I have moved the blog to a plush new server. There should be no big different in appearance except that permalinks will now point to addresses on this server (http://www.willhowells.org.uk/blog and the like) rather than my CIX web space.

With a little inspiration from Peter Black, I’ve made it into the Yorkshire Evening Post on the subject of the LibDem/Con/Green administration now running Leeds City Council:

It is worrying that several of your correspondents seem unable to accept the results of the local elections (although some of them appear to have neglected to mention that they are Labour councillors who lost their seats, which may be one explanation).

The first-past-the-post electoral system used for council elections had for years given Labour a dominance over Leeds far above its true support amongst voters. Even now, Labour’s share of seats is greater than its share of the vote.

The new administration can rightly claim to be the first council leadership in many years to truly have the support of the people of Leeds. Rather than sniping before a single policy decision has been taken, we should give them the chance to prove that pluralist politics can deliver for the city. The signs so far are positive.

Interesting to see that internet access speeds have a new unit of measurement (from BBC News):

GNER, which operates between London Kings Cross, the East Midlands, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland, said it would provide uninterrupted wi-fi coverage at speeds of up to 125mph.

The advent of wi-fi enabled trains is a very welcome development, but I’m dubious how useful it will be to begin with. With only one suitable train on the East Coast Main Line, it will be tricky (and will require extra research) to adjust journey times to make sure you’re on the right train.

I’ve somehow managed to break the screen on my laptop. I think I may have stood on it (accidentally), which, for an all too obvious reason, was a bad idea.

I’m not au fait with the ins and outs of laptop repair, but I’m assuming I’ll be able to get it fixed. How much it will cost is another matter…

And on a completely unrelated note, I’m now the Chair of the LDYS Conference Committee. Yay me. (Unfortunately, my predecessor was – well, is – very knowledgeable, organised and hard-working, which is quite something to live up to.)

Update: Having had a quote, I’ve decided it would be probably be gratuitiously profligate to get the screen repaired. Although there is damage, most of the screen is still usable and at a high resolution there is more than enough space on the desktop.