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very odd and scary
Would you like to give us a clue?
My g/f’s mum lives at Fugglestone Red, she hasn’t phoned in a panic, so I’ve no idea.
major incident at the hospital apparently. Two people contaminated with unknown substance.
I heard it's the black ooze from the x-files
Sounds like they've got hold of something they shouldn't have and it's gone badly wrong for them!
Druggies at the Maltings.
Just on the BBC news, it involves a former Russian spy!
It's all ok, nothing to worry about as it's just an ex russian spy being bumped off by putin and his cronies.
Druggies at the Maltings.
Wiggins at it again!
Crikey.
If the russkies keep bumping off their agents they'll never get trump a second term - play the long game komrads
As above looks like Russians tracking down a former spy who had given info to the UK !
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43295134
They really don't want us to like the Russians do they?
I might be less cynical tomorrow...
Sleepy Salisbury eh..
That will get the curtains twitching..
Initial reports put the blame on Fentanyl, police now say they’ve no idea where that claim came from, at the moment there’s no clear clue as to what was involved, but both parties are in a critical condition.
Does look a bit like Putin extending his reach again, purging anyone who has the slightest disagreement with his policies.
Not unlike North Korea.
Police are investigating whether a crime has been committed,
Ah, no, I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.
Zizis on Castle Street is shut and under police investigation.
If they try and shut down Anokaa, there may be consequences.
They better leave the Wyndham Arms alone
Jerry, if they even so much look at it.....
The KGB/FSB have long memories and no ****s to give.
I think I might want to get hold of a Geiger counter before spending time around The Maltings...
Full NBC for a night out in Salisbury, could make downing a pint difficult.
NBC for a night out in Salisbury, could make downing a pint difficult.
You've never been in the Bishop's at last orders...
Full NBC for a night out in Salisbury, could make downing a pint difficult.
Emergency drinking drills!
Emergency drinking drills!
Bishop's at last orders!
😁
<div class="bbp-reply-content">
"CountZero
Initial reports put the blame on Fentanyl"
</div>
Fentonyl?
Oh, Jesus Christ!
Fentooonyl!
Oh, Jesus Christ!
FENTONYL!!!
Oh, Christ!
Oh, Christ.
It's pretty nuts. I like how they were just hosing down the pavement, hope they'd identified the substance before splashing it around. Also hope no "collateral damage" to others nearby.
All Zizzi's should be closed for offences against Italian food but this is a bit OTT.
Anyone remember Polonium restaurant in Sheffield?
Something something something...... Porton Down...... something something.....Zombie Apocalypse.....this is how it starts.....blokes in NBS suits on tv and the police telling you it's either fine or the Russians. 😀
I called it first folks.
On the bright side, it's been a good excuse for the tabloids to re-use their archive of saucy pics of Anna Chapman.
No wonder May doesnt want to look too closely into russian involvement in Brexit!
she'll be coughing up polonium b4 we leave!
Fentanyl sounds odd, especially as theyve still got one of the paramedics under observation
Boris has spoken....
"And while it would be wrong to prejudge the investigation, I can reassure the House that should evidence emerge that implies state responsibility, then Her Majesty's Government will respond appropriately and robustly...
"I say to governments around the world that no attempt to take innocent life on UK soil will go unsanctioned or unpunished."
so a stern letter and the ticking off for the ambassador it is then
He will have been one of Christopher Steele's top assets during his period running the Moscow M16 operation.
#makesyouthink
My Mum lives in Salisbury and she's already been on the phone asking if we, in Lancashire, know what's going on. This means she secretly thinks it's the Apocalypse and she is close to Ground Zero.
That car park behind the Maltings is so wobbly now it makes me feel like I'm on drugs
Well thats not strictly a bad thing.
seems like we're going to take away our ball and refuse to play in the world cup, how will they cope ?
I'm sure this stuff went on all the time in the cold war, but without social media round it happened out of the public eye. Seems like most countries have grown out of it except for Putin. Putin is attacking our intelligence network, The foundation of any intelligent network are people who provide information so if Putin gives the impression people have nowhere to hide then he's hoping our supply of double agents and informants will dry up. Looks like he's trying to kick off another cold war.
Fentanyl sounds odd, especially as theyve still got one of the paramedics under observation
That was the point the police were making, it was a media thing, the plod are saying there’s no basis on which to make the claim.
CCTV footage show them walking along a path by Zizzi minutes before they were found on a bench seat in a small park behind the Maltings car park and the shopping precinct in a comatose condition.
Whatever it was that affected them seems to have been very fast acting, and apparently one of the team investigating is now under observation after suffering breathing difficulties.
^^ this.
Thoughts with one of the emergency services who is still in hospital. Scary stuff.
Paramedic who'd been giving rescue breaths perhaps?
