National Public Radio's continued efforts to present itself as a politically-neutral news operation may suffer a bit from one of the organization's endorsements: that of the far-left activist group MoveOn.org. MoveOn, which has received significant funding from liberal billionaire George Soros, started a petition recently to push Congress to “protect NPR and PBS and guarantee them permanent funding, free from political meddling.” The endorsement is telling, given MoveOn's hard-left ideology. Would it really be pushing for continued federal funding for NPR if it didn't think the organization was serving its agenda somehow? NPR itself has received $1.8 million in financial support from Soros, so this is not the first sign (beyond its actual news content , of course) that NPR advances – in one way or another, and whether it intends to or not – a leftist agenda. The ideological synergy is evident just in the groups offering NPR their support, MoveOn being the latest. The claim NPR appeals to a liberal audience is not confined to political groups, either. Even a member of the organization's Distribution/Interconnect Committee has acknowledged that NPR serves “a core audience that is predominately white, liberal, highly educated, elite.” So support from MoveOn is hardly shocking. Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby reported on MoveOn's NPR campaign on Sunday (h/t Gateway Pundit ): MoveOn.org, the left-wing pressure group, is promoting a petition that urges Congress to “protect NPR and PBS and guarantee them permanent funding, free from political meddling.’’ Yet political “meddling’’ is the inescapable price of taking political dollars. Conservatives would complain about NPR’s liberal tilt no matter where its funding came from, just as liberals complain about the conservative tilt of Fox News. But if NPR were no longer on the government dole, its political leanings would no longer be a congressional issue. The budget storms in Washington pose no threat to Fox because Fox doesn’t run on taxpayer money. They wouldn’t threaten NPR either — if only NPR would give up its subsidy.
Continue reading …National Public Radio's continued efforts to present itself as a politically-neutral news operation may suffer a bit from one of the organization's endorsements: that of the far-left activist group MoveOn.org. MoveOn, which has received significant funding from liberal billionaire George Soros, started a petition recently to push Congress to “protect NPR and PBS and guarantee them permanent funding, free from political meddling.” The endorsement is telling, given MoveOn's hard-left ideology. Would it really be pushing for continued federal funding for NPR if it didn't think the organization was serving its agenda somehow? NPR itself has received $1.8 million in financial support from Soros, so this is not the first sign (beyond its actual news content , of course) that NPR advances – in one way or another, and whether it intends to or not – a leftist agenda. The ideological synergy is evident just in the groups offering NPR their support, MoveOn being the latest. The claim NPR appeals to a liberal audience is not confined to political groups, either. Even a member of the organization's Distribution/Interconnect Committee has acknowledged that NPR serves “a core audience that is predominately white, liberal, highly educated, elite.” So support from MoveOn is hardly shocking. Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby reported on MoveOn's NPR campaign on Sunday (h/t Gateway Pundit ): MoveOn.org, the left-wing pressure group, is promoting a petition that urges Congress to “protect NPR and PBS and guarantee them permanent funding, free from political meddling.’’ Yet political “meddling’’ is the inescapable price of taking political dollars. Conservatives would complain about NPR’s liberal tilt no matter where its funding came from, just as liberals complain about the conservative tilt of Fox News. But if NPR were no longer on the government dole, its political leanings would no longer be a congressional issue. The budget storms in Washington pose no threat to Fox because Fox doesn’t run on taxpayer money. They wouldn’t threaten NPR either — if only NPR would give up its subsidy.
