Anti-metrix campaigners at Milton Keynes

Campaigners took the message to Milton Keynes - with the support of Mark Thomas - to highlight the key role the OU is proposing to play in the privatised military academy in bed with arms dealers & war profiteers Ratheon, Serco, Qinetiq, and incompetent EDS... and to ask what happened to ethics? What is the OU ethical stance?

Mark Thomas is in Cardiff
- Tue, 7 October (19:00) - Borders Bookshop - CF10 1AH - Talk and book signing.

see his website for more information.. http://www.markthomasinfo.com/

Mark's new book, "Belching Out the Devil" will be published on 25th September 2008. It is available for pre-order from Amazon

Mark new book is about Coca Cola. As many of you may know Coca Cola bottlers in Colombia face allegations that the plant managers colluded with paramilitaries to bring about the deaths of trade unionists working for the Coke plants.

How accountable is Serco ?

How accountablwe will serco and raytheon be to the british people? Read the interesting piece below. And you mcouldn't make it up - serco bid to run GP practice!!

One More Level of OversightBy Al DeVito(Al DeVito) The Department of Defense, in its superior wisdom, has contracted with Serco, a British-American company, to perform DOD’s oversight function of contractors in Iraq . Serco is responsible for "analyzing performance contractors' costs," ...

One More Level of Oversight
The problem is that it’s another fox guarding the fox who is guarding the chicken coop. The Department of Defense, in its superior wisdom, has contracted with Serco, a British-American company, to perform DOD’s oversight function of contractors in Iraq. Serco is responsible for "analyzing performance contractors' costs," "working with the Army to measure contractor performance" and "recommending process improvements."
How this will affect GAO’s auditing is a question, as everything between the government and the contractors (Fluor, KBR and DynCorp) goes between Serco and the GAO. When GAO decides to audit one of the contractors, Serco gets the documents from the contractor, summarizes them and then gives them to the GAO. The GAO has previously said that such a situation creates the “potential for conflicts of interest". I’m sure that Serco will be a good overseer of our money.

Outsourcing Oversight
Summary: The Department of Defense now employs contractors to keep ... the Pentagon split its largest military contract in Iraq ... A fourth company, the British-American service provider Serco, is ... oversight," Rasor told Truthout.

Sturgeon To End Privatisation Of Gp Practices (from Sunday Herald)
Jack McConnell's administration was criticised in 2006 after it emerged that Serco, a global services firm, was bidding to run a GP practice in Harthill, ...

march to stop the military academy

Stop the War NOW: MARCH TO STOP THE UK MILITARY ACADEMY
Mass demonstration called by Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign
Supported by UK Stop the War Coalition
Assemble 1.30 pm, Cathays Park
(opposite Museum/City Hall, Cardiff Saturday 26 April

Anti-metrix protest, Bring placards, banners, drums, people etc

In the summer of 2006, hundreds of people protested in Cardiff against the war on Lebanon. The Israeli military dropped half-a-million cluster bombs on Lebanon supplied by arms companies like Raytheon. Now Raytheon has been invited to Wales by the Welsh Assembly Government to help run a huge, privatised military academy near Cardiff. It's time to get back onto the streets! Anything we can do in Wales to prevent the State waging war on its terms can only be of help to those resisting in the frontline in the Middle East and beyond.

Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign supporters include:
Aberystwyth Peace & Justice Network, Bangor Peace & Justice GroupCaernarfon Peace & Justice Group, Cardiff Anarchist Network, Cardiff Justice & Peace Group, Cardiff RESPECT/Left Party, Church Action Against Poverty, CND Cymru, CND (Swansea), Communist Party of Wales, Cymdeithas y Cymod (Fellowship of Reconciliation Wales), Cymdeithas yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society), Cynefin y Werin, Green Party (Wales), Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, Penarth Justice & Peace Group, Permanent Revolution, Quakers (Caerleon), RESPECT/Left Party, Socialist Labour Party (Wales), South Wales Anarchists, Stop the War Coalition (UK), Stop the War (Bristol)Stop the War (Cardiff), Stop the War (Swindon), Stop the War (Wrekin), Women in Black (Abergavenny), Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Wrexham Peace & Justice Centre

To add your name or organisation to the list of supporters or for more information about the campaign, email: no2militaryacademy@inbox.com
Imagine a world in which the armed forces are trained by arms dealers.And we subsidise their profits.

That world will become reality unless we stop the proposed school of death at St Athan.The creation of a military super-academy at St Athan, between Cardiff and Swansea, was announced as a done deal in January 2007. Despite the fact this represented the biggest PFI in history, involving £14 billion of taxpayers' money, there had been no debate in either Westminster or the Welsh Assembly (Senedd). A promise of 5500 local jobs was trumpeted loudly by an uncritical news media and presented as a great victory for Wales.

No wonder the politicians didn't want any debate. The new super-academy, replacing many smaller centres, means that military training will now be in the hands of shameless profiteers.The winning bidders for the project were the Metrix consortium. This consortium includes Qinetiq, the privatised research and development wing of the MoD. Qinetiq was recently the subject of intense criticism by the National Audit Office. Its privatisation was proposed by MoD managers – who then saw their shares rise 10,000% on the day of the sale! 33.8% of Qinetiq was also bought by the US-based Carlyle Group, a sinister lash-up of politicians and arms dealers with a vested interest in promoting war.Former members of its board include one George W. Bush.

