Tag Archives: the media

by | April 18, 2011 · 7:12 pm

christian symbols offensive? leave colin atkinson alone

Those who read my ramblings on a regular basis will know that I do not believe in G-d, but I have no objections whatsoever to those who do drawing comfort from their religion and the traditions and pageantry that go with them.

In a land that once was proud of its tolerance I am appalled that a gentle man by the name of Colin Atkinson can find himself in trouble with hie employers for displaying a cross in his vehicle.

I appreciate that it is their vehicle, and that they have to draw the line somewhere about how employees customise their working environment, but to say that it might offend is, to me, wrong.

Some 37 years ago I found myself in an early management role having to deal with customers who wanted a maintenance person to call, “but not the *****” (insert own word for someone of a darker skin). We have come a long way since those days of prejudice that Warren Mitchell parodied so brilliantly, and I am as angry about the treatment of Mr Atkinson as I was about the events of 1974.

I hope that someone sees sense here and drops this whole issue. To allow it to continue is to shame us all.

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by | April 16, 2011 · 8:00 pm

a final word on Yes2AV

So far in this debate I’ve not really seen much from the Yes lobby that tells me why theirs is a good idea; it has all been about the FPTP system being wrong and that AV is great, but why?

As any of you that have read my previous posts on this topic will know I am against it, but again, to be fair, why?

Well, in what will, hopefully, be my final blog on the subject, here’s why:

What is the point of your vote? It is to elect the person that you would like to have represent you. Now this has become slightly corrupted in that you probably really vote for the party that they represent rather that the person. There is a distinction, but let’s leave it at that for now.

You get the one choice, and why would you want a second choice? Now the AV lobby will have you believe that you might have a second, third, or more choice, but is it really true that someone will say “I’m voting for party A, but party D would be my second choice, and Party F my third choice”? I really doubt that.

What is far more likely is that they will say “I want party A to win and party B to lose”. Let’s face it, someone who votes Tory is going to want the Labour party to lose and vice versa, so what can they do?

Under AV they can either vote as they do now choosing their one favoured candidate, leaving the other candidates boxes on their form unticked,

or they can vote for more than one candidate and put the one they don’t want to win as far down the list as they can

or they could vote for their favourite, plus some of the others, but not the one that they don’t want.

If they take the first option then there is no difference from now. If they take either of the other options they are voting tactically.

Now we need to be honest here and acknowledge that, apart from some specific areas of the UK, there are two main parties; Conservative and Labour, then there are the LibDems, and then the rest. Can anyone really say that this is not the case? You only have to look at the numbers to see it, or just glance at history. Apart from the current coalition, or the war years, when did we have anyone other than the top two in power?

So if you are voting tactically and you want either Conservative or Labour to win and the other to lose, then you need to make your second choice one that is going to attract enough votes to push the unwanted candidate down, and the only realistic second choice for most is therefore LibDem.

In one of my other blogs on this subject someone has commented about how many LibDem voters complained last year that they had not voted LibDem to get a Tory government, but isn’t that what AV is about. I, too, remember that now and understand her point.

Persuade me I’m wrong if you can, but as I see it if someone is elected on a raft of second, and possibly third, choice votes, how is this better than what we have now? Unless you are one of those who have successfully voted tactically that is.

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by | April 8, 2011 · 4:30 pm

more on the yes2av campaign – is there a scandal that we should know about?

I am all for a fair fight, good open debate and accepting the results at the end, whatever they may be. My own campaign against the yes2av lobby is, I hope, a good example of putting an alternative argument forward so that people can make up their own minds, albeit that I do hope that my arguments do influence people towards my way of thinking.

And so I am appalled the read via another blog quoting from The Spectator that the Electoral Reform Society, who would have much to gain financially from a Yes2av vote being successful, are sponsoring that campaign. Read the blog and reference to the article here and make up your own mind.

It is old news maybe, having been published in late Feb this year, but was news to me until this morning.

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by | April 8, 2011 · 8:30 am

more on why I’m voting No2AV on 5th May

Deciding who will represent you in parliament and, ultimately, who will run the country is not a marketing survey.

If someone asks you to rate your top 5 or 10 hotel chains, supermarkets, airlines, fashion outlets or whatever then ranking them in order makes sense. It gives a feel for how people see the market and who they rate as number one. You could do the same with one of those, for me puerile, talent and reality shows to decide who to vote off.

But deciding the outcome of an election this way is, to me, completely bonkers.

Yes, I want to see electoral reform and a better way of representing the people, but I do not believe that AV has any place in such reform, so I’m voting No.

