22 August 2008

Monsanto's Record Profits In A Food Crisis

- Monsanto, which has a virtual monopoly of US GM cotton, corn seed, and soya, has just made record profits in the middle of a world food crisis. So, naturally, they are increasing their herbicide prices by more than 50%, and the price of its soya and corn seeds by 35%.

- Water policy, with McCain being from down-stream in Arizona, could play a key role in the swing state of Colorado.

- Someone's trying to steal our clothes.

- I've lost count of the data losses in the last year of the Brown government. This time, they've lost:

- the names, addresses and dates of birth of around 33,000 offenders in England and Wales with six or more recordable convictions in the past 12 months on the Police National Computer
- the names and dates of birth, but not addresses, of 10,000 prolific and other priority offenders
- the names, dates of birth and, in some cases, the expected prison release dates of all 84,000 prisoners held in England and Wales

The Guardian points out that: "if it falls into the wrong hands it could leave some criminals with spent convictions open to retribution at the hands of victims, raising the possibility of the government being sued."

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