Then there is the US arms manufacturer Raytheon. Raytheon make the missiles which deliver cluster bombs, the horrendous weapons which are estimated to have killed 100,000 people – 98% of them innocent civilians. The world can also thank Raytheon for the depleted uranium weapons which have led to thousands of horribly deformed babies and large increases in cancers in war zones and beyond.Raytheon, Qinetiq and friends will not just be training UK armed forces at St Athan. They will train any soldiers, sailors and air force personnel that are willing to pay for the privilege. And like all PFIs, the St Athan academy will be subsidised by the taxpayer, and if necessary, bailed out with public money.There has never been a detailed breakdown of the jobs the academy will bring. However, even Metrix admit that many of the military trainers will relocate from elsewhere. Every PFI has secured profits by cutting costs. St Athan will mean less MoD jobs overall, and the poorest pay and conditions for lowskilled workers.

In any case, imagine what else could be done with £14 billion! With hospitals and schools closing throughout Wales and the UK, with a desperate need to improve social facilities, create sustainable sources of energy etc, such public money could be invested in socially useful projects rather than the preparation for future wars of occupation like Iraq.
If this development goes ahead, 21 st century Wales will be become a militarised, security-obsessed nightmare. If you want to stop the war profiteers in their tracks, support the campaign and raise it in your union, student union, workplace and community.

Protest at Serco profit from oppression and misery of others

1. Serco also profits from nuclear weapons
2. Protest at Serco AGM
3. SERCO picket, London March 8, 2008

1. Serco also profits from nuclear weapons 09.03.2008

Serco also forms one third of AWE ML, along with U.S. arms giant Lockheed Martin and, presently, BNFL. This is the company which operates the Atomic Weapons Establishment sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield, both in Berkshire, on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. Serco therefore profits from the manufacture and maintenance of 'British' nuclear warheads for the Trident system.
http://www.serco.com/text/markets/defence/awe.asp
http://www.awe.co.uk/aboutus/the_company_eb1b2.aspx
Homepage: http://www.tridentploughshares.org

2. Protest at Serco AGM 09.03.2008 23:43

Women from Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp have a (rogue) shareholder campaign against Serco in response to their WMD profiteering (though the reasons to despise this company are numerous ... talk about dirty fingers...).

Any women wanting to get involved (whatever your reasons for taking issue with Serco), should drop us a line, or come and have a chat with us at camp, or on Easter Monday demo at Aldermaston.
Serco AGM usually end of April/early May at the QEII centre in westminster.
some related links:
http://www.aldermaston.net/campaigns/serco_2004.php
http://www.peacenews.info/issues/2442/244222.html
http://www.cnduk.org/aldermaston/ e-mail: info@aldermaston.net

Homepage: http://www.aldermaston.net

3. SERCO picket, London March 8, 2008 Indymedia UK - UK
SERCO may be a name that most people would not recognise, though increasingly around the world it is running their lives. Around the world, governments are ...
See all stories on this topic

SERCO have a Research Institute in a court off High Holborn, and as a part of the International Women's Day, Feminist Fightback, All African Women’s Group and Black Women’s Rape Action Project held a picket there after the Million Women Rise event on Saturday March 8.

Around 40 people turned up to demand the immediate closure of Yarl's Wood and an end to the criminalisation of rape and torture survivors. They also called for an end to SERCO and other private companies profiting from the oppression and misery of others.
More about this – and many more pictures – on My London Diary soon.
http://mylondondiary.co.uk/2008/03/mar.htm#serco

Raytheon, EDS, Privatisation and a New Labour Think Tank

Raytheon, EDS, Privatisation and a New Labour Think Tank

The state is utterly clueless on the public-private divide

Simon Jenkins The Guardian, Wednesday February 20 2008 tells us that Northern Rock is far from unique. The government has long been throwing cash at behemoths that have failed to deliver.

Consider this:The IPPR think-tank published on the 13 Feb, 'The New Front Line: Security in a changing world' from the ippr Commission on National Security, Working Paper No. 1 written by Ian Kearns and Ken Gude. This paper is on British Security
Policy and claims to analyse the key changes taking place in the national and international security landscape and assesses their implications for policy, examining the context within which a national security strategy must now be forged. As a result, they c;aim that it becomes clear that the contemporary security landscape is about much more than terrorism alone. Umm... Yes it is a rather turgid and jargon riddled document. As Henry Porter pointed out this policy work has been sponsored by Raytheon who proudly boast of their support for IPPR.

This is Raytheon Arms Dealers of cluster munitions fame who have been excluded on ethical grounds from the vast Norwegian pension fund. This is the Raytheon who won a 10-year contract to ‘improve’ UK border controls and who the government gave a contract addendum worth £92 million on 12 Feb. Raytheon one of the Metrix consortium who the government wants to run military training not only for British service personnel, but those from any regime or private military company that can fork out the ready cash at St Athan in Wales where there have been allegations of pork-barreling. Raytheon has received over £750,000 in the last four years from Invest Northern Ireland. Just how much have they received in Wales we don't know.

This IPPR paper sponsored by Raytheon is full of turgid jargon like ‘Diffusion of power from state to non-state actors’, ‘Some of this diffusion has been driven by states themselves through use of private military firms’, ‘Governments in any case no longer own and control all of the relevant and necessary expertise and assets required in the making of an effective security policy…. private businesses …add value to the policy making process’, ‘Governments in any case no longer own and control all of the relevant and necessary expertise and assets required in the making of an effective security policy….private businesses ….. all add value to the policy making process.’ Yes whether overt or subliminal we get the message. Public Sector and governments no longer own or control the capability of managing their own security! Private Sector to the rescue, TINA!

