Taking Out The Trash

South West media awards

Well done to Hugh Dixon over at the Bath Chronicle for winning columnist of the year at the South West media awards. Exeter Express and Echo taking most of the gongs - not much for the print media in Bristol, Bath or Wiltshier. Boo.

Election day running post

I'll update this post as information comes in today.

BBC Q&A on elections.

23.40pm: And after all the sound and fury, you retire to the pub with the opposition for a pint and some reflection. Then you come home and find another minister has resigned. Strange days. Turnout looks like around 45%-50% which is pretty good and will, according to convention, benefit the major parties. Maybe. I think I picked up a lot of first time voters and nenver-voted-before voters. 680 people voted in Colerne with about another 200 casting postal ballots out of 1,900 electorate. Counting starts tomorrow around 1pm.

7.37pm: Turnout has seemed reasonable but that might be because the campaign here has been quite active. Only passing signs of BNP and Labour, nothing from Ukip and the BNP say that this is not a target ward. The Lib Dems delivered a letter appealin directly to Green voters to vote Lib Dem. However it seems to have backfired as many people are angry at being pushed into voting one way.

4.24pm: Very useful canvass outside Box prmiary school and then targeting every household with a Lib Dem leaflet in the window. After that a trek through some of the scattered hamlets. A lot of miles for a few votes but thought a visit on election day might have a higher impact. It's all about convincing yourself that at this stage you can have much of an impact on the result. Turnout steady-  not great but not poor.

1.56pm: About 10% of the Colerne electorate has voted by now (not uncluding postal votees). Lib Dems making desperate attempts to swing Green voters on the doorstep with falacious arguments so am planning to counter that (after a cup of tea). Apparently Lib Dems in Salisbury have been ordered to remove acar blaring out party political messages which is right outside one of the polling stations.

11.16am: Been acting as a teller since 7.30am but stepped out to do some work. 130 people have voted in Colerne (out of 1,900 electorate). Whether that is good, bad or indifferent is hard to know but it seems quiet to me. Nicest person was the man who stopped on his way out to say how glad he was the Greens were standing and wished me the best of luck. The BNP agent came by saying he was there to check the seals on the ballot boxes. "We're really worried about voter fraud, especially in the North West," he said. Getting the excuses ready early?
I hear from the council that there have been 55,000 requests for postal votes in the county including (possibly) around 1,000 for Box & Colerne. Turnout could be higher than expected.

Pressing the flesh

A photographer from Getty came over to take pictures of me out canvassing (well, not really me in particular; just someone standing for the Green Party).
So of course you must have classic 'kissing the baby' shot.
 Then you need something a little different. I was actually shouting through the letterbox of the pub to open up because I was gasping.
And then the bit that made me laugh was coming across not one but two Lib Dem people.
It was good to see they had managed to find the village 24 hours before the ballot and so I congratulated them on putting out leaflets nicking my policies and claiming credit for things they have never done and hoped they didn't mind finishing third. That handshake was one of those where you just don't want to be the first to let go. My face isn't agony; that's manic laughter that this madness will soon all be over.

All pictures copyright Getty. Thanks to Matt Cardy for the copies.

Tuesday is new media day

Been having fun today exploring the Help Me Investigate site (plenty of explanation on it here and also here) and also set up a Twitter account having stumbled across Paul Bradshaw's piece How Journalists Can Master Twitter only a year after it was first published. Tomorrow I'm looking at some innovation from William Caxton.
Of course what I should have been concentrating on today was marking, marking, marking and leafleting, leafleting, leafleting. It's going to be a long evening.
Meanwhile Computer Weekly has published my in-depth backgrounder on the Ian Kerr blacklisting case complete with photos - so it's not all been playtime all day.

Music to leaflet by

A lovely warm evening, a stack of leaflets to deliver and these are the 20 song that went on the iPod. Got any better suggestions for music to push paper through letterboxes by? (Little treat from the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy at the end).

