Political Penguin

Another one of those posts that I’ve really been meaning to do but other things have got in the way.

A little while back Toshiba loaned me a Tecra A8 to do an appraisal of for their TalkToshiba site. Incidentally, it’s a very good idea from Toshiba in terms of getting exposure and feedback from bloggers and if anyone else would like to send me something to trial, I’m more than happy, although things of a technical nature are preferred.

I will declare an interest. Up until then I had only ever actually purchased one laptop in my life and it was a Toshiba (Pentium MMX with 64Mb Ram if memory serves me correctly) and I loved it until the motherboard eventually gave up but I couldn’t complain, it had been everywhere with me and I’d used it constantly.

So with that in mind and fond memories I was looking forward to the Tecra. It was on paper a great spec. I nice little Dual Core Intel processor. A gig of ram, a 256mb ATI graphics card and I was up for putting it through its paces.

On looks:

Well, it’s a laptop, it’s black and there’s not much more to say. I appreciate that Mac has done well in stylising it’s laptops and if that’s your cup of tea then good on you but the vast majority of laptops are black or grey slabs and that’s what the Tecra A8 is. That isn’t a criticism because, at least from my perspective it’s performance, what the machine can do and functionality that’s important.

On performance:

With anticipation of playing around with a computer with a specification that blows all my other machines out of the water I eagerly booted it up, incidentally it came pre-installed with Windows XP. Now I am going to state that yes I do know there are much more accurate ways to bench test hardware but I thought a more layman’s perspective would be better because after all that’s what your end user notices so I decided to test performance through boot-up times/shut down times and graphics through games.

The first thing that struck me when I booted the machine was how slow it was. In terms of boot-up to usable desktop, my Celeron D 3.4Ghz with 256Mb of Ram outperformed it. It also only marginally outperformed my ancient Packard Bell laptop P3 800Mhz with 128Mb of Ram. However, once up and running it was decidedly faster and graphics wise was very good. I might note that the slowness of booting, because it really did under-perform could well have been due to a poorly installed OS because there really shouldn’t be any reason for the slowness I encountered.

With this in mind I decided to cross compare it with a Linux OS. My personal choice was Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn and the performance at boot time was staggering in comparison. It easily out-performed everything else I’ve got and despite ATI graphics cards sometimes being a bit of a pain on Linux due to unavailable proprietary drivers I had a 3D Beryl cube desktop up and running in minutes. It also performed well running games graphics wise even through Wine which is a Windows emulator for Linux. It did however have a problem rendering video while spinning the cube desktop which my other PC with a very old Nvidia card in has no problems doing. I will however put this down to the drivers and not the actual hardware.

All in all it was quite impressive. I personally liked the robust nature of the design, it felt strong and well built with good segmentation of hardware for upgrade and maintenance. I know it’s only a small touch but I really liked the volume switch which simply moved the volume up or down by pushing it one way or the other, none of this trying to scroll it round like mad. However I didn’t like the touchpad. Not out of any kind of unresponsiveness but more that the edged were raised by about 1.5mm above the pad and I kept hitting my finger on them and losing the cursors position.

Would I buy one?

Well, much as I really liked the build quality and I really appreciate well built things, I’d have to say no. The touchpad would drive me mad after a while and user functionality is very important to me. Although the model is discontinued I did look over the price range of what you get from Toshiba for your money and for an independent who has to buy things directly out of what he earns then I felt them to be a little pricey. I could get better spec for less money if I hunted around a bit but it’s obvious that I’m not the core focus of Toshiba.

I also couldn’t get the speakers working with Linux, headphones were fine, just no speaker sound. I’m sure I could have come up with a fix but I was too busy and after all it was just a loaned laptop, if it had been mine then I’d have put in the extra effort. This of course does highlight one important factor. Dell in many ways have stolen a march on other PC manufacturers in that they’ve started selling PC’s with Linux pre-installed. Not that I’d buy one because for some strange reason it costs more, but it does tell me as a Linux user that I could buy their machine and know my OS definitely works with all the hardware which is something I couldn’t be sure of with other makes.

Who’s this laptop for?

