Friday 10th July 2020

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BCfm’s weekly Politics Show presented by Tony Gosling with Irish Republican Labour activist Martin Summers continues online after being ‘rested due to the pandemic’ on 24 March 2020 by BCfm managing editor Pat Hart. The Internet only BCfm Politics Show is now available 17:00-19:00 live Drivetime Fridays.

We are ready to go live on BCfm’s FM server remotely, awaiting the go-ahead from the managing editor. Initially we were told ‘In the light of government and Ofcom guidance’ his team have decided not to broadcast discussion or political shows that ‘might put the FM licence at risk, and don’t want the burden of dealing with potential Ofcom complaints. Now we’ve been told a wider ‘reorganisation’ is underway and this show may be allowed to return to FM in October or November 2020.

February 2019 Ofcom complaint result: UKLFI exposed as creation of Israeli foreign ministryBristol Post article: BCfm cleared after being reported to Ofcom for anti-semitic conspiracy theories

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First hour News Review:  

Matt, former employee of waste contractor May Gurney, discusses the waste service in Bristol and Bristol Waste’s inability to collect rubbish: bullying; Pyrolysis plant at Avonmouth where plastic is turned into diesel, giving off pollutants; Julian Parry’s waste system;

Biomass gasification & pyrolysis – How UK support for ‘energy innovation’ leads to business failures and particularly inefficient and dirty biomass power stations This Biofuelwatch report focuses on biomass (including waste wood) rather than non-biomass waste gasifiers and pyrolysis plants. However, the policy framework and subsidies are largely identical for both, and the technologies – and therefore the technical challenges – are very similar. The findings in the report will therefore be relevant to Municipal Solid Waste gasifiers and pyrolysis reactors, too. Biofuelwatch has identified 40 biomass and pyrolysis plants with a capacity of at least 1 MW which have been proposed across the UK in recent years. At least 9 such plants have been built, though some of them may never have been fired up. 8 of these gasifiers have failed and been shut down. Two have been redesigned and re-opened. One of them (supposedly a pyrolysis plant rather than a gasifier) appears to have generated no energy as yet and the other one, according to the most recent published evidence, was operating at less than one-tenth of its capacity for the first five months, indicating technical problems. One company claims to have built another biomass gasifier but Biofuelwatch could find no planning consent for that one and there are contradictory statements from two other companies that also claim to be behind this plant. By comparison, Biofuelwatch is aware of 13 conventional biomass power stations built in the UK with at least 15 MW capacity, none of which have been shut down….

Bristol: St Pauls fly-tipping like living in slum, say residents – Specially designed communal bins were installed in 2010 to be used in place of individual wheelie and recycling binsFly-tipping has led to “slum-like” conditions in one area of Bristol, residents claim. People living in St Pauls say communal bins are overflowing with “mountains” of rubbish left on the street and the council is not tackling it. Emma Reynolds described it as “soul-destroying” and said she avoided trips out because she could not cope mentally with the piles of litter. Bristol’s mayor told residents he has deployed extra waste crews to the area. But residents say that when they have reported fly-tipping to the council, the authority has failed to do anything about it within the promised 48-hour period….

Bulgarian Waste Mafia Arrested: Bulgaria’s deputy environment minister, facing criminal charges, dismissed – Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov has fired Deputy Environment Minister Krassimir Zhivkov, the government press service said on June 1, following Zhivkov’s arrest on May 28 on criminal chargesZhivkov and nine others face charges related to crimes involving hazardous waste imports and management. He has been remanded in custody, along with business person Atanas Bobokov and three others allegedly involved in organised crime. The Prosecutor-General’s office said earlier that of those facing charges, seven are accused of being part of an organised crime group, while three face tax evasion charges. An investigation began in January after a large amount of unseparated waste imported from Italy was found in Bulgaria’s town of Pleven. Among the allegations are that Zhivkov pressured subordinates to grant permits to process unseparated waste to companies that did not meet the legal requirements to do so. Prosecutors allege that Environment Ministry staff that were unwilling to comply were forced out of their jobs. Prosecutors also allege that the former head of the environmental inspectorate in Pleven was involved in the scheme….

Barrages and tidal energy. David Ord, Merchant Venturer and Tory donor: With these abridged version of events the land was sold to the Bristol Port Company, with the council retaining a 12.5% non-voting share, unconnected to the freehold. The Bristol Port Company owner Terence Mordaunt proclaimed “the city’s decision to sell the freehold is a vindication of the Mayoral system…”The decision to sell at that value may or may not have been a good one for financial reasons. £1m will be allocated to the Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston Neighbourhood Partnership. The use of the remaining £9m remains unclear. Yet questions remain about the influence of some of the most powerful people in the city, and country. The Bristol Port Company has routinely been pulling levers to protect their interests at the Port. And David Ord and Terence Mordaunt, “good chaps” as described by Ferguson, have many levers to pull. Over the years, the owners have deployed standard methods of corporate lobbying to stake out their interests in the city and beyond. In the run up to the mayoral election of November 2012, the Port Company offered a donation of £2000 to each of the main party candidates, as well as to George Ferguson’s party Bristol First. Initially, according to the Port Company, Bristol First repaid the sum in December 2012, after the election. This information was subsequently amended in a Freedom of Information disclosure where the Port Company stated that Bristol First refused to accept the donation in the first place, before the election. However, this is still unclear as George Ferguson told the Cable “I did return (emphasis added) a £2000 donation to the Port Co, as I felt that it was inappropriate to accept funding from a company in which the City Council has a shareholding and that I might as Mayor have to take decisions about the future of the port.” … David Ord, awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by Bristol University 24 days after donating £5,000 to the institution, also gifted £77,500 to the Conservative Party whilst the barrage project was being reviewed in Parliament. His individual donations to the Tories now total nearly £600,000. The barrage project was eventually dropped by the Government. Coincidentally, George Ferguson stated his own opposition to the tidal energy project, citing concerns for the Welsh economy and the Port’s business. The Mayor denies any conflict of interest, saying “I only had one interest and that was to strike an excellent deal for the city, which we did, with best professional advice.” With the freehold now firmly in hand, the Port can crack on and “invest in this important UK asset” and develop the £600m container terminal, unconstrained by local government. To what end we don’t know, although a meeting and signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in June 2015 with the Chinese state owned Guangzhou Port Authority may be a sign of things to come…

Cumbria tidal barrage: The return of British sea power – Twice a day, every day, the Atlantic Ocean surges up on to the UK’s Continental Shelf and around our coastline. This creates one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, an untapped energy source with huge potential. In 2011, we set out to solve a century-old puzzle: how to harness natural power from the rise and fall of the tides, sustainably and at scale. Tidal Lagoon Power was formed to develop, construct and operate tidal lagoon power plant in the UK and internationally. To date, the number of potential gigawatt-scale UK tidal lagoon locations identified from an engineering, power generation and commercial viability perspective stands in double figures and could equate to over 25GW of installed capacity. We are currently developing a national fleet of six tidal lagoons to meet up to 8% of UK electricity demand, or power for around 30% of UK homes, as well as progressing a number of potential projects overseas…

