Sunday, January 20, 2008

Advertising on This Site

Several people have asked why adverts for Brian Paddick and the London United campaign are appearing on the site today and implied I should not accept these adverts.

In common with blogs of all political persuasions, advertising on my blog is handled by MessageSpace. They ask advertisers which blogs they wish to appear on and the adverts are fed through. I can veto any advert if I want to, but if I did I would no doubt be accused of censorship. Accepting an advert does not imply my endorsement of the product or campaign whatsoever.

I have a living to earn to keep me in the Audi-loving lifestyle I enjoy Gio in dog biscuits. This blog provides me directly or indirectly with much of my income nowadays. I make no apology for accepting adverts on it, even ones whose cause I cannot agree with. Obviously there are lines I won't cross in this regard, but these two ads come nowhere near that boundary.

So let me be clear. I support Boris Johnson for Mayor of London (come on Boris, when are we getting an ad from your campaign?!) and I support the building of a third runway at Heathrow. Clear?

26 comments:

  1. I agree with you.

    On balance, a third runway at Heathrow is sensible. Although I'd love to see expansion at Stansted or even Manston. The problems I suspect with the latter is the lack of workers with the right skills and no fast train link from Ashford International to the Ramsgate area.

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  2. Awww you have a dog? I don't see you as much of an animal lover.

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  3. Why the hell do you support the Heathrow expansion? The CBI are against it , the airlines say it is in the wrong place . It takes up land needed for houses, if anything, or space if not , and it effects the lives of millions of Londoners with noise . Finally it poses a massive security problem as so many planes will now fly right over London.
    The right thing to do would be what they did in Hong Kong .Build an artificial Island in the Estuary. This and the complementary rail links were built in six years for $20, billion but this is the bit that impresses me ....That is the same cost as cross rail !!
    Wrong wrong wrong Mr .Dale ...but still you are right about Boris .
    Have you seen the Nick Coen explanation of why the Progressive left are breaking ranks over Livingstone ? The Channell Four programe is tonight isn`t it ..Martin Bright`s that is.Interesting , thank god you support Boris.

    Paddick ..pink mafia ..mutter mutter

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  4. What's happend to your new magazine. when is that launching?

    also, when is the new blog design being rolled out. you've been promising it for ages.

    what's happend to 18 doughty street. is it dead? Or is it still going to be reborn with a new name.

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  5. No one would hold it against you if you did veto the adverts. This blog isn't a public space, it's your space. But still. I was mainly just wondering what your specific policy on that advert was, since I didn't have much of an indication which way you leaned :)

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  6. It is a shame Bwian wasn't serious about cwime when he was a Deputy Asst Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police Farce!

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  7. I know they're MessageSpace ads, but surely the easiest solution is to do what everyone else does and just add an 'Advertisement' strapline above or below the ad?

    Clearly, it's your prerogative, your blog and your idea, but isn't the charge of advertising your party's opponents on a politically-biased blog worse than the charge of censorship? The censorship idea can be batted away, as you're a politically-biased blog!

    Anyway, surely if you replace one advert with another, you get exactly the same number of page views?

    I'm not being critical- I'm just trying to understand why!

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  8. I raied the point a few months ago on my blog that paid for adverts were appearing on my blog on google Adsense, and as these were paif for on a per-click basis, if people wanted to cost the Tories and Labour some money they should clikco on these ads.

    Funnily enough most tories PPC's and Labour ones stopeed Google ads on my blog after that, but it made the point.

    I know messagespace works in a different way from that, but i think you are entirely right.

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  9. Iain, support for a 3rd runway at Heathrow, or for expansion of any sort of any of London's existing airports puts you at odds with not only Boris Johnson but also the vast majority of London's Conservative council group leaders as well. Not to mention the majority of Londoners, especially those who live in west or south west London.Newmania (above)is absolutely right about this issue, Hong Kong, Paris and Oslo have all managed this problem in a sustainable and futuree proof manner that takes account of quality of life as well as the rapacious BAA. IMHO you really do need to rethink, methinks.

