Peter Reynolds

Sir David Nutt

"I'm so stoned...I don't know what I'm doing..."

Nothing more clearly demonstrates the complete absence of integrity in this inane, corrupt government than the sacking of Sir David Nutt.   I had always admired Alan Johnson.  Now he shows himself to be just as stupid and dumb as any of Gordon’s cronies.

Cannabis is a benign, natural herb that has been used as a medicine and recreational relaxant for over 4,000 years until politicians took a dislike to it just over 100 years ago.  Since then, despite dozens of “studies” across the world, each one of which has been specifically tasked to condemn it as dangerous, no harm has been proven.  Nevertheless, from Richard Nixon to Gordon Brown, myopic, paranoid, self-serving, tabloid-worshipping politicians have imposed more and more severe penalties for its use.

In the 50s the argument was that it made white women promiscuous with black men.  The standard of discussion has barely improved since.  The recent government sponsored hysteria over psychosis in adolescents is now revealed as utter nonsense in the face of the facts.

So why do politicians continue to persecute those who use cannabis?  What’s in it for them?  After all there is overwhelming evidence to show that a properly regulated cannabis supply could be a huge source of new taxation revenue for government and that regulation would drastically reduce all the harm that is caused by prohibition.

Off His Head

It’s more difficult to accept this argument in respect of  heroin and cocaine because these are harmful substances but look at the evidence from Holland, Switzerland, Portugal and many other places.  There can be little doubt that if the supply and distribution of drugs was regulated rather than prohibited then the harm caused would be reduced enormously.  Furthermore, decriminalisation would drastically – and I mean DRASTICALLY – reduce crime at all levels.  Street crime is all about theft and robbery in order to fund the purchase of drugs.  International organised crime and terrorism is all about the drugs trade.  End prohibition, start regulation and you pull the rug from under criminals at all levels.  It would transform our society and save thousands of lives.

So I ask again – why?  What do politicians gain from such a fundamentally stupid policy?  At a stroke they could cut out the majority of both street and serious crime  and  massively reduce the funding of terrorism.

Cannabis was first demonised because hemp was an early rival to the oil industry.  Before diesel came biodiesel.  Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on peanut or hemp oil.  Henry Ford designed his Model T to run on bioethanol produced from hemp and planted hundreds of acres on his own farms for that purpose – then along came oil.  More importantly along came the early investors in the oil industry, specifically Randolph Hearst, owner and controller of the biggest propaganda and disinformation machine ever known to man.  He started the the “Reefer Madness” campaign and promoted the lie against cannabis.  Hemp was outlawed in favour of oil and we have since spent 100 years burning oil, becoming more and more reliant on its byproducts, destroying our planet and persecuting those who use cannabis.

Politicans are cowards.  They were bribed and cajoled by big money to turn against cannabis in the first place.  They do not have the vision or the common sense to see past the mess they have got themselves in over drugs policy.  In a very real way they are more responsible than anyone else for the misery, death and chaos casued by the drugs trade which they actually support through their stupidity.

This government might as well have a committee of tabloid newspaper editors advising it on drugs rather than scientists.  All over the world politicans have let us all down over drugs policy.  Why?  Because they are cowardly, self-serving and only interested in short term political expediency.

Seems to me that you can either be cynical and disbelieving about Barack Obama or you have to buy him completely.

His power is in his integrity and it shines through every word that he speaks.  Again, it is easy to say that they are just words but you, I and every human being knows in their soul when words have value.

Thank You

The man is awe inspiring.  In simple, direct statements he cuts through the murk and mud which mankind creates for itself.  He is the man for our time, delivered to us apparently as an exact solution for our problems, he reveals the wisdom which all of us understand.  He delivers huge confidence, trust and belief.

There will be others desperate to catch him out, to discover some inconsistency or failing.  I doubt that they will succeed.

We are in the presence of greatness and we should value our good fortune.

If you seek a moral compass or example in Britain do not turn to our leaders, nor to those who are the most highly paid, richest or with the greatest responsibilities.  Turn instead to those who have endured the most, who have striven for goals and ambitions with true honour and integrity.  Turn to men like Major Phil Packer, who completed the London Marathon on crutches and has raised nearly £1 million for Help For Heroes.

