I never attend these days but I gather the mood of the visit was subdued. There was the suggestion that my grandmother should be put into a nursing home but it was made more sort out of a sense of obligation rather then as an achievable goal. The highlight apparently was the doctor claiming that opiates don't have a psychoactive effect. I wonder how we're going to explain that revelation to the worlds heroin addicts.
In the evening I had dinner with my mother. Most of the meal was covered by the usual, inane small talk. In fact I think most of it was the exact same small talk that was used the last time we had dinner. The only juicy bit refers to today's news stories that Lloyds Bank and Barclays Bank are the two most complained about banks in the UK and the story about a large online bank fraud gang being convicted. The rumour is that the only way Britain has been able to keep up with the interest payments on it's loans is by "borrowing" money from private accounts at the two nationally owned banks, moving it about for two to three months and then paying it back. To me that sounds like a very odd thing for Britain to admit too but 750,000 complaints certainly represents significant domestic pressure on the issue.
Thursday 30 September 2010
Wednesday 29 September 2010
Miliband V Miliband.
As previously mentioned on Saturday September 25th Ed Miliband was elected as leader of the UK Labour Party. In the process he beat his younger brother, David Miliband into second place. Since then the UK news media has been obsessed with how the result will affect the relationship between the two brothers and what the losing brother will do next.
Like a lot of people I have a brother. So with a lot of imagination you could think the Miliband saga is a sort of metaphor for the relationship between me and my brother ahead of this Court of Protection ruling. Sadly that is so far from the truth it's taken until now for me to make the connection.
The Brits have been promoting this spin on the Miliband story in order to give the Commonwealth and anyone else who'll listen a false impression about this Court of Protection case. They're trying to convince everyone that I've asked the Court to rule on a subjective question about who would make the best attorney for my grandmother. I haven't. I've asked the Court to rule on a narrow question of law which has a definitive answer. Of course the Brits would prefer it if everyone believed that I'd asked the Court the subjective question because that would make it easier for them to explain why the Court has ruled against me.
As to why the Labour Party have involved themselves in this the answer is twofold. Firstly they're kind of dumb. Secondly it's a hangover from May's chaotic General Election. After their crushing defeat Labour responded by quickly announcing that they would elect a new leader and that new leader would be announced at September's Party conference. The idea being that they would soon be back in power after causing the ConDem coalition to collapse. As the months ticked by from May to September it soon became apparent that this wouldn't happen. This prompted David Miliband's camp to encourage his supporters to vote for Ed Miliband instead. The idea being that David Miliband would lay low as a backbench MP while his brother served as Leader of the Opposition for four years. Then, just before the 2015 General Election, David Miliband would re-emerge and become Prime Minister. In political terms 2015 is a long way away so I'm not sure if this will work. However this has certainly been the worst kept secret in UK political circles.
Like a lot of people I have a brother. So with a lot of imagination you could think the Miliband saga is a sort of metaphor for the relationship between me and my brother ahead of this Court of Protection ruling. Sadly that is so far from the truth it's taken until now for me to make the connection.
The Brits have been promoting this spin on the Miliband story in order to give the Commonwealth and anyone else who'll listen a false impression about this Court of Protection case. They're trying to convince everyone that I've asked the Court to rule on a subjective question about who would make the best attorney for my grandmother. I haven't. I've asked the Court to rule on a narrow question of law which has a definitive answer. Of course the Brits would prefer it if everyone believed that I'd asked the Court the subjective question because that would make it easier for them to explain why the Court has ruled against me.
As to why the Labour Party have involved themselves in this the answer is twofold. Firstly they're kind of dumb. Secondly it's a hangover from May's chaotic General Election. After their crushing defeat Labour responded by quickly announcing that they would elect a new leader and that new leader would be announced at September's Party conference. The idea being that they would soon be back in power after causing the ConDem coalition to collapse. As the months ticked by from May to September it soon became apparent that this wouldn't happen. This prompted David Miliband's camp to encourage his supporters to vote for Ed Miliband instead. The idea being that David Miliband would lay low as a backbench MP while his brother served as Leader of the Opposition for four years. Then, just before the 2015 General Election, David Miliband would re-emerge and become Prime Minister. In political terms 2015 is a long way away so I'm not sure if this will work. However this has certainly been the worst kept secret in UK political circles.
I Didn't Go to the Gym.
Instead i stayed in bed until lunchtime which I think counts as resting. As it turns out this psychologists visit is tomorrow (30/9) not today (29/9). I'm sorry for confusion but I was told on several occasions that it was today. As I'm sure you can imagine dishonesty and confusion are pretty much standard in my home life at the moment.
Tuesday 28 September 2010
Hello and Good Evening.
Although the hour is late and I am drunk at this moment (01:05 BST) I should confirm that at between 19:00-20:15 (28/09) my property was visited by the MI5 burglary squad. The purpose of their visit was to test MI6's judgement over the Pete Doherty drugs arrest.
The correct answer was of course cannabis but I must say how proud I am to have visitors who spill their guts to channel 4 rather then stealing anything.
The correct answer was of course cannabis but I must say how proud I am to have visitors who spill their guts to channel 4 rather then stealing anything.
Today Has Been Tuesday
And one of those Tuesdays where I had to go to the supermarket. This meant I completely missed Ed Miliband's first leaders speech to the UK Labour Party conference however I do not think I missed much. In the evening I went to the usual pub and absolutely nothing happened.
Tomorrow is Wednesday which apparently brings with it the start of the Commonwealth Games in India. It is also the day when my grandmother's care manager, Edith, visits my grandmother. On this occasion she is bringing with her a new psychologist who will presumably carry out some sort of assessment. Apparently this is meant to be some sort of dramatic event but I can't see why. If the council want to make any major changes to my grandmothers care they will first have to make an application to the Court of Protection and the Court of Protection will have to hear my application on the matter first. If anyone's going to be put under any pressure by the visit it's going to be the psychologist. If they uphold the dementia diagnosis they incriminate themselves but if they question the diagnosis they incriminate their colleagues.
My major worry about tomorrow is whether or not I go to the gym. Once again I've hit the point where fatigue has built up so if I do go I'll run the risk of injury and if I don't go I spend the day in pain as all the fatigue leaves my muscles.
Tomorrow is Wednesday which apparently brings with it the start of the Commonwealth Games in India. It is also the day when my grandmother's care manager, Edith, visits my grandmother. On this occasion she is bringing with her a new psychologist who will presumably carry out some sort of assessment. Apparently this is meant to be some sort of dramatic event but I can't see why. If the council want to make any major changes to my grandmothers care they will first have to make an application to the Court of Protection and the Court of Protection will have to hear my application on the matter first. If anyone's going to be put under any pressure by the visit it's going to be the psychologist. If they uphold the dementia diagnosis they incriminate themselves but if they question the diagnosis they incriminate their colleagues.
My major worry about tomorrow is whether or not I go to the gym. Once again I've hit the point where fatigue has built up so if I do go I'll run the risk of injury and if I don't go I spend the day in pain as all the fatigue leaves my muscles.
Monday 27 September 2010
Middle East Peace Talks Yawn.
I have it on very good authority that that the Fatah faction will be withdrawing from the process within the next seven days so there seems little point going into much detail.
However the latest drama in this pointless process is over the issue of Jewish settlements. This refers to Palestinian territory that was militarily occupied by Israel during the 1967 war. Since then Israel has been actively encouraging Jews to go and live on the land in order to racially purify it. This is remarkably similar to what the Nazis did when they invaded Austria. On that occasion the actions of the Nazis led to something known as the second world war so the practice of settling occupied land is strictly forbidden by international law because it only ever leads to more war. Apparently though the Geneva Conventions don't apply to Israel so they've been allowed to happily carry on with the practice for the last 40 odd years.
In order to coerce Fatah and, more importantly, the USA into this latest charade of peace talks Israel very generously placed a ten month ban on settlement building. With the latest round of peace talks in place Israel allowed that ban to expire yesterday (26/9) and waited literally seconds before restarting building work. With a straight face Israel then offered Fatah the promise that it would only allow settlement building to carry on at a slower rate provided that Fatah made the major concession of giving the peace talks even a hint of legitimacy by remaining part of them. The objective of this move and the entire process for the Israelis is simply to relieve some of the diplomatic pressure on them while continuing to expand their borders by slowly nibbling away at Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. It's the same trick the Israelis have been playing since the 1970's so I surprised Fatah are still falling for it.
In order to get the Americans to put pressure on Fatah to continue in the talks Israel has been making lots of war like noises over the last couple of weeks. Firstly they launched a cyber-attack on Iran. This involved infecting the nations computers with a virus that seizes control of the computerised control systems used in industrial plants including Iran's newly opened nuclear power plant. That move could be considered many things, including an act of war, and has been causing headaches across the intelligence community. However it most certainly raises the spectre of Israel taking unilateral military action against Iran and ruining the US missions in Iraq and Afghanistan in the process. Secondly Israel circulated a propaganda video which apparently showed Hamas threatening to kill Gilad Shilat, a Israeli solider Hamas have been holding as a prisoner of war since 2006. Again this could be many things but certainly raises the spectre of Israel launching another war against Gaza.
An Israeli attack on Iran, Gaza or, as is more likely, Lebanon would put a lot of people, especially the US President in a very difficult position. Therefore this war like talk sounds like nothing more then an open threat from the Israelis to President Obama; "Either let Israel do whatever it wants or Israel will kill a lot of people!"
In my experience that attitude leaves no basis for any sort of negotiation let alone peace talks. So with no possibility of these talks ending in peace the only real question I've got is how much damage is going to be done to America before this whole charade is allowed to end.
However the latest drama in this pointless process is over the issue of Jewish settlements. This refers to Palestinian territory that was militarily occupied by Israel during the 1967 war. Since then Israel has been actively encouraging Jews to go and live on the land in order to racially purify it. This is remarkably similar to what the Nazis did when they invaded Austria. On that occasion the actions of the Nazis led to something known as the second world war so the practice of settling occupied land is strictly forbidden by international law because it only ever leads to more war. Apparently though the Geneva Conventions don't apply to Israel so they've been allowed to happily carry on with the practice for the last 40 odd years.
In order to coerce Fatah and, more importantly, the USA into this latest charade of peace talks Israel very generously placed a ten month ban on settlement building. With the latest round of peace talks in place Israel allowed that ban to expire yesterday (26/9) and waited literally seconds before restarting building work. With a straight face Israel then offered Fatah the promise that it would only allow settlement building to carry on at a slower rate provided that Fatah made the major concession of giving the peace talks even a hint of legitimacy by remaining part of them. The objective of this move and the entire process for the Israelis is simply to relieve some of the diplomatic pressure on them while continuing to expand their borders by slowly nibbling away at Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. It's the same trick the Israelis have been playing since the 1970's so I surprised Fatah are still falling for it.
In order to get the Americans to put pressure on Fatah to continue in the talks Israel has been making lots of war like noises over the last couple of weeks. Firstly they launched a cyber-attack on Iran. This involved infecting the nations computers with a virus that seizes control of the computerised control systems used in industrial plants including Iran's newly opened nuclear power plant. That move could be considered many things, including an act of war, and has been causing headaches across the intelligence community. However it most certainly raises the spectre of Israel taking unilateral military action against Iran and ruining the US missions in Iraq and Afghanistan in the process. Secondly Israel circulated a propaganda video which apparently showed Hamas threatening to kill Gilad Shilat, a Israeli solider Hamas have been holding as a prisoner of war since 2006. Again this could be many things but certainly raises the spectre of Israel launching another war against Gaza.
An Israeli attack on Iran, Gaza or, as is more likely, Lebanon would put a lot of people, especially the US President in a very difficult position. Therefore this war like talk sounds like nothing more then an open threat from the Israelis to President Obama; "Either let Israel do whatever it wants or Israel will kill a lot of people!"
In my experience that attitude leaves no basis for any sort of negotiation let alone peace talks. So with no possibility of these talks ending in peace the only real question I've got is how much damage is going to be done to America before this whole charade is allowed to end.
Saturday 25 September 2010
The Labour Leadership Results Are In.
