I cannot do it any more captain

I know I have written this before. But I simply do not have the time to maintain this blog. I simply cannot react in time to the daily events. Events in my life like having a son and my work life balance have simply taken all my time.

 

Although I do still have plenty to say I do not feel I have the time to say it.

 

So for now I won't be blogging on this site or any other. although your still find me on Twitter.

 

Thank you for your time in reading my words.

 

Over and out.

Dazmando

Bad experiences with speed cameras

My comments were again in this weeks Bracknell Standard. I was asked the question;

 

It has been revealed that speed cameras cost the council around £97,000 per year and that they could be scrapped. If they are scrapped, what would you like to see them money spent on, or do you think speed cameras are worth spending money on?

 

Details can be found on the Get Bracknell website here

 

And my answer;

 

I have had some bad experiences with speed cameras. On one road the speed was changed (not in Bracknell Forest) and me, my brother and my brothers girl friend were all caught by this change on the same day, a bit unfair.

The second time I was driving on a motorway when I was forced to go faster by a bad driver who I was avoiding, as they almost hit the back of my car along a slip road in road works. So it's not surprising that I think the money could be better spent on protecting vital services.

There are very few speed cameras in the Bracknell Forest area anyway. I suspect other cheaper low maintenance measures would be more effective.

Blog Update

As you can see I have changed the design of Bracknell Blog. I will also be adding in more links and will be updating them so I can provide my readers with a better service.

Hope you like it.

Bracknell blogosphere grows

The Bracknell political blogosphere has been expanding lately.

New bloggers Andrew Best at blogpolitica which is an independent blog from the Sixth Form question time organiser Andrew Best.

Lib Dem ChinoChick who blogs at Theuglytruthandthebeautifullies ChinoChick is Bracknells Consistencies first female political blogger.


Bracknells new blogger Bracknells other bloggers;

The media darling and Lib dem commentator Mark Thompson at Mark Reckons

Steve Gabb Green Party blogger at greengabbles

Alvin Finch Bracknell Conservative Borough Councillor who blogs at Alvins stuff

And our new Conservative MP Dr Phillip Lee

I'm very pleased to be part of a growing blogging community and pleased to say I have meet all the above bloggers more than once.

We current have 3 Lib Dems, 2 Conservatives, 1 Green and 1 independent blogs so Labour and indeed UKIP where are you? Come and join us?

If anyone in the local area does start a new blog please let me know and I will link to your blog.

Other local blogs can be found at Reading List

Tories Win, Tories Bloggers Lose?

After a quiet christmas for bloggers and blogging we all know that we can expect the bloggersphere to go mad during the general election campaigning period upto March or May.

At the moment the Tory bloggers are at the top and will be for the foreseeable future. However I think this may change if the Conservatives win the general election. It won’t be instant just a gentle drifting away to the independent/non-partisan blogs that are critical of the government (i.e. a Conservative government).

The problem for the Tory blogger is that there will be a settling in period, an uninteresting period for the Tories, not as controversial and some public slack. During this time the Labour party will be electing a new leader. There may be a number of interesting internal battles at this time within the Labour party. The details of which will be better reflected by the Labour bloggers.

At some point the government will inevitably trip up and those Tory bloggers that are critical or fairly report the situation will do well and shall remain popular. Those that defend the situation even if it is clearly wrong in the voter’s eyes will lose some readers.

I expect the critical Labour, Lib Dem blogs and others to slowly improve their readership numbers too (but not by as much as non-partisan bloggers) not through any great growth in support for these parties but because people who are not happy with government policy will turn to these blogs as they will be more critical.

So obviously if you’re a Tory blogger you will want the Tories to win the next general election but I do believe this could affect the rankings of some.

On the other hand if there is a hung parliament, then frankly I have no idea how this will affect the popularity of blogs other than providing many more issues for bloggers to tackle.

Thank You Bracknell Blog Readers

Thank you to all the Bracknell blog readers, linkers, bloggers, local PPC’s, councillor's and campaigners who have read and commented on this site.

I have been very pleased with the progress of our Bracknell Blog. It has become a hub for local issues and local comment as well as local comment on national issues.

I’m not one to publish readership figures but I do believe rankings are important because they help gain a readership see Reading List ‘Why it matters’ here.

This blog is now the 4th most popular political blog in Berkshire see here and has entered the top 100 Wikio blog ranks in November listed here. In October this blog was ranked 180 in general blog but was unfortunately it was not listed under politics on Wikio until November.

Bracknell Blog was helped by the Conservative Bracknell primary review here and the fact that the top ranked blogger Iain Dale stood in this primary in October, this helped the blog rise 380 general ranking points in October. The ranking has only fallen back by 15 points to 195 due to a continued increase in the readership trend.

So once again thank you to all of our very important readers.

Calling All The Ladies

Where are all the women Directors?

Where are all the women MP's?

Where are all the Women Blogger’s?

Recently the conservative leader David Cameron has come out in favour of all women short lists following in Labours footsteps with the Blair Babes (a real shame this phase I think as it degrades the female Labour MP's). I’m not sure I totally agree with this myself. I find myself more agreeing with Iain Dale and Ann Widdecombe where Ann wants to be able to look the male MP's in the eye and say she got here the same means as they did.

