OneHourAhead

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The Huhney Monster

He has been a bit quiet recently but these two quotes from Chris Huhne show why he and Liberalism are effing brilliant.

On Labour ignoring the advice  on the classification of Cannabis:

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said that, as its advice had been disregarded, ministers should disband the advisory council of experts and replace it with an advisory council of “tabloid newspaper editors”. BBC News

and on Boris, the new oh-so-liberal Conservative Mayor of London banning alcohol on public transport and then the Government doing possibly one of the dumbest things ever and following suit nationwide: 

Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said: “A drinks ban on all public transport including long-distance rail would be completely over the top, widely ignored and impossible to enforce.

“This would be the nanny state gone mad. Ordinary passengers should not be punished for the misbehaviour of a minority.” Daily Mail

HT: MW and DK respectively

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RIOT! (swiss style)

While you were all off practising your democratic rights yesterday, out here in the REAL world ANARCHY ensued. Well I say ANARCHY, really it was anarchy as the swiss don’t really do violence (which is strange really as they are all armed to the teeth - so it turns out Charlton Heston was right: guns DON’T kill people, idiot americans do)

(not sure if that video will work but go here if it doesn’t)

This was all of course in aid of International Worker’s Day. I don’t quite see what smashing a window at McDonald’s before being shouted out by an old man (at which point the rioters seemed to back down) whilst the Lausanne police parade around in their shiny riot gear (which had obviously never been used before) has to do with international workers rights, but at least it let some socialists vent their anger (if you look at the video closely you’ll definitely see a fat, one-eyed scottish rioter crying and wailing at the world).

I unfortunately missed it all due to being utterly bourgeois and instead spending the afternoon i had off (because obviously you don’t work on International Worker’s Day) down by the lake having coffee at the Hotel Angleterre. Oh, the strain of the riviera life!

A more political and less gloating post will no doubt be forthcoming once the dust has settled from yesterday but I would like to say one thing now: Bloody well done to everyone involved.

Have a nice weekend.

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At least thanks to Liberalism, it won’t be the gallows this time

It seems one of our poli-blogging contingent may be in a slight spot of bother.

Mr Paul Staines aka ‘Guido Fawkes’ of the high moral ground was caught earlier this month (I think after the ASI blogging evening as there were rumours of someone waking up as a guest of Her Majesty’s Constabulary) driving whilst twice over the drink-drive limit and with no insurance. tut tut. This apparently isn’t his first offence. For the story in the Independent go here, for schadenfreude go here, here, here or here, for no comment go here or here.

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55 years ago today…

…Watson and Crick published their paper on A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. It can be found on the Nature website for any of you that wish to read it. For those of you in Cambridge, may I suggest you go and have a drink in The Eagle tonight to celebrate them!

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The Real Choice

Julian Glover reports in the Guardian today that the London Mayoral elections are now just a two-horse race. Their Guardian/ICM poll shows Boris nudging it with 51% of the vote (collating both first and second choices) with Ken on 49%. It has Brain back with the rest of the pack with just 10% of the vote. I have no idea as to the veracity of this claim as I am not particularly interested in psepology? phespology? psheology? the study of elections. (Update: psephology, it’s psephology. Thank you Fraser Nelson)

But if it is true, and Londoners will choose not to have Brian as their next mayor then I cannot but think that it is really a truly sad thing for London, and politics as a whole.

Here is a REAL candidate, not someone put forward by the party through sheer weight of personality that has never been interested in the capital before, not someone who has used London as his own personal socialist state inviting dictators round for tea.

Here is a candidate who has a done a REAL job, one of the toughest, a police officer in London, and rose through the ranks due to outstanding ability to become one of the top cops in the city, not someone who has used his aristocratic connections to smarm his way through politics, or has backstabbed his way through the incestuous back channels of British socialism.

Here is a candidate with REAL values, liberal values which suit one of the most liberal cities in the world, not a right-winger who admires black people’s “Watermelon smiles” or a left-winger who hates all that do well in life but is happy to take money for himself and his cronies.

Here is a candidate with REAL integrity, who stood up to the top brass of the net when the did wrong and he wouldn’t go along with them and lost his job because of it, not someone who will leave the people who currently have elected him for the chance of a higher profile job, or someone who will not condemn suspicious activity even within his own staff.

Here is a candidate with REAL ideas, who will engage with people and stand down if he doesn’t fulfill his promises, not someone who won’t defend his ideas or someone who will renege on election promises.

So in London there is a REAL candidate, his name is Brian Paddick and he is the Liberal Democrat choice for Mayor. He is the only REAL choice.