In the end the UK Labour party decided they needed a choice between two Milibands. In the end they opted for the (Ed) Miliband with the least charisma.
According to my Union I voted for Ed Miliband so I think it's time I gave them a call and told them my choice was Balls. Either way the Labour party have got four years in opposition before they're being allowed anywhere near a General Election so David Miliband has got plenty of time to make peace with his brother.
I can't pretend to know the exact details of the complicated Alternative Vote system that was used in this leadership contest because I've been out on the piss with my friend. I would like to have kept his identity a secret but apparently I only have one friend. He's the guy who lives in Brighton, works for British Gas and has still not being paid over his June car accident. On the plus side though two years ago this friend was almost posted to Belfast so imagine how long a flight home that would have been.
According to my Union I voted for Ed Miliband so I think it's time I gave them a call and told them my choice was Balls. Either way the Labour party have got four years in opposition before they're being allowed anywhere near a General Election so David Miliband has got plenty of time to make peace with his brother.
I can't pretend to know the exact details of the complicated Alternative Vote system that was used in this leadership contest because I've been out on the piss with my friend. I would like to have kept his identity a secret but apparently I only have one friend. He's the guy who lives in Brighton, works for British Gas and has still not being paid over his June car accident. On the plus side though two years ago this friend was almost posted to Belfast so imagine how long a flight home that would have been.
Friday 24 September 2010
I've Not Really Got Anything to Say.
The UN General Assembly is currently on. Everybody is playing nice because of the Fatah/Israel peacetalks. Of course there was the routine, slightly rambling speech from the Iranian President and the equally routine walk out by the US delegation. The Israelis appear to have snubbed this years meeting but the fact it coincides with their New Year celebrations means they got a good excuse.
Despite being on a 20 day New Years holiday Israels Mossad have had the time to put out a fake Hamas video which appears to show Hamas terrorist killing their IDF POW, Gilhad Shilat.. The video is such an obvious fake that it appears to be an attempt to allow Sin Bet to collect information which allows them to improve their propaganda department. This could be interpreted as a preparation for war but in light the Gaza flotilla incident it appears to be just good house keeping.
Apart from the Angolan delegate who was caught on camera picking his nose during the US walkout all I've really got is a rather dull story about my unpleasant fingernail which I have spent the last hour treating. Basically I split my nail and got a fungal infection on the nailbed. I then did nothing about it for the next two years. However it is responding, slowly to a 5% amorolfine lacquer.
Despite being on a 20 day New Years holiday Israels Mossad have had the time to put out a fake Hamas video which appears to show Hamas terrorist killing their IDF POW, Gilhad Shilat.. The video is such an obvious fake that it appears to be an attempt to allow Sin Bet to collect information which allows them to improve their propaganda department. This could be interpreted as a preparation for war but in light the Gaza flotilla incident it appears to be just good house keeping.
Apart from the Angolan delegate who was caught on camera picking his nose during the US walkout all I've really got is a rather dull story about my unpleasant fingernail which I have spent the last hour treating. Basically I split my nail and got a fungal infection on the nailbed. I then did nothing about it for the next two years. However it is responding, slowly to a 5% amorolfine lacquer.
Thursday 23 September 2010
It's Barely Worth Mentioning
But on Monday (20/9) my grandmother's homecare people from Crossroads started work. They will now visit her on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Long before they'd started work they somehow managed to double their weekly hours from three to six. Since then all they seem to be doing is annoying my grandmother and complaining about the state of her house.
That comes as no surprise because that was always the councils plan. They create so many problems that the situation becomes unmanageable then they intervene on the grounds that the situation is unmanageable
Long before they'd started work they somehow managed to double their weekly hours from three to six. Since then all they seem to be doing is annoying my grandmother and complaining about the state of her house.
That comes as no surprise because that was always the councils plan. They create so many problems that the situation becomes unmanageable then they intervene on the grounds that the situation is unmanageable
Tuesday 21 September 2010
I Have Been To The Pub!
It was the same pub I went to last Tuesday when it was infested with Portsmouth fans. You may remember that on that occasion nothing happened. On this occasion there was no football crowd so even less happened. Fair point a very fat man did spill about one tenth of my pint but we decided that it was just an accident. After all he was a very fat, middle-aged man with an equally ugly, middle-aged girlfriend and no-one wants to see a fight in a pub so I decided to resolve the situation through cutting sarcasm rather then violence. After eight pints of reflection I will agree that I should've probably just punched him out through the bannisters.
In other news I have had my hair cut. In respect to the Liberal Democrat Party conference I should explain that yes it is a very severe cut. This is due to my usual, Kurdish/Iraqi, barber being forced into hiding in what I believe is an attempt by the local council to make sure I look scruffy for any upcoming court appearances. In response I've had a short back and sides with a little bit too much hair left on top. I am a little worried that this makes me look like a bit of a pinhead but that's due to the shape of my head and the instructions I gave rather then the talent of the new hairdresser.
Also if you've heard about the Mark Saunders inquest what is alleged to have happened is; A talent young barrister, who was going through a divorce, got very drunk in the May of 2008 and started firing a shotgun in the very expensive Chelsea area of London. Obviously the police were called and a siege ensued. A troop of SAS soldiers who were stationed in London on an anti-terrorism stand-by were dispatched to the scene as observers. The inquest is trying to determine if this caused the police officers to show off and kill an innocent man.
In other news I have had my hair cut. In respect to the Liberal Democrat Party conference I should explain that yes it is a very severe cut. This is due to my usual, Kurdish/Iraqi, barber being forced into hiding in what I believe is an attempt by the local council to make sure I look scruffy for any upcoming court appearances. In response I've had a short back and sides with a little bit too much hair left on top. I am a little worried that this makes me look like a bit of a pinhead but that's due to the shape of my head and the instructions I gave rather then the talent of the new hairdresser.
Also if you've heard about the Mark Saunders inquest what is alleged to have happened is; A talent young barrister, who was going through a divorce, got very drunk in the May of 2008 and started firing a shotgun in the very expensive Chelsea area of London. Obviously the police were called and a siege ensued. A troop of SAS soldiers who were stationed in London on an anti-terrorism stand-by were dispatched to the scene as observers. The inquest is trying to determine if this caused the police officers to show off and kill an innocent man.
Out of Great Tedium Confusion is Born.
I've just returned from Croydon Magistrates Court where I submitted a response to L.L Bragg's letter which I received on Friday 17th September. As evidence of CAYSH and Presentation Housing Association being notified of the statutory nuisance proceedings I submitted a statement from myself.
In it I explained that there had been extensive contact between my myself and the organisations over the matter. I stated that they'd been informed verbally on July 13th and this warning was repeated on July 14th. I went on to explain that on July 15th I faxed CAYSH a completed N130 form in case their failure to act was due to a lack of legal knowledge. I also stated that on July 21st I sent a written notification by standard first class post. I also pointed out that on that same date CAYSH sent a maintenance crew to the address to make sure it adhered to section 79:1(a) of the act.
Obviously I think this is sufficent otherwise I wouldn't have done it. However it is a matter for the court to decide. I wouldn't get too excited about it though. It is the power of attorney case in front of the Court of Protection that is important. By comparison the nuisance matter in front of the Magistrates Court is, well, just a bit of nuisance.
In it I explained that there had been extensive contact between my myself and the organisations over the matter. I stated that they'd been informed verbally on July 13th and this warning was repeated on July 14th. I went on to explain that on July 15th I faxed CAYSH a completed N130 form in case their failure to act was due to a lack of legal knowledge. I also stated that on July 21st I sent a written notification by standard first class post. I also pointed out that on that same date CAYSH sent a maintenance crew to the address to make sure it adhered to section 79:1(a) of the act.
Obviously I think this is sufficent otherwise I wouldn't have done it. However it is a matter for the court to decide. I wouldn't get too excited about it though. It is the power of attorney case in front of the Court of Protection that is important. By comparison the nuisance matter in front of the Magistrates Court is, well, just a bit of nuisance.
Sunday 19 September 2010
Finally Some Progress.
Over the weekend my younger brother, with his masters degree in creative writing, moved himself and most of his books out of our mothers flat. He has now moved into a house share with ex-university friends and friends of those friends.
Despite all being either privately or Grammar school educated and having achieved advanced degrees from some of Britain's better universities they are all under-employed and struggling to re-pay their student loans. This is something of a cultural trend in the UK at the moment and one that is likely to become politically charged as cuts start to bite within higher education. Therefore there is obviously a small research element to my brother's new domestic situation. Mainly though it is just him taking his place within the cultural mainstream.
Most importantly though it leaves my mother with a three bed roomed flat that is only partially occupied for a maximum of four nights a week. So let's not have any more of this nonsense about my poor father having to take me in because I have nowhere else to go.
Despite all being either privately or Grammar school educated and having achieved advanced degrees from some of Britain's better universities they are all under-employed and struggling to re-pay their student loans. This is something of a cultural trend in the UK at the moment and one that is likely to become politically charged as cuts start to bite within higher education. Therefore there is obviously a small research element to my brother's new domestic situation. Mainly though it is just him taking his place within the cultural mainstream.
Most importantly though it leaves my mother with a three bed roomed flat that is only partially occupied for a maximum of four nights a week. So let's not have any more of this nonsense about my poor father having to take me in because I have nowhere else to go.
Friday 17 September 2010
Much to my Annoyance
As I was completing my last post I recieved a letter that was clearly marked on the envelope as coming from Croydon Magistrates Court. The fact that 16:00 is a little late to be reciveing an AM delivery from the Royal Mail was not lost on the poor postman because apparenlty he was fully informed of the fact by my father.
However in the two paragraph letter that is shown below MRs L.L Bragg who is apparenlty a "legal adviser" uses the first paragraph to explain that the Court has come under some pressure from Croydon Council to throw out the case out due to my non-compliance with section 82 subsection 7(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Obviously that is my war to fight so it would be unwise for me to comment further.
In the second paragraph Mrs Bragg confirms that a Court date has been set for October 12th 2010 at 14:00. As in this matter I can reasonably described as "the prosecution" Mrs Bragg reminds me that I will need to contact the Court with some sort of evidence for the summons that may or may not have been sent to the Presentation Housing Association and Croydon Association for Young Single Homeless to be considered vaild.
So in summary the Court has been alerted to the size of my entourage and is requesting that I provide further information.
However in the two paragraph letter that is shown below MRs L.L Bragg who is apparenlty a "legal adviser" uses the first paragraph to explain that the Court has come under some pressure from Croydon Council to throw out the case out due to my non-compliance with section 82 subsection 7(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Obviously that is my war to fight so it would be unwise for me to comment further.
In the second paragraph Mrs Bragg confirms that a Court date has been set for October 12th 2010 at 14:00. As in this matter I can reasonably described as "the prosecution" Mrs Bragg reminds me that I will need to contact the Court with some sort of evidence for the summons that may or may not have been sent to the Presentation Housing Association and Croydon Association for Young Single Homeless to be considered vaild.
So in summary the Court has been alerted to the size of my entourage and is requesting that I provide further information.
Rwandas Election.
On August 9th 2010 Paul Kagame won a second seven year term as President of Rwanda. This came as no surprise because the people of Rwanda have already allowed Kagame to extend his first seven year term to ten years.
If you are not familiar with Paul Kagame he rose to prominence during Rwandas genocidal civil war during the early 1990's. As commander of Tutsi rebel forces Kagame is widely regarded as the man who ended the war by taking the decision to march his forces out of hiding. Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) then immediately started another war with Hutu rebels in the Congo. This war killed around 4 million people and didn't end until Kagame officially became President in 2000. Although managing to avoid war for a whole ten years Kagame has lost none of his militaristic leadership style in his time as a civilian politician. Under his rule dissent in Rwanda is effectively banned under laws that are supposed to prevent a repeat of ethnic tensions but in reality are used to stop Hutu politicians legitimately criticising the policies of country's Tutsi President.
