Normal service will resume after lunch....
Have just come across this brilliant use of YouTube by Liam Byrne. Credit where credit is due - what a good idea. Highlight rubbish tipping on a YouTube video, upload it to the local MP's blog-like website. He can be bring quick results when the council executive responsible for street cleaning can see where he has missed rubbish. Videoing and shaming...Cost of operation to Liam Byrne and the taxpayer? Nothing, digital camera, upload to YouTube for free, call council and tell them it is there. So what if only 50 people watch these videos - doesn't matter so long as the person responsible for street cleaning is one of them and takes action as a result.Guido hears a lot of nonsense about Web 2.0 and politics - this is a really simple, effective idea....
Dale's story yesterday that Dolly Draper had convened a war council of cyber warriors had Guido's ears burning (a day ahead of schedule). Attendees names you might recognise include Ben Wegg-Prosser (Mandelson's protege now based in Moscow), Tim Allan (Ex-Blair spin merchant under Campbell, now boss of Portland PR), David Prescott (son of Prezza and another spin merchant). Dale missed Luke Akehurst (Weber Shandwick's spinner for arms dealers) off his list.Derek wouldn't confirm who attended but he was keen to emphasise there were young bloggers there as well - "don't just say it was aload of re-treads" he protested. Derek was pleased that, despite not actually blogging, he now knew "his RSS from his elbow". Guido encouraged him to become the Iain Dale of the Labour Party, "it looks...
Traffic growth is steady Guido is pleased to say. The absolute unique visitor number for the last 12 months was some 867,210 according to Google Analytics. This is comparable in traffic terms to any of the broadsheet newspapers online and although they are very reluctant to confirm this, which is revealing in itself, greater than either the Spectator or New Statesman command online.This trend away from old media sources is reflected across the Atlantic. During the election period Drudge has scored more traffic than the New York Times according to Hitwise data. Here is something else for the mediasaurs of the Dead Tree Press to worry about: the 3 year old Huffington Post, which is squarely parked on the Gray Lady's liberal/leftie lawn, is now more profitable than the 157 year old...
The Telegraph has just sent Guido a press release announcing that the Telegraph is the first multimedia company to sign a deal to distribute Onion "fake news" videos. Down with the kids dudes!Somebody should really break it to Marcus Warren, the online editor, that Guido and many others (including Da Fink at The Times) have been doing this for years, without paying for it, by just clicking on the embed logo and pasting the code into our blogs. Just thought you should know. Still, the Telegraph did make a profit this year and they need to do something with the money......
Dale has been telling Guido this was coming for some time. At a fringe meeting at Conservative Party Conference on the platform Guido insisted the government wouldn't have a chance of suppressing him unless they went down the Iranian route of censoring the internet at the ISP level or copying the Great Firewall of China, and they would do that.Maybe Guido underestimated the government. Having failed to put a positive spin on Gordon, Stephen Carter is going to try and regulate blogs under the guise of "promoting content standards" - otherwise known as censorship. No doubt bloggers will first be found guilty of some kind of thoughtcrime to justify censorship, apparently calling Chinese milk a "Chinky Drinky" in a jokey headline is bigoted, co-conspirators calling Ed Balls names will no...
The most popular story last month was Gordon Brown's Downfall closely followed by Polly : Get Rid of Brown or the Labour Party Will Die.It was fun....
The news that Derek Draper is organising a rapid rebuttal operation to combat bloggers does not exactly have Guido quaking in fear."PR Week can reveal that the Labour Party is exploring plans for an online rapid rebuttal unit, designed to kill off damaging stories circulating in the blogosphere. Former lobbyist Derek Draper will oversee the initiative, having recently been called in by Labour’s general secretary to advise on how the party can communicate its message. Labour strategists are keen to respond to the growing influence of right-wing blogs. The eventual system could resemble a modern-day version of Labour’s famous Excalibur unit, which was successfully used to kill negative stories by Tory-supporting newspapers in the run-up to the 1997 general election."It has long been a...
