Considering we’re still officially in the news “silly season” it’s been a cracking week so far story wise.

Locally Gloucestershire police made network television last night with an interesting Channel 4 documentary about its efforts to crack down on the illegal sex trade. Apart from the slightly embarrassing moment when a TV producer pointed out a probable suspect fleeing a scene, the police officers came across as committed and professional.

Whether closing down massage parlours will solve anything or simply drive the trade even further underground is another matter. I interviewed the former Chief Constable Tim Brain when he left the force and he said the crackdown (called Operation Pentameter 2) was one of his proudest achievements.

The real proof of the pudding of course though is how many actual human traffickers the operation put behind bars – for trafficking offences.

DOG DAYS:

Whenever TiG runs a story about dogs – particularly bull terriers and rottweilers – the debate takes off immediately – and my goodness does it divide opinion.

The Staffie defenders come out fighting and the “Rotties aren’t devil dogs” brigade are equally as quick when their breed of choice makes the news.

For the record TiG has no agenda on dogs – I personally love all breeds and believe there are only bad owners. which is why I am backing an RSPCA call for dog licences to be introduced.

The idea is to charge dog owners between £20-30 a year for a licence with a few notable exemptions (guide dogs etc). Something really must be done about the proliferation of “badge of honour” dogs – you know the sort. They are usually a terrier cross dog with a thick leather and brass harness, panting manically as it pulls along a bare chested, burberry cap wearing bloke.

The money raised could be ploughed back into dog welfare schemes and used to educate people who simply don’t know how to look after a dog properly.

I’ve got two fox terrier labrador cross dogs (Oscar and Alfie) who came from Teckels in Whitminster and they are a real handful. Tanya – the editor of Weekend magazine (and a veteran terrier owner) told me to always remember that terriers “think they are human” and she is dead right. Despite their behaviourial challenges (they run to say hello to everything – everywhere) I wouldn’t be without them for the world and would have no objection to paying for a licence for them.

BLURTY BLAIR:

I for one am delighted that Tony Blair has finally lanced that boil which has been dogging him for years – Gordon Brown. So we now know what we all suspected – Brown was to Blair like Iago was to Othello.

The furrow-browed number crunching micro-manager who held the purse strings was on the PM’s back like an itchy rash.

What is most amazing though is that he allowed Brown to do it for so long and that he capitulated in the end.

After a straight run of eight months without any time off I was really really looking forward to my two weeks annual “big” holiday from which I have just returned.

A week in Dolgellau (North Wales) was characterised by the usual persistent rain – I don’t mean normal rain but that peculiarly Welsh rain which never seems to stop once your holiday starts. Body boarding in the rain, raft building in the rain, even chicken smoking in the rain (that’s a BBQ smoking of a chicken rather than inhalation).

Josh, Olly, me and our "rafts" along with Oscar and Alfie the dogs

When you have two 13-year-old lads to entertain (Olly my son and his mate Josh) the weather is just something you have to put up with. I reckon it’ll be a good year for the British holiday market as people try and cut back on the big expense of a foreign holiday but after this year’s August rainfall I wonder how many will do it again next year?

After the joys of damp Dolgellau we ventured onto the River Wye in two canoes and paddled our way down to a Tipi run by the brilliant firm Tipi Adventure . Despite the rain (I really am getting old with this obsession with the weather) it was a fabulous way to spend a couple of days. We saw 7 kingfishers and two herons within five minutes of setting of on the water as well as dozens of swans.

It’s a great set up – you hand over dry clothes and food to the Tipi Adventure guys and they take it to your tent so that it is ready when you arrive by canoe. It was great to be away from a computer screen for a couple of weeks and the experience of sleeping in an authentic Tipi was memorable to say the least – highly recommended.

While away TiG was looked after by my colleagues Sarah T (Thisisbristol), Abigail E (Thisissouthwales) and Steve P (thisisomerset / thisisbath / thisisdorset) and the team at Glos Media HQ. They did a great job but it’s good to be back in the saddle, refreshed and looking forward to the long run to Christmas.

Visitor figures have been tipping over 20K a day on TiG and there is usually a gradual rise in the run up to Christmas before the big jump in January (when everyone starts looking for a new job online) so it’s growing all the time.

