Month: July 2004
-
E-University
The Today Programme had a short item on the failure of the UK’s E-University this morning. The piece was all a bit too short considering that the scheme had £60m spent on it. And many concerned all received bonuses despite the project’s abject failure. All round a scandalous waste of money. Online learning can work,…
-
Prom No. 6
I must be getting addicted. It’s a few years since I last went to a Prom and now I’ve been twice in two days. Even on the day of rush hour tube chaos. OK, so I took the bus and listened to the conductor’s story of woe – Routemasters are being phased out this year,…
-
The Proms
I paid my first visit to the Proms for a while today, seeing the BBC National Orchestra of Wales playing various pieces including Elgar’s Enigma Variations. I’d entirely forgotten that the opening variation, C.A.E. (which is actually a portrait of the composer’s wife) was lifted lock stock into the soundtrack of the first Matrix film.…
-
Paul Foot
It was very sad to hear today that Paul Foot had died. He was 66 and on his way to a holiday in Ireland. Paul Foot was one of those journalists you can only respect – he believed wholeheartedly in Socialism and wrote it as he saw it. There are plenty of obituaries scattered around…
-
Tour: Stage 13
It may be unlucky for some, but Stage 13 in the Pyranees yesterday kept me watching. The stage covered many mountains, finishing at the Plateau de Beille. Lance Armstrong, chasing his sixth consecutive tour win was once again left with a sole real rival in Ivan Basso. Everyone else was losing time or even getting…
-
Fortunes of War
I’ve categorised this entry as “Films/DVD” but I was watching my videos. I got the video set of Fortunes of War years ago (the pre-copyright tape suggests a duplication date in 1998), undoubtedly in an HMV sale, but never got around to watching them. Of course I watched the series when it was first broadcast…
-
The Full Cupboard of Life
Book 5 in the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is more of the same really. There’s not a great deal of “detection” going on here – a lady who’s trying to choose between four suitors. And we only meet two of them! Then there’s a sponsored parachute jump, and maybe a wedding. Nothing much ever…
-
Generation X
A bit late to the party with this one. The flyleaf of this books says it was written in 1991, so that’s a short while ago. And I’m someone who reads pretty much everything Coupland writes. But somehow his debut novel had passed me by. Of course I’ve owned a copy of it for quite…
-
How Many Miles to Basra?
Although it was broadcast on Radio 3 last Sunday, I’ve only just listened to How Many Miles to Basra? The play’s about what happens when a small group of British soldiers are out in the desert after hostilities have ceased, accompanied by a career-focused radio journalist. Obviously things happen to them, starting with the accidental…
-
Analogue Radio Switch Off
The idea that analogue radio is going to be switched off any time soon is a complete joke. Kip Meek, from Ofcom is reported to have said that with analogue TV being switched off somewhere between 2010 and 2012, radio should follow suit soon thereafter. Not a hope. Firstly, if you think analogue TVs can…
-
Odds and Ends
I’m just spending my lunchtime flicking through FT Creative Business (you need a subscription to read it!), and there are a few thoughtful articles. * An interview with Radio 3 controller Roger Wright. Sadly this is a bit on the defensive since the usual mentions of not enough classical music on the station and too…
-
Scientific Illiteracy
Last Sunday, The Independent on Sunday published a comment piece by the Prince of Wales about nanotechnology. It’s a well argued piece, although while we don’t get the histrionics of “grey goo” that accompanied the Prince’s last thought on the subject (not something he claims to have ever believed incidentally), he does mention thalidomide as…