Drug watchdog NICE 'spends more on 'spin' than tests on new treatments'

Daily Mail 10th September 2008

Claims: Shadow health minister Mark Simmonds said NICE spends more on 'spin' than on evaluating new drugs

The health rationing watchdog has come under attack for spending more money on spin than on evaluating drugs which could save patients' lives.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which has been widely criticised for banning drugs from NHS use as too expensive, squandered £4.5million on 'communications' last year.

This was £1.1million more than the £3.4million the controversial organisation spent on assessing new medicines.

The money forked out on press officers, marketing executives and consultants included £25,000 on top public relations firm Weber Shandwick to defend NICE's ban on Alzheimer's drugs.

It could have paid for 5,000 Alzheimer's sufferers to get £2.50-a-day drugs for a year. Alternatively it would have funded nearly 200 patients with advanced kidney cancer to have a drug for 12 months that would double their life expectancy.

Tens of thousands of people across the country are waiting for NICE to assess drugs that could extend their lives or alleviate conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and thinning bones.

MPs, patients groups and medical organisations branded the amount spent on communications as a 'scandalous waste of money'.

Myeloma sufferer Jacky Pickles, one of the 'Velcade Three' - three mothers who launched a campaign after being denied anti-cancer drugs - said: 'It is disgraceful that money which could provide drugs that make the difference between someone living and dying is being spent on communications.'

Mrs Pickles, 46, of Keighley, West Yorkshire, added: 'NICE should either use the money to improve their evaluation process, or give it back to the NHS to spend on people who are ill.'

Shadow Health Minister Mark Simmonds, who uncovered the budget breakdown tucked away in NICE's annual report, said: 'These figures typify New Labour's approach to Britain's health service.

Cancer sufferer Jacky Pickles says it is 'disgraceful' that so much money is spent on communications

'Thousands of patients across the country who are still waiting for NICE to evaluate new medicines will rightly be asking why Labour insists on spending more on spin than on speeding up people's access to lifesaving drugs.'

NICE has an annual budget of £34.4million, and spends £1 in every £8 on communications. In contrast, £1 in every £10 is spent on evaluating new drugs.

The rest is spent on such things as salaries - NICE's annual report for 2006/07 revealed that wages accounted for almost 37 per cent of the budget - accommodation (eight per cent) and external contracts. Almost 300 full-time staff are employed in London and Manchester.

The watchdog looks at whether drugs are cost-effective for the NHS, with the annual cost threshold set between £20,000-£30,000, above which they are considered too expensive.

The 'value-for-money' calculation, which does not take into account factors such as severity of a disease, means British patients are denied drugs that are freely available abroad.

NICE was condemned recently for handing a 'death sentence' to 1,700 patients with advanced kidney disease each year who will be deprived of four life-extending drugs.

One, Sutent, which costs around £24,000 a year, can double the life expectancy of patients to 28 months.

NICE has also been accused of 'dithering' over the evaluation process. It has taken several years for the watchdog to approve the use of some drugs. Chief executive Andrew Dillon was forced to make a grovelling apology last month for a two-year delay in approving a new treatment for blindness during which time many Britons lost their sight.

Michael Summers, vice-chairman of the Patients Association, said spending £4.5million on communications was 'immoral and indefensible'.

He said: 'If NICE has reached the situation where it is so unpopular that it has to spend money improving its image, maybe it should be less dilatory and improve its performance.'

Nick Rijke, of the National Osteoporosis Society, said: 'I would have thought that an organisation that spends so much on communicating would be rather better at listening to the views of clinical experts and patient societies.'

NICE said the majority of its communications budget was spent informing doctors about which drugs had been approved and new guidelines for treatments, although it admitted that it had a 'small' marketing budget.

Mr Dillon said: 'The actual cost of assessing new drugs for the NHS includes money spent on NICE's behalf by the Department of Health. When you add them together, the total cost of the NICE technology appraisal programme far outstrips the cost of NICE communications.'

UK Lockdown point of view
NICE are a fine example of what has been achieved by this criminal government, all they spend our money on is propaganda to convince us of what a great job they are doing which is to disguise the fact that they are actually doing nothing meanwhile the remainder of our money goes towards paying the excessive salaries to the executives of an organisation that does nothing of any value and serves no purpose other than to have the overpaid parasites dictate what medicines and treatments we are and are not allowed hence the plight of many British citizens suffering from issues ranging from crippling conditions like Alzheimer's to potentially fatal conditions such as cancer, what we are witnessing is the organised destruction of our health system all EU planned in order to remove the ability of our society to maintain its own health system forcing us to ultimately depend on a centralised EU health system.

Miliband uses Queen's Flight more often than the Queen

Daily Mail 7th September 2008

David Miliband faces questions over his use of £2,000-an-hour RAF jets after it was revealed he has travelled on the Queen’s Flight – military aircraft usually reserved for the Royal Family’s use – at least 16 times in the past year.

