text:
Readers will probably know that among the numerous other beneficial effects of Mindfulness claimed by its inventor, Dafydd's former colleague Professor Mark Williams, is that it Increases Compassion. That is why the mental health workers who regularly practised Mindfulness, went on Mindfulness retreats and attended/spoke at conferences on Mindfulness facilitated a criminal trafficking gang, oversaw some of the highest rates of suicide in the UK, stood by while their clients became destitute, threatened their clients and perjured themselves in order to secure criminal convictions against their clients.
In recent years, Mark Williams et al have set out to demonstrate that Mindfulness Increases Compassion by the use of brain scans. I'm delighted to report that the research is going well and people have assured me that you can see the Compassion Centre of the brain 'lighting up' in those who practice Mindfulness.
The frontal lobe contains most of the dopamine-delicate neurons in the cerebral cortex. The dopamine system is associated with reward, attention, short-term memory tasks, planning, motivation and, in psychiatrists in north Wales and employees of Gwynedd and Clwyd Social Services, it contains the neurons responsible for people trafficking. Being the Vice Centre of the brain, the frontal lobe is commonly coloured red in textbooks:
Many readers will know that Mark Williams's research fraud was so successful that he duped numerous politicians who had no knowledge of biomedical sciences at all and thus could be fed any old crap into robustly promoting Mindfulness on the grounds that it has the potential to transform society. Mindfulness was invented by Mark Williams while he lived and worked in Gwynedd, which had one of the highest suicide rates in the UK, one of the lowest mean annual average incomes, one of the poorest performing health services and a Social Services which abused and neglected the people whom it was paid to care for. Williams invented Mindfulness in the late 1980s. Gwynedd still has a high suicide rate, a very low mean average annual income and a non-functioning NHS and Social Services, so clearly it is a testament to the transformative powers of Mindfulness.
Chris Ruane, the Labour MP for the Vale of Clwyd, 1997-2015 and from 2017-present, really loves Mindfulness, he wants everyone to have a bit of it and led the Parliamentary Mindfulness charge. Chris's constituency covers the areas of Denbigh and St Asaph/Bodelwyddan. The Denbigh area is still choc full with people who worked at Dafydd's Denbigh Dungeon and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, a truly lethal hospital managed and staffed by associates of Dafydd et al, is located at Bodelwyddan. St Asaph Cathedral had a member of staff who molested kids for years and one of the organists at St Asaph Cathedral was the son of Geoff, the landlord of the Douglas Arms Hotel in Bethesda. Geoff was a Tory and a believer in law n order. Which will be why some of the police officers in north Wales boasted that they beat up local lads and threw them in Llyn Ogwen and when the victims of these violent assaults appeared in court charged with whatever they had been fitted up for, 'we'd always be OK if Geoff was on the bench'. Some local men were found dead in Llyn Ogwen having 'drowned while swimming when drunk'. See previous posts.
Chris Ruane doesn't have any excuses for supporting Williams's con, Ruane knows north Wales very well and has spent his entire life on the turf of Dafydd's gang. Ruane attended Ysgol Mair Roman Catholic primary school in Rhyl. He then went to the Blessed Edward Jones RC High School (he was three years above Carol Vorderman). Blessed Ted's ended up in very, very serious difficulties which culminated in the removal of the Headmaster in approx 2001 amidst a huge scandal; the school became a no-go area for teachers and pupils, people were fleeing while screaming loudly. Ruane graduated from Aberystwyth University in 1979, when that institution was staffed and managed by the paedophiles' friends. Ruane then obtained an PGCE from Liverpool University in 1980. He was a town Councillor from 1988 and the Chairman of West Clwyd NUT region. Chris Ruane was a primary school teacher from 1982–97 and a Deputy Head from 1991–97.
Chris was elected as a Labour MP five months after the Waterhouse Inquiry opened.
Here's Chris, he knows nuzzing…
Chris Ruane contested Clwyd North West in 1992, but was unsuccessful. So Chris was selected as a candidate when the Windbag was Leader of the Labour Party. The Windbag who knew Dafydd's pal Dr Tony Francis, who was a great promoter of Mindfulness himself.
I am wondering if the effect of Mindfulness on the nation's politicians is now beginning to manifest itself at last, because The Guardian Online is reporting that Lord Alf Dubs is to launch a cross-party 'Compassion in Politics' campaign. Lord Alf's image is that of a kindly old buffer who has Special Insight into matters humanity because of his well-known status as a child from what was then Czechoslovakia who fled the Nazis. Alf was one of the mainly Jewish children saved by the English stockbroker Nicholas Winton and others on the Kindertransport (Dubs's father was Jewish). Alf's father had fled to England the day that the Nazis arrived in Czechoslovakia and young Alf was to meet him at Liverpool Street station. Alf later said that he clearly remembered leaving Prague station at age six and not touching the food pack given to him by his mother for the next two days. His mother was initially denied a visa but was able to join him and his father in London shortly afterwards.
Lord Alf's True Story is now so well-known that I had forgotten how it first reached the ears of the world and indeed the ears of Alf himself. I refreshed my memory recently. Alf's True Story was revealed by Esther Rantzen in Feb 1988 in an episode of 'That's Life'.
It was in late 1987 or very early in 1988 when I wrote to Esther Rantzen about Dafydd et al and provided her with details of the horrors of the North Wales Hospital Denbigh. Esther didn't ring the gas board and neither did the young men with curly hair on her show. She didn't even read out my letter and make any jokes about deformed root vegetables. Neither did Cyril compose an Odd Ode about Dafydd. Esther did not reply. Why did I write to Esther? Because she had launched a mental health campaign on 'That's Life' and I thought that Esther ought to know what the mental health services in north Wales were actually doing to people.
After Esther launched her mental health campaign, David Scarboro, an actor in East Enders, killed himself in April 1988 and Esther put on her serious face for the TV cameras and maxed out on David's death. David Scarboro had been treated very badly indeed by a section of the press with which Esther usually had a very chummy relationship. David played the part of 'Mark Fowler' and became upset when in 1985, the East Enders storyline dictated that 'Mark Fowler' should become a racist. Things came to a head when the script called for a scene in which 'Mark' was to deliver racist abuse. Scarboro refused to play the scene. After this it was decided that he should leave the show. His character was abruptly written out of the storyline.
In December 1985, Scarboro briefly returned to the series and subsequently for brief stints in 1986 and 1987, but never on a permanent or on-going basis. Scarboro's last appearance in the series was in the episode aired on Christmas Day, 1987.
Elements of the UK tabloid press reported that Scarboro had been fired from the show for turning up late for filming and being unco-operative on set. Away from the series Scarboro initiated libel proceedings after several national papers published inaccurate stories about his private life, but the press continued to pursue him and his family. The 'News of the Screws' discovered that Scarboro was in a psychiatric unit, besieged it and published photographs of the unit. Scarboro subsequently left the unit because the unit could not protect his privacy and he could no longer get adequate treatment. Inaccurate stories about his condition were published, along with some very, very nasty headlines about the psycho David. David was known to have been distraught at the press coverage and at his inability to receive adequate care.
David died on 27 April 1988. His body was found at the bottom of Beachy Head and the coroner returned an open verdict, although David is always spoken of as having killed himself. A documentary on his life, 'My Brother David', was produced by the BBC in 1988, presented by David's brother Simon. David's parents left the country soon after their son's death.
In 1988, Jimmy Savile's sex offending was never mentioned in the media but in spite of all the We Didn't Knows – including from Esther – a lot of people did know what Savile was doing.
In 1988 I was told by two people who had been at Leeds University a few years previously that Savile was known to be sexually assaulting 'young girls'. Two years later someone who's dad knew Savile via Stoke Mandeville Hospital told me that everyone at Stoke Mandeville was of the opinion that Savile was a 'twat' and then in 2000 another person with Stoke Mandeville links told me that Savile was a bloody nightmare and that most of the money 'raised' by Savile was wasted on vanity projects, such as the Jimmy Savile Dining Room.
The tabloid press definitely knew what Savile was doing by 1988. They had been given stories but would not publish for fear of litigation.
In 1989, my friend who's husband worked at the BBC told me that Esther was loathed, the most dreadful workplace bully, ruthless, completely insincere and that ChildLine was widely perceived to be a crude publicity stunt. In those days Esther was being seriously discussed as a potential future DG of the BBC. In 1986 Thatch had personally appointed Marmaduke Hussey as Chairman of the BBC Governors as a result of his close relationship to the Tory Party. Hussey had no previous experience of the BBC and was always seen as Thatcher's henchman. His had followed a long career with Associated Newspapers, becoming MD; eventually Hussey became Chief Executive and MD of Times Newspapers, 1971-80. Hussey gave up several boardroom appointments when he took up his job at the BBC, but he remained Chairman of the Royal Marsden Hospital until 1998.
In 1988, the Royal Marsden Hospital, along with a number of other institutions, began perpetrating the cancer research fraud funded by the Cancer Research Campaign and Imperial Cancer Research Fund, which involved Dr Peter Macguire, a former colleague of Dr Tony Francis. The fraud became public in 1990 and resulted in the presumed suicide of one of those involved, Professor Tim McElwain of the Royal Marsden Hospital (see posts 'Reports Of Death Were Greatly Exaggerated' and 'Apocalypse Now'). At the time, I was working for the Cancer Research Campaign myself, at the University of Surrey in a team led by Professor Vincent Marks, the brother of the then President of the BMA, Dr John Marks. John Marks and Ken Clarke were at each others throats at the time. It all ended in stalemate because everyone involved was concealing serious wrongdoing, including that of Dafydd et al, who were procuring children for sex, for, among others, Thatcher's friend and the then Minister of State for Energy with responsibility for oil, Sir Peter Morrison. Unbeknown to me, when I was working for Vincent Marks, the BMA were providing Tony Francis, Dafydd et al with advice as to how to frame me for serious offences.
The Princess of Wales was Patron of the Royal Marsden Hospital and it was one of the beneficiaries of the publicity stunt in New York which involved Di flogging off some of her clothes in June 1997, not long before she died.
Duke Hussey's wife, Lady Susan Hussey, is a Woman of the Bedchamber to Lilibet and godmother to Prince William. Sir Peter Morrison's sister Dame Mary Morrison was also a Woman of the Bedchamber to Lilibet. Susan Hussey is the older sister of William Waldegrave, who in 1988 was a Minister in Thatch's Gov't and served as Secretary of State for Health, 1990-92.
Within three months of becoming Chairman of the BBC, Hussey had forced the DG Alasdair Milne to resign. Milne was replaced by someone more acceptable to Thatch, Michael Checkland.
