Tony Blair and his closest aides face fresh questioning in the cash-for-honours affair after prosecutors instructed detectives to return to the case, even though they formally ended their investigation last month. The development will increase pressure on the Prime Minister, Downing Street staff and Lord Levy, Mr Blair's chief fundraiser. A spokeswoman for the CPS, which has received hundreds of pages of evidence, confirmed: "We have asked the police to conduct some further inquiries."   more »

The following article published in Computer Weekly gives highlights of Phillip Webb’s views on the Database society that this Government seems intent on building, and if John Reid gets his way, using against us. Mr Webb’s views are almost simplistic, taken in, hook line and sinker by the Government’s propaganda machine. He believes, I think naively for a man who held the position that he did, that all this equipment and legislation, way, way beyond proportionality in technology terms and cost is just to catch crooks. My views are in italics.   more »

A SENIOR Tory MP is paying his son to act as his parliamentary assistant even though he is still a full-time undergraduate at university. Commons records reveal that Frederick Conway was paid at the rate of £981 a month from the parliamentary staffing allowance handed to his father Derek, a former government whip.   more »

A few days ago John Reid spoke of declaring a State of Emergency, at that time blaming the Judges and the Judiciary. Is the following story which others have uncovered an ‘orchestrated event’ that will ‘force’ John Reid to ‘reluctantly’ make such a declaration. Is this an organised black op?.   more »

Just how pervasive is the myth of our ‘inalienable rights’ is illustrated by the following quote from an article in the Independent that even as it warns of the “drift…toward a police state”: … the Government is undermining freedoms citizens have taken for granted for centuries and that Britain risks drifting towards a police state. – ‘Judges liken terror laws to Nazi Germany’   more »

The home secretary, John Reid, made clear yesterday he is prepared to declare a "state of emergency" to suspend key parts of the human rights convention if the law lords do not overturn a series of judgments that have weakened the anti-terrorist control order regime. The courts upheld the Law. They found that the Home Secretary was breaking the law, not the abscondees, and it is clear that the Home Secretary will now use this excuse to bring about the Dictatorship that NuLab have been working towards for the past 10 years. In April I wrote the following, which warned of such a move following the local elections.   more »

It would seem, that in all but name, Cheney is attempting to organise a coup against Bush and start his own private war against Iran. "Cheney believes that Bush can not be counted on to make the "right decision" when it comes to dealing with Iran and thus Cheney believes that he must tie the President's hands.   more »

The European Commission is considering new legislation against identity theft. The proposal is contained in a just-published policy on EU-wide plans to fight cybercrime.Though the commission said that it did not believe that new legislation would be useful..??   more »

The presumption of disclosure under freedom of information (FoI) laws must trump "unnecessary secrecy" - which only suggests public bodies have something to hide - the Information Commissioner is to warn on Thursday. Richard Thomas will stress that FoI should not be regarded as a threat - even when it reveals information that is "embarrassing" or "uncomfortable".   more »

Claude Moniquet, director of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Centre said that "We have serious signals that something is under preparation in Europe... Iranian intelligence is working extremely hard to prepare its people and to prepare actions."   more »

From a PJC Commenter sent in today. I spent most of today in Birmingham at the NEC. I had primarily gone there to see the Health & Safety and the Fire Safety exhibitions. But alongside, and with free entry from the ticket that I already had, was one mounted by/for the security industry. It is called IPSEC. I wandered around this with steadily growing incredulity.   more »

Sarkozy, on his first visit to the European Commission on Wednesday, said: I believe Turkey does not have its place in the EU and I haven't changed my opinion." Sarkozy, who replaced Jacques Chirac as president in the middle of May did not say what France would do about ongoing EU membership negotiations with Ankara which started in 2005. He said his priority was the simplification of the EU's constitution treaty and that the groups was "making headway".   more »

David Maclean has now announced that he would like his Bill on MPs and FOI to be amended so that it requires the Commons to publish every year the figures for MPs' travel, accommodation, incidental expenses, secretarial and other allowances. This would convert the Speaker's pledge to do this into a legal obligation. It will be presented as a compromise and may shore up some of the diminishing support for the Bill. But it would make little difference to its actual practical impact.   more »

The Police National Database has been scaled back because of budget over-runs and technical problems. The commitment to a full implementation of the Police National Database (PND) by 2010 appears to have been dropped. Full implementation of the PND could only now be managed if the budget was allowed to over-run by up to £186.3m.   more »

The government has asked IT suppliers to bid to run demonstrations of road pricing technology that could be used to implement congestion charging schemes across the UK.   more »

