The terrible death of Dawn Sturgess casts a new shadow over the Salisbury Affair. Dawn appears to have been a popular and well grounded woman with close friend and family ties, whose life had taken a downward turn before being cruelly ended.
The illogical, inconsistent and shifting government narrative over events in Salisbury and Amesbury had appeared so ludicrous as to be tragi-comic. Any sense of amusement is now abruptly dispelled. But less us take a serious and sober look at the government case.
Savid Javid stated today:
We know back in March that it was the Russians. We know it was a barbaric, inhuman act by the Russian state. Again, for this particular incident, we need to learn more and let the police do their work.
Actually, we know no such thing and, contrary to Javid’s deliberate insinuation, the police have adduced no evidence that it was the Russian state.
The media appear to have entirely excluded from the narrative that Porton Down specifically stated that they cannot determine the origin of the poison that attacked the Skripals. Nor has the OPCW. There are scores of both state and non-state actors who could have produced the nerve agent. No evidence has been produced as to the physical person who allegedly administered the poison. In short, nothing so far has been shown which would lead any reasonable person to conclude a case against the Russian state was proven.
I believe this following is the government narrative currently. I hope I am not mistating it:
Russia has a decade long secret programme of producing and stockpiling novichok nerve agents. It also has been training agents in secret assassination techniques, and British intelligence has a copy of the Russian training manual, which includes instruction on painting nerve agent on doorknobs. The Russians chose to use this assassination programme to target Sergei Skripal, a double agent who had been released from jail in Russia some eight years previously.
Only the Russians can make novichok and only the Russians had a motive to attack the Skripals.
The Russians had been tapping the phone of Yulia Skripal. They decided to attack Sergei Skripal while his daughter was visiting from Moscow. Their trained assassin(s) painted a novichok on the doorknob of the Skripal house in the suburbs of Salisbury. Either before or after the attack, they entered a public place in the centre of Salisbury and left a sealed container of the novichok there.
The Skripals both touched the doorknob and both functioned perfectly normally for at least five hours, even able to eat and drink heartily. Then they were simultaneously and instantaneously struck down by the nerve agent, at a spot in the city centre coincidentally close to where the assassins left a sealed container of the novichok lying around. Even though the nerve agent was eight times more deadly than Sarin or VX, it did not kill the Skripals because it had been on the doorknob and affected by rain.
Detective Sergeant Bailey attended the Skripal house and was also poisoned by the doorknb, but more lightly. None of the other police who attended the house were affected.
Four months later, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess were rooting about in public parks, possibly looking for cigarette butts, and accidentally came into contact with the sealed container of a novichok. They were poisoned and Dawn Sturgess subsequently died.
I am going to leave you to mull over that story yourselves for a while. I believe it is a fair statement of the British government narrative. I also believe almost (but not quite) every single sentence is very obviously untrue. I hope tomorrow to publish a detailed analysis explaining why that is, but want you to look at it yourselves first.
One final thought. I trust that Dawn Sturgess will get a proper and full public inquest in accordance with normal legal process, something which was denied to David Kelly. I suspect that is something the government will seek to delay as long as possible, even indefinitely.
So the government wants to retract its bellicose claims against Russia without losing face. It was druggies wot dunnit. The Foreign Secretary has done an Afghanistan before having compromising himself in an embarrassing sweat with one of Trump’s pre-used irresistible sirens you pick up in foreign hotels . British whitewash rules ok and diplomatic relations with Russia can resume.
latest reports are Charlie is conscience , but is reported as a marginal improvement. My question is did the hospital not induce a coma for both Charlie and Dawn , like the Skripals
So whats say It was indeed Charlie and Dawn, caught on the CCTV , laughing at the camera because they’re on the way to the bench to shoot up with a nice little score of carfentanyl.
The bench is empty, because the Skripals are feeding the ducks.
Freya Church notes the druggies on the bench before they lurch off, leaving Dawn’s bag behind.
The Skripals come to the bench , check the bag out and are immediately assailed and overcome by the vapors of the druggies clumsily spilt carfentanyl
(Russians are peculiarly susceptible as the theatre siege in Moscow demonstrated)
Later when the Home Office is informed of the Skripals situation in hospital, unscrupulous advisers persuade Theresa to kick up an almighty fuss.They say the evidence of Novichok will come later, but secretly they are planning for May’s downfall.They are playing the long game, visualising the collapse of the May govt, wholesale resignations , a snap election, and a new referendum on Brexit
Sounds very reasonable thinking…
apart from the skripal link to the trump dossier.
So as above apart from they are not feeding the ducks, they are waiting at the pre-arranged place for their disappearance. And C&D have been promised the trip of their lives if they meet the fairy godfather dealer at the bench at 3.45.
Was Sergei Skripol dealing Fentanyl?
The Clinical Services Journal (UK) reported the Skripals were poisoned with Fentanyl. Drug dealing has been one means by which participants in America’s witness protection programs have “earned” supplemental income.
Here we go. It bodes well for the future of OUR NHS.
New health sec took £30k in donations from chairman of think tank pushing to abolish NHS
10 Jul 2018
Matthew Hancock, the new Health Sec has received £30,000 in private donations, since 2010, from the chairman of IEA, a free market think tank that advocates the abolition of the NHS, raising questions of a conflict of interest.
