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July 31, 2005
Iraq and terrorism
It is becoming clearer by the day that Iraq was (and is) a major factor in the conversion of young extremists to terrorism, despite efforts by the government to draw attention to other factors.
In that context more bad news is to follow. Further Abu Ghraib photos and video are about to be published, said to be considerably worse than those previously released. The Pentagon are currently trying to prevent them being published, but they are being challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who think the public should be allowed to see them.
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1707652005
www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/articledisplay.jsp?vnucontent_id=1000990590
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:13 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 30, 2005
Holyrood shortlisted for Sterling Prize
The Scottish Parliament building has been shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Stirling Prize.
Other buildings on the list include the BMW Central Building (Leipzig), the Jubilee Library (Brighton), the McLaren Technology Centre (Woking), Fawood Children’s Centre (Harlesden), and the Lewis Gluckman Gallery, University College (Cork).
The winner will be announced in October.
www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1537143,00.html?gusrc=rss
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:38 PM | TrackBack
July 29, 2005
What everyone should know about blog depression
The Nonist ‘Commission for Snide and Completely Unsolicited Public Services’ have a pdf pamphlet on the bloggers’ scourge, blog depression:
thenonist.com/index.php/weblog/permalink/anonistpublicservicepamphlet
Thanks to plasticbag.org for the link.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:11 PM | TrackBack
July 28, 2005
Why doesn't tech business succeed in Britain?
Tom Coates at the Plastic Bag has an article entitled “Where are all the UK start-ups?” about the lack of technological innovation and entrepreneurship in Britain. He is writing from London, but his observations are significant for Scotland as well:
“[Britain] has 50% take-up of broadband, some huge telecommunications companies and thousands of people working on and around the internet. But still our industry seems dominated by a few moribund and clumsy giants leading a culture that’s inarticulate, unadventurous and profoundly constrained.”
” … is it a lack of money or a poverty of ambition? The UK has some of the world’s best and most creative film directors - but they don’t make films in the UK, they make adverts… . The same seems true online. The web industry over here is dominated by advertising and marketing because London is dominated by advertising and marketing.”
“what is it that stops us making great things, starting start-ups and building for money? I contend that in part it’s shame… . The businessman and the creative technologist seem to be forced into two camps so repulsed by one another (betrayed by dot.com?) that they just circle at a distance, each almost refusing to admit the other exists.”
“What is it about this place that there is so little energy … are we so hamstrung by geography or history or culture that we cannot innovate, build and then commercialise?
There have been a lot of interesting responses on the Plastic Bag as well as an entry by Ryan Carson of ‘By Designers For Designers’ (BD4D):
“The largest hurdle in the UK for entrepreneurs … is the British class system. … The castes are still very defined in this fine country. Anyone who wants to leave their 9-to-5 and launch out on their own will receive an unbelievable amount of flack from everyone, from their family, to the bank. It’s almost as if everyone … here seems to think “Isn’t your job good enough for you? Why do you need to rise above your station in life?”
I agree with Carson/BD4D that the class system is partly to blame. Tech has been seen as white coat /lower middle class, ancillary rather than a core activity. It hasn’t been a proper concern of those in powerful positions. This is still evident from the perverse pride that many political and business leaders, and indeed employees of large organizations generally, have in their lack of modern communication skills. The London attitude is “Oh, that’s done by our IT man. He’ll be in on Wednesday.” whereas in Tokyo it would be “I’ll ask my colleagues and we’ll get back to you this afternoon”.
However there’s another aspect to this that nobody has raised so far. Following from the industrial revolution and for most of the last century, Britain was still seen as a ‘hardware nation’. Looking back to the 1970s, we can see Britain as ideally placed - because of the universality of the English language, the sophistication of the arts, the huge publishing industry in London etc. - to be a leading ‘software nation’. However it never happened, instead the country followed its destiny - of being a failed hardware producer.
Perhaps it is too late to reverse this now. The government have told everybody that we have a successful economy and a hard working labour force etc., so few people are motivated to find out about alternative styles of economic behaviour based on practices in other countries (involving higher productivity etc.).
The bottom line here is surely that Britain, or more properly England, is conservative. All the more reason for Scotland to look to Scandanavian, Irish, Dutch etc. models rather than continuing to drag along as a poor performing section of the UK economy!
www.plasticbag.org/archives/2005/07/wherearealltheuk_startups.shtml
www.bd4d.com/blog/2005/07/26/how-to-build-a-successful-web-startup-in-the-uk-part-i/
Posted by Simon Holledge at 07:50 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
July 27, 2005
The car that is "any colour you want as long as it's green"
According to the Going Green website there are now more than 200 Reva G-Wiz electric cars on the streets of London. The car (not advertized to keep the price down) was designed in California and manufactured by Reva in Bangalore.
