http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/My politics, my notes, and my lifeen-EUMokoFeed10http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/ba/0dcf9806b7221717477fcc26f6753f_160x200.jpghttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/26/a-man-of-many-colours-7244428/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-26:/2009/10/26/a-man-of-many-colours-7244428/Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:48:13 +0100 <p>I learnt something about words and colours on Friday.</p> <p>I was house hunting in Toronto in the pouring rain when I got stopped by a man asking me to read the signs outside a hospital. The signs he was interested in turned out to be advertising for Sunnybrook Hospital, and it was a slogan with each word on a separate coloured background. I read off the text for for him, only to be asked, "But what does it say?" </p> <p>I read off the words again for him, trying to edge away, but he still wasn't having it. "It's not a red word is it? A good green word though". He should be in advertising...</p> <p>As it was, he was in the street; in the rain; in his shirt; getting soaked.</p> <p>And yes, care in the community works almost as well here as it does in the UK. I bought him a coffee and escaped.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/26/a-man-of-many-colours-7244428/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>canadamental-healthpsychologypoliticshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/26/a-man-of-many-colours-7244428/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/guardian-s-super-injuction-published-7211930/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-20:/2009/10/20/guardian-s-super-injuction-published-7211930/Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:57:04 +0200 <p>The Guardian has now published the contents of the super injunction that prevented it reporting on Parliamentary Proceedings. It has been annotated by them.</p> <p>It can be found here:</p> <p><a href="http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/10/20/SUPER-INJUNCTION.pdf">http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/10/20/SUPER-INJUNCTION.pdf</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/guardian-s-super-injuction-published-7211930/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>guardian-newpaper-gaggedtrafiguraprivacylibelpoliticssuper-injuctionhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/guardian-s-super-injuction-published-7211930/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/card-fraud-update-7211875/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-20:/2009/10/20/card-fraud-update-7211875/Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:40:09 +0200 <p>Someone cloned my debit card recently, and the bank started an investigation. The bank's investigation has now had an investigation of its own... </p> <p>I asked on Friday if the investigation was now completed. What investigation, they asked. The one you phoned me about, that one. Come back on Monday.</p> <p>I waited until Tuesday (today). Then I asked if the investigation was now completed. What investigation, they asked. The one you phoned me about, the one you said come back on Monday. That one. But there isn't any investigation, you should call this number.</p> <p>"This number" were rather surprised and asked me to call into their branch. Their computer wasn't showing any investigation being under way either, but they went off to another, apparently more secure computer, and decided (eventually) that yes, indeed there was an investigation under way. But it hadn't been started when the original fraud was identified (which is odd for other financial reasons)but last Friday after I had left the branch. They're still investigating why that might be.</p> <p>More anon (I fear).</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/card-fraud-update-7211875/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>crimelifebank-card-fraudhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/card-fraud-update-7211875/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/bnp-membership-list-published-again-7204496/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-19:/2009/10/20/bnp-membership-list-published-again-7204496/Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:08:34 +0200 <p>The latest BNP membership list is apparently about to be published again.</p> <p>This may, or may not be the one you can find at Wikileaks (a search for "wikileaks bnp membership" will find it).</p> <p>It's depressing to see how many members they seem to have accumulated in my old town back in the UK.</p> <p>On balance, I'm in favour of publication. Not just of the BNP, but of all parties (but not necessarily phone numbers or email addresses which appear in this version - too much easy opportunity to cause harrassment). If you are going to fund a political party, and try to manipulate the public into voting for it (which is essentially what you do by joining a party), then there should be full disclosure. That has to be supported by strong anti-discrimination legislation; no-one, not even a BNP member should be turned away from a shop, or with a few exceptions, from a job.</p> <p>Footnote:</p> <p>Since the last publication, the number of BNP memebrs in Canada seems to have grown quite significantly, mostly over in British Columbia and Alberta. Presumably all British expats.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/bnp-membership-list-published-again-7204496/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>politicsbritish-national-partyracism-in-politics-privacybnp-membership-leaked-againfascismhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/bnp-membership-list-published-again-7204496/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/19/trafigura-art-prize-cancelled-7203019/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-19:/2009/10/19/trafigura-art-prize-cancelled-7203019/Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:58:37 +0200 <p>The Trafigura Art Prize has been cancelled.