Somerset speed trap scrap

A time honoured English motoring tradition is warning fellow motorists driving in the opposite direction about a police speed trap you have just come through. This is usually done by flashing lights or a “slow down” palm-down motion with your arm out the window.

The Plods in Somerset took exception to a lorry driver who they thought warned motorists of their speed trap, resulting in, er, people driving at the speed limit. The driver was charged with obstructing a police officer in the execution oft his [sic] duty. Wha? Shurely the driver should have got a medal not an arrest. But then we know that speed traps and scameras are about taxing motorists not encouraging safe driving. So the charge should have been obstructing the police from raising revenue.

The driver’s conviction in a lower court was overturned, and dismissed by the Appeal Court. The police could not prove that any driver actually slowed down as a result of the lorry driver’s alleged actions.

Of course the f*l*h do not like this at all as it sets what they see as an “unwelcome legal precedent”. So the Director of Public Prosecutions is seeking leave to appeal to the House of Lords to clarify the matter of law. It seems the police would like it spelled out clearly that they can nick anyone who they say warns any motorist of any speed trap, without having to prove anything. Watch this space.

What next, arresting the chief executive of the AA because AA atlases include the location of all speed scameras?

Christmas and New Year in Israel

It is quiet here where we live. Very quiet. Now that the main festivities are over and the last day of work for 2005 has passed we have New Year. Never a favourite of mine, the locals call it Sylvester, the german word and always assume we call it that as well. No self respecting Russian will be at work on 1/1/2006 of course. Mrs E is off visiting old friends again and I shall be having a Linux -fest all of my own.

Happy New Year to you all. May it be peaceful and prosperous.

Another suicide bomber

Stopped by an IDF checkpost inside the West Bank and managed to kill one Israeli. It's hotting up again.

North under attack again

Yes, I do hear the planes take off from our local airbase. This time, they headed north into Lebanon to pound a PFLP training base after rocket attacks on Kiryat Shmona. I thought the PFLP was a small , tiny organisation only active in the West Bank. What are they doing in Lebanon? It seems Syria is stirring the pot again or Hezbollah finds it useful for someelse to take the blame. The concept of Islamic militants and Marxist-Leninist group cohabitating somewhat strange.

Court victory hailed as spam stopper

The UK scores another victory , albeit small, against spammers. One individual , using the Data Protection Act won £270 damages and a £30 claim fee against Media Logistics UK , a spam generator. Giving power to individuals , rather than relying on overworked public prosecutors can work wonders.

Sharon and weight loss

Today's lunch time topic - apart from medical matters which would upset my reader's tummy- was about Arik Sharon and how much he weighes. The general consensus in the smart cafe we frequent was a lot more than the claimed 114 kilos. Much, much more. The other received wisdom is that he's overweight for the proposed minor op coming up. I do hope he survives. At least for another two years for the final pullout.

The annual twenty fifth of December awayday

Had a delightful day yesterday accompanied by Good Sport. After early-morning mists cleared the weather was unseasonably warm and sunny. Here’s what ensued.

A sizzling steam down the M3/M27 to the New Forest (“new” in the English sense of the word eg “created” 1000 years ago from existing forests). Exuberantly dancing the straights and curves of the small lanes. No speed cameras! No road humps! No police! Energetic “off-piste” compass-and-OS map walking through some stupendously grand birch and oak trees, woodland and boggy hills. Wild deer and wild ponies. Al fresco pasta salad lunch sitting atop a huge fallen tree. Ricocheting back to London in the evening having fun with the pitch black M3: no motorway lights, no catseyes and invisible lane markings. Lighting the first Hanukah candle and an exquisite meal featuring haunch of venison done with the usual professional expertise by Good Sport.

Today is back on form: cold, wet and drizzly with snow forecast later.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day in the UK , whatever it's antecedents, is a merciful way of recovering from Christmas Day. Get up when you like, plenty of food in the fridge so nobody has to cook and good tv. Regretfully, here in Israel, it's a working day like all others. I am reliably informed that New Years Day is universally a day off for Russians in Israel. This I did not know before. Currently, thanks to Internet bandwidth being on maximum I can listen to Classic F.M as I struggle with C++, Windows XP and PCI cards.

Happy Christmas from the Holy Land

Now that full Internet access is back thanks to eldest son who came away from his 35 Kibbutz cows for the holidays, I wish all our readers Seasons Greetings and a heartfelt wish for peace. Cooking the turkey and trimmings is my pleasure and now we're done. We have an indoor small tree this year ready for replanting and carbon sequestration. All are well here and back on the main road rather than the numerous side streets.

