Wednesday 26th December 2007

10:40 pm

My 8 wishes for 2008

Gravatar Paul Walter has tagged me in a meme. He wants me to say what my 8 wishes for 2008 are. So, not one to want to disappoint, here are my 8 wishes: 1. For the Lib Dem blogosphere to be more than just 11% female. 2. To meet Lynne Featherstone MP. 3. For us to gain PR. 4. For my writing to be more successful as I am aiming to work harder at it in 2008! 5. A reduction in petty infighting and self-defeating attitudes in the Lib Dem Party. 6. To kiss David Tennant. 7. To be happy and ...
10:09 pm

For All Those Still Thinking Of The "Titanic" After Last Night

Gravatar I like the music...one of the few songs that ends with Morse code (!).... I'm not so keen on the video though... This got to no 54 in 1978 in the UK chart! Does anyone other than me remember it?
9:39 pm

Remove parental control on the BBC iPlayer?

Gravatar There seems to be a large flaw with the BBC iPlayer, their Parental Control feature is based on a cookie. This makes it very easy for any computer whiz kid to allow themselves to watch programmes which are normally shown after the watershed whenever they like. And to top it off, the BBC explain how to delete the cookie in their help page.
7:14 pm

Youtube at Xmas

Gravatar Time Lapse video allows an unusual thought to be worth watching for just over 1 min.
7:00 pm

Quarter of a million YouTube viewings

Gravatar At the end of last week, I hit a milestone on my YouTube channel - quarter of a million viewings of all my videos. It's odd to think that two years ago, I have hundreds of video clips shot all over the planet yet I had no audience for them. Very different now and I still have hundreds of clips to edit and post up, especially after my recent visit to East Africa and Madagascar. Travel video
5:54 pm

Paediatricians and Child Protection

Gravatar There has been much debate recently about Export Witnesses, Paediatricians, the GMC and Child Protection. A lot of the difficulties arise from the mismatch between medical decision-making and legal decision-making. However, there are other factors that need looking at. Given a bit of spare time today I will make a start at consolidating information about this. It is worth looking at a few
5:19 pm

What is a 'Family network'?

Gravatar One item in Nick Clegg's acceptance speech a couple of weeks ago appears to have caused some anxiety in the Liberal Democrat blogosphere. "That's why I will set up a network of families, who have nothing to do with party politics, in every region of this country so they can tell me what my priorities should be." Jonathan Fryer agonises over the use of the word Family here, although James Graham appears to have already resolved his worries here, and Alix Mortimer adds further analysis here. I'm also slightly troubled by the concept proposed, but not for the same reasons. ...
2:50 pm

Top

Gravatar Ok it is probably only briefly and other teams have a game or two in hand but following Leeds 1-1 draw with Hartlepool we are briefly top of the League!! Think about what an achievment that is Minus 15 at the start of the season and top on Boxing Day
2:43 pm

Three years ago

Gravatar Over 200,000 (some estimates say 250,000) people died in the Tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean.  Around the region ceremonies have been taking place to mark the event.  In Thailand alone (pictured above) it was estimated that around 8,000 perished. Make you think how lucky we all are as we go about our daily lives.  Our [...]
1:52 pm

A time for family

Gravatar Bloody Christmas. This year in the People’s Republican grotty grotto we have unemployment, overdrafts, deceased relatives and fathers detained several hundred miles away*. On the plus side, we also have cheese. A lot of cheese. Still, overburdened as you are with all those wry and amusing “looks” taken by newspaper columnists at the ribtickling social implications of Yuletide, you will be pleased [...]
12:09 pm

Talking about our democracy

Gravatar There are two articles in today's Western Mail about the devolution project. One offers a useful starting point for debate, the other in my opinion takes us down a blind alley. Wrexham MP, Ian Lucas is quite right in suggesting that the present devolution settlement plays into the hands of the separatists, although I suspect that we agree for different reasons and each of us envisage a different end-game. Mr. Lucas suggests that there is a need for further devolution to the English regions to counter-balance that in Wales and Scotland. His preferred mechanism however, is to set up Regional ...
11:59 am

What's hiding in the family tree?

Gravatar Spending more time than I normally would do with my family has led to some fascinating discussions. I have always been told our family has an 'interesting' history (isn't everyone told that?!) but strangely for me, curiosity hadn't kicked in and I hadn't even bothered googling my surname. Perhaps there are some things you are better off not learning about when you are 27 and are still attempting to find your way in life. Or so I thought. I used to listen to the many stories and think how great they would be in a future short story or novel. ...
11:53 am

How about "Old Year Resolutions"?

Gravatar I guess I was about nine when I gave up with New Year Resolutions. I tried, honest, but I always found myself distracted. Maybe I was just a little over ambitious with my aspirations. That promise I made to read the Bible when I was 6 and never got past the first two pages. That novel I started writing when I was 7 and didn't get past the first chapter. That wild and unrealistic ambition to be good! Anyways, this year I am trying a new approach. I have an "Old Year's Resolution" to get all my paperwork out of ...
11:47 am

Draw against Pool puts Leeds United on top of League One - at least for a couple of hours

Gravatar The weather was breezy, cold and damp for Leeds United's first ever league game against the monkey hangers at Victoria Park, which is just across the river from here, in Hartlepool. The game started slowly on a slippery pitch and the first chance in the match came in the 21st minute when Michael Nelson headed in, for Pool, from 6 yards, 0-1. Leeds responded and started to play a bit, forcing their first two corners on 30 minutes but Pool were looking more dangerous and had the most possession. In the last 10 minutes before half time chances fell to ...
11:12 am

Gobbledegook?

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10:26 am

Women Of the World

Gravatar I've sent in my nomination this morning for the "Best Blog by a Woman Lib Dem. I won't say who I've nominated... But I wanted to mention three blogs from outside of the UK that I think are worth reading: I would describe Echidne of the Snakes as a well-written American liberal/feminist blog. It maintains a sense of humour, with , for example, Monty Python's "Hells's Grannies" turning up
9:49 am

Did you miss it?

Gravatar Voyage of the Damned was on last night and in case you’ve forgotten to tape it / dvd-r it / store it on a hard drive / sky+ it or just want to see it again, then you can watch it right now online (only available to those in the UK) via the BBC iPlayer {:)} It comes with changed title music, and right at the end 2008 teasers.
5:03 am

Intellectual Property - the big 21st century faultline?

Gravatar Eqypt are set to pass a law forcing royalties to be paid to, erm, Egypt, every time anyone makes a copy of a pyramid or an ancient Egyptian relic. This presumably means I’ll owe them money every time I press the arrow (^) key. But of course, this isn’t the first time a government has passed a special law to protect a specific piece of intellectual property: after all in the UK we have given Peter Pan protected status specifically with a view to bankrolling the Great Ormond Street Hospital, and who could object to giving money to sick children? ...
2:41 am

Cardboard Conservative

Gravatar Coming in late I know, but I’m amazed no-one has referred to Grant Shapps’ homelessness escapade the other day in the context of being a cunning stunt. “Cunning stunt” is a collection of letters I have repeatedly associated with the brains behind the Tory’s Ealing Southall campaign this year, and it’s nice to have a reminder in this period of goodwill to all men. Humbug. Share This
12:02 am

Omid Djalili on tour

Gravatar From January to April Omid Djalili will be on a short tour where audiences will get a chance to see bits of 'No Agenda' from the last tour and some new material.
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Previous days:

Tuesday 25th December 2007, Monday 24th December 2007, Sunday 23rd December 2007, Saturday 22nd December 2007, Friday 21st December 2007, Thursday 20th December 2007