Home Office 'colluded with Phorm'

Ho ho ho ho. Phorm is a nasty, unwelcome watcher on everything you do on the Internet. Shame on any ISP that decides to instigate its 'service'.
On the surface, it's about serving up relevant ads - but to do this they need to monitor the sites you are going to.
It's unethical and it's wrong.
And lordy - here we have the Home Office taking an interest. As they always would.
There's no doubt that they would be interested in the 'service' for other means.
Coming after Jackboot Jacqui the Home Secretary for Zanu Labour saying they wouldn't keep a database of our internet and email usage, the whole thing stinks.
We are so close to losing our privacy and, to an extent, our liberty is frightening.
Here's how the BBC reports this:
Home Office 'colluded with Phorm' The ad-serving system profiles the sites people visit online The Home Office has been accused of colluding with online ad firm Phorm on "informal guidance" to the public on whether the company's service is legal.
E-mails between the ministry and Phorm show the department asking if the firm would be "comforted" by its position.
The messages show Phorm making changes to the guidance sought by the ministry.
Lib Dem Home Affairs spokeswoman Baroness Sue Miller, who has questioned the Home Office about Phorm, said the e-mails were "jaw dropping".

Captain Gatso
The Motorists Friend

More speed cameras planned for UK roads

This is simply unbelievable. OK so the country is skint but do we really need more Government cash-making machines by the road side.
The funniest part about this new plan is that the Govt wants to create the safest roads in the world 'within 10 years'. Errr, it's probably passed your attention but until Zanu Labour came to power we did have the world's safest roads.
But what the hell - drivers are now facing more points and fines for motoring 'offences'.
And to introduce these 'time over distance' cameras is going to cause riots - if you don't crack down on uninsured, unregistered and unlicensed drivers first. See later.
There's a crack down on drink and drug driving - with random breath testing becoming more common - which is to be welcomed. I doubt that this means more police on our roads.
However, drivers are facing a ban after only two speeding offences with penalty points being doubled to six points for drivers who exceed the speed limit by 15mph in a 20mph or 30mph area, or by 20mph in higher speed zones.
Apparently, there's more action against uninsured and unlicensed drivers also set to be introduced. I doubt this will be that big - it's politically fraught since so many of the unlicensed drivers are immigrants.
I have had, and I mean this literally, enough of this Zanu Labour crap.
Just remember there's an election next year.
Read more.

Captain Gatso
The Motorists Friend

Plans to cut traffic speed limits

News that the Government is planning to reduce speed limits on A roads and country roads shows, once again, just how woolley headed this lot really are.
The Government's own figures show that speed is responsible for just FIVE PER CENT of all accidents.
There is a way of playing with the figures which boosts it up to 40 per cent but that entails 'could bes' 'possibilies' etc etc.
You face more danger at a junction within one mile of your home - not on an A road.
Jim Fitzpatrick said in a statement: "We've already made real improvements to the safety of our roads - there are now almost 17,000 fewer deaths or serious injuries in a year than there were in the mid-1990s. But it is intolerable that eight people are still dying on our roads each day."
Errr no you haven't mate. The figures have actually got worse since then, especially with the introduction of speed cameras. (If anyone wants to seethis in stark reality check out the stats for essex. Blimey, they make your eyes water).
We do need 20mph zones outside schools and hospitals but these speed freak Nazis will just lump them in places where they aren't needed to slow motorists down and cause tailbacks.
Talking of which it's good of the Government to announce its 'Greenwave' thinking. This is a tacit admission that traffic has been deliberately slowed down by red lights to cause congestion, and burn more fuel so we have to pay for more (at 75 per cent tax).
Empty words and empty promises.
Educating drivers and putting more traffic police on the roads is the ONLY way to improve the statistics.
It's a real shame that we don't have Paul Smith from SafeSpeed around anymore to show this plan up for the crap that it really is.

