Blogpower Roundup: Best Wishes Edition

Time for another roundup of the best of the Blogpower blogs over the past week...

Here in the UK, much of the media's attention has once again focused on links between oligarchs and politicians. Ordovicius looks at the reaction on the Tory side, and Labour councillor Bob Piper takes a more generally cynical overview. Tuscan Tony makes short work of Peter Mandelson.

Mike Ion takes a look at the problems facing David Cameron; Never Trust A Hippy the troubled Tribune newspaper. On a tangentially related note, Norfolk Blogger argues for driving tests for over-75s.

Government waste and stupidity are two perennial blog topics. Andrew Allison has an example of the former; Ellee Seymour news a possible mitigation of one of the most notorious examples of the latter - the EU's disastrous fishing policy. There's details of a new liberties campaign at Looking For A Voice; this is placed in a wider context by The Last Ditch.

This week's star Letter From A Tory is addressed to US Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, while The Fake Consultant discusses Barack Obama's running mate.

Bearwatch has, as you might expect, been posting some very interesting material during this bear market, such as this post. Critical Faculty Dojo looks at the bailout from a taxpayers' point of view. Pub Philosopher opines on the regulation of corporations. Brummie Republic and No Clue offer different perspectives on poverty.

Some more philosophical blogging over at Calum Carr, who discusses the morality of suicide; and An Insomniac, who considers the argument that environmentalism is a form of religion. Crushed By Ingsoc offers his own unique perspective on sex education.

Here's Nobody Important, making me relieved that I never got into the virtual world of 'Second Life'. Corporate Presenter has some tips on interviewing celebrities; Sempiternal Horizons on writing short stories.

On that specific form of writing we are so familiar with: Miss Wagstaff Presents the 7 Deadly Sins Of Blogging. The Thunder Dragon asks: Is blogging dead? Bearwatch has a particularly funny American version of a joke that has done the rounds of the blogs a few times.

Around the world with Blogpower! From Las Vegas (Deeply Blasphemous), via Banff, Canada (Finding Life Hard?), over to Niger in Africa (The Poor Mouth), all the way to Australia - where the sensible ones can take in a cup of coffee (Cafe Grendel) while the not-so-sensible can have a go on the high wire (Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe).

This week's post illustration was provided by Sally In Norfolk. On behalf of the Blogpower community, the flowers come with best wishes to Welshcakes of Sicily Scene, who had to go to hospital last week.

Roundup

What is Blogpower? When it was started I remember that it was about the smaller blogger and attempting to get him or her a bit of the limelight and to be supportive of each other. Going round Blogpower this evening I learnt a hell of a lot- and perhaps the most important lesson I learnt was how good the blogs in Blogpower are. This roundup was pretty easy- and if I missed you off it was because I didn't have to look hard for posts at all and so being a lazy blogger, didn't. Anyway to business.

When thinking about the high profile bloggers- lots of them from Iain Dale to Andrew Sullivan have become minor celebrities- as David Hadley writes this concept of the celebrity is something that we all should be thinking about, it dominates our landscape (and renders me suspicious that larger bloggers can ever provide the change in perspective that the Tin Drummer wants to see). The thing you miss with celebrity bloggers though is that they only take on celebrated issues- smaller bloggers are often more interesting- just take a look for example at the Fake Consultant's post on Egyptian elections- its an issue which will never make the tabloids but which we need to understand. On a similar theme, the Cornish Democrat posts a fascinating essay from Tom Nairn on the concept of nationalism- this is exactly the kind of thing that small blogs do well, disseminate academic work which often gets lost. If you stray from the mainstream (like Messrs Dale, Fawkes, Conspirators, Kos and Sullivan to mention a few), you also think about new and interesting issues- like why for example there are so few famous female artists, whether a sexual orientation really can have a duty to vote one way or another, why national symbols can be counter-productive (this is a long and exceptionally interesting article), whether assisted suicide should be made legal, whether cricket can conquer America- small bloggers do this whilst also providing concise and thoughtful reformations of current issues (like this summary of the arguments against the bailout and David Keen's guide to the British conferences is essential reading for those who weren't there). Coming out of the party conferences- Louis shows the Tories the way forward, Bob marvels at Gordon's gamble of a reshuffle, Mike questions Cameron's links to the hedge funds and Andrew praises the Libdems.

Away from such stuff- politics is not life and bloggers do not just blog about politics. Tom puts politics in perspective this week. My own recent post on Cincinnatus attempts to go back into Roman history and reinterpret this figure's place within that history. Others are also in the business of reading stuff, so you don't have to- Heather has been reading Esure press releases about cars and comes to some interesting conclusions. I like Crushed's unconstrained enthusiasm for the film, the Libertine, he also compliments one of my favourite actresses Samantha Morton which is a mark of good taste, and prompts me to want to see the film. If Crushed is ecstatic, perhaps he needs to listen to this piece of music whose sad movement is the perfect audio post. JMB doesn't need sad music, she has computer shops to contend with. But at least she doesn't live in Rabat, where sexism in Ramadan seems to thrive nor face the gloom of British adverts- bah humbug. Morning star just keeps the gloom going by discussing pain during diabetic eye tests. But even in dark times, we need humour- I loved this post of bad spellings and misplaced sentences. Jams helps by bringing us news of British triumphs at the IG Nobels. Just to surprise everyone Welshcakes has yet again posted some pictures of a pure cullinary delight (he says feeling his stomach rumbling). On a serious note, Liz posts about support in the blogosphere and how important it can be: Callum suggests the very act of blogging can be helpful in bad times. We should never lose sight of the fact that its humans writing blogs- and humans get ill, have bad times and good times: one who hasn't been having it so well recently is Mutley who's been to hospital- here's to him getting well again.

