In our End Of Year Show Mat [Fraser] and Liz [Carr] are joined by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and BBC Disability Affairs correspondent Peter White to say goodbye to 2010 and hello to 2011.

[...]

TANNI    I’ve heard a lot of people, which I haven’t heard for a long time, talking again about how they can protest. And it’s more than just writing letters to your MP, how can they come together and find the right way to protest. And the trouble with that, someone was telling me about ‘let’s organise a flash mob.’ But when you can only get two wheelchair users on a train coming down from the north east and get left on at Kings Cross, it’s a bit harder to make that happen. 

LIZ    They’ll just end up on a mobile phone ad anyway won’t we?

PETER    I also think something else has happened really since… sorry, this is being my serious BBC Disability Affairs Correspondent head on,,, the organisation, the disability organisations, aren’t as strong as they used to be. In the ’90s, in the ’80s, when you’re talking about when people chained themselves to buses and so forth, disability organisation was strong. And Labour did something very clever and I reported on this quite a lot and nobody took any notice of me, which often happens. What they did was they incorporated all the leaders of the disability movement into their various quangos and organizations and disability rights commissions and you got Baroness Campbell, friend of Baroness Grey-Thompson’s here, they put them in the Lords they cut the head off the tiger, that’s what they did. 

[...]

PETER    I don’t think, you know, Disability Discrimination Act and any of the legislation, I don’t think had anything to do with celebs, What it had all to do with solidarity and marching and people tying themselves to things. That worried people and it really got to people. That is what made the difference between sixteen attempts to get a disability discrimination bill into Parliament and actually getting it there, because it was when that really built up. So I’m sorry that is what people say, ‘oh why do people demonstrate?’ They demonstrate because it works. 

MAT    So are you saying that that’s what young disabled people should be thinking about now in view of the cuts?

PETER    Well I’m not going in incite them on your programme, Mat. I’m just saying that is what works and if it gets bad enough that is what will happen. Nothing gets given to you by sitting around and it doesn’t get given to you because a celeb says it ought to happen.

Highest recommendations for the twice-monthly Ouch Talk Show from the BBC.

The first day was unpleasant. Reading the news is something I enjoy, and having such a simple pleasure a just few keystrokes away was quite a temptation. Nothing as good as reading the news presented itself on that first day. On the second day I found myself spontaneously… doing ‘nothing.’ Being in my apartment, in the quiet, puttering about. Doing things I needed to do (clean house, balance checkbook, etc.) and things I enjoyed doing (come on over and I’ll show you some new art). Not taking in information and then blogging about it, which had filled several hours a day only two days earlier. On the third day I drew a hot bath and read a book – that was nice, and something that wouldn’t have happened if I’d been sitting at the computer. A week into my media fast I felt info-cleansed and am glad for the experiment. When I’m at my computer I hope to be doing more original work and I expect that to occur less frequently. We’ll see. OVO blog may have fewer posts but I hope they will be more worth reading. Other online projects may also benefit from this recalibration.

A central theme of this blog for some time has been a criticism of religion and an attack on theocracy. If you’ve been reading OVO blog to get this sort of information, here are the sources I was getting much of my information from. I won’t say any of them represent all of my views, or that all of their views are my own, or that the views of any one of these is compatible with any other one of these.

Dhimmi Watch (seeks to bring attention to the plight of the dhimmis)
Religion News Blog (articles about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues)
The Jawa Report (Islamic theocracy through Star Wars metaphors)
Jihad Watch (bringing attention to the role that jihad theology plays in the modern world)
Religion Clause (Commentary on the first amendment by law professor Howard M. Friedman)
VDARE (devoted to the National Question)
Western Resistance (Our objective is to help expose Islam)

Western Resistance is the only blog on this list I’m going to keep reading at present. They post less often but in greater detail with more original content. Otherwise I’m recalibrating my online reading to focus on individual authors (such as Klint Finley) or blogs that I enjoy enough that I don’t have to justify to anyone (such as metafilter). I’m also going to keep viewing the visual-oriented blogs I enjoy (such as everlasting blort). These are the current settings of my recalibration but they will change over time.

I spend a good deal of time on public transportation and walking, and I enjoy listening to podcasts during that time. Here is a list of what I’m listening to these days. Similar disclaimers apply: I like them, they may not like me or each other.

The Bugle (weekly audio news for a visual world)
Guardian Daily (daily news)
Le Show (weekly news and commentary by Harry Shearer)
Ouch! (monthly BBC disability program, highest recommendations)
Point of Inquiry (weekly interviews from the Center for Inquiry)
Puzzling Evidence (weekly audio collage)
The SubGenius Hour of Slack (weekly SubGenius ministry)

OVO blog has existed for a year and a half. I’ve been online since around 1991. I’ve been publishing OVO since 1982. My first zine was made in 1979. I’ve made stuff since childhood. Some things change, some things remain the same. Taking stock once in a while as to where my time goes seems to always be beneficial. I recommend it.

The History of Rome

Public Radio Podcasts

Freedomain Radio – Home

Puzzling Stereo

Pirate Cat Radio 87.9fm – A Season in Hell

Get Lost Podcast

Hack Attack: Add music and movies to your iPod from any computer without iTunes