More thoughts on Damian Green

What would the police have done if when they looked at his computers they discovered that every hard disk was encrypted using something like SafeBoot or one of the multitude of free encryption packages? How would they force the password out of an MP?

Update

Of course under the draconian RIPA III there is a mechanism in place to force someone to hand of the encryption keys but would the police be so stupid as to use RIPA against an MP? Anyway software such as TrueCrypt as the concept of "Plausible Deniablity" where the fact that encrypted data is even present is very difficult to prove.

Sally Murrer

I am glad that the judge threw out the case against Sally Murrer - a case which has raised enormous issues about press freedom and extraordinary heavy handed police work.

Who knew?

I find it almost unbelievable that someone in the Government was not informed or authorised the arrest of the Conservative front bench spokesman Damian Green on Official Secrets charges. The police would not be stupid enough to do this without informing someone very senior indeed.

This episode has very grave consequences for our freedoms.


Update

Iain Martin over at the Telegraph asks some very pertinent questions

Are the new carriers doomed?

The BBC yesterday speculated whether the credit crunch will affect the building of the two new aircraft carriers - Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales. Now I suspect that for mainly political reasons - some of the yards are in Labour heartlands (or at least were - its called Scotland!) - the ships will be built but one issue that seems to have missed everyone is the fact that the aircraft are American F-35s. We are planning to spend £6,000m on these aircraft which translated into $12,000m until recently. Unfortunately the pound has nosedived against the dollar and the same amount of dollars will cost us £8,000m.

Firstly where is the extra £2,000m coming from?

Secondly the general costs of the F-35 have doubled and other countries might well pull out especially in a downturn, which in turn will increase the costs of the remaining.

So what will happen? Options I suspect might well be navalise the Typhoon, F-18s or maybe Rafales .... or build the carriers but have nothing to fly from them ......

The NHS can be efficient ...

Had the pre-admission screenings today which took up most of the afternoon but it went so smoothly that I couldn't believe it....

Started off on the orthopaedic ward, seeing the admissions nurse (swabs, BP, weight, height etc) followed by a chat to the ward sister - can I have an epidural block instead of a general - and a long discussion on recovery, then to see the OT who dealt with post-operative care - the height of my sofa at home will be a problem, as will getting my leg on in the morning. Then off to get some blood extracted where I wound up a 3rd year medical student (poor sod!) who actually did the needle work, then for an ECG (still pumping!) and finally X-Rays ... all in 2 hours 30 mins which was quite amazing ....

Micturating against the cyclone

Wow .. a 2.5% drop in VAT. Does anyone really think that this is going to kick-start the economy?

Getting a bit twitchy

Its now only just over two weeks until the operation; got a clinic tomorrow during which they will explain all the recovery options - a tricky one given that the other leg is also wrecked and I suspect that they haven't had too many amputees around - so some of the discussions could be interesting, especially those dealing with post-op mobility .

Organising remote access for work .. a labyrinth process if there ever is one ...

The rugby

At least the Welsh went down with a great deal more fight than the English ......

The BNP

Should I support the right of a party that I find abhorrent and whose policies I detest to exist?

Prostitution

There are times when the stupidity of the government knows no bounds. The new idea that men who frequent prostitutes could be subject to criminal prosecution if the prostitutes are controlled by pimps is one of those crass ideas.

Lets get this straight: the traffic of women for the sex trade is a vile, disgusting and in some cases dangerous business but the government sees the easiest point of attack not being the pimps or the traffickers but rather the men who use the prostitutes. The point that "Pleading ignorance of the circumstances under which a prostitute is working will not count as a defence." is obviously designed to try and ensure that all forms of prostitution are driven even further underground - and probably making it even more dangerous - since obviously no prostitute is going to carry a "I don't work for a pimp" card. It is also pertinant to remember that prostitution itself isn't a criminal offence.

The answers are:

• Tighten border controls to stop the smuggling in of women
• Go for the pimps and traffickers - hit them hard. They are the merchants of human misery
• Provide legalised and regulated brothels - treat them in the same way as any other business would be. This is what happens in Australia
• Provide a comprehensive help service for those girls who probably through drugs - are the most vulnerable.

