tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20855115691098164772024-03-05T16:30:15.653+00:00Colin Boag's blogColin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-20867387883620029832012-04-08T12:17:00.000+01:002012-04-08T12:17:52.831+01:00Spring has sprungWith the first proper rain for two months forecast for tomorrow, I've declared that spring is here.<br />
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The black polythene has come off the beds at the allotment, displacing armies of voles / field mice or some other such rodent that had spent the winter under it. Next week will see the serious planting start. I've discovered a great website <a href="http://www.growveg.com/">http://www.growveg.com/</a> that lets you plan in detail what you want to grow...the last frost date for your postcode, the number of plants per row, the space between rows, what plants complement other plants, etc.<br />
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The raised beds in the garden are now springing into action - the first two rows of salad seem to have survived the recent mild frosts and I may risk some more shortly. In the greenhouse three potato bags are under way - I calculate the first new potatoes will be ready in late May or early June. I've just done the first three bags for outside (Rocket for those who are interested in such things - the ones in the greenhouse are respectively Maris Peer, Lady ChristL and Rocket)<br />
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I plan to maintain a vegetable growing blog through the summer, regaling you with my triumphs (few) and my disasters (many)!Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-48604004839159216392012-01-30T17:29:00.001+00:002012-01-30T17:30:12.711+00:00More BirdPoo than BirdsongLoved the book, but hated what the Beeb did to Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong. 'Shallow' is the best way to describe Abi Morgan's script, although she'd probably prefer 'pared-down', and I struggle to understand how someone who wrote something as good as 'The Hour', could so totally lose the plot with Birdsong. This was drama for those you who can't or won't read.<br />
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Too many long, lingering looks and soft focus, presumably as a feeble attempt to create atmosphere, and too much of the plot that was missing in action.<br />
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Now to the leads. Eddie Redmayne is clearly flavour of the month right now, but I thought his performance was bizarre. Whenever you see Shakespeare performed, the acting can be as good as you like, the direction as innovative as a you can imagine, but if the text gets butchered then it's dead in the water, and that was my problem with Redmayne - I just couldn't understand the half of what he was saying. I was only being partly sarcastic when I complimented the Beeb on giving an opportunity to a lead with a speech defect. Thank goodness for Sky+ which allowed me use Live Pause to rewind - I kept having to do that. A word of advice for young Mr Redmayne: give up the ventriloquist impressions, and open your damn mouth - that way the words might come out clearly. Overall though, we saw too much of Redmayne's mouth which people have variously described as looking as though he had a slug stuck to his top lip, or in one case as being 'pale, sausage-like'.<br />
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<img class="rg_i" data-src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTm__-5kvzOycfx7tXiJfftBa_0zTYsbY0vl7qsBjpfpWjcZZMm" data-sz="f" height="177" name="dL_Kbu3zcFcidM:" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTm__-5kvzOycfx7tXiJfftBa_0zTYsbY0vl7qsBjpfpWjcZZMm" style="margin: -8px 0px 0px;" width="151" /><br />
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Clemence Poesy had obviously taken her cue from Redmayne and spent the whole three hours whispering - maybe it was an attempt to convey her vulnerability, but it just made her sound deranged.<br />
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I thought Joseph Mawle as Jack Firebrace was excellent, as was Marie Josee Croze as Jeanne - she convinced where Poesy didn't. It struck me from early on that it was just the sort of drama where Anthony Andrews would be bound to appear, and right on cue he popped up as Colonel Barclay - actually his brand of fey madness worked quite well and if someone had given him a teddy bear and told me his first name was Sebastian then I wouldn't have been surprised.<br />
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I watched both parts all the way through, mainly because I couldn't believe that the level of mediocrity could be sustained for such a lengthy period, but it was. Dire, dire, dire - I'm off to re-read the book.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-41090321650307918722012-01-27T17:28:00.000+00:002012-01-27T17:28:21.051+00:00Andy Murray todayWhich is Andy Murray after today's heroic loss? Is he the plucky Scottish loser, or the noble Brit?<br />
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You see, whenever Murray has lost in the past, the London-dominated press has almost always described him as Scottish, but whenever he has won he has been British - odd, isn't it?<br />
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Anyway, after today one thing is clear, he isn't a Henmanlike bottler. Tim, by the way, was almost always British. Of course, had he ever won anything of note then I'm sure he would have been England's own!<br />
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Funny old world.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-49520874118389506642012-01-13T17:06:00.000+00:002012-01-13T17:06:59.785+00:00What was all the fuss about?I finally lost my Nando's virginity, and on balance wish I hadn't. It seems to be the restaurant of choice for professional rugby players, and I'm told that some of the overpaid prima donna scumball players also like it, so my daughter and I gave it a go.<br />
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The food is - at best - average, and seems to be a mixture of KFC and McDonalds, but at a far higher price. Their idea of hot sauce isn't too hot at all, and their half chicken is more poussin than a proper bird! Worst of all though, and I know this makes me sound snobbish, the place was full of loud people who didn't seem to know how to hold a knife or a fork.<br />
