Investment boost for proposed offshore windfarm near Aberdeen

The European Commission is considering investing 40 million Euros in a proposed offshore windfarm near Aberdeen.

The proposed windfarm might involve 23 turbines stretching about three miles from the Bridge of Don to Blackdog beach.

Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group chairman Jeremy Cresswell said: "This is great news for Aberdeen and Scotland.

"Being considered for European funding on this scale for an energy project is a fabulous opportunity for this region. This is something we can ill-afford to miss out on and all the stakeholders need to work together to deliver the project and secure the significant and sustainable economic benefits that will follow."

The Aberdeen windfarm project,jointly managed by Swedish utility company Vattenfall and AREG, is also trying to gain demonstrator status from the Crown Estate.

Professor Peter Robertson, Vice-Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Commercialisation) at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, and a Director of AREG commented: "The announcement of European investment in the Aberdeen Offshore Wind Test Centre represents a fantastic opportunity for moving the renewable energy agenda forward on a European level.

"This investment is an acknowledgement of the significant leadership and contribution made by AREG with respect to renewable energy development in general, but specifically in regard to offshore wind energy and the proposed windfarm. The multi-disciplinary partnership within AREG, comprising local government, industry and academia, has enabled Aberdeen City and Shire to be recognised as leaders in renewable energy activity on not just a national, but also an international level."

An offshore wind farm would be fantastic news for Britain, reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Let us hope the European Commission does invest in this worthy project.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao due to visit Britain today

The BBC reports that the Chinese Prime Minster is due to visit Britain today for a three day trip to the UK.

The Free Tibet protest group has organised protests tommorow from 11am-1pm outside the Chinese Embassy,49-51 Portland Place London W1B 1JL, and at the Natural History Museum in Cromwell road from 6:30pm until 10:30pm.

More protests are scheduled for Monday.

Free Tibet accuse the Chinese Prime Minister of failing to explain the fate of 1,000 Tibetans after the March 2008 protests, as well the detention of others such as eighty one year old Paljor Norbu, sentenced to seven years imprisonment on unknown charges .

Prime Minster Jiabao will also visit Cambridge during his three day visit

Iceland to join European Union

Guardian reports today that Iceland will be rapidly integrated into the European Union to save it from collapse.

It is expected that Iceland will apply for EU membership by the end of this year.

Taking part in negotiations was Johanna Sigurdardottir, 66, the leader of Iceland's Social Democratic Party, who is expected to form a government.

More.

Iceland has also been sending jumpers to Hull after DJ Heimir Karlsson of Bylgjan radio heard that one in 12 British pensioners could die this winter.

And Gordon Brown wanted to treat these kind people like terrorists?

Stop The War Coalition are already protesting Barack Obama's actions

He's been President for less than a fortnight, but Barack Obama has already angered the Stop The War Coalition.

I'm subscribed to their mailing list, and have recieved news that they plan to demonstrate on April 2 in London when Obama, along with other leaders, takes part in the G20 meeting.

There will also be three days of anti-war events in Strasburg, when Obama will
join in a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization),

Stop The War Coalition accuse Obama of "sanction[ing] two
missile attacks in Pakistan, which killed dozens of civilians" and cite Obama's determination to increase solider numbers in Afghanistan as meaning "Obama's intention is to escalate the war dramatically,with the inevitable slaughter of Afghan civilians, already being killed in their hundreds."

The group also criticise Senator Hilary Clinton for mentioning the rocket attacks on Israeli homes, in a rather tasteless pice entitled "You couldn't make it up", saying "No prizes for guessing which country she meant (clue: not the one she
should have been talking about)."

Yes, how dare Hilary Clinton discuss rocket attacks in Israel! She should only talk about what the Stop The War Coalition want to talk about.

I admired the Stop The War Coalition's response to the Iraq War, but feel that they are taking a one-sided view of the Gaza conflict, like so many others.

They should be opposed to the deaths of civilians from Israeli military activity and the deaths of civilians from Hamas rockets.

In other news, student demonstrations are still occuring round the country, with reports that Nottingham University has been occupied. Five universites, including Sussex, have claimed victory.

Stop The War Coalition are holding a student activists' meeting to discuss the co-ordinaton of the campaign against Israeli action in Gaza, which apparently also encompasses protesting against the war in Afghanistan as well.

The meeting will take place on Feb 7 from noon till 4pm at Clore Management Centre Rm Bo1, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1 E7HX, well served by tubes including Euston Square.

Expect London Underground strikes in 2009

Just seen on the BBC that 1,000 admin jobs are to go at London Underground, and the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, which represents London Underground staff, has promised strike action if compulsory redundancies are imposed.

RMT union general secretary Bob Crow told the Morning Star Online that Mayor Boris Johnson should bring Tube public-private partnership contracts in house.

With the Central Line already crowded between 7am and 9am and 5pm and 8pm, goodness knows what it will be like during strikes.

Meanwhile, a strike by Docklands Light Railway workers to take place next Monday has been suspended for talks.

Bob Crow told the Press Association: "Serco Docklands has now agreed to keep the status quo on rosters, rest days and holiday arrangements pending the outcome of talks, and has allocated extra relief cover to allow that to happen."

Brazilian newspaper building attacked

A grenade was thrown at a window of one of the buildings of Rede Anhanguera de Comunicação (RAC) in Campinas, Brazil on Thursday 22.

The news group RAC owns a number of newspapers in the State of Sao Paulo, including Correio Popular in Campinas.

Three men approached an RAC building in Vila Industrial at around 9pm, according to Article 19.

One of them broke a window and threw in a grenade, which instead fell outside, close to the pavement.

A couple of hours after the attack, RAC’s telephone operator received a call from an unidentified woman saying "this is only the beginning".

The grenade failed to explode and no one was hurt.

There were, however, around 100 people in the building at the time of the attack and some 230 employees are there during usual working hours.

The motive for the attach is unclear, although some reports have noted that it happened on the evening of the day RAC paper Correio Popular published an article about a suspect in the 2001 murder of the mayor of Campinas, with alleged links to the criminal organisation Primeiro Comando da Capital.

Some human rights groups, such as Article 19, believe attacks on journalists are common in Brazil, even though many are unreported.

Tories support open source software in IT projects in Government briefing

Some welcome news from the Tories.

Dizzy reports that the Tories are recommending that open source software be used should they win the next general election, instead of Microsoft software.

Open source software bas a license that makes source code available to the public with little copyright restrictions.

This allows people to develop extensions to the software or even the programme itself, leading to more publicity and more downloads for the programme.

Mozilla Firefox, which I use, is a good example of open source software that built a community and then made money through merchandise.

Such software is usually free also.

According to ConservativeHome, the Tories also propose capping government IT project contracting at £100 million.

Strathclyde Police use Facebook to stop knife crime in Operation Access

Clever idea from Strathclyde Police, which currently has a police officer and a cadet searching Facebook to look for users posting pictures of themselves with weapons such as knives.

Police constable Holly McGee, 18, told Newsbeat "We take the date, the time, detail of what's in the photograph, [then] a copy of the photograph is printed out and thereafter it's all sent to the gangs task force unit."

Those posing in public with weapons can be arrested.

It isn't an offence to pose with weapons in private, surprisingly, but officers from Operation Access often visit the relations of those posing on Facebook and recover the weapons.

Police forces on Facebook don't seem to have much of a presence. There are no Facebook groups, but the West Midlands Police have a Facebook page as do West Yorkshire Police, the Metropolitan Police, Northumbria Police, Sussex Police (titled Brighton Police for some reason!) and Greater Manchester Police.

Membership varies from a couple of thousand to three dozen or so.

In France, La Police Nationale, who police cities and bigger towns, also have a Facebook page, as do some American police forces.

New Tube maps show step free access and toilet locations

Some good news for those caught short in London or who find stairs difficult.

Transport for London have created a new tube map that shows which stations have male, female and disabled toilets, whether they are inside or outside the ticket gates, and if they have baby changing facilities.

They have also created a tube map showing which Tube stations have step-free access between platforms and between the platform and the street.

This map uses a system of letters to show how far the gap is between the platform and the train for stations where you can get between the platform and the street without any steps.

Both tube maps are linked via .pdf here. You will need to scroll down slightly.

Actress and wheelchair user Athena Stevens, formerly on the Independent Disability Advisory Group and now Managing Director of Aegis Consultancy, said: "The old guide caused a lot of confusion.

'What we all wanted to achieve was a simple, honest, straightforward guide to how the system is now. In doing this, we have put the decision and independence about journeys exactly where it should be - in the hands of the individual."

Most Underground stations should have copies of these maps.

Worst sections of the Tube to be on while needing to use the toilet are the Victoria line north of King's Cross, the Hammersmith and City line or District Line between Whitechapel and Barking, and the Northern Line between London Bridge and Morden.

