Daily Archives: Saturday, April 27, 2013

  • The most clueless tweet yet by a politician?

    Steve WoodsPolitics, Social Media, Tech

    Politicians are not renowned for their use of either modern technology or social media. As regards the latter, this was previously noted by tech humour site xkcd with the “Clueless Politician Coast” on the island of Twitter on its Updated Online Communities map in 2010.

    If proof were needed of this cluelessness, this was happily provided today by Maria Miller MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

    screenshot of tweet from Maria Miller MP

    Case proven, m’lud?

    Those with memories capable of coping with more than 140 characters – 138 more than used by Ms Miller – may recall she was the MP who thought it was perfectly in order for taxpayers to provide her parents with somewhere to live.

  • Blacklisting

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    This coming Monday 29th April Bristol Radical History Group and Bristol & District Hazards Group are jointly organising an evening talk entitled ‘Blacklisting’ at 7.30pm at Tony Benn House, 92 Victoria Street, Redcliffe, Bristol BS1 6AY (map) to mark Workers’ Memorial Day.

    Politicians and employers like to portray the blacklisting of trade union members for their health & safety activities as a thing of the past. That does not correspond with the reality of life for those who continue to stick their neck out to protect themselves, their workmates and the public. Indeed, here in Bristol builders and electricians who were members of trade unions were banned from taking part in the building of Cabot Circus shopping centre, it has emerged.

    The talk will feature 2 speakers.

    Firstly, Di Parkin is a historian and has published “60 Years of Struggle“, the history of Betteshanger, a militant Kent pit. She will speak about the actions of the Economic League who provided blacklisting information to employers in the 1970s and the impact this had in places such as British Leyland’s Cowley car works and the Kent coalfield.

    Secondly, an electrician who’s an active member of Unite, a shop steward and who has worked in the construction industry for 40 years will talk about his experiences of victimisation and the campaign against blacklisting.

    Donations from attendees will be welcome.

  • Recommended software: Tor Browser Bundle

    Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

    If you’re interested in safe, secure internet browsing, you’ll be interested in the Tor Browser Bundle.

    Tor itself is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the internet. As a user, Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your internet connection from learning what sites you visit; it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location and it lets you access sites which are blocked. For more information about Tor, read the project’s overview page.

    screenshot of Tor browser bundle in action
    Tor Browser Bundle in action. I was in Bristol. The IP address resolves to San Donato Milanese in Italy.

    The Tor Browser Bundle lets you use Tor on Linux, Mac OS X or Windows without the need to install any software. all you need to do is unzip the package for your particular OS, and it’s ready to use. The Tor Browser bundle can run off a USB flash drive, is self-contained and comes with a pre-configured web browser to protect your anonymity.