One point though: I cannot see many juries convicting men if the "ignorance defence" is attempted. It didn't work in Finland (the only other country that has this law) and I doubt it will work here.

Dying duck in a thunderstorm ...

Have had an attack by a rhinovirus on the ICAM-1 receptors on my respiritory epithelial cells which then released intracellular distress signals. Acute coryza ensured ......

Does John Major read my blog?

A few weeks ago I wrote this http://bonetired.blogspot.com/2008/10/colleague-thanks-bc-posted-this-on.html where I listed a good selection of the reasons why Labour has made a bad position far far worse.

Now I see today in The Times this by John Major - almost re-interating my points word for word!

"Who ignored the debt spiral as it built up? Who weakened regulation and allowed Northern Rock to offer 125 per cent mortgages? Who diminished Bank of England control over our banking system? Who wrecked final-salary pensions with a £5 billion-a-year tax levy? Who ignored the risks of the house price and equity boom?"

Am honoured!

A nice touch

I didn't see the Cenotaph service yesterday - stood quietly outside in the open air for a few minutes around 11 -but I caught the reports on the news and in the papers.

What I especially liked was the way the current miltary paid their respects to the only three WW1 veterans still alive in the UK. By a nice coincidence, each of the three came from differing sevices - Henry Allingham (RAF), Harry Patch (Army) and Bill Stone (RN) - and they were taken to the Cenotaph by a decorated serving member of their service.

For the RAF it was Flt Lt Michelle Goodman - the first woman to win a DFC
For the Navy it was Marine Mkhuseili Jones MC
For the Army it was Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC

It was an honour guard worthy of those three gentlemen.

New M&S ....

Had a bite with my wife in the excellent new M&S in town. Nice revamped cafe which had some good views out. Anyway the system is curious. If you want hot food you hand in the sandwich to be microwave; in return you are given a sort of wand with a whole load of electrical gubbins inside it. The idea is that it will buzz when your food is ready for you to collect.

We sat down next next to some younger women who also had one of these things in front of them when suddenly the wand sprang into life and started vibrating its way across the table.

Looks of astonishment followed by what only could be described as raucous giggling ....

Not just any kind of vibrator but an M&S vibrator ..........

Contrast and compare

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Confederate_States_of_America.svg

and

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/us_elections_2008/results/7697829.stm


Ignore the staes that didn't actually exist in 1861 .....

Its not all over

Amongst the general, and justified, celebrations surrounding the election of an Afro-American to the White House which signals a huge change over my lifetime in attitudes wth race - both here and the US - one statistic indicates that the issue is not over yet in certain parts of the US:

Alabama

McCain 60.4%
Obama 38.8%

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the split was pretty much on racial lines.

Update:

According to the US Census Bureau the racial breakdown in Alabama is actually: White 71.2% Black 26.3

Well done the Lords

There are few things that this Government has done which has annoyed me more than the permanent retention of DNA samples...esp from innocent people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7710310.stm

Heavy heart time ...

I have been procrastinating on this for some time - in fact until the last possible moment - but given the current options I - as a Conservative - would end up voting for Obama. It would be a with a very heavy heart for my political instincts would be Republican but firstly I would never want Palin as a vice-president at all and I also feel that Obama - inexperienced as he is - would provide a more unifying force for the US than McCain ever would. McCain has been hampered by the Bush legacy and I can't seem that ever going to be helpful for a GOP President.

Choose your battleground carefully

David Cameron has an interesting article in the Sun today where the BBC is described as "Bloated" and "out of touch with the viewers". He is also surely correct to echo Andrew Marr's point about the BBC having "innate liberal bias" . However, now is not the time for the Conservatives to take on the BBC - at least not as an all-out assault - since (as the Osborne/Mandleson affair demonstrated all too clearly) the BBC has the power to cause direct damage to the Conservatives whilst not attacking Labour in the same way.

Be patient and wait until you are in power is my view .. then perform the root and branch reform that the BBC needs so drastically.

Tom Watson MP gets a good kicking

Tom Watson is a classic nulab apparatchik so it is highly entertaining when he gets a good kicking over the horrible mission creep of RIPA that he attempts to defend here.

Lovely .....

Update .. Of course I meant Tom Harris .... Brain fart

Danger ... danger.. danger ...

My daughter has bought her first car .....