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January 31, 2005
EU Constitution
We have a long way to go before Britain votes for the European Constitution. Less than half the population has heard of it. Of the rest, some 30 percent are against ratification, 20 percent for. (The figures come from a Eurobarometer survey of 1,300 voters.)
Unfortunately Blair/Iraq is a negative factor here. Many people may vote against the Constitution to protest against government policies. Even if Blair resigns at some point, the vote is likely to be a reflection of British domestic politics rather than the product of an informed debate.
www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,7369,1401326,00.html?gusrc=rss
www.gesis.org/en/data%5Fservice/eurobarometer/guide/index.htm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:17 AM | TrackBack
EU funding II
It now seems possible that the Highlands and Islands will not lose all their EU development funding after all (see 14 January). The European Parliament’s regional policy committee will visit Scotland in March.
According to the article by John Ross in the Scotsman, the region has received 450 million pounds for infrastructure projects since 1994.
thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=108962005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:09 AM | TrackBack
January 30, 2005
Iraqi Scots
Charlatan alert! According to Sharon Ward in the Scotsman on January 15, a television programme called ‘Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland Before History’, will reveal that 20 percent of Scots have Iraqi blood, that Atlantis was in the North Sea, and that many Scots used to speak Welsh. (It will be shown later this year by STV/Grampian.)
According to DNA testing (by the Oxford Ancestors Project), the non-Iraqi 80 percent are apparently descended from hunter gatherers who came north after the last ice age, rather than Celts, Romans, and Vikings etc.
As any archaeologist knows, the mention of Atlantis is a sure-fire sign that some nonsense is imminent. Moreover Iraq did not exist until the last century.
As for the DNA testing - what was the sample and how was it collected? It is true than DNA evidence often seems to conflict with linguistic research. However the results of the BBC Blood of the Vikings (Y chromosome) genetic survey were in line with conventional expectations. Angle, Saxon and Danish ‘invader’ DNA was found throughout mainland Britain, while ‘Norwegian’ DNA was prevalent in the Orkneys and Shetlands, and common in the Western Isles.
news.scotsman.com/archive.cfm?id=51752005
www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/bloodofthevikings/
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:48 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Exit from Iraq
Robin Cook, Lord Hurd and Menzies Campbell, writing in the Times, agree that Britain should withdraw its troops from Iraq within a year, and leave the Iraqis to sort out their political problems themselves.
Perhaps this is an indicator that we are finally reaching the point where we can all agree that Iraq has been an unmitigated disaster, caused, like Vietnam, by ignorant politicians who failed to do their basic research. Politicians who failed to read their history books, who failed to look at their maps, who failed to examine the social, economic and political systems of the country they imagined they were going to change for the better.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4218793.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:03 AM | TrackBack
January 29, 2005
Oil
Stuart Dickson had an excellent piece on Scotland’s oil and gas on ‘Independence’ yesterday.
I have been bemused by the Labour argument that Scotland’s finances would be destabilized if we received the money, because the receipts go up and down each year. This was the argument used by Hallwood and Macdonald at the Fraser of Allander Institute (16 September). Anyway this concern should be eliminated by the SNP proposal for a Norwegian-style oil fund.
I wonder how the Norwegians would react to the idea of their oil receipts going to Copenhagen, in return for Danish pocketmoney!
scottish-independence.blogspot.com/2005/01/scottish-oil-and-gas-to-last-until_28.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:30 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
January 28, 2005
Trossachs steamship saved
The Loch Katrine steamship, ‘Sir Walter Scott’, is to get 85,000 pounds for emergency repairs, plus 200,000 pounds for running costs during the next two years. Further funds should be available so that the steamer continues as the central attraction of the Trossachs. Scottish Water have handed over the boat to a charitable trust.
It is a pity that Glengyle House, Rob Roy’s birthplace at the other end of Loch Katrine was not saved as well (see 19 November).