Cabinet Office rules say Ministers should use the planes only when no scheduled service is available.

But many of the Foreign Secretary’s trips were to short-haul European destinations such as Paris and Berlin, which are served by dozens of commercial flights each day.

High-flier: David Miliband with his German counterpart at a meeting of EU foreign ministers at Avignon yesterday

The planes Mr Miliband used are based at RAF Northolt in West London and are part of 32 (The Royal) Squadron, which provides transport for the Queen, members of her family and senior military officers.

The Liberal Democrats yesterday demanded to know if ministerial rules had been broken while the Tories accused Mr Miliband, a possible contender for the Labour leadership, of a ‘scandalous’ use of limited military resources.

Aircraft of the Queen’s Flight offer a degree of luxury that would be hard to find on a commercial airliner.

Eleven senior Royals are allowed to use the special flights – the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of York, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent.

Between them, they flew with the RAF 119 times last year, or just ten times each on average – fewer than the total clocked up by Mr Miliband.

In 2004-05, the latest period for which figures applying individually to the Queen are available, the Monarch used the Royal Squadron seven times only, according to the National Audit Office.

The Foreign Office was unable to say how much Mr Miliband’s journeys had cost the taxpayer.

However, the Royal Household accounts revealed that the hourly rate for use of the four-engined BAe 146, which Mr Miliband used five times, is £2,342. The hourly cost of the smaller HS 125, which he used on 11 occasions, is £973. This price does not include the cost of aviation fuel.

BA Business Class flights from London to Paris start at £319.

Fit for a Queen: A BAe 146 jet of the Queen's Flight

Mr Miliband’s travel arrangements were posted on the Foreign Office website in response to a Freedom of Information inquiry by a member of the public. They appear to clash with the Cabinet Office’s ministerial code, which was strengthened by Gordon Brown after he moved into No 10.

The code says: ‘Non-scheduled flights may be authorised when a scheduled service is not available, or when it is essential to travel by air, but the requirements of official or parliamentary business or security considerations preclude the journey being made by a scheduled service.’

In 2001, Tony Blair issued a personal edict from Downing Street in an attempt to encourage Labour Ministers to make greater use of public transport.

He said RAF planes should be used on a ‘limited’ basis and that ‘the cost of alternative arrangements should be considered before decisions involving substantial costs are made, especially where special flights are being considered as an alternative to scheduled services’.

At the time, the Tories had accused Labour of using the Queen’s Flight as a ‘private taxi service’.

Since becoming Foreign Secretary in June last year, Mr Miliband has used the Queen’s aircraft for trips to 13 European destinations.

On July 18 last year he went to Paris and Berlin, followed by two days in Brussels the following week.

There were also visits to Bucharest, Ankara, Istanbul, Rome, Madrid, Portugal, Luxembourg, Florence and Davos in Switzerland.

All these destinations are served by numerous airlines. On an average weekday there is a choice of 25 passenger flights from London to Paris, 20 to Brussels and 15 to Berlin.

Tory defence spokesman Dr Liam Fox said: ‘At a time when military resources are tight, it is scandalous for Ministers to be using RAF flights when there is a scheduled alternative.’

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey added: ‘David Miliband should ask the Cabinet Secretary to investigate in order to clear the air.’

Last night, the Foreign Office denied the ministerial code had been broken and said Mr Miliband’s diary commitments sometimes made it impractical to use scheduled flights.

A spokesman said: ‘The Foreign Secretary’s travel arrangements are always made to achieve the best possible value for money, and in line with Cabinet Office guidelines on ministerial travel.

‘The majority of his official journeys are made on commercial airlines and trains. However, he is entitled to use RAF flights and this is sometimes the only viable option.’

UK Lockdown point of view
It's never hard to find examples of members of this criminal government breaking the rules, repeatedly lying to us, committing treason, swindling us and generally abusing us in any way they can, however it appears from this case that Zionist David Miliband has even managed to break rules introduced by his own government opting for private RAF flights at our expense which was then quietly covered up in order to stop us finding out about his parasitic activities; it no surprise that Zionist Miliband feels as if he is too good to travel on commercial airliners alongside goyim/cattle like us after all why travel with the public when you can misuse public money and travel in luxury at our expense.

MP calls for new Kelly death probe after MoS revelations cast doubt on whether he was able to kill himself

Daily Mail 6th September 2008

Was it murder? The Hutton Inquiry found David Kelly had committed suicide but doubt has been cast on his ability to kill himself

David Kelly’s mysterious death should be investigated by a coroner to establish whether the weapons inspector was murdered, the Government has been told.

The demand was made in a letter to Attorney General Baroness Scotland following revelations in The Mail on Sunday that question the Hutton Inquiry’s finding of suicide.

