Friday 26 April 2019

Gloves Coming Off

I have no special insight into the alleged or assumed Great National Security Council Leak, BUT: if such it be, then the gloves are really coming off.

As citizens we all sleep more soundly when our politicians routinely stick to certain conventions concerning the really heavy stuff, however staid and boring and limiting that may be.  When Michael Heseltine brandishing the Mace counts as outrageous conduct.

If we are moving towards times when that's no longer the case, well, a very different sort of politician can thrive where the 'conventional' ones are left floundering.  Politicians with capacity for the same kind of untrammelled initiative as an imaginative military commander on a long leash, a pirate, or a mafia don.  What they call in Russia absolut banditi.  I mentioned Lenin the other day ...

A bracing prospect?  Oh yes.  Brace yerselves.

ND

13 comments:

Sebastian Weetabix said...

What amazes me is they’re concerned about the leak. They should be more concerned by the batshit insane decision to let the China PLA build our network. This is treason.

andrew said...

we let the
-Russians loose on our newspapers
-Poles loose on our houses
-Germans loose on our trains

we have had significant differences with all 3 (*) over the last 80 years
(*) well, parts of poland

and worse
-Frogs loose on our 'leccy (and our passports)

...it is too late

Raedwald said...

There is real service and intelligence chiefs' fury at the security breach - and the mood is not just for dismissal, but for prosecution and imprisonment. And I agree. I would also include dismissal with ignimony from the Privy Council.

They think they know who it is, so expect a news event early next week.

James Higham said...

See what happens post May 2nd.

Anonymous said...

See what happens post May 2nd.

Perhaps they already have him/her and they are spending their time "having a chat" in a darkened room somewhere. So see who is missing this week.

Nick Drew said...

Way back when the Nissan dirty-deal was in the air, I said there'd be worse things done before this game is over

K said...

I would assume the security chiefs don't want Huawei but the government pushed it through otherwise they'd have to find a few billion more for BDUK as BT is already like 90% Huawei.

Therefore the leak probably had the support of the security chiefs.

DJK said...

The original DT report was "May selects Huawei...", or some such, and generated a lot of negative comment about Mrs. May --- as it was presumably intended to do. I doubt the security services leaked the information. Surely the likely culprit is one of the contenders for the Conservative leadership, or one of their supporters.

Anonymous said...

One piece of good news last week - no Sainsburys/Asda merger. I never understand how Sainburys survive, mind, higher prices than the competition (bar Waitrose) - though their wine deals are good. I bought a dozen bottles last week.

andrew said...



The sad(*) thing is that I think on balance, TM got it right on Huwaei.

I would hope that the entire network is designed so the accidental failure
(and that will much more likely happen because huwaei's/cisco's etc etc code is a bit pants than any malice)
of one manufacturers components will not bring modern life to a halt.

If one wanted to point a pointy finger, it would be at the russians.
From what MIx has disclosed, those are the people who are actually trying to do bad things.

having kit from multiple suppliers may actually help on network resilience to attack.

(* sad that I think like that or sad that almost no-one agrees, not sure)

BlokeInBrum said...

I don't know enough about the details to know whether it's a good thing or not that Huwaei are supplying comms equipment. Apparently it's not supplying parts for the core network.
You would like to think that GCHQ know what they are doing and that the Government has come to the right decision for the right reasons.

However, the problem lies in the fact that trust in the Government and in the various tentacles of the State is at an all time low. People have a low opinion of both the competence and the trustworthiness of the Government and it's a richly deserved reputation at that.

E-K said...

Truth is the Trots are already in control.

Thunberg is a human shield for them. Climate change is to make us think that high tax austerity (communism) is for our own good and is our own idea.

Similarly Gina Miller is a human shield against the REAL People's Vote (that already took place but was ignored.)

Anonymous said...

"if one wanted to point a pointy finger, it would be at the russians"

The Russians are absolulely zero threat to the UK, all they want is to not be encircled by NATO, which our leaders insist on doing. There's the money and political will to send UK air patrols across the Black Sea, but not the money and political will to stop rubber boats crossing the Channel.

As I've said before, our towns are full of young Slavic guys, but none of them have snow on their boots.

China is a different story, look at their progress since they "went capitalist" compared with the disasters that befell the Russians at the hands of Harvard Business School between the fall of the SU and the rise of Putin. Look at their impressive 'lend money and take infrastructure when a country can't repay' strategy - Pireus port, Colombo megaport, chunks of Africa. Look at where all your phones and motherboards come from.

Russia doesn't have the capability to be a threat, China has in multiple dimensions.