Straw vetoes Iraq minutes release

"BBC NEWS | Politics | Straw vetoes Iraq minutes release
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has vetoed the publication of minutes of key Cabinet meetings held in the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003. He said he would use a clause in the Freedom of Information Act to block the release of details of meetings in which the war's legality was discussed. Releasing the papers would do 'serious damage' to Cabinet government, he said, and outweighed public interest needs."

Presumably vetoed because he knows what a bunch of deceiving tykes it will reveal the Government to be.

"'There is a balance to be struck between openness and maintaining aspects of our structure of democratic government,' he [Straw] said."

There was no democracy involved in the decision to go to war - the Cabinet's decision was a complete travesty.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Straw vetoes Iraq minutes release

Pay recycling costs, stores told

"BBC NEWS | Business | Pay recycling costs, stores told
UK supermarkets produce too much packaging, almost 40% of which is non-recyclable, local councils say. The Local Government Association argues supermarkets should pay towards the collection of their packaging as an incentive to cut back. In a survey of 29 common grocery items, it found Waitrose had the most wrapping while Tesco had the least."

Rather ironic given yesterday's posting about Tesco - and the fact I shop at Waitrose. From personal experience, I don't agree with the above. However, the level of packaging is still excessive.

BBC NEWS | Business | Pay recycling costs, stores told

Ministers 'using fear of terror'

"BBC NEWS | UK | Ministers 'using fear of terror'
A former head of MI5 has accused the government of exploiting the fear of terrorism to restrict civil liberties. Dame Stella Rimington, 73, said people in Britain felt as if they were living 'under a police state' because of the fear being spread by ministers. 'It would be better that the government recognised that there are risks, rather than frightening people in order to be able to pass laws which restrict civil liberties, precisely one of the objects of terrorism - that we live in fear and under a police state,' she said."

She has been critical of Government policy before; this is quite outspoken - but she's right on the money.

BBC NEWS | UK | Ministers 'using fear of terror'

Typical Tesco waste

Typical Tesco waste,
originally uploaded by hockeyshooter.

This photo demonstrates one of the reasons why I never shop at Tesco. Lots on the packaging about how bad the cakes are for you, but nothing about how, or even if, the incredibly wasteful container can be recycled. What's wrong with a cardboard box? Or a paper bag?

Photographers angry at terror law

"BBC NEWS | UK | Photographers angry at terror law
Hundreds of photographers have staged a protest outside Scotland Yard against a new law which they say could stop them taking pictures of the police. The law makes it an offence to photograph police officers or military personnel if the picture could be used for a purpose linked to terrorism. The National Union of Journalists said the law could be used to harass photographers working legitimately. The Home Office said it was designed to protect counter-terrorism officers."

...but you can just bet that, just like other "anti-terrorism" legislation recently introduced, it will be applied in other circumstances.

BBC NEWS | UK | Photographers angry at terror law

Anti-terror tactics 'weaken law'

"BBC NEWS | World | Anti-terror tactics 'weaken law'
The UK and the US have 'actively undermined' international law in the way they fight terrorism, a report by judges and lawyers has said. The independent International Commission of Jurists carried out a three-year global study. It concluded that many measures introduced to fight terrorism were illegal and counter-productive."

Anyone with half a brain (and that obviously discounts the Bush administration) could see that abducting and torturing people, and even using foreign interrogation centres to get around your own laws, isn't exactly taking the moral high ground.

"Mr Chaskelson, chairman of the panel, said: 'In the course of this inquiry, we have been shocked by the extent of the damage done over the past seven years by excessive or abusive counter-terrorism measures in a wide range of countries around the world. Many governments, ignoring the lessons of history, have allowed themselves to be rushed into hasty responses to terrorism that have undermined cherished values and violated human rights. The result is a serious threat to the integrity of the international human rights legal framework.'"

It is a shame that the panel doesn't go a step further specifically name Bush.

BBC NEWS | World | Anti-terror tactics 'weaken law'

Price of petrol creeps up in 2009

"BBC NEWS | Business | Price of petrol creeps up in 2009
The price of petrol at the pump has been steadily rising since the start of January, figures have shown. However, the price of crude oil is now 40% lower than the last time petrol cost 90p a litre, back in March 2007, according to the AA."

Blatant profiteering by the oil companies again - and of course the Government benefit, so they're in no hurry to say anything untoward.

BBC NEWS | Business | Price of petrol creeps up in 2009

Government plans travel database

"BBC NEWS | UK | Government plans travel database
The government is compiling a database to track and store the international travel records of millions of Britons. Computerised records of all 250 million journeys made by individuals in and out of the UK each year will be kept for up to 10 years.

The government says the database is essential in the fight against crime, illegal immigration and terrorism. But opposition MPs and privacy campaigners fear it is a significant step towards a surveillance society. The intelligence centre will store names, addresses, telephone numbers, seat reservations, travel itineraries and credit card details of travellers."

The Police State expands ever further. Pretty soon we will have to ask permission to travel. This country gets more like Eastern Europe under Communism by the minute.

BBC NEWS | UK | Government plans travel database

Miliband defends secrecy stance

"BBC NEWS | Politics | Miliband defends secrecy stance
David Miliband has told MPs that releasing classified US information could do 'real and significant damage' to British national security. Publishing details of the treatment of Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed, against US wishes, could damage trust vital to intelligence sharing, he said."

