Diary Extracts 1st – 31st July 2014

1st July 2014

Following my note yesterday I see Luis Suarez has today admitted he bit the Italian player and apologised for it. I suspect that is after he has had some words with his club, Liverpool.  Some sense at last.

There was a discussion on Today this morning about talking and thinking therapies for mentally unwell people. Three quarters of patients express a preference for psychological treatment rather than medication.  However due to a lack of trained therapists only about 13% have that wish fulfilled. There is a meeting in the House of Commons today where the case for additional funds for cognitive behavioural therapies within the NHS will be pressed.

Rolf Harris was found guilty yesterday of all 12 charges of indecent assault against four girls in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.  He was born in 1930.  I suspect in the last couple of decades he mended his ways but, from a victim’s point of view, closure at some point should always be possible.  That I am sure is what the now older women will have wished to achieve.

 

2nd July 2014

David Cameron gave an interview to Fergus Walsh yesterday which was played on Today this morning. The Prime Minister has said the world should recognise we have a problem with resistance to antibiotic medicines.  It is something the G7 have discussed and they will see what they can do about it.  In Britain a leading economist will work out a plan of action with fellow professionals.  A man from GlaxoSmithKline has said one problem is incentive for commercial companies.  The idea of a good antibiotic drug is that we shouldn’t use it too much.  Otherwise the bugs will soon become resistant as now.  But medicine which isn’t sold will not warrant the hugh investment in research and development to produce it in the first place.  I am sure a solution can be worked out to overcome that difficulty.

Yesterday in Parliament on the programme covered an appearance yesterday by Simon Danczuk before the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. It was arranged I feel to give momentum to Mr Danczuk’s belief that the activities of a well connected paedophile ring operating in the 1970s and 80s should now be fully investigated.  It seems Conservative MP Geoffery Dickins handed the then Home Secretary Leon Brittan two dossiers in 1983 and 1984 alleged that eight named high ranking individuals were involved.  Those papers it appears have been lost.  Mr Dickins died in 1995.  From watching the Mr Danczuk on this evening’s BBC TV news I think he feels Mr Brittan is being less than straightforward about something.  When I last wrote about Mr Danczuk on 17th April 2014 I indicated there could be an intelligence services link to the story.  This evening I have looked at the Aangirfan website.  Allegations are made that the ring was run by MI5, with former members of MI5 and MI6 as well as senior politicians using it.

Last Wednesday I said Milly Dowler’s sister is perfectly entitled to speak about things as she sees them. Today I write the same about Barack Obama.  After hearing a discussion on the edition I have just listened on the internet to over half of the President’s recent speech given in Minneapolis.  He was addressing his people.  He is on their side rather than that of the Washington machine.  His remarks were obviously political.  But he was speaking from the heart, honestly.  He is fed up with the Republicans.  They block every good thing he tries to do.  He has finally got to the stage where he wants to call a spade a spade.  And to hell with the consequences.

When Sarah Montague spoke to the owner of Bild last Friday they also discussed Google’s monopoly power. When Google  changed the programme code for searches of a website associated with Bild it lost 70% of it’s traffic in a few days.  Google’s own competing website might well have taken all those enquirers.  That creates some real moral dilemmas for a business such as Google which exists to make as much money as possible for it’s shareholders.  One compromise put forward is that Google will sell advertising space to the downgraded website to be placed on the one of the new search engine winner.  That it seems to me is a dog eat dog solution; the supermarkets all over again.  The connection the German man makes is that it is like protection money, just as the Mafia would charge.  It is an offer, from a much more powerful entity, you can’t refuse.

Robert Peston was on Today this morning and PM this afternoon. The European Commission have just introduced a law which allows a private individual to have data about themselves removed, which has previously appeared on the internet.  However an unforeseen consequence has arisen in Robert’s case.  In 2007 the BBC’s Economics Editor authored a webpage about Merrill Lynch’s involvement in the financial crash.  He has been notified by Google the article will no longer be available through a search on their UK website.  It seems someone who wrote a comment on the blog, at the bottom of the page, has now got terribly shy.  Why they should also be able to hide Robert’s words of wisdom from the public I am not sure.  It all seems a bit silly to me.

Those whose job it is to look after us in the air seem to be a bit nervous at the moment, especially the ones who cover planes landing in the States. The worry is that al-Qaeda could attempt to set off an entirely plastic bomb, difficult for detectors to pick up, on an airborne aircraft.  It could be hidden inside the body of a suicide bomber for example.  A man on Today was saying more attention should be paid to look at passengers as they walk though boarding control.  If you are just about to commit suicide it is really not possible for you to act in a perfectly normal manner.

There is a diary note in the chapter six appendix of my book, written in April 2012, about supposedly spam emails I regularly receive in my inbox. I am getting as many of them today as I ever did.  As with my light bulbs, which I last wrote about on 15th June 2014, it is mind boggling in it’s childishness.  This morning I received a message from a name the same as that of an acquaintance from last year.  During that time her husband exposed himself to be a Gang helper.  She realised that as did I.  It was not very nice for either of us.

 

4th July 2014

After receiving my court order, as I mentioned last Friday, I contacted the small company to arrange payment. I should have smelt a rat when they replied they hadn’t received it and could I send a copy.  Any need for pretence now is gone of course.  This morning’s email was sent just after 4am.  I don’t think that came from their Bath office. The next time I am down that way I shall drive round and have a look at the address I have been given.  It is probably an accountant’s premises.

It seems to me my notes of last week about the lead up to the First World War clearly indicate hidden gang manoeuvrings in Europe. Additionally my record dated 23rd June 2014, of the German loss of life in 1904 in New York, moves that concept of secret battles occurring, ten years earlier.  Indeed having looked at a few webpages on the internet I suspect, in America, that history goes back as far as their Civil War which started in 1861.  With the chaos involved you can imagine it would have created fantastic opportunities for criminals to make lots and lots of money.  The supply of slaves of course will also have been a source of great wealth long before that.  I see America’s secret service came into existence in July 1865 specifically because a third of the currency in circulation was then counterfeit.  It was set up to combat crime.  When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865 by a Confederate, pro slavery, sympathiser he had the papers for creation of the service on his desk.

I can find no corresponding secret service link for Germany though from that time.  Hidden workings for them it would appear came after the start of the 1914 war.  Things were probably different over here.  The Mafia gangs were still fighting each other for overall superiority.  But Germany would always have been the key player.  It was, and is, the most powerful country in western Europe.

 

5th July 2014

On 10th May 2014 I mentioned the loop road outside my house which services properties but is not a through route to anywhere. It is just over a mile long. I had a letter pushed through the door yesterday afternoon from Kent County Council informing me it is going to be repaired.  It will be shut for six days.  I would say it is already in pretty good nick.  There are no potholes for example which is certainly not the case for some of the larger roads around here.  I expect we will soon have a spanking new road surface at great cost.  Funny how some places seem to be treated more favourably than others.  It all helps with the discipline of course.

The lost paedophile dossier story is continuing. David Cameron has appointed a senior civil servant to investigate.  120 MPs have signed a letter to the Home Secretary calling for an over arching national public enquiry into all the issues raised.  That is officially supported by the Labour Party.  Pressure is beginning to build up all round.  I expect Gang tactics will be to concentrate on allegations of criminality so the matter can be handed over to the police.  Everything will then be sub judice and it can be kicked into the long grass.  When their investigation is concluded everything hopefully will have been forgotten.  In the meantime they will be able to go around in their normal hidden manner frightening key individuals and removing any embarrassing bits of evidence.

It is a real elephant in the room situation, in my view. As always it is the public who are being kept in the dark.  So far I have not read nor heard any mention of possible involvement by our secret service agencies.  It is all obviously too toxic to mention.  Just to compose my note the day before yesterday, and confirm my suspicions, I had to look at a few gossipy websites.  In my view it should not have been necessary for me to have done it.  Allegations are just that.  I suggest them all the time in these pages.  It does not necessarily mean they are true.  But, much more importantly than that I feel, the rumours which are obviously circulating amongst a large number of influential people should not be hidden from the rest of us.  That is simply wrong.

I have heard Frank Gardner say over the last couple of days that airports do have body and ion scanners which should pick up any of the new plastic bombs which are available to the Gang. Not everyone though can be screened.  The trick is to know where to concentrate your resources.  That is where the real time profiling of passengers bit comes in I feel

When you think about it more there is no practical impediment I feel against the Gang paralysing human air transportation across the globe, if that is what they want to do. It is just a matter of numbers, as our summer 2011 riots show.  There are hundreds of jihadist suicide bombers available.  I don’t think it would take the Gang Master too long to have them indoctrinated with the idea an exploded body bomb on a plane would guarantee them entry to heaven.  It would be impossible to prevent.

But of course there is actually one very good reason why that doesn’t happen. The Gang want to control us, not destroy us.  They cannot make money on their own.  They need us to supply them with their streams of revenue.  They are us and we are they.

To sort that out it only needs people to use the lessons of history, to be a bit braver. And to have the knowledge this website would give them.  Since my blog started nearly 500 people have visited this site from 51 countries.  I am really flummoxed why they have told so few of their friends.  But I suppose that is how it works.  We all seem to have at least one terrible fear within us.  And we are afraid to confront it.  The tragedy is it prevents us from doing the right thing.

It led the BBC radio news yesterday morning that Hamas have offered to stop shelling Israel with rocket fire from Gaza if Israel promises to stop carrying out air raids against them. Kevin Connolly says the statement has been brokered by Egyptian military intelligence speaking to the two sides.  I think it was hoped at the time a formal statement would be made which has not happened.  It will undoubtedly, in my view, be the Gang sowing the seeds of subversiveness.

However it seems quite straightforward to understand that Hamas are not as strong as they were. They were formed out of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in 1987.  But Mohamed Morsi is currently in jail awaiting trial.  The fundamentalist Islamic group do not have as many friends as they did.  That is the essential fact the Israelis should not forget I feel.  In Ukraine President Poroshenko has been very sure footed.  He has made one unilateral ceasefire.  When that was not going well he withdrew it and used force.  He has said he will willingly reintroduce another one if his opponents show a peaceful attitude.  I consider the Israelis should now act in the same way.  If they cannot manage to be generous as in Europe, they should be scrupulously fair in dealing with their adversary.  With the knowledge available to them this is the time to start raising themselves above their hurt feelings.  When you reach an accommodation with another, one of you has to make the first move.  The Egyptians are helping as much as they can.  They should not be kicked in the face.

There was a fuss last week about Wonga using a fake debt collection company, themselves in disguise, for chasing customers who owed them money. With that cover of course you can present a much harsher face than Wonga would have used in their own name. It has now emerged it was a very widespread practice also being used by high street banks and utility companies.  Even so I was surprised to hear, from listening to a Lord’s debate on Yesterday in Parliament on Today yesterday, that the Student Loans Company have also been doing it.  Since 2005 they have been using fake solicitors to chase outstanding debt.  Wong’s malpractice started in 2008 for which they have been ordered to pay £2.6 million to customers in compensation.  The practice against students by a public body has also now been discontinued.  It will take a bit of time to change the culture of our society but at least we are on the way.  Just because someone else is not doing the right thing, by leaving a debt outstanding, that is not an excuse for you to also act in an inappropriate way.

A man from Google was on the programme on the right to be forgotten story. He said his company is not particularly happy with the European law, which is causing them a lot of work, but they are trying to implement it in good faith.  He confirmed that  Robert Peston’s page will still come up unless you enter that particular person’s name in your Google query.  He agrees that Google’s letter to Robert could have been better phrased to explain what it was all about.

I have just watched the Wimbledon ladies final on television. The Czech player was better and she won.  Afterwards she climbed the stairs to embrace all the members of her supporting group.  During the game she also looked up at them for moral support.  I think the cohesiveness she felt with them was very important to her.

Rolf Harris was sentenced to just under six years in prison. His demeanour throughout has been the same.  He appears to wish to present himself almost as a victim as well, always walking to and from court slowly holding the hands of the women around him.  Perhaps he was, and is, in a form of denial.

Ukraine ended it’s ceasefire on Monday. Today the rebels have abandoned Loviansk and other parts. They are regrouping in Donetsk and refer to the move as a tactical retreat.

The paedophile dossier story has moved on during the day. It has emerged this evening that a police investigation is already in place following an internal Home Office review last year.  The reference to the Met was in respect of four items of information about Home Office staff.  A senior legal person will be appointed next week by Mrs May to make sure nothing was missed last time.  People are beginning to speak up on both sides of the argument.  David Mellor says Lord Brittan is being unfairly pilloried.  It looks as though it is going to be a messy, nasty business.

Just before the final whistle last night Brazil’s best player received a bad knock on his back when a Colombian player was jumping for the ball from behind. He seemed to be in great pain and was taken off on a stretcher.  I hope he wasn’t play acting.  X-Rays show he has not broken anything but doctors have instructed him that, due to the bruising of his back, he must miss the final stages of the competition.  None of us tell a doctor he is wrong of course.  The Brazilian public are completely mortified and deflated.  By all accounts if Brazil now get through to the final it will be a miracle.

In an article in last Saturday’s FT Norman Lamb is quoted as saying that our ageing population is a big future challenge to our society. As their peers die, more and more people will become lonely and isolated.  The Minister does not feel that should be looked upon as a governmental problem.  A compassionate population looks after it’s own.  Mr Lamb thinks the inhabitants of the 21st century should organise themselves into neighbourhoods of care to help the elderly.

The paper gives an analysis of Mr Cameron’s current relationship with Mrs Merkel. It seems they had a late night glass of wine together in our Brussels embassy after the recent EU vote.  She apologised for leading him up the garden path.  She thought she could accommodate him over Mr Juncker but in the event German politics dictated she could not.  The Prime Minister confided in colleagues that he felt isolated and let down by the episode.  Tell me about it.  When he got back he spoke to Mr Hague and Mr Osborne about how to make the best of things.

A short piece illustrates how the tectonic plates are moving in the Middle East. In view of current events Turkey has decided an independent Kurdish state would be a good idea after all.

 

6th July 2014

After his recent dealings with Theresa May over Birmingham schools I expect Michael Gove knows more than I about current hidden tactics of the Gang. He was on the Andrew Marr Show this morning.  He thinks we should live in today, not the past.  We must be focused and proportionate in any actions we take.

Then Simon Danczuk agreed to do a Becky Milligan interview for the World This Weekend. As I have noticed before Mr Danczuk wishes to be as transparent as he can.  I think he looks upon that as a form of protection.  I feel much the same way.  When he appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday he was expected to name up to four people as alleged paedophiles.  He could have done that without risk of prosecution under the rules of Parliamentary privilege.  In the end he was persuaded against in case he might be wrong.  Even so he and his team are satisfied there is sufficient evidence to believe one individual is guilty.  It that case however he was not asked the question on Tuesday which would have allowed him to provide the name.

