Quango! - Is it a bird, is it...

David Cameron: quangos and politicians for the chop

Odds on Dave will form a quango to discuss quangos

I rather fear that, once in power, the discussion paper for the Gloucester Old Spot Airborne Appreciation Board will soon be dug out to see just how many can be popped in on £200k + perks + index-lined + expenses + comms budget, to provide all necessary hands-off deniability or fake ‘independence’ to point out when a bit of dodgy policy needs some research to support it, that a new administration could wish for.

Balls, venues, posts and other sporting metaphors

Now the EU wants to run the Internet

It is my experience that anything in the blogosphere that starts 'This is an utterly pathetic post...' is usually barely worth the electrons consumed in initiating it, much less reading on to find out if any coherent argument is going to be made beyond knee-jerk and/or ad hom.

As we're into mangling paraphrasing, it often seems, with some irony bearing in mind the topic, the 'First through to last refuges of the E-scoundrel'

Looking forward to the forthcoming elections, though still trying to figure out who best to vote for to kick those that deserve it, first for effect and then into touch.

Closed for comments - the new censorship?

Why do they bother?

I went back several to see where one can wish him well... all now closed.

Au revoir

You gotta feel for the guy. I think the other day he and Paul Mason had to get up at 5am!!!! And then they had trouble getting to work!!!!

Sadly, as my kids are on hols for a few weeks I will be working pretty much the whole time, but Good Friday will be nice.

It would appear the entire BBC news operation is now off not expending carbon, so a good few weeks to bury bad news or let un-newsworthy things pass by.

Oddly, comments closed before they started:

There have been no comments made here yet.

This entry is now closed for comments

Bless.

Telegraph - Lefties feel threatened by the internet

On the QC...

The BBC...uh, whose money is it ? Voters can stop it, no ?
Chris long April 03, 2009 11:52 PM GMT

You'd think... hope. But I have much more chance of serving notice for dire performance on my elected representative every few years than I have have had, do or will have with the state prop... broadcaster. At least I can pull my enforced funding from one via the ballot to express... concern.

For the rest... there's The Trust. You should read their latest publication, which is pretty satisfied with the way the licence fee is 'collected'.

The blogosphere must never let down its guard, as it is rapidly becoming the only source of material from which you can hope to acquire a decently informed, balanced view.

The next few weeks on Aunty will be a good time to bury or ignore news, as all their 'reporters' seem to be off on carbon-free (I'm sure) school hols.

Mr. Nick Robinson has been kind enough to share this on his blog, and doubtless needs a rest having had to get up early these last few days, and getting inconvenienced getting to work by all those beastly common folk who run events that can't tell hoi poloi from media legends.

Speaking of tools, it is interesting that one used more and more by some keen on comment being free, but some freer than others, is the 'now closed' button.

From CiF to HYS, it seems to be unleashed erratically, but often when things are not going quite according to narrative. Or even to pre-empt matters.

Mr.Robinson's latest, rather ironically, has 'closed for comment' before any can be made.

Says it all really. Or, rather, when it suits, doesn't.

BBC - Bloggers enter the lion's den -

As I doubt it will make some media here....

So I said to Gordon Brown, I said...

The Spectator - Home and away

Daniel Hannan MEP:
The devalued Prime Minister of a devalued Government!

Prime Minister, I see you’ve already mastered the essential craft of the European politician: namely the ability to say one thing in this chamber and a very different thing to your home electorate. You’ve spoken here about Free Trade – and amen to that. Who would have guessed, listening to you just now, that you were the author of the phrase ‘British jobs for British workers’ and that you have subsidised, where you have not nationalised outright, swathes of our economy, including the car industry and many of the banks? Perhaps you would have more moral authority in this house if your actions matched your words? Perhaps you would have more legitimacy in the councils of the world if the United Kingdom were not going into this recession in the worst condition of any G20 country?

