Cute Cat Friday 2015-03-06: Belle

A majestic cat, born to the purple.

1st Blogiversary

As of today, I've been writing this blog for a year! Thanks to all my readers.

My most viewed posts are as follows:

1. Death and Facebook: Facebook's business model is to mine our emotions for profit, and its algorithms do not care if anyone is hurt in the process. Even when it works "correctly", it circulates some astoundingly thoughtless remarks. This post has the highest number of pageviews, by far; many from a comment on Inadvertent Algorithmic Cruelty by Eric Meyer.
2. Waste of Space: An Open Letter to Nigel Farage: Denouncing the odious leader of UKIP, on an occasion when he claimed immigrants like myself are literally a waste of space. 
3. Scotland's Vote 23: Yes or No: My final summary of the debate on Scottish independence, the day before the referendum. I tried very hard to make it compact, informative and even-handed, and I think I largely succeeded.
4. Cute Cat Friday 2015-01-09: Belle: I don't know why this particular one is so popular, but isn't she a beautiful cat? (Photo appears below.)
5. Scotland's Vote 7: The SNP Disparity: Written two months before the referendum vote, and looking at the disparity between support for the SNP and support for independence. Nationalist myth-making aside, this points to the best explanation of why Yes lost.

I'm enjoying this space to comment and rant about the things which interest me, so here's to many more years of blogging.

Cute Cat Friday 2015-02-27: Dexter

We assembled the baby's crib last week, and Dexter soon claimed the surplus Moses basket.

Nut Meets Sledgehammer: Follow-up

My recent post Nut Meets Sledgehammer looked at the case of Ross Loraine, a resident of Sunderland who was cautioned by police for an offensive tweet about a tragic accident in Glasgow. A subsequent article in the New York Times shows that in some ways, Loraine got off lightly.

Aftermath of the lorry crash in Glasgow.

Cute Cat Friday 2015-02-20: Belle

Doing her part to express support for the Oilers, who still need all the help they can get.

The Shallow Talent Pool of Scottish Labour

The Scottish Labour Party is in deep trouble. Many of the reasons are obvious, but I will explore a less obvious one.

The facts are well known: Since October 2014, the SNP has held roughly a 20 point lead over Labour in voting intentions for Westminster in Scotland. This basically reverses the situation in the 2010 general election, and would hand about 30 of Labour's Scottish seats to the SNP. It is usual to credit the energy, optimism, and unity of the SNP, galvanized by its efforts in last year's referendum campaign; contrasted with the internal conflicts of Scottish Labour, the uninspiring leadership of Ed Miliband, and Labour's dismal efforts to chase swing voters in middle England to the exclusion of all else. All these things are true, but I think there is another underlying factor.

The Scottish Parliament building.

Cute Cat Friday 2015-02-13: FLB

Our neighbour's cat Furry Little B*****d, surveying his territory on a winter morning. Yet another neighbour's cat is watching him from the comfort of her living room (top left).

FLB is a lovely cat really, his name is explained here.