</p> <p> It was being run by the Cynthia Corbett Gallery in London, UK. In a press statement today the gallery says:</p> <blockquote> <p>18 October 2009, London – Gallerist Cynthia Corbett today announced that her Art Prize will no longer be sponsored by Trafigura, and will instead be renamed the Young Masters Art Prize. </p> <p> Cynthia explains “Since the prize was conceived 2 years ago we approached various art foundations and corporate organizations to sponsor an art prize. We feel that the recent events involving Trafigura are detracting from the main purpose of the prize, which is to celebrate emerging and newly established artists.”</p> </blockquote> <p><strong><br> Trafigura - it's a gas (read my earlier blogs for more on this most toxic of companies).</p> <p> </strong></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/19/trafigura-art-prize-cancelled-7203019/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>carter-ruckartguardian-ban-on-reporting-parliamenttoxic-wastepoliticsivory-coasttrafigura-art-prizehttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/19/trafigura-art-prize-cancelled-7203019/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/19/tories-to-destroy-the-bbc-7201784/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-19:/2009/10/19/tories-to-destroy-the-bbc-7201784/Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:12:57 +0200 <p>Shadow Culture Secretary Johnathon Hunt said today it was a matter of when, not if, the BBC Trust would be abolished and that he was also considering tearing up its royal charter. His reasons? because the BBC is "Out of touch" and and wants to crush media competition.</p> <p>James (as in Rupert) Murdoch recently attacked the BBC demanding exactly that. Then the Murdochs changed allegiance from Labour to Tory, and hey presto, their innocent hopes and dreams became reality.</p> <p>Move along now. No link there, nothing to see. Not attempt to destroy impartial BBC news reporting for personal and coprorate gain.</p> <p>The original FT article:</p> <p><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8d7f2e74-bc22-11de-9426-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1">http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8d7f2e74-bc22-11de-9426-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1</a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/19/tories-to-destroy-the-bbc-7201784/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>sun-switches-to-torieshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/19/tories-to-destroy-the-bbc-7201784/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/17/trafigura-gives-up-its-secrets-7185268/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-17:/2009/10/17/trafigura-gives-up-its-secrets-7185268/Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:25:29 +0200 <p>Our favourite purveyor of toxic waste, Trafigura, have finally accepted the inevitable and allowed their Minton Report that I summarized a couple of days ago, to be reported. Essentially they and their lawyers, Carter-Ruck have thrown in the legal towel on hiding the report from public view.</p> <p> Not that they are accepting liability, or accepting they might have erm... killed 15 people and seriously poisoned 30,000 others, but it's a start.</p> <p> Just to remind you of what we are talking about, this is what Trafigura's dumping of hydrogen sulphide (amongst other, equally nasty chemicals)  acheived:</p> <p> <a title="malade-dechetoxique" href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/malade_dechetoxique/4000713"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/713/4000713_4b46eaad43_s.jpeg" alt="malade-dechetoxique"></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/17/trafigura-gives-up-its-secrets-7185268/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>ivory-coast-pollutiontoxic-wasteguardian-bantrafiguracarter-ruckminton-reporthttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/17/trafigura-gives-up-its-secrets-7185268/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/16/m-s-pull-advertising-from-daily-mail-over-stephen-gately-article-7183941/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-16:/2009/10/16/m-s-pull-advertising-from-daily-mail-over-stephen-gately-article-7183941/Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:34:28 +0200 <p>Both Marks and Spenser, and Nestlé, have today pulled online advertising from a Daily Mail artile that made homphobic comments based on the death of singer Stephen Gately. </p> <p>A spokesman for M&S said:</p> <p>"Marks & Spencer does not tolerate any form of discrimination. We have asked the Daily Mail to move our advertisement away from the article."</p> <p>A spokesman for Nestlé said:</p> <p>"Nestlé has no influence on the editorial content of the publications in which it advertises. The views expressed in the article are from the author and are not shared by Nestlé. The company has consistently emphasised the importance of mutual respect and tolerance, regardless of culture, religion or nationality. This a core company value as expressed in the Nestlé corporate business principles."</p> <p>Aoparently those sentiments are not shared by the Daily Mail and General Trust who allowed the artile to appear in their rag.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/16/m-s-pull-advertising-from-daily-mail-over-stephen-gately-article-7183941/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>politicsnestldaily-mailjan-moirhuman-rightshomophic-articlemsmarks-and-spencerstephen-gatelyboyzonehttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/16/m-s-pull-advertising-from-daily-mail-over-stephen-gately-article-7183941/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/16/lies-damned-lies-and-the-daily-mail-7182135/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-16:/2009/10/16/lies-damned-lies-and-the-daily-mail-7182135/Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:46:33 +0200 <p>The Daily Mail, guardian of all that is pure and wholesome, are attacking gay people, and civil partnerships, through the death of Stephen Gately and how the "ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see". The link to the article is below:</p> <p><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1220756/A-strange-lonely-troubling-death--.html">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1220756/A-strange-lonely-troubling-death--.html</a></p> <p>Words almost fail me. ACPO say the number of violent homophobic attacks in the UK are on the increase. In fact there have been three murders in London alone this year, including a man stabbed and kicked to death in Trafalgar Square (his life support machine was finally switched off this week). And then you get the Jan Moir's of this world stoking up even more trouble with this nasty vicious homophobic diatribe.