The week in politics: Cameron at EU Summit
The main political news of the week continues to be the fallout from the spending review that was published last week Wednesday, though the stories have been rather thin on the ground in Westminster as eyes turn further afield.
On Thursday prime minister David Cameron travelled to a summit of EU leaders in Brussels at loggerheads over their stance on the EU budget. As Britain prepares to face a new age of austerity and fiscal restraint the EU was hoping to raise their annual budget by 6%, something which Cameron called “unacceptable.” The budget increase would mean the UK paying an extra £900million in to the European Union. The Conservative party had in the past campaigned for a freeze in the EU budget. Cameron appears to have won a partial victory on the subject by winning an agreement that in future the EU budget will reflect how the budget of national countries.
Boris gaffe on housing benefit
On Thursday prime minister David Cameron travelled to a summit of EU leaders in Brussels at loggerheads over their stance on the EU budget. As Britain prepares to face a new age of austerity and fiscal restraint the EU was hoping to raise their annual budget by 6%, something which Cameron called “unacceptable.” The budget increase would mean the UK paying an extra £900million in to the European Union. The Conservative party had in the past campaigned for a freeze in the EU budget. Cameron appears to have won a partial victory on the subject by winning an agreement that in future the EU budget will reflect how the budget of national countries.
Boris gaffe on housing benefit
The main dispute in government seems to be over the housing budget and possible cuts to housing benefit. Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London, came out this week as being against “Kosovo – style social cleansing” which could be one effect of imposing a cap on housing benefits as areas with a high rate of rent (in the city centre) will see a mass movement of people to the outskirts as rents become unaffordable. The Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable called mayor Johnson’s words “inflammatory language.” The issue of housing benefit reform looks set to be one of the most divisive for the coalition government.
Comment:
South Bank Show on Sky Arts: is toby raves eating humble pie?
Comment:
South Bank Show on Sky Arts: is toby raves eating humble pie?
Last week I wrote about how Sky needs to be doing more to invest in quality journalism and programme making and how if they were going to become the dominant force in British broadcasting that taking on a more proactive role, making their programme budget come nearer to their marketing budget, was part of the added responsibility that they were taking on.
Could it be that I was just being reactionary, venting anger unjustifiably towards the Murdoch machine? Sky Arts, the cultural TV channel from BSkyB, snapped up the rights to host the South Bank Show from 2011. Consisting of a live screening of the awards ceremony itself (as opposed to the delayed offering from ITV) the show will also screen a series of documentaries on the winners. It seems then that Murdoch has managed to keep the venerated institution that is the South Bank Show; an institution Prince Charles said “remained without rival.”
So Sky has done more than ITV in keeping a show of high repute going. At least that seems the case. What I said last week was that the channel had to start investing in new top quality programmes. South Bank is a fantastic show but it is hardly new.
It’s a show with a strong brand and anyone who has even the remotest interest in arts television will have had a watch of the show. The host, Melvyn Bragg, is a (too) familiar one. The subject matter it could be argued don’t need illuminating on. The RSC was the last ever focus for an episode of the South Bank Show, one could argue that they were a worthy subject matter, but, one could also argue that they were a little safe. In the 21st century when there is such a diversity of talents and media through which talent is communicated why focus on the most traditional talent in the most traditional of means?
This debate comes down to whether or not arts television is there to shed light on a host of new emerging talent that is out there, or whether it is to delve deeper into the hearts and minds of household name artist. Personally I think that the South Bank Show coming back to our screens, even if it is just for satellite viewers, is a good thing. Just.
The show is, ultimately, a brand and its presenter is its biggest exponent. Bragg breaks the first rule of the Frost school of journalism, because he himself becomes the story a lot of the times. But the issues of it being a too much of a brand give way to its big selling point: for many people it is the first point of call with an artist. The first time many people realise the value that an artist holds because of the significance of being on the show. A South Bank Show is proof that you’ve arrived.
It is also still an education, focussed on making the viewer learn about the subject, not the subject matter. We know of the inner demons of Francis Bacon not because of an inquisitive biographer but because of the inquisitive nature of the show. The paranoia that Howard Hodgkin feels ,as an artist more at home in the foreign land of America, than at home Britain is a new angle not known to many viewers until aired on the South Bank Show. The show comes into its own when it portrays elusive painters and sculptors in particular.
The South Bank Show definitely has a place in the arts tv landscape, some would say that at the top of the tree and Sky is ultimately hoping that to be the case. But there needs to be shows which illuminate viewers on parts of cultural life in Britain which are as yet undiscovered. There should be shows which make you feel you’ve learnt about someone new, who does something that, before you sat down never even knew existed. The South Bank: Underground... now there’s a thought.
