irritant

Nice item by John Gray

irritant — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 11:46:11 GMT

If I were to suggest one item that everyone should read this week, it would be this:

"...The Blair regime is often attacked for being too focused on the short-term news impact of its policies, but that is too simple an explanation for its intellectual deficit. The deeper reason is that it has a neo-Thatcherite world-view, and sees policy-making as a managerial exercise conducted within parameters set by the market. This is the style of thought associated with Lord Birt, who is in charge of "blue-sky thinking" for Blair, and it is reflected in the innumerable initiatives that pour out of the government. The underlying assumption is that policy-making is a matter of using resources cost-effectively to tackle known problems....(m o r e )".

UK torture by proxy.

irritant — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 10:29:57 GMT

Britain is asking the CIA to interrogate its terror suspects, held at a network of secret detention centres, to help to identify the planners behind the London bombings....(more)

Brits' calm rankles U.S. right wing

irritant — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 12:38:31 GMT

"Radio and television personalities in the United States were hysterical because after last week's bombings in London, too few Londoners were willing to be props for their right-wing ranting. After one stoic Brit, who had blood on the side of his face, calmly described climbing out of a smoke-filled subway station, a Fox anchor exclaimed, "That man's obviously in shock."...(more).

Where has the Iraqi money gone? (via LRB)

irritant — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 18:13:02 GMT

As much as US-UK sponsored spin doctors attempt to quell various reports of money going missing in Iraq, the stories keep on coming:

Paul Bremer: "...‘During the course of the audit, we identified deficiencies in the control of cash . . . of such magnitude as to require prompt attention. Those deficiencies were so significant that we were precluded from accomplishing our stated objectives.’ They found that CPA headquarters in Baghdad ‘did not maintain full control and accountability for approximately $119.9 million’, and that agents in the field ‘cannot properly account for or support over $96.6 million in cash and receipts’. These agents were mostly Americans in Iraq on short-term contracts. One agent’s account balance was ‘overstated by $2,825,755, and the error went undetected’. Another agent was given $25 million cash for which Bremer’s office ‘acknowledged not having any supporting documentation’. Of more than $23 million given to another agent, there are only records for $6,306,836 paid to contractors...(more)".

On the rag?

irritant — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 10:55:48 GMT

It appears that the reactionary self-hating Conservative Women's Association of Blogistan (aka Little Green Soccer Balls) have forgotten to take thier Evening Primrose Oil again. Jesus H. Christ, they make my sour scribblings look positively moderate.

Make sure you read the ever-more-sensible threads from Robin and Tim.

Bloody hell.

irritant — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 20:31:12 GMT

The bloggers who advocated voting Labour a few weeks ago have got a lot to answer for. Have a look at Tim's graphic showing the 1km exclusion zone going to be put around the Houses of Parliament.

Bland Aid?

irritant — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 21:51:41 GMT

On the Scottish line-up for Live 8, Alister says:

"Jesus what a bland, insipid, anaemic line-up. I will have to try to make the mysterious 'long walk to justice' rally (of which details seem to be secret) just to avoid accidentally hearing any of this mob...(more)."

Alister has made a very good point. Scotland could do much better than this. Considering some of the truly excellent Scottish indie/alternative bands, Live 8 is risking turning Murrayfield into a damp, middle of the road, squib. My suggestion is that the Scottish bloggers (and the Scottish bloggers in exile) should campaign for a better line-up by making thier own fantasy Live 8 Murrayfield line-up. Failing that they should could easily have thier own alternative Live 8 to accomodate the better bands.

We all still hate Thatcher.

irritant — Sat, 28 May 2005 10:28:09 GMT

No spam on the progress of the ~~buggin g publicity prank.~~ Presumably they don't need to do so as the Gauardianhas picked up the item. t-shirt page So now 'm obliged to check out thier website unaided by my online snitch. Hmm... what do we have here?

One of the best blog titles to date.

irritant — Sat, 28 May 2005 10:09:04 GMT

Kitty Killer found via Chicken Yoghurt.

