Saturday 24 June 2017

Leith Hill: Another Desecration; Sacred Site, SSSI, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Early Medieval Battlefield #SaveLeithHill #TwyfordDown #FrackOff



...and "Frigg-off" as-well! I know Leith Hill having visited several times whilst living in West Sussex during my twenties, it is a remarkable place, one would hardly credit that such exist in the Home Counties but they do (some might observe that in Britain ancient history is beneath your feet all the time -but I digress-). The hill has a tale as long as the reputed "Green Dragon" (you'll find both a pub and a school of that name on the slopes), the hill tops nearly 1000ft and is the highest point in Southern England, it is also the only place I've ever seen a wild lizard anywhere in Britain!


The Battle

Quote; "The hill's first notable role in history was as a battlefield in the ninth century struggle between Saxons and Danes. In 851AD the Danes planned a full scale invasion, after raiding the country regularly for many years. The Danes invaded up the Thames and burnt Canterbury and then London. The next target was Winchester, but on their march towards Winchester they met the army of Ethelwulf, father of Alfred the Great. Ethelwulf, it seems, took up a position on the slopes of Leith Hill - an ancient mass grave found in 1882 seems to point to this area as the sight of battle (Stories of the Surrey Hills published by the Surrey Society). Ethelwulf was able to use position on high ground to win the huge battle that followed. This battle ended the Danes immediate prospects of conquering the whole of Britain.
In later history Leith Hill was to become a symbol of peace. As the Industrial Revolution gathered pace in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was a romantic reaction against the new society. Wordsworth and Coleridge started idealising nature at the end of the eighteenth century, and this theme was soon taken up by Keats in the early nineteenth century. Now that nature was considered beautiful, people started taking trips to places where nature could be enjoyed. Leith Hill was a popular picnic spot for nineteenth century tourists. A tower, or "Prospect House" had been built here in 1766, by Richard Hull. From then on visitors started to climb the hill to see the tower and use the "prospect glasses" which Richard Hull had provided. Leith Hill Tower was rebuilt in 1796, and restored in 1864.
 In 1835 the poet Alfred Tennyson visited. Walking among the trees of Leith Hill he wrote The Sleeping Beauty and began The Black Bird and Sir Galahad. Sir Galahad, like Tennyson, climbs a hill in search of something:

I leave the plain I climb the height;
No branchy thicket shelter yields;
But blessed forms in whistling storms
Fly o'er waste fens, and windy fields" Go to: http://www.infobritain.co.uk/Leith_Hill.htm For full article.


 Apparently the Norsemen had "adopted" (as is the way of empires when "faiths" conquer), a Well of Brygyd for Frigga and the clash also represents one of the last stands pantheistic paganism ever made on a British battlefield, it is said that the battle was unusual in its ferocity  (were "bear-skin-wearers" -"Berserkers"-, involved? It is possible as this "sacred-elite" were oft associated with the worship of the Gods and the protection of their sites and customs). The battle was hardly however the site's; "first notable role in history" for as intimated there are legends and evidence of worship dating far back into the Bythonic past.
 Now however all the above is being brushed aside by the "money-grubbers" of fracking's debased currency, a more worthless undertaking of which it is difficult to conceive (at least The Twyford Cutting was designed to save lives -and has, on the roads-, although the methodology was faulted from the start), for there are no upsides to people or the planet, only the rich will ever benefit from the rake-offs and the subsidies that fracking provides and that merely temporarily.


..doesn't the horrible evidence of abuse that is "The-Scar-of-Twyford" carry any lessons? Temporary fixes may give a feeling of security for a while but that's the point, only long term planning based on the notion that it is better to create than destroy is capable of providing a legacy, stealing will leave a debt the very next generation (now), will be paying all their lives. The Optimus Prime of "Progress" was never wrong, but surely he asks; "what sort of "progress" do you need?"

Quote; "Very few electors read manifestos, let alone debate the detail of them. That's a pity, as it might change the nature of the tired debates we see at every election.
For this week's general election, the Conservative Party's manifesto[1] outlines a sharp break in British planning and environmental policy of a scale not seen since the 1980s.
Ostensibly their aim is to make 'fracking' require more exacting regulation.
That sounds really great in theory. In practice it depends what your legal definition of 'fracking' is.

 

Elections don't do details, just sound-bites

 

In Britain, elections are probably the worst method by which we try to decide complex issues.
For the last few months I've been working on[2] the Conservatives failed fossil fuel policy for Talk Fracking[3] – supporting their report, Whitehall's Fracking Science Failure[4].
That centres on the Conservative's claim[5], repeated in their manifesto for this election, that fracking produces gas that is "cleaner than coal".
During the election campaign, while some media have covered[6] the 'permitted development' issue, nearly all have missed the nuances of 'definition' behind the policy – and thus its practical implications.
For example, if government ministers systematically override local councils and regulators on fracking, imposing their will directly on the public[7], does making fracking permitted development really make a difference in the end? The results would be the same.

 

An English 'Halliburton Exemption'

 

First and foremost – this is an English problem.
Scotland currently has a moratorium on unconventional oil and gas development. Wales has a bar in planning law, but can't actually control Whitehall's licensing powers." Go to: http://fraw.org.uk/mei/musings/2017/20170605-conservatives_planning_frackageddon.html For full article.

How is it one asks oneself that those who call themselves "Conservative" should fail to conserve on such a regular basis?