Who wrote this? Ian Kearns is Deputy Chair of the commission on National Security

In the 21sr century Director of IPPR and is currently leading the institutes international and security programme. He has a wide range of experience in the private sector as a former Director of the Global Government Industry practice at Electronic Data Systems (EDS)! EDS another member of the Metrix Consortium. As Jenni Russel commented in the Guardian ‘The collapse of the Child Support Agency, and the years of misery its incompetence brought to mothers and children, was due in large part to the fact that its half-billion-pound computer system, designed by EDS, never worked properly. An internal company memo admitted the system was "badly designed, badly delivered, badly tested and badly implemented". The disastrous implementation of the tax credits system, where a third of the 6 million families involved were over- or underpaid and a billion pounds was lost in the first year, was made infinitely worse because the computer system built to run it repeatedly crashed.’ In addition to the EDS debacle at the child support agency and the Inland Revenue's Tax Credits systems there was the disastrous unworkable MOD new computerised payroll system. Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "It is astounding that the MoD is prepared to reward failure by handing over billions more pounds of taxpayers' money to a consortium that has failed to deliver what it said it would.” So a former director at EDS is just the person to advise us on the role of the private sector and Security in a changing world.

ippr’s Commission on National Security in the 21st Century was established in May 2007 and is Chaired by Lord (George) Robertson, and Lord (Paddy) Ashdown. Shami Chakrabarti is one of the commissioners and I wonder if she has thought about it..

http://www.ippr.org/publicationsandreports/publication.asp?id=588

CND Cymru 50th Anniversary of Global summit

cnd cymru

campaign for nuclear disarmament yr ymgyrch dros ddiarfogi niwclear

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF CND GLOBAL SUMMIT THIS WEEKEND

Activists and campaigners from Wales, will be taking part
in this weekend's  Global Summit for a Nuclear Weapon Free
World, hosted by British CND to mark the 50th anniversary of
the campaign's launch. Other participants in the
conference include Sergio Duarte, the UN High Representative
for Disarmament Affairs, Hiroshima bomb survivor Mikiso Iwasa
and Bianca Jagger the Councilof Europe Goodwill Ambassador and
Chair of the 'World Future Council'. CND will also welcoming
campaigners and activists from across the world - from
Israel, Indian, Pakistan, the US and France.

The Summit, held this Saturday and Sunday in London's City Hall
and opened by Mayor Ken Livingstone, will be the most
significant international conference on nuclear disarmament
since the end of the Cold War. It will draw together leading
diplomatic, scientific and policy experts who will focus on
how to create the conditions for abolishing nuclear weapons,
with the aim of promoting negotiations on a Nuclear Weapons
Convention. Such a convention would outlaw nuclear
weapons in the same way that the manufacture, procurement
and use of chemical and biological weapons have already
been outlawed.

British Government representatives have also been invited
and conference outcomes will be communicated to the Prime
Minister and Shirley Williams, his advisor on nuclear
proliferation. Over the last month both the Prime
Minister and the Defence Secretary have talked about
the need for renewed efforts at achieving reductions
in global nuclear stockpiles.

Jill Evans, Chair of CND Cymru will be taking part in the
Global Summit. A  year ago, Ms Evans was arrested along
with other European elected representatives, for blocking
the gates of the Trident nuclear weapons
base in Scotland. She said today:

'We must take this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment
to ridding Britain and the world of these immoral weapons
of mass destruction. At the same time
we should be looking towards ways of solving international
conflict by non-violent means and addressing the issues
of worldwide poverty, injustice, environmental destruction
and of global warming.

The longer that weapons of mass destruction exist in the
world, the closer the time comes to them being used.
I bring a message from Nuclear Free Wales that nuclear weapons
and the philosophy behind them are not what we, or our children
want or need.'

Kate Hudson, Chair of British CND : "This weekend, exactly half
a century since Bertrand Russell and others addressed our founding
meeting, will help bring us closer to the day when governments begi
substantive negotiations on a Nuclear Weapons Convention."

CND Cymru and supporters, amongst them survivors from the
Hiroshima bomb, will join hundreds of others at the Atomic
Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston on Easter Monday,
24th March for a mass protest on the half-century anniversary
of the first march to Aldermaston.

Plaid Cymru Llwyd, Elfyn Price, Adam

have signed these early day motions ... EDM 892 and EDM 72 yet both will not condemn the Government or evan the Welsh Assembly Government for working with Serco a key partner in the Metrix Consortium who in the biggest PFI/PPP ever are to be permitted to run a military training academy for UK army, navy and airforce recruits and will train mercenaries, soldiers for any regime with the money in Wales at St Athan.

Serco Group Plc should be kept out of Wales because of its involvement in the production of nuclear weapons.

Why are our politicans not calling for the government to have ethical guidelines for investment like Norway.

Council on Ethics- Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global - Read more here : http://www.regjeringen.no/templates/Kampanje.aspx?id=434879&epslanguage=EN-GB

The role of the Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund - Global is to provide evaluation on whether or not investment in specified companies is inconsistent with the established ethical guidelines. The Ministry of Finance makes decisions on the exclusion of companies from the Fund's investment universe based on the Council's recommendations. Both the Ministry's decisions and the Council's recommendations will be made publicly available on this website.

Recommendation on the exclusion of the company Serco Group Plc. The company is recommended for exclusion because of its involvement in the production of nuclear weapons.

