Wickham Railway

We started out with a simple plan; drive to Wickham, park, and cycle to West Meon along the dismantled railway track (Meon Valley Trail). The weather was good, the track was mostly dry (odd sections are muddy where the track passes through a cutting) but it wasn't to be; we just about made it past the halfway point (route map) before calling it a day. 

We'll be back, though. We mean to do it and it's only 9.5 miles, well within our range given that the track is almost completely level.

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Relaxed Sunday Evening

The chores are done (lawn mown, garage door frame painted, strawberries picked etc.) so we're sitting in the garden with a G&T waiting for the barbecue to burn down so that we can cook dinner. All is quiet as the bees bumble around in the flowers; bliss.

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Short Ride, Friday Night

Dammit, I hate it when work intrudes on real life. Friday I worked from home and without the normal 4 hour commute I can normally finish everything I need to do and find time to get out on the bike before the evening's commitments, but the fates conspired this week and time was short. 

Here's the route (link). Very short, mostly on the road, rather dull but at least the sun shone and the sky was blue. Here's a photo I took on the way; Warsash Church, just for the hell of it.

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How cool is your council?

I wouldn't normally rave about local government, but Hampshire County Council has some great facilities for cyclists, both on and offroad. From this page you should find something to keep you occupied while you visit our county. And if the short routes aren't enough of the challenge, have a go at the South Downs Way (which I haven't done yet - hopefully next year) which starts (or ends, depending on which way you look at it) in Winchester.

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New Forest Ride - Photos

A few photos of the New Forest taken during last week's ride.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Riding the New Forest

The New Forest isn't very well named. It isn't new, having been 'created' by William the Conqueror in about 1080, and it isn't really a forest, being made up mostly of scrub and farmland (although there are a fair number of trees dotted around). Most of the forest, which  has been a National Park for a number of years, is open to walkers and cyclists and, with over 100m of flat-ish cycle paths, it's a pretty good place for a gentle ride.

Monday morning saw us (myself and the wife) in Brockenhurst (a small town in the middle of the forest, where we had booked a B&B, Cottage Lodge), from where we planned to ride to a pub for lunch before returning in the afternoon. Having forgotten to plan a route before leaving home, we picked up the instructions for a route we had previously ridden (on hired bikes) from the B&B and made our way, after a few wrong turns, to the Royal Oak at Bank (route map - first 5.5 miles missing after a technical hitch).

The Royal Oak is a pretty good pub in a great location and we sat outside in the shade (Monday was rather warm by this point) with a beer (HSB, regrettably no longer made by Gales of Horndean) and sandwiches, basking in the fine weather. Having spent as long as we reasonably could on lunch, we donned helmets again for the ride back, reaching Brockenhurst in time to freshen before taking tea at the Thatched Cottage (they do a really good cream tea with fresh hot scones).

Tuesday opened slightly chillier after a great deal of rain overnight but, after a full breakfast, we struck out on the second of our rides, this time along the dismantled railway towards Ringwood with the intention of stopping in Burley for lunch. This route (link to map), which I sold to the wife as flat and easy, turned out to be somewhat less straightforward than I had hoped, mostly because of navigational errors on my part. That said, we did eventually reach Burley and, having locked up the bikes in the villages main car park, we had a light lunch at one of the tea shops. 

Strangely, cycling back to Brockenhurst took far less time than cycling out, mostly because we didn't get lost, chopping 4 miles from our route. 

Most of the off-road stuff was on hard-packed tracks, but we did manage some grassy hills, a few fords, some wooded paths and some steep gravelly bits. What did we learn? At least two important things:

1. Cotton t-shirts just don't cut it on a hot day; we're going to upgrade to high-tech fast-wicking shirts, something like this, and
2. The iPhone is invaluable and without it we'd have been stuffed; might be a good idea to get an external battery.

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Home-made Bertie

Made by some chums while awaiting our starters. All you need is a packet of Allsorts and some cocktail sticks.