Big projects planned for the next couple of months include a new lifestyle section using the fab copy and pics from Weekend magazine and a Facebook group for Gloucestershire news.

I’m also planning a live webchat so that TiG visitors can ask me questions, send suggestions and help build a better site together.

It really is a tale of two cities for Gloucester this week – with an awe inspiring sculpture but bad news for the academy plans.

Over the weekend the enromous Candle sculpture by artist Wolfgang Buttress was installed at the Docks. The work is a 21-metre high piece of metal with lots of intricate holes cut into it. The artist says it has been inspired by the work of local poet Ivor Gurney and it harks back to the days when Gloucester Docks was teeming with tall ships and commerce.

It is made of rusty metal and has been dubbed the Kebab by some – but I love it. Public art is supposed to create debate and the Candle (or kebab) will do that for years to come – as well as providing a useful meeting up point for visitors to Gloucester.

 Not everyone likes it though. One TiG reader has already called it a “rusty carrot” and another asks where the money has come from. The sculputure was not funded by council tax contributions but you can see why people want to know who is paying.

Particularly at a time when local authorities are  facing massive financial cutbacks. Many suspect the fortnightly bin collections are a money saving move in reality and nothing at all to do with recycling rates. In fact both points of view are right – if the council does not cut down on the amount it sends to landfill it will be fined and guess where that bill will eventually fall?

While the Candle promises to bring some illumination to the Docks, the prevarication over funding for the new Academy school in Gloucester is casting a very dark shadow across the city.

I interviewed the previous education minister – Vernon Coaker – in the Citizen office and asked him for reassurances about the funding should Labour get re-elected. He did so and although we will never know whether Labour would have followed through with the cash, we have to assume that they would have.

The assurances given by the new MP Richard Graham before the election are a different matter of course. This was a genuine election issue – he said the academy would be funded if the Conservatives won. They did so where is the money?

Yes, Labour left the public finances in an incredibly dire situation but what has that go to do with Gloucester? The city needs this academy and it needs clarity for all those pupils and parents who are wondering what the hell they are going to do when term time starts.

Mr Graham had better work very hard to ensure Gloucester gets what it was promised.

GOAT CURRY

On a lighter note I had a glorious goat curry on Sunday. The meat and scotch bonnet chillies were from the Asian supermarket based in the old Vauxhall pub in Barton and it was delicious.

For pudding it was apple tarte tatin with apples from the Gipsy Lane orchard near Longhope.

It just goes to show again what a gloriously diverse food county Gloucestershire is.

I can’t make my mind up about a plan to open a cafe in Gloucester Docks where everything on offer is either “in” or “on” toast.

Called “On Toast” it is the idea of David Purchase – former right hand man to ex-MP Parmjit Dhanda. I’ve know David for a few years and he is an incredibly hard working, erudite man with a genuine passion for Gloucester.

David Purchase

It’s great to hear that he is hoping to open a business at Gloucester Docks and proves that he does really love the city. It is heartening to see that he has drawn on the wealth of local business expertise to put together his vision for On Toast and I hope is is a roaring success.

There will be those who question the concept though – is toast enough of a draw to keep people coming back again and again? Can he get the mark-up on toast (which we all revert to when skint) to make a profitable business?

Also – how many things can you actually have on or in toast? I ate some pretty horrendous toasties while living as a student in Sheffield – you can actually cook an egg in a Breville toaster quite easily. But would I take my missus out for a romantic toastie?

Last week my good friend and Citizen photographer *Simon Pizzey pointed me towards the Wikileaks website and lo and behold today the news agenda is dominated by the latest leak fest  from the organisation.

It contains 90,000 documents about the war in Afghanistan which paint a gruesome picture of real life on the front line. The roadside bombs; the amputations…the innocent victims of war. 

As usual the television and radio media are running endless debates about whether it is ethical to leak this information (the telly and radio bods always do that when they’ve been scooped on a big story) and are asking whether it could endanger the lives of those fighting on the “front line”

The answer is no – the days of controlling or managing media narratives are gone – and any PR (or politician) who tells you different is deluded. The documents will add little to the youtube / Facebook content distributed by soldiers and their friends and families. It will do no more harm than the myriad of bloggers and commentators who have been informing the world about this bloody war for the past few years.