As we have been saying for years...Serco - one to watch http://www.aldermaston.net/campaigns/serco_2004.php

http://www.serco.com/assurance/defence/nuclear_weapons/index.asp

AWE, the Atomic Weapons Establishment, provides the warheads for the United More information: Kingdom nuclear deterrent. AWE is managed by AWE Management Ltd, (AWEML) a consortium of Serco, Lockheed Martin and BNFL who operate a 25 year contract to maintain and deliver the national stockpile on behalf of the UK Government. The task of delivering the contract has been delegated by AWE Management Ltd to AWE Plc

Read the recommendation here (pdf)

The Ethical Guidelines List of Excluded Companies

Recommendation on Exclusion of Cluster Weapons from the Government Petroleum Fund- The Advisory Council on Ethics for the Government Petroleum Fund recommends that the companies General Dynamics Corp, L3 Communications Holdings Inc, Raytheon Co, Lockheed Martin Corp, Alliant Techsystems Inc, EADS Co (European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company) and Thales SA be excluded from the Petroleum Fund because they are presumed to be involved in production of cluster weapons.

EDM 892

GLOBAL SUMMIT FOR A NUCLEAR WEAPON FREE WORLD

05.02.2008

Corbyn, Jeremy

That this House notes the 50th anniversary of the founding meeting of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament on 17th February 1958; supports the campaign's ongoing work to achieve worldwide nuclear disarmament; congratulates the campaign for convening the Global Summit for a Nuclear Weapon Free World on 16th and 17th February 2008, drawing together leading diplomatic, scientific and policy experts, including Ambassador Sergio Duarte, chair of the 2005 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference; and calls on the Government to re-focus on creating the conditions for abolishing nuclear weapons, including facilitating negotiations on achieving a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

Early Day Motion

EDM 72

NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONVENTION 06.11.2007

Corbyn, Jeremy

That this House notes the forthcoming 40th anniversary of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; further notes the continued failure of the international community to abolish nuclear weapons or prevent their further proliferation; endorses the unanimous opinion of the International Court of Justice that there exists an obligation to pursue in good faith, and bring to a conclusion, negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control; further notes the recent 10th anniversary of the submission of a model nuclear weapons convention by Costa Rica to the United Nations for discussion; and calls upon the Government to work to achieve progress on multilateral negotiations with the aim of achieving implementation of a nuclear weapons convention by 2020.

UK give Raytheon,Qinetiq, Serco, 92 MILLION more?

Raytheon and their friends Serco and Qinetiq get 92 million more from UK government for what?..emmmm.. extended functionality and services related to uk border security..so what is that when it is at home? So how faulty was the exisitng contract and what was it for? Do we want these global coporate rotters doing UK border security? Raytheon Wins Contract Add-On From UK Houston Chronicle, United States - Feb 12 2008 © 2008 AP GARLAND, Texas — Military contractor Raytheon Co. said Monday it received a contract addendum worth 92 million British pounds ($179 million) from ... Raytheon inks $179M addendum to UK e-Borders contract CNNMoney.com - SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) Co. said Monday it has signed an addendum, valued at roughly ... Border Control Identity Loop, UK - Feb 12 2008 Trusted Borders, a consortium of companies led by Raytheon Systems Limited of the UK, has signed an addendum to the e-Borders contract it originally signed ... Raytheon Bags $179 Million Add-On UK E-Borders Contract RTT News, NY - 2/11/2008 2:53:50 PM Monday, Raytheon Co. (RTN), a manufacturer of technological products, services and solutions, announced signing an additional contract ... A Raytheon-led team will provide the U.K. Home Office extended functionality and services for the program, under the addendum, worth 92 million pounds Sterling or around $179 million. Raytheon is the key contractor for the e-Borders consortium ‘Trusted Borders', which won the original contract signed in November 2007. The other members are Serco, Accenture, Detica, QinetiQ, Capgemini and Steria. Mike Keebaugh, President, The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company's Intelligence and Information System business, said, "Raytheon is on the leading edge of providing technology and management solutions to address infrastructure and border protection challenges across the globe. As effective visitor management continues to be a critical issue facing nations today, we are confident this will be a significant growth area for our company." Raytheon Awarded $179 Million Add-On to UK e-Borders Contract Biloxi Sun Herald, USA -By Raytheon Company Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has signed an addendum to the e-Borders contract it won in November 2007. Under the addendum, valued at 92 ... 5 - IDENTITY CARDS - WHO PROFITS? Below is an extract from the Defy-ID 'greasy palms' list (available in full on www.defy-id.org.uk/greasypalms.htm), of companies either involved or actively seeking involvement in the UK identity scheme. This list is a work in progress and any information about companies, listed or not listed, will be gratefully received. Email: research@defy-id.org.uk

Plans for St Athan Academy are hit

Ministry of Defence | Defence News | Ainsworth: Defence training ...

Mr Ainsworth also told Parliament that the MOD will continue to consider a range of options for the solution to Package 2, which aims to deliver high quality training in the functions of logistics and personnel administration, police and guarding, security, languages, intelligence and photography. To be able to consider all options for procurement fully without legal constraints, it has been decided to remove the 'Provisional Preferred Bidder' status from Metrix.

GNN - Government News Network Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth said: ... In a statement to Parliament on the Defence Training Review (DTR), Mr Ainsworth said the Government continued ...

Blow for £15bn St Athan academy PART of a huge £15bn defence training academy ear-marked for St. Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan is being ditched Read

Base loses some defence training BBC News, Plans to relocate some defence training to St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan have been dropped, the UK Government has announced. Ministers say the private ...

Plans for £15bn St Athan academy are hit ic Wales, PART of a huge £15bn defence training academy ear-marked for St. Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan is being ditched The two-part project would have seen all UK ...

