Posts by Russell Brown
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Speaker: Listening to Coldharbour Lane, in reply to Jean Hughes,
Also our teams in Blackpool, Bolton, West London, Wakefield, Wolves, Salford etc have had their funding stopped or severely reduced. Associated agencies who help with transition from education to work have also been closed down in these areas.
Oh, damn. You know that I know what a lifeline your services are for marginalised kids. That's insane.
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Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Rich Lock,
The mores and manners of Victorian England have been rather glossed over in recent times.
Oh, and before and since. The British are an unruly people :-)
Anyway, The Guardian is quoting a report saying the victim in the mugging video is a 20 year-old Malaysian student who was heading out for food to break his Ramadan fast. The thug was white and British.
It would be nice if some of the racists flooding the boards at the Telegraph and the Mail could try and process that.
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Just tweeted this, but what the heck:
Count the Tory columnists invoking "society". Remember Thatcher declaring there was "no such thing". Contemplate.
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Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Quite – and it’s good reporting that make a solid foundation for analysis that isn’t just pure wank or the author’s pet political barrow being taken out for a Sunday drive.
Thought about it while I was riding my bike, and feel that I should say I've appreciated informed analysis. Two of the earlier pieces in The Guardian, by Nina Power and Stafford Scott both brought facts to the party.
That wasn't the case with Tariq Ali or the grand columnists of the Tory papers -- let alone their overtly racist commenters, who appearsto have been unable to perceive a white face in the mobs.
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Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
There are PASers who know the lie of the land better than I, but can’t help but wonder how many of these artists and small labels just won’t be able to get back on their feet even if they’re fully insured. Hope I’ve totally misread things.
Martin Mills' Beggar's Group has sustained the biggest total loss, but is well insured and in a better position to recover than most. Smaller labels and individual artists -- like the Phoenix Foundation -- will find it harder.
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Hard News: Media7: A new censor -- and a…, in reply to Lilith __,
Sorry this is OT but I’ve been away from the internet for 10 days and then I find this idiotic nonsense featured by Stuff. Robert Winston is a brilliant communicator and an expert in his field, and this reporter has been unable to restrain her sarcasm. Jesus wept.
To be honest, I found Winston fairly grumpy too, and also had my questions marked as to whether they were worth answering. And his "get over it" commentary on the Treaty of Waitangi in that story was unedifying.
We had a false start in the recording of the Media7 science special, and I actually changed my opening question second time around because he made it clear he didn't rate the first attempt -- in which I asked him to comment on a statement displayed in bold on the home page of his website, which seemed to be a mystery to him.
So, yeah, I'm with the reporter on this one.
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Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to giovanni tiso,
Duh. And I find good analysis better than bad reporting, so I guess we’re even? But I think it’s pretty obvious that we need the good kind of both.
Yeah, true. But that Addley story was so good because it actually conveyed what the people in those neighbourhoods had to say, rather than having it said for them.
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Meanwhile, the burning-down of the Sony-PIAS distribution centre is a cultural tragedy. A very long list of independent music labels and artists have lost all their warehouse stock -- UK copies of the Phoenix Foundation's Buffalo included.
It seems that insurance should cover a good deal of it, but it's going to take these people a while to get back in business.
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I'm continuing to find good reporting much more compelling than any amount of hand-wringing analysis.
Esther Addley's report from Hackey for The Guardian is fascinating. It appears that even people who stood on their front steps defending their homes until 2am have a pretty nuanced view of the rights and wrongs of the situation.
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Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to dcnbwz,
Actually it was great to see Boris shown up for the twat he really is.
He looked desperate at that stand-up in Clapham, didn't he?