Those coming from Central Asia, Bahrain, Qatar or Saudi Arabia to the Olympics, interested to see what life in a democracy feels like, will find it seems exactly like life at home in their dictatorship. 17,000 soldiers will be glowering over the venues, checking identity documents, stopping and searching. The mlitary will occupy residential buildings, be buzzing overhead, rolling down the streets and patrolling the river. There will be missiles on land, sea and air, though nobody knows what the threat is that this is supposed to counter.
What will make our dictatorship resident visitors feel especially at home is the contempt for the ordinary citizen. Not only will they have the military all over them and be subject to frequent stopping and questioning, they will be expected continually to get out of the way of their betters. Special VIP lanes on the road will allow officials to sweep by, while normal citizens will simply have to sit in gridlock and stew. Who cares? The military will stick missiles on your roof if they wish. What they are going to shoot down, and which bit of London it will land on, is not to be questioned.
Here in Ramsgate we are losing our regular train service to London completely for the duration. All the HS1 trains are being commandeered to run a shuttle service between Ebbsfleet and Stratford. 22 trains a day from Ramsgate are simply cancelled. Slow trains are available, but a journey normally 70 minutes will become – at the fastest possible – 2 hours and 35 minutes. A large number of commuters will simply be unable to get to work anything like on time, and have to spend door to door over seven hours a day in travelling as well as their working day. Nobody was consulted. Quite a few don’t yet know – there has been no determined effort to tell people. Leaflets are available in the ticket office if you ask for one.
But the leaflets might as well just say, “You are fucked, and we don’t care”.
The extra 3,500 military personnel it was today announced will be used at the games cover a shortfall in Group Four personnel. Group Four were providing 4,000 paid staff and 6,000 unpaid volunteers. It is the unpaid volunteer numbers which are short by 3,500.
Most people are not stupid. They may volunteer happily for sport or for charity, but to work for nothing to make tens of millions of pounds of profit for Group Four as it exploits them, plainly does not have universal appeal. Those 2,500 who have volunteered to work for nothing for G4S are the idiots in this story. How gullible can you be?
Bob Russell, MP for Colchester, today in parliament made the excellent point to Teresa May that Group Four (or G4S as they now call themselves) should not be employed because of their role in aiding and abetting Israel’s illegal activities in the West Bank and human rights abuse there. With breathtaking chutzpah Teresa May replied that it was this kind of valuable international experience that made Group Four the right company to provide security for the games.
Which brings me back to my point at the start. Those visiting from oppressive regimes will feel absolutely at home. That is the one and only thing you can trust Teresa May to ensure with grim efficiency.
Thanks for the Russ Baker link OldMark, his insight helped me understand the role of Turkey in the Syrian civil war.
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Ben-Gurion called the Turkey/Israel alliance a ‘mistress relationship’ i.e. kept secret. This accord although unwritten is historical and Turkey was the first Muslim majority state to recognise the State of Israel.
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Today, despite a recent cooling of this harmony, this American administration is weaving a move towards reconciliation by encouraging Israel to provide humanitarian aid to refugees escaping from the Syrian civil war into Turkey, thus establishing a platform for mediation. The plan is an element of the British/American ‘psychological operations’ a term which describes Israel’s proposals to break the Tehran-Damascus-Beirut-Hamas axis despite the enormous cost to civilian lives.
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To understand the complicated way Turkey, a NATO member and majority Muslim state, is supporting regime change in Syria, one has to comprehend the power of the Turkish military, a secretive, formidable institution revered and feared in equal measure. Guardians of secularism, all Turkish males are conscripted and conscientious objections are forbidden. A number of leaks have exposed the measure of American/Turkish/Israeli cooperation originates from army echelons who have an affiliate relationship with America and Israel spawned originally from the Adana now Incirlik Air Base which houses US nukes, the United States and Turkey Defense and Economic Cooperation Agreement and Israeli arms deals.
and you pay the Licence Fee for this?
Daily Mail: The 148 BBC stars avoiding tax: MPs attack ‘immoral’ tactics of presenters who reduce their tax bills by being paid through private companies
The BBC employs the TV and radio presenters through ‘personal service companies’ that allow them to minimise contributions to the Exchequer
The deals also allow the corporation to sidestep millions of pounds in national insurance
Six top BBC presenters earned at least £1million last year
16 of its ‘top talent’ earned at least £500,000
The Treasury recently revealed that some 2,400 senior Whitehall workers earning more than £58,000 a year are not being paid under PAYE but through limited companies.
