Schillings tries to silence Craig Murray, again

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PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
Mainstream Publishing Company (Edinburgh) Limited
7 Albany Street
Edinburgh
Scotland
EH13UG

BY POST AND FAX: XXXX XXX XXXX
OurRef: SMS/JXR/ww/A131/3
ON THE RECORD
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
08 July 2008

Dear Sirs

The Road to Samarkand - Craig Murray

We represent Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Spicer OBE, C.E.O. of Aegis Defence Services Limited (”Aegis”).

We are instructed to write to you with regard to ‘THE ROAD TO SAMARKAND- INTRIGUE, CORRUPTION AND DIRTY DIPLOMACY’ (”the Book”) written by Craig Murray and due to be published in September 2008 by you (http://www.rbooks.co.uk/search results.aspx) to be sold in England and Wales by Random House Sales Department.

We have reason to believe that the Book may contain serious, untrue and damaging defamatory allegations about our client.

Please confirm by return whether the Book is due to be published in England and Wales in September 2008 and if so, the exact date. Please also confirm whether the Book is due to be published in any other jurisdiction, setting out each jurisdiction, together with the publication date and publisher concerned in each case.

Importantly, we require you to confirm by return whether or not the Book contains any reference to our client, and if so, we require you to set out in full each and every reference to our client in its entirety to give our client the opportunity to take legal advice and to respond to any allegations in good time prior to publication.

Any widespread publication of the Book containing defamatory allegations concerning our client would be deeply damaging to our client’s personal and professional reputations and would cause him profound distress and anxiety. We remind you that you would be responsible for that damage and any subsequent republication of the allegations. We also put you on notice that you will be liable for any special damage or loss suffered by our client as a result of the Book and we reserve all our client’s rights in this regard.

We note from your website http://www.mainstreampublishing.com/news_current.html that Mr Murray is due to speak about the Book at a ‘Mainstream author event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival’ entitled ‘Lived Lives’ on 12th August 2008 at 4.30pm in the RBS Main Theatre, Edinburgh. We hereby put both you and Mr Murray on notice that all our client’s rights are reserved in relation to any defamatory comments or publications made by you or Mr Murray in relation to that event.

Please immediately take into your possession all drafts of the Book pre-publication, all notes, emails, correspondence, memos, images and other documents relevant to the publication of this Book, and preserve them safely pending the outcome of this dispute. They will need to be disclosed in due course if litigation has to be commenced. Also, you will need to disclose the financial arrangements for the sale and licence of the Book to other publications.

In the circumstances, we require that you confirm immediately that you agree to undertake on behalf of Mainstream Publishing Company (Edinburgh) Limited not to publish any libels regarding our client in any editions of the Book or at all.

We require the above undertaking by 4pm on Friday 11h July 2008, failing which we will have no option but to advise our client with regard to making applications to the High Court for an injunction to restrain publication and/or for pre-action disclosure. You are on notice that we will seek to recover the costs of any necessary applications from you.

We await your response by return. In the meantime all our client’s rights are reserved, including the right to issue proceedings against you without further notice.

Yours faithfully

SCHILLINGS
cc. Craig Murray Esq.

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Administrative Notice

I have finally got off my arse and got off blogger. Which means that this blog is now dormant, and will be called up if needed.

For my new blog go to http://sim-o.me.uk/blog.
You can also see a glimpse in the left sidebar.

Keep on clicking...

Via Tygerland.

The Enemies of Reason:

Every Click is a Good Click

...Every click is a good click. That's the important thing to remember. If you get an ignorant, bigoted, stupid, vile, nasty, thuggish, bullying bastard visiting your website, that's a good thing. Imagine a suedeheaded BNP goon in a bomber jacket knocking on your door - would you let him in? No? OK then, what if, by letting him in, you knew you could make more money - would that affect your opinion? Still no? Say you got paid for every person who visited your house, and the more times they came back the more you got paid, and the longer they stayed the more you got paid. Let's say that your house - let's call it The Internet - is next door to your neighbours' houses, TV, Radio and Newspapers. They don't like letting the BNP thug in, to be honest, and he's pretty frustrated. He feels discriminated against and feels he's not welcome there. And remember, the more times he comes to your house, the more money you get. What would be wrong in having him pop round every now and then? Would that be so wrong?

Every click is a good click. Just bear that in mind. If you can get more cash from advertising - or, in the case of the BBC, get more clicks to show the valuable work you're doing in providing a forum for public debate, thereby demonstrating the importance of the licence fee - then you'll take it. I've mentioned before how the far right, including the BNP and some elements of UKIP, are pretty clued up about this. They know they don't have many places where they can get their message across - but they're organised, they're dedicated and they do certainly believe in what they're saying.

So if you can create a place where these people feel right at home, it makes sense they're going to come back time and time again, doesn't it? Especially if you encourage them by asking a series of loaded questions, frequently repeating exactly the same question over and over again to make sure that it doesn't drop off the radar and that they have the opportunity to make the same points repeatedly, tediously and laboriously. More clicks for you = more money from advertising. Every click is a good click.

