Just before I took to the platform for this evening's hustings I was told that it was to be broadcast live to the internet. I just had time to tweet the url before taking my seat.
I was going to blog up the hustings but I was wondering when I might have the time. You may want to take a look here while I find the time to get around to a blog entry. Apparently it will be available all week.
But well done to St. Andrew's for getting their hustings out there beyond the confines of the building.
By the way, there was a question about the gaffe of the day from the Prime Minister.
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Digital Economy Bill How Michael Connarty Performed
I've been kind of busy since the Digital Economy Bill was discussed and sadly passed in Parliament during the week.
Readers may remember that I stressed my concerns, and those of a number of constituents who had written to me about the various clauses in the Bill. On the day of the rushed committee stage of the bill many amendments were raised, spoken about and then withdrawn by the proposers purely as an expediency of time. That was the shameful way in which this complex bill was rushed through the elected house. If there had been sufficient times these amendments would have been properly discussed at committee stage and where there was dissent put to the vote.
I'd also stressed those concerns to my Labour opponent in the election, who is of course also my own MP. He responded initially with the response 'I agree'. When I wrote to him again earlier this week, he replied 'this is something that [he] will leave up to the front benches'. So how did he perform in the debate.
First up after a little bit of back of forth of pointless identifying which Star Wars © 1977 character various members of Parliament were he got called to make his first intervention.
You wonder just how much interest he was paying to the concerns of the bill or of his constituents that his first intervention was that.
I too am a great fan of Star Wars © 1977 , I also love the number of parodies that are available through YouTube etc. Heck even Doctor Who last night was again full of references to Star Wars © 1977 and indeed other other science fiction. You have to wonder would the BBC have to be shut down for blatantly stealing copyrighted material. The line "Help me Doctor, you're our only hope." being a prime example.
Ok Pete Wishart, got up to speak soon after. Pete is one of the few MPs of whom I have bought some of his copyrighted material, both as CDs and indeed to see him perform live. Other's do include Charles Kennedy, William Hague and Vince Cable, although theirs are merely books and haven't been copied unto my laptop, like Runrig, so I can listen to them wherever I am.
During Wishart's speech Connarty rose again to say:
Therein lies an issue, these two are part of a Parliamentary group protecting performers rights. Thing is I am a performer, I've played in bands, I've written songs, poems and written a lot of stuff to which I hold the intellectual property rights and copyright. A lot of that I have given freely to public use. Some of it I still make a small amount of revenue from. But we see that Michael has sort of declared an interest there, he's also the chair of the Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group, another vested interest in this debate.
His final intervention came during on of Tom Watson's contributions.
I'm not sure but is Connarty telling the farming community that they better replant their hedges and make their fields smaller again here. He's also missing one thing that our whole world depends on, diversity. Options of what needs to be done has to meet the needs where the situation exists. Using the analogy of the American plains where the larger fields in tornado alley did have this effect does not apply to East Anglia where the vast fields still thrive. Thus it is with the move to a digital economy.
There are arguments that the technology that powers up most computers Microsoft's own operation system is actually stolen property from the University where the founders first came up with the idea. The same could be said of the largest search engine Google. In the enclosures that these projects first started out they were small and unlikely to get anywhere, once however they were unleashed by whatever means they have become essential to our everyday existence.
That folks in why the Digital Economy Bill fudge in the wash up period is bad for all of us. Also why my Labour opponent in 4 weeks time has clearly not got it over digital economic matters. He clearly should have sought better counsel than his own front bench.
In the end he voted for the Bill, hardly agreeing with me about the concerns within it as he emailed me initially.
Readers may remember that I stressed my concerns, and those of a number of constituents who had written to me about the various clauses in the Bill. On the day of the rushed committee stage of the bill many amendments were raised, spoken about and then withdrawn by the proposers purely as an expediency of time. That was the shameful way in which this complex bill was rushed through the elected house. If there had been sufficient times these amendments would have been properly discussed at committee stage and where there was dissent put to the vote.
I'd also stressed those concerns to my Labour opponent in the election, who is of course also my own MP. He responded initially with the response 'I agree'. When I wrote to him again earlier this week, he replied 'this is something that [he] will leave up to the front benches'. So how did he perform in the debate.
First up after a little bit of back of forth of pointless identifying which Star Wars © 1977 character various members of Parliament were he got called to make his first intervention.
"I am listening with great interest to my hon. Friend and I am a great follower of Star Wars. I realise now, however, that my hon. Friend has identified himself as Yoda [© 1981]."
You wonder just how much interest he was paying to the concerns of the bill or of his constituents that his first intervention was that.
I too am a great fan of Star Wars © 1977 , I also love the number of parodies that are available through YouTube etc. Heck even Doctor Who last night was again full of references to Star Wars © 1977 and indeed other other science fiction. You have to wonder would the BBC have to be shut down for blatantly stealing copyrighted material. The line "Help me Doctor, you're our only hope." being a prime example.
Ok Pete Wishart, got up to speak soon after. Pete is one of the few MPs of whom I have bought some of his copyrighted material, both as CDs and indeed to see him perform live. Other's do include Charles Kennedy, William Hague and Vince Cable, although theirs are merely books and haven't been copied unto my laptop, like Runrig, so I can listen to them wherever I am.
During Wishart's speech Connarty rose again to say:
"I am grateful to another vice-chairman of the Performers Alliance group in this House for giving way. Is it not a myth that co-operation, as we have heard, could somehow solve this? People are not talking about co-operating and sharing their own thoughts and content, but are stealing someone else's content and sharing that. There is an Armageddon, which has partially arrived in Sweden, where the Pirate party, whose leader is in jail, won seats in the European Parliament on the basis that everybody's work-including MP4's-should be free."
Therein lies an issue, these two are part of a Parliamentary group protecting performers rights. Thing is I am a performer, I've played in bands, I've written songs, poems and written a lot of stuff to which I hold the intellectual property rights and copyright. A lot of that I have given freely to public use. Some of it I still make a small amount of revenue from. But we see that Michael has sort of declared an interest there, he's also the chair of the Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group, another vested interest in this debate.
His final intervention came during on of Tom Watson's contributions.
"I respect my hon. Friend's forward thinking, but he obviously has not studied his history. The enclosure movement took away the enclosures around small fields to make larger fields so that larger technologies could be used. When all enclosures were taken away in America, the ultimate result was that the wind blew the topsoil off the land and the people starved. I think that he has got his analogy entirely wrong."