Oil protestors hide in tunnels and tree houses to avoid being evicted from Leith Hill 





Quote; "The rescue team from Specialist Group International at the site at Leith Hill

Comments (0) Oil protesters from the Leith Hill "protection camp" took to man made tunnels and tree houses as bailiffs arrived to evict them from the site.
Bailiffs, officers from Surrey Police and a fifteen-person team from Specialist Group International - which is based in Dorking and specialises in safely removing people without injury - arrived at the camp on land at Bury Hill Wood at around 5am this morning (Wednesday, June 21).
The site has been occupied by protesters since last October as part of their demonstrations against planned oil drilling in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
A spokeswoman for Specialist Group International confirmed the had a team on site attempting to remove protesters from the area but feared lives were at risk*." Go to: http://www.dorkingandleatherheadadvertiser.co.uk/oil-protestors-hide-in-tunnels-and-treehouses-to-avoid-being-evicted-from-leith-hill/story-30402390-detail/story.html For full article.

*They can be, a friend of mine was run over whilst D-locked to the axle of a lorry during the Newbury area protests.

For updates please see my Twitter "moment"; #SaveLeithHill #FrackOff #TwyfordDown Go to: https://twitter.com/i/moments/877626054579499008

Also see; "The Philosophy of "The Loss Leader" (re: Nuclear Power, Incineration and Fracking)" Go to: http://www.arafel.co.uk/2014/08/the-philosophy-of-loss-leader-re.html, "Twyford Down" Go to:
http://www.arafel.co.uk/2016/10/twyford-down.html
and; "Oppose; "plans for a tunnel to bypass the neolithic site" Go to: http://www.arafel.co.uk/2014/12/oppose-plans-for-tunnel-to-bypass.html
 #SaveStonehenge #StonehengeAlliance


Freya and Frigga

Quote; "Freya and Frigga . . . one goddess or two? It's easy to get confused.
Some authors claim that we get the name for the day Friday after the goddess Freya, others say it was named after Frigga.
Because of frequent overlapping that occurs in their myths and symbols, some authorities believe they are just regional variations of a single goddess. Others insist that they are separate entities. All agree they were among the most ancient of the Norse deities.
Together they represent the two aspects of the original Great Goddess with Freya serving as the maiden and Frigga the wife/mother aspect.  As you will see below, their traits varied considerably." Go to: http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/frigga-freya-goddesses.htm For full article and links.


Frigg 
Quote; "Frigg (pronounced “FRIG;” Old Norse Frigg, “Beloved”[1]), sometimes Anglicized as “Frigga,” is the highest-ranking of the Aesir goddesses. She’s the wife of Odin, the chief of the gods, and the mother of Baldur.
Strangely for a goddess of her high position, the surviving primary sources on Norse mythology give only sparse and casual accounts of anything related to her personality, deeds, or other attributes. The specifics they do discuss, however, are not unique to Frigg, but are instead shared by both her and Freya, a goddess who belongs to both the Aesir and the Vanir tribes of deities. From these similarities, combined with the two goddesses’ mutual evolution from the earlier Germanic goddess Frija, we can see that Frigg and Freya were only nominally distinct figures by the late Viking Age, when our sources were recorded, and that these two figures, who had formerly been the same deity, were still practically the same personage in everything but name."... 
..."Like Freya, Frigg is depicted as a völva, a Viking Age practitioner of the form of Norse magic known as seidr. Seidr is concerned with discerning destiny and altering its course by re-weaving part of its web.[2] This power could potentially be put to any use imaginable, and examples that cover virtually the entire range of the human condition can be found in Old Norse literature. In the Old Norse poem Lokasenna, after Loki slanders Frigg, Freya warns him that Frigg knows the destiny of all beings, implying that she also has the power to alter them if she so chooses.[3] Frigg’s weaving activities are likely an allusion to this role as well. Freya owns falcon plumes that she and the other Aesir use for shapeshifting into that bird, and Frigg possesses her own set of falcon feathers that are used for the same purpose.[4]" 

Saturday 17 June 2017

"Not worth the candle!" Keeping-up-with-the-Joneses defines British bankruptcy #JusticeforGrenfell #Gentrification #Libor #ParisAccords



"The chief editor of Breitbart London is spreading fake news about the Grenfell tower fire"

Quote; "..the chief editor of Breitbart London has posted a brazen "fake news" Tweet about the Grenfell tower fire that's now been shared over 5,000 times, but instead of holding him to account, hacks at the Daily Telegraph somehow decided to falsely accuse named left-wing websites of spreading "fake news" on their front page instead.

The Breitbart editor Raheem Kassam has had it pointed out to him by hundreds of people that his Tweet begins with an outright lie and is nothing more than a pathetically tasteless bit of right-wing victim complex crying, but he's not taken it down nor apologised for outright lying to the public.


  • The fact that the new Labour MP for Kensington Emma Dent Coad once had a powerless position on the Tory dominated Kensington and Chelsea council betrays a very weak understanding of how local government actually works.
  • Ignoring the fact that Sadiq Khan was not even mayor of London when the decision to cover Grenfell tower in highly flammable plastic is obviously absurd, as is the ridiculous implication that the mayor of the biggest city in western Europe should micromanage every building renovation project in the city.
  • Trying to pin responsibility on Labour because the original construction date for the tower coincided with a Labour government is absolutely pathetic grasping. The problem isn't that there are 4,000 odd tower blocks in the UK, it's that many of them are deadly firetraps thanks to seven years of abject Tory neglect of housing policy*, and their refusal to listen to expert advice that flammable cladding should be banned.
  • Describing a list that begins with an outright lie as "Grenfell tower facts" is absolutely outrageous stuff that even Kellyanne Conway of "alternative facts" fame would blush at.
  • Making up lies and deliberately distorting and misrepresenting the facts in order to recast the Tory party as the true victims of the Grenfell tower fire is a disgusting new low, even for the editor of a despicable website like Breitbart.
Unsurprisingly there is no outrage in the mainstream media over this deliberate lying and sick emotional manipulation from the head of a right-wing news outlet." Go to: http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/the-chief-editor-of-breitbart-london-is.html?spref=tw
For full article.

