As a long-time and avid gamer, one thing I’ve become accustomed to over the years is observing repeated sideways attacks by ill-informed politicians and press regarding the morality and safety of games. Whenever a high school shooting occurs or an act of extreme road rage or other isolated boiling point event, the eyes of a few immediately turn towards gaming, once more seeing an opportunity to further their agendas. (more…)
November 10 2012, eh? That’s the last time I wrote a blog post here, apparently. Turns out having a baby is quite time consuming. Now there’s some never-before-observed insight. In the time when I’ve not been looking after the rather spiffing little chap called Yared Rohan Jones I’ve found myself Read more…
A man called Alessio Rastani trended all over the internet in the last 48 hours due to a remarkable interview he gave on the BBC. You can read all about it here. What he talked about isn’t particularly startling – it’s what any slightly cynical or rational person will have Read more…
‘Let me be clear’, the current political phrase-du-jour, was used by David Cameron three times today in his riot speech. Including derivations it was used eleven times. I’m beginning to suspect that there’s a correlation here, with clarity gradually dropping as the number of ‘let me be clear’s increases. There Read more…
This is a long, rambling post, in which I’m basically working out some ideas as I go. If you’re going to inflict it upon yourself, I suggest having access to a cup of tea and a comfy chair. Update: This article from today’s Independent basically backs up everything I wrote Read more…
I will be brief: Paul Chambers is taking his appeal regarding the ‘Twitter Joke Trial’ to the High Court. To do so is very expensive. At least £10,000 expensive. Unfortunately, to have justice you have to be rich – unless you’ve got most of the online community behind you, of Read more…
Rather unexpectedly, I found myself in a room at the Millennium Library in Norwich this evening with my friend Wayne Bolt (co-host of the Spiffing Review podcast) talking to Liberal Democrat MP Simon Wright about the Twitter Joke Trial and the Digital Economy Act. This came about after Wayne noticed that Read more…
Paul Chambers’ appeal was thrown out today, the Doncaster court once again finding him guilty and chucking another £2500-odd prosecution fees at him. I’ve written about Paul before (here and here) so I won’t repeat myself, especially as others are commenting and reporting on the case far more eloquently than Read more…
I wrote about Paul Chambers back in May, a few months after he’d been convicted or sending a threatening message via Twitter by the CPS, resulting in him losing his job and receiving a criminal record. While Paul’s conviction is worrying enough as it is, given the obviously jokey and Read more…
I always thought Section 44 sounded like the emergency measure Emperor Palpatine invokes in Revenge of the Sith when he wipes out all the Jedi. Back in reality, it served a slightly less final purpose but similarly insidious. As part of the Terrorism Act (a nasty act in itself, running Read more…