Commentariat

I’ll be doing some fairly major maintenance on the site this morning, so I apologis in advance for any inconvenience.

I’ll try to keep you informed, but it may be unpredictable.

Matt

I probably missed this, but I can’t find a reference.

Why does Nick Robinson’s Newslog never have any comments in the first half of the month?

This applies to April, May, June and July this year.

Nick’s posts in the second half of each month get hundreds of comments, but none at all in the first half of the month.

What is going on?

This is Simon Sarmiento’s fifth and final Guest Column on the Wardman Wire, while David Keen is on holiday from the blog. This week Simon examines a critical appreciation of the National Health Service.

This is my last guest column for the month of August. I want first to draw attention to a recent critique of the National Health Service, which a member of my family who works in the NHS pointed me to recently.

The author is a distinguished American health expert, Professor Donald M. Berwick of Harvard. He’s a pediatrician but also Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. And he is also President and CEO of a not-for-profit organization called the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. It was in this capacity that he spoke in July to a big gathering of NHS staff at Wembley called NHS Live. You can watch his speech, as actually delivered. You can read what looks like the prepared text here, and an edited version was published in the British Medical Journal.

He had some very positive things to say about our Health Service, and he also had some very sound advice for its improvement. We in Britain tend to complain a lot about NHS shortcomings; this should give us a better perspective on how fortunate we are.

I did a few pro-Mansfield buttons yesterday, and Tom Pegg from the Local Paper - the Chad - has demanded one of Richard Bacon, who is now a presenter on Radio 5.

Since I found a good Creative Commons photo of Richard Bacon on Flick-r (courtesy James Cridland), here you go, Tom:

The only fly in the ointment will be if he detests Mansfield. If so, we’ll set Alan Meale MP on him.

Ooops, said virtually anyone.

Cartoon: Gaping Void

In the continuing post-Olympic Campaign to promote Mansfield as the Centre of the Universe, I thought we could have some blog buttons. These are for use by all pro-Mansfield websites.

The one you don’t recognise is Tony Egginton, the Mayor.

I’d add Alan Meale MP, but not without permission - he may be allergic to the word “Militant”, if I recall my political history correctly.

I hear from Phil Groom that the application to make the UK charity Society of Saint Stephen the Great bankrupt at the United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Texas in Houston has been Dismissed with Prejudice:

Thanks to Rigorist for this update, posted August 29, 2008 at 12:11 am:

I just checked the US court system’s PACER service this afternoon (it is still afternoon on this side of the Atlantic). The bankrupcty case was dismissed at today’s hearing on the trustee’s motion.

The actual docket entry is as follows:

“Courtroom Minutes. Time Hearing Held: 11:00 am. Appearances: Mark Brewer for debtor; Randy Williams for Trustee. (Related document(s): 24 Chapter 7 Trustee’s Motion to Dismiss Case). Ellen Hickman present. Mr. Williams addressed the Court regarding the motion to dismiss. Arguments were heard by opposing parties. The Court announced its findings and dismissed the case with prejudice. (rsmi) (Entered: 08/28/2008)”

A written order with more explanation may follow, but as of right now, the bankruptcy case is dismissed.

This means that the Society of Saint Stephen the Great, a UK Charity, has been recognised (at this stage, by this Court) as not being able to be liquidated under US Bankruptcy Laws.

The “With Prejudice” dismissal means that the case is dismissed for good reason and the plaintiff is barred from bringing an action on the same claim. I can’t comment on what is possible in other courts, however.

It took a pin, a tiny pin, to prick the bluff and bluster…

(See next article)

A cartoon from Indexed.

Cartoon: Gaping Void

It is a little over a month since Cease and Desist notices were sent to a series of bloggers.

I want to look back on what has been achieved - in both concrete terms and “soft” terms.

You can get up to speed by reading my “Introductory Guide“, or the list of people posting in support, or even the Press Room:

Dave Walker is a cartoonist who runs a popular website, which includes the blogs We Blog Cartoons, Cartoon Church and The Cartoon Blog.