After 59-year-old Dr Kelly’s body was discovered in woods near his Oxfordshire home in July 2003, a coroner’s inquiry into his death was controversially halted by the Government.

Lord Hutton took over the investigation and concluded the scientist slashed his left wrist and took an overdose of painkillers after being named as the source of a BBC report on the Iraq war.

But after the weapons inspector’s close friend Mai Pederson cast doubt in this newspaper last week on his ability to kill himself – she says his right hand was so weak following an accident that he would have been unable to cut himself fatally – Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker has written to the Attorney General demanding a coroner’s inquest.

Mr Baker, who has written a book on Mr Kelly, believes he was murdered by supporters of the war, with exiled Iraqi dissidents heading his list of suspects.
In his letter to Baroness Scotland, Mr Baker argues that Lord Hutton’s finding of suicide would not have been endorsed by a coroner’s court because it could not be proved ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.

Since the Hutton report was published it has also been revealed that there were no fingerprints on the knife Dr Kelly is supposed to have used.

Also, he suffered from a disorder that made it hard for him to swallow pills – and when a heat-seeking search aircraft flew over the spot where his corpse was found shortly after his supposed time of death it did not pick up any sign of a body.

Inquest demand: Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker

Some experts suggest he was killed elsewhere.

Ms Pederson, an American military linguist, has also revealed that Dr Kelly told her that he was on an Iraqi hit list and if Britain invaded the country ‘he would be found dead in the woods’.

Mr Baker writes: ‘Lord Hutton appeared to have decided that Dr Kelly had committed suicide before his inquiry had even begun, and limited the evidence given accordingly.

‘I argue, therefore, that it is clear beyond doubt that there was an insufficiency of inquiry, as a result of both the nature of the inquiry itself, but more particularly by the way Lord Hutton interpreted his role.

‘There is much more that has been uncovered, which taken together suggests very strongly that Lord Hutton’s conclusions are unsafe, and that justice demands that there be a proper inquest.’

UK Lockdown point of view
The very convenient death of Dr Kelly was never properly investigated and was only ever covered up with a white wash of Zionist media disinformation and lies, Norman Baker possibly the only decent member of Parliament out of all six hundred plus members of that house and needs our full support in his campaign for a full and proper investigation in the death of Dr David Kelly.

Chief constable accuses Labour of pushing dangerous criminals back on the street

Daily Mail 4th September 2008

Mike Fuller: Soft sentences are making our job more difficult

Dangerous criminals are avoiding jail or being released early from prison due to a chronic shortage of prison places, one of the country's most senior policemen has claimed.

Mike Fuller, chief constable of Kent Police, said the Government's failure to provide extra capacity in Britain's jails is making the job of officers more difficult.

He said it had led courts to handing out 'soft' non-custodial sentences - allowing dangerous and repeat offenders to walk back on to the streets.

He cited several cases in his own force, including a burglar with 100 previous convictions who was handed a suspended sentence - and then committed another burglary.

A serial thief was also given bail while awaiting sentence for 255 thefts from motor vehicles - only to fail to appear at court.

Mr Fuller said: 'The feeling is police do their bit, they catch dangerous offenders, and sentencing policy is determined by prison places.

'Sentencing policy would appear to be determined more by the number of prison places rather than the seriousness of the crimes people have committed.

'That means recidivist offenders are being released from prison when they should not be.

'People committing serious and violent crimes are not receiving as long sentences as they should, making the job of police more difficult.

'It's a police perception - it's also my perception.'

Mr Fuller, who is an outside tip to be the next commissioner at Scotland Yard, said the Government's policies have damaged public confidence in the criminal justice system, while officer morale was also hit by seeing offenders spared jail.

He blamed the crisis on a failure to provide more prison spaces after Government directions five years ago that police should bring more offenders to justice.

'One would have to point to the Government on that,' he said in an interview with the Guardian today.

'Sentencing is crucial to confidence. The Government has underestimated how important sentencing is to public confidence.'

Mr Fuller is Britain's first black chief constable and a qualified barrister.

He made his name by setting up Operation Trident to tackle gun violence within London's black communities, before taking over as Kent police chief in 2004. He is also a former chairman of the Black Police Association.

Other rivals for the top job at the Met include Ulster police chief Sir Hugh Orde, Bernard Hogan-Howe from Merseyside and Sir Norman Bettison from West Yorkshire.

UK Lockdown point of view
Policies dictated by the EU are the real reason crime is flourishing in our society and one of those policies is to either release prisoners early or to give them very light sentences in order to allow them back out as early as possible so they can get back to the important work of sabotaging our society on the behalf of the EU, Fuller is only attempting to cover up the role of the police in this whole affair it is known that the common purpose (EU sabotage operation) has a number of agents within the police force especially at the senior level, hence Strong police presence whenever there is any form demo or protest against the effects of EU policies that are destroying our country and removing more of our freedoms every day; in short the police themselves are complicit in the conspiracy and have not only been found to be corrupt at all levels throughout the force but are also heavily in line with the enforcement of the EU police state agenda ranging from nonsense such as harassing citizens over household waste to the frequent misuse of stop and search & terror laws against people they know are neither criminals or terrorists

Documentary reveals hidden side of British mosque where extremist women urge Muslims to kill non-believers

Daily Mail 1st September 2008

Women preachers in one of Britain's most influential mosques are calling on Muslims to kill homosexuals and adulterers, a television documentary will reveal on Monday night.