See previous posts for the full background on Hussey and Checkland.
Jimmy Savile was a friend of Thatch's and spent many weekends at Chequers with her. Savile was also a friend of Carlo's.
Esther knew that if she wanted to reach stratospheric heights at the BBC she couldn't afford to piss Jimmy Savile off. Or indeed Dafydd, who was part of the network which Savile was using to procure young people for sex with VIPs.
Alison Taylor wrote to Carlo in about 1988 telling him that kids in care in north Wales were being abused. She received a letter from Carlo's office stating that he could not become involved. In 1988 Carlo was the Chancellor of UCNW, which was facilitating an arm of Dafydd's trafficking gang. Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster and Carlo's close friend, owned an estate in Cheshire which was one of the Duke's main homes. Boys from Bryn Estyn were taken to the Duke's estate for 'work experience' but refused to return again without explaining why.
Jimmy Savile was known to visit Bryn Estyn and one boy maintained that he was raped by a group of men while Savile watched.
In 1988, Savile was one of the senior managers of Broadmoor, along with his pal Alan Franey. Thatcher's mate Baroness Trumpington aka Trumpers was the Health Minister who appointed Savile to the Broadmoor management task force (see posts 'Socio-Political Context Of The North Wales Mental Health Services In The 1980s' and 'A Pretty Classy Piece Of Operation').
At that time, Broadmoor was full of patients who had been abused as kids in care and by the mental health services. Some of those patients were from north Wales, including one person who was mentioned in the Waterhouse Report as having been abused while in care in north Wales. In the late 1980s, Di began making much publicised visits to Broadmoor and Rampton, although the nature of her meetings with the patients and which patients Di met, was kept completely secret for reasons of 'patient confidentiality', a la Di's visits to AIDS wards, among whose patients were rent boys who had been forced into sex work when in care in north Wales (see eg. post 'The Wretched Of The Earth'). I am all for patient confidentiality, I always felt that Savile's much publicised visits to children's wards complete with TV cameras were gross, but the reason for the 'confidentiality' at the secure hospitals and the AIDS wards was because many of the patients were the victims of serious crime. The information black-out was to protect the high profile people who had offended against them.
Jimmy Savile also wandered at will at Ashworth Hospital. Ashworth Hospital was part of Dafydd's domain, was run by Dafydd's friends and had a dreadful reputation, easily as bad as Broadmoor. See eg. post 'Security, Security'. One patient was battered to death by the staff at Ashworth – the murder was investigated by Dafydd's mate and umbrella Professor Robert Bluglass. There were two major inquiries at Ashworth and although it was admitted that the prevailing situation there was horrific, the problems were blamed on Dangerous Mental Patients, not the fact that the institution was run by a trafficking ring and that many of the inmates were victims of that ring.
Esther's sister Priscilla was a social worker for Lambeth Borough Council. Lambeth had a massive problem with their children's homes being infiltrated by paedophiles and kids in the care of Lambeth were sent to children's homes in north Wales, where they were abused and then trafficked back down to London or Brighton. Priscilla's boss was Valerie – now Baroness – Howarth, whom Esther appointed as CEO of ChildLine. ChildLine ignored phone calls from children in north Wales. One woman also maintains that she told Esther that Savile was abusing children. Esther claims to have no memory of this.
Savile and Esther were involved with the NSPCC. The Duke of Westminster was the Life Vice-President of the NSPCC from 1988 until his death in 2016. Here's Jimmy with another supporter of the NSPCC:
In north Wales, when the former kids in care were giving evidence regarding the abuse that they had experienced previously, support for them was offered via a Helpline run by the NSPCC, although the witnesses were by then adults. The managers of the NSPCC Helpline were the social workers who had facilitated the trafficking gang. One man who was rash enough to accept support from the NSPCC Helpline was found dead. The Helpline managers reassured themselves that they were covered by their insurance for such an eventually. Not only was the NSPCC Helpline run by the traffickers, but the North Wales Police were given the job of driving the witnesses to the venue where they gave evidence. The North Wales Police who had for years ignored all complaints about the abuse of kids in care and who had arrested the kids themselves if they persisted in complaining and who employed a number of officers who were abusing the kids.
I read the other day that Childline was set up after a conversation between Esther and Michael Grade in 1985. In the account that I read, it was claimed that Michael Grade had put the idea to Esther. In the summer of 1985, my friend worked in the box office at the Edinburgh Fringe. She ended up in hot water with her bosses when she refused to pull strings after Samuel Brittan, a journo with the FT and the brother of Leon Brittan, the then Home Secretary, demanded that she arrange tickets and accommodation for him to visit the Fringe, although everything had sold out weeks ago. Samuel was so irate that he wrote to his Big Mate Michael Grade, who wrote a wonderful letter to Samuel, telling him that he was 'appalled' at my friend's 'rudeness' and that Grade would definitely get Samuel tickets 'even if I have to give you my own'.
You SHALL go to the ball Samuel!
The Fairy Godmother himself:
When Leon Brittan was Home Secretary, he was handed a dossier compiled by the Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens which named a number of people, including Westminster figures, who were alleged to be abusing children. Brittan later claimed that he couldn't remember receiving the dossier. Then Brittan did remember receiving it but couldn't remember where he had put the dossier. Leon Brittan has been named as one Westminster figure who was possibly children himself. While Brittan was Home Secretary, numerous files relating to organised child abuse went missing from the Home Office. Meanwhile, the criminal activities of Dafydd et al continued unhindered in north Wales. See previous posts.
A few scenes from life in Britain when Brittan was Home Secretary:
The friend of mine who so angered Samuel Brittan was my best friend from school, who knew what had been happening to me in north Wales. Her mum was a clinical psychologist and her dad was a social worker and they had advised me after Francis began threatening me in the spring of 1985. My friend's family lived in Somerset, just down the road from my family and Brown's family. I now know that I and my friends were under surveillance by the security services by then.
I have mentioned in previous posts that members of my family knew/were known by Somerset MPs Tom King, John Biffen and Edward du Cann (see previous posts). King and Biffen were members of Thatcher's Cabinet and Peter Morrison was a Minister, 1983-85, under Tom King, when King was Secretary of State for Employment. Other west country MPs who knew people who knew relatives of mine were the Tory Jerry Wiggin and Liberals Paddy Ashdown and John Pardoe (see previous posts).
William Waldegrave's family seat was and still is at Chewton Mendip in Somerset. Previous posts (eg 'Those Who Are Ready To Serve' and 'Upper Class Twit Of The Year – Shooting Themselves') describe how some people in Somerset who knew what had happened to me in north Wales but who did not support me did very well for themselves in terms of career progress and money throughout the late 1980s and the 1990s. One such person received a cheque from Coutts. William Waldegrave was a senior person at Coutts.
Dafydd's partner-in-crime Dr D.G.E. Wood was from a medical family near Bristol. Over towards the Waldegraves' neck of the Woods…
My friend who had the dust-up with Samuel Brittan in 1985 was driven out of her job at the Royal Television Society in 1991, just after I was forced out of my job at St George's Hospital Medical School, after she wanted to make a film about north Wales. Her husband worked in the Drama Commissioning Dept of the BBC and was forced out of his job after his boss yelled at him that he'd make sure that he'd 'never work in this town again' when my friend's husband refused to accept a bribe at work. Weeks later he was transferred to the Religious Broadcasting Unit at Manchester and was soon after made redundant.
The troubles of my two media friends escalated after the summer of 1985 when they moved to London to begin their media careers. They were gradually frozen out by most of their former friends from Stirling University – they had all been part of the circle which included Jack, later Lord, McConnell, who was elected as an MSP in 1999, just before the publication of the Waterhouse Report and then bugger me found himself Scotland's FM in 2001 (see previous posts) – and they subsequently came under attack from gangsters (see post 'The Turn Of The Screw').
Lord Jack's mate:
In the summer of 1987, I went to see Leicester MIND as well as William Bingley, the Legal Director of MIND at MIND HQ in London and told them what I had witnessed and found out about Dafydd et al. I had no idea that not only was Dafydd involved in MIND himself, but that the organisation had been concealing his wrongdoing as far back as the 1960s. I presume that Bingley rang Dafydd and a few other people as soon as I left his office.
Readers might remember the Radio 4 light entertainment programme 'Loose Ends' when Ned Sherrin hosted it during the 1980s. It starred Carol Thatcher and although everybody on 'Loose Ends' did their 'we're not afraid to push the boundaries' bit, Thatch had the BBC firmly under her thumb at the time. Emma Freud was also a regular on 'Loose Ends' and a 'Loose Ends' book published in 1988 describes Emma as being 'the posh bird who giggles in the background'. Which was indeed all that Emma did on 'Loose Ends'. But her dad was Radio 4 favourite/Liberal MP Clement Freud… Who has since been unmasked as a sexual predator, including towards underaged girls. Clement's son was PR guru Matthew Freud. See previous posts. Gee, why ever didn't we hear about Clement's sexual assaults on teenagers then Matthew?? Emma Freud is married to Richard Curtis, who, with Ben Elton, wrote 'Blackadder'. Ben Elton's dad Lewis Elton was a Prof at Surrey University when I worked there in 1988 (see previous posts for details of Ben, his dad and others in their network). Emma and Richard were very conveniently living in New York during the year that Clement's lecherous ways made headline news. They were off just before the story broke and then back again after the dust had settled.
Victor Lewis Smith, the film, TV and radio producer, had a regular spot on 'Loose Ends' from 1986. Victor Lewis Smith also worked on 'That's Life'. Lewis Smith is a York University graduate who presented his own programme on Radio York before joining Radio 4. Yorkshire: Savile ruled the region. Lewis Smith has written for 'Time Out', 'Private Eye', 'Mail On Sunday', 'Esquire', 'Daily Mirror', 'The Independent', 'Harpers and Queen' and 'The Guardian'.
Stephen Fry was a regular on 'Loose Ends' in the 1980s. The Stephen Fry of 'I took cocaine in Buck House, aren't I naughty' and 'I'm friends with Prince Charles as well' fame; the Stephen Fry who was/is a Labour Luvvie and is President of MIND. Fry rather blotted his copy book with supporters of MIND when he sent out a rude tweet about the self-pity of someone who was Sharing re their experience of sexual abuse. Shortly after the furore, Fry tweeted that his earlier tweet didn't express his views; although it obviously had 20 mins previously. I don't know why anyone was surprised that Stephen wasn't as cuddly and fluffy as they presumed; Fry was born into a fair degree of privilege but believes that it had no effect at all on his later achievements and quips that of course public school didn't help him, he was expelled from several but still ended up at Cambridge after serving a prison sentence. That is indeed true Stephen, but the difference between you and the people with whom I was banged up in the North Wales Hospital Denbigh, was that they were not guilty of the crimes for which they went to prison and no-one gave them a second chance yet alone a place at Cambridge when they came out of jail. Not that they all did come out, quite a few were found dead in prison.
