Open government and conspiracy theory

There has been a tremendous emphasis over the last decade or so from senior politicians in the UK on Government being open and transparent, such that the general public can see clearly how and why decisions are taken. This has been in response to a series of questionable political decisions starting with the poll tax legislation which led to riots and coming right through to the parliamentary expenses scandal and the current inquiry into press intrusion and links with police and politicians, but there are still an awful lot of questions about just what open Government means. I think there can be little doubt that within any political system there are some things which, by their nature, need to remain secret, at least whilst they are still current. I am thinking here of the fine details of current military operations, ongoing intelligence operations and police investigations. These are areas where free and open access to information could conceivably endanger the lives of service personnel and jeopardise the effectiveness of current operations. The case can also be made that release of information on military and police tactics whilst they are still in use can have serious implications for operational efficiency.

Having demonstrated that there needs to be a degree of secrecy within some aspects of political decision making, we arrive at the core of the problem of open Government as a concept. That problem is where exactly the lines are drawn as to where openness is acceptable and where it is not. Let us take an example of a contract for military equipment. You can argue that the process of awarding a contract to supply military equipment requires an element of secrecy to prevent the possibility of industrial espionage revealing details of weapons or defensive capabilities. Of course if you allow commercial decisions of this nature to be secret, what else do you have to keep secret? How about arms sales to international customers? Can it be argued that these should also be protected? How about in the field of energy production? Particularly where this relates to the development of nuclear power the case could be made perhaps.

You begin to see the issues I'm sure, but lets take it a step further into the realms of data collection and analysis. In order for police operations against organised crime to be effective, it is argued, there has to be secrecy in the way in which data is collected, the techniques involved and the way that that data is analysed. If this information is available then there is every chance that criminals will find ways to circumvent those data collection techniques and thereby reduce their effectiveness. Of course, having established methods and techniques of data gathering, and having demonstrated that these need to be kept secret, what are the chances that these might be extended to data collected on other targets? Isn't it possible that those same techniques, lets say the interception of mobile phone conversations or e-mails could be used to investigate perfectly legal campaign or protest groups, or worse still, might they not be used to leak information to the press in order to exert influence over high profile figures? It appears that this might be the case, but I'm sure the Leveson enquiry might reveal more on this subject.

So we have an ideal of open government, but this has to be balanced by the interests of national security. As long as the lines are being set by Government as they currently are there will always be questions about what exactly is being concealed, and what value can be placed on the information that is revealed. This is one of the fundamental reasons that conspiracy theories exist, and why investigative journalists and conspiracy researchers have to be taken at least slightly seriously. For every thousand nonsense stories of UFO's that turn out to be Chinese lanterns there is one story of how, for example, a British Prime Minister lied to Parliament and the electorate to engage British troops in a military action of questionable legality. I guess we will just have to keep asking questions and hoping that we can sort the wheat from the chaff.

Misinformation conspiracy

One of the biggest problems faced by anyone trying to understand what is happening in the World is the sheer volume of often conflicting, and at times completely opposing sets of information described as facts. As an example, depending on which media outlet you favour you could today have been told that genetically modified food is perfectly safe, and at the same time is not safe at all. Both can not be right, what with them being mutually exclusive. So how do you establish what information is correct and what is not? The first step in this process is establishing an understanding that there are very view absolute facts, and even fewer truths. This is the case whether the source of information is official, say a government, or completely unofficial, like an internet chatroom. There are a number of reasons for this and it is probably worth spending a few moments thinking about some of them. Firstly, the World that we live in is tremendously complex, and in many fields we have yet to develop a complete understanding. If we take a subject such as climate change there are wide discrepancies between the conclusions reached by scientists using the same data. In part this is a consequence of an incomplete understanding of the way in which the global climate operates. It is a similar story with conclusions about the global economy for broadly similar reasons.

Secondly the information and data that is available to be analysed is often not complete. A goof example of this was the analysis that was used to justify UK and US involvement in the invasion of Iraq. Data that had been gathered suggested that the Iraqi leadership had access to weapons of mass destruction, but it transpired that this data was incomplete, and in fact had been manipulated. Then we have the problem of personal agenda. In the majority of cases data is analysed by human operators, and as the poet said, to err is human. Not only can and do mistakes happen, but personal opinions and beliefs can also have an effect both in the way data is analysed but also in the way it is presented. A recent example of this was the presentation of data relating to tax avoidance schemes by UK based corporate businesses. One of the HMRC tax officials involved in the case was married to a senior accountant within a corporate structure. Consequently this official presented the data in such a way as to suggest that it was a minor oversight rather than active fraud.