I'm not sure but is Connarty telling the farming community that they better replant their hedges and make their fields smaller again here. He's also missing one thing that our whole world depends on, diversity. Options of what needs to be done has to meet the needs where the situation exists. Using the analogy of the American plains where the larger fields in tornado alley did have this effect does not apply to East Anglia where the vast fields still thrive. Thus it is with the move to a digital economy.
There are arguments that the technology that powers up most computers Microsoft's own operation system is actually stolen property from the University where the founders first came up with the idea. The same could be said of the largest search engine Google. In the enclosures that these projects first started out they were small and unlikely to get anywhere, once however they were unleashed by whatever means they have become essential to our everyday existence.
That folks in why the Digital Economy Bill fudge in the wash up period is bad for all of us. Also why my Labour opponent in 4 weeks time has clearly not got it over digital economic matters. He clearly should have sought better counsel than his own front bench.
In the end he voted for the Bill, hardly agreeing with me about the concerns within it as he emailed me initially.
Friday, April 09, 2010
The Question of Our Online Past
The removal of Labour's Moray candidate< Stuart MacLennan over comments he made last yearon Twitter whilst a student leads to an interesting dilemma for current and future campaigns. Candidates above a certain age don't have a history on online digital communication from their youth.
Indeed it is possibly candidates around my age who started to use email at University with our tiny allowance on the server that may well be the eldest to possibly have some of our youthful comments retained for posterity on some server or someone's hard drive. Not counting University my online presence goes back for over 13 years, there is a lot of backlog. I've been quite respectful about comments I've made about others, either on my own spaces or in comments on others. But I know many others are not so careful in the language that they use Stuart being one example, but many of my student friends involves in politics of all parties are not always a careful in what they post through Facebook, Twitter or whatever.
It leads to the question are such comments about other parties a new phenomenon or it is merely that the new generation converse in public rather than behind closed doors like their predecessors? The thing is having played chess in the Surbiton club for a while, or the occasion short mat bowls event in a working mans club I've heard the same sort of language used about opponents by Tory grandees and Labour politicians, I'm also not excepting my own party some of the discussions over a pint at a conference hotel can be bawdy as well. The thing is these conversations have always taken place, I suspect even in the Cabinet Room at Downing Street, they just haven't appeared on Twitter.
People use language in different ways, the generations communicate in different ways. Stuart had apologised for those comments made before he was a candidate, that should be enough. But Labour have gone to the extent of sacking him, possibly after he had gained the 10 signatures required to nominate him and will now be seeking a swift installation of a new candidate before close of nominations.
If this really is the first general election of the Internet age the party hierarchies really need to under the 7 ages of the children of the age of the Web. They are going to make many comments in public through social media that in the past were confined to closed doors. But they develop into an age of respectability (possibly) want to get more involved in political life and maybe even stand for election. Very few under 40s do not have a traceable online history, much of that is not the homogenised, controlled outpourings of some of our senior politicians who are trying to keep up rather than stay ahead.
Guess what the future is here.
We have people who have gone on uncontrolled, uncontained, unchecked, online rants in the name of their party, who now are seeking selection for that party. They haven't alwaysbeen careful with the language used and quite possibly may even have been tame compared to others in the discussion. However, if they are contrite and promise to be more careful in the future why should that hold them back?
People are wanting honesty in their politicians. Stuart MacLennan could have easily gone and deleted his Twitter account making is less easy, though not impossible, to find. He didn't and is now paying the price for such honesty not from the electorate but from his own party.
Indeed it is possibly candidates around my age who started to use email at University with our tiny allowance on the server that may well be the eldest to possibly have some of our youthful comments retained for posterity on some server or someone's hard drive. Not counting University my online presence goes back for over 13 years, there is a lot of backlog. I've been quite respectful about comments I've made about others, either on my own spaces or in comments on others. But I know many others are not so careful in the language that they use Stuart being one example, but many of my student friends involves in politics of all parties are not always a careful in what they post through Facebook, Twitter or whatever.
It leads to the question are such comments about other parties a new phenomenon or it is merely that the new generation converse in public rather than behind closed doors like their predecessors? The thing is having played chess in the Surbiton club for a while, or the occasion short mat bowls event in a working mans club I've heard the same sort of language used about opponents by Tory grandees and Labour politicians, I'm also not excepting my own party some of the discussions over a pint at a conference hotel can be bawdy as well. The thing is these conversations have always taken place, I suspect even in the Cabinet Room at Downing Street, they just haven't appeared on Twitter.
People use language in different ways, the generations communicate in different ways. Stuart had apologised for those comments made before he was a candidate, that should be enough. But Labour have gone to the extent of sacking him, possibly after he had gained the 10 signatures required to nominate him and will now be seeking a swift installation of a new candidate before close of nominations.
If this really is the first general election of the Internet age the party hierarchies really need to under the 7 ages of the children of the age of the Web. They are going to make many comments in public through social media that in the past were confined to closed doors. But they develop into an age of respectability (possibly) want to get more involved in political life and maybe even stand for election. Very few under 40s do not have a traceable online history, much of that is not the homogenised, controlled outpourings of some of our senior politicians who are trying to keep up rather than stay ahead.
Guess what the future is here.
We have people who have gone on uncontrolled, uncontained, unchecked, online rants in the name of their party, who now are seeking selection for that party. They haven't alwaysbeen careful with the language used and quite possibly may even have been tame compared to others in the discussion. However, if they are contrite and promise to be more careful in the future why should that hold them back?
People are wanting honesty in their politicians. Stuart MacLennan could have easily gone and deleted his Twitter account making is less easy, though not impossible, to find. He didn't and is now paying the price for such honesty not from the electorate but from his own party.
Monday, April 05, 2010
The Wikio MacBlogopshere Rankings April 2010
I'm doing to just give you the list of Scottish blogs in the top 100 political blogs this month. No padding as I'm busy. Though I will apologise in advance that next months will be late, the 5h May will be the eve of poll it appears.
