Tweet the Week: Five interesting Tweets to kick off the week for journalists

1. Same brand, different place: An inspiring look at where newspapers are going:

USA Today now occupies a different, digital world – but I still love it gu.com/p/3fmja/tf—
Media Guardian (@mediaguardian) May 10, 2013

2. A brilliant tribute to a mentor

Lovely tribute to former colleague Ian Willars by @colintattum – an insight into what the industry used to be like blogs.birminghammail.co.uk/birminghamcity…—
Chris Lepkowski (@chrislepkowski) May 09, 2013

3. Twitter as a news organisation?

Twitter is ready to be a true news operation | Michael Wolff
guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/…
via @guardian—
Leo Whitlock (@leowhitlock) May 06, 2013

4. Why there should be more to online advertising than just click-through rate:

Digital audience panel: @IrishTimes quantifies value of its “non-clickers” inma.org/blogs/research…—
Steffen Konrath (@StKonrath) May 06, 2013

5. Are we doing local government staff an injustice through stereotypes?

Excuses, excuses: In general local government employees are hardworking, dedicated bunch who make sure that wo… bit.ly/13SN8x2—
PublicSectorBloggers (@PubSecBloggers) May 13, 2013

10 great stand up comedians you might never of heard of – but really should look out for (with video)

Everyone likes a laugh, right? The only problem is that the laughs – as far as TV is concerned – tend to come from too few comedians.

It’s not that they’re unfunny – some of the are, most aren’t – but for every big name comedian who appears to be on a narrow roster picked up for various mainstream TV show – there are 100 equally funny folk heading up and down the nation’s motorways performing at the country’s many comedy clubs.

When not working or raising a 20-month-old, or not too tired from both (so, not as often I would like), I try to get out to comedy clubs. Until maybe two years ago, I didn’t go to comedy clubs regularly – instead opting for the big-name arena gigs. John Bishop (MEN Arena as was) and Russell Howard (ECHO Arena as is) are both brilliant on such stages. I stopped, however, when I saw Peter Kay on his Tour That Doesn’t Tour in Manchester. It works brilliantly on TV but isn’t half as funny when you’re in the audience, watching a routine polished to perfection thanks to 50 previous outings in the same building. Not to mention the fact that Kay seemed to be laughing at, rather than with, the audience too much. But that’s just a personal view.

So I’ve taken the advice of a friend and sought out comedy clubs instead. I’ve still seen some well-known names, such as Rhod Gilbert (Salford Lowry), Tom Stade (Blackburn King George’s Hall) and Josh Widdicombe (Salford Lowry Studio), and also stumbled across rising stars by chance at comedy clubs, like the brilliant Nathan Caton, and perhaps my favourite comedian of the lot, Justin Moorhouse.

Making elections local again: The national politician with sound advice for all

In the hours which followed the recent local elections, the pattern of the political responses was typical.

Labour tried to hype up its addition of 290 seats, claiming it was down to a dis-satisfied public fed up with the state of the economy. However, another reading of that would be to point out if the public are fed up with the economy (and why wouldn’t they be), they aren’t turning to Labour in the sorts of numbers it can use to say it has convinced the public it has an alternative.

Oh, Labour reply, you’re being unfair – these elections were mainly in Tory heartlands, so we were never going to do *that* well.

The Tories, having been expected to do much worse than the 335 seats, and 10 councils they lost control of, pointed to Labour’s unspectacular performance, but also dashed to promise those who voted UKIP that it would listen to their protest vote. But how can they be sure of what people were protesting about? Two people I know voted UKIP to protest at the level of VAT in this country – I’m not entirely convinced that particular protest will register.

And then UKIP. No denying they performed very well, and depending on which interview involving Nigel Farage you listened to, you’ll get a different view on why they did so well. It’s because the Tories insulted his party. It’s because people are fed up of the political classes. It’s because the main parties have no connection with reality. It’s because of Europe. It’s became of the economy. And so on and so on.

Finally, the Lib Dems. Down 124 councillors – 24% – not great, but not the wipeout predicted. And it’s from the much-maligned party in yellow that I think the most sensible assessment of the local elections emerged.

This is the party which came seventh in the parliamentary by-election in South Shields. You can argue that particular aspect of the result many ways: What impact did the independent candidate have? Did Lib Dem voters stay away? Who went to UKIP? But Tim Farron, the Lib Dem Party president, delivered perhaps the most salient piece of political advice I’ve heard in a long time.

Tweet the week: Five interesting tweets to kick off the week

1. Turning a challenge into a daily documentary (this is really nice)

Enjoyed flicking though todaysthedayi.com by former colleague @lydiawarren. Doing something different in New York, every day.—
David Ottewell (@davidottewell) April 23, 2013

2. Useful tools for journalists klaxon

“A curious collection of community content #curation #tools” – Matt McAlister at news:rewired bit.ly/10sYY3d #api—
Paul Bradshaw (@paulbradshaw) April 22, 2013

3. A better use for council cash currently spent on council newspapers

Terminate town hall Pravdas & introduce a local scrutiny levy to fund public interest journalism: bit.ly/15VBKU6 @public_finance_—
Kevin Meagher (@KevinPMeagher) April 26, 2013

4. Open data doesn’t seem to apply to HS2

Want the data on where HS2 will be? You won't get it from data.gov.uk gu.com/p/3fhmn/tf—
  (@GuardianData) May 02, 2013

5. Why new outlets for journalism can be harder to find than you think:

Laid-off Storyboard editor discusses pros and cons of attempting real journalism at a non-media company ow.ly/kGcyb via @CJR—
WAN-IFRA (@NewspaperWorld) May 05, 2013

The three parts required for the whole story (infographic)

This morning on Five Live Investigates – arguably one of the most under-rated shows dedicated to investigative journalism around – I had a bit of an epiphany.  The result of that epiphany is the infographic I’ve tried to create above (click on it to see a larger version).

