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The Vote Now Show has been doing a sterling job of reporting on the events of the election campaigning for the past few weeks.
In return, they’ve only asked for one thing which has been denied of them – to be hated. So far, they’ve not received a single complaint. They’ve even gone so far as to shoot a clanger (artist’s rendering above) in an attempt to generate complaints.
So if you’ve been enjoying the broadcasts, please show your support for The Vote Now Show by registering a complaint with dear aunty.
For added humour, why not treat it as the traditional audience question? If you complain, leave your “complaint” in the comments section below. Mine is…
Summary of Complaint: Shooting of Clanger – Contravention of Hunting Act 2004
Full Complaint:
I had tuned in to the nightly Vote Now Show expecting pleasant and perfectly middle class humour. I was disgusted to hear the live shooting of a wild clanger, which had been outlawed since the passing of the Hunting Act 2004. The vile and insensitive performers of the show should be made to issue an immediate apology – as THIS white, middle-class worker is shocked and distressed.
Yours,
Kian Ryan
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Dear Tory and Labour politicians,
Over the past few weeks, you’ve been a little bit shocked in the rise in popularity of Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. Clearly you feel threatened since the Torys briefed the Murdoch papers on smearing the Lib Dems (which backfired) and Labour clearly have it in their mind that a Lib Dem vote is a protest vote (I’m looking at you Mr Milliband). For a long time power has bounced between red and blue, changing sides like a game of cricket. A major influence in this has been the media who tended to pick the winner and then smear all other opponents; but its not worked this time. Often discussion has been how it is the turn of “the other side”.
A Lib Dem vote is not a protest vote, we are not voting against something – we are voting for something. A Lib Dem vote is not a wasted vote, enough people vote and constituencies change – even “safe” ones. We are not the naughty children, nor are we “anti-politics”; in fact – this campaign has been the most attentive, pro-politics we’ve seen, with leaders debates on TV and open discussion on free new media. We are the people who didn’t really have a say, since we are not in traditional occupations to influence voters. Scientists, engineers, geeks, bloggers and more, we’ve always been here and been a significant number of people, but we are no longer the group of people who just keep quiet and accept the given situation.
We want change. We want our politics to keep up with the changing pace of technology. We want our freedom of speech, we want to be who we are (goth, gay, punk – whatever), and we want our vote to matter. We think the idea of a hung parliament is possibly a good thing, since it means MPs will have to work to pass their policies, and we are intelligent enough to see the potential impact it may have (economic and otherwise). We want open debate every year, not just every five years. We are intelligent and educated – not by Eton or Westminster, but a lot of us are educated to at least the same level as you – smear and fear campaigns just irritate us. We want electoral reform so that we know every vote really does count in the most important way possible. In many ways we don’t care what colour your policies are, just that they work for us. Tom Watson, despite being Labour, became a hero to many during the recent DEB farce.
There’s a couple of weeks left to this campaign. Your traditional tactics have failed to work. What can you do to rescue yourselves in our eyes in this campaign?
1) Engage in honest debate on policies. Stop the fear mongering – its just getting ripped apart and parodied online (and the beeb are going a good job on picking it up as well).
2) Talk about your own policies. It’s almost shocking how much time is being spent talking down the policies of other parties rather than talking up the policies of your own. Tell us why we should vote for you, not why we shouldn’t vote for the other parties.
2) Talk to the people you want to represent – a good proportionate sample of them. Get out of your comfort zone and see what the entire field is like.
3) Accept this is a three way race. Stop trying to marginalise the third party – its not working. The numbers are indeed nuts. So start fighting for those voters.
That’s it! Fight an honest fight and we will respect you for it. And an MP without respect might as well have a duck-house.
Yours,
A Voter
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There’s a fault with the HTC Desire in that it’s not showing copy protected paid apps in the Android Market. This is apparently due to HTC failing to the get the ROM signed by Google (or some similar such). If you’ve already got apps you’ve paid for on a previous device, then it’s a little frustrating.
I e-mailed HTC and T-Mobile asking when the situation is going to be rectified. I got the following response from HTC (none from T-Mobile).
Dear Kian,
Thank you for contacting us. We are aware of this issue and will be pushing out an update to rectify this issue. Please check your phone for updates, As these will be made available via an Over The Air update once they become available.
Kind Regards,
HTC Europe
I think that’s a reasonable enough response. Admittedly, it’s a cock-up that shouldn’t have happened, but they’ve responded with a reasonable answer. Now can we have some accessories please?
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Well, I’ve had this handset for almost 24 hours now, so its probably time to give a few first impressions.
