“The desire to become a politician should bar you for life from ever being one.”
—Billy Connolly
June 2011
58 posts
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We who are about to tweet: @uwitness →
wewhoareabouttodie.com
You’ve always wanted to know about my Twitter philosophy, haven’t you? SAY YES, YOU BASTARDS. Well, that’s good. Because Ani Smith from We Who Are About To Die asked me about it. About Twitter. And my philosophy. Er, that’s my philosophy of Twitter. Not just philosophy in general, you understand. Freed of the shackles of 140 character tweets, it would appear that I twatted endlessly.
Now, go and click and read like the good tumblr users you are, then follow me on Twitter if you like bad-tempered, passive-aggressive, misanthropic statements at irregular intervals.
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Habitat stores outside London to close →
bbc.co.uk
Gosh, the new age of Austerity Britain is really biting. Still, the middle classes needn’t take to the barricades yet - there are still stores in London. Phew, eh?
Suu Kyi reveals DJ Dave Lee Travis 'lifeline' →
bbc.co.uk
Oh dear. Now I can’t help but think of Aung San Suu Kyi going slightly stir crazy under house arrest while listening to the inanities spouted by the disc jockey who, hilariously, called himself “the hairy cornflake” because he had lots of hair and a beard. Did she perhaps play along with his radio quiz Give Us A Break (AKA ‘snooker on the radio’)? Did she maybe try and call in under an assumed name - “Hi Dave, yes, I’m, erm, Doris. From Burma. Er, Burma? Did I say Burma? I meant Birmingham. Yes, that’s right, Birmingham” - to take part in the quiz? Were there times, during her moments of deepest desperation, when she would walk round and round in circles murmuring “Quack Quack Oops! Quack Quack Oops! Quack Quack Oops!” under her breath, until she had to be physically restrained and shot full of tranquilisers?
(Note: None of these cultural references will mean a thing to you unless you happened to endure an emotionally scarred childhood in the 1980s, during which you were forced to listen to DLT’s Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 1.)
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“I’m afraid this is why, as a taxpayer, I’d far rather my money went towards funding the pensions of five thousand transgender binmen Christmas party liaison officers than a single MP slithering round the Palace of Westminster working out how to combine shilling for a defence contractor with gaming the John Lewis list for a Waterford crystal grapefruit bowl and a fully funded mortgage on either their own second home or that of their ducks. At least the liaison officers restrict themselves to one job.”
—Marina Hyde: Odd how little Francis Maude talks about rhodium-plated pensions | The Guardian
On The Network's Call for First Net Stories →
onthenetwork.tumblr.com
Today, we’re so used to the internet that we take it far too lightly and seem to just assume that it’s always been there. It hasn’t. Each of us had our moment where we first ‘got’ the web and really understood its potential. That’s what these ‘first net’ stories are all about. I’ve contributed mine. You should too.
