The three main stories on BBC News right now:
When, where and how did we get to a place where, dare I say it, personal tragedies such as these are considered more important international news than hurricanes, the Middle East, Russia, cholera…?
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not belittling the tragedies that have befallen these three families [...]
Finally, some good news from the Middle East:
The BBC is reporting that Alan Johnston, its Gaza correspondent who was taken hostage nearly four months ago, has been released to the Hamas government. He is, apparently, tired but in good health.
I think it’s fair to say that this must be a huge relief to Mr Johnston, [...]
The curse of “what photo can we use to illustrate this story?” strikes again…
Should score highly on *Am I Abstract or Not?
There are lots of things I dislike about the London 2012 Olympics. I’m really not going to get started on them here. But today, apparently, Seb Coe and his minions reached another low: they launched the new “brand” for the games:
The shapes are really the numbers 2012. Do you see? Must have taken a whole [...]
Alan Johnston, the BBC’s correspondent in Gaza, was abducted on his way home on March 12th. He remains missing, almost six weeks on.
Alan Johnston has lived and worked in Gaza for three years, the only Western reporter permanently based in the often violent and lawless territory.
He has reported on all sides of the Palestinian struggle, [...]
This was, without doubt, one of the very funniest bits of the Comic Relief telecast on Saturday. Quite how he manages to subvert absolutely everything about the charity is rather impressive…
You need the free Macromedia Flash Player to watch this video. Download it here. If you’re reading this in a feedreader, you’ll have to click through [...]
Captain Caroline pointed me towards this story in the Daily Mail about our latest University Challenge match:
Angry viewers have accused Jeremy Paxman of showing favouritism towards Oxbridge teams on BBC2 quiz University Challenge. Fans of the show have complained that Paxman, who himself went to St Catherine’s College at Cambridge, [...]
For anyone who cares (and if you don’t, why don’t you?), the thrilling second round of Durham’s University Challenge 2006 adventure will be on BBC2 at 8.30pm on Monday 29th January, a whole six months after we filmed it. I’ll be watching, ‘cos I can’t remember who won.
This date is, of course, subject to the [...]
…it’s not a great idea to listen to I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue or The Now Show through the BBC’s Listen Again thingy.
I’ve been getting some very funny looks for the last hour…
The 2006-7 series (the 13th, if you’re interested) of University Challenge started on BBC2 last night. The first match was a fairly gripping game between the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and Bristol University. With just a couple of questions to go, the two teams were level-pegging with 185 points each.
But I don’t know what happened [...]