Rutland: BBC recognised

Fairly major news today as one of the local RAF bases, RAF Cottesmore, faces closure.

What staggered me this morning is two-fold. First, the BBC news website has the word Rutland on its front page. Normally heralded under the banner of 'East Leicestershire', Rutland finally gets the recognition it deserves.

Secondly, the Rutland Times website, one which I usually enjoy reading, has nothing on the story. Amazing.

What a day!

The eyes to the right: seeing sense. The Noes to the left: keep on pointing

BBC Have your Say has the classic mixed bunch of anarchists, socialiasts, commies and anything else one can think of as being left-field idiots.

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&forumID=6629&edition=1&ttl=20090623202415&#paginator

Let's look at this classic from Sam, London

Oh look, a New Labour stool pigeon in Blue colours who wants MP's to have a massive pay rise gets elected to be the speaker.

They have learnt nothing, they are all despicable and I wouldn't spit on any of them if they were on fire.

What fantastic insight into the mind of a commie, who likely doesn't vote at an election. For those who enjoy this sort of non-sensical argument, try Liberty_Rose from Essex (as he calls, not Europe).

No! I'm disgusted. MPs have stuck two fingers up at the public and announced business as usual and that the reforms will be merely cosmetic. Neither of the final two candidates had a sufficiently clean record to become Speaker. Only Ann Widdicombe did - and that's why they refused to elect her. They chose the one who wants MPs to have a £40,000 pay rise.

Time for independents to stand!

What people are forgetting is that the Speaker can only keep order in the house, not instruct its proceedings. It can influence them, thought not wholly say right or wrong to them. That would be an unfair amount of power.

My apologies for perhaps not understanding, but 'Time for the independents to stand!'? They already do, Liberty_Rose. Do you not watch election broadcasts?!

And let's be fair, at least an old Thatcherite got in. Even if he's changed his hue slightly, he is still a registered Conservative.

As an aside, my heart goes out to those killed in the WMATA Red Line crash on the DC/Maryland border early yesterday.

We, the people....

...produce a video advertising the 'Tax day tea party', which has the right message, but delivers it in a wholly wrong way.



I like: The idea and the message: Boston tea party as a sense of revolution/protest. Some of the banners too. 'Repeal the pork or your bacon is cooked' and 'tcot report dot com' (of which The Rutland Correspondent is a member: SnudgeB). The child holding the 'I read as much of the Stimulus bill as my congress did' is also a classic.

I don't like: The music, it's a homage to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, but still, a tad inappropriate. The constant 'we the people' flying across the screen, 'Speak now or forever hold your peace' as a final slogan, and the slightly haunting picture it dubs. The Windows PowerPoint backgrounds at the start

Hello, Afternoon, Morning. I mean, what time is it?

Boris at his best. And a bit of bread and butter PR at the same time.

Viva la Conservatives....

A Rutland minute on Blogging and Social Networking 2.25

Our PR class today was taken by another lecturer from the University, who was an experienced blogger and journalist.

As a class we brainstormed the things we had learnt from our blogs, and what we would do to improve/enrich audience and readers. The two words which proved most popular were varied and relevant.

If I was to create a mission statement on what I'd like to achieve with this blog, I might actually struggle. Not simply because I can't think of what to write, but because I might be struggling to put it into 150 words. Much like Twitter's 140 character limit, I think I might need to sort out and compartmentalise my goals.

"I try to be funny, though careful as to my style of humour. One great business lecturer once said that "No one buys from a clown". I try to interest my readers in politics. Particularly so from a conservative viewpoint, as it is often a subject many shy away from socially, but willing to discuss with great account otherwise. I also try to bring news from my home county Rutland, which would mostly go unnoticed in the busy world around it. I also find the blog somewhat personal, even though I were advised not to be overtly life-sharing."

98 Words. Hang on, I just thought I'd struggle to write that. Perhaps I can't quite touch the word count, but it is a very messy statement. 

Perhaps the answer is in the blog sub-title

"Multum In Parvo, Latin for Much In Little" (Rutland's motto)

I do have a lot to say and do, and not a lot to say it in. I do have much to talk about, though find it hard putting it down as a condensed posting. I also have much to say about Rutland, but in a too smaller channel for mainstream media to pick up. Truly, it is Much in Little. So it may not be the most auspicious mission statement, though my county is proud to carry it as it's motto. I too shall be proud to have it as this blog's mantra.

