Something sinister in the heart of government

Follow @JohnPlatinumG In February this year Moazzam Begg was arrested and has been detained in police custody to appear on terrorist-related charges in October. Anybody with an ounce of reason knows this is a trumped-up charge to protect the secret services from allegations of torture against them. Begg was collecting evidence to go with that he already has collected. What is even more sinister is that since his arrest some unknown sources have prevented Cage (formerly Cage Prisoners) from accessing their money or receiving donations.

Thankfully, there are still some good honest journalists, and Peter Oborne, chief political commentator of the Telegraph, together with Alex Delmar-Morgan, has questioned who has this power to stop a legitimate organisation from accessing its own money and continuing to operate in an unimpeded manner. At a time when civil liberties have been, and are being, severely challenged by an uncaring government, when mainstream media concentrate on mundane stories in preference to the real news, it is heartening to know that some journalists like Peter Oborne, Robert Fisk, Glenn Greenwald, John Pilger and a few others pursue the real stories.

The prime minister, David Cameron, Michael Gove (when he was education minister) and Theresa May have all in one way or another demonstrated their hatred of Islam in an attempt to create an enemy that did not exist before on behalf of their US masters. All this hatred of Islam started long ago and a series of Acts has been introduced to remove the rights of, almost exclusively, Muslims. Thus Muslims can be imprisoned without charge or trial, and extradited or deported without evidence. The Gibson Inquiry was halted on Cameron's instructions because it showed our secret services in a bad light. The most recent act, the Justice and Security Act, allows for those complicit in torture to have their identities concealed and for hearings to take place in secret. It is the latest in a cynical set of acts designed to further erode civil liberties and keep the secret services unaccountable.

We need a People's Parliament. Most of those there now are not fit for purpose.

Out of the mouth of babes - the racism of Michael Gove

Follow @JohnPlatinumG It was a heartening evening on Thursday night to hear so many committed souls speak to a packed audience of 700 on the Trojan Horse hoax letter. The Bordesley Centre became standing room only. Well that was all right because when seven year old Ben finished his speech the whole assembly was on its feet. You must watch this short video.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

Follow @JohnPlatinumG  I have started a petition.

Yesterday Michael Gove agreed not to take Mary Seacole off the national curriculum. I signed this petition because I believe that black English history, and those who figure in it, is as important as all other history. I am so pleased with the result but it started me thinking. There is a figure in the history of the working-class movement who left behind a priceless gem of literature. "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" was rejected by three publishers and its author was buried in a pauper's grave without seeing it in print.

Robert Tressell was a highly-skilled painter and decorator. His real name was Noonan and he took his pen-name from the painters' tressel (more commonly spelled trestle). He was a working-man concerned with working conditions and the way workers were exploited just after the turn of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. During a period of industrial decline he was sacked from his job because he would not rush the detailed work. He was influenced by the emerging Socialist movement and without a job he sat down and wrote a piece of literature that is sure to stand the test of time.

Noonan's wife had been unfaithful in South Africa where Robert had found work as a painter, and after his divorce the author was granted custody of his daughter, Kathleen. They came back to England, and latterly suffered much in not being able to find work, eventually ending in Liverpool where Noonan died of consumption. Without Kathleen Noonan this classic would never have come to light. She hawked it round until in 1914 Grant Richards published it three years after the author's death.

The novel itself, probably because of its political content, has never appeared on any syllabus at secondary level as far as I have been able to discover. Despite that it has been widely read and when the BBC ran its "Big Read" poll looking for the "nation's best-loved novel" it came a creditable 72nd.That's not bad for a book that has not been taught in secondary colleges, and finished above novels like "Bleak House", "Cold Comfort Farm" and "A Woman in White".

Please sign the petition to include it on the 'A' level syllabus.

The Big Society – Cameron’s love of charity

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Atlantic Bridge was a Conservative charity which it seems was laundering money to fund a neo-con Zionist reorganisation of the world order. The Charity Commission closed it down for purporting to be a charity when in reality it was a political organisation and, as we all know now, its money was being used in expenses for the despicable, non-vetted, self-promoting, defence buffoon Adam Werritty, an issue over which the Minister of Defence, Liam Fox, was forced to resign.

With Margaret Thatcher as its honorary president all the leading lights of the Tory party, William Hague, Liam Fox, George Osborne, Michael Gove and Chris Grayling have served on the charity’s board. Cameron himself managed to keep his nose clean but it will be noted that Lord Astor of Hever was on the board and met Werritty at a defence meeting in the Middle East in December 2010. Lord Astor just happens to be Cameron’s father-in-law. It would be surprising, even remiss of him, if Cameron did not know what was going on.

Considering these defence issues brings into the spotlight the circular flow of big money. Charitable donations are made to the Tory party by people, like Tony Buckingham, in exchange for favours in the newly-conquered oilfields of the Middle East. Taking care to protect this circular flow there is nothing in writing to confirm how it works. The super-rich Buckingham, who claims to be a former-mercenary, with his company Heritage Oil, has oil-interests in Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Kurdistan and elsewhere. He describes himself as a former mercenary, but to my mind he is still the aggressive mercenary he was but now having private armies to defend oil interests stolen from the legitimate owners before we (NATO countries) waged war on Islamic regimes.