Sinn Féin Continues to Defy MI5 (allegedly).

irritant — Wed, 25 May 2005 16:57:54 GMT

According to one of my spammers, eBay have removed the MI5 bugging device from auction after a whopping verified bid of $3000.00. No matter, if you are loaded with spare cash you can ~~give it to me instead~~ still purchase the item at Sinn Féin books online store.

I suppose we can console ourselves that the Republican movement is keeping itself busy by doing some online mischief rather than killing people. Pranks not bombs, that's what I say (I'm such a goon for this type of nonsense, it's like participating in some bizarre form of Celtic Kitsch).

All I can say is that I hope my Deep Throat spammer isn't pulling my plonker.

Speaking of Deep Throat, have I told you my Baader-Meinhof story yet? No? Well you're going to have to wait for that one.

Bruschetta-munching, chinless wankers

irritant — Tue, 24 May 2005 12:42:40 GMT

Some of the comments I have heard about last night's Dispatches seem unfairly harsh. The thing is progs like last night’s are aimed at ordinary people, not politics/media geeks like ourselves.

As far as I’m concerned it was a fairly ok piece of mainstream reporting. Granted the prog didn’t show anything groundbreaking. Even so there was something interesting in just seeing some of the tactics being employed.
What impressed me were the tiny details. Such as the amount of American internees involved. It looked like they were recording TV programmes on to disk as opposed to VCR’s. Whenever I seen a face blurred out I was trying to guess who they were. What also struck me was how much the spontaneous pseudo-protestors looked like a bunch of squeaky clean, limp-wristed, middle-class, bruschetta-munching, chinless wankers.

(update) Justin has done a lovely item on last night's prog here.

eBay item 3976729749: MI5 British Spy Device and a Letter from Gerry Adams

irritant — Tue, 24 May 2005 08:46:05 GMT

(Found in Sinn Féin offices Belfast, Ireland)

"This auction is for part of a British MI5 bugging device (approx 10.5 inches by 6.5 inches) found hidden in the floorboards of a Sinn Féin office in Belfast in September 2004.

Included is a handwritten letter of authentication from Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams.

The handwritten letter has been framed and there is a display board for the device.

Legal Notice: This device no longer works and cannot be modified to work. It is solely a historical artefact and has no functional abilities.

This is a unique opportunity. A historical item such as this has never before been made available and it’s highly unlikely that it will happen again.

The auction is being run by the Sinn Féin Bookshop on behalf of Sinn Féin. All money raised will help Sinn Féin and our campaign for Irish unity and freedom.

The handwritten letter by Gerry Adams reads as follows:

On September 13th, 2004, at a very sensitive time in the peace process, a sophisticated bugging device was found hidden in Sinn Féin offices in Connolly House, Belfast. This was the second device found in Belfast within ten days. Martin McGuinness and I returned the Connolly House device to the British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the peace talks in Leeds Castle, England.

When we were leaving that meeting I held on to a section of that device. Since then I have been in correspondence with various elements of the British system to establish who authorised this electronic surveillance operation. In January 2005 Eliza Manningham-Butler, head of MI5, admitted that MI5 bugged Connolly House.

This note is authentication by me that the section of the bugging device which it accompanies is part of the Connolly House device which was returned to Mr. Blair...(continues)"

I have no idea how Sinn Féin got my email address but at least it's a novel bit of spam.

More on old bugs.

irritant — Tue, 24 May 2005 09:53:11 GMT

Speaking of bugging devices, if you go to Manchester have a look into the People's History Museum and you will see one that was placed in the CPGB's old offices in King Street, EC2.

From what I understand, it was found behind some old wood panelling but the associated text has no mention of this.

"This surveillance 'bug', discovered by builders in February 1975, was probably used by MI5 to spy on Communist activity. Former MI5 officer Peter Wright may have planted it, as in his book, 'Spycatcher', he describes concealing a 'bug' at Communist Party headquarters. The government did not admit responsibility for the device.

The Party issued this statement after its discovery;

"The Communist Party protests most strongly at the fact that this device was illegally installed in its premises. We are a legal political party not engaged in any conspiratorial activity and, like every other party we have the right to hold our committee meetings behind closed doors".

