currybetdotnet Politics archive

Lies, damned lies, and motoring statistics in The Sun
There are lies, damned lies, and articles about motoring and crime statistics, and The Sun had an absolute classic yesterday in that genre. Topically titled 'Grand Theft Auto', the paper ran a two-page spread about the way that the motorist had become 'public enemy number one' in the last ten years, being treated as a criminal and taxed to the hilt. At the foot of the article in print was a great little box-out 'explainer': The Real Dangers IF drivers...

Read the full post - Published May 2, 2008 in Newspapers, Politics, The Sun

Propaganda, politics and censorship - The Olympic Torch Relay since 1936
Today the Olympic flame will be passing through London, and we will almost certainly see some form of protest about China's treatment of Tibet. And importantly, we will almost certainly see it in the media. This was not the case in Greece, where the state-run media tried its hardest to suppress any images or reporting of protests that took place on the flame's five day trip around the country. State television only showed the protest at the lighting ceremony...

Read the full post - Published April 6, 2008 in Olympics, Politics

Those Daily Express migrant arrest statistics in full
The Daily Express was leading yesterday with another story about the "extent of the damage unlimited immigration is causing to the fabric of society". Statistics are fun, of course. The Express claim that "A Migrant arrested every 4 minutes in UK" is based on an extrapolated figure of 360 foreigners being arrested a day, which makes up 7% of the total. If I remember my O-Level maths correctly, that suggests that the total number of arrests per day is 5,142,...

Read the full post - Published February 12, 2008 in Daily Express, Politics

From Athens, Georgia, to Athens, Greece - Democratic primary goes global
It may have been Super Tuesday that caught the world's press attention this week, but today the U.S. Election preliminaries switch from Athens, Georgia to Athens, Greece. The Democratic Party are holding their first 'global' primary for ex-pats and U.S. citizens serving overseas, and voting in Greece starts today. Although U.S. citizens can vote in the primary of the state they were last registered as resident in, some states have an electoral process, like the Iowa caucus, which requires the...

Read the full post - Published February 8, 2008 in Greece, Politics

Greece admits defeat against Olympic phone-tapping spies
It sometimes seems that, rather like the funding mechanisms of the British Labour Party, politics in Greece simply lurches from one scandalous crisis to the next. Before Zahopoulos there were the accusations by the government that the opposition party was deliberately starting the devastating summer forest fires, and before that there was the bond sales saga. Way back when I first arrived in Greece, it was the Vodafone phone-tapping issue that was top of the scandal agenda. Whilst the Zahopoulos...

Read the full post - Published January 23, 2008 in Greece, London Olympics, Olympics, Politics

Pearson profits all round
I note from the Business section of The Guardian today that it has been an excellent year for educational publisher Pearson. Financial Times publisher Pearson has predicted that a record year for its education arm will mean its full-year results could beat the City's expectations. The home of Penguin books and the world's biggest education materials business said it is expecting another year of record profits for 2007. Pearson said its dominant textbooks and examinations arm has "continued to perform...

Read the full post - Published January 22, 2008 in BBC, Politics

Protection of journalist sources at the centre of the Zahopoulos affair in Greece
'The Zahopoulos Affair', despite sounding like a Tintin book, is the current scandal-du-jour enveloping the Kostas Karamanlis government here in Greece. It has developed into an interesting battleground over journalistic ethics and the protection of sources. Just before Christmas, Greek Culture Ministry General Secretary Christos Zahopoulos resigned and then attempted to kill himself. It was, his colleagues claimed, as a result of a blackmail attempt against him. There were allegations of a sex video, and an investigation was started into...

Read the full post - Published January 14, 2008 in Greece, Politics

'Militant' atheists are not killing people
One of the bug-bears of Biased BBC and their ilk is the BBC's refusal to use the word 'terrorist' in conjunction with groups like Hamas. The BBC prefers the term 'militant' amongst other things. On the whole I subscribe to the view that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, the use of the term 'terrorist' is judgmental, and that militant does a job of conveying that generally the perpetrators of 'terrorist' acts represent a small hard-core subset of...

Read the full post - Published December 23, 2007 in BBC, Politics

Putting my money where my mouth used to be over ID cards
I don't know whether it will turn out to be one of the furthest-flung contributions, but a PledgeBank pledge I made a couple of years ago about ID cards has been called in. 'Hello, you have received this message because you signed my pledge, "I will refuse to register for an ID card and will donate £10 to a legal defence fund but only if 10,000 other people will also make this same pledge" back in 2005. In fact 11360...