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Maybe I was unfortunate, because I was in beastly Eastleigh, but the whole thing just didn't seem that clean to me. Our table had had a cursory wipe with a cloth after an antibacterial spray, but it hadn't been dried so when we sat down the cutlery and napkins immediately became damp. Overall, I just found it a bit depressing and unpleasant. Oh, and worst of all...the chips were soggy.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-5400783311388776752012-01-08T10:47:00.000+00:002012-01-08T10:47:14.026+00:00'Like', it's like really irritatingWhat is this current obsession with the omniword 'like'? It's, like, a really good way to make intelligent people sound, like, stupid. You hear it everywhere, and when you hear some people interviewed it is, like, the most commonly-used word in their, like, vocabulary.<br />
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In fact, it's just a habit, and like other unpleasant habits - farting in public, biting your nails, picking your nose and eating your own snot - it can and should be broken. My recommendation is that every time you hear 'like' misused, you challenge the person and simply ask, "What do you mean - it is that, or is it like that?" It worked with my daughter when she was in her early teens, and I know others who have successfully adopted the same approach - she may use the omniword outside of the house, but she's smart enough not to use it at home!Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-1146908923795388932012-01-03T19:18:00.000+00:002012-01-03T19:18:25.688+00:00Are Winchester people being taken for mugs?Why are petrol prices so high in Winchester? There seems to be a remarkable degree of unanimity amongst the petrol stations in the city about what is the right selling price, but if you drive a few miles away, then prices drop sharply.<br />
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<img alt="" class="rg_hi" data-height="224" data-width="225" height="224" id="rg_hi" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSro7yBszmCT6IRSFpj_6wN2y_FLu7duLtC5tbRwcLiRSo-MQuY" style="height: 224px; width: 225px;" width="225" /><br />
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On the outskirts of Romsey unleaded petrol was 129.9p per litre, in Gosport it was 128.9p, and in and around Southampton it was around 130.9p, but Winchester prices seem to be around 134.9p. <br />
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Has someone been believing the tosh about Winchester being an affluent city, and decided to exploit us? Had we a local paper that did its job properly then it would be asking some questions.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-18302953776802383022011-12-26T18:12:00.001+00:002011-12-26T18:13:17.703+00:00Why are cyclists so stupid?Is there something strange that happens when a grown person climbs aboard a bike? Are they required to leave their brain at home?<br />
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<img height="405" id="il_fi" src="http://www.demotix.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/large_610x456_scaled/photos/87545.jpg" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="610" /><br />
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Firstly, I'm sure that there are some sensible cyclists, just as there are plenty of bad car and lorry drivers, but there is a difference: in town if you do something stupid in a car you might hit a pavement or bump another car, but if you do daft things on a bike you will probably get seriously hurt or killed.<br />
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Driving through Winchester one dark evening last week I only just spotted a cyclist, dressed all in black, on a racing bike with no rear lights. It was the equivalent of going out on a suicide mission, and when I tooted my horn at him, he gave me the finger. Had I killed him, I have no doubt it would have been seen as my fault.<br />
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A geriatric lady riding her bike down Parchment St in Winchester....the wrong way on a one-way street. Try that in a car and you'll be in trouble, but if you're a cyclist...<br />
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At the traffic lights on North Walls, indicating that I plan to turn left towards River Park, when a cyclist decides to ignore my signals and come up the inside of me - he only just got away with it - had I hit him I've no doubt he'd have thought it was my fault.<br />
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Traffic lights seemingly don't apply to cyclists - watch them and you'll find that most simply ignore them.<br />
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Cyclists are, more often than not, total muppets on the road. Fact!Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-4635319186231039942011-12-23T10:26:00.003+00:002011-12-24T10:10:06.656+00:00Xmas gender stereotypingJust done Waitrose in Winchester for the final time before Xmas, and was struck by the degree to which people take leave of their manners and senses at this time of the year. By 08:00 there were around 100 punters queuing to get into the store, and once the doors opened, the gender differences became apparent.<br />
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The men were all action: "I have been given my list, and I'm going to succeed in getting everything - I'm a hunter gatherer, and being a bloke is about survival of the fittest. Why are these people crawling round the aisles? I'm going to go round at speed, bashing into things and sighing at the incompetence of everyone else". Shouting too: "Hey you, where are the pickled lemons? What do you mean you've run out of Bourbon Vanilla Pods? No, I don't want those vanilla pods - my list says Bourbon! Christ, I could do this in half the time if all these other muppets weren't in the store."<br />
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Winchester Woman is a different beast. Dyed blonde hair, sunglasses in a supermarket on 23 December, and dressed as though she has had an accident with her 14-year-old daughter's Topshop wardrobe. Really, black leggings don't work in public once a woman gets above a certain weight - as my late father-in-law (a former gamekeeper) used to say: "The sights you see when you haven't got your gun". Winchester Woman also checks her brain in at the door once she has parked her black, tinted-windowed 4 x 4. The preferred trolley technique seems to be to simply stop in the middle of the aisle, and abandon it. While everyone else queues to get round the obstacle, WW is off roaming other aisles in search of chestnuts and meringues, oblivious to a) how grotesque she looks, and b) the chaos she has left behind her.<br />