Best wishes!

hip hop hanukah

Chanukah sameach everyone! Here's this year's video choice starring George Segal no less. (Alternative for wmp)

Parking pleasure

Recently a great many (it may be all - I haven't checked everywhere yet) of City of Westminster’s central London parking meters and pay-and-display machines were magically converted from 2-hours to 4-hours. This is an eminently sensible policy to manage traffic flow, encourage commerce and culture and raise revenue in a transparent, calm manner from those who are content to pay for a service.

It helps neutralise the effect of the congestion charge. It decreases traffic movement by enabling cars to stay put for longer. It enables people who do not like car parks to park. It encourages people to come in and spend (and spend and spend) time in town eg arrive at 2.30pm and stay all afternoon and on into the evening. It helps people like me who use their car as an office and who can go to meetings without the “I’ve got to move my car now” dance.

No doubt Westminster will also benefit at its borders with Camden by motorists parking on the Westminster side. Camden’s policy is to charge higher rates for on-street parking with only a 2 hours maximum resulting in many empty parking bays post-congestion charge. Camden tries to raise the missing revenue by hyperactively continually issuing swarms of tickets many of which will later be disallowed...and so on down a slippery slope. And don’t get me started on Islington…

On that matter, Westminster seems to be slightly pulling back from the excessive use of pop-up traffic wardens slapping tickets on anything that is not moving and returning to a more sensible policy where the function of the wardens is to keep traffic moving, remove obstructions, stop illegal parking and give everyone a fair chance to park, load and run errands.

Next request for Westminster: please get rid of those tsunami-height road humps in Westbourne Park Villas and Road.

A Policemans wet dream come true.

Santa has given Big Brother a nice Christmas present this year. A surveillance network that will record and keep the movements of vehicles in the UK. I'm sure my blog partner will be delighted. I can see the day when RFID tags will be compulsory and then the boys in blue will know where we are and what we're doing 24/7. How would this go down in the States?

Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District

Wikipedia may have its flaws but it's spot on when it comes to being up to date. Hooray for Judge Jones, the Republican , practising Christian judge in this case who ruled:

For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the religious nature of ID [intelligent design] would be readily apparent to an objective observer, adult or child" (page 24 of the decision of the judge)

The evidence at trial demonstrates that ID is nothing less than the progeny of creationism

After a searching review of the record and applicable caselaw, we find that while ID arguments may be true, a proposition on which the Court takes no position, ID is not science.

and ,

[T]he one textbook [Pandas] to which the Dover ID Policy directs students contains outdated concepts and flawed science, as recognized by even the defense experts in this case.

lastly:

The goal ... is not to encourage critical thought, but to foment a revolution which would supplant evolutionary theory with intelligent design.

One defense witness admitted that based on his proposition that ID should be exposed to students that an indentical argument for astrology could also be made.
Wonderful news. Read the evolution blog (link on blog list), or the ACLU Penn State.
The Discovery Institute is furious. It states:

Dover Intelligent Design Decision Criticized as a Futile Attempt to Censor Science Education

A legal ruling can't change the fact that there is digital code in DNA, it can’t remove the molecular machines from the cell, nor change the fine tuning of the laws of physics,” added West “The empirical evidence for design, the facts of biology and nature, can't be changed by legal decree.

and I see they claim a number of peer reviewed articles, books and papers. A number appeared in Philosophy Journals rather than biology texts.

Ahmadinejad on Israel: global danger or political infighting?

A nice piece in the Guardian on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran. My Israeli friends are uncompromising on one issue. If the President of Iran threatens "to wipe Israel off the map", then they believe that he means what he says and Israel will take active steps to stop it.

The state of Israeli politics means that nothing will happen until after the over prolonged elections so by next March , affairs will be clearer. There is still doubt about Israel's capacity to destroy Iran's nuclear plant without unacceptable casualties so a more indirect approach may seem more suitable.

Now Likud has chosen it's leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, can someone explain where the 15% for Moshe Feiglin came from? I still haven't found a smoking gun to prove he's the right wing nut that all my Israeli friends say he is.

Israeli Palestinian World Bank group to expand cooperation

Now this is what I like to see. Trade and commerce overcoming politics and ideology. No prizes for guessing why this London conference and the positive result arising did not get well reported in the news media even in a relatively light news week.

"A group of Palestinian and Israeli private sector representatives yesterday presented a joint declaration at a conference on “Promoting Economic Growth in the West Bank and Gaza through the Private Sector” in London. The conference was co-hosted by the World Bank and the United Kingdom Treasury.

The declaration identified priority areas, such as security, movement of goods, protection of investors, legal and regulatory reform and private sector participation in revitalizing the economy. The working group met for the first time last week in Jerusalem to discuss issues of common interest and develop a joint position on matters of economic development.

The declaration stressed the role of good governance, transparency and accountability in supporting business. As such, the private sectors called for efficient government that is responsive to the needs of local and international investors, a clear and reliable regulatory framework, and a responsible fiscal policy that does not crowd out private investment.

The declaration was signed by members of the working group in the presence of Gordon Brown, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Christiaan Poortman, Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa Region at the World Bank, Mazen Sinokrot, Minister of National Economy, Palestinian National Authority and Joseph Bachar, Director General of Ministry of Finance, Israel.

It emphasized the private sector as the driving force for economic growth and development in the West Bank and Gaza, and identified key priorities, including: reducing physical impediments; increasing reliability and efficiency of movement of goods and people within the area and with neighbors; identifying measures to protect the activities of investors and their businesses; and reducing the legal and regulatory obstacles to investment by local and international investors.

The working group emphasized the benefits of joint Israeli-Palestinian cooperation across a number of sectors, including industry, infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, information and communications technology and logistics services. They called for special attention to small and medium-sized enterprises by making financial incentives available. Moreover, they called for public-private partnerships in infrastructure, including the seaport and airport in Gaza, a reliable road infrastructure.

The representatives also appealed to their governments, the international community, the Quartet and the World Bank to implement the agreements and put in place procedures and technologies for the access of people and goods across borders and to markets.

“Providing an environment for the private sector to flourish in is one of the most important things that we can do to bring peace, prosperity and employment to the West Bank and Gaza” says World Bank VP for the Middle East and North Africa Region Christiaan Poortman."

PM has a mild stroke

All, and I repeat all the news hear is about Sharon's mild stroke. My wife and I looked at each other in amazement last night when we found ourselves both wishing him a speedy recovery. I mean it. As an antidote, I recommend Yossi Sarid who now has a regular column in Ha'Aretz. An essay on the poor and deprived in Israel and a blast against the budget for Holocaust survivors that has run out.

Weather

The forecast did say showers and thunderstorms over the weekend for the centre and the North. They got that one right. The thunderstorms were intense, as was the rain and wind. Everyone stayed snug in bed and Shabbat was the quietist I've seen since living in Israel.

Iran's President Calls Holocaust 'Myth' in Latest Assault on Jews

He's a laugh isn't he. Now the Shoah is a myth. Ah well. On that C-130 crash a few days ago, Iran has no business flying unsafe aircraft anywhere. I note that Airbus and Rolls Royce sell to Iran and I'm now leaning to the idea that this should be stopped.

All my days

A nice day spent in a posh hotel yesterday while Large American company tells us much more about their products. Quite good ones as well. I use one at work. There was even a sit down lunch with superb food rather than the normal bun fight. I didn't get the iPod, Treo of LCD monitor that was raffled but I did get a free yellow safety vest which puzzled me until it was explained that from January 1st, all cars in Israel must have one for use when broken down. A good step forward in the rather neglected world of safety.

In the meantime, I shall be all alone this weekend and an unlikely combination of events leaves me with no internet, no TV, no car and no family. I shall survive but blogging will be minimal. President Bush has finally acknowledged what most people already knew. Most of the pre war intelligence on Iraq was wrong.

Livingstone faces tribunal over 'Nazi' jibe

My blog partner will be delighted over the news that London mayor Ken Livingstone is today facing up to a five-year disqualification, as the row over his remarks to an Evening Standard journalist finally reaches a tribunal. He remarked to Oliver Finegold, a Standard journalist:

"You are just like a concentration camp guard, you are just doing it because you are paid to, aren't you?"

Oliver Finegold is Jewish of course.

As a long time anti fascist, Our Ken has almost folk memories of the support the Daily Mail gave to Oswald Mosley's British fascists and the Hitler regime in general. The Daily Mail is a sister paper to the Standard I believe. I don't like the Daily Mail because now, it's crap and supports whackos and weirdos.

Why I don’t live in the US no 757

The barbaric and wasteful use of the death penalty. Convicted murderers and similar should be kept alive as long as possible in order to feel their remorse (if any) for longer and at the very least work for peanuts to contribute to society.

Iran and the attack - maybe

I see that Israel has stated that:

while a military operation against Iran's nuclear facilities could not be ruled out, Israel was a partner in international diplomatic efforts to address the threat from Teheran.

That's more like it. If Israel was going to attack, announcing it in advance does not seem like a good idea. The UN nuclear watchdog chief, ElBaradei says:

"You cannot use force to prevent a country from obtaining nuclear weapons. By bombing them half to death, you can only delay the plans," he was quoted as saying by the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten. "But they will come back, and they will demand revenge."

True enough. But if a delay is the only option, or perceived to be by Israel, then the attack will go ahead. This, of course, gives Iran more time to install defences and play the shell game with certain components but to date, their air defence systems seem poor to inadequate. The target list looks a bit daunting though. Global Security shows around 50 sites associated with WMDs of various descriptions.

The main topic

All the talk here is about Iran and a possible Israeli pre-emptive strike. It is accepted that one likely outcome, if not certain, would be Hezbollah launching a major strike on Northern Israel with all that ordanance they have with the inevitable Israeli counterstrike. Dead Israelis. Having a home near a major air base is not comforting under these circumstances. I will offer another explanation for the objectionable statements made by Iranian politicians.

They know that their nuclear programme is doomed and never likely to get to it's target of a deliverable package. Meekly giving in is not acceptable so why not push the Israelis into an attack, retaliate the only way with Hezbollah and possibly Hamas. Then explain it away to the man on the street in Tehran, "The Israelis destroyed it all and we hit them back hard."

Mr. I, my work buddy thinks this is all wrong. Well, he used a less than polite word for it. He says, "Why do you Europeans not believe that when he says it, he means it? Don't you remember Hitler?”

Not the same at all. Hitler would if he could. Iran can't. Not just yet.

P.S Microsoft Word does not recognise 'Hezbollah' . It offers Ebola as a substitute.

'

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz is quitting the Likud and joining Kadima faction.

Well, smack me in the face with a wet haddock. I haven't been so surprised since, well, oh... last Tuesday I think. I thought he was running for the leadership of the Likud party just a couple of days ago.

Post blog note:

A work colleague offered this rather cynical outlook on the move. "What does it matter if the street hooker waits by the gas station or by the store? The work's the same just with a different view."

Large explosions at fuel depot north of London

I hope all are well. What with the Iran thing today, people are buzzing here.

Ugly vote race from Guardian Unlimited: News blog

Salam Pax appears again. I wonder where he is now?

Israel should move to Europe, says Iran's leader

I like this guy. He doesn't believe in the Shoah and want's to rewind history to let the Germans have another go at being pissed with ther Jews and trying to wipe them out. A sort of Disneyland recreation.

Yossi Sarid on Sharon and the Likud

He has view of the Likud Central committee:

There's no doubt that there are honest people in the Likud Central Committee: Moshe Arens and Dov Shilansky, for example, and they are not alone there. But that institution is a collection of spreading pus and abscess; gangrene has reached the entire body, and not just the body of the Likud, but the state, which the Likud rules. If the infected organ was not amputated, it would have ruined everything.

Pus and abcess eh? Tell it like it is.

Sharon is disengaging them now, and setting the puppets free. Now they will have to be the sycophants of one person and not more than 3,000, which is impossible and certainly not human. After all, how much ass kissing can one do? How many ass kissers did Gideon Ben Yoash find when he headed off to save Israel from the Midianites? Only 300. But that was enough to defeat the Midianites, who had spread like locusts upon the land, ruining its harvests and leaving nothing to live on in Israel.

Now he gets Biblical on them.

Red slightly less cross than yesterday

At least we are getting somewhere. Israel has now joined the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. ...er....

Israel can place the Mogen David inside the red diamond /crystal/ four-sided object. Except, as Adrian has already noted, in countries where eejit Muslims don’t want to be seen accepting help from the Jewish State. (Although they are happy to receive this help thank you very much).

But we’re still in that ludicrous position of more, not fewer, logos and a name that does not reflect inclusivity and universalism.. The Arab/Islamic states insist on using their own bloody symbol. And yes the Swiss flag inverted may now have nothing to do with Christianity but, never mind the Muslims, many Christians do perceive the symbol as having some religious resonance.

The next objective should be that the Red Cross evolves into an international first aid organisation called Red Diamond (or whatever), with one symbol worldwide: the diamond (or whatever).

“The Swiss government said it was betrayed by a number of Middle East countries after adoption of the "red crystal" had to be put to a vote rather than accepted by consensus.”

Fnar! When will the Swiss learn not to trust the word of Arabs, especially Syrians?

Thanks to Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the image.

Israeli politics again..

The Likud continues to implode as Tzachi Hanegbi jumps ship. Some 200 Likud members have been flirting with Labour as well. The Gazans and Israel trade shots, shells, mortars and Quassam rockets as usual and the talks on West Bank - Gaza convoys are postponed - again. Kadima and Likud go up in the polls while Labour goes down. This was due to the Netanya bombing.

The Magen David won't be joining the Red Cross and Crescent as an International symbol. We get a quadrilateral instead. I suppose it's pointless mentioning to the Muslim nations that the red cross has no connection with religion except in what passes for their collective mind?

Tory hair news

Man with non-grey hair is elected leader by members of the Tory party - many without hair.

Man without hair and ex-Tory party leader returns to the shadow cabinet.

Ano man without hair and ex-Tory party leader is appointed to lead a why-oh-why-are-things-so-awful policy group.

A boring grey man with hair who was not elected Tory leader remains in position in the shadow cabinet.

One of man with non-grey hair’s first tasks is to try to get more women – presumably with hair – selected and elected as Tory MPs.

Will man with non-grey hair be able to keep enough of it until the next election?

Working in Israel

It's a Microsoft day, learning about Windows Embedded both XP and CE versions. I learnt a lot and even managed to hold my own when it came to the buffet lunch. Elbows are key here I find. Now that I'm off the road due to an unpaid fine and my license up for renewal (my bad) I rediscovering the joys of public transport. Just why was everyone so happy to see me at 0700 this morning? Because I occupied the last seat in the Sherot (public taxi-van thing) so the driver didn't have to stop until near Tel Aviv and everyone - except the driver- could catch up on sleep. One day I'll write the FAQ for Israel.One day...

Mourning the dead

This image has been shamelessly stolen from Ha'Aretz. The rather strange caption reads:

British and EU diplomats laying a wreath Tuesday at the site of the deadly suicide bombing in Netanya the day before. (Mati Milstein)

Since when is Britain not in the EU? Does Israel mentally think of the UK as something not of Europe?

Another bloody bomb

In Netanya again. Sometimes, you think it'll never end.

Israel politics roundup.

Another Likud ex Minister ( Minister Tzachi Hanegbi) goes mucky with the police confident that there is enough evidence for an indictment. This one's for:

a heedless trampling of the law and of the basic rules of sound administration, politicization of the civil service, and the use of public resources to advance political-personal issues.

Peretz gets slammed for bringing in new people for the Labour slate. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz gets tough with the Gazans who fire Qassams into Israel. We're back to picking them off. Benjamin Netanyahu trys to get even tougher on Iran, citing Israel's 1981 air strike on an Iraqi nuclear facility as an example. Landau is expected to announce his resignation from the Likud leadership race. Finally, Meretz members rejected a proposal Sunday to cancel the reservation of the first slot on the party's Knesset list for party chairman Yossi Beilin.

Former Meretz chairman Yossi Sarid yesterday announced his retirement

Another one of the great and good from Israeli politics leaves the arena. Given the problems that Meretz faces, the party can ill afford to lose him. Regretfully, we won't be able to make the Meretz-Yahad convention tonight where Yossi Beilin faces a revolt. I also note that Barak and Peretz aren't talking to each other over in the Labour party and Likud party members have reached for their lawyers over Sharon's recruiting drive. What fun.

Back where I belong

What a nice break that was. A three-day course in Tel Aviv followed by a mini break by the Dead Sea. It's a first for the Eggheads and everything went wonderfully well. Against my better judgement I went on a camel trip with Mrs E behind. After an hour, we were glad to walk.
Camels prefer unshelled peanuts as a treat and have luscious soft lips once you get to know them. Some dentistry needed though.

The spa, massage, salt baths, jacuzzi and pools were wonderful as was the food. Mrs. E was a bit worried going back via the Jericho bypass and the long haul uphill to Jerusalem but other than that, perfection. Shame to be back at work really.

More devolution for London recommended

Yes please. More joined-up London-wide government to increase London autonomy and supplant the boroughs which often act to a uncoordinated undemocratic political agenda.

Oh no. Ken Livigstone gets even more powers and more potential to act according to a coordinated undemocratic political agenda.

What really needs to happen is the GLA (Greater London Assembly) needs to become a proper legislative body eg given more powers to effectively control the mayor. It is now little more than a gloified talking shop / rubber stamping body.