Disgraced Olympic privateer G4S has failed to get nearly a quarter of its charges to court on time, Scottish Prison Service figures revealed today.
The security contractor transported more than 85,000 prisoners between prisons, hospitals, courts and police stations in the first nine months of this year. Yet more than one in four cases saw the contractor fail to arrive on time, with 21,735 running late.
Transporting prisoners to court were just a fraction of those at 160 deliveries, but figures seen by the Morning Star show that 23.6 per cent of these were delayed and held up proceedings.
Scottish Labour’s justice spokesman Lewis Macdonald, who first requested the figures, said the revelations proved G4S’s work was as “shoddy” as ever.
“I’m only relieved that they are being hit in the pocket for their poor performance,” he said, urging the SNP government to offer no more contracts to G4S until they improved.
A Scottish Prison Service spokeswoman said that the number of delays had been “very small,” while a G4S spokesman claimed they had reduced late deliveries to court since April.
“While we are not complacent, this is encouraging progress,” he said.
The news follows the Olympic security scandal when army officers were drafted in after G4S admitted it had less half its contracted staff ready just two weeks out from the Games.
The company’s CEO Nick Buckles inflamed public anger even further when he told a panel of MPs that he would insist on collecting its full £57 million “management fee” on top of the original £86m deal.
G4S got £93 million in the first year of the coalition government to run services for the UK Border Agency.
Yet G4S has been widely criticised for their treatment of failed asylum seekers during deportations and the conditions in the detention centres they run.
Jimmy Mubenga died in 2010 as three G4S private security guards were forcibly deporting him to Angola. He appeared to have died of asphyxiation. The three guards were arrested but never charged.
Out of the £170 million the Tories spent on contactors, four security giants—Serco, G4S Care and Justice Services, and the GEO Group—accounted for 90 percent of it.
Serco and G4S have raked in huge chunks of the half a billion budget for electronic tagging, court to prison escort services and prisons and detention centres.
In just these two areas these two companies grabbed over 55 percent of the government budget. Serco’s global business is already worth over £4 billion and is set to benefit from NHS privatisation. Let’s hope they look after patients better than they did Jimmy Mubenga.
I don’t often quote the Bahrain News Agency, the mouthpiece of an absolute monarchy which tortures, gasses, and shoots its citizens fighting peacefully for democracy.
HH Shaikh Nasser Provides Bahrain’s Aids for Syrian Refugees in Turkey
05 : 54 PM – 24/11/2012
Manama, November 24th (BNA) – Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Charity Organization, His Highness Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa received the representative of the Turkish Premiership Muhammet Donmez, in presence of the Director of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Turkey, Carol Bøjer.
The mouthpiece of the dictatorial Bahraini royal dynasty omits that His Highness Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa is not only Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Charity Organization; but also chairman of the Bahraini Olympic Committee. As such, he presided and presides over the torture of Bahraini citizens, including Bahraini Olympic and Paralympic athletes; in which His Royal Highness himself participated.
The meeting was also in the presence of the Secretary-General of the Royal Charity Organization, Dr. Mustafa Al Sayed and Bahrain’s Ambassador to Turkey Ibrahim Yusuf.
It was under the directives of His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa that HH Shaikh Nasser provided Bahrain’s aids for the Syrian refugees in Turkey.
So His Royal torturing Highness is interested in the bloody war going on along the Syrian-Turkish border. For humanitarian reasons? Does His Royal torturing Highness shed tears, other than crocodile tears, about the human tragedies of the refugees?
Very more probably, His Royal torturing Highness wants to help the CIA, NATO, Turkish warmongers, the Qatari absolute monarchy, and the Saudi absolute monarchy in “humanitarian” bloodshed, with as its result a Sunni sectarian, Al-Qaedaish, dictatorship in Syria, rather similar to the Bahraini regime.
On this occasion, HH Shaikh Nasser said that he was honored to express thanks and appreciation for the Honorary President of the Royal Charity Organization, His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa for his continuous humanitarian initiatives to help the needy and provide relief to the afflicted.
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HH Shaikh Nasser also said that HM the King’s directives also came out of the distinctive brotherly relations which bond Bahrain with Turkey, pointing out that Bahrain’s aids were for the Syrian refugees who fled from Syria to Turkey due to the situation in their country, so the aids were to relief their sufferings.