1. 8 (7) And Another Thing....Tom Harris
2. 16 (21) Cute Greek Baby
3. 30 (29) Subrosa
4. 33 (27) Alex Massie
5. 43 (32) SNP Tactical Voting
6. 49 (48) Stephen's Linlithgow Journal
7. 58 (49) Bishop Hill
8. 61 (79) Rantin Rab
9. 62 (62) Caron's Musings
10. 77 (65) Andrew's Running Blog
11. 89 (68) Scottish Roundup
12. 90 (86) Two Doctors
13. 91 (74) Andrew Neill's Blog
14. 97 (NE) Underdog Bites Upwards
15. 98 (88) Yapping Yousuf
1. 8 (7) And Another Thing....Tom Harris
2. 16 (21) Cute Greek Baby
3. 30 (29) Subrosa
4. 33 (27) Alex Massie
5. 43 (32) SNP Tactical Voting
6. 49 (48) Stephen's Linlithgow Journal
7. 58 (49) Bishop Hill
8. 61 (79) Rantin Rab
9. 62 (62) Caron's Musings
10. 77 (65) Andrew's Running Blog
11. 89 (68) Scottish Roundup
12. 90 (86) Two Doctors
13. 91 (74) Andrew Neill's Blog
14. 97 (NE) Underdog Bites Upwards
15. 98 (88) Yapping Yousuf
Friday, March 26, 2010
Digital Economy Bill Now On the Agenda - Take Action Now! #DEB #DEBill
Yesterday at 11:35 am Harriet Harman announced in an almost throw away line to the commons:
With recent events the letter from 25 Lib Dem PPCs Bridget Fox, Islington South & Finsbury, Julian Huppert, Cambridge, Martin Tod, Winchester, Farid Ahmed, Walthamstow, Jon Ball, Ealing Central & Acton, Alan Beddow, Warwick & Leamington, Mike Bell, Weston-super-Mare, Duncan Borrowman, Old Bexley & Sidcup, Sal Brinton, Watford, Belinda Brooks-Gordon, West Suffolk, Alan Bullion, Sevenoaks, Adrian Collett, Aldershot, Andrew Dakers, Brentford & Isleworth, Sue Doughty, Guildford, Helen Duffett, Romford, Merlene Emerson, Hammersmith,
Gareth Epps, Reading East, Ed Fordham, Hampstead & Kilburn, Steve Goddard, Oxford East,
Simon McDougall, Bognor Regis & Littlehampton, Jo Shaw, Holborn & St Pancras, Sandy Walkington, St Albans, Peter Welch, Southend West, Munira Wilson, Feltham & Heston, Simon Wright, Norwich South. Which I, and I know others, would happily have added our names to. Although I hadn't been selected back when it was written.
Then the passing of the Freedom, Creativity and the Internet motion at Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham. But then yesterday in the comments about the business of the House nothing from the Lib Dem Members of Parliament. I have the feeling we need a large intake of fresh Lib Dem MPs who understand the complexity of this issue as those who were there yesterday didn't catch on to the urgency. That sense of immediate action that had taken us through conference about this one Bill before the House and how we didn't want it in the wash up. Sadly it now looks like being likely where it could end up now judging by the timing announced by the leader of the House and when we all expect Gordon to go to the Palace just before this is due to be debated.
As Bridget Fox one of the architects of the motion and the letter pointed out our MPs currently only deserve two cheers. As she points out our Department of Culture, Media and Sport team have said:
On disconnection without proof less clear, which I like Bridget am a little concerned about.
"The Liberal Democrats are unconvinced of the merits of measures such as temporary account suspension or bandwidth throttling"
Please don't tell me they want to be convinced. They do propose a set of technical measures, to be met before any disconnection would be possible; the main ones are that copyright infringers would be notified by letter, without any risk of their Internet connection being affected for at least a year, and that any process to disconnect users explicitly assumes their innocence until they are proven guilty.
They did also pick up on the issue of open access sites being vulnerable to such actions:
The third cheer will only occur if we don't get a washed up decision on this issue. We need to get proper scrutiny on some of those complex issues that the time allowed currently or in a wash up is not worthy of the issue at hand. If you haven't written yet to your MP please write, if you have already do what Scott at Love and Garbage has done and write again.
The business for next week is as follows:
...
Tuesday 6 April-Second Reading of the Digital Economy Bill [ Lords ], followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Equality Bill.
With recent events the letter from 25 Lib Dem PPCs Bridget Fox, Islington South & Finsbury, Julian Huppert, Cambridge, Martin Tod, Winchester, Farid Ahmed, Walthamstow, Jon Ball, Ealing Central & Acton, Alan Beddow, Warwick & Leamington, Mike Bell, Weston-super-Mare, Duncan Borrowman, Old Bexley & Sidcup, Sal Brinton, Watford, Belinda Brooks-Gordon, West Suffolk, Alan Bullion, Sevenoaks, Adrian Collett, Aldershot, Andrew Dakers, Brentford & Isleworth, Sue Doughty, Guildford, Helen Duffett, Romford, Merlene Emerson, Hammersmith,
Gareth Epps, Reading East, Ed Fordham, Hampstead & Kilburn, Steve Goddard, Oxford East,
Simon McDougall, Bognor Regis & Littlehampton, Jo Shaw, Holborn & St Pancras, Sandy Walkington, St Albans, Peter Welch, Southend West, Munira Wilson, Feltham & Heston, Simon Wright, Norwich South. Which I, and I know others, would happily have added our names to. Although I hadn't been selected back when it was written.
Then the passing of the Freedom, Creativity and the Internet motion at Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham. But then yesterday in the comments about the business of the House nothing from the Lib Dem Members of Parliament. I have the feeling we need a large intake of fresh Lib Dem MPs who understand the complexity of this issue as those who were there yesterday didn't catch on to the urgency. That sense of immediate action that had taken us through conference about this one Bill before the House and how we didn't want it in the wash up. Sadly it now looks like being likely where it could end up now judging by the timing announced by the leader of the House and when we all expect Gordon to go to the Palace just before this is due to be debated.
As Bridget Fox one of the architects of the motion and the letter pointed out our MPs currently only deserve two cheers. As she points out our Department of Culture, Media and Sport team have said:
"The controversial parts of the Bill will need to be scrutinised and voted upon by the next parliament before they can be brought into law. Liberal Democrats MPs would not support these sections of the Bill without this process."On web-blocking they are emphatic
"We do not believe that measures to address site blocking can reasonably be included in the Digital Economy Bill and we will not support any such measures."
On disconnection without proof less clear, which I like Bridget am a little concerned about.
"The Liberal Democrats are unconvinced of the merits of measures such as temporary account suspension or bandwidth throttling"
Please don't tell me they want to be convinced. They do propose a set of technical measures, to be met before any disconnection would be possible; the main ones are that copyright infringers would be notified by letter, without any risk of their Internet connection being affected for at least a year, and that any process to disconnect users explicitly assumes their innocence until they are proven guilty.
