London needs greater media diversity.
I’m going to explain the situation, why it’s bad and then propose a solution.
The Evening Standard has something close to a monopolistic position on London news. It is, as we know, the only paid-for London newspaper. Metro, London Lite and thelondonpaper are meant to be read on the way to or [...]

The Sun opens its story “Nazi terrorist is caged for 16 years” on the conviction and sentencing of Martyn Gilleard, would-be promoter of a race war, with the line:
A CROSS-dressing Nazi racist was jailed for 16 years yesterday on child porn and terrorism charges.
Let me begin by saying that I am delighted that Gilleard [...]

Last night’s Blog Nation gathering at the Guardian’s offices was interesting. Two main things came out of it for me.
1. There’s no such thing as blogging
Or rather, there’s no one thing called blogging. It’s a clever piece of software, coupled with the internet, that allows people to do different things. Just ‘political blogs’ covers sites [...]

Professor Erik Ringmar will be on iPM on BBC Radio Four talking about liberating old papers. Do listen as it’s an important one. Partly, it’s about free information being freely available, but some of the things that should be freely available already aren’t. The case in point (as Erik writes in the Times Higher) is [...]

There has been some discussion of late about who has the most visitors to their blog. I’m sure that I don’t compare to some of the participants in the discussion who, Priapus-like, wave their impressive statistics for all to see.
Google Analytics, Statcounter and the like are, ultimately, hobbyist tools. A website seeking to make [...]

Prince Harry (or Cornet-2/Lt Wales or possibly Widow-Six-Seven, depending on who you ask) has fulfilled his wish to fight for his grandmother and country. It would seem that this was a sop to him for not resign his commission because he hadn’t been allowed to fight in the manner he had been trained - commander [...]

The BBC World Service turned seventy-five yesterday. It started broadcasting on 19th December, 1932, as the Empire Service. Since then, the world has changed greatly, but the World Service continues broadcasting; part of its Imperial legacy remains with the periodic declarations in RP that ‘This Is London’ so you’d better pay attention.
I started listening to [...]

I am delighted to have had a letter published in today’s Guardian; it’s the second one down on this page. It reads
Your article (It was murder: the Chávez version of liberator’s death, November 17) neglects the importance of Bolívar’s last days to any interpretation of his impact on Latin America. Reviled by the educated classes [...]

Despite everything else that could be talked about, lots of bits of the media are talking about the Royal blackmail - apparently, a minor Royal was being blackmailed with a sex and drugs video - so I’m starting a meme: what is the best tabloid headline you can invent for this story?
I’m going for ‘Royal [...]

I didn’t notice this, but the Guardian has launched an American service called (wait for it) Guardian America. After the Guardian’s foray into Americana in 2004 with letters to Clark County, there was criticism of its attempt to influence the American political agenda (’Dear Limey assholes‘) and so it is perhaps a surprise to see [...]