Irish Rentention Instruments

A little while back I asked the Northern Irish Government about how they keep their files and what they do with them.  It was something that I was interesting because it showed how all the other nations keep their files and what they do with them. When I was writing it, i was more than a little interested into seeing what they did with files that came from the troubles of the 60’s to late 90’s, and seeing what I could do with them. The issue is I accidently deleted the file that I wrote on this.  So this post is a combination of both.

The first thing I did was ask the Northern Irish Assembly:

1) Do you send files to the National Archive in London. if so please can you tell me the time frame you keep files before sending.

2) If the answer to the above question is no, please can you tell me if you have your own national archive which is similar to the one in London

3) The UK government have retention instruments which prevents files being passed to the National Archive in the interests of security. Please can you tell me if you have this power and what is the legal instrument you have which stops files being passed to the national archive. If you do not have this power, please can you tell me who has the power to stop files being placed into the public domain.

Again, as stated in the Scottish post, they do not send their files to the national archive. They instead send their files to the  Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.  It is like the national archive, and can be contacted directly.  The thing that was interesting to me was the answer to the second part of my request. They didn't hold the information on retention instruments as it was down to the Executive Office.  So another FoI was fired off asking them about their files and what instruments they have. Their answer was that they don't have them. They only have the normal stops that the FoIA provides.  As a result all files get sent off to the PRONI, regardless.  Amazing!  Well, this is going to be interesting once I start asking these questions to them

Balfour Declaration

“The Balfour Declaration was a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland” Thanks Wikipedia!  It is directly linked with a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire and with a mandate with the Palestinians.  Interesting stuff, eh?  

So why am I bringing this up here?  Well, this is all something that has affected the world and it is something that we can relate to.  It is something that has affected a long term issue in the Middle east and has affected the world which we live in.  Was it adopted as part of the law, however?  Normally I would have even thought of this question, but Pat James did when he asked the Foreign and Commonwealth office. Looking at his request, he seemed to be VERY tetchy about this issue.  

This is one of those requests which is probably an emotive issue and is about a difficult topic.  The fact remains, if you look at the way he talked to the FCO then it’s not the nicest.  Anyway, I digress.  Have a little look at his request. It does provided a heck of a lot of information at the end of the request, which is an interesting read.

The reasons that I bring this to you is purely because it shows two things.  The first is it shows how big an issue this Balfour declaration was. I never knew we had such influence in this area, let alone even knew that he had the correspondence about it still in circulation.  It goes to show what we can get if we ask for it.  Not only that but gives us more context for the situation that is in the Middle East.  

The second is I really don't like the way that this man has been with the FCO.  When you are making a request you should keep some civility about your request.  I can honestly say that I found this a bit insulting to the people who had to read it.  Surely they are worth some respect.  Maybe it is the organization, not the individual, they are annoyed with. Remember that the Arab - Israeli conflict is a long and complex topic and it doesn't need more hostility.  I think that it has enough to go around for everyone. 

Mexican Human Rights

A little while back I was looking through the pile of requests and found something about human rights. Didn't think much of it and put it to one side. So a little look back through it showed a few more interesting points. First off, this one talks a little more about the direct human rights that have been discussed with the Mexican Government (Something which we will discuss in more details later) and what the UK government has done to aid it.  Secondly, it shows a lot more about what the UK government is doing with regards to other nations.

Let’s unpick this, shall we?  First off it looks that the UK government made a number of movements to get this investigated and looked into.  I didn't know that the UK government would be able to get another country to do something like this. It looks as though the Mexican government made noises that they would do it too. This does make me think if the FCO has ever volunteered out police forces to train other nations police forces.  Makes sense if you think about it.

The Uk government has also tried to help the Mexican government to improve its courts system too. This was through a project called Ciudadanos en Apoyo a los Derechos Humanos which helped them to improve the amount of convictions in one of the states in Mexico. Again another thing which is really cool. No only that but the human rights records regarding torture was discussed the House of Commons (Which can be found in Hansard here).  Again another thing which is pretty cool. Did you know that?  I didn't.  So there we are then.

So why bring this up?  HUman rights are something that you are born with.  You do not earn them, you do not lose them, you are BORN with them and they are something that everyone should know about.  I love the fact that the FCO has done so much with Mexico.  The thing that makes me wonder is what exactly they did.  AS stated above they made mention of A number of different things which I think needs further investigation.  One of the things I would love to know is which countries the FCO has worked with to improve human rights and how much help has our government departments given to aid and assist other countries.

To that end I think that I am going to look into this a bit more. I want to know what our government does to help improve other humans rights.  I want to know how we can help.  I want to know if we are making the world a better place. Let's be honest, it is something that we think of all the time. I would love to be able to think that our government is actually working well in this area.

Opperation Shutter Retention Records

A little while back I wrote a bit about the Falklands and a few of the little facts that I found. One of the things that I found whilst looking through the pile was something about “Operation Shutter”.  It seemed to be mentioned in a number of different documents but was never released to the national archives. It got my attention because it was formally refused by the UK government and was stated that there is a retention instrument places upon the file to stop it coming to the public.

