A new era for ideals-driven politics?

Who says in ten years time, we will not have turned back the inexorable rise in global emissions?
Who says in ten years time every child in the world won't be at school?
Who says in ten years time, there can't be a democratic and respected Iran, cooperating with us and the international community against global terrorism?

I'll tell you who. The same people who say my generation doesn't care about politics. ~ David Miliband

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, delivered a cracking speech yesterday at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth. The only thing that stopped me blogging about it immediately was that the transcript hadn't been published.

He demonstrated that there are still politicians out there who are driven by the ideals that surely lead most people to politics (after all, there are easier ways to make money). He is articulate, passionate and to my mind stands apart from the crowd as a leader in a country that apparently lacks authentic leadership.

I felt tingles in my spine!

Read the speech here

Some recent work:
Plymouth Vineyard website: www.plymouthvineyard.org.uk
Brain Team Consulting: www.braint.net

Deadlines Kill Inspiration

I sometimes have the feeling that some clients seem to have an idea in their mind that being a designer is just pressing some buttons on the computer and 'voilà' a work of art is born. If only it was that easy! Designing to me isn't something that can be automated to reach the maximum production. It's an unpredictable mindset that some days works well and other days it's just procrastinating and staring at an empty canvas. ~Veerle

Archbishop hits out at policy on Zimbabwe ~ The Observer

By the way, it's so nice to be writing again. In a previous post I mentioned the idea that blogging is somehow "pure". I think this is because it doesn't have the same orientation towards sound-bytes, or strap lines that characterise tweets, Facebook comments and status updates, or SMS.

Fessing up
I've been meaning to redesign my blog for almost a year, but just haven't gotten round to it. Part of it is down to time. I spend so much time working on the web these days that I should really go running instead of spending my non-work-time designing and coding.

The other part is that I'm such a perfectionist that I find it really hard to settle on a design for myself. Somehow it's easier to visually define someone else than to do the same for myself. Every day I'm inspired by different and apparently contradictory design work, so choosing a style I can happily live with is a nightmare.

I'm also hoping to relocate at some point. This might involve Wordpress and a non-blogspot domain name...we'll see. I do seem to have a strange feeling of allegiance to Blogger.

'At One With The Tide' by Niklas Hegfalk
Last week we finished the artwork for Niklas' new demo. If you want to get hold of the recording visit Demo Butiken by clicking here.

Here's the new video:

Things I want to write more about:
- Theological engagement with Science (Campolo)
- Turning away from an institutional faith
- Rabbinical discipleship
- Microfinancing and social responsibility (the modern West vs. the Wilberforce era)

Wow, what a hiatus! I wonder if there are any RSS readers (of the human variety) left on this blog?

People keep asking me if I've stopped blogging, or if I'm using Facebook instead. My answer so far has been "I don't know." I'm certainly not replacing blogging with social networking as I love the purity of the simple blog. Anyway enough of this. I know how boring it is reading people's "should I or shouldn't I's" on this subject.

Since I last checked in a lot has happened. I've been semi-holidaying in Sweden for almost a month now, two weeks of which was spent recovering from a chest infection in the beautiful countryside of Småland. It's a semi-holiday because I'm still working, just from somewhere different. You see I'm moving back to Sweden for the Autumn, so I'm breaking myself in gently.

I'm finally reading Velvet Elvis, a book that has been recommended to me more times than I can remember, and now I understand why. I love how Bell wrestles with issues that authors like Willard, Wright, Fee and Petersen have, but in a language that is far more accessible. There are a lot of ideas buzzing around at the moment that I might, given the chance, ponder on here at some point.

If you get the chance visit happybirthdaydenison.com, where the wonderful Denison Witmer recorded 30 of his songs acoustically, and for free download, to celebrate his 30th Birthday. I heard him at the Malmö Festival and loved every minute, despite the venue the Klaxons were playing in being far too close.

Have a nice evening.