25th September 2008

China boasted about how its astronauts had begun their long-awaited space mission today hours before they even left the launch pad.

The country’s official news agency Xinhua published an article dated September 27 – two days from now – complete with an entire dialogue between the three men aboard Shenzhou 7.

The astronaut’s mission, which will feature the Communist state’s first-ever space walk, began at 2.10pm UK time when their rocket blasted into the sky from its base in Jiuquan in the northwestern Gansu province.

Chinese Central Television shows the three astronauts brace themselves as they blast off

But Xinhua’s apparent propaganda article – titled Sleepless Night On The Pacific, Sidelights On The Observation And Control Of The 30th Lap Of Shenzhou 7 Spaceship – was posted on its website more than two hours before.

A spokesman for the news agency claimed it was published accidentally due to a ‘technical error’. It has now been taken down.

The story vividly described the rocket in flight, complete with a sharply detailed dialogue between the three astronauts or ‘taikonauts’ as they are known in China.

Its author, being careful to tow the party line and put a positive spin on the ‘event’, wrote in one part: ‘“First-level measurement arrangement!”

‘After this order, signal lights all were switched on, various data show up on rows of screens, hundreds of technicians staring at the screens, without missing any slightest changes …

‘One minute to go!’

‘Changjiang No.1 found the target!’…

The firm voice of the controller broke the silence of the whole ship.

The Shenzhou VII spacecraft lifts off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre at 9:10 pm local time

‘Now, the target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time … "The air pressure in the cabin is normal!”

‘Ten minutes later, the ship disappears below the horizon.

‘Warm clapping and excited cheering breaks the night sky, echoing across the silent Pacific Ocean.’

But despite suffering some initial embarrassment over the article China’s third manned mission is set to be its most ambitious to date.

A 40-minute spacewalk of the leader, Zhai Zhigang will be relayed in a live broadcast on Saturday.

Experts said the 68-hour mission was a logical step towards a planned space station and possible moon landing.

Having already put people in orbit, China is planning space walks, then rendezvous and docking operations, then the deployment of a relatively modest space lab followed by a more permanent space station.

The Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao said today that China was not seeking global influence.

‘In international relations, China does not seek to build alliances or become a leader and will never do so in the future,’ he told the UN General Assembly.

Crowds gathered to watch a live broadcasting of the manned space craft launch on giant screens in Beijing

The U.S. has expressed concern about China’s rapid military build-up, but Mr Wen tried to assure world leaders China had no wish to become a military power.

‘China’s development is peaceful in nature. It will not harm anyone or pose a threat to anyone,’ he said.

John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, in Washington, said the space walk was a logical extension of China’s space program.

‘It’s a step-by-step development of their capability designed to have humans work in space and is a perfectly logical step,’ he said.

Astronauts Jing Haipeng, Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming were addressed by President Hu Jintao before they headed toward the Long March rocket.

‘This will be a major step forward for our country’s aerospace technology,’ he told them.

‘You can certainly fulfil this glorious and sacred task. The motherland and its people await your triumphant return.’

Officials and state media have been hailing the mission as a national triumph that will crown the successes of the Beijing Olympics.

China completed its first manned space venture in October 2003, when it joined Russia and the United States as the only countries to have sent astronauts into space.

Amazing space: Chinese astronauts (l-r) Jing Haipeng, Liu Boming and Zhai Zhigang wave to well-wishers ahead of the launch

The Communist nation then sent two more astronauts on a five-day flight on its Shenzhou VI craft in October 2005.

On this current mission the astronauts will take traditional Chinese medicine on board to treat space motion sickness.

‘It is made of more than 10 types of Chinese herbs, and has proven to be effective in improving the astronauts’ cardiovascular conditions,’ Xinhua quoted astronaut research official Li Yongzhi as saying.

But engineers overseeing the flight warned it carried risks.

Zhang Jianqi, one of the chief engineers, told Xinhua that keeping three men aloft and sending one outside the capsule would be a ‘big test’ for the country’s aerospace skills.