PMQs Steve Baker – border between Northern Ireland and Britain – Boris Johnson questioned by angry Brexiteer about plot to keep UK in EU tariff regimeBREXITEER Steve Baker has warned against any possibility of the UK being trapped in the EU’s tariff regime after the end of the year – prompting an extraordinary intervention from Boris Johnson himself to offer reassurance. Speaking in the Commons, Mr Baker raised concerns about a post-Brexit trade and UK tariffs, on the same day a leaked letter written by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss to Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak the UK’s ports were not yet ready for an independent trade regime. Mr Baker asked: “To avoid drama later, we need to complete the process of getting Brexit done in the next few months, so will the PM, therefore, please confirm for the benefit of everyone listening, that nothing in the Northern Ireland protocol will be allowed to stop the UK charging our own tariffs for the whole UK from the 1st January 2021?”…

Big 4 auditors need to break up – Britain’s Big Four auditors have just three months to outline how they will break up their businesses after a string of scandalsBritain’s Big Four auditors have just three months to outline how they will break up their businesses after a string of scandals. The accounting watchdog has told EY, PwC, KPMG and Deloitte they must submit plans by October on how they will split their audit arms from their consulting businesses. It comes after the major accountancy firms were accused of poor practice and conflicts of interest, following their oversight of a number of corporate failures, including Wirecard, Carillion, Thomas Cook and BHS. The incidents prompted a series of reviews into the auditing industry, which eventually resulted in a recommendation to break up the heavy-hitting Big Four. The orders from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to push ahead with the splits mark the first major shake-up of the accounting industry in decades. Sir Jon Thompson, the watchdog’s chief executive, said the FRC has delivered ‘a major step in the reform of the audit sector by setting principles for operational separation of audit practices from the rest of the firm’. For investors and customers, auditing is arguably the most important job the Big Four firms undertake. Many shareholders rely on an auditor to flag concerns about the company’s finances – though in cases such as Wirecard and Thomas Cook, where the parlous state of their balance sheets remained unnoticed until shortly before their collapse, this proved unreliable…

Craig Murray – government giving contracts to friends – Why would the NHS turn to this ethically sordid but zeitgeist banal private wealth management office to provide a quarter of a billion pounds worth of PPE to the NHS? Wealth Manager magazine, who have done excellent journalism on this story, have the contract as supplying only face masks. They have confirmed the astonishing fact that there was no published tender for the quarter billion pound contract. Normal tendering processes were suspended in March through secondary legislation at Westminster for the Covid-19 Crisis. This is all simply astonishing. The normal public procurement tendering process has pre-qualification criteria which companies have to meet. These will normally include so many years of experience in the specific sector, employment of suitably qualified staff, possession of the required physical infrastructure and a measure of financial stability. This is perhaps obvious – otherwise you or I could simply stick in a bid to build the HS2 railway that is £10 billion cheaper than anybody else, win the contract then go and look for a builder. Ayanda Capital would fail every single test in normal procurement criteria to supply PPE to the NHS. I can see no evidence that anybody in the company had ever seen PPE except when visiting the dentist. They appear to have no medical expertise, no established medical procurement network, no quality control inspection ability, no overseas shipment agents, no warehousing or logistics facilities. We have of course seen this before from these crooked Tories with their “emergency procurement”, with the “ferry company” with no ferries. But this – a quarter of a billion pounds – is on a whole different level…

Hargreaves Lansdown – Woodford as ‘best buy’ JEFF PRESTRIDGE: A welcome revamp but Hargreaves Lansdown’s ‘shortlist’ still has faultsThe wealth manager’s move is long overdue, coming more than a year after it was deservedly criticised for labelling investment fund Woodford Equity Income a best buy right up until the day it was suspended. It will do little to appease those who kept faith with Woodford – or bought into the Woodford fund – because of Hargreaves Lansdown’s unremitting (and erroneous) faith in his ability to make proverbial investment silk purses out of sows’ ears. The losses they made from investing in Equity Income on the back of its support for the fund will not be made good. The revamp is not without its faults. Eyebrows will be raised at the continued involvement of Mark Dampier in the overseeing of the so-called Wealth Shortlist. It was Dampier, as head of research at Hargreaves Lansdown, who did more than anyone to champion Woodford and ensure his funds (Equity Income and Income Focus) remained on the Wealth 50 – the precursor to the Shortlist. In keeping him on board, it could be argued that Hargreaves Lansdown has not made a clean enough break from its past problems…

The Pandemic Is Over: Week 25 graphs from Christopher Bowyer – More Covid-19 graphs from Christopher Bowyer. ONS data here (up to week 25, week ending 19 June). NHS England data here. (NHS data is more recent, see dates on graphs).  England deaths with Covid-19 by absence (yellow) or presence (green) of a pre-existing condition. Data from NHS England. Percentage of deaths with Covid-19 by pre-existing condition. (95.26% have one or more P.E.C.) NHS England data. Note that the most common pre-existing conditions are diabetes, followed by dementia, chronic pulmonary disease, and chronic kidney disease. Covid-19 hospital deaths in England by date of death, with 3-day moving average trendline (the thicker line). (Note that numbers in grey area may increase over the next few days.) NHS England data. A graph of deaths with Covid-19 in England which occurred each day, by the delay in reporting. Thick line is overall daily announced deaths. NHS England data…

UK pandemic has so far cost £133 billion of bailout/borrowing. Economic crisis and Covid 19Finance minister Rishi Sunak has rushed out emergency measures worth an estimated 133 billion pounds ($163.7 billion) since the start of the crisis, mostly to keep people in jobs after many businesses were forced to close due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The economy shrank 25% in March and April as entire sectors were shuttered. With the economy beginning to re-open, Sunak will give an economic update on Wednesday where he is expected to outline further measures of support for workers and businesses…

PMQs Covid 19 spreading to care homes is governments fault.Matt Hancock has announced that the long period of self-isolation in care homes is coming to an end very soon. The Health Secretary explained “people are yearning to see their loved ones” and said announcements will be made in the “next few days”. He hinted that indoor visits would be within the allowed restrictions…

Serbia – riots as parliament stormed, in complaint about lockdown – Lockdowns infringement of civil liberties?  Serbia: Protesters try to storm parliament amid fresh unrest – A new bout of violence rocked Serbia despite the government’s ban on mass gatherings. The protesters decry the state’s handling of the pandemic, with many of them pelting the police with bottles, rocks and flares. Hundreds of protesters in Serbia clashed with the police in front of the parliament building in Belgrade on Friday, as protests rocked the country for the fourth consecutive day. Serbia faces a new wave of coronavirus infections, which the protesters blame on the government’s pandemic policy. Despite the ban on mass gatherings, thousands rallied in Belgrade and other major cities. Groups of protesters threw bottles, rocks and flares at the police guarding the parliament. The rioters also used the protective metal fence around the building as a weapon in the scuffles with the police. The police fired tear gas at the protesters and prevented people from entering the building. Fourteen police officers were injured in the rioting, and 71 people have been detained so far, said police director Vladimir Rebic. Several reporters have also been hurt…

