Semi Retirement

I've simply got to much on my plate to blog. I started blogging a few months after stepping down as a councillor in 2007 as a way to keep my hand in politically. But since being elected in March of last year as a councillor on Broadland District Council, I simply do not have the time or inclination.

I certainly won't be deleting this blog, but updates will be very rare from now on.

Thanks for all the comments and interaction with so many people.

An object lesson in getting your facts straight before posting to a blog

John Redwood has written what he probably thinks is a witty and topical piece about British industry in the wake of the failure to win the 2018 World Cup. He seems to think the 2018 World Cup bid failure is metaphor for Britain not selling things abroad in general. However, he undermines his whole argument by totally failing to have understood what the England 2018 bid was all about.

John Redwood states

What had happened to our market research? Such a brief meant either we should not compete, as it was not for us, or it meant a different vision for any UK bid. Why didn’t our bid concentrate on how we would spread the word, sell the tickets and the passion around the globe and make the World Cup relevant for countries without a great football heritage? Why didn’t we offer to  harness some of the future  huge UK Overseas Aid budget for football related projects in poorer countries as a central part of the bid?

Erm, now I was highly confused by Mr Redwood's statement. Having seen the presentation from England, it was clear that a fundamental strand of the England bid was the "Football United" project. Since England's bid required such a tiny investment due to the fact that the infrastructure is already in place, England had decided to invest in a worldwide football investment fund, Football United, which would spend as much money as Fifa does worldwide in investing in coaches, facilities and equipment for developing football in parts of the world where that investment would make a real difference.

So in short Mr Redwood, England had done their "market research", England had offered exactly what you suggested they should have done and exactly what FIFA required.

The only problem is Mr Redwood is that you either ;

A) Didn't bother to read what England offered
B) Didn't bother to watch England's presentation
C) Didn't bother to do any (market) research

Oh dear Mr Redwood !

Dubious Lib Dem blogs

Whilst looking through the Lib Dem blogs aggregator today, I came across THIS rather unusual blog.

I am totally confused how a blog that is run by someone who voted for and canvassed for Ed Miliband can qualify as a Lib Dem blogger.

I note in particular the comment on one story which said

"I will still remain, for now, with Labour until it seems clear that there is another party that is more firmly rooted in the labour movement. I see it as the continuing story of enfranchisement of the dispossessed. Will there ever be a time when I sign up wholeheartedly for the Liberal Democrats? Perhaps, time will tell."

I have my issues with the coalition, but remain an active party member, campaigning for the party and staying true to the manifesto the party fought on. Yet somehow this blog now qualifies as Lib Dem

Answers on a postcard please ...

The problem with one man blogs as highlighted by ...

Blogging is, in general a good thing. It gives people a voice, it bypasses the mainstream media, and in many cases it gets news out in to the open which in other cases would not be heard, for example, after the attempts by Trafigura to muzzle the mainstream press with injunctions or the case of Oligarchs trying to stop criticism of them. But today, the shortcomings of the one man blog was highlighted  for all to see, in my opinion, today.

One advantage that the main stream media has over bloggers is that there are sub-editors, lawyers, and people who stand aloof from a story, who can act as a critical friend or a knowledgeable expert, who can stop things being published.

The one man blogger does not do this. It relies on one person making all the decisions and one person making all the judgement calls. As Iain Dale says on his blog today, rather well in my opinion, what has been published elsewhere today does nobody who blogs about politics any great credit.

Time for a Labour Conspiracy ?

I read only today the rather manipulated (in my opinion) story of Sunny Hundal, the man behind Liberal Conspiracy, joining the Labour Party. I note he wrote the article last week, but the picture of his online application was from five weeks ago (stage managed ?), leading me to believe that everything I have ever thought about the Liberal Conspiracy site is right.

For starters, it has barely ever been Liberal. Its ethos is always to support Labour. The biggest conspiracy is the name itself, which was always a misleading title seemed to me to be aimed at getting hitswhilst there was a Labour government, where the title Labour Conspiracy would have been a turn off.

Now that Mr Hundal has left, I am sure it will do his media work the power of good, and if it stops him turning up and speaking to the media as a liberal, that is certainly no bad thing, as I rarely felt he was ever someone who could speak for those of us who are liberal in persuasion.

So Mr Hundal, enjoy your time in a party that starts illegal wars, runs its fiscal policy by spending money the country does not have, and enjoy being in a party that introduced some of the most authoritarian powers every introduced. Liberal ? I think not.

So how about a name change for your blog ? How about a bit of honesty ?

