One really must smile at times.
The government's in quiet turmoil these days, with Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon off to visit the widow of David Kelly yesterday, while in Parliament and Whitehall eveyone with a finger is pointing it at someone else.
This past weekend, it was Tony and his despicable government egging an academic to distraction with misinterpretation of his facts. Tony, Geoff, and Tony's spin doctor Alastair Campbell firmly in the media's sight... there was some villification left over for the Foreign Affairs Select Committee as well..
But as the week began, with the BBC admitting they'd used DR.Kelly as their principle source, it became the broadcaster that was the villain.
And the Judicial Enquiry's not even yet begun.
One must suspect, that in light many who have known David Kelly thinking his suicide is not quite in character, and the cryptic messages he sent out just an hour or less before his death, that there are still some sitting at their keyboards, where for years they've banged out reports to often faceless individuals throughout the government.. wondering if they too might be found, one wrist slashed, a couple of mild analgesics to hand, alone some woodland path.
That there are those, who knowing governments to be the animals they are, who simply wait, hoping the inquiry begins before they're totally destroyed.
Ahh well.. sic transit gloria mundi..
Meanwhile back on the ranch, Saddam's son's appear to have been dealt out of the game, and the war of attrition continues in Iraq..
One wonders how they'll work out the leave rotation, come Xmas..

It was 1969, and there weren't many people on the streets that evening, as most were watching Neil Armstrong stepping down the ladder of the lunar lander, making the first human footprints on the moon.. In retrospect, it was amazing we did so much so quickly.
One wonders why nothing further has been managed in the intervening 34 years..
Problems.
Those who have worked for the government can only hope the Judicial Enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly will bring to a halt to the current MoD witch hunt.. yet somehow, one doubts..
Whether the blame for this debacle falls on the shoulders of the Government, or the BBC, is to the intelligence community unimportant.
Lines have been crossed, and many believe firmly in the old saw, 'fool me once, shame on you.. fool me twice...'

There are some who truely believe that working for one's government, is in effect working for those who elected it. That what is done in the name of National Security will be put to wholesome use, for the betterment of the whole. One finds an odd mixture of cynicism and blind commitment among those academics who toil in the back rooms.. well from their homes for the most part.. as they put the various pieces of the puzzle into some semblance of shape for those who make national policy..
There is an unworldliness that can overtake some who spend too much time staring at the macro..
Such overcame David Kelly. The information he gave to the BBC over a casual lunch, was no more to him than that. Simple information available to anyone who cared to seek it out.
The spin was journalism.
Yet, with David Kelly the pressure of being dragged before a Commons Select Committee, the internal questioning of an entirely ethical man as to whether he had actually said the words as they appeared in print, the thought of scandal and loss of not only public but self esteem, was evident.
So it is with many these days. Character assassination can be a very effective weapon, especially in the 'back rooms'
But, taking the man's character itself, the plans he had made, the discussions he left in mid-point, we must wonder what the police investigation will uncover, let alone what the judicial inquiry will find.
'Dark and sinister actors are at work' said Kelly before he died.
One takes an oath of secrecy when one works with Intelligence. When you've made that oath to those who you've come to distrust, and in some cases outright fear, how binding might it become?
We will see.

One last note.
For those watching the machinations in Europe, it's Constitutional issue, the stance Britain has taken with the US, and Tony's continuing role in all of these..
Recall the names Alastair Campbell, Tony's communications chief.. and Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary.
One wonders who the American counterparts will be.
Watch as well for a shakeup in the depths of British intelligence...
Some interesting stories may well come to light, on the manner and disposition of intelligence reports, which for most will be only confirmation of the finger beside the nose made some months ago, but for some might bring to mind the debacles of the 60's...
One can only reiterate, that these are interesting times we live in..

