It’s clear to anyone who notices the small date on the posts in this blog that it is a defunct blog. One of those sad sites that was once updated, perhaps even loved, but now sits neglected and ignored by its owner. It catches readers from Google and other sites that link to it, but isn’t being updated in any meaningful way.

So it’s time to call it a day. After a fashion.

I pondered closing it for a while – either a straightforward deletion, or a little header text explaining its demise – but refrained because, oddly, I enjoy having a blog. I enjoy blogging. It has created opportunities which have far outweighed the investment of time put into it. Which begs the question why it languishes so.

That’s a tricky one, partly because the decline has (in my mind) been so gradual. But I think it’s a combination of two factors.

The first is the lack of ‘mission’. I have always said that this was a bit of an experiment, just to see what happens, and that it was a personal blog. What actually happened is that I pushed myself into a lie, into cognitive dissonance: I would say it was a personal blog, but somehow I began to consider it a council, or councillor, blog and nothing else. This cut the legs off every blog post except the council related.

Second I found myself constantly restricting the council related topics on which I would post. I grew increasingly uncomfortable posting on topics outside my small council portfolio and would viciously self-censor to the extent I was moving towards the view that a blog and my council rôle were simply incompatible.

In combination these left me with nothing to post about. I have a folder stuffed full of drafts that I dashed off, only to decide that I couldn’t post. In the end the only things that made it past my internal censor were purely factual posts on licensing and my old favourite of Battersea fundamentalism.

That does mean that the world is spared my thoughts on a myriad of topics, which you might consider a good thing; but blogging is an online expression of extroverted egotism, so I would have to disagree.

And that extroverted egotism means I’m not calling it a day on this blog, but instead calling it a day on my attitude towards this blog. It is not a council blog, and it is only a councillor’s blog insofar as I am currently a councillor.

We’re going to have a trial separation for a few weeks, when I won’t even think about the blog. I won’t be posting, but I won’t be feeling guilty about not posting nor coming up with ideas that I then discard either.

It’s possible that after a few weeks of separation I will realise that it is all over, but at least that will be conscious and a clean decision, rather than a prolonged terminal decline or a shameful putting it out of it’s misery in the dead of the night.

But if I do decide to return, I will start afresh with a personal blog. Undoubtedly I will post on Wandsworth and council related topics. And probably on wider local government issues, since it is a subject that interests me. But then there might be a post on anything that takes my fancy.

It may well not be to previous readers’ tastes, but it will be to my taste, and that’s one of the points of egotistical blogging.

Been slightly geekish I’ve been tinkering with the site for a few weeks and giving it a general freshen up.

Today I accidentally launched it. In much the same way as you accidentally clean a fridge. You start doing a few bits and pieces, then you realise that you’ve got to go through with it.

Hopefully it’s a bit of an improvement. A little more white space and bit more clarity. There are a few rough edges, but I’ve never been one to let perfect be the enemy of good (actually, I usually do, but I’m trying to improve).

Let me know if you spot any problems. It would be good to know your OS and browser if you do. And if it’s Internet Explorer 6, probably nothing will work.

It’s occurred to me that I never returned to the comments I removed from the blog during the chugging episode, despite promising that I would either restore them or explain why I removed them.

In fact, I made the decision fairly soon after I removed them that they would not be returning. This was after a few people made some easy suggestions on how I could test my theories.

There were six comments deleted (along with my responses which made no sense on their own) which purported to come from two people. Both were from what I would call ‘disposable’ addresses, in other words webmail accounts that can be set up for free using any name. And all the comments came from the same place, which first aroused my suspicion that it they might be the same person. However, it was that the place in question was a charity that fundraises using chugging, while the commenters said they had no direct interest, that made me decide they would be permanently deleted.

While I’m prepared to accept that two individuals from the same charity independently decided to comment on my blog in defence of chugging I do think they should have stated their involvement with chugging rather than claiming to be “just an interested observer.”

After I suspended the comments one of the accounts was used to accuse me of censorship. Well, it is my blog and it’s up to me what goes on here, but even so there are a number of people who have commented to disagree with me and those comments have been allowed to stay – indeed, there are a number from the PFRA on this very subject and several on my original chugging post whose comments express their dislike of my position (and indeed me). With the exception of spam these are the very first comments I have deleted and I think I have every justification in that course of action.

Clearly anyone who works for a charity that is, at least in part, reliant on chugging will have an interest in defending chugging. We all have interests and prejudices – but we should be open about them. To my mind it’s slightly dishonest to pretend you are an impartial outsider since this adds more credibility to your argument, pretty much whatever the subject. It was because of this, rather than censorship or the fact they were getting a little offensive, that I decided not to reinstate the comments.

