Irish Political News

This is the second of three extra Blog Platform columns to outline the current writers and features on the Wardman Wire , and to look at future developments. This article talks about the “occasional columns”. Currently we have 3 of these. Not a Number Mike Rouse stopped writing regularly for the blog when he left 18 Doughty Street. The column covered the important area of the interaction of technology and new media, and how this would effect politics and political communication. This is a column I’d like to restart - as it is an area of rapid change and high interest. Free Speech I’m expecting Free Speech to be one of the main themes in UK politics over the next 5 years - especially as there have been increasing circumscribing of many different freedoms in the UK over the last decade. We gave extensive coverage to the Usmanov case, and will continue to do our bit to campaign for the right to freedom of expression in the UK - and in particular reform of the UK Libel Laws. Any politician who will commit themselves to reversing many of the repressive laws we have seen introduced - from the restrictions on demonstrations to the centralisation of personal information will be in a strong position to ask me for my vote at the next election. If there is a writer out there willing to contribute a weekly (or more occasional) article around Civil Liberties to the blog, this column is waiting for you. I should add that I am always willing to back good writers or bloggers who do not yet have much experience or a high profile. Hot Issue This is a column we wheel out when there is a currently contentious issue - it consists of a summary of different viewpoints, and some analysis from the writer. Wrapping Up I will add further occasional columns as and when seems necessary. There will be one more article in this series on Monday morning. I will put up a few indicators as to where I hope to take the blog over the next 3-4 months. Tags: hot issue, not a number, free speech, wardman wire

Back in early December I posted a run-down of the list of weekly columns on the Wardman Wire, using the excuse that the site “has been a bit of a building site recently with a lot of changes”. I’m pleased to say that the move from a personal political blog to a site with a wider team of writers is nearly complete - so there may be a bit more stability round here for the next few months (at least in terms of who is writing). This is an extra Blog Platform column to map out where we are and where we may be going. What Happens each Week I’m doing a rundown by day this time. There’s more to say, but I’ll keep this post as short as I can manage. Now that the rate of change on the blog is slowing down (at least in terms of new and guest writers), I’ll see if I can be more reliable at making sure that things appear on the right day. Our practice is - with one or two exceptions - to publish the column each day at 11:00am, to give time for the article to hit the RSS feed in time for the lunch break. Then nothing else appears until perhaps 4pm. As ever, the best way not to miss anything is to subscribe to our RSS feed. Nearly Every day “The Daily Roundup” is currently a roundup of 10 or a dozen newspaper stories designed to provide “blog fodder” for our readers. It focuses on interesting and occasionally unusual stories. On good days it is published around 1am; on not quite so good days with breakfast or a little later. As you can see from the podcast player in the sidebar, we experimented with a daily podcast - I hope to take that forward, but I’m thinking about a practical approach. The “Morning Funny” (which needs a better name) is a cartoon or joke which appears at the start of the day - usually at around 9:00am. There are agreements in place with 5 or 6 different cartoonists to reproduce their work, and I sometimes re-recycle a joke from the Adam Smith Institute Jokester; make that “used to re-recycle” - he has retired. Monday “The Day Job” is about what bloggers do when they are not blogging. I have only done one of these, and intend to increase the frequency. Tuesday “Politics Decoded” is Garbos weekly political comment column - running for 6 months now. Garbo publishes his “bon mots” before lunch on a Tuesday with the reliability of Mr Gordon asking Mr Cameron questions at PMQs instead of answering them. (more…)

I’m delighted to announce two new Internet Awards for services beyond the call of duty in the area of suppression of Free Expression on the Internet in the UK. The inaugural Bear-Faced Usmanov for internet bullying is awarded to Joseph Chikelue Obi, while the first Double Headed Schilling for being a soft-touch goes to Netcetera - The Occasional Internet Host. The Bear-Faced Usmanov is for extreme efforts in closing down websites which are criticising you by threat without evidence. Meanwhile The Double Headed Schilling is awarded to webhosts who roll over before such threats. The first awards are in connection with the case of Joseph Chikelue Obi and the Quackometer, with internet hosting (sometimes) company Netcetera. The whole thing was documented by the Register, from where the text extracts below are quoted. Quack! Quack! Quackety-Quack! The Citation for Joseph Chikelue Obi “A discredited doctor has forced an ISP to silence a website that aimed to debunk claims made by his “Royal College of Alternative Medicine” (RCAM). The website, Quackometer, run by Oxfordshire IT worker Andy Lewis, was shuttered by ISP Netcetera on Monday following threats to sue for defamation from Joseph Chikelue Obi. Lewis recently targeted self-proclaimed professor, “Eminent Black British Human Rights Crusader” and “Undisputed Doyen of Medical Politics”, Joseph Chikelue Obi. Quackometer featured a series of articles lampooning claims made by RCAM in its blog section. Obi describes himself as the provost of RCAM, a Dublin-based “empowerment body for advanced wellness consultants”. (more…) Previous in series

[ED: Sorry comments left closed by mistake. Now open.] Following Rowan Williams lecture on Tuesday about the blasphemy law, Dave Walker has a piece on some of the reactions to it. Here’s my take. As someone with a full-time job, I don’t have the 3 days necessary to grapple with every sentence in the AB of C’s lecture. It is what it is: a lecture, not an article in the Sun. It’s all the more disappointing that some of the reports and reactions don’t take this into account. The Times report gives just as much airtime to Terry Sanderson, the president of the rent-a-quote National Secular Society (membership 7,000), who called the lecture a ‘blatant pitch for new legislation to replace the blasphemy laws’. Sorry Mr. S, but the one thing you can’t accuse Rowan Williams of being is blatant. Nuanced, dense, impenetrable even (I don’t know if this got a laugh at the lecture - at one stage he restates one of his phrases ‘in plainer English’), but not blatant. Jerry Springer the Opera 1, Church of England 0? Williams basic argument seems to be that the blasphemy law is finished, but that we do need to provide some sort of protection against religious abuse. Hence he has been shot at by American conservatives for being limp on the blasphemy law, and by secularists for wanting to protect religion. But judging by the picture, he’s still smiling. (more…)