91Èȱ¬

Politicians are outdated...they too often impulsively prevent the right choices and fail to stop establishment crime...

Customer Representation and company initiatives have taken over the agendas of local councils to get each town what is wanted.. as can be seen...

But...Maybe Inter Popularisation is the future...to connect every council tax payer and local business together via customer research companies funded from government budgets using services via town websites...

The town websites can be upgraded by partnership eg with: Yellow Pages, Google, multimaps, upyourstreet, a Hotmail provider, Preference Interpreters, and email forwarding companies with phone and post support...to provide Popularisation Services in support of all business with websites, and customers..much as they do already...

Customers / council tax payers:
1) post preferences and vital statistics online direct to town wide customer representation interpreters
2) access advertising from every store and service in town via weblinks with maps through the one site
3) use site hotmail for local correspondence from businesses and to locals with the option of automated filtered email post or phone message forwarding subscription services
4) get weekly magazines based on selected news services and advertising from around the town and the globe...

Businesses:
1) budgeted email to selected customer groups
2) research data from competing interpreters to supplement their own
3) get further information to anticipate style choices, sizes and other customer requirements
4) get feedback from suggestions and complaints
5) become benefactors of increased and targeted sales + more people coming in to town and potentially buying on line, less waste, and support of favoured or new custom..
6) business rates converted into additional advertising budgets
7) possibilities of staff placements attractive to customers interested in the stock
8) strong ability to forecast demand and revenue to fill empty stores and support building projects

Services: such as police and health
1) stronger accountability to the community that pays them via buffered representation services with a job to do
2) breakdown of "hegemonies" into Town Focused Support rather than Opinion Centred Politics
3) suitable information for selection of staff, "public meeting" job descriptions, and allocation of budgets for the jobs the public actually want...

Progressively the companies involved could increase choice news and representation to and from the public spirited and support them to popularise their own choices enabling all to become more invited, and able to support their town and those that work to make it so great for them... including advertising it to their mates countrywide...

So much in every town has been achieved already...but Architecture, Council Tax recipients, policing approaches, and health tragedies are the debates in our town... they have underperformed due to social pressures in each area...

A strong controlling company could do better faster and ignore or re-educate ignorant politicians....if they had the right mix of staff and the confidence and experience to offer Representation Shares to all the public in the catchment area...they could take over...

Bournemouth is where the conferences of the major parties are often held..it may soon become a beacon of 21st century political society! {rather than a suffering of 17th century moral attitudes surrounded by contemporary chic style and fashion}

I thought I would comment on the Iran detainees, (not hostages as that implies a trade with someone). Then I thought of the Election which is a foregone conclusion of the electorate taking its revenge on Blair and Brown, so what's new about a mid-term Government? Then perhaps a comment on who would stand against Brown but, as a Labour Candidate myself, I could not think of anyone that will move me out of my present inertia and concern over the dangers of a "One horse race".

However after seeing the Iraqui womens' problems I thought how lucky we are that the above is all we have to comment about, serious as the Iran situation is, which should be resolved by some mutual "misunderstanding" comunique. Rather than the usual despair I find coming out of Iraq I was amazed by the positive way in which the women on the programme coped with death and disruption. I bet that they would prefer to have the worry and anguish of wondering if Brown was the devil incarnate or whether the Lib/Dems will take overall control in Nottingham!
Well done Newsnight in departing from the usual clever types scoring points off each other, or not answering the question at all. The Iraqui women placed our so-called problems as being of little relevance.
Then the final Coup d'Theatre of an actual "Empty Chair" on the danger of blogging, raised a few nights ago.

I realise this will mean very little to most of you not subjected to Newsnight Scotland and its desperate attempts to re-inflate Labour's campaign. But ... the way in which Wendy Alexander (Dougie's older resentful sister) was allowed to shout down and harass the other contributors was a disgrace. Also, the accusations she was throwing around were hilarious (about financial mismanagement). When if anyone cares to view her expenses they will see the immediate discrepancies. Her spend on office materials alone are six times the average at something around 9 to £10,000. Of course, that is to ignore the Labour sums that have consistently failed to add up in government - the Olympics, the pension scam, nuclear power, the dome, trident, the Iraq War must be massively overspent! … [say when] Finally, the former Blair aid saying ‘independence by Christmas’ for Scotland is just wrong. If the SNP were to win alone, which they cant and wont – the system was designed to ensure it would never happen – it would still be two to three years until an independence referendum was actually held. That referendum would then need to be won against the other 3 major parties (and the London-owned media), while sharing a platform with a variety of Socialists, Ecologists and Pensioners’ Rights Parties. Incidentally, if that interpretation is overly harsh, it is only as I am a SNP member.

Iran Crisis: I'm with George Bush — no quid pro quo.

Blogger Threats: A pity Kathy Sierra didn't show up; it turned the item into a damp squib. Perhaps Jeremy could have read a statement from Guido Fawkes???? I hope you return to this story at a future date.

In tonight's programme Newsnight visited Arnold, the suburban town in Nottinghamshire where I have lived for several years.