‘This is a big technological leap,’ he said. ‘The risks are quite high. Sending up three astronauts is a jump in both quantity and quality.’

With a name meaning ‘sacred vessel’, the Shenzhou programme is secretively run through military and government agencies and its budget is murky. In 2003, officials said it had cost 18 billion yuan (£1.3billion) up to then.

China has arrayed five satellite tracking ships to follow the craft’s journey of three days or so, and helicopters and vehicles are ready to meet it on returning to earth in Inner Mongolia.

By Frances Childs

25th September 2008

Ill or ill-disciplined?: Too many children are being diagnosed with ADHD when they are simply naughty

The class was working peacefully. It was the first lesson of the morning and everyone was a little bleary-eyed.

Joe Smith, I notice was doodling on a text book. ‘Come on Joe. That’s enough of that. Get on with your work please.’

I was new to teaching and trying to be firm but fair. The next minute, Joe grabbed his neighbour’s pencil case and threw it across the floor. When I remonstrated him he told me to ‘f*** off’.

At the end of the lesson I asked him to stay behind. Demanding an apology, I told him I’d be phoning home as well as reporting his behaviour to the head.

Joe simply shrugged. ‘It’s not my fault. I’m ill. I’ve got ADHD. I can’t help it.’

This was the first time I’d heard of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and I actually laughed. Appalling behaviour an illness? I’d never heard anything so ludicrous.

Sadly, however, it certainly wasn’t the last I’d hear of it. This mysterious ailment made a sudden and dramatic appearance among British and American schoolchildren in the early 1990s. Before that, it was practically unheard of.

On the Continent, you’d still struggle to get a doctor to agree that a child who ran riot in the classroom, shouted and swore at staff, was anything other than extremely badly behaved.

But in the UK, youngsters like David, a 14-year-old I teach, who last week kicked a chair across the classroom because he was enraged that I’d asked him to stop texting during an exam, are now routinely labelled as having a psychiatric disorder.

David and thousands of badly behaved children like him are deemed to have ADHD and are medicated accordingly.

During the decade I’ve been teaching, the number of children prescribed the amphetamine Ritalin, used to ‘treat’ ADHD, has simply exploded. It is estimated that 400,000 children are currently prescribed the drug.

In 1991, the number of prescriptions issued was a mere 2,000. When I first started teaching I’d never heard of Ritalin or ADHD.

Now, I can honestly say I don’t think there’s a single class I teach without at least one and often two or three children being medicated with this very powerful class B drug.

Ritalin has unpleasant side effects – including sleeplessness and nausea – and the penalty for selling it illegally is a maximum of 14 years’ imprisonment.

Recent research has linked it to depression, stunted growth, heart problems, insomnia and weight gain and, according to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, 11 British children on Ritalin have died.

Serious concerns are finally being voiced about the way Ritalin is being doled out like sweets to thousands of young children

Yet this drug is now routinely prescribed to children as young as six or seven.

Now, finally, serious concerns are being voiced about the way it is being doled out like sweets to thousands of young children.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), which advises what drugs should be made available on the NHS, has just issued guidelines recommending that Ritalin be used only as a last resort.

Parenting classes, they urge, might be more effective in controlling the bad behaviour which has become endemic in our schools and on our streets.

Boys are three times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls. And looking at the ’symptoms’ that characterise it, it’s not hard to see why.

Is the child easily distracted and quickly bored? Do they forget things such as instructions, homework and spellings? Do they fidget, doodle and lose things?

If the answer to these questions is yes, then according to the ‘experts’, the child might well have ADHD. Alternatively, they may simply be a typical boy.

Added to the list of symptoms are, in my experience, extreme rudeness and a dislike of being asked to wear school uniform.

If asked several times to stop talking over me, children with the ‘illness’ generally swear at me.

When I phone their home, their parents react with the uniform comment: ‘He can’t help it. He’s got ADHD.’