This culture of violence and intimidation got dramatically worse in the run up to the countries election. Firstly there was the failed assassination attempt on Faustin Kayumba Nyumwasa in South Africa during July's World Cup. The former head of Rwanda's intelligence service had been forced into exile from Rwanda after being accused of setting up a rival faction within Rwandas armed forces. Although the Rwandan government have officially denied any involvement three of the gunmen arrested were Rwandan nationals and the attempt did coincide with a clampdown on senior figures in Rwandas military including two former intelligence officers and the former head of the countries air force who were arrested on charges of corruption.
This was followed by the murder of the deputy leader of the opposition Green Party, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka who was found with his head half hacked off. This prompted the rest of the Green Party leadership to go into hiding overseas effectively withdrawing them from the election. Then a deputy editor at the Umuvuguzi newspaper was shot dead outside him home in Kigali. Finally Victorie Ingabrie, a Hutu politician and one of Kagames main rivals for the Presidency was arrested on hard to support charges of denying the genocide. In the end the only people who were allowed to stand in opposition to Kagame were former coalition partners who owed him all their political successes.
Despite these despotic tendancies Paul Kagame is legitimately very popular with Rwandan voters and is seen as something of a darling of the international development community. Under his leadership Rwanda has developed to boast 100% food security and some of the least corrupt government institutions in East Africa. Great efforts have also been made to boost women's rights in the country with great deal of money being spent to send women to school and changes to the law that allow women to inherit property. Most crucially though Kagame has overseen explosive economic growth. GDP has doubled in the last five years and is expected to grow by a recession busting 6% this year boosting government revenues from an ever developing tax base. However, as with everything else about Kagame, this economic miracle is not all that it seems. A full 50% of government spending does not come from tax revenues but from foreign donors, primarily the United Kingdom. It is these donors not Kagame's government that hold real power in the country and dictate what policies the President will follow.
Obviously Kagame's backers are not spending all this money on Rwanda out of the goodness of their hearts. They expect some return on their investment. Already Britain's involvement has led to Rwanda bucking the international trend by joining the UK Commonwealth. The real prize though lies not in Rwanda but in its neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Formally known as Zaire the DRC is hugely important country at the heart of Africa with vast mineral deposits. Apart from the normal treasures like gold and diamonds it also has large deposits of minerals such as cobalt, zinc and nickel which are essential in modern consumer electronics like mobile phones, computers, MP3 players and basically anything with a battery. The problem is that continued rebel violence has led to trade restrictions and instability that is keeping these valuable commodities off the world market.
One of several of these rebel conflicts going on the DRC is the Kivu conflict. Here, in the east of the country, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) who are loyal to Rwanda's Hutu faction are fighting the National Congress for the Reference of the People (CNCP) who are loyal to Rwandas Tutsi faction. Both of these rebel groups are also fighting the official military of the DRC who are totally failing to cope who the mind-boggling array of armed conflicts going on in the country. As is standard practice for rebel wars in Africa both the FDLR and the CNCP are funding their violence through the illegal mining of gold and diamonds. These commodities are smuggled out of the conflict zone into Rwanda where they are sold as legal Rwandan produce. This smuggling is done by senior members of Rwanda military and government and the vast commissions are making these people very rich. Therefore the price that Britain will be demanding for the help its given Rwanda is the expansion and control of the flow of commodities out of the DRC.
There are two ways they are going to go about this. The nice way and the nasty way;
The nice way involves further strengthening Paul Kagame's reputation in order to have Rwanda elected as the de-facto leader of the East African Community. This newly formed alliance is made up of Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda. With the exception of Burundi these are all Commonwealth countries and two of them; Uganda and Rwanda are actively involved in funding conflicts in the DRC. Under Rwanda's leadership the East African Community will highlight the damage that is being done by the illegal trade in gold and the ever fashionable blood diamonds. This outrage will then be used to pressurize the African Union to legalise the export of commodities from the DRC in order to "help" the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo by taking the trade out of the hands of the black-market warlords. Obviously the countries of the East African Community will have to play a key, controlling role in this new legal trade in order to make sure that it is free from corruption.
The nasty way is obviously much more unpleasant. It involves weakening Kagame's government to the point that he needs to fight a war to boost his popularity. Ideally this will be presented as a humanitarian operation where the Rwandan army are sent into the Kivu region in order to keep the peace between the FDLR and the CNCP. Alternatively it will be a Rwandan security operation where Rwandan troops invade the Kivu region to fight the threat of either the FDLR or the CNCP depending on whether Rwanda's Hutus or Tusis are being more critical of their President. Once Rwandas act of "necessary aggression" has taken place Uganda, Kenya or Tanzania will deploy peacekeepers to the region allowing Britain to exercise almost direct control of all DRC territory North-East of the Congo River.
Since the Rwandan election, a little under five weeks ago, there have already been two important scandals about the DRC. The first incident was the mass rape of around 150 women by, I believe, FDLR rebels while UN peacekeepers sat around doing nothing in their camp just over 1 mile away. Obviously this will increase outrage at the situation in the DRC and highlights the apparent need for something to be done while making the UN peacekeeping mission in the country appear incompetent. Then yesterday (16/9), to coincide with Kagame's visit to London, a leaked UN report linked his Tutsi fighters to the genocidal killings of Hutus during the DRC's second civil war. Clearly this is not going to make Kagame popular with Rwanda's Hutu population and increases the pressure on him to take action against the DRC's CNCP rebels.
So it would appear that Britain has already decided to go down the nasty route. This is no great surprise because Britain really only has one negotiating strategy; "Give us want we want or we'll burn down your house!"
In Britain today five men have been arrested for plotting a terrorist attack against the Pope during his state visit to the country. In the original script they were meant to be East African Muslim extremists brought into the UK on Jewish passports. However like all the best religious crime capers this is subject re-writes.
If you are not familiar with Paul Kagame he rose to prominence during Rwandas genocidal civil war during the early 1990's. As commander of Tutsi rebel forces Kagame is widely regarded as the man who ended the war by taking the decision to march his forces out of hiding. Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) then immediately started another war with Hutu rebels in the Congo. This war killed around 4 million people and didn't end until Kagame officially became President in 2000. Although managing to avoid war for a whole ten years Kagame has lost none of his militaristic leadership style in his time as a civilian politician. Under his rule dissent in Rwanda is effectively banned under laws that are supposed to prevent a repeat of ethnic tensions but in reality are used to stop Hutu politicians legitimately criticising the policies of country's Tutsi President.
This culture of violence and intimidation got dramatically worse in the run up to the countries election. Firstly there was the failed assassination attempt on Faustin Kayumba Nyumwasa in South Africa during July's World Cup. The former head of Rwanda's intelligence service had been forced into exile from Rwanda after being accused of setting up a rival faction within Rwandas armed forces. Although the Rwandan government have officially denied any involvement three of the gunmen arrested were Rwandan nationals and the attempt did coincide with a clampdown on senior figures in Rwandas military including two former intelligence officers and the former head of the countries air force who were arrested on charges of corruption.
This was followed by the murder of the deputy leader of the opposition Green Party, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka who was found with his head half hacked off. This prompted the rest of the Green Party leadership to go into hiding overseas effectively withdrawing them from the election. Then a deputy editor at the Umuvuguzi newspaper was shot dead outside him home in Kigali. Finally Victorie Ingabrie, a Hutu politician and one of Kagames main rivals for the Presidency was arrested on hard to support charges of denying the genocide. In the end the only people who were allowed to stand in opposition to Kagame were former coalition partners who owed him all their political successes.
Despite these despotic tendancies Paul Kagame is legitimately very popular with Rwandan voters and is seen as something of a darling of the international development community. Under his leadership Rwanda has developed to boast 100% food security and some of the least corrupt government institutions in East Africa. Great efforts have also been made to boost women's rights in the country with great deal of money being spent to send women to school and changes to the law that allow women to inherit property. Most crucially though Kagame has overseen explosive economic growth. GDP has doubled in the last five years and is expected to grow by a recession busting 6% this year boosting government revenues from an ever developing tax base. However, as with everything else about Kagame, this economic miracle is not all that it seems. A full 50% of government spending does not come from tax revenues but from foreign donors, primarily the United Kingdom. It is these donors not Kagame's government that hold real power in the country and dictate what policies the President will follow.
Obviously Kagame's backers are not spending all this money on Rwanda out of the goodness of their hearts. They expect some return on their investment. Already Britain's involvement has led to Rwanda bucking the international trend by joining the UK Commonwealth. The real prize though lies not in Rwanda but in its neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Formally known as Zaire the DRC is hugely important country at the heart of Africa with vast mineral deposits. Apart from the normal treasures like gold and diamonds it also has large deposits of minerals such as cobalt, zinc and nickel which are essential in modern consumer electronics like mobile phones, computers, MP3 players and basically anything with a battery. The problem is that continued rebel violence has led to trade restrictions and instability that is keeping these valuable commodities off the world market.
One of several of these rebel conflicts going on the DRC is the Kivu conflict. Here, in the east of the country, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) who are loyal to Rwanda's Hutu faction are fighting the National Congress for the Reference of the People (CNCP) who are loyal to Rwandas Tutsi faction. Both of these rebel groups are also fighting the official military of the DRC who are totally failing to cope who the mind-boggling array of armed conflicts going on in the country. As is standard practice for rebel wars in Africa both the FDLR and the CNCP are funding their violence through the illegal mining of gold and diamonds. These commodities are smuggled out of the conflict zone into Rwanda where they are sold as legal Rwandan produce. This smuggling is done by senior members of Rwanda military and government and the vast commissions are making these people very rich. Therefore the price that Britain will be demanding for the help its given Rwanda is the expansion and control of the flow of commodities out of the DRC.
There are two ways they are going to go about this. The nice way and the nasty way;
The nice way involves further strengthening Paul Kagame's reputation in order to have Rwanda elected as the de-facto leader of the East African Community. This newly formed alliance is made up of Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda. With the exception of Burundi these are all Commonwealth countries and two of them; Uganda and Rwanda are actively involved in funding conflicts in the DRC. Under Rwanda's leadership the East African Community will highlight the damage that is being done by the illegal trade in gold and the ever fashionable blood diamonds. This outrage will then be used to pressurize the African Union to legalise the export of commodities from the DRC in order to "help" the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo by taking the trade out of the hands of the black-market warlords. Obviously the countries of the East African Community will have to play a key, controlling role in this new legal trade in order to make sure that it is free from corruption.
The nasty way is obviously much more unpleasant. It involves weakening Kagame's government to the point that he needs to fight a war to boost his popularity. Ideally this will be presented as a humanitarian operation where the Rwandan army are sent into the Kivu region in order to keep the peace between the FDLR and the CNCP. Alternatively it will be a Rwandan security operation where Rwandan troops invade the Kivu region to fight the threat of either the FDLR or the CNCP depending on whether Rwanda's Hutus or Tusis are being more critical of their President. Once Rwandas act of "necessary aggression" has taken place Uganda, Kenya or Tanzania will deploy peacekeepers to the region allowing Britain to exercise almost direct control of all DRC territory North-East of the Congo River.
Since the Rwandan election, a little under five weeks ago, there have already been two important scandals about the DRC. The first incident was the mass rape of around 150 women by, I believe, FDLR rebels while UN peacekeepers sat around doing nothing in their camp just over 1 mile away. Obviously this will increase outrage at the situation in the DRC and highlights the apparent need for something to be done while making the UN peacekeeping mission in the country appear incompetent. Then yesterday (16/9), to coincide with Kagame's visit to London, a leaked UN report linked his Tutsi fighters to the genocidal killings of Hutus during the DRC's second civil war. Clearly this is not going to make Kagame popular with Rwanda's Hutu population and increases the pressure on him to take action against the DRC's CNCP rebels.
So it would appear that Britain has already decided to go down the nasty route. This is no great surprise because Britain really only has one negotiating strategy; "Give us want we want or we'll burn down your house!"
In Britain today five men have been arrested for plotting a terrorist attack against the Pope during his state visit to the country. In the original script they were meant to be East African Muslim extremists brought into the UK on Jewish passports. However like all the best religious crime capers this is subject re-writes.
Thursday 16 September 2010
Quick Thing on Haiti.