The Dockland Light Railway has poor toilet facilities as well, considering how new it is.

By contrast, you could go from Stratford to Epping and stop off at every single station to use the toilet.

As for step free access, the Docklands Light Railway is best for this, with steps of less than 2 inches between the platform and train and no steps between platform and street. The worst is the Northern Line.

What is wrong with children these days?

The Central Line had severe delays tonight due to a broken down train.

I didn't want to write two posts about transport on the same day, but this does lead onto a comment on British society (and I doubt these problems are limited to Britain).

For the second time in the fifteen days I have been living in East London, I took the District Line to West Ham instead of changing at Mile End (actually I got off for a short while, and the crowds were four deep!), took the Jubilee Line one stop to Stratford and then eventually found the 257 to Leytonstone.

Sitting on the top deck (something I usually try and avoid) near the back (something I also try and avoid) I was seated across from a sixteen year old schoolgirl, still in her school uniform, who was graphically discussing how some people she knew had "shanked someone", without sounding disapproving.

Shanking is defined as "The act of stabbing someone with a shank", a home-made knife.

She then moved on to complaing about how a teacher had confiscated her mobile phone.

Three sets further forward, two youths in casual clothes were describing someone they used to beat up because he couldn't do some kind of hand gesture that was "in".

And this was at 7pm.

What is wrong with children these days? Why are they killing people like Michael Eccles in Lichford?

Why are ordinary people told that it is their "lack of respect" for youths and youth culture that is the problem?

Why do we spend millions on anti-terror policing to prevent social destruction but nothing on youth clubs to stop social decay?

And when are we going to see discipline in schools? When are young offenders in prison going to be educated by people other than gang members?

The recession will only make things worse.

Funding for schools, policing and community programmes will be cut, and unemployment leads to a rise in crime.

I have little confidence in the two main parties' ability to oppose the stupid, cynical and cruel policies of this shambles of a Labour government.

I was a big admirer of the talented and very intelligent Charles Kennendy, but I have little faith in Nick Clegg.

And as for the British Left, its a busted flush, taking one side on the Gaza conflict and failing to connect with public feeling on the financial crisis.

We need a Labour government like the one in 1945 or 1964, not like the one in 1978.

GoFourth.co.uk set up by Labour for next election

After Labour List, the website Go Fourth has been set up to encourage Labour supporters in the party's bid for a fourth term.

Blogging for the party is John Prescott, thought of as one of the few Old Labour figures in Blair's governments.

Also writing for the site is controversal former press secretary Alistair Campbell, who recently published his diaries. He has also recorded video for the site.

The site isn't visually pleasing, but makes good use of video and social media.

British universities occupied by students protesting their response to Israeli actions in the Gaza conflict

Recently, several British universites, including my alma mater Sussex University, have been occupied by students protesting about alleged university links with Isreal.

The London School of Economics student occupation ended last week, after a statement was issued by the university offering to waive application fees for those in Gaza and the West Bank directly affected by the conflict, as well as detail scholarships for Palestinian students on the LSE website.

The university has also offered to report students' concerns about an ethical investment policy to their Council, to hold a fundraising day in support of Medical Aid for Palestinians sponsored by the Students Union and the university, and to send old books and computers to Palestine.

Cambridge University students have been occupying the University Law Faculty since Friday 23 January.

Their demands, including a statement by the university condeming Israel’s action in Gaza, the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the continued Israeli presence in Gaza and the West Bank, and a day of fundraising for humanitarian aid in Gaza within the next fourteen days, can be read here.

While occupying the faculty, students have taken part, according to their blog, in "banner-making, music, yoga, open discussions, talks and many other actions and activities."

They also showed the film Anarchists Against the Wall and were visited by Israelis which the blog describes as "standard Two Staters who blame Hamas for everything" (what's wrong with a two state solution?).

At Sussex University, students have been occupying one of the lecture rooms (Arts A2, near the library), and like the Cambridge protestors are also blogging on their actions.

Two of the Sussex students have been speaking to media about the university occupation, including the controversal Press TV, which is funded by the Iranian government.

During lectures, a silent occupation of Arts A2 has been taking place, and at other times letter writing .

Warwick University, where 150 students have been in occupation since Wednesday 21 January, was visited by the fantastic Peter Tatchell, and recieved messages of solidarity from Noam Chomsky, as well as academics and union activists.

Other occupied universites include King's College London, Bradford University, Essex University (with a Facebook group) and Birmingham University.

However debatable their demands are, it is good to see that students are still using their time to be activists, as opposed to being "wacky" in a "studenty" way.

Although some of the students on the far-left activist fringe at Sussex University had dubious views and were inconsiderate of others (and when you need to get ten pounds out to buy food its not a lot of fun when the cashpoint's been glued up in a protest agains capitalism), many more were earnest and intelligent, doing an excellent job doing protests against the neutering of the Chemistry department in 2006.

I did miss the demonstrations, meetings and air of concern for the world at Westminster University, which was less politicaly active.

Interesting to see how useful a blog is for activists.

Indymedia is further demonstration of how social media is becoming part of everyday political action.

Someone at the School of Oriential and African Studies (SOAS) is clearly well versed in new media, urging those in other universites to set up blogs, monitor blog visits, set up microblogging accounts, use Flickr for photographs and stream photos live.

David Peace's novels adapted by Channel Four for "Red Riding" drama

Exiciting news from Channel Four. David Peace's wonderful Red Riding Quarter, about policing in Yorkshire, police corruption and the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, has been adapted by the channel in a three part drama, to be screened sometime in March 2009.

The Bradford Telegraph and Argus reports that the cast includes Sean Bean, Rebecca Hall,David Morrissey and Mark Addy.

A preview for journalists took place this week in Shoreditch, and TV Scoop has a report.

Although this will probably take me over my broadband allowance, as I watch Channel Four via 4OD, I think it's unavoidable!

I loved reading the gritty Red Riding Quartet, as well as GB 84, Peace's coverage of the 1984 miners' strike.

If you haven't read these books, I urge you to buy them or take them out your library as soon as you can.

A film is also being made of the Damned Utd, Peace's fantastic, gripping novel about Brian Clough when he was in charge of Leeds United for 44 ill fated days, starring Michael Sheen as Clough. It will be released on 27 March 2009.

Even though sport normally bores me, I adored the Damned Utd. Another must-read, and I'd love to go and see the film.

If you loved Life On Mars and want to see more dramas about the Seventies in Britain, and if like me you're glad that quality drama is back on Channel Four, then check out Red Riding.

On the other hand, if you're one of those people outraged by Jonathan Ross' every move or who automaticly regards all British dramas as rubbish because of the existance of Home Box Office (The Wire is excellent, but I don't think that means that only America does good dramas), then maybe watch something else, as the themes can be quite adult and oh my there may even be swearing.

Anyone else will love Red Riding or the film of the Damned Utd. Watch out for both in March.

Journalism under threat in Sri Lanka

A number of violent attacks on journalists have occured in Sri Lanka recently, causing many media workers to flee the South Asian island.

Two days ago, Upali Tennakoon, the editor of the independent Rivira weekly newspaper, was attacked while travelling with his wife by men on motorbikes with various weapons. Both are in a stable condition.

On January 8th, Lasantha Wickrematunga was murdered as he drove to work in Colombo by armed men on motorbikes, while on January 6 the Maharaja Television/Broadcasting Network's (MTV/MBC) studio was attacked by gunmen.

Human rights organisations have been very critical of the Sri Lanken government's response, although President Mahinda Rajapakse has condemned the attacks.

Article 19 says "The government’s unprecedented military successes against the Tamil Tigers, and its ability to maintain strict security checkpoints around the country, stand in stark contrast to its complete failure to find and prosecute any of those guilty of these heinous crimes, which attack not only the immediate victims, but all Sri Lankans."

Reporters without Borders' Internation Mission also says "The killing of Lasantha and the deaths of at least 8 other journalists along with 2 disappeared since 2007 illustrates in painful detail just how journalists and media staff continue to suffer for their profession.

"Without a proper investigation into Lasantha’s assassination and the attack on MTV, there will be no chance at all for the government to claim that it assumes responsibility to guarantee the basic safety and independence of media".

Aid organisations have also highlighted the humanitarian crisis in northern Sri Lanka, where thousands of Tamil civilians are suffering food shortages.

70,000 people have been killed since the conflicts between Tamil Tigers rebels and the government began in 1972.

Read what journalism students at the Sri Lanka College of Journalism think about the media in Sri Lanka.

Bail Out Brown Flash Game: Give Gordon a whack with your cash!

Fancy some light relief? Guido Fawkes reminds me in a post about the IMF and the United Kingdom that there is a fun Flash game you can play called Bail Out Brown, where the objective is to hit Gordon Brown in the face with cash.