Earlier this year it was disclosed that the head of the Student Loans Company, Ed Lester, was being paid via a personal service company…
Meanwhile, the BBC’s annual report yesterday revealed that more than half of all BBC2 shows are repeats.
The channel’s re-run rate was 55 per cent in the 12 months to April, compared with almost 50 per cent the previous year.
In the daytime, it is airing archive shows and more recent repeats, with most original shows moving over to BBC1.
BBC1 has a repeat level of 33.1 per cent, up from 32.5 per cent in the previous year, the annual report shows. At peak time, 8.4 per cent of its shows are re-runs compared with 31 per cent for BBC2…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2174268/The-148-BBC-stars-avoiding-tax-MPs-attack-immoral-tactics-presenters-reduce-tax-bills-paid-private-companies.html
“Chilcot inquiry Iraq war report delayed to 2013”
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18858217
Little known fact – John Reid is a lobbyist for G4S. I picked that up here when searching for Charles Farr, the little known eminence grise and ‘former MI6 officer, who is now the Director General of the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism at the Home Office.’
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https://p10.secure.hostingprod.com/@spyblog.org.uk/ssl/spyblog/2012/04/22/sunday-times-profile-of-charles-farr—is-he-personally-responsible-for-ccdp-sno.html
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Farr appeared before this committee the other day
{https://p10.secure.hostingprod.com/@spyblog.org.uk/ssl/spyblog/2012/07/10/surprisingly-strong-questioning-of-charles-farr-by-lord-lord-blencathra-chair-of.html}
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and I understand will be called by Vaz’s committee on the Olympics debacle.
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PS Hunt looked his usual self yesterday when May attempted and failed to defuse the hubbub. He stared vacantly into space and chews the air. May looks increasingly flaky.
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PPS Vaz has just said ‘We are still in a parliamentary democracy’ 🙂 He was being asked why Buckles is being dragged in to his committee when he should be sorting out the G4S fiasco.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/home-affairs-committee/news/
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links here
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Committee publish Olympics security correspondence
Letters from the Met Police and LOCOG published on 17 July 2012
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Committee to question G4S on Olympic Security
G4S Chief Executive, Nick Buckles, to answer to Committee on Olympic Security
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Committee Chair writes to G4S Chief Executive
Committee calls Nick Buckles to give oral evidence
HSBC, the bank that likes to say yes to drug traffickers, especially in Mexico, its so much easier to buy US assault weapons of all calibres and fight the Mexican police when one banks with the scoundrels in the same bank and said bank smoothed the way of transactions.
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This is the bank that brought you the JP Morgan HSBC silver fraud, what are they going to do next?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/17/hsbc-money-laundering-us-senate
The nasty little aliens’ eyes are CCTV cameras, Clark.
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Here’s Huxley telling Orwell why “Brave New World” is a better predictor than “1984”. I think he’s right. Discuss.
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/03/1984-v-brave-new-world.html
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Chilcot’s delaying because it can’t publish the incriminating details on Blair which might, er, hinder our relations with the US. The Olympics security fracas is traceable to the US demanding better protection from the possible consequences of its own actions. British citizens can be extradited without evidence for actions which do not contravene British law, tried and jailed in the US…etc. There’s a common theme there somewhere.
Kingfelix, no worries.
I’m Irish and I live in Ireland. I’d be interested in your take on RTE, depending on how long you lived here and whether you formed an opinion. I get weary of their take on ‘world affairs’ since they seem to regurgitate the White House line on just about everything.
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I travelled through N. Ireland yesterday, and was surprised to see so many Union Jacks (many more than usual in recent times), until I remembered that the Queen had recently been there. I’m now in Donegal, in bright sunshine and warmth, having left a rain-soaked Dublin yesterday.
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Nevermind:
“I’m a twitter nonentity, just can’t say things in haiku alone. why is this 140 character limit mandatory?”
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Using Twitter is a discipline, for me. I assume the 140 limit is because it was designed to be used with mobile phones, which have a 140 limit on text messages. I’ve had to learn to condense a thought and add a link, and do it all within that limit. It’s not easy, but one adapts. I use it with my laptop, via the browser, or more often with a desktop app like Tweetdeck or Seesmic. (Twitter shortens links for you automatically.)
