Englishman in New York

Why should foreign news organizations have to abide by reporting restrictions on UK court cases?

Earlier this week, the New York Times had to block British readers from a story on its website about the British men charged in this month’s suspected bomb plot.

Personally, I prefer the UK approach to media coverage of court cases, in which strict reporting restrictions are in place before and during a trial.

But in an Internet age where readers can find out all the information they need at the click of a mouse, why should one foreign news organization have to abide by those rules?

I’m sure all of the information they printed is available on other blogs and news sites—a good deal of it probably via the original New York Times story.

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Police responding to a report of a large group of men fighting Sunday evening found dozens of cars and people gathered in an empty field on the outskirts of Rostov-on-Don, and what appeared to be a fight between criminal gang members.

More than 70 officers detained some 100 people before determining that they were playing rugby instead of brawling, releasing them several hours later after scolding them for not alerting authorities ahead of time.

Unfortunately the article fails to answer the most important question: League or Union? Read on here. (Via Private Eye.)

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“If any foreign soldiers are sent to the Syrian border it will mean war,” Galloway warned.

“Syria is not at war with Lebanon, Israel is at war with Lebanon. If European governments allow their soldiers to be sent to the border they will enter a conflict that they will lose.”

(Via Socialist Worker Online.)

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Sorry about this morning. The server was down. I’m already a little behind on work. More tomorrow.

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Karol at Alarming News is worried about what she sees as a growing schism between America and Europe:

I hate terrorists for killing innocent people and I hate them for forcing us to live a life where you can’t take pictures where you please, you can’t carry certain things onto airplanes, etc. But I really hate them for the divide they’ve caused in the western world. I hate hating France and being suspicious of Europe. I don’t see them as the enemy, but I do see them as turning a blind eye to this growing, immediate problem. And I know they see us in the same way–as this bumbling superpower who just can’t get things right. We yell at them for not doing enough, they yell at us for doing too much. It’s every Islamofascists dream. We are completely divided to where I expect a certain amount of hostility from Europeans, not even for being rightwingish, but just for being American. And I assume they’ll all be leftists, more concerned with pc-ness and intellectualism than doing what they must to survive. Even the ones I like and respect.

I don’t know how to get around this, exactly. But if we don’t thaw relations, and soon, then the cliche is true, the terrorists will have won.

Interesting thoughts. But if we all thought the same way, I’d be a lot more concerned.

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Is someone having a laugh? Why is there a George Galloway Close in Coventry?

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I was invited for a trip aboard an 80-year-old schooner called the Shearwater last night. Lots of fun. And the chance to meet some New York bloggers, including Danny Schechter of News Dissector, Alex of travel blog Jaunted, and my old pal Nosher of NYCnosh (or was it HungryMan? I always get confused).

Unfortunately there was no wind at all last night, so there was no chance to raise the sails. Instead, we drifted with the current along the west side of Manhattan and then headed out for a quick peek at the Statue of Liberty, which I’d never seen at night before.

Thanks to Jasmine of Glamourite for arranging. And to Tom for being such a gracious host.

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I am close to the Muslim community in Britain 2 million strong. And there is undoubtedly a huge radicalization going on amongst British Muslims including in my own area. We try to be the democratic antidote to those siren voices in the Muslim community preaching isolationism, separatism, extremism and violence.

Galloway, Dubai Eye radio program, August, 20, 2006.

The invasion of Lebanon by Israel, for that’s what it is, is a monstrous injustice.

I side with the resistance to that injustice. Hizbollah is leading that resistance. I do not hesitate to say, and Blair and his law officers may take note, that I glorify that resistance.

I glorify the Hizbollah national resistance movement, and I glorify the leader of Hizbollah, Sheikh Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

George Galloway, Socialist Worker Online, July 29, 2005.

They can control the skies, but only if they don’t come within range of an RPG, but they can’t control one single street in any part of occupied Iraq. Not one street. Not one street anywhere. These poor Iraqis - ragged people, with their sandals, with their Kalashnikovs, with the lightest and most basic of weapons - are writing the names of their cities and towns in the stars, with 145 military operations every day, which has made the country ungovernable by the people who occupy it.

George Galloway, Al-Jazeera TV, July 31, 2005

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Like many if not most UK journalists (and I suspect most US journalists) I never learned to touch type. I can type quickly, somewhere in the region of 50 to 60 WPM, but my technique—if it can be classed as such—consists of six fingers crashing down on different and highly arbitrary areas of the keyboard.

I’ve suffered with occasional twinges in my arms and wrists for the past couple of years, particularly during times when I am conducting and transcribing lengthy interviews. It all came to a head last month when I had to stop typing because the pain was so intense.

I bought ergonomic keyboard and mouse pad supports. I invested in a fetching black Lycra wrist support glove. Finally I ended up in a rheumatologist’s office where I was prescribed steroids and told to improve my posture at the keyboard. I bought a gas lift chair.

But I also decided to improve my typing technique.

On the advice of a friend I downloaded a free trial of a touch typing tutor called Ten Thumbs. The program teaches you the keyboard and improves your accuracy and speed through a series of lessons and games.

I started exactly two weeks ago today. The free trial ended after I learned one-third of the keyboard and I upgraded to the full version for $25.95. Practicing for between a half hour and an hour a day, I have learned all the letters, the numbers and the nearby symbols. My speed is up to 30 WPM and my accuracy is about 95%.