Below the Flash game is a list of all the public money used to bail out banks in Britain, including the recent conversion of RBS preference shares to ordinary shares to ensure a further £6bn in lending.

Fubra Limited, who created the site, were also behind Sock And Awe, a Flash game which allows you to hit George Bush in the face with a shoe, inspired by the actions of Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi, currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of assaulting a foreign leader.

Fubra claim that when creating Bail Out Brown, they rang the Treasury press office, who refused to clarifty released figures as it would be "irresponsible" and that due to some open pledges they couldn't give an exact figure.

Unemployed used as political football by James Purnell and David Cameron

With unemployment rocketing, new jobs are hard to come by. Most people on benefits are either unable to work due to childcare or health problems, or actively looking for work every day.

Two well-paid MP's don't seem to agree. Leader of the Opposition David Cameron, paid £132, 317 a year, and Work and Benefits Minister James Purnell, paid £138,724 a year, have been using the issue of the unemployed to score political points.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Cameron says "So we’re going to end the something-for-nothing culture. If you don’t take a reasonable offer of a job, you will lose benefits. No ifs, no buts."

What counts as a reasonable offer of a job? What chance of one for most people out of work during this recession?

Would David Cameron work in Tesco if he was voted out as a Member of Parliament? Would James Purnell work in Morrisons if he was voted out as an MP? People paid over £100,000 have no idea of what it is like to be on minmum wage.

We should cut MP's and Cabinet Ministers' salaries to a total of £35,000: enough to live reasonably even in London where a Tube journey from Zone 3 to Zone 1 costs almost £3 each way.

They shouldn't be allowed to claim expenses, instead they should get loans - not because I approve of loans, but because they'd see how hard it has been for the poorest since Single Payments were abolished by the Tories in the early eighties.

Most of the rest of the article is reasonable. You wouldn't know that from James Purnell's comments on LabourList. He accuses the Tories (not just David Cameron) of "us[ing] the opportunity to demonise everyone on benefits. They argued that everyone on benefits was the next potential Karen Matthews."

That conclusion can only be reached by reading the headline of the piece, and not the actual text. Cameron is claiming that people's aren't doing enough to find jobs. He is claiming that the Shannon Matthews case highlights social breakdown across Britain - and I agree.

What Cameron is not doing is claiming the unemployed are like Karen Matthews. James Purnell isn't exactly all sweetness to the unemployed either.

In the middle of one of the worst periods of unemployment since the Great Depression, Purnell is more keen than ever to show Labour is tough on the unemployed (bullies like weak targets).

He wants the unemployed to do things like sweep the streets to help in the community -as if they owe the community some kind of debt.

When I was looking for work while completing my final project, I spent hours each day filling in long job application forms, writing out covering letters and reading through job alerts on Gumtree.

People cannot be taken away from the job search to perform unpaid work in order to make the right feel good. Given the ebbs and flows of the jobs available, not applying for work for two weeks could set a job hunter back two months.

Recently there was a proposal to make young criminals doing community work wear orange bibs.

Will James Purnell announce that the unemployed doing unpaid work will have to wear bibs saying "DOLE SCUM: I DIDN'T GET A JOB DESPITE THE HUGE NUMBER OF VACANCIES", while they are pelted with rotten produce by people?

And as for the proposals to force lone parents into work, what are they going to do with their children? Will the government invest in extra nurseries and schools to create thousands of new places? Or will they be left to wander the streets causing trouble?

No hope for sanity from the Tories here. All Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling does is accuse James Purnell of stealing his ideas.

Shadow Work and Pensions Secetary, Liberal Democrat Steve Webb does not comment on James Purnell's proposals but calls for "investing in public transport, energy efficiency and social housing" to create jobs, a good idea.

And to all those currently employed who like to get angry about those on benefits, you could lose your job or become incapacitated.

Stop complaining about those on benefits and consider council chiefs with £100,000 salaries, overpaid cabinet ministers and those who avoid corporation tax.

Then stop voting for Labour or the Tories until they stop using those on benefits to score political points.

The Untold Truth About Global Money Laundering: Dirty Dealing by Peter Lilley

One of the benefits of joining the City of London Libraries is that you get access to all sorts of great business books.

Dirty Dealing is an excellent report into money laundering, and although I've been writing and reading a lot of reports this week, I found this book easy to read, gripping and educational.

Lilley starts by highlighting the sheer size of the problem, as well as those involved in money laundering, such as drug dealers, human traffickers and terrorists such as the Basque Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA).

Organised criminals such as the Colombian drug cartels, Japanese Yakuza and biker gangs are also active launderers.

He makes clear how easy it is to launder money, including the ease of getting securities trading accounts which are anonymous, buying dodgy degrees online to seem professional, and using offshore business enterties in places like Nevia and the Seychelles.

There are five rules of money laundering:

The more genuine the transactions look, the less likely they will be detected.

The funds must end up in a bona fide financial centre.

Money launderers are looking for new chances all the time.

Money launderers often make sure funds pass through as many places as possible.

Money launderers spread laundered money around financial institutions such as banks.

The size of the problem is huge. In the Irish Republic, it was estimated that $126 million was laundered in 1998. In Colombia, drug dealers also launder $5 billion per annum.

At a global level, money laundering is around $1.5 trillion per year.

The lack of reported money laundering by police, businesses and financial institutions, means that few people are caught. Some governments refuse to admit there is a money laundering problem.

Lilley also devotes a chapter to the business that are used for money laundering and those that used to, and looks at areas ideal for money laundering, including Costa Rica, Cyrpus, Grenda, Niue and Ingushetia, the latter offering offshore entites registered there a tax free exisitance if they do not trade in Russia, which many people abuse.

The rise of cyber laundering, where money is transferred online, is also a problem, includiong the ease of opening online bank accounts.

In Chapter Eight, Lilley offers preventative strategies for business, including looking for warning signs, written policies for all staff, and regular assurance reviews.

An appendix identifes laundering problems in most countries, as well as international advice and recommended websites.

Essential for businesses and good reading for everyone interested in how money laundering has become a global problem.

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism report raises concerns over digital revolution

A report published Wednesday by the University of Oxford's Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and written by Dr Andrew Currah, raises concerns over the effect that the rise of digital media is having on journalism.

Launched on Thursday 22 January at the Oxford Media Convention, Said Business School, the report highlights a decline in television and newspaper circulation.

Dr Currah claims that the report creates "an abundance of choice but a scarcity of attention" and highlights a Hitwise.com report saying that United Kingdom net users spent 32% of their time at 20 websites, including Google Image Search, Facebook and Bebo.

He also covers the economic problems facing news outlets, including the migration of advertising from print and television to the internet, and covers the change in thinking that advertisers will need to undergo in order to make money from online advertising.

Dr Andrew Currah also highlights the increased problem of PR's being used as sources and creates the "news value chain" of activities and key trends that make up the 21st century news creation structure (Page 92)

He belives the way forward is for governments to invest in protecting high-value news coverage, citing the BBC's web presence as having content undetermined by what people click on.

At 176 pages, the report is long but worth a read. I don't agree with Dr Andrew Currah that the web is a huge problem: for example, PR would probably invade journalism even if the web never got beyond dial-up and static pages.

Dr Currah also recommends a government review of the charity laws with the possibility of opening up this source of funding to independent, professional journalists; targeted tax breaks for investigative journalists; and a voluntary set of media standards, leading to a digital kitemark to enhance the visibility of professional journalism on the web.

I'd agree with the second wholeheartdly, am unsure about the first, and am wary of who would be in charge of awarding the digital kitemark.

Would it be the government, or an independent body? Wouldn't this take too long? Would blogs be untrustworthy if they didn't have a kitemark?

And surely some journalism in print and television is untrustworthy (Private Eye is a good source for this). People could also fake the kitemark as well or hack into sites they didn't like and remove it.

As for the sites that are mentioned in the Hitwise report, many of them aren't traditional news sites.

It's true that people can discover news through Facebook, for example discover a newsworthy event through clicking on a Facebook group, but people don't go there to read news that would be considered worthy of being broadcast or printed.

Otherwise, BBC News at Ten would have "Zara is sleeping in a bush after losing a bet over whether she could fart louder."

The report is 176 pages, but worth a read. It's linked in the first paragraph.

I should add that no-one has a definite idea of how journalism can evolve. Journalism can surprise. For example, I read an excellent article on financial problems caused by moneylenders in the Socialist Worker (which I subscribe to online, along with lots of other newspapers and blogs).

BBC News: Step by step Tube map published

A map has been published by insurance firm PruHealth, showing the number of paces between Tube stations to encourage people to exercise more.

More.

Very little blogging tonight: problems with my internet connection

There won't be much on this blog tonight.

