About two years ago, I decided that I wanted to “take back control”1 of my data. I had been mulling over the idea for some time, conscious of arguments that had been raised by web celebs like Jeremy Keith and Jeffrey Zeldman. I became aware of a growing movement known as POSSE – Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere.
Hopkins, Trump and the Resistable Rise of Stupidism.
I know nothing about football. I know what a football is and I did watch a game once, honest, but try and engage me on who scored what in the last Milk Cup and I will stare at you blankly.
The idea that all opinions are equally valid is palpable nonsense. My knowledge of the beautiful game could fill the inner circle of a pin-head. Should it therefore have as much merit as Gary Lineker’s? Of course not. When it comes to football, chemistry, micro-biology and the economy of Tuvalu I am very happy to admit that I’m ignorant.
Nowadays – that makes me an expert.
Over the last decade, the stock in stupidity and uninformed opinions has risen exponentially. Writing in his classic 1992 treatise The Flanshaw Infants* on the potential of the World Wide Web, futurologist Dr. Terence Dobson wrote: “with too much information at their disposal, people…
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There are no words…
The man in the middle of the photo below (in the baseball cap) is Thomas Muir. Thomas was a member of Britain First, and last year he murdered Jo Cox MP while shouting the name of this organisation.
In France, a road has been named after Jo Cox in honour of her life and in memory of her horrific and untimely death.
Yesterday Donald Trump, the so-called President of the United States of America, retweeted three anti-Islamic videos – at least one of which is proven to be bogus – from the deputy leader of Britain First, a convicted racist and fascist.
Theresa May issued a statement saying that Donald Trump shouldn’t have done this.
Donald Trump’s response was to use his little hands to tell Theresa May via Twitter to focus on problems with terror in the UK. And that the US is doing “just fine”… (Actually, prior to this he told someone called Theresa Scrivener the same, before realising she wasn’t Theresa May – demonstrating that he lacks the mental faculties required even to use Twitter responsibly.) Theresa May is currently on a tour of the Middle East and has just become the first major foreign leader to visit Iraq since the fall of Mosul.
I’m not exactly a fan of Theresa May, but here I am sort of defending her.
What really troubles me is I don’t know where we go from here. Donald Trump has passed down through every threshold to now represent the deepest dregs of civilisation. There are no more words left to describe what he is or what he’s doing.
I wrote to my MP to ask her to support my views in a parliamentary debate, her response was to tell me I was wrong and she didn’t even attend the debate
(Update: It turns out she also didn’t bother to actually write a letter to me either, see the bottom of the post.)
For a multitude of reasons, I support proportional representation (PR) systems of voting. The UK currently operates a first-past-the-post (FPTP) system of voting. This means that almost every Government in power in the UK rules without the majority of the country’s support (in fact, far from it).
Green Party election broadcast
Although the Greens have become known for their irreverent take on party broadcasts (see last year’s one at the primary school, or the boy band the year before), this year’s local election broadcast is altogether more sombre and hard-hitting:
A Green perspective on the Copeland by-election, and a rallying cry for a better electoral system
Last Thursday, history was made as the Conservatives took the Copeland parliamentary seat from the Labour Party. The seat had been held by Labour for 82 years, and it’s the first time a governing party has won a seat from the opposition in a by-election since 1982. And as the Conservatives have been proudly touting, it’s the first time a comparable by-election win has occurred for well over a century. While undoubtedly a seismic event, a closer inspection of the numbers, and of the events that took place during the by-election campaign, reveals a host of curiosities.
Copeland by-election: opposing nuclear power, and voting Green, is the only rational choice
Originally published by The Ecologist on 17 February 2017.
The media, and every other candidate in next week’s Copeland by-election, have fallen prey to the nuclear industry’s mighty PR machine by backing the planned Moorside nuclear mega-project just next to the Sellafield site.
Trying to set the story straight is an uphill struggle, and can at times be maddening. But it’s worth the fight.
Why there is no progressive alliance in Copeland
Published on Left Foot Forward on Thursday 2 February 2017. This is the unabridged version!
On Friday 13 January, the Green Party announced that it would be standing a candidate in the Copeland by-election. A decision had been reached by the local party in Copeland at its AGM the evening before. Within minutes of the announcement, onlookers on social media questioned why there was apparently no progressive alliance for the seat.
New Year’s resolutions for WordPress developers
I wrote a post of New Year’s resolutions for WordPress developers for Post Status. It’s a compilation of some of the things I have learnt since joining the WordPress.com VIP team a little over a year ago.
New Year’s Day walk
A walk around Loweswater to see in the New Year.
Jack Lenox 