This may seem all a bit ideological but I think there is a point here- whether you agree or disagree with the posts above (and I agree with some and disagree with others) you can find a lot there to make you think. As the Pub Philosopher notes, we face at the moment a gap in information about things that are important to our live- he is talking about politics but could be talking about any number of things- I beleive that good blogs can help shrink that gap. I'm sure I've missed good posts- but this is what I saw this week and this reassures me that there is a hell of a lot of good thinking and writing going on- and that's without even including some of my favourite blogpower blogs that didn't post over the last couple of days.

And with that pious paean to the small blogger, that's all folks till next week's roundup!

Blogpower Roundup: It's Raining, It's Pouring Edition

As the saying goes, if it weren't for the weather the British would be left with nothing to talk about. This is seldom more apparent than when the skies are grey and going outside leaves you soaking wet. Guthrum raises the subject of flood defences, while more prosaically Liz regrets going out without a coat.

Fortunately the saying isn't entirely true, or this would be a short roundup indeed. There is political polemic from a British libertarian perspective this week from The Last Ditch: Stop trying to make an omelette with a JCB! Until we stop imploring the state to 'do something', QUANGOs will never be uprooted (Pub Philosopher). Also on a related note, here is The Tin Drummer on why people with nothing to hide can still have everything to fear.

British party politics: Parliament may be on holiday, but the partisan bloggers are not. Norfolk Blogger finds some common ground between the Liberal Democrats and the SNP. Mike Ion imagines giving this speech to the upcoming Labour conference. Andrew Allison makes a Tory pitch for UKIP supporters. Cornish Democrat takes a Toynbee-esque line on 'fuel poverty' with the help of a press release from the Celtic League. Mutley follows a similar line in a post simply entitled 'Poverty'. Bob Piper slams Charles Clarke, while Bel slams just about every other Labour MP. Letters From A Tory has the funniest political poster I've seen all year.

An Insomniac makes an argument for religious education in schools; Matt Wardman in defence of Carol Ann Duffy. Lady MacLeod discusses the arrival of Ramadan, as did Gordon Brown - Guthrum wasn't impressed! Heather Yaxley comments on a PR stunt that courted controversy and gained maximum publicity for Electronic Arts in London.

Blogging about the 'blogosphere' is something of an indulgence, but sometimes the temptation is irresistible. Iain Dale's lists always generate this type of post, exemplified by Miss Wagstaff's series covering every Welsh blog to have made the charts. Blogger feuds, too. Ian_QT called out serial feuder Tim Ireland this week, while Calum Carr hit out at Donal Blaney. Devonshire Dumpling has information for all of the bloggers using Sitemeter to track their stats. CityUnslicker discusses the entry into the browser market of Google's 'Chrome'; Grendel suggests that it might help you make better coffee (in a metaphorical kind of way)

One topic that will continue to dominate the political blogging world for another couple of months is the US Presidential Race. Although we Brits cannot influence it (not that this hasn't stopped some trying), The outcome undoubtedly have a great influence on the whole world. The Blogpower members are split fairly evenly between supporters of McCain (e.g. Theo Spark, who reproduces some Republican cartoons here) and Obama (e.g. Ordovicius). This week has seen the arrival on the scene of Sarah Palin, McCain's surprise VP pick. Hercules, Paulie and Colin Campbell give 3 very different perspectives on how she could shift the conversation surrounding the race. Sackerson comments on the responses of female commentators to Sarah Palin's arrival. Finally, US Democrat supporter Fake Consultant introduces the Sarah Palin drinking game.

The Paralympics started yesterday: the Thunder Dragon anticipates some tremendous sporting achievements and another great performance from Team GB. Newcastle United fans, on the other hand, anticipate a long, fraught season ahead after the departure of Kevin Keegan - Benedict comments on the reporting which may have contributed to the farcical events of last week at St James's Park. Welshcakes Limoncello describes her experience with an activity of a rather less prestigious kind: DIY. Chervil has a handy tip for urban gardeners, and MuseInMeltdown talks socks.

The picture at the head of this week's Roundup is one that will have all the Brits green with envy. It was provided by JMB's blog 'Nobody Important' - She was out walking in West Vancouver this week.

Blogpower's newest member David Hadley has an amusing satirical post on postmodernism. Crushed ponders the meaning of 'single'; Alex ponders the meaning of life, with the help of some TLAs (three-letter acronyms).

Finally, my choice for post of the week this time around is from the very last blog on the blogroll- that of Gracchii (at Westminster Wisdom) - who discusses a fascinating insight into the mind of a tyrant.

Blogpower Roundup: Back to School Edition

Can you believe it? Another six week summer holiday has come to an end and teachers, students and associated hangers-on find themselves back in the business of nurturing young minds/ having their young minds nurtured or taking advantage of increasing governmental bureaucracy in our education system. With this in mind, I thought I would play the teacher for once and have a back to school themed roundup. Now I appreciate some of you will not have been near a school for sometime, so here is a picture of what children look like just to remind you, courtesy of Lady Macleod.

…

I face a class full of beaming faces, eager to start a new year at the Blogpower School for the Gifted and Talented, based this week in Birmingham. As the name suggests, the school has a lot of very talented bloggers who do not always get the exposure they deserve. Part of this is because they are lazy.

“So I hope you have all remembered to do the homework I set you at the end of last term” I ask expectantly, waiting for some interesting responses.

Some blank faces stare back at me.

“You know, the one where you nominate posts you have read from blogs in Blogpower?”

More blank expressions meet my gaze.

“You know, Blogpower, a community of bloggers that supports each other by reading and commenting on each others blogs”

Again silence. I get that sinking feeling again.

“Surely you are not expecting me to do all the work of researching and reading these blogs for you all on my own?”

What a stupid question.

“Very well”, I say resigned to losing the rest of my weekend and maybe more, “I will research and write a roundup for you of the best posts in Blogpower this week, but the very least you can do is spend some time reading it. There really are some very good posts.”

