Long Report

  • Long Report: Going to a protest

    The journey to a protest is arduous for some. I knew of a girl who travelled from Edinburgh every time she attended a rally in London. It’s because she lived there. She did it by train. It was gruelling because of ill health, but she got used to it, she said.

    The end of her life is sad. A Journalist from France murdered her. The girl was found lying on a side of a road in the capital. The assailant claimed it was ‘diplomatic’, to protect Journalism from protest influence. She ran off after she said it.

    Running away

    At the time, Journalist’s were accused of running from issues. They didn’t turn up to sites. Their emails returned out of office notices. They ignored phone calls. This is the sort of practice that isn’t heard of in such circles, but it was commonplace.

    The quality was criticised. Albeit a relative exercise to some, discontent sounded out from all corners. There were professors missing out on lectures because of it. There were experts ruined. The University student pool had quickly thinned out.

    It wasn’t a surprise a Journalist would show such disregard for human life, but not for their job. She was accredited, but had somehow fallen away in the meantime. The credentials weren’t rescinded. Her employer had failed to recall her.

    Wasting time

    Her life was aimless. She lived along the French coast for some time, before moving to Paris. She mooched about, being watched by some colleagues – and followed by French intelligence. Her activity was random, and her killings didn’t stop.

    The girl in London was just another victim in a long line. She didn’t deserve it. Her parents felt underserved by her employer. The police in France helped, but to no end. The mystery was why her, not why it took place. The Journalist was crazy.

    Taking it back

    A protest is fraught with trouble because it stands alone. The Journalist was tracked down later, again, and found isolated. It was clear she suffered mentally. The illness now showed. There was no way to hide it. The guilt was in there too.

    The events were in the past, but people know their loss. This is what Journalists also study. They look into offences, altercations, and disagreements. There’s eventually a resolution. The personal lives of those who do are not always as clear.

  • Long Report: A cable of thieves

    The warnings came through. He was sure they were accurate. A duo of criminals were making their way to the UK. They’d stopped off at their usual hotspots. These were friends houses, eateries, and even churches. It was likely they were setting up a run.

    The habits were part of a pattern. They did it to set themselves up for a few weeks of lawbreaking in another country. It didn’t make sense to investigators at first. They thought it was part of holiday-making. What it turned out to be was very sinister.

    Incoming

    Their arrival into Heathrow raised a few eyebrows. They were also known for a few financial crimes. They were mediocre misdemeanours but it meant something nonetheless. It also suspiciously coincided with a convention on financial products.

    He felt scared. He was worried. He’d heard they stole documents, studied the victims, and extorted them remotely. It was actually a horrifying sort of crime. It ruined people without friends around them knowing why. It was a feared scenario by many people.

    He needn’t of. They were scoping out a prepared list of targets. The people they visited before were contacts who made it. They would help if a difficulty arose. He wasn’t on the list. He just needed to do something to keep himself off it. He thought it odd advice.

    Breaking ground

    He discovered the reason in the course of the short visit. They were scoping out volunteers, social workers, and other ‘helpers’ in communities. The idea was to remove from “Play” the people they didn’t want to be seen doing it. It’s social cleansing of a kind.

    He was a student of policing. He didn’t know what career he wanted in future. He didn’t know if he’d keep to it. However, he found the learning experience to be helpful. It taught him to target the criminal, and not make a scene himself. The issue was settled.

    Outcomes

    The simplicity of policing surprised him. It wasn’t a threat to think of crime anymore. He could see violent, disturbing people were dealt with all the time. It made sense how a large number of people are affected by criminals. It just involved a lot of hard work.

    It also fell into view how it’s all accounted for if the outcomes are separated from the perpetrator’s actions. It made a need for police forces ever more apparent. It also brought home the nature of its work. He didn’t go into policing, but it got into him anyway.

  • Long Report: Fascist Estate’s field of play

    The “beginnings”, “rise”, and “emergence” of all things black and blue are chronicled in recent English history, and yet such things have passed off into irrelevancy.