Villagers Voice their fears Echo Jan 29 Growing concerns about the impact of the multi-million pound Defence Training Academy at St Athan are to be discussed by councillors in Cowbridge. Plaid Cymru AM Chris Franks has a greed to meet members of Cowbridge and Llanblethian Town Council to discuss transport schemes in the rural Vale especially those that will be needed to service the new academy .

Protest against Crooks, War Profiteers,Liars on St Athan Military Academy

no2militaryacademy@inbox.com

Press Release: For Immediate Release

One year on the half of the St Athan project not yet dumped is blasted - Skeptical Citizens question ethics and job numbers!

Jan 17th 2008 There will be a demonstration at the Senedd 13:00 to oppose the St Athan White Elephant. The red choir will be there to add its support in harmony with other concerned citizens. PCS members will join in the protest. ‘Cluster bombs’ will be scattered by the grim reaper to highlight the role of arms company Raytheon.

Thursday 17 Jan marks the anniversary of the announcement that the Metrix consortium had successfully bid for the contract to build a privately run military academy in South Wales.

The announcement was celebrated by Wales First Minister Rhodri Morgan with a champagne-popping photo-opportunity outside the Senedd in Cardiff.

The proposed military training academy at St Athan will be built and run by an international consortium including major multinational arms companies. It will train not only British service personnel, but those from any regime or private company that can fork out the cash.

Anne Greagsby campaigning against the Academy said “What the government didn’t tell the people of Wales was that this project would make the Welsh Assembly Government a business partner of Raytheon - one of the world’s largest producers and dealers of weapons of mass destruction.

Raytheon is a core member of the Metrix Consortium. Today we learn that the Norwegian Government pension fund has dropped a further three companies involved in producing nuclear weapons or cluster munitions in addition to Raytheon, Serco, another Metrix partner, is dropped. I call on the Welsh Assembly government to have a full investigation of Raytheon's role in producing cluster bombs and other weapons of mass destruction. I challenge Rhodri Morgan to tell us why he was so keen to work with Raytheon.”

Other Metrix partners include EDS and QinetiQ. EDS is the company responsible for messing up the Child Support Agency and the Inland Revenue's Tax Credits systems and for the disastrous unworkable MOD new computerised payroll system. Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "It is astounding that the MoD is prepared to reward failure by handing over billions more pounds of taxpayers' money to a consortium that has failed to deliver what it said it would.”

QinetiQ, the privatised and research and development wing of the MOD, one of Britain’s most blatant war profiteers, was recently heavily criticised by the National Audit Office.

Already half the St Athan White Elephant (package 2) has been has been dumped by the government as too expensive. Politicians have been promising thousands of jobs – for which there is no firm basis in truth. PCS - the union that represents many MOD staff who also oppose the privatisation of military training - says the predicted number of jobs in package one has fallen from 1500 to 1100.

PCS met with Jill Evans recently and highlighted the blatant distortion being disseminated by a number of Welsh MPs as to the number of new jobs being created in South Wales as part of the St Athan deal. Members explained that the thousands of new high skill jobs promised by welsh MPs were an illusion because existing civil servants were already employed in them.

The St Athan project does not offer the Wales that people want – a nation that addresses honestly the issues of global warming and the environment, champions equity and human rights, teaches our children that violence solves nothing. A nation that does not invest in the arms trade, encourages valuable, long term employment and delivers decent public services.

The champagne sprayed by Assembly Ministers Morgan, Hutt and Davies to welcome the signing of the contract to build the academy, on January 17th year ago has turned sour.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Norwegian government pension fund & Serco

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/01/07/daily56.html

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/news/article_1386050.php/State_pension_fund_sells_shares_in_munitions_companies

SERCO http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/gen/company.html?gcode=CA7E1AC425FD42A2A539900C67B6705D

Norwegian government on Raytheon

Recommendation on Exclusion of Cluster Weapons from the Government Petroleum Fund Oslo, 16 June 2005

...Corp, L3 Communications Holdings Inc, Raytheon Co, Lockheed Martin Corp, Alliant Techsystems...from the Government Petroleum Fund. Raytheon Company produces, according to its own web-site, 3 http://www.raytheon.com/products/stellent/groups/public..

PCS DEFENCE INSTRUCTIONAL OFFICERS

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9629850934

EDS http://metrixconsortium.blogspot.com/2007/12/eds-coporate-incompetance.html

More information on our blogs

http://metrixconsortium.blogspot.com/

http://stathanmilitaryacademypoliticians.blogspot.com/

Contacts

Anne Greagsby mobile 07817513610

Temple of peace 02920 821058

no2militaryacademy@inbox.com

Website: http://www.cynefinywerin.org.uk

CND Cymru campaign for nuclear disarmament  

yr ymgyrch dros ddiarfogi niwclear

 press release

 January 16th 2008

 From Jill Gough t:01495 773 180 m: 07704 67 57 87 heddwch@cndcymru.org

 Campaign Against St Athan Military Academy

 Protest at Y Senedd, Cardiff Bay

 Thursday January 17th1pm

Protestors will gather at the steps of the Welsh Assembly building at lunch

time tomorrow to mark the first anniversary of the WAG 'celebration' and

announcement of plans to build a military academy at St Athan.

On January 17th 2007, Assembly Ministers Rhodri Morgan, Andrew Davies and Jane Hutt welcomed the signing of the public private finance initiative contract to build the academy, by spraying champagne over the steps of the Senedd. A year on, opposers of the project will be pointing out where their enthusiasm was misguided.