*Although this was presaged by the deregulation and enthusiasm for The Wider European Adventure that were New Labour's.

Quote; "There are two children that we know really well who were in the block. One family got out, the father was able to shield their little girl and thank God she’s fairly oblivious to everything that happened. But the other is in hospital, critically ill from smoke inhalation.
Another went missing and was separated from her mum. We heard from mum and found her utterly distraught. She spent the day looking for her daughter and finally found her. Their dog and their neighbour’s dog are missing – we’ve got the kids looking for the dogs, putting up posters so they’ve got something to do and don’t feel so helpless.
The scale of the loss is far bigger than anyone is admitting. One of my employees has 15 friends missing and believed dead. Another has two friends missing.
One of the little girls that got out with her family, she has 7 friends missing, all from [near the top of the block]. Her mum believes they’re the only survivors. At least two of her other friends have already been confirmed dead – one just 13 years old and the other fourteen.
My friend has a son in the same class as those girls. She went back to the block to find one little girl who’s in the hospital now. She’s been collating names of missing people and she’s already up to around two hundred.
200 is the figure everyone is saying locally, but it might be much worse.
One family got out from the [upper third]th floor. A neighbour came out of a flat at the same time but his elderly mum was still in the flat so he went back in.
The dad of that family told me that the whole way down from that floor he only counted eight others coming down the stairs and the firemen coming up were telling people to get back into their flats. That’s no blame on the firemen, they were just doing what they’d been told to do.
There’s burnt polystyrene everywhere – a local builder told me that it’s not from the panels – it’s too thick. He said it’s insulation – there were burning pieces as big as telephone boxes falling down on people as they came out of the block.
Are people angry? On Wednesday they were very silent. Everyone was in shock – nobody was visibly angry, although a lot of people were frustrated at the absence of the authorities.
People were saying they expected things to be more in place for a major incident, given the terror alert, but it was just chaos and we felt badly let down by the council.
Some council people came in but it was obvious they were just there to say they’d been there. They sat around and ate takeaways, then all left promptly at 6pm having done nothing. They had a face-mask on the table and one of the volunteers went to put it on while she went outside and they took it off her, told her that was only for staff – but they never did anything to need it.
My staff have been brilliant, the community has been brilliant. Some of the police have been fantastic but others just seem uninterested. We went with one mother to talk to a policewoman about her missing child and she just shrugged, no empathy at all.
This has been a community under siege in a way. We’re surrounded by £3.5m houses, there’s a little park to walk dogs. All the time we see people moving out because it’s too expensive.
The area started to gentrify couple of years ago. One family I know, they’re the only people in their block – the rest are empty or only occupied one week a year. The idea of requisitioning them to house people that have no home now is spot on." Go to: https://skwawkbox.org/2017/06/17/grenfell-survivor-only-passed-8-people-on-stairs-all-the-way-from-upper-floor/ For full article.


"With land in your hand, you'll be happy on earth
Then invest in the Church for your heaven." Go to: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/genesis/getemoutbyfriday.html

Un-safety Culture

Quote; "Prime Minister David Cameron today said that his new year's resolution was to "kill off the health and safety culture for good".
Health and safety legislation has become an "albatross around the neck of British businesses", costing them billions of pounds a year and leaving entrepreneurs in fear of speculative claims, he said.
He announced plans to cap the amount which can be earned by lawyers from small-value personal injury claims against employers and to reduce overall costs in cases funded by "no-win no-fee" deals."...
""It's a year when the Government's going to roll up its sleeves and ask, 'what can we do to help business, to help consumers, to help our economy get moving and to help our economy provide jobs for young people?'," he said.
The Government is "waging war against the excessive health and safety culture that has become an albatross around the neck of British businesses", said the PM.
He added: "This coalition has a clear new year's resolution: to kill off the health and safety culture for good."
Go to: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-i-will-kill-off-safety-culture-6285238.html For full article.

‘They tried to get lawyers’: Devastating cuts to legal aid prevented Grenfell Tower residents accessing advice

Quote; "Grenfell Tower’s residents tried to obtain legal advice over safety concerns but were prevented from doing so due to devastating cuts to legal aid.
Pilgrim Tucker, who has worked with the local campaign organisation Grenfell Action Group, made the damning claim yesterday evening during an emotionally-charged Newsnight.
Having cited a number of alleged structural and maintenance issues with the Kensington tower block, Tucker (pictured bottom right) said: “They [residents] can’t afford lawyers. They tried to get lawyers but because of the legal aid cuts they couldn’t get lawyers.”
Her point resonated on Twitter. Daphne Romney QC, a barrister at Cloisters specialising in employment law, tweeted:
Elsewhere, Laura Clenshaw — editorial manager at the Solicitors Regulation Authority — wrote:
Meanwhile, Tom, an ex-lawyer according to his Twitter bio, said:
In an attempt to save around £350 million a year, the government introduced a series of significant changes to civil legal aid in England and Wales. This meant certain types of cases — including divorce, welfare, employment and housing (except in limited circumstances) — were no longer eligible for free legal support. The cuts, introduced back in April 2013, were strongly opposed by professional legal bodies and lawyers alike.
Grenfell Tower, home to around 600 people, caught fire during the early hours of Wednesday morning. Hundreds of firefighters and 45 fire engines were involved in efforts to control the blaze as it ripped through the 27-storey building. At the time of publication, 17 people have been confirmed dead and dozens more injured." Go to: https://www.legalcheek.com/2017/06/they-tried-to-get-lawyers-devastating-cuts-to-legal-aid-prevented-grenfell-tower-residents-accessing-advice-over-safety-concerns/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare For full article.

