11 Jul 2026

Count Binface and electoral theatre

Don’t be a costumed loon — It’s trivially easy to stand for Parliament in the UK. Any loon can do so. You need ten electors to nominate you and £500 for a deposit – and it’s actually been getting easier. The deposit was introduced in 1918 (£150 – quite a lot of money then). Before […]

3 Jun 2026

I hate this

But does it matter? — I don’t usually say that sort of thing here. I try to be more measured, less personal. I’m talking about the police face recognition vans obviously. This might not surprise you: I mean that I don’t like them. I’m an old git after all, a man who’s written here before […]

13 Jan 2025

Where is my patriotism?

Come, love of country, fill my heart… — I do love Britain. I guess I love England more. London most of all. I hope that in my life I’ve honoured the place I live and not disgraced it or undermined it (I support England and GB in sporting events – I fly a little flag […]


  • Reuters arrives. Cool departs.

    I guess the warbloggers who’ve convinced themselves that hyper-objective, scrupulously neutral Reuters is an arm of the giant global liberal conspiracy will be sending their avatars to picket the news…

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  • The veil and social capital

    The niqab makes social solidarity harder to achieve. Is that a bad thing? Robert “Bowling Alone” Putnam would say that the veil is a source of ‘bonding capital’ – the…

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  • Punks?

    The young women adopting the niqab in Britain may be religious fanatics but they’re more like punks than nuns or hermits. What Jack Straw did, one way or the other,…

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  • Intelligent, just not very interesting

    Is it just me or is there something paralysingly boring about these ‘cars of the future‘ presented at this week’s grandly titled but presumably equally boring World Congress on Intelligent…

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  • Geotagging primer

    I was talking with a friend of mine about geotagging. He runs digital for a publishing group and I thought it might be helpful to write him a two page…

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  • If you have no policies are you still a political party?

    Political parties are developing an aversion to policy. David Cameron’s refusal to provide anything more than mood music in Bournemouth is only the latest tock in the unstoppable tick tock…

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  • Voices from the Battle of Cable Street

    Small historic treat from yesterday’s Today programme. Aubrey Morris, an anti-fascist who was present on the day and Nicholas Mosley, son of the British blackshirt leader, talking to John Humphrys…

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  • Excellent New Scientist podcast

    If you’re interested in this evolutionary biology stuff you’re going to want to get over to New Scientist and subscribe to their excellent podcast. This week’s double issue is devoted…

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  • Britain’s only authentic geek brand

    Why did Britain’s only authentic geek brand never translate into a tech publishing empire or a social media powerhouse? Why didn’t NTK become Britain’s Digg or Slashdot (or LinkedIn or…

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  • At Olympia

    Most of the Snipperoo gang spent the last two days in the smelly, decrepit Olympia 2 exhibition hall at a show called ad:tech. London doesn’t have any decent exhibition venues…

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  • Podcasting saves radio?

    If podcasting is going to yield a real business model for the media owners and broadcasters it probably won’t involve stations centrally creating podcasts and giving them away or selling…

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  • Electrifying

    I’m not a reporter. No one relies on me for my opinion. I’m not sought after for my angle. Still, I’m pretty sure you’re going to want to fire up…

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