So, with the knowledge that I have gathered in doing this blog I thought that it would be interesting to find out more about this and see if I could find out when the file was going to be released to the national archive. A retention instrument is what the UK government uses to put a “hold” on a file coming to the public domain.  It is a way of making sure that files which are security sensitive to not come to the public until the security issue has been resolved.

I started my search with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. The reasons is because from one of my other FoI requests, I heard that they had the powers to create and amend retention instruments. So when I asked them what they had imposed upon a MoD file… I was politely told they they didn't have this power.  Darn…  Never mind, worth a shot wasn’t it?  Anyway let's move on.

So, straight to the horse's mouth and asking the Ministry of Defence about the retention instrument. I simple asked them:

1) How long have you applied a Retention Instrument to the files relating to Operation Shutter

2) How many files do you have relating to Operation Shutter

And the response was interesting. Turns out that they have 3 files relating to this and that they are under review for release in 2025/6.  Which makes me wonder why this is happening. As they themselves stated, most of the other files have been released to the national archive from Operation Corporate (The code name given to the operation in the Falklands).

So this has got me wondering, why are these files under lock and key until then?  What could they possibly hold that needs to be kept from public eye.  Even if we remember that they stated that this was about examining Argentinian Air Fields, there must be something else in these file which is interesting.

The one thing that I can say from this is that It will be an interesting day in 2026 when all the files are released to us.  Wouldn't it be fun to see the full extent of what this operation did for us?  I can honestly say it will be an interesting day.

Northern Irish Bunkers

As someone who live on the mainland UK, it is sometimes hard to remember about our cousin from across the sea in Northern Ireland.  This is no insult to them, it is merely the statement that they do not playa big role in Great British life (Very rarely will you see any news report about them and what they are doing).  So when you look through the pile, and you find a few things out, then then realise then (As a British person) feel a rather large amount of guilt for forgetting them (Which to anyone from Northern Ireland, I am sorry).

So I found this man called Alistair McCann who has been asking the Northern Irish government a lot about different buildings and so forth, which have been interesting to find out about. The main thing that this guys is asking for thought is just to visit the buildings there, but what he has done is created a number of locations which now I want to know more about.  The issue I have is that I am not sure if the Northern Irish Government follow the same procedures as the UK with its files (Sending them to the national archive after 20 years).  I did send the Northern Ireland Assembly assembly an FOI request on this but they have yet to get back to me.

So what were the things that I found?  Well:

1. Document Store at Mount Eden Park
2. The Nuclear bunker in Gough Barracks

3. RGHQ Bunker At Woodside Inds Estate Ballymena

Now this is something that I can get my teeth into.  Remember there is not that much known by us here about this issue.  So it would be interesting to see if there is any other things I can find.  That being said, I was just think about the Scottish post that I did.  They do not send documents to the national archive either. I found a lot of cold war structures here in Wales, wouldn't it stand that I should also find out about what our Celtic cousins are up to?

The issue is I am going to start looking these things up in each of the different councils in the Scottish and the Irish authorities.  It is going to take me time, but I think that it would be interesting to see the difference in response in what has been said.

I wonder what the pile has to say about these things as well. This is going to be an interesting one.  It is almost oa development of what I have written about before.  I have to be honest and say that I am going to enjoy this.  Watch this space people!

UKWMO

As stated many times in my posts, the United Kingdom's government gives all their records over to the national archive after twenty years.  It does this to give the United Kingdom an insight into what was going on during that time and a way of seeing what the issue of the time where.  It is a great way of making sure that there are no secrets (Which is ironic considering the post I am going to do after this one), and a way of seeing what government was up to.

The reason I bring this up is because I was looking through the file and found a few requests relating to the UKWMO air raid siren in Bolton.  For those of you who do not know the UKWMO stood for the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation. It was a way of ensuring that the public was warned in the event of a national attack and was there to ensure that the public was given a signal when things were clear.  

Since this organisation was from 1957, it was therefore more than likely that this all been transferred to the national archive (or the archive that is from the local area), but that doesn't mean that people haven't still asked the government. Looking through the Pile, someone called “Paul” wanted to know about the UKWMO in Bolton.  He asked the Home Office, Ministry of Defence, and the Cabinet Office about the station that was in the Bolton area.

The answer that he got was the same in that he was told that all of the records had been given to the National Archive. Again this must have been annoying for him, but still gave a signpost to where to find his information. So a little digging from me found the National archive gave some policy on the UKWMO during that time, and it also found the Manchester Archives.

So why even think about this post.  It shows that people are still interested in what came before us and shows how important the archive that we have are. Because of this man's posts, I now know about the UKWMO.  I want to know more about them. It also shows how people still forget how important the National archives are and what they do for the country as a whole. Without this little gem, we would never know what the UK government did for us in a time of nuclear warfare or learn the lessons from them. Interesting stuff isn't it?

Wormholes

I love science fiction. Love it.  The thing that I love most is the way in which people dream up technology which then becomes a reality.  It still amazes me to this day how much of the technology that we see around us started in a Science fiction story.  Why bring this up here?  Well I decided that i would check in again on the things that the Universities in Wales are doing regarding Wormholes.  Wormholes are points in space which allow travel of vast distances in seconds.  In some respects some people may say that this is “Faster Than Light” (FTL).