 

7th July 2014

With this being my last month of published notes I feel I can exit the scene with my head held high. I suspect Mr Danczuk is quite like me.  He is one of Cyril Smith’s successors as MP for Rochdale and no doubt in that position came to believe the truth of Mr Smith’s sexual activities.  Norman Baker of course did the same thing about the circumstances of Doctor David Kelly’s death.  Mr Baker has since received ministerial post.  Mr Danczuk’s book produced no breakthrough.  He became more and more concerned.  I suspect he could not stop himself speaking out.  A few months ago I heard him interviewed on the radio.  With his voice cracking he said he had not come into politics to deal with this sort of thing.  His perseverance however has finally paid off.

The Home Office carried out an internal review into the handling of Geoffery Dickens’s allegations last year. They kept that secret between themselves and the police.  Today Mrs May announced there will be an open and transparent review of that review by the head of the NSPCC.  It is hoped he will report back within 10 weeks.  Additionally there will be a Hillsborough style inquiry by a panel of experts into the history by parts of our society into the sexual abuse of children.  That will follow the evidence wherever it leads.  If appropriate it will be reconstituted to the status of a public inquiry able to subpoena documents and witnesses.  Any recommendations from that process are not likely to be received until after the election.

The advantage of talking I believe is that it encourages participants to see things in a political way. Suddenly they are in the game of trying to change the opinions of others to their own.  Perhaps that is why the leader of the most powerful Iraqi Shia militia group has just spoken to Jeremy Bowen.  He claims that if it were not for his men ISIS would have swept down through Iraq and now be in control of the whole country.  Unlike ISIS he wishes to protect all Iraqis, not only those from his sect.

The Americans are asking UK airports with flights going there to ensure that all mobile devices carried by passengers are truly what they seem. The worry appears to be that bombs could be disguised as batteries.  We are told that unless we can show an airport official that our mobile phone works from it’s battery it is likely to be confiscated.  I obviously am not an expert but it seems unlikely explosives, the size of a battery, could bring an aircraft down in flight.  Perhaps they are worried that lots of Gang helpers will get onto a plane and pool the contents of their phones.  Generally I don’t think Gang helpers have a death wish.  It doesn’t sound like a solid scenario to me.

 

8th July 2014

It is beginning to look as if Gaza might play out in a similar way to Ukraine earlier in the year. There does seem to be a loosening at the top of the Israeli government.  They are letting in a few chinks of light to the political pressures and manoeuvrings occurring just under the surface.  For the first time ever I have heard calm, authoritative official people talking from Israel over the last few days other than Mark Regev.  Mr Netanyahu appears to be keeping his own counsel.  He will be the man who has to show clear, strong leadership at the end of the day.  I am pleased to see that a clear distinction is being made between the government’s duty to protect it’s innocent civilians, whether Jews or Muslims, and fighting it’s enemies.  What does appear to be lacking though at the moment is any form of appreciation by Hamas that there might be Gang trickery going on.  Their deep hatred for the Jewish race means they must keep firing rockets of provocation until their last breath.  Perhaps Fatah can talk some sense into them.

There was a former MI6 man on Today yesterday. He said a signature of al-Qaeda’s is it’s interest in air transportation.  He suspects the recent fuss over phone battery bombs is as much about them wanting to challenge The Islamic Front’s headline grabbing as much as anything else.  That would certainly fit in with how the Gang work.  However in his view al-Qaeda have become pretty much a spent force since the London bombings of 2005.

The Paedophile Information Exchange was a lobbying group in existence between 1974 and 1984. It had a truly subversive message but for some reason top society at the time thought it was a view which deserved an airing.  I heard a clip on the programme of it’s chairman arguing on television that if children got pleasure from adults acting sexually with them there was really no harm in it.  A responsible paedophile was merely facilitating that desire.

I do wish my Gang director would try and calm down a bit. He has always had a thing about dripping water, using such things as perished rubber gutter joins, rotted timber or leaking roofs.  Now it is dry he has moved onto the radiator valve in the sunroom.  First I used a little cup to stop the apparent drips, which I have never seen flowing, making the floor wet.  Yesterday I had to put a sponge down.  Today with a still wider pool I have used a towel.  I also put the washing out on the driers in there yesterday.  Just to remind me I am being bullied, this morning I found one of my rubber band drier joiners gone. I put a new one on yesterday.  When I did the ironing there were marks on the sheets.  Things always follow a very consistent pattern.

I mentioned about a firm of solicitors with whom I have been dealing in Hertfordshire on 29th April 2014. It concerned a legal transaction in which I am involved with my daughter.  As they are not local I have had to visit a legal man in my main town to sort out the signature formalities.  I saw him yesterday for the fourth time.  He is in charge of a small office.  The second time was because the instructing party were not happy with the size of my passport photograph, the third was necessary after my envelope became lost in the post, and yesterday was due to a drafting error not mentioned earlier.

The main purpose of the note though is to say how different the atmosphere was this time in the local office in comparison with my earlier visits. The gentleman is an experienced solicitor, near the end of his career I would say.  Previously we used his room and agreed how silly the whole thing was.  Yesterday we sat at a desk in the entrance general office whilst the five ladies there were chatting away.  He was quite unfocused, almost lackadaisical.  Before he had asked me to swear an oath that the document was true.  This time he did not bother.  He did not ask if I would like a receipt for my payment as previously.  And that complete change of attitude has happened in a matter of weeks.  The culture of his whole office has been turned upside down

Fortunately I feel the culture at Westminster is going in the other direction. Keith Vaz appeared on the World at One yesterday speaking about the paedophile dossier affair.  After Simon Danczuk appeared before his committee last week Mr Vaz wrote a letter asking some questions to the permanent secretary of the Home office.  He received a very full and helpful reply.  Indeed Mr Vaz said Parliament received more information in that one letter from the government department than they had seen in the last seven years.

The third stage of the Tour de France finished in London yesterday. It was a great success.  It generated large crowds earlier in Yorkshire and yesterday down from Cambridge.  It has been a good advert for the country as a whole.  The Gang were niggling away, in my view, by shutting the Channel Tunnel and encouraging some spectators to do silly things but it did not change the overall impression.  Next time, with that experience, we will be better prepared for their silly games.

The 1960’s of course, after we had thrown off the effects of the Second World War, were the decade of flower power, mini skirts, drug use and sexual freedom. Although I didn’t have the confidence to participate I think it was all a good thing.  I heard an MP in the chamber say on Yesterday in Parliament on Today this morning that the trouble with the 1970s and 80s was that a general confusion arose between sexual liberalisation and exploitation.  That gave cover to paedophiles to do what they liked with young kids.

A former child protection manager who has not spoken to the media for 20 years was on Newsnight last night. He said that over that time he has spoken to many men who have survived the sexual abuse experiences of their youth.  It is now time for their stories to be heard.  He suggested the adults who abused them came from all walks of life including politicians, military figures and members of the judiciary and Royal Household.  I understand he has been given 20 names of abusers.

This afternoon it has been announced that the retired High Court judge Lady Butler-Sloss will head the overarching review into the child sex abuse claims. The government are not going to rush into it though.  They first want to set up their panel of experts.  Once they are appointed consultations will take place about the best terms of reference.  The worry I think is that it is such a big subject it could swamp everyone.  Unless there is a focus on achievable aims they might have to resort to general, committee written platitudes.  As Mr Justice Leveson has said there is no point having any report being consigned to a footnote in history.

There have been five helicopter crashes associated with our North Sea oil field in the last four years. The Commons Transport Committee has been looking into the situation.  The committee chair was on the World at One at lunchtime.  She said there is a bullying culture in the industry allowing an attitude of complacency to take hold.  If you complain about safety you are accused of being a scaredy cat.  One of the earlier away from home instances that my activities generated I believe, described in my book, was the evacuation of the Safe Scandanavian oil rig in February 2008.

It was announced this afternoon that the short Home Office lost files review will receive independent legal advice from the prosecution barrister in the Lee Rigby trial.

George Osborne and William Hague are in India at the moment on a trade mission, meeting with their new Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To go with that it has been announced a statue of Mahatma Ghandi will be commissioned for Parliament Square.  Mr Hague says it will be a fitting tribute to a great man.  The BBC reporter accompanying them on the visit is Robert Peston.  I hope Robert has a pleasing trip away.

Just before I turn the computer off I thought I would look up those Donald Rumsfeld words spoken at that press conference in February 2002, before the start of the Iraq war just over a year later. In my language he said there are things we know we know, there are things we know we don’t know and then there are things we didn’t know we didn’t know.  If something unexpected happens, or something expected doesn’t happen, thought processes can always analyse those situations within one of the three categories.  The Gang story for most people is something they didn’t know they didn’t know.  When I try and make my connections away from home I am always aware they are things I know I don’t know.  I hope however that my assumptions are normally right.  The things I know I know are those which go on in my sight within my private life.

 

9th July 2014

The Air Accident Investigation Branch report is out this morning on the US military helicopter crash over a Norfolk wildlife reserve in January 2014, in which all four crew members died. It seems the craft flew into a flock of geese.  At least three birds went through the windscreen knocking out the pilot and co-pilot.  With that loss of control the aircraft crashed three seconds later.

I was looking at some webpages about Hamas in Gaza yesterday. I see it is a a Sunni Muslim organisation.  Wikipedia indicates there have been no official national channels of funding for it in recent years.  It also notes the Muslim Brotherhood from which it derives is Sunni in doctrine.  Although as it is thought to have over two million members worldwide I think that can only be a rough categorisation.  Hezzbollah in Lebanon is Shia.  I imagine that is why the Alawite Shia government in Damascus decided to team up with the

On 30th June 2014 I said all my private Gang records one day will be sent to a publicly accessible library. One of those is a letter I received dated 9th January 2008 offering to buy my home from me.  I record it in chapter 3 of my book. At the time of writing, probably in early 2012, I had it in front of me.  More recently, just like the 114 lost Home Office files, I haven’t been able to find it.  Other items of correspondence also appear to have gone missing.  They might turn up eventually but otherwise some gaps could appear in the totality of my personal records.

Following my note on Saturday, it has happened. Brazil lost against Germany last night.  Far worse than that though it was the manner of the defeat, by seven goals to one.  With the benefit of hindsight it is clear the Brazilian players were in an extremely fragile emotional state as they walked onto the pitch.  The way they lost their best player at the weekend did leave a debilitating scar.  If they had scored an early goal it would have been different I am sure. The opposite happened,  Germany made the first quick strike. It was a disaster from then on.  Dilma Rousoff has asked everyone to shake the dust off and come out on top.  I think that will take a bit of time.  It is a very good example, if you weren’t already convinced, of how the fortunes of one person can affect the outlook of eleven who then go on to destroy the confidence of a whole nation.  In due course I hope they will look at it from a glass half full perspective.  To get to the semi-finals was an extremely good achievement.

They were saying on Today this morning that last night Gaza suffered it’s worst Israeli air strikes for nearly two years. On the other side Hamas apparently has acquired some longer range rockets which can land 80 miles away.  Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Hadera are now within striking distance.

The Permanent Secretary at the Home Office appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee yesterday as I heard on the Yesterday in Parliament section of the programme. The first internal paedophilia review was carried out last year after Tom Watson made his claims.  A professional investigator was employed.  However who read the totality of his report is by no means clear to me.  The Civil Servant didn’t see everything and he only gave the Home Secretary the broad conclusions and an executive summary.  The need to cover your back and not be in a position where you have information which you could be asked about, is still paramount it seems.  You can see a bit of trust is beginning to creep into the system but it certainly won’t happen overnight.  One committee member asked if MI5 might have copies of the 114 missing files in their archives.  The Permanent Secretary said he didn’t know.  I hope he will now go and find out.

One of the figures in the paedophile story is Peter Righton, a consultant to social workers, who was convicted of having illegal images of children in his Worcestershire home in 1992. Mr Righton died a few years ago.  Tom Bateman has spoken to a former police detective involved in that case.  The gentleman said a diary was found which indicated Mr Righton had had sexual activity with two hundred children, indicating an organised set up.  There was also evidence of contact with senior establishment figures such as members of the clergy.  He passed his information to the paedophile unit at Scotland Yard.

Just when you think there are no more big Gang schemes to be played, another one comes trundling into view. A lady was interviewed about Afghanistan.  One of the two leading Presidential candidates, Abdullah Abdullah, received 45% of the vote in the first round.  Ashraf Ghani obtained 31%.  However in the second round Mr Ghani’s apparent support increased by 20% and he has been declared the winner. Not unnaturally Mr Abdullah smells a rat.  He is talking of forming a parallel government. The Americans, in the form of John Kelly, have immediately waded in to see what they can do.  Their aid of course effectively keeps the country afloat.  But bearing in mind each sovereign country has a right to make it’s own decisions it is one of those impossible situations I am afraid.  You are dealing with a society I suspect which has little respect for democracy.  It is a new concept for them.  I can’t immediately think of a solution I am afraid.

The Gang of course are haters of democracy. I relate in my book how I believe a man wearing a sleeveless vest in a battered lorry was hoping to knock me over on General Election day in 2010 as I walked back from the polling station.  Fortunately for me avoidance was quite easy.  I just stood on the bank of the hedgeless field as he approached me.  However my Gang director has a complete obsession with a 15 yard stretch of lane near my gate.  It has a high bank on either side meaning removal of my person from the line of fire would be impossible.  It does have property entrances at either end though so, when I am on my guard, I listen for the sound of an approaching vehicle before venturing out.  Over the last few years I would say there have been at least a dozen tries against me, probably a lot more.  There was another one yesterday afternoon as I was walking back from the post box but with a permutation which hasn’t been attempted before.  As I was approaching that stretch a tatty, wide Land Rover type vehicle drove past me.  There was a dog sitting on the passenger seat.  I didn’t think too much when I heard a vehicle behind me.  I was beside the first entrance anyway so just stood there.  It was the man and the dog again.  He had turned around.  Fortunately for me his timing was a second or two out.  My confirmation that it was a Gang try came a few seconds later when a car came along, hopefully to stumble across the incident, from the other direction.

This afternoon John Mann MP has indicated that other government departments do hold copies of Mr Dickens’ paedophilia dossier. However the civil servants he has spoken to are afraid of saying anything publicly in case they are in breach of the Official Secrets Act.  I shouldn’t be too cynical I suppose but that information might well get our security service off the hook nicely.

A suited representative of Hamas was interviewed on Channel 4 News this evening presumably speaking from Gaza. He was the spokesman for foreign relations and said Hamas do not wish to kill. They seek freedom for their people.

