The first obvious signs that Christmas Day had arrived in Makumba, on the outskirts of Mombasa, Kenya, came when the children put up the decorations. Identical to those in a million British homes, the shiny plastic banners enjoin readers to …
TES column 28 November 2014 No band is better than its drummer, goes an old saying among rock n’ rollers. It reflects the vital underpinning that the rhythm section provides any musical ensemble, even if its members are the musicians …
Just a minute: without notes, meetings are wasted hot air Read more »
1. I grew up in a home where the King was revered. In the ’70s I couldn’t get excited about big ballads, curious concept albums and woeful film scores. The Sun recordings, however, had a raw, personal, intensity to which …
Tracks of my tears: an internal jukebox selection Read more »
Buried deep in this summer’s Latitude Festival line up was a curious outpost from a very different cultural moment. The three-day event’s insufferable up-from-London-middle-classness is a well worn riff for compares. But among the up-and-coming performance poets who provide the …
To its detractors the European Union is a faceless, unresponsive monolith, remote from the citizenry and indifferent their needs. That an EU Commissioner might listen to an individual’s voice, much less change European policy on the basis a single voter’s …
Face to faceless: going solo to thwart the eurocrats Read more »
The shock of navigating Mombasa’s roads, even in a giant Land Cruiser, was such that survival was my only concern for some time. The surge of vehicles, each trying to gain advantage by any means, was in a different order …
IFJ/NUJ/Guardian conference – Journalism In An Age Of Mass Surveillance The Guardian, London 16 October 2014 Above: Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger Cocktail shakers are newly popular among Guardian journalists, and manual typewriters are making a comeback. Both result from rising …
Source marked: how journalists’ smartphones blow contacts’ cover Read more »
Watching television pictures of the demonstration outside the BBC’s Scottish headquarters yesterday, I felt concerned for my friends and colleagues who work there. Estimates of the crowd size outside their place of work started at around 1,000 – some called …
Bias cut: why journalists should embrace the angry mob Read more »
Hollywood and horror writers have seen to it that graveyards evoke feelings of dread, fear and apprehension. At best they are where the grieving outpour their despair; at worst they are the scene of spines chilled, foul deeds and the …
The living dead: my faith was renewed at a socialist pioneer’s graveside Read more »
TES column 25 July 2014 “We all have a talent – it is just a matter of finding yours”, was a popular mantra among the teachers who tried to guide my education. Certainly at school, some pupils excelled – effortlessly, …