They did also pick up on the issue of open access sites being vulnerable to such actions:
"We believe there is inadequate protection in the Bill for schools, libraries, universities and other businesses offering Internet access to the public.....We will take further action in the Commons to improve the legislation."
The third cheer will only occur if we don't get a washed up decision on this issue. We need to get proper scrutiny on some of those complex issues that the time allowed currently or in a wash up is not worthy of the issue at hand. If you haven't written yet to your MP please write, if you have already do what Scott at Love and Garbage has done and write again.
The Times They are a Chargin' - The Musical
When my Uncle first found out I was learning guitar my Christmas present that year was a Bob Dylan songbook. It didn't get much use from me before, I think, I swapped it while at University for a couple of tickets for a new up-coming band called Seymour, you may know them better as Blur. However, one of those songs, indeed it is probably the only one I actually learnt how to play, does seem rather appropriate for a little Stephen Glenn alteration today.
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
A click on a Times link
Will soon make you groan
And accept it that soon
You'll be charged to the bone
If your Times to you
Is worth skimmin'
Then you better start spendin'
Online your news fix to own
For the Times they are a-chargin'.
Come writers and critics
Who spread the news with your pen
>Keep keyboards active
And news free from the pain
And don't link from blogs
For the readers won't win
And there's no tellin' who
That it's readin'
The Times loser now
All the others will win
If the Times they go a-chargin'.
Come Guardian, Telegraph
Please heed the call
Don't charge for your content
Don't put up paywalls
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who installed
A charge to look inside
And it is ragin'
And we'll not open windows
For others we'll fall
When the Times they start a-chargin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the world
And don't charge what's free
That's so very absurd
Your sons and your daughters
Are being charged for words
Your old way is
Rapidly agin'
Please get the new way
Where you widen web's world
But the Times they are a-chargin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
Backward step now
Will later be blast
As the present row
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
The Times of London
Is stuck in the past
So the Times they are a-chargin'.
Music of Bob Dylan, words rearranged by Stephen Glenn (with no assistance from William de Worde*)
* A little mention to the editor of the Anhk-Morpork Times for all my Discworld fan readers. Actually I'd like to see Terry Pratchett's take on this whole situation of the online media overtaking the as yet young and fledgling newspaper industry. A sort of Web 2.0 version of Moving Pictures.
The Times They are a Chargin'
Or why the Times Online business model is turning me off
Or after 22 years readership the grand divorce
Younger readers may not realise this but when I first attended an institute of Higher Education my day started in the University Library in the newspaper and periodical sectio scanning the newspapers. Back then they were all broadsheets none of this Berliner or Tabloid format. The reason being that 22 years ago the papers were not online. Their archives where available on microfilm or microfiche after a few months, or in a filing cabinet in the Library until they were available.
I was studying Economics and in our first week we were told, no instructed, no make that ordered to read the Financial Times plus at least two other papers from different parts of the political spectrum. I chose all three of the The Times, The Guardian and The Independent but for the one I used my student discount to buy and have as my own I chose The Times. One of my shelves in my bedroom became my own catalogue of the back issues for that year and I had a card index or relevant stories. Oh how Google would have made my student days easier.
The reason I'd chosen the Times was not because of its 'balanced' reporting, nor was its political view closest to my own, but because it had the fullest sports section. I even got to see the Northern Irish football results on a Monday morning, almost collapsing one morning in my first year when Bangor where third in the league. I called home to clarify this wasn't an early April Fool joke.
Therefore as Caron has pointed out the news that News International are going to charge for their online edition is making me rethink. I still buy a morning paper every morning and skim the others online. My morning blog post in usually inspired from what I have read or seen on the early BBC breakfast news.It normally gets written up on the bus, it usually includes some quote or other. Obviously I'm cutting and pasting those and linking to the source material
Now if I'm already paying a pound a day for a paper copy of the Time I'm loathe to pay an additional pound a day or £2 a week for an occasional (actually frequent) quote. I only visit the pages online I generally have read in the paper copy for the reason of capturing a quote. I'm also not going to direct my readers to a subscription only service.Therefore now that the Time is not cheaper than the Guardian, and is actually more expensive than the Scotsman now in paper form I'm likely from June to switch my reading habits.
You will have already seen a shift in my linking habits as New International have flagged this potential online charging service. I suspect many other bloggers will follow suit and you wonder just what sort of impact that will have on the Times' online footfall. Knowing the number of out clicks that I get that go to the news sources quoted multiplied by the number of blogs out there it would be quite high I imagine, plus the casual reader will not be willing to chip a pound for browsing.
It is a pity that the Times don't seem to get the media in the 21st Century. The Scotsman only have some articles that premium subscribers have to pay for. Thinks like editorials and comments and certain columnists for example, the bulk of 'the news'is freely available online.
Maybe the Times are wanting us all to go back to that image of huddling in the library to read our newspapers in the online sections. Instead of wrestling with broadsheets and newsprint struggling with the indexing system.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tam Doesn't Get the Social Media Generation
Earlier I blogged about how the SNP had made an epic fail with their "Jim Murphy on Facebook? #EPICFAIL" headline. Well they have just been trumped by my SNP opponent in the General Election Tam Smith. Who has just tweeted:
Being intrigued I followed the link but got this:
Yeah, that's right I get a locked area of his website. Who knows what he was wanting to say about the Labour Secretary of State for Scotland.
I was wondering what his other 11 followers were making of it until I realised how many were backing me.
There is something about glasshouses and stones being thrown inadvisably.
Being intrigued I followed the link but got this:
Yeah, that's right I get a locked area of his website. Who knows what he was wanting to say about the Labour Secretary of State for Scotland.
I was wondering what his other 11 followers were making of it until I realised how many were backing me.
There is something about glasshouses and stones being thrown inadvisably.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Michael Connarty Reponse on Digital Economy Bill
On 16th March I sent the following email to Michael Connarty my Labour MP and opponent once again in the General Election regarding the worrying advance of the Digital Economy Bill.
I have just recieved Michael's repsonse which I will also publish in full.
Michael,
I am rather concerned by the events in the Lords yesterday of the passing of third reading of the Digital Economy Bill. Further I am concerned that as we approach the end of this session this complex issue is going to pass unto the statute books without proper scrutiny, consultation or consideration when it returns to the commons.
I spent a lot of the end of last week lobbying Scottish members of my party who were in Birmingham to first get this issue into our emergency motion slot and then to take action. There was even a letter from 25 of our PPCs and many more have since added their support urging our peers to go further with their amendment to secure civil liberties as well as copyright law in the process. In the end our Freedom, Internet and Creativity motion passed with only one representative against.To summarise my main concerns of the impact it will have :
* This bill, if it becomes law will allow Websites to be blocked by ISPs, search engines and others at the request of "rights owners", without any court involvement or appeals process.. websites will just disappear from view, without warning or notification or even any evidence of wrongdoing.