According to parliament’s Register of Members’ Financial Interests, the newly-appointed minister in charge of the NHS has taken yearly payments from Neil Record, chairman of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) since 2015, totalling £30k, since Hancock became Tory MP for West Suffolk in 2010. Record had previously sat on the right wing think tank’s board for seven years until his appointment as chairman.
The majority of the eight payments made by Record to Hancock were £4,000 each and registered as payments towards “support of my parliamentary work and travel costs in my capacity as an MP.” In 2016, the Independent reported that Record had revealed he was supporting Hancock because he was of the view that he has “a very sound political philosophy,” and that the financial donations helped to assist the Tory MP in the running of his staff.
/..
https://www.rt.com/uk/432487-hancock-nhs-iea-abolish/
Right wingers are supported in this way by propaganda tanks allowing them to come out ahead of any real talent available in their party, hence the poor quality of MPs in the Conservative Party.
The NHS was abolished in 2012, all they are bound to do is cart you off someone’s premises and take you to Casualty, to save a property owner the trouble of seeing you off.
Being slipped in when attention is on ‘le football’.
‘The UK is to send 440 more non-combat troops to Afghanistan, the prime minister will announce at the Brussels Nato summit. The commitment to Nato’s mission in Afghanistan will take the total number of UK troops in the country to 1,090.
As of last month, the number of Nato personnel stood at 16,000 from 39 countries, operating mainly from Kabul and focusing on training and assisting the army and police.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44787636
No wonder that there’s a brand new replacement for Headley Court. Do you remember the processions of hearses going through ‘Royal’ Wootton Bassett? What a terrible waste of British, coalition and Afghani lives.
Just wondrin’ how many troops and exactly what is the uk “contribution” in north east Syria too….been couple of references in dah Mail recently to SAS etc….cos Syria says it is going to get all its territory back and I believe that.
As of 1 August 2017, there have been 4,532 coalition deaths in Afghanistan as part of ongoing coalition operations (Operation Enduring Freedom and ISAF) since the invasion in 2001. In this total, the American figure is for deaths “In and Around Afghanistan” which, as defined by the United States Department of Defense, includes some deaths in Pakistan and Uzbekistan and the deaths of 12 CIA operatives.
As of 23 July 2015, the British forces have suffered 454 fatalities and 2,188 wounded in action, another 5,251 have suffered from disease or non-battle injuries. Of these, 404 soldiers were killed as a result of hostile action, while 49 are known to have died either as a result of illness, non-combat injuries or accidents, or have not yet officially been assigned a cause of death pending the outcome of an investigation.
The vast majority of fatalities have taken place since the redeployment of British forces to the Taliban stronghold of Helmand province in 2006, as only five men died between April 2002 and early March 2006.
Britain’s dead: https://www.gov.uk/government/fields-of-operation/afghanistan
Of course there have been deaths and injuries suffered by other coalition forces and fuller more up to date details may be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_casualties_in_Afghanistan
and here:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/262894/western-coalition-soldiers-killed-in-afghanistan/
I understand the acreage of opium poppies under cultivation in Afghanistan is at record levels, as is the production of heroin.
Meanwhile the Salisbury and Amesbury poisonings have developments all of their own.
People may be confused by the recent brazen claim by the British Home Sec Sajid Javid and British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson that the Russian Govt were responsible for the poisonings in Salisbury and Amesbury.
This display of hubris is explained by the recent developments at a meeting of the chemical weapons Inspectorate OPCW. recently
The UK/USA forced thru’ a resolution that assigns blame for chemical attacks by a majority vote of its members. The vote went 98 in favour to 9 against, with Russia voting against.
No doubt inducements and threats were used in this vote.
The assignation of blame was previously the remit of the UN security council.
It also means that the OPCW has been politicised, without credibility and no longer independent.
This dangerous development can cause a country to be attacked ,merely by accusation of using chemical weapons and without viable proof. A gift to the Dark Forces of regime change.
Perfidious Albion has reached a nadir in its Foreign policy with these changes.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20…l-weapons-vote
That was a highly ominous development.
That link from the Guardian is now coming up as a 404 – page not found.
I reckon we are going to see a big increase in the retraction of news articles in the near future. The politicization of the UN and other World regulatory bodies such as the OPCW and IAEA, by the US (and UK) will simply increase, as the US tries to bully countries into voting along with it.
One thing everyone seems agreed upon, at least, is that the poisoning of Dawn Sturgess (and now death of Dawn Sturgess) and Charlie Rowley was accidental and caused, somehow, by misadventure ie the picking up of a contaminated item.
This is an assumption.
Agreed, everything we know has come through the government laundromat, everything.
When the Brits effectively kick themselves out of the EU, probably without a paddle, and needing all the ’biznes’ contacts they can get they may have to learn to be nice to Russia. Beggars cant etc.
The British state is taking on the appearance of the drunken final days of the old Soviet system. The funhouse end of British history. Boris for Lord Protector! Vivat!
While Dawn Sturgess was collecting cigarette butts while on power full drugs in the countryside, Theresa May is doing the political equivalent on the world stage. Some zombies don’t move anymore while some others still do.
