Wednesday, 1 April 2009

MP's vote on Draconian Blog Regulation!

LOL What a wind up!!!!

So very now..so very near the truth.....




The case for blog regulation
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

AFTER much thought and consideration, I spoke in favour of the Regulation of New Media Bill in the Commons last night.

The essential purpose of the legislation, as Andy Burnham, the Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, told the House, is to make sure that new media, like blogs and social networking sites, can’t be used by terrorists (and I accept this is where there will be some disagreement in the blogscape: “terrorists” are defined under Schedule 1 to the Bill as “anyone who pursues a persistent pattern of anti-social or irritating behaviour, such behaviour to be defined as double parking, parking in parent-and-toddler spaces at supermarkets, talking loudly in cinemas or any other activity as defined by the Secretary of State”).



The case for blog regulation | And another thing...
 




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Sunday, 29 March 2009

Blue movies on expenses: How Jacqui Smith's husband watched pornographic movies... paid for by the taxpayer

Blue movies on expenses: How Jacqui Smith's husband watched pornographic movies... paid for by the taxpayer
Mail Online
By Christopher Leake And Brendan Carlin
Last updated at 2:41 AM on 29th March 2009



Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s political future was in jeopardy tonight after it was revealed that her husband used her Commons expenses allowance to pay to watch pornographic films.

Richard Timney, who works as Ms Smith’s Commons adviser, used part of the Minister’s second-homes allowance to pay for the blue movies he watched on a subscription television channel.

The relationship between Ms Smith and her husband was said by Government insiders to be ‘very difficult,’ but stressed that the couple were still together.

It is understood that Mr Timney had been watching explicit adult movies on channels broadcast on the Virgin Media cable TV service.

The scandal revolves around an invoice on which Mr Timney is believed to have made the expenses claims. Subscribers to the service can access X-rated films on the Playboy Channel, the Adult Channel and Television X for around £11 a month. It is also possible to order adult channels on a pay-per-night basis for £5.

Tory MP Philip Davies said last night that if the porn-movie claims were true, the Home Secretary would have to resign.

‘Claiming that her sister’s back bedroom is her main home is one thing but this could push her over the cliff. It is surely not legitimate to use Commons’ second-home allowances to buy blue movies. If this is true, I cannot see how she can survive.’ 

The revelation comes as The Mail on Sunday launches a petition to demand a full enquiry into MPs' expenses.


Perhaps he was working-in-hand?

I picked this story up from Guido Fawkes post on Nigel Griffiths failed attempt to gag The News of the World. 



Blue movies on expenses: How Jacqui Smith's husband watched pornographic movies... paid for by the taxpayer | Mail Online


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Monday, 23 March 2009

The question is: If the Bankers are the Fat Cats, are MP's their Kittens?

The question is: If the Bankers are the Fat Cats, are MP's their Kittens?

From The Times
March 23, 2009
Bankers head for No 10 to fix financial world
Suzy Jagger and Francis Elliott

Some of the world’s most powerful banking executives will meet Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling tomorrow to discuss how the global financial system can be repaired.

Among those at the meeting at No 10 will be Bill Winters, the co-head of investment banking at JP Morgan Chase, and either Josef Ackermann, the chairman of Deutsche Bank,or his chief operating officer, Hermann-Josef Lamberti.

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor will show the bankers detailed drafts of proposals that the Government will present at the G20 meeting in London on April 2. Mr Brown’s priorities for banking reform are to stabilise the financial sector, help lenders to purge their books of toxic debt, repair their balance sheets with new capital and build a regulatory structure that would prevent a rerun of the current financial crisis.

His plans include forcing hedge funds to disclose investments and trading positions so that the risks can be assessed.


Bankers head for No 10 to fix financial world - Times Online


Or is it just all of that cream...

From Times Online
March 23, 2009
Tony McNulty 'may have to repay' some of £60,000 home claim, amid talk of inquiry


The Times

or are they just into fat pussies?

From the News of The World

A SENIOR Labour MP cheated on his wife in a midnight sex romp INSIDE the House of Commons.

Former minister Nigel Griffiths, a close friend of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, cavorted with a naked brunette in his Parliamentary office on Remembrance Day.

