Tag archive for ‘Media’
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Oliver Stone – “It’s the same story in Afghanistan, Iraq and South America”
There’s an excellent, revealing interview with Oliver Stone in the Observer today, published to coincide with the British launch of his new film South of the Border about the rise of the left in Latin America.
Over many years Stone has conducted a relentless examination of power and politics in his own country and how the USA takes its place in the world. I recently watched Wall Street for the first time in years. The Observer’s Carole Cadwalladr is right to [...] -
Has Boris Johnson lost his grip? – asks the Spectator
There’s disgruntlement with Boris Johnson’s mayoralty from an unexpected quarter today – the Evening Standard’s property and planning correspondent Mira Bar-Hillel, in the lead article for this week’s Spectator.
Accusing the mayor of having passed his ”Emperor’s New Clothes moment,” Bar-Hillel pulls no punches: “he can’t admit he’s wrong, but he’s a little too lazy to do his homework properly, and that often leaves him intellectually denuded.”
“Just how well-suited is Boris to power?” she asks.
Bar-Hillel characterises Johnson’s administration as “well-meaning enthusiasm, followed by [...] -
Labour in London exceeded expectations
“Labour has done much better than expected in London”
David Dimbleby, BBC Election Results programme, 7th May 2010
I didn’t have time to post this yesterday, but here’s Tessa Jowell’s comment on the London general election results, where Labour held a succession of seats that were predicted to be going from red to blue. That’s in addition to the succession of local government victories in London that have seen Labour take back council after council.
Tessa Jowell said:
‘‘From the results that have been [...] -
Guardian economics editor draws a different conclusion…
The Guardian’s endorsement of the Liberal Democrats has had plenty of coverage, but its economics editor is taking a different view of the issues in the election.
Larry Elliott breaks ranks with his paper’s editorial line today, backing Labour as the party offering the best prospect of social justice.
Of course, Larry Elliott is critical of Labour. He sets out what he thinks Labour has got wrong, and where it has been right.
But he also he openly questions the paper’s recent editorial decision.
“It [...] -
Only Labour MPs will keep the Tories out
What’s wrong with the Guardian’s editorial endorsing the Liberal Democrats is that it poses an issue that it then does not answer, because it cannot, without its whole line unravelling.
“For now, however, the cause of reform is overwhelmingly more likely to be achieved by a Lib Dem partnership of principle with Labour than by a Lib Dem marriage of convenience with a Tory party which is explicitly hostile to the cause and which currently plans to redraw the political map [...] -
Cameron’s poor judgement on Irish peace process
This evening’s BBC News at Ten coverage of the historic Stormont vote on policing and justice was striking for the absence of voices from the very community whose confidence in policing has been lacking for so long. Unless I blinked and missed it not a single nationalist or republican voice was to be heard during the top story on the BBC’s flagship news bulletin.
Despite this limitation one thing came through crystal clear. The alliance the Tories have formed in the [...] -
Standard City Hall editor’s blog is back
The Evening Standard’s City Hall editor Pippa Crerar recently returned from maternity, and now her Standard blog is back.
It’s a welcome return, adding an extra dimension to online City Hall-watching. Here’s her take this week on the confirmation hearing for Kit Malthouse’s appointment, and possible future directions for the MPA.
Read Pippa’s blog here. -
Boris Johnson – dodging public accountability
Boris Johnson’s appearance on LBC’s Nick Ferrari show this morning highlights two clear issues with his administration.
The first is broken promises. In his manifesto Boris Johnson gave a commitment [pdf, see page three] that he would reintroduce tidal flow in the Blackwall tunnel. Now he says he can’t do it for legal reasons.
There are two options. Either he was right during the election, in which case it is simply incompetent not to implement his promise. Or he is right now, in which [...] -
Johnson gets twitter guidance over party-political tweet
Boris Johnson will receive guidance by the GLA’s Monitoring Officer over the use of his Mayor of London twitter account after the Greater London Authority’s Standards’ Committee found he could be seen to have breached the Authority’s code of conduct by tweeting on a party political matter.
The three- person sub-committee, with a majority of independent members, investigated a complaint from a member of the public who questioned whether it was appropriate for Johnson to use his mayoral twitter feed to welcome the Sun’s endorsement [...] -
Moonwalking bear necessities
Not much reported, but noteworthy all the same, is the news that Transport for London’s “moonwalking bear” cycling safety ad has won a gold award at the IPA Effectiveness Awards for advertising.
As the judges commented, “Faced with the difficult task of reducing the number of deaths and the number of injuries that cyclists sustain on London’s roads, this campaign moved away from traditional shock tactic strategy and instead tried to understand what is causing these accidents.”
Commissioned during [...]