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  10. Paul, to answer your questions.

    1. The magazine will be launching in the spring.

    2. the new blog design is being tested at the moment. Likely launch is end of this month.

    3. I believe a new site is about to be launched. I dont know any details or what it will be called.

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  11. Iain.

    Whilst I understand, and accept, the explanation why such advertisements are carried. That is okay. BUT you do appear to be batting for the Lib Dems. I read your blog because it is of 'the right' I have NO interest whatsoever in anything LibDem and what they say or dao. I consider them a small lobby group.

    Please ignore them.

    ps. I would love to see Boris place an advert saying 'If Paddick was so serious about crime WHY did he want Cannabis decriminalised???!

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  12. Iain -

    A few weeks ago you were poking fun at Norfolk Blogger for having a Skoda.

    Aren't Skodas / Audis / VWs / Seats essentially the same car underneath the badge?

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  13. Stig, if you really think a Skoda can be compared to a Q7 you live on a different plant to the one I inhabit!

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  14. Yeah check out:
    http://www.myaudittsucks.com/index.htm

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  15. Iain -

    Audis are for people who can't quite stretch to what the equivalent from BMW or Mercedes would be.

    They're just re-badged Skodas and you know it.

    Norfolk Blogger doesn't need a prestige badge....

    Actually, he needs a lot more than that, but it's Sunday, so let's be charitable.

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  16. I think LHR should be given mixed mode with a cap on movements as deemed sensibly necessary. Capacity needs to expand so they are not operating at 98% all the time. Any slight problem and the whole system falls apart. Mixed mode is a cheap way to give ATC wiggle room. A cap on numbers would ensure that the the extra capacity didn't just get consumed by increased movements.

    In fact, I think I'll blog about it. And I did it.

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  17. 'These are my principles..

    If you don't like them, I have others.. for a very reasonable price..'

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  18. speaking of Audis the poster car for the new series "Ashes to Ashes" is a red Audi Quattro. You might recall they used a Ford Cortina in the first series "Life on Mars". "A2A" is set in 1982 when I guess you were about 18. Did you realise even at that early age that you preferred to drive on the "other side of the road"?

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  19. Stig, if you really think a Skoda can be compared to a Q7 you live on a different plant to the one I inhabit!

    I know I've never seen you in person, but I had no idea you were that small!

    Isn't that taking green living a bit too far?

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  20. "It is a shame Bwian wasn't serious about cwime when he was a Deputy Asst Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police Farce!"

    Eer, I think he was. That's why crime went down when he was in charge and arrests of drug dealers went up.

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  21. At least the Heathrow third runway will pave over a large part of West Drayton (Sipson, to be precise). So it aint all bad!

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  22. anonymous 7.24pm reveal yourself Paddick! only you would consider yourself a police man. Nobody else did!

    why did you want cannabis decriminalised?

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  23. Iain:

    Why do you support Heathrow expansion? What benefits do you actually think it will bring? Businesses aren't going to leave London if Heathrow fails to expand, so what are the economic benefits?

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  24. Thats clear, but you should make it clear in your 'strapline'.

    This is a political blog and accepting political ads might be seen as an endorsement. You would i suspect not accept an ad from the BNP or Al-Quaeda (or maybe even UKIP who knows) so all bloggers, not just you, are on shaky ground with this. You should all make your positions clear.

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  25. Why is Brian Paddick shown in his police uniform? He is not an officer of the Met any more and it is a criminal offence to masquerade as one.

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  26. Please let us all give thanks to the LibDems for being so electorally foolish as to select Paddick for their London Mayoral candidate.Let us just examine who his natural constituency is:
    1) Gay Police Officers - Lots of them obviously.
    2) Cannabis Dealers - probably more of them than 1), but still not exactly an election winning quantity.
    3) Errr ..... that's it.

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