SUGGESTATION

(via Liberal Conspiracy - casting the net. Cheers Aaron!)

I’ve not read the blog ‘Enemies of Reason‘ before, but this great post caught my eye.

I’m a liberal. In the US, according to stereotype, that should make me a peaceloving, cheek-turning, happy-go-lucky pacifist, who sees no wrong in anyone. Let me tell you this is not the case.

There are a few things which make me see the red mist. One is tailgaters. You’re driving along the motorway, and some twit drives up your exhaust pipe because, although you’re in a queue, he expects you to pull over and let him through. It takes a huge effort of self control to stop myself from hurting people that tailgate me. Another is … (relax Jherad, soothing thoughts), right-wing nutcases who leave nasty, idiotic, bigoted remarks on mainstream news comment/messageboard areas. I sincerely *shudder* to think what happen if I was to meet one of these ‘people’.

There. I said it. It sounds rather ridiculous - it is ridiculous, that I can get so wound up at the petty remarks of some dribbling subhuman fool, but there it is. Do these people really exist? I’m not sure I’ve ever met one in the flesh…

Perhaps there is only one explanation: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/apr/16/immigrationpolicy.immigration

The Guardian has an article up on a study conducted for the Association of Chief Police Officers, which shows that despite scare stories in the tabloid media about an influx of eastern european immigrants causing a massive crimewave in the UK, crime rates in general have continued to fall - rises in crime numbers have only been proportional to the increase in population. In other words, immigrants are no more likely to commit crime than the British born populace.

Tabloids often like to confuse rates with simple figures - One of the biggest issues highlighted is the burden that immigrants place on infrastructure and public services. Problem is, that despite the increased tax revenue that immigrants bring, public spending has not risen in line. The problem is solveable, but it is much easier to blow a dogwhistle blaming immigration for the deterioration in services, or flat increases in crime figures than to open up purse strings.

http://www.bloggerheads.com/archives/2008/04/generous_to_a_f.asp

Oof. Getting there. Good result for Tim with Paul - I really hope he gets somewhere with Iain.

I’d like to know what this means in the wider sense of the UK political blogosphere. Much has been made of the reader numbers claimed by the big blogs, and with the real figures shown to be much lower than originally touted, questions have been raised about the influence and readership that blogs really wield.

Obviously blogs do have influence - we’ve all heard of cases by now of stories which have been broken by the blogosphere before the mainstream media, and Tim Ireland himself has been greatly influential in getting SOCPA reversed. Still, the numbers of blog readers in the UK seems to be very small - ideas on how to improve?
.

Given the farce that was the Olympic torch handover in England yesterday, it should come as no surprise that protestors have been lining up in France for the past few hours, in preparation for the next leg of the relay.

The ridiculous spectacle of the Olympic torch surrounded by a horde of police officers and tracksuited heavies being shepherded through an angry mob was punctuated by Konnie Huq’s statement that it was wonderful that people were allowed to protest here.

Update:
Ok so… Apparently officials have put out the olympic flame themselves and put the torch on a bus. Er… That ain’t supposed to happen is it?

Update 2:
Flame was relit. And put out again…

You know, I’m so glad that today’s leg of the torch relay hasn’t descended into yesterday’s comedy show.

Update 3:
Another day, another debacle. Much has been made of the olympic ’spirit’ that the torch is supposed to convey - a spirit that is called upon when condemning attempts to protest, but conveniently forgotten when we remember who is hosting the Olympics. Perhaps it is fitting that like this spirit, the torch itself has been extinguished, twice, when it became too much trouble to get it through the crowds.

Before today, I hadn’t noticed that the torch relay has an official website. Unsurprisingly, it condemns attempts to extinguish the torch by protesters in England on sunday. I wonder what it will say about today’s protests - and the inevitable protests to follow in later legs of the relay.

Septicisle has posted on the start of the liquid explosives trial.

When this case first came to light back in 2006, it was cited as the reason for the restrictions in airports on carrying bottled drinks - restrictions still widely in place today. The mainstream media carried numerous articles on the story, and ‘liquid explosives’ became the new ‘dirty bomb’.

The idea that these liquid explosives are a real threat has been pooh-poohed by some of the more skeptical press. Nevertheless, stories such as this will continue to dominate the headlines. Other, more mundane stories, often go virtually unreported.

As Septicisle quotes:

The prosecutor added that there was no evidence to confirm that the defendants had managed to build a “viable device”.
But he said it was clear that the would-be bombers would eventually have been able to achieve their ultimate aim.

The trial is ongoing, and it is for the court to decide innocence or guilt - if the defendants did try and build a bomb, however small their chance of success, then they are threats to society. Let us be realistic however - if their alleged plan was little more than the hairbrained scheme of a bunch of wannabe jihadists, with a miniscule chance of ever coming to fruition, then the media needs to be very careful in its representation.

The mainstream media uses sensationalism as a tool to increase interest (and ultimately profits), but this must not come at the price of objective reporting. I know. I’m being naïve.

I think Septicisle’s closing sentence says it best.