    The ‘surprises’ of politics are fake news because in the background are the real indicators and votives of change. It’s the sort of stuff predictions are supposed to be built on.

    The lack of focus is due to fault lines and not social failing. We’ve been denied a report of real threats, and lifted to false realms of consciousness, by less scrupulous people.

    A real threat

    It’s not a state of play that was needed, but insight on the many fields of play over the playing fields of England. In particular Fascist Estate had a large part in this state of affairs.

    They began on the South coast, in no particular location. I heard this from its leader, who’s since died. He said it was built on an idea fascists shouldn’t preach their cause, but own it.

    He noted the increase of American fundamentalism as being both a warning and a reason for his vision. He saw ownership over speaking as a more fundamental cause for the UK.

    It wasn’t a fake threat. The holdings of Fascist Estate already comprised much of Bath, an historic World Heritage site that is both famed and loved for its historic charm.

    The founder I spoke to was clearly an extraordinarily powerful and inspiring man. The only problem is he was virtually unknown. It was as if it wasn’t big enough if it had simple terms.

    A headwind

    Also, much of what they strived to achieve ran in parallel lines to most of what English life is. The movements, and changes, in society generally reflected its core aims.

    Its aspirations had a few key differences. In one way it was more important to talk about money than what it’s useful for. Its members were active in this aspect.

    It took insight into particular calendar meetings, and quick conversations, to piece together a who’s who that was at the centre of it, but it was felt in different ways.

    Yet a problem emerged as changes in politics meant shifts were happening in key areas. Such an uplift in activity strove against the safety of such a clandestine entity.

    An ending

    The demise of Fascist Estate is difficult to track because of its constitution as a paper-based empire. This follows in normal fascism as a traditional form of resistance.

    The leaders, or “Inheritors”, of the enterprise were spotted shopping nonchalantly earlier this month. Their part to play had been feted by its founder because of a strong ideology.

    However, their belief in “Decorum” saw rapid decline starting in 2010, and chaos in its administration led to defections. It shrunk in its influence in the UK, and now barely exists.

  • Long Report: The embers of service

    It takes time to set anything up. I was told this by a Tory grandee, whose marquee role in the party set him up to know practically anything about it.

    He’d seen more people try to make a quick buck out of it than those who didn’t. The few who tried it found it took a lot of work to do something great just within its own walls.

    It would be the only work they could do because of the effort it involved. The rest of the story is a bleak outlook.

    The way things go in Whitehall today, it’s not a case of asking who our greats are. They aren’t great. They don’t work hard, and often their plans don’t get turned into projects.

    At least, it’s what I caught sight of as I had a look. The ‘insight’ was brief, but lasting. It showed me that for all that’s said, little is proactively done as a result.

    Workplace fevers

    As it seemed any colleague would quit their job at a second’s notice to join a protest, a cheapening of the state began in earnest that shaped its future course.

    It was said higher up that a “quick win” would solve any issue. All it took is a “bright idea” and a lot of “science”, they said.

    The problem is there were already problems in the delivery of services that explained many of the issues, and these were due to such “fads”, or ideas.

    In the next stage, they believed in it. However, it was only a fervour in “doing government the right way”, and plans folded out that weren’t going to work.

    A new low

    It seemed to be this way in politics, and government. The new appointees saw work would take a shorter time than play, and it kicked off a culture war.

    The increase in striving for leisure activity led to bitter fights for control in all realms of state, and it led to huge upset.

    A moment in Whitehall sums it up. A person said swingers in a nightclub had been replaced with “Staples” and “Screwdrivers” who worked hard and didn’t play.

    It spread upset in Westminster. The Tory grandee was right, this one time. There were chancers everywhere trying to draw on past scandals to make their way.

    Change ahead

    In a surprising twist, an answer came from Whitehall. There was a move to recruit properly. There were ideas for new computer systems to drive efficiency.

    There was a call for simplification in politics to make it more clear what was being asked for. A pattern emerged of stating things straightforwardly.

    This made it obvious who was working, and who wasn’t. It helped reward progress, and discipline failure. It meant work was done, and results may come out.

