Cahal Milmo | June 26

The Independent - Sewing machine needle tipped with anthrax was developed for war effort

Tipped with a sewing machine needle and finished with a tail made from a drinking straw, they looked more like a schoolboy's toy than a terrifying weapon. For Britain's wartime scientists, however, these tiny projectiles were the sharp end of a chilling project to secure victory over the Nazis by bombarding German troops with poisoned darts.

A secret file that details British research to develop the lethal anti-personnel darts, carrying a toxin likely to have been anthrax or ricin, casts rare light on the work that was carried out by the Allies during the Second World War into chemical and biological weapons that could be deployed against Hitler's forces.

The document, released at the National Archives in Kew, London, reveals how scientists at Porton Down in Wiltshire, the site of Britain's top secret weapons laboratory, worked between 1941 and 1944 to perfect the projectiles to ensure the maximum number of casualties and the quickest death for enemy soldiers.

Entitled Research Into Use of Anthrax and Other Poisons for Biological Warfare, the report said the idea of using darts dated back to the First World War but the novelty of adding a poison, either coated on to a grooved point or injected through a hollow needle, meant that a viable weapon to cause "death or disablement" had been created.

Policing of protest in the UK is again under scrutiny after the Guardian obtained police surveillance footage showing the violent arrest of two women after they tried to photograph officers policing a climate protest. The women were part of an organization called FITwatch who monitor the activities of police Forward Intelligence Teams, surveillance units who's job is to collect photographic evidence during public order policing. The women tried to photograph officers in order to submit a complaint against them for covering their identifying badges and refusing to provide their numbers when asked despite regulations which require them to do so. The women were held for 4 days without bail, several of them in prison, before being released without charge.

The right to protest peacefully without the fear of police violence or arbitrary arrest is a crucial component of democracy. Cameras and mobile phones are probably the most powerful tools members of the public have for ensuring that the police behave appropriately at protests and that when abuses do occur they are reported. , Unfortunately in contemporary Britain protest policing requires public scrutiny as evidenced by the police violence at the G20 protests, and the failure of the press to cover it until forced to do so by footage taken by members of the public in which officers appear to assault the uninvolved bystander Ian Tomlinson shortly before he died of internal bleeding.

Jamie Doward, Gaby Hinsliff and Mark Townsend | June 21

The Observer - A confidential record of a meeting between President Bush and Tony Blair before the invasion of Iraq, outlining their intention to go to war without a second United Nations resolution, will be an explosive issue for the official inquiry into the UK's role in toppling Saddam Hussein.

The memo, written on 31 January 2003, almost two months before the invasion and seen by the Observer, confirms that as the two men became increasingly aware UN inspectors would fail to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD) they had to contemplate alternative scenarios that might trigger a second resolution legitimising military action.

Bush told Blair the US had drawn up a provocative plan "to fly U2 reconnaissance aircraft painted in UN colours over Iraq with fighter cover". Bush said that if Saddam fired at the planes this would put the Iraqi leader in breach of UN resolutions.

Steven Morris | UK | June 19

The Guardian -

A big police operation involving an unmanned drone, horses and drugs sniffer dogs will be launched at Stonehenge tomorrow as huge crowds descend on the ancient site for the summer solstice.

Because the celebrations fall over the weekend and fine weather is predicted, bigger crowds than usual are expected and Wiltshire police have said they will clamp down heavily on antisocial behaviour.

Restrictions are being placed on the amount of alcohol revellers can bring in and police have said they will not tolerate illegal drug taking or unlawful raves.

The force's no-nonsense approach, after a more relaxed feel in recent years, has raised fears that there could be clashes.

Some peace-loving druids have told the Guardian that they will be staying away because they fear the combination of large crowds - possibly more than 30,000 ‑ and the police's stance could lead to trouble.

Police have played down the idea that the event is the first big test of how police control large crowds since the violent G20 protests. They have denied that the presence of the drone and police horses shows they are taking a "zero-tolerance" approach to the event and say such measures are simply to make sure everyone is safe.

