More new blogs (don't tell Leighton)
Monday, June 04, 2007

The Welsh blogosphere continues to expand like a nineteenth century Western empire. The only difference being that we don't throw pineapples at Alun Cairns pygmies. We're much more friendly than that.

As far as I'm aware, the latest additions to the Welsh blogging family are as follows: (I use family in the dysfunctional mother hates father has three illegitimate children with uncle, two of whom enter the civil service while the third lives in a squat in Aberystwyth with a parrot called Cynog Dafis sense of the word)

Assembly Notes, gwe, Amanwy, Sion Owain, Petha' Bach, Glamorganshire, The Silurian.

If you've been overlooked, holler in the comments. I'll be putting these in the sidebar shortly. If you don't link back, I'll pee in your letterbox.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 3:22 pm, ,


The price of being an arsehole
Friday, March 30, 2007

It may be tempting to think that as a blogger you are all powerful if you simply hide behind a pair of pants or some other artfully constructed conceit. You are not.

No matter how gratifying it must feel to know you are the talk of the BBC and the corridors of Cardiff Bay, getting it wrong as a blogger could be a costly business. In a landmark case in the USA a blogger had to cough up $50,000.

At the moment, the UK courts are gagging to get stuck into their first major blogging case. Bitch blogs beware: I wouldn't want to be the first.

In legal terms, blogs are as vulnerable as any other form of media, and cases would most likely be heard on grounds of defamation or malicious falsehood. But while the mainstream press enjoys certain privileges which mostly ensure its protection, bloggers would be hung out to dry. A proper journalist is usually on firm ground if he can plead he has practiced 'responsible journalism' - certain checks and balances that may save his skin. Bitch blogs, by their very nature, could never plead this defence.

Previously, British bloggers have cockily assumed immunity on the basis that most blogs are hosted in the United States. Well, that makes sod all difference I'm afraid. According to UK law, defamation occurs where the material is read, not where it is published. Further, as a recent Yahoo! user found to the tune of £17,200, foreign companies now seem willing to co-operate with local law to tackle the bigots who cower in the many dark deluded corners of the information superhighway.

It's simply a matter of time before a shit-slinging fact-fabricating blogger is reeled into court. And when it happens, it won't be with a fishing rod but with an industrial-sized trawler. Anyone with a hyperlink to the offending blog or even those who have simply allowed the offending blogger to comment on their own sites could be implicated. In internet terms, that may be considered equivalent to repeating the defamation or falsehood and so they would also be liable.

In the last few months, the Welsh blog has risen in power and influence while standards appear to have gone in the opposite direction. But the bubble will burst. All you need is a prick.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 12:40 am, ,


Me and my mate, Jane
Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Our anti-Trident Education Minister here in Wales has signed up to MySpace. She digs us yoofs you see.

But in so doing, Jane, who is currently considering a request to be my friend, has unwittingly revealed a few truths. So, here goes, five things you didn't know about Jane Davidson:

1. She is blissfully unaware that Welsh is not yet an official language, and that this is quite a contentious election issue. Jane says: "I feel really proud of the fact that Welsh and English are official languages in Wales, although I am still trying to become fluent in Welsh!"

2. She is both 49 and 50 years old, depending on what page you look at.

3. She is friends with Jake (Fudge), a sixteen year-old salmon inspector from Uruguay.

4. Her heroes are hardcore lefties like Aneurin Bevan, Hugo Chavez, Mark Thomas and Jeremy Hardy. No mention of Tony Blair.

5. She's started the MySpace page to get more young people involved in politics. One post is entitled 'How Do We Engage More Young people in Voting?':

What was interesting today was a debate on the excitingly titled "Local Government and Public Service Committee Electoral Arrangements Report". With a name like that, I can hardly see people rushing to break the library doors down to find a copy, but it does contain some interesting recommendations on which I would like your views. The report suggests some actions to help:

1.There should be regional and national initiatives to promote voting to young people
2. There should be targeted initiatives to encourage socially and economically deprived young people to vote....

Would any of these make a difference to you? If they wouldn't, what would?

A new targeted initiative you say? Fetch me my jet pack, I'm off to the nearest polling station.

Jane, if you're going to be my friend, you've got to cut out the jargon.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 8:34 am, ,


Breakfast with Blamerbell
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

I'll be on Radio Wales' Good Morning Wales tomorrow (Wednesday) sometime between 7 and 7.30ish. Do tune in if you think you can stomach me with your cornflakes...

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posted by Blamerbell @ 6:18 pm, ,


Welsh blogging bug pandemic
Thursday, March 08, 2007

It's sweaty pants time here in Blamerbell's Briefs as I sit back and watch the Welsh blogosphere expand relentlessly.

I'm trying to keep up, but it's about as futile as being a street sweeper in studentville: every time you spruce it up some idiot covers it in vomit. Not that these new blogs are filled with bile. Far from it. Here are some picks from the latest additions to my sidebar:

Baytastic
Born: March 07
Best bit: "I have my celice wrapped tightly around my upper thigh as I type."

Dragon's Fire
Born: December 06
Best bit: "We would all do well to remember that there is nothing morally wrong with corporal punishment - on the contrary The Holy Bible instructs and urges us to use it."

Renewed Labour
Born: November 06
Best bit: "You are turning Labour politics into passive consumption and not active participation, you are using people who love this party to indulge yourself in petty power politics."

The People's Republic of Newport
Born: March 07
Best bit: "Charlotte Church is pregnant! Rejoice, oh nation of Wales! Your chain-smoking, hard-drinking princess of dubious talent is about to carry a child."

So, go forth and multiply. But remember not to wash your hands of my underwear.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 12:32 pm, ,