  • Long Report: Driving home a point

    The New York Times likes to say its has a ‘great’ reputation, but the reality is farther from the truth than the Mexico border. It doesn’t have a great reputation in many parts of America.

    This is the fact I found as I spoke to people in America. I was visiting as part of a research trip and managed to encounter those who had things they wanted to say about their own culture.

    I find Americans are adept at making complaints. They have a reasonable attitude and like to settle matters into the issue. Any dispute is not with God, guns, or gold in the slightest.

    Seeing the truth

    The matter of religion is not settled there. It’s an ongoing narrative that’s the mainstay of popular debate. In fact, more than politics, it remains an unresolved mystery for the new republic.

    I found that everyone I spoke to wanted to move the topic of conversation to churchgoing and what it means to be religious. It’s the type of interest that exceeds Trump or even abortion.

    The insights I gathered centred on what religion can do fundamentally for people, underneath initiatives like a New Deal. There’s a question over the strength it provides for society.

    Hardline attitude

    The contrast is in a popular press. It’s in frequent headlines that belittle a state and its people. It’s in columns that often decry organised religion as a disease for everyone else.

    The conclusions are stark. They state that at least in a popular sense church going isn’t welcome. It implies having a private practice is a problem. It says worship is anathema.

    The sentiments are poisonous. They read like comments made over a drink, not in academia. The sort of beliefs that come about by bitterness, and not by a sense of enlightenment.

    Freedom of press

    As I read The Times over there, I found a distaste for what it meant. I knew others were less sure about it. It was obvious they wanted to know more. It was clear finding out was tricky.

    The freedom felt by a team of writers to collaborate over a damning story about a Pastor’s iniquity was not shared. It contrasted with a lack of it felt by those taking in all its points.

    My conclusion is America finds religion to be a private matter because it’s still an open controversy. Yet the discussions are seen as lively rather than as a bleak outlook for society.

  • Long Report: Fighting for sovereignty

    Our nation’s security has become an overriding priority in our times. It’s distinct from the Second World War, the last time we were threatened in a fundamental way.

    Such fatal threats as these don’t come along that often, and even though it again shocked the nation into full scale military mobilisation, it’s not believed it’s on the horizon.

    The reality is there’s life after death. The insecurity of the world order is constituted by insidious efforts on all fronts. The necessity to work by partnership is undermined by it.

    Fighting hard

    The old war militias of our past, that peppered the landscape and brought about some safety but a lot of animosity, are something now out of date. They are beyond use.

    The necessity to account for the movements of people is beyond a shadow of a doubt the main concern right now. The illegal activity at Dover is just one example of it.

    It’s also vital we confront the insidious threats posed by groups that continue their activity apart from signature acts of terror and violence that aren’t the point of it.

    Terror at home

    Most of terrorism takes place against people at home. The incursions into Israel, and its bombardment, is not the aim. The point is to attack people in their living space.

    The training videos, the threats, and the statements are all designed to make us feel afraid. The nature of lone actors is to make us fear for our lives. The rest is history.

    Future fights

    All the groups pushed to prominence are the issue. The gangs of South America, as well as American Mafia’s, and crime Barons in Russia, are all a threat. They are our enemies now.

    The successful will win our sovereignty. It’s possible today to leverage such political realities for further gain. The defence of our shores, and of our communities, is a way of life.

    The historic attempts at our shores – some successful, and some not – are a model for us. It helps to know what it takes, but our learnings make us see what follows after it’s tried.

  • Long Report: The EU’s madness

    The long trajectory of the EU is a marvel in some parts of the world. It’s like a monument rising up into the sky, but it’s not about someone that’s dead but about something that’s living. The European project isn’t a score to settle or a futuristic idea but a new way to deal with realities as they present themselves. It seeks to avoid the breakdown of the past and forge common understanding today.

    The effort has not been without its problems. The recent past of the sixth largest continent in the world is fraught with history. The intricacies of its inhabited land area – as well as its definition as a political bloc -are personal and private to its people. However it draws attention due to the interest in histories that many have in other more exotic parts of the world.