You can begin to see that getting to the heart of what is going on around the World can be quite difficult, but does this mean that everything that goes on that may not be completely above board is a part of a conspiracy? I would suggest not, but finding out whether there is something more to uncover or not can be done. The first step is to follow the money. Does an individual, or organisation stand to directly gain from a conspiratorial plot? Then you can look towards a motive for conspiracy. What reason could there be for a conspiracy? It could be secrecy, protecting individuals, groups or nations. It may be because it is easier than revealing the truth, or revealing a lack of knowledge. If there is a clear benefit, and a strong motive it is almost certainly worth investigating further and trying to find whether or not that cover up you found is really a conspiracy or just basic human stupidity. Either way, finding out is worth the effort.

Why critical thinking is the key to conspiracy theory

Our leaders would have you believe that all conspiracy theories are nonsense, that they are the preserve of tin foil hat wearing ex-hippies or far right extremists, and this can be a convincing argument for people whose exposure to conspiracy theory is David Icke and Alex Jones, or what they read in the mainstream press. It's perhaps a comforting thought that we don't really have to worry about a cabal of super wealthy individuals controlling the planet, and that our political leaders are acting in our best interests, albeit with occasional mistakes, but they are only human. Conspiracy theories have become a tremendously useful tool in the game of controlling populations, and the intelligence communities around the World have been caught out over and over again seeding pet conspiracy theories to cloud the issue. Even back as far as the Roswell case in 1947 this was the case. One of the earliest of the modern era conspiracy theories and certainly one of the best known it is now well established that the US Air Force saw an opportunity to create a confused and unusual cover story for a project that they wanted kept secret.

The real story of the Roswell crash is now well understood to be the accidental downing of an observation balloon that was part of a program to monitor nuclear tests in the Soviet Union under Project Mogul. At the time however there was already discussion of UFO's from the earlier sighting by Kenneth Arnold in June 1947 and documents from the period make specific mention of using UFO's as a cover story to protect the project. This was seen to work well and the concept was developed by the US military and the CIA as well as by intelligence agencies around the World. There are a great many secret projects, operations and missions both military and non military that could not operate without that veil of secrecy. The consequence of this is that there is a definite and deliberate policy of feeding misinformation into both the mainstream and alternative media in order to cloud the issue in relation to the real stories around the World. This extends to not simply creating false stories but finding ways of discrediting any story that approaches the truth. A great recent example is the role of Nick Pope in the UK. Nick Pope was employed by the British Ministry of Defence to act as the liaison and contact point for UFO sighting in the UK. After this role Mr Pope was allowed to continue his work in the public domain, and was of course immediately pilloried as a dis-information agent, still on the MoD payroll and feeding incorrect information to conspiracy groups.

This served the purpose of creating an air of doubt over what was credible information about ongoing real world conspiracies and what was spin put out to protect those same projects. By creating doubt you create argument, and end up with what we are currently seeing which is far too much time wasted on infighting and internal debunking rather than actually working towards finding out what is really going on. This is where critical thinking becomes the best friend of anyone seriously looking into the way the World works. By understanding that not everything in the mainstream media is true, but at the same time not every conspiracy theory is true either you begin to approach the reality. With ever story you read, ever news report you watch, every conspiracy story you follow, learn to ask yourself the key questions that allow critical analysis. Start with an understanding of Occams Razor. If you have two or more possible explanations for an event the best position is to believe the one which requires the least number of assumptions until such time as further evidence proves this wrong. The more complicated, the more an explanation relies on other assumptions, the less likely it is to be the solution. Then follow basic police procedure. Ask yourself why a certain explanation would be correct or incorrect, who stands to gain, what the motive is. Even crimes committed by the criminally insane have a motive, although that motive might not make sense without understanding the insanity. In short, follow the money, find out who profits.

Understanding that there is a reason for everything that is reported in whatever form is crucial. Learn to think carefully and question everything. Educate yourself to understand the World around you. Study history, geography, philosophy, economics, politics and science and begin to understand the way the World really works.

What makes a good conspiracy theory?