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Post your questions to Lonely Planet ‘s Tom Hall, who will be offering expert advice live online tomorrow from 1-2pm Planning a late Easter escape in search of much-needed early summer sunshine, or taking advantage of the extra bank holiday (cheers Will and Kate) to party elsewhere? Maybe you need advice on a specific destination, how to get there or where to stay? Or maybe you’re stuck for inspiration or have a few travel doubts? Fear not, Tom Hall will be live on Guardian Travel offering expert advice. Post questions below in advance or on the day. Tom will get to as many as he can in an hour, but due to the volume of questions, he may not be able to answer all of them in the live blog. Unanswered questions will be considered for future Ask Tom blog posts. Tom Hall guardian.co.uk
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Lists can be reductive, but on the eve of this year’s book prize season, it’s time to celebrate their particular strengths Tomorrow, the Orange Prize announces its 2011 longlist – and fires the starting pistol for the book prize season. For the next six months, until the grand finale of the Booker, interested literary parties of all stripes will be swamped with lists: who’s in, who’s out, who’s favourite, who’s a dark horse, who’s losing, who was robbed. Sometimes it can seem as if the ubiquitous list has replaced thoughtful critical discourse – and there’s no question that the shorthand of a list suits a culture with a limited attention span. Your list is swifter, and less challenging, than a fully articulated analysis; also, more assertive. Blogs have a love-hate relationship with lists. There’s nothing like a Top 10 to provoke controversy, as this blog knows only too well . But, since we’re coming into list-and-prize season, I’ve tried to arrive at a positive approach to the curse of the catalogue. First of all, I note that in Anglo-American fiction, there’s quite a good tradition of list making: Daniel Defoe, the father of the English novel, did not flinch, in Robinson Crusoe, from listing Crusoe’s stores after the shipwreck, or indeed his situation. On p52 of my Oxford Classics edition, he writes, “I had three Encouragements, 1. A smooth calm Sea, 2. The Tide rising and setting in to the Shore, 3. What little Wind there was blew me towards the Land.” See also, on p274, the list of luxuries Crusoe’s rescuer gives him ( “He brought me also a Box of Sugar, a Box of Flower, a Bag full of Lemons…” ) This approach has a long afterlife. Among contemporary writers, Nick Hornby has also turned list-making into a kind of art . In American fiction, Brett Easton Ellis made a memorable polemical point about consumer society in the brand name lists of American Psycho. He was hardly a pioneer. America’s greatest 20th century novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald, was a master of lists. Perhaps his most celebrated list occurs in chapter four of The Great Gatsby : the roll-call of those “who accepted Gatsby’s hospitality” in that discordant summer after the Great War: “From West Egg came the Poles and the Mulreadys and Cecil Roebuck and Cecil Shoen and Gulick the State senator and Newton Orchid, who controlled Films Par Excellence, and Eckhaust and Clyde Cohen… all connected with the movies in one way or another.” Wonderful stuff: three pages of it, painting a picture of a whole world. That’s the curse of lists. Part of their appeal is how much they leave out, and how much scope they give to the imagination. Robert McCrum guardian.co.uk
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It’s easy to be snooty about both Sienna Miller and Britain’s nostalgia for its wartime heroes – but critics agree the combination makes for a jolly good show It is easy , and enjoyable, to snigger at Britain’s vision of its wartime flying heroes. The awfully wholesome banter, the Mansellian moustaches , the jovially racist dog-naming , the dark emotions, sealed in concrete, buried and forgotten 50 feet below some Hampshire rugger field. Which makes it all the more remarkable that Flare Path, Terence Rattigan’s 1941 play about the concealed strains of a bomber crew and their wives, had almost all the critics struggling to control their upper lips. “A masterly piece of theatre,” writes Sam Marlowe of The Arts Desk. “This is essentially a shattering ensemble work, in which every detail glows with truth, compassion and humanity, and where every seemingly ordinary second of life in an existence hemmed in by the ever-present threat of death is charged with a quiet intensity.” “The occasional romanticism is counterbalanced by Rattigan’s genius for barely expressed emotion,” agrees our own Michael Billington . “A simple exchange of goodbyes between a tail-gunner and his wife, as he leaves for a raid, brings a lump to the throat.” And it does even more to Charles Spencer. “If you have tears, prepare to shed them now,” he writes . “Trevor Nunn’s superb production [is] a three-handkerchief weepie that somehow manages to be both profoundly moving and wonderfully funny.” And to think the show’s publicity revolved around its star name, Sienna Miller, about whom it is also easy to be snooty. Pretty young things made famous by their film-star former boyfriends make big targets, remember. So it is remarkable, again, that the critics ( this time ) held their fire. “She brings to her role just the right mixture of glacial poise and