Just Finished Reading: The Desperate Hours by Joseph Hayes (FP: 1954)

Glenn Griffin (played by Humphrey Bogart in the 1955 movie adaptation) is out of prison and out for revenge against the cop that put him there and broke his jaw in the process. Along with his kid brother and the psychotic convict Robish they’re on their way to Indianapolis to lay low somewhere while they wait for money and the opportunity to strike back at the police. But where to hide in a city that knows Griffin all too well, where the FBI know all of his contacts and many of his hideouts. Where would be the very last place for them to look? Where – the suburbs, the very centre of respectability where they would never suspect them to blend in or pass unnoticed. Unless of course they hid almost in plain sight. In a respectable home surrounded by a respectable family and respectable neighbours not too close but not too far away. A respectable home like that of Dan Hilliard (played by Fredric March), his wife, teenage daughter and young son. A family too afraid of what might happen to the others if any of them tried to raise the alarm or fight back. It would all be over in 48 hours, the money would arrive, pay offs would be made and a permanent escape planned. But 48 hours can feel like an eternity when the wrong move, the wrong word or the wrong look can provoke a violent response from any of the three desperate men who have taken up residence in your home…. And when they leave, who will they take with them and who will live to tell the police what happened?

This is yet another book that’s been sitting on my shelves for years. I had a vague recollection of the original movie – since been remade in the 1990’s – so wasn’t 100% sure what the book would be like. You’ll know that I have a ‘thing’ for Noir movies and the books that inspired them so I fully expected to be on firm ground and I was. The story certainly deserves the label of classic promptly displayed on the cover of my version. The plot was a simple but very effective one – essentially a ‘home invasion’ to provide a temporary hideout for felons on the run – and the tension throughout the novel is very ably handled ebbing and flowing with each test of the boundaries and inevitable misunderstandings and power shifts both within the Hilliard family and within the gang itself. In some ways I guess that it’s a little naïve given how used we’ve become to random violence and sudden death but fact that it was written in a much simpler age gives the story an added nostalgic poignancy which was quite sweet (without being sentimental). It was interesting to ‘see’ the inner workings of the father’s mind as he worked out the odds of various actions and even more interesting – given the time – that almost everyone involved with the exception of the bad guys was ex-military with the war only ending 9 years before of course! Nicely tense without being too claustrophobic and a breeze to read. Recommended.        

Cartoon Time.

Ah.... That explains it........................ [grin]

I think the word you're looking for is 'Creepy'.

What could possibly go wrong, really….?

UK economy 'resilient' despite £122bn hit to finances.

The UK economy is "resilient" despite forecasts that government finances will be £122bn worse off than previously expected by 2020, the chancellor said. In his Autumn Statement Philip Hammond said growth predictions had been cut as a result of the Brexit vote. As widely expected, he unveiled a fuel duty freeze and more cash for housing, transport and digital infrastructure. Labour said the government was "unprepared and ill-equipped" for Brexit and had "no vision". Mr Hammond told MPs the UK's deficit would no longer be cleared by 2020 - with the target instead "as early as possible" afterwards. Mr Hammond said the statement - his first major Commons event as chancellor - came exactly five months after a Brexit vote which "will change the course of Britain's history", making it "more urgent than ever" to tackle long-term economic weaknesses. Presenting the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecasts, he said borrowing would hit £68.2bn this year and £59bn next year, compared with the March forecast of £55.5bn and £38.8bn. The OBR said the referendum result meant potential growth in the current Parliament would be 2.4 percentage points lower than forecast in March. Government finances are forecast to be £122bn worse off than in the spring.

Autumn Statement: Big increase in borrowing predicted.

There will be substantial increases in government borrowing in each of the next five years, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed he would abandon the government target to spend less than it earned by 2019-20. The OBR predicts it will now borrow £21.9bn that year, compared with the £10bn surplus previously forecast. Overall, the government will borrow an extra £122bn by 2020-21, half of which the OBR attributes to the Brexit vote. There has also been a big change in its prediction for the total amount of government debt amassed by 2020-21. The new total is £1.95 trillion, an increase of £210bn from the £1.74 trillion the OBR predicted in March. Those figures include the amount of money the Bank of England is borrowing to support the economy via its asset purchase facility (APF). That money counts as part of national debt, but not as part of the net borrowing figure.

