Sim-O

Press Complaints Commission annual review

January 18th, 2010 § 2 comments § permalink

Update: A quick note from Tim Ireland…

[NOTE – It’s probably something to do with the sudden popularity of our petition, but ipetitions.com have now started displaying a donation page (instead of a ‘thank you’ page) after you submit your details. I understand why ipetitions.com have done this – and Dog knows they deserve a donation or two for providing a superior petition service – but I’m less-than-impressed by the way they’ve gone about it. At this stage, I can only apologise for this unexpected feature and provide new people with advance warning; you do not have to make a donation for your signature to register.]

The PCC is holding its’ annual review of its’ Code of Practice, the rules that govern the behaviour of the press and it’s members.

The PCC want suggestions from, not just the industry itself, but from the general public too.

(Update: We will also be submitting our suggestions to the to the Independent Governance Review in time for the 25 Jan 2010 deadline

A few of us bloggers that take an interest in this sort of thing have got together and come up with some suggestions, which we feel, should be a priority for the PCC to incorporate into its’ Code of Practice, while we await and try to get started a bigger discussion of who and how it should regulate.

The idea being a ‘safety in numbers’ thing, the more people put their names to these suggestions the harder it will be for the PCC to ignore than if a lot of suggestions come from individuals.

We need you to sign the petition and also, in the comments section, you can leave you’re own suggestion. The petition will be delivered in a format that means that any individual suggestions can be responded to by the PCC, not just the main group petition. You can use a nickname or your real name (if you use your real name it can be hidden from public view if you wish) and the PCC will still count as valid.

For more, see Bloggerheads.com

The text of the petition is below, just follow the link and digitally sign it, please.

SUGGESTION ONE: Like-for-like placement of retractions, corrections and apologies in print and online (as standard).

Retractions, corrections, and apologies should normally be at least equally prominent to the original article, in both print and online editions. Any departure from this rule should only be in exceptional circumstances, and the onus on showing such circumstances should be on the publication.

SUGGESTION TWO: Original or redirected URLs for retractions, corrections & apologies online (as standard).

Retractions, corrections, and apologies in respect of online articles should always be displayed either at the original URL or at a URL to which the reader is redirected.

SUGGESTION THREE: The current Code contains no reference to headlines, and this loophole should be closed immediately.

Headlines should be covered by the same rules as the rest of a story. Further, headlines and titles for links should never be misleading in what they imply or offer and should always be substantiated by the article/contents.

SUGGESTION FOUR: Sources to be credited unless they do not wish to be credited or require anonymity/protection.

Sources should normally be credited. Any departure from this rule should only be when the source does not wish to be credited or if the source requires anonymity/protection.

SUGGESTION FIVE: A longer and more interactive consultation period for open discussion of more fundamental issues.

We submit all of the above without implying support for the PCC, the remainder of Code as it stands, or even the concept of self-regulation, and request that the 20th year of the PCC be marked with an open debate about its progress to date, and its future direction.

–

Further issues or suggestions may be included as a ‘comment’ and individual responses to these concerns/suggestions (via the corresponding email address) would be appreciated.

Thank you.

sign here

These suggestions were decided upon by Tim Ireland, Kevin Arscott, Adam Bienkov, Dave Cross, Sunny Hundal, Jack of Kent, Justin McKeating, MacGuffin, Mark Pack, septicisle, Jamie Sport, Clive Summerfield, Unity, Anton Vowl.

God (watch out for Godwins’ Law).

January 18th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

God. Where to start, eh?

God does judge the nations — all of them — and God will judge the nations.

Nations are made up of individuals. Even during the Nuremburg trials, individuals were prosecuted, not the German nation. What that statement above says is that God is into collective punishment. But we already knew that anyway.

Look at the original sin. Man is born a sinner now because of the decision of an individual, Adam, to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

What the Vatican says about the original sin is…

It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why original sin is called “sin” only in an analogical sense: it is a sin “contracted” and not “committed” – a state and not an act.

Original sin is not something someone’s done, it is inherited. Even a baby that is just born, that has no chance to develop a character, never mind any knowledge, opinion or attitude about anything, is doomed.

Unless of course it renounces a life without god in a ceremony usually taking place before it has any concept of consent never mind the deeper logical and theological concepts involved in a baptism.

Hmm. Isn’t it also usually considered bad form to do stuff to/make someone do stuff that they have no understanding of?

Another Cameron poster

January 14th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

Whispered apologies

January 12th, 2010 § 3 comments § permalink

How fucking hard is it to find a snap shot of a newspaper frontpage, eh?