I wrote about the non charging battery in my laptop on 27th June 2014. I have been meaning to order a new one but just haven’t got round to it yet.  About ten minutes ago I changed position in my armchair and felt my leg against a cable.  I have just discovered I pulled the power cable lead out of the laptop socket.  But my computer is still working.  Looking at the bottom right hand corner of my screen I see I am using battery power.  I now have a battery that works.  It is extremely kind of someone to have put it in there for me, for free.  It is really nice to have a Good Samaritan around like that.  If anyone knows who it was I shall gladly send them a thank you letter.

My note of 30th June 2014 mentions I sent out some emails that day. They went to people at the BBC, the Guardian, The Financial Times, the London Evening Standard and Private Eye.  I offered to speak to them in London, in confidence, about my story if any of them would like me to.  When I had not heard back by the end of yesterday I was sure silence would be the order of the day.  It is as it has always been for me.  I have decided to look upon it with a glass full attitude.  It was thought that would be the best thing for me.

In his article in last Wednesday’s FT about the ISIS advance David Gardner mentioned Wahhibi Islam. Looking at Wikipedia I see it holds fundamentalist beliefs for Sunni Muslims and is the ideology which connects al-Qaeda, the Taliban and ISIS.  The largest numbers of Wahhibis are found in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.  The size of the sect in their populations is 47%, 45% and 23% respectively.

 

10th July 2014

When I wrote about the power cut at my Guernsey hotel on 18th and 19th February 2014 I concluded some dysfunctionality existed between Gang ground troops and high command. It is just as though you are dealing with a machine.  It always does exactly the same thing irrespective of the circumstances, whether it is a smart or stupid thing to do.  Gang members are so arrogant they just can’t stop themselves showing you how clever they are, for no strategic purpose at all.  I had an example this morning.

When I went to Maidstone I had a coffee in Cafe Nero on the first floor of House of Fraser. I used a table looking out over Fremlin Walk.  Soon after I sat down the girl who served me came round to clear some tables.  I believe she texted the Gang my table and seat number.  From his plan the operative in the Gang control room knew my scope of vision.  I could see a metal waste bin in the centre of the outside concourse.  It had apertures two thirds of the way up for rubbish and a hole at the top for cigarette ends.  After a bit a man came up, not wearing a uniform, with a long handled brush and pan.  After a bit of flicking around he took some keys out of his pocket and opened the bin.  He took out the cigarette butt tray at the top, looked at it and put it back.  On other occasions I expect he has put things found there into his pocket.

It broke at 8am this morning that the Government, with Labour support, are going to introduce emergency legislation next week. Malcombe Rifkind was aware on Today this morning so I expect it started to be discussed at the beginning of the week.  Mr Cameron looked quite fed up at the news conference this morning I feel.  I think he suspects the Gang have a plan afoot to spring an attack on us next month, perhaps along the lines of the summer 2011 riots. This exercise though I believe would involve criminals.  By coming at us all individually, but in a concerted way, it could cause communal panic.  It might be along the lines that we could all see the effect but have no idea what could be causing it.

The best way of combating the threat is to have the most efficient intelligence gathering operation available to us that we can. I now suspect that is the way Keith Bristow was thinking when he spoke on 25th June 2014, as I noted that day.  He could see that criminals, with the help of friends in communications providers, are getting better and better at hiding things from us.  If the stream of intelligence were suddenly switched off we would be completely in the dark about what was going on around us.  As a temporary belt and braces approach Mr Cameron wants to make absolutely sure all the legal powers we might need are available to us before MPs go on holiday at the end of next week.  The information we have been given is as follows.

On 8th April 2014 the European Court of Justice ruled that a 2006 communications data retention law is not compatible with our basic human rights. The decision would give phone and internet companies cover, should they wish to use it, to stop providing customers’ data to their state under existing arrangements.  There is a case about it to be heard in our High Court next week.  The new legislation therefore will confirm the powers we thought we had before the European court case.  It will remain in force until December 2016.  The next Parliament will decide how to move forward from there.  The order of challenges Mr Cameron mentioned were those associated with serious and organised crime, paedophiles, Syria, Iraq and East Africa.  A new Oversight Board will be created to monitor protection of our civil liberties.  Annual reviews will be made.  Mr Cameron is not going to be a Prime Minister who has to apologise to his people after a terrorist incident.  He is going to head off the Gang at the pass.  A senior former diplomat will be appointed to liase with foreign governments over hoped for international data retention agreements.

It is that multi national aspect which seems to be missing from it all at the moment. Organised crime is global but we are essentially only concentrating on ourselves.  After the ISIS intelligence fiasco you do wonder if governments are losing faith in their state services.  Coincidence or not but Germany has today announced they are expelling the top CIA man in their country, based at the American embassy, for inappropriate spying activity.  Perhaps we are all on our own now.

This week Theresa May became the longest serving Home Secretary since 1962. She has continuously served since the General Election.  Danny Shaw said on Today this morning that she came to the job with no baggage or preconceived ideas.  That meant she listened to the arguments put to her.  She has the ability to command a meeting by sheer force of personality.

There was also a report from Ukraine. Their government is taking steps to regain all areas in the east of the country still under rebel control.  The unanswered question I suppose is what will happen to Crimea.  The difference there is that a democratic election took place.  Perhaps it comes down to whether you look upon it as an authentic, consistent assessment of public sentiment made without any form of emotional duress.

Hamas was elected to power in 2006. Like the Revolutionary Guards of the democratic government in Iran it does have a military wing, called the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, an academic was saying on the broadcast.  Their public mandate does provide the whole of Hamas with an element of respectability of course.  You cannot, nor should you want to, destroy political will with guns.  Separately I see that Egypt has temporarily opened the Rafah border crossing to take wounded Palestinians to Egyptian hospitals for treatment.  I feel that was kind of them.

 

11th July 2014

The BBC reports this morning that the Gaza death toll from Israeli air stikes has topped 100. Their webpage also records that in a telephone conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu President Obama has offered to broker a ceasefire if that is what the two sides want.

The Business News on Today this morning told me there was a wobble on the stock market yesterday. It was all over a Portuguese bank having to suspend it’s stock exchange listing because there was a run on it’s shares.  Apparently it raised some capital a couple of weeks ago which has brought to light the extremely complicated ownership structure it has with it’s holding company.  People have realised that if the top company went down it might well take the bank with it.  I expect that situation could be multiplied many times over with other banks so a bit of panic ensued.

Two months ago an eastern European gentleman was found in a park in Peterborough with amnesia. An appeal has been launched to try and identify him.  His psychiatrist was interviewed on the programme.  The doctor readily accepted that the man might be faking although his assessment is that he is genuinely distressed.  However it is not his position to judge.  He listens to what the man says and then does everything he can to help him.

Soon after that there was a report from Gaza and one from southern Israel. The Palestinian lady was inconsolable about the death of her relatives who died in their beds.  The English teacher was speaking from the bomb bunker in her house in case a Hamas rocket came over during the interview.  She had no hatred in her heart, she was just quite rightly confused by what is going on.  She said she must trust her leaders that they will do their best for her.  Over to you Mr Netanyahu.

There was some comment from a former American ambassador in Germany to the spying spat. He was asked why countries feel a need to spy on their friends.  He thought it just seems to be part of the human condition.  We always want to find out more than we actually need to know.

The BBC’s Director General spoke on the World at One about his announcement during the day that the present quota system for the BBC to produce half of it’s total output, will cease when it’s charter is renewed in 2017. Equally though all production units within the Corporation will then be allowed to bid for any outside work they wish.  It will open up the Beeb to normal forces of competition.

This evening Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has had very good positive telephone conversations with both Mrs Merkel and Mr Obama.

 

12th July 2014

I think my note on Wednesday about the white van turning in my road must have angered my Gang director. Yesterday afternoon I was walking up to the bus stop.  A man in a van was driving towards me.  Even though it wasn’t necessary he very considerately stopped in the road and waited for me to reach an entrance before driving past.  Shortly afterwards I heard a vehicle driving towards me at speed from behind.  I happened to be by a property drive so just stopped there.  It was the same man.  I expect he wanted to frighten me.  Immediately afterwards I came across a rough looking couple with a dog walking in the road.  Even though it was drizzling I said what a lovely day it was for a stroll.  They agreed with me effusively.  I laughed a bit too much.

An item on the radio news this morning was about the parole board who consider prisoners’ applications for remission towards the end of their sentences. Last autumn the Suprme Court decided, in the interests of natural justice, that submissions can be made orally if those convicted wish it.  The counter argument is that the process is a bit pointless for many prisoners whose past conduct means they have no chance of having their terms alleviated.  Nevertheless I don’t think the authorities are complaining too much.  It is just a question of making available the extra resources for the new workload involved.  It is thought the number of hearings will now go up each year by 11,500 at a cost of over £10 million.

An Israeli minister and a representative from the Palestinian Mission in London were on Today this morning. Nothing new  was said by either side.  The man in Israel explained why his government feel it necessary to deal with Hamas.  The one in London didn’t really want to talk about the group’s rocket attacks.  He concentrated on the larger picture.

Following on from another of Wednesday’s notes the former head of Hereford and Worcester Health Authority was also interviewed. At the time Mr Righton’s activities were coming to light he took himself off to the Department of Health in London to tell senior Civil Servants that it seemed a high level network of paedophiles existed.  He said his allegation was not rebutted but the phrase he recalls being said to him was that they were too many of them over there, which he took to be the Houses of Parliament.  Nothing was done.

In last Saturday’s FT Christopher Caldwell writes about child immigration into the US. In 2008 Congress passed a law tightening up on traffickers bringing illegal immigrants into the States.  However it has a somewhat odd provision.  Unaccompanied migrants under the age of 18 from countries which do not border America can apply for asylum in the least restrictive setting which is in the best interests of the child.  That means that a South or Central American 17 year old for example, not from Mexico, can smuggle themselves, or be smuggled, into America with the hope of being granted asylum.  To apply for residence when staying with foster parents or relatives is allowed, otherwise for humanitarian reasons state provided centres are used for those found on the streets.  Since last October apparently 52,000 minors, at a average cost of $5,000 each, have turned up at the Mexican border where smugglers take them north.  Quite a racket, just the sort of thing which upsets people.  Some communities feel under threat from the weight of numbers.  It is just like the illegal migrant camp at Calais all over again.  And President Obama is getting a lot of stick for it especially from the Republicans, even though it is their law.  Sometimes you just can’t win.

On the next page Roula Khalaf writes about Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the young looking leader of the Islamic State, also called ISIS. It seems he sees himself as a successor to the Prophet Mohammed.  In the recent videoed address to his followers he said he would give them dignity, might, rights and leadership.  He thinks al-Qaeda have become irrelevant since the death of Osama bin Laden.  He is a man apparently who wants to rule the world.

There is also a lengthy investigative piece on GlaxoSmithKline in China. I wrote about the bribery allegations involved on 16th July 2013 and 14th May 2014.  The suspicion seems to be that their manager there was set up and bullied by elements of the Chinese state, possibly with the help of the company’s former government relations director.  There were also strange events around the death of Neil Heywood in China in November 2011 which I last substantially wrote about on 22nd August 2013.  GlaxoSmithKline sent a British private investigator to the country to see what he could find out.  Last July he and his American wife were arrested and face one outstanding charge of illegally purchasing private information.  They are due to be tried next month in a secret court.

 

13th July 2014

There was a BBC webpage published on Friday on caste discrimination within Indian society in Britain. It was written by the BBC’s South East Political Editor.  Gravesend in Kent has a Sikh population of over 6,500.  They started coming to the town from India in the mid 1950s.  In recent times tensions have arisen in the Sikh and Hindu communities as a result of the caste system.  The three local MPs, in Gravesend, Dartford and Rochester have joined together to call for a change in the law to protect those who are suffering bullying.  The government are looking into it.

After my note on Wednesday about Afghanistan John Kerry who has been in the country. The two presidential candidates have agreed to a recount of all votes made no doubt also looking for any fraudulent ballots.  There are 8 million of them so it will be a big job lasting weeks.  However both men have agreed to abide by the outcome.

On 23rd April 2014 I said I was puzzled by Tony Blair making a speech about Muslim extremism just as the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks were floundering. After listening to Sunday this morning I know many attendees at the current Church of England meeting in York feel the same way after the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey’s, contribution to the assisted dying debate.  News of his Daily Mail article came through a few hours after General Synod started on Friday.  Up until then the big issue, on which everyone wanted to focus, was the vote for women bishops.  It was highly political timing  which many found quite upsetting.

Doctor Carey has changed his mind on helping terminally ill patients to die. He now feels in some circumstances it can be the best course to alleviate the person’s suffering.  However the Bishop of Carlisle was saying on the programme the Church’s view is that policy would endanger vulnerable old people who could be coerced by others in private into saying they want to exit this world as quickly as possible when it isn’t actually their true wish.  If you have bad motive it is not difficult, in my view, to make others feel guilty about all sorts of things.  Being alive, inconveniencing others, could well be one such suggestion by individuals like that.

 

14th July 2014

It is estimated one billion people watched Germany beat Agentina in the World Cup Final last night. It was a close match.  Mrs Merkel travelled to Rio de Janeiro to watch it.  On the winners’ podium she gave each of her players an individual hug.  You wouldn’t get a man doing that.

All three houses of the Church of England easily voted for women bishops at the General Synod this afternoon. That will free them up to think about some really big issues affecting mainstream society at the moment. They are now much more closely aligned with us.

Before he went over to his room at the Commons this evening to start his Cabinet reshuffle David Cameron was at the Farnborough airshow. I’m not sure where the money has been found but he has announced a rise in defence spending of £1.1 billion.  £800 million has been earmarked for intelligence and surveillance activities.

Jeremy Bowen made the simple point on Today this morning that there is no prospect of Israel invading and occupying Gaza. A ceasefire will happen.  It is just a question of how and when.  Later an American diplomat previously involved in Middle East negotiations was interviewed.  He suggested that Egypt, Qatar and Turkey might be able to help to bring about a settlement.  Egypt could open the Rafah crossing, Mr Erdogan is a friend and has influence with Hamas and Qatar might provide financial support.

The programme ended with a discussion on whether whips use the threat of exposing private indiscretions of their MPs to encourage them to toe the party line. Mark Reckless was saying he has heard of instances where that has happened.

 

15th July 2014

I wrote about the two parts of Hamas on Thursday. It seems their internal divisions create an extremely dysfunctional whole.  It was announced overnight that Egypt had negotiated a truce between Hamas and Israel.  The Jewish state accepted it this morning.  I am sure Hamas’ political leaders wanted to agree it as well.  But they did not have their military wing on board.  The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades called it a surrender.  Their response was to fire 60 rockets over the border.  After six hours of cessation Israel also resumed hostilities.