CND Cymru Chair Jill Evans MEP said today:

"This demonstration is a reflection of the opposition to the privatisation of military training and to making Wales the base for that training for Britain and other countries. Coming in the wake of the disastrous and illegal invasion of Iraq, the celebrations a year ago rang hollow to many people in Wales. We in the peace movement want Wales to continue to be recognised internationally for its traditions of peace and reconciliation and not for its contribution to war. We want a full and open debate about the implications of this development for Wales."

 While our elected representatives have so far welcomed the project,

campaigners are suggesting to them that it would be sign of strength, not weakness for them to 'think again' and will be asking them:

Do you really want to put Wales at the forefront of the global arms trade?The developer of the St Athan Academy, the Metrix Consortium, aims for the academy to be a centre of military training for armies from all over the world -not just the British military.

Do you really want Wales to promote the privatisation of war?

We are well aware of the disaster that comes with the privatisation of

warfare, we only need to point to the Blackwater affair. St Athan Academy would represent the largest privatisation of the military in British history.

Do you really want Wales to become a business partner with one of the

world's largest manufacturers of weapons of mass destruction?

A core member of the Metrix Consortium is Raytheon, a company that produces and sells bombs and missiles to any country with the money to pay. Cluster bombs, depleted uranium weapons, thermobaric bombs, bunker buster bombs - all these and more are Raytheon products.

Do you really want Wales to become a business partner with a company that the National Audit Office has criticized for 'unethical business practices'?

Another member of the Metrix Consortium is Qinetiq, a company that has been mired in ethical controversy since its very beginning, and has been accused of taxpayer rip-offs, profit-gouging, 'sweetheart contracts' and conflicts of interest. The National Audit Office has condemned the company for the "excessive profits" earned by senior managers and investors.

Do you really want Wales to sell its own youth on the business of war?

Since 2003, more than ten young Welshmen have lost their lives in the

illegal and unjust war in Iraq. Why are Welsh politicians embracing the St

Athan Academy, a project designed explicitly to do a better job of selling more of our youth on military work instead of speaking out against this utterly unnecessary and immoral loss of Welsh life?

Do you really want Wales to embrace an industry that is inherently

destructive of sustainable development?

If a cigarette company were to claim it was in a healthy line of business  because the factory where it made cigarettes was a clean work environment,we would laugh - the relevant issue is what the cigarettes made in thefactory do to people in the rest of the world. The Metrix Consortium claims it is environmentally friendly because the Academy will practice energy conservation, recycling and waste reduction. Yet this will be an institution in the business of training armies to wage wars all over the planet. The Rio Declaration from the 1992 Earth Summit explicitly states that "warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development" (Principle 24). "All major wars of the 20th century," the US Center for Defense Information notes, "have had a hidden casualty: the environment. Unexploded weapons,polluted rivers, contaminated soil, and damaged landscapes have all harmed human health, local economies, and ecosystems." Would this be something for

Wales to be proud of?

Do you really want to commit the future of Wales to the culture and economy of militarism?

Should Wales seek to become a country tied closely to the business of making war, the global arms trade, the production of weapons of mass destruction or one committed to sustainable development, responsible international citizenship, and the creation of green and ethical jobs?

Jill Gough National Secretary of CND Cymru commented:

"Many people in Wales are in a serious mind to examine other sustainable non-violent avenues in dealing with social and international conflict,ideological and environmental dangers. We owe it to our children and our

children's children to build the foundations of a safer, tolerant, just and healthy world in the best way we know how."

ENDS

*       Interviews are available: please contact Jill Gough CND Cymru 01495

773 180 m:07704 67 57 87 HYPERLINK

"mailto:heddwch@cndcymru.org"heddwch@cndcymru.org or Ray Davies (CND Cymru

Vice Chair - and who will be singing with Côr Cochion tomorrow) 
for no2militaryacademy campaign contact Anne Greagsby co-ordinator:

02920 626 287 m: 078175 13610 HYPERLINK

"mailto:annegre@aol.com"annegre@aol.com or no2militrayacademy@inbox.com

 *       More about the campaign to stop St Athan : HYPERLINK

"http://www.cynefinywerin.org"www.cynefinywerin.org

 *       For Bilingual interviews with Jill Evans please contact David

Bradley 

 *       Protestors will gather at the Senedd for 1pm tomorrow. Cor Cochion

will be singing. 

*       PICTURE EDITORS note: large banners will be a feature of the protest

Serco dogged by controversy

Privately run prison calls in riot police to quell violence among ...
Scotsman - United Kingdom
Kilmarnock Prison, (scotlands only private prison) which houses more than 600 male inmates and is operated for the SPS by private firm Serco, has been dogged by controversy in recent ...
See all stories on this topic

Serco & Labour Lord Filkin, labour Baroness Margaret Ford

Serco is part of the consortium led by Raytheon --called Trusted Borders - !!
who have got the contract to biometrically screen all uk visitors ...
New labours Lord Filkin is just non-executive of Serco (home affairs) plc and new labour Baroness Margaret Ford is on Sercos main board!! don't forget our friends Qinetiq
QinetiQ to play key role in UK Home Office e-Borders Project

see also Raytheon dosh goes to New Labour
'Border' Defence sold to the US
Raytheon wins $1.3 billion UK contract
Fortress Britain
eborders unease

Trusted Borders also includes Capgemini
John Birt, Baron Birt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In 2006, Lord Birt (of blue skies thinking fame) joined the consulting firm Capgemini. ... Lord Birt, former director-general of the BBC and Prime Minister's strategy adviser, has been appointed adviser to the Board of Directors of Capgemini UK plc.

