Tweets on 2010-01-24

Nation's worst speeding offenders are in East Dunbartonshire http://bit.ly/8s4e9g (@joswinson 🙂 #
Nearly stamped 500 letters stuffed by volunteers last night. http://flic.kr/p/7xHyzg #
With new Miracle Lurpak you can roll shortcust pastry for your pie. When it comes out of oven, it's magically puff pastry! #
@radclifd his'n'hers matching wedding specs?! in reply to radclifd #
RT @mawawa: New cake shop on Heathcote Street having secret opening this afternoon. << ooh… #
@VampyrKitten heh, have you met @realsheriff ? Pub is also near another (better!) pub called Robin Hood! in reply to VampyrKitten #
Now all the envelopes are finally stamped, kitteh can get some lap time. http://flic.kr/p/7xPDqd #
Bwuhahahahah! However did this make it to print?! http://bit.ly/7e40Of (<- and I've NEVER put out FOCUS with cod latin on it 🙂 #
A Beginner's Guide To Palmistry http://flic.kr/p/7xyoF5 #
Just checking @lordbonkers is aware of #shroptweetup. #
@ncclols I voiced my concerns re @savestonebridge at planning committee last year. No party line as yet. #
Don't think I'll be posting 1000 letters one at a time, tvym Royal Mail. http://flic.kr/p/7xUcLU #
Trying to make gnocci, but my mash is pretty lumpy and my scales have flat battery. Could be heading for disaster. #
Ps, a dough made of mashed potato and flour? That's in no way gonna leave a sticky mess the dishwasher can't shift. #
@philipfh somewhere there's a shiny set of posh balance scales, but not sure there's weights. We count bundles on the folding machine 🙂 in reply to philipfh #
Love the photos from Flickr's "Sound of Silence" blog post http://bit.ly/7IxfOz #
@willhowells doncha get tired of Fringe being no more than "Something weird happened" / "That reminds me of an experiment I did once… oh" in reply to willhowells #
@willhowells SPOILER ALERT! 🙂 no, but, erm, it develops a little after its MOTW phase and it's worth sticking through that 🙂 #
@willhowells PS I still haven't seen second Dr Who spesh if you wanna spoil that #
Cher Twitter followers, I am checking Bitly referrer rates and you're not clicking my links enough. They're carefully selected – click'em! #

Poster problems

Oh, three things make me wince about this doctoring of a billboard from m’friend Milliennum Dome, Elephant.

Two issues for the Tories, and one for us.

The first for the Tories – well obviously this terrible billboard has spawned all manner of imitations, with the help of mydavidcameron.com. Just too easy to parody. And perhaps it’s just me, but the willingness of people to subvert the message says a little something about the mood of the country, no? Very few people actually want a Conservative government, even if countless thousands are now thoroughly fed up with a Labour one.

The second for the Tories. A white background? Are you mad? Did you learn nothing from the 2005 campaign?

It’s just far too easy to graffiti!

All that white space, right next to a controversial statement, is pretty much an incitement to cause criminal damage, don’t you think?

At least the last time we did billboards, ours had black backgrounds. Anyone wanting to graffiti them had at least to go home to fetch a pot of white paint first.

Must remember to ask m’friend Duncan whether that was an intention of design when they were created.

Anyway, finally, the wincing point for the Lib Dems:

Our funky new colour – chosen apparently because campaign staff responsible for designing our leaflets wanted a wider range of colours to choose from without creating the sort of leaflet that has occasionally been branded “an explosion in a paint factory” – our new colour is EXACTLY the same as one that appears on all the Tory posters. Stick to the hues of gold, eh chaps?

