´óÏó´«Ã½

Is there a story behind the police checks story running today? and

If I could persuade you to ask just one question, this would be it. Please could you ask it. –from a Loyal blogger.

• In light of intelligence organisations of all countries targeting the politicians of others, why when cabinet ministers demand security checks for the rest of us, can they continue to exclude themselves from this process?

Dear Newsnight

I really don’t want to undermine trust in anyone, we are all fearful enough and most people coming in from overseas are fine people, a real asset to our country. We are lucky to have them coming here. And in many so called ‘security’ jobs these checks may not matter but surely it isn’t really possible to conduct a thorough security check on people from most overseas countries? Other countries simply do not have the systems in place to allow this to be done properly? Not a criticism of anyone, just the reality?

Would it be possible tonight if you speak to a Home Office minister about this to ask them;

• The detail of a typical security check on someone from overseas.
• Q- How does the Home Office go about it, who do they ask in these countries (and how if they are trustworthy do they know?), and how do we check the information? Does it offer a fair and accurate picture either way?
• Do they grade the reliability of this information from overseas according to who they are speaking to and where?

You could almost see a satirical play about this

Scene 1. Posh civil servant, smart office in London on the phone to their ‘opposite’ number overseas (or so we would like to believe as it conveniently fits with the view we have constructed of the world) but where the reality may be very different indeed…..

Idea for Newsnight
If your budget allows could you send a film crew to film the other end of this conversation? Find out who our civil servants are speaking to around the globe to conduct these security checks, then film these people (if you can find them) at work, their offices etc. Dig around a bit. Look into the detail of their checks etc. I think this might be very illuminating for us all…..It may even be funny in a sad sort of way.

The answer from a Government minister may show the task for the Home Office in security checking anyone from overseas is in reality nigh on impossible?

It is surely hard enough to check on someone who has lived here all their lives and even then some get though the net. Checking the background of someone from most overseas countries where comparative systems as we may have, will not exist surely isn’t practical, and any clearances given surely have risk attached?

But there again increasingly in this country we live in a make believe world. (example - we are one of the richest countries in the world etc). People will continue to sadly believe whatever they want to believe.

Q –May there also be some oversights in the security checking of the UK workforce?

• Q -Ie are Parliamentary researchers from (all) overseas countries security checked?
Q -If not why, not?
Q -If researchers from certain countries are exempted from checks, why is this?

General vetting question

• Q -Are School Governors in the UK now police checked? I was led to believe this didn’t happen in which case this would be a serious oversight.

• Could you ask the Department of Education if this now happens?

Finally the vetmps.org.uk website is still down and its files deleted.

• Q -In light of intelligence organisations of all countries targeting the politicians of others, why when cabinet ministers demand security checks for the rest of us, can they continue to exclude themselves from this process?

• Q -This should surely include the Prime Minister himself? If not why not, surely such checks would protect these individuals as much as us?

• In the absence of any procedures and ongoing checks on the most powerful in the land, if the worst happened, perhaps the very worst what would the security services be able to do about it?

Best wishes
Bob

The trouble with the 'global awareness' story is that it's ripe for dissection - what exactly *is* 'global awareness'? - but not obviously in a way that'll make for good viewing. When I read 'Among the questions asked was whether children saw themselves as a citizen of the world or of their own country' I immediately wondered whether the survey had properly distinguished inclusive from exclusive disjunction. That's perhaps a more important question than it's stimulating.

Maybe you could use the survey as a jumping-off point...

I hope *Gordon of the manse * is praiseworthy to Tom Watson for his rather excellent response to the Jonathan Aitkens CSJ news,which is still on his blog and was prolific in most News bulletins and Newspapers today.

The scenario of Aitken is portraying politics now to be slowly resembling many scenes from Pinter's play
'The Caretaker'

Well done Tom Watson

newsnight wrote "British teenagers are less clued up on foreign affairs than their counterparts"

well yeah, when you consider the poor education system meated out to them, also the deeply ingrained culture known as the 'rights of passage'- getting blitzed on alcoholic beverages whilst their raging hormones keep them confused and lets not forget the gadgets forced down their throats by advertising market cocaine sniffers to distract them for ever entertaining any thoughts of enlightenment and coupled with the govts hidden policy of keeping them stupid whilst telling them they are all winners. " what do you want for your birthday jack? a six volume set of encyclopedia Britannia or the new ipod phone?" yeah, teenagers of today are not be up speed on much, let alone on foreign affairs, quite frankly, their *d

p.s Jacks answer to his birthday present choice should be " can i have both" now thats a smart kid, maybe he will become Prime Minister one day, a presenter on Newsnight or even the harder task of been its editor.

Why not ring up Fay Weldon and ask her what she thinks of the British
Council survey? She claims rightly that they speak neo-colonial tosh!

See also the website that is run by David Blackie based in King's Lynn:

According to British Council British teenagers are less clued up than their counterparts on international affairs; whereas just last week the head of MI5 was telling us that the big threat came from teenage bombers?
I suspect neither organisation knows their 'derriere' from their 'coude'!

['coude' = 'elbow' in French]