Tony, at this point, must be wondering at the wisdom of throwing in so wholeheartedly with George on this Middle East move. It's not turned out quite as he'd planned at all.
As he sits in Japanese discussions, North Korea is crowing their ability to construct as many as 6 nuclear weapons from supplies they have at hand, and Pyongyang is inundating the populace with anti-western sentiment... there is a domestic crisis in full swing with the death of Dr. David Kelly, and the emergence of other government machinations aimed at those who recently worked for them... the stress is becoming obvious on the Prime Ministers face..
And George's next project, might well be just a few nautical miles away across the Sea of Japan..
Sending British troops into the far east will reawaken sentiments in the British collective memory of Burma, and inspire much the same feelings as VietNam does for an American. Whether Tony can afford to remain harnessed to George on this one is going to have to be a matter for some thought..
And whether Tony has any analysts still willing to tell him what they think, is yet another matter to ponder..

Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
One awaits, with great interest, the government reaction to the outcries for a public inquiry into the death of David Kelly.
For those who straddle the border between academia, analysis, and journalism, this death is of particular importance. It's significance lies in the reliability of one's own government, in one's own intelligence gathering systems, and the depths of one's own discretion.
It also demonstrates what pressures can be brought to bear by those who felt themselves 'let down'. While at this point, the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Donald Anderson, is saying the questioning aimed at Dr.Kelly led to criticisms aimed 'more at the MoD than himself'.. he cannot deny that at one point he admonished this esteemed academic that he was 'testifying before the Highest Parliamentary Court'.. a blatant mis-statement, aimed only at intimidation.
This government, if attempting to lay blame for this recent action in the Middle East, must not be allowed to hector those it employs to analyze the information itself provides.
But after all this, Oscar Wilde said it far more eloquently in the first few lines.

Perhaps the first sign of public wavering on the US government's 'commitment' to stabalizing Iraq today.. 34 American soldiers have been killed since the end of the war, so to speak, on MayDay.. total toll is 148 to this time, higher than the entire American human cost in 1991..
Therein a fundamental problem with American foreign policy. It can be agressive, but it doesn't like continuing damage. The public recalls VietNam in the US, with something akin to loathing and fear. The one incident in modern history, when the might of the American War Machine couldn't defeat 'foreigners'. It's a pill that still sticks in the collective craw.
Rapid change is what's called for, according to these advisors. But then, it's the insistence on immediate results, and concentration on the short term, that will eventually make this a black spot in American history.
It's the fast food, fast cars, fast wars, immediate success syndrome that will bring the States down.
Just as it's the patience and planning which involves decades of unfolding intrigue that will have the Middle East still the Middle East, long after the last Western soldier has gone home.
A note at the passing of Dr. David Kelly. A mid-eastern analyst for the Ministry of Defence, who after testifying at a Foreign Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday, was today found murdered near his home, in a small village in Oxfordshire.
Dr. Kelly had been at the center of the 'Iraq Dossier' controvercy, and had told the Committee he had not provided anyone with documents, suggesting a dossier on Iraq had been 'sexed-up'...
Evidently there remained some doubt in the minds of a few at Whitehall..

It was a rousing speech from Tony, was the consensus down at the pub..
And perhaps it's as honest a statement as we'll get, and should perhaps expect, from a politician who's put his head in the noose.
One cannot deny, that even should there never be an ounce of what might have been a WMD found, it does not discount it simply being well hidden. One cannot deny Saddam was not really anyone's first choice for Iraqi leader and he is better off away. T'would be nice if the next Iraqi regeme was more inclined to favouring the west.. all true..
But, said Tony, he still believes these weapons will be discovered, and that their existence, or his conviction of their existence, was justification in itself for the actions taken.
That if history judges the removal of Saddam as an act based on false intelligence, then how much harsher would history judge total inaction, should those intelligence reports eventually be found correct.
There's a statement many a British voter will be turning over.
Mind you, Tony got 17 standing ovations in Congress..
One hopes at the very least, it brings back the tourism money lost to Mad Cow Disease..
Note should be made of the passing of Carol Shields.. she of The Stone Diaries.