In my case, its my wife, who has reminded me that our bank account is getting seriously low, so I am now going to begin searching seriously for new contract work.   more »

The International Atomic Energy Agency is to report on whether Iran has met this deadline. But news agencies report the IAEA will likely say Iran has not only ignored the ultimatum but has expanded the program. At the same time Nine US warships carrying 17,000 personnel have entered the Gulf in a show of force off Iran's coast. Navy officials said on Wednesday that this was the largest daytime assembly of ships since the 2003 Iraq war. The group of ships crossed the Straits of Hormuz at roughly 03:55 GMT on Wednesday.   more »

Gordon Brown is trying to indoctrinate the kids again, with NuLab political propaganda over taxation. Study packs sent to classrooms have been dubbed a sinister attempt to indoctrinate youngsters about the Chancellor’s regime. The Red Box course, costing £500,000, outlines how the Treasury works for children as young as seven with primary school teachers urged: “Show them a picture of the Chancellor.”   more »

The delegates invited to attend this year’s Bilderberg conference in Istanbul (May 31-June 3) holds the odd surprise, most notably the new French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, who was missing from last year’s conference list, raising again speculation of the Bilderberg influence of pre arranging government appointments.   more »

This morning I stepped out from the front door into a warm basking sunlit street and walked down the hill to the corner shop. Living in a village on the side of a mountain, the house stands at 1150 ft above sea level, and as I turn the corner the view down the valley this morning was just so impressive and wonderful.   more »

In this period of leadership mismanagement, where Blair is playing pop star on a world tour, our oft missing chancellor McCavity Brown is nowhere to be seen, and the other ministers are playing lets pretend we doing something important with the deputy leadership voting, the rest of the mice in Westminster are slipping Bills into parliamentary time, hoping that no-one will notice.   more »

Government fraud busters are to be allowed to claim millions of pounds worth of assets, even from those who have not been found guilty of any financial crime. They will be able to demand that the courts strip property from alleged fraudsters in all cases, including those where no charges have been brought to court.   more »

Following on from the revelation that David MacLean obtained a Quad Bike paid for through parliamentary expenses, many have questioned the legality of the bike for use on the road. This is the advise from the POLICE National Legal Database.   more »

So Gordon Brown tells us we have have one of the worlds best economies. If having one of the biggest deficits in the world equates to a good economy, why wont my bank let me trade like this.   more »

George Orwell wrote about The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs. The Times writes about new Home Office plans which are pure Orwell.   more »

Following yesterday’s disgusting vote to exempt MP’s from the Freedom of Information Act, comes the first of the waste and excesses on expenses that they want hidden.   more »

A claim that millions of drivers who use their own cars for work face sharply-increased taxes under plans being considered by ministers has been described as "pure speculation". Even those doing voluntary work could be caught up by the scheme, drawn up by Revenue and Customs   more »

Foreign office minister Lord Triesman has pledged an independent inquiry into a security flaw on a website used to apply for UK visas that made personal details of applicants easily accessible to hackers. The online UK visa application website for people in India, Russia and Nigeria is provided by VFS Global, a commercial partner of the joint Foreign Office and Home Office agency UKVisas.   more »

MPs provoked disgust and outrage yesterday after they voted to exclude themselves from freedom of information laws. I am DISGUSTED. As if the pig trough of expenses is not big enough, they want to make it bigger in secret.   more »

The amount spent on railway travel in financial year 2006/07 (April 2006 to March 2007) was £9,645,550.94. 

The amount spent on taxis in financial year 2006/07 (April 2006 to March 2007) was £915,332.49.

Wonder how much of that is down to SpAd’s alone?. 

Could be time to get all those Home Office civil servants onto bicycles. I hear the Post Office have lots to spare now they closing 2500 post offices, including tricycles for those unhappy on 2 wheels, or perhaps Defra would like to come up with a green scheme for government.

(source)

 

 NuLab - Destroying Britain from the inside out.