Sometimes I wonder why I bother.

….

We start the day with an extended form period discussing what we all did over the summer. Guthrum has just got back from holiday and spends his time moaning about what has happened when he was away. Not a great start to the day but at least he is here. Both Tuscan Tony and A Tory have taken their breaks during term time. No doubt I will get the blame if they fail their exams.

Chervil shows me some wonderful photos from her Dad’s garden, while JMB recounts a dinner she had with her wonderful twin. Ellee Seymour tries to convince me she received a cheque from a politician for a good cause, something I find hard to believe until I am assured the politician did not stump up the money. Two Wolves finds it hard to pay attention and starts reading some cartoons. Detention! You can do that in your own time!

Not everyone has had a good holiday however. The Morningstar tells us he has been diagnosed with having diabetes and is very critical of the (lack of) help and advice he is being given over it. This starts Calum Carr of on a rather justified rant of how badly one of his family members had been treated. One of Matt Wardman alter-egos interrupts and lets us know what the actual problems with the NHS are and how we could solve them. He speaks a lot of sense that boy, it is a pity such people never actually get to be health secretary.

We then start a discussion about the Olympics that continues until break. Miss Wagstaff may be Welsh, but she has no problem congratulating Team GB. Tin Drummer uses the opportunity to have a go at Alex Salmond. No Clue cringes at Boris and Britain’s part in the closing ceremony, which start me off on a characteristic moan about the prospect of having the Olympics in London. Calum Carr is particularly worried about the prospect of a GB United team, and its impact on Scotland’s sovereignty in the beautiful game. I tell him not to worry; it’s not as if the Scots are ever going to win anything, is it?

History brings break to a close, and the brilliant Gracchi enthuses us with his thoughts on the English enlightenment. Not everyone is so gifted in this subject however, and Colin Campbell has trouble remembering events in his lifetime. Bob Piper picks up on the theme of the Whigs mentioned by Gracchi and brings us to modern day politics. Suddenly, everyone is a lot more interested.

The Thunderdragon is unhappy with the modern electoral system and suggests some sensible amendments. The move onto politics has clearly upset me, but two students cheer me up by arguing some excellent ideas that are close to my heart. Firstly Ordovicus explains why socialism and decentralisation are not mutually exclusive. The Cornubrian follows this with some thoughts about why Welsh, Scottish, Cornish (and Brummie) nationalists should be republicans. The Thunderdragon, bemused by all this talk of nationalism, blames the idiots who want to define Britishness for helping to get us into this mess. Kizzie is more concerned about the similarities between her native Sudan and Pakistan. Such a clever girl, she has been interviewed twice by the media this week, once by the Arab Press Network and once by the BBC.

This does not move the argument away from politics however and Mike Ion starts to give Gordon Brown some advice on how he can fight back in the autumn. Oh, dear. The unholy trinity start a three-pronged attack on the government. Pub Philosopher believes Darling has lost it. Nick Drew of the Capitalists at Work collective wonders whether Labour is in the pockets of the insurance industry. MJW is more bothered about the state of the roads, and economic incentives to minimise disruption.

Class clown Bob Piper decides this is the point to resurrect a new version of an old joke that has been doing the rounds for quite a few years. The only type of economics Mutley is interested in is Home Economics, but we should remember that is astonishingly advanced for a dog.

The bell rings for lunchtime and I go to the staff room to meet up with some of my colleagues. Mr Starling is wearing his rose-tinted specs today and harking back to a time when the August Bank Holiday was something you could enjoy, unlike this year. Special needs teacher Mr Sackerson seems more concerned with the potential for house price falls. I tell him not to worry and ask him how his class is performing. Very well apparently; Deejay is now up to F in the alphabet, but Café Grendel is having concerns with a different kind of ABC, one involved in childcare. Another student having problems with childcare is Ruthie Zaftig, who has discovered undergraduates can get support but postgraduates cannot. Meanwhile, Crushed decided he does not like happy endings and has rewritten Rapunzel for a modern audience. Such a realist, that boy.

After lunch, I have an RE lesson with the class. As usual, on the first day someone has thrown up and I start by thanking Liz for her act of kindness. Sally in Norfolk pipes up and points out that Liz is not the only one who has performed an act of kindness this week. Welschcakes Limoncello voices her opinion that acts of kindness can be more commonplace and more subtle.

What is that I see? Jeremy Jacobs and Theo Spark looking at girly pictures? In an RE lesson as well? Give me a reason please, boys, why I should not put you in detention straightaway? Mr Jacobs remains silent, but young (bright) Spark claims it is actually a picture of the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee. Don’t be so ridiculous, I say, that is an attractive biker chick and everyone knows that conservatives are old fuddy-duddies. Surprisingly, Fake Consultant, our American exchange student, backs him up and starts dishing the dirt on the Republican VP nominee. He clashes with Andrew Allison, who claims that this decision ensures there will be a Republican in the White House next year. Such an imaginative child! However, this appears to be an argument that Question That has some time for, and he reminds me that unlike Florida in 2000, this election in not necessarily a done deal. Matt M remains unimpressed with the position of Vice-President, and brings the discussion back to the part of the anatomy that triggered off the discussion, but suggests using the other function of this important part instead.

Heather Yaxley uses the opportunity to think about what might lower the virility, and possibly the libido, of these lusty young men. Tom Paine moves the discussion from sex onto paedophilia, and gives some very mature views on the subject not normally seen in adults let alone children.

We finish the RE lesson with Matt M exploring the question of the existence and divinity of Jesus. Jams O’Donnell uses his Poor Mouth to tell us that the Dead Sea Scrolls may soon be making an appearance online. Then something really surprising happens. Can you believe it? The bell goes for the end of the day and the children clear off as quickly as possibly, leaving a messy, empty classroom and one exhausted teacher.

