Trent Bridge Ashes Bookends

A curse or a blessing? You decide. 

As a confirmed England cricket supporter there have been many years of pain and forlorn optimism. The 2005 Ashes series changed that. Like City supporters, England followers believe that if something can go wrong, it surely will. 

Back in 1989 David Gower’s team of all the talents were pitted against Alan Border’s gum chewing Aussies. Persuading a young man of the Jackson family that it would be a great day out to go to the opening day of the Trent Bridge test seemed like a very good idea. It turned out to be special for all the wrong reasons. England did not take a wicket all day. 

As  the first two sessions unfolded there was hardly a sniff of a chance. The opening pair of Marsh and Taylor were watchful and controlled. Devon Malcolm huffed and puffed to little effect. The cricket was dull without the fall of a wicket to enliven proceedings. The third session became more and more fascinating as the batsmen, by now totally in control, upped the scoring rate and records began to tumble. The score of 329 still stands as the highest opening partnership in the Ashes. 

24 years later and this time it was the mother of the earlier young Jackson who was present when another remarkable event occurred. The Aussies were 117-9 and looking dead and buried when a young man of 19 entered at number 11. Ashton Agar joined the not-out Phillip Hughes with Australia in deep trouble. He batted superbly, surviving a stumping decision which took some believing, to bat with an ease and fluency that must have made his colleagues wince. Hughes played his part and made the English attack look toothless. 

Again record after record fell. He was finally out for a brilliant 98 much to the dismay of an enthralled, but anxious, home crowd. They would have enjoyed him getting a century on debut - but not too many more. He and Hughes transformed the game and probably the series. Agar now holds the record for a number 11 and the partnership of 163 was the highest for the last wicket - ever. 

The dilemma is whether to ever take a member of the Jackson family to an Ashes test at Trent Bridge ever again. Two visits: two record partnerships - for the Aussies!

Microsoft in it up to their Eyeballs

Thanks to Mr Snowden (and The Guardian) for yet more ‘shattering revelations” or ‘more of the same’ (for the intelligently challenged). It appears that the NSA and the FBI has complete access to Microsoft emails and web chatrooms, not forgetting those lovely people at Skype (who just happen to have been bought by Microsoft...)

“The documents show that:

• Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;

• The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;

• The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide;

• Microsoft also worked with the FBI's Data Intercept Unit to "understand" potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases;

• In July last year, nine months after Microsoft bought Skype, the NSA boasted that a new capability had tripled the amount of Skype video calls being collected through Prism;

• Material collected through Prism is routinely shared with the FBI and CIA, with one NSA document describing the program as a "team sport".

The latest NSA revelations further expose the tensions between Silicon Valley and the Obama administration. All the major tech firms are lobbying the government to allow them to disclose more fully the extent and nature of their co-operation with the NSA to meet their customers' privacy concerns. Privately, tech executives are at pains to distance themselves from claims of collaboration and teamwork given by the NSA documents, and insist the process is driven by legal compulsion.

In a statement, Microsoft said: "When we upgrade or update products we aren't absolved from the need to comply with existing or future lawful demands." The company reiterated its argument that it provides customer data "only in response to government demands and we only ever comply with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers".

In June, the Guardian revealed that the NSA claimed to have "direct access" through the Prism program to the systems of many major internet companies, including Microsoft, Skype, Apple, Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

Blanket orders from the secret surveillance court allow these communications to be collected without an individual warrant if the NSA operative has a 51% belief that the target is not a US citizen and is not on US soil at the time. Targeting US citizens does require an individual warrant, but the NSA is able to collect Americans' communications without a warrant if the target is a foreign national located overseas.

Since Prism's existence became public, Microsoft and the other companies listed on the NSA documents as providers have denied all knowledge of the program and insisted that the intelligence agencies do not have back doors into their systems.

Microsoft's latest marketing campaign, launched in April, emphasizes its commitment to privacy with the slogan: "Your privacy is our priority." 

