The Artificial Cannabis Factory
I like this story.
Tom Butler has been hiring artificial flowers to people for fifty years. He was rather surprised when he got raided because someone had tipped off the police that all the luxuriant growth were cannabis plants.
On the other hand, the publicity about the story won’t be doing his business any harm!
Fake Goods in Naples
I have read that France and Italy are fining people and even putting them in jail for having fake goods in their possession. I don’t think it has much to do with stopping the practice, but with raising money.
Perhaps I am a bit of a goody-goody, but I don’t buy fake goods. On the other hand, according to my Dorling Kindersley travel guide approximately half of all the fake goods in Europe come in thrpugh Naples.
If most come through one place, wouldn’t it be a good idea to police the port there properly.
Leader of the Pack
I had never heard of Ellie Greenwich, but I have heard many of her songs, like Leader of the Pack, Do Wah Diddy Diddy, Kentucky Woman, Chapel of Love and River Deep, Mountain High, to name just a few.
Sadly she has died of a heart attack.
Her songs though gave me a lot of pleasure.
I particularly remember seeing Manfred Mann singing Do Wah Diddy Diddy at Liverpool University.
Thanks for all the memories.
Prudence Gets Angry
Gordon Brown is now reported to be very angry about how the Libyans have feted Megrahi when he returned home.
But he has said nothing on his part in the early release of Megrahi except that it was all down to the Scottish government. That strikes me as a bit of a cop out.
The Daily Mail thinks he has something to hide. Perhaps, he doesn’t, as he has actually done nothing, which would be even worse.
I’m just waiting for the day his government goes and the next Prime Minister is able to unlock the files and see the truth about what has happened under this disastrous idiot.
A Legal View on Megrahi
My posts on Megrahi seem to be getting a lot of hits, as obviously and quite rightly people are concerned and interested in the case.
I found this post by Jonathan Mitchell, QC. It covers the law and some of the reactions in detail. This is the opening paragraph.
If Megrahi was indeed rightly convicted of mass murder, which I doubt, it is not in doubt that he acted on the orders of the Libyan government. He was a senior member of its intelligence service. Yet both the UK and US governments have for some years been on friendly terms with the people who, they say, ordered the destruction of PanAm 103. They dine with them. They have cocktails with them when they meet at mutual friends. The week before Megrahi’s release, as reported in the Washington Post, a delegation of four American senators led by John McCain met with Colonel Gaddafi to discuss the sale by the US to Libya of military equipment. In April, Hilary Clinton welcomed another member of the Gaddafi family, the régime’s National Security Adviser, to Washington. She said “We deeply value the relationship between the United States and Libya. We have many opportunities to deepen and broaden our cooperation. And I’m very much looking forward to building on this relationship. So, Mr. Minister, welcome so much here.”
Read the full article.
Libya, the West and Al-Megrahi
This is the headline of an editorial in the Khaleej Times, which is an English language publication in the UAE.
It sums up the issues well and doesn’t really take any particular point of view. But it does add a fact that a lot of people seem to be forgetting in the last paragraph. That is the shooting down by the USS Vincennes of an Iranian Airbus.
Most Western intelligence services saw the bombing of Pan Am 103 as an act of revenge, which obviously it was. The US warship Vincennes had shot down an Iranian Airbus five months before the Pan Am bombing, killing all 290 mostly Iranian passengers, and the Iranians were seen as getting even. Of course, this is not to suggest Teheran had been behind the bombing. As we have argued, there was no dearth of America’s enemies then, just as there’s no dearth of them now. Just about any body could have done it. This is why the Western nations and Libya would do well to exercise restraint. They mustn’t undo all the good work that has been done to bridge the gulf between the Arab country and the West.
The last point is also put very well.
What’s done is done and although it was horrific beyond belief, we all owe it to the world to move on.
Jesse Owens and Lutz Long
Most people know the story of how Jesse Owens annoyed Hitler, by winning four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. But what is less well known is the story of how his German rival, Lutz Long, helped him to qualify for the long jump final.
According to Owens, Long went to him and told him to try and jump from a spot several inches behind the take-off board. Since Owens routinely made distances far greater than the minimum of 7.15m required to advance, Long surmised that Owens would be able to safely advance to the next round without risking a foul trying to push for a greater distance.
Owens then beat Long in the final. They corresponded by letter until war broke out. Owens lived in a lot of poverty and Long was killed in the war.
The authorities at the World Championships have also remembered the rivalry and marked it in an appropriate way. This was from Tom Fordyce’s blog on the BBC.
Owens too is long gone, killed by lung cancer 29 years ago, but the two men’s families have kept the transatlantic bond strong. When Owen’s grand-daughter presents the medals on Saturday, she will be joined by Long’s grandson Kai. The symbolism of the moment will be lost on nobody.
Let’s hope that 2012 takes place in a similar atmosphere to the successful games in Berlin.
Defence Spending
A report in The Sunday Times says that British defence spending is out-of-control and actually harms the efficiency of the armed forces. A few damning paragraphs.
The author of the report, Bernard Gray, a leading businessman and former special adviser to Labour defence ministers, writes: “How can it be that it takes 20 years to buy a ship, or aircraft, or tank?
“Why does it always seem to cost at least twice what was thought?
“Even worse, at the end of the wait, why does it never quite seem to do what it was supposed to?”
Was it though ever any different? I have been involved in planning defence projects since the early 1970s and I’ve heard complaints of this nature all the time. And not just from the British, but from high-up engineers in a major US defence contractor.
I’ve also spoken to senior military men, who have always had good reasons to believe that the armed services never really get the equipment, they need to do the job. Usually it is over specified to do too many roles and hence so costly, that we can’t afford enough of them.
We need much better value for money and equipment that is much better suited for the job.
Prudence Stays Silent
Gordon Brown has said nothing so far about the Megrahi affair.
Is he being Prudence?
I think though it is interesting to look at reactions on both sides of the Atlantic. Here we put the emphasis on justice and as I said in a previous post, I don’t think anybody got that. But a lot of the comment in the US seems to ignore the truth and put the emphasis a lot more on vengeance.
Megrahi for Oil?
I said in the previous post, that according to The Times, that Megrahi might be being released to improve relations.
Now in this piece from the BBC, Gaddafi’s son has said that was true.
Of course Gordon Brown has denied it. Let’s hope that Prudence is the biggest casualty.
The Anonymous Widower 