Tag Archives: alert

Latest row over Sunak’s wife shows his new declaration of interests is worthless

Akshata Murty and her husband, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak: he has taken extraordinary steps to hide any commercial interests either of them have from the electorate. We must therefore conclude that he may be dishonestly using his position to funnel public money into his bank accounts and hers.

The row over whether Rishi Sunak’s wife benefited from the work that went into an ’emergency alert’ test affecting mobile phones on Sunday (April 23) shows one thing: the public do not believe the prime minister’s latest declaration of interests.

Sunak published a new register of MPs’ financial interests last week, in response to anger over his failure to declare that a company part-owned by Akshata Murty will benefit from a new policy to attract people into child-minding.

It doesn’t include significant details, either of his own personal financial investments or his wife’s.

Some of us have drawn the obvious conclusion: that Sunak thinks he and his wife are above such declarations – even though he takes public money, the same as the lowliest Universal Credit claimant.

And UC claimants have to declare their partners’ financial interests:

He didn’t even bother to turn up to an Urgent Question demanding a statement on his entry in the register, on the day the stink over alleged interest in the “emergency alert” broke out across the social media:

Instead, one of his lieutenants piped up to say it’s unreasonable to demand of the prime minister what his government demands of every benefit claimant. This confirms that Sunak thinks he’s better than the rest of us and doesn’t need to give an account of himself.

Apparently Sunak’s entry on the register includes his local rotary club, brass band and community pub but not any business interests owned by him or his wife.

The Byline Times article states:

A spokesperson for Sunak insisted that only such declarations judged to be “relevant” had been added to the list.

This means that while, according to Sunak, the fact the he is a patron of his local brass band is judged to be a “relevant” interest relating to his role as Prime Minister, the fact that his wife is now set to potentially massively financially benefit from a Government policy, is not.

Also not included in the new register are any of the Prime Minister’s own personal financial interests, save from the fact that they are now contained within what Downing Street refer to as a “blind management trust”.

This arrangement is ostensibly designed to prevent the Prime Minister from personally being involved in any future investment decisions that may be affected by his own policies.

However, by placing his existing investments within this “blind” arrangement, the public are prevented from ever knowing which Government policies are directly enriching the Prime Minister and his family.

It is hard to think of a reasonable justification for this continued refusal to be fully open about his own financial interests and those of his wife.

It is clear that Rishi Sunak is doing everything he can to prevent the rest of us from knowing how many commercial pies he and his wife have stuck their grubby fingers into.

It is dishonesty at the top level of government. No wonder he is currently being investigated over whether he has approved a policy that funnels money to a company part-owned by his wife. Other government contracts with companies owned by her should also be investigated.

The dishonesty implied by any investigation is exactly the opposite of what Sunak himself promised when he became prime minister.

By his own standards, he does not deserve to remain in office. There’s a local election next week in England and Northern Ireland; I hope voters there use it to drive that point home.

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The rumours about the emergency alert system were wrong, says the Cabinet Office

If you read this story after 3.23pm on April 24, you’ll know that the Cabinet Office has denied any connection between the new emergency alert system that was tested the day before, and Infosys, a company in which Rishi Sunak’s wife has shares.

That’s the government line and we have to accept it.

This Writer has to admit doubts. It seemed the contract for providing the service was originally awarded to Fujitsu, which partners with Infosys on some projects, despite it being involved in the fiasco over the Horizon system in UK post offices – but the Cabinet Office provided this link to a debate about it in the House of Lords.

In it, Cabinet Office Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe said, “Fujitsu has had a small role in the development of the UK’s emergency alert system, initially providing a subject matter expert to support early development by DCMS.”

So the counter-claim is that the Department of Culture, Media and Sport developed the emergency alert system, and Fujitsu only provided an advisor.

Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom – also a Conservative – pointed out that awarding any contract to Fujitsu after the Horizon system “caused the sub-postmasters of this country to be shamefully accused of things that they had not done” seemed unreasonable, and the company should have been taken off the government’s procurement list altogether.