The truth, Prime Minister, is that you have run out of our money. The country as a whole is now in negative equity. Every British child is born owing around £20,000. Servicing the interest on that debt is going to cost more than educating the child. Now, once again today you try to spread the blame around; you spoke about an international recession, international crisis. Well, it is true that we are all sailing together into the squalls. But not every vessel in the convoy is in the same dilapidated condition. Other ships used the good years to caulk their hulls and clear their rigging; in other words – to pay off debt. But you used the good years to raise borrowing yet further. As a consequence, under your captaincy, our hull is pressed deep into the water line under the accumulated weight of your debt.

We are now running a deficit that touches 10% of GDP, an almost unbelievable figure. More than Pakistan, more than Hungary; countries where the IMF have already been called in.

Now, it’s not that you’re not apologising; like everyone else I have long accepted that you’re pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for these things. It’s that you’re carrying on, wilfully worsening our situation, wantonly spending what little we have left. Last year - in the last twelve months – a hundred thousand private sector jobs have been lost and yet you created thirty thousand public sector jobs. Prime Minister, you cannot carry on for ever squeezing the productive bit of the economy in order to fund an unprecedented engorgement of the unproductive bit. You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt. And when you repeat, in that wooden and perfunctory way, that our situation is better than others, that we’re ‘well-placed to weather the storm’, I have to tell you that you sound like a Brezhnev-era apparatchik giving the party line. You know, and we know, and you know that we know that it’s nonsense! Everyone knows that Britain is worse off than any other country as we go into these hard times. The IMF has said so; the European Commission has said so; the markets have said so – which is why our currency has devalued by thirty percent. And soon the voters too will get their chance to say so. They can see what the markets have already seen: that you are the devalued Prime Minister of a devalued government.

It is a matter of some concern to me that, no matter how much 'they' might not agree with what is said, the majority of the MSM has seen fit, so far, to not cover something that has captured the public's imagination. I seem to recall such as the BBC, when caught out in the past, usually sniff that such things are 'not newsworthy'. Can't wait for Newswatch. What's the betting it will be an in-depth defence of the Jade coverage.

Newsnight

Iain Dale - Hannan Tells Brown Like It Is

BBC - Brown looks to Obama for consensus
22. At 08:30am on 25 Mar 2009, BenHLondon

Amazing what can be done in the edit suite. In another blog I suggested it was hard to do much with what you put in... seems I was wrong.

As to what you re-splice or leave out, well enough said. Maybe Mr. Hannan's speech, and the reaction to it, is 'not newsworthy'.

BBBC - Dan the Man - as of lunch, 26 March, no word in much of the MSM yet.

600,000 hits - wow!

Ah, see now, there you have it: it's obviously 'not really newsworthy'

'Compare the news feed, what con?' Simples!

Telegraph - My speech to Gordon Brown goes viral

Lumme. 15 pages... and counting.

All that needs to be said has been. Even by the apologists, which in the face of wit and literacy merely show the value of free speech, if only to humiliate themselves and their causes.

A shame some in the MSM still deem it 'not newsworthy'. But I do believe a pretty teleprompter reader might have a few months of 'hold the front page' wedding plans to hold us in thrall.

BBBC

Order Order - What the BBC Wouldn’t Let Guido Broadcast
Order Order - Hannan Tells Gordon He Is “Pathologically Incapable” - Note the comment on coverage
Order Order - Rushies, Co-Conspirators: “Hannan is Our Leader”
Order -Order - Gordon in New York: Hannan Attack Front Page Drudge

SKY - Hannan Hits Where It Hurts - the defence of the MSM by the author in comments is...telling.

Telegraph - Fox got Hannan. Why didn't the BBC's 'Newsnight'? -

The MSM does rather seem to have missed the boat, and by missing it and trying to pretend it doesn't exist as a consequence is going to look at tad silly.

Saying 'it's not newsworthy' when it's en route to a million hits, that for a political speech, by the way, takes some Nelsonian eyepatch.

So far, to their credit, Newsnight's mods have allowed me to enquire what's (not) going on, but let's wait and see.

I started (not the first) on the BBC political editor's blog, but just got an email saying that my enquiring what everyone was going on about was 'off topic'.

How Catch 22 is that?

If they don't know about it, or choose not to see it, it therefore doesn't and hence cannot exist or be asked about?

This is NOT what I co-fund a news broadcaster to not provide.