But I’m not going down that road today. I’m promoting female blogger’s because perhaps if we correct this wrong we can correct all the above starting with blogger’s. Women will often bring something different to the conversion. Women may have a different prospective to a man and this should and must be considered and read.

Jennie Rigg AKA Miss SB Blog has two great articles, Her first blog on this issue asks ‘Where Are All the Female Bloggers: a Series of Questions that require answers’ and the questions ‘So why are most of the "top" bloggers men?’ and gives advice ‘So how do we change the way things are?’

Jennie has also complied a list of ‘Recommended Women Bloggers, In No Particular Order’

Of course I have my favourites but along with Jennie Rigg I have to include Charlotte Gore who is already well popular check Charlotte out here.

Now what are you waiting for get clicking

Dont Believe Anything You Read Apart From This

Before reading the stories in some media like the Daily Express story of the pound being less than euro (at the time of writing its 1.10 or a tourist rate of 1.05) Its true that this could happen soon, but it is not true that it has happened at your highstreet bank. Of course behind the headline they do state that this is the price at airports around the UK. But airports are one of the most expensive ways of buying currency.

Also the headlines that the Lib Dems are dropping their policy to abolishing tuition and top-up fees is not true. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is proposing to delay the abolishment of tuition fees until it can be afforded now that's quite a different thing altogether. This demonstrates how hard it is to get your point across in some media outlets without a few exclusions of your words.

I am now at a point were I almost don't believe anything I read. We all know that the media often reports a certain part of a story and many papers are well known for there political alignment. The media may offer a certain twist but when reading the media (in media I include all written and TV media)

Don't simply believe a story because you want to believe it or it reinforces something you think is true. Check it out first you may find that it is simply untrue. That's one thing I have learnt from the media as there has been a few subjects I was going to blog about but when doing some research I find that there are stats on both sides of the story or other doubts.

Opinion and comment online, be it newspaper comment or blogs is different from alot of media as it is usually clear that they have a certain take on things and you have the chance to reply and put the other side of the story as soon as its published.

I may be a Lib Dem but I am very pleased to have Tories, Labour, UKIP, Greens or BNP voters and indeed undecided and non votes alike to comment and reply to this blog because discussion makes us all think and reminds us that there is always another point of view, this helps to define your own point of view.

Blogs help make the media more open and more democratic because we can get more voices out there with more sides to the story and encourage more discussion.

All the above is my opinion feel free to disagree

Blog v Newspapers Debate from a Newbie‏

There is an ongoing debate between the columnist/papers and bloggers on the benefits of blogging over newspaper columns (with regards to political blogging), Mark Reckons attended a debate on this very subject (detail here). As a newbie to blogging I find this intellectual debate somewhat self facing as the wider public properly doesn’t give a stuff.

I only recently discovered blogs when Mark Thompson editor of Mark Reckons joined our LibDem local party here in Bracknell. I now write for the Bracknell blog and I am very much learning how to do this as I go along. I recently realised that what you really need is contacts so you can break meaningful stories, which I am trying to build. It’s important to research your argument as you may find that you’re wrong and research brings meaning and enlightenment to your blog and makes your articles far more credible.

I have learnt a lot about writing which is very beneficial as im dyslectic (that word is just too hard). I have also learnt how important it is to know what you are writing/talking about. Researching for understanding, which has really helped me articulate myself better in general.

With regards to the debate there is a good argument on both side of the fence. Columnist are respected professionals who have a background in their subjects and the newspapers they work for have the power of investigative journalism and resource they can bring to bear on a story plus they get paid (although Boris thought that its chicken feed).

Bloggers vary much more from people in the know to people who are just very opinionated. Also some blogs are trying to offer a service and can be comment, news, a diary or a political mouth piece. Although blogs are generally politically aligned the bloggers do tend to refer to each other more than columnist do and do this across party lines. Bloggers are also happy to have a go at their own side. This must be a good thing.

What I like about blogs over columns is that you can comment on a story and the blogger will read and comment back. Comments can sometimes be as informative as the blog itself depending on the level of debate. It allows anyone to have a right to reply. This allows a conversation to develop which can develop the story further.

Blogs of course really come into there own when something is happening in the area of the blogger as was the case with Bracknell Blog when Andrew Mackay resigned or the excellent blogging by the Norfolk Blogger when the Norwich North by-election was in full swing. Blogs are just different I can’t see them taking over from newspapers or 24hour news but they can provide an insight into what is happening on the ground.

There should be room for both, the best blogs (those with good debate and enlightenment to the workings of politics in my view) there are bad blogs too but there readership will disappear. Columnists can blog too of course and their columns are often online and can be commented on. The problem for newspapers is that they need to find another way of making money, as money is required for some investigations as well as time.

I don't know what will actually happen in the future. I do want newspapers to survive with quality maintained but don't knock the blogs they are vibrant and interesting and here to stay. My suggestion to the columnists is if you can’t beat them then join them and blog too.