The disgusting spectacle by the Chelsea whore footballers; spoilt, fawned over and supported by the Russian Mafia.  Their conduct is ignored by the FA, which once pretended to stand for discipline and good behaviour in football but looks the other way when the serious money is involved.

The ignominious disgrace of so many MPs to which, to his eternal shame, the Speaker has profoundly failed to respond.  The calculated fraud, thievery and deception of the banking superclass who have been allowed to walk away with their ill gotten gains.  All these people – not as a group but as individuals – Drogba, Brown, Goodwin – should be named, shamed and punished.  If we let this behaviour pass without sanction then we let down men like Major Packer.  We let down men and women of honour in sport, politics, business and everyday life who try their hardest and invest their integrity in what they do.

Who is left to take the lead?  This huge problem creates a vacancy,  the most important  job in the country but I fear that we do not have a Barack Obama in Britain.  I fear that Rome is burning.

How the Speaker has the nerve to get up in the House this afternoon and fail to apologise for his own and his colleagues shenanigans is beyond belief.

Michael Martin

He is, quite clearly, more interested in a police investigation into why details of MPs’ expenses were leaked than he is in the substantive issue itself.

Mr Martin’s reputation is already in tatters.  He failed to protect the confidentiality of Parliament in the Damian Green affair.   Now as the worst blunderer amongst a herd of buffoons, he misses the chance to take the lead where he should be in the very vanguard of restoring the integrity of Parliament.

Why?  Can we have any doubt?  He is more interested in protecting his own vested interests and so he piles disgrace upon disgrace and insult onto injury.

What hope is there when even he fails to understand what needs to be done?

Yes, the expectation is ridiculous but Barack Obama continues to fulfil his promise at every stage.

His “First 100 days” is the point at which everyone will seek to pass judgment but I acknowledge him now.  This man remains a beacon of hope.  His personality and integrity shines through everything.  His direct, considered and incisive answers to questions reveal a leader who is exactly what the world needs.  I believe we deserve

Barack Obama In London

him too.  Other current political issues show the seedy, self-serving, mediocre individuals we have had to put up with for far too long.

I was immensely impressed with his announcement on plans for the US car industry which was an object lesson in how to deliver bad news, how to tell all parties involved that it is time to get real.

He arrives in London and with supreme capability immediately addresses the world economic crisis and arms reduction, apparently making more progress on both in hours than other politicians have made in years.

Hail to the Chief!

Hercules XV179, Call Sign Hilton 22

I hope that I never have to experience the reality of war. but, I think like every man, I am fascinated with how I would behave in combat.  We all want to be heroes and, as I have read, courage is often forged from the fear of disgrace.  The idea of letting down one’s comrades can be more frightening than bullets or explosions.

Even during the Second World War, I would now be deemed too old to fight.  They won’t even have me in the TA, much as I would love to volunteer.  Yet every day, right this very minute, there are men and women younger than my own children, who are being called on to put themselves in mortal danger on our behalf.

Our Hercules Heroes

These people deserve the very, very best that we can do for them.  Clearly, the reality of combat means that there will be times when circumstances are less than ideal.  Ammunition may run out.  It might have been preferable to have larger calibre weapons given the force that the enemy deployed.  If air cover had arrived earlier, lives may have been saved. The very nature of combat is that it is unpredictable but when there are lessons to be learned it is imperative that they are studied in depth and acted upon.

Why, oh why, is there episode after episode where the MOD refuses to acknowledge its failings and seems to duck and dive to avoid responsibility? This isn’t about civil service office politics, about covering one’s back or manouvering for promotion.  This is about death and pain and blood and grief.  It’s about mothers who will never see their sons again, about fit, healthy, beautiful bodies and minds that are broken, twisted and consigned to the scrapheap with – yet another scandal – insultingly inadequate financial support.

The Steve Jones Memorial Bench

Steve Jones was an SAS Lance Corporal on board the Hercules shot down over Baghdad in 2005. When I first came across the memorial bench on Thorney Island (see http://peterreynolds.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/walking-the-dog-2/) I was deeply moved and when I returned there a few months later to find a memorial book full of glowing tributes and commendations, I felt that this story was one I wanted to take further.