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4215269.stm
www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/html/news/2005/8walterscott_f.htm
www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2005/01/28104826
Posted by Simon Holledge at 07:20 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Holyrood worth only 350M
George Reid announced yesterday that Holyrood is only worth 350 million pounds, 80 million less than we paid for it!
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=103092005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:49 AM | TrackBack
January 27, 2005
'Gayo Mountain' coffee
If trade is ultimately the best form of support for developing countries - including the Tsunami disaster region - we should be buying from them. Here is an opportunity!
‘Gayo Mountain’ coffee Photo © SCH
The excellent Highland Coffees in Crieff, Perthshire are selling coffee from Aceh and donating profits to relief funds. They have a fine organic called ‘Gayo Mountain’, grown by a cooperative originally founded with the idea of promoting ethnic harmony.
The coffee area in Aceh is inland and was safe from the tsunami (if not the earthquake), but tragically a number of the children of the members of the cooperative were at school in Banda Aceh and died in the disaster.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:55 AM | TrackBack
Wireless cinema
What use are very high speed internet connections? Well, one might be film distribution.
A movie has just been shown in Utah via the internet and a 24 Mbps WiMax (wireless) connection. The industry are considering the possibility of simultaneous world-wide releases.
www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66380,00.html?tw=wnstorypage_prev2
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:46 AM | TrackBack
January 26, 2005
British pollution
According to a report being presented tomorrow at the World Economic Forum in Davos, our environmental performance is amongst the worst. Britain is criticized for ‘land degradation’, air pollution, and exporting pollution to other countries.
The 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) by Yale and Columbia universities is a broadly-based assessment measuring 21 types of pollution and related problems. Under their ranking, Britain is number 66 out of 146 countries. In Europe, it is number 16 out of 22.
It would be interesting to know more about how ‘land degradation’ is defined, and how it affects Scotland.
www.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,12188,1397838,00.html?gusrc=rss
Posted by Simon Holledge at 02:13 PM | TrackBack
January 25, 2005
Election launch
Today Alex Salmond launched the SNP election campaign, with an impressive flourish: ” … when the SNP makes progress, Scotland makes progress … when the SNP wins Scotland wins.”
SNP HQ explain: “The SNP campaign themes will centre on their proposal for a non-means-tested “Citizen’s Pension” of £110 for singles and £168 for couples, saving merger-listed Scottish regiments and creating a Norwegian-style “oil windfall fund” from North Sea revenues to finance public investment.
The themes also include opposition to any new nuclear power stations or successors to the Trident nuclear submarines, attacking “unfair” proposals for heavy grid charges for renewable energy plants in the north of Scotland and an opposition to identity cards.”
But why is everyone so certain that the election will be on May 5?
www.snp.org/index_hires.php?pageName=news/newsdetail.php?newsID=2780
news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=324&id=95482005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 03:36 PM | TrackBack
January 24, 2005
Wake-up call
Eight million dollars - not a huge sum of money - has been pledged to set up an Indian Ocean tsunami warning system.
At the conference in Kobe, Jan Egeland, UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, said: “All disaster-prone people deserve to have early warning systems, not just the Indian Ocean. The tsunami was the wake-up call for all of us.”
We need one in the Atlantic as well.
www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,66369,00.html/wn_ascii
Posted by Simon Holledge at 06:28 PM | TrackBack
'Nofollow'
I now have ‘nofollow’ installed. This is the latest measure against comment spam.
Spammers typically try to place multiple links on a target site in order to improve their website ranking on Google, and other search engines. ‘Nofollow’ tells the search engines to ignore the comment spam links.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:14 AM | TrackBack
January 23, 2005
'Scotland Funds'
The SNP MSP Jim Mather is taking a leading role in establishing a US-based fund to help charities, education projects and arts groups in Scotland. Arthur Macmillan has an excellent article in the Scotsman about this.
If the project is a success, I hope they will consider giving grants to Historic Scotland and The National Trust of Scotland to take over and look after endangered buildings of historic and literary importance such as birthplaces of Burns and Rob Roy and Orwell’s cottage on Jura.