He said: “Some went to prison, some took their own lives and all those accused were humiliated in the eyes of their own communities. Fujitsu, which knew perfectly well what it was doing, has said not a single word of apology. This is already costing the Government hundreds of millions, potentially more.”

Baroness Neville-Rolfe responded that “all government contracts are awarded in line with procurement regulations and transparency guidelines, and that goes for the contract on the alerts”.

Considering what happened with Horizon, it doesn’t seem very convincing, does it?

Add to that the fact that Fujitsu has had a working relationship with Infosys since 2003, and in 2009 Infosys teamed up with Australian firm Telstra to create an emergency alert system in Australia, and it seems odd that Fujitsu would not employ any expertise in this field that its partner had.

Then again, the UK’s Tory government is not exactly known for making rational decisions.

That’s the best This Writer can say about it.

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Were you alarmed by the ’emergency alert’ test? Either way, this might trouble you

Alert: apparently the contract for the smartphone test that happened yesterday (April 23, 2023) was given to Fujitsu, the firm that bungled the Horizon Post Office software – and which immediately sub-contracted it to Infosys, the firm run by UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s father-in-law, in which his wife holds millions of pounds worth of shares. Conflict of interest?

It seems the test of the ’emergency alert’ signal on everybody’s smartphone may be another example of Tory nepotism and corruption.

Here’s how:

The contract certainly went to Fujitsu – I have found articles here and here supporting that claim.

I have yet to find proof that it was sub-contracted to Infosys, although it is certainly true that the company owned by UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s father-in-law, in which his wife holds millions of pounds worth of shares, has worked on other such systems in the past. If anybody can confirm or deny the claim, This Site would like to hear about it.

The Cabinet Office has been contacted for comment.

If it is the case, then I cannot recall Sunak ever declaring this interest when the contract was handed out. At a time when he is under investigation for failing to declare his interest in another government contract handed out to one of his wife’s companies… might this be damaging for him?

ADDITIONAL: A Government spokesperson said: “This is completely untrue – there are no connections with Infosys in the running of the Emergency Alerts system.”

More information to follow in an article later.

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Russia-Ukraine: Vox Political proved right as Putin admits nuclear alert is due to Truss

Warmonger Liz: the foreign secretary has been rattling the sabre too loudly at Vladimir Putin when any conflict between the UK and Russia would be like sending this toy tank out to shoot down a nuclear missile.

I’m not saying Vladimir Putin reads Vox Political.

It is far more likely that Yr Obdt Srvt, looking at the available evidence, came to the correct conclusion about what was going on.

In an article yesterday, I stated that Putin’s decision to go to nuclear alert, said at the time to be because of “aggressive statements” by the West, was a serious demand for western nations to tone down their rhetoric, and the West has taken that seriously.

We should be hopeful, I continued, because it would stop Liz Truss from putting her foot in her mouth every time she opens it.

The Queen of Cheese’s latest boneheadedness has been to support calls for UK citizens to go to Ukraine – a move which, if it happened, would almost certainly be seen by Putin as the UK sending troops to that country (despite an official statement from her colleague, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, that this will not take place).

Unable to stop the flow of gibberish from her mouth, Truss claimed that anybody going to Ukraine would be fighting “for democracy”.

It’s exactly the kind of inflammatory talk that is likely to push Putin over the edge and endanger us all.

Here’s the confirmation that I was right:

So there you have it – direct from the Russian president’s mouth.

If UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had any sense, he would sack Truss – simply as a gesture to show that the UK does not want to provoke nuclear war.

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Russia-Ukraine: here are some – amazing – reasons to be cheerful

Liz Truss: even though it is unlikely to be serious, we can hope that Putin’s nuclear threat acts as a deterrent that stops her from making stupid, ineffectual threats against a country that could squash the UK like a bug.

The UK’s right-wing media may be doomsaying at an industrial level but the Russia-Ukraine crisis is not as horrifying as they’re saying.

