The Sceptic Blog

Can’t help thinking the more @Kevin_Maguire tries to emulate @campbellclaret, the less he succeeds. I’d regard that as a result. Does he?

Odds on the SFO getting Asil Nadir bang to rights? On their track record…oh, about zero I think…

@OliverCooper Link broken…

We’ve just been hit by phone criminals…read about it here. http://bit.ly/cRwQQ6

@iaindale Queen? Hilarious that she is trading on hubby’s notoriety. If only it weren’t so sad!

@nickbroom – thought you’d like this @TimMontgomerie. Nice Guardian graphic on councils’ spending on websites http://is.gd/elok6

Tim Price is brilliant on the myth of equities. Business First Magazine http://bit.ly/cBTe9E

Oops! I was right…more public money spent on lobby groups to sway policy. The Road Safety Analysis group was set up by DfT and TV Police.

Investigate this lot’s funding – any from DfT? “Road risk higher among deprived children, says study” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10989119

Good luck to the new magazine @SOBrightonHove! Glossy stable mate of excellent SO Tunbridge Wells and Guildford.

Insanity – see Public Funded Lobbying of Dave Pays Off – Guy Fawkes’ blog. http://bit.ly/dqw7sS

@TimMontgomerie Would you count yourself as ticking two of those boxes Tim? Respect!

Newsnight debate on personal responsibility for health a travesty. Bottom line: nanny knows best and must pay. Nuts.

BBC report on speed cams doesn’t mention Swindon where switch off reduced deaths and injuries. WHY?

@nickherbertmp Is it a question of good aim or good taste?

Marina Hyde on England and Frank Lampard’s gold iPods…yes, you couldn’t make this stuff up http://gu.com/p/2tz63/tw

@OliverCooper @TimMontgomerie yes. the absurdity of the ‘must stay in to trade’ argument is we hand all that money straight back.

@TimMontgomerie http://twitpic.com/29gzk9 – Bet you the taxes paid by UK plc on profits from EU trade don’t amount to £14.4bn. Do you know?

I like disruptive ideas. The recruitment business has been in need of one for a long time. yourpeoplemarket.com seem to be onto something.  http://bit.ly/944z7A

It’s a debate about the future survival of newspapers. Rupert Murdoch believes peope will eventually pay to read the news online. I resist doing that, for now…but Imight get behind a paywall if the journalism there was as good as this.

Rebuilding Parkersburg after the tornado http://bit.ly/clCjcv

Lord March: I fear for future of horse racing. Calls for revolution in racing. http://bit.ly/czkXUU

IoD takens on the banks. Good for them. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/63cb806a-8de5-11df-9153-00144feab49a.html

RT @AMERICAblog: When in a PR hole, stop digging! BP puts fake photo of crisis command centre on its BP site http://bt.io/FfBL

@grantshapps Worth mentioning that the BigSoc has been working away in the background v. effectively for some time: http://bit.ly/bbx9AU

In the latest issue of Business First there’s a story about Kirdford in Sussex – the village was at risk of losing its local shop, so volunteers banded together to sell £10 shares to buy it, raised £200k, blagged free bits and bobs while local builders chucked in their time for nothing, and came up with a wholly locally-owned store that acts as parish pump, cafe, internet hub, arts centre and, of course, shop.

They were assisted by the Plunkett Foundation, whose founder Horace Plunkett’s philosophy is summed up as:

We seek economic solutions to create social change

We seek solutions that enrich rural community life

We see self-help as the most effective way to tackle rural needs…

Sounds like a big piece of the Big Society right there.

If this is anywhere close to being a true picture, then Apple may have peaked.  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/a2027809.html

Question Time is a joke. Sally Bercow? Who she? Nick Ferrari? Ex-Sun showbiz shill, George Galloway? Old joke. BBC – apologise.

Good news for rail travellers. About time.  http://www.businessfirstmagazine.co.uk/news.htm

Bit late onto this one. Government web site waste. Utter debacle, massive kick in the teeth for private web companies http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/2010/07/the_105m_website.html