What will the drone be armed with? ;)

Ian Traynor | Brussels | June 19

The Guardian - European leaders tonight sought to revive the ill-fated Lisbon Treaty reforming the way the EU is run by delivering pledges shoring up Irish independence in the hope of securing a Yes vote in an Irish referendum in October.

But Brian Cowen, the Irish prime minister, told a summit of 27 government chiefs in Brussels that he would not win the referendum, expected on 2 October, unless the "guarantees" were legally enshrined in a new protocol that could cause problems for Gordon Brown and other European leaders by reigniting old feuds over the treaty.

In June last year, the Irish derailed the Lisbon project by rejecting the treaty in a referendum. The rest of the EU has agreed to assure Ireland that the new regime will not affect Irish military neutrality, ­abortion laws, taxation policy and the Irish are also guaranteed a seat in the European Commission.

UK

BBC - Nearly half of teachers questioned for a survey believe the health and safety culture in schools is damaging children's learning.

When questioned by Teachers TV, teachers complained about a five-page briefing on using glue sticks and being told to wear goggles to put up posters.

Others said pupils were not allowed to enjoy the sun or snow without taking health and safety precautions.

Teachers TV surveyed 585 subscribers to the channel by questionnaire.

Around 45% of those who took part thought health and safety precautions had a negative effect on teachers, as well as on students' personal development and learning.

Example health and safety rules
Wearing goggles to put up posters
Five-page briefing on the dangers of glue sticks
Ban on running in the playground
Wet grass stopping PE lessons
Ban on playing with conkers
One person at a time in staff kitchen
Ban on sweets because of choking risk
Buoyancy aids for capable year 11 swimmers on a school trip to France

Ian Cobain and Richard Norton-Taylor | June 17

The Guardian - The foreign secretary, David Miliband, told MPs today that he will not allow the public to see the secret interrogation policy that is at the heart of allegations that MI5 has been colluding in the torture of British citizens.

Gordon Brown has ordered that the policy be rewritten after a series of people complained that they had been questioned by British intelligence officers after being asked the same questions under torture by Pakistani and Bangladeshi intelligence officers. Brown has also pledged that the policy would be made public.

However, Miliband told MPs on the Commons foreign affairs select committee today that he has no intention of making public the policy as it currently stands, because of the risk of prejudicing a number of on-going court cases. Pressed further, he said that the currently policy would not be published even once those court cases have concluded, as to do so would "lend succour to our enemies".

** David Miliband has again stonewalled allegations that Britain was complicit in Binyam Mohamed's torture. What is he hiding?

June 17

BBC - Adults should be banned from smoking in cars when children are passengers, the new head of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has said.

In a BBC News website Scrubbing Up column, Professor Terence Stephenson, said children deserved protection.

"You can't inflict this on your colleagues any more. Why should we treat our children's health as a lower priority?" he said.

A Department of Health spokesman said it would review smoking laws next year.

Kim Sengupta | June 13

The Independent - Decision to send Guantanamo inmates to British colony sours 'special relationship', The secret deal allowing detainees from Guantanamo,to settle in tropical Bermuda was made without the knowledge of David Miliband

Senior aides to President Barack Obama accompanied four Uighur prisoners as they were flown from Guantanamo Bay to the British colony of Bermuda, without the UK being informed, it was revealed yesterday.

In an escalating diplomatic row over the transfer of the former terrorist suspects, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the transfer with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in what was said to be an uneasy conversation. Privately Whitehall officials accused America of treating Britain, with whom it is supposed to have a "special relationship", with barely disguised contempt.

One senior official said: "The Americans were fully aware of the foreign-policy understanding we have with Bermuda and they deliberately chose to ignore it. This is not the kind of behaviour one expects from an ally."