For starters – as This Site and others suggested would happen – Ukraine and Russia are to hold negotiations for peace, at an undisclosed location on the border with Belarus.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin had suggested talks take place in Minsk but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was reluctant to go to a country that had acted as a staging post for the Russian invasion of his country.

It’s a reason to be hopeful, although Mr Zelenskyy said he was not convinced the meeting would have a positive outcome. However:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he needed to use every opportunity to secure peace.

Bet then – just when some of us were starting to think we could see an end to the crisis – Putin announced that he is putting his country’s nuclear forces on “special alert”.

He said it was because of “aggressive statements” by the West.

It has been widely interpreted as a threat to launch nuclear missiles against western countries. So – an escalation of tensions and we should all be terrified, right?

Well, no.

Mature analysts are saying Putin may now believe he has miscalculated the amount of resistance his forces were likely to meet in Ukraine, along with the response from western nations that have proved more united than he expected.

So he has reached for new ideas – including the nuclear option. The trouble is, nuclear warfare is pointless for him – insane, in fact – because the west would respond by sending its own nuclear arsenal to turn Russia into a radioactive cinder. Mutually Assured Destruction – there’s a reason the acronym is “MAD”.

So – again – it’s unlikely Putin actually means he’s prepared to use nuclear weapons.

That’s a good thing too, isn’t it?

But – there’s always a “but” – it is a serious demand for western nations to tone down their rhetoric, and the West has taken that seriously.

And this brings me to the last of my reasons to be hopeful: It stops Liz Truss from putting her foot in her mouth every time she opens it.

The Queen of Cheese’s latest boneheadedness has been to support calls for UK citizens to go to Ukraine – a move which, if it happened, would almost certainly be seen by Putin as the UK sending troops to that country (despite an official statement from her colleague, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, that this will not take place).

Unable to stop the flow of gibberish from her mouth, Truss claimed that anybody going to Ukraine would be fighting “for democracy”.

It’s exactly the kind of inflammatory talk that is likely to push Putin over the edge and endanger us all.

So we should welcome the decision by western leaders to modify their tone.  Hopefully it means Truss will be told to hold her tongue until the crisis is over.

Source: Ukraine and Russia set to hold negotiations at border with Belarus, says office of President Zelenskyy | World News | Sky News

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Covid-19: is Johnson about to mess up everybody’s plans YET AGAIN?

 

Boris Johnson seems to have an irrational urge to make life difficult for everybody.

Only yesterday (January 3), he was merrily telling Andrew Marr that schools should stay open outside London and southeast England, and that although stronger Covid-related restrictions were likely, they weren’t coming yet.

Many of us thought that was extremely off-colour, of course – he was condemning people to die because he, personally, didn’t feel like changing the situation so they would be saved.

Now we find he is announcing new national restrictions at 8pm today (January 4).

He’ll say the situation has reached Alert Level 5 – the NHS in danger of being overwhelmed. He will have known this for some time, of course. We could all see this from last Wednesday, or whenever the infection rate hit more than 50,000 per day.

But that is his excuse, it seems.

There’s no need to watch his broadcast, though – Robert Peston has already told us what the announcement will be!

Oh, and Hugh Pym from the BBC has got in on the act, too:

Why does Johnson bother talking to us himself when he leaks all his announcements to his client journalists?

This must be particularly hard for schools:

One thing’s for sure: whatever happens, Keir Starmer will still be the butt of many jokes:

Let’s be clear: This is the right thing to do – but it is happening far too late.

People have died, are dying, and are being crippled – possibly for life – because Johnson is too stupid to know when to stop trying to create a public relations victory and start trying to save lives.

He has not made a good decision about the pandemic since he first heard about it, back in November 2019.

That doesn’t change the facts:

I think James is being far too hopeful.

Johnson always starts lockdown too late and stops it too soon. We’ve seen that twice now.

I saw a great new term for this today: mockdown.

Let’s hope he doesn’t adhere to form and we don’t get another mockdown.