Leah Hunt-Hendrix, granddaughter of a key JFK assassination plotter H.L. Hunt, is funding Black Lives Matter – And the dialectic continues… George Soros is funding Black Lives Matter through the Democracy Alliance (DA). The DA also includes Leah Hunt-Hendrix, the “Occupy heiress,” who is the granddaughter of Texas oil tycoon H.L. Hunt, the JFK conspirator who also funded the Nation of Islam despite his ties to the Klan and the John Birch Society. – Major donors consider funding Black Lives Matter – Activists for the protest movement are meeting in secret with liberal funder club –  According to a Democracy Alliance draft agenda obtained by POLITICO, movement leaders will be featured guests at a Tuesday dinner with major donors. The dinner, which technically precedes the official conference kickoff, will focus on “what kind of support and resources are needed from the allied funders during this critical moment of immediate struggle and long-term movement building.” The groups that will be represented include the Black Youth Project 100, The Center for Popular Democracy and the Black Civic Engagement Fund, according to the organizer, a DA member named Leah Hunt-Hendrix. An heir to a Texas oil fortune, Hunt-Hendrix helps lead a coalition of mostly young donors called Solidaire that focuses on movement building. It’s donated more than $200,000 to the Black Lives Matter movement since Brown’s killing. According to its entry on a philanthropy website, more than $61,000 went directly to organizers and organizations on the ground in Ferguson and Baltimore, where the death of Freddie Gray in police custody in April sparked a more recent wave of Black Lives-related protests. An additional $115,000 went to groups that have sprung up to support the movement… 

Adrian Hayday, immunologist at Kings College London, and part of Francis Crick Institute, on BBC World Service, discussing how autopsies have shown Covid 19 to have an AIDS element to it. Is Covid 19 a bio weapon? PMQs Corona virus hitting young people hard. – Like HIV, corona hits immune cells: Studies – NEW YORK: Researchers have discovered that in many Covid patients, the immune system is threatened by a depletion of certain essential cells, suggesting eerie parallels with HIV. In May, John Wherry, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania, and his colleagues posted online a paper showing a range of immune system defects in severely ill patients, including a loss of virusfighting T cells in parts of the body. Another study, conducted by Adrian Hayday, an immunologist at King’s College London, found an increase in levels of a molecule called IP10, which sends T cells to areas of the body where they are needed in Covid patients. Ordinarily, IP10 levels are only briefly elevated. But in Covid-19 patients IP10 levels go up and stay up. The result: a confused response from the immune system…

Ian R Crane on how Corona virus is difficult for young people….fund raiserIan R Crane is an ex-oilfield executive who now lectures, writes and broadcasts on the geo-political webs that are being spun; – YouTube channel – with particular focus on US (Global Corporatist) Hegemony and the agenda for absolute control of all global resources. Primarily Ian focuses his attention and research on the geopolitical arena and raising awareness of the Unconventional Gas (Fracking) agenda but has a deep personal interest in folklore, mythology and the cosmological belief systems of ancient and indigenous cultures. In fact, it is Ian’s research and understanding of these systems and beliefs which provides him with a unique insight into the unfolding global drama providing the catalyst for humanity’s evolution into a new plane of existence (Homo Luminous perhaps?)…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wyquDLGaSQ

Are masks necessary? Hector Drummonds graph of Covid 19 cases – Covid-19 hospital deaths in England by date of death, with 3-day moving average trendline (the thicker line). (Note that numbers in grey area may increase over the next few days.) NHS England data. – Face Masks Pose Serious Risks to the Healthy – By Dr. Russell Blaylock – “By wearing a mask, the exhaled viruses will not be able to escape and will concentrate in the nasal passages, enter the olfactory nerves and travel into the brain.” — Russell Blaylock, MD Researchers found that about a third of the workers developed headaches with use of the mask, most had preexisting headaches that were worsened by the mask wearing, and 60% required pain medications for relief. As to the cause of the headaches, while straps and pressure from the mask could be causative, the bulk of the evidence points toward hypoxia and/or hypercapnia as the cause. That is, a reduction in blood oxygenation (hypoxia) or an elevation in blood C02 (hypercapnia). It is known that the N95 mask, if worn for hours, can reduce blood oxygenation as much as 20%, which can lead to a loss of consciousness, as happened to the hapless fellow driving around alone in his car wearing an N95 mask, causing him to pass out, and to crash his car and sustain injuries. I am sure that we have several cases of elderly individuals or any person with poor lung function passing out, hitting their head. This, of course, can lead to death. A more recent study involving 159 healthcare workers aged 21 to 35 years of age found that 81% developed headaches from wearing a face mask. Some had pre-existing headaches that were precipitated by the masks. All felt like the headaches affected their work performance. Unfortunately, no one is telling the frail elderly and those with lung diseases, such as COPD, emphysema or pulmonary fibrosis, of these dangers when wearing a facial mask of any kind—which can cause a severe worsening of lung function. This also includes lung cancer patients and people having had lung surgery, especially with partial resection or even the removal of a whole lung…

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Second hour International News Followed By Investigative reports:

US Supreme Court rules half of Oklahoma is Native American landIn a joint statement, the Five Tribes of Oklahoma – Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole and Muscogee Nation – welcomed the ruling. They pledged to work with federal and state authorities to agree shared jurisdiction over the land. “The Nations and the state are committed to implementing a framework of shared jurisdiction that will preserve sovereign interests and rights to self-government while affirming jurisdictional understandings, procedures, laws and regulations that support public safety, our economy and private property rights,” the statement said…

Is today’s Thanksgiving based on a Massacre of Pequot Indians?In 1637 near present day Groton, Connecticut, over 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe had gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival which is our Thanksgiving celebration. In the predawn hours the sleeping Indians were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries who ordered them to come outside. Those who came out were shot or clubbed to death while the terrified women and children who huddled inside the longhouse were burned alive. The next day the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared “A Day Of Thanksgiving” because 700 unarmed men, women and children had been murdered. Cheered by their “victory”, the brave colonists and their Indian allies attacked village after village. Women and children over 14 were sold into slavery while the rest were murdered. Boats loaded with a many as 500 slaves regularly left the ports of New England. Bounties were paid for Indian scalps to encourage as many deaths as possible. Following an especially successful raid against the Pequot in what is now Stamford, Connecticut, the churches announced a second day of “thanksgiving” to celebrate victory over the heathen savages. During the feasting, the hacked off heads of Natives were kicked through the streets like soccer balls. Even the friendly Wampanoag did not escape the madness. Their chief was beheaded, and his head impaled on a pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts — where it remained on display for 24 years.

Donald Trump’s Independence Day speech at Mount Rushmore – President Trump delivers remarks at the 2020 Mount Rushmore Fireworks Celebration. – On the eve of Independence Day, President Donald Trump used a speech before Mount Rushmore on Friday to condemn protesters across the country for attacking monuments while announcing he would sign an executive order to establish a “National Garden of American Heroes.”

