Top Stories and Blog Review – 10th Sept
Elsewhere
Lehman shares suffer 45% plunge
Revealed: the truth about brothels
Sarah Palin, the pastor and the prophecy
Apple launches new iPods
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Douglas Johnson
Unstrung - covers the Angolan elections. And their lack of polling stations.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Discordia - How are think-tanks shaping the political agenda on Muslims in Britain?
Liberal England - Telford Council goes more than a little mad.
Rupert’s Read - calls for Lib Dems to follow his lead, out of the party.
New Direction - on attitudes to the middle-class left.
Stumbling and Mumbling - Immigrations caps are unimaginitive and irrational.
Top Stories and Blog Review – 9th Sept
Elsewhere
Police crisis after jury rejects £10m terror case
Suicide videos: what they said
McCain the messiah
Palin makes gaffe on the economy
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Douglas Johnson
Two Doctors - names a few famous community organisers. Take note, Sarah Palin.
Lee Griffin - discovers that Frank Field is, in fact, not a saint.
Tory Troll - on Boris’ Red Summer.
Quaequam Blog - wonders whether the Lib Dems should begin to worry about the Greens. (Answer: Yes.)
Gaian Economics - And just what is a Brumaire, anyway?
Top Stories and Blog review – 3rd Sept
2:45pm: McCain more likely to drop Palin, bookmakers
Elsewhere
Obama to upstage McCain by going on ‘O Reilly
Oil prices plunge again
India launches huge floods rescue effort
Palin hit by Alaskan independence past
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Douglas Johnson
Back Towards the Locus - The Republicans don’t like flowers, it seems.
Harpymarx - Workfare doesn’t work and isn’t fair.
Iain Simons - Someone scrubbed Sarah Palin’s wiki profile just before her nomination – and so started a rather interesting debate about Wikipedia and online democracy.
Stroppyblog - on political rabbits in the headlights and young people.
Shuggy’s Blog - Have we all complletely misunderstood the US constitution, and indeed the nature of rationality?
New Direction - on Labour and fascism.
Top Stories and Blog Review – 2nd Sept
3:45pm: Tories to raise Inheritance Tax limit to £2m
3:30pm: BorisWatch – Mayor makes a sensible appt.
Elsewhere
How American blogs played Palin pregnancy
Hurricane: 90,000 houses in Cuba destroyed
Headteacher to stand in Glenrothes by-election
Google developing its own browser
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Douglas Johnson
Caroline Lucas - explains her vision for the Green Party.
Splintered Sunrise - Is Sarah Palin a closet supporter of Alaskan Independence? Now, that should matter more than her daughter’s pregnancy…
Feministing - Although, that matters; insomuch as Palin clearly feels her daughter should have a choice, but not other women.
Sandy Rosenthal - New Orleanians are not afraid of Gustav. They fear the failure of the federal levees.
Huffington Post - Palin’s polls, meanwhile, do not look wonderful. Perhaps a natural consequence of appearing to pick a VP to break the DNC’s hold on headlines for a week rather than run the country.
Tory Troll - Boris talks whiff-whaff.
Tygerland - brings us the Ann Coulter song.
Tips in the comments, or to tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org
Top stories and blog review – 27th August
Elsewhere
Hillary Clinton calls for unity
Pelosi stands by abortion comments
Europe’s changing populations
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Douglas Johnson
Our Kingdom - Alex Salmond’s comments on Thatcher’s legacy show mainstream politicians are as united in their private acceptance of her policies as they are in public condemnation.
Dave’s Part - The American left is too weak to assert itself any more.
James Grieves - Has the music industry found an acceptable compromise?
Obselete - on that “Gordon Brown is insane” meme.
The Daily (Maybe) - hosts the Carnival of Socialism.
Two Doctors - Just, don’t eat tuna.
Short One Today
Welcome to Wednesday’s NetCast:
Liberal England - Does Olympic success mean anything?
Bartholemew’s Notes on Religion - Knives out on the far-right.
Five Chinese Crackers - The Daily Mail seems adamant that non-whites just don’t get stabbed.
Splintered Sunrise - manages to find common ground with Peter Hitchens. We live in strange times…
The F-Word - Australian Mayor’s sexism…boomerangs?
Bob Piper - has some advice for defenders of America.
Tips in the comments, or to tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org.
Gender, Ethics, Science.