Supermarket prices 'to rise by 5%'.

Prices in the UK's supermarkets will rise by at least 5% over the next six months, according to the former boss of Sainsbury's. Justin King thinks that, after years of the cost of the weekly shop barely moving, we should expect to see inflation return. Mr King told Newsnight that the fall in the value of the pound would cause "a profound change" for supermarkets. He ran Sainsbury's for a decade until stepping down in 2014. In that time, the company's revenue grew almost constantly, but prices rose much more slowly. In recent years, food prices have even had spells of deflation. Mr King, now vice-chairman of the investment firm Terra Firma, says some supermarkets will be "squeezed in the jaws" of resisting price rises while also dealing with increased costs, and says some companies may not survive the squeeze. The value of sterling has fallen notably since the decision to leave the European Union. That's meant that ingredients and packaging imported from abroad have become more expensive, sparking some high-profile pricing rows over products such as Marmite. Mr King, who backed the Remain campaign in the referendum, says that "all things being equal", a return to inflation is inevitable. "Around 40% to 50% of what we buy is sourced abroad in a currency other than the pound, so with the current rates of exchange we could expect those things to be about 10% more expensive. And if that's about half of what we buy, then that means something of the order of 5% inflation." His claim has been backed up by the trade body that represents many suppliers. Ian Wright, director-general of the Food and Drink Federation, told Newsnight that he expected prices to rise next year by "somewhere between 5 and 8%".

Autumn Statement: Workers' pay growth prospects dreadful, says IFS.

The outlook for wages is "dreadful" with the squeeze on pay lasting for more than 10 years, independent economists have said. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said workers would earn less in real wages in 2021 than they did in 2008. Other analysis shows the biggest losers between now and 2020 will be lower income families, with the poorest third likely to see incomes drop. Chancellor Philip Hammond said millions of new jobs had been created. Defending his Autumn Statement plans, the chancellor told Radio 4's Today programme that the government had brought job growth. It was investing for the future, preparing for a "rainy day", and government borrowing was on a "downward path", he added. In its analysis of the Autumn Statement, the independent think tank, the IFS, said workers would earn less in real wages in 2021 than they did in 2008. "This has, for sure, been the worst decade for living standards certainly since the last war and probably since the 1920s," said Paul Johnson, director of the IFS. We have seen no increase in average incomes so far and it does not look like we are going to get much of an increase over the next four or five years either." The "outlook for living standards and for the public finances has deteriorated pretty sharply over the last nine months", he added.

All details above from BBC News website.

[Well, after today’s vote in Parliament rejecting both of the amendments proposed by the House of Lords it looks like Article 50 might be enacted as soon as the weekend. I don’t think that it can be argued that there will definitely be ‘interesting times’ ahead. Of course the Brexiteers will be celebrating at this point. Needless to say I won’t be. Thankfully I don’t have any children to explain why we sold their future away on the promise to ‘take back control’ that we never had in the first place and still won’t have after we leave the EU in 2 years’ time. If this was another country committing economic suicide in an inexplicable fit of pique it might be interesting to watch from a distance. It’s rather less interesting when you’re actually inside the madhouse wondering what the fuck went wrong and why no one else can see what the likely consequences of their actions are. I guess we’ll see and I’ll be here to report it to you. Stay tuned!]

Cartoon Time.

Technology behind 'all serious crime'

From The BBC

10th March 2017

Technology is now at the "root" of all serious criminality, says Europe's police agency. The returns generated by document fraud, money laundering and online trade in illegal goods helps to pay for other damaging crimes, said Europol. The wider use of technology by criminal gangs poses the "greatest challenge" to police forces, it said in a study. It revealed that Europol is currently tracking 5,000 separate international organised crime groups.

The "comprehensive" study of organised crime in Europe found a wide range of crime groups ranging from loose networks of individual criminals up to large trans-national bodies that generate profits which rival those of legitimate multi-national corporations. Common among all groups was their affection for technology, said the report. The ease with which cybercrime campaigns can be set up and run as well as the proliferation of online crime services had driven this adoption. Many groups now use cybercrime campaigns, including ransomware, to generate cash that is then used to bankroll people and drug trafficking operations. "These cross-cutting criminal threats enable and facilitate most, if not all, other types of serious and organised crime," said the report.

