Cathy Fox on Jeffrey Epstein

I respect Cathy Fox's persistent campaign to uncover the truth about sex offenders. Howevr, I feel that some of the sources she quotes make rather far-fetched allegations. At first sight, her piece on the Duke of York and Jeffrey Epstein falls into this category, yet when one looks at the charges logically they make sense.

For instance, Fox's assertion that:
Epstein and Maxwell were running a “brownstone” operation to sexually blackmail important powerful people, politicians and scientists so that they can be controlled. The best blackmail material is child sexual abuse material.
makes sense when you look into Epstein's history. His first brush with the law was as the promoter of a Ponzi scheme. His co-conspirator was sent down for eighteen years; Epstein mysteriously got off. Could he have already started a blackmail business when he was recruited for the fraud?

Then there is the reported suicide. Epstein had wriggled out of the worst punishment for his previous convictions. He clearly did not lack self-confidence; why should he commit suicide now? The federal authorities had carefully remanded Epstein to one of the most secure jails in New York state, and he had been held in a special unit at the time of his death. Admittedly, US federal jails are understaffed and there was venality on the part of his guards. Still, one does not have to invoke Mossad or the CIA to realise that there were powerful people who are grateful that he is dead.

Johnson and Patel's unrealistic prison proposals

Home Secretary Priti Patel has pledged to double some prison sentences if the Conservatives are returned to power. The Conservative manifesto promises to add 10,000 more prison places. However, apart from a vague statement of backing for  "all those who put their lives on the line" including prison officers, there is no commitment to restore the real terms cut in salaries of prison staff, let alone recruit more personnel. There is no sign that Johnson realises that more convicts require more warders, especially if he means what he says about rehabilitation. Or perhaps what he really wants to do is restore the oubliette, which would no doubt satisfy the more rabid Daily Mail reader?

Guide to rail operators in the UK

Barry Doe's 2019 update is now available as a pdf, with links to the latest map of train operating companies' domains.

Stand for what you believe in

Monday's i newspaper reported of Blaenau Gwent

a Labour stronghold formed mainly from Aneurin Bevan's old Ebbw Vale seat in 1983, and represented by Michael Foot until 1992. Labour's Nick Smith held in 2017 with a majority of nearly 12,000 over Plaid Cymru. But in distant sixth place that year were the Liberal Democrats, who secured just 0.9 per cent of the vote.

Chelsea-Marie Annett has been given the task to improve on two years ago and perhaps keep hold of the £500 deposit. Speaking to i, she is full of cold, a sign canvassing in the bitter South Wales winter is taking its toll. But Ms Annett is no paper candidate. Blaenau is her hometown and for her this election is about giving Remain supporters a voice.

"For me it's from personal experience," the 20-year-old student said. "Blaenau Gwent is a very poor area, and I didn't have the best chances growing up and I believe it's a place crying out for change.

"I know it's unlikely I'll win, but I think a vote for me is a vote for people who are dissatisfied with Labour. I'm optimistic. I've also got very numb hands canvassing in the winter, but it's worth it."

250th anniversary of an abolitionist

Elizabeth Heyrick, née Coltman, Methodist turned Quaker, and campaigner against slavery and capital punishment, was born on 4th December 1769 in Leicester.

NATO's 70th

Prime Minister Johnson has pleaded for unity on the eve of this week's NATO meeting in London. This is against the background of two forces moving to break NATO up. President Trump, no doubt echoing US strategic thinking that China is the greatest threat to the world order, not Russia, wants to cut his country's support for the transatlantic alliance. President Macron wants to see an end to NATO and its replacement with an EU defence force - the dispute over Syria may be real but it is symbolic of a deeper difference of opinion over the most effective defence of Europe.

I agree with the Liberal Democrat position that NATO should continue and be strengthened. It is not an alternative to the EU. We need both.

Adrian Kingston-Jones, our candidate for Neath in the general election, and I agree that more needs to be spent on conventional defence. In a recent speech, Chuka Umunna sees our contribution to NATO automatically rising with GDP if we clearly resolve to remain within the EU. I personally part company with them over the nuclear weaponry commitment, which I see as benefiting the US global reach but demonstrably of little effect in Europe. That budget could usefully be switched to boosting the personnel and equipment of our own armed forces. I accept that I am in a minority in the LD party in thinking this way, but the fact remains that money must be found in order to avoid defaulting on our existing commitment to NATO at the least, let alone adding the extra 1% called for by defence experts. This is going to be a struggle unless the Brexit jinn is put back in its bottle.

EU needs to get a grip on financial rort

Tom Keatinge, the Director of the Royal United Service Institute's Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies criticises the EU's processes for tackling economic crime. It is true that the EU moves slowly, but that is not the same as inaction. However, he has a point when he suggests that a critical  element besides supervision and enforcement is

intelligence. Importantly, as almost all of the EU’s money laundering scandals underline, this must include the sharing of intelligence between countries to combat the transnational nature of large-scale financial crime activity.

He believes that the UK is beginning to get things right with reforms led by the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS). However, financial crime like pollution does not stop at borders and it is important that the UK and the EU27 share intelligence in this area.

Johnson's falling standards will hit UK manufacturers

Refusing to follow EU rules on energy efficiency standards will put UK manufacturers on the back foot, Andrew Warren warns. (Amongst other roles, Andrew is Chair of the EU Task Group on Sustainable Construction and Energy Efficiency).

He explains:

For the first three years following the Brexit referendum, every single indication from Theresa May's government was that both of these successful policies would be continued seamlessly even when the UK was no longer formally part of the EU. So UK product policy on energy usage would remain aligned with that in operation right across Europe - likely to remain UK manufacturers' largest single market.

This continuity would have ensured that the energy savings already achieved would remain for future years. And as new products continue to be added to the substantial list of those covered, the expectation had been that UK manufacturers operating in each sector would continue to make products that, at minimum, always complied with European standards.

It is now becoming clear that this is no longer the policy of any Johnson-led Government. [...]

At the end of October 2019, a big EU consultation forum was held in Brussels, under this same Eco Design Directive. This time dealing with water pumps. There are considerable UK manufacturing interests likely to be affected. Up until the last minute, it was feared that UK government officials would not be attending. Nobody officially would be able to put the case for British businesses. Options exist which could detrimentally affect such interests. After much strenuous lobbying from (unsurprisingly) the British Pump Manufacturers Association, a few days beforehand 10 Downing Street staff grudgingly approved the attendance of two civil servants from the Business Department. By that stage the zealots had conceded that any chance of achieving the declared departure date from the European Union before 2020 had evaporated. So at the eleventh hour these two civil servants were indeed given special permission to board the Brussels Eurostar, to help put across the arguments of British businesses to their opposite numbers from other governments. Leaving an empty chair may be portrayed by some as an overt gesture of true Brexit purity. Those operating in the real world might describe actually doing so as another pointless gesture that is truly a dereliction of duty by government. And a giant step back from ever achieving net zero carbon.