David Cameron

David Cameron makes veiled threat to media over NSA and GCHQ leaks

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/28/david-cameron-nsa-threat-newspapers-guardian-snowden

Prime minister alludes to courts and D notices and singles out the Guardian over coverage of Edward Snowden saga

Image of David CameronDavid Cameron has called on the Guardian and other newspapers to show “social responsibility” in the reporting of the leaked NSA files to avoid high court injunctions or the use of D notices to prevent the publication of information that could damage national security.

In a statement to MPs on Monday about last week’s European summit in Brussels, where he warned of the dangers of a “lah-di-dah, airy-fairy view” about the dangers of leaks, the prime minister said his preference was to talk to newspapers rather than resort to the courts. But he said it would be difficult to avoid acting if newspapers declined to heed government advice.

The prime minister issued the warning after the Tory MP Julian Smith quoted a report in Monday’s edition of the Sun that said Britain’s intelligence agencies believe details from the NSA files leaked by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden have hampered their work.

The Sun quoted a “top surveillance source” as saying that terrorists have “gone quiet” after the publication of details about NSA and GCHQ operations.

Cameron told MPs: “We have a free press, it’s very important the press feels it is not pre-censored from what it writes and all the rest of it.

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“I don’t want to have to use injunctions or D notices or the other tougher measures. I think it’s much better to appeal to newspapers’ sense of social responsibility. But if they don’t demonstrate some social responsibility it would be very difficult for government to stand back and not to act.”

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Guardian: The NSA files

[I’m surprised that Cameron thinks that censoring the press on these issues is wise. Surely it’s too late for that now? I find it strange that Cameron prefers to pretend that this wholesale and unwarranted spying on whole populations is not happening.]

Continue ReadingDavid Cameron makes veiled threat to media over NSA and GCHQ leaks

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson at Old Bailey for first phone-hacking trial

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/rebekah-brooks-and-andy-coulson-at-old-bailey-for-first-phonehacking-trial-8907699.html

12-Rebekah-Brooks-GettySeventy journalists representing news organisations from four continents will crowd into the Old Bailey on Monday to hear the opening of the trial of Downing Street’s former director of communications Andy Coulson and the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks. The two former lieutenants of Rupert Murdoch, along with six others, face a series of charges linked to phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World.

Already known in media shorthand as the “hacking trial”, the court’s examination of evidence going back to 2000 could last until April next year. The trial judge, Mr Justice Saunders, will be in charge of proceedings in Court 12, where an estimated 22 barristers and numerous solicitors will represent the prosecution and the accused.

Counsel for News UK, the rebranded name of Mr Murdoch’s UK print subsidiary, will also be in court. A lawyer representing alleged victims of phone hacking has also been granted formal permission to be in the court. All eight of the defendants deny the charges.

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I reduced the quoted content in this article in response to a takedown notice from the Independent. I may be avoiding the Independent – nasty LibDem supporting paper – in future.

27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for this posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

Continue ReadingRebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson at Old Bailey for first phone-hacking trial

Taxman faces grilling over Quoted Eurobond Exemption scandal

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/taxman-faces-grilling-over-quoted-eurobond-exemption-scandal-8907688.html

Britain’s most senior tax inspectors will be grilled by MPs today over HMRC’s failure to stop a legal tax avoidance scheme that loses them more than half a billion pounds in tax every year.

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Last week a joint investigation by this newspaper and Corporate Watch revealed more than 30 companies, including the Channel Tunnel rail link, Camelot and major High Street chains, are using a tax avoidance scheme that sees UK companies load up on debt from their overseas owners and use the interest to slash their taxable UK income. The payments are sent to the owners tax-free because the loans are made through offshore stock exchanges such as the Channel Islands that qualify, under HMRC regulations, for the Quoted Eurobond Exemption.

Without the exemption, the owners would have to pay a 20 per cent “withholding” tax and most of the tax savings from the interest deductions would be cancelled out.

Last year, HMRC considered restricting the exemption to stop it being used for such “intra-group” lending, but decided to keep it open after lobbying by financial and accountancy firms.

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27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

Continue ReadingTaxman faces grilling over Quoted Eurobond Exemption scandal

Leaked memos reveal GCHQ efforts to keep mass surveillance secret

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http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/25/leaked-memos-gchq-mass-surveillance-secret-snowden

[Guardian] Exclusive: Edward Snowden papers show UK spy agency fears legal challenge if scale of surveillance is made public

Image of GCHQ donught buildingThe UK intelligence agency GCHQ has repeatedly warned it fears a “damaging public debate” on the scale of its activities because it could lead to legal challenges against its mass-surveillance programmes, classified internal documents reveal.

Memos contained in the cache disclosed by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden detail the agency’s long fight against making intercept evidence admissible as evidence in criminal trials – a policy supported by all three major political parties, but ultimately defeated by the UK’s intelligence community.

Foremost among the reasons was a desire to minimise the potential for challenges against the agency’s large-scale interception programmes, rather than any intrinsic threat to security, the documents show.

The papers also reveal that:

• GCHQ lobbied furiously to keep secret the fact that telecoms firms had gone “well beyond” what they were legally required to do to help intelligence agencies’ mass interception of communications, both in the UK and overseas.

• GCHQ feared a legal challenge under the right to privacy in the Human Rights Act if evidence of its surveillance methods became admissable in court.

• GCHQ assisted the Home Office in lining up sympathetic people to help with “press handling”, including the Liberal Democrat peer and former intelligence services commissioner Lord Carlile, who this week criticised the Guardian for its coverage of mass surveillance by GCHQ and the US National Security Agency.

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Continue ReadingLeaked memos reveal GCHQ efforts to keep mass surveillance secret

Special advisers to ministers: Salary bill up £1m

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24674247

number-10-downing-streetThe salary bill for ministers’ special advisers has risen by £1m in the last year, according to official figures.

So-called “Spads” are appointed by ministers to provide political advice over and above the impartial work carried out by civil servants.

The Cabinet Office put the increase down to the “unusual” pressures caused by coalition government.

But Labour said David Cameron’s pre-election promise to limit the number of special advisers was in “tatters”.

A leap from 85 to 98 in the number of special advisers – who work directly to ministers and often speak for them – contributed to a 16% rise in the total wage bill in 2012-13.

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Continue ReadingSpecial advisers to ministers: Salary bill up £1m