Taking Out The Trash

Going undercover

The BBC screened a programme tonight showing some celebs sleeping rough so they could expose the fact that, er, sleeping rough wasn't very nice.
It was a programme so weak in ideas that you wanted to gauge your own eyes out in frustration. It's not as if there is a lack of stories around. The money spent on the 'talent', which included Annabel Croft and the Marquis of Blandford (WTF!), could surely have gone to some journalists who might not have a name but do have a story to tell.
By coincidence Lovefilm sent me Shock Corridor to watch so I stuck that on afterwards.
Sam Fuller's 1963 film is about a reporter who goes undercover in a mental hospital to expose a murderer. The asylum acts as a metaphor for America at the time. The three witnesses the reporter meets are a GI brainwashed by the Communists in the Korean War, a black man convinced he's the founder of the Ku Klux Klan and a physicist who worked on the atom bomb programme and couldn't take the pressure.
It's Sam Fuller so don't expect things to end well.
What I found interesting was that the reporter, Johnny, is an egomaniac whose motive is not really to solve the murder but to win a Pulitzer Prize. This isn't about the hack as noble investigator but as obsessive, desperate to receive acclaim.
The film was originally banned in this country because the BBFC didn't like what it said about those suffering mental health problems. I'm not sure they got that Fuller felt it was society which was sick.
If you can get over actor Peter Breck's scenery-chewing performance in the lead, Shock Corridor is worth viewing. Check out the trailer below for a taste.

Down the rabbit hole

Fascinated to hear Peter Hennessy talking on the Today programme about the publication of the War Book - the step by step guide on how the government would handle the countdown and initiation of nuclear war.
As part of that plan senior government officials would speed by train from Paddington to Burlington. You won't find Burlington on the map; it's actually a gigantic underground bunker beneath Corsham.
We used to joke about this when I worked at The Bath Chronicle because it was fairly common knowledge. So if we knew, undoubtedly there was a missile sitting somewhere in an icy Russian silo with Corsham tapped into its targeting system.
I wonder if it is still there?
Some years ago me and a colleague did the local rite of passages which is to try and get in to the network of caves and bunkers through one of the many holes that dot the hills.
First stop is a pint at The Quarryman's Arms where you can get a map and a very decent 6X (the pub is actually chained to the hillside trivia fans).
Then is was a hike to find a good-sized rabbit hole and down we went. In six hours of flailing around we came across old mining equipment, a cavern called the Cathedral and not a lot else. When I watched The Descent it brought back memories; without the crazy monsters.
Some have much better luck (or better maps).

Good reports on the War Book story in:
The Guardian
Associated Press
and particularly The Daily Mail which does these type of stories very well and has found some great images to accompany the copy.

And if you want to see the War Book then you'll have to make an appointment to view it at the National Archives.

If you want to head MI6, head south west

Our security services are used to scrutinising the language and actions of foreign powers for clues as to their directions and intentions.
Similarly, it is clear that with the appointment of Sir John Sawers as the next head of MI6, that the South West has taken control of our foreign intelligence service.
Consider the evidence.
Up to 1985 it was the usual parade of well-to-do Home Counties chaps. Then Christopher Curwen was appointed who was educated at Sherborne School on the Dorset / Somerset border.
A brief respite under Colin McColl was followed by Arabist David Spedding who was also educated at Sherborne.
After that came Richard Dearlove who was educated at Monkton Combe on the outskirts of Bath.
Then there was John Scarlett, during the traumatic aftermath of the Iraq war, until order was restored with the announcement that Sawyer was taking over. It turns out out that Sawers was educated at the City of of Bath Boys College, now known as Beechen Cliff, in Bath.
Even as we speak, foreign intelligence services are heading for the South West to start infiltrating our education system. Be alert.
As a postcript, when Dearlove was appointed I was working for the Bath Chronicle and suggested we do bit of digging on his academic record. There was a D-Notice out warning against any publication of information  on the new C beyond what the FCO had put out. The editor declined to go further than the official line.
By some weird coincidence a few weeks later I was due to give a talk to Monkton Combe sixth form students on journalism as a career option. So, after the usual preamble, I had great delight in setting a few of them off to find out more about their famous alumni.
Meanwhile we're treated to relatively little about our new head of the Secret Intelligence Service, Sir John. The BBC's profile on this "tall and dashing" man is woeful while The Times calls him 'an outsider' even though it is pretty clear from his CV that he started off as an MI6 officer covering the Middle East.
More of a return to the fold surely?

Update: Hugh Muir over at The Guardian points out that MI5 has its own West Country alumni.

Judges behaving badly

I thought that all people were equal before the law but it seems some are more equal than others.

The Guardian put in a request for the names of judges who had been disciplined. More than 170 members of the judiciary have been found to have misbehaved in the last decade but their names (and what they did) are secret.

Apparently it would affect their ability to do their job if such information was published. It seems we can't be trusted to know who or why or have little idea of even the process so we can determine if it is efficient or effective.

An appeal by the Guardian against the refusal of its Freedom of Information request was rejected today. A copy of the decision can be seen here.

Reporter Rob Evans has written a spirited repost to this in which he says:

This is an outrageous decision. Judges are highly paid public servants whose conduct in court and (to an extent) out of court must be above reproach: it is fundamental that the public should know how complaints against judges are resolved and the reasons why particular judges have been reprimanded or sacked.

and it also gives some useful background on the case. If you think Parliament had learnt from the expenses scandal about fighting FoI cases, think again.

Rob ends the piece saying:

If you know of any cases in which judges have misbehaved, please contact me on [email protected]

And perhaps that is the way forward on this one as taking it to appeal is just too expensive. Let's see what data can be gathered the old fashioned way. Here's one to start off with about the suspension of Avon Coroner Paul Forrest who has now made his own complaint. I should stress that no-one had been found guilty of anything - but if they were, how much would we be allowed to know?

