http://www.blueidea.co.uk A Conservative-supporting thinking blog. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:45:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en (This is a cross post from the Wardman Wire by Matt Wardman) I came across Chris Applegate's rather wonderful algorithm for a David Aaronovitch simulator, based on this column: Step 1: Go ad hominem from the very start and label your opponents as being part of some mythical self-styled intellectual commentariat (while ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/07/david-aaronovitch-o-tron.html http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/07/websites-and-working.html http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/07/eevilll-plan-7-complete.html I'm off on holiday. Like the politicians, I'm going to stay within Britain. I am in fact going up to Scotland, just north of the place of Gordon Brown's latest disaster. I'll be away for two weeks sailing, hill walking, white water rafting, horse riding, and many other activities. The main ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/07/off-on-holiday.html Labour have lost Glasgow East. A seat where they had a huge 13,507 majority and gained more than 60% of the vote at the last election now lost to the SNP, with a swing of more than 22%. When Labour is losing a seat like Glasgow East, which they really should ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/07/no-labour-mp-is-safe.html The best insult I've read in a while: One suspects they are a module short of a Media Studies degree. Written by The Reactionary Snob at Mr Eugenides' blog. Go here to read the story that inspired the innovative insult. http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/07/insult-of-the-day.html Newspapers do appear to make a huge number of typos nowadays. But there are some really bad ones out there. Only yesterday, the Daily Mail published the following headline on their website [click to enlarge]: Of course, that has now been corrected. But for a number of hours, the Daily Mail ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/07/newspaper-typos.html I'm not at all surprised by this: The errors were caused by a time lag between HM Revenue and Customs recognising that a loan has been repaid and informing the Student Loans Company to stop deducting money from a graduate's monthly salary. It means 72,000 people have been deprived of thousands of ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/07/graduates-overcharged.html Women should be encourgaed to beome MPs. But I find the reasoning that some people employ to argue for them idiotic. Commons Speaker Michael Martin is to hold a conference aimed at finding a way to ensure more women and people from ethnic minorities become MPs. He said he would try to ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/07/more-women-mps.html Is cycling a left-wing or right-wing activity? Tory MP Ed Vaizey: Some people like to pretend its a left-wing pastime because they conjure up these images of miners cycling to work. But actually it's both a Conservative and a right-wing pastime, if I can draw that distinction. Remember John Major's famous speech about 'old ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/07/cycling-along-political-lines.html