Things are getting no better in Iraq. Parliament has still not managed to do any business let alone make considered decisions since the elections in April.   A BBC correspondent was on Today this morning.  She has spoken in Erbil to the Foreign Minister of semi autonomist Kurdistan.  He referred to the Kurds as having two neighbours.  The expansionist movement of ISIS and the failed government in Bagdhad.

The Information Commissioner appeared, to coincide with his annual report.  His office’s workload is getting greater and greater.  He wants more resources and the right of entry in surprise visits to organisations.  His staff investigate many government departments but a complete no go area for them is anything to do with our three national intelligence agencies.

The first news about the Cabinet reshuffle yesterday was that Ken Clarke is leaving the government.  At 74 he deserves it.  Ken is a very amiable chap so was pleased to give us his current thoughts later in the broadcast.  He said that over the last ten to twenty years Europe has suffered relative decline in comparison with many other parts of the world such as America and China.  If we work with our continental colleagues we can turn that trend around.  He also pleads with his Conservative colleagues that they don’t become totally obsessed with the European question.  Our ongoing economic recovery is actually more important.

Libya appears to have finally dropped into anarchy. Two militia groups have become so self centred they have just had a pitched battle over control of Tripoli’s international airport, destroying or damaging 90% of the planes there.  It will probably not re-open for months.  None of the three main civilian airports in the country are now operating.  The government are talking about asking for outside help to restore law and order but it seems unlikely.  The time for that however is long past I feel.  They should be taking responsibility for their own problems.

Just about all the reshuffle moves are now in.  I am sure everything is Mr Cameron’s own work.  Michael Gove said on Channel 4 News this evening that the Prime Minister asked him last Tuesday if he would agree to become Chief Whip.  He agreed.  In 2012 I recall Iain Duncan Smith declined to move from his Work and Pensions role.  I imagine Mr Cameron wants to keep a tight grip on party discipline in the febrile atmosphere leading up to the next election.  Education policy could also probably now do with a low profile.  William Hague has decided he will leave national politics at the General Election.  In the meantime he will be Leader of the Commons.  I wish him all the best for the future.  The new Foreign Secretary, Peter Hammond, will be a safe pair of hands I feel.  The number of ladies in the cabinet has increased from three to five.  The Home Office and Justice Ministry have been beefed up I consider by appointing Mike Penning in the joint departmental role of policing and criminal justice minister.

Abdel al-Sisi became Egyptian president on 8th June 2014.  Last Wednesday’s FT records that, under pressure from his Gulf donors, he has just put up public fuel costs.  The price of diesel has risen by 64% with similar increases for other fuels and electricity.  It is naturally unpopular but he says he had no choice but to reduce Egypt’s $20 billion fuel subsidy bill, accounting for 20% of state spending.

Lord Patten was Chairman of the BBC Trust from May 2011 until May 2014.  It was a torrid time for the Corporation, a chief Gang target in my view, with the departure of two Director Generals and the breaking of the Jimmy Saville affair.  Lord Patten cited health reasons for his resignation.  Thursday’s FT notes that he has just been appointed head of Pope Francis’ new media board as the Pontiff tries to sort out the scandal ridden Vatican bank.  I think Lord Patten will be well suited for the role.

In Friday’s FT was an article by Martin Wolf suggesting that we should pay more attention to our mental health. He has read a book recently published about it by an economist and a psychologist.  In the UK apparently fewer than a third of adults with mental disorders receive treatment in comparison with 90% of those with diabetes.   Similar statistics apply for America and mainland Europe.  If it cannot be seen we tend to ignore it.  I am confident that imbalance will be adjusted in future years.  However the essence of the problem with defective thought processes I feel is that you yourself have to recognise a problem exists.  It is what denial is all about.  You can have the best mental health facilities in the world but, unless individuals choose to take advantage of them, they will be of absolutely no use to anyone.

 

16th July 2014

There is a superb good news story around this morning about a primary school near Burnley.  Elder pupils were sent a letter with their annual test results.  It has been publicised on social media.  It was the most uplifting wording you could possibly imagine without one sentiment out of place.  For example, irrespective of their exam scores, it reminds pupils they are trustworthy, kind or thoughtful and everyone knows they try every day to be their very best.

One of the purposes of the National Crime Agency when it was set up last autumn was the ability to coordinate national operations involving all our 43 police services. That function came to fruition today when nearly 660 men were arrested for allegedly having sexually illegal images of children on their computers.  Included in that number were doctors, teachers, scout leaders, care workers and former police officers.

Yesterday in Parliament, on Today this morning covered yesterday’s Commons debate on the government’s emergency data retention legislation. I heard Dianne Abbott say it is an insult to the intelligence of MPs.  Tom Watson suggested it is democratic banditry resonant of a rouge state.  A BBC webpage informs me David Davis referred to the timetable as being entirely improper.  Nevertheless the motion was carried by 498 votes to 31 and the bill has passed to the Lords for two days of debate.

There was also a discussion on the subject of living a lie. A good liar apparently, such as a hardened criminal, has the ability to hide the emotion they feel and, for the moment, to believe what they are saying to you.  It just doesn’t occur to most people apparently that the other person might be deceitful.  Yet a sweaty brow in an inappropriate setting, as I have seen before for example, is a dead giveaway.  It seems there will invariably be some form of tell tale signs that the person feels under stress.  If they get away with it, unfortunately it increases their confidence no end and they become much better at it.

I have my own individual strategy for dealing with those situations. You cannot go around living your life in a fearful, paranoid way.  When I speak to people therefore I always accept absolutely the truth of what they say to me.  Sometimes I work through with them the thought process resulting in the words uttered.  Then after the event I sit down quietly with myself and think about what happened, including all the little nuances. It is remarkable what you can work out, with a decent degree of certainty.  If my conclusions are not good I adapt my future behaviour in relation to that person accordingly.

There was also a BBC reporter sending a piece from Xinjiang province in China. It is where 10 million Sunni Muslim Uyghur people live out of a population of 22 million. Some of them would like their own state.   At the beginning of March 2014 a black clothed terrorist group from that community randomly attacked passengers with knives and machetes in a crowded railway station there.  29 people died and 130 were injured.  Some have called it China’s 9/11 moment.  Travelling security for everybody in the region has become suffocating.  Ordinary Uyghur people are being victimised.  A downward spiral has started towards mutual fear and emotional brutality.

I was quite shocked as I listened to Lyse Doucet’s report from Gaza during the broadcast. When I wrote about the Egyptian ceasefire proposal yesterday I assumed there had been some discussions about it; that it wasn’t the work of some secretive clique.  However Lyse has found out, by actually speaking to them no doubt, that the Hamas leadership knew nothing about it.  Neither did many members of the Israeli cabinet.  Talk about making it easy for the Gang.  It must be like taking candy off a baby for them.  I have never heard of grown men acting in such a way in all my life.  And if they think firing missiles at each other will help, they are wrong.  Lyse points out that the social and economic conditions of people living in Gaza are absolutely terrible. It is like a prison camp.  If leaders on both sides of the border can’t see those lives need to be improved their thought processes are crass in the extreme.

After the Francis report was published the NHS looked into hospitals with high patient mortality rates. As a result of what was found 11 Trusts were put into special measures in July 2013.  The process apparently has worked well.  Of the nine with first year’s results in, eight have improved.  The only one which hasn’t is Medway, in the unitary authority surrounded by Kent.

Flowing on from that Jeremy Hunt has announced today that the same inspection and remedial regime will be extended to the care sector next year. It will include care homes in public and private control as well as care agencies who visit clients in their own homes.  The BBC webpage I have read doesn’t mention anything about cost but no doubt the Care Quality Commission will be given the extra resources it needs for it’s expanded role.

You sense there is some nervousness in the American military at the moment about the airworthiness of their new F-35 combat jet.  Each one costs $20 million.  It has been ordered for use on our two aircraft carriers currently being built.  A plane had an engine fire last month of which it seems the cause hasn’t completely been established.  Although the fleet is now in the air again it was decided flying for three hours over water, from there to here for the Farnborough Airshow, was a risk too big to take.

A very nice just retired detective chief inspector in the Met appeared on Newsnight last night. He was very much a Dixon of Dock Green type of man, kind, considerate and not wanting to throw aspersions.  But he thought he had things to tell.  It seems that in 1998 he was leading an investigation into alleged paedophilia at children’s home in the London borough of Lambeth.  He was given a list of names.  He had the feeling that the informants he was speaking to were very afraid, for their own safety and that of their families.  He mentioned those names at a police case progress conference.  He was informed by his superiors that was inappropriate behaviour and removed from the investigation.  He was also the man who ultimately secured a murder conviction against two of Stephen Lawrence’s attackers.  In that case he saw mutual distrust between his colleagues and Stephen’s family.  He was able to sooth it out.  Yet he still felt some of his superiors were unenthusiastic about his work and did not want him to suceed.  He thought various colleagues were carrying out disruption tactics against him.  Now he has left the force, with a team still looking into Stephen’s murder, he understands relations between the Met and the Lawrences are as bad as they ever were.  He said senior officers had a meeting this year or last when the Ellison Review panel were asking the force to disclose all paperwork.  A solicitor also attended to advise them whether they would be within their rights to hold back some documents they hold.  That does not strike me as action from people who want to get to the truth.  Laura Kuenssberg asked him if he thought corruption was at work.  He said he was not sure.  He could never work out whether it was just incompetence or something worse.  Corruption does not have to be putting a wad of bank notes in a brown envelope into your pocket.  It can just as easily mean listening to what your superiors say to you and understanding what they improperly want.  Suitable brownie points are earned.  At the end of a carrer like that you have an extremely nice pension without any evidence of wrong doing at all.

Last year I had a conversation with someone I know. Some years previously she had worked at the same small public school I went to when young.  She thought some of the pupils were being unfairly treated and spoke out.  She was never told that was wrong.  But in conversations she was encouraged to look at it in other ways.  However she still wasn’t happy.  From that moment things seemed to go badly for her.  She felt she did not fit in and that some her colleagues began to pick on her.  She left soon afterwards.

I’m not sure if Germany ever has been in a shell since the Second World War but if so I hope it is now coming out of it. Mrs Merkel’s action in deliberately lifting people up over their World Cup victory, is perhaps an example.  Then from an article in last Saturday’s FT it seems the country is genuinely cross about the small mindedness of the Americans in spying on them.  The Chancellor has called it the ultimate waste of time.  Just to show they mean business a Berlin commentator is quoted as saying America is now a weak superpower.  Their officialdom is extremely self centred, only thinking about itself.  Germans now see their transatlantic friends for what they really are.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal is the only body which can adjudicate on complaints against our three security services. It has a panel of ten members drawn from the legal profession.  The president and vice president are judges.  It can hear cases in public, in private or by written representation at it’s discretion.  It’s only function is to test whether the state’s organs have acted in accordance with the law.  Moral values or policy do not come within it’s remit.  It seems several applications are in the pipeline to test the alleged mass data collection activites of GCHQ.  Monday’s FT reports that one such challenge is just starting by several civil liberties groups.  They contend that our rights of privacy have been breached under articles eight and ten of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Yesterday’s FT reports that a Ukrainian transport plane travelling at a height of 6,500 metres has been shot down near Lugansk. It is thought the missile must have been fired from Russian territory.  Nato has also said it has seen a new build up of troops on the Russian border.  The previous day’s paper had mentioned that criticism is currently being made of Italy for blocking harsher economic sanctions against Russia.  It is thought that stance comes from big companies who have interests in Russia, not Mr Renzi himself.  However it is very much how it works I am afraid.  As soon as a bully senses weakness it will will always pile in with more vigour.

Gideon Rachman’s piece in the edition notes that in a BBC poll carried out in 21 nations last year, Germany was voted the most admired country in the world. You wouldn’t think that listening to many of our politicians.

At the weekend Vladimir Putin went to Brazil to watch the World Cup final. Then he stayed on to attend the sixth annual meeting of the Brics countries, Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa.  Today’s paper confirms they have agreed to set up a Development Bank to rival the World Bank and the IMF.  It is to be based in Shanghai and it’s first president will come from India.

I have just watched the Hamas Deputy Information Minister speak to Lyse Doucet in Gaza on the BBC 10pm TV News. We cannot understand Hamas’ position unless they tell us, person to person, what it is.

 

17th July 2014

Coming back from Maidstone this morning I was cut up slightly by a man in a big black Kia SUV on a roundabout about five miles from home. I suspect he is in a low level criminal gang.  By chance he was following me anyway.  He received a call about my Ford car in front and was asked to chivvy me up a bit.  He was happy to oblige.  Normally when he does that sort of thing the victim has no idea what is going on.  They just think they have experienced a horrible driver.  I expect it gives the man a bit of a thrill.  Going through this roundabout he was in the wrong place.  I started staring at him in my rear view mirror.  He was obviously looking intently for that.  As soon as it was all over he stayed well behind, following me from a distance.  That is my experience of bullies, when you stand up to them they back off.

Babar Ahmad is a 40 year old university educated man from a Pakistani family in Tooting. In 1992 he went to Bosnia to fight with white Muslims in their Balkan war.  It radicalised him.  In 1996 he set up a website advocating religious jihadism.  He encouraged others to go to Afghanistan to fight.  American and British law enforcement took an interest in him and he was taken into custody here in 2004.  He has been in jails ever since and in October 2013 was extradited to America to be tried under their laws.  He has just been sentenced to twelve and a half years in jail meaning, with his confinement so far, that he will be released  next year.  I heard a clip of him speaking on Today this morning.  He said he would never support the killing of innocent civilians in any circumstances and therefore disagrees with the terrorism al-Qaeda perpetrates.  I would like Mr Netanyahu to hear him speak.

 

18th July 2014

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down yesterday afternoon cruising from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur along a recognised commercial aircraft corridor over eastern Ukraine at 33,000 feet. 298 souls have perished.  The Gang Master’s decision to pick on a Malaysian airliner again illustrates the size of his brain.  The Netherlands is also in shock.  192 of the passengers were Dutch.  The fact that so many world airlines were still using that airspace I would call complacent and reckless.  British Airways and Qantas were not.  There is no point crying over spilt milk but I would have thought people living in Italy should realise better than most that you do not show weakness, in the form of selfish monetary values, to evil men.

At President Obama’s press conference today he spoke of an Asian airliner. I do not object. I wrote a private note earlier this evening when I referred to the ignorance is bliss syndrome. Another reason I think for me to make a dignified exit.