agonised tension,” says Henry Hitchings in the Evening Standard. And, in the Independent, Paul Taylor agrees : “Her performance as the conflicted actress-heroine,” he says, “is genuinely heart-tugging in the subtle way it communicates this young woman’s struggle between patriotic duty and extra-marital desire.” But if Miller did well, her castmates did better still. David Benedict singles out “a career-making performance” from Harry Hadden-Paton, “[whose] character detail is there but not on display. It’s the fuel he uses to charge up his difficult, climactic breakdown.” Meanwhile, Sheridan Smith ( now always to be known as “Olivier-award-winning scrubber Sheridan Smith”) is singled out for special praise by almost everyone. “She is wonderful as the barmaid married to a Polish airman,” says Libby Purves on a page you can’t read , “naive, cheerful, yet radiating immense doubt and pain in stillness.” “Smith is superb,” concurs the FT’s Sarah Hemming . “Always warm and impish, she becomes heartbreaking as she sits, smiling determinedly through her tears, while Peter gently translates for her a letter left behind by her husband.” Meanwhile, for balance, here are the views of the Express’s Paul Callan , who seems to have been watching a different show from everybody else. “All these stereotypes sadly combine to show the age-lines on this play,” he says. “The pace limps along like a battle-battered Wellington bomber flying on one engine.” Ah well, you can’t please everyone. Do say: “Chocks away!”, “Pip-pip!” and “squiffy”. As frequently as possible. Don’t say: Er … they were, you know, dropping bombs on people and stuff. The reviews reviewed: Jolly good show. Theatre Sienna Miller Leo Benedictus guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Lists can be reductive, but on the eve of this year’s book prize season, it’s time to celebrate their particular strengths Tomorrow, the Orange Prize announces its 2011 longlist – and fires the starting pistol for the book prize season. For the next six months, until the grand finale of the Booker, interested literary parties of all stripes will be swamped with lists: who’s in, who’s out, who’s favourite, who’s a dark horse, who’s losing, who was robbed. Sometimes it can seem as if the ubiquitous list has replaced thoughtful critical discourse – and there’s no question that the shorthand of a list suits a culture with a limited attention span. Your list is swifter, and less challenging, than a fully articulated analysis; also, more assertive. Blogs have a love-hate relationship with lists. There’s nothing like a Top 10 to provoke controversy, as this blog knows only too well . But, since we’re coming into list-and-prize season, I’ve tried to arrive at a positive approach to the curse of the catalogue. First of all, I note that in Anglo-American fiction, there’s quite a good tradition of list making: Daniel Defoe, the father of the English novel, did not flinch, in Robinson Crusoe, from listing Crusoe’s stores after the shipwreck, or indeed his situation. On p52 of my Oxford Classics edition, he writes, “I had three Encouragements, 1. A smooth calm Sea, 2. The Tide rising and setting in to the Shore, 3. What little Wind there was blew me towards the Land.” See also, on p274, the list of luxuries Crusoe’s rescuer gives him ( “He brought me also a Box of Sugar, a Box of Flower, a Bag full of Lemons…” ) This approach has a long afterlife. Among contemporary writers, Nick Hornby has also turned list-making into a kind of art . In American fiction, Brett Easton Ellis made a memorable polemical point about consumer society in the brand name lists of American Psycho. He was hardly a pioneer. America’s greatest 20th century novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald, was a master of lists. Perhaps his most celebrated list occurs in chapter four of The Great Gatsby : the roll-call of those “who accepted Gatsby’s hospitality” in that discordant summer after the Great War: “From West Egg came the Poles and the Mulreadys and Cecil Roebuck and Cecil Shoen and Gulick the State senator and Newton Orchid, who controlled Films Par Excellence, and Eckhaust and Clyde Cohen… all connected with the movies in one way or another.” Wonderful stuff: three pages of it, painting a picture of a whole world. That’s the curse of lists. Part of their appeal is how much they leave out, and how much scope they give to the imagination. Robert McCrum guardian.co.uk
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Midsomer Murders producer Brian True-May’s comments about the whiteness of the show’s village are wildly insulting to all viewers What do incest, blackmail and homosexuality have in common? They’re all ideal Sunday evening television storylines according to the suspended Midsomer Murders producer Brian True-May . Race, however is not. True-May gave an interview to this week’s Radio Times in which he argued that his quaint little show would be ruined if it was forced to shoehorn in ethnic minorities characters. “We just don’t have ethnic minorities involved. Because it wouldn’t be the English village with them. It just wouldn’t work,” he said. It is of course true that the majority of Britain’s ethnic minority population live in urban areas – according to the last census 45% of the non-white population live in London with most (but by no means all) of the rest in major cities like Birmingham, Leeds and Leicester. When the results of the new census come back it’s