Well, it’s a workhorse. It’s not pretty but it’s well built and designed for people on the move. It’s a salesmans/company execs laptop and these are usually purchased in bulk by organisations or companies where price is not necessarily the determining factor. For that market it’s perfect but for the independent and Linux user such as myself, price factors and compatibility are of greater importance so unfortunately it wouldn’t be my first choice for a laptop.

There may well be a few more posts cropping up on this issue when I get the time to put various bits of information together but I thought I’d point you in the direction of Westmonster who has picked up on the angle of the value of gifts that if they exceed £1,000 should be registered with the Electoral Commission. Incidentally I’ve been meaning to mention how good a site Westmonster is for a couple of weeks and has definitely joined my daily read list and will go on the blogroll when I get a moment.

What she does raise though is an important question. Did Flying Lion Limited actually fly various senior Tories including David Cameron in their own plane or simply pay the cost with another carrier? I feel I should point out that in my last post on Flying Lion Limited that perhaps I could have given the impression they’d used their Dassault Falcon 900EX executive jet to do the flying around for which I didn’t have any specific proof of.

On that note I’d just like to point readers in the direction of a little something that cropped up in a search this evening. Realising that it could be distinctly likely that Flying Lion Limited simply paid for flights with other carriers I decided to see if I could track down their only registered plane’s movements.

I would like to say at this juncture that I have over the last hour or so become distinctly impressed by plane spotters. They’re great people who diligently keep records of planes flying this way and that for the sheer love of it and good on them.

I say that because thanks to them, I came up with this little log from Luton Airport for November 2006. Yes, I know it’s a really big text file but the bit you’re looking for is:

2006/2201 VP-BMS F900EX LTN-KRT

Just to decode it a bit. the 2006/2201 from looking at other records appear to be time of departure, if there are two numbers then it’s the difference between expected and actual so it looks like the flight left at 22.01. VP-BMS is obviously the registration number of Con Air 1, followed by the plane model number Falcon 900EX. The LTN-KRT bit is the most important because that’s the airport codes. LTN obviously being Luton but what is KRT?

Well, quite simply, KRT is Khartoum, Sudan and looking at Davey Boys register of interests he flew to Khartoum with Flying Lion between 20-21 November 2006. Now this record is for 19 November but as Dave registered the interest in advance, things could well have altered slightly or simply because the flight was so last he could have been confused, who knows but that plane definitely flew from Luton to Khartoum and interestingly returned on 21 November 2006 which is when Davey boy says he came back although interestingly it seems to have been via Paris.

There’s also an interesting account from another plane spotter based in Blackpool who clocked Con Air 1 at Blackpool airport on 29th September 2007. Remind me again where and when the Tory conference was this year? I’ll be keeping a close eye on those register of interests in future.

Final little ditty. For anyone wishing to fly with the Tories favourite airline, here’s something sobering to think about from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch. Mind you, didn’t stop Michael Ancram being gifted flights by Flying Lion only 4 days later, not to mention rather a few others in 2003.

The other day Tom Watson posed the question who are Flying Lion Limited? Always up for a bit of an investigative challenge I decided to have a little look around to see what was about and there’s a few interesting things that cropped up.

First off, they crop up rather often in senior Conservative MP’s lists of members interests. Here’s a few of them:

Michael Ancram, 13-14 December 2006, return flight to Damascus paid for by Flying Lion Limited.

David Cameron, 22 March 2006 return flight to Prague (Czech Republic) (please no Dominic Fisher insinuations, purely coincidental) traveling with Flying Lion Limited but being a bit tardy on registering this interest, leaving it till 22 May 2006.

David Cameron, 20-21 November 2006 t Khartoum Sudan again provided by Flying Lion Limited.

William Hague, 22 March 2006 same flight as Davey boy to Prague presumably.

William Hague, 3-4 April 2006 to Sudan, obviously provided by Flying Lion Limited.

William Hague, 15-17 May 2006 to Israel and Jordan with Flying Lion Limited.

William Hague, 6-7 December 2006 to Pakistan provided by Flying Lion Limited.

William Hague, 8-10 December 2006 flying on from Pakistan to Bahrain again with Flying Lion Limited.

Andrew Mitchell, 22-25 January 2006 flights to and from Rwanda with Flying Lion Limited.

Andrew Mitchell, 3-4 April 2006 flights to the Sudan, yep you guessed it, with Flying Lion Limited.