London | June 7

AP - Britain elected its first extreme-right politician to the European Parliament in results announced Sunday, a development mainstream lawmakers blamed on the recession and a collapse of trust in major political parties. The British National Party won a seat in northern England's Yorkshire and the Humber district — taking one of six seats in Europe's Parliament awarded in the region.

Britain is electing 72 European lawmakers and the far-right BNP, which does not accept nonwhites as members, was expected to win more seats when additional results were announced. The BNP won 10 percent of the vote in the Yorkshire and the Humber district. Projections based on early results showed the party was expected to win 7.5 percent of the vote nationally. Lib Dem FoP @ Daily Kos looks at the reasons why.

Patrick Hennessy and Melissa Kite | June 6

Sunday Telegraph -
Over three days last week a group of senior ministers, with a degree of co-ordination and timing, severely damaged the Prime Minister and came close to toppling him.

The background to the plot began less than two years ago, when Mr Brown he took over from Tony Blair. He offered Government jobs to a number of leading supporters of the former prime minister in a bid to heal the damaging divisions of the old TB-GB wars that had scarred Mr Blair's premiership. Many of those who accepted – including James Purnell, David Miliband, Hazel Blears, John Denham and Caroline Flint – did so despite their profound doubts over Mr Brown's suitability as Prime Minister.

As time went on – and Mr Brown's time at Number 10 lurched from crisis to crisis – those doubts grew. Last summer Mr Miliband had the chance to strike against Mr Brown after writing a provocative newspaper article, but failed to so.

 
Since the Telegraph itself has been instrumental in trying to topple Brown, I've marked this as 'unproven'. It's an interesting read, whether fact or fiction

John Lichfield | June 2

The Independent -

The D-Day anniversary has become a battleground with politicians accused of plotting to exclude the Queen. Nonsense, says John Lichfield: this so-called scandal has been a cock-up rather than a conspiracy

In the history of British bloody-mindedness, "Obama Beach" is one of the greatest calamities. Rarely have so many people been sent all verbal guns blazing into an all-out assault on a scandal whose basic facts have been so wilfully misrepresented.

False fact one: The French have "snubbed" the Queen by failing to invite her to celebrate the 65th anniversary of D-Day on Saturday. President Barack Obama and President Nicolas Sarkozy will attend an "international ceremony" but not the British/Canadian head of state.

False fact two: The British government, and diplomatic service, have behaved despicably because they failed to ensure that the Queen was sent an invitation by the French.

False fact three: The French government has traduced the memory of British and Canadian troops – more then half of the forces engaged on 6 June 1944 – by describing D-Day as "mainly a Franco-American affair."

None of these "facts" are true. The history of the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of D-Day is a history of cock-ups, false-starts and changed minds by the British Government (Obama Beach mirrors Omaha beach to that extent.)

Jonathan Owen | May 31

The Independent - For D-Day to succeed, two bridges had to be taken. As the 65th anniversary approaches, the men who stole into France in six gliders recall the fight that morning.

"It was one of the "most outstanding flying achievements of the war", said Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory after the smoke had cleared and the casualties had been tallied. Codenamed Operation Deadstick, six gliders carrying 139 men from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry formed the sharp point of a spearhead that was to be hurled on to France's Normandy beaches on 6 June 1944: D-Day.

read more after the jump

Jane Merrick

The Independent -

Tony Blair has appeared to wash his hands of the extraordinary rendition scandal, claiming he was not aware of Britain's involvement under his watch as Prime Minister. The former premier was yesterday accused of "evasiveness" and failing to ask "awkward questions" when he was in Downing Street about the UK's role in the rendition of two terror suspects in 2004.

Mr Blair, in an interview, failed to condemn the controversial practice, which the British Government denied involvement in until only February this year, by saying: "The Obama government is going to continue [with them] in certain circumstances anyway."

"First of all, really wait for the facts. I didn't know about those things, incidentally. But my strong advice is: wait for the facts."