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=86052005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 22, 2005
Callander Hills
On Creag Bheithe Photo © MMH
A very enjoyable out of the hills today in fine, cold weather on a couple of snow-capped hills just north of Kilmahog: Meall Garbh and Creag Bheithe.
From Creag Bheithe looking northeast Photo © SCH
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:45 PM | TrackBack
Value of Edinburgh Festival
A report in the Scotsman by Edward Black confirms what we already knew - that the summer festivals in Edinburgh generate a lot of money. The figure given is 135 million pounds. This stands in stark contrast to the funding of a meagre 2.5 million that the leading International Arts Festival receive.
I believe Edinburgh is in danger of cooking the goose than lays the golden eggs. Time is running out for Edinburgh to invest in better facilities. In particular we need a proper national theatre complex similar to the one recently opened in Cardiff. Each year the British media do a sterling job in hyping up the festival, but more and more people see through it. Edinburgh may be a beautiful city, but wouldn’t we rather be at festivals in Salzburg, Lucerne or Aix-en-Provence?
Edinburgh continues to do some things well, but the International Festival has lost much of its prestige. It is no longer in the same league as the main European Festivals which are coherently planned and present their own (original) events. Edinburgh programmes are haphazard with artists often appearing simply to double up on performances in London.
There is a lot more to the summer activities than just the International Arts Festival, but the lack of facilities that limit the latter also impact on many other events, and the reputation of one festival affects all of them.
thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=73702005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:30 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Throttle!
I am still getting up to a hundred or more comment spams a day, so I have put on a ‘throttle’ which prevents more than one comment being placed every 2 minutes. I hope this won’t inconvenience any humans, only the machines that spit out this garbage.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 09:30 PM | TrackBack
January 21, 2005
Anne McGuire
I have just been looking at the parliamentary record of Anne McGuire, the Stirling MP whose constituency includes Callander, where I am now living. The information is available on TheyWorkForYou.com
McGuire is a pro-War, New Labour, minor government minister (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland Office), different in style from my last MP, Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith/Labour), a hard working, if not particularly courageous, anti-war backbencher.
McGuire’s record is poor. She spoke in only 16 debates last year (428th performance out of 659 MPs) and FaxYourMP.com have recorded that she only replied to 58 percent of constituents’ messages within 14 days (349th out of 587 MPs). (I wrote to her about ID cards on 14 December and about international student visa charges on 1 January and she didn’t replied to either message!)
In contrast, Lazarowicz spoke in 42 debates (109th out of 659 MPs), and replied to 82 percent of constituents’ messages within 14 days (152nd out of 587 MPs). (In my experience he always responds to messages).
SNP performance is generally better. For example, Alex Salmond spoke in 72 debates (29th out of 659 MPs) and replied to 88 percent of constituents messages within 14 days (86th out of 587 MPs)
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:49 AM | TrackBack
Ireland leads again
Nothing symbolizes Britain’s half baked approach to reform better than our semi-metrication, a legacy of the Thatcher period dating back to the 1970s.
In the words of Lord Howe: “We must surely be about the only country where the motorist sees the roadsign ‘Birmingham 51 miles’ and, a moment or two later, ‘Roadworks 500 metres’, where he buys petrol by the litre and yet compares fuel consumption in miles per gallon.”
All the more credit to progressive Ireland - land of the euro, the smoking ban and high growth rates - for leading the way again and changing over from miles to kilometers, and from mph to km/h.
www.ukma.org.uk/press/ar010210.htm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:47 AM | TrackBack
January 20, 2005
Press Officer!
Last night I attended the annual general meeting of my local Doune, Callander and District Branch of the SNP held in the Callander Kirk Hall, just across the river from where I live. This was my first local meeting.
The business was conducted in a friendly manner, and with admirable despatch, by the local Convener Andrew Sharp and Bruce Crawford MSP. I eventually emerged - to my great surprise - as the new Press Officer! I am not sure what my duties are exactly - perhaps getting notices into the local newspapers?