Labour conspiracy ?

I looked at the Liberal Conspiracy website/blog today. How do you report a blog for misrepresenting itself ?

Articles by Chukka Ummana (Labour MP), Ed Balls (Labour MP), Jon Cruddas (Labour MP), Diane Abbot (Labour MP) and numerous other articles about Labour. Where is the Liberal content ?

I would link to the site, but I wouldn't want to give it any credit.

Hustings and Campaigning News - Let me know what's happening in your street

Everyone knows I am a Lib Dem, but in the Norwich North by-election last year this blog became the main local source of on the ground election news, with this blog predicting long before election day that the national news obsession with the Green's was massively overstated.

I also made a point of publishing leaflets that I received and giving minor parties a chance to make their case to the electorate.

So with the general election now properly underway, I want your stories, be you a candidate, an activist or a voter who has been called on by a politician or has a bit of political news or gossip.

Now I will not publish salacious rubbish or unsubstantiated rumour, but I do want your local political stories from Norfolk and beyond. So if you have anything you think might be of interest, not matter what party you support, e-mail me at nichstarling@gmail.com or twitter @norfolkblogger .

One to read ... Day 2

My daily pick of the General Election stories from the blogosphere again takes me to a local blogger, the excellent Malcolm Redfellow who tells us a lot more about David Cameron's choice of words in his Tory campaign launch.

I have to say, Malcolm's Blog is always entertaining and truly educational.

Blogging and elections - Your views required

BBC Radio Norfolk phoned me up today as "one of the pre-eminant bloggers in the region" (I exagerate, they never said that) to discuss the role that I thought blogging would play in this election and campaigning. I am going in to do a piece with them next week about this and I have my own views of the relative unimportance of blogs.

Aside from the Uber Bloggers (Iain Dale, et al), do the rest of us make a difference ?

Blogs are, I know, a very good way of getting news out fast, which was evident from Chris Grayling and the Tory homophobia stories from last weekend. But aside from getting news out quickly to a very small audience, does blogging really affect mainstream opinion ?

I feel that bloggers are famous in their own back yards and that for 99% of the population blogs are completely unimportant, but for 1% of people, who had mostly already got strong party affiliations, they are important as a means of legitimised ranting. So in many ways blogs do little to really influence people.

But what do you think ? Leave some comments and let me have your views on how blogging will make a difference in this election.

I am, apparently, the number one Lib Dem blogger

Many thanks to those people mad enough to vote for me as number one Lib Dem blogger in Iain Dale's end of year poll. I suspect I may have been helped by a couple of notable bloggers either quitting blogging or leaving the party, but thanks all the same.

I go through regular bouts of wanting to give up blogging, indeed I did give up earlier in the year (just as the local media were starting to take an interest, so I told them I had quit and they went away ), but I have kept going through lean times. Hopefully, with the election coming, I will be full of ideas and opinions.

Many thanks again to all the readers. Now I must go and see to my son who is two, still full of flu, and is more deserving of my time than even you dear reader !

Tory blogger doing the job that a Lib Dem blogger should be doing.

One of my favourite Tory blogs is Andrew Allison's "A Conservative View". As a resident of Hull North Andrew is heartily sick and tired of his rather useless Labour MP and has in recent weeks regularly highlighted the flaws in her arguments, her contradictions and ways in which public money is used to fund her campaigns.

All of this is well observed and worthy of being pointed out.

My only question, why is a Lib Dem not doing this sort of thing too ? Hull is a major Lib Dem target yet it takes a local Tory to tell us these things.

In the meantime, well done Andrew.

No nominations please

I might be being very presumptuous even suggesting it, but anyone thinking of suggesting any postings of mine or thinking of nominating my blog for any Lib Dem Voice blog awards shouldn't bother.

Last year I wrote in Iain Dale's guide to political blogging that I felt the awards were too self congratulatory, rather too on message, and the judges rather self selecting in that the same people and the same "friends" get chosen every time. Those of you from the provinces (and I use that term loosely) and who don't get to conference really don't matter. Yes, I am sure I'll get comments decrying my views, but I would add that it would me hypocritical for me to seek votes or feign interest in these awards given my published views.

For my money, Stephen Glenn writes the best Lib Dem blog at the moment so perhaps he will get some credit for his good writing.

Brilliant posting from A. Tory.

Anyone thinking of voting the in annual blog awards should become a regular reader of Letter from a Tory.

Read THIS to understand why his writing is so good.