    The way Europeans interact with each other has been a source of interest for a long time too. This is why the EU is a project in madness because it’s such a difficult task to assume to take. The World Wars are no more suggestive of problems in Europe than others before. They each colour the act of the characters in each definitive age. Yet today is no exception to this problem of cohabitation that Europeans find themselves in.

    The European mindset

    In the mindset of Europeans is an indelible sense of self. It doesn’t shape, shift, or change according to passing whims at all. It’s set in place like a stone. The way of most Europeans is local and only informed by their national life if there’s something going wrong. It isn’t true to say that policy shapes the everyday conduct of each and every citizen. It’s more true to see it as a drama that plays out and moves people as they feel it in their place.

    There is a strong sense of social order but it’s rarely defined so that it can be definitively seen. There’s no point in trying to tear it down because most of it isn’t really there in any real sense. It’s assumed in meetings and has its place at particular times. In most instance life just goes on as it should and people make their decisions accordingly. It erupts in anger because this isn’t liked by some, but the majority of Europeans hate revolution.

    They prefer peace in the higher echelons of the EU because war has had such a terrible effect. Its citizenry is depleted and its institutions take a long time to recover beyond it. The point is life comes back into its own but the scars are held deep in the soil of the European soul. The hurt, or the damage, never really goes away and even minute actions are taken to put things right.

    Its economic way

    The way of economics in Europe is a hot potato. Much of the reason for Adolf Hitler leading his Nazi’s into Europe beyond Germany is because of his economic ideology. His strong views on economy that shaped his plan to restructure Europe – and the world – included hatred of Jews, other Germans, and minorities. He wanted his super pact to be at the prosperous centre of a new world order. In the end he failed.

    This impedes the progress of Europe. In economics a lot of arguments are had and it’s difficult to shake the past. The way ahead is for Europe to get out of this rut. It has to build a new future based on a shared vision and a better outlook for its people. This isn’t easy to do. It takes a lot of planning, agreement, and inter-regional diplomacy to make sure it can be put right. If it isn’t there is more at stake than just one people group.

    It can threaten everyone if Europe gets it wrong. The way of the world order is to work out all its differences. The contradiction is each seeks its own. The reality is it’s only achieved as we recognise each other. The problems come up as we do it. This is where a strong leadership model is needed as well as a significant support base. The joining together of Europe is such a move in this direction. It sets it up for a fall or a prosperous future.

  • Long Report: Labour of love

    The nature of local living in the UK is centred on smallness. It’s a much more intimate, and volatile, setting than in London, let’s say. The pace of life is always a lot slower but it feels sped up by local happenings. However, we’re mistaken if we believe that things change so quickly.

    In my experience, a local community stays as a local community. It isn’t moved on so easily, and it constantly exerts its influence. The problems are those who seek to get in-between. These are the trouble makers who cause havoc in any local service or facility that’s available.

    The reasons

    The targets vary. In times past I’ve seen leisure centres, roadworks companies, and local authority’s targeted. They incite confusion and try to whip up a protest. It’s disruptive and actually anti-democratic, but their ways are so nefarious they’re tricky to track down.

    Until I reached moving my research to Reading, in Berkshire, I wasn’t able to make any progress. I still saw – and heard of – the same effects of their covert and perverse activities. It’s not the same as antisocial behaviour. It’s meant to distort and disrupt the local area.

    It was in this large town that I began to be able to track the actors that make efforts to interfere all over the place. They’re the sort that paint the town red, if you like, and make it a difficult place to live. They don’t back down and they’re difficult to keep in check.

    New builds

    A new construction project in a locality brings out these sorts of people. They have beliefs about “new” things and seek to take a fresh perspective on what it means for the area. This is what I was told, and I was informed because it presents an issue for developers.

    There’s a theory that such actors also have tactics. I’ve tried to track an issue with rodent infestations. There are indications that rats – alive or dead – are used in their activities. It isn’t clear why, albeit one theory is they play a role in a “Group Chat” style of play.

