The Sun Lies: The Sun ignores its own campaign?

I have a new post up on the Sun - Lies.

Its about the effects of a policy which the Sun campaigned for, yet onw which the Sun appears to be unwilling to take credit for.

... as unblocked by Nadine Dorries MP (?)

Back in February I noticed that I had been blocked on Twitter by "Britain's Sarah Palin", Nadine Dorries.

Shortly after the election, she deleted her account.

However, she's now back. Yay!

As yet, I've not been blocked and so I can see individual messages.  Of course, this may change...

... as featured on Liberal Conspiracy

I've written an article which has been published on Liberal Conspiracy.

It's about William Hague's attempts to override EU law.

You Can't Talk About ImMigration Watch

Last Friday, I mentioned another ludicrous libel threat, this time by Migration Watch.

Today MW said ("Mrs Bercow and Migrationwatch 6 October 2010") that after reading the response from Bercow's laywers (PDF), they will not be taking it any futher, i.e. they've caved in, in spite of what some people say.

Well done on standing up to them!

The Who were wrong...

I was reading this on the New Scientist today:

[A] US National Research Council report commissioned by the CIA, DARPA and the Department of Homeland Security confirms [that biometrics can be fooled].

The natural changes that occur due to age and health - and the fact that prints from the same finger can differ because of dirt or moisture - mean that anyone can unwittingly fool the technology, leaving such systems "inherently fallible".

I've only read the Summary, because the rest is beyond me.

In any event, it's another example of the many issues with biometrics.

Google's blacklist?

You may have heard that Google have revamped their search engine.

They've created summat called "Google Instant" which displays search links while you type the term into the search box, as in this example:

Unfortunately, some people have discovered what can only be described as a "blacklist" - words and phrases which do not appear in Google Instant, yet do appear if you search for the terms in the "old-fashioned" way.

Who knows why Google Instant works like this? What benefit is it? More importantly, how do terms get on to the list?

The answers to these and other questions will not be provided by me, but may be by other people in the future...

You Can't Talk About ImMigration Watch

Another day, another pointless libel case...

Earlier today it was announced that the not-at-all-nuts Migration Watch are threatening to sue Sally Bercow (the wife of the current Speaker of the House of Commons) for comments she made in August on Sky News. While referring to an article in the Express using figures from MW, apparently she said that groups such as MW use "arguments linking immigration to unemployment had been used by fascists such as Adolf Hitler and British Union of Fascists leader Oswald Mosley".

Oddly, as in the Simon Singh libel case, the publishers are not being being held liable, but her personally.

She's instructed Jack of Kent's lot to defend her.

The current documents - initial letter from MW's solicitors and the response - are available as a PDF.

If you wanna track it on Twitter, the "official" hashtag seems to be #MigWatchFail. However, I've created my own - and if I may say so - better one: #YouCantTalkAboutImMigrationWatch.

Naturally, I'll keep both of you informed on any future updates.

BTW, yes, the headline and hashtag are piss-takes of the usual right-wing fantasy that "you can't talk about immigration".

"It's a free country"

I stumbled upon this a few days ago: the World Freedom Atlas.

It takes data from numerous sources over a variety of civil rights measures and areas measuring how well-run each country is and then colour codes each country based on its overall score.

Obviously I can't vouch as to the accuracy or reliability of the scores, but it seems quite a useful tool.  The only downside is that it only goes up to 2006.

UPDATE: I've been told that the WFA is close to the US govt, due to its use of Freedom House data, which may impinge on its accuracy...  I've been told that the Global Peace Index is more reliable.  Of course, the same caveats apply regarding its reliability. Thanks to 10% for the info.

Introducing (new & improved) Mail Watch and Express Watch

While I was on holiday two things happened in the world of media criticism:

• The Daily Mail Watch website was re-launched with more editors and more frequent posts; and
• Express Watch was launched

I've agreed to join on on both of these.

I'll be posting on these in a similar way to how I post on the Sun - Tabloid Lies, i.e. whenever I feel it is required.

I'll also be partly running the Twitter accounts for both Daily Mail Watch and Express Watch, as well as continuing to run the Sun Lies one. Follow all of these accounts.

I've also added permalinks to the Daily Mail and Express Watch sites.