Canadian forces have taken control of the occupational troops still trying to bring some sense of 'western' order to Afghanistan. It's their turn in the NATO order of things to try and do the impossible, to continue in the tradition which goes back past the Highland troops trying to hold the Khyber Pass, to Alexander himself...
It's the Germans and Dutch who get to go home. They've been targets since last February..
It would appear even to the most vehemently opposed, that the natural state of mankind is, and has always been conflict. Whether it be inner, or manifestly outwardly directed, it is for the vast majority, an existence endured from one crisis to the next.
While most shake their heads, and deny they can be classed with such, it's the group along the bar, with their fingers beside their noses and the wry winks, who nod..
It might be interesting to see what develops in the near future, as far as the stance Tony and George take on the issue of WMD's.. It's a far larger problem for Tony than George at this point..
One might think the spin needed to sort this, is achieved, could possibly affect tidal patterns..

Retrospect. Six years ago it was, that Gianni Versace was shot to death on the steps of his Miami mansion. Most recall Versace, but the name of his killer?
An interesting precident set in the US, with the government defying a court ruling concerning one member of Al Q'aeda talking with another. The names in this case are irrelivant, but the situation is that the only man charged with the September 11th bombings, claims he has a man who happens also to be in American custody who can prove if not his innocence, then his diminished responsibility.
The courts say it's a just request, that this interview take place. The government, perhaps under the Homeland Security blanket, is saying stuff it.
Dangerous precidents.
Meanwhile, back with George and the African campaign. It appears the possibility of American troops in Liberia is under consideration, this following a meeting with Kofi Annan. While the transformation of Iraq may well be a project George has within himself pledged years to, the consolidation of the American presence in the area would only be enhanced by the presence of a 'West African Peacekeeping Force'. One of George's conditions for involvement, is of course that the current Liberian leader, President Charles Taylor, has to vacate before the US arrives.
Two down..
Ah. the man's name was Andrew Cunanan.

One has to issue a vote of sincere thanks to the Italian and German governments, for their slapstick efforts to divert attention from the lingering political effects of the Iraq Deposition..
Gerhard Schroeder has announced he's cancelled his reservations at an Italian resort for his upcoming vacation. Now this follows a minor Minister in the Italian government heaping fuel on Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi's kapao comment of last week, by telling a national interview that he was quite familliar with the sight of German tourists in Italy.. that they could be easily identified as the loud, loutish blonde ones in the crowd. This prompted a response from the German media that this particular Minister has 'spaghetti for brains'...
European politics can still afford a good opera when it's necissary.. almost makes one yearn for lederhosen and Tyrolian hats, and conjures an image of a chorus made up of backbenchers..
The French might say 'plus que ca change, plus que le meme chose..' but then the French have said perhaps too much already..
For those who have inquired about the continuation of the thoughts on the Wiccan Rede and the Gospel of Thomas, the series will continue, when ongoing issues are resolved. Wisdom says we must accept that which we cannot immediately change, and patience demands acceptance of the timeframe others may have set. The work continues, and the workers abide.

Seems to be the weekend for the erection of barriers..
Tony's about as pissed off with the BBC as a Prime Minister has been, at least in recent memory, and not over the remaining popularity for Spitting Image episodes featuring himself. The mighty BBC itself is the target for the Prime Minister's fury, and that's really not using an inappropriate word.
The Beeb has made allegations the Government, with the Prime Ministers knowledge, 'sexed-up' intelligence reports, thus justifying the incursion into Iraq.
Really. How naive of the BBC to take on the Government over such an issue. How Pollyanna a point of view does it take to realise these machinations are ubiquitous, but by far more than tacit agreement, are never, ever, mentioned. Regardless the mobs demands for total disclosure, those in the news business know better than to step on one's sources toes, and the deeper irony is that while the BBC is indeed the 'peoples television', being paid for through television license subscription, Tony for the moment is the peoples Government, and unless the BBC is aiming at bringing Tony and Co. down, they pursue a chimera.
More barriers. Drumcree will echo to the fife and the drum today, as the Orange Walk proceeds. Police are on hand. Never have the streets looked cleaner, what with all that which can be thrown collected, and stored along the way...
And one must thank the Germans and the Italians for affording a laugh, during a week humour has been in short supply.. Italy's PM, Silvio Berlusconi now insists he has not apologised for comparing a German politician to a Nazi concentration camp guard..a 'kapo' actually.. he only said his words were 'misunderstood'.. a joke among.. friends..