fairly safe to assume they will show that the nation’s non-white population continues to live mainly in urban areas, while the countryside remains a largely (though by no means exclusively) white environment. So True-May’s factual point that there are few non-whites in the countryside is fair. Where his argument takes a sinister turn is his claim that Midsomer is “the last bastion of Englishness and I want to keep it that way”. Leaving aside that no one seems to be able to define what “Englishness” actually is (presumably it doesn’t include Welshness, Scottishness, or Cornish pasties ), True-May’s comments highlight his own creative shortcomings and are also wildly insulting to his audience. He is effectively telling black viewers (and actors) Midsomer is not for them, while simultaneously assuming the show’s viewers are as small minded as he is. “I’m trying to make something that appeals to a certain audience, which seems to succeed. And I don’t want to change it,” said True-May. His argument seems to be: “Ridiculously improbable murders: Fine. Believable non-white characters? They’d never stand for it, and neither would I.” It’s a fact that people like to see themselves represented on screen, and in this respect middle aged white men are no different to the rest of us – after all, David Cameron famously claimed it was his favourite television programme – but is he really saying that black characters have no place on screen in anything other than gritty urban drama? If the viewer can suspend their belief enough to believe that the sleepy village of Midsomer is a hotbed of adultery and murder, surely they’d be able to believe in well-rounded non-white characters? Has True-May really never seen a black person in wellies? And even if he hasn’t, does he really think his viewers would switch off in droves if he were to up the melanin a little? Please don’t insult our intelligence with cries of “it’s not authentic”. Neither are your plot lines but that doesn’t stop you. The idea that TV is so overrun with black characters that Midsomer Murders is representing a much neglected white viewer is ridiculous. What True-May seems to be saying is that non-white characters just wouldn’t “fit in”. That some white people think this is not news to black people. In another TV debacle only a couple of weeks ago the locals of the Yorkshire village of Grassington told black Londoners Phillip and Simone the same thing as part of Channel 4′s Love Thy Neighbour series. The only difference being that Phillip and Simone are real people. When will TV types realise that a non-white character gives you more creative leeway, not less. Race adds an extra dimension to a character. Black characters don’t have to be sitting at the table discussing the Brixton riots every episode, you can still do all the usual incest, blackmail, adulterous stuff but you have whole other world of storylines too. Black characters enhance drama, rather than restrict it. One of the most moving pieces of radio I’ve ever heard was when the Archers’ Usha Gutapa realised who was responsible for racist attacks on her. That storyline was more than 15 years ago – if Ambridge can manage, surely so can Midsomer. If I was inclined to give True-May the benefit of the doubt, I’d say it’s clear he believes he’s simply giving his viewers what they want, which begs the question, does he think Midsomer fans are racist? Television Television industry Race issues Race & religion ITV Hannah Pool guardian.co.uk
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Shrien Dewani granted bail extension on condition he is sent to Bristol psychiatric hospital A British businessman accused of plotting his wife’s murder while they honeymooned in South Africa is to be admitted to the Priory psychiatric hospital. Shrien Dewani, 31, has been on bail at his family home in Bristol, but South African authorities, who want to extradite him, fear he could try to harm himself after allegedly taking an overdose of pills last month. Lawyers for both sides agreed that Dewani, who is said to have severe post-traumatic stress syndrome, should be admitted to the Priory in Bristol . He remains subject to £250,000 bail and strict conditions, including a curfew. Ben Watson, representing the South African authorities, told Belmarsh magistrates court in south-east London he would not oppose bail for Dewani if he were admitted to the Priory. Watson claimed last month’s incident – in which Dewani took 46 tablets including diazepam – could “probably be categorised as a deliberate overdose, given the medical material the court now has”. Julian Knowles QC, for Dewani, referred to a psychiatric report by Professor Nigel Eastman in which the expert suggested it was “unlikely [Dewani] intended to kill himself on this occasion”. “He [Eastman] accepts that, whatever happened or didn’t happen, there is plainly some risk of self-harm here. His conclusion is that Mr Dewani will be better treated and get better quicker at the Priory.” Knowles said Dewani consented to the bail conditions but said he found it difficult to report to the police because he was “taunted” by the media. Wearing jogging bottoms and a zip-up navy blue jumper, Dewani, who strongly denies involvement in his wife’s murder, looked dishevelled and unshaven for the court appearance. He spoke only to confirm he had understood what had happened. District Judge Howard Riddle ruled that from Wednesday morning Dewani must remain at the Priory. Riddle