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Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire

If you are in need of a good laugh this morning pop over to DK here where the great and good of the UK poliblogosphere, i.e. Tim Ireland, Iain Dale and Paul DeLaire Staines are acting like four-year-olds and continually calling each other liar. Iain has even used the f-word. Ummm, I’m telling.  As you can imagine there are lots of references to “Mine’s bigger than yours”, “go on then, get yours out” and “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours”.

Honestly guys, get a room, a nice bottle of champagne between the three of you and snuggle up together to watch Top Gun - it would be easier on all of us. 

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Facebook frenzy

1,2,3….Go!

I have recently had a Facebook frenzy updating my woefully out-of-date profile and answering all the messages, notifications, friend additions and all the other various crap with which Facebook is now filled.

How does this relate to you lovely people.  Well the lucky ones amongst you may by now received an electronic magic friendship request from someone purporting to be “Andrew Tate”. If so, then it is I.  Or of course it is a completely separate Andrew Tate - that would be pretty weird though!  If you haven’t received said request then either I missed you out by mistake, you ain’t hip with the kids so aren’t on Facebook or I hate you and all you stand for. I’ll let you choose which.

Add me or don’t add me, I’m cool - although if you don’t add me I will hunt you down and kill you like the dog you so clearly are!

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Get in my son

Who’s the white LibDem leader

That’s a sex machine to all the chicks?

(Clegg!)

You’re damn right

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50 best TV shows "of all time"

Me like meme. From Mat Bowles, who got the story from here. These are, according to Empire Mag, or rather there obviously straightjacketed readers, the 50 greatest small screen treats ever. in history. wow. The Wire makes it in at No 8. Told you it was great. Although how in the hell it was beaten by something as shit as Buffy I do not know.

Rules are: Bold for ones you’ve got (originally DVD form but I am expanding to include my, erm, totally legit downloads). Italics for the ones you’d happily watch, rent or buy, strikethrough for the ones you think are crap. Bold and italic for the ones you have some of but not all and leave as normal the ones you couldn’t care less about).

50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex And The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek (TOS)
42. Only Fools And Horses
41. Band of Brothers
40. Life On Mars

39. Monty Python’s Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI: Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood
30. Dexter

29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf
25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office UK
22. The Shield
21. Angel
20. Blackadder

19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who
15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld
10. Spaced

09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24
05. Lost
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. The Simpsons

Some stuff I have got I no longer really like that much (The Office, Family Guy) and although I like scrubs and have most episodes, it certainly ain’t one of the top 50 shows ever. I also understand I will have to hand in my passport and renounce my British citizenship for committing the cardinal of English sins: striking through no. 28. Sorry but Fawlty Towers was balls. Ripping Yarns was much better.

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Blogging and that

Continuing the meta-blogging mode of late where we all question our existence at the behest of the member for Hornsey and Wood Green I thought I would add my dix centimes.

Firstly, I would like to point out what I think Lib Dem blogs do right:

• Local issues: I know, blah blah, localism, blah, blah but, although personally I don’t read them one of the best things about the Lib Dem blogosphere is that there are many councillors, AM’s and MP’s out there that are blogging for their constituents, not for you and me and Westminster.  This is an excellent way to get across to people. For instance, say you are a young mum or dad in central Manchester wondering about schools and centres for your kid, you hear of a possible new centre called ‘Butterstile’. You google ‘Butterstile Children’s Centre’ and the first entry is Richard Baum’s entry on the place, above the local paper link.  People click there and find out about the centre AND about Richard Baum, who they may never have heard about before, they are then introduced to Richard, the Lib Dems and the local party.  Excellent. I bet every local blog has a story like that and they all add up.
• Write well:  When I first started blogging I thought my writing was pretty good, what with my A in GCSE English and all.  Thought you’d all be falling at my feet waiting for my next morsel with which to satisfy yourselves.  Unfortunately I started blogging around about the time Alix Mortimer did. Bugger.  Next to her it just looks like I am beating my fists against the keyboard whilst drunk on envy.  Add to that a sprinkling of James, Paul, Neil, Jonny and Anders plus many more and we have ourselves a very coherent, eloquent voice out here on the interweb.  This may seem like a minor point but there is nothing that is going to turn off people like summit that ain’t write wellen like.
• Wimmin: I know there could always be more but at least there are some. We’ve got Alix, Bridget, Charlotte, Jenny, Jo, Jo, Jo, Linda, Lynne, Mary, Maureen and Meral and even a bonafide Baroness. The Tories have got Mad Nad. Nuff Said.
• Constructive criticism: We understand that those poor dittle people wearing yellowly orange in the westy minsty housey somewtimes get it an incey bit wrong. Aw, bless ‘em, look at ‘em in there nice Burton suits. We pat them on the head, point them in the right direction and let them get on with it. We don’t castigate them for not bringing back hanging or not killing all the poor. Neither do we stick our tongues right up their fundaments.
• Issues: Our blogs actually contain issues, some of the quite in depth discussions on areas of our or others policies. They are not the electronic equivalent of “You know your MP, right? He takes it right up the chutney, he does. Swear.”  The latter may get more page views but doesn’t quite move the debate on as much as the former.  Some of the blogs I generally agree with, some I don’t, but at least I/we have the chance to think about stuff whereas others are not so fortunate.
• Non-issues:  Be it James Graham’s discussions on the inner workings of the British comic market, Jenny detailing her latest hangover or Ed Fordham’s daily virtual tours around North London, we shouldn’t be afraid to, dare I say it, show our personality. Oh gosh!  I love The Wire, most comedy and stupid or profound things written down.  And, godammit, when I’m done you bastards will love them too!