Chap must have spent his life looking over his shoulder. He was part of the system, then betrayed it. He knew they would.come for him one day.
Hope the first responders pull through.
I heard on the radio that there have been 14 deaths of Russians in the U.K. all attributed to shady motives yet the police have closed all those cases for lack of evidence....
Who ever did this must have known where he lived, and perhaps been under surveillance for some time..
Makes you think doesn’t it.
I thought I read his daughter still lived in Russia and visited him regularly so it wouldn't have been difficult for the FSB to track him down. Does seem a bit strange though if he'd been released as part of a spy swap deal previously to then go after him, possibly just vengeance or maybe he still has dirt that could affect the Russian elections (seems doubtful though)
Ahh.. makes more sense.
Chap must have spent his life looking over his shoulder.
If he really thought the Russian authorities would come after him, I expect he would have hidden himself a bit better. I used to work at the same place as Vladimir Rezun (aka Victor Suvurov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Suvorov ) another Russian spy who whilst he used a different name, lectured on Soviet Military Studies and would happily sign copies of his books for you so it was obvious who he really was. He never went back to Russia for fear of arrest, but wasn't in deep hiding in the UK.
It wouldn't surprise me if Sergei Skripal had lots of enemies in Russian organised crime as well as various intelligence agencies, could well have been one of them who went after him, not neccesarily the Russian authoritues....
Authorities have confirmed that a nerve agent was used, and a bobby is also seriously ill in hospital. Pretty much confirms Russian state sponsored involvement.
The fallout from this is going to be significant.
I can’t imagine Putin’s shaking in his boots, given the prospect of a stern look from Theresa, which is about all we’ve got left now.
The fallout from this is going to be significant.
I doubt it.
There are dozens of retired ex-soviet spies living quite happily around the world. The difference with those living happily ever after and those who're allegedly being targeted is they're not retired. They're still active in one way or another in either state or private intelligence.
I doubt it.
Well, this is the first confirmed hostile use of chemical weapons on UK soil in history. I know our extra-judiciary killings record isn’t great, but I still think this will be significant.
Well, this is the first confirmed hostile use of chemical weapons on UK soil in history.
A slight stretch, or am I just being pedantic. Even just among former Russian spies deaths in the UK ( a bit of a niche), there's a diverse range of poisons; ricin, polonium (poisons being synonymous with weaponized chemicals). Even the term "nerve agent" covers everything from VX (which was originally developed and sold by ICI as an insecticide), to any organophosphate used as an insecticide (a common method of suicide for the rural poor in 3rd world countries).
"The first use of chemical weapons" conjures up images of shells of Sarin falling on rural England.
there'll be a fair bit of heavy posturing to be done if the copper doesn't recover
Will this be number 15 added to the other 14 cases dropped by the police for lack of evidence? Or political pressure?
Will we ever hear more about it, or will it be lost in the press amongst other news having had political pressure weighed on them??
It could be used as an excuse to call a halt on the amount of dubious Russian cash floating around the city of London.....nah, on second thoughts that’s never going to happen
Initial reports put the blame on Fentanyl.
That poor dog gets blamed for everything......
dubious Russian cash floating around the city of London…..nah, on second thoughts that’s never going to happen
pretty soon it may be the only cash floating about the city of London [/xit]
Will England still go to World Cup?
Cant imagine that getting a policeman involved was part of the plan, that is either incompetence or the perps don’t care and are sending a message. Mossad are old hands at that.
I hope putin is prepared for an extra stern bumbling telling off from BoJo
Using Polonium last time sent an obvious message.
The trail it left was indisputably linked to Russia & the assassin was decorated by Putin for services to mother Russia.
I can't see anyone daring to go ahead with this without Putins consent either.
UK even less able to retaliate now, Johnson was roundly ignored when asking EU for sanctions last time, his standings not improved
, you can see why Putin was so pleased with Brexit & his TV channel so keen to push it at the time
There is the possibility that the UK's weakened international standing is the reason why the Russians thought it would be ok to go ahead with an attack that put at risk the lives of people other than their intended target
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland have all announced they're not sending teams to the World Cup in Russia.
😀
Polonium isn't a wmd, VX gas is. Polonium is not designed from the outset to kill as many people as possible, in a nasty way. So if VX was used by Russia this would be a massive escalation and a message that they can do want they want in our country. Ricin doesn't even compare to this stuff.
Had Russia simply wanted to off him, this would have been done old school with a couple of bullets to the chest.
Using Polonium last time sent an obvious message.
I thought that was uncertain whether the Russians knew it could be detected or not. So it may have been intended as a deniable operation with no clear evidence.
Polonium isn’t a wmd, VX gas is. Polonium is not designed from the outset to kill as many people as possible, in a nasty way. So if VX was used by Russia this would be a massive escalation and a message that they can do want they want in our country. Ricin doesn’t even compare to this stuff.
