2003

The SA-18 GROUSE (Igla 9K38) is an improved variant in the the SA-7 & SA-14 series of manportable SAMs. As with the earlier SA-14, the SA-18 uses of a similar thermal battery/gas bottle, and the SA-18 has the same 2 kilogram high-explosive warhead fitted with a contact and grazing fuse. But the missile of entirely…

The Guardian story A court heard how Paul Clegg, 23 (the same age as me) died of heat inside a 40ft long industrial washing machine at work. He had climbed into the device to release sheets caught in the mechanism. “Paul Clegg, 23, was caught inside for more than two hours because other staff did…

Well, it’s come to my attention that the Inquiry is sitting in public. Apparently all that is necessary is to present oneself at 0915 sharp at the Bell Yard entrance of the Royal Courts of Justice and get in the queue. Obviously, this (the main story of the times) cannot go unblogged. Watch this space!

An interesting document about the British intervention in Iraq during the second world war…Download here

An interesting but little remarked revelation from the Hutton Inquiry was that Jack Straw is now officially a liar. Some people will, of course, remember that Wor Jackie brutally smuggered (like buggered, but referring to smugness) the Foreign Affairs Committee over the false claim that Iraqi WMD could be deployed within 45 minutes. Deployed means,…

Trusted psychic canines speak But this beats the lot….”We phoned Jacqueline Stallone, matriarch of the “Rocky” brain trust, and got the official forecast from her clairvoyant canines, Rachel, Hannah and Friday. As you might recall, in July 2000, the miniature pinschers astounded the political world by correctly predicting that George W. Bush would defeat Al…

LA Times story Well, the last day of nominations is here, and so far no-one knows who’s standing and who isn’t! “With California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley scheduled to certify a final list of candidates for the recall election today, confusion continued over how many candidates will appear on the Oct. 7 ballot. Shelley’s…

Details on the weapon recovered Several persons, including a British arms dealer, have been caught smuggling an Igla man-portable surface-to-air missile into the US. The operation apparently involved a giant sting set up by the Russian Federal Security Bureau, which planted a weapon modified so as to be useless on them. (The British Army in…

BBC NEWS Eyewitness: Policing the Solomons On the same theme…

BBC: Solomons warlord surrenders An early success for the largely Aussie intervention on the Solomons. Typically for a group of Pacific islands, political weirdness has been rife there. But most of them have avoided race war and the collapse of the state to the point where, as the Solomons finance minister said, the cabinet couldn’t…