Steve Platt's latest

I've begun to transfer the archive section across to www.steveplatt.net, beginning with Tribune columns and the odd other piece that catches my attention.

One article, in particular, which first appeared in Punch and the Guardian at the beginning of 1998, concerns Alistair Campbell, spin doctors, the Labour Party and the BBC. If only they'd listened to me then ....

It's at http://www.steveplatt.net/archive/insidespin.htm

Another curiosity from the same period (end of 1997, in this case) is the article that coined the phrase 'White Van Man'. The odd thing is that I only used it in the title, but it was picked up in a flurry of radio and TV reports and interviews after the article appeared, and so the phrase was born.

White van man article

The follow-up to the Heirs of Hell article about the Koran, Islam and unbelievers is now online on my messageboard and the spblog.

I've also added some more archive stuff in the online publications section of the steveplatt.net website. This includes my 2000 publication for Channel 4, 'Film censorship in Britain'. I came across the British Board of Film Censors league table of swear words while uploading this. Interesting that not even Channel 4 was bold enough to go into print with the 'stronger' words. I'm sure you don't need me to spell them out.

The BBFC categories of swear words:

Very mild: damn, hell, God, sod

Mild: bloody, bastard, piss, pissed, shit, son-of-a-bitch, bugger, bollocks, screw, crap, arse, shag, slag, slut, whore, arsehole, tosser, Jesus, Christ

Moderate: wanker, prick, bitch

Strong: fuck

Coarse: stronger sexual swearwords

I've started the long process of putting some of my publications online. It's mainly those published post-1996 as anything before that date is either locked into old technologies such as Amstrad W/P discs or only available on that funny stuff called paper.

Look under Publications online to see what's there so far.

The 'Whose day is it anyway?' daily offering seems to have really taken off, so I'll be persevering with that for a while. I've also found time to start uploading new material, including the 'Lies, damned lies and Africans' feature, which is a book in progress.

Not much response to the 'Heirs of Hell' column on the messageboard, which doesn't surprise me as I've not been publicising the messageboard (or, indeed, the website). It needs more content first, which will come - promise.

I decided to set up another blog to post updates on what's happening on the splatts.net and steveplatt.net websites front: it seemed the easiest option.

Yes, I know progress is slow but I'm a writer not a techie, other things keep taking my time, and anyway it's spring in England and it hard to stay indoors when the birds are singing, the blossom is blossoming and the bulbs are bulbing.

To summarise where I've got to so far. All my old websites and domain names have now been laid to rest (with the possible exception of steveplatt.co.uk, which has been stripped bare of content but may yet be revived in some form or other). The content will -- eventually -- get transferred, but you'll have to bear with me.

There are currently two live blogs (in addition to this one), linked to from the home page of www.steveplatt.net:

1. spblog (my Tribune column); and
2. whose day is it today? (a response to the St George's Day revivalism and a daily update on why every day is special to someone).

There is also a (sort of) live message board, which you're welcome to use. I say 'sort of' because no one's actually posted to it yet, probably because no one knows about it. It now has a 'Heirs of Hell' board for discussion arising from my column in this week's Tribune about the Koran, Islam and unbelievers.

I'll probably switch to a journal format for this in the next few days to make it easier for my many readers to post comments. Or maybe not: it could depend on the weather. Until then ....