John Hemming's Web Log

Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip seem to be more driven by an emotional desire for revenge than a proportionate response to deal with a defined threat. This is a time when the UN Security Council should meet as it appears that Israel are intent on using the US Carte Blanche until the change of administration. Whether this would have any practical effect is unclear, but at least it would kick off some forum for consideration of the issue. Tony Blair's role as Middle Eastern Envoy seems to continue the tacit support of Israeli attacks in the same way that his government initially supported the attack on Lebanon - in the sense that they did not support a ceasefire. Given that futile violent gestures, such as the original rocket attacks on Israel, are driven by an desire for revenge it does not appear that this approach will reduce that desire.

The link is to a second story in The Telegraph. What I find sad in some many of the cases I see is that the use of the state "hammer" doesn't really help anyone other than possibly government target numbercrunchers. Obviously I don't see the cases where the system is getting things right, but I worry about how many times the actions taken by the state make things worse. The evidence in international statistics are that England (and Wales) do particularly badly in terms of child protection. It has taken me a little time to find any comparative statistics, but I do now have them.

Well perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. Its an election. If anyone is bothered as to who wins then there is a chance someone will try to fiddle it. Congratulations to Sean Thomas for winning until the poll was suspended through fraud. Still when some idiot on the square box next goes on about how more people vote in xxx reality TV programme remember to mentally ask the question as to how many votes each "voter" is casting. Many of these pay to vote systems rely on peoples willingness to bung a few calls at their chosen candidate. Hence when people talk about how there is a greater interest in voting in reality TV than local elections they merely demonstrate their ignorance of the facts. Hopefully there is a greater sensitivity to election fraud now. I am, however, not certain that there is sufficient concern.

The link is to the government story about content filtering. Content filtering has been running on the net for a goodly number of years, but obviously Andy Burnham has not yet caught up with this.

The link is to Smith v ADVFN Ltd [2008] EWHC 1797 (QB) which is also discussed at Out-Law.com This is a judgment by High Court Justice Eady (he also of the Max Moseley case). I hadn't spotted this one, but it raises an interesting point in respect of the spats and trolling that goes on in internet fora. This case was one where a Nigel Smith issued 37 different defamation writs against a various posters on ADVFN's bulletin boards . Those with time should read the judgment, but part of it follows: The nature of bulletin boards It is necessary to have well in mind the nature of bulletin board communications, which are a relatively recent development. This is central to a proper consideration of all the matters now before the court. This has been explained in the material before me and is, in any event, nowadays a matter of general knowledge. Particular characteristics which I should have in mind are that they are read by relatively few people, most of whom will share an intere...

The point about the Peak Oil Theory is that it is not a theory. It is a fact that Fossil Fuels are called such because they were made a long long long time ago and are not being made any more. Hence at some point global production will peak. The only question is when (and in part what happens to production after that whether it falls off a cliff or gently edges downward). The link is to a 2007 NY Times article in respect of Thomas Edison's views on sustainability. Quoting from part of the article: Edison also, like other scientists of his day, was beginning to understand even then that fossil fuels wouldn’t last forever. In 1913 Scientific American published an issue on energy problems, observing: “The question of the possible exhaustion of the world’s oil supply deserves the gravest consideration. There is every indication that we are face to face with this possibility.” Articles delved into technologies to capture the power of the sun, the wind, the tide and even the earth’s ro...

If anything deserves a link as a history of the identification and naming of the elements then the link is it.

The link is to the story from the USA about the death of someone in a suspicious plane crash last week. The someone is someone thought to have been involved in the use of IT to defraud the 2004 election in the USA. If we wish to keep elections honest then we have to keep voting in secret on paper and counting the pieces of paper by hand. It is not possible to publicly audit electronic systems to a sufficient standard to keep elections honest. There are two Youtube extracts on the web page linked, both are interesting web pages.

The attached is another case where a child was put into care because the child was "poisoned" against a parent. In this case the Court of Appeal has behaved sensibly and allowed the child to return to a parent rather than being in care.

The link is to the story in the Sunday Telegraph today about a mother who was "on the run" with two children having been persecuted by the Family Courts in England and Wales. She (ARW) is not on the run any more. She has decided to "stand and fight". Her 6 year old son (L) is settled in school in the Republic of Ireland. Her baby son Marco is very well. The local Social Workers came to see ARW on Friday and confirmed that everyone is well and no children are at risk. However, Devon County Council have indicated that they want to remove L from his mother and brother and put him in foster care in England. This case is much like the one highlighted by The Times. The reason for L being "in care" is as ludicrous as that for "S" in the other case. In both cases mum left the country whilst pregnant in part because of the threat of removing the unborn baby at birth. In ARW's case the argument was that L suffered "emotional abuse" as a re...

The link is to another article essentially confirming the thesis propounded by Sue White, Allan Norman and myself First para: Having spent almost 20 years working in residential child care I now teach social work. I was horrified (although sadly not altogether surprised) when a student reported back from a field visit that she had been told by a children and families social worker, ‘we don’t do relationships anymore”. It wasn’t even said with regret apparently, just a statement of what the social work role had become. In fact it seemed to the student that there appeared to be an almost ‘macho’ element in the assertion ‘ ‘forget that namby-pamby stuff they teach you in University, this is the real world’. In this ‘real world’ social workers spend most of their day policing and processing families from a distance. They rarely see them anymore but are quick to send letters telling them that they have ‘failed’ the appointment made for them in the social work office, now relocated, off the ...

