In Brussels it’s reasonably easy. There I was (and indeed still am) the EU politics blogger nerd. So if there are events and conferences to attend I go to ones about EU politics on the web first and foremost. Then I will go to ones about institutional reform or centre...
So 2 days after #NetrootsUK, and a load of recriminations rumble on, mostly on Twitter. Sigh. Here’s a selection. @Jessica_Asato I would like to have gone just as ordinary attendee but received no info so assumed was an invite only event — Luke Akehurst (@lukeakehurst) January 8, 2011 @LukeBozier V....
In as far as I can work it out, the problem – in essence – with Netroots UK is that it’s too much about politics on the web, and not enough about the politics and consequences of the web. What do I mean? Essentially the speakers (even those on the...
We’re half way through Netroots UK, and I am struggling with this event a bit. Here are a few tweets that raise some of the important questions: Very good question. RT @jvictor7: What's #netrootsuk all about?? — Dave Briggs (@davebriggs) January 8, 2011 http://twitter.com/anthonypainter/status/23696610999402497 Green party girl says she feels...
Having seen that Phil at A Very Public Sociologist has thrown his hat into the ring for The Orwell Prize 2011 for bloggers, I’ve decided to do the same – it’s a self-nominating prize. Info here. I’ve been at this blogging lark for more than 5 years now and maybe...
The way Yes To Fairer Votes makes the case for AV didn’t strike me as correct when I first read their website. I am all in favour of simple, compelling arguments, but when over-simplification results in statements that are only tangentially linked to the matter at hand something is not...
Today’s Guardian has an article entitled “Public to choose policies as coalition gets the X Factor“, stating ministers will ensure that the most popular petition on the government website Direct.gov.uk will be drafted as a bill. Sigh. There is not a hope in hell that this is going to work....
A Very Public Sociologist has completed a second annual survey of the number of Twitter followers of people who also write political blogs in the UK. I finished up 34th on this list last year, now I’m down to 61st. Other people who blog alongside their main non-media day job...
April 2, 2001. Less than a decade ago, but the European Union looked rather different, and the careers of 3 politicians looked rather different. Enlargement to central and eastern Europe was in process at that time, and the Euro would be found in citizens’ pockets less than 8 months later....
Snowy pavements are not the same as pavements with broken paving stones – both of them can cause you to trip and fall, but the former happens all at once when it snows heavily, while the latter happens gradually over the years. That’s why countries like Belgium* and Germany have...
There have been a couple of watershed moments in UK online politics in the last few weeks, notably the reaction to the Wikileaks cables and the decision of a number of well known British political bloggers to stop blogging, importantly Iain Dale and Tom Harris. These developments are related and show,...
The whole Wikileaks saga has left me torn and confused. My automatic reaction is to welcome the leaks, to welcome the fact that we know much more now about how the wool has been pulled over our eyes as citizens about matters ranging from the hopelessness of the war in...