20Jan

I don’t want a right to see my MP’s expenses

posted by Steve Bowbrick

I don’t agree with my MP about much, but I want to treat him as an adult. I’d like to extend to him approximately the level of trust I extend to my work colleagues and friends. I don’t want to probe and inspect him. I don’t want him to live in a climate of small-minded, [...]

02Nov

Brand and Ross are innocent

posted by Steve Bowbrick

The Russell Brand show was outstanding radio and didn’t deserve censure.
I’m just going to come out and say this because I have a feeling you might not agree with me (at least not if you’re over about 35). The Russell Brand show—the one with Andrew Sachs’ answerphone—was absolutely brilliant. Offensive and childish (clever Howard Jacobson [...]

23Jun

What’s the difference between the common platform and the web?

posted by Steve Bowbrick

James Cherkoff wonders (in a comment) if my common platform isn’t really just… well… the web. It’s a good question because the web, of course, is the mother-and-father of all platforms, a place with such a richness of tools and outlets that it might seem as if it has no need of an additional layer [...]

12Jun

Is the Trust a Trojan Horse?

posted by Steve Bowbrick

Looks like it, doesn’t it? The history: a short-term crisis (Hutton and then all that premium-rate stuff and the lies about the Blue Peter cat?) produced an apparently innocent change in the way the BBC is governed (and a new royal charter to go with it) and now, eighteen months later, it’s just sinking in [...]

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