Introducing The G8 Justice League.
And the winner is… no-one
It was announced last night that no award would be granted in the Elected Representative category of the New Statesmen New Media Awards.
I’m angry, but also baffled… so I need to take the time to investigate a few things before going further.
One thing you might want to do in the meantime is take a look at the shortlist and see if you can work out just what the hell happened.
PS – Well done, theyworkforyou.com
UPDATE – Here’s the reason they gave: This award goes to the elected representative who best uses new media technology to communicate with the electorate. This award is open to councillors, MEPs, MPs, MSPs and members of the Welsh Assembly. For the first time in the history of the New Statesman New Media Awards, the judges have decided not to award a winner in this category. After much discussion and thought, they agreed that none of the shortlisted nominations deserved the accolade. Some of the elected representatives have made massive efforts in creating an interesting online presence. But it was recognised that they have done so with little official help, and mostly by being in a fortunate enough position to draw upon the technical and communication skills required. The result is a postcode lottery for citizens who wish to discover and communicate with their elected representatives online. There have been some efforts to redress this balance: ReadMyDay and Councillor.info are just two examples. But there is still more that needs to be done. The judges believe that elected representatives need more support, training and advice to help them use this media more effectively. In doing so there is a real opportunity for the UK to lead the way in communication between the representative and the represented.
Posted in The Political Weblog Movement
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Live8: making a ‘difference’
I saw this aerial shot of the Live8 concert in Hyde Park last Saturday and it got me a-thinking.
I poked around for an aerial shot of the rally following the protest march against the Iraq war from 15 Feb 2003. The best one I could find was here.
Smaller versions of both pictures appear to your right. If you take a look at the lower-left of the Live8 picture, you’ll see a distinctive intersection. That same intersection appears in the middle-right of the protest picture.
In the Live8 picture, the north-eastern corner of Hyde Park provides a second reference point and provision of scale.
In the picture of the anti-war rally, the second reference point and provision of scale comes via the two pathways converging at another intersection at the edge of the lake.
I used these reference points to take these two shots and map them out on top of an aerial photo of Hyde Park. There is some overlap of structures, but it’s the crowds we’re interested in.
The crowd numbers at Live8 were pretty much static, and estimated to be around the 250,000 mark.
Estimates for crowd numbers for protest march in London on Feb 2005 range from 750,000 to 1.5 million, but not everyone who went on the march stayed for the rally (many went home or staged further protests in central London and at the US Embassy). At the rally itself, speeches began at around 2pm and continued well past 4, and the crowd began to dwindle significantly after 4pm, but I think it’s fair to assume that this photo was taken sometime during this two-hour period.
When mapped out for visual comparison, the anti-war crowd appears to outnumber the pop-concert crowd by 3-2.
In other words, 375,000 to 250,000.
One crowd came to see U2, Madonna, REM, Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Maria Carey, Pink Floyd, Sting, Dido, Coldplay… and Ms. Dynamite.
The other came to protest and stayed to see Charles Kennedy, Tony Benn, Mo Mowlam, George Galloway, Harold Pinter, Ken Livingstone… and Ms. Dynamite.
The result of the latter gathering beyond lip-service? Sweet bugger all.
Chances of Geldof getting a million people off their arses and into Edinburgh and having this ‘historic mandate’ make any kind of difference beyond yet more lip-service? Sweet. Bugger. All.
UPDATE – Steve Punt – 20 years ago, I just wanted a loo break: There is one other big difference. In 1985 Thatcherism was in its pomp. Live Aid felt subversive – the young had taken matters in their own hands, and the government were wrong-footed. In 2005, we all know Blair and Brown, would like to make a gesture to Africa. We also know that more than a million people went to Hyde Park two years ago to say No to invading Iraq, and Blair took no notice whatsoever. And if George Bush can ignore global warming, he can ignore Keane, Robbie Williams and bloody Dido.
tag: live8 london
links:
Make Poverty History into a cheer squad for Tony and Gordon
Live8 & Celebrity Culture: A Sickening Spectacle
Is Mark Pritchard a gutless spammer?
Do pardon the belligerent tone of the headline. I’m in a mood.
Mark Pritchard’s Blog (or lack of it): So if Mark was Technical Manager for a company who are a leading UK provider of Domain Registration and Web Hosting Services you’d think he’d bother to use his own blog wouldn’t you?
Oh, gosh yes, especially when Discount Domains are so very aware of the potential of SEO.
You know I’ll flap my lips about this at the drop of a hat, so please do excuse me if I’m repeating myself here; blogging isn’t a technology thing, it’s a community/networking thing.
Mark Pritchard is almost certainly aware of the technology but, given his apparent attitude toward online communities in general, I don’t hold any great hopes for him using it properly. Or at all.
UPDATE – For those who need reminding, Pritchard is the MP with the empty blog featuring archive links that go back to the dawn of time.
Posted in The Political Weblog Movement
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Rove: one charge of treason, one charge of perjury
Newsweek – Time magazine talked to Bush’s guru for Plame story: The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper’s sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic to the White House.
Guardian – Key Bush aide named in row over CIA leak: Mr Rove’s lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed that his client had been interviewed by Matthew Cooper for the article, but denied that Mr Rove provided the crucial information that exposed the identity of the agent.
Perhaps, like our great leader, he merely ‘confirmed’ the name.
UPDATE – The following paragrah from the Guardian has been link-enhanced for your futher reading pleasure: At the time, Mr Wilson said he believed that Mr Rove was the source, but the accusation was dismissed by the White House as “totally ridiculous”.
Posted in George W. Bush
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Proud to be a knobhead
Posted in Consume!
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Iran? Next? Noooooo…..
Here’s a lovely trigger. Let’s all blow our brains out…
FUXNews – Ex-Hostages: Iran’s President Was Captor: Five Americans who were held for more than a year in the hostage crisis believe that (Iran’s President-elect) Ahmadinejad was one of their captors.
Posted in It's War! It's Legal! It's Lovely!
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We tolerated it… we *paid* for it
I tell you, it’s a crying shame that the courts; “(have) no power to make any decision or interfere in any way in which taxes are spent”… because I’m a taxpayer and I’m fucking *ropeable* that my government spent 175k on training soldiers involved in the Uzbekistan massacre and we *still* don’t know how many protestors terrorists they potted.
Damn it, I want to know where my money goes and if it’s being spent efficiently!
Guardian – UK trained Uzbek troops weeks before massacre
The official figures, prompted by a question from Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, Michael Moore.
Take another look at Bush’s crew chumming up with Karimov.
Perhaps Craig can find us a picture of Jack Straw massaging baby oil into his back.
UPDATE – Ooh, look! We even provided essential military equipment.
Posted in The War on Stupid, Uzbekistan
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