The head of Bahrain’s main opposition group says backers will resume street protests in a direct challenge to a government ban on political gatherings: here.
This video from Britain is called Surprising Impact of Olympics on London Tourism.
Britain: Official statistics today confirmed claims that the Olympic Games would bring millions of people and pounds to the streets of London were nothing more than Conservative hype: here.
Tony Blair promised “A once-in-an-era opportunity for British tourism”. Boris Johnson predicted “When hundreds of thousands of people come, it will inevitably be good for this city”. But the official figures show tourism slumped over the London Olympics, contributing to a dismal summer for visitor numbers.
Some of London’s most high-profile attractions suffered one of their worst ever summers, despite the ‘Olympic’ boost previously predicted: here.
Today at the Houses of Parliament, Maryam al-Khawaja asked MPs to put pressure on Bahrain to commit to reforms and free polit[i]cal prisoners, including her father and sister. Here, the prominent human rights defender denounces Britain’s indifference.
When confronted with the facts of its own brutal crackdown on popular protests and human rights defenders, Bahraini officials usually stick to a routine. They hide behind tired lines of denial and hype supposed reforms. The actual situation on the ground continues to deteriorate — and inaction from the international community has emboldened the government. Most astounding is the silence from one of Bahrain’s greatest allies: the United Kingdom.
The UK government has made countless pledges to push on Bahrain to implement supposed reforms, but has yet to push forcefully on its partner where it counts. Almost a year after the Bahraini government publicly accepted the grim picture of human rights painted in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report and its recommendations, the country continues to perpetuate flagrant human rights violations.
It is more than important than ever for the United Kingdom’s legislators to question Britain’s relationship with Bahrain — and to place pressure on the government to demand real reform. Bahraini officials like Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who was a VIP guest at the London Olympics despite the numerous allegations he tortured protesters, should be shunned by British mandarins. UK legislators must also push on Bahrain to follow through on promises of transparency and accountability; many of those involved in the crimes committed in the past year and half, have either remained their positions or been promoted.
The United Kingdom’s silence places it in danger of being seen as complicit in Bahrain’s human rights abuses, particularly when the UK has a direct method of influencing Bahrain: through its economic relationship. If it doesn’t halt arms sales, the United Kingdom is ostensibly giving permission to the Bahraini government to violently silence its people. A serious commitment to human rights from the United Kingdom means that a serious conversation about economic and diplomatic sanctions is necessary and important to do.
Political prisoners jailed on trumped up charges need the United Kingdom to press on its friend on the international stage. It is shameful that the UK and the US refused to sign onto a joint-statement issued by 27 countries this year, condemning human rights violations. Despite damning evidence that continues to mount both countries have been shamefully silent on this topic — and this must change.
This isn’t about regime change, or a chaotic dialogue about political reform. It is about something very simple: human rights. Silence from such an important trade partner spells out permission, casting a shadow on the UK’s commitment to free expression and human rights. Bahrainis have started saying that the UK and USA are to Bahrain what Russia is to Syria — enablers.
Maryam al-Khawaja is acting President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights Deputy Director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights. Twitter @MARYAMALKHAWAJA
That is not by any means Atos’ only public relations trick, associating itself with positive and beautiful things to hide their negative, ugly activities.
In Atos’ logo, one sees a beautiful coral reef fish. Which has nothing to do with Atos, but never mind
G4S admitted that its bungled security contract will cost it in the region of £50 million as it published half-year results today.
The group claimed it had delivered 83 per cent of contracted shifts for the games and that it was confident the Paralympics – which begin tomorrow – would be fully staffed with a security workforce.
Its half-year results revealed a significant drop in pre-tax profits to £61m from £151m the previous year, although profits were held flat on an underlying basis after sales increased 5.8 per cent to £3.9 billion.
G4S‘s failure to provide all of the 10,400 contracted guards for London 2012 forced the government to draft in thousands of extra police and soldiers to provide security.
Chief executive Nick Buckles was hauled over the coals by the Home Affairs Select Committee and conceded the contract had been a “humiliating shambles.”
There were also calls for all current and planned government contracts with the firm to be re-examined.