As you may have heard Wyclef Jean has been excluded for the race to become Haiti's next President. He has been excluded because Haiti's constitution requires that candidates have lived in Haiti for at least five years before running for President.
Haiti's constitution also prevents the current President, Rene Preval from standing again. However there is nothing in it that stops the current President running for the office of Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister running for President. I think that's a good thing to do because it would leave Haiti's government more or less unchanged at a crucial time for the country.
Also in something that will makes sense to the people it needs to makes sense to in the UK there is a group called the Anarchist Federation (AF). Basically they're a bunch of cowards. They think that by distancing themselves from me the police will leave them alone. It's the second time in three months they've tried this tactic so clearly it isn't working.
Haiti's constitution also prevents the current President, Rene Preval from standing again. However there is nothing in it that stops the current President running for the office of Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister running for President. I think that's a good thing to do because it would leave Haiti's government more or less unchanged at a crucial time for the country.
Also in something that will makes sense to the people it needs to makes sense to in the UK there is a group called the Anarchist Federation (AF). Basically they're a bunch of cowards. They think that by distancing themselves from me the police will leave them alone. It's the second time in three months they've tried this tactic so clearly it isn't working.
Tuesday 14 September 2010
That Was Fun.
Being a Tuesday night I went to the pub for dinner as usual. Problem was that Palace were playing at home so the pub was pack with about two dozen Portsmouth fans who, as usual were being loud.
Then nothing happened except for the police getting a little bit nervous.
Then nothing happened except for the police getting a little bit nervous.
Billy Wright Murder Inquiry.
Today (14/9) the UK government as released a very watery report into the 1997 murder of infamous Loyalist paramilitary Billy Wright.
Born in Wolverhampton on the UK mainland Billy Wright moved to Northern Ireland as a child and joined the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in his teens. By the mid-1980's he'd risen to the position of mid-Ulster commander. Under his command that division of the UVF gained such a fearsome reputation for violence and sectarian murder that they were dubbed "the Rat Pack" and due to reporting restrictions that prevented him being named Billy Wright became known as "King Rat."
An ardent opponent to the peace process Wright soon fell out with the UVF leadership and was expelled from the organisation and Northern Ireland. Rather then heeding the warning and going into exile Wright set up his own paramilitary gang called the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). This new organisation then did everything it could to derail the peace process through the random killing of Catholics and instigating riots during contentious Protestant marches. This prompted the other Loyalist organisations to give permission for Wright to be arrested and in March 1997 he was jailed for witness intimidation. As was standard practice at the time Wright was held within a LVF wing at the Maze Prison. This did little to curtail his activities and he continued to be an irritant to the Loyalist mainstream.
In December 1997 four member of the Republican Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) managed to escape from an INLA wing, break into the yard of the LVF wing and shoot Wright dead with two guns they had smuggled into the prison. Quite how the INLA, who have long been seen as the IRA's idiot cousin, managed to do all this in what, at the time, was Europe's most secure prison has long been cause for accusations that they had help from both the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the prison service. In 2007 an inquiry was launched to answer these questions. The results of that inquiry have been published and it is a complete and obvious whitewash. While it identifies certain failings on behalf of the RUC and the prison service it found no evidence of deliberate collusion in the murder and lays no blame at any official.
No-one in Northern Ireland is going to be believe this. It is obvious that Loyalist paramilitaries, the RUC, the prison service and possibly MI5 all colluded to allow the INLA to kill Billy Wright to get him out the way so the peace process could continue. It is this sort of collusion between the RUC and Loyalist paramilitaries which is why the RUC was disbanded as part of the peace process.
By releasing such an obvious whitewash of a report now the British state appear to be trying to mobilise a whole new generation of Loyalist paramilitaries by re-writing history and giving the impression that the prison service and the RUC were somehow all secret Republicans who were out to oppress Northern Irish Protestants.
Born in Wolverhampton on the UK mainland Billy Wright moved to Northern Ireland as a child and joined the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in his teens. By the mid-1980's he'd risen to the position of mid-Ulster commander. Under his command that division of the UVF gained such a fearsome reputation for violence and sectarian murder that they were dubbed "the Rat Pack" and due to reporting restrictions that prevented him being named Billy Wright became known as "King Rat."
An ardent opponent to the peace process Wright soon fell out with the UVF leadership and was expelled from the organisation and Northern Ireland. Rather then heeding the warning and going into exile Wright set up his own paramilitary gang called the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). This new organisation then did everything it could to derail the peace process through the random killing of Catholics and instigating riots during contentious Protestant marches. This prompted the other Loyalist organisations to give permission for Wright to be arrested and in March 1997 he was jailed for witness intimidation. As was standard practice at the time Wright was held within a LVF wing at the Maze Prison. This did little to curtail his activities and he continued to be an irritant to the Loyalist mainstream.
In December 1997 four member of the Republican Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) managed to escape from an INLA wing, break into the yard of the LVF wing and shoot Wright dead with two guns they had smuggled into the prison. Quite how the INLA, who have long been seen as the IRA's idiot cousin, managed to do all this in what, at the time, was Europe's most secure prison has long been cause for accusations that they had help from both the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the prison service. In 2007 an inquiry was launched to answer these questions. The results of that inquiry have been published and it is a complete and obvious whitewash. While it identifies certain failings on behalf of the RUC and the prison service it found no evidence of deliberate collusion in the murder and lays no blame at any official.
No-one in Northern Ireland is going to be believe this. It is obvious that Loyalist paramilitaries, the RUC, the prison service and possibly MI5 all colluded to allow the INLA to kill Billy Wright to get him out the way so the peace process could continue. It is this sort of collusion between the RUC and Loyalist paramilitaries which is why the RUC was disbanded as part of the peace process.
By releasing such an obvious whitewash of a report now the British state appear to be trying to mobilise a whole new generation of Loyalist paramilitaries by re-writing history and giving the impression that the prison service and the RUC were somehow all secret Republicans who were out to oppress Northern Irish Protestants.
Monday 13 September 2010
Well That Was Stupid.
Today (13/9) staff at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) have voted to go on strike in a row over pensions. The three trade unions involved; Unite, National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU) have called two 48 hour walkouts on October 5th-6th 2010 and October 19th-20th.
These dates coincide with firstly the Conservative Party conference and then the comprehensive spending review which is expected to be the most important day in possibly the entire length of this five year Parliament. Through its Parliament channel the BBC has the best access to political events of this sort and often provides the most comprehensive coverage of them. By calling strikes on these dates BECTU, and it is mainly BECTU, will undermine the BBC's ability to provide coverage of these events and in doing so make it more difficult for the British public to be kept informed of what their government is doing.
By taking such an unusual move the BECTU leadership seem to be trying to bully their members into giving up the last resort of strike action in their negotiation with BBC management. In doing so they are also sending out the message that if this government wants to keep uncomfortable stories out of the news all they need to do is intimidate the journalists who try to report them.
At this time reports that BECTU's new general secretary is a man called David Cameron cannot be confirmed
These dates coincide with firstly the Conservative Party conference and then the comprehensive spending review which is expected to be the most important day in possibly the entire length of this five year Parliament. Through its Parliament channel the BBC has the best access to political events of this sort and often provides the most comprehensive coverage of them. By calling strikes on these dates BECTU, and it is mainly BECTU, will undermine the BBC's ability to provide coverage of these events and in doing so make it more difficult for the British public to be kept informed of what their government is doing.
By taking such an unusual move the BECTU leadership seem to be trying to bully their members into giving up the last resort of strike action in their negotiation with BBC management. In doing so they are also sending out the message that if this government wants to keep uncomfortable stories out of the news all they need to do is intimidate the journalists who try to report them.
At this time reports that BECTU's new general secretary is a man called David Cameron cannot be confirmed
Seriously
One of my many cousins on the Irish side of the family is currently deployed to Afghanistan. He'd been trying to join the Royal Marines since 2003 but they always found some reason to reject him. Then he really dropped his standards and applied to join the Army. After they messed him about for a few years he finally passed out in 2008. Since then the Army have been trying very hard make sure he remains on UK deployment. This changed when they finally assigned him to Afghanistan and stepped up his deployment by a month. He's been out there for about a week.
I've been trying not to draw attention to this because obviously Afghanistan is difficult enough without being some sort of celebrity solider. However what appears to have happened is that Britain has informed all the other NATO allies of his presence individually. They have then told all of them to keep it a secret from each other. Therefore it has become something of the elephant in the room and in my judgement the keeping of the secret is doing more damage then letting the secret out. After all the worst thing that could happen is for him to be treated any better or worse then anyone else out there.
I've been trying not to draw attention to this because obviously Afghanistan is difficult enough without being some sort of celebrity solider. However what appears to have happened is that Britain has informed all the other NATO allies of his presence individually. They have then told all of them to keep it a secret from each other. Therefore it has become something of the elephant in the room and in my judgement the keeping of the secret is doing more damage then letting the secret out. After all the worst thing that could happen is for him to be treated any better or worse then anyone else out there.
Sunday 12 September 2010
With an Apology Like That........
Although today is a Sunday and therefore the traditional Christian sabbath and day of rest it has been a busy day in international relations.
Britain started early with a story about a contracts to build two new aircraft carriers already being awarded before the decision to build those aircraft carriers had been made by the government. This is Britain making the entirely false threat to the United States that if the UK is forced to give up on its plans to kill my grandmother it will be unable to assist America in any future military campaigns.
They then followed this up with a story about an 11 year old girl called Mari-Simon Cronje being killed in a watersports accident at a place called "Princes Club." This was spinner. The name Simon could a reference to me and the name Cronje could be a reference to Hansi Cronje, the South African cricketer who was implicated in a betting scandal like the one engulfing the Pakistan cricket team who lost to England today in a Twenty20 game. If you're not paying attention the words "Princes Club", "11 year old girl" and "watersports" seem to implicate one of the Royal Princes in paedophilia and the practice of urinating on your sexual partner known as watersports.
It was around this time that the Americans told the Brits to shut up because all this nonsense was interfering with prisoner transfer negotiations the Americans are currently having with Iran.
Britain responded to this by releasing a story that the Royal Military Police are investigating claims that British soldiers are smuggling heroin back from Afghanistan. As the Royal Military Police are one of my grandmother's husbands ex-regiments and the fact my grandmother is currently, inexplicably being prescribed bupernorphine which is a heroin substitute at first glance this sounds like a British apology to the Americans by promising they will investigate the matter. However if you are familiar with the conspiracy theories surrounding the Black Panthers you will know it is nothing of the sort.
The Black Panthers were a Black empowerment organisation in the United States during the 1960's and 1970's. Although there were allegations of them being involved in terrorist activity one thing they were very good at was dragging the poor, black American underclass up through education and self-discipline. The conspiracy theory is that the CIA were so threatened by this black empowerment they flooded the black community with heroin and crack cocaine turning a hard working and organised group into a worthless mess trapped into a cycle of drug abuse and welfare dependency. Bringing that up now is hardly going to smooth the relationship between the CIA and America's first black President.
Incidentally ITV have got a sulk on so they're interfering with my digital TV. This has left me watching the Help for Heroes concert on BBC1 designed to raise money for British servicemen returning from Afghanistan. I think the idea is that if Britain rewards those returning from Afghanistan with a concert this bad the next time those soldiers are in Afghanistan they'll try a bit harder to get themselves killed. By the way my cousin is currently in Afghanistan on his first tour of duty. Although serving with the British Army he's under the command of the US Army.
Britain started early with a story about a contracts to build two new aircraft carriers already being awarded before the decision to build those aircraft carriers had been made by the government. This is Britain making the entirely false threat to the United States that if the UK is forced to give up on its plans to kill my grandmother it will be unable to assist America in any future military campaigns.
They then followed this up with a story about an 11 year old girl called Mari-Simon Cronje being killed in a watersports accident at a place called "Princes Club." This was spinner. The name Simon could a reference to me and the name Cronje could be a reference to Hansi Cronje, the South African cricketer who was implicated in a betting scandal like the one engulfing the Pakistan cricket team who lost to England today in a Twenty20 game. If you're not paying attention the words "Princes Club", "11 year old girl" and "watersports" seem to implicate one of the Royal Princes in paedophilia and the practice of urinating on your sexual partner known as watersports.
