Richard D North

The accusations against Rupert Murdoch’s empire have always been numerous. But not all of them stack up. Here goes at unpicking a few.. More »

I’ve been booked for the BBC TV’s Sunday ethics and religion show, and here are some sketches of what I hope to say… More »

The House of Lords works pretty well and arguably most recent reforms have made it a little less good at its work. Making it an elected house might well scupper it. Here is a very brief account of the reforms we need, and those we don’t… More »

John Lloyd (who is one of my moral compasses) writes in his FT TV review (18/19 June 2011) that the BBC’s great prides are “enlightenment values and devotion to impartiality”. But, as he defines them, are these compatible? More »

It’s early days, and I’ve seen no definitive accounts of the mini-riots in the West End of London on Saturday 27 March 2011. But they produce further evidence that the police are being told or are assuming that they should not maintain public order in the face of protest, even if the organisers (or non-organisers) signal that they won’t co-operate at all, or much. More »

It is only a tiny bit cruel to say that so far (16 March 2011) Jon, Krishnan and Anna (to name just the presenting stars of C4 and Sky) have not done well. Neither have the writers of the headlines and the linking material the talent reads. Luckily, some of the specialist reporters (Fergus Walsh, for instance) seem to be doing pretty well. And the experts from all quarters seem to have been well-selected and to pitch in as best they can. The audience has only to disregard the scene-setting and they’ll be pretty well informed. But lord, the scene-setting drips prejudices at once hippie and populist: the appetite for gloom; the wilful ignorance about radiation; the refusal to discuss risk as though it wasn’t always a balance; the endless parading of Three Mile Island like it had hurt people; the assumption that Chernobyl was a huge killer (even George Monbiot has got beyond that canard). It’s sad and bad.

The Today Programme (10 March 2011) asked a  man from Compass (the think tank) and me what we thought about the idea of a Public Sector Covenant. Is there, like the Military Covenant, a special understanding or settlement with civil servants of every sort. I said no…. More »

I had an outing on BBC1′s Big Questions and on the issue of extremely premature babies missed an important note or two…  More »

The British state is right to have a growing international aid budget. How on earth could a screaming right-winger argue this? Well, BBC1′s  Big Questions asked my opinion on the matter and I surprised myself thus…. More »