I was about to go into my box at the Lyceum Theatre last night when I received a text that there was a pro-independence demo on at Holyrood. So I abandoned my hosts (I did not feel quite as bad about this as I had stood for pre-theatre supper), fled the theatre and positively jogged down to parliament. I passed most of the demonstrators leaving on their way home, saltires draped over shoulders and Guido masks on top of heads. But there were still a few hundred there when I arrived, listening to unpractised speakers telling their very real stories: the independence cause continues to be a genuinely popular movement. One young demonstrator told me how proud they had been as they marched down the Royal Mile, with pedestrians homeward bound after a day’s work spontaneously stepping off the pavement to join the march, and the bars emptying. I then watched the fireworks bursting over Edinburgh.
I said a while back that if we won independence, I would move back to Scotland. Well, independence is now so inevitable I am indeed moving back, and have been flat-hunting. This is now an Edinburgh blog, and I hope from this weekend will have its Edinburgh home.
Lewes has been much in the news lately. Yesterday they were going to burn an effigy of Alex Salmond, and then didn’t. It is a conundrum why a town which genuinely retains the most radical popular political traditions in England, also is the most fervent place of practice of the reactionary art of catholic effigy burning. They vary this now by burning protestants, too. Cameron and Clegg have been done. I think my fellow Scottish Nationalists who got very upset about the potential Salmond burning were perhaps overreacting. The mistake of the members of the Lewes Waterloo Society was to fail to realise that Salmond is not merely another self-serving member of the political class; the selection was not based on race.
The tradition of burning Guy Fawkes reflects the undeniable fact that there used to be a genuine popular enthusiasm for parliament, which was seen as a bastion against Papal despotism, even long before the large majority of the population had a vote. Nowadays Parliament has become a very different kind of symbol. It symbolises an highly oppressive, authoritarian, narrow political class which shamelessly makes money at our expense, while furthering the interests of vast corporations which enforce the low wage economy and astonishing, ever growing, wealth gap.
The natural instincts of most people today lie with the man who tried to blow up parliament.
It is truly remarkable that, while the BBC and rest of the mainstream media gave hour by hour coverage of the democracy movement protests in Hong Kong, there was virtually no coverage of the violent and brutal treatment, over days, of the Occupy Democracy protest in Parliament Square in London. Nor any mention that there was far less democracy in Hong Kong under British rule than Chinese.
In Lewes, I once spoke to a flourishing political society which claims a direct descent from one founded by Thomas Paine himself- a vivid reminder to us in Scotland that there is a native radical tradition in Southern England, deep underground and waiting to be rediscovered. Lewes also has as its MP Norman Baker, one of the most decent men in politics, who recently resigned as a junior minister over the government’s entirely illogical “war on drugs” – illogical not least because of the drug habits of so many MPs. My current host, Hugh Kerr, when an MEP once made a speech in the European Parliament where he pointed out that many members were voting against drug liberalisation with whom he had personally participated in drug taking. An example of the excessive honesty that led to Hugh being forced out of the Labour Party.
Norman Baker was the subject of many vicious pieces in the mainstream media following his resignation. The crime of daring to think outside the box on drugs, and even worse crime of disagreeing with right wing nutjob and media darling Theresa May, meant that Baker had to be thoroughly monstored. But the most disgraceful and cowardly of all these attacks came from the Guardian of state stooge Alan Rusbridger. This is simply an appalling piece of journalism.
I have met Norman Baker a couple of times, and had a very entertaining conversation with him about Murder in Samarkand on Lewes railway station. The subject of UFO’s never came up. Indeed, if you google “Norman Baker, UFO” you get hundreds of media stories, all of them put out following Baker’s resignation and very evidently put about by Theresa May, for whom the Guardian is but a sounding board. In fact Norman Baker did once suggest in parliament that UFO cases deserved proper official investigation, which seems a perfectly rational view – and as the British government has, over decades, amassed thousands of files on UFO sightings, a view clearly widely held.