So I made a mistake ... but it could be worse

On Saturday night, rather late, I posted a story about how Iain Dale really didn't get it when it comes to Vince Cable. Due to the lateness of the day and a lack of sleep, I didn't really go in to the depth of research I my normally do. In short, I cocked up with some of my facts, perhaps made worse by the fact that when adding an update in Sunday I didn't check up on Peter Lilley and the fact that he had actually been shadow chancellor.

Iain Dale actually contacted me to point out my error, and I guess some would have deleted the story and hope people would forget about it. However, I get sick to death of bloggers deleting stories they have written in order to make out they have some sort of unblemished record of accuracy.

So I decided to leave the story in place. Iain linked to it and a received the abuse that perhaps I in part deserve. I also think that like our politicians, bloggers and journalists should hold up their hands and say when they have made errors. It is too easy for people on the internet to press delete.

I still believe that Iain Dale fails to given Vince Cable the credit he deserves, but before calling Iain names (even in jest), I need to double check my facts. Lesson learnt.

However, it could be worse. I love they way when anyone makes a mistake the anonymous trolls come out to play and leave silly and abusive comments. Many of them are anonymous, but you also get those who I think are lower in the food chain than the anonymous poster. Those are the people who register their Wordpress or Blogger ID, but choose to keep it anonymous.

These people, who snipe and hurl abuse, have neither the guts to write their own blogs or the bravery to put their name to their views.

So whilst I may make mistakes, and I am sure I will again at some point in the future, but I'd rather read another blogger like me who shows they are human, stands up to be counted and doesn't hide behind some electronic veil rather than be a sniper from the sidelines who offers nothing other than barbs and bile.

Reporting comments and the risks of doing so

I don't make a point of quoting Guido Fawkes blog as I don't read it. I personally don't like the cult of the personality that seems to surround the blog or the fact that for so long he tried to hide his identity. I know its a very successful blog and congratulations should go to him for that.

However, if ever justification was needed as to why you shouldn't believe everything you read on blogs, particularly when reading comments to blogs, it comes from The Right Student who has been caught out by taking a quotation from a comment posted to Guido Fawkes blog which was later proven not to hold water.

Update : Interestingly this posting on "The Right Student" has been removed since late last night.

The last (for this year) Christmas Blog Quiz

It's the last of my four Christmas Blog Quiz posting's for each of the Sundays of advent. A simple question this week, which Christmas ornament are you ?

You Are a Tree

You love every part of the holidays, down to the candy canes and stockings. And you're goofy enough to put a Christmas tree ornament on your tree!

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

How much do you know about Christmas ? It's another Chistmas Sunday Blog Quiz

Yes, for the third Sunday of advent, I have a third Christmas blog quiz.

The question is "How much do you know about Christmas ?"

Clearly I know less than I should.

You Know a Lot About Christmas

You got 6/10 correct You know tons about the history and traditions surrounding Christmas. When you celebrate the holidays, you never forget their true meaning - or all the little fun details. Random Christmas fact: “Jingle Bells” was originally written as a Thanksgiving song.

How Much Do You Know About Christmas?

Another Sunday Christmas blog quiz

I did one last week, and guess what, there will be one next week too.

So what crappy Christmas thing are you ?

Apparently I am fruit cake. I love fruit cake, so I have no problem with that. Although, the line about "you're about to get tossed", I presume does not have the double meaning that it has in this country ?

You Are a Fruitcake!

You taste like nothing else in this world. And get ready, you're about to get tossed!

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

Sunday Blog Quiz - What colour Christmas tree ?

It's the return of the Sunday Blog Quiz ! I used to do a regular search for blog quizzes and put them on my blog each Sunday, but I sort of got out of the habit. But with Christmas fast approaching and with it being the first Sunday of advent, I thought I'd treat you to the this quiz.

Thankfully, I should have a green Christmas tree (I am not a fan of all these coloured trees) so I am happy with that. What colour Christmas tree should you have ?

You Should Have a Green Christmas Tree

For you, the holidays represent tradition and memories. You tend to do things the same way each year. You find your holiday customs comforting. You enjoy all of the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of Christmas. You can't imagine getting any joy from an artificial tree. Your green tree would look great with: Classic ornaments You should spend Christmas Eve watching: How the Grinch Stole Christmas What you should bake for Santa: A gingerbread house

What Color Christmas Tree Should You Have?

Fifth most visited Lib Dem blog

With thanks to Liberal England, I find that according to Alexa my blog is the fifth most visited Lib Dem blog or website.

Not bad for someone whose posts rarely appear on Lib Dem blogs aggregated due to on-going problems with the RSS feed.