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Once WW gets to the aisle, I'll bet you a pound to a penny that she dumps her groceries on the belt, and then, with a dramatic sigh and expletive, deserts them in search of the four or five items she has forgotten to get. My technique is to simply shove their shopping back up the belt while they're gone, and put mine there instead. Trust me, they love it!<br />
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And a merry Xmas to you all! Bah, humbug.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-12460559518748194252011-12-22T15:42:00.000+00:002011-12-22T15:42:30.702+00:00A truly brilliant eveningI was privileged to recently see The Unthanks singing the songs of Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons) and Robert Wyatt. None of the songs they sang would exactly fall into the Easy Listening category, and in most cases they are as far away from 'Folk' as it's possible to be, but the sisters, and the band, bring them to life in a remarkable way.<br />
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The Hegarty songs are largely focused on transgender politics and work unexpectedly well with the sisters' voices: 'You are my sister' had a totally different feel to it when Becky and Rachel shared the vocals, and 'For today I am a boy' was hearbreakingly beautiful. As part of the between-the-songs chat, Rachel told a story of how, when Becky was little, she believed that as she grew to her elder brother's age, she'd become a boy, and then when she reached Rachel's age she'd turn back into a girl. As the audence laughed, Adrian - the mastermind behind the project and Rachel's partner, wryly commented: "What you're hearing is the trivialisation of a sensitive man's struggle to come to terms with his sexuality" - even bigger laugh!<br />
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The songs of Robert Wyatt were more readily accessible, and when Rachel sang 'Out of the Blue', with it's chorus of "You have planted all your everlasting hatred in my heart", I just wanted every Israeli ever born to be forced to sit in a room and hear it until the message got through. It describes the reaction of a Palestinian whose house has been destroyed, but it could apply to any conflict where civilians get bombed. You can hear the original being sung by Wyatt at<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOh4VqCc3-Q">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOh4VqCc3-Q</a><br />
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Then there was the indescribably beautiful 'Sea Song', which was, apparently. where the project started. One of my favourite songs, it was even more beautiful when sung by the sisters.<br />
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The album is out and is a joy, but should they ever tour these songs again, don't miss it.<br />
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The best word is left to Robert Wyatt: <br />
"<em>Quite simply, Antony & The Johnsons and I have been blessed by angels. If I had to take a single summary of what Alfie [ Robert's partner] and I have being doing over the years to the proverbial desert island I wouldn’t take one of our own records. I’d take the crystal clear interpretations of The Unthanks.</em>" <strong>Robert Wyatt</strong>Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-53854624529825141942011-12-22T15:13:00.000+00:002011-12-22T15:13:44.168+00:00Colouring your judgement?I read that some football pundit is having to apologise for referring to 'coloured' players. However, today I saw a woman from a social enterprise on Sky News, talking about the work that they do with 'women of colour'.<br />
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Can anyone explain why 'women of colour' is an OK term, but 'coloured' isn't?Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-88353999256453230262011-12-15T11:15:00.000+00:002011-12-15T11:15:22.856+00:00Why M&S made me feel like a racistI like M&S Direct, the chain store's on-line service, because whenever I've used it, it has worked really well...up until now. I sent friends in Scotland some wine for Xmas, and having been away for a couple of days found two messages on my answering machine from two women in one of the M&S call centres. The problem was that neither of the messages were comprehensible - the women's accents were impenetrable, but I did manage to catch the 'phone number.<br />
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I called, and the person who answered struggled to understand anything that I said to her, and her English was so bad that I became more and more baffled, and then progressively more annoyed - what should have been a two-minute call to resolve a minor delivery issue, became a 20-minute saga. Let's not beat about the bush: she was of Asian origin and spoke lousy English with an extremely strong accent. Had this been a cockney or a Brummie, or someone from Northern Ireland, or any of the other British accents that can sometimes be difficult, I wouldn't have had a problem complaining, but the fact that she was Asian caused me to pause before I lost the plot. Would she, and the manager I eventually spoke to, think that I was complaining because she was Asian...was I running the risk of being branded a racist?<br />
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How sad it is that such a thought should even cross my mind, but I know lots of people who hate dealing with call centres based overseas, simply because they've had bad experiences, similar to mine.<br />
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In the end I did complain, and her supervisor promised to go off and listen to the call. He called me back, apologised on behalf of M&S, telling me that he struggled to understand what was going on, and made a 'gesture' of a financial nature to recompense me for my inconvenience.<br />