UN Special Rapporteur On Extrajudicial Assassinations Agnes Callamard on Press TV, discussing the drone killing of Solemeini and Iraqi officials. UN rapporteur : US drone killing of Iran’s General Soleimani sets dangerous precedent – A senior UN human rights investigator says the United States’ assassination of top Iranian commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad was an “unlawful” killing in violation of the international law. Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said on Monday that the US has failed to provide sufficient evidence of an ongoing or imminent attack against its interests to justify the January drone strike on General Soleimani’s convoy as it left Baghdad airport. “Absent an actual imminent threat to life, the course of action taken by the US was unlawful,” Callamard wrote in a report. The drone attack “violated the UN Charter”, Callamard added, calling for accountability for targeted killings by armed drones and for greater regulation of the weapons. “The world is at a critical time, and possible tipping point, when it comes to the use of drones. … The Security Council is missing in action; the international community, willingly or not, stands largely silent,” Callamard, an independent investigator, told Reuters…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-JqDYyKEgw

Russia’s Lavrov saying we’re getting closer to nuclear war – The presidents of Russia and the United States should jointly declare that the use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an international forum, the Primakov Readings, on Tuesday. “From a political perspective, it’s of principal importance that Russia and the US calm the rest of the world and pass a joint statement at a high level that there can be no victory in a nuclear war and therefore it is unacceptable and inadmissible,” Lavrov said. Lavrov recalled that the leaders of the US and the Soviet Union had earlier made such statements. “We do not understand why they cannot reconfirm this position now. Our proposal is being considered by the US side,” Russia’s top diplomat said…

Carrie Lamb on the new NSL law in Hong Kong – If you’re reading this, Beijing says its new Hong Kong security law applies to youThe full text of Hong Kong’s controversial new national security law came out late at night on June 30, the day it was enacted. Lawyers and legal scholars were quick to dissect the text and offer their analysis. In those early hours, one feature of the legislation stood out. Its 38th article seems to give the national security law (NSL) boundless reach. The text states that the NSL, in addition to covering anyone in Hong Kong, regardless of nationality or residency status, also applies to offenses committed against Hong Kong “from outside the Region by a person who is not a permanent resident of the Region.” “The scope of the law exceeds the wildest of expectations,” said Cora Chan, associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong. Legal experts question the feasibility of enforcing Article 38 on foreign nationals outside China, and its massive jurisdiction won’t be tested until the first case arises. But the provision’s sweeping latitude and threats of detention and surveillance are enough to prompt self-censorship and discourage visitors from traveling to Hong Kong—the kind of fallout that could undercut business confidence in the financial hub. “The sheer uncertainty of when Beijing would feel the need to use the law…will be the main way through which the law reaps its effect: by chilling conduct,” Chan said…

‘The Real Story’ on BBC World Service – hospitals closed in Lebanon – Lebanon on the brink. The Real StoryThe financial crisis in Lebanon seems to have accelerated rapidly ever since the government defaulted on a ninety-billion-dollar loan in March.The currency has lost nearly eighty percent of its value pushing a large group of its population below the poverty line. A shortage of cash has led many to barter household goods for food on Facebook. Even the Lebanese army has stopped serving meat to its soldiers. And many of its citizen are seeking refuge abroad. At the heart of the crisis is the country’s banking sector. Protesters see it as the embodiment of a corrupt economic system that has enriched the elites who are now unwilling to foot their share of the bill. Now, compounded by the outbreak of the coronavirus, has Lebanon entered its most critical moment since the end of the civil war? As the country stares into the abyss will its disparate political groups be willing to come together to prevent a financial meltdown? Ritula Shah and a panel of expert guests discuss what hope there is for Lebanon.  – Contributors: Freddie Baz – Lebanese economist; Henri Chaoul – Managing partner of financial advisory company, Levantine partners; Sybille Rizk – Lebanon Correspondent for the French Newspaper, Le Figaro; Sami Halabi – Director of Policy at Triangle research consultancy in Beirut.

Melvin Bragg’s ‘In Our Time’ show podcast from 2014 – Dr Mark Woolmer from Durham University discusses who the Phoenicians were. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote about a people from the Levant who were accomplished sailors and traders, and who taught the Greeks their alphabet. He called them the Phoenicians, the Greek word for purple, although it is not known what they called themselves. By about 700 BC they were trading all over the Mediterranean, taking Egyptian and Syrian goods as far as Spain and North Africa. Although they were hugely influential in the ancient world, they left few records of their own;

Interview with Philip Beale, former Royal Navy officer, who researched the Phoenicians, built a replica Phoenician galley trading ship in 2008, sailed it round Africa and then, in late 2019, from Morocco to the Caribbean in 29 days: history of the Phoenicians; famous Ra expedition in a reed-built Egyptian ship to the Americas across the Atlantic in 1971 by Thor Heyerdahl after previous 1940s Kon-Tiki expedition in the Pacific; evidence the Phoenicians made it across the Atlantic to the Americas;  

With 300 settlements down the Eastern Atlantic coasts, did the ancient Phoenicians beat Christopher Columbus and John Cabot to North Americas by 3,000 years? Nicotine and Cocaine found in ancient Egyptian tombs. Similar alphabets to the Phoenicians found in South America, same with Scandinavian runes. Ancient Phoenician DNA found in modern Cherokee indian tribe. Phoenician visits to the Americas taught in Haitian and Mexican schools until the 1970s. Carthaginian coins found in the Azores on the way BACK from the Americas. – Replica Phoenician ship, Phoenicia, arrived into the Dominican Republic on 31st December 2019, after 39 days at sea. Having departed Tunisia on 29.09.19, the success of the Expedition reinforces the notion that the Phoenicians had the capability and skill to sail to the Americas. The Phoenicia has since moved north to the USA for a stay in Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The expedition aims to prove that the Phoenicians could have reached the Americas 2000 years before Christopher Columbus. Phoenicians Before Columbus Facebook page – 

Who reached America first – Columbus or the Phoenicians? – A replica Phoenician vessel made in Syria is sailing the Atlantic to prove the ancient civilisation did it 2,000 years before ColumbusDescribing Columbus – who landed in the Americas in 1492 – as a “war criminal”, Beale said historical sources point to the Vikings (under Leif Erikson) having arrived in North America around 1000AD, followed, a few centuries later, by mediaeval Basque fishermen. Legends say Irish monk St Brendan also made the voyage in a leather boat; and that 14th-century emperor of Mali Abubakari II abdicated to set sail across the Atlantic in 1311. “The Phoenicians assembled one of the biggest fleets and almost certainly sailed to America. There doesn’t appear to be any record of ships returning but there are stories of African cultures being found in the jungles of Brazil so maybe they landed on the shores but couldn’t get back,” he said. – Writer and film-maker Lindsay McCauley travelled to Tunisia from Australia. While researching a book about Mayan architecture, he has drawn parallels between measurement systems used by the Mayans, the ancient Israelites and ancient Egyptians. “I can think of no other way for that measurement system to reach Mexico other than via a Phoenician ship, so this expedition is a crucial part of my research.”…

The vicious slaughter and genocidal crimes of ‘war criminal Christopher ColumbusA young, Catholic priest named Bartolomé de las Casas transcribed Columbus’ journals and later wrote about the violence he had witnessed. The fact that such crimes could potentially go unnoticed by future generations was deeply troubling to him. He expanded upon the extent of Columbus’s reign of terror within his multi-volume book entitled the “History of the Indies”: “There were 60,000 people living on this island, including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over 3,000,000 people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this? I myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it.” Such words offer the reader a firsthand account of the state-sponsored genocide that the Spanish Empire had financed through Columbus. Clearly, the intent of the Spanish Empire was to eradicate the islands of indigenous people through slavery and violence. In doing so they had further established their already dominant political/economic standing within Europe. In a matter of years, Columbus and his men decimated the indigenous people of the Caribbean islands….

