Look at my Knees!

Time for a quick one. Look at my knee!



Six weeks for an appointment with the orthopaedic specialist, six weeks! A perfect example of how throwing money at the NHS is not the answer, but thanks anyway Tony.

Luckily I have private medical cover and I'm able to get a consultation on Monday. This is good, because if my knee gets any bigger, I'm going to have to start wearing a kilt.

It seems to me that I am the only person in Britain with no sympathy for Gary McKinnon. In case you have been living on the moon for the past few months, McKinnon is a British hacker. He has admitted breaking into computers owned by the US military and NASA. The US want want him extradited and put on trial in the US. Britain has agreed to the extradition, but for some reason the guy has a significant amount of support here.

My opinion:

The guy is a vandal. Breaking into a computer that doesn't belong to you and changing things, or snooping is no different from breaking into someone's house and rifling through someone's personal possessions. It's no defence to claim that the security was inadequate, any more than a burglar can claim that it's OK to break into a house with cheap locks. And it's no defence to claim you were just looking either. McKinnon's defence would seem to rest upon his claim that he was trying to prove that the US military is suppressing information about UFOs.

I can't see that claiming to be looking for UFOs would make this hacking legal, but I don't believe that his motives were down to UFO hunting any more than I believe he has Aspergers, which was coincidentally diagnosed just after he was exposed. I think he is a highly intelligent and articulate man who is now attempting to convince the world that he is a nutter to avoid punishment.

One has to consider this also from the point of view of the US military. Their computer systems hold some of the most sensitive data in the world. They want to send out a message to people who think it's OK to try and steal that data. You can't blame them for that.

Mad Boris Johnson in the Telegraph believes we should be protecting McKinnon. Boris does not, "believe for a moment that the Pentagon and Nasa sustained half a million pounds’ worth of damage to their systems, as they bleatingly allege". Well Boris, that's why there has to be a trial, to ascertain whether the accusation is true or not, because thankfully, you are not in a position to judge are you? Also, your claim that the US should actually be grateful to McKinnon because he has helped them "to prepare against attack from a more sinister foe", is ridiculous. I suppose you would be grateful for someone breaking into your house and rifling through your wife's knicker drawer because it would demonstrate the flaws in your home security would it?

Andrew MacKinlay, Labour MP for Thurrock, has actually resigned over the issue, or more accurately he has said he won't stand at the next election. This is the same Andrew MacKinlay that was caught having secret meetings with suspected Russian spy Alexander Polyakov. He had a small majority of just over 6,000 when he was elected. It couldn't be that the 20% Tory lead in the polls and your embarrassing relationship with Russian spies makes your seat unwinnable could it Mr Mackinlay? Rather go out in a blaze of glory than lose to a Tory perhaps? I notice you're not standing down immediately. Could change your mind before the election next year if the polls swing back eh?

Peter Hain, among the most unpleasant of the high-ranking Labour thugs, has also thrown his weight behind McKinnon. Hain claims that because McKinnon was in Britain in his bedroom when the alleged offences took place, he must be tried in Britain. Funny how you didn't feel that way about Samantha Orobator for instance. She was tried in Laos and convicted on drug trafficking charges. Your party did everything in its power to return her to Britain despite the fact that her crime was committed abroad.

It gets up my nose. The guy is a toad. I hope he hangs.