Yeah. Two blog posts in one night. I’m like a bus. Well, a bussle of busses. Here’s something I sent to my MP this week after getting something from her. Frankly, while I admit I was slack in relying, I was ten times faster than her. Here’s the thing what I wrote: Thanks for replying…
A friend tells me that in The Times Naomi Wolfe is arguing that the protest movement, student protest in particular, has failed to learn the lessons of her own protesting days, though I can’t link it and I can’t even read it since it’s not even on the free web. Might be true. Might not…
My MP replied to my email about Voting Reform. The reply was on paper in the post, so I mostly couldn’t be arsed to type it out to paste it here given how boiler-plate it was. My reply to her written tonight is, however, already in easy-pastable electronic form: Emily, Thanks for your reply, though…
It seems that the fashion this week is for burning copies of religious tomes. Never ones to willingly miss out on a bandwagon, The European Church Of The Subgenius are keen to get in with the trend and hold a massive book burning session of our own. But which holy book to burn? We don’t…
via handsomejackband.com Over on the the band website I write: We practice every week, and in order to double the efficiency, the value of that practice we record it quite often. Most weeks really. Then go back and watch it again, comment on it, crack jokes, drink booze. Jack tells us that this is the…
So I was talking to this guy the other day who was insisting that we should behave more ‘naturally’. Trying to claim that modern human behaviour is “not natural” in some way. Perhaps coz it can sometimes be so violent and selfish. We as a species do plenty of killing, certainly, but do we do…
I am very drunk, and should certainly be in bed rather than writing to congratulate my new (old) MP. Nevertheless, I am not. Damnit. Open litter to my MP: Dear Emily. Excellent, surprising and (I admit, for me, disappointing) work there Emily. I don’t know if you can receive email through the parliamentary system or…
So we’re all anarchists now then? Win. I guess. I think I described roughly this result as “best hope” a couple of days ago. But watching it unfold, watching Limbet lose his seat, watching Evens lose his seat, watching my lib candidate Bridget Fox have her opponent’s majority increased by like thousands of votes, watching…
Ten days until the election here in the UK and things are looking more interesting than usual. The newspapers are calling it “The Clegg Effect” but then the newspapers also thought Mephedrone was called “Meow Meow” so I suspect their opinion on why the Liberals are polling better than usual might well be about as…
As promised, Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers are moving to a pay model, it’ll be two quid a week to read the Times from July. Many of you will have previously clicked on a link to an article at, say, the New York Times and been confronted with a page saying “Register for FREE to read this…
Read more Good News Everyone! The conspiracy media are shooting themselves in the foot.
As you may remember, there once was a lunch in Corfu between Lord Mandelson and David Geffen, one Hollywood mogul and record company exec. After that meeting, Mandy came out with his new copyright bill, the Digital Economy Bill, which among other things, gives the government the right to force your ISP to spy on…
New Novella My new novella, entitled “Do Dream Sheep Bleat?” has been released this weekend. It’s a short story about magic and mind, about consciousness, cognizance and conjuring. Also, there’s a penguin whose picture is on the front cover. You can read it online, for free, either in your browser or by downloading a pdf.…
Before Xmas I got a reply from my MP about The letter I wrote her earlier. Been too busy/lazy to update on that. The best bits follow. The Government has a difficult balance to reach between protecting the creative industry from potentially huge losses incurred through illegal file sharing, and respecting individuals’ rights to unrestricted…
Reply to the letter I previously sent to my MP arrived today: Thank you for your email about Professor Nutt. I apologise for not replying sooner. I was interested to hear your view on this important matter but I am afraid that we disagree on this issue. Professor Nutt’s abilities as a scientist and his…
Emily Thornberry Labour MP for Islington South & Finsbury Hello Emily, sorry to have to bother you again. I read with interest reports on the Digital Economy Bill which, it would appear, now contains Mandelson’s attempts to remove the presumption of innocence AND parliamentary review in any issue deemed to be important to big media…
via tdpf.org.uk The Transform Drug Policy Foundation has published it’s new book “After The War On Drugs, Blueprint For Regulation”, more than 200 pages of specific and useful suggestions for achieving some regulatory control over our chaotic and gangster-run drug markets. Broadly, it’s an attempt to answer prohibitionist questioning of exactly what a post-drug-war world…
Remember, Remember, the 5th of November. Copyright, treason, and plot. Lord Mandelson proposes a Three Strikes rule, allowing industry to disconnect entire families though accusing them three times of copyright infringement. No judge. No Jury. No judicial oversight. This is just the latest example of the over-extension of copyright laws. The Pirate Party wants to…
An open letter to my MP on the David Nutt Sack affair. Emily Thornberry Labour MP for Islington South & Finsbury Morning Emily, Since it’s all hitting the news again, thought I’d drop you a line to remind you how badly you are representing me, and pretty much everyone I know, on the issue of…
via bbc.co.uk George Orwell wrote the subject line. It seems that, as I tweeted yesterday, telling the truth has kicked up controversy. That Nutt has been fired is surprising mostly in that it’s come so late, I really expected him to be fired for his previous comments that Horse Riding and Ecstasy could even be…
Read more In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
So it seems that Three Strikes Laws are to hit Britain. Downloaders to get their internet all cut off. No judicial oversight, no trial. Upon accusation by the big media companies, you’re guilty until proven innocent. More: Group punishment. Daddy downloads, wife and kids get cut off too. Marvellous. Prompted me to join The UK…