It was around this time that the Americans told the Brits to shut up because all this nonsense was interfering with prisoner transfer negotiations the Americans are currently having with Iran.
Britain responded to this by releasing a story that the Royal Military Police are investigating claims that British soldiers are smuggling heroin back from Afghanistan. As the Royal Military Police are one of my grandmother's husbands ex-regiments and the fact my grandmother is currently, inexplicably being prescribed bupernorphine which is a heroin substitute at first glance this sounds like a British apology to the Americans by promising they will investigate the matter. However if you are familiar with the conspiracy theories surrounding the Black Panthers you will know it is nothing of the sort.
The Black Panthers were a Black empowerment organisation in the United States during the 1960's and 1970's. Although there were allegations of them being involved in terrorist activity one thing they were very good at was dragging the poor, black American underclass up through education and self-discipline. The conspiracy theory is that the CIA were so threatened by this black empowerment they flooded the black community with heroin and crack cocaine turning a hard working and organised group into a worthless mess trapped into a cycle of drug abuse and welfare dependency. Bringing that up now is hardly going to smooth the relationship between the CIA and America's first black President.
Incidentally ITV have got a sulk on so they're interfering with my digital TV. This has left me watching the Help for Heroes concert on BBC1 designed to raise money for British servicemen returning from Afghanistan. I think the idea is that if Britain rewards those returning from Afghanistan with a concert this bad the next time those soldiers are in Afghanistan they'll try a bit harder to get themselves killed. By the way my cousin is currently in Afghanistan on his first tour of duty. Although serving with the British Army he's under the command of the US Army.
Britain's Great Tax Screw Up.
As you may have heard the UK has some financial problems. It came as no surprise then when on September 4th the UK tax office, known as Her Majesties Revenue and Customs (HMRC), decided it had been incorrectly collecting income tax through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system. Apparently some people will have to pay more tax while some will get a rebate. However the net effect is that HMRC will collect a extra £200million.
I suspect those who have been selected to pay the extra tax have been selected because they're the most likely to pay up with out argument. However if I was to receive one of these tax bills I would check it very carefully. If it is more then two years old HMRC have no legal right to collect. Also because it is PAYE the chances are that any mistake has been made by the employer rather then the employee.
Edited to Add. PAYE is income tax taken from an employees wages at source by the employer. The argument that HMRC is using is that some employers have been using the wrong tax code. Provided the employee has given their employer the tax code given to them by HRMC they are not liable for the mistake.
I suspect those who have been selected to pay the extra tax have been selected because they're the most likely to pay up with out argument. However if I was to receive one of these tax bills I would check it very carefully. If it is more then two years old HMRC have no legal right to collect. Also because it is PAYE the chances are that any mistake has been made by the employer rather then the employee.
Edited to Add. PAYE is income tax taken from an employees wages at source by the employer. The argument that HMRC is using is that some employers have been using the wrong tax code. Provided the employee has given their employer the tax code given to them by HRMC they are not liable for the mistake.
Friday 10 September 2010
It's Only A Gameshow.
After a decade the UK franchise of Big Brother has finally come to an end. The finalists for the last ever series are as follows.
7th. Ulrika Johnson,
6th. Preston,
5th. Nick,
4th, Victor,
3rd. Chantelle,
2nd. Nikki,
1st. Brian.
Personally I would have liked to have seen Nick win. Not because I particularly liked him. It's just that he was in the original series. Hard as is may be to imagine when the show was first broadcast way back in the year 2000 the idea of putting members of the public of television and recording their activities 24 hours a day was so revolutionary it almost qualified as intellectual television. Oh how those days have gone.
7th. Ulrika Johnson,
6th. Preston,
5th. Nick,
4th, Victor,
3rd. Chantelle,
2nd. Nikki,
1st. Brian.
Personally I would have liked to have seen Nick win. Not because I particularly liked him. It's just that he was in the original series. Hard as is may be to imagine when the show was first broadcast way back in the year 2000 the idea of putting members of the public of television and recording their activities 24 hours a day was so revolutionary it almost qualified as intellectual television. Oh how those days have gone.
Oi! Muslims.
As you've probably heard a very small Church in the United States plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Although burning copies of the Qu'ran is one of the most offensive things you can do to a Muslim I wouldn't get too excited about it. After all the entire story has absolutely nothing to do with the Qu'ran or Islam. Instead it's to do with little old me.
The thing is that within high and unelected positions within the US civil service there are Republicans who still believe that the UK is an ally of the US. As such they felt the need to warn the UK that to block this Court of Protection business would be nothing short of suicidal. To issue this warning they created a Church which broadly represents those who are pushing for my grandmother's death and a sacred text which broadly represents UK law. The idea was that the story about the plans to burn the sacred text would attract so much condemnation the UK would issue a statement to the effect that they would drop their plans for the Court of Protection.
In the end the UK left the US hanging and no such statement has been issued. This forced the Americans into the difficult position of having to end the story themselves. This was never in doubt because there is no question that the American government would have followed through and done something which many Jews, Christians and non-religious Americans also find hugely offensive.
So seriously I would leave the Americans alone for a couple of days. Tomorrow they've got the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and then they've got to work out how much this exercise in misplaced loyalty has cost them.
The thing is that within high and unelected positions within the US civil service there are Republicans who still believe that the UK is an ally of the US. As such they felt the need to warn the UK that to block this Court of Protection business would be nothing short of suicidal. To issue this warning they created a Church which broadly represents those who are pushing for my grandmother's death and a sacred text which broadly represents UK law. The idea was that the story about the plans to burn the sacred text would attract so much condemnation the UK would issue a statement to the effect that they would drop their plans for the Court of Protection.
In the end the UK left the US hanging and no such statement has been issued. This forced the Americans into the difficult position of having to end the story themselves. This was never in doubt because there is no question that the American government would have followed through and done something which many Jews, Christians and non-religious Americans also find hugely offensive.
So seriously I would leave the Americans alone for a couple of days. Tomorrow they've got the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and then they've got to work out how much this exercise in misplaced loyalty has cost them.
Thursday 9 September 2010
Panic On The Streets of London.
In the early hours of this morning (9/9) the police helicopter spent about an hour hovering low over my house. What ever justification they had for doing this it suddenly disappeared the moment I switched on the light and gave the pilot the impression that I would enquiring what the justification was.
Around lunchtime I received a phone call from Croydon Magistrates Court. They wanted to know the names and addresses that should included on the summonses over this Statutory Nuisance matter. I got the distinct impression that they thought this would be a difficult question for me to answer. In fact the woman sounded a little crestfallen when I responded with the words; "Have you got a pen?" She then insisted that the information must be submitted by me in writing. So I asked her for an email address and a fax number both of which she provided. I have now submitted the relevant information by both email and fax. That means summonses should be sent out to Presentation Housing Association and Croydon Association for Young Single Homeless on Monday September 13th.
Also, on reflection, if I was one of those people under some sort of illusion of what the Bristol Abuse Case is you would think that the news it is going badly would upset me. Therefore I think the Brits plan in preparation for this Court of Protection verdict on September 20th is to cause me as much stress as possible. The Judge will then delay issuing a verdict and order an in chambers hearing where I will appear as a distressed and non-credible witness. Given my grandmother's age and mobility problems it is unlikely that the Judge will even be able to justify such a move.
So if that's the Brits plan I think it's time to wish them luck.
Around lunchtime I received a phone call from Croydon Magistrates Court. They wanted to know the names and addresses that should included on the summonses over this Statutory Nuisance matter. I got the distinct impression that they thought this would be a difficult question for me to answer. In fact the woman sounded a little crestfallen when I responded with the words; "Have you got a pen?" She then insisted that the information must be submitted by me in writing. So I asked her for an email address and a fax number both of which she provided. I have now submitted the relevant information by both email and fax. That means summonses should be sent out to Presentation Housing Association and Croydon Association for Young Single Homeless on Monday September 13th.
Also, on reflection, if I was one of those people under some sort of illusion of what the Bristol Abuse Case is you would think that the news it is going badly would upset me. Therefore I think the Brits plan in preparation for this Court of Protection verdict on September 20th is to cause me as much stress as possible. The Judge will then delay issuing a verdict and order an in chambers hearing where I will appear as a distressed and non-credible witness. Given my grandmother's age and mobility problems it is unlikely that the Judge will even be able to justify such a move.
So if that's the Brits plan I think it's time to wish them luck.
Big Fat Monkey Story.
Alright technically it's an Orang-utan.
According to the Monkey World Zoo in Dorest Oshine is Britain's fattest female Orang-utan. In order to slim her down staff have put Oshine on a strict program of diet and exercise.
There's no polite way of putting this but Oshine is code for Anna, the ginger haired lesbian at the heart of the Bristol Abuse Case. Through the story the Brits are admitting that since they took control her life Anna has literally piled on the pounds and is not looking as attractive as she once did. Most worryingly of all the Brits are also promising to take action to rectify the situation.
Obviously by very publicly calling a woman fat and making her sensitive about her weight the only thing the Brits are achieving right now is to make the situation much worse. Therefore I think it would be best if the Brits stopped having ideas or taking action until until I am able to instruct them how to bring the situation to a sustainable conclusion.
After all the more damage that is done the bigger the repair bill gets.
According to the Monkey World Zoo in Dorest Oshine is Britain's fattest female Orang-utan. In order to slim her down staff have put Oshine on a strict program of diet and exercise.
There's no polite way of putting this but Oshine is code for Anna, the ginger haired lesbian at the heart of the Bristol Abuse Case. Through the story the Brits are admitting that since they took control her life Anna has literally piled on the pounds and is not looking as attractive as she once did. Most worryingly of all the Brits are also promising to take action to rectify the situation.
Obviously by very publicly calling a woman fat and making her sensitive about her weight the only thing the Brits are achieving right now is to make the situation much worse. Therefore I think it would be best if the Brits stopped having ideas or taking action until until I am able to instruct them how to bring the situation to a sustainable conclusion.
After all the more damage that is done the bigger the repair bill gets.
Wednesday 8 September 2010
Got A Bit Ahead of Myself There.
Sorry about that. The situation is a little bit stressful. After all I am now forced witness a number of people actively trying to kill a member of my family.
I should clarify though. On September 20th 2010 a Judge at the Court of Protection will be faced with a choice. He can either return a judgement in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which will remove my father's right to make decisions over my grandmother's health and finances. Assuming that the Brits have, by that point, dropped their homicidal intent I will be able to take over my grandmothers health care. Provided that the doctors in Croydon are able to follow instruction without question or argument that should end the problem I have with them.
Alternatively the Judge can stretch his powers of discretion to breaking point by returning a judgement that has no relation to the law. This will leave me with no other option other to launch an appeal in which I will have to detail that the Judges use of discretion has allowed my grandmother's doctor to continue in the commission of a very serious criminal offence. Obviously this will have very serious consequences for both the judge and the doctor.
So yes at the moment the Brits appear to be fighting for the right to make their situation much worse along with their perceived right to kill old ladies. You wonder why I've got a headache?
I should clarify though. On September 20th 2010 a Judge at the Court of Protection will be faced with a choice. He can either return a judgement in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which will remove my father's right to make decisions over my grandmother's health and finances. Assuming that the Brits have, by that point, dropped their homicidal intent I will be able to take over my grandmothers health care. Provided that the doctors in Croydon are able to follow instruction without question or argument that should end the problem I have with them.
Alternatively the Judge can stretch his powers of discretion to breaking point by returning a judgement that has no relation to the law. This will leave me with no other option other to launch an appeal in which I will have to detail that the Judges use of discretion has allowed my grandmother's doctor to continue in the commission of a very serious criminal offence. Obviously this will have very serious consequences for both the judge and the doctor.
So yes at the moment the Brits appear to be fighting for the right to make their situation much worse along with their perceived right to kill old ladies. You wonder why I've got a headache?
Lynn From Crossroads Has Been and Gone
Not that it matters one little bit. Whatever service they provide they get paid by monthly invoice. Provided the Court of Protection is going to return a verdict in accordance with law any contract they've agreed will rendered invalid before they can send out the first invoice.
