Let us get a little political this morning, after all there's plenty of it about.
‘The Committee’
by Tim Logan
Sean McPhilemy’s banned book, The Committee, exposes the RUC Death Squads and their links with the ‘establishment’ in northern Ireland
Sean McPhilemy’s banned book The Committee makes sensational claims of inextricable links between David Trimble and prominent members of the Unionist establishment accused of ordering the murder of political opponents.
Trimble and his now-deceased constituent ‘King Rat’, the Loyalist Volunteer Force leader, Billy Wright may not have been close but they were intimate enough to indulge tête-à-tête witnessed by the BBC’s Peter Taylor, in the midst of a stand-off at Drumcree. This may have been considered by many as an ordinary encounter between a high-profile politician and an unemployed working-class man with limited formal education. While one was assured and confident, the other was eager to please and uncomfortable: However, it was Trimble who was sweating. more of this short review
Unfortunately I have to head out shortly and I'm loathe to post something that I haven't read in it's entirety, but having quickly scanned the article, why not, or warum nicht as the Germans might say.
From my quick glance the article below embraces quite a few things that may be of interest and relevance, be it publishing, libel and the rest, Edgar being ex-RUC and let's not forget our venerable Chief Constable Matt Baggott, off to his new post as the head of the PSNI, the RUC in all but name.
Whereas it might seem history now, I did at the time read "The Committee" and to put it ever so mildly I found it a tad thought provoking.
David Trimble is maintaining his suit against Amazon.com despite the fact that the book is no longer available on Amazon. co.uk. But there are two additional reasons why Amazon.com need not be worried about it. First, any libel judgment against Amazon in the U.K. will be enforced only against its assets located in the U.K. And, assuming that Amazon.co.uk is a subsidiary corporation and not simply a division of Amazon.com, English solicitors maintain that its assets cannot be used to satisfy a judgment against the U.S.-based parent. Second, there is an increasing trend among U.S. courts to refuse to enforce English libel judgments transferred to the U.S. because they are the product of a system which is contrary to the public policy of the United States.
The ultimate outcome of the U.K. suits against Amazon and Barnes & Noble, therefore, is that the U.K. libel system will not be able to impose its standards on books shipped from the United States. Equally important, English solicitors will no longer be able to effectively ban books in the U.K. simply by threatening to sue a bookseller. They can limit access, but banned books in the U.K. are a thing of the past thanks to U.S.-based online booksellers.
As to the other issues, the bottom line is that the British libel regime has resulted in the publication of a bestseller in the United States that credibly accuses the first minister - designate of the new government of Northern Ireland A number of separate systems of government exist or have existed in Northern Ireland.
of providing political cover for terrorists. The U.S. libel regime is far less likely to have produced such a result. more http://www.thefreelibrary.com/TRUTH,TERROR,AND DAVID TRIMBLE
Update:
I have finally sat down and read the article through, if you have no wish to embrace the political aspect then simply ignore it, but the information given about publishing in the US and the sale of books to the UK via Amazon US is interesting enough.
.................One issue arising from this tangle of cases is straightforward. Does the David Trimble lawsuit against Amazon.corn, along with policeman Trevor Forbes' lawsuit against Barnes & Noble, endangerthe future of Internet book sales in Britain by U.S. booksellers? In a word, no.
While it is true that U.K.-based booksellers, including Amazon's U.K. subsidiary, have removed the book from their Web sites, the major U.S. online booksellers - Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders - continue to sell and ship the book to customers in the U.K. (The book's U.S. publisher, Roberts Rinehart of Colorado, no longer accepts orders for the book placed by customers in the U.K. on its Web site.) When asked why Amazon had taken the book off its U.K. Web site but still made it available on its U.S.-based Web site for sale to U.K. customers, Simon Murdoch Simon Murdoch, (b. 1948 - ). New Zealand diplomat and public servant. Currently New Zealand’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Previously New Zealand High Commissioner to Canberra, and Chief Executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. , managing director of Amazon.co.uk and vice president of Amazon.com, explained: "From a legal point of view, it's actually quite a big distinction. The situation is, if you actually buy the book from any company in the States, as I understand, you would be actually bringing the book in yourself as an individual."...........
..........The ultimate outcome of the U.K. suits against Amazon and Barnes & Noble, therefore, is that the U.K. libel system will not be able to impose its standards on books shipped from the United States. Equally important, English solicitors will no longer be able to effectively ban books in the U.K. simply by threatening to sue a bookseller. They can limit access, but banned books in the U.K. are a thing of the past thanks to U.S.-based online booksellers.
~ ~ ~
Though I am expecting to get it fixed this evening, my PC is getting a bit like myself, past it's best and the memory's going, hence something a bit different and a whole lot less technical.
In alphabetic order.