This is something of a tough one, given the vast range of different types of conspiracy theory out there, and the various styles of conspiracy writers. There are a couple of things that need to be clear though. There can be no doubt that there are conspiracies going on every day. From the covering up of mistakes, to corruption, to issues of national security and so on. For me, many of these are not conspiracy theories, but it is somewhat difficult to explain why I feel this. Personally I differentiate between conspiracy theory and conspiracy fact For example it was widely suspected for many years that politicians in the UK overclaimed on their expenses as a matter of course. I well remember in the 1980's looking after a horse belonging to the mistress of an extremely prominent labour politician, and being initially surprised that her livery fees were being claimed as expenses by said politician. However this was conspiracy theory, because although it was widely known, it wasn't made public. Once the Telegraph newspaper broke the story of widespread expenses fraud in 2009 it entered the public domain and became conspiracy fact. It is still a conspiracy in that the MP's conspired to keep it secrey, but it is no longer theory because it has become a matter of record.

So, for me at least there are two aspects, the conspiracy, and whether or not it is established fact. Once a conspiracy is proven it moves beyond the interest of conspiracy theorists unless what becomes established is not the full story. Looking again at the MP expenses scandal we see that there are aspects that are still of interest in that controls to prevent expenses fraud have not been put in place, and it appears that fraud is still being committed, and the same excuses still being used. So what makes this interesting as a conspiracy? It is of public interest, and is something that the authorities would rather the public did not know. It reaches the heart of the political elite and it requires the collusion of multiple agencies and its uncovering was delayed in an interesting manner suggesting even further cover-up. This is one of the key features of a good conspiracy theory. It needs to have at its core the potential for truth, rather than simply being to incredible to be taken seriously. In order to establish this there must be some accessible evidence, although this need not be required to achieve the level of evidence required for, say, a criminal prosecution. A good example of this is the conspiracy over the War on Terror as an excuse to invade Iraq. It is a widely held belief that the reason for the invasion of Iraq was American and British oil interests, although there isn't enough evidence to arrest the protagonists, up to and including the president of the United States and the Prime Minister of Britain, although interestingly an attempt was made yesterday by an anti-war campaigner to do exactly that.

The other thing a conspiracy theory needs to be good is that it needs to really engage its audience. It needs to have importance and relevance to the day to day existence of people. This is where many of the more extreme conspiracies fall down. What is the point of a conspiracy about a global elite that is so powerful that one can do nothing about it? If they are unaccountable, uncontrollable, powerful beyond our ability to stop them, then the conspiracy serves no purpose other than to increase or feelings of helplessness. Further, conspiracies that descend into paranoid delusions suffer the same issue. Of course that is not to say that all conspiracies dismissed as paranoia are not relevant, that would make the game far too easy. Choose your conspiracies with care. Look for evidence outside the conspiracy community. Keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out, and most importantly, question everything. Look for the motives. Ask yourself, why would this conspiracy exist? Does keeping this secret serve any purpose, or is it just misdirection to stop me thinking about what is really going on?

Why conspiracy theories are important

People often ask my why I got involved in researching conspiracy theories, and for quite a long time I struggled to answer in any sensible way beyond the rather obvious fact that I found them interesting. Why that was, I wasn't so sure. I rationalised it to myself that they tended to touch on subject areas that I was already interested in, history, politics, ethics, biology and physics, and it was more fun to spend a Saturday night reading through research papers and news articles than it was watching whatever light entertainment the television could offer. As time went by, and the research took up an increasing amount of time I began to think more seriously about what I was doing and why and I came to some conclusions that I think may be quite interesting. I treated the project as I would any other research project, trawling the journals and forums for existing research and hypothesis, and looking for evidence of the possible options presented. I have secretly held an opinion that many conspiracy theories are in large part highly questionable for two reasons, firstly that one of the things mankind is very good at, at a genetic level, is pattern recognition. If we watch a flock of starlings preparing to roost, wheeling across the sky in a great ball we almost automatically see patterns in the shape of the flock. As it might be, “look at those birds making the shape of a number 2” rather than “isn't it interesting that when I see a flock of birds that I know can not have any understanding of numerical symbols, I still see them as creating a number 2”. In a similar vein we create patterns in clouds and see faces in the fire. Does this same effect have an influence on how we view the actions of others, seeing patterns where non exist?