</p> <p>Well Jan, for the record:</p> <p>I'm gay. I have a civil partner and, been married for over 2 years; we have been in a loving relationship together for over 10 years.</p> <p>Oh yes...</p> <p>And we have wild, wild sex, sometimes even with other people we bring home. We dress up, use sex toys, play games, and watch porn. We find the only thing that oozes is the K-Y Jelly.</p> <p>It's great, you should try it.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/16/lies-damned-lies-and-the-daily-mail-7182135/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>homophobiajan-moir-stephen-gatelydaily-mailpoliticshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/16/lies-damned-lies-and-the-daily-mail-7182135/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/15/i-ve-been-robbed-briefly-7176185/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-15:/2009/10/15/i-ve-been-robbed-briefly-7176185/Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:45:52 +0200 <p>It seems I am the victim of bank card fraud.</p> <p>I had call from my bank today informing me that my debit card had been used at a location being investigated for fraud. </p> <p>I was asked not to say how much or under what circumstances as the investigation is ongoing. I have, however, gotten my money back before I even knew it was gone...</p> <p>I'll blog the full story when I'm allowed. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/15/i-ve-been-robbed-briefly-7176185/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>crimelifecanadabank-card-fraudhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/15/i-ve-been-robbed-briefly-7176185/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/14/buying-influence-7164683/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-14:/2009/10/14/buying-influence-7164683/Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:33:19 +0200 <p>Trafigura, those bastions of democracy, were one of the main sponsors of the British Lions tour of Soth Africa in 2009. They also have a shirt sponsorship deal with Rugby Canada...</p> <p> So, 3 yeaers after Trafigura were implicated in the dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, and of huge, and dodgy, political donations in Jamaica, the British Lions and Rugby Canada think they are good people to be associated with...</p> <p> <a href="http://206.191.48.235/index.php?lang=fr&page_id=10&news_id=4490">http://206.191.48.235/index.php?lang=fr&page_id=10&news_id=4490</a></p> <p> Perhaps something can be done about that? Holding up picture of the victims of Abidjan at the next rugby match perhaps?</p> <p> Like these two victims (images culled from news articles). You had better have strong stomachs...</p> <p>It's not surprising that those concerned want the story supressed is it?</p> <p> <img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/713/4000713_4b46eaad43_m.jpeg" alt="malade-dechetoxique"></p> <p><a title="IvoryCoastToxicDumpingVictim" href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/ivorycoasttoxicdumpingvictim/4000712"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/712/4000712_7cb62d8e48_m.jpeg" alt="IvoryCoastToxicDumpingVictim"></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/14/buying-influence-7164683/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>politicstrafigurarugbyguardian-banbritish-lionsrugby-canadacarter-ruckbuying-influencehttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/14/buying-influence-7164683/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/trafigura-s-jamaican-adventure-7163888/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-13:/2009/10/13/trafigura-s-jamaican-adventure-7163888/Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:50:17 +0200 <p>Trafigura are busy little bees. In 2006 they not only dumped toxic waste, they gave $31 million to te People's National Party of Jamaica. It makes old Bernie Eccleston look cheap...</p> <p>Seeing as this "investment" came after Trafigura was awarded a highly lucrative contract to trade Jamaica's oil by Colin Cambell, the man they were paying to get re-elected, I have to ask: </p> <p>If BAE are being investigated(rightly)for bribery and corruption, why not Trafigura? Why is there a double standard? And what reason could there be for one?</p> <p>- - - - - - </p> <p>This is from the Jamaica Observer in October 2007</p> <p>Trafigura says $31 million a commercial agreement - report</p> <p>THE controversy surrounding the $31-million donation to the governing People's National Party took on a new twist yesterday, with oil trader Trafigura saying the money was part of a commercial agreement, according to a report carried by CVM TV.</p> <p>CVM TV, in its newscast last night, reported that Trafigura, in responding to questions sent to its London-based office, said that as part of its development of its business in Jamaica it has a commercial agreement with CCOC Association and payments were made under that agreement.</p> <p>"Trafigura conducts its business in accordance with the OECD Convention on Combating bribery of Foreign Public Officials and observes the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises," Trafigura told the Jamaican television station.<br> On Wednesday, People's National Party (PNP) general secretary Colin Campbell said that CCOC Associates was a fundraising account not a company. He said, too, that the letters in the name CCOC meant nothing.