So there you go. Obviously as a teacher, albeit only one day, and therefore obviously a leftist socialist loon, I have been incredibly equitable and picked at least one post from everyone who posted in the last week, except for this one by Paulie, which I simply did not know where to put. Everyone’s a winner!

Now bugger off, children. Teacher has a lot of important government forms to fill in.

Blogpower Round Up 18th August

Image stolen from Theo Spark

So beginneth the Blogpower round up a review of the exciting posts made in BP over the last week from a LGBT perspective!

A Conservative is pondering reasons to move from the North to the South leaving his whippet and flat hat at home whilst down in Adelaide Not watching the Olympics means that there is plenty of time to watch Koalas - the worlds campest bear - instead. Our lovely friend Andy is off on his hols - I wish I was going with him don't you? The lovely Lady Macleod also says she is on the move - to Gay Paree! I think we should go and visit and swap make-up tips - if we get invited obviously!

Make mine a Moccachino at Cafe Grendel who as usual is not to be diverted from the topic of coffee - I honestly think he will be running a bijou eaterie at the end of time.. I shall be wetting my tonsils there for sure.

Calum Carr has been on his hols already- to a somewhat more bracing and manly spot- - he was living on porridge and bearing his hairy knees in a kilt - by all reports -what an idea! The dainty little feet of Crushed by Ingsoc have wound their merry way to Mars this week, where he imagines an idyllic future- well who wouldn't?

The lovely Heather Yaxley at Green Bannana has something about advertising which I didn't quite understand - still hey? Can't have everything...I am a dog of very little brain...whilst that Tory has been writing letters about amongst other things fat children, legalising drugs and A levels - I think they are all connected myself...On another Island David Martin is back.. informally anyway - worrying about Zimbabwe and inflation, bless him! Mike Ion - for it is he - is worried about school tests and political blogging - slightly old for this week, but he has some staggering statistic on the gigantic scale of blogging - no wonder no one reads mine!

A Quango Bonfire is enthralling for Miss Wagstaff though she doubts its effectiveness. Our very own JMB has colourful photography and Japanese cooking with what look like Moon Pies to me... tasty!

The lovely Pub Philosopher has been to Devon for a wedding and got a bit damp. For the future - Take Note! The sea is the blue bits - to stay dry, stay out of it!

Sally in Norfolk has been eavesdropping in Tescos and being irritated by her doorbell. Unplug it woman! Honestly....

Over in Sicily the lovely Welshcakes has been in a holiday mood as well - and is offering an exciting job opportunity - form an orderly queue please!

Mr O'Donnell tells the unlikely story of the dog cloning bail skipper Joyce McKinney and a three legged horse ... I feel a movie treatment coming on!

Is Theo Spark still in BP? He has some cartoons and nudie pics - so what the heck?! I have never seen him comment on another BP blog - have you?

Finally over at Westminster Wisdom we are faced with the question Why Are There homosexuals? Why indeed? I hope we can spend a long sweaty afternoon investigating the matter soonest...

Blogpower Roundup - 11 August 2008

It’s my turn to do the round-up for the week. A day early I know but I would have no chance of doing it tomorrow. So here’s my selection from BP members who have posted in the last week...

Not surprisingly, a lot of Blogpower members have posted on events in Georgia including Benedict at A Conservative’s blog and The Norfolk Blogger, Observations From a Hillside, Ordovicius and Wolfie

Colin Campbell at Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe on lowering the spelling bar. Heather Yaxley believes we should be proud of the English language, embracing its rules and idiosyncrasies.

Andrew Allison is not excited about the Beijing Olympics... and with good reason.

Mutley’s attempt to improve his sexual image with a green thong does not have the desired effect sadly. I would have paid good money to see you in it Mutley. Do you accept American Express?

Chervil finds an excellent way to transport thee young’uns without resorting to a "Chelsea Tractor"

George launches a new career as an impressionist over at Finding Life Hard. A star is born!

Lady Macleod announces that she is on the move in October.

Jmb over at Nobody Important draws attention to what looks like a fascinating read

Letters from a Tory gives George Monbiot both barrels... Cityunslicker reports on Arthur Scargill’s (remember him? He was big in the eighties) challenge to Mr Monbiot

Thunderdragon extols the virtues of bats. I wish they roosted in our attic... I love bats, me!

Gracchi reviews Iranian film Leila over at Westminster Wisdom. For what it’s worth I am very partial to Iranian cinema.

Watt Wardman has an extensive roundup on Dave Walker, J Mark Brewer and the management of the SPCK bookshop chain over at the The Wardman Wire . This looks as murky as Usmanov’s unleashing Schillings on Craig Murray and Bloggerheads last year.

Sackerson over at Bearwatch posts on the need for civil rights

According to Pub Philosopher Random House has pulled Jewel of Medina a novel about Mohammed and his wife Aisha.

As for the Poor Mouth? I nominate the part II of a trilogy on Thomas “Red" Cushing, a larger than life Irishman. This one is about being in Sachsenhausen concentration camp when Yakov Stalin killed himself ( here and here - I cut it into two sections).

Well that's it. I hope you enjoy.

Blogpower Roundup Reminded

Just a quick reminder that the "How Does The World View The US Elections" edition of the Blogpower Roundup will be due midnight, Pacific Time, on the 20th, and we should be up and ready to read the 25th.

So get 'em in, don't be (too) late...and don't forget, this is also supposed to be fun--so don't be afraid to use humor as a tool.

I'm still away, bit I should be back just shortly and I'll be responding to all y'all then.

Blogpower Round Up - Chervil's turn

So here is my round-up for the week - thanks to jmb for making a couple of suggestions! Having done this myself now, I realise that it would really help if Blogpower members would send in their suggestions!

So, here we go:

Liz from Wales recounts having to break into her own car before facing another challenging day. Quite a day with a twist at the end - but you will have to read that yourself.