As an aside to today's class, we were also asked to think about Twitter, 5 weeks on from our original opinions. To use my regular lecturer's words from our internal class blog, 'the often dismissive and unflattering' comments we pass about twitter are still fairly prevalent. I would agree to an extent with them, though I am pleased to have found very like minded people on their. My 76 followers are mostly US-Born. Is this good or bad? Who knows. I'm pleased, though, that I have met them online and that Twitter does allow me to see all their happening without digging to deeply into their lives. Perhaps this is Social Networking 2.25? Personal, Online, Global and yet not too personal?!

The train approaching Platform 1...

...is the 07.51 National Express Service to Glasgow Central, calling at...

As I sit in a first class carriage, on my way back to Sunderland, I thought I would take the time to say thanks to all the people at National Express East Coast for making the east coast service a fantastic rail service.

The only real service between Peterborough and Newcastle, NXEC (the old GNER) is a benchmark which other train services should look up to.

How funny that a privatised railroad, often overtly critiscied by the many, really is a dream come true. Ticket prices are very competitve, service is fantastic and the efficiency is most noticeable.

On the subject of trains, don't you wish you had a pair of these?!

I’m not a politician. I’m a businessman, with a sense of history

The Lessons of The Long Good Friday

A very young cast of Pierce Brosnan, Hellen Mirren and Bob Hoskins all star in what is arguably the best British gangster film.

When reading The Spectator (a magazine with mainly right-wing comment) this week, I came across the article on how we have learnt lessons from the film. Below is the video of one of the best scenes in the film, Harold Shand giving his famous speech 

Skip to 1.15, otherwise you may be put off by the story arcs introduced so early on; it's the speech Id like to focus on.

A true visionary, but are we living out his own downfall? By the end of the film, Harry is slowly losing grip on his empire, and the ambiguous last scene is roughly where we are now in the recession

No comment from me this time, I leave that to The Spectator, as I cannot improve on it. 

One final note: Buy this film (£4 from leading retailers), Watch it and enjoy 

Previously along Uppingham's High Street West

While Obama is losing the battle in DC, the Uppingham Raddlemen are triumphing over the town's great 'parking war'. 

Viva la Conservatives

Postman Pat's Modern Britain

Having watched the video, what comparisons can we observe about the postal service in Modern Britain, and how it relates to Postman Pat's world?

• Today's news that 30% of Royal Mail could be sold off in a bill proposed Thursday seems to have already happened to him. No royal mail signs are present in the programme, unless you count his hat
• There are enough distribution centre jobs for all of one person in Pat's world; a sign of the times here
• The HSE (Health & Safety Exec.) are still to question Pat about the presence of his beloved feline on his regular rounds. A clear health hazard. In the UK, he would be facing civil proceedings against him by now 
• He drives a half empty van of parcels, a clear decline in the use of 'snail mail'
• Pat still goes out of his way to retrieve parcels, and isn't questionned by police for harrasment/driving across designated green lanes/public nuisance.
• Cramped Trains plague Pat's world; I too would be on a motobike by then.
• There is the presence of a Policeman, Farmer, Mechanic and Shopkeeper all helping load his van, a sight of community not seen for a very long time
• The tradtional market town still exists, but with less people using it. Tesco have yet to invade Pat's world.
  
• Homeowners paranoid of who is at the door; perhaps knife crime has finally come to Pat's world
• Royal Mail/Consignia should consider using helicopter drops, it might actually be more efficient for a change, and customers may receive post quicker

Porkulus Bill Passes Representatives

Courtesy of Twitter & Livestation, I was able to follow the US Stimulus bill heading into the House Of Representatives. This bill gives the US nearly $1 trillion to boost the economy

One of the top quotes from my news feed in Twitter was ''Way to go House Republicans! :)'', Posted by a fellow member of #tcot (topconservativesontwitter.org). It then began to flow through my feeder. US Republican activists were really pleased at party unity over voting no. They were also really pleased that 8 Democrats voted against the bill.

It still shows that the G.O.P (Grand Old Party, another name for Republicans) has a lot to do to stop legislation being piledrived through the Capitol.

Though two lessons to draw from this: Twitter is a fantastic source for news, if you log on at the right time. Also, if your Republican, avoid Friday 13th!

UPDATE: The bill has been made into law, with all but 3 of the Republicans voting no in the senate. Everyone is also complaining that the bill was only made available at 11 p.m (4 a.m GMT) Thursday night.

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