** Simon Reid-Henry: To brush aside torture is to condone it

Denis Campbell | May 31

The Observer - Record numbers of Britons who are suffering from terminal illnesses are queueing up for assisted suicide at the controversial Swiss clinic Dignitas, the Observer can reveal.

Almost 800 have taken the first step to taking their lives by becoming members of Dignitas, and 34 men and women, who feel their suffering has become unbearable, are ready to travel to Zurich and take a lethal drug overdose.

The tenfold increase in the number of Britons who have joined Dignitas since 2002 will raise questions about the law that bans assisted suicide in Britain.

Daily Telegraph | Nile Gardiner

Politico has an extraordinary report on Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, launching a furious broadside against the British press. Here are Gibbs' sneering and condescending remarks:

"I want to speak generally about some reports I've witnessed over the past few years in the British media," Gibbs said. "In some ways, I'm surprised it filtered down."

"Let's just say if I wanted to look up, if I wanted to read a write-up of how Manchester United fared last night in the Champions League Cup, I'd might open up a British newspaper," he continued. "If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I'm not entirely sure it'd be the first pack of clips I'd pick up."

Gibbs' juvenile comments followed an article in The Daily Telegraph relating to the President's decision not to release new photos reportedly showing appalling prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib by a tiny minority of military personnel. The straightforward news piece, hotly disputed by the White House, is based upon an interview with Major General Antonio Taguba, who oversaw the inquiry into the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal.

For the record I firmly believe the President was right to refuse to release the photos in the face of pressure from the ACLU, which would only further inflame anti-American sentiment across the Muslim world. However I cannot recall an instance like this where the President's official spokesman has blasted the press of a key ally - in this case America's closest friend, Great Britain. MORE

John F Burns | London | May 28

NYT - Queen Elizabeth is not amused.

Indeed, she is decidedly displeased, angry even, that she was not invited to join President Obama and France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, next week at commemorations of the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, according to reports published in Britain’s mass-circulation tabloid newspapers on Wednesday. Pointedly, Buckingham Palace did not deny the reports.

The queen, who is 83, is the only living head of state who served in uniform during World War II. As Elizabeth Windsor, service number 230873, she volunteered as a subaltern in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service, training as a driver and a mechanic. Eventually, she drove military trucks in support roles in England.

David Hencke | May 25

The Guardian - Sensitive files detailing the extra marital affairs, drug taking and use of prostitutes by very senior officers in the RAF have been stolen, raising fears within the Ministry of Defence that personnel could be vulnerable to blackmail.

Up to 500 people in the service could be affected by the theft. They have been interviewed individually about the possible consequences to them and to their families.

The potentially damaging information was stored on three computer hard drives that went missing from RAF Innsworth, Gloucestershire, last September. The files were not encrypted, so could be opened easily. The RAF disclosed the loss of the hard drives two weeks after they went missing, revealing only that the bank details and home addresses of 50,000 servicemen and women were on the computers.

BBC - Over a million more jobs to be lost.

Bloomberg - U.K. companies ran down inventories at a record pace in the first quarter as consumer spending and investment plunged, ravaging industries from airlines to manufacturing. Investment fell 3.8 percent in the quarter and household consumption dropped 1.2 percent, the Office for National Statistics said today in London in a second estimate of gross domestic product. GDP dropped an unrevised 1.9 percent in the period, as predicted by the median of 28 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

Emily Dugan | May 17

The Independent - An Indian tribe which has lost its five-year battle to save its sacred home from destruction by a British FTSE-100 mining company earlier this month, only discovered its fate on Friday. The Dongria Kondh have been living for centuries on the remote Niyamgiri Mountain in eastern India, worshipping the hill god Niyam Raja and living off the land. But an Indian Supreme Court ruling means that Vedanta, a mining company owned by the London-based Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, can begin mining on the mountain.