PA…

Peaches Geldof has accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages at London’s High Court over a claim that she was a prostitute who charged £5,000 a night for sexual services.

The 20-year-old TV presenter and model had brought proceedings over a September 2008 front page story in The Daily Star.

That is quite insulting, isn’t it? It could ruin a career, an accusation like that, and once mud has been thrown it can be bloody hard to get off.

Peaches initially went to the Press Complaints Commission, which according to the PCC is the right thing to do, and the complaint was upheld and the Daily Star published an apology and retraction. So if Peaches got an apology, why sue?…

“The defendant refused to publish a retraction and apology on its front page but instead published it on page two.

“As the publication was substantially smaller, the claimant considered this to be unacceptable as it was not, in her view, adequately prominent.”

The PCC felt that an apology on the inside of the paper, even though the offending headline was on the front page, was fine. As far as the PCC was concerned it was job done. Next, please.

But it isn’t fine, is it? What the Star did was the equivilent to standing in the street shouting about how Peaches Geldof is a whore to all and sundry that passed by. What the PCC let them do is tell only the people that stop by their office that, actually, Peaches isn’t a whore.

The headlines on the front page scream to the world whether the paper is bought or not. When you buy a paper people notice the other papers, just because they have to find it on the shelf. Many more people would’ve seen that headline, and changed their opinion for the worse, than would’ve seen the retraction and apology.

What, though, would the PCC have done if it had deemed an apology on the second page not good enough and the Daily Star still refused to put it on the front page? Would it have fined the Star? Would it have helped Peaches take the Star to court? Of course not. It would’ve done nothing, because it can do nothing more.

The question is purely academic, anyway. The PCC may have ruled that the complaint was valid, but the ‘punishment’ (yeah, yeah. stop laughing) would’ve been negotiated. The Star, along with many other papers, would never put an apology on the front page, it would’ve told the PCC to fuck right off, so as a compromise, the second page it was.

Quite rightly, the second page was found not to be good enough.

Fortunately, Peaches has the money to take the matter further, not everyone does. The next time it could be you, unable to make a paper stand in the street and tell everyone it was wrong about you.

via Scaryduck

Cameron poster

January 10th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

(Click to enlarge.)

Get your own here.

via Chicken Yoghurt

As close to a fanboy post as it gets here

January 8th, 2010 § 2 comments § permalink

I installed a network drive at home the other day.

The instructions said plug it it and then switch it on. So I did.

To get your XP/Vista machine to see it:

Boot up computer
insert supplied CD into computer and start it up
double click and install an application
open newly installed application
If you want to map the network drive manually or automatically?
fuck about for a while and then in the morning get screamed at by Mrs -O and sent out to die on the snowy roads of hell because laptop has mysteriously lost all it’s internet connections which are needed for Mrs -O to work from home.
Call company tech support to fix laptop
Leave laptop alone for fear of having my testicles cut off and stuffed in my ears

The procedure to get my Mac to recognise the drive is as follows:

turn on Mac

I wish Mrs -Os’ work laptop was a Mac.

#kerryout: A load of childish fucking nonsense

January 4th, 2010 § 3 comments § permalink

The #kerryout campaign to unseat Bristol MP Kerry McCarthy is hotting up, but it’s a load of old bollox, really.

Tory-Politico…

Tomorrow [that’s today, now] will see the launch of the #KerryOut campaign, which is being coordinated by some of the top Tory bloggers, and is designed to support Conservative PPC, Adeela Shafi, in her battle to unseat the disgraced MP.

I’m at work at the moment and because of restrictions on my computer can’t show you how those top tory bloggers are showing the nice side of the Conservatives on Twitter. I may do later if I remember/can be bothered.

There are a coup of things about this campaign that make it stand out as shit. The first is that Kerrys’ Bristol seat is a safe one, I gather, and so is unlikely to be lost, making all the effort and money spent wasted when, as the Tories should be concentrating their efforts on seats they have a chance of winning.

The second load of crap about this campaign is, what the fuck is it actually about? As far as I can tell, it’s about the way Kerry has embraced social media…

Labour’s self appointed ‘Twitter Tsar’, Kerry McCarthy, believes in the power of online media, so much so that following the Sun’s endorsement of David Cameron she tweeted “Labour doesn’t need the Sun – we’ve got Twitter!”