</p> <p>However on Thursday, Norton Hinds, whose signature appears on the account, told the Observer that CCOC was established in 1992 by persons interested in having Campbell elected to Parliament and that CCOC stood for "Colin Campbell Our Candidate".<br> Campbell, in response to the Trafigura statement, said it had contacted the oil trader and asked them to clarify the term "commercial agreement", said CVM.</p> <p>The PNP general secretary maintained that the transaction was a contribution and that the CCOC would not do any business with Trafigura since it was only a fundraising account.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/trafigura-s-jamaican-adventure-7163888/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>trafigurapoliticsjamaicacrimehttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/trafigura-s-jamaican-adventure-7163888/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/more-on-trafigura-and-the-minton-report-7162912/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-13:/2009/10/13/more-on-trafigura-and-the-minton-report-7162912/Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:08:04 +0200 <p>I now understand why Carter-Fuck were trying to block information from Parliament. They donn't want it widely known that they have another injunction on the publication of n report into the poisoning in Abidjan made on behalf of Trafigura. I suggest you go to Wikileaks and look for yourself.</p> <p>Trafigura don't seem to want us to know that they were performing a hazardous operation: refining oil at sea in an oil tanker, storing the liquid waste of the process (which would inevitably contain some very nasty compounds including hydrogen sulphide that require special waste management techniques) in the ordinary waste tanks of a ship, and knowingly dumping the resultant highly toxic waste in a 3rd world country. The result of that dumping appears to be a court case charging Trafigura with culpability in the deaths and injury of people working in, and living at quite some distance from, the dump site.</p> <p>It is worth pointing out that there are international conventions covering the movement of such toxic waste. There is also EU Landfill Directive 1999/31/EC that forbids the dumping of such waste in landfill sites within the EU. </p> <p>Landfill in Abidjan appears to be where it ended up.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/more-on-trafigura-and-the-minton-report-7162912/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>trafigurapoliticslandfill-regulations-injuctions-minton-reportguardian-newspaperhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/more-on-trafigura-and-the-minton-report-7162912/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/happy-turkey-day-7161797/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-13:/2009/10/13/happy-turkey-day-7161797/Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:05:26 +0200 <p>It was Canadian Thanksgiving yesterday, and I got several texts from friends wishing me a "Happy Turkey Day". I also had several sales people at the farmers market wish me a "Good Thanksgiving".</p> <p>I'm really not quiote sure about celebrating Thanksgiving. I know it's a version of the Harvest Festival you'd find at the Church of England, but there is also still that cultural reference back to the plantation at Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrim Fathers. I'm not sure an act of 17th century imperialism, with the associated subjegation of native peoples, is truly worthy of celebration.</p> <p>I feel more comfotable about the Canadian version, with them choosing a different day, and explicitly referring to the harvest, and not to the start of european settlement. Quite why in 1957 they found it necessary to make it an official religous, rather than secular, festival, I'm not sure: "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed … to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October." </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/happy-turkey-day-7161797/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>politicsthanksgivingcanadahappy-turkey-dayhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/happy-turkey-day-7161797/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/thanksgiving-7161681/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-13:/2009/10/13/thanksgiving-7161681/Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:41:32 +0200 <p>We had the Kitchener-Waterloo thanksgiving parade yesterday (Canada does thanksgiving on a different day to the US). </p> <p>The parade is not on the scale of New York's, but it still took the best part of an hour to pass by.</p> <p>What really caught my attention though, was the social mix, if mix is the word. The parade included marching bands, youth groups, charities, and businesses. I think I counted exactly two multi-racial groups in the parade; I really hope there were some that I missed. One group was the Army Cadets, and there was one youth band with a couple of asian boys in it. Everything else seemed to be exclusively white, or occasionally asian (there were Vietnamese and Philippino marching bands). Considering how ethnically diverse Kitchener-Waterloo actually is, it was a bit disappointing. </p> <p>I went looking for a clip of the parade on You Tube, but there's nothing up there yet. I'll post a link when it finally arrives.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/thanksgiving-7161681/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>thanksgivingpoliticscanadahttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/thanksgiving-7161681/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/sharp-tories-7160437/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-13:/2009/10/13/sharp-tories-7160437/Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:06:46 +0200 <p>You know how sometimes you see a name, and it rings bells? </p> <p>I have no idead whether these two Mr Sharp's are related in any way other than by choice of address, wealth, and political allegiance, but its an interesting coincidence. It's posted in a thread on Trafigura, the company that tried unsuccessfully yesterday to block reporting of Parliament. The reason will become clear.