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Call centres are, sadly, a fact of life, and I have sympathy for the people who work in them and who suffer abuse from unhappy customers, but surely the very first criterion for employing someone in a call centre has to be that their English is up to scratch? I couldn't care less about the ethnic origins of the call centre person I speak to, but they'd better be able to communicate with me in a sensible manner!Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-38058454468005457692011-11-06T08:53:00.000+00:002011-11-06T09:53:18.115+00:00A surreal evening in SalisburyAsk me to name my half dozen most favourite tracks of all time, and then what would the odds be about hearing two of them them done by the inestimable June Tabor and the excellent Oyster Band? That's exactly what happened at Salisbury City Hall on Wednesday evening, and it was wonderful.<br />
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I expected to hear them do 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' because it's on their new album, 'Ragged Kingdom', but 'White Rabbit' was a bolt from the blue. Joy Division's LWTUA is bleak and dark, but Tabor and the Oysters turn it into an altogether different song. Tabor and John Jones share the vocals and rather than being the bloke bemoaning the end of a relationship, it becomes a couple doing it - it won't replace Joy Division's 3' 18" of desolate perfection in my affections, but it's lovely just the same, and does shed new light on the lyrics.<br />
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White Rabbit is a different matter, however. When Jefferson Airplane recorded it, I though that Grace Slick's vocals were as good as it could get, but June Tabor proved that she isn't just a 'folk' singer, because when she wants to she has a great rock voice. When Tabor told us that 'the one that mother gives you, don't [sic] do anything at all', she changed the whole the emphasis of the song, and made it more understandable. I hope that she and the Oysters record it sometime soon.<br />
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June Tabor's voice is as enthralling as ever, and John Jones is arguably the best male vocalist in the folk rock scene, and they simply brought the house down. My worry was that Tabor's vocals, usually heard in the more intimate surroundings of concert halls and Arts Centres with a trio accompanying her, might get drowned out by the Oysters driving rock, but a lot of work (and an excellent sound engineer) had gone into getting it just right. A word too for 'Chopper' on bass and cello, and the excellent Dil Davies on drums - they hold the whole thing together in exemplary fashion.<br />
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Salisbury City Hall is a great venue, and almost everyone that matters has played there over the years - the posters round the walls tell part of its story. Compared with soulless modern concert halls, like the overpriced Anvil in Basingstoke, it's a gem - akin to some elderly beauty who retains her elegance despite the passing years. It also has a Wagamama just 100m away, and plentiful parking - I love it.<br />
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Nineteen years have elapsed since Tabor and the Oysters recorded the beautiful 'Freedom and Rain', and we have to hope that it's not 2030 before we hear the follow-up to Ragged Kingdom.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-75117683414874034902011-10-21T15:23:00.000+01:002011-10-21T15:23:44.175+01:00It makes you proud to be a journalist - NOT!There's something rotten at the heart of Sky News. They've pushed the boundaries beyond reasonable limits in recent high-profile court cases, and they plumbed a new low today with their coverage of the death (murder?) of Gadaffi.<br />
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" 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As is my norm, I turned on Sky News as soon as I got up to see what was happening in the world. What I got was film from a mobile phone of a clearly terrified and bloodied Gadaffi being dragged through the streets, and then summarily executed. I didn't enjoy seeing it, and I strongly believe that it shouldn't have been shown before the watershed, and possibly not even after it.<br />
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I have no doubt that very young children across the land saw this coverage before they went to school. The broadcaster can't rely on parents ensuring that their kids don't see the news, and if they did, then in this instance they may well have been traumatised - it was nasty, nasty stuff that would earn an 18 certificate at the cinema, and Sky showed it at 07:00! Irrespective of what kind of a bastard Gadaffi was, and by all accounts he was a particularly nasty one, he shouldn't have met his end in that way - no human being should. However, once that happened, it would have been possible to report it without showing the footage. To me it smacks of lazy journalism, as so much television journalism is nowadays. The obsession with images gets in the way of skilled journalists reporting the facts in a considered and enlightening way.<br />
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It's little wonder that journalism as a profession is now regarded as being on a par with merchant banking or stockbroking - the sort of thing you don't want to own up to doing for a living.<br />
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Thank God for radio and the quality press!Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-69384623444809446512011-09-19T11:35:00.000+01:002011-09-19T11:35:38.651+01:00Under-appreciated interpretorsIt's the singer songwriters who get all the glory, but just because they wrote the words it doesn't mean they are always the best people to communicate the message within the lyrics. Of course, cover versions are often simply pale imitations of the orginal, but once in a while someone comes along who takes a set of lyrics to a whole new level. The new June Tabor and Oyster Band CD does that with my favourite song, 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', and last Friday I saw Barb Jungr do the most incredible things with the songs of Bob Dylan.<br />
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<img class="rg_i" data-src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS0oP2pJuTV5u-f90HgRZq6aO_zBluyC7Fa-X_5v0F-HLqRnlti4UG00y03" height="116" name="ZXqUyBMlNMXXUM:" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS0oP2pJuTV5u-f90HgRZq6aO_zBluyC7Fa-X_5v0F-HLqRnlti4UG00y03" width="116" /><br />
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I've loved her work for years, but hadn't previously seen her live, and the best word I can come up with describe her performance is visceral. It helped that were right at the front, no more than ten feet from her, and it was awe-inspiring. I recall seeing her on BBC Breakfast once and the presenters did the usual 'You're going to sing for us, aren't you?' routine, and got much more than they bargained for. She didn't get up from the couch, and just started, from cold at 08:30 in the morning, and with awesome power- poor old Bill didn't know where to put himself as Barb stared into his eyes and sang a love long beautifully.<br />
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'Like A Rolling Stone' was imbued with a power and a viciousness that Dylan's voice just doesn't get across, and she finished with 'God On Our Side'. When she sang the seventh verse...<br />
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But now we got weapons<br />
Of the chemical dust <br />
If fire them we're forced to<br />
Then fire them we must<br />
One push of the button<br />
And a shot the world wide<br />
And you never ask questions<br />
When God's on your side.<br />
...the fact that we were seeing her at the New Greenham Arts Centre, built on the site of Greenham Common, scene of the women's peace camp, and for so many years home to Cruise missiles, meant that a collective shiver ran through the audience. We were sitting right by where, in 1958, a B-47 bomber was destroyed with a resulting radiation leak!<br />
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Her singing was great, and her introductions to the songs, including lots of 'Dylanology' were wonderful -at some times, funny, and at others extremely moving. Her intro to 'The Man In The Long Black Coat' was excellent, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house when she told the story of the one-man audience at a gig when she first took 'The Songs of Bob Dylan' to New York.<br />
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She goes back there next month in triumph for sell-out shows over a week, and then she heads off to Austin, LA and SF. If you can't get to see her UK gigs, buy the album, but the band that backs her on it, although really good, can't capture the power of seeing her live with only her pianist to accompany her. <br />
Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-9474128786752795512011-09-07T18:37:00.000+01:002011-09-07T18:37:56.957+01:00Driving in Scotland - part 3Back in my adopted homeland, having been told en route to 'Respect Roadworkers' - if I meet any then I'll remember that sage advice.<br />
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Can anyone tell me why Edinburgh drivers refuse to drive in bus lanes? The notices every 400m say that the hours are 07:00 to 09:30, and 16:00 to 18:30, but between 09:30 and 16:00, hardly anyone ventures into them. Part of the reason that traffic congestion in Edinburgh is so bad is that most of the major routes in the city are made into single lane roads by drivers' stupidity. It really beggars belief that people can be so thick.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-26223140351630708492011-09-02T17:44:00.000+01:002011-09-02T17:44:06.409+01:00Driving in Scotland - part 2As if driving in Scotland wasn't hard enough and dangerous enough already, Transport Scotland have a novel way of distracting drivers. The illuminated signs on motorways have a purpose: to tell drivers when there's a hazard ahead, or inform them about how long it might take to get to a point further along their journey. However, north of the border they are used to annoy and to help your attention wander.<br />
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Heading up the M6, all is sane, but then you hit the A74/M74, and the madness starts - it also features on the M8 and the Glasgow motorway system. (you'll note that punctuation doesn't figure on the signs).<br />
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'Bin your litter Other people do' <br />
'Picking up your litter risks workmens lives' - I wasn't sure how my picking up my litter endangered anyone, but then I realised this one was ambiguous as well as being daft<br />
'Drive smart save fuel' - an advert for Smart cars?<br />
'Check your tyre pressure regularly' - but hopefully not at 70 mph in the second overtaking lane.<br />
'Check your mirror for bikes' - I did, and there were none hanging off them<br />
'Could you car share' <br />
'Think about car share' - actually, I was thinking about Tunnock's caramel wafers until you distracted me<br />
'Soft tyres waste fuel' - soft signs waste lives!<br />
'Wear seat belts its the law' <br />
'Car sharing save money reduce emissions' - since when has that been a sentence?<br />
'Be a courteous driver' - wasted on me as I was by then screaming 'F*** Off!' at the signs.<br />
'Dont drive and take drugs' - are prescription drugs included in this?<br />
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Why do they do this? Does some overpaid bureaucrat sit at a computer typing in platitudes all day long, or are they randomly generated? <br />
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Does Transport Scotland seriously believe, that as I speed up the M74, my driving experience is enhanced by this glib, fatuous nonsense? If they want to improve the standard of driving in Scotland maybe they should try:<br />
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'Indicate occasionally' or 'Give us a clue what you intend to do next'<br />
'Try driving in the driving lane rather than the second overtaking lane'<br />
'Try driving in lanes rather than straddling them'<br />
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Is this really what devolved government has given Scotland - the right to become a laughing stock?<br />
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By the way, should anyone be incensed about these two most recent posts to my blog, I'm a Scot so I'm allowed to say what I like about my fellow countrymen and countrywomen! <br />
Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-30031644445014627162011-08-31T17:33:00.000+01:002011-08-31T17:33:52.938+01:00Driving in ScotlandThe aggression which meant that the Scottish fighting man played a major role in the establishment and the maintenance of the British Empire, now finds its outlet in driving. Up in Edinburgh for the Festival, and then the trip across country to sail to Arran, meant that I had plenty of opportunity to see the Scottish driver in full flow.<br />