The G-Wiz costs about GBP 7,000 and is exempt from road tax (and the London congestion charge). Fuel efficiency is claimed to be equivalent to 600 mpg. There are three test drive sites in London.
Could it cope with the Edinburgh hills? Also it’s worth remembering that the car is only as clean as the electricity that goes into it. If the electricity was made from coal in Cockenzie or Longannet then the car would actually be contributing to global warming.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:04 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 26, 2005
Catherine MacLeod's question for Tony Blair
The Prime Minister held his monthly press conference today.
Catherine MacLeod, the UK political editor for the Herald, asked Tony Blair:
“You said earlier that you wanted to encourage a cross community cohesion and have more integrated communities. Why then are you so keen to forge ahead with faith schools? Can you point to anywhere, either in Britain or in any other part of the world, where segregated education leads to more integrated communities?”
Clearly not a question for which he had much of an answer.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4717733.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 08:04 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 25, 2005
Polly Toynbee on terrorism and religion
Polly Toynbee has a powerful article on terrorism and religion:
“It is time now to get serious about religion - all religion - and draw a firm line between the real world and the world of dreams. Tony Blair has taken entirely the wrong path. He has appeased, prevaricated and pretended, maybe because he is a man of faith himself, with a Catholic wife who consorts with crystals… .
All the state can do is hold on to secular values. It can encourage the moderate but it must not appease religion. The constitutional absurdity of an established church once seemed an irrelevance, but now it obliges similar privileges to all other faiths. There is still time - it may take a nonreligious leader - to stop this madness and separate the state and its schools from all religion. It won’t stop the bombing now but at least it would not encourage continued school segregation for generations to come.”
www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/comment/story/0,16141,1534014,00.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:03 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
New Labour shuffle towards Lords reform
Labour’s National Policy Forum are considering new reform measures for the House of Lords - ones that combine direct and indirect elections (with places for churches, professions, trade unions etc.) and appointments.
David Heath for the Liberal Democrat said that “the suggestions published appear muddled, inconsistent and unlikely to command a majority in both Houses.” That’s an understatement.
www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-2-1699330,00.html
news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1654032005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:40 AM | TrackBack
July 24, 2005
The killing of de Menezes
The tragic killing of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes by the police at close range at Stockwell underground station in London raises a lot of questions.
Why did the police kill de Menezes? We know that he came out of a block of flats that were under surveillance, that he was wearing an unusually thick overcoat, and that he panicked when the police shouted at him. That was not enough to confirm he was a suicide bomber. Were there other circumstances that led the police to the conclusion that he was a terrorist?
Did de Menezes fall into a trap that had been laid for someone else, or was his death the result of spontaneous action by the policemen involved in the chase? What is the operational chain of command? Does a senior officer authorize the use of fire-arms in a given situation, or do individual armed police merely follow their intuitions guided by an established policy?
We should receive some answers.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4711769.stm
www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1535224,00.html
www.bloggerheads.com/archives/2005/07/ihaveafewqu.asp
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:07 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
July 23, 2005
The dualling of the A1
There has been some discussion about whether safety or economic regeneration should be the focus for the camapign for the dualling of the A1 road from the Borders into Northumberland.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4709261.stm
www.berwickshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=972&ArticleID=1093659
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:58 PM | TrackBack
Borders rail link bill to proceed
The Holyrood Waverley Railway (Scotland) Bill Committee are supporting the bill aimed at reopening of the 35 mile Waverley line, from Edinburgh to Galashiels, which closed in 1969.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4706301.stm
www.waverleyrailwayproject.co.uk
www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/waverlyRB/index.htm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 09:07 PM | TrackBack
July 22, 2005
Dumfries Theatre Royal plans endangered
Dumfries and Galloway Council have rejected restoration plans for Scotland’s oldest working theatre, the Theatre Royal in Dumfries, putting in danger funds already raised to save the 18th century building.
In July 2004 the council promised GBP 2.5 million towards a 5.5 million scheme but that is now apparently being withdrawn.