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:00 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 19, 2005
Robert Burns petition
On December 19 and 27, I wrote about the neglect of Scotland’s built heritage, including the Burns Cottage.
There is now an e-petition on the Holyrood website entitled ‘Culture and tourism policies regarding Robert Burns’.
This reads: “The petitioner requests that the Scottish Parliament… (a) review the policy and commitment of the Scottish Executive to place Robert Burns and his legacy at the heart of its culture and tourism policies (b) urge the Scottish Executive to assume responsibility for bringing together all interested parties to ensure the flagship assets of our Burns heritage are properly restored and developed in good time for the major events planned for the 2009 Homecoming Year, marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of the national bard.”
Please sign.
The petition is at epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/viewtopic.asp?TopicID=46. It closes on 28 February.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4174923.stm
www.snp.org/html/textonly/news/newsdetail.php?newsID=2759
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:41 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 18, 2005
National Grid charges I
Alex Salmond - with admirable persistence - is again questioning national grid charges which disadvantage Scottish electricity producers, especially renewable energy companies.
Ofgen are saying that a final decision on this will be made in February.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4183371.stm
www.snp.org/index_hires.php?pageName=news/newsdetail.php?newsID=2766
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:56 PM | TrackBack
Marine heritage
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are concerned about the decline in the marine environment around Scotland’s coasts due to pollution, fishing and invasive non-native species.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4181981.stm
www.guardian.co.uk/fish/story/0,7369,1392599,00.html?gusrc=rss
www.wwf.org.uk/news/scotland/n_0000001439.asp
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:54 PM | TrackBack
Kildean Market
Kildean Market Photo © SCH
The four best things about Callander are the air, the water, the view of Ben Ledi and Kildean Market, or alternatively (if that is too Callander-centric) the three best things about Stirling are the castle, the Wallace Memorial and Kildean Market.
Kildean is a fruit and vegetable market where you can buy (by the box, or by supermarket-sized packages) fresh produce at reasonable prices. Surprisingly it’s also possible to buy exotics: passion fruit from Kenya, lichees from Madagascar, sweet tamarind from Thailand, bitter gourd from southeast Asia, papaya and chayotes from Brazil etc.
Familiar and exotic Photo © SCH
They also have other foodstuffs: meat, jams and chutneys, oatcakes, bird seed and lots of other things. My only criticism is that their cheese is all plasticy, sub-Tesco stuff. Scotland has some great cheese (Arran, Bishop Kennedy, Dunsyre, Lanark Blue, Kebbuck, Mull, Strathdon etc.) and it would be good to see it sold there - whole and uncut if necessary.
The market is very informal, prices are handwritten and customers take away purchases in old cardboard boxes. It’s located just off the M9, on the northwest edge of Stirling and held every Thursday from about 7.30 am to 3 pm.
Only on Thursdays Photo © SCH
Posted by Simon Holledge at 05:53 PM | TrackBack
January 17, 2005
'Independence' blog
Stuart Dickson has started ‘Independence: a blog for Scottish Independence’.
I am delighted that we now have two functioning mainstream SNP blogs! I hope this means we can now cover more issues, in greater depth.
Best of luck to Stuart and ‘Independence’!
scottish-independence.blogspot.com/
Posted by Simon Holledge at 04:33 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Crippled blog
I am having tech problems at the moment - hence the few posts. I was trying to improve my defences against comment spam - unsuccesssfully!
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:42 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 16, 2005
Don Quixote
Today is the 400th anniversary of the publication date of the first section of Cervantes’ Don Quixote - one of my favourite novels.
I have an old battered copy full of yellow highlighting, but I can’t find it, it must be in Tokyo. A pity, if I had it, I’d look up some of the passages that I found particularly striking.
books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,,1389868,00.html
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4179869.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:54 PM | TrackBack
January 15, 2005
Warkgate
Yawn! The Jack McConnell/Kirsty Wark saga of shared family holidays and coffee mornings is one of those excruciatingly boring stories, so characteristic of Edinburgh. Did McConnell break some minor rule? And if so did it really matter?