In addition, said Europol, many gangs were turning to technology to help make well-established crimes more lucrative. For instance, said the report, drones were now being used to transport drugs and many burglars now track social media posts to work out when people are away from their home. The steady increase in the number of reported burglaries across Europe was a "particular concern" for many nations, it said.

[Criminals have always been early adopters of technology in all its forms so it should come as a huge surprise that technology enables crime as much as it enables everything else today. That being the case we all need to be much more tech savvy to protect ourselves from often very avoidable technical issues. I know that sense is increasingly less common but maybe we need to Think more and Tweet less. Just a thought……….]

Just Finished Reading: Strangers on a Bridge – The Case of Colonel Abel by James B Donovan (FP: 1964)

New York, 1957. Approaching the height of the Cold War and with Soviet paranoia rife at all levels of American society a spy is uncovered and swiftly brought to justice. But to show that America is really the land of the free with enforced rights for all – no matter who they are – a lawyer of quality is sought to defend him. That particular poison chalice is accepted by the author of this book played quite superbly by Tom Hanks in the 2015 Masterpiece ‘Bridge of Spies’. As you might imagine though the reality of the case and Hollywood’s portrayal of it are at times quite different. Not surprisingly the book, written after all by a practicing lawyer concentrates on the case against his client, Colonel Abel (again played superbly by Mark Rylance), the evidence against him and the varying strategies to minimise the prosecution’s case. If you’re a lawyer (or a legal nerd), especially an American lawyer, no doubt you’ll love this bit. Although I found it interesting enough I did struggle a bit and honestly found it a bit of a slog. I wasn’t too fazed by the Constitutional aspects brought out as I’ve seen enough US crime and courtroom drama’s to get the gist of this sort of thing without completely losing the plot.

What I did find far more interesting was what happened later – both with the infamous Gary Powers U2 Incident and with the author travelling to East Germany to negotiate his release (in exchange for Abel) along with two other American’s held by the Soviet’s on spying charges. The second civilian was dropped from the movie but that didn’t detract from the overall drama of the negotiation process which was both simplified and complicated in the movie version. Oddly in both the book and the movie the main Soviet negotiator (played yet again superbly by Michael Gorevoy in the screen adaptation) came across very well. You knew exactly where he was coming from – despite hiding his true identity as a very high level KGB operative – and he definitely came across in both media as a man you could do business with just so long as you kept reminding yourself exactly who and what he was.

I can definitely see what this story was made into a film. It’s a very human story surrounded by some very historic events. However, despite rating the movie as one of the best in that year (if not THE best film of the year IMHO) I was disappointed to learn that at least one very dramatic incident in the movie never happened. The shooting through the window of Tom Hank’s residence is not mentioned at all in the narrative. I doubt very much if the author would’ve skipped over that bit considering that he covered much more hat did make it into the movie. I understand the need to make the story dramatic but this level of invention sticks in my craw more than a little. OK, turn things up a few notches for effect but not to this level. That said, if you’ve seen the movie and enjoyed it anywhere as much as I did then this will be a nice addition to that enjoyment and it does fill in many of the questions raised by the movie. It is dry on occasion but if you have an interest in American jurisprudence that’ll help quite a bit. Not exactly riveting but still recommended.      

Cartoon Time.

I mean.... They're snappy enough.... right?

One way to keep warm, I guess.........

The so-called ‘Will of the People’….

Government 'prepares three-line Brexit bill'.

The government has prepared a short three-line bill to begin the Brexit process - so Theresa May can meet her March deadline, it is understood. Sources say they believe the legislation is so tightly drawn it will be difficult for critical MPs to amend. Ministers have drawn up the legislation in case they lose their appeal to the Supreme Court - which would force them to consult Parliament. The High Court ruled against the government earlier this month. Sources say the government would plan to introduce the bill in the Commons immediately after the Supreme Court ruling. The hope would be to push the bill through the Commons in two weeks. It would then go to the House of Lords where it is understood the government hopes peers would back down. They believe peers would not dare defy MPs - if the Commons had approved the legislation. Sources say they have devised the bill to be "bomb-proof" to amendments. This would mean Mrs May could meet her March deadline for triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which begins the formal negotiation process. Sources say although they looked at allowing Parliament a vote through "a substantive motion" rather than legislation, they decided this would leave them vulnerable to further legal challenge.

Scots and Welsh can have say in Brexit court case.

