Nicholas Laughlin's blog etc.

Today the Guardian has picked up the story that the Met Office was warned about last weekend's waves days ahead of time by at least one surfer, but ignored the warning--as I reported yesterday (currently there's no permanent link to the Guardian story):

Alan Davis, vice-president of the Surfing Association of T&T, said the forecast of the unusual activity was posted on the US Navy Web site, www.fnmoc.navy.mil, on October 8.

"Surfers visit the site to get forecasts on wave action around the world," he said. "We look for swells. We chase them. It's what surfers do," he said.

Davis said the five-day advance forecast showed a drastic increase in the swell period....

Davis said he called the Met Office last Wednesday to find out if they knew about the swells.

"I asked if they were going to issue a warning to fishermen because of the huge size of the swell that was approaching the country," he said in a telephone interview yesterday.

"I even gave them the address of the Web site and told them to check it out themselves."

But the surfer said his credibility was questioned by the person who took his call.

This is backed up by a letter by Jonathan Torry published in today's Express:

The surfing community had been tracking these waves through the use of different Internet weather sites. Starting from midweek, surfers were booking flights to Tobago and making plans for the arrival of the waves into our area on Sunday morning. We, the surfers, could have told all concerned about the arrival of these waves within hours of when they were expected and how big they were going to be.

Meanwhile, Andy Johnson, in his column in today's Express, promises to ask national security minister (a title which reads more & more like an Orwellian joke) Martin Joseph some hard questions when he appears on Johnson's Morning Edition programme tomorrow:

In the face of glaring evidence that it is the criminals--the boys with guns aplenty on the streets, the kidnappers and now the garbage bomber--who seem to be in charge, the men in the political directorate are making matters worse for themselves by their enslavement to the supposed power of positive spin.... once more after the fact, the Prime Minister could say that the Government has a fairly good idea of who is behind it. He made the statement in the Parliament on Monday. This suggests that perhaps the discovery was made in the 72 hours after the fourth explosion.

So on that score alone, here are some questions minister Joseph must be prepared to answer tomorrow. The person has been and is now under surveillance, true or false. His passport has been seized, if not, why not? he has been contacted by the police and has been questioned, if not, why not? it is clear now that this is one person as the mastermind behind these potentially murderous actions.

There has to be a substantive difference between having a good idea and knowing for sure who this person is whom Mr Manning described as "Mr Big".