Friday 5th October 2018

BCfm’s weekly Politics Show presented by Tony Gosling

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

Listen live http://www.bcfmradio.com/player or http://stream.bcfmradio.com:7017/live.mp3

BCfm audio files usually available 1hr, Radio4All 3-4hrs, after TX
Any probs mp3s should be on alternative links below by then

First hour: news review: From October 2017: Marvin Rees plans to knock down Cumberland Basin and rename it ‘Western Harbour’ – From private ‘Place Dynamix’ cover website: The Cumberland Basin sits at the fork between the River Avon and Bristol Floating Harbour. The western peninsula of Spike Island sits within walking distance of Bristol’s affluent neighbourhoods of Clifton and Hotwells, home to Georgian houses, universities and high -quality lifestyle retail offerings. The Cumberland Basin stakeholders met the mayor’s helpers in June and were told everything is early days (in effect go back to sleep). Bristol Against Tower Blocks Facebook page: Today someone found this: Odldy enough this has not been publicly revealed and was not mentioned by City Design in their 9th April presentation during the Local Plan consultation period. The person who found this “lead consultants website” comments as follows – What stands out is: • The sheer density of the proposed building on Spike Island. • The intention to build as high as the current Bond Warehouses (!) • The large edifice at the tip of Spike Island. No doubt giving a premium view of the Suspension Bridge. The view from the Bridge might not be quite as premium in future. I do hope it is proposed to be a public building, and just not expensive flats or offices. • The smaller height of the proposed Hotwells scheme. Albeit what precisely is planned is unclear. • The restoration of Avon Crescent as a through-route. • Some really ugly architecture, although it might just be indicative of what could be built there (if we make as little effort as we have with the rest of the Harbourside). • The lack of a replacement bridge (!!) – source on the Place Dynamics pages – Mayor Marvin Rees plans to get rid of swing bridge and put tunnel in; Bristol set to smash Marvin Rees’ target of 2000 new homes a year target; Bristol congestion charge? – Bristol buses, Metrobus;  Airbus Filton takes on swathes of apprentices amid growing fears of Brexit ‘carnage’  – George White gifted Filton to Bristol;  Fracking protesters’ ‘absurdly harsh’ jail sentences spark calls for judicial review backed by hundreds of scientists;  Welsh leaders urged to halt ‘nuclear mud’ dumping off Cardiff – ‘Radioactive mud’ Sediment from Hinkley Point C construction site: Among those backing the objectors is the Emeritus Prof Keith Barnham, a distinguished research fellow in the physics department at Imperial College London, who argues it is possible that large amounts of uranium and dangerous levels of plutonium could have reached the mud when cooling water from the decommissioned Hinkley Point A was discharged. 2018 Tory Party Conference: speech by Esther McVey, Work & Pensions Secretary – jobs and great new benefit system; Theresa May’s speech – an end to austerity? – Brexit – John Pilger’s view of the crooked 2008 bankers who caused austerity; Boris Johnson’s speech to party conference – Chequers Brexit deal no-good, power of EU.
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BCfm audio file
Radio4All audio file

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL5mnD6HrzA

“It reads more like a spy novel” @annaholligan on press conference in The Hague where Dutch intelligence services released a case file#politicslive https://t.co/BMhKPQG8gK pic.twitter.com/32J4nf77eZ