The Scottish and Welsh governments are to be allowed to have a say in the Supreme Court battle over how Brexit should be triggered. The government is appealing against a High Court ruling that MPs must get a vote on triggering Article 50. The Supreme Court confirmed that Wales and Scotland's senior law officers will be allowed to take part in the appeal. UK PM Theresa May said on Friday that work was "on track" to begin the formal process of Brexit by April 2017. At a joint press briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, following a meeting with EU leaders in Berlin, Mrs May said: "We stand ready to trigger Article 50 by the end of March 2017 and I want to see this as a smooth process, an orderly process, working towards a solution that's in the interests of both the UK and also in the interests of our European partners." She was speaking after the Supreme Court confirmed that Scotland's senior law officer, the Lord Advocate, had been invited to address the court on the relevance of points of Scots law. The Counsel General for Wales will make arguments about the importance of parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law. The Supreme Court hearing is expected to start on 5 December and last four days, with the decision expected in the New Year.

Drop Brexit case appeal, senior Tories urge May.

Theresa May should abandon an appeal against the court ruling that means MPs must vote on the UK leaving the EU, leading Conservatives say. Sir Oliver Letwin, former head of the government's Brexit preparations, and two former law officers said the case should not go to the Supreme Court. Instead, they want ministers to bring a bill to Parliament to start the process of Brexit as soon as possible. The government said it would robustly defend its position at the appeal. The MPs voiced their concerns after the Supreme Court decided on Friday that the Scottish and Welsh governments should have a say at the appeal hearing in December. Former minister Sir Oliver, who oversaw a "Brexit Unit" in the Cabinet Office after the referendum, told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that the Supreme Court hearing could see ministers' powers outside Parliament curbed. He added that one of the advantages of bringing a "fast and tightly timetabled and constrained bill" to Parliament, giving the government the ability to trigger Brexit without any constraints on its negotiating power, was that it avoided "any risk of the Supreme Court deciding to accord the devolved administrations some rights or even some veto powers".

Tesco warns global suppliers over price rises.

Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis has warned global suppliers not to artificially inflate their prices because of the fall in the pound. It is his first public comments since supplier Unilever tried to raise the cost of popular items such as Marmite due to a weaker currency. The UK's biggest retailer briefly halted online sales of Unilever's goods. Mr Lewis said price rises needed to be "justified". He agreed there were inflationary pressures, but he said multi-national companies should not increase prices just to reassure investors. Mr Lewis pointed out that such businesses presented results in both constant and current exchange rates to take account of currency volatility. "The only thing we would ask of companies that are in that position is they don't ask UK customers to pay inflated prices in order that their reporting currency is maintained," he said. "They don't do that for countries outside of the UK." Unilever had argued price rises were necessary to cover higher import costs even though Marmite was being manufactured in the UK. Mr Lewis, who worked for Unilever for 28 years, quickly reached an agreement with his old employer, but the terms of the deal have not been disclosed. The pound has fallen by about 16% against the dollar since the UK voted in June to leave the EU. It has also fallen to a lesser extent against the euro. A weaker pound pushes up the price of imported goods, although it also makes UK exports cheaper for foreign buyers.

Academics 'must not be used as Brexit pawns'.

Scientists, academics and students should not be used as "pawns" in political negotiations over Brexit, Theresa May is being warned. People from all sections of academia, and MPs, are calling for EU researchers working in the UK to be exempted from any future immigration controls. The prime minister has said she cannot guarantee EU nationals the right to stay without reciprocal arrangements. The Science and Technology Committee has called for immediate action. The call comes ahead of a demonstration in central London on Saturday. University and College Union general secretary Sally Hunt will urge the Prime Minister to "stop using EU staff and students as pawns in Brexit negotiations". "Show some humanity. Do the decent thing. Give our people the right to stay," she will say. Prof Ottoline Leyser, representing the Royal Society, told the committee there were 31,000 non-UK EU citizens working in research in academia in the UK.

Sixty Conservative MPs back call to leave single market.