But G4S said it had lost no contracts as a result of the Olympics and insisted it would continue to play a “major role” in the public sector, with a £3.8bn-a-year project pipeline.
The firm’s move into providing services for a number of police forces – as the government unveiled plans to slash officer numbers by 20 per cent – has sparked serious concern from the Police Federation.
The federation’s head of communications Metin Enver told the Star that officers had long-standing concerns about private-sector involvement in policing.
“The Olympics has exacerbated these concerns,” he said.
“At the end of the day we understand that private firms will do what they do, but the problem is that we have a government creating these opportunities.
“G4S is a symptom, the greater illness is that the government are selling off our public services to the highest bidder.”
Protesters challenge G4S over Jimmy Mubenga’s death: here.
Now, one young Afghan woman has refused to play the role of puppet of the tokenism of politicians and media. …
Ms Ahadgar herself brought the uncertainty to an end when she phoned her family in a poor quarter of Kabul to tell them that she was on her way to claim political asylum in Norway. …
If this would have been reported (truly or falsely) about a Cuban athlete, who, unlike Ms Ahadgar, very likely would not have “finished a minute or more behind the winners”, then it would have been all over the big media headlines, especially in the USA.
Afghanistan being George W. Bush’s ‘new’ Afghanistan, however, I did not manage to find United States corporate media mentioning this. I just found this, from CBC in Canada:
Despite the fact that she is far from being an Olympic favourite, the head of the Afghan Olympic Federation has threatened to throw her family in jail, or worse, if Ahadgar doesn’t return.
The runner who once wanted to bring glory to her country is now running for her life.
Contrary to Ms Ahadgar from Afghanistan, Ms Samia Yusuf Omar from Somalia really wanted to run at the Olympic games. So much so, that in 2010-early 2012, she went on a long, complex, dangerous journey to reach London. First, from Somalia to Ethiopia. A dictatorship which repeatedly has invaded Somalia and has committed atrocities there. Then, from Ethiopia to the violent dictatorship Sudan.
Then, from Sudan to Libya. Samia Yusuf Omar may have dreamt of sailing comfortably the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe.
That dream did not come true. There was a revolt in Libya, hijacked by NATO countries to start their oily “humanitarian” war. Some of the anti-Ghadaffi Libyan rebels were racists. People like Samia Yusuf Omar with her black skin had to fear for their lives.
Sudanese detainees in Libyan prisons face poor food and health conditions and receive inhumane treatment from prison authorities, one of the Sudanese inmates told Radio Dabanga: here.
The violence of the Libyan war is still continuing. To save her life, Samia Yusuf Omar apparently went aboard a small ship with far too many desperate refugees on it.
That meant her death, as the BBC story here below says.
What the BBC story does not say is that the death of Samia Yusuf Omar and her fellow refugees was not inevitable.
There were and are plenty of NATO warships not far from the Libyan coast. According to international law, it is their duty to save refugees in danger of drowning.
The head of Somalia’s National Olympic Committee confirmed to the BBC that she had died but did not say how.
Samia competed in the 200m event at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 despite having almost no formal training.
Although she came in last place, several seconds behind the other competitors, the BBC’s Alan Johnston in Rome says it is extraordinary that she was able to take part at all.
She had grown up and trained in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, facing war, poverty, a complete lack of athletics facilities and prejudice from some quarters against women participating in sports.
According to a profile of Samia on al-Jazeera, she faced death threats and intimidation when she returned to Somalia after the 2008 Olympics, with the Islamist militia al-Shabab controlling parts of the capital.
‘We will not forget’
In October 2010, the runner is reported to have moved to Ethiopia in search of a coach to help her train for the London 2012 Olympics.
What happened between then and her apparent death in the Mediterranean Sea is unclear.
According to al-Jazeera, there were no guarantees that she would be accepted to train at the stadium in Addis Ababa – it was dependent on her running times and permission from the Ethiopian Athletics Federation.
Reports in Italian media suggest she may have been hoping to find a coach in Europe who could help her reach the London Olympics.
Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra [sic; Sera] says Samia’s fate only came to light when former Somali Olympic athlete Abdi Bile brought it up at a talk.
He mentioned Mo Farah, the Somalian runner who moved to the United Kingdom aged 12 and triumphed in this year’s Olympics.