Home Office counter-terror boffins from the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) Science and Technology Programme will carry out "tracer gas trials" in London starting this weekend.   more »

Police have detained a 19-year-old Tallinn resident who is suspected of involvement in a wave of attacks against Estonian computer servers.   more »

Jose Nazario from Arbor Network reports on the DDoS attacks on Estonia. He provides no comment as to the source of these attacks, only technical facts, however, we will all be looking at how the EU responds to this attack on a member state of the Union. This will tell us how the EU would look to protect its borders when the unwelcome, and undemocratic treaty and constitution are put in place.   more »

Belgian senate hopeful Tania Derveaux is offering voters something a bit more tempting than a one per cent cut in VAT and better rubbish collections, or as in the Welsh Assembly elections laptops, lightbulbs and toothbrushes.   more »

In a move to get Big Brother style loudspeakers and CCTV working together in London, they are now being rolled out under the guise of Security Warning systems.   more »

Online applications for some UK visas have been suspended amid claims a security loophole left personal data vulnerable to identity thieves. Channel 4 News said IT systems covering India, Russia and Nigeria were affected and said up to 50,000 Indian travellers could have been exposed to having personal details stolen.   more »

The UK's DNA database has at least 100,000 erroneous records. The revelation makes a mockery of the Home Office's claim today that the problem had been cleaned up already. But they weren't and they are still on the NDNAD.   more »

There has been a lot of discussion, a lot of opposition, a lot of lying and a lot of politic surrounding the very idea of introducing ID cards into the UK. Its time to pull the plug, time to say enough of the costly, ill-thought databases.   more »

With the addition of the final name (Tony Wright) to the list of Brown followers it means that there is no need for the long drawn out battle for the leadership of the Labour Party.

With that out of the way, there is no GOOD reason now for Tony Blair to remain in office, other than to feed his ego, and his desire to sell this country to the megalomaniacs in the European Commission for his position in history, and the role of first European President.

We say, Tony Blair must be forced to go before the G8, before the new treaty is ready, let Brown take the responsibility for what happens now.

Brown's supporters must now put as much pressure on Blair to hand over, and GO.

 

TIME FOR BLAIR TO GO.

 

Jacques Chirac, the French president, has urged the country to remain "united and together" after he hands over to Nicolas Sarkozy, in a televised speech on his last day in office. On October 10, 2001, the Court of Cassation ruled that If Chirac does not run for office again in 2007 or is not re-elected, he may then be prosecuted on the several affairs he is involved in. Chirac has previously refused to testify before investigating magistrate Éric Halphen, arguing that this would be incompatible with his presidential functions, but with the end of Chirac’s tenure, his immunity also comes to an end.   more »

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is conducting an audit of Halifax Bank of Scotland's (HBOS) data security procedures after it was revealed that the bank was putting customers' financial documents in ordinary bins.   more »

ISP PlusNet has had its email database stolen and its users' accounts bombarded by spammers, AGAIN!. The attack first surfaced yesterday, when PlusNet punters reported that previously spam-free email addresses were being filled with unsolicited discount pharmacy marketing. Some forum posters report that a few of their webmail contacts have received more spam too. There is also speculation amongst users as to whether the legally required data retention areas of the PlusNet system have been hacked, releasing details of users sent and received emails.   more »

Andrew Duff is a Lib Dem MEP for the Eastern Counties. I also suspect that his own electorate do not realise what they have elected. He is one of the main drivers in favour of a European Constitution and as such has a certain contempt for the majority opinion in the country. There will be a meeting of the most sceptical countries in Prague to discuss what to do to stymie the German proposals for a new one. He hopes that the, "English can be defeated".   more »

Following on from the story about terror classifications, it seems America is on a crash course to catch up with the UK in its collection of DNA. It seems that the dream of Adml. Poindexter to have the whole world tagged and flagged with his Total Information Awareness programme is moving a step closer. New York governor Eliot Spitzer wants to broaden the state's DNA database to include DNA taken from people found guilty of any misdemeanor.   more »

French investment bank BNP Paribas has been fined £350,000 by the UK's Financial Services Authority for systems and control failures at its London-based private banking unit that allowed a senior manager to steal £1.4 million from client accounts. We hope that in the future the FSA will be taking similar actions against Banks, Businesses and Public/Government Institutions for the crime of ‘enabling fraud’ in the same way as the internal fraud cases.   more »

Nato is considering deploying sea-borne rapid-reaction forces to help private oil firms such as BP, one of its senior officials has announced. Jamie Shea, director of policy planning in the office of Nato's secretary-general, said the proposal may mean sending Nato forces to Africa, Asia and the Middle East to protect oil companies' facilities.   more »

If you’re an American reading this, then under expansive definitions being used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and several states in their counterterrorism training, you just might be a domestic terrorist. You just wont believe some of the definitions they have come up with.   more »

UK House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union issues highly critical report on the: Prum Treaty. "The Committee have today criticised the German EU Presidency for attempting to bypass the proper procedures in trying to incorporate the Prüm Treaty into EU law." The Prum Treaty provisions cover the collection and exchange of DNA profiles, fingerprints and vehicle registration data.   more »