The Poor Mouth tells the fascinating story of the Cagot, France's last untouchable people. I have to admit, I had not heard of the Cagot before, but it makes interesting and sobering reading.



Gracchii wanders down history lane this week and takes us back to the year 1395 when Richard II invaded Ireland. Apparently, Richard II was obsessed by Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-65), featured in the illustration above. Quite an intriguing introduction to medieval politics - and certainly no less exciting or contentious than our modern version!

In keeping with the Olympic spirit, Colin Campbell has a go at running with the Olympic torch (albeit the Sydney one) and notes that his blog is banned in China - which can only be seen as a badge of honour in my view!

On the topic of being banned in China, Looking for a Voice notes that while he was also banned in China, he had a hit from Shanghai on Friday, August 01, 2008! Let's hope the crack in the Great Firewall of China will continue to widen.

The Two Wolfes take issue with political correctness while pondering the questions of whether strongly worded expressions of misgivings concerning aid to Africa constitute racism and whether the US should provide a 48-billion-dollar subsidy for medical drugs to Africa while many US citizens go without adequate health care. I am not sure I can fully follow the arguments here, so please read for yourself and see what you think!

The Norfolk Blogger laments the lack of integrity in UK police investigations in his entry on Derek Bentley, Stefan Kiszko and Barry George. False accusations and wrongful detention of innocent people is indeed a worry and can happen very easily to anybody, so nobody should be complacent when it comes to police accountability.

On a lighter note, Tom Paine announced his holidays - I hope you have a great time, enjoy!

Welshcakes Limoncello has posted another Sicily Quiz - and as usual, I fail miserably. Maybe you might have more luck?



Question That has a great cartoon this week - Too True!

The Pub Philosopher celebrates the revival of the ancient tradition of Lammas Day (loaf-mass day), the festival of the first wheat harvest of the year. Sounds like a great idea to celebrate local food. Maybe we will see more of the old traditions return if oil prices lead to a trend away from globalisation towards more localisation?

Observations from the Hillside is contemplating the pitfalls of the housing market in his entry Moving to rent.

jmb takes us to the Green Lake, Whistler, in her photo hunt this week. Great spot, lovely photo!

Our newest Blogpower member, No Clue, found a major problem for bloggers with sitemeter installed who are using IE6 and IE7: when they click onto their blog it fails to load, and you will receive an error message saying 'IE cannot open the page', and then 'Operation Aborted'. No Clue also has a link to fix the problem, so if you are affected, this is the entry for you.

Miss Wagstaff from Wales found herself involuntarily deleted from Facebook but also discovers the positive side-effects of having one less online distraction from real life.

In Search of High Places debates the meaning of the word "atheism". Apparently there now is a bit of a debate in the blogosphere regarding this topic.

Grendel gives a personal insight into what it means to participate in a job interview - not as interviewee but as interviewer!

Calum Carr invites us to meet his favourite football team, the Pars. Don't know the Pars? Well, better read his blog then!

May I end with my own blog? If you have been to my blog you will know that I strongly support action on climate change. Unfortunately, not even easy solutions such as replacing old light bulbs with energy saving ones are without problems because not all CFLs are safe, as I found out.

The "After The Next" Blogpower Roundup--The World And The US Election

Colin has asked your friendly fake consultant to prepare the Blogpower Roundup after Chervil's...and since I often write about politics to Americans from a "world view", I'm hoping to enlist the community's help and do a Roundup at the same time.

Here's what I have in mind: how does the world view the US and our upcoming election?

Specifically, I'm looking for the answers to these questions:

--How does opinion lean in your community toward each of the two candidates?

--What is the biggest bone of contention between US policies and public opinion in your community?
How does each candidate appear on this issue where you live?

--What are we doing right?
Which candidate seems more likely to continue those policies--or do them better--from your perspective?

I'm hoping to feature longer quotes with analysis in between--and a bit of "compare and contrast" as well.

The output from this may become a multi-part "mini-series", as some of my recent stories have been; and since I post story output on more or less 15 sites we'll get a good audience around the States.

I'm giving you a bit of notice on this one...I hope to "drop" the story on or about August 25th; so a likely deadline would be sometime on Wednesday the 20th.

I'll follow this up with a reminder in about a week and another ten days or so before the deadline.

I'm taking my last big break before the election from today until the 10th, so I won't be responding to your emails (to fakeconsultant at msn dot com) during that time...so bear with me.

All that said, this should be a chance for everyone to have some fun, tackle a set of big issues in a way most Americans never see...and maybe sway the minds of a few voters come Election Day.

Full Disclosure: My political views will not affect who gets what coverage, and opposing viewpoints are absolutely encouraged.

Blogpower Roundup --- JMB Style

Launceston Castle, Cornwall

It's a bit intimidating doing a Blogpower roundup after the sterling efforts of Ian Q_T and Matt Wardman. But to encourage others, I am going to lower the bar so that volunteers will rush forward thinking that they can do better than JMB.

Oh, there is no theme nor any particular order, so just follow the butterfly mind, with which I am equipped, as I present to you some posts which took my eye while I trolled through my BP folder in bloglines this past week, plus the one lonely nomination.

I could not resist the above image of Launceston Castle in Cornwall which the Cornish Democrat used for his post asking once again what exactly is Cornwall, a county or a duchy and why is there no definitive answer.

Now which BP post should I choose to highlight the huge news of the week for the UK people? Miss Wagstaff, a Welsh blogger, uses a billiards/pool analogy in Reds cleared. Brown pocketed. Not many balls left on the table to announce the resounding defeat of the Labour candidate by the SNP in the Glasgow East bye-election, a seat held by Labour for more than 60 years.

Tom Paine certainly gives his forthright opinion of Al Gore in The Englishman on "Saint Al. How many others hold this opinion I wonder: Al Gore may just be the most dangerous man alive. Strong words indeed, do read the rest of it.

