How to read Iain Dale’s Guide to Political Blogging without buying it…

From the desk of admin ·September 29, 2007 at 3:24 pm · Filed under Political Blogging

There is a very curious effect going round: Guest Authors for the Guide appear to be publishing their chapters on the Net.

It must be an “under the radar” marketing strategy, designed to give you an extended sample of the book and make you read the rest.

So, dear reader, for an extended sample of the articles in the 2007 Guide to Political Blogging by Iain Dale (and 30 or so other people), take a look at the articles about:

• Blogging and women by Ellee Seymour
• Shotgun Blogging by Nadine Dorries MP (which title should be reserved for old times sake for Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and other terrorist godfathers’ when they get started blogging).

If you come across any other sample chapters that have been published, do drop a comment in the box below.

None of these is anything like as good as my chapter - but you’ll have to buy  the book to disprove that claim, as I can say that I will not be publishing my chapters about “Getting Started in Political Blogging” quite so quickly.

However, I will be publishing a longer version as part of my “Nuts and Bolts of Political Blogging” E-Book in a few weeks (i.e., when I have put several current projects to bed).

I’ll make one other point, now traditional on this blog:

Get a UK domain name for your political blog. If you don’t, it is MUCH more difficult to reach the British public through Google UK.

Of the 53 or so “leading bloggers” (quotes because it includes me) profiled in the Guide, roughly 40 are still on international domain names.

In my opinion, people who do that are rather foolish - blogging is a difficult enough race as it is, without applying a handicap to yourself as well.

With the current “Alisher Usmanov and Schillings lawyers seeking to close down blogs” problem, you must consider your resilience - but you still need a UK domain name for your blog.

Tags: guide to political blogging, political blogging, iain dale

[tags]guide to political blogging, political blogging, iain dale[/tags]

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Blog Buttons for the Top Political Blogs

From the desk of admin ·September 29, 2007 at 11:00 am · Filed under Political Blogging

You can now send in requests for the special blog buttons with the rank of your blog in one of Iain Dale’s “Top 100 Blogs” lists.

Full details are here.

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Received this morning … just what I don’t need

From the desk of admin ·September 29, 2007 at 7:07 am · Filed under Humourous

In my inbox:

xxxxxxx will increase the capacity limit of the Corpora Cavernosa thus allowing more blood to enter the cavern creating a longer and thicker…

PLEASE Mr Spammer … not before breakfast … you clearly need to go away and get laid…

Tags: spam, penis enlargement[tags]spam, penis enlargement[/tags]

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Nearly a Year at 18 Doughty Street

From the desk of Mike Rouse ·September 28, 2007 at 6:22 pm · Filed under Media, Not a Number

Dear Wardman Wire Readers,

We’re in the midst of conference season, so I thought it might be worth a peek behind the scenes at Britain’s first internet-based political TV station; 18 Doughty Street - just so you can digest something a little bit different.

During the last conference season we were just gearing up towards our launch and focussed on handing out flyers to promote ourselves. In the early days people really didn’t get what we were about at all. We even had a local councillor from a few boroughs away pop in one morning thinking that we were a traditional radio station set up just for Tories. I pointed her to Tory Radio initially, but then learned that she didn’t have access to the internet, or even a telephone for that matter, so perhaps the new media revolution was not quite for her.

Back in those days we were definitely branded with the Tory brush. It was our own fault I guess, but as time went on we realised there was much more to be had by occupying the centre-ground of politics and giving all areas a voice. We increased the number of programmes presented by left-wing presenters: Talking with Tatchell, Wolmar’s World and Claire Fox News (although Claire is a tough one to define on the left-right axis - her programme is very good.)

As we approach a year of broadcasting I look back at the technology behind our operation and wonder if we got it right first time.

We’re actively looking at throwing out the Windows Media Format and bringing in the Flash video for starters. You see, Windows Media Format doesn’t play nicely with Macs, or Linux, or any other system that is not Windows for that matter. But, on the other hand, the set-top-boxes that will offer internet TV only support Windows Media Format at the moment.

So, the question I am asking myself is: Do we go after the browser-based market with Flash or focus on the set-top-box market with Windows Media Format? I’ve not yet found an answer; and the main reason for that is because it is so hard to see where the set-top-box market is going at the moment. BT Vision have taken an early lead, but models are starting to pop up that do actually support Flash and even tune you into YouTube. The appeal of these might well outweigh the offering from BT Vision in a few months.

Of course, the other option is to just do both formats. There is equipment that will allow us to do that, but before we spend the thousands of pounds needed to procure it we have to be sure that we’re going to benefit from it. My directors don’t want equipment sat around not being utilised properly, and I can quite understand this.

Another area that I’ve been reflecting on is the website itself. We’ve had a number of attempts to get this right and I don’t think we’re there yet. I think it’s time for a slimmer offering - perhaps taking the approach of other video websites out there. Those sites have videos on the front page and you can jump around to other videos on the site. There’s categories, keywords, tagclouds, and other innovative features, including very good search engines.

There are two issues with moving to that style of delivery. First, the Flash issue as mentioned above - we’d almost definitely have to put everything into Flash, which means expensive equipment needs to be acquired. Second, is the consideration for live streaming.

When I look at websites I try to follow the activities of the end-user and imagine them sat there using the site. If they’re landing on the site during live broadcast hours and hit the player on the front page what happens if they then decide they want to click away into something on the sidebar, for example? That means the page reloads and the video is lost. A potential solution to this is to use some JavaScript to load the player in a new window whenever a link is clicked. And so the process goes on - thinking about every possible action the user might take on the site and coming up with an answer - it’s not easy, particularly with such a diverse range of shows.