Sixty Conservative MPs, including seven ex-cabinet ministers, are calling for Britain to quit the single market and customs union when it leaves the EU. Writing in the Telegraph, Suella Fernandes MP said only in leaving will "we truly be a beacon of international free trade". Michael Gove, Iain Duncan Smith and Theresa Villier are among her backers. Meanwhile, other senior Tories are urging the PM to drop an appeal against a ruling that MPs must vote on Brexit. The group of 60 MPs want Britain to pull out of both the European single market and the customs union, which allows its members to trade without tariffs but imposes common duties on goods imported from outside the bloc. Ms Fernandes said the 23 June vote to leave the EU was "an instruction to untie ourselves from EU shackles and freely embrace the rest of the world. As was made clear in the referendum campaign, remaining in the EU's internal market, like Norway, or in a customs union like Turkey is not compatible with either of these commitments and doing so would frustrate the will of the electorate."

All details above from BBC News website.

[The clock is ticking so loud these days that it’s keeping me awake. No doubt when Article 50 is enacted (in a few weeks apparently) the expected result will be keeping a lot of other people up too – hoping against hope that the pound doesn’t collapse as it did after the original vote last Summer. ]

Cartoon Time.

Nuclear submarine plans found in Welsh charity shop.

From BBC News

4th March 2017

A north Wales town has a cold war thriller on its hands after nuclear submarine plans were found in a charity shop suitcase. Staff at a Barnardo's store in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, were amazed to discover the document showing details of the former £200m HMS Trafalgar. "Someone said that if the phone rang and it was someone with a Russian accent, I should put it down," joked manager, Stella Parker. The plans will be auctioned off. Charity store staff say the suitcase was donated anonymously and filled with books. But hidden in the lining of the luggage was the impressive 6ft (1.8m) drawings of the former Royal Navy vessel. While unusual finds are not uncommon for the charity shop, Ms Parker said she quickly recognised this was something out of the ordinary. "When I found it I just thought, wow, this is amazing," she said. "I can only imagine perhaps the family of someone who had passed away donated the suitcase, that is what often happens. perhaps they did not know the plan was there. We are all very excited here about it and we've certainly never seen anything like it before."

Mrs Parker took the plans to be looked at by experts when the TV show, David Dickinson's Real Deal, visited the Gwynedd town. She was told there that the plans were most likely posted on the sub to familiarise the crew with the lay-out of the vessel. It seems more likely that the document comes from Vickers, who built Trafalgar, or the submarine's designers. During its years in service, Trafalgar prowled under the frozen polar icecaps keeping the then-Soviet threat in check. It also served the Afghanistan conflict and became the first Royal Navy submarine to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles against Taliban forces. In 1996 the sub gained notoriety after running aground off the Isle of Skye during a training exercise, causing £5m worth of damage.

The Plymouth-based vessel was decommissioned in 2009. But foreign agents looking to get their hands on the document today will face an easier task than they did in the 1980s - as the plans have been declassified and are being auctioned by the shop. Ms Parker said: "We are hoping to raise as much money as we can. one thing for certain is that you are not going to be able to buy one of these anywhere else."

[What a brilliant story, and what a brilliant find for the Charity Shop. You do have to wonder where the plans came from and where they were going though! There’s a Cold War story in there somewhere! I wonder if someone in our Security Service or in the Russian equivalent is thinking – Oh, so THAT’S what happened to them! – about now……]

Just Finished Reading: The Martian by Andy Weir (FP: 2013/2014)

It sucks when you’re dead. It’s even worse when billions of people think you’re dead, and you’re not – obviously. But when you’re millions of miles from home, alone on an alien planet, years from rescue and in an environment where any mistake will likely kill you then you have to show that all of the ‘Right Stuff’ NASA mythology is true. Either that or you really die. Of course there’s the upside – all of those firsts for one thing: longest time alone on a planet, longest journey on the surface, first plants grown on Martian soil (he’s a Botanist after all) hence officially colonising the planet and not forgetting the first act of Space Piracy – which is a definite turn on with the women (apparently). But for Mark Watney (played brilliantly by Matt Damon in one of my favourite films of 2015) it’s not all fun and games, there’s the danger, the loneliness, the life and death problem solving and then the worst part of all – having to listen to the Mission Commanders 70’s disco music. Of course mere survival is just the start of things. Mark needs food, water, air, to communicate with NASA and ultimately to get home. NASA will do all it can to get him back but that alone won’t be enough. It will be down to people all over the Earth, and in space, to put their own lives on hold in order to do what humans do best – save each other.

