Its time to say thanks to the guest contributors on the topics of corruption and FOI requests. This is a big problem and the blog was happy to highlight it.
However this blog cannot act as a conduit for specific information contained in some attempted comments for legal reasons.
Thanks for the interest.
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Hanging's too good for 'em
This rant addresses a particularly harmful group of people, the law and order monkeys or crypto-fascists as they have sometimes been called. These are the sort of people that although not in anyway courageous, would have been thrown out of the Gestapo for excessive cruelty.
You already know them, they say things like “If you commit the crime, you gotta do the time” (reply: If you need a rhyme, you are a crime) and defend the erosion of basic civil liberties, the cornerstone of a free and democratic society with the ill thought out “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”. This is of course a false dichotomy, people wish to hide many things that are not actually illegal and exposure of this material can be used to coerce them. Additionally the method whereby these things are found out can itself be an instrument of coercive terror, like 28 days detention without charge for terror suspects. Amazingly in 2005 an attempt was made by the then government to increase this to 90 days despite the fact that no terror suspects who were released under the then 14 day system were later incriminated by new evidence. There is no evidence that police ever needed longer than 14 days.
The more extreme law and order types are vocal in support of barbaric punishments like the cat o nine tails and the birch. The probability that this hate is just the outward expression of their vast irrational fears is totally lost on them.
Recently I was given to some sarcastic laughter when in response to a few car-jackings a PSNI officer (himself probably subjected to hundreds of calls from the irate monkeys) said that the PSNI planned “to hunt them down”. These are the sorts of people that if the government had dispatched Apache helicopter gunships and fired hellfire missiles at suspect cars would have cheered. The meaning of the word disproportionate like the meaning of most words eludes them. They tend to seek out others to do the dirty work associated with their towering authoritarian complex. These others in our society tend to be the PSNI or paramilitary organisations.
I’m sure you remember the Raul Moate case, where a simple manhunt turned into a media circus featuring a Tornado aircraft, rumours of SAS involvement and thousands of armed police, some with assault rifles. It looked like the sort of force you would assemble to invade a medium sized country, rather than one required to take in one man armed with a weapon with an effective range of 30 yards. This was a police force and possibly a country that had lost the run of itself.
Some of you may be thinking that I am just picking on an easy target here, people without much education and those who tend to be fearful.
That is not true, these people practice the politics of fear and are a real threat to democracy and liberty. They seek out emotive topics which allow them to bypass the reason centre of your mind with their shrill demands. They propagate suspicion and panic and so break down societal bonds of trust and neighbourliness. As a result this creates the vacuum in which crime takes place which of course enables their shrill chorus to begin all over again.
What can be done? Well, in personal terms don't give in to their panic-mongering, be skeptical, dismiss moral panics, and always be proportionate and reasonable. In political terms, remember these people are (perhaps unwitting) harbingers of totalitarianism and fascism.
You already know them, they say things like “If you commit the crime, you gotta do the time” (reply: If you need a rhyme, you are a crime) and defend the erosion of basic civil liberties, the cornerstone of a free and democratic society with the ill thought out “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”. This is of course a false dichotomy, people wish to hide many things that are not actually illegal and exposure of this material can be used to coerce them. Additionally the method whereby these things are found out can itself be an instrument of coercive terror, like 28 days detention without charge for terror suspects. Amazingly in 2005 an attempt was made by the then government to increase this to 90 days despite the fact that no terror suspects who were released under the then 14 day system were later incriminated by new evidence. There is no evidence that police ever needed longer than 14 days.
The more extreme law and order types are vocal in support of barbaric punishments like the cat o nine tails and the birch. The probability that this hate is just the outward expression of their vast irrational fears is totally lost on them.
Recently I was given to some sarcastic laughter when in response to a few car-jackings a PSNI officer (himself probably subjected to hundreds of calls from the irate monkeys) said that the PSNI planned “to hunt them down”. These are the sorts of people that if the government had dispatched Apache helicopter gunships and fired hellfire missiles at suspect cars would have cheered. The meaning of the word disproportionate like the meaning of most words eludes them. They tend to seek out others to do the dirty work associated with their towering authoritarian complex. These others in our society tend to be the PSNI or paramilitary organisations.
I’m sure you remember the Raul Moate case, where a simple manhunt turned into a media circus featuring a Tornado aircraft, rumours of SAS involvement and thousands of armed police, some with assault rifles. It looked like the sort of force you would assemble to invade a medium sized country, rather than one required to take in one man armed with a weapon with an effective range of 30 yards. This was a police force and possibly a country that had lost the run of itself.