Arafel: Clearly its easier to marginalise and disenfranchise people when they can't access legal representation (couldn't be that such and "The Health and Safety Culture" were preventing those ever bigger profits for the "glorious few" could it?). The rub will be that this was Govt. legislation (and therefore negligence and corruption), therefore no private company will bear the burden of providing compensation, no it will come out of the public purse.

"I love the smell of vacancies in the morning"

 "
"

Tweet by Dr.Frances Ryan, from The Guardian.

LOOK BACK IN ANGER, a poem by Les Nicholls

"Timber plastic concrete and steel
Burned with a fury that hardly seems real
Taking with it the old the young of varying races
Scenes etched on our minds of their terrified faces
Babies mothers husbands and friends
The names of the missing on a list without end
Look back in anger now with total disgust
Betrayed by those people in whom they should trust
This was no act of god this was utter neglect
This was a lack of compassion and social respect
Look back in anger at the warnings ignored
Shunned by their landlord to whom they implored
We are shocked as a nation as this horror unfolds
And full of emotion as the stories are told
We have seen religion and culture all put aside
United in anger for all those that died
A public inquiry will not bring back the dead
it will not help those people who need to be sheltered and fed
Look back in anger as they talk and debate
While anger and despair haunt those left to wait
Look back in anger at the political spin
But the anger now rises as our patience grows thin
This tragedy occurred in a land of prosperity
In a home for the poor besieged by austerity
This suffering was caused by ignorance and conceit
It was an avoidable  horror we must never repeat"

GOD BLESS ALL THOSE AFFECTED BY THIS TRAGEDY" Go to: http://www.thelondoneconomic.com/tle-pick/look-back-in-anger-a-poem-for-grenfell/16/06/


"A tale of two posts... Boris Johnson tries to deflect criticism over



Compliance on the Cheap  

Quote; "Fire safety experts called for a ban on the use of combustible materials in the construction of high-rise buildings in the UK as contractors confirmed that panels used to clad Grenfell Tower were the cheaper, more flammable version of two available options.
A Worcester-based firm, Omnis Exteriors, said it had supplied Reynobond PE cladding panels as part of the refurbishment of the west London tower block that was overseen by the construction firm Rydon Maintenance in 2012.
The panels contain flammable polyethylene and are £2 cheaper per square metre than the alternative, fire-resistant Reynobond FR. Rydon Maintenance subcontracted the installation of the panels to a smaller company called Harley Facades, which confirmed that it had used the panels.
At least 20 tower blocks across the capital, ranging from 11 to 23 storeys, are believed to have the same cladding used at Grenfell, according to Construction Enquirer, a trade publication." Go to: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/16/experts-urge-ban-on-use-of-combustible-materials-in-tower-blocks?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet For full article.

Quote; "Boris Johnson is being reminded he once told a Labour politician to “get stuffed” for daring to ask about cuts to the London Fire Brigade (LFB), in the wake of the devastating Grenfell Tower blaze.
The fire has killed at least 17 people and police expect the death toll to rise. Hundreds have been left homeless and many remain missing, with firefighters saying they do not expect to find any more survivors.
Firefighters were at the scene within minutes and worked long shifts to save as many as they could from the burning 24-storey tower." Go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/grenfell-tower-fire-boris-johnson_uk_594267c2e4b0d31854872fed For full article.


Quote; "Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson faces questions over his decision to slash London's fire service while being the Mayor of London.
Johnson presided over the closure of 10 fire stations and the removal of 27 fire engines, despite previously promising not to remove them.
There are fears that many more tower blocks in London could be vulnerable to the type of blaze seen at the Grenfell tower.
Johnson repeatedly denied he had any plans to cut fire engines or fire stations, telling the London Assembly in 2010 that there were "no plans" to remove engines. Pressed on the issue, he said in a filmed meeting that "I don't want to get rid of them. What's the problem?"
When confronted by his opponents on the London Assembly about the broken promise in 2013, Johnson told Labour's Andrew Dismore to "get stuffed." Go to: http://uk.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-faces-questions-over-fire-brigade-cuts-following-greenfell-fire-2017-6
For full article.

Reduced Counseling for Firefighters

Quote; "Counselling services available to the firefighters who responded to the Grenfell Tower fire were drastically cut back, it can today be revealed, under Boris Johnson’s leadership as the former Mayor of London.

The number of counsellors trained to help firefighters process the traumatic scenes they witness on the job in the London Fire Brigade was cut from 14 to just 2 under Johnson, who also took 13 fire engines off the run.   The current management of the LFB are now grappling with this unfortunate legacy of cuts.

So far 17 people have been confirmed dead in the harrowing disaster but that figure is expected to rise dramatically.   The numbers of casualties are expected to run into hundreds.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: “The absolutely devastating scenes that firefighters witnessed at Grenfell will stay with them for the rest of their lives. They are heroic men and women who just get on with the job and don’t complain but at the end of the day, they’re human and will be affected by what they see. The priority today is to make sure that everything possible is done to take care of their mental wellbeing after such a horrific disaster.  We need more counsellors to look after them, not less.”

A London firefighter who attended the scene, who asked to remain anonymous, said:

“It was absolutely horrific at Grenfell, and it’s still very very raw.  I have seen some really horrible things that I’ve never experienced seeing before and hope I will never see again.  It will stay with me all my life.  We were offered a session with a counsellor which I took up, and it did help, but nothing will get those images out of my mind.”" Go to: https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2017/06/15/fury-counselling-services-firefighters-involved-grenfell-cut-back For full article.

"London Residents Speak The Truth About The Grenfell Tower Fire" (unavailable for Blogger embed), go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=-AX8DYTPJKc
For video.

