Following on from a previous post about building risk into playgrounds I see a new formal inquiry into "lost childhood" has been announced. Ultimately it is down to parents to ensure that their children have the right childhood, but it is interesting to see the article refer to the "red Read more…
MySpace are the latest web 2.0 giant to, errr, jump on the politics bandwagon. They’ve introduced a channel for 2008 US presidential hopefuls, called Impact. It’s not bad, although Rudy Guiliani needs to re-think his page as his profile is set to private. Only people who he’s added as a Read more…
YouTube have launched You Choose ’08, a centralised hub for videos by US presidential hopefuls. There’s lot’s of interesting stuff on it. I was particularly struck by the fact that there have been over 1 million views of Barack Obama’s videos, and the next highest is Hillary Clinton with just Read more…
It’s the most common question asked in I’m a Councillor. And, of course, a lot of the time, where teenagers don’t have anything to do, they hang around in the street and get into trouble. Even if they aren’t making any trouble adults are often intimidated by them, because our Read more…
Online community netmums has a very active forum. It also featuring all sorts of useful information and brings Mums together to reduce the isolation that full-time parenthood can cause. They have local groups and info as well as nationwide stuff. In many ways it’s a textbook example of a successful Read more…
I’ve never been to Helions Bumpstead, but the small village of 400 souls in Essex managed to scoop the National Association of Local Councils Website of the Year Award 2006. Their site is here. It is fantastic. And it seems to be a very nice village too.
Tom Watson MP has given a great illustration of why politicians should blog. A constituent of his was having problems with a utility company. Tom used his blog to ask his network for information about the company. Unsurprisingly that post featured quite highly in Google searches for the company. The Read more…
After an initial hiccup with the printing, the IAC 2007 information packs are now done. They look great, if I do say so myself. So information packs are now ready, for councils who are interested in taking part. Get in touch with me on 01225 869413, or sophia@gallomanor.com if you Read more…
Leader of the House of Commons, Jack Straw, spoke at an NLGN meeting yesterday. His speech is reproduced in full here. I’d skip the first third where he talks history and skip to the parts where he outlines a refreshing apolitical view of the interaction between the governed and the Read more…
Mary Reid has written a clear and simple post over at Headstar on how local e-Petitions differ from the worthy and headline grabbing Number 10 e-Petition site. "The main difference between our petitions (whether online or on paper) and those delivered to No 10 is that any petition placed before Read more…