Comment
Commentary
So Why Isn’t the Labour Government Listening? – Progressive London 2010 Conference
This article is by Jason Alvey, who writes the Cosmodaddy blog (”Bringing your passion back to politics!”). Jason comments on the Progressive London 2010 conference.
So I went to former London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s Progressive London 2010 conference – a gathering very similar to last year’s Convention on Modern Liberty, only it was overwhelmingly geared towards the Left.
By Left, of course, I mean the Labour Party – not New Labour or the Labour government, and it was the schism between the party and the government which made the conference interesting.
Why isn’t the Labour government listening to progressive voters, activists or party members? It’s a good question, and one which was thrown into sharp relief by Harriet Harman, who gave one of the keynote speeches, but refused to answer any direct question posed to her, and instead preferred to Tory bash.
Why not slap down the surveillance state? Why not apologise for Iraq (again)? Why not offer a progressive agenda for a fourth term in office?
Post from: The Wardman Wire
So Why Isn’t the Labour Government Listening? – Progressive London 2010 Conference
Innocence and experience : Quote of the Day
This is a quote from Bishop Alan Marshall which caught my attention:
Reflecting with the usual five friends on the last year’s joys, follies, grunts and frustrations, ecstatic and ordinary, long term trends emerge. We’ve been doing this together in this monastery at this time of year for almost thirty years, and someone noticed the way in which our conversation is less entirely than it was driven by ideals and the impossibility of bringing them to pass. We seem to have developed far greater acceptance of human realities over the past ten years or so. Rationalising this indicates that ideals, even good ones, need to take flesh or they don’t mean a thing.
Alan also quotes DH Lawrence, but you need to visit for that.
Post from: The Wardman Wire
Wikio Overall Blog Rankings January 2010: The Return of the Cupcakes edition
These are the Wikio overall blog rankings for January 2010.
Some quite interesting movements this month:
- The craft challenge blogs are back !
- The non-partisan political blog Political Betting continues to reduce in ranking (see graphs below). That is interesting at the start of an election year, and should change quite quickly.
- Left Foot Forward is in the Political Top 10 – it is 11 here, as these are the overall rankings.
Post from: The Wardman Wire
Wikio Overall Blog Rankings January 2010: The Return of the Cupcakes edition
Richard Dawkins – ‘Oh the Cleverness of me!’ :Touching Base
“Oh, the cleverness of me” is, of course, a quotation from that exemplar of immature arrogance, Peter Pan, who really can’t quite cope with emotions, and endlessly defers the complexity of growing up. It struck me looking at this extraordinary piece in the (London) Times, that it’s remarkably appropriate as a summary of so much Dawkins.
Post from: The Wardman Wire
The truth about Munir Hussain
A lot of the talk about the release of Munir Hussain, the law of self-defence and the functioning of the courts last week missed several points. If there’s a problem here, the answer is not more meddling by politicians, straitjacketing the judges trying to do justice in the individual cases before them, whose multifarious variety well exceeds the imaginations of MPs and the surely and how come merchants in the press who egg them on to unwise action.
Post from: The Wardman Wire
Press Complaints Commission Governance Review: respond by January 25th
The Press Complaints commission, which is the industry body which attempts to regulate the printed media, and now the corresponding websites, is engaged in a “Governance Review” – and is wanting responses by January 25th 2010.
The commission last had the attention of bloggers when a proposal was made by the PCC Chairman Baroness Buscombe that they should be regulated by the PCC. Unity, at Liberal Conspiracy, organised a response which drew expressions of support from perhaps 300 bloggers over the following 3 days.
Tim Ireland has been organising an excellent response , based around these five specific proposals:
SUGGESTION ONE: Like-for-like placement of retractions, corrections and apologies in print and online (as standard).
SUGGESTION TWO: Original or redirected URLs for retractions, corrections & apologies online (as standard).
SUGGESTION THREE: The current Code contains no reference to headlines, and this loophole should be closed immediately.
SUGGESTION FOUR: Sources to be credited unless they do not wish to be credited or require anonymity/protection.
SUGGESTION FIVE: A longer and more interactive consultation period for open discussion of more fundamental issues.
And he has done an excellent (and noisy) video involving space invaders, which you can see here.
The PCC has a special website set up, from where you can send your submission.
The closing date is January 25th 2010.
Post from: The Wardman Wire
Press Complaints Commission Governance Review: respond by January 25th
In defence of secularism – and the NSS
Matt Wardman’s post last week about the National Secular Society moved me to comment in response; but I want to build on that comment, partly to defend the NSS and secondly to argue that secularism isn’t and doesn’t need to be as dogmatic as its critics claim. The National Secular Society may not get everything right, but it’s a vital organisation doing a good job of fighting for important principles. I support them, and it.
Post from: The Wardman Wire
