Today’s political triumph

Irritating Twitter feed @NottinghamNews announced today:

As part of the redevelopment of Nottingham Railway Station (The Hub), a new facility for short and long stay cy.. http://bit.ly/aUvrcY

It irritates me no end that the Council muck up Twitter like that – they use it just to duplicate a feed somewhere and they never care that their titles are too long for Twitter’s character limit. It means that the important word from that press release CYCLE or BIKE is totally missing from the tweet.

Still, that’s not where the success lies. I haven’t persuaded the media people to use Twitter correctly.

No, I retweeted their announcement, fixing it so that all the necessary words were included:

RT @NottinghamNews At Nottingham Railway Station (The Hub), a new facility for short and long stay cycle parking opens. http://bit.ly/aUvrcY

And got an immediate query from a friend: how much does it cost? Is it free?

Good question. At the time of writing, the press statement on the Council website is silent on the issue. And because it talks of the investment and the cost – new facility, CCTV, solar powered LED lighting – it all invites you to think, ooh, expensive!

It seemed pretty likely to me that it would be free, so I phoned up an officer in Transport Strategy to check. Didn’t get the officer I know from committee, but the polite receptionist had exactly the same reaction as me – um, I expect it would be free, but I’d better check. She checked, phoned back. Yes. It is free.

So I phone the media department, and here it’s the same schtick: person answering phone needs to go away, but in a few minutes, the press officer who made the press release gets back to me. He agrees with my point. It is free. It would be a good idea to mention that in the press release. I’ll get onto that, councillor.

Hooray!

Five minutes and five phonecalls later this paragraph:

The facility will provide safe quality sheltered parking for 92 cycles that can be accessed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The area will be well-lit, with lighting columns and solar-powered LED lighting within the shelters and will be monitored by CCTV.

… becomes this paragraph:

The free facility will provide safe quality sheltered parking for 92 cycles that can be accessed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The area will be well-lit, with lighting columns and solar-powered LED lighting within the shelters and will be monitored by CCTV.

Can you spot the difference?

If I hadn’t had two copies of the statement open, I’d just have assumed I’d overlooked the word on the first time through. But that is not the case! Today, something good actually happened because of a suggestion I made.

*sigh*

In these Coalition days, you have to take your triumphs where you find them.

Tweets on 2010-07-20

  • @jamesgraham demog profile of twitter cf demog profile of parents? in reply to jamesgraham #
  • Just accepted one loyalty card too many – my wallet exploded. #
  • "…these doughnuts may contain traces of barley, milk, egg, cats and celery. CATS!? Oh, oats…." #
  • Leaflethog. Today is Flying Ant Day 2010. #
  • Taking advantage of late night opening (@ Nottingham Tennis Centre) http://4sq.com/cVFIDM #
  • @artesea ah, that wasn't just me? thought someone had unscrewed car aerial – but longwave was still there. in reply to artesea #
  • Well, with outages at both Twitter and #bbcr4 today, and the flying ants, the apocalypse can't be far away. Come, giant methane cloud… #
  • @jamesgraham first time I've seen Hollobone. If ever there were a face you'd want to cover up… in reply to jamesgraham #

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Tweets on 2010-07-19

  • Should probably have let P know it was cheese and mustard bread before slathered honey all over it. #
  • Should probably have let P know it was cheese and mustard bread before he slathered honey all over it. #
  • Site looks ready for next week's wheelchair tennis tournament (@ Nottingham Tennis Centre) http://4sq.com/cVFIDM #
  • Q for popcorn long enough for me to remember I'm a) economising and b) dieting (@ Cineworld w/ 2 others) http://4sq.com/bidG2a #
  • @jamesgraham worth breaking lifelong di Caprio ban for? in reply to jamesgraham #
  • Schubert's Piano Trio in E flat, Op. 100, 2nd movement, you say, @rfenwick? Known (to me, anyway) as the theme from The Hunger (1982). #
  • Very silly vampire movie starring David Bowie and Susan Sarandon's naked breasts. (still @rfenwick) #
  • Gerrymander Wheel | STVAction.org.uk http://bit.ly/cNrv89 #
  • @jonathanfryer pay off his mortgage? in reply to jonathanfryer #