We are experiencing a bout of bad thunder storms at the moment caused by hot air moving up from the continent. At least we take appropriate precautions.  For the first time ever tomorrow players in the third round of the golf Open at Hoylake, near Liverpool will start simultaneously at first and tenth holes.  That will cut playing time by half.  If there is thunder and play has to be suspended the round should still be completed.  That will leave Sunday fully free for the most important final 18 holes when the whole world will be watching.

 

19th July 2014

On 22nd January 2013 I wrote quite a tetchy note about visiting Leigh Delamere Services on the M4. Yesterday I was out.  I stopped for a coffee at the Peterborough Services on the A1.  I had a small latte at Le Petit Four.  It was £2.35.  Before I left I walked over to the Costa Coffee outlet.  Their comparable product was £2.75.  It is how fair competition should be working in my view.  Having written that however I suspect I lot of people use Costa because they are fretful of what would happen if they didn’t.

The Israeli military launched a a ground offensive in Gaza on Thursday evening, a few hours after flight MH17 was brought down. Mr Netanyahu says it might last for two weeks.  It is to destroy that part of Hamas’ infrastructure which can’t be targeted from the air.

When you fall out with other human beings it is not a nice business. National leaders have to make difficult decisions of judgement about what is the best thing to do.  However I would make two comments about Israel’s announcement.  You cannot battle with people you do not like for ever.  It is not fair on those who get caught up in the crossfire.  At some point you have to learn to live with each other.  And secondly you must always have a clear vision of what it is you want to achieve.  If you do have to fight the only justification for that, in my view, is so you ultimately can create peace.

In Ukraine the Gang Master has acted in his normal way. He has arranged an abominable act, walked away and left us to pick up the pieces.  Then he will observe us, see how we deal with it all and take advantage of any mistakes we make.

To deal with the MH17 tragedy the world community, in my view, in going to have to really raise it’s game.  It is one of those falling between two stools situations you see a lot of.  If everyone says it has got nothing to with me, it is not my responsibility, nothing will get done.  All must pull together.  I think Mr Putin’s role will be crucial.  He is a better man than to want to go around blaming other people.  He must do what he can to bring justice for the families of the dead passengers and crew.  It might even be that good can come out of the darkness.  We have various closely involved parties, America, Russia, Europe, Asia and Australasia.  A coordinating committee for the future would be an extremely beneficial outcome.

The House of Lords and public gallery were full to capacity for Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill yesterday. Over a hundred peers wanted to speak.  It it is a subject which has struck a chord.  The whole of Any Answers was about it this afternoon. There is no prospect of the bill becoming law.  The clauses only deal with a narrow set of circumstances.  However I think the Lords have done us all a great favour.  They have put the matter on the table of discussion.  It is an extremely difficult, complicated subject.  I wonder if it might be appropriate to have a branch of academia to study all the ins and outs.  On qualification such people might then provide the experts on whom we could rely should a person’s fate need to be decided.  We all have the right to commit suicide if we wish.  Some of us though do not have the courage to do it ourselves.  We are afraid of messing it up.  A few of us might want to die if our standard of care is not as good as it should be.  The contentious areas I feel must be people who want others to end their life and others who want another person’s life to be ended.  That is where compassionate binding adjudication is required.  The key word of course is compassionate.

The editorial in Thursday’s FT tells me it is thought a Hamas family clan called Qawasmeh were involved in the kidnapping and killing of the three Jewish boys which set off the current conflict. They are based in Hebron on the West Bank.  The paper can’t see any easy way out of the current situation.

The Gang are very clever in their operations. They arrange events to draw individuals, entirely on their own, into actions I suspect they really wanted to do anyway.  President Putin, in my view, has been enticed into their web as has Prime Minister Netanyahu.  You have to be principled and savvy to resist it.  Both men I feel are now in great danger of being ridiculed by history.  There would be no possible justification for Mr Putin appearing to be content for the deaths of 300 innocent world citizens due to his egotistical local nationalist dispute.  Pretty much the same goes for Mr Netanyahu.  He and his predecessors have been trying to scratch the eyes out of their neighbours since 1967.  It is not clear to me that the Jewish leader wants to bring it to an end.  If he does not, with the knowledge now available, he must expect to be judged accordingly when the records are written.

Iceland is a country of 320,000. Last decade it’s three banks took on debt ten times larger than the size of it’s economy.  Gillian Tett was writing in yesterday’s FT that on the surface it has recovered well from the financial crash.  But actually that is only because locals and foreigners are not allowed to take their money abroad.  Non Icelanders have $7.4 billion of krona stuck there.  In all the debt mountain is still over double GDP, an almost impossible sum to repay.  Iceland wants to become a normal trading economy again but is putting off those difficult decisions which need to be made.  I expect we will have similar problems when quantitative easing is unravelled.

 

20th July 2014

The BBC website has been experiencing technical difficulties since yesterday morning. I will have to catch up on my iplayer listening later.  However one webpage I have looked at is about the biggest typhoon to hit southern China in 40 years.  People have died there and in the Philippines.

 

21st July 2014

550 people have now been killed in Gaza with over 3000 injured. I feel this is the time for Mr Netahyahu to show true leadership.  I saw him on BBC TV News last night and all he seemed to want to do was explain Israel’s position.  I think we already know what that is.  In my view he should be creating a positive vision and way forward for his people.  He can then calmly and purposefully stride up to the top of the mountain and entice the rest up there with him.  The rewards would be great.  It is not a time for psychological defensiveness.

The mood music on Ukraine is more positive today. I understand David Cameron had a telephone conversation last night with Vladimir Putin.  Perhaps that had an effect.  At any rate the Russian President issued a videoed statement this morning saying he wants a full independent investigation to establish the causes of the MH17 crash.  The message seems to be getting through on the ground.  The refrigerated bodies of the passengers have just started their journey by train and plane to the Netherlands for autopsy.  The rebels say they will hand over the two black boxes for official examination.

For last Thursday’s Newsnight Emily Maitlis travelled to India, where he is visiting projects supported by the Clinton Foundation, to interview Bill Clinton. Besides talking about current world events he also spoke of his marriage.  He was remarkably frank.  I suspect it might have been a difficult subject for him.   He said he will assist his wife in any way she wants him to.  The American Presidency is a powerful, challenging position.  He does not know her views about running because they have not discussed  about it.  If she wants his opinion he will give it to her, otherwise not.  He will support her whatever.

I saw a BBC correspondent report on the BBC TV News last night from the site of the MH17 plane crash. He was there just as some of the local rebels arrived, taking it all in. On man was astounded, from the personal effects, that the passengers were not Russian or Ukrainian.  He could not understand why they were flying over such a dangerous area.  Then another told his colleagues to collect as many memory sticks as they could find.  Intelligence is king he said.  That is the Gang mindset and animalistic behaviour for you.

Ed Miliband has travelled to Washington today to visit Barack Obama.  They had a thirty minute conversation in the White House discussing current world affairs.  He was accompanied by Douglas Alexander.  They also met American political leaders.

 

22nd July 2014

As I now have a laptop with a functional battery, and it is in my holdall, I thought I would write this note immediately. I am sitting on a bench in a small park off Lower Gardiner Street in Dublin where I have just eaten my lunchtime sandwich.  There is a posh looking mature man in shirtsleeves five yards away on my left talking loudly on his mobile phone.  He has just walked in front of me, touched the railings by the road and walked back.  The interesting ones though are the middle aged couple who were on the bench fifeen yards away.  They arrived soon after me.  The nice touch is that the man was holding a motor cycle helmet.  My note of 23rd June 2014 about Knokke refers.  When two Garda gentlemen walked down the road the lady seemed to think it was very funny.  However when another un-uniformed man sat on the grass behind them they went very quiet.  In fact from then on they just couldn’t keep still.  They were changing their sitting positions every thirty seconds or so.  All very interesting.

Luton Airport was absolutely packed at 5.30am this morning.  I suppose planes for package holiday makers need to take advantage of all the cheap flight slots.  My first Ryanair flight of the day to Dublin was full too. The seat was picked for me by the computer.  I was next to a young lady.  Before I sat down I think she knew how I always arrange myself in public seats, such as on aircraft and in the cinema.  I put each elbow on the arm rest either side of me.  I have no idea why I do it but that is how it is.  Right from the word go she was very slightly touching me.  When she woke up with a start from her doze she would give me a jab.  I did not respond in any way.  I think she will have got that information from the young Spanish woman I was beside during my flight out to Gibraltar in January 2014.  That lady was just nervous of flying in my view.  We did get talking.  My suspicion is that that companion had a later unexpected conversation with a friend when somehow I cropped up in the conversation.  The Gang thus received the intelligence, in this case about how I sit, about which they are so obsessive.  So through all that came my experience on the plane this morning.

I feel it is a very good illustration of the mindset with which we are dealing.  The Gang Master is madness all on his own.  The rest of his cohorts are in total denial that anything is currently wrong.  They are just doing their best to carry on as normal.  However it really does not seem very clever to show me how their schemes work so I can tell you about them here, or privately to pass on appropriate information after the end of this month.  They will just have to learn the hard way I think.

I do also find it quite shocking how brutal they are with developing personalities, two reasonably young women in this case. It can only be because they do not have the capacity to think through what they are doing.  The machine just does what it has always done.  If it is possible to manipulate a person, young or old, it will.  However once enough of us understand how those processes work we will be able to educate against them for the benefit of us all.

The second incident today was relatively positive I suppose. Armageddon might not follow.  A youngster might just decide to chose a different path.  She was about fifteen and over sexualised I would say.  She thought it was fun to act promiscuously, on the suggestion of another I suspect, towards a mature man she did not know.  She did that by putting her hands behind her neck and pouting her breasts towards me.  I suspect the other person, probably a girlfriend, has told her it looks really good when she does it and is a laugh.  It happened in the cafe of the Dublin National Gallery this afternoon.  The girl sat down on her own initially, in my direct line of vision.  She was then joined by nine friends, one of whom was a boy.  They were short of chairs so another girl sat on her knee.  That girl appeared to be having an argument with a lone adult who was also with them.  She seemed quite a domineering sort of personality.

My first brush with a very attractive young lady, wearing a short dress and nearer twenty I would say, happened in a shop in Dame Street with a green tourist sign outside. I took it to be the nearby Tourist Information Centre, something I expect many other strangers do.  I think it will be a Gang location.  My attention was drawn to her when she squashed in front of me not leaving enough personal space which one stranger will always instinctively give to another.  I find it worrisome because she looked so nice.  It was only when I noticed her blowing bubble gum in rather an uncouth way I realised that might not be the case.  And of course it is highly unusual to see a person of that age apparently all on their own.  When I bumped into her again fifteen minutes later, this time outside the proper Tourist Office, I was sure she was a Gang operative.  She was busy in front of me taking photographs of the statutes there.  If I had struck up a conversation I have little doubt I would have come across her again by chance during my stay.  The Gang would have seen a door half open.   The next time I might have discovered, coincidence upon coincidence, that she actually lives a short drive away from my own home in Kent.  Clever but entirely predictable I would say.

The thing that troubles me though is the future of the teenager herself. The Gang have no thought about her well being at all.  She is just a useful tool for them.  I suspect she is already in too deep to extradite herself.  It will all be downhill from here.  If I am right she was out to entrap a complete stranger for her gang.  I suspect her real motivation, of which only she will be aware, is that she has a deep disregard, following on from things which have happened in her past, for men of the type and age I represent.

Theresa May has announced today that there will be a public inquiry into the 2006 death in London of Alexander Litvinenko by polonium poisoning.  That means the appointed judge will be able to call before him any witnesses and documents he considers relevant.  As I have mentioned before the radioactive substance was in Mr Litvinenko’s tea when he was taking refreshment with two Russian gentleman at a London hotel.  That is a very provocative and upsetting way to kill someone in my view.  Whether the government is using it as cover I am not sure but the obvious connection is with possible Russian involvement in the shooting down of flight MH17 last week.  Mr Putin is being shown some additional consequences of falling out with the international community.  More fundamentally, in respect of alleged MI6 involvement, I suspect Mr Cameron thinks the time has come for our security services to start explaining themselves more than they have done in the past.  Hopefully the pressure is building in that direction too.

As far as consequences are concerned I feel the same point has just been made to Israel. A Hamas rocket has landed one mile away from Tel Aviv commercial airport.  The Federal Aviation Administration has therefore ordered three US airlines to stop flights to the country for 24 hours.  Europe’s aviation regulator is urging our airlines to do the same.  Israel is not happy.  However we are not fighting with our neighbour.  I trust they do not expect us to see things the same way as they do.

David Cameron spoke at the Girl Summit 2014 in London today. He said it is about time the world gets it’s act together over female gender mutilation.  It is performed apparently on 98% of young girls in Somalia and, more shockingly in my view, 91% in Egypt.  The Prime Minster wants the practice to cease within this generation.

After that Mr Cameron flew to Shetland, only the third Prime Minister to go there. With the Scottish referendum coming up it is very much business as usual.

I went to St Audoen’s church and visitor’s centre today.  It had a display explaining that through the grouping nature of human beings, medieval guilds became established in the key areas of church, crafts and skills, and trade.  It is the second of those of course out of which the masonic movement grew.  As I mentioned in my book my theory has been that the Gang use masonic lodges as cover for their own criminal networks.  However there has never been any comment hinting at such a thing in the media over the last few years so I might well be wrong.  As I now see it the top tier security for the Gang hierarchy, within it’s own systems, is so robust I am not sure any outside secretive organisation is needed.  If lower gangs want to set up lodges that would solely be a matter for them.

 

23rd July 2014

Yesterday evening and this morning BBC iplayer has not been working properly using Internet Explorer accessed from my hotel Wi Fi. On both occasions everything was as normal for 10 minutes then it went silent.  Google Chrome is fine.

BBC radio is reporting a Washington briefing to journalists by intelligence officials this morning.  They have said there is no evidence available of direct Russian involvement in the shooting down of MH17.  It seems it was blown up by rebels in Ukraine but by mistake no doubt thinking it was a military aircraft.  Russia’s role was to create an environment where such things were likely to happen.  I look upon that as fingering the situation exactly.  I see Mr Obama’s tight hold of news management clearly working in the background.

On the last day before their holidays Peter Clarke’s Trojan Horse letter report was given to the House of Commons yesterday.  It paints a picture, in my view, pretty much as you would expect.  Four individuals named in the Chamber were accused of being part of a coordinated effort to bring about a hardline Islamist ethos into several Birmingham schools.  Their activities will be investigated further.  Mr Clarke criticised Birmingham City Council for sticking it’s head in the sand over the issue for a long time.  They were afraid of being labelled racists.  The solution arrived at is to create a new education commissioner for Birmingham schools.  The objective I feel is to clearly signal to everyone that a person will be there in the future to listen to concerns any individual wishes to raise with them.  They will be heard.  An independent review of governance generally in the City Council is also being set up, to report at the end of the year.