Biggest differences: (not) looking for Ego boosting & (not) harming others in the process.
my final word on novichok
https://drnshop.com/product/novichok-a-tory-prescription/
The Murdoch tentacles contd. This is a long running saga.
Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox ups bid for Sky to £14 a share
Fox’s bid to buy the rest of Sky it does not already own trumps a rival £12.50 a share offer from US cable company Comcast.
https://news.sky.com/story/rupert-murdochs-21st-century-fox-ups-bid-for-sky-to-14-a-share-11432786
‘That offer was delayed by a series of regulatory investigations first by Ofcom, the telecoms and broadcasting regulator and then by the Competition & Markets Authority, the UK’s competition regulator.
It advised the government in May that the deal should be allowed to go ahead but only if it sold Sky News to avoid concerns over plurality of media ownership in the UK.
Fox’s biggest shareholder is the Murdoch Family Trust, which is also the biggest shareholder in News Corporation, owner of The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, some of Britain’s best-selling and most influential newspapers.
The government is expected to give its blessing to the Fox offer, subject to those conditions being met, later this week.
Announcing the offer, Fox said: “As the founding shareholder in Sky, we have remained deeply committed to bringing these two organisations together to create a world class business positioned to deliver the very best entertainment experiences well into the future.’
Originally handled by Karen Bradley at the DCMS and then passed on to Hancock, now the new health secretary. Great continuity of responsibility in the Tory government. Not.
PS James Murdoch is the chair of Sky.com board.
https://www.skygroup.sky/corporate/about-sky/our-management
The new secretary of state at DCMS is Jeremy Wright, the previous Attorney General. Keep up!
Previous incumbents since 2010 have been:
Jeremy Hunt
Maria Miller
Sajid Javid
John Whittingdale
Karen Bradley
Matt Hancock
and now Jeremy Wright.
That makes 7 of them in 8 years! The civil servants must think they work in the Magic Roundabout.
”
Fentanyl is so effective at killing opioid users that one American state is planning to use the drug to carry out a death sentence.
“The US state of Nevada is slated to execute a man Wednesday with the synthetic opioid fentanyl, a drug at the center of the nationwide opioid epidemic. Nevada will be the first to execute a person with fentanyl as states scramble to find alternative lethal cocktails amid pushback from pharmaceutical companies reluctant to be linked to capital punishment…..” note first eight words..
Trump: Germany’s dependence on Russian energy supplies is “inappropriate.”
Confirmation this guy is as much a warmongering clown as the lady he defeated.
I am not sure how you reach your conclusion.
Germany has the highest current account surplus of any country in the world – currently coming in at $287 billion pa. This situation is unsustainable and both the IMF and the European Commission have raised the alarm in this regard. So far Germany simply ignores both bodies and continues with its mercantile policies.
So step forward Donald Trump to address the issue. I am not sure how exactly Germany can be persuaded to amend its policies, but I am sure that with regard to energy there are no good solutions left. Trump probably wants Germany to purchase expensive US shale energy as this would be good for the US and also raise German cost of production and erode their competitiveness.
As Donald Trump is President of the US it is to be expected that he will favor policies beneficial to the US. As the US remains the most powerful economy in the world it is reasonable to suppose that the US will favor policies that lead to stability and prosperity in other western countries. At the moment Germany is actively undermining the prosperity of everyone except itself – and Trump wants this to end. All entirely reasonable and a very long way from launching a military assault on Germany. What’s not to like?
Um, let me see…. your pro-Trumpist analysis?
Theresa has been crowing about her increase in the British military contingent in Afghanistan. Obviously hoping to impress Trump who has been complaining about the lack of support from European countries for NATO.
___
How I would like to be a fly on the wall at Windsor when the Trump pair ‘take tea’ with Her Maj. The conversation would be interesting. Trump will be given a guard of honour apparently.
I am sure your analysis is sound. But I thought that capitalism was about being successful, selling competitively and without state manipulation. If you are so successful that you cause imbalance then it seems to me that there is something wrong not with German methods, but in capitalism. And what you say about Trump wanting to benefit all his allies does not seem to square with realities, he want the US not to be a first amongst equals, but the leader of the pack and remain unchallenged. So why is it OK for Trump to favour policies beneficial to the US but not for Merkel to favour policies beneficial to Germany?
I took it that President Trump was pointing out the incongruity of spending on the military defense of Germany, when Germany has voluntarily put itself in the position whereby it could be crippled by the simple expedient of Russia turning off the gas supply.
A non sequitur.
Trump is dangerous, though for many other reasons.
American exceptionalism goes up a gear.
It has been a long standing practice that they appoint Ambassadors to “enemy” counties who then actively attempt to overthrow their host government (Syria and other too numerous to list). The antithesis of diplomacy.
Under Trump this practice is extended to “friendly” countries and administrations.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/11/donald-trump-could-meet-boris-johnson-says-us-ambassador
Yesterday Trump’s Ambassador to Berlin demanded that all Iranian bank accounts in Germany be frozen because, er, Trump said so. No legitimate reason whatsoever.
Today Trump’s Ambassador to the Court of St James says he will arrange a meeting with disgraced ex Foreign Secretary (and man widely considered to be plotting to depose of the current Prime Minister).
Yes there is a legitimate reason. It is about constraining German trade surpluses.
