Category Archives: Blogging
Losing my inner geek
I don’t post personal topics that often. But today I can’t help myself. While it seems the rest of the world are getting their new iPhones I, sadly, am not. This is largely HSBC’s fault, as they flagged my attempt to purchase one as fraud and I didn’t manage to get them to reverse their [...]
The power of information
I love freedom of information. Not so much the right for individuals to demand information from public authorities, important though that is (even though, in the council’s case, seems to be mainly used by people trying to get out of parking tickets and recruitment consultants building their contacts list). Instead I love seeing what happens [...]
Misery loves company (and commuting)
I’m not sure if it’s fatherhood or personality or opportunity but I generally think that life is pretty good. I may not have everything, but what I do have fills me with happiness. Whether it was the huge amusement MiniMe found in the game we were playing with his cars yesterday, or being able to [...]
Developing council policy
I indulged my inner geek last weekend, going along to the second half of the UK GovWeb barcamp (essentially an informal conference about technology in the government sector). I always feel a little bit like the token sceptic at these things, perhaps because I am one of the few politicians who goes and find my [...]
What do you want from this blog?
I’ve been in reflective mood about this blog recently. Perhaps because it’s New Year, perhaps because it hit one year old last month. Whatever the reason, I’ve been thinking about it’s future. I set it up as an experiment, and for the first three months was surprised at its success and the size of its [...]
Merry Christmas
As hinted at yesterday I’m taking a break from blogging for Christmas. My last ‘official’ bit of council work for the year was last night (a meeting that finished at 11:30pm!) and while I’ll be using the Christmas break to keep on top of things and hopefully clear away a few loose ends I’m not [...]
Ego-Kemp folding
Or maybe it’s Kemp ego-folding. I don’t know. One thing I do know is that despite my love of the internet it infuriates me to discover that little fads have passed me by. And so it is with Kemp-folding which I’m currently finding very amusing, even though I can see that it is one of [...]
Weekly wrap-up, 4 December
It isn’t unique to being a councillor (although it might be exacerbated by the lack of structure) but I struggle to think of the things I have been up to this week! So when I can look to my diary to remind me of what meetings and appointments I’ve had I find myself thinking “was [...]
Wandsworth’s public art
One of the interesting things about blogging is the little things it throws up. My post about the Battersea Park Act of Remembrance prompted an email about the state of the statue which, in turn, prompted discussion about the way the council ‘advertises’ the public art. While we have various various publications about heritage trails [...]
Weekly wrap-up, 2009 – 2010 RIP
My last post started life as this week’s weekly wrap-up, but then killed it off. The point of the posts, which I’ve been doing since last May, was to be some sort of ‘report’. I’d started them at the suggestion of a commenter on the blog. But I just don’t think they were adding anything. [...]