Read the full post - Published November 28, 2007 in ID cards, Politics

The Daily Express Inheritance Tax 'Crusade' re-writes British politics. And massages the numbers in the process.
When I touched down in the UK in the early hours of this morning, I didn't realise that I had walked into a land in the grips of a political revolution. I mean, I know there is a new PM here, and there has been some to-and-fro over the merits of a November election, but I had missed the seismic change in British politics that happened with Alistair Darling's pre-Budget announcements earlier in the week. Fortunately, the humble Daily Express...

Read the full post - Published October 10, 2007 in Daily Express, Media, Newspapers, Politics

George Galloway speared by Diamond Geezer

Published July 18, 2007 in Politics

"This Is Not My Country" blogger outed by racists and nationalists in Greece

Published April 27, 2007 in Greece, Politics, Web

Server response codes interpreted as political censorship on the Newsnight blog

Published March 28, 2007 in BBC, Politics, Web

BBC Jam closes today - how far will the repercussions be felt?

Published March 20, 2007 in BBC, Children and Teenagers, DCMS, Politics

Gaza strip kidnapped by BBC Journalist according to the Daily Mail

Published March 12, 2007 in BBC, Daily Mail, Media, Newspapers, Politics

Working Together - lessons from the road-pricing petition for eGovernment

Published February 20, 2007 in Media, Politics, Web, eGovernment

Failing to petition Number Ten on Darwin Day

Published February 12, 2007 in Daily Express, Politics, eGovernment

Today and the Hunting ban repeal vote

Published January 9, 2007 in BBC, Politics, Radio, Voting

A happy new year in 2007? Don't count on it

Published January 3, 2007 in Politics

The compassionate heart of Middle England

Published November 30, 2006 in Daily Mail, Media, Politics

The spamosphere already have their eyes on Number 10's E-Petition site

Published November 22, 2006 in Politics, eGovernment

Nine years on and still we wait for a timid reform of the House of Lords

Published October 24, 2006 in Politics

Why I, and thousands like me, can't make up the European Year of Workers Mobility Citizen's Panel

Published October 17, 2006 in Europe, Politics

An exam by any other name

Published September 28, 2006 in Children and Teenagers, Politics

European Workers' Mobility questionnaire and hotline from ECAS

Published September 20, 2006 in Europe, Media, Politics

The depressing speed with which sound bites outstrip historical context

Published September 18, 2006 in Media, Politics, Web

The New York Times and geo-location of internet users - what I might have said on Radio 4 yesterday

Published August 31, 2006 in Localisation, Media, Newspapers, Politics, Radio

Migrationwatch UK demonstrate that 4 out of 5 native British adult workers 'take more from economy than they put back'

Published August 30, 2006 in Europe, Media, Politics

It must be nearly A-Level time again

Published August 11, 2006 in Children and Teenagers, Evening Standard, Politics

GIYUS.org's Megaphone Desktop Tool - the web turns their 'malware' against them

Published August 10, 2006 in BBC, Media, Politics, Voting, Web

Who is paying for this "free" BBC content after all?

Published May 16, 2006 in BBC, Politics

Blair is right to sick by his principles

Published November 15, 2005 in Media, Politics

"Shame on you, BBC. Shame on you, Tony Blair"

Published November 14, 2005 in BBC, Politics

Israeli-Palestinian Impartiality Review by the BBC Governors - Public Consultation

Published November 14, 2005 in BBC, Media, Politics

Panic On The Streets Of London

Published September 13, 2005 in Politics, Transport, Walthamstow

Government Drops E-Voting Plans: U-Turn or Sensible Policy Change?

Published September 7, 2005 in Media, Politics, Voting

Oh, Isn't This A Bit Of A Nuisance

Published July 26, 2005 in BBC, Politics

Green Fair in Waltham Forest (Quietly)

Published July 18, 2005 in Politics, Walthamstow

George Galloway in the USA Senate and on the District Line

Published May 18, 2005 in London Underground, Politics

Vote today - Hellfire tomorrow

Published May 5, 2005 in Politics, Walthamstow

Election hustings meeting in Walthamstow

Published April 27, 2005 in Politics, Walthamstow

Watching the Election from home

Published April 7, 2005 in BBC, Politics

And they're off....!

Published April 5, 2005 in Politics

Budget 95 on BBC.co.uk

Published April 3, 2005 in BBC, Politics

Budget 96 on BBC.co.uk

Published April 2, 2005 in BBC, Politics

Election 97 on BBC.co.uk

Published March 31, 2005 in BBC, Politics

Politics 97 on BBC.co.uk

Published March 30, 2005 in BBC, Politics

Budget 97 on BBC.co.uk

Published March 28, 2005 in BBC, Politics

The Independent on Sunday's sense of fair play

Published March 21, 2005 in Politics, The Independent

When Oyster Card fails think "Thanks for the uptime"

Published March 12, 2005 in Application design, London Underground, Politics, Transport