Baker’s other great sin is to believe David Kelly was murdered. Well, I think it is very probable indeed that David Kelly was murdered, and so, I suspect, do a very large percentage of the population. If the establishment is truly so confident that David Kelly was not murdered, it is remarkable that they refuse to have an inquest and allow a jury to decide the question in the normal way.
Norman Baker’s true crime was not to be a fully paid up member of the political class. He had never been a special adviser or political assistant. he had some hinterland, other interests, and did not confine his thinking within the tiny sphere of neo-con orthodoxy beyond which the corporate media will declare you a nutter. Politicians must all look the same, and Theresa May and Nigel Farage are now the only acceptable templates.
just ordered the norman baker book
the strange death of david kelly. methuen 2007 XVI,399 pp
for 6 pounds. with interesting sources and ref.s: gordon thomas, tom mangold, michael ruppert, andrew gilligan, robin cook, dr wouter basson (!),ken alibek, robert parry et al
any interest? [email protected]
Many of those names Andreas are what I call ‘inserts’.
It had never occurred to me that Dr Kelly wasn’t murdered.
The automatic assumption is that Westminster lie. That they would be telling the truth on this one occasion is, I suppose, remotely possible, but unlikely.
“I wonder what would happen if I burnt an effigy of the Queen along
with a Union flag & a St George’s cross flag outside Holyrood or
Buckingham Palace.
I would, no doubt, be arrested.”
_____________________
You probably would. Just as you would probably be arrested if you burnt any effigy or indeed anything else in the street.
You probably know that burning your garden waste in your own garden is a thing of the past as it is now against municipal by-laws everywhere (I imagine) in England.
Guy Fawkes night is an exception to bonfires (with or without the attendant burning of effigies) both in private spaces such as your garden or in public spaces under the aegis and with the permission of the municipal authorities.
So your point – although accurate – is rather pointless, isn’t it. Perhaps you were just trying to be pseudo-politically clever?
Why the exceedingly high mortality rate among leading microbiologists? MH17 – a second plane carrying leading microbiologists!
-Kelly and W of MD- is that the narrative they’d prefer us to believe? Was this book, written by a member of parliament, just a diversion?
If you add up how many researchers into ‘pathogenic organisms’ died under suspicious circumstances around that time it does not look much like coincidence!!!
Salmond’s reaction to that Lewes act was as good as they get.
“What has Nessie ever done to East Sussex Conservatives?”
“And if they think that I am some kind of threat to the Westminster Establishment,then they’re right!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhAdAV_tWgo
Vronsky 6 Nov, 2014 – 9:59 am
My sentiments too. That I think was the weakness of Norman Baker’s book. At the end he presents all kinds of possible distractions to protect the government which, let’s face it, he serves. I would like to think it was not our security services but with their involvement in torture and dirty tricks, like the arrest and wrongful imprisonment of Moazzam Begg, it seems more than plausible. Mossad, perhaps. Who knows? Perhaps an inquest might have opened some doors. Not now though. The so-called Justice and Security Act (2013) has been introduced to protect the war-criminals.
Chapter and verse here.
The Murder of Dr. David Kelly. “A Symbol of the Blackness of the Tony Blair Cabal”
By Dr. David Halpin, September 05, 2013
The Mysterious Death of Dr David Kelly: “Subversion of Due Process” of the Law in the United Kingdom
Professor Richard Shepherd and the Unnatural Death of Dr David Kelly: Haemorrhage from Cutting the Ulnar Artery. A Sole Cause of Death?