Stephen Fry used to joke that prison wasn't so bad, he wasn't raped in the showers by Mr Big. Had Stephen been a kid in care in north Wales rather than the son of a Gov't scientist, he'd have been raped repeatedly before he ever got as far as prison. And Carlo would not have invited him to Royal premises where Fry could enjoy a few snorts, any plea from Stephen to Carlo for help would have resulted in a letter from Carlo's office saying that he could not get involved.
Stephen Fry famously made TV programmes about being a manic depressive to enlighten everybody else on the matter. Which seriously pissed off a few manic depressives known to me; they all had the same response: 'he's in fucking private clinics in America, just look at what is happening to us..'.
I don't blame Stephen Fry one bit for not checking into Denbigh or the Hergest Unit, but he didn't do people with serious mental illness any favours with his Public Information Broadcasts. More of a PR job for the Top Docs really wasn't it Stephen?
I was amused to find that not long after I blogged about the messy reality of the Top Docs 'diagnoses' and 'cures' for prostate cancer, Stephen sent out a tweet explaining that he had recently had prostate cancer, his prostate had been removed and how grateful he was to the Top Docs for Saving His Life. Stephen Fry has had a good classical education but he knows bugger all about cancer research and the prevailing practices in that field. However he is intelligent enough to know that he cannot ever know whether the Top Docs did save his life or not, because there is not an identical Stephen Fry who did not have his prostate removed to use as a control. So Stephen is now doubly incontinent and impotent, which if it did save his life was worth it; but he does not know whether his life was saved or not. But I know that the PSA tests are throwing up a lot of false positives…
My friends who's media careers were ruined used to meet Stephen Fry and Ben Elton at various events!
Jonathan Ross also starred in 'Loose Ends' in the late 1980s. The Jonathan who was always an offensive twat but who somehow got away with it for years until he and Russell Brand rang up Andrew Sachs and boasted about Brand shagging Sachs's granddaughter. There was much shock-horror re the upsetting of a national treasure and a granddad, which eclipsed the rather more unedifying spectacle of Brand bragging about whom he had sex with, when the woman concerned probably just wanted to forget all about the toe rag. Woss and Brand were middle aged men, not 15 years old, so I can't work out why they were ever received in polite company again.
As for Ned Sherrin; er, where shall I start? Originally a barrister, smug, narcisstic and openly gay even back in the days of 'That Was The Week That Was' and David Frost etc. So Ned knew all of the Footlights/BBC 1960s crowd, all of whom knew about the Westminster Paedophile Ring, Jimmy Savile etc. Some of them, like Jonathan Miller and Graham Chapman, knew about north Wales too…See previous posts.
Ned was the John Biffen of the BBC; the clever son of Somerset farmers who made it big. Like Biffen's family, I think that Ned's family were impressed by him even if they privately raised eye-brows. They were fairly mainstream Somerset farmers of their generation, so they must have been a little surprised at Ned's activities.
Ned went to Sexey's School at Bruton; yes it was really called that. When I was a teenager, the other schools in Somerset used to play Sexey's School at team sports, Sexey's seemed to take team games quite seriously.
I might return to 'Loose Ends' in a future post, I am still digging…
So this was the context in which Alf Dubs's Amazing True Story was revealed and subsequently broadcast by Esther in February 1988. How did Esther get hold of Lord Alf's True Story? Amazingly enough, that possessor of a big heart Robert Maxwell was the conduit.
It is often reported that Nicholas Winton, Lord Alf's saviour, 'suppressed' his humanitarian exploits for many years. However, Winton mentioned them in his election material while unsuccessfully standing for election to the Maidenhead Town Council in 1954.
Yet Winton's rescue achievements 'went unnoticed for half a century, until in 1988 his wife found a detailed scrapbook in their attic, containing lists of the children, including their parents' names and the names and addresses of the families that took them in. She gave the scrapbook to Elisabeth Maxwell, a Holocaust researcher and wife of media magnate Robert Maxwell…
Mrs Winton handed that scrapbook over to Cap'n Bob's wife just like that…
Winton himself could not remember the reason why this was done. Letters were sent to each of these known addresses and 80 of "Winton's children" were found in Britain.'
One of whom was Alf!
In February 1988, Alf was invited as a member of the audience to 'That's Life'. At one point, Nicholas Winton's scrapbook was shown and his achievements were explained. Esther asked whether anybody in the audience owed their lives to Winton, and if so, to stand – more than two dozen people surrounding Winton rose and applauded. Well fancy them all turning up like that! But would anyone have actually known if they really all had been saved by Winton? I bet that Esther didn't take the microphone around to each and every one of them. The BBC were always fiddling figures and rigging situations, those standing up could have been anyone. Furthermore, Alf himself didn't know that he'd been rescued by Winton until Esther told him…
Although a stockbroker, Winton was also 'an ardent socialist who became close to Labour Party luminaries Nye Bevan, Jennie Lee and Tom Driberg'. Tom Driberg was a controversial figure in the Labour Party, being a bisexual communist with criminal connections. It was later revealed that Driberg had been working for the security services.
Alf Dubbs served as the Labour MP for Battersea South, 1979-83 and then Battersea, 1983-87. In 1988, when Alf's True Story received all that heart melting coverage, the Windbag was the Leader of the Labour Party. The Windbag who knew Tony Francis and who was married to Glenys, the school teacher from Holyhead. Glenys's parents had been Labour Party activists and were good mates with Lord Cledwyn, who in his capacity as the MP for Anglesey and Secretary of State for Wales, 1966-68, as well as a member of the Lords, for decades played a major role in concealing the crimes of Gwynne the lobotomist and Dafydd et al (see post 'The Cradle Of Filth'). Lord Cledwyn, along with Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan, the Windbags and the rest of the Labour Party, also concealed the sex offending of George Thomas aka Viscount Tonypandy, who despite being a Labour politician, was a mate of Thatch and a big fan of the Royals.
In Dec 1987, Alison Taylor had been sacked by Gwynedd County Council. She had written to Thatch in Jan 1987 about the abuse of kids in care in north Wales and on Feb 28 1988 Alison wrote to Tony Newton, the then Health Minister. Alison had also reported abuse to the North Wales Police, only to be told that she lacked credibility and was 'manipulating' children into making complaints. By Feb 1988, Mary had won her case against Dafydd et al, but they were refusing to pay her the damages that had been agreed.
By Feb 1988, my official complaint against Tony Francis, Gwynedd Social Services, Dafydd et al was lodged with the NHS and was the responsibility of the Medical Ombudsman in the Welsh Office, Professor Robert Owen. Who was one of Dafydd's mates from the Liverpool branch of Dafydd's empire. Robert Owen was the Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Liverpool and also worked as a consultant at Alder Hey Children's Hospital (see post 'In Memoriam – Professor Robert Owen'). While my complaint was supposedly being handled, the crooked lawyer from the Welsh Office, Andrew Park, was busy advising Dafydd et al on fitting me up…
By Feb 1988, the shit was hitting the fan in Cleveland in the form of the child abuse scandal there, which was the result of the gang operating in the north east of England with direct links to Dafydd et al in north Wales. Lord Justice Elizabeth Butler-Sloss was employed to Chair the whitewash for that matter. See post 'Twas The Night Before Christmas And The Culprits Were Named'. Butler-Sloss was the sister of Michael Havers, who as Attorney General under Thatcher had blocked the prosecution of a number of well-connected paedophiles, including the diplomat and MI6 officer, Sir Peter Hayman.
Alf Dubs's constituency of Battersea fell within Wandsworth Borough Council. Wandsworth Council, along with the staff of St George's Hospital Medical School and Springfield Hospital, were facilitating a big paedophile ring which operated in south London (see post 'The Most Dangerous Man In The World – Part III'). My documents show that there was a direct link between Wandsworth Social Services and Lucille Hughes of Gwynedd Social Services, Tony Francis and Dafydd. There were also direct links between St George's/Springfield and Tony Francis and Dafydd. Donald Naismith, the Director of Education for Wandsworth, was known to be an active paedophile who was abusing kids in care. See previous posts.
St George's Hospital had a close historical link with the Duke of Westminster. The Duke's ancestors had donated the money and land which had led to the establishment of the original St George's at Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge. When St George's relocated to their new building in Tooting Broadway in 1980, the Duke demanded of Thatch that the Hyde Park Corner building – worth a great deal of money – should be returned to him, although it belonged to the Dept of Heath. The Duke was allowed to buy the building back for £6k… See previous posts.
In 1988, the year that Alf's True Story took the world by storm, Professor Sir William Asscher, who as a Top Doctor in Cardiff for many years concealed organised abuse right across Wales, was appointed Dean of St George's. When in Wales, Asscher had concealed George Thomas's offending and the crimes of Dafydd et al. The previous Dean of St George's had been deposed after Oliver Brooke, the Prof of Paediatrics at St George's, was imprisoned in 1986 for the possession of child porn. Ollie was a big player in a pan-European paedophile ring. Asscher spent the next eight years concealing the rest of the ring at St George's/Springfield/Wandsworth, on Alf's doorstep.
William Asscher's first name was Adolf but he preferred not to use it. Asscher's family were Dutch Jews who were deported to Westerbork transit camp, where Asscher's mother secured their release in 1943 by fabricating claims to be of English descent. The family then came to Britain. See previous posts.
Adolf Asscher was just two years younger than Alf Dubbs.
In 1988, matters regarding the paedophile ring in the Leicestershire area were beginning to gather steam. Investigations were beginning after complaints about, among others, Greville Janner, one of Dubs's fellow Labour MPs. Janner was a barrister, also Jewish and a leading light in the Jewish community. Janner's father, Barnett Janner, had held Janner's Leicester seat before him. Barnett Janner was also a lawyer and leader in the Jewish community who had moved to Leicester from Cardiff when Barnett was younger and in search of a seat.
In the autumn of 1987, Dr James Earp of the Towers Hospital, Leicester, concealed the crimes of Dafydd et al in north Wales. See previous posts.
One high profile lawyer in south Wales in 1988 was Leo Abse, a Jewish lawyer who until June 1987 had been the Labour MP for Torfaen. Abse was a crook and a close friend of George Thomas. Abse admitted threatening and paying people off in order to protect George Thomas (see post 'It Wasn't On Our Radar'). Leo Abse's brother Danny was a poet and worked as a Top Doctor in south Wales. The Abse family all had a keen interest in psychoanalysis. See previous posts.