</p> <p><a href="http://armchairrevolutionaries.blog.co.uk/2009/10/12/the-guardian-is-being-gagged-7156977/#c11191183">http://armchairrevolutionaries.blog.co.uk/2009/10/12/the-guardian-is-being-gagged-7156977/#c11191183</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/sharp-tories-7160437/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/sharp-tories-7160437/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/guardian-newspaper-gagged-from-reporting-is-this-about-trafigura-7157623/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-13:/2009/10/13/guardian-newspaper-gagged-from-reporting-is-this-about-trafigura-7157623/Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:11:59 +0200 <p>It's nice to be helpful one in a while:</p> <p><a href="http://armchairrevolutionaries.blog.co.uk/2009/10/12/the-guardian-is-being-gagged-7156977/#c11187479">http://armchairrevolutionaries.blog.co.uk/2009/10/12/the-guardian-is-being-gagged-7156977/#c11187479</a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/guardian-newspaper-gagged-from-reporting-is-this-about-trafigura-7157623/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/13/guardian-newspaper-gagged-from-reporting-is-this-about-trafigura-7157623/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/06/the-vision-thing-7112803/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-06:/2009/10/06/the-vision-thing-7112803/Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:45:24 +0200 <p>I had a vision on Saturday nigfht. Actually I had several, and all in the name of Art. It was Toronto's Nuit Blanche on Saturday, a huge overnight free arts festival, and this was one of the interactive pieces.</p> <p> It was  science experiment-turned-art installation. If you close your eyes and sit very near a strobing light you experience visionary halucinations. Taodi saw all sorts of things, but what I got mostly was green (bright green). Then the colour would fade and it would come back as a blinding white light on the periphery of my vision. That in turn faded and it was back to the green again.</p> <p>All in all, a very odd experience.</p> <p>The You Tube link is below.</p> <p> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/06/the-vision-thing-7112803/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>torontonuit-blancheartlifehttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/06/the-vision-thing-7112803/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/06/a-window-on-the-world-7112664/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-06:/2009/10/06/a-window-on-the-world-7112664/Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:26:18 +0200 <p>I guess what got me blogging again was my trip to the Land of the Hanging Chad (Dade County, Miami, if you can remember that far back). Life has involved a lot of hanging around at the hotel pool and frequenting local coffee shops, so I got to read the local and national papers in some depth.</p> <p>Given the bizarre and slanted view of the world served up daily, I'm not in  the least surprised by the people I met. And I promise you, there were some very odd people. Ye gods, talk about being a product of your environment...</p> <p> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/06/a-window-on-the-world-7112664/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>politicsusamiamihttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/06/a-window-on-the-world-7112664/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/06/hey-i-m-alive-7112580/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-10-06:/2009/10/06/hey-i-m-alive-7112580/Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:11:13 +0200 <p>Alive and well and back blogging...</p> <p>I guess I just needed the break.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/06/hey-i-m-alive-7112580/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/10/06/hey-i-m-alive-7112580/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/24/a-right-royal-rebellion-5641382/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-02-24:/2009/02/24/a-right-royal-rebellion-5641382/Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:22:08 +0100 <p>So far 120 Labour MPs are lining up to vote against privatisation of the Royal Mail. It's not enough, but it's a start.</p> <p>What I find frustrating is that we even have the possibility of a privatisation of a core public service. Particularly a privatisation caused by creating a "crisis" of profitability to justify it. They Royal Mail is only unprofitable becuase the governement created competition in the form of private companies, who pay lower salaries, provide worse working conditions, provide no final salary pension, and who have no controls on their investment decisions or prices. A rigged market in other words. </p> <p>It was the same when the NHS contracted out its cleaning, with the result that less contract cleaners on poorer salaries and heavier workloads leave our hospitals dirty and full of MRSA and C-Diff. The only winners from that one were the cleaning company executives and the funeral directors. Not the hospitals or the patients (i.e. us), that's for sure.</p> <p>Somehow I don't see privatisation of the Royal Mail going any differently, do you? Less posties, poorer pay and conditions for those that remain, worse service for customers if you can't afford the private companies' premiums to get the second class post service we got 15 years ago for a fraction of the current price. Rich executives with big bonuses though, I think we can be pretty sure of that.</p> <p>by the way artificial "competition" was created to cause a crisis as the </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/24/a-right-royal-rebellion-5641382/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>privatisationprivatizationpoliticsroyal-maillabour-rebellionhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/24/a-right-royal-rebellion-5641382/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/24/a-way-with-words-5640699/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-02-24:/2009/02/24/a-way-with-words-5640699/Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:15:16 +0100 <p>What's the difference between an under-developed country and a developing one?