When newspapers, decent newspapers, make terrible errors they will print retractions, pay libel damages and move on to the next defamation. But, the BBC, like some religions, thinks of itself as being infallible. Continue reading...
I learned we all take different approaches and use our own environments to shape the sounds we come out with. Different cultures produce a different 'cool'. And your perception of 'cool' changes depending on where you are. It's been interesting to see how my music is received over in Oz - it's totally different - the album reacts and appeals to different audiences within their perception of what they love and how they interpret it. Until you play your music out to an international audience you never really appreciate the full extent of this I don't think. Continue reading...
Essentially, my final year was a frustrating affair. So frustrating, in fact that I felt the need to implement an 'instant cull' rule whereby, anyone who published an Facebook post that I deemed useless was instantly culled from my friends. Continue reading...
At the age of sixteen, I can now legally join the army, get a full-time job, leave home without my parents' consent and get married, yet people my age still find themselves denied the right to vote, one of the most important rights you can have in a democratic country. How can it be that anyone of my age can get a job and pay taxes towards a government whom they are not even able to vote for? Continue reading...
Surely, a woman is at her most beautiful when pregnant? A sexual being bearing fruit, oozing fertility. There is nothing in my mind more intensely sensual, provocative, or potent. Then again, maybe it's the hormones, and I was in a pregnant bubble of delusion. Continue reading...
For a year that has been dedicated to the planning of a new album release in 2013 (which is underway) and focusing on looking back at 20 years of music (our band turned 20 this year) we still found a way to cover a lot of ground, from the Far East to the Great North. Continue reading...
Since when did it become the norm for women to be bald or, at the very least, tidily trimmed in their pubic regions? Since when is it okay for people to tell their friends just what they think of their body hair? Continue reading...
Fortunately, little by little, comics are creeping into national consciousness. It's accepted that the comic format can and regularly does have the same depth as a prose novel. Though tensions are still high in places, the graphic novel at least is broadly accepted as an equal citizen in the literary world. Continue reading...
Women are scrutinized intensely in the media, because if they mess up, it challenges stereotypical gender roles in society. Continue reading...
The next time you decide to pop along to a top game and hand over the best part of £100, you would be well advised to stop for a moment to consider going local and trying out non league football. Continue reading...
How many illegal immigrants are there in the UK? Unlike other such questions - how many 12 year olds are there in the UK? How many gay Jews? - where, although we don't know the exact answer, either survey and administrative data allows us to make an informed and reasonably accurate guess, we don't know, even approximately. But a new initiative by the Metropolitan Police suggests that the number may in fact be surprisingly low. Continue reading...
Above all, it's a class issue. The idea of lounging around during your maternity leave, spending the morning in coffee shops with other mums - having enough time to quit your job and create a business plan - just screams high-income husbands, supportive and available family members, pre-school daycare and nannies. Continue reading...
What has become apparent during the past few weeks is that the cause of Old Flo is resonating with people across the spectrum. For many she is a direct part of their childhood, for others she is a legacy for future generations, for some of us she is a symbol of artistic value. Continue reading...
Today is World Kindness Day, and we're all being encouraged to help change the world by committing one simple act of kindness. I for one fully intend to play my part - and not for entirely selfless reasons. Continue reading...
If Labour's Marvin Rees is elected Mayor of Bristol on Thursday I for one will be celebrating. It will be a good day for Bristol. Many more people outside that city will rightly be inspired by Marvin's election. Bristol is a major city, a lively, exciting place with a strong local character and an appeal to the best and the brightest. It is a city with enormous potential, hampered by the absence of a big-city vision at a municipal level. Continue reading...
We know celebrities shape our attitudes towards body image but they also affect the way we think about losing weight. And not in a good way. Continue reading...
Ufology, a word not recognised by the dictionary, yet a word well recognised around the world. The study of the UFO phenomena and it's related subjects. But is Ufology changing and are we starting to see new faces with their own way of investigation? Continue reading...
The ongoing Af-Pak war has only inflamed Pashtun nationalism, exacerbating longstanding tensions with Islamabad and Kabul, while American military movements create new enmities daily. Continue reading...
Investors and business leaders - on whom the country's economic recovery depends, can no longer be certain of the UK's liberty and protection under the law. At the very time other crisis economies are cutting costs and increasing certainty, business in the UK will have to contend not just with statutory rules and the costs they impose on employers. They will also face the consequences of pressure-group politics, in which politicians abandon the labour market to the unpredictable operations of twilight law. Continue reading...
In Britain, you meet quite a few Jews who refer to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks simply as "the Chief." It's a bit odd that people speak about him in this way. Yet the title sticks, and I suspect that Jonathan Sacks will remain "the Chief" even after his retirement from his position next year. Continue reading...
The pips are squeaking. As the deadline approaches for Lord Justice Leveson to make his recommendations on press regulation to the government, the public debate gets more strident. Rumours abound that he will recommend a role for the state. The chairman of the Press Complaints Commission urged him in a speech last night not to go down this path. Continue reading...
The American people spoke and sent a message to Washington - and it was more decisive than it has been in a while. Continue reading...
This weekend I was in Dakar (Senegal) to meet Mary Robinson and Angelique Kidjo. Kidjo is the most famous diva of Africa who has performed with global top artists like Alicia Keys, Carlos Santana and Peter Gabriel and who travels the world tirelessly to confront leaders with the truth on women. Continue reading...
Over-promoting an employee does the person, as well as the organisation, a disservice. Some good sidekicks make good CEOs. But many do not. Continue reading...
It's not enough just to give and to expect to get something back in return. You have to first know what you want and then clearly communicate it to the people in your network if you want to enjoy the dividends from your networking. Continue reading...
With true free speech has to come an understanding of when and when not to use it. But you can't legislate that. It must be voluntary - especially in a world where a whisper can reach a million people in an eyeblink. Continue reading...
India's fast developing economy, coupled with a rise in the number of affluent middle class consumers, has led to a considerable appetite for eCommerce amongst the country's consumers. Continue reading...
Those newspapers that are now revelling in the BBC's discomfort are in no position to do so and are motivated less by a commitment to rigorous and independent journalism than by the opportunity to make life difficult for their publicly-funded rival. Some of the hypocrisy is astounding. Continue reading...