If you only knew the depth of German involvement in Iran it would make your eyes water.
Facts and figures? It appears the far more likely reason for Trump to want Germany to freeze Iranian bank accounts and use less Russian gas has far more to do with diplomatic relations with Iran and Russia.
Yes – that is true as well.
Trump clearly wants the Iranian regime gone – but so have all US Administrations since 1979.
Russia is more complex – even when you strip out all the noise of Russian election interference and Russian poisonings. Russia is the only place left with a lot of cheap energy. It can either export it or consume it. Trump probably wants them to continue exporting it – although not to Germany at current price levels. If they consume it themselves then they can develop an economy that can compete at every level with the US – so why would he want that?
As regards German Iran relations you don’t have to look too far to see that Iran is corrupt (ranking 130 out of 180 on the Corruption Perceptions Index). As for Germany just google “Siemens corruption” and you will quickly get the idea.
Do share with us your financial expertise and know how regarding German trade. If only you know, that is.
No – you can read what I write and make your own mind up as to what I do and do not know
Yes, I have done so, and a series of assertions without evidence is not impressive or persuasive as to what you know. The Siemens corruption case was not a uniquely German scandal, so does not tell us anything unique to German businesses. And has little to do with Iran specifically.So Iran is corrupt, is that news? Some more random facts tossed together as if they were linked, or made whatever case you are trying to promote to satisfy your latest assertion about the depth of German involvement Iran. It isn’t making my eyes water. Strange. I guess you are trying to follow the Trump line about Germany because it supports the Iran nuclear deal, which enrages the idiots and warmongers in his administration, who are trying to tell Germany who they are allowed to do business with, like they run the world. What a bunch of twats. Feeble.
Let me pass on some advice that my old English teacher taught me.
The plural of case is cases. Of course he may have just been tossing random facts together and so it remains possible that I still cannot write in the English language. You can make up your own mind as to whether or not that is the case (singular).
Way to avoid the issue. Well done. So you can’t back up your expert economic analysis. Surpised, not.
Ian: “Loony” has form for attacking a typo instead of the actual point being made.
It’s astonishing that a pedant like this, sitting with his (made in China) MAGA hat on and positively worshiping the cretinous thug in the White House, has never actually bothered reading his hero’s own tweets. (I would say ‘writing’, but Trump doesn’t really read or write – just tweets out misspelled, grammatically inaccurate, inappropriately punctuated, rabble-rousing drivel).
Lucky for fascists that they aren’t disturbed in the slightest by their own double standards.
Do tell us more Loony.
You should know better than feed the trolls.
Trump must be angry with the lack of respect from Belgium, king Philippe and queen Matilda preferred to visit Russia to support their team playing semi-finals with France and having nice conversation with Macron. Foreign affairs minister attended the match too. Belgium prime-minister could not find time, so Trump was welcomed by some lower official
Any Belgium king is to be avoided( Kongo massacre history foundation); the highest person of this small jigsaw is the French speaking liberal PM.
@ Antonyl July 11, 2018 at 11:58
Or read ‘King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild.
There is a picture of a Congolese man squatting down in front of a small mat on the ground, on which is placed a tiny hand and a tiny foot, that had been amputated by Leopold’s thugs because the man had not collected enough rubber from the rubber trees.
Patrick Mahony
July 11, 2018 at 08:35
So you think a nuclear war with Russia provoked by either by a random criminal actor or rogue current/ex MI6 officers will improve the Gorbals?
Yes, sort of. I think one of the biggest problems in politics today is social media. People like you and millions of others who once took part in reality, playing small but meaningful roles, are now absorbed in the social media bubble, pointlessly discussing things like Novichok. It’s all driven by a sort of vanity too and I find that quite abhorrent.
The losers in all this, as usual, are the losers. Whilst so many millions of wannabe intellectuals were working on their witty online profiles and personas, those diabolical bastard politicians have been quite literally getting away with murder.
10 years of onanistic self love and indulgence on one hand, soup kitchens, austerity, rising poverty and fuel costs on the other… everything’s connected.
Do you know how many people die of the cold in their own homes each year in the UK? No? But you know the chemical formula for Novichok and how best to store it. Fantastic.
Anyway, thanks for saving the world.
You may be entirely correct IF the “wanna be intellectuals” think they are making a material contribution to “fighting the MAN”. I have no delusions in that regard. Just a form of light entertainment I suppose or an open access therapy group.
Now off you go and shout at the kids playing football in the park for not being out there manning the barricades.
Hatuey is just a government troll trying to close down discussion.
bingo!
Your comment would be apt, however when the media clearly form opinions to suit instead of informing with objectivity, how do you propose people get information to check the media? We would not be here if the media were doing their job and querying things or even reporting facts. They did not even touch the OPCW report or manipulated it. Do you see what thae consequences of that are? The problems you mention are real and serious but so is a clear agenda that drags the whole international community and could shape years of misery for many countries if we go down the road of sanctioning Russia and vice-versa or bombing Syria and others for a regime change . Because everything is linked to politics and ultimately the political and economic system that will rule each and every country that will cause more of the problems you mention.
Hatuey. I must be on the button if you 77th Brigade trolls are getting so precious.