Bloody hell..
That the consensus down at the pub.. as we watch our national sport being taken over by outside interests..
First Manchester United sells David Beckham to Real Madrid.. he'll get a better tan mind..
But now.. in the biggest deal in footballing history..Chelsea FC has been sold to a Russian businessman for £140 million..
The new owner, Roman Abramovich, made his money in Russian oil.. owns most of Sibneft.. one of the largest oil companies in Russia.. at least that's where his money is, now..
Well.. some of it's now en route to the coffers of Chelsea FC.. money which by the bye.. is very welcome indeed..
There was a time it was Britain being bought by the oil rich OPEC Sheiks.. will these middle-european entrepreneurs be the next wave..?
One can be sure.. France and Germany will be watch very carefully how much, and where European capital flows into Britain.. and the sector they fear the most, is that of the emerging Balkan states..

It's a good day to take a look at this island from the relative ease of a chair, inside, in proximity to a small fire if possible.. And while there are those who, dogged in their determination to play the golf they came to Scotland to bloody well play, still will wander the soggy links in this weather, most of the locals will confine themselves to work about the house til it's time to away for a pint..
But the point of this today, is the discomfort those who're dedicated to visiting this place are willing to endure.. This rain, this grudging service from those who deal with the public.. and this apalling public transport system..
There are those one is sure, who still, when visiting for the first time, having been prepared by the novels of Daphne Du Maurier, Neville Shute, Bill Bryson.. expect to see a British Rail station, immaculate, with uniformed people quietly going about whatever business they might have in an assured and responsible manner.. For the Thomas the Tank Engine locomotives to pull up, on time to the second, and for the waiting crowds to calmly wait for those who're debarking to make their way to the station itself before each passenger, as though by instinct, went into their compartments to enjoy their trip with their customary paper, music, or contemplation of the panoramic greenery..
Yes.
As though it's not difficult enough for those who visit and must contend with not only being on the wrong side of the road but, gods between us and evil, roundabouts..
But we must watch this, and being fair, previous Transportation Ministries, fumble about wasting millions of Pounds Sterling maintaining a standard of performance that should inspire a blush of shame from the most hardened of grifters..
Perhaps 'coming to Britain is a wonderful experience, but..' is the slogan they've been looking for.

One must stand amazed, at the seemingly general feeling among those elected to political office, that the public is a totally ignorant beast, willing to be led around by the snout by those who appear to be educated, concerned, and in control.
A fresh example of this political mindset is demonstrated by a statement by the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi.. who has announced that Britains decision to remain distanced from the Euro was a 'political rather than an economic decision..'
One wonders how one becomes a top political figure, with amazing plenepotentiary powers, and still not understand politics and economics are two facets of the same game, each interdependant upon the other.
One also wonders how daft we're really seen to be by those we elect..
This is the eve of the annual EU/US Summit, and effectively Britain's been pushed into some commitment or another regarding this islands eventual involvement with the Continent.. or equally into standing firm with 'The West' and tossing our fortuned in with the US.. and the status quo..
France would not be pleased.. nor would Germany.. for this economy of ours is desperately needed to bolster the false props supporting the vastly over-inflated Euro.. in the wake of the Iraq deposement..
Given the state of the main economies supporting the single currency.. it should perhaps be set closer to 50 cents American.. and Jaques is well aware..

