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Watching this, I was reminded of reading about Soviet style encouragements to greater productivity. The hardest workers were paraded and lauded as an example to the comrades, while those considered "lazy", were the victims of oppressive behaviour by the supervisors. All the time, the Communist Party, were the beneficiary of what might be analagous to "Customer Focussed" attention, that kept rearing it's ugly head throughout this film.

Ever wondered why these sort of businesses set up in depressed areas? A frightened workforce is a compliant workforce, and most here were complicit. Just as in the days of Soviet Labour, in todays so called market economy, fear and useful idiots are the business drivers.

As we all know, Blair claims to this day that he genuinely believed that there were WMD's, though he now concedes that this was a mistake on his part. Of course that is the problem: that you never really know when someone says "I believe this to be true", if that is what they really believe.

The kindest thing I can say about this sordid affair can be reflected in a joke I heard: A year after the invasion, Bush phones Blair to apologies for having lied about WMD's to get the UK into the war.

Blair thanks him and then tells Bush, " I am sure if we keep looking, we will find those WMD's".

Having been brought up about 500 yds from Ridley Rd, I looked forward to seeing this. Having seen the first episode, I am reminded of the wise words of Mark Twain, "The difference between truth and fiction, is that fiction has to be believable. This was not.

I am old enough to remember both Colin Jordan and Oswald Mosley, and in particular, the 1962 "visit" by the latter to Ridley Rd in 1962. This ended within minutes with Mosley receiving a police escort to get him out of the area. I'm not certain, but If that was not his last public appearance, it must have been close to it.

What I don't recall from that period, was that there was a Dalston office of Mossad operating in the area. I know that may seem harsh, but the problem I have with it, is that even as "Faction", it doesn't work for me. When it's gets as specific as naming a real place and a real date, you'd expect to see bits that you can recognise as being "based on a true story". But so far, I've seen nothing of the sort. This bears no resemblance to my recollections of Ridley Road and events in 1962.