Barry John Williams' Blog

I’ve just written to my MP telling them why I am concerned that the Digital Economy Bill could be rushed through without a full Parliamentary debate.

Will you write to your MP too and tell them why the government shouldn’t rush through these draconian laws.

It only took two minutes: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/digitaleconomybill

Labels: computers, internet, politics

From the Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5215413/Every-phone-call-email-or-website-visit-to-be-monitored.html

The proposals will give police and security services the power to snoop on every single communication made by the public with the data then likely to be stored in an enormous national database.

The British government's spy-a-thon campaign is getting crazy!

I noticed recently there were more than 20 fixed CCTV cameras able to see me in Glasgow's Central Station concourse - that number does not include the ones on trains and in the shops.

Bring on Paranoid Linux:

an operating system that assumes that its operator is under assault from the government

~Cory Doctorow (Little Brother, 2008)
http://paranoidlinux.org/

In the meantime, use the Tor project:
http://www.torproject.org/

Labels: grumble, politics

I found this cartoon quite funny; someone clearly didn't read this before allowing Britain to sleepwalk into the surveillance state it now is.

Do Not Discard Brain Article on Boing Boing

"In case of terrorist attack, do not discard Brain" Poster Original Source (includes printable PDF)

Labels: humour, politics

Just bought a copy of the War on Terror boardgame which appears to be getting suppressed by shops and powers that be... apparently MPs have reported it has crossed the line of what is acceptable. Obviously children playing computer games where they can hire hookers and shoot firemen is acceptable!

Looks to be a fun game - though the police clearly don't, they confiscated a copy from some climate activists last week.

From the site:

WAR ON TERROR, THE BOARDGAME: It's got suicide bombers, political kidnaps and intercontinental war. It's got filthy propaganda, rampant paranoia and secret treaties and the Axis of Evil is a spinner in the middle of the board.

http://www.waronterrortheboardgame.com/

Labels: games, humour, politics

SDIM0758.jpg
Originally uploaded by andi808.

Great shot posted on Flickr! Originally found it on BoingBoing where one commenter referred to it as "Blair's Column".

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/28/cctv-versus-admiral.html

Labels: humour, politics

It's a shame this 'GPS Letter Logger' was only posted on Engadget yesterday, perhaps someone should send this to Alistair Darling anyway. Sounds like just the thing he could've been doing with...

Hindsight - who'd be without it?

Labels: gadgets, humour, politics

I went bowling on Saturday night to intentionally miss the Eurovision Song Contest since it had shunted Doctor Who off the schedule...

However, we arrived back to watch the last couple of songs with a few beers and see the final scores and of course Terry "We won the Cold War but we lost the Eurovision" Wogan's fantastic commentary. After watching the short clips we seeked out the Ukranian song 'Dancing Lasha Tumbai' and hoped it would win! A bit of a crappy song, but catchy and I am sure destined to be 2007's Macarena! Personally I think it's a perfect 'eurovision' song - a lot of effort's clearly gone in (doesn't that star sparkle) and in fact it's moved from 43 on the iTunes chart this morning to 16 right now and (hopefully) about to overtake Britain's lame attempt with 'Flying the Flag', which sounds to me more like a bad advert for British Airways and how much better the UK is to the rest of Europe (what?)

I was so disappointed that Malta gave the UK 12 points!?! Ireland of course did the neighborly thing and gave a couple of points to the UK - and of course the UK didn't reciprocate - surprising, given the fact that this week marked the restoration of power sharing in Northern Ireland... It would have been so amusing to see the UK entry 'scooching' off with no points.

Watch the Ukraine's 2007 Eurovision Entry (Verka Serduchka) on YouTube
Link to the Eurovision 2007 Final Scores

Labels: music, politics, video

The Daily Telegraph has an interesting diagram showing the average prices of everyday items in 1997 compared with today.


(Click to enlarge)

Full Daily Telegraph Article about Tony Blair resigning as Labour Leader

Labels: politics, review

Now that we've found out that over 100,000 ballots have been rejected due to being 'spoilt' I think they should all be recounted using common sense rather than a computer.

I strongly believe that most of the spoilt papers will be because somebody has placed a '1' where there should be a cross and a cross where there should be a number.

They should recount the papers such that a cross where there should be number = 1 and the number 1 where there should be a cross should be a cross. This would discard second, third and fourth choices of course - but would come up with a more accurate result.

Better yet, rerun the election in a few months time. I read somewhere on the internet that if this had have happened in Africa - Britain would be first shouting for a rerun!

Labels: election 2007, grumble, politics

Well, maybe not fever or excitement. Rather than blurt out my political thoughts and indicate who I'll be voting for - I thought I'd poke some fun at the election leaflets which got forcefully thrust through my letterbox yesterday morning. I'm also doing a postal vote, so I get a sneak preview at all those smaller parties you know nothing about until the big day - Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers party anyone?

First off, there is Richard Sullivan - Glasgow Baillieston candidate for the Scottish Conservatives, he lives nowhere near Baillieston, managed to spell the name wrong and waffles about how the Town Centre needs regenerating! Baillieston "town centre" is a street of maybe 20 or 30 shops, mainly takeaways and estate agents plus a couple of each type of shop including greengrocers and butchers with a Lidl and Morrisons right at the end. I actually thought it was doing rather well myself - not a single closed or out of place shop with new ones opening every month or so... Secondly he goes on about the need for "people here in Baillieston" to "deserve to be able to walk their streets at night". This confirmed it - he's never been here at night - In the couple of years I've lived here I've never seen a single problem! I might take him up on his offer to give me a lift to the Polls - might actually get him to see the area!

The other amusing leaflet was from David Jackson - candidate for the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Inside he waffles on about making Scotland, greener, safer, increasing health care and making young people matter. It's this last one I found amusing as the headline is sitting right next to the following picture:



That looks like a young person putting a Buckfast bottle in (presumably) a recycle bin. Are they encouraging young people to drink - or just be responsible enough to recycle their Buckie bottles after consuming them?

Another leaflet posted through my door doesn't bitch about other parties or offer to give pensioners more money. They simply state:

• No to Anti-Social Behaviour
• No to More Bogus Asylum Seekers
• No to More Immigration
• No to Being the Sick Man of Europe
• Yes to Long Term Sustainable Jobs
• Yes to More Police
• Yes to Better Quality Housing
• Yes to Education that Works
• Yes to a Better NHS
• Yes to a Cleaner, Greener Environment

Hmmm.

Well - I'm fairly sure Labour will get in again, but hopefully not. I'm posting away my vote soon and maybe it'll make an iota of a difference.

Labels: election 2007, humour, politics