Earlier this week, the interwebs were buzzing with the leak of a list of members of the British National Party. It didn’t take long for a police officer who was included in the list to be suspended and investigated.
How do you feel about this man’s employer specifying that he can’t be a member of a particular political party? Or, how do you feel about his membership of a certain party precluding him from serving as a police officer?
"Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe has reiterated our position that membership of the British National Party is totally incompatible with the duties and values of Merseyside Police.
"We will not accept a police officer or police staff being a member of BNP."
While I would be very surprised to find anything at all from the BNP I could agree with, I’m finding this question a bit tricky.
I presume that no really deep analysis is required, but there are a few points that are worthwhile/fun to consider.
I’m undecided about the council being so publicly and enthusiastically supportive of such a controversial commercial development. It’s obviously their job to promote the commercial well-being of the city, but this one feels a little too cosy. It’ll probably have a negative effect on businesses in the centre of Lisburn: the existing developments at Sprucefield have done their damage, but as most of them are specialist outlets there has still been space for smaller retail in the city itself. A general department store like John Lewis could be much more damaging to small businesses.
The most serious bit:
This development will potentially create over 2000 jobs and an investment of £200 million.
However, if the planning application is unsuccessful, it will mean a loss of over 2000 jobs which the Lisburn City Economy, and indeed the Northern Ireland Economy cannot afford.
Read it carefully — this is just wrong. The development may bring 2000 new jobs (although this figure could be offset by possible job losses from smaller businesses), but not gaining those 2000 jobs is definitely not the same thing as losing them. I find this argument quite worrying, as it’s disingenuous and manipulative. Weaselly, you could say. (David Braziel tweets wittily to illustrate.)
And finally, my favourite: the single, supportive, option available in the “poll”. The council website refers to this as a poll, several times. It’s not a poll. To say “poll” implies some sense of consultation and representation, and may even lend a smidgen of credibility — credibility that would be lessened were this recognised for what it was, a campaign and petition to bring a big business to Lisburn.
That said, I doubt it’ll do their case any good. “Look, Minister, all these people clicked a button on our website!” How many people didn’t click the button? We’ll never know.
(I’m not necessarily against the development, by the way. I’m just not impressed with how our city council is presenting the question.)
I really wanted to post another xkcd comic, but it's too soon since the last one :-) Also, this one is huge. Go and read it, though — there's something strangely beautiful about it.
I'm very much looking forward to next year's Watchmen movie (although I know others who aren't). These posters caused me a gleeful giggle.
This is one that I don't quite understand. Surely Glitter's conviction doesn't change his past music? And while the argument is made that the schools don't want to contribute to his royalty income, I'm not happy with the notion that any convict, when released, should be denied the opportunity to ply their honest trade, especially in this case where it's fair payment for well-past work.
Finally, a video that's been doing the rounds lately. Cutting :-)
(This post was intended for last night, but delayed by our late and tired return home after the concert in question.)
My wife and I have remarked often how we haven’t been to any live music since we moved back to Northern Ireland. Two-and-some years is a pretty long dry spell.
I’d never knowingly encountered the music of Beth Neilsen Chapman, but when Gerry Anderson played “Sand and Water” and plugged last night’s show at the Grand Opera House I decided it was worth a go. The decision was helped by promised support from local boy Brian Houston.
It was a very good call.
It’s something like nine years since I last saw Brian Houston live, but his short opening set told me that’s way too long. I guess he’s been doing the groovy, layered sample thing on “Jesus Again” for a long time, but it was one of several turns that blew me away last night. He’s a superb showman at work.
Turns out that I know more Beth Neilsen Chapman songs than I thought, and she can certainly sing. The three-piece for the evening included local talent Eilidh Patterson on backing vocals and the very dude-ly Maartin Allcock on bass and bouzouki.
I’d yet to hear Eilidh, although I know of her in a family-of-a-friend sort of way, but I was impressed. She was in great voice yesterday. And Mr Allcock sent me away swearing to never again pretend I can tame the four-stringed beast.
The Opera House wouldn’t be my first choice for a gig, but the sit-down-and-relax vibe was entirely appropriate — and you can’t argue with front row seats.