Welcome to Tuesday’s netcast:
Charles Darwin’s Blog - Is a certain Tory blogger right about the public distrust of scientists?
Obselete - Cameron manages to be vacuous throughout his book. Another crass and dull political quasi-biography to ignore then.
The Daily (Maybe) – on the need for the left to discuss ethics.
The Yorksher Gob - Why does gender portrayal change so much between childrens’ and adults’ entertainment?
Stroppyblog - The anti-imperialist’s enemy’s enemy in Afghanistan is no liberator either.
Two Doctors - Of swing-states and VPs.
A Very Public Sociologist - When large groups of women feel compelled to pay to have themselves sliced open, something is wrong.
Tips in the comments, or to tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org
The nuclear industry has no clothes
Welcome to Wednesday’s netcast, briefly bought to you from the wrong side of London:
Earthpal - On the inadequacies of rape compensation.
Lee Griffin - wants some debate on proposals for a windfall tax.
Nuclear Reaction - Greenpeace has discovered worrying documents, which suggest that all is not well with the construction of Areva’s prototype nuclear reactor in Finland. Bad news for the nuclear lobby.
Peter Cranie - Who to vote for in the Green Party Executive Elections?
Jenny Jones - Boris makes some Pyongyang style announcements of his own. Who else would demand a new airport be bvuilt because he was inconvenienced at another?
Ali Gledhill - Gordon’s new website lacks clothes. Oh dear?
Tips in the coments or to tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org
Computers, fear, sex, Bolivia, socialism and fallen radicals
Welcome to Tuesday’s netcast:
The F-Word – Are virtual relationships with computer generations particularly good for the mind?
The Yorksher Gob - Witness the power of YouTube; able to render Obama attack ads he doesn’t have to make, and which hit harder than McCain’s anyway.
The Daily (Maybe) - celebrates Evo Morales victory in Bolivia.
BoRev - on some rather less pleasing news from Bolivia.
Pandagon - Do abstinence-only advocates actually live in the real world?
New Direction - The Blairites are their own worst enemies – and will suffer for their mistakes.
Gerard DeGroot - “Poor misguided children of Marx and Coca-Cola, you started making fun of society, but now you’re making fun for it.”
Tips in the comments, or to tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org
Can the Greens avoid factional fighting?
The Green Party leadership elections managed some media coverage last week:
A major row is currently brewing which is threatening to split the Green Party in two. For the first time in their history, the Greens are about to launch a leadership contest involving two candidates, the MEP Caroline Lucas (pictured) and the actor Ashley Gunstock, best known for his role as PC Frank in the long-running ITV show The Bill.
In the lead-up to the contest, the party’s operational wing, the Standing Orders Committee, took the unusual decision to publish the contact details of 7,000 members to help candidates lobby for votes. The move has caused uproar in the party, which prides itself on its defence of civil liberties. More than 100 party members have signed an angry letter of protest, questioning the legality of the decision under the Data Protection Act.
This isn’t an issue because no-one proposed to publish members’ details – and no-one asked for them. The members quoted in opposition deliberately distort the debate which did take place.
So whence the Indy column?
continue reading… »
Anonymous lobbyists rule the world!
Today’s netcast comes from someone else’s laptop, as mine is distinctly ill:
Two Doctors - Could Land Value Tax replace Council Tax in Scotland soon?
Green Ben’s Kemptown Blog - Time to smash the Home Office’s institutional homphobia.
Dreaming of Simplicity – On the value of happiness.
Feministing - Asks what’s wrong with casual sex?
BoRev - Quoth a Chevron Corporation lobbyist: “We can’t let little countries screw around with big companies like this.” Yes, he actually said that, to the media. Anonymously.
Adam Smith was a Socialist - Do politicians need to reflect the electorate (or, rather, demographics)?
Daily Kos - Obama doesn’t have a white working class or Hispanic problem. Just a Republican one.
Tips in the comments or to tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org.
Cleanliness = Terrorism
I return from my break relaxed, refreshed, and having spilled a half a kettle on my foot. So, a midnight post, as I can’t sleep:
Caroline Lucas - The Police deem environmentalists with (bio-degradeable) soap an extremist threat. Will my shower be next?
Pickled Politics - Trevor Phillips learns that the Mail can never be your friend. Unless you’re white, male, Christian and comfortable with regular doses of racism.
The Enemies of Reason - And don’t look to those white, male, Christians for any defence.
