One of the problems of modern newspaper publishing is the question of how to fill the blank pages of the newspaper every day. After all, even though there’s a lot of news out in the world, journalists only have a finite amount of time each day to turn reality into news, so sometimes they’re glad [...]

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
The British blogosphere is up in arms, some of them quite literally. We’re under attack by nihilistic terrorists, with whom there is no negotiation. Their goals are ludicrous enough that it is almost impossible to countenance considering them, and thus we are at war. Even if [...]

Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh’s murderer was today sentenced to life imprisonment. This is just as well: killing people for making films is a Bad Thing, irrespective of the films’ content (which is just as well for Michael Winner).
However, I’m somewhat fed up with all the sanctimonious humbug that gets talked about Mr Van Gogh. [...]

“Best practice” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot these days. I first encountered it three years ago working for a transatlantic fellowship programme out of Washington, and while I disapprove in general of government-based managerialist buzzwords, today I am going to use it for the first time.
I was thinking about the 2002 [...]

In the same way as the Windsors are Britain’s best royal family and George W Bush is the best President the USA has at the moment, the Evening Standard is London’s best evening newspaper. As long as I can remember, it has included on its banner “incorporating the EVENING NEWS”, the market having demonstrated [...]

OK, first point. I don’t want to hear about the “split second decision” taken by the police last Friday. Once Jean Charles De Menezes decided to bolt from the cops he was dead. That’s why it’s called a shoot to kill policy. If a suspected suicide bomber runs, he dies - or she, should it [...]

We have borrowed the tardis, travelled to the future, and have brought back a dictionary of British English from late in the 21st century. The British Potato Council will be pleased to know that ‘couch potato’ isn’t in there.
A few excerpts after the jump for your perusal and approval. Feel free to add your [...]

Otherwise known as a prime example of the problems of citizen journalism (and hysterical women…)
This follows today’s liveblog coverage of the shooting at Stockwell and other events at my regular blog.

This all started at Steve’s place (if you’re not reading already, you should be), with a great parody of apologism:
Today is the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. On 11 July 1995, the Bosnian Serb Army, led by Ratko Mladic, disarmed UN peacekeepers and systematically murdered 8,000 Muslim captives. The atrocity shocked the [...]

Lord knows I’m innocent of public spirit, but seeing all those veterans parading down Pall Mall last Sunday while being flower-bombed by a Lancaster brought a tear to the eye and a drip to the nose. And I suppose that there comes a time when the finger of conscience points at the flabby bloke typing [...]

First things first: what happened in London last Thursday was horrific, unjustifiable and unforgivable. Faced with an outrage like the bus and tube bombings, it’s entirely appropriate to express respect to the victims, defiance of the murderers who carried it out and solidarity with the people of London.
What happened on Thursday was terror: “personal [...]

I will at the
earliest opportunity, assemble in London in a public demonstration of
respect to the victims of the July 7 atrocity, defiance of the murderers who
carried it out and solidarity with the people of London but only if 2,500
other people will too.”
The streets belong to us not terrorists. Sign the pledge.
UPDATE: Help spread the word. [...]

It’s too early to say, but I’ll say it anyway. I hope and I believe that the attacks on London yesterday will be remembered not for how much they changed Londoners and the world but for how much they didn’t.
Firstly, where 9/11 changed everything, we have already changed, in large part because of 9/11. We’ve [...]

Things are finally coming to the boil in the Valerie Plame saga in the US with the imprisonment of New York Times journalist Judith Miller for refusing to testify and reveal her sources to the special prosecutor investigating the outing of CIA agent Plame in 2003.