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Monday, 16 February 2015

Principles? I have several, though not quite the kind you are thinking off. And who is this Vladislav Surkov? Answers on the usual postcard, please. As for ‘media studies’ degrees, well, stick ‘em up your jacksie (Prof Peter Cole and Prof Roy Greenslade, once, in a saner life when they didn’t take themselves quite so seriously, Pete and Roy from the Pig and Whistle)

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It would be misleading – ironically, given who we are dealing with – to claim the print industry – that’s ‘newspapers’ in words we can all u...
Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Hold on to your hats, times are getting more interesting

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If one can take a dispassionate view of something, not be swayed by emotion but examine it as a doctor might examine a broken leg, now is th...
Tuesday, 3 February 2015

America Russia, Russia America – I’d like to explore both, but Russia does have an added morbid fascination. Oh, and let me introduce you to one Vitali Dyomochka, who has a lot going for him (not least, I suspect, a good brain)

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It’s odd how you come across people and facts which interest you. I have long considered – once I retire and have saved enough money to do s...
Thursday, 22 January 2015

Beware The Euro In Your Wheelbarrow, or an idiot’s guide to big words

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Quantitative easing? Isn’t that where a central bank tries to create just a little inflation to get the economy moving again while pretend...
Wednesday, 14 January 2015

Cigars, The Sopranos, port, more cigars, Berlin, Lincoln, newspapers and two drunks (a father and his sadder son)

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What with my daughter turning 19 next August and my son turning 16 in May, and me having turned 65 last November, and many of the items I he...
Tuesday, 13 January 2015

In case you missed it ... (and by the way, there's still loads more room on the bandwagon, but hurry – a new one will be along shortly)

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The twisted cynic in me felt that the huge demonstration in Paris on Sunday in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo office murders and ta...
Saturday, 10 January 2015

What do ‘habeas corpus’ and ‘hypocrisy’ have in common? They both begin with an ‘h’. Or why in ‘the land of the free’ Shaker Aamer still doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of being released after 13 years however many general elections David Cameron wants to win (though I’d dearly love to be proved wrong)

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All last week one of our media saints, Melvyn Bragg, broadcast a daily 30-minute programme examining Magna Carta, which English barons prese...
Thursday, 8 January 2015

‘I abhor clichés, but will defend to the death your right to use them’ Appropriately, much ink has already been spilled in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo murders. And as far as the self-righteous jacks are concerned who have bullied clubs into not hiring a convicted rapist, there ain’t nothing like a hypocrite - they have threatened staff

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I learned something today: Voltaire didn’t say ‘I disagree/disapprove with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it’....
Tuesday, 6 January 2015

Anyone want to join a mob, burn someone and quench their bloodlust? Ched Evans is available. But be quick before you forget what it’s all about and Corrie starts

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When most of us hear the phrase ‘mob rule’ or ‘mob violence’, I suppose we think of bygone centuries when folk rioted over the price of brea...
Thursday, 1 January 2015

My New Year’s message: stay young. But that means in spirit, not tighter pants, medallions, boob jobs and botox!

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Well, after finding myself back to this ‘ere blog after some time away, I thought I might at least wish you all a Happy New Year, though hav...