I am having problems with my broadband and I'm quite upset generally, given I'm being charged £218 for an account that I don't even have in a house I moved out of eighteen months ago, two friends are moving out of my house and I'm tired.

I was in a really good mood earlier today, but that's gone now!

I'll see what I can do tommorow.

Murders of Russian lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Barburova condemned

The murders of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Barburova in Moscow have been described by Article 19, a human rights organisation, as "bring[ing] Russia’s human rights record to a new low."

The pair were shot after leaving a news conference where Mr Markelov had announced his intention to prevent Yuri D. Budanov, a former Russian tank commander who was imprisoned for the murder of 18 year old Chechyan Elza Kungaeva, being released from jail. Markelov represented the family of Elza Kungaeva.

Anastasia Barburova was a freelancer for Novaya Gazeta and had just written an article where she had quoted Stanislav Markelov's criticism of the way Russian authorites handled a case against the leader of a violent nationalist group, according to the New York Times.

Mr Markelov also worked on the case of murdered Novaya Gazeta journalist Igor Domnikov and also represented victims of neo-nazi and xenophobic attacks.

The paper also reminds its readers that four Novaya Gazeta reporters have been murdered or died in mysterious circumstances since 2000.

In November 2008, Mikhail Beketov, a local newspaper editor and critic of the local adminstration, was attacked in Khimki,Moscow and left in a coma.

Last summer, Magomed Yevloyev, who owned the website Ingushetia,a major source of information in the region, was shot dead in a police car while being taken away for questioning.

He criticised the rule of the pro-Kremlin president of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov.

Last week Umar Israilov, a Chechen who claimed that he had been tortured by President Ramzan Kadyrov and had filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights,was shot dead in Vienna.

Article 19, along with English PEN and Index on Censorship, wants to remind Russia that as a State Party to the European Convention on Human Rights,it has agreed to secure the human rights of all resident, including the right to life and to freedom of expression.

Channel Four's Jon Snow is blogging at Snowblog

Channel Four newsreader and coloured sock wearer Jon Snow is now blogging at Snowblog.

So far, he has written about the Obama inaugaration, which took place yesterday, and there are blog posts on meeting a constable from Greater Manchester Police who was visiting Washington for the ceremony, as well as meeting Oprah and the change that life in America has undergone.

The blog makes good use of the excellent Addthis dropdown menu, which allows the bookmarking of blog posts using a huge variety of social bookmarking and social media tools, although the menu does not actually seem to drop down, you have to click on it, which means there is no email option.

The RSS feed could also be placed above the comments box.

There is a good blogroll and use of tags. A Clustrmap would be interesting. There is also multimedia on Snowblog.

I hope Jon Snow will write about many subjects, and not just Barack Obama. Are you uncomfortable with a newsreader giving opinions? I'm not, as I don't believe it will make any difference to the content of Channel Four News broadcasts.

I look forward to reading more of Snowblog.

Israeli government recruits army of bloggers to counter "anti-Zionist" criticism

In order to stem the tide of criticism on "anti-Zionist websites", the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption is recruiting an army of bloggers to counter criticism of Israel, according to Haaretz.com.

The Israeli newspaper was told by the ministry's director general, Erez Halfon, that five people signed up within half an hour of announcing the programme.

Erez Halfon said volunteers who email the ministry their contact details at media@moia.gov.il, will be registered by language, and then passed on to the Foreign Ministry's media department, whose personnel will direct the volunteers to Web sites deemed "problematic."

They will need to speak a second language to engage foreign bloggers, of course.

How much control does the Israeli government have over what is posted?

Will bloggers who are postitive about Israeli civilians but attack the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) be replaced?

Over at Indymedia, people are already furious about this.

A post by "richard grove" contains a picture from a film of George Orwell's 1984 and "Ministry of Truth Update" in large type.

Richard Grove says "Currently the government is recruiting Israelis primarily, but surely there will be plenty of dedicated followers of info wars in a certain central European country to apply for a position were they can finaly prove their loyalty to Israel and rid themselves of guilt; short of having to take up real arms."

A commentator calling himself "From Time" claims that this has been going on for years, but uses this to convince himself that the BBC is lying when it does not represent his one-sided viewpoint.

Although I don't agree with Richard Grove, I was horrified by the civilian deaths in Gaza and I don't think Israel went in there with a clear strategy.

There remain unanswered questions over the use of white phosphorous, as well as the deaths of United Nations aid workers.

I find the one sided comments from Indymedia users and the slobbering support for Hamas sickening, but I'm equally as sickened by many who support Israel's action, such as Melanie Phillips, who don't seem to care about the civilian deaths in Gaza.

One comment on an Israeli website even said that people in Gaza had been warned about the invasion, and it was their fault if they didn't flee.

As if millions of people can suddenly leave a city, including the old, the disabled, and those in hospital.

I don't know how the wider Middle East dispute can be solved, but I know firing rockets into Israeli towns is wrong.

I know that launching offensives against Gaza which lead to hundreds of civilians dying is wrong.

I hope that the Israeli bloggers at least consider that innocent people are dying on both sides.

Be better than Melanie Phillips, protesters in Australia calling for another Holocaust and others who only care about one side and not the other.

Blog your point of view, but also consider the point of view of those living in Gaza, and try and engage in debate to consider a solution.

Very few of those who only care about one side have suggested a workable solution.

I would also suggest that Israelis try and engage with those on Indymedia, and was even considering Erez Halfonm to suggest this, but felt that this might have been interpreted as a gesture of support.

The girls of the IDF are also being used to present a more human face to the Israeli army.

Information on the newspaper Haaretz:

Did you know, by the way, that the Israeli president Shimon Peres blogs exclusively for Haaretz.com, and that the newspaper, which is the country's oldest, was sponsored by the British military government in Palestine when first published in 1918.

While a study in The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics has found that Haaretz reporting was more likely to report stories from the Israeli point of view, some Haaretz readers have accused the newspaper of being "anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-Zionist."

You can read the paper online in both Hebrew and English.

Idiots on the Central Line

My communte to work takes me from Zone 3 to Zone 1 via the Central Line into Liverpool Street Station.

To say the Central Line is packed each morning would be like saying Barack Obama is pretty popular right now.

You usually end up stuffed amongst people having to fight your way out at your stop, only just getting off in time.

I was really angry this morning, therefore, when a woman next to me started pushing against my rucksack.

Turning round, I caught her eye and she asked "Can you watch your bag?"

As a number of people were getting off, I was able to move to the other end of the carriage while she craned her neck to follow me with the sort of look reserved for paedophiles, Gordon Brown or serial axe murderers, neither of which apply to me.

She stayed on the train after I managed to get off at Liverpool Street, no doubt waiting to complain that someone was talking to loudly.

The Central line is not the Rovos Rail or the British Pullman. It is not meant to be comfortable, opulent or a work of art.

Anyone travelling during peak times and between 6pm and 8pm should expect a crowded Central Line train.

Given the number of people in Zones 4 to 6 and the irregular service of the Gospel Oak to Barking Overground line, it is more crowded than the District Line.

As for the woman today, maybe she should take a taxi to work if she can't stand being pushed up near people on the Underground.

Although I had moved my rucksack up my back earlier when pulling one of the handles over my shoulder, that's hardly worth complaining about as if I started breakdancing in the underground carriage!

Evening in aid of Karen Reissmann at Jabez Clegg, Manchester on 23 January 2009

This Friday, 23 January 2009, there will be a fundraising evening in aid of UNISON activist Karen Reissmann, who was sacked for speaking out against the transfer of NHS care to the voluntary sector.

Her supporters have launched a fund to help pay for her legal costs.

The evening will take place at Jabez Clegg,2 Portsmouth Street,Manchester, opposite the students' union, starting at 8pm.

Donations for the fund should be made to “Karen Reissmann Legal Defence Fund” and sent to Treasurer, Kathy Crotty, 181 St Mary’s Road, Moston, Manchester M40 0BN, or direct to Unity Trust Bank, bank code (08-60-01), account number (20215859).

You can also support Karen by meeting her on the first day of her trial, 26th January, to offer her personal support.

The meeting on the first day of the trial will take place between 8.15am and 9.30am opposite Albert Bridge House, Bridge Street

Downadup worm spreads through Windows: Download preventative patch immediatly

If you're running Windows and haven't downloaded the KB958644 patch, now might be a good time.

The BBC reports that 8.9 million machines are infected worldwide.

Even if you have downloaded the KB954644 patch, you should have anti virus sofware on your PC, especially if you use USB (memory) sticks.

It is recommended that autorun and autoplay are turned off for USB sticks.

You can also use the Malicious Software Remover Tool to search for the worm.

A free tool for removing the Downadup/Kido worm is here.

