Darren Reynolds

Organic Eggs are Not Organic

2009-10-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

I want to share with you this email I just received from Tesco. It is in response to an email from me, also copied below. My enquiry was about a video of male chicks being ground alive. Tesco have confirmed that yes, male chicks are indeed ground up routinely by the egg production industry.

So, for all you pseudo-vegetarians who, like me, eat eggs, here's the news.

The female hens that laid your Organic Eggs are indeed Organic. But I don't think people who buy such eggs quite realise what happens to the males.

The video is at the end as evidence, but I warn you, it is NOT for the squeamish.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tesco Customer Service
Date: Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 4:52 PM
Subject: TES6809694X Re: Re: Order Confirmation
To: darren.reynolds@gmail.com

Dear Darren

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the delay in responding to your email, we do try to respond to our customers in a timely fashion and I'm sorry that this has not happened on this occasion.

We take from suppliers who use instant maceration on male chicks. However, all our suppliers operate systems that are very different to the one in the video. The chicks are killed instantaneously, and fed into the system individually. The system is checked daily and inspected at audit. The. System shown in the video would not be allowed and is inhumane.

Currently male chicks are killed because they are not commercially viable in
the meat industry. We are looking at ways to avoid this.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us at customer.service@tesco.co.uk quoting TES6809694X.

Kind Regards

Karen White
Customer Service Manager
Tesco Customer Service

----- Original Message -----
From: "Darren Reynolds" <darren.reynolds@gmail.com>
Date: 09 September 2009
Subject: Re: Order Confirmation

Hello,
I've always been careful to buy organic eggs for reasons for animal
welfare.

But it came to my attention over the weekend that, in order to produce a
farmful of egg-laying hens in a hatchery, it is necessary to grind to a pulp
all the male chicks, whilst they are still alive.

This news item and video illustrates the issue rather graphically:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/01/chicks-being-ground-up-al_n_273652.html

Does Tesco supply eggs from farms where the hatchery uses this production
technique? If so, does Tesco have any plans to source eggs from hatcheries
that provide a means for the male chicks to live out a natural life, even if
this substantially increases the cost of the eggs?

Best wishes
Darren

2009-10-05T10:34:00.001-07:00

Robots in Reading are controlled by brain cells grown in a lab dish. Cars in California can drive themselves more safely than humans can. Medical researchers working on fruit flies believe there are no limits to how long animals can live.

One could be forgiven for thinking that this is some science fiction description of a distant future. But these are all statements about today, and leading scientists from around the world want the public to tell them how they feel about these new technologies and discoveries.

What they have in common is Artificial Intelligence: AI.

Because an artificial general intelligence (or AGI) smarter than humans is on the cusp of being developed, Burnley Liberal Democrat councillor Darren Reynolds took himself off to a summit in New York.

Over 800 of the world’s leading thinkers and technologists gathered together at the Singularity Summit in Manhattan’s Upper East Side last weekend, to discuss the threats and the opportunities.

There, inventor and author Ray Kurzweil predicted that in the coming decades, humanity will likely create a powerful artificial intelligence that is smart enough to build a better version of itself. That new version will be able to repeat the improvements. An indefinite series of improvements could begin, and once it does, the pace of change in the world would make it impossible to imagine the future. This intelligence explosion is known as the Singularity.

Kurzweil said, “First the critics said, yeah, but a computer can’t beat a human at chess. We did that. Then they said computers would never safely drive cars around town. Well, we did that too. Now they say computers can’t tell the difference between a cat and a dog.

“We’re working on it.”

Leading researchers in the field agreed that the development of an artificial general intelligence within a few decades was possible.

But stories from science fiction led to worries about how such an intelligence might behave. One summit participant said, “Look at how humans treat animals, destroying their homes to make way for crops or office blocks, keeping them permanently locked up in cages, mincing them and eating them. Why should an AI be any different in how it deals with humans?” (4)

PayPal founder and Facebook seed investor Peter Thiel believes that AI presents a great opportunity for helping mankind. In an interview at the summit, he said, “My biggest worry is that not enough effort will be put into this, and it won’t happen in time. Some big disaster, like maybe global warming, nuclear war or something as yet unknown is going to come along, and we won’t know how to deal with it.