Telegraph - Hurrah for Hannan: Brown hasn't been spoken to like that for decades

Guardian - Why has Daniel Hannan become an internet sensation?

'MEP's tirade against Gordon Brown is top of YouTube's most viewed'

I must check out the definition of 'tirade' again.

Took me a while to find it because, bless 'em, those who 'know' what's 'newsworthy' and 'good for us to know' felt it something they didn't feel worth being aware of, for some reason.

I was referred to on Nick Robinson's BBC political editor's blog, but because I asked what most folk were talking about in the thread that wasn't in the main blog test, it was removed for being 'off topic'.

Quaint. And very Catch 22.

'If we haven't heard about it, or don't like it, it doesn't exist' Therefore you cannot ask about it, as it does not exist. Nifty reporting standards.

And some wonder why folk are getting their political info and insights from other sources these days.

At least you acknowledged the piece, and allow discussion. Shame those I co-fund don't seem to feel the same way.

Ch 4 Snowmail - Finally, Twitter and a brilliant speech lambasting Gordon Brown in his presence at the European parliament two days ago, deliver what the conventional media failed to spot at the time: a very embarrassing moment for the prime minister.

Euro Snowclouds - Hannan and Brown: http://tinyurl.com/caq6n9

Addendum - For all the airy dismissals from the MSM's dead tree dinosaurs, old boy broadcasters and their slavish supporters, many surrounding the relative obscurity of the 'incident' (an MEP, in the Brussels Parliament, and a noted commentator on a major UK quality daily), it might have been better that the commentator made his political point by lobbing a shoe to be deemed 'newsworthy', as opposed to polite, calm, but deadly, not to mention well-aimed words.

It seems quaint for a few to bleat that it's time to move on, and throw toys out the pram that some do not feel ready to, when the point at issue is that something of not insignificant political note, and public interest, remains essentially glossed over, apparently through not conforming to a desired narrative.

How much better to have given the piece the objective coverage it warranted at the time... and then move on. Now, each time a non-group think politician is fingered for putting their bins out on the wrong day, the credibility of those that suddenly get excited by trivia over substance spirals ever lower.

Newsnight - Anger Night

Also, I am only now 'finding out' but for some reason from oddly selective sources, that a world leader (The President of Brazil no less), came out with a rather 'interesting' take on the racial breakdown that should be considered in the global banking crisis.

Is this lack of reporting due to who was standing next to this person, given a pass to be more than a tad racist when others might find the full glare of liberal ire upon them? Maybe it is, as SKY's anchor suggested, 'yet another embarrassment for the PM'.

If anyone should be embarrassed, it should be those caught editing by omission whilst claiming objective reporting.

Telegraph - For once, Gordon Brown had to sit and listen

Order-Order - Hannan Breaks the Million Views Barrier

Telegraph - Daniel Hannan vs pretty much everyone

Addendum

I am more and more watching SKY News in the morning, despite forays into celeb/trash TV that makes the bouffant's obsession with Kate Silverton's nuptials seem cerebral.

But when they address real news, they actual get their teeth in.

On top of actually mentioning the Hannan 'affair' and how it's got the MSM in a tizzy (not in a good way), it was followed by an interview with Dear Leader.

Clear, straight...unedited... the interview I mean.

And unlike some media giants and their overpaid, over-pensioned, beholden, market rate talents, the interviewer would not allow him to get away with 'What you should be asking is...' and stuck with getting him to simply answer the question.

It goes beyond party political or anything else, the stuttering buffoon was like a rabbit in the headlights over a simple question posed by someone (again) looking him in the eye and asking for straight answers.

Leadership requires the ability to lead, and anyone who follows this person, based on such performances as i just witnessed, have truly taken the Kool-Aid.

BBC - Wot no Dan? - The dead tree press, Old Boy broadcasters and their mates: when in hole, dig deeper.

BBC - EU speech is an internet phenomenon - so... the BBC 'has run it'. 'And that's all we have time for'. Dig, dig, dig...

Mr. Draper did impress. No really. A guy running a blog (well...) trying claim that all other blogs and their commenters are somehow different, and worse, despite him getting few users and them often millions... quaint.