Then the shamed MP, 53, LIED about the shock breach of Commons Rules of Conduct, branding our story “outrageous.” Now he stands accused of bringing the House into disrepute.

News of the World




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Tuesday, 3 March 2009

Circuses 'short of UK performers'

Circuses 'short of UK performers'

Clowns protest outside Parliament




On the day when our Clown-in-Residence is off learning a few new slight of hand tricks and jumping through a few more hoops whilst paying homage to his masters,





a massive clown deficit in the UK has emerged.



A few pegs short of a Big Top!

But on the positive side Tractor production is up year-on-year and now our shops have as many as 20 steaks, each.

From the BBC

British circus clowns are in short supply, MPs were told

Britain is suffering a shortage of home grown clowns and acrobats, MPs on the home affairs committee have been told.

Malcolm Clay, of the Association of Circus Proprietors of Great Britain, said they needed to recruit performers from China and Eastern Europe.

But they feared the new points-based migration system, which starts next month, is not ready and Embassy staff have not been properly trained.

Mr Clay was giving evidence to the home affairs committee.


BBC NEWS | Politics | Circuses 'short of UK performers'

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Saturday, 28 February 2009

Humyo Free Online File Storage

Humyo Free Online File Storage
 
Finally got round to sorting out my online file storage via Humyo, who offer a free 10 gig account which is not bad. I already have such an account with Box net storage via Netvibes, but that's only one gig, handy, but not enough.



Signing up is very easy and once you have confirmed your account via email, you are able to up and download files.
If you want to use Drag and Drop, you will need to download Java, which can be done via Humyo and restart your browser.





You can either use you browser to interact with Humyo or download their client software, which I have, but not installed yet, so stay tuned for a review of that side of Humyo.

You can create folders, upload files and then drag files to folders just like you can on the desktop.



You can also share files by creating links and incorporating those links in your website, emails or blogs.

Here is a sample of some of the files I have uploaded and made public.

Craig Murray - The Catholic Orangemen of Togo


Craig Murray - The Catholic Orangemen of Togo Zip File

Bloggers Handbook 2

BlogBash

The Zen of Blogging

Mastering Twitter

The AllTweet Journal

Viral Marketing


Share and enjoy!


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Monday, 23 February 2009

Police order journalist to destroy photos - HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk - Comment



Regional press news - this story published 23 February 2009
Police order journalist to destroy photos
by holdthefrontpage staff

A south-east reporter was told to destroy pictures of people sledging in a public park as they could constitute an act of voyeurism.

Alex Lewis, from the St Albans Review, was snapping some locals enjoying the recent snow when a man allegedly threatened him after he thought the reporter was taking images of his children.

Alex called the police but when an officer arrived, he told him that his camera phone would have to be confiscated as evidence for a charge of voyeurism unless he agreed to delete the images.

Alex told HTFP: "With the benefit of hindsight, I feel I was a bit unfair on the police officer as I never explained I was a reporter – mainly out of curiosity to see what would happen.

"As far as I and my paper are concerned, the incident is closed."

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 defines voyeurism as observing someone doing a private act without their consent for sexual gratification.

It adds: "A person is doing a private act if the person is in a place which, in the circumstances, would reasonably be expected to provide privacy, and the person's genitals, buttocks or breasts are exposed or covered only with underwear, the person is using a lavatory or the person is doing a sexual act that is not of a kind ordinarily done in public."

The Review has asked Hertfordshire Constabulary how the pictures of fully-clothed people sledging in a public park could be classed as voyeurism but says it is yet to receive a response.

No-one from Hertfordshire Constabulary was available for comment.



Journalism jobs and news from Holdthefrontpage.co.uk


My immediate thoughts on reading this article were, who was the man threatening the reporter? and why are they treating it as closed?
Surely there is a case of a reporter going about his business reporting on what was a very news worthy event for most of the mainstream media, being threatened, then calling for assistance from the police only to end up as the perpetrator rather than the victim.

No..it doesn't seem right.

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Sunday, 22 February 2009

Sunday, 15 February 2009

Cash for Questions, Cash for Honours, Cash for Peers, now Cash For Cops!