Andrew Mitchell, 17-18 July 2006 to Bangladesh flying with the Tories favourite airline.

Andrew Mitchell, 20-21 November 2006 off to Sudan with Davey boy’s flight with Flying Lion Limited.

Andrew Mitchell, 28 February – 4 March 2007 off for a week in Burma courtesy of Flying Lion Limited.

OK, that’s the MP’s. In addition to this a number of Parliamentary Researchers/Assistants were also entertained with freebie flights by Flying Lion Limited including Edward Llewellyn who works for, wait for it, Davey boy himself and Ben Pratt who works for Michael Ancram.

So there we have it, a little shufty down the list of members interests reveals that various high level (you don’t get much higher than the leader after all) Conservative MP’s and their staff have all been given free flights by Flying Lion Limited to ferry them to various parts of the world.

However, as with all members interests, it’s important to actually know who we’re dealing with here. Who exactly are Flying Lion Limited? David, the first commentator to Tom’s post brings up an excellent suggestion in contacting Companies House to find out information. This would be a very useful method were Flying Lion Limited a UK registered company which they’re not. To be more precise, they’re registered in the well known tax haven of Bermuda at this address:

CEDAR HOUSE
41 CEDAR AVENUE
HAMILTON HM 12
BERMUDA

Incidentally, Cedar House must be an absolutely massive building because during my little dig for information I came up with so many different companies registered at that one address that I’d really hate to be their postman.

So we know who they are, where they are but what kind of a company are they? Well, surprise surprise, they’re not exactly BA with a nice open online booking system servicing hundreds of destinations around the world on a daily basis. In fact, according the the registrar of aircraft in Bermuda, they are the owners of a sole Dassault Falcon 900EX, registration VP-BMS. For those not of an aeronautical nature, that’s one of those executive type planes, not exactly a Leer jet but you get the idea, not a big high volume passenger jobbie.

I’ve never been a plane spotter, but I understand it holds a fascination for some people and for all our benefit, some of those nice people with a predisposition for snapping pictures of planes some actually put them up on the net. I’d love to drop an image here but all of the sites I came across had specific copyright notices so if you’re interested, this is Con Air 1.

Nice little plane and I’m sure a thrill for any senior Tory to be chauffeured around in, saves mixing with all the riff raff on standard air carrier’s flights although I’m not exactly sure where this leaves Dave and his Eco-Warrior comrades on the old environmental credentials. Something doesn’t quite match between proposing eco-taxes on airlines that ferry the average Joe public off on holiday while themselves jetting off on private executive jets. Perhaps companies registered in Bermuda will be exempt, who knows?

Anyway, I digress. So we know who’s been getting free flights, we can presumably know what plane they’ve been flying on as it’s the only one registered to Flying Lion Limited but why should a company registered in Bermuda seem so predisposed to ferrying senior Tories about?

Well, Unity picks up on an article from a few years back in the Times which is semi-accurate. Flying Lion Limited was at one time part of ADT. For those who don’t follow business takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, ADT used to be run by a certain Michael Ashcroft, better known as Lord Ashcroft, big rich geezer who throws lots of money at key marginals for the Tories. However, ADT itself was aquired by Tyco back in 1997 and Lord Ashcroft did indeed serve on its board of directors. However on 18 November 2002 he and another board member resigned.

So why is Flying Lion Limited ferrying around senior Tories? Does it look good for a party that’s banging on about the environment to be nipping to various destinations on a private executive jet? Does it do much for openness and transparency in politics that senior Tories, including their leader of course, are receiving gifts in the form of flights from some company registered in Bermuda who just happens to be part of the former company of their single biggest donor? I leave people to decide that for themselves.

Incidentally. Does anyone have any friends who are lawyers in the US? Flying Lion Limited were involved in a court case in Florida a few years back regarding Freedom of Information and I’d love to know what that was all about.

Lately the Express&Star newspaper has been writing articles on the basis of research undertaken by the Taxpayers Alliance. It’s curious how there are an increasing number of pseudo academic research bodies emerging, being used as valid sources of information by right-wing crap newspapers when all they amount to is front operations for the vested interests of the Tory Party.

