Back in 2004, this blog went to the European Social Forum – we weren’t that impressed, but we did call it “the Caesar’s Palace of Ranting”. I’m not sure what the equivalent for the UKUUG’s OpenTech 2008 would be; there was plenty of ranting, but a sight less committee wank, more practicality, even if no-one…
Read More OpenTech 2008: It’s like the ESF, with code…Not looking great for Comrade Bob, which is fine news to anyone other than a blind-thick arsewit. David Osler thrashes Stephen Glover over a gaggle of strawmen about how “the Left” secretly support Zanu-PF; he’s right, you know. I’ve said before that Tories still have a very odd relationship to Southern Africa, and here is…
Read More Solidarity with the oppressed police informersOne of the many wonderful things about the Web is that its hypertext structure not only permits us to navigate it, and to invoke external resources (scripts, graphics, etc), but also to measure relevance and authority. Google’s killer insight was of course just this; to use links as votes for the relevance of a given…
Read More Anti-LinkSo now we know; looks like the Glock 17 caucus got a clean sweep of the “independent” MPA members. BBC: The MPA chairman, Len Duvall, said the watchdog body risked bringing itself into disrepute by the public and vitriolic attacks on Sir Ian. I think I’m going to vomit. Excuse me, will you? Anyway, the…
Read More 15-7The Ministry reports on some Tories’ bright idea, a website where people who don’t want to be contacted by canvassers can “sign up” to be taken off their lists. The man behin it, Tory councillor Jeremy Kite, turns up in comments to defend himself. A clue: it seems not to have declared that Tory canvassers…
Read More Being for the benefit of Mr. KiteDear God, John Redwood says something entirely sane. This frightens me – there is something we agree on. Naturally, I followed a link from Chris Dillow – I don’t read his stuff, you know. But I think he’s right that a big part of the solution to party spending is that the buggers ought not…
Read More You must have scared yourselfWell, where to start with my utter rage at the kiboshed Al-Yamamah investigation? It’s a total map of state direness, New Labour subtype: we have hypocrisy, we have a good day to bury bad news, we have cash, we have Lord Goldsmith, the professional get out of jail card himself. Obviously, this being a blog,…
Read More You’ve been bought and paid, you’re a whore and a slaveI’ve never taken the West Lothian question very seriously (how many men have we lost because of it?), and I usually don’t engage with it. But there is something I’d like to fork over about the semi-federal nature of Britain. One may recall that, not so long ago, Dave from PR and other Tories were…
Read More The West Yorkshire QuestionWhich story is the satire? Northern Irish, Serbs, Hutus Granted Homeland in West Bank, or Umm Alquwain, the smallest of the emirates, was the only one to bother to appoint voters. An elected legislature chosen by an appointed electorate? Surely not. Not even Austria-Hungary did anything that weird. (Although, present-day Dubai and Vienna circa 1900…
Read More Spot the DifferenceJohn Reid and Geoff Hoon, apparently, believe that voting should be a civic duty. What? It already is. No. They believe it should be compulsory, and that nonvoters should be subject to fines to make the buggers rattle their dags and get down to the polling booth. It reminds me, a little, of the Ewan…
Read More Compulsory Voting