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Vodafone, mobile working, and trains

It's taken a while, but having overcome various technical problems my Vodafone data card is now working again on my laptop, theoretically allowing me to be in touch with civilisation whilst on the train. This is of course a great relief, but it again highlights the coverage problems in rural Hampshire and Surrey, through which the train passes on its way to Waterloo. This, coupled with the Vodafone connection software's insistence on asking for permission to reconnect every single time and the fact that the connection progress screen is forced to be in the Desktop foreground, makes attempts at mobile working somewhat frustrating.

Having said all this, when it works it does work very well and it is possible to complete some useful work, although whether or not this is worth the stress and struggle remains to be seen. Luckily, this morning's train has been delayed by problems at Woking, so I have even longer to work on my emails and ponder my blog updates.

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Dara O'Briain and New Scientist

This week's New Scientists has an interview with Dara O'Briain, comedian and holder of a degree in mathematical physics. He really doesn't like pseudo-science, homeopathy, reiki, Gilliam McKeith or fad diets (does anyone?).
 
The rest of the magazine is also worth reading (in fact, every edition is worth reading), especially if you normally get your science news from your daily paper. Find it at www.newscientist.com.

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Saving for your next life

Here's a good scam (www.reincarnationbank.com). Invite people to deposit money that they can then retrieve in their next life. It's brilliant!

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First ride on the new bike.

Pretty much as soon as we got home with the bikes yesterday I headed out on what is fast becoming my standard 45-50 minute route; south to the Solent via Hook Lane and the footpath, east along the top of the cliffs, north along the canal path to Titchfield then back through the village to home (route). This time, on the new bike, it felt faster; the Core 00 is vastly more comfortable than my ancient Claud Butler as well as being easier to ride. There was a little congestion on the paths (Saturday afternoon dog and children walkers) but it was still pretty quiet and I got round in 45:30, my best time yet and three minutes faster than last week. 

How much of the time improvement can reasonably be assigned to the bike and how much to familiarity with the route (or, dare I say it, improvements in my riding or fitness) is unclear, but I think I'll try it again next week and aim for 43 minutes. Can anyone tell me what sort of speed might be normal over level-ish off-road tracks?

There are some things I can work on. This route isn't really very difficult at all but I still get caught at the end of the canal path, where there are three steps to descend from the road to the track, and by the Church in Titchfield, where there's a narrow footbridge to negotiate. Neither is much of an obstacle but I keep scraping the handrails on the bridge with my arms (when I'm trying desperately to maintain my balance) and I'm a little hesitant on the steps; I think the answer is to just go faster and hang-on. 

On the plus side, I made it down the longer and more easily accessible steps at Warsash Common on Friday, so maybe it's the narrow entrance to the steps at the canal that is giving me a problem rather than the steps themselves. Either way, more practice required, which is good 'cos it's fun.

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New bikes have been acquired

So, in the end, I wound down my spending ambitions a little and went for the baby of the Genesis Bikes range, the Core 00. The 00 shares a frame with its bigger brothers so I reasoned that it would probably be good for several years and, if I felt it necessary, upgraded forks, drivetrain and so on wouldn't look amiss. Also, I preferred the grey finish to the white of the Core 10, and style, as we all know, is important when you're covered in mud and sweat.

 

Where did I go to choose this masterpiece of engineering? The local stockist is a shop in Waltham Chase called Chase Cycles, where Peter (the proprietor) was very friendly and helpful as I dithered between the Core 10 and Core 00. The wife had no such problems. While I was test-riding the Core 10 she got herself kitted-out with a very nice Ridgeway MXK Open Frame, which ought to allow us to follow most of the routes in the New Forest in relative comfort (this being a particular concern of the wife).

 

To go with the two bikes we picked up a pair of gloves each, some shorts and a helmet for the wife, a second lock and a bike rack. The credit card has taken a bit of a battering, but we've got some great kit and I can't wait to get going (in fact, I went out on the bike as soon as I got home, but more of that later). Tomorrow we're off to the Forest for a couple of days' cycling, after which I will, of course, present my thoughts on the bikes, the routes, the pubs and the B&B.

