Archives for Politics
On the OLPC Movement... (February 20, 2008) A couple of months ago I was asked by Icon Magazine to write a review of the OLPC XO laptop for the developing world. You can read the finished article in their January issue or on their site (OLPC review...
On Labour, Ipsos MORI and the TPS... (October 2, 2007) This is one of those grumpy old curmudgeonly men blog posts that I kept reading on the web and never really understood until very recently. I'm just warning you so you can get out now. I have a long-standing grudge...
On Monocle, Nat Torkington & Place branding... (August 22, 2007) While reading the new issue of incomprehensibly fascinating magazine Monocle--which has a parallel web presence orchestrated by ex-boss Dan Hill that stubbornly (and equally incomprehensibly from my perspective) refuses to include any content whatsoever from the magazine--I stumble upon...
Destroying meaning and undermining language... (March 22, 2007) I have absolutely no idea whether or not Americans actually feel that Hilary Clinton is a Big Brother style control freak with a desire to enforce some kind of conformity or not. And in a way that's not the point...
My first reactions to the Gowers Review... (December 6, 2006) So the Gower's Review has been released and you can download it as a PDF. I've not read it in detail yet, although I hope to in the next couple of days, but the impression I get is that in...
On Gower and Release the Music... (December 5, 2006) Tomorrow the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property will report its findings, which should be of interest to everyone in the UK who cares about everything from DRM, the legal situation regarding copying your own music onto your iPod (strictly speaking,...
An Inconvenient Truth... (September 16, 2006) My politics are pretty well known to people who read this site, I suspect - I'm basically economically centrist, believing in the the necessary efficiencies of a free market curbed from excesses and derailment by regulation at the extremes. I...
On the Politicisation of Science... (FOO '06) (September 6, 2006) One talk from FOO Camp 06 started off fascinating me and end up driving me to distraction with frustration. Chris Csikszentmihályi from the MIT Media Lab did a talk about the implicit politics that lies behind all technology. Initially I...
A major terrorist alert is crippling airports... (August 10, 2006) So pretty clearly the biggest news of the day is that - according to Scotland Yard - a terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US has been uncovered. The UK's threat level has...
On Massively Multiplayer Propaganda... (August 8, 2006) Simon drew my attention to a site called GIYUS.org the other day and it's been in my thoughts ever since, and I've come to think of it as a really troubling kind of troll-supporting political malware, representing a technologically-empowered massively-distributed...
Protect your bits with the Open Rights Group... (July 30, 2006) Tell you what - you go on holiday for a couple of weeks and the e-mail that piles up... Sheesh, I'll be ploughing through this lot for weeks. Earlier today I think I managed to get up to a rate...
On Charles Kennedy's resignation... (January 7, 2006) I'm not a great commentator on UK party politics on this site. That's not to say that I don't have strong political beliefs. Far from it - I have clear and well-established views on a lot of issues, I care...
America vs. the Congestion Charge... (October 18, 2005) There's a highly entertaining little story that's getting everyone's backs up in London at the moment that I suspect hasn't really crossed the Atlantic yet, and might amuse a few people. But before I can tell you about it,...
On Ben Goldacre's "Bad Science"... (September 12, 2005) While I'm talking about the Guardian (reports from friends within the printing presses are that it's looks beautiful), i thought I should probably mention an article that I read on Thursday last week which I thought was one of the...
On "Liberality" for all... (July 31, 2005) Normally I'd linklog something like this, but I didn't think people would really get how jaw-on-the-floor stunned I was about it unless I wrote something a bit more substantial. So here we are. I'd like to introduce you all to...
Brief thoughts about the make-up of the G8... (July 8, 2005) While watching the lunchtime news today I was suddenly struck by what a strange assortment of countries constituted the G8 and so did a little research on Wikipedia. The G8 constitutes: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United...
My view of the 2005 General Election... (May 7, 2005) So an election has come and gone and what a strange experience it was. This was the fourth election in which I've voted - in order my vote has gone to the Liberal Democrats when Paddy Ashdown was still in...
A political accord of non-voters... (May 3, 2005) I'm watching Michael Portillo on This Week today and he makes a really interesting point about turn-out at the election. He suggests that people tend to vote less when they think they know what the outcome is going to be....
Some resources to help you at election time... (April 17, 2005) An election approaches in the UK and for the first time ever I'm unsure about who I should be voting for. And just for some perspective, to give you some idea of where I'm coming from, I've voted for the...
How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB? (November 4, 2004) Today's front page in the Britain's Daily Mirror. I'm fairly sure that there's a large number of people around the world who are asking themselves the same question. If you're interested in this stuff, the BBC has a page which...
