Archive for the ‘United Kingdom’ Category
2009
“THOUSANDS of the worst families in England are to be put in “sin bins” in a bid to change their bad behaviour, Ed Balls announced yesterday. The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes. They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals.
Private security guards will also be sent round to carry out home checks, while parents will be given help to combat drug and alcohol addiction. Around 2,000 families have gone through these Family Intervention Projects so far. But ministers want to target 20,000 more in the next two years, with each costing between £5,000 and £20,000 – a potential total bill of £400million. Ministers hope the move will reduce the number of youngsters who get drawn into crime because of their chaotic family lives, as portrayed in Channel 4 comedy drama Shameless. Sin bin projects operate in half of council areas already but Mr Balls wants every local authority to fund them…”
source: express.co.uk
“An investigation into the kidnapping of five British men in Iraq has uncovered evidence of possible collusion by Iraqi government officials in their abduction, and a possible motive – to keep secret the whereabouts of billions of dollars in embezzled funds. A former high-level Iraqi intelligence operative and a current senior government minister, who has been negotiating directly with the hostage takers, have told the Guardian that the kidnapping of IT specialist Peter Moore and his four bodyguards in 2007 was not a simple snatch by a band of militants but a sophisticated operation, almost certainly with inside help. Only Moore is thought still to be alive.
Witnesses to the extraordinary operation which led to the abductions have also told us that they have been warned by superiors to keep quiet. ‘This operation was on a state level, not al-Qaida. Only the state has the capability to carry this out,’ one of the sources said.
The Guardian can also reveal that there was a sixth westerner who was working with Moore at the time of the kidnap. The man – whose identity is known to the Guardian – managed to narrowly avoid being captured by hiding in a toilet at the Iraqi ministry of finance, where the abductions took place. Over the past 10 months the Guardian has interviewed senior Iraqi figures and eyewitnesses as well as the former British military officer who investigated the kidnap for the men’s employers. Their accounts allege that the hostage takers had contacts in the Iraqi government, and also that officials in the ministry of defence warned off witnesses to the kidnap.”
source: guardian.co.uk
“Britain may need to send more troops to Afghanistan despite the success of Operation Panther’s Claw, military chiefs admit.
The scale of the challenge was revealed yesterday as it emerged that British soldiers have faced nearly 1,000 roadside bombs in the past three months. Although 3,000 troops managed to drive out about 500 Taleban during the five-week offensive, they will be fully deployed holding an area in Helmand province about the size of the Isle of Wight, their commanding officer admitted.
Brigadier Tim Radford, commander of Task Force Helmand, said that the existing troops could not be expected to mount further significant operations without reinforcements. Gordon Brown hailed the offensive as an ‘heroic’ military success, saying it had made Britain safer and ‘pushed back the Taleban’. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, however, called for renewed efforts to engage the Taleban politically…”
source timesonline.co.uk
“Official correspondence, released under the United Kingdom’s Freedom of Information law, reveals that U.S. radio talk-show host Michael Savage’s name was placed on a list of people banned from Britain in order to provide “balance” to a “least wanted” list dominated by Muslim extremists, and the decision was made “at the highest level of government,” the London Daily Mail reported today.
‘We will want to ensure that the names disclosed reflect the broad range of cases and are not all Islamic extremists,’ reads a draft recommendation, marked ‘Restricted,’ that was obtained as part of Savage’s libel lawsuit against the government and former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. “
source: wnd.com
“Chief Justice Gordon Ward lifted a gag order which had prevented publishers and broadcasters from mentioning ‘corruption report’ and ‘WikiLeaks’ in the same sentence.