* This bill, if it becomes law will allow record companies to force ISPs to disconnect users without court involvement, appeals or proof.
* This bill will allow media giants to "steal" copyright property (images, software, music) wholesale by "mistakenly" assuming they are orphaned works.
This bill will add huge costs to every aspect of the Internet in the UK, from additional legal and technical costs, to hampering businesses and harming free speech and competition.
I know that time is running out but I would urge you to prevent this draconian bill being pushed through the house without debate or proper review in the final rush to pass bills before the House rises. This is one matter that by its complexity needs proper examination rather than the somewhat knee-jerk reactionary bill that Lord Mandleson has brought forward.
Yours faithfully
Stephen Glenn
I have just recieved Michael's repsonse which I will also publish in full.
I agree.
Michael
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Quote of the Day on mephedrone
"Just because [mephedrone] is legal to possess it does not mean that this is at all safe."
That is a balanced view from Kay Aisthorpe of police community initiative Safer Neighbourhoods. There are a lot of things in our live that are not entirely safe if used in the wrong way:
- household bleach
- kitchen knives
- motor cars
Just because something is not "at all safe" through one use does not mean that all the rest should be banned. Same goes for our net usage. However, just like that and the Digital Economy Bill I'm expected a knee-jerk, ill-conceived, poorly thought out Labour reaction any minute now.
Although it does take me back to my time at the end of one school term working as the chemistry department lab technician in my old school. One of the younger teachers was trying to replicate one of the old time experiments for his sixth form class as an end of term treat. He'd written his required chemicals in the request book. I had to tell him that I was unable to provide the As2O3 he'd requested. Why asked why I had to inform him that no compounds of arsenic were allowed on school premises.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Digital Economy Bill - YourCountryNeedsYou.com #DEBill
I have to say that Jennie puts the urgency of action well while everyone's favourite Elephant sums up the Lib Dem debate from Sunday (plus other stuff) well. I just want to emphasise the need for you to write to your MP about this, the danger is that the already authoritarian Labour party are going to attempt to rush this draconian bill through the House without proper scrutiny, consultation or debate.
If the internet literate in the Liberal Democrats had to call their own representatives to task over their illiberialism in trying to cut the illiberial nature of this bill how much less can we trust Labour or the Tories to see the light unless you tell them, no not tell them shout at them.
You can if you wise use this 38 degrees webform or if you are local to me write a personal email or visit them at their surgeries. Here are some helpful links to get in touch with the West Lothian and Falkirk representatives.
Linlithgow and East Falkirk: Michael Connarty email connartym@parliament.uk
5 Kerse Road
Grangemouth FK3 8HQ
Telephone: (01324) 474832
Fax: (01324) 666811
Or
62 Hopetoun Street
Bathgate
EH48 4PD
Telephone: (01506) 676711
Fax: (01506) 676722
Falkirk: Eric Joyce email joycee@parliament.uk Twitter id @ericjoyce
Next surgeries:
Michael Connarty
Friday 19th Newton Community Centre 17:00-18:00
Saturday 20th Bathgate Constituency Office 10:30-11:30
Any details of Eric or Jim please let me know in the comments.
If the internet literate in the Liberal Democrats had to call their own representatives to task over their illiberialism in trying to cut the illiberial nature of this bill how much less can we trust Labour or the Tories to see the light unless you tell them, no not tell them shout at them.
You can if you wise use this 38 degrees webform or if you are local to me write a personal email or visit them at their surgeries. Here are some helpful links to get in touch with the West Lothian and Falkirk representatives.
Linlithgow and East Falkirk: Michael Connarty email connartym@parliament.uk
5 Kerse Road
Grangemouth FK3 8HQ
Telephone: (01324) 474832
Fax: (01324) 666811
Or
62 Hopetoun Street
Bathgate
EH48 4PD
Telephone: (01506) 676711
Fax: (01506) 676722
Falkirk: Eric Joyce email joycee@parliament.uk Twitter id @ericjoyce
The Studio, Burnfoot Lane
Falkirk FK1 5BH
01324 679449
Or
37 Church Walk
Denny FK6 6DF
01324 823200
Livingston: Jim Devine email devinej@parliament.uk
4 Newyearfield Farm,
Livingston
01506 497961
Next surgeries:
Michael Connarty
Friday 19th Newton Community Centre 17:00-18:00
Saturday 20th Bathgate Constituency Office 10:30-11:30
Any details of Eric or Jim please let me know in the comments.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
I'm Back
I was in the middle of writing up a piece on prostate cancer, it is Movember after all, in the early hours of last Saturday morning when I suddenly lost all Internet connection. So despite being off all of last week I have been startling quiet.
Douglas Adams used to take extremely long baths, he claimed so that the good stuff came to him, others claimed that he was merely procrastinating. Well this morning I was taking a long soak in the bath when the postie turned up with my new dongle, so maybe there is something to that.
While that is the case my replacement mobile dongle is already proving to be sporadic in its performance and I keep flitting on and offline. I'm sat on the same sofa where I suddenly realised I had changed Scottish Parliamentary Region without moving so it may well be that something is seriously wrong with the 3 network coverage in my area. Of course they are denying that is the case but it would appear to be a more sensible suggestion, especially as my dongle had lit up.
Anyway it meant I had to watch last weeks Strictly Come Dancing and X-Factor in Twitter silence. I also had to watch the results from the Glasgow North East by election with only BBC and STV for company, in the end I stuck more with the STV coverage as it seemed more interesting and diverse than Brian Taylor et al could manage on the BBC.
Tonight though I'll be heading over to Caron's for a veritable smorgasbord of television a Brucie-less Strictly (get well soon Mr Forsyth), Sky-plussed X-Factor, then The Thick of It. All served up with a Chicken Curry, I mean how could I say no.
Douglas Adams used to take extremely long baths, he claimed so that the good stuff came to him, others claimed that he was merely procrastinating. Well this morning I was taking a long soak in the bath when the postie turned up with my new dongle, so maybe there is something to that.
While that is the case my replacement mobile dongle is already proving to be sporadic in its performance and I keep flitting on and offline. I'm sat on the same sofa where I suddenly realised I had changed Scottish Parliamentary Region without moving so it may well be that something is seriously wrong with the 3 network coverage in my area. Of course they are denying that is the case but it would appear to be a more sensible suggestion, especially as my dongle had lit up.
