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Demo2010: policing and the philosophy of protest - last Thursday on Police State UK

- in which I talk about the tendency of the press to report the methods rather than the message of a protest; attempt to summarise the context of Demo 2010, and offer a comparison of the Millbank occupation and the G20 protest last year.

"Warning: may contain ( Read more... )

Below is the text of the talk I gave on Saturday at the dotActivist conference, with added hyperlinks. It was a really good day, and great to meet people and listen to the other talks. I was particularly pleased to finally understand the concept of the Pareto Front, and I thought the visionOntv project looked really interesting, although I didn't ( Read more... )

Thanks so much to everyone who commented on my last (f-locked) entry, especially biascut whose advice helped me climb down from a serious panic last Friday night. Since reading your helpful reassurance and suggestions, attending ORGCon and making a point of speaking into the mic as much as I could get away with (I felt slightly justified in being a ( Read more... )

I've just sent the following email to all my candidates except Labour, Tory and UKIP (because I am not considering voting for them) through this handy website.

( This got long. )

This is a bit thirteenth hour, but it's important, so.
Dear David Lammy

I'm writing to you because I'm very worried that the Government, driven by Lord Mandelson, intends to rush the Digital Economy Bill into law without full Parliamentary debate.

This bill is highly controversial and contains many measures that are potentially damaging. ( Read more... )

For the last few days I've been helping
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I've just signed the Power 2010 pledge (you should too). I've been following the campaign with interest from the start, and voted on 20 or so reform ideas, three of which made it into the top five. Here's the message I sent accompanying my signature:
I support the Pledge because I think it's an awe-inspiring demonstration of grassroots activism, ( Read more... )

Someone (probably
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Many of my friends have had good things to say about the new electric cigarette things, smokers and non-smokers alike. I'm not a smoker (well, not of cigarettes) but I'm a fan: they're shiny, they light up blue when you draw on them, and they don't contain tobacco, which means no nasty-smelling smoke, no tar, no carcinogens. In case anyone's not ( Read more... )