Atomic Story 3

3  - The War and the Bomb

In as early January 1940 the team from Birmingham put their research to Sir Henry Tizard. Interesting ly the scientists were Rudolf Peierls and Otto Robert Frisch, two physicists who were refugees from Nazi Germany working at the University of Birmingham under the direction of Mark Oliphant. As early as April 1939, an approach had been by the team at Cambridge made concerning the feasilibity of an Atomic bomb. They approached Sir Kenneth Pickthorn, the local Member of Parliament, who took their concerns to the Secretary of the Committee for Imperial Defence, Major General Hastings Ismay. Ismay in turn asked Sir Henry Tizard for an opinion. Like many scientists, Tizard was sceptical of the likelihood of an atomic bomb being developed, reckoning the odds of success at 100,000 to 1

Even at such long odds, the danger was sufficiently great to be taken seriously, but Tizard's Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Warfare (CSSAW) was directed to continue the research into the feasibility of atomic bombs.

The French connection

Meanwhile the French (with allied cooperation) had succeeded in removing the only source of heavy water (a key component in the production of enriched Uranium 235) from Norway due to fears that it may be captured by the Germans.

They also heard from Jacques Allier of the French Deuxieme Bureau, who had been involved in the removal of the entire stock of heavy water from Norway. He told them of the interest the Germans had shown in the heavy water, and in the activity of the French researchers in Paris. Because of the key element (no pun) in this being Uranium, immediate action was taken: the Ministry of Economic Warfare was asked to secure stocks of uranium oxide in danger of being captured by the Germans.

At the time the only source of Uranium was a mine in the Belgian Congo. Lord Chartfield, Minister for Coordination of Defence checked with the Treasury and Foreign Office, and found that the Belgian Congo uranium was owned by the Union Minière du Haut Katanga company, whose British vice president, Lord Stonehaven, arranged a meeting with the president of the company, Edgar Sengier. Since Union Minière management were friendly towards Britain, it was not considered worthwhile to immediately acquire the uranium

A very sinister story begins in WWII

i want to begin with how we think we have a "special relationship"

Legacy of WWII

I’m going to tell you story, a true story. What I can’t tell you, are the gaps! You see we only know actually what we are allowed to know. Unlike the USA we don’t have “Freedom of Information”. You might think so but we don’t. Although people don’t sign the Official Secrets act any more the reason is that they don’t have to, the Law still applies even if you haven’t signed it. It’s implicit.
Only certain documents have been declassified in Britain, many of them are “lost”, so can’t be shown any more (likely story, many have been destroyed, deliberately).
Anyway what we have are records of what did happen and if you add together what happened in US which is still documented and now declassified I think you can see the parallels and fill in the gaps. Actually I think that’s what science is about, you have a theory and adding up the evidence that you have you carry on finding evidence to prove your theory. It’s not Hype and hysteria it’s based on true facts and science. As I said I have a theory and you may agree with my conclusions. What we are left with is still unexplainable and in my opinion needs a thorough investigation by the relevant authorities and people. NOT a cover up.
If nothing else I think this is a fascinating story. Let’s start with some background, the development of Nuclear power and the Atom bomb.

Thatcher Protests - real or hyped by media?

So are all these so called protesters causing mayhem in London's streets really so
Anti-Thatcher? I think not.
Look at the protesters at Thatcher’s funeral, and around the country. Most of them either weren’t  born in the 80's or were too young to care what was happening. SO what is it? What are they up to – I’ll tell you.

I think we are seeing an element of society we have nothing to lose - are they on benefits? - or are seeking alternative thrills? I believe it is orchestrated by new technology,  face book, twitter an other web sites/apps giving these people an alternative Cyber persona that revels in "nastiness and hooliganism", they orchestrate these gatherings to cause mayhem as a an alternative to Saturday nights in the pub. Have you noticed the change in people where the new way of complimenting people is an insult? can you tell which it is friendly or a real hurtful insult? Calling names and wounding.
The riots last year were helped by cyber media - Facebook, twitter and other web sites, texting using apps. We have a generation who revel in this sort of thing and society need to catch up with these changes.
What about the trouble in Newcastle after the match. Why do  these people revel in violence.
In George Orwell’s 1984 they have the thought-police who intervene when people are veering away from towing the society/Government line - this will come to us - where
Government will monitor your cyber space persona for bad behaviour and intervene to prevent trouble, It will  come as a reaction to these recent events. Its not Big Brother, (Orwell not CHannel 5),  well yes it is but as a result of trying to maintain order. Don' t blame government its elements of society at extremes who are pushing the boundaries and changing  things forever for the rest of us. what do we want violence or peace. It comes at a price thought - less freedom. Look where we are now - all internet traffic is monitored, the Government want to look at all your emails and text messages - good luck to them I say when over half what I get is SPAM anyway! but then were on camera nearly everywhere.
People want it for "safety" but now with face recognition software you can be tracked.
Your mobile can be tracked - even better with GPRS signal, then there's cars, caught on speed cameras or Number plate recognition, the Congestion charge (CCTV again) using your credit card every EPOS machine/cash machine knows where you are and what you spent. So it goes on.
But at the end is it stopping crime? Think of 9:11, July 7th or Monday  in Boston. Do the authorities act soon enough on intelligence. Not enopugh resources that's why they turn to Cyber space.I think the screws are definitely tightening - but maybe they have to?