For those following my Twitter stream probably already know I’m impressed with this handset. I loved my G1 (running Android 1.6), but the advances in 18 months are just amazing. The look and feel of the device alone is significantly more polished than its predecessors and Sense UI just adds some nice overall touches to make a truly complete experience.
Looking at the hardware, the casing is very solid and quite gripped, with an almost rubber texture on the back. It doesn’t have the plastic feel of the G1, myTouch or Hero whilst being significantly thinner and lighter. The difference in weight is pretty significant, I keep having to check my pockets to make sure its there. The screen is possibly the best mobile screen I’ve seen – looking at photos and watching videos has an amazing feel to it. It does suffer from the direct sunlight problem that all screens in this class do, but so far its not really been a problem. The snapdragon processor is certainly snappy – its put up with everything I’ve thrown at it so far and not really battered an eyelid. Audio is … impressive. Normally I am completely underwhelmed by audio on mobile phones, music is something I’m very picky about. My usual mp3 player is a Sansa clip, paired with Sure SE-210s and my listening tastes range from Rock to Classical and Spoken Word. Hooking up the headphones to this handset I was impressed. It’s about as good as the Sansa clip, which is am impressive standard in itself. Im probably going to be switching to the Desire for day to day listening, and keeping the Sansa for trips away, where I might need to conserve battery. My only complaint about the audio is that its a tad quiet. I don’t usually expect to need to top out the volume for music playback, but I’ve got a feeling that’ll get addressed in the next firmware revision.
Battery so far has been fine. Just don’t be a numpty and leave everything turned on all the time.
The software experience is solid, with all the usual stuff you’ve come to expect from Android with some 2.1 niceties thrown in. The social integration which comes with Sense UI is surprisingly good, I’m using the Twitter integration (widget and app) now and the ability to link contacts to various social networks is great. The software keyboard is pretty darned good as well – I’ve written this entire post in the Wordpress application, and its guessed happily at most of the words with only a few corrections. Coming from a G1, I wasn’t sure how I would cope with no hardware keyboard by so far the larger screen and excellent software make up for that.
So yes, colour me impressed.
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I’ve just finished watching this evenings debate, votes and reading of the DEB. I’ll admit that I had lost hope a few weeks ago of this bill being voted down, but some things became clear as I was watching this evenings proceedings.
It’s bloody confusing.
I don’t watch BBC Parliament that often, but I’m usually capable enough of following what’s going on. But as this evenings clauses were being voted on I a admit to struggling keeping up with which clauses were which and at one point both @thehodge and I were wondering what on earth was now being voted on and whether the desired response was yay or nay. The whole process is wrapped up in so many layers described as “tradition” and “process” that from the outside, it looks completely archaic and more about posing than genuine debate. Many of these layers also take up time, precious time.
The numbers didn’t add up.
189 aye, 47 against. There had to be … 40 in that chamber at most? I believe the other 190 odd were hanging around outside. If this is so, why did they not partake or at least sit in on the debate? 20,000 people wrote to their MPs – at least some of those outside must currently represent some of those constituents. Did they not feel it part of their obligation to partake on their constituents part? Or did they just not want to show their face on camera and be noted as present? Have we got a catalouge of who voted and who was present as we did for yesterday? I think this is a major failing of the system, that MPs can just turn up and vote, without partaking in any debate on the issue.
The house was packed earlier in the day for PMQs
BBC News photos show a packed house for what was nothing more than posturing and arse-waving. Those MPs were there then, where were they for the DEB debate? People are losing trust in their MPs for reasons like this. A friend wrote in his blog that politicians have “lost track of what is actually meant by trust” (I’ll link once I get permission). In the whole, we don’t care if you’re sleeping with a footballer’s wife or dating one of the cheeky girls. What we want is for MPs to take an interest in matters their constituents have an interest in, to engage the house on those issues and work for us. It still feels like, even after the whole debacle of the MP expenses that MPs are failing to understand that they are there to represent constituents. Constituents are not just a by-product. There is an election coming up – it would do well to remember that.
How many MPs actually understood the bill, or the implications of the bill?
Some of those that spoke clearly had no real understanding of technical, social or economic issues of the bill before them. A few did, and Tom Watson really must be applauded for being one of the few voices (along with around 20 others) who genuinely understood what this would mean in a few years time. As some of the blog have already pointed out this morning, certain clauses will certainly cripple aspects of a growing economy – the complete opposite of what this bill was meant to achieve. It fails to help promote potential new business models and revenue streams and actively works to support pre-existing industries. Clause 8 is potentially disturbing as we now have the potential for a “great firewall” of our very own. At least there’s the protection of a judge, but considering the way our current libel laws work I can see this heading in the same direction very quickly.
