UK
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(More) Money for Dominic Cummings’ mates
A lobbying firm run by allies of Dominic Cummings was handed a contract worth £900,000 to conduct public opinion polling on the coronavirus pandemic. The contract was awarded to Hanbury Strategy without any advertisement or competitive tender process. And it was awarded to Hanbury despite the fact that – as our sworn evidence discloses -… Continue reading
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How a Police State Starts
On Saturday a small, socially distanced vigil of 18 people for Julian Assange at Piccadilly Circus was broken up by twice that number of police and one elderly man arrested and taken into custody. The little group of activists have been holding the vigil every week. I had just arrived to thank them and was… Continue reading
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Energy Policy: The UK Government conceded
The Government has at last accepted it must review its outdated energy policy that has allowed fossil fuel projects to be forced through. This important concession from Government, which can be read here, followed judicial review proceedings launched by Good Law Project in March alongside noted environmentalists Dale Vince and George Monbiot. Continue reading
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Eyewitness to the Trial and Agony of Julian Assange
2 October 2020 — John Pilger John Pilger has watched Julian Assange’s extradition trial from the public gallery at London’s Old Bailey. He spoke with Timothy Erik Ström of Arena magazine, Australia: Continue reading
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Revealed: Key Assange prosecution witness is part of academic cluster which has received millions of pounds from UK and US militaries
2 October 2020 — Declassified One of the US prosecution’s key medical witnesses in the Julian Assange hearing, who claimed that Assange’s risk of suicide is ‘manageable’ if extradited to the US, works for an academic institute that is funded by the UK Ministry of Defence and linked to the US Department of Defense, it… Continue reading
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Assange’s Seventeenth Day at the Old Bailey: Embassy Espionage, Contemplated Poisoning and Proposed Kidnapping
Today will be remembered as a grand expose. It was a direct, pointed accusation at the intentions of the US imperium which long for the scalp of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. For WikiLeaks, it was a smouldering triumph, showing that the entire mission against Assange, from the start, has been a political one. The… Continue reading
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Assange Trial: How US Government Is Likely Deceiving British Court To Win Extradition
Attorney Lindsay Lewis, who represented Mostafa Kamel Mostafa in a high-profile extradition case, warns against the U.S. government’s past “unreliable assurances.” Continue reading
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Your Man in the Public Gallery: Assange Hearing Day 20
Tuesday has been another day on which the testimony focused on the extreme inhumane conditions in which Julian Assange would be kept imprisoned in the USA if extradited. The prosecution’s continued tactic of extraordinary aggression towards witnesses who are patently well informed played less well, and there were distinct signs that Judge Baraitser was becoming… Continue reading
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NHS: Issues uncovered
The NHS is being reorganized, but under the radar. Contracts signed, but without scrutiny and NHS staff are working hard to reduce delays, but plans to expand the number of staff could be buried because of the Chancellor’s postponed spending review. Some of the issues that must be uncovered, and are in this week’s analysis,… Continue reading
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Your Man in the Public Gallery: Assange Hearing Day 19
Today was the worst day for the defence since the start of the trial, as their expert witnesses failed to cope with the sheer aggression of cross-examination by the US Government and found themselves backing away from maintaining propositions they knew to be true. It was uncomfortable viewing. Continue reading
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Defense Witnesses In Assange’s Extradition Trial Counter Key Prosecution Lie About US Solitary Confinement
Prosecutors in WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition trial have consistently maintained he would be able to talk through the doors or windows of his cell if he was held in solitary confinement—or what the Bureau of Prisons refers to as “administrative segregation.” Continue reading
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The antithesis of care
For an NHS psychiatrist working with schizophrenic patients, it’s not unusual to witness people suffering from severe paranoia. Fear of being watched by the state and persecuted by the police may well feature in such patients’ delusions. What is rarer is for someone receiving mental health care to see their fears come to life because… Continue reading
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How Black Working-Class Youth are Criminalised and Excluded in the English School System
Today, the Institute of Race Relations publishes a major report, How Black Working-Class Youth are Criminalised and Excluded in the English School System: A London Case Study. Continue reading
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UK: Watch: What you need to know about the Coronavirus Act
Let’s make sure we don’t blame the wrong people here. The police are not the enemy, nor are many government agencies that are operating under difficult circumstances. Both have been given rules, areas of guidance and laws to manage that conflict with our understanding of civil society. But these are not normal times and because… Continue reading
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Your Man in the Public Gallery: Assange Hearing Day 18
It is hard to believe, but Judge Baraitser on Friday ruled that there will be no closing speeches in the Assange extradition hearing. She accepted the proposal initially put forward by counsel for the US government, that closing arguments should simply be submitted in writing and without an oral hearing. This was accepted by the… Continue reading
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Prosecutors’ Password-Cracking Conspiracy Theory Against Assange Unravels At Extradition Trial
“At the time, it would not have been possible to crack an encrypted password hash, such as the one Manning obtained,” testified Patrick Eller, a digital forensic expert Continue reading
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The Guardian’s deceit-riddled new statement betrays both Julian Assange and journalism
In my recent post on the current hearings at the Old Bailey over Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States, where he would almost certainly be locked away for the rest of his life for the crime of doing journalism, I made two main criticisms of the Guardian. Continue reading
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Judge Acknowledges Political Nature of Case against Julian!
It was an important day in Julian’s extradition hearing, with key testimony and some surprises from the judge. The judge acknowledged the political nature of the case, which was surprising to observers. She also said that a ruling would not be issued until after the election, most likely in 2021. Continue reading
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Watch: ‘Boris Now Drifting Into COVID No Man’s Land’
This week Boris Johnson and the British government doubled-down on their deteriorating COVID lockdown narrative, now claiming that the nation will have to endure ‘great sacrifices’ for another 6 months in order to supposedly ‘defeat the virus’ – even though hospital admissions have been at near zero for months now. Has the government pushed the… Continue reading
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Your Man in the Public Gallery: Assange Hearing Day 17
During the hearing of medical evidence the last three days, the British government has been caught twice directly telling important lies about events in Belmarsh prison, each lie proven by documentary evidence. The common factor has been the medical records kept by Dr Daly, head of the jail’s medical services. There has also been, to… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 