‘Self appointed Twitter Tsar’? Don’t give me that shit. Kerry is Labours’ online media capaign co-ordinator (or somesuch title). Last time I looked ‘online’ encompassed more than just fucking Twitter and the very fact the she is Labours’ campaign co-ordinator rules out the self appointed comment as, I’m fairly certain, Kerry isn’t the only member of the Labour Party.
That comment about not needing the Sun? For fucks sake. It’s tongue-in-cheek, a bit of rabble rousing. With a sense of humour failure like that, these cunts could pass as lefties.

Kerry has apparently been spending £400 a month on food, and I think, £400 on a new bed. Whoopy fucking do. Because of that Kerry is labelled ‘disgraced’. I’m not commenting directly whether it is right or wrong, but how about these petty Torie fuckers going after they’re own party memebers that have been feathering their nests.

The Independent…

Kerry McCarthy registered second home in Bristol in 2005. Claimed £117 hotel while claiming £600 in rent, refused by fees office. Bought house in London, claimed £3,657 for stamp duty and moving costs

Ok. That might seems a bit dodgy, might not look to good. How about removing ‘disgraced’ Tory MPs that have been troughing? Removing Theresa Villiers might make the Tory bunch of cunts more electable…

Theresa Villiers claimed almost £16,000 in stamp duty and professional fees on expenses when she bought a London flat, even though she already had a house in the capital.

or David Davis…

David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, who grew up on a council estate, spent more than £10,000 of taxpayers’ money on home improvements in four years.

or Greg Knight…

Greg Knight, an MP with a collection of classic cars, claimed £2,600 in expenses for repair work on the driveway at his designated second home as part of a £21,793 bill to the taxpayer for maintenance and security.

or James Clappison…

A shadow minister who owns 24 houses claimed more than £100,000 in expenses, including thousands for gardening and redecoration.

or… well, you get the picture.

The thing that is missing from this campaign is real reasons for getting rid of Kerry. Has she bolloxed up her constuency? Has she spouted a load of shite in commons debates, like her arch nemesis Nadine Dorries? I don’t know because #kerryout won’t tell me.

It’s just a childish, vindictive load of shit.

Fucking grow up you bunch of twats.

Conservative whataboutery

December 30th, 2009 § 0 comments § permalink

Louise Bagshawe, Conservative PCC for Corby…

@Placepot oh i think it’s totally a class issue. If Labour cared about animal cruelty why allow battery farming or cosmetic experimentation?

David Cameron…

“My own view is the hunting ban is a bad piece of legislation, it hasn’t worked, it has made a mockery of the law, a lot of time was wasted on it, and I think we would be better off without it. That gives you a clue to how I will vote.

Using the same logic as Louise, David Cameron doesn’t give a shit about animal cruelty. After all, if it’s alright to rip a fox to bits using dogs, which is undeniably cruel, then why is it wrong to kick the face off a dog, or to throw a cat in the river with only a couple of bricks for company in a bag or to make lame a horse with a blade in the middle of the night. Presumably by the logic that Louise forwards, the RSPCA should be a proscribed organisation.

The ban on fox hunting may be a poor piece of legislation, but that is no reason to repeal it, modify it instead. The Tories claim that they don’t like animal cruelty, who would claim otherwise? Are they going to ban battery farming or the use of animals in cosmetics manufacturing?

Nice bit of ‘whataboutery’ there, Louise.

Where are the Tax Payers Alliance when you need them?

December 30th, 2009 § 1 comment § permalink

The Guardian…

The Tories today promised to give £1m of taxpayers’ money as a cash prize to the person or team who manages to “harness the wisdom of the crowd” by producing an online platform to solve “common problems”.

The winning product must deliver an effective and available site for the public to post their ideas on, as well as a truly beneficial outcome for it to be worthy of the £1m payout, which the party says would be the biggest prize offered by a British government in the modern era.

WTF?

Ideas “to get the ball rolling” suggested by the Tories include: identifying and rooting out wasteful government spending, designing credit card bills that anyone can understand; rating the quality of schools and hospitals; making government information clear and simple; and – they say – picking the England squad for the 2010 World Cup.

So, the Tories think that there is no one in Whitehall that can go around the place and ask people “Why are you doing that?”, that there is no one in the whole of the fucking banking business that can draw up a simple way of billing people if they really had to? They think that we believe that they will take on a way of rating schools and hospitals that a government can’t fiddle to make themselves look better?
As far as clear, simple government information is concerned, the information given out usually looks like there is a deliberate effort to make it unfathomable so a £1m prize for making it clearer is gonna be easy money.

And for christs’ sake, a “truly beneficial outcome’? Picking the 2010 Footy squad? Fuck off. Just fuck. Right. Off.