During a hardline rant at the London Central Mosque one preacher said Muslims who switch to another religion should also be slaughtered.

The extremist sermons, filmed secretly by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme, encourage a circle of listeners to follow a hardline Islamic code, urging Muslims not to talk to people from other religions.

A still from the Channel 4 Dispatches programme which reveals extremist sermons being given by hardline Muslims

They describe Britain as the 'land of evil' and say the behaviour of other races is 'vile'.

The mosque, known as Regent's Park Mosque, is one of the most respected centres for moderate Islam in western Europe and has a major interfaith department which welcomes visits from other religious groups and thousands of British school children each year.

However, the documentary exposes a hidden side to the mosque, where hardline Muslim women preach to study groups.

The DVDs preach that disbelievers are 'evil, wicked, mischievous people...they do the most evil, filthy things'.

In one of the recordings, a speaker says of the Jews: 'Their time will come, like every other evil person's time will come.'

Undercover: Regent's Park Mosque was at the centre of an investigation

Dr Ahmed Al Dubayan, the director general of the mosque, said the women were not authorised and did not reflect the views of the mosque.

He said the mosque 'is committed to interfaith and cross-cultural understanding. It does not support or condone extreme views, racial hatred, violence or intolerance.'

The Muslim Council of Britain, of which the mosque is an affiliate, said: 'Some of the statements are deeply offensive, but it would be very wrong, and quite unfair, to smear the whole centre.'

The documentary is a follow-up to Undercover Mosque, which investigated mosques in Britain more than a year ago.

This found DVDs preaching intolerance on sale in a bookshop at the Regent's Park Mosque. The new programme says they are still there.

Dr Al Dubayan pointed out the bookshop was run by an independent company and said: 'We made it clear that it was not acceptable to stock materials containing extremist views.'

UK Lockdown point of view
Another in a long line of pathetic attempts by the Zionist controlled UK media to deceive the population with disinformation, while there may be some problems surrounding the issue of Islam in the UK which are undeniable those issues are minor in comparison to the problem faced by our society socially, economically, educationally, politically and in any other way you can think of, problems which have all been purposely induced by the Zionists as part of their one world government plot, Muslims are not responsible for the our society being bankrupt through the underhanded fractional reserve banking system among other corrupt usury practises introduced by the Zionist cartel that control the financial sector, Muslims are not responsible for the overprinting and issuance of currency which impoverishes us all forcing us to borrow even more from the money lenders this is the fault of the Zionist controlled Bank of England hence the so-called credit crunch; don't allow our country to be bankrupted and turned into a police state by the Zionists and don't fall for their diversion tactics.

Leaked memo from Home Secretary reveals credit crunch will send crime, violence and terrorism numbers soaring

Daily Mail 31st August 2008

Draft: The letter from Jacqui Smith predicts sharp rises in burglary and violence and possibly terrorism

Crime, violence, illegal working and even terrorist numbers will surge because of the economic downturn.

This is the chilling verdict of a dynamite draft letter from Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to Gordon Brown, leaked to the Daily Mail.

It predicts sharp rises in burglary and violence - but less funding to put police on the streets to meet the tide of lawlessness.

The 12-page document also warns that support for the far Right will increase as unemployment bites, meaning minority groups such as Muslims will be more likely to suffer racism, pushing them towards radicalisation and even terrorism.

The leak will infuriate the Prime Minister, who is hoping to launch his economic rescue plan this month.

The Government has been insisting it is well placed to weather the economic storm, and that the public should not panic.

But in an interview at the weekend, Chancellor Alistair Darling warned the current economic conditions are 'arguably the worst they've been in 60 years', and will get worse.

Now opponents say the mask has slipped even further with the revelations by Miss Smith's Home Office of what the terrible consequences will be for ordinary families.

It has even set up an 'economic conditions' unit to help ministers cope.

The letter says: 'We can expect additional pressures on acquisitive crime, police finances (and officer numbers), citizen attitudes to migration, and pressure on our fee income.'

Damian Green, the Tory immigration spokesman, said: 'This rips the veil off the complacent comments we have been getting from Home Office ministers about how their performance is improving.

'It is clear that in almost all areas of the Home Office things are going to get worse.'

The letter, drawn up by the Home Office for Miss Smith to send to Mr Brown, appears to be a direct response to a Downing Street request.

