Interesting Facts

According to several newspaper reports and blog sites, the Tory party in the UK has deleted all the promises made before the election. (In what must have bee a frenzy of clicking "Del" all pre-election pledges have been removed from their website: Every article, speech and press release. And if you want to hear something even more sinister, they are using a “robot blocker” to ensure the documents are hidden from search engines and removed from the ‘Internet Archive’ an online library that aims to build up a permanent record of web content. A Conservative spokesman said: "We're making sure our website keeps the Conservative Party at the forefront of political campaigning. These changes allow people to quickly and easily access the most important information we provide..." Nice to see how they regard their promises. They went on to say that they are simply making it easier for people to “quickly and easily” access information on the site, but obviously only the...

powered by ODEO Over the past decade, the average length of an article for a magazine or newspaper has gradually fallen from 5,000 words to 3,000, and in the last few years to just 1,500. (In the 1890s reports of 5,000 words were common in the Times, but of course that was before the tabloid journalist arrived. Personally I think it's easier to write 5,000 words than it is to write 1,500 words with a catchy headline.)