Catch Up

Ok, I'm back sooner than I promised, but I've just booked a week's holiday in the first part of April when I will get a couple of friends to guest for me - I can't keep taking breaks.

Real World

Nice weather in Prague and getting out and about a bit more has been fun. As a result of a chance meeting, I might be able to land a little part-time job here in Prague which will be easier to fit in around blogging than my last position. Last night, I went to chess club for the first time in a while. It's really lively there these days and there's always a good conversation to be had. It's been mentioned by others that Prague has something of a sordid reputation which was rather cemented when two strangers I was chatting with independently admitted to running successful porn sites - yes I did feel like a gooseberry. More disturbing were the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that I overheard several regulars floating. One chap was harking back to Jewish bankers and 15th Century Spanish history (or at least his version of it). Your typical Bush-hating Leftie really wants to believe these conspiracies. This sort of stuff borders on madness in my opinion.

May Elections

I'm about to book flights back to the UK to help with the May elections. I shall probably manage a week of campaigning before the elections and I am still finalising my top secret plans. When I was initially preparing my ideas concerning where to help, my first thoughts were to work in certain "target seats", but as I've been evaluating things I have become a bit more discerning. Firstly, I am going to help friends even if winning would be a Herculean task - moving the vote to within striking distance is a very worthwhile exercise in my opinion. Secondly, although I'm quite happy to trudge the streets for hours if I'm freeing up the candidate's time for him or her to knock doors or undertake other electioneering or council activities, I am not going to break my back delivering for a lazy councillor.

Other Stuff

I've been asked to do a presentation on blogging to some fellow Tories in the Summer. Anecdotally, the benefits of blogging can be quite unexpected and bloggers' reasons for continuing to blog are often quite different to the reasons that they started, so I'll probably explore that theme a bit. Martine Martin's research project into right-leaning blogs should be finished soon, which might provide some insights based on evidence. Anyway, on this theme I would certainly appreciate any tips or advice from my readers.