Everybody’s favourite progressive politician, Tony Blair is
being recalled to the Iraq Inquiry in January to give further evidence.
Blair gave evidence to the inquiry earlier in the year in
what many saw as the unofficial trial of Blair and his decision to go to war
with Iraq. He was extremely well prepared and therefore many thought that he
got away with being pressed.
This time round will there be the same level of anticipation.
This reporter thinks not.
Opinion of the Week: The future of the noble profession
Wikileaks – the whistle blowing website has produced the
biggest leak in the history of history with exposure of the murky world of
world diplomacy. Some are for and some against the disclosure of this
information, but for Wikileaks at least, it seems that the knives are definitely
are out.
The consensus also seems to be suggesting that the Guardian,
New York Times, Der Speigel and El Pais, the papers that put in print what Wikileaks
had on their USB stick, did something wrong but don’t have a case to answer to;
in the words of Simon Jenkins, “the job of journalist is not to avoid embarrassing
governments.” So what then is their role, what should have they have done?
In the good days of trench coats, hats and shorthand the
role of a journalist was to find the story and bring it to people – to go out
in to their world and use their nouse, their ingenuity to find what was out
there, but that isn’t what has happened here. The Guardian and the other news
agencies have this story put right in to their laps.
Is this how it is going to be in the future – others doing
the spade work whilst the well known journo is just at the top of the pile
taking all the glory/revenue? Well probably not, newspapers are struggling to
make any money that’s worth shouting about and the world of amateur journalism,
as this blog demonstrates, can only go so far. The internet revolution means
that there is no going back, whilst we haven’t quite arrived at the brave new
world of quality, multi-platform journalism that is cost –effective.
There are a huge number of questions surrounding the future
of this noble profession. I don’t have the answers for you now, but rest assures
it is something that I am working on...
Music of the Week: Winter Nights
Winter is by far my least favourite season, your hands can't be exposed for too long, your nose feels as if it is about to fall off, everyone is heading aiming to get indoors in the quickest possible time and the landscape, although briefly able to be a sight of stunning crispness, is invariably at this time of year a scene of extreme bleakness.
The music, on the other hand is a another story. Full sounds recreate bleak landscapes in the mind, or can be a great soundtrack. From the folksy sound of Laura Marling, to the heavy screeching sound of Edinburgh outfit Muersault this week's selection is all about music which fits a winter's night. Be it chilled and mellow or heavy and thumping these songs all have a winter element to them.
track listing:
Laura Marling - Goodbye England (covered in snow)
Jeniferever - Alvik
Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill
Meursault - For Martin Kippenberger
Bleak Output - Sunday Morning
Laura Marling - Goodbye England (Covered In Snow) by Ragged Words
Jeniferever - Alvik by soundscreen
08 Harrowdown Hill by devinbeth
meursault - for martin kippenberger by TobyBakare
Bleak Output - Sunday morining by bleak-output
Pictures of the Week :
This week, courtesy of Ray Tang, we are taking another look at the Singapore, focussing specifically on the architecture and skyline. Enjoy.
Video of the Week: Turner, then and now
Is it art? Now is not the time or place for such a debate, but the fact remains that Susan Philippz soundscape, currently installed under a bridge in Edinburgh was the winner of 2010 Turner - So the most important art award in the country went to something that can't be seen. Make of that what you will.
The second video is an excerpt from her installation; by way of contrast, the first is from Steve McQueen (of Hunger fame, and soon to be of Fela fame), who won the turner Prize in 1998.
Enjoy watching the videos... till next week then...