“In fact, people fall ill with age-related diseases every day, and that’s not really necessary. Having some extra intelligence on the team will really help us with that.”

Speaking on his return, Coun Reynolds said, “I think it’s important for anyone involved in politics to have an eye on the future as well as the daily business of getting the streets swept. There are some amazing improvements in our health, our energy systems and our environment that this technology could help us with.

“I came away thinking that the opportunity is so great that we absolutely have to pursue it, and in doing so we must be careful enough to ensure the outcome is beneficial.”

Derren Brown on Free Will

2009-04-30T03:38:00.000-07:00

LAST night I asked Derren Brown to what extent we can each exercise our own free will, and whether there is indeed any such thing.

A number of surprising things happened.

I was surprised to be in a position to ask him any questions at all. I was surprised that he took this question seriously and was happy to answer it.

I was also surprised that he had not considered the question before.

Here is a man who makes a living out of claiming to be able to influence and even control our choices. I reckon that often, he actually does. He was busily chatting away, signing theatre tickets and programmes for his fans, beaming a piercing smile through his eyes as his pen swept stylishly across the pages.

I emerged from the darkness to ask him the question. He stopped everything, stepped back two paces, and began to peer into the middle distance whilst the coterie and the curious paused their conversations to listen.

"Free will," he mused, widening his eyes and breathing deeply. "I'm not sure whether that's really the question."

I tried to help. I mean, there's all this marketing all around us, everything that happens influences how we feel and what we do. Derren repeated the words "free will" many times, began several sentences at once and finished none of them. Derren Brown, former evangelical Christian turned atheist and master of mind control, seemed to be thinking about the question of free will for the very first time. How odd.

"This distinction between them and us, the marketing men and everyone else, it's false. We're all at it. We're all influencing each other all the time. You could make a decision now to run across the road and touch the railings there, but would that be your choice, or would you be trying to prove a point?"

I glanced across at the railings, and instantly recognised that my choice to look at the railings had not been mine. Whether he meant me to or not, I had proved his "point" at the railings without him stretching out his index finger. Secretly I imagine that he noticed that I looked at the railings, because he appeared to smile a little in response. Then, was it his choice to smile, or did my glance make him smile? Oh dear. To me, this all rather seemed to underline my question about free will. But Derren wouldn't have it.

"It's not about whether we have free will. Of course we have free will. It's about whether we are able to be rational in our choices. People don't make choices in anything like the way one might expect."

I took him to mean that our mood is important. Our feelings are triggered irrationally by a wide range of events. It is these feelings, our mood, that determine how we interpret facts and make a decision. The same set of data in different moods can lead the same person to different conclusions. A dad might say, after a successful day at the races, "Sure, son, have a bag of Haribo." Normally you wouldn't let your kids near the stuff. They're still sugar-filled and otherwise nutrition-free blobs that induce elevated free radical damage during metabolism, contributing to accelerated ageing and the earlier onset of a wide range of ailments, but somehow a successful day at the races seems to make them more acceptable.

Derren's Enigma show was extremely well-executed. He has superb recall, the very freshest trickery, imaginative maths and logic, and he knows a thing or two about using an audience to his advantage. Yet I'd hoped to enjoy more psychological effects and to have had more surprises.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Darren," I said.

"Nearly perfect," he said. Like his show.

I thanked him and disappeared back into the night.

Hospitals Chairman Resigns

2009-04-22T09:04:00.001-07:00

The chairman of East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, Alan Green, has resigned citing personal reasons.

I think he found the role to be much more demanding than he had expected.

Having been accosted at the golf club of the Burnley hospital downgrade, having been challenged agressively in public forums over the state of Royal Blackburn, and having been pursued relentlessly by newly elected governors, who represent the public, I think anyone in that position would have to re-consider whether the effort is worth it.

BNP's UK Membership List Published On-Line

2008-11-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

The BNP's entire membership list has been published on an Internet web site.

I have seen the list, and confirmed that the members I am acquainted with locally do appear on it. It appears to include all BNP members, including some who have since left the party, and includes home addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. In some cases there is even information about members' jobs. It is rumoured that the publication follows a split at the top of the BNP nationally.