Vedanta's subsidiary, Sterlite, has been given permission to begin mining bauxite, the most important aluminium ore, on land considered sacred by the tribe. Previous studies by academics, government bodies and charities have shown that an open-pit mine would destroy the habitat that has been its home for generations, destroy the forest, and cause water sources to dry up, threatening endangered animals and ecosystems.

For the people of Niyamgiri, which is situated deep in the state of Orissa, this represents a devastating blow as they rely on the land for food, culture and medicine. Kumti Majhi, a leader for the Niyamgiri people, said: "We cannot live without our god mountain and the forest, and we will continue our peaceful struggle. It is a life and death battle and the Dongria Kondh people are united on this."

Colum Lynch | United Nations | May 13

WaPo - It was 10:30 p.m. in Kabul, and Shkelquim Sina had just e-mailed his wife goodnight when an explosion ripped through his hotel bedroom, obliterating a wall, scorching nearly half his body and leaving the United Nations weapons expert barely clinging to life.

The alleged culprit was not a terrorist attacker but a U.N. colleague: Within 24 hours, Robert Shaw, a former weapons specialist for British intelligence, had been turned over to Afghan authorities by U.N. officials on suspicion of attempting to murder his Albanian colleague.

The October 2006 incident is one of the most egregious alleged crimes to have occurred within the U.N.'s ranks, but the ensuing investigation unraveled, leaving both men with shattered lives and damaged reputations with virtually no hope of having their names cleared.

Glenn Greenwald has all the dirty little details. Stellar behavior by the new member of the UN Human Rights Council...

Terry Macalister & Helen Carter | May 12

The Guardian - Nearly 370 farms in Britain are still restricted in the way they use land and rear sheep because of radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear power station accident 23 years ago, the government has admitted.

Environmentalists have seized on the figures as proof of the enormous dangers posed by nuclear power as the UK moves towards building a new generation of plants around the country.

Dawn Primarolo, minister for health, revealed 369 farms and 190,000 sheep were affected, but pointed out this was a tiny number compared with the immediate impact of radioactive fallout from Ukraine.

"This represents a reduction of over 95% since 1986, when approximately 9,700 farms and 4,225,000 sheep were under restriction across the United Kingdom. All restrictions in Northern Ireland were lifted in 2000," she added.

Owen Bowcott | May 11

The Guardian -
UN submission heralds battle with Argentina over mineral rights

A vast tract of the South Atlantic seabed – rich in oil and minerals – was formally claimed by the United Kingdom today in defiance of Argentinian opposition.

The submission to the United Nations commission on the limits of the continental shelf has been issued two weeks after the government in Buenos Aires lodged its application to extend control over an almost identical area of underwater territory.

The British claim is contained in a 63-page document that will be posted on the UN's website. It defines the precise limits of the extended continental shelf area around the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

The islands are all British overseas territories, although ownership is disputed by Argentina. The Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown said: "Successful completion of this process will confirm the boundaries of the UK's jurisdiction over its continental shelf, thus ensuring our sovereign rights to manage the shelf for future generations.

Giles Tremlett | May 11

The Guardian - • Hub of informants plotting attacks, says leaked report
• Several recent hijackings orchestrated from UK

For the 14 crew aboard the Karagöl, a Turkish chemical tanker churning through the lawless waters of the Gulf of Aden, it was the moment all seafarers dread: heavily armed Somali pirates were speeding towards the slow-moving cargo vessel, and there was no chance of escape.

The Turkish sailors were swiftly overpowered, and the 5,850-ton tanker was diverted to a port in Somalia, where it was held for two months while its owners negotiated a ransom payment.

What the crew could not know was that their ship had been singled out as a target by a network of informers based several thousand miles away – in London. Security officials say well-placed informants in the British capital, the world centre of shipbroking and insurance, gather so much detail on targets that, in the case of the Karagöl, they not only knew its layout, route and cargo, but had spent several days practising the assault.

The attack on the Turkish ship was a sign that the pirates have turned a regional phenomenon into a global criminal business that now reaches into the heart of London's shipping community.