Why "Nasty" Is The New Normal

The way I see it, there was a time when all the incidents we consider to be downright horrible were condemned and the people who committed them were censured. Today, we've got elected politicians cheering such incidents on on when not putting the boot in themselves. What has happened to our society? I have a few ideas. WARNING: I will not pull any punches. As usual.

Do You Really Think For Yourself?

One of the funniest incidents I've ever experienced is that time in the Techdirt comments when a right-wing zealot spat out a load of US Republican party (GOP - Grand Old Party) talking points, then added, "Think for yourself!" I nearly fell off my chair laughing. But it got me thinking...

You Can Make A Difference: MEPs Will Debate Copyright Law on 10/10/17. Write To Them.

On 10th October 2017, the JURI (Legal Affairs) committee in the European Parliament will vote on future copyright law. You have the ability to influence their vote on the five issues they will be debating this Tuesday.

Normalising Nuts: How Trump Hornswoggled America Into Loving Neoliberalism

The Trump regime in America has, to date, alienated allies, prostituted the office of president, made a huge fool of itself over and over again, and is in the process of bringing the government to a standstill even though it holds both Houses. Why is he still in office?

The Republican Party Is Starting To Wake Up: Will The Political Axis Reset?

As the Trump administration flails about, mocked worldwide for its incompetence, the moderate members, who had been pushed to the fringe by the loons, are starting to see an opportunity to reset the party and make it relevant again. Will they succeed? This is the state of play.

How Exceptionalism Destroys Democracy

Exceptionalism is the overarching theme of the week so far. It's the engine that drives the hubris of the political pillocks whose misbegotten ideologies are making our lives a misery. It's gone into overdrive lately and I think it's time we had a look at it, then called it out for what it is. This is why.

Anarchy Doesn't Scale: Pirates Fail To Form A Government In Iceland

In my last post on the subject of the Icelandic government I was looking forward to being proved wrong but alas, it is true: anarchy doesn't scale. You can't govern by committee. Government requires leadership and when that is absent decision-making becomes a convoluted process in which various factions must be appeased.

Pirates In Power: Can They Govern Iceland?

The recent election in Iceland have resulted in a Mexican standoff in which none of the parties with the most votes has enough seats to give it an overall majority. Coalition is the only way forward but getting disparate parties to agree enough to govern together has proved problematic.

Trumpy McTrumpface: How Donald Trump Became The US President

The 2016 presidential elections in the United States of America are over and Donald Trump has won. He'll be taking the Oath of Office some time next year. Let that sink in. Okay, let's ask ourselves how the hell it happened and what we can do about it.

Could Iceland Give Us The World's First Pirate Party In Government?

Saturday 29th October 2016 will go down in the annals of Pirate history as the day the Pirates had a shot at taking part in a national government.

This is why it's important.

Once More With Feeling: Anarchy Doesn't Scale!

Voluntaryism is a growing phenomenon on the alt-right, trumpeted as the ultimate freedom. An offshoot of libertarianism, the idea is that all transactions are entirely of individual volition and that the state either doesn't exist or doesn't intervene. While the idea may be growing in the public consciousness, it's not a new one. Basically, it's anarchy trying to sound like it's wearing a suit. Let's take a closer look.

How Mass Surveillance Trickles Down

Mass surveillance is no longer the talk of the tinfoil hat brigade. It is all-encompassing and all-pervasive. Laws enacted in the wake of the 9/11 atrocity that were intended to prevent terrorism are now being used for a plethora of purposes. Let's take a closer look at the main ones.

Why Poverty Is Everybody's Problem

Usually when we think of poverty we think of skeletal foreigners queuing up at feeding stations while an earnest reporter walks back and forth, the camera picking out the kids with the biggest bellies, the skinniest limbs, and the saddest eyes. Or we think of homeless people and foodbanks. What we don't consider is how it is actually our problem, not just theirs. Allow me to explain why.

Come The Revolution? Good Luck With That!

Stupidity lives online, I tell you. For the last few years I've noticed a growing trend towards extremism in our political discourse. The sharp lurch to the right has pretty much abolished the kind of buttoned-up respectable conservatism I grew up with and replaced it with a dog-eat-dog mentality I increasingly despise. For want of a better descriptor I've been using the word "Neoreactionary" to describe the attitudes I find so disturbing and I'm going to discuss a favourite trope of theirs tonight: the prospect of an armed revolution or social meltdown.

Can You Trust Consumer Review Sites Like Pissed Consumer?

Given my recent experiences of consumer review sites you could forgive me, I'm sure, for giving them no more credibility than a public toilet wall. That said, Techdirt has a lot of good things to say about Pissed Consumer that has got me thinking again about their value to the internet and online life in general. Let's take a closer look.

Happy New Year 2016: Lessons To Learn, Battles To Fight

Happy new year, everyone. I'm writing this post with a mix of hope and fear: hope that we will finally turn the corner and avert the threat of sinking deeper into a police state poisoned by fracking and suffering from economic and environmental woes and fear that apathy will keep us on our current course. Here's a round-up of 2015 as I experienced it along with some projections of what this year will bring.

Dear Mr. Corbyn, If You Want To Win The Next Election...

I'm writing an open letter to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn because we need a leader who will represent the country, not selected special interest groups, implementing policies that benefit us all instead of enriching one group at the expense of another. tl;dr: get off the see-saw and do something wonderful instead. I've got some ideas...

Plagiarism: A Pirate Response

I'm not a big lover of copyright and think the laws we have are extreme and unfair. That said, it's not right when some random toerag, who does not deserve the honour of being linked here on my blog, wholesale copies my posts and reposts them on his own blog to populate it with content that he hasn't produced himself, that's not on.

Let's Get Off The Left-Right See-Saw

I never thought I'd see binary politics take over political discourse here in the UK as it has in the USA, but as I've pointed out before, it's here now. It's incredibly destructive because the all-or-nothing approach locks out dissenters and stifles debate. We need to kick it over and that begins with pushing back against the notion that there are only two options to choose between. It's not true. This is why.

The Newspeak Agenda: How To Push Back

The Charleston shooting is being co-opted by a range of special interest groups, each of which is out to score political points. What annoys me is that people I know are being sucked into the game. The only reason I know better is that I'm aware of the tricks they use to balkanise their audience and play them off each other in a bid to increase their influence. This is what they're up to.