Well, it’s started with a change – Coordinated Universal Time  ticked over to read 2010:01:01:00:00:00, so that’s at least one thing that’s different; but just else will be different in this coming year to the years prior?

Firstly, VAT has just risen to 17.5% again, so expect price rises immediately, or phased in over time depending on the retailer. I would have thought it wise to have extended the VAT break to a later date, as a price rise whilst we’re only just approaching the end of the recession could run the risk of reducing sales, and leading to a double dip; many retailers, in deciding to freeze the increase for a while, seem to be thinking along similar lines.

Related to this, the UK, on May 6th most likely, will have a General Election. Unless a major upset happens, we’re currently looking at a Conservative Government with a small majority, or even forming a minority or coalition government from a hung parliament. But will a shift to a blue government really bring about much change, after all New Labour was an attempt to shift Labour towards the Conservatives, and Cameron’s Conservatives pull themselves towards New Labour? Yes, and no. Both sides promise dangerously low investment, and even cuts, in industry that desperately needs investment, such as eco-technology and energy, sciences, and education. Labour want to balance investment by cutting it in areas they don’t like, the Tories want to destroy the public sector, all the while supporting the renewal of hugely expensive, weapons of mass destruction. The Tories want to slash taxes for the rich, whilst doing little for the middle and lower classes, and Labour aren’t progressive enough to properly support those who need it. Labour risk destroying an entire sector of the economy, and people’s rights, with the ghastly Digital Economy Bill (which the Pirate Party, and non-party organisations such as ORG are fiercely opposing), whilst the Tories are so out of touch as to seem not to even care about the sector at all, with their pledge to scrap the much needed, albeit inadequate, “broadband tax”. So ultimately, we’re screwed either way.

But the winds of change do blow in politics this year. Approximately one-third of the House of Commons will consist of MPs new to the house following the election, with a likely small increase in independents, especially with Jury Team out there supporting them. Many of these new MPs will be replacing those corrupt, out-of-touch bastards who saw fit to abuse a ridiculously poorly regulated allowances system, squandering public money to pay for their first class seats, their mansions, their moats and trouser presses, and all the other crap they apparently can’t afford on their “chumps change” of a salary of £64,766 – some £40,000 more than the ‘average’ wage earner in the UK. Maybe, just maybe, these replacements will be less self-obsessed, more in touch with modern Britain, and able to represent their constituents properly. Maybe, but maybe not… I’m not getting my hopes up for this lot.  Assuming Mr Cameron has a brain, he’ll call an election in 2014 to coincide with the EU Elections, and that year, I feel, will be a big turning point in both British, and European politics. Indeed, 2014 is where I’m focussing my own efforts, not withstanding the results of the 2013 local elections, and where I plan to make my entry into politics under the banner of the Pirate Party of the United Kingdom if I do not do so in 2013.

Another change which will hopefully happen this year is the introduction of, or the preparations to introduce some form of electoral reform; however this will only happen if the Conservatives continue to fail to set themselves apart as anything other than “not-Labour”, and we end up with a Liberal coalition. Such a result is quite frankly the best outcome we could hope for. British politics needs radical change and sweeping reforms, and this would be the place to start, in this year. So let’s hope it happens.

Moving away from politics, 2010 will be bringing about many changes to my personal life. I’ve got exams in a few weeks, exams that will ultimately decide whether I get into Aberystwyth; my university of choice, have to utilise the terrible clearing system in a (post-)recession climate, or just end up not getting into university at all. This of course means I’m also finishing college this summer, and quite frankly I’ll be glad to be leaving, because that college was a pretty exhausting place to be, crushing and suppressing the hobbies, hopes and interests that I had when I first attended there. And running alongside all this, those few friends I do have will all also be heading off to university and whatnot themselves, so this year is really our last year together, and I want to spend as much of it as I can with them. In reality I realise I probably won’t see them much more than I did this past year, and that is upsetting to me; but even so, spending some time with them is better than none at all, right?

So there you go – 2010 will bring change right from the start, but it’s not necessarily good change, and that’s incredibly frustrating, especially for a powerless control freak like me, who just wants to be able to change things, make them better, improve on what we have.

Addendum: Whilst writing this post my  site went down, luckily I learnt long ago to always copy what I’ve written to the clipboard just in case something like this happens. Downside is I lost links and stuff I’d put in. Let this be a lesson to you all, copy to clipboard, and save drafts often. I also realised I never got around to talking about 2010 in technology like I planned, but I can’t be bothered to write more for this.