Police chiefs' association accused of profiteering

By Brian Brady, Whitehall Editor

Sunday, 15 February 2009




The private organisation representing Britain's top police officers faced demands last night for reform – or even disbanding – over allegations that it was being run as a business with a multi-million-pound budget relying heavily on public funds.

Civil liberties campaigners and opposition politicians called for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to be "stopped in its tracks" amid growing concerns over its burgeoning powers.

ACPO, a private company, is paid millions of pounds a year by the taxpayer to, in effect, run the nation's police forces. It has been viewed as providing a vital public service in writing the rules on police operations, advising ministers, and campaigning on issues such as the proposed 90-day detention of terror suspects and the DNA database.

But a newspaper investigation has raised concerns over "profit-making" activities, including selling information from the police national computer for up to £70 a time – when ACPO pays just 60p for the details.

The organisation also markets "police approval" logos to firms selling anti-theft devices and runs a separate private firm offering training to speed-camera operators.


Police chiefs' association accused of profiteering - Home News, UK - The Independent


I just assumed that ACPO was a public association, and I am quite shocked that that this isn't the case.

My gut reaction is one of a conflict of interest situation could possibly arise between what is just and what is profitable.

(ACPO is a Registered Trademark of the 'Filth-U-Like' Propaganda Division of Murkybackwaters/Shady Umbrella Corp;-)

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Friday, 13 February 2009

Is the Crown Prosecution Service fit for purpose?

Is the Crown Prosecution Service fit for purpose?

From the BBC

No police officers will be prosecuted over the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

It follows a review of new evidence which came to light at his inquest.

Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot dead by police at Stockwell Tube station in south London after he was mistaken for one of the failed 21 July 2005 bombers.



A spokeswoman for the Justice 4 Jean campaign said she was "absolutely furious" with the decision.

In December, an inquest jury returned an open verdict - rejecting the police view that he was killed lawfully.

Stephen O'Doherty, the lawyer who led the CPS review, said: "I have now concluded that there is insufficient evidence that any offence was committed by any individual officers in relation to the tragic death of Mr de Menezes."

'Inconsistencies'

The officers, known as Charlie 2 and Charlie 12, told the inquest they had shouted a warning at Mr de Menezes and he had continued moving towards them.

But passengers at the inquest had said this was not the case, and the jury did not accept the officers' accounts.

Mr O'Doherty said: "Although there were some inconsistencies in what the officers said at the inquest, there were also inconsistencies in what passengers had said.

"I concluded that in the confusion of what occurred on the day, a jury could not be sure that any officer had deliberately given a false account of events."


It's unbelievable that the CPS had taken this decision without talking to the family or their representatives
Yasmin Khan
Justice 4 Jean

Mr O'Doherty said there was no fresh evidence presented to the inquest to make him reconsider an earlier decision not to prosecute senior officers for negligence.

He has written to Mr de Menezes' family to explain the decision, he added.

Yasmin Khan of the Justice 4 Jean campaign described the CPS decision as "morally reprehensible and legally wrong".


This case is, as I have said before, a whitewash and fairly typical behaviour from what is supposed to be an independent body

My partner received one of those letters from the CPS and it was riddled with inconsistencies supplied by the police. Based on these erroneous errors, ( or lies, depending on how one looks at it), they did not proceed with her case either.

Again wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!!!!

BBC NEWS | UK | Family anger over Menezes review


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"Those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history" - B Obama.

"Those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history". B Obama.






Let me make myself clear, I do not support this Dutch MP, nor have I watched his film and probably never will.

What I am about is the stiffing of dissent in all it's forms.

I have had to deal with a lot of unpleasant people in my life, with a lot of unpleasant ideas and opinions. No doubt a lot of these people felt the same about me.

I was raised to believe in the principle that, though I may disagree with what you say or believe and I may even challenge you on those issues, I will defend your right to say it or believe it.

This action by the Home Secretary does nothing for debate, freedom of speech or democracy and revels more about NuLabour attitude towards these principles, the disdain they have for the critical thinking abilities of the people of the UK and gives the impression that they are cowards but are still willing and able to use 'gunboat' politics to achieve their aims.



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