I have been out on the Dart train today using a day ticket to travel along the coast south and north of Dublin.  There was a hold up this morning caused by a broken down train somewhere.  It seemed to cause a bit of confusion so I got out at the station where we had stopped and walked through Dalkey.  Virtually all the better off houses I saw in the road I walked down had security remote controlled entrance gates.  They were not obtrusive, as is the Irish understated way, but there nonetheless.  I feel they are a mistake.  If someone really wants to do you down they will make no difference at all.  However the fact that you are attracted to such a property, and use it’s facilities after you have bought it, displays your psychological make up, in my view, for all the world to see.  As far as the Gang are concerned it is an opportunity which is too good to resist.  They will home in on you like a bee to nectar.

When I reached Bray I had a walk round the harbour. There had been an incident just outside the breakwater with various official looking vessels stopped besides a small yacht.  It seemed to be on it’s side with it’s sail in the water.  Around me were a few separate men.  They just seemed to be looking out to sea.  I expect it is Gang standing orders.  If you can provide some useful intelligence, no matter how small, you will be well looked after.

I have just got back to the hotel.  There was a pretty strange experience on my last train of the day, the 6.45pm from Howth to Bray.  The mature man got in my carriage at Howth after me and sat looking away in the next seating area down.  I didn’t take too much notice of him except he had the hardness for a Gang type and looked too posh to be using public transport.  I assumed he would be consuming alcohol when out and didn’t want to drink and drive.  He was in my line of vision and the thing that drew him to my attention was his slight, almost purposeful nervousness.  Every now and then he would look to the side.  I started studying him and at the next station a rough builder chappy with a mobile phone got on and sat opposite me.  Lots of movements then took place for the next couple of stations.  My man was a Gang director.  When I gazed around me just about all the dozen or so people in the carriage could have been Gang helpers looking after him.  He might have been going out anyway and Gang command told him to sit in my carriage.  However I think it was more specific than that.  He was looking around him much as I was earlier in the day.  After the heat of the incident was over he started nodding off with his head drooping just as I do.  I was obviously being looked at myself when I sat down and the idea was, I think, that the big man should cause an unconscious increase in my heart beat without me even realising what was going on.  When I did, panic stations ensued for about ten minutes.  I don’t think this particular Gang director is going to progress much further up his career path.

Peaches Geldof’s inquest has found that she died of a heroin overdose. In the past she had been an addict but had stopped using the drug.  Besides a fatal dose of heroin in Peaches’ blood traces of codeine, methadone and morphine were also found.  There were puncture wounds on her elbows, wrists and thumbs.

I do think official investigations are the best way to get to the bottom of things.  Following my note about John Downey on 25th February 2014, the Hallett report about those comfort letters was published last week.  The subject was covered by Yesterday in Parliament on Today last Friday.  Mr Downey’s letter was a mistake so his acquittal was very fortunate for him.  It seems the law was not breached in writing the letters but even so Theresa Villiers has said any new evidence which comes to light of past terrorists activities will be pursued by the police in a normal way.  In that case you do wonder why they were written in the first place.  The difficulty has arisen I suppose because of the release from prison all those years ago of some IRA prisoners as part of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.  If they could go free, the argument ran, those who hadn’t yet been caught should also receive some form of favour.

Friday’s programme also covered an ultimatum issued by ISIS in Mosul. Christians who live there have been told they must either convert to Islam or pay a protection tax.  I am sure Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi thinks he is being entirely reasonable.  Perhaps someone though should ask him to read up on Italian history.  It is exactly how the Mafia operate.  As far as I know they do not profess to be an overtly religious organisation.

There was a gentleman on Today on Saturday morning from RUSI explaining why the Israelis decided to launch their ground offensive into Gaza.  They felt they needed to do something about the underground tunnels from Gaza into Israel which Hamas can use at any time, if they wish, to send men under the border to attack Israeli soldiers.

Monday’s edition passed on a report in the Independent about Gaza. Palestinians had alleged that a particularly brutal Israeli military assault on the neighbourhood of Shujaiya was in revenge for the deaths of 13 of their soldiers a few hours before.

 

24th July 2014

I read a copy of the Dublin Metro Herald yesterday. It had a short article about Gaza.  It quoted the Israeli prime minister as saying that Hamas are Islamist extremists with whom it is not possible to reach any resolvable outcome.  Hamas is like al-Qaeda or Hezbollah or Boko Haram.  As far as Mr Netanyahu is concerned they are all one and the same.

Some marks on the bed sheets in my hotel room are just like the ones I have at home. There are not particularly many but your eyes are drawn to them.  They are small black blobs, almost like black ink, but seem to be completely part of the linen.  They have strong edges and are completely irremovable.  I have always assumed mine get there from the workings of my washing  machine.

Becky Milligan went up to Rochdale for last Thursday’s World at One.  She spoke to Simon Danczuk and his researcher.  Since publicising past allegations of paedophilia Mr Danczuk and his team have been inundated by approaches from people with stories to tell.  Mr Danczuk says there will never be any evidence so trying to establish which are true and which false is terribly difficult.  All he can do is record what is said to him.  One credible account perhaps comes from a former policeman.  In the 1980’s he was part of a team which raided a hotel.  The whole of the first floor has been taken over by a group of paedophiles abusing young boys.  One of them was a well known important person.  However when they got back to the police station they were told the matter must go no further.  If the officers wanted future promotions and pensions they must say nothing.

 

25th July 2014

Robert Peston was on Today this morning talking about the economic crash which started, almost to the day Robert said, seven years ago. From a purely personal perspective he said he had quite enjoyed reporting on it.  No doubt he met some interesting people and had some thought provoking conversations.  Then of course the good news this morning is that the economy is now worth more than it’s 2008 peak before everything really went pear shaped.

 

26th July 2014

I was sitting in the departure lounge of Dublin airport on Thursday evening in a line of seats backing onto the tarmac apron. Immediately beside me on my right was a male Gang helper.  On my left, one seat away, was another.  A lady with a fourteen year old, her daughter I should think, came to sit in the line of seats at right angles to where I was.  The youngster was wearing a short skirt and had plaited pigtails.  She had no sexual awareness at all.  The elder female, nearer me, suggested they play a game on her mobile device.  That meant her charge had to swivel in her seat directly facing me.  The night before I had written a paragraph about sexual attraction which will be included in my 31st July diary notes.  The girl was being used as a plaything by her mother.  It was a complete betrayal of trust.

The Irish are nice, shy people, the kind whose hands will be cold when you shake them but have big hearts. Their banks were a major part of their financial crash but even so, the buildings where they reside are not brash in any way, noticeably different to London.  That desire not to attract attention is part of their culture.  Unfortunately though it makes them very prone to Gang manipulation.  I saw a good example on Thursday morning.

At about 10am I was walking besides the Dublin canal south of the city centre. About six food stalls were setting up for takeaway lunches, as part of the Irish Village Markets promotion.  Just as when I walk past an illegal drug retailing unit here the Gang presence is immediately obvious.  Separate individuals and groups were in close proximity to each other, each there for their own particular reasons, but overall creating a sense of suffocation and unease.  The buildings to be serviced, with very unhealthy food in my view, were a modern hotel and a Bank of Ireland office block next door.  As I walked past the latter there were also people milling around on their cigarette breaks.  There was a line of five or so trees there under which the grass had been worn away by people’s feet because, no doubt, so much of that activity takes place on a daily basis

I was on my way to the Irish Jewish Museum.  I tried to visit the one in London last year but it was unexpectedly shut when I arrived.  With events in Gaza at the moment it is obviously a difficult time for Jews throughout the world.  Both the elderly woman and younger man curators seemed tense.  All they wanted to do was talk, to the detriment of viewing the exhibits.  I listened as sympathetically as I could.  The lady was saying that, for reasons she does not understand, the Republican movement in Ireland is vehemently anti semitic.  It goes with the territory as she put it.  Perhaps an emissary from Sinn Fein should travel to Gaza to explain to Hamas that you end up being far more powerful by persuading a society to your point of view rather than killing as many of them as you can.

I read a display about food.  Jews are allowed to eat fish with scales and fins but not sea creatures who live in shells or have hard bodies.  That seems remarkably arbitrary and controlling to me.  I would not want to try and explain it to the enquiring mind of a Jewish youngster.

In the afternoon I was in the National Botanic Gardens. The location was significant for me, and the Gang no doubt, because of my memories about visiting the Royal Botanic garden in Edinburgh in April 2009.  It took about an hour for the Gang helpers to arrive.  I also noticed a warden in his motorised buggy out on security patrol.  A mature gardener was tending a flower bed.  As I walked up a mother, with baby in push chair, has obviously engaged him in conversation.  I stopped and listened from around the corner.  After a few minutes she went.  Immediately he was approached by a young student with a folio holder in her hand.  She wanted his advice on a project she was doing.  I would like to think that was set up for my benefit.  It would be a bit worrying I feel if it were a normal event for the gardens.

Coming back to the metropolis I was by the northern section of the city canal.  It had been a lovely, hot day.  There was a group of a dozen or so boys and girls milling around.  Two were jumping into the full lock.  No one around seemed to mind, their friends or passers by.  I suspect it would have been different in London.  Someone would have rung up the local council and mentioned those magic words health and safety.  Enforcement officers would have been around in a shot.

I have always thought of southern Ireland as a totally Catholic country. It was not until I started walking around Dublin it sunk in that the Church became Protestant at the time of King Henry VIII with everyone else under his dominion.  The Church of Ireland is part of the Anglican Communion.  All the old churches and cathedrals I saw were Anglican.  The newer buildings were Catholic.

Greg Dyke is a former Director General of the BBC and currently chairman of The Football Association, a highly political position taking into account the role the sport plays in our daily lives.  I have just heard him confirm on Any Questions that he is wealthy and would like to pay more tax.  He wants to help those less well off in society than he.  In response a Conservative MEP suggested he make donations to HMRC.  Greg’s reply was that he had been misunderstood.  He wants the MEP to pay more tax too.

I wrote about the States’ developing child immigration problem on 12th July 2014.  BBC radio news was reporting this morning that President Obama held a meeting yesterday with the presidents of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, where most of the children come from, to see what can be done.  Mr Obama has separately asked for funds from Congress to deal with the problem.  I also see, after reading Christopher Caldwell’s piece in last Saturday’s FT, that a Democrat and Republican Senator have joined forces to try and repeal the culprit 2008 law.  You would have thought those two initiatives would be pushing at an open door.  However it seems American politics does not work like that.  Resistance is total.  Both President and Senators have appealed for their colleagues to take action before their August recess.

We live in a very interdependent world. The Mekong is the twelfth longest river on the planet.  It flows through, or borders, China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.  An article in the magazine was saying China built two enormous dams on it nearly four years ago.  It has greatly worried the five countries downstream and is affecting how the river has flowed for eons.  China however is being very reclusive about it’s water storage intentions and won’t share any information with it’s neighbours to alleviate their concerns.

As my note of 16th May 2014 indicates Libya is a bit of a bete noire country for some politicians in America. I imagine that is one reason the White House has decided to temporarily shut their embassy in Tripoli.  Things are getting very unstable there and President Obama is worried cover will be provided for the bully instincts of the Gang to target it.  They are that small minded I am afraid.  Turkey is taking similar action apparently which indicates I feel it could be playing a key role in the current Israeli-Palestinian situation.

I sent off an important email last Sunday afternoon to members of my family group. It explained how I intend to bring closure to parts of my life and move forward in others.  It was quite long.  I had been preparing it on my private computers for about ten days beforehand.

 

27th July 2014

I read a BBC webpage yesterday about a man in Missouri.  In 1994 he was found guilty of possession and intent to distribute cannabis.  It was his third offence and under the laws of that state was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.  There is now a campaign to get him released.  I expect the journalist who wrote about such a ridiculously harsh punishment knew of the editorial just about to be published in the New York Times.  It calls for the legalisation of marijuana use in North America.  In 2012 apparently there were 658,000 arrests, disproportionately of young black men, for holding the substance which it is generally agreed is less harmful than alcohol.  I expect information about how regularisation of cannabis sales in Colorado and Washington State is going, had something to do with the paper’s opinion.

Yesterday Today had a feature in memory of Peaches Geldof.  An award winning film producer was interviewed.  She said that when she took heroin she could function perfectly normally except that the drug put her in a warm, isolating cocoon.  I had a young lady who worked for me for a few weeks in the 1990s who I believe took drugs.  That was very much how it was with her I would say.  What I noticed though was that she lost that awareness of personal space people normally have.  You could stand or sit extremely close and her senses did not tell her you were too near.  One day when I went out I asked her to clean the computer keyboards with anti static spray.  When I got back she had used so much liquid she had ruined them all.  Coming back to Today the lady said your social status has nothing to do with your susceptibility to be a drug taker.  It is a psychological thing. You may think initially the fixes help you get through your troubles.  But once you become addicted your life falls apart as sure as night follows day.  Her advice though is to never give up or hate yourself.  Really you are no better nor worse than anyone else.  And if she could sort herself out, from where she was, any individual can do it.

After that our former Egyptian ambassador was speaking about Gaza. He said that Hamas must be given some form of incentive to persuade them to change from a military force into a political party.  There is no point in Israel continuing to call other people names or present themselves as victims when plainly they have far greater killing capability than their opponents.  I do have to say there is no sign at the moment of Mr Netanyahu showing any form of leadership at all.  Perhaps he is a victim, not from Hamas but of some nasty minded people within his own administration.

On 6th March 2014 I suggested it would be a good idea if abattoirs allowed public visits.  From a television programme I watched the other day, the details of which I didn’t note at the time, I see that does happen in Denmark.  The country slaughters 25 million pigs every year,  90% by the Danish Crown group so I imagine it was one of their factories I saw.  A viewing window was provided above the cutting room where a class and their teacher were watching the activity.  The presenter asked the kids if any of them were put off eating meat, none were.  Interestingly the crew were not allowed to film the killing of animals in order to protect the staff who worked in that part of the building.  I feel that is a very sensitive position for the employer to take.

I wrote about the death of Mikaeel Kular on 17th, 18th and 19th January 2014.  On Friday his mother pleaded guilty to the Scottish charge of culpable homicide or manslaughter.  Previously she had been charged with murder.  She will be sentenced next month.

One of the first indications I had that there might be something in my story, as I go through in chapter 5 of my book, was the Liechtenstein tax affair which broke with arrests in Germany in February 2008.  From last Tuesday’s FT I see the OECD reports that since 2009 national authorities have collected 37 billion euros in tax receipts from secret offshore bank accounts dotted around the world.

