Sun Shuns Manse Son

So the weathervane of the dead tree press has shifted again.Will they be able to claim that they won the next election for the Tories, or has the influence that they had in the eighties and nineties been eroded by more sophisticated media?
Certainly the younger generations rely more on Facebook and Google for news than any slanted newspaper.
In Scotland the SNP managed to form a government in the teeth of a hostile press; yet in the comments section of the online Scotsman and Herald there were many rebuttals of those papers editorial stances.Did they make a difference?
So, what now for the Scottish Sun? A cleft stick indeed.Does the SNP need or even want it's support? If they go with the Tories they will lose readers to the Record, support Labour and they will probably have to write a whole different edition to the English one.

Mind you that probably wouldn't take too long...

ID Cards R'nt Us.

A recent couple of posts on Libertarianism has made me think more about it than I have done before.

I even did the wee test. The blue cross is official SNP policies, red is me.Just like when that picture was taken...

It all comes down to laws. Lots of them. Isn't it what Governments do?Make laws and more laws.Won't there be a point where no more laws can be made?

So the Libertarians have a point; to reduce laws to the minimum and only for life threatening crime.But where do you draw the line?

Would the worlds envisioned by Heinlein be utopias or dystopias?Strapping on a gunbelt to go shopping has a certain appeal, but would you like your daughter to do so?

Anyhow I strongly disagree with ID cards, although would like one like the one pictured.

So long as it wasn't compulsory.

Smeato to banjo Glasgow

Been having Manflu symptoms since Monday, not being able to do much except sneeze over the keyboard and pitifully plea for another cup of tea.Dog walking has been farmed out to just about everybody, but still, four pairs of eyes watch my every move...Am going to bite the bullet and take them out after finishing this.

Airships, a new dawn?

I've always loved airships ever since I read H G Wells' "The War in the Air" in the early seventies.Then along came Michael Moorcock's similarly titled "The Warlord of the Air" and I was truly hooked on these remarkable machines.

In the real world of course, using hydrogen for lift proved too dangerous(Oh the humanity!)and for years the only airships flying were the helium filled Goodyear blimps and eccentric inventors creations.

Now a new structural materiel has been designed, light and tough which is capable of powering electric fans for propulsion, using the sun during the day and fuel cells at night.

Of course it's the American military which has funded the research and they are concentrating on battlefield surveillence as it is much cheaper than putting up all those high maintainance AWACS.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4083026

The civilian aspects of it are immense; leisurely travel, perhaps even door to door? Although I doubt the Government would like that, across borders.

Goods in containers could be airshipped straight from the factory right to the customer, bypassing all the current chokepoints.

Smaller versions could support mobile phone masts, giving far better, safer, coverage.

So, maybe along with Bert Smallways and Oswald Bastable I may get a ride on an airship yet...

Escape from Glasgow NE

It's quiet...too quiet.
They have gone back to prepare for the move, and one half of me is relishing the peace; but the other...

Pricks fail to execute

Another quick post as I look at the devastation that is my front room, but all is not bad; the dogs are loving all the extra food that drops like manna from heaven from the wee ones chair.
I'm also finding "Big cook, Little cook" strangely mesmerising...

A Narrow Nationalist Battle.

I haven't blogged for about a week so I thought I'd have a go after the wee one went to bed.

Who's Iain Gray?

To all you pedants out there Smee, I know it should be hanged; in the first instance anyway.

Pusillanimous pissants.

I haven't been posting lately.

Chez Conan is currently hosting a multitude of grandbairns.

Alright then, it's just two of them, plus parents.

But one of them is a two year old...the dogs are hiding under chairs, you can't walk two steps without treading on Lego, and all the females in the house are worshipping at his wee feet.

I'm writing this in the dead of night, knowing I've got three or four hours of computer time without going into bloody ceebeebies...

Did something happen at the wee Parly? Missed it.

I know a lot about Waybuloo now though. Perhaps there isn't all that much difference.

Somebody who thought he was going to die in prison, stood up and said:

"The Scots made the right decision".

Thanks Nelson. And Robert Anson Heinlien for the title .