It was Leo Abse who, virtually single-handedly, was responsible for the Children Act 1975, which resulted in hundreds of kids in care being sent to north Wales (see post 'Cry, The Beloved Country'). Abse twisted the arms of Jim Callaghan and Dr Death in order to help him achieve this aim. Jim Callaghan had known Glenys Kinnock's parents as long ago as when Glenys was a schoolgirl in Holyhead. Dr Death personally knew some of the Top Docs in north Wales who were facilitating Dafydd's gang (see posts 'Dr Death' and We've Been Expecting You…'). Audrey Callaghan was in on the dinners where Leo Abse persuaded Jim Callaghan to support a rewriting of the legislation with regard to the welfare of children. Audrey had colluded with child abuse when she had sat on the London County Council. In 1969, Audrey Callaghan became the Chair of the Board of Governors of Great Ormond Street Hospital, where Savile dropped in on the kiddies trapped in their hospital beds whenever he felt like it. Audrey continued raising funds for GOSH for the next thirty years. The Princess of Wales was President of GOSH from 1989 and Di was involved with the fund-raising efforts of GOSH.
Leo Abse has been investigated for historical sex offences.
Jim Callaghan hated George Thomas but concealed his activities because Thomas was such a big vote puller in south Wales. George Thomas was an enthusiastic supporter of medical charidees and also did much for the University Hospital in Cardiff, which was where William Asscher worked. Now which south Wales big wigs with feet in Cardiff and London and interests in medical charidees could have possibly been instrumental in the relocation of William Asscher to St George's when the wheels very nearly came off the bandwagon after Ollie was jailed??
Here's a smug old bastard who ensured that no-one would vote Labour for a very long time:
Is that a finger part of a hand covered in blood??
Leo Abse had supporters in the form of the Windbags. The Windbags were quoted in the press as having said of Leo Abse that 'Leo was courageous, highly principled, very funny and totally unique.' Leo was also very unpleasant.
The Windbags were friends with Claire Rayner, an Angel who by the 1980s was a regular on the BBC and in the tabloids. Rayner knew about organised abuse of children and vulnerable people at the hands of health and welfare professionals, she knew about Jimmy Savile and remained silent about all of it throughout her entire life (see post 'The Wretched Of The Earth'). Claire Rayner is a good friend of Helena Kennedy QC.
Helena was a leading light in WISH (Women In Special Hospitals) which was established in the mid-1980s to support female patients in Broadmoor, Ashworth and Rampton. Helena knew that scores of women in those institutions were there for no other reason than that they repeatedly self-harmed or tried to kill themselves as a result of the abuse that they had suffered as kids in care or in the mental health system. Helena said nothing about this and she said nothing about Savile's offending in Broadmoor either, although two female patients there killed themselves because of Savile's assaults on them. See post 'Close Your Eyes And Make A WISH'. For years, Helena worked closely with Professor Nigel Eastman of St George's/Springfield Hospital (see post 'Eve Was Framed – As Were A Lot Of Other People'), who was one of those concealing the trafficking ring in south London and who also colluded with Dafydd et al in north Wales (see previous posts).
The Windbag is Wales Patron of the Helena Kennedy Foundation.
Helena Kennedy worked with Claire Rayner on the panel which provided the advice re medical services in HMP Holloway in 1999, when there were great numbers of seriously distressed women in Holloway. The advice provided by Rayner and St Helena was to transfer the women to secure hospitals – where many of them had previously been abused…
The Holloway 'initiative' involving Rayner and Kennedy was announced on the day that Miranda's Prisons Minister Paul Boateng visited Holloway. It was the Windbag who made Paul Boateng a junior Treasury spokesman in 1989.
As a young barrister, Helena Kennedy worked in Took's Court, Michael Mansfield's chambers. Mansfield lived in Wandsworth. Mansfield knew what was happening in north Wales and did not respond to it, even when I wrote to him in 1993. Mansfield had handled the trials of some of the men who rioted at Risley Remand Centre in 1989. Mansfield knew that the medical wing at Risley was full of kids in care from north Wales and Dafydd's patients (see post 'Include Me Out'). Mansfield didn't represent them or ever talk about their plight.
Helena Kennedy was President of the National Children's Bureau (NCB), with which the paedophile social work academic Peter Righton was involved. Righton was employed by Keele University; Mansfield is a Keele graduate.
After discovering his own True Story, Alf Dubs campaigned for Nicholas Winton to be honoured. Winton was knighted in 2002.
Dubs was educated at Cheadle Hulme School, which is in Greater Manchester, near to the wealthy parts of Cheshire eg. Wilmslow, Altrincham. Many of the professional people who concealed Dafydd's gang which operated in north Wales/Cheshire lived in the Wilmslow/Altrincham area. Dubs studied at the LSE, an institution which educated numerous people who were either involved in the abuse in north Wales/Cheshire or who concealed it. Dubs worked as a local government officer before entering politics. The local government officers trade unions NUPE and NALGO – which merged to form UNISON – contained many people who had been involved with the abuse of children in care. Not only did NUPE and NALGO provide full protection to their members who had abused children, but in some cases – including in north Wales/Cheshire – it was the union reps who had abused the kids. Jeremy Corbyn worked for NUPE before he became an MP and Alun Michael, whom Miranda imposed upon Wales as First Secretary/FM – Michael is another Keele University graduate – also had a deep and meaningful relationship with NUPE.
Dubs lost his Commons seat at the General Election of 1987. From 1988 to 1995, Dubs was Director of the Refugee Council. In 1994, he became a Labour peer. On 9 June 1994, Matt Arnold, the Head of Bryn Estyn, died of an 'unspecified blood disease'. On 13 June 1994, the trial of Arnold's friend and colleague at Bryn Estyn, Peter Howarth, for sexually abusing boys in care began. John Smith, the Leader of the Labour Party, had died on 12 May 1994 after Bart's hospital had been unable to revive him following a heart attack. On 8 July 1994, Peter Howarth was found guilty of child sexual abuse and sentenced to ten years in prison. Miranda became Leader of the Labour Party on 21 July 1994.
Before becoming an MP, Miranda had been a pupil barrister of George Carman QC, the crooked, much-feared barrister who was retained by Jimmy Savile. Cherie worked in Carman's Chambers until 1988. Before Carman relocated to London after he acted for Jeremy Thorpe at the Old Bailey in 1979, Carman worked in Chambers in Manchester and lived in Cheshire, on Lord Alf Dubs' old stomping ground. It was the presence of Killer Carman in particular on the planet that caused so many people to feel that they could not print a word about Savile or indeed the rest of the crew, including Dafydd. When Gillian Taylforth, the East Enders actress, sued 'The Sun' for libel in Jan 1994, Carman caused her so much distress that Taylforth collapsed in court. The scene was treated as one huge entertaining spectacle. Taylforth lost the case and it cost her a fortune. The Presiding judge was Justice Drake, who had presided over the Dec 1994 trial which resulted when the former North Wales Police senior officer Gordon Anglesea sued 'Private Eye' and others for libel after they had published allegations that Anglesea had sexually abused boys in care in north Wales. Anglesea won nearly £400k damages. George Carman QC represented 'Private Eye' et al and I believe deliberately threw the case (see posts 'Y Gwir Yn Erbyn Y Byd' and 'Y Gwir Yn Erbyn Y Byd – A Few Additional Comments'). Shortly after the trial, one of the witnesses, Mark Humphreys, was found dead.
In 2016 Gordon Anglesea was convicted of the historical abuse of boys in care in north Wales and was imprisoned.
George Carman provided legal advice to a number of newspapers, including, for quite some time, to the Mirror. Which employed Miranda's PR man Alastair Campbell, who doubles up as a MIND ambassador.
For years, people told me repeatedly that if I tried to take on Dafydd et al in court or ever published a word about them, they would produce George Carman QC and I'd be eaten for breakfast. Now I am sure that was true. But I'd like to make the point that the only reason why, after 1987-88, that Carman or someone like him could have devoured me was that by then, Dafydd et al had been allowed to lie and lie and lie – and document those lies as fact and send them to third parties – about me, as well as about my friends who knew what Dafydd et al had done and it would have been those lies that Carman would have relied upon to discredit us. When I first raised concerns about those we know and love, I, Brown, my two media friends and two other academic friends would have made excellent witnesses. We did not have criminal records, we were not alcoholics or addicts and none of us had been involved in sex work, porn etc. None of us had any of the characteristics that were used to discredit every other witness. Furthermore, my medical records were full of written admissions by Dafydd himself, as well as his colleagues, that the most serious crimes had been committed by them. Those documents were unlawfully witheld from me for decades; because the contents would have been enough to put a few people in prison.
The only reason why no-one could find ANYONE considered credible to give evidence against Dafydd et al was that every witness had been systematically trashed, unlawfully, by the forces of the state. I have mentioned many times previously on this blog that I have been made aware that EVERYTHING, from the day that I arrived at UCNW, was recorded by the security services because the whole place was bugged, probably because of the IRA and Welsh activism in UCNW, but also because of the fall-out from Mary Wynch's case. No-one bugged UCNW – and later St George's – to protect us. The info gained was used to protect Dafydd et al.
What use is it if MI5 record a gang of people traffickers threatening and intimidating a student who has complained about them and forging documents about her if they do not put a stop to it? What did they think they were doing when they recorded me telling my tutor and Dr D.G.E. Wood that Brown was receiving murder threats, knowing that the idiots Bell and Wood ignored me? The security services, over a period of years, recorded a murdering criminal gang at work. They did not stop them and they did not warn their targets/victims. That is why Killer Carman could put the fear of God into honest witnesses; he knew they all been fitted up and smeared and if anyone challenged him the crooked old bastard would just order a load of lies from members of the gang employed as professional people. Medical records were always an occasion for a party on behalf of the likes of Carman and they'd have had a ball with mine. They were substantially untrue and Carman would have known that, but no-one would have given a stuff.
Carman had such a serious alcohol problem that he employed his own personal Top Doc, who on one occasion set up an intravenous drip when Carman collapsed from alcohol poisoning in court. I bet that none of the 'not credible' witnesses to Dafydd et al have ever collapsed in court from alcohol poisoning. I can imagine what would have been said if they did.
Alastair Campbell was for a time as drunk as George Carman. Does that make Alastair someone who is Telling Lies About Top Doctors? No, it makes Alastair a MIND ambassador and the PM's Press Officer.
It is not true that there was no evidence of a VIP paedophile gang in north Wales/Cheshire, there was mountains of evidence. The full forces of the British state were used to ensure that none of that evidence ever saw the light of day.