There was a hard hitting article in that paper by Gideon Rachman about Vladimir Putin.  Gideon suggests Mr Putin has let his country down.  He was being told by all the sycophants around him how clever he is.  He came to believe it himself.  He thought, in my terms, that the Gang Master is on his side; he would not allow Mr Putin to get into big trouble.  How wrong he was.  The President will now have to pick up the pieces just like the rest of us.

Wednesday’s paper provides a picture of Recep Erdogan standing in the Turkish parliament the day before.  He had a Palestinian headscarf draped around his shoulders to show solidarity with their cause.

 

28th July 2014

It was reported on the radio news this morning that a freak thunderstorm hit Venice Beach in Los Angeles yesterday.  There was a single flash of lightening which went into the sea.  Everyone swimming at the time was electrocuted.  One man has died and another is in a critical condition.  Elsewhere in California wildfires are raging due to the drought conditions.

It was in 2006 elections that Hamas won a decisive majority in the Palestinian parliament.  An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman on Today this morning noted that in the Battle of Gaza in June 2007 Hamas ousted Fatah from any military control in the Gaza Strip.  Since then Hamas have solely ruled the roost there.  Because of that development the man seemed to assume the general population in Gaza do not support Hamas.  I think he is wrong.  Perhaps it is the essence of the problem.  Somehow the Israeli government need to show the Palestinian citizenry that they can provide them a better existence than they have had in the past.

Tulisa Contostavlos is a former X Factor judge.  She was hoping to get a starring role in a film for which she would be paid £3 million.  However it was a sting being carried out by the Sun on Sunday.  Instead she found herself in a London court on a charge of supplying illegal drugs.  However the case was thrown out by the judge last week as the prosecution evidence was suspect.  Tulisa was interviewed on the programme.  She said she had been made out to be a monster which is not true.  She explained her experience could have made her distrustful and bitter.  In fact it has had the opposite effect.  She is now less judgemental than before and more sensitive towards other people’s emotions.  She allowed a BBC film crew to be with her during her travails.  All she could do was tell her story and hope it would help others.

There was an interesting piece about dinosaurs.  It is generally accepted that they died out after an asteroid hit the earth 66 million years ago blocking out the sun over a long period.  Only small creatures survived such as mammalian shrews which are our ancestors.  An academic gentleman was saying that coincidentally, at the time of the cataclysm the dinosaurs were under a lot of environmental pressue anyway during that particular evolutionary history of the earth.  The darkness finished them off.  If the big rock had come along a few million years before, or later, they might still be here today.

I think there is a saying that people in the public eye should not work with animals and children.  I did feel for the sports interviewer just after that who spoke to a young lady from Shetland who has done well in the Commonwealth Games.  I don’t think the youngster could understand what all the adults were fussing about.  She was asked what her medal is like.  She couldn’t think of anything useful to say about it.

 

29th July 2014

At a meeting in Brussels today EU ambassadors from all 28 countries agreed to extend economic sanctions against Russia.  Banks, the oil sector, defence equipmet and sensitive technologies are all being targeted.  They are serious consequential measures.  It seems Mr Putin has put himself into an isolating box as far as the outside world is concerned.  Apparently The Telegraph says he has not been returning Mrs Merkel’s phone calls and Gavin Hewitt reports Russia is still supplying heavy weaponry to the Ukrainian rebels.

The world is full of unintended consequences.  It helps I  suppose to just be a spectator when they are happening somewhere else.  There was a report on the edition from Colorado where it has been legal to sell marijuana since the beginning of January.  250 pot shops have opened this year in Denver alone.  Commercialisation means you don’t just have to buy the weed raw, it now also comes in chocolates, drinks and candies.  Tourist trips are arranged.  The biggest psychological change though it seems is that ordinary people feel encouraged to try the drug.  They lose their sense of proportion about what it is responsible to consume and get completely high.  Hopefully, with proper guidance and regulation, things will settle down in due course.

In yesterday’s FT Edward Luce writes that due to the political power of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee there is little Barack Obama can do to change Israel’s current policy in Gaza. Edward suggests that, after a sullen ceasefire is agreed, the President will want to forget about the whole thing.  After all, to be honest it is not really his problem.  Perhaps he might have more luck with his other problem areas of Iraq, Syria and Iran.

The Ebola outbreak in west Africa is beginning to get more attention.  So far at least 670 people have died.  I suspect it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.  The editorial in today’s FT calls the situation terrifying.

 

30th July 2014

I wrote about the underground water which has been found in north Africa on 12th September 2014.  A BBC webpage up this morning informs me that the reservoirs are in fact more extensive than thought covering a good part of the continent.  Libya, Algeria and Chad have the largest amounts in their sedimentary rock basins. The question now is how best to extract that resource for the benefit of local communities in an efficient and sustainable way.

The number of Russian individuals and entities subject to asset freezes and travel bans under western sanctions is now over 100.  Kathrin Hille was writing about Vladimir Putin in last Saturday’s FT.  She suggests that the Malaysia Airways Boeing 777 was shot down by a band of pro Russian rebels with a missile supplied by Russia.   They have brought to ground two Ukrainian military aircraft since the crash indicating they still have that armoury.  A leopard I suppose never changes it’s spots.  Kathrin says where Russia goes from here is solely a matter for Mr Putin.  His popularity at home is immense and no one in his inner circle is able to challenge him.  Ever since the President visited Mr Cameron at the time of the London Olympics in 2012 it has seemed to me, for whatever reason, that he is not a man who is ultimately willing to do the right thing.  He just goes with the flow.  In that case it seems long term targeted economic sanctions are the way forward.  Money is the most important thing to the Gang.  We will just have to do things their way.

In the magazine, for me Simon Kuper was giving some examples of how Gang culture seeps out into mainstream society.  One is the topic of inequality.  Whenever he mentions it he gets a flood of strong comment.  Much says that if someone is poor they only have themselves to blame.  They just don’t work hard enough.  He suggests many of his commentators have pots of money gained without much effort.  It is nice and easy for them to think like that.

When speaking to reporters today the German Economy Minister has accepted that his country’s businesses are likely to be hurt by the sanctions against Russia.  However he said that at a time of war and peace economic policy is not the main consideration.

Although we do not realise it I believe most of us have the Gang around us, wherever we are in the world, every day throughout our lives.  Ultimately the only defence against their influence is your own set of values.  You must just hope you were brought up well and not be too hard on those who weren’t.  As judgement is at play it is not really possible to set down hard and fast rules about what is right in any given circumstance.  You must weigh up the pros and cons, most importantly communicate with your  feelings, and pray you make the right decision.  There was an item on Today this morning I feel illustrating the point.  It was about HSBC deciding to shut main, and associated family, accounts which had been opened with them in the past by the Finsbury Park Mosque, a Muslim think tank and a Muslim charity from Bolton.  No laws have been broken.  The bank is effectively saying it does not like the values of those customers and has decided not to be associated with them in business any more.  It is a private matter so none of us know whether the bank’s stance is justified or not.  In my view HSBC were picked on by American taxation authorities in December 2012 when they were fined $1.9 billion there for money laundering.  However no action was taken against the individual customers carrying out that activity.  I wrote about that on 5th December 2013.  All you can do in this morning’s situation I feel is respect the bank’s right to make their judgement and keep an open mind.  The reason we know of course is because some of the British customers are upset and have spoken to the media about it.

I heard Lord Alderdice, previously leader of the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland, speak on Today this morning.  He was saying he has been trying to mediate with Hamas and others in the Middle East on his own account for more than 15 years.  If I had known of course I would not have written my note on Saturday.  Yesterday I read in the FT that Mr Netanyahu somehow has convinced himself, and now stated it publicly, that he would be justified in using force to permanently subdue the Palestinians.  Before that, in recent conversations with the Hamsas leader Lord Alderdice found optimism that the new joining with Fatah would enable substantive discussions with Israel to take place.  The discovery of the bodies of the three Israeli boys at the end of last month changed all that however.  The well of hatred that single event has allowed to rise up I find completely disgusting.  Since then, in my view, the key actors on both sides have been overwhelmed by the hysteria, as has happened to Mr Putin in Russia.  If I hear the Israelis say once more that they are in charge of events I will throw things at both my radio and television.  It is about time Mr Netanyahu grew up.  If he can’t see he is under the psychological control of Gang members and helpers around him, I can.  Yet he is the only person who can stop the continuing tragedy unfold as it exists today.  It is plain however he does not have the courage to do it.  If it would help I would be more than happy to spend one of my monthly holidays this year in Tel Aviv or Gaza or both and speak to anyone who is willing to engage with me.  People really need to think about how far they have fallen.  Their small minded deadly games are causing the most terrible loss of innocent life.

The new Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, was also on the programme. He clearly indicated I feel that this time the international community are not going to let bygones be bygones.  When the fighting has stopped, as with Ukraine the investigators will move in.  They will get to the bottom of things.  Where the rules of humanity have been broken people will pay the price, in accordance with the law.

Mr Hammond I see is also chairing a Cobra meeting today on the Ebola outbreak, to reinforce to our border people that they must be vigilant at the moment. If someone with the disease arrives here on a plane tomorrow and is sick in the middle of a busy airport concourse that will not be good news.

It would be so easy for the Gang to arrange that.  I feel it likely they used there own stored vial of the virus to start the outbreak in Guinea in February 2014.  They then just watched to see how everyone would get on with it.  This week though they have ratcheted up the pressure, in my view, by arranging the death yesterday of the lead doctor from Sierra Leone dealing with the outbreak.  That could have been arranged, for example, by him being woken up by a gowned Gang helper colleague in the middle of the night to be given some important news.  While he was still rousing himself a swab doused in virus liquid could have been brushed against his skin.

I was extremely pleased to read a report in this morning’s FT that the former chief of China’s internal security services, whom I wrote about on 6th May 2014, is now under formal investigation by the Communist party on corruption charges.  Hopefully President Xi is making headway.

The editorial there notes what a dramatic effect the shooting down of MH17 has had on the West’s rapport with Russia. The sanctions announced separately yesterday by Europe and The Sates clearly show we are no longer their friends.  We want to do their economy real harm even if it hurts us as well.  The author suggests relations with Russia will be difficult, and possibly dangerous, for years to come.

 

31st July 2014

Here we are at last. Although I have no intention of volunteering my help to you lot again I do make one proviso.  I shall be watching.  If you have the temerity, in one year, five years or ten, to ever act so stupidly again you will be hearing from me.  Please try and be as kind to each other as you can.

I will be banking a cheque for £210 today. Earlier this month, on the 12th, I mentioned I caught the bus.  It was to collect my car from my nearby town where it was being MOT’d and serviced at my  main Ford dealer.  Around lunchtime I received a call to say some repairs were needed.  I had the good sense to ask the cost and was told it would be £1235.  It was such a lot, and the car had passed it’s MOT, I obviously wanted to discuss it with them.  In the end no work was carried out that day.  I have suggested to Ford and an industry association to which the garage belong that they might like to independently assess the car.  Ford have left it to the garage.  I am still waiting to hear from the other party.  When the garage knew I was involving others they asked to look at my car again.  On that inspection they agreed that my power steering cylinder was not leaking which they had wanted to charge me £502 to replace.  The other two items were worn brushes which when I looked seemed to be part of the rear suspension arms.  I was shown two rubber washers which are perished, not affecting the integrity of the larger parts at all.  The car design is such that they are not protected from road surface splashing, such as when salt is sprayed in freezing weather.  I feel perhaps they should be.  The man who showed me the underside of my car agreed that it was entirely up to me whether I wanted the garage to go ahead with that work.  I declined.  The garage have not admitted any fault in respect of the brushes.  They have paid me back what they originally charged me in the form of compensation for my inconvenience.  It is clear they hope I will now go away.

When I was in Dublin last week I visited Glaseven Cemetery. It adjoins the Botanical Garden.  It is a peaceful, modern place with very good facilities of which Dubliners can be proud.  This morning the Irish ambassador to the UK was on Today because somewhat belatedly a Cross of Sacrifice, with the assistance of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, is being unveiled there today to commemorate the 50,000 or so Irish men and women who died in the First World War and some 10,000 in the Second.  The ceremony is being attended by Irish and UK dignitaries.

Then earlier, in typical recent light hearted Today fashion, was a piece about a mother who had sat on a nest of eggs for over four years.  That is devotion indeed.  It was an octopus.  If there are two apparently you can call them octopuses, octopi or octopodes.

There is a front page piece in this morning’s FT reporting that the US economy grew at an annualised rate of 4% in the second quarter of this year.  That will undoubtedly start to bring down unemployment and help to generate a feel good factor in due course.  I am really pleased for them.

A contributor in the paper quotes a speech made by Angela Merkel in the Bundestag on 13th March 2014.  In prophetic fashion the German Chancellor said no country in the 21st century can confine itself to solely thinking of it’s own national interest.  Any that does so will harm itself sooner or later.  Unfortunately President Putin was not listening.  He found out what she meant on 17th July 2014.

When a drove off to Maidstone this morning I passed coming towards me in the lane a MI5 man I believe on a push bike. I smiled at him.  He did not respond.  He was obviously feeling uneasy about something.  If I had to guess why I would say it must have been the notes I wrote on 9th and 12th July 2014 about traffic near my house.  He was here because higher than he was covering their back.  I would not call that very professional.  Later I was having a coffee in Marks and Spencers in Maidstone.  In my direct line of vision a pair of Police Community Support Officers walked through the store.  They looked most uncomfortable too, realising they shouldn’t be there either.  But when your boss, probably with Gang connections, gives you orders what can you do.

During the last month I have been making some end of term notes on subjects which interest me. Here they are in alphabetical order.

Crowding                                                                                                                                                              Unless the Gang genie is ever put back in it’s bottle, which seems unlikely, crowding will always be part of my life.  Now I understand the Gang helpers are direct or misguided victims themselves, even if they don’t realise it, it isn’t too bad.  Indeed I feel it is possible to even look at terrorists as victims, terrible though there actions are.   They have been fooled in the biggest of ways by the Gang.   For my crowding though unfortunately it also goes on whoever I am with.  The only way to deal with that I find is to say nothing.  Invariably my companion doesn’t, or chooses not to, notice.  If I said anything it was cause shock to the other person and create a pressurised environment.  Even worse, if my mate was in denial, it would create a source of conflict between us.  Should the friend or acquaintance say something to me that is different of course.  It means they have noticed the situation, accept it and are not frightened by the ramifications.

