Archive for July, 2005
Thursday, July 7th, 2005
I just woke up to news of the terrible attacks on the London Underground. Listening to a short excerpt from Blair on the news a distinct tremor in his voice, obviously shaken by the news.
The BBC is reporting an eye-witness as saying that the bus [that was also attacked] was ...
Posted in International Affairs | Comments Off on Attacks hit UK underground
Wednesday, July 6th, 2005
Bernie Goldbach has a piece on his blog about poverty - or what he sees as the lack of it - in Ireland, citing my recent response to Friedman as one of his sources at the end.
There seem to be three main planks to his argument. First, commonly quoted statistics ...
Posted in Income and poverty | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 6th, 2005
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals - which covers Illinois, along with Michigan and Indiana - has made a decision that could be problematic for student publications. In essence:The court ruled that the Supreme Court’s 1988 Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier decision, permitting censorship on high school student newspapers, applies to ...
Posted in Alternative Media, Education, Freedom of the press | Comments Off on Censorship fears for student publications
Tuesday, July 5th, 2005
For anyone interested in a radical critique of the Make Poverty History campaign an essay originally published in Red Pepper and now in various other places is well worth reading. While I'm wary of dismissing a campaign link this out-of-hand the esssay poses some serious questions about the MPH approach ...
Posted in Political activism | Comments Off on Making Poverty History
Tuesday, July 5th, 2005
I mentioned in a recent post that I thought the delays experienced by the BCI's Broadcasting Support Scheme might slow down the licensing of local cable channels. It seems that at least one channel wasn't delayed, as they signed a contract with the BCI today. Of course the channel - ...
Posted in Media regulation | 1 Comment »
Monday, July 4th, 2005
Scríobh mé chuig RTE ag moladh go dtosnódh RnaG ag podcraoladh. Fuair mé r-phost inniú freagra inniu ag míniú nach mbeidh RTÉ nó RnaG ag podcraoladh mar:With regards to the podcast and mp3 issues we can't do it for legal reasons due with the copyrights of music on the shows ...
Posted in Citizenship, migration, race, and ethnicity, Intellectual property issues, Online communication, Public Service Media, Radio | 6 Comments »
Friday, July 1st, 2005
Thomas Friedman's column in the New York Times today argues that France and Germany should follow the economic policies of Ireland, apparently basing this on a recent trip to Dublin. He makes the Irish system sound like an unmitigated success, based on our decreasing worker protections.
While there may be some ...
Posted in Income and poverty | 2 Comments »
Friday, July 1st, 2005
The Broadcasting (Funding) Scheme to be overseen by the BCI (Broadcasting Commission of Ireland), which is to distribute 5% of television license fee income, has been delayed as the European Commission has asked for further information:Following examination of the Broadcasting (Funding) Scheme, the European Commission has informed the Department that ...
Posted in Alternative Media, Media regulation, Public Service Media | Comments Off on BCI funding runs into difficulties
Friday, July 1st, 2005
Readers in the Urbana-Champaign area may be interested in noting that I'm presenting the Celtic music show on WEFT (90.1FM) this Sunday from 6 to 8pm. I welcome suggestions on tracks to play - either personal favourites or appropriate tunes for this holiday weekend.I plan to post the playlist on ...
Posted in Personal, Radio, Society and culture | Comments Off on Celtic music this Sunday
Friday, July 1st, 2005
My younger sister, Méadhbh, is racing at Henley regatta this week, where she's coxing the Aberdeen crew in the Britannia Challenge Cup. So far they've got through to the last four so congratulations are in order and I'll be following the rest of the races over the weekend.
Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Holding a good course at Henley