Arts
Have I got news for you
My adopted father, now probably long enough in the grave that there are no physical remains bar a simple skeleton, had a down to earth approach towards the idiot lantern. If he didn’t like what [more…]
Journalism
Democracy
A particularly insidious form of evil
There are moments in life when one remembers exactly where they were when a particular event occurs. The death of JFK, the moon landings, Hillsborough, the death of Diana, 9/11. For all these events I [more…]
20th Century
Hunter S Thompson: Thou shouldst be living at this hour
Before he shot himself in 2005 after decades of cocaine & booze self abuse, HST produced some of the most remarkable commentary on the modern US political process. With insider access to the players involved, [more…]
Arts
In praise of journalists, or perhaps not
I am not a journalist, the closest I have ever been to them is while I was working at News International’s fortress in Wapping during the move from Fleet Street to Docklands in 1985/6. I [more…]
Arts
AWS, News at Ten, in Church
Dong! Puffin reads in church. Dong! Puffin makes a mess of it. Dong! Puffin advised not to look at the comments. As the rules for such things changed yet again, and as such a thing [more…]
Arts
A meeting with an illegal migrant
Liège, autumn 2018 It was pouring with rain in Liège, so I decided to store my backpack in a station locker before spending a few hours traipsing in the wet around the place. Unfortunately, the [more…]
America
Some of my best friends are……..
All the media focus on Black militancy and publicity about BAME deaths due to coronavirus is turning my natural liberal, anti-racist core from Zero towards Six towards the Right-Wing/Conservative scale. Given that broadcasters suppress comment [more…]
Arts
Book Review: The Fake News Factory by David Sedgwick
I read David Sedgwick’s first book about the BBC, ‘BBC: Brainwashing Britain?’ (the Kindle version) when it came out in December 2018 and was immediately nodding and mouthing ‘yes, yes, yes’ at virtually every page. [more…]
Arts
Amazon’s Dirty Tricks: When the BBC Calls
Readers of this website might have heard about my recently published critique of the BBC, ‘The Fake News Factory: Tales from BBC-land’ a fruity and occasionally witty expose of the UK’s thoroughly dishonest state propaganda [more…]