I see him as a regular on the BBC now, mind. 'Their kinda guy'.

Gaurdian - A dull display of viral virility - speaking of whom.

Telegraph - Questions for BBC and ITV over Daniel Hannan speech coverage

Telegraph - Does anyone at the BBC read the Telegraph?

The phrases 'comfort zone' and 'group think' spring to mind. Me, I find roaming all over the place rounds out my awareness of objective fact and subjective opinion no end.

It is an 'interesting' (and not in a good way) notion that our premier, multi-million, multi-thousand strong national news broadcaster doesn't see anything a bit wrong in being unaware of anything they don't know about.

A piece of Catch 22 logic that got my request for more info to a few of Aunty's blogs removed for being 'off topic'.

And now I read, thanks to others and Matthew, that a highly-paid, market rate talent journalist/interviewer I co-fund 'forgot' he had had you on the self-same programme that only a week later he professes that no one knows of you? Priceless!

Is there a link to that? I'd love to see those two spliced together (the BBC can do that seamlessly (just ask Newnight's Susan Watts, but it does need to be in the spirit of 'enhancing the narrative') with the timeline between them inbetween.

Is that also the one I've (now) heard about where you reduce the interviewer to a gibbering numptie when trying to allude to a 'they' s/he can't actually explain, even under the guise of confidentiality when trying to provoke a rise?

Telegraph - Dan Hannan shames the BBC and proves need for broadcasting freedom

Order Order - Cameron Hails Hannan’s “Brilliant Response”

Just so's you know you read it hear first (7.05am - 28/02/09) - I hark back to a chemistry lecture in my youth, I think about the discovery of how carbon molecules bond in some compounds. The discoverer apparently had a dream of a snake eating its own tail. I may be wrong... no matter. Now, thanks to this case, I would wish a skilled cartoonist could create a ring, comprising the great and 'good' of our inter-dependent, self-serving, Westminster Useful Village Idiot politico-media establishment (Brown, Mandleson, Draper, White, Robinson, Neill, Mardell... it could be a big ring) connected, not with hands in pockets (I think that's been done), bent over with their heads buried in the place the sun don't shine of the next in line. That, to me, would sum up the current state of government, and the media that 'report' to the public they are in theory supposed to serve (and in the case of the BBC, uniquely funded to do so objectively).

Go-fourth - Hold on Hannan

Dear Go Fourth,

Just looked at the new video.

Please define 'fun'.

It looks more like a desperate attempt at attacking the man and not the argument.

Keep on digging, er, for victory!

Still, good luck with the hit-rates.

Labourlist - The devalued Dan Hannan - not sure it is quite working out as intended

Newsnight - Hannan -

I know it will be on the site somewhere, for a while, but I think it worth preserving an important discussion...

Two very different ends of the scale, but calm and articulate in their views. I was impressed... and encouraged.

Not so sure about the representative of the profession that sees all things in terms of 'there must be someone to blame'.

To me, that is not the same as holding people to account and, as again well articulated by Mr. Hannan, a lot of frustration comes from 'our' electorate feeling powerless to influence anything... in a democracy with a vote!

From quangos to lobbyists to backroom deals to EU telling UK what to do or face a fine to my MP's whip telling him how to vote, it's a very lost plot.

And one smugly overseen by the dead tree press and the old boy broadcasting network.

No wonder 'we' turn to the internet. For all the good even that does.

Telegraph - You can't please everyone -

Hey, if some wish to keep on digging (maybe trying to pretend you didn't exist was a better call) in their own back yard, I am sure that there are many more than happy to spread around the nightsoil they bring up, so the stench of their own words and deeds can serve, as ably did your speech, to show their, um, 'positions'.

Speaking of which.... (above)

Speaking of whom...

Nice to see Aunty at last felt the need to notice what you have stirred up, on Newsnight at least (Mr. Robinson still offline, I fear, and Mr. Mardell sulking at the response to his sniffy attempt at justification)

No wonder 'we' turn to the internet. For all the good even that does.

Speaking of which...

Interesting to view the 'counters' on LabourList and GoFourth... er forth, and how well they have gone down.

