The Skwawkbox continues to unsettle and expose the Establishment and affect the UK’s political narrative. Here are a few examples of the information we’ve either brought our readers exclusively or else raised focus and attention on, since our last update a few weeks ago:
- Boris Johnson’s lie about Porton Down’s findings on the source of the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack – and then his second lie (or worse) about the UK holding samples for comparison
- the BBC’s clear moves to protect Johnson from the consequences of his lies, by obscuring and ‘losing’ filmed interview questions
- comments by the chemistry professor of a world-renowned university – Novichok-group compounds are ‘simple as hell’ to make and could be manufactured by any number of non-state facilities
- the Tories’ admission of uncertainty, in court papers, over the toxin used in Salisbury
- details of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) plans to take its own samples for testing and not trust the government’s samples as authentic
- flaws in Tory claims of Conservative party membership numbers
- the letter sent by women of the Unite union to the Observer about a disgraceful, misogynist attack on Labour’s General Secretary (then a candidate), Jennie Formby. The Observer did not have the integrity to print it
- the disregard for proper procedures and consultation in Liverpool University’s decision to make over two hundred academic staff redundant in spite of obvious consequences for students’ education
- the loss of confidence of black, Asian and minority women MPs in women’s PLP chair, the ‘centrist’ West Midlands MP Jess Phillips
- the suspension of a senior, centrist Labour official, former West Midlands mayor and ally of deputy leader Tom Watson, amid allegations of abuse and anti-democratic practices
- revealed the anti-Labour history of a ‘Labour donor’ who said he was leaving the party
- the fact that, according to unpublished data gathered by YouGov for the Labour-hostile Campaign against Antisemitism, antisemitism among Labour members and supporters has fallen sharply under Jeremy Corbyn, in spite of public claims to the contrary
- the avoidance by centrist Labour MPs of questions on their record of anti-racist activism, which led to 41 of them writing an open letter to the Huffington Post rather than provide answers
- the extraordinary meltdown by former Unite official Gerard Coyne, whose statement about the latest hearing in his legal case against Unite consisted largely of things that were not discussed at the hearing
- ‘confused’ centrist MP John Woodcock’s wilting under the stares of good Labour MPs after he sided with Tories during a Commons debate on Russia
- the innate antisemitism of BBC assumptions about the infamous Mear One mural
- Theresa May’s antisemitic trope during Prime Minister’s Questions
- news and inside information on right-wing Labour MP Frank Field’s censure by his local party for continuing to write for the despised S*n
and more.
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Chris Busby
April 5 at 6:02pm ·
I will say a few words about the Russian Nerve Agent issue. I worked for several years at the Wellcome Research laboratories in London as a Senior Scientist in the Department of Physical Chemistry. My job, at the basic level was to help determine the structure and origin of pharmaceutical compounds. So, I am an expert in this area. I also carried out similar work at Queen Mary College London for my first PhD and synthesised complex organic chemicals. From that, I can say that the synthesis of a specific small organic chemical like the supposed Novichoks is not very difficult. Most sythetic organic chemists could knock up small quantities of the 234 compound, given the structure. Mainly, I can say that there is no way that the compound that was detected in the Skripal attack could be traced to a Russian laboratory (or any laboratory) by any lab unless the lab already had a sample known to come from the Russian laboratory (or the source laboratory). The determination and identification methods mainly depend on mass spectrometric fragmentation patterns, and include the spectrum of stray molecular fragments from impurities associated with the synthesis route. This is how we located Patent jumping, and we took this evidence into the courts. All chemists know this, and that is why the Porton head said what he said, as any chemist would have been able to raise this issue and show that he was lying, if he said anything else. It is basic physical chemistry. So, the new headline in the Times, about a secret Russian laboratory is also bogus. What is also clear is that the mass spectrum of the A234 compound was put on the NIST database in 1998 by a worker from the USA chemical warfare laboratory. I therefore conclude that this whole affair is a tissue of lies and misdirection, rather like the WMD Iraq scenario
If it’s the same ‘Chris Busby’, check out ex ‘Green Party spokesman’ before drawing any conclusions.
Jack can you explain further please , trying to establish the credibility of this statement
First article up was this, which I found persuasive:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/nov/22/christopher-busby-nuclear-green-party
Despite that damning indictment I believe the truth probably lies somewhere between Busby’s assertions and the “impossible” theory.
There are plenty of very talented chemists around and the money available to many non-State actors would be enough to get the job done.
Some years ago I gained the possibly mistaken impression that many labs like Porton Down had samples of all known agents but that each sample was given an individual signature spectrum known to the OPCW.
Russia may still turn out to be the culprit. If so our concern after the pantomime itself is over should be to determine if their failure was due to incompetence or something else.
Our own government’s behaviour raises serious questions concerning some ministers’ competence, interdepartmental coordination and overall leadership – or the lack thereof.
Truth is they’ve acted throughout like schoolgirls in a Facebook spat.
I can’t be doing with Pay Pal. Can you take a credit card donation?
I agree. The way the payment is configured looks questionable – it looks like it’s set up so that Paypal are going to keep your data. Skwawkbox, it should be possible to configure it so that it’s clear that people can donate as a guest, that donating isn’t also a data gathering exercise.
Working on it – thanks for wanting to support!
Rob, headline in the Guardian.
“Christopher Busby’s wild claims hurt green movement and Green party”
Thanks Jack , difficult whom to believe as the article you ref to is way back in 2011 ( not sure if Busby is any more reliable now ) and is reported by MSM altho it’s by Monibot so some cred there.
However Johnson still has clearly lied as per the video evidence , unless of course the Tories are going to bring forth some grand revelation ( not yet revealed even to JC never mind us Joe Public ) that conclusively proves Russia deployed this weapon .
Yes, I agree. Just because there was a big question mark over him previously, it doesn’t mean he is wrong now, but just like JC, we need to be cautious. There are many traps for the unwary out there.
Boris IS JUST YER AVERAGE NUMSKULL WITH A TOFFY ACCENT