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<img class="rg_hi" data-height="161" data-width="313" height="161" id="rg_hi" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRHtCVxsw5jwEn5tmgjykc6GsTt22DADnSs3yrtq-A6GkRu8yS_vQ" style="height: 161px; width: 313px;" width="313" /><br />
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On motorways, what is properly called the second overtaking lane, or what the rest of the country colloquially calls the fast lane, is to many Scots the driving lane. Never have I seen so many people get themselves out there, and then refuse to budge. I saw one muppet drive for 20 miles along the M8 in that lane, and then dive across the other two lanes towards his exit. Clearly there's a mindset that says, 'They shall not pass'.<br />
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In Scottish towns and cities it appears that different rules apply there compared to the rest of the UK. Indicators are clearly seen as a sign of weakness: generally to be ignored totally, but if the driver is a wimp, to be briefly touched five or ten yards before the turning.<br />
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When turning left it is <em>de rigeur</em> to lurch towards the middle of the road in order to give oneself an easier job of making the turn. Turning right, across the oncoming traffic, simply involves stopping in the road - as previously said, a signal would merely serve as a clue to help other drivers, and is clearly unthinkable. I swear that some of the stuff I've seen wouldn't seem out of place in a third world country.<br />
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As an exiled Scot I love my country, but I'm baffled by why it has chosen to declare its independence from the rest of the UK by first of all changing its driving habits - I would have thought independence first, and then releasing a new Scottish Highway Code would have been more sensible.<br />
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As for Transport Scotland, the agency responsible for roads north of the border, it's a remarkable organisation...but more of that next time.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-83609761168524681282011-08-17T07:59:00.000+01:002011-08-17T07:59:14.882+01:00'She was a woman to whom life had been cruel...'I was introduced to Frida Kahlo's work by Michael Marra's wonderful song about her imagined visit to Dundee's Tay Bridge Bar, and his song also shaped my view of her 'part-time' husband, Diego Rivera. Yesterday we went to the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester to see the Kahlo / Rivera exhibition.<br />
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<img class="rg_hi" data-height="150" data-width="200" height="150" id="rg_hi" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT1a10rzt3Wsz5TpKZy0U8V0QOEAyOrfb9CZx4RDq5nxM8v6jtF-Q" style="height: 150px; width: 200px;" width="200" /><br />
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Knowing nothing of them, I went in with the sterotypical view of Kahlo as mistreated wife and exceptional talent, and Rivera as philandering bastard who did a bit of painting - as Marra puts it, 'a fat man of the naive school'! Shame on me for knowing so little. <br />
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I learned that Rivera's was undoubtedly the greater talent, but as a muralist his work isn't seen in galleries but on the walls of his native Mexico and in the States - most critics regard him as the greatest Mexican artist of the 20th century (not being an art connoisseur, I don't know how much above being the greatest ping-pong player in South Wonston that is, but it probably means he was pretty good). I loved his work, from the portraiture through to the Mexican landscapes with huge cacti, and I'd like to see more of his murals. There was a lovely book about the murals but at £135 it seemed more than a little bit steep.<br />
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<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-401" height="413" src="http://chloenelkin.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/rivera-landscape-with-cactus-1931-guardian.jpg?w=490&h=413" title="Rivera, landscape with cactus, 1931 - guardian" width="490" /><br />
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Kahlo's work was weird but beautiful. A huge proportion of her work was self portraits and in them she managed to make herself much less beautiful than she was in real life. Alongside her work with its somewhat simplistic symbolism, were photographs by her one-time lover, Nicholas Murray. In the photographs the unibrow is less defined, and what often looks to be not far off a moustache in the paintings simply seems to be shadow. <br />
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<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-397" height="499" src="http://chloenelkin.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/kahlo-diego-in-my-thoughts-1943-guardian.jpg?w=400&h=499" title="Kahlo, Diego in My Thoughts, 1943 - guardian" width="400" /><br />
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I loved the way that the curator had resisted the glib opportunity to put Rivera's and Kahlo's paintings side by side, but had opted for separate rooms. For example, it would have been too obvious to put their respective paintings of Natasha Gelman together and let the viewer compare their styles - far better to absorb each work in its merits and then reflect on the similarities and differences. That also does Kahlo a favour, because while her work is the more striking, Rivera's picture of Gelman is the more accomplished piece of work (god, that was a bit of a Brian Sewell moment, wasn't it?) <br />
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The rest of the gallery was a joy too, from the Pop Art through to the photographs of Butlin's at Bognor Regis - and the coffee shop was also good. The best bit for me - maybe even better than the Kahlo / Rivera exhibition, were the Amberley Panels, or more accurately, Joy Gregory's modern take on them.<br />
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<a href="http://www.joygregory.co.uk/archive/details.php?proj_id=5">http://www.joygregory.co.uk/archive/details.php?proj_id=5</a><br />
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She has taken the nine Amberley Panels - 16th century images of strong women, with inscriptions in latin - and done modern versions. Her photographs are stunning, and the inscriptions in English - I fell in love with them. It's odd how the most unlikely pieces of art touch different people in very different ways. <br />
