- The Post-Game Show On A Tory Win
I should have written this, yesterday, rather than rambling on with a narrative that no-one read, but I didn't, and Andrew did, so go read his piece: "The Tories don’t like you. They don’t care about you. They will try to ruin your life. They will shut down women’s shelters and homeless shelters and youth clubs. They will hinder minority rights and keep brilliant foreigners out of the country because they talk funny. They will take a hacksaw to the NHS, and they will turn the BBC into a pirate radio station. They will remove safeguards on everything from banks to trains just to turn an extra buck. They will guarantee that struggling families have to struggle more, and that people on the fringes of society are pushed further to the fringe, because they are only interested in the preservation of wealth among the wealthy and the conservation of stifling and fantastical Victorian values. They are monstrously awful."
Tag: politics
Bookmarks for April 19, 2010
- YouTube – Iron Man Punches Hugh Grant
A daft little video that tickled my funnybone in a disproportionate manner.
- This Is Apple's Next iPhone – Iphone 4 – Gizmodo
"Whoops" say Apple. "We've accidentally generated a load of hype for the product we were pretty much ready to announce in a matter of a couple of months. Oh dear."
- Penny Red: There's just no pleasing some people.
I skate in just ahead of the group that Penny Red is talking about here – a decade older, with fractionally more financial security, I can afford to rent a place on my own, although not do anything as extravagant as *buy* somewhere, but the sense of political disenfranchisement she's talking about is bitterly familiar.
Bookmarks for April 9, 2010
- Economist/YouGov polling: This week's Economist/YouGov poll | The Economist
I would love to see a similar poll conducted over here, because I bet it would get similar results. No one I know is in favour of cutting funding to the NHS, Education, Social Services, Pensions, infrastructure, or really, anything. And yet, we look like we're going to elect people who are going to do that.
- If you're looking for class war, you can find it – in David Cameron's policies : Johann Hari
I try and be tolerant about people who fall in different places on the political spectrum to me, I really do. But as this article makes clear, David Cameron is poised to declare economic war on me, my friends, and those less well off than us.
Bookmarks for February 12, 2010
- Light Blue Touchpaper » Blog Archive » Chip and PIN is broken
The tech details will be lost on most of you, but in brief: if an attacker can get your card cloned, then they can also pretend to know your PIN – fraudulent transactions they make will be reported to the bank as "Verified by PIN". This is bad, because if a transaction is reported as "Verfiied by PIN" then as far as the bank is concerned it's legit, and not disputable. Chip and PIN is, and always was, design to protect the banks, and not the consumers. Just y'know, saying. You might want to write angry letters to your banks, and suchlike.
- Liberal Conspiracy » Astonishing transcript of Boris evading questions
Well, what did you expect when you all voted for the fuck? Someone who might be good for public services in London? I know Ken was a weasel too, but he was at least London's weasel, with the interests in London in his weaselly little heart (possibly some distance behind his own interests, but they were *there*), and every time I read a story about Boris, my blood pressure spikes something dreadful.
- Liberal Conspiracy » Glenn Beck comes to UK; advertisers run away!
This, I feel rather neatly sums up some key differences between the UK and the US. Just occasionally, I'm happy to live in the country I do.
- Fuck you, Google « Fugitivus
And this is why google buzz is poorly implemented, badly designed, and generally a massive fuck you to all google's users. I'm still trying to work out how to switch it off completely.
- Introduction to Square
Not sure if this is available to people in the UK yet, but if and when it is, this is could make life a lot easier.
- Cope » Caillois completeness
Interesting set of metrics for judging the game-ness of something.
Bookmarks for January 20, 2010
- Auto-appendectomy in the Antarctic: case report — Rogozov and Bermel 339: b4965 — BMJ
Ever wondered what it would be like to perform surgery on yourself? No? Why not? Well, anyway: here's a description of what it's like to have to give yourself an appendectomy. In the Antarctic. With next to no help.
- A Rant About Women « Clay Shirky
Clay Shirky opens up a serious can of worms, noting that women do not push themselves forward in the way men do. Part of me wants to say "well, *duh*". Shirky suggests that if women behaved in a more self-aggrandising manner, they'd get more equal treatment. I'm just not sure that I want to encourage any more people to behave like some of the self-promoting male pricks I've met.
- plasticbag.org: Should we encourage self-promotion and lies?
Tom Coates identifies some of the problems with what Shirky is suggesting – the problem isn't just that women don't push themselves forward, but often that the wrong people do, and what we should be focusing on is ensuring that everyone correctly advertises their own level of experience and ability – that those that *do* self-promote heavily while they can be useful, can just as often be a total pain.
- apophenia: whose voice do you hear? gender issues and success
Danah Boyd's repose to Shirky and Coates is excellent reading.
- Mass Photo Gathering – I'm a Photographer, not a Terrorist
Trafalgar Square at noon on Saturday. Anyone interested?
Bookmarks for January 13, 2010
- Marco.org – How to post photos on the internet
I don't think I'm <em>too</em> guilty of these. Generally, I've only done one or two of these things to a photo. Honest.
- Clegg lays down law to Cameron on gay rights – UK Politics, UK – The Independent
Wow. This is an excellent move. Certainly it's making me seriously consider voting for them.
- Official Google Blog: A new approach to China
You're bound to see/have seen this one all over the place today. Still worth logging, and very, very impressive of Google to do it. Will be interesting to see what the outcome shakes out to be, although I suspect I can guess… Also, obviously, this is a massively concerning thing that China is doing, and well, fingers crossed it'll stop with exposure, although again….
Bookmarks for January 4, 2010
- A Form of Madness – Dive Into HTML5
HTML 5 forms. Oh, this is going to make interface design much nicer. In about four of five years, anyway.
- What Could Have Been Entering the Public Domain on January 1, 2010?
Thought it was worth pointing this one out, as there's bound to be another round of copyright extension lobbying fairly soon – when isn't there? Here's a list of what could have been public domain today, were it not for the 1976 extension. Can you find an argument for any of these works not being in the public domain now?
- Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes | blasphemy.ie
For all I make jokes about being a "good protestant boy", in the years since the Good Friday Agreement, I had more or less come to believe that a united Ireland was a good and desirable thing – the British have unquestionably fucked the place for centuries, and eventually the majority opinion in the North is going to be in favour of a united Ireland. That was until today, when I discovered that Ireland have enacted a law forbidding blasphemy. That's so fucking retrograde it's unreal, and genuinely makes me concerned about a united Ireland again. And if you need a demonstration of why it's stupid, well, take a look here.
Bookmarks for November 27, 2009
- Why does Peter Mandelson favour the Analogue Economy over the Digital? | Technology | guardian.co.uk
Doctorow writing in the Grauniad about why the DEB is a bad idea on a social and economic level.
Bookmarks for November 19, 2009
- Mandelson seeks to amend copyright law in new crackdown on filesharing | Politics | guardian.co.uk
Yep, looks like Doctorow is on the level. Right then. Letter writing ahoy. Get on with it, the lot of you.
- BREAKING: Leaked UK government plan to create "Pirate Finder General" with power to appoint militias, create laws – Boing Boing
Awaiting more detail/confirmation on this, but if right, then regardless of which side of the copyright debate one falls on, I think we can all agree that this is particularly shitty. It should not be possible for an individual minister to alter the law without parliamentary oversight and due process, but if this is the case, then this is exactly what Mandelson would like to be allowed to do, and he needs to be stopped.
Bookmarks for November 2, 2009
- Vicious Imagery: New Home Office rules ban graphic novelist
Yet another example of the Home Office's new rules on artists visas hammering at the creative industry in the UK.