Glen Greenwald et al on the Guardian online site 11/7/13

As one observer noted, the name ‘Windows’ has suddenly become so much more sinister.

As ever the mainstream media continue to show just how much they are stooges of the elite. Not a mention - as of tonight at 11-25pm.

There are several petitions and campaigns getting off the ground to rein these buggers in. Do your best to support them.

Pass the Sickbucket

It was terrific to watch Andy Murray win the title after 77 years in an enthralling duel in the sun. It was not enthralling to see the alacrity with which slimy sleazeballs such as Cameron and Salmond seized the chance for some undeserved reflected glory.

The sight of Cameron on the Downing Street steps was a sickbucket moment as was the move to give Murray a Knighthood - something which (thankfully) he has slapped back across the net. 

As usual Mr Bell summed up the situation in his usual fine style. 

Tory Funding and Rank Hypocrisy

Shouting ‘Len McCluskey’ at Ed Miliband several times at PMQs last week got Cameron several good headlines. It may be a short-lived success. Many people would have thought, "Who funds the Tories?" Typically they are less transparent than the Unions who have to record all their contributions. In fact it appears theTories go to some lengths to disguise the amount they receive from big donors. Aditya Chakrabortty, writing in the Guardian today explained:

“Through their forensic investigation into Tory funding, published just after the last general election, Stephen Crone and Stuart Wilks-Heeg discovered that some of the largest contributors would give a few hundred thousand: big, but not big enough to raise eyebrows. But then a funny thing could be spotted in the accounts: their wives and other family members would chip in, as well as their business ventures.

Take the JCB billionaire Sir Anthony Bamford, one of Cameron's favourite businessmen and a regular guest on the PM's trade missions abroad. Between 2001 and summer 2010, Wilks-Heeg and Crone found donations from Anthony Bamford, Mark Bamford, George Bamford, JCB Bamford Excavators, JCB Research, and JCB World Brands. Tot that up and you get a contribution to the Conservative party from the Bamford family of £3,898,900. But you'd need to be an expert sleuth with plenty of time and resources to tot it up.

One family: nearly £4m. Wilks-Heeg and Crone found that 15 of these families or "donor groups" account for almost a third of all Tory funding. They enjoy trips to Chequers, dinners in Downing Street and a friendly prime ministerial ear. Lord Irvine Laidlaw stuffed over £6m into Conservative pockets over a decade and, one of his former staffers told the Mail, liked to boast about his influence over party leaders: "William's [Hague] in my pocket".

Perhaps you're wondering why the Tories talked so tough on banking reform before election but have done so little since. That may have something to do with the money the City gives to them. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, in 2010 donations from financial services accounted for over half of all Tory funding.

Three years ago, spread-betting boss Stuart Wheeler brazenly told MPs that "a party is going to take more notice of somebody who might give them lots of money than somebody who won't". He should know; he once gave the Conservatives a single donation of £5m. And certainly, the City has plenty to show for its investment. Across Europe, Angela Merkel, François Hollande and others are pushing ahead with plans for a Tobin tax or a small levy on financial transactions to start next year. Britain, on the other hand, is part of a small band of refuseniks, along with such other giants of financial regulation as Malta and Luxembourg.

One of the mysteries of this government is why George Osborne made a priority of cutting the 50p tax for the super-rich, thus handing the opposition a stick to beat him with. One possible answer to that is suggested by an FT report from November 2011 on hedge-fund donations to Osborne's party. "There probably aren't many votes in cutting the 50p top rate of tax," one major hedge fund donor told the paper, "but among those that give significant amounts to the party, it's a big issue, and that's probably why it's a big issue for the party too". Just four months later, at the next budget, the 50p rate was scrapped.”

So not only are the extremely wealthy paying huge sums into Tory coffers, they are getting something for their cash. Perhaps our current government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich should be renamed a ‘cashocracy?’

