The objection to Puritans

  …is not that they try to make us think as they do, but that they try to make us do as they think – HL Mencken Hey look, lads, Claire Curtis-Thomas is back again with her top-shelf campaign, this time using the Graun’s right to reply facility […]

How not to promote democracy…

The traditional election night could come to an end because of new voting laws, the elections minister has said. The new laws mean election officials have to check signatures and dates of birth of postal voters – something they say cannot be done in one night. Democracy Minister […]

The Fishwives of Fleet Street

Episode # – shit I’ve lost count – in the new reality show that’s sweeping the nation, the commentariat -vs- bloggerati, and it’s time for the Indy’s Yasmin Alibhai-Brown to wade into the fray on the side of the pro’s… Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Hounded by assaults from cyberspace Where […]

Someone tell me how we justify this…

I’ve just finished watching tonight’s Panorama, which was a follow-up to a programme earlier this year about continuing care for the elderly. If you didn’t see it, you can find the link to watch the show online on this page – go on, watch it. In fact if […]

Complete the following sentence…

It hasn’t taken long for some the wrinkles in Dr Demento‘s grand plan to appease the tabloids… err, I mean rebalance the criminal justice system in favour of better headlines… err, I mean victims, to start emerging… I cannot go one day without having to confirm to a […]

Incidental to Law and Order…

So Dr Demento (hat tip to Simon Carr – needs ‘you know what’ juicing) has resurfaced with his 24 point plan to straighten out the criminal justice system, for which the Beeb have helpfully provided a handy little summary/guide. Yes, all very useful – although I must admit […]

Avoiding the Question – the results…

It’s Smashy and Nicey time, folks (na nah naah na-na-naah na na na-naaaaah) – yes it’s time for the ‘avoiding the question’ chart rundown… . And surprisingly – if most of the answers are anything to go by – at number 10 its the Home Office, who’ve knocked […]

A very merry unconference to you…

Apropos of my last post and my comments about Steve Moore and Policy Unplugged, I’ve been looking into this whole ‘unconference’ thing he mentioned and turned up this from Wikipedia… An unconference is a conference where the content of the sessions is driven and created by the participants, […]

Are we pissing on the Commenterati’s chips?

To no one’s great surprise, the news that a survey commissioned by Julia Hobsbawn’s fledgling PR meets the professional commentarati project, Editorial Intelligence (oxymoron anyone?), has identified Polly Toynbee as the ‘columnist of choice for opinion leaders‘ (whatever the fuck one of those is when its at home) […]

Avoiding the question…

Bit of a Wat Tyler question for you today… Q. What costs the taxpayer in excess of £60,000 a year and provides nothing in return? A. Parliamentary questions to which the only answer given is that the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Seriously, having done […]