"Every Flat in a New South London Development Has Been Sold to Foreign Investors"


Quote; "When Elephant and Castle's Heygate Estate was eventually torn down in 2014, many tenants were forcibly evicted from their homes, given compensation at less than 40 percent of the market value. In its place, Londoners were promised a shiny new development that would provide affordable, accessible homes for key workers desperate to get on the property ladder.
As the first properties hit the market, a report claims that 100 percent of those sold so far have gone to offshore foreign investors."..
"Sales of these properties began in Singapore on the 11th April 2014, with flash brochures and slick marketing conferences. Not a single unit was for sale in London at this time. Lendlease don't even seek to hide the fact they are selling investment opportunities, not homes, as they list exactly how much rental income – around £25,000 a year for the cheapest – foreign investors can cream off without ever touching the front door.
Transparency International, a not-for-profit organisation which exposes global corruption, state in their 2017 report "Faulty Towers" that the number of South Gardens units sold abroad is 51 out of 51 properties, as per Land Registry documents." Go to: https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/every-flat-in-a-new-south-london-development-has-been-sold-to-foreign-investors For full article.

Toxic gases released during Grenfell Tower fire may have caused some deaths

Quote; "Insulation boards fitted to the outside of Grenfell Tower gave off highly toxic hydrogen cyanide gas which may have contributed to the deaths of some of the 79 confirmed victims.
Fire toxicity experts have told Sky News the insulation boards installed during a refurbishment of the tower produce the deadly gas when they burn, and their positioning meant every flat could have been filled with enough gas to kill those inside.
At least three of those injured in the fire have been treated with an antidote for hydrogen cyanide poisoning in hospital, and the number of those affected may be higher.
The gas could have incapacitated some residents, but establishing its role in the cause of death may be impossible because of the condition of the victims." Go to: http://news.sky.com/story/toxic-gases-released-during-grenfell-tower-fire-may-have-caused-some-deaths-10922685?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter 
For full article.




For updates on this story please see my Twitter "moment"; "#JusticeforGrenfell #Austerity #Gentrification" Go to: https://twitter.com/i/moments/876873047508123648

ADVERTISEMENT -Quote; "But the capital lost 600 firefighter jo

bs and 10 fire stations while Johnson was London Mayor.Quote; "Counselling services available to the firefighters who responded to the Grenfell Tower fire were drastically cut back, it can today be revealed, under Boris Johnson’s leadership as the former Mayor of London.

The number of counsellors trained to help firefighters process the traumatic scenes they witness on the job in the London Fire Brigade was cut from 14 to just 2 under Johnson, who also took 13 fire engines off the run.   The current management of the LFB are now grappling with this unfortunate legacy of cuts.

So far 17 people have been confirmed dead in the harrowing disaster but that figure is expected to rise dramatically.   The numbers of casualties are expected to run into hundreds.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: “The absolutely devastating scenes that firefighters witnessed at Grenfell will stay with them for the rest of their lives. They are heroic men and women who just get on with the job and don’t complain but at the end of the day, they’re human and will be affected by what they see. The priority today is to make sure that everything possible is done to take care of their mental wellbeing after such a horrific disaster.  We need more counsellors to look after them, not less.”

A London firefighter who attended the scene, who asked to remain anonymous, said:

“It was absolutely horrific at Grenfell, and it’s still very very raw.  I have seen some really horrible things that I’ve never experienced seeing before and hope I will never see again.  It will stay with me all my life.  We were offered a session with a counsellor which I took up, and it did help, but nothing will get those images out of my mind.”" Go to: https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2017/06/15/fury-counselling-services-firefighters-involved-grenfell-cut-back For full article.

Thursday 15 June 2017

Metal Gods




"We've taken too much for granted
And all the time it had grown
From techno seeds we first planted
Evolved a mind of it's own

Marching in the streets
Dragging iron feet
Laser beaming hearts
Ripping men apart

From off I've seen my perfection
Where we could do as we please
In secrecy this infection
Was spreading like a disease

Hiding underground
Knowing we'd be found
Fearing for our lives
Reaped by robot's scythes

Metal gods
Metal gods

(Solo Glenn)

Metal gods
Metal gods

Machines are taking all over
With mankind in their command
In time they'd like to discover
How they can make their demand

Better be the slaves
To their wicked ways
But meeting with our death
Engulfed in molten breath"
Songwriters: TIPTON, GLENN RAYMOND/HALFORD, ROB/DOWNING, KENNETH
Metal Gods lyrics © EMI Music Publishing




Wednesday 14 June 2017

"The Real Star Wars": #MaxSpiersRIP #Reagan #SDI #GaryMcKinnon #ParticleBeamWeapons #MKUltra



Quote; "A conspiracy theorist vomited two litres of black liquid before he died, an inquest has heard.
Max Spiers’ death caused widespread suspicion among his friends and family, who said he had been investigating some “dark” things.
The 39-year-old, from Canterbury, was complaining of illness before he was found dead in Warsaw, Poland on 16 July. He had been due to speak at a conference.
In October, The Independent revealed that the Foreign Office would not be investigating the death. They said the procedure was the responsibility of the Polish authorities.
However, an inquest was opened in Canterbury after a British post mortem was unable to establish a cause of death.
“Mr Spiers became ill with a high temperature and was weak,” said coroner’s investigations officer Caroline O’Donnell, according to the Kentish Gazette.
“The following day, Mr Spiers vomited two litres of black fluid.”" Go to:  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/max-spiers-conspiracy-theorist-vomit-black-fluid-death-inquest-coroner-canterbury-a7478786.html For full article.


Quote; "It was when former NASA contractor Donna Hare went whistleblower in November 2000 with claims that NASA staff digitally edited out UFOs from satellite pictures before they were released, from Building eight of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, that Mr McKinnon, 49, decided he had to know more.
An avid interest in the so-called alien disclosure movement, which calls on governments worldwide to release all their top-secret files of UFOs and alien visitations, led him to hack into computer databases of NASA, the US military and the Pentagon, from his girlfriend’s aunt’s home in London.