The picture is of Phil O Gorman, his grandfather Phil Thompson and Sara O Gorman his mother. Clayton v Clayton changed the law so that identifying parties to a Family Court case subsequent to the case is not contempt of Court. I will, however, not identify the Children in respect of this case. Phil Thompson has three children, nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren of whom three have been removed from the family by arbitrary state action in order to satisfy government targets. The three were the children of Phil O Gorman and grandchildren of Sara O Gorman. On 9th May 2006 after a sequence of events that completely confused the family the three children were forcibly adopted by a decision of the magistrates in Walsall Family Proceedings Court. Since that point the Family have been trying to find out what happened and why the children were adopted and what is now happening to the children. They first contacted me in 2007. It has not been possible to obtain any detailed reasoni...

There have been a few thrashings around in cyberspace about the EU and blogging and potential changes to the law to make "suing bloggers easier". Obligatory Disclaimer: My formal qualifications are in Nuclear Physics not law. If you follow my advice on law as opposed to how to blow the world up, don't sue me if I am wrong. However, I have been on both ends of libel actions as well as assisted as a Mackenzie Friend in a Malicious Falsehood action (which was the funniest court case I ever attended). Libel is an interesting area of law. It along with Privacy, enciting hatred and Contempt of Court are the key areas in which constraints of Freedom of Speech apply. There was an interesting event about libel tourism before the summer recess. First point. Britain has libel laws which make it quite easy to sue. For someone to win the defendant needs to be unable to prove what they said about the claimant is true. In the USA the claimant needs to prove what the defendant says ...

The linked article thinks so. I have not as yet done my own analysis. What I have found previously is that we use gas in the wrong sequence and use stored gas in preference to importing more. What happens when the stored gas runs out is then unclear. It depends upon whether gas is available either as LNG to be regasified or at the ends of the pipelines.

Cumbria CC, Kells and Sandwith Lab 434 (41.7; -24.1) BNP 418 (40.1; +40.1) Con 190 (18.2; +1.2) [Ind (0.0; -17.2)] Majority 16 Turnout 26.6% Lab hold Percentage change is since May 2005. Isle of Wight UA, Newchurch LD Colin Richards 389 (39.7; +39.7) Con 377 (38.5; -8.0) Ind 213 (21.8; -19.3) [Ind (0.0; -12.4)] Majority 12 Turnout 44.7% LD gain from Con Percentage change is since May 2005. North Somerset UA, Weston Super Mare Clarence and Uphill Con 478 (27.5; -33.6) Ind 477 (27.5; +27.5) LD Paula Howell 421 (24.3; -4.1) Ind 228 (13.1; +13.1) Lab 132 (7.6; -2.9) Majority 1 Turnout 24.6% Con hold Percentage change is since May 2007. North West Leicestershire DC, Ibstock and Heather Con 660 (31.5; -3.9) BNP 645 (30.8; +30.8) Lab 614 (29.3; -4.7) LD David Wyatt 174 (8.3; -2.5) [UKIP (0.0; -19.8)] Majority 15 Turnout not known Con hold Percentage change is since May 2007. Rhondda Cynon Taff UA, Glyncoch Lab 217 (50.5; -19.9) Ind 143 (33.3; +33.3) PC 47 (10.9; -8.7) Welsh Communists 12 (2.8...

The link is to the story about Susan Holdsworth. This was an expert evidence story. The situation in the family courts, however, would not necessarily be the same. Yesterday someone I cannot name (J) had a criminal case against him dismissed because there was no evidence against him. However, his children remain in care for essentially the same allegation. He has been sitting with this criminal case hanging over him for about 6 months as it was delayed and deferred. The question is what the Family Courts now do. His case is interesting and may end up in the European Court at some stage. However, the urgent thing is to try to get his children out of care. Why the Local Auhority wishes to torment the children by keeping them in care over christmas is a question the LA needs to answer. There was a meeting on monday based upon the recent Lancet report. One of the authors was there to talk abont the issues. I had considerable agreement with her about the issues although I would not...

The link is to yesterday's debate in Westminster Hall about the Motor Industry. Here we have another credit crunch issue that is not being resolved by the government's actions This hits trading volumes.

The link is to the ministerial statement on opening the family courts yesterday. It is interesting to note that Jack Straw did not know about second opinions.

The Statement on the Family Courts was made today. There are still a lot of questions as to exactly what this should mean. They are also proposing to re-gag children. I don't think they mean to do this, but the issue will continue on.

Reuters have produced another list of losers from Madoff. What is interesting is the large exposure from banks who lent money to Hedge Funds to invest with Madoff. Some reports indicate that he started to go wrong in 2005. It strikes me as unlikely that $50bn of losses could build up in such a short period. Still this has quite a bit of unravelling to do.