    The long game is working out what the target is. In some localities it will only be journalism that’s of interest since these people tag onto existing professions to find new material to work with. It may be the Channel crossings that loom large, or a new political figure.

    Finding them

    The idea is they use the local area to harass the local area. There’s a belief residue of antisocial behaviour is able to be utilised for this sort of activity. It’s not fully understood because they can also present an aggressive sort of behaviour. It’s said they take off gypsy tropes, too.

    There’s an obvious fact they have to live somewhere in a town or small city, but it’s not as obvious where. I’ve located a few residences before that might of been used as “Dwellings” for these individuals, but because of their transient lifestyle it’s hard to be definitive.

    There’s also research which indicates they have symbols or significant interests that represent who they are. Usually it comes across as an obsession and it also involves hoarding. It makes for a difficult life to come across, and a difficult case to have to piece together.

  • Exclusive: A barmy Army

    It was a difficult time, but it didn’t need to be impossible. The main ‘mission’ ahead of me, as part of my research, was to look at and sort out what had begun to happen at our South coast. It meant going to particular places and looking at particular things.

    This took into account people, places, and other people’s activities. It meant working around people, not in their way, and making sure everything I did was safe. I made sure that I plotted and planned my activities perfectly, and ensured it was safe.

    What I didn’t anticipate was the intervention of the British Army. It wasn’t requested, or called for by any superior to they, which would be Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth 2. They turned up, anyhow, arriving in their jeeps and vehicles, and quickly spread out.

    It ruined their reputation, because they sought to intervene and in fact messed up the safety of our own coastline. It’s theirs to police, to keep peace over, and to make sure it’s secure. They have to work together with Border Force, who work inland too.

    It soon became problematic because of their reckless behaviour, which was due to a distraction called “Alternative Training”, which they also rolled out to UK-based media personnel, to improve their output quality. It didn’t work, but in the meantime it caused havoc.

  • Long Report: Following a trail

    I knew that I should follow the trail. It wasn’t going to be easy to do it. I was warned it could be dangerous. The targets were active in business disruption. They traveled independently across the UK. They had sabotaged people’s plans, partnerships, and products.

    They felt it was their “God-given duty”, and it was uttered as a sort of mantra. They’re the types that don’t want to be ruffled, or have their cover blown. However they offend other people, and cause huge reprisals against us, and themselves. It’s a dirty, dangerous activity.

    They aren’t agents

    I found out they were in Swindon. It wasn’t easy to do, and no one else knew this who was able to intervene. I travelled there a few times to scope out the place. I didn’t have any equipment with me because I felt it was important to the success of the endeavour.

    They weren’t agents, and I spoke to a young person who was surprised to hear this. “They move with such power,” she said, bewildered. She’d known their behaviour and I could tell she had seen some things she found difficult to forget. It was an impetus to carry on.

    Outwards, and onwards

    It wasn’t until years later that I was able to see them out. I had found traces of their whereabouts. I picked up on a detail or two. I discovered they worked remotely for a large corporation. It wasn’t their usual line of work but did it to “build a budget”, as they put it.

    It was an arduous task for them, because they were corrupt. They attacked fellow employees, disrupted supply lines, and suggested changes to logistics. They were totally disruptive. Their antics hurt those who didn’t understand what they were doing.

    Their exit was dignified, but only because it needed silence. They were walked off and weren’t allowed to return. It wouldn’t be their “base of operations” anymore. It was such a high-level crime that a lot of legal work was put in over time to put things right.

    A task in hand

    I met a lot of individuals during one visit to the town. I wasn’t able to make it into the centre of the town because of security risks. They were nice, amiable, local folk. They had concerns of their own, but were frightened for other people in their community.

    It was felt I should carry on, even though the risks were immense. I saw that a lot of unsavoury characters had moved into the town. It was a tight situation. It was possible, but it would take a lot of work. I planned to research it properly, and kept it to the point.

