Comments for The Albert Memorial is still there

Comment on Why I refuse to participate in Remembrance Day by sismum

sismum — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:25:11 +0000

Sorry Simon – as a 1st Cornet Brass Bander you used to lead off the parade to the Cenotaph here and then fetch up at the Local Conservative (wash your mouth out) Club for refreshments. Though perhaps you regarded this as a gig rather than a participation in the ceremony!!

Comment on The insanity of personal credit by sismum

sismum — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:20:19 +0000

and if you’d have had the need to make a claim due to deteriorating personal circumstances, you’d have been jolly glad to have had that payment protection insurance missold(?) to you!! Insurance is one huge gamble – “Risk, Chance or Fortuity”. (I passed an examination in the subject – See Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute Examination Part 1 – Elements of Insurance Textbook Chapter 1) Personal experience has much to be grateful to some bank official suggesting same

Comment on Why I refuse to participate in Remembrance Day by Sam Barnett-Cormack

Sam Barnett-Cormack — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:37:43 +0000

I’m not sure calling it a ‘zenith’ captures how I feel about it. Perhaps ‘nadir’.

Everything else, I broadly agree. I don’t wear a red poppy because it’s taken on meanings in popular conception that cause me to feel that wearing it wouldn’t be compatible with my personal commitment to Truth – people would read things into it about my views that aren’t accurate. I remember the fallen, what they fought for, and why we should strive to never have such conflicts again, simply by learning about it and remembering it. Why should anyone expect me to do more?

Comment on The last remaining socially acceptable form of racism by Joe

Joe — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:21:08 +0000

Perhaps you live in another world. Racism is very much socially acceptable. Just ask the immigration officers down at the Port of Dover who practice Racism on a daily basis. They are certainly the lowest scum on earth, however they are givwn the power to do anything that desire to an ethnic individual who is entering the UK LEGALLY. Also other organizations like the Ruskin College of Drawing and the RCA are clearly quite racist. They function in a secret society relaying information between one another to systematically keep out ethnic males. There is a lot of racism going on behind the curtains of many insitutions and organizations. The lie they project is one of tolerance but in reality they are anything but. I know, because i was one the receiving end of a lot of it. I shall NEVER forget.

Comment on Now I’m outraged over the News of the World by sismum

sismum — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 14:27:38 +0000

I didn ‘t call for a boycott of the NOtW, however I did sign petitions to prevent the takeover of BskyB for the simple reason I do not feel it appropriate that a major News Corporation should also have an influence over the TV News. Whereas the NotW is a scurrillous scandal rag and always has been they do mount important campaigns with great success exposing wrongdoing, it is just a pity that sometimes the end does not justify their means, more ethical editorial control is the answer, not cutting off the nose to spite the face.

The Police officer who failed to follow up the original investigation is guilty of a certain amount of negligence, but pursuing a criminal investigation into a few celebrities having their dirty little secrets exposed, as was originally thought, would have taken up valuable Police time more better employed following up real criminal activities.

It is a tribute to the impartiality of News Corporation who actually have a minority shareholding in Sky News anyway, that the reporting by Sky News of these events has been as hard hitting as that of their competitors. Perhaps Rupert Murdoch is trying to prove something here?

Comment on Now I’m outraged over the News of the World by Stefanie

Stefanie — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:24:55 +0000

Hi Simon,

To introduce myself, my name is Stefanie and I am the editor for owni.eu. I have an editorial inquiry for you, and I was wondering what would be the best way to contact you? Thank you, great post and very insightful!

Comment on Now I’m outraged over the News of the World by Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:36:31 +0000

I don’t think many were calling for a boycott with the aim of hurting the paper itself or its staff. Boycotting the NoTW, along with The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and Sky, is the only way of getting at those repsonsible; those working for News International & News Corp.

Closing the NoTW and the loss of the 200 jobs is a cynical move by those parent companies and the blood of those 200 livelihoods is on the hands of the Murdoch family and Rebekah Wade/Brook.

Most of the immediate reaction that I saw on Twitter was revulsion at a move that appeared to scape goat those innocent employees to save 3 or 4 genuinely culpable people (although there are a number of people arguing that anyone choosing to work for News Int can no longer call themselves “innocent”).

Comment on Challenge and groupthink amongst the #localgovweb community… by Dominic Miller

Dominic Miller — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:15:08 +0000

Hi Everyone

You all seem just the sort of people i am trying to reach out to. I see you all have a strong interest in local government, social media and everything digital. Keep up the excellent work!

We at Nottingham are working hard to launch http://www.portfoliocreative.org and an innovative new website that hopes to save the public sector money by enhcouraging us to share marketing resources.

I’d like to ask if you would please take a look and share any feedback you may have about the site.

Also I’d like to ask whether any of you would like to get behind this project and support us as a local authority trying to launch something innovative.

It’s been suprising how hard it is to get local government colleagues to support eachother. Saying that though we now have over 80 local authorities signed up to the site!

I look forward to hearing back from you.

Dominic

Comment on WordPress – can it cope to power a whole council’s main website? by Magnus Ramage

Magnus Ramage — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:56:52 +0000

Very interesting stuff. I was involved in writing an Open University module (T215 Communication & Information Technologies, http://bit.ly/4dN9om) which has students collaboratively create a website using WordPress. We wrote the course two years ago, and it’s been great to see since how much WordPress is growing as a website creation tool in large websites.

Comment on Challenge and groupthink amongst the #localgovweb community… by Dan Slee

Dan Slee — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:08:36 +0000

There’s nothing so dull in following a line-by line argument online or in real life.

There’s people on the Oatcake messageboard *still* arguing over whether or not Gudjon should have been sacked from Stoke City in 2002.

We can all learn. All of us. Me included. And those Centro stats made for interesting reading.

So let me just say ‘come here, Dave and give us a big man hug…’