So I made contact with the MOD press office and very tentatively enquired what support they might be able to offer me with a further story, perhaps even a documentary.  A very charming female Wing Commander seemed interested and said that two of the men on the Hercules had been personal friends.  The Army though were different.  I received a courteous but frosty reception and was told that there was no question of being put in touch with the victims’ families.

I can understand, of course, that some of the families will just want to move on and that journalistic investigation may prolong their grief.  In the end it was made clear to me that while the MOD wouldn’t stand in my way, it believed that the story had already been exhausted and wouldn’t offer me any support.

I have been an MOD spin doctor myself.  Some years ago I was the communications advisor to the Assistant Chief of Staff, UK Support Command on the launch of the British Forces in Germany Health Service. The year that I spent working at Joint Headquarters in Rheindahlen gave me an insight into the services that I am very grateful for.  One memory is of the extraordinary combination of austerity and luxury that I experienced while staying in the Officers Mess.  My room was like a prison cell but in the morning there was silver service at breakfast as I sat at a huge four inch thick mahogany table surrounded by oil paintings, regimental colours and memorabilia. There was no menu.  I could just order whatever it was that took my fancy.

My overwhelming memory though is of the incomparable integrity of the people I worked with.  It left me with a feeling (entirely undeserved) of connection with the military and an understanding of how one really could trust the man next to you with your life.

In the extraordinary age in which we live, when cocaine-fuelled w**nker bankers abuse their customers and the taxpayer, when venal politicians grub around in the muck on billionaires’ yachts, whilst in Afghanistan our boys lay their lives on the line in medieval conditions, it is time that the MOD displayed a fraction of the courage that men like Steve Jones have and admitted its failings to start the process of putting them right.

For the full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7683909.stm

The property market is, once again, difficult for everyone.  In recent weeks we have even been asked to have some sympathy for that most despised group of parasites, estate agents – but I have none.  Truth is that their “profession” is a necessary evil and in good times as in bad it is only those with some standards and, maybe, a little integrity that are worth dealing with.

In the past twelve months I have had comprehensive experience of the estate agents in and around Emsworth, Portsmouth and Chichester.  There have been one or two who have been a pleasure to deal with, who have been professional, efficient and helpful.  Others have been uninterested and disinterested, unethical, inefficient and some are little short of crooked.

First, the positive.  There is one firm that shines out as example to all others – Henry Adams.  I have not bought, sold, rented or let a single property from them but I have viewed many and I can truthfully say that every transaction has been smooth, easy and as it should be.  If only I could say the same for the rest.

Borland & Bound of Emsworth, Charlotte and Alison in their lettings department are liars.  If you stalk the internet property sites, as I know how to do, you can catch the new properties immediately they come to market.  If you’re quick on the draw the truth becomes evident.  Agents which pick and choose who they sell or let to and at what price.  Whether it is their sister’s best friend’s cousin’s daughter or their next door neighbour’s husband who they share a bottle of cheap white wine with every Wednesday afternoon, there are  dishonest people out there that you cannot rely on to deal with you properly.  Borland & Bound told me for a week that they just couldn’t get hold of the landlord to arrange a viewing.  Then I met another prospective tenant outside another property who told me that they’d viewed the Borland & Bound property the day before.  Borland & Bound then told me they’d had a “bad” reference on me.  I ask, from who, on what authority, when did I give you the information or source from which to take a reference?  Is that the best bullshit you can come up with?  I wonder what the truth is?

Then there was “Zone” of Chichester.  What dreadful 1980s-type “brand” is that and can anyone take a firm with such a name seriously?  I had to try to because some unsuspecting property owner who had exactly what I wanted in Bosham had made the mistake of hiring this firm and apparently causing it all sorts of problems.  After all, business would be so much easier, wouldn’t it, if it wasn’t for those dreadful people we call customers?

It was so much trouble to arrange a viewing.  Five or six telephone calls were never returned and eventually produced the reaction that “we might be able to arrange a viewing in a week or so”.  “Please don’t pester us.  You’re probably not the sort of tenant we want because you’d be on the phone all the time”.