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<img alt="The Amberley Queens" src="http://www.joygregory.co.uk/images/amberley_thomyris.jpg" /><br />
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Pallant House Gallery is a great place for a day out, and Tuesday's are half-price which was an unexpected bonus. It's well worth a visit.<br />
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Next week we'll be seeing the inestimable Michael Marra in concert at the 'Embra' Festival - I'm sure he'll do 'Frida Kahlo's visit to the Tay Bridge Bar', and it's bound to be even more evocative following our day out in Chichester.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-2022694416904476222011-08-11T08:23:00.000+01:002011-08-11T08:23:00.120+01:00Fi Glover's new radio show is, like, greatTravelling up to Beirut - sorry, London - earlier this week, I listened to Fi Glover's excellent new radio programme, Generations Apart. Lovely stuff about people born in 1990 who Glover will follow over the next three years.<br />
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There was a guy who was a former drug addict, who had been convicted of assaulting his father - he kicked him in the head - but who came over pretty well. Some of the interview was quite disturbing, but at least he was lucid. However, the next woman was at, like, Cambridge and described as being, like, one of the most gifted students of her, like, generation. Apparently she's also a playwright, which I guess means she, like, writes plays. I bet her dialogue is, like, annoying. She may be gifted, but she'll find it difficult to, like, get a job unless she smartens her act up.<br />
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Why do people adopt the omniword 'like', and what does it mean? Is it just an infantile habit like smoking or farting in public, or do they think it makes them sound cool? The reality is that it's profoundly stupid and deeply irritating - the hope is that it's just a fad and will, like, pass in the fullness of time.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-68216760470381650032011-08-08T18:20:00.000+01:002011-08-08T18:20:23.727+01:00Reaping what you sowThis unpleasant and discredited coalition is reaping the results of what it sowed when it announced, and implemented, swingeing cuts to public services. The surprise for me is not that we are seeing violence on the streets, but that it took so long to happen.<br />
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On one level it's easy: what is happening is disgusting and needs to be stopped, quickly and firmly. If that means that a few thugs and hooligans get hurt or, heaven forbid, killed, then so be it - go on the rampage, assaulting innocent people and looting shops, and you must expect what's coming to you. I'm with the police 100% in their efforts to keep the streets safe.<br />
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That said, it's easy to understand why communities say, 'we've had enough'. Unemployment in those London boroughs is way too high, community and youth centres are being closed, EMA has been abolished, and the increase in univeristy fees WILL deter working-class kids. When the government tells those young people by its actions that it considers them to have no worth, then what future have they got? Peaceful demonstrations will have no effect on this set of useless leaders, so it's hardly a surprise that they've taken to the streets.<br />
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Meanwhile, Cameron, Osborne, and Johnson are nowhere to be seen, and Teresa May is so far out of her depth that she is a national embarrassment. If there is one ray of sunshine in this - and goodness knows it's hard to spot - it can only be that it might precipitate the fall of this rotten government.<br />
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Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-81153879046893888052011-08-05T09:57:00.001+01:002011-08-05T10:01:54.494+01:00Am I becoming like Victor Meldrew?I try very hard not to travel by train. Lots of reasons, most of which are related to previous experiences in the cattle trucks taking commuters to London from Winchester - the first thing I wanted to do after getting home was change and shower to get the city's grime off me. However, this morning my daughter wanted to travel to Manchester so I had to endure Winchester station.<br />
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Two platforms, one person selling tickets, but several automated machines. Key in the journey from Winchester to Manchester, and up come a number of prices, the cheapest of which is £184. My daughter says, 'that's not right - I checked online and it's £94'. So we queue, and wait...and wait...while a number of 'Winchester women' (loud, and without the sense to try to find their credit card before they get to the counter), and OAPs, fumble and stumble through their ticket purchase. We get to the counter, I ask for a return and...you've guessed it, £94. Scam or simple incompetence on the part of the railways? You decide, I have my view.<br />
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These are the same idiots who, the last time I bought my daughter a ticket, sold one that wasn't valid the following day, despite me have clearly spelled out that was when she was travelling. She had to buy another ticket and the evil apparatchiks at South-West Pains plain refused to refund my money despite the problem being the result of their incompetence. <br />
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I hate them, and their rickety over-priced 'services', and despite what I'm told about saving the planet, I'll keep on driving just to ensure I give them as little money as possible.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-50798456659980673142011-07-25T12:03:00.000+01:002011-07-25T12:03:29.571+01:00Cynic, moi? Oui.I've just done three week's work at the BBC and it has been an eye-opener. On my first day there I was asked to lock myself away and do a self-study programme on 'Trust'. Here's where the cynicism comes in - I assumed that this was no more than a hoop that I had to jump through, a tick in the box, just like when IBM insisted we all read a stultefyingly boring document called Business Conduct Guidelines every year. Once it was done, backsides had been covered, and life went on.<br />