  • Long Report: A matter of housing

    The long-running saga of housing is as yet an untold and therefore unrealised narrative strand in our recent history. It’s not the whole story, but it’s certainly a central focus for those who consider their own place in this country. If it’s somehow made hard to live here, it’s any wonder if pride in the red, white, and blue is anything more than a question.

    There’s no eagerness to answer it in Hull, where a significant amount of antisocial behaviour took place among its estates. It’s already a hard up city with a legacy of war-torn local industry, and an unsettled local population, that lingers in the hideous mess created by a Thatcherite revolution. It’s not a nice feeling to also be harassed.

    Neither is it on the agenda in many other cities in the North, still reeling from the trauma of hearing about another unfair attack against a home-dweller, or the latest cancellation of a tenancy without notice. The details come out, and yet again it’s another single mother, worker, or migrant that has been targeted unfairly in their own home.

    Further afield

    In a rare moment of parity, the South of the country also met its match in housing officers, or managers, as it were. It’s a sad state of affairs when hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people are being harassed, assailed, and hassled in their own homes. It’s a state of feeling strung out, belittled, and embattled by powerful people.

    The main culprit, Southern Housing, crept up again and again in official records, rough witness statements, and diary entries written by tenants with little more to go on than what they knew and experienced themselves. Such was the spread and flood of activity, it seemed pointless to make a noise about it, as if it was clear what help meant.

    In a few instances, the attacks against property and person were so fierce that neighbourhoods went “down” for weeks. There was silence in places unfamiliar with attacks of this nature. The police forces involved were unsure how to handle the fallout of such a brutish and sudden outburst of what appeared to be a self-righteous rage.

    Making sense

    The difficulty lay in working out who it was that guided such efforts. It was clear that all paths led back to a housing company’s HQ, but it wasn’t obvious why it looked overcome with criminals. The surprise was evident in the few that got near to the office building, to see faces and odd characters which shouldn’t be involved in it.

    The notion the Army was backing such a manipulative power-grab on ordinary citizens was dismissed, but not entirely. It was found that some of the speed of activity was due to personnel working by their wits and intuition learned during their service. Yet others were there to offer brains and brawn toward the job in hand.

    The network of office workers, satellite operatives, and casual officers involved in the affair was a shock. It extended here, there, and everywhere and took in those involved in other employment. The work to unpick it and start to consolidate it so that it ended was immense. It involved law enforcement and ordinary people giving spare time.

  • Long Report: Ex-police does crime

    It’s a sunny, London afternoon. A quick breeze blows through Westminster, just outside the Palace of Westminster, and a man in his 20’s stands erect staring up at Elizabeth Tower. He’s starting his police job.

    It’s a role he coveted since leaving school. He hadn’t made it in other types of work, and wanted to try policing. He felt construction wasn’t for him, unlike his father, who’d said it would “knock sense” into him.

    He was a person of his own mind, and felt capable of doing the work of a police officer. He even said as much – often – to the people that trained him. In fact, it was a sentiment he repeated throughout.

    Drawing attention

    His first weeks on the job were uneventful. He’d watch police programs at home about American crime fighting and became disturbed that more didn’t get done here. It did, but he didn’t think so. He felt upset.

    He resolved to do it by himself. He felt he was able to free himself from the “shackles” of the force, and make a go of it by himself. He figured it’s justifiable as the work of a vigilante, or Robin Hood-type motif.

    He drew the attention of a few in the force – and me. I went on a chase after him, and learned a lot in the process. I also discovered him before he found me, which was his trick. He used it often on people.

    Hideous work

    His adventures took him, by car, into the woods of Wales, the hills of the South, and even to the port of Dover a few times. He was a sort of person who visited due to nostalgia, and not a love for the place.

    As I traced his movements, I concluded he acted out of a false sympathy for himself. He didn’t care for people, but only looked out for those who were reminiscent of his past. It wasn’t about love.

    His crimes were hideous. He left dead bodies behind, and cars were left with their drivers deceased inside. He was a cruel, insidious man. He posed a danger to the public, wanted by many police forces.