On today’s show, presenter Adrian Goldberg covered the issue of ambulance response times. Now the rules around ambulance response times are common knowledge in newsrooms: You have Category A calls, the most life-threatening, which should see a paramedic with you within 8 minutes (the target is that 75% of such calls should have a response within eight minutes).

FOI FRIDAY: Council lunches, old drug mules, doctor spending and the smoking ban legacy

What’s on the menu for councillors? < < < Sunday Mail

SCOTLAND’S biggest council have increased their spending on gourmet dinners – while hiking the price of meals for OAPs and the vulnerable.

Glasgow City councillors slashed the subsidies for welfare meals in a bid to save £306,000.

The Labour-controlled local authority hiked the cost of lunches at social work services day centres from 81p per day to £2.97.

Under Freedom of Information, the Sunday Mail obtained the menus for all official banquets at the council’s George Square HQ since the new Labour Council were elected in May last year.

When the Malawian High Commissioner visited in January, he and his fellow guests were treated to “Medallions of Salmon on Wilted Greens” finished off with “Raspberry and Passion Fruit Delice”.

At a civic lunch in honour of the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, last June, diners enjoyed “Chicken Roulade with Mushroom and Tarragon Mousseline”.

Spending on locum doctors < < < Carlisle News and Star

Hospital chiefs in north Cumbria plan to halve expenditure on locum doctors after spending nearly £19m on them in three years.

Following a Freedom of Information request, the trust released some key statistics about its spending on locums over the last three years.

It revealed that:

• The highest paid doctor, a consultant dermatologist, was paid a rate of £158 per hour;
• 527 locums doctors were employed at the hospitals in east and west Cumbria over the last three years;
• The trust carried out 42,300 operations between February 2011 and January 2013 and cancelled 820 operations in the last two years.
• Locum spending for the last three years was £5,880,000, £4,954,000 and £7,962,000.

Why we should all worry about national media and politicians dropping the local from local elections

In the days before the death of Baroness Thatcher, the Labour Party unveiled its campaign poster for the local elections (above).

Only you’d be hard-pushed to know it was about the local elections. It wouldn’t look out of place in the general election but for a local election – where you and I go and vote for the person we want to represent us in the local Town Hall – it seems slightly odd.

Odd, of course, only if you still believe local elections are about local issues and deciding who runs the local council. Increasingly local elections appear to be little more than a state-funded snapshot opinion poll – a referendum on the government of the day.

There are some obvious – indeed, almost understandable – reasons for this. If you’re the Labour Party, what better way to keep momentum going than to stick another bloody nose on the coalition government at a time of budget cuts, austerity and increasing hardship.

For journalists seeking a neat way to give an overview of hundreds of different elections which don’t really have a bearing on each other, it’s a neat solution too.

But there are a number of problems with this approach – the biggest one being the disconnect it subsequently creates between voter and political system.

Books by journalists: Albert the Pug by Garry Cook

So, how do you exactly review a children’s book when you’re 33?

I think I’ve found the answer: Get a little person involved.

My daughter Isobel is just shy of two now and has loved books since a very early age (she had little choice in the matter as it happens, there are plenty of relatives itching for an excuse to buy children’s books).

But amid the old favourites – Mog, for example, and the Hungry Caterpillar, not to mention pretty much anything by Julia Donaldson – and the newer offerings from Johnny-come-latelys like Peppa Pig, Albert the Pug is a very popular one.

Singer newspaper sellers! (video)

The Birmingham Mail launched a part-paid, part-free distribution model for its Friday paper a couple of weeks ago.

Around 50,000 copies are given away in the city centre every Friday. To mark the launch of the new edition, the Mail hired actors to act as newspaper sellers – who surprised shoppers, works and others by bursting into song.

I watched the video (on the Mail’s YouTube channel) and it made me smile, so I thought I’d share it on here too

The regional press’s digital publishing challenge: The eight ‘rights’

On Monday, I spoke – with Sarah Hartley – at the Society of Editors conference in Warwickshire on all things digital.

My presentation was looking at the challenge facing regional newsrooms to make sure they were focusing on the right aspects of digital. Simply recreating print online is – it goes without saying – a doomed-to-failure approach, damaging both print and online.

I’ve recreated the presentation below, adding in some commentary to make some of the slides make sense.

In short, the rights are:

1. The right content

2. The right audience

3. The right competition

4. The right community

5. The right approach to mobile

6. The right to cover sport

7. The right cross promotion

8. The right people