Anyway it meant I had to watch last weeks Strictly Come Dancing and X-Factor in Twitter silence. I also had to watch the results from the Glasgow North East by election with only BBC and STV for company, in the end I stuck more with the STV coverage as it seemed more interesting and diverse than Brian Taylor et al could manage on the BBC.
Tonight though I'll be heading over to Caron's for a veritable smorgasbord of television a Brucie-less Strictly (get well soon Mr Forsyth), Sky-plussed X-Factor, then The Thick of It. All served up with a Chicken Curry, I mean how could I say no.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Website Revamp
There has been a revamp of a website. No not the one all Lib Dems have been talking about, although LibDems.Org.uk does look impressive in its new clothes.
No as I had been saying for some time Tam Smith the SNP PPC for Linlithgow and East Falkirk, well at the start of the month it finally came to life. Not a lot there just now, though Tam appears to be taking me on as a local poitical Tweeter.
However, how obvious is the photo shopping on this picture. The light is coming from opposite directions, the Palace behind Tam's shoulder is his shadow unlike his forehead.
No as I had been saying for some time Tam Smith the SNP PPC for Linlithgow and East Falkirk, well at the start of the month it finally came to life. Not a lot there just now, though Tam appears to be taking me on as a local poitical Tweeter.
However, how obvious is the photo shopping on this picture. The light is coming from opposite directions, the Palace behind Tam's shoulder is his shadow unlike his forehead.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
What I Find Surprising About the Caroline Righton Unpology*
I see that Matt Davies is reporting that Tory PPC for St Austell and Newquay Caroline Righton has issued an unpology. If fails to apologise for the email she sent in response to the Tweet that was reported to her but adapted somewhere along the way from Stephen Gilbert's original. All this while pledging to fight a clean and positive campaign.
What I do find strange is that this A-Listista PPC should take two weeks to get to this stage and still not issue an apology, merely shuffling around that this is some misunderstanding. Cardiff Blogger (formerly of the same party) reports that 'a person rather high up in the Conservative Party (who shall remain nameless)' told him within 3 days of a similar misuse of language he would need to issue a grovelling apology, and certain wording was suggested.This edict came in response to a complaint to David Cameron.
Considering he was only Conservative Future Chairman for UWIC and not a candidate in a tight election scrap you would suspect Ms Righton would have had even more pressure come to bear. Admittedly Stephen's agent's letter only was sent to David Cameron on the 28th October, but the story has been around the Lib Dem Blogosphere for a fortnight and gathering momentum and coverage of the sort that Central Office must surely frown upon.
Recent episodes do show one thing though, the Tories are just as concerned about attempting to control social media as Labour ever were under Damian McBride.
* Use of the word copyright Millennium Elephant
Friday, September 04, 2009
Still Fearing Paperless Working Ten Years On....Come On
I was shocked to read that Alex Foster of all people seems to fear paperless committees. In essence I'm quite disappointed how little has changed since I worked on the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment's 'Leapfrog to the Information Age Initiative' (1999). Has it really been 10 years since we published that?
One of the reasons that Alex gives is that 'many of the councillors are not very happy with IT' which I honestly cannot believe is still an issue. Ten years ago when we were looking at the issue we were aware that there was a great lack of IT knowledge for a knowledge based economy. These days there is a lot less knowledge required by most end users to be fully functional than 10 years ago, yet we still have the argument that councillors aren't happy with IT.
What are they not happy about? Screens are a lot more easily read now than before. Even if a councillor has difficulty with a screen on his laptop as with the guys I work with, at their permanent work station a docking port and larger screen are readily available.
Alex also says that 'the email system isn't too good' well in this day and age that is a ridiculous state of affairs and something that needs to be resolved with either an improved server or a better system put into place. I know that when I return to my private sector desk in a couple of hours time and open my inbox that there will be so much data and information pushed into my inbox first thing when I log on; more indeed than I suspect a councillor will have to get on a daily basis. It doesn't hinder my day I'll be off and running within a minute of opening outlook.
The final argument may have some merit 'laptops for everyone will cost a small fortune'. Yes the initial capital investment is required in the technology. Laptops, docking stations, screens for permanent stations etc. but it can be phased in. First it starts with those that have mobile work positions, not everyone in our office has a laptop. Those that attend regular meetings, work from different locations, mix home working with visits to the office, these are the people with laptops. Must of the people doing the actual work who don't move around much still have desktop computers on their desks, these are the people less likely to attend any sort of 'committee' meeting. Walking the corridors you are often likely to walk past a co-worker carrying their laptop to some meeting room or other. Indeed sitting next to the hot desk stations I often see two colleagues from close but not adjacent desks move over to the space for an impromptu meeting to hash out a particular issue.
Maybe it is because I work in a global environment and not located in one office that working paperlessly seems to be a natural progression. My direct line manager is actually based in Ireland, the client I work for in New York State, the head office of my company is in Florida and I work with 12 sites globally. We are often having conference call meetings, often with shared worktop technology to discuss issues. Communication takes place by phone, messenger and email I don't see much paper in my day to day working, and I don't need it.
The IAI said that one of the barriers to moving with technology was merely a fear of change, but that is not a good enough reason to object to going paperless. The world is largely moving to a paperless way of working out of necessity due to the changing structure of how things work. It may seem easier to keep things as they are, but they are not necessarily best practice. Besides when I am leading a call a little prompt by IM of a point I have missed is often a good way to seamlessly move on to another topic. So there's plenty of reasons that I support Cllr Kristian Smith and West Lindsey DC's bold steps towards paperless committees.
One of the reasons that Alex gives is that 'many of the councillors are not very happy with IT' which I honestly cannot believe is still an issue. Ten years ago when we were looking at the issue we were aware that there was a great lack of IT knowledge for a knowledge based economy. These days there is a lot less knowledge required by most end users to be fully functional than 10 years ago, yet we still have the argument that councillors aren't happy with IT.
What are they not happy about? Screens are a lot more easily read now than before. Even if a councillor has difficulty with a screen on his laptop as with the guys I work with, at their permanent work station a docking port and larger screen are readily available.
Alex also says that 'the email system isn't too good' well in this day and age that is a ridiculous state of affairs and something that needs to be resolved with either an improved server or a better system put into place. I know that when I return to my private sector desk in a couple of hours time and open my inbox that there will be so much data and information pushed into my inbox first thing when I log on; more indeed than I suspect a councillor will have to get on a daily basis. It doesn't hinder my day I'll be off and running within a minute of opening outlook.
