Let me get this straight -

i) The Natwest three: they undervalued an enterprise they oversaw on behalf of Enron; they and their American co-conspirators bought the company at a knockdown price; they then sold it on making millions for themselves and their cronies. Now they will go to jail in the US and will have to repay their ill-gotten gains. The Home Office extradited them to face trial and so must have accepted prima facie evidence of a criminal offence.

ii) The QinetiQ Cabal: undervalued an enterprise they oversaw on behalf of the British People; they and their American co-conspirators bought the company at a knockdown price; they then sold it on making millions for themselves and their cronies.
We can expect to see them rewarded in a future Honours List.

Roman Abramovitch, not a razboinik, perhaps, but that's no reason to ignore his rags to riches saga.

ORGANIZED RAGE: We live in a corrupt society in which big business and its representatives steal at will.

You duck out of three drugs tests, you get a ban, you appeal and you're in the Olympic squad. My advice to all athletes; do the drugs, don't do the tests. It works!
British athletes and sportsmen and women are always good in national events and competitions, and crap internationally. Why? Because being British doesn't get you off in other countries.

I may have misjudged the Whitehall Warriors. They may not be planning a coup, just pimping for business on behalf of the Merchants of Death.
Obsolete: The UK National Defence Association and snouts in the trough.

The Whitehall Warriors are at it again; sticking it to the government, and demanding more of everything. Is there a military coup in the offing?
Who do these unelected practitioners of victim culture think they are? Here's my definition. They are Bush's 21st century Hessians. If they want more money, better equipment, and protection from those nasty people who shoot back, they should go to the Pentagon.
Keep the military out of politics. We don't need any homegrown Musharrafs.

"Economists CEBR said there will be no boost in sales of beer, football kit, TVs and food traditionally enjoyed when the home nations qualify." This could cost "the British Economy" (i.e., British business) £1.5 billion. No wonder McLaren had to go (taking £2 million with him).
Let's hope that the next volunteer for overpaid scapegoat has a good clearout of the millionaire playboys. Give them more time with their brokers.

Lord Goldsmith has stated that he would have resigned the post of Attorney General rather than be party to the extension of the 28 day period of detention for suspected terrorists. This is the man who, early in March 2003 advised Blair that the proposed invasion of Iraq could be illegal. Later that month he advised Blair the the invasion of Iraq was legal. I think the noble lord could have squared his conscience on the legality or otherwise of detention without trial.

The "junior official" who is at present carrying the can for the Discgate affair has resigned, no doubt under pressure from management. I wonder how this will affect his chances of redress and compensation via an employment tribunal if the blame is later found to lie elsewhere. I also wonder what the union rep was doing while all this was going on. Probably engaged in a damage limitation exercise on behalf of the Labour government.
It is now evident that this individual should not have had access to the data he was handling. So he was doing the work of some lazy bastard higher up the totem pole. 'Twas ever thus in the British workplace; the work and the blame travels down the chain of command, while the perquisites and the praise travel up. "The buck stops here." Bullshit!

The personal details of almost half the UK population are lost, stolen or strayed. The head of Revenue and Customs resigns. The Chancellor of the Exchequer's head is demanded, The government is called incompetent. Fair enough, it couldn't happen to a more deserving parcel of incompetents. But what of the fools or knaves who lost or stole the discs? What of Messrs. TNT? Well TNT is a private company and so is answerable only to its shareholders (alleged to include the US Mafia). As Mad Milt Friedmann told us, and as I never tire of quoting), " A corporation cannot be ethical; its only responsibility is to turn a profit." So if TNT stole those records and sold them to the highest bidder they would be doing what Old Milt would have considered the responsible thing. Will the head of TNT resign? Will Cameron PC and Osborne PC demand that he/she does? Will our right wing press call for his/her resignation?
I think I can safely predict that they will not. Nor will anyone dare to suggest that we cease to permit private organisations to interfere in the government and administration of this nation.

STS Bulletin no.6
"I want to be totally convinced because I am not going to go and push for something that actually affects the liberty of the individual unless there is a real necessity for it."
This means -
"I am quite clear that the greater complexities of terrorist plots will mean that we will need the power to detain certain individuals for more than 28 days."

Norman Mailer, 1923-2007
"There has been from Henry Miller to Norman Mailer to Charles Manson a logical progression" (Gore Vidal). I feel slightly uncomfortable with this, and yet ...

More than half the electorate approves of David Cameron's position on immigration. I wonder if that's since he dumped Nigel Hastilow after the "Enoch was right" outburst.
So what would Cameron do that would differ from "business friendly" Labour's policy? The honest answer is nothing. Is he going to make a speech telling employers "Your days of cheap labour are over. The Conservatives are going to make you pay decent wages, put a stop to excessive working hours, and enforce health and safety legislation"? I don't think so. Neither for that matter are the BNP. Their Fuehrer has already informed British business that there will be no meddling with market forces after the Putsch. But he has the option of introducing the real thing - slave labour - and that would halt the economic immigration. The problem for us British is that we would have to make up the shortfall in the slave market, or return to slave trading.

Dog Bites Man 3
"Two hen harriers dead, one prince questioned, no charges"
Headline in today's Guardian - no charges, who could have foreseen that?

You can't teach an old kuttá new tricks - Musharraf has done it again. It was obvious that the military were hoping that the fundos would assassinate Benazir, and so ensured that security was lax for her return home. When that didn't work - first time anyway - and the Supreme Court was going to find against him, he declared martial law. Allah, Army, Amrika; no fundos arrested, only secular types. The Triple Alliance stands firm against the threat of an outbreak of democracy.
The response of the dictator's western patrons can be summed up in the words of another South Asian based bully-boy, "Oh dear! How sad! Never mind!"

I have to quote from an article of Kenneth Tynan's reprinted (from 1973) in today's Observer. Of Noel Coward he writes, " ... if his face suggested an old boot, it was unquestionably handmade."
What is the opposite of a backhanded compliment?

I've just learned that my favourite living (as I thought) painter, R.B. Kitaj, died on the 20th of last month. Of course an artist lives on as long as his or her work is shown and appreciated. Soon, perhaps, there will be books, prints and posters making his work available to a wider public. Why not already in this country? A hangover from the "Tate Wars"? In the meantime illustrations of his work can be found on the internet.
(Self-portrait, with first wife, www.nyss.org/fisher/images/big/soyer.jpg)