So that’s all good, what about things we could do better? 

Lynne’s originally post was about whether the blogs could be used as a more pro-active, attacking campaigning device a la the Great Union of Richard.  This is a possibility but one that I think is unlikely.  In the UK, the poliblogs with larger audiences or more well-known seem to be the ones with no immediate party political affiliation, even if they do tend towards the right, libertarian edge of the spectrum.  The party political ones are not so well-read or good, maybe for the reasons highlighted in Andy Mayer’s post on the subject, essentially they are not free to do what they wanna do, to ride their machines without being hassled by the man.  It could also be that we are all such frightfully nice people that we wouldn’t dream of such nastiness.

The reason Lynne brought up this subject was due to her Twitter post receiving a lot of attention and spreading around the Lib Dem blogosphere and beyond.  I think there are three lessons from this that other MP’s et al could learn from if they want to get more representation here in electric world:

1. Be Zeitgeisty - Twitter is the new Facebook which was the new MySpace which was the new, er, tea-room.  Everybody seems to be banging on about all of a sudden.  I don’t move from my desk all day (sob sob) and hate my mobile phone so don’t subscribe to it, but with Brian now signed up it is definitely the soup de jour.  Getting to grips with these new ways of communicating could be vital.  Don’t get me wrong, I still think knocking on someone’s door and explaining why Lib Dem bin collection would be better is vital too, but for an increasing number a knock on the door from someone in a rosette is about as popular as one from a Jehovah’s Witness with an eye for your kids.
2. Be First.  Who was the second MP to have Twitter? Is there one? Do we care? No. Lynne Rules. End of story. She was there first and the rest of you can bugger off.
3. Have Friends.  I know, strange. But if you tell 10 people and they tell 10 people and so on then soon the whole world will know. The ones with computers anyhow. And if some of those friends are outside the LD blogs then real people get to find out too. Wonderous.

So my first message to the party people is if you want us to write about something, and you want others to write about us writing about something, then, well do something.

We do support you but, firstly, we are all self-serving individuals at heart and want you to do things we like and, secondly, try to actually engage with us (and lo and behold others).  These are the secrets to being written about. 

The question shouldn’t be “Are we making the most of blogging?” it should be “Are MP’s make the most of the bloggers?” or “Is the party making the most of a completely new and revolutionary way of communicating?”  The answer to both is not quite (but if I were a Tory or a Labour supporter the answer to that question would be Fuck No! Arragh, shiit!).  

The recent interviews have been a great start and if I was in the country I would have bought Millennium as many sticky buns as he wanted to be able to go along and engage. 

But there are other opportunities. 

We should look at setting up video or skype interviews, or follow Brian’s lead with the Twitter interviews. 

We should also look at how to engage other technically savvy people with the use of t’internet.  Engage the young’uns on Facebook, MySpace or Bebo.  It is not good enough to have a static webpage or profile.  You wouldn’t knock on someone’s door and then stand still and silent when they answered?  Why would you do that on the web? 

A great example of this is explained by our web pioneer Steve Webb in the video I linked to last week.

Blogs, Social networking, Youtube, Twitter, Skype, the Dynamic web are all part of the same system that can allow the party to communicate with people that it couldn’t before and are all begging to be used to suck up voters.

Do, Do, Do, Engage, Engage, Engage - that is the answer to making the most of blogging.  In My Humble Opinion.