Most people are aware that the BNP could barely run a bath, let alone a council, but this level of incompetence is astonishing. Their failure to control such sensitive data will cause many of their members to give up and accept the sensible alternatives available from the mainstream parties. There is something for everyone without going to the BNP's incompetent extremes.

The publication of the BNP's membership list follows a series of Labour government failures to protect data in its care.

The BNP would clearly be just as bad as the Labour government at losing information. The publication of this membership list reflects the same risks I see in the government's ID card scheme.

That scheme should be scrapped and the money spent on police instead.

Social Change on an Unprecedented Scale

2008-11-14T06:17:00.000-08:00

Ahead of us lies a major social upheaval. Figures from the UK's Office for National Statistics show how today's thirty-somethings will not be able to retire in 30 years time because there will be insufficient younger people in work to pay the pensions. There will be massive burdens on health and social care systems when ageing people require support and help.

A potential solution is a radical advance in medical technology, which looks increasingly achievable as time progresses. Two key developments are opening up.

The first is the induced pluripotency of stem cells.

In effect, this has the potential to allow the conversion of adult skin cells into embryonic stem cells, which have the broadest range of potential applications in treating disease - but without the use of an egg. Roman Catholics and other religious adherents can conscientiously support this approach because although the cells are equivalent to embryonic stem cells, they do not involve the destruction of an embryo created from sperm and egg.

At the same time, work to control and repair the damage caused inside cells when mitochondria metabolise food to produce energy looks set to push back other diseases of ageing.

With people staying healthy however long they live, the pensions, health and social care pressures can be reduced and effectively eliminated.

There is a powerful business case for investment in this technology on a large scale because the payoff, even in purely financial terms, is mindbogglingly large. Add in the value of the extra years of healthy life and the return becomes incalculable.

Today Pfizer announced it will invest in a new UK research facility in Cambridge, England. The centre will research new stem cell therapies for hearing and vision. This is most welcome.

In an age when state ownership of critical resources can be a visibly necessary approach, we should consider carefully whether we want to let the market develop this technology on its own, or whether some public ownership and/or support is appropriate.

Leaked NHS memo

2008-11-11T15:39:00.001-08:00

Below is a leaked memo from an East Lancashire GP (name removed).

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [East Lancashire GP]
Date: Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 5:29 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: ELHT Extreme Pressures
To: Darren Reynolds

Hi Darren,just thought you might like to know about how well things are working AFTER clinical services review.Regards, [East Lancashire GP]

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2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the NHS. It's an opportunity to pay
tribute to the NHS staff and volunteers who help shape the service, and
celebrate their achievements.

If you work for the NHS and would like an NHSmail email account, go
to: www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [Undisclosed sender]
To: Endersby Christopher (East Lancs PCT) Service Development , All East Lancs PCT GPs , Pickup Alan - Forward , Hanson Jackie (East Lancs PCT) Associate Directors , Gittins Davina (East Lancs PCT) Associate Directors , Reed (East Lancs PCT) Workforce Improvement , Tancock Jane (East Lancs PCT) Red Rose Court , Scarborough Olwyn (East Lancs PCT) Service Provision , Whelan Suzanne (East Lancs PCT) Service Provision , Payne Christine (East Lancs PCT) Workforce Improvement
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:35:18 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Re: ELHT Extreme Pressures

The problem is Chris is everyone is on RED alert.

Fairfield / Rochdale last week I was informed were shut on Friday !!!

I think shut is worse than Red alert

Should be fun when the pandemic/bird flu arrives

[Undisclosed sender]

