Archive for Campaigning

Will hyperlocals be hit by the post Leveson rules?

March 19, 2013 4 comments

Update at 11.30: There’s been more comment on this throughout the morning. The culture secretary Maria Miller is reported in this post on The Guardian to be saying the “one-man band or a single blogger” would not be affected by the legislation because of the definition of “relevant publisher” in relation to exemplary damages.

The piece goes on to say:

Miller said “student and not-for-profit community newspapers” will not be caught under the new rules and that “scientific journals, periodicals and book publishers will also be left outside the definition and therefore not exposed to the exemplary damages and costs regime”

Thanks to @gazthejourno on Twitter for sending through a link to the full document if you want to read up on it…….and we’re expecting Tom Watson MP to pop by here this afternoon to add his thoughts. In the meantime there’s a poll on this issue now running here http://www.facebook.com/n0ticenearby.

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The straight answer to that question is that nobody actually knows yet but there’s a great deal of confusion around the whole issue because the wording refers to websites which have some news content.

One of the key definitions highlighted here says a ‘relevant publisher’ includes:

“a website containing news-related material (whether or not related to a newspaper of magazine)” Read more

Blog, Campaigning, hyperlocal , , , , , , ,

Getting your voice heard in the High Street issue

November 21, 2012 2 comments

The world of the public sector partnerships is a acronym heavy one it seems – with it’s BIDs , LEPs, ATCM, GLC….I could continue, but I predict you’ll soon be glazing over.
It was this language issue which really struck me during this week’s the Future of the High Street conference in London , however snappy, the need to create these ‘bodies’ leaves most of us feeling like we’re dealing with a forest of organisational bureaucracy. Read more

Blog, Campaigning, hyperlocal , , , , , ,

High Street health in focus with new initiatives

November 5, 2012 No comments

Picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/secretlondon/3682594172/

The health of our High Streets is a subject which has never been far from the news headlines during 2012 – we got fired up by the launch of Portas Review a whole year ago and now another body, the rather dramatically named Distressed Retail Property Taskforce this week started work in the same area. Read more

Blog, Campaigning, General ultralocal or hyperlocal stuff , , , , , , , , , ,

All equal before the Law in Westminster…except Chris Huhne and celebrity defendents

February 16, 2012 No comments

The excellent @Courtnewsuk has alerted me and the world via twitter to some odd goings-on at Westminster Magistrates Court.  It’s @courtnewsuk’s job as court reporters to scour court lists and work out what to cover – they are one of the, possibly THE experts in covering court stories in London as a news agency.

They have spotted something odd happening at Westminster Magistrates court.  Well-known defendents sometimes mysteriously don’t appear on the daily list of proceedings and also might not get their personal details read out.

@CourtNewsUK: For those interested in transparency, Chris Huhne’s name was mysteriously omitted from today’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court list.

@CourtNewsUK: A couple of weeks ago, John Terry’s name and personal details were also omitted. All equal before the law?

@CourtNewsUK Normally we would expect to see full name, date of birth, full home address, and the precise charges in each case.

All very odd – if there were to be for instance grounds to keep an address or appearance confidential, maybe a stalker or fanatical fans then that should be heard before the court, not in some side deal with the clerks.  And it’s hard to say that Chris Huhne has problems with fanatical fans.  Both the above cases were scheduled some time in advance and there’s no clear reason for exceptions here.

So what’s going on here – surely celebrity status doesn’t garner special favours from the court?

I am working with court news in my role as member of the government’s crime and justice sector transparency panel to unpick the weird goings-on in basic information about Britain’s courts and will update further.

Campaigning ,

Fix My Street before the freeze

November 2, 2011 No comments
fixbeforethefreeze-fixmystreet2

Our friends at My Society have been in touch with us this afternoon to tell us about their new campaign for Fix My Street.

Fix Before The Freeze

Fix Before The Freeze or #FB4TF if you want to #tag it, is a really simple campaign that everyone can get involved in. All you need to do is, on your journey home tonight check things like street lights, broken pavements and pot-holes then use Fix My Street to report them to your local council.

Reporting a broken street light may save someone being injured by a car or even from being mugged.

Pot-holes and broken pavements will only get worse once we start getting freezing nights so take five minutes to report them now before they get any worse.

All you need to do to report any problems you see on your way home or while you are out and about is go to http://www.fixmystreet.com/ fill in a few details and press send. If you can get a picture with your phone you can add this to the report to make it even easier for the council to find the problem you are reporting.

If you could promote #FB4TF in your local community and networks that would be great, My Society have produced some downloadable badges and flyers that you can use on your sites or print off.

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