Just a thought. Oh, and while we’re on crap journalism as the Express&Star excels at that. Did anyone else notice the article about some Tory Councillor up in Tettenhall winging about closing their local fire station. Maybe I’m just a tad cynical but this whole services are being cut, taxes are rising line being perpetuated by the Tories is a bit rich. Perhaps someone should have told him instead of making stupid statements to the press, and the press being stupid enough to print them, that if he was really concerned about cuts in fire service provision then he’d be better off talking to his fellow Tories on the West Midland Fire Authority. They do after all have the majority so presumably they’re the buggers who could actually do something about it.

Just on the off chance I get accused of being an evil leftie comment blocker I thought I’d share this curious comment that just came in. I’m not going to allow it forward but reproduce the content here and leave people to decide for themselves because it has perplexed me somewhat.

Author : Tory (IP: 147.32.114.186 , kelo.sh.cvut.cz)
E-mail : iuwqsmi@usa.net
Comment:
Best site!
Fabulous Website!
It’s vonderful.

On the outset it looks like an obvious bit of spam. All bloggers have had them, usually along the lines of ‘great site’ please allow my little link to a Viagra ad onto your site. This one however is strange.

I’ve checked the e-mail address, it’s got form for spamming, the URI which I’ve removed points to an advert for some drugs but interestingly embedded into a legit and respectable website. On that basis I’d discount it as spam but there are three things that don’t make sense.

Firstly, the name given, ‘Tory’ seems far too specific given the political context. Secondly, the origin of the comment is the Prague Technical University. Now before anyone jumps to conclusions or makes assumptions, the origin being in Prague is of complete coincidence and should not in any way whatsoever be interpreted as inferring anything at all in the slightest possible sense to do with Prattory OK?

It’s strange because most spam originates from hijacked machines, botnets and dodgy servers usually in the US, Russia or China (at least in my personal experience). I wouldn’t envisage a technical academic institution to be so lax about security that their system might get hijacked.

Thirdly, at least from my experience, most spam I’ve had has originated from unsecured dodgy old Window NT servers but this one checks out as having come from a Windows XP machine running Internet Explorer 6 (further note, do not draw conclusions just because Prattory uses a Windows XP machine with Internet Explorer 6).

Anyway, those are the details. If it is a genuine comment then it’s a bit weird but I genuinely apologise if the author is miffed about it not appearing. If it is spam, then it’s arguably the second most sophisticated I’ve ever seen.

Final note. NO NOT DOMINIC FISHER OK!?!(done in caps for the hard of reading).

Unless I’ve completely missed something and the West Midlands County has been abolished then can someone tell me who at the Sun newspaper (I use the term guardedly) thinks that Sandwell is in Worcestershire?

Either that or they’re working on very old maps down there.

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with the Internet. Sometimes I’m amazed by simply how much information is out there and other times I can’t bear the sight of it and deliberately take a few days away from it.

That said, with the power of a search engine like Google, it’s amazing what answers to questions you can find on almost any topic.

When I have a few moments I also like to have a little look through my statistics to see what search phrases have been used by people to find my website.

I’ve had a few strange ones in the past. Some that have made me giggle and others which are a little disturbing but I couldn’t resist sharing this one with you.

Earlier this afternoon, someone found me via Google with the search term:

“best household items for me to do my self up the arse with?”

I’m ranked fourth on Google for that btw. The mind truly boggles sometimes.

I’m not sure if it’s something to do with fatherhood, work, or that we usually only watch German TV at home but this is the first Rugby World that I haven’t watched a single match.

That said I caught the last couple of minutes of the England-France semi-final and all I can say, is come on England, I may well even break a habit and go down the same pub I watched England win the last world cup to watch it if Mrs Penguin lets me out.

I had a hard time coming up with the title for this post. So many different angles ran through my mind as to how to approach this issue however I’ve settled on a simple list of facts with additional extended explanations for the hard of reading.

Here’s how it started:

Labour Blogger, that’s me, Political Penguin to most people, Gareth Williams to others wrote this post. In it I said exactly these words (note, unlike some bloggers I do not retro-edit my posts, delete or amend them to get me out of trouble, I stand by what I say). Also note that it contains a little bit of swearing which I do on the whole tend not to do on my blog but I thought it justified.

“This is for the miserable little Prick from Prague in the Czech Republic who yesterday had a bash at trying to crack my site. Yes I do know who you are so piss off and don