Serco on the Trusted Borders? website says "it is a British company which provides a range of key services to the UK Government and law enforcement agencies. The Mycroft intelligence system helps immigration officers track 'people traffickers' around the world, while Programme Cyclamen helps Revenue and Customs officers to detect illicit radiological material passing through ports and airports - reducing the chance of a terrorist 'dirty bomb'.
Serco is also a strategic partner to the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency, provides command and control systems for police forces and runs high-security prisons and prisoner escorting services. We are a partner in the Atomic Weapons Establishment, which maintains Britain's nuclear deterrent, and provide combat training and maintenance for British military helicopter pilots.
In short, across a wide range of key services vital to maintaining public safety and national security, Serco works as a committed partner to the UK Government."
www.serco.com/markets/homeaffairs/immigration/index.asp

Serco,a company involved in nuclear weapons

Weapons Conference Delagates Cannot Escape Resistance!
By Anonymous

Sponsors of last year's conference included L3 Communications - the sixth largest defense company in the United States, providing survelliance equipment and aircraft maintenance; Serco, a company involved in nuclear weapons; ...Aotearoa IMC - Features - http://indymedia.org.nz/

New Zealand's annual weapons conference opened this morning at the Duxton Hotel in Wellington. Despite the NZDIA trying to keep all details of the location secret, delegates of the annual New Zealand Defence Industry 'Weapons Conference' were met by resistance when they arrived at the Duxton Hotel this morning.

Sponsors of last year's conference included L3 Communications - the sixth largest defense company in the United States, providing survellianceequipment and aircraft maintenance; Serco, a company involved in nuclear weapons; Safe Air Ltd, who've worked on Indonesian war planes; and KBR, the former Halliburton subsidiary which provides logistical support to the US army in Iraq.

Serco can't even run a playscheme well so are they the people to run a Military Academy?

Councillor's shocking admission over leisure centres Lancashire Evening Post - Preston,England,UKIt comes after concerns were raised over a new booking system and a damning government report into a playscheme run by Serco Leisure, the firm which runs ..

[DOC] The Shame of Wales File Format: Microsoft Word - View as HTMLThe St Athan Defence Academy, if final contracts are all signed as expected, ... Nord Anglia, Raytheon, Serco, Sodexho and the Open University. ...www.cynefinywerin.org.uk/fileserve.php?mediaid=131 - Similar pages - Note this

nomurderacademyatstathan
These people will be present at St Athan??? providing or receiving training? ... SERCO Nuke Academy Academy HQ will be in West Cumbria Whitehaven
News ...www.nomurderacademyatstathans.com/ - 146k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

nomurderacademyatstathans: Military Recruitmant Lies
SERCO currently manages a large chunk of the UK nuclear 'safety' industry, ... The scale of the facility to be constructed at St. Athan will therefore depend ...www.nomurderacademyatstathans.com/2007/09/military-recruitmant-lies.html - 74k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

House of Commons - Welsh Affairs - Fourth Report -

[PDF] Future of RAF St Athan

TSJOnline.com - Service shake-up
Service shake-up U.K. military, consortium lead massive training transformation
As Metrix U.K. CEO Mike Hayle Service shake-up, the work at St. Athan is for a future ... The Open University, Raytheon Professional Services, Serco and Sodexho. ...www.tsjonline.com/story.php?F=2865482 - 21k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Serco Leisure is a trading division of Serco Limited, a part of Serco Group plc. Serco Leisure manages and operates leisure facilities in partnership with local authorities or through bespoke leisure trust arrangements across the UK and Channel Islands. Serco Leisure works with its clients to provide cost effective and added value solutions to the leisure industry and value for money leisure facilities to local communities. SportFocus currently provides our websites and directory listings for Serco Leisure managed facilities and work is ongoing to expand and develop these utilising new technologies.To view one example of the centres websites click the link below.Website

Nuclear skills academy approved by skills minister David Lammy

PersonnelToday.com - UK
The latest in the set has received £8m funding from engineering contractor Fluor Ltd, service management firm Serco, and engineering firm Washington Group ...
http://marjorieanndrake.blogspot.com/2007/09/school-of-americas-watch-y-presente.html

Serco

UK: Pentagon Warns British Contractors by David Gow, Guardian (London)March 27th, 2004
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11252
Insisting that the selection process was transparent and fair, Mr Nash said UK firms, including Amec, Foster Wheeler and Serco, had so far won $ 1.6bn of orders - although Parsons alone has won a share of $ 4.6bn of work.SERCO

Serco history ..do you remember this story?

Serco - Save the Children UK Silenced on Iraq
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=9230
by Kevin Maguire, Guardian (London)November 28th, 2003
One of Britain's most high-profile charities was ordered to end criticism of military action in Iraq by its powerful US wing to avoid jeopardizing financial support from Washington and corporate donors, a Ginvestigation has discovered.

Internal emails reveal how Save the Children UK came under enormous pressure after it accused coalition forces of breaching the Geneva convention by blocking humanitarian aid.
Senior figures at Save the Children US, based in Westport, Connecticut, demanded the withdrawal of the criticism and an effective veto on any future statements blaming the invasion for the plight of Iraqi civilians suffering malnourishment and shortages of medical supplies.
Uncovered documents expose tensions within an alliance that describes itself as "the world's largest independent global organization for children" but which is heavily reliant on governments and big business for cash.