In a very pertinent post, Gracchi considers Friendship and the Internet and the difficulties of using only the written word when in real life we rely so much on physical signals and clues to aid in communication. He concludes: internet friends ........ are harder to understand simply because the keyboard is not as subtle an instrument as the human face. Excellent post Gracchi.

While on the topic of friendship, Crushed takes the opportunity of a birthday celebration, Happy Birthday, Chimney Sweep! to highlight the longtime relationship he has with his two closest friends.

Colin Campbell shares memories of the misery outdoors in Scotland in July prompted by reading the Midge Report in Midge Ure (gone) to be Scottish Tourism Ambassador. The forecast might read like this: Extremely itchy with some light scratches. Long term outlook (wait for winter) Good.

I was truly amazed to read the Pub Philosopher's post Are black people being banned from bars in Beijing? Only during the Olympics you understand, well maybe not, as one of his links leads to an article about racism in general in China.

Thunderdragon is a serious Conservative political blogger but every now and again a more lighthearted subject shows up on his blog as it did in Newspaper Typos in which he give us some interesting examples. Lard Thatcher?

Heather Yaxley in Communicating Road Measures is Confusing muses about the partial adoption of metrification in the UK, especially the fact that they never converted to the metric system for distance and speed measurement. It makes for a very confusing system indeed. When we in Canada adopted the metric system in 1970, later than the UK, we pretty well went the whole hog with a few exceptions. 50 km equals 30 miles and 4 litres equals one gallon. One metre is 40 inches while 10cm equals 4 inches. 20 degrees Celsius equals 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Not so difficult really, even for an old lady like me. I can even do the calculation F-32 = 9/5 C, not in my head of course, but then you can get a widget to do it, you know.

Brrr! Frost on the eucalypts

Speaking of temperature, Chervil is in the midst of winter Down Under and in Frost in my Garden she shows us that Australia, her part at least, is not always a land of warmth and sunshine. Minus 8 degrees Celsius! That would be very cold for Vancouver and we have central heating which she does not. Keep well wrapped up Chervil.

Calum Carr in Lightweight Posts -- But not This One tells of some incidents which did not make him the most popular guest in his hotel during his recent vacation at Oban, that very beautiful little port in Scotland, "Gateway to the Isles", which I remember very well from my trip there in 1960. Probably a few changes in 48 years I would think, well maybe not.

Mutley, while promising an interesting read in his post with the titillating title Sex Post!!, somehow seems to spend most of the time discussing the cabbage soup diet. No wonder you have to resort to internet dating Mutley!

Jeremy Jacobs celebrated his birthday this past week, on the same day as Louise Brown the first test tube baby. 30 years of being in the limelight....... Hard to believe it's that long ago. On the other hand it seems as if it has always been an available option, since it is so common now. Jeremy is not telling which birthday he was celebrating. We would never tell, Jeremy.

Ever the crusader, Matt Wardman takes up the cause of the cartoonist Dave Walker who received a cease and desist letter threatening legal action unless he removed 75 posts from his Cartoon Church blog. Matt is keeping an eye on the situation with his post Press Room for the Dave Walker / SPCK case which he will continue to update.

George, feeling very sorry for himself

You did not think I would do a roundup without George, did you? Well Liz blogged about George getting neutered this week in At the Vets'. But did it stop him roaming? Answer: It doesn't Bode Well. But He's still gorgeous.

In Little C: The Duck Whisperer Ruthie tells of how her 3 yr old son became the Pied Piper of the Local Marsh as he persuaded a goodly number of ducks to follow him on his tricycle ride. Sceptical? There are photos over there to prove it, you know.

The Fake Consultant this week highlighted in his post entitled On Extraordinary Awards, Or, Wounded Troops, Wounded Again how the US Department of Veterans Affairs is trying to illegally revoke disability awards that veterans would otherwise be granted. He sees the fingerprints of George Bush, who nominally "supports the troops", all over this latest manoeuvre to deny awards already granted to veterans.

The Norfolk Blogger gives advice to parents for the end of the school year in Gifts for teachers - What NOT to buy. Nope, a mug with World's Greatest Teacher is just not that original folks. He does have other suggestions however.

Recently returned to the Blogpower fold, Conservative blogger Andrew Allison, in his post A three-mile round trip to get your bin emptied, highlights the extent to which some councils have no concern for the convenience of their constituents. And he can't even blame it on Labour!

Remember last week's roundup discussed the more than 6000 speed cameras located in the UK? Well this week BP's newest member, No Clue, highlights the latest service to avoid getting caught by same in "Beat jams, avoid fines and relax this summer!" sez TomTom. The "clever people" always come up with some way to get around these things, so why do they bother installing them. By the way, quiet as the grave at No Clue now.

Log Cabin at Whistler, BC

Lastly, since I am not at all reticent about including one of my own posts, in Canadian Log Cabin -- Real and Virtual I compare my rented Canadian log cabin in Second Life with the real thing, the very upscale ones I found in Whistler, BC, where the Alpine Events of the 2010 Winter Olympics will take place.

There, that should keep you busy for the rest of your Sunday. Sorry, it just grew like Topsy. Enjoy!

Crossposted at Defending the Blog and Nobody Important.

Blogpower Roundup - The Civil Liberties Edition

This is the second in the lastest series of Blogpower Roundups, and this is my roundup of some of the current live issues around Civil Liberties.

While there are differences between bloggers on some questions at the edge on just what comes under Civil Liberties, there's usually a strong consensus around the right to self-expression, and that restriction of topics that we can write about or the excessive monitoring of online activity are BAD things.

Heather Yaxley has reflected on the whole theme of Defending Blogs.

In this roundup, I've covered recent Blogpower posts, and highlighted a number of other posts that I have come across. As it is a thematic roundup, I am going back several weeks.