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Another ride

Yesterday the weather was glorious, and it was good well into the evening, so I went for a ride (route link) after work. Browsing the net for local off-road routes has not been totally successful (although there are loads of routes within easy driving distance) but the more I explore, the more I stumble across bits of the countryside that are fun to ride through, like the well-disguised off-road  routes in the woods at the edge of Warsash Common (page with a map of the Common).

I'm not quite sure why this information should be so hard to find. Fareham Borough Council maintains a fairly informative website covering all sorts of local facilities, parks, sporting venues and other amenities, but off-road cycling, for which somebody is obviously marking routes, isn't very well represented. Still, it's fun to go looking, and these woods are only just down the road; I'll head back at some point and take some photos.

Anyway. Last night's route took me through the woods at Warsash Common, but only because I got a little lost. Finding my way from there to the shore front, which ought to have been simple, took longer than expected but it was worth the effort; blue skies over the Solent, very nice. A short stretch of gravel, then back inland across fields and stiles (there may be a technique for crossing stiles without dismounting, but I haven't found it yet) to pick up Hook Lane, which leads conveniently back to National Cycle Route 2. Follow route 2 down to the sea again, admire the views of the Isle of Wight, then back along the canal path to Titchfield and home to the JP. 

A nice ride, no problems, about 13 miles in total. Good views, no blood injuries.

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Mr Murphy-O'Connor shames Catholics again. No surprise.

Mr Murphy-O'Connor claims that "atheism is the greatest of evils" (source). This is exactly the sort of irrational comment we've come to expect from the (now ex-) leader of a Church that has routinely covered-up paedophilia in its institutions. Anyone who thinks the Catholic Church retains any moral authority at all should read about the Church's activities in Ireland: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ireland-braces-for-report-on-catholic-child-abuse-1687907.html.

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New bikes

I haven't bought a new bike for about eighteen years and, since that bike was stolen in 1995, I've hardly ridden at all. In fact, it had been so long since I did any regular riding that I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it and it has been quite exciting, over the last few weeks, to head into the countryside on a second hand (and extremely elderly) mountain bike. I have, if you'll pardon the cliché, rediscovered the joy of cycling.

There are, however, three problems. 

Firstly, it annoys my wife that I have a new "obsession", although I think she concedes that this one is less destructive than, for example, World of Warcraft. 

Secondly, the immediate area in which I live is fairly flat and suburban so there's a certain amount of effort required to reach fun off-road trails (I know, the South Downs are nearby, but they're not that nearby). 

Finally, and most easily solved, the bike I inherited from my brother ten years ago, and which he'd battered quite well over several years, is, frankly, rubbish.

I'll fix the first problem by buying the wife a bike an taking her along. Sometimes. Problem two is just a case of organising a bike rack for the car and planning my rides; easy. 

Problem three is the best, since it gives me the opportunity to buy a new bike. After extensive research, I think I want this one: http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bike/core_10. I'm off to try it this afternoon. Can't wait. 

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How to open a news article

This is a great way to open a news article:

FORMER MEMBER of the Hitler Youth and now infallible Pope, Benedict XVI thinks it is a nifty idea for the yoof of today to spam others with Christian messages.

The story itself is laughable; does the Pope really thing he can attract the youth of today via Facebook? You can find it here - link.

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MPs' Expenses

I really don't care that MPs have claimed for TVs or furniture for their second homes (although these items obviously now belong to the state and should be returned by MPs leaving the house), or that they've received payments for general living costs incurred as part of their employment (anyone working away from home would expect their employer to cover reasonable costs). News of moats and duck ponds is more worrying, although this also represents a failure of the rules themselves and of the office charged with enforcing the rules (I think few accountants in private companies would pay an expense claim for gardening).
 
Changing you designated primary residence to avoid paying Capital Gains Tax, however, as several Cabinet Ministers are alleged to have done, is a far more serious breach of trust and these investigations are clearly better handled by the Police than by an internal House of Commons team. Gordon Brown's response to allegations of criminal fraud, particularly when evidence appears to support those allegations, must be to initiate a criminal enquiry and to suspend the MPs involved. Will he?
 