Enlarge

In mid-July, Number Ten is believed to have asked a number of major departments how their responsibilities would be affected by the credit crunch - and what they were doing to prepare.

The Home Office replied by highlighting a string of potentially alarming consequences, most of which are inter-linked.

On crime, it suggests similar economic conditions in the past led to a surge of up to 19 per cent in violence.

Referring to offences such as burglary and theft, the letter adds: 'Our modelling indicates that an economic downturn would place significant upward pressure on acquisitive crime and therefore overall crime figures.

'Yet the letter indicates there will be fewer police on the streets to cope.

'Cost pressures, such as high fuel costs and rising salaries, might leave forces facing financial pressures and require difficult decisions over officer numbers and priorities.'

The picture on border control is equally bleak.

The draft, which has yet to be sent to Mr Brown, says: 'In an economic downturn we expect a significant increase in smuggling in particular of fuel, alcohol and tobacco, but also across a wider range of goods.

'An economic downturn could mean an increase in illegal working if migrants' opportunities for legal working decline and employers are seeking to save costs.'

But, as with police, there might be fewer border guards to cope.

Other sections add: 'There is also a risk of a downturn increasing the appeal of far-Right extremism and racism, which presents a threat as there is evidence that grievances based on experiencing racism is one of the factors that can lead to people becoming terrorists.'

A Home Office spokesman said: 'We do not normally comment on leaked documents but this is draft advice that the Home Secretary has not cleared and has not been sent to Number 10.

'It is, however, appropriate that the Home Office considers the effects the economic climate may have on crime and other policy areas.

'We are confident that we have the right systems in place to respond flexibly to changing economic needs, and are well positioned to face future challenges.

'We have record numbers of police officers and commensurate supporting investments such as police and community support officers.

'In the last 11 years crime has fallen by 39 per cent while violent crime is down 40 per cent.'

UK Lockdown point of view
The coordinated and pre planned economic destruction of our country has been an orchestrated plot carefully laid out by the elitist global money lenders and the top think tanks that they use as front groups to create globalist policies for the UK puppet government, the criminals that run our puppet government have no power at all and are simply taking orders from the internationalist think tanks as they were selected (not elected) to do, in line with the current police state agenda laid out in the EU constitution/Lisbon treaty that need to be introduced it was decided that engineered chaos would be necessary in order to introduce martial law into the UK as a transitional phase during our slide into a centralised dictatorship modeled around the Soviet Union; expect to see an increase in staged incidents by the government disguised as Islamic terrorism, far right terrorism, riots, high profile assassinations and organised crime.

'Reckless' ministers lose 3,200 laptops and mobile phones from Whitehall

Daily Mail 26th August 2008

Discovery: Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather uncovered the statistics

More than 3,200 laptops and mobile phones containing sensitive information have been lost or stolen from Government departments, it was revealed on Monday.

An astonishing 468 devices a year - more than one every day - have vanished since 2001.

The revelation cast grave doubts on Labour's claims that it can be trusted with confidential data as it seeks to introduce ID cards.

Critics said it proves ministers behave 'recklessly' with the public's personal details, and called for a massive shake-up in the way electronic data is protected.

Experts warned that terrorists plotting a catastrophic attack, as well as fraudsters and blackmailers, could wreak havoc by using details stored on the computers to steal identities.

The statistics were released in a series of written Parliamentary answers to MPs increasingly worried about the handling of data by Whitehall officials following a series of high-profile bungles.

Only last week, a computer memory stick containing the personal details of 127,000 prisoners and high-risk offenders, including rapists and murderers, was lost by an

employee of a private contractor working for the Home Office. Last November, two computer discs holding information - including bank details and National Insurance numbers - of 25million child benefit claimants got lost in the post.

The new figures reveal that at least 3,278 items have vanished from Government departments, including 2,168 laptops, 947 mobile phones and 163 'personal digital assistant' (PDA) palmtop computers, such as Black-Berrys.

The worst offender was the Ministry of Defence - which lost 994 laptops, eight mobile phones and 12 PDAs. Defence chiefs refused to say what was on the devices, but confirmed that some of the information was classified as 'secret' or 'restricted'.

The Department for Work and Pensions, responsible for overseeing benefits, had 271 laptops, 128 mobile phones and 20 PDAs vanish.

The other main culprits included the Ministry of Justice, from which 169 laptops, 172 mobile phones and one PDA disappeared, and the Department of Health, which reported that 315 devices had gone missing.

Big losses: The Department for Work and Pensions had 271 laptops, 128 mobile phones and 20 PDAs vanish

Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather, who uncovered the statistics, said: 'The Labour government has a disgraceful history of recklessness with personal data, showing a complete disrespect for our privacy.

'Many Whitehall departments hold huge amounts of sensitive information on individuals, and they have a responsibility to keep it safe. If these missing laptops contained private or personal details, then the Government urgently needs to own up.