Mr McKinnon said their security was so lapse he was able to regularly gain access to entire databases for between 18 months and two years. But for someone to have gained so much unprecedented access, the disclosures that followed were relatively few and far between.
First, while scouring US Navy databases, Mr McKinnon stumbled across a file containing a list of “non-terrestrial officers” with their ranks and names and a separate file of “material transfers between ships”.
Although, he has no record of any of the officer or ship names now, he claims further research at the time found no trace of any of the ships anywhere or of the use of the term non-terrestrial officer.
Mr McKinnon believes he may have found confidential evidence of a secret space base.
Non-terrestrial does not just mean not from earth, it can also mean not land based, meaning the term would not be irregular in terms of the navy. When asked if non-terrestrial officers could mean something else such as this or astronauts, Mr McKinnon added: “It could be up to you how you interpret them.”
The other evidence uncovered by Mr McKinnon was while trawling the 255 computers of building eight at the Johnson Space Center.
He said: “There were image databases with roll one: filtered or processed and unprocessed. They were 200-odd megabytes each. I had full remote control of the desktop.”" Go to: http://earthmysterynews.com/2016/12/07/proof-nasa-edits-out-ufos-what-gary-mckinnon-found-on-2-year-hack-spree/

For full article.


 The first time I had ever encountered Gary McKinnon's work...Re: "Star Wars" Archived Message

Posted by Gerard on November 2, 2016, 8:01 pm

Quote; "..was today on "The Blaze" (new American T.V Channel, their output -along with that of Yesterday, The Travel Channel*, Yesterday and to a certain extent Dave-, includes a few of these new documentaries which utilise documentation finally released under both the 50 and 70 year rules pertaining to WW2 and the following decade or so-, the epidemiological and "whistle-blown" evidence that has presented itself during that period and that revealed under the Freedom of Information Acts of both the U.S & U.K), I was unfamiliar with the "meat" of his claims and viewed them for the first time today because my interest had been tweaked by a trailer which suggested a connection between the systems revealed in McKinnon's hacked data and Ronald Reagan's so-called "Star Wars" programme. You see it was suggested at the time (see vid.), that the space defence system Reagan outlined to the public could not have worked to anything like "deterrent" capacity with the technology which was then available. So why did Gorbachev bend the knee? I have believed for many years that there was more to the actual conflict of forces in space and that there were "black budget" devices to be added to the public equation. That there should be a "space marine core" or that such funding as was necessary to create one was substantially increased under Reagan should come as no surprise to anyone..

*Why? I don't know." Post to The Lifeboat News message board.



Appeal to the House of Lords

Quote; "Representing McKinnon in the House of Lords on 16 June 2008, barristers told the Law Lords that the prosecutors had said McKinnon faced a possible 8–10 years in jail per count if he contested the charges (there were seven counts) without any chance of repatriation, but only 37–46 months if he co-operated and went voluntarily to the United States. U.S.-style plea bargains are not a part of English jurisprudence (although it is standard practice to reduce the sentence by one-third for a defendant who pleads guilty)[13] and McKinnon's lawyers contended that in effect this was intimidation to force McKinnon to waive his legal rights. McKinnon also stated that he had been told that he could serve part of his sentence in the UK if he co-operated. He rejected the offer because the Americans would not guarantee these concessions.

McKinnon's barrister said that the Law Lords could deny extradition if there was an abuse of process: "If the United States wish to use the processes of English courts to secure the extradition of an alleged offender, then they must play by our rules."[14]

The House of Lords rejected this argument, with the lead judgement (of Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood) holding that "the difference between the American system and our own is not perhaps so stark as [McKinnon]'s argument suggests" and that extradition proceedings should "accommodate legal and cultural differences between the legal systems of the many foreign friendly states with whom the UK has entered into reciprocal extradition arrangements".[15]
Further appeals

McKinnon appealed to the European Court of Human Rights,[16] which briefly imposed a bar on the extradition,[17] but the request for an appeal was rejected.

On 23 January 2009, McKinnon won permission from the High Court to apply for a judicial review against his extradition.[18] On 31 July 2009, the High Court announced that McKinnon had lost this appeal.[19][20] McKinnon's legal team, solicitor Karen Todner and barrister Ben Cooper, applied for a judicial review into the Home Secretary's rejection of medical evidence, which stated that, when he could easily be tried in the UK, it was unnecessary, cruel and inhumane to inflict the further stress of removing him from his homeland, his family and his medical support network.[citation needed]
British government blocks extradition

On 16 October 2012, Home Secretary Theresa May announced to the House of Commons that the extradition had been blocked, saying that "Mr McKinnon's extradition would give rise to such a high risk of him ending his life that a decision to extradite would be incompatible with Mr McKinnon's human rights." She stated that the Director of Public Prosecutions would determine whether McKinnon should face trial before a British court.[21] On 14 December, the DPP, Keir Starmer, announced that McKinnon would not be prosecuted in the United Kingdom, because of the difficulties involved in bringing a case against him when the evidence was in the United States.[22]" Go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnon



Quote; "A science fiction writer will be quizzed by police on suspicion of killing a British conspiracy theorist who died suddenly on her sofa.
Max Spiers, 39, sought to expose government cover-ups and investigated UFO sightings — after, his mum says, he saw "the darker side" as a child.
The dad-of-two, from Canterbury, Kent, visited Poland to speak at a conference before he died at partner Monika Duval's home 24 hours later in July 2016.
He vomited two litres of a black fluid before he died, his inquest heard in December.
Now prosecutors have opened an investigation into involuntary manslaughter and want to speak to his girlfriend, who was present at the time of Mr Spiers's death." Go to: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-quiz-girlfriend-over-british-9914349 For full article.
Also see; "Forbidden History and "The Reich of the Black Sun" Go to: http://www.arafel.co.uk/2015/09/forbidden-history-and-reich-of-black-sun.html  



Space Weapons
Quote; "It may seem like science fiction but American and Russians scientists have been investigating lazer and particle beam weapons* for years".."Powerful beams of sub-atomic particles" BBC video, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-35132820/reagan-s-star-wars
*Italics mine.  
Quote; "WASHINGTON — The Pentagon Monday announced the successful space test of an experimental beam weapon in what "Star Wars" program officials called a major milestone for the anti-missile system.
The neutral particle beam accelerator was launched into space from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico last Thursday and operated for four minutes, officials said, sending out pulses of energy. Military scientists hope that such energy pulses one day will be capable of destroying incoming enemy missiles.