But I fear we will.

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New three-tier alert system shuts down businesses – unless they’re run by Tories

Beer buddies: it seems pubs in Liverpool will be shut from Wednesday – apart from those owned by Tory donor Tim Martin.

Well, we learned a lot about the UK under the Tories in 2020, didn’t we? Most especially, we learned that they only look after their own.

So, according to the BBC, Liverpool is facing a new kind of lockdown as it stands in the highest tier of Boris Johnson’s new Covid-19 alert system:

The Liverpool City Region will be on the “very high” Covid alert level from Wednesday, Boris Johnson has announced.

Confirming new three-tier restrictions, the PM said pubs, bars and betting shops would close on Merseyside.

… with certain exceptions.

It seems the Wetherspoons chain of pubs is exempt from closure because the Tories have dreamed up the excuse that they are “food-based pubs”. Yes indeed, it’s nothing to do with them being run by a leading Tory donor, Tim Martin!

Or is it? On the social media, people have their own opinions:

Liverpool famously stopped buying The Sun after it ran a headline attacking football fans from the city after the Hillsborough disaster.

I’m wondering if this latest Tory abuse will prompt a similar response…

Meanwhile:

The PM said all retail outlets, schools and universities would remain open.

So his new rules won’t make a scrap of difference and Covid-19 infection rates will continue to rise.

Source: Covid: Boris Johnson confirms new three-tier alert system, with Liverpool ‘very high’ – BBC News

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Tory MPs are breaking Covid rules so quickly, Johnson is taking to TV to announce more

Tory ministers like Matt Hancock are breaking even the current complicated Covid-19 restrictions so fast that Boris Johnson is to announce a new, more complicated system in the hope of stopping them.

That’s how it seems to This Writer, anyway.

But then, I’ve lost interest in the restrictions. Instead of being a way of keeping safe, Johnson has turned them into an attempt to distract us from his failure to address the proliferation of the pandemic with threats of huge fines if we don’t do as we’re told!

That’s why he hasn’t been able to provide any evidence to support his edict that pubs must close at 10pm. There isn’t any. It’s just a way to divert attention.

If Matt Hancock knew that, it would certainly explain why he was (allegedly) in a Parliamentary bar until long after the curfew was imposed one night last week.

Alternatively, I think it’s possible that Johnson is trying to address the shortage of new TV material with an idea for a new game show format.

I’ll explain below but first, let’s consider what he’s expected to announce in his own TV appearance later today (Monday, October 12):

England’s three-tier system… will be called Local Covid Alert Levels with England placed into “medium”, “high” and “very high” alert levels.

There is no detail yet on which area of England will be placed in which tier.

Millions of people could be banned from travelling outside their areas or mixing indoors with other households.

According to The Guardian,

Areas with relatively low infection levels will be placed in what is being described as tier 1. Only national restrictions such as the rule of six, the 10pm curfew on restaurants and pubs and existing rules on masks and social distancing will apply.

The next tier is likely to include bans on home visits and indoor socialising with other households in bars or restaurants.

In areas under the toughest tier 3 restrictions – including Merseyside, Manchester and Newcastle – bars and pubs are expected to be forced to close.

None of the above will make a scrap of difference to infection and death rates, of course, because they do not propose lockdowns in education or in the workplace – the main drivers of the current wave of the disease.

But what about that new TV format I mentioned?

It’s simple: after Johnson announces the new “Local Covid Alert Levels”, I expect an enterprising producer to devise a new game show in which members of the public are contacted at random and asked to provide accurate details of the Covid-related restrictions currently in place where they live.

If they get it right, they get a prize; get it wrong and they get a stern talking-to!

Do you think it’ll catch on?

Source: Boris Johnson to give live TV address to unveil new coronavirus lockdown system – Mirror Online

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Is the algorithm method stopping my messages from multiplying?

facebook

What is going wrong with the social media giant Facebook?