Quick notes.. fleeting thoughts..
While the media coverage has certainly been downplayed to an amazing extent.. Iraq is still a thorn in the side of George and Tony.. Things are not going quite as smoothly along the Road to Peace as might have been wished, with the populations mistrust of the occupying forces growing daily..
One would have thought a more comprehensive plan for the re-establishment of a civilian infrastructure would have been in place long before the first American troops left the comfort of their barracks..
The depth of the Western ignorance of how to conduct business in the Middle East is staggering.. and shame on the British.. who seem to have forgotten all that happened since the collapse of the Raj..
An issue which bears thought.. certainly has inspired comment down at the pub.. This legitimising 'gay' clergy.. Canada legalizing 'gay' marriages..
Now one has used quotation marks around 'gay'.. because it is euphamistic..
We'll allow this to stew for a while.. for while Pat Robertson might have thought Scotland to be a 'dark and dreary country filled with heathens and homosexuals'.. the truth is the spirit of John Calvin.. or of traditional Roman tenet.. still runs deep beneath the veneer of sophistication and political correctness..
One elderly lady of our acquaintance rcently commented, with some disapproval mind, that the new Minister who'd replaced the one who'd been at the Kirk for some hundred and twenty years or so.. or so it seemed.. had preached the preceeding Sunday in a light powder blue cassock..
My gods.. perhaps in Liverpool.. or Glasgow (god between us and evil..).. but Kirkoswald..?
The mind boggles..

An interesting exercise.. for those who have themselves been involved in a dispute within an adversarial judicial system.. wherein one finds it necissary to prove innocence, whereas it was always assumed guilt questioned..
Nevertheless.. an interesting exercise to be once again singularly reduced to public resources..
Peripatetic as this has been.. for the while it will likely become more so..
Interesting to note today though.. Prince William turns 21.. the curious mixture of the looney, bewildered, and devout have gathered at Stonehenge.. a wonderful sunrise there by the way..the village is quiet in preparation for this evenings celebration of the longest day..
For those keeping an eye on what the weekend might bring politically.. keep in mind the meeting of the Davos Group in Jordan..
Things are not going quite as smoothly as George might have hoped in Iraq..
And Tony.. these days he's turned his attentions to battering the daylights out of eight hundred years of government and judicial proceedures..
Watch this European Constitutional issue.. and the role France is taking, and that Germany will move towards..
Interesting times..

Kipling said it well..
'If you can keep you head when all about you, are losing theirs and blaming it on you..
If you can trust youself when all men doubt you, and make allowance for their doubting too..'
Indeed..
A meeting today which bears some attention.. a two day summit beginning in Thessaloniki. The European Union will be picking apart the articles of it's new Constitution.. at the least it will set a date for a meeting of the intergovernmental conference..
Recall 10 new states are due to join the Union next May.. France and Germany want something in place by that time which will assure them of their positions of first among equals..
As for the Euro in Britain.. one won't hold one's breath.. as yet too many of Gordon Brown's 'five tests' are not met.. and there's also the British public to deal with..

This is what justice has come to..
Farmer Tony Martin shot at the two men forcing entry into his remote Norfolk farmhouse, injuring a Mr Brendan Fearon and killing his 16-year-old accomplice...now while Mr Martin is serving a five-year manslaughter sentence, Mr Fearon plans to sue him for a reported £15,000, claiming his leg injuries have affected his ability to enjoy sex and martial arts...
District Judge Oliver said a full hearing would consider what rights a householder has to protect their property and whether a burglar can be deemed to be outside the law.
This is an issue that's been bandied about the pub for years.. and since the shootings at Hungerford and Dunblaine and the subsequent confiscation of all private firearms it's a contentious one with the farmer.. they claim an historic and legitimate right to own shotguns for the control of vermin..
Ahh.. what a pecadillo it all becomes though, when held up against the problems of uneducated gun owners such as those in the land of the free and the home of the household Glock..
Tony's recalibration of the larger cogs in his government bear mention..
Next time..

Viewing such issues such as the Euro through the 'prism of personalities' would be a waste of time and effort.. this gem of a phrase came from Tony.. in response to questions concerning the soap opera being played out between himself and his Chancellor, Gordon Brown..
This show is attracting more loyal attendants than Eastenders these days..
But it is precisely this operatic carbuncle on the backside of Labour that has become the focus in the single currency issue..
The fact Gordon wants in now, and Tony's promised a referendum which at this point would certainly fail.. and the lingering resentment Gordon hosts after losing the Party Leadership to Tony lo these many years ago.. is enough to have the backbenchers muttering.. and the source of many a chuckle at the breakfast tables around this island..
But one has to love that phrase.. 'prism of personalities'..
His speechwriter should get a bonus..