This is Northumberland Calling 12.1.24
The classic delaying excuse ‘We Need to wait for the Inquiry’ fails under public outrage and the snitches charter falls edition
Hello America, (particularly Central Ohio), this is Northumberland calling
First, if you are surprised about the US/UK attacking the Houthi, you haven’t been reading the Institute for the Study of War’s daily briefing paper. The cut off time is always 2 pm EST so the current strikes are not reported on but the briefing remains interesting. A stated aim of Iran is to get rid of US aka Western influence in the region. It uses the 3 Hs – Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis to further that aim. A This is today’s briefing: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-january-11-2024
Predictably certain people in the umbrella activist groupings are busy denouncing the intervention on X, even claiming that Biden as Commander in Chief doesn’t have the authority. Follow the money is always a good rule of thumb.
The Telegraph tends to be good on the updates: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/11/britain-us-strike-houthis-latest-yemen-red-sea-israel-live/
The Great Post Office Scandal has dominated the British press this week and has not been covered in the US very much at all. The NYT only did a short article in its Thursday edition and failed to cover the enormity of the situation which has result in a precedent setting law being proposed, namely that all convictions in England and Wales will be quashed. Scotland has signalled that they will do likewise. NI is looking at it. The latest revelation is that the PO did know about the faulty system years before and sought to supress that knowledge as it would put its pursuit of the sub-postmasters in jeopardy, according to the Times. The central position of the PO was that the terminals could not be remotely accessed. This was a lie. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/post-office-scandal-recordings-it-horizon-problems-paula-vennells-hcvxvpknb or https://archive.is/r9BPS
The attention is turning to Fujitsu and what its employees did. One Jenkins wants immunity from prosecution before testifying to the Inquiry. Every time he is about to testify, the PO dumps a load of documents on the Inquiry (which is already running far longer than it was supposed to). Questions are now being asked about why Fujitsu who ran the faulty system has not been held accountable (they have however apologized) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/09/horizon-expert-gareth-jenkins-post-office-inquiry-immunity/ or https://archive.is/R8Neh
Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the LibDems who enjoys telling other politicians to resign but who ignored Alan Bates’s repeated warnings about the depth and breath of the scandal has been urged to resign to lack of leadership. Davey has apologized and said that he was misled. He wanted to keep things ‘at arm’s length’ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/when-scandal-strikes-britain-leaps-into-action-zclhzcp0k or https://archive.is/dEct3
It turns out that Vannells, the former CEO who has handed back her CBE was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s preferred candidate for the Bishop of London. She had served on the Ethic committee but had little pastoral experience. In the event, another bishop was chosen. But given the timings, how could Justin Welby be unaware of the serious miscarriage of justice that priest was responsible for. Or didn’t he care? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/09/ex-post-office-boss-vennells-almost-bishop-of-london/ or https://archive.is/zg1P3
This op ed explains about the ‘London elites’ contempt for the ordinary British citizen: (the scandal has really exploded and the contempt is there for all who care to look to see. It really explodes the myth that computers are infallible.) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/10/post-office-scandal-expose-elite-contempt-for-middle-englan/ or https://archive.is/tBxOw
The Free Speech Union had their biggest ever win £800k against Lloyds Bank. Basically how not to do diversity training. It is utterly chilling what happened to this man for asking a question of a trainer. There was no intent. The man had dyslexia and blurted out the offensive word. The snowflake trainer apparently had to take a week off after hearing the word fall from his lips. Thankfully the courts saw sense. https://thecritic.co.uk/an-800000-lesson-in-how-not-to-do-diversity-training/
Rachel Meade, a social worker has had a ground breaking win against the Westminster City Council and her union for harassment over her protected GC beliefs. The amount they will have to pay will be settled in early February. Even the Guardian is having to cover the wins now. This should mean the end of the snitches charter in getting rid of people for one complaint about social media postings. Again the FSU had a hand in this https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/social-worker-wins-discrimination-claim-over-social-media-posts and this from the brilliant Michael Foran on what it means for the ordinary worker: https://thecritic.co.uk/the-right-to-be-gender-critical/
The Women’s Rights Network launched their report into police strip searches of women in England and Wales. 34 forces allow trans identified males to strip search women. The College of Policing has clarified that police officers should have a GRC if they are conducting these intimate searches. The cost of obtaining a GRC is now £5. The WRN and other women’s groups believe such searches should only be conducted by officers of the same biological sex for dignity and safety purposes. Among other things, it is why needs to be clarified that sex means biological sex, not legal sex for the purposes of the Eq Act 2010. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trans-gender-police-officers-strip-search-id-xfvwsdjgn or https://archive.is/Tx9GP
This is the report: https://www.womensrights.network/_files/ugd/18f02a_e6a74d90ef174fb49f0a270e2734902e.pdf
This week, I finished my copy edits for Tempted by Her Forbidden Warrior (out in October 2024) – this was my last chance to alter my words. It now goes to the production team for them to work their magic. For my part is on to the next one as the deal memo for the contract has been sorted.
A new season of the UK detective series Vera started. The episode was notable for scenes in Hexham (called Bentham) and indeed in Haydon Bridge (which was being called Fourstones for some reason). I saw the trailers last spring and so it was good to see the finished product. Half the fun of the series for me is — where have they shot the scenes. Several members of the Hexham rowing club appeared in the background of one scene.
It is also mud season here so Paddy has been getting dirty on a regular basis and I have spent much time wiping muddy paws and scrubbing the kitchen floor. Such glamour and excitement.
Hello Northumberland! This is Central Ohio calling.
Your articles on the Middle East were interesting. I only skimmed the Institute for the Study of War’s daily briefing paper. It was very detailed and informative.
The PO scandal continues unabated, I see. I'm glad Vennells returned her CBE and Davey should return his knighthood. There should be consequences. Of course Jenkins wants immunity. That was a great article on "Britain’s feckless new establishment" by the Telegraph. TY again for posting the links in archive today. I appreciate You going to the trouble, as I don't have a subscription to the Telegraph or Times.
I read the article about the FSU win with great interest. I'm happy for Carl Borg-Neal. Lloyd's should-a accepted him back again, but they tried to make two wrongs be a right. That never works, and I'm glad they were caught out at it.
Likewise glad to "hear" the case of Rachel Meade. That she should-a got in trouble for stating that male athletes shouldn't participate against women is just plain stupid. The Tribunal saw it right.
That males can strip search women is disgusting. At least to me, as well as You, Michelle.
I'm glad for You that the copy edits are done. And that You're enjoying Vera. I'm reading Ann Cleeves' first books now and enjoying them. And I can't help but notice what a handsome devil Paddy is. Dirty devil that he can be at times. Hope You don't have too much glamour and excitement. (har ;-)
TY Michelle, as always. Appreciate Your efforts, I hope Ya know.
Good to see Paddy is having fun. As a former US police officer, whenever possible female officers searched females for the male officers. We also searched males. Female officers were much more thorough and didn’t have to worry about false accusations. Male officers couldn’t always call for females, especially in the field or in exigent circumstances, and their pat-downs of females were more cursory. I never met a male officer who enjoyed patting down a woman. It was simply part of their jobs and a matter of safety and preserving evidence.
Often the women we searched were drug addicts, drunks, prostitutes or just plain dirty. No one enjoyed putting their hands on them. But we didn’t have any males identifying as females back in those days. If we had, my guess is that our officers would have called for a female who was born a female to conduct intimate searches. It’s safer and more considerate for the person being searched.
I am confounded by the idea that a man can just say he feels like a woman and poof! He’s suddenly treated as one. We may consider ourselves a superior species, but in my book we’re devolving into idiots.