Alas, another year, another project. The journey goes on. We get our cameras ready to make the journey to Blackpool and wonder if we’ll ever be able to capture all the footage we collect in time - another bit of kit needed there, perhaps.

Indeed, we might need to get new bits of kit here and there, but on the whole we’re holding together quite nicely. Even I have to admit to having my doubts at various points, but like the time I quit smoking, I tell myself that if we’ve made it this far we can go further.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s guest post. Please do leave a comment if you can.

Mike Rouse

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Alisher Usmanov PR Strategy Progress Report - Vastly Increased Profile (Humourous)

From the desk of admin ·September 28, 2007 at 3:53 pm · Filed under Alisher Usmanov, Ethics - Religion, Free Speech Campaign, Humourous, News - Current Affairs, Political Blogging

A conversation allegedly overheard from 3 miles away, through an eartrumpet held the wrong way round so as to diminish the volume:

“Well, Mr Schilling, how goes our PR strategy ???”

“Er. Ahem. We are … er … generating a much higher profile on the Internet, Mr Usmanov - in fact we have achieved unprecedented coverage about your activities …”

“Olga !!! Bring me my Makarov !!!”

If Mr Usmanov were employing Schillings Lawyers to generate attention for himself rather than to try and muzzle it, they would be performing very well indeed.

Here are a couple of graphs from the useful Blogpulse Service, which racks how much attention is being devoted to different topics on the blogs.

The first bulge is Alisher Usmanov buying part of Arsenal. The second bulge is the interest after Mr Usmanov used Schillings Lawyers to close down Craig Murray’s critical website.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Craig Murray Usmanov Allegations in Official Record of European Parliament

From the desk of admin ·September 28, 2007 at 1:34 pm · Filed under Alisher Usmanov, Audio, Free Speech Campaign, Political Blogging, Politics

The transcript of the speech made by Member of the European Parliament has been published on the European Parliament website.

In the speech, Tom Wise MEP restates some of the allegations made by Craig Murray about Mr Alisher Usmanov, which he has attempted to keep out of the public domain by using defamation and “reputation protection” specialists Schillings.

If you are carrying a self-produced transcript of the speech, I suggest you update it.

Audio Recording Speech

This is the (somewhat crackly) audio:

You can get a copy here at blip.tv, or download one from my site here.

Official Transcript of Speech

Thomas Wise (IND/DEM). –

Madam President, when the EU talks of a common foreign policy on energy, you need to be very aware of exactly who you propose to do business with.

President Putin is on record as saying ‘The Commission should be under no illusions. If it wants to buy Russian gas, it has to deal with the Russian state.’

Gazprom is not a private company. It is a state-controlled tool of Russian foreign policy. It is, moreover, in the hands of President Putin’s political henchmen and, allegedly, organised crime.

Take, for example, Alisher Usmanov. This gentleman, the son of a Communist apparatchik, is Chairman of Gazprom Invest Holdings, the group that handles Gazprom’s business activities outside Russia. He is the man we are doing business with. He is the man who cuts off gas supplies if client states dare to question Gazprom’s demands. Allegedly a gangster and racketeer, he served a six-year jail sentence in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, his eventual pardon coming at the behest of Uzbek mafia chief and heroin overlord Gafur Rakhimov, described as Usmanov’s mentor.

Usmanov bought the newspaper Kommersant. Three months later the journalist Ivan Safronov, a critic of the Putin regime who just weeks earlier had been vigorously interrogated by the FSB, as the KGB is now called, mysteriously fell to his death from his apartment window, still clutching a recently purchased bag of shopping.

According to Craig Murray, the former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, it was Usmanov who ordered the cutting off of supplies to Georgia earlier this year. Please take note, Madam President, the Kremlin has now refused to sanction the construction of a pipeline to the EU over Georgian territory. These are the people you want to do business with.

These are the people around whom you want to mould your foreign policy on energy.

Commissioner, good luck. You will need it.

Tags: tom wise mep, alisher usmanov, mr usmanov, schillings, schillings lawyers, schillings defamation lawyers, craig murray, bloggerheads, tim ireland[tags]tom wise mep, alisher usmanov, mr usmanov, schillings, schillings lawyers, schillings defamation lawyers, craig murray, bloggerheads, tim ireland[/tags]

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Burma / Myanmar: How Religion helps provide a Basis for Democracy

From the desk of admin ·September 28, 2007 at 1:05 pm · Filed under Audio, Ethics - Religion, News - Current Affairs

A splendid Thought for the Day this morning about the start of Democracy in the UK by Rev Giles Fraser, Vicar of Putney on the subject of Religion and Democracy - and inspired by the pro-Democracy Protests in Myanmar/Burma being spearheaded by Bhuddist Monks, and reported via blogs.

He takes us back to 1649, when the Levellers (Diggers) were developing ideas of equality. One of the most famous meetings was held in his church - St Mary, Putney. Religion was at the heart of the Levellers’ radical political theory, that before God all human beings are counted as free.

I usually find Giles Fraser hugely irritating and broad-brush in his comments on religion, but this historial account was refreshing.

Tags: burma, myanmar, bhuddist monks, bhudist monks, buddist monks, religion, democracy, giles fraser, st mary putney[tags]burma, myanmar, bhuddist monks, bhudist monks, buddist monks, religion, democracy, giles fraser, st mary putney[/tags]

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