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by | April 7, 2011 · 7:11 am

vote no2AV on 5th May – have you spotted the irony with yes2av here?

Having had more Vote Yes for AV material thrust at me the delicious irony of the 5th May referendum has finally broken through to me: The vote is a first past the post one! If more people vote for it than against it will succeed, and will do so by the very system that it desires to eradicate,

So it 15% of the population vote for it, and less than that vote against, it will be passed by a minority.

Given that a few luvvies are queueing up to urge a Yes vote from their fans (who will no doubt vote Yes without understanding why), and that there is a small campaign in favour, but no apparent cry to oppose, we face the strong possibility of having a political nonsense thrust upon us. As WSC might have put it; “never in the field of politics have so few done such damage to so many” (well, other than New Labour of course).

We need change, but not this one. Perhaps I should take to the streets.

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by | March 22, 2011 · 2:31 pm

letters to the editor – disposing of unpopular leaders

Sir

So our Prime Minister and his government believe that it is acceptable to have an unpopular leader assassinated. Perhaps they should be carefull of what they wish for….

I think that we should be told.

Yours faithfully

Surprised of Swindon

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by | March 21, 2011 · 7:59 pm

couldn’t the BBC just edit Brian Cox out? #fail

Professor Cox is, no doubt, an intelligent man; his qualifications speak for that. He should also know something of communication, after all, he has had an early career in the entertainment business before reaching his current career peak as, effectively, a teacher (he is trying to educate people, is he not?).

I would expect then for him to have grasped a very simple principle; communication is two-way. If people in his audience cannot hear what he is saying then he is wasting his time. It is pointless having music so loud that some of us are trying to lip read.

There is nothing wrong with making an informative TV programme “an experience”, but those watching need to be able to listen as well. If we can’t hear him then he is failing, and I would have thought that he is bright enough to have realised that. I wrote elsewhere today about learning from your mistakes, but you need a level of maturity to do that which Professor Cox seems to be lacking.

His reaction to those who have criticised him I find appalling, and have exercised my rights to the off button. I shall continue to deploy it whenever I see him appear on my TV for the foreseeable future. It will save the BBC the trouble of editing him out and wasting any more precious licence payer’s money.

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by | March 18, 2011 · 7:25 am

thank you Wootton Bassett, and thank you Your Majesty

The folks down the road at Wootton Bassett have been doing something that has seemed sadly lacking in recent years, other than by minorities, in paying their respects. To have been acknowledged in this way is not something that they sought, but that makes it all the more of an honour.

And well done to our Queen as well for bestowing the honour. Royal support has also declined in recent years along with the standards of decency, and it is acts like those  that the people of Wootton Bassett have shown that demonstrate just how far standards have slipped in this country.

So thank you to both town and Queen for standing up for something good and right. As a son of the Royal County I salute you both.

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by | March 7, 2011 · 5:35 pm

leave Andy alone

Why do the media have it in for Prince Andrew? We can’t be responsible for the sins of our friends, assuming that we even know about them. At the moment there isn’t even a real allegation against him, let alone anything else, and a bunch of publicity seeking individuals draggings his name around the edges of a scandal should be treated with the contempt that they deserve and be ignored.

There are a lot of people in this country who had a reasonable Christmas because of the work that HRH brought in for their employers, so leave him alone and let him get on with doing the good that he does. And while you’re at it, leave his ex alone too.

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by | March 5, 2011 · 8:48 pm

a tale of two hackers – part 2

Last week I had a bit of a go at the founder of Wikileaks, and I feel a bit of clarification may be needed. I’m not against whistle blowing, although I did once come a cropper doing just that myself, but last week I was drawing a parallel between those who seem to want to elevate Mr Assange to sainthood and the case of Gary McKinnon.

My issue with Julian Assange is that knowledge is power and needs to be used with care. I frequently am rude here about politicians, but there is a responsibility issue at hand and politicians have a difficult job, more so the further up the ivory tower they get. My beef with them is often about how ill prepared they are to wield the knowledge and power that they have.

There are times when the people (whoever they may be) have a right to know things and there are times when they don’t. That decision has to be made by someone. Now we are all human and fallible, but when we are entrusted with those decisions we have to do our best to do the right thing.

The problem I have with Wikileaks is that I don’t see any sign of accountability, let alone responsibility. Mr Assange and his supporters are happy enough to attack The System, but look what happens when things get rough; it’s that same System that they look to to protect them.

It takes courage to wield knowledge and power. I don’t see a lot of that in Mr Assange, and nor do I see it in the way that the US government is behaving towards Gary McKinnon. Maybe there is an irony there.

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