It seems that all in the blogosphere are equal, but some expect more equal coverage in the MSM than others, in the face of actual accepted IT/media audience measures, because, well, they are just 'right' and others just don't know the 'right' people.

Indy - Mr Angry and Mr Slightly-Cross -

Mr. 3 replies - early days. But, like other such political heavyweights as Mr. White over at the Grauniad, I am sure that elusive million is not far off.

At least, like him, you got round to the topic. If a bit late. And a tad grudgingly. That's the dead tree, old boy broadcasting system for you!

However, and I may be wrong here, but I think telling a bunch of folk who use the internet to get their info because they have lost faith in the objectivity of those who think they are the sole bearers of what is news that they are misguided is... quaint. Especially on a blog. And speaking of minorities, especially when you read the replies. I guess those in support of your world views are just lurking, cowed from supporting you. Or maybe, as some claim, the 'right wing' has hired half the country to spam you. Not a counter going down well with those, like me, who simply enjoy 'independent' (ahem) thought.

It seems that all in the blogosphere are equal, but some expect more equal coverage in the MSM than others, in the face of actual accepted IT/media audience measures, because, well, they are just 'right' and others just don't know the 'right' people.

BBC - Newswatch is worth a gander...

I've popped in a thought:

Any chance of addressing the Daniel Hannan speech phenomenon? Then I 'could be making the news next week'. Or not.

Especially as it seems so un-newsworthy as to merit either no coverage, grudging mention or sniffy dismissal, in that order, to date.

Or, in the case of myself, being excised from approved moderated political blogs for being 'off topic'... for simply asking if it will be mentioned.

How Catch 22 is that?

I would complain, but, funnily enough the site is down. Too many telling the BBC what it doesn't want to know... or hear?

But to quote this week's surly 'why drag me out of my bed' Editor, who seems in some groupthink loop, I am sure 'You don't think there's an issue here'. I am sure you don't.

Remind me, why may I NOT opt out of paying the licence fee to help fund such folk's salaries?

At least later on you acknowledge that, in the spirit of 'enhancing the narrative' and 'interpreting events', the corporation seems a wee bit more interested in what 'might happen', especially if it is influenced at its hands.

Is that the new, intended role? If so, I think I'll claim my refund now.

PajamasMedia - The Gordon Brown Takedown Goes Viral - As other see us. 'Unless you have been living under a rock or only have access to left-wing media'. Yup, the UK population.

Rather amazingly, most in the UK MSM are trying to claim it was, is and shouldn't be 'newsworthy'... and suffering the consequences when brave/dumb enough to do it online with comments enabled.

Or... it seems (caution 'til confirmed), trying to 'bend' things to help 'enhance the narrative':

British Bias Corporation -- Daniel Hannan Remastered

Telegraph - Lefties feel threatened by the internet - On the QC...

The BBC...uh, whose money is it ? Voters can stop it, no ?
Chris long April 03, 2009 11:52 PM GMT

You'd think... hope. But I have much more chance of serving notice for dire performance on my elected representative every few years than I have have had, do or will have with the state prop... broadcaster. At least I can pull my enforced funding from one via the ballot to express... concern.

For the rest... there's The Trust. You should read their latest publication, which is pretty satisfied with the way the licence fee is 'collected'.

The blogosphere must never let down its guard, as it is rapidly becoming the only source of material from which you can hope to acquire a decently informed, balanced view.

The next few weeks on Aunty will be a good time to bury or ignore news, as all their 'reporters' seem to be off on carbon-free (I'm sure) school hols.

Mr. Nick Robinson has been kind enough to share this on his blog, and doubtless needs a rest having had to get up early these last few days, and getting inconvenienced getting to work by all those beastly common folk who run events that can't tell hoi poloi from media legends.

Speaking of tools, it is interesting that one used more and more by some keen on comment being free, but some freer than others, is the 'now closed' button.

From CiF to HYS, it seems to be unleashed erratically, but often when things are not going quite according to narrative. Or even to pre-empt matters.

Mr.Robinson's latest, rather ironically, has 'closed for comment' before any can be made.

Says it all really. Or, rather, when it suits, doesn't.


