It was my partner who picked up your book when attending a CAAT conference last year, and it was quite an eye-opener for her. I’ve got about 2/3 of the way through it myself, and I’ve got to say that the signal/noise ratio is pretty high – a fine reference work, which shines a spotlight on the privatisation/mercenerisation of ’security’ and armed conflict by the US and UK. I’d honestly not realised that privatisation had gone that far, though in partial defence of my woeful ignorance it’s not often that the issue gets into the mainstream media.

If the Mail story is true, and it’s full of direct quotes so that increases the probability of it being at least an approximation to reality, then it would be a delicious irony for the NuLabor regime to be shafted by the recipients of its own privatisation largesse. Your point about MPs exes being linked to public sector wage freezes is well taken, too.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1183462/The-tin-legged-ex-SAS-man-City-PR-350-000-plot-sell-MPs-secrets.html?ITO=1490

Also worth noting that while the expenses issue is presented in such a broad way that it is feeding the right, the reason MP’s wnet down this route specifically because Thatcher and then Blair wanted to hold down public sector pay , and offered to restrain their own pay, while secretly gorging on hidden “allowances” – that is, the expenses scandal was a specific attempt to cheat nurses, firefighters, job centre clerks, school cleaners and job centre clerks out of their money (I wrote about this in the Morning Star, as per the link)

thanks again

Solomon

The problem is not the attitudes of MPs as individuals or as a mass – the chances of there being a widespread revolt amongst lobby fodder against authoritarianism are slim to vanishing (and Slim just left town). The only ‘gain’ we’ve had has been the revolt in the Lords which put paid to 42 days internment, but that still leaves the cops able to lock any of us up for 4 weeks without trial, and enforce house arrest upon us without any evidence. One step forward after 2000 steps backwards.

The problem is the State as a whole, and the factions of the ruling classes which it serves and supports. With a populace scared crapless by terrorism and crime, with no serious opposition in or outside of parliament, and computing power increasing exponentially, the State and ruling classes have a golden once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a complete surveillance society and have near-perfect knowledge of all of us from cradle to grave. I’ve banged on about this before (http://happyhamster.wordpress.com/2004/04/26/id-cards-the-state-makes-hay-whilst-the-sun-shines/). The State isn’t bringin in ID cards, DNA databanks, RFID tracking, road tracking, internment, and all the rest of it for reasons of terrorism, crime, immigration, benefit fraud, or similar – these are just smoke screens. The State is taking our freedoms away because it can and right now there’s nobody and nothing that’ll stop it. Total social control is to the State what the ’state of grace’ is to Catholics, but unlike the god-botherers the State has a real chance of achieving its aims.

On this occasion, I have done something about it, in my own small way. I have written an article outlining what the government is seeking to do and my views. But, I have also produced a ‘draft’ letter that can be personalised and sent to local MP’s. I am urging other likeminded people to reproduce the article, to include their own comments, after all, not everyone will agree with all my comments and then publicise it. Maybe we can start a programme where people start to bombard their MP’s with a demand that they do not support the latest data communication bill. The link is here if you would are to take a look.
http://www.power-to-the-people.co.uk/2008/10/public-call-time-big-brother-britain/

The reaction from the university administration only to be expected – since uni admins are usually populated by conservative natural scientists with too little vision for a science career and right-wingers with insufficient intellect for anything else.