The second reason is that based on the evidence of thought experiments, particularly in the subjects of Physics and Statistics we consistently see that people are very often wrong when they rely on their intuition. We tend to find it very difficult to analyse accurately, and are prone to being fooled by our senses. Our perception tends to be a very long way from our reality. These two reasons combined for me to make it difficult to accept other peoples theories at face value. So, if I consider the theories themselves to be suspect, why do I engage with them? It made no logical sense until I added in a couple of other factors. The first of these is that however you look at it there is absolutely no doubt that on occasion our political leader lie to us. This may be for the best of reasons, national security or to protect domestic interest or whatever, but the fact that politicians and leaders lie is just that, a fact. This leaves open the possibility that if they can lie about one thing, they can lie about others, so it is at least possible that some conspiracy theories have at least a germ of truth and are therefore worth investigating. I know several conspiracy researchers in the field of aviation black projects who have no intention of ever publishing their work because they feel that to do so would jeopardise national security. They research simply for their own curiosity. A similar charge was laid at the door of the Wikileaks website, many people suggesting that the release of some sensitive documents put the lives of security and intelligence personnel at risk. Certainly, for my own part, if I feel that there is a possibility that information I come into contact with has current and ongoing security implications I make an informed decision whether to publish or not. That is just common sense. Another factor to add in is that conspiracy theories cover a vast array of subject areas, and as such investigating them leads a person to explore areas that they might not otherwise have done, and if for no other reason than the principle that research and education and in general, good things, that gives at least a possibility that studying this area has some logical merit.

Whatever your opinion of conspiracy theories, whatever you opinions of our political leaders and industrialist and the military, engaging with an area that will increase your exposure to debate, research techniques, argument, logic, psychology and international politics and economics has to be a better and more productive use of time than sitting on the sofa watching the latest reality TV offering, doesn't it?

Weather control conspiracy

There is an interesting series of phenomena occurring around the World, and it is causing a major headache for meteorologists and climate scientists and also creating widespread chaos. I use the word “chaos” advisedly because for years we have been told that the reason that the nightly weather is so often wrong, and the reason that weathermen are amongst the most lampooned media figures is that climate is a chaotic system with far too many variables both known and unknown to allow for accurate prediction. The classic story is of the Quantum Weather Butterfly, a small butterfly in the Amazon rainforest flaps it wings twice instead of three times and India is flooded out by monsoons rains far more extreme than normal, and this has been accepted as being the case. This is also one of the reasons given for the conflicting messages of climate change, varying from Global warming to Global cooling and everything inbetween. The system inputs are just not well enough understood to allow accurate prediction.

Ok, so far, but there is a problem with this picture. Evidence is beginning to emerge of several secret projects, the purpose of which are to manage and control and adjust weather patterns. The severe heavy snowfalls in the UK in winter 2010 was caused by a shift in the jetstream from its usual position to the North of Scotland to a position South of Cornwall. According to meteorological models this shouldn't be possible, yet it happened. In 2011 there was an increase in the severity and frequency of the US tornado season beyond any predictions, and this was based on a rising trend in severity and frequency already. In 2009 there was an increase in the severity of the Australian drought, and a corresponding shift in the El Nino current, again beyond what was thought to be possible based on computer modelling. Now, it could certainly be the case that the models are wrong and that our planets climate is genuinely far more volatile than anyone predicted, but there is another possibility.

Those secret projects I mentioned. They come in three flavours, firstly the use of cloud seeding to create rain in areas that otherwise would be dry. This has been used for several years in Kuwait and involves releasing particulate matter into the upper atmosphere from high altitude aircraft. The evidence for this is in the research being carried out in “chemtrails” and are based on research into combating hurricanes taken over by the CIA in the 1970's and passed to Saudi Arabia as part of a deal to allow US military staging during the first Gulf War. The second is the use of space based laser weaponry to cause heating of the Earths crust, altering the climate patterns above the site and causing changes in a wider area. This is the technology used to shift the jet stream in 2010 and is the real reason for the development of the “Star Wars” programme. As an aside, the idea of a space based missile defence system is a nonsense but that is another story. The third method is found in the wastes of Alaska and is known as HAARP (High Frequency Active Aural Research Programme) a technology project that heats the upper atmosphere (ionosphere) and has been successfully used to modify weather be creating temperature and pressure differentials.

