Free David Osler

This poor man, an interesting lefty blogger, is being sued (see the October 9th post).

His crime? He listed the political parties and legal history of a Tory candidate. She doesn't claim inaccuracy, but feels that him listing the 4 parties she belonged to in 1 year breaches her human right to freedom of assembly. She's also suing him because a commenter on the piece described her as 'one cherry short of a Schwarzwalderkirschtorte', which is a) mild and b) slightly amusing. He's spending a lot of his time in court at the moment, and will soon be bankrupted. Because this is a freedom of speech matter, lots of unpleasant rightwing bloggers are supporting him. Well done, chaps (they are all chaps).

Go Prezza

You may know that I'm sceptical of Twitter, but there's an article in today's Guardian on former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's use of Twitter and blogging to harass the Tories, amongst other things.

This one's my favourite:

At White House. Last time here Cheney spoke to me via videolink from secret location. Asked if Osama was with him. He didn't laugh 10:31am 17 July from mobile web

The McBride Affair and British Political Blogging

For a concise explanation of British political blogs, have a look at Tim Ireland's explanation. You need sound on, and it probably isn't safe for work unless you work at the university where pretty much anything goes. He provides more coverage of this unsavoury affair here.