Perhaps typically for Scottish local government, there is no information on the Dumfries and Galloway Council website.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4706751.stm
www.theatreroyaldumfries.co.uk
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:27 PM | TrackBack
July 18, 2005
Seven words you can't say in kindergarten
There are the seven words you can’t say in kindergarten (in the States and maybe here in the future). Nat Torkington’s children explain:
william.torkington.com/movies/20050716-7words.mov
[Thanks to Plasticbag.org]
Posted by Simon Holledge at 09:41 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 15, 2005
Broadband overtakes dial-up
Broadband has now overtaken dial-up in Britain - 8.1 million against 7.5 million domestic connections - having doubled in the last 18 months. By the end of this year almost all homes will have access to broadband.
With broadband becoming the norm and more and more information being channelled online, attention will have to be directed towards those who remain on the wrong side of the digital divide.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1528079,00.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at 03:39 PM | TrackBack
July 14, 2005
Saint Vincent’s, Glasgow listed as 'most endangered' by World Monuments Watch
Saint Vincent’s Street Church, Glasgow, has been put on the World Monuments Fund (WMF) 2006 watch list of the 100 most endangered cultural heritage sites around the world. They report:
“Poorly maintained for half a century, the church was placed on the 1998 Watch list, which resulted in the launch of a first phase of restoration that included extensive repair of the stone tower—work funded in large part by WMF. For a brief moment, it seemed that the building was finally receiving the stewardship it needed.
Yet today the building remains at risk as its present owner, the city of Glasgow, has made no progress in finding a revenue-producing use for its extensive undercroft, nor produced a plan for the overall long-term care of the building. More important, the city has refused to install basic fire protection despite offers by others to pay for it. Unfortunately, little has been done to resolve the impasse since the site reappeared on WMF’s 2002 and 2004 lists of 100 Most Endangered Sites. The city council of Glasgow continues to postpone planning for the restoration of the church, despite extensive press coverage. WMF Britain has been actively promoting the site’s significance and the need for action before matters become worse.”
wmf.org/html/programs/resources/sitepages/unitedkingdomsaintvincentsstreet_church.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at 09:00 PM | TrackBack
Reform of the House of Lords EDM 571
Here is the text of Early Day Motion (EDM) 571 by David Curry the MP for Skipton and Ripon dated 12 July:
“That this House welcomes the Government’s commitment to a free vote on the composition of Parliament’s revising chamber; believes that the House of Lords should be replaced by a chamber which is predominately elected; and believes that the Second Chamber of Parliament Bill, presented in February by the then honourable Member for North Cornwall, endorsed by the Right honourable Member for Livingston, the Right honourable Member for North West Hampshire, the Right honourable Member for Rushcliffe and the honourable Member for Cannock Chase, and supported by other leading Members of both Houses, provides a valuable basis for further discussion and decision.”
The 10th of August will be the 94th anniversary of the Parliament Act of 1911, which declared:
“It is intended to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis … ”
edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=28820
Posted by Simon Holledge at 06:57 PM | TrackBack
July 13, 2005
USAF lift London ban
The US military have been persuaded to drop their ban on visits to London following the bombings.
This is good, but do double standards apply here? The Foreign Office is always quick to advise British citizens not to visit countries that have been affected by terrorism - when the countries are in Asia or Africa.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4673987.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 04:15 PM | TrackBack
Stoney Brae 'Gaelic' cemetery
Jim Mcbeth refers in the Scotsman to a ‘Gaelic cemetery’ at Stoney Brae, Paisley, which may or may not still hold human remains.
Did Mcbeth simply mean the graves of Gaelic speakers? No dates were given for the remains and I have not found any other reports on the net.
thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=756782005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 03:17 PM | TrackBack
July 12, 2005
Racial and Religious Hatred Bill passes 3rd reading
The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill passed its third reading in the Commons by 301 votes to 229. It now passes to the Lords, no doubt for some scrutiny.
Dominic Grieve, the shadow attorney general said:
“If the government really wants to tackle this issue, it is going to have to get away from the promises made to various people of some equal playing field, accept that religion and race are different, start to look at the real nature of the problem and try to come up with some constructive solutions.”
He pointed out a failure to define religion in the bill meant that cults such as Satanists, Scientologists and believers in female genital mutilation would be protected.
For the government, Paul Goggins said it would be up to the courts to define religion.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4673301.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 02:50 PM | TrackBack
July 10, 2005
Drumin Castle reopens
Drumin Castle in Moray, one of the homes of the 14th-century “Wolf of Badenoch” Alexander Stewart, will reopen on 14 July following restoration by the Crown Estate.
thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=757492005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 07:16 PM | TrackBack
July 09, 2005
Ken Livingstone to the terrorists
Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London ended his statement on the Thursday bombings with this message to the terrorists:
“Finally, I wish to speak directly to those who came to London today to take life.
I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others - that is why you are so dangerous. But I know you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society and I can show you why you will fail.