"not engaged in any conspiratorial activity"? Yeah, right.

Smug, greedy and reactionary.

irritant — Mon, 23 May 2005 16:12:31 GMT

I thought when I read the above remark at Harry's Place they were commenting on the extremely favourable pensions that MP's awarded themselves not too long ago.

The only Sun headline I have ever liked.

irritant — Sat, 21 May 2005 10:49:06 GMT

iPod health warning.

irritant — Sat, 21 May 2005 10:40:43 GMT

There's something almost 'truth to power' on this one from The Register. Perhaps the mindlessly slavish Bloggers4~~Labour~~Blair could learn something from this.

Life in the blog age.

irritant — Thu, 19 May 2005 22:38:19 GMT

Ben Sargent on blogging.

Before voting, read these:

irritant — Wed, 04 May 2005 17:30:55 GMT

Then after that:

Read anything by Robin.
Then make sure you see this.

Some people aren't thinking about BackingBliar. I hope you are.

The Politics of Nightmares.

irritant — Wed, 04 May 2005 17:02:40 GMT

In the lead-up to the 1997 general election, Labour voters were repeatedly told: "The Tories won the last three elections, if we lose this one we will be knocked into oblivion". After doing extremely well in the two following elections, the public are yet again being terrorised into voting Labour.

What's up with the Labour leadership? Surely after seven years, they could trust the electorate to vote them back into office on thier record alone?

Some people aren't thinking about BackingBliar. I hope you are.

Proxy votes haven't yet arrived.

irritant — Tue, 03 May 2005 22:51:52 GMT

My minions tell me swathes of people who requested postal votes in Glasgow haven't received them yet. The worst situation seems to be in the rotten borough (sorry, constituency) of the speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin.

Blair agrees secret upgrade to UK's nuclear weapons

irritant — Mon, 02 May 2005 01:13:25 GMT

Today's Indie:

Tony Blair has secretly decided that Britain will build a new generation of nuclear deterrent to replace the ageing Trident submarine fleet at a cost of more than £10bn - a move certain to dismay thousands of Labour Party loyalists in the approach to polling day.

The disclosure that the decision has already been taken will expose Mr Blair - who has struggled throughout the election campaign to fend off accusations that he lied over the Iraq war - to fresh allegations of deception. He said last week that the decision would be taken after 5 May....(more)'

Some people aren't thinking about BackingBliar. Are you?

Ha fucking ha!

irritant — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 21:02:52 GMT

I should have mentioned this earlier but seeing tomorrow's Observer is going to advise people in magrinals to vote LibDem, Nick Barlowe did a nice piece yesterday:

For the general ‘Vote Lib Dem, get Tory’ argument to apply, there must be at least 160 Labour held-seats where the Conservatives are in second place and the gap between Labour and the Conservatives is less than the gap between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats...(more)'

Some people aren't thinking about BackingBliar. Are you?

Blair is a lying liar.

irritant — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 13:19:20 GMT

Andrew Grice in today's Indie:

Labour’s attempts to warn its wavering supporters that a vote for the Liberal Democrats could allow Michael Howard into No. 10 “by the back door” was undermined yesterday in a detailed study carried out for The Independent. The study found that a swing of 11.5 per cent from Labour voters to the Liberal Democrats could deprive Mr Blair of his overall Commons majority but it would be virtually impossible for such defections - at even twice that rate - to let in the Conservatives to form a government.

John Curtice, the respected psephologist and professor of politics at Strathclyde University, who carried out the analysis, said: “Labour’s claim that switching from Labour to the Liberal Democrats could enable Mr Howard to win the election is highly misleading.”

Professor Curtice said: “It is even highly unlikely any swing could result in the Conservatives becoming the largest party. The most likely consequence of any large switch from Labour to the Liberal Democrats is simply nobody would have an overall majority.” His study came as Labour sought to deflect attention from the row over the war in Iraq, with cabinet ministers raising the spectre of a Tory victory - made possible by disenchanted Labour voters deserting for Charles Kennedy’s party.