One more thing. If MPs really want to be improve their image, they should simply adopt the expenses rules that parliament forces upon everyone else. Abolish the current system of allowances and instead adopt the rules laid down by Inland Revenue and other agencies. Anything less will be seen by a cynical public as an attempt to continue the current system by a new name and will further degrade trust in our battered political system. It's time for real change.

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Hampshire countryside

Green and a little blurred, Hampshire is rather picturesque.

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Revised Titchfield Haven Ride

I went for a short ride (7.48 miles) last week, starting at the Sir Joseph Paxton (a pub, not the real Sir Joseph Paxton , because he's dead) in Titchfield Common (just round the corner from my house). Following a corrected version of last week's problematic ride (Titchfield Haven Ride), my objective was to get the whole thing done as quickly as possible, preferably inside 60 minutes. As it happened, I managed to do the whole thing in 48:26 which, although not necessarily very fast, rather suggests that 60 minutes was far too generous a target. I think I'll have another go next weekend and aim for 42 minutes, which ought to be a bit more of a challenge.

How do I know it took 48 minutes? I have been using MotionX-GPS Lite on my iPhone to track my route and speed. It's a pretty good application and definitely worth a look if you hike or ride and want to know exactly how far, and how fast, you've gone, although it puts rather a strain on the battery (3-4 hours is probably the limit).

Once you have your route nicely logged to your phone, there's a small amount of work to do publish it. It isn't difficult, but I plan to post some helpful hints when I've had time to draft them. The weekend, maybe?

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Train Etiquette

Train etiquette is fairly well developed in the UK, where long familiarity and an ingrained respect for personal privacy combine to deliver a boringly predictable travel experience. Most of the time, anyway.
 
So what do you do when people start to push the envelope a little, by shouting into their mobile phones, for example, or playing loud music through tinny headphones? Nothing of course; you look the other way and ignore them, trusting that someone else will remonstrate with them sooner or later (this happens only when the Guard appears, and not often even then). This works tolerably well in no situations at all, but at least it allows you to complete your journey without the embarrassment of having to talk to an un-introduced stranger.
 
There are two situations where this approach really doesn't work. The first is when your neighbour insists on intruding into your personal space, by falling asleep on your shoulder, maybe, or by stretching their newspaper in front of you.
 
The other is smell, where, for example, a fellow passenger insists on eating something obnoxiously chemical without seeming to care about the discomfort caused to his fellows. I'm not against eating on trains in general (I've often done it myself, especially late at night when dinner is but a distant memory) but sometimes it seems that the forcible ejection of another passenger via the window of a still- moving train is not a wholly unjustified act.

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Palm Pre US Launch Date

The BBC advise (link) that the Palm Pre will be launched on 6th June in the US, two days before the start of Apple's WWDC where the new iPhone models are expected to be announced. Next month should be interesting.

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Laptop Relief

Last night I left my laptop in the office with the tech guys so that it's numerous annoying idiosyncracies might be tempered, possibly by the repeated application of a large axe to the keyboard. Not having to carry it on the train has allowed me to leave my bag at home and I'm surprised to find that this has actually made quite a difference - walking without the extra few kilos can't really be much easier, but it certainly feels a lot easier, and my step us lighter.
 
But what about the guilt? Ought I not to be working on the train, or at least doing something constructive? Well, yes, probably, but I console myself with the knowledge that I would be working if the tools provided were fit for purpose, as they normally are (I ignore the nagging doubt that I may accidentally have done something to my laptop to cause it's current state of sub-optimal performance).
 
Anyway, it should all be sorted out today so tomorrow I'll be back amongst the em-bagged, carrying my work with me and disrupting the sleep of my fellow passengers with my keyboard rattling. Can't wait.

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Sleeping on the train

The seats on SWT's rolling stock are minimally comfortable; if you sit up straight and face forward they're not too bad but if you try anything else, like sleeping, they punish you with back or neck pains. As a result, I've largely given up trying to sleep on the way home but, just occasionally, it's unavoidable and I find myself slumping, twisting and dozing.
 