Sorry I only mentioned the whole thing to explain what the latest round of shouting was about.
Sorry I only mentioned the whole thing to explain what the latest round of shouting was about.
A Small Detail I Forgot From Last Night.
Apart from being classed as a poison bupernorphine is a huge depressant. Therefore if a doctor failed to diagnose a patient as suffering from depression they could be described as negligent. However if they then chose to prescribe that same patient bupernorphine they've broken the Hippocratic oath and their behaviour can only be described as criminal.
So let's have no more talk of negligence in my grandmother's case. After all the only mistake this lot have made is thinking they could get away with it.
Edited to add because I'm still a little bit hung over: My grandmother's doctors have already diagnosed depression. They're using that depression as a symptom to support the questionable dementia diagnosis. Therefore the doctor is, with full knowledge, prescribing a massive depressant to a patient with depression. So I can't see what defence they can offer to a charge of causing grievous bodily harm by administering a noxious substance. In fact I may file a police report to that effect tomorrow.
So let's have no more talk of negligence in my grandmother's case. After all the only mistake this lot have made is thinking they could get away with it.
Edited to add because I'm still a little bit hung over: My grandmother's doctors have already diagnosed depression. They're using that depression as a symptom to support the questionable dementia diagnosis. Therefore the doctor is, with full knowledge, prescribing a massive depressant to a patient with depression. So I can't see what defence they can offer to a charge of causing grievous bodily harm by administering a noxious substance. In fact I may file a police report to that effect tomorrow.
Tuesday 7 September 2010
Dinner With My Father.
Yes he is a hopeless case.
After all these years of people from the council causing him problems he has once again contacted the council and asked them to solve his problems. Tomorrow (8/9) they will be sending a woman from "Crossroads" to assess how many people from "Age UK" my grandmother needs to pay to look after her. At £20 per hour this has caused a lot of stress to both my grandmother and my father.
My father has been so stressed by the situation that over dinner at the pub he got a little bit shouty. Obviously as he's really annoying me now so I got a little bit shouty back. After about two minutes I calmed him down by letting slip the secret that rather then being treated as a dementia patient my grandmother should be treated as an old lady suffering from depression. This is so much of a secret that every junior doctor at my grandmother's surgery has been asking, for months, why my grandmother is not being treated as an old lady who is suffering from depression. As my father is very shouty to calm him down I also needed to point out that before any discussion of my grandmother's treatment can begin she needs to undergo managed opioid withdrawal to cure her of her five month of buprenorphine abuse. Speaking of which my grandmother is a little bonkers at the moment so I had to spend a lot of the evening with her drinking a lot of Gin.
Apparently while this was going on "The XXL" won the Mercury Music Prize and England beat Switzerland 3-1 at the football. None of that means anything to me now so I'm going to have a little lie down.
After all these years of people from the council causing him problems he has once again contacted the council and asked them to solve his problems. Tomorrow (8/9) they will be sending a woman from "Crossroads" to assess how many people from "Age UK" my grandmother needs to pay to look after her. At £20 per hour this has caused a lot of stress to both my grandmother and my father.
My father has been so stressed by the situation that over dinner at the pub he got a little bit shouty. Obviously as he's really annoying me now so I got a little bit shouty back. After about two minutes I calmed him down by letting slip the secret that rather then being treated as a dementia patient my grandmother should be treated as an old lady suffering from depression. This is so much of a secret that every junior doctor at my grandmother's surgery has been asking, for months, why my grandmother is not being treated as an old lady who is suffering from depression. As my father is very shouty to calm him down I also needed to point out that before any discussion of my grandmother's treatment can begin she needs to undergo managed opioid withdrawal to cure her of her five month of buprenorphine abuse. Speaking of which my grandmother is a little bonkers at the moment so I had to spend a lot of the evening with her drinking a lot of Gin.
Apparently while this was going on "The XXL" won the Mercury Music Prize and England beat Switzerland 3-1 at the football. None of that means anything to me now so I'm going to have a little lie down.
Round Up.
Australia has selected a government, for now.
The nations General Election on August 21st ended in a dead heat with both the ruling, left-wing Labour Party and the opposition, right-wing Liberal National Party winning 72 seats. This left neither party with the 76 seats needed for a Parliamentary majority. As is now standard practice for Commonwealth Countries with majority white populations this forced both Party's to begin the torturous process of courting the one Green Party MP and three independent MP's in the hope of forming a coalition government.
Today (7/9) two of the independents, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott announced that they would join the Green MP, Adam Bandt in coalition with the Labour Party. This allows Labour leader, Julia Gillard to continue as Prime Minister atop of a four party coalition with a majority of one. This result positions Australia to follow in Canada's footsteps. Shortly a controversial issue such as the mining tax or carbon pricing will come up and paralyse the Parliament. Under the guise of solving this problem the Governor-General will suspend Parliament and rule the nation directly on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, the British Queen. In order to soothe Australia's Republican movement their cricket team will be gifted a hard fought victory in the up-coming Ashes series.
Yesterday (6/9) the UK Parliament returned from it's summer break. Apparently this was a controversial start with the Prime Minister's Head of Communications/Press Officer caught up in a criminal investigation into illegal phone hacking and Conservative backbench MP's threatening a revolt over a bill that would allow for a referendum to change the voting system. This referendum was the price the Liberal Democrat MP's demanded in return for joining the Conservatives in the ConDem coalition. The Prime Minister, David Cameron managed to stay above all this controversy because he was on, conveniently timed, paternity leave. His new daughter was inexplicably born prematurely by Cesarean section on August 24th. That kind of makes you wonder just how cynical one man can be.
On Friday September 3rd the General Medical Council (GMC) concluded it's hearing into Dr Freddy Patel, the pathologist who carried out the controversial first autopsy on Ian Tomlinson, the man who was killed by the police at London's G20 protests. Although the GMC hearing did not include the Tomlinson case it found Dr Patel guilty of 27 counts of unprofessional behaviour, gross misconduct and bringing the profession into disrepute. For this he was suspended for three whole months. The only reason he got this stupidly light punishment rather then being struck off the medical register was to further protect PC Simon Harwood, Ian Tomlinson's killer. If Dr Patel had been struck off he would be unable to appear in Court as an expert witness and his autopsy report couldn't be entered into evidence as the work of a qualified doctor. Despite the light sentence it is obvious that Dr Patel will be unable to continue as the Crown's cover up specialist in London. Therefore the hope is that at some point during his suspension he will decide to retire gracefully. That way the state can use his pension as a leash to bring the whole matter back to the public attention anytime they want to relive the controversy.
Tonight England will be playing Switzerland in a Euro 2012 qualifier. Do I really need to explain the parallels between the controversy about Wayne Rooney's mental health and this Court of Protection business?
The nations General Election on August 21st ended in a dead heat with both the ruling, left-wing Labour Party and the opposition, right-wing Liberal National Party winning 72 seats. This left neither party with the 76 seats needed for a Parliamentary majority. As is now standard practice for Commonwealth Countries with majority white populations this forced both Party's to begin the torturous process of courting the one Green Party MP and three independent MP's in the hope of forming a coalition government.
Today (7/9) two of the independents, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott announced that they would join the Green MP, Adam Bandt in coalition with the Labour Party. This allows Labour leader, Julia Gillard to continue as Prime Minister atop of a four party coalition with a majority of one. This result positions Australia to follow in Canada's footsteps. Shortly a controversial issue such as the mining tax or carbon pricing will come up and paralyse the Parliament. Under the guise of solving this problem the Governor-General will suspend Parliament and rule the nation directly on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, the British Queen. In order to soothe Australia's Republican movement their cricket team will be gifted a hard fought victory in the up-coming Ashes series.
Yesterday (6/9) the UK Parliament returned from it's summer break. Apparently this was a controversial start with the Prime Minister's Head of Communications/Press Officer caught up in a criminal investigation into illegal phone hacking and Conservative backbench MP's threatening a revolt over a bill that would allow for a referendum to change the voting system. This referendum was the price the Liberal Democrat MP's demanded in return for joining the Conservatives in the ConDem coalition. The Prime Minister, David Cameron managed to stay above all this controversy because he was on, conveniently timed, paternity leave. His new daughter was inexplicably born prematurely by Cesarean section on August 24th. That kind of makes you wonder just how cynical one man can be.
On Friday September 3rd the General Medical Council (GMC) concluded it's hearing into Dr Freddy Patel, the pathologist who carried out the controversial first autopsy on Ian Tomlinson, the man who was killed by the police at London's G20 protests. Although the GMC hearing did not include the Tomlinson case it found Dr Patel guilty of 27 counts of unprofessional behaviour, gross misconduct and bringing the profession into disrepute. For this he was suspended for three whole months. The only reason he got this stupidly light punishment rather then being struck off the medical register was to further protect PC Simon Harwood, Ian Tomlinson's killer. If Dr Patel had been struck off he would be unable to appear in Court as an expert witness and his autopsy report couldn't be entered into evidence as the work of a qualified doctor. Despite the light sentence it is obvious that Dr Patel will be unable to continue as the Crown's cover up specialist in London. Therefore the hope is that at some point during his suspension he will decide to retire gracefully. That way the state can use his pension as a leash to bring the whole matter back to the public attention anytime they want to relive the controversy.
Tonight England will be playing Switzerland in a Euro 2012 qualifier. Do I really need to explain the parallels between the controversy about Wayne Rooney's mental health and this Court of Protection business?
Friday 3 September 2010
Football on a Friday.
It shouldn't be allowed. Apparently it is though because the qualifying round of the European Cup tournament began tonight. The finals of this competition will be held in Poland and Ukraine in the summer of 2012.
In group G;
England Beat Bulgaria 4-0. Defoe scored a hat-trick with goals in the 2nd, 61st and 86th minutes. Johnson also scored a goal in the 81st minute.
Montenegro beat Wales 1-0 with Vucinci scoring in the 30th minute.
As such the current standings are;
England 3 pts +4goals
Montenegro 3 pts + 1goal
Wales 0 pts -1goal
Bulgaria 0 pts - 4 goals.
Elsewhere in Ultimately no-one cares about Big Brother there was a double eviction. Makosi was evicted first. Nadia was evicted second. This is because the viewers saw Nadia force Josie out of the house and were unhappy about it. Again stupid because if Nadia hadn't forced Josie out of the house then Josie would have been forgotten about by the end of the series. Also Vanessa Feltz has entered the house. This London based Jewish Princess presents the morning show on BBC London radio and famously went a little bit insane in the first series of Celebrity Big Brother.
At this point it's worth noting that most British schools have restarted and the universities will follow over the next month. So it appears I'm becoming an integrity test for a whole new generation.
In group G;
England Beat Bulgaria 4-0. Defoe scored a hat-trick with goals in the 2nd, 61st and 86th minutes. Johnson also scored a goal in the 81st minute.
Montenegro beat Wales 1-0 with Vucinci scoring in the 30th minute.
As such the current standings are;
England 3 pts +4goals
Montenegro 3 pts + 1goal
Wales 0 pts -1goal
Bulgaria 0 pts - 4 goals.
Elsewhere in Ultimately no-one cares about Big Brother there was a double eviction. Makosi was evicted first. Nadia was evicted second. This is because the viewers saw Nadia force Josie out of the house and were unhappy about it. Again stupid because if Nadia hadn't forced Josie out of the house then Josie would have been forgotten about by the end of the series. Also Vanessa Feltz has entered the house. This London based Jewish Princess presents the morning show on BBC London radio and famously went a little bit insane in the first series of Celebrity Big Brother.
At this point it's worth noting that most British schools have restarted and the universities will follow over the next month. So it appears I'm becoming an integrity test for a whole new generation.
That Solicitor's Statement.
As previously mentioned on August 17th I received a copy of the witness statement the solicitor, David White, submitted to the Court of Protection in accordance with the direction order made by senior Judge Lush. I've delayed commenting on it before because as always with the law the use of language is precise and nuanced. Therefore if I did not explain it fully it could lead to more confusion then it solves. Take the opening sentence as an example;
"I am a solicitor specialising in elderly client work and a member of Solicitors for the Elderly."
