Posts by Johnny Wharton

  • Field Theory: Straight for the throat,

    A bit melodramatic, here, me thinks.
    In the professional era they are obliged to be available for post match interviews. This is all paid entertainment, and thats part of what they get paid for...I'm sure Sam is fully aware of this.

    Secondly, I'm sure that the Welsh side were upset at their defeat. But do you really think that the extra wait of 15-30 min for a debrief from the captain was significantly damaging to the side? Where is your psychological evidence for that?

    Nevertheless, it was an awesome game...my favourite so far...and I'm a little sad the Welsh couldnt hold on to the win....hope you do better next time guys.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 4 posts Report

  • Hard News: Wikileaks: The Cable Guys,

    Would we be prepared to conduct our own affairs without privilege or privacy? Would Wikileaks founder Julian Assange do the same? Would the journalists writing the stories for major news organisations be able to work if they could never speak in confidence? And, not least, why is Wikileaks still declining to publish the secrets it has obtained from within governments who do not happen to be the United States of America?

    The thing is, as with most activist groups, Wikileaks is a shoestring operation. My understanding is they are doing their best to parse what is leaked to them before putting them out there...to try to establish authenticity of the documents and protect innocents. Clearly, they have received piles of documents from everywhere. They have to keep suspending the receiving function of the site. So, in these cases you have to prioritise. From a self preservation point of view, you release those that are most newsworthy first. I dont see any major anti-American sentiments in this.

    Regarding conducting our affairs in privacy...I think that the Wikileaks concept is about exposing government and corporate secrecy and not about personal privacy. Julian Assange's corporate activities have been published, most notably in the New York Times. He is clearly a little unhappy about that, but not unhappy enough to block the NYT's exclusive access to the current dump of documents.

    cheers
    Johnny

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 4 posts Report

  • Hard News: An unexpectedly long post…,

    This reminds me of a very good US documentary, called 'The Alternative Fix', part of the Frontline series that covers the way in which the US Federal Guidelines for Alternative medicines were loosened and the politicians involved. Also, it covered a touring party of Maori healers performing something described as 'deep massage therapy'....looked painful!

    It can be watched online (legitimately) at...
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/altmed/

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 4 posts Report

  • Crazy old Richard Quest in NZ,

    When I first saw Richard on BBC World, I couldn't stand him. But, somewhere down the line I have come to find him totally compelling. I only wish we could see him in action here in the UK.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 4 posts Report