Current Conflicts                                                                                                                                                          It is not difficult to identify where all our weak points are in world stability.  Syria, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Ukraine, Pakistan, Afghanistan plus all those countries in North Africa from Somalia in the east to Nigeria in the West.  Russia has a massive amount of hidden influence within it’s society.  Many American politicians are so mixed up they can’t allow themselves to compromise with anyone who does not have exactly the same views as they.  China is beginning to experience significant acts of terrorism.  And with so much oil wealth Arab nations have the option to use their resulting power for good or bad purposes.  All in all then it is difficult at the moment.  But I do think we should not forget the Gang are currently throwing everything at us they can think of.  Because we are human, and will not change, those assaults are bound to be successful to a certain extent.  It is just a question of remaining calm, being resolute, using our better values and eventually we shall overcome.

Deaths                                                                                                                                                              Although it obviously isn’t the only way you can look at it I don’t think I could really disagree that, starting with the murder of Gerry Tobin in August 2007, my actions have been the cause of many deaths.  I have chosen not to try and add up accurately but it will be at least several hundred, possibly a lot more.  The most shocking for me are the children who went to Sandy Hook Elementary School.  If any of the parents of those little ones chose to blame me for the way their lives have been ruined, and it is not the only example I could take, I don’t feel I would have any option but to take it on the chin.  It would be a valid point of view.  Perhaps I should be grateful my story is not in the public domain as I always say I want it to be.

Gang History                                                                                                                                                                  I wrote about the 1904 German community in New York on 23rd June 2014.  On the basis that was American Gang action, as it was then, against their European enemies I am thinking my previous theory about Gang history could do with a bit of refinement.  I had always thought the Mob wars in Chicago of the 1930s were a significant development; a time when a parting of the ways occurred.  Now I am not so sure.  Perhaps the Gang have always been American.  Their dealings with mainland Europe have just been on the basis of alliances which were convenient at the time.  That would fit with my note of 1st May 2013 when I say the they were close to the Cosa Nostra until 1991 but since then their European partner has been the ‘Ndrangheta.  It doesn’t quite seem to explain though why the Gang used to hate Germans so much.  And I think the feeling was reciprocated, shown by the Nazi persecution of Freemasons as well as Jews during the Second World War.  Perhaps it was one of those transference things, on both sides.  For the Gang they would have liked to have picked on Italians but they needed them too much.  Germany was big and powerful, and naive.  They would do for venting their spleen.

It’s All About Sex Stupid                                                                                                                                     That’s the title for Chapter 8 of my book.  My emotions were much rawer and near the surface when I wrote it than now but I feel I was making a valid point.  I was trying desperately to think of a common factor which applies to every human being which we can use to resist the stifling weight of the Gang.  It might come over as obsessive, I am not sure.  Unfortunately I have never had the opening to chat about the subject with anyone who has read it.  Anyway I travelled on a train during my recent trip to Dublin.  During the journey I interacted with three members of the opposite sex.  The fortyish lady who sat opposite me was plump and had a pretty face.  I had to move my legs sideways so she could get into the cramped space.  She said thank you, immediately signalling she has no negative issues with men.  Our knees still touched off and on throughout the journey.  I think she quite enjoyed it as did I.  She was wearing a wedding ring.  As we got off together at the last station I struck up a brief friendly conversation.  I hope that evening she will have had a warm feeling.  The next day she will have forgotten all about it.  Then in the next section diagonally opposite me was a girl of about 14.  She was wearing jeans and a low cut top.  She was aware that exposed female flesh tends to excite men. She enjoyed it.  You could see it gave her a feeling of control.  Good for her.  Then across the gangway immediately on my right was a middle aged lady.  She was not very facially attractive.  She was wearing a summer dress without a bra.  It was extremely low cut. I feel she too wanted to attract men.  However she did not quite have the confidence to look directly to see if she was having the desired effect.  No matter, good for her too.  Overall I do feel woman today are wearing clothes, and acting, much more as they want.  Many just wish to feel pretty and wanted.  It does not mean they want to hop into bed with any man who takes an interest.  If a male companion treats the situation appropriately, showing due consideration and respect, everything will develop just as nature intends.  One of my favourite Beatles tracks is The End, on Abbey Road.  After creating intense musical tension the mood is completely lifted with the most soothing final chords  The words the boys put there are, and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.

Me and the Gang Hierarchy                                                                                                                            Something I have appreciated for a long time but never really got to the bottom of, is why the Gang top tier decided to home in on me in the way they did.  Thinking about the entries in my book and my own private notes I would say that started around the beginning of 2005.  Things are currently happening in my domestic life involving one of my neighbours and perhaps I can finally see what it was all about.  From 2005 the village where I used to work became targeted, as did the close proximity of where I live, as did my immediate and more distant family members.  As far as those with whom I share my life were concerned the purpose was to create general distrust and destabilisation.  For more distant people the idea was, I believe, to create criminal activity all around me so it would be impossible to miss.  Me being me I was bound to react to that and try and do the right thing.  It was a pretty good strategy which might well have worked.  My saving grace was I retreated from situations I knew would be unconscionable for me and did not jump to too many unwarranted conclusions.  The really clever thing though, which has just sunk in, is that if I started getting anywhere I would be presented to all those criminal types around me as the source of all their troubles in life.  They would come to hate me so much they would do the Gang Master’s job, using the most small minded methods, for him.  The local gangs and I would fight ourselves into the ground.  There would be no need for the top tier to ever expose it’s manipulating ways.  However when it became clear that was not fully working as planned the Gang Master, since 2007, has had to directly expose himself.  It has been a downward path for him since then.

Men and Women                                                                                                                                                           I would like this paragraph to be profound.  But it is not flowing.  I am a man who likes women.  I find it difficult to be objective, probably not to be sexist.  Yet I am sure the sexes are very different.  I feel it is good for a man to have a libido.  It makes him self resilient to a certain extent.  Old fashioned I know but I consider women deserve love.  I don’t think the Gang sets out to treat us in dissimilar ways though.  Indeed history indicates that Gang members prefer boys to girls, probably due to the way their mothers brought them up.  I suspect it comes down to how we deal with pressure.  I feel men tend to cope with it better than woman.  If I do think about the, admittedly not that many, women I know I would say the common thread is that they have a lower threshold of believing they cannot cope.  They seem to have a propensity to assume things around them are outside of their influence or control.  Yet they have so much going for them which we chaps don’t.   The answer I feel is for men and woman to work together as a team.  That way it is much easier to face up to the harsh realities of Gang nastiness.  Undoubtedly I believe men and woman have different qualities.  When those are combined the whole comes to more that the sum of the individual parts.

MI5 Working with the Police                                                                                                                             Below this I am not very complimentary towards out security services.  However nothing is ever black and white.  It was a real turning point, I believe for the two organisations in the heading more than me, when I drove up to north London on 11th March 2009.  MI5, through listening to Gang communications channels, knew I believe that a plan had been hatched to harm me.  I am not sure they were aware of the specifics but they passed on what they knew to the Met.  Sir Paul Stephenson’s command made sure plenty of uniforms were about in the area in question and arranged a temporary road closure.  It kept me safe.  It was job well done.  And the fact that I am typing these word now, even though I am completely in the dark about any details, means that their cooperation has been working adequately ever since.

My Immediate Future                                                                                                                                                   I decided to stop my blog about seven weeks ago.  Gradually over the intervening period I have felt a weight slowly lifting from my shoulders.  I am not obsessed with the daily news as I used to be.  In the past I have also felt a responsibility to keep myself as safe as I could.  I was worried about how it would affect others if anything bad happened to me.  Now, with that shield of privacy just around the corner, you will never know if it does.  I will take it slowly though.  I would like to travel but am well aware that there are some countries in the world which are safer than others.  As far as the criminal things I have seen going on around me are concerned, I want to pursue those.  Rather than the nice little system when everything is done in secret, on the basis it is intelligence, I shall be seeking to make formal statements to the police, with the support of my MP.  I shall then expect them to properly follow those allegations up in an accountable way.  We will see where I get to.

Sex and Money                                                                                                                                                        This story has been about sex and money.  Sex because it is what we are here for, to pass on our genes.  The vast majority of us find it pretty pleasurably as well.  And money because it is what a lot of us think we need.  That is where I believe we go wrong.  It is easier to be happy if you are rich.  A compassionate welfare state will see that we are all clothed, housed and fed.  Whatever your position though I feel life should always be about appreciation of the little things, as I say in the Preface of my book.  If we live in a peaceful world that opportunity is there for the taking.  We should grab it with open arms.

Singles and Groups                                                                                                                                                   On 8th February 2014 I wrote about being isolated and bullied.  The Gang have two ways of controlling you, either detachment from everybody else or using peer pressure to make you conform to the ways of those around you.  I am not a natural group person so for me it has always been the first track.  In the long run though Gang pressure really didn’t work, I have just carried on and done my own thing.  So then the family and factional pressures start coming at you, sometimes in extremely subtle ways.  The agents concerned don’t even realise themselves that their statements are being suggested to them by someone else.  That is where I believe you can turn the tables on the Gang.  You play them at their own game.  No one wants to live in isolation.  Group existence is actually the best way forward.  But you do have to be quite political about it.  You always treat what someone close to you says, at face value.  You bide your time and wait for that chance event which allows them, all by themselves, to seize an opportunity or make a decision which empowers them.  At that point you give them all the emotional and thinking support you can.  With a bit of luck a virtuous circle is created.

The Future Generally                                                                                                                                           When I contributed to the PM Privacy Commission and freedom of speech debate in 2011, as reproduced in my book, my conclusion was that the best course forward is for us just to muddle through. You follow your gut reaction and hope your emotion is telling you right.  I feel that is still the answer today.  We all have a life to lead.  You are just one person.  You try and do the right thing but if it doesn’t come off the world won’t stop turning.  However if we all do our bit with persistence over time I think the way we see things will gradually change.  It will take decades but for me the more compassionate towards others we become the better.

The Gang Master                                                                                                                                                         In chapter seven of my book I mention reading an article in an FT Weekend Magazine from July 2010 about the biggest art theft in history. It was from the Gardner museum in Boston in 1990.  A more recent $125 million haul was from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris on 19th May 2010.  The second was a fortnight after I posted my 1st March notes.  Rightly or wrongly I made the connection that all those works of art had ended up in the homes of the Gang Master and his cohorts.  In writing this paragraph I have also made a connection with the Boston marathon bombings of April 2013.  As I mention on 16th April 2013 fifteen minutes after those explosions a likely incendiary device went off inside the JFK Libray and Museum in Boston.  That includes an art collection associated with Mr Kennedy’s life.  The FT quoted an FBI investigator as saying he was confident the Gardner works would be recovered.  He said it was just a matter of when.  It gave me great hope at the time that our problem with Organised Crime would soon be sorted.  However it has never happened with no prospect of a breakthrough any time soon.  I feel there is only one logical conclusion for that.  The Gang is being protected from the top of the American security services, ably assisted by Gang members in all the other key intelligence agencies around the world.  It is not a new thought.  I was hoping an adventurous team might have tried to tackle the issue some time ago.  There are no rumours I have heard that it might be happening.  It must be the falling between two stools syndrome.  No one out in high normal society could possibly suggest such a thing, in private or othewise.  It is an elephant in the room subject.  Then everyone in the world of secrets has at least one thing they would not want the rest of us to know about.  They need to cover their backs.  No one therefore is going to take responsibility for getting such a project going.

The Middle East                                                                                                                                                            I am pleased I am leaving this business behind me.  Things are definitely going to get worse before they get better.  ISIS have been out of the news for the last couple of weeks but, when the signal comes from the Gang I believe, they will march on.  At the moment, in my view, Mr Netanyahu is doing everything he can to draw them over to his home in the eastern Mediterranean.  They will be only too happy to move into the Gaza Strip if that is what he wishes.  However he should bear in mind they have a completely different mindset to Hamas.  The Palestinians, like the Viet Cong, are happy to play the underdog.  Pinprick tunnels of supply and attack are sufficient for them.  ISIS want world domination.  They will flood Israel with suicide bombers and terrorise the whole population.  The Jewish state no doubt will fight back in it’s normal victimised, paranoid way.  It will have it’s traumatised voters 100% behind it.  The rest of us will just watch in utter disbelief.

Two Tiers                                                                                                                                                                     As time has gone on it has become clearer and clearer, especially in the last couple of months as I have been following things up in my locality, that the Gang are at two distinct levels.  I am not entirely sure even that Gang is the appropriate word for the lower, local lot.  They just comprise a multitude of little gangs all doing their own things.  They are aware there is a big brother around somewhere but, as long as they are making money, there is no need to think about it too much.  If there is a golden rule it is that you must never reveal openly who you are and what you are about.  If you do you will be admonished by your Godfather.  I describe an incident in my book where some lost garden tractor keys are hiddenly returned to me, even though I had not realised they had been stolen.  The idea I imagine was that I knew who had taken them.  The upper Gang tier had told my local gang they should not have upset me and putting the keys back was their punishment.

This is the third time I have tried to bring this chapter of my life to a close.  I explain what happened last time in my addendum note prior to my entries for 1st August 2013.  The first attempt was quite early on, just after the near Heathrow air crash in 2008.  It did phase me.  I could see I was dealing with something completely out of my league.  There was nothing I as an individual could do about it.  The best thing would be to stick my head in the sand and with a bit of luck it would all go away.  I published the relevant diary note in my book.  However, as none of you have read it, I reproduce it below.

21st January 2008                                                                                                                                             xxxx….. obviously didn’t think his plane was going to make it to level ground last week and Sunday newspapers have reported him saying he can only attribute it to ‘the man sitting up there’.  I would not call myself religious but 1 in a 100 chances do have to happen sometimes and whilst the probability laws of the universe are absolute, within that I believe it quite possible there are other forces at work, involving thought processes and the like, which can result in otherwise unlikely outcomes.  One thing I am sure about however is that, if this is the case, the occupants of this planet, who seem to think we are the kings of everything, will never understand how such things could work.  I see that Israel sealed off the Gaza strip last week and it is difficult to see how George Bush’s current initiative can get anywhere.  That situation is the most terrible indictment of the failings of human beings anywhere but paradoxically, if it is down in large part to the workings of organised crime as I think will prove to be the case, at least the next American President might be able to do something.  With the necessary will and staying power only they have the economic resources and clout to sort it.  The key will be to identify those gang members on all sides with close access to the key decision makers and to neutralise their subversive message of mistrust and fear.

Time now for me to sign off.  The best of luck to you all and do your jobs to the best of your ability.  This is …. Dickety, over and out.

It was about three weeks later I was going for a walk with my former wife, Chrissy as I call her in my book, in the countryside about five miles from here. The public footpath went through a farmstead at the end of a short no through road.  As we paced past the front of the house I noticed through the window a lady nervously moving in the porch.  She was worried we were going to ring the bell for some reason.  She was afraid of us.  It gave me the confidence to carry on.  And through thick and thin I have tried to do that since.  Only future events will ultimately show whether it was worth me doing that or not.

For the final time this is Trevor Dickety, over and out.