Some of you may be thinking that I am just picking on an easy target here, people without much education and those who tend to be fearful.
That is not true, these people practice the politics of fear and are a real threat to democracy and liberty. They seek out emotive topics which allow them to bypass the reason centre of your mind with their shrill demands. They propagate suspicion and panic and so break down societal bonds of trust and neighbourliness. As a result this creates the vacuum in which crime takes place which of course enables their shrill chorus to begin all over again.
What can be done? Well, in personal terms don't give in to their panic-mongering, be skeptical, dismiss moral panics, and always be proportionate and reasonable. In political terms, remember these people are (perhaps unwitting) harbingers of totalitarianism and fascism.
Friday, 8 June 2012
FOIs can work
There is an interesting piece in The Detail, showing that Freedom of Information Requests can yield useful information. The story relates to the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland scandal mentioned in yesterday's post.
As the extract below shows, you sometimes have to be very persistent.
"Even with an Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) adjudication in its favour, CAJ were only allowed limited access to material.
In March 2012, as CAJ prepared to take what is thought to be one of the first FoI legal challenges of its kind in Northern Ireland, OPONI finally agreed to allow the human rights group access to documents relating to the appointment’s process.
In an open letter published on its website this morning, CAJ Director Brian Gormally insists that the disclosed material sheds new important new light on the NIO’s real role in the ombudsman’s affair."
http://www.thedetail.tv/issues/99/caj-set-the-record-straight/foi-documents-contradict-nio-denials-over-hutchinson-appointment
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Corruption in Northern Ireland
We have had a bit of fun with our first couple of posts focusing on the not so serious.
Its time now however to look at an important issue, corruption. If you talk to anybody who works in the public sector, they will tell you that corruption is endemic, yet very little of this information ever makes it into the public domain.
“Northern Ireland is a very small place” When people say this, they usually mean Northern Ireland is a very corrupt place. If you take everyone in a senior position in the public and private sector in Northern Ireland, it wouldn’t amount to more than a few thousand people. After seminars, cross working, social events and relatives are taken into account, we can be assured that these people all know each other, or at least they know someone who does. This little petri dish is then made nutrient rich thanks to the Barnett Formula. Conditions are just right for the growth of bacteria.
Recent problems include The Police Ombudsman, HELM Housing Association, and the Iris Robinson situation. For me the Police Ombudsman is by far the most important of these because it was reported to involve sections of the PSNI, the organisation that in a normal society would be expected to take the lead in tackling corruption, fraud and bribery.
I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg and we all know what hit the iceberg. Someone said to me the other day that Northern Ireland was too corrupt to even have the sort of tribunals that took place in The Republic of Ireland. By this he meant that witnesses would be knobbled, minutes changed, legal professionals co-opted. This would not be universal, there are many decent individuals left. But it would be enough to undermine any proceedings. Another difference in Northern Ireland is the existence of other important issues such as victims, controversial marches, flags and emblems and occasional riots. These take the time and attention of politicians, civil leaders and police that would normally be directed towards competent and transparent administration.
It is easy to feel powerless in the face of all this, but there are things you can do. If you notice any irregularity in your place or work or community:
1. Lobby your local politicians
2. Contact the Northern Ireland Audit Office www.niauditoffice.gov.uk/
3. Contact the Public Accounts Committee in Assembly Buildings Stormont. http://archive.niassembly.gov.uk/public/2007mandate/pachome.htm
4. Contact the Serious Fraud Office. www.sfo.gov.uk/
5. Contact the NI Ombudsman. “The purpose of my Office is to ensure that every citizen in Northern Ireland is served by a fair and efficient public administration that is committed to accountability; openness; and quality of service” www.ni-ombudsman.org.uk/
5. If you are aware of any systemic fraud issues, or actions taken against whistle-blowers, it may be worth contacting Transparency International. http://www.transparency.org.uk/
6. You can submit Freedom of Information Requests through www.whatdotheyknow.com. The public scrutiny may help you to get a response.
Finally lets have a look at the consequences of corruption. The questionable awarding of contracts or appointments are taking from the public purse, leaving less for people in need. Ultimately this may endanger the block grant from Westminster.
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
The Olympic Torch
My dear and declining readership, if there’s one thing that annoys me, then there are a million. But if there is one thing that really annoys me, it’s the symbolic, things that have no real effect on people lives but are treated as if they were the word of god itself. I should declare at this point that I have a slight weakness for early Celtic symbols but I have it under control.
