Bear stuck in skateboarding park

A bear in Colorado fell into a skateboarding park overnight and they had to put a ladder in for it to climb out!

The BBC has the pictures.

Can a LibDem stand as an Independent?

Quick question for all you party rules aficionados. Can a LibDem member stand as an Independent in a local election and stay in the party? This isn't for me (!) but I've been asked about this by someone and I said that I thought it was probably okay as long as you're not standing against an official party candidate. Is this the correct position?

Barclays mortgage leaflet fail

I recently picked up an A4 leaflet in my local Barclays branch (because it amused me).
Leaving aside the fact that I find black and white photocopies scream professionalism (!), can anyone spot the mistake:

An interesting twist to the latest Green Party shenanigans

UPDATE: (an anon comment has pointed out that) The Register story has been updated and now finishes with:

According to the Greens: "There have been inaccuracies in reporting. The Party did not make the allegations indicated in The Register, nor was Mr Killock suspended by the Party." We accept that any allegations concerning the leadership referendum were not made by the Green Party, and accept its assurances that Mr Killock has not been suspended.

What's the nettiquette here? Do I leave the original posting as is:

Norfolk Blogger has been covering the recent spate of murky goings in the Green Party and in this post he talks about the curious case of the misuse of a membership list to aid one side of an internal campaign. Well, it turns out that the executive member who was thrown out of the party for five years for leaking personal data, Jim Killock is now the chief executive of the Open Rights Group (ORG) which campaigns for digital rights and against the...er...misuse of personal data!

When this unfortunate coincidence was put to the ORG, their response appeared to be:

"la, la, la, I'm not listening"

The Register has the full story here.

Devilish Italian Beer

I thought I'd share with you a picture of the amusingly named beer I found in Tuscany:

Chiropractors reap the internet whirlwind

The ever-excellent Ben Goldacre has an article in the Guardian on the response from the internet (and scientific bloggers in particular) to the on-going case in which the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) is suing the writer Simon Singh for suggested that some of the treatments of serious illnesses such as colic are "bogus". The word "bogus" is the key here as the infamous Mr Justice Eady (he of libel-tourism and many other dubious rulings fame) has ruled that the use of the word bogus implies deliberate dishonesty by the BCA and not, as Simon Singh claims, just that treatments are not based on any sensible evidence and therefore...well...bogus.

Anyway I digress (there is very good round up of the case so far here), the internet backlash has started as someone found out that there was an ASA ruling on this very subject that said such claims breached "truthfulness". Certain bloggers have then used this precedent to complain to local trading standards around the country and to the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) who regulate the trade about every local chiropractor who has a website containing these dodgy claims.

One amusing result of this is a panicky email (which can read in full here) from one chiropratice association, McTimoney, advising all their members to take down there websites ASAP and also to remove the use the the word "Doctor" from any literature or business cards unless it's made clear that they are not medical professionals as otherwise they may be liable to prosecution!

Ha ha! Right back at you! I just hope that Simon Singh goes on to win his court case and doesn't face massive costs.

Why is everyone one falling for the Cameron blunder spin?

Is it just me or were the use by David Cameron of a couple of "naughty" words not entirely a mistake?
I mean, he is a practiced PR man and the result of this so-called "blunder" has been wall-to-wall positive coverage of Cameron being a normal bloke who your man on the Clapham omnibus can relate to and also no doubt increased online views of his interview.

I bet if Nick Clegg said something similar the media wouldn't notice...