This Editorial at a Glance:

•The Morning Bugler – Website Statistics;

• The UK's Democratic Message to the World?

Dear Reader,

The Morning Bugler has automated electronic statistical monitoring of its websites at various locations in the world with various programs. This is pretty standard.

Website statistics are an evolving ‘science’ widely misused in the commercial advertising world and a study of when a brand new ‘visitor’ is not a new ‘visitor’ but a return  ‘visit’, or a ‘hit’, consumes much discussion and cups of coffee.

In the real world this information can be deliberately misread and manipulated to commercial advantage.

But when is a visit or a return visitor a ‘hit’ and do these descriptions necessarily tell the full story?

It depends on the statistical programs monitoring the website traffic and how efficient or reliable that program is and right now they are neither reliable, or of absolute accuracy in the manner certain trends and ‘interpretation’ are concluded even the experts agree on that.

It seems as the abused word ‘viral’ slowly ebbs away into realism common-sense starts to set in with an understanding in plain English of what all this means in practice.

As they say …lies, damned lies, and statistics. This is how it seems to work.

When a visitor comes to the Morning Bugler website the immediate contact is recorded as a 'hit' then a page of interest is summoned(called down) from the server where it resides and where it has been placed by the MB Editor or his trusty 'geek' specialist. This server, or servers, are continents away and frequently stored in 'Clouds' today and need not concern us here.

The data is dispatched in various unseen component parts and reassembled in an instant before the Reader eyes. Each  part, for example, the MB  banner headline, the chapter, and sub chapter headlines, and the text, are considered as an individual components so to assemble an unremarkable page might involve the use of, in the MB case, 3-10 parts. This then results in the server counting this as out going data, files, and pages which all produce statistics which are also used by the server's owner for a different purpose, namely server/site performance.

Miscounting this data out transfer as 'hits' is clearly wrong but in the commercial world all is fair in love and war and ‘going viral’ and having millions of ‘hits’ is rather stretching the truth and ought to be  taken with a shovel of salt and a

‘visit’, though statistically not as exciting, is it has been argued actually more accurate.

Every first time visit(ever) is logged; sometimes described as a unique visitor; and subsequently every visit, because the visiting computer's IP address is recognised then becomes logged  as a ‘returning visitor’. Hopefully that is as clear as mud!

Every piece of data is then recorded including down to latitude and longitude/street address in a virtual blizzard of useful information.

It is no mystery or challenge to find a visitor’s location in a few seconds provided they are not engaged in subterfuge themselves, then it becomes more interesting…

These statistics can serve two or more purposes and in the main are used to shape not only the design of the site but its commercial appeal, readability, and common-sense logic.

Unlike its sister flag ship the 'Symbol Seeker ® ' which is a commercial website the Morning Bugler is run, not for profit, but in support of disabled Fire Service Veterans, their Widows, and Families at no charge.

The statistics therefore serve a different purpose in what is the hostile environment of a pension dispute where there are clearly identifiable opponents.

It pays to see and identify visiting opponents, who they are; what they read; what they return to read ; how long they spend reading; and what they download, but it is more important to see that those the Bugler seeks to help are actually using the data and documents posted here for their  own benefit both now and more importantly in the future .

Intelligence nevertheless is also part of this game…

Over the period of its development since January 2014  the Bugler website has averaged in its early days a rather desultory 12 daily regular visitors. This was to be expected. As its content and interest has evolved this has risen to peak of 80 daily visits in June rising still further to a peak of 150 in August/September and falling back as might be expected to average 50 visits but not now usually below 30 visits per diem.

Yesterday set a new record of 345 visits for new worldwide visitors coupled with returning regular Readers, at times many visiting and revisiting particular pages. Perhaps the Bugler has reached a tipping point of world-wide attention?

It is a reasonable conclusion that word-wide Readers find the contents interesting and will no doubt in reading the forthcoming evidence of more criminal misbehaviour in English civil servants, at all levels, even more fascinating.

These statistics can of course be used in a negative sense identifying those in elected public office, who have had direct correspondence from the Bugler, both within Lancashire and at Parliamentary level,  and whose current reference is the political responsibility for the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority but have never deigned to reply or get involved in what they are paid to do by us the Taxpayers.

It must seem to international visitors to the Morning Bugler that by failing to read and act upon substantial third party evidence  presented to them publicly that these politicians simply confirm in the electorate’s eyes, both local and national,  what they have known all along that Lancashire’s political leaders, including its current Labour Party leadership are simply not capable of, or moved to eradicate, self-evident corruption within public organisations for which  as political Parties and as individuals they are both civilly and criminally liable in public accountability self evidently just being content to sign their expenses forms , some for more than they are legally entitled in the case of CC O'Toole and then trundle off home again.

What sort of message does this corruption by lethargy send to the electorate both locally and nationally as Political Parties struggle seek to justify their mere existence, never mind having the brass necks  to seek their votes in May 2015, an electorate who with justification regard them all as layabout humbug speaking rascals?

What sort of message of the tarnished political reputation of Lancashire and its decent hardworking people does this send to those responsible and supposedly in charge at the Houses of Parliament?

What sort of message does this tolerance of corruption by Westminster send to its own departments; to other local authorities in the UK; and to its partners in Europe where they regularly lecture them on their standards of democracy?

What sort of message does the UK Government  send to its opponents in Russia; China; Malaysia ; the middle East; Africa ; Japan ; the Philippines with the Pacific rim, all regular readers of the Morning Bugler,  who regularly and embarrassingly  lecture the world on democracy and its democratic principles, whilst citing and setting themselves above all others as the shining example, when on a daily basis they choose to ignore and fail to take action against corruption within their own house?

One wonders if the OED has a word for this? Hypocrisy!