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Neil Oliver Meets Col Douglas Macgregor

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Category: Free Citizen
Hits: 842

2025-02-20

Trump, Ukraine, New World Order - there's a great deal to discuss and much of it still unclear.

What to make of it? Whither Zelensky? Whither Ukraine?, Whither Europe? Who will pay for it?

And Whither the Middle East?

This isn't the usual Neil Oliver 10 minutes - this is a very level-headed and serious discussion, with no very clear answers. Probably as good as it gets just now.

(48 Minutes)

 

Like / Dislike this video here.

But whatever the US and Russia have in mind for the Ukraine, Turkey may not be on board ... and clearly has interests in the Middle East as well, so may well be central to resolutions to solve the problems in both arenas.

When the Law is an Ass?

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Category: Legal
Hits: 1000

2025-02-20

We may all have an opinion on the operation of "Human Rights" laws in our country, but as most of us are not lawyers, we may be unsure exactly why we hold such an opinion.

Quite possibly it was because at some time in the past we read a newspaper report about some case or other and wondered how on earth the judgement that was handed down could be justified. We remember our reaction, but forget the detailed reasoning that underpinned it.

After a number of such reports crossing our cognitive threshold, the conclusion remains but the details have probably fallen through our memory hole. Unless of course we are a lawyer with a professional interest.

Dr David McGrogan writing for the Daily Sceptic does us a favour by explaining the primary characteristics that make laws good law, and how some of those primary characteristics were defeated by the introduction of the Human Rights Act of 1998 which enshrined foreign legislation - the European Convention on Human Rights - into UK Law.

At a stroke this meant that judges would have to decide between two possibly conflicted bodies of "law", with consequences that might have been foreseen but which we must lawfully assume (innocent until proven guilty!) were not foreseen.

This has led to numerous cases where the outcome appears to be perverse, not only to the man in the street, but also to eminent politicians ...  which has the inevitable effect of undermining the standing of judiciary and politicians alike in the public eye.

Worth reading, particularly the bit about being "reasonably constant and not in flux" and "must be comprehensible".

I would challenge anybody to read any Act of Parliament of recent vintage and agree that

  1. they are readily comprehensible
  2. the Parliamentary practice of permitting changes to the substantive wording by statutory regulation (not requiring a vote in Parliament) complies with both of these principles.

 

 

The Undead Data (Use and Access) Bill

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Category: Free Citizen
Hits: 1046

2025-02-18

This harks back to our 2023 report concerning the then UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework beta version (0.3) updated 11th January 2023 (CBDC / Citizen Id by whatever means?).

As explained in that video, this was an unremarkable update to a previous Act, introduced as a administrative update that didn't require Parliament to vote upon it.

If you didn't watch that, I suggest you watch it now.

We've had a lot of water beneath the Parliamentary bridge since then, yet it seems that the Labour Government for whatever reason decided in December 2024 to make a proper Bill out of it, even though the consultations on the areas covered by the original proposals were concluded in 2022 under the Sunak government. No doubt the thinking has meanwhile advanced.

The thinking may not actually be yet concluded, as a Call for Evidence was put out just last week (deadline for submissions: 18 March).

If you want to make a submission, get your skates on!

"The bill has seven parts:

    • Part 1 covers access to customer and business data and aims to enable “smart data” to be used in sectors other than its current use in open banking in the finance sector
    • Part 2 would regulate the provision of digital verification services through the creation of a trust framework, a register of providers, an information sharing gateway, and a trust mark
    • Part 3 would put the national underground asset register on a statutory footing
    • Part 4 would update the way births and deaths are registered, moving from a paper-based system to an electronic register used by officials
    • Part 5 would make changes to the UK’s data protection regime
    • Part 6 would abolish the Information Commissioner’s Office and transfer its functions to a new body, the Information Commission
    • Part 7 would, among other things, make further provision about the use of, or access to, data in the following areas:
      • health and social care
      • smart meter communication services
      • public service delivery
      • online safety"

(My emphasis)

Meanwhile Bill 179 has passed through the Lords and is already at the Committee stage in the Commons.

See the list of publications.

See a Factsheet covering "Smart data", and the NUAR prepared by the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology. There appear to be other factsheets although I haven't found any links.

See also HL Bills 40, 57, and 64 which appear to be sequential versions of the bill as it progressed through the House of Lords.

 

FulFord White Dragon Report - 17 Dec 2025 - The Revolution Turns

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Category: Free Citizen
Hits: 560

2025-02-17

Avatars to the fore!

The war to dominate the narrative has taken a few turns recently - confusion resulting. Is it any wonder that we don't know whom to believe any more - when matters spin out of control, so also does the narrative.

Are we now in the clear? Who's to say?

Who is Trump? Who is Musk? And for whom do they work?

It's your view that counts ...  (modest subscription required for full access)

 

The Cognitive War for Our Understandings and Beliefs

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Category: Free Citizen
Hits: 1183

2025-02-16

When is an assertion a "fact"?

What is a "fact"?

In law a "fact" is some assertion agreed by both parties to the dispute.

Does that mean it is true and accurate? Either way, it tells us something about the law, and perhaps also about "facts".

Socrates is widely credited with the realisation that "the only thing I know is that I know nothing", and in this day and age when most of what we "know" is gleaned from remote others whom we do not personally "know", this assertion rings more true than ever.

What do the "fact-checkers" know that we do not?!

So our knowledge and beliefs as recognised by each of us are a result of our cognitive faculties.

That's another rabbit hole to explore but today I'll leave it there.

Not so Martin Geddes however - he has gone a step further and invoked another potentially obfuscatory intermediary by getting AI (ChatGPT) to assess how the war for our cognition is being fought in these days of would-be-wouldn't-be enlightenment ...

Yup, it's that weasel word "complex" again. Can AI simplify it all?

"The cognitive war is not just about politics, media, or power—it is a war for the soul"

Hold tight to your marbles ...

 

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