That being said, the latest golden calf has to be the Olympic flame or torch or whatever you want to call it. If I hear another word about this over sized bic lighter I am going to take hostages and issue demands.
I have made an appeal on another website to the ordinary people north and south to be their authentic selves and undertake the following actions:
1. to run alongside the torch and light their fag off it
2. to nick the torch and melt it down to make counterfeit pound coins
When arrested and faced with the faux outrage of the media, the judiciary and the herd you can make the following points:
1. What has Prometheus done for us lately?
2. The Olympic flame relay system was devised in 1936 for the Berlin Olympics organised by Joseph Goebbels and you are a committed anti-fascist.
3. Excessive symbolism is the last refuge of a declining civilisation (see Apocolypto 2006 Mel Gibson for further clarification).
4. How much is this costing and how would we even find out?
Intriguing questions arise including:
If the Olympic flame met an Orange March on a traditional route, which one would have to give way?
If the Olympic flame was combined with The Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, would it be sufficient to cause Nicholas Witchell to faint?
“Yes, Yes” I hear you say “but is there a serious point here?”
Well, I believe there is. In their hearts, no one gives a flying expletive for this torch, yet the media have convinced them to come out of their homes in their thousands, in much larger numbers that could have been expected to protest A&E closures for example. This is the same media that convinced people to mourn a princess that they did not know, and a pope who did not act in their interests, and who caused people to believe that Mother Theresa was a living saint ( see Christopher Hitchens for further clarification). Could the gullible and the easily led be similarly exhorted to turn on a vilified section of society,for example false benefits claimants or illegal immigrants? I believe they could and that is the real danger here. In this as in all things, do not believe the hype!
This should act as a warning for all of us, to critically examine media outputs and ourselves to uncover false orthodoxies and received wisdom. It’s not so much that they make an argument that the Olympic torch is important, its more down to repetition and wall to wall coverage. Without the courage of their convictions they simply repeatedly imply importance onto the peripheral. The outrage and concern directed at the protests by dissident groups was not so much about their politics, but the fact that they dared bring some content to this vacuous procession.
Finally kudos to all those who sat this one out and extra marks for those who said “What a load of old b*lls” You are the true heroes, but please resist the urge to rub oil on your bodies and walk around naked in the Greek style.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
That being said, the latest golden calf has to be the Olympic flame or torch or whatever you want to call it. If I hear another word about this over sized bic lighter I am going to take hostages and issue demands.
I have made an appeal on another website to the ordinary people north and south to be their authentic selves and undertake the following actions:
1. to run alongside the torch and light their fag off it
2. to nick the torch and melt it down to make counterfeit pound coins
When arrested and faced with the faux outrage of the media, the judiciary and the herd you can make the following points:
1. What has Prometheus done for us lately?
2. The Olympic flame relay system was devised in 1936 for the Berlin Olympics organised by Joseph Goebbels and you are a committed anti-fascist.
3. Excessive symbolism is the last refuge of a declining civilisation (see Apocolypto 2006 Mel Gibson for further clarification).
4. How much is this costing and how would we even find out?
Intriguing questions arise including:
If the Olympic flame met an Orange March on a traditional route, which one would have to give way?
If the Olympic flame was combined with The Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, would it be sufficient to cause Nicholas Witchell to faint?
“Yes, Yes” I hear you say “but is there a serious point here?”
Well, I believe there is. In their hearts, no one gives a flying expletive for this torch, yet the media have convinced them to come out of their homes in their thousands, in much larger numbers that could have been expected to protest A&E closures for example. This is the same media that convinced people to mourn a princess that they did not know, and a pope who did not act in their interests, and who caused people to believe that Mother Theresa was a living saint ( see Christopher Hitchens for further clarification). Could the gullible and the easily led be similarly exhorted to turn on a vilified section of society,for example false benefits claimants or illegal immigrants? I believe they could and that is the real danger here. In this as in all things, do not believe the hype!
This should act as a warning for all of us, to critically examine media outputs and ourselves to uncover false orthodoxies and received wisdom. It’s not so much that they make an argument that the Olympic torch is important, its more down to repetition and wall to wall coverage. Without the courage of their convictions they simply repeatedly imply importance onto the peripheral. The outrage and concern directed at the protests by dissident groups was not so much about their politics, but the fact that they dared bring some content to this vacuous procession.