Ancient coin suggests early activity on Bristol Channel – The details of the coin have been released two years after it was found near the River AvonA 2,300-year-old coin found after flooding along the River Avon near Bath has revealed details of early maritime activity up the Bristol Channel. The 20mm coin was spotted in receding floodwaters in 2012, but the owner kept the details private until now. It has been verified by the British Museum and is understood to be a Carthaginian coin, minted around Sardinia in 300-264 BC. Several similar examples have been recorded but only from the coastline. On one side of the coin is an image of Tanit – a Punic and Phoenician goddess – and on the reverse is a horse’s head. Its owner wishes to remain anonymous but has allowed it to be included in a history project in Saltford, where the coin was found. Project organiser Phil Harding said: “[The coin] predates the Great Wall of China, it predates the Roman Empire, it predates the birth of Jesus Christ, it predates Alfred the Great – it’s just fantastic.”…

Danish nod gives Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline fresh traction – The Danish Energy Agency has greenlighted the use of Russian ships that could speed up execution of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. US sanctions, however, may still put a dampener on the project.When the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) this week authorized the use of Russian ships able to lay the final part of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, advocates of the delayed project rejoiced. The move paves the way for the pipeline to reach its destination in Lubmin near Greifswald on Germany’s Baltic coast before the end of this year. But US sanctions and technical issues could still upset the best laid of plans. Some 1,230 kilometers (775 miles) in length, Nord Stream 2 is set to run from Russia’s Ust-Luga, but is now on hold 160 kilometers off the German coast after US sanctions came into force before Christmas seeing Swiss-Dutch company Allseas to withdraw its ships. The €10 billion ($11 billion) pipeline would double Russia’s direct export capacity to Germany as a first entry point to the EU to 110 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year. It is strongly opposed by Poland and Ukraine in Europe and the US…

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Friday 3rd July 2020

At six – discussing the big stories in Bristol, Britain and around the world
After seven – straight talking and investigative reports

Listen live online each week 17:00 to 19:00 BST, 10:00-12:00 EST, 09:00-11:00 PST. Repeats 2100 & 0900 BST daily https://www.internet-radio.com/station/prsc/

BCfm’s weekly Politics Show presented by Tony Gosling with Irish Republican Labour activist Martin Summers continues online after being ‘rested due to the pandemic’ on 24 March 2020 by BCfm managing editor Pat Hart. The Internet only BCfm Politics Show is now available 17:00-19:00 live Drivetime Fridays.

We are ready to go live on BCfm’s FM server remotely. Initially we were told ‘In the light of government and Ofcom guidance’ his team have decided not to broadcast discussion or political shows that ‘might put the FM licence at risk, and don’t want the burden of dealing with potential Ofcom complaints. Now we’ve been told a wider ‘reorganisation’ is underway and if we’re lucky this show may be allowed to return to FM in November 2020.

February 2019 Ofcom complaint result: UKLFI exposed as creation of Israeli foreign ministryBristol Post article: BCfm cleared after being reported to Ofcom for anti-semitic conspiracy theories

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First hour News Review: Mayor steals public dockside land to sell it off to his speculator chums – The Great Bordeaux Quay Robbery: with former Bristol mayor George Ferguson – Lockdown eases further on Saturday – will it work?

Known Crooked Outsourcing firms Serco and Deloitte get private Covid contractsSerco boss defends its work on setting up NHS test-and-trace system – Rupert Soames says criticism largely motivated by ideology amid calls for £45.8m contract to be cancelledThe boss of the outsourcing firm Serco has defended its “extraordinary” work in setting up the NHS coronavirus test-and-trace system, amid calls for the £45.8m contract to be cancelled. Critics of Serco’s involvement have pointed to its mixed record on public works, the use of subcontractors and a blunder last month in which it inadvertently revealed the email addresses of contract tracers recruited to assist in the UK government’s “test, track and trace” strategy. Rupert Soames, the company’s chief executive, acknowledged the scheme was not perfect but said criticism was largely motivated by ideological opposition to private companies running state services… Labour slams ministers over Deloitte virus testing deal – Pressure increases on government over amount of data given to health and local authorities – The opposition Labour party has attacked ministers for awarding one of the key coronavirus testing contracts without obliging the private provider to share the results of tests with public health bodies in England. The revelation about the deal with consultancy Deloitte, which set up the system that conducts the vast majority of tests in England, has added to the criticism of the government’s approach after it ordered the city of Leicester into lockdown. Leicester’s mayor said he only knew a few days before the lockdown was ordered on Monday how bad the situation was in his city as the government had only just begun sharing national data from dozens of drive-through testing sites and home kits provided by the Deloitte system… “We are paying hundreds of thousands of pounds if not millions to a private company to help with testing for coronavirus, and it appears no one commissioning that service thought to make sure they share the results with health authorities and councils when they find a positive case so they could do something with that data,” Ms Creasy told the FT…

Bristol City Council faces ‘catastrophic’ £82million blackhole due to coronavirus“It is urgent for government to engage in conversations with local authorities”  Coronavirus could leave Bristol City Council with a “catastrophic” £82million blackhole that would threaten frontline services, civic chiefs have warned. Head of paid service Mike Jackson said the authority’s vital income, such as from parking charges, council tax and business rates, will be severely damaged by the pandemic and that – without a bailout from Whitehall – the council would be forced to tear up its budget and plunder its reserves to stay afloat. He told the council’s overview and scrutiny management board: “We really need to make sure the Government understands the impact on our income streams. “The Government does understand the additional costs associated with responding to the crisis but I really don’t think they have grasped that for some authorities the loss of income streams is significantly greater than the direct cost associated with responding to the crisis… 

EXCLUSIVE: Selling Our City Off To Speculators In Secret – Mayor’s secret planning deal with private speculator for public land – Interview with former Bristol Mayor, George Ferguson: place making and a good balance of mixed uses; Bristol Arena project; Mayor Marvin’s cult-like regime and secrecy over proposed development on Bordeaux Quay in Bristol Harbour; Western Harbour development group, ‘pliable friends of former Merchant Venturers master John Savage and mayor Marvin Rees’ appointed to oversee development; Mayoral system problems; more secrecy over Temple Island development. PMQs local government and procurement fraud. Intu shopping centres gone bust.  

Hotel with more than 150 rooms planned for Bristol’s Bordeaux Quay and Millennium Square – The land is owned by Bristol City Council, with London-based property company Bell Hammer set to be the developer of the proposed scheme. AHMM says the Waterfront Place site is the only one in the area which remains empty since the site regeneration, listing Watershed, Bordeaux Quay, WeTheCurious, Bristol Lab and Arnolfini as the buildings retained from the industrial era that have been reinvented. It adds the development, planned where there is a “void in the townscape,” would “unify and bind together the collection of substantial buildings around the Meeting of the Waters: Bordeaux Quay, Narrow Quay+ Arnolfini, M-Shed, Wapping Wharf and LLoyds”. For these reasons, it says, the scheme can “rightfully provide a central building of Bristol, not just as part of the dockside at a location to where ships from around the world have travelled, but to express the contemporary strength of the place, combining work and leisure, in this location at the heart of the modern city”. A development agreement has been signed and the applicant is currently in pre-application discussions with the council.

