Don’t miss this brilliant film
I’m still recovering from a blow to my emotional solar plexus delivered by a new movie, Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013) by the French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche (born in Tunis, moved with his...
Category: Arts & Entertainment
New Norma Percy (Brook Lapping) documentary on ‘The Iraq War’
The new Norma Percy production in the Brook Lapping series of contemporary history documentaries is “The Iraq War”, showing on three successive Wednesdays at 9pm on BBC2, starting this Wednesday, 29 May. Norma Percy...
Two slavery-era movies, Django Unchained and Lincoln: a dialogue
[Note: Beware of spoilers in this discussion of Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Spielberg’s Lincoln.] BB: Just back from Q Tarantino’s new film, Django Unchained, which (despite mostly horrendous reviews in the UK media) is...
Impressions of Ed Miliband interviewed by Andrew Marr
This is a very rough transcript of how I remember Andrew Marr interviewing the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, on the revealingly named “Andrew Marr Show”, BBC1 television, Sunday 30 September 2012. I can’t of...
You couldn’t make ’em up
Two gems from the weekend: “[The World Bank’s] most recent reforms of voting rights were remarkable only for their temerity.” The glimmer of a possibility of change at the World Bank, Peter Chowla, Guardian,...
A postscript on Scotland – now with update 17 January 2012
While we are on the subject of the Scottish referendum, I should announce the result of the competition for the most obtuse, confused and misleading contribution to the analysis of the possible consequences of...
Pippa and Kate in the words of the poets
Oh, no, not that wedding again? Calm down, dear, it’s only a footnote. According to the tabloids and the internet, Pippa Middleton, sister of the new Princess William formerly known as Kate, stole the...
Labour List tops Labour blog poll: Ephems comes in at 77!
Congratulations to Alex Smith and Mark Ferguson of the Labour List blog on coming first in the list of 100 best Labour blogs — the latest results of a poll conducted by the (right-of-centre)...
Volcanic ash: Brown to blame for aviation shut-down
According to a report in the Guardian of 16 April, ‘Gordon Brown apologised for any disruption caused by the eruption [of the Icelandic volcano] but said, “safety is the first and predominant consideration.”‘ A...
Allegations of Ethiopian relief aid diverted mislead the world: an up-date
On 4 March 2010 I described in a blog post how a misleading radio programme, broadcast that day in the BBC World Service, and the BBC’s even more misleading advance publicity for it, had...