said: “I am going to bail you with the variation that I hope you understand. You must understand these conditions because if you don’t comply with them, you will lose your bail.” Dewani’s wife, Anni, 28, was shot after a taxi the couple were travelling in was apparently hijacked in the Gugulethu township on the outskirts of Cape Town in November. She was found dead in the back of an abandoned taxi next day with a bullet wound to her neck. Taxi driver Zola Tongo initially said his vehicle was seized by armed men and he and Dewani were ejected before Mrs Dewani was driven away and killed. After a plea bargain was agreed, Tongo, 31, claimed Dewani offered him money to arrange the killing. He was given a reduced sentence of 18 years in jail. The Priory in Bristol opened in 1994. It has residential facilities for 38 people “requiring inpatient care for more severe psychiatric illness such as depression, psychotic illness or eating disorders”. Dewani murder case South Africa Crime Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Nowhere To Hide! 2,000 Protesters Turn Out To Taunt Walker As He Attends Fundraiser
March 15, 2011 No CommentI don’t think Scott Walker has really accepted the fact that most people in his state don’t like or trust him. I wonder what it’ll take before it sinks in: WASHBURN — Wisconsin’s protracted family fight over the budget and public employee unions moved to this Bayfield County town Saturday evening, as embattled Gov. Scott Walker spoke at an invitation-only event and was greeted by at least 2,000 angry protesters outside. Walker arrived in a convoy of six unmarked police cars that pulled up at 5:45 p.m. to the Steak Pit for a Republican Lincoln Day fundraiser. The large, boisterous crowd, which had been lining the streets leading to the restaurant since 4:30, quickly recognized him and erupted in boos and shouts of “Recall Walker.” The convoy moved through quickly and without incident, and most of the protesters began to follow a circuitous route on public pathways to a spot behind the restaurant where they continued the protest within earshot of the Republican Party faithful inside. Bayfield County Sheriff Paul Susienka said Saturday evening that he didn’t have a crowd estimate, but various people had estimated the size at between 2,000 and 5,000 . So the protest probably at least doubled the size of Washburn, which has a population of 2,271. Susienka said there had been no incidents and no arrests. People were definitely saying their piece, greeting each vehicle that arrived for the dinner with shouts of “Shame!” while waving protest signs and shaking their fists. One person videotaped the license plates of at least some of the vehicles that entered. Protesters banged pots, shook tambourines at car windows and sounded horns. Most of the drivers and their passengers stared straight ahead. They had to navigate through a narrow tunnel formed by protesters on both sides, held back by Bayfield County sheriff’s deputies and rally organizers. Signs included “Gov. Walker, you probably can’t remember me, but … I can recall you” and “At least my Grandma’s Walker helps her.”
Continue reading …Live Chat: Blue America Is Proud To Welcome Back An Old Friend — Jared Polis (D-CO)
March 15, 2011 No CommentLast year, while many Democrats were failing to draw enough of their former supporters to the polls — two incumbents, Blue Dogs Betsy Markey and John Salazar, were defeated in districts adjacent to Jared’s — Democrats and independents in CO-2 were anything but disappointed in their freshman Representative. Jared had run on a strongly pro-jobs, pro-family, pro-equality candidate and few freshmen worked as tirelessly as he did to deliver. He was rewarded with a hefty 57% of the vote (148,720 to be exact, over 15,000 more votes than the Democratic performance in the previous midterm). His latest legislative initiative is H.R. 998 , the Student Non-Discrimination Act, a widely supported, bipartisan bill that will add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Title 9 protections afforded students who are victims of bullying. From Jared’s website : Every day, students who are, or are perceived to be, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) are subjected to pervasive discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, which is harmful to both students and our education system. While civil rights protections expressly address discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability or national origin, they do not explicitly include sexual orientation or gender identity and, as a result, LGBT students and parents have often had limited legal recourse for this kind of discrimination. To address this lack of protection and ensure that all students have access to public education in a safe environment free from discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, the Student Non-Discrimination Act establishes a comprehensive Federal prohibition of discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity and provides victims with meaningful and effective remedies, modeled after Title IX. When I talked with Jared on the phone yesterday, he reminded me to ask everyone to sign up to get action updates from the Fearless Campaign which will help them develop an effective activist base across the country. Please join us in the comments section below for a free ranging chat with Congressman Polis.
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