Last monday, I had the privilege of helping to plan and implement a social media strategy for a conference on Diversity in Theatre and Live Art, called The D Word, hosted and planned by nitroBEAT. (the hashtag was #TheDWord on Twitter if you want to have a dig through the archive, and nitroBEAT’s twitter account is […]
Category Archives: news/current affairs
Bending Towards Justice.
MLK paraphrased Theodore Parker when he said “The arc of the Moral Universe Is long, but It bends toward Justice” Parker’s whole quote feels a little more fitting now, a little more shaky, a little less certain, but full of faith that good will out. He was talking about the abolishionist cause, still in the […]
How Not To Organise A Protest (Loretta-Aid: The World’s Most Unpopular Petition)
Like many other people, I was deeply concerned when at the beginning of August, The Daily Telegraph brought it to our attention that many of the Chief Executives in the UK’s biggest charities (specifically those that make up the DEC – Disasters & Emergencies Committee) were being paid 6 figure salaries, and that the number […]
Thoughts on Russia, Homophobia and Protest
OK, interesting stuff brewing over the response to the Russian govt’s hideous new anti-gay laws. The consensus is, of course, that they are an horrific human rights abuse, and we need to do whatever we can to help change the minds of the Russian authorities. However, the mechanism is a bit more hotly debated. Stephen […]
The Death Of Margaret Thatcher
I posted this over on Facebook, but that’ll vanish, and lots of people aren’t on FB, so I’ll put it here too, in case it’s useful. What a weird day. Thatcher dead. I’ve long wondered what today would feel like. I can’t celebrate anyone’s death, but there’s a weird mix of catharsis that the architect […]
The Housing Question – Travelling North & Shirts4Shelter
This is the week we say goodbye to London. Well, at least, the week we cease to call it home. We’re off to Birmingham, since the cost of being in London in no way reflects the benefits of still being here. Birmingham is home to many of our friends, it’s a cool city for music […]
What Happens When ‘They’ Don’t Get Social Media? Why the Bullying Of Baskers Matters.
Wow, there really have been a whole load of social media shitstorms of late. First, there was the case of Paul Chambers, AKA the #twitterjoketrial, where one guy tweets a jokey, hyperbolic, frustrated tweet ostensibly to his friends that follow him, and has now ended up (after appeal even) with a £1000 fine and a […]
The Internet Is Not The Enemy – Inspired by An Excellent Rant
Yesterday, the wonderful and talented Miranda Ward wrote this brilliant rant entitled ‘The Internet Is Not The Enemy‘. Which in turn inspired in me a comment so long it kinda deserves its own post. So here it is, but read her post first 🙂 -o0o- Excellent Rantage. I feel afronted by the web-phobic ramblings for […]
IBM Summit At Start – Sustainability, Collaboration, Copyright and Language.
For the last three days I’ve been at the IBM Summit at Start – 9 days of seminars, hosted by Prince Charles, looking at Sustainability issues, particularly as they relate to business. There have been some amazing speakers, particularly James Jones the Bishop of Liverpool, Ellen McArthur, Larry Hirst, Stephen Howard… all offering an inspiring […]
Greenbelt: Actively Doing Nothing.
August Bank Holiday Weekend IS Greenbelt. Sometimes it feels like the banks are closed in honour of it. For 19 of the last 21 last-weekend-in-Augusts I’ve spent my time in a field (til ‘99) or racecourse (the fest has been in Cheltenham for 11 years) engaged in four simple pleasures: soaking up great music encountering […]