'Year after year, the taxpayer is footing the bill for this Government's shocking carelessness.

'It is time we had a complete rethink on the way electronic data is protected.

Stolen: The Ministry of Defence has lost 994 laptops alone

'How can they expect us to trust them to keep our personal information safe in their unnecessary and expensive ID card scheme?'

Simon Davies, director of the human rights group Privacy International, said criminals would need only three pieces of information about a person to launch a 'massive attack' on their identity.

He added: 'This demonstrates the woeful state of Government security.

'The implications of these laptops and mobile phones going missing is absolutely enormous.

'Ministers are playing Russian roulette with people's lives because they are refusing to take measures to improve the safety of information kept by Whitehall departments.

'If a criminal gets hold of some of this information, the sky is the limit for them.

'They will steal identities and destroy lives. We are overdue a cataclysmic criminal attack on identity and ministers are not heeding the warnings.'

Following the recent data scandals, Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell launched a sweeping review of procedures within departments and agencies for the storage and the use of data.

In January, he issued a blanket ban on Whitehall staff taking unencrypted laptops containing personal details from their offices.

UK Lockdown point of view
The countless number of times this criminal government has lost or mis-placed sensitive personal information cannot all be by accident as much as the mainstream media encourages us to believe that it can all be attributed to incompetence which we are supposed to take in a light hearted way while waiting for the next non-election where the so-called opposition will put right all the wrongs and we can all live happily ever after, the reality however is not that simple what they expose is simply the tip of the iceberg; as has been stated before in previous posts this government and the non-opposition have been directly committed acts of treason against our society they are criminals, this case is simply another example of that with more of our personal information going missing, they have been giving our personal details to the EU, foreign intelligence agencies, and selling our information to banks, multinational companies for decades now this story exposes nothing it is part of the cover up designed to divert our attention toward a few puppet ministers that are being used as fall people. stop being tricked by Zionist deception

Three men held in terror probe linked to threats to kill Gordon Brown

Daily Mail 22nd August 2008

Three Muslim men seized in terror raids are being questioned over threats to kill the Prime Minister, it emerged tonight.

The trio, two of whom were about to catch a flight out of the country, were held after they were linked to threats to assassinate Gordon Brown and his predecessor, Tony Blair.

Anti-terror teams have been investigating the warnings made on a recognised jihadi website since they were posted in January by a group calling itself 'Al Qaeda in Britain'.

The statement also demanded the withdrawal of British forces from Iraq and Afghanistan and the release of Muslim prisoners from Belmarsh high-security prison in London.

Two of the men, believed to be brothers, were arrested last Thursday evening as they attempted to board a flight from Manchester Airport to Finland.

Counter-terrorist officers have travelled to Scandinavia as they continue their investigations.

The pair lived in Blackburn, Lancashire, where Justice Secretary Jack Straw is the local MP. A third man was arrested at a warehouse where he worked in nearby Accrington.

Earlier this week police were given an extra seven days to question the trio, but their suspected connection with the threats to kill Mr Brown and Mr Blair only emerged today.

The assassination threat and demands for a British withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan appeared on an extremist Islamic website, but police sources have stressed that no actual plot is thought to have been in place.

Security services routinely monitor many websites claiming allegiance to Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and hosting warnings and threats to political leaders in the UK and the US over the West's involvement in the Middle East.

Senior members of the area's large Muslim community have spoken of their shock at the arrests, saying all three men were devoutly religious and had travelled abroad - including to Iceland - to lead prayers and teach their faith.

The arrests of the trio, aged 21, 22 and 23, were a joint operation between Lancashire Police and Greater Manchester Counter Terrorism Unit.

Tonight a spokeswoman for Lancashire Police refused to comment on the investigation.

Police have until Thursday to charge the men, release them or seek an extension to their custody.

UK Lockdown point of view

Al Queda have managed yet again with almost perfect timing to spring out of the shadows at the exact same time another major scandal hits the traitorous criminal new labour party with the so-called accidental loss of the personal details of 130,000 hardcore criminals leaving PM Gordon Brown's popularity rating lower than ever before, so with no other option left Zionist stooge Gordon Brown has resorted back to the Al Queda scarecrow tactic framing perfectly innocent muslim anti-war activists
by branding them as terrorists based entirely on circumstantial evidence; To highlight the fact that the criminal UK mis-leaders have waged and illegal war based on provable lies which almost got Tony Blair impeached had he not escaped office two years short of serving his full term, and that the subsequent post-impeachment prosecution could have lead to him being convicted under the treason laws which at one point required that traitors be punished by death (a law that was removed during Blair's time in office) it is entirely justifiable to highlight the fact that Blair and his Cabinet under the old laws would have been convicted of treason and sentenced to death for their acts of evil and their acts of betrayal against our country. New Labour are the real threat to our country and it is they who are the real terrorists

Home Office loses secret records of thousands of Britain's most dangerous criminals

Daily Mail 22nd August 2008

Secret personal details of Britain's most dangerous criminals have been lost by the Government.