Colin Campbell's comment about extra speed cameras in South Australia prompted me to do some digging into just how many speed cameras we have now in the UK. The answer: one hell of a lot - perhaps 7,000-10,000 plus all those installed in cars and on motorcyles.

By my count there are 75 links in this post. Enjoy.

(This post is © Matt Wardman. It may be quoted up to this point by anyone as an excerpt. Blogpower members may reproduce in full without limitations.

Update 22/7: Another Blogger threatened with Libel Action in UK

This is since lunchtime today (Tuesday).

Of all people Dave Walker - the Artist in Residence at the Lambeth Conference - has been sent a cease and desist letter at half-a-day's notice to take down all posts (75+) relating to the reporting of the new management of the SPCK bookshop chain, which he has been covering for 2 years.

• David Keen (first with story): Dave Walker Threatened with Libel by SPCK Bookshop owners.
• Matt Wardman (more background): Lambeth Conference Artist in Residence threatened with Legal Action over blog.
  

"Dave Walker, who has been flying the flag for the beleagured SPCK bookshop chain, has been threatened with libel by the St. Stephen the Great Charitable Trust (SSG), who took over the chain last year. Since then, most (if not all) of the SPCK bookshops have closed, and there have been various questions about management practices. One former bookshop manager, Steve Jeynes, tragically took his own life just a few weeks ago.

Dave has been keeping a close eye on all of this, and providing a forum for people to share news about the chain. He has been told he'll be sued unless all SPCK posts are removed from his website."

Ed: This does not seem like a good way to do it quietly - the place is crawling with Journalists looking for "different" stories.

Blogpower Posts

I'll start with a rundown of Blogpower posts relating to Civil Liberties questions.

• Benedict White points the finger at Mr Brown's carrots and carrots in pursuit of a victory in his move to lock people up for up to 42 days during investigations.


• The Fake Consultant has a history lesson about the Fourth Amendment (against unreasonable searches and seizures, since you ask). Part one. Part two. He's excelled himself and also written about Why Terrorists Have Rights, and about Politics And the Impact of The Internet.


• The Insomniac raised the Question of Conspiracy Theories, which in turn raised the question as to whether all this mad noise about Alien Lizard Takeovers and other scares in fact undermines real debate. Are we damaging our open society with self-generated smokescreens?


• Andrew Allison writes about Zimbabwe and discovers Curly's Corner shop. He also raises the thought whether having your rubbish taken away is a Civil Right.

• Curly (who is being declared an honorary member of blogpower for the next paragraph) has blogged about ID Cards and photography in the street being seen as an assault this week, as well as staging a long term polemic against the War on Photographers, having been accosted by the authorities after taking pictures at a fair ground. This last post has some interesting reflections about the unwillingness of all of us to take personal responsibility for our actions and those of our fellows (and has received 125 comments) - somebody anonymous phoned up the police, resulting in the "follow", rather than simply asking him what he was doing on the spot. How do we escape this cancer of mutual suspicion and fear?


• CalumCarr has been waging a campaign against his local Health Authority for Mental Health Services for his wife for many months. Politicians have helped, and he has obtained, then corrected, press coverage (which illustrates the value of personal publishing). You can visit the CalumCarr blog for an Wardman Wire Usmanov-Schillings style series of more than 20 posts in the sidebar.


• The Morningstar has also been highlighting attempts to limit the rights of photographers with "Jacqui Smith - Happy For The Police To Make Up The Law" and highlighted cards to carry reminding Photographers of their Rights, while lamenting that we are in a situation where such a card seems necessary.


• For a lighter item in this list, Green Living tells you how to exercise your Civil Right to bake your own bread - in this case St Martin's Bread (Weckmänner).


• Heather Yaxley is a a Blogpower member working in Public Relations. She has been posting about the importance of the "public square" being free for open debate, and makes the telling point that a society that limits public conversations is like a family with children never allowed outside the garden gate. I think this "open debate" approach is also important as a counter to extreme views; everything must be up for debate. Heather also addresses the implications of a huge splurge of Government statements just before all the MPs go away from Parliament for 3 months.


• In Youtube for Democracy, Hell's Handmaiden asks "What is about the USA that is worth saving if things like ‘free speech’ and ‘civil rights‘ go to hell?"


• Yet another Blogpower member - Letters from a Tory - has been taking an interest in restrictions on Photographers, and writes about a Walsall man called a "pervert" for taking pictures of his own children in a public park.


• I have a video about harrassment of photographers for performing legal activities in public too - in this case harrassment of photographers by Police Community Support Officers.


• Ian Whickham has noticed that Conservative MEPs have opposed a resolution condemning ethnic profiling, including fingerprinting, of Roma children in Italy by Silvio Berlusconi's government.


• To wrap up this list, Miss Wagstaff has been writing about how for some people just carrying a lighted cigar into a pub can cost you your job, and for others the act of writing a blog can have the same effect if you are in the wrong country. This can stultify public debate.

Watching them Watching You

Colin Campbell writes about plans for $3.5 million worth (roughly 1m UKP if my conversion rates are right) of new speed cameras in South Australia. That involves 20 new red light and speed cameras, and will mean 90 would then exist in Western Australia (population 2 million people).

I thought I'd have a look at our situation since I'm currently involved in an argument about it elsewhere.

In the Old Country this Parliamentary answer shows just under 5,000 fixed speed camera sites (i.e., excluding red-light cameras) operating within the National Programme in March 2007, excluding sites established in each area before that area came into the national programme, or schemes not covered by it (I'm not sure how many of these there are). It quotes 439 such sites in London.

These people say that there are about 6,000 speed cameras operating nationwide, and that one on one road in my neck of the woods (Nottingham) has caught 76,000 motorists in 5 years.

For a comparison number, this Parliamentary Answer identified 681 sites for London "Safety Cameras" (it's in quotes as it is an official phrase), which includes Red Light cameras and Speed Camera sites in London in 2006-7.

