Single transferable parties

Damian Hockney, elected as a UKIP London Assembly member, has defected to Veritas. Although the new party has yet to be officially launched, Kilroy has appointed him deputy leader.

As if the Right wasn't already split enough between UKIP and the Tories, there is now another party in the ring. This will be seriously damaging to UKIP; its effect on the Tories probably won't be seen until the General Election.

This defection demonstrates, once again, the problem of using "closed list" proportional representation. Hockney was elected based on UKIP's votes across London. He was positioned on the UKIP party "top-up" list by UKIP itself. Although voters would have known the names on the list (and Hockney was top), the votes were cast for UKIP. The only votes cast directly for Hockney were in the West Central constituency seat - where he came fifth.

That's not to say he should resign his seat. He's not required to and he wouldn't be able to fight a by-election as he would be automatically replaced by a new UKIP assembly member. But this shows why the single transferable vote, with a choice of individual candidates rather than just party names, is still the way to go.

We are history

Tim Collins thinks young people's lack of knowledge about British history is an "outright scandal". He may be right, but his prescrption - to make history compulsory up to 16 (it can currently be dropped at 14) is a nonsense.

I dropped history at 14 and don't consider myself uninformed. Certainly I know less about twentieth century history than those who took the subject to GCSE level, but the time spent not learning history wasn't wasted: much of it was spent on physical sciences, an area in desperate need of new graduates.

"When surveys show nearly a third of all 11 to 18-year-olds think that Oliver Cromwell fought at the Battle of Hastings and when fewer than half know that Nelson's ship at Trafalgar was called HMS Victory we have to take action."

Again, possibly true. But since all of that was covered by the history I studied between 11 and 14 (which I understand is still pretty much the case), extending history teaching won't help. Perhaps better teaching is needed, or for the subject to be made more accessible, but if it's failing for 11-14-year-olds, don't force two more years of it on GCSE students.

Which subject should I not have studied in order to take history? (Well, I'd say design and technology, but the Tories made that compulsory, grumblegrumble, so presumably they thought it more important than history.) French? Chemistry? English Literature? Music (which was probably the most rewarding)? There are only so many hours in the school week.

If it is essential that every pupil knows about the Battle of Hastings, does the same apply to the Battle of St Albans, or of Falkirk? Arguably, more knowledge of how people lived in the past, rather than lists of famous dates ("Hitler and the Henrys" as Simon Schama says), would serve young people well, but that doesn't seem to be what Tim Collins wants.

I'm a bit of a trivia buff so I like to know the facts of battles and monarchs, but - and I hate the say this - does it really matter if a 17-year-old thinks that Cromwell fought at Hastings? They'll look silly at a pub quiz or on Weakest Link, but is it going to make them a worse doctor or plumber or police officer or maths teacher? Or less British?

Have I become too LibDem?

On page 3 of today's Guardian are five doodles by celebrities and analyses of their personalities by a graphologist unaware of their identities. The names of the artists are revealed upside down at the end of the article.

I took one look at the second sketch, without reading any of the article, and identified it correctly as drawn by Charles Kennedy.

My rather weak defence is that the picture includes a David Bowie LP and CK is a Bowie fan. But the fact that I know that is incriminating in itself.

Great chieftain o' the pudding-race

It's Robert Burns's birthday today so we were discussing haggis at work (including the pros and cons of Marks & Spencers microwaveable haggis). I'd never had haggis and had every intention of postponing that experience for some time to come, particularly once we had discussed the basic recipe.

Off I trotted for lunch only to discover that the topical catering service had surved up "haggis, neeps and tatties" for lunch. I took up the offer of a taste and decided I would risk it.

To begin with the haggis was quite spicy, countered suitably by the mashed potato. But I soon found myself munching more slowly and taking smaller mouthfuls. My stomach churned at this unexpected and unfamiliar meal and I kept trying to put from my mind our earlier conversation about the ingredients. It wasn't that the taste was unpleasant, but the consistency made it hard going.

Eventually I finished it off. I didn't get where I am today, or indeed to the size I am today, by leaving food on my plate. There are different recipes for haggis and I'll be more suited to some than others. I might try another next year, but don't tell my stomach just yet.

What not to wear

A chap waiting with me for a rail replacement bus service (my third of the day) at Edinburgh Waverley this evening was wearing a long navy overcoat. Presumably because of the similarity between this and GNER uniform, he kept getting asked questions about the buses and seemed quite bemused.