“The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.  Beheadings, electrocutions, hangings, lethal injections, shootings and stonings have no place in the 21st century” – Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Akmal Shaikh, the first EU national killed in China in over half a century

You’re probably not aware of it, but this morning, whilst you slept, some time around 02:30UTC; China executed a mentally ill man, Akmal Shaikh, a 53 year old British citizen; the first EU national to be executed in China since 1951. Akmal, who dreamed of being a pop star, and had written a song he hoped would bring about world peace, was killed after being exploited into trafficking 4kg of drugs into the country; carrying just 50g is enough for China to execute a person.

But Akmal is not alone in his extreme treatment by the Chinese legal system – in 2008, China executed at least 1,718 people, accounting for some 72% of recorded executions worldwide. In the country, you can face the death penalty for some 68 offences, ranging from murder, to drug trafficking, to financial offences. Until recently, execution was carried out solely by firing squad, although China has now started to utilise lethal injection. Appeals against the death penalty are almost always unsuccessful, and cries for mercy ignored.

In my mind there is never justification for man to kill fellow man (excluding DR/provocation/justified self-defence), and most certainly not for governments to kill citizens, their own or otherwise. China asks us to respect that Akmal was guilty under their law, and was executed under their law; to that I say that I can not, and will not accept, nor respect, any law or country that will allow the state to get away with what amounts to murder. China, as an emerging superpower, and with one of the largest populations in the world, needs to be leading the way on human rights, not executing fellow man; and the world; government and public, should be condemning them for their actions.

We can only hope that as we move forward into a new decade, the world takes a step towards abolishing such inhumane acts.

Greetings to all of you, most of whom will be arriving via Twitter (praise be the tweet).

Today, I have a most wonderful infographic for you, produced by yours truly. it’s 119540×700 pixels of distance-y goodness! I made it because I felt people didn’t quite appreciate the scale of the distances involved when it comes the Earth, the International Space Station, and the Moon. For added comparison I threw in Hubble, and Hawaii to America.

Anyway; enjoy!

Cropped Image Showing only ISS, Hubble, and Hawaii. Click for full size (cropped).

CLICK HERE for the full image, including distance to Moon.

(warning: picture is EXTREMELY long, although filesize is only 801kb. )

Note: you’ll probably have to download the image to view it, as most browsers do not render .tif in page.

Just a short message for you. Christmas isn’t an excuse to be more wasteful. Keep recycling (or start if you don’t!), don’t waste materials or food, and don’t use more than you have to!

Our carbon footprint is big enough the rest of the year as it is, so why not try to actually cut it over Christmas, rather than inflate it? After all, if our governments can’t agree on ways to tackle climate change, we just have to take it into our own hands: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Re-think.

As an added incentive to spread the message, the first person to retweet this entry by clicking the little button up near the top will be gifted a nice, green, digitally distributed Steam copy of Braid. To be eligible you must have a Steam account. I’ll contact the winner on twitter to ask for your steam ID.

Here’s some America-centric statistics for all of you:

Presented by Online Education

Have a merry, green, Christmas!

Finally got around to making the blog look a little more unique. Naturally this is achieved by adding Batman to every page. Anyway, I was actually lazy with this, it’s built upon the Retromania theme, hence in terms of layout it’s identical to before, just with new, blue and white colours.

It’s December 2009. A few weeks from now the year comes to an end, and with it, we usher in 2010, and the start of the second decade of the 21st Century. I could talk about all the things expected in this coming decade, and what it means for you and me, society, and humanity as a whole, but that can be done later anyway. No, instead I’m going to bore you by giving you a list of what were, to me personally, the most important moments, events, or things of ‘the noughties’.

(Originally this was going to be a top 10, but I couldn’t think of enough major stuff, so I had to drop it down to 5…)

Read more…

The standard logo of Pirate Parties worldwide

43 Countries, 12 Official parties, 2 MEPs,  3rd biggest party in Sweden, 6th biggest party in Germany, tens of thousands of members worldwide; and all just 4 years after the founding of the original Piratpartiet in Sweden – but just what is the Pirate Party, what does it stand for, and why is it one of the most rapidly growing political movements of this century?

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It’s now officially November; fireworks are already being set off every night, weather is suddenly worse, and it’s dark when I wake and when I get home. So with this, I guess I should round up the past month…

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It's only a matter of time…

Zombies?

Yes, zombies. One of the most problematic events that threaten humanity is a zombie outbreak. We’ve all seen zombies in movies, games, and books, but just how realistic are these portrayals? Would humanity really be doomed, or would we be able to fight back? Are zombies slow, shuffling rotten flesh, or fast and deadly killers? In the event of apocalypse do we adopt a nomadic lifestyle, or do we fortify our surroundings? All of these are key questions that are posed whenever zombies are mentioned  in media and the arts, and I plan to address them as well as I can, as well as laying out rules and advice that I feel would, as generally as possible, help improve your chances of survival in case of outbreak.

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