Freerice.com: Educational tool and help for starving

If you want to expand your vocabulary, impress the girl/boy of your dreams and help the starving, then visit Freerice.com and start answering questions.

20 grains of rice are donated through the UN World Food Program around the world.

Their sister site Poverty.com is also excellent for information on hunger, with a tally of hunger deaths this hour.

975 people across the world died from hunger between 8:00pm and 8:56pm

Youtube: Numberwang Board Game: Mitchell And Webb

Last night's That Mitchel and Webb Look was a delight. Sadly I missed last week's show.

Here is the Numberwang Board Game sketch



"How about playing Cucumberwang?"

"No, Timmy, cos that would be shit."

News from my Google Reader

The start of an occasional series while I hope to run weekly.

The best of current links from my Google Reader.

Rodney Rumford on Facebook Communication Done Right (Facereviews)

Scott Adams on his ultimate future city and one-story house (The Dilbert Blog)

Spiegel Online on The Dumbest Ideas Ever Uttered in German Politics

Pole To Polar on how television depicts mental disorder.

I would recommend adding these sites to your Google Reader, which is better than a Favourites bar as it can be accessed from any computer.

France's holocaust controversy

While the Tories and Labour use the Holocaust to play party political games, France has dropped a proposal for French ten year olds to investigate the background and circumstances of Jewish children.

Former minister and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil has been among those opposed.

Critics called the proposal misguided, saying it could stir up resentment among other sectors of society and be traumatic for young children.

Veil herself had assailed the proposal as "unimaginable, unbearable and unjust," saying 10-year-olds should not have to identify with dead children.

Personally I think it was a good idea, although perhaps ten years is a little too young. It should also be brought over here to remind British children how dangerous the world can be.

Democracy and basic human rights shouldn't be taken for granted. Children should realise that any government or group has the power to turn people's lives upside down.

Look at Kaing Guek Eav, currently on trial for the murder of over 16,000 Cambodians at Tuol Sleng prison.

I hope that Nicolas Sarkozy will reconsider this, but doubt he has the courage.

Ashes To Ashes: Episodes 3 and 4

It seems that some sexual tension is bubbling up between Gene Hunt and Alex Drake.

Hardly surprising- Gene is a figment of Alex's imagination, and he's the backward chalk to her calculating cheese.

They say opposites attract, and it seems that there is a sexual undertone to their sparring.

Now Gene has got used to working alongside a woman, he's confident enough to give her the nickname of "bolly knickers"

It's nice to see the desk sergeant is actually behind his desk as opposed to bobbing about around CID.

In episode 3 (21st) the team had to deal with religious serial killer and rapist Ryan Burns, who was targeting prostitutes-giving Gene the opportunity to flex his chauvinist muscles.

The Freemasons connection caused problems, but Ryan was eventually fitted up with cocaine-filled garden gnomes.

Interesting to see Gene as Clint Eastwood with

Last night, Hunt and Drake battled the secret services and a far-left group who regarded the police force and an opressive arm of the state (the 1980's version of Indymedia posters).

I found Episode 4 to be the weakest since the first one, as I found it confusing it times and it wasn't very tense.

There is too much reference to Drake's parents. It would be nice if some episodes simply saw them communicate with Drake from the 21st centuary, as opposed to an encouter in 1981.

Drake's "I bet she loved that" when talking about her childhood is wearing thin.

The storylines are mostly strong, however, and Chris and Shaz are very sweet. It's comic seeing Chris try to follow radical feminist philosophy that Andrea Dworkin would have been porud of, only to fail and cause confusion between them.

A gay storyline next week for Episode 5, involving clubbing.

"Can we concentrate on the crimes he commites and not whose cock he sucks" shouts Drake across the CID room.

Should be another tension-coated episode next Thursday on BBC1.

Iraqi Syndicate of Journalists President dies

Shehab El Tamimi, the President of the Iraqi Syndicate of Journalists, died yesterday in hospital.

This follows an attempt on his life by unidentified persons in Baghdad this Saturday.

The BBC describe him as "a a fierce critic of Iraq's sectarian violence."

May he rest in peace.

The Iraqi Syndicate of Journalists is the journalists' union for those working in Iraq, and is a member of the International Federation of Journalists.

Government double standards

Isn't it funny how the government are concerned about rich non-doms leaving but don't care about the drain of public sector workers such as police abroad?

Fiddling while Rome burns, people...

David Chater's evocative review

A nice reference to Aphra Behn's Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister in today's review of Wonderland by David Chater in the Times2.

"Here is a man who burnt and raved at the close of day."

This is a paraphrase of Behn's line "I have burnt and raved an hour or two, or so; pursued and gazed, and laid sieges, till I have overcome; but, what is this to love."

For overseas readers, the times2 is a supplement to the Times newspaper, which carries features, reviews and listings. As with the main paper, it's in tabloid format, though certainly not in content.

WNOL Work: Sitebuilding

To paraphrase Elvis Costello.

I've been really busy this week, which is why I'm thinking of going home to Oxfordshire this weekend, to see friends and family around the dreaming spires (not that I live anywhere near them, the only "landmark" near me is Campsfield Detention Centre and a handful of beautiful stone churches unspoilt by false progress).

I have used Adobe Fireworks (with the help of Andrew Grant-Adamson) to add a GIF files with four links. Fireworks enables a parts of a picture to be linked to a web page. Just use the rectangle tool under "Web" and then add your link into the menu box below. Hit return and your link will have worked.

We needed to tweak the code a bit in this instance.

Myself and Andrew also uploaded video (compressed using Final Cut Pro)and audio (compressed using Sound Studio).

Tommorow I will make sure all pictures on the site follow the house sizes (that I optimised) and will also try and start research for a feature.

I will also add to the Google Reader feed that its set up for editors. So far sites added include Harrow Council, BBC London and Retuters.

We are unable to create Factiva alerts at present-should soon be rectified.

It's all go in J Block (second floor)!

Telegraph Style Book: Guardian Styleguide and the new tome in town

The Daily Telegraph is currently working on an online style book. It will be available as a PDF around May, and will late be published as a book.

Print MA Journalism students at the University of Westminster usually use the Guardian Styleguide, which you can obtain off Amazon or at Guardian books.

As you would expect, the Telegraph has a more conservative style. It also has a list of banned words.

These include "perverted Scout leaders", "stunned", "fall pregnant" and "huge".

Regular readers of my blog will note I use the word "dread phrase", which I borrowed from Craig Brown's Wallace Arnold.

Many of the words in the list would elicit this cry from me and most other journalists. "ahead of" is not that horrible, but words such as "mammoth" (except when referring to a large furry animal who isn't a former racing pundit) and "boost" are out of the question.

It would be nice if the Telegraph Style Book had some quotes from readers like the Guardian Style Guide, and some in-depth comment on subjects such as military terms.

Let us hope the Telegraph Style Book is as detailed as the Guardian Styleguide when it is completed. It already has an excellent section on syntax and grammar. A must for all journalists and linguists.


The Guardian Styleguide has been well recieved by Tom Paulin, Ian Jack and other wordsmiths. I trust that the Telegraph Stylebook will get the same response.

Time Out's Michael Hodges Is Running For London Mayor

Michael Hodges, a journalist at Time Out magazine, is running for London Mayor.

He is the magazine's offical candidate.

His manifesto has been written with help from Time Out readers, and his deposit has been funded with money raised by readers as well.

The magazine intends to use the platform in order to change the way elections are run:

If elected, one of the policies of Time Out's candidate will be to lower the threshold to £2,500 and reduce the charge for being included in the election booklet to £1,000. He will also ban any foreign donations in future elections – Japanese property developers should not have a say in how London is governed.

So what are the policies of Time Out's candidate? Will he replace The Londoner with Time Out through every door?

You can see the manifesto here:

Personally, I really like Time Out's transport policy. It's the best one I've seen so far, although I'm still backing Brian Paddick as I feel he's the only one who will clean up London's plague of street crime.

On the other hand, some of social policy needs some work:

Why is their dog shit everywhere? And why are their vicious dogs everywhere? Time for a London dog licence scheme with penalty points and eventual criminal charges for regular miscreants. If the Mayor can’t do it who can?

It's best to avoid expletives in a manifesto. And who is "their"? I assume dog owners.

This policy is the only one I consider a real mistake, quite good compared to some of the candidates.

Also, we should replace the yellow ‘murder boards’ with signs saying how much crime has fallen in a borough. Replace the climate of fear with a climate of confidence.

Stories about crime falling are all over local papers, in-house newsletters and the lips of senior police. Murder boards are there to appeal to witnesses.

I'm not going to vote for Michael Hodges, but I wouldn't object if he was Mayor.

I might even make him my second choice.

Here is a well-written feature from 2007 on Ken Livingstone's record as Mayor of London.

Incidentaly, this is a good blog on the elections.

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Kevin Khatchadourian is a terrible person, one of few fictional characters without a redeeming feature.

He pours drain cleaner in his sister's eye, despoils maps carefully created by his mother and is imprisoned after murdering nine people at school.

Reading about Kevin's cruelty is like being tied to a chair, unable to act and unable to stop watching.

A review inside the front cover by the Boston Globe claims "Shriver doesn't take the easy way out by blaming the parents.", although Franklin is unable to believe anything bad about his son, while he secretly loathes his daughter. Had Eva been able to shatter his tower of delusion, perhaps the family's fate would have been avoided.

Throughout the book, other school shooters, such as Andrew Wurst and Kipland Kinkel are described in detail, giving a picture of how dangerous alienation at schools in America is.

Shriver is clearly using Eva to criticise the reaction to these murders, such as expelling children for wearing trench coats or a fourteen year old girl being strip searched in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

She is saying that some children are just "born evil", and despite the efforts of Eva and the unconditional optimism of Franklin, remain evil. Kevin is not bullied or brutalised.

He is not tormented for his looks or his dress. Kevin Khatchadourian does not get Warhammer 40,000 knocked out of his hand or have Anthony Burgess novels ripped apart.

Neither does he play football, chug beer at parties or compare his genitals to others in the locker room.

Kevin manages to manufacture a false mask of mediocrity, allowing him to indulge his life's work of causing others suffering.

The book takes the form of a series of letters from Eva to Franklin, allowing the revalation of a twist.

Of course, this means that we only have Eva's side of the story. Maybe her treatment of Kevin when he was young did contribute to his soullessness. Maybe Kevin wasn't as evil as she makes out, and Eva needs to invent incidents to explain the nine shootings, carefully crafted using faked letters and a crossbow (given to Kevin by his parents, like giving Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the keys to Three Mile Island.

We Need To Talk About Kevin is often hard to read, but never seems fanciful. It is a clear indication of how evil can destroy those around it.

More of my WNOL articles

Two more articles from Westminster News Online:

Digital Village disappoint again

Ashes To Ashes: The season so far

Digital Village is our residence internet provider.

I am currently writing a review of London Gallery West, an art gallery in the Harrow Campus.

Reporting mental health and suicide

One in six people in Britain are mentally ill, yet press coverage of mental health can often be insensitive and ignorant.

A famous example of this is the Sun’s infamous “Bonkers Bruno” headline, which forced the paper to issue an apology after complaints by readers.

Over half the number of journalists are concerned about the way their media report mental health.

It is therefore important that journalism students understand how to report mental illness.

Our journalism class was lucky enough to attend a seminar this morning given by speakers from Shift; the Department of Health funded campaign to tackle stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness.

There is a negative perception about mental health, fuelled by the media and aspects of popular culture.

34% of people think a person with mental health problems will be violent, yet less than 1% of murders are committed by someone with a mental health problem.

Suicide is also a huge social problem, with six thousand people taking their own lives every day in the United Kingdom alone.

We carried out a role-play (I strongly dislike role-plays, but this one had value), where one of us played the part of a journalist and the other the part of a woman called Susan with clinical and post-natal depression.

Our job was to come up with sensitive questions and a good headline. Since “Susan” had worked three jobs and had been discriminated against in two of them, I thought it was important to have job discrimination as the story’s hook.

Journalists and those who discriminate against the mentally ill should remember that anyone can be a sufferer at any time. In the past three years, a close family member has been diagnosed with severe depression after two suicide attempts and a friend of mine who had bipolar disorder killed himself after jumping from the roof of a church in Oxford.


Better reporting:
1.Avoid using words like "schizo" or "nutter".

2. Do not refer to people by their diagnosis.

3. People are patients in secure psychiatric hospitals, not inmates. They are discharged, not released.

4. Do not use the phrase "committed suicide". Suicide is, thankfully, no longer a criminal offence.

5. Make sure methods of suicide are not described in great detail.

6. Always offer a helpline number. The Samaritans can be contacted on 08457 90 90 90. Their postal and e-mail contacts are here.

7. Make sure you speak to an expert to check facts. Mind and Rethink both have press offices.

8. Don't try to suggest a simple cause for suicide: it is complex.

9. Keep up to date with PCC and Ofcom guidelines.

10. Make sure you encourage greater openess about mental health issues, and support anyone who is mentally ill or suicidal. For example, they should be interviewed in a neutral place, not their own home.

Chris Morris' The Day Today on Mastermind

BBC Iplayer (disappears on Sunday 1st March)

Katy Brammall answers questions on The Day Today.

Also questions on the Roman Republic, Robert Owen and Sir Bobby Charlton from the other three entrants.

"According to Alan Partridge's sport bulletin, why has the football match between Richmond Arithmetic and Nottingham Marjorie been postponed?"

"Bent Pitch."

Wikileaks: Investigative Journalism Tool

In conjunction with my investigative journalism module, I want to blog Wikileaks, which shows how a wiki can help journalism (unlike Wikipedia, which leaks accuracy like an incompetent colander each time some "prankster" or Internet troll makes an edit to declare that George Bush is dead or Mars is full of Amy Winehouse's fag ends).

It's a submission site for leaked documents.

The site makes clear how the shortcomings (and they are legion) of Wikipedia are avoided by Wikileaks. Although the same wiki is used, the sites are not related.

