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Monjo
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4 years ago
in ID cards: why they matter on Martin Stabe
Yes, still this guy would have been identified after just 1 minute and 33 people wouldnt have been sexually attacked. I bet they'd have all gladly paid £300, and the taxpayer would have saved £100,000s in police costs.
I don't disagree about 'banopticon' idea per se. But Britain has a reasonably long history of fair trials and not persecuting people. Unlike America, so I can understand their fears over ID cards.
I don't disagree about 'banopticon' idea per se. But Britain has a reasonably long history of fair trials and not persecuting people. Unlike America, so I can understand their fears over ID cards.
4 years ago
in British political blogosphere readership on Martin Stabe
I just checked Instapundit. It is a pile of crap. Basically, it is an aggregator of snippets, quotes and links, where's the PUNDIT!??
Aggregator sites always attract a lot of readers because people can quickly scan for stuff they find relevant and then go to the full articles - the blogosphere in the UK and US is different as the big US bloggers know there's no money to be made in writing anything, just aggregating (Vodkapundit is another example). All the money in blogging is providing services: eg software, hosting, ads or aggregation.
British bloggers like Tim Worstall actually write their own content and don't act as mere aggregators (at least most of the time, he does do sometimes and deliberatly so for the Britblog roundup).
Aggregator sites always attract a lot of readers because people can quickly scan for stuff they find relevant and then go to the full articles - the blogosphere in the UK and US is different as the big US bloggers know there's no money to be made in writing anything, just aggregating (Vodkapundit is another example). All the money in blogging is providing services: eg software, hosting, ads or aggregation.
British bloggers like Tim Worstall actually write their own content and don't act as mere aggregators (at least most of the time, he does do sometimes and deliberatly so for the Britblog roundup).
4 years ago
in Non-geographical phone numbers on Martin Stabe
I work for BT and will say this. A lot of people make stupid phonecalls to their doctors and other companies. If you phone someone, the company has to pay out £5,10,20 an hour to employ them - yet many phonecalls are unproductive for UK industry.
Because companies make such losses on calls they ship out the work to India. Phone calls to the NHS and doctors waste taxpayers money.
If the company/NHS can recover some of these losses (a mere 3.5p/min on 0870, so about £2/h) then that is a good thing.. the higher cost to the phone call (7p/min vs say 2p/min for a normal local geographic number) may also persuade people not to make nuisance calls.
It is just a consideration before people outright attack the 0870.
Because companies make such losses on calls they ship out the work to India. Phone calls to the NHS and doctors waste taxpayers money.
If the company/NHS can recover some of these losses (a mere 3.5p/min on 0870, so about £2/h) then that is a good thing.. the higher cost to the phone call (7p/min vs say 2p/min for a normal local geographic number) may also persuade people not to make nuisance calls.
It is just a consideration before people outright attack the 0870.
4 years ago
in The British constitution for beginners on Martin Stabe
Americans with recombinant DNA and assortative mating justget elected to be President. The British way just saves us the hassle of the election.
4 years ago
in British blogs: A waste of time? on Martin Stabe
I fundamentally disagree. Firstly, blogs had a virtual 0 per cent impact on the November election in the US. Secondly, if political blogging is bigger in the US it is because their Presidential campaigns started a year ago (forget population sizes); the UK general election process hasnt started yet and will be very short.
The Sun is not conservative "It woz the Sun wot won it" after their 1996/7 switch to Labour.
Most interest in US political blogs attratcs people who already have that bias, they also attract many foreign visits because the US election is globally more important than the UK one - so UK political blogs wont be of as much international interest.
The Sun is not conservative "It woz the Sun wot won it" after their 1996/7 switch to Labour.
Most interest in US political blogs attratcs people who already have that bias, they also attract many foreign visits because the US election is globally more important than the UK one - so UK political blogs wont be of as much international interest.