I thought it worth noting that, aside from the physical geography, I had trouble recognising the version of Arnold that was presented. The town was described, verbally and visually, as Labour heartland; a solid working-class district unaffected by the boom in house prices and blighted by crime.

The narrator suggested that it is possible to buy a semi-detached property in Arnold for around £60,000. It probably is, but to suggest this is a guideline price for a run-of-the-mill home in Arnold is grossly misleading to bargain seekers. My house, a three-bed semi on a typical road that runs off the end of the shopping street pictured in the report, cost over twice that, and is far from expensive for the area. You'd be lucky to find a normal property for £60,000 in Arnold, and that kind of price is not common, contrary to the impression the report gave. In fact a search on a popular property site shows that there are nearly twice as many properties selling for over £300,000 than there are for under £70,000.

The neighbour of my parents' house, a victorian three-bedroomed semi-detached on the other side of Arnold in the Daybrook area, recently sold under-estimate for over £300,000, and a detached property opposite ours is currently on the market for considerably more than that.

At a time when street crime is perceived as being a serious problem across the UK, it's difficult to evaluate whether Arnold is as bad as or as worse as anywhere else as a place to live, but I can say that I personally feel perfectly safe in my home, have never been burgled, vandalised or attacked, the area adoes not seem to be particularly abused, and is very pleasant compared to other towns and residential areas farther afield in Nottingham.

The only notable recent instance of crime I can recall in Arnold was the smurder several years ago of a local watchmaker's wife in a botched robbery, and this was a highly unusual event which shocked the community at the time.

The 91Èȱ¬'s apparent determination to paint Arnold as a Labour heartland disappointed me as well. It is true that our local council is Labour controlled, but we have a diverse political establishment and Labour certainly doesn't dominate. Arnold, like most of the UK, is not a political place, and the town shouldn't be highlighted simply because the party which is in power in most of the UK happens to be so here as well. The area I mentioned earlier- Daybrook - (which is practically a small annexe of Arnold and within a few minute's walk of the filming location), for example, is represented by the Conservatives. I support the Liberal Democrats, my parents vote Green, my Grandparents Conservative, I have several politically active friends who're split between Labour and the Tories, and there is a similar mixture of views among my colleagues and neighbours. Most, however, are not especially bothered, and there is certainly no discernable hard-line Labour majority.

It seemed to me as if the 91Èȱ¬ had decided to paint a picture of Brown and Blair visiting the kind of place that their priorities are centred on and whose residents are quietly but staunchly behind them.

Convenient as this is for television, the reality is much less quaint and probably much less interesting journalistically.

Looks like the Iranian fundamentalists have brought a new meaning to the phrase "testing the waters".

What happened to the harassed blogger?
An empty chair and no statement for paxman to read out. I bet the producer of that little segment was going mental when the harassed blogger did a flit out of the studio, leaving an empty chair for a newsnight audience to stare at.
The harassed blogger will feel a bit more harassed and paranoid, awaiting for that phone call from the 91Èȱ¬, explaing to her the cost of the satellite feed ect.(is that still expensive)
Well at least Jeremy stretched out the papers for us.

I had recieved a couple of menacing phone calls one afternoon, so i pulled the phone from it's socket and then went about my day.........have you figured it out yet.
Go on utube for example and take a look at some of the comments that are posted, the abuse is every where. Kathy , if the harassement is worrying you, TURN THE COMPUTER OFF!

I am sure this is a more serious matter, but 'switch off' was the first thing that sprang to mind.

Really poor judgement whoever put the blogger slot together. The serious point is Kathy Sierra has done women no favours. Next time a woman reports cyber threats to the police will they think she's a time waster? Sierra involved the police by reporting death threats. She also blogged about being in fear for her life. You do one or the other, not both. Any serious media should have steered clear, a choice the police didn't have. She's subsequently been on daytime TV in America with the person she pointed the finger at over death threats the previous week. Before this, I'd never heard of her. I'm not convinced this isn't more about publicity than it is about death threats.

Bloggers.As Voltaire said of theatre critics "they are but the insects of one day".(Please don't send me death threats,I am only quoting Voltaire after all).

With regard to the piece on women in Iraq, it continues to horrify me that we saw such a groundswell of popular opinion, boycotts and political sanctions against South Africa over the oppression of people based on race/skin colour but international community still fails to take a stand against countries that deny women freedom of movement, full self determination and even the right to show their face in public. I realise that in Iraq the issues are not now constitutional ones as they are in Iran or Saudi Arabia amongst others - but why are we prepared to tolerate abuse and oppression on grounds of gender but not for race?

'Truth? The truth will see you dead' is the line from a film i saw whose name now escapes me.

Truth is over rated. Even Shakespeare didn't bother with it contenting himself with the thought 'the play's the thing to capture the conscience of the king'.

My view of the childrens programme Trumpton changed when someone explained to me that it was a Marxist Leninist view of society. i.e. most people worked for the State [The mayor, the firemen, the policemen, the postman etc] and those who didn't [Windy Miller] were 'good' capitalists in as much as they did things for free in aid of the workers [and there was no free press in Trumpton].

