Britblog Roundup - The Power of the Blogosphere edition

What ho! Welcome to this latest edition of the Britblog roundup. In writing this edition is has brought home more than ever the importance of the work we all do, no matter what our political persuasion or what we write about. The fact that we do is vital to our culture and freedoms and should be whole heartedly embraced.

That leads me straight into the first subject which Matt Wardman has written about. It's the case of Baroness (life peer, natch) Buscombe, speaking at the Society of Editors about a desire to regulate the blogosphere. Apparently now this will be voluntary but we've had these threats before from the EU. When it comes to trying to cover things up, the internet does prove terribly annoying to our great leaders and libel lawyers.

This was also taken up by Heresy Corner who thinks that the matter might not be so clear cut, not certainly because they don't actually know how to do it. Let's hope it stays like that and remind ourselves that the really clever people go into business. Trouble is, they are trying to control things. Everything.

The F Word looks at how men and women are treated differently when they commit violent crimes:

When discussing a recent high profile child abuse case on The Ten O’Clock News on the BBC, anchor George Alagiah asked if it was more shocking and more “disgusting” because women were involved in the abuse of these children. The reporter covering the case agreed, stating that there are more women involved in abusing children than the public might think: 25% of cases, he informed us.

Women are considered more caring than men but I think we've had enough examples through the ages to realise that women can be decisive and hard. They might stand out because they're rare but that's only because most didn't have the opportunities to be sufficiently reported. For women can be soldiers - not in the infantry and such of course - but all the members of the Army are soldiers first so they must be capable of violence for their own safety and also for the vital role they undertake. All are equal under the law, surely? Everyone should be condemned for violence, unless it's some self defence situation of course. Feminism is still in it's infancy compared to the time human beings have been around and people are still trying to work out how to bring about equality. I personally think that Harriet Harman damages the feminist cause more than most others. On the subject of feminism, Tim Worstall has some figures which he thinks we'll be hearing soon to attack men and businesses with.

Amused Cynicism has started a facebook group regarding Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill, a subject also taken up by Charlotte Gore. It's a Bill worth knowing about certainly, especially if Lord Voldemort, unelected, has something to do with

Chicken Yoghurt looks at The Sun at 40. I'm not going to say I agree with his views of '40 years of lies' but I find it a shame that their politics department is limited to few pages whilst moronic entities are splashed far too widely. I hope the next 40 years will herald the arrival of fewer reality TV shows. in fact, I hope that this happens, written to me by a journalist employed by Uncle Rupert:

I think the best way for them to pass from this earth would be by attending a big event, and then being told at the door that they weren't allowed in because no-one gave the blindest shit about them anymore. Then one by one they dropped with cardiac arrest due to the shock.

And then no-one printed anything about it because - as the event doormen pointed out - no-one gives the blindest shit about them anymore. Except The FT, The Guardian and The Telegraph, of course, who went MASSIVE on it.

Enemies of Reason asks who really edits the paper and if it is Rupert 'Nylon Shirt' Murdoch he's made some odd choices. Some of his comments regarding copywrite certainly are extreme, but then, well, he's Rupert Murdoch. Go read more.

Switching from one controlling, powerful man to one who has the power to be but currently has shown that he should remain firmly in a Benny Hill sketch: it's the President of Europe, Rumpy Pumpy

The first President / Emperor of Europe for five centuries is everyone’s third choice and has all the appearance of low-key, lightweight, compromise non-entity; there is nothing presidential about him at all. He looks like just another committee man, of which we have too many already.

Apart from the very existence of the position being bad in some ways for Euroscepticism – although many people say that things need to get worse for our reluctant for change voters to do anything vaguely controversial – it's great for them in many ways. It shows that despite vile people like Barroso and some people (not many voters, though) wanting federalism Heads of State don't wish to relinquish power for someone showy. What would Sarkozy do if Tony Blair had a higher position than him and was known by more people? What would happen to his ego? It's highly likely that's why this man was chosen but keep your eyes peeled for the tax proposals: they've been floating around Brussels for years and of course the EU has just voted in favour of a 10% increase in it's budget and can't just fund it all from VAT and the British tax payer.

The New Adventures of Juliette talks of weighty issues and appears to be doing a very good job (I say appears, there are no photos but you know what I mean) of overcoming her own figure wishes. Nothing works better when trying to lose weight than mathematics: consume fewer calories than you use and voila!

I myself have struggled with weight issues and whilst genetics tend to balance out most people in the population in many cases some people don't understand the lengths others must go to just to maintain a normal size. When you're dieting you have a goal to work towards but when you're there? Then what?

While getting thin is an adrenaline-fuelled battle a la Gladiator, staying thin is thankless, praise less, back-breaking slave labour with no end in sight. There's no finishing line to be seen after which you can start eating all your old favourites as much as you like - unless it's the rather morbid finishing line of your coffin trundling into the flames at your local crematorium.