_____

YouTube - The speech
YouTube - Glenn Beck, Fox

Meanwhile, to show total balance....

BBC - Labour's 'vampire' attack on Tory - Hat tip Not a Sheep - As some have already pointed out elsewhere, this 'effort' may not have quite the effect intended for the creators or their uniquely-funded, objective PR agency:)

Q... and despired A

Would Britain vote to leave the EU?

'It depends on how you ask the question.'

Would make a great inscription on how we are 'lead', and our 'leaders' are held to account (or assisted) by various media who see their mission now as being the interpretation of events rather than objective sharing of facts.

Slap on the wrist... compo!

Baby P social workers retain pay, perks and pensions

I call it the '5p' (power/pay/perks/punditry/pension) gravy train (7 if you add 'partisan protection' in the case of a major ranks closing).

And I don't give a flying fig what happens in the private sector; I am not paying for it. Or, if I am, I'll set about correcting it, with some chance of it happening.

I'm suprised they aren't going for compo due to 'hurt feelings' for this figurative wrist slap.

Gaurdian - Our empty outrage over Baby P As we behead the culprits at Haringey council, do we stop to consider who will replace them?

I rather hope so. And this time ensure they do a competent job.

Failing which, maybe it would be time to look at those who hire the managers.

Time to put the kettle on

It's a view certainly.

And despite thinking major media types knocking spots off each other (I don't count this blog as 'major', so feel being still able to refer to others' writings with a cranked eyebrow as legitimate) is an exercise in all sorts of counter-productive things (such spats seldom progress, or end, well), and hence don't see much point in weighing in on the thread (don't want to get labelled 'Right-wing' just by association), it still seems worth keeping a log of here.

Polly Toynbee will never understand Right-wing bloggers

If only because I have a sneaking feeling our Polly, and those like her, not only would get rid of all bloggers from the right if they could, but also those of a fiercely independent bent, too.

So in this case, at least, the critic of my critics is my friend.

Democracy. Inaction

Baby P was a victim of the quango state

My belief in the principle of democracy is total. My faith in its practical application is, however, taking a knocking.

It now seems credible that by abusing everything from legislation to rigging hiring policies it is possible for the establishment - in the form of every entity from the EU to our government to our national broadcaster - can pretty much either force, make beholden or simply selectively inform enough of a voting bloc to ensure a result is 'democratically ensured' in the way those in power see fit.

That this policy imposes an intolerable burden on the ever-shrinking minority (majority?) paying for consequences that cannot be sustained forever, seems to have passed by the currently paid, perked, pensioned, protected and punditing classes who generate zero income for the country, and whose sole mission seems to be to add more idiocies they don't have to fund, if only to justify their existence or egos.

There will, inevitably, be a 'correction' one day, and I doubt very much if it will be very democratic, or pretty.

Browbeaten MPs fail to do their basic job

'...is seen as a narrow, self-serving elite that bears no relation to the population as a whole'

Yah think? You are of course right to still insert the qualifier 'is seen as', but in sharing this belief it's hard not to wonder if in fact the words 'have become' might not be more accurate.

I honestly cannot recall if it was better/different before, but one huge issue, to me at least, is that I view my proxy representative, my MP (assuming he/she as elected, and if not then of no value at whatever) as no more than an entity who responds solely to party dogma and interests, rather than an individual who I can rely upon to bear responsibility for my vote. Locally or nationally.

On top of buying votes via legislative freebies to those who do not bear the brunt of funding them, public-service hiring policies and a highly agenda-sensitive national propaganda MSM system, I fear the 'always flawed, but best there is' system that is democracy is under serious assault.

And I lay the blame firmly at the door of a minority politico-media 'elite' who seem to think they know 'better' and what is good for 'us'.

Banana Rep... Community

Bent bananas not a Euro-myth after all

Like Arthur Dent in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, I know I am partly to blame. I should always try and storm the official building to get to the locked filing cabinet and check for myself, but... life is too short.

And I used to presume those who claimed to act in my interests, from local pols to national media, could and would do so on my behalf, and serve it up in a way I could understand, and respond to appropriately.