Having failed in my CNPS during the previous two bus journeys today, I have positioned myself in the second best number plate viewing spot on the top deck.

More on citizenship

Comments are down, so an email from Simon:

> 3. Except we're still subjects rather than citizens.

Is untrue as we ceased to be subjects in 1983 under the British Nationality act of 1981.

Simon is right that we are legally citizens; serves me right for repeating a hackneyed old comment. But we are still subjects of HM too.

The British National Act 1981 does, though, serve to reinforce my reason #2 with its very first clauses:

(1) A person born in the United Kingdom after commencement, or in a qualifying territory on or after the appointed day, shall be a British citizen if at the time of the birth his father or mother is--

(a) a British citizen; or

(b) settled in the United Kingdom or that territory.

That said, these may be more like Australian style "affirmation" ceremonies. So you don't actually get anything out of it except perhaps a "Well done, you got to 18" certificate and some cheese and pineapple nibbles.

7 reasons not to have citizenship ceremonies at 18

Charles Clarke likes the idea of citizenship ceremonies when young people turn 18. And why not? Well...

1. Although 18 is the mimimum voting age, you can leave home and school at 16.
   
2. Most British nationals are citizens from birth.
   
3. Except we're still subjects rather than citizens.
   
4. Young people travelling abroad require their own passport from 16 and the new ID cards are intended for those 16 and over.
   
5. It's a news-catching gimmick that doesn't tackle the root cause of the social problems it is attempting to solve.
   
6. The ceremonies are voluntary and therefore won't attract those un-civic youths the Home Secretary thinks will be transformed into model citizens.
   
7. It reinforces to under-18s the idea that because they can't vote they aren't citizens and that politicians can happily ignore them.

Thunderbirds are go!

Went to see Team America - World Police last night. Very funny, and not just because it's as rude and vulgar as it's creators' TV series South Park. It satires equally American military action and pacificist actors, and spoofs the action movie genre, with a few nods to Star Wars en route.

Funny songs, faantastic puppetry, and vile humour. But don't go and see it if you found Jerry Springer - The Opera offensive.

Weekend

Very pleasant time in the country last weekend. A big group of us had a Youth Hostel (now on the market and very suitable for a secret evil lair for any budding Blofeld) to ourselves. Went for a couple of walks through the countryside (admittedly both ended at pubs); drank beer, cider and wine; had a cream tea (my heart screamed no but my tastebuds insisted); and ate some excellent food, including a magnificent feast on Saturday night for which all credit to the chef who had spent all day preparing it.

We also played various silly games, including the box game which, despite my not insignificant stature, I jointly won.

Met lots of new people, including Rob, and got to know better others I'd met before, including Anders.

The only down site was that despite travelling hundreds of miles by car, I didn't see the 91 I was looking for until I got back to work on Tuesday.

TextMe TrainTracker(TM)

Sick of being given the wrong information by National Rail Enquiries' phone line? Don't have WAP on your mobile?

National Rail have launched a new text service, the TextMe TrainTracker(TM) for departures/arrivals information. It costs 25p per text received, plus the standard cost of sending a text to the service.

The short code is 48 49 50. To find trains departing from Edinburgh, you would text:

dep Edinburgh

For trains from Edinburgh to Linlithgow:

dep Edinburgh to Linlithgow

For trains from Lewes to Brighton after 1500hrs:

dep Lewes to Brighton 1500

I tend to trust the automated information more than the call centre, but given some dubious information I've seen on the WAP and online departure boards recently, I wouldn't risk too much on this information being 100% accurate.

Big Brother

I was very disappointed to see Germaine go. Like Peter Black, I was rooting for her to win. I sympathise with her reasons for quitting though: given the past antipathy between her and Brigitte Nielsen, introducing Jackie Stallone (who appears courtesy of the Jim Henson Workshop), was just unpleasant.



(Original image nicked from The Zbornak Files.)

When the weather attacks

You may have seen on the grown-up news that there were storms in Scotland last night. One upshot of this was the cessation of all services by First Scotrail.

Usually I start work at 8.45am. Today I got to work at 11.10am. And I wasn't even the last to arrive.

On the plus side, I now have a contingency plan should this happen again...

Napier University is an excellent place to work

Joe Gordon has been sacked from his job at Waterstone's in Edinburgh for moaning about work on his blog, I learn from an article in today's Guardian. I shan't repeat my thoughts here as I've already commented on doctorvee's blog.