As for events in 1994, my documentation shows that while Matt Arnold was dying and Peter Howarth was standing trial and Miranda was busying himself becoming Leader of the Labour Party, those we know and love were carefully planning – yet again – my incarceration in a secure hospital. The plan swung into action after I and another patient had a meeting with two members of the Mental Health Act Commission and told them that Dafydd was sexually exploiting patients and that serious complaints were not being investigated. We were told by the members of the Commission, in front of nursing officer Jeff Crowther, that they had heard such complaints about Dafydd 'all before'. Our complaints were never investigated, by the Commission or anyone else. At the time, William Bingley was Chief Exec of the Commission. After we made those complaints, Dafydd et al staged the throwing of a brick through his glass door in the early hours of the morning and claimed that I had done it. On the basis of no evidence at all linking me with this crime which had been staged anyway, details of this were given to the High Court in Liverpool to demonstrate what a danger to Dafydd I was. See posts 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' and 'The Banality Of Evil'.
That brick has now become part of my 'history'. Ooh she threw a brick through Dafydd's door. Er – no, we've agreed that she didn't. But we've recorded it all anyway and sworn it in an affidavit to Liverpool High Court. So we know that it happened!
In 1994, the Jillings investigation into the abuse of children in the care of Clwyd County Council since 1974 was underway. The Jillings Report was published in 1996 and concluded that the abuse had been horrific and that the organised abuse of children in north Wales had stretched back way before 1974, probably as far back as the 1940s. Not that anyone but Clwyd County Council's own insurers and lawyers ever read the Jillings Report. On the advice of Michael Beloff QC, the legal adviser to Municipal Mutual, Clwyd County Council's insurers – Municipal Mutual also insured the North Wales Police – the report was witheld from everyone, including Clwyd's own Councillors and subsequently pulped. See post 'It's A Piece Of Cake…'.
Michael Beloff QC was and is a friend and colleague of Cherie and Beloff was a visitor to Chequers when Miranda became PM. Michael's dad Lord Max Beloff was a pal of Ioan Bowen Rees, the Chief Exec of Gwynedd County Council who oversaw the abuse of kids in the care of Gwynedd. Lord Max was also involved with Thatcher's fave university, the private University of Buckingham, of which Thatch served as Chancellor. See previous posts.
To return to Lord Alf, the hero of this story. He was given a peerage – in 1994! – and served as a junior Minister in the N Ireland Office, May 1997-Dec 1999, under Secretary of State Mo Mowlam. Who had spent her career in the north east of England, who knew about the trafficking gang up there which had direct links to Dafydd et al in north Wales and who as N Ireland Secretary knew all about the VIP paedophile at Kincora Boys' Home, which was linked to the other gangs on mainland Britain. Lord Alf would have known about Kincora as well. Mo's Top Doctor also assisted in the lies about Mo's health when she developed a brain tumour. Mo was in a ropey state for a long time and it affected her performance when she was in the N Ireland office; this was known but concealed.
While Alf Dubs was still in the Commons, Labour supporting comedian John O'Farrell worked in Dubs's office and was a Labour activist in Battersea. In his book, Things Can Only Get Better, O'Farrell described the events leading up to Dubs's shock defeat by the Conservative John Bowis at the 1987 General Election. In 1986, my two friends who were sacked from the Royal Television Society and the BBC in the early 1990s shared a flat in Bethnal Green with some other Stirling University graduates, one of whom was a woman called Julia, who was then John O'Farrell's girlfriend. Julia was very hostile to me when I shared the flat with them all for a short while in the autumn of 1986 and her 'bad vibes' as my friends described the situation continued towards my friends after I had moved out…
I remember it well, Julia sitting there glowering at us without explanation for hours on end. Never mind Julia, your ex did really well out of it, even if I and my two friends ended up with gangsters after us! O'Farrell wrote jokes for Gordon Brown and other New Labour big wigs…
Why did the Leftie cross the road? Er – some gangsters running a VIP trafficking ring were after his girlfriends' flatmates and the Labour Party were too fucking spineless to speak up…
O'Farrell successfully campaigned for a new state secondary school to be opened in Lambeth – the Lambeth Academy – and became the Chair of Governors from its opening in 2004 until 2012.
Alf served on an Area Health Authority and more recently on a Mental Health Trust. I haven't found out which ones, but ooh I can make a few guesses. Dubs was Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Commission until December 2003 and had previously been Deputy Chair of the Independent Television Commission. He is a Trustee of the Open University Foundation.
In the past, Dubs has been a local councillor, Chair of the Fabian Society, Chair of Liberty, a Trustee of Action Aid, a Trustee of the Immigration Advisory Service and of a number of other voluntary organisations.
Three patients at the Hergest Unit who were witness to the serious wrongdoing of Dafydd et al were involved with Action Aid.
In it's previous incarnation, Liberty was the NCCL and there was much embarrassment when all that business of the NCCL supporting paedophiles' rights in the 1970s appeared in the press some four years ago. Paul Boateng and Helena Kennedy were both leading lights in the NCCL.
Dubs is a Patron of Humanists UK, formerly known as the British Humanist Association. Claire Rayner served as both Vice-President and President of the British Humanist Association and many other paedophiles' friends have been involved with the BHA (see previous posts).
In the Lords, Dubs has spoken on varied subjects including the National Probation Service and road safety. Dubs was Chair of the Road Safety Foundation. In north Wales, the Probation Service was involved with the organised abuse of children and vulnerable people.
Dubs lists his main home as a cottage in the Lake District in Cumbria, which enabled him to claim over £26,000 of overnight subsistence expenses in 2007/2008, although he has lived in Notting Hill, west London, since 1964. In May 2009, he argued in justification that Lords regard the overnight allowance as a payment in lieu of salary. "We are the only legislators in the world that don't get paid," he said. "The overnight thing is quite generous because it compensates for not having a salary. In practice that's how it works."
Dubs is a Vice-President of the Debating Group.
So Lord Alf, how did all that Compassion of yours somehow miss the enormous criminal network with its HQ on your doorstep in Wandsworth which traded in children and vulnerable people? You've been the public face of Waifs In Need since 1988. You knew that Ollie at St George's had been imprisoned and following that there were three high profile scandals at St George's starring Ollie's colleagues. Then there were high profile investigations into paedophile rings in Islington, North Wales, Lambeth, Leicester and other places. Your colleague Greville Janner was interviewed under caution with regard to sexual assaults on children in 1990. Don't tell me that you didn't notice, because when Greville next appeared in the Commons, he was greeted with a round of applause, so happy were you all to see his his face again.
Lord Alf remained schtum throughout the Waterhouse Inquiry, the more recent revelations re Jimmy Savile and since then the discussions regarding the Westminster Paedophile Ring, including the offending of his fellow Labour peer Viscount Tonypandy.
Ever since Esther discovered Lord Alf's True Story, at certain times of Peak Distress for Dafydd et al, Lord Alf has been trotted out in the media to remind the world that he was once a Waif who was rescued from Hitler. Little Nell Hodge played the Hitler card the other day when Jeremy Corbyn hurt her feelings; Little Nell was the Leader of Islington Borough Council when the paedophile gang which murdered some of the witnesses operated within that Council. Greville raised the spectre of Hitler as well when he first stood accused; he claimed that the allegations against him were a result of anti-semitism.
Anti-semitism does exist, but we should not allow people who very obviously have questions to answer to muddy the waters by conjuring up images of Hitler which are completely irrelevant to matters under discussion.
Oh, by the way – Esther is Jewish aren't you Esther?
It is not anti-semitism, this is about NETWORKS which are being utilised. The Jewish network is not the only network that was/is used by this lot, they have used and exploited every network which any of them have ever touched.
The biggest and best network of all at their fingertips is that of the Top Doctors.
Esther felt the full force of the Top Doctors when the BBC and Esther were sued by Dr Sidney Gee in 1984 after Esther featured him on 'That's Life!' in June 1983. Sidney Gee was a 'weight loss specialist' who, from what I deduced, certainly had questions to answer. He wasn't as excessive as Dafydd, but if I wanted to lose weight I would not have gone to Sidney Gee, no matter how desperate I was. Sidney Gee also sued two Top Doctors who appeared on 'That's Life' discussing his treatment of patients, Dr Clemency Mitchell, a GP from Berkshire and Dr Roger Blackwood, a consultant physician at the King Edward Hospital, Windsor. Other defendants were the Chief Presenter of 'That's Life' Gavin Campbell and Gordon Watts, Editor. Gee won the case and it cost the BBC more than a million.
Who acted for Dr Sidney Gee? Er, a Michael Beloff QC…
Esther never touched a Top Doctor again; shortly after Sidney Gee clobbered her, she joined forces with them when she launched her lame anti-child abuse campaign, then her mental health campaign, then her anti-drugs campaign… Child Abuse, Mental Illness, Drug Abuse – can anyone see Dafydd hidden in the picture?
Esther nearly got her fingers burnt again when in 1987, she exposed Holyrood House, a 'nursing home' for psych patients in Llandudno, in which patients were being beaten up and abused. Esther named and shamed one Margaret Richards as managing Holyrood House. Esther didn't mention that all of the patients in Holyrood House had been sent there by one Dafydd Alun Jones and that he knew exactly what was happening to them. Nor did Esther mention the widespread rumours that Margaret Richards was yet another person whom Dafydd was shagging, that she purchased his suits for him – which might have been why they never fitted – and that she was involved in crime in Llandudno. Esther quietly and very quickly dropped her interest in Holyrood House and returned to ringing the gas board and naming and shaming petty poorly paid officials as Jobsworth of the Month.
Millionaire Top Docs forcing kids and patients into sex work? No, Esther wasn't going there. However she was happy to provide endless free PR for them.
In 1988 Esther launched another lame show, 'Hearts Of Gold'. I have mentioned before that for a laugh my friends and I entered Dafydd for 'Hearts Of Gold' and asked Esther if Dafydd and his patients could meet Bob Monkhouse because they all loved 'Bob's Full House'. We pretended that the letter was from Janice Davies, Dafydd's lying, crooked Nurse Rached at the North Wales Hospital. We never heard back from 'Hearts Of Gold', but years later, I found a copy of my letter to 'Hearts Of Gold' in my medical records, with accompanying documentation from those we know and love: Look what she has done now!!! Janice is a Senior Angel at the North Wales Hospital and she has IMPERSONATED Janice!!!
So who was Dafydd's contact at 'Hearts Of Gold' then BBC??