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) October 4, 2018

Second hour: Investigative reports: Claims of Russian Hacking from all over the World:  what does GCHQ do!;  easy to conceal the origin of an attack;  Western Intelligence Agencies and Information Warfare; CNN article: UK blames Russian military for ‘reckless’ cyber attacks, Britain, Australia and New Zealand have accused Russian military intelligence of carrying out a worldwide campaign of “malicious” cyber attacks, including the hacking of the US Democratic National Committee in 2016. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement Thursday that the country’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) had found that Russian GRU intelligence service operatives were behind cyber attacks believed to have cost the global economy millions of dollars. Australia and New Zealand released similar statements alleging that their own intelligence agencies had found evidence of Russian involvement in the same attacks on political, business, media and sporting institutions; Wikileaks broke US election fixing story; Anna Holligan on BBC – about Russian GRU agents outside Global Chemical Weapons Watchdog OPCW building in The Hague – trying to hack in; Is this what the Russian agents learned in The Hague? OPCW said Skripal poison may have been BZ nerve gas not Novichok; Russia’s foreign minister has claimed Sergei and Yulia Skripal were not poisoned by nerve agent novichok, but a separate chemical possessed by the UK and US. Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had received information from a laboratory in Spiez, Switzerland suggesting the Russian double agent and his daughter were exposed to a non-lethal substance known as BZ. He claimed the laboratory had passed Russia confidential information after analysing samples of the agent used in the attack on the Skripals in Salisbury last month. – Israeli assassination expert interviewed on Salisbury Novichok story: Israeli assassination expert Alexander Brass: pulls ‘absurd’ Skripal story to pieces: An Israeli expert on international terrorism, writer Alexander Brass, shared his view on the case of the Skripals poisoning in Salisbury. Brass draws parallels between the work of the special services of Israel and Russia – he believes that if to compare the British version with the practice of the special agents, then the absurdity becomes obvious. “Alexander, so what, in your opinion, happened in Salisbury?” – There was a rough provocation by the British special services. In my opinion, this is obvious.  – Why do you think so? – “There’s a lot of stupidity on stupidity.” The story with Petrov and Boshirov does not hold up any professional peer review. According to the Brits, the Skripals were poisoned by GRU agents (this is what the department is called, although this is now the Main Directorate of the RF General Staff). I want to explain how the special services work. If you need someone to eliminate, then this is a very serious operation, which is being prepared for a long time. A very significant material and human resource is allocated. We are talking about dozens of employees. On the territory of this state, an “advanced command post” is being created. In the operation, a technical support group, a logistic group, a cover group, an external surveillance group and a group of performers are involved. The performers themselves appear at the very last moment. They do not go anywhere, lighting up on cameras, do not use public transport, but move on rented cars, which they do not rent themselves. And the more they will not stop in hotels, but will live on safe houses provided by the logistics group. Such groups do not come under the passport of their country, do not go to the embassy for obtaining a visa, leaving fingerprints. This is complete nonsense. Professionals do not work that way. If the GRU acted, both the killers and the other participants in the operation would come to the UK on the passports of other countries that have visa-free relations with it. Here, two alleged GRU officers go to the embassy, ​​leave their fingerprints there, get a visa, stop at the hotel, pass under all the cells. This you will not find even in ladies’ detective novels;  Theresa May’s speech about the dangers of Putin, and Corbyn’s security policies.  Plants more resilient to insects – biological weapon. US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison appeared to threaten war against Russia in comments Tuesday, saying the US was prepared to preemptively “take out” certain Russian missiles that the US objects to Russia having. Hutchison added that Russia was “on notice” that the US was prepared to launch preemptive military strikes against them, and would not allow Russia to keep any missiles that the US believes are in violation of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. Attacking Russia would be a serious issue, whether or not US officials believe they have a treaty pretext to justify it. Russian officials were quick to warn that they don’t think people making such statements realize the “danger of aggressive rhetoric.” www.AntiWar.com. Pentagon – strikes legal– if ‘partners’ are benefiting from attack. Mattis – taking out missiles. Interview with Barry Wynne, former SAS Officer, about the Batang Kali Massacre in Malaysia in 1948 and the jungle warfare he took part in. Lopresti family of Filton and Bradley Stoke MP, Freemasonry and ice cream fame – claims of slavery and assault by staff.  Windows on World event about local government being privatised – by Mark Windows and Piers Corbyn. Did you know that 64% of populations in “democracies” stated that their governments “rarely or never act in the public interest?”

Radio4All download pages
BCfm audio file
Radio4All audio file