In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.
They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves. They flee you because you tell them how they should live. They don’t want that and nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.”
www.london.gov.uk/mayor/mayorstatement070705.jsp
Another defiant message came from the London News Review:
www.lnreview.co.uk/news/005167.php
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:24 PM | TrackBack
July 08, 2005
More thoughts on London
The places where two of the bombs went off are well known to me. One was next to where I once lived, one was where I both studied and worked at different times. What can one say? We live in an awful world where killing leads to more killing. We hoped that the end of the cold war would lead to a gentler, more rational world, but instead we are involved in a conflict that is primitive and irrational, where the action is dictated by the great destroyer, religion.
Instead of an intellectual argument between left and right and east and west, we now follow a trail of blood leading from Auschwitz to Palestine and from there to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, on to New York, then to Iraq for an extraordinary amount of killing including war crimes by the Americans in Fallujah, to Madrid and now to London. Where will it stop? Man’s capacity for killing increases all the time. The carnage in London could have been much worse. Perhaps next time it will be.
The best thing we can probably do is not to add to the evil. We must remain an open, tolerant and humane society. As such, we should act in accordance with our basic values when we oppose those who hate us and want to destroy us. Terrorists must be put on trial and not locked away in places like Guantanamo Bay and they must not be tortured. Inhumanity just leads to more inhumanity. And we should leave Iraq - not because we have lost our nerve - but because we shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
This is what Kenneth Clarke said in the Commons on 26 February 2003:
“… . Any war will be won easily. I am glad that if we go to war, it will not take long. However, we should consider alternatives because of the consequences of war. How many terrorists will we recruit in the greater, long-standing battle against international terrorism? It will be far harder to win. … The next time a large bomb explodes in a western city, or an Arab or Muslim regime topples and is replaced by extremists, the Government must consider the extent to which the policy contributed to it. That is why hon. Members should pause and why, unless evidence is produced for a breach and a material threat, my judgement today is that we should not go to war.”
(I wrote this in response to a piece Boris Johnson has just written for his blog. He believes we should not be panicked by the government into accepting restrictions on our liberty. I agree with this.)
www.boris-johnson.com/archives/2005/07/commentonthe.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:03 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
July 07, 2005
Terrorist attack on London
An al-Qaeda affiliated group have apparently claimed responsibility for a co-ordinated series of four or more explosions this morning in London. It still isn’t clear how many people have been killed and injured.
BBC online coverage has so far been poor with many broken links to audio and video feed, but there is a surprisingly detailed page on Wikipedia, also some information on the Londonist.
UPDATE 17.00
Some figures are now being reported for dead and injuted. This will be the worst terrorist attack in British history, though (I hope) not as bad as Madrid in 2004.
Of the various ooficial statements that have been made around the world that of Bertrand Delanoë, the Mayor of Paris, caught my attention. He said, “Today, we’re all Londoners”.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005Londontransport_explosions
Posted by Simon Holledge at 02:02 PM | TrackBack
July 06, 2005
European Parliament rejects software patents
The European Parliament has thrown out the software patent directive by a huge majority. This is good. Inventions may be protected by patents but software, like literature and music, should be protected by copyright.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4655955.stm
www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,68099,00.html
petition.eurolinux.org/index_html?LANG=en
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:29 PM | TrackBack
July 05, 2005
Jacques Chirac insults Finland
Speaking in Kaliningrad to Gerhard Schroeder and Vladimir Putin, Jacques Chirac made the outrageous statement that “After Finland, [Britain] is the country with the worst food.”
This is completely untrue. Helsinki has great restaurants (we dined at the historic old Kämp Hotel a few years ago), better Russian food than in St Petersburg or Moscow, and coffeee shops rivalling those in Vienna, with wonderful pastries etc.
Bravo Finland!
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4649007.stm
thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=737612005
rr.ravintolaopas.net/est/index_e.asp
Posted by Simon Holledge at 03:58 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 02, 2005
The Skakagrall on Channel 4
The Channel 4 website have a piece I wrote about the G8 meeting: ‘Don’t expect altruism from Blair and co.’
www.channel4.com/news/blogs/c4blog01_full.html
www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/g8_2005.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:36 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 01, 2005
Boris Johnson succumbs to Godwin's Law
Boris Johnson’s blog is sadly the latest to succumb to Godwin’s Law: ‘as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one’. (There are a number of unchecked facts there as well.)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin’s_law
www.boris-johnson.com/archives/2005/06/whydothesem.html#comments
Posted by Simon Holledge at 06:52 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack