Coulson and Brooks shine at Leveson
I want to have and give some explanation for why I was pleased when Coulson/Brooks did well at the Leveson inquiry and why - this is even trickier - I was not sorry to see Robert Jay bested.... Read more...
Politics & campaigns.
This is not a party political site and not very partisan in any way. My emphasis has tended to be on the quality of debate and campaigning, and especially on the need to appreciate represtentative democracy (government through elected representatives whose own views matter), and to be sceptical of the claims of vox pop, "the people", social media, Crowd Wisdom, and "direct action".Page 9
RDN at a climate change conference
In April 2012 I attended a climate change conference and want just to nail some of the arguments aired, as I see them. (It was held under Chatham House, "no names, no pack-drill" rules.) Read more...
Phew: “Iron Lady” is OK!
The worst charges one can make against the movie Iron Lady don't stand up. I see that her family and close admirers might be angry about it, but the rest of us can probably be glad there's an account of her time in office and life which is broadly fair (and broadly supportive, probably in spite of itself). To the slightly differing but very positive comments by Matthew Parris (in the LA Times) and by Iain Dale in his blog I mostly want to reinforce the latter's sense that this film will help the non-committal see why Mrs T was a force for good. Read more...
Don’t professionalise journalism, Lord Leveson
The first tranche of professors of journalism testified to Lord Leveson today and the result was mildly reassuring. But it is worth stressing how important it is that this trade remain as free of professionalism, certificates, regulation, registration and general tick-box goody-goodiness as possible. Read more...
DSK, “Spiral”, “The Ides…”, Leveson and Max.
Now we seem to have the perfect story - and, yes, I rather admire Andrew Marr for describing it as such on his show this morning. There is plausibe speculation that DSK was the victim of a sting or scam worthy of the view of French politics as portrayed in Spiral. Or should we say that it might be a sting or scam worthy of American habits, as portrayed by The Ides of March? At the level of script, narrative, theatre, thriller, or whatever, we are having a ball. Read more...
Leveson, Week One
Max Mosley seems to have swept all before him and does so because his case pushes into so many corners of the matters Leveson is considering. Pace the rather silly remarks by Hugo Rifkind in The Times (25 November 2011) it is important that we don't wrongly calibrate the media's offences. Read more...
Radio 4’s Food Programme on “real food”
In recent episodes of BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme there have been interesting examples of - and some challenges to - the show's dogma. I think it is fair to say the show is crusading for something it calls "real food". But what is that? Read more...
What The City should tell St Paul’s
The City faces a severe test from the sort of protest centred on St Paul's. Whether it at last responds properly comes down to character, or its institutionalised cousin - professionalism.
The protestors are asking The City to explain itself, and (so far as this dedicated reader of the Financial Times can see) there's been no reply. Where is The City's answer to the question: Does The City do a good job? Read more...
RDN at BCS digital access debate
The British Computer Society asked me to be one of two responders at a debate dinner featuring Trevor Phillips of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (7 November 2011).
The question was: will it be possible for someone to be a full citizen without digital access? Read more...
St Paul’s anti-capitalist camp
Much of the encampment and debacle at St Paul's is good and even hilarious news, but the best bit is that it has produced a nearly perfect confrontation... Read more...