Eventually a viewing was arranged but when I called to ask for directions I was told “I’m far too busy.  Ask someone in the street”.  Then surprise, surprise, “the landlord has a prior offer”, “the property is now off the market”.

It must be unpleasant to have to demean yourself, to lie, to cheat, to deceive but perhaps some of these estate agents enjoy their work.  I can think of no other explanation.

I admit, I am not a 100% law abiding citizen.  I park on yellow lines.  I exceed the speed limit.  I smoke weed.  BUT I would describe myself as a strong supporter of the police.  Any society has to have rules and that means there has to be someone to enforce them.  I don’t envy the police in their responsibilities and I admire the way that many of them are fulfilled.  If you’ve ever been in a traffic accident and seen the way they deal with such chaos amidst the confusion, fear and danger, you have to admire their training and focus.  If you’ve ever lived in central London and experienced the little shits, wasters and a***holes who plague the streets then you have to admire their patience and persistence.

I think “institutional racism” was probably a fair criticism but then it was born out of the fact that the majority of street violence and crime was carried out by young black men – and still is.  If I was a policeman I’d probably be “stopping and searching” more blacks than whites.  It wouldn’t be my job to worry about the causes and the social whys and wherefores.  My job would be to protect the public.

There is another institution in the police though and its been there for years.  You can call it cynicism.  You can understand it by realising that they see themselves, inevitably, as separated from the rest of us – on another side.  You can appreciate how the ridiculous administrative load they are placed under grinds them down. BUT they can be their own worst enemies when they deal with people in a way that alienates and antagonises those that want to support them.

I had an experience with my local police in Havant recently that, at the end of the day, just makes me sad.  It’s a leadership issue really and whilst I feel pretty sore at the rather stupid young policewoman who tried to stitch me up, I don’t really blame her.  She’s a foot soldier, not gifted with huge intelligence and steeped in this destructive culture of “us and them”.

I had some property stolen from me in what you might call a “domestic” context.  In fact it wasn’t mine.  If it was I’d probably have let it go but I had to get it back and I had no option but to look to the police to do their job and enforce the law.

So, knowing all too well that if I telephoned it in or even went to the police station to report it, I’d just be brushed aside, I made a written complaint.

After two weeks I’d had no response at all so I managed (with extreme difficulty) to find an email address and sent a reminder.  It took several further emails and a number of telephone calls before, nearly six weeks after my initial complaint, a crime reference number was allocated.

Another week later I attended at Havant police station to make a statement.  I very much had the impression that the policewoman was just going through the motions and she was much more interested in any detail that would enable her to write the matter off as a “domestic” rather than deal with the real issue.  I did say to her that I felt I was entitled to rely on the police to take action but I didn’t think that was unreasonable.

Nevertheless, she took my statement and was pleasant enough.  She made some small talk and casually enquired how I had travelled to the police station and where I was parked.

As she showed me out of the police station we met two of her colleagues in the corridor who I held the door open for.  I returned to my car, drove less than 25 yards from my parking space and was suddenly and violently intercepted by a police van driving across in front of me.

The two colleagues I had met in the police station emerged from the van and told me that they proposed to breathalyse me.  They called another car in and I found myself on the pavement surrounded by four police officers being made to take a breath test – which I passed.

Draw your own conclusions.  Mine are that I have no confidence in Havant police at all, in their bona fides, good intentions, integrity, intelligence or even common sense.  I don’t blame the policewoman involved because she’s just a victim of the police culture that creates this sort of stupid, dumb, “us and them” culture.

In the higher echelons of the police force there are clearly some very clever people doing fantastic work on matters such as anti-terrorism and thank God they are.  Amongst the footsoldiers, as well as the heroes and those who understand their role as a public servants,  there are undoubtedly inadequate individuals who choose a uniform to bolster their own self image and who enjoy wielding authority that is beyond their ability.

It is a leadership issue.  If you antagonise, offend, upset and deal shabbily with those you are supposed to “protect and serve” then where do you expect your support to come from?