The tarnish is the flag... (May 17, 2004) It's probably evidence of the good that a couple of days off work can do to a man that I suddenly find myself able to write a brief post about politics - a subject that I'd normally handle with kid...
On a difference between wonks and geeks... (March 1, 2004) Here's a suggested difference between geeks and policy wonks that might go some distance towards making the two groups get on with one another better. It is my contention that the two groups simply have radically different registers and types...
Live from ETech: iRobot... (February 10, 2004) For the most part the ETCon keynotes are pretty much high-concept fluff. They're fundamentally high-profile, high-glamour bits of hardcore tech that (often) are completely outside the practical experience of the so-called Alpha geeks that attend these events. But they have...
ETech Adjunct: Weblogs and Journalism... (February 9, 2004) I'm watching the panel on the role of journalism as part of the Digital Democracy and it's the first teach-in of the day that feels like a teach-in. Nonetheless, I'm not sure that I'm finding it terribly useful - probably...
Live from Etech: Digital Democracy Part II (February 9, 2004) Two more Digital Democracy Teach-In events come and go. The guys from meetup.com put together a couple of presentations including some useful statistics and a few nice punchlines, but I'm not sure I learned anything particularly new during it. Certainly...
Live from Etech: Joe Trippi... (February 9, 2004) Rapid recontextualisations make my head hurt. Nonetheless today I'm not in Los Angeles having fun with friends in drag. Today instead I'm watching Joe Trippi talking about American politics and the consequences and effects of the Dean's internet-enabled online fund-raising...
What I'm faxing to my MP... (January 31, 2004) What follows is a letter that I'm sending through to my MP via FaxYourMP.com. If you feel strongly about this issue too, then I would ask you to consider expressing your sentiments accordingly. The views expressed - of course -...
On pets... (November 12, 2003) So Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was apparently - woo - a tremendous success in the States and everyone was so happy about it and stuff because - ha ha - funny gay men patronising the dumbass straight men...
Political clarity... (October 31, 2003) For many recent Labour voters the last couple of years have been a bit of a troubling time - with some of the actions of the government (particularly with regard to the War in Iraq) seeming to be violently and...
On Gordon Brown's Speech... (September 29, 2003) The full text of Gordon Brown's speech to the Labour party conference is well worth a read whether or not you rate his aspirations or his ability to achieve them. I personally think it presents an interesting and honourable model...
Tories would close BBC website... (August 26, 2003) I'm going to just report this without much in the way of comment while I try and work out what my professional relationship with the BBC means about my ability to give my personal opinion about things like this: Tories...
Can weblogs change politics? (July 6, 2003) Are you interested in the political implications of weblogs and social software? Then come to Can Weblogs Change Politics? - an event held in the House of Commons on July 14th. Here's an quick excerpt from the proposed topics of...
On rapid constitutional change... (June 13, 2003) Beat this Americans... 1,400 years after the post was first created, the role of the Lord Chancellor in the UK has been abolished. And, for the first time in hundreds of years, the political establishment and the judiciary have been...
Steven Pinker and the Perfectibility of Man... (May 8, 2003) There's fragments of a paper in my head. I need to find ways of noting this stuff down that doesn't collide with my writing on this site. It goes back before Clay, to a place of darkness that is somewhere...
Are you sure? (March 21, 2003) I went to see Richard Dawkins talk at the Douglas Adams Memorial Lectures a couple of weeks back. Dawkins was introduced by Stephen Fry, who quoted Niels Bohr in saying, "Anyone who is not shocked by quantum mechanics hasn't understood...
A Singular Lack of Integrity? (March 16, 2003) On the news now, a correspondent reported from the Azores where the pro-war-in-Iraq lobby have been meeting. She said something I found startling. Apparently at several points during the last few months it had looked like the UK/US position would...
Let them hate as long as they fear... (February 28, 2003) Excerpts from John Brady Kiesling's letter of resignation sent to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell: Dear Mr. Secretary: I am writing you to submit my resignation from the Foreign Service of the United States and from my position as...
Why I didn't go on the Stop the War march... (February 16, 2003) Today 750,000 people in the UK converged on London to take part in the "Stop the War" march. And here - if such a thing is possible - is where I try to put into words my reasons for not...
On Acts of War... (February 6, 2003) There are two links I've seen on the net in the last couple of days that fill me with terror and foreboding. And I mean this literally - lying in bed awake at three in the morning worrying about what...