How the Downadup worm works:

The Downandup worm copies itself into the Windows system folder as a.dll, and changes the Registry to run the .dll file.

Unlike most viruses, the worm generates hundreds of domain names every day, such as mphtfrxs.net, imctaef.cc, and hcweu.org.

Only one of these will be the site used to download the hackers' files.
While most home PC users have downloaded the patch via Microsoft Windows Update, many businesses have not.

The virus limits user access to antivirus sites and disables Windows Updates, according to PC Format Magazine. It then tries to get the user to install anti-virus software

The worm is also known as Conficker or Kido.

Passwords should be changed at least every three months, and be long and difficult.

Use letters and numbers.

Of course, a number of anti-virus companies are taking advange of this to push their products as much as possible.

F-Secure is even going as far as quoting comments that doubt their calculations in a blog post and debunking them.

While things aren't as scary as the anti-virus companies make out (never wholly trust someone who stands to commerically gain from your actions!), I urge you to download the patch and be careful with USB sticks.

The City Uncovered with Evan Davis: Banks and How to Break Them

A documentary on the financial system hosted by the cheery Evan Davies, in three parts.

Starting with a story about a mistake made by NASA when the engineers used imperial measurments while the engineers thought they were using metric, causing an unmanned spaceship to explode, Evan compared this to the $100 billion gone from the banking system.

Like Professor Niall Ferguson, Evan Davies focuses on Italy as the start of modern banking, and examines the discovery of the Chinese using paper money by Marco Polo.

The Christians of Venice, forbidden to engage in banking, were lent money by Jews. Even the word bank came from these transactions, as moneylending took place on benches, called bancos in Italian.

Two types of bank:

There are the typical High Street banks, and the investment banks.

Northern Rock is a High Street bank, while Lehman Brothers was an investment bank.

Lehman brothers had existed for over a hundred years, like Northern Rock. Indeed, both were founded in the same year.

Northern Rock began in Newcastle and allowed first Tynesiders and then people all over Britain to buy their own home, while Lehman Brothers financed Hollywood films and Intel, becoming a giant of Wall Street.

In the 1990's, Northern Rock became a bank, and was led by Adam Applegarth.

Lehman Brothers, meanwhile, was run by Dick Fould.

Brad Hintz, chief financial officer at Lehman Brothers from 1996-9, said that he was not sure if Wall Street was a happy place, joking "We eat your young", but said Lehman Brothers had been an exciting place.

The European headquarters of Lehman Brothers had 5,000 workers and was located in London's Canary Wharf.

As Evan Davies reminds us, banks must earn more on lending than they pay out on borrowing.

Banks lending long term and borrowing short term are key, according to Andrew Hilton, director of the Centre for Study of Financial Innovation. He regards people who criticise this as silly, saying "that's what banks do".

Capital should keep banks safe during bad times, but it makes no profit (dead money) so little is kept.

Securitisation was seen as an answer, used by David Bowie to make money by estimating his royalties income and selling the offer of royalties as bonds. They began to be used by banks.

Dr Charles Guist, a financial historian at Manhatten College, says that "bankers were making loans...that were going to be someone else's problem.

In Newcastle, Northern Rock's use of securitisation rose to £20 billion by 2006.

The bank borrowed money short term, lent it out as mortgages, and then sold them off as securities.

For Lehman Brothers, they could also make money out of manufacturing securities.

Peter Hahn of the Cass Business School helped develop collateralised debt obligations (CDO's).

Banks were now carrying out lending to produce more securities. This led to sub-prime mortgages.

Northern Rock considered many of these too risky, but thought they could sell them to Lehman Brothers, according to Bob Bennett, financial director of Northern Rock from 1993 to 2007.

Fred Frankel, who worked at Lehman, says that borrowers were seduced by cheap dodgy loans called "teaser rates".

The investment banks hired ratings agencies to assess the risks, which is a conflict of interest.

In 2006, house prices carried on rising. Banks were lending and even trying to talk their customers into taking out credit cards.

The dangers of a property crash in 2007 were ignored by Northern Rock, and in summer 2007 banks began investing in sub-prime mortgages to raise more money.

Inter-bank markets dried up and no-one wanted even AAA ratings.

Northern Rock asked the Bank of England for an emergency loan, triggering the current financial crisis and leading to long queues outside branches across Britain.

Adam Applegarth was grilled by members of Parliament, but refused to accept blame.

The investment bank Bear Sterns broke a deal with the US government in March 2008, and Lehman Brothers' investors decided to withdraw their money.

In September 2008, Lehman Brothers fired for bankruptcy and all 5,000 London staff lost their employment.

Dick Fould was subject to a Congressional hearing and were subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury.

There was not enough capital for banks, and governments around the world stepped in with bailouts.

In Britain, there already has been one bailout and a second one, taking the form of an insurance scheme, is planned according to Sky News online.

Evan Davies says that citizens are partly to blame for taking out so many loans and mortages, yet there has been no decent financial education in schools and banks have been keen to encourage reckless borrowing, unchecked by goverments.

The City Uncovered with Evan Davis: Banks and How to Break Them is on the iplayer until Wednesday 4 February.

Next week, Evan Davies will discuss hedge funds and interview hedge fund managers. On at 9pm, BBC 2 Wednesay 21.

Convention on Modern Liberty set up to protect civil liberties in Britain

A new coalition has been set up to fight for civil liberties in Britain.

The Convention on Modern Liberty,as reported in today's Observer by Henry Porter, has been set up to debate our civil liberties and to campaign for our rights.

Partners are No2ID, which campaigns against identity cards, political magazine blog Liberal Conspiracy, Unlock Democracy,Amnesty International UK, the Countryside Alliance and OpenDemocracy's UK blog OurKingdom.

The Convention on Modern Liberties' first meeting is on 28 February 2009, which will take place in London, Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Cambridge, Glasgow and Manchester.

Details of some of these events have yet to be confirmed, but the London event will take place at the Institute of Education in Bloomsbury, central London from 8:30am to 7pm,and speakers will include David Davis MP, Iain Dale, Michael Wills MP from the Ministry of Justice, Sabina Frediani (the campaigns co-ordinator of Liberty) and author Phillip Pullman.

Sessions will include "Business gets personal - can privacy have a future?" and "Judges and Politicians - who should decide?".

There will also be a Bloggers’ summit hosted by Liberal Conspiracy and Comment is Free

In Belfast, the event will take place in Room 212, the Peter Froggatt Centre at Queen’s University Belfast from 9am to 5:15pm.

There will be a live linkup with the London event as well as sessions on freedom of assembly, parading and protest and The "war on terror" in "the Obama era".

The Cambridge session will take place at the Cambridge Union, 9a Bridge Street, CB2 1UB. Speakers and times will be confirmed.

Glasgow's session will take place at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Strathclyde, James Weir Building, 75 Montrose Street, Glasgow.

There will be a live linkup with the London event, and talks on Scottish Government information management and CCTV. Speakers to be confirmed.

The Bristol, Cardiff and Manchester events have to confirm their location, speakers or time.

Tickets are £35 and £20 concession (this includes sandwich lunch and refreshments). They are on sale for the London event here.

Registration has not yet opened for the other conventions, but there are contact details under the event pages, accessible via the "Across the UK" link.

In the meantime, you can subscribe to the convention's mailing list or follow it on Twitter and Facebook, as well as its Youtube page.

The site also recommends a number of readings for the topics discussed at the convention.

Given the Government's obession with pushing forward costly and counterproductive identity cards and their recent desire to set up a database of everyone's correspondence, I'm glad this convention is being set up.

Ceasefire to be announced in Gaza conflict

Just been reported on the BBC Online news ticker that Israel is set to announce an end to military operations in Gaza.

However, Hamas officials have said they will ignore any truce unless their demands are met.

A senior government source has told news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) that its army will respond to Hamas fire, according to Sky News.

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert will address his country later today.

Hopefully there is now an end in sight.

Palestine cannot go on being controlled by Hamas dogmatism.

Let us hope the Palestian people vote for Fatah at the next election (although less than 50% did vote for Hamas).

China Shakes The World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation by James Kynge

James Kynge's wonderful book is a revealing and in-depth guide to China and its relationship to the rest of the world.

He covers the closure of the ThyssenKrupp steel mill in Dortmund, western Germany, after it was purchased by the Chinese, who dismantled it and shipped the parts back to Shagang, near the Yangtze river.

Meeting a man named Shen who bought the ThyssenKrupp plant, Kynge explains that he is one of China's new rich, who during the years of Chairman Mao lived in extreme poverty but used their business skills to build a better life.

Travelling through China, James Kynge explains the history of this vast country, including the years of the Tang dynasty and the terrible years of Chairman Mao, as well as its political system and daily life in China for both its urban and rural workers.