London: Mayor and More – Fairness and consistency demands Andrew Gilligan label himself a crony.
Same Difference - On the benefits of multiple choice questions.
Kubatana - E-bay provides a demonstration of hyper-insensitivity.
Soaring - Begins the First Carnival of Women of Colour and Beauty.
Tips in the comments or to tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org.
The Mail: A very, very confused novel?
Welcome to Wednesday’s netcast:
The Enemies of Reason - suspects rather a lot of plain old-fashioned racism in the coverage of knife-crime.
The Daily (Maybe) - The Sun, certainly, would seem to be guilty of the above.
Five Chinese Crackers - As would the Mail. It’s not a newspaper. It’s a particularly epic fantasy novel, composed by twisting and excaggerating the truth out of all proportion until it fits the narrative.
Program your own Mind - Jacqui Smith doesn’t quite seem to realise the alienating power of authoritarian domestic policy. As usual, then.
Penny Red - on bipolitics and the fourth wave.
Robin Lustig - Radovan Karadzic’s arrest says more about the nature of change in Serbia than improvded detection techniques.
J. Arthur MacNumpty - A little suggestion for the Labour Party in Glasgow East; don’t complain about letting in the Thatcherites when they’re already in Number 10.
Tips in the comments, or to tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org
Where will the Greens go from here?
For years, the Green Party operated on a system of collective leadership. Up until 1991 it had 6 co-principal speakers. Since then it’s had two. That’s led to certain groups labelling the Greens as political amateurs – with good hearts, but no idea of what to do.
But last summer the party voted by a margin of 73% to elect a single leader. The Yes campaign argued that a leader was necessary for the party to ever achieve its full potential. The bulk of the party agreed – and so this September the Greens will have their first leadership elections.
The story so far
The first nomination came in last Monday. Caroline Lucas (pictured), at present an MEP and a principal speaker, launched a campaign focused on radical politics delivered with a professional punch. Her website summed up the message:
On climate change, scientists tell us that the next 10 years will be critical in terms of whether we have any chance of avoiding the worst of climate chaos. It is still the case that only the Green Party has both the radical policies, and the political commitment, that are so desperately needed to ensure that we do.
And on social justice, we face a country more unequal than it has been for decades. Only the Green Party has coherent alternatives to government policies that are privatising public services, increasing inequalities, and leading to greater violence and exclusion.
Lucas wants the party to provide discontented liberals and lefties with a credible home. Recent events and policies clearly show the party to be of that liberal-left; where else could a party that challenged David Davis as too authoritarian sit? The energy is clearly there, and Caroline Lucas says she’ll provide the professional quality to bring that vision to the voter.
continue reading… »
I Blame the Church
Rather eclectic and early this morning. But, I need to leave early, so:
Splintered Sunrise - Iris Robinson equates homosexuality and sodomy with paedophilia. And Gordon Brown would rather work with her party than the Labour backbenches.
Feministing - justifiably finds Time Magazine’s fetishization of prepubescent girls sexuality very creepy.
Sarah Wildman - How, precisely, does Bush plan to cut abortion rates by restricting contraception and sex education? Note, as in both of the above, the (corrupting) role of religious dogma.
This is Zimbabwe - reacts to the Memorandum of Understanding between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
An Onymous Lefty - Will Kevin Rudd restate Australia’s opposition to the death penalty – or do what any other self-respecting post-New Right leader would do, and cower before the pollsters?
Machine Gun Keyboard - AP assumes bloggers are an amorphous mass, and leaps at them. Could they misunderstand the internet any more?
The DisAbled Feminist - reacts to the success of the Southall Black Sisters campaign for survival.
Dreaming of Simplicity – considers electoral reform in the UK and France.
Tips to tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org, or in the comments.
Hard Facts from the 1980s
Welcome to Wednesday’s NetCast. Tips very welcome in the comments, or sent to tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org
Stephen’s Linlithgow Journal - The UK still treats HIV as if it were the 1980s. Hadn’t we got past overt discrimination?
Remembering the Ability in DisAbility - wonders whether a parent really needs a CRB check to transport their own child.
BorisWatch - The Mayor of London appears to be adjusting to a post-Livingstonian capital. About time.
Dave’s Part - How does death through dangerous knifing differ from death through dangerous driving?
Five Chinese Crackers - explores the liberal-left, the screaming-right, and their relative reactions to knife-crime.