Lord Max Beloff was not the only link between Ioan Bowen Rees, the Fiery Welsh Nationalist Who Was Of The Gwerin And Who Hated The English. Ioan – who was incredibly enough an expert on local democracy and even published some highly rated volumes in the field, one of which was highly recommended by Lord Max – co-authored with the Irish historian Owen Dudley Edwards (see post 'Events, Dear Boy, Events'). Owen Dudley Edwards is the brother of Irish writer Ruth Dudley Edwards. Ruth Dudley Edwards was married to Patrick Cosgrave.
Patrick Cosgrave brought up a Catholic, in poverty in Ireland. Cosgrave rebelled against the severe Catholic piety of his mother and his teachers and acquired a love of British history (or a certain interpretation of it) as a teenager, from reading Kipling, Churchill and Lawrence of Arabia. At University College Dublin, Cosgrave embraced the epithet "West Brit"; at a debate, when an opponent accused him of being "to the Right of Douglas-Home", Cosgrave retorted that he was "to the Right of Lord Salisbury". Cosgrave claimed that his grandfather, a warden in Mountjoy Prison, had beaten up Kevin Berry, a Republican rebel executed in 1920. Cosgrave partnered Anthony Clare to win the 'Irish Times' debate and the 'Observer Mace' debate.
Anthony Clare was an associate of Dafydd's from the Maudsley, who colluded with serious crime yet was robustly promoted by the BBC as a Caring Top Doc who's hands were unsullied with the blood of the barbaric asylum docs from past times.
Patrick Cosgrave did his PhD at Peterhouse at Cambridge, which was renowned as a college where gay male students, along with some of their tutors did interesting things such as dressing up in women's clothes and adopting girls' names. Michael Portillo took part in such japes when he was at Peterhouse. Cosgrave was was among the Peterhouse alumni nicknamed "the reactionary chic" by the 'New Statesman'.
Having freelanced for Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE) while at UCD, Cosgrave was appointed as their London correspondent in 1968, when the Northern Irish Troubles revived. Cosgrave met all the leading politicians at Westminster, who were then brushing up on their Irish history and Cosgrave provided RTE with the fruits of his contacts. So Cosgrave knew about Kincora and allowed himself to be used by the British state, who ensured that the crime continued and that those responsible were never held to account.
After helping out the Gov't which caused so much trouble in N Ireland, in 1969, Cosgrave joined the Conservative Research Dept, which was at the time known for being a haven of gay male Tories, some of whom went cruising for boys when in London and enjoyed holidays at a venue in Italy known as the 'villa of shame', where, according to Matthew Parris, 'willing boys' were supplied. At the Conservative Research Dept, Cosgrave became a Zionist. His job there included briefing Edward Heath on Prime Minister's Questions, while continuing to write for 'The Spectator'.
Cosgrave became political editor of 'The Spectator' in 1971, where his numerous, often scathing, articles about Heath's leadership were influential in effecting the change to Thatch.
In 1975, Cosgrave became Thatch's advisor while she was Leader of the Opposition. One person who had been key to Thatch becoming Leader of the Tories in 1975 was Peter Morrison. Thatch dropped Cosgrave after winning power in 1979, although as her adviser, he had been viewed as a futire Cabinet Minister. By 1979, Cosgrave's excessive boozing was impairing his reliability.
Subsequently, Cosgrave was briefly Editor-in-Chief of Tiny Rowland's Lonrho publications. After this, Cosgrave earned a precarious living as a freelance journalist and by writing books, mainly political biographies. Among other publications, he wrote for 'The Times', 'The Daily Torygraph' and 'The Independent'.
Cosgrave's 1978 biography of Thatch was faulted for hero-worship. His biography of Enoch Powell, whom he also admired, was made with access to Powell and his correspondence.
Cosgrave obtained a British passport and sometimes attended services of the Church of England, while remaining agnostic.
Cosgrave married three times and divorced twice. It was his first marriage in 1965 that was to Ruth Dudley Edwards, his fellow student at UCD and, later, Cambridge. He married Norma Green, mother of his daughter Rebecca, in 1974; and Shirley Ward in 1981. Shirley Ward was Secretary of the European Democrats at the European Parliament.
Patrick Cosgrave had financial problems from the late 1970s and when Norma Green left him in 1980, Rebecca was made a ward of court. I bet that no-one dared entrust Rebecca's welfare to Gwynedd Social Services. In 1981 the Inland Revenue filed a tax demand for over £10,000 and Cosgrave was declared bankrupt.His debt of £18,700 was discharged in 1985.
Cosgrave died of heart failure at the age of 59 in 2001, the year following the Waterhouse Report. His poor health was exacerbated by heavy drinking and smoking.
The Defender of Fortress Gwynedd Against Thatch:
It'll be Christmas before too long, so I'll get ready to drive around Caernarfon equipped with a loud hailer on the car roof, to give everyone a rendering of some traditional Gwynedd County Council hymns and arias, including 'Yma O Hyd' and of course 'Tomorrow Belongs To Me'. See you at the festivities Dafydd Iwan!
Now Lord Alf, do us all a favour and spare us your Compassion. We've all suffered quite enough at the hands of Mindfulness practitioners. When they spread their Compassion around north Wales, the following scenarios were not unusual:


text:
FITS File Calculator Expressions
General Syntax The expression can be an arbitrarily complex series of operations performed on constants, keyword values, and column data taken from the specified FITS TABLE extension. For the case of row filtering, the expression must evaluate to a single boolean value for each row of the table. Keyword and column data are referenced by name. Any string of characters not surrounded by quotes (ie, a constant string) or followed by an open parentheses (ie, a function name) will be initially interpretted as a column name and its contents for the current row inserted into the expression. If no such column exists, a keyword of that name will be searched for and its value used, if found. To force the name to be interpretted as a keyword (in case there is both a column and keyword with the same name), precede the keyword name with a single pound sign, '#', as in '#NAXIS2'. Due to the generalities of FITS column and keyword names, if the column or keyword name contains a space or a character which might appear as an arithmetic term then inclose the name in '$' characters as in $MAX PHA$ or #$MAX-PHA$. Names are case insensitive. To access a table entry in a row other than the current one, follow the column's name with a row offset within curly braces. For example, 'PHA\{-3\}' will evaluate to the value of column PHA, 3 rows above the row currently being processed. One cannot specify an absolute row number, only a relative offset. Rows that fall outside the table will be treated as undefined, or NULLs. Boolean operators can be used in the expression in either their Fortran or C forms. The following boolean operators are available: "equal" .eq. .EQ. == "not equal" .ne. .NE. != "less than" .lt. .LT. < "less than/equal" .le. .LE. <= =< "greater than" .gt. .GT. > "greater than/equal" .ge. .GE. >= => "or" .or. .OR. || "and" .and. .AND. && "negation" .not. .NOT. ! "approx. equal(1e-7)" ~ The expression may also include arithmetic operators and functions. Trigonometric functions use radians, not degrees. The following arithmetic operators and functions can be used in the expression (function names are case insensitive). A null value will be returned in case of illegal operations such as divide by zero, sqrt(negative) log(negative), log10(negative), arccos(.gt. 1), arcsin(.gt. 1). "addition" + "subtraction" - "multiplication" * "division" / "negation" - "exponentiation" ** ^ "modulus" i % j "absolute value" abs(x) "sine" sin(x) "arc sine" arcsin(x) "cosine" cos(x) "arc cosine" arccos(x) "tangent" tan(x) "arc tangent" arctan(x) "hyperbolic sine" sinh(x) "arc tangent (2)" arctan2(y,x) "hyperbolic cosine" cosh(x) "hyperbolic tangent" tanh(x) "exponential" exp(x) "square root" sqrt(x) "natural log" log(x) "common log" log10(x) "round to nearest int" round(x) "random # [0.0,1.0)" random() "round up to int" ceil(x) "round down to int" floor(x) "minimum" min(x,y) "maximum" max(x,y) "cumulative sum" accum(x) "sequential difference" seqdiff(x) "angular separation" angsep(ra1,dec1,ra2,de2) (all in degrees) "if-then-else" b?x:y An alternate syntax for the min and max functions has only a single argument which should be a vector value (see below). The result will be the minimum/maximum element contained within the vector. The accum(x) function forms the cumulative sum of x, element by element. Vector columns are supported simply by performing the summation process through all the values. Null values are treated as 0. The seqdiff(x) function forms the sequential difference of x, element by element. The first value of seqdiff is the first value of x. A single null value in x causes a pair of nulls in the output. The seqdiff and accum functions are functional inverses, i.e., seqdiff(accum(x)) == x as long as no null values are present. The angsep function computes the angular separation in degrees between 2 celestial positions, where the first 2 parameters give the RA-like and Dec-like coordinates (in decimal degrees) of the first position, and the 3rd and 4th parameters give the coordinates of the second position. In the if-then-else expression, "b?x:y", b is an explicit boolean value or expression. There is no automatic type conversion from numeric to boolean values, so one needs to use "iVal!=0" instead of merely "iVal" as the boolean argument. x and y can be any scalar data type (including string). The following type casting operators are available, where the inclosing parentheses are required and taken from the C language usage. Also, the integer to real casts values to double precision: "real to integer" (int) x (INT) x "integer to real" (float) i (FLOAT) i In addition, several constants are built in for use in numerical expressions: #pi 3.1415... #e 2.7182... #deg #pi/180 #row current row number #null undefined value #snull undefined string A string constant must be enclosed in quotes as in 'Crab'. The "null" constants are useful for conditionally setting table values to a NULL, or undefined, value (eg., "col1==-99 ? #NULL : col1"). There is also a function for testing if two values are close to each other, i.e., if they are "near" each other to within a user specified tolerance. The arguments, value_1 and value_2 can be integer or real and represent the two values who's proximity is being tested to be within the specified tolerance, also an integer or real: near(value_1, value_2, tolerance) When a NULL, or undefined, value is encountered in the FITS table, the expression will evaluate to NULL unless the undefined value is not actually required for evaluation, eg. "TRUE .or. NULL" evaluates to TRUE. The following two functions allow some NULL detection and handling: "a null value?" ISNULL(x) "define a value for null" DEFNULL(x,y) The former returns a boolean value of TRUE if the argument x is NULL. The later "defines" a value to be substituted for NULL values; it returns the value of x if x is not NULL, otherwise it returns the value of y. Bit Masks Bit masks can be used to select out rows from bit columns (TFORMn = #X) in FITS files. To represent the mask, binary, octal, and hex formats are allowed: binary: b0110xx1010000101xxxx0001 octal: o720x1 -> (b111010000xxx001) hex: h0FxD -> (b00001111xxxx1101) In all the representations, an x or X is allowed in the mask as a wild card. Note that the x represents a different number of wild card bits in each representation. All representations are case insensitive. To construct the boolean expression using the mask as the boolean equal operator discribed above on a bit table column. For example, if you had a 7 bit column named flags in a FITS table and wanted all rows having the bit pattern 0010011, the selection expression would be: flags == b0010011 or flags .eq. b10011 It is also possible to test if a range of bits is less than, less than equal, greater than and greater than equal to a particular boolean value: flags <= bxxx010xx flags .gt. bxxx100xx flags .le. b1xxxxxxx Notice the use of the x bit value to limit the range of bits being compared. It is not necessary to specify the leading (most significant) zero (0) bits in the mask, as shown in the second expression above. Bit wise AND, OR and NOT operations are also possible on two or more bit fields using the '&'(AND), '|'(OR), and the '!'