So I decided that I would ask all Welsh Universities the same question, which was:

1) Have you made allocated any money into the topographical phenomenon known as wormholes

2) If the answer to Question 1 is yes, how many studies have you done and how much was allocated

Look at me with big words spelt right!  WHOO HOO!!!  Anyway, The reasons for this is because, if they had looked into it, then they would be able to tell me how much money was being spent which would then show how much of a priority it was for them.

So here are the answers

Name	Investigated	Amount
UK Space Agency	No	NA
University of South Wales	No	NA
Swansea University	No	NA
Aberystwyth University	No	NA
Bangor University	No	NA
Cardiff University	See Below	£548111

Now a special mention goes to Cardiff who stated:

A search was undertaken by the University’s Research and Innovation

Services Department using the following terms:

Wormhole(s)

Einstein-Rosen bridge, Lorentzian wormholes, Schwarzschild wormholes, Black holes, Event Horizon, Singularity, Time travel

The search did not find anything specifically targeting wormhole theory. The closest that the search identified was a project from the School of Physics on “Black-hole binary simulations for gravitational-wave astronomy” which ran from 1/10/2010 until 30/9/2015. The award from the Science and Technology Facilities Council was £448,489 and Cardiff University’s contribution was £99,622.

 

Food Standards

The Food Standards Agency is an agency which monitors the cleanliness of all food outlets in the United Kingdom.  The cleanliness of them is displayed in the window of the food outlet before you walk in.  Outlets are rated Zero to Five (Zero being the lowest).  It’s a great way of seeing what is going on in the background and a great way of making sure that the standard are being kept up and to shame those whose standards are way to low.

So I decided to do a little digging on this.  These outlets are given their rating from the Local Authority, so they should have the information on the records, shouldn't they?  So I asked all Welsh Councils the same thing which is:

1) How places are in your authority that need a food hygiene rating certificate

2) How many of them (At time of writing) have a rating of 0

3) How many of them (At time of writing) have a rating of 1

4) How many of them (At time of writing) have a rating of 2

5) How many of them (At time of writing) have a rating of 3

6) How many of them (At time of writing) have a rating of 4

7) How many of them (At time of writing) have a rating of 5

For those of you regular readers will note that i publish a post once I get a response from 16 councils, but when I get the same response from 6 councils (Or more) I will publish anyway.  This is an example of having the same response. You see all the councils that I spoke to me answer the same thing which is you can get this information from the Food Standard Agency themselves.

It shows all of the relevant information that is needed and all of the things that you need to do. IN fact it even has an app on how to get the information.  This is brilliant! It means that you can book a table at a restaurant and check its food hygiene rating before you go!  Amazing!  

The thing is I cannot give the the individual breakdown, purely because I cannot figure out how to get it, but I can give you the amount of business in the council authority.

Name	Amount
Anglesey	613
Blaenau	565
Bridgend	1046
Caerphilly	1254
Cardiff	2763
Carmarthenshire	1641
Ceredigion	1146
Conway	1516
Denbighshire	940
Flintshire	1093
Gwynedd	1988
Merthyr Tydfil	477
Monmouth	846
Neath Port Talbot	995
Newport	1270
Pembroke	2006
Powys	2221
RCT	1967
Swansea	1701
Torfaen	591
Vale Of Glamorgan	1090
Wrexham	1056

Quite amazing, isn't it?  I mean this shows that Cardiff has as a little bit more than Pembroke and Powys.  Didn't expect that did you kids?

Da Vinci Robots

A little while back I found out about the Da Vinci Robots. They are surgical robots that are in the NHS which help with surgery. You can find out all the you need from the link above, but it is interesting stuff. The thing that it made me think is that how many other authorities have one.  There was a fairly big list of NHS trusts that have one and it would be wonderful to think that Wales would have some as well. So let's go ask them all!

I ask all Welsh NHS trust the same thing, which was:

1) Does your organisation have any Da Vinci Medical Robots? If so how many.

2) If not, are you planning to get any in the next five years. Please could I then have a copy of the report that was done into buying them.

This would cover all the bases, I thought. The reasons that I asked for the report was because it would be great to see what the Trusts are doing regarding this (Much as the G Cloud investigation that I did awhile back).  The answer I go back through was a little more… dull....

Name	Amount	Plans?
Hywel Dda University Health Board	None	No
Cwm Taf University Health Board	None	No
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Community Health Council	None	No
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board	None	No
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board	Yes	NA
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	Refused

The more observant of you may notice that Newcastle is not in Wales.  The reasons that I asked them was because I wanted a reference point that was outside of Wales but of a similar economic position as us.

This was a little disappointing.  I was hoping from some of the bigger trust to say something regarding this, but most of them didn't even have the plans to get it.  Great eh?  However that is not the end of the story.  I would love to think that the reasons that they haven't got this is because they are using the money somewhere else, or that it is not worth getting it.  The issue with this is that I would have to ask for the reports of why the trusts who have them still have them and then asked the ones that dont why they don't. That’s a whole nuch of new requests, isn't it?