Remember back to those hazy summers days in August? A group of media bloggers got together for a high-level summit in a pub in Camden. You were invited. You might even have been there. We talked, we drank, we laughed. A good time was had by all and it seemed like we had put the… Continue reading Media-Watchery Blogging Meet-Up Thingy 2
History Repeating
Last week I thought that I had traced the origin of the Mail’s recent obsession with BC and AD back to Peter Hitchens column on September 18th of this year. In this article, Hitchens wrote: The BBC’s Chief Commissar for Political Correctness (whom I imagine as a tall, stern young woman in cruel glasses issuing… Continue reading History Repeating
Some Doctor Who Theories (Revisited)
Back in May, after two episodes of Doctor Who series 6, I made some predictions about the rest of the series. Now that the series is over, it’s time to go back over those predictions to see how I did. There were nine of them. The eye-patch lady is going to be important.Excellent start. The… Continue reading Some Doctor Who Theories (Revisited)
The Pod Delusion
A quick plug for The Pod Delusion. Their latest episode was published today and it includes me talking about the Mail’s BBC/BCE story. Getting the piece recorded was all a bit last minute and rushed, but I enjoyed doing it and hope to do more stuff with them in the future. I highly recommend listening… Continue reading The Pod Delusion
BBC BCE Addendum
A couple of interesting new developments in BCE-gate. Firstly, the BBC have apparently had a large number of complaints about this issue and yesterday they published a response on their complaints page. Complaint We received complaints from people concerned about press reports claiming that the BBC has replaced the reference terms BC (Before Christ) and… Continue reading BBC BCE Addendum
The Birth of a Meme
It’s not often that you can trace a tabloid meme back to its beginnings. Over the last week we’ve seen the birth of a new tabloid meme and, luckily, we’re able to see where it comes from. Here’s the seed. It’s from the Frequently Asked Questions page on the BBC Religion religion web site. Why… Continue reading The Birth of a Meme
Teach Evolution, Not Creationism
The British Humanist Association is behind a new campaign called “Teach Evolution, Not Creationism“. Of course any reasonable person is going to support the campaign. No-one wants creationism taught to children as fact in science lessons. But there are a couple of subtleties that should probably be explained in detail. Firstly, I’ve seen this as… Continue reading Teach Evolution, Not Creationism
Hating Gnome 3
I’ve been using Linux as my desktop operating system for about fifteen years. For most of that time I’ve used GNOME as my desktop environment. That’s longer than I ever used Windows so it’s become ingrained into the way I work. I’d guess that I’m at least 50% more efficient using GNOME than I am… Continue reading Hating Gnome 3
Media-Watchery Blogging Meet-Up Thingy
At Opentech in May I gave a talk about the informal Media-Watching project that I’m involved with. It’s a loosely-affiliated group of bloggers who like to point and laugh at the British press. Well, the group is about to become that little bit less loosely-affiliated loosely-affiliated. A number of us are going to meet up… Continue reading Media-Watchery Blogging Meet-Up Thingy
Reading the News
I’ve always considered myself to be a Guardian reader. For probably twenty years I bought a Guardian most days and read it on the tube on my way to college and, later, my job. The routine was always the same, I’d read the Guardian in the morning and a book on my way home in… Continue reading Reading the News