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11th Feb: Weekly campaign diary for #dean4luton

11th Feb: Weekly campaign diary for #dean4luton

It’s been another packed week representing Luton North, campaigning, canvassing and connecting with lots of residents across the constituency.

Beyond the visits and photos, I’ve been very busy this week investigating some of the financial and community decisions of Luton Borough Council. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like they are actively held to account by the existing Labour MPs in Luton. So I have…

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Weekly Campaign Diary

Check out my latest weekly campaign diary for Luton North here:

Now we have entered the final 100 days of the election I will be sharing a weekly digest of my previous weeks activities.

It’s been another busy week. I have been out and about campaigning, responding to resident enquiries, discussing opportunities for Luton with senior Conservatives and phone canvassing too. Below is just a small insight of some of my campaigning activities.

Dean Russell with…

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A tribute to Derek Watson - Owner of Chaos City Comics

A tribute to Derek Watson – Owner of Chaos City Comics

Farewell Derek Watson – you will be missed.

I read with great sadness this week that Chaos City Comics owner Derek Watson has died following a long illness. As a sci-fi and comic book fan myself, Derek and Chaos City were regular fixtures to my visits to St Albans. In fact, it was the only store I just HAD to visit whenever shopping in the city centre or visiting Verulamium Park.

I always looked…

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#CANVASSINGQUESTIONS: ST ALBANS INTERVIEWS – Steve McKeown (Verulam Ward)

#CANVASSINGQUESTIONS: ST ALBANS INTERVIEWS – Steve McKeown (Verulam Ward)

St Albans District Council Local Elections 2014 – Steve McKeown – Verulam Ward Candidate

My latest entry in my #CanvassingQuestions series to find out more about the local St Albans District Conservative Candidates, this post covers an interview with Steve McKeown, the Verulam Ward Candidate:

Why do you want to be a councillor ? My primary reasons for wanting to become a councillor are that…

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#CanvassingQuestions: St Albans Interviews - Mary Maynard (Harpenden East)

#CanvassingQuestions: St Albans Interviews – Mary Maynard (Harpenden East)

With the UK local elections just days away. I have restarted my #CanvassingQuestions series to find out some more about the local St Albans District Conservative Candidates.  This post covers an interview with Mary Maynard, the candidate for Harpenden East:

St Albans District Council Conservative Candidate with Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP canvassing in Harpenden East

Why do you want to be a councillor…

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Tech & Social Review: Omnicom-Publicis - the ego of the oligarchs

Omnicom-Publicis - the ego of the oligarchs #TheRussellReview

My top pick today is the coverage around the breakdown of the Omnicom-Publicis deal. As a former Omnicom employee (a Director at Fleishman Hillard), the original news of these two behemoths coming together was quite a surprise (as it was for the Omnicom & Publicis agencies too!). In any other industry it wouldn’t be allowed - an incredibly stifling restriction in choice for clients. I always…

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Tech & Social Review: Why we cannot ignore #BringBackOurGirls

#Tech & #Social Review: Why we cannot ignore #BringBackOurGirls #TheRussellReview

My top pick today is the piece in TIME discussing the role of the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign to raise awareness of the horrific kidnapping of 300 girls in Nigeria.

The article highlights the importance of social media in driving up the pressure to find these innocent young girls. The key take out is the twitter map below which, at the time of me writing this, shows the…

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Tech & social headlines: Social media & stigma of mental health

#Tech & #social headlines: #Socialmedia & stigma of #mentalhealth - #therussellreview

The top pick today is a piece in Huffington Post asking if social media dependence has links to mental health issues. In my work as the chair of a health & wellbeing partnership, I came to appreciate the inherent challenges of mental health – both for individuals and the organisations attempting to provide support. Mental health is an invisible entity which is difficult to comprehend for…

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Tech & social headlines: How social media has changed Journalism

#Tech & #social headlines: How #socialmedia has changed Journalism #therussellreview

My top pick is the Washington Post article on research into U.S. journalists usage of social media. For those of us working in PR & Comms it comes as no surprise that social media has revolutionised the way stories are both sourced and reported.