Captain Gatso
The Motorists Friend

The police are stuck in a minefield

It's no suprise that the IPCC is getting involved with the police not wearing the ID numbers on their uniforms.
It's getting out of hand. Loads of coppers turned up at the G20 demo with theirs missing or covered up. This is strictly against their own rules. And they did at the Tamil protest outside Parliament too.
And then we have news that the raid on Tory MP Damien Green was wrong but also politically motivated. The police overstepped the mark and have shown they are just a political arm for Zanu Labour. I said previously there was never any 'national security threat'.
The Home Secretary is starting to look ridiulous. A politically motivated Police investigation to silence an opposition MP? Unbelievable.
To underline that the police are their own worst enemy and we now live in a police state, consider from today's news:
* two Austrian tourist have their photographs of London BUSES deleted by two coppers under the anti terrorism legislation (indeed the coppers are wrong and may have committed an offence themselves)
* The woman hit with a cosh at the G20 says her tormentor is a bully (by a sergeant without his ID on his shoulder and who towered above the woman)
* And I would like to remind readers that when Tony Blair was arrested (the ONLY serving Prime Minister to be arrested) his DNA was not taken. Again aganist the rules and no reason as to why he has special treatment

My police friends are getting fed-up with how the police are being shown up in the media. There's just one easy solution - remember who pays your wages and start showing decent ordinary people some respect.

There's more on this issue tomorrow!

** I could rant on about petrol prices rising to 95p a litre but I can't do it. I'm beyond despair at this Government fleecing honest, law-abiding motorists in this way. Disgusting. Vote them out.
*** I could even go on about the Budget that's being planned. We are already the most taxed nation in Europe so we can't have any more taxes imposed. Then there are rumours that our pensions (ie Private not public service ones) are about to be raided once again. We must be close to civil insurrection mustn't we?

Captain Gatso

And so the PR spin begins to unravel

So, as I flagged up last week, it doesn't matter that you put a positive spin on what could be a dodgy assignment - the truth will always out.

And here we have yet more officers being fingered for unprovoked violent behaviour.

The fact most officers didn't have their numbers, or ranks, display suggests they went to the G20 to carry out mindless acts of violence.

In the latest video there is no suggestion that the sergeant was provoked into reacting.

But he is a professional and beating a woman with a metal cosh is no way to help in police relations.

Is that the sound of birds coming home to roost? The police have undermined and criminalised vast numbers of law-abiding people with their ceaseless tactics of hammering motorists, their ramping up of the big brother police state and generally losing respect of ordinary members of the public (and for this instance I point to the demonstration violently put down in Luton the other day - shame they didn't use the same tactics when the Muslim chanters disgraced the soldiers' homecoming parade).

Again, I congratulate the public relations operations within the police. Excellent work but this was always going to unravel.

Though I'm pleased to see that a review of tactics is being asked for. Believe me, 'penning in' innocent law-abiding members of the public and treating them like crap just won't wash anymore.

And whilst on this subject - don't proclaim that there isn't any CCTV footage to prove the Tomlinson incident without checking first. I suspect the private footage now coming foward is going to make very interesting viewing.

But then I doubt we will ever get to the bottom of what really went on at the G20. Which is a pity for the poor public/police relations.

Captain Gatso
The Motorists Friend

Little Brother is watching the police

I love this article in The Observer. It sums up what I have been trying to say about the spread of police powers. It's ok for them to film you and use the evidence but there's a sting in the tail should the roles be reversed.

Under Zanu Labour the extent of police power has been enlarged to an extraordinary level. This article mentions someone taking a picture of PCSOs parked on double yellow lines outside a sandwich shop while they grabbed lunch. On spotting the concerned citizen they demanded he delete the images. Is this correct? There must be someone who is reading this blog who can point me to the law which gives these idiots this power.

It's just incredible. Anyway this is The Observer link.

On another note: I see Gordon McBrooon is trying to distance himself from the email slur debacle. This is how they work. That notorious sleazebag Alistair Campbell is a master of the 'dark arts' and they have Mandy back in the cabinet. They can't win the next election in a straight fight so they have to destroy whoever stands up to them. It has got to stop.

The stench from this rotting corpse of Zanu Labour is overpowering and distracting the country.

I am looking forward to the European elections in June when there might be an upset or two. (And it was hilarious to read Harriet Harperson having a crack at the BNP who don't deliver what they promise. Hello... pot...kettle...black).

Take care on the roads.

Captain Gatso
The Motorists' Friend

Scotland Yard PR - I salute you!!

So Bob Quick falls on his sword after revealing a top secret paper outside 10 Downing Street. But he hasn't left the police force.

Let's leave that bit of spin for a moment.

It was sad that the MoD had to issue a D Notice to stop the media running with the story as it gave them time to organise a PR strategy. The paper itself didn't reveal too much about what was going on.

And then the copper who shoved the G20 protestor who went on, moments later, to have a heart attack, 'came forward'.

Well he was always going to be identifed but the timing just stinks. The police are desperate to get this death off the news agenda and, hey presto, the clown Bob Quick steps in. This is his third major apology in as many months, isn't it?