Most plane seats are worse, of course, and even more cramped. There's no easy answer (although travelling while drunk has something going for it) so I just grin and bear it and it does, after all, make it easier to work on the way home. A pillow might help, I suppose, but I don't really fancy carrying one around with me so, regrettably, the only option is to suffer and complain. Sorry.

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Another new blog

It looks like bikes, in particular Mountain Bikes, are fast becoming my new obsession so I have started another blog (http://myryamabikes.Posterous.com ) to corral my bike-related drivel. Mostly, this will take the form of accounts of the routes I've ridden, accompanied, when the technology allows, by Google maps but there will also be general musings, links to more useful resources and all the other paraphenalia you might expect from an amateur blogger.
 
First up will be a reposting session, moving entries from my general blog to here. After that will come new stuff, probably at the weekend and probably interspersed with random bike-related content from YouTube, Flickr or wherever else I stumble across it.
 
World domination is obviously the subtext of the site (although I have no real idea how this is to be achieved), so please email or post a comment; I'm in need of henchmen and I've got a job-lot of cheap yellow jumpsuits from the chap that makes them for Hugo Drax.
 
Thanks for stopping by.
 
James

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Using Twitter for Work, Part II

A while ago I posted my musings on the use of Twitted in the workplace
and whether or not it might be a useful communication tool. My
original post raised more questions than answers but I've been
investigating and can now update you on my findings.
 
Shortly after my last post I tried to create a second Twitter account
and immediately ran into a problem with email addresses; Twitter will
only allow you to associate an email address with one account which
conflicted with my desire to have all my notifications to drop into
one Inbox. Luckily I have several Google email accounts (don't ask
why) that are aggregated into one Inbox, so the problem was quickly
overcome.
 
Twitter has a privacy option which, in most situations, renders the
service pretty much useless since it hides your posts, but it does
allow invitation-only communication - exactly what you want for a semi-
confidential channel. Have a look at http://twitter.com/myryamawork to
see what I mean, and compare to my normal account at http://twitter.com/myryama.
 
Why "MyryamaWork" instead of a name that includes, for example, my
employer's company name? For the same reason that I opened the account
with a personal email address; if this service is useful I want to
take it with me if I change jobs.
 
Is it useful? I'm not sure. TweetDeck seems to have facility for only
one account (although it's a very early Beta product and multiple
account access is such an obvious feature that it's bound to get it
sooner or later) so, for the timebeing, I'm using two FireFox plugins
(BeTwittered and TwitterGadget), one for each account. This works
tolerably well but isn't a very elegant solutions and I'll dump it as
soon as I come up with something better.
 
That hasn't really answered the question of usefulness and, at this
stage, I'm inclined to say that the tools aren't quite there yet. If
TweetDeck, or a similar desktop application, handled multiple accounts
then the service might usefully communicate updates to interested
parties but, as it is, you're restricted to either personal or work
accounts. Is that a problem? Maybe not, but it depends how you want to
use the service.
 
My plan at the moment is to keep posting to the MyryamaWork account
and to see how it goes but without publicising my activity. This
defeats the object of the exercise but until I'm happy that all the
tools are in place I don't think there's really much alternative. More
updates to follow.

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Finished Marquee

The marquee, all done in about two hours; not bad for four amateurs and an expert, but pretty slow in absolute terms. We did an awful lot of standing around waiting for instructions.

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Half erected marquee

This was the first time I had helped erect a marquee. Bit of a laugh, really, and fairly straightforward if you have someone telling you what to do.

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Mountain Bike Slang

I stumbled across an entertaining dictionary of Mountain Bike Slang the other day: http://world.std.com/~Jimf/biking/slang.html

There are loads of great entries, but my favourite is:

JRA n. acronym for "Just Riding Along," a phrase universally uttered by people bringing both halves of their frame and the remains of their fork in for warrantee replacement.