For communications agencies, the report reaffirms the need to shift towards Influencer Relations. A huge growth area and one focussed on the individual…

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Tech & Social Headlines: Big Data Warning to Obama

#Tech & #SocialMedia Headlines: #BigData Warning to Obama #TheRussellReview

My top pick today is the MIT piece on the 5 Big Data warnings to President Obama from experts. It picks up on previous topics in my posts; technology is moving quicker than society can keep up.  The key recommendations are to improve legislation around technology and data – summed up by this quote from the full White House report ‘Big Data – Seizing Opportunities, Preserving Values’ here:

‘No…

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Tech & social headlines: Potential breakthrough in 5G

Tech & social headlines: Potential breakthrough in 5G

My top pick has to be CNN’s piece that researchers are working on 5G wireless technology that can carry 100 times more data. Whilst the article focuses on the technological impact, the real benefit has to be to mobility across society.

A super-speed 5G network may be the final piece in the puzzle to free-up workforces for true flexible working. Perhaps even a new time where the location of work…

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Tech & social headlines: G+ & Twitter preferred by young US Democrats

Tech & social headlines: G+ & Twitter preferred by young US Democrats

The top pick today has to be the US study into the politics of social platforms. The study polled 3,058 young Americans findings that some social channels were more heavily republican versus democrat (and vice versa). Along with the link to the article below (including an interesting chart showing the comparison), I have also embedded the full #HarvardYouthPoll report too. Enjoy.

Top pick:

Washi…

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Tech & social headlines: Top tools for budding social media experts

Tech & social headlines: Top tools for budding social media experts

Two great ‘How to’ articles for my top picks. The FastCompany article provides an exhaustive review of some of the most popular social media tools around. Technorati provides a behind the scenes look at modern social media. So not much more to say  - other than check them out…

Top picks:

FactCompany: The definitive guide to social media tools for startups

Technorati: Understanding every social…

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Tech & Social Headlines: UK 9th in Global Networked Readiness Index

#TheRussellReview #Tech & #Social Headlines: UK 9th in Global Networked Readiness Index #Reports #WorldEconomicForum

Two headlines stand out today. Both connected by a similar theme around haves and have-nots. They highlight the need for us to be fully cognisant of the world we are creating through technology and the potential impact on people across the world.

The first piece, a US White House report, identifies potential for discrimination in big data usage. The full report is to be published shortly.

The…

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Daily social & tech headlines: It's good to talk

#TheRussellReview #social & #tech #roundup: It's good to talk

My top pick today is a touching piece in The Atlantic about how we grieve on social media. It provides an important reminder that despite the diversity of technology around us, the core benefit is to bring us all closer together.

One particular quote on social media stood out:  “fomenting the grieving process…it sets it within the context of a community that comes together and says you are not…

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Daily social & tech headlines: Has the race begun for our health data?

#TheRussellReview - Daily #social & #tech headlines: Has the race begun for our health data? #wearabletech

My top pick today is the news Facebook has bought the  fitness tracking App, Moves. I wrote about the App earlier this year in my post ‘Me, My (Quantified) Self & I‘. Whilst I’d like to think Mark Zuckerberg must have read my positive comments leading to this decision (as if!). I do think this could signal a new race for ownership of our personal health data.

Back in March, there were lots of…

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Daily social & tech headlines: Time to discuss 'screen-based media'?

Daily social & tech headlines: Time to discuss ‘screen-based media’?

My top pick today is the piece by TIME magazine asking to put an end to the term ‘mobile’ when discussing technology. They make a compelling argument, and one I completely agree with.

I’d go further and add ‘digital’ as another overused term. Digital now covers so many areas, used interchangeably for online ads through to interactive websites, it has gradually come to mean so much it means…

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