Kynge makes the point that China's Communist political system makes having a capitalist economy difficult due to a lack of checks and balances. The Communist Party is above the law.

He also visits Prato in Italy, where Chinese competition is affecting the local textile trade, and Chiasso, Switzerland, where he meets Emilio Camponovo, who is concerned that high corporation tax prevents effective competition with China.

Chimerica, a concept covered by Professor Niall Ferguson in the wonderful Ascent of Money series and Rory Bremner in Silly Money, is also covered with Kynge visiting a dinner in Rockford, Illinois hosted by the Rockford Regional Chamber of Commerce, where people discussed how American politic ans were going to deal with Chinese competition.

However, Kynge is surprisingly critical of the Chinese financial system and points to a lack of regulatory independence. It should be noted that the book was published before the financial crisis in 2006. The Chinese economy is now one of the strongest!

China Shakes The World also has an excellent analysis of Chinese government myths, including Iron Man Wang, and the environmental problems China faces, such as river pollution and flooding.

It is a readable and often entertaining guide to an up and coming superpower which may dominate the Western world through its economic might.

The book goes into far more detail than most media, and has some surprising revelations, including Chinese comedy about Westerners.

China affects everyone's lives. This book is a must-read, especially for those wanting to do business with China.

Delicious.com: essential for online networking roles

I've started work at the ISEAL Alliance as the Online Networking Coordinator, and am working on three projects, including the creation of an online community, for which I have created a blog.

During the research for this online community, one of the things I noticed was how useful the social bookmarking service Delicious was. I could save web pages giving important information for the three projects and have instant access to them whenever I signed in.

This was much easier than slowing Firefox down by having lots of bookmarks or having to scroll through ten Google Reader entries when I only used one page per site.

I never used my Delicious.com account that much before I started work, and I gave it a bit of a clearout over Christmas, but I'm going to start using social bookmarking much more.

I hope the webpages bookmarked are useful to other people. If you don't use delicious.com, I recommend it. It's very easy to use and don't worry about downloading the Delicious Toolbar, it's not essential but does save time.

Czech artist David Cerny hoaxes European Parliament with Entropa artwork: Is it art and is it too offensive?

Czech artist David Cerny has stirred up controversy with his Entropa artwork celebrating the Czech Republic's presidency of the European Union.

The artwork was meant to have been created by twenty seven artists, but was entirwely created by Cerny and two assistants.

There has also been criticism of the national sterotyping inherent in the artwork, and the Bulgarian government has summoned Czech ambassador Martin Klepetko to the capital Sofia to explain what has occured.

He was also presented with a toilet bowl by the Discussion Club for Social and Local Policy, the youth wing of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

Stereotypes in David Cerny's Europa include Germany as a network of motorways that slightly resemble a swastika, France as a nation on strike and the Republic of Ireland into a set of woolly bagpipes. An artist was invented by Cerny to "explain" each one in pompous nonsense language.

As the Guardian argues, this piece can still be considered art, regardless of the bad intentions. It was creative, represents something and is a talking point.

However, some of the pieces sound rather crude. Some publications have accused Cerny's critics of having no sense of humour, but do many people find a represntation of Bulgaria with a sketch of a lavatory and the words "Turkish toilet" funny? Sounds racist.

Mark Mardell, the BBC's Europe correspondent, also points out that the Danish sculpture resembles one of the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. Mardell writes an interesting blog and I recommend subscribing via Google Reader or by e-mail.

David Cerny has offered to return all public money.

Aside from some of the grimmer overtones related to the Bulgarian and Danish pieces, the artwork is pretty worthwhile. It is interesting and stirs up a debate about the European Union.

Campaign launched against Exeter University by former student Paul Jones over disruption to his PhD

As reported in Private Eye,former University of Exeter student Paul Jones has accused the university of disrupting his PhD by leaving him in charge of teaching an entire undergraduate module while his supervisior Professor Jonathan Schroeder left on sabbatical for Australia. More here.

Paul has launched a website, Student 4 Justice, to raise greater awareness of his case and raise funds to bring his case to court, as well as highlighting the pressure postgraduate students face to accept teaching duties traditionally performed by senior academic staff.

The site reveals a series of private emails between Exeter University staff uncovered by a Data Protection Act request, as well as press coverage of the case, including Exeter University's student newspaper Exeposé.

There is also a blog by Paul and a link for visitors to donate to help Paul fund his legal action against the University of Exeter.

Please give generously to help Paul win some justice from the University of Exeter. He needs £20,000 to take his case to court.

Paul says

I am now seeking to bring a legal action against the University for Breach of Contract. This is the only means of recourse I can pursue against the University that will allow me to seek damages, with the ultimate aim of allowing me to continue with my studies at an alternative university. If I am unable to get my case to Court, or if I am not successful at Court, I will be unable to complete my doctorate and my career ambitions will be shattered.

The last twelve months have been disastrous for me, my friends and my family. It has left me depressed, unemployed, and most devastatingly, without the ability to continue with my studies. I have endured eleven months of the University stating that it is not liable for the circumstance I now find myself in, and consequently, unwilling to provide the sufficient funds to allow me to complete my doctorate elsewhere.

Excellent Guardian articles on nearby residents for and against the third runway at Heathrow Airport

Two good articles by Patrick Barkham and Alexandra Topping on those living near Heathrow for and against the airport.

Labour MP John McDonnell, who tried to run for Labour leader against Gordon Brown but failed to gather enough support, was suspended from the Commons for five days after grabbing the Speaker's mace as a protest over the decision to build a third runway at Heathrow.

Depsite McDonnell's odious comments about the Provisional Irish Republican Army, I wish he'd become Labour leader instead of Gordon Brown.

On the Heathrow runway, I'm against it. Once that's built, there will be demands for another airport to expand (probably London Gatwick or Luton) and then another demand. More homes will be demolished, more children will have to move school, more CO2 will enter the atmosphere and more aircraft noise will pollute our ears.

Cat Stevens' song Where Do The Children Play is appropriate here, although I'm a supporter of improving and expanding rail travel, if that is what "cosmic train" refers to in the lyrics.

"Well I think it's fine, building jumbo planes.
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train.
Switch on summer from a slot machine.
Yes, get what you want to if you want, 'cause you can get anything.

I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?"

New BBC Radio 1 and BBC 1xtra homepage

This weekend Radio 1's new homepage went live.

The new site has iplayer and webcam links near the top of the page, as well as submenu for blogs,events, video and live lounge.

Like with Technorati, the most popular words are displayed in a box, and some of them are clickable, linking to parts of the site.

BBC Radio 1xtra's homepage has also been relaunched with a similar look, including free MP3's.

Ben Chapman,Interactive Editor, Radio 1, BBC Audio & Music Interactive explains the relaunches on the BBC Internet Blog.

We also wanted to make the site simpler and there will be more navigational changes to come. We removed the 'Experimental' module from the homepage, as this content isn't a genre of its own and often falls into one of our other categories. We removed the 'Daytime' module because we use the main promotional window to show much of our daytime entertainment content. Frankly if it's daytime content that we weren't willing to put in the main promo window, then why would we highlight it?

Throw away your television?

I don't have a television in my house. I don't miss it.

I have two boxsets of Alfred Hitchcock DVD's which I can watch on my computer, and I can watch most (but not all) terrestrial television programs on watch again devices such as the BBC's iplayer or ITV's Catch Up service.

Sky customers can also use the Sky Player for free, but non-Sky customers have to pay a monthly fee or pay per programme.

Of course, Youtube is also full of clips and even some full-length shows split up.

I've just looked at the Guardian's Guide and can only see two programmes this week I want to watch. One of them I won't watch as the series is halfway through, and one should be on the BBC's iplayer.

Television does have its upside. You can record programmes for storage idefinity, and it doesn't require Internet.

However, most of the television I watched at home in Oxfordshire was on Sky channels such as UK Gold, "Dave" or Sky One.

Had I been able to watch UK Gold or "Dave" output online, I would only have watched Futurama and The Simpsons for an hour.

I think sitting down in front of the television will slowly become less and less popular.

Televisions will be used for playing computer games still, but people will unwind by spending an hour on the Internet, rather than relaxing in front of A Place In The Sun Down Under With Extra Cooing Over Property Prices And Fake Bickering.

Amy Gahran on Firefox add-on extensions for journalists

Unlike horrible Internet Explorer (which many newsrooms are STILL using), Firefox can be customised with extensions.

In two blog posts on Poynter Online, Amy Gahran recommends four Firefox extensions that will help journalists with research and planning work.

Posts one andtwo.

Woman attacked for being English in Aberdeen

Lucy Newman, 22, from Gourdon, near Inverbervie, had her cheekbone fractured and eyes badly bruised by a man who she claimed made racial remarks about her English accent before assulting her.