I’m not quite fast enough or accurate enough for ‘real’ writing (my brain won’t accept the delay between thought and screen). But I am quick enough for emails. And for this blog post. Hopefully within a couple of weeks, I’ll never need to look down again.

If you’ve ever wondered about touch typing but thought it was too late to learn, perhaps it would be worth giving it a go. Try Ten Thumbs.

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I wonder if Galloway’s record-breaking broadcast from among his latest constituents in Beirut will include this news from Michael Totten:

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora is now talking about a peace treaty with Israel…This is huge, really, even if it’s only talk and even if Hezbollah can unilaterally jam up the deal by shooting more rockets. No Lebanese politician would have dared to say such a thing two months ago with a Syrian gun pointed at the right side of his head, a Hezbollah gun pointed at the left side, and the reactionary mentality that prevails in certain Lebanese quarters.

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Never having listened to talkSPORT radio before, could someone please explain to me what kind of cretins could come up with an announcement like this:

George Galloway makes radio history tonight as he conducts the first ever phone-in from inside a war zone as he presents his show live from Beirut.

talkSPORT presenter and MP George Galloway is set to make history this weekend as he holds what is believed to be the first ever radio phone-in LIVE from a war zone.

As the most controversial exponent of Middle East politics, Galloway will broadcast his outspoken beliefs that will undoubtedly evoke a whirlwind of apathy, scorn and outrage from listeners – LIVE from Beirut on Saturday and Sunday night only on talkSPORT.

Number one, isn’t a war zone supposed to be a place where a war is actually going on?

Number two, even if there was a war going on, what kind of an idiot would want to hold a radio talk show in the middle of it?

And number three, can somebody please explain to me how it is possible to “evoke a whirlwind of apathy”? Since apathy is a lack of emotion, it would be a pretty pisspoor whirlwind.

A bit like talkSPORT radio

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A video of the taijiquan master Wu Tunan.

Via Wikipedia:

According to the famous Tai Chi Chuan historian and disciple of Wu Jianquan, Wu Tunan 吳圖南 (1885-1989), who also studied under Yang Shaohou for four years, this master(sic) was known for his “small circle” style of Tai Chi Chuan…This style was similar in posture to the modern Wu style Tai Chi Chuan, yet generally practiced at higher speed with fast jumps and kicks. This form was known as the Small Frame 小架, Fast Frame 快架 or Practical Frame 用架 and was considered to require the highest level of skill to perform.

And according to the Chinese Olympic Committee:

He used to be a sickly child and took fancy to the art by chance. Decades of regular practice made him so strong that he was still teaching taijiquan two years before he died in 1988, at the age of 108.

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Reader’s Digest asked the UK who the nation’s silliest celebrity was and George Galloway came 17th!

He didn’t even win the title of looniest MP. Although I have to admit he had stiff competition with the likes of John “Two Jabs Prescott” (7th).

But how he managed to come in behind the rude but calculating Simon Cowell (6th) and the prudish Ann Widdicombe (13th) beats me.

This is a British MP who incited Iraqi’s to attack British troops. And who serves his constituents by hardly ever turning up for Parliamentary votes and entering Celebrity Big Brother. Not to mention the egotistical tours and speaking engagments.

I’ll bet Galloway will even be slightly pleased considering he was pipped to 16th spot by BBC news presenter Jeremy Paxman who acted like such a twit after Galloway’s election victory last year.

Looking back at the video, perhaps Paxman deserved it. Here’s the silly list:

Top 20

1 Ozzy Osbourne
2 Boris Johnson
3 Chris Eubank
4 Rolf Harris
5 Bill Oddie
6 Simon Cowell
7 John Prescott
8 Jade Goody
9 Carol Thatcher
10 David Dickinson
11 Christine and Neil Hamilton
12 The Duke of Edinburgh
13 Ann Widdecombe
14 Jordan
15 Alan Sugar
16 Jeremy Paxman
17 George Galloway
18 John McCririck
19 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
20 Richard Madeley

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From the website atomfilms.com:

The idea is simple, the result is stunning. On November 1, 2001, artist Ahree Lee began taking daily digital snapshots of her own face; and she has continued this project every day since. In 2004, Lee compiled all of her daily images into a montage with a wistful musical score. In the fast-paced parade of images you’re about to see, each second of screen time represents about one week’s worth of pictures.

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My post about Underworld the other week started me reminiscing about clubbing in London during the mid-1990s.

A quick Google search turned up megatripolis.co.uk a simple website with a selection of photos and flyers from the Megatripolis club night that ran from 1993 to 1996. All the photos that follow are taken from the site.

A bit of research tells me that the club night Megatripolis was held in Camden and Islington, and then at Heaven and the Marquee. We went during its incarnation on Thursday nights at Heaven a gay nightclub underneath Charing Cross station.

Megatripolis was a mixed night, straight and gay, and of all the clubs I ever visited it was without a doubt the friendliest, least pretentious, and most exciting place. Perhaps that was partly because I was 18 and in my first year of university in London. Could we really have looked so young?

There was a main dance floor (the Cauldron?) and a bar at the back. Most people spent their money on henna tattoos and hippie jewelry that was for sale in a little room off the side of the bar. On the second floor there was a smaller dance floor and a chill out room. Thai dye was almost a prerequisite. As were bongo drums.

We must have gone to Megatripolis almost every week from October 1995 through March 1996. If I remember rightly the night would end with a full English breakfast followed by three hours of Russian language and grammar from 10am til 1pm. Happy days.

UPDATE:

Look what I have found.

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