I recognise many of those counters you cite, and in fact think most were issued either by or on our dear national broadcaster.

So how, in the name of all that is professional reporting, could a clear as day FACT, in print, be 'debated away' so successfully for so long, he asks, rhetorically.

Probably in the same way the new FACT will be spun, in the same manner.

Is there anyone competent, or ethical left in the politico-media establishment, or have they all been bought by some form of career or financial patronage? In fact, are they all ... bent? If so, they can go and get it.

Substitute one word in the common phrase, and you have: 'If, eventually, all we have are those who specify the shape of beans, once the last bean maker collapses under the burden of carrying them, we will have no beans... and starve'.

Call it taking the myth.

Gaurdian - EU bends the rules on cucumbers

Race you

You want a British Obama? Try open primaries

Don't forget weight. Oh, and degree of grey/quantity of flowing locks. And height, of course. Plus any and all combinations of what currently exists thrown in, plus a quango with a boss on an index-linked, golden-pensioned package to fight the corner. Well, issue self-serving daft statements even dafter media give publicity to.

How many "offical" black telegraph bloggers are here

Now, there's the thing; I could give a rat's derriere. So long as the argument is sound, well articulated, factually supported and shared in a civil manner.

Does that make me 'ist', or rather illustrate those that show the unhealthiest interest with such things may now need to look closer to home before opening any of the Pandora's Boxes that have been allowed to riot too often up to now.

For this symbolical reason at least, President-elect Obama's selection should have provided a welcome dose of reality and introspection in some quarters.

Shame Mr. Phillips, and those who share his divisive views, still don't seem to do irony.

Gaurdian - Half-white is an insult -

As a parent of of half-white (well, by some definitions of me that even our PC census guys seem happy with, even though they have managed to give my ethnic Chinese, Singaporean wife cause to find them less than market rate talents by giving her the choice of being either 'Asian' OR 'Oriental') kids who seem pretty chilled on both aspects of their genetic heritage ...

Have Obama grow a three day beard...

This may of course lead to a whole new industry in threedaybeardism, which may only be resolved by the election of our first threedaybearded President in years to come. With luck, she'll be a woman.

Of course, the taxi thing can work both ways, as a certain BBC employee in Bristol has discovered. Oh the confusion of it all.

Anyhoo, I am counting the number of angels dancing on this pin, and am halfway through. At least I think it's half...

Johnny Nice Painter

MediaLens - Appearance And Reality In The Relaunch Of Brand America

One I may have missed

Irish voters were led astray, says European Commissioner

The politics of erosion.

Sad to say, yet another example of self-appointed 'them' deciding 'we' are too dumb to be trusted with a free vote, and seeing nothing remotely odd about saying so, is almost becoming so commonplace as to wash over one.

As a matter of interest, is there a mechanism to get such a person out still? If so, I also ask, rhetorically, without a massive wadge of wonga to compensate for trampling over hard-fought freedoms with barely a thought?

It got a reply.... I have answered

Dear Mr. G (hope I have spelled your name correctly)

Without knowing, along with who I support, or not, how you think I might count myself is your own affair, though it does rather confirm my view that there are some who like to put themselves, and others, in little boxes. It's a mentality I see a lot, especially amongst those who like ticking them for a living.

As to how smart I am, I tend to favour those espousing the politics of positive persuasion to get folk on side, rather than threat or insult.

You might like to try it some time. It may even reflect well upon you and your argument.

You can't touch me, I'm part of the...

Irish voters were led astray, says European Commissioner

The politics of erosion.

Sad to say, yet another example of self-appointed 'them' deciding 'we' are too dumb to be trusted with a free vote, and seeing nothing remotely odd about saying so, is almost becoming so commonplace as to wash over one.

As a matter of interest, is there a mechanism to get such a person out still? If so, I also ask, rhetorically, without a massive wadge of wonga to compensate for trampling over hard-fought freedoms with barely a thought?

A picture paints... @ 24fps

Another EU video nasty

And they say the Germans don't do humour!

Our 4th in a state

US Election: Please help me make my mind up

Well, like me, you could decide on neither. And it wouldn't really matter, 'cos we're not over there, or voters.