So why are these projects being run? As with many such projects there are two reasons. The first is to demonstrate the ability to weaponise the environment, thereby demonstrating the technical capability of attacking opponents remotely, and secondly to demonstrate the ability to exert control over populations by using climate to control food production. What is a step change in conspiracy theory is the openness with which these technologies are being used.

Divide and conquer conspiracy

From a former plain clothes officer :

It is reasonably well known that the law enforcement and intelligence communities have a tactic of infiltration of criminal gangs and campaigning groups. What is less well known is the extent to which this occurs and the tactics used by embedded operatives to gather information and allow further action. The policy is to slowly establish a power base within key groups by offering support and engaging in group activities. Whilst embedded officers are exempt from prosecution for their actions, although many have accepted prosecution to further their acceptance within a given group. This is standard procedure, and many officers have attained leadership status within their groups. This is where the conspiracy aspect comes to the for.

What is seldom understood is that senior figures within several criminal and social groups are not simply police informers but are embedded police officers. One of the best examples of recent times if the supposed FBI anonymous informant “Sabu”. This was a classic example of the way this setup works. Sabu was a key figure within anonymous, rising through the movement by providing evidence of high level security infiltration ability. He was instrumental in the hack of the FBI computer system, a move which caused many to question his inside knowledge of the network. Having attained a position within the organisation the officer is then in a position to guide and lead the organisation, not only actively encouraging illegal activity to allow for later prosecutions, but additionally encouraging actions specifically designed to increase public unrest, allowing politicians to implement greater societal controls moving the World closer to a police state.

This encouragement is seen particularly in radical political movements and follows the model used in Germany in the 1930's with the state funded destruction of the Reichstag being blamed on Communists as a means of allowing greater powers for the German leadership and reducing civil liberties. It was seen again within the peace movements of the 1960's particularly CND in the UK with again suggestions of links to Communist groups. These allowed increases in police powers demonstrated later in the police brutality and violence of the Battle of the Beanfield and the battles seen in the Miners strike. It is currently being used in an enhanced form within both nationalist and religious groups with overt strategies of confrontation. The long term aim is to polarise communities leading to further violent confrontation and further police powers. It will also be used to push through unpopular policies of ID tagging and monitoring.

Evidence of this was seen in the government sanctioned exercise of the looting in the UK in 2011. Many people were surprised that what was reported as a series of riots had very little actual violence and damage, and the reason for this was that it was orchestrated from the outset. It is interesting to note that in response to the looters, EDL and Shieldwall along with several football hooligan firms were active in town centres, and religious community groups were active in local communities. Again this was an active policy, in this case to prepare society for the government planned civil unrest which will occur in late 2012 – early 2013 and will create an environment whereby the conservative government can demonstrate their power and control in the same way that the Thatcher government engineered the Falklands conflict in co-operation with the Argentinian leadership.

Whenever there is large scale confrontation or unrest it has always been sanctioned and is always occurring for a reason, often but not always to effect societies transition to a controlled state. This links in with the governments use of the media to control information, demonstrated by the desperate attempts to suggest that the media is independent by presenting supposed attacks on the government. This was of course another example of misdirection and misinformation. The infiltration of undercover intelligence officers extends even into the corporate boardroom. Ask yourself, could bank boards of directors really have missed the fact that the banks were being set up to fail? Are corporate board members, most of whom are successful business people in their own right really that stupid? Or is there some other reason for them turning a blind eye? Encouraged by one of their own perhaps?

I leave it up to you to decide, and to start asking your own questions....

The NLP Conspiracy

From our correspondent, a former NLP practitioner :

Within counselling and therapy communities there has been a rapid upswing in the number and type of “talking” therapies that are in common use. In the main these are understood to be developments of the work of Freud and Jung in the sense that they encourage the recipient of the therapy to talk about their problems, thereby dealing with them through a process of analysis and understanding. I came to this area of study through enrolling in a hypnosis course at my local college some twenty years ago, with the aim of setting up in practice to offer help with stopping smoking and weight-loss. Having completed the hypnotherapy course I was offered the opportunity to continue my studies with what was at the time a relatively new field of therapy called Neuro-Linguistic programming. NLP was originally conceived by Richard Bandler and John Gringer of the University of California, Santa Cruz during a study into how successful therapists achieved their results. The study developed into a framework of therapy that could be taught and replicated.