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:19:12 -0000
>From: "Endersby Christopher (East Lancs PCT) Service Development"
>Subject: ELHT Extreme Pressures
>To: "All East Lancs PCT GPs" , "Pickup Alan - Forward" , "Hanson Jackie (East Lancs PCT) Associate Directors" , "Gittins Davina (East Lancs PCT) Associate Directors" , "Reed (East Lancs PCT) Workforce Improvement" , "Tancock Jane (East Lancs PCT) Red Rose Court" , "Scarborough Olwyn (East Lancs PCT) Service Provision" , "Whelan Suzanne (East Lancs PCT) Service Provision" , "Payne Christine (East Lancs PCT) Workforce Improvement"
>Cc: "Robertson Victoria (East Lancs PCT) Chief Executive" , "Galaska Cath (East Lancs PCT) Service Development" , "Peat David (East Lancs PCT) Chief Executive" , "Swift Jason (BWD PCT) Commissioning" , "Walker Lynda A. (ELHT) Acute Services" , "Dodd Janet (East Lancs PCT) Service Development" , "Gardener Cathy (East Lancs PCT) Modernisation and Commissioning" , "Bertenshaw Valerie (ELHT) Core Executive" , "Goodenough John (ELHT) Lead Matron" , "Nicol Samantha (ELHT) Corporate Directors" , "Crowther Colette (East Lancs PCT) Service Development"
>
> Dear Colleagues
>
>
>
> East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is currently
> experiencing extreme pressure and at present have
> very few beds. They are therfore currently on red
> status.
>
>
>
> The Trust is taking every action in line with their
> escalation policy to address this issue, cancelling
> of electives, increased ambulance resource and
> increased use of Pharmacy to expedite discharges.
>
>
>
> However, until the above actions take effect, the
> PCT has been asked to advise GPs of this situation
> so that you are aware of the Trust's position when
> you are arranging emergency admission for your
> patients. Neither ELHT nor the PCT are suggesting
> that any clinical risks should be taken.
>
>
>
> We will endeavour to keep you updated regarding the
> situation.
>
>
>
> Many thanks, in anticipation of your co-operation
> with this situation.
>
>
>
> Kind Regards
>
>
>
> Chris
>
>
>
> Chris Endersby
>
> Commissioning Manager - Urgent Care
>
> East Lancashire PCT
>
> Tel: 01282 610205
>
> E-mail: christopher.endersby@eastlancspct.nhs.uk
>
>
>
> East Lancashire Primary Care Trust is subject to the
> Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the
> Environmental Information Regulations 2004. If it is
> asked by a third party to disclose information sent
> to it by email or in any other documented format,
> decisions about the release of such information will
> be made on the basis of its understanding and
> application of the legislation
>
>
>
> The information contained in this e-mail may be
> privileged. It is intended for the addressee only.
> If you are not the intended recipient, or the
> designated substitute, please notify the sender and
> delete this e-mail immediately. The contents of this
> e-mail must not be disclosed without the sender's
> consent. We cannot accept any responsibility for
> viruses, so please scan all attachments.

>
>

***********************************************************************
This message may contain confidential and privileged information.
If you are not the intended recipient you should not disclose, copy
or distribute information in this e-mail or take any action in reliance
on its contents. To do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
Please inform the sender that this message has gone astray before
deleting it. Thank you.

2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the NHS. It's an opportunity to pay
tribute to the NHS staff and volunteers who help shape the service, and
celebrate their achievements.

If you work for the NHS and would like an NHSmail email account, go
to: www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail
***********************************************************************

UK Changes Law to Help Medical Research

2008-10-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

The Commons has today approved the controversial Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. All the key components of the original Bill remain.

Medical researchers and sexual equality campaigners have welcomed the news.

Leading biogerontologist Dr Aubrey de Grey said, "Disease causes extreme suffering, and the most common and debilitating diseases in the developed world mainly affect the elderly. By taking cells from embryos only a fraction of a millimetre in length, researchers hope to find new cures for some of these diseases. Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Motor Neurone Disease are all potential targets for stem cell therapies."

Dr de Grey is convinced that such diseases will eventually be a thing of the past. He said, "When you combine these efforts at replacing lost cells with work to repair the damage that occurs in other cells as we age, there is real hope that one day people will stay as healthy and vibrant as young adults, however long they live."

The Bill also permits prospective parents to choose 'saviour siblings' and replaces the requirement for IVF clinics to have regard to the need for a father with one that treats men and women equally as prospective parents.

Conservative MP Nadine Dorries spoke during the debate of creating a "humanzee" - a hybrid between a human and a chimpanzee. She warned: "Of all the experimental possibilities debated in the course of this Bill, surely none is quite so utterly repulsive as the possibility of seeking to inseminate animals with human sperm."