Update: Sarah Ditum makes a nice comparison with the case of police blogger NightJack outed needlessly by the The Times. Paul Bradshaw offers advice for anonymous bloggers.

Your question is important

Phil over at The Haiku sent me a link to their song 'Your question is important' about "trade unions and the way workers are treated by employers in times of economic trouble".
Enjoy.

Last of the old-style Lobster

It's got no pictures, lots and lots of footnotes, very little page design and has essays entitled 'Reflections on the 'cult of the offensive': pre-emptve war, the Israel lobby and US military doctrine', 'Politics and paranoia' and 'The meaning of the 2009 budget'.
Yes, the summer edition of Lobster, the journal of parapolitics, has just dropped on the doormat. But number 57 will be the last print edition.
Editor Robin Ramsay says in this issue: "Producing Lobster has dominated my life for a long time now and I am just tired of doing it. A couple or three years ago I thought that there was still a big difference between hard copy and the Internet, that the Internet wasn't serious, with no ultimate legal requirement to get things accurate. But in practice, as the documentation in the magazine shows, we get almost all our information from the Net these days and the distinction between the two media no longer seems important. We know what are and not serious websites. Essentially Lobster has been overtaken by technology."
The next issue will appear but it will be online and in a format to be determined. It will also be free.
Ramsay and previously fellow parapolitical enthusiast Stephen Dorril, published a huge amount of fascinating material, particularly on the Wilson coup plots, Colin Wallace and Clockwork Orange. It also ran pieces on the British American Project long before the mainstream media bothered looking at it.
With a print run of around 1,000 but readers in all sorts of interesting places it occupies a very useful niche.
There are some background pieces on Robin and the magazine here and in the Fortean Times.
Meanwhile I've got my first byline in the last print edition for a minor book review. I'll be contributing a longer piece for the next on 'whatever happened to the Economic League's blacklisting operation'.
It would have been a bit of a pain to have finally got a piece in a magazine I've been reading for 15+ years only for it to fold. Long may it continue digging. Just don't call it New Lobster.

Life's certainties

Over in Ruralshire and the Police Inspector writes about the six things which are certain for British bobbies.

Here's his number 6: "Whenever the police are looking good again, the Met will always mess it up."

And lo it came to pass.

One of the certainties for journalists is: if you write a story taking the mickey out of someone's spelling mistake you will also make an error in your piece.

Another is that major court cases always finish an hour after your print deadline. I believe that's a legal principle. If the court case is of interest to a weekly newspaper then it will also start on the day of publication to ensure minimal information but maximum irritation.

Toby Foster: you are a star

I've seen a few extracts of an interview Toby Foster from BBC Radio Sheffield did with Peter Davies, the new English Democrat mayor of Donacaster, but Luke Akehurst has the full transcript and it's a corker.
He absolutely skewers the mayor.
Let's hope people find out early about some of the brain deads that got in at the local and european elections via more decent journalism.

Update: James Barlow offers a useful perspective on this and goes one better with an audio clip.

Update 2: Andy Smith did the original transcript and has more on Mr Davies here. Meanwhile this is rapidly going viral as everyone is tweeting about it today.

Update 3: Looks the new mayor has performed his first u-turn.

Breakdown of Euro election votes in Wiltshire

Thanks to the excellent Guardian Datablog I've got a breakdown of how the various parties polled in Wiltshire in the European elections.
Turnout was 42.69%; bouyed above the national average by the local council elections I assume. The second figure in brackets is the national share of the vote.

Conservative: 51,576 (34.79%) (27.7%)
Ukip: 29,723 (20.25%) (16.5%)
Lib Dem: 26,507 (17.88%) (13.7%)
Green: 12,946 (8.73%) (8.6%)
Labour: 7,987 (5.39%) (15.7%)
BNP: 5,449 (3.68%) (6.2%)

And the rest....
Pensioners Party: 3,263 (2.2%)
English Democrats: 2,797 (1.89%)
Christian Party: 1,818 (1.23%)
Katie Hopkins: 860 (0.58%)
No2EU: 857 (0.58%)
Libertas: 824 (0.56%)
Socialist Labour Party: 696 (0.47%)
Fair Pay etc: 679 (0.46%)
Jury Team: 590 (0.4%)
Mebyon Kernow: 406 (0.27%)
Wei D: 61 (0.04%)

Some thoughts:
the Lib Dems did much better in Wiltshire than they did nationally and probably took most of that from Labour which performed very poorly.
If Ukip's success took votes away from the Tories it still meant Cameron's party performed very well and that anti-EU feeling in Wiltshire very strong.
The Greens did not perform as well as pre-election polls suggested though it was still better than last time and clearly ahead of Labour.
The BNP did not perform well as feared. Indeed the Pensioners Party was only a few thousand behind them. Did the BNP votes go to Ukip instead? The highest the BNP polled in the South West was Plymouth City, where it just broke 6%, followed by Swindon and then Bristol.
The combined far left options of No2EU and the Socialist Labour Party couldn't beat the church (aka the Christian Party). Dawkins, your work is not yet done.

Burning your money (and drowning and tearing it)

I could do with a better hit rate on my Freedom of Information requests. It's pretty good but even the ones answered don't always reveal much. (Hopefuly this will improve my hit rate)
Below is a letter I got from the Bank of England after I asked them what kind of excuses people gave when they sent in damaged notes and asked for new ones. I thought it could lead to nice little diary story. Might still do.
Anyway, they couldn't answer properly because so many people sent in notes it would take them ages to go through the individual forms. So on the second page you see a breakdown by category and the value of money. This post also lets me roadtest Scribd.
There are a lot of careless people out there.
Bank of England

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