Read the rest.

Gentlemen. Start Your Engines!

Fancy a race? My ID for Mario Kart Wii is 1289-8368-8210.

See you on the start line.

*Being the modest bloke I am, I make no assertions about the quality of my driving. ok?

"You will eat it."

Comment is Free:

Researchers from Oxford showed that the healthier balance of fats in the blood of lifelong vegans could lower the incidence of heart disease by a whopping 57%, compared with 24% in lifelong vegetarians. Vegetarians eat about two-thirds of the saturated fat, and one half of the cholesterol of omnivores, but vegans consume half the saturated fat and no cholesterol at all. Consequently, they have very low levels of harmful LDL ("bad") cholesterol in their blood. This means they are less likely to suffer from heart disease and other circulatory problems such as impotence. Not only do they avoid harmful animal-based foods, but the staple foods of a well-balanced vegan diet (nuts, soluble fibre, soya protein and plant sterols) improve blood fat levels. It's a win-win situation.

Dennis Leary:

You will eat it. Because not eating meat is a decision. Eating meat is an instinct!

DRM free music

Teh Times:

Tesco launched an audacious bid to take on iTunes today, with the announcement of a music and film download service that will compete directly with Apple's store.

The UK's largest supermarket said that as of next month, more than 3.3 million songs will be available to download from its website, with 1.6 million of those able to be played on any music player, including iPods and most mobile phones.

The deal, understood to involve all the main record labels, will mean that Tesco becomes the first large retailer to offer tracks to UK customers in an 'unprotected' format, allowing users, in theory, to copy songs music they buy from one device to another.

DRM free music. Hooray for Tesco (for once)!

Give it time...

Teh Guardian:

Gordon Brown insisted today that he would reject calls to quit because he was taking the correct "long-term decisions" for Britain.

In an interview with Sky News, the prime minister said that he was "staying in the job that I mean to continue".
...
"These are long-term decisions. They do not necessarily make you popular overnight," he said.

"I think people will see over time that these are the right decisions."

Like a hostage, over time sees that their captor is a lovely person really.

Thanks Charlton

With the demise of Charlton Heston, I've scored some points.
Which puts me in second place (along with 6 other people).

Right. Now to bump off Tony Benn.

Blair/SFO: Grow a fucking spine

The Guardian:

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) acted unlawfully in dropping an investigation into alleged bribery in an arms deal between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia, the high court ruled today.

In a stunning victory for the activist groups that launched the legal challenge, the two judges said Tony Blair's government and the SFO caved in too readily to threats by Saudi Arabia over intelligence sharing and trade.

Lord Justice Moses and Justice Sullivan, using some scathing language, rejected the SFO's argument that it was powerless to resist the Saudi threats.

"So bleak a picture of the impotence of the law invites at least dismay, if not outrage," they said.

"Had such a threat been made by one who was subject to the criminal law of this country, he would risk being charged with an attempt to pervert the course of justice."

In my learn'd opinion, the judges came to the right decision. Hooray.

Later in the article:

The judges said the SFO decision was unlawful but made no formal orders for further action - something they will consider at a further hearing. It is believed the most likely course will be that the SFO will have to reconsider its decision.

In a brief statement, the SFO said it was "carefully considering the implications of the judgment and the way forward".

There should be only one course of action for the SFO to take. That should be to reopen the investigation.
Along with prosecuting Blair for being a pussy and open a waranty for the arrest of the Saudi who made the threat, ready for when he comes to see how his aeroplanes are doing.

Self Mutilation or just nail biting

I can pack in smoking easy, so wtf is it with nailbiting?

Mortgages

Now then,how about this for an idea? I haven't worked out any details (and probably won't) yet, so I am expecting to be ignored/told I am in dreaming etc:

What about instead of banks and building societies stopping 100% mortgages, which people may be able to afford, and need because of being unable to save for a deposit because of, say paying rent, or the government giving grants which will have to be repaid, and so make getting a mortgage even more expensive, or 'shared equity' which isn't really owning your own home at all, but some other entity owning half, how about capping the multiplier for working out how much of a mortgage one can get?

So instead of banks lending upto 5x the borrowers salary, which means that their children are till paying it off when it comes time for them to get their own mortgage, the limit is capped at, say 1.5x main earner and 1x second earner, you know like it used to be, when you and I were kids.

This would have to be done gradually so as to minimise the shock to existing homeowners* but end result would be to drop the prices down to realistic levels so that most people could afford them, even the poor old first timers.
Once the prices had stabilised again the cap on the multiplier would keep the prices inline with wage increases and stop the runaway increases that are seen at the moment.

It'll never work though, cos' the banks won't be able to squeeze every last drop of money out of anyone wanting to own their own pile of bricks.


*declaration of interest: I am one of those people with a fucking big loan called a mortgage, so this isn't me thinking of someway I could afford a house. I would lose out due to the drop in equity of my property.