The neutral particle beam is one of three "directed energy" weapons being developed by the "Star Wars" program, formally known as the Strategic Defense Initiative. The others are free-electron lasers and chemical lasers.
Long-Term Projects
All are long-term development projects that are not expected to be deployed until well into the 21st Century, if future administrations support the program and Congress is willing to fund it.


"The particle beam worked perfectly. That's a major engineering achievement," Air Force Col. Thomas Meyer, director of SDI's energy office, said at a Pentagon news conference Monday.
The 24-foot, 3,500-pound beam accelerator was launched to an altitude of 125 miles on a Minuteman 2 rocket. It was the first time that the device had been tested in space.
The accelerator creates an energized beam of hydrogen atoms carrying no electrical charge. SDI scientists explained that the beam is created by powerful accelerators propelling negative atoms that are stripped of their extra electron as the beam emerges from the device at nearly the speed of light.
Meyer said that the beam does not burn through metal but rather penetrates the warhead and then releases its energy. "We call them proton torpedoes*," he said." Go to: http://articles.latimes.com/1989-07-18/news/mn-4091_1_beam-weapon For full article.

*Italics mine



Quote;
"Documentary investigating the truth about UFOs, examining evidence from some of the 70,000 case files hidden away in an Ohio warehouse called Hangar 1 which suggest that cover-ups and conspiracy theories have concealed the secrets for decades. This instalment investigates suggestions that US President Ronald Reagan's personal encounters with UFOs may have been the driving force behind his `Star Wars' Strategic Defence Initiative" Go to: http://www.tvguide.co.uk/detail/1977771/121740983/hangar-1-the-ufo-files
For "Hanger One Files".

Arafel: Since CERN's "rise to prominence" the already little talked of world of particle beam weapons has been even more seldom mentioned, nevertheless this is not (see quote from BBC video), science fiction for the "major" nations quietly admit to such research and occasionally let things slip (there is in-fact a longer BBC documentary of the time that even shows some of the tech, I'd not seen its like before nor have I since).

Also from the 80s a disturbing video detailing the strange and suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths of a number of scientists, researchers and military officials involved in The Strategic Defence Initiative...


("Sitting in an English garden waiting for the Sun....!")

MkUltra and "Super Soldiers"

Quote; "What is MKULTRA?

Wikipedia explains MKULTRA as the following:

Project MKUltra—sometimes referred to as the CIA’s mind control program—was the code name given to an illegal program of experiments on human subjects, designed and undertaken by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Experiments on humans were intended to identify and develop drugs, alcohol, stick and poke tattoos, and procedures to be used in interrogations and torture, in order to weaken the individual to force confessions through mind control. Organized through the Scientific Intelligence Division of the CIA, the project coordinated with the Special Operations Division of the U.S. Army’s Chemical Corps. The program began in the early 1950s, was officially sanctioned in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964, further curtailed in 1967 and officially halted in 1973.  The program engaged in many illegal activities;  in particular it used unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens as its test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy.  MKUltra used numerous methodologies to manipulate people’s mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as various forms of torture.
The scope of Project MKUltra was broad, with research undertaken at 80 institutions, including 44 colleges and universities, as well as hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies. The CIA operated through these institutions using front organizations, although sometimes top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA’s involvement. As the US Supreme Court later noted, MKULTRA was:
concerned with “the research and development of chemical, biological, and radiological materials capable of employment in clandestine operations to control human behavior.” The program consisted of some 149 subprojects which the Agency contracted out to various universities, research foundations, and similar institutions. At least 80 institutions and 185 private researchers participated. Because the Agency funded MKUltra indirectly, many of the participating individuals were unaware that they were dealing with the Agency.
Project MKUltra was first brought to public attention in 1975 by the Church Committee of the U.S. Congress, and a Gerald Ford commission to investigate CIA activities within the United States. Investigative efforts were hampered by the fact that CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKUltra files destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms’ destruction order.
In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to project MKUltra, which led to Senate hearings later that same year.  In July 2001, some surviving information regarding MKUltra was declassified.

 

The Black Vault and the FOIA Document Release

 

The Black Vault filed a FOIA request for all documents pertaining to MKULTRA and related projects back in the late 1990s. Despite the reports that MKULTRA documents were destroyed in 1973, the CIA did locate some files and I was told that these documents were being reviewed.
For YEARS I waited, and was never contacted back by the CIA. In time, the CIA DID release the documents on four CD-ROMs.  I received these documents back in 2004, and was one of the first (if not the first) to have uploaded the ENTIRE collection of MKULTRA records to the internet.
Below, you will find the links to the data on the CD-ROMS as originally received.
Originally, the CIA directories contained .tif images of the documents (not my favorite format) and two other files. The .txt file is a poor excuse for a OCR (optical character recognition) of the document, and a .dat file which contains a one line description, as found in the index below.
This has been an extremely popular dataset since I first added it, and in March of 2017 — expanded the original CIA release with a newer, updated, searchable PDF format consisting of their original .TIF file releases." Go to: http://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/cia-mkultra-collection/# For full article.