Consider how NewLabour treated the unions when in government and it is clear the unions did not get much in return. They could learn a lot from the Tories.

Truth and surveillance.

“and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free”

If only....

How far have we slipped?

“Any attempt to invade the privacy of a private citizen, doesn’t matter what it is, is in violation of the Bill of Rights, and those who propose such a thing are more of a danger to this country than the ones they want to listen in on.

...There’s always somebody around, Congress, somewhere, that thinks the country won’t last until day after tomorrow unless there’s a lot of wiretapping involved.”
—Harry Truman, quoted in ‘Plain Speaking’

The steady stream of leaks from Edward Snowden build to form a very troubling picture. It would be difficult to get that impression from the mainstream media obsessed by celebrity and ‘Murray mania.’ Thankfully there are journalists out there such as Glen Greenwald, determined to reveal what is going on. 

“But contrary to what some want to suggest, the privacy rights of Americans aren't the only ones that matter. That the US government - in complete secrecy - is constructing a ubiquitous spying apparatus aimed not only at its own citizens, but all of the world's citizens, has profound consequences. It erodes, if not eliminates, the ability to use the internet with any remnant of privacy or personal security. It vests the US government with boundless power over those to whom it has no accountability. It permits allies of the US - including aggressively oppressive ones - to benefit from indiscriminate spying on their citizens' communications. It radically alters the balance of power between the US and ordinary citizens of the world. And it sends an unmistakable signal to the world that while the US very minimally values the privacy rights of Americans, it assigns zero value to the privacy of everyone else on the planet.

This development - the construction of a worldwide, ubiquitous electronic surveillance apparatus - is self-evidently newsworthy, extreme, and dangerous. It deserves transparency. People around the world have no idea that all of their telephonic and internet communications are being collected, stored and analyzed by a distant government. But that's exactly what is happening, in secrecy and with virtually no accountability. And it is inexorably growing, all in the dark. At the very least, it merits public understanding and debate. That is now possible thanks solely to these disclosures.” Glen Greenwald, Guardian 7/7/13

Finally, how much has this coalition government achieved? Here is what they said in the Coalition Agreement back in May 2010

“We will be strong in defence of freedom. The Government believes that the British state has become too authoritarian, and that over the past decade it has abused and eroded fundamental human freedoms and historic civil liberties. We need to restore the rights of individuals in the face of encroaching state power, in keeping with Britain’s tradition of freedom and fairness.” 

And this

“We will restore rights to non-violent protest.

We will introduce safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation.
We will further regulate CCTV.
We will end the storage of internet and email records without good reason.”

Oh yeah.

Romanian MEP

“The reason we fought so hard to join the West was for freedom, not a repeat of what we fought against.”

Gove: A Wheeze a Minute

Oh he is a card isn’t he? One of the few to stand up for Rupert Murdoch at Leveson. Not really surprising as he did very well out of his former boss. Undoubtedly quick-witted and reported (by some) to be charming, he is a bag of ideas fizzing away in the Dept for Education. Thanks to a succession of stooges in the role there are now more powers for an Education Minister than ever before. Just in time for someone like Gove who relishes getting his little paws on all the levers of power and promoting his latest wheeze. Because he is omniscient you see. 

Only in the last couple of weeks have we heard about the following:

• Re-drawing the landscape of History - had to be revised again following complaints from numerous eminent critics.
• GCSE’s revisited and re-named following many twists and turns. At a time when the school leaving age is rising and GCSE - type exams are obsolete.
• Revolving doors for advisers - if they come up with stuff he likes they may get a mention - if they do not they are persona non grata very quickly.
• Abolishing the six week summer holiday and allowing schools to set their own dates. This was quickly rubbished by most parents with children at more than one school, never mind teachers with families attending schools in different authorities to where they teach. 
• Schools to become profit-making businesses.
• Civil servants at the Dfe have to use a grammar text book to ensure what they write or say is good english.
• The collapse of a major company in Sweden who ran free schools over there does not seem to have impacted on the omniscient one.