Guido did this a few years ago, not much has changed really this year. Beeboids loafing, gossipy political staff, bored brokers, lawyers, accountants and lazy lobby hacks are the most easily identified from the server logs. Students from the better universities, party HQ staffers and lobbyists make up the numbers. Network Location Visits 1 houses of parliament 88628 2 british broadcasting corporation 21471 3 conservative central office 18631 4 oxford university 18419 5 university of cambridge 12788 6 news international 7040 7 associated newspapers ltd 6546 8 guardian unlimited* 6309 9 greater london authority 6108 10 university of manchester 5547 11 kpmg peat marwick...
There seems to be a concerted attempt to shoot the messenger. Tom Watson, live and direct from the bunker, is trying to rubbish the poll and menace LabourHome's editor Alex Hilton. Luke Akehurst, the Weber Shandwick spinner for arms dealers and former Gordon -loathing loyalist under Blair, turned Gordon-loving loyalist under Brown, is reading from the same script.ConservativeHome makes Team Cameron uncomfortable but it performs a very useful function in encouraging more honest introspection and in doing so strengthens the party and makes it more responsive to the grassroots.LabourHome has in the past been too willing to reflect the party line, failing organisations like to keep their troubles secret, honesty and openness are a sign of confidence and strength. LabourHome is not as Luke...
Guido has never met a tax cut he hasn't liked, so the stamp duty holiday is welcome, but why not make it permanent? The £175,000 limit means it is not going to apply to anyone in the South East or for that matter anyone wanting a family home up north. So not really going to help many hard working families is it? Why not raise the threshold up to £250,000 or even £500,000 for a year?The sale and rent back scheme will apply to only 6,000 home owners in danger of being repossessed. That is fewer than the government owned bank Northern Rock will probably repossess this...
August is a slow month and traffic was a mere 552,316 page views, from 427,305 visits off 88,101 absolute uniques. This was double last years traffic. Most popular story of the month was Is Brown Bonkers?Guido promised to thank by way of Google juice the owners of the Bianconi Red Lion Restaurant and Guesthouse in Durrow, Laois for their hospitality as well as the Castle Arms Hotel in Durrow, Laois for the full Irish breakfasts and Guinness.Guido is indebted to his advertisers including Standpoint Magazine, Total Politics Magazine, More Than Insurance, and Microsoft. The wine cellar is filling up faster than Guido can empty it....
Harry' s Place disappeared, Guido asked them what happened:Last Friday, Harry's Place republished an email sent to the Universities and Colleges Union activists email list by a Sheffield based academic, Jenna Delich. In that email, she linked to the website of the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke and recommended an article by the racist conspiricy theorist Joe Quinn, on the Israel/Palestine conflict.As a result, LSE academic, Mike Cushman recommended that Ms Delich contact the DNS service providers of Harry's Place, to complain that the article was defamatory. The complaint was made and the DNS address was taken down by the gutless Daily.co.uk.The attempt to censor Harry's Place has failed. Harry's Place's DNS service has moved to a more ballsy ISP: the Positive...
You are all mental for saying the Prime Mentalist is bonkers say the whining lefties. Actually some of them agree that Brown is bonkers as well. Worth visiting for the sport. Have just got back from the Spa and am now off for cocktails. Baby and Ms Fawkes with their...
Iain Dale, who is bravely going to all the party conferences, asks what facilities are being offered to bloggers by the U.K. parties this conference season? In the U.S. they are being feted by the parties to some degree. Guido believes that Microsoft is providing free internet connections at both the Labour and Tory conferences - which is a sign that they must see power moving since they have usually kept close to New Labour and the Tories had more of an affinity with Google. (Obviously both corporation's public affairs teams will deny it, pointing out the diverse backgrounds of different individuals.)Not sure what special facilities bloggers really require. You can blog from your laptop with a 3G card, or at a push your Blackberry* or iPhone. Is it worth the parties making any...
Dale has done his annual list and the results are in for the "media" section:Top 10 Media Blogs 1. Spectator Coffee House2. Ben Brogan3. Three Line Whip4. Boulton & Co5. Nick Robinson6. Comment Central7. Paul Linford8. David Cornock9. Peter Hitchens10. Melanie PhillipsGuido draws your attention to the promise made on the Sky News website:Any votes for Boulton & Co. would be greatly appreciated and we promise, if we get into the top 10, that there will be semi-naked photos of all our political correspondents made available on the...
