Category: News

It was sad to hear about the death of Val Guest. He died last week, but no newspaper (perhaps with the exception of the subs only Variety) has yet run an obituary. He had a fabulous career, working with Will Hay in his early days, through to directing the Hammer versions of the Quatermass films…

Because I stay up far too late all too often, over the past few weeks, I’ve caught a few editions of ABC television’s World News Tonight when it’s shown on BBC News 24 at 1.30am every morning. It’s very easy to hear the words “World News” in the show’s title, and then see that the…

The guns are really out for Ruth Kelly at the moment. We’re into the second week of a scandal that threatens her job as Education Minister with plenty of people and papers awaiting the claiming of her scalp. Here’s the big spread in today’s (well yesterday’s now) Observer detailing her week and the developments. But…

(OK, that headline’s a little misleading) [Update: I’ve completely changed my mind – that headline is utterly correct] Thank goodness the news has come through that in Dover, Pennsylvania schools cannot teach “Intelligent Design” because it’s really just Creationism. Hey, I’ve no problem if people want to believe the world was made in seven days.…

I see that BBC correspondent Caroline Hawley’s leaving Baghdad at the end of the year after two and a half years. There’s a nice piece by John Simpson in the BBC’s Newswatch section of their website. There are critics of “roof-top” journalism that can see correspondents stuck in the Green Zone just regurgitating stuff that…

I didn’t take my digital camera out and about with me today, but if I had, I could have taken some slightly unclear photos of a smoke filled northern sky. I didn’t hear an explosion at 6am this morning, although I did hear an alarm clock sometime around that time. Disappointing, since the explosion was…

Isn’t Associated Newspapers taking an interesting line over the new pub opening hours that have just started? Today’s Mail has “Thanks Tessa” accompanied by a series of pictures of young people pissed on the streets of Britain. In actual fact, this has happened every day of the week for years and years. In fact, I’m…

Whilst not in any way wanting to belittle the tragic loss of life in hotels across Amman, Jordan tonight, I’ve got to feel sorry for the BBC’s Caroline Hawley. Fresh from the nervousness of Baghdad, she ends up in one of the bombed hotels in Jordan – hitherto relatively safe.

Wow. Blair’s lost the vote in the Commons today regarding the 90 day detention. Thank goodness that enough Labour MPs saw sense in this. The 28 day vote’s forthcoming. [UPDATE] The 28 day vote has been passed. Of course this is still up from 14 days. I’m sure that this’ll still give the police plenty…

Yup – the stupid British public think that it’s a great idea that the police can lock someone up for three months without even charging them. Isn’t this another blindingly stupid idea? Politicians well know that the public at large simply don’t understand what the full ramifications of this kind of legislation truly is. Your…

I think that like most people, I’ve spent the last week or so watching the news in complete and utter disbelief. It began on the Bank Holiday as the storm came ashore, and I must admit that I watched both the news channels over here as well as some of the streams from local TV…

The BBC are carrying a report about a climber called Tomaz Humar who’s been trapped on a mountain in Pakistan for several days now. The Pakistani army has now rescued him in a daring high-altitude manoeuvre that involved lifting him off the mountain dangling on the end of a rope. There are some spectacular pictures…

It’s a shame you don’t seem to be able to subscribe to BBC columnists via their site. For example, John Simpson writes authored pieces, but the feed given on his current piece is for the Middle East feed, since that’s where he is just now. Unfortunately Byliner doesn’t cover the Beeb.