Bristol

  • Bristol Post Balls – getting the picture

    Steve WoodsBristol, Media

    One of the parts of the Bristol Post whose work is largely unseen is its Invisible Pictures Department, which spends its working day making sure photographs and other images are omitted from articles published in the paper, particularly its online version.

    Here’s screenshot of a fine example of its work taken first thing this morning from today’s online edition.

    screenshot of photo feature with no photos

    Update: Photographs were finally added to the post at lunchtime, i.e. some 4 hours after it was originally posted, which is no doubt indicative of how much the Post values its online readers.

  • Bristol Post Balls: the return of the greengrocer

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media

    The Bristol Post is no stranger to the greengrocer’s (or superfluous) apostrophe (posts passim).

    There’s a fine example in the headline for a photo gallery in today’s online edition.

    screenshot of Bristol Post article
    Santa’s 2013 what, Bristol Post?

    The mandatory screenshot is included above as the occupants of the Temple Way Ministry of Truth may have realised or been alerted to their mistake (I’m sure they wait use your daily review of the paper’s contents as a proofreading tool. Ed.) by the time you read this.

  • Felix Road Adventure Playground – latest

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics, Social Media

    I live not very far away from Felix Road Adventure Playground, which for four decades has provided opportunities for play for inner city children in Easton.

    image of Felix Rd Adventure Playground
    Felix Rd Adventure Playground

    As regular readers will be aware, the playground has been under threat of closure ever since Bristol City Council made a mess of outsourcing play facilities around the city.

    In response to this calamitous cock-up, local Easton residents organised a petition to save Felix Road (posts passim).

    According to the Save Felix Road Twitter account, a debate on the playground will be held at a full meeting of Bristol City Council on 17th December as the petition has gained more than the required number of signatures to trigger a discussion in the council chamber.

    I’ll await developments with interest as it’s not right that children in one of the most deprived parts of the city suffer when Bristol City Council cocks things up.

  • Bristol Open Data meet-up next month

    Steve WoodsBristol, Open Data, Politics, Tech

    open data stickersThere’s an open data meet-up taking place in central Bristol next month.

    It will be held on 30th January 2014 at the Watershed, 1 Canon’s Road, Bristol, BS1 5TX (map) from 7 pm to 10 pm.

    The few details that are available at present can be seen here.

    Topics to be discussed will include licensing, linked open data, open data and open government.

    Speakers are due to be announced in due course and I’ll keep readers updated of developments as the event gets nearer.

    Hat tip: Jukesie

    Originally posted on Bristol Wireless.

  • Bristol Post Balls – tall tales

    Steve WoodsBristol, Media

    image of Bristol's Castlemead building
    Bristol’s tallest building according to the Post
    Yesterday the Bristol Post published a story of a wrecking spree that took place at the Castlemead building in central Bristol.

    Castlemead was completed in 1981. The building has a roof height of 80 metres (262 feet) and consists of 18 floors. Written by an unidentified journalist, the Bristol Post article confidently describes it in its first paragraph as “Bristol’s tallest building”.

    But is it?

    No.

    Most definitely not.

    image of St Mary Redcliffe
    Bristol’s actual tallest building
    As this blog has pointed out before (posts passim), that accolade is held by a much older building – St Mary Redcliffe, parts of which date to the 12th century.

    The spire of St Mary Redcliffe, is 89 metres (292 feet) high. Its height makes it the third tallest English church spire in England. The spire itself was struck by lightning in 1446 and truncated (something which can be clearly seen in the illustration of the church on Millerd’s 17th century plan of Bristol. Ed.), in which condition it remained for some 400 years before being rebuilt to its present height in 1872.

    So, Bristol Post hacks, think carefully – and do the all-important background research and fact checking – before in future describing any modern edifice as Bristol’s tallest. 🙂

  • More wifi on Bristol’s buses

    Steve WoodsBristol, Tech

    Some time ago, FirstBus, Bristol’s major bus operator, introduced free wifi on its services nos. 8 and 9 (news passim).

    image of First Group bus
    Never mind the fares, at least the wifi’s free!