Kate Moss said recently that nothing tasted nicer than feeling thin. I disagree: lots of things do. I can only say to Juliette as someone in a similar boat that the only way to success is to embrace the change in lifestyle best done by finding an exercise you love and remember that for fitness success, it's supposed to hurt! Alternatively, don't listen to me. I've been single for years so what do I know what men want.

SwissToni's fallen victim to identity theft via PayPal. Whilst it seems they were very good, the company the goods were fraudulently purchased, wasn't. I personally won't but anything from Dabs.com if this is what SwissToni suffered.

I suspect you've all been overwhelmed with the huge coverage that the hacking of the CRU computer systems secured. My God! The breaking news, the front pages, the speeches in Parliaments saying that this news now means we're not all going to die in two minutes because we drive cars. And, of course, those apologies and the about turn in tax policies particularly the ones bankrupting airlines.

Many of us know that already by doing things like looking at non biased stats or reading the full Stern report rather than the bit that says 'if you insist with socialism then the climate might suffer.' The Devil's Kitchen has a list of his posts on this subject - well worth reading as well as the browsable database.

The whole of the anthropogenic climate change reporting and response is co-ordinated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which produces substantial reports every few years on the current state of the science and economics.

The last of these reports—Assessment Report 4 (AR4, as it is referred to throughout the emails)—was released in 2007.

The scientific parts of the IPCC's reports have been based heavily on the research and reconstructions produced by The Club—particularly on the temperature reconstructions of Michael Mann and Keith Briffa. These reconstructions (usually involving a hockey stick graph) have been constantly attacked—and usually destroyed—by sceptics such as Steve McIntyre.

What these emails show is that members of The Club have presented, as fact, data which privately they have acknowledged to be, at best, flawed.

Further, many members of The Club are editors of the reports submitted to the IPCC, and the emails show that they have deliberately cherry-picked those that agree with their position—and conspired to discredit or reject those that do not agree with their political position.

The Club has also conspired to suborne journals, and to oust editors of other journals who are perceived as being unsympathetic to their cause. And they have been successful.

The emails show that, whilst claiming that sceptics' papers are not peer-reviewed, The Club have actively and deliberately used blackmail and smears to prevent such peer-review or, when review is unavoidable, to have conspired to skew the review process to discredit their opponents.

I asked Ma and Pa, who, for the record have been recycling and using the car as little as possible for years just from common sense rather than persistent MPs, MEPs and European Commissioners lecturing us, about this and they hadn't heard about this story.

And let's just remind ourselves again of this e-mail comment:

I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline

And it's been the blogosphere talking about it. That's why this is the Power of the Blogosphere edition. Knowledge, liberty and democracy needs us.

The Britblog roundup is not to be used for promoting a political view point but this rant is about the fact that a story which I think is hugely important because it's dictating so many changes to our lifestyle is not being debated. Debate is necessary and healthy in a democracy. It's like the USA not allowing the UN to talk about how drug liberalisation might just be a good thing for stopping antisocial behaviour and the such.

Matthew writes regarding Prof Ian Blackshaw's comments on a virtual referee. I don't understand but I have worked out that other people find something about a match quite outrageous.

Edward Woodward has died and Johnault writes about his personal memories.

Liberal England writes about why he has some sympathy for the 'Turnip Taliban' - what a stupid and offensive name for a group of people who just didn't want to have a adulteress as their parliamentary candidate. Localism is triumphed by David Cameron (years after UKIP did but still, I think it's a good thing) for absolutely everyone but his party, who must have his and central office's opinions forced upon them. Ironic anyone?

Liz Truss might not be shagging a married man anymore but she did and many find that not only offensives but a sign of a lack of honesty. Turnip fucking Taliban...are they making vegetable IEDs in Middle Eastern countries to target British troops, taking the use of fertilizer for mass murder a little too far?

Finally (and what a long journey we've had tonight!) a subject close to my heart, having been fortunate enough to read statements around the case of Paul Clarke including evidence from a senior police officer which was not used in court. Jack of Kent goes through the legal aspects of the case.

For me, that a man hands in a weapon - an ex soldier who would be comfortable in handling weapons and making them safe - to a senior policeman on an arranged visit and ends up facing incarceration in my opinion shows that the law and, in my opinion, the local police force, is an ass. From what I have read Mr Clarke appears to have been harassed by the local police force.

It's like RIchard Brunstrom and his relentless pursuit of speeding motorists over burglary and murder in North Wales only this time rather than general obstinacy it appears to be personal.

So that's it, and I do hope you enjoyed it as it took me bloody hours. Next week we're off to Charles Crawford so send in your nominations to britblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Until next time, toodle pip!

Trixy

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