Instead, since the Guardian article, "Blogger sacked for sounding off", includes this excerpt from Joe's blog:

Not far from my flat is a new bakery/pastry store, The Old Bakehouse, which also has an art gallery in the basement. Delicious pastries and artwork? Now how cool is that? Groovy.

and since I walk past it every day, and since I now have a new smartphone and a bit of software called PhotoAcute to improve its photos, here's an illustration.

My Jerry Springer Final Thought

Aside from the victory for free speech, I'm pleased the broadcast went ahead as I found it pretty enjoyable. It seemed a little unfocussed thematically but it made good use of recurring musical themes and the case gave some great performances.

A couple of moments seemed to reference the musical Chicago (of which I only know what I saw on Musicality) and the tap-dancing Ku Klux Klan members at the end of Act I reminded me of the classic high-kicking Nazis from The Producers. I noticed the face of former Stewart Lee collaborator Simon Munnery on the satirical gun commerical.

There was a lot of a swearing but I somehow managed to sit through the whole thing and not contract Tourette's as a result. Once you've heard the word "fuck" ten or twenty times, what's another hundred? It might be vulgar, but does it do any harm? If anything, such over-use of the f- and c-words serves only to reduce their impact in future. I had 888 subtitles on as some of the lyrics were hard to make out; I don't think I've seen the c-word on teletext before...

According to the BBC, "Early indications suggested Jerry Springer - The Opera was watched by twice the number of 16-34 year-olds than normally expected for opera." While a comparison with musicals, rather than classical operas, might be more appropriate, that's good news. The BBC also said that "it had received 317 calls since the broadcast, more than half of which had been supportive."

Meanwhile, the National Director of Christian Voice has announced that they will mount a private prosecution of the BBC under the blasphemy act. This is very welcome, although I have to wonder why the organisation didn't act against these apparently terrible blasphemies during the two years the show has been running in the West End. If successful, the prosecution will prove that the blasphemy laws are not benign and should be repealed from the statute book.

Jerry Springer BBC reponses

It appears that the BBC has been so overwhelmed by the number of emails about Jerry Springer - The Opera that they have resorted to a standard response to all of them, as if all of them were complaints. This may well mean the total number of "complaints" includes emails backing the transmission.

I received one of these replies to my email - for an example of its contents, see Doctorvee and Nick Barlow.

See Ryan's blog for suggestions of how to show support following the broadcast.

The 2005 Bloggies

The Fifth Annual Weblog Awards are open for nominations. There are all sorts of catergories, from Best Meme and Best Tagline of a Weblog to Best Entertainment Weblog and Weblog of the Year. The more people who put nominations forward, the more representative the nominees will be. You don't have to nominate in every category and you can nominate up to three candidates (four for Weblog of the Year) in each category.

Save Jerry!

My e-mail to the Beeb. You can contact them at info@bbc.co.uk.

Dear BBC,

I am concerned at the large number of complaints you appear to have received in advance of Saturday’s scheduled screening of “Jerry Springer – the Opera”.

This show has been performed to thousands of theatregoers in two years in the West End. It has won critical plaudits and continues to draw in audiences. I was pleased to hear that the BBC would be translating the show to screen and therefore allowing interested viewers such as myself, who have been unable to see the opera on stage, to experience it and judge it for ourselves.

While the content of the programme will no doubt prove offensive to some people, the already high profile campaign against the broadcast should serve to warn off any viewers likely to be offended. (And yet I can’t help the nagging feeling that many of those will, perversely, tune in anyway to justify their subsequent complaints to OFCOM.) As a public service broadcaster, the BBC has a responsibility to all licence payers, not just the “moral majority”. While I find various programmes to enjoy amongst the BBC’s output, there are many shows I would never watch. This is how it should be. A BBC pandering solely to the prurience of organisations such as MediaWatch is a BBC for a vocal minority. The BBC must continue to show a diverse and challenging range of programming.

I am pleased that the BBC has insisted that “Jerry Springer – The Opera” will be shown and I hope you will continue to defend your position robustly. I look forward to watching the show on Saturday night.

Where did I go?

Due to a mobile phone/alcohol coincidence (i.e., they coincided) shortly before Christmas, I've had very limited internet access. I'm currently in an internet café in Edinburgh catching up with emails, etc.

Be forewarned: I have a number of posts saved up to splurge onto these pages once my replacement phone arrives. In the mean time, I've added a sidebar link to the DEC donation page so you can pass the time waiting by contributing to the tsunami relief fund.