The real issue is the relationship between television and government, not between McConnell and Wark. Do television companies have preferential access to politicians, parliament and government and if so, does that benefit the public, or does it result in manipulation, trivialization, and the alienation of people from the processes of government?
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=47542005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:12 PM | TrackBack
January 14, 2005
EU funding I
Scotland will probably lose several hundred million pounds of annual European Union development aid from 2007. This will be diverted to aid the poorer, new members of the EU. Alex Neil of the SNP calls this “very, very bad news for Scotland”, and urges the executive to fight the issue.
We also need to see the big economic picture here. Scotland should behave as a responsible (future/potential) partner in Europe. We will benefit in various ways from the enlargement of the EU, and we need to support the new member states. We may need to look elsewhere for more appropriate sources of funding for regional infrastructure projects.
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=47972005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:08 PM | TrackBack
January 12, 2005
British police worst?
News often makes sense when two or more reports on separate but related issues are put together. On the one hand we have a report from Civitas say that Britain has the worst police force in the developed world, and on the other a report that the police want to scale back their operations opting out of minor crimes, community problems etc.
In 2001, we had GBP 1500 worth of things stolen from our car when it was (theoretically) in a safe, secure area. The Newcastle police gave us a crime number and refused to investigate. We were outsiders, the company involved were local. For various reasons we first reported the crime through the Edinburgh police who attempted to send faxes to Newcastle that never arrived.
In contrast we soon noticed the alacrity and efficiency with which parking and speeding offenders were pursued and fined. I suppose this is a demonstration of the power of the profit motive, but it doesn’t indicate a good police force.
www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1382161,00.html?gusrc=rss
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4142869.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:08 AM
January 11, 2005
Data protection lunacy
It seems grumpy to talk about people having no common sense, but what else is one to make of reports like that in the Guardian about the removal of patients’ names from cards and boards because of Data Protection Act concerns? Which is more important, a high degree of privacy or going for the right operation?
This mentality is widespread. Last week the sports centre here refused to give me a fellow squash player’s telephone number, despite the fact we were both involved in efforts to save our local courts. In Edinburgh, I have also been denied photocopying - in one of those antiquated shops where they insist on doing in for you - both of documents with my name on (potential forgery?), and of printed text bearing my name as author (infringement by me of my own copyright?).
www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1383048,00.html?gusrc=rss
Posted by Simon Holledge at 09:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 10, 2005
Wikipedia I
Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that is open to all contributors, is one of the most interesting projects on the internet. The idea is that any individual can contribute specialist knowledge - about locality, work, research project, leisure interest or whatever - and then the text can be edited, refined and developed by his or her peers.
It’s a resource that I have been using more and more in the past few months. According to Wired News the number of entries is growing at about 7 percent a month.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66210-2,00.html?tw=wnstorypage_next1
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:13 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 09, 2005
Recycling batteries?
Portable, consumer batteries, the type we use in cameras, clocks, mobile phones or whatever are classed as hazardous waste. We are supposed to recycle them, but how do you that in Scotland?
A few weeks ago I bought some new camera batteries in Boots In Edinburgh and asked if they would dispose of the old ones for me. They readily agreed and I asked them what they would do with them. “Oh, we put them in the rubbish!” was the answer! We also tried leaving batteries in our Stirling Council recycling box - but they wouldn’t collect them.
I am not sure about other countries, but in Japan electrical goods shops have designated battery recycling bins.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 05:40 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 08, 2005
WiMAX
WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access or 802.16), also known as ‘WiFi on steroids’ is being introduced this year in central Seattle.