When I saw the trailers of this movie I immediately fell in love with the look of things and the feel of Mars right there on the screen. That sucker looked real! Then there was Damon himself, largely carrying the movie on his own for extended periods when he alone appeared on screen. I liked the guy before this film and I honestly loved him afterwards. He was BRILLIANT. One of the things I really liked about the book is that the tone of the film was deeply embedded in the pages. It wasn’t Hollywood taking a decent idea and jazzing it up for entertainment. The ideas, the feel of things, the drama, the humour, the pacing and the great characters (I loved the young satellite technician Mindy Park played by Mackenzie Davis) including the rest of Watney’s crew played by the great Jessica Chastain, very funny Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan and Aksel Hennie. The drama was, as you might imagine, there in spades both on Mars, back on Earth across NASA (I’m sure that nerds everywhere loved the techie bits both in the movie and even more in the book) and, naturally in the Hermes spacecraft itself.

The author certainly seemed to know his stuff. The science sounded very real (and probably was), the technical solutions – and the problems they were meant to solve and sometimes caused – felt logical and could probably be studied as a primer for a survival course. The emotional and intellectual reactions of all involved never really strayed from the believable. Some of the meetings at NASA very much reminded me of meetings I’d been in at work over the years and, yet again, had a firm grounding in reality. This was HARD SF par excellence and was my favourite read so far this year. If you haven’t seen the movie I can heartily recommend it. Likewise if you’ve seen the film you definitely won’t be disappointed in this book. Highly recommended.

Cartoon Time.

Impressive. I might have to watch the series now........

Because of everything that's happening in the world (and just because I can) I'm designating this Month to be Mad March. Be prepared for the crazy, strange, weird and simply silly..... You Have Been Warned!

Bad Wookie....!

No Need to Thank Us……..

UK trade deficit widens in September, official figures show.

The UK trade deficit widened to £5.2bn in September from £3.8bn in August, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Exports decreased by £0.2bn, while imports increased by £1.2bn. The widening between imports and exports was in part driven by a record £8.7bn deficit with the European Union. Although the pound fell sharply after the Brexit vote, the ONS said there was little direct evidence so far of currency effects on trade. After June's referendum, the pound fell more than 10% against the dollar and the euro, hitting a 31-year low against the dollar, and lost further ground in October to hit its weakest-ever level against a basket of major currencies. However, ONS statistician Hannah Finselbach said: "So far there is little evidence in the data of the lower pound feeding through into trade volume or prices." Between the April-to-June and July-to-September quarters, the total trade deficit for goods and services narrowed by £1.6bn to £11bn. There was a £4.5bn increase in goods exports and a £3.1bn increase in goods imports between the second and third quarters, partially offset by a £0.1bn decrease in services exports and a £0.3bn decrease in services imports. Some manufacturers reported a jump in foreign demand after the pound's fall, but it can take time for this to show up in trade data. In the three months to September, Britain's economy slowed much less than most economists had expected, with signs that it was supported by continued robust consumer spending.

UK construction weakest in four years, ONS says.

The UK's construction sector recorded its weakest performance in four years in the July-to-September quarter, official figures have shown. Construction volumes fell by 1.1% in the quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. There were large falls in repair work, and these were only partly offset by small rises in infrastructure and public building. The figures measure the first three months following the Brexit vote. The value of all repair and maintenance was 3.6% lower than in the second quarter of the year, which was partially offset by an increase in all new work of 0.3%, said the ONS. Further evidence of a slowdown in the construction industry came from building materials and insulation firm SIG on Friday, as it issued a profit warning and said its chief executive was stepping down. The company said: "Following a slowing of activity around the time of the EU referendum, trading conditions in the UK have continued to soften and competition in the market has intensified." SIG also said that some commercial projects had been delayed.

Brexit: Ed Miliband rejects calls for second referendum.

The former Labour leader told ITV's Peston on Sunday June's Leave vote must be respected and there was "no question" of the UK staying put. Some Labour and Lib Dem MPs have said they will oppose starting formal Brexit talks unless ministers promise a subsequent vote on the eventual deal. Mr Miliband also called for curbs on freedom of movement rules in the UK. The government is appealing against a High Court ruling which stated that it must seek the consent of Parliament before it triggers Article 50 - the mechanism by which member states leave the EU. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said his party will not seek to "frustrate" the Article 50 process but several of his MPs have said they will oppose it if a vote is held in the House of Commons early next year. While supporting calls for a parliamentary vote on Article 50, Mr Miliband said he did not agree with MPs threatening to withhold their support unless certain conditions were met. Despite sympathising with the 48% of Remain voters who felt "angry and frustrated" by the outcome, he said the result could not be overturned. "We had a referendum and we've got to respect the result. We are leaving the EU." Mr Miliband said his focus was on getting the government to reveal more details about its plans and that a parliamentary vote was the best way to do that.