The original concept of NLP is that by use of positive keyword reinforcement and psychological training techniques negative thoughts could be modified to give more positive outcomes. Essentially patterns of words can effectively change the way in which the brain itself functions, creating new neural pathways and “better” ways of thinking. From the outset the principles of NLP were contested, as was its specific efficacy in a variety of psychological conditions. The creators of NLP disputed between themselves and uptake of the therapy itself was often beset by problems of establishing the background of those providing training. Further, the claims made for the benefits of NLP were often greatly exaggerated leading to mistrust and misunderstanding. These issues created an environment within which people could become highly proficient in NLP techniques without consideration for ethics or standards. This may not appear to present a significant issue, and certainly the same issues have been raised about several other therapies, but the background to NLP is rather different, giving rise to legitimate concerns over its use.

As an experienced practitioner I would question the use of the term Conspiracy theory with regard to the issues surrounding NLP given that the evidence is so clear. Bandler and Gringer were supervised at Santa Cruz by Gregory Bateson who had previously worked on secondment to the US intelligence agency on project MKULTRA, the CIA mind control experiments. It is reasonably clear the much of the work in NLP in terms of changing perceptions and modes of thinking comes in large part from the research within MKULTRA and that the overall effect of NLP can be likened to a form of brain-washing. Given the lack of control over the number or background of those trained in NLP through the 1980's and '90's it will come as no surprise that there are organisations now gaining respectability with the mainstream psychology community whose ethical position with regard to the use of NLP is highly questionable.

Within the UK and USA large organisations exist providing NLP training to corporate and governmental bodies essentially creating a pyramid selling scheme through language modification and mind control. These organisations have the aim of building a network of highly placed individuals with the media, government, health and education sectors with the long term goal of attaining a similar status to a large religion. In many ways the actions and techniques of these organisations are remarkably similar to those of religious cults, particularly with regard to controlling environments, contacts and in some cases diets and sleep patterns. From my own experience I know that having trained as an NLP master practitioner I was placed under considerable pressure to recruit new people to be trained. I chose to withdraw from practice, having become disillusioned with the way in which NLP was being used and spread, and it is perhaps telling in itself that I have been effectively ostracised by former colleagues and friends who still practice.

There is far more to NLP than a harmless therapeutic technique. At its ultimate level it combines linguistic psychological control with manipulative body language and subliminal conditioning techniques to create a powerful and insidious control mechanism. The biggest issue however is that NLP is becoming widely accepted as a mainstream branch of genuine psychological techniques rather than the sinister cult that it actually represents.

The author of this article has presented evidence in the form of membership and contact spreadsheets and analysis of NLP presentations demonstrating mind control techniques.

Introductions and welcomes

So, a new blog about conspiracy theories. I can already hear you asking yourselves "Why bother? What makes this blog any different from any other conspiracy blog? Hasn't infowars and David Icke already cornered this area of the web?" Well, I guess that the answer to that depends on what you are looking for. Where this blog differs is not necessarily in the content, nor in the analysis per se, but in the back-story behind the content. You see the posts that appear here are not researched from other sites, or compiled from newspaper and magazine articles. The difference here is that every post will be a first hand account from within the conspiracy itself. It will draw together posts from a number of figures from a variety of organisations, both overt and covert, to offer insights and analysis that for the first time cuts to the very heart of the conspiracies that many have feared are real but have been unable to prove.

Given the nature of these posts, and the inherent risk in exposing stories that some would not want you to read, requests for anonymity from posters will always be respected. The blog is being created on a blind account, using proxy logins and IP servers. We are committed to presenting this information and will guard and protect our sources with every power we possess. If you have a story that you are able to provide corroboration for we will happily discuss publication with you, but bear in mind that the whole purpose of this blog is to create a paradigm shift bringing a requirement of proof to conspiracy theory, and taking what was previously the preserve of kooks and paranoia sufferers firmly into the mainstream where it belongs.

There will be posts that amaze you, posts that shock you, stories that defy explanation and stories that make you wonder whether anything you know is real, but we will always make sure that everything that you read here has been verified and corroborated, and that, to the best of our ability all sources are protected and all feedback is addressed. You may note that many of these posts are not referenced because they are from first hand sources, but where necessary any references will be included within the posts. So, pull up a chair, make yourself a stiff drink and brace yourself because there is one thing that we can guarantee. This will be a bumpy ride, but the journey will be worth it......