Goodbye to the canal system

Further demonstrating his love of charities and charitable works this morning Cameron announced that canal waterways of England and Wales were to be handed over to the charitable sector in line with what he calls his Big Society. What the Big Society really amounts to is working for nothing. Over the next 15 years the canals will only get a third from government funding of what has been spent on them previously, and the rest will be paid for by charitable donations and maintenance by dedicated canal enthusiasts, who might start off enthusiastically but when they realise it is just them the enthusiasm will wane. This scheme, like the hot or cold pasty tax, is doomed to failure. The eighteenth century pioneers of our beautiful canal network will be turning in their graves.

Whitewashing, laundering and retirement

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It may come as a surprise to some that there is a policy of commandeering establishment figures to oversee uncomfortable inquiries, get these figures  to deliver the outcome required by the establishment, and then pension them off. Or in at least one case, ‘retire’ them even before they can preside.

When the weapons inspector who revealed that the famous ‘dodgy dossier’ had been ‘sexed up’, to use the epithet most widely applied to it,  was found dead in the countryside, Prime minister, Tony Blair, instructed the soon to be retiring Lord Brian Hutton to hold an Inquiry into Dr David Kelly’s death. There should have been an inquest. Indeed an inquest had been started but that was abandoned, the coroner was almost instructed to quickly find a verdict of suicide, and the Hutton Inquiry ‘whitewashed’ the case. Thames Valley Police have still not released photographic evidence in their possession, despite freedom of information requests. Having done his duty to the establishment that had supported him throughout his life Lord Hutton retired.

There was some very seedy stuff going on at the highest level when Liam Fox was forced to resign. The devious dealings were conducted through a bogus charity which Fox founded, Atlantic Bridge, through which neo-con/Zionist funds were being laundered, if that is the right word. This so-called charity, of which Margaret Thatcher was honorary president, included in its rank some of the old boy network at the very heart of government. Before the Charity Commision shut it down for malpractice other cabinet and government members as well as Liam Fox served on its advisory panel. Among these were George Osborne, William Hague and Michael Gove. Lord Astor of Hever, father-in-law to the prime minister, David Cameron, was a trustee of Atlantic Bridge and was himself involved in defence discussions which included Adam Werritty, a friend of Fox, and best man at Fox’s wedding.

Werritty’s involvement, and the whole seedy defence affair, was whitewashed with a big two-handed brush by Gus O’Donnell (commonly referred to as GOD because of his initials and not due to any divine gifts). Almost immediately after he cleared the guilty of any serious misdemeanour  Gus O’Donnell retired. However a rather more devious retirement took place connected as a result of the whitewash which was only discovered by response to a letter from Paul O’Flynn, a doughty M.P. representing Newport West. As well as questioning Gus O’Donnell’s ‘inquiry’ O’Flynn hinted ‘that the Prime Minister may have broken the ministerial code’ in not engaging Sir Philip Mawer to conduct the Inquiry presided over by Gus O’Donnell.

Sir Philip Mawer himself believed he should have led this Inquiry as he was the ‘sole enforcer of the code’. So why did GOD preside over it? The prime minister alone dictates who presides over an inquiry and O’Flynn suggests:

‘There is powerful evidence that using Sir Gus O'Donnell to carry out the swift investigation was a decision taken to hide the whole truth in order to satisfy political expediency and avoid political embarrassment to the Coalition.’ 

The whitewash was particularly sketchy about the number of meetings at which Werritty was present and sketchy too about the presence of other figures at many more meetings, including the Israeli ambassador Matthew Gould, substantially more than the O’Donnell Inquiry said had taken place − more than twice as many in fact. But the retirement of Sir Philip Mawer was done so surreptitiously that most people were unaware it had taken place, and it was only when a letter from Paul O’Flynn to Sir Philip was responded to by Sir Alex Allen that it was apparent that Sir Philip had been replaced. 

Another inquiry is being called because of the O’Donnell botch-up. A House of Commons public administration committee presided over by Mr Bernard Jenkin is asking for issues to be readdressed. Reading between the lines it looks like Sir Philip Mawer was ‘pushed’ and the cynical among us might consider the reason for this is to replace him with someone as compliant to the establishment as Gus himself.

This ‘deliver and retire’ policy applies not just to inquiries. High Court cases which are seen to be of detriment to the establishment are dealt with similarly. One such case is that of Babar Ahmed. He has been held in prison without trial for 8 years and now faces extradition to the United States thanks to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. Ahmed was beaten by police and in a civil case awarded £60,000 damages for his injuries. A criminal case was brought before the courts and those policemen who beat Ahmed up walked free. The jury had not been informed of the damages award and the Judge, Geoffrey Rivlin QC, retired the month after this verdict was announced. Draw your own conclusions,