The ECHELON Trail: An Illegal Vision

This article tells the story behind the uncovering of the US operated global telecommunications interceptions system now known as ECHELON. It begins with the use of fieldwork techniques in the early 1970's exploring the configuration of Britain's Post Office Towers – these were ostensibly the microwave links through which Britain's long distance telephone calls were made. This modelling process revealed a system within the system of microwave towers linked to the American Base of Menwith Hill in the North York Moors. All the key researchers were then promptly arrested, a raid by Special Branch on the author's university at Lancaster ensued and later a show trail for the other main researchers, most notably Duncan Campbell. Eventually in 1988, Duncan wrote up the ECHELON story, which for its time was an incredible piece of detective work using materials lifted from waste bins by the women activists campaigning around the Menwith Hill Base. Little notice was taken until 1997 when an obscure book by Nicky Hager, Secret Power explained the role and function of ECHELON in more depth. The author represented these findings in a policy report to the European Parliament on the technology of political control that led to a process of political debate and disagreement of the ethics of such a system which continues even today

Programmed multiplexing system simultaneously monitors several voltages

System consists of digital voltmeter with binary coded decimal output, programmer, multiplexer, and two to six gated digital displays. Maximum number of circuits monitored is determined by digital voltmeter, rate of change of parameter being measured and complexity of multiplexer design

Fourier restriction to polynomial curves I: a geometric inequality

We prove a Fourier restriction result for general polynomial curves in Rd. Measuring the Fourier restriction with respect to the affine arclength measure of the curve, we obtain a universal estimate for the class of all polynomial curves of bounded degree. Our method relies on establishing a geometric inequality for general polynomial curves which is of interest in its own right. Applications of this geometric inequality to other problems in euclidean harmonic analysis have recently been established

Modelling nominal debt contracts and fixed rate debt

We provide a simple model of sticky nominal debt contracts and fixed rate debt that can easily be embedded in a dynamic general equilibrium framework. Once linearized, the debt process increases the order of autoregressive dynamics in the system by one; thus potentially introducing more complex adjustment processes

Labour's record on financial regulation

In 1997 the new Labour government launched major initiatives in the area of financial regulation, setting up the Financial Services Authority as a comprehensive regulatory body, supported by the legislative framework of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. We evaluate the Labour government’s record on financial regulation in terms of its achievements and failures, especially in dealing with the global financial crisis that started in 2007. While we identify some clear flaws in regulatory design and enforcement, our evaluation highlights some inherent difficulties of financial regulation