I resisted making this post for some time, for it reveals the petty and authoritarian side of my nature. I travel by train a lot. Although Mussolini didn't actually make the trains run on time, these are the things he should have done:

• When waiting for a train, spread out …

The guy who's growing vegetables in my garden asked for a compost bin. Luckily my dad had a spare one; it looks just like the picture above. Now I can put stuff like banana skins and orange peel in the bin, and it'll get made into compost instead of using …

The government plans to compel us in the UK to buy smart meters. The arguments for it are that:

• It'll save the electricity companies money because meter readers wouldn't have to go out and read meters.
• It'll save customers money, because more accurate measurement leads to energy savings.

I object …

My friend Jonathan alerted me to the Sense About Science campaign to prevent libel law being used to stifle scientific debate. Jonathan writes:

The broadcaster and science journalist Simon Singh is being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association as a resulting calling their remedies 'bogus'. There is a …

I've just released Polifesto. Everyone has read access, but you need an OpenId to make edits. I'd like to know what you think!

Polifesto is a wiki of political policies. Add new policies and edit existing ones to improve them. You can also rate the manifestos and policies.

Of course …

The poster says, 'Everybody's talking about it!' and people do still talk of it, so I thought I should see what it was all about. So Kazim and Liz came over and we watched Citizen Kane.

For me, the film is a morality tale. Its essence is revealed when Kane's …

New release of Imprimatur with the following changes:

* Changed so that a regex matches if it's found anywhere within the string.

Previously you'd have to use the pattern .*hello.* to match 'hello' within a response. Now you can just use the pattern hello to do the same thing.

* In regexes …

Yes, that's a good point. I've had a think about it and I suppose what I mean is that when someone copies something, you've still got it. But you're right, you lose the money you could have made if you'd kept a monopoly on it.

](http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2009/default.htm?language=en)
I've visited the EU's election website (filled with dull and worthy headlines such as 'From One Legislative Period To The Next') seeking a list of the candidates standing in my area, and what their manifestos are. Not there. Ah, found …

On the 4th of June, I've got the Wiltshire Council elections.

My ward is Trowbridge Central, so I've got a choice between John Knight (Liberal Democrat) and Chris March (Conservative). Let's have a look and see what they say...

John Knight

Presumably he will follow A Liberal Democrat Vision for …