Finally kudos to all those who sat this one out and extra marks for those who said “What a load of old b*lls” You are the true heroes, but please resist the urge to rub oil on your bodies and walk around naked in the Greek style.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
The Titanic - lets celebrate product failure
I am sick of hearing about The Titanic, sick sore and tired, in fact. Let us for once tell the truth and admit that as usual we did a half arsed job, and as a result many people lost their lives. Its quite a death toll too, about 50% of the 9/11 attack in New York for example. Do you think that in years to come Russia and Ukraine will observe Chernobyl anniversaries with similar tastelessness? I doubt it, presumably they have some pride in their engineering skills and a modicum of propriety. Can you imagine them saying "For years people have heard the bad news story of Chernobyl but now its time to celebrate the good news; that it put us on the map". Not likely.
A people more honest than ourselves or perhaps those possessed of a titter of wit would have learnt the lesson and moved on from this disaster, quietly and with dignity. Not us, eager as always to poke reason in the eye, we have tried to define ourselves by this improvised submarine. Lord help us, we're just not that bright!
We are far too proud of this over sized boat which took 1517 people to a watery grave. The least we can do is to have the courage of our convictions and rename our state(let) "Product Failure". By "we", I mean, of course, a largely mysteriously appointed and self satisfied group of people who choose to bray on our behalf. For years they have chosen to bray about this god forsaken boat, fast becoming a rust stain. What next? Will the Braying Ombudsman reject a complaint that a whipped mule could do better and insist that this is world class braying, and offers outstanding value for money in today's competitive marketplace. He might also go on to say that there was no evidence of collusion between sensible design principles and this vessel and that only a few bad apples among the rivets failed.
Think of the advantages of the proposed name change: Product Failure would communicate in advance our performance in job creation, rational thinking and just getting along with each other. For those of a Unionist disposition I think “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Product Failure“ has quite a ring to it.
Lets take a moment to look at the Tourism and Heritage argument. Heritage has been described as an attempt to project a version of the present onto the past, this has never been truer than in the case of the Titanic. What proportion of the Titanic craze deals with sectarianism and fair employment? Time Magazine reported that in the late 1960s only 400 of the 10000 employees at Harland and Wolfe were Catholic. By failing to adequately address this, the Titanic story attempts to whitewash and justify sectarianism, under the cloak of tourism. The enthusiasm that senior Unionist politicians display for costly Titanic related projects is at best unseemly. The tourists will visit these projects, as part of a visit to the area, more as a result of the low exchange rate of the pound sterling than an actual interest in the Titanic story. For those people across the world, with a specific interest in this ship, there are competing sites and museums to visit including Halifax Nova Scotia and Southampton. The idea that the place where a ship was built is more important than the place where it sailed from, or the place where the majority of the crew were from, or the port nearest to where it sank, is just a parochial conceit. Regardless of the success or otherwise of these projects, no doubt a team of consultants will demonstrate best value or ongoing viability or whatever the buzz phrase is, at that moment.
The Titanic dirge that we have all had inflicted on us over the last while seemed to start with more than three hours of tedium by James Cameron in 1997. This is a movie, that, although it would not have been historically accurate, would have benefited from a salvo of Exocet anti ship missiles at around the 90 minute mark. The hype has long since faded and the film is now best remembered for preventing the superior L.A. confidential from winning the Oscar. We can but wonder how many politicians and senior civil servants shed a tear as poor old Leo slipped beneath the waves and deep in their minds an obsession took hold. Obviously the words “deep” and “mind” have been used in a relative sense. We could all have been saved a lot of money and embarrassment, if they had instead put their hand in their pocket and bought a scale model of their doomed icon.
If you find it a bit depressing that R.M.S. Ocean Floor didn't make it to its destination, you can rest easy. No doubt a high powered team of consultants will release a report saying that it made it to New York after all and Product Failure plc is open for business in state of the art facilities. Don't dare be a nitpicker and point out that the team of consultants quite recently held directorships in companies working in the field of braying. Complete independence is assured. If there are any doubts we can after all, bring it to the attention of the Northern Ireland Nodding Office.
Have you heard Belfast referred to as "Titanic Town"? I think this is apt. Belfast is Titanic town. After all, when it hits a difficulty it tends to split into two halves and sink like a stone with considerable loss of life. “It was alright when it left here” has been trotted out a few too many times. The obvious riposte is “No, it was far from alright and the place it left from wasn’t up to much either.”
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
A people more honest than ourselves or perhaps those possessed of a titter of wit would have learnt the lesson and moved on from this disaster, quietly and with dignity. Not us, eager as always to poke reason in the eye, we have tried to define ourselves by this improvised submarine. Lord help us, we're just not that bright!