Pictures of the Week: Guilin China
The last in our series of pictures from China, this week we look at Guilin. The city located in the Guangxi Zhuang province and is renowned for it unique scenery of fauna, and literally means 'city of sweet Osmanthus' in acknowledgement at the abundance of Osmanthus trees in the area. This pictures capture everyday life in the city as well as the temple and its surroundings. Enjoy!
photos courtesy Suswati Basu Could it be that I was just being reactionary, venting anger unjustifiably towards the Murdoch machine? Sky Arts, the cultural TV channel from BSkyB, snapped up the rights to host the South Bank Show from 2011. Consisting of a live screening of the awards ceremony itself (as opposed to the delayed offering from ITV) the show will also screen a series of documentaries on the winners. It seems then that Murdoch has managed to keep the venerated institution that is the South Bank Show; an institution Prince Charles said “remained without rival.”
So Sky has done more than ITV in keeping a show of high repute going. At least that seems the case. What I said last week was that the channel had to start investing in new top quality programmes. South Bank is a fantastic show but it is hardly new.
It’s a show with a strong brand and anyone who has even the remotest interest in arts television will have had a watch of the show. The host, Melvyn Bragg, is a (too) familiar one. The subject matter it could be argued don’t need illuminating on. The RSC was the last ever focus for an episode of the South Bank Show, one could argue that they were a worthy subject matter, but, one could also argue that they were a little safe. In the 21st century when there is such a diversity of talents and media through which talent is communicated why focus on the most traditional talent in the most traditional of means?
This debate comes down to whether or not arts television is there to shed light on a host of new emerging talent that is out there, or whether it is to delve deeper into the hearts and minds of household name artist. Personally I think that the South Bank Show coming back to our screens, even if it is just for satellite viewers, is a good thing. Just.
The show is, ultimately, a brand and its presenter is its biggest exponent. Bragg breaks the first rule of the Frost school of journalism, because he himself becomes the story a lot of the times. But the issues of it being a too much of a brand give way to its big selling point: for many people it is the first point of call with an artist. The first time many people realise the value that an artist holds because of the significance of being on the show. A South Bank Show is proof that you’ve arrived.
It is also still an education, focussed on making the viewer learn about the subject, not the subject matter. We know of the inner demons of Francis Bacon not because of an inquisitive biographer but because of the inquisitive nature of the show. The paranoia that Howard Hodgkin feels ,as an artist more at home in the foreign land of America, than at home Britain is a new angle not known to many viewers until aired on the South Bank Show. The show comes into its own when it portrays elusive painters and sculptors in particular.
The South Bank Show definitely has a place in the arts tv landscape, some would say that at the top of the tree and Sky is ultimately hoping that to be the case. But there needs to be shows which illuminate viewers on parts of cultural life in Britain which are as yet undiscovered. There should be shows which make you feel you’ve learnt about someone new, who does something that, before you sat down never even knew existed. The South Bank: Underground... now there’s a thought.
Pictures of the Week: Guilin China
The last in our series of pictures from China, this week we look at Guilin. The city located in the Guangxi Zhuang province and is renowned for it unique scenery of fauna, and literally means 'city of sweet Osmanthus' in acknowledgement at the abundance of Osmanthus trees in the area. This pictures capture everyday life in the city as well as the temple and its surroundings. Enjoy!
Playlist of the Week: Jazz
I'm sure no one here needs telling of the virtues of this art form, but still Jazz has always been under appreciated as a genre. Any fan of improv has to admire the way it puts spontaneity at the front of the list of rules. toby raves is loving listening to the Reykjavik Jazz Quartet at the moment and their album 'Hot House'. The music just seems to spiral, one to the next.This week's playlist is just like the jazz quartet themselves. Spontaneous, ice cold and red hot, all at the same time.
Note the inclusion of 'Motovu -Bor-chu', a song which mixes black jazz with hebrew prayers. Spontaneity and fusion. Enjoy.
track listing:
John Coltrane - Stardust
Herbie Hancock, Thad Jones, Ron Carter, Jonathan Klien, - Motovu -Bor'chu
(cover) Miles Davis - On Green Dolphin Street
John Coltrane - Stardust by cloneelite
Herbie Hancock (Hear O Israel) - Matovu - Bor'chu by subraw
On Green Dolphin Street by LSDuo
Video of the week
It's the scariest week of the year, and so in acknowledgement of that this week toby raves thought it only appropriate that the video for this week should have a suitably scary edge. The Gate is a cult 1980's horror film which has a fair share of gore, and some imaginative animation which is even scarier in this age of CGI. check out the trailer for this film here.
toby raves second video of the week is the first part of a South Bank show profiling Howard Hodgkin, the British abstract painter. Even in 1999, when the film was made, Hodgkin was regarded as one of the most important artist to come from Britain. That all from toby raves week, until next Saturday...