    Today the Bristol Post reports that there’s to be a large scale expansion of free wifi for Bristol’s bus passengers, starting next month.

    Written by the Post’s business correspondent, Michael Ribbeck, the article states:

    Free wifi has already been introduced on the 8 and 9 routes in the city on a trial basis but is being rolled out across Bristol throughout December.

    Fellow operator Wessex is also offering free wifi to its customers and is looking to have most of its buses connected to the internet by the end of the year.

    A spokesman for First stated: “We are currently in the process of installing wifi on the majority of our vehicles in the West of England. We fully expect that this work will be completed by Christmas and that all the vehicles that regularly travel in and out of Bristol, in addition to a number of vehicles that are used elsewhere, will offer our customers access to free wifi by the New Year.”

    Reposted from Bristol Wireless.

  • Bristol Post Balls – ungulate identification

    Steve WoodsMedia, Oddities

    Horses and cattle are both ungulates, i.e. both use the tips of their toes to support their whole body weight whilst moving. Both cows and horses have hooves.

    A horse is an odd-toed ungulate with a long hairy mane and tale, whilst a cow is an even-toed ungulate. They’re easy to identify, unless you’re a city-based employee of the Bristol Post.

    Yesterday the Post published a tragic story of more than 100 horses having to be put down after being rescued from appalling conditions in Bridgend in the Vale of Glamorgan.

    However, the picture used to illustrate the report features animals that look more bovine than equine, as revealed by the screenshot below.

    screenshot from Bristol Post
    Frisians or Dobbins?

    Just because both beef and horsemeat taste equally good on the plate doesn’t means they are interchangeable in the field, Bristol Post. Try saddling up a cow and entering a steeplechase! 🙂

  • Bristol Post Balls – bedding expenses

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media

    I knew having children was expensive, but never realised cots – those small-sized beds for babies – could cost so much until I read this article in today’s Bristol Post about an expensive night out which sadly ended up in that local Palais de Justice also known as Bristol Crown Court.

    Bristol Crown Court
    Bristol Crown Court

    Apparently, the night out resulted in a huge bill for bedding, according to the relevant sentence in the article.

    The court was told Collins had to stump up £8,500 towards legal cots.

  • Bristol Post Balls – beefing about faggots

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media

    Today the Bristol Post has been occupied with faggots. It all started when Facebook, that bastion of free speech, banned the use of the word faggot as offensive. Apparently they’ve never heard of this traditional item of English cuisine over the pond, where faggot is a term of abuse for homosexuals.

    As a result, Mr Brain’s – a producer of culinary products resembling faggots that started life in the Bristol area – has started a campaign to fight against Facebook’s ban, which is duly being reported by the Post.

    In addition, the Post also informed its readers what faggots are. Any similarity between the Post’s article and the introduction to Wikipedia’s faggots article is presumably purely coincidental.

    However, the Post hasn’t finished with faggots yet; it also tells its by now slavering readers how to make faggots. After having stated that faggots are made from pork, the Post drops a real clanger on this report, illustrating it with a photograph of a butcher (so far, so good. Ed.) posing with a joint of beef (D’oh! Ed.), as evidenced by the screenshot below.

    Bristol Post screenshot

  • Bristol Post Balls – the pick of the best

    Steve WoodsBristol, Media

    There are annual events that pepper the year providing easy copy for the media. One of these is Bonfire/Guy Fawkes Night on 5th November.

    As 5th November is less than a week away, most media outlets are publicising local fireworks events. Here’s today’s offering of that ilk from the Bristol Post.

    As usual a screenshot has been taken, just in case authors Rachel Gardner and Alex Cawthron realise they’ve posted a half-finished article. Additional black marks to Rachel and Alex too for a lower case start to the headline.

    screenshot of Bristol Post article
    What’s the best that Bristol has to offer?
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