I am not clear whether these these numbers exclude the almost 700 cameras at roughly 160 locations (and 10 mobile units) used for enforcing the London Congestion Charge. Incidentally these cameras operate 24 hours a day, despite the Congestion Charge being in operation for only around half of that period. Apparently they are on overnight because it is too expensive to switch them off - not very green.

The most comprehensive database (from Pocket GPS World) includes 7048 mobile camera sites plus another 948 pending. Some mobiles cameras are always operating at a number of these sites and there are 995 Red Light Camera Sites, and 4457 fixed camera installations (3545 Gatso, 17 temporary, 343 SPECS - average speed monitoring, 332 Truvelo, 188 Monitron and 32 Redspeed). The terms are explained here. Meanwhile the Government does not collect complete national statistics (see Parliamentary answers linked above). Hmmm.

This is all published data, it should be reasonably accurate if you read the qualifications. Adding them up, the UK fixed speed camera total is likely to be somewhere north of 6,000, with an unidentified number of mobile speed camera teams operating at designated sites, and perhaps another 1,000 to 2,000 more red light cameras operating.

On those mobile camera teams, one figure is that in 2005 the BBC identified 3500 of them.

And then there are all the cameras installed in traffic cars and police bikes, but I don't have numbers for those.

So ... enjoy your camera freedom while it lasts, Cobber. Or move here if you want to experience your future now.

On a very serious camera related Civil Liberties point - the right to restitution after a manifest injustice - there has been a recent case in Lambeth where the method used to issue tickets was thrown out by the Ajudicator on Appeal (380k pdf). A zoomed in camera reduced the apparent depth of field in the photo and hence undermined objectivity and fairness in the decisions, but the Council tried to justify holding on to the rest of the £628,000 that had been raised by the particular camera.

My concern is twofold: Firstly, I think speed (note: not red light) cameras are a monumental white elephant - because I think that the same objectives can be delivered more effectively by other means without the monitoring and enforcement bureaucracy. Secondly, as shown by the case quoted above, the rule of law is sometimes simply flouted by those who should be enforcing it without fear or favour.

Meanwhile, James Robson and Heather Brooke have recently identified that our Police Forces spend 40m UKP a year on Public Relations. I have no idea how much of that goes on justifying cameras.

And two more issues

At the moment there is no end of Civil Liberties causes to be chasing. Here are two more that I have not mentioned yet.

Harry's Place Legal Action

Harry's Place are under threat of legal action for simply reporting a story. More background here and here at Ministry of Truth, and at Bloggerheads.

Story "Borrowers"

[21/7/2008 5:45pm Paragraph re-edited for precision, and clearly to distinguish between the event and my interpretion].

There are cases where particular newspapers and their websites are taking blog stories and using, or even simply reproducing, them without asking permission first or when permission has been denied. This has been going on for years, but perhaps it's time to tackle it head on.

In one example recently the Mail on Sunday reproduced a story from the blog "My Private Secret Diary" without receiving permission to do so. As Jonny Norfolk stated in a letter sent the mail after the fact:

The piece (in its entirety) consisted of copyrighted articles lifted without my knowledge or consent from a website for which I am the registered owner…

Reproducing material a) in a way that falls outside copyright law and b) without permission is a simple violation of the law, and bloggers are as entitled to legal protection as any other writers - like everyone else. Reproducing material in a editorial context, for reporting or for review is one thing; reproducing whole articles without permission for your commercial publication is entirely different. What is worse, the Mail on Sunday does this as a matter of policy. When questioned they said:

We generally take the view that blogs published on the internet have already been placed in the public domain by their authors.

There you have it.

From outside Blogpower

It's traditional to include several stories from non-Blogpower sources. These are resources that you may not know about.

MySociety is a charity run by Tom Steinberg (interview with Nestoria Blog) which does projects aiming to help citizens make a difference in simple ways. Most people have heard of They Work for You, but there are other projects that can be useful. Here are two more.

• HearFromYourMP encourages and enables MPs to run email lists for their constituents, and to allow those constituents to discuss ideas in a way which doesn't bombard them with email.


• WriteToThem is the definitive place to contact any of your elected representatives. Enter a single postcode and it'll tell you who all your local representatives are, and a bit about who you should contact for which reasons. Note that this site covers Local Councillors as well as MPs and MEPs.

Bloghounds is a new blog network being set up by the founder of Blogpower, James Higham - now up to around 20 members.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation - the granddaddy of Open-Internet organisations - has had an office in Europe for a little more than a year. Watch the EFF Europe Webpage to keep an eye on EU and European Parliament related developments.

Finally, an object lesson in the collatoral damage caused by insufficiently tightly targeted restrictions. The EFF "Deeplinks" Blog has a post showing how a (laudable in my view) attempt to restrict child pornography on Usenet by closing down 88 groups, is resulting in some cases in the unnecessary closing of a total of 19,000 groups:

Attorney General Cuomo has pressured these companies into censoring enormous amounts of First Amendment-protected material after an investigation found 88 groups containing child pornography, or 0.5% of the active discussion groups in the alt.* hierarchy. Verizon and Sprint are taking down one gigantic subset of groups, the very popular alt.* hierarchy, AT&T will block all alt.binaries.* groups, while Time Warner Cable and AOL are shutting down their Usenet service entirely.

Yes it needs to be done, but that approach will lose the support of a lot of people.

And finally, China has finally blocked The Onion Router (read it to find out what that is), despite the promises for more openness in the year of the " Potemkin " Olympics.

And the BBC iPM programme has been doing some excellent work - they have recently covered the Lambeth story above, and also a story about the new Communications Data Act. They did a brief roundup (MP3 file) on 21st July.

Wrapping Up

OK. Enough. I've only covered half of the Blogpower blogs, and I'll do another roundup before long based on the other half.