What the documents will provide – for those who have the tenacity to wade through all the words (even Wikileaks have only read 1000 of the documents) – is a picture of the reality of warfare in Afghanistan and that is important for a number of reasons.

It can help form opinion about how to go forward in terms of military strategy and it also reveals what most people know but choose to ignore – that war claims the lives of many, many innocent people.

The founder of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks today defended his decision to publish thousands of secret US military files about the war.

Julian Assange said it was clear that the course of the conflict needed to change, and that the newly-released records would help to shape understanding of the past six years of fighting.

And he claimed that the high level of civilian casualties reported in the files was in fact lower than the true figure because military personnel “downplayed” the number or reported them as insurgent deaths.

Speaking at a press conference at the Frontline Club in central London, Mr Assange brushed off the US administration’s criticism of the major leak.

“We are familiar with groups whose abuse we expose attempting to criticise the messenger to distract from the power of the message,” he said.

“We don’t see any difference in the White House’s response to this case to the other groups that we have exposed.

“We have tried hard to make sure that this material does not put innocents at harm.

“All the material is over seven months old so is of no current operational consequence, even though it may be of very significant investigative consequence.”

Mr Assange added: “It’s clear that it will shape an understanding of what the past six years of war has been like, and that the course of the war needs to change.

“The manner in which it needs to change is not yet clear.”

He said the files were not about one single horrific event but the bigger picture of the conflict, now into its ninth year.

“The real story of this material is that it is war, it’s one damn thing after another,” he said.

“It’s the continuous small events, the continuous deaths of children, insurgents, allied forces, the millions of people.”

Mr Assange said WikiLeaks had “no reason” to doubt the reliability of the files, but cautioned that they presented only a partial picture.

He said: “You will find that the US military units when self-reporting of course often speak in self-exculpatory language, redefine civilian casualties as insurgent casualties, downplay the number of casualties.

“And we know this by comparing these reports to the public record for where there has been comprehensive investigation.”

*SIMON PIZZEY: I have been working with Simon since 1996 – we went out on my first ever job at The Citizen together  (it was a vox pop at the old council houses in White City – all now demolished). He took one of the best bird pics I have ever seen. It was taken in 1990 at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and shows a humming bird pinching a piece of wool from a lady’s hat so I thought I’d share it with you:

When I work in the Gloucester office on the Oxebode I sit opposite the big Debenhams window and there’s something which has been bugging me for a while.

There is a big window poster of a pretty female model which has been defaced. It started with two strategically placed black marks over the poor model’s chest and a couple of weeks later a Hitler style moustache appeared.

Now I love the feel of the Oxebode – the towering trees and refreshing breeze which always seem to blow through - but this particular bit of graffiti is bringing the area down.

What sort of impression does it give to visitors to the city – to young parents walking their children past it? I’m surprised that Debenhams hasn’t cleaned it off – surely it wouldn’t take too long to give the model back her diginity?

It is such a glorious building and while I can understand the delight  the youngster must have felt when he / she defaced it, it has to go now.

My own foray into the world of graffiti as a young lad of around 8 years old was soon knocked out of me during a family holiday to a well known Cornish seaside resort – which must remain anonymous for reasons which will become clear.

The family chalet had a beautiful new wooden rocking chair in the living area – all smooth curves and dark mahogany wood. Armed with a new classy resort-branded penkinfe I spent a very happy afternoon carving not only my name into the wood but also my home address, the date I had stayed there and even the family home telephone number.

Needless to say my dad wasn’t best pleased and we spent a day trying all sorts of materials to cover it from coffee to boot polish. Wonder if it is still there?

DOG DIY:

A quick note of caution to all fellow dog owners – particularly those who do a bit of DIY. I replaced the bottom part of a door frame (for the 5th time) after the two dogs – Oscar and Alfie – gnawed through it again. It took ages to cut the wood, sand it down, attach it, undercoat and then gloss.

I was quite annoyed therefore to see a strange round mark appear  in the freshly glossed area but I didn’t have to go far to find the cuplrit………….