Unsurprisingly, an increasing number of doctors and psychiatrists are expressing the fear that children are being labelled with a mental illness and given drugs for behaviour that in the past would simply have been labelled ‘very naughty.’

And anecdotally, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that schools are pressurising parents to put children who cause mayhem on Ritalin.

As a teacher, I’m secretly relieved when I hear that a particularly difficult child, one who won’t do any work, who chats and texts through the lesson, who sneers and swears at staff without a second thought, has been prescribed Ritalin.

The drug isn’t known as the ‘chemical cosh’ for nothing. If I’m honest, though, I don’t believe that these children are ill. I think they come from insecure, unstable backgrounds where the concept of a bedtime is as fanciful as the fairy tales they’ve never been read.

I believe that many of the children labelled with ADHD and drugged into acquiescence are simply youngsters who have been raised without any boundaries.

They live in homes where junk food is the norm, where there is no parental control over what they watch on TV and when they watch it, and where authority, whether it be teachers, the police or the lollipop lady, is routinely sneered at and derided.

A study some years ago in America suggested that much of the behaviour labelled ADHD was in fact simply exhaustion, and that children were magically cured of their affliction when they went to bed and slept at night instead of watching gory horror movies.

Personally, I think that many children would benefit from firmer and more consistent parenting.

Of course, having an active, boisterous seven-year-old child is hard work. But it seems to me that far too many mums and dads are happy to have their children labelled with a psychiatric condition and drugged – even if the existence of the disorder is hotly disputed by the experts.

Youngsters might be turned into wide-eyed, slow-witted zombies, but at least they’re not running amok in the playground and inconveniencing their parents by getting suspended.

Ritalin, like Valium, has become mother’s little helper. It relieves parents of the responsibility of actually having to discipline their children. But as a society, we may pay a very high price indeed for drugging a generation of our children.

• Frances Childs is a teacher in a comprehensive school in the South of England.

Database to hold details of millions of journeys for five years

• Paul Lewis
• The Guardian,
• Monday September 15 2008

CCTV cameras, converted to read ANPR data, capturing people’s movement. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Reuters

The police are to expand a car surveillance operation that will allow them to record and store details of millions of daily journeys for up to five years, the Guardian has learned.

Paul Lewis on police plans to store car surveillance records Link to this audio

A national network of roadside cameras will be able to "read" 50m licence plates a day, enabling officers to reconstruct the journeys of motorists.

Police have been encouraged to "fully and strategically exploit" the database, which is already recording the whereabouts of 10 million drivers a day, during investigations ranging from counter-terrorism to low-level crime.

But it has raised concerns from civil rights campaigners, who question whether the details should be kept for so long, and want clearer guidance on who might have access to the material.

The project relies on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras to pinpoint the precise time and location of all vehicles on the road. Senior officers had promised the data would be stored for two years. But responding to inquiries under the Freedom of Information Act, the Home Office has admitted the data is now being kept for five years.

Thousands of CCTV cameras across the country have been converted to read ANPR data, capturing people’s movements in cars on motorways, main roads, airports and town centres.

Local authorities have since adapted their own CCTV systems to capture licence plates on behalf of police, massively expanding the network of available cameras. Mobile cameras have been installed in patrol cars and unmarked vehicles parked by the side of roads.

Police helicopters have been equipped with infrared cameras that can read licence plates from 610 metres (2,000ft).

In four months’ time, when a nationwide network of cameras is fully operational, the National ANPR Data Centre in Hendon, north London, will record up to 50m licence plates a day.

The Home Office said in a letter that the Hendon database would "store all ANPR captured data for five years". The photograph of a person’s licence plate will, in most cases, be stored for one year.

Human rights group Privacy International last night described the five-year record of people’s car journeys "unnecessary and disproportionate", and said it had lodged an official complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the government’s data watchdog.

In a statement, the ICO said it would take the complaint "seriously" and would be contacting police "to discuss proposed data retention periods". "Prolonged retention would need to be clearly justified based on continuing value not on the mere chance it may come in useful," it said.