Mr Blair led the co-ordinated campaign and it became a recurrent theme on many of the Labour campaign spots. However, the “Lab-to-Lib Dem swingometer” Professor Curtice devised shows that, even if there is a 9 per cent swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats, Labour would still have an overall majority of 48.

Even with a massive 15 per cent swing, Labour would still be the largest party in a hung parliament with 50 more seats than the Tories. Those figures are based on the Tories doing no better than the 33 per cent share of the vote they won in 2001, which is also in line with their current opinion poll rating.

Even if the Tories improve their showing and win 36 per cent of the votes next Thursday - a three-percentage point rise at Labour’s expense - and there were a 9 per cent swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats over and above that, Labour would be the largest party in a hung parliament with 43 seats more than the Tories. The “Lab- to-Lib Dem” swing would have to be a huge 15 per cent before the Tories became the largest party - but they would be outnumbered by the combined forces of the other two parties.

The study found that the Tories come nowhere near to passing the winning post of 324 seats they would need to form a government. Crucially, if enough people switched from Labour to the Liberal Democrats, Mr Kennedy’s party would start to win seats instead of the Tories -so the result would be a hung parliament rather than a Tory government.

In those circumstances, according to senior Labour and Liberal Democrat figures, the most likely outcome would be a deal between the two parties to keep the Tories out.

In an attempt to limit the damage after Iraq moved to the top of the election agenda, Labour is raising the spectre of Mr Howard being installed in Downing Street by next Friday. It plans a poster depicting the Tory leader and a warning that spurning Labour could allow him into No 10 “through the back door”.

Mr Blair led the charge yesterday when he claimed: “It only takes one in 10 of our voters to drift off to the Liberal Democrats and you end up with a Tory government.” But Professor Curtice said: “Labour would need to lose around one in four of its voters before its majority would be threatened, not just one in 10.”

He also rejected another claim by Labour - that if only one in 50 Labour voters in 80 marginal seats back the Liberal Democrats or abstain, there would be a Conservative government.

Professor Curtice replied: “If Labour lose 80 seats, then Tony Blair does indeed lose his majority with just 323 seats. But 80 extra Conservative seats leaves Michael Howard with just 245 seats, still 79 short of a majority.

“It is inconceivable that Michael Howard would be able to form a government in such circumstances. Labour’s message seems to confuse the possibility of their own ‘defeat’ with a ‘victory’ for Mr Howard.”

Mr Kennedy said: “There is no chance whatsoever of the Conservatives getting in by the back, the side or any other door because they have lost this election and people know they have lost.

“After eight years in power with three-figure majorities and a benign economic backdrop, if the best you can turn round to the country and say is, ‘Well, you must not vote for the Liberal Democrats for fear of something worse,’ that just shows you what thin ice Tony Blair is on.”

Chicken yoghurt's on the case.

irritant — Thu, 28 Apr 2005 12:53:04 GMT

'The Ricin ring debacle was a scare story whipped up to frighten the population and lay the way for more assaults on our civil liberties. Campbell's article was one of the very, very few pieces that examined the case and exposed its shortcomings...(more)'

So Bloggers4Labour do you have a 'line to take' on this one?

Some people aren't thinking about BackingBliar. Are you?

Blair's Wolf whistling

irritant — Thu, 28 Apr 2005 10:08:05 GMT

It's about time that Labour supporters learned how Lynton Crosby's wolf-whistle is repeatedly employed by Blair. Reminding party members how things felt under Thatcher is a scar that both terrifies and terrorises activists. What emerges is a membership that reacts before conscious thinking kicks in. Throughout his leadership Blair has used this device. The oblivion option meets the Heineken effect is probably the best way of describing it. When other ways of instilling party discipline just don't hit the mark, it's the one way of guaranteeing the troops compliance.

Anyway, just have a look at the way the Guardian once again terrorises it's own readership by demonising Crosby. (Via Tim).

Some people aren't thinking about BackingBliar. Are you?