By Dr. David Halpin, August 13, 2013
Subversion of Due Process: The Death of Dr. David Kelly
The Unnatural Death of Dr David Kelly: The Illusions of the Illicit Hutton Inquiry – the ‘Forensics’
By Dr. David Halpin, August 08, 2013
Political Assasination? Was Dr. David Kelly about to Blow that Whistle? Evidence from Daughter Rachel Kelly
By Dr. David Halpin, August 05, 2013
The Political Assassination of Dr. David Kelly: The Post Mortem Reports
By Dr. David Halpin, July 29, 2013
The ‘Unnatural’ Death of Dr Kelly: The Forensic Pathology – The Subversion of Due Process Continues
By Dr. David Halpin, July 24, 2013
Links on http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/david-halpin
Putin did not escape either at Lewes
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1415275215.html
Craig If you are at all interested Straw is on Ch 131 now introducing a debate on UK Foreign Policy and Iran.
Photographs, which would show whether Dr David Kelly’s body had been moved or not before the arrival of the chief pathologist, are being withheld despite numerous requests for a small panel of medical practitioners to see and evaluate them. All the indications are that he was murdered.
“I think the important part of Anonymous is that they are mostly young, and they are highly technically skilled. Governments in the world cannot function without highly technically skilled people – witness Edward Snowden. Now that being the case, each government is going to have people who have not only highly technical skills but also have a conscience. Care about the other 99 percent, as we say in this country, care about people who are being deprived of their rights in Palestine of their very existence. Palestine too was voiced in some of these demonstrations. There is a worldwide way to connect people now and these young people – bless them – are doing that connection.”
Ray Mc Govern.
“Social animals are linked in networks of information exchange…
…
…The result is a complex adaptive system …a web of semi-independent operatives linked to a form of a learning machine…
…Pit one socially networked problem-solving web against another, a constantoccurrence in nature, and the one which most successfully takes advantage of complex adaptive system rule, that which is the most powerful cooperative learning contraption, will almost always win.”
Howard Bloom.
…
Pitted against an increasingly alert minority of global citizens we have we state hierarchies hardwired for functional stupidity,
“…organizationally-supported lack of reflexivity, substantive reasoning, and justification. It entails a refusal to use intellectual resources outside a narrow and “safe” terrain. It can provide a sense of certainty that allows organizations to function smoothly. This can save the organization and its members from the frictions provoked by doubt and reflection.
Functional stupidity contributes to maintaining and strengthening organizational order. It can also motivate people, help them to cultivate their careers, and subordinate them to socially acceptable forms of management and leadership. Such positive outcomes can further reinforce functional stupidity.”
Dmitry Orlov… More here, http://cluborlov.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/understanding-organizational-stupidity.html
…
Only a matter of time then?
Mary: thanks for the David Halpin links, chapter and verse indeed. He posts here occasionally and so does his sister.
When normal standard procedures are not followed by the rule makers then there’s obviously something up.When doctors and pathologists abandon centuries old protocols then its as suspicious as f***.Or when the laws of gravity seem to be suspended for a day then it no longer seems plausible.
Princess Dianna , Dr David Kelly ,and even Robin Cook were treated differently and there has never been any explanation why.Now we are conspiracy theorists for being curious.
The shit at the top don’t even try to hide their mess anymore as they own the press and television.And just in case we night think for ourselves they give us something else to talk about with 7 day a week football.. there is always sports on.
And as Tony O mentioned, they’ve destroyed the expenses files so there will be no way of finding out more damaging material on the obedient puppets of Westminster.
Alex Salmond resigned because he said that he thinks people should be responsible for their failures.It hasn’t been that way in a very long time on the banks of the Thames.
@John Goss
The execution of Kelly was one of those ‘pour encourager les autres’ things. I’ve never considered Mossad – Kelly’s murder is just a familiar piece of British housekeeping, like Willie McRae’s unfortunate missing of a corner on his way to Dornie.
http://tinyurl.com/mq8t4lc
Thanks Sophia…
-Pit one socially networked problem-solving web against another, a constantoccurrence in nature, and the one which most successfully takes advantage of complex adaptive system rule, that which is the most powerful cooperative learning contraption, will almost always win-
Yes
This ties into Gregory Batesons much overlooked theories of the ecology of the mind and cybernetics…systems theory. Connecting people to people and people to where they belong within and as a part of the system that provides their daily needs…The Ecosystem!
http://www.centerforneweconomics.org/content/lindisfarne-tapes
Vronsky
‘pour encourager les autres’
I wonder what kind of encouragement the family received to ensure their, silence?