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What Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor Really Thinks

Actually, I'm not sure "think" is the right word. Play this clip (from an interview on the BBC) and you'll see what I mean. 

http://www.youtube.com/v/Xbrfz1DIq9Q

Is a celibate zombie-worshipper really qualified to judge what is human? 

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Bad Science lectures

I tried, with a friend from work, to attend a lecture given by Dr Ben Goldacre (www.badscience.net) in London earlier this year but fortune conspired against us and we were unable to gain entry (it was very popular). I have tried a couple of times to find alternative dates or events but without success.
 
Then, in one of BG's Tweets, I noticed a link to a venue I might be just able to reach in Brighton: www.bom-banes.co.uk/musicdates.html. Unfortunately, the gig is this evening and there's no practical way to get there that doesn't involve considerable expense or inconvenience so it looks like I'm back to the drawing board. All help gratefully received.

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Intermittent Internet connections

I find myself again annoyed by the appalling phone/data connection quality on my daily train journey. In the middle of mountainous Wales or the wilds of Dartmoor one might expect 3G connections to be a little flakey but in civilised Surrey, where remote means being more than 3 miles from a branch of Waitrose, it ought to be possible to deliver a fast reliable data service.
 
End of minor rant.

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Day out in London

We had a day out in London today, meeting with friends on the South Bank before watching Romeo and Juliet at the Globe. It was great fun catching up with everyone and the culture-bit was pretty good as well (in fact it was fantastic; I hope the July visit is as good).
 
Dinner at Del Aziz (Moroccan) was pretty good but a post code error on Google Maps sent us 10 minutes out of our way.

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Today's Ride

I almost didn't go out for a ride this evening - the weather forecast was pretty awful - bit I'm glad I did. It wasn't a long ride, only 9.5 miles, but it was fun with a decent amount of off-road riding. I left home with a route mapped out, but it didn't go entirely to plan:

• The lane I had planned to ride down turned out to be a private road with big signs forbidding entry. Somewhat intimidating, and enough to make me turn around,
• I turned onto the National Cycle Network (route 2) for a while, but misread one of the signs and ended up on a very narrow track overgrown with nettles; my legs (I was in shorts) are still burning,
• After the nettles came swamp; the mud was deep, tricky and messy,

After that it was fine. A ride along the top of the cliff, watching the kite-surfers, then back to Titchfield via the canal path (link).

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Using Twitter for work

I have been using Twitter for a while to post meaningless comments and updates (actual 2-way communication with other people has been effective, but rare) and I'm now wondering if it might be worth opening a new account to log non-sensitive work activities.
 
Would this be useful? Possibly. A short comment on my current activity may be useful but probably only as part of a wider effort, with colleagues, to publicize our work. Applications like TweetDeck make this sort of thing fairly easy, but can they handle multiple accounts?
 
What is the advantage over a simple blog and an RSS feed? Good question, although the 140 character limit of Twitter discourages verbose posts.
 
Could we use an internal system to achieve a similar effect? Well, SharePoint has a personal site feature, and a blog, which might be pressed into service, but the speed and ease of use of Twitter and the myriad ways of interacting with the system make it a very appealing solution.
 
Having said all that, there is still a doubt; is this a solution looking for a problem? Do we really need to do this? Is there any real benefit, or would it be another drain on our already limited resources? More questions than answers at the moment, so time to think about the idea some more.

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TripIt for iPhone

I have been using TripIt (www.tripit.com) for a while to log details of my overseas trips. It works brilliantly and is extremely easy to use. When an iPhone app was launched I quickly downloaded it, keen to see what new features would be available but, unfortunately, it's not as jam-packed with innovation as I had hoped.
 
To be fair, it does the basics (allowing access to my travel information) very well and the lack of real innovation isn't a problem (in fact, it's a completely unreasonable complaint on my part, but that's another story). There is, however, one fairly major failing; trip data is not cached on the phone so, when you're abroad with poor data access, you can't find out when your flight departs until you can connect to the Internet.
 