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Tweets on 2010-07-16

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Tweets on 2010-07-15

  • has been sent The Bourne Ultimatum: http://LOVEFiLM.com/r/QQiEqwo #
  • has been sent Frost/Nixon: http://LOVEFiLM.com/r/QQiGhjI #
  • West Area ctte (@ Birchover Road community centre) http://4sq.com/cCtkvj #
  • I've been humming a tune by Villa Lobos to myself a lot recently despite not having heard it for at least 10 years. Wonder if I can find CD #
  • Excellent. Gotcha. It's the BBC Singers a capella rendition of Bachianas Brasileiras No 9. #
  • P not impressed with Bachianas Brasileiras. Doesn't much like Britten's Hymn to St Cecilia either. Hafta hope registrar approves the Finzi. #
  • The 20 Worst Mel Gibson Rant Quotes (Presented By Kittens) (with lots of swearwords) http://bit.ly/bHswvV #
  • The Billion Dollar-o-Gram 2009 http://bit.ly/9R1HTK <<< highly depressing #
  • Failing to agree at a Failure to Agree (@ Notts Fire and Rescue HQ) http://4sq.com/9ZdLUI #
  • I write like James Joyce. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/d760c1b4 … hmmm. #

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Tweets on 2010-07-14

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Tweets on 2010-07-13


  • There's scaffolding on the dome. Wonder woss going on. http://flic.kr/p/8hYtsd #
  • Humdinger of a Full Council today: BSF urgent item. Rehabilitation themed debate. Children Plan. Tram extensions. #
  • First up: should the Council acquire land to get the tram running? All tram items need a supermajority: 2/3rds of members. #
  • (all other items simply need a simple majority of members present) #
  • Oh dear. My apols, I have been misled. A simple majority is all that's needed. And a simple majority was easily achieved. #
  • Lib Dems in Nottingham continue to support the tram. The Tories continue not to. #
  • Onto BSF. We have an amendment for this. Labour Councillors wants to waste even more money suing the Government. #
  • Goodness. Just got properly angry in a speech. And think I raised my heartrate more than I've managed in a week in a gym. #
  • JoCo on his feet saying "don't defend the indefensible." The irony! He's a past master of exactly that. #
  • @alanfleming sit ups do that to me every time. in reply to alanfleming #
  • BSF debate ends with Labour pledging to waste public money suing the government. #
  • Now we're on to serious debate about the rehabilitation of offenders. #
  • Full council. (@ Nottingham Council House) http://4sq.com/cwhENE #
  • 12,000 on housing waiting list. Last year only 2k properties became available. And of those, some offenders need housing too. #
  • @lan3y no news from govt since decision originally made. Have to assume continuing unless told not. in reply to lan3y #
  • @lan3y coalition have line in support of tram. We're all crossing fingers. in reply to lan3y #
  • If not later #

  • There's quite a lot of scaffolding inside Exchange Arcade too. http://flic.kr/p/8hZ9gK #
  • Backbencher asking if he's speaking on the consumptive motion. #
  • Outrageous! CX just rejected LD amdt effectively accusing our councillor of lying. #
  • Cx: "we cannot verify the data in the amendment" us: "here's the source" cx "but you could have made this up" eh? #
  • It's now 8pm and we're about to return to Questions, the agenda item deferred from 2pm to take urgent items. #
  • @NCCLols about HMIC review of Notts police force and authority. in reply to NCCLols #
  • Either I misheard last week, I misheard now, or childhood obesity in Nottm dropped by 7% in the last 5 mins. #
  • @Alexander_Ball I might not be giving a full picture of what's going on here 🙂 in reply to Alexander_Ball #
  • Much more positive debate around Children & Young People plan. All in favour. #
  • As a result of council's efforts on teenage pregnancy, 45 fewer young women had babies this year. #
  • Strong urge to abuse alcohol, chocolate or both #
  • Watched Burn After Reading: http://LOVEFiLM.com/r/QQyGhjQ #
  • Watched Michael Clayton: http://LOVEFiLM.com/r/QQyF1ns #

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Tweets on 2010-07-12

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