December 2011 – former Merchant Venturer master John Savage’s 2011 vision book for the West of England ‘City Region’. 2050: High in Hope – Since its conception, The West of England Initiative has recognised the need for a long term plan for the Bristol City region. In 2011, The Initiative published 2050: High in Hope – A Business Vision for the West of England City-Region. – Inspired by the influential 1909 Plan of Chicago, which provided the city with a direction of development, 2050: High in Hope is a visual and written interpretation of a business vision for the West of England city-region. It is a strategic master plan

September 2019 – Mr Rees said the council’s plans to build houses in a redesigned Cumberland Basin was driven by the city’s housing crisis and climate emergency. “We do have to take advantage of city centre locations because that reduces car dependency,” he said. – Council chiefs also want to take the opportunity to free up land in the area, which they have rechristened Western Harbour, for up to 2,500 new homes for Bristol, as the city faces a huge housing and homelessness crisis. The initial feasibility studies came up with 10 possible options, but they were shortlisted down to three by the Mayor’s Office, and then shared with the public in an early engagement exercise. This is not the same as a consultation process, which is a formalised procedure seeking the public’s views on a specific proposal in advance of a formal decision by the mayor or cabinet. 

Boris Johnson’s ‘Build Build Build’ speech – how is this different from FDR’s New Deal? – Boris Johnson’s £5BILLION promise: PM puts forward radical ‘new deal’ for COVID recoveryBORIS JOHNSON has promised a £5billion “new deal” to kick start economic recovery and get Britain back to work after the coronavirus crisis. In a major speech, the Prime Minister has set out plans for an “infrastructure revolution” to modernise hospitals, schools, roads, prisons, the courts, high streets and town centres. And he urged the country to pull together to “build, build, build” its way out of the economic downturn caused by weeks of lockdown. “If we deliver this plan together, then we will together build our way back to health. We will not just bounce back, we will bounce forward – stronger and better and more united than ever before,” the Prime Minister said. Mr Johnson travelled to Dudley, in the West Midlands, to make his keynote speech on the UK’s future, deep in the so-called “Blue Wall” territory captured from Labour at last year’s general election…

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Second hour International News Followed By Investigative reports:

Ghislane Maxwell arrested: Were Epstein and her agents working for Israeli Mossad secret service?  – Former Israeli Intel Official Claims Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell Worked for Israeli Intel – Ghislaine Maxwell played ‘critical role’ in helping Jeffrey Epstein groom underage victims, US investigators say – Ghislaine Maxwell is an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison as he awaited trial over sex trafficking charges – Mafia entrapment? Mint Press..Witney Webb – Mega Group, Maxwells and Mossad: The Spy Story at the Heart of the Jeffrey Epstein ScandalThe picture painted by the evidence is not a direct Epstein tie to a single intelligence agency but a web linking key members of the Mega Group, politicians, and officials in both the U.S. and Israel, and an organized-crime network with deep business and intelligence ties in both nations. – While Part I and Part II of this series, “The Jeffrey Epstein Scandal: Too Big to Fail,” have focused on the widespread nature of sexual blackmail operations in recent American history and their ties to the heights of American political power and the U.S. intelligence community, one key aspect of Epstein’s own sex-trafficking and blackmail operation that warrants examination is Epstein’s ties to Israeli intelligence and his ties to the “informal” pro-Israel philanthropist faction known as “the Mega Group.” The Mega Group’s role in the Epstein case has garnered some attention, as Epstein’s main financial patron for decades, billionaire Leslie Wexner, was a co-founder of the group that unites several well-known businessmen with a penchant for pro-Israel and ethno-philanthropy (i.e., philanthropy benefiting a single ethnic or ethno-religious group). However, as this report will show, another uniting factor among Mega Group members is deep ties to organized crime, specifically the organised crime network discussed in Part I of this series, which was largely led by notorious American mobster Meyer Lansky…

Who was on the Lolita Express? Original article Flight Logs Put Clinton, Dershowitz on Pedophile Billionaire’s Sex JetWho exactly rode in Epstein’s private passenger jet? Well, former President Bill Clinton, for one, was a “Lolita Express” passenger, according to flight logs obtained by Fox News in 2016. Those records show that Clinton took at least 26 trips aboard the private vessel from 2001 to 2003, traveling with fellow passengers, who were identified with their initials or first names, including the name “Tatiana,” according to Fox News. Epstein also financed a private plane that took Clinton, the actor Kevin Spacey, and the comedian Chris Tucker to Africa to tour HIV/AIDS project sites, according to a 2002 New York magazine profile on Epstein that cited Page Six. A 2003 Vanity Fair profile of Epstein also said that the supermarket magnate Ron Burkle and the sports and entertainment agent Casey Wasserman, the grandson of the Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman, were on that trip. Clinton’s spokesperson, Angel Ureña, told The Associated Press that the former president took four trips on Epstein’s plane between 2002 and 2003, with staff and Secret Service always onboard. He added that Clinton “knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York … He’s not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade, and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida.” Other former passengers include the lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who has defended Epstein in court; Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary and Harvard president; the supermodel Naomi Campbell; and the scientist Steven Pinker, according to flight logs of the jet obtained by Gawker in 2015…

All aboard the ‘Lolita Express’: Flight logs reveal the many trips Bill Clinton and Alan Dershowitz took on paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet with anonymous women – Flight logs for Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane dubbed the ‘Lolita Express’ were published for the first time on Thursday – They show that former President Bill Clinton boarded the plane with women believed to have been involved in creating underage sex slave ring – Alleged victim Virginia Roberts says she was recruited as a slave when she was 15, and that she was forced to have sex with both Prince Andrew and Harvard law profession Alan Dershowitz – The latter, she says, molested her mid-flight on the private jet When confronted with the flight information by Gawker, Dershowitz admitted that he had known Epstein since 1997 and rode on the banker’s jet to attend Limited Brands CEO Les Wexner’s 60th birthday. And the ride up to Wexner’s birthday wasn’t just a one off thing. The logs show Dershowitz continued to fly on Epstein’s plane including a October 1998 flight from Massachusetts to New Jersey and a 1999 trip from New Jersey to Martha’s Vineyard. A 2005 jaunt from Massachusetts to Montreal shows Dershowitz traveled with Epstein, a woman named ‘Tatianna’ and others. Despite telling Gawker that he has a ‘very clear, unequivocal recollection’ of never being on a plane with ‘young women’ he has a hard time explaining who the single-named females are who scatter the flight logs. He said he doesn’t know who ‘Hazel’ or ‘Claire’ were, and that ‘Tatianna’ may have been a twenty-something woman who was friends with Epstein’s girlfriend, but that he never flew with her. And he also finds it hard to explain why his wife doesn’t appear to join him on the flights, who he publicly said accompanies him nearly everywhere in statements issued in the wake of the lawsuit….

