Oxford

How to avoid learning perhaps a little too much about Kieren’s life

by Kieren on November 16, 2006

I mentioned about a month ago how I was considering setting up a second blog so I could more easily separate my personal and professional life. And yesterday, twice, I was reminded that there is a bit of an unusual overlap when I spoke to two people: one, the spokesman for a company I regularly report on; and the second, the CEO of a company I also follow closely.

Both of them made mention of my paella (I note with sadness that only one was interested in the actual recipe however). Now this was a tremendous paella, there’s no doubt about that, but I suspect that there may be a few people out there that don’t want to know about my lunch and so I am going to highlight here an easy solution to the problem: separate RSS feeds.

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Popularity: 5% [?]

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Interviews with the Nominet Board candidates

by Kieren on September 24, 2006

There are two Board positions going at UK registry Nominet that will be decided on Wednesday (27 September) at the company’s annual general meeting in London.

Last week, Nominet announced that there were six candidates and released a statement from each. Despite the extremely tight time period (for example postal votes have to be with Nominet tomorrow (Monday)), I thought it would be a good idea to do very brief interviews with each candidate asking what I hope are the questions that Nominet members would wish to ask and then post them on the Net to help people arrive at a decision.

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Popularity: 5% [?]

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The St Ebbe’s Residents’ Association and its eerie parallels with Internet governance

September 12, 2006

Last night, as I was scrabbling around by the front door in the dark with a torch and a piece of fuse wire, my letterbox started juttering away behind me. Even the postmen manage to deliver before 9pm, so I was intrigued. And sure enough it was the latest newsletter (number 6 this year) from the St Ebbe’s New Development Residents’ Association (SENDRA).

A two-page A4 printout covering what is happening locally for the 100 or so other people in my peaceful little corner of the world, hidden from central Oxford thanks to a hideous car park on the way over, but resting neatly and comfortably on the river.

Thanks to the electricity shutdown causing my modem to commit hari-kiri, and me having to do an early morning rush to PC World and rebuild my entire home network, I have only just now got around to reading SENDRA’s September 2006 newsletter.

I get the feeling that the St Ebbe’s resident’s association is rapidly running out of control.

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Sniffy Oxford Internet Institute holds IGF meeting

August 30, 2006

I’ve just been reminded, by one of the main speakers, that the Oxford Internet Institute is holding an evening discussion over the IGF tomorrow evening, followed by an all-day invite-only event on the Friday.
In fact, I wasn’t even reminded. I had a vague notion of there being an OII event on Net governance in my [...]

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Pro-Test march strikes historic note

June 5, 2006

It’s an extraordinary thing, this Pro-Test movement that started only a few months and yet has had an enormous nationwide impact on a very difficult subject – the use of animal testing.

On Saturday, the group – fronted as usual by 16-year-old Laurie Pycroft – had their second march through [tag]Oxford[/tag] and even though there were fewer people than the first march, despite it being a beautiful day, there was a real sense of something historic happening.

Pro-Test march, Oxford, June 2006

There was a similar feel at the first march on 26 February, but the sense that time was that this was the first time people had publicly stood up for animal testing. On 3 June, that change had come – wide media attention, GlaxoSmithKline publicly stating its support for animal testing, the prime minister himself signing a petition – and there was instead a collective sense of excitement that the movement had achieved so much in such a short period of time.

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Tony Blair in Oxford: Part II

February 4, 2006

The second part of my effort to cover the visit of prime minister Tony Blair to Oxford. In this part, the locals past judgment and the prime minister makes quick his visit from the horde of four.

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The hunt for the prime minister – and our democracy: Tony Blair in Oxford

February 3, 2006

The British prime minister comes to my home town of Oxford, so I decide to go listen to what he has to say. So began an extraordinary and bizarre saga where democracy itself came under question.

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Oxford animal rights protest

January 15, 2006

There is an ongoing battle between animals rights groups and the University of Oxford over a new building being built in the heart of town. It’s been going on since the plans were announced in 2004 and has got increasingly ill-tempered.

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