However the use of hamster eggs to test the viability of human sperm has been routine practice for many years, and no "humanster" has yet appeared.

Media coverage of the event has been marred by distracted coverage over the question of abortion, which was not the subject of the Bill. The government is reportedly considering a review of the abortion laws in two years' time.

The Bill will now return to the Lords, where it is expected to have an easy ride, before heading for Royal Assent.

Hospital Board promises "Not Enough"

2008-07-29T07:29:00.000-07:00

Arguments over hospital services must now stop. That was the message at today's East Lancs Hospitals Trust board meeting from chairman Alan Green.

The board accepted many of the themes raised in the Liberal Democrats' 101-page dossier of complaints, saying that they had taken the dossier seriously and were now putting in place measures to improve the service to patients.

But as Burnley General's local councillor, my opinion is that the promises fall short of what is needed.

I was relieved that the Trust board has finally acknowledged the problem. That's an important first step to fixing things because for months they've had their heads in the sand.

What was missing at the meeting was any word of apology to the public and staff who have suffered, a timetable for when the improvements will be made, or any commitment to return services to Burnley.

Let's be clear - no-one is claiming that every experience of our hospitals is poor. We do have positive reports, particularly at Burnley General. Staff are doing the best they can under very difficult circumstances.

It's not our political party that needs to be convinced - it's the people of Burnley and Pendle. People do not need councillors to give them opinions when many residents have their own, first hand experience of the situation.

Our dossier reflects what people have told us and if it appears to be full of complaints, that's because public and staff have been coming to us with complaints. In the main, the problems are due to the full range of services not being on both sites and Blackburn being severely overstretched.

The last thing you want to be doing when your child has symptoms of meningitis is worrying over which hospital to go to. For people whose lives are not in danger, taking yourself to Burnley General is the right thing to do. But when the pressure is on, how do you make the best choice?

Lib Dem leader Gordon Birtwistle, who is spearheading our campaign, says, "If the promises made today by the Trust board turn into reality then I will welcome that, but as long as people keep writing to me to tell me they want a full-service hospital in Burnley, I'll keep on campaigning. Nurses, GPs and hospital doctors are still giving me the same message as the public and as yet there has been no turnaround.

"The Trust wants the arguments to stop. That's easy. Give us our hospital back."

I agree with him.

Police arrests after YouTube fight

2008-07-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

Police have made a number of arrests after a video of two women fighting was discovered on YouTube. The person taking the video was said to be commentating and a crowd of onlookers had gathered. Motorists passing the Duke Bar location honked their horns in support.

I don't know whether the fight was arranged or whether it was an attack by one party on the other, but either way the crowd should have been trying to stop the fight, not encourage it. It is a sad reflection of the society we live in when this kind of event takes place.

But what to do about it? We can hardly arrest everybody involved. Even the perpetrators of the violence are unlikely to benefit from a spell in prison because the prison system is broken. Most crime is committed by people who have been to prison. Our prisons are the crime university system in which drugs are commonly available and young criminals learn how to commit more serious crimes and avoid detection.

Until the prisons system is fixed it is hard to see how the establishment can sort the situation out.

Tory arrested after hate crime campaign

2008-07-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

In Watford the Conservative parliamentary candidate has been arrested following a three-year hate campaign against Liberal Democrats. The hate campaign included criminal damage such as slashed tyres and sinister letters through the post.

It is unfortunate that the UK's current political system pits members of one political party so fiercely against another. We ought to look to a system of more co-operative politics. Unfortunately that will not happen as long as the only way to get elected is to rubbish the other candidates.

In this case, Ian Oakley, the Conservative candidate, clearly lost his sense of perspective and went way too far. Shame on him for the disrespect he will brings to public servants.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

2008-07-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

A moment of indulgence if I may! I'd expect this to be pretty good when it appears ...

Rubbish Charging Plans Crazy

2008-05-26T06:01:00.001-07:00

Liberal Democrats in Burnley have condemned the Labour Government's plans to charge residents extra Council Tax based on how much rubbish is in their bins as "crazy". They say it would lead to rubbish dumped in the street and arguments between neighbours.