By now, we all know that Facebook took it upon itself to target and attack bloggers – primarily with WordPress, as I understand it – who use the site to publicise their articles, last week. Vox Political was one of those sites.

The censorship took the form of an alert message that appeared on readers’ screens when they clicked through from Facebook to an article by the writers who had been targeted. This message stated: “Facebook thinks this site may be unsafe. If you’re not familiar with it, please provide feedback by marking it as spam (you’ll be brought back to Facebook).”

Anyone trying to ‘share’ a link with other Facebook users was subjected to the infamous and annoying ‘Captcha’ box – this is the time-consuming and difficult method of proving you are a human being by reading a series of letters or numbers, that have been stretched or bent on the screen in a way that we are told prevents automated ‘spam’ systems from understanding it, and then typing the sequence correctly into a box. This is off-putting as it takes time and effort, and many users may have decided not to bother.

All this took place around the time the House of Lords was voting on the regulations that will allow private firms to compete to run NHS services – the privatisation of the NHS; and it also coincided with bowel cancer sufferer Mark McGowan’s crawl from King’s College Hospital to 10 Downing Street, pushing a toy pig with his nose to highlight his view that the privatisation marked out the Conservative-led government as pigs with their snouts in the money trough.

I can’t comment on how this affected anybody else, but my own site certainly suffered as a result, and I complained to Facebook about this treatment, pointing out that the alert message clearly lowered me in the estimation of right-thinking members of the public generally, and caused me to be shunned and avoided – fulfilling not just one but two criteria necessary for an act to constitute defamation – otherwise known as libel.

The problem appeared to resolve itself just before the weekend. Facebook said that it was all a mistake, made by its automated spam-filter algorithms. It seems that WordPress sites all over the world were affected, and there was discussion of it on the WordPress user forums, ending with a post from a staff member saying that “the problem seems to have been fixed on Facebook‘s end on or around April 26th.”

And that should have been the end of it, right?

Well… were these automated systems malfunctioning again on Sunday and Monday? That would seem very strange behaviour, so soon after an initial ‘mistake’ that was so widely discovered, reported and discussed.

Still, I posted an article yesterday and, when I checked this morning, found that – according to Facebook statistics – it had reached a total of 16 people. The previous article, a link to a reblog that I also posted yesterday, had amassed more than 1,700 readers (according to the stats). The article before that – more than 2,000.

That was seriously odd, I thought. Nobody loses 2,000 readers in a day.

Still, I had another article to promote, so I posted the link to “Tory department of dirty deeds swings into pre-election action”. Half an hour later – by which time I would normally have expected to see a ‘total reach’ in the hundreds, that number had stalled on two.

That’s right – two.

“Yes,” said one of my readers in response to a (Facebook) status report asking what the devil was going on, “the government is putting pressure on Facebook to delete some posts and groups which contain political themes, and to slow the process of certain posts being sent for others to see.  Guess Cameron is feeling the heat.”

Conspiracy-theory nonsense? Or a rational response to the evidence? I thought about this for a while. Then I decided to put it to the test.

If Facebook is using spam-filtering algorithms to censor certain messages, then it must be programmed to detect particular words, or combinations of words, I reasoned. Maybe my use of “Tory” alongside “dirty deeds” was what got the article kicked into touch?

So what would happen if I posted a link to the very same article, but this time with an innocuous – if unlikely – headline such as “Peace and harmony breaks out between the British political parties”?

I’ll tell you what happened: ‘Total reach’ of 542 people within half an hour – that’s what! More than the original link – to the same article – had achieved all day. More than it has achieved as I type this, in fact.

Maybe I’m being paranoid – Johnny Void thinks so; he’s been trying to convince me that this really was an innocent glitch, and I’d like to believe him.

But I also want some solid answers. Wouldn’t you?

I’ve written to Facebook; let’s see what happens.

And, while we’re waiting, I might create a new page on Facebook: BASTARDS for CONSERVATISM! The description will read: “We may be illegitimate, but we know our own when we see them!”

That ought to confuse this dodgy algorithm!