</p> <p>The answer of course is in the cultural baggage we attach to the words. Under-developed is like under-fed, under-resourced, under-appreciated, under-weight, under-represented, they all suggest problems and that someone is to blame. Developing sounds like something is improving and will get there, so no blame there then, just sadness that we aren't there quite yet.</p> <p>So, is Chad, say, a developing nation or an under-developed one? Or Congo? Or Kenya? of Mali? Or Peru? Or Somalia? Or Oman? </p> <p>It's all in the words isn't it? </p> <p>My money is on <strong>under-developed</strong>, how about you?</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/24/a-way-with-words-5640699/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>word-playeconomicspoliticsideologyhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/24/a-way-with-words-5640699/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/23/you-can-have-a-mortgage-if-some-unelected-faceless-bureaucrat-agrees-5634386/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-02-23:/2009/02/23/you-can-have-a-mortgage-if-some-unelected-faceless-bureaucrat-agrees-5634386/Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:28:35 +0100 <p>Norther Rock is about to start lending again, but only if the EU Commission give permission. </p> <p>So, the British Government, whom we elect, cannot lend money to its own citizens without the approval of people from other countries whom we don't elect and have no control over. So much for democracy then.</p> <p>The argument as I understand it, is that the governement may not "interfere" or "distort" in the single market. This will be the banking market run by corrupt and incompetent bankers then? A market that the commission was quite keen on us interfering with when their corrupt and incompetent banking friends was about to go bust. Well, we wouldn't want the champagne and the bonuses to stop flowing would we?</p> <p>I used to be quite keen on the EU. I saw it as a way of creating a political system bigger than the multi-national corporations who have the power to bully individual states. The more I look at the details, the more I realize its just a way to entrench their power through rules and regulations over which we have no real effective control.</p> <p>As I've said before: no power without accountability. </p> <p>Today I want to go further. I do not accept the right of anyone that I cannot directly elect to enact laws on my behalf. To use a very old term, I assert that they hold no dominion over me.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/23/you-can-have-a-mortgage-if-some-unelected-faceless-bureaucrat-agrees-5634386/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>bankingnorther-rock-lending-againdemocracyeconomicshuman-rightspoliticsno-power-without-accountabilityhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/23/you-can-have-a-mortgage-if-some-unelected-faceless-bureaucrat-agrees-5634386/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/22/a-way-with-words-5629046/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-02-22:/2009/02/22/a-way-with-words-5629046/Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:50:13 +0100 <p>I found one of the most intersting aspects of blogging is the statistical data you get on your visitors. What we get at blog.co.uk isn't fantastic, but we do at least get total mumber of unique views and total page views for each day. Yesterday's were the worst figures for a while - even for days when I didn't post any new content. </p> <p>That's right, when I write nothing more people read my blog than when I write about Cambodia. In fact the original blog entry I linked to yesterday also got very low viewing figures.</p> <p>Considering that you have to click through to the blog entry to see more than the title and the first few words, I assume the problem was with the subject matter, not the content (granted that might have been a problem had anyone actually clicked). </p> <p>I suspect I'm not alone in this, and that there are some "graveyard subjects" out there that rapidly disappear into obscurity from the moment the "save" button is pressed. Cambodia and the Kmher Rouge would seem to be two of them.</p> <p>It shows how much skill you need when writing about unpopular and unfashionable subjects. It's like the Andrex puppy. No-one wants to be told about how well Andrex may wipe their bum, and they certainly don't want to see the proof, so the advertiser give you a happy image of a puppy playing with a roll of loo paper, and leaves the rest to your imagination.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/22/a-way-with-words-5629046/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>blogginingunpopular-blog-subjectslifehttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/22/a-way-with-words-5629046/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/21/catching-up-on-world-events-the-first-prosecution-of-kmher-5621368/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-02-21:/2009/02/21/catching-up-on-world-events-the-first-prosecution-of-kmher-5621368/Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:18:45 +0100 <p>Catching up on world events, the first prosecution of Kmher Rouge leaders finally began last week. Source: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/17/war-crimes-tribunal-cambodia"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/17/war-crimes-tribunal-cambodia">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/17/war-crimes-tribunal-cambodia</a><br> </a>.