UK inflation rate falls to 0.9% in October.

The UK inflation rate registered a surprise fall in October, although there were signs that the pressure on consumer prices is starting to build. Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation fell to 0.9%, from 1% in September, the Office for National Statistics said. That was below the 1.1% predicted by economists, who said sterling's fall would push October's CPI higher. However, the ONS said factory gate prices and the costs of raw materials rose much faster in October. The price of goods leaving factories rose by 2.1%, faster than expected and the biggest increase since April 2012. And costs faced by producers for raw materials and oil showed a record monthly jump in October, up by 4.6%. "After initially pushing up the prices of raw materials, the recent fall in the value of the pound is now starting to boost the price of goods leaving factories as well," ONS statistician Mike Prestwood said. "However, aside from fuel, there is no clear evidence that these pressures have so far fed through to the prices in shops," he said. The cost of clothing and university tuition fees rose more slowly than in 2015, however, helping to keep inflation in check. The ONS said certain games and toys, overnight hotel stays and non-alcoholic beverages fell in price. But there is an expectation among economists that inflation is set to rise, fuelled by the fall in the value of sterling since the Brexit referendum in June, which has pushed up the cost of imports. On Tuesday, Bank of England governor Mark Carney told the Treasury Committee that "the thinking now is that inflation is going to go above target... We see more inflation coming through in 2017-18, and then a tail in 2019." Inflation has been below the Bank's 2% target for nearly three years. Last year it was zero, the lowest since comparable records began in 1950.

Downing Street dismisses Brexit 'divisions' memo.

Downing Street has "wholeheartedly" rejected comments in a memorandum leaked to the press describing cabinet "divisions" over Brexit. The document, compiled by consultancy firm Deloitte and obtained by the Times newspaper, says Whitehall is working on 500 Brexit-related projects and could need 30,000 extra staff. But the prime minister's spokeswoman said the work had been "unsolicited". And Deloitte said there had been no "access" to Number 10 for the report. No "input from any other government departments" had been received, the company added. The government said the leaked memo - entitled "Brexit Update" of 7 November - had been written by a consultant and was not a Cabinet Office document, as reported in earlier versions of this story. The prime minister's spokeswoman added that someone from the accountancy firm Deloitte had produced it and "the individual is not working for the Cabinet Office on this". The person had never been inside 10 Downing Street and had not engaged with officials since Theresa May had become prime minister, the spokeswoman said. The document identifies cabinet splits between Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Brexit Secretary David Davis and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox on one side, and Chancellor Philip Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark on the other.

All details above from BBC News website.

[As we edge ever closer to Article 50 Day – or as I like to call it ‘Lemming Day’ – we are beginning to hear calls for greater political honesty from the Brexit crowd as to what exactly is going to happen once we officially start the leave process. Well, it’s a bit late now! If both sides of the debate/argument had been more honest with the British public then maybe we wouldn’t be heading to what I’m confident will be a clusterfuck.]

Cartoon Time.

Foreign language Oscar nominees decry 'climate of fanaticism in US'

From The Guardian

25th Feb 2017

The six directors in the running for this year’s foreign language Oscar have issued a joint statement blaming “leading politicians” for the fear they feel is creating “divisive walls”. The statement, which was issued on Friday, comes ahead of Sunday’s Academy Awards, which are tipped to be the most political in recent memory, with winners and presenters expected to speak out against the new US administration.

In their letter, the six condemn “the climate of fanaticism and nationalism we see today in the US and in so many other countries, in parts of the population and, most unfortunately of all, among leading politicians”. The statement is signed by Asghar Farhadi, the director of Iran’s The Salesman, Martin Zandvliet, director of Denmark’s Land of Mine, Hannes Holm, director of Sweden’s A Man Called Ove, Maren Ade, director of Germany’s Toni Erdmann and Martin Butler and Bentley Dean, joint directors of Australia’s Tanna.