Bush has gone - there's no need for the UK Government to be afraid of him or his cronies any more. Miliband is obviously scared that revealing anything about Binyam Mohamed's treatment will open the floodgates of evidence pointing at yet more UK Government complicity in CIA torture.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Miliband defends secrecy stance
'No torture pressure' - Miliband
Ministers face torture pressure

Halifax claim 1.9% house price rise

"BBC NEWS | Business | House prices 'up 1.9% in January'
The price of UK homes rose by 1.9% in January, compared to December, according to the Halifax."

Does anyone really believe that? How come the Halifax often report rises when others report drops?

"Last week, a survey by Nationwide suggested house prices fell by 1.3% in January, and they said job worries were putting off people buying homes."

See.

BBC NEWS | Business | House prices 'up 1.9% in January'

From Nokia 6124 to Flickr via Shozu

Walton Church,
originally uploaded by hockeyshooter.

Impressed with how well Shozu is working on my new Nokia 6124 mobile phone. There doesn't appear to be any location data being sent, but then this phone doesn't have built-in GPS. But the app works pretty seemlessly, showing a little popup each time I take a photo to ask if I want to send it straight to my Flickr account. Vodafone have helped too by reducing significantly the cost of data on PAYG - you can now get 24 hours of "unlimited" data traffic for just £1.

Webcam revisited

Once again struggling with an IP webcam and encountering D-Link's daft choice of Direct-X as the only way to display the video from their cameras. Meaning that only IE 6 users can view them. An now, additional security in IE 7 means you often can't view with that either.

Go-ahead for new Heathrow runway

"BBC NEWS | Politics | Go-ahead for new Heathrow runway
The government has given the go-ahead for a third runway at Heathrow, saying it is the 'right' move for the country."

Sod the environment, eh? I'm absolutely disgusted by the Government's decision to build this runway. It shows complete contempt for the environment and destroys any remaining credibility they may have had when it comes to green issues. What hope do we now have in persuading other countries to kerb their greenhouse gas emissions having made this decision? We should be cutting flights, not allowing more - regardless of how "green" the aircraft may purport to be.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Go-ahead for new Heathrow runway

Non-DRM iTunes contain your email address

"iTunes Plus: Be warned: your account information is stored in every file
Although iTunes Plus files feature no copy protection, files downloaded still contain the email address you have registered with iTunes. So although files can physically be shared with, and played by, friends and family, any of your purchases that end up on file-sharing networks, for example, can be traced back to you."

Personally, I'm happy to continue to purchase DRM-protected files - in the unlikely event I want an MP3 version, I just burn a music CD from iTunes, then rip the tracks back in again. But the above is just damn sneaky - I certainly hope they've put that in the small print somewhere.

iTunes Plus: Everything you need to know - Crave at CNET UK

No.10 on Photography in Public Places

"Number10.gov.uk | Photographylaw - epetition response
There are no legal restrictions on photography in public places."

Well, that's a good start. However, it goes on to say that in each situation "it would be an operational matter for the police officer concerned". So I don't think this has really addressed the issue at all. They can quote pretty much any law they like and tell you to clear off - or worse - should they fee like it.

Number10.gov.uk | Photographylaw - epetition response

'Carbon cost' of Google revealed

"BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Carbon cost' of Google revealed
Two search requests on the internet website Google produce 'as much carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle', according to a Harvard University academic. US physicist Alex Wissner-Gross claims that a typical Google search on a desktop computer produces about 7g CO2. However, these figures were disputed by Google, who say a typical search produced only 0.2g of carbon dioxide."

That's staggering. It really is about time that a serious effort was made to make computers considerably more efficient.

BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Carbon cost' of Google revealed

Bush warns Obama of terror threat

"BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Bush warns Obama of terror threat
Outgoing US President George W Bush has warned his successor that a terrorist attack is still the "most urgent threat" to the US."

Bush has been using scare tactics on his public for the last 8 years, so he's applying it to the new President now. I think you'll find, George, that drugs and global warming are already killing a lot more of your citizens.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Bush warns Obama of terror threat

Blogging direct from iPod

Thought I'd try an application that would allow me to post direct from my iPod to my Blogger blog. Works too!

Home Office denies remote snooping plan

"Home Office denies remote snooping plan • The Register
The Home Office has denied it has made any change to rules governing how police can remotely snoop on people's computers. Any such remote hack is governed by Ripa - and the rules have not changed. But European discussions on giving police more access are underway..."

Surely no one can deny now that we - and that now seems to include the rest of Europe - are becoming a Police State?

Home Office denies remote snooping plan • The Register

UNIX_TIMESTAMP 'bug'

Not really a bug as such - its just an issue you have to consider and work around - in the UNIX_TIMESTAMP function in mySQL and is related to the twice-annual 'summer time'/'daylight savings time' clock change. My code was saving the right date into the database - it was just fetching it back again that introduced an error. I tried to store the date 31st March 2009 but when I recalled the data, it was displayed as 30th March. So I added some comments to my HTML to see what was happening:

<!-- my_date_field = 2009-03-31 -->
<!-- UNIX_TIMESTAMP(my_date_field) is 1238454000 = 30-03-2009 -->

If you use a 'date' field, the date ends up a day out, if you use a 'datetime' field, it ends up an hour out.

Fortunately there is a workaround:

UNIX_TIMESTAMP(your_date_field)

...has to be replaced with:

UNIX_TIMESTAMP(CONVERT_TZ(your_date_field, '+0:00', 'SYSTEM'))