“groovy mother...”

TheyWorkForYou has a crowdsourcing project matching the Hansard transcripts of parliamentary debates to BBC video. It’s pretty easy work if you keep going through one debate (and you get to watch a little bit of politics in action). Fancy taking a half hour to help them out?

Even though I don’t live in London, I like having this pop up on my Chumby. It’s just a nice way to feel ambiently connected to the UK.

This is amazingly good news. Steven Moffat (writer of Coupling and Press Gang, as well as the best episodes of “new” Doctor Who) is taking over as lead writer. I’m giddy at the prospect of what’s to come.

The superb 90s sketch show Absolutely is finally getting a complete DVD release. Hurrah!

The new UK coinage is wicked cool — the individual coins are part of a larger picture.

Danny outlines the achievements of the Open Rights Group in the political and media spheres in the UK. I’ve been proudly sending them my £5-a-month since they started, and consider it a bargain. You should join them too.

Apparently, the consumers of lottery scratch cards in the UK aren’t particularly good at maths. Whodvethunkit? “I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher - not lower - than -8 but I’m not having it.”

Highlighting the best of the right-wing hystericals who post to the BBC News “Have Your Say” boards.

I can forgive TV companies for running crooked competitions, or faking phone-ins, but overrulling the viewers’ choice for the name for the Blue Peter Cat? That’s just EVIL!

“QUEEN’S CHICKENS STABBED TO DEATH”, “TV CROCODILE AND CAMILLA TO WED” and other randomly generated news-stands.

Who would have thought that having three different voting systems (First past the post, regional list, and STV) on one ballot paper would cause confusion? Gah!

A British online music store is being banned from purchasing cheap (legal) CDs in Hong Kong and selling them to British people cheaper than the “official” British release. How in the name of sodding fucksticks is this “copyright infringement”?!

The Mac & PC on British TV are played by ace comedy double-act Mitchell & Webb. Genius!

Tremendously enjoyable quiz show format from the UK. Surprised it hasn’t been snapped up by a US network as cheap filler.

The UK goverment has started posting public responses to petitions filed using their “Petition the Prime Minister” site. They’re mostly your standard “don’t worry your sweet head” brush-off you’d get from writing to your MP, but it’s good to see, nonetheless.

A collection of first panels from the annuals of British girls comics such as Bunty and Mandy. All the ponies, photo stories, and boarding school hijinx you could ever hope for.

This weekend, the UK charts will switch to including sales of all digital tracks, not just those marked as “singles”. As a result, album tracks and one-hit wonders are likely to hit the Top 100. Anything that gets The Proclaimers into the charts *has* to be a good thing.

About 10% of British citizens live outside the UK. /me waves from the U.S. of Stateside.

Of course they do. And when I was a kid, we used tape-to-tape decks. Just because this is using shiny new Bluetooth technology doesn’t mean it can/should be stopped. Surprisingly, the BPI take a rather sane approach: “Ultimately the way to grow revenues with mobile will be to offer music fans what they want and encourage them to get their music legally.”

The awesomeness that *is* the British 3-Pin Plug. The article covers most of the beautiful design decisions, such as the longer earth pin (so earth is the first connection made when you plug it in) and the cable being attached to the bottom, so you’re less tempted to pull the plug by yanking the cord. Well done British Standards chaps!