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World military spending unveiled

David McCandless of informationisbeautiful.net posted some pretty pictures and interesting figures about military spending at The Guardian datablog. I don’t really understand why I should be interested in how it relates to GDP though? Surely “defence” spending would be better compared to the area of land or number of people it has to “protect”?

Election Issues

Dear Marsha Singh,

Thank you very much for coming to meet us the other week when we were in London to express our concerns about the arms trade. I was glad to hear you agree, in principle, that advertising of so called “British” arms should not be funded by the tax payer. I am, of course, still pleased that Gordon Brown’s government took the decision to close DESO; but I’m a little disappointed that, in this time when all parties are scouring the public sector for anything they can cut, a pledge to similarly consign UKTI DSO to history has not been one of Labour’s election promises. When there are so many public services that need to be protected, the one department that’s actually offensive to common decency would seem a good one to scrap.

I also wanted to write and find out your thoughts on the other main issue concerning me in the run up to this election—the Digital Economy Bill. I have heard the government plans to rush this bill through before the election without proper scrutiny. This would be a travesty of democracy, as well as the last thing the real digital economy needs. I urge you to do all that is within your power to prevent this. I feel so strongly about this that I would seriously consider voting for the Pirate Party should they field a candidate in Bradford West, as they are the only party to have made sensible, modern manifesto commitments on intellectual property issues. Within your own party however, your colleague Tom Watson, member for West Bromwich East, is much more reasonable and, should your views fall near his, I would hope you might figure out a way of putting a stop this insane power grab by the Business Secretary and the music industry lobby.

A letter to the director of Bradford Animation Festival

Dear Deb,

I just saw a trailer on YouTube for a new film by Czech director Jan Svěrák, with production design by Jakub Dvorský. I was greatly disappointed not to be in Bradford for Jakub’s appearance at the Amanita Design design event at the Bradford Animation Festival last year, and was wondering if you had any plans to bring his new work to BAF 2010?

I’m assuming from the seeming lack of an English language web site or IMDb entry, that Kooky’s Return (Kuky se vrací) doesn't yet have a UK distributor, but there’s a little information on the Amanita Design blog. The trailer looks pretty special, and I can’t wait to see a subtitled version.

Credit to RPS for the link.

Valve sent me a press release!

My last post was rather gushing and over excited. But I guess I did something right, either in that, or in the e-mail I sent to Doug Lombardi begging him to confirm it, 'cause a press release just dropped in my inbox confirming Steam for the Mac.

Apparently, Valve will be introducing a new feature called Steam Play to the Steamworks API, which allows people to play games they own on one platform free of charge on the other. It also includes cloud saving support, so you'll be able to play part of the the game on, for example, your work PC, then switch to your home Mac part way through and carry on right where you left off. All Valve's future games will be getting simultaneous PC and Mac releases, starting with Portal 2. The Mac will get the same patching schedule as the PC, and Mac and PC players will share multiplayer games and lobbies. Valve describe their Steam partners as "very excited about adding support for the Mac" and say they expect "most developers and publishers" to take part. So, yes, now Steam itself is become the platform.

The first Mac Steam client will be the one currently in beta for the PC, and it's due out in April.

Steam for the Mac?

So, Valve relased a beta update for Steam. It has a lot of nice features. It's faster, it's prettier, it does nice community things, it has a clock on the overlay. That last feature alone makes the beta worth opting in to. Buried down the bottom of the feature list though, is something exciting. The HTML rendering engine has been switched from Internet Explorer to WebKit, the technology behind Apple's Safari and Google Chrome.

At the point of reading that, the excitement started to rise. Aside from the immediate performance improvement, uncoupling Steam from Internet Explorer was the single largest step that needed to be taken to uncouple Steam from Windows. Starting the new Steam client, it's a much more beautiful application, and it feels Mac-like in many respects. Noticing the "File" menu had been replaced by a "Steam" menu, the excitement meter was starting to overload. I hit the Steam forums, where it looks like some other people have had similar thoughts.

Discoveries there send me over the edge. I might die of excitement. The new update inlcudes graphics files for OS X interface elements. Today has been noteworthy already, but it's now officially a good day. This is about more than a few games on the Mac, though that alone would be good. In developing Steamworks, Valve have been building a platform. They're the only company with a credible product in the marketplace that can present the PC as an alternative to the consoles. Games downloaded with the ease (and occasionally, price) of the iTunes App Store? Yes please. Networking and social gaming features? Yes please. Sensible DRM? Yes please.

If Valve stick with the "games you buy can be played anywhere" philosophy that has defined Steam in the past, they could do for gaming what Google Docs and Spreadsheets is trying to do for the office suite: break free of the desktop. Pleanty of Steam games already have Mac versions, even if they were released later. It wouldn't be that hard to make such titles available multiformat. It would also redefine PC gaming in an instant, making Steam the platform rather than Windows.

