I’m a satisfied customer of The Guardian, but I’ve long grown a bit tired of its opinion pieces. They could all be called You Know Me: I Don’t Like This Sort of Thing. Their real value to me now is as better informed and expressed versions of my own opinion. For example, Owen Jones was […]
Category: politics

The new mask capabilities of FCPX in 10.2 were immediately a godsend: the video I was working on at the time immediately benefitted, and in that respect it was as helpful as the arrival of Libraries in 10.1. (Ripple Training have a great overview of the new masking features.) The video was this little campaign […]
The Afghans are not Ewoks
Just watched the political discussion show, Empire, on Aljazeera. Jolly good. I’m quite enjoying switching to the Doha-based network whenever BBC News starts wittering about cricket and there’s nothing good on Parliament. They had, among others, Carl Bernstein of All the President’s Men fame going on about Wikileaks, cyber activism and national security. The whole […]
AWE Aldermaston has one of those double-fence jobbies you may remember from the Great Escape. You know, the kind short Scottish men who’ve spent too much time in the cooler with Steve McQueen get shot trying to climb. There’s a good four or five metres between them, and so the Boilerhouse Gate was actually two […]
As usual, I woke up in the middle if the night and didn’t quite get back to sleep as deeply as I had been. That happens in proper beds as well as dusty hardwood floors. So when I heard stirring at half-five, I was more than ready to jump up and greet the day. After […]
Sleeping in a church hall reminded me of a Scout camp I went on once. Actually, it was a Cub camp; I never made it as far as the Scouts, and here’s why: Some other kid and I were shining our torches onto the ceiling of the hall after lights-out and having a good old […]
We didn’t have long to wait in Killington Lake before the other two buses showed up. There was, however, something of a pause while coffees were drunk, lunch eaten and plans made. Not being much involved with the plans, and having had an easy ride what with not having to drive, I made myself suspitious/useful […]
As my eyes drew open, seconds before my six-thirty alarm sounded (as is their wont), I began the calculations that customarily get my brain into gear: what is the last second I can get up and still be where I need to be, when I need to be there? The two minibuses bound for Aldermaston, […]
I heard someone say it today at STV. It about sums up the best of my childhood, that. From copying a rental edition of Empire Strikes Back (later paying for it twice on VHS and again on DVD, not to mention the cinema tickets for the re-release) to making mix tapes to impress a girl, […]
In short, she’s the kind of gutsy, down-to-earth, yet highly intelligent heroine who gives Julia Roberts or Meryl Streep the chance to win Oscars. She cuts through the bull as a matter of course and can smell the shite in anyone else’s argument a mile away.