The final argument may have some merit 'laptops for everyone will cost a small fortune'. Yes the initial capital investment is required in the technology. Laptops, docking stations, screens for permanent stations etc. but it can be phased in. First it starts with those that have mobile work positions, not everyone in our office has a laptop. Those that attend regular meetings, work from different locations, mix home working with visits to the office, these are the people with laptops. Must of the people doing the actual work who don't move around much still have desktop computers on their desks, these are the people less likely to attend any sort of 'committee' meeting. Walking the corridors you are often likely to walk past a co-worker carrying their laptop to some meeting room or other. Indeed sitting next to the hot desk stations I often see two colleagues from close but not adjacent desks move over to the space for an impromptu meeting to hash out a particular issue.
Maybe it is because I work in a global environment and not located in one office that working paperlessly seems to be a natural progression. My direct line manager is actually based in Ireland, the client I work for in New York State, the head office of my company is in Florida and I work with 12 sites globally. We are often having conference call meetings, often with shared worktop technology to discuss issues. Communication takes place by phone, messenger and email I don't see much paper in my day to day working, and I don't need it.
The IAI said that one of the barriers to moving with technology was merely a fear of change, but that is not a good enough reason to object to going paperless. The world is largely moving to a paperless way of working out of necessity due to the changing structure of how things work. It may seem easier to keep things as they are, but they are not necessarily best practice. Besides when I am leading a call a little prompt by IM of a point I have missed is often a good way to seamlessly move on to another topic. So there's plenty of reasons that I support Cllr Kristian Smith and West Lindsey DC's bold steps towards paperless committees.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
My Top Ten Blogs of the Year
Ok for all those who really want to know here is my top ten blogs as sent to total politics. My criteria were a combination of ones that grab my attention whenever they post, frequency and consistency of blogging and depth of knowledge and personality displayed over the whole 12 months. So as is traditional in reverse order.
10. Liberal Burblings -Sadly having excluded Subrosa (who would have been 8th) who excluded herself from the voting I voted for Paul Walter's excellent blog before he too made himself, made himself illegible for the vote. I could of course have lied and named my 12th favourite blog of the year here but that would not have been right.
9. Charlotte Gore - While Charlotte herself will be one of the first to tell you she and me are opposite spectrums of the party on many issues it doesn't stop me liking how she puts her point across.
8. Yapping Yousuf - With Kezia away for much of the year this young Glasgow economics student filled the void. He is the pre-eminent Scottish Labour blogger of the year, even better than a certain Glasgow based MP IMHO.
7. Himmelgarten Cafe - Mr Quist is one of the new stars of the Lib Dem firmament. He often seems to produce insightful commentary on what is going on around us.
6. Caron's Musings - Last year if I had voted for the blog that I inspired and helped get off it's feet it would have reeked of nepotism. But Caron has come on leaps and bounds in the last year. She is even challenging me not only for the top Scottish Lib Dem blog but the top West Lothian based Lib Dem blog.
5. Slugger O'Toole - Although led by Mick Fealty this collaborative effort is the best example of Northern Irish political blogging and how I keep up with what is going on back home. It covers both sides of the community and those of us who are in the middle. Hopefully a good reflection or prophecy of where Northern Ireland is heading.
4. Mark Reckons - The has been the rising star of the Lib Dem Blogosphere this year and even if I do make the shortlist for the Lib Dem blog of the year for 2009 I fully expect to be beaten along with all the others by this man. Going from nothing to getting the attention of the MSM with his post on MPs Expenses and the correlation with the safeness of their seat. Mark Thompson has been on fire and getting hotter.
3. Lib Dem Voice - The true voice of democracy as any member with a reasonable argument is able to submit and other's from outwith the Lib Dem family are also invited to post on liberal issues.
2. SNP Tactical Voting - Even despite being less tactical since joining the party last year Jeff is now producing the top dog of blogs in Scotland. Even without a partisan Nat vote he would stand head and shoulders above the best that any of the other parties can offer North of the Border.
1. Millennium Elephant - One of only three (I think) Fluffy Liberals that blogs but this pachyderm has a sense or perspective that puts other bloggers to shame. All humans are reduced to the level of appropriate satire and their goings on are retold in similar fashion. Feel however he may again be overlooked for the Lib Dem blogger of the year behind the jealousy of others who point fingers at one of his daddy's being the fingers on the keyboard. As if? How very dare they!
10. Liberal Burblings -Sadly having excluded Subrosa (who would have been 8th) who excluded herself from the voting I voted for Paul Walter's excellent blog before he too made himself, made himself illegible for the vote. I could of course have lied and named my 12th favourite blog of the year here but that would not have been right.
9. Charlotte Gore - While Charlotte herself will be one of the first to tell you she and me are opposite spectrums of the party on many issues it doesn't stop me liking how she puts her point across.
8. Yapping Yousuf - With Kezia away for much of the year this young Glasgow economics student filled the void. He is the pre-eminent Scottish Labour blogger of the year, even better than a certain Glasgow based MP IMHO.
7. Himmelgarten Cafe - Mr Quist is one of the new stars of the Lib Dem firmament. He often seems to produce insightful commentary on what is going on around us.
6. Caron's Musings - Last year if I had voted for the blog that I inspired and helped get off it's feet it would have reeked of nepotism. But Caron has come on leaps and bounds in the last year. She is even challenging me not only for the top Scottish Lib Dem blog but the top West Lothian based Lib Dem blog.
5. Slugger O'Toole - Although led by Mick Fealty this collaborative effort is the best example of Northern Irish political blogging and how I keep up with what is going on back home. It covers both sides of the community and those of us who are in the middle. Hopefully a good reflection or prophecy of where Northern Ireland is heading.
4. Mark Reckons - The has been the rising star of the Lib Dem Blogosphere this year and even if I do make the shortlist for the Lib Dem blog of the year for 2009 I fully expect to be beaten along with all the others by this man. Going from nothing to getting the attention of the MSM with his post on MPs Expenses and the correlation with the safeness of their seat. Mark Thompson has been on fire and getting hotter.
3. Lib Dem Voice - The true voice of democracy as any member with a reasonable argument is able to submit and other's from outwith the Lib Dem family are also invited to post on liberal issues.
2. SNP Tactical Voting - Even despite being less tactical since joining the party last year Jeff is now producing the top dog of blogs in Scotland. Even without a partisan Nat vote he would stand head and shoulders above the best that any of the other parties can offer North of the Border.