In 2005 the government invested £32m to develop the ANPR data-sharing programme after police concluded that road traffic cameras could be used for counter-terrorism and everyday criminal investigations. Senior police officers have said they intend the database to be integrated into "mainstream policing".

Half of all police forces in England and Wales have now been connected to the network, reading between 8 and 10m licence plates a day. The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said the database would be linked to ANPR systems run by all but two police forces by the end of the year. The database will be able to store as many as 18 bn licence plate sightings in 2009.

The Acpo ANPR strategy document, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, envisages the database will be used at all levels of policing. The document, which sets policy up until 2010, states that police forces should "fully and strategically exploit" the database.

Officers can access the database to find uninsured cars, locate illegal "duplicate" licence plates and track the movements of criminals. The Acpo adds that the database will "deter criminals through increased likelihood of detection".

"Experience has shown there are very strong links between illegal use of motor vehicles on the road and other types of serious crime," said Merseyside Police’s Assistant Chief Constable, Simon Byrne, who leads Acpo’s ANPR policy.

The director of Privacy International, Simon Davies, said last night the database would give police "extraordinary powers of surveillance". "This would never be allowed in any other democratic country," he said. "This is possibly one of the most valuable reserves of data imaginable."

Peter Fry, of the CCTV User group, said that licence plate images captured by CCTV are generally retained for 31 days. "There’s not a great deal of logic to explain keeping the same images for five years," he said.

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Children as young as eight have been recruited by councils to “snoop” on their neighbours and report petty offences such as littering, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.

By Martin Beckford, Sarah Graham and Betsy Mead
06 Sep 2008

Youngsters are being encouraged to report ‘enviro-crime’ Photo: EDDIE MULHOLLAND

The youngsters are among almost 5,000 residents who in some cases are being offered £500 rewards if they provide evidence of minor infractions.

One in six councils contacted by the Telegraph said they had signed up teams of “environment volunteers” who are being encouraged to photograph or video neighbours guilty of dog fouling, littering or “bin crimes”.

The “covert human intelligence sources”, as some local authorities describe them, are also being asked to pass on the names of neighbours they believe to be responsible, or take down their number-plates.

Ealing Council in West London said: “There are hundreds of Junior Streetwatchers, aged 8-10 years old, who are trained to identify and report enviro-crime issues such as graffiti and fly-tipping.”

Harlow Council in Essex said: “We currently have 25 Street Scene Champions who work with the council. They are all aged between 11 to 14. They are encouraged to report the aftermath of enviro-crimes such as vandalism to bus shelters, graffiti, abandoned vehicles, fly-tipping etc. They do this via telephone or email direct to the council.”

Other local authorities recruit adult volunteers through advertisements in local newspapers, with at least 4,841 people already patrolling the streets in their spare time.

Some are assigned James Bond-style code numbers, which they use instead of their real names when they ring a special informer’s hotline.

This escalation in Britain’s growing surveillance state follows an outcry about the way councils are using powers originally designed to combat terrorism and organised crime to spy on residents. In one case, a family was followed by council staff for almost three weeks after being wrongly accused of breaking rules on school catchment areas.

It also emerged last month that around 1,400 security guards, car park attendants and town hall staff have been given police-style powers including the right to issue on-the-spot fines for littering, cycling on the pavement and other offences.

Matthew Sinclair, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, described the recruitment of children as “downright sinister”.

He said: “We are deeply troubled by these developments – they are straight out of the Stasi copybook. There is a combination of ever-stricter rules and ever more Draconian attempts to control people.

“Councils are using anti-terrorist legislation for the tiniest of things, like the people who put out their bins early, and the threats of fines and prosecutions combine to constitute fleecing the people the councils are meant to be serving.”

The increase in surveillance comes at a time when an estimated 169 councils have dropped weekly rubbish collections.

Some local authorities are refusing to collect bins which are placed too far from the kerb, while others are issuing £100 fines to people who fail to comply with recycling rules.

