Jamie Potter

On Friday evening Channel 4 News invited Baroness Susan Greenfield, a neuroscientist apparently, on to the show to discuss whether social media is bad for the brain, a debate prompted by a comment from Twitter’s co-founder, Biz Stone. Greenfield appeared … Continue reading →

On Friday night I joined scores of other volunteers across Hull, Grimsby and Scunthorpe to spend the evening sleeping rough. We did so to raise money for the YMCA’s youth homelessness program. At last year’s ‘Sleep Easy‘ event 75 people … Continue reading →

A short Facebook note I wrote while en route to a rally in Hull: I hear a lot of people say that the public sector are lucky and shouldn’t complain while others suffer too, that it’s not fair. They’re right, … Continue reading →

Where does John Humphreys get his fiersome reputation as an interviewer from? On this morning’s Today programme he was interviewing Ed Balls. I say inteviewing, it was more like an invitation for Balls to push his five point plan for … Continue reading →

One thing that’s struck me listening to Radio 4 during my commute is Robert Peston – and other presenters – regularly mentioning “the markets” when discussing the financial crisis. One thing I don’t hear though is who the markets are. … Continue reading →

The Press Association today carries a story about the Metropolitan Police announcement that they will have baton rounds available while policing the protests in London on November 9th. The Met said: “There are a range of tactics available if there … Continue reading →

I’ve just dug up a screen grab I took of a heated twitter exchange a few week ago I think is still worth sharing. No sooner had Gadaffi been killed and his bloodied corpse paraded across the internet, LabourList published … Continue reading →

Writing about the fallacies of the Daily Mail can often be like shooting fish in a barrel, and there is ample criticism elsewhere, which is why I tend not to give them much coverage on here. However Monday’s front page, … Continue reading →

The latest e-newsletter from Greg Knight has claimed the planet is no longer warming and may even be heading for a mini-ice age in what is a shameful abuse of climate science and statistics. The newsletter, sent by his senior parliamentary researcher, Matthew Thomas, contains the following story: The supposed consensus on man-made global warming [...]

Greg Knight last week voted with his Coalition bosses against releasing the risk assessment for the controversial Health and Social Care Bill The proposed changes will essentially open up the NHS to full-blooded privatisation and put at risk the principle of free health care. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has so far refused to publish the [...]

Our Right Honourable MP, Greg Knight, earlier this month voted to bind cancer patients to the time limit for employment support allowance. This means that people with cancer who have been out of work for twelve months will now be means tested for this particular benefit irrespective of whether they are fit to work. Even [...]

Opponents to new wind turbines on Flamborough Head have stooped to a new low by lobbying the Heritage Lottery Fund to freeze funding for the Bempton RSPB centre, as reported in the Guardian. It’s quite apparent that Bempton Residents Against Turbines care little for the health of local bird populations and more for their selfish [...]

Earlier this month the End Child Poverty group revealed the extent of child poverty across the country in 2011. In Bridlington the numbers are dire. Children are defined as living in poverty “if they live in families in receipt of out of work benefits or in receipt of in-work tax credits where their reported income [...]

Last year I posted about the Homegrown Hornsea sustainable food group. They’ve kindly answered some of my questions via email as an introduction to the group. Can you briefly explain the premise behind the group? We are concerned about the effects of peak oil, climate change and global economics on the world and are trying [...]

A parliamentary group headed by the MP for Brigg and Goole, Andrew Percy, has suggested that personal finance education be made compulsory in all schools. The conclusions follow a nine month inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People and comes ahead of a parliamentary debate on the matter sparked by [...]

Thousands of public sector workers and supporters turned out in Hull today for a public rally and march alongside their strike against pension cuts. Representatives from various unions gave speeches to a buoyant crowd in Victoria Square, marked by a large contingent of women, before setting off on a march around the Guildhall and city [...]

Energy is increasingly becoming a talking point among communities across East Yorkshire. Various wind turbine applications came under fire during the summer and now the same is happening with a proposal to drill for oil near Walkington. Residents in the village and nearby Cherry Burton have voiced their opposition to the work proposed by the Canadian [...]

Last month I made the trip to Sheffield to practise with The Inhuman League in my first merby session. It’s been nearly a year since I started skating with HARD and while I only set out to become a ref and help my league on the sidelines, I have to admit I’ve slowly developed a [...]

Via Coilhouse, a great Pathé video of a phenomenon from the streets of Paris in 1923 that looks like a precursor to inline skates – “cycle skating”. I love the ingenuity, off-road capabilities (!) and the use of ski poles for propulsion. The bloke about a minute in has some silky skills too, though I’m not [...]

Short presentation I did for my team using graphics to explain pack definition. Defining the Pack View more from BeatMonkey

As many leagues will be holding their first bouts in 2012 I thought I’d post some advice on getting exposure in your local media. This can also apply to such things as looking for new members and hosting fundraisers – anything where you want a bit of publicity. One of the easiest ways to get [...]

Following the complete lack of any women on the shortlist for the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award, The F Word blog has begun a series of posts throughout December highlighting the achievements and prowess of sportswomen who otherwise go unnoticed by the mainstream media. I contributed a piece about roller derby: If we’re [...]

This week I made a guest appearance on the 4th Whistle podcast where we talked in detail about the weekend’s world cup. One issue that came up was the various complaints about the quality of the live coverage. The feed going down was frustrating and a number of times I gave up and found something [...]

I joined Zebra Huddle a while ago but never fully immersed myself in it until this week. Now I’m wondering why I didn’t start sooner. The forum is a goldmine, a mecca for rules geeks and a wonderful community to boot. First of all there are the little things that get me giddy, like seeing [...]

This weekend gone I finally lost my spectator virginity when I travelled to Halifax to catch Hot Wheel Roller Derby’s first home bout against Newcastle Roller Girls. Despite having been skating since Easter I’ve not made it to a bout before because of either work or money woes. As Guinness like us to believe, good [...]

It’s been another whirlwind month in my life and things are stepping up with that roller derby thing. September saw me start a new job in York which has meant dropping out of one practice session a week because of the difficulty in getting to Hull straight from the office. Fortunately I can still make [...]