“I’ve never considered Mossad”
Israel is interested in everything to do with the Middle East. Also, wasn’t Kelly involved in that business about the missing Israeli nukes?
Johnstone: “Why the exceedingly high mortality rate among leading microbiologists? MH17 – a second plane carrying leading microbiologists!”
There were just six delegates to the Australian AIDS conference on that flight; only one of them – Joep Lange – was a clinical researcher. The others seem to have been non-medical activists, spokespersons etc for various HIV/AIDS organisations.
Source: http://www.nature.com/news/hiv-community-reels-from-losses-in-mh17-plane-tragedy-1.15584
You’ll find a full passenger manifest on the web, if you’re inclined to investigate further.
Johnstone.
Thanks for the reminder of Gregory Bateson,
“But the myth of power is, of course, a very powerful myth, and probably most people in this world more or less believe in it. It is a myth, which, if everybody believes in it, becomes to that extent self-validating. But it is still epistemological lunacy and leads inevitably to various sorts of disaster.”
Seems to me there is a growing number of poeple, the young especially, can see behind the curtain.
Regarding lerning webs, look how quickly, the BBC buildings have become a gathering place of choice! Nice one!
David Kelly did not kill himself. A group of citizen doctors revealed this fact very early on when they stated categorically that the wrist cutting and “overdose”, as described by the propagandist state and their controlled media, could not possibly have killed him. There was far too little blood at the scene for that to be credible.
Personally I knew that it was a fit up as soon as I saw the look of panic on Bliars face on the day of Kelly’s death. He was clearly rattled and knew that he was on thin ice. So I assumed that it was a deep state action, and that he was initially out of the loop as their mere puppet. But that he had to handle the cover up
His use of Hutton was a very effective distraction. And booted the whole affair into the long grass. Where it still resides today in effect.
How strange.
A post of mine, replying to a question on masks, put to me by DonnyDarkSide and to a “Noddy” post written by Mr Goss, appears to have disappeared.
What is even stranger is that the posts from Donny and Mr Goss have also vanished.
The birth of a new moderation policy while Craig is busy flat-hunting…?
Getting back to MH17, it does seem a bit strange that the BBC (nor apparently any other news source) could present any witnesses in the area of the MH17 disaster who claimed to have seen the distinctive and relatively long lasting (up to 10min) vapour trail left behind by a BUK anti-aircraft missile in flight.
Western News-Suppression about the Downing of MH-17 Malaysian Jet
By Eric Zuesse
snip
Russia has thus been releasing its own investigations regarding MH-17; and, in the process, Russia is not only providing further details as to how the downing actually happened (it wasn’t by mistake, as the West contends it was), but they are also exposing the absurd impossibility of the Ukrainian Government’s ‘explanation’ of this event, which is the ‘explanation’ that is still being parroted unquestioningly and unflinchingly by officials in Washington, Europe, and NATO, and also by Western ‘news’ media. (As my news-report explained, that secret August 8th agreement was signed by the four governments that were handed the black boxes to study — Ukraine, Belgium, Australia, and Netherlands — and it granted to the Ukrainian Government a veto over anything that the team’s official report would say, which is probably the reason why the subsequent officially released report on those black boxes said essentially nothing. It was a brazen insult to the 298 victims’ families.)
snip
The Russian documentary was titled, “MH-17: The Untold Story,” and it presents videos of several “Buk” missiles being fired. Here’s one: pic of BUK missile launch
That passage shows the missile, a 9K37 Buk SA-11 Gadfly, which is a bit longer than ten yards (30 feet) — this large (and certainly not inconspicuous) missile — being launched from its standard launch-base.