1. Millennium Elephant - One of only three (I think) Fluffy Liberals that blogs but this pachyderm has a sense or perspective that puts other bloggers to shame. All humans are reduced to the level of appropriate satire and their goings on are retold in similar fashion. Feel however he may again be overlooked for the Lib Dem blogger of the year behind the jealousy of others who point fingers at one of his daddy's being the fingers on the keyboard. As if? How very dare they!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Last Chance to Vote
At Midnight tonight the voting will finally be over and we'll all (with a few noticeable exceptions) be waiting in suspense for the results. Yes the voting phase of the Total Politics Best Blogs Poll is drawing to a close.One of my own original draft top ten gave their reasons for why thy pulled out of the voting here. Personally having known that in the first year when I did feature that Iain Dale drew the conclusions himself and in the second year when experts in each field did much the same thing that the current system for an established glimpse into the blogopshere is fairer and more reader driven.
I can see that some people don't like the chase for votes that some people with rather more testosterone than others. I'd like to think that on my blog my own thoughts on this were to really gauge what was the best even if not from your own stable. I also use some of the points that Subrosa used in that blog post, and I hope she doesn't mind, and mentioned in the write up of this year in the Scottish Blogosphere.
So for the last time this year if you still haven't got that email off, there is still time. For full details and rules, please see this previous LDV posting. Then email your Top Ten Favourite Blogs to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Forty Eight Hours
I'm a bit concerned that all the clocks in Bloggerdom appear to be running a little fast. As a horologist this is very disconcenting.Now you have until midnight on Fridar to vote. That is 2 days or 2880 minutes from Midnight Wednesday or now.
LibDemVoice that the bongs for 10 o'clock tonight left 48 hours but this is of course 50. Norfolk Blogger thought it was the case at 17:49, but when even the Blogmeister Mr Dale himself thought so at 18:48 who can blame the others.
But Yes, that’s right folks now really it is only 48 hours to go. You have until midnight this Friday to cast your votes in the Total Politics poll of Top 10 favourite blogs. This year, the poll is being co-promoted by Lib Dem Voice, LabourList and Iain Dale’s Diary.
For full details and rules, please see our previous LDV posting. Then email your Top Ten Favourite Blogs to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
Monday, July 27, 2009
4.2 Days, 4.2 Hours, 4.2 Minutes* Left to Vote
*OK I can't really get 0.2 of a minute sorted out.
As you can see I'm carrying on with my unconventional countdown to the Deadline of the Total Politics Best Blogs of 2009 Poll closing.
0.2 of a day is 4 hours 48 minutes, 0.2 of an hour is 12 minutes. Therefore 4.2 days + 4.2 hours + 4.2 minutes = 4 days 9 hours 4 minutes and 12 seconds.
Yeah time really is ticking by so if you haven't already get a move on, think of your ten Top Blogs of this year and get voting.
The rules are largely the same as last year's mass participation event.
1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).
2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted.
3. You MUST include ten blogs. If you include fewer than ten your vote will not count.
4. Email your vote to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
6. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents are eligible or based on UK politics are eligible.
7. Anonymous votes left in the comments will not count. You must give a name
8. All votes must be received by midnight on 31 July 2009. Any votes received after that date will not count.
Iain Dale is asking us not to list a 10 on our blogs to encourage others to vote for them, so if you want to see my list you're going to have to wait until August the 1st, although I see that others have done I'm not going to be tempted by premature posting.
The rules are largely the same as last year's mass participation event.
1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).
2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted.
3. You MUST include ten blogs. If you include fewer than ten your vote will not count.
4. Email your vote to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
6. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents are eligible or based on UK politics are eligible.
7. Anonymous votes left in the comments will not count. You must give a name
8. All votes must be received by midnight on 31 July 2009. Any votes received after that date will not count.
Iain Dale is asking us not to list a 10 on our blogs to encourage others to vote for them, so if you want to see my list you're going to have to wait until August the 1st, although I see that others have done I'm not going to be tempted by premature posting.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Sorry Stephen I Just Don't Have Time for this Meme
Stephen Tall over at Lib Dem Voice has challenged us to a very interesting weekend meme:
Unfortunately I have my own homework from Mr. Dale, with the same deadline for the 'State of the Scottish Blogosphere' and I really must get on with completing that. So I don't really havve time to respond to that. But if you are a Lib Dem reader feel free to help out Stephen Tall, if you are Scottish answer below the same questions for Stephen Glenn.
Obviously it your Scottish replace Lib Dem with Scottish in the above and question 3 with:
How is the Scottish Blogosphere served by the Labour, SNP, Conservative, Lib Dems, Greens and other parties?
Nice to be back so close to Mr. Tall as before other Stephens filled the gap our names stood side by side on the LibDemBlogs blogroll.
When Iain Dale asked if Lib Dem Voice would this year co-sponsor Total Politics’ Best Blog Poll 2009, he also set me some homework: to write c.1,000 words on ‘the State of the LibDem blogosphere’ by the end of the month? As you will see from the date, my deadline is fast approaching.
I’ve got a few ideas of what I intend to write, but I’d greatly appreciate the insistence of Lib Dem Voice readers – as well as Lib Dem bloggers – to ensure my analysis is suitably rounded and informed. I’ve come up with five questions I want to (try and) answer in my article:
What are the greatest successes of the Lib Dem blogosphere?
What are we, collectively as bloggers, failing to achieve?
How does the Lib Dem blogosphere compare with those of the Labour, Tories and other parties’?
How helpful is blogging as a campaigning tool (are there examples of it making a real impact)?
What do you think the next year holds in store for the Lib Dem blogosphere?
How would you answer them? If you have a blog, please feel free to address
them there, and leave a link to your article in the comments thread. If you
don’t have a blog, please feel free to address them directly in the comments
thread.
Unfortunately I have my own homework from Mr. Dale, with the same deadline for the 'State of the Scottish Blogosphere' and I really must get on with completing that. So I don't really havve time to respond to that. But if you are a Lib Dem reader feel free to help out Stephen Tall, if you are Scottish answer below the same questions for Stephen Glenn.
Obviously it your Scottish replace Lib Dem with Scottish in the above and question 3 with:
How is the Scottish Blogosphere served by the Labour, SNP, Conservative, Lib Dems, Greens and other parties?
Nice to be back so close to Mr. Tall as before other Stephens filled the gap our names stood side by side on the LibDemBlogs blogroll.
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