Critics have claimed that councils have stopped prosecuting people for flytipping in favour of pursuing easy targets such as fining people for dropping bits of food and cigarette butts.

In April, Hull council officials fined a young mother £75 for dropping a piece of sausage roll while trying to feed her four-year-old daughter. Sarah Davies, 20, refused to pay and the matter when to magistrates court where it was dismissed.

Doretta Cocks, founder of the Campaign for Weekly Waste Collection, said the use of children by councils was “shocking”.

She said: “What sort of world are we bringing them up in? I think it’s dreadful for neighbour to spy upon neighbour in that way.”

The Daily Telegraph contacted more than 240 councils across England and Wales to ask if they had recruited environmental volunteers.

Of those, 36 or just under one in six, said they had. They included Luton, with 600 volunteers, the highest of any council; Southwark, south London (400) Birmingham (370) Blaenau Gwent (300) and Congleton in Cheshire (300).

Among the “environmental crimes” which the snoopers are asked to report, which vary from council to council, are failure to recycle rubbish, vandalism, graffiti, dog fouling, fly-tipping and abandoned vehicles.

Some councils merely ask recruits to keep an eye out for problems, while others are sent out on patrols. Several of the councils which do not yet use volunteers said they were considering doing so in future.

Many of the town halls said they did not encourage their volunteers to confront offenders or collect evidence, for their own safety.

But Bromley Council in Kent offers up to £500 for information that leads to a conviction.

Crawley Borough Council in West Sussex said its 150 Streetcare Champions were asked to “report on individuals if known”. Bolton Council said its Green Inspectors must “note any relevant information such as registration numbers” if they see criminal activity.

Others, including Fareham in Hampshire and Waltham Forest in east London encourage their volunteers to take photographs of rubbish to help investigations.

Liz Henthorn, 66, a retired nurse who is one of 120 “Street Hawk” volunteers in Enfield, north London, openly describes herself as a “curtain twitcher” but insists she is not snooping on anyone.

She said: “If there is a problem with fly-tipping, general bad behaviour, graffiti etcetera then I ring the Street Hawk person and when I do it is cleared. Enfield has become a lot cleaner because of us curtain twitchers having a look around.

“If you can you report an individual but nobody is going to give their name and address. If you know where that person lives you can say you know who it is but other than that you don’t.”

A spokesman for the Local Government Association, which represents town halls across the country, insisted: “Environment volunteers are people who care passionately about their local area and want to protect it from vandals, graffitists and fly tippers.

“These residents are not snoopers. They will help councils cut crime and make places cleaner, greener and safer.”

Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: “In any civilised society the community will engage with the police but it would be plain wrong for young children to be recruited and trained for reward. People want to see the police and other appropriate agencies on our streets catching and deterring offenders.”

Councillor Sue Emment, Ealing Council’s cabinet member for environment and street services, said: “Ealing Council works with participating schools so Junior Streetwatchers can learn how to help our local environment, take pride in their community and have a sense of civic responsibility.

“Organisations like the TaxPayers’ Alliance are fast becoming parodies of themselves and ought to find out about Council schemes before making comments. We feel it is sad that the valuable time these young people are spending on improving the community should be criticised in any way.”

A spokesman for Harlow Council said: “We need to encourage more people to care for their community. If we can encourage people at a young age to do this then they will grow up to respect the environment. Our Street Champions, which is an entirely voluntary scheme naturally, has the backing and support of parents for children to take part in the scheme. The scheme is highly regarded.

“The scheme isn’t just about them reporting environmental problems, they also take part in projects to help them learn new skills and in a wider context, about citizenship.”

Councils are using anti-terrorism laws to spy on residents and tackle barking dogs and noisy children.

By Chris Hastings, Public Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 8:24PM BST 06 Sep 2008

An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph found that three quarters of local authorities have used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000 over the past year.

The Act gives councils the right to place residents and businesses under surveillance, trace telephone and email accounts and even send staff on undercover missions.

The findings alarmed civil liberties campaigners. Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said: “Councils do a grave disservice to professional policing by using serious surveillance against litterbugs instead of terrorists.”

