Blog posts

Rather than blog about anything other than apple here today, I refer you to the Grace Lent Blog, where I have covered for Evil Harv (aka. The Cheat).

A 9.40am call to Apple resulted in a 10.50am response and it seems we’re making a little progress. Well. They haven’t located my laptop. That will still take ten days to investigate. But they have conceded that perhaps being without my computer may be a little inconvenient, so they’re going to lend me one in the meantime. From what I gathered it won’t be quite identical, but the only difference will be slightly less memory. ...

So the working day has ended without any further information. That’s despite further phone calls. Hopefully the morning will bring an update.

At 3pm I finally managed to get through to Kevin Walsh in the apple complaints department. He seemed puzzled as to how I’d managed to get his number but has promised to look into the case and get back to me, having been informed that I need the machine by Wednesday. Bizarrely, his records show that the machine had been received at the apple depot on March 26th, which is what I was told all last week and what should have happened. I’m rather looking forward to hearing this all explained…. ...

I had a blog entry half-written about network campaigning. But I don’t think that will get finished today, so it will have to wait. Instead I thought I might use this blog in the manner in which blogs sometimes seem to have been made for. To vent. As many people know, I am rather attached to my laptop. I have a very nice Apple Powerbook, of the titanium variety. It was quite a thing for me to let it go, sending it to apple for a minor repair eleven days ago. They told me it would take seven to ten days for repair and return. ...

The blog world has allowed a number of people involved in

Returning from seeing The Passion Of The Christ with Matt and Fraser last Sunday I attempted to shape some words to describe the experience. They’re still hidden away somewhere on my hard drive, but I think I’ll choose to leave them there. I needed some time to temper my take on the film with conversation and to allow the visceral memories to subside somewhat. It wasn’t until two days later that I first put a response on any sort of record when I commented on Hugo Schwyzer’s blog, as he contrasted his reaction to the film with the reviews in the British press. ...

A short while ago, during an exchange of emails, Ralston Bowles happened to mention to me that his room had caught fire at this year’s Folk Alliance festival in San Diego. Yesterday he emailed again, mentioning that the full story can now be found at this site.

Since 1997 it has often seemed that Britain is without a paliamentary opposition to the government. After the devastating blow that New Labour’s 1997 election win dealt to the Conservative Party they have been largely ineffective as an opposition party. The Liberal Democrats have made some sensible comments, but are still not strong enough as a parliamentary force to back up their words. The most effective opposition forces of the past seven years have been New Labour’s own backbench MPs who, in debates over War with Iraq and Top-up Fees, have brought the government perilously close to defeat. ...

Visiting the Houses of Parliament has become a relatively regular part of my life over the past few years, as I’ve found myself lobbying a number of MPs on a variety of issues. Mainly higher education-related. Entering the corridors leading to Central Lobby has become a matter of course, but there’s still a thrill that comes with walking through those historic halls each and every time I enter. It’s a shame the quality of dialogue which takes place within them rarely pays testament to the history and architecture containing it. ...