“Whilst so many millions of wannabe intellectuals were working on their witty online profiles and personas,”
Excellent observation. It’s narcissism in it purest form.
For my two penneth, Dawn Sturgess died just so the news would be concentrated on her and Amesbury
This then knocked the OPCW report off the news that US UK and FR bombed Syria without any justification.
https://www.opcw.org/fileadmin/OPCW/S_series/2018/en/s-1645-2018_e_.pdf
Very apt comment. The media reacted by that report by falsifying its findings shamelessly (BBC and Sky) or by simply pretending it did not exist (The Guardian) .
The report came out on a Friday evening and there , on Saturday all hell breaks lose in Amesbury. The narrative had to be reinforced so that people believed the first incident and so that people still had an excuse to somehow justify not only the bombing but so that the anti-russia narrative may continue.
“Several” containers, according to Basu, that could “last for fifty years”.
It’s the Long War on Novitsjok.
If the official view was correct, the public health information has been terrible. Only now warn people not to pick up anything including cosmetics, previously we were told it was now all safe. And in the first incident information to the public was inconsistent and lagged behind the official certainty that it was a dangerous poison and they didn’t know how, where or by whom it was administered.
While it may be the case that the OPCW has recently become more politicised, what wasn’t written about by our glorious & intrepid press were their findings regarding the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma. which occurred on the 7th April. We all recall that one and our very tangible concerns that an inappropriate response to it could trigger WW3.
https://www.opcw.org/fileadmin/OPCW/S_series/2018/en/s-1645-2018_e_.pdf
It seems that no traces of nerve agents or weaponised organo-phosphates have been detected. There does appear to have been a couple of cylinders of chlorine gas that were somehow released but given the widespread availability of chlorine it’s impossible to say who was responsible for this although my own suspicion would be directed towards the rebels in retreat.
But once again, the notion of irresponsible, Russian backed, chemical weapons deployment has been seeded in the public consciousness with no attempt made to retract the accusations once proven to be without foundation.
Its all about propaganda before Putin/Trump meeting,
http://www.rt.com/usa/432638-trump-russiagate-journalism-putin/video/5b45c0eafc7e93711a8b45c3
According to Spire FM, police have visited Charlie Rowley, who is no longer in a critical condition. The report says they talked to him. (You’re nicked.)
Meanwhile, the Chief Medical Officer has updated the advice to the public. (Carry baby wipes at all times.)
Amesbury has introduced free parking to encourage tourists to visit the historic town despite the novichock incident. (I nit you shot.)
https://www.spirefm.co.uk/
Free parking eh. Fair exchange for a week in a coma. Fire up the ol’ jalopy kids we’re goin’ to Amesbury.
The latest from the state via the state broadcaster.
Novichok victim Charlie Rowley speaks to police officers
59 minutes ago
A man who was poisoned by Novichok has spoken “briefly” to officers trying to find the source of the nerve agent, Scotland Yard has said.
Charlie Rowley, 45, is no longer in a critical condition, Salisbury District Hospital said, after making “further progress overnight”.
It comes a day after the hospital said he had regained consciousness.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, who was also exposed to Novichok in Amesbury on 30 June, died on Sunday.
Police are investigating a possible link to the case of Russians Sergei and Yulia Skripal, who were poisoned with the same substance in nearby Salisbury in March.
The UK government has blamed Russia for the incident, but the country’s authorities deny any involvement.
Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies said people in the Amesbury and Salisbury area should not “pick up any foreign object which could contain liquid or gel, in the interests of their own safety”.
Why the Novichok source must be found
Amesbury poisoning: What we know so far
What happened to the Skripals?
Lorna Wilkinson, Salisbury District Hospital’s director of nursing, said Mr Rowley’s condition was now serious, but stable.
“Our staff will continue to work hard to provide the care that Charlie needs,” she said. “Charlie still has some way to go to recover, but the progress we’ve seen so far gives us cause for optimism.”
In a statement, Scotland Yard said: “Officers from the investigation team have spoken briefly to Charlie and will be looking to further speak with him in the coming days as they continue to try and establish how he and Dawn came to be contaminated with the nerve agent.
“Any contact officers have with Charlie will be done in close consultation with the hospital and his doctors.”
The Met Police’s assistant commissioner for specialist operations told a meeting in Amesbury that officers were working on the theory that Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley had found a container housing Novichok.
Neil Basu said scientific advice suggested that the nerve agent could remain active for decades.
“If it was sealed in a container and it was in a landfill site it would effectively be safe because it would not be touched by anyone and it would last for probably – I’ve been told by scientists – 50 years,” he said. Police cannot say with certainty that both poisoning incidents in the county are linked, Mr Basu said, but it is a main line of inquiry. “This is a very rare substance banned by the international community and for there to be two separate, distinct incidents in one small English county is implausible to say the least,” he said.
He said scientists at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down will work hard to determine whether the nerve agents in the two incidents were from the same batch.’
/..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44791374
Yards more of the stuff inc photos, a video of Russian coverage!, and a timeline just in case you missed any of the details.
“This is a very rare substance banned by the international community and for there to be two separate, distinct incidents in one small English county is implausible to say the least.”
