Archive for News - Current Affairs
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Another one has broken cover. Phil Grooms SPCK/SSG blog has made public his full ‘Cease and Desist’ from Mark Brewer, with a post here noting that, of the 5 websites Phil was asked to take down, 2 of which are nothing to do with him!
Do you remember the lost tribe shooting arrows at a low flying aircraft? It turns out that the picture was not a lost tribe at all - it was a tribe known for around a century.

On May 30th it was:
Aerial images prove existence of remote Amazon tribe
Deep in the Amazon jungle, one of the Brazil’s last uncontacted indigenous tribes has been photographed from the air, to prove its existence.
This morning the Observer has a story:
Tribal guardian admits the Amazon Indians’ existence was already known, but he hoped the publicity would lift the threat of logging
In the spring there was a great kerfuffle over an anonymous blogging Civil Servant called Civil Serf.
At the time Tom Watson MP asked for advice on his blog about what guidance should be given to Civil Servants making comment and participating in communities online. He’s now come out with a “Code of Practice”. Here it is, verbatim:
Principles for participation online
1. Be credible
- Be accurate, fair, thorough and transparent.
2. Be consistent
- Encourage constructive criticism and deliberation. Be cordial, honest and professional at all times.
3. Be responsive
- When you gain insight, share it where appropriate.
4. Be integrated
- Wherever possible, align online participation with other offline communications.
5. Be a civil servant
- Remember that you are an ambassador for your organisation. Wherever possible, disclose your position as a representative of your department or agency.
This ten minute segment is from “Open Country” last Saturday (at 6:30am) about a project under the Community Rail Development Scheme to rejuvenate the Poacher Line from Sleaford to Skegness in Lincolnshire.
Open Country is on Radio 4, at 6:30am on Saturdays, and is repeated the following Thursday at 1:30pm.
This is a good conversation about the nature of, and challenges facing, rural railways. Among other things, they are trying out Skiffle Bands and Speed Dating on the train, and it seems to be working.
I’ve posted about Zimbabwe several times in the last month. If the new “Post Series” plugin is still working you should be seeing a list of articles on the right.
This article identifies a number of ways you can support humanitarian relief and civil society by making donations from the UK.

An updated version of this article has move to here.