Harpymarx - finds New Labour’s attempts to address that knife-crime very unsatisfactory, as does James.
Philobiblon - Underneath all the talk about the housing crisis lie some very hard facts about the legacy of the 1980s.
Bears defecate in the woods surrounding the Vatican, and…
Caroline Lucas launched her campaign for leadership of the Greens yesterday. So, a (mini)-theme:
Peter Cranie - makes sure that Caroline will have at least one vote.
The Daily (Maybe) - What does the candidate’s website say about the launch of Lucas-Aid? Credible radicalism seems a theme.
Scribo Ergo Sum - Lucas began her campaign positively. And Derek Wall, as is his wont, reponded negatively.
Daily Kos - Back in real (fantasy) world politics, Republicans manage to accuse Obama of elitism and the 16% of the population of incurable stupidity in the same rant. Come again?
Jock’s Place - The Cornish Liberal Democrats look increasingly illiberal. Lee agrees.
Slugger O’Toole - The Catholic Church takes upon itself to interfere in the political process in Scotland. My, what a novel approach for it to take. Soon, bears will begin to use the Vatican as a toilet…
The F-Word - on a load of patriarchal old wank.
Our Kingdom - Could Athenian-style sortition work in the House of Lords? Anthony Barnett and David Marquand discuss.
A strange return to the 1790s (Early Edition)
Very early, today. There’ll probably be an update at an unspecified time in the afternoon.
Dave Hill - Gender stereotypes affect everyone. Badly.
The Daily (Maybe) - The Guardian may have made a little mistake. Stick to public-sector advertising, perhaps?
Stumbling and Mumbling - examines the root of knife crime. And, yes, it’s (roughly) the economy, my dears.
Penny Red - A wail of despair for desperate Londoners afflicted by the curse of BoJo. And cites Blake, and so is consequently worth a visit for that alone.
Back Towards the Locus - Melanie Phillips regurgitates bile. As usual.
Splintered Sunrise - proves a surprisingly good ventriloquist.
Scribo Ergo Sum - What links a 214-year dead tyrant and the Prevention of Terrorism Act? Hint: It’s not the economy. For once.
Tips to the usual address (tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org) or in the comments.
X doesn’t understand Y
It’s not yet 8AM and I’m posting. Something is very definitely wrong.
Tygerland - Brown doesn’t understand Russia.
Huffington Post - America doesn’t understand Obama.
Harpymarx - Blunkett doesn’t understand prisons. Or people.
Feministing - Brian Sewell doesn’t understand reality.
Kubatana - Countries with more HIV/AIDs sufferers receive less funding for treatment. Largely because of (unelected) leaders like Mugabe, it seems. Unfair, I think so.
The F-Word - Of Eucalyptus, monocultures and feminism. And a fascinating report showing the links.
James Grieves - paid a visit to Marxism 2008, and discovered the Revolution may not be happening just yet.
And now I must be off. Tips to the usual address (tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org) or in the comments.
Religion, fascism, war, tyranny, incompetence…
Welcome to Wednesday’s Netcast, slightly later than usual. Tips and/or gratuitous abuse in the comments, or to tips[at]liberalconspiracy.org.
Mike Tuffrey AM - damns BoJo with faint praise. If that.
Peezedtee - Are liberals paying enough attention to Afghanistan? Proably not.
The DisAbled Feminist - Shouldn’t women be allowed to play 5 set tennis too? Seems fair…
Huffington Post - The far-right has a problem with patriotism. (A tip: For the hyperbolic, it’s usually known as fascism.)
Scribo Ergo Sum - James considers the Anglican schism with uncertain eyes. And calls me an anti-clericist, which seems about right…
Johann Hari - thinks we should allow religious discrimination. And lots of it!
BlairWatch – on the depressing reliability of the African Union.
And now, off to find a job…
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or rss feeds.
» How bad is the feline obesity crisis?
» Why don’t MPs pay back tuition fees instead of increasing ours?
» Obama is right to slam BP – and why capitalists should too
» Why does Phillip Blond see civic cohesion as a security issue?
» So what if the Labour candidates went to Oxbridge?
» Last night’s Labour hustings: will it get interesting or turn to torture?
» It’s now down to Ken to win London for Labour
» The Labour people need
» Blog Nation: what would you like to see discussed?
» The Labour leadership’s token contender.. and it’s not Diane Abbott
» In defence of these fraternal nominations
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