However, to help you, you could try you very own paper, who shares gems like this front of house:

Brigitte Bardot calls Sarah Palin a 'disgrace to women'

Another obscure foreign ex-celeb calls media-luvvie object of obsession foreign VP aspirant some names and it's Splashville USA!

I fly no flag for Mrs. Palin, but with each effort over here my faith in and respect for the UK media excavates a little lower through the barrel base than it is now.

Of course, I have another, counter, theory as to what the 4th in a state is up to, and it ain't pretty either.

Heck, look at the picture.

Gaurdian - Palin ducks press questions... you betcha

You may as well ask why Sen. Obama can't function without a Teleprompter, or Gordon Brown (a politician of slightly more concern to me here, now) will only be seen on certain comfy sofas, but this isn't the right (geddit?) place for such questions, I guess.

If I paid for access to this, I'd be moved to make it one of my first belt-tightening sacrifices (publisher take note - the BBC/car mag subsidy is not much use with no licence-fee paying or car-driving readers). But as it's free, let's keep the dance going.

Gaurdian - Tina Brown's new website is a curious beast -

'An online scrapbook of her pals' views ...'

In... The Guardian (online). Too easy.

Newsnight - It's All Relateable

I fly no flag for Mrs. Palin (nor any of the others... who are they again? Thanks to the quality of BBC coverage it's hard to recall, bar the bloke Simon Schama has decided to 'follow') and, as a UK voter, that opinion really matters little.

But the way the chattering classes here are treating this overseas election, and trying to shape the result in the 'correct' way using unsubtle versions of the last 'correct' way (Operation Clark County anyone?) is starting to reach silly levels..

From the Guardian to the Telegraph and beyond (you know who you are), there appear to be on-staff individuals whose sole function is to talk about an aspiring foreign VP, and usually in as dismissive terms as possible, even if on occasion journalistic integrity does manage a small bit of objectivity to creep in.

Now there is another technique: agenda manipulation by quote of proxy celebs.

Hence yesterday I am treated to what ex 60s heartthrob Brigitte Bardot thinks of Mrs. Palin, and now 'The Boss' (he's not keen).

I know journalists, especially those working for the BBC, do... well... should not allow their personal agendas to creep in, so using such techniques - 'I'm just reporting a respected political viewpoint, from a rock star, honest' - leaves me deeply concerned for here.

What next: 'Jim Davidson, when commenting on the new fiscal bail-out some have described as Mr. Brown's latest masterstroke, has with remarkable insight reflected the unquestioned view of the majority of the public that dealing with a massive mess in which he was totally complicit by throwing yet more public money into an abyss is hardly cause for media cheerleading now'?

Spare the opinion/commentary/aspirations, Aunty. Just the facts. I'll decide the rest.

But then, when it comes to pols compromising themselves in word and/or deed with unprompted errors, or their telegenic mates endorsing them, one still has to trust that one is served the rough with the smooth, across the board, in equal measure. Can we?

Telegraph - Top dozen YouTube gaffes of US election - 'Course, they have been 'selected'

Form a queue...

Which quango shall we scrap first?

All merry japes and all, and big up to the likes of the TA and yourself for stirring the pot a tad, but I would dearly love to understand how these entities came to be, how they are different from government departments, who pays for them, what they spend, what they deliver, how they are accountable, etc.

Just so I can at least be fair in any critique.

Take just one, WRAP - http://www.wrap.org.uk/ - in a sphere I am interested in: the environment.

They seem awash with directors and premises and regional reps on all manner of things, but I am having a lot of trouble figuring out where the money they get comes from and why, and where it then gets spent and how well.

I recall a few tabloids getting excited about board level bonuses at one stage, but can't for the life of me figure out how anyone in such a place could be entitled to one. They have a comms budget that runs to multi-millions, but then if rewards are based on public awareness then surely shunting money into ad campaigns rather than tangibles is almost a dead cert, if not a slight conflict of (my kids' future) interest?

Is there anywhere such oversight, in a sensible way, is carried out? And if it is not by my elected representatives in government and an already well-stocked, paid and pensioned collection of first tier civil servants... why the heck not!???