However, in the interests of openness I will briefly outline the points made. All I would ask is that you read them aware that they originate from staff at a charity that uses chugging:

  • I was shifty in the interview on the Today programme
  • The PFRA have been entirely honest and straightforward about the issue
  • I am only feigning concern about chugging as a publicity stunt
  • Anyone who opposes chugging prevents essential help getting to the world’s most needy
  • The campaign is solely to further my political career
  • People dislike chuggers because it reminds them of their shared guilt for colonial exploitation and slavery

It was partly because of this series of comments that I stopped blogging about the issue. However, we are continuing to monitor the situation in Wandsworth and are trying to seek a solution. We formally complained to one of the charities in September, copying the complaint to the PFRA, Institute of Fundraising and Fundraising Standards Board, but to date I have had no response from any of them, possibly because of the postal strike.

I’m happy with people of any viewpoint having their say, and would encourage anyone to comment. I do not require any details from you, and while your first comment is moderated (that is, I will read it before it is published) after that any comments are posted immediately. To my mind a blog is not a blog without comments, and those comments can – and should – include debate. If you ever read anything on here that you want to say something about, whether you agree or disagree, please be my guest and say what you want. All I ask is that you are honest and straightforward.

Having had the blog for a few months I decided it was time for a new look.  I hope you like it.

While the original template worked, it was put together fairly rapidly and never intended to do more than service the site while it was in something of a trial phase.  Having got beyond that trial phase it was time to put something a little more permanent together.

Overall, the site hasn’t changed too much.  The biggest change is the move from a template compatible with 800×600 screens to one that needs 1024×768 or above.  I did hesitate before doing this, but (excluding iPhones and PDAs) less than 1.5% of visits come from people with screen resolutions of 800×600.  In contrast, more than half of all visitors have screen resolutions in excess of 1024×768.

It’s impossible to tell how many of that 1.5% are regular visitors, but if you are one of them, I do apologise for the inconvenience.  The site should still be readable without too much horizontal scrolling, and I would also point you toward the RSS or email options.  The BBC who have are required to be far more accessible than a lowly councillor made the shift to 1024 over a year ago, so I think it’s now an acceptable standard.

Other changes include moving the navigation and search features to the very top of the screen, a second side bar and some typographical changes to make the site roomier.  Hopefully this improves the look and feel and will allow for more visual content in the future.

I’ve tested the site on all the combinations I am able, all the way down to Internet Explorer 6 on Windows and it seems compliant with major browsers.  However, I obviously do not have access to every combination, so let me know if you spot any rendering problems, either in the comments or by email to cllr@jamescousins.com.

Having had the blog for a few months I decided it was time for a new look.  I hope you like it.

While the original template worked, it was put together fairly rapidly and never intended to do more than service the site while it was in something of a trial phase.  Having got beyond that trial phase it was time to put something a little more permanent together.

Overall, the site hasn’t changed too much.  The biggest change is the move from a template compatible with 800×600 screens to one that needs 1024×768 or above.  I did hesitate before doing this, but (excluding iPhones and PDAs) less than 1.5% of visits come from people with screen resolutions of 800×600.  In contrast, more than half of all visitors have screen resolutions in excess of 1024×768.

It’s impossible to tell how many of that 1.5% are regular visitors, but if you are one of them, I do apologise for the inconvenience.  The site should still be readable without too much horizontal scrolling, and I would also point you toward the RSS or email options.  The BBC who have are required to be far more accessible than a lowly councillor made the shift to 1024 over a year ago, so I think it’s now an acceptable standard.

Other changes include moving the navigation and search features to the very top of the screen, a second side bar and some typographical changes to make the site roomier.  Hopefully this improves the look and feel and will allow for more visual content in the future.

I’ve tested the site on all the combinations I am able, all the way down to Internet Explorer 6 on Windows and it seems compliant with major browsers.  However, I obviously do not have access to every combination, so let me know if you spot any rendering problems, either in the comments or by email to cllr@jamescousins.com.

While this blog may be disappointing for all sorts of reasons I was surprised that it was because of lack of Coronation Street content. However, I’ve found out that that I’m the fourth hit for a Google search on ‘Dignity by Dev Alahan’; coming above national newspapers, Coronation Street fansites and ITV’s own website.  And all because of an idle Tweet while watching Corrie.  I’ll be joining Adsense if the fragrance ever gets released.

Google results for 'Dignity by Dev Alahan'
Google.co.uk results for 'Dignity by Dev Alahan'

Update

I’m number one!  Does this make me a search engine optimisation expert?

Dignity by Dev Alahan, I'm now number 1 in Google!
Dignity by Dev Alahan, I'm now number 1 in Google!

twitter logoTwittering is a form of microblogging which, along with this blog, I started as a bit of an experiment.  I will freely admit that it hasn’t taken the course I expected – but there are some fascinating conversations taking place on there, especially around subjects of democratic and social engagement, so it is something I will definitely be continuing.

Wandsworth Council is now twittering, so if you are already on twitter (if you aren’t, you can get an account for free at twitter.com) you can follow the council – @wandbc.

My tweets are featured on this blog, although over Christmas I’ve spent too much time on the sofa and doing my ‘real’ job, so they have been a bit light of late.  Feel free to follow me, @jamescousins, if you want to find out what I’m up to or, like today, my thoughts on Karate Kid III!