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As a ‘microblogging’ facility, it allows one to push out 3,4,5 times or more the amount of info one would normally publish daily on a blog. Also, I follow a couple of wits (one Irish, one English) who can reduce me to tears of laughter in the middle of my most sombre thoughts. They’re worth their weight in gold.
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Jon,
Good luck with the blog modification, or to whoever is doing it. I wonder does Craig know that people speak to him on Twitter and then (occasionally) comment about not getting replies. I know Craig is probably far too busy to engage with Twitter, but he might like to access/read his account occasionally. Some of the people who speak to him there sound as if they know him personally. (Or did, I haven’t looked recently.)
Reid is more than a lobbyist, Mary. He was hired as a consultant by G4S in 2008.
But then the Guardian is the most depressing rag these days, inaccurate and the backbone for the coalition, nothing can faze their beliefs.
For example, posting references to a new political Alliance must happen every minute of the day, cause my posting of a link to the EDP article was binned on three threads relevant to new politics.
Guardian moderation is becoming depressingly accustomed to Orwells ministry of truth ( and deception), especially when one thinks of their Libya coverage, now repeated with distortions of Syrian events. The Guardian has become lazy complacent and controlled by……
please fill in the empty space with any vested interest advertiser and/or middle eastern paymaster.
It’s companies like G4S that really embody the “something for nothing” culture
After Workfare, the Olympics fiasco is another rocket fired into the side of the HMS Private Sector Efficiency.
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http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/voices/2012/07/its-companies-g4s-who-really-embody-something-nothing-culture
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‘We know that G4S is one of the participants in the DWP’s Work Programme from Freedom of Information request 3238/2011. We know that Close Protection UK – the company at the centre of the Jubilee fiasco – are themselves sub-contracted to G4S for Olympic fire safety stewards. We know that workfare placements for the Jubilee were offered as training with the possibility of lucrative Olympics jobs on completion. We know that G4S defended Close Protection UK as an approved contractor who required no further vetting. We know that back in February G4S were advertising Olympic Recruitment with the words “not a job vacancy but you might find it interesting”.’
Nevermind – HSBC and others – fund cluster bomb manufacture
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-banks-fund-deadly-clusterbomb-industry-2338168.html
Komodo. Consultant, lobbyist, whatever. Gangster-in-charge I say.
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http://www.securityoracle.com/news/G4S-Appoints-John-Reid-As-Group-Consultant_14833.html
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Remember the tanks at Heathrow? Something similar in the air?
This is surreal:
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“Britain flooded with ‘brand police’ to protect sponsors”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain-flooded-with-brand-police-to-protect-sponsors-7945436.html
Mary, that bit about John Reid. Breathtaking. Hideous. Beyond belief. The Beria of British politics. The poster boy of Glasgow Labour (says everything -if you know anything about the Stygian depths of Glasgow Labour).
I might have chosen Mandelson for the Beria role, he has that ‘je ne sais quoi-loucheness that will tolerate any indignity, but Mandelson was always just a a sleazy go-between, and never a Stalinist, unlike Reid.
There is always the delicious possibility that he may find himself, even yet, answerable for his actions. Sweet moment if it comes.
Nuid, it only seems surreal because it’s unfamiliar. This is corporate totalitarianism. We’re not surprised when people in political dictatorships are punished for making a silly joke about the president, or when religious extremists condemn people for some imagined slight against their holy book. This is just the corporate version.
According to Steve Jackson’s Illuminati card game of the 90’s London is going to be the scene of a disaster involving smoke/gas and seismic events during the Olympics. The card depicts multi-ethnic people dressed in the Olympic colours running away from what looks like a collapsing Big Ben with a huge fire-storm/explosion behind them.
The two cards showing the 9/11 WTC and Pentagon attacks prompted the US authorities to raid Steve Jackson’s offices and take his computers.
The card called ‘Nuclear Monster’ shows Godzilla rising from the sea and mentions Japan by name.
Just sayin’.
“Nuid, it only seems surreal because it’s unfamiliar. This is corporate totalitarianism.”
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The reaction on Twitter when I sent that out was one of shock, from the UK. I found myself wondering if Americans are more used to this than we are …
Signs of what lies ahead perhaps, and not to be welcomed.