The public could now face an enormous bill to protect paedophiles, rapists, drug runners and killers from vigilantes or rival gangsters.

The names, addresses, details of convictions and even jail release dates of almost 130,000 people were all in Home Office files lost when a computer memory stick went missing.

'Livid': Home Secretary Jacqui Smith with a group of special constables on Wednesday. She learned of the missing data the day before

It was being used by an employee of a private contractor working for the department.

The astonishing security blunder plunges Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who was told of the scandal on Tuesday, into the greatest crisis of her career.

Miss Smith informed the Metropolitan Police – who are now frantically hunting for the portable data storage device – but chose not to tell the public immediately.

It took the intervention of a whistleblower for details to emerge. The delay is likely to lead to damaging questions for the Home Secretary, whose mood last night was described by aides as 'livid'.

The Office of the Information Commissioner said the data – a list of all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales, plus details of 43,000 most serious and persistent offenders – was a 'toxic liability'.

Tory spokesman David Ruffley warned of huge costs for taxpayers if criminals sue the Home Office for breaching their privacy and the Data Protection Act.

Another blunder: The Home Office are already responsible for losing sensitive information including the details of child benefit claimants

Mr Ruffley added: 'This shambles proves this accident-prone Home Secretary hasn't even got a grip of what goes on in her own building. Taxpayers will be absolutely outraged if they are made to pick up the bill for compensation to serious criminals.'

It is the latest in a string of cases where the Government has lost highly-sensitive data, most seriously the personal details of 25million child benefit claimants.

The latest shambles centres on a Whitehall project known as JTrack, to share details of the country's worst offenders.

A private firm working on the project, PA Consulting, was sent the convicts' personal details by the Home Office.

An employee of the company – which has Government contracts worth millions and has worked on the highly-sensitive ID cards project – placed the data, unencrypted, on the memory stick, which went missing at an unknown location.

The Home Office was told on Monday and Miss Smith informed on Tuesday. Officials are desperately hoping the data on the stick, worth many thousands of pounds to criminals, does not fall into the wrong hands or be made public.

The worst-case scenario is having to protect notorious criminals – such as sex offenders – at risk of vigilante attack.

Criticism: Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve (left) and Tory spokesman David Ruffley have slammed the Government for their latest mistake

There are also fears of rival criminals, such as drug dealers, using the information to settle old scores, possibly even waiting in ambush outside prison gates.

Protecting these villains could cost millions and place an enormous strain on police resources.

But changing release dates would cause mayhem in crowded prisons. There is even the prospect of gang bosses obtaining the data and using it to recruit convicts with useful skills.

Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: 'This is a massive failure of duty. What is more scandalous is that it is not the first time that the Government has been shown to be completely incapable of protecting the integrity of highly sensitive data, rendering them unfit to be charged with protecting our safety.'

David Smith, deputy commissioner for the Information Commissioner's Office, said: 'It is deeply worrying that after a number of major data losses and the publication of two government reports on high-profile breaches of the Data Protection Act, more personal information has been reported lost.

'It demonstrates that personal information can be a toxic liability if it is not handled properly.'

The Home Office said: 'Arrangements were in place for data to be sent securely to the contractor, in a fully encrypted form to a secure location. It appears that an employee of the contractor then transferred the data to an insecure memory stick.

'All transfer of data has been suspended pending investigation.'

PA Consulting had no comment last night. The company, which has 3,000 employees in 35 countries, was paid a reported £2million a month by the Passport Service for its work on ID cards.

UK Lockdown point of view
This is no blunder and has been organised deliberately by corrupt officials in high positions throughout the government, the majority of the criminals on the list are most likely agents working for the government as so-called informants which gives them cover from prosecution as they continually destabilize our society on the behalf of the EU (hence why many criminals appear to be above the law) this highly convenient loss of the data stick is simply a way of the criminal government assisting their fellow criminals in destroying all established order our society with the ultimate aim of establishing a new EU led order in the UK.
How many more convenient accidents can this government make before it becomes obvious to all that this is all being done on purpose to sabotage all existing order in our country and use that as an excuse to introduce the police state mechanisms outlined in the EU constitution.

The great expenses cover-up: Now MPs quietly change the FOI act to keep details secret

Daily Mail 17th August 2008

MPs were last night accused of mounting a shameless cover-up operation to prevent voters from discovering the full truth about their lavish expenses.