(NOT) operators. All of these operators result in a bit field which can then be used with the equal operator. For example: (!flags) == b1101100 (flags & b1000001) == bx000001 Bit fields can be appended as well using the '+' operator. Strings can be concatenated this way, too. Vector Columns Vector columns can also be used in building the expression. No special syntax is required if one wants to operate on all elements of the vector. Simply use the column name as for a scalar column. Vector columns can be freely intermixed with scalar columns or constants in virtually all expressions. The result will be of the same dimension as the vector. Two vectors in an expression, though, need to have the same number of elements and have the same dimensions. The only places a vector column cannot be used (for now, anyway) are the SAO region functions and the NEAR boolean function. Arithmetic and logical operations are all performed on an element by element basis. Comparing two vector columns, eg "COL1 == COL2", thus results in another vector of boolean values indicating which elements of the two vectors are equal. Eight functions are available that operate on a vector and return a scalar result: "minimum" MIN(V) "maximum" MAX(V) "average" AVERAGE(V) "median" MEDIAN(V) "sumation" SUM(V) "standard deviation" STDDEV(V) "# of values" NELEM(V) "# of non-null values" NVALID(V) where V represents the name of a vector column or a manually constructed vector using curly brackets as described below. The first 6 of these functions ignore any null values in the vector when computing the result. The SUM function literally sums all the elements in x, returning a scalar value. If V is a boolean vector, SUM returns the number of TRUE elements. The NELEM function returns the number of elements in vector V whereas NVALID return the number of non-null elements in the vector. (NELEM also operates on bit and string columns, returning their column widths.) As an example, to test whether all elements of two vectors satisfy a given logical comparison, one can use the expression SUM( COL1 > COL2 ) == NELEM( COL1 ) which will return TRUE if all elements of COL1 are greater than their corresponding elements in COL2. To specify a single element of a vector, give the column name followed by a comma-separated list of coordinates enclosed in square brackets. For example, if a vector column named PHAS exists in the table as a one dimensional, 256 component list of numbers from which you wanted to select the 57th component for use in the expression, then PHAS[57] would do the trick. Higher dimensional arrays of data may appear in a column. But in order to interpret them, the TDIMn keyword must appear in the header. Assuming that a (4,4,4,4) array is packed into each row of a column named ARRAY4D, the (1,2,3,4) component element of each row is accessed by ARRAY4D[1,2,3,4]. Arrays up to dimension 5 are currently supported. Each vector index can itself be an expression, although it must evaluate to an integer value within the bounds of the vector. Vector columns which contain spaces or arithmetic operators must have their names enclosed in "$" characters as with $ARRAY-4D$[1,2,3,4]. A more C-like syntax for specifying vector indices is also available. The element used in the preceding example alternatively could be specified with the syntax ARRAY4D[4][3][2][1]. Note the reverse order of indices (as in C), as well as the fact that the values are still ones-based (as in Fortran -- adopted to avoid ambiguity for 1D vectors). With this syntax, one does not need to specify all of the indices. To extract a 3D slice of this 4D array, use ARRAY4D[4]. Variable-length vector columns are not supported. Vectors can be manually constructed within the expression using a comma-separated list of elements surrounded by curly braces ('{}'). For example, '{1,3,6,1}' is a 4-element vector containing the values 1, 3, 6, and 1. The vector can contain only boolean, integer, and real values (or expressions). The elements will be promoted to the highest datatype present. Any elements which are themselves vectors, will be expanded out with each of its elements becoming an element in the constructed vector. Good Time Interval Filtering A common filtering method applied to FITS files is a time filter using a Good Time Interval (GTI) extension. A high-level function, gtifilter(a,b,c,d), is available which performs this special evaluation, returning a boolean result for each time element tested. Its syntax is gtifilter( [ "filename" [, expr [, "STARTCOL", "STOPCOL" ] ] ] ) where each "[]" demarks optional parameters. The filename, if specified, can be blank ("") which will mean to use the first extension with the name "*GTI*" in the current file, a plain extension specifier (eg, "+2", "[2]", or "[STDGTI]") which will be used to select an extension in the current file, or a regular filename with or without an extension specifier which in the latter case will mean to use the first extension with an extension name "*GTI*". Expr can be any arithmetic expression, including simply the time column name. A vector time expression will produce a vector boolean result. STARTCOL and STOPCOL are the names of the START/STOP columns in the GTI extension. If one of them is specified, they both must be. Note that the quotes surrounding the filename and START/STOP column names are required. In its simplest form, no parameters need to be provided -- default values will be used. The expression "gtifilter()" is equivalent to gtifilter( "", TIME, "*START*", "*STOP*" ) This will search the current file for a GTI extension, filter the TIME column in the current table, using START/STOP times taken from columns in the GTI extension with names containing the strings "START" and "STOP". The wildcards ('*') allow slight variations in naming conventions such as "TSTART" or "STARTTIME". The same default values apply for unspecified parameters when the first one or two parameters are specified. The function automatically searches for TIMEZERO/I/F keywords in the current and GTI extensions, applying a relative time offset, if necessary. Spatial Region Filtering Another common filtering method is a spatial filter using a SAO- style region file. The syntax for this high-level filter is regfilter( "regfilename" [ , Xexpr, Yexpr [ , "wcs cols" ] ] ) The region file name is required, but the rest is optional. Without any explicit expression for the X and Y coordinates (in pixels), the filter will search for and operate on columns "X" and "Y". If the region file is in "degrees" format instead of "pixels" ("hhmmss" format is not supported, yet), the filter will need WCS information to convert the region coordinates to pixels. If supplied, the final parameter string contains the names of the 2 columns (space or comma separated) which contain the desired WCS information. If not supplied, the filter will scan the X and Y expressions for column names. If only one is found in each expression, those columns will be used. Otherwise, an error will be returned. The region shapes supported are (names are case insensitive): Point ( X1, Y1 ) <- One pixel square region Line ( X1, Y1, X2, Y2 ) <- One pixel wide region Polygon ( X1, Y1, X2, Y2, ... ) <- Rest are interiors with Rectangle ( X1, Y1, X2, Y2, A ) | boundaries considered Box ( Xc, Yc, Wdth, Hght, A ) V within the region Diamond ( Xc, Yc, Wdth, Hght, A ) Circle ( Xc, Yc, R ) Annulus ( Xc, Yc, Rin, Rout ) Ellipse ( Xc, Yc, Rx, Ry, A ) Elliptannulus ( Xc, Yc, Rinx, Riny, Routx, Routy, Ain, Aout ) Sector ( Xc, Yc, Amin, Amax ) where (Xc,Yc) is the coordinate of the shape's center; (X#,Y#) are the coordinates of the shape's edges; Rxxx are the shapes' various Radii or semimajor/minor axes; and Axxx are the angles of rotation (or bounding angles for Sector) in degrees. For rotated shapes, the rotation angle can be left off, indicating no rotation. Common alternate names for the regions can also be used: rotbox <-> box; rotrectangle <-> rectangle; (rot)rhombus <-> (rot)diamond; and pie <-> sector. When a shape's name is preceded by a minus sign, '-', the defined region is instead the area *outside* its boundary (ie, the region is inverted). All the shapes within a single region file are AND'd together to create the region. There are three functions that are primarily for use with SAO region files, but they can be used directly. They return a boolean true or false depending on whether a two dimensional point is in the region or not: "point in a circular region" circle(xcntr,ycntr,radius,Xcolumn,Ycolumn) "point in an elliptical region" ellipse(xcntr,ycntr,xhlf_wdth,yhlf_wdth,rotation,Xcolumn,Ycolumn) "point in a rectangular region" box(xcntr,ycntr,xfll_wdth,yfll_wdth,rotation,Xcolumn,Ycolumn) where (xcntr,ycntr) are the (x,y) position of the center of the region (xhlf_wdth,yhlf_wdth) are the (x,y) half widths of the region (xfll_wdth,yfll_wdth) are the (x,y) full widths of the region (radius) is half the diameter of the circle (rotation) is the angle(degrees) that the region is rotated with respect to (xcntr,ycntr) (Xcoord,Ycoord) are the (x,y) coordinates to test, usually column names NOTE: each parameter can itself be an expression, not merely a column name or constant. For complex or commonly used filters, one can also place the expression into a text file and import it into the calculator using the syntax '@filename.txt'. The expression can be arbitrarily complex and extend over multiple lines of the file.
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|System: PC, PS3
|Dev: Telltale Games
|Pub: Telltale Games
|Release: April 29, 2011
|Players: 1
|Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p
So, those of us who play Back to the Future: The Game because we love Back to the Future, not because we love point-and-click games, are left out for most of the game. Even point-and-click fans will be disappointed to find that Telltale made the puzzles so simple to make the game friendly to casual gamers. It's several hours of walking around, collecting items, matching items to their proper uses, using the hint system when necessary, and praying for a new plot twist or well-done cutscene.
Fortunately, though, toward the end, there are some plot twists and well-done cutscenes to reward us for our time. I won't spoil the precise details, but what's great about these scenes is that they rely on a very sensitive fact: With the timeline as it is, Young Doc has fallen in love with Edna, and while Old Doc knows where Edna's good intentions can lead, he's still sympathetic to her plight. Neither Doc wants to restore the original timeline, in which Hill Valley turns out okay, but Edna ends up as a bitter, lonely old woman, screaming at her neighbors through the window. As bored as I was solving mediocre point-and-click puzzles for several hours, I wouldn't miss the final episode for the world, because I want to see how Marty and the two Docs decide to work things out.
Before wrapping up, I should weigh in on the basics of the game, but I'll keep it brief, because they haven't really changed since the previous episodes. The graphics are still well-done but not high-tech. The controls are still kind of annoying, with clunky movement and invisible walls, but by this point I'm used to it. The music and voice acting are still top-notch, setting the bar for future movie-based games (A. J. LoCascio's awesome imitation of Michael J. Fox always deserves a shout-out).