Step 1
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-18867776
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Coming soon from the SNP…Step 2…Keep Trident!!!.
Thanks for that obscene hilarity Nuid. So council employees paid for by the taxpayer to enforce health and safety and trading standards in London businesses, are dispatched all over the Country and Northern Ireland to enforce ODA law.
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What if a shop keeper anticipates a visit and or sees them these purple headed mascot savvies coming. S/he shuts his shop for the day, there and then, is it feasible that these corporate snoops be calling the police and demand entry?
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Like many obstinate restaurants on the frills of the Olympics site I shall arrange my spaghetti in the shape of the Olympic rings and serve the Bolognese within the rings, all Italian off course, one does want to support our EU neighbours.
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I hereby vow to ignore all the aforementioned brands in the article and shall be whipped in public if I so much think of breaking this solemn undertaking, please share.
Sod the Corpolympics!
A small detail re. the AllPimpics which may have escaped hon-members’ attention:
http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/an-olympic-tax-dodge
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We’re broke, but we can’t offend our rich friends by subjecting them to UK tax law. Dear us, no.
“running away from what looks like a collapsing Big Ben”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/23/leaning-tower-big-ben-mps
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Just sayin’.
Arsesore Mittal’s erection – very appropriate use for:
http://www.blowe.org.uk/2012/07/bosnians-call-for-renaming-of.html
The funny part of it all is, whilst the lawyers and the corporate vultures are seeking to clamp down on any infringements of the copy rights and the licenses thereof revenue.
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The ordinary punters do not give one flying fuck about their oh so intertwined rings! Talk about disconnect, the whole bally lot of the merchandisers are indeed lost in their own maze of intertwined anuses. Can these cretins not understand that they have pushed their luck and no one is interested in the fucking Olympics anymore?
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The London Gold Rush has turned into the Great London Circle Jerk, and as it stands the next host of the Olympics will have a very easy task beating us and our miserable offering without the legalities and technicalities.
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Frankly I will make a point of not watching any of the fucking events, stuff the organizers and their greed, and power trip.
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Worst of it all is to watch the grayed Daily Thompson peddling washing up powder, that just about sums up the London Olympics; over rated washout, total shambles, and a singular salutatory example of how to fuck up big. Atlanta (an exercise in absolute fuck up) will be held a notch higher than the London Olympics in the history of Olympics.
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Cue the “teerrrrriiists” to divert attention form this monumental failure, no wonder Blair has been put in charge of the legacy operation, the “organizers” needed some international criminal cartel connections to dispose of the evidence PDQ.
Good insight Komodo on your Chilcot comment – that long tongue samples the air and can ‘taste’ the bunco.
The wide boys from G4S are being gently grilled by the Home Affairs Committee at the moment.Ch 80 and 82 Freeview
One of them is Ian Horseman Sewell.
http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/ian-horseman-sewell/0/38a/956
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Managing Director – Major Events & Account Director – London 2012 G4S Secure Solutions UK
Public Company; 10,001+ employees; GFS; Security and Investigations industry
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December 2009 – Present (2 years 8 months) London, United Kingdom
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Responsible for developing G4S’s supply of security and safety solutions at global sporting, political and entertainment events.
Led G4S’s succcessful bid to become Official Provider of Security Services to the London 2012 Games.
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No laughing in the back please!
Q. Where is the law?
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Blair-Bush Iraq war transcript may be suppressed
Government may block information tribunal ruling that ordered record of phone conversation to be released, sources confirm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/17/blair-bush-iraq-war-transcript
‘If the government halts publication it would be the third time the coalition has overruled an information tribunal ruling since January. This is despite promises from David Cameron and Nick Clegg that they would lead the most transparent government ever.’
So much for the freedom of speech on Twitter. Gabriele Zamparini’s account has been suspended. He is the vigilant Italian who monitors the corporate mainstream output and corrects the journalists and reporters involved especially with regard to their output of lies about Syria and previously Libya. Someone with power is behind this move. Outrageous. Only inanities and mindless chit chat are obviously allowed on Twitter.
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http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/thread/1342525411.html
Chilcot hasn’t moved since this time last year, with one important exception. Then, Cameron was allegedly urging Blair to release the letters. Now, he isn’t.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1348597/Iraq-war-Chilcot-Inquiry-Cameron-puts-pressure-Blair-letters-Bush.html
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There is more to this than meets the eye.