Why do people fear the power of the pen? So much so that the gulags or worse await those who use it? Because knowledge is power? The power to change Trumpton from being seen as harmless entertainment to an attempt to brainwash children and so begin subversion of the capitalist hegemony? Those interested in power must either subvert the word or silence it. They must occupy the conversation with their words and instil a curfew on any other competing view through insults and threats. Look where the 91Èȱ¬ is banned? Look how it is accused of bias.

The oldest rights organisation Pen is one that looks after locked up writers and maybe you are not on the pulse until you take the well worn road to prison?

My dictionary is old enough not to have the word blog. The closest it comes is blob. Blobbing. Blabbing. Blagging.Blogging.

Total freedom would be boring. Suppose Shakespeare had the freedom to write political pamphlets rather than be forced to work the imagination through plays?

Diane and excellent blog which makes the War and soldiers in Iraq a side issue. Whether their presence is adding to the problem or if they leave, it would compound it, is a "call" which I could not make.

On a selfish note if we were to get out a.s.a.p. perhaps things would settle down after an initial score settling or even another Dictator.
However it would still leave Muslim women as second class citizens and a struggle on gender which you Diane make an excellent point.

I too hope that Newsnight returns to this inequality which to my thinking is gender apartied. I was full of admiration of those women who were putting up with all sorts of threats and dangers, far braver than we bloggers who sit comfortably in our homes.

Diane -

Iran as it is:-

the West must stay out of the world of Islam, it is what it is, and any changes will have to come from within!
Otherwise we will be accused of a war against the so-called religion. It beats me why anyone still relates Islam to a Religion. An Ideology yes, a religion never in a million years.

I hope, then, Maurice, that you think it was none of anyone else's business what went on in South Africa? Because it is exactly the same thing and outrageous hypocrisy to suggest that when women are the victims 'it's their culture'. The women I speak to in the region do want their rights. That doesn't mean that they can't observe Islam and those who want to stay away from public life can't do so. They have a right to expect that others would take the same stand for them that we do where race or religion is the criteria for discrimination.

I hope, then, Maurice, that you think it was none of anyone else's business what went on in South Africa? Because it is exactly the same thing and outrageous hypocrisy to suggest that when women are the victims 'it's their culture'. The women I speak to in the region do want their rights. That doesn't mean that they can't observe Islam and those who want to stay away from public life can't do so. They have a right to expect that others would take the same stand for them that we do where race or religion is the criteria for discrimination.

Then Diane, they will have to fight for them rights!
Women have done it throughout history, including here.
For a foreign power to become involved brings more grief than it solves!
The African on the one hand condemn the white man for all that ails them, then expect help from the hated white man!
Let them sort their problems their way!

It all makes sense now we know that 10 weeks ago the US siezed 5 Iranian officials from Arbil in Kurdistan. The retaliation by the Iranians by taking 15 marines hostage was a reasonable response . Has Mr Blair been embarassed once again by his problem with telling the truth ?

Paula

To paula clare yates (Message 10):

What do you mean by "now we know"? — as if this wasn't known, and mentioned in news broadcasts, at the time of the RN crew's abduction?

Also, how can the Iranian action be justified as a "retaliation" or a "reasonable response"? The Iranians in Iraq were held by Americans; the RN crew is British. Your suggestion that it was justified by the earlier American action is as ludicrous as it would be to suggest that the British, in their turn, should seize, say, some Syrian citizens as a means of getting back at Iran.

This is all very worrying. I don't know a great deal about Hitler, but Ahmadinejad almost certainly does. The parallels are unimaginable. And now tearful at the baroque music. I fear there may be thousands of women being raped in disguised compounds to produce a super race of Aryans. The man has to lose power. I'm all for military action taking out the nuclear centrifuge facility. I was horrified at the plan in January, but due to recent events, I don't think the world has any choice.

South Africa's politics *and* those of Iran's are largely beyond the ken of most of this politically naive 'liberal democratic' generation it would seem (just as Iraq's were before the Neocon's walked in to allegedly 'liberate' those people). Take a closer look at 'free' South Africa, 'Rhodesia' or Iraq today and give some more thought to what 'freedom' actually comes down to. To get a taste, watch "Enron" or "Commanding Heights".

Islamic Iran clearly doesn't want western 'freedom' for essentially the same reasons that the USSR didn't (and I suspect Putin still doesn't).

Western 'liberal democracy' (Trotskyism/the free-market take your pick of label) actually destroys people. Have a look at the 'hyperbolic discounting principle' and give some thought to how predators market choice.

In the UK, the fact that we're not replacing ourselves (TFR=1.71) has now forced us to import large numbers of relatively unskilled breeders and labourers from elsewhere just to keep our economy going (have a look at the demographics sometime).

So, the case can be made that a good part of the progressive decline of western culture can in fact be attributed to the emancipation of women (see above paragraph for how this operates). Those who promoted this in the early C20th either knew how to undermine the status quo, or were just 'useful idiots' for those who did.

Can one blame 'Stalinist' Iran (and other Islamic and South American countries) for saying "thanks but no thanks"? They can see what's on offer.

Why do they talk of big and little Satan do you think?