…but probably not in the way you’re thinking.

I’m not sure on this one… Is this exactly the opposite of what David Cameron wanted his Webcameron site to be used for – or is it exactly what he wanted?

It’s certainly ‘down with the kids’ – it’s not a Tory message, but is the hope that videos like this will attract young people to the site, so that when they start browsing they might come across some Conservative content – or even just reinforce the ‘Cool Cameron’ brand in their minds? Or was this exactly the sort of thing the critics feared?

I’m confusuled!

As sort of an adjunct to this post, a little more about wearing a poppy on TV.

Jon Snow, on Channel 4 News, won’t (he hasn’t in years):

I do not believe in wearing anything which represents any kind of statement … I am begged to wear an Aids Ribbon, a breast cancer ribbon, a Marie Curie flower… You name it, from the Red Cross to the RNIB, they send me stuff to wear to raise awareness, and I don’t. And in those terms, and those terms alone, I do not and will not wear a poppy.

Sarah Smith, on More4 News, will:

I agree that newscasters shouldn’t wear all sorts of political or charitable adornments. The news studio is not the place for us to declare our commitment to fighting breast cancer or declaring we want to make poverty history by wearing ribbons or wristbands … But I think poppies are different. They are so ubiquitous for the first 11 days of November that not wearing one makes more of statement than having one on … I know Jon Snow has one on in the office – or in the street. But viewers who don’t see him in real life don’t know that. Many assume he’s taking a stand against militarism or the Iraq war. And so I think if we don’t wear a poppy we raise more questions about our personal beliefs than we do if we pin one on.

I have to say I lean more towards Snow’s point of view. I don’t see the point of institutional edicts, like the BBC’s, that state that all presenters must wear a poppy: Surely that’s no more meaningful than none wearing one. For entertainment presenters, I think it should be a matter of personal choice. But if we’re banning all manner of other symbols for news presenters, then why keep the poppy – its no less a symbol of a personal opinion than a cross, after all.

The Guardian’s free give-away wallcharts were a phenomenal success for the dead-tree Guardian, but didn’t involve Guardian Unlimited to any real extent.

But now, for the first time, the wallcharts have made their online debut…

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When I last left the story, the laptop was to be picked up and fixed (again) by HP.

Over the course of the next few weeks, following lots of confusion with couriers and other problems, the laptop was finally returned. Sorted. Fixed.

At the end of the day, I suppose HP should be commended for fixing the problem in the end. It was, after all, a relatively old (3 years) laptop. But, at the same time, they knew that when they took the £138.65 off me to extend the warranty for a year – and offered me next-day service, which turned out to take much longer than one working day – indeed, more than a month.

Now that the event has passed, I’ve written to Stephen Gill, Managing Director of HP UK asking him for comment. I’ll update the blog again if I hear from him.

But, for now: Case closed.

And so, six months after it happened to everybody else, the West Wing has come to an end for me. A seven-year era over.

I was fifteen when I started watching the West Wing, and preparing for my GCSEs. The West Wing, always watched on DVD rather than TV, has been a constant source of entertainment through those exams, AS-Levels, A-Levels, and three-and-a-bit years of medical school. That seems a heck of a long time to have been entertained by a single series.

The West Wing was a series with everything: The drama of the assassination attempt and Ellie’s kidnap, the sadness of the deaths of Mrs Landingham and, of course, Leo, the joy of election victories and moral victories, the comedy of – well, too many moments to mention, the romance between Josh and Donna, CJ and Danny, the marital tension between Mr and Mrs Bartlet, not to mention the politics… It just had everything. It may not have been on top form for all of it’s life – the programme struggled somewhat following the departure of Aaron Sorkin – but it was always a good watch. And the final series was, in my opinion, fantastic.

I know there are those who say that the final series was overly dramatic and sentimental, but I liked it. Maybe I’m overly dramatic and sentimental. I said back in January that I wanted the West Wing to die with dignity, and I think it did.

But what am I going to watch for the next seven years? What show can possibly combine the fantastic production values, unparalleled writing, and unmissable drama of The West Wing?

[flashvideo ratio=”16:9″ filename=”http://sjhoward.co.uk/video/westwing.flv” /]

For those to whom this means something, I’m now up to WP 2.0.5 (9 days since its release – that’s slow going for me!). Thanks to Mark for the changed files zip, it’s really helpful, and for the heads-up about Error 500s – I did have the problem, but the supplied tune-up plugin took care of it. Thanks!

In other news, I’ve tidied up the BlogRoll a bit, and added some new blogs. It’s more a side-effect of cleaning up my Bloglines subscriptions, because the BlogRoll comes straight from there, but it’s nice all the same. One new inclusion is the newly relaunched More4 News blog, which is looking good – and I’m not just saying it because I’m in the “Other blogs of interest” column” (thought that’s more than welcome…). I also want to have the first Trackback… Oh, and it’s a great programme and a great site, of course!

As promised… Happy Birthday Coire! Hope you have a really good day!

And, in other news, apologies for the fact that the site ‘went a bit weird’ for the last twelve hours or so. I’d love to say it was someone else’s fault, but it wasn’t. It was mine. Entirely. Wrong button you see.

I always told you people like me shouldn’t have their finger on the button. Any button. Oops.

I know I claim that this is a topical blog, and the biggest (and most predictable) story of the year has just broken… Apparently, some very ill and frail (some say moribund) 69 year-old pensioner is to be hanged in a country that is claimed to be free, fair, and modern.

But, meh, it’s my blog and I’ll post crap if I want to… And anyway, it’s not like it’s the first time this guy has been sentenced to death – and it didn’t seem to do much in the 1950s. Everyone complains that ‘life’ doesn’t mean ‘life’ – it seems ‘death’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘death’, either. 😉

Everybody knows that the Daily Mail loves nothing more than to print anti-BBC stories. But really, this latest attempt breaks new ground, even for the Mail.

The story is that the presenter of the BBC’s flagship news bulletin, Huw Edwards, was wearing a poppy which fell off just before the programme went to air. So in the first report, he picked it up and reattached it. Fascinating stuff.

In the world of the Daily Mail, though:

When BBC Ten O’Clock news presenter Huw Edwards took to the news-room floor during Monday night’s bulletin – viewers were immediately alerted to the fact that he has forgotten something – his poppy. Viewers were doubly confused when the poppy suddenly appeared on Edwards jacket after the broadcaster cut away to an interview with its top political correspondent Nick Robinson some way into the show.

Terribly confusing for all concerned, I’m sure. But far from jumping to the obvious conclusion, Daily Mail readers

could have been forgiven for thinking that the PC brigade were at it again

Somehow, the Mail then draws a connection between a poppy falling off someone’s jacket, and the fact that the Beeb have decided that ‘distracting’ religious symbols might not be the best idea on a newsreader – or, in the world of the Daily Mail, banned Fiona Bruce from wearing a cross. Which, incidentally, was blatantly untrue.

How on Earth does something this stupid make the pages of a national newspaper? It’s astonishing, even from the Daily Mail.

But my favourite bit of the article is this:

The poppy incident marked an eventual [sic] night for the Welsh news-reader after it was revealed that a contagious eye infection almost caused him to miss his broadcast.

Eventual?