Oscar (left) and Alfie

I’m very new to the social networking phenomemon that is Twitter but I’m rapidly becoming a big fan.

If only it had been around when I was reporting – it would have been an invaluable way of connecting with the community and for simple story leads.

Since launching Thisisgloucestershire’s Twitter account two weeks ago one thing has struck me about the “conversation” on Twitter – it’s very, very polite. I could yet be proved wrong of course as I am a newcomer to the format but first impressions are very very positive.

There is a whole “underground” community thriving on Twitter (and others which I haven’t yet touched on) exchanging information, advice, support ideas and news. I can already see huge benefits for the working journalist and for media groups generally.

One of Gloucestershire Media’s former reporters Jenni Silver – who now runs her own grassroots sports website (www.sportglos.co.uk) has been utilising Twitter for ages. She was constantly banging on about it when working as a journo and now I see why.

Another former Glos Media protoge – Annabel Warner (who runs Silverball PR and who I once thankfully took on as a trainee reporter) is also utilising Twitter to great effect and thanks to Jenni and Annie I am now getting up to speed.

But I have also seen there is a real sense of community spirit locally in Gloucestershire on the social networking scene – from “Tweet-ups” to people positively pushing other people’s Twittering efforts – it’s fab.

A lot of newspapers have set up automatic Twitter feeds – tweeting every story as it happens and this was how the original TiG Twitter was set up. However with the new one I decided to limit the number of tweets – to stop TiG updates becoming “online wallpaper” or the “noisy obnoxious guy at the party” – I hope I am right and would welcome any feedback.

I’ve got a theory that the internet – and news delivery online specifically – that there is now so much of it everywhere the key to capturing an “audience” is to handpick content and distribute it rather than showering it everywhere, all the time. It’s a bit like scallops – hand diving for the best is much better than dredging the sea bed and bringing loads of the crustaceans up along with a load of grit.

Let me know if I’m on the right track.

NEWS WEEK:

It’s been a busy week for breaking news – much of it “hard” news it has to be said.

I track all the visitor figures on TiG constantly to see if the right stories are in the right place and whether or not we are producing the kind of news people are demanding. As anyone who runs a news website will know, tracking the stats is addictive so I thought I would share with you the top stories in terms of unique visitors and visits.

The top five stories this week have been:

1. Teenage girl dies at Cotswold Water Park

2. Cruiser site could be labelled blackspot to stop boy racers

3. Bins to be collected fortnightly in Cheltenham

4. Man allegedly blasted in legs with shotgun

5. Gloucestershire dad appears in court charged with murdering his baby daughter

Is The Daffodil the most beautiful restaurant in Gloucestershire?   

Stunning: The Daffodil

I only ask because we went along for the Jazz night last night and the building on Suffolk Parade took my breath away yet again. This time though I met the driving forces behind the restaurant’s renaissance – Mark Stephens and his partner Fiona Morton – and the sheer attention to detail hit home.

Mark started his culinary career in London working for the now ubiquitous Slug and Lettuce chain (at the time there were only five venues and all were in London.) A Cheltenham lad, when he returned to Gloucestershire he said he felt a massive draw to his home town and began looking for an opportunity.

The then semi-derelict bulding caught his eye and the rest is history. It is no surprise that The Daffodil as a building had potential. It began life in 1922 as an art deco cinema seating 750 people. The lines are simply stunning and make the eating experience even more pleasurable.

Mark (who was first attracted to his vivacious partner Fiona Morton via her banana bread) explained in detail how he had created the kitchen are as a visual focal point for the restaurant. No small feat when you consider he had to re-create an entire wall in perfect art deco detail to create the space.

A new celing above the upstairs bar was also added creating an intimate space for diners to enjoy before sitting down to eat. Every single detail – from the deliciously weighty cutlery to the immaculately (and super friendly) staff – ooze style and yet there is not a hint of snootiness about this stunning restaurant.

Walking in feels like a “proper night” out – an event to dress up for (optional) and to take your favourite friends to. Children are awestruck by the theatrical feel of the place and the food is as good as anywhere I have eaten in Gloucestershire.

