The Decline and Fall of the Media.
I wrote a piece in December 2016, shortly after Trump’s victory, that was a discussion of the mainstream media’s coverage of the presidential campaign. At its heart, it was a discussion of what a lowly creature it had revealed itself to be. Throughout the whole campaign, the standard of journalism barely scrambled upwards to the … Continue reading
CNN thrived on bigger and better lies, but was killed in the end by the simple truth.
We all live in various groupings or cultures. It’s a universal that’s nearly in our DNA because it’s both safer and we directly benefit from the knowledge and skills that are inevitably shared. These manifest goodies meant we’ve been selected for an almost reflexive compulsion to cooperate with others by aggregating into not only a group, … Continue reading
The uses and abuses of information on the internet.
Quite a number of years ago, one of my sons rang me from university to sort out a computer problem he was having with his laptop. There was some urgency to it since all lecture notes and papers were by that time starting to be put up on the university intranet. After a half hour of … Continue reading
Leaks.
If you follow the media in America and elsewhere, you can be forgiven for gaining the impression that the White House doesn’t have a single secret left which hasn’t been leaked. If you’re to believe all you read, it’s leaking like a colander that’s had a double helping from a Purdey shotgun. As always when dealing with the media … Continue reading
The spoilt brat complex.
It’s an experience we’ve all had; meeting a child who can only be described as a spoilt brat. Every kid has an off day when they’re just being angry and unreasonable and most parents cope with that situation in their stride until the kid returns to normal, whatever that might be for the particular child. The … Continue reading
Am I standing up straight enough Daddy?
I blog because there are certain things I feel strongly about. So many of those things are unfashionable amongst the media chatterati, who labour under the twin delusions that not only do they hold the one correct political viewpoint on any question, but they also represent some righteous but silent majority who also hold that … Continue reading
Know your enemy: the establishment journalist.
The origins of journalism go back a long way. For most of agrarian history, there were individuals who travelled from settlement to settlement, mainly trading goods but part of what they did was bring the news of what was happening in those distant lands twenty or more miles away. Beyond the news, some of their … Continue reading
An interesting thing happened on the way to the theatre blog tonight.
An interesting thing happened on the way to the theatre blog tonight. That’s the sort of prologue or connective phrase a stand-up comedian will use to move his set onto a bit of topical comedy about something, which if accurate and well observed, is always the best kind. It was Saturday and I was busy chiseling the … Continue reading
Politicians, thieves and those greedy pigs in between.
It’s simple, easy and a mistake, to despise all politicians. In my experience, they’re actually like us and mostly decent people, and when push comes to shove, they’ll usually try to do their best for the people they’ve been elected to represent. To some extent or another, they all pursue power, which when you consider it, puts them … Continue reading
A species facing extinction.
There are many reasons why a particular species may become extinct; a better adapted one elbows them out of their own ecological niche, the debilitating effect of a new disease they have no resistance against, over-predation or quite simply, their habitat disappearing completely. In general terms, it happens because there has been a change in … Continue reading
Some direct questions for the BBC that it’ll never answer.
The revelations of the last couple of weeks, have shone a bright light into some dark corners of the BBC and what’s been exposed, while very disturbing and quite frankly seamy, comes as no surprise to those of us who’ve long entertained doubts on its supposed impartiality, integrity and even its basic journalistic competence. There’s for too … Continue reading
The BBC : Aunty Beeb or Mummy knows best?
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was set up in the early 1920s, in order to establish a radio service for both the UK and its empire. Its first Director General was a fiery Scot called John Reith, who despite saying that he’d little idea of what broadcasting actually was, set a commendable corporate ethos, which … Continue reading
The creeping betrayal of democracy in Australia.
For various reasons, I’ve travelled a lot and had the opportunity to meet and get to know, people from many different countries and cultures. It’s one of the pleasures of life and if you’re a gregarious person, which I am, you find out about each other. Like you and I, they all had their own … Continue reading
The decline of popular science journals.
We are creatures of habit and pleasure. When we find something of pleasure, we tend to revisit it with regularity. Despite what a large part of the mainstream media might have you believe, not all pleasure starts at the gullet and ends at the genitalia, though eating well and making love, are of course pastimes … Continue reading
Lies, damn lies and polls.
Some time ago and in the context of climategate, I put forward the opinion that it would eventually produce two big losers and one big winner. The two losers were going to be climate science and the mainstream media (MSM), while the big winner was going to be the blogosphere. Climategate, important though it was, was just … Continue reading
Political fracture points and power vacuums.
A political fracture point is a sudden and radical change in the political landscape. In classical times, it would be the collapse of an empire, such as the Roman Empire. In the last century, World War I resulted in the outright destruction of several, such as the German Empire, and ultimately fatal damage to others, … Continue reading
Job opportunity, with lots of money to be made.
You know those Huey helicopters that you see in all those old Vietnam war movies. They had this single bolt sticking out of the cabin, connecting it to the rotor blades. The troopers used to call it the Jesus Bolt, because if it failed, everyone on board was going home to Jesus. Well, the equivalent of … Continue reading
Fakegate.
I’ve been watching the developments following the publication of the Heartland documents, what’s now very appropriately become known as Fakegate. As usual, the propaganda organ of climate alarmism, otherwise known as the mainstream media, has been very quick off the mark to circulate any material which could discredit climate realists. What is apparent when the … Continue reading
How policies get dropped and positions reversed.
Political policy changes constantly in a democracy. It does so primarily in response to the changing concerns of its electorate, because by addressing these concerns, politicians hoping to gain office naturally expect to attract votes by catering to these concerns. When the economy is prosperous and the employment rate is high, the electorate’s concerns tend … Continue reading
Oh, what a wonderful MSM.
I’ve been following the various investigations into the hacking of voice mail and other criminal activities by elements of the mainstream media (MSM) in the UK. They longer they go on, the more varied and widespread the abuses are being found to be; email break ins, computer break ins and the routine bribing of law … Continue reading
Pointman's 
My belated condolences. I always enjoyed reading his posts and will miss his insight and wide ranging views. May hew…