All of the photos submitted to the gallery have so far come from team members or kind people who want us to keep the cameras, so there are still two digital cameras up for grabs.
Take a walk from Westminster to Traflagar Square and across to Piccadilly Circus and you might get lucky. If no-one wins the comp (or claims the prizes) by 5pm today, we’ll carry those prizes over for a new competition next week.
Naughty, naughty, Anne Milton. Lies make baby Jesus cry.
BBC – Questions over ricin conspiracy: When police raided a scruffy flat in a north London suburb on 5 January 2003 they thought they had discovered a factory producing the deadly poison ricin for an Islamic terror gang. Within days the newspapers were full of alarming stories about this deadly substance which, until then, the general public had never heard of.
New York Times – Just One of 9 Suspects Convicted in 2003 British Poison Plot Case: British authorities initially suggested Wednesday that Mr. Bourgass’s convictions were successes in the international campaign against terrorism. Peter Clarke, the head of Britain’s antiterrorist police branch, called Mr. Bourgass a “highly dangerous man” and said the poison plot was “hugely serious.”… “What it had the potential to do was to cause real panic, fear, disruption and possibly even death to the public,” Mr. Clarke said. But, as details emerged, the authorities said that four suspects in the case were acquitted Friday. On Wednesday, the police dropped charges against the other four accused of conspiring in the case – three Algerians and a Libyan. Defense lawyers said that, despite one of the biggest police investigations of recent times, there was little proof of a major plot.
Guardian – The ricin ring that never was (link updated): Yesterday’s verdicts on five defendants and the dropping of charges against four others make clear there was no ricin ring. Nor did the “ricin ring” make or have ricin. Not that the government shared that news with us. Until today, the public record for the past three fear-inducing years has been that ricin was found in the Wood Green flat occupied by some of yesterday’s acquitted defendants. It wasn’t.
But that’s not what some newspapers would have you believe. Check out this shocker of a front page from The Scum.
You can see more here at the BBC’s special ‘front page’ archive. The most audacious twist comes from the Daily Mail.
You can read more via this excellent post from Chicken Yoghurt.
And start an equally dastardly conspiracy yourself. Are you ready? Here we go…
Instructions for creating your very own Ricin Conspiracy
(Author of post begins searching for ricin recipe. Immediately finds two articles accessible to any journalist with half a brain and/or a desire to report the actual truth.)
Big Wide Logic – Ricin Recipe isn’t Real
Bugger it all, reality has crept in. Never mind. Let’s start again…
Instructions for starting your very own Ricin Conspiracy II
1. Link to the recipe, like so.
2. Convince another blogger to do the same.
3. Include this and , and you also have clear links to Al Qaeda.
4. You’re done. See how easy it is?
UPDATES:
Independent – Ricin: The plot that never was: A deadly poison said to be at the heart of a terrorist conspiracy against Britain led to a dire warning of another al-Qa’ida attack in the West. The Government was swift to act on the fear that such a find generated. But, as Severin Carrell and Raymond Whitaker report, far from being a major threat, the real danger existed only in the mind of a misguided individual living in a dingy north London bedsit.
Underblog – Al-Qaida’s UK poison plot: No poison, no link to al-Qaida
First they claimed we were so small in number as to be insignificant. Then they told us we were so great in number that we risked bringing the Tories back.
Earlier this week, they tried insulting us. Now they extend the hand of friendship. But I know a reach-around when I feel one, and I draw no comfort from Robin Cook’s prediction of an early withdrawal.
In short; I’d like the reaming to stop now, please.
No! No! No! Why are you going harder and faster? Did I say “harder and faster”…?
It’s Showtime: There is a “big vision” for a society where everybody “plays by the rules” announces Mr Blair, flanked by Gordon Brown, Patricia Hewitt, John Reid, John Prescott, Charles Clarke and Ruth Kelly.
Yes, let’s all play by the rules. Rules are there to protect the innocent and maintain a safe and just society.
FFS…
I don’t know about you, but I am in no doubt that – after months of dodging the issue and playing it down before the election – Blair will have no hesitation in presenting it as a referendum on Iraq as little as a day or week after. And at that time he will claim that the people have spoken and absolved him. Then it’ll be ‘boots on’ for continued manipulation of our fears of terrorism and more smiling faces pasted onto Tory policies.
A lot of Labour-led fear campaigns have asked us what we want to wake up to on May 6th. What I’ve just outlined above is what I expect. What I want is to avoid it.
Labour In. Blair out.
Now, more than ever, I stand by these words and believe in this mission.
There is nothing Tony Blair can say that will sway me from this course. There is only one thing he can do…. and that’s resign. Immediately.
There is nothing anyone from the Labour Party can threaten or promise that will sway me from this course. It’s mostly their fault that Blair is still where he is now. They had their chance to oust Blair last summer and approach the next election with a new leader and an established cabinet, but they chose the risk. They thought that we would not dare to turn away from Labour.
They were wrong. And they have no right to bitch at us about the ‘risk‘ that they chose to take.
But there is hope for them, and it lies in these words:
Labour In. Blair out.
Remove ‘Blair out.’ and what are you left with?
Labour In.
This, people, is a call for you to show the Labour Party what you are made of and how much you desire change.