The RIPA was introduced to help fight terrorism and crime. But a series of extensions, first authorised by David Blunkett in 2003, mean that Britain’s 474 councils can use the law to tackle minor misdemeanours.

Councils are using the Act to tackle dog fouling, the unauthorised sale of pizzas and the abuse of the blue badge scheme for disabled drivers.

Among 115 councils that responded to a Freedom of Information request, 89 admitted that they had instigated investigations under the Act. The 82 councils that provided figures said that they authorised or carried out a total of 867 RIPA investigations during the year to August

Durham county council emerged as the biggest user, with just over 100 surveillance operations launched during the period. Newcastle city council used the powers 82 times, and Middlesbrough council 70 times.

Derby council made sound recordings of a property after a complaint about noisy children.

Surveillance operations aimed at individual homes and businesses can last for months. Calderdale council in West Yorkshire began “direct covert surveillance” targeting one business in May that is still going on.

Local authorities including Bassetlaw, Easington, Bolsover and Darlington have placed houses under video or photographic surveillance to tackle problems such as anti-social behaviour, unauthorised entry into gardens and benefit fraud. Others admitted using council staff to follow residents to determine whether they were working while claiming benefits.

Northampton council, which did not implement the Act during the past 12 months, said that it had used the legislation on five previous occasions to tackle dog fouling. Councils have used the RIPA to recruit children for surveillance operations. Dudley and County Durham exploited the Act to send children into shops with secret video and audio equipment to see whether they could buy cigarettes and alcohol. Officials in Durham have mounted 60 RIPA investigations against these kinds of businesses in the past 12 months.

Sir Jeremy Beecham, the acting chairman of the Local Government Association, which represents councils, said last night: “Councils are tuned into people’s fears about the potential overzealous use of these crime- fighting powers. They know that they’re only to be used to tackle residents’ complaints about serious offences, like when benefit cheats are robbing hard-working taxpayers or fly-by-night traders are ripping off vulnerable pensioners.”

He added: “Councils do not use these powers to mount fishing expeditions. First and foremost it is about protecting the public, not intruding on privacy. Crime-busting powers are targeted at suspected criminals and used only when absolutely necessary.”

Smokers, drivers and even emails are being monitored

* Newcastle City Council used the Act to monitor noise levels from smoking shelters at two different licensed premises. The council has twice used the legislation to monitor noise from a vet’s practice following a complaint about barking.

* Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council used it to deal with 16 complaints about barking dogs.

* Derby Council made sound recordings at a property following a complaint about noisy children.

* Peterborough Council investigated the operation of the blue badge scheme for disabled drivers.

* Poole Council used it to detect illegal fishing in Poole Harbour.

* Basingstoke Council used photographic surveillance against one of its own refuse collectors after allegations he was charging residents for a service that should be free. The operation was dropped when it was decided the allegation was false.

* Aberdeenshire Council admitted using the Scottish version of the Act to request the name and address of a mobile phone user as part of an investigation into offences under the Weights and Measures Act.

* Easington council put a resident’s garden under camera surveillance after a complaint from neighbours about noise.

* Canterbury City Council used CCTV surveillance and an officer’s observations to monitor illegal street trading.

* Brighton and Hove council launched four operations against graffiti artists

* Torbay Council accessed an employee’s emails after an allegation that suspect material had been sent. A second employee was investigated over the “use of council vehicle for personal gain”.

* Westminster City Council covertly filmed a locksmith following allegations of fraud.

* Durham County Council obtained authorisation to monitor car boot sales during an investigation into the sale of counterfeit goods.

Power in the hands of local authorities

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act allows for the interception of communications, acquisition and disclosure of data relating to communications, carrying-out of surveillance, use of covert intelligence sources and access to encrypted or password-protected data.

It can be evoked by public servants on the grounds of national security, and for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime, preventing disorder, public safety, protecting public health, or in the interests of the UK’s economic well-being. Councils were first granted use of the legislation in 2003.