As Evening Falls

Sorry James I am in a photo mood ;-)

Drop thy still dews of quietness
Till all our strivings cease,
Take from our souls the strain of stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace.

J. G Whittier

Private Eye on Defence

You may recall my recent article regarding Gordon Brown's statement on ridding the world of cluster bombs. This weeks edition of Private Eye has a 'Defence Special' and they have this to say on the matter:

"The British prime minister didn't just sign up to the treaty, however: his diplomats added their own legalistic clauses. The first said: "Cluster munition means a munition which contains more than 10 conventional sub-munitions." And why the magic number 10? Er, because one of the Americans' favourite weapons, the CBU-97, contains just 10 "sub-munitions" and so squeaks through the amended treaty.

Everyone knows it is a cluster bomb - CBU stands for Cluster Bomb Unit - but thanks to Gordon's representatives, it is still free to cause unintended damage and fatalities."

So it seems like it is business as usual and nothing has changed!

In addition to this Private Eye reports that the Defence Training Review contract that which was won by the Metrix consortium may cause a serious threat to the front line.

"Documents produced following a recent meeting of the “defence training review executive board” reveal that the project, under which training will be handed to the Metrix consortium through a 30-year PFI contract worth around £11bn, poses catastrophic risks on the front line. A confidential “post meeting read out” of deliberations led by deputy chief of defence staff (personnel) Vice Admiral Peter Wilkinson exposes “major affordability issues” requiring a “realistic contingency plan” for the deal to privatise training on everything from tanks to fighter jets. Hinting at serious difficulties on the deal, the “affordability gap” could not be disclosed even to the project board as it was “too sensitive”."

The article goes on to explain that there was a list of 15 significant risks to the project. One of these being “Trained output fails to meet requirement of operational commands”. Another risk to the project is the loss of the existing trainers who are unwilling or unable to move to the new defence academy in St Athan.

Click on the image below to view the full article:

Greg Lewis wondered amongst other things if the MoD would ban any nations from training at the academy. He contacted the MoD under the Freedom of Information act and the response plus an article he wrote for The Big Issue can be found here.

PhotoHunt - Bright

This is one of the water features in the Serpent Garden which are one of the many gardens within Alnwick Garden. The gardens are a work in progress, the garden plan gives you an overview of what you can expect to see. The poison garden is well worth a visit, you get a guided tour of some expected and unexpected poisonous plants.

A previous post explains the design philosophy behind the garden.

If you look really closely you will be able to see me ;-)

For more PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

A Couple of Incidents

For Sky Watch Friday.

Taken on sunny Brighton Beach when I was at the PCS conference last month. I think that was our one little bit of summer, now it is windy and rainy (very Autumnal) which brings me onto one of yesterdays incidents!

I had to nip out of work to get some petrol, lunch and a few other odds and ends. When I got to the supermarket it started to rain. By the time I got inside it was pouring down. I thought never mind, I will buy a brolly. By the time I had finished shopping and got outside the rain had stopped, only to start again when I pulled up outside work. Could I get the brolly to stay up? NO! I felt a bit of a fool and ran inside hoping no one was watching, which I know they do when they are bored. I felt much less of a fool when no one else could get it to work either. But it meant another trip back to the supermarket and you've guessed it... It was raining again & I don't much like frizzy hair!

Then there was the incident of the disappearing contact lens. As I took it out last night it vanished and I didn't know whether it was floating around in my eye somewhere or on the floor. I couldn't find it anywhere. This morning there it was shining up at me from the bathroom floor!!!

My Day!

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Lewis Carroll

CherryPie in the Magic Garden

Nunyaa was right, I love this :-) I have added some special magic for Luisa too ;-)

Freedom of Speech & Zimbabwe

A couple of days ago Jams posted that Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had pulled out of the presidential run off leaving Mugabe to stand unopposed.

I commented that Lovemore Matombo, President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and Wellington Chibebe, General Secretary of ZCTU were due in court yesterday to face charges of spreading falsehoods prejudicial to the state. The TUC report that the trial has been postponed:

"The trial in Zimbabwe has been postponed until 30 July, after prosecutors and the magistrate failed to attend the trial, leaving the defendants to wait over three hours to find out that they would not face trial yet. Bail conditions of no public gatherings have been kept in force until the new trial date, further denying the men their human rights to free expression for another month, in an attempt to keep them quiet about the worsening situation in the country."

In advance of the court appearance a last minute campaign was called asking people to supply a face shot of themselves to be included in a giant mosaic of Lovemore and Wellington. This allowed them to appear in a demonstration that took place in London yesterday even though they have been silenced in their own country.

The campaign calls for:

• trade unionists to be free to organise and speak without being arrested and tortured
• an end to violence and intimidation
• real democracy for Zimbabwe
• justice and rights for Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans
  

From the TUC website.

originally uploaded by dblackadder.