All told, Back to the Future: The Game will go down in franchise history as a terrific new story, with interesting new plot ideas that incorporate time travel and introduce great new characters. I only wish that the minute-by-minute gameplay were as well-done as the larger structure.
Robert VerBruggen
CCC Contributing Writer
Game Features:


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For those in the West end that want to pick up TM3 items. Achilles Mazda is now carrying TM3 plate covers, decals(white only), and TM3 Toques.
They will be available at standard price $20 for plate cover set, $5 per decal, $15 per toque at the parts counter of Achilles Mazda.
While you are there, stop in and say hello to @CarLadyLisa


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Statistics on todays' visitors were captured from the screen
Service provider: ShinyStat
Mission goals and strategic priorities include: Act according to the European Commission INSPIRE principles and coordinate with the UNSDI development process. Support national/cross-border implementation of the INSPIRE Directive. Awareness raising on SDI at political level. Strengthen cohesion between stakeholders and other interested parties ie. public services, SMEs and SDICs. Provide synergies in local, regional, national and global dimensions with outreach towards EU neighbouring countries


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Five-year-old Matthew Smith hardly ever goes anywhere without first donning his favorite Super Mario Bros. T-shirt. The color of his shorts or pants is irrelevant, and he's lucky if he manages to slip on one sock.
Five-year-old Matthew Smith hardly ever goes anywhere without first donning his favorite Super Mario Bros. T-shirt. The color of his shorts or pants is irrelevant, and he's lucky if he manages to slip on one sock.
"Before he leaves the house, I have to make sure he's halfway decent," said his mother, Betty Smith of Riverside, Ill. "Half the time, it's like, 'Why are you wearing a red polo with purple shorts?' Matthew's not at all concerned with color coordination, and he puts together some funky outfits."
It's an age-old battle between parents and kids who, during their quest for independence and in the midst of personality emergence, attempt to assert closet control. What's a mom to do when her little princess refuses to hang up her tutu and tiara before walking into a restaurant? And how should dad respond when his tyke layers a Superman cape over a striped shirt and plaid shorts for church?
"This exertion of style preferences is part of the individuation process, but at age 3 and 4, they don't understand social structure and societal rules — especially when it comes to matters of appearance," said Dr. Jan Remer-Osborn, a child psychologist and behavioral specialist at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Ill. "So you're going to get clashing, mismatched outfits that really miss the mark. But it's our job to use these moments as teaching opportunities and provide structure and boundaries for them to work within."
Parents often are torn between wanting to avoid the embarrassment of letting a child go out in public garbed like a circus clown and hesitating to stifle creativity and self-expression. But armed with a few tricks of the trade, dodging the power struggle altogether in the battle against the inappropriate and visually assaulting wardrobe becomes doable.
"It's important to allow for the development of likes and dislikes and to permit that to translate into the selection of clothing. But it's also your duty to instill the values of self-respect and integrity," said Dr. Lance Reinke, a neuropsychologist and clinical psychology resident partnering with Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Ill. "It's easy to assume veto power and be very authoritarian, but you should leave them some choice in the matter."
He recommends presenting two or three ensembles for budding fashionistas to choose from, which will give them a sense of responsibility.
As the kids get a little older and are able to conceptualize the need for individual items (i.e. underwear, shirt, pants, socks, shoes, etc.), it's OK to be more hands-off so they can exercise more control by piecing together a complete outfit on their own.
"You can divide things into designated drawers — one for home or play wear, one for school, one for dressy occasions or fancy holidays, and so on," Reinke said. "This will give them more leeway, and the descriptive labels will help guide their judgment calls. It's also going to help them start to understand the method behind the madness or the why behind how adults pick clothes."
For children, these objective fashion criteria appear more difficult to argue with than a parent's opinion, so this can decrease bedroom squabbling, the psychologists said.
Separating clothing into summer and winter collections and moving unseasonable articles into remote storage areas will prevent children from grabbing a tank top in the middle of a blizzard or a turtleneck in 90-degree weather. Out of sight, out of mind is a good rule because it can remove the fashion argument.
But, Remer-Osborn said, it's never a bad idea to have an age-appropriate conversation with children about expectations that will encourage them to use their powers of reasoning to figure out why something might be unsuitable.
"That's not to say you'll always appeal to their logic and circumvent a tantrum," she added. "But it'll sink in eventually when you give the explanation of why it's not acceptable to wear a ratty, dirty T-shirt to kindergarten."
For Smith, compromising has yielded the best results.
"I tell Matthew, 'OK, I'll let you wear that shirt, but you've got to change the shorts,' if it's really hideous," she said. "And I've been able to convince him to put something on over his superhero shirts, which he's obsessed with. There's usually a lot of camouflaging going on."
In the grand scheme of things, there are worse things in life than her son's affinity for colorful Spiderman and Incredible Hulk images, Smith said.
"I'm not worried about those figures appearing on his clothes because I see it as a form of imaginative play," Smith added. "There's this transformation that takes place when he puts on one of those shirts. I think Matthew has this perception that some of their powers will transfer over to him, and he even does those little spider-web-shooting poses when he wears one.
"As a parent, you just have to let it go," she said. "It's got to become a non-issue."
Tips for tots
It's no secret that kids love loud, visually striking colors and patterns. But how can you humor their taste without aiding and abetting the perpetuation of unsightly attire?
- On the weekends, plan out outfits for the entire week and allow your kid to pick which day they want to wear what. This will help you avoid lengthy negotiation sessions each morning and will curb your tendency to give in for the sake of time.
- Try to anchor an ensemble with one neutral-colored garment. Jeans or khakis are a good springboard. Then let your child go hog-wild — within reason — with everything else.
- To appease your son or daughter's love of colorful patterns, don't rule out checkered, floral or plaid fabrics. Just aim for smaller-scale prints, which can look like solid colors at a distance. Then mixing and matching almost becomes fool-proof. Or, pair a large geometric top with a tinier striped bottom. That way, the finished product won't be such an eyesore.
- While kids' wardrobes don't have to be matchy-matchy, stick to one color palette. (Think warm reds, oranges and pinks versus cool blues, greens and grays.) This will tone down a busy, mishmashed outfit of polka dots and zigzags.
- Structuring an outfit around a particular theme is another fun and effective way of limiting and integrating all of your child's wacky elements. Suggest nautical or safari.
- Instead of signing off on a Hannah Montana, Spiderman or Batman costume for an outing, try to get your son or daughter to opt for an alter-ego, such as Miley Cyrus, Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne. Maybe an undershirt or underwear reveals their "true identity," but on the outside, their "disguise" is an average, well-dressed kid.
- If you can't handle the thought of your little one walking out the door in a particular selected outfit, try to avoid the fashion train wreck by framing your argument in a subtler way. Think about the day's activities, and appeal to your child's senses on a different level. "A skirt with tights wouldn't be much fun to play in on the monkey bars, would it?" "You don't want to get your pretty velvet Christmas dress stained during art class, do you?"
Source: Interviews, The Children's Place
Suburban Life Publications


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TECUMSEH, Kan. (AP) - A Kansas dairy is trying to raise $650,000 in less than two months to pay off its debt and expand the company.
Iwig Family Dairy, based in Tecumseh, hopes to raise $650,000 in 45 days through online donations.
"This campaign is just the boost that we need to help ensure that the farm is around for another 100 years, producing the best milk in the country," owner-operator Tim Iwig said. Iwig filed for Chapter 12 reorganization in November 2012.
The dairy announced the fundraising campaign in a news release Tuesday.
Donation options ranging from $5 to $10,000 at Indiegogo.com are marked to save increments of square feet on the 108-acre farm. Donations can also go toward naming rights to new calves.
The campaign follows the opening of a new Lawrence store that the company says is also part of the plan to exit bankruptcy. Pledges will be used to pay creditors and fund new stores in Topeka and Manhattan, the news release said.
Iwig says he also plans to turn a portion of the farm into a community garden, with the garden providing free vegetables to residents and charities.


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Kid Birthday Photo/Full Color Square Coasters
Customize your Kid Birthday with personalized Photo/Full Color Square Coasters. Shop from our curated galleries of beautiful ideas or upload your own art. Beautiful custom printed party supplies will add the finishing touch to your Kid Birthday celebration.
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Bovo speaks with State Attorney about ballot fraud investigation
Miami-Dade County Commissioner says he is not investigation target
MIAMI – Miami-Dade County Commissioner Esteban Bovo said he went to the State Attorney's office Thursday afternoon on his own accord to address the investigation of an ex-employee suspected of conducting prohibited campaign activities.
Bovo said he handed over emails and text messages from a former aide he said "went rogue" and became involved in trafficking absentee ballots.
"They made it very clear I am not the target of their investigation," Bovo said.
According to authorities, 164 absentee ballots were collected at Bovo's now-empty Hialeah office by the former aide, Anamary Pedrosa.
Pedrosa was allegedly offering the services of ballot brokers to candidates in the last election.
One of the alleged brokers, Sergio Robaina, was arrested in August. Robaina is the uncle of former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina.
Investigators suspect that Pedrosa would collect absentee ballots from Robaina and take them to the Post Office.
Pedrosa did not answer the door at her listed address Thursday. The attorney who represented her when she spoke to authorities under subpoena said she maintains her innocence.
Bovo said Pedrosa abruptly resigned from his staff in July after he confronted her about her interest in working with politicians, a claim she denied.
"She had talked about an overload of work and even talked about wanting to go to law school," Bovo said.
Bovo maintains he never knew anything about Pedrosa's alleged involvement with absentee ballot brokers.
"I felt it was important for me to walk in there today and sit down and hopefully put and end to whatever could be speculating on my part," he said.
Copyright 2012 by Post Newsweek. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Adam Dunn is also willing to play DH:
New White Sox slugger Adam Dunn said he'll do whatever is asked of him, including deferring part of his salary so the team can re-sign first baseman Paul Konerko. Dunn, who was introduced at news conference on Friday at U.S. Cellular Field, said he was willing to trade in his glove to become a designated hitter and even joked he would put on the catcher's gear and get behind the plate.
… Dunn and catcher A. J. Pierzynski, who was officially re-signed Thursday, both deferred part of next year's salary so the Sox culd pursue Konerko, who turned down their arbitration offer. Dunn signed a four-year, $56 million contract and will be paid $12 million next season, which goes up to $15 million in each of the final two years. Pierzynski will be paid $2 million next season and $6 million the following year.
Kenny is having a good off-season.