Wikileaks is not like Wikipedia. Every submitted article and change is reviewed by our editorial team of professional journalists and anti-corruption analysts. Articles that are not of high standard are rejected and non-editorial articles are fully attributed. If you are unsure about the attribution for an article or other information appearing contact the editor. Open commentary is restricted to Talk: pages, clearly labeled as such in their title heading.

You can submit documents here. The site is also safe for whistleblowers.

Wikileaks incorporates advanced cryptographic technologies to ensure anonymity and untraceability. Those who provide leaked information may face severe risks, whether of political repercussions, legal sanctions or physical violence. Accordingly, sophisticated cryptographic and postal techniques are used to minimize the risks that anonymous sources face.

For the technically minded, Wikileaks integrates technologies including modified versions of MediaWiki, OpenSSL, FreeNet, Tor, PGP and software of our own design.

Wikileaks information is distributed across many jurisdictions, organizations and individuals. Once a document is leaked it is essentially impossible to censor.

Example of documents on Wikileaks:

Project Wing: Northen Rock Executive Summary.

Support Wikileaks-many want to attack the site.

I should point out Bill Thompson of the BBC disagrees with the site's supporters.

Youtube: X-Ray Spex: Germfree Adolescence

From Top of The Pops

Bird of Prey: Not Just Another Day At The Office

The televisual thriller Bird of Prey, on sale at Amazon.co.uk, is a must-watch.

Richard Griffiths plays plodding Henry Jay, a civil servant who grows in cunning yet manages to retain his facade of dullness and nauseating conformity. "Files are never finished, dear, they can be left but never finished".

A recurring theme is Jay catching the 8:15 every morning from Waterloo (which the DVD cover misquotes at 6:15)

Henry shares information with a City of London police officer, drawing him into the web of crime syndicate Le Pouvoir when Louis Vacheron, one of their operatives, is murdered.

The conspirators are depicted as sinister yet ridiculous, holding onto formality and odd customs even when tensions start to break down authority.

Jay grows in intelligence and confidence throughout both series. He even manages to take on his stereotypical mother-in-law.

As Henry Jay travels around Brussels and Britain, various other players in the drama are murdered, including City of London police officer Richardson.

The theme of computers is present in the credits of both series and the drama itself, with Jay having compiled a report called "Computer Fraud in the age of Electronic Accounting". Computers keep Henry alive during Series 1, and Jay parlays his superior with BASIC language "Print that."

A gripping show, both series of Bird of Prey are well worth the £15 on Amazon.

One year since blogger sentenced to four years imprisonment for writing critical of Islam

Amnesty International are reminding people it has been once year since Karim Amer was sentenced to four years in prison for entries alleged to be critical of Islam,al-Azhar religious authorities and President Mubarak.

They urge people to write to President Mubarak using the online form.

In letters to one of his legal counsels Karim has since described how he was beaten in prison last October. He was punched and kicked by a prisoner and a prison guard under the supervision of a prison investigations officer.

One of his teeth was broken and he was badly bruised. He was then taken to a disciplinary cell, hand-cuffed and his legs tied up and beaten again by the same two people on the officer’s orders.

He also wrote that another prisoner unknown to him was brought to the cell, stripped naked and beaten by the same individuals in his presence.

He was then threatened that he would receive the same treatment if he intervened again in the prisons’ affairs. Karim said he advised Eritreans in the prison to keep their money after he had discovered that one Eritrean cell-mate to whom he serves as an interpreter lost 100 US dollars. All for writing a blog.

Dreamdealer.nl on How To Create A Web 2.0 style logo

Great tutorial by DreamDealer.nl on how to create a Web 2.0 logo.

Other good tutorials from DreamDealer.

Brazilllian newspaper co-ordinator fined for criticising legal system

Newspaper co-ordinator Maria da Glória Costa Reis was sentenced to four months in prison, later converted to a fine, for publishing an article criticising the conditions of a jail and negligence of judges and lawyers regarding detainees' rights.

Maria co-ordinates Recomeço, which is written by Leopoldinan detainees and has a circulation of 200.

The suit was brought by José Alfredo Jünger de Souza Vieira, the judge in charge of overseeing the local prisons at the time when the article was published.

He was also in charge of the Criminal Court of Lepoldina.

Dr. Callamard, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, said

Sentencing to imprisonment someone reporting on possible human rights violations is profoundly tragic.

Prison conditions constitute clear public interest and public policy issues...

The defamation suit against Maria da Glória Costa Reis and the sentencing are shameful.

First specialist journalism lecture: Richard Adamson on Investigative Journalism

I've just come from a talk by Richard Adamson on Investigative Journalism, which has re-iterated my conviction that I should be doing this module.

Hopefully, I will also be doing finance modules with Andrew Grant-Adamson after the break.

I have a strong interest in learning about finance and have been reading up on basic economics. Finance, government and society are closely linked.

Richard Adamson gave examples of Nick Davies,Andrew Jennings and John Sweeney as people who were excellent investigative reports and who had made a difference.

It is important to cultivate contacts and follow the "Money Trail".

As Richard Adamson says, those who don't think that investigative journalism can make a difference are like those living in the matrix.

First UK Nationalisation since 1977

The first nationalisation for thirty-one years in Great Britain has now taken place.

Northern Rock is no longer run by the private sector.

Italians for Darfur: An example of Web Activism for Web 2.0

Yesterday one of my Facebook friends became a fan of the page Italians For Darfur: Web Activism 2.0 (IB4D).

It's a fantastic example of how Web 2.0 can be used for activism, another being Indymedia.

The page links a number of blogs on Darfur, as well as photos and groups. It promotes Italian blogs for Darfur, created in May 2006.

Although a page cannot invite people to be friends with it, Italians for Darfur will show up in people's news feed, alerting their Facebook friends to it.

So far the group has 7 fans (including me).

The page also has an article by Ivan Boothe "Using Social Networking To Stop Genocide"

Here is some of the article:

Our interest in social networking started mostly out of necessity. Students and young people have been at the forefront of the anti-genocide movement, and they also been some of the earliest adopters of new online technology. As a lot of students were self-organizing using MySpace, Facebook and other places, using these social networking tools was a matter of catching up, going where the young people already are, and connecting them to each other.

Yet even as the organizations have grown — and, for GI-Net, expanded well beyond its student origins — social networking has proven to be an important way to develop and engage our membership.

While our current focus is on Darfur, our larger goal is to create a permanent anti-genocide constituency so that when mass atrocities occur again — as they likely will — the world will be well-positioned to respond quickly and effectively. The primary reason countries take so little action to stop genocide is because there is no political will to do so.
Our long-term approach to building the movement thus coincides quite effectively with many of benefits social networking: education, collaboration and collective action.

Private Eye: Must-Read For Everyone (Particulary Journalists)

Every resident of Britain, everyone who wants to know more about Britain and certainly anyone who studies journalism or is a journalist should buy Private Eye every month.

It's half full of humour and half full of investigative reportage that covers all areas of life.

This fortnight, as well as a nice parody of the Archbishop of Canterbury's comments on Sharia law and the subsequent newspaper reports and a joke advert "Save Our Non-Doms!", there are two rather sad stories.

1. The University of Southampton spent £160,000 on redesigning their logo (not as much as the University of Sussex wasted re-designing their logo in 2004). It now simply says "University of Southampton".

2.The head of Northern Rock's new managment team, Ron Sandler, will be paid £1,080,000 per annum.

There is also coverage of the treatment of Milton Keynes Citizen journalist Sally Murrer and DS Mark Kearney in the wonderful "In The Back" section, which should be required reading for everyone.

"Grandfather of spin" David Hill speaks at Westminster University's Regent Street campus on the media-government relationship

This evening I reported on a talk given by David Hill for Westminster News Online at the University of Westminster.

It was nice to be surrounded by the opulent marble of Regent Street inside of the grey walls of the Harrow Campus.

Most interesting for me was Hill's claim that Blair rarely read newspapers or watched news bulletins while he worked with him, instead others monitored the news for him and reported what was going on.

It's hard to understand someone who doesn't voraciously consume newspapers, but when you are the one constantly being reported on, it no doubt becomes demoralising to hear about yourself in a negative light most days.

That is one of the (many) reasons given why John Major's premiership imploded on May 1st, 1997. He spent too much time worrying about the news, unlike Blair or Thatcher (and maybe Harold Wilson).

Hill reminded us Blair had to prepare for Prime Ministers Questions (that bearpit of misplaced ham acting and occasional planted questions) and press conferences.

He also told us that the Sunday papers presented the biggest headache to him, as they received little notice of stories and the communications team found out about them at 8:30pm each Saturday (when most people are down the pub or resting).

Therefore, a meeting was set up every Saturday night at 10:30pm to deal with the Sunday papers.

Hill also regarded those who buy four or five papers each week as "mad", although I'd argue those people just want a wide variety of news outlets. He only missed 3 8:30pm calls in four years.

I disagreed with much of what David Hill said, and felt his condemnation of journalists was often unfair.

It is true that the media can report on personalities rather than policies, but many of these soft news reports are fed by leaks (Private Eye has more information on this).

A lot of these soft news reports are encouraged by comedians who concentrate on soft satire during their act. Mock The Week (aside from Dara O Brien and Rory Bremner) is a good example of this.

Are the media mixing news with comment? I haven't seen many examples of this.

I agree that journalists don't have to print spin, but if a comment isn't sought from Number Ten on some stories they will claim bias (see Nick Jones' Campaign 1997).

David Hill claimed that Alistair Campbell and Peter Mandelson were not bullies, contrdicting those in the media such as Nick Jones (who also wrote Sultans of Spin)and Ian Hislop (Private Eye Editor).

However, I enjoyed the talk and am glad a couple of the speakers challenged Hill on some of his points.

Former Deputy Labour Party Leader Roy Hattersley is a big fan of David Hill.

David Hill was introduced by Martin Moore, who has a book out called The Origins Of Modern Spin, which I'll try to read in the near future.

One final comment: however much Hill loves it, the Catherine Tate/Tony Blair "Am I bothered" sketch is like the rest of the wretched comedian's work-unfunny and baffingly popular among drones, like tedious mould.

Is e-mail broken?

Duncan Riley at TechCrunch blogs on the launch of Mozilla Messenger.

David Ascher, the CEO of Mozilla Messaging, claims that "e-mail is broken" and that his product will fix it.

Is e-mail broken?

Conventional e-mail clients, are, in my view, sorely lacking. Hotmail, for example, does not allow people to mark messages as read, nor does it allow more than fourteen filters.

With the amount of spam these days and spammers' ability to forge e-mail headers.

Many of these problems may be fixed in paid-for versions-but do people really want to pay to use e-mail?

Mozilla Messenger should tackle spam by having unlimited filters.

It should be proactive and have someone who contacts other ISP's to report spam accounts, as many people do not bother and simply delete.

When someone tries to spam from a Mozilla Messenger account, it should shut down immediately.

Mozilla Messenger also needs to be better promoted. When someone opens Google in Mozilla, there should be a link to the service next to "About Mozilla".

Ascher also asks

What are you going to do about it?

The implication being that to repair e-mail, one should sign up.

My WNOL articles

Here are the WNOL articles submitted to the site last week:

Student Bids For Miss England Crown: about Miss England semi-finalist Jade Parsons.

Westminster looks to climb the green tree: about the new People and Planet group.

Dawn of the Dumb: a review of Charlie Brooker's book.

I'm working on a news article about Digital Village and will also be writing a feature article on a Harrow resident.

The Journalist

Last night I received the latest issue (and the last paper issue) of the Journalist magazine.

As usual, it's packed full of good journalism stories and letters.

My contributions are as follows:

Page 12, profile of Stephen Pearse "PR Face Of Union".

Page 15: Interview with fellow blogger Conrad Quilty-Harper

Pages 23-25: Overseas news (except for the Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh article, the Nigeria story and the Niger Rebels article.

I have subbed the letters page and some of the magazine as well.

Last print issue:

It is the end of an area.

After being mooted at the NUJ's ADM (where I was present), the next issue of the Journalist will be in a PDF.

I'm not knocking my union-but I think this is a bad idea.

Ideally, the Journalist should continue to be a print publication and have material online.

There are reasons why it's important to have a print presence. Magazines can be put in libraries, read in bed or on the way to a conference.

It's important people have the option, especially those who get headaches or don't have the internet. What are the poorest NUJ subscribes expected to do? Go to the local library every time a new PDF is loaded?

If things must go online only, a CMS would be better that everyone can access. I would be able to set this up using Joomla, the CMS for Westminster News Online, our student news site covering the four Westminster University campuses (Harrow, Marylebone, Cavendish and Regent Street).

PDf's take a long time to load, and require lots of scrolling.

However, the content does make up for this, so don't give up on the magazine!

American audio diary on Radio Reverb next week

My collegue Stuart James Ross has complied a radio diary of his 3 month journey across America.

* We'll take a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon
* Meet Navajo Indians in Monument Valley
* Speak to cast of the Sopranos in New York
* Watch the Chicago White Sox play baseball
* Visit free form radio station WFMU in New Jersey

... and take in much, much more across 36 states as well as Canada and Mexico.

You can hear Stuart's journey across America from Monday 25th- Wednesday 27th February at 12pm each day on RadioReverb 97.2FM, a Brighton radio station.

The show can be heard online at www.radioreverb.com

Slides can be seen here, as well as Stuart's USA Road Trip 2007 blog.

Important Information: How To Identify A Stroke

Please del.icio.us, Digg or forward this info:

Would you know how to tell if your friend has had a stroke?

David Dunkley-Gyimah posts this:

The Smile,

– the Talking or Tongue stretching

– the Raising of Hands

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters.... S.T.R.

My nurse friend sent this and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree.

If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously..

Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) .....she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die.... they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this...
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally . He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke .


Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. It is sunny out today)
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. < /FONT>

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

Final Cut Express HD session

This afternoon I was able to tear myself away from WNOL and attend a three-hour training session on Final Cut Express HD, a video editing tool.

Taught in a room with what looked like blood on the floor-MA students really sweat over their work-the course was intensive yet light-hearted.

We were able to create our own training folder and were showed how to create a basic audio and video montage.

We also varied the colour, sound and even the angle.

In the next few weeks, I will learn how to use a video camera.