It's safe to assume that if there's a Mac Steam client coming, future Valve games will have native Mac versions. Giving people access to their games on the platform of thier choice would reduce the "but I'd have to re-buy all my software" disincentive to switching away from Windows. More people would switch. More games would be developed. Deveopment would get easier with multiformat APIs. Steam would become the de facto gaming platform on the PC. Developers would see that Games for Windows Live is now pointless. Everybody wins. Well, except Microsoft and Stardock, I guess. Bring on the future.

A call for accountability at Bradford Council

Dear Mr. Hopkins,

I am writing to complain about the undemocratic and unrepresentative decision taken by the Regulatory and Appeals Committee on 23rd September of this year to demolish the former Odeon cinema building on Prince’s Way and to grant planning permission to the proposed New Victoria Place development. I now realise that I should probably have written earlier, but I had come to believe that there was no further recourse available to save the building, and was hoping for further legal guidance before submitting my complaint.

I sat though almost the whole of September 23rd’s lengthy meeting, returning for the late session and enduring till the bitter end to witness the committee’s disappointing decision. Particularly infuriating was the moment when it became apparent that the committee were ready to vote five to two in favour of saving the building and so were removed from council chamber to receive private “legal advice”, only to return and vote for demolition. I’m afraid I did not make a note of the name of the council’s legal advisor, but I am sure he acted in good faith and within his remit. What disappoints me is the lack courage on the part of those councillors who changed their vote, unwilling to support what they know to be the will of the people who put them into office.

Another detail I did not make exact notes of was the number of letters the committee had received on the issue. I remember it being somewhere in the region of 2000 opposing demolition, and a figure in support of the proposal that was so small it could be counted on the fingers of one hand. A hand with at least two fingers cut off.

The gratuitous amputation of irreplaceable assets seems to have been a recurring misfortune for Bradford. The former cinema is the last truly iconic building in the city centre. It’s imposing frontage, distinctive domes and red brick construction set it apart from it’s surroundings such that it is not just a beautiful building in it’s own right, but actually symbolic of the heart of the city. In UNESCO’s only City of Film, and opposite the National Media Museum, it seems absurd that a council should entertain a plan to demolish the last remaining 1930s super-cinema. Properly maintained, this building should be an asset to the city: a valuable cultural centre, and a landmark of Bradford’s cinematic history. This is not some building that deserves to be saved because of an adverse affect on the neighbouring Alhambra theatre. This is the only building left which can symbolise Bradford in the same way Big Ben does London, or the Eiffel Tower Paris.

Under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 the local planning authority is required to pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of the conservation area into which the former Odeon building falls. One need only look at a map of the conservation area to see that it was clearly designated specifically to include this building, jutting out as it does from the Thornton Road/Prince’s Way junction. On conservation areas, Planning Policy Guidance 15: Planning and the Historic Environment states that the general presumption should be in favour of retaining buildings which make a positive contribution to the character or appearance of a conservation area. It was evident from attending the meeting on 23rd September that no presumption in favour was shown. Instead councillors allowed themselves to be dictated to, accepting a plan that neither preserves the character or appearance of the area, nor can be said to enhance it.

As a fig-leaf to cover their shame, the Regulatory and Appeals Committee wore a single letter from English Heritage, as though this were some objective measure of the building’s value overriding the views of 2000 local people. In truth, of course, the very idea that such value could be measured objectively is clearly a nonsense, and this is a call which PPG15 and the 1990 act empower the local authority to make. The Regulatory and Appeals Committee have clearly shrugged off this duty.

Bearing in mind the above, I would ask that Bradford Council do three things:

1. Serve Yorkshire Forward and Langtree Artisan with a building preservation notice, preventing them from demolishing the former cinema or altering it in such a way as to affect its character.
2. Hold a vote of no confidence in the Regulatory and Appeals Committee, removing them from office at the earliest opportunity.
3. Hold a fully-open meeting of the whole council, at which the two applications approved on September 23rd be reconsidered, taking proper account of public opinion, the building as an iconic symbol for the city, and it’s historical importance in the UNESCO City of Film.

I am aware that various people within the city have presented compelling evidence for the physical health of the building as being fit for use, and I would also ask that such evidence be given it’s due weight in any future debate on the issue.

Update 22/11/2009: I’m glad the version of this that I actually sent to my elected representatives didn’t include the links that embellish the above version. I’ve discovered an asbestos survey that seems to provide the proof that the above linked Mr. Nobel had indeed been negligent. I’ve started a thread on the Save the Odeon Facebook discussion board in the hope that someone can provide futher information.