The solicitor is hoping that this sentence will be interpreted as such;
"Look your honour. You're a member of the legal profession. I'm a member of the legal profession. The troublemaker who brought this case isn't. So let's say no more about it."
However it could also be interpreted as;
"I'm not a very good solicitor. In fact the only way I can maintain a small practice above a shop is by tricking old people out of their life savings. If this case goes against me I won't be a member of the legal profession for much longer."
In the next sentence;
"I saw [name] on 26th November 2009 to assess her capacity to make lasting powers of attorney for property and financial affairs and health and welfare."
The solicitor is simply trying to state a fact. Unfortunately he incorrectly states the fact- something that is normally associated with liars. The purpose of his visit was actually to assess my grandmother's capacity to make a lasting power of attorney (LPA) for property and financial affairs, a service that costs £250. As soon as he's entered the home and before carrying out a mental capacity assessment he sold my grandmother on also drawing up a LPA for health and welfare, a service that costs another £250. Therefore it would be difficult for a credible Judge not to get the impression that the solicitor walked into the property already prepared to issue a certificate of mental capacity just so long as he got paid.
The solicitor then goes on to state;
"I spent more then 30 minutes with [name]."
Here he is trying to give the impression that he spent a reasonable amount of time assessing my grandmother's mental capacity. The fact that he spent more then 30 minutes with my grandmother is most certainly true. He actually spent closer to 120 minutes (2hrs) with my grandmother, my father and myself. The private session occurred in the final 30 minutes of his visit. You will note that he makes no reference to the other 90 minutes of his visit or what occurred during it.
The rest of the paragraph goes on;
"I asked her, name, her address, date of birth and relatives all of which she was able to give me. I asked her to explain in her own words what she understood lasting powers of attorney to be. Although [name] found this difficult at first in the end she was able to tell me, unprompted, what lasting powers of attorney for health and welfare and property and affairs are and I was satisfied that she understood the meaning of such documents."
Here the solicitor is trying to demonstrate that, in his opinion, my grandmother had passed legally defined tests of mental capacity. Unfortunately it also reveals why he made no reference to the first 90 minutes of his visit. During this time my grandmother was unable to recognise me as her grandson. She was also unable to remember her age, date of birth, address or the number of grandchildren she had let alone their names and genders. This caused both me and my father to repeatedly re-state these facts to my grandmother and the solicitor who wrote these details down. This should be interpreted as coaching which is strictly forbidden because you can train a parrot to recite a series of statements.
In the third paragraph the solicitor writes;
"I also asked [name] the extent of her property. She told me that she owned her house and had some bank and building society accounts. I was satisfied that she knew in broad terms what her assets were."
Again here he is trying to demonstrate that he applied a mental capacity test and, in his opinion my grandmother passed it. However it is the details that he has left out that could mis-lead the Court as to how broad my grandmother's understanding of her assets was at the time. Apart from the house, bank and building society accounts my grandmother was also under the impression that she owned another house in London and a farm in Wales. She was particularly keen on the idea of the LPA because she thought it would prevent a distant and long dead relative stealing that farm from her. It is also revealing that the solicitor refers to my grandmother's assets in the past tense as if he somehow thinks she's signed them away to someone else.
The fourth paragraph starts with the sentence;
"I further questioned [name] as to who she wished to appoint as attorney. She said she wanted to appoint her son, [name]."
Again this just demonstrates the question was asked and answered. The next part of the paragraph is where things get interesting;
"I asked if she would like to appoint her grandson [name] but she was very opposed to this. She said [name] "has never worked" and doesn't get out of bed until the afternoon and that she doesn't want him to have anything to do with her affairs."
This paragraph serves no legal purpose and the solicitor only included it in an attempt to undermine my credibility. He thinks this will build on the relationship he established with the Judge in his opening sentence. Although what my grandmother said is untrue the fact she said it is. The problem is the way that the solicitor presents this fact. He gives the impression that it was made freely in a calm, private conversation between him and my grandmother. It wasn't. It was made in front of myself and my father when my grandmother was under a degree of duress. In fact it was right around the time that I, in my usual blunt fashion, explained to the solicitor that I was disgusted with his conduct and if he insisted on issuing a certificate of mental capacity to someone, who hours earlier, had the be detained by the police after wandering off suffering from hallucinations I would be taking the matter up with the Office of the Public Guardian. Given this extra level of detail a Judge would find it hard not to conclude that there was a level of animosity between me and the solicitor and that solicitor had a vested interest in making sure that my concerns were not considered by the Office of the Public Guardian.
In the fifth paragraph the solicitor writes;
"I asked [name] if she understood that [name] would have the right to sell property on he behalf, including her house. She said that she didn't think he would do this if she herself had not wanted it to happen and was content to rely on his judgement."
Although this should have been the point in the conversation where the solicitor explained to my grandmother that LPA's can be written to include specific clauses that specifically define what the attorney is able to do under what circumstances this again has been included to demonstrate that, in the solicitor's opinion, my grandmother understood the process. However the main reason for its inclusion was to further undermine my character by portraying my father in a positive light.
The sixth paragraph is something of a summary of the rest of the previous text.;
"I was satisfied that [name] was able to sufficiently retain all the relevant information as, when I went back over matters discussed some minutes before, she had retained basic elements of what had been discussed then. I was also satisfied that [name] was able to weigh the information as part of the process of making the decision to create the LPA's. She was aware that she needed help in dealing with her financial affairs and was able to consider this in relation to her decision to make the LPA's."
This is just the solicitor restating that he has applied defined tests of mental capacity and, in his opinion my grandmother passed them. This is unsurprising and lacks credibility. After all it was hardly going to be the moment where the solicitor admits that he's fraudulently issued certificates of mental capacity and asks the Judge to punish him.
The statement ends with the paragraph;
"[name] communicated her decisions to me verbally. She had difficulty signing her lasting powers of attorney but this was due to physical factors. She told me that she suffers from arthritis in her hands. Although she appeared to me to be exhibiting some early signs of dementia and, for example was very chatty and easily went off subject I was satisfied that she had sufficient mental capacity to make lasting powers of attorney."
Again this restates that the solicitor believed my grandmother had sufficient mental capacity. The main purpose though is to add human colour to the story in order to portray his visit as a pleasant conversation between two old friends. For example by writing; my grandmother "was very chatty and easily went off topic" paints a picture of a delightfully dotty old lady being helped by her diligent solicitor. However if he had written; my grandmother "was suffering from pressure of speech and a flight of ideas" it paints a picture of a corrupt solicitor exploiting someone who was showing clear symptoms of significant psychological distress.
In response to the solicitors statement I submitted another statement to the Court of Protection. In it I very diplomatically highlighted the inconsistencies between the solicitors statement and my recollection of the events. Specifically the purpose of his visit, the apparent coaching, my grandmother's understanding of her assets and the argument I had with the solicitor. I also informed the Court of Protection of the matter in front of Croydon Magistrates Court. I explained, in the broadest possible terms, what the problem was and that is affected my grandmother. I then stated which Court the application had been made to and the date it was made. I also pointed out that the attorney, my father had taken no action to resolve the situation.
While he is under no obligation to do so my father has also decided to submit his own statement to the Court of Protection. He is treating this statement as a closely guarded secret so it would be wrong for me to read it. However if it is written in the tone in which he speaks about the subject it is going to read like the rantings of a lunatic. I suspect he will begin by listing all the people who he believes to agree with him. The vast majority of these people have not had contact with my grandmother is years. The others have brief contact with her outside of the home every two to three months under the supervision of my father. He will then probably try and make a lot of the fact that I take anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication. The hope here is the jury will here the words "mental health problems" and disregarded everything I've said. The problem is there isn't a jury. The case is being heard by a single Judge at the Court of Protection. This Court deals almost exclusively with issues of mental capacity. In fact this entire proceeding is being brought under The Mental Capacity Act 2005. Therefore the Court has no excuse for not knowing that if I was so ill I'd hallucinated all this I wouldn't be functioning as a human being and certainly wouldn't be able to bring the matter before the Court.
The most damaging thing my father's statement could possibly do to my case is give the Court an excuse to further delay proceedings while it investigates the names on my father list and request a medical report from my doctor. Neither of these should actually happen because they have nothing to do with the specific question brought before the Court. However if they do I'll just draw the Courts attention to the fact that my father is stalling for time and request that the LPA's be suspended for the duration of the investigation.
Today I along with most everyone else on the street, received a letter from the local MP regarding the petition we've all signed against the residents of number 50 Beechwood avenue. Obviously if I explain this in the same level of detail this will become the longest post in the history of the Internet. However the MP's letter reads simply;
"Further to my letter of July 27th please find attached a response I have received from Croydon Council. I do hope the action taken leads to an improvement in your situation.
If I can be of anymore assistance with this or any other matter please do not hesitate to contact me."
Basically he's just trying to re-assure his voters that he's doing something and ask me what's going on. Croydon Council's letter to the MP is more interesting.
The first part, written in normal paragraphs, explains what action Croydon Council and CAYSH have taken which brought disturbances at number 50 to a sudden end on July 10th 2010. The second part, written in bullet points (how civil servants normally try to explain things to MP's) gives a brief and inaccurate background to the situation. It then offers the MP a series of compromises that should limit the problem while allowing CAYSH and the landlord to continue to profit from keeping the property occupied. None of these will be acceptable to me.
The timing of the letters arrival. On a Friday when the risk of disturbance from number 50 is at its highest is the Crown attempting to light the blue touch paper and wait for the fireworks to start.
"I am a solicitor specialising in elderly client work and a member of Solicitors for the Elderly."
The solicitor is hoping that this sentence will be interpreted as such;
"Look your honour. You're a member of the legal profession. I'm a member of the legal profession. The troublemaker who brought this case isn't. So let's say no more about it."
However it could also be interpreted as;
"I'm not a very good solicitor. In fact the only way I can maintain a small practice above a shop is by tricking old people out of their life savings. If this case goes against me I won't be a member of the legal profession for much longer."
In the next sentence;
"I saw [name] on 26th November 2009 to assess her capacity to make lasting powers of attorney for property and financial affairs and health and welfare."
The solicitor is simply trying to state a fact. Unfortunately he incorrectly states the fact- something that is normally associated with liars. The purpose of his visit was actually to assess my grandmother's capacity to make a lasting power of attorney (LPA) for property and financial affairs, a service that costs £250. As soon as he's entered the home and before carrying out a mental capacity assessment he sold my grandmother on also drawing up a LPA for health and welfare, a service that costs another £250. Therefore it would be difficult for a credible Judge not to get the impression that the solicitor walked into the property already prepared to issue a certificate of mental capacity just so long as he got paid.
The solicitor then goes on to state;
"I spent more then 30 minutes with [name]."
Here he is trying to give the impression that he spent a reasonable amount of time assessing my grandmother's mental capacity. The fact that he spent more then 30 minutes with my grandmother is most certainly true. He actually spent closer to 120 minutes (2hrs) with my grandmother, my father and myself. The private session occurred in the final 30 minutes of his visit. You will note that he makes no reference to the other 90 minutes of his visit or what occurred during it.
The rest of the paragraph goes on;
"I asked her, name, her address, date of birth and relatives all of which she was able to give me. I asked her to explain in her own words what she understood lasting powers of attorney to be. Although [name] found this difficult at first in the end she was able to tell me, unprompted, what lasting powers of attorney for health and welfare and property and affairs are and I was satisfied that she understood the meaning of such documents."
Here the solicitor is trying to demonstrate that, in his opinion, my grandmother had passed legally defined tests of mental capacity. Unfortunately it also reveals why he made no reference to the first 90 minutes of his visit. During this time my grandmother was unable to recognise me as her grandson. She was also unable to remember her age, date of birth, address or the number of grandchildren she had let alone their names and genders. This caused both me and my father to repeatedly re-state these facts to my grandmother and the solicitor who wrote these details down. This should be interpreted as coaching which is strictly forbidden because you can train a parrot to recite a series of statements.