</p> <p>I wrote about The Knher Rouge in my blog last December: <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2008/12/16/year-zero-where-was-i-5233260/"><a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2008/12/16/year-zero-where-was-i-5233260/">http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2008/12/16/year-zero-where-was-i-5233260/</a></a></p> <p>Whilst it's good to see the trial finally under way (the man has been in custody for over nine years which isn't a exactly great example of international justice) it's depressing to see how few people are being prosecuted. Five I believe. And none of them are those responsible for arming, training, and feeding the Kmher Rouge after they were defeated and driven out of Cambodia by Vietnam. That, shockingly, was mostly the UK on behalf of the US (see my linked blog entry). Most specifically it was the adminstrations of Margaret Thatcher that was most invelved, at the request of Ronald Reagan. </p> <p>So, in addition the likes of the five on trial, we could quite easily add a few more criminals closer to home. And I wouls start with those who instructed the SAS to go on missions with the Kmher Rouge to plant anti-personnel landmines in the middle of civilian populations. We know they did that becuase one member of the SAS was so digusted that he broke ranks and told a journalist.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/21/catching-up-on-world-events-the-first-prosecution-of-kmher-5621368/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>politicscambodiacrimegenocide-trialhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/21/catching-up-on-world-events-the-first-prosecution-of-kmher-5621368/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/19/the-right-to-make-a-profit-5611363/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-02-19:/2009/02/19/the-right-to-make-a-profit-5611363/Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:51:04 +0100 <p>There's a website called The Pirate Bay to provides a search engine to help find video content to download using Bit Torrent (a file sharing application). They are currently being prosecuted in Sweden for assisting copyright violations (source <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7895026.stm"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7895026.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7895026.stm</a></a>).</p> <p>The main shareholder in The Pirate Bay, Gottfrid Svartholm, is a bit right wing to put it mildly (source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfrid_Svartholm"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfrid_Svartholm">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfrid_Svartholm</a></a>); anti-imigrant, Sweden for the Swedish, that level of nonsense. So, I'm no particular fan of his, or of his creations.</p> <p>But I am intersted in the case because of the questions it raises. Do you have a right to make a profit, and if so, who has a right to make a profit and in what way? Does everything have a price?</p> <p>on one side of the court case you have the movie and music industry that complain that The Pirate Bay allows people to copy their movies and music without payment. On the other side, The Pirate Bay claims to make its money from web advertising and that they simply provides a search engine to specialised web content outside of their control, just like Google. It will be interesting to see which way the case goes in the end.</p> <p>Not surpsingly, if you have ever red much of my blog, my view is "a plague on both your houses". </p> <p>My argument is that, yes, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that we have a right to a private life, but I see nothing that says that a private life requires the unfettered right to make a profit.</p> <p>Do you have a right to make a movie? Well you certainly have a right to free expression, and in the modern world one of the pathways to that is through making movies. </p> <p>Do you have the right to make money from your movie? Well, you have the right to distribute it, that's what freedom of expression means. You also have the right to associate with people who want to make movies and watch them. Assuming that anyone wants to see them of course.</p> <p>Commerce itself is part of an economic system, involves all of society, and is very public. It is simply one way for private individuals to interact with each other and with the state. So its only one of many public means to an end, and not part of your private life.</p> <p>So, on blance, I'd say you only have the right to make money by selling your movie if society as a whole, on the basis of an informed decision, agrees to that economic model. Whether it does or not doesn't affect your rights. </p> <p>Personally, for many activities, I would question the use of that commercial model. I don't want people to make a profit out of policing, healthcare, soldiering, or teaching for a start. Then there are things like providing water and sanitation, electicity, gas, telephony, public transport, social care, prisons, law... None of which would I want some company thinking, "I'll do it this way, make this short-cut, to make more money". </p> <p>I don't think I'm alone in my views. In fact, I suspect that given such a list, I would get quite a few supporters, and for many of the professions and services in the list, I would get a majority.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/19/the-right-to-make-a-profit-5611363/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>human-rightscopyrighteconomicsthe-pirate-baypoliticshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/19/the-right-to-make-a-profit-5611363/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/12/the-rspcaand-why-i-won-t-give-them-any-more-money-5561330/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-02-12:/2009/02/12/the-rspcaand-why-i-won-t-give-them-any-more-money-5561330/Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:31:20 +0100 <p>Two days agao I rescued a stray dog. It was 7.30pm and the council dog warden was off duty. </p> <p>It was sub-zero, the dog, a bitch, was heavily pregnant, she was down on her honches, whimpering. And with one jealous doggy in the house, she couldn't stay there very easily (I had to lock Toby, howling, in the bedroom).