House of Comments

05: Hung Parliaments, Cyberlockers, Sawn-Off Shotguns and Blog Regulation

Charlotte Gore and Constantly Furious join us this week on the House of Comments Podcast to talk about some of the UK political blogosphere’s biggest stories over the past week.

Download the MP3 file, Subscribe using iTunes or listen using the player below.

We chatted about the possibility of a hung parliament, in light of a poll with the Tory lead down to only 6%, and ask what that could mean for the Lib Dems.

Lord Mandelson’s ‘Three Strikes’ policy for cutting off illegal file-sharers and cracking down on ‘cyberlockers’ is still making waves, as is the manner in which he has used statutory instruments to push the legislation through. What problem is he trying to solve, and will his plans do anything to solve it?

Paul Clarke handed in a shotgun at his local police station and now faces a possible 5 year jail sentence. Constantly Furious was pretty angry about this, whilst Jack of Kent had the most detailed account of the story.

The new Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, Baroness Buscombe, has been quoted as saying she’s interested in regulating the blogosphere, a prospect many bloggers are not happy about. We blow her a collective raspberry.

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04: Labour’s Debts, Twitter’s Power, Watford’s Playgrounds and MP’s Salaries.

This week on the House of Comments podcast we’re joined by Jennie Rigg and Matt Wardman to talk about a few of the things which have been making waves in the online world.

• Labour appear to be one wrong step away from going broke – could this mean an early election?
• The online world of Twittering Social Networking has been flexing its muscles over the past few weeks. Where is this going, and how will it affect politics in the future?
• Was Watford Council right to use child safety concerns as justification for banning parents from 2 Adventure Playgrounds?
• And finally, should we be paying MPs more – and is this all really Thatcher’s fault?

Hope you enjoy listening – you can download the MP3 file here, subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or simply listen in the player below.

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03: David Nutt, Climate Change, File Sharing and the EU Presidency

This week on the House of Comments podcast we’re joined by Mathew Hulbert of NetNewsDaily, and Thomas Byrne of Byrne Tofferings.

We chatted about:

• Was Alan Johnson right to sack David Nutt for giving the ‘wrong’ advice on drugs?
• Conservative bloggers seem to be out of step with the Conservative party leadership over Climate Change – but which of them is closer to the grassroots?
• Lord Mandelson has detailed his ‘three strikes’ policy for illegal file sharers, but do his proposals stack up?
• And lastly, do we think Tony Blair will become President of the EU Council? For that matter, do we think he should?

You can download the MP3 here, subscribe using iTunes, or listen to the podcast using the player below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download