So which is it to be – a Nigel Farage-sized badger, or 10 badger-sized Farages? This is a really great question, far better than the classic horse-sized duck. The problem with the duck is that it won’t scale; anything broadly duck-like that got as big as a horse would be hopelessly immobile on its funny…
Read More badger-sized Farages considered dangerousThere has been a disturbing lack of content here lately. Let’s have an open newslist to fix that. Some ideas: That Android vs Symbian post. That #Savileweek post about him as the first postmodern celebrity (will include pictures). A technical look back at the phone-hacking scandal, because I think there is at least one big…
Read More Open newslist 8We were talking about Stuart Wheeler and Neil Hamilton. It looks like Nigel Farage won – Hamilton has been given the bum’s rush and Wheeler is still paying the bills at ‘Kipper Towers. Mr Hamilton mended fences with the leadership after it dropped its investigation into his expenses, although he has been told he will…
Read More Hamilton out. Wheeler in.The Staggers‘ MAY 2015 dedicated election blog is rapidly shaping up to be important reading. Here’s a post of theirs that points out that there has been no big change in the polls in England and Wales. Instead, what has changed is Scotland, with the surge in SNP support since the autumn. In other words,…
Read More Three political predictionsA nice tweet: The two ways of doing a map of ISIS control. A: The Big Red Blob. B: The Thin Red Lines. pic.twitter.com/bElTBdzozv — Richard Hall (@_RichardHall) February 20, 2015 Let’s have a closer look at that right-hand map, because it’s a real beauty. There are people. Where the people are, that’s the important…
Read More A more sophisticated version of something I made earlierSo USS. It strikes me that this was, in the end, a total and avoidable mess and the UCU should take a lot of responsibility. The only way to find out what was going on was to check a friend of a friend’s facebook page. The only campaign resources were, well, whatever you came up…
Read More Looking ahead to the #defenduss 60-day consultationWhat is it with David Cameron and appointments? Back in March 2012 I made the point that he keeps phoning a friend, and getting back the name of a good criminal, bungler, or crank. We’ve had Steve Hilton and his brilliant ideas, before he failed-up into a better paid gig in California. He recommended Emma…
Read More Bad pickerA list of constituencies the Tories have written off as lost has been leaked. Here are the first three candidates. Ben Adams – Stoke-on-Trent North Bim Afolami – Lewisham Deptford Festus Akinbusoye – West Ham I don’t think we need look very far for an explanation?
Read More a short post about candidate selectionOpening the tube for the new Rugby League season, here’s a BBC Radio Leeds programme about the long and awkward process of getting back to a league structure with promotion and relegation rather than more or less dodgy “franchising” or “licensing” processes. listen to ‘BBC Radio Leeds – RL restructure documentary’ on audioBoom That said,…
Read More #rugbyleague – back to promotion and relegation with #visionaryjohnWe were talking about glib cliché solutions. Here, we have the prime minister. “No-one wants their child to go to a failing school and no-one wants to them to go to a coasting school either,” said Mr Cameron. “‘Just enough’ is not good enough. That means no more sink schools and no more ‘bog standard’…
Read More most cash looks pretty flat to me