We increasingly live in a second-hand world – a world whose sounds, images and impressions come to us from screens and pages. It’s very interesting, often great fun, and sometimes daunting. We look at some of the issues.
Why we posted this: The BBC is brilliant at defending its unique £3bn+ a year of licence fee, and its commercial income. It has just announced £600m-worth of budget changes which were cleverly allowed to be presented both as cuts (ie: here’s a slimmer BBC) and a shift to quality (ie: we’re going to be an even better public service broadcaster). Thing is, has the move really kept the BBC safe from criticism? More »
Themes: Media / Money / Politics. Posted by Richard D North on March 8th, 2010
Why we posted this: It’s become a commonplace that the world fell prey to a capitalist and free market ideology and that the Credit Crunch has killed all that. But does this revisionism hold water? More »
Themes: Interrogating the Media / Money / Truth & Trust. Posted by Richard D North on November 24th, 2009
Why we posted this: The 100-year old business model for journalism is bust. But there are lots of ways of fixing it. Let’s keep the state out of it. More »
Themes: Interrogating the Media / Media / Money / Truth & Trust. Posted by Richard D North on October 25th, 2009
Why we posted this:The papers have been full of bad news about how the UK’s young stack up against the global competition. Badly, of course. Check out the latest gloomy research, from the OECD, and it’s survivable. More »
Themes: Interrogating the Media / Money / Rights / Society. Posted by Richard D North on September 2nd, 2009
Why we posted this: This is a bad time for economics and economists. The public and media are somewhere between amused and angry at the profession’s apparent failure. Actually, economists may well have been arrogant about their trade, but the rest of us always knew its weaknesses and perhaps underrated its strengths. More »
Themes: Money / Truth & Trust. Posted by Richard D North on August 11th, 2009
Why we posted this: David Aaronovitch has carried his crusade against bogus evidence even deeper into the Happiness Debate. More »
Themes: Interrogating the Media / Media / Money / Society. Posted by Richard D North on August 11th, 2009
Why we posted this: It’s a commonplace that modern people are unhappy and that there are “studies” to prove it. David Aaronovitch of The Times has devoted quite a few columns to this sort of pseudo-academic work. This time, he’s on about the contradictoriness of one writer’s “evidence” about why young people are miserable (and he’s reluctant to assume they are). More »
Themes: Media / Rights. Posted by Richard D North on August 6th, 2009
Why we posted this: Prince Charles has intervened once again, but this time for real. Lord Rogers is right to say it’s a constitutional disgrace. The Telegraph should know better than to cheer Charles on. More »
Themes: Campaigning / Media / Politics / Rights. Posted by Richard D North on June 17th, 2009
Why we posted this: The dust is settling on a major political and economic ruction in the UK. So far, the evidence is that our democratic process and economic management will change a little, and for the better. Most people won’t notice or care. More »
Themes: Media / Money / Politics / Rights. Posted by Richard D North on June 13th, 2009
Why we posted this: People have forgotten how badly they need to be governed by an elite. The exposure of MP’s allowances in the Daily Telegraph shows just how far we have gone in misunderstanding the problem of public service. The paper of the professions has descended into tabloid destructiveness. More »
Themes: Interrogating the Media / Politics / Society / Truth & Trust. Posted by Richard D North on May 9th, 2009
