Category: Politics
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I’m A Photographer – Not A Terrorist
At midday today, I went to Trafalgar Square along with what must have been a couple of thousand of other photographers to protest that “I’m A Photographer, Not A Terrorist!” This is an event that will surely have hundreds of photos coming out of it. There were no speeches per se, but lots of group…
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Photographers Not Terrorists
Last night I was out trying to take photos of the Geminid meteor shower. It was a bit cloudy as you can see from the above photo which shows precisely no meteors. But as I set out on foot to a nearby field a bit away from the city lights, wrapped up warm with a…
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BBC, Ofcom and James Murdoch
The Edinburgh TV Festival is all very depressing isn’t it. The stories coming out, during a recession that’s probably hit TV today to a greater extent than ever before, all seem to be about shutting things down, and leaving well alone. James Murdoch has come out swinging with his McTaggart lecture and it’s depressing stuff.…
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How You Can Use Parliamentary TV Coverage…
…or not. I’d completely forgotten this, but then I saw last week’s edition of Have I Got News For You presented this week by Alexander Armstrong. The MPs’ expenses scandal is the gift that keeps on giving as far as satirical programmes go, but when illustrating the resignation of the Speaker, Armstrong pointed out that…
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The Oxygen of Publicity
The Home Office has been having a hard time recently – and the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, especially so. Yesterday, they came out all guns a blazing, with a list of people “named and shamed” who are to be excluded from entering Britain. Obviously this is by no means a list of the only people…
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Keep Calm
Inspired by the ridiculously popular WWII poster, and The IT Crowd. Personally I think another poster in the series – Freedom Is In Peril – is equally as relevant.
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The Convention on Modern Liberty
On Saturday I attended what I genuinely believe was an important event – The Convention on Modern Liberty in London. Satellite events were taking place all over the country, with the plenary sessions and keynote addresses. It was a great day with a vast array of speakers. We had to pick and choose which sessions…
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MPs Expenses Defeated
Great news! The vote called last week by the government to exclude MPs’ expenses from falling into the Freedom of Information act, which was to take place tomorrow, has been cancelled. This superb news almost certainly follows the vast amount of emails that MPs have been receiving, the Tweets and the Facebook group. All inside…
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Write To Your MP Today!
The government is trying to renege on publishing details of MPs expenses. They introduced some new legislation last week to remove their obligation under the Freedom of Information Act. This comes after over £1m had been spent collecting the information. And let’s not forget that they’re public servants. So write to your MP today. Get…
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Digital Britain
One of the most interesting documents likely to be published in the UK in the next few months is Lord Stephen Carter’s Digital Britain report. The draft report is due to be published by the end of this month, and it’s likely to cover things like public service, broadband and digital radio. The recent DRWG…
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Copyright Extension
In just four days, we could begin to see the first of Cliff Richard’s singles re-released without Richard himself either profiting or having any say over what’s released. That could happen, although as I write, I can’t see any forthcoming releases at Amazon. Indeed he’s recently released a celebratory 50 years anthology, and gave away…
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To Publish Or Not To Publish?
A simple one first of all. It seems that the names of the people allegedly responsible for the death of Baby P are being passed around quite freely via electronic media. But for legal reasons, they’ve not been named publicly in the mainstream media. It can obviously lead to a lynch-mob mentality that says that…