This is a call for you to show them that you will not settle for promises of change. This is a call for you to show them that you expect nothing less than immediate change. Things have been too wrong for too long for any kind of promise of action to hold water.
We’ve seen a number of approaches to the ‘small’ problem of protest voting over the past few weeks, but we have yet to see any real action.
Achieving actual change will require a great show of will.
My question to you is this: What are you willing to do?
The Labour Party needs to know that you are determined. The Labour Party needs to know that you are vocal.
The Labour Party needs to know that they face you as a foe while Blair is in charge, and can only hope to embrace you as a friend after he is gone.
And if they’re genuinely worried about a return of a Tory government, they will heed these words:
Dear Labour Peeps,
It should concern you greatly that your leader is so unpopular as to make Labour voters think seriously about voting Tory. We didn’t cause this movement, we just saw it coming and gave it a home.
Labour In. Blair out.
Or, if you prefer, we can play it the safe way:
Blair out. Labour In.
Get rid of him. Now.
Busy one today. Lots to write and organise. Have some Lego, Tony’s pesky digits of truth (via Jez) and The official Hitchhikers movie site (which requires IE to operate properly, but has a 3rd trailer for the movie that will please you no end).
If you want something serious to do, visit Craig Murray’s weblog and make a comment or two. Craig has yet to really plug into the blog, which I think is the main reason why there haven’t been any comments yet (there’s no personal connection). But until you make comments, Craig won’t see the value/potential of these personal connections. Click, visit, and comment and I think we’ll be in business.
PS – Check out this little nugget from Austin Mitchell: Jack Straw is so worried by the threat to his seat in Blackburn that he’s giving every appearance of going barmy.
UPDATE – Things are getting interesting over at the Anne Milton weblog.
Today, all of the action is over at the Backing Blair weblog:
Click here if you live or work in London and would like to win a digital camera.
:o)
UPDATE: Two good reads for you. Prepare to set your jaw:
The time for words is over.
Going the distance.
The Meetup.com website is down, but tonight’s London meeting is ON (at the usual location). We start at 7pm, but if you make it there before 8pm, you’ll still be able to join the fun.
We’re going on a top-secret mission, yes we are…
UPDATE – If this entry bores you, perhaps you’d care instead for some jokes with realistic endings.
Let’s start off with some press reaction to Peter Hain’s poo-pooing of protest-voters…
Telegraph – Duo unite against dinner party critics: The debate has spilled on to the internet, where Left-wing weblogs, or blogs, have taken up the ”dump Blair, get Brown” theme. One is an ironically titled site called backingblair.co.uk, which informs “disenfranchised Labour voters” how to punish the Prime Minister by voting tactically… Another website, called strategicvoter.org.uk, says: ”We can hold New Labour to account for the illegal invasion of Iraq. Especially in marginal constituencies, we have the power as voters to make this a Peace Election the politicians won’t forget.” These ”blogs” are the modern equivalent of the pamphleteers, who were extremely influential in 17th- and 18th-century England. The internet has turned the angry musings of a few like-minded souls into a nationwide, electronic dinner party that the most adept party spinner is powerless to control.
That pamphleteering comment had me digging back into my bloggage on that subject on the 19th and 25th of June 2003 and this bit served as a nice reminder: I’ve tried to drive a few things forward on Bloggerheads, and it’s only the core audience that actually does anything. If what I try to do is too damn commercial or somewhat misguided, then I’m usually questioned or corrected (gently) on these matters. If I try to do something Right, suddenly I find myself with new core members. Funny, that. I’ve got to tell you, this is the best moral compass I have ever come across. Being in the marketing game (maybe one evolutionary step up or down from the political game) I’m often prone to corruption. Now I simply can’t afford to take that risk – but I’m enjoying greater benefits than I ever have before. And. I. Fucking. Love it!
I was umming and ahhing on a post about the current job hunt until I read that. You should expect a very long post on this subject within the next few days.
Election blogging roundup #1: Monday 11th April
Nick promises that this is the first of many. This first one has already come in handy… it didn’t even occur to me to check Tom’s XML feed.
(UPDATE – This has now been fixed. The anomaly resulted from my failure to update the Description under General Settings.)
Robin has been playing with Blogpulse and turning up some interesting results.
The SNP have come in with 4 late-starting campaign weblogs.
Some spirited discussion here: Don’t mention the war!
Finally, you may want to take a peek at these two minor poster adjustments.
UPDATE – I couldn’t let the Tory manifesto cover pass without comment. Oh, and when posting this, I happened across what may be the best song (ever ever ever) about the royals.
Reuters – Rumsfeld Visits Baghdad, Warns Against Corruption: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on a surprise visit, warned Iraq’s new leaders on Tuesday against political purges and cronyism that could spark “lack of confidence or corruption in government.”
Do tell…
Boston Globe – Bolton denies effort to punish dissenting analysts: John Bolton, who is hailed by conservatives as a no-nonsense advocate for US policy and criticized by liberals as a caustic unilateralist, also faced questioning during a tense first day of his confirmation hearings about past statements disparaging the United Nations, international law, and nation-building. But questions about Bolton’s views were overshadowed by allegations that Bolton, in his current post as undersecretary of state, sought the removal of two analysts who did not support his claim that Cuba was developing biological weapons.
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