a criminal offence to criticise government policy. ...a beefed-up version of current civil contingencies law is being considered. It will allow the government to bypass or suspend key parts of the UK's human rights laws without the authority of parliament. ......The new powers would only come into force if a state of emergency was proclaimed with the authority of the sovereign. The government, if the new measures were introduced, would be able to prohibit any assembly or activity it believed threatened national security. However, government legal sources have urged that any new laws in such a sensitive area would not be forced through without widespread consultation. ..... "
    As in the US, the excuse is "terrorism" but we do urge readers to look at recent articles by our best journalists: Robert Fisk, Simon Jenkins, Matthew Parris among them.
    With Robert Fisk, we ask "Where, oh where are we going? How much longer must we suffer this false account of history? How much longer must we wilfully misread what we are doing and what is being done to us?"

    Nov 23 ~ Labour to abolish hereditary peers' voting rights in revenge for defiance

    Independent on Sunday "The last of Britain's hereditary peers are to be stripped of their voting rights in retribution for the chaotic scenes last week when MPs were kept up until 2am to salvage key government legislation. Tony Blair is reported by aides to have been "cursing" at the way peers obstructed legislation designed to make it easier for courts to convict in serious fraud cases and where criminal gangs have tried to intimidate juries. The Bill went through on Thursday, after three days of frantic horse-trading. The Prime Minister's angry reaction means that a promised Bill to take reform of the Lords a stage further is now close to the top of the Government's agenda. The Bill, which will be announced in Wednesday's Queen's Speech, will mean that the 92 hereditary peers still in the Lords will lose their voting rights..."

    Nov 23 ~ "to make the most boring subject in the world as readable as a novel"

    Booker's Notebook ".. most surprised us when we began researching the history of the EU was just how superficial and misleading all previous accounts of this story had been. There is scarcely a single episode that does not emerge in a new light, from the real reason why de Gaulle had to "keep Britain out" in the 1960s, to the way that the Foreign Office and Geoffrey Howe kept Mrs Thatcher in the dark about plans for a further leap in integration.This was to be so ambitious that it had been decided as early as 1984 that it would require two new instruments, now known as the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty. If we have achieved anything, as I observed at the book's launch on Thursday, I hope it is "to make the most boring subject in the world as readable as a novel". I trust our readers will agree." See The Great Deception: The SECRET History of the European Union

    Nov 23 ~" the insane regime under which Britain's fishermen must now live, as Defra zealously enforces CFP rules ..".

    Booker's Notebook ".. In recent months, as anger over the disaster that is being visited on Britain's fishing industry has erupted, support for the repatriation of fishing policy has soared, particularly in Scotland, which accounts for 85 per cent of UK tonnage, and where nearly 100 vessels, including some of the most modern boats in the whitefish fleet, have been forced out of business by the Brussels "cod ban". Scottish Tory MSPs, led by Ted Brocklebank; Lib Dems, including Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland; and Alex Smith, the leader of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, have swung behind Mr Salmond's bill. So too have the fishermen of Folkestone, where Mr Howard has only a slender majority. The ever-greater absurdity of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy was recently highlighted by a case in Whitby, where nine fishermen, including Arnold Locker, the chairman of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, faced criminal charges relating to Brussels's "cod ban", though fishermen now report cod so abundant that they cannot avoid catching them."

    Nov 23 ~"...the po-faced absurdity of these rules"

    Booker's Notebook "... Peter Senneck was for years the manager of a NatWest branch in Gloucester, where he still keeps his account. When he recently went in to open an account for his granddaughter, his former staff apologetically told him that, under the rules, he had to produce "proof of his identity"...."

    Nov 22 ~ Blair in fresh cronyism row over reform of Lords

    Independent "...Tony Blair was embroiled in a new row over alleged cronyism yesterday when he was accused of reneging on his promise not to pack the House of Lords with his political allies. The Prime Minister was planning to "slip through" a batch of 20 new Labou