Save the Children UK, which had an income of 122m in 2002-03, boasts the Queen as patron and Princess Anne as president, plus a phalanx of the great and the good lending their titles and time. The tensions over potential donor influence are not limited to the Iraq crisis. Other internal emails and documents disclose how Save the Children UK was nervous about the reaction of a major donor company, Serco, which makes huge profits from outsourcing, when the charity prepared to criticize the impact of privatization on children.

The row over Iraq erupted in April when the London statement said coalition forces had gone back on an earlier agreement to allow a relief plane, packed with emergency food and medical supplies for 40,000 people, to land in northern Iraq.
Rob MacGillivray, the UK wing's emergency program manager, released a statement which stated that the "lack of cooperation from the coalition forces is a breach of the Geneva conventions and its protocols, but more importantly the time now being wasted is costing children their lives".
Within hours of the statement appearing, the US wing was demanding its withdrawal. Emails sent to staff in Britain by Dianne Sherman, associate vice-president for public affairs and communications in Connecticut, headed "Save/UK criticizes US military", expressed dismay and censured the UK operation.
Ms Sherman said the Americans were "really astonished at today's release, which went out without our prior knowledge, that attacks the US military".
Her email went on: "This is undermining all the great work we've done, much of it in collaboration with you. We'll have to see the consequences of how this plays out - including affecting our future funding from the government."
A number of less controversial "joint messages" were proposed by Ms Sherman, none of which criticized any aspect of the invasion or occupation. She instead wanted the UK and US groups to point out that humanitarian organizations were still not permitted access to most of Iraq, that delays harmed children and, on a positive note, that relief work was under way in Umm Qasr, Masul and northern Iraq.
"Safe, secure conditions must be created immediately to allow humanitarians to bring in essential supplies and expertise to the people of Iraq," was her alternative version.
Accounts published by Save the Children US highlight its vulnerability to political pressure from a Republican White House with "government grants and contracts" generating some 60%, nearly 71m, of its 119m operating support and revenue. The proportion is also high in the UK, where 60.1m - 49% - of the organization's income is "grants and gifts in kind from institutional donors", including the government.
Ms Sherman copied her broadside to US executives including Ann van Dusen, the executive vice-president, Rudy von Bernuth, vice-president and managing director of its children in emergencies section, and Andrea Williamson-Hughes, corporate secretary.
When she discovered the London statement had been posted on the UK organization's website, Ms Sherman also demanded the deletion of US press officer Nicole Amoroso's name as a contact, adding in a second email: "I would also strongly suggest that the press release be removed until we have agreed upon language of the release."
A well-placed source in the UK operation said "all hell let loose" over the US intervention, with telephone calls "flying across the Atlantic" and a series of high-level meetings called to discuss the crisis.
The removal of the US press officer's name was agreed to placate Connecticut but the source confirmed the Americans were also assured they would be sent all future UK statements on Iraq before they were issued.
According to the source, the UK wing toned down later statements to avoid offending the US side of the operation. A statement issued in London on April 25, for example, was cleared in advance with the US, the source said.
Headed "The war is not over for the children of Iraq", it made no mention let alone criticism of coalition forces. The looting of some hospitals was highlighted but not the widespread criticism at the time that troops were standing by and doing nothing.
Save the Children US concentrates on fundraising and is said by London insiders to be anxious to curb campaigning by the UK arm.
Ms Sherman was unavailable for comment until next week, her office said.
But in a statement to the Guardian, Save the Children UK said it had not retracted the release at the heart of the row but had removed the name of Ms Amoroso, saying it had been an error not to consult her.
Subsequent statements, it added, reflected the fact that the situation "had moved on" as medical supplies had landed in Jordan to be moved to Baghdad. "We do not agree news releases issued in Save the Children UK's name with Save the Children US or any other member of the International Save the Children Alliance," the London statement said. "Wherever possible we do share Save the Children UK news releases before they are issued with other alliance members working in the same area. If any changes are suggested by other alliance members to Save the Children releases, they are made or not at our discretion."

The tensions over potential donor influence are not limited to the Iraq crisis. Other internal emails and documents disclose how Save the Children UK was nervous about the reaction of a major donor company, Serco, which makes huge profits from outsourcing, when the charity prepared to criticize the impact of privatisation on children.
A number of staff were aghast in the summer of 2002 when a chapter critical of private finance initiatives, written for a report published ahead of the Johannesburg sustainable development summit, was deleted by senior figures in the charity just before it was printed.
There is nothing in the documents to suggest that Serco exerted any pressure, but according to the emails, the charity's staff were anxious not to upset it. One email copied widely in the organization admitted "underlying tensions" existed between the corporate fundraising unit and campaigners arguing that PFIs in basic services did not benefit children.
Another warned that criticism of PFIs by the charity was "naturally making some of our corporate sponsors edgy", and the director general, Mike Aaronson, wanted a full briefing ahead of a meeting with a big private donor.
As the internal debate raged, fundraiser Helen Barnes warned she was in a "tricky position" with Serco, which ran hospitals, prisons and schools for the government. Although about to cease being a corporate member, the firm, she said, "is still keen to support us" as she argued against portraying it as a company operating solely for profit.
"Serco takes its social responsibilities very seriously and invests in the communities in which it operates," Ms Barnes said.

Serco, which is heavily involved in the defense sector, raised a total of 626,500 for the charity, as well as naming its yacht Save the Children in the BT Global Challenge race three years ago. The charity's statement yesterday said: "At no point [in] the relationship did Serco attempt to influence Save the Children UK policy on any issue." It continued: "We were able to edit most of the report to meet the required standard but one chapter required further work before it could be approved for publication. Because time was short we decided to drop this chapter to allow the rest of the report to be published in time for the conference."