Privacy blogging has moved!

In case you hadn't noticed, it's been rather quiet here on the Highwest blog. Thanks to the good folks at Computer Weekly, I now have a blog on their website, and that has become the soapbox for my, privacy, identity and consent rants. Do please drop by there some time.

PM's load of old flannel for Micheldever

It's been no secret that Micheldever has long been the target for a new town. There's plenty of open countryside, good road links, fast rail service, it's a comfortable commute to London and accessible from much of the South. I fully accept there's a need for more housing, and that it has to go somewhere.

However, when the County, District and Parish councils oppose the proposed building of "Micheldever Station Market Town" (it already sounds awful) you would expect central government to show a little sympathy towards the residents when they protest about it. Not in this case. A petition opposing the new development was raised on the Number 10 website, and received 2,500 signatures. Not many by the standards of some of these petitions, but enough to merit a serious response? Apparently not.

What the residents of Micheldever have been fobbed off with is a bit of boilerplate that has been cut and pasted from the "Eco-Towns prospectus" published by DCLG. Whoever assembled the response probably took less time to do so than it took each individual to sign the petition in the first place. Come on New Labour - we know you stopped caring many years ago, but would you please at least pretend to listen to your citizens?

Highs and Lows of the Listening Day

I've heard wicked rumours that the crystal set is capable of receiving transmissions other than BBC Radio 4 (we fear change!), but it's been a long time since I've experimented with adjusting the tuning knob. In fact last year I went off on a monologue in the pub whilst feeling refreshed and inspired, and ranted on about how all other broadcasters are heathens, only to discover that my reluctant victim was a local radio DJ. Ahem.

However, the routine of Radio 4 is wonderfully comforting, and was a lifeline when I lived in Hong Kong. OK, so the signal was barely audible over the Internet back then, but occasional riffs from the Archers theme were better than Marmite and cricket at the same time. So, here are my favourite moments of the day:
- 0545 The Radio 4 Theme, RIP: Totally pointless and wonderfully eccentric. Why, oh why, did they have to abandon it?
- 0600 Today: The best news coverage there is, and host of two specific highlights:
- 0745: Thought for the Day: Only occasionally is this anything but patronising and pointless. However, it serves a purpose - as Will Self said, if he's still abed at that time, he has to get up to throw something at the radio. Certainly works for me every time.
- 0810: The Shouty Interview! Possibly the best bit of the day! Time for a senior government minister to provide the leading interview of the programme. If you've timed it right, this comes on when you're in the car, and all the frustrations and stresses of the coming day can be released in a glorious primal scream of anger at whatever half-witted mendacious pillock is peddling his/her self-interested disingenuous agenda to the listening public. With a stroke of luck Messrs Humpreys or Naughtie deliver a fatal blow before the interview is through, but even if they don't it's a great way to clear the lungs. Remember: you won't hear a bigger berk anywhere all day, so it's nice to know you've got it over with.
- 1830: With a stroke of luck it's Monday, which means Just a Minute or I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. The audio equivalent of tea and cucumber sandwiches on a Union Flag tablecloth. Delightful.
-1900: The Archers. The original, best, and only soap opera worth following anywhere in the world. All human life is here, plus some very informative tips about dealing with mildew on late wheat harvests. This is what podcasts were made for.

I would write more, but it's 0745 and I need to go and find something suitable to throw at the radio. Happy listening!

Technorati Tags: Humour, Off-topic

I'm a fake celebrity - get me in here!

Looks like Osama's been gatecrashing parties again - this time the APEC conference in Sydney, which has been the focus of the toughest security measures ever seen in Australia. It would appear that a convoy of limos travelling under a Canadian flag was waved through the barricades all the way to President Bush's hotel, at which point the crew, including one dressed as Osama, were arrested.

Why Canada? Possibly because everyone recognises the national flag, and nobody's too p*ssed off with their eminently sensible foreign policies? Surely not.

Technorati Tags: Humour

Community Policing - Medieval Style

Now, I'm not one to advocate vigilantism or the creation of any citizen retribution against criminals - I'd even go so far as to defend the right of sex offenders to retain their privacy so long as they have served their sentence and are not judged to be a threat (after all, how else are they meant to rehabilitate?)

But when Anti-Social Behaviour Orders are clearly failing to deal with community problems, and under-resourced police forces cannot bring criminals to justice, I can sympathise with this return to old-fashioned methods to deal with criminals in the community. Assuming that he is in fact a drugs dealer (and that's a big if), then I'll bet this deals with the problem far more effectively than any ASBO ever could.

Technorati Tags: Politics

Perceived Risk

Thanks to Matt for the chance to Go Ape yesterday. This aerial assault course involves swinging around between the tops of the fir trees, and provided a much-needed adrenalin hit.

Of course, the actual danger level here is zero. The safety training lasted nearly an hour, and courses got progressively harder over the 2 hours in the trees. You know it can't be dangerous because there's no need to wear a helmet or hi-viz vest (either that or H&S haven't been to visit yet). At any one time you have at least one, and normally two, connections to the safety lines. But that doesn't stop the experience of standing on a small platform 60ft above the ground from inducing a very healthy amount of fear, and the risk certainly feels very real at that moment.

The last time I did anything like that was in 1991, at the French Infantry School in Berlin. Of course, on that course there were no safety lines, no sand traps, it was dark, and we were in full kit - ah, the good old days of no Health & Safety and a conscript army. Which will explain why my knees don't work properly any more and the British army was spared my presence in later years :)

Technorati Tags: Off-topic

Health and Safety - Rock n Roll style

I was lucky enough to hear the Rolling Stones play at the O2 last night (KEEF! KEEF!) and had a few inspirational Health and Safety moments:
- watching the lighting monkeys climb 100ft+ rope ladders into the gantry about the audience with no visible safety ropes in case they fell from the ladders;
- then being informed that I couldn't take the lid of a 500ml plastic water bottle from the bar "for Health and Safety reasons". Inevitably the bottle got spilled (I will add that this was for the wife, I was on something a little stronger). Will someone kindly explain the danger of a bottle top? Choking hazard? Trip hazard?;
- and KEEF and Ronnie lit up on stage, which was clearly an outrageous flouting of the anti-smoking laws, and obviously endangered the 23,000 present with their wicked second-hand smoke. The O2 has quite rightly been fined for this, and I trust that Messrs Richards and Woods have learned their lesson and will be better behaved in future, or I'm sure they will soon find themselves very skint indeed. Hem-hem nuff said.

KEEF's rendition of Satisfaction will live with me for ever...

Technorati Tags: Off-topic