♫ I’ll Still Be Using My Voice

Posted on May 9, 2010 by Simon Phipps

In the best traditions of both british music and democracy, Thea Gilmore wrote a song to celebrate the election. Some people – politicians in particular – seem to think that the election is the chance for British citizens to express their views.  We then hear ridiculous statements about how “the electorate has voted clearly to…” {demand tax cuts | oppose health care reform  |  say no to proprortional representation | demand electoral reform|…} from people with the predictive chops of a fairground fortune teller.

Rubbish. I voted for a representative. I wanted to be represented. To do that requires constant consultation. An election doesn’t have enough bits to encode everything I want to say to my representatives. So I’ll still be using my voice.

Filed under: Issues, Music | Tagged: , | Comments Off on ♫ I’ll Still Be Using My Voice

✍ Changes, Personal and General

Posted on May 8, 2010 by Simon Phipps

I’m sitting at Heathrow Airport waiting for my flight to the US, volcano permitting, reflecting on the week.

Urban PicnicIt’s been a busy week on multiple levels. Last weekend I was up in Liverpool at OggCamp, where the photo to the right was taken after my keynote address – one of the delegates had brought a full picnic basket and we sat eating cake and drinking Pimms on the steps in the centre of the city.

OggCamp was a great event, full of energy, enthusiasm and optimism (which I almost felt sad to be damping with my pessimistic views on the future of our freedoms). An unconference created on-the-spot by the attendees,, it was well worth  the trip to Liverpool (despite the Millwall “fans” on the train home). I’d recommend attending next year.

Following OggCamp I went abroad for the start of the week, spending an intense three days with some really great people talking about a very exciting set of plans and ideas we share. I’ll be announcing full details on Monday when I’ll have two pieces of news I find tremendous.

The week ended with the general election in the UK. No political party has overall control in Parliament and I view that as the best outcome from a bad set of options.  The politicians have the chance to create consensus-driven minority-led government, if they choose to set their egos and power-lusts aside. Drawing together the views of many individuals is exactly what’s needed to deal with the hard problems that face us – participating in a highly-meshed global economy, providing security in a connected society without eliminating privacy and rights, conducting politics in a diverse and rapidly changing society.

For those sorts of problems, we need people who understand the connected society first-hand rather than from the dinner tables of the powerful. I think that a Parliament where respect for the views of many is an essential predicate for progress is actually what we need, rather than the hollow bluster we heard from the political parties.

Filed under: Issues, Links, Travel, Webmink | Comments Off on ✍ Changes, Personal and General

☞ Unexpected Influences

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Simon Phipps
  • Investing And Asperger’s
    Andrew Sullivan points to a fascinating article on Asperger’s. The role of Asperger’s Syndrome in the technology industry is reasonably obvious to many of us, but is rarely mentioned directly. The role of “the other normal” in shaping today’s society is far stronger than is generally acknowledged. The computer industry depends heavily on people with the focussed brilliance that comes from Asperger’s, and it’s high time we learned to consider it in a balanced and honest way.
    (tags: Aspergers Finance Zeitgeist)
  • The US continues its reign as the king of spam
    It’s common to assume that Russia or China must be the source of most spam, but it continues to be the dubious distinction of the United States to saturate the world’s in-boxes with detritus. If they’d put as much effort into stemming spamming and scamming as thay have into getting us all to sell our rights down the river at ACTA we’d all be in much better shape.
    (tags: Spam USA Internet Statistics)
  • Technology & Marketing Law Blog: Brazil’s Proposed Internet Regulation–an Update (That’s Actually Good News)
    I need to check in with my Brazilian friends, but this looks very positive. Removing someone’s internet liberty is something very serious in an age when so much commerce and democracy is conducted over the internet, and it’s good that a court has to be involved before it can happen.
    (tags: Brazil Internet Rights Freedom ThreeStrikes)

Filed under: Links | 1 Comment »

☞ Sublime, Ridiculous: You Choose

Posted on May 6, 2010 by Simon Phipps

Filed under: Links | Comments Off on ☞ Sublime, Ridiculous: You Choose

☞ Big Wins

Posted on May 1, 2010 by Simon Phipps

Filed under: Links | Comments Off on ☞ Big Wins

« Previous Page

  • Sponsor

    Meshed Insights - Open Source Management Consulting

  • TwitterMink

  • FlickrMink

    Still blooming!Hint of Pink in full bloom. Amazing fragrance tooA late Cosmo
    More Photos

  • Top Mink

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 283 other subscribers
  • Document Foundation Member

  • Legalese

    All views expressed on this blog are those of Simon Phipps and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other entity, including current and former employers and clients. See my full disclosure of interests.

    © 2010-23, Simon Phipps. All rights reserved, all wrongs righted. Unless otherwise credited all photographs, videos and other media are included in this statement. Some photographs are available for licensing via iStockPhoto. To contact the author, please use the e-mail form.