The documentary then notes: caption in a pic of BUK missile firing which states: “As I said, A BUK anti-aircraft missile system leaves a long vapour trail”
And then this:pic of BUK missile leaving a vapour trail
And then this:pic of BUK missile leaving a vapour trail
And then this:pic of BUK missile leaving a vapour trail
So, when even the BBC’s reporter wasn’t able to find anyone in that entire region who recounts having seen anything of the sort, just how likely would the Ukrainian Government’s line on that matter actually be? Obviously, any person with any military knowledge whatsoever had to have recognized virtually immediately that the Ukrainian Government’s story-line on the MH-17 downing was a pile of sheer malarkey, but did anyone in the Western ‘news’ media report that it was — that the Western line there was not just a lie, but an absurd one, one that requires an ignorant public in order for it to be able to be taken seriously at all by the public? One that requires an ignorant public, to remain ignorant? This is supposed to be the Western ‘news’ media, with a free press, and a democracy, a truthfully informed citizenry, who can vote based upon truths, not on mere lies?
Link to source: http://rinf.com/alt-news/editorials/western-news-suppression-downing-mh-17-malaysian-jet/
13:24 to 13:29 BBCBridget interviewing lots of Swedes etc. on R4 World at One, where she contrasted the East/West West\East “hybrid war” – she still thinks that a top Estonian Spy “who is being ‘alleged’ by Moscow as a Spy,” is an “official”. Yes, he’s an official, but he’s also a top Spy!
I personally know people who had an office in beautiful Tallinn, fairly recently a guy came in from the street, asked “Do you sell 4-candles?” or some such inane verbiage, then he left. 2 minutes later the KAPO raided the office ‘in search of secret documents.’ Magically, there was an A4 document of secrets on a desk, next to where the previous agent had just left it!
Cue a week in secret detention, no lawyer, no phone call, no medicine, at least KAPO were nice enough to offer bread & water, I do hope FSB is looking after Mr Kohver better than KAPO look after people that they framed, and better than UKUSA looked after Dr Kelly.
Habbabkuk (La Vita È Bella) – nothing shows in the WordPress moderator panel as having been deleted today.
Mods : apologies, they’re all on the previous thread. A dissenter’s life is a hard one…sometimes.
DonnyDarkThoughts
“Princess Dianna {sic}, Dr David Kelly ,and even Robin Cook were treated differently and there has never been any explanation why.”
_________________
I gather from the general tone of your post that you believe that these three individuals were all murdered.
In your opinion, were the following also murdered as part of a cover-up : Steven Ward (of Profumo affair fame); Jimmy Savile; Harvey Proctor: Cyril Smith; Anthony Crosland; Harold Wilson; Jim Morrison; Uncle Tom Cobbley?
More names will follow if you’re still up for it.
Rather good Dissident Voice article (lots of links) contrasting the Occupy Central protests in Hong Kong with anti-protest laws and control elsewhere in the world:
The Soft-power of Hong Kong Protesters
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/11/the-soft-power-of-hong-kong-protesters/
By Wei Ling Chua, who styles himself Outcast Journalist and runs this blog on Media Disinformation in mainstream Western media:
http://outcastjournalist.com/index_files/media_disinformation.htm
The Dutch are reporting that Ukraine “doesn’t want Malaysia to be part of the MH17 research team”:
http://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/politiek/oekraine-wil-maleisie-niet-onderzoeksteam-mh17
Because? “Confidentiality reasons.” Hmmm.
Mrs Gimble
I am inclined not to believe anything I read in print these days.
The weirdness that is the main stream media manipulation of every single world event including MH17 where we are told who done it minutes after the ‘so called crash’ tell you theres something very very fishy indeed about it… unless you’re just plain gullible..so KEEP AN OPEN MIND
Norman Baker – one of the good guys. I remember he was banging on for years that MPs should reveal their expenses, long before the expenses scandal blew open.
Him and Alastair Carmichael of Orkney/Shetland might be the only two Lib Dems left in May 2015…