Mrs Fawkes has put up with Guido for five years today, so you will have to cope without me for a couple of days during a romantic intermission. She not unreasonably feels that a little disconnection from the internet would be a good idea.Guido will be back later next week for a few days, than he is off to the West of Ireland for a week. Not sure what to do that week - shall we have a blog holiday or shall we try having guest bloggers? Should the inmates be allowed to take over the asylum? Can you entertain yourselves? Do you feel you can entertain 10,000 to 20,000+ political junkies every day for a week?Guido will be back full of vim for September and is planning on making it to the Conservative Party conference at the end of the month, where he is due to be speaking on the fringe,...
After grappling with nappies and watching Teletubbies since 6.30 in the morning, Guido wandered bleary-eyed towards the kitchen in search of a coffee for breakfast, failing to spot the clear and present danger arranged by Ms Fawkes.As a result of an improvised booby trap of which Al Qaeda would have been pleased, Guido executed a Chaplinesque aerial manoeuvre, kicking the wall barefoot and audibly crunching his toes before landing bum-first. Ouch. Ms Fawkes cackled hysterically and Baby Fawkes clapped gleefully in her high chair exclaiming "Dadda!" in an impressed "do it again" tone. Even the nanny giggled before regaining her composure and clearing away the booby trap toys.The joys of fatherhood. Blogging may be...
What does it say about the decline of the Daily Labourgraph and the rise of the blogosphere that a journalist would move across to ConservativeHome?Congratulations to Jonathan Isaby, will he be doing the 6 a.m. news links shift? Isaby is rarely missing from a politico-social event, it won't be easy to combine late nights with early starts...ConservativeHome is an example of how the news market will become fragmented in the future. High quality, focused niche news boutiques will displace traditional generalist news sources. Nobody watches the BBC for business reporting when we have CNBC, nobody reads Bloomberg for sports reporting. You wouldn't expect the Guardian to have a clue about the intricacies of the Conservative Party's internal affairs. Best of breed online news sources can...
Those figures were generated by 113,118 absolute unique visitors last month. The top ten referrers were:#1 Iain Dale#2 Coffee House Blog#3 ConservativeHome#4 PoliticsHome#5 PoliticalBetting.com#6 B3ta.com#7 Times Blogs (Red Box and Comment Central)#8 Dizzy Thinks#9 Devil's Kitchen#10 Biased BBCHardcore stat-porn fans can click the image below for a snapshot of the last year's traffic. The trend is your friend. Read 'em and weep tree slaughterers....... traffic has doubled...
Guardianista Helene Mulholland is live blogging Glasgow East today (yawn), there is one good entry in the otherwise tedious reportage:12.45pm I'm in a greasy spoon in Shettleston Road. The woman serving chides one of the customers who fesses up to not having voted.2pm An important note Apologies to Daddyo's (the cafe I mentioned earlier). The owner is very upset to hear that I referred to it as a "greasy spoon" - so much so that he kicked me out!Wireless connections mean that one can blog and make yourself unwelcome anywhere. Well done...
Westmonster is no more and has gone the way of the now forgotten Honourable Fiend. It won't be missed.Traffic was small and they were losing money despite the low costs of blog publishing. The owners couldn't make it work and honestly admit that they just couldn't find the talent. Once Sadie Smith* left they did it themselves and then had young , cheap writers - the last of which was dire. They also made the classic mistake of commenting on comment too much and just rounding up other peoples stories instead of getting original news stories. It was a car crash.*She has her own blog...
Guido has been hearing rumours that LabourHome was in play and that two bidders were after the site. Tom Miller's Newer Labour has an exclusive confirming that LabourHome has been bought by Mike Danson, the new owner of the New Statesman.Newer Labour reports that it went for a "high five figure sum... with some of the existing editors, like Alex Hilton, one of the foremost Labour bloggers and co-founder, Jag Singh, staying on board." PoliticsHome had also shown an interest in bringing the site into the "home" network - Freddie Sayers had been in negotiations with the site but got gazumped.Guido called Alex Hilton, LabourHome's chief commissar to commiserate with him for not getting a six-figure valuation. (Guardian Media Group just bought PaidContent for $30 million, the Gawker group...