Something else which actually dawned on me is that if this is how the DEB bill is debated (an area I have at least some knowledge on, so therefore can comment from an informed position) – are other bills handled the same way? Are bills on energy or economics debated with the same lack of understanding by politicians, and then voted on by a horde dragged in by the party whip? Quite a log of those debating the DEB were only given one side of the argument – the statistics given to them by the record industry, which have been debunked time and time again. Is politics simply a case of those with the most money winning all the time by being the voice in MPs ears? That has horrible implications.
My MP is Ruth Kelly. Who didn’t turn up for the vote or debate. Unsurprisingly since she is standing down at the next election, as many others are. But until the election they’re still our MPs. I would have had a little more respect for her, irrespective of her vote, had she actually turned up to the debate.
There’s a general election coming up on May 6th. So far, I’m feeling “stitched-up” by all of the major parties. The party I had expected to stand up for my rights, the Lib Dems, failed to do so. Quite a few vocal Lib Dem supporters are also feeling rather stung and disillusioned with their own party. One blog post won’t make a blind bit of difference and I don’t really expect anyone of note to read nor take notice of this, but one hopes ever so slightly that this may be my Cesspool of the Potomac.
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Type: Blog Post (Markdown)
Blog: kianryan
Post:
Title: Taking a Digital Fast.
Pings: Off
Comments: Off
Category: LifeTrack
Eugh.
That’s a term I dislike. But a “Digital Fast” is the one LifeHack have adopted so I’ll settle with it for now. The idea is to take a 24 hour period completely disconnected from the Net to a) prove that you can do it, and b) to get a bit of life back and put your priorities straight.
But they make it sound like a chore.
Go have a read of the article, and then come back.
My partner and I had an online break recently for a whole two days, and it was one of the most refreshing things we’ve done for a long time. I had spent the week working for a client based in London, and with things still flying around up North it was a very hectic week. Fun, but hectic. Deciding that we really needed was a few days break I booked a couple of days in Kettlewell in the Yorkshire Dales (we recommend Littlebeck B&B). It was on a bit of a whim, and the place came on the advice of a friend. This was not intended as a “Digital Fast”, just a couple of days out of the rat race for a bit of R&R.
I got back into Manchester on Friday evening, Cat picked me up and off we went. Driving up, the usual run of Twitter and GMaps was happening until we got north of Skipton. Then all we got from GMaps was a grid, a blue line and an arrow.
“Follow the line! Don’t lose the line!”, so long as we followed the line we were OK. There was a map somewhere in the car if we got really stuck.
But the signal was dead. No 3G, no GSM. Nada. And as we hit Kettlewell it didn’t get any better. No Wifi in the B&B, Wifi in one of the pubs if we got absolutely stuck. All we had was each others company for a three day period.
And it was awesome. We woke at a reasonably casual time, wandered downstairs to a most hearty breakfast, casually strolled around the village, drank tea in a nice little tea-shop and ate at some rather nice pubs. No pressures, no connectivity, just the gentle countryside and company.
We even had snow on the Sunday, which made the whole thing even more picturesque – and did cause a bit of worry about getting back for Monday. Trapped for another day? Oh dear… Alas, it turns out the roads in that area are gritted and cleared more religiously than most major towns and cities so at that point it was easy travelling to get home.
We will be doing it again – next time hopefully for longer. A week, maybe two. It’s nice to have that feeling of gentle isolation.
So, if you are planning on taking your “Digital Fast”, and feel like it will be more chore than pleasure – why not disappear to the Dales or the Lakes for a day or two and enjoy what’s there instead? Enjoy your time away.
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I’ve been using ASP.NET MVC for a couple of projects now, and so far my assessment is lukewarm. I like it in that it lets me play with raw data and is increadibly powerful, extensible and testable. It does take quite a while to spin things up though, and you can end up in a headache of chase the forms. It’s quite likely I’ve not quite got the hang of it yet, but that’s fine.
One tool that has proved invaluable to my understanding of forms, FormCollections and the noise going backwards and forwards between my app and the browser is Fiddler 2. It’s a proxy server with a UI over the top that lets you see the requests and responses that are sent between your web browser and server. It’s great to understand the shape of the data your sending to the formCollection, whether various fields are sending the right name, checking that JSON data as it’s coming back etc. In no respect should it replace testing, but it makes understanding the flow significantly easier.
