Just been to exercise my democratic rights.
12 different parties and four independents on the ballot paper, which was the longest I've ever seen. And a pencil to vote with rather than a pen.
Hmmm.
Recently in Politics Category
A video reaction to the recent UK parliament expenses scandal:
The creator blogs for Computer Weekly.
The creator blogs for Computer Weekly.
Worth a read:
The whole McBride saga has been a fascinating study of the dance between bloggers, mainstream media and the centralising urge of government. I really must blog more about it when I have a little more time.
Another blast from the VHS past: here's a clip from a 1992 episode of Kilroy, featuring me in my student union activist days, opining about graduate unemployment:
The other side of the NUJ debate is, of course, the fact that there are dramatic levels of job cuts happening in the industry. And, in some places, those are being fought.
NUJ members in York are conducting lunchtime stoppages to protest four job cuts at Newsquest York. The chapel has a blog, talking about the dispute.
Messages of support can be texted to to their meeting on 07791 626238.
I have been given permission to publish this response from Jenny Lennox, assistant organiser at the NUJ. The e-mail was broadly agreeing with another member's post which stated that the member hadn't come across any journalist who don't believe that good journalism can happen online, and that publishers aren't investing enough. Her response was as follows:
This first appeared as an e-mail on the new media mailing list.
Comment: I think it's a shame that this is the only public response we've had from an NUJ official, because it clearly misses the point. This dispute has never been about the NUJ not understanding the web or even new media, it's about them not understanding (or engaging with) social media.
I spend my days talking to journalists throughout the regional press, and they don't have a gripe with the web, just with their employers and their crappy approach to it. I haven't met a single "anti-web".
We have got the debate all wrong, because we are allowing people to tell us what the union and journalists think who quite clearly haven't got a clue. The debate is about properly resourced quality journalism vs money-grabbing bastards who think they can produce it in any format on the cheap.
This first appeared as an e-mail on the new media mailing list.
Comment: I think it's a shame that this is the only public response we've had from an NUJ official, because it clearly misses the point. This dispute has never been about the NUJ not understanding the web or even new media, it's about them not understanding (or engaging with) social media.
A few very quick response to the NUJ furore, as I'm back from holiday today, and a longer response will have to wait for me to clear my inbox at work.
First up, thank you to everyone who got involved in the comments in the last few posts - and I do mean everyone. Conversation and debate are at the heart of blogging, and this debate is certainly moving forwards - into the Guardian's blogs, as it turns out.
The discussion has also spread onto the NUJ New Media Mailing list. Salina Christmas has provided a rather nice visual guide or two to the discussion over on her blog.
And lastly, Glyn Moody, an ex-NUJ member, pinpoints far more neatly than I have managed the opportunity the NUJ has missed here.
More detailed comments to follow later.
I rather like this short interview Farmers Weekly columnist and blogger Matthew Naylor did with Mark Price, CEO of Waitrose:
Quick, to the point and touches on the issues that both farmers and consumers care about.
Besides, I'm painfully middle-class and so am honour-bound to love Waitrose....
Quick, to the point and touches on the issues that both farmers and consumers care about.
Besides, I'm painfully middle-class and so am honour-bound to love Waitrose....
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
But one thing has emerged which I am excited about - the relaunched whitehouse.gov has a blog.
That's right. This is the first blogging presidency. It's open for debate about how significant this is for the presidency itself - but it's a pretty darn good endorsment of blogging.
Bloggers are all sad individuals blogging in their bedrooms? Well, if one of those bedrooms is in the White House, perhaps people have a little rethinking to do...
Update: Daniel Bennett has a nice take on the new blog over at the Frontline Club.
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Graham was kind enough to invite me to the Frontline Club's election night bash last night. Here's some video I grabbed during the event:
