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I wasn't referring to British symbols per-se but burning anything people may deem offensive - in this case, poppys, which would clearly not fall under treason laws.

Use of the law for that sort of thing has most definitely come about in response to the religious hatred laws because it specifically came about when there was a showdown between the EDL and the "Muslims against crusades" group:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11744811

If you were allowed to do that there would soon be nobody left to enforce law in all of the United Kingdom.

Before long the entire nation would be overrun with paediatricians. Won't somebody think of the children?

Resigning is the RightThingToDo(TM), it's the ultimate apology

His payoff is equal to one year's pay of £450,000 (approaching $700,000).

Which he gets to claim for 54 days of work that he's also already been paid for. By quitting now, he's made just a hair under £10,000/day ($16,000/day), including weekends.

If he'd stayed for five years plus a final year's payoff, he'd have been paid a fifth of that rate.

I wish I could fail that hard.

Peh. I trust the BBC about as much as I trust Pravda. They like to memory hole stories that don't fit their agenda after they've been published(Nov 9/12). You hear about the story about the luxury homes in the Palestinian territories that the Beeb did? Probably not. Because it was up for all of an hour before memory holed. It was a rather good bit of journalism they even included pictures of the overflowing markets and all the rest.

And when I say they scrubbed it, they scrubbed it. It was up and down so fast that not even google crawled it. But, some bloggers did catch it.

Except that it is still there on the BBC web site on November 11. Is this a new definition of "memory hole" where you put video up on your website for the entire world to view for several days? Also, two of your "bloggers" are actually the same blogger, one accessed via the Google Canadian URL and one via the Israeli one.

In fact, when I go to the main page Middle East news page http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/middle_east/ it is still one of the top video news stories listed on the right hand side. What the fuck are you talking about?

The BBC Newsnight programme ran this, and the Director General had no idea they were running it. Ordinarily, he might get away with it if it were an isolated thing. However Newsnight was recently found to have cut an investigation into Jimmy Savile, a well-known TV/radio personality who turned out to be a serial child abuser. The investigation was cut for "editorial" reasons last year (soon after he died) and the suspicion was that it would allow them to run sacharine eulogies for him at Christmas. Finally, the accusations only got aired this year by another channel, and it looks like he abused hundreds of kids over decades, including in BBC dressing rooms.
So Newsnight was under a lot of scrutiny, and the Director General ought to have been watching it like a hawk.

However he admitted (to a BBC journalist in a very tough radio interview - let's see any other news organization allow its own journalists to bury their editor-in-chief) that he hadn't known what the programme was going to say about Lord McAlpine, and he didn't have an answer to the accusation that he was "asleep at the wheel".

So yeah, he mucked up by not being sharp enough. The BBC itself doesn't look good as it seems to have (thus far) allowed the people who made the "editorial decision" to cut the Savile investigation to continue in their roles. I suspect they will go eventually, once the independent inquiries have run their course.

However the one thing it has got right, and *no other* news organization would ever get right, is to have one part of it criticize another. There is no way Sky News would ever allow one of its journalists to have a go at the head of Sky TV in the manner of this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9768000/9768406.stm

Peh. I trust the BBC about as much as I trust Pravda. They like to memory hole stories that don't fit their agenda after they've been published(Nov 9/12). You hear about the story about the luxury homes in the Palestinian territories that the Beeb did? Probably not. Because it was up for all of an hour before memory holed. It was a rather good bit of journalism they even included pictures of the overflowing markets and all the rest.

And when I say they scrubbed it, they scrubbed it. It was up and down so fast that not even google crawled it. But,some bloggers did catch it.

has voluntarily resigned over a BBC program that featured 'poor journalism'.

Or, instead of The Guardian, you can read all about it on the BBC website.

Yes, you read that right - the BBC are reporting on this and not pulling too many punches. In fact, one of the last straws for Entwistle was a difficult grilling by a BBC interview on their flagship radio news program. That goes to show why, although some heads need to be cracked together over this screw-up, the BBC is something worth keeping.

Couple of other points:

Newsnight accused a prominent Conservative MP and former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, Lord Alistair McAlpine,

Actually, they didn't name him, just described the accsued as a "prominent Thatcher-era conservative politician" but in the process they leant a lot of credibility to internet tittle-tattle which did name him.

This example of an important media chief 'resigning voluntarily due to bad journalism' is interesting, because many TV, Web and Print journalists make 'serious mistakes' in their coverage at some point or the other, and quite often no heads roll whatsoever as a result."

Its worth putting this in the context of the BBC's current predicament - they've been accused of dropping an investigation into sexual abuse by the formerly-much-loved celeb, now deceased and discredited Jimmy Saville. Of course while, with hindsight, that investigation was right on the money, had their evidence not panned out then there would have been an uproar, so close to the star's death. This looks awfully like an attempt to over-compensate, and not spike a story that should have been spiked. However, that this should happen when the BBC management knew that they were already under scrutiny does not look good.

In comparison, climate change, here, anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is not going to get dramatically worse, if we don't do anything about it. For example, they generally forecast the loss of about as much land over the next century from rising water levels (assuming a one meter rise) as are lost each year from desertification due mostly to bad agricultural practices.

This is a joke. This is the exact opposite of what every scientific report says.

Your post is a classic example of someone holding forth in an authoritative tone who knows exactly zero about the subject he's pontificating on.

Global Warming Threatens Our National Security IISS: âoeA Global Catastropheâ For International Security

A recent study done by the International Institute for Strategic Studies has likened the international security effects of global warming to those caused by nuclear war. [On Deadline]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/09/climate-change-.html

U.N.: As Dangerous As War United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said this year that global warming poses as much of a threat to the world as war. [BBC]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6410305.stm

Center for Naval Analyses: National Security Threat In April, a report completed by the Center for Naval Analyses predicted that global warming would cause âoelarge-scale migrations, increased border tensions, the spread of disease and conflicts over food and water.â [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/320929_secured.html

Genocide in Sudan
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon charges, âoeAmid the diverse social and political causes, the Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change.â [Washington Post]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061501857.html

War in Somalia
In April, a group of 11 former U.S. military leaders released a report charging that the war in Somalia during the 1990s stemmed in part from national resource shortages caused by global warming. [Washington Post]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401209.html

Starvation
A study by IISS found that reduced water supplies and hotter temperatures mean âoe65 countries were likely to lose over 15 percent of their agricultural output by 2100.â [Yahoo]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070912/ts_nm/climate_security_dc

Large-Scale Migrations
Global warming will turn already-dry environments into deserts, causing the people who live there to migrate in massive numbers to more livable places. [MSNBC]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19479607/

More Refugees
A study by the relief group Christian Aid estimates the number of refugees around the world will top a billion by 2050, thanks in large part to global warming. [Telegraph]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/14/nclimate14.xml

Increased Border Tensions
A report called âoeNational Security and the Threat of Climate Change,â written by a group of retired generals and admirals, specifically linked global warming to increased border tensions. âoeIf, as some project, sea levels rise, human migrations may occur, likely both within and across bo

I'm late to the story, I know, but the point of this isn't about coffee production - despite the FA. The radio programme that I heard had proper information, and it's about the effect of climate change on wild arabica coffee plants (already endangered). The programme explains why This Is Bad.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nq7dd

That is nonsense.
Trees are not considred biofuel, how retarded is that?
However there is a booming market for wood heating in houses, either simply with wooden logs, ore modern pellet bases central house heating.
Trees are not burned in 'coal plants' ... perhaps you shouldmonce visit a coal plant to get a clue how they work? If you had you did not come to such braindead ideas.

Those are not ideas, those are facts. EU coal powerplants get "clean energy" subsidies (ridiculous amounts, same as for wind and solar) when they burn wood. It is economically feasible right now to import expensive wood from America just to pretend old coal plant is now Eco.

Germany might look good on paper, but in reality they didnt build any new infrastructure, they just changed legal wording to save face while closing down Nuclear.

Example google link
http://sunshinehours.wordpress.com/2012/10/27/save-the-coal-kill-and-burn-trees-instead/
http://www.resource-media.org/guest-post-biomass-is-the-new-coal/
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-205_162-6572461.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15756074

So there are no blizzards in Germany, eh?

Yes.

German coal power revival poses new emissions threat

2. Learn to work 16 hours a day, standing.

That can cure a lot of couch potatoes. And after all the BigMacs, the cup of tea and biscuit can also do wonders for the beer belly.

Painkillers cause headaches. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19622016

"Sir, what you say is very likely true" is indeed what was meant, and said. :-) Your phonetic approach doesn't work well with Welsh. (Try this page for example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/gogleddorllewin/papurau_bro/papur_menai/newyddion/rhagfyr05.shtml ) Dd is not "d" ch is not "sh" ll is not "l" gallwn fynd ymlaen ... ;-)

From the horse's mouth. "The BBC reports" is definitely correct (only one BBC is reporting); "The BBC report" is almost certainly incorrect. But "The BBC are having a party" is acceptable (the BBC as a collection of people are having a party).

Plus, give the guy a break, his last joke was awesome.

You might find the BBC's poll slightly more scientific. Obama won 50-9, losing only Pakistan among the 21 countries surveyed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20091054

He asks about supposed "disappointing iPad Mini sales", and you answer with Apple's last quarter, where Apple outsold all other tablets, but "disappointed" Wall Street because the iPad Mini wasn't for sale yet? I bet nobody has ever claimed you to be an astute reader.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20091054

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20091505

This year all of Apple's products have been surpassed and they were hit with the Apple Maps debacle. The litigation against Samsung probably hasn't helped either because it seems to have drawn people's attention to the fact that there are equivalent but cheaper and more flexible alternatives to Apple products.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20091054

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20091505

This year all of Apple's products have been surpassed and they were hit with the Apple Maps debacle. The litigation against Samsung probably hasn't helped either because it seems to have drawn people's attention to the fact that there are equivalent but cheaper and more flexible alternatives to Apple products.

(indirectly)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20003704

... like Olimpiy Kvitkin in another era, another system:

The results of Olimpiy Kvitkin's census were simply unpublishable. Within days of the first, still-secret findings being delivered to the Kremlin, he and three senior colleagues were arrested.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20157891

And the famous Mole Man of Hackney

You can never sign away your legal rights here. Ever.

You might want to ask the current Tory Government about that - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19865692

He also unveiled a plan for workers to give up a string of employment rights in return for shares in their employer.

The new owner-employee contract allows owners to award shares worth up to £50,000 to their staff, in return for the employee giving up their unfair dismissal, redundancy and training rights and also the right to ask for flexible working.

I was under the impression that contract law would never be able to supercede Rights of any kind, even employment rights - but the Tories love to demonstrate how little we and our pitiful rights really mean to them.

It takes a fool to sign up for these contracts true - they're not allowed to deny you the job because of this - but fools are the one commodity we are not short of.

The new database blocks the IMEI number, a unique identification number in the cellphone akin to a VIN (vehicle identification number) in a car. The ID number remains with the cellphone no matter what SIM card is used.

10% of IMEI numbers are not unique according to British Telecom. That being said in the UK at least, if your phone gets blocked by accident, there is a procedure to get it unblocked - so all is not lost for you.

Forget swallowing or stuffing the c4. The new fear is surgical insertion of explosives. Body bombs. Check out these links:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/13/al-qaeda-s-body-bombs-al-asiri-s-next-threat.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/officials-fear-terrorists-body-bombs-us-bound-planes/story?id=16245827

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18161870

Obviously, you don't use a rock, you use a wand. It works - even if it doesn't work - by giving you a justification to search any car you want.

Your wish is granted (kind of..).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20146942

We sould sentence them to prison, after all, a storm can be perfectly predicted

Nope. It shut down on 30 June 2012

> Unless your government backs the stance then it can veto it.

Right. And when your government backs the stance, like they did SOPA, what happens?

SOPA went down because politicians were scared they wouldn't get reelected because of the massive outcry. People could look at the list of people that voted 'yes' and not reelect them. If it's some appointee? The politician can just say they went rogue and that they won't reappoint them. And who is that politician anyways... it's buried under time and approvals. 'well, they were my third choice; I didn't really like them but they were the only one that would stick'. Do you think that trail is going to be stronger when you can pump up issues like jobs, defense, abortion, etc?

So the problem is that instead of the responsibility being on elected representatives (who are accountable to the people), it's on an appointee (whose accountability is to the government). Sure the government is accountable to the representatives who are accountable to the people, but that's a big gap. (And, yes, the government is the representatives, but you don't elect them all, so it really is the amorphous 'government' before the politicians themselves.)

> The Berne convention passed precisely because the US government did want it, I'm failing to see how your argument eliminates the US government as still being a clear point of protection even under the ITU.

So the US wanted the Berne convention and now 165 signed on. And mind that is signed a treaty not just voted 'okay' at the ITU. So my point is that peer pressure pushed a treaty across the world. How far do you think it could push a resolution in the ITU? Especially if you say 'well this is really just part of the Berne convention to uphold copyright'.

> Great, and what about counter-examples like ICE domain seizures?

I dunno, but I see arrests and IP bans (which I view as far more serious than domain seizures, BTW) and jail time and free speech issues everywhere to follow one thread.

And Do you really think that, in a world where ACTA could be created, that ITU will somehow prevent domain seizures? What government would really be against that?

How does that impact his right to free speech? Nothing the UK did prevents him saying whatever he wants. I don't think there's any country in the world that foregoes their right to deny entry to people they don't want in their country. Blocking entry does not block free speech though.

Besides, you might want to read about this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-11296303

Yes, a 17 year old is banned for life from entering the US because he sent a drunken e-mail to Barack Obama.

It cuts both ways.

Austin airplane attack on IRS. Kansas City bombing. Abortion doctor assassinations. Anthrax. Olympics bomb. Ted Kaczynski. Chinese embassy in Iraq. Though no stonings or beheadings with government backing that I'm aware of. So if those are logical ANDs (requires that all be simultaneously true) I guess it might be accurate.

You seem to be reaching pretty hard there. Those cases are all over the map, from personal grievance (Austin IRS), to unknown (Anthrax) to lone crank (Ted Kaczynski) to mistake (Chinese embassy). There really isn't any connection, and in most cases those incidents killed very few people. That is a huge difference from the Islamist extremist violence going on in Iraq (or other places) where they manage to kill something like 50x more per month than the total of what you have shown above. And make no mistake, there are extremists in the United States supporting terrorists, or trying to make their mark and conduct an attack of similar violence to what is occuring overseas in places like Iraq.

Just a small sample, not including things like the attempted Times Square bombing by the Taliban agent, or various other well known plots.

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 27, 2012

Denver: Man Arrested for Providing Material Support to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization

Jamshid Muhtorov was arrested by members of the FBI’s Denver and Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Forces on a charge of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic Jihad Union, a Pakistan-based designated foreign terrorist organization.

Baltimore: Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction in Plot to Attack Armed Forces Recruiting Center

U.S. citizen Antonio Martinez, aka Muhammad Hussain, pled guilty to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against federal property in connection with a scheme to attack an armed forces recruiting station in Catonsville, Maryland.

Washington Field: Man Pleads Guilty to Shootings at Pentagon, Other Military Buildings

Yonathan Melaku, of Alexandria, Virginia, pled guilty to damaging property and to firearms violations involving five separate shootings at military installations in northern Virginia between October and November 2010, and to attempting to damage veterans’ memorials at Arlington National Cemetery.

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 13, 2012

Tampa: Florida Resident Charged with Plotting to Bomb Locations in Tampa

A 25-year-old resident of Pinellas Park, Florida was charged in connection with an alleged plot to attack locations in Tampa with a vehicle bomb, assault rifle, and other explosives.

Baltimore: Former Army Solider Charged with Attempting to Provide Material Support to al Shabaab

A man who secretly converted to Islam days before he separated from the Army was charged with attempting to provide material support to al Shabaab, a foreign terrorist organization, and was arrested upon his return to Maryland after traveling to Africa.

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending December 9, 2011

Seattle: Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Attack Military Processing Center

A former Los Angeles man pled guilty in connection with the June 2011 plot to attack a military installation in Seattle.

The US seems to have a nasty habit of using customs officials to put pressure on people it doesn't like.

Do tell.

Dutch MP refused entry to Britain

Let me guess, you are thinking the US is unique in that?

He was married to a Jew - Jemima Goldsmith.

Emphasis on was. Because most divorced men have nothing but love for their ex-wives. And her three-year relationship with Hugh Grant immediately following the divorce probably didn't help. I don't have any reason to think he hates Jews or Brits because of her, but obviously he made a choice between her and Pakistan. His words:

My political life made it difficult for her to adapt to life in Pakistan. This was a mutual decision and is clearly very sad for both of us. My home and my future is in Pakistan.

Nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn't put "he divorced his Jewish wife after determining it was Pakistan or her" on his character resume. He is a politician, and politicians make their life choices for political reasons.

Exactly. At the very least you'd require an exception for facts. But really : how about we set the standard as such "if someone makes a statement INTENDED to incite SPECIFIC violence against SPECIFIC persons, that can make him an accomplice at worst. The guilty party is ALWAYS the ones who implement the actual violence, and that someone non-violently 'incited' a crime can never even be even factor in the punishment. Burning a store is arson or murder, if someone died, with zero consideration given to how many bombs any disgusting prophet was wearing".

What, by the way, about facts ?

E.g. "islam, both sunni and shi'a, and some subsects even more, pushes paedophilic rape. The prophet was a paedophilic rapist (had sex with a 6-9 year old girl against her will), and worse, she (while not technically a slave) was bought from her parents for exactly this purpose. For years before the actual rape, he molested the girl"

Is that forbidden to be stated ? It's very likely to meet a violent response, but it's also the truth.

This is a well-established historical fact, and has resulted in a trade in young children to be raped that still exists today (in Iran, and as usual, Iran is really quite progressive, as compared to US "allies").

Stating that if you see a moslem, even in America, he is very likely to be in favour of this child rape, is sadly not an exaggeration. If you see a non-American moslem, he'll either be in favour of it, or be afraid of the personal consequences of not being in favour of child rape.

And please before you state that the catholic church also "raped children", keep in mind that we're probably talking more children being raped daily by moslims with the cover of islam, than in the entire history of the west, all by criminals. And frankly, the church is about as pro-paedophilia as the BBC is (the BBC, by the way, also saw fit to hide the crime and to coverup reporting of it, as did the dutch government when it involved public school teachers, as did the UK government when it was reported that >90% of paedophilia was by public school employees, as did Spain ..., and needless to say, neither the BBC nor any of the governments involved saw fit to provide the victims with any kind of reimbursement at all).

um...yes, actually I have. Those were just a few out of my bookmarks. OK, some of them were subcontractors to Government departments, but there are more than an insignificant number of breaches there that were quietly swept under the carpet that were entirely down to Government agents being either totally stupid or deliberately making sure that that data got out. Who knows how many breaches of remarkable severity go unreported?

They didn't have to pt it on the home page. That ruling was changed on appeal

"The appeal judges decided not to overturn the decision on the basis that a related Apple design-rights battle in the German courts risked causing confusion in consumers' minds.

"The acknowledgment must come from the horse's mouth," they said. "Nothing short of that will be sure to do the job completely."

However, they added that the move need not "clutter" Apple's homepage as it would only have to add a link entitled "Samsung/Apple judgement" for a one-month period."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19989750

It seems like there is some international consensus emerging that it is a bad idea to tell the internet your presonal details http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20082493

This just in:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20008687
Basically, an overwhelming majority of people in the following countries prefer Obama over Romney (in order of decreasing percentage of Obama supporters):
France
Australia
Kenya
Nigeria
Canada
Panama
UK
Brazil
Germany
Indonesia
South Korea
Spain
Mexico
Peru
India
Poland
Turkey
Japan
Malasya
China
Or basically, every country polled by the BBC (most of them being good allies of the US) except... Pakistan. My point being that from an international perspective, the Republicans simply don't have a serious agenda and everyone sees Romney as a potential troublemaker. Whether you're asking "The Chinese" or Putin or a teacher in the Germany or an engineer in France or a nurse in South Korea doesn't matter, mostly everybody prefers Obama (notable exceptions being 15% of the Pakistanis and a small half of the US). The only thing your post proves is that "mostly everybody" includes people *not* in their right mind. What fallacy is that again? Timothy McVeigh was a white American Christian so all white American Christians are terrorists?

The BBC News website appears to be basing its report on Florian.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20040549

Please encourage them to do some fair and balanced reporting.
--
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on your internet connection forever.

This [Teletext/Cx, branded as CeeFax for consumers - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext%5D is (one of the many) the standard that my department (BBC R&D) helped invent - http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/rdreport_1975_12.shtml

I was a baby then but nowadays we still used the standard to test the next-gen DTV aerial signal 25 years on http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp-pdf-files/WHP160.pdf)

I was part of the team that moved the 'red button' services across to use same page numbers (with an extra digit prepended for content not available on analogue TV) - my former workmate Andrew wrote about this here http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pressred/2009/05/assigningpagenumbers.shtml

Cx was always great for speedy updating, but the client (journalist) software was clunky. It did help the BBC learn the importance of writing concise summaries for textual viewing many years ago (which was very helpful when the Web came along)

It was always *digital* but TX-d on analogue circuits. I'll miss it, but the info there is still available, and guess what? Life moves on. > 98% of UK people have digital TV now and the switchover went well. Still free at point of reception, still advert-free.

This [Teletext/Cx, branded as CeeFax for consumers - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext%5D is (one of the many) the standard that my department (BBC R&D) helped invent - http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/rdreport_1975_12.shtml

I was a baby then but nowadays we still used the standard to test the next-gen DTV aerial signal 25 years on http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp-pdf-files/WHP160.pdf)

I was part of the team that moved the 'red button' services across to use same page numbers (with an extra digit prepended for content not available on analogue TV) - my former workmate Andrew wrote about this here http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pressred/2009/05/assigningpagenumbers.shtml

Cx was always great for speedy updating, but the client (journalist) software was clunky. It did help the BBC learn the importance of writing concise summaries for textual viewing many years ago (which was very helpful when the Web came along)

It was always *digital* but TX-d on analogue circuits. I'll miss it, but the info there is still available, and guess what? Life moves on. > 98% of UK people have digital TV now and the switchover went well. Still free at point of reception, still advert-free.

This [Teletext/Cx, branded as CeeFax for consumers - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext%5D is (one of the many) the standard that my department (BBC R&D) helped invent - http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/rdreport_1975_12.shtml

I was a baby then but nowadays we still used the standard to test the next-gen DTV aerial signal 25 years on http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp-pdf-files/WHP160.pdf)

I was part of the team that moved the 'red button' services across to use same page numbers (with an extra digit prepended for content not available on analogue TV) - my former workmate Andrew wrote about this here http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pressred/2009/05/assigningpagenumbers.shtml

Cx was always great for speedy updating, but the client (journalist) software was clunky. It did help the BBC learn the importance of writing concise summaries for textual viewing many years ago (which was very helpful when the Web came along)

It was always *digital* but TX-d on analogue circuits. I'll miss it, but the info there is still available, and guess what? Life moves on. > 98% of UK people have digital TV now and the switchover went well. Still free at point of reception, still advert-free.

Could this do the job? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8279549.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20032882

Actually, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

I really should get around to updating my bookmark.

Well, no one should be surprised by this. No one will be surprised to learn that the banning of TPB has made no significant difference to the amount of traffic to it. The BPI like the RIAA sees every download as lost revenue, where the real link is that the most prolific downloaders tend to be the most frequent purchasers of media as well. The biggest impact on reduction of illegal downloading has been the introduction of legal services such as iTunes, Amazon MP3 store, etc..

Of course, posting this here is just preaching to the choir.

Remember that time where the internet was freedom? Where one could create a website, it was subject to law, like any other act. Remember when the providers of the internet buckled under the pressure from "the powers that be". Sites could be blocked, freedom quashed, because somebody didn't like the content of a site, because somebody thought it aided in crime and law breaking, despite not breaking any laws itself.

When we start forcing ISPs to block sites, based on anything other than law, we open gates that will never be closed. One leads to more, more to many and eventually freedom on the internet will be dead.

This is the key issue we are dealing with. It is getting overlooked because "piracy is bad". We have many other questions to ask: does blocking these sites even /help/ the problem of piracy? this suggests not! Is piracy really the problem, perhaps the intermediate companies between consumer and author's of content are to blame somewhat?

Why do we have to constantly start making much larger problems while trying to fix smaller ones. Fix the music industry, the film industry, the E-book-monolopy that Amazon is building, fix the problem at the root. Provide consumers with a modern, suitable market in which they pay the author's of content for their products, for a price that represents the true worth of that product. Allow the consumer to have freedom with that product to use it in any device, in any form. Provide a good service, that is value-for-money, and people /will/ use it. We've seen it work before

Leave the internet alone, once the gates are open the wars begin....

(This is one army, preparing arms...

When you compare Somalia to similar (government-controlled) nations in Africa, it's hard to correlate the existance of "law and order" with any measure of social or economic well-being. Somalia has been engulfed in conflict for a while and yet the free market has managed some remarkable success stories.