This autumn, Commons authorities will for the first time release details of up to two million receipts submitted by MPs, covering claims for home improvements, furnishings and office costs.
But The Mail on Sunday can reveal that MPs have insisted on having the information censored – and in such a way that could save them from potential embarrassment.
Under the changes, the location of MPs’ taxpayer-funded second homes will be cut out while full travel details – including potentially extravagant taxi journeys – will also be exempt.
The decision to edit the claims was nodded through the Commons without a vote just before MPs broke up for the summer and came after women MPs apparently broke down in tears at the prospect of their personal details being released.
The change meant amending the Government’s flagship freedom of information legislation.
It comes ahead of an extraordinary expenses ‘big bang’ later this year, when between 1.3million and 2million receipts submitted by MPs in four-and-a-quarter years will be published on the same day.
The decision to publish the information – which could now be delayed because of the sheer bulk of work to process the receipts – has effectively been forced on a reluctant Commons Speaker Michael Martin by campaigners for open government.
However, it left many MPs nervous about what would be revealed.
Following the law change, officials overseeing a huge scanning operation of the receipts – costing £1million and being carried out under secure conditions at an undisclosed location in London – have been instructed to delete every reference to addresses, even where an MP has no objection to them being published.
As well as blacking out details of MPs’ bank accounts and phone numbers, staff are removing references to anyone supplying goods or services to the deleted locations for fear that would provide a clue as to the addresses.
Full details of ‘regular’ journeys – such as taxis to the same destinations – will also not be provided although broader details of how much each MP spends on different modes of travel will be released.
MPs have also secured the right to see the expenses being published a month before the release date to ‘check’ the details are accurate – leading to fears they will use the period to remove key information.
Campaigners say the blanket block on revealing MPs’ addresses will spare them proper scrutiny of second-home allowances, now worth up to £24,000 a year to each MP.
They argue that MPs are fearful of far more scams being exposed, such as the fact that Tory MP couple Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton were claiming housing allowances for a home they already owned outright.
Campaigners also say that blanking out details of who does work on an MP’s home or supplies services to it would obviously prevent questions as to whether MPs were getting value for money from who they used.
They also say that not detailing specific journeys made by MPs – which last year cost the taxpayer about £5million – will stop people challenging whether particular trips are valid.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance campaign group, said security issues were being used by MPs as an excuse for a cover-up.
‘A blanket ban on all MPs’ home details is completely over the top,’ he said. ‘This can only prevent proper investigation into and scrutiny by the public.’
He also demanded to know why Westminster was refusing to publish full details of each MP’s taxpayer-funded journeys on ‘security’ grounds while the Scottish Parliament regularly releases that information and while even some MPs privately admit travel claims could contain some of the biggest ‘fiddles’.
A series of high-profile expenses scandals at Westminster, including the Wintertons’ housing claims, and freedom of information requests has effectively forced the Speaker to agree to release all expenses receipts.
The first batch – relating to 14 high-profile current and former MPs and comprising 450 separate documents – was published in May and revealed how Gordon Brown claimed £15 for lightbulbs.
Officials are now painstakingly preparing the release of detailed claims for all 646 MPs. One Labour MP said: ‘They thought there were 1.3million receipts but I’ve heard it could be as many as two million to process.’
The special Parliamentary Order, which was pushed through by Commons leader Harriet Harman, allows the Commons and Lords to refuse FoI requests for:

• Information relating to any residential address of MPs and peers.

• The identity of any person delivering goods or services to those addresses.

• Any details of security work on MPs’ homes.

• Any details of taxpayer-funded journey that is ‘regular in nature’ and might allow

people to build up a ‘profile’ of MPs’ travel arrangements.
Ms Harman claimed that MPs, their families and even their neighbours could be at risk from ‘a fixated individual’ or terrorists if the address details became public knowledge.
‘We must be able to say what we believe to be true about controversial issues without feeling that to do so would put us or our families at risk,’ she said.
Tory MP Julian Lewis, who has campaigned to keep MPs’ addresses private, claimed some women MPs at a meeting with Information Commissioner Richard Thomas earlier this year had been ‘in tears’ at the prospect of their addresses being released.
The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this year husband-and-wife Labour MPs Alan and Ann Keen were so fearful of a stalker that they had urged the Speaker to fight release of MPs’ addresses.
Some MPs from all the three main parties were yesterday bemused to learn what had been agreed in their name, while Labour’s David Taylor told The Commons last month: ‘People have a right to know that MPs live in their constituency.
Like many MPs, I am in the phone book and I welcome constituents who turn up at my address.’

UK Lockdown point of view
The Freedom of Information (FOI) policy was only ever introduced to give the corrupt system a means of selectivly releasing sensitive information in a controlled way that would make it appear as if there was transparency of government,
the real purpose of the FOI policy was to allow the corrupt government an even greater degree of control over the release of such information in order to facilitate an even more effective method of covering up their corruption.
This article outlines the fact that corruption levels are now so bad that even their
Information control policy has failed to disguise how bad things have gotten, they are a criminal government and they must be removed from power before our society is completly destroyed by their continued campaign of EU sponsored sabotage against our country.