New constitution vote in Russia. China and US’s possible coming war, and the role Russia would play. – Putin orders constitution changes allowing him to rule until 2036 – The longtime president’s move comes after voters approved the controversial changes during a week-long plebiscite. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered amendments that would allow him to remain in power until 2036 to be put into the Russian Constitution after voters approved the changes during a week-long plebiscite. According to a copy of the decree released by the Russian government on Friday, the amendments will come into force on Saturday. “The amendments come into force. They come into force, without overstating it, at the people’s will,” Putin said after he signed a decree to have the constitution revised. “We made this important decisions together, as a country,” the Russian president said during a video-conference with legislators who worked on drafting the amendments. The changes allow Putin to run for two more six-year terms after his current one expires in 2024, but also outlaw same-sex marriages, mention the “belief in God as a core value” and emphasise the primacy of Russian law over international ‘norms’…

Coronavirus Covid-19 denying priest – The Russian Orthodox Church has defrocked a coronavirus-denying monk who has defied Kremlin lockdown orders and taken control of a monastery with armed guards. A church panel in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg ruled to defrock Father Sergiy, who has attracted nationwide attention by urging believers to disobey church leadership and defy church closures during the pandemic. The monk did not show up at the session and dismissed the verdict. In a video posted by one of his supporters, he urged his backers to come to defend the Sredneuralsk women’s monastery where he has been staying since last month.  The church banned the monk from ministry in May, but he has continued preaching and last month took charge of the monastery outside Yekaterinburg that he had founded years ago. Scores of volunteers, including battle-hardened veterans of the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, helped enforce his rules, while the prioress and several nuns have left. Father Sergiy has declared the coronavirus pandemic non-existent and denounced electronic passes introduced in Moscow and some other regions to stem the outbreak as “Satan’s electronic camp”… 

High Court recognises Guaido as Venezuelan president not Maduro even though he didn’t stand in the 2018 election. Bank of England refusing to hand over gold to Venezuela  – UK court denies Venezuela’s Maduro access to gold in bank vault – The UK recognises Guaido as Venezuela’s president, a judge says in a case over gold bullion held at the Bank of England.  A judge in London has said the UK government had “unequivocally recognised” opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s president, in a battle over gold bullion held at the Bank of England. The case was brought by the Banco Central de Venezuela, asking to release $1bn in gold reserves to help fund the cash-strapped country’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. The Bank of England said it was unable to act on instructions because it was “caught in the middle” of competing claims for the presidency after disputed elections in 2018. A BCV board appointed by the government of Nicolas Maduro wants the gold released while a rival ad hoc board appointed by Guaido asked for the release to be denied. Commercial Court judge Nigel Teare, sitting at the High Court of England and Wales, was asked to rule on who was authorised to make the demand – Guaido or Maduro. In his judgement, he said on Thursday: “Her Majesty’s Government does recognise Mr Guaido in the capacity of constitutional interim president of Venezuela and, it must follow, does not recognise Mr Maduro as the constitutional interim president of Venezuela.”…

SNP MP calls on Johnson to deliver justice for murdered police officer at PMQs – An SNP MP has urged Boris Johnson to “reopen the criminal inquiry into the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher”The question from Allan Dorans – a former inspector in the Metropolitan Police – came just days after John Murray, the former police officer who cradled WPC Fletcher as she lay dying in 1984, launched a civil legal action in a bid to get justice for his slain colleague. Fletcher was gunned down by shots fired from the Libyan embassy. Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk – a senior member of the “revolutionary committee” that ran the embassy – was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder in 2015 but the case against him was controversially dropped in 2017 on the grounds of national security. Last week it was revealed that the UK Government had secretly barred him from Britain. He was reportedly “excluded” from the UK by the Home Office in January 2019. Raising the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions, Dorans, the MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, said: “On 17 April 1984, I was a serving police officer in the Metropolitan police, when WPC Yvonne Fletcher was shot and killed while on duty policing a demonstration outside the Libyan embassy in London…

Murder In St James’s – watch the full April 1996 two-part C4 Dispatches documentary HERE Investigation into the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot whilst on duty during a protest outside the Libyan Embassy in 1984. The two-part documentary suggests that she was killed, not by someone inside the Embassy as originally claimed, but by a gunman in an adjacent building used by the British security services. [2 x 40mins]

YVONNE FLETCHER MURDERED BY OUR SPOOKS In 1984, in London, Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead outside the Libyan people’s Bureau. – On 24 June 1997, Tam Dalyell MP questioned Prime Minister Tony Blair about the death of Yvonne Fletcher. Dalyell made particular reference to a Channel 4 documentary about the murder: “With the agreement of Queenie Fletcher, her mother, I raised with the Home Office the three remarkable programmes that were made by Fulcrum, and their producer, Richard Bellfield, called Murder In St. James’s. “Television speculation is one thing, but this was rather more than that, because on film was George Styles, the senior ballistics officer in the British Army, who said that, as a ballistics expert, he believed that the WPC could not have been killed from the second floor of the Libyan embassy, as was suggested. “Also on film was my friend, Hugh Thomas, who talked about the angles at which bullets could enter bodies, and the position of those bodies. “Hugh Thomas was, for years, the consultant surgeon of the Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast, and I suspect he knows more about bullets entering bodies than anybody else in Britain…

A decision was announced in May 2017 that for reasons of “national security” Yvonne Fletcher’s murder suspect, Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk, would not be taken to court. Senior policing sources told The Telegraph that the case against Mabrouk was dropped after a decision taken at the “highest level”. The source added: “Number 10 was involved.

Interview with Amy and Tom, two Hong Kongers living in Bristol, who are campaigning to keep their freedoms in Hong Kong, and are appalled by the new National Security Law just brought in – they explain how the new law effects protesters and anyone defying the authoritarian rule of China: media in China and lack of freedom of speech; China supporters in Bristol spying on the protesters; is it safe for them to go back to Hong Kong? Huawei head held in Canada, precipitated China’s actions? 

Details of China’s new Hong Kong National Security laws, which were both made public for the first time and came into affect on Wednesday 01 July 2020Crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces punishable by up to life in prison. – The activities of a new national security agency and its personnel in Hong Kong will not be under the jurisdiction of local government. – The central government in Beijing has an overarching responsibility for national security affairs in Hong Kong. – Anyone convicted of violating security legislation will not be allowed to stand in any Hong Kong elections. – Rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech, of the press, of publication, of assembly and demonstration, will be protected in accordance with the law. – Companies or groups that violate a national security law will be fined and could have operations suspended. – Damaging certain transportation vehicles and equipment will be considered an act of terrorism. – Authorities can surveil and wiretap persons suspected of endangering national security. – The law will apply to permanent and nonpermanent residents of Hong Kong. – The law says the management of foreign NGOs and news agencies in Hong Kong will be strengthened. – The leader of Hong Kong will appoint judges for national security cases – Property related to crimes under legislation could be frozen or confiscated – Mainland authorities will exercise jurisdiction in “complex” cases such as those involving a foreign country, or serious situations that pose a major or imminent threat to national security…

China forcing birth control on Uighur women to curb Muslim population, major report finds – One expert says the evidence uncovered shows the state is engaged in “genocide, full stop”. The Chinese government is forcing Uighur women and members of other minorities to take birth control as part of a campaign to curb its Muslim population, according to a major investigation. A report issued by the Associated Press said government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees and a former detention camp instructor indicated efforts to slash birth rates was far more widespread and systematic than previously known. The alleged programme has been conducted by the state even as it encourages some of the country’s Han majority to have more children and was described by some experts as “demographic genocide”…