We are far too proud of this over sized boat which took 1517 people to a watery grave. The least we can do is to have the courage of our convictions and rename our state(let) "Product Failure". By "we", I mean, of course, a largely mysteriously appointed and self satisfied group of people who choose to bray on our behalf. For years they have chosen to bray about this god forsaken boat, fast becoming a rust stain. What next? Will the Braying Ombudsman reject a complaint that a whipped mule could do better and insist that this is world class braying, and offers outstanding value for money in today's competitive marketplace. He might also go on to say that there was no evidence of collusion between sensible design principles and this vessel and that only a few bad apples among the rivets failed.
Think of the advantages of the proposed name change: Product Failure would communicate in advance our performance in job creation, rational thinking and just getting along with each other. For those of a Unionist disposition I think “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Product Failure“ has quite a ring to it.
Lets take a moment to look at the Tourism and Heritage argument. Heritage has been described as an attempt to project a version of the present onto the past, this has never been truer than in the case of the Titanic. What proportion of the Titanic craze deals with sectarianism and fair employment? Time Magazine reported that in the late 1960s only 400 of the 10000 employees at Harland and Wolfe were Catholic. By failing to adequately address this, the Titanic story attempts to whitewash and justify sectarianism, under the cloak of tourism. The enthusiasm that senior Unionist politicians display for costly Titanic related projects is at best unseemly. The tourists will visit these projects, as part of a visit to the area, more as a result of the low exchange rate of the pound sterling than an actual interest in the Titanic story. For those people across the world, with a specific interest in this ship, there are competing sites and museums to visit including Halifax Nova Scotia and Southampton. The idea that the place where a ship was built is more important than the place where it sailed from, or the place where the majority of the crew were from, or the port nearest to where it sank, is just a parochial conceit. Regardless of the success or otherwise of these projects, no doubt a team of consultants will demonstrate best value or ongoing viability or whatever the buzz phrase is, at that moment.
The Titanic dirge that we have all had inflicted on us over the last while seemed to start with more than three hours of tedium by James Cameron in 1997. This is a movie, that, although it would not have been historically accurate, would have benefited from a salvo of Exocet anti ship missiles at around the 90 minute mark. The hype has long since faded and the film is now best remembered for preventing the superior L.A. confidential from winning the Oscar. We can but wonder how many politicians and senior civil servants shed a tear as poor old Leo slipped beneath the waves and deep in their minds an obsession took hold. Obviously the words “deep” and “mind” have been used in a relative sense. We could all have been saved a lot of money and embarrassment, if they had instead put their hand in their pocket and bought a scale model of their doomed icon.
If you find it a bit depressing that R.M.S. Ocean Floor didn't make it to its destination, you can rest easy. No doubt a high powered team of consultants will release a report saying that it made it to New York after all and Product Failure plc is open for business in state of the art facilities. Don't dare be a nitpicker and point out that the team of consultants quite recently held directorships in companies working in the field of braying. Complete independence is assured. If there are any doubts we can after all, bring it to the attention of the Northern Ireland Nodding Office.
Have you heard Belfast referred to as "Titanic Town"? I think this is apt. Belfast is Titanic town. After all, when it hits a difficulty it tends to split into two halves and sink like a stone with considerable loss of life. “It was alright when it left here” has been trotted out a few too many times. The obvious riposte is “No, it was far from alright and the place it left from wasn’t up to much either.”
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
This would be a great wee country if it wasn't for...
...well almost everything really.
Northern Ireland, the North, our wee country, or whatever you want to call it, has deep problems including mediocrity, mean spiritedness, corruption and high suicide rates. This blog will attempt to disrupt the sacharine love in that passes for comment in Northern Ireland. It has been suggested that, satire is dead in Northern Ireland, due to the opening of the £97m Titanic Signature Project. Being a damned fool however, I am determined to press on. Over the next while I will look at issues that interest me and vent my spleen accordingly.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
Northern Ireland, the North, our wee country, or whatever you want to call it, has deep problems including mediocrity, mean spiritedness, corruption and high suicide rates. This blog will attempt to disrupt the sacharine love in that passes for comment in Northern Ireland. It has been suggested that, satire is dead in Northern Ireland, due to the opening of the £97m Titanic Signature Project. Being a damned fool however, I am determined to press on. Over the next while I will look at issues that interest me and vent my spleen accordingly.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
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