“We are happy for Mo – he is our pride,” he said. “But we will not forget Samia.”
Somalia Government Resumes Evicting Mogadishu Squatters: here.
yesterday met head and members of the Bahraini delegation leaving to London for the Paralympic Games, which will be held from August 21 to September 7.
At the beginning of the meeting, which was attended by Executive Director of sports affairs Noaman Al Hassan, Shaikh Ahmed conveyed the greetings of His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and president of the Bahrain Olympic Committee
Another prince of the Bahraini royal family and son of the king. You can read in Gulf Daily News indeed that this prince is “Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and president of the Bahrain Olympic Committee”. But you won’t read in this daily mouthpiece of the absolute monarchy that His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa is notorious for advocating violent oppression of human rights activists and for himself torturing athletes for having been present at pro-democracy demonstrations.
and his best wishes for Fatima Abdulrazak and Ahmed Mushaima, who qualified for the Paralympics.
Iran used to win (maybe they still do) lots of medals at the Paralympics. That was because many valid Iranian athletes had been wounded in the Iran-Iraq war.
Bahrain: Free Rights Activist Jailed for ‘Illegal Gatherings’. US Should Speak Out on Nabeel Rajab Conviction: here.
Bahrain Special: 9 Reasons Why The Regime Gave Human Rights Activist Nabeel Rajab a 3-Year Sentence: here. Se also here.
They say that gold doesn’t tarnish, but this week’s scrutiny of school sports programmes in light of Team GB’s medal count has certainly taken a shine off Tory talk of an Olympic legacy: here.
BMW gives cars to male rowers but not female rowers
Posted on 13 August 2012
A row over sexism has broken out on Twitter, after it emerged that 12 male Olympic rowers, including silver medallists Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase, had received BMW cars, while the female rowers had not.
While it would appear that the cars given to the Team GB athletes have been provided by individual BMW dealerships, rather than as a marketing strategy by BMW, it has still struck a nerve, particularly as this has been the most inclusive Olympics to date, with women from ever[y] country taking part for the first time.
Anna Watkins, a gold medal winner with Katherine Grainger for the women’s double sculls, was asked on Newsnight whether the men had received BMWs while female athletes had not.
Watkins confirmed: “It did work out that way, yes. It’s a bit of a coincidence because it’s the individual dealers that chose who to give the cars to, so it wasn’t any grand strategy but it did just happen that there were a dozen or so for the men and none for the girls.”
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Concerns over sexist attitudes to women’s sport were raised last year during the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, which featured no women on the shortlist, despite strong performances from several women, including swimmers Keri-Anne Payne and Rebecca Adlington.
The BMW story is likely to reignite this debate, especially as the GB women have performed so well at London 2012, taking home a huge number of medals.
The BMW sponsorship deal involves 150 athletes being given 2-year leases of either BMWs or Minis. BMW claims that the selection of most of the athletes was made prior to the London 2012 games and is not related to performance, but there have still been claims of misogyny levelled at BMW, and calls for the women rowers to also receive BMWs like their male counterparts.
Japan’s women footballers get Olympic flight upgrades
The Japanese women’s football team was upgraded to business class on its flight home from the Olympics, Japan’s football association has confirmed.
Team members had complained they had flown economy class to London while the men’s team sat in the business cabin.
The women’s team returned on Saturday from Britain after losing in the Olympic final to the US.
The Japan Football Association said the women had their flights upgraded because they won the silver medal.
The men’s team came home empty-handed.
The Associated Press news agency quoted the JFA as saying the men’s team had flown business class to London because they were professionals.
But after both teams arrived in London, members of the women’s squad had complained they had been treated unequally.
When the modern Olympics were first conceived, they were intended as a peaceful alternative to war. The nations of the world were supposed to lay down their arms and stop fighting during the games out of respect for the Olympic ideal. That, of course has not happened: here.
BP’s Olympic Ads Seek To Erase Oil Spill From Memory: here.
A successful Freedom of Information request has revealed that additional public costs of hosting the Olympics Games in London are close to £24 billion: here.
The spectacle of the 2012 London Olympics should be subtitled “The Bashing of the Chinese Athlete”: here.