Zheng Yanxiong: China appoints hard-line Hong Kong security chief – To understand Zheng Yanxiong you need to know about a Guangdong village called Wukan. In 2011, disaffected locals forcibly expelled government officials from the area, accusing the officials of grabbing their land in a series of corrupt deals with developers. A blockade ensued and, as part of a negotiated settlement to defuse tensions, the locals were given the right to elect their own council. It became a grass roots democratic exemption in China. Five years later, the residents – angry that no money had been paid for the stolen land – started marching in the streets again. The situation escalated after their elected leader was taken away by the authorities on what are thought to have been trumped up charges. The empowered locals were in charge of their own affairs and they believed they could achieve justice. But when the Communist Party became fed up with this rebellion it was over to senior cadre Zheng Yanxiong and others to deal with it. Hundreds of riot police were ordered in to seize control, making mass arrests and crushing the “Wukan experiment”. Since then this Cantonese-speaking enforcer has moved up through the ranks with a reputation for doing whatever is necessary. Now he’s in charge of a new security agency in Hong Kong which operates without any legal restraints whatsoever, and which no other agencies can touch.

Interview with Edwin Black, author of ‘IBM and the Holocaust’, about algorithm ghettos and ‘Newgenics’: China’s Social Credit system; RFID, chipping and a cashless societyAward-winning author Edwin Black joins us to discuss “Newgenics” and the Chinese-style “Social Credit Score” system which he believes will ultimately come to every nation on earth and which has been greatly accelerated by Covid-19. He describes how a person within such a system will become relegated to the “Algorithm Ghetto” with a “Non-Entity” or “Zombie” status. He looks at what this means for the future and what, if anything, individuals or nations can do to mitigate such a dystopian scenario.

Show Notes – “Digital ghetto,” “cashless society” pose threats even beyond Orwell, journalist contendsOne of the biggest threats facing the U.S. today is the “algorithm ghetto, the digital ghetto, the electronic ghetto,” Chicago journalist and Jewish historian Edwin Black told a group of Flint residents Friday while on a statewide tour as part of Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 12. Alluding to recent studies suggesting that memories of the Holocaust, the murder of six million Jews during World War II are fading, especially among American youth, Black said the “electronic ghetto” means that facts, history, even accounts of personal travails can be controlled, deleted with the click of a button. Black’s appearance, to a group of about 30 at the Knob Hill Bed and Breakfast, was part of a visit sponsored by the Flint Jewish Federation that also included a speech at Mott Middle College later in the day. He had spoken earlier at Grand Valley State University and at the Michigan State University Law School…

‘Living In a Algorithm Ghetto’ Glen Beck – When your life belongs to the state…Save Baby Alfie Evans…UK court sets date for toddler’s life support to end…Pope Francis is willing to help, but he’s not allowed to? …Author Edwin Black joins Glenn in studio to discuss his new book ‘The War Against the Weak’…more than one lens of eugenics to look through?….undesirables vs. those intending to craft a superhuman race…it won’t be about our skin color; it will be about our corporate worth?…the algorithm ghetto?…the rewriting of history is under way…China moves to rate its citizens by 2020

The Edwin Black Show Episode 1: Nuremberg for COVID-19 Is a Nuremberg-style tribunal needed to determine guilt and consequences if the COVID-19 pandemic indeed arose out of a deliberate Chinese government cover-up? Famed civil rights jurist Nathan Lewin, in Washington, DC, and Richard Heideman, international jurist specializing in terror cases and author of The Hague Odyssey: Israel’s Struggle for Security on the Front Lines of Terrorism and Her Battle for Justice at the United Nations, also in Washington, DC, joined Edwin to explore this issue…

Edwin Black https://edwinblack.com – The Edwin Black Show https://theedwinblackshow.com – Twitter https://www.twitter.com/EdwinBlackBook  Edwin Black is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling international investigative author of 200 award-winning editions in 20 languages in 190 countries, as well as scores of newspaper and magazine articles in the leading publications of the United States, Europe and Israel. With more than 1.6 million books in print, his work focuses on human rights, genocide and hate, corporate criminality and corruption, governmental misconduct, academic fraud, philanthropy abuse, oil addiction, alternative energy and historical investigation. Editors have submitted Black’s work thirteen times for Pulitzer Prize nomination, and in recent years he has been the recipient of a series of top editorial awards. He has also contributed to a number of anthologies worldwide…

5G, the new track of the arms race – While Canada has just authorized the extradition of Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of one of Huawei’s leaders, to the United States, the U.S. Congressional Research Service exposes the military component of the G5.A Congressional Research Service paper (see below) explains that this fifth-generation mobile data technology can have “many military applications. One such application is for “autonomous military vehicles,” that is, robotic air, land and naval vehicles capable of autonomously performing attack missions without even remote control. This requires the storage and processing of an enormous amount of data that cannot be carried out solely on board the autonomous vehicle. The 5G will allow this type of vehicle to use an external data storage and processing system, similar to the current Cloud for personal file storage. This system can make possible “new military operational concepts”, such as “swarming”, in which each vehicle automatically connects to the others to carry out the mission (e.g. an air attack on a city or a naval attack on a port). 5G will make the entire command and control system of the US armed forces more powerful on a global scale: currently – explains the document – it uses satellite communications but, because of the distance, the signal takes some time to arrive, causing delays in the execution of military operations. These delays will be virtually eliminated by 5G. It will play a decisive role in the use of hypersonic weapons, which, also equipped with nuclear warheads, travel at more than 10 times the speed of sound. 5G will also be extremely important for the secret services, making possible much more effective control and espionage systems than the current ones. “5G is vital to maintaining America’s military and economic advantages,” the Pentagon said.

Public trust in media plummets in UK with just 28% trusting most news – researchTrust in news in the UK is among the lowest in the world, according to the data.   Just 28% of people in the UK said they trust “most news most of the time”, according to a poll in January this year, down from 40% in January 2019. Trust in news in the UK is among the lowest in the world, according to data in The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism Digital News Report 2020, which found that overall trust in the media continues to fall globally.

Covid-19 has prompted boom for TV news, dip in media trust worldwide and surge in misinformation – 2020 Digital News Report“Consensus has already started to break down as normal activities resume and disagreements resurface about the best way to manage the recovery. Any ‘trust halo’ for the media may… be short-lived.” But as the coronavirus broke out, the report said overall levels of trust in the news globally (across 40 countries) were at the lowest point since it had begun to track the data, with 38% saying they trust news overall. In the UK alone this fell to 28%. The authors offered the explanation that “divided societies seem to trust the media less”, perhaps because news outlets “carry more views that people disagree with”. In the last five years Britain has faced the Brexit vote and what the report described as a “toxic political campaign” in December 2019 that returned Boris Johnson and the Conservatives to power. Splitting the UK sample of more than 2,000 adults by political leaning, only 15% of those on the left agreed with the statement: “I think you can
trust most news most of the time,” compared with 36% for the right….

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BCfm audio file – [right click to download]
Radio4All audio file – [right click to download]
Complete 120 minute show – [right click to download]