Had Russia simply wanted to off him, this would have been done old school with a couple of bullets to the chest.
No, V series nerve agents were designed as an insecticide, ICI even sold it commercially before they realised it was quite so toxic. Portan down bought it off them for testing. Its up there with Viagra for unintended uses.
Amiton was the only chemical that was ever marketed as a pesticide. The rest were initially discovered during commercial pesticide development and then further developed for the sole purpose of killing a **** tonne of people. Where as Polonium has plenty of legitimate uses, and its lethality is hardly comparable.
There is a big difference between initial discovery and designed for. VX is and has been designed specifically for killing, that is it. It was too toxic to ever be developed as a pesticide. It was one of several toxic chemicals that was selected to be developed as chemical weapon at Porton Down.
Basicall, VX got as far as "oooh this chemical looks interesting" when it came to pesticide design, it was certainly never properly develop ed into one.
I thought that was uncertain whether the Russians knew it could be detected or not. So it may have been intended as a deniable operation with no clear evidence.
Theres no way you could produce polonium & not know that you can track it
While its possible the assassins didnt know this, theres no doubt those who supplied & OKd it would
Anyone whos worked with radioisotopes, will tell you that the paranoia you have using them means you swab & count everything!
Remember folk, we turned Iraq into a smoking hole in the desert for less than this. They weren't even caught with WMD, nevermind the fact that they never had the brass balls to use nerve agents on our population
Anyone whos worked with radioisotopes, will tell you that the paranoia you have using them means you swab & count everything!
Whilst this is true to some extent, you'd need to know to look for an alpha emitter in order to find it. IIRC it was only by sheer chance after a conversation between someone on Litvinenko's medical team and an unrelated colleague that suspicions of radiation poisoning were considered. Po is a pretty creative way of offing someone, so hardly likely to show up in standard diagnostic tests even when poisoning is suspected
Remember folk, we turned Iraq into a smoking hole in the desert for less than this. They weren’t even caught with WMD, nevermind the fact that they never had the brass balls to use nerve agents on our population
It was actually mostly the US that did that, and Iraq is/was a fair bit different militarily/world standing-wise than Russia. There's pretty much nothing the UK can do that has any meaning past a bit of political bluster. Even if the EU were on-board there's already plenty of sanctions in place with Russia, a few more isn't going to hurt Putin's popularity/grip on power
I disagree, we could retaliate by going after Snowdon and bombing more Russian PMCs in Syria. Also, based on todays news a 10er says this was Novichok agent.
Allowing it to slide gives Putin carte blanche to engage in unconventional postmodern warfare and terrorism in the UK.
This seems very similar to the assassination of the North Korean man in KL last year, using a spray of nerve agent.
It'll be interesting to see if the CCTV shows some contact with anyone who subsequently flew out of Southampton airport two hours later.
One a different note, last summer I spent a happy half-hour exactly there, on the footpath outside Sainsbury's in Salisbury, watching water voles swimming around in the Avon.
Po is a pretty creative way of offing someone, so hardly likely to show up in standard diagnostic tests even when poisoning is suspected
They Wouldve expected litvinenko to be given a thorough autopsy & half life of 140 days
Lucky break to have diagnosed b4 death but ru not naive enough to think we'd never figure it out & the trail easy enough.
One a different note, last summer I spent a happy half-hour exactly there, on the footpath outside Sainsbury’s in Salisbury, watching water voles swimming around in the Avon.
Voles = Vx moles parachuted in from Moscow.
foreign affairs select committee chair Tom Tugendha, not being subtle
President Putin, if it is indeed he who ordered it, is trying to make sure that those who betray him know that there is a cost to betrayal.
All ageing dictators have a problem which is that as they age, people begin to think about the future. Young men with ambitions and dreams start to wonder whether they could take his place ... and so this is one way possibly of stating very clearly that disloyalty however historic will be punished and will be punished very obviously. It wasn’t just Colonel Skripal that was [attempted to be] murdered it looks likely that his wife was murdered a year or so ago, his son was also murdered in 2017 and now his daughter too.
They Wouldve expected litvinenko to be given a thorough autopsy & half life of 140 days
Yup, but if they weren’t looking for a major alpha emitter, they’d be unlikely to find it, dead or not. All standard tox tests would return a negative, and even if they went for metal poisoning I very much doubt any lab would routinely have Po in its standards mix for ICP.
Gov have tests for dirty bombs & that this was poisoning was widely known
Would they have tested for radioactive materials in such a case? I would have thought so
FWIW I know of & have used several scintilation counters within 10 minute walk of litvinenkos hospital bed
The Journal coverage of this whole story has been excellent
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland have all announced they’re not sending teams to the World Cup in Russia.
In addition, England have announce that they will only stay for the first round and then come home.