On Monday 14 May there will be a special meeting of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) for the item "Transatlantic Dialogue" at which Michael Chertoff, United States Secretary of State Homeland Security, Minister Dr. Wolfgang Schauble, German Presidency and Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the Commission (and DG JHA) will be speaking. The USA is seeking to get a "global agreement" on the transfer of personal data in order to circumvent the tedious negotiations with the EU on each and every issue where EU data protection laws stand in the way of unfettered access to personal data.   more »

John Reid is trying to get the Human Rights Act amended to pave the way to allow Tony Blair to become the sole decision make in Europe, as part of the moves to get a European Treaty agreed which will create the post of European President.   more »

A raft of big policy announcements will be made during Tony Blair’s final weeks, which departments across Whitehall are putting the finishing touches to Blair’s seven-week policy blitz. Lets see how diligent, alert and effective the opposition can be, and whether they have the stomach for it.   more »

The Guardian today is reporting that all the big banks - except HSBC, which also controls First Direct - are to demand that online customers use "chip and pin at home" devices to identify themselves before moving money out of their accounts, in the biggest change to personal banking since chip and pin replaced signatures at the checkout. It doesn’t matter how many front end systems that the banks put in place, they will never be secure if the back end systems are still open to hackers and thieves.   more »

It is therefore interesting to note that Jack Straw doesn’t believe this, in fact he has called upon all Labour MP’s to back the private members bill being promoted by David Maclean, the former Tory whip, which is making a re-appearance in the commons next Friday (18 May).   more »

Half a million children have had their DNA recorded on Britain's police database, the government admitted yesterday. The number of people being added to the police DNA database is rising rapidly, with a total of 667,737 people added to the database last year, home secretary John Reid said in a parliamentary written answer yesterday.   more »

Credit and debit card numbers belonging to at least 10,000 SEB customers could have been hijacked by fraudsters, the bank has admitted. Eurocard announced on Tuesday that 1,000 customers were hit by a similar fraud attempt.   more »

There is the most ridiculous article on Guardian CIF this morning that I think I have ever had the displeasure to read. Dr Geobbels could not have done better. Dr John Reid is trying to convince us, still, that we all need ID Cards. Bollocks! This is my answer to the mad Commie Doctor.   more »

Speaking only days before Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, is due to visit, Vladimir Putin said only “equitable partnership’’ and “common responsibility’’ would prevent ”the next armed conflict and attempts to shatter world peace”. Mr Putin used the annual celebrations of the defeat of the Nazis in Red Square to make criticisms of the US and Estonia.   more »

Last week, in an episode that could have been taken from the dark days of the Cold War, Britain's air-defence Tornado aircraft scrambled to meet two incoming Russian TU142(F) Bear bombers speeding towards the UK across the North Sea, apparently on a spying mission. Two Tornado F3 fighters took off from RAF Leuchars in Fife and intercepted the Bears in international airspace.   more »

Another £1.4bn is likely to be written off in overpaid tax credits, according to a report from a committee of MPs. The Public Accounts Committee said this would bring losses from overpayments to £1.9bn. A revamp to the system meant it would pay £500m more a year, it added.   more »

UPDATED: Some 130 medical staff have signed a letter calling for a police probe into internet security breaches concerning junior doctors' personal details. Some bloggers have identified the operators of the Doctors recruitment website MTAS as part of the Jobsite operation, which was acquired in 2004 by Associated New Media, a division of Associated Newspapers Ltd, the publishers of the Daily Mail. Jobsite was unavailable overnight and this morning (update: came back up at 0815 with a page providing its history, including this: 2003: Won contract to provide a national online recruitment service over the next 5 years for the National Health Service - the nation's biggest employer..Have the Government been harvesting information about all jobseekers from this site?.   more »

Following the elections in the UK last week, we have a situation that I cannot remember ever having been encountered for the Union in its history. Just who is looking after the shop, who is running the country.   more »

About 26,000 staff at Marks and Spencer risk being the victims of identity theft after a laptop was stolen containing their personal details. The laptop was stolen from a printing company and contained the employees’ names, salary details, addresses, national insurance numbers, dates of birth and phone numbers.   more »

A computer previously owned by Southend Borough Council containing case notes on vulnerable children has been purchased on eBay for £1.70. The case notes in around 1,000 files covered children across Essex and detailed fostering and adoption histories. Some files also contained details of sexual abuse.   more »

The truth will set you free. How far behind China and Russia is the UK? And if anyone believes that it will just end because Brown gets into No.10, think again.. There's worse to come.   more »