The Complete Statement:

On behalf of all nominees, we would like to express our unanimous and emphatic disapproval of the climate of fanaticism and nationalism we see today in the U.S. and in so many other countries, in parts of the population and, most unfortunately of all, among leading politicians.

The fear generated by dividing us into genders, colours, religions and sexualities as a means to justify violence destroys the things that we depend on – not only as artists but as humans: the diversity of cultures, the chance to be enriched by something seemingly “foreign” and the belief that human encounters can change us for the better. These divisive walls prevent people from experiencing something simple but fundamental: from discovering that we are all not so different.

So we’ve asked ourselves: What can cinema do? Although we don`t want to overestimate the power of movies, we do believe that no other medium can offer such deep insight into other people’s circumstances and transform feelings of unfamiliarity into curiosity, empathy and compassion – even for those we have been told are our enemies.

Regardless of who wins the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film on Sunday, we refuse to think in terms of borders. We believe there is no best country, best gender, best religion or best colour. We want this award to stand as a symbol of the unity between nations and the freedom of the arts.

Human rights are not something you have to apply for. They simply exist – for everybody. For this reason, we dedicate this award to all the people, artists, journalists and activists who are working to foster unity and understanding, and who uphold freedom of expression and human dignity – values whose protection is now more important than ever. By dedicating the Oscar to them, we wish to express to them our deep respect and solidarity.

Just Finished Reading: The Free State of Jones – A True Story of Defiance during the American Civil War by Victoria E Bynum (FP: 2001)

I suppose that it’s natural to assume that in a war between two groups that the members of Group ‘A’ generally support (or at least do not oppose) objective ‘A’ whilst those of Group ‘B’ likewise support objective ‘B’. I guess that such a supposition is normally based on a mixture of expectation, laziness and propaganda from both groups. Dissent within the ranks being seen, with some justification, as a sign of weakness. So it is all the more interesting to come across a rebellion operating within another rebellion and a reasonably well documented one at that.

Now I would be the last person to say that I was particularly knowledgeable about the American Civil War. Frankly most of my ‘knowledge’ comes from TV, Movies and novels of the period. Before the 2016 movie starring Matthew McConaughey came out I had no idea that such a double rebellion had happened or was even possible. The story itself seems to be hugely controversial, not least of all in the State of Mississippi itself. The double-rebels, which included a number of Confederate deserters, runaway slaves and those who simply refused to fight to maintain a deeply unfair system or rich slave owners and poor yeomanry, not only managed to survive deep in the Confederacy despite armed units being used against them but almost managed to hold territory, defeat or seriously embarrass Confederate soldiers and even petition for aid from Union forces with whom they were in periodic contact. The political and social fallout of this act of defiance extended long after the war had been lost by the South and well into the age of Segregation. For not only where the rebel leaders defying the power of the Confederate State but also the increasingly harsh laws and conventions against racial mixing. With attitudes prevailing that a single drop of Black blood (however that was defined) was enough to ‘taint’ a white person who henceforth should be regarded as Black no matter their physical appearance it was no surprise that the ‘rebels’ choice to often live openly in mixed race communities shocked and deeply divided families and territories.

As a descendent of a family on the edges of the rebellion the author had some stated interest in the story of the Free State. But knowing that she had ‘skin in the game’ was a necessary disclosure and helped distance her from the often heated debate surrounding the events of late 1863 to mid-1864. Both sides of the argument used whatever methods they could, or could get away with, to justify their standpoint. The heady mixture of race, gender and class politics, to say nothing of strongly held beliefs about the South and its place in American history, needed to be handled with some delicacy lest it spiral out of control into accusation and counter accusation. The author, I thought, continually teased out the middle ground (what was actually likely to have happened minus the patina of propaganda) to both plot the economic and social reasons for the inner rebellion happening at that particular time in that particular place involving those particular people as well as the messy outcomes post defeat and reconstruction. I did think that she was a little heavy on the decades before the events but, with hindsight, I can see why she did it. I did learn quite a bit of post-revolutionary American history that I was completely unaware of but honestly quite a bit of it went completely over my head. That could have been due to my level of ignorance plus the fact that I suspect that the author was intending her audience to already have at least some familiarity with the subject which was absent in my case. Overall though this was an interesting investigation of an inner rebellion that had probably passed most of us by. Recommended.

Cartoon Time.