Investigative journalism does exist

and that it comes from the Telegraph is not surprising, not surprising in that we are not talking here of 'the' Telegraph but the Derby Telegraph. Prompted with a 'feed' to the Deputy Editor by Edward Spalton, Campaign for an Independent Britain, the Derby Telegraph has produced a piece of 'investigative journalism', an art lacking by its more famous namesake.

Government ministers were either so inured to corruption that they didn't think it mattered - or they just did not know about a matter of public record which would show that they or their senior civil servant were negligent. There is, of course, the possibility that they are determined, as a matter of policy, to favour mainland EU suppliers as part of a deliberate programme of de-industrialising Britain - a policy which would weaken our ability to survive outside of EU membership.

To recap, it will be recalled that Siemens of Germany has been awarded the contract to supply new passenger train carriages, yet as the Derby Telegraph explains, the bid by Siemens is invalid. This all stems from an EU Directive, namely Directive 2004/18/EC - and Article 45 of that Directive, one which covers the personal situation of the candidate or tenderer for any contract. For readers who follow that link it will be seen that reference is made to a European Court of Justice ruling - and in particular Article 3 of that ruling on the subject of corruption - which can be read here. The astonishing, systematic corruption in which Siemens has been involved provides ample grounds for cancelling the contract - and on the subject of systematic Siemens corruption, go read the Derby Telegraph.

As Edward points out in his email to me, his colleagues have brought these facts to the attention of national newspapers without arousing a response - which lends credence to the argument that the national press is not 'free' as it is so dependent on the politicians for its livelihood that it dare not write anything critical of the hands that feed them.

As we see by the day, there is much that is in need of transparency, the problem is that transparency does not go hand in hand with political lying - and we all know which political aim is the more important where they are concerned!