I have been informed it is similar to using a Marantz recorder, which I have already mastered.

Work Experience Report

As submitted for Andrew Grant-Adamson's module. I think they are also putting them online.

Four Weeks At the National Union of Journalists.

Richard Brennan

My first contact with the NUJ was reading a two-year old post on Blackboard urging all students to join, with a link underneath to a form for printing off.

I sent off my form during October and my lovely press card (just big enough to flash around important buildings) and membership details arrived soon after.

Having read the Journalist magazine’s winter issue, I was impressed by its wealth of information and lack of egotistical or padded articles-and I have to confess I also enjoyed the Steve Bell cartoons, much sharper than the animal whimsy he draws for the G2.

During late October I started to consider my January work placement. I contacted the NUJ and several other publications.

One of the latter was moving to new premises, and this therefore occupied all of their time.

As for the others, despite repeated telephone calls, I was simply stonewalled, which annoyed me.

An outright rejection is fair enough but I don’t want to be like Blondie: hanging on the telephone.

Still, my e-mail to the NUJ was responded to by Journalist editor Tim Gopsill on November 4th, giving me a time and place to check in.

On January 14th, suited up and with Dictaphone and digital camera, I stepped onto the packed Metropolitan Line train juddering at Northwick Park Underground station, ready for my first day at the NUJ’s Gray’s Inn Road headquarters, just a short walk from King’s Cross station, which contains possibly the largest number of dawdlers in Britain.

I was greeted by Tim, who introduced me to everybody present in the building during a tour of the five floors, and then invited me into his office for a chat, where I discussed my journalism experience so far and showed him my blog (Newsjiffy).

At noon I went for lunch with Tim and a colleague and we discussed journalism and the NUJ. Tim told me he always bought a student lunch on the first day, which I found impressive.

I was given my own computer workstation, and was lucky enough to be on a floor with lots of food! During the second half, I was switched to the fourth floor, where I did much of my online news writing and also got to meet Roy Mincoff, the legal officer.

During my four weeks at the union, I was lucky enough to be able to write for the NUJ website as well as the Journalist magazine.

This enabled me to learn how to write in-house copy and promote an organisation.

I also got to watch a demonstration of the NUJ’s content management system, which has gone some way to helping me used Joomla, the Westminster University Online CMS, although I think Joomla is slightly less frustrating than the NUJ’s one! (Ask me again when I finish working on WNOL!)

I wrote online articles on Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh and the Pakistan media situation.

Although for much of the placement I was based in King’s Cross, I was able to travel up to Milton Keynes for the second week to cover a strike by the Milton Keynes Citizen’s NUJ chapel over pay and cutbacks.

I was able to discuss journalism with those on the picket line as well as interview them about the strike. My report was put on General Secretary Jeremy Dear’s blog-and picked up by Press Gazette (boast, boast).

I saw the strong support within the local community in the form of postal vans and passing cars tooting in support. A BBC Look East crew also covered the morning’s demonstration. I filed copy from an internet café that lunchtime.

For the Journalist, I wrote articles on the NUJ’s first full-time blogger, Conrad Quilty-Harper, the (relatively) recent head of Campaigns and Communications Steven Pearse (who gave me extremely useful advice about work experience and assigned me articles to write for the site) and the discrepancies between figures for journalist deaths in 2007 given by organisations such as the RSF and IFJ.

I also wrote up the foreign stories for the magazine and had the sobering task of comprising the list of 172 journalists killed in 2007, using the IFJ figures. The last journalist on the list was included just before it was published.

I also attended a conference by the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, which included Victoria Brittain and Alan Johnson.

Despite a tedious question asking Alan if he prayed (threatening for a split second to turn the conference into Richard and Judy), the conference was valuable. I also wrote an article on this for the website.

During my work experience, I blogged on a regular basis in order to educate others about my placement and to share my thoughts about the NUJ.

My comments were picked up by NUJ Student’s blogger, who interviewed my by e-mail and wrote a piece in Press Gazette. My report on the Milton Keynes Citizen strike was also mentioned there (and my head is becoming more swollen as I write).

So, what did I learn and, to paraphrase a song from Evita, where do I go from here? I have written extensively for a trade magazine, networked with journalists, written for an in-house website and learnt the style needed for this.

I have been taught how the NUJ’s CMS worked, covered a strike in the field and have Stage 1 accreditation for a NUJ rep, which was a two-day course on-site.

Over the April break I will be carrying out another placement, at Sky News in Osterley. This will take place during a tube strike and require a lot of travelling! Still, I am looking forward to it as I am keen to get into online news.

At the moment, I am Webmaster for Westminster News Online and I am also considering projects outside of the timetable.

We will also have the magazine project this term. Any NUJ member can see my articles in the next issue of the Journalist, and spare copies should be available from the Gray’s Inn Road HQ.

Some improvements could have been made in the way I approached the work experience. Firstly, I should have found out how to dress before I got there.

I turned up on the first day in a suit and everyone else was dressed more casually.

I switched to jumpers and jeans for the rest of the month.

I should also have taken a full lunch break every hour, as some were concerned that I was working during a percentage of that time.

I have already been told about dress by Sky News New Media. It is not directly related, but I do regret not doing a placement over some of Christmas, however I had the law exam to revise for.

I would recommend a NUJ placement to anyone who wishes to find out more about the union, get experience writing for a magazine or improve their online writing skills.

I will still be attending events at the NUJ and an NUJ officer will be coming to Westminster University to give a talk on the union.

It should be noted that travel expenses are reimbursed, which I found useful. I am proud to be an NUJ member and would urge every journalism student to join.

Worst Facebook Application Ever: "What Mental Disorder Do You Have?"

I never thought I'd find an application worse than LOLcats.

The Facebook application "What Mental Disorder Do You Have?" is possibly the most disturbing tool to ever grace a profile.

It is already blacklisted on the group The SPAM application blacklist as it requires you to invite your friends to see your results.

68 people are fans of the application, and one person on my Facebook has added it.

That's how I heard about it, as it came up on my news feed.

Below a cartoon picture of a man with his scalp hanging open, we can see ten questions that the application's creator has answered.

6. What if I don't like the answer I got?

Well, take the quiz again! You can take the quiz as many times as you would like, but generally the first answer you get will be the most accurate!

Yes, a wacky wacky quiz. Not so funny if you know someone with mental illness, or indeed have it yourself.

Not so funny if you know how underfunded NHS mental health resources are.

You can even have a little cartoon depicting your "diagnosed" mental illness.

Please, if you have already added this stupid application, remove it.

What next? "Which recent murder victim are you?"

I should add that some people have written in support of the application

People who think this is sick - do they think that the mentally ill have no sense of humour? We are still people you know :-) Look up the joke about the mental illness hotline on Google if you don't believe it.

The problem with this is I can't see any humour whatsoever. There is no joke, you just answer questions and you get "diagnosed".

Obviously no-one is expecting a real diagnosis, and some people are trying to allege that those who dislike the application want this.

The application was developed by Dave Froonie. It has 7,191 active users (1% of total).

Obviously, I'm in a minority, but I find this application in rather dubious taste.

Who wants "Your mental disorder is..." on their profile anyway?

Ashes To Ashes: Davie Bowie and Alex Drake

Ashes to Ashes might seem like a random title after the time-travelling label of "Life of Mars".

However, those who've heard David Bowie's song (released in 1980) will understand how well it relates to Alex Drake and poor "Major Tom" Sam Tyler.



Here is my interpretation of how the song tells the story of the series.

The "early song" is Life On Mars.

The "rumour from ground control" is Sam's file that Alex's daughter is rectiing before the hostage situation.

"I've loved all I've needed love" Sam and Annie? Sam's desire to protect his "1973" team to find a way home? He needed love from those outside the coma to get back to 2006, and then the love of those in "1973" to save him from a dreary modernity.

Sam Tyler is a junkie for 1973.

Time and again I tell myself
Ill stay clean tonight

Alex Drake's fight with Gene Hunt and the others in her fantasy.

Want an axe to break the ice
Wanna come down right now

Refers to Alex's desire to break free.

Finally, the lyrics "My mother said to get things done you better not mess with Major Tom" appear four times, completing the song.

Alex Drake's mother appears in the series. Could this refer to the tension between her and the Met?

It's almost as if the song was playing when the series was pitched.

Durban Flash Mob To Panic Buy Carrots

A flash mob has been set up for panic buying carrots on May 17th, 2008 in Durban,South Africa.

So far twenty people have confirmed. Thirty-two more might show up.

For some reason, carrots will be tied onto nearby trees.

Perhaps instead of tying the carrots to trees, the Durban flash mob should give them to homeless people in the area.

Meanwhile Sheffield-based Marie-Claire Warren is asking for carrots for her's dad's guinea pigs.

Anyone panic buying who is in the area should message Marie-Claire.

BBC Breakfast: Behind the scenes with Ashes To Ashes

Short clip from BBC Breakfast on Ashes to Ashes

Harrow Gas Leak Report

Westminster Journalism students covered a gas explosion in Drinkwater Road today.

We interviewed local residents (including the man who lived below the exploded flat, George Gallagher) and a fire liason officer.

Pictures were also taken of the scene.

The report will be on Westminster News Online.

My friend Irene showed me how to use a Marantz earlier this week for a story I am thinking of doing in Tottenham.

I had no idea I would be using it so early.

Although this was the first time I have used a Marantz to interview people, I think I did a good job.

The hardest part of using a Marantz is when you are recording someone who is also being filmed.

You can hear my recording of an interview with George Gallagher below. Stuart kindly helped me edit it in CoolEdit in the J-Block radio room.



I now consider myself fully Marantz trained, thanks to the help of Irene,Amy and Stuart.

Next week I will book out a recorder from the stores and try to practice with it.

A Marantz is very easy to use. I will try to post a guide on this blog soon.

You can download some raw audio of a statement by the Fire Service's Press liason officer below
DivShare File - MZ000012.WAV

Poorly written spam

It's good to see that spammers aren't worrying about how they present themselves.

A certain Dr Peter Chukwu has sent me four e-mails today.

The last has the subject "Your Found Is Ready For Transfer".

He also wrote the e-mail, somehow sent using Shutterfly, as if it was a poem.

I'm sure fedexexpress_couriercompanybenin@yahoo.fr would be most interested in hearing your thoughts on transferring founds!

You can also see more spammers e-mails here. Want to send a poem about your rose trees but all your friends think you can't write? Have lots of photos of your friends jumping over hurdles for the 2012 Olympics? Fancy sharing your thoughts on Britney Spears' American antics?

Why not copy some of the most recent addresses into one e-mail per day?

Ashes To Ashes Episode Two, Or Damsels and Dynamite

The second episode of Ashes to Ashes was a slight improvement on the first.

Alex Drake is slightly less of a pain in the arse, ironic, given that hers is nearly the subject of an intiation ritual, saved only by her mother.

This week Drake and Hunt were trying to foil a bomber opposed to the Docklands Development, while the then happy Prince Charles and his blue-suited inamorata Lady Diana Spencer were preparing to get married.

Stereotypes abound: the brash yet sexy Thatcherite yuppie, the lonely terrorist indocrinated by those around him. For someone so well-trained, Alex Drake's fantasy is full of assumptions.

It was good to see a nastier Gene Hunt this time around. You could imagine him back in "1973", scaring a clean-cut Sam Tyler while he beat a suspect.

I wonder if any Metropolitan Police officers at the time did send snooker balls up suspects' bottoms.

That's one of the reasons Gene Hunt appeals to people, given how neturered the present force is by New Labour drones and the target culture.

I don't think our police should be like Gene Hunt, but a little less targets wouldn't go amiss.

Alex Drake, unlike likeable Sam Tyler and cleverer-than-she-acts Annie Cartwright, appeals to no-one.

She comes across as aloof, which, given that she is fighting her coma in a different way than Sam did, is understandable.

Sam was so enraptured by his coma world he thought he could stay in it and be better off than the real world.

Alex is determined not to be like this, and therefore focuses on the negative.

The mother sub-plot is a little too similar to Life on Mars-as is the credit sequence, which managed to mimic the earlier show but add its own awfulness in the form of a poor voiceover.

The theme tune isn't as good as Life On Mars' either (final track on the soundtrack, "I Want To Go Home".)

Spoilers:

According to the Manchester Evening News, next week Gene Hunt and the gang go undercover at a fancy dress party.

More information.

Have you also noticed the number plate on Gene’s red Audi Quattro – JLY 75IV?

If you add the 75 to the I and then the V, it can be read: July 1981…the month Alex arrived in Gene’s world.

I'd like to see some more from the desk sergeant (who still seems to be hanging around CID. Why can't he be talking to Alex and Gene why he books suspects?

I did feel a little surprised about Alex's happy reaction to the arse-stamping. Was this because she focused on the imagined aspect of her adventures in the era of trade union restrictions, inner-city riots and Ronald Reagan (former star of Bathtime for Bonzo and also a former Republican president).

Let's hope Episode 3 sticks to the formula. It's improving, just need more grit and less speedboats and Miami Vice. Britain in 1981, please. Filofaxes and flying pickets.

Blind loyalty and Labour opportunism in the European Parliament

A controversy has arisen over Prince Charles' speech to Euro MEP's in Brussels.

Labour MEP Gary Titley has accused UKIP MEP Nigel Farage of "anti-Royalism" because he refused to give Prince Charles a standing ovation.

Mr Titley's comments sound like somthing out of North Korea. We must respect the figurehead at all costs.

During the eighties the Labour Party was critical of the monarchy.

Now it seems that they regard it as another tool to smear opposition parties-even normally pro-Royality MEP's like Farage.

Titley told BBC News:

As a British citizen I was deeply honoured to be present when the Prince of Wales made such an important speech to members of the European Parliament.

Of course he was present, he's an MEP.

As a British citizen, I'd like to see a republic. I don't like the implication that British citizens would shave their back hair to hear Prince Charles live.

He then followed this with a more laughable line, sensing he was on a role:

He should be thoroughly ashamed of himself and should apologise to the British people he represents.

I'm sure the people Nigel Farage represents care little about the fact he failed to join in a standing ovation to an unelected figurehead.

His views on the speech's content will be relevant, but Mr Titley is not saying that Farage is wrong to disagree.

I don't agree with Nigel Farage's views on global warming, but if he wishes not to applaud Prince Charles, is that a problem?

Maybe Gary Titley should have his surname shortened.

Concerns over Arab Charter for Satellite TV

The human rights organisation Article 19 has described the Arab Charter for Satellite TV as a "major setback to freedom of the press in the region."

A meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, called by Saudi Arabia and Egypt saw all Arab states except Qatar and Lebanon endorse the charter.

This document allows states to freeze or withdraw work permits of media who break certain rules.

Media cannot offend Arab leaders or national and religious symbols, damage social harmony or traditional values, or broadcast anything which questions religion.

They must avoid erotic content and promoting tobacco or alcohol.

Also, they are ordered to "protect Arab identity from the harmful effects of globalisation."

Critics of the charter claim that it will muzzle dissent.

The often privately financed stations give airtime to government critics and viewers, and discuss issues which state channels would never dare approach, says the BBC's Heba Saleh in Cairo.

Youtube: Adam and Joe's Toy Trainspotting

Excellent (if slightly adult) sketch from the Adam and Joe Show.



The original trailer, for comparison (also adult in places).

Facebook carrot panic group reaches over 150,000 members, and is parodied

The popular Facebook group "On May 15th 2008, everybody needs to go out and panic buy CARROTS." has over 150,000 members.

It has also been parodied with "On May 15th 2008, everybody needs to go out and panic kill JASPER CARROT."

The latter group, created by Brighton and Hove resident Nick Lawson, has 25 members.

Basically, a few nights ago, when I was very very drunk, I came up with the idea that everybody should go out and panic kill Jasper Carrot on a specific day.

I'm not quite sure what the reason behind this is is is is is, other than the fact that he is a smug bastard who has been asking for it for a long time, not to mention that his multiple murder would be quite a laugh.

So, what I'm asking everybody to do, is on the 15th May, 2008 go out and track down Jasper Carrot, and stab him with a Bic Biro. IF EVERYBODY DOES THIS, WE CAN MAKE HIM DEAD!

Sadly the mega-group is still being spammed. Wesley Bradshaw invites people to read his blog- which seems mainly to be about promoting a social networking site.

I am a philospher and entrepreneur! I love life and I love helping people. I am here right now to provide a service to you! I can show you how to change your life.

Sounds like a cross between a butler and a genie. Carl Willams from the London network also seems very keen to tell people how many free ipods he has recieved, although perhaps he should spend more time listening to his ipod and less time spamming Facebook walls every few hours.

Another, less funny group is "Panic buy carrot blenders on the 14th of may and return them on the 16th!"

Group creator Freya Valentine has also been asked on a date, while their nemesis groupDon't add to world hunger! Don't panic buy carrots!! now has 102 members.

Joomla! Joomla! Joomla!

This week I have started using Joomla as part of my role as Website Master for Westminster News Online.

Although it sounds like a warcry, Joomla is actually a content management system that allows the publication of articles and feeds to a website.

Blogging has of course given me a taste of how Joomla works.

There have been some teething troubles, but we are starting to put content onto the site.

Westminster News Online will be live on Monday, and on that day I will link to it.

Using Joomla:

I did not design the WNOL site myself, so did not choose a host or install any programs.

I am simply tidying up the content from last year and helping publish new content.

I am also maintaining the site with input from other WNOL journalists.

Publishing an article in Joomla:

I simply click on Add New Article, input text from Textedit (not Word, as this causes problems)or Notepad, and click Save.

I can edit pictures in Photoshop. The usual picture dimensions are 120 by 100. I then save for the web and use the Sharpen tool if needs be.

Pictures can be uploaded to the right folder in the Media Manager, as can audio.

Then I insert the picture into the story and wrap it around the text.

As of yet, I have not inserted audio or video into an article.

Editing articles:

I can edit articles in Joomla using the Article Manager. From here, I can also unpublish articles and control what goes on the front page.

There is also a Front Page Manager.

As time goes on I will learn more about Joomla and the editor has leant me a book by Dan Rahmel entitled Beginning Joomla!

Along with a book on reggae covers, that's tonight's bedtime reading.

Concerns over blocking of Yemen website

The human rights organisation Article 19 has concerns over a wave of attacks against websites in the Yemen.

In the past month, two website domains belonging to YemenPortal.net have been blocked and their office car has been vandalised.

The Ministry of Telecommunications is known to screen and ban websites during sensitive political events such as the presidential election in November 2006 and the ongoing Sa’ada Province conflict.

YemenPortal.net has annoyed the authorities by making the content of banned sites available through an alternative website.

ARTICLE 19’s Executive Director Dr. Callamard said

ARTICLE 19 calls on the Yemeni authorities to reverse the websites ban and to investigate the attack on the media outlet’s vehicle.

Web censorship violates Yemen’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the country acceded in 1987

You can see an interview with Walid Al-Saqaf, the founder and editor of the YemenPortal, at the International Journalists Network site.

With the support of Yemeni and other websites in the region and the world, the portal is planning to start a long-term resistance movement against website banning.

The portal will be opening a new domain and promoting it by sending messages to its members and through other websites. So when the government closes one domain, a new domain will be opened and its address sent to subscribers by email so they could update their bookmarks with the new domain.

.

More information on repression in Yemen.

Yemenis are denied the right to read and speak about events in Yemen. Protests against social injustice are discouraged by bullets. Individual activists are swatted like flies. The 2006 elections were unfair, and the 2008 elections will likely be little better. The courts are politicized. Political parties are neither representative nor inclusive.

Interview with Flemming Rose, editor of Jyllands-Posten

Fleming Rose was the editor of Jylands-Posten when cartoons caricaturing Mohammed were published in early 2006, provoking demonstrations and death threats. . Spiegel Online interviewed him today.

The situation in Denmark is pretty calm, even though we had these cases of threats. I don't fear for my life.

I am a public figure, I do not hesitate to speak out if I want to say something.

But nevertheless, I am thinking more about what I am doing.

When I walk around, I may be a little more observant about what is going on around me.

But I don't feel that this has changed my life in a radical way -- and frankly I don't want to change my life in a radical way, because that would mean that those who intimidate me will win.

Cartoonist Kurt Westergaard of Jyllands-Posten was the target of an attack, foiled today by police in Denmark.

Mr Rude insults the French

No, this isn't about Jeremy Clarkson.

I've just read the news that Mr Rude, who does what it says on the tin, will have a French accent

He is the only Mr Men television character with a non-English accent.

This seems rather odd. Are the Mr Men characters going to become national stereotypes?

If a French TV series had a Mr Yob, who beat up old people and spoke with an English accent, the tabloids would explode with fury.

Is it really necessary to reinforce the idea of Britain as a petty-minded xenophobia-ridden island?

Must we pander to the will of Tony Parsons and his ilk?

This is a series aimed at five to seven year olds.

Do we really expect every parent to explain that this is a "joke"?

Let's leave stereotypes out of children's programmes. That includes the awful Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks, which is a pathetic caricature of the Irish.

Ironically, Mr Rude was published as a book in France: Monsieur Mal élevé

WNOL Website Master: Online news around Westminster University and London

I am now the Website Master for Westminster News Online.

My job is to develop and mantian the site using the Joomla content management system.

As the site gets going, I will blog more about my website work.

Stories I am working on:

So far I am working on a news story about Digital Village (our Internet provider), a feature about a Westminster student who is a Miss England entrant for the semi-final in June 2008, and a new story about the new People and Planet group on campus.

If you are a current or former Westminster University student or staff member and have some news for me, contact me via my profile.

Online courses for Arab journalists

Arab journalists will be taught how to create web sites in a new online course.

Run by the International Center for Journalists, it is designed to provide practical lessons on topics related to online news development, strategy and management.

The course will begin on April 1st. Journalists must apply by March 3rd.

Daoud Kuttab, the founder of AmmanNet radio, will be the course leader. It will be taught in a virtual classroom, meaning all lessons will take place online.

Kuttab praised the course, saying “This is an opportunity for enterprising Arab journalists to learn the tools to create and publish quality, original information from and for their communities without any external filters or pressures,".

ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan said “This course, the first of many to come, was created after journalists in the region expressed interest in training in the best practices of digital journalism.”

Kellogg's Romantic Message: Have A Clumsy Valentine's Day

As one of the thousands of single people who never recieves red roses or dainty choclates hugged by plastic trays, I try to ignore Valentine's Day.

This year, I'll either be working on our latest module or hiding in my room with my Bird of Prey DVD and enough mini cakes to sink a yellow plastic duck.

However, companies insist on shouting about February 14th. Every time I go to Sainsburys and walk past the tills to the DVD racks, I am flashed by a display of red.

I wanted to blog the most interesting Valentine's Day related message-Kellogg's latest offering.

The ad shows two people bumping into each other in the supermarket. The man apologises and the woman softly replies, "No problem".

If this was a film, roses would fall from the ceiling, shoppers and staff would stand around clapping and Christopher Biggins would marry the couple by the frozen food section.

Maybe this clumsy approach to romance is the secret.

I therefore present my ten-point guide to finding love; the clumsy way

1. Instead of handing a woman a gift-wrapped present, give her one soaked in glue and dotted with shards of wrapping paper and gift tags. Look her straight in the eye and utter the magic words "I slipped while wrapping this, and dropped in into a tub of glue. Still, the top layer should be edible."

2. Don't aim for his lips when you kiss him. Aim for his nose. Painful, but romantic.

3. What better way to say "I love you" than tripping up and knocking over a small child. If the small child is related, so much the better. Wipe the blood from the little tyke's face as "I Will Always Love You" starts up-from the ringtone of the paramedic.

4. Roses dragged through a hedge show dedication and a love of cliche. What more could a girl want?

5. A romantic showing of "Casablanca" or "She's All That" is so much more meaningful when you tape over the second half with "Vixens in Uniform" (not a film I've ever watched myself, or plan on watching. Then again, I could say the same for "She's All That.)"

6. This applies to making mix CD's as well. Replace Track 10 "I Just Called To Say I Love You" with one of Tenacious D's offerings.

7. Knocked apple juice all over the card and don't want to pay £1.60 for another? Simply write "I love you so much, I could not control my beverage." A version of this line was used by Casanova in a tavern.

8. When taking her on a boat ride down the Thames, it is a clincher if you try to fall into the water. Best time to do this is when you pass the Dome when a rock concert is on.

9. Invited back to his house? Break as many small objects as you can and fling them into the fireplace, shouting "I love you like I love hurling broken crockery."

10. Spy an attractive man and unsure how to break the ice? Follow the teachings of Kellogg's and ram your trolley into him. If you have no trolley, climb onto a nearby roof and drop some tiles onto his shoulders. He won't be angry or sue you, not if you carry a box of breakfast cereal.

Because of course, love can never be found with Weetabix.

No, I'm not bitter.

My BBC London story: KICC and Havering

I have been working on a story with my friend Irene from the Broadcast strand for BBC London.

It is now up here.

Mega-church has sights set on Havering
By Richard Brennan and Irene Madonko
The largest evangelical church in the country still hopes to move to Havering, even though the Council has rejected its plans.

According to Kingsway International Christian Centre's CEO, Pastor Dipo Oluyomi, the church has started networking in the area.

It has been holding meetings with Havering Police to discuss how they can work together.

KICC also plans to establish relationships with local businesses and is using a Havering security firm.

Pastor Oluyomi says the church generated business for local companies in Hackney, in areas such as cleaning and catering, and believes they'll do more for Havering.

"We are confident, we just know that the plan for Beams Reach is at a greater level," he says.

Advanced plans
KICC has already spent £1.8 million on architects and other planning consultants to meet the required rules and regulations.

It plans to build the church in Beams Reach which will seat 8000 worshippers and include training and community facilities.

Last year the London Development Agency paid the church to leave its Waterden Road (Hackney) headquarters to make way for the 2012 Olympics and referred it to locate to Beams Reach.

Havering Council says it declined the proposal on the grounds that Beams Reach is an industrial area and its transport infrastructure will not cope with the demands the project will place on it.

"Havering Council don't really understand what we want to bring to the area"

There is anxiety that granting the application will discourage firms from locating there, due to congestion.

"When we first moved to Waterden Road from Darnley Road, it was also an industrial area, but people still came there," Pastor Oluyomi says, "I feel Havering Council don't really understand what we want to bring to the area."

Work in the community

KICC says it will provide community donations and help to reduce youth crime, but the Council states that these concerns will detract from any local benefits.

In response to the transport issue, KICC says it has successfully run a shuttle bus for several years which will not interfere with the parking or transport facilities of the area.

The case will be brought before the London Thames Gateway development Corporation this week for the final decision on the matter.

Inside Hamas

Tonight's Channel Four documentary "Inside Hamas" painted a bleak picture of the future of Gaza . that summer.

After winning the 2006 election, Hamas formed a unity government with Fatah
Hamas split with Fatah in 2007 and they become rivals.

Fatah now controls the West Bank, while Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, home to around 1 millions Palestinians.

All aid to the Gaza stip must pass through the West Bank.

Rodrigo Vázquez's documentary was the first time cameras were allowed to film the day-to-day activities of Hamas.

The movement was struggling to adapt from being a force for armed resistance to a force for governance.

Policing in the Gaza Strip remained problematic, with the Executive Force supressing demonstrations and clearing stallholders from certain areas designated for the police.

Journalists in Palestine have also been demostrating against media crackdowns. The Palestinian Center for Press Development and Freedom claim that both Fatah and Hamas security forces ,as well as the Israeli Occupation Forces, violate media freedom. Pro-Hamas journaliss tried to disrupt this demonstration.

It seems clear that many Palestinians are alienated by Hamas. One shouted at the camera "No one from Fatah, no one from Hamas, no one from Islamic Jihid...can come to my house and tell me what to do."

Hamas wants an Islamic Palestine, but claims that it will only impose it if the people want it (one presumes that a referendum will be held, otherwise how would the party know).

Rodrigo Vázquez has however found some indications that Hamas is introducing Islamic law into society. He interviewed a drug dealer who claimed that people who memorized parts of the Koran had their sentence reduced.

Many also despair about the numbers of people killed. Hamas rockets fired across the border have caused Israel to retailiate with bombs targeted at rocket sights.

Part of the documentary showed the rescue of a child wounded by one of these bombs. The two boys she was playing with were both killed.

As the narration highlighted, it is always the innocent who suffer worst in war.

It reminded me of a comment made by a member of the German War Graves Association, Erwin Kowalke

War is young men killing other young men they do not know on the orders of old men who know one another too well

At the end of the documentary, Rodrigo Vázquez called on Israel and the West to negotiate with Hamas, telling them "[Hamas] will not go away". He describes Hamas as having "a poisoned chalice."


Inside Hamas will be repeated on Wednesday 13th February at 3:20am. The Times has also reviewed the program.

Hibou et Minou

In honour of Bird of Prey, an excllent thriller series I'm watching, here is the beginning of the Owl and the Pussycat in French.


Hibou et Minou allerent a la mer, dans une barque peinte en janue-canari
Ils prirent du miel roux et beaucoup de sous.


I wil try and review the series once I finish it.

The Daily Show: Mitt Romney is a douchebag

If you thought George Bush was a loon, take a look at recent presidental dropout Mitt Romney, who warns that a Democratic victory will aid the terrorists.



The Daily Show takes a pot at Romney through "the douchebag vote".



He even has a surfboard with his name on it.

Perhaps if the ice caps melt within the next eight years, President Romney could have carried a select group of people to the top of a skyscraper on a chain of surfboards, and started a new office-based tribe.

Sadly, John McCain is probably more into breakdancing.

My George Viner article for NUJ website

Here is my article on the George Viner memorial fund, set up to encourage more black and Asian journalists.

Channel Four presenter celebrates diversity

by Richard Brennan


The NUJ is delighted to announce that Channel Four News presenter Samira Ahmed will be guest of honour at the George Viner Memorial Fund ceremony on Thursday 28 February 2008.

The George Viner Memorial Fund is a charity supported by NUJ members. It provides grants to Black and Minority Ethnic students undertaking journalism qualifications, to encourage more non-white faces in newsrooms.

Samira said: “Despite public statements about the desire to make newsrooms reflect the diverse reality of British society, no major news organisation has managed to do it. What's always worked best is to nurture talented individuals and give them the chance to prove their ability.

“I'm proud to be involved in recognising and encouraging the young women and men who are the recipients of this year's George Viner awards.”

Samira began her career at the BBC as a graduate news trainee. She went on to work as a BBC news correspondent and reporter for Newsnight and Radio 4's Today programme. Samira also travelled across the Middle East, Africa and Asia for her two-part Channel 4 documentary Islam Unveiled, reporting on the status and views of Muslim women. Before joining Channel Four, she was a presenter at Deutsche Welle TV in Berlin and on News 24 and BBC World.

George Viner Memorial Fund Trustee, Lionel Morrison said: “We are delighted to be able to welcome Samira to the ceremony. She is one of the most recognisable faces in new today and is a shining example to all Black and Minority Ethnic students.

“The charity has been running for over 20 years and it is a sad fact that it is still as vital today as it was back then. Media organisations need to address the diversity of their newsrooms if they want to appeal to today’s diverse communities.”

To attend the ceremony contact debbies(@)nuj dot org dot uk.

Please note to prevent spam I have bracketed off part of the NUJ address. Remove these brackets and replace the word "dot" with a dot to e-mail Debbie Smith.

Who was George Viner(not part of my article)?

George Viner was the NUJ's Education and Training Officer from 1961 until his retirement in 1976.

George became a member of the NUJ in 1932 at the age of 20 and was an active member for most of his life. He was a member of the National Executive Council (the NUJ's governing body) for many years. In 1982 he became a life member of the union.

During his career, George's many credits included the setting up of the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) ,which, today runs some of the best recognised journalism qualifications. Much of his journalistic career was spent in South Wales, where he developed his interest in education through his work with bodies such as the Workers' Educational Association.

Dawn Of The Dumb: Charlie Brooker's Latest

After reading TV Go Home a couple of years ago, which also has a website, I couldn't help but love the output of Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker.

Since then I've gorged myself on the wonderful Unnovations and Screen Burn, and last week prepared for another feast of righteous anger and poetic descriptions.

Beginning with an account of the flack from a column he wrote about George Bush in October 2004 which was taken rather too seriously by some across America, the book contains two and a half beautiful years of columns.

Unlike Screen Burn, which only concerns itself with the world of television, Dawn of the Dumb includes attacks on David Cameron (someone I personally loathe: well done Mr Brooker, the world applaudes you for taking on this policyless PR-dependent fool), Sandi Thom (who Brooke describes as "the musical Antichrist") and Myspace.

Little-watched programs such as The Half Hour News Hour are torn apart alongside more well-known fare such as The Jeremy Kyle Show.

However,Brooker is not just a humorous smiter.

He also praises shows he loves, such as Paul Merton's Silent Clowns, The Daily Show and Bleak House.

Unlike most television reviewers, Brooker does not hold back on his reserves of anger and contempt.

He also lets his imagination out for a stroll across the page.

Anyway, back to my psychic prison fantasies. The problem with trying to jail all the mediums in Britain is they'd a) see it coming, and escape overseas to somewhere even more gullible, like Narnia, before you'd passed the legislation, or b) call on their ghostly friends in the spirit world to whisk them from harm's reach.

Another highly recommended product from the mind of Charlie Brooker.

Harry Hill's TV Burp returns to form

Good to see a lack of lookist remarks on tonight's TV Burp.

After the rather mixed offerings of the past fortnight, I'm glad to say I hooted with laughter several times at Harry's antics.

There was a good link between Dancing on Ice and Emmerdale, a good mock-jup of the Hotten Courier (Emmerdale's local paper) and mockery of psychic Sally Morgan.

"You look like someone off the telly" she told Amanda Lang as the pair hugged.

In a scene that reminded me of the "psykick" in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights, Morgan had difficulty reading people from a cinema-like screen.

The programme's other highlight was a visual gag pretending that Jamie Oliver had wrapped Harry's glasses up in a towel and broken them.

Although it does seem that the pretend fight sequences are running out of steam, the majority of the show is beginning to bear up

I didn't understand Harry showing a clip of a sea creature plucking a woman from the boat. He didn't seem to have any comment and just repeated what is going on.

That was the only downside,however. Let's hope that the rest of the series is as good as tonight's show.

Back in Harrow

I have now finished at the NUJ.

I have seen the pages with my articles in, and have proofread much of the magazine. I also took some photographs of Stephen Pearse for my article using my digital camera.

It was sad to hand in my security fob and hit the white button for the last time, but as I emerged onto Gray's Inn Road during an unusually sunny afternoon, I felt that I have learned a lot and gained valuable experience writing news and feature articles, as well as interviewing and writing for the web.

I would recommend work experience at the NUJ to any journalism student or those interested in how a trade union operates.

My thanks to Tim Gopsill, Linda King, Stephen Pearse, Caroline Holmes and others I met during the previous four weeks.

On Monday, I will carry on with teeline shorthand with Richard Ward and will have a debrief with tutors, including the news course leader Deborah Vogel. I will then start work on Westminster News Online.

Fridays will see specialism journalism lectures where we will pick our topic.

Commuting:

The one downside of my work experience was having to take the Metropolitan Line during peak times.

It amazes me how many times we were held at red signals. I am also surprised how I managed to get to King's Cross underground by 9:30 each day.

Sad admission here-I counted the number of people listening to music loudly on the Metropolitan Line in the last week, and found five.

More proof the wasteful advertising campaign was pointless.

Rowan Williams defends his remarks on Sharia Law

The Archbishop of Canterbury has posted a statement on his website clarifying his position, as well as the Radio 4 transcript.

The Archbishop made no proposals for sharia in either the lecture or the interview, and certainly did not call for its introduction as some kind of parallel jurisdiction to the civil law.

You can also hear this below on Youtube (the poster, who calls himself SirHerbertTrance, has used a single picture of Rowan Willians with teeth clenched as the visual while the audio track plays).



The BBC reports that two members of the General Synod have called for the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign.

Defenders Within The Faith:

It is not only Muslims who have been defending Rowan Williams,.

The archbishop has been defended by the most senior woman priest in the Church of England, the Dean of Salisbury the Very Reverend June Osborne, who said he was right to discuss Sharia law.

"We can say he may have been politically naïve [but] I don't think he was.

"Our society needs to be provoked into talking about these things. I would say that all of the law of Britain has got to work within the very high standards of human rights and Christian principles."

There was also a letter in the Guardian today supporting the Archbishop.

As a parish priest of the established church I have the right and duty to marry those of my parish who wish to undertake such a ceremony in a Christian context. The same rights and duties are held for example by my Roman Catholic and Jewish counterparts; it seems unreasonable not to extend such a right to those couples who wish to marry within the Islamic faith (Uproar as archbishop says sharia law inevitable in UK, February 8).

As the parish priest I have no legal right to interfere in any other aspects of the marriages I perform, nor into any other area of my parishioners' lives - the days are thankfully long gone when the church exerted that kind of authority. Surely it is simply common sense and socially cohesive for such an extension of sharia law into our society.

It was, I think, Lord Runcie who said how painful it was as archbishop to have to sit on the fence, and it must be soul-destroying for such a mind as Rowan Williams to remain confined or be vilified for thinking aloud.
Rev Julian Hollywell
Spondon, Derbyshire

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown has also reacted.

Many will be sent back to bastard husbands or flinty-eyed mullahs will take their children away. In Bradford and Halifax, they may be forbidden to drive or work where men are employed. Adultery will be punished. I don't think we will have public stonings but violence of some sort will be meted out (it already is) with lawmakers' backing.

Sensing the drift in their direction, British sharia "experts" today shamelessly direct female medical students not to wash their forearms, essential to prevent the spread of infections, because that exposes their flesh.

Does the Archbishop even know that sharia comes in many guises and that several schools of jurisprudence have their own versions? The list is long – Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi, Hanbali, Jafari, Salafi and on and on. Ayatollah Khomeini preferred his DIY set of crimes and punishments when he came to power.

Another appeal

Please donate to the London Boxing Acadamy Community Project. You will be helping at-risk teenagers out of petty crime and hardship into society.

If you have donated, thank you.

Richard Brennan

Eating in the British Library

An expensive but nice place to eat lunch is the British Library on Euston Road.

Usually during my work experience I just buy a pasty or fish and chips.

As today is my last day, I treated myself to cod, chips, prawns and salad, as well as a Fairtrade orange drink (the best liquid after cider that anyone can coad their tastebuds with) and a banoffee pie.

This came to £11.10, but was worth it. Lovely cod, excelent chips, and prawns are awesome when cooked.

I've eaten there twice now, and snacked in the cafe as well.

The ambience is also beautiful. Everyone who works or lives in King's Cross should visit the British Library at least once.

I have been trying to get hold of a reader's ticket, but the rules for students require a stamped proof of Halls Residence, and I don't really feel the motivation to chase it up.

To totally abuse Groucho Marx's famous quip, I wouldn't join any club which makes it hard for me to be a member.

You don't need ID to wander round the marble floors, just the willingness to have your bag searched.

There is also a nice garden with a cafe (again, pricey)

The resturant and cafe staff are very nice and if you want a treat I would highly recommend a lunch there.

Amy Webb's list of Who Owns What in Web 2.0

Rather good list of who owns what web 2.0 site by Amy Webb of My Digital Media, as blogged by Amit Agarwal of Digital Inspiration.

Yahoo, News Corporation, Google, AOL and InterActiveCorp are the main players.

McCannfiles.com attacked by Clarence Mitchell

Clarence Mitchell has attacked the unofficial mccannfiles.com website,run by Nigel Moore, for asking for donations.

According to the Sun:

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell hit out, saying that unofficial sites such as these distract from the search for Madeleine.

He said: "This man did not seek our permission. We have not cooperated in any shape or form.

"Most of this is ill-informed comment at best. While some of it might be accurate, this sort of site runs the risk of repeating mistakes."

He added: "He's now seeking money to maintain the site. We'd rather people's efforts and money went to helping to find Madeleine."

Nigel told The Sun that he had not contacted the McCanns but was "trying to get something from them to put on the site."

He admitted: "They probably don't want to touch it with a barge pole.

It's interesting to note the comments left by Sun readers.

They all support Nigel Moore.

Thumbs up for the Sun to give Nigel the chance of a fair comment and thanks to Mr Mitchell for promoting the one site that keeps the most information on this sad case. May a lot of readers visit it and form an opinion of their own. Without spin and manipulation.

I reckon a few months ago they would all have supported Clarence Mitchell.

One reader calls himself "maddywatcher", a creepy username to choose!

Another thing I find interesting about the Sun site is that each commentator is asked his or her favourite football team.

I've never seen that on another online newspaper.

Mccannfiles: My view:

I think Clarence Mitchell is trying to keep Madeleine McCann in the news-which I can understand.

That is, after all, his job.

I do think that Nigel Moore has a right to ask for donations, and as he is also keeping Madeleine in the news, perhaps Clarence Mitchell should find another target.

Those on Youtube who post stupid and disturbing videos of Madeleine might be worth a blast.

Harrow Council is recruiting for Boroughbeat

Next week Harrow Council wil, be recruiting for special constables.

Exisiting special constables and police advisors will be recruiting outside the Civic Centre on Tuesday 12th February and at Central deport on Friday 15th between 11.00am and 4.00pm.

The scheme is open to anyone aged 18 to 57 who is British or an EU citizen. Applications will also be considered from applicants who have indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

Special constables spend one day every fortnight patrolling Harrow. They will also take part in a four-week training course at Hendon, which can also be done on a part-time basis.

Reactions To Rowan Williams' Sharia Law Support

Politicans have criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury for his comments on sharia law. Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and Tony McNulty have all disagreed with some aspects of Sharia Law being adopted for Muslims, while former Home Secretary and prize chump David Blunkett used Williams comments to attack "well-meaning liberals".

Trevor Phillips of the Equality and Human Rights Commission called the idea "divisive and dangerous."

The National Secular Society also disagrees with him.

Alistair McBay, spokesman for the National Secular Society, said: "In a plural society, all citizens are equal under the law and the Archbishop's comments directly undermines this."

However, there has been some support from Muslim organisations.

Ibrahim Mogra, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "We're looking at a very small aspect of Sharia for Muslim families when they choose to be governed with regards to their marriage, divorce, inheritance, custody of children and so forth.

"Let's debate this issue. It is very complex. It is not as straight forward as saying that we will have a system here."

It is important to note that Jewish courts are already in use in Britain, called the Beth Din. They are often used for divorce and litigation.

Suhaid Hassan of the UK Islamic Sharia Council makes the point that this is a bit of a double standard.

Perhaps it would be fairer to do away with all religious courts altogether.

Everyone should have the freedom to practice their own religion, wear what they want in the name of the religion, and say what they want in the name of religion, unless it falls under the "shouting fire in a cinema" test.

However, the laws that dictate people's actions, whether criminal or civil, should be secular. Let's get rid of all religious courts and get the bishops out of the House of Lords.

Harrow Council to launch Muslim Youth Council

Harrow Council will be launching a Muslim Youth Council as part of a national campaign to increase the number of youth forums.

Teachers are being encouraged to act as a lead officer for those Muslim students. The council is open to those over 16.

The event will take place on Friday 15th February at Harrow High School, from 6pm until 7:30pm.

Speaking at the event will be Ajmal Masroor, Imam and Broadcaster on Islam Channel, Javed Khan, Director at Harrow Council, Yvonne Ridley, award winning journalist and Broadcaster and Maryan Hussein, UK Youth Parliament candidate.

Youth forums including the Muslim Youth Council will tackle issues relating to alienation and allow young people to have their say on issues within their local area.

You Tube: Land of Confusion: Genesis

"Bury my balls time again."

Ashes To Ashes: Return of the Jean Genie

I've just watched the first episode of Ashes to Ashes, and because I'm in a mood and therefore can't relax, I thought I'd blog my thoughts on it.

Some spoilers for those who haven't seen it.

Up until icy Alex Drake went back in time, I thought the new series would be dreadful. Drake's daughter is tedious and the opening scenes with her responding to a hostage taking with her child in the back are cliche heaven. Once she leaves the modern world (portrayed as a glass and stone dystopia), things somewhat improve.

Having watched a whole episode, it's no Life on Mars, but's it's above average.

The biggest change is that there is no debate whether Alex Hunt is in a coma or back in time. It's fairly clear the former is the case.

After Alex Drake is shot by a gunman sitting in her car (and how did he get in? Are we supposed to believe that a senior police officer who talks like a tedious textbook would leave the door unlocked), she wakes up on a river boat full of unpleasent yuppies and is saved by Gene Hunt and his leather-clad sidekicks.

This is another clue that Drake is in a coma. Would three officers be transferred from Manchester to London, all of which were in the same CID division, and different ranks?

I'm not sure what station Drake is in, either in 2008 or 1981. It's somewhere near Greenwich, otherwise she wouldn't be taking on the man who shot her and claimed to know why her parents died-fooder for later in the series.

Ashes to Ashes should not be viewed as a police drama but as a fantasy drama inside one person's mind. It's quite certain most Met CID divisions in the Eighties didn't pick up machine guns and fire them at crooks or drive speedboats down the Thames.

Just as Life On Mars was Sam Tyler's imagined 1973, so Ashes to Ashes is Alex Drake's imagined 1981.

It's also hard to see why a uniformed police sergeant spends most of his time in the CID room. Shouldn't he be behind a desk or on the beat?

The first episode of Ashes To Ashes ended on a confusing note, but I have higher hopes for the second one.

Fascists, street parties, pub interrogations...more like Life On Mars than tonight's rather dubious offering.

Let's hope the flashbacks and visions are kept to a minimum, although good to see Zippy and George (two names from my 1980's memories)back on Television.

I even had a plush Zippy when I was younger and living in Essex. It didn't have any police clobber though.

I'd like to see a more venal Gene Hunt, someone who knows that his officers are slightly crooked as well as racist and violent. Or has he mellowed after Sam Tyler's death?

It's hard to see how a 1990's series can be made, given how dull that decade was after the poll tax riots died down. The Eighties with all hardship and no crassness.

Maybe for Comic Relief there could be a 1940's one-of special where a police officer goes back to pre-WW2 policing, a fantasy when officers all smiled, helped people across the roads and fined you if you swore.

The Times is very damning of the show.

Every Hunt entrance is a “Hero Shot” – slow pans, moody lighting, orchestral upswell. Every scene is waiting for Hunt to enter, or animate, or conclude it. The show will give him anything he wants – machineguns, a speedboat, a ludicrous plot resolution.

As mentioned above, Hunt is more unrealistic because Ashes To Ashes is clearly a coma-induced fantasy.

It seems that the less that Alex Drake's personal life is featured in the show, the better it is. Maybe the next few episodes should stick to the odd phone call from the real world, and less visions and wanting to go home.

Can't wait for the soundtrack-the Life on Mars one is a belter.

Watch Rock and Roll Years 1981 if you don't know much about Eighties Britain (it's on Youtube, have a dig) while you're waiting for 9pm on Thursday.

Times Online link

Good to have a link from Ruth Gledhill's Time Online blog.

Archbishop Of Canterbury Rowan Williams: Sharia Law Is Unavoidable

The Archbishop of Canterbury told Radio 4's World at One that adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law would help maintain social cohesion.

Now to me this seems somewhat odd.

Firstly, these comments come after an opinion poll found that 40% of Muslims want this.

41% do not. I can only assume the rest put "Don't Know" which always seems ridiculous. How can you not have a view on a question such as this?

So if we did adopt certain sections of Sharia law, we would in effect be ignoring the wishes of a slightly larger proportion of British Muslims.

I'm sure many other faiths would want parts of their belief system incorporated into law.

Indeed, we already have bishops voting in the House of Lords.

We didn't give in to religious adoption agencies who wanted to opt-out of the Equalities Act 2006.

So why should we go along with Rowan Williams and a minority of Muslims and incorporate Sharia Law?

There are also practical questions.

Would Sharia courts take place in ordinary courthouses or elsewhere? Would reporting be allowed from the court?

And who chooses which parts of Sharia Law? Most MP's are not Muslim. Will a committee of Muslim MP's be set up to advise on this?

Rowan Wiliams suggests that marital disputes could be dealt with by a Sharia court.

Does this mean that divorce (which usually needs the consent of the husband, unless impotence can be proved) will fall under Sharia law?

Sharia law is viewed by some as reducing reoffending:

Sharia's great strength was the effectiveness of its penalties, he said. Those who appeared before religious courts would avoid re-offending so as not to bring shame on their families.

Yet how does a Sharia court know when someone is sincere? And what happens when someone changes relgion or becomes an agnostic?

Ontario attempt:

There was a move to implement Sharia Law in Ontario, Canada in 2005.

This was quashed after protests across Canada and throughout Europe, including London and Paris.

It is worth noting that Roman Catholic and Jewish tribunals arbitration tribunals already operated in Ontario at the time.

If widespread protests were held in a country where religion was more a part of the law than in Britan, just think what we'd see here.

We can do a far greater service to Muslims by condeming Islamophobia in the media, in the Anglican Church and at Westminster.

it is striking that Rowan Williams has not commented on the daft comments made by the Bishop of Rochester that non-Muslims may find it difficult to live or work in some places.

Really? I've heard no evidence of that.

Religion should not guide law.

Turkey recently allowed Muslims to wear headscarves inside universites.

In my view, this was long overdue, and does not go far enough:

The approved amendment makes clear that female students would be allowed to wear head scarves at universities as long as they tied them under the chin, leaving their faces more exposed.

I don't think Muslim women should have to tie the headscarf under the chin. It should be up to them.

Wearning a headscarf harms no-one.

Adopting religious laws harms community cohesion and in some cases the rights of the gay community and women.

I used to admire Rowan Williams.

I though he ws far better than Robert Runcie or George Cary, a liberal, tolerant man who supported gay rights.

Not any more.

If you've enjoyed this post, why not visit our group blog http://thewordfromwestminster.blogspot.com or check out the rest of my blog.

More about me.

Finally, a good cause I would like to promote.

Sayad Parwez Kambaksh demonstration tommorow

The Iranian Secular Society have organised a demonstration supporting blogger Sayad Parwez Kambaksh, sentenced to death for distributing a paper from the Internet.

The demonstration will take place outside the Afghanistan Embassy, 31 Princess Gate.

It will start at 12pm this Friday and will finish around 2pm.

Getting there:

Princess Gate is a short walk from both Knightsbridge tube station on the Picadily line and South Kensington on the District and Circle lines.

Buses that stop nearby are the 414, C1 and 74 ( all stop at Thurloe Place)

From Thurloe Place, walk up Brompton Road and turn left. Walk along Knightsbridge until you get to Rutland Gate. Princess Gate should be the first road off Rutland Gate.

Spammers who can't even be bothered with your name

I got this e-mail today:

Dear.
Please accept my apology if my mode of contacting you will in any way offend you. I am compelled to contact you via this medium for obvious reasons which you will understand when we discuss details of my proposition.
Through this letter I am seeking your urgent co-operation and an opportunity to invest and do business with you in your country or any other country you can manage in around the world as my partner. I have a sizable asset to invest and I would like to work with you in doing business.

One wonders how stupid a spammer has to be not to guess my name, given that both my first and second name are in the address.

I decided to remind him of this fact, and he sent a grovelling apology back. I still won't be investing with him though.

Ten tips on what makes a good secondhand bookshop

I'm a keen bibliophile (book lover) and enjoy browsing for bargains in charity shops and second-hand bookshops throughout Britain.

Here are my views on what makes a good second-hand bookshop.

1. Tardis-like quality. The best bookshops always look far smaller on the outside than they do one you enter them. Part of the fun is walking past shelves and shelves of dusty and obscure books. A basement is always a god sign-it feels more secret, like a cave.

2. Wide variety of sections. I'd expect a good second-hand bookshop to have around thirty different categories. I look at humour, fiction, classics,biography, media and journalism, magazines (sold in many second-hand bookshops) and politics.

3. Unobtrusive staff. Bans on taking bags downstairs seem to be unavoidable, although CCTV can't be that expensive, but I do like to be left in a world of my own. Helpfulness when asked a question, though, is essential.

4. If the bookshop is expensive, it does help to have a bargain section, to entice those with little money. Some bookshops sell books for £4 and up-one wonders how much money they make.

5. Very little clutter. Books should not be hidden behind displays or in glass-fronted cabinets.There shouldn't be ornaments around as "decoration".

6. Hazard indication.If some stock is in rooms with low ceilings or beams, there should be warning notice on the walls near the room and elsewhere in the shop.

7. Space to move. As much as possible, two people should be able to fit into the spacc between bookshelves. This is not always possible, but during peak periods it may help avoid people being trapped in corners.

8. Clear policy.If people bringing in food, drink or dogs (except guide dogs)is a problem, there should be a large notice outside the shop and another near the front. Don't expect people to read your mind.

9. Information. Although it's not a tourist information centre, it helps if the owner knows local bus routes and the nearest car park. People may want to recommend the bookshop to others.

There should beleaflets with your opening hours and address on. Can be as tacky as the owners wants.

10. That "something different" feel. Maybe the shop has a theme, for example.

Charity shops are somewhat different, having only a shelf or two of books among reams of clothes and vases. However, they are still worth a look and tend to cluster together like campers round a fire-less roast chestnuts though.

Child Offenders To Be Executed In Iran

Eighteen year old Behnam Zare will be executed within the next 72 hours for a murder he committed three years ago.

He was convicted in November 2005 and is one of 71 child offenders awaiting execution in Iran.

Amnesty International urges people to send an appeal to stop Behnam Zare's execution, as well as Delara Darabi, who will be executed for a murder she committed when she was 17, and Ali Mahin Torabi, whose execution is under review.

Another child offender facing death row, Sina Paymard, has been released after 1.5 million Iranian Rials was paid as diyeh (blood money).

He was given a reprive after he moved relatives of the murder victim with his playing of the ney, which was his last request.

They agreed to accept payment of diyeh instead of death.

His execution was postponed for two months, to negotiate the payment of diyeh.

Eventually, after the threat of another education, the money was found and he was freed.

It should be noted that the government of Iran has signed International Covenants that forbid them to execute anyone who has allegedly committed an offence before the age of 18.

Grange Hill closes due to lack of common sense

The popular programme Grange Hill has been axed by the BBC.

It began 30 years ago almost to this day.

CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist said: "The lives of children have changed a great deal since Grange Hill began and we owe it to them to reflect this."

Really? Do children have no interest in watching programmes about school?

A significant part of Hollyoaks is set in a comprehensive.

Indeed, one of the storyline at the moment involves Russ Owen as a new teacher.

Do teenagers chance channel when surly schoolkid Barry Newton argues with Russ?

Unless truancy rates have gone up 3000%, I reckon most children can relate to school-based dramas.

I'm just glad I'll never be working in children's television.

It's a good thing Anne Gilchrist didn't get a job as controller of BBC News 24, which is filled at the moment by the excellent Kevin Bakhurst.

No doubt she'd be telling reporters "People's lives have changed and we owe it to them to reflect this. Therefore, there will be no hard news. Instead, we will report on kittens, Youtube viral videos and celebrity underwear scandels."

Hence the title.

Ms Gilchrist said: "We have to not confuse our own nostalgia for something that we loved for something that children will want nowadays.

Tortured sentence. In fact, I can see Craig Brown's Wallace Arnold reaching for the cartridge pen to write "Dread Phrase".

Yet I haven't seen any details of falling viewing figures.

The fans were loyal when Grange Hill moved to Liverpool, albeit unhappily.

Jon East, head of CBBC Drama, said: "For 30 years, Grange Hill has become a byword for realistic and contemporary children's drama.

"It's now time to apply what we've learned over the years to some of the new ideas we're exploring."

"Grange Hill is well-respected, so let's stop doing it and concentrate on something else. We can't multi-task to save a dolphin."

Bring It Back And Pump Up The Grittiness:

Grange Hill should be brought back-and made more realistic.

No more Togger stealing swimming trunks. Let's have teenage sex problems, drug abuse and amateur rock and roll.

What issues do children face today?

Bullying, drug abuse, peer pressure, getting into the right school, alcohol abuse, obesity, poverty, war (if you're an asylum seeker's child) and health.

Phil Redmond wants Grange Hill lite to be shut down.

Yet with children staying up later and going out less, why not spice up the programme and put it on around 6:30-7:30?

However, it should also feature issues that comprensive schools as a whole face. PFI, underfunding,large classes, minor vandalism, arson, tests and ignorant politicans.

How To Avoid Grange Hill Becoming Hollyoaks: Inside The Classroom:

1. Don't use incidental music-or much music at all.

2. Make sure that people are hired on talent not looks.

3. Don't just feature people under 40.

4. No gimmicky "tell the story through text messages flashed on screen."

Come on CBBC, don't give up on Grange Hill.

Gordon Brown's Super Tuesday

How will Gordon Brown or David Cameron work with whichever candidate becomes President?

How will their policies affect the "special relationship"?

The Republican front-runner is John McCain, with 629 delegates. He's trounching Mike and Mick, the creepy duo who could have stepped out of a bad Hollywood movie.

McCain is a splitter, unpopular with the more tradtional in the Republican Party. In this, he has a lot in common with David Cameron. I wonder who the Republican Norman Tebbit could be.

Perhaps Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh.

A splitter will not want to do much to alientate his own party,so Brown will need to tread carefully with President McCain if the Republicans win again.

McCain's strong support for the war in Iraq may cause tensions if Brown wants to significantly reduce troops there. A strong prime minister would ignore McCain and go ahead anyway.

Gordon Brown is not a strong prime minister. He was a fairly decent Chancellor apart from his support for PFI, but Prime Minister is a very different job. Less than a year into office, he's had to contend with:

Northern Rock
Data losses
Flood response criticism
Another funding row
Police protesting over pay
Postal workers striking

Tony Blair was a strong prime minister, who agreed with much that George Bush proposed. Whether Brown agrees with McCain or not, he will most likely go along with him.

This will make him extremly unpopular, and he will most likely lose the 2009 election. McCain does not have the negative profile Bush has in Britain, but the word "Republican" is enough for many.

Brown is therefore hoping for a Democratic victory in November.

Either Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton will be running against John McCain.

Both want to end the war in Iraq gradually, like Brown.

Clinton has similar policies to her husband, while Obama is a break with the Democratic Party's course from Clinton post-Whitewater and Monicagate, where policy was more conservative than before.

However, either one will keep Gordon Brown happy.

eBay bans neutral or negative buyer comments

eBay has taken the rather drastic step of banning any comments about buyers that are not positive.

The site claims that trade was being slowed down by sellers responding to negative comments from buyers.

However, buyers will be able to post negative comments about sellers.

This is how sites like Amazon works.

However, the difference between Amazon and ebay is that Amazon requires signup with a credit or debit card. Therefore, funds will instantly be sent to a seller.

eBay allows the use of PayPal, which allows for fradulant damage claims.

Complaints to PayPal have also seen accounts frozen, with the money inside sometimes never returned.

The PayPal seller therefore has less power than the Amazon seller.

Many sellers set their own terms and conditions, allowing buyers to exploit them.

Instead of this buyer comment ban, eBay should set up a system similar to Amazon's.

Twenty Two Post Offices To Close In Oxfordshire

According to The Oxford Times, these post offices will be closed.

Ardington
Begbroke
Childrey
Combe
Crowmarsh
Dalton Barracks, Abingdon
Farmoor
Fyfield
Grandpont, Oxford
Grimsbury, Banbury
Church Way, Iffley, Oxford
Villiers Road, Bicester
Long Wittenham
Orchard Way, Banbury
Stanmore Crescent, Carterton
Stanton St John
Upton
West End, Witney
Wolvercote, Godstow Road
Wootton, near Woodstock
Wootton Road, Abingdon
Wytham.

It's a sad day for many people across Oxfordshire, and with losses of £4 million per year, no doubt more will close in 2009.

Jaquie Stenson, Post Office spokesman, said: "With new technology, changing lifestyles and a wider choice of ways of accessing services, people are visiting Post Offices less."

Really? Every time I walk past a Post Office, there is a queue up to the door. I've never been in a Post Office on a weekend or weekday afternoon which wasn't packed.

It's interesting to note what Royal Mail spend money on.

Their chief executive Adam Crozier recieved a £469,000 bonus in 2006. At that time, he was being paid £633,000 a year.

We had maximum wages for footballers in the fifties, let's bring in maximum wages for the CEO's of public sector companies.

And let's not forget a daft recent advertising campaign, in which Babs Windsor and her celeb chums prance around.

The Royal Mail is an essential service-people aren't going to think "I wouldn't mind posting some more letters now Westlife endorse the Post Office. I might write five letters to Noddy and Tessie Bear just for fun. Where's my book of stamps?"



Here's one of the adverts, judge for yourself. It's got Ted Robbins and Bill Oddie in it.

Useful Information: Digital Inspiration on Issuu

One of the golden rules of blogging is not to embed PDF files within your post.

PDF's take ages to load (although website Something Awful did bring out a guide to tweaking Adobe, which I will post once I find it) and open in an external window.

Amit Agarwal at Digital Inspiration blogs on Issuu, a nice service which converts any PDF to a 3D flip magazine you can embed.

Please note you can only embed PDF's you own the copyright for.

I shall try and use it sometime,although the one time I attempted to embed a PDF I kept getting "Internal Server Error."

Compass Survey On Counter-Terrorism Bill

The pressure group Compass is carrying out a consultation regarding the upcoming vote on the Counter Terrorism Bill.

You can fill in the online form here.

The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith MP and Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights pressure group Liberty have written articles for Compass. Jacqui Smith supports the Bill, while Shami Chakrabarti opposes it.

Vikram Dodd in the Guardian on the Bill.

The Mirror's view.

The Home Office says

The Counter Terrorism Bill 2008 includes proposals to:

* Provide a power to increase the time terror suspects can be held before charge in future if exceptional circumstances require it;

* Enable post-charge questioning of terrorist suspects;

* Enhance sentences for terrorism-motivated general offences;

* Strengthen the monitoring arrangements for convicted terrorists and prevent them from foreign travel where necessary; and

* Ensure full use can be made of DNA in terrorism investigations.

Come On Feel The Noise

If I haven't blogged much today, that's because I got very little sleep last night.

I was kept up until 3am by the noise of people walking past and shouting at each other.

Sometimes people jumped around the paths, like an antisocial Tigger.

At one point I heard an altercation between a security guard and a stranger.

The stranger pretended to be the reasonable one and kept shouting that he wanted to know which way led out of the campus (pretty obvious) while the security guard threatned to call the police.

That was around one am.

I got five hours sleep last night (just one more than Margaret Thatcher) before waking up at eight for the commute.

This week (so far):

I have completed the foreign stories and e-mailed them to Tim Gopsill. I have written 500 words of the Work Your Proper Hours day article and a paragrpah on Americna journalism deaths for Tim.

I also visited two expensive but lovely second hand bookshops near the Brunswick Shopping Centre (ooh, very posh).

Judd Books has a good section on international politics (basement)but does have the usual "don't take your bags downstairs notice".

I found a nice book on Spain after Franco, but £3.95 was a bit much. Most of the books seem to be this price, apart from those outside, which are around £2.

I also visited Skoob Books, which has a good humour section and bargain section.

Both are in Marchmont Street, just under a quarter of an hour from King's Cross Station.

Bigsight: New Social Networking Site

I have joined the new social networking site Bigsight so I can have a look around.

So far I'm not really impressed.

I joined it through my Facebook profile, which of course lists my work experience.

However, Bigsight does not seem to recognise work experience, so I have to delete it,otherwise it looks like I used to work full time at the Bucks Herald and Swindon Advertiser.


What's special about Bigsight?:

How will Bigsight trump Facebook or kick Bebo in the nuts?

Profiles look like censored CV's.

The site has no applications.

It does offer a user map, which is nice-but it also shows how few people use it since its startup in mid 2007.

To build a lasting public directory, one must care less about user engagement than building a database that is scaleable, easy to update, and will stand the test of time. To do this, we chose to organize it around four primary data points: education (schools), interests and experiences (affiliations), work (companies and industry groups), and cities.

This is what Facebook Networks offers.

Facebook, Myspace and Bebo have millions of users.

One useful feature Bigsight offers is connections. Because I went to the University of Sussex, I'm connected to software developer Raj Anand.

This is useful in itself-I might want a software developer working on a project etc.

However, Facebook groups allow people to network. I could find a software development group and message or add people.

Bigsight seems to offer almost nothing new , but should it take off I will still be on there.

Holocaust Teaching Is Not Being Banned In The UK

An e-mail has falsely claimed that UK schools will stop teaching the holocaust because of possible offence to Muslims.

Now the government is writing to every embassy to rebut the claim.

The e-mail also has versions claiming that Holocaust teaching has been banned at the University of Kentucky, which shows how reliable it is.

The University of Kentucky has never avoided teaching the holocaust.

Of course, some people just love lapping up any story that alleges freedoms must be curtailed to avoid offending Muslims.

The e-mail's also steamed up the "No Political Correctness Brigade".

Mrs Muir remains concernedabout the recent tendency of the nanny-state to prohibit things it finds too hard to handle.
She said: It's not just this issue – it's banning other things now that are not politically correct, like nativity plays and the use of the word Christmas. It has gone mad and will only cause ill-feeling."

Learning about the Holocaust is compulsory at Key Stage 3 in England, and optional in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

One history department cut information about the Holocaust from its lessons, according to a report by the Historical Association entitled Teacing Emotive and Controversial History 3-19, which is linked here.

The e-mail is usual for a chain e-mail:

Pleading "it won't take you long", the idea of inclusion, a boast about how many will read the e-mail, how important the e-mail is, oh, and a libellous statement calling all Muslims holocaust deniers-completly untrue!

It also alledges that all the German and Russian people "looked the other way". That comment is an insult to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and all the brave members of the German Resistance.

The person who wrote the e-mail also seems confused about Russia. The country was fighting Nazism, not supporting it.

How anyone could fal for that e-mail is beyond me. Now, I must go and claim my $1,000,000 winnings from that nice Idriss Kafando at the Bank of Africa.

This blog is now a podcast using Odiogo

Fancy hearing about Web 2.0 news while running through Hyde Park?

Interested in Facebook commentary while bouncing on a nice trampoline?

Want to hear about the software I've been using on my course while waiting for the Central Line?

Today I have used Odiogo to add downloadable audio above each post.

You can click on "listen now" to save each post to an MP3 player, ipod or computer.

An expert* has predicated that by 2015, every second iPod user will have listened to this blog on audio.

You can subscribe to the feed by scrolling down until you see the Odiogo button on the right, just below my archive.

While you're scrolling, why not go down further and take a look at my links, ClustrMap,Slideshow, Previous Posts and Technorati link?


*disclaimer: expert may be me in disguise.

Cockatoo saved by fellow birds

Some nice news from Australia.

A cockatoo entangled in netting was kept alive by other birds for two weeks in Kilsyth, close to Melbourne.

The bird is skinny and traumatised, but is getting better.

One of the comments

This story is for the birds! The poor cocky had obviously gone to seed. There's always someone who's crowing about wildlife while trying to feather their nest. The reporter should be brought up in front of the beak!

News from Westminster University, or The Cat and The Kebab Shop

Another plug for our class (in more ways than one) blog The Word From Westminster.

Several members of my class are writing on subjects such as music, court reporting and health.

It's a chance to read writing by the journalists of tommorow.

Each person is assigned a set day, which also improves their ability to write to deadlines.

Mondaze:

I blog there on Mondays, the perfect wake-up call after a debauched or tedious weekend.

I often find that Sunday nights are either one of the two, especially when living in the Harrow Halls of Residence.

With its beautifuly clean white walls and resemblance to a maximum security prison, I can imagine any celebrity or Del Boy looking on with envy at my palace.

In fact, our flat is so popular I can even hear people gathering outside my window to admire it, often until 1 in the morning.

Highlit by the white glare of the street lamps, I can watch people from nearby flats dancing and shouting at each other, fighting over who can give the best description of how lovely my block of flats is.

To keep us in a constant state of alert, fire alarms often sound randomly, set off for the most peculiar of reasons.

On night I was kept up until half-twelve by these alarms,and then woken just before two.

Still, it makes a nice change from the gentle hum of the Underground as it makes its way to Amersham or Aldgate, the frontier towns of the Metropolitan Line.

Incidentaly, do remember to give up your seat while not eating junk food or forgetting to say thank you.

From the outside, it looks just as lovely, with a hallway of clear glass windows (except the ones that cannot be cleaned).

Sometimes, I play the fun game of trying to avoid slipping on the garish pizza leaflets which are pushed under the heavy green door.

This happens several times a month, even though when you've seen one pizza leaflet, you've seen them all.

I also admire the determination of Unilet to keep our flat to a reasonable standard.

This standard would have been much admired by the Inner Party of Oceania, although they would probably have allowed more posters in the communal areas.

Any washing up left on the draining board is placed in a Tupperware box.

The only downside is this box is never cleaned beween usage, so I had to remove half an inch of brown water from it on Saturday.

However, we do get free visits from Bob the cat, who lost his friend Elvis recently-although I have it on good authority he's working in a kebab shop in Kenton.

Bob's a cagy fellow, but using my journalism skills I mananged to sneak a glance at his resume,which unlike me he doesn't keep online.

He lists daredevil antics, rubbing against people and drinking milk and his hobbies.

Not the usual critera for working in a university one feels, but he also has a degree from the RSPCA, which states that he has attended classes in catnapping, table scratching and mouse mauling.

Carrot Panic Buying Spinoff Groups

Several spinoff groups to the huge "On May 15th 2008, everybody needs to go out and panic buy CARROTS." group have formed.

These include the South African panic buying group,a group proclaiming apathy (but not enough apathy to avoid joining a related group)and a panic buying group for cheddar.

The latter follows a panic buying group for pineapples, as I blogged a few days ago.

For some reason, a second panic buying group with the same aims and date has been set up, with 27 members.

The original group:

With 126,306 members, it's doing well.

There is also a topic listing the various people taking part in the panic buying and where they are from.

Kim Ghattas reflects on her desire to be a journalist

Powerful article from BBC correspondent Kim Ghattas on Beirut and journalism.

The journalists had been so intrigued by my sisters that they had come back to film them at home.

It was Audrey's eighth birthday and my parents had prepared a cake for her. With my eldest sister, Ingrid, they all sang "Happy Birthday" together.

But, as the camera veered away from the smiling faces, you could see the apartment was partly destroyed - a chandelier dangled by a thread and my sisters' drawings were stuck to a wall to cover the pockmarks of explosions.

Why is Myspace more popular than Facebook?

With Myspace now allowing developers to create applications for the site, it seems that its lead in members will widen even further over Facebook.

According to the BBC, Myspace has around 200 million registered users, compared to 63 million who use Facebook.

Why does Myspace have almost four time the number of users as Facebook?

One reason may be Myspace's design, allowing for more of a "web page" feel.

For example, users can choose what design the background is for their page, as opposed to Facebook, which is always white.

However, this liberal approach to the background does make many Myspace pages harder to read.

Myspace also allows people to post HTML in their comments list, which was rivalled with Facebook's Super Wall application.

This was obviously a popular feature, but it does slow down page loading. It can also be a real pain scrolling down past huge pictures to post some text.

Opening one Myspace profile at random, I see a huge advert for a porn site, a snowglobe with a top-hatted snowman and cherub inside, a picture of a man saying how his large penis makes him feel better, and an advert saying "Bored Of Myspace" for boredusa.com.

That's looking at 28 comments.

Myspace is also very popular for musicians and artists for networking. Many bands create Myspace Music profiles, allowing fans with Myspace profiles to add them and communicate with the band.

However, you do not need to join Myspace to read a band's page. I'm not signed in to my Myspace while writing this, and I can read the upcoming tour dastes for bands such as Rogue Wave.

It would be interesting to see if Myspace make Music Profiles readable only to those who have signed in to their account in the future.

Both Myspace Music profiles and "bog-standard" Myspace profiles offer another feature that Facebook did not (until the iLike application was developed), the ability to embed music in your profile.

Facebook's iLike application is extremly popular, with over 300,000 daily users, but it is interesting how outside parties have to develop applications to rival Myspace features.

It is likely that many of those who use Myspace for features that Facebook did not offer (before the development of certain applications) will not have heard of iLike and Super Wall.

Myspace also has Myspace comedy, which offers exculsive content from comedians such as Harland Williams and Chris Rock.

Again, you don't have to be signed in to view videos. However, will those who haven't joined Myspace know how to navigate the site to find these videos?

More to the point, will they know these videos exist?

And has any comedy star done exclusive videos for Facebook groups? Not that I'm aware of.

Facebook shouldn't worry, though.

To me, many Myspace pages are ugly, HTML-filled horrors with terrible backgrounds.

As more people discover Facebook and sites such as hi5, Myspace and its mutant friend Bebo will decline.

Facebok should try to rival Myspace Comedy by getting starts to create exclusive videos for the site, which can only be viewed with an account.

It should also encourage musicans to create Facebook Pages and let them showcase their music there, so people who don't want iLike can network with them.

Then the numbers will shoot up.

One last plea. Don't let Facebook users change their backgrounds.

It's nice to have your own wallpaper, but it's nicer to be able to read text.

This article can also be seen at our group blog: http://thewordfromwestminster.blogspot.com/.

Facebook Application: My Web Profiles

A handy linking service to social sites such as Flickr and Xanga is My Web Profiles.

You simply enter the username for each application in the box.

As the application handily says (though at the bottom) you can find the info after the .com in each url.

The service supports dozens of applications, and takes up little space on your profile.

Your Facebook friends can therefore find you onLibraryThing, Flickr, Technorati, Blogger or del.icio.us (the ones I have installed so far.

I will add hi5 and others later.

My Web profiles has 22 daily active users, 3% of the total.

Nepalese Right to Information Act 2007 analysis released

Article 19, the Federation of Nepali Journalists and the Freedom Forum yesterday released their analysis of the Nepalese Right to Information Act 2007.

This act guarentees every citizen the right to information held by public bodies.

The report broadly welcomed the act, describing it as "a progressive piece of legislation". It also praised the principle that "the costs of right to informaiton shall be based on the actual cost of providing information".

However, some weaknesses were identified. The Act was seen as limited in scope, and reasons have to be submitted for requests, unlike countries such as the United Kingdom. This is contrary to international standards.

The report called for a "strong harm test" to apply to all exceptions, as the current test is too lenient. It was also recommended that applicants should be given longer to submit a complaint.

The report's authors urge the Nepalese government to implement these steps.

New Underground campaign:Manners Maketh Man or Waste Of Money?

The law two days posters have appeared at Northwick Park and King's Cross Underground stations featuring a variety of Habbo-like characters.

Each scene has two happy characters with writing on their stomaches.

The stomaches say promises like "I won't eat smelly food", although "I won't stab someone" has not yet been emblazoned on a curvy stomach

Is this kind of campaign really effective?

Is it worth the money? How much did it cost?

It was created by Mike Figgis, who directed The Battle of Orgreave, a Channel Four documentary.

One wonders if people will really be shamed by these kind of campaigns.

Certainly the kind of people who would empty fruit juice all over the floor of the Underground carridge I was travelling in last week often seemm beyond guilt.

An argument against conductors on the Underground is that they can't move through the carridges.

Yes they can- they can get out of one carridge when the train stops and move to another one.

CCTV is on all trains yet CCTV can only help catch the criminal after the act.

I personally doubt these posters will have much effect.

We can all do things in all innocence when travelling which come across as thoughtless. We’re asking all Londoners to think before playing loud music or just bounding down the aisles. Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London

However, the Tfl marketing campaign didn't annoy me like the National Student Survey marekting campaign did.

Some bright spark did a countdown by sticking the number 5 all over windows and walls near the Learning Resources Centre.

They then replaced them with 4, then 3 and so on until the National Student Survey was revealed.

Yet with students living in a Web 2.0 world, does this marketing really work?

I would recommend e-mailing every relevant student a reminded from the University, and creating a Facebook group.

Saves money on laminated cards.

I would also make a recommendation for the National Student Survey itself-ask postgraduates what they think.

Most postgraduates come from other universities and therefore will not have recived the National Student Survey for Westminster before.

I'm fully supportive of the survey, but I think promotion could have been better.

Ukraine Government Criticised By Article 19

The government of Ukraine must be more open with enviromental information, according to Article 19.

A new report was launched yesterday by the human rights organisation in Kyiv.

Widespread corruption, lack of dialogue and limited coverage of enviromental issues were found to be key problems.

Article 19 also claim that information made available is limited.

Therefore, the organisation has called for the Ukranian government to adopt a freedom of information law and for exisiting enviromental legislation to be amended.

Companies also need to do more to improve their enviromental record.

According to detailed field research, 48% of Ukrainians find the condition of their environment unsatisfactory.

Feature reseach and content management systems

Today I am researching a feature article for Work Your Proper Hours Day.

Next week, I will be interviewing NUJ members about this subject.

Work Your Proper Hours Day has been set up by the TUC in order to discourage unpaid overtime.

It occurs on the 22nd February.

I have also been shown the NUJ website's content management system, and have seen how a story is put onto the website from a Word document.

I understand how to write titles and insert links (different to blogging or coding a website).

I also understand how to add to menu bars and how different stories can be graded in order to choose if they are the lead or not.

The NUJ CMS seems easy to use and has a very good interface.

Asda recalls Durabrand XB2316 microwave

The supermarket Asda is recalling some of its own brand microwaves.

Three customers have contacted them to say that this model of microwave has been overheating.

You do not need a recipt or packaging to claim a refund.

Simply take any Durabrand XB2316 microwave to your nearest store to get your money back.

The barcode should say 5050854397271, if you are unsure what make your microwave is.

You can get more information from the Asda consumer helpline on 0500 100 055.

If you have enjoyed this post, why not check out our group blog, The Word From Westminster.

My story on Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh

I have written a story for the NUJ website on journalism student Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh.

The NUJ has called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to overturn a death sentence handed down to journalism student Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh. This follows the International Federation of Journalists sending a letter to President Karzai asking him to overturn the sentence.

NUJ President Michelle Stanistreet said: “The NUJ is opposed to any attacks on press freedom, whether from gunmen or governments. Every reporter has the right to freedom of expression.”

Kambakhsh, who also reported for the newspaper Jahan-e-Naw, was convicted of blasphemy for downloading an article from a Farsi-language website and possessing books containing anti-Islamic sentiment. He was not represented by a lawyer at the trial, which was held in secret. This sentence has also been supported by the upper house of the Afghan parliament.

IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said: “This statement by Afghan lawmakers is a shocking confirmation of intolerance and a lack of respect for free speech. It is worryingly out of touch with international standards of democracy.”

Afghanistan remains a dangerous country for journalists to work in, with four journalists killed there last year.

The Independent has created a petition calling on the Afghan government to prevent Kambakhsh’s execution. A number of Facebook groups have also been set up. To sign the petition click here.

Richard Brennan:online resume/curriculum vitae: journalism and web content management

Of course, as I learn new skills and obtain more experience, I will update this post:

My online curriculum vitae:

Richard Brennan
E-mail: richard-brennan@hotmail.co.uk

I am working as the Online Networking Coordinator for ISEAL Alliance in Angel, North London.

My work for ISEAL has involved helping to create and maintain an online community, carrying out two online consultations and setting up a backoffice system, as well as providing support to staff located in various countries in using online tools.

I have gained valuable experience managing contractors, improved my knowledge of HTML and CSS, edited audio and video created by other ISEAL staff, created and sent out online surveys, sent out email mailings to ISEAL members, helped draw up a draft contract and policies relating to the Online Community, and created wikis and blogs for various staff.

As part of my role, I have learnt a great deal about the uses and limitations of online tools, including how these can be used for intraoffice communication.

I have also gained experience in understanding how backoffice communications work, including how a small organisation uses a file and printer server, how online tools can be used for meetings, and how communication can easily take place with staff in other countries.

I am experienced with providing supporting for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, maintaing a local area network and a patch cabinet, taking decisions on what computer hardware and software to purchase for an organisation and being the first line of support for ICT.

In preparation for ISEAL’s Annual General Meeting, I also planned out two workshops, which I also presented, and an after-dinner quiz. I also organised other staff for the purpose of documenting these workshops. This gave me an excellent experience of organising events and managing other staff.


I have completed a Perodical Training Council-accredited MA (vocational) in Journalism at Westminster University, and researched the future of newspapers in order to help build a website for the course using Dreamweaver, as well as learning shorthand, writing for the web, and news and feature writing.

I was on the Periodical Pathway, which is print-based. My specialism in business journalism, although I also have a keen interest in social networks and technology journalism.

I have passed the short course Introduction To The City And Financial Journalism at City University, Central London.

I have been Webmaster for the student news site Westminster News Online, and have learnt to use Joomla.

Also, I am skilled in the following:
Adobe Photoshop,Adobe Indesign,Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, Adobe Fireworks and Microsoft Excel.

Competent using both Macs and PC's, I have experience of desktop publishing.

I am competent with Soundslides, Flash and Photoshop, and understand the challenges that journalism faces in a Web 2.0 world.

At Westminster University, I contributed to the Smoke student paper.

I am able to use CoolEdit , and recorded this interview at an explosion in Harrow on Friday 15th February.



During May I was chief sub-editor for a magazine our class created and wrote as part of our degree. This also allowed me to gain further experience of using Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop.

QUALIFICATIONS
BA DEGREE:
I graduated from Sussex University in July 2007 with a 2:1 in English Literature. While there, I wrote for the Badger student newspaper, and also proofread and helped publish it.

A-LEVELS OBTAINED:
English (A), Media Studies (A), Biology (B),General Studies (B)

WORK EXPERIENCE:
Daily Express: June 2008:
Assigned to the Online desk, I wrote stories for the site, created picture galleries, moderated the Express' comments section and uploaded content from the paper. I also uploaded and edited market reports and stories for the Daily Star Online.

Sky News: April 2008:
Assigned to the New Media section, I wrote copy for the web, used Photoshop to crop pictures, used a CMS, filmed shots and went on location to watch the filming of tech show Technofile. I also helped test a graphic map. Examples of my copy can be seen under April 2008 in my blog. I used Getty, Reuters and Mediapoint to source most of the pictures.

NUJ: January-February 2008:
I was on placement with the NUJ's Journalist magazine for four weeks, and also wrote articles for the web site.
I have written on Pakistan, the Milton Keynes Citizen strike (which I also covered in the field) and Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh.

“Bucks Herald”: August 2006 :
I proofread the paper, followed a journalist on his beat and wrote copy.

"Swindon Advertiser": July 2006:
I carried out a telephone interview for an article I was writing, went with a journalist to Magistrate’s court and did various vox pops. I also wrote copy.

I also completed the course “Introduction to Writing In Journalism” at City College Brighton and Hove in late 2006.

OTHER ACTIVITIES:
I have been involved with the Sussex University Amnesty International Society.

HOBBIES:
I have written for both the Smoke and Badger student newspapers, and enjoy country walks, crosswords and reading literature, as well as taking photographs when I get the time.
I blog daily as well.

PLEASE COPY THIS TEXT INTO A WORD DOC BEFORE PRINTING, TO AVOID PRINTING OUT THE RIGHT HAND LINKS.THANKS.

Bombing Kills Dozens In Iraq Markets

At least 45 people were killed this Friday by a suicide bomber in al-Ghazl and al-Jadida markets.

An official at Baghdad's al-Kindi hospital told AFP news agency: "We have a disaster here. There are too many bodies to count. Many of them are just pieces of flesh."

Al-Ghazl market has been a frequent target

So far this year, 541 Iraqis have been killed.

That's in thirty-one days.