The order, first issued on Saturday against 11 media companies, and reissued last night, has lead to bizarre press coverage, where WikiLeaks was not named, but referred to instead using Orwellian terms such as ‘a multi-jurisdictional website’…
According to the report, foreign investors and property development consortiums acquired parts of the beautiful Turks & Caicos Islands by bribing the country’s political leadership with millions in loans and secret payments. Included in the payments is a $500,000 secret transfer to the then head of the country, Premier Michael Misick, who is also the recently estranged husband of Hollywood actress LisaRaye McCoy-Misick…”
via wikileaks.org
“Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian’s editor in chief, tonight threw his support behind a plan to give public funding to Britain’s national press agency to allow it to provide news from public authorities and courts as local newspapers withdraw because they can no longer afford it…
‘This bit of journalism is going to have to be done by somebody,” Rusbridger said. “It makes me worry about all of those public authorities and courts which will in future operate without any kind of systematic public scrutiny. I don’t think our legislators have begun to wake up to this imminent problem as we face the collapse of the infrastructure of local news in the press and broadcasting.’”
via guardian.co.uk
“The Brits have fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the Americans in Afghanistan since 2001. But now there seems to be a real shift in the way the war is being perceived — and presented by the media — in Britain. So far, politicians from both main parties have stayed committed to keeping British troops in Afghanistan for as long as it takes. But this is an election year. And a recent Guardian/ICM poll found that support for the war was running at 46%, opposition at 47%; a full 56% want to see troops withdrawn by the end of the year. What’s driving the debate in the U.K.? And why is Afghanistan seen so differently here? Five issues are at the core…”
via wired.com
“The Press Office of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. confirmed in an interview with me today that San Francisco talk show host, Michael Savage, still remains “persona non grata” in Great Britain. Savage repeatedly warned his listeners yesterday that neither he or his attorneys have received any official indication that the ban had been lifted.
A weekend newspaper report appears to have been inaccurate. The press representative indicated that while no visa is required of Americans visiting England, Michael Savage, would be detained by immigration authorities if he attempted to enter the country, and refused entry.As recently as yesterday the British Home Office informed the embassy office that there has been no change in Michael Savage’s ban.”
via examiner.com
“The UK’s technology industry can pull the country out of its debt hole and make up for the decline in manufacturing.
So reckons Micro Focus, which is launching a manifesto called Making BrITain Great Again. The group is promoting five policy moves backed by its panel of three parliamentarians – Tory Lord Young of Graffam, Labour’s Lord Harris of Haringey and for the LibDems Lord Razzall of Mortlake.
The group notes the long-term decline of UK manufacturing and the recent collapse of financial services shows the need for the UK to have some basis for sustainable growth in the future. The group calls for all political parties to embrace the same five point strategy as follows.”
via theregister.co.uk
“Local authorities are still illegally spying on individuals despite curbs imposed on their covert activities, the senior official charged with scrutinising their activities said today.
The disclosure appears in the latest annual report by Sir Christopher Rose, the chief surveillance commissioner. He said it was ‘of significant concern’ that councils were conducting covert surveillance of individuals for purposes now banned under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, Ripa.
Local councils were authorised to conduct nearly 5,000 ‘directed surveillance’ missions in the year to the end of March, he revealed. Almost 5,000 were also carried out by other public authorities, including Whitehall departments.
‘Directed surveillance’ is defined as ‘covert surveillance of individuals while in a public place for the purposes of a specific investigation’. Such surveillance can be used only for the ‘protection or detection of crime or of preventing disorder’…”
via guardian.co.uk
“Home Secretary Alan Johnson is to scrap his predecessor’s policy of naming and shaming people banned from Britain for spreading race hate and terrorism. The U-turn follows Jacqui Smith’s controversial decision two months ago to announce a list of 16 people branded as ‘least wanted’ in the UK. It led to a claim for £100,000 damages by U.S. radio ’shock jock’ Michael Savage, who objected to being put in the same category as Islamic hate preachers and terrorists.
The Mail on Sunday has been told that Mr Johnson believes the move was a blunder and does not propose to issue similar lists in the future. But the switch could have major legal consequences for the Government. Mr Savage is suing Ms Smith for libel over the list and abandoning the policy could make it impossible to contest his demand for damages…”
via dailymail.co.uk