Gove is so omniscient and so wise he has little need to listen to education experts. As Michael Rosen (not a fan) commented:

“It turns out that bevvies of people have been working in an office near you, thinking that they were "national curriculum expert subject advisory groups". On the other hand, one of your spokespeople thinks "these expert groups were not set up to advise on the curriculum".

Of course, if these national curriculum advisers (who are not advising on the curriculum) happened to agree with every word you said, then I'm sure you would conjure them up as wise men in support of your latest harebrained scheme. Instead, they think what's going on is chaotic, that things aren't thought through.

They think what you propose lacks consistency and academic rigour (O unkindest cut of all, adopting your buzz word rigour and directing it back at you).

As they're just highly experienced teachers and academics, I'm sure you can discount their views and push them through the revolving DfE doors asap.” Michael Rosen Guardian 2/7/13

This was followed swiftly by news that Gove wants to make education profitable. Forget service, forget developing the nation’s young, forget opening minds to the wonders around them. He sees them as yet more cash cows to be milked by his chums, the hedge funds, financiers and bankers. 

“Academies and free schools should become profit-making businesses using hedge funds and venture capitalists to raise money, according to private plans being drawn up by the Education Secretary, Michael Gove.

Details of discussions on the proposed redesign of academy regulations were leaked to The Independent by Department for Education insiders who are concerned that Mr Gove is going too fast and too far in his ambition to convert all 30,000 schools in England to academies.

They are worried that the new setup will divert cash from classrooms, limit the availability of "expensive" subjects such as music and science and end the public service vocation of teachers. They want to see an end to the secrecy over the proposed reforms, which have not been publicly announced.” Independent 3/7/13

What next. How about selling off all the school playing fields to private developers? Oh. They are already on to that. Forget any ‘Olympic Legacy.’

One thing about Gove, he never lets inconvenient facts or arguments interrupt his policy diarrhea.

Cheese-eating surrender monkeys

It is astonishing to consider the twists, turns and diversions that Snowden has created. The actions of one whistleblower are reverberating around the world in ways he cannot have foreseen. 

Yes, he knew the ‘land of the brave and the free’ would revert to type and come after him with everything they have got. Yes he knew his life is now on the line. And yes he knew that there would be many parts of the world where he would be regarded as persona non grata.

What he could not have predicted is the possibility of the presidential plane of the Bolivian people being refused passage across European airspace because Snowden might have been aboard the jet. He could not have predicted that the Austrians would check the plane thoroughly when it was diverted to Vienna. He would not have envisaged the fury in South America at the insulting (and illegal) treatment of one of their own. 

He could have predicted that many countries around the world would do exactly what the United States of Surveillance demanded. But the French? The same bunch who pointedly and correctly avoided getting involved in the Iraq fiasco closed their airspace to Evo Morales’ plane. Much to the disgust of most of their citizenry. 

Remember the opprobrium heaped on the French by the yank shock jocks? Cheese-eating surrender monkeys was among the tamer of the insults. So why the change of approach this time? 

Perhaps when you have such a worldwide information gathering apparatus, you unearth the dirty doings of so many shallow, criminal self-serving politicians in countries all over the world. The secret bank accounts, the mistresses, the conspiracies, the mob connections, the bribes, the fraud, drug-taking, corruption, not forgetting the weapons sales to disreputable regimes or groups..... 

All it takes is a little phone call from Joe Biden. Saint Obama has assured us that he will not engage in diplomatic pressure; cheesy grins and an 'Aw Shucks' approach is his role. He can leave the shit to his attack dog who is all lined up and raring to go.

“Make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Ring any bells?

Finally, would Biden’s calls have been made on a secure encrypted line? 

Thanks to Steve Bell for the following: