Blimey what some BBC reporters are willing to put themselves through for the edification of their viewers. I’m glad to see that my licence fee is being spent on stuff like this, no really I am. 
Found via.
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World Jump Day
I’m quite sorry to learn that I missed out on World Jump Day which was yesterday July 20th.
It seems that they managed to get the required 600 million jumpers with several hundred thousand to spare, quite an achievement given that the last time I looked they were still a few hundred million shy of that figure.
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Chad Vader – Day shift manager
This is a damn good parody. I hope they make further episodes.
Police number plate cameras may breach RIPA
ANPR’s problem has been spotted by Chief Surveillance Commissioner Sir Andrew Leggatt, part guardian of liberty, part doormat, who notes in his annual report that RIPA requires authorisation for operations involving intrusive surveillance. This is usually granted for surveillance operations on named suspects, but clearly fixed ANPR cameras scanning for large numbers are suspects (e.g. those recorded as not having tax, insurance or MoT) don’t readily fit into such a system.
The ways of modern policing introduce the technology and worry (or not) about the legality and ethics of its use later.
The lead item on today’s Channel 4 lunchtime news was that the in the case of the mistaken shooting of the Brazilian born electrician Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube Station no individual officers of the Metropolitan Police would be prosecuted.
Instead the Office of the Commissioner of Police is to be prosecuted under Health and Safety legislation and therefore will at most receive a fine.
The Criminal Prosecution Service believe that there is not sufficient evidence to give a realistic prospect of conviction of any individual if they were to be prosecuted.
But from my perspective the officers involved do not seem to have followed the guidelines drawn up for Operation Kratos.
“The guidance states that in extreme circumstances an armed officer can shoot a suspect in the head if the intelligence suggests that he is a suicide bomber who poses an imminent danger to the public or police. This is to avoid setting off any explosives that might be attached to his body. Five shots are deemed necessary to render a terrorist incapable of detonating his bomb.”
Imminent danger is the key they cannot shoot someone they simply suspect is a suicide bomber. They must believe that individual is actually in the process of setting off a bomb.
Maybe it is a judgement call but clearly they judged wrong and the witness statements would seem to indicate there was nothing unusual about the behaviour of Jean Charles de Menezes prior to his being shot in the head.
Also this from the Channel 4 news site. http://www.channel4.com/news/content/news-storypage.jsp?id=615040
He was only intercepted when he was actually sat on the train, when he was suddenly grabbed from behind, had his arms pinned to his side and was shot seven times in the head at point blank range, according to reports.
The purpose of the shooting to the head under the guidelines of Operation Kratos is to render a terrorist incapable of detonating his bomb. Would not the grabbing and pinning of his arms be sufficient in this case?
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Beware of card tricks
The government claims that national identity cards will help to counter terrorism, illegal immigration and ID fraud. That’s rubbish, says Henry Porter, and in fact there is something much more sinister about them – they will fundamentally alter the relationship between citizen and state, and make slaves of us all
Meanwhile the BBC reports that the Identity card scheme faces delay.
According to BBC News the Home Secretary John Reid has announced that Britain is to get a Terror Threat Level system similar to that used in the US published by the Department of Homeland Security.
A new warning system is to alert the public to the threat of attacks by al-Qaeda and other terror groups.
From 1 August, details of current threat levels will be published on the websites of the Home Office and MI5, Home Secretary John Reid announced.
Great! Just what we really need, yet another channel for the government to terrify the public with.
Any alert system is useless unless those people that are being alerted have corresponding duties or actions to perform upon receiving such an alert for example on a warship. A threat level indicator for the general public can therefore have no value as there is no corresponding action that the public can perform.
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World Cup: Zizou’s head
The head of Zinedine Zidane could have brought a sense of triumph to France in the final of the World Cup yesterday instead it brought a sense of disbelief and despair.
It could have been the perfect finish to the career of the greatest European footballer of his generation and after France had taken the lead from Zidane’s penalty it looked as if it would hold true.
But Italy’s Materazzi soon equalised and the two teams were deadlocked and neither seemed likely to score until the perfect chance fell to the head of Zidane but a heroic save by the Italian goalkeeper Buffon denied him.
Then in the second period of extra time came incident that will be forever remembered as the defining moment of this World Cup, Zidane seemed to lose his head and headbutted Materazzi in the chest, which after the intervention of the fourth offical caused the French captain to be sent off.
Who can say whether losing their talismanic leader cost France the match? I don’t think it’s true, the Italian penalty takers were flawless and France seemed fairly composed and unaffected, so I think it just simply came down to the awful nature that is the lottery of the penalty shootout.
Interestingly Zidane will be the only French player to leave the tournament with a trophy. He was awarded the Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament, an award that was voted on by the press during halftime of the final. It’s likely that had the voting taken place after the match then he probably would not have won this award.
Sunday Times – ID cards doomed, say officials
TONY BLAIR’S flagship identity cards scheme is set to fail and may not be introduced for a generation, according to leaked Whitehall e-mails from the senior officials responsible for the multi-billion-pound project.
The problems are so serious that ministers have been forced to draw up plans for a scaled-down “face-saving” version to meet their pledge of phasing in the cards from 2008.
However, civil servants say there is no evidence that even this compromise is “remotely feasible” and accuse ministers of “ignoring reality” by pressing ahead.
The government seems to want to push through their Identity Card scheme through by any means possible even if it means by way of a much reduced version. They will probably phase it in through the backdoor by way of renewals of passports and ease back on the introduction of ID cards for non-passport holders.
Give this it might be wise for people to renew their passports now even if they have many years before they expire. Renew for freedom from the Identity Register.
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This song is not a rebel song
Excellent bloody excellent.