Instead the Lib Dems are calling on local shops to voluntarily ban the use of plastic bags and to cut the amount of packaging used in the products they sell.

Packaging typically costs a familiy £470 each year, one sixth of their food budgets, according to the Government's own Waste Resources Action Programme.

Burnley's Lib Dems have made it clear that varying charges will not be implemented in Burnley so long as they remain in control of the Council, no matter what the Labour Government does.

Lib Dem Cllr Darren Reynolds said,

"It's worrying that over half the household waste produced by homes in Burnley every year is from packaging. It costs families the equivalent of two months' grocery bills just to pay for throw away wrapping and packaging.

"Taxing Burnley residents extra is not the answer. With the best will in the world, it is difficult to buy products at the supermarket on the basis of which has the least amount of wrapping. The solution lies further up the food chain.

"If variable charging for rubbish collection was introduced in Burnley there would be more fly-tipping and disputes between neighbours as people put rubbish in each other's bins. It's a crazy idea.

"Instead, we are calling on large stores like Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda to allow packaging to be left behind by customers. The aim is to get retailers to put pressure on suppliers to cut packaging with the result of less waste. We also want a voluntary ban on plastic bags that are not bio-degradable.

"These moves are good for the environment, good for council costs and good for waste disposal."

The Council will debate the call at its July meeting.

Tories Against Tomorrow

2008-05-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

In this week's Second Reading of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, votes were cast as follows.

In Favour of the Bill, subject to possible amendments:

Labour: 98% (whipped) (yay!)
Lib Dems: 86% (free vote) (yay!)

Against any further consideration of the Bill:

Tories: 57% (free vote) (boo, hiss)

However, most Tories simply failed to turn up.

This confirms what I always believed before I decided which political party to join.

The Tories are, er, conservative, and find anything new, like, say, heart transplants, a bit scary. (Putting human DNA into empty animal eggs to research diseases? Yuck! Next they'll be impregnating hamsters. Eh, what? They already do? To assess sperm viability when diagnosing male fertility problems? Oh the world's gone mad! Pass me my slippers. etc.)

New Labour is a bit more forward-thinking, but believes in bossing people about. ("You got WMD's? No? Don't believe you. Boom boom boom! Oi! You lot, ID cards for you! Carry them about or else! Oi! You caught on CCTV acting all suspicious? 56 days detention without trial for you! Oi! You reading a list of dead soldiers outside Parliament? Grab her lads! Down the dungeon with her! etc.)

The Lib Dems are open-minded and have faith in people to make the right choice about the future.

Cool, I chose the right party.

(Hamster photo courtesy of http://www.petsworld.co.uk/hamsters.htm)

BNP ACTIVIST ARRESTED BY POLICE

2008-05-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Burnley BNP candidate John Rowe, who lost local elections for the BNP in Rosegrove on May 1st, has been arrested at Burnley Town Hall and taken away in a Police van.

A meeting of the Full Council was suspended and the building evacuated after Rowe set off a fire alarm and escaped from the building. Police and fire services rushed to the scene.

Rowe has previously been barred from the Council chamber for disruptive behaviour. The BNP activist was refused access to the chamber at the Full Council meeting on Thursday evening. Rowe then triggered a fire alarm and escaped via a fire exit, only to find himself in the safe area outside the building unable to open the gates. He was discovered trapped there by Council officers.

Police attended and after brief questioning took him away in the back of a police van.

A spokesman for Burnley Liberal Democrats (er, me) said, "Mr Rowe is a twice failed election candidate for the BNP in Burnley. It was only in July last year that a twice failed election candidate for the BNP in Colne, Robert Cottage, pleaded guilty to the possession of explosives.

"People were shocked by Rowe's behaviour. It is scary to think what could have been his plan. We now know that he did not intend to endanger life directly, but he must realise that his hoax has put lives at risk by distracting the fire service and police from essential duties.

"In addition to the risk, there is also the cost. Around six police officers and a fire crew attended the building. Forty councillors, the mayor, at least seven council staff plus members of the public all had their democratic business suspended and were forced to wait outside for the all-clear.

"How such a man is considered by the BNP as a suitable candidate for a public election is beyond us."