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I was shocked, genuinely shocked, to find that it was for real. I suppose that's a legacy of ITV's dodgy competitions, and the general malaise in the tabloid newspaper industry, but my respect for the Beeb grew hugely over those three weeks - my goodness that organisation has standards, and it tries to live by them.<br />
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Have a look at the BBC College of Journalism site - here's the link <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/journalism/ethics-and-values/trust-and-choices/trust-and-tv-documentary.shtml">http://www.bbc.co.uk/journalism/ethics-and-values/trust-and-choices/trust-and-tv-documentary.shtml</a> - it's a good read.<br />
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I learned the hard way. I interviewed someone for a piece I was doing, and because the sound wasn't as good on my questions as I would have wished - that was 100% user error on my part - I recorded the same questions live back at the studios, and did the edit. The questions were exactly the same - not a word was changed - but the producer made me do it again as it was written as an interview but the listener could tell the questions were recorded elsewhere.<br />
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I've always been a Beeb listener - I'm a Radio 4 man - but I'll do it with even more respect from now on.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-60270855777594120782011-07-24T12:59:00.000+01:002011-07-24T12:59:20.691+01:00AngryAmy Winehouse is dead. Hardly a surprise and, of course, it's terrible that anyone should die at such an early age. That said, the reaction, especially on Sky News, was OTT. When 93 - and counting - people who wanted to live are killed in Norway, and famine is striking Africa yet again, forgive me if I don't spend too much time mourning someone who for years had given a damned good impression of having a death wish.<br />
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Predictably, 'Legend' is being bandied about, and I suppose it will be used in the coming years, but someone who made two albums - one good, and one excellent - hardly earned that description in my book.<br />
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What a waste of talent: now excuse me if I think more about those who want to live but have had the opportunity taken from them - many of them would have loved to have got to 27!Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-64840556142657398722011-07-20T18:22:00.001+01:002011-07-20T18:50:35.628+01:00How big are Cameron's balls?Dodgy Dave went on the attack today, and his comment about Alastair Campbell 'doctoring' documents was a fascinating one. When he said it in the House, of course, he was protected by parliamentary privilege, but I very much doubt he'll utter those words outside. My recollection is that none of the inquiries found any evidence to support Cameron's accusation, and unless he knows something we don't, it was straightforward mud-slinging. Come on Dave, say it in public if you think you're hard enough!<br />
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The disappointment of the day for me was Ed Milliband. I was convinced that he was the wrong brother when he was elected leader, and a few good days of late, followed by today's lacklustre one, have done nothing to change my view. I've let my Labour party membership lapse, and I'll only renew it when the party comes to its senses and ditches our loser of a leader.<br />
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As an aside, when the 'comedian' Jonnie Marbles custard pie'd YMG yesterday, the first thought that went through my mind was, "I wonder who paid him to do it?" It was such an obvious way for YMG to get public sympathy that I assumed that it was a stunt thought up by one of his PR people. Seemingly I was wrong in that assumption - it was all Marbles' own idea. Maybe I'm just too cynical for my own good, or perhaps that's what the tabloid press has done to me and many others.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2085511569109816477.post-43929809658391619072011-07-19T18:34:00.000+01:002011-07-19T18:34:41.250+01:00Mauled by kittensHaving spent the afternoon watching the Murdochs and now Rebekka Brooks facing their parliamentary inquisitors, I've simply had my previous view confirmed: the gulf between people who succeed in business, and those who enter parliament, is huge. <br />
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Most of the MPs didn't have a clue about how to tackle questioning powerful figures, and were, in the main, simply hamming it up for the cameras - I doubt the Murdochs could believe how easy it all was. Any journalist or salesperson would have done a better job. I'm staggered that the MPs generally seemed to believe that convoluted three- or four-part questions were the way to get at the truth: most of the time our elected representatives seemed to confuse themselves rather than worry the interviewee.<br />
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I actually felt sorry for Young Mr Grace, as he didn't really seem to be fully engaged it matters at the start, and it came over as a bunch of bullies having a pop at a very old man. Later on he got into his stride - well, it was more of a totter, but it was still too good for the committee. Son James was simply too well briefed and too smooth - they didn't lay a finger on him. It staggered me that the MPs believed that the men (and woman) at the top of a huge multi-national should have known every detail of what was going on - like all CEOs and Chairmen, they get told what they want to hear most of the time.<br />
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A self-publicising stand-up comedian throwing shaving foam in his face was a godsend for the octogenarian YMG - mugging old people offends British sensibilities.<br />
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Of the MPs, Tom Watson at least managed a decent imitation of being menacing, but the rest just huffed and puffed.<br />
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If you want it in footballing terms, I reckon it was probably something like 5-1 to the Murdochs and Ms Brooks, and to misquote George Bernard Shaw, 'He can that can does. He who cannot, ends up on the Commons Media Committee'.Colin Boag's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10680907151941650171noreply@blogger.com0