When you're in a hotspot the service is quick and useful but I also want to be able to check trip details when I'm not in contact with the TripIt servers. I can see this app being fantastically useful for retrieving trip information while travelling, but in it's current form it is a little unreliable.
 
The flip side is that when you are able to connect you get up-to-date information (flight delays, etc) which is enormously valuable, making the tool useful, but not perfect. I look forward to the next version.

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Cut and Paste iPhone

Version 3.0 of the iPhone's operating system will include cut-and- paste, which is great news because the absence of this feature has been a nagging irritant since the launch of the phone. For me, a highlight-and-format feature is almost as useful; plain text email is much better than no email at all, but I miss my bullet points and bold typeface.
 
Text formatting is particularly useful when writing blog posts. I want to be able to copy text (from any application or website) and post it with quote formatting as I can with GMail. If I can do this with 3.0 I'll be a happy chap and I'll probably post more as I copy snippets of text and URLs with wild abandon. You have been warned!

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Today's Ride

Wickham is a small town about 7 miles north of home. It used to have a station but now it just has a dismantled railway, the end result of an over-ambitious expansion of the network in the early part of the last century that linked two small towns between which nobody would, or did, want to travel. With the track removed, the line makes a good cycle route and it's possible to go all the way to Alton, about 16km north of Wickham.

We went about a third of the way this morning (map) before heading back for lunch at Lilly's in Wickham, which was pretty good.

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Gordon's Position

From the BBC (link):

Health Secretary Alan Johnson has defended Gordon Brown's leadership, saying he is "better than me or anyone else" as prime minister.

Can the Labour Party really find nobody better than Brown? It seems unlikely, but the alternative is that Mr Johnson is not being entirely truthful, which of course would be completely unusual in a Labour Minister.

Blogging Technologies

I have been posting to my blog for a number of years (just over seven, it appears, although some of the early entries were even less interesting than the recent posts) and I have tried several different technologies, including:

• HTML, hand-edited in a text editor and uploaded via FTP,
• HTML, created and edited in Dreamweaver then uploaded via FTP,
• A self-built PHP web page storing posts in a MySQL database,
• Microsoft's Live blogging tool, and finally
• Blogger, which I have been using since September 2006.

The move to Posterous has been pretty seamless and I really like the way it just takes anything I email at it and posts it neatly to Blogger, Twitter and Facebook. It isn't as sophisticated as Blogger, which has a rather larger feature set, but it works well, it tracks and presents page view information nicely and it is easy to use.

Definitely worth a look if you've ever thought that you might like to try blogging but can't be bothered to mess around with all the back-end stuff, like opening an account, installing applications or learning how to use a new application; Posterous makes it so easy that there's really no reason not to.

Posted via web from James's posterous

Religion and Charity

The charity laws in England and Wales allow Churches to receive tax and other benefits simply because they are churches; they are allowed to register as charities for the "advancement of religion", which is ludicrous when their activities are compared to, say, those of Oxfam, but things might be changing. The Charities Act 2006 (a guide) strengthens the provision that charities must exist for public benefit:

The Act underlines the requirement that all charities must exist for the public benefit, and the Commission has a new objective to promote understanding and awareness of this public benefit requirement.

Exactly what this means for religious charities is unclear to me (although, having read some of the documentation, the definition of Public Benefit doesn't obviously include most of the Church's traditional acitivities) but, in guidance released in December 2008 (The Advancement of Religion for the Public Benefit), there is an interesting sentence: 

Religion cannot be used as a ‘cover’ to express opinions which would not be for the public benefit if expressed by a non-religious organisation. There must be a link to a religion and the opinions must emanate from that belief system and observe the law of England and Wales.

On the face of it, the Pope's ridiculous comments on the use of condoms in Africa would breach this rule, as would the Church of England's insistence on discriminating against women.

So, via the Charity Commission, the Churches will be forced to adhere to the law or, it would appear, risk losing their charitable status. Maybe this will trigger reform; maybe the churches will step into line, end their discriminatory practices and focus on the delivering benefit to their parishioners. Or maybe they'll lose their charitable status and go bust; here's hoping.