Grampian Police say the "despicable" attacker was aged between 27 and 30 and was of medium build, with dark hair, wearing a black beany hat and scarf.

The attack occured close to the Trinity Centre on Union Street on Saturday 10 January at around 2am.

The attacker was also seen talking to another male on Union Street before the incident, who may have seen the assault.

He is described by Grampian Police as 27 to 30 years, medium build, having short dark hair and wearing a blue shirt.

Grampian Police is urging anyone who was in the area at the time and may have witnessed anything, or who remembers seeing either of the males described, to contact them 0845 600 5 700 or the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

For information on combating racism in Aberdeen visit GREC.

Woolwich Arsenal Docklands Light Railway station opened by Mayor Johnson

Woolwich Arsenal Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station was opened by Mayor of London Boris Johnson today, seven weeks ahead of schedule.

DLR trains run every 10 minutes,taking 28 minutes to reach Bank station in the City and six minutes to reach City Airport, according to Transport Briefing.

You can enter the station from Woolwich New Road or Greens End.

Passengers wishing to connect to the existing National Rail platforms at the station can do this via a new footbridge on the upper level for travel towards London, or the lower level for travel towards Kent.

So South Londoners now have a slightly improved transport network, although I was disappointed the Dockland Light Railway wasn't extended further.

Judging from the Mayor's comments, "People in this part of London will now be just a 24-minute hop, skip and a jump away from the Olympic site", this wouldn't have been done if it wasn't for the London 2012 Olympics. The Royal Artillery Barracks will hold the shooting events.

For those not from London, the south is poorly served by public transport.

Areas such as Amersham and Watford aren't inside Greater London, yet have a tube or London Overground station, unlike Streathem, Sydenham or Sutton.

The area with the most widespread underground network, after the centre, is the north-west, including Harrow where I lived for over a year.

Hopefully, the completion of the London Overground extension in 2010 (if it completes on time!) will further improve transport in South London and gentrify some areas.

In other Underground news, Going Underground covers an energy saving subway station in Tokyo, and London Underground themed labels for letters and lampshades by Blue Marmalade

Prince Harry has been racist again

Third in line to the British throne Prince Harry has apologised after being exposed by the News of The World calling a fellow solider his "little Paki friend" and telling another person "'F*** me, you look like a raghead".

Nice.

It's worth reflecting that unlike presidents, we can't elect our head of state.

So if Prince William decides not to become king (which is always possible), we might be lumbered with this idiot.

The royal public relations machine has made a number of pathetic excuses about the incident.

Press Gazette, in a story on the Army's response to the video of Prince Harry, quoted St James Palace as saying "that it was a "nickname about a very popular member of the platoon" used without malice."

Peter McKay in the Daily Mail makes a good point about this response, quoting another section where St James Palace alleged that "Prince Harry is using the term "raghead" to mean Taliban".

Note the stress on 'three years ago' - suggesting he wouldn't do it now. And the patronising claim that 'Paki' was 'a highly popular member of his platoon'. Meaning he couldn't possibly object to being called Paki. That 'raghead' is acceptable when used to describe the Taliban. How much better it would have been if they'd frogmarched Harry in front of a TV news camera and told him to explain himself.

Some people connected with the army, such as British-born Pakistani Shukeel Chohan, claim that this behaviour has no serious intent when it takes place in the Army.

Really?

Does this sort of behaviour benefit young men and women who will be patrolling streets in mainly Muslim countries?

Are all soliders happy with this behaviour?

Personally I think Prince Harry is a drunken embarresment to this country.

Although I'm a republican, I think Prince William will be a better king than Prince Harry (will Charles become king before he dies?).

In 2005, he had to apologise for attending a "Colonials and Natives" themed party wearing a Nazi Afrika Korps uniform.

Many hard working young people are struggling to get jobs at the moment due to the financial turbulance, but Prince Harry has no such worries.

Although being a solider is a risky job, he wasn't forced to join like some recruits who can't find another job.

Post timing:

Posts on this blog will probably appear after 7:30pm weekdays, as I have started work. They will probably vary on weekends.

Online forum for Labour supporters, LabourList, launches in beta

LabourList, a new online forum for Labour supporters, has launched in beta.

The site, edited by campaign advisor and former lobbyist Derek Draper, hosts a number of blogs by Labour party members including former Director of Political Strategy to Gordon Brown Spencer Livermore, former Political Secretary to Tony Blair Baroness Morgan, and Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South Pat McFadden.

As the site is not launched offically until February 12 2009, few of the hosted blogs have been posted on.

The site also has a "Daily Quote". Today's quote is from former Prime Minister Tony Blair on the recession: "This downturn was a product of a particular way of running the financial system and that has to change dramatically and fundamentally."

An email subscription link and RSS feed link are near the top of the page at the right, while a login menu is on the top left.

Labour bloggers are listed in a right hand menu, while below is a menu entitled "Z-list", featuring bloggers critical of the Labour Party such as Guido Fawkes, who alerted me to LabourList.

This will help Labour activists check blogs for stories critical of Labour.

If I was Derek Draper, I'd encourage activists to set up Google Leaders full of conservative blogs, news websites and tech blogs (which might reveal intersting details about the other parties and their use of social media). Google Alerts would also be useful.

While the site is still in beta, it is of course already being used, with an argument going on on the comments section between supporters and those critical of the party.

Derek Draper blogs "we can dismiss these people as the impotent irritants they are. In fact, I am already so bored by them that I will henceforth be taking advantage of our fantastic "trashcan" facility."

As Guido Fawkes point out, this is not a grassroots site. It is controlled by the Labour Party headquaters.

The site is well presented and has some useful information, but time will tell if it takes off. It would be good to have more videos uploaded to the site and a blog on the site itself.

One thing that puzzles me is the inclusion of two links, one on McDonald's image problems (a Google Image Search result). and a rather sad screengrab on someone asking for help with a family photo on a forum.

Are these Labour Party "funnies"? I don't think they belong on the site, really.

New microblogging service for fashion lovers

Techcrunch reports on TryMyFashion, a microblogging service for those interesting in blogging about their fashion.

The official launch date is March 1 2009, after which more features will be added.

Techcrunch commentators have already noted the existance of Lookbook.nu, and are asking if TryMyFashion can compete.

However, Lookbook.nu does not allow people to post messages such as "I'm wearing a nurse's uniform and a hat by Calvin Klein.", just pictures.

I think the service will be fairly succesful.

My "fashion" today:

I'm not going to join TryMyFashion, but in the spirit of the service I'm wearing a blue jumper, black jeans and comfy slippers, as well as underwear. I can't remember where I bought my clothes from. Probably Topshop or BHS.

I'm also wearing a pair of glasses, which I need to see properly. They are three months or so old.

My hair was cut by a hairdresser at Mr Toppers in Camden (it will need another haircut soon) and washed using Head and Shoulders this morning.

My sideburns are shaped with a Gillette Mach 3 razor, which also shaves my stubble off weekdays.

University College Falmouth's Crossfire Media wants more students to help train Iraqi journalists

Press Gazette reports that members of Crossfire Media, a project set up to train Iraqi journalists, are looking for more journalism colleges and students to help them.

The project was set up last summer by BA Journalism student Chris Green, and has attracted fellow journalism and photography students from University College Falmouth in Cornwall,Southwest England.

So far, students working with the Aswat al-Iraq agency, based in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, have taught reporters photography, filmmaking and web design, and helped with English-language writing.

The University College Falmouth students have used their student loans and money made from entrepreneurial projects, but according to Press Gazette, a well-known author, who does not wish his identity to be revealed, has donated a large sum of money and promised an exclusive interview.

Chris Green told Press Gazette: "The aim is to create a bond of learning between UK students and those in crisis-stricken countries.

"I’d like to see a globalisation of media learning."

If you are a journalism student or teacher and are interested in helping Crossfire Media, contact emails are here.

Some hope in the Middle East?

Ynetnews, a news site in English run by Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, reports a demonstration by Israelis and Arabs calling for peace.

The demonstrators linked arms to create a human chain, with the only sign saying "Hand in hand – neighbors for peace."

They were demonstrating on Highway 65 near near Kfar Kara'a.

One Harry's Place commentator, calling himself Mike, said the photo was of people queuing for a bus, but who queues for a bus in a line of people facing the road?

Palestinian supporters attack military websites:

However, more direct protests are still going on around the world.

Tech news website The Register reports that thousands of websites, including ones belonging to the United States Army's Military District of Washington, the Joint Force Headquarters and NATO's Parliamentary Assembly, were vandalised with anti-US and anti-Israel slogans and images.

A group called Agd_Scopr/Peace Crew has said they were behind the online attacks.

In Britain today, the National Free Gaza demonstration took place in Hyde Park, attended by tens of thousands and organised by Stop The War Coalition.