In the third paragraph the solicitor writes;
"I also asked [name] the extent of her property. She told me that she owned her house and had some bank and building society accounts. I was satisfied that she knew in broad terms what her assets were."
Again here he is trying to demonstrate that he applied a mental capacity test and, in his opinion my grandmother passed it. However it is the details that he has left out that could mis-lead the Court as to how broad my grandmother's understanding of her assets was at the time. Apart from the house, bank and building society accounts my grandmother was also under the impression that she owned another house in London and a farm in Wales. She was particularly keen on the idea of the LPA because she thought it would prevent a distant and long dead relative stealing that farm from her. It is also revealing that the solicitor refers to my grandmother's assets in the past tense as if he somehow thinks she's signed them away to someone else.
The fourth paragraph starts with the sentence;
"I further questioned [name] as to who she wished to appoint as attorney. She said she wanted to appoint her son, [name]."
Again this just demonstrates the question was asked and answered. The next part of the paragraph is where things get interesting;
"I asked if she would like to appoint her grandson [name] but she was very opposed to this. She said [name] "has never worked" and doesn't get out of bed until the afternoon and that she doesn't want him to have anything to do with her affairs."
This paragraph serves no legal purpose and the solicitor only included it in an attempt to undermine my credibility. He thinks this will build on the relationship he established with the Judge in his opening sentence. Although what my grandmother said is untrue the fact she said it is. The problem is the way that the solicitor presents this fact. He gives the impression that it was made freely in a calm, private conversation between him and my grandmother. It wasn't. It was made in front of myself and my father when my grandmother was under a degree of duress. In fact it was right around the time that I, in my usual blunt fashion, explained to the solicitor that I was disgusted with his conduct and if he insisted on issuing a certificate of mental capacity to someone, who hours earlier, had the be detained by the police after wandering off suffering from hallucinations I would be taking the matter up with the Office of the Public Guardian. Given this extra level of detail a Judge would find it hard not to conclude that there was a level of animosity between me and the solicitor and that solicitor had a vested interest in making sure that my concerns were not considered by the Office of the Public Guardian.
In the fifth paragraph the solicitor writes;
"I asked [name] if she understood that [name] would have the right to sell property on he behalf, including her house. She said that she didn't think he would do this if she herself had not wanted it to happen and was content to rely on his judgement."
Although this should have been the point in the conversation where the solicitor explained to my grandmother that LPA's can be written to include specific clauses that specifically define what the attorney is able to do under what circumstances this again has been included to demonstrate that, in the solicitor's opinion, my grandmother understood the process. However the main reason for its inclusion was to further undermine my character by portraying my father in a positive light.
The sixth paragraph is something of a summary of the rest of the previous text.;
"I was satisfied that [name] was able to sufficiently retain all the relevant information as, when I went back over matters discussed some minutes before, she had retained basic elements of what had been discussed then. I was also satisfied that [name] was able to weigh the information as part of the process of making the decision to create the LPA's. She was aware that she needed help in dealing with her financial affairs and was able to consider this in relation to her decision to make the LPA's."
This is just the solicitor restating that he has applied defined tests of mental capacity and, in his opinion my grandmother passed them. This is unsurprising and lacks credibility. After all it was hardly going to be the moment where the solicitor admits that he's fraudulently issued certificates of mental capacity and asks the Judge to punish him.
The statement ends with the paragraph;
"[name] communicated her decisions to me verbally. She had difficulty signing her lasting powers of attorney but this was due to physical factors. She told me that she suffers from arthritis in her hands. Although she appeared to me to be exhibiting some early signs of dementia and, for example was very chatty and easily went off subject I was satisfied that she had sufficient mental capacity to make lasting powers of attorney."
Again this restates that the solicitor believed my grandmother had sufficient mental capacity. The main purpose though is to add human colour to the story in order to portray his visit as a pleasant conversation between two old friends. For example by writing; my grandmother "was very chatty and easily went off topic" paints a picture of a delightfully dotty old lady being helped by her diligent solicitor. However if he had written; my grandmother "was suffering from pressure of speech and a flight of ideas" it paints a picture of a corrupt solicitor exploiting someone who was showing clear symptoms of significant psychological distress.
In response to the solicitors statement I submitted another statement to the Court of Protection. In it I very diplomatically highlighted the inconsistencies between the solicitors statement and my recollection of the events. Specifically the purpose of his visit, the apparent coaching, my grandmother's understanding of her assets and the argument I had with the solicitor. I also informed the Court of Protection of the matter in front of Croydon Magistrates Court. I explained, in the broadest possible terms, what the problem was and that is affected my grandmother. I then stated which Court the application had been made to and the date it was made. I also pointed out that the attorney, my father had taken no action to resolve the situation.
While he is under no obligation to do so my father has also decided to submit his own statement to the Court of Protection. He is treating this statement as a closely guarded secret so it would be wrong for me to read it. However if it is written in the tone in which he speaks about the subject it is going to read like the rantings of a lunatic. I suspect he will begin by listing all the people who he believes to agree with him. The vast majority of these people have not had contact with my grandmother is years. The others have brief contact with her outside of the home every two to three months under the supervision of my father. He will then probably try and make a lot of the fact that I take anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication. The hope here is the jury will here the words "mental health problems" and disregarded everything I've said. The problem is there isn't a jury. The case is being heard by a single Judge at the Court of Protection. This Court deals almost exclusively with issues of mental capacity. In fact this entire proceeding is being brought under The Mental Capacity Act 2005. Therefore the Court has no excuse for not knowing that if I was so ill I'd hallucinated all this I wouldn't be functioning as a human being and certainly wouldn't be able to bring the matter before the Court.
The most damaging thing my father's statement could possibly do to my case is give the Court an excuse to further delay proceedings while it investigates the names on my father list and request a medical report from my doctor. Neither of these should actually happen because they have nothing to do with the specific question brought before the Court. However if they do I'll just draw the Courts attention to the fact that my father is stalling for time and request that the LPA's be suspended for the duration of the investigation.
Today I along with most everyone else on the street, received a letter from the local MP regarding the petition we've all signed against the residents of number 50 Beechwood avenue. Obviously if I explain this in the same level of detail this will become the longest post in the history of the Internet. However the MP's letter reads simply;
"Further to my letter of July 27th please find attached a response I have received from Croydon Council. I do hope the action taken leads to an improvement in your situation.
If I can be of anymore assistance with this or any other matter please do not hesitate to contact me."
Basically he's just trying to re-assure his voters that he's doing something and ask me what's going on. Croydon Council's letter to the MP is more interesting.
The first part, written in normal paragraphs, explains what action Croydon Council and CAYSH have taken which brought disturbances at number 50 to a sudden end on July 10th 2010. The second part, written in bullet points (how civil servants normally try to explain things to MP's) gives a brief and inaccurate background to the situation. It then offers the MP a series of compromises that should limit the problem while allowing CAYSH and the landlord to continue to profit from keeping the property occupied. None of these will be acceptable to me.
The timing of the letters arrival. On a Friday when the risk of disturbance from number 50 is at its highest is the Crown attempting to light the blue touch paper and wait for the fireworks to start.
Middle East Peace Talks
Yesterday, September 2nd Israel and Palestine's Fatah Party began US brokered peace talks for the first time in almost two years. The talks will take place every two weeks for the next two years before ending without any progress made and possibly the prospect of continuing becoming more deeply entrenched.
Everybody with any knowledge of the situation should know that the timing of these talks is all wrong. The Americans don't really want to be involved. The Israelis only want to be involved because they know the Americans don't. Fatah are the only people really pushing for these talks because it makes it look as if they're doing something and hope that will keep the money flowing into their party funds. To the credit of Hamas they tried to end this whole horrible charade before it began by doing the most outrageous thing they could think of. Unfortunately it wasn't outrageous enough so four Israeli settlers were killed for nothing and Israeli settlers burnt down Palestinian homes equally for nothing.
The most positive thing I can say about the whole situation is that it highlights the problem with the Worlds acceptance of Israels refusal to talk to Hamas. The reason that Palestinian voters rejected Fatah in droves is that the party is so horribly corrupt it is little more then an Israeli puppet regime. Therefore it is obvious that there is never going to be peace in the Middle East if Israel are allowed to continue to negotiate with no-one but themselves.
On a side note Middle East peace envoy, Tony Blair chose the eve of the peace talks to publish an autobiography covering his time as British Prime Minister. Although not intended this vanity does serve to underline why Blair must be removed from the role of peace envoy. After all the situation in the Middle East has got dramatically worse since he started trying to fix it.
Everybody with any knowledge of the situation should know that the timing of these talks is all wrong. The Americans don't really want to be involved. The Israelis only want to be involved because they know the Americans don't. Fatah are the only people really pushing for these talks because it makes it look as if they're doing something and hope that will keep the money flowing into their party funds. To the credit of Hamas they tried to end this whole horrible charade before it began by doing the most outrageous thing they could think of. Unfortunately it wasn't outrageous enough so four Israeli settlers were killed for nothing and Israeli settlers burnt down Palestinian homes equally for nothing.
The most positive thing I can say about the whole situation is that it highlights the problem with the Worlds acceptance of Israels refusal to talk to Hamas. The reason that Palestinian voters rejected Fatah in droves is that the party is so horribly corrupt it is little more then an Israeli puppet regime. Therefore it is obvious that there is never going to be peace in the Middle East if Israel are allowed to continue to negotiate with no-one but themselves.
On a side note Middle East peace envoy, Tony Blair chose the eve of the peace talks to publish an autobiography covering his time as British Prime Minister. Although not intended this vanity does serve to underline why Blair must be removed from the role of peace envoy. After all the situation in the Middle East has got dramatically worse since he started trying to fix it.
Thursday 2 September 2010
Oil Leak in Gulf of Mexico.
No, another one.
Around 40 miles west of BP's Deepwater Horizon that exploded in April causing the infamous Gulf of Mexico oil slick another oil rig has caught fire. The Vermilion 380 rig exploded at around 13:30 GMT and is still burning. All 13 crew aboard the rig at the time have rescued with only one reported injury. A small oil slick about 1 mile long has also been reported.
The Vermilion 380 rig is owned by Mariner Energy, an independent Houston based oil company. Mariner have a lot of debt and there are rumours that a significant part of that debt is owned by Cairn Energy a Scottish based oil company. You may remember Cairn Energy as the company that angered Greenpeace and the UK Climate Camp by announcing plans to drill for oil off the coast of Greenland. Obviously those rumours are just rumours and I wouldn't treat them as fact until it can be investigated further.
However the Vermilion rig, like all the other rigs is not currently producing oil or gas due to a US government ban on drilling in the area. The entire oil industry, Mariner included, are really not happy about this ban and in fact have just had a legal challenge to the ban thrown out of court in the US.
Therefore I wouldn't be too surprised if Mariner purposefully blew up their own rig in order to prove to America, Greenland and the World that the Deepwater Horizon was a one off and the blowout preventers on offshore drilling rigs normally work really, really well.
Around 40 miles west of BP's Deepwater Horizon that exploded in April causing the infamous Gulf of Mexico oil slick another oil rig has caught fire. The Vermilion 380 rig exploded at around 13:30 GMT and is still burning. All 13 crew aboard the rig at the time have rescued with only one reported injury. A small oil slick about 1 mile long has also been reported.
The Vermilion 380 rig is owned by Mariner Energy, an independent Houston based oil company. Mariner have a lot of debt and there are rumours that a significant part of that debt is owned by Cairn Energy a Scottish based oil company. You may remember Cairn Energy as the company that angered Greenpeace and the UK Climate Camp by announcing plans to drill for oil off the coast of Greenland. Obviously those rumours are just rumours and I wouldn't treat them as fact until it can be investigated further.
However the Vermilion rig, like all the other rigs is not currently producing oil or gas due to a US government ban on drilling in the area. The entire oil industry, Mariner included, are really not happy about this ban and in fact have just had a legal challenge to the ban thrown out of court in the US.
Therefore I wouldn't be too surprised if Mariner purposefully blew up their own rig in order to prove to America, Greenland and the World that the Deepwater Horizon was a one off and the blowout preventers on offshore drilling rigs normally work really, really well.
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