Tweets on 2010-01-23

Jan23

Was just thinking, "what shall I drink with my lunch?" when the doorbell rang and a teapot was delivered. #
22012010566 http://flic.kr/p/7xzf9W #
I would #GiveBlood if I were allowed, @cllrtim! @projectnegative #gay #
You're supposed to be admiring the teapot, not the mug! (@lloydiejl @camillajazac) http://flic.kr/p/7xzf9W #
@cllrtim I understand they're looking at it. But I still like to make waves now and again. #
@esbagshaw that article attributes Leominster MP Bill Wiggin to constituency Leamington! in reply to esbagshaw #
Getting ready to rally the troops to save Beechdale Library. #
The troops are stuffing envelopes. Lots of squeals of excitement as people find letters addressed to friends. #
I'm at Post office, sherwood, nottingham #
Serious fire at Punch & Judy pub – Police have closed 3 lanes of Mansfield Rd http://flic.kr/p/7xGrkZ #
Kitten fascinated by stamp sticking process. http://flic.kr/p/7xGwDn #

Errors in Mirror story

Jan22

The writer of this story in The Mirror has clearly never heard of my ancestral home Leominster, represented by Bill Wiggin MP:

A heartless Tory was branded a disgrace yesterday for calling thousands of Cadbury’s workers fighting for their jobs “whingers”.

Mp Bill Wiggin, who went to Eton with David Cameron, said staff should stop moaning about the Kraft takeover which could lead to huge redundancies.

The ex-banker, who has a Cadbury’s factory in his constituency, said they should just knuckle down and get on with it if they wanted to stay employed.

The Leamington MP said he had heard workers complaining about the US firm’s takeover. He said: “I worry that by sending out such negative signals it puts people’s jobs more at risk.

It later refers to Warwickshire, so is presumably also confusing Cadbury factories. Cadbury do have a plant in the Leominster constituency, at Hope under Dinmore on the A49.

EDIT – have added in the link. And “Let them eat Flake” *is* a pretty good headline, so I’ll give them that.

Tweets on 2010-01-22

Jan22

@joswinson 4 bar or 2 bar? Have you seen Private Eye article that says only 4 bar kitkat is fairtrade, not 2 bar? #
Nutella and banana pancake takes me up to 6 of my #5aday #
Cutting words in Reception. "Goodness, you're early. You're the first to arrive. You're usually the last!" #

Tweets on 2010-01-21

Jan21

Watson Fothergill building on George St to become an upmarket tearoom. #
Grief. Planning committee completed in 25 minutes. A new record! #
More shoddy target setting by Labour government with no understanding of how to deliver targets http://ow.ly/YzGz #
Transport planners v shopkeepers round 3. Today: Cycle lanes – waste of money. Those traffic lights – oughta be ripped out. #
Wish Brian Aldridge had been able to work his magic at my committee meeting! #
@owenblacker cos it doesn't stand up if you think about it much? "Oh cool, that guy's beating himself up in a car park – let's join in!" #
nilesuk has seen 73 of the @IMDb Top 250 movies. http://250.s-anand.net/user/nilesuk@gmail.com #
"George Osborne said many retired naval captains cannot afford a maverick nun with acoustic guitar and sewing machine." http://bit.ly/8WG71q #
@cllrtim @tchee many of us need to stop chuffin about on computers until the wee hours 😦 #
Looking for a personal link shortener. Unfortch http://nil.es/ is taken #
The Times has a bunch of nice foods that are good for you. http://bit.ly/8IN9jt #
Meh. Anything approaching two hours leaflethog and I'm knackered. Not good in survival of fittest terms. #

Daily View 2×2: 21 January 2010

Jan21

Good morning and welcome to Daily View. If you submit a tax return, there are hardly any days left to get on with it.

On this day in 1908, New York City voted to ban women from smoking in public. Two years ago, Black Monday did a number on the world’s stock markets.

In birthdays, we sing a song to Commander in Chief star Geena Davis and Christian Dior, who were born today.

And in deaths, we remember George Orwell – and use him as an excuse to pimp this link – a cartoon that fears that when it comes to dystopias, it was Aldous Huxley who nailed it, rather than George Orwell.