It really was a pleasure (in these dire economic times) to see a business venture in Gloucestershire doing well and continuing to evolve and plan for the future. In the years Mark has run The Daffodil the surrounding area in Tivoli has also been transformed and there is a real “Tivoli Quarter” feel developing there. Beautiful little shops grab your attention as you wander towards The Daffodil and actually make for an even better night out if the weather is balmy enough.

I reckon this restaurant is here to stay and it will continue to inspire the surrounding area to develop even more into one of the most delightful spots in Cheltenham.

There were detractors who said it was too far out of the town centre to be viable – how wrong they were. What Mark and Fiona have done is prove that if you create the right brand, train your staff well, provide good food and wine and a rich entertainment programme, you will succeed.

Gloucester is crying out for its own version of The Daffodil and there is certainly no shortage of potential buildings which could be transformed. Cheltenham is still miles ahead when it comes to dining out but there is no reason why Gloucester cannot catch up.

I’d be interested to hear about your favourite restaurants and anywhere in Gloucester you believe could be transformed. Email me : matt.holmes@glosmedia.co.uk

There are always a few different angles a journalist can take with a story.

Take today’s front page lead of The Citizen – Cat Flap Fox Terror - about a Quedgeley family who came face to face with a fox in their homes. There’s been a few of these stories knocking about recently and judging by a phone in on Mark Cummings’ BBC Breakfast show today, it’s not that uncommon.

But what is the angle – The Citizen went with the straight “fox enters house scares family” line which is fair enough but personally I like the fact that the family cat chased it off. So I went with the headline on TiG: Fox breaks into house through cat flap – loses fight with cat

Within minutes of the story going online a news agency (they trawl local newspapers for stories they can sell on to the national press) called about the story and he was interested in the “hard cat” angle as well.

There will be people knocking the story whatever the angle but it is by far the top read story on TiG today and that sort of vindicates the decision to put it on the front of The Citizen.

Which brings me to a general point about TiG – have we got the comment moderation right?

There are over 40 comments on the fox story so far today and some of them are informed others are not.  As explained in the House Rules there are clear guidelines as to what is acceptable or not on the comment threads.

The only way to get comments removed is to hit the “Report Abuse” button and this then flags up the comment to a team of moderators who look after all the Thisis sites. You also have to be registered to comment which means every comment is now traceable.

Since TiG went to registration only comments the number has certainly fallen but a lot of the persitent “problem commenters” have disappeared and the overall quality of comments has improved dramatically.

I’d love to hear your views on the comment process at TiG – do you want us to be more aggressive in filtering out those people who persistently make personal and unhelpful comments? Let me know: matt.holmes@glosmedia.co.uk

Yet again Facebook has appeared in a news story for all the wrong reasons. The case in point involves a man who was taunted on Facebook and so set fire to his neighbour’s car.

 In recent months we have also seen some horrific cases of cyber bullying in Gloucestershire in which Facebook was almost certainly  a factor.

Even Raoul Moat – the Nottinghamshire bouncer accused of shooting three people – was apparently using Facebook to make threats. I’d be interested to know if the kidnap angle – which the media agreed to a blackout over – was in fact being discussed on Facebook throughout. It probably was.

From a journalist’s point of view Facebook has transformed the way we carry out our work. As a source of information it is incredible – with over 400 million users worldwide a few clicks can usually give you the info you need.

While the social networking site has been a massive lever for opening lines of communication, it also has a dark side which I suspect many more people will discover soon. People are very brave when tapping away on a computer screen and will often say things they wouldn’t dream of saying face to face. Their vitriole can be biting, hurtful and sometimes downright cruel.

So I suspect many people will soon close down their Facebook accounts – sick of being stalked / insulted or simply spied on by an old school colleague who they never really liked in the first place.

One of the most worrying aspects of Facebook is identity theft – where someone sets up an account pretending to be someone else. I recently bumped into a friend at the Cheltenham Food and Drink Festival who I hadn’t heard from in ages. It turned out someone had set up a false account in her name and caused loads of trouble – it devastated her.

In another case in Cheltenham a female colleague had an account set up in her name saying she was a prostitute.

On balance the social networking site is a force for good but I also believe cases of Facebook bullying will continue to rise.

I’d be really interested to hear your stories on this matter – email me: matt.holmes@glosmedia.co.uk