</p> <p>I called the RSPCA. All you get, having navigated their automated menu is a message telling you that strays are the responsibility of your local council.</p> <p>This is the kind of grandstanding politics that really pisses me off. </p> <p>Yes, the council should help, but a charity that claims to be about animal welfare needs to deal the situation as it stands, not just sit there playing politics. </p> <p>So I had both the RSPCA and the local council out-of-hours service washing their hands of the problem, bot prepared to allow the dog and her unborn puppies to spend overnight outside in -3C. </p> <p>In the end, after much phoning around, I found a boarding kennel 7 miles away took in strays overnight, so I coaxed the dog into the back of the car and took her there. </p> <p>Now I'm fit and well, and I have a car. What if I'd been a pensioner, or had no transport? </p> <p>I will never give another penny to the RSPCA until they change their policy and help with strays, especially in cases like this where the council is refusing to act.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/12/the-rspcaand-why-i-won-t-give-them-any-more-money-5561330/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>rspcalifeplaying-politicsanimal-welfarehttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/12/the-rspcaand-why-i-won-t-give-them-any-more-money-5561330/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/04/keeping-secrets-for-our-friends-5509439/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-02-04:/2009/02/04/keeping-secrets-for-our-friends-5509439/Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:24:45 +0100 <p>I just watched our Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, tell the BBC that it is more important to keep Anerica's secrets than for justice to be done. </p> <p>Let's make this quite clear. Miliband thinks that the secret use torture by the US and its allies, whilst terrible, is not worthy of pursuance through the courts if that means the British public get to hear about it.</p> <p>That would be Labour's "Ethical Foreign Policy" then, would it?</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/04/keeping-secrets-for-our-friends-5509439/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>crimepolitical-interferance-in-the-courtsdavid-milibandpoliticstorturelabours-ethical-foreign-policyhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/04/keeping-secrets-for-our-friends-5509439/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/04/complicit-in-torture-5506865/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-02-04:/2009/02/04/complicit-in-torture-5506865/Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:35:30 +0100 <p>I've written about US torture of prisoners before, last time about a Canadian citizen whom the Canadian High Court has declared to have been tortured by the US with the complicity of the Canadian secret services.</p> <p>Today, it seems to be the turn of the British High Court. David Davis raised a point of order in the House of Commons today (in order to get round reporting restictions I believe) to allege that the High Court has said Binyam Mohamed, being held at Guantanamo, has been tortured by the US, and that the US have threatened to withdraw all intelligence help from the UK if the details of the torture are made known to the court.</p> <p>You may want read Nick Robinson's blog on this:<br> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2009/02/torture_allegat.html"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2009/02/torture_allegat.html">http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2009/02/torture_allegat.html</a></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/04/complicit-in-torture-5506865/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>torturedavid-daviscrimepoliticalinterference-in-the-courtspoliticshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/04/complicit-in-torture-5506865/#commentshttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/04/protectionism-didn-t-cause-the-great-depression-5505116/tag:bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk,2009-02-04:/2009/02/04/protectionism-didn-t-cause-the-great-depression-5505116/Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:48:14 +0100 <p>I've just been reading Stephanie Flanders' blog on the BBC news website; she's the BBC's economics editor.</p> <p>Her argument today, and it's a strong one, is that the Great Depression of the 1930's was not caused by protectionism, and that Peter Mandleson has got it completely wrong ( <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7863047.stm">Mandelson warns on protectionism</a> ).</p> <p>She quotes economist Milton Friedman, and ex Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who say that the Great Depression was casued by the Federal Reserve when it failed to inject cash into the banking system after the crash in 1929. She also refers to the Gold Standard, where currencies were fixed to the price of gold, a sort of early version of the ERM and about as successful. Those countries who abandoned the Gold Standard were the first to come out of the Depression.</p> <p>So, protectionism per se is unlikely to cause a depression. What it would do is make "Peter's Friends", the globalized multi-national corporations, suffer. They gain their power and (malign) influence from the scale of their operations, and you don't easily get that scale of operation when governements control the flow of capital, and insist on their own industrial strategy.</p> <p>Peter's Friends must be looking aghast at the strength of feeling coming from the strikes surrounding Lindsey Oil Refinery. If that feeling gets attached to a political bandwagon, who knows where it will end. And in the end, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/04/protectionism-didn-t-cause-the-great-depression-5505116/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>the-great-depressionprotectionismstephanie-flanderseconomicspoliticspeter-mandlesonhttp://bushytailedfox.blog.co.uk/2009/02/04/protectionism-didn-t-cause-the-great-depression-5505116/#comments