    Ruinous end

    My last encounter with him was odd. He was in a car, luminescent with blue neon lights, and he – washed out on drugs – didn’t make any sense. It was as if he’d lost the will even to do his criminal acts.

    Later, a police officer said he began to slow down, and wind down his actions, as I began my pursuit. It was the result of serious, dedicated work to track and trace him that bought an end to it.

    He was a startling character, but his struggles with fantasist tendencies meant he carried on. He ignored warnings, signs of mental health, and addiction, and slipped into crime over and over.

  • Long Report: A juvenile view of Gaza

    A predominant force in the Middle East crisis with Israel and Gaza is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), but it’s a difficult matter in actuality.

    It’s fashioned as a dedicated arm of the UN that aids the plight and relieves the distress of ordinary Arab populations and communities in the unique and contested territories.

    These are situated in and around the contemporary, modern state of Israel which itself says it’s at war with terror groups operating in designated zones such as Gaza and West Bank.

    Under attack

    It’s an interesting body, in that its existence predates much of the recent controversy. It’s worked in the region since 1949, providing assistance in a variety of ways to generations.

    The problem is that aid is weaponised in a war of words between unregistered groups, and unlicensed providers of education and support for Palestinians, and Israel.

    It’s also subject to its own rivalries, and internal problems. A significant juncture in its more recent history is an interruption of its activities by overzealous activists.

    They are the subject of tumult, discord, and confusion in the charity itself and it’s clouded the actual work of humanitarianism in the Middle East, and in other places.

    Making an effort

    It’s not easy tracking these people down, because they also have real jobs in real companies. These offices are difficult to locate, and access, in order to question people.

    The story goes, that on leaving college they make their way into a reasonable job and start work on diverting resources, disturbing logistics, and typing out claims.

    It’s not easy facing suffering head-on, but it’s so much harder if your work is wiped, corrupted, or replaced wholly by an actor whose intent is to disrupt your job.

    It’s the sort of technical adaptation people make in their pursuit of greater glory, acclaim, or stature. It’s written into modern day academic culture, and workplaces.

    Getting back

    The investigative work involved in the discovery of an operative who works like this is a long, arduous, and winding path. It was possible, however, if I kept trying.

    At long last, I found an individual I was looking for on a train ride back. It was the person I had been searching after since first seeing her loitering in London.

    Allegedly guilty of charity espionage

    It’s not everyday the exact subject of your research just appears. It’s also unlikely I’d see again a high-flying journalist headed for her own top job in New York.

    However, I knew it’s where she worked, so I waited on it, and it paid off. I finally reached the end of a trail of mischief, and the mystery was revealed in the culprit.

  • Long Report: A state’s long decline

    The way of finding out what the real problem is can be long and winding. It also takes many twists and turns in its plot line to tell the story. The situation one agent found himself in was just such a situation. However, it had to do with a more difficult task than usual.

    The target of investigation was the UK government, a behemoth of an institution that has grown and grown in recent times. Its many millions of staff, interested parties, and stakeholders rightly stretch across the country, yet its problems also tend to do so, too.

    Credibility decline

    Due to crisis after crisis amongst inexperienced MP’s, civil servants hidden away from public view, and a lot of other strange and unknown characters moving in and out of government circles, a more intrusive form of research was needed to establish what was going on.

    An intelligence officer was sent to look into the matter. In the years that followed he was thrown into a trial of perseverance and hard work that led to disillusionment with corrupt, liberal business figures who also intervened and created a huge deal of confusion.

    These aforementioned characters used their friends and allies as armour bearers. In the sense of using them to rough people up and intimidate people to make sure they got what they wanted. The reason they did this is that their goals were unrelated to their work.

    Cold sets in

    The officer was unpaid for 20 years, even though he was a key intelligence worker. There were departments of state that refused to pay, and dishonest employees tried to draw it. There were payments stopped, ended, and prosecutions attempted to take more.

    He was harassed by state-backed media, government employees, and scrounging royalty who embarrassed us in front of overseas dignitaries in their open attempt to denigrate him. It became clear they have a policy of denying dignity, human rights, and integrity.