Alone Again Or by Love

Science Fiction Double Feature by Richard O’Brien

Valse de Balfa by The Balfa Brothers

Brand New Day by Van Morrison

Hey Ya by OutKast

Californication by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Music and Politics by The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy

Blue Moon by The Marcels

Suite Judy Blue Eyes by Crosy, Stills and Nash

Free Man in Paris by Joni Mitchell

Caravan by The Inspiral Carpets

My My, Hey Hey by Neil Young

I’m Partial To Your Abracadabra by Ian Dury

Street Spirit (Fade Out) by Radiohead

The Man With The Child In His Eyes by Kate Bush

Nantucket Sleighride by Mountain

Inner City Blues by Marvin Gaye

America by Simon and Garfunkle

Senor Blues by Horace Silver

Happy Hour by The Housemartins

C4 funded new investigative journalism outlet

This via Press Gazette: Channel 4 announces funding for Help Me Investigate - a collaborative effort aimed at sharing skills and expertise to pursue stories.

Paul Bradshaw, creator of the site and online journalism lecturer at Birmingham City University, said he sees Help Me Investigate as a toolkit for people.

He said: "People can contribute their expertise to answer specific questions, and journalists with no resources could use the site to call on the community for help."

Lot more detail posted by Paul Bradshaw here.

The PG article also says:

The site will launch this month in test mode, inviting users to ask questions about local issues such as hospital parking charges, the expenses of local councillors and how much councils spend on PR.

Good luck to it;we can only do with more such initiatives at the moment. Though that list of stories to be investigated doesn't seem particular original or indeed under-researched.

Here's one: Man with stable job and bright future dies in Bath police cell and six months on we still don't know why. I've no idea what happened but I would like to know how come our present system can't provide a reasonable answer in a reasonable time for the sake of the family and the police.

Seeking info on Caprim

If anyone has any info on Caprim Ltd; set up by some ex Economic League people after that organisation folded and based in the West Midlands, I'd be interested....

The Daily Show on MPs' expenses

I know I'm about a week late on this but I've been schlepping up and down the M6. So, for those who haven't seen it, John Stewart's very funny take on the MPs' expenses scandal.

This is what a blacklist database looks like

This is a picture of (half of ) Ian Kerr's blacklist database. If you are at all familar with how police local intelligence files are organised then apparently this set up should look pretty similar. Below is what a page from a blacklist file looks like.

Movie inspiration 2: the sequel

So I posted recently about films for aspiring local councillors. As the prospective councillor for Box & Colerne the DVD cupboard is a little bare if I'm looking for inspiration. As a hack I’m spoilt for choice. As a trade union member it gets a lot more interesting.

It isn’t just that there are more films than you think which feature union issues and people in a positive way. It is also that there are some great films which have harsh things to say about organised labour – but they are such great films you’ve got to watch them.

On The Waterfront is stunning. The acting, of course, but the cinematography in particular. It’s also one long apology for stool pigeons. After all, that is what director Elia Kazan, screenwriter Budd Schulberg and actor Lee J Cobb were, having given evidence to HUAC.

Similarly Blue Collar is a brilliant depiction of working in a car plant. The union there is run by the mob.

Movies such as Matewan are specifically about union issues and while this John Sayles film is very good it’s a little polemical. You kind of feel it’s being put on for your education more than your entertainment. On this side of the Atlantic, Comrades, directed by Bill Douglas about the Tolpuddle Martyrs, is very good. Ken Loach's best work looking at union issues has been on television with programmes such as The Big Flame, Days of Hope, The Rank and File and The Price of Coal.

But I really like Wall Street. Everybody remembers Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko with his ‘greed is good’ mantra. However there are two people tussling for the soul of share dealer Bud, played by Charlie Sheen. Apart from Gekko there is his (literally) old man, Martin Sheen. He is a union official at an aircraft manufacturing firm. Sheen Snr’s job isn’t laid on thick. Being a union member is as natural as breathing. Really he’s just trying to look out for his boy who wants to fly too close to the sun. That’s an ancient story.

If you want a bit more on this then check out Roger Darlington’s top 20 trade union films or read Tony Zaniello's book Working Stiffs. Below is a little gem from Youtube about Comrades.