2 Big Stories

Stop the presses!

Men are wearing shorts in the snow in New York.

Top 10 jobs

The Telegraph has a rather depressing list of top ten recession proof careers. Corporate governance, anyone?

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

Charles Masterman’s fate shows we should not be surprised the Democrats lost in Massachusetts

Jonathan Calder’s Liberal England recalls that the introduction of the NHS to the UK was not plain sailing – so why should anyone expect Obamacare to be without pitfalls?

Reporting back from the Fabians

Like the Voice’s own Sara Bedford, James Graham attended the recent Fabian conference and gives his assessment of Vince’s performance at a session called What Not to Spend.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

And if you’ll excuse me, I have P60s to find.

Tweets on 2010-01-20

Jan20

RT @cosmond: 72% of UK mums are on facebook http://bit.ly/8w4oKd #social #stats #fb via @Aegis #
@MitchBenn but when were actually born? in reply to MitchBenn #
@SE11_lurker I'm a local councillor in Nottingham – and we may be talking about different Kennington Roads 🙂 in reply to SE11_lurker #
Wow, @millenniumdome – amazed that name still available! #
Midnight snack of Mann's Brown Ale and cheese and crackers. #

Tweets on 2010-01-19

Jan19

*sigh* shifting canvass data from NOW1 to NOW2 for the first time this year – but certainly not the last time. #
"… you can be like Madonna and cling to youth with your Gollum arms…" #30Rock #
Beechdale Library – annual census count of readers this week. Please make an extra effort to visit the library before Saturday. #
Could you help plant bulbs on Kennington Road park? Get in touch! #
Held a meeting in a classroom earlier where they had this cute inflatable model of solar system http://flic.kr/p/7wHSB4 #
And today, http://www.renuoven.co.uk cleaned my oven to such a degree, you'd think it were new. http://flic.kr/p/7wMFzw #
Copyright issues prevent me from posting a photo of a naked man over on @libdemvoice, so you'll just have to google "scott brown centrefold" #
Fly-through of new Nottingham station – see video on Evening Post website http://tr.im/KQ84 #
I think I heard an owl hoot outside. #
@adamrio have you learned the unicorn's shocking secret in Peggle Nights? #
Ooh, interesting – have just run the Picasa facial recognition software and it's lumped my nephew together with my own baby photos! #

Today’s Massachusetts Special Election

Jan19

Today there will be a special election in the US state of Massachusetts to elect a new Senator to represent the state after Ted Kennedy’s death last year.

And boy, are the stakes high for this one.

Nominally an extremely safe seat for the Democrats, the Democratic candidate Martha Coakley should be a shoe-in.

And yet Republican former centrefold star Scott Brown, once voted by Cosmo as America’s Sexiest Man (the link is fairly safe for work, but does contain a tastefully cropped naked man) has been closing the gap in the polls, and in some cases even taken a lead.

Of key importance in this battle is the senatorial supermajority, which we have covered on The Voice in the past. In the US senate, a party with 60 of the 100 senators – or the votes of 60 senators – can move a vote of cloture which can end a filibuster. This removes from the minority party a powerful tool to veto legislation by talking it out. This has become all the more fraught recently since Obamacare, the extremely controversial healthcare legislation currently under consideration. If the Republicans win the Massachusetts, the Democrats lose their right of veto and they could lose Obamacare.

Here’s a video for each candidate to give you a flavour of the battle.

First, President Obama is staking his political reputation to support Martha Coakley and underlining the future of Obamacare:

Youtube link

(Is it an indication of the way the campaign is going that it’s actually quite hard to find pro-Martha videos on Youtube? Many copies of her ads have been interspersed with rebuttals; and her own attack ads misspell Massachusetts – which frankly is easily done.)

And secondly an absurdly overblown video for Scott Brown drawing a dubious historical parallel with the some of the most exciting movie music I’ve heard this year.