Exactly. So Mr Basu, what, after an interval of four months, might link a de-commissioned double-agent resident just south of a government research facility to a drug dependent couple domiciled just to the north? I think we may safely discount Moscow. Oh, and do please avoid the elephant on your way out.
What might link a double-agent and a drug dependent?
Salisbury doctor may be?
Charlie was atending Boots pharmacy, he must visit doctor to get prescription.
Scripal was diabetic, he must visit doctor to get prescripton.
Salisbury hospital?
A pharmaceutical connection. But unless both Charlie and Sergei were each being prescribed ‘Novichok’ that would kick the official ball into touch immediately (as indeed it should).
Taking everything into account it seems to me that an opioid drug is most likely to have been responsible in both cases (Salisbury and Amesbury), although I don’t believe Yulia Skripal would knowingly have tasted her father’s medicine, any more than Dawn Sturgess would have deliberately left behind a handbag containing her own ‘skank’ (which she would have already handled herself – without falling ill).
In my opinion the link has to be the mode of transmission, but that does not necessarily mean a shared resource. Does we know if the Skripals were smokers, for instance?
‘The Met Police’s assistant commissioner for specialist operations told a meeting in Amesbury that officers were working on the theory that Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley had found a container housing Novichok.’
In other words that’s where ‘officers’ had been directed to look by the Met., a directive eerily reminiscent of their colleagues years earlier being instructed to investigate the abduction of a child overseas when not in possession of any plausible, never mind credible, evidence that an abduction had even occurred.
Ah the fantastic Operation Grange and its fantastic remmit of investigating only an abduction! What I could write about that and a ridiculous D notice received by a Portuguese blogger because she dared to mention the name of an MI5 turned private investigator for a conman company hired by the saintly parents , tut . We had Portugal Phobia full blast back then. From Clarence Mitchell , to members of Government, from the CEOP via the magnificent Gamble and the majority of British Media , to this day. Ugh. Toxic people.
Between us we could probably construct an undergraduate course. What concerns me most seriously however is the manner in which our police and the press, indeed the media in the round, are now at the beck and call of government. It is a very damaging situation, which, in effect, places the government beyond scrutiny and ultimately above the law. And while their cheer leaders chorus ‘Conspiracy theory’ the administration legislates to restrict its own citizens to the point of oppression.
Very true. The promiscuity between the 3 lets the government beyond any possible scrutiny and totally above the law. The MM case taught me that . What happened to Amaral back then was disgraceful and then what happened to Brenda Leyland was the ultimate horror that confirmed what the media and institutions were really capable of. I shudder when I think of it all. And now this and Douma and so many other things that can have international consequences I don’t even want to think about. I just cannot let it go. All of it. Troll, hater or conspiracy theorist or a bot . I think I am used and immune to it by now.
“Scientists at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down will work hard to determine whether the nerve agents in the two incidents were from the same batch.”
Comparing Charlie Rowley’s account of events with that of Yulia Skripal would be a good place to start. Of course the public has not so far been treated to the Skripal’s own story. I doubt the odds on our learning the truth of Charlie’s experience will be any shorter.
“in one small English county is implausible ”
The art of leaving out.
“In one small English county housing Porton Down is highly suspicious.”
FTFY.
Highest BBC salaries. As obscene as the sums of money exchanging hands in the football world, eg Ronaldo’s latest deal – .’Ronaldo can expect to earn roughly €120 million ($140.78 million) over his four-year contract.’
BBC on-air salary list 2017-18
1. Gary Lineker – £1,750,000-£1,759,999
2. Chris Evans – £1,660,000-£1,669,999
3. Graham Norton – £600,000-£609,999
4. Steve Wright – £550,000-£559,999
5. Huw Edwards – £520,000-£529,999
6. Jeremy Vine – £440,000-£449,999
=7. Nicky Campbell – £410,000-£419,999
=7. Alan Shearer – £410,000-£419,999
=9. John Humphrys – £400,000-£409,999
=9. Nick Grimshaw – £400,000-£409,999
=9. Stephen Nolan – £400,000-£409,999
=9. Andrew Marr – £400,000-£409,999
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-44779292
I wouldn’t conflate footballers and the people on that list. Football is a genuine meritocracy and Ronaldo has earned his place at the top. How much money should he make from playing in a match which tens, possibly hundreds of millions of people watch?
Hosting a TV show however is something hundreds of people could do and there is no need for large salaries.
Chris Evans? The one who had to resign from. Top Gear? WTF? Anyone know why he is so highly paid?
I think Lineker is an excellent presenter of football shows. He also speaks fluent Spanish, which is why he is often a pundit on Spanish TV. Fiona Bruce speaks French like a native but I don’t see her on the list.
The £10 millionish total on that list is as usual a diversion from the obnoxious poll tax collected from every single household in the country of £4 BILLION every year and the £1 BILLION in commercial earnings! A multiple of C4 and ITV combined.
A mass boycot of the fee is the only way forward.
It is used for propaganda and feathering the nests of the establishment lackeys and their no talent children forever, they are unfireable and carry on as long as they want.
(Dimblebey’s, etc)
The actual talent is entitled to market rates or they go where they get best terms – good luck to them.
Charlie Rowley speaks to the police.
“Das Phial, Rowley. Vair is das Phial? Ve av vays of making you talk. Look, Charlie, dis sharp scalpel as fallen off the table onto your oxygen tube”.
Cut it out — now is not the time to make me sick from laughing…
Ref: Torture Supporter Peter Ricketts as National Security Adviser https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/05/torture_support/
He is now a peer. He has just been on WATO for his views on the Nordstream deal and Trump’s objection.
Still smooth tongued and maintaining the status quo.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b90prl @ 15 mins in That is the Listen Live link.
On iPlayer later.
My word. Lockheed Martin. What evil. But note the Kultur bits.
Category 1: Directorships
Non-executive Director, Groupe Engie (French-listed global energy services company)
Category 2: Remunerated employment, office, profession etc.
Strategic Adviser, Lockheed Martin UK (global security and aerospace company; Member gives strategic advice to company CEO)
Consultancy on France for Macro Advisory Partners, London, September 2017
Presentation to International Advisory Board, Groupe Orange, Paris, 21 June 2018
Category 7: Overseas visits
Visit to UAE, 21-23 October 2017, to address the UAE Ministry of Defence Leadership Conference, representing King’s College London; travel, accommodation and fee paid by host
Category 10: Non-financial interests (a)
Chairman and Director, Normandy Memorial Trust Limited and Trustee of associated registered charity
Category 10: Non-financial interests (c)
Trustee, Royal Academy Development Trust
Trustee, Leighton House Museum
Member, Advisory Council, London Symphony Orchestra
https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-ricketts/4587
Careful now, you are treading on dangerous ground and run the risk of alienating some of your fellow travelers.
Lockheed Martin is a progressive forward thinking company and has appointed a woman, Marillyn Hewson, as CEO. Feminists spend a lot of time bemoaning the under representation of women in senior corporate roles. Here we have an example of a woman who has shattered the glass ceiling and struck a blow for feminism and all you can do is describe the company that she is proud to lead as “evil”
Not very woman friendly are you? Rather you appear as a staunch defender of the patriarchy and an unashamed misogynist. The sisterhood will surely be after you.
Try one of these up your whatsit Loony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMENghug77s
Re 14.55
I assume from the reference to the speed of the device that this is a type of Rail Gun? Am I correct?
Naturally we will be sorry to loose Looney, but what will be will be.
Chris Hedges. Read carefuly:
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-con-of-diversity/
Macro Advisory Partners – their blurb ‘Strategic advantage in a volatile world’
Q Lord Ricketts. Who made it volatile?
The partners include Sawers, ex chief MI6. He is also the chairman. The advisory board includes Kofi Annan, Miliband D, Wm Burns, Jonathan Powell and the current chair of BP, Svanberg… A few other of the warmongers/gangsters in-charge are listed.
http://www.macroadvisorypartners.com/the-firm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_CBRN_Centre
“The Defence Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Centre (the Defence CBRN Centre or DCBRNC for short) is a United Kingdom military facility at Winterbourne Gunner in Wiltshire, south of Porton Down and about 4 miles (6 km) northeast of Salisbury. It is a tri-service location, with the Royal Air Force being the lead service. The centre is responsible for all training issues relating to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defence and warfare for the UK’s armed forces.
It is also the home of the National Ambulance Resilience Unit’s Training & Education Centre[1] which, among other things, is responsible for training the NHS ambulance service’s Hazardous Area Response Teams (HART)”
Any connection to Keith Mills?
Air amubalce attending Skripals, there were questions on its route and timing – now we know there are 2 ‘Porton Downs’. One is near Porton (tetricus, dstl and phe) and another near Winterbourne Gunner (cbrn)
Now Trump is exploiting Angela Merkel’s communist spy past as ANITA to promote himself at Putin’s expense, just like his claiming that North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat to the USA which it earlier prromoted by claims that its NRO-made quakes there were nuclear tests.
Trowbridge.
Whilst driving last night I heard on the radio, that Trump’s handling of NK, and his ability to difuse a difficult situation (NK and nuke production). That Trump might be nominated for a Nobel Peace prize.
I almost swerved off the road in disbelief.
I have heard that Trump has already been nominated for the Peace prize, but he certainly won’t be awarded it after he is forced to pull off a pre-emptive strike on its alleged nuclear capability.
@Republic ofScotland
President Moon Jae-In suggested this award a couple of months ago when the Trump-Kim talks were getting started.Certainly , given other recipients of the prize, it shouldn’t have surprised anyone. What has happened since Singapore is disappointing but hardly unexpected ; nor can it be blamed solely on on D.T. or imagined D.T’s from Napoleon cognac withdrawal up north.
Yes I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised by the likely nomination, afterall Obama and old nick himself Kissinger were recipents of the award.
Though I wonder what the thoughts of the Nobel committee will be surrounding Trump’s reckless decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, which led to the deaths of many Palestinian protestors, and in my opinion, set the peace process back years.
“set the peace process back years”. Not possible and not for the lack of trying from Trump. There hasn’t been a peace process since 2009 when Bibi got his evil rump on the big chair.
Well if Obomber received one, what is sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. LOL
Yes. But LOL should be COL. 🙁
So the Orange Man Child Trump has said that Germany is totally controlled by Russia. Trump has also said that Boris Johnson is a friend of his, Johnson a incompetent buffoon, in his time as FS, and mayor of London feels the same way about Trump, as does Nigel Farage.
I can forsee European nations pulling out of Nato, and in my opinion, the sooner the better. Of course Trump’s hand holding friend Theresa May will make sure Britain’s remains in the Nato alliance, Britain being a very obedient minion, and desperate for a good trade deal.
But Trump’s claim that Germany is a captive of Russia is far more believable to many than Johnson is not a buffoon..
Only in the UK….
And your reasoning as to why the people think it’s more believable, buying Russian gas aside, (which in my opinion shouldn’t even be an issue) is what?
I blame the media and anti-Russian useful idiots.
“Ministers have drawn up secret plans to stockpile processed food in the event of EU divorce talks collapsing – to show Brussels that “no deal” is not a bluff.”
“Theresa May has ordered “no deal” planning “to step up” — with the government poised to start unveiling some of the 300 contingency measures in the coming weeks.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6747231/ministers-plan-to-stockpile-processed-food/
What a bunch of self-serving useless b@stards, the British government are stumbling from one disaster to another, and we the public will be left to suffer the consequences of their inane actions.
Thankfully Scotland will get another chance to dump Westminster once and for all, on the conclusion of Brexit.
The Sun being internationally renowned of course for the veracity of its reporting. They also report”NOVICHOK CLUE – NOVICHOK victim Dawn Sturgess wore sunglasses she found in a park hours before collapsing. Cops are still trying to find a case they think held the nerve agent that killed her.”
So now we know – it was the Ray Bans wot dun it …
removing sunglasses from a case and putting them surely requires two hands?
Not necessarily! We all know that depraved, dissolute, garbage-scavenging drug addicts use their prehensile tongues as a “third hand”.
Or so I gather, from the voluminous quantity of expert commentary on The Nefarious Ways of Junkies spawned by this mystery.
I agree, however the Sun newspaper, and I use the term newspaper ever so lightly backed Brexit, so it makes it somewhat surprising that it should highlight the very real possibilities of a hard Brexit.
Yes. I heard O’Brien on LBC this morning. He was ‘going large’ on it. Suggest buying shares in whoever owns Fray Bentos. 😉
O’Brien is a staunch remainer and would probably approve of a second referendum for which all the remainers are pushing. He thinks
the Sun have got their knickers in a twis on this. One minute they are pushing for a Leave vote and then they are making a big thing of this – a warning that we will relying on imported processed meat stacked in warehouses when it all goes wrong.
Ref food supplies generally. This ‘heatwave’ has knocked off the grass and farmers and growers are complaining that meat, vegetables and milk supplies are going to be limited. as a consequence. Cattle farmers are having to use fodder that was destined for use in the winter months. Price rises are in the pipeline I surmise..
The smart money is saying that the novinonsense will be found on a discarded pack of Sobranie Black Russians or a three parts empty bottle of Stollichnaya…
‘On’ or perhaps even ‘in’. I was told in ASDA yesterday that all cigarettes are packaged the same way nowadays, irrespective of brand. So maybe we shouldn’t rule out a (black) pack of B&H even.
Doghouse.
I doubt they’ll need to go those lengths, the anti-Russian smear campaign (without irrefutable evidence) surrounding the Skripals and now this, has done its job.
Throw mud and inevitably some of it will stick, as they say.
It is morbid in a way that many commenters here can keep on dwelling on the circumstances surrounding tis fantastic incident. Were I a fiction writer I would have inspiration for a hundred novels.
Why don’t you let go ? The perpetrators will never be brought to justice anyway! Let it slip, You have got no power anyway, as you do not live in a democracy (As understood on the continent) and are basically pawns , bred to be shuffled around at the behest of those IN power.
The British Isles never did have a ball with their ruling class, too tempered I would mean, a well bred stock of peoples , well suited for serfdom, compliant, polite with self depreciating humor, no traces of rebellion, all that has been bred out during a long and arduous process. Give this Novinonsense up, knowing the truth ‘aint going to matter much. Celebrate your traditions, lick the royal ass and be subservient, and shut up.
When it does become possible for Continentals to buy land on the British Isles, I would like to buy some, serfs included or very cheap in buying. They dont spit in your food or piss in you beer. My whores Ill bring from elsewhere though.
“The compliant people, constantly electing politicians that bring them from disaster to disaster, clapping at their defeats, and humbly toiling on in the mess they themselves have created in their belief of superiority”
No wonder we ROFLMAO….
A ‘continental’ with overseas whores you should enjoy sex and travel, why don’t you.
Given that the best lies contain an element of truth and dismissing the ‘gelled doorknob scenario’ as nonsense – some possibilities:
The Skripal’s are approached by unknown assailant(s) at park bench and exposed to a toxin causing symptoms detailed. The police officer is collateral damage. The toxin is disposed off in a commercial waste bin.
The S’s are approached by unknown assailant(s) and exposed etc. The PO is also exposed trying to fend off/apprehend assailant(s). Toxin disposed of.
The S’s are approached by a person they know who exposes them to toxin. PO collateral. Toxin ditched.
(Most extreme scenario) The PO is assailant, exposes S’s to toxin and is cross-contaminated. Ditches toxin nearest available receptacle.
Mere conjecture.