"Scientists Could Simulate Alien Abductions over 20 Years Ago"..





Quote; "The CIA began experimenting with LSD in the early 1950s, dosing everyone from prisoners to prostitutes (usually without warning, let alone consent) to study the drug’s disorienting effects. That’s how Ken Kesey learned about the drug in 1959, when he signed up to be a test subject in the CIA’s notorious MKUltra program. Future Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter was also willingly dosed by the CIA." Go to: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/did-the-cias-experiments-with-psychedelic-drugs-unwittingly-create-the-grateful-dead/ For full article. Also see The Telegraph (article credited to Reuters), go to: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/16/historys-greatest-conspiracy-theories/project-mk-ultra/
Arafel: Much in the "alternative media" with regard to MK Ultra now-days concerns itself with the notion of the pre-programming of cultural icons, in-fact there is now a musical on the theme; "MK Ultra review – Rosie Kay, Adam Curtis and the Illuminat" Go to: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/apr/23/mk-ultra-illuminati-rosie-kay-adam-curtis-review-dance
Serious researchers tend to observe that ""Ultra" simply became too visible and that the programme was "broken-down" and then "farmed-out" again but has been running in one form or the other ever since. 

Super Soldiers

Quote; "You’ve seen it as science-fiction on TV or in the movies, but now it’s science-fact. I’m talking about the Pentagon’s DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) creation of a super soldier army with super human abilities achieved through genetic modification. Going on for some years, shrouded in secrecy, these mutants will make future wars totally different games.

The genetic modification of specific human genes will give these soldiers certain characteristics advantageous on the battlefield, giving rise to the most amazing abilities and performances.


  Even more disturbingly, the “Human Assisted Neural Devices program” involving brain control allows the ‘joystick’ remote operation of soldiers from some far away control center.
All this has been revealed, even in mainstream media. In spite of the secrecy, fiction writer Simon
was allowed into the Pentagon’s DARPA and given a guided tour… Doesn’t this suggest that DARPA are well into the final stages and they want us to get used to the idea of a genetically modified super soldier army? The type of super human characteristics that have been developed (or are in the development stages) in the soldiers is indicated by funding allocations. For example, DARPA has handed out a $40 million grant to California and Pennsylvania Universities to develop memory-controlling implants.
It has also been revealed that DARPA awarded $9.9 million to the Institute for Preclinical Studies Texas A&M University to develop a means of surviving significant blood loss. This would overcome the normal difficulties in requiring life-saving medical treatment immediately after combat injury which is known to be difficult to give during the complications and dangers encountered on the battlefield.
Another characteristic in development is having the soldiers genetically modified to hibernate throughout winter. There is a gene in squirrels that produces an enzyme in the pancreas which enables this ability. This gene can be taken from the squirrel and inserted into solders…" Go to: http://www.activistpost.com/2015/10/darpa-genetically-modified-humans-for-a-super-soldier-army.html For full article.

Quote; "The US has adopted a tough new policy aimed at protecting its interests in space and denying "adversaries" access there for hostile purposes.


The document - signed by President Bush - also says "freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power".
The document rejects any proposals to ban space weapons.
But the White House has said the policy does not call for the development or deployment of weapons in space.

However, some military experts warn that by refusing to enter into negotiations on space weaponry, the US is likely to fuel international suspicions that it will develop such weapons.
The 10-page strategic document states that the US national security "is critically dependent upon space capabilities, and this dependence will grow".
"The United States will preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space... and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to US national interests," it says.

Satellite fears
 
The document also sets out US commercial ambitions, saying it is committed to encouraging and facilitating a growing entrepreneurial space sector.

It is the first revision in US space policy for 10 years, and it is a forthright one, the BBC's Nick Miles in Washington says.
It addresses concerns voiced in a 2001 Pentagon report that said technological advances would enable potential enemies to disrupt orbiting US .satellites, our correspondent says.
Unclassified details of the policy published on the internet say space capabilities, including spy and other communication satellites, are essential for national security." Go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6063926.stm
For full article.




Arafel archive:  "Do "Electro-Magnetic Pulse" Weapons Make Nuclear Weapons "Indispensable" for the Old Empires?" Go to: http://www.arafel.co.uk/2014/08/do-electro-magnetic-pulse-weapons-make.html, "Electro-Magnetic Pulse Weapons Update (The GHE-O "Rescue")" Go to: http://www.arafel.co.uk/2014/10/electro-magnetic-pulse-weapons-update.html and "The #Epidemiology of Khaos or "The Problem with #CERN"" Go to: http://www.arafel.co.uk/2015/09/the-epidemiology-of-khaos-or-problem.html


Members of the US House Armed Services Committee have voted to create a "Space Corps," a sixth branch of the country’s armed forces

Quote; "The space corps, which has yet to gain full approval, would absorb all of the Air Force’s current space missions under the umbrella of a new US Space Command."...


 .. "“There’s been nothing shortsighted about this,” Rogers said, according to Federal News Radio. “We started working on it vigorously in September, and we’ve had countless meetings with a number of experts who have advised us as to how this should be construed. In fact, this idea for a Space Corps as one of the solutions to Air Force space came from the Rumsfeld Commission in 2001.”
Under the plan, all operations involving the Air Force’s secretive X-37B spaceplane would fall under the control of the US Space Corps.
The X-37B, which looks like a small Space Shuttle orbiter, is due to launch again in August after its last flight lasted a record 718 days.
 The space corps, which would be the first new military service since 1947, is not specifically banned by the Outer Space Treaty, a 1967 international agreement outlawing the use of the moon and other celestial bodies from being used as military outposts." Go to: https://www.rt.com/usa/394936-us-air-force-space-corps/ For full article.