Smoking and the smoking gun... (February 3, 2003) Here's another intriguing article from the New York Times: Ah, Those Principled Europeans. Here's a stripped-down outline of the article in question: Europeans, GMOs and Smoking: Europeans have to make clear when they're selling food that contains genetically modified organisms....
Anti-Americanism versus Anti-Europeanism... (February 2, 2003) Presented with limited commentary, two articles about the relationship between Europe and America. One from the Washington Post (Politicians With Guts) that makes the stunning suggestion that a continent of states should make decisions on international politics based upon whether...
On moral ambivalence and heroism... (February 2, 2003) Kurt Vonnegut - the writer of Slaughterhouse 5, my favourite book of all time - finally joins my rogues gallery of personal heroes. I'm not sure it's an honour that he'd aspire to, or even accept - particularly given the...
How to contact Kim Howells and tell him what a plonker he's been... (January 21, 2003) Thanks to Matthew Davis, George Wright and Tim Duckett for writing in with various e-mail addresses for Dr Kim Howells, the Minister for Culture who so resolutely confused music piracy online with drug-dealing and prostitution and in the process declared...
Why are there less overtly political left-wing or centrist weblogs? (November 24, 2002) Are there less left-wing or centrist political weblogs than right-wing weblogs? And if so... Why? It's a sentiment I've heard a lot in recent months, particularly in relation to the warblogging phenomenon. If it is true, I have some theories...
Where's the urge to change the world gone? Where's the idealism? Where's the naîvety? (November 15, 2002) Over my life I've found myself motivated by music more than almost anything else. That push that the right song can give you more often than not is the thing that shoves my mood or sensibility forward. It's a spiritual...
In which I respond to a huge post about social software with a huge post about social software... (November 13, 2002) Must-read interaction/community techblog of the moment is City of Sound, a site that I found initially via the Slipknot be-hoodied Matt Jones. Our two otherwise independent vectors of interest have recently collided quite heavily around MP3s, list-making and social software,...
On the responsibility of linkage... (October 27, 2002) Ok. Right. This is where things start to get interesting. Firstly, a metaphor. Imagine if you will a solar system - let's make it a binary system with planets that fly around it. Watch the suns move around one another....
On the horror of warblogging... (October 24, 2002) This is a difficult post to write. It's difficult because I've avoided writing it for far too long. It's difficult because it forces me to face some things that I've tried to pretend weren't happening. And it's difficult because it...
A piece of writing from a book about Baudrillard pertaining specifically to Nietszche and history... (October 23, 2002) I've been re-reading a little book on Baudrillard because it's the only thing that fits in the pocket of my brand new coat (excessive money spent - we'll say no more about this). In it I've stumbled upon a section...
There is no European viewpoint... (April 27, 2002) There's a hell of a lot of simmering resentment pouring out of America at the moment towards Europe and Europeans. Large portions of the right-wing media are full of it, but it's not only there. There seems to be resentment...
Do you love America? (December 21, 2001) The answer to the question Do you love America? is clear. The answer is that America is a myth that many (but not all) free countries aspire to. The USA itself aspires to be America. But it isn't there yet....
The Problem of Happiness... (June 27, 2001) In my mind at the moment is the following quote from Brave New World, combined with my refreshed memory of temp slavery and the realisation that business news is full of conversations about unhappiness at work, frustration and stress and...
Being a rant about Green politics... (February 7, 2001) What is green politics for? Is 'saving the planet' really worth the effort? And is 'saving the planet' really what we're talking about anyway? If we are honest, people who talk about saving the planet are essentially talking about preserving...
On 'Balanced' and 'Impartial' Journalism... (September 14, 2000) I've just read this astonishing article on a conference held by journalists about the reporting of gay issues: ["'Gay' journalists turn activists"] At this conference the question of "balance" came up - the question was Do we have to present...
Mr Massow's fun new haircut... (August 6, 2000) Mr Massow was on television this morning again, with his rather alarming new haircut. The irony is, he's never looked more right wing. My interest in him is long founded and based around the four major features of his life...
More on Gay Marriage... (July 17, 2000) A few people seem think I fell from the womb an angry crusader for queer politics. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. I started my big gay life as the biggest anti-queen you can imagine - my...
Men, Women, Breasts and Circumcision... (May 14, 2000) Very much delighted to see that blogger has chosen the feminist media watch collaborative weblog as their log of the week. I'm relatively well informed in feminist theory as many of the issues in queer theory are derived from previous...
On giving gay people guns... (March 21, 2000) There are benefits and there are horrors to staying on people's floors. Benefits include not having to pay rent, seeing more of your good friends and getting to know local geography. Horrors include continual exhaustion, sometimes uncomfortable bedding and making...