This technology offers high speed wireless connections over an area of several miles, and is ‘non line of sight’ in contrast to WiFi which can only offer standard broadband speeds over less than a couple of hundred feet. (Seattle will probably have four base stations to cover the central service area.) WiMAX is being strongly backed by Intel who believe it will be competing internationally with ADSL and cable internet within two or three years.
seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/198924_speakeasy10.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:36 AM | TrackBack
January 07, 2005
Flooding
Flooding behind Main Street Photo © SCH
Callander was flooded today. Instead of a convergence of two rivers, we now seem to have an enormous loch, stretching across from the Meadows Car Park to Bridgend. The water reached the bottom of Main Street, opposite the Dreadnought Hotel, entering at least one shop. I don’t know if any houses have been affected.
Callander’s main car park under water Photo © SCH
Several roads have been closed today including the main A84 from Doune through Callander to the north and the A821 between Brig O Turk and Aberfoyle. I’ve heard that the only road out of Callander is the B822 via Thornhill.
Across ‘Loch Callander’ from Bridgend Photo © SCH
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:19 PM | TrackBack
January 06, 2005
Rapid detox
Heroin addiction is not something I know much about, but this Wired article on a new way to treat it seems important.
www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/detox.html?pg=1&topic=detox&topic_set=
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:43 PM | TrackBack
January 05, 2005
Blog upgrade
Like other Movable Type blogs, The Skakagrall has been hit over the past couple of weeks with comment spam, a couple of hundred attempts to link the blog to casinos, loan companies and porn etc.
I have had to impose moderation, i.e. checking before comments are published, and to upgrade to a new version of Movable Type with better protection.
Unfortunately this has involved the design imploading with most of the line spaces disappearing. My apologies. I will try to sort it out as soon as I can.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 06:48 PM | TrackBack
January 04, 2005
Blog popularity
Some good news about blogging in America. Some 32 million people were reading them in 2004, and perhaps, more significant, 6 million were using RSS newsreaders or aggregators.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4145191.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:40 PM | TrackBack
SNP undead
SNP leadership campaign 2004 websites are still floating around the internet like the undead in a horror film.
How about a decent burial for Roseanna2004.blogspot, a sad blog that only received 7 postings and was last active on 13 August, also ‘Salmond & Sturgeon, a Winning Team’ - its ‘latest news’ is dated 31 August, and Mike Russell SNP, a more substantial site, but not updated since 4 September?
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:17 PM | TrackBack
January 03, 2005
MP/MSP donations
The SNP are proposing that MPs and MSPs donate a day’s pay to the tsunami disaster fund. Scottish Labour are supporting the idea. Excellent! Now if London Labour can also join in… .
www.snp.org/index_hires.php?pageName=news/newsdetail.php?newsID=2727
www.snp.org/index_hires.php?pageName=news/newsdetail.php?newsID=2728
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:30 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 02, 2005
Labour rejected ID cards in 1974
Records reveal Roy Jenkins was against introducing ID cards in 1974 (in response to IRA bombing in Birmingham), which “apart from creating difficulties for ordinary people would be extremely expensive and largely ineffective”.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4139049.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:57 PM | TrackBack
Not unexpected
It now emerges that scientists in Indonesia and Australia were recommending a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean, as seismic activity off Java was causing concern. (Stephen Breen has an article in the Scotsman.)
Subduction earthquakes associated with tsunami occurred off the west of Sumatra in 1797 (8.4 magnitude), 1833 (8.7), 1861 (8.5). There was also an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 in 2000. Major earthquakes are known to occur, either singly or in pairs, on average every 230 years in this area. So the disaster was not unexpected.
earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/neicslavfaq.html
www.gps.caltech.edu/~sieh/publications/a10.html
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=3592005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:45 PM | TrackBack
January 01, 2005
Guardian demands Iraq advice under FoI
The Guardian will test the new Freedom of Information Act, which comes into operation today, by asking for the advice given by the Attorney General on the legality of the invasion of Iraq by the USA and Britain, which the Labour government have up to now refused to make public.
www.guardian.co.uk/freedom/Story/0,2763,1381215,00.html?gusrc=rss