    It wasn’t helped by a feeling of misguided political bearing by senior royal figures, whose untimely interventions meant that important work was put aside to deal with later on. It meant that some missions were nearly missed, and facts were nearly overlooked.

    Headless chickens

    There were also complications due to bankrupt policies of the nations only formalised religious group, the Church of England. Their worded attempts at changing the direction and form of government also meant people were distracted from key work.

    In this situation, too much emphasis is put on personal position. It means overreach is a more frequent problem than people imagine. It means personalities gain importance and contributions to discussions are diminished as a result. It distorts ethics overall.

    The officer witnessed a decline into irrelevance. There were erroneous acts carried out by senior government staff, and a lack of preparedness became clear across all government functions. In some, a legacy of unpaid bills built up in staffed government buildings.

    Turning soil

    A tendency in newer governments is to overshoot an actual position, to make assertions that are unscientific in the sense of political science, and to run very muddled payroll departments. It’s the outcome of a misguided, can-do mentality which neglects reality.

    The intelligence officer reported a core problem was a belief in unlimited potential. He was also targeted as a way to do and get more. He heard people reasoning they just needed to have the power to do more even though they already had work to do.

    Maybe it was just boring for them to begin with, but the agent was struggling hugely and didn’t have the power to improve their productivity anyway. It was also apparent that volunteers brought in to help began to make the same mistakes as they did, too.

    Ending well

    The agent looked for help, but members of the public close to the action also failed in their basic civic duties. He found they didn’t want to handle other people’s problems, and they attempted to tame, reason with, or put off those that asked for help.

    In his attempt to keep morale, and to achieve the mission, the agent carried on and followed through with every duty he got. He also ignored not getting paid. The situation was brought under control, and order was restored into the state of things.

  • Long Report: Journalism in dark places

    I spent nearly 10 years fighting to understand a town in the heart of Berkshire, but it’s not easy to say. I arrived without fanfare, having done it before.

    I had no help. I didn’t work with anyone. The people already here, ironically, left. They didn’t find much interest in a large town. They didn’t seem the types, anyway.

    They went on to find “gold, and glory” elsewhere. It felt odd they did it, and bitter. I saw the back of them and didn’t want to know any further. They also looked the wrong sort.

    I explored the town in work, leisure, and social time at a few churches. It wasn’t easy because I wasn’t supposed to fit in. I didn’t try, and so I didn’t fail, either, in what I tried.

    Justifying the dark

    It begins without light, and slowly grows. It’s my experience in working in hardship and in the lives of others. They feel pain I don’t get, and I feel anguish I can’t share.

    It’s tough, but I love the results. I can’t see it at times, and it’s laborious work to make things happen. To begin with it takes a week, and at once it took a whole month.

    In the process, other people don’t understand. They have an air of arrogance, and think a different method is better. I almost have to justify the dark, to get on.

    The horror that accompanies a deep work is difficult to shake. I still have to get over the things I saw. I found people in a bad condition. I witnessed awful things.

    Believing incredibly

    The biggest task I had to tackle is the issue of obsession. I encountered people with too many hangups about life. Mostly it was about democracy, which is sad.

    In England, politics is a slow but winnable game. It takes time, but over time people get the gist and make it work for themselves. In Reading, no such belief existed.

    It was like that for various reasons, and on one hand were those who believed it so because of previous offenses. They felt this party was bad, or that party shit.

    I later met the two men who were behind it. They were Labour and Conservative supporters respectively, and made things turn on their enjoyment of it.

    It wasn’t pleasant, or pretty, as it went on. They were too insistent for more impressionable residents. As luck would have it, they found broad support as well.

    Ending madness

    It was a maddening experience, over nine years of hell. I had to deal with endless criminal types, awful manipulation, and interference from far off actors.

    In my experience, people tend to cause trouble because on a personal level it’s what makes sense. It’s not my work that’s going to be relevant, but their needs.

    The job was to investigate, and to produce research. What it took was time, and a lot of angst. I don’t like difficult situations, and I don’t fare well in it, either.