The best thing about the poor man's death at the G20 is the police's obsession with filming and monitoring everyone. Guilty or not, you are being registered by mere fact that you were there.

But, oh no, the police have been filmed doing something very bad. I think the footage (from an American banker appalled at the antics of the police) is pretty conclusive.

There is no way the police can wriggle out of this one and their original PR spin about helping a man from being bottled is exactly what this lot is about. Now the spin is unravelling and the chiefs are facing a nightmare of ordinary people asking that someone be held to account.

Make no mistake, that footage looks like a manslaughter charge to me.

The damage has been done and people are questioning police tactics like this and the idiot notion of 'penning in'.

Let's support the Lib Dems who say that the police are unaccountable and uncontrollable.

Please prove to me that we don't yet live in a police state.

Oh and Bob Quick if you had any real shame about being found for being a buffoon you would resign from the police service, instead of being the PR fall guy for one day's headlines.

Captain Gatso
The Motorists Friend

Police smart cars aren't so smart

I keep trying to flag up to various people that we are now living in a police state. This story from the Daily Mail illustrates again just how close to total control we are getting.

You won't know you have committed a crime until a fine lands on your door mat. It's about raising cash - try to contest one of these fines and see how far you get.

Democracy? Forget it. Privacy? Long gone. Stalinst state. Hello.

Big Brother row as police force starts using Google camera cars to fine wayward drivers

Police are taking a leaf out of Google's book with their latest weapon in the war on motorists. They are using cars with spy cameras on a mast.

Drivers talking on their mobile phones, eating, applying make-up or otherwise driving illegally will be pictured.

And as the telescopic cameras can zoom in from some distance, the first inkling that they have been snapped could be when a £60 fine lands on the doorstep.

Police say the new cars – similar to those used by Google to map town and city streets – will help reduce road deaths.

But motorists say the Big Brother vehicles will merely be another cash cow for the Government and a further 'tax' on hard-pressed motorists.

Two Smart cars are pioneering the scheme in Greater Manchester, where distracted motorists are said to have caused more than 400 accidents in the past two years, killing or seriously injuring 25 victims.

Drivers who are caught using their mobiles will be sent a £60 fine and will have three penalty points on their licence.

Those caught on camera without a seatbelt or driving erratically while eating will be fined £30. Anyone who refuses to accept a fine – which will go into Treasury coffers – could be hauled before the courts.

Karen Delaney from DriveSafe, the road safety group behind the latest scheme, said: 'Many vehicles are now better equipped than offices or homes, with the latest technology in satellite navigation, telecommunications and state-of-the-art music systems all to hand.

'Add in other distractions such as complex dashboard instrumentation, a hot cup of coffee and a conversation with other vehicle occupants, and it is no wonder that some drivers are not paying attention.'

She added: 'The Smart enforcement vehicles are fully police liveried and working in areas where our data analysis has identified a high occurrence of "driver distraction" collisions and where officers have regularly observed offences being committed.'

Nigel Humphries, from the Association of British Drivers, said: 'This is a total infringement. They might as well put something in cars to test what drivers are thinking – to see if they are concentrating on the road or thinking about something else.

'Apart from that it's going to be counter-productive. There's no excuse for not having police officers watching the road to look out for motorists who are driving erratically.'

Peter Roberts, from the Drivers' Alliance, said: 'People shouldn't be using mobile phones when they are driving in the car, especially handheld ones. But I am not comfortable with spy cameras which can see into your car and see what you are doing. 'The old-fashioned type of policing where coppers are sitting by the side of the road watching people go past to see if they are using a mobile is a far better way of doing things.'

Captain Gatso

Petrol prices are indefensible

I tell you - I'm so looking forward to the summer of chaos. It's about time that people in this country began to get angry.

Take yesterday's petrol duty rise. It may be only 2p but it's still 75% of the pump price. I don't want to pay those thieves in Zanu Labour any more money.

It is a hurtful thing to do because so many people are struggling. Pump prices rocketed when the price of oil went up but the fuel firms haven't put their prices down as quickly (or as much as they should have done) once the oil price fell through the floor.

On top of this, the AA says pump prices have risen by more than 5.5p a litre since the start of 2009.

Outrageous!

And today we have uSwitch.com saying that in the last decade, the cost of insuring, servicing, taxing and buying fuel for a car has outstripped the rate of inflation by a massive 34pc.

This fleecing of the motorist has just got to stop.

Captain Gatso
The Motorists Friend