There are many things related to the government that none of us understand. Of late, Hazel Blears has suggested that bloggers should be silenced. The Independent today featured a tale about suppression of the media.
The reason I mention this was because I came across the word "D-Notice" following a protest run by me in April 2000. A lot of odd things happened during that time frame. These things were a sequence unfortunate events. I am though aware that four journalists and a gentleman called Tom Beardmore from the north informed me that the "protest" we ran in London had an equivalent of a D-Notice placed on it. Tom was a patient campaigner who kindly left a phone message informing me that his union contacts had found out that the matter regarding the various human rights abuses in the NHS was shut down from the media. I have no idea whether this was true or not and neither did I care. In my view, if no one wanted to feature it, that was their loss. Journalists have relatives who visit the NHS so that was that. Even if it was, I could never prove it. To even question this is difficult because people start to wonder whether you have lost your duster. Legitimate questioning is not allowed. I accepted that and move on at the time. I am though a methodical record keeper - almost like a magpie and I often think that past events that are unexplained at the time can start to make sense in the future. It has probably got something to do with my reading of Sherlock Holmes.
I can though report circumstantial evidence. Evidence about newspapers assuring me that they would feature the protest and no one did. Evidence that newspaper reporters turned up but there was no write up. There was one newspaper that did feature it - the Disability Times. The Disability Times though is a charitable newspaper. They dedicated one small section to the protest. Sky News featured a fragment [few seconds] in relation to a conference that was taking place at the time.
Other that that, there is no public record that the protest ever took place. I am not one to believe in conspiracy theories and I merely report sequences of events. It may or may not have happened and I cannot see why such an insignificant protest would call for such draconian measures. Then given the internal documentation on this subject plus the GMC's admission of a discrete enquiry, anything is possible in this world. Nevertheless, the events were as they were. It was the first time I had even heard of a D-Notice and I was unfamiliar with its workings before that. I cannot make accusations on speculation and rumour. Nevertheless, this was the rumour at the time. Only the Department of Health know what happened. It depends how insecure they were at the time.
After this event, I have learned to accept newspapers and their constraints. A prime example is the Dr Scot Jnr story. We should ask ourselves why none of the national papers featured the story. This is why the story had to be leaked through local newspapers, through the internet etc. because over the years I have learned that many stories in the NHS are shut down. The Dr Scot Jnr story may not have commanded a D-Notice but it would have commanded a collective negative response. After all, it is not in the national interests for the entire world to know that the UK stands by while there is a violation of human rights. The idea of " national interests" has no specific definition. Any interpretation can be made and anything can be done. To summarise this issue, we have a rogue government and a police state who can effectively do whatever they need to do to keep control of the country. Blogging and the internet though is cramping their style.
From the above, those who have done protests will understand that very few national papers feature these. The local media may well get in there with a story but in general our government would like the world to think that no one is rebelling against the system. For footage of various protests, we have to rely on You Tube or bloggers.
Interesting extracts of the Independent article are as follows :-
Richard Tomlinson an ex M16 spy also had some interesting information about a newspaper editor. Who knows if this is true? No one. We cannot tell either way.
So essentially, there is a lot that goes on behind the darkened halls of our government. The control freakery has now got the better of them really. These days, it is extremely difficult to find the fragments of the Civil Serfer. This is the civil servant blogger who was suspended for writing about her employers.
The reason I mention this was because I came across the word "D-Notice" following a protest run by me in April 2000. A lot of odd things happened during that time frame. These things were a sequence unfortunate events. I am though aware that four journalists and a gentleman called Tom Beardmore from the north informed me that the "protest" we ran in London had an equivalent of a D-Notice placed on it. Tom was a patient campaigner who kindly left a phone message informing me that his union contacts had found out that the matter regarding the various human rights abuses in the NHS was shut down from the media. I have no idea whether this was true or not and neither did I care. In my view, if no one wanted to feature it, that was their loss. Journalists have relatives who visit the NHS so that was that. Even if it was, I could never prove it. To even question this is difficult because people start to wonder whether you have lost your duster. Legitimate questioning is not allowed. I accepted that and move on at the time. I am though a methodical record keeper - almost like a magpie and I often think that past events that are unexplained at the time can start to make sense in the future. It has probably got something to do with my reading of Sherlock Holmes.