On the morning of July 22nd 2008 he received a cease and desist letter threatening legal action unless he removed 75 posts from his Cartoon Church blog by lunchtime - i.e., half a day’s notice.

These 75 posts had reported the developing situation over a 2 year period in a UK book chain called SPCK, which had been taken over by a company run by Mark Brewer. Dave Walker’s was the main published source reporting the situation, asking questions about the management of the chain, and highlighting the treatment of the employees.

So, what has happened?

What happened to your email … (click through)

Cartoon: Wellington Grey

I am doing an upgrade of Wordpress, so you may see some interesting changes while I am doing the process.

Cartoon: Gaping Void

Is over at Amused Cynicism.

The roundup is a compendium of last week’s outstanding posts in the British Blogosphere.

A quick post to say that I am continuing to find the odd glitch with the new template on the blog - especially in numbered and bulleted lists.

The Web Elves are working on it.

This is Simon Sarmiento’s fourth Guest Column on the Wardman Wire, while David Keen is on holiday from the blog.

This week looks at American politics, and in particular at the Saddleback Forum - a debate hosted by one of the USA’s Evangelical Megachurches. And he explains why he will be taking on the role of Fat Controller of St Albans in mid-September.

Continuing the experiment with Viral Videos…

Is we is? Or is we ain’t?

Click through for the full size version.

A cartoon from ASBO Jesus.

The Carpet baggers aiming to turn sporting success into party political advantage have started already, and the ex-Sports Minister Richard Caborn MP is first out of the blocks with an article over at Labour Home.

This is annoying - a commenter on Political Betting had the right attitude with a comment that the best way for the Labour Government to benefit from the Olympic success is to keep quiet and bask in the reflected glory.

Instead, Mr Caborn has stuck his oar in, got a lot of things wrong and ended up looking rather silly - as well as being an opportunist out to exploit Olympic success in the course of grubby politics.

The fact that he is posting at Labour Home is interesting - there’s an interesting debate to be had about how the relationships between official parties and grassroots websites will evolve - across all parties.

But for now, a little light rebuttal over afternoon coffee beckons.

Even in the 21st Century, some people manage to make 1010 and 1101 equal 5.

Click through on the title for the full size version.

Cartoon: Wellington Grey

This is a bit old, but I’ve only just found it - being a Mac-o-Sceptic, I usually ignore the hype for a few months before taking a real look.

I am updating the theme of the blog view of the site, so things may be a bit changeable for a couple of hours.

You can read headlines and excerpts undisturbed in the Magazine View.

Independent Video Journalist Arrested

Brian Conley is an independent video journalist who usually works for Alive in Baghdad, who was working as part of a team with New York artist James Powderly. From the Committee to Protect Bloggers:

Brian Conley, was arrested at 3:00 a.m. Tuesday in Beijing. Brian, the founder of the Alive in Baghdad video news project, as well as an employee of the Hub, was documenting the activities of New York artist James Powderly, who uses lasers. In this case, it looks as he was planning a Tibet-themed event at the Olympics.

Four other arrestees are also bloggers: Jeffrey Rae, Michael Liss, Jeff Goldin and Tom Grant.

This needs to be written about. Boing Boing has more.

There’s a blog redesign coming later on. In the meantime click on the title for today’s cartoon.

Cartoon: Wellington Grey

I’m making a few changes to the blog and I’d appreciate feedback in the comments.

• I’ve added a “Video Box” to both the Magazine and the Blog Versions of the site. These are currently running sponsored videos, but mayalso include news and other videos.
• Later on this evening I will be revising the header section of the blog to remove the Google “links”, and revise the links section below the banner to give Quick Links to currently live “post series”. The idea - just at it is with having a magazine front end - is to make it easier to find substantial articles that have gone off the front page.

One problem I have noticed is that when (on the blog view) the small player expands, and it doesn’t seem to be shrinking back to the small size afterwards all the time.

Thanks for your help.