Labour and Tories plan blogosphere strategies

Last year PR Week reported that Labour Party is exploring plans for an online rapid rebuttal unit, designed to kill off damaging stories circulating in the blogosphere.

In December, Derek Draper hosted a New Media Breakfast to discuss the "fightback", with people such as former party press officer Colin Byrne ,now CEO of Weber Shandwick PR.

Having heard nothing more about it, one wonders if the unit is still in development or has been shelved.

This is worrying.

Are bloggers going to be frighted into removing stories by the Labour Party?

Will fake accounts be created by the unit's members to create the idea of many negative comments?

Hopefully the unit will simply respond to comments on its own blog/s and give their reasons why they believe the stories are wrong.

They should not try to imply that any blogger is a liar or untrustworthy, and nor should they make up stories about any bloggers.

Of course, I should declare my interest. I am not a supporter of many of the policies of this Labour Government, and dislike many of the cabinet, in particular the current Work and Pensions Minister.

However, I also consider myself able to criticise other parties, and am not afraid to praise the Labour Party when it has a good idea.

The same goes for other political parties.

If the Labour Party wants to give its side of a story, fair enough, although there are many blogs by Labour supporters out there, such as Tom Watson's. There were also allegations of an anonymous Labour attack blog last year.

Labour have also launched Webcabinet, a Flash movie that uses MSN Messenger to parody the Tories.

It's an effective piece of political campaigning that shows they have learnt from a little upset eight years ago.

In 2001, messages on various political newsgroups attacking Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru were found to have come from Millbank Tower (former headquarters, they are now located at 16-18 Old Queen Street, Westminster).

One username created from Millbank Tower parodied Welsh assembly member Helen Mary Jones as "Hairy Melon Jones".

The Conservatives:

Earlier this year, the Tories' head of new media Rishi Saha distributed ten influential local bloggers free passes to the Conservative conference in .

Saha worked with Screen West Midlands to find the bloggers.

You can read the comments of one blogger at "Birmingham: It's not sh*t".

This is a good idea, and I hope the Tories did not ask for copy approval or hint that they should try and be nice about the party.

I would like to see all parties ask bloggers along for "guest comments".

Of course, other parties also uses blogs to engage with potential voters and the media. The BNP has several blogs, some of which have as little mention of the party as possible and prefer to comment on matters related to their campaigns.

Anti-semitism on Facebook and in Britain

Facebook asks its users to report "explicit, hateful or otherwise objectionable group(s)" via the Report Group link.

While I have no problem with people creating groups opposing the military action in Gaza, I think the group "I bet I can find 1,000,000 people who hate Israel" counts as a hateful Facebook group.

The largest one seems to have been closed by Facebook, but one named "i bet i can find 1,000,000 people who hates israel" still exists, with one particularly disgusting comment written by Ahmed Alaa*, who has a swastika as her profile picture. The group has 21,215 members.

Another group thinking they can find 1,000,000 hating Israel, with 14,968 members, has a discussion topic with "Jew's are the main problem of the world".

Having said that, people have also posted anti-Arab topics on the group such as "Every Arab needs to die", which are just as foul.

There are a couple of smaller groups with the same message, and one called "1,000,000 Votes to Remove ISRAEL from the MAP!". One one group,
Usman Nakhuda* even uses the "Jews control the world line", saying Facebook is run "by Jews".

There are also groups saying "I Hate Palestine", including a foul picture of the Palestinaian flag with a swastika. Adnan Kabbani*, from Lebanon, calls Palestinians "the dirtiest people on earth."

While everyone has the right to freedom of speech, Facebook has rules and one of these rules is that hate groups will be closed when reported.

Anti-semitic incidents are also taking place around Britain. Melanie Phillips, who is a strong supporter of Israel (and whose views on the conflict I also disagree with) has published a letter from a London Jew in her Spectator column.

As usual, I wasn't holding any kind of political symbol, flag, banner or placard and was just wearing my yarmulka. As I was about to ring on the doorbell I was set upon by two Asian youths (one wearing a keffiya and one wearing a badge with the Palestinian flag on his jacket) who punched me in the head, threw me to the ground and continued to kick and punch me in the head and other parts of my body until I managed to shout loud enough causing them to flee.

Jews in London have no control over the policies of the Israeli government and the Israeli Defence Force, just like most Palestinians have no control over the actions of Hamas.

Innocent people should not be targeted because of the actions of their government. Just like the rise in attacks on innocent Muslims after September 11th 2001, there has been a rise in attacks on innocent Jews.

There have also been anti-semitic attacks in France and in Turkey, where shoes were hurled at the Israeli baseball team.

*Of course there many be more than one person on Facebook with this name, so do not fire off hateful messages.

BBC launches new Panorama website, including Delicious and Twitter links

The week the BBC launched its new Panorama website.

The site allows users to search the Panorama Archive, which is bookmarked using delicious.com, and there are well-positioned links to the Panorama Web Team Blog, the iplayer, and blogs by reporters Jane Corbin and Raphel Rowe.

It would be good if the latter blogs had a clearer description of who the pair were at the top, including their history at the BBC and Panorama. The Reporters section on the site does provide this very welcome background.

Derren Lawford on the The Editors blog also discusses the new site, including the new contact details section and Panorama Video Extras, offering exclusive footage and the occasional minisode (mini episode).

At the bottom of the page next to the Delicious archive link, there is also a link to the Panorama Twitter account.

It is good to see Panorama using social media and social bookmarking to promote its output and interact with its audience.

My only other suggestion is to move the Delicious and Twitter links to the left hand menu, where they could have two smaller links below the Related BBC sites menu. Less scrolling.

As Derren Lawford notes, you can watch Panorama programmes online for a year after they are broadcast.

For more information on Panorama online, follow the BBC Editors blog (linked above) and subscribe to the Panorama newsletter.

Men sentenced to eight years in prison for being gay in Senegal

The BBC reports that nine gay men have been jailed in Senegal, northwestern Africa, for "indecent conduct and unnatural acts", receiving eight years each.

Although the maximum sentence for homosexuality in Senegal is five years, the judge ruled that the men's membership of AIDES Senegal,an organisation set up to campaign against HIV and AIDS, meant they were members of a criminal organisation.

Via Harry's Place, where some people leaving comments are already trying to play down the incident.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) says it is: "deeply concerned by what appears to be a violation of the right to a free and fair trial, the right to privacy, and the right to freedom from discrimination."

Earlier this year several people were arrested in Senegal over the alleged publication of pictures of a gay wedding in Icone Magazine.

Icone's editor, Mansour Dieng, also received death threats.

In August, Richard Lambot and Moustapha Gueye, his domestic helper, were sentenced to two years in prison by the Dakar regional court shortly after returning to Senegal. The pair married in Belgium to help Mr Gueye's legal status.

All quiet from Indymedia and the far left:

No coverage of this on Indymedia, as their users seem too busy spraying graffiti in Swansea equating Israel with the Nazis.

It does seem that Indymedia users only care about the rights of homosexuals when they fit with their dogma.

Some people on the far left have been critical of Outrage's Peter Tatchell for rightly calling for gay rights in Iran and criticising homophobic Muslim cleric Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi, although I'm sure most Muslims would want to be treated and judged to the same standards that others are.

Saying that criticism of anyone who is Muslim is Islamophobic is insulting to the Muslim community as well as those voicing the criticism.

Hopefully,international pressure can be put on Senegal now 66 countries have signed the UN statement for LGBT human rights.

How the United States Air Force uses social media and responds to online comments

The United States Air Force (USAF) has a clearly defined strategy for responding to online comments, as blogged by leadership and viral marketing strategist David Meerman Scott at Web Ink Now.

After being followed by the United States Air Force on Twitter, David interviewed Captain David Faggard, Chief of Emerging Technology at the Air Force Public Affairs Agency in the Pentagon, about how the United States Air Force uses social media.

Captain Faggard writes the official United States Air Force blog, Air Force Live,as well as running a video mashup contest for American high schools. He also maintains the USAF's web presence on Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, Second Life, iReport (user name USAFPA); and is on Friendfeed, Digg, Delicious, Slashdot,Newsvine, Reddit.

Impressive. Here is the blog assessment flowchart. Note: this link will cause your browser to resize, but will not harm your computer or your work in any way. Just click at the top to resize it back.

As you can see from clicking the link, the first fork is between "positive or balanced", such as this post, and "not positive or balanced".

The latter is subdivided into "Trolls", "Rager", "Misguided" and having had a negative experience with the Air Force.

The former two require monitoring and notifying HQ (I'm not sure why if the sites or postings are so clearly rants or trolling, while the latter two require response with factual information.

There is a guide to "Response Considerations" at the bottom of the flowchart.

Interesting stuff and good to see that the USAF has someone with a good social media understanding.