I can though report circumstantial evidence. Evidence about newspapers assuring me that they would feature the protest and no one did. Evidence that newspaper reporters turned up but there was no write up. There was one newspaper that did feature it - the Disability Times. The Disability Times though is a charitable newspaper. They dedicated one small section to the protest. Sky News featured a fragment [few seconds] in relation to a conference that was taking place at the time.
Other that that, there is no public record that the protest ever took place. I am not one to believe in conspiracy theories and I merely report sequences of events. It may or may not have happened and I cannot see why such an insignificant protest would call for such draconian measures. Then given the internal documentation on this subject plus the GMC's admission of a discrete enquiry, anything is possible in this world. Nevertheless, the events were as they were. It was the first time I had even heard of a D-Notice and I was unfamiliar with its workings before that. I cannot make accusations on speculation and rumour. Nevertheless, this was the rumour at the time. Only the Department of Health know what happened. It depends how insecure they were at the time.
After this event, I have learned to accept newspapers and their constraints. A prime example is the Dr Scot Jnr story. We should ask ourselves why none of the national papers featured the story. This is why the story had to be leaked through local newspapers, through the internet etc. because over the years I have learned that many stories in the NHS are shut down. The Dr Scot Jnr story may not have commanded a D-Notice but it would have commanded a collective negative response. After all, it is not in the national interests for the entire world to know that the UK stands by while there is a violation of human rights. The idea of " national interests" has no specific definition. Any interpretation can be made and anything can be done. To summarise this issue, we have a rogue government and a police state who can effectively do whatever they need to do to keep control of the country. Blogging and the internet though is cramping their style.
From the above, those who have done protests will understand that very few national papers feature these. The local media may well get in there with a story but in general our government would like the world to think that no one is rebelling against the system. For footage of various protests, we have to rely on You Tube or bloggers.
Interesting extracts of the Independent article are as follows :-
"The Intelligence and Security Committee, the parliamentary watchdog of the intelligence and security agencies which has a cross-party membership from both Houses, wants to press ministers to introduce legislation that would prevent news outlets from reporting stories deemed by the Government to be against the interests of national security.The committee also wants to censor reporting of police operations that are deemed to have implications for national security. The ISC is to recommend in its next report, out at the end of the year, that a commission be set up to look into its plans, according to senior Whitehall sources"
"The ISC holds huge clout within Whitehall. It receives secret briefings from MI5, MI6 and GCHQ and is highly influential in forming government policy. Kim Howells, a respected former Foreign Office minister, was recently appointed its chairman. Under the existing voluntary code of conduct, known as the DA-Notice system, the Government can request that the media does not report a story. However, the committee's members are particularly worried about leaks, which, they believe, could derail investigations and the reporting of which needs to be banned by legislation.
The human rights lawyer Louise Christian said: "This would be a very dangerous development. We need media scrutiny for public accountability. We can see this from the example, for instance, of the PhD student in Nottingham who was banged up for six days without charge because he downloaded something from the internet for his thesis. The only reason this came to light was because of the media attention to the case."
Richard Tomlinson an ex M16 spy also had some interesting information about a newspaper editor. Who knows if this is true? No one. We cannot tell either way.
So essentially, there is a lot that goes on behind the darkened halls of our government. The control freakery has now got the better of them really. These days, it is extremely difficult to find the fragments of the Civil Serfer. This is the civil servant blogger who was suspended for writing about her employers.
"She detailed how policies in her department, which has been identified by observers as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), were announced more than once to give the impression of activity, and said that senior ministers are lazy, only taking decisions at weekends "because they have their spouse and/or political adviser to do it for them".
More details of the 33 year old who disappeared from the internet blogsphere is listed here.The government apparently issued blog policies for civil servants.
So essentially, we note that UK is moving closer to the script of V For Vendetta.
So essentially, we note that UK is moving closer to the script of V For Vendetta.
1 comments:
The most popular British political blogs are right- leaning but there are many popular left-wing and independent political blogs too. Blears thinks so. It is an alarming statistic the most popular party website is that of the British National Party.
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