Jan
30
Lucky Lugovoi?
January 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
It’s hard not to have some liking for Andrei Lugovoi. The affable — and unflappable – ex KGB agent cuts quite a figure with his perma-tan and pistol-toting antics the news networks so love to repeat. Add to this a bored insouciance – often approaching but just stopping short of belligerence — concerning the poisoning […]
Jan
26
The danse macabre of a stuck record
January 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I like reading John Pilger. There’s no denying he’s a big name columnist and when he appeared on World Have Your Say last year it was a big thrill. When the New Statesman comes round every week I always check to see if the Pilge is in there and turn to his column. You don’t […]
Jan
24
Cabbie wisdom
January 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I was getting a cab home early one morning and my African driver was talking about the global stock slump, I asked him if Africans would be affected by the billion-dollar losses felt by the likes of Merril Lynch. His response was immediate: “When you’re not dining, you don’t care if the table is overturned.” […]
Jan
19
Accentuate the positive
January 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The World Service has a slightly stuffy reputation for being the last bastion of the traditional cut-glass BBC presenter voice of old. There do exist those voices on air and personally I luv ’em and a lot of listeners depend on them and associate them with a sense of authority, although if you listen a […]
Jan
16
Format wars
January 16, 2008 | 1 Comment
As the big studios and their behemoth partners in Hollywood battle it out to see who triumphs between Blu-ray and HD DVD it’s worth remembering some of the brutal consequences of the BETAMAX v VHS war of the 70s.
Jan
13
More Musical Misery
January 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment
 . . . for the big labels that is. Hat Tip to Mark Steyn for this excellent Economist article. Here’s the headshot: IN 2006 EMI, the world’s fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the […]
Jan
11
Beehoover’s unique selling point is that they’re a metal band with no lead guitars. That’s right, when it comes to guitars Beehoover (named after witnessing on TV a bee-bearder’s not entirely cruelty-free method of removing insects from his face) permit only the four-string variety. The Sun Behind the Dustbin (0% native) Droney doom rock sans […]
Jan
6
Clive James — still the master
January 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I’ve always shied away from posting book recommendations or reviews on my blog. Along with ‘my wine of the moment’, ‘this is what my pets are doing now’ and ‘CD of the week’ I find such information more than a little twee and avoid it when I see it on other sites. Alas, if I […]