Iain is doing his annual blog guide, compiling a list of the top 100 political blogs in the UK.Miranda from the Boulton & Co. blog is canvassing for votes with the promise that if they get into the top 10 there will be "semi-naked photos of all our political correspondents made available on the blog."So if you want to see Miranda, Adam Boulton, Jon Craig, Cheryl Smith and Niall Paterson semi-naked vote for Boulton & Co in your list of top 10 favourite political blogs.Email your top 10 list to...
Guido was discussing the upcoming new Freedom of Information regime for parliament with Tom Steinberg of mySociety, the people behind FoI-via-the-web WhatDoTheyKnow site. Guido wanted to make sure that they were geared up for when the political class returns from their 76 day holiday. Tom said there was a software bug...The parliamentary authorities are trying to block us knowing what they have been doing by claiming copyright. So the public pay for it. Individuals can FoI it. If however you want to publicise it by re-publishing it, say on Britain's most popular and widely read political website, you will be (they claim) in breach of copyright.Complete and utter nonsense of course. Tom says friendly lawyers are being sought to do...
Google reports 92,332 absolute unique visitors came here last month. More people visited Guido than any other comparable political website.* The top ten referrers after Google and Yahoo are:#1 Iain Dale#2 ConservativeHome#3 Spectator / Coffee House blog#4 PoliticsHome#5 PoliticalBetting.com#6 Times Blogs (Red Box and Comment Central)#7 Boulton & Co.#8 Dizzy Thinks#9 Telegraph Blogs#10 Biased-BBCGuido would especially like to thank his advertisers this month for their support and contribution to his cellars.Amazon - Guido's readers buy hundreds of books every month.Argos Online - They can deliver barbecues and kiddies pools.Betfair - Place your bets.Central Office of Information - It was like a tax rebate.Children Are Unbeatable Alliance - They are in Guido's house.Compass -...
May saw 722,219 page-views from 530,201 visits by 102,459 absolute unique visitors. Top referrers in order: Iain, ConservativeHome, Coffee House, PoliticalBetting and PoliticsHome.com. The most popular story of the month was the Richard Littlejohn slapdown of Polly Toynbee...This was Guido's best month on record. Many...
Peter Hain's demise began with the leak of one document - his leadership campaign's budget. That tip set in train a process that led directly to him being investigated by the police for undeclared donations.You make this blog happen. Sources are anonymous (unless you want credit*). Who is on the fiddle? Who is lying? If you know "the line" is a lie, ask yourself why you got into politics; was it to cover up the truth or tell it? Skype gossip and tittle-tattle online to Guido.(If you haven't got Skype, download it free here.) Guido's blog relies on you for information.Voicemail : 0709 284 0531Fax : 0709 201 2337Email : guido.fawkes@Order-Order.com*You may get a "Conspiracy Member"...
As part of Guido's continuing contribution to saving the trees from slaughter and making himself ubiquitous this blog is now available offline to subscribers via Amazon's Kindle reader.Everybody is Twittering nowadays, rolling news keeps on rolling frenetically and somewhat pointlessly. Perhaps instead you need to download the 4000 or so articles Guido has written in the last 4 years and sit on a beach under a tree. Get a Kindle and you can, it is like an iPod for text. (You can read things called books on it as well.)You are either in front of Guido, or...
Julia Hobsbawm's Editorial Intelligence held a soiree at the RSA on Wednesday about the "Power of the Commentariat". They had surveyed a hundred or so of the pundit class and invited them to the event to discuss their findings. The great and the good of the chatterati voted Polly Toynbee the most influential columnist and (outside Big Media) Guido the most influential blogger in Britain. Some of the great and the good didn't like that one little bit. What insight did